Chapter 917 Unbridled Counter
Sylas' finger drew across the air and the world shuddered.
It was the first time he had tried to do this, but the methods of the Africor Monarchs had given him the idea. Using his Crown to help draw Runes…
In truth, he technically had already. It was thanks to his Crown that he had been able to so quickly draw Runes during the penultimate battle. But honestly speaking, that was passive, and it was also far more related to the Palms of Fate than it was the Crown.
But right now, he was actively trying to use it, feeling how it interacted with the Mesh of Reality and observing the changes it influenced in Runes.
He found that with it activated, the tome's Time Rune Lineage was actually easier to use. Not only that, but it quite literally slowed things down for him.
Like this, looking at one iteration back and forward with his Crown activated was like looking at two before. This allowed him to read and react to Runes with far greater ease.
Being able to look two iterations backward and forward was actually a massive change. For a complex magic circle like this one, it was much like his Scorpion Warlord Armor, a form of many overlapping Runes.
Successfully drawing it without a full and complete understanding of them all, then, was a nightmare. The Runes would shift and change in relation to one another too much, so by the time he finished drawing one half, by the time he got to the end it might shatter apart.
This was why drawing his Scorpion Warlord Armor to Breath Mastery had taken understanding the Path of the Scorpion. Only by understanding the essence of what the Runes were meant to represent could he draw them in a way that any changes and shifts the Runes underwent after he drew them would either have additive properties to the strength of the armor, or be limited in how detrimental they could be because of how they were working within a certain framework.
Obviously, in this case, there was no such obvious Path for Sylas to grasp. And unlike with a Warlord Armor that was based on a creature, this one was a free-flowing scape of Runes that—as far as Sylas could tell—had nothing to do with living creatures at all.
In fact, it was coldly analytical in its existence, designed specifically to counter another cold and analytical existence: the system.
This time, Sylas couldn't just Extricate Blood Essence to cheat.
But he also didn't have to.
His eyes darted around, grasping one change after another. He wiped his slate clean another two times before his claw came to a stop across the skies.
There was a pulse of light as the magic circle the Africor Monarchs had used centuries of blood, sweat, and tears to form was completed.
'Fascinating… this should be another lineage. In which case… if I follow this pattern here…'
—
[Skill: "Unbridled Counter" learned]
—
[Title Integrated]
[Skill Progenitor]
[You have forged a path ahead, leaving your predecessors behind, albeit taken the path less traveled. Embrace the status of a man who walks his own Path]
[+200% Intelligence]
—
Sylas was taken aback, not sure what was happening. But what he did notice quickly was that Skill Progenitor vanished from his list of Titles.
And then he felt the change deep within him.
His Aether Pathways felt like a cool stream had just been poured into them. Quickly, they began to expand, growing so thick that if before they were so thin barely a few strands of hair could pass through, they were now easily as wide as Sylas' pinky finger.
His Aether, as though having broken free of a dam, rushed through him, pulsing like eastern dragons soaring through the clouds in the sky.
His speed in casting Skills suddenly took an enormous leap forward, but more importantly than that…
'Glassvolt…'
BANG!
Sylas' body flickered to life, his skin becoming a crystalline reflection of beauty as arcs of white, white-blue, and pale silver lightning danced across him and his hair.
His Aether quantity instantly multiplied by a factor of 10, like it always did when he activated his Glassvolt Comprehension. But somehow, it felt like if before he always ran into a heavy wall, right now he was truly feeling its might.
And the skies above reacted in kind.
As though he had become a lightning rod, one bolt after another began to fall, stormy clouds forming amidst the howling winds.
Sylas looked down at his palm, narrowing his eyes.
His muscles greedily soaked up the Glassvolt Aether like dry sand might soak up rain. He could feel that the changes to his Physical stats were coming faster and faster…
And then he suddenly ran out of Aether.
His body almost deflated, the sparks vanishing and the clouds above calming down. However, despite seemingly being fatigued, Sylas hardly reacted to this at all.
'Just how much of a bottleneck do I face because I'm too weak, exactly…?' This was the thought that consumed him right now.
—
[Unbridled Counter (Gene Skill) (FFF+)] (Bronze Mastery)
[The battlefield is your domain, Aether follows your call. Activate your Unbridled Counter Domain and Counter the Skill activation of opponents with ease]
[Cost: 20 Aether Units per Second]
[Range: 50 Meters] —
'Interesting.'
Sylas took a breath. [Maddened Meditation] was already circulating, and he found that even without improving this Skill, his Aether recovery had become several times faster.
Before, even while standing still and focused, it would take as much as five to ten minutes to replenish his Aether.
Now, he felt it would take two minutes at most.
Sylas' mind, though, was somewhere else. Just what had triggered this change? And did this mean that he could do this for all his Titles?
In that case… wasn't this another way to prepare for the E-Grade outside of stuffing Genes into his Foundation?
And something also told him that… this was the far superior path.
So why not take both?
His eyes glowed and he suddenly took a violent step forward, crossing into the boundary of the Africor Monarchs.