[1650 GTs bonus]

The temperature dropped fairly steeply before it began to ramp up.

Any large supercomputer required a large amount of cooling to work properly, so this wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise was that Sylas had yet to run into anyone.

It was probably true that you could get away with almost anything just by acting confident enough, but he didn't think that things would actually go so smoothly.

He made it to the entrance of the supercomputer and was even more stunned.

The door, usually opened through a key lock, was open. Well, in part.

There was a wooden stump at the foot of the door and a heat wave was leaking from the inside.

'It must be because the key lock isn't reliable anymore. Convenient.'

Sylas pushed his way in.

The first thing that hit him was the noise. He could already hear it in the hallway, but in here it made one very uncomfortable. He could practically feel his eardrums rupturing.

It shouldn't be this bad. The only explanation was that they had been forced to ramp things up because of the faulty tech.

Sylas didn't actually need to stay here, he just needed the supercomputer's address. So long as he had it, he could even access it remotely.

Luckily, he knew exactly where to look.

There was an office near the back of the densely packed rows of modules. Inside, there were a few laptops. Last time he was here, the keys and access codes were pasted right onto a nearby wall.

Sylas walked toward it, but as he was about to open the door he came to a stop.

Even amongst all this noise, he could pick up something.

Someone was inside the room.

**

"How is it?" Mark asked. Bloom had been sitting there all day once again, but she still hadn't said a single word about what she may or may not have heard.

Bloom didn't seem to hear him, but after a few seconds, she slowly took off her thick earphones.

"We can try three days from now. There will be an opportunity."

She spoke somewhat absentmindedly, seemingly looking off into the distance. But she was actually staring at something else.

[Sylas Grimblade (FFF+)]

[Level: 0]

[Profession: XXX (Legendary)]

[Favorability: 2/10]

Sylas didn't move immediately, trying to decide what the best option was.

Since he was already in here, should he take a diplomatic approach? Or should he try for a more violent method?

His interaction with Carter told him that the world wasn't the same as the one he had known. If he wanted to get ahead, he couldn't continue to follow the same rules. There was no telling if he'd get just as lucky this time around if he ended up wasting this opportunity.

'Hm?'

Sylas heard something odd. The more he focused, the more he realized it wasn't just a normal level of noise coming from the room.

'A commotion?'

Then he heard the shriek.

'Good opportunity,' Sylas' gaze flashed.

He pulled his oxygen deprivation mask out of his pocket, ripping off the modifications just in case. Then he slipped it on, hiding half his face before bursting into the room.

The scene was worse than what Sylas expected. Honestly, he didn't come here to play hero; he just wanted to use playing hero as cover for why he might be here. By the time anyone realized that the fans were far too loud for him to have heard anything, he'd be long gone.

But even he couldn't help but frown.

A woman was being pinned down to the ground, a man looming on top of her.

Sylas didn't bother to register the state of half-dress the woman was in. His leg kicked out with a great amount of force, nailing the man in the side and feeling his rib deform around his shin.

The man was caught off guard to begin with and didn't have time to react before he found himself blasting into the wall.

However, the result made Sylas even more surprised than the man.

He hadn't gone all out. By now, with his 100 Strength, it was enough to kill a normal man with a kick like that. But even if he held back, he should have at least broken the man's rib. But Sylas was certain he had failed to even do that.

The woman scrambled backward, and Sylas recognized her at a glance. She was Professor Fembroise and she had led him in the tour all those years ago.

He found himself feeling a bit angry. This was a woman he knew, but even further than that, she was already married, and she had two boys she couldn't stop talking about. She was the last person who should suffer something like that.

Sylas' green irises locked onto the man who was grabbing at his chest and rushing to his feet.

[Rojan O'Connor (FF+)]

[Level: 7]

Sylas' heart skipped a beat, not understanding what he was seeing, but that didn't mean he would allow the man to get up without interference.

He had already followed up. At the same time, he knew he didn't have the luxury of hiding his Comprehension anymore, so he instantly layered Madness with <Basic Scouting>.

[Rojan O'Connor (FF+)]

[Level: 7]

[Physical: 90]

>[Strength: 122]

>[Constitution: 62]

>[Dexterity: 132]

>[Speed: 45]

[Mental: 77]

>[Intelligence: 191]

>[Wisdom: 12]

>[Charisma: 27]

[Will: 91]

Sylas closed the distance and had already sent out another kick.

Rojan hurriedly crossed his arms. He was off-balance and hadn't expected anyone to appear here, let alone someone so powerful.

His back slammed into the wall again as a follow-up fist had already appeared before him.

To Sylas' surprise, the man actually managed to dodge.

'High dexterity'

BANG!

Sylas' fist slammed into the concrete walls. He had managed to pull back somewhat, but a spike of pain still shot through him.

91 Constitution, even with the 10% boost of his Scorned Wraps, wasn't nearly enough to ignore concrete. If they weren't in a basement and were surrounded by dry wall instead, it would still be fine. But...