Genetic Ascension novel Chapter 2486

Chapter 2486: The Third Fastest

Caelren stood before the Nethum Ancestor with a faint smile on his face, his attention shifting between the old man and the projection hovering above the table.

The image showed a young human with emerald eyes, standing before the Creation Tower’s challenge formation. There was nothing particularly impressive about his appearance, and even after Caelren extended his senses through the recording, he couldn’t find anything that would explain why his ancestor had personally summoned him.

"Is this the person you wanted me to meet?"

The elder nodded.

"Sylas Grimblade. I want you to enter the Creation Tower and challenge him."

Caelren’s brows rose, but he didn’t immediately agree. He had only recently returned to the Nethum Clan, and although he expected to receive certain responsibilities as a result of his accomplishments, being sent to challenge some unknown human hadn’t been among them.

"What for? Surely the Clan has better things for me to do."

"You’re not going there to defeat him. You’re going there to test him, and I want you to be as thorough as possible. Push his Rune Mastery to its limits, observe how he handles increasingly complicated problems, and report everything you learn."

Caelren’s expression turned curious.

"And if I happen to defeat him?"

"Then stop before you do."

The young man’s smile faded.

"Ancestor?"

"If you find yourself on the verge of victory, back off and allow him to win. If you accidentally defeat him anyway, simply accept a second challenge and lose that one. Whatever happens, I don’t want you ending his streak."

Caelren stared at the old man for several seconds before looking toward the projection again. He had expected to be told that Sylas possessed some dangerous background or that his ancestor wanted to establish friendly relations with a powerful Clan, but the instructions he had received were considerably stranger.

"Who exactly is this person?"

The elder waved his hand, causing the projection to change.

Rather than a Rune Creation challenge, Caelren found himself looking at an enormous battlefield filled with geniuses from countless Races. A World Serpent was descending through a portal from the God Plane, and at its center stood the same human, holding a peculiar weapon formed from a scythe and a calligraphy brush.

"This happened not long ago. Watch."

Caelren’s eyes narrowed as Sylas began writing across the skies, each Stroke carrying a weight that seemed to reach through the projection itself.

Human.

Twenty-nine.

Three.

Milky Way.

At first, Caelren didn’t understand the significance of the words, but as the manifested galaxy appeared and enormous chains wrapped around it, his expression began to change.

"A Summoned world?"

"One that had remained beneath the restrictions of the Mortal Plane for almost his entire life. The third number represents how long he had access to the power necessary to begin escaping those restrictions."

Caelren looked toward his ancestor.

"Three hundred years?"

"Three."

The young man froze.

"Three years?"

"Less than that, according to the information we have. He was born a Mortal, spent almost his entire life without access to the system, and then climbed to the Demi-God Plane in less than three years. And now, before anyone has even properly adjusted to that fact, he’s suddenly a God."

Caelren’s smile disappeared.

The speed of that advancement was difficult to comprehend. Even among the Nethum, where extraordinary talent was practically a requirement for survival, such a thing should have been impossible.

"Is the information reliable?"

"You just watched him reveal it through his own Will, before countless witnesses, including those from the God Plane. If you understand anything about what happened on that battlefield, you should understand why he wouldn’t have been able to establish such a narrative with lies."

Caelren fell silent, his attention returning to the projection as the image of the Milky Way disappeared.

For the first time since returning to the Clan, he felt a genuine sense of curiosity toward someone of his own generation.

"Now do you understand why I want you to test him?"

"I understand why he’s interesting, but not why you’re so interested in him."

The Ancestor chuckled.

"Then you haven’t thought about what our Clan has been doing for countless generations."

Caelren’s gaze sharpened.

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