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1.2% Genetic Ascension / Chapter 10: No Room for Error

Chapter 10: No Room for Error

[Name: Sylas Grimblade] 

[Species: Human (F)]

---

[Physical: 7] 

>[Strength: 5] 

>[Constitution: 5] 

>[Dexterity: 11]

>[Speed: 8] 

[Mental: 6] 

>[Intelligence: 5] 

>[Wisdom: 10] 

>[Charisma: 2] 

[Will: 11] 

[Luck: 1] 

---

Sylas' eyes narrowed when he saw the notification alerting his mind. He felt that it would be a bit dangerous if this happened in a situation where he needed hyper concentration, but he could only make-do for now. 

The Title system was something else his grandfather had told him about. 

In general, a Titles' rareness could be decided by the kind of boosts it gave. The fact that this one could even increase the odds of absorbing Genes, even if it was only Genes of a specific type, meant that it was on the rarer side. 

Interestingly enough, Titles that gave boosts to hidden stats like Dexterity rather than overall stats like Physical or Mental were on the more common side of things. 

The fact that this Title checked both boxes told Sylas that he would have to weigh several things in the future. 

He found it odd that Titles didn't come with grades like much everything else seemed to, but he took it in stride. After all, he had other things to focus on right now. 

Night fell, but by dusk, the elk had already found a region to sleep. 

'This is odd…' Sylas thought to himself. 

The sleeping pattern was too… human. 

Most animals didn't fall into a normal human-like sleep pattern. Sylas wasn't sure of the exact sleep-pattern of elks, but he felt that the fact it was going to rest at this time was peculiar.

Even after the elk had fallen asleep, Sylas continued to wait. 

After about a quarter hour, he noticed something interesting. An energy fell down from the skies and matched the steady breathing rhythm of the elk. 

'Aether,' Sylas concluded as he put two and two together. 

He wasn't being schemed against by this elk, its intelligence was that of a normal animal. It was impossible for it to lure him into a trap. 

Rather, it seemed that this system might have forced these beasts into uncharacteristic routines so that they could be evolved over time while they slept. This way, every day, they would grow stronger. 

'Now or never.'

Sylas never hesitated when he made a decision, especially not one with such high stakes. 

The elk had done all the heavy lifting for him. This region was about as secluded as you could get in this dense forest. If he waited for the elk to evolve first, he didn't know if his plan would work. 

In the depths of the night, it was almost impossible to see. The sun could hardly penetrate the thick foliage in the day, let alone the moon now. 

However, the gentle rain of Aether, though subtle, was just enough for Sylas to know where he was going. That, and the fact he had carefully scouted out this region in the day as well, prepared him for this eventuality. 

He burst into action and appeared behind the elk. He guessed that even if he made some noise, the likelihood that the elk would awaken mid-evolution was next to nil. Even so, he remained as stealthy as he could, rushing in from the back of the sleeping creature. 

At that moment, something inside him stirred. It was something that he had stealthily tested throughout the day: his Blade Aura Gene Talent. 

The stone he held in his hand gained a subtle twinge of something special as he leapt onto the back of the elk and swung for its skull at the same time. 

The sound of bone splintering echoed. 

Dexterity was a stat that decided not just one's flexibility, but also how effectively one could use their Strength and Speed. The antlers of the elk were large, and they provided great cover, however even while swinging with all his might, Sylas' stone managed to find a way through just the slightest gap, driving down with a strong force. 

The pulse of pain woke the elk. A cry that sounded like a mix between a cow's moo and a whale's roar echoed out. 

Sylas frowned. His plan was to end it in a single strike. His Blade Aura might be weaker than a true-blooded Grimblade's should be, and his weapon might be hardly considered a weapon at all, but it should have been enough. 

'The Aether…'

This was the only conclusion that made sense. Even though the evolution was incomplete, it had already had such an exaggerated effect. 

