Genetic Ascension

It seemed he had to be more cautious now.

The man countered swiftly, his combat experience seemingly beyond Sylas' own.

A solid fist connected with Sylas' liver and he felt his body almost shut down completely.

He coughed, his legs wobbling.

Without Aether, it could only be a brutish brawl, but that was precisely why Sylas thought he stood a good chance. Unfortunately, he was still a layman in combat.

Sylas caught the glint of a dagger out of the corner of his eye and Professor Fembroise's screech only doubly confirmed it.

Disoriented, and left without a choice, Sylas could only pull at one of the laptops off to the side with his telekinesis.

Fueled with his Madness, his telekinesis could exhibit 121 Strength.

The man was caught off guard once again. The laptop slammed into the side of his wrist squarely and a sickening crack resounded. With his poor Constitution, the man had no ability to hold up against such a blow.

The dagger was sent flying out of his hand and scattering across the floor of the small office.

Sylas still hadn't recovered from the liver blow, he had barely managed to squeeze down the pain with his high Will and manifest a visualization for his counter, but it wasn't enough to stop the knee that hit his face.

Stars flickered in Sylas' eyes. His nose was almost certainly broken and he hardly registered the curses of the man.

Sylas flew backward, sliding out of the open door and into the whirlwind of heat that was the computer room.

"Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!" Rojan held his broken wrist. He was a Level 7, how could he expect such a thing to happen?

He rushed out after Sylas, but his anger was far greater than his judgment.

Sylas was disoriented, but his visualization was still sharp. After the increase to his Luck, it had become akin to a sixth sense, and right now, it was locked onto the knife that had been sent sprawling out of the room.

The moment Rojan rushed after him, Sylas gripped onto it with his telekinesis and sent it flying into his back.

Rojan sensed that something was wrong and tried to dodge, but while his Dexterity was high, his Speed was not. In a room that was so narrow, there wasn't much space to maneuver in the first place.

The dagger ended up missing his spine to Sylas' disappointment, but it still lodged into Rojan's back, cutting into his body with a great amount of force.

Rojan stumbled forward, the sharp pain causing his eyes to widen. Without his Aether, he had no other recourse available to himself. He had never thought that he would miss it so much.

A groan left Sylas' lips as he tried to stand. When he noticed Rojan reaching for the dagger in his back, though, he realized he couldn't let the man take control of the weapon again. It was likely that, for concealment's sake, this was the only weapon Rojan had. Sylas wanted to keep it that way.

Unfortunately for Rojan, the dagger was lodged into the side of his back his injured hand was on. As he tried to reach across, he couldn't quite make it and he could only let out a hissing breath as Sylas' telekinesis ripped it out.

Rojan froze when he felt the tip of the blade press into the back of his neck. For the first time, fear flickered in his eyes as he looked toward Sylas.

Finally, Sylas managed to make it to his feet, pressing a hand onto one of the rows of hardware in this place, he balanced himself.

This was certainly a wake-up call, but it still filled him with confusion. Tenth place on the Leveling Leaderboard was a woman named Hilda Silverden, and she was only Level 6…

Where the hell did a Level 7 come from?

It couldn't be that they were just progressing that fast, could it? It took even the three main families three months just for their best to reach Level 9. It had only been a couple of weeks since the Trial ended, and most of that time should have been spent in a location without Aether.

So how could there be a Level 7?

"Who are you?" Sylas asked with a frown, looking into the man's eyes. "I'm sure you know that if you don't answer, you'll die. Don't try to move, or you'll die. Don't try to reach for the dagger, or you'll die. Understand?"

Rojan didn't reply immediately, his body frozen stiff.

Sylas didn't recognize him like he did Professor Fembroise. But it was still hard to tell if he was acquainted with the professor or not.

Fembroise was in her forties, but she was a beautiful woman who stayed in shape. It wasn't rare for her to have pursuers, and this man might be one of them.

But even so, Sylas had a hard time believing that for no other reason than he was a Level 7… a Level 7 who just so happened to be at the location of one of the rare supercomputers across Terranova… that seemed… unlikely.

Sylas felt that the odds that his goals weren't too dissimilar from his own were quite high, and it may even be the case that he was part of something much larger that he wasn't aware of.

Ever since the betrayal of Lauren and Alex, Sylas had been wondering about these matters. They were obviously in the same cohort, and someone had even gone out of their way to kill Alex likely in fear of what he might expose about their organization. Then there was this odd "informant" who seemed to be going around helping everyone out.

Could this man and that situation be connected?

If they were, it would all make sense. Those people were somehow able to hide their Level and Skills from the system, but then… why was it that Sylas could see this man's Level clearly? That was why he wasn't 100% sure.

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