If he had killed Max without reason, then maybe he would feel differently. But he would never do such a thing to begin with.

From the beginning, Max and Jared had approached with thoughts of dealing with him. That much was clear. That initial arrow was definitely meant to kill. Since that was the case, he didn't see a reason to second guess himself.

Morality and grace were the privilege of those living in times of peace. Things like philosophy or sociology could only be pined over and parsed after your ancestors had done all the fighting for you.

It was ironic. Sylas had a conversation with Lauren not long ago about keeping as much of your original self in this cruel world as you could…

But he didn't really feel like he was changing at all right now. He felt like he was becoming more of himself.

He finally caught his breath and stepped forward. Jared's eyes widened with terror as Sylas grabbed him.

"Can you speak?"

The corners of Jared's mouth twitched and spasmed, but nothing came out. Since he was useless, Sylas drew the blade across his throat as well.

Jared's pupils trembled with shock and resignation, but maybe the cruelest part was that he couldn't even feel himself dying. All he felt was numbness.

'There shouldn't be a third person. If there was, they would have either shown up by now or they went to report… I guess I should try to get out of here as fast as I can.'

Sylas rushed back to the City Stele and stored it away.

He did want a city of his own, but not yet. After seeing the Bronze City Stele of the Grimblade family, he really couldn't see himself settling for anything less. At the very least, he had to reach that stage, or everything he was doing would be meaningless.

When he came back to the edge of the village, he began to go through Max and Jared's corpses. They were obviously equipped with excellent stuff. He just had to be careful with touching it so that the Scorned Wraps didn't ruin everything.

---

[Homed Bow (F)]

[Level: 3]

[+14 Dexterity]

[Ability: Homing]

[A target locked upon with your Will will be tracked down by your arrows]

[Durability: 9/10]

---

[Rushing Saber (F)]

[Level: 4]

[+16 Speed]

[Ability: Sudden Burst]

[Reach your top speed instantaneously in exchange for one point of Durability]

[Durability: 17/20]

---

[Leather Chest Armor (F-)]

[Level: 4]

[+6 Constitution]

[Ability: Sturdy]

[Withstand a near fatal wound and attack with 5% more of your maximum Strength in exchange for remaining durability]

[Durability: 4/10]

---

They both wore the same armor with the same abilities. But comparing this to what he had seen from Cassarae's armor made him realize that there was a sheer night and day difference.

That Maya Sinclair really was an invaluable strategic resource. Her Level 2 armors could provide +100 Constitution compared to this that wasn't even in the double digits. He could hardly fathom why the gap was so large.

Sylas stood ready to move out, but then he stopped and looked back toward the corpses.

He knew why he hadn't thought of checking their Genes. They were humans, not the beasts or mythical creatures he had fought before. They were real. They deserved to be seen as something more than just resources to collect… right?

Sylas bent down and pressed his hand to Max's corpse.

---

[Maximillion Cooper]

[Gene Detected]

[Common Gene: (2) Strength (F); (2) Constitution (F); (3) Intelligence (F); (1) Wisdom (F); (2) Will (F)]

[Attempt Assimilation?]

[Yes][No]

---

Sylas paused.

It was as expected. This system had no special place for humans in its heart. To it, they were no different from any other species, a people that could be easily replicated through their superior technology and butchered no different from the common animal.

Sylas pushed his intention toward [Yes].

Since there were the two of them here, and he had just learned that there was likely a limit to his Mental stats as well, he wanted to see how far it would go.

---

[Gene Assimilation Starting…]

[Gene Assimilation Triggered]

---

[Genes Successfully Assimilated]

[Common Gene: (1) Strength (F); (1) Constitution (F); (3) Intelligence (F); (1) Wisdom (F); (1) Will (F)]

---

[Genes Failed Assimilation]

[Common Gene: (1) Strength (F); (1) Constitution (F); (1) Will (F)]

---

The pain hit Sylas like a truck, but this time, rather than being in his body, it felt like his mind was being forcefully split in two.

---

[Mental Stat has reached 50 and cannot increase further. Species limit has been reached. Please evolve Species, increase Level, or change Class to progress further]

---

[Skill Savant (Title) has activated. Stat Limit increased]

---

[Name: Sylas Grimblade]

[Species: Human (F)]

[Affiliation: Grimblade Lineage]

[Level: 0]

[Titles: A Flexible Will; Skill Savant (FFF+); Madness Conqueror (FF-); A Patient Stalker (F-)]

---

[Physical: 50]

>[Strength: 50]

>[Constitution: 50]

>[Dexterity: 50]

>[Speed: 50]

[Mental: 53]

>[Intelligence: 23]

>[Wisdom: 14]

>[Charisma: 122]

[Will: 116]

[Luck: 1]

---

[Skills: Madness Control (FF+); Basic Scouting (F-); Maddened Enlightenment (FF+)]

[Comprehensions: Madness (FFF)]

---

[Gene State: Soft]

[Fragmented Genes: Grimblade Lineage (F); (8) Dexterity (F); (6) Constitution (F); (4) Strength (F)]

[Common Genes: (3) Speed (F); (4) Strength (F); (3) Constitution (F); (3) Dexterity (F); (3) Intelligence (F); (1) Wisdom (F); (1) Will (F)]

---

[Gene Talents: Blade Aura (Unranked); Sudden Burst (F); Tail Whip (F-)]

---

Sylas took deep breaths, slowly recovering from his splitting headache. When he could finally see again, he felt that his mind was even sharper than it had been before, but he could only sigh.

It seemed that this was the reason Mental was so often treated as a single stat, even deciding whether you could scan others or not. It seemed that its limit wasn't in individual stats, but rather the overall stat.

This was probably also the result of the Grimblade Lineage increasing his Stat Limit as well. It was highly disappointing.

But… there did seem to be a silver lining.