Genetic Ascension

[Second bonus thanks to donswan <3]

Sylas didn’t squirm beneath the scrutiny and silence.

Honestly, there was only so far he could go by observing weak Rune Masters draw their Armors on their own.

Of course, he could do it, especially now. He was a far stronger Rune Master even now than he was back then, so it would be even easier.

But it was a waste of time. An annoying waste of time.

And it was still not necessarily 100% accurate either. The Ape Armor he had drawn, for example, was perfect, but it was also modified to his own standards.

There was still some merit in learning from the direct source not only because it would be severalfold faster, but because it would make extrapolating to the Emperor Armor far easier.

Sylas didn’t plan on trying to integrate an Emperor Armor’s Genes. Like he said, if one of those bastards had come down, there was no telling if another might as well. And this one might not be “kind,” or stupid, enough to leave him alive.

Still, studying the Emperor Armor would help find ways to improve his Warlord Armors onto his own paths.

Erethea’s eyes finally narrowed. “Why do you want to do such a thing? Do you want to leave the Scorpion Lineage? You have already integrated the Scorpion Warlord Gene, this isn’t—”

“There are many reasons. For one, the more I know about the Armors of others, the easier it is for me to counter and understand them. Not all Sanctums have the same Lineages, but there is certainly some overlap to take advantage of.

“Second, I have already begun modifying my Scorpion Warlord Armor. I’m sure that many of you sensed the phenomenon I triggered. While it is usually inadvisable to try and mix Wills, I have no intention of doing this. I only want to understand aspects of other Armors to see if there is anything that I can make my own.”

What Sylas was asking for was reasonable. And he was probably the only one who could ask for such a thing and have it not sound absolutely ridiculous.

Who were they to tell a Spark Master what was and wasn’t possible?

It was one thing for Prione to try and use the stupidity of the public against Sylas, but that didn’t warp his own personal understanding. He didn’t care even if Sylas had been left with just one cell after crossing the Spark Mastery Secret Realm.

A Spark Master was a Spark Master, and the weight of such a Title was impossible to measure.

“This matter… will have to be discussed with the Core Sanctum,” Erethea finally said slowly.

It wasn’t an outright rejection, and as far as those present were concerned, this was shocking enough.

It made one thing very obvious.

They had begun placing heavy value on Sylas. And it seemed to have only become more obvious after his defeat of Zolte.

When Sylas heard Erethea’s words, he knew that his wishes would be as good as fulfilled.

Because Sylas was too low in tier, his presence alone wouldn’t be likely to flip everything on their heads. But… the chances that they could make it to the top 50 because of him alone weren’t zero.

It was just a difference of 20 or so rankings, but the gap in resources would be absolutely massive.

**

Sylas returned to the Scorpion Sanctum’s moon with Gralith and the others not long after the meeting concluded. Many other things and opportunities were spoken about, but his mind was still stuck on when his request would be granted.

The sooner he knew he could, the sooner he would begin gathering War Points for the sake of trading.

There was another reason he really needed this too. Observing the F-Grade Armors and deducing them was easy enough. But the E-Grade ones?

Impossible.

Plus, after what he did to Zolte, who would he ever be able to get to fight him? Whether that was in the F-tier or E-tier?

“Who was it?” Gralith asked.

Sylas looked up, his steps pausing. He knew what Gralith was speaking about immediately.

The one who targeted him with their C-tier Will.

It seemed that Gralith also knew what Sylas did.

It wasn’t Byahmad.

“The 713th Tiger Warlord,” Sylas said calmly.

“What?!”

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Gralith had barely had time to narrow his eyes when Gwenu shouted out, her head snapping around in shock. She didn’t expect such a thing either.

“Are you sure?” Gwenu asked.

Sylas only nodded.

“Those bastards are working with the Bat Lineage?” she grit her teeth. “Is it because you kicked Scarval’s ass? That guy should be dead already, they’re lucky he’s even alive.”

Gralith only continued to look at Sylas as though waiting for him to say something else. Neither of the two seemed particularly bothered by Gwenu’s chatter.

The 713th Tiger Warlord was Scarval’s grandfather. He seemed to be an amiable old man at a loss of what to do about his grandson and his unwillingness to break into the E-tier from the F-tier, but now there seemed to be something far more sinister behind that kind smile.

It was too bad that Sylas could see through many more things than the Tiger Warlord thought.

Sylas was the one targeted by the Will, so he was the only one that could actually feel it all. Varkhul had probably just thought that it wouldn’t matter because Spark Master or not, Sylas was still a mere F-tier. How could he catch even the faintest edge of what Varkhul wanted to do?

Unfortunately, the Tiger Warlord was wrong.

Sylas was immune to oppression up to the D-tier. Temporal Delay gave his mind even faster processing abilities than normal, and that was before the addition of Primus Dominus’ +1000% boost to his Mental.

Comparing him to other F-tiers was foolish.

Assuming he wouldn’t be sensitive enough to sense the aura of an Armor he knew like the back of his hand after his battle with Aki was even more foolish.

“The Tiger Lineage isn’t working with the Kaelthar. They’re working with another Thryskai Branch, one that’s sunk their roots into our Sanctum far deeper than the Kaelthar.”

The Purvon.

The dead Aki’s Clan had laid their traps here long before Sylas arrived, and their chess moves were far more splendid.

Because of the 713th Tiger Warlord’s actions today, the Bat Lineage was all but finished. Everyone thought it was Byahmad that attacked Sylas.

But that perfect chess move had also exposed their tails to Sylas.