Genetic Ascension novel Chapter 692

Chapter 692: Metarock

Sylas sat on his heels as he peered out from an array of honeycomb caves that surrounded a deep valley below.

There didn't seem to be much there, but that was to be expected. The rogue had only known the general location of the gang, but not an exact one. In addition, this location was subject to change, so it wasn't guaranteed that they were still there.

The battles that took place in this underground world didn't often take place directly at headquarters. Instead, they were territorial battles fought for resources, and they were much more sporadic than normal.

All of this tied back to the original reason Archibald wanted Sylas to come here... a special ore produced in this region. Or more accurately, by the volcano.

Metarock.

It was an odd name, but it was chosen as such for a very specific reason. The reports the Grimblades had given him didn't tell him what it did, nor did Archibald. But... the Madness Key had.

Metarock was an ore that was capable of tailoring itself to a previously held set of laws, tethering itself to them and allowing any Treasure forged from it to adhere to those sets of laws.

That was a very complicated explanation to say just one thing... it could be used to make functional guns.

Essentially, the change to Earth's laws could be ignored if this Treasure was used in the hands of a talented crafter.

In the wider universe, Metarock was an especially important resource, especially for more aggressive worlds that were established enough to invade others.

Worlds that shared the same general planetary systems and quadrants could have vastly different sets of laws that rendered sometimes entire systems of thought worthless. There were even some worlds where principles of Aether were completely different, causing certain Skills to either weaken or become duds.

One could imagine, then, why Metarock would be so important, especially now.

The only way to tether Metarock to a law was by having it in the presence of such a law. As Earth's Aether Plane quickly fused into their reality, there were starting to be fewer and fewer locations this could be done in.

Soon, Metarock wouldn't be able to be used to produce weapons of old.

At first, the existence of such an ore worried Sylas. The governments and hidden families almost certainly had stores of Treasures forged from Metarock in their long list of trump cards.

But... Metarock had a laundry list of weaknesses attached to it as well, the largest of which was its piss-poor Durability. Weapons forged with Metarock had half the Durability of equivalent Treasures. So unless there was an abundance, or it was an emergency situation, or there was more profit to be gained from its use, it certainly wouldn't be used easily.

Sylas doubted the two gangs even knew what they were fighting for, and neither did the majority of the soldiers.

What they did know, though, was that the Nexus traded Metarock for astronomical prices. That was enough for most of them.

This reality made Sylas even more wary of Archibald, though... how did he know the value of Metarock? And most importantly, what did he want to use it for?

'There...'

Sylas' wait finally bore fruit.