Genetic Ascension

Chapter 656: Genesis Forge [Bonus]

It was a beautiful reflective jade, so perfectly polished that it was almost as clear as a mirror.

It reminded Sylas of the ocean with its gorgeous blues. When light reflected across its surface, several hues mixed into it in the pattern of a rippling wave, making it feel almost as though he really was staring into the tides of the ocean.

The blue jade landed in Sylas’ palm. Cool to the touch, it sent a shiver through him.

After several seconds of looking at it, he found nothing special at all. Even after he tried to use <Master Scouting>, this time, he got no feedback at all. In fact, it was like his Skill had passed through the jade as though it didn’t exist at all.

‘Odd…’

Sylas didn’t recklessly start probing around. Instead, he directly used the Madness Key to try and get a measure on what this was. But his pupils constricted when he saw the price.

The highest value information Sylas had ever seen from the Madness Key was related to Earth’s Summoning. Though this was in second place, the price was no joke.

—

[—]

[Cost: 300 Silver Genes]

—

Sylas hesitated. He didn’t have 300 Silver Genes. Until now in his journey, he had only ever seen four Silver Genes total, barely 1% of that number.

But he also didn’t want to leave the jade just lying around useless either.

‘A risk. Take it.’

When Sylas made this decision, he began to probe around using various methods, and unsurprisingly, one of them worked.

His Will touched the jade and it felt like his entire soul was ripped out of his body. By the time he tried to fight back, it was already too late.

…

When Sylas’ vision cleared, he found himself standing in a foggy world of blue. But he couldn’t focus on the fog much at all because his entire vision was enamored by the enormous stone stele in front of him. 𝑅ãℕổʙĚṢ

It took the shape of an obelisk, thrusting its point toward the skies and radiating an imposing aura.

—

[Genesis Forge: Progenitor Worldroot]

—

The notification didn’t just randomly pop up like it usually did. Instead, it felt like a golden stamp had descended from the skies above, taking the form of the Ancient Ithkuil characters and searing themselves into Sylas’ retinas.

The suffocating presence of the name alone made Sylas fall to a knee, a haggard cough coming from his throat. He didn’t even have the time to resist because he wasn’t worthy of doing so.

Nothing about the obelisk seemed to target him personally, and yet just its presence and the utterance of its name alone was like a slap to his face, crushing him beneath its weight…

Reminding him that he was still very far from Being Strong.

—

[First Revolution]

—

Sylas coughed up a mouthful of blood, his inner organs churning.

Then he passed out.

When Sylas awoke again, he found himself lying on limestone, his body still shuddering. Pain wrecked his body, his bones feeling like they were misaligned.

He tried to pull himself up, but that was when the dizziness hit him. He realized then that the state of his mind was far worse than the state of his body.

‘What was that?’

Was that a Treasure? A Skill? A technique?

It didn’t seem to help him at all. All it had done was injure him.

Sylas frowned, trying to get a lay of the land around him.

There was a chilly cold hanging in the air that was odd, but there was nothing else of note around him.

He was alone.

‘This is one of the rooms of the pyramid…’

Taking deep breaths, Sylas finally managed to push himself up. He stumbled slightly and pushed his back against a wall.

Slowly, he began to circulate <Maddened Enlightenment>.

The pain began to slowly subside, though it got worse before it got better.

He managed to push through, and after his mind regained its bearings, he was able to exhale and finally see clearly again.

<Maddened Enlightenment> began to circulate at its fastest pace and Sylas finally settled into a comfortable rhythm.

After 20 or so minutes, Sylas found that his Wisdom, Will, and Aether had all recovered well.

Opening his eyes, he exhaled a breath.

‘That was dangerous. I definitely put the jade into the Madness Key first as an extra layer of protection, but I still ended up like this. How did something only my mind was sucked into hurt my body? Unless…’

Could it be that his whole body was pulled into that world? If that was true, then…

Sylas’ expression changed and he hurriedly looked inside of the Madness Key.

‘…’

Out of habit, Sylas had stocked up a large number of beasts in the Madness Key. On top of that, there were a ton of excess Genes he had from the Demons and the various beasts he had to deal with while clearing them all out as well.

As such, Sylas’ Madness Key, despite its now over 200 meter dimensions, was almost always stocked full.

But now…

Everything was gone.

Other than his treasures, there wasn’t a single beast corpse left. They had all been drained away by the Madness Key, including the powerful beasts he had gathered from the Split Realm Dungeon.

There was only one explanation that Sylas could think of for this. Well, there was a second that assumed he had been knocked out for far longer than he thought. But he didn’t think that was it.

‘I must have entered the jade with my real body. When I was expelled, I was ejected into the Madness Key… but the Madness Key can’t take on living things. It must have sacrificed all of these Genes in order to save me from an immediate death.

‘But in that case… is my body so injured because of the jade? Or because of the Madness Key?’

Suddenly, Sylas wasn’t so sure of that answer.

He exhaled a frosty breath and couldn’t help but frown.

‘Why is the temperature here below zero? Something is wrong.’

Sylas stood to his feet and stepped out to find a scene that left him without words.

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