Genetic Ascension novel Chapter 836

Gralith stared at the tome for a long while, not making a move to open it.

Physical items shouldn’t have been able to enter this space. Or, more accurately… normal physical items shouldn’t have had any possibility of doing so.

Sylas might not know this, or maybe he figured it out while bringing the tome out, but it was very clear to Gralith.

This tome wasn’t normal just by the fact it could enter. But deeper than that, when Gralith actually started to pay real attention to it, beyond his initial shock, his gaze became sharper and sharper until it was hard for Sylas to even sit in silence within his presence.

"… Do you know what this is?"

Sylas shook his head no. "This was all it said."

—

[Rune Enlightenment Fundamentals (—) (Ancient Secret)]

[An echo of the past to form the strokes of the future]

—

This time, Gralith’s emotions were very much in check. It wasn’t possible to see any change even in his eyes, but the tone of his response said all that needed to be said about the current state of his mind.

"Never show this to anyone else."

Sylas only nodded, his expression calm. He was taking a very calculated risk right now, as he always did, and he somehow found himself doing more and more these days.

The truth of the matter was that he didn’t have enough context about the world to know or understand the hierarchy of items.

Two items that were both of Silver Grade might have vastly different values. And by extension, what was an Ancient Secret to a normal Secret? He had no idea, and the Madness Key hadn’t provided him with more than a perfunctory response, a more in-depth response requiring more Genes than he had on hand—or rather, was willing to spend.

So one could imagine the sort of value it held.

"An Ancient Secret refers to an item from the previous Eon, usually referred to as such in reference to systems long gone by. Right now, though, I do not dare to use my Scouting Skill on this tome because it will certainly cause… trouble. I am not meant to be here, and using the system is inadvisable for that reason, as you have likely already guessed."

"Even taking into account my treasure?"

Of course, Sylas was referring to the Madness Key.

Sylas thought he saw another flicker of amusement in Gralith’s expression when he said this, but ultimately, the latter shook his head.

"You have told me a lot with that one sentence. So I take it by your tone that you’ve decided to at least trust me this much. Or, rather, you’re willing to go as far as to take this risk for now, likely because you believe that the items you have to rely on will surpass what my Lineage can compare to.

"Truly, you make me curious about the sort of chances you’ve been granted, but maybe this is only natural of a Summoning World. I have no reference or context."