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.
[Fragmented Gene: Speed (F)]
[Attempt Assimilation?]
Titled Genes like the Grimblade family's Grimblade Lineage were on the rarer side. Most Genes were one, bolstering a certain aspect of one's Physical stats.
Between Titled Genes and Physical Genes 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.
His grandfather had been very vague about any more specifics than this, but he had said that the world of Genes and how one could learn to use and manipulate them were endless. It was a topic that there was the least amount of information on, and yet one should strive to learn the most about.
Regardless, Physical Genes had their usefulness as well, that being that they were the easiest kind of Genes to stack. So long as they shared the same name, they could be fused.
In addition, they were repeatable. In this forest, it was doubtful that there'd only be a single elk. In that case, it should be true that so long as he kept killing elks, he would continue to get the Speed Gene.
Sylas held his breath. For the first time, he actually felt some of his nerves getting to him.
He hadn't felt nervous jumping into this death trap; he hadn't felt nervous stalking an animal that could kill him with a few kicks; he hadn't even felt nervous when he moved to strike it dead.
But this 50/50 chance he was staring down right now had a lot riding on it.
He had wasted an entire day on this elk, just for this chance right here. That was already one of his seven days.
If he let the seven-day timer run out, he would be back to a Rigid Gene State and have a 0% chance of absorbing any Genes. Well, aside from that unexplained 10% boost his Title gave him.
To make matters worse, after seeing how powerful the elk got after just an incomplete evolution, just how much worse would his situation be tomorrow when he was surrounded by an entire forest worth of animals that had actually completed theirs?
[Gene Assimilation Starting…]
[Gene Assimilation Failed]
Sylas stared at the screen for a long time before slowly closing his eyes. He took a deep breath.
When he opened them again, his calm was just the same, and he moved on. A 50/50 chance was good odds, but ultimately, by definition, they were good odds of failing as well.
His Title boost hadn't kicked in—something he could subconsciously tell—so the elk wouldn't be the best bang for his buck either.
He needed to shift his attention. If he wallowed in his own misery, he would just be waiting for death.
The first thing he did was look toward the elk's corpse.
It would be good food, but it was impossible for him to make use of it. The greatest benefit of this dead elk right now is that he should be able to make use of its territory to get some sleep of his own in.
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 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.
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.