Chapter 283: Determined
Sylas' eyes narrowed. Was this related to the dash he had seen by the Arctic Emperor Cobra's name?
He hadn't been able to see the Arctic Emperor Cobra's actual stats, but he didn't need to in order to understand just how much of a monster it was.
For context, Sylas had not only suppressed it by 80%, but he, himself, had then fused with the Basilisk King on top of that. And even then, if it wasn't for the fact he had been lucky enough to learn how to counter Ice-Poison ahead of time, and also benefited from the Emperor using up all its Aether to cast a skill that covered an entire hundred-meter radius, he still wouldn't have been able to defeat it.
None of that even mentioned the fact that at the start, the Emperor Cobra had been restricted by the system, not allowing it to attack initially.
No matter how you looked at it, the Arctic Emperor Cobra was the furthest thing from a normal Level 12. Azrael was nowhere near as powerful, and he was a Level 15.
All signs pointed toward this creature being special, and this seemed to point it out to him. Without hesitation, Sylas clicked yes. This time, there didn't seem to be a list of drawbacks. Though that made him wary, he knew that taking risks like this was the only way forward.
[Bronze Beast Destiny Consumed]
[Gluttony Seed has strengthened]
[Quest Rewards changed]
'Bronze Beast?'
Sylas' heart skipped a beat, then he guessed something.
Could it be that there was a Grade beyond FFF+? If that was the case, did that mean that from F- to FFF+, these were all classified as Common Beasts, while only creatures above that threshold could be given the moniker of Bronze?
But it didn't even seem like the Arctic Emperor Cobra had successfully completed its evolution yet in the first place. Just how powerful was a true Bronze Grade Beast?
What Sylas didn't know was that such beasts weren't designed to even be fought alone in the first place. Across the universe, in order to hunt such existences, parties of anywhere from dozens to hundreds were the bare minimum requirement before even trying. And that was just a Bronze Beast.
In the case that it was a Silver Beast or greater... well, at that point, you would be talking about something entire cities or even worlds would need to get involved in to deal with.
But this was also precisely why Sylas was ranked on the Merit Leaderboard.
When a Bronze Beast was born, it would become a small overlord all on its own, taking up real territory and forming what was known as a Beast Domain, the equivalent of a city but for creatures.
These Beast Domains would become spawn points of powerful underlings and the creatures would begin to reproduce in larger numbers.
It could be said that if the System Cities were an underground, subtle threat that might spring on them when they least expected it, then Beast Domains could very well lead to the end of a world ahead of time.
Such creatures were already beginning to appear as seedlings now, so one could imagine how much turmoil the sudden end of the Trial might cause to the world very soon.
Right now, however, that wasn't Sylas' problem. He was busy with his new screen.
The six Quest passes had vanished, or more accurately, they seem to have been fused into one.
[Arctic Royal (Fragmented)]
[The tundra is your Domain and poison adorns your chalice]
[+30 Mental]
[+30 Constitution]
[Stat Limit Increase: +12 per Level]
[Free Stats: +6 per Level]
[Class Modifier: 0.12 Intelligence; 0.12 Wisdom; 0.12 Charisma; 0.12 Constitution]
Sylas took a breath and accepted the Class. He already knew that this would be a painful one, whether it be for the sake of expelling the rest of the impurities from his body, or because of the activation of all of his Titles at once.
But one way or another, he was determined to do so.
Then it happened.
Sylas' mind went blank, and for a moment, he thought that it might just be better to die. Had it been the Sylas before the volcano incident that was lying here on this bed of rock, he might truly have given up in that very instant.
His entire body seized and then a feeling that could only be described in the most vulgar of ways took hold. It felt to him like his body had just been tossed into a blender, countless tiny blades tearing into him from all sides.
Blood pooled out from his orifices and pores, tainted with blackened impurities. He could feel his bones creaking and splitting, whining beneath a shocking pressure.
Sylas didn't dare to open his mouth. If he did, he would almost certainly end up biting his tongue off. Sweat pooled around him, but it was hard to tell what it was. Instead, it looked far more like droplets of mud and soil falling away from him.
As bad as the smell was before, it only grew worse now.
Sylas stared at the ceiling of the cave, waiting for the pain to go away. If it wasn't for the veins popping across his jaw, one wouldn't be able to tell just how much pain he was in.
There was something particularly cold about his current eyes. He replayed the scenes of the battle he had just fought, remembering them step by step and moment by moment, trying to figure out what he could have done better, and also hoping to be much stronger by the time he would need to act in this way again.
As he was lost in these thoughts, the pain only became more excruciating. But when it began to ebb and he could finally feel a sense of clarity once again, he also felt blood rushing to places he didn't want it to go.
Sylas shook his head inwardly, still not able to move the way he wanted. He could barely shift
his eyes enough to see the tent pitching in his pants.
He really hated this world...
But his body and inner thoughts seemed to very clearly love it.