Sylas jogged forward and appeared by the side of several corpses. These were the people who hadn’t managed to escape in time. Their faces were unrecognizable, and there was a sizeable number of them here to be sure.
The indifference on Sylas’ face didn’t change in the slightest as he poked around until he found what he wanted.
He pulled out several storage devices, and when he looked inside, his gaze flashed with a hidden brilliance.
There they were. The corpses of the Arctic King Cobras.
It wasn’t all of them, but between all the spatial devices Sylas counted, he found 17 of them, and two of them were the Level 10 elites. From the 50 total he had had before, this was a far cry. But even so, this was more than he had expected.
After checking all of the Genes, he came out with a total of 19 Bronze Intelligence Genes. He got two each from the elites, and one more from each of the rest.
No matter which of the Bronze Gene Talents he chose, he would need 22 Bronze Intelligence Genes at best, and 44 at worst. So no matter how he looked at it, this was a huge boon.
Plus, even if he hadn’t made his decision yet, this would help him satiate the Madness Key for a long while.
Regardless, there was no rush. He needed to gather 198 Bronze Genes before he could even choose one of the paths to begin with.
His focus right now should be either to find a method of increasing his Bronze Gene Limit to three so that he could farm Common Genes, or find where he could battle it out with more Bronze Gene creatures.
But first…
He needed to see what the situation over in York City was. It was the reason he had come here in the first place.
…
Sylas left the region of the poison and soon found that the Aether was plummeting. He checked on his Dire Wolf and saw that it was feeling healthy again, so he summoned it and used it.
The Dire Wolf relied on his Aether to sustain its stamina, so if the Aether concentration in the air dropped too much, it wouldn’t be usable anymore. But Sylas had a feeling that since so many Portals had opened in this region, it wouldn’t be a problem.
He summoned the Basilisk King once more and then entered his Rune training scape.
The first door was still mysteriously gone. Sylas could only conclude that this world felt that he had already mastered whatever was prepared for him behind it.
Whatever the case was, he might as well continue onto the second door.
He entered and found himself in a white space. There was a rune, however, before him, and three key slots hovering behind it.
Sylas looked from the Rune, then to the locks, and back again.
“I see. They want me to find three keys within this one Rune. Isn’t this somewhat like what I had done with the Ice-Poison Rune?”
Sylas had taken the parts of the Ice-Poison Rune he needed, then used it to give himself a barrier of immunity. Of course, the main purpose back then had been to purge the mammoth of the poison that harmed it.
This, though, felt way easier than that.
Sylas scanned the Rune for a moment, and soon a three-dimensional rendering of it appeared in his visualization. He felt he would be able to recognize it no matter how he turned and flipped it.
“My Wisdom…”
Sylas realized that he could use Enchanted Scribe for longer and analyze Runes much more easily because Wisdom was basically double what it had used to be.
In all likelihood, he could split his mind more ways now, control more things, and there was now a direct translation to Runes and Rune Control. And thanks to that…
TA. TA. TA.
Three Runes were stamped in the air at the same time, perfect and whole.
He pushed the Runes forward, and the three locks were undone at the same time. A resonant hum thrummed and the floor was cleared.
Sylas’ gaze flashed, and once again, he found himself standing on a familiar path once again.
It seemed that he had passed once more after just a single attempt.
Sylas shrugged his shoulders and entered the third door. He had quite some time because the distance between York City was not only decent, but he planned on going the long way around so as not to attract a lot of attention.
Behind the third door, Sylas found another floating rune. But this time, the lock was in pieces.
“I have to make the lock this time.”
Sylas was a bit stumped. He didn’t understand the purpose of this test, at least not immediately. Wasn’t he supposed to be Rune forging? Why did he have to consider…
Enlightenment flashed through his eyes.
“I see. The first test is just about the basics of Rune forging. The second teaches Rune deconstruction and gives you the tools to analyze and learn from existing Runes. The third teaches you how to reverse engineer Runes…”
By understanding a Rune enough to comprehend the lock it could undo, you essentially understand the nuts and bolts of the Rune down to its very foundation.
Anyone could drive a car, but how many could maintain one? How many could keep its engine oiled and its brakes in top condition? How many could piece its engine together?
This room was teaching Sylas true Rune construction.
It was something that he had done in part with the Ice-Poison Rune, but ultimately, he was still heavily relying on the fact he knew that the Ice-Poison sack was good at dealing with and sealing poison.
If he was just given a random assortment of Runes… would he be able to do the same?
Sylas’ eyes glowed, and he began to look at the Rune in earnest, having already memorized the pieces of the lock. Then, he moved, his visualization piecing it together like a transformer.
