Sylas hauled Archibald over his shoulder, but his senses never left the man. This sort of Profession was exactly the kind that was easy to underestimate. He didn't believe that Archibald truly had no method of protecting himself, and the oddity of his dialect, and appearing in this village as seemingly the only human… there were things about this that he simply could not ignore.
He placed a hand on the City Stele.
[Conquer City Stele?]
At that moment, a pillar of light roared into the skies. In this region, even though it was the dead of night, it seemed as though it had become as bright as day. If the raging flames weren't eye-catching enough, this pillar was bound to be on an entirely different level.
[Conquer Sequence Triggered]
[Time to Success: 00:00:59]
Sylas took a breath and exhaled. This was very troublesome. A minute felt short under most circumstances, but now it felt like far too much. This was the first time he was conquering a city on his own and not at the behest of someone else. Last time, he had been under the parameters of a Quest, so it wasn't quite the same at all.
He realized now that he wasn't actually sure what would happen once it was concluded. As far as he was aware, from the limited knowledge his grandfather had given him, conquering other cities was the best way to promote your own. So, Sylas assumed that Cassarae got all the benefits the last time.
But what did it mean now that he was the one who was doing it on his own? Would it go to the Grimblades because of his Affiliation? Had it always gone to the Grimblades? But the Grimblades didn't have an official city. Instead, it was separated into three factions led by Lucius, Malachi, and Astrid.
But the potential benefits were probably the furthest thing from his mind right now. Near this village, there were two portals, not to mention Azrael's background being a wild card in all of this. That meant that there were at least three powers that could have eyes on this situation, and maybe more, depending. It might even attract beasts over here.
So, as he watched the timer tick down, he felt that every slow second was another weight on his heart. However, his eyes remained sharp, and his senses primed. This gamble had almost worked out, but it could very easily go wrong if he took a wrong step.
Ragnar Ravenclaw tossed and turned in his sleep, not able to calm his mind. He knew that sleep was more important to him now than it had maybe ever been. But he couldn't get today's events out of his mind. Those mammoth corpses were valuable even to him, but he had lost them just like that. He might have even been able to finally see some progress in his Level.
The only saving grace was that he had poisoned them. He knew that he was the only one that could absorb those Gene Cores without ruining his body. He hoped that that bastard died choking on his own greed.
Suddenly, Ragnar's eyes snapped open and he leapt out of bed. In a step, he had already reached his door and yanked it open. On the other side, an attendant was startled. They had just been about to inform Ragnar of a few things, but it seemed that they had come too late for it to matter.
Ragnar squinted and looked into the distance through a window.
'City is being conquered? There are no reports of a city being so nearby… Granted, we only came recently. There hasn't been time to scout out the entire region just yet.'
Ragnar cursed. He had just established this city and couldn't easily leave its limits. He preferred to do things on his own, but it would be difficult to get any accomplished with an official city. And it was precisely because he liked getting things done on his own that he didn't entrust someone else to be the City Lord. Though, it was doubtful that any Heir would do this.
The question was should he send someone? The distance was close enough. The conquering sequence had just started, and assuming the City Stele was still in the village tiers, there would only be a minute to work with.
In the end, Ragnar gave up on trying to benefit from the situation. But, he definitely needed to scout it out or else being in the dark in the future would cause problems. Somehow, another power had conquered a city, something that should have taken a substantial endeavor, right under his nose. That left him feeling uneasy. Matched with what happened earlier in the day with that mysterious snakeman, it was even more important for him to be on top of things.
"Send out Poppy," he eventually said. "Tell her not to engage unless there is an opportunity. I want information, first and foremost."
The System City was known as Orciulius City. At the moment, it was still quite vacant, but it had already begun showing signs of activity. Try as Lucius might, getting people to stop going into and supporting System Cities was far too difficult. Just in terms of the aura it exuded, and the sense of security it projected, it was on an entirely different level.
Steel walls rose up 20 meters into the sky, skyscrapers loomed tall and imposing, and there was an order and conviction to the city that simply couldn't be found in other places. Plus, most importantly of all, there was law.
There were no indiscriminate killings allowed in the city, one could start up an entire life here, even be protected from beast tides and fellow humans alike. They were even safer locations than the capital cities of their so-called governments back on Earth.
Deep in the core of this City, a man, too, woke up and looked toward the distance. When he saw the pillar of light, he felt a rare fluctuation in his emotional state.