370 Decision
Sylas' gaze flashed with a determined light. It was the same reason he was taking the risk of remaining a Level 0, the same reason he put himself in dangerous situation after dangerous situation, the same reason he was about to make the choice he was now…
Immediate power sounded nice, but he knew that rising to the top of Earth was merely a start, merely the beginning.
No one had ever told him, but he didn't need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. And ironically, he just might be one of the few people on Earth smart enough to be exactly that.
Earth was only a Grade 10 Bronze world. That meant that there were other much higher order worlds out there. Just like he was born with an unranked Blade Aura Gene, there might be others out there who had complete Silver Genes from birth, maybe there were even some with complete Legendary Genes from birth… babies that had stats in the quadruple digits before they were even potty trained.
Sylas wasn't naive. The dangers he faced now were just small fry compared to what he was sure he would have to face in the future. And if he wasn't even content with being a Grimblade subordinate now, how could he be willing to be under a much bigger thumb in the future?
What would decide how far he went would be the choices he made right here and right now.
He had no assurance that he would be able to remain Level 0 until he unlocked Legendary Genes. However, he had to ensure that he did everything he could to maximize his foundation now so that in the future, when he inevitably had to compromise on something, it wouldn't be as big of a hit.
A green fire blazed in Sylas' eyes as he calmed.
He began to observe the strongest of the Runes around himself and began to make distinctions between them. Eventually, he had divided them into eight.
These eight Runes were neither stronger nor weaker than one another, but they were all incomplete in one way or another. In addition, they were all around 50 or so Foundations in size.
Sylas gave them all colloquial names like he had done in the past. He named them as follows: Slow, Freeze, Decay, Life, Order, Balance, Disorder, Divine.
The Slow Rune seemed to constrict everything in its surroundings. It wasn't as simple as seeping into one's muscles and making an opponent slow, but it slowed down even the Aether in the air, even freezing over Runes themselves.
One could imagine that at an extreme, this Slow Rune might be able to delay or even disrupt even Skills, or Gene Talents.
Freeze seemed similar to Slow in that they acted very much the same. In fact, so did Decay and Disorder. The differences between them all was exceptionally subtle, and they wouldn't become more obvious until Sylas began to progress them down their paths.
Still, Freeze was also able to attack the Aether and Runes in the air, but it didn't make them languid. Instead, it separated them, making them seem a world away and locked in a separate space.
By comparison, Decay and Disorder assaulted Rune and Aether in the same way, but rather than just disrupting them, they began to damage them. Sylas wouldn't even be surprised if part of what happened to Earth's Runes were related to other Runes much like these ones.
The only difference between Decay and Disorder right now was that one destroyed and the other disrupted and disorganized.
Life, Order, Balance, and Divine were like opposite sides of the four coins that were just described.
The Order Ice-Poison Rune didn't just freeze Runes in place, but cobbled them together, forcing them into a subordinate role and gathering them in place.
Life was similar, but it forcefully converted the Runes into Ice-Poison, commandeering their energy and taking it for itself.
Balance and Divine were probably the most complex of all eight.
On the surface, Balance seemed to be exactly like Life, taking Runes in the surrounding and converting it, but this wasn't the entire truth. It also allowed a reversal, allowing Ice-Poison to become something else rather than forcefully converting everything else.
Divine was also similar to Life, but if Sylas had to describe the difference, Life had to force the Runes in the surroundings into submission, while Divine was able to make them follow through of their own accord.
It was a subtle difference, but a powerful one nonetheless.
With just this information on hand, Sylas was having a hard time picking just one. He even felt that he should at least pick two and try to balance them out. Maybe pick one that was more inclined toward the Ice side and another that was more inclined toward the Poison side and then bring them together.
But even after he had this thought, he was having a hard time narrowing it down to just two even with such concessions.
They were all powerful Runes, and there seemed to be some that he might prefer now, but who was to say that he would still prefer them in the future?
It had to be remembered that all of these Runes were incomplete. In the future, Sylas would have to find something to stabilize them or add to them, and they would then change.
So the decision he was making now wasn't just based on what he saw before him, but he also had to extrapolate into the future. If he couldn't do that, he would end up handicapping himself.
For example, Divine. The ability to subdue other Runes and guide them into obedience almost like a Rune Breath for his Ice-Poison Rune sounded great. In fact, it might be the strongest current ability here… but how did it scale? How would he use it in the future?
It was almost like he was taking his Ice-Poison Rune and making it a jack of all, master of none.
Sylas' brain continued to churn until his heart settled down.
He had made a decision.