Sylas could feel every level clearly. Not just what they represented, but the emotions tied to them. He understood now why it was Fanelei had such a hard ti taking the final step.
The truth of the matter was that Fanelei had the best set up for forging a Virtue Seed that Sylas had ever seen. Granted, it wasn't as though he had ever seen sothing similar. If he had to guess, the S-tiers that he had sensed through Leia's Madness Key probably had far better set ups. After all, they had succeeded in reaching the S-tier while Fanelei had not. Though it could also be the case that their ntalities were just better suited to Gluttony.
Still, he found that Fanelei's ability to build out her path was perfect. It was almost like she had sliced the aning of Gluttony into pieces and mastered them one by one before hoping to piece them all together.
The problem with this approach, of course, was that Fanelei had made a mistake that many had. For one, she blurred the lines between Gluttony and Greed far too much. Those lines were more obvious to Sylas now that he had the Greed Seed himself. But even then, the Greed Seed wasn't truly his own. Instead, it was guided by his Pride Seed, so while he could feel out those layers, he would have to focus a lot more in order to truly divide them out properly.
However, the dividing lines between Greed and Gluttony was only one problem that Fanelei faced. The other part was this clear weight that she had been holding onto.
She had lost a lot in her life.
Sylas only saw Fanelei as a useful tool for him to use, but the reality was that she was soone who had lived a life herself. Several lives. She had experienced millennia, she had fallen in love, she had had children, she had once had parents and grandparents of her own.
Yet, the only true mber of Fanelei's family that Sylas had ever t was Leia, and there was likely very good reason for that.
That reason being that there was no one else left in the first place.
When she was forced to carry around that weight so much, it was impossible for her to focus on Gluttony alone. And the more she tried to force it, the more it seeped out into Greed.
Because Fanelei didn't just want to consu and take, she wanted to have what she had lost as well. That was an emotion only Greed would have, and Gluttony was so close that it marred what success she had once had.
In the end, she ended up in a quagmire of her own success. On the one hand, Sylas had no real flaws to pick at in terms of her choice of paths and the ways she had lived her lives. On the other, he could spot a nigh infinite number of problems when it ca to just how she went about those paths.
She would never even beco a True Disciple of Gluttony like this, let alone form a Virtue Seed.
Not until she could place down the burdens she carried everywhere.
But would that even be possible? Sylas certainly wouldn't forget if sothing like this happened to him. He had spent what felt like a lifeti lanting a single mory—the volcano. Only recently had he gotten over it, but even then that was by making a promise to himself that was practically impossible to keep.
To never make a mistake again.
If he ever failed, if he ever slipped up, if he ever faltered like he had many tis before that day… then maybe he would end up in a state even worse than Fanelei.
At least Fanelei still had her wits about her, and because she hadn't succeeded, her path didn't actually heavily rely on the existence of the Gluttony Seed just yet at all. Instead, it vaguely pulled on the feeling of both Greed and Gluttony, otherwise leaving her in a state of hoostasis.
But Sylas wouldn't be so lucky.
Watching Fanelei's journey was like being forced to watch his own life back through a mirror. And because of it, he made a choice.
She would succeed. He would make sure that she did without the slightest bit of doubt in his heart.
Sylas brought his palms together and began to work. He wouldn't be able to reform every one of Fanelei's lives to the sa level, but that was why he had stretched them out in the first place.
Starting with the First Life, the one stretched through her body the most, he would rebuild everything from the ground up. Her Genes, her Gene Talents, her Blood and Bone Essence—everything.
He was given unprecedented access to what she had spent seven lifetis to build, so he would reflect on them, comprehend them, and then reflect them back to her in a more perfect form.
He would do that for the F-tier, the E-tier, and the D-tier alone. For now, he would only be able to do so for the First, Second, and Third lives as they were the only ones stretched far enough. However, when he progressed to C-tier Fathomless Rune Creation, he would be able to do it for the Fourth.
When the day ca that he reached S-tier Fathomless Rune Creation, Fanelei would likewise reach a level of perfection that she couldn't fathom, and he would be right there every step of the way.
It was like Sylas was taking on Fanelei's success as his own, demanding of himself her success. It was almost as though if he could make sure that she reached her goals… then he would also definitely reach his own in the future.
But make no mistake, just because Sylas was only able to do this for the F-, E-, and D-tiers, didn't an that Fanelei would be weak.
On the contrary.
After he was finished, her newly minted Layers would be integrated into her foundation and for the ti being…
She would touch a level unconscionable to what she thought possible in the past.
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