Genetic Ascension

Chapter 430: Internal Struggles

Sylas looked to the skies, his expression calm.

For some reason, he felt a great deal of pressure when he met Aurion’s gaze, but that didn’t cause him to falter. Instead, he calmly looked to the side where he found Brisa, who still seemed to be steaming from how things ended.

Not only had she lost two valuable items, but she hadn’t even been able to make it to the end. However, she also didn’t dare to blame Sylas for it either.

For her to lose on time was something that she still couldn’t wrap her head around. Just how strong did Sylas have to be to accomplish such a thing? Had they let him win?

No, that was impossible as well. Even if they came from the same world, the chains of the system affected them all equally.

Of course, they had yet to confirm that Sylas was from Earth. As of now, they were still in the dark about exactly which of the Summoned Worlds he came from. So Brisa felt that this was actually even less likely.

After sweeping his gaze through everyone, Sylas seemed to realize something and then indifferently turned his attention to the bonfire.

His eyes narrowed when he saw the corpse of the old man, and certain things he had guessed earlier were confirmed. Inwardly, however, he felt that this was actually quite good for him.

‘So the Sylphs have such internal struggles. Good.’

Weaknesses of the enemies were positives to him. If there was such a clash, he could take advantage of it.

Back when Licirius tried to recruit him, he had exposed this potential underbelly, but he had only been speculating.

Now, he was even more certain.

His Rune Soul moved and he was about to leave this place when a pressure fell from above.

It was powerful, more powerful than anything that Sylas had ever felt before.

“Hand over the Clypsian and you may go.”

Aurion’s voice came from above, indifferent and commanding. He carried an icy cold that matched the crystals that seemed to coat his hair.

—

[Aurion Stormveil (???)]

[Level: 21]

—

Aurion frowned as he felt Sylas scan him. It wasn’t the scan that was the problem, but rather that he felt Sylas had actually succeeded in part. Just how powerful was his Mental?

He had felt that it was beneath him to even attempt to scan Sylas, but when he acted, his pupils couldn’t help but constrict.

—

[Sylas Grimblade (???)]

[Level: 0]

—

He only succeeded in part?

A Level 0?

Aurion was floored, but by the time he recovered, Sylas’ body was already vanishing. The latter hadn’t even taken Aurion’s threat seriously.

The only chance Aurion had of getting Sylas to do what he wanted was intimidation and preying on Sylas’ ignorance. Unfortunately for him, Sylas was aware that if Aurion actually made a move, even if he managed to kill Sylas, he would die soon after under the system’s wrath.

Aurion had been prepared for this and had a death guard of sorts that would act in his stead. But what he didn’t expect was for Sylas to be so decisive in completely ignoring him. Then he had been stunned by Sylas’ stats, or rather lack of them, and he forgot to hand out the order.

By the time everything was settled, Sylas was gone.

Aurion stood in silence for a long while. However, he had long since regained his calm.

“Find out which world he is from. We will need to be ready to deal with it,” he said calmly.

Then, without so much as another word to his fiancée, his ship rose into the air and vanished over the horizon.

Brisa and Aerwyna looked to one another, their silence speaking a thousand words.

…

Sylas appeared at the bottom of a lake and almost immediately frowned.

One would think that he was thinking about Aurion’s intentions, but that was only a small bit at the back of his mind. That was because something else caught his attention immediately.

Why was this lake so cold?

All things considered, the Ice-Poison lake should have felt like warm tap water to him at worst by now, considering his new stats and his upgraded affinity. But…

Sylas’ pupils constricted. ‘I lost four months?’

This time, Sylas was using the system to measure the time that passed, taking advantage of its date and time being synced to Earth.

‘… I see…’

The last time Sylas lost such a large chunk of time it was because of the Slithering Madness Dungeon. At first, he thought it was just an odd quirk of the Dungeon, but what if…

That Dungeon and this one both transported him away from Earth?

He would have no way of knowing one way or another.

In that case, was Earth in an accelerated time warp as well as being targeted from so many sides?

Sylas couldn’t help but feel the walls caving in.

These things were so far above his pay grade he didn’t even understand how it could be possible. And worse than that, what about Earth was truly so valuable to be worth all this effort?

Now that he thought about it, how were the Clypsians so powerful? And if the Dogons were their rivals, how had Earth produced two such powerful Races of beings despite only being a Grade 10 Bronze World?

Things weren’t adding up, and the more he learned, the more pressure he felt.

Sylas’ jaw set and he shot up to the surface.

BANG!

He landed on the water, his clothing nowhere to be seen. He had no choice but to take out a seal skin beast skirt from one of the male Clypsians and put it on while the rest of his skin glistened with chilly waters.

His eyes sharply scanned the region and he found about as much as he would have expected considering he had been gone for four months.

The entire landscape had changed.

But what was even more troublesome was that he couldn’t afford to return to Casstle Main now, not when he had no idea how things had changed on that side, and more importantly… what Lucius might have done in his absence from the Grimblades.