Genetic Ascension

He held on strong, activating <Little Madness> and pulling with his doubled strength. At that moment, his raw power was truly great.

A howl of pain was preceded by a spurt of blood.

Sylas already had his escape plan prepared, ducking and rolling again to get out of the way.

He tossed the bloodied tongue to the side, his green irises exuding a chilly light. It wasn't killing intent, but rather sheer focus.

He slowly dismantled the BOSS creature, cutting at its weaknesses one by one until it was just a shell of itself. It was completely disoriented, unable to make its way in the world any longer.

Sylas controlled two more fangs, driving them right up Big Madness' flaring nostrils. Like this, the python not only lost the ability to see or smell, but had also lost the ability to breathe with any sort of ease.

That was when Sylas sent in a second pair of fangs into its nostrils, and then a third pair. He would have sent another, but he ran out. Even so, it didn't seem to matter.

Lacking sensory perception, and now having lost the ability to breathe normally.

Big Madness began to keep its mouth open. Mouth breathing was the only option it had left to it, but the pooling blood that came from its torn-off tongue was making it a nightmare.

It was too busy rampaging to slow down, and the cumulation of lost breath from its nose, and the fact blood was pooling into its lungs now with every haggard breath, was slowing it down further and further.

Sylas whittled the creature down step by step. It was an almost methodical slaughter. Compared to how he had been when he first entered the dungeon, this was on another level.

This was the Sylas Brown he preferred to be.

In the Madness… he felt he understood himself better.

---

[You have slayed Big Madness]

[Floor Three of Slithering Madness Cleared]

[You have Cleared Slithering Madness Dungeon (F)]

[Rewards]

[>Big Madness (Skill)]

[>Soft Gene Elixir (Consumable)]

[>Big Madness Slayer (Title)]

[>Madness Key (1/2) (Treasure)]

---

'Madness Key?'

Sylas had basically expected the other things, but this caught him off guard. Especially the fact that it only seemed to be one of a set of two.

An elixir bottle and a key fell into his hands. The latter was shaped like a very ancient key, one forged of heavy metal and had quite some thickness to it. However, it was flat on one side, while its head was formed of a maze of peaks and valleys that likewise only looked half complete. If there was another half, it would slide into the maze quite perfectly, Sylas could imagine.

'Was the other key in the other paths? But it said the dungeon was complete… do I have to find the other key elsewhere? Or can the dungeon be completed more than once, maybe?'

Sylas looked toward the other rewards.

---

[Big Madness (Skill)]

[A little bit of Madness never hurt anyone. Exchange your sanity for a strength boost]

---

Sylas nodded to himself. That seemed to be why <Little Madness> used the word power. It focused more on Constitution, though there was a great Strength boost as well.

He activated <Big Madness> and a familiar pattern repeated itself.

---

[Your understanding of <Big Madness> has deepened]

[<Big Madness> has reached Legendary Mastery]

--- 𝖋𝔯𝖊𝖊𝖜𝔢𝖇𝔫𝖔𝔳𝔢𝖑.𝖈𝔬𝖒

[Big Madness (Skill)]

[A little bit of Madness never hurt anyone; however, it is nothing to you. Use the Madness to increase your strength]

[+300% Strength]

---

'That much Strength? That's a four times multiplier. But what if <Little Madness> and <Big Madness> were activated at the same time? Would the +300% be added to the base number or the already +100% of <Little Madness>?'

Sylas soon got his answer, and it was quite disappointing.

When he activated both Skills at once, or rather tried to, he was forced to immediately stop. It wasn't because something had stopped him, but rather because he felt that the paths the Aether in his body were trying to take were about to clash. If he continued, he might have even ended up killing himself.

He didn't know what it would mean for Aether to explode inside of you, but it didn't take a genius to know it wouldn't be good.

Maybe if his Constitution was higher, he could take the risk. But for now, activating both would be a death sentence.

'But would it even be possible for my body to withstand a four times multiplier to my Strength stat without the support of higher Constitution?'

Until now, the Skills hadn't really made Sylas feel uncomfortable. It was probably because the power came from Aether, rather than increasing what his body itself was capable of.

But even if that was the case, if he tried to use this added Strength to make contact with something, he could really hurt himself.

He looked down at his hands. He really needed a weapon. Or…

His gaze landed on Big Madness' corpse. He closed the distance with a few steps and placed a hand on it.

---

[Big Madness]

[Gene Detected]

[Common Gene: (4) Strength (F); (3) Constitution (F)]

[Attempt Assimilation?]

[Yes] [No]

---

Sylas braced himself, remembering the horrid paid it took to assimilate Common Genes. He found something to bite onto and then moved his intention toward [Yes].

---

[Gene Assimilation Starting…]

[Gene Assimilation Triggered]

---

[Genes Successfully Assimilated]

[Common Gene: (1) Strength (F); (2) Constitution (F)]

---

[Genes Failed Assimilation]

[Common Gene: (3) Strength (F); (1) Constitution (F)]

---

A deep grunt left Sylas' lips, his fingers digging into the ground. The nails he had lost on his right hand still hadn't recovered, and yet he didn't even seem to notice as he dug deeper and deeper, biting down on the piece of his pants hard.

It took several minutes before he finally collapsed in what felt like a pool of his sweat. He barely registered a familiar disappointing message.

---

[Strength Stat has reached 50 and cannot increase further. Species limit has been reached. Please evolve Species, increase Level, or change Class to progress further]