Sylas stared up into the skies, taking deep breaths. His wounds were almost fully closed now.
It had already been two and a half days, but he was only now feeling that he could finally move a bit.
There was a heaviness to his body that couldn’t be explained, but the sharpness in his eyes was only growing. It was close. He knew it.
In the last few days, Sylas had been using the Madness Key to coordinate with Szorn and understand what was happening in the Petals of the Seeing Thorn.
The Trials had already come to an end, and now Cassarae could be considered to be officially among their number. It could be said that the shakiest part of this plan was actually Cassarae’s last name.
The Petals of the Seeing Thorn would also probably have some information on where Cassarae had come from since they had sent out an invitation. Of course, this didn’t mean they would have Earth’s location, but rather they would have information that they didn’t know Cassarae’s location—which would be as good as tying them together.
The odds of someone else having the exact same last name were high.
But the odds of that someone also having the exact same last name and being from a Summoned World they couldn’t locate were very low.
That was where Nyssa would have to come through. But Sylas wasn’t too worried about this.
There was a reason Sylas had left Szorn with Cassarae, and there was a good reason he had returned her necklace to her too.
Other than the True Chosen… Cassarae’s luck was probably among the very highest F-Grades in this galaxy.
And very soon, she would get another upgrade.
Sylas continued to look up, the sea of moving stars not having grown boring to him even with all the hours he had been staring at them.
It was quite a beautiful sight to behold. Barely a year ago, he never thought he would ever see the universe in this way. But now here he was, floating on a rock he should have been suffocating on, drifting through the expanse without a care.
And right now… he was still in the bottom-most rung of this world. What would he be capable of at a future time? What would he be able to do when he reached the E-Grade? The D-Grade? Beyond?
He found himself more than just a slight bit interested in what secrets this world could hold.
‘It all really starts here.’
All this time, he had been fighting to make up for someone else’s deficit. Earth had been targeted long before he was even born. Then he had to scratch and claw just to make it back to the starting line.
He finally made it to the starting line, though… only to find out that its position was still so far behind the starting positions of everyone else.
It was an interesting feeling for him. He had been born with everything he could ever want on Earth, so much so that the idea of striving for more just felt so… boring.
What was the point?
This, however… this felt fun.
Just the slightest hint of a smile curled Sylas’ lip, the sort of smile that usually only Cassarae would see. But right now, it was for himself…
Because he could feel his blood slowly beginning to boil for something.
It was time to reabsorb his Genes.
**
Three ships the size of kilometer-wide asteroids surrounded a Dungeon. Runes flowed through the air in free strands of energy. To the layman’s eye, it would look as though solar flares of gold and green were sparking from time to time, flickering out in uncontrolled rays.
But to the eyes of a Rune Master, it felt as though the laws of the world were being rewritten right before their eyes.
The three groups were all too obvious.
The Thryskai.
The Trakar.
The Petals of the Seeing Thorn.
Just as obvious as that was the lack of trust between the three groups. The only way they could agree to do such a thing was if the rules and parameters set were unrelated to them.
In that case, there was only one way they would ever agree to a set of rules.
Let the system do it.
Versus Dungeons were rare in this iteration of the system. In the past, they were more common—Dungeons where several teams could enter to compete for the ultimate rewards, or in this case, singular people would meet head to head to do so.
Sylas had entered one such Dungeon before, but it was known as a Split Realm. This Realm had also allowed several teams to enter at once, but that Dungeon had been a design of the Legendary System, not the current modern-day system.
A Versus Dungeon was the modern-day spin on the concept.
Usually, they manifested like the Dustspark Viper Dungeon, where all those that entered would be placed on a ranking list and given rewards based on it. However, that wasn’t the sort of Dungeon they needed right now.
They all knew well that once they all entered, only one would be likely to come out.
This was no Ranking Versus Dungeon like the Dustspark Viper Dungeon. This was a True Versus Dungeon, one that would pit all those that entered against one another.
Slowly, Zoryx, Thalrik, and Soryntha all made themselves known, touching down on the shimmering green moon the Dungeon resided on.
“Wifey! This is truly a twist of fate—unexpected, unexpected. It’s alright. I’m sure I’ll figure out a way to take your True Chosen mark without having to kill you. That way we can still get married in the future.” Thalrik beamed brightly.
Soryntha’s expression was frighteningly cold at the moment. There wasn’t the slightest hint of her usual seduction. She gave Thalrik a glance and then said nothing else.
“Ah, not even married yet but already giving your husband the cold shoulder,” Thalrik said with a droop to his expression.
Zoryx stood in silence with a slight smile on his face, observing quietly.
The Runes continued to spill out from the Dungeon’s portal, but before they could even think to enter, there was a change.
A vessel appeared high in the air, and Israeal stepped out from it.
The atmosphere turned dark. This was certainly not discussed.