Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1278: Above You

Captain Herrs looked at Sylas for a moment, not answering immediately. He seemed like quite the serious man for a moment until he suddenly began to chuckle.

”This is your right, is it not? I can’t interfere directly to help you. I am not of the Scorpion Lineage, and even if I was, that would only be more reason why I could not. But you are still a disciple in waiting. You still deserve some advantages.”

”Mm...” Sylas nodded slowly. ”In that case, let me talk to the people down below.”

Captain Herrs blinked in surprise. ”You...”

”I won’t be making any unilateral decisions. I just want to speak to them.”

”But then you will alert them that we know.”

”As things are right now, do you have any leads on who they might be?”

Captain Herrs paused for a long while before shaking his head no.

”In that case, the information is useless as is. They might not even care that you know so long as they can continue to protect their identities. They’ll just wait for the right moment and then stab you in the back.”

After a long while, Captain Herrs nodded.

”Alright. You can. But I can’t give you official capacity to do anything. Also, just talking, no attacking, no killing, no threatening. Ultimately, this is still a ship of the Sanctum and acts as a good portion of their income.”

”I understand,” Sylas said calmly.

It seemed that Captain Herrs would have it seem like he was acting independently. That would put quite some pressure on Sylas, actually. Because he was already a target to begin with, if he also pissed the people scrunched up together down there as well, once the pirates really did come, their aim would certainly be their get-back.

However, Sylas didn’t seem to find a problem with this, bid farewell to the captain, and then closed the door.

Old Brama peeked out an eye from beneath his hat.

”Are you sure?”

It seemed to be the old man’s favorite phrase. By now, Sylas had gotten a feel for exactly what he meant when he said it, though.

”Won’t be a problem.”

Sylas picked up his trench coat from the hanger, slid it on, and then left, his feet light and his gait balanced.

...

The hangar down below was packed. The ship had seemed enormous from the outside, but right now barely 300 or so people were crammed into a single hall, huddled together with just a few faint lines separating them and allowing for walking lanes.

Sylas’ appearance immediately caught the attention of most despite the relatively loud noise.

There were probably hundreds of different conversations going on at once, and while they didn’t stop, it sounded as though the volume had decreased by half.

”It’s come to my attention that there’s likely a few pirates on board. The ship captain and crew won’t do anything about it, so I’ll be acting in the capacity of the 713th Scorpion Warlord’s disciple.”

There was an uncomfortable shuffle almost immediately, and Sylas could see that some were already dissatisfied with this. Unexpectedly, there was someone who actually spoke out after a brief pause.

”To be accurate, that isn’t exactly the case, now is it?”

Sylas looked over to find a young man with a gruff, leathery appearance. He had a belly as round and full as a moon, and his skin’s texture was quite reminiscent of Tiere, but his aura—while he seemed well suited to the Rhino Warlord Path—wasn’t actually Skarzok.

”You are a disciple in waiting. You won’t be an official disciple until you pass the tests. You have no authority here.”

There were many nods in agreement. No one wanted to be needlessly questioned when they were already so uncomfortable to begin with, least of all by some F-tier child.

There were far too many D-tiers here for them to bow and scrape for someone who wasn’t even a real disciple yet. Plus, even if there was the threat of pirates here, if the captain couldn’t do anything about it, how was Sylas going to?

”You’re quite wrong, though that line of thinking might make you feel better. Do you know the reason I can stand here with this badge on my hip and yet none of you dare to do anything? Do you know why I learned of the potential pirates here before you all? Why it is I even have this badge in the first place?

”The test is of the Beast Warlord Sanctum itself. I stand here as someone who’s already done something you could not. I’ve already been acknowledged by Gralith Duskthorn. Even if I die before stepping foot into the Sanctum, that remains true, and that leaves me as someone who is above you in every way.”

The young man felt his mind shake and his vision waver. It wasn’t until his D-tier handler put out a hand to block his vision from Sylas’ that he finally recovered.

”That’s enough!” The handler protected his young charge to his back.

”Since you two are so talkative, you can go first.”

Sylas stepped forward and a rotating series of Runes flashed around him, the Mesh of Reality bending and twisting.

It looked like he was still standing right where he was. And yet, he and the duo seemed an entire world away.

The hangar of people watched as the D-tier tried to establish some dominance, his aura radiating out. But Sylas just stood there, unbothered and unmoved.

Their hearts shook.

How was an F-tier ignoring the gap in aura against a D-tier? What was happening?

They couldn’t hear what was happening at all. And somehow, when they tried, it felt like their senses were sinking into an endless black hole, being swallowed up by something else entirely.

What they didn’t know was that Sylas was using the Hibernation Realm right now. To them, their senses might as well have been a drop falling into the ocean. Sylas was exactly that...

A world away.