Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1832: Nature v Nurture

Sylas found himself having to actively use his newly upgraded [Primal Gut] in order to process it properly. His mother watched with a smile that he only now realized had a hint of deviousness to it.

Sylas said a lot about how much Cassarae and his little sister understood him more than almost anyone else. But there was probably one person who stood on a tier all her own when it came to how much insight they had into his brain.

Isolde could have guessed Sylas' thoughts from start to finish.

He originally only sat down to eat the meal she cooked because she had cooked it, not because he had any real interest in eating it, and certainly not because he thought it would be helpful.

In fact, he had probably also weighed whether it was worth telling his mother that such "normal" meals were little different from eating air to him.

Normal rice and chicken would be processed by Sylas' body so hastily that it wouldn't even be left over as a fart, let alone real waste in his body. Any waste it might have formed would have been wiped out and crushed to nothingness.

But Isolde's current expression painted a different picture. Her eyes sparkled as though to say: that'll teach you for looking down on your mother.

By the third bite he took, there was practically a heavy pit in Sylas' stomach. He had grown so heavy that his chair creaked under him. But he still picked up his fork and took a fourth, and then a fifth.

The light in his eyes was growing brighter, and he could even feel his stats shifting. It was only by a few dozen points at a time-a drop in the bucket compared to the seven-figure monstrosities most of his Core Stats had become.

But this was just a single meal.

Sylas looked up and met his mother's amused look.

His mother and father had never been fools. They had never reached the level of the Grimblades because they had always prioritized family over everything else.

They worked normal nine-to-five days, not allowing the normal grind of running a business to bog them down. Yet, they had still been so successful.

Sylas' parents had been well-established before the Summoning. It had to be remembered that they had brought out a private jet to fly to the Grimblade's private estate.

They were more than well off. They had been of the 1%.

In a lot of ways, Sylas' parents weren't too different from him. They succeeded just enough until they were content and then didn't pursue more. But... they had done so for very different reasons.

They had done it for love of family and a cherishing of the time they had alive and their children.

Sylas had done it because he was bored.

But regardless of the reason, the ultimate result was the exact same. There was little difference at all.

Sylas underestimated his parents probably because he didn't really put anyone on his level. Most of his thoughts about how exceptional his sister was happened through the lens of an elder brother who wouldn't disparage his younger sister. His very existence was meant to protect her-how could he insult her?

Maybe in the same way, even though he never actively had thoughts that disparaged his parents, he still subconsciously babied them like he did Elara?

The question was... should he?

Sylas' gaze flickered.

He put himself in the shoes of his parents for a moment, and they had a son like him—a son whose potential was endless, but had a disposition that was... dangerous, to say the least.

Sylas wondered. If he had different parents, if Isolde and Cedric hadn't placed such a heavy importance on family and love from a very early age... What sort of person would he be?

And if he went a step further than that...

How much of his parents' decision had to do with the fact that this was how they wanted to live life...

Versus how they had to live life because he was their son?

Sylas felt as though the world was flipping on its head when he looked at his mother now. He saw her through a new light, and it felt like he was finally understanding something he hadn't.

Nature versus nurture...

It wasn't something Sylas thought about much. He just knew he was better than everyone else, but he didn't quite understand how much of that was just his own making versus how much of it was dependent on his environment.

It seemed that his environment was irrelevant. After all, he wasn't born into the main Grimblade family, and his parents had never really pushed him to be more than he already was.

Even when there was a sudden drop-off at school and he stopped trying to overachieve-feeling like someone was constantly testing him for no reason-his parents hadn't shown any disappointment at all.

It seemed from the surface that they were just figureheads in his life-parents that were there, but hadn't ever really been responsible for his growth.

But the more Sylas stared into his mother's eyes, the more he felt just how ridiculous his previous thoughts were.

His parents recognized the sort of son they had and took this approach on purpose. Their thoughts were no less meticulous than his own, and it took until he was 28 before he finally noticed it.

He wasn't Sylas Grimblade by his own merit alone. He was Sylas Grimblade because of how he was raised and who his parents were the life he had led until now and everything that came with that.

Sylas' hair raised from his shoulders, an aura threatening to shatter the very foundation of the City Lord Mansion.

[Madness (Silver)] - ProgenitorThe Madness consumes you, but does not control you. Instead, it becomes your tool to both control yourself and others. You, while steeped in Madness, maintain your wits about you. Your enemies, though, are not so lucky.

[+1000% Charisma] [+1000% Will]

[A/N: significant note below]

Apologies. In the previous chapter, there was a copy/paste error. Yes, Madness regressed to Silver, but it wasn't Progenitor Mastery yet. It's a new Comprehension, so it came back down to Fragmented Mastery. The real gap is a halving.

Now it really is at Progenitor Mastery, leaping up in one go