Chapter 636: Worth?
Sylas hesitated for a long while, but the man before him didn't rush him at all. He too sat in silence, simply waiting as though whether Sylas answered one way or another didn't harm him in the slightest.
The benefits of such a thing weren't lost on Sylas, but he still didn't know how hostile these people were, and he also didn't know what their relationship with the potential traitors of Earth were either.
"I am willing."
The man nodded. He had expected Sylas to answer like this. It wasn't because he was so arrogant in his own abilities, but because he had learned enough about Sylas from his conversation with the eye to understand both this young man's mind and his situation.
Simply put, Sylas couldn't afford to be so cautious anymore, not in this situation.
There was a line between caution and risk that Sylas always had to ride. Otherwise, he would never make it anywhere.
Whether this man was a danger to him or not, only time would tell. But until then... he would take everything he could from this world.
"Good."
The world rumbled and the statue at the very top of the stairs began to shine.
Outside, the eye was speechless. Why was this happening already? This should only occur when the Inheritance Crystal had accepted its master. Sylas hadn't even climbed up 10% of the way yet, how could the Inheritance Crystal have accepted a new master?
Dammit, didn't that mean that it would have to serve Sylas after having already offended him? This was a nightmare scenario for a Familiar like him.
...
"Until you come to my Scorpion Mountain, there is not much more I can give you other than what knowledge I have and this Inheritance Crystal. However..."
The man waved a hand and the eye was forcefully pulled to the space, shrinking to hover above his palm.
"In the Rune Master World, this is what is known as a Familiar," the man began to explain, knowing that these simple things were likely precisely the matter Sylas was unfamiliar with. "This is only a rudimentary Familiar, but it has decent E-Grade growth potential. Though, you will have to replace it if you would like to reach my level one day. From now on, it is yours."
The eye was sent over to Sylas and forced to hover above his right shoulder.
"While you are in this world, I won't allow you to rely on the Familiar. However, I will tell you what they can do. How much you rely on them in the future will depend on yourself. I will not baby you, but if your progress is not to my liking, I will reserve the right to remove you from my apprenticeship."
After allowing Sylas to digest the words, the man continued.
"Familiars are meant to handle the heavy lifting and computation that comes with Rune Mastery—" the man was about to continue when he paused for unknown reasons. "Have you completed any Rune Mastery Secret Realms?"
"I have."
"Up to what stage?"
"Rune Soul."
The man paused again, but the eye trembled considerably.
"Szorn, pull up the under-fifty rankings of this galaxy for me."
The eye's slit pupil flickered and the reds of its irises deepened for a moment.
"Master, I can only pull up the rankings from several weeks ago. Communication is being jammed by a treasure of Young Master's."
The man gave Sylas a look but didn't say anything on the topic.
"That is fine. Pull them up anyway."
Szorn obliged and the rankings appeared. It didn't take the man long to find Sylas' name.
[341. Sylas Grimblade (Lvo) | Human (F) | (???)]
The man continued to stare in silence. He then pulled up Rune Flesh rankings and couldn't find Sylas' name. Then repeated this action with the Rune Soul rankings, and once again didn't find Sylas.
"Level o... I'm not sure whether you are lucky or unlucky..." the man said slowly. "Failing to get onto the Rune Flesh and Soul rankings means a failed opportunity, but it's also likely the reason you still have your head right now."
Sylas' eyes narrowed. He wasn't sure what rankings this man was talking about, but it didn't take him much of a guess to realize that this must be related to the times the Rune Mastery Guilds tried to contact him.
"If you had, even I could not protect you. Although you are my disciple, until you have formally joined the Beast Warlord Sanctum, the semantics will allow those with a vested enough interest to do as they please."
"What is the issue?" Sylas asked.
"What level is your Rune Mastery?" the man answered with a question.
"... Rune Essence."
"Indeed..." there was a pregnant pause. "... There is no issue. If there is one, it's that there will be a great deal of people who want to control you. In fact, just making it onto the Rune Breath list probably has already brought you a great deal of attention.
"Rune Masters are a strategic resource, but they are also very difficult to control. Getting your hands on one early is the best method. Do you understand?"
"I do."
"Right now, they cannot investigate how many Secret Realms you have cleared because you have the protections of a Summoned World. But once your world is no longer under this veil of protection, they will see how many Secret Realms you have cleared and trouble will certainly
come.
"At that time, I would say that my only suggestion to you is to either find the best family you can to marry into, or if you are insistent on maintaining your freedoms... you will have to find a way to make it to the Beast Warlord Sanctum on your own.
"However, judging by the location of your galaxy, you will need to travel out of it. Without being in the D-Grade, this is adjacent to suicide."
There was another long silence between them before Sylas spoke this time.
"Is it worthwhile for me to remain Level o?"