Chapter 442: However...
Sylas shot through the forest, leaving the team he was assigned to far behind.
[Leg 004]
>[Clear Trading Route]
The mission seemed to be the exact same as Leg 003. But what was interesting was that this was a trading route already owned by another faction.
The details of the actual mission were only in the hands of the Originator and the individuals said Originator trusted. Everyone else only gained the bare minimum information: location and goal.
This was clearly another test by Lucius. He wanted to see just how much Sylas was able to glean. So, Sylas chose to oblige.
With his Progenitor status, he could see the complete details.
[Leg 004]
>[Clear Trading Route. Ebonspire is 70% finished with their Trading Routes and your team has likewise reached this milestone. The final 30% will have to be fought for. Begin by destroying Ebonspire's Trade Route. The rest will be up to you.]
'Ebonspire. Last I saw it, it was ranked fifth on the City Leaderboard.'
Sylas thought back to the poison master, bouncer look-alike he had fought against for the Mammoth corpse he ultimately used to help the Basilisk King complete its first evolution.
He wasn't sure if it was still ranked so high, but he doubted much had changed.
After the Trial ended, all the upstart cities had been replaced by those from powerful organizations, governments, and families. The only exception was The Enclave that managed to hold onto the tenth spot.
'That portal I saw when I ran into the poison user should have been to the Africor Continent according to his dialect. In that case, is this Ebonspire under the control of the Ravenclaw family?'
Sylas came to a stop high in the trees, waiting in silence as his gaze flashed.
However, he wasn't very focused on this mission. His focus was instead on how to turn this situation in his favor.
He could just strip control from Lucius, but that would be a nuclear option. It was a Multi Quest, so by definition, it couldn't be completed alone.
'... I'll have to wait for the perfect moment.'
The light in his eyes condensed as his visualization picked up movement past the dense pack of trees and over 40 meters away.
'In that case, I'll have to force the issue and push it to that point as quickly as possible.'
...
Lucius sat in his office in silence, his finger tapping away. He looked completely calm.
Across from him, Nathan sat, reclining in a chair with a leg crossed over the other. He puffed on a pipe, blowing out elaborate patterns into the air. But this smoke didn't seem to have the acrid scent of tobacco. It was quite sweet to the nose.
"I did tell you he was a variable you'd have to account for," Nathan said after his third puff.
He hadn't said these words recently; that would have been too easy. Rather, he had said it after his very first conversation with Sylas in the helicopter.
Lucius hadn't exactly brushed his words off, but it could be said that the Grimblades knew every detail of Sylas' life. If he was truly so shocking, Lucius would already be privy to such information, and by extension, he would have likely been taken first overall by that sister- cousin of his.
Still, after Sylas brought back Archibald, he had already prepared to take drastic actions to prepare for the future. But no one could have predicted that Sylas would end up caught up by the Arctic Emperor Cobra and almost die.
In fact, there was a long while that they had thought he was dead... until that video of him in Guiz City surfaced.
Once that happened, Lucius knew that things had likely gone awry, so he took the risk of pissing Sylas off by commanding him to return.
After that, the rest of what happened was obvious enough.
"How is it?" Lucius asked.
"You will lose."
Lucius' expression finally showed a hint of something. Nathan rarely spoke in absolutes; it basically never happened.
Looking up, he met Nathan's gaze to see that he wasn't joking around.
"If things continue like this, not only will you lose, but if you push him too far, you will die. The predictive model is at upwards of 97%. I've never seen numbers so high."
"Even with everything factored in?"
"When do I ever not include everything?"
"How accurate can you be? Even Wilfred couldn't read his stats; can you?"
"My model is based on the lowest necessary threshold he must have needed to reach in order
for Wilfred to not only fail but to also suffer that sort of backlash.
"Model A is based on if his cumulative Mental is over 2000.
"Model B is based on if he has a Mental Comprehension exceeding the FF+ rank.
"Model C is based on a treasure."
"And even Model C has a poor result?"
"Well, Model C is the most variable. But treasures don't fall out of the sky. They usually end up in the hands of those that earn them. The system isn't a charity organization. There are certain settings that would make Model C even worse for you than Model A would be."
Lucius' pupils constricted. His initial reaction was that Model A was the one he least wanted
to be true.
Even the strongest of Earth currently might barely have Mentals above 1000. But 2000? That would make him an absolute monster.
But Nathan's words made him realize that he was being far too simple-minded.
"If it's Model A, your chances are less than 1%. Model C is most variable, but even under the best settings, you have a 27% chance at most. Model B... well, I settled on giving you a 7%
chance."
"Settled?"
"The trouble with Comprehensions is that it's not just the Comprehension that matters. If he managed to bring it to Bronze Mastery... well, you'd have even less of a chance than Model A. But the odds that he both has such a high Graded Comprehension and high Mastery were low.
"However..."
"However?"
"If he has a Silver Mastery FFF- Comprehension, you have no chance. A FFF Bronze Master Comprehension... well, just pack your bags now. Move out of this house and give it to him. Maybe he can take us to the top."