Beads of sweat fell from Sylas' brows. Or rather, they would have had it not been for the fact his head seed to overheat to the point of evaporating them instantly.
All Astrid and Malachi could see was an impenetrable shield constantly protecting him, but what they couldn't see was the fact that Sylas was continuously drawing again and again.
These short burst drawings lasted for no more than split monts even to Sylas' slowed perception, and each one took another huge chunk out of his ntal.
But Sylas was no less than a machine.
Every line, every stroke, every foundation was just a little bit more perfect, just a little bit closer to what he needed.
And then he crossed Breath Mastery and he saw the other side.
Sylas' gaze sharpened. This wasn't good.
There was a very big elephant in the room right now that he had yet to confront.
Just how many foundations were in a Gene Talent Rune?
The complexity of a Rune was usually decided by the number of foundations, and from Sylas' understanding, the pinnacle of complexity for an F-Grade Rune was 100 foundations.
But Gene Runes already felt unfathomable to Sylas, so how much more complicated were Gene Talent Runes? But if they were both at 100 foundations, then what was the difference between them?
That was when he realized that his Gene Talent Rune wasn't 100 foundations at all. It was a re 10.
10 foundations.
Just 10.
Wait, was it even that many? Or could it be even less than that?
This should have been a good thing, but Sylas imdiately realized that this was anything but. That was because it opened himself up to a question that he hadn't even known to consider until now.
If foundations weren't what made them so complicated, then what was it? Was it really just a matter of a perfect, 100% mastery drawing? Or was there sothing deeper?
It didn't take Sylas long to realize that it was a combination of the two, and the latter of them was where the crux of his problem lay, even if he had yet to confirm he could accomplish the forr.
The sh of Reality.
There was sothing particularly special about the foundations used here, unique from any Rune Language that Sylas had ever seen, so much so that he couldn't describe them even through Ancient Ithkuil.
As he tried to organize them in his mind, he found himself practically short-circuiting and reverting back to his native tongue. When in doubt, he couldn't even begin to describe his own confusion.
Sylas ran into a wall.
The blades were coming faster and sharper, to the point that they were beginning to carry so decent pace even within Sylas' slowed perception.
By this point, Malachi and Astrid could only focus on themselves. They weren't dealing with the blades one by one like Sylas was. Instead, they were deploying blanket domains in one direction, continuously clashing with whatever ca.
Sylas didn't have the luxury to do this because not only would it destroy his Blade Aura Gene Talent even faster, it would also make it more difficult to study it and practice.
He had to balance activating it and using the brief instances where it was off to observe and attempt to draw so more.
But now, he was in a lull, and the challenges only seed to be coming heavier and faster.
It also wasn't lost on Sylas that this was almost certainly just the first of many challenges in this so-called Destiny Quest. He was already at a disadvantage with a poor Blade Aura Gene Talent; if he couldn't even break free of this…
These were all thoughts he should probably be having. But sothing just felt… different right now.
He recalled the first ti he hit a wall, that pathetic showing in the depths of the volcano his mind refused to let him forget. He recalled just how many tis he had run into a wall, again and again.
It always ca with the sa emotions.
Doubt. Anger. Unwillingness.
He didn't feel that today.
He just felt… focus.
'This feeling. It feels exactly like when I couldn't comprehend Demonic Runes no matter how hard I tried…'
Was there another Will out there? A Third Will type, outside of his normal Will and Demonic Will, that he would need to comprehend sothing like this?
Sylas' mind jumped and danced agilely around the problem. His thoughts hadn't felt so free, so unfettered since he was a child. There was a bubbling, unbridled confidence rumbling through his chest, and every deduction he made only made the next co faster, smoother.
'No.'
A darkness pulsed in one of Sylas' eyes, the other blazing with a bright green. A shimring erald and a deathly blackened green.
'How fascinating…'
Sylas could finally see it now. As much as the system seed to hate Demons…
It couldn't do anything without them.
Sylas' Wills clashed and everything changed.
Breath Mastery.
He realized now that what he previously thought was 40% Mastery was nothing more than a facade, a fake; he hadn't been close at all. But this, this was exactly the feeling.
But he only remained there for a mont. His accumulated understanding and deductions began to accelerate his progress. At the sa ti, his shocking mory ca into play as he perfectly recalled Lucius' Blade Aura Gene Talent before it was sacrificed to his Gene Talent Crystal.
With a complete Gene Talent as a template, perfectly comprehending his incomplete Gene Talent beca easier and easier, and he crossed 50% Mastery.
And then 60%.
Sylas began to use his abilities to repair his Gene Talent Rune directly, and though this wasn't a perfect repair, it still managed to slow the deterioration considerably.
At the sa ti, reaching Soul Mastery made him more efficient in wielding his Gene Talent Rune, causing the damage it suffered to lessen as well.
He could feel it. His progress was still accelerating.
And then it happened.
—
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