Genetic Ascension

Sylas stopped a long distance away, huffing for breath.

Using his fusion ability took a lot out of him. Although he felt that he could activate it again, if he did so, it was likely that the hit to his stamina wouldn't be as simple as just gasping for breath. His heart might even directly explode. .

He felt those feelings even more now that he could take on 80% of the Basilisk King's stats.

That told him one very important thing.

His Legendary Profession was well beyond his abilities to fully control, and it quickly increasing in Levels might be more of a detriment to him than anything else. He would have to seriously think about slowing down if he could.

All things considered, the Basilisk King was far weaker than the current Sylas back then, let alone now. Yet, fusing with it put so much pressure on him, and it seemed to have increased exponentially with the length of time he remained fused with it for.

This was a problem he couldn't ignore, and the only explanation seemed to be that while he had a Legendary Profession… he didn't have a Legendary profession to back it.

Clearing the last requirement of his Flow of Battle Quest should be relatively easy so long as he found a Serpentes beast. His Beast Totem would allow him to suppress it by 50%, and he had even had thoughts of finding information about such creatures just so that he could have more powerful Contracts to fuse with than just the Basilisk King.

But after this experience, he threw that idea away entirely.

If he reacted like this to a mere Basilisk King, how would his body withstand a far more powerful creature? Would he directly implode?

He would have to increase his foundational stats if he wanted to take such a path, or else his own talents would rip him apart.

After having these thoughts, though, Sylas felt very satisfied. An odd feeling to be sure, but one that was warranted nonetheless.

That was because he could feel that his natural understanding of the world was deeper now thanks to Enchanted Scribe.

He understood implicitly what the bouncer was doing during their short interaction, and had even managed to stop one of his Skills ahead of time without even activating the Gene Talent.

He just… saw the world differently now, as though it was speaking to him.

In the past, he would have likely had to ask the Madness Key before he understood why his body felt so crappy right now. But this time, he had figured it out on his own, and he was quite confident in his deductions.

After a breath, and feeling that he was far enough away, Sylas used his kunai to leap up a tree again.

This was truly a convenient way of travel, he might have to try it again.

He had yet to run into flying beasts, though he was sure they existed. Regardless, being high up like this would likely help him to avoid creatures he couldn't afford to fight in the future.

After he settled down, he began to slowly wait for his body to recover. He took deep breaths, and then chose to take the time to also meditate on the Madness Key. It would be impossible for him to get a better chance than now.

'I'll have to use the Bronze Nexus Ticket I received soon. I have almost as many coins now as Cassarae's whole village did. The longer I wait, the less valuable what I can get from it will become…'

Thinking of this, Sylas remembered that he also had a second objective during this scouting mission, and that was to potentially find the location of any spawned villages.

He remembered the gains he got from the gnoll village. He could monopolize such a spawned village on his own, the benefits would be immense. But that would depend on whether their strength was low enough for him to handle on his own.

By now, since Lucius had established a village already and the training wheels were off, a few should have definitely spawned.

Sylas tossed away the distracting thoughts and focused on the ring once again.

His breathing became slow and even, and he activated <Maddened Enlightenment>.

He seemed to become one with nature, but it wasn't just because of the Skill, but also because of a subtle nudge from Voice of the King and Enchanted Scribe, the latter of which was carrying the most water.

Suddenly, Sylas could see the dancing runes far more clearly.

It was only now he realized that the dancing snakes of those illusions were actually complicated runes, far more complex than anything he could even begin to understand now.

But at the same time, realizing this made his Madness Comprehension seem more… tangible.

From the beginning, his Comprehension was only dictated by vague emotions and trance-like states he could hardly remember.

It felt like his Comprehension was more of a fever dream than anything else, and it made it hard for him to properly grasp.

But now, he seemed to understand it more.

The three aspects of Madness…

Those scenes had depicted battle, sex, and unwilling fury.

It felt disjointed… incomplete.

But it reminded Sylas of something else.

His Gluttony Seed.

It seemed intertwined with his Comprehension, this Madness…

And now that he thought about it, the seven sins seemed to overlap a lot.

Pride, Envy, and Wrath… Depending on the situation, all three could be triggered as a single state.

Gluttony and Greed were the same way, you could probably even give both the same definition if you twisted words enough.

Lust and Sloth… These two were probably the ones that Sylas had the hardest time connecting with, not only because they were the furthest things from him and his usual state of mind, but also because they didn't seem to overlap as easily as the others.

But he thought of those snakes, lying down and intertwining with one another in an almost lazy, endless cycle of love-making. As though they'd rather waste their time away doing this than anything else…

Could it be that he had confused the images? Seeing only three things, when in reality it was projecting seven?

Suddenly, Sylas felt a stirring deep within him.

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