"I will keep this brief. Tomorrow, we will be setting off to Lone Star, taking advantage of the planes while they still work. Soon, it'll be difficult to travel such distances, at least until Aether tech catches up."
"What will we be doing there?" Nathan asked.
"That will depend on the situation. We will evaluate and make a plan once there. Unfortunately, the family hasn't given me much information on this front. There is relative peace here, but understand that this is only because we are isolated and have prepared to be so for the next ten years if need be. Even after this ten years is up, we will be prepared to be self-sufficient indefinitely.
"The outside world, though, is very much different. Half the population of the world has likely vanished overnight, and the Trial ended before any absolute powerhouses could be formed.
"In the past, by the time the Trial ended, most would be invulnerable to guns and normal weapons of the like. This sounds like it's a good thing because that way the government can suppress the situation with greater ease… but that is missing the forest for the trees.
"The chain of command is in shambles right now, and because the government couldn't take full advantage of their head start, the gap between themselves and vigilantes isn't as large as it should have been. This will only add to the chaos.
"Our task is only to see what we can do."
With this, Lucius didn't say more on the topic, but Sylas had already realized something.
'Lone Star… that's the capital of the Ranger Province and it is most definitely a top five city of importance in the whole country… and all this talk about the government…
'They're definitely setting themselves against the government.'
Sylas' grandfather took a seat by him.
Beads of sweat poured down Sylas' brows, the veins across his arms looking particularly large at the moment, almost as though green snakes were crawling beneath his skin.
He might have taken his training a bit too far, but he had to, especially after not seeing many results in the past few days.
Logically, there shouldn't be any results after such a short time. Even in a period of what was dubbed as "newbie gains", it still took more than a handful of days for there to be any tangible benefits. If anything, pushing himself so hard would have the opposite effect. His body wouldn't be able to recover and he'd end up gaining less over time.
Sylas knew this, but these things were the wisdom of a past that was no longer reflective of the present. There had yet to be studies on what it meant for a human to have 123 Constitution, and he had been proven correct.
Today, Strength had actually increased from 110 to 111. It was such a small, insignificant change in the grand scheme, but it was a change nonetheless.
As for what it took to accomplish that, well…
There were chains tightly wound around Sylas' arms and legs. They dug into his skin with so much force that they drew blood, but they had to be that tight or else his Constitution would shrug them off.
At the same time, there was one band wrapped tightly around his mouth and nose, restricting his breath to a trickle.
The weights here weren't heavy enough for him to use. The entire gym was outfitted with about 300 pounds total, a more than reasonable amount for any casual lifter, but far too little for a Trial Taker like Sylas.
However, by combining these weights with blood flow restriction and oxygen restriction, he could make them feel tens of times heavier. At the same time, his heart and lungs were working overtime, trying to keep up with the needs of his body while the oxygen he was taking in wasn't nearly enough.
Over the last two days, since he had the thought, Sylas had given himself three workout sessions of an hour each every day. One in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one right before bed. Between that time, he fueled himself up with as much food as he could get.
In exchange for those six hours of work, he had gotten 1 Strength Stat Point in return, and he was too overjoyed to even answer his grandfather's question immediately. Well, that and the fact he could hardly breathe.
Magnus reached over and pulled the band off of Sylas' face, shaking his head and chuckling. He couldn't help but feel a hint of jealousy. If only he was still young, maybe he could do the same.
"Yes…" Sylas wheezed. "In about… half… an hour…"
Magnus nodded. "Be careful. The governments aren't as simple as they seem, even if they've been caught off guard."
Sylas looked over, realizing that his grandfather knew more than he was letting on.
"The more I tell you, the more troublesome it will be. But since you are headed out, it's best that you know.
"During the Sixth Summoning, the government took the lead in everything. While it's true that half the world entered, most died, and ultimately those with the highest chance of survival also happened to be those with the closest ties to them. The best scientists, the strongest soldiers, wouldn't they all have ties to the government?
"It was easy for them to take over, and this isn't necessarily a bad thing. A transition to a new world where the governments remain is a good thing for the people. It gives them structure."
Sylas nodded. In this sort of situation, the Browns could actually be seen as the bad guys. They were the ones sowing chaos when there was an otherwise perfectly good system in place already.
However, he didn't feel that the governments were trustworthy either. Why didn't they inform the world about the coming Summoning either?
The obvious excuse was to avoid panic, but in Sylas' opinion, this was a foolish reason.
If they could cause so many changes to the world after the failure of the Sixth Summoning, even merging all the Races and changing the structure of so many countries, why would informing the people be so impossible?