653 On Purpose
Nosphaleen had more than enough Mature Aether, it was all stored within her body. But she was in an odd state.
She wasn't a beast even though Sylas had cheated somewhat to get his Profession to recognize her as one. For all intents and purposes, Nosphaleen was a humanoid. The path of beasts wasn't one that worked with her.
It was a bit more complicated than the way it was being described here, but the short of it was that Nosphaleen didn't have a Class, and she needed one in order to take a step into Level 10.
Sylas had neglected this matter because the Basilisk King hadn't needed a Class. But what he hadn't considered was that the Basilisk King's Lineage was its replacement for a Class.
Everything in this world acted on a set of laws known by experts as Gene Principles. Whether it was Skills, Professions, or even Classes, they all functioned through a mesh of Genes and its deeper, underlying layers.
Beasts, or at least ones like the Basilisk King, had their own replacements for Classes, things that humanoids didn't have normally.
The good news was that the Mature Aether wasn't wasted. As soon as Nosphaleen received a Class, she would be able to skyrocket upward through the levels.
The bad news was that Sylas had no idea where to get a Class for her.
Ultimately, if he found a Class that was worthy of the talent of someone like Nosphaleen, he might want to take it for himself. After all, he had a second Class slot he had yet to fill. This would make things more troublesome.
'Maybe it isn't too big of a deal that this failed. If I helped her too much before I figured out how to make her a permanent contract, it might cause me more trouble than not in the future...'
Who was to say that the only way to get Mature Acther was through a Split Realm? Sylas was sure that the Madness Key would have other methods, and when he released Nosphaleen and she realized she had finally Leveled up after so long, she would be able to put two and two together as well.
At least this way, he would have more time to read and react to the situation.
What Sylas wouldn't have expected was that he was truly over-analyzing the situation. As for why... that would bear out very soon.
[Contributor Sylas Grimblade Detected]
[Result Tabulated]
[SSS+ Rewards Earned]
A series of notification popped up across Sylas' vision as he read them one by one calmly.
The sound of something that reminded him of a popping soapy bubble echoed and Sylas reached out subconsciously to catch a tome that fell from above.
'Hm?'
Was this a reward? Why did it feel so... used and worn?
Sylas was a bit confused. Normally, rewards were always brand new. This was definitely a different feel. It was like this tome had been passed down for hundreds of years.
He used his <Master Scouting> Skill on it and was once more surprised by what he
saw.
-
[Rune Enlightenment Fundamentals (-) (Ancient Secret)]
[An echo of the past to form the strokes of the future]
This was all there was to it. There wasn't the slightest hint of any other descriptions. So, Sylas had no choice but to open the thick leather binding.
"This is... it?'
The first page had a detailed description of Strokes and how to analyze and understand them. They were all things that Sylas had already understood on his own.
However, Sylas still seriously flipped to the next page.
This page was still about Strokes, but it seemed to take a step forward in complexity. This step forward in complexity had nothing to do with Foundations, but instead began to speak of Strokes in abstract, esoteric ways that likely only those with deeper comprehension of Runes might understand.
When Sylas flipped to the third page, he froze.
He didn't understand a single thing on this page, at least not at first glance. It was like he had been reading a book on simple geometry, and then flipped to a page on the specifics of Euclidean geometry, only for the third page to suddenly start speaking about high-level applications.
Sylas flipped through the pages one after another, seemingly not realizing that his next reward was in front of him.
His head was practically spinning by the time he got to the fourth page, and he felt a great, pinching pain in the center of his forehead when he tried to read the fifth.
'Rune Enlightenment.... is actually so in depth...'
Sylas tried to flip to the sixth page of what was clearly a tome with several dozen thick pages, but the lines that appeared on it nearly made him pass out.
And yet...
It was still just talking about Strokes.
Sylas slammed the tome shut, taking deep breaths.
He somewhat understood what this reward was. It was a tome that was distilling the fundamental truths of Rune Enlightenment directly passed down from the ancestors of Earth themselves.
Sylas didn't believe that someone had personally written this book. Rather, the system had distilled the information gathered by humanity into it....
And its value was unfathomable.
Sylas had Rune Essence, a full six levels above Rune Enlightenment. And yet, he felt like
he was only just learning about Runes all over again.
He felt that if he could grasp this tome completely... maybe, just maybe...
He would finally be able to analyze Genes.
Finally, his gaze focused ahead once more and he found a pair of eyes staring right at
him.
They weren't attached to anything, just floating there in a beautiful mass of blue, violet, and pink. Sky blue seemed to be the strongest, most overwhelming of the colors. But the accents of the latter two made them feel so ethereal and magical as
one.
Sylas reached forward and popped the bubble they were in.
[Mesmeryx Lineage Blessing (-) (Lineal Inheritance)]
This time, Sylas' <Master Scouting> wasn't even powerful enough to receive a description. But the name alone left him stunned.
Wasn't this exactly what he needed for Nosphaleen? It wasn't a Class, but his Insight Path Talent was screaming at him that this would be precisely what could help him
make Nosphaleen a true Contract Beast of his.
There was no way that he would suddenly luck into such a treasure. His Luck was
high, but not high enough to sway the scales to this extent.
That could only mean one thing...
This Split Realm Dungeon Reward system was tailoring its rewards to his specific
needs on purpose.