Chapter 590: Meditation
Alex kept looking at Sylas' side profile as they ran.
"Pay attention to yourself." Sylas said, suddenly snapping Alex out of his thoughts.
The man looked ahead to find that Cairith was already coming into view...
As did the pyramids.
Many who had never been to this part of the Africor Continent underestimated just how intertwined the pyramids were with the citizens of Cairith.
The pyramids were practically a part of the city line, integrated into the very fabric of the city itself.
One could also see the sheer amount of respect that the people here held for it. Despite having the technology to do so, there wasn't a single building here taller than the pyramids, as though acknowledging their superiority in a silent, somber sort of way.
As expected, though, Alex and Sylas couldn't even get close... at least not without getting into a battle or finding themselves another identity. These robes weren't going to cut it.
However, they had their own plan for that.
Stopping a long distance away, Alex pulled out the Glass Monkey.
Cairith was an interesting place for more reasons than just the proximity to the pyramids and how city life seemed to blend perfectly into it. There were two more reasons to be specific.
First, the Aether here was quite exceptional. It wasn't quite as good as what one would see from the Aether Plane, but it was about 80% similar, making it more than good enough for battle.
And second, they seemed to have still managed to find a way to perfectly control the beast population so that it didn't influence things.
Alex forced the Glass Monkey's jaw open and poured a Healing Elixir down its throat. Then, after getting as close as they could, they buried it into the ground.
According to their plan, the Glass Monkey, much like all beasts, would make its way toward the higher concentration of Aether. Once it did that, all hell would break loose.
That was because, unlike the two of them, the Glass Monkey had a fondness and ability to do two things...
The first was traveling underground, especially sandy ground.
And the second was a desire to form its own territory, going as far as to terraform it to its liking.
These two pieces would be key to everything.
After burying the Glass Monkey deep within the rolling sand dune, they separated themselves.
Now, all that was left to do was wait. Once the Glass Monkey awoke from its injuries, it would definitely follow along with their plan.
...
Sylas sat in silence in the middle of his tent. He couldn't hear even the howling winds outside, and the chill of the night air didn't influence him in the slightest.
His Aether calmly circulated within his body and he felt a sense of calm.
He had just had a chat with his sister. Her calls had been coming more and more often these days. It seemed like after he fell off the Merits Leaderboard, she felt like he might die any time.
Unfortunately, the little munchkin was too smart for him to wave off with a few words, so he had to burn through his Aether just to satisfy her.
She had always been the most sensitive of his family. There was a reason that she was the only one waiting outside his door when he returned from the Trial.
However, there was something about having people worry for you that made Sylas feel at peace.
He didn't think himself to be an overly sentimental person, but he was human. He had much the same thoughts and emotions as everyone else, even if they seemed to be somewhat distorted.
<Maddened Enlightenment> circulated calmly. And though there wasn't any Aether in the surroundings, somehow the hollowness of it all made Sylas view the Skill in a completely different light.
This was the skill he always relied on for the sake of replenishing his Wisdom and Aether, but without any Aether around, he found that he could sense the changes to his Wisdom much more intimately.
It was almost like a tangled mess in his mind that was being slowly unwound and straightened out, exactly like a muscle being smoothed and massaged out of its tightness.
When Sylas looked deeper, he was shocked that he could actually feel it... the neurons of his mind firing...
Some neurons were coated in small fat deposits and others were unsheathed. The more they fired, the less reliable they became and they almost needed a reset.
Sylas snapped out of the feeling as a headache pulsed through his skull.
However...
[Your understanding of <Maddened Enlightenment> has deepened]
[<Maddened Enlightenment> has reached Legendary Mastery]
[Your understanding of <Maddened Enlightenment> has deepened]
[<Maddened Enlightenment> has reached Progenitor Mastery]
[Your understanding of <Maddened Enlightenment> has been temporarily raised by Madness Comprehension]
[Maddened Enlightenment (FF+) (Skill) -> Maddened Enlightenment (F) (Gene Skill)]
[Maddened Enlightenment (F) (Gene Skill)] (Common Mastery)
[You are deeply in tune with the Madness of your Ancestors. It helps you to focus, relax, and form a oneness with the world. Understanding yourself is a form of peace, but understanding your place in the world makes you Enlightened.]
[Passively replenish Aether at a rate of 1% per ten minutes for every 1000 Wisdom]
[Passively replenish Wisdom at a rate of 1% per ten minutes for every 1000 Wisdom]
[Actively replenish Aether at a rate of 10% per minute for every 1000 Wisdom]
[Actively replenish Wisdom at a rate of 10% per minute for every 1000 Wisdom]
[Maddened Enlightenment (F) (Gene Skill)] (Progenitor Mastery)
[You are deeply in tune with the Madness of your Ancestors. It helps you to focus, relax, and form a oneness with the world. Understanding yourself is a form of peace, but understanding your place in the world makes you Enlightened.]
[Passively replenish Aether at a rate of 7% per ten minutes for every 1000 Wisdom]
[Passively replenish Wisdom at a rate of 7% per ten minutes for every 1000 Wisdom]
[Actively replenish Aether at a rate of 30% per minute for every 1000 Wisdom] [Actively replenish Wisdom at a rate of 30% per minute for every 1000 Wisdom]