Genetic Ascension

The treasure that appeared before Sylas was a piece of unrefined ore. It looked uninteresting, unadorned, and if one had weak Will, just walking past it on the side of the road wouldn't have roused any interest outside of a slight, dull, coppery reflecting rainbow on it.

It wasn't a true rainbow, just more like the color one might see if you left a thin film of aluminum out in the sun for too long, or maybe tried to burn it with a dirty fire.

The ore was very light, and oddly… balanced. No matter how Sylas held it, turned it over in his hand, or flipped it, it seemed to be able to remain on that tip or point without fluctuation near instantly.

If a basketball was made out of such a material, even a newborn baby would have been able to spin it on their fingers without a single hint of issue.

Sylas recognized this ore. It was Metarock, the most valuable ore in maybe all of existence for its capabilities.

However, this was no normal bit of Metarock. It certainly didn't act the way usual Metarock did.

For one, this piece seemed to be in a smaller segment than the usual minimum size of Metarock needed to display its abilities. Yet, Sylas was sure that having it wouldn't cause any problems.

Second, this Metarock seemed to be able to rapidly change its balance on a whim.

One had to remember that Metarock was so valuable because of its ability to adapt and change. If one had a large enough segment of Metarock, you could have an entire armor adjust to the conditions of a world and break free of the usual restrictions.

For example, if the Seeing Eye Guild's people had armors and weapons of Metarock, they wouldn't have faced any suppression when coming to the Skai Heaven at all. Instead, they would have been able to display their full power.

But the main issue with investing so much in Metarock was that it could only do this once.

Despite having access to large amounts of Metarock himself, Sylas had never bothered to use it in this way. First because it wasn't until recently that he could even use weapons and armors normally in the first place. And second because in his view, it was better to save this ability in his back pocket for others to use.

He had no need of it.

Given that he was born in a Summoned World, the suppression Sylas faced when going to other places was already far less than that of most others. Even though Earth was now a Demi-God World, the impotent system was a bit, well… impotent. It would be slow to update such things.

In fact, Sylas would likely spend the rest of his life registered as someone from a Summoned World.

It made logical sense that those from weaker worlds going to stronger worlds wouldn't face the same suppression as those who fit the vice versa category.

Even when Sylas went to other Heavens the suppression he faced wasn't all that extraordinary, though it was certainly worse than what he faced in the Skai Heaven.

But this… was different.

This Metarock had to be in a higher class, an untouchable one. Not only was it able to instantly adapt to the environment, versus normal Metarock that needed some time and patience. But… it could change.

For a long while now, Sylas' rewards had always seemed perfectly tailored to him. This was sometimes due to the challenge he had cleared, sometimes due to his Merit, and sometimes due to his Luck.

But outside of Split Realms, logically speaking, the system shouldn't be so good at tailoring his rewards to him… Unless they were named rewards like this.

The system thought he would need this. The question was whether it was right or not.

Despite his Pride, the reason Sylas didn't really use treasures these days wasn't because of arrogance. It was because he had grown used to not relying on them.

But now that he was on the Demi-God Plane, things were different.

The treasures would be even better, the gap in talent even greater, and he would be faced with enemies from all sides.

Not using treasures would seem even more foolish than not.

Sylas continued to spin the lumpy rock on his finger, his eyes narrowing.

"Okay." He said calmly.

He would use this Metarock to craft something for himself. He had no need to find another blacksmith.

He wasn't yet ready to form his Human Rune Armor, but suddenly he felt like this Evolved Metarock could bridge that gap for him.

If he wanted to use his Demon form in this world without the Crimson Eye smiting him, he was going to need a little something extra.

His mind was already spinning as he picked out the next treasure.

Sylas skipped the Multiplier Reward. Though he was tempted to use it on the Evolved Metarock, this time he learned his lesson and decided to wait till the very end to see which of his rewards he should apply it to.

He unlocked the Against All Odds Reward and caught a heavy disk out of the air.

BOOM.

The mountain quaked down to its very roots.

Sylas' palm was smashed down between the disk and the mountain, his bones rolling and crunching beneath the weight. If he wasn't on Earth right now, his entire hand would have become little more than minced meat.

Earth's power rolled around Sylas and his veins bulged. Slowly, he lifted the disk up until he could look at it clearly.

—

[Warrior's Final Rage (S-) (World Treasure)]

[A weapon of merit for those who have grasped Champion Will and trampled on the momentum of others. For every warrior of worthy standing you kill, add another to your repertoire, let their rage stoke and the flames of their lives fuel your own. Multiply your strength, your lifespan, and even use their projections to battle for you]