Genetic Ascension

Leveling to a Grade 1 Rudimentary Town when they weren't even yet an Elite Village in just a handful of days sounded impossible. But it was something that both Sylas and Cassarae had agreed was strictly necessary.

It had taken almost a year to make it to Grade 9 Common Village, and now they wanted to jump more than a full realm up.

But it was also clear that Cassarae had a plan — a plan that might have involved Sylas' wealth, but wouldn't require his direct action nonetheless.

Sylas had already used up all of his money on conquering the three System Cities quickly. However, that was only the money that he could liquidate quickly.

Very soon, it would be clear that that was far from the end of just how vast his stores were.

However, due to Cassarae's orders, that would have little to do with Sylas.

…

[Arcane Telekinesis].

The words floated in Sylas' head when he turned his attention to his Madness Key.

The odd technique, or whatever it was, had vanished into the complex three-dimensional Key that hung from his neck.

Now, turning his attention to it, it popped up of its own accord, but it was just the name. There didn't seem to be a Secret Realm or anything else attached to it.

It was an odd feeling.

The words almost felt… tangible, real…

Sylas stared at it for a long while, poking and prodding it with his Will.

But nothing happened. Experience tales at empire

I see…

It took Sylas about three seconds to understand. Then, he also understood why it was that this "technique" had just fused into the Madness Key.

The feeling of observing it was not much different from using the Madness Key to sense and comprehend Madness itself.

The words themselves were the "technique."

When Sylas had this thought, the characters that seemed to have been translated, rotated, and shifted.

He only just realized that they had been in Ancient Ithkuil. Now, the symbols looked similar to Ithkuil, but maybe a different dialect? Or a different language that used the same alphabet?

It was odd.

Regardless, the feel was similar, and so too seemed to be the purpose.

But somehow, Sylas felt that it was… less perfect, less complete, and less clear than Ancient Ithkuil was.

Either way, Sylas could feel its intentions well enough, and while comparing and contrasting the two versions, its purpose became clear to him as well.

Observing these two words allows my telekinesis to grow firmer, stronger. And if I use my perception slow…

Sylas layered in his Progenitor Flame Ability, and the effects of the words redoubled.

Then he began to feel it intimately.

Three seconds ticked by, and then the power of his telekinesis increased from 1000 pounds to 1001.

Another four seconds, and then it increased to 1002.

These seconds were counted in Sylas' sped-up perception. As a result, in the outside world, it had still not even been a full second.

Sylas stopped.

This was fascinating, and obviously very useful. Usually, his telekinesis power could only increase when his Will reached a new stage. But now it felt like he was reaffirming and increasing the solid base of his foundation.

But Sylas still felt like this wasn't quite enough. What else was he missing?

What Sylas didn't know was that most often, it took weeks for even those that could reach this stage of Madness Disciple to realize the use of these words, while it had taken him three seconds.

Trying to find anything more, especially so soon… well…

Whatever that meant had nothing to do with Sylas, because he quickly found exactly what he was looking for.

So… it is deeper than that. I didn't think that this was possible, but I should have guessed it.

Every time Sylas used his Seeds, he pulled on them with his Intention. In recent times, he had begun to rely on them less and less.

The healing capabilities of the Greed Seed weren't necessary to him anymore, not when he had so much wealth to spend on high-quality Healing Elixirs, combined with his new and improved Hibernation Halo, and the fact that these days… very little could leave him in such an injured state to begin with.

And then there was his Gluttony Seed. After the pounds of force his telekinesis could exhibit had increased so much, it was less and less useful.

1000 pounds of force was a lot or a little depending on how you looked at it. It was more than enough to crush an enemy if their Will was weak enough, but it wasn't enough to wield mountains or shatter buildings, and neither was the 2000 pounds of force his Gluttony Seed could give him.

But this [Arcane Telekinesis]… it opened up a new door, one that allowed him to more directly nurture his Seeds with his Will.

There's a third layer here…

After finding the first thread, Sylas kept pulling, and he made one new discovery after another until he was already three deep.

Madness… is this the path to breaching the modern system limitations?

Sylas' gaze flickered.

I see… So this is the difference…

Sylas thought that he was missing out on raw power. After all, if his Legendary Mastery Madness had a total of +1000% to his stats, +600% for Charisma and +400% for his Will, what would the percentages be beyond?

But it seemed that he had misunderstood.

The gap between Legendary and non-Legendary Path Comprehensions wasn't a matter of raw percentages. In fact, he had already reached the peak potential.

What was really limiting it was the auxiliary abilities.

His Madness could target the minds of others. His Mixed Martial Arts could morph and change, swallowing the combat styles of others or quickly finding their weaknesses. His Glassvolt Comprehension could swallow Glassvolt to spark extreme changes in his Physical, especially his reaction time, Speed, and Dexterity.

But as great as these abilities sounded, they were so vague, and didn't have hard-set rules and quite frankly… didn't feel as powerful as they should be.

If they were, Sylas wouldn't have ignored this auxiliary ability of his Madness for so long.

And now… [Arcane Telekinesis] seemed to be like a stand-in.

This was the true power of telekinesis: to use the Will as an extension of the mind.

And what was more important to the mind than Comprehension?