This was a window into Rune Spark.
It could indeed be summarized in one line, but the implications were both heavy and complicated. It meant several important things.
First, Rune Spark and Aether affinity and Aether control could not be separated from one another.
Second, part of Rune Spark’s formation incorporated the very same Kingly aura that Bronze Beasts and above had.
Third, he might very well never touch upon even Rune Essence, let alone Rune Spark, if he couldn’t manage to heal the Runes of Earth to a better point than this.
Rune Essence. Rune Vitality. Rune Spark.
These were the three levels beyond Rune Soul, and each one was more difficult to grasp than the last.
However, for whatever reason, Sylas didn’t find it to be very difficult. Instead, what was really holding him back was the world around him.
What Sylas didn’t know was that there were many talents across the universe who were much like him… it was just that these talents were born into far higher Races.
The reason for this was that because Rune Mastery was divided into Grades much like Aether or Levels might be.
Being a Rune Breath Master of the F-Grade didn’t guarantee you’d be able to replicate the same feat in E-Grade.
Every Grade was another challenge, and there were many Rune Masters that never made it to the end of the road in one Grade. Making it to Rune Soul was already an exceptionally rare event.
That was why the Unique Gene of the Dogons was even more shocking.
If they could manage to elevate themselves to the E-Grade, or maybe even the D-Grade beyond, and find the materials they needed to likewise upgrade their Genes, they would immediately reach Rune Flesh.
The more one understood about the power scaling of the universe, the more ridiculous these feats became.
To the current Sylas, however, not only was this a great distance away, but it also represented a great deal of work for himself.
There was good news, though. Within his Woodland Territory, not only would he have the ability to suppress others and increase his strength, he would have a Quasi Rune Spark under his control in certain regions where the Poison and Wood Aether were in especially high concentrations.
And in this specific territory…
That was in quite a number of places.
However… that didn’t mean that there was absolutely nothing he could do right now.
Sylas took a seat under the tree and entered a sort of state of focus.
Soon, his mind had entered the world of the Mancer’s Blossom. It reminded him a lot of the scene near the Ice-Poison pond in the tundra regions north of the Evergreen Territory. But the difference was that this time Mancer’s Blossom carried this world around it wherever it went, whereas Mancer’s Wand had to be in the presence of high Ice-Poison concentrations to allow him to enter.
Sylas walked deeper into the world, and soon enough, he was surrounded by Runes with 40 to 50 Foundations.
These were the absolute strongest Runes that Sylas had been able to find in the Mancer’s Wand before, but now…
He headed in deeper until his eyes landed on the first 60 Foundation Ice-Poison Rune he had ever seen.
The pressure in this region was absolutely astonishing. Sylas could even feel that if not for the fact he had Rune Soul, his mind would have already frosted over.
‘This is really the limit, huh?’
He was a bit disappointed. If he could get his hands on a 100 Foundation Ice-Poison Rune, just how much more powerful would he be? Regardless of Aether quality difference, the Woodland Spider Queen would have died at his hands in just a few minutes at worst.
However, the quality jump between a Rune of around 50 Foundations and one with around 60 was clear to see.
Sylas didn’t feel any pressure at all around the last region. But in this one, he somewhat feared for his life. If he pushed it too much, he would end up harming himself.
It seemed that he had severely underestimated Runes before, and now that he was learning more about them and recalibrating somewhat, he understood just how impressive it was for him to be able to use 50 Foundation Runes at all. Even the Woodland Spider Queen had only had Runes around 30, closing in on 40 Foundations.
Sylas pushed down his disappointment.
A 60 Foundation Rune was easily two to three times more powerful than a 50 Foundation Rune. And unlike the Mancer’s Wand where there were only a handful to choose from, there were hundreds here.
The volume of choice was astounding.
However, Sylas felt that he already had a path he was envisioning for his Mancer Path. It would take a shocking change for him to divert from it.
So, he stuck with that path, choosing two Runes he called Advanced Slow and Advanced Freeze. They were exactly what they sounded like, souped-up versions of his current Slow and Freeze Ice-Poison Runes.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t just swap out the Aether in his body for it now because his Class wouldn’t allow it. But, with his Rune Mastery, it was easy for him to incorporate it into his Aether skin.
Thanks to that, his Aether skin went from having 400 natural Defense to just over 1000. Someone would have to be capable of attacking with a Strength of 1000 before they could even begin to stress his Constitution.
This change alone was worth it. But the changes to his Skills were substantial as well.
Sylas exhaled a breath and put Mancer’s Blossom away.
Over the next two days, Sylas pivoted back to grappling, refining all the way up to
He planned to continue, but unfortunately, it seemed that spending an entire month moving at his own pace wasn’t going to be allowed by his enemies.
Nosphaleen came to him with news.
It turned out that there were a few leaders of the Woodland Territory that had sent representatives to speak with him.
Sylas’ first thought wasn’t apprehension or shock. Instead, he thought of just one question…
How did they know he was staying in this System City? He had never announced his dominion at all. Was it just a guess because this was the last System City that remained in the Territory? Or was it something else?
‘Interesting.’
