Genetic Ascension

Sylas’ eyes shot open, a coldness radiating from him almost instantly. He felt that his wrist was tied down by a chain, and so was one of his ankles. Other than that, he was completely naked, as though he had been stripped down like a lab rat.

The coldness in his eyes had little to do with fury because of this, though. He had already expected as much. And just as he also expected, his Scorned Wraps were still there, as was his Madness Key around his neck.

Maybe they thought stripping him down would do something, but Sylas was probably one of the very few people in this corner of the universe that could be caught and yet not lose the slightest hint of wealth on him.

Well, that wasn’t necessarily true. Unlike others, he didn’t have protections on his Genes, so it was very possible for him to lose them. But he very much doubted that would happen.

For one, everyone here was probably so used to people having protections on their Genes that they didn’t even think or consider the possibility of succeeding in the first place, so they never tried.

And secondly… Sylas’ Genes weren’t very valuable in the grand scheme at all. There was no Gene he had on his person now that anyone who could take them in the first place would be interested in.

At best, there were his array of Silver Genes. But he hadn’t absorbed them yet to begin with, and he had them tucked away in his Madness Key.

Sylas wasn’t sure how hard they had tried to take his Scorned Wraps off. Unlike his Madness Key, they should at least be visible. But luckily, they didn’t go too far in those attempts. At least he didn’t see any signs of them going too far.

That said, he wouldn’t be surprised if there were questions about them. Questions that he, quite frankly, had no intention of answering.

Had he taken a risk by going as far as he had? Sure. But that didn’t mean that it wasn’t a calculated risk.

His gaze shifted up to the fluorescent light above him, and then down to what looked like the stainless steel table he lay on. They really were treating him like some sort of lab rat.

Sylas slowly sat up, his torso flexing, and his arm pulling back against the chain that had him pinned down. He looked at the treasure for the moment and then shook his head.

His irises rotated and the Runes that made up the chains shattered.

It seemed that while they wanted to treat him like a lab rat, they didn’t take him nearly seriously enough. Using F-Grade Treasures to pin him down was like giving him an easy get-out-of-jail-free card.

If they had used E-Grade Treasures instead, he wouldn’t have been able to Unravel the Runes, but clearly, they thought he wasn’t worth the investment.

Sylas slowly stood to his feet, looking down at the vascularity of his arms. This time, it wasn’t because his Mad Primate Gene Class had become Primal Lord. The main issue was that…

He was hungry.

So very hungry that his body was practically eating itself alive.

He now had two Silver Gene Classes working in his body, and that made the State of Wealth his thousands of Bronze Genes had given him suddenly become worthless. His body was hungry for Genes.

Looking at the door, Sylas decided to sit back down. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes, took out a Strength Silver Gene, and then slowly pressed it into his chest.

His body shuddered, a pumping, pulsing might radiating through it.

Adaptation. That was what his Madness Control seemed to have become.

Originally, Sylas didn’t understand what it meant, and he didn’t have the time to explore it before the Inspector came.

But after his experience on the Golden Grove road, he realized that he had already experienced some inklings of it before… when he faced off against the All-Seeing Eye.

Back then, Sylas had forced his body into a state of hyper-evolution, pushing it to its brink, forcing himself to experience the line of life and death that the Basilisk King Ancestor of Gogo’s past had gone through.

That brought him closer to the sensation, and he could feel the Will of the Race with greater clarity.

In the end, this helped him to complete the Fusion all on his own without relying on the system, and it was this change that triggered the evolution in his Gene Classes.

But there was still something he didn’t quite understand.

It made sense for Glassvolt to evolve under the pressure of bolts of lightning. But why had his Mad Primate Gene Class come to be too? There was something that was missing.

But sitting here now, he felt that he understood.

In that moment, his [Madness Control] had already reached Progenitor Mastery. It was so seamlessly integrated into his abilities that he rarely if ever actively triggered the start of the Skill in the first place. Sylas couldn’t remember the last time he thought of [Madness Control] first before using it, it was practically perpetually active now.

That had opened the door to Adaptation.

What was [Madness Control] originally…? It was a Skill Sylas had formed himself within the Slithering Madness Dungeon, formed from a fusion of several Skills at once.

From that moment, he had been building it up all on his own, taking every step himself.

Be Strong.

Those words echoed in his ears time and time again.

What was [Madness Control] really? What did Adaptation mean?

It was exactly what it sounded like… taking your fate into your own hands, using your Will to forge your path ahead…

To force your body to evolve by the sheer grit of your teeth and the relentless violence of external pressure.

That was what it meant to have [Madness Control]. That was what it meant to be a true Disciple of Madness.

A steamy breath left Sylas’ lips.

He pulled out another Silver Gene and pressed it against his chest.

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