Sylas snapped awake from his stupor, realizing that the pulsing waves of the Dungeon had finally come to a stop. The world around him began to crumble, and a long list of notifications he had ignored to the side seemed to have been pushed even further to the back of his mind.
For a moment, Sylas focused, realizing he was likely going to have to try and find a way to survive the destruction of this. However, just as he was planning on trying to save himself once again, something odd happened.
The floor slipped out from under him, a spatial tear manifesting from the violence of the destruction.
Sylas was going to avoid it, but his sensory perception toward space was actually quite strong.
’… Really?’
Sylas slipped through the spatial storm.
…
When Sylas’ eyes cleared, he found himself on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere. Space rippled around him for a moment as he looked toward the far-off distance. The emerald moon they had been on was so far away now that he could barely see it as a point or dot in the skies.
All of a sudden, the encirclement of Thryskai and Trakar he was going to have to deal with was no longer a problem.
Was this Luck?
Sylas’ stat screen was still a string of question marks, but he could feel that it had accelerated. There was no way it would take this much time for him to assimilate with the galaxy now that he was…
’Am I?’
The Quests the others had received had nothing to do with becoming a Galaxy Progenitor, though it seemed highly likely that this would happen if they were able to gather the three True Chosen Marks.
’I see…’
Sylas wasn’t too surprised. His Quest had never claimed Galaxy Progenitor with any assurance. However…
—
[Titles: An Enlightened Will; Milky Way Progeny…]
—
Progeny was certainly an odd choice in word considering it didn’t exactly elicit the same sort of ambience or feel as Progenitor. They carried two completely different meanings.
However, this hardly mattered. There was great assurance in Sylas’ heart that this was all but a guaranteed Title for him, in the very near future at that.
—
[Title: Milky Way Progeny]
A name stricken from the annals of history and commandeered by another, it has slowly begun to awaken thanks to your efforts and the world has begun to recall the True Name of your Galaxy.
The Milky Way has blessed you with what little it has left, and you have become Her favored child. But to rise beyond, there is much work left to do…
—
An odd Title indeed. There was no specificity of what it did, no stat increase, no sudden bulge in power… but Sylas would surely be a fool if he didn’t know that his easy escape was related to this.
His sensitivity to Luck had increased quite a bit between interactions with Cassarae’s necklace, the improvements to Taboo Bond, and the raw increases to his own.
He knew Luck when he saw it.
But why did this Title read more like a Quest than a Title? It was hardly trying to hide what it was disguising itself as.
’Let’s get out of here first. I’ll have to go and pick up Cassarae so that nothing goes wrong.’
It would be the worst kind of mistake if, after all they had been through, some random D-Grade crossing the space at the wrong time caused everything to go back.
As Sylas pulled out a spatial device he took from Israeal, taking out the vessel within to see if he could use it, the back of his mind was churning with thoughts—not just of his new Title or the storied secrets of the Milky Way, but also of Jala.
Where did he get the All-Seeing Eye from? What triggered it? What was Israeal after from him? Why did he feel like the Hall Clan had so many secrets?
It felt like the Galaxy was somehow both in chaos, and yet as calm as it had been in a very long time.
The Thryskai and Trakar had fallen into complete silence, because their Patriarchs had done exactly that.
Staring at the confirmations of their sons’ deaths, they almost couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Especially when that name… so conspicuously sat on top of that list all alone, without the slightest hint of diminishing.
—
[Skai Galaxy Titans Leaderboard]
[1. Sylas Grimblade | Lv. 50 | (Human Simioid)]
[2. Vynora Vecunish | Lv. 50 | (Thryskai)]
…
—
Sixth place Vynora shot up an entire four places, not because of merit, not because of a sudden breakthrough, not even because her competition had left to the E-Grade…
But because they had all died at the hands of a single young man—one untouchable legend who seemed to have flipped the galaxy on its head all on his own, without the slightest hint of help.
“Kill him.”
The two men, despite not being across from one another, had the exact same conclusion to things.
Kill. They had to kill. No matter the consequences, no matter the resources they had to apply, no matter the hardship or how much they had to give up during the process.
No matter what, they wanted Sylas’ head. They wouldn’t rest until they had it.
If Sylas managed to take the final step to become the Progenitor of the Galaxy, their families wouldn’t have a place here anymore. But worse than that, he had humiliated them, stomped on their pride, ripped their veneer of confidence and unfathomable flawlessness to shreds right before their faces.
They had been forced to face their inferiority and weaknesses today in ways they couldn’t put into words.
The Galaxy was calm because the Trakar and Thryskai were no longer warring.
The Galaxy was chaotic because armies were sweeping the stars to find the location of just a single man.
**
A gasp echoed, heavy coughing—the sort that seemed to rip one’s throat apart as though to draw blood coming out in waves.
Jala opened his eyes wide, gripping the sides of a vessel of some sort he didn’t understand or have the time to grasp before a pair of black irises appeared before him.
“How curious. I didn’t think there was something in there like that.”
A smiling face looked back at Jala, blinking with the curiosity of a child.
It was none other than Alex.
