Lorien watched as Ulrik's notification faded away, her expression not changing. She had no intention of trusting that man regardless of the circumstances—she never had.
The problems of the Mist Race had to be solved by the Mist Race. She had never agreed with using the seed of other Races to try and fix things. If their Ancestors could get them this power through Genes, then they could climb their way out through Genes as well.
These shoddy attempts would only make them subservient to others, their wombs enslaved to the powerhouses they chose to bed.
That wasn't the future she wanted for herself.
Of course, the Mist Race wasn't nearly so foolish as Lorien's thoughts were making it seem. There was a reason that Ulrik hadn't just jumped on the opportunity to bed her. There would certainly be a great number of strings attached… mostly related to the unique sexual methods of her Race and what it did to men they took in.
But even that was only a stopgap measure.
It forced them to selectively target their husbands, choosing men that were powerful, but not too powerful, men that had backgrounds, but not shocking ones that couldn't be overcome.
In this respect, Ulrik was perfect. He was a Thryskai, but not quite. He was of the branch of a branch of an inferior wing of the Race. This so-called Skai Galaxy wasn't even truly called Skai Galaxy. Instead, it was known as Skai 11331 Galaxy. Skai was simply a prefix the true main Thryskai gave to the meager strands of their Bloodline, the Thry moniker reserved for those they truly saw as one of their own.
Why would she ever willingly choose to be with such an inferior man?
She had ambitions beyond this world, and that would start with elevating the main Mist Race World to Silver and becoming its Progenitor…
That would just be the start. But right now, Sylas was standing in her way.
The question was… how could she make him move?
Lorien's eyes narrowed, her mind churning with a great number of thoughts. Eventually, she slowly turned to the Aether Treasure that had gotten her all the way here.
She wondered if she should take the risk.
If Ulrik thought her to be so ignorant of this treasure, he would be sorely mistaken. In fact, she probably knew more about it than even he did, which was why she hadn't activated it just yet while he would go on and rush it.
While within a month she could certainly accumulate what she needed to successfully become a Progenitor of this World, it would also limit the rewards she received. That was because something similar to what happened to Earth would reoccur here.
Maybe that was something Ulrik could withstand because he had the Thryskai, or at least a branch, backing him. But she couldn't take such a blow.
This was just step one for her. The next step required weathering the inevitable storm that would come when the galaxy turned their blades on her. The rewards of this Quest… she needed them.
However, success, even an immature, impotent one, was far better than failure.
She hesitated.
**
Sylas stared at the vacant hole in front of him. The city that should have been there was no longer there, and instead, when he looked up into the skies, he saw a mass as heavy as a mountain looming.
The mountain was divided into rings, each one layered with its own powerful formation. The smallest was the easiest to decipher and withstand, but each subsequent one exponentially increased in strength.
At the highest level, the tenth and final ring that was of the city wall itself, bolstered by tall steel walls already.
High on those very walls, Ulrik peered down from above. His expression didn't have the slightest change, but looking at Sylas who was so far below him, it only felt… natural.
What was that Sylas had said? The next time he saw him he would kill him? Something to that effect?
No matter the circumstances? No matter the cost?
Something like that?
He had even foolishly made an oath about it.
Ulrik could have activated this formation long ago. This inverted mountain was one of the most famous structures of the Thryskai. In fact, the 'skai' character of their name was a translation from an ancient language, quite literally translating to Heaven.
They were the dome above all, and they tended to build all of their structures in the skies as well.
This formation, the Inverted Skai Formation, was not only powerful, but it was mass-producible and easily replicated so long as one understood the underlying principles.
While Lorien and Sylas were rushing ahead with Genes, he had spent the majority of his time building this very formation.
When the time came, not only would it give him shockingly powerful defenses, he would always have the terrain advantage, and he would have mobility that other cities couldn't fathom.
Most City Lords in the early stages couldn't even leave off to far distances unless they triggered a Quest of some sort. But the Thryskai… they never had this problem at all.
Ulrik clasped his hands behind his back and then sent a casual glance to those manning a few formations before turning to Sylas once again.
This could only end one of two ways.
Either Sylas would fall like Icarus or he would be burned by his own oath. In the end, he could only blame his own arrogance.
In the Skai Galaxy, who could ever possibly stand above the Thryskai?
…
Sylas calmly looked at things from below. Standing there, he hadn't moved an inch.
He could easily fly into the skies. Maybe that was something Ulrik knew, or maybe not.
But why should he have to?
"Come down here."
BANG!
There was a slight pulse from Sylas' eyes as the first formation unraveled, collapsing in on itself.
It had only just fallen when a second pulse came from his irises, the tendrils of various greens writhing against one another.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!