Genetic Ascension

225  Leaderboards Once More

Sylas wasn't sure, but he stored it away after studying the runes. There was nothing more to gain from it for now, but what he did notice was that there was a very particular emblem on the badge.

The badge itself was in the shape of a silver puck. It had some heft to it, and the engravings of the runes were small and around its circumference. Sylas was sure that if he had just been looking at it normally, it would have been easy to ignore. That's because the emblem he mentioned was the centerpiece and would likely draw all of his attention.

It was a horsetail whisk and a tome with a crystal embedded into the center of it. It was just a simple image, but it filled him with an unknown sense of awe that he couldn't quite place.

It was either this key opened up a very miraculous place, or it was a secret to the identity of this Azrael character. Sylas had a feeling that it was the latter. And after he tried to check Azrael's Genes, he was even more certain.

[Error. No Genes Detected.]

Sylas stared at this screen for a long while, his eyes narrowing. This was the first time he had seen such a thing. He had seen several types of Gene screens before, from corrupt Genes to normal Genes. But this was a first. This was also an oddity that he couldn't ignore. It made Sylas even more sure of his assertion. Could it really be that this man was from the System City? Was he the only one the System City had sent out? Or were there more of them?

Sylas took a breath and exhaled. He was unfortunate. He had been looking forward to looking at this man's Genes, wondering if he would finally see his first Silver Gene or not. He had been salivating at the prospect of using Extricate on it in the future once it had improved to the point that he could. But it seemed that opportunity had slipped through his fingers before he could even reach out to grab it.

He really wanted to ask the Madness Key about this matter, but he knew with absolute certainty that this would definitely be a Taboo question. If he couldn't even ask it about the spawned humans in villages, he certainly couldn't ask it about the System Cities and those that ran them.

But what did it mean for the Genes to be inaccessible? Could the man have done something to his Genes to come here? It shouldn't even be possible for there to be outside interference in this Summoning, no? Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Then again, hadn't Sylas broken the system's rules before? He quite literally had a Title for doing just that, and it wasn't the first time either. Like that moment he lost three months of time miraculously was one of them, and it was still something he couldn't quite explain.

It seemed that the situation of Earth was far, far worse than he knew.

Sylas shook his head and shrugged this matter off. He had already gained more than enough, and these matters were still too far beyond him.

He had defeated this Level 15 this time, but if there was a next time, what would he do in that case? In fact, when he went back to the pig demon village this time, he would have to be extra cautious in hopes that there wasn't a second Level 15 lying in wait.

Just as Sylas was about to turn his attention away from Azrael completely, though, he suddenly remembered something.

'Oh?'

[Coins: 64223 (F)]

Sylas remembered something and checked his coin total, and he was truly floored.

He knew that when he killed humanoid opponents, he would get coins out of it. When they were demons, he had to unearth their Gene Cores first. But when they were humans, he just directly took their funds by some mysterious method.

When he remembered this, he thought to check his own coin total to see how much he had managed to gain from Azrael, and the result left him quite speechless.

'It seems that now I have no more excuses to not use the Bronze Nexus Ticket…'

Not much time had passed at all, so Sylas felt that he had the time he needed to check out the Nexus. Though, it would be a bit dangerous to do it here as his mind would be sucked into another world, he felt that it was still relatively safe.

He pulled out his reward ticket and activated it. It floated before him, exuding a dim light before attaching itself to his forehead.

Sylas' gaze became a bit dim and soon he found himself, once again, in a world of foggy white.

The world zoomed around him and soon he found himself in a city once again.

He looked up and his eyes couldn't help but narrow.

[Leveling Leaderboard] Astrid Grimblade

[1. Astrid Grimblade - Level 19]

[2. Kael Darkmane- Level 19]

[3. Brakk Smith - Level 19]

[4. Hilda Silverden - Level 19]

[5. Lucius Grimblade - Level 19]

[6. Thorne Ravenclaw - Level 19]

[7. Malachi Grimblade - Level 19]

[8. Draven Ravenclaw - Level 18]

[9. Asher Darkmane - Level 18]

[10. Ragnar Ravenclaw - Level 18]

The ten names on the leaderboard were the exact same, but the changes were drastic, and the Levels… 'Brakk Smith… Hilda Silverden… they were both 9th and 10th place before, but now they've suddenly skyrocketed… and they're the only two that don't share those ancient family names…'

However, what Sylas saw on the City Leaderboard

[City Leaderboard]

[1. Ironhold]

[2. Darkfell]

[3. Blackwing]

[4. Duskfort]

[5. Ebonspire]

[6. Stormcloud]

[7. Eclipse Lock]

[8. Nightfall]

[9. Dusk Peak]

[10. The Enclave]

Unlike the previous list, this one had been completely overhauled. Of the original list, only The Enclave, which had once been third, remained… And Casstle Main was nowhere to be seen.