Chapter 656: Genesis Forge [Bonus]


    ?


    It was a beautiful reflective jade, so perfectly polished that it was almost as clear as a mirror.


    It reminded Ss of the ocean with its gorgeous blues. When light reflected across its surface, several hues mixed into it in the pattern of a rippling wave, making it feel almost as though he really was staring into the tides of the ocean.


    The blue jadended in Ss'' palm. Cool to the touch, it sent a shiver through him.


    After several seconds of looking at it, he found nothing special at all. Even after he tried to use <Master Scouting>, this time, he got no feedback at all. In fact, it was like his skill had passed through the jade as though it didn''t exist at all.


    ''Odd...''n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Ss didn''t recklessly start probing around. Instead, he directly used the Madness Key to try and get a measure on what this was. But his pupils constricted when he saw the price.


    The highest value information Ss had ever seen from the Madness Key was rted to Earth''s Summoning. Though this was in second ce, the price was no joke.


    [What is this item?]


    [–]


    [Cost: 300 Silver Genes]


    Ss hesitated. He didn''t have 300 Silver Genes. Until now in his journey, he had only ever seen four Silver Genes total, barely 1% of that number.


    But he also didn''t want to leave the jade just lying around useless either.


    ''A risk. Take it.''


    When Ss made this decision, he began to probe around using various methods, and unsurprisingly, one of them worked.


    His Will touched the jade and it felt like his entire soul was ripped out of his body. By the time he tried to fight back, it was already toote.


    -


    When Ss'' vision cleared, he found himself standing in a foggy world of blue. But he couldn''t focus on the fog much at all because his entire vision was enamored by the enormous stone stele in front of him.


    It took the shape of an obelisk, thrusting its point toward the skies and radiating an imposing


    aura.


    [Genesis Forge: Progenitor Worldroot]


    The notification didn''t just randomly pop up like it usually did. Instead, it felt like a golden stamp had descended from the skies above, taking the form of the Ancient Ithkuil characters and searing themselves into Ss'' retinas.


    The suffocating presence of the name alone made Ss fall to a knee, a haggard coughing from his throat. He didn''t even have the time to resist because he wasn''t worthy of doing so.


    Nothing about the obelisk seemed to target him personally, and yet just its presence and the utterance of its name alone was like a p to his face, crushing him beneath its weight...


    Reminding him that he was still very far from Being Strong.


    [First Revolution]


    Ss coughed up a mouthful of blood, his inner organs churning.


    Then he passed out.


    When Ss awoke again, he found himself lying on limestone, his body still shuddering. Pain wrecked his body, his bones feeling like they were misaligned.


    He tried to pull himself up, but that was when the dizziness hit him. He realized then that the state of his mind was far worse than the state of his body.


    ''What was that?''


    Was that a Treasure? A Skill? A technique?


    It didn''t seem to help him at all. All it had done was injure him.


    Ss frowned, trying to get ay of thend around him.


    There was a chilly cold hanging in the air that was odd, but there was nothing else of note around him.


    He was alone.


    ''This is one of the rooms of the pyramid...''


    Taking deep breaths, Ss finally managed to push himself up. He stumbled slightly and pushed his back against a wall.


    Slowly, he began to circte <Maddened Enlightenment>.


    The pain began to slowly subside, though it got worse before it got better.


    He managed to push through, and after his mind regained its bearings, he was able to exhale and finally see clearly again.


    <Maddened Enlightenment> began to circte at its fastest pace and Ss finally settled into afortable rhythm.


    After 20 or so minutes, Ss found that his Wisdom, Will, and Aether had all recovered well.


    Opening his eyes, he exhaled a breath.


    ''That was dangerous. I definitely put the jade into the Madness Key first as an extrayer of protection, but I still ended up like this. How did something only my mind was sucked into hurt my body? Unless...''


    Could it be that his whole body was pulled into that world? If that was true, then...


    Ss'' expression changed and he hurriedly looked inside of the Madness Key.


    ''...''


    Out of habit, Ss had stocked up arge number of beasts in the Madness Key. On top of that, there were a ton of excess Genes he had from the Demons and the various beasts he had to deal with while clearing them all out as well.


    As such, Ss'' Madness Key, despite its now over 200 meter dimensions, was almost always


    stocked full.


    But now...


    Everything was gone.


    Other than his treasures, there wasn''t a single beast corpse left. They had all been drained away by the Madness Key, including the powerful beasts he had gathered from the Split


    Realm Dungeon.


    There was only one exnation that Ss could think of for this. Well, there was a second that assumed he had been knocked out for far longer than he thought. But he didn''t think that


    was it.


    ''I must have entered the jade with my real body. When I was expelled, I was ejected into the Madness Key... but the Madness Key can''t take on living things. It must have sacrificed all of these Genes in order to save me from an immediate death.


    ''But in that case... is my body so injured because of the jade? Or because of the Madness Key?''


    Suddenly, Ss wasn''t so sure of that answer.


    He exhaled a frosty breath and couldn''t help but frown.


    ''Why is the temperature here below zero? Something is wrong.''


    Ss stood to his feet and stepped out to find a scene that left him without words.