Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1197: Done. [Bonus]

[Thanks Patticus. I don’t know why all of you think this is so funny now, but just know I’m crying tears of blood]

The Golden Grove.

When Sylas appeared again, he found himself in a familiar room, with a familiar curved desk, seating an unfamiliar receptionist.

Unless all of the rooms were so close in design, this was certainly the same room that Megean had come to see him in. But right now, her spot had been replaced by another.

This wasn’t too surprising. The last time Sylas was here, Megean seemed to have done something quite foolish and ended up in a dangerous region. Her grandfather had asked Sylas to help, but with his time limit and the situation in the Milky Way, how could he have time to deal with the situation of a foolish girl?

He could respect what Megean had done, and he also had quite some information about the risks she had taken due to the UniForge Andromeda, but he could separate her courage from her foolishness.

Megean was certainly intelligent enough for it to count as bravery rather than ignorance. But even if that was the case, if you had to gather up too much bravery to do something—especially when you had other options on hand—it crossed into the realm of idiocy.

While Megean felt as though she had had no other options, was that really the case? Not even remotely.

Sylas practically had control of the Golden Grove, and her grandfather was contracted to his charge, but she was still a young, up-and-coming talent about to reach the D-Grade. She had a whole life ahead of her, and her family’s power was far more than just her grandfather alone.

Even if she came out of that place with some great power, what was she going to do? Beat Sylas up?

There were plenty of people in the Golden Grove who could crush Sylas with a single finger, but hadn’t they been played to death by him just the same?

Now they were supplying resources to his growth even while holding so many cards in their hands. What did she think she could accomplish on her own, exactly?

There were more flashes, and soon, Alex and Jala both entered the Golden Grove in Sylas’ tow. However, the instant the both of them did, they practically keeled over.

They rushed to the side, vomiting into waste buckets that seemed prepared precisely for those who couldn’t handle the long-distance travel. In fact, it was precisely because Sylas hadn’t gotten sick or dizzy that Megean was able to point him out as a prime candidate for Andromeda in the first place.

Sylas didn’t even get much of a chance to say anything when a familiar old man appeared in a whirlwind. He shuttled in so fast that the receptionist had to quickly tap at the air. There were no papers around here—such a thing was too primitive for the Merchant Guild—but the movement speed of a C-Grade existence could most definitely destroy the balance of the Runes they used to maintain things.

If she didn’t quickly shut several things down, she’d have to spend the whole next week rebuilding their systems.

“You’ve returned,” the old man said coldly.

Sylas didn’t reply.

“I assume the things of importance you had to complete have already been completed?”

Sylas didn’t reply once again.

“Then I’ll have to ask you to help my granddaughter.”

Sylas’ lips parted to say something, but this time it was the old man who cut him off before he had much of a chance to speak.

“I will not accept no for an answer this time. I would well and truly rather die. I do not care what punishments the Contract has, but I’m sure you know that when one is signed between two people of vastly differing power, the stronger of the two has the upper hand.

“If you do not do this, I won’t harm you, but I won’t hesitate to kill myself. You will receive none of my knowledge, and won’t be able to rely on my strength when you need it.

“If you do this, I am willing to make your Contract ironclad and loophole-free by swearing a System Oath myself. Those are your two choices.

“So long as you likewise swear a System Oath that you will do your best to save her, I will swear mine right now. If you refuse, but choose to enter anyway, I will only swear it once you’ve returned with her.

“These are my terms.”

It was clear that this old man had thought things through. Or maybe he knew that he would do this even before Sylas came back.

It showed a level of maturity, in his own way. He knew that no matter what he said to Sylas before, the latter wouldn’t have compromised. And that was the truth.

Failing the mission the All-Seeing Eye gave Sylas would have meant having his Professions stuck at F-Grade for the rest of his life unless he abandoned them and got new ones.

That was unacceptable to Sylas. Whether it was Runeweaver or Vipermancy, both were arguably more important to his current power than anything else.

But now that he knew Sylas had likely finished what he needed to do, the old man pounced, laying his ultimatum.

Sylas met his eyes calmly before he spoke.

“Any and everything I receive in there will be mine.”

“Done.”

“No one will be allowed to watch.”

The old man’s pupils constricted. Sylas wasn’t the sort to speak casually. If he was saying this, he had his own methods of telling if someone was watching, and more important than that… he was likely hiding secrets he felt even the Beast Warlord Sanctum couldn’t carry the weight of.

“…Done.”

“These two will enter with me.”

The old man’s eyes flickered as he gazed toward Jala and Alex, neither of whom gave him the same sort of impression Sylas did. He couldn’t really understand why Sylas would need them. With his abilities, it would even be better if Sylas went alone. They would just hold him back.

However, the old man still slowly nodded.

“Done.”

“Good. Lead the way.”

As Sylas followed, his eyes were flickering. It seemed he would only get a short rest after all.

The main problem here was that in order to save Megean, he would have to enter the E-Grade Tier of this realm.

But if Sylas wanted to outrun the shadows that were almost certainly chasing his tail already, he couldn’t rest for a single moment.

If Cassarae was going to enter her own challenge, then he would be the vanguard.

Soon, he would play this Sector in the palm of his hands no differently than he had the Milky Way. And he would have to reach that stage before the evolution of the galaxy completed and the restrictions of the Crimson Eye were lifted.

Only then would he be able to rest easy. Only then would he not have to constantly look over his shoulder wondering when a madman would finally find where his family was located and which point in the sky Earth was.

Sylas appeared with the old man beneath a golden tree that loomed in the skies, and without so much as a word to the council, the trio entered under his watch.

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