Chapter 715: Ash

Chapter 715: Ash



Szorn finished quite quickly. The Metarock mining had taken almost an hour, but this took barely ten minutes. Of course, the scope was far lesser, so it was to be expected.

Shimmering light came from the Aether Stones that remained and Sylas took in his now 39,000 Gold Aether Stones. This was perfect. With this, he could use his Time Lock Treasure three times. If he handed in the head of an A-level threat to the Grimblades, that would be enough for a fourth.

He wasn't even sure if he would need it so many times, but it was invaluable nonetheless.

Sylas was sure that these Aether Stones had more value than could be easily described. He hardly extricated all the value he could out of Common Aether Stones, so it was hard for him to truly understand just how much better Bronze and above Aether Stones were.

What Sylas didn't know was that deposits of Aether Stones in such large quantities, and with such great quality, could only happen in worlds in the middle of Summonings like Earth, and worlds in the process of evolving to the next Grade.

In worlds where Aether had already settled down, the phenomena necessary to forge these mines was likewise much rarer. There was a reason why Coins were the default currency of the universe and not Aether Stones.

They were too rare.

But by the same token, the methods that required their use were likewise great as well. It would just be up to Sylas to figure it out.

At least in one aspect, though, he already had.

"Come."

The Basilisk King obliged, moving toward Sylas.

"You may go now, Szorn."

"Does young master not need my help storing these materials?"

"There's no need."

Szorn nodded its large eyeball and then vanished.

Of course, Sylas would send Szorn away for this. After all, what he wanted to do next wasn't something he was willing to allow Szorn to see.

It was time for the Basilisk King to complete its next evolution.

Taking advantage of the repelling character of the Metarock, Sylas took out the Basilisk Skin Armor and a familiar Gene Core.

This Gene Core was none other than an item he had been given by a Sylph while in their Race's Dungeon in exchange for sparing her. The moment he had touched it, he knew that it was the last piece of the puzzle he needed to help the Basilisk King.

However, there had been a change.

The Basilisk King's slit pupils pulsed, but it had no way to refute.

"Although I had the badge to allow me through, the badge was in the Madness Key. It only activated because the Madness Key has evolved and seems to now be able to reflect some of the abilities of the items stored within it.

"I didn't notice the change because... this sort of influence on my Will is entirely too weak to be able to make me notice in the first place."

The pulsing of the Basilisk King's eyes only grew, but it stayed perfectly still, continuing to stare at Sylas.

"I don't know what your origins are truly, and I don't know why you've regressed so much. But what I can tell you is that you'll never be able to achieve much of anything if you rely on me so heavily. If you want to respect me, fine... but you should also be striving to surpass me. "If you cannot do that, one of these days, I'll truly abandon you."

The Basilisk King had such a high Will stat, and yet it was all but worthless as it didn't even have a Flexible Will.

But now, staring at Sylas, it felt the weight of its inferiority even more clearly than before.

The Basilisk King turned and slithered its body into the crevices of the Aether Stone mine. Then it turned a heated gaze toward Sylas as though it was ready to go through fire. Sylas had only barely begun before the violent trembling of the Basilisk King returned. This time not out of fear... but pain.

Its scales burst apart and blood flowed out only to be burned to ash by the heat in the

surroundings.

As painful as the Basilisk King's last evolution was, this would be even more so.

'Show me why your Lineage is so special...'

What Sylas didn't know was that while he was hidden away down below... the upheaval in

Lone Star was not small. In fact...

Almost the entire population of the city had been wiped out.

...

High in the skies of a Lone Star City burning in an endless inferno, two figures stood.

Their skin was an unnatural white ash as though they had covered themselves in chalk, ragged

and torn strips of beast cloth coated their bodies, and jewelry carved from bone adorned their

bodies.

The Dogons had appeared.