Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1354: Itchy Hand [3200 GT Bonus]

”Esteemed guests.” A steward bowed low. Though he, too, was male, he knew better than to ogle the women of the Petals of the Seeing Thorn. They smiled on the surface, but most of them carried true thorns in their hearts. ”Please, this way. Is there any entertainment center you’d like to go to in particular today?”

The steward stood as he spoke, smiling respectfully. Although he was a D-tier, he didn’t show the slightest bit of neglect to the F-tiers before him.

This branch’s Petals of the Seeing Thorn wasn’t a place that just anyone could join. Lorien and the others were hangers-on of Cassarae; and as the one official member, it showed.

The Petals of the Seeing Thorn only accepted the highest quality of women. After all, who else would the best geniuses accept as lifelong mates if not women of such a caliber?

”I’m aware of an event that hasn’t been announced just yet,” Cassarae said calmly, her more diplomatic hat coming on for a moment. ”I would like seating arrangements for it.”

The steward’s heart jumped. He was just a little steward. If there was something that hadn’t been announced, he wouldn’t know about it either.

Cassarae smiled. ”It’ll be in the Rune Master quarters.”

The steward still didn’t really know what to do with this information. But hearing ”Rune Master quarters,” he decided that the best thing to do would be to escort Cassarae there first and ask questions later.

For a situation like this, it was unlikely that he’d be blamed. The Petals of the Seeing Thorn held too much power in a location like this one.

”Yes, come with me.”

...

The group was escorted through the bustling building, many giving them a wide berth until they all fit into a comfortably sized glass elevator with golden Runes rotating around its body.

As though a space pod, they shot into the air, moving vertically, and then horizontally, before moving vertically once more. The jerky movements should have left them clumsy and disoriented, but they hardly felt a thing.

When they stepped out, the steward was surprised to find that there were actually already several powerful auras here.

He shrank back inwardly, half realizing he had made the correct decision and that Cassarae was certainly correct, but also half realizing that he was well out of his depth.

Unfortunately, he was already here and had no choice but to move forward. Even more unfortunately, when several of those powerful gazes swung over to meet their approach, he froze involuntarily.

His head spun as he recognized one group after another.

Leava Clan.

Venom Clan.

Mancha Clan.

Were those Thryskai?

More Petals of the Seeing Thorn members?

Why were so many powerful Rune Masters here? The Leava, Venom, and Mancha practically occupied the top ten in every Combat Matrix Index Ranking—the only ones missing were the Beast Warlord Sanctum, who usually also vied for those positions.

When it came to raw Rune Master capabilities, the Leava Clan was head and shoulders above...

And then there were the Thryskai.

Their presence could either be especially muted or especially powerful depending on where you looked. But the ones that were here...

They were no doubt powerhouses.

That was what the steward got from a perfunctory glance. But when he took a deeper look, he truly almost passed out.

Vidu Mancha, third-ranked on the F-tier Matrix Index Rankings.

Aira Venom, second-ranked on the F-tier Matrix Index Rankings.

Furon Leava... first-ranked on the F-tier Matrix Index Rankings.

What was happening? Were they going to try for a re-ranking? Why was no one informed about such a big event? Had he gotten very lucky? Or very unlucky?

Even if one was looking at the Rune Master Leaderboards, Furon was still first. Aira was seventh, but Vidu... he was second.

The steward didn’t recognize any of the Thryskai, but he didn’t believe for a moment that they were nameless nobodies. Whatever was happening here was well beyond his pay grade.

”Cassarae. What are you doing here?” Wei frowned, confusion coloring her face.

Cassarae smiled. ”I can’t be here?”

Wei blinked. Her instinct was to snap and say of course she couldn’t. But the mission Cassarae had been sent on was hyper-secretive. Even the Kaelthar weren’t made aware of it.

Obviously, Cassarae knew this.

”Oh? Who is this beauty?”

Cassarae looked over, her smile becoming quite dangerous.

”You have quite an arrogant mouth for someone gearing up to lose.”

The young Thryskai blinked. Clearly, he wasn’t expecting this sort of response from a Petals of the Seeing Thorn member either. But then his gaze turned to one of interest.

”Do you know this one, Urolius?”

Urolius was quite familiar with Sylas. Or, rather... he was quite familiar with Sylas’ fist. However, he had no idea about the relationship between Sylas and Cassarae.

The Petals of the Seeing Thorn were aware of this relationship. However, they didn’t really understand who Sylas was or much about him.

All they knew was the classification that the Milky Way branch had given Sylas... a branch that was currently under Cassarae’s control.

”I don’t,” Urolius said with a smile, looking Cassarae up and down.

Pa.

”Ow, what are you hitting me for?!”

”You see that your brother has found someone that caught his eye and the first thing you do is ogle her? Where’s your shame?”

Urolius rubbed the back of his head. ”She’s an F-tier. Clearly she’s been lined up for me. Go chase some E-tiers.”

”I probably won’t have to step in—just let Magnus handle all the E-tier stuff. I’m more interested in finding love.”

The young Thryskai looked to the lights with a flickering hope in his eyes, as though he was truly a romantic to his core.

Cassarae scoffed. Men on Earth could be shameless too, but she had found that men in this wider world were even more so. And why wouldn’t they be?

Here... power dictated everything.

”Where can I place bets? Momma has an itchy hand.” Cassarae turned to the steward.