Ss'' Gene State was Quasi Brittle right now, allowing him a 20% chance of sess in absorbing Genes for the next week. What he didn''t expect was that he would seed with that 20% chance.

    The problem was that his Bronze Gene Limit had already been reached. So the moment Extricate pressed through with sess, it met another restriction that made Ss'' body convulse.

    His body copsed and his bones rattled. It felt like a hidden organ system within himself was being shredded apart, but it simultaneously felt clearer to him now than ever before.

    A battlefield suddenly began raging through Ss'' body. Blood leaked from his ears and eyes, and Ss realized that the Gene was slowly failing to be pushed out of his body.

    Ss immediately thought of a solution. If he used Extricate on himself, he could reverse this situation.

    But when he sensed the state of his mind, he felt reluctant.

    He was like a man observing the secrets of the universe for the very first time. The pain was inconceivable, but the result was that the process of sensing the Intelligence Gene was prolonged as well.

    The damage to his body was slowing as though it had reached a cap, but the pain was only increasing again and again.

    Just as Ss was going to follow through on his n, he grit his teeth and closed his eyes, curling himself into a ball.

    The memories of what happened in the world ofva were still rolling around in his mind. He seemed to have forgotten, but he certainly had not. He was just forced to press it down.

    No one had been there but himself, but he remembered the humiliation of that moment so very clearly. It was the greatest moment of weakness he had ever had in his entire life.

    And he refused to experience it again.

    They say you only knew a person when they faced unimaginable benefits or unimaginable horrors. Ss had faced death and didn''t like the person he saw looking back at him.

    So now, curling up here and remembering that moment, his gaze shed with coldness.

    He activated Maddened Enlightenment and his mind became unprecedentedly focused. The mysteries of Aether opened up to him. He could sense its flow even clearer than he could the Runes earlier.

    Finally, he could sense the Aether organ system in his body. His visualization extended and he could finally see it moving around in his organs rather than just having a vague feeling.

    At that moment, controlling his Aether felt like forcing yourself to burp, which is what Ss would have described it like before, to instead feeling more like taking a breath.

    The difference was like night and day and Ss focused on that difference. He knew that once the Bronze Gene was forced out of his body, he wouldn''t feel it nearly so clearly, so he had to imprint the feeling into his mind right here and now.

    Ironically, the pain helped him. Everywhere his body hurt was like another stamp and reminder. He could feel the cycle all throughout his body.

    Slowly, a new change began to ur.

    Ss could feel the runes of the outside world and how they interacted with Aether.

    He remembered how there were so many more runes where there was Aether, almost like the Aether needed anotheryer ofplexws to exist and interact with the world.

    Ss felt a unique connection between the two, and how those oddws could be interacted with, how he could use his telekinesis tomunicate with the two…

    Then Ss remembered how he had felt that there were different types of Charisma… was there really different types of Charisma? Or was there Charisma, Wisdom, and Intelligence?

    Suddenly, by understanding Intelligence so deeply, Ss came to grasp something else.

    Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, these three were like three sides of the same coin. They were all types of senses.

    The Intelligence stat might incorporate how much Aether he had, but it was likewise a measurement of control. It was simr to how Speed might incorporate Strength as well. After all, wasn''t mass and eleration the definition of power?

    Ss had already realized that stats were moreplex than it seemed, which was why Madness Control, which allowed him to forcefully increase his Efficiency, was so important.

    But now, he was starting to gain a different understanding of Efficiency as well. It wasn''t just about maximizing individual stats, but allowing them to feed off of one another properly.

    Ss felt a tug and caught a faint trace of the Flow of Battle once again. But once again, his Comprehension ran into a barrier. Recalling the Quest that he had yet to finish, Ss didn''t mind it. Now was not the time anyway. He waspletely focused on his Aether and how to maximize it.

    As the pain began to recede from his body, his calmness was slowly bing unprecedented.

    Soon, the cool sensation of Voice of a King became clear to him once again and the final leg of hisprehensionpleted.

    If Intelligence was part sensing Aether, Wisdom should be rted to Voice of a King, the calming sensation that helped him to focus. And, of course, Charisma should be rted to Will.

    The threeyered atop one another and were difficult to parse apart, but all three could work together nheless.

    He could fuse his Charisma and Intelligence to send out fists of telekinesis powered by Aether.

    He could use his Wisdom to supply his Charisma withnes of activity, allowing him to split his Will into several pieces to be used at the same time.

    He felt that there were other secrets as well, but because he was only focusing on the Intelligence Gene right now, they were still far from him.

    But as the pain finally subsided, hisprehension solidified.

    Finally, Ss'' body rxed. However, the burning pain in his body didn''t disappear.

    In return for thisprehension, it felt like he had ruined his Aether pathways.