Chapter 11 50-50

Chapter 11 50-50

The crack was resounding, the stone blade in Sylas' palm even splitting once more as the elk collapsed, skidding along its front knees before one of its antlers was caught in the ground, sending Sylas flying off.

Sylas' shoulder rolled forward and he popped back up swiftly.

The first thing he did was scan the area. It was hard to see anything at all, so he listened carefully.

His breathing was even and his heartbeat was slow despite the situation he had been in. Everything felt slow as the seconds ticked by, but ultimately, there was nothing.

'It seems that the night might come with some extra safety. It would be best to be nocturnal in this situation, but if I sleep in the day where the animals are most active, won't I put myself in danger?'

Sylas had already not slept for over a day. He hadn't had anything to drink either, and other than some bugs he had conveniently eaten while stalking the elk, he hadn't had anything to eat either.

He wasn't worried about food. This was a matter of survival, so he wasn't grossed out by eating insects if he had to. In addition, he had a good understanding of what was and wasn't poisonous in terms of the plant life after observing the elk for a day.

However, fatigue wasn't something he could ignore.

Sylas shrugged this off for now and walked to the elk, putting a hand on it.

[Irish Elk]

[Gene Detected]

[Fragmented Gene: Speed (F)]

[Attempt Assimilation?]

[Yes][No]

Titled Genes like the Grimblade family's Grimblade Lineage were on the rarer side. Most Genes were like this one, bolstering a certain aspect of one's Physical stats.

Between Titled Genes and Physical Genes like this one, there were Attribute Genes which were a little rarer and could give one control over a certain type of Aether or other mysterious abilities.

The rarest Genes of them all, though, were Genes that could grant Gene Talents.

He looked at the broken antlers before walking forward and picking up some of the pieces.

An elk's antlers were incredibly sturdy, they were the naturally forged weapons of the creature. The fact they broke like this was one part coincidence, and another part due to the elk's evolution.

'Considering the fact it gave me a Speed Gene, that meant its evolution tended toward that aspect. It should mean that its Speed Stat overwhelmed its Constitution Stat, which is why running into the tree like that caused its antlers to break.'

Another secondary point was the sturdiness of the trees themselves. Their leaves didn't even rustle after the impact.

'This is good.'

Sylas found what he was looking for: an antler with a particularly sharp point.

Blade Aura could only be applied to a weapon. His hand didn't seem capable of withstanding the Gene Talent without a great amount of pain. It had felt like he stuck his hand in a microwave when he tried. In addition, Blade Aura seemed to only be as good as the medium through which it was used.

The hand-ax was too inferior, and it took several solid blows before Sylas could kill the elk. Part of that was due to it being in a half-evolved state, but as Sylas had already concluded, Constitution wasn't the elk's strong point.

This sharp antler, however, was a far better conduit.

Even so, it wasn't Sylas' goal.

Bending down, Sylas channeled Blade Aura again before using the sharp end to begin carefully carving around the elk's leg.

His target was the elk equivalent of the human femur. The femur was the strongest bone in the body, and though Sylas wasn't an expert on elks, he assumed that there was some decent crossover here too. If this bone wasn't the strongest one in the elk's body, it wouldn't be far from it.

Sylas suddenly felt a wave of fatigue, but he had already expected this. It would be foolish to assume that he could just use Blade Aura indefinitely without any consequences.

Even so, he had already succeeded. Using his high Dexterity, he targeted the soft flesh around the hind hip bones of the elk and took one of its legs.

Then he hauled it over his shoulder and rushed back to the elk's original territory.

As he moved, he thought about another problem he was facing: blood.

During the day, he hadn't come across any carnivorous creatures, but that didn't mean there weren't any. The death of the elk could attract them, and the leg he had just taken was not only heavy, it could also bring him burdens in other ways as well.

He would have to be fast.