Transcendent Gene
Chapter 194: Hidden Legacy [8]

Chapter 194: Hidden Legacy [8]

Gio sat against the wall opposite Neriah with his head leaned back and his eyes closed. Several hours passed in the silence, which he used to get some slight rest.

He wasn’t able to fall all the way asleep, but resting his mind and his eyes was enough. At least temporarily, his fatigue could be cleared.

He tried his best not to think too much, but he couldn’t help but mentally prepare for anything that could possibly go wrong. He could only really rest his mind once his mind was willing to rest.

Nevertheless, he got some much-needed rest. Neriah, on the other side of the tunnel, did the same.

Sometimes she furrowed her brows, sometimes she frowned, and sometimes she shook her head. She contemplated for a long while, waiting for Gio to open his eyes again.

And when he did, she didn’t hesitate to ask him the questions on her mind.

"How did you become strong?"

The primary basis of her worldview was strength. The world she knew revolved around strength, and no matter how much people tried to pretend otherwise, there was no such thing as a world that relied on laws alone anymore.

As long as one was strong, any law became irrelevant. People followed laws because of the strength of those who enforced them, but one only needed to form a strong enough group to reach the same result.

Strength was the only true measure of power, therefore, strength was the basis of every conversation and relationship Neriah ever had.

The way she interacted with people and the way she perceived them were both first decided by strength.

Gio was strong, therefore, she could admit that in this situation, she was the lesser of the two of them. However, she would never believe that she was lesser in every way. For her to understand the person in front of her, the first thing she needed to understand was how he became the person he was.

At the same age as her, in this Stratum where people pretended to value words over strength, how did he become someone who could match or even outdo her?

It was clearly an important question to her. Gio didn’t expect to open his eyes to such an intense gaze, but he felt almost forced to answer.

’Hmm...’

He didn’t know who Neriah was. He didn’t know who she could have become if she hadn’t died in the Apocalypse Church’s attack. He didn’t know her past, he didn’t know her potential, and he didn’t know her nature.

All he knew was what he’d seen in the past fourteen hours.

’However, I didn’t come back to judge anyone who hasn’t already been deemed guilty.’

In other words, his goal was to provide opportunities to anyone who could reach for them. If they were the wrong people, it was also his duty to end them before they could become real threats.

For now, Neriah was nothing more than a young genius with a bit of a strange personality. The heat in her eyes was a mixture of competitive spirit and a desire to grow.

It was only natural for him to entertain her.

"How else do you become strong?" He said.

"I worked hard for a long time. I’m sure you did the same."

Neriah nodded.

"Yes. Every memory I have in life was spent growing in strength. Any moment spent otherwise is insignificant enough to disappear from my mind. However, you are still stronger than me."

"Stronger?" Gio echoed.

Neriah gave him another nod of acknowledgement.

"Yes. For now, you are stronger. In terms of physicality, I would say we’re equal, but strength doesn’t come from physicality alone."

She frowned as she continued. The words weighed on her, but she felt the need to speak them.

"Your perception and sense are both far above mine, whether in combat or otherwise."

"You can attribute that to the difference in our Bloodlines."

"You have a very versatile Sequence."

"Yeah. I come from a relatively large clan, so it’s a privilege I had."

"Right..."

Neriah leered at him.

"If you think it’s enough to make me believe your only benefit is status, then you’re mistaken. How you received your opportunities isn’t important to me. Even with opportunities, nothing is possible without effort."

She also had opportunities in the past that helped her become strong, but if either of them chose to relax instead of working towards strength, they would have at most reached the level of the ordinary first years.

"In the first place, I’m not asking for consolation. If you are stronger, it’s natural for you to win. When I’m stronger, you will lose the same way."

It seemed Gio awakened the competitive spirit that was put to sleep by the level of competition she experienced before him.

"Then what are you asking for?"

"To gauge you."

Neriah’s answer didn’t solve his confusion.

"I understand now that you’re like me," she said with a nod.

"If that is the case, then I only need to observe you to learn how I must improve."

Gio didn’t understand where her "realization" came from, but she came to some sort of conclusion based on the short answers he gave.

"There is nothing I can do about Bloodline superiority but work harder than you do. Depending on the traits I inherit as I improve, I will have many chances to soar. The superiority of your Sequence will only exist until I find a chance to complete my arsenal. The only remaining factors are experience and physical ability."

Neriah’s gaze sharpened.

"If I observe how you move and act, can I not become as good as you and then better?"

Gio nodded slowly.

"I guess that’s possible."

’Was I thinking about it too deeply?’

He felt like Neriah wanted something else out of this conversation, but she was leading it in a very simple direction.

From what he could see, it was merely a matter of a genius who met competition for the first time. She was only informing him that she planned to use him as a stepping stone to become stronger.

It was a declaration of war, in a way, but also a declaration of rivalry that she wanted him to honor.

"So you’re going to learn from me?"

"Yes."

"And what happens if you don’t learn anything?"

"Impossible. I’ll find something to learn."

There wasn’t anything for Gio to do but shrug his shoulders as a silent show of acceptance.

He would only later learn the consequences of that decision, but that was a story for another time.

For now, he watched as Neriah nodded back at him with a satisfied look in her eyes.

"Is that it?" He asked.

"Is there anything else?"

She tilted her head as if she were confused.

She didn’t mention the incident with the aurora, she didn’t mention anything Gio expected her to mention, and she easily accepted most of his answers without trying to pry for anything more.

She ended the conversation far more succinctly than Gio expected her to. He couldn’t help but feel strange.

He must’ve missed the unknown glint in her eyes.

Perhaps there really was something else within her words that he wasn’t able to comprehend.

Yet, nothing could make those little things important in the moment.

An hour or two more of rest was the most they could possibly need before they returned to their adventure.

The tail end of their trials was gradually approaching.

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