He truly regretted not going back to get the second short spear he had created, but he didn't think he had the time to do so. With the night already waning, if he tried to do a round trip, he might get caught up in battles as the creatures began to wake up.

What he had feared the most weren't the land animals, though, but rather the creatures he had spotted sleeping in the lake. He was already hardly a match on land. If he had to fight in the water, he would be finished.

Sylas took a breath and exhaled. Nothing had gone right this whole time, but hadn't he made it here?

---

[You have slain Little Madness]

[Floor One of Slithering Madness Cleared]

[Rewards]

[>Little Madness (Skill)]

[>Inflexible Gene Elixir (Consumable)]

[>Little Madness Slayer (Title]]

---

Sylas frowned. Pushing forward with his intention, he clicked each one for more information.

---

[Little Madness (Skill)]

[A little bit of Madness never hurt anyone. Exchange your sanity for a power boost]

---

Wasn't this just a far weaker version of his Madness Comprehension? Plus, this seemed to come with side effects his Madness Comprehension didn't have at all.

---

[Inflexible Gene Stat Elixir (Consumable)]

[A medicine for the soul and not for the taste. Drink this and maintain an Inflexible Gene State for three days]

---

This wasn't entirely useless. Although he had a Soft Gene State right now, which was two levels above this, it wouldn't last forever. Still, it was a bit shabby.

His Soft Gene State gave him a 50% success rate of claiming new Genes, but this would only give him a 10% chance of success. It was unfortunate.

---

[Little Madness Slayer (Title)]

[You have taken down an apprentice of the Madness. Keep going and one day you just might step onto the path of true Madness]

[+1 Will]

[+1 Charisma]

---

Sylas shook his head, especially when he saw what happened to his stat menu afterward.

---

[Name: Sylas Grimblade]

[Species: Human (F)]

[Affiliation: Grimblade Lineage]

[Level: 0]

[Titles: A Flexible Will; A Patient Stalker; Little Madness Slayer (Dormant)]

---

[Physical: 8]

>[Strength: 5]

>[Constitution: 5]

>[Dexterity: 13]

>[Speed: 8]

[Mental: 9]

>[Intelligence: 5]

>[Wisdom: 10]

>[Charisma: 12]

[Will: 36]

[Luck: 1]

---

[Skill: Maddened Meditation (F); Little Madness (F)]

[Comprehensions: Madness (F)]

---

[Gene State: Soft]

[Fragmented Genes: Grimblade Lineage (F); (2) Dexterity (F)]

---

[Gene Talents: Blade Aura (Mutated - Weakened)(-); Sudden Burst (Dormant)(F)]

---

For some reason, the Little Madness Slayer Title was dormant, and he didn't even get the stat boosts from them. He didn't really need more Will or Charisma, but it wouldn't exactly hurt either.

In summary, though, he had gotten very little out of this victory aside from the right to go and risk his life again on the second floor. He had a Skill that was useless, a Title that was dormant, and an elixir he would probably only drink if he really had no other options. Even then, he had to figure out a convenient way to carry this elixir around with him because he didn't have a bag.

'I could try to make one out of the fox skins…'

Sylas decided he would do this before looking toward his final hope: Little Madness' corpse.

He walked over and put a hand on its head.

---

[Little Madness]

[Genes Detected]

[Fragmented Gene: (7) Constitution (F)]

[Attempt Assimilation?]

[Yes][No]

---

Sylas' brows raised. His grandfather hadn't told him this was possible, but this made sense. Maybe it was a case of if a creature assimilated enough Fragmented Genes, they would form a Common Gene, so on and so forth.

This would make his 50% chance worth far more, assuming that it did so one by one and wasn't an all-or-nothing sort of situation.

---

[Gene Assimilation Starting…]

[Gene Assimilation Triggered]

---

[Gene Assimilation Successful]

[Gene Assimilation Successful]

[Gene Assimilation Failed]

[Gene Assimilation Successful]

[Gene Assimilation Failed]

[Gene Assimilation Failed]

[Gene Assimilation Successful]

---

[Constitution: 9]

---

Sylas exhaled a breath when he saw this. Four of seven was a good outcome. He was happy that it wasn't an all-or-nothing situation. Although it would have been amazing to get all seven, just in a risk assessment sort of situation like this one, this was for the best.

'Floor two…' he quietly thought to himself.

He put a hand on Little Madness, hoping it would allow him to take it. He had no method of cutting apart those hard scales, but maybe he would find one on the next floor.

Sylas' vision blurred, and when he appeared again, he was standing on a familiar cobblestone road. In the distance, it split in two directions, just like last time.

After a moment, Sylas lugged the heavy five-meter-long python over his shoulder and began to walk toward the forest again.

As much as he was curious about what was down the other path, he wasn't in a position to take risks for the hell of it. He would stick with what he knew for now and hope the situation would be the same.