Chapter 435: Originator [Bonus]
[Leg 003 Cleared]
>[Return to Quest Originator]
When Sylas read the word Originator, he felt something stir inside of him.
The feeling soon became far more substantial than just a vague feeling.
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[Path of the Progenitor Activated]
[Subordinate Path sensed]
[Precedence overruled]
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[Would you like to take control of this Multi Quest?]
Sylas' eyes narrowed. He followed after the siblings, so neither could see his expression... though, that would not have been likely to help them at all.
After thinking about it, Sylas chose to reject it for now.
'Path of the Progenitor... that came from the Legendary Quest.'
He didn't receive any reward related to it, so he had neglected it only for it to come up in the most expected of ways now.
Sylas didn't even bother to attempt to ask the Madness Key. He could already feel from the slight intention alone that it was a Taboo. But he could also feel that this Path of the Progenitor, while he had yet to truly earn it just yet...
Was extremely powerful.
It wasn't yet time to pick this nuclear option. He would have to see what the state of Lucius' city was first.
After all, he needed more from this place than just knowledge that his family was alright. In a few hours, they could see a city on the horizon.
Compared to the last time Sylas had seen it, it had undergone many changes.
The thick logs that made up its exterior walls seemed stained with black ash and exuded a far stronger aura. It seemed to even have a slight deterrence that Sylas could feel through One Kind For Me would be effective against his Serpentes companions.
It was a beast ward, a perpetual one etched into the very walls.
Judging by its strength, it would work for at least two or three kilometers. It would definitely keep this region safe... at least from beasts.
They passed through several outposts, and Sylas could feel the Aether fluctuations as they quickly sent information back.
Soon, there was a small team of three rushing toward them. But this team had a man that didn't look like he had done a day of exercise in his life.
It wasn't that he was fat, but rather that he was, well... soft, for lack of a better descriptor. He wasn't skinny enough to be lanky or fat enough to be obese. But he certainly had a belly and his body was almost lumpy in its constitution.
The wispy grey hairs on his head went to confirm just how much things had changed. This might have been a war, but this was no longer a frontier of just warriors alone.
They had definitely expanded in more ways than one.
Gasping for breath, the lumpy man came to a stop.
"Is it... finished?" he said between breaths.
"Yes, the route is secured."
"I understand..." the man huffed, settling himself. He stood up straight and turned a glance toward Sylas.
Sylas could feel that he was being observed. For a moment, he thought of whether he should block or not, but when he sensed something in the distance, he chose the former.
The lumpy man suddenly staggered backward, blood running down his nose as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
Mark quickly reached out and caught him. "Wilfred! What's wrong?!"
CLINK. CLINK. CLANK.
At that moment, in the far-off distance, the seemingly empty city walls became lined with artillery.
Sylas knew what he was seeing. These should be the works of a certain Old English speaker... Archibald. It seemed that now that he was getting far better equipment, what he could create was also likewise shocking.
Even a casual ballista bolt from these units would carry over 2000 Attack. If it was cranked at the expense of Durability, Sylas' <Master Scouting> told him that it wouldn't be impossible to hit 3000 Attack a few times.
The gates of the city shook from a partial open position to a half-open one and a small troop of a dozen marched out. At the same time, on the city walls, another group appeared. This one had Lucius and three others, two of which Sylas recognized.
The first was Nathan, Lucius' first pick and the self-created billionaire who had created several successful companies thanks to his AI algorithm.
The second was Lucius' third pick, the one he took after Sylas. It was a young woman, and she was a historian who went by Ivy, if he recalled correctly.
She was somewhat special, but he had only heard vague retellings of what she specialized in from conversations others had spoken about. He wasn't exactly sure what made her worthy of being picked by Lucius, but all things considered, he didn't know much about Nathan as well. He wasn't the one who carried all their information and made decisions about where to draft them, after all.
The troop of a dozen on the ground was quick to surround them, and Bloom and Mark seemed to understand that this was all for Sylas as well.
They distanced themselves from him and the two guards that had come with Wilfred were likewise on high alert as they unsheathed their weapons.
Sylas wasn't actually too surprised about all of this.
If it was possible to hide Sylas' feats, then he might have been willing to pretend like Sylas was on a mission he had sent him out for. But not only was that not in his personality, but that ship had also long since sailed.
Sylas bet that while he was away... some other shocking truth bombs had fallen.
If he got Merits for killing a Quasi-Bronze Beast, he would have certainly gotten another for killing the second. And if Merits were about contributions to Earth, then defeating the Sylphs would certainly be another... especially after his Dungeon was tampered with.
Sylas was more than just a little bit correct.
Although he was no longer the sole possessor of the Merit list... the distance between himself
and everyone else might as well have been an abyss.
And on top of that, unlike the Madness Key... treasures given by the Merit Leaderboard, or Leaderboards in general, were decided by Earth's timeline, not Sylas' personal experience of
it.
Sylas looked up from the approaching troops and his gaze met Lucius'.