Sylas tightly bound his thighs to the back of the elk and held onto one of its branching antlers with his free hand. Using the latter as leverage, he raised his hand-ax into the skies and drove it down again. 

At that moment, he felt an unprecedented calm. 

Even when he thought about having to kill a living, breathing animal with a weapon as crude as a hand-ax, he didn't flinch away from it. He simply felt that it was a necessity. There was no need to question it. 

The elk rushed up, its will for survival burning bright, and yet it was too disoriented and foolish to understand where the danger was. 

Its body flared with an unknown energy, and all it knew was that there was pain coming from its head. 

It lowered its antlers, nearly throwing Sylas off its back completely as it rushed head-first toward a tree. 

It missed. 

Sylas' first two blows were enough that it couldn't control its body properly anymore and it ran by the tree instead, its right set of antlers getting clipped on the bark and causing its neck to be ripped to the side. 

In this moment, Sylas noted several things. 

For one, the body of the elk was already much stronger than it should be. Its speed and acceleration were greater than what he had observed before, but its durability hadn't caught up. 

The violent force of its antlers being caught in the tree broke off a large segment of it and worsened its injuries. However, it also put Sylas in danger. 

His legs were currently clamped around the neck of the elk. If it had a close shave with another tree, there was no doubt that he'd lose one of his legs or maybe them both at this kind of speed. 

As fast as his mind was moving, Sylas knew that he couldn't jump off now. 

The elk was definitely in its death throes, but with Aether as a variable, who knew how far it could run? How many animals would it alert? More importantly than that, wouldn't he lose the right to benefit from its corpse if it disappeared into the distance? 

He had wasted an entire day waiting for this opportunity. He only had seven of them before his Soft Gene State wore off. There was no room for error. 

He raised his hand again as another tree swiftly approached, but this time he forgot everything.

There was just the blade in his hand and the spot of red on the elk's skull.

In the night, his pair of green eyes sparkled like gems.

And then his hand-ax descended.


Chapter 11: 50-50

The crack was resounding, the stone blade in Sylas' palm even splitting once more as the elk collapsed, skidding along its front knees before one of its antlers was caught in the ground, sending Sylas flying off. 

Sylas' shoulder rolled forward and he popped back up swiftly. 

The first thing he did was scan the area. It was hard to see anything at all, so he listened carefully. 

His breathing was even and his heartbeat was slow despite the situation he had been in. Everything felt slow as the seconds ticked by, but ultimately, there was nothing. 

'It seems that the night might come with some extra safety. It would be best to be nocturnal in this situation, but if I sleep in the day where the animals are most active, won't I put myself in danger?'

Sylas had already not slept for over a day. He hadn't had anything to drink either, and other than some bugs he had conveniently eaten while stalking the elk, he hadn't had anything to eat either. 

He wasn't worried about food. This was a matter of survival, so he wasn't grossed out by eating insects if he had to. In addition, he had a good understanding of what was and wasn't poisonous in terms of the plant life after observing the elk for a day. 

However, fatigue wasn't something he could ignore. 

Sylas shrugged this off for now and walked to the elk, putting a hand on it. 

[Irish Elk] 

[Gene Detected] 

[Fragmented Gene: Speed (F)] 

[Attempt Assimilation?] 

[Yes][No] 

Titled Genes like the Grimblade family's Grimblade Lineage were on the rarer side. Most Genes were like this one, bolstering a certain aspect of one's Physical stats. 

Between Titled Genes and Physical Genes like this one, there were Attribute Genes which were a little rarer and could give one control over a certain type of Aether or other mysterious abilities. 

The rarest Genes of them all, though, were Genes that could grant Gene Talents. 

His grandfather had been very vague about any more specifics than this, but he had said that the world of Genes and how one could learn to use and manipulate them were endless. It was a topic that there was the least amount of information on, and yet one should strive to learn the most about. 

Regardless, Physical Genes had their usefulness as well, that being that they were the easiest kind of Genes to stack. So long as they shared the same name, they could be fused. 

