After seeing Cassarae's armor, Sylas knew exactly how much weight treasures held. And yet, he couldn't even use any of them, at least not without his telekinesis as a proxy.
But if he was using his telekinesis, the stat boosts obviously wouldn't apply to him.
[Trembling Spear (F+)]
[Exchange 1 Unit of Aether for +50% Strength Effectiveness. Limit: 4 Units]
'So this is why I was able to pierce through his Constitution so easily. Before she lost her spear, she poured quite a bit of Aether into it, probably to the limit of the four Units. The Tremble ability has a lingering effect or else it would take way too much Aether use this ability.'
Essentially, because of Aria, Sylas' sneak attack had essentially had three times the Strength.
After the increase to his Charisma thanks to Basic Aetherflow, Sylas' telekinesis, when Madness was activated had around 90 Physical. With three times the Effectiveness, that was 270 points of Strength. Even with this ridiculously powerful shield, there was simply no way for Brant to block.
Of course, that Strength was only applied at the point of contact and didn't make the spear fly any faster, but it was a shocking feat, nonetheless.
None of this made Sylas happy, though. If anything, it was the exact opposite.
How many people had weapons ? How many hidden items were there? How much greater would his disadvantage become because of these Scorned Wraps?
Sylas stared at the spear silently for a moment before a thought came to mind. He waited patiently for the Aether to run out and for the blade to dim completely. Then, he moved a good distance away and activated his Aetherflow Gene Talent once again.
He had been ready for an astounding explosion, but this time, the spear just trembled and managed to withstand it. A green glow enveloped the spear and Sylas' eyes began to shine.
Finally able to sustain Aetherflow for a long while, Sylas felt like he could do so much. His telekinesis had become a true extension of himself. He could even use his Gene Talents and Skills through his Aetherflow.
However, when he activated Blade Aura, he felt like his heart was beating out of his chest. The increased pressure on him was considerable.
Sylas released Aetherflow and exhaled a breath.
He checked the spear again.
[Trembling Spear (F+)]
[Exchange 1 Unit of Aether for +50% Strength Effectiveness. Limit: 4 Units]
'As expected… it lost two Durability already…'
It seemed it wouldn't be so easy to find something capable of withstanding the effects of his Aetherflow. But this was certainly better.
As a trump card, this spear was truly excellent.
The best part to Sylas, though, wasn't the spear itself, but rather what being able to wield it so well meant for him.
The spear weighed more than double a normal long sword, approaching 20 or so pounds. Before, the limit of his telekinesis ten pounds when he wasn't allowing his Aether to flow into it. But now, it seemed to have more than doubled. He didn't think his limit was 20 pounds. It should be somewhere between 25 and 30. That was a huge difference.
If he could wield something that heavy with almost 90 Physical, he could just bludgeon his targets to death.
Sylas checked through the items Aria and Brant had. He found several Elixirs, mostly Aether and recovery related concoctions, along with some healing Elixirs.
[Simple Healing Elixir (F+) (Consumable)]
[A sweet nectar, the caress of a mother in liquid form. Drink this and Heal yourself]
Sylas raised an eyebrow. The description was too vague. After some thought, he infused Madness into and tried again.
[Simple Healing Elixir (F+) (Consumable)]
[A sweet nectar, the caress of a mother in liquid form. Drink this and Heal yourself. For every 20 points of Constitution, boost healing capacity by +50%. Effects last a single day]
This taught him two important things. The first was obviously how this healing potion in specific worked, but the second was more interesting. It seemed that one's healing factor was tied to Constitution.
He had suffered many wounds during his journey already. There were the several claw marks from the Rotten Wolves, just as one example. Those were wounds that should have required stitches, but they had already scabbed over after just a few days. It had to be his Constitution.
Regardless, this wasn't a miracle healing potion. With his current 71 Constitution, a wound that could usually take three days to heal would not take a little over a day if he took this potion. But it wouldn't just instantly return him a full bill of health.
Sylas pulled out a sleeping bag and some rope from the two's stores. He then tied down Brant's arms and ankles in the best knots he knew—which probably weren't all that great at all, if he was honest with himself.
Once he was done, he slipped Brant into the sleeping bag, then made a leash for the bag.
Brant's gaze dimmed when he understood what was happening. On the one hand, he was happy to be alive, but on the other, Sylas' eerily calm demeanor made him feel quite cold.
Would he die eventually once his use was up?
As he was dragged along, he couldn't help but cast one last glance toward his fallen companion.
Would he become like her?
Brant quickly grew numb.
One would have thought that this was because he had suffered a terrible wound and Sylas had done next to nothing to treat it, but this was far from the case. His Constitution was too high. Although he was still more than a week from fully recovering without the help of Elixirs.
Considering a broken hip should take surgery and sometimes even over a year to recover from, it could be said that Brant's recovery was exceptional.