[Quest Leaderboard]
[1. Sylas Grimblade - 360]
[2. —]
—
Sylas pulled back, leaping once, then twice before he was a great distance from the dead worm.
Looking down at his arm, he frowned. There was a sickening wiggle to his muscles right now that made it feel as though there were snakes writhing beneath his skin.
The pulse of his heart became wild, and his skin reddened. It felt like he might collapse at any time.
Immediately, he dismissed Berserk.
'… Troublesome…'
He knew it wouldn't be so simple, but he had tried it anyway.
Berserk was a weak F+ Skill. Trying to scale it up with his overwhelming stats was like trying to squeeze a basketball through a baseball-sized hole.
The Skill wasn't good enough, so a lot of what he was pumping into it was wasted. Logically, he should be able to gain tens of thousands of Physical stat points given his current Will.
But setting aside that he would never push it so far to avoid the backlash to the mind that came with abusing [Berserk], it seemed that he wouldn't even be able to get close without ripping himself apart.
The pathways of the Skill weren't nearly efficient enough. Unfortunately, Sylas didn't have any references he could use to make it better.
'I'll have to limit myself to a +0.1 increase to my Physical stats for now and work from there…'
The bright side was that in that case, he could practically use [Berserk] continuously. Although this Skill technically worked by "sacrificing" Will, because he had Forging Will and [Maddened Enlightenment], his Will recovered faster than he could even use it on [Berserk].
In this case, [Berserk] being such a weak Skill actually worked to his benefit.
The bad news was that a +0.1 boost wasn't even enough to defeat this F- earthworm he had just come across, let alone more powerful creatures.
The good news was that he wouldn't just have it alone to rely on.
Sylas' telekinesis surged and the head of the earthworm split wider. The contents of its skull spilled out in a mush until there…
Plus… if improving his Physical was what he wanted, he had other methods to do that. Methods far more powerful than what he had here.
'It seems I'll just have to use it, then. Let's see just how powerful Forged Will is.'
Sylas bent forward, picking up the Gene Core.
'There really are Genes in here… but these are all Bronze. And so few at that. There seem to be only three Bronze Genes to gain out of this…'
Things had always been like this for beasts, though. For some reason, you could only get very specific Genes from them. Usually, killing a fellow human was far more cost-effective.
—
[New Challenger has Appeared]
—
[Quest Leaderboard]
[1. Lorien Myst - 1000]
[2. Sylas Grimblade - 360]
—
Sylas was lost in thought when the notification triggered. His eyes narrowed…
This was the last name he expected to see here. It wasn't until this moment that he realized that this Progenitor Quest wouldn't be as simple as it seemed.
He wasn't just battling against an arbitrary challenge set by what was effectively an open-air Dungeon little different from a Dynamic Field Dungeon despite having the tag of Quest linked to it.
No… there were participants other than Earthlings here.
'What does this mean? What is…'
Sylas' eyes narrowed.
Lorien's actions back then had seemed very risky for someone who didn't have the protection of a Summoned World. Risky was likely too nice of a description; they were nothing short of reckless.
'She was preparing for this.'
It was a leap in logic, but Sylas was fairly certain that he had at least a 60% chance of being correct. If another name appeared…
—
[New Challenger has Appeared]
—
[Quest Leaderboard]
[1. Lorien Myst - 1000]
[2. Sylas Grimblade - 360]
[3. Ulrik Vecunish - 250]
—
Sylas' thoughts fell into silence. That confirmed it.
Was it a coincidence? Possibly.
But first, the Thryskai take the risk of putting up such a treasure for Ulrik to claim, and then Lorien takes an even greater risk to take it for herself?
They had known this was coming. And by all rights, there were certainly others that knew it was coming as well.
'Seven days.' Sylas thought.
No matter what, before his bills to the Madness Key came due, he had to clear this Quest. It was a goal that would have been near impossible even if he was just facing off against people of Earth, not because he feared them, but because this Quest was clearly one designed for the long haul.
They acutely reset all their stats, forcing them to build themselves back up in a world they knew nothing about. Well… a world that they were supposed to know nothing about.
Sylas wouldn't be surprised if this Progenitor Quest was meant to take place over the course of months at worst—years more likely.
But he didn't have that sort of time.
This world was capped at Silver. How could he gather Gold Genes here? And his only path out of this couldn't be executed in the confines of his Quest.
Now, it seemed even more impossible to accomplish.
He was not just facing off against geniuses of the Skai Galaxy, but existences that had known enough about this battlefield to prepare for it in advance.
The worst part was that questions to the Madness Key now cost Gold Genes. He couldn't even use it for support, while he had left Szorn with Cassarae in order to help protect her.
Sylas seemed to have completely forgotten about the Gene Core in his hand.
He knew he needed a change in tactics the moment Lorien's name appeared. As for the rage when he saw Ulrik's name, it had become a smothered ember in the depths of his soul. That… wouldn't erupt just yet.
Not until he laid eyes on him.
'There's only one way.'
Sylas took a step and then dove into the snow. Finding a tunnel the earthworm had excavated, he entered it and allowed himself to be buried as his mind sunk into the Madness Key.