Sylas stepped out of a portal and back into the abandoned borough of York City.
The reason why Gregory was so infuriated could be imagined. He didn’t want free and unfettered access to the portal, but Sylas just appeared to use it, then went around him when he was blocked.
As for why Sylas was coming back out here, it was because he had a goal in mind, and that was to bring Olivia back.
Olivia was currently in Love City. It was normally about an hour’s drive from York City, two hours if you were unlucky during rush hour. But that was obviously not much of a problem right now.
On foot, Sylas was pretty confident in making it in three to four hours tops. Faster if he cut down the time by angling across the highways instead of just following the path he was used to. After all, highway roads were the most efficient for cars, but wouldn’t necessarily be for someone who was on foot and could scale through forests.
If he used his Blue Cyclone Horse, two hours would be all that it would take.
As for why he was going out of his way to do this, it was for several reasons.
The first and only one he needed was that Cassarae was his woman, and as such, he saw her comfort as one of his priorities. But that was still not the only reason.
The second was because Cassarae needed more support than just herself and her parents. Without someone she trusted with her life and death by her side, there would be problems.
The third reason was because Olivia’s scouting ability was beyond even Sylas’. He had noticed many times that she had an exceptional Skill for it. It was just unfortunate for her that Sylas’ Madness couldn’t be broken past even for most with Mentals higher than his own, let alone Olivia who hadn’t even been close to that.
She could be a valuable asset given the situation.
The fourth and final reason was that the sooner they brought their team together, the better. Sylas was only bringing Olivia back first because she was the easiest target. She was the closest and also would likely be the most useful in this situation. But if there was someone else from their original team, and he got a chance to bring them over, he would certainly take advantage.
…
Sylas set off on his journey.
The Blue Cloud Horse was able to race across even the ocean’s waters with how light it was. It still lost about 20% of its Speed and Dexterity, but its ability to bolster Sylas’ stats was so high to begin with that this hardly mattered.
Sylas realized that he would definitely have to keep an eye out for Mounts. If he could find a flying Mount, just how much easier would that make everything?
‘Still, the most efficient would be having a map of Portals, where they appeared, and where they went to… If I could combine a map like that with a fast Mount, there wouldn’t be anywhere on Earth I couldn’t get to with an hour or two at most…’
Unfortunately, that was likely a pipe dream.
‘Or is it? I bet the government is keeping close tabs on information like that. Not only would they know where portals of their own appear, but they should also know what other portals are nearby theirs in the Aether Plane.’
Lost in thought, Sylas had already crossed a great distance and was approaching Love City.
Love City wasn’t as large as York City, but it was certainly quite a substantial municipality. And now that he was closing in on it, there was another troublesome issue to deal with: how should he go about finding Olivia?
The plan was always to return to Casstle Main, so there were no plans for a reverse search. Olivia would also have little way of knowing that a Casstle Main portal had appeared in York City, and unless she had Sylas’ strength, even if she did know, there was no way that she would risk going.
In all likelihood, then, Olivia would be scouting out nearby portals, seeing if there were any near or in the Amazonian Wilds. Then she would make a trek through the Aether Plane and reach Casstle Main that way.
There was a chance, then, that she wasn’t even here.
One way or another, Sylas didn’t mind it. That was because he was at a severe disadvantage in one important aspect: information.
The government, Legacy, and those hidden families all had their methods of trading information and communicating, but he did not. Unless he became a highly trusted member of the Grimblades, he never would.
If he wanted to cover his back, at least understanding the several main cities around him was for the best.
‘Another blockage is going to be ahead… Through the water again it is.’
Sylas put away his horse and then began to approach.
‘Hm?’
What Sylas didn’t expect to see was someone he recognized almost immediately. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Olivia, but it also wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It was none other than a certain shieldman, Brant.
Back then, Brant and his team had snuck into the Basilisk King Dungeon, and Sylas was very certain that someone had tipped them off to his location.
He had ended up killing the woman Brant entered with and shattering Brant’s hip.
It wasn’t that he had forgotten about Brant after the Casstle Main attack; it was instead that there was no point in holding him hostage anymore. Once the Trial ended, they would all be sent back and he had no control over ensuring Brant remained under his control. So not only did he not bother with him much, he didn’t even expect to get him on their team.
What he expected even less was that Brant would actually be part of the military.
Sylas thought for a moment. After scanning the region, he decided on a different path forward.
He stepped past a clearing boldly and approached the military barricade without hiding himself.
