Genetic Ascension

The Basilisk King wasn't even one of their extinct creatures; it was a BOSS born in a Dungeon. It was probably most accurately called an alien.

"That's enough for today," Sylas said, standing up.

"That's it?" The professor blinked in surprise. It had barely been over ten minutes.

"There are people supervising me, and I can't be away for long without explanation. Plus, I've already gotten exactly what I need. This program can't analyze anymore. I didn't have many expectations to begin with."

Professor Fembroise's gaze flickered, but she nodded slowly.

"And my situation? What are we going to do about that?"

"First and foremost: stay home."

Her eyes widened.

"But—"

"Give me your address, and I will come tomorrow to give you something that can protect your family for the time being. It will also help us to communicate. I don't know much about Lone Star, but I remember that you live near the university, right?"

"Sylas, I—"

"I get it," Sylas nodded. "The last place you want to be right now is home. You've always loved your work, and it probably feels terrible realizing that everything you've built your life around is crumbling.

"I want to give you a new purpose. You're intelligent, and your use is obvious. We will need people like you to quickly find methods of bringing Earth out of the dark ages we're about to fall into.

"But right now, you are frail. Even a Level 0 of the Trial could crush you, although you've probably noticed by now that your relative Strength has increased in recent days."

The professor nodded slowly. It wasn't just her, but women across the world had noticed such a thing. It was the stat balancing of the system at work again.

"Take your leave, you have all the right in the world. Grieve. Properly."

Sylas looked into her eyes.

She let out a shuddering breath, then wrote out her address on a paper, along with a crude map outline.

"I will come to see you tomorrow around this time," Sylas said, turning away.

Soon, he had disappeared, his thoughts on one word: Extricate.

...

Sylas left the campus swiftly. The sun had already begun to set.

By now, he had been gone for around half an hour or so. It wasn't to the point of being exaggerated yet, but he knew that he was likely skating on thin ice already.

The problem he faced was the obvious: his Favorability.

He knew that it would be a problem, and unlike Lauren and Alex, he didn't know how to hide his own.

He had asked the Madness Key about it, but it seemed he would need a special Profession, or he would need someone with a special Profession to help him.

These were two things he obviously didn't have access to.

Even so, he originally felt that it wouldn't be much of a problem. That was because the Browns still hadn't decided on their City Lord, so neither one of the three candidates should have access to his Favorability.

At least it seemed so… because there was an exception to the rule.

And that was, yet again, a special Profession.

Sylas had thought the odds of this were low until he saw something that gave him pause.

Bloom and Mark had a registry ready for a car they picked up on the side of the road. How was that possible?

The obvious answer was that they had prepared the car in advance, but then why did Bloom have to hotwire it? Shouldn't they just have a key prepared?

Sylas' interaction with Professor Fembroise gave him the answer.

The system had the ability to interact with the real world; the separation wasn't as perfect as he thought it was.

So, what if Bloom had an administrative ability, one that not only allowed her to create car registries and licenses from thin air, but also allowed her to see his Favorability?

When Sylas drew a conclusion from these inferences, he came to understand that he wasn't as clean right now as he thought he was. He was likely already being monitored in ways he didn't fully understand, and his room to maneuver was much lesser.

He was treading on a very fine line right now, and neither Bloom nor Mark's strength was a joke. He hadn't scanned any of them, but Bloom's Flow of Battle should mean she had a Comprehension. She was the first person aside from himself that he had seen have such a thing.

His only advantage was that Bloom knew his Favorability, but she didn't know that he knew that she knew. It was a round robin of deductions, but the importance of the difference was the only thing keeping the balance of the situation right now.

He didn't worry about himself. If it came to it, he could always just vanish. He had many methods of keeping himself safe, especially since there was no Aether on Earth just yet.

However, he still had to keep his family in mind. They were in the Browns' family compound. Until he had the strength to take them out safely, there was no other option but to keep the current status quo.

By the time Sylas found himself in the middle of the hiking trail, the sun had set.

He changed directions and headed off the path. When he was deep into the forest and there was no one around, he took out Rojan's corpse.

---

[Rojan O'Connor]

[Gene Detected]

[Common Gene: (5) Strength (F); (2) Constitution (F); (5) Dexterity (F); (8) Intelligence (F); (3) Will (F)]

[Attempt Assimilation?]

[Yes][No]

---

Sylas memorized the screen just in case, then interfaced with his Legendary Profession.

'Extract.'

He pulled with his intention, not sure how else to evoke it. Once again, it didn't fail him.

There was a mysterious tug that came from Sylas' fingers that almost felt like telekinesis but not. The difference was that the tug felt very real, while his telekinesis was almost more superficial in a way.

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