Genetic Ascension

The Bat Lineage Head stood in silence over Vaernon’s corpse.

He hadn’t been present for much of these things, never thinking that things would get so far that they would need a fifth round in the first place. Honestly, he hadn’t even thought a fourth round would be needed.

This was a complete and utter humiliation; there was no getting around it. Their Thryskai had their eyes set on the future, on the status of Demi-God, and yet they had actually stumbled on the very first step.

And all because of one man.

A single young man.

Vaernon’s expression looked almost peaceful, as though he had died in his sleep, completely unaware. But when the Bat Lineage Head bent down, grabbing Vaernon’s chin and shifting his head to the side, one could see pulsing green veins walking up the length of his neck and jaw.

Poison.

Not just any poison, but one that seemed hardly detectable. It was almost like those veins were there for aesthetic purposes, just to make sure they knew that Vaernon hadn’t died of natural causes, but not enough to make it obvious.

That was because Vaernon’s body was completely intact. His organs weren’t corroded, his tendons and muscles weren’t atrophied, his bones weren’t brittle… He looked in perfect health, as though he could just stand up any time now and be right back at it.

It was his Will that was gone—erased, wiped from reality, crumbled to ash.

The heart of the Bat Warlord Lineage Head trembled.

A poison that attacked, corrupted, and shredded the Will apart. Just what sort of poison was this? How could something like this even exist? He had simply never heard of such a thing.

The closest thing to this sort of existence was some of the poisons of the Serpent Lineage. But even they only relied on somewhat lulling someone into a false sense of security through their charm before attacking the actual body.

A poison that entirely struck at the Will…

Sylas Grimblade.

There were reports that Sylas had triggered a new phenomenon in the Scorpion Lineage. The only way something like that could happen was if he had crafted a new path.

Primus Luminaria…

The Bat Lineage Head mistakenly believed that Sylas’ new poison was the reason he had been granted the Contested Title. This wasn’t accurate, and it severely underestimated the difficulty one faced in claiming such a Title in the first place.

But this man wasn’t even a Spark Master, so how could he know?

The bare minimum requirement of becoming a Primus Luminaria was being a Spark Master. Unless one was at that level, how could you Spark a new path?

Someone who had never reached that level couldn’t possibly understand the difficulty. Ironically enough, as impressed as everyone was by Sylas now, they were still underestimating what he had done.

If one saw an Olympian throw a javelin 100 meters, and then saw an absolute monster throw one 150 meters, they wouldn’t have the scope of understanding to grasp just how much more monstrous the latter was—especially if they had never seen anyone throw 100 meters in the first place.

Byahmad slowly stood to his feet. He didn’t look around at the Thryskai around him, but his fury painted even the wind around him nonetheless.

“This humiliation. It will not be allowed to rest,” he said slowly.

His voice was almost gravelly, scraping against their ears like knives across pavement.

“Sylas Grimblade has killed one of his Sanctum in an unsanctioned duel. He is also suspected of having improperly participated in an F-tier challenge sequence when he had long reached the E-tier. This will not be allowed to rest.”

The gazes of those present flickered several times.

They had checked, double-checked, and triple-checked whether or not Sylas was truly F-tier. The trouble was that Sylas’ Will was too powerful. Even their D-tiers couldn’t see through all of his stats, especially after he became the Primus Imperium.

But…

They weren’t fools. They had their methods.

They knew that Sylas was Level 50. And, the system itself had confirmed that Sylas was F-tier when it announced him as Primus Imperium. They might not be able to see all of his stats, but could the system that granted the stats in the first place be unable to?

Sylas was a confirmed F-tier. They knew this for sure.

He was just a complete anomaly.

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But Byahmad had still said this. That could only mean that he was saying so for a purpose.

Byahmad looked up, his gaze landing on a particular young man.

“Induce it.”

The young man’s gaze flickered, understanding immediately.

When you were Level 50, entering the E-tier could be easy or difficult depending on who you were. It was obvious which category Sylas fell into. Obviously, he was only holding back to perfect his F-Grade Foundation.

What they didn’t know was that Sylas hadn’t even started building his Foundation just yet. The only reason there was a kernel of a Foundation’s aura there was because of the Wheel of Fortune that had primed the process.

Inducing an accidental breakthrough wasn’t difficult if you knew what to do. The first was stimulation through battle and danger. Then, at the right time, you needed to force E-Grade Aether into the Pathways.

At that moment, Sylas would break through whether he wanted to or not.

But these methods… they were things that only high-tier and high-class families like theirs would have an understanding of in the first place.

To everyone else… it would look as though Sylas had been suppressing himself, only to be forced to unleash his full strength when he felt like his life was on the line against a powerful opponent.

At that point, not only would Sylas’ image come crashing down, but their challenge would be completely nullified.

“Understood,” the young man said indifferently.

“Then kill him.”

The young man didn’t reply, as though that had already gone without saying.

…

While this meeting was happening, Cassarae was facing her own hurdle…

It was time to return to the Petals of the Seeing Thorn and face the music.