Genetic Ascension

[Basic Enclosure (F-)]",

[This treasure is a must for solo adventurers. Set up a parameter of detection and sleep with peace of minding]

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The item was a sleeping bag with many hidden bells and whistles. It could be hung from a tree or placed directly on the ground. At the same time, it could alert the user to any movement within ten meters.

This felt like too short a distance, but honestly, Sylas wasn't sure he wanted a large radius than this. The forest was filled with creatures. If he was alerted to everything within even 25 meters, he would never get any rest.

He strapped himself to a thick branch after climbing about five meters up a tree and then slept the night away.

When he awoke, he sprung into action again.

By this point in his journey, his Gene Crystal had already shored up all the missing Physical Genes it needed. There were only four Intelligence and five Charisma Genes remaining for him to succeed.

Unfortunately, none of the beasts he came across gave Mental Genes. He was having a feeling that he might need to go and kill more humanoid species if he wanted to finally unlock Basic Aetherflow and raise his Stat Limit to 100.

Sylas' steps came to a stop and his head jerked backward.

A spurt of green liquid collided with a tree by his right shoulder, rebounding back somewhat and drizzling down a moment later.

Sylas frowned. That green looked almost identical to the green of Lurk's crossbow bolts. Was it a coincidence?

He suddenly put two and two together. 'The Dungeon is close…'

He had wondered where Lurk could have possibly gotten such potent poison from. But what if Zurog had already found the Dungeon before, but couldn't venture in because there were too many creatures surrounding it?

That would explain where Lurk had gotten the poison and the Dungeon all at once.

Soon, Sylas was proven right… though in this case, he had hoped that he was very wrong.

The entire Dungeon region was surrounded by a species of paralysis-venom-spitting cobras.

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[Spitting Cobra (F-)]

[Level: 1]

[Physical: 32]

[Mental: 49]

[Will: 23]

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Sylas snatched the spitting cobra before it could spit again, clamping down on its head hard. He had a lot of experience wrangling snakes, and though this one had a high Mental, its Physical was astoundingly weak compared to the current Sylas.

After killing it and checking its Genes, he felt like he understood why.

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[Spitting Cobra]

[Gene Detected]

[Common Gene: (2) Intelligence (F)]

[Attempt Assimilation?]

[Yes][No]

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This was the first time Sylas had seen a beast that gave a Mental Gene, but what was more important than that was that this was clearly the spitting cobra's strength. The paralysis venom they spit must be powered by Aether somehow.

'Or would it count as poison now… the spitting cobra species back on Earth can't do harm through its spitting action unless it lands on your eyes, really—so it should count as venom. But transferring my knowledge from Earth to this situation could land me in danger like it almost did in the Slithering Madness Dungeon…'

The distinction was mostly meaningless… for now. But Sylas was the type to want to understand more about the world around him.

Sylas gave the two Genes over the to the Gene Crystal. Now he only needed two Intelligence Genes and five Charisma Genes, and considering the current situation… he had a feeling that he would get those two Intelligence Genes quite quickly.

Even without moving from his location, he could see the telltale markings of a Spitting Cobras. He could make out several burrows, not to mention dung that was congruent with Sylas' studies for reptilians of the like.

'This seems to only be the edge of the territory…'

Sylas could hear running water up ahead. At some unknown point, he had run back into the river this area shared. This made sense to him, as Spitting Cobras loved the water.

However, he could also feel a thick stream of Aether in the air as well. Even without taking out the Dungeon Map, he could sense it.

Ever since he had evolved <Maddened Meditation> to <Maddened Enlightenment>, he had gained a subtle sixth sense of sorts. It couldn't quite "see", but it could feel. Almost akin to the feeling one would get when you felt someone was looking at you.

Toward Aether, though, this sense was much stronger than. It flowed like smoke through the air in Sylas' eyes, and a sight that he could usually only see at night was slowly forming before him the more he focused on it.

The Dungeon was definitely up ahead. Not far, just 200 to 300 meters. However, there was a minefield of Spitting Cobras between himself and that goal.

Sylas narrowed his eyes, his gaze shifting to the venom that was still drizzling down the tree trunk to his side. He brought out a dagger and controlled it with his telekinesis. Then, carefully, he scooped up some of this venom and balance it on the blade.

'It's not ideal, but it'll work. Let's go test this out.'

Sylas ended up experimenting for about an hour, catching several spitting cobras in the process.

'In conclusion, the venom, indeed, works like venom. So long as it doesn't get into my eyes, it hitting my skin is not a problem. However, even the slightest nick leads to paralysis. It doesn't seem to lead to death anymore due to some odd mutation, but even so, if you're stuck frozen in the middle of battle, you're as good as dead.

'The higher the Mental of the Spitting Cobra, the more potent the venom is, and there are some creatures that can shrug off the paralysis in a few fractions of a second so long as their Physical and Mental is at a certain level. If I had to assume, I would say the stats that played the largest role were Constitution and Intelligence.'