356 Detainment [Bonus]
Sylas returned to Casstle Main only to be "detained." The situation was actually worse than it seemed, although he took it as mostly a joke. Gregory even had the likes of Brant's toddler in shackles.
On the way back, the group had met up with Brant, who was waiting anxiously. The man almost wept when he saw his wife and son, and when Sylas saw this, he knew that he would likely not have to worry about Brant in the future.
Brant had been practically grinning from ear to ear. He might have carried his wife and son on the way back himself if not for the fact they reminded him that they had prepared a horse and carriage.
However, that fantasy came crashing down a moment later. He couldn't help but look toward Sylas, but Sylas wasn't the type of person to give reassuring glances. He just let Gregory do what he wanted until they were "escorted" to separate holding rooms for Cassarae to personally inspect.
What Sylas didn't expect was to have to sit and wait there for an entire three hours, but he could see more than a third of the village just with his visualization alone, so he knew exactly what was happening.
Cassarae was taking her time. She had gone through the necessary hassle and released Olivia and two small families of three basically immediately. Then, she housed them in her City Lord abode, a place that had actually grown since the last time Sylas had seen it.
The first time he saw the City Lord "mansion," it was just a small shack with a single room that housed the City Stele in a corner. The second time, it grew into a small cottage. This third time he appeared in it, there had actually been a spacious enough basement to house the portal and City Stele.
Now, there were five semi-decently sized rooms, and it was much more like the mansion title in its namesake.
Cassarae gave one room to the family, left one to her parents, and she actually started to share one with Olivia, although there was plenty more space. Obviously, she was thinking ahead for the future.
As for why she was taking so long, it was obviously because she was still angry with Sylas.
Sylas, however, didn't mind. These chains could hold him, sure… he wasn't yet superhuman to the point of shattering them with his strength. Still, he didn't care one way or another.
He closed his eyes and began to sense Rune Breath.
Because of the time crunch, he hadn't really basked in the feeling. It was also much harder before considering there was no abundance of Aether where they had been.
As for the wound to his shoulder, it had already healed on the way here. That sort of injury was only a scratch to the current Sylas.
He took a breath and felt Enchanted Scholar stir within him. Almost immediately, the Runes in the air manifested and moved to his will.
'The description was correct. With Rune Breath, the pressure on my mind when using Runes has reduced considerably. It probably costs a tenth as much now… Which means…'
Rune Breath felt a lot like how Skills felt. Skills use a minimal amount of Aether from within your body to communicate with Aether in the atmosphere to trigger some sort of effect.
Before, Sylas was taking on the burden of Rune creation all by himself. But now, the atmosphere was listening to him as well, making things several times easier.
Strokes began to gather, and Sylas stamped down.
A complete Ice-Poison Rune formed, and guided by Sylas' Ice-Poison Aether, it drilled into the chains on his body.
Sylas felt a cold chill that quickly became warm.
With a casual roll of his shoulders…
SNAP.
He opened his eyes to find the chains that had bound him in pieces. He actually didn't care whether they were on him or not, but it was truly fascinating that he could do this at all. It hadn't even taken a Skill.
'Interesting. If I tried using my Ice-Poison Aether alone to do that, it would have taken me several hours to break these chains. But the Ice-Poison Rune was like a sharpened blade to my Aether's hilt. It helped it pierce.
'The Rune alone could have accomplished it. But with the boost my Aether gave it, it didn't have to siphon what it needed from the atmosphere and it made the entire process much faster.'
Sylas found it all to be fascinating.
Before, he hadn't even been able to create the Ice-Poison Rune. He could only use segments of it because forming the entire thing took too much stamina. But now the cost to him wasn't much worse than any other Skill might be.
There was definitely a path to great strength hidden here. But he also realized that it could quickly get very complicated.
In the future, drawing the line of distinction between Runes, Aether, and Skills might become impossible. Unless he laid a solid foundation now, when things became more complex, he would be lost.
'The library.'
Sylas loosened himself up. He hadn't minded sitting around because it was a good time to sharpen what he needed to sharpen. But now that he had done everything he needed to do, he wouldn't just continue to sit here while Cassarae threw a temper tantrum. Every second counted now.
However, just as he was about to leave to make his way to the System City, a familiar figure walked through his visualization and made her way to his door.
Cassarae walked in, and her lip twitched slightly when she saw the broken shackles on the floor. She hid it quite well, though, looking into Sylas' eyes.
"I hear you made Olivia ride between your legs."
"…"
Sylas didn't even know how to respond to this at first. It was technically true, but why would you summarize things like this?
"You also kissed her and pinched her ass."
Alright. That one was a bit harder to get out of.