Genetic Ascension

He felt a vague sense of where the tug was coming from. Rojan, or rather his corpse, seemed to be fighting back against him.

Sylas felt that he could overwhelm this force easily, but the problem was that he was only pulling on a single Gene right now. Would he be able to pull on another afterward?

'It doesn't matter,' he thought to himself. 'My current Gene Stat is Rigid, so I can't absorb any Genes. Even if I could, I've hit all my Stat Limits already.'

He was being too cautious; he instead chose to approach it like an experiment and pulled enough to overwhelm the force fighting back against him.

Something miraculous appeared.

A bundle of energy floated out of Rojan's corpse. It looked like a series of catalyzed fusions and expulsions were occurring within it. It reminded Sylas of what he had learned about the atom in high school, and yet from time to time, it would solidify and become a double helix, though incomplete.

Sylas didn't know where the thought came from, but he almost felt like he was staring right into the jaws of the beginning of the universe.

'What do I do with it?'

Sylas actually wasn't sure. The ability was known as Extricate, but there didn't seem to be any other function.

He could tell this was a Gene from Rojan; he also knew that it was a Strength Gene as well, though he wasn't sure where that intuition came from. But other than that…

He brought the bundle of energy toward himself, and he surprisingly felt resistance immediately.

He knew that he was in a Rigid Gene State, but he had never felt it so tangibly until now.

What was interesting, though, was that this resistance felt similar to the tug, almost like he could overwhelm it just the same.

'Can I?'

He pushed, bringing the Gene closer and closer to himself. But as he did so, the resistance increased exponentially until he felt that the Strength Gene was actually about to collapse beneath the pressure.

'I do have…'

Sylas hadn't taken them because there was no point, but he had accumulated a few lesser Gene State Elixirs. Maybe if he used one, the result would be different?

An Inflexible Gene State Elixir appeared in Sylas' hand. It would allow him a 10% success rate in absorbing Genes for the next three days.

He swallowed the bitter Elixir, almost feeling as though it was packed with impurities, unlike the Soft Gene State Elixirs he had taken in the past.

A feeling of release overwhelmed him, like his body had been bound off tight and only now got the chance to relax.

This wasn't a feeling that he had felt so clearly before; it was certainly because Extricate was active and he could feel the previous resistance of his body clearly.

Once again, Sylas brought the Gene close, but the resistance was still great. He kept pushing, but it looked as though the Gene was still about to shatter.

'Did I waste an Elixir?'

Sylas frowned. They were precious, too precious. Even an Inflexible Gene State Elixir shouldn't be taken so lightly, which was why he had saved them. But this…

Sylas really wanted to ask the Madness Key for help, but the cost was beginning to get wild. He barely had the bandwidth to keep it from devouring him these days. He couldn't afford to ask it things that he could figure out through trial and error.

---

[Madness Key (Treasure)]

[A key leading to a fortune of Madness. Detects other Madness Disciples and enlightens your path. Contains small spatial world within. Can answer one question in exchange for <2 Common> Genes.]

[Curse Status: Glutton. <15 Common> Genes a day to maintain Happiness. Requirements grow by the day. <5 days> remaining until Hunger increases.]

[Curse Status: Cannot be unequipped.]

---

The only good news was that he had managed to accumulate a ton of beast corpses from the Portal, so he could sustain it for a while. The bad news was pretty much everything else.

The exchange price for questions had doubled from one to two, and the Gene requirements had increased by 50% from 10 to 15.

It was semi-good news that the Glutton Curse wasn't doubling, but even at this rate, in five days it would be asking for Bronze Genes.

His speed of progress wasn't keeping up. And while he could use higher-quality Genes to make up for the lower-quality asks of the Madness Key, he couldn't use Common Genes to cover for Bronze Genes, for example.

If he couldn't meet those requirements in five days, then…

'That's exactly why I should ask my questions now. I have more than enough Genes for the next five days, but after that time, the Common Genes will become useless. It seems like a good idea, but…'

Sylas shook his head; he couldn't risk it. It wasn't worth it.

Extricate was the ability of Taboo Bond. The fact he had only five days was bad enough, but what if he needed to find Bronze Genes right this moment because he asked the wrong question?

Until he had some breathing room again, he couldn't take such risks.

'Let's push.'

This was Sylas' final conclusion.

If the Gene was going to break, let it break. He would observe what happened, then try it again.

Right now, Extricate seemed useless. But Sylas knew there had to be a point to it.

He had already gotten a benefit, that being that he could now visualize his Gene State. After grasping it once, that ability hadn't gone away. This wasn't too useful now, but who was to say that it would remain so?

The Strength Gene suddenly collapsed under Sylas' pressure. As expected, it couldn't make it through the barrier.

Sylas was ready to try again when something odd happened.

The fibers of the remaining energy were pushed into his body and Sylas suddenly felt another odd sense take shape.

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