Genetic Ascension

'I need to target small animals, ones that are at best 10% of my body weight, at worst 50%. Until I have the strength to go up against much more dangerous creatures, I will have to stick with what I can comfortably deal with even if I have no Aether or extra Genes.'

Sylas laid down his pride and realized he couldn't be some big game hunter if he wanted to survive. If he could just eat bugs on his way to gaining Genes, he would do so. But he had killed a few while stalking the elk just for a meal, and there was never anything to gain.

He assumed that the system had some sort of minimum size requirement, or he was targeting the wrong kind of bugs.

There was some good news aside from the blow to his ego.

For one, the corpses of the two red foxes he had killed were much more manageable than the elk. If he used his Blade Aura to target a small part of it, he could even cook them without starting a fire.

'Grandfather said I should look for a dungeon soon as well. Reach 20 Physical as quickly as possible and enter a Dungeon…'

There were only two ways to gain items and treasures aside from Genes in this gamified world. The first was to steal from spawned cities, and the second was Dungeons.

These spawned cities were different from the System Cities that would appear after the trial period was over. They were challenges created for those that chose the Common City Stele. Though there was no rule that said that Sylas couldn't attack one even without a City Stele, it's just that he would have a death wish if he tried to do so.

The second and more manageable challenge were the Dungeons. That wasn't to say that they were easy, but rather that the variables were tightly controlled.

Unfortunately, entering a Dungeon was easier said than done. According to his grandfather, Dungeons gave off a dense concentration of Aether. Due to that, more powerful creatures tended to flock around it even though they could not enter. 20 Physical was more of a requirement just to lay eyes on it than it was a minimum to enter.

Sylas took a breath. 'Sleep.'

He broke out into a light jog, taking a more roundabout route back to the elk's territory.

He found a natural gourd hanging from a tree and ripped it off. Then, he entered the region of a familiar lake.

Gourds needed to be carefully dried and prepped for a long while before they could be used like containers, but Sylas had a convenient shortcut for that. At this point, Blade Aura felt far more useful for miscellaneous matters than it was for actual combat.

This would be the only convenient time he would be able to come to this lake, so he had to take advantage.

Sylas froze.

He looked down at the clear waters and couldn't believe what he was seeing. Aside from the dirty reflection that looked back at him, beyond that, deep within, there seemed to be something radiating a dense pulse of Aether.

It was a Dungeon, Sylas was certain. But what he couldn't understand was how he could possibly be so unlucky.

If the Dungeon was in the water, wouldn't that mean that all the most powerful beasts would flock here after their evolutions were complete?

Even if he followed down the river, because of what he had learned from his grandfather, he knew it would be useless. With this level of Aether being pumped out, it would definitely follow the current and raise the concentration for countless kilometers. The longer this Dungeon went unfinished, the worse the situation would get.

How would he get water?

'Fruits? Rain? Blood?'

These were the only answers Sylas could come up with, but each was unreliable.

Fruits or vegetables could tide his hydration over for a while, but how long? An extra few days?

Given how much exercise he was doing on a daily basis, his throat was already dry after just today alone and he was running on empty. If not for his great stamina, he might have already collapsed.

Rain? This was a rainforest, after all. In a particularly tropical rainforest, it might even occur every few hours.

However, in this last day, no rain had fallen. In addition, he had no idea how the introduction of Aether would impact the ecosystem and weather. Even if it had rained, it would be hard to rely on it.

If he took a step back and chose to blindly believe that it would rain, how would he capture it? His mobility was his greatest asset right now, but having a reliable form of collecting rain required a base, a protected one. And what if one day his base was compromised, and all his accumulated rain was ruined?

Relying on blood was the worst of the options. He still hadn't dismissed the possibility that the red fox gave him rabies. How could he, in good conscience, drink blood? Even if he was willing to take that chance, blood had a sodium content about as high as salt water. He would just be killing himself slowly.

Sylas dunked his head into the water. Having already been chilled by the night, it was a nice shock to his system.

He greedily took large gulps, and for the first time, he wasn't hyper-fixated on the surrounding environment, always looking around another corner for the next creature that wanted to eat his flesh.

It was easily a minute before he pulled himself out.

This was what he had wanted, no? Excitement? Was this exciting?

No. It was terrifying.

There was a slight tremor in his body that hadn't been there before. The idea of slowly dying of dehydration played in his mind so vividly that he might as well have already experienced it once before.

That was the ultimate outcome. No matter how many ideas he thought of, that was the end of it. He couldn't escape it.

If he left here today, it would be a race between his body tapping out and his Physical reaching 20, but even if the latter managed to win out, what state would his body be in at that point? Could he even fight his way back here?

He had followed that elk for so long, moving across dozens of kilometers, and yet didn't see a single ounce of water elsewhere.

He didn't like that feeling of helplessness. It was why he had made the stupid decision of coming here in the first place.

Sylas stood at his feet. He pulled his blood-matted shirt and pants off before he began to clean his body. All the dirt, mud, and grime from the day were peeled off layer by layer under the harsh rubbing of his fingers.

His green eyes didn't contain any fear, nor helplessness. It was hard to read his emotions at all as he finally stepped out, feeling the cool wind slowly dry him.

He stood there in silence, ironically as one with nature as he had ever been. Somewhere deep inside, he seemed to understand that this might truly be his last day.

His gaze landed on a tree with particularly large leaves and he pulled down a few vines from the surroundings. Carefully, he bundled his clothing into these leaves and tied them up tight using the vines.

Then, he dove into the waters, holding his short spear and antler blade in one hand, while dragging his bundle of clothes in the other.

He would rather die in that dungeon than slowly cannibalize his own body out here.

That was the choice of Sylas Brown.