In addition, they were repeatable. In this forest, it was doubtful that there'd only be a single elk. In that case, it should be true that so long as he kept killing elks, he would continue to get the Speed Gene. 

[Yes]. 

Sylas held his breath. For the first time, he actually felt some of his nerves getting to him. 

He hadn't felt nervous jumping into this death trap; he hadn't felt nervous stalking an animal that could kill him with a few kicks; he hadn't even felt nervous when he moved to strike it dead. 

But this 50/50 chance he was staring down right now had a lot riding on it. 

He had wasted an entire day on this elk, just for this chance right here. That was already one of his seven days. 

If he let the seven-day timer run out, he would be back to a Rigid Gene State and have a 0% chance of absorbing any Genes. Well, aside from that unexplained 10% boost his Title gave him. 

To make matters worse, after seeing how powerful the elk got after just an incomplete evolution, just how much worse would his situation be tomorrow when he was surrounded by an entire forest worth of animals that had actually completed theirs? 

[Gene Assimilation Starting…] 

[Gene Assimilation Failed] 

Sylas stared at the screen for a long time before slowly closing his eyes. He took a deep breath. 

When he opened them again, his calm was just the same, and he moved on. A 50/50 chance was good odds, but ultimately, by definition, they were good odds of failing as well. 

His Title boost hadn't kicked in—something he could subconsciously tell—so the elk wouldn't be the best bang for his buck either. 

He needed to shift his attention. If he wallowed in his own misery, he would just be waiting for death. 

The first thing he did was look toward the elk's corpse. 

It would be good food, but it was impossible for him to make use of it. The greatest benefit of this dead elk right now is that he should be able to make use of its territory to get some sleep of his own in. 

He looked at the broken antlers before walking forward and picking up some of the pieces. 

An elk's antlers were incredibly sturdy, they were the naturally forged weapons of the creature. The fact they broke like this was one part coincidence, and another part due to the elk's evolution. 

'Considering the fact it gave me a Speed Gene, that meant its evolution tended toward that aspect. It should mean that its Speed Stat overwhelmed its Constitution Stat, which is why running into the tree like that caused its antlers to break.'

Another secondary point was the sturdiness of the trees themselves. Their leaves didn't even rustle after the impact. 

'This is good.'

Sylas found what he was looking for: an antler with a particularly sharp point. 

Blade Aura could only be applied to a weapon. His hand didn't seem capable of withstanding the Gene Talent without a great amount of pain. It had felt like he stuck his hand in a microwave when he tried. In addition, Blade Aura seemed to only be as good as the medium through which it was used. 

The hand-ax was too inferior, and it took several solid blows before Sylas could kill the elk. Part of that was due to it being in a half-evolved state, but as Sylas had already concluded, Constitution wasn't the elk's strong point. 

This sharp antler, however, was a far better conduit. 

Even so, it wasn't Sylas' goal. 

Bending down, Sylas channeled Blade Aura again before using the sharp end to begin carefully carving around the elk's leg. 

His target was the elk equivalent of the human femur. The femur was the strongest bone in the body, and though Sylas wasn't an expert on elks, he assumed that there was some decent crossover here too. If this bone wasn't the strongest one in the elk's body, it wouldn't be far from it. 

Sylas suddenly felt a wave of fatigue, but he had already expected this. It would be foolish to assume that he could just use Blade Aura indefinitely without any consequences. 

Even so, he had already succeeded. Using his high Dexterity, he targeted the soft flesh around the hind hip bones of the elk and took one of its legs. 

Then he hauled it over his shoulder and rushed back to the elk's original territory. 

As he moved, he thought about another problem he was facing: blood. 

During the day, he hadn't come across any carnivorous creatures, but that didn't mean there weren't any. The death of the elk could attract them, and the leg he had just taken was not only heavy, it could also bring him burdens in other ways as well. 

He would have to be fast. 


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