Genetic Ascension

Sylas' stance changed as he felt that he had observed what was happening for long enough.

While Nosphaleen and her father were talking, he was observing more than just their words—he was also paying attention to the Wills of everyone else as well.

The oddity of this dungeon was that it was impossible to see anything, but if you had a strong enough Will, you could use it as a replacement for your senses. The beauty of it was that this was a great place to train your Will, and these few Clypsians were probably better than any single expert Sylas had ever met in this regard.

But by the same token, there was a great weakness to this method as well, and that was the fact that these Clypsians had long since forgotten how to hide their emotions and their inner thoughts.

The trouble with using Will like this was that it made one highly susceptible to being traced, analyzed, and even manipulated by the right person. It was as though they were baring their souls to the world and expecting no one to take advantage.

While it was just them and fellow Clypsians here, that much was fine. But there was a third party here in Sylas, and he had other plans.

Of course, Sylas didn't target any of them directly, although he very well could have. He hadn't forgotten that he had the Grimblade's Blade Aura on him. His ability to directly influence, sever, or even damage and take Wills for himself was quite exceptional.

But that wasn't his goal here.

His main target had been all about understanding the dynamics of the Clypsians, and he had grasped several things.

First, the Clypsians were exceptionally close-knit. Only Nosphaleen's father was reacting right now, but all of them expressed the warmest of feelings when Nosphaleen revealed herself, as though she was their own daughter as well.

Some of them here must have been punished in similar ways, losing their own children, but they didn't show any jealousy or things of the sort.

Second, they all seemed to defer to Nosphaleen's father.

This first tidbit was good enough to allow Sylas to do what he wanted to do, but this one made it almost assured that he would have his way.

Not only was Nosphaleen someone they all cared about, but her bloodline seemed to take precedent amongst the Clypsians.

This was a fine conclusion to draw with such a small sample size as well, because anyone whom the Sylphs felt was important enough to dungeon rather than just outright kill was assured to be among the best the Clypsians had, and yet they still deferred to Nosphaleen's father.

The question now was… what was Sylas planning to do with this information?

"Nosphaleen," Sylas said lightly.

There was a little hesitation in the young Clypsian's eyes, but she returned to Sylas' side nonetheless.

"Master, I…"

"Don't worry about it. I won't harm your family."

Nosphaleen's eyes seemed to light up, a beautiful smile spreading across her face.

"Okay."

After she said this, she vanished into the Hibernation Realm without a word.

There was a silence in the dungeon. They had all felt the shifts in Nosphaleen's Will just like Sylas had felt theirs. There was a reason her father had picked up on the odd dynamic between the two so quickly. But now, they seemed to understand Sylas' words quite well.

"… As much as I love my daughter, I have sacrificed her once, and I can do so again."

The words came out slow and almost labored, as though each one had to be clawed out of the man's throat.

"I already told you that you don't have a choice. In a few days from now, the Sylphs will likely implement something that will wipe out the majority of your population, if not all of you."

"What?"

There wasn't surprise in the voice, but instead emphasis, as though he wanted Sylas to say more.

"My appearance here will catalyze some things. They believe me to be a Clypsian—an exceptionally powerful one for my Grade—that they haven't been able to account for. As far as they're concerned, that only means one of two things. Either your underground network of hidden Clypsians has grown far beyond what they can reasonably control anymore, or I come from off-world.

"Given the fact that I left them a vessel of the Thryskai to take a look at out there, their conclusion will be the latter, which means they will assume I come from Earth."

"You…"

The realization came over Nosphaleen's father in waves. Sylas knew all of this, but he dared to do it anyway? He was a madman. What was even the point of all of this talk? He was already forcing their hand.

But as though he didn't understand that the man had already grasped the situation, Sylas kept speaking.

"You may or may not be aware, but the Sylphs—or rather whoever is pulling their strings from the background—have been obsessed with their bridge plan for a while. They want to use the Clypsians to widen Earth's access to themselves. Someone like me appearing means they don't have to waste their time doing what they've been doing here anymore."

"You… you understand what they're doing here?"

"I can guess."

Silence fell again. It seemed that Sylas had found a gap in their knowledge, but he waited until Nosphaleen's father asked the question before he said anything else.

It was a clear power play, a psychological tactic to inform not just Nosphaleen's father, but the Clypsians that looked up to him, that they were no longer the ones with power in their hands.

Sylas was the head here.

"… Please tell us. This is the one puzzle piece we are missing."

"When I stepped onto this planet, I felt that my Luck was exceptionally sharp—sharper than it should be on a planet I have no connection to.

"That was when I realized they were trying to rebuild a profile of Earth here. At the very least… a version of Earth."