Genetic Ascension

Sylas fell into a deep sleep. He wasn't sure how long he was out, but he was hit with wave upon wave of fatigue before the river of dreams was able to take him away.

He dreamt of runes fluttering in the skies like butterflies, coming together to form the most miraculous living creatures, and even soaring above to form the stars themselves.

He woke up many times during this sleep, but every time it was for no more than a few seconds before he collapsed again, unable to withstand the backlash of his own fatigue.

By the time he woke up, the sun was high in the skies, peeking through the wooden boards of his cabin.

Slowly, he pushed himself up, happy to find that his injuries seemed to have been healed. However, when he checked the system for the date and time, he was taken aback. .

He was out for three days?

Shock ran through his heart and he immediately looked toward the Madness Key.

[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 <3 Common> Genes]

[Curse Status: Glutton. <20 Common> Genes a day to maintain Happiness. Requirements grow by the day. <7 days> remaining until Hunger increases]

Seeing this, Sylas exhaled a breath of relief. It seemed that the Madness Key had automatically taken what it needed from the Genes that were already inside. Another bit of good news was that it asked for 20 Common Genes instead of a Bronze Gene. From what Sylas knew, you could exchange 20 Common Genes for one Bronze Gene, which was why his first Gene Crystal had been able to give him a limit of 20 Common Genes and a single Bronze Gene. But collecting 20 Common Genes was certainly easier than collecting a Bronze Gene. This made things far easier on him.

'Wait…'

Sylas' heart sank again as he checked. As expected, the Madness Key was completely empty. The remainder of the powerful corpses he had had were all gone, including the troll corpses. The Madness Key had fed itself, but it had no sense of propriety. Instead of taking the individual Genes it needed, it swallowed the entire corpse and didn't even regurgitate what it didn't.

The good news was that the Bronze Genes had helped the Madness Key to expand again, and it was larger than even a large estate now. But the bad news was even worse. There was already more space inside than he could even use. What would he even do with all this—?

That was when Sylas recalled something. The Madness Key didn't just add space when it expanded like this; it also helped concentrate the essence of Madness on him, allowing him to meditate on it. Before, he couldn't bear to use Bronze Genes to help it elevate again, but now… couldn't he?

Sylas sat down and focused his mind on the Madness Key. In a bout of inspiration, he changed his method a few seconds afterward and set his visualization onto it, concentrating his entire mind on its form.

Almost instantly, there was a shudder that went through his mind.

Quickly, Sylas stopped, realizing that something would happen if he continued. The Madness aura would definitely leak, and if he was focused on the Key, he wouldn't be able to stop it.

Sylas shook his head. There were so many things that were inconvenient when he was under the roof of someone else. He felt frustrated and agitated, but he clenched his teeth, forcing himself to calm down.

He had only touched on the Madness for a short while, but he felt that part of himself so clearly. The part that hated to be controlled. The part that hated it so much he dictated every aspect of his life with the strictest discipline.

Sylas shook his head and stood to his feet. With a step, he had already appeared at his door and opened it. A chilly wind rushed in, and fluttering snowflakes fell from the skies. However, it actually felt quite comfortable against his skin. This level of cold was more like a spring breeze to him now with his current Constitution.

"Sylas?"

Sylas looked up and found a teenager waiting for him in a bundle of heavy fur. He looked almost adorable, with only a bit of his reddened nose and eyes visible.

"Yes?"

"The Mayor asked me to wait here for you in case you woke up. I'm in charge of your food! Please come with me."

Sylas blinked in surprise but then nodded. His stomach was practically doing knots in his body; he was truly starving.

What he didn't expect was that his food would be an enormous spread. And what he expected even less was that he would be capable of eating it all on his own.

He had finished off an entire family of eight's Thanksgiving feast, and he felt like he still had room.

The teenage boy watched all of this with wide eyes. At first, he thought it was far too wasteful to prepare so much food for just one person, and yet reality proved him wrong.

Well, it wasn't like they were lacking for food, anyway. The Mayor treated them very well.

The boy didn't know that Sylas saw something much different when he saw this spread of food. This was clearly another method of testing his bottom line. There was no way even the best professional eaters could finish this much food; only someone with elevated stats could do so.

Despite knowing this, Sylas knew that hiding how much he could really eat would only make it seem like he was trying to stand opposed to Lucius.

Just as he was about to leave, Mark came.

"Sylas, it's good that you're alive," he slapped his shoulder. "You sure can sleep, an entire three days."

Sylas gave some perfunctory replies until Mark spoke of what he came here for.

"We have a mission for you. Though technically, it's the same mission everyone has received. We need to do some scouting work and find any potential portals in the vicinity. We're low on manpower, so you'll have to go alone."

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