[The Rune Master Guild has taken an interest in you. Would you like to accept a System Conference?]
—
‘A System Conference?’
Sylas wasn’t sure what that was, but after convening with the Madness Key, he realized that it was just a formal method of connecting two separate branches of the system. Essentially, it was a voice call…
Obviously, though, whoever was on the other side was footing the bill. And judging by the hints that Madness Key dropped, this bill certainly wasn’t a small one.
Not only was it a matter of distance, but the fact Earth was still in the middle of its Summoning meant that its connection with this tier of the universe wasn’t solidified yet. Meaning, the cost was easily thousands of times more than what one would expect.
—
[What is the Rune Master Guild?]
[The Rune Master Guild is not a single Guild, but rather a network of them. They work under the same umbrella, using the moniker of Rune Master Guild as a facade to allow free exchange of ideas and trade.]
—
The explanation was quick, but Sylas got the gist of it. So it wasn’t actually the Rune Master Guild that was contacting him, but more than likely one of its many understudies.
The Rune Master Guild would probably be more accurately seen as an alliance of various smaller guilds.
His thoughts only seemed to be proven more correct when there was a second notification, and then a third.
‘I see… They’re probably using the official umbrella of the Rune Master Guild as a little white lie.’
It was almost like a subsidiary mentioning their parent company. Technically, it was true that they were one and the same, but in practice, were they really?
The same notification repeated again and again, and Sylas was quickly finding it annoying.
They had probably found out that he was from a world in the middle of their Summoning and wanted to take advantage of him.
But to Sylas, every connection made with the outside world cost him time he couldn’t afford to lose.
The balancing between the time dilation here on Earth and in the outside world would have to be compensated for somehow.
And by now, he had already asked enough questions to the Madness Key to know that there was a great deal of danger lurking on the other side if he made a deal with the wrong guild.
Young and talented Rune Masters getting locked up into contracts that practically signed their souls away wasn’t an uncommon occurrence at all.
If it was just as simple as reading the contract and calling it a day, Sylas would certainly do so. But these people were experts in Runes that were far beyond him. His experience in the Rune Breath Secret Realm had made him realize that there was a far taller mountain to climb out there.
The contracts of the Rune Master Guild weren’t written in plain language; otherwise, anyone smart enough to be acknowledged by a guild would be able to see through the tricks.
The problem was that the contracts were constructed in Runes, and unless it was formed by two parties with equal skill, it was like handing control of your life over to another.
And Sylas certainly wasn’t going to try to rely on his Will to form a contract. Who knew how many quadruple, quintuple, or sextuple digit Will masters there were lurking around in the universe?
No matter how he looked at it, whether it was the time he would lose to the dilation or the danger involved… even if there were benefits to be gained, until he was more confident in himself or had a better understanding of the scope of the world on the outside, he couldn’t afford to take this step.
In the end, he rejected all of the invitations he received.
—
[A Rune Master Guild Verified Member has taken an interest in you. Would you like to accept a Conference?]
—
When Sylas saw this in the string of notifications, he was even more certain in his earlier assessment.
There was a string of invites first that only mentioned the Rune Master Guild, and now there was suddenly this Verified Member…
He shut it all down, closing himself off to these notifications from the Rune Master Guild. If they were going to keep coming like this, he would never get any peace.
Luckily, the system had a function for muting only certain types of notifications.
What Sylas didn’t know was that the very first notification he received wasn’t a scam. It was well and truly from the Rune Master Guild.
As for why…
**
In a common hub of the universe, there was a great deal of hustle and bustle. The city seemed formed of countless floating, oblong pods that orbited around in fixed intervals.
It was said that this was meant to be based around complex concepts of city planning, moving highly frequented pods toward locations with more access and more lanes of traffic during their peak hours, and away from those locations when they closed down or were off-peak.
It was a magical sight to behold, and near the central core of this city was the one standing building that never moved anywhere. A towering monument of curving glass structures, it stood tall and proud.
This was the headquarters of the Rune Master Guild of this quadrant of the universe. And right now, there was a great uproar taking place.
…
“District Head, something big’s happened.”
A middle-aged man who looked to be getting on in his years looked up. There was a slit in the middle of his forehead and an almost dull, careless sort of arrogance in his eyes as he lazily looked up.
He seemed annoyed to be interrupted, but he still waited for the explanation.
“There’s a new addition to the top thousand. He’s human on an Unsummoned world.”
Only now did the man seem to arouse from his annoyance, his eyes flashing with brilliance.
—
[341. Sylas Grimblade (Lv0) | Human (F) | (???)]
[342. Ulrik Vecunish (Lv37) | Thryskai (F) | Planet Thryx (Grade 2 Silver)]
