The sound of heavy breathing and pained wheezing echoed in the depths of a cave.
“… You really shouldn’t have come with me, you fucking idiot.”
The voice was familiar, the potty mouth even more so.
“Oh, look who’s cursing at me finally. Does that mean you love me again?”
“Fuck you, Olivia.”
“Fuck you too, boo.”
The two laughed before they began coughing again.
“We really should shut up…”
“I want them to come. They’ve been pissing me off for too long,” Cassarae spoke through grinding teeth.
The place was so dark that she could hardly even see her hand in front of her eyes, let alone Olivia. Luckily, Sylas had gotten her necklace back for her, and her visualization range was more than decent. If not for this and the maze of tunnels here, they would have lost their lives tens of times over by now.
When Cassarae made her decision to join the Petals of the Seeing Thorn trials, she hadn’t expected Olivia to hitch a ride. And worse than that, she didn’t know what happened here, but while the first few days were fine, things had suddenly become… fiendish later.
The number of trial participants skyrocketed, and while most of the original participants had just been from small or weak worlds like Earth initially, the number that came from affluent backgrounds increased by a substantial margin for seemingly no reason at all.
At first, everything felt like somewhat of a breeze. Even while having to protect Olivia and help her grow along the way, they made steady progress toward the Seeing Thorn. But after the change, it was hard to take even a single step forward.
They had been stuck here for days already without any progress, and worst of all, Cassarae had become a target for reasons she couldn’t explain.
Well… she could explain, actually. She just refused to take the blame for it.
‘… They deserved to be cussed out… those droopy-titty heifers.’
Cassarae clenched the hilt of her sword.
She would carve a way out no matter what. Sylas could do it — she knew that he could. He had already pulled them through far worse and continuously did the impossible.
If she couldn’t deal with these ants, someone was going to steal her man.
Just the thought made her eyes flash a deeper hue of blue.
“You’re getting those crazy eyes again.”
“I am not,” Cassarae rebutted.
“Definitely thinking about him again. Get it together, girl.”
“Shut up.”
“That dick must have been good. You daydream about it at least three times an hour. How about you let me borrow it for a night or two?”
“I’ll throw you into the nearest sun I can find if you say something like that again.”
Olivia started laughing so hard she rolled on the ground. Unable to contain herself, Cassarae started to laugh as well.
Sylas stepped out of a familiar portal right into the Level 30 Bazaar that was now well and truly his own.
Honestly, he could probably run the entire thing into the ground and the Golden Grove wouldn’t say a word.
The only unfortunate part was that this control wouldn’t extend to the others.
Whenever an organization like the Golden Grove was accepted into a lower territory and allowed to do business, they had strict rules to follow. This was why the bazaars were headed not by people sent from the Golden Grove, but rather selected amongst people who lived here already.
The Golden Grove could punish and set rules and boundaries, but they couldn’t make any unilateral decisions that broke these rules.
Sylas could be taken in for embezzling funds, but they couldn’t just send someone to replace him, for example. Well, he wouldn’t be punished in that way now, that was for sure.
The clothing around Sylas shifted.
Finally, he had found something strong and sturdy he didn’t think would be breaking down anytime soon.
At the moment, he looked like the quintessential Navy SEAL — decked out in black, a utility belt tightening his cargo pants around his waist, a skin-tight compression shirt weaving across the peaks and crevices of his toned torso and arms.
His feet, ankles, wrists, and palms were exposed to the world, accommodating the existence of the Scorned Wraps. The contrast of black and blood-stained white worked perfectly with one another.
This outfit didn’t have any special properties outside of the tough material it was constructed from. In fact, they were woven specifically for him by a D-Grade Seamstress working with E-Grade materials.
Sylas got several sets of it, but he had a hard time imagining a scenario where this material would easily break at all.
He finally felt ready to face off against this world. He would be acting on his own terms.
His feet flexed, and the heavy stone beneath them trembled as though his toes alone carried enough power to crack them.
It was hard to explain what he was feeling right now, but as the Runes of the bazaar began to spin around him, he could only really think of one word.
Excitement.
It wasn’t the erratic, uncontrolled sort of excitement. It was more like a simmering heat in the depths of his soul.
For too long now, he had been suppressed by others. He understood too little, he was easily caught off guard, and his intelligence couldn’t be applied in all the ways he was used to.
But now… things were different.
He was the one with the elevated amount of knowledge now. He was the one with a view that went further and a scope that was wider.
His foundation of knowledge right this moment was deeper than any genius from the Golden Grove, and that was enough to leave the Skai 11331 Galaxy in the dust.
But he wouldn’t be stopping here.
Not by a long shot.
Sylas looked up as though he could see right through the roof above him. He sensed several auras here, but he had already guessed that he would. The number of people who knew that he was here was too numerous to count.
His body flashed into an arc of emerald lightning. He moved as fast as a bolt peeling across the skies, manifesting high in the air with his feet planted on the wind as though it were flat, solid ground.
E-Grade Thryskai. Six of them. All of them looking for him.
Their gazes all turned toward him at the same time, an intent in their eyes flashing as they realized he had appeared high above them before they even knew what was happening.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Treasures — from necklaces to wristbands, even rings — shattered on their bodies one after another.
[Suppressive Scouting].
This was the real reason Sylas had chosen this Skill amongst all the ones he could have. Treasures his enemies used to protect their stats and stop themselves from being scanned — so long as they were beneath a certain threshold — could be crushed with the intent of his Will alone
—
[Malik Uidah]
[Level: 51]
—
[Physical: 51,373]
[Mental: 67,458]
[Will: 34,111]
—
Not only could it crush their treasures, but it forcefully pulled their stats into a realm of understanding that Sylas could grasp.
Sylas’ hair began to dance, emerald streaks sparking akin to the spontaneous chaos at the end of the universe…
It began now.