It wasn't long before Sylas found his first target. There was something particularly nostalgic about it all. Watching the slumbering beast ahead slowly be baptized by the dense Aether in the air, it felt like he was right back to his first day in the Trial.
Since then, he had truly come a long way, longer than even he could imagine… and in a much shorter time than he could have ever imagined as well.
Sylas exhaled a breath and his focus almost became its own form of deadly.
He wasn't yet sure if the beast would wake up while he took action. It was unlikely, but an extra hint of caution wouldn't harm him.
This was the real outside world, it was no longer Earth, nor was it a Quest world where everyone's stats were reset. The beasts he would face here would have foundations deeper than anything he had ever faced, and their power would reflect that.
Here, being an F+ by the system's estimation already made you an elite. If you were an FF- existence, you'd probably be treated as a noble most places you went.
Sylas was used to almost anything of decent power being slapped with an FFF+. But now, things would be getting very real.
Soon, however, Sylas realized that his caution was unwarranted. These beasts wouldn't be getting up at all. It seemed that his plans to suck this place dry of all its resources could come to fruition.
'I see. I think I can speed up the Aether flow if I…'
Sylas could see the flaws in the Runes quite clearly. He took control of them, pressing his Will down and adjusting the mistakes he saw. Slowly, the speed at which the beast was absorbing the Aether increased.
First it was only a few percentage points, but then it accelerated faster and faster until it became exponential.
'Good enough.'
Sylas knew that if he continued beyond a certain point, the beast would wake up prepared to battle.
Right then, while the creature was still asleep, he crushed its head.
Surprisingly, it took Sylas three strikes to succeed. With his current Strength, especially considering his Constitution, this was quite a lot.
Unfortunately, his system hadn't finished integrating with the Skai 11331 Galaxy, so he couldn't see anything but a series of X's. But that didn't matter much to him.
'Oh… not bad…'
The level progress was substantial, far more than what Sylas was expecting.
'Continue, then.'
…
Sylas didn't stop. Every creature he ran into he killed without mercy after filling them up with Aether.
Originally, he had been concerned about the foundation of his Contracts, so he left them at Level 0 for extended periods of time. But right now, he felt that that approach was no longer worth it, especially since he was no longer Level 0 himself.
All things considered, the thing he would have to do to substantially change the fate of his Serpentes Contracts were too long, and he had other things he needed to do.
To also try and foster the same sort of relationship with them that he had with Gogo would also be difficult. He wasn't such a social person, and it was even a bit hard for him to describe how he had come to care for Gogo in the first place too.
In the end, he decided that it didn't have to be all or nothing. Not all of his Contracts had to be friends, and not all of them had to be perfect.
It would be far more efficient if he replaced them with stronger creatures in the future rather than trying to hold on.
The Glasirith especially was of far less use to him now that he was a Glassvolt Heir. The appeal of its abilities was no longer there for Sylas.
The Bone-Tailed Lizard was still of some interest, especially considering its poison and the ties it had with the Dino Race. Sylas also had the E-Grade corpses of the Dogons to use on it, and that he would.
…
Sylas ended up spending an entire day before he got things to where he wanted. In the end, he was satisfied, and whoever opened up this realm next would find themselves gaping in shock and probably rage.
Though, the odds that this realm would open up any time soon were next to zero at this point.
Sylas had essentially monopolized resources designed for hundreds of the strongest Beast Masters across the galaxy for himself.
And he didn't even bat an eye.
—
[Glasrith (Bronze)]
[Status: Healthy]
[Loyalty: 10/10]
[Level: 50]
-
[Physical: 3999]
>[Strength: 2999]
>[Constitution: 2999]
>[Dexterity: 4999]
>[Speed: 4999]
[Mental: 4332]
>[Intelligence: 4999]
>[Wisdom: 4999]
>[Charisma: 2999]
[Will: 1016]
—
[Bone-Tailed Lizard (Bronze)]
[Status: Healthy]
[Loyalty: 10/10]
[Level: 50]
-
[Physical: 4499]
>[Strength: 4999]
>[Constitution: 5999]
>[Dexterity: 2999]
>[Speed: 3999]
[Mental: 2332]
>[Intelligence: 9 999]
>[Wisdom: 1999]
>[Charisma: 9 999]
[Will: 9 999]
—
The Bone-Tailed Lizard had undergone the most shocking change. This wasn't because of leveling, but rather the results of it taking in the Genes of the Dogons.
There had been a substantial mutation triggered that had quite some potential… but it wasn't enough. For a full qualitative change, though, it had strong positive effects on its Intelligence and Wisdom.
The main issue was that Sylas' Taboo Bond methods didn't work on E-Grade Genes, so though he had them in his Madness Key, he couldn't use them.
But in the future… he certainly would be able to.
'It's time to leave. I've gotten everything I need from here.'
He had tried to level Gogo up as well, but not a single thing here was even able to budge the big guy's Level. In that case, he would just have to stay at Level 30 for now.
But Sylas had a feeling that Earth or not, Gogo would certainly tip some scales. He didn't know how stats would be adjusted after the integration was completed, but Gogo's would remain off the charts.
Now there was only one question left. What sort of chaos would he walk into when he stepped out of this realm?
'Only one way to find out.'
The commotion he planned to cause would be far worse than this.
This… was just step one.