Genetic Ascension

Sylas hadn’t even begun to read yet, and yet just from the categories alone his mind was being stimulated in unprecedented ways.

His foundation in F-tier Rune Mastery was such that he didn’t even need to read just yet. The moment he became aware that these principles existed, his mind began to make connections of their own. By the time he got to the end of the list, he was already at least 30% better than he had been just moments ago.

In just a few brief seconds.

Rune Linkage and Will Priming seemed to only be the beginning. Introductions to the purpose of Strokes, the link between Foundations and Rune Languages, there was even a section on building out your own Rune Language for the purpose of streamlining your Combat Matrix and maximizing your effectiveness in battle.

The more obscure the titles and categories became, the more fascinated Sylas became.

And not a single one of these even made direct mention of his new Runeweaver Profession. Just what information woudl they have on that?

He began to read.

He started with the first, blazing through it with a flickering eye. He didn’t care for the commotion he made nor the effect on others. Being on a time crunch, he didn’t have the time to consider the opinions of others, nor would he have normally anyway.

Quickly, he put a book back and then continued to the next, and then the next.

His speed only seemed to be getting faster as he began to read ahead, guessing at what would come next in the book and filling in large chunks of it himself.

The more he read, the more accurate he became, and the less of a book he had to actually physically read. Sometimes he even ended up jumping across entire chapters, skipping them as thought hey had nothing of interest. But from time to time he would randomly slow on a single, individual paragraph before kicking it into high gear again.

The books on Strokes were fascinating.

Sylas had never questioned it personally, but it was quite odd. Foundations seemed important enough without the need for a denomination even smaller than it with Strokes.

That said, Sylas had always seen Strokes as something similar to a currency, while Foundations were raw resources, with Runes being the finished product.

Strokes were embedded with the value of a Rune but were mostly empty on their own without external support and belief, Foundations had their own intrinsic value, while Runes were the end product everyone wanted.

He had naturally categorized everything like this in his mind, and part of that was because of how Gralith had taught him.

When he was first learning to draw the Scorpion Warlord Armor, the first thing he learned was technically the Scoprion Rune Language. He started with 10 Strokes, learning to perfect them.

But even though Sylas understood the value of Strokes intrinsically, he had never put true thought and words to it. This library did, though.

A bridge for one’s Will into the universe. That was the ultimately, holy definition of a Stroke to the guild.

A Foundation already had some manifestation of law of its own. Even a single one was already too complex. To impose your Will onto a Foundatino was the equivalent of playing God. You could use a Foundation and draw one, but you couldn’t just its fundamental being.

A Stroke was different, though. It was like a fundamental unit of energy, and it was simple enough that this energy could be applied in a myriad of ways.

There were only so many ways you could draw a Stroke, but what decided what path it would take was the Will it was primed with.

Such truths were simple and didn’t even seem to mean much, but as Sylas added one after another to his arsenal, his improvement was mind numbing.

How much better could you be when you could already draw 100% Mastery Runes? Many would think that Sylas didn’t have much further to go, but Sylas had never believed so.

He had only recently learned to draw Legendary Genes on his own, but what about Gene Talents? Why couldn’t he craft Blood and Bone Essence? Why wasn’t he able to construct a Soul Construct or something even deeper?

Why should he be satisfied with just this alone?

The glow of Sylas’ Primus Luminaria Crown was blinding. It had appeared above his head at some unknown time, but he was so focused he didn’t even notice.

He came to the end of the library, putting the last book back. Several times already he had simply snatched books right out the hands of children, but not a single one of them dared to say anything at this point.

They hadn’t been there during Sylas’ rulebook reading, but the pressure of Sylas’ Will and his Rune Mastery had been on display for them all right here.

Sylas hadn’t drawn a single Rune since being here, but they knew what it meant for Primus Luminaria to be glowing like tha.

This man that they didn’t know… was on a completely different level.

Just how fast was his improvement?

Sylas stood to his full height after returning the final book. There were still several other libraries to go through, he knew it. And yet… He reached out a hand and clenched his fist.

Chi.

The E-Grade Scorpion Warlord Armor took shape over his body, glowing a dark violet. Wisps of black danced from its body, its shingles looking like illusory amethyst carved across his body.

Sylas shook his head. Vitality Mastery. Unacceptable.

His fist trembled and the Armor shattered apart. He drew it again, shook his head, and then did it again. And then again.

In the depths of the library, an old woman had been watching Sylas all along, but right this moment… her pupils were trembling fiercely, her glasses practically vibrating along with them.

Sylas wasn’t using Runeweaver to do this.

Chi.

WHOOSH.

‘Barely passable.’

Sylas’ Scorpion Warlord Armor glowed bright and strong.

85% Mastery. Rune Spark achieved.

It seemed he didn’t need two weeks after all. Ironically enough, he had been too arrogant. There was more that he didn’t know than he thought.