Chapter 852 Grimblade
The world changed and the three were separated again.
Sylas found himself standing on familiar golden ripples, but this time, there was a weapon that appeared before him. It was a bland steel short sword that had a slight bow to it. In fact, maybe one wouldn't be entirely wrong to call it a saber.
Inwardly, Sylas shook his head. He couldn't even take this weapon.
With a thought, his telekinesis grabbed it out of the air.
'It's light, too light.'
This brief exchange alone gave Sylas an idea of exactly what might be coming. And as expected, mere split moments later, invisible blades began to fly forward once again.
However…
Chi.
With a single sweep, Sylas' blade, glowing in a fierce green, ripped through everything in its path, not suffering a single nick.
Sylas began to walk forward, his Blade Aura blazing with life.
Gene Talents were like a muscle you had to train. Using it continuously didn't just lower the stamina requirements, but it also made the Gene Talent itself stronger.
The higher Grade a Gene Talent, the more room it had to grow—obviously. But that didn't mean that lower Grade Gene Talents didn't have the same opportunity.
And right now, Sylas' Blade Aura was attached to his Will Core, something far more powerful than his Physical stats alone.
Unbeknownst to Malachi and Astrid, his Blade Aura, despite being a weaker variant, had long since surpassed theirs.
By far.
Sylas began to walk forward again as he grew used to it, the blade moving like it had a mind all its own. The precision of its movement could only be said to be perfect.
Accuracy had never been a problem with Sylas and his telekinesis. Because it was like extending his mind from his body, so long as it was within his range and within his vision, he had never struggled with being pinpoint.
This time, that was on full display. And unfortunately for Astrid and Malachi, his System Curse had already been burnt up.
Of course, he still had a Bronze Demerit right now, so he didn't put it past the system to do something else ridiculous. But much the same as well…
He didn't think that it would make a single ounce of difference.
Sylas reached the end of the second trial first, taking a deep breath. This time, it was his turn to take a breather first.
He didn't think that it would make a single ounce of difference.
Sylas reached the end of the second trial first, taking a deep breath. This time, it was his turn to take a breather first.
His Mental was already running dry after the first trial, and he had just blazed through this one with a large amount of Will. If he didn't take this opportunity to recover, he might not get a chance at all.
Malachi and Astrid had no choice but to be a lot more measured than Sylas. The physical drain of using a Gene Talent continuously was certainly not a joke.
They were lucky enough in that they had been spared the fate of going through the entirety of the first trial, but there was clearly no such luck coming this time.
However, the two couldn't help but frown.
Letting Sylas rest was clearly not in any of their best interests. But if they pushed themselves too hard, they would be dropping a stone onto their own feet.
What was scariest here was Sylas' improvement. Just what happened that he was suddenly able to reverse things like this? And why was the glow of his Blade Aura green instead of red?
Astrid took a breath and chose to continue maintaining her current pace, and Malachi seemed to silently follow suit.
It took them a full extra 15 minutes before they caught up with Sylas, who by then just calmly opened his eyes and stood up. His body was still in a terrible state, but his eyes seemed to have grown to another depth of solidity.
The third trial began.
…
SHIIIING.
Sylas' blade cut across the neck of a golden projection, seeing through its attack pattern with a shuddering ease.
It was also clear that these projections were not prepared to fight against someone with telekinesis either. The flexibility of a blade when it wasn't attached to someone's hand spoke for itself.
The unfortunate part was that without his Madness and Mixed Martial Arts Comprehensions, the power of Sylas' telekinesis was actually quite limited, being not even 1000 Physical.
However, he was finding that Blade Aura was actually quite useful. It increased the effectiveness of his Strength like any Piercing Ability would. Often, he just had to nick the projection in a vital point and it would be over.
The best part was that while he couldn't actively use his Comprehensions, much like his Profession had been, they were still there. As such, he had the ability to get a good feel for patterns of the projections and their weaknesses.
Everything only seemed to be coming easier and easier, and all the while, Sylas never stopped refining his Blade Aura Gene Talent, tweaking it and changing it, pulling at its seams and unraveling it in ways he could find a path to put it back together even stronger.
By the end of the third trial, it was already completely unrecognizable, and when he carried that very same simple blade into the fourth trial, there was already a change taking place in his Blade Aura.
The steady-state glow seemed to be gaining some life to it, to the point that it was starting to look more like a dancing green flame than a solid mass of Aura.
At the same time, this flame was starting to gain something dark and sinister to it.
Sylas found his eyes narrowing.
He knew that he wasn't going in the wrong direction. This was the path the true Blade Aura Gene Talent slanted in. But… why?
'Grimblade…'
Sylas' pupils constricted and he looked up.
The fourth trial began and the waters rippled. Then, out from within it, an illusory shape began to form.
Sylas could tell immediately that it was nothing like the projections. They at least had physical forms. These had no physical forms at all. They were like souls, spirits… ghosts?
That was when Sylas understood.