Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1672 Will Core [Bonus]

[Bonus thanks to Kalinus <3 if I can’t sleep, you all can’t sleep either]

Sylas was well aware of what was happening in the outside world. He would never lose all his senses in enemy territory, and as far as he was concerned, that was exactly what the Weaver Guild was right now.

He just didn’t care.

To him, the most important thing was his improvement. In all honesty, he didn’t even care if the mechanism broke and falsely assigned him a year.

His thinking on the matter was quite simple.

There was only so complex F-tier Rune Mastery could ever be.

What challenge could they throw at him that he was unable to comprehend?

Sylas only spent a fleeting few microseconds even considering this matter before he turned his attention back to his body. A map of his Layers was becoming clearer, and as this happened, he felt like he was on the verge of sensing something he hadn’t been able to before.

His Dao.

Ever since he had comprehended it, it had felt like trying to grasp winds in his palms. When he was calm, allowing it to dictate his actions and his movements, his power was unfathomable. But when he focused on it too much, trying to understand its intricacies, his power always seemed to plummet in response.

The closer he was to grasping it, the more it flew away and the farther out of his grasp it slipped.

Right now, the feeling was the same and yet different. Rather than it feeling so ethereal as wind, he could feel it slipping through his fingers like misty wisps, the chill licking against his skin.

Then from misty wisps it became droplets of water, small streams, delicate and balanced, soft and pliable.

And then came the sand. It continued to slip, but he could feel the granules.

The picture was becoming sharper and clearer, his Legendary Gene thrumming and his Royal Hero Line boiling as they grew closer and closer, as though in some sort of balanced trinity.

‘Seed…’

Sylas realized then what he had been missing, and he suddenly understood why it was his Dao seemed so tied to the appearance of the Pride Virtue Madness Key.

When his Seed reached Manifestation, it branched into his body, practically forming a new organ network that he could somewhat feel but wasn’t too in tune with.

Even so, it was real, it was tangible.

It was like the roots of a golden tree spreading through his body and becoming one with him.

His Dao should have been the same. But why was it so fleeting?

No, deeper than that…

Why could you only use one Comprehension at a time?

A Comprehension-it was a state of mind. How could you maintain two separate states of mind at once without going insane?

But a Comprehension was also something else. It was proof of just how powerful the mind was as well.

‘Placebo…’

Random thoughts and words that seemed disjointed and disconnected filled Sylas’ thoughts.

‘Void…’

His mind went entirely blank for a moment, and in that instant, one Comprehension flashed, and then a second layered atop it.

The void shook, maintaining itself for a short time before it collapsed entirely.

Sylas didn’t seem to notice, still staring out into the distance in a complete daze, lost and fragmented in a time long lost to him as he delved into the secrets of his own body one Layer after another.

His Dao… it was in his Will Core…

Deeper than his Soul Construct, deeper than his Will Manifestation, deeper than Comprehensions that weren’t even as deep as the former two.

But it also wasn’t.

Both there and not. Both tangible and ethereal. Both whole and yet fragmented and broken.

‘Broken…’

Sylas realized then why it was his Dao felt so incomplete. It was just the start, a first step, a child’s attempt at grasping a secret whole that only the universe itself and the monsters of the past that grasped it could comprehend.

Or maybe, in his case… there was no such monster in the past at all.

‘I understand now. It’s my fault I can’t sense it clearly.’

Beneath the Will Core was Race Quintessence. Normally, one’s Race Quintessence wouldn’t interfere with one’s Dao. One would be so far removed from one’s ancestry that sensing one’s Race Quintessence at all would be the feat of a generation.

But Sylas… was his own Ancestor.

As though this wasn’t bad enough, he had three Seeds in his body-Lust, Greed, and Pride-the last of which was the largest problem.

The True Pride Seed was formed by the Madness System, and technically it was helping Sylas. But Sylas didn’t need its help, having eventually formed his own Dao based on Pride.

The similarities only made them clash all the more.

The two main issues were that Race Quintessence was even more fundamental to your existence than your Dao was, as one was the foundation of your ancestry, while the latter was the foundation of your existence. The latter could never trump the former.

Second, Sylas had too many clashing things that likewise spanned across countless Layers.

In that case, his task was simple enough…

He had to untangle them.

And once he did, his Dao would shimmer forth with its true power.

Sylas’ eyes suddenly sharpened, a radiant emerald spreading through the air. Then everything fell into silence as the ring of white around him finally calmed.

By this point, everyone was looking at him, their impatience thick on their faces. The only one who didn’t seem to care at all was Malikhi, who stood with his small hands clasped behind his back, his gaze glued to the flooring right before him.

The General of the Rizen withheld his exasperation, ready to read the result from the ring of light. He had had about enough of this. Sylas had them standing here like fools for over three hours.

If not for the looming threat of the old woman, he would have cut things off long ago.

His eyes suddenly widened, his lips trembling. His breathing hitched, but that deadpan gaze of Sylas’ was practically leaving scorching marks of chill on his face.

“… 1 year, 7 months.”