“Bring me to the UniForm,” Sylas said calmly.
Old Brama glanced at him and then headed to the door.
…
It wasn’t long before they had made it there. Sylas didn’t really care about his appearance right now and just tossed on a casual pair of robes. Usually, he would like to be well-dressed, but that part of him had flown out the window in the interest of practicality.
Whether he would end up with anything that could actually survive his battles in the future would take time.
“There are two people I need you to bring to the Golden Grove. My wife’s father and a Merchant Guatum. They both have taken up Merchant Professions. The latter is a Memory Merchant. The former has yet to choose a path. I’m sure you know not to force him down one. He will choose one when he’s good and ready.
“Both of them are on a Summoned World, so at best you can extend invitations. If they choose to accept, you will power their projections being sent here.
“Then there’s Lorien. Give her the best training you would normally give an Inspector you felt had decent potential. No need to go much further than that for now. I want to observe her for a while longer.”
Sylas had some thoughts about Lorien that were a bit complex. She would technically be his best asset when returning to the Skai 11331 Galaxy. But Old Brama’s explosion over Charysm made him wonder if there was another potential path to take.
He definitely wasn’t one, but that didn’t mean that he definitely didn’t have the abilities of some. The old man might be eccentric, but he wasn’t a fool. No fool could craft something like the UniForm.
With that, he slipped into Andromeda once again.
…
Old Brama frowned at Sylas’ words. How could he have a Profession if he hadn’t chosen a path already…
Suddenly, the old man’s pupils constricted as he came to a realization. However, whatever surprise he had vanished into wisps of smoke.
Memory Merchants were also quite rare and valuable, but the other parts of Sylas’ words had been so confusing that he practically glossed right over that.
By the time he had gathered his thoughts, though, Sylas had already slipped into Andromeda.
‘He didn’t even rest properly. His body may have recovered, but damage to Will and mental strength takes a lot longer. He didn’t even last very long the last time. How long could he possibly last this time?’
Old Brama had gotten his marching orders, but thinking that Sylas wouldn’t last very long in the first place, he didn’t act on it immediately.
But as time began to slowly tick away, his expression went from indifferent to cold, until it sank to the depths of darkness.
He wasn’t his granddaughter, he wouldn’t think that Sylas had inexplicably died right in front of him. The only way that this would be possible was if…
Sylas had been playing them from the very start.
Had he really planned all of this? No, planning it would be unlikely. But either way, he was very used to hiding his real abilities. Would this be the true extent of what he could accomplish? Or was he still holding back?
The old man’s jaw set.
After the first hour ticked by with Sylas showing no sign at all of stepping out, he turned and left to finish his tasks.
It seemed that following this young man for these years wouldn’t be easy at all. But he was still sure that Sylas was carrying a secret.
Much like Sylas had said, if he was really so old and muddled, he would have never succeeded in crafting Andromeda. He might not be ranked on the C-Grade Rune Master Leaderboards, but that was only because he both didn’t care for it, and didn’t want the Golden Grove to be targeted.
A powerful Rune Master, without just as powerful backing, was asking for enslavement.
In Old Brama’s opinion, when it came to Mechanical Crafting, a specific field of blacksmithing and Rune Mastery that involved electronic and Aether-powered parts…
He was second to none in this Sector.
When he concluded something, he was rarely wrong. Something was off about Sylas, and the best way to find out what it was had to be to be near him.
After everything their Gold Races had suffered at the hands of Demons, he wouldn’t let one just take advantage of them because he had decent backing.
…
Sylas had tuned out the world, not caring for what Old Brama might be thinking or not. His time was limited. The more time ticked away in this place, the more his Luck warned him that he needed to move fast.
He realized that the time he had to become a Galaxy Progenitor was very limited. The All-Seeing Eye hadn’t given him a time limit that felt constrained, but now Sylas felt that he had been lied to.
With all the wacky things happening to him, he was far more trusting of his own senses than what a notification screen had to tell him.
In that case, he could only give himself a week here at most.
But in that week… Sylas planned to make up for his most glaring weakness.
A lack of foundation.
Born on Earth, not even raised by the main Grimblade Family, his understanding of this wider world all came from flying by the seat of his pants. There were too many things that he didn’t understand.
That problem was especially bad when it came to Rune Mastery. He had so much talent, and yet he was so limited in using it because he didn’t know how to apply it, or how many different ways he could apply it in the first place.
He didn’t even really have a strong understanding of how to progress to the E-Grade… honestly, he wasn’t even sure what the difference between being an E-Grade Race or E-Grade in Tier even meant.
There was no way he was leaving here without clearing all of those confusing, clashing thoughts.