Chapter 401: Just You and Me

Chapter 401: Just You and Me

n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Sylas felt that it was hard to see anything other than the step before him. They were very manageable, only six inches tall, so short that even a toddler could walk up them without handrails to rely on.

But they still consumed his vision. He couldn't even see the step beyond, just the one right in front of him. That and the foot he slowly raised to press onto it.

One foot after another, one focused bit of attention swapped for another focused bit of attention.

If not for the winds cutting across his flesh, he would have completely lost himself, his beaten and battered body becoming nothing more than an afterthought.

He remembered this sort of feeling, this experience. Whenever he went on a long run or had a particularly grueling boxing session, he would forget about everything.

If there had been a stamina stat in the system, he was sure that his own would be quite high. Ironically, Constitution, which was likely where most of stamina was baked in, had been his weakest stat starting out at just 5 out of a potential 10.

Sylas had always wondered about that, but he felt he had a pretty good answer.

He had a pretty tall frame, standing at 6'4", but he had always preferred endurance sports. There wasn't much muscle on his frame at all, at least not muscle that wasn't lean and highly functional. It was no wonder, then, that the defense aspects of his Constitution stat had caused the entire thing to take a hit.

Sylas pressed down another foot, his lips chapped and bluer than natural. They might have even started to bleed if not for the fact his blood was running just as cold as the surroundings.

This was, at least, his first explanation for all of this. But the more he learned about Constitution, the more he felt that his stamina should have overridden the weakness of his body more. At the very least, he should have been given a 6 or 7.

And that was when it hit him.

[Fragmented Genes: Grimblade Lineage (F)]

He had been observing the Clandestine Ape's mutated Genes for a while. After eight staircases more worth of battles, he had seen them in all shapes and forms, barely coming out with his life just for a glimpse.

That experience made him realize just the kind of twisted fate absorbing the wrong Gene could give you... but what about if you were born with such a Gene?

Sylas pressed a hand to his chest as he coughed up a mouthful of what should have been blood... but instead, it came out as shards of almost violet crystal.

His Grimblade Lineage Fragmented Gene, first of all, was a downgrade. If he had to guess, the main line of the Grimblade family probably had it in Bronze. That meant that his wasn't just one step down, but an entire two.

Sylas felt his consciousness fading.

He was lying to himself, and he knew it.

This was no longer a challenge of Will. It had surpassed that long ago. If it was just a matter of Will, he had it in spades. The problem was that his mind was too fatigued.

The Clandestine Ape pills couldn't replenish his mental fatigue. Had he not been circulating <Maddened Enlightenment> all this time, he would have already collapsed.

Another foot. A second. Then a third.

'Just you and me...' Sylas thought to himself. '... Just me...'

The more his mind faded, the harder it became for him to control the smoldering flames of

fury in his heart.

'Just me...'

Тар. Тар. Тар. Тар.

The echoes of steps reverberated through the tunnel of ice, a sense of claustrophobia shrinking in from all sides.

'Just me...'

[Your understanding of <Maddened Enlightenment> has deepened]

[<Maddened Enlightenment> has reached Gold Mastery]

[Your understanding of <Maddened Enlightenment> has been temporarily raised by Madness

Comprehension]

[<Maddened Enlightenment> has temporarily reached Legendary Mastery]

SHOOOOM!