Chapter 325: Wits
Jean found himself standing across from Sylas, feeling a bit apprehensive. He had spoken his words without much thought, but they clearly revealed what his inner heart was thinking.
He had called Sylas "Baron" and not "Captain" like he should have. Whether he meant to or not, he was implying which title was more important to Sylas, and which one actually got him here.
Sylas had no military achievements, no military background, and as far as Jean knew, he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had never even seen blood before.
Now, this man had replaced their former Captain, kicking him down the ranks, and wanted to command them as though nothing at all had happened. How could he possibly be satisfied with this current situation?
The more Jean thought about it, the less bad he felt about his previous words and the angrier he got. Eventually, he coldly traded for a short blade and a common military breastplate. They weren't particularly expensive, but they were still things that a mere Baron couldn't buy in droves.
However, when he did finally step onto the arena, he felt his heart constrict.
Sylas casually tossed his official military gear to the side. His armor clanged down below along with the sharp sword he had been given. He stood there in silence, his chest bare, his hands empty, and his stance balanced and even.
He could have put his armor away in his Madness Key, but that wasn't the effect he wanted. He wanted them to feel the gap between them.
"Come," Sylas said calmly.
By this point, a few stragglers who had nothing better to do began coming around the base. When they heard that the new Captain was about to fight their subordinates, they rushed over at the first sign.
Seeing Sylas' actions, they couldn't decide if he was crazy or not. But the Barony title held too much weight. No one dared to be openly disrespectful.
Jean took a breath. Since Sylas insisted on being embarrassed, that wasn't his problem. Cutting some hair from his head should be enough to demarcate the difference.
Unleashing a stomp, Jean rocketed forward. He immediately used one of the three official military Skills, [Infantry Charge]. It worked similarly to Sudden Burst, except it also had an attack waiting at the end of it.
Sylas only took a light step forward, feeling his blood rumble as his stats increased by 20%. <Psychedelic Punch>.
Jean felt his entire body freeze over. The eyes of the Emperor of Serpentes looked down on him, those piercing gold irises and the slit akin to an abyss of hell piercing into his very soul. Basic Aetherflow.
A roar echoed in Jean's mind and the greenish-gold fist appeared before him in an instant. From start to finish, Sylas hardly moved. His torso twisted, his feet drilled into the ground, and he punched out in a single motion. Yet, he didn't need to take even a single step forward.
BANG!
The fist smashed into Jean's chest, tearing through the defense of his Aether skin and caving it in.
Just as he was about to be directly killed, Sylas used his telekinesis to snuff out the rest of the attack, but that didn't stop the man from flying off the arena as a string of coughed-up blood was left in his wake.
He landed with a heavy thud, his body convulsing and his eyes rolling back.
Sylas only gave him a glance as he looked at the next one.
"You, come up."
This woman was known as Darla. The System City army had a significant split of women in it, and Sylas' own squad had five. In this sort of situation, he had no intention of going easy on the fairer sex.
He didn't know much about leading troops, but what he did know was that obedience and discipline were of the utmost importance. If they always only reluctantly followed his orders, then there would come a time where they might lag to do something that would cost them, and maybe even Sylas, their lives.
That was unacceptable.
However, Darla fiercely shook her head and fell to a knee.
"Captain, this subordinate apologizes for her earlier rudeness. Please punish me!"
Seeing Darla's actions, the others acted in kind. Seeing this, Sylas nodded. The result was good enough, and most of their Favorabilities ticked up to 5 or even 6 in three cases.
This was good enough for his needs. Higher Favorability would need more time to curate, and soon enough, it would be easy to increase.
With this farce concluded, Sylas bought a Healing Potion for Jean, bought better equipment for his team, and then went to the hub to see what missions they could do.
If he wanted to reach General within a month, then reaching Colonel had to be done in a matter of days to a week at most. In that case, whatever he chose would have to be extraordinarily dangerous. The more Hero Points he could gather in the least amount of time, the better.
...
As Sylas was headed to trade for his mission, news of his achievements began to spread. Of course, this wasn't to the outside world, but rather within the noble circles of Guiz City. The Earthlings of Guiz had heard of Sylas before, at least some of them had. But to be a human that frequented a System City, one had to be pretty much cut out of normal day-to-day life on Earth. These people had ended up here mostly by accident and there was no easy way for them
to return.
The only way for them to spread news about Sylas was through a Nexus, but Sylas himself knew how hard it was to get access to a Nexus without being a City Lord. As such, it would be a while before his feats in Guiz City were disseminated to the rest of Earth.
That said... This was a different matter entirely for the citizens of Guiz.
A new Baron and Captain was huge news to them... Especially in the case of the Guiz family and their City Lord.
When Licirius and Plinli heard the system announcement, they began their own plots and
schemes.
A battle of wits had begun.