Chapter 416: A Chance
Nosphaleen didn't know how to reply to Sylas' words. For one, they didn't make sense, but it was only natural it didn't click for her.
After all, in order to do what he wanted to, Sylas would have to rely on not just one, but two Legendary Path Professions. He would need a Taboo Bond for Extricate, and he would also need One Kind For Me in order to make sure that he was on the right path considering he was about to attempt something he never had before.
Acknowledging this, it was impossible for most to just guess what he was going to do.
However, to his surprise, this somewhat silly woman nodded in the next moment.
"Whatever it takes."
Her words carried her will with them. One so pure that Sylas felt his own was wholly inferior. He had made great progress, but this woman was very clearly on a tier above.
Seeing this, Sylas nodded slowly.
He released his telekinetic control over her disk blades and she complied as well.
"I do not know what sort of changes this will cause to your body, but be prepared."
Nosphaleen nodded again. Although she didn't have the full picture of what Sylas wanted to do, she had a guess. The moment he said he wanted her to become a beast, she was intelligent enough to guess that he was a Beast Master of some sort who planned to use this Profession to sign a contract with her and take her out of here.
What she didn't understand was how Sylas planned on doing this.
Sylas walked to her front and held out a hand. Nosphaleen complied and placed her palm in his.
With a breath, Sylas began to focus, probing around with Extricate.
The Gene Talent Extricate came in three parts. The first was obviously a sensory perception. The second was an isolation ability. The third was the actual Extrication part.
The first was self-explanatory. It was also thanks to this ability that he was able to sense the Gene Talent of the Arctic Emperor Bear even though he couldn't Extricate that. Well, that and his own amplified senses to his body.
The second was a bit more complicated, but easy enough to understand. You couldn't just pluck a Gene out from a body without ruining a bunch of other things. The doctors of Earth knew well enough that one mutated Gene could be enough for a lifetime of horror.
Extricate was able to isolate Genes without dealing with these sorts of side effects... at least to a point.
If not for this ability, Sylas would only ever be able to use Extricate once per creature because after that, the rest of the Genes would end up twisted and ruined.
Finally, the third was the easiest to understand. It was the process of manifesting the Gene and forming it into its Rune form to be taken out of the body.
Unfortunately...
'As expected. The Clandestine Apes are a very special case. Without their unique bodies, I can't use Extricate on a living being even if they aren't resisting at all.'
This was why the system's hint was so invaluable back then. Without it, Sylas would have never thought of such a thing because he had already known that Extricate didn't work on the living.
That said... Sylas wouldn't have made such a suggestion if he didn't have a potential solution.
He pulled out an orb from his Madness Key. This orb was none other than the blankslate, FF- Clandestine Ape that Brisa had traded to him. Judging by her reaction, although this thing was only FF-, it was highly valuable.
Inside, there seemed to be a little baby ape sleeping within a sphere of thick water. From what he could tell, it could live there for years without trouble.
For now, Sylas didn't take it out. Instead, he used Extricate directly on the orb, focusing until he could pull out a familiar cancerous Gene.
If there was a fourth aspect to Extricate, it would be the actual process of accepting a Gene. While Sylas couldn't pull a Gene out of a living being under normal circumstances or maybe because his Level of Taboo Bond was too low-he could put one in.
He had done so for Cassarae's parents and Cassarae. Now, he was going to take this gamble with Nosphaleen.
He would never put this cancerous Gene into his own body. But since he had a guinea pig here... why not try it?
He saw Nosphaleen's pupils tremble when she saw this Rune. Clearly, unlike others who only saw a blob of energy when he played around with Genes like this, she might have grasped a form of Rune Control herself, allowing her to see it.
And because of that, she could tell just how dangerous this Gene was.
Even so, she grit her teeth as Sylas pressed it into her chest.
Her body shuddered and she immediately went pale.
The first thing she experienced was discomfort. Her heartbeat became irregular on top of her heart rate increasing, blood seemed to drain and pool in places it shouldn't be, and to make matters worse, she felt uncontrollably weak all over as though the Efficiency of her stats had plummeted off a cliff.
For a moment, she believed that Sylas was just trying to kill her, but she was too smart to hang onto such an idea for long. If he wanted to do that, it would be easier to sneak attack her while they were so close rather than doing this.
'It actually worked...'
Sylas could feel that Nosphaleen had gotten several times weaker in an instant, but at the same time, he could finally feel her Genes loosen up.
It was still difficult, but he had room to maneuver.
If Sylas was capped at Extricating Bronze Genes, this would likely not be enough. But he had luckily upgraded his Taboo Bond Path to the point where it could Extricate Silver Genes.
Now his plan had a chance of working.