[1350 GTs bonus]

This was the first time Sylas had seen someone fight and truly felt in awe of their skill. He realized that stats or not the Browns were on an entirely different level.

Bloom had already appeared in the path of the beast the moment it dodged Sylas' kunai, almost as though she had already read and predicted it.

Her spear swept from the ground up, drawing a gorgeous arc through the air. Fluttering cuts of severed grass followed her stroke as though nature was blessing the sweep of the blade.

The dire wolf swiped a paw at it, and blade and claw clashed for but a moment before Bloom's wrists twisted.

The spear seemed to become akin to a slithering snake, curling around the beast's claw and cutting spiraling patterns through its limb.

Tendons were cut, and the beast's front leg fell limp.

Bloom retracted her spear, her stance shifting like lightning. She slid her body to the side of the injured paw, giving the wolf no chance for rebuttal at all as she furiously swiped out.

The blade cut so deep into the wolf's neck that its head almost fell off entirely.

Seemingly not finished with her tirade, Bloom's steps didn't pause as she pivoted to the last beast being blocked by Mark's shield. She found a perfect gap between the swing of his ax and the pause of the wolf and thrust her spear once more, skewering the animal right through the ribcage and rupturing its heart in a single strike.

From one attack to the next, and then the third. Every one of her movements was perfect, and Sylas felt that it was almost beautiful.

'That's where that feeling is coming from it feels like the flow of battle'

"Do you take pride in being a complete moron or something? You've been training all your life but somehow stick your head up your ass the moment you lose Aether? What is wrong with you?!"

Bloom reached up and pulled on Mark's ear, forcing the tall man to look him eye to eye. It looked like she would take a bite out of his nose if he dared to say the slightest word in rebuttal.

Mark was a bit embarrassed. He really did make a rookie mistake, but in his defense, he had spent the last three months training his muscle memory to take advantage of Aether. He had gotten a bit complacent.

Sylas didn't interject; it wasn't his place to. Plus, he found it a bit amusing. Even without checking, he could tell that Bloom was Mark's elder sister. They bickered like a couple, but there wasn't that sort of feeling of romance between them. It was just a vibe he picked up, he felt that he was fairly good at sitting back and reading people.

'Hm, it's sharper now than it has been in the past, though'

Normally, Sylas wouldn't make such a certain prescription without evidence, but he sounded so sure of himself just now. He couldn't help but look toward his Luck stat.

He still didn't know what it was exactly, but those odd feelings he had experienced on the last day of the Trial stuck with him. This stat it was probably the most mysterious of them all.

He had no idea how Cassarae managed to get her hands on a treasure that could give a +400% boost to it, but he didn't need to know much to know that this was huge.

Sylas shook his head. The battle wasn't over just yet.

The hours ticked by and the cohesion of the trio grew.

Mark didn't make the same mistake again, and Sylas quickly found that he was no less skilled than his elder sister, though a bit on the air-headed side.

His ax and shield moved as one, and he became the anchor that made all their lives much easier. Sylas never had to overextend himself, especially with Bloom by his side. They all seemed to assume that his Physical stats were lacking, and he had no intention of correcting them.

At some point after the three-hour mark, the portal's expanding size settled down. By now, it had swallowed up half the town and felt satisfied.

The number of beasts was stabilizing somewhat, and that left Sylas curious. What was the stabilizing force? Logically, it felt like the stream of them should only be increasing.

"The portal's stabilized," Lucius' voice boomed loud enough for them all to hear. "Get ready, we'll be entering. We'll be setting up a City Stele, but because this is no longer the Trial, we'll have to face the Judgment. We move out in 20 minutes."

Sylas' gaze narrowed. 'Judgment?'

He walked toward a few of the wolves and sacrificed them to the Madness Key. From an outsider's perspective, it looked as though he was trying his luck Genes, something everything was doing.

'I see. So the Judgment is a form of balance'

Those that set up cities later had an advantage. If you chose a City Stele among the three awards, in all likelihood you wouldn't be able to choose your location because it was the only method through which you could protect yourself. Plus, your militiamen would all start off as Level 0, just like yourself.

If you set up a city at a later stage, your advantage was huge. Not only would you be able to pick a location, but you'd, assumedly, be of a higher Level and you'd be able to quickly catch up with a city that started off with a weaker foundation.

It seemed that there was a penalty for choosing this route, that being the so-called Judgment. It was essentially a challenge you had to pass, a lot like a Quicktime Event. If you failed, you would lose your City Stele as well.

'Interesting the system doesn't seem to be something that cares about "fairness," though So why the insistence on early cities?'

Sylas' heart skipped a beat as he recalled something.