Genetic Ascension novel Chapter 9

Chapter 9 A Patient Stalker

Sylas felt his vision blur once again, and soon the world took shape around him.

It was a forest, dense and humid. Overgrown vegetation was ubiquitous, and the sun had a hard time penetrating the ground from the high skies above.

Sylas took this in with no small bit of satisfaction. If he had spawned in an area without cover, his odds of dying would be much higher.

He looked down at himself and found that he was wearing a cheap set of light-brown clothing, made of a thin cotton. There was a distinct lack of shoes on his feet which made the moist soil particularly grating on his psyche, and he wasn't adorned with anything else special.

According to his grandfather, the spawn point shouldn't have any significant predators within about a kilometer or so. Of course, the moment you touched down, these predators would no longer be restricted by such rules. So, caution was the name of the game.

'Weapon.'

This was the first thing Sylas' mind went to.

His grandfather hadn't told him which of the three options to pick. It was only after much deliberation that he made the choice he had. It was the riskiest, but it was also the one with the greatest growth potential.

If he had chosen the City Stele, he would have been given free warriors to fight on his behalf. The benefit of a weapon was obvious as well. It could be said that this was the only option that didn't really give him any method of protecting himself.

Sylas began to move, getting a lay of the land. He had to take advantage of this buffer to try to see if he could find any usable landmarks.

Water, shelter, a natural fort potentially, all of these were things on his mind as he continued to move.

In addition, though, he was also paying attention to potential markers that denoted territory. Claw marks, footprints, dung, anything he could take note of.

On the way, Sylas picked up two stones. He flexed his arms and bashed them together with his greatest strength, ignoring the aching in his wrist until they broke into pieces.

He let them drop to the floor and picked out the one that both fit nicely in his palm and had a decent edge to it.

He was lucky that there were no beasts around and this rain forest was an excellent muffler of noise, or else he would likely not dare to do this.

'Running water.'

Sylas' ears picked it up, and he looked in that direction.

He crouched down and leaned over a thick bush to take a look at the clearing. He had traveled about 200 or so meters.

There were no creatures in sight, at least not immediately.

A few seconds later, Sylas felt his heartbeat slow as a large elk came into view.

'That elk… it's at least two meters tall. It should be an extinct species.'

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[Mental Surpasses Target]

[Analysis Successful]

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[Irish Elk (F)]

[Level: 0]