Chapter 380: I Am
Sylas slowly regained his bearings, his mind on full alert. There was always a risk of things going terribly wrong when you entered a Dungeon with a higher Entry Limit requirement with fewer numbers. But for things to go this poorly was definitely unique.
What Sylas didn't know was that this situation was even worse than he knew.
During a Summoning, a world was in a unique state. There were many oddities that could occur, including events that intersected with already well-established worlds.
Most of these odd occurrences could be described simply. The universe tended toward helping its children to evolve; it was a simple cadence of evolution. As such, the universe wasn't interested in protecting interests and drawing dividing lines. In fact, if it was up to the universe, every world would perfectly succeed in their Summoning.
This was all to say that when these odd occurrences happened, it was a method of the universe, or the system, rather, giving those of a lesser world an opportunity.
The ceremony that Sylas had just strolled into was one example of this. This was an event meant for Sylphs and Sylphs alone. He had no business appearing here. It could be said that everyone, including the elder lurking behind the bonfire, saw him as an enemy that should be directly killed.
But by the same token, just like the Arctic Emperor Cobra, they were restricted by the laws of the system. Their pain wasn't just caused by Sylas' Madness Comprehension, but the backlash of the system itself as well.
They should have had an understanding of what it meant for a human to appear here, but they tried to overextend themselves nonetheless and those that were foolish enough to do so had ended up facing some backlash.
Such events were truly rare; it was no wonder that they would try and see if there was a loophole to take advantage of. But now that they had failed, the next time they tried to kill Sylas...
The result would be far worse.
Sylas' gaze flickered as he stood to his full height. He didn't hide his gaze, scanning everyone one by one, including the man standing behind the bonfire.
There was no use in trying to hide his intentions, and since his visualization seemed impossible to use against these people, he could only rely on his eyes.
Likewise, he didn't dare to try and scan their stats either. All he knew was that they must be beneath Level 20. If he extrapolated the stat recommendations of the Dungeon, then they all likely had around 500 Mental Stats and Will as well.
For now, until he thought of something better, this would be the best that he could do.
Slowly, the Sylphs around him also recovered from their mental backlash, some of them even swallowing Elixirs directly to replenish themselves.
Several more glares landed on Sylas' body, but no one dared to act again. However, the oppression in the air would have likely suffocated anyone else.
"You are alone?"
The voice was gruff, aged and ancient. It sounded as though the man had been screaming at the top of his lungs for half a day and was somehow still willing himself to continue speaking now.
It came from the elder behind the bonfire.
Sylas' eyes narrowed. 'Why can I understand their language so clearly? Interesting.'
It was an odd feeling. He knew they were speaking another language, but it still naturally translated when it reached his mind. He couldn't tell if this was a Skill of the man himself, or if it was the system.
Then again, he could understand the words of the other Sylphs as well, so it was likely the system.
"I am."
Sylas' words seemed to surprise most of them, including the man. But then there came the sinister gazes. They didn't even bother to hide their intent.
After saying these words, the man fell into silence. It only took Sylas a few seconds to realize something.
They were waiting.
There were likely more teams coming.
Sylas took a breath and made a decision. He turned and found a rock nearby. He took a seat on it and deployed his visualization into a tight five-meter barrier around him.
Then, he began to draw Ice-Poison Rune after Ice-Poison Rune. Soon, a dense frosty aura pervaded the area and thick mist was created. The mist quickly grew so thick that Sylas couldn't even be seen within.
This was most definitely a risk. For one, he was exposing his skill in Runes for them all to see, this would certainly put them on guard. Second, he still wasn't sure if he was perfectly safe here, so what he was about to do came with an added level of danger.
However, he had to do it.
His mind was focused as he pulled out the polar bear Emperor's corpse. As for his purpose, it was none other than the Gene Talent it had used.
There was a reason Sylas hadn't done this before. Extricate didn't work on Gene Talents. As far as he knew, the only way to get a Gene Talent was to rely on the system. Maybe if he upgraded Taboo Bond enough, but for now it was impossible.
That meant that if he wanted a chance at a Gene Talent, he would have to waste basically all the Genes in this corpse, and that was something he didn't even want to do... especially since it wasn't even guaranteed that he would end up with the Gene Talent.
His body had reached its Bronze Gene Limit so it was all or nothing.
Either the system would give him a chance to unlock this Gene Talent, or he would be wasting maybe the most valuable Gene resource he had ever gathered.
If it was just that, it would be bad enough, but he was also taking another risk. Because he had reached his Bronze Gene Limit, he had no space to gather the Genes he would need to sacrifice to the Gene Talent in order to awaken it.
So... he was also gambling on the fact that Extricate would be able to bypass his body and pass Genes directly to his Gene Talent.
Before, the gamble simply wasn't worth it. Too many things had to coincidentally go right.
But now...
He had no other choice.
[Attempt Assimilation?]
[Yes][No]
Sylas paused. Suddenly, an idea came to mind.