The Breath Master List was based on one thing and one thing only: how fast the Rune Breath Secret Realm was cleared. Any existence younger than the age of 51 and within the F-Grade was allowed to be on it. Though there was no universal list, the logistics of documenting so many Secret Realm entries across so many quadrants were far too great.
Instead, this list was based by District, while there were probably hundreds of Districts in just a single galaxy and about four to five solar systems to a District.
To Earth, it seemed as though most solar systems were lifeless, but this was only because most of the universe was closed off to them due to their failure to complete the Summoning.
In reality, of the thousands of solar systems in the Milky Way, all of them had at least one planet with life on them, maybe multiple planets and moons at that.
Each one of these solar systems would have anywhere from millions in population due to situations like Earth, where the Summoning was not long ago and most had died, to tens of billions.
Situations like Earth were still relatively rare because it wasn’t every day that a world underwent a Summoning. As such, one could expect about 10 to 30 billion people a solar system, which meant about 50 to 150 billion people a District. When you elevated the scale to a galaxy, there were probably upward of a few hundred trillion people.
This was all to say that making it into a top thousand list for one of the most commonly challenged Secret Realms was no joking matter…
However, to make it as an Unsummoned was another matter entirely. To do so as a Human, well…
There were probably a dozen or so Races on the list, many of whom could be found dotted across the universe, appearing in many galaxies and Districts.
But the number of Humans? Or more specifically, as they were known across the universe, Primitive Humans?
Sylas was the only one on the list.
There was not a single other Primitive Human.
This reality made Sylas a hot commodity. As he had expected, the number of individuals who wanted to take advantage of him could wrap an entire line across the District.
In fact, there were some spies from other Districts who had spies within theirs who perked up as well, wondering how they might take advantage of this situation.
The trouble was that in this sea of fishermen fishing in troubled waters, there were those that genuinely wanted to bring Sylas into their fold as well.
Unfortunately, Sylas simply didn’t have the time to properly vet these people and could only make the one choice he could.
And in typical Sylas fashion, his action of directly ignoring this throng of invitations was poorly received.
The scammers from unverified guilds were one thing; they just shrugged their shoulders and moved on to their next target.
But as the messages from Verified Guilds began to pile up, and then Named Guilds began to get involved soon after, followed by Ranked Guilds…
The legend of Sylas’ arrogance piled up.
No one seemed to care about his reasons. In fact, those that could become Rune Masters were all smart enough to see through them. However… did they have a reason to care?
Not only did Sylas ignore them, but he didn’t bother to respond to even a single one of them. And soon enough, news of this began to spread around as well.
…
District Head Mospheral sat in his office, listening to the reports. His face seemed to be just as expressionless, but there was a keen light in his eyes that betrayed a smile.
He knew things about the world that most of these Rune Masters didn’t—enough to know that Sylas wasn’t just being overly cautious for the sake of it.
If Sylas could make the guesses Mospheral thought he might, then this matter would very quickly get blown out of proportion very soon.
This matter would reach the ears of those Sylas likely hoped it wouldn’t.
This level of fanfare was practically equivalent to a change in the top ten, all because of the circumstances surrounding Sylas.
“You’re smart,” District Head Mospheral suddenly spoke.
All of his attendants fell into silence, none responding. They knew of Mospheral’s habit of speaking to himself.
“Unfortunately, in this world, being smart alone isn’t enough. Sometimes you have to be smart enough to know when to take a loss on purpose. Not every situation can be a perfect win for you…
“It’s too bad. You’ve probably gotten comfortable with being number one on your little planet. If you can manage to complete your Summoning, we’ll see how far that takes you…”
What District Head Mospheral hadn’t said was that it had been a very long time since a world completed their Summoning in the nine tries given. So long, in fact, that the last to succeed had already become the overlords of his District.
There was a reason they called this the Skai Galaxy. They might not have perfect dominion over every District, but there was no District that couldn’t feel their influence.
The slit on Mospheral’s forehead suddenly opened and a blinding red light filled the room.
**
Sylas had no idea about what was happening on the other side of the District, but he was smart enough to make guesses. The possibility that his actions could infuriate people wasn’t lost on him; it was just that he didn’t have the luxury to care right now.
It was now just yet another future problem he would have to deal with. But if he ended up in someone’s clutches right here and now, his race against time would likewise end here and now.
If he could push off benefits to the future for the sake of his foundation, he could push off problems too.
Right now, he was only interested in what the evolved Mancer Wand could give him.
With a thought, he brought out the crystalline tree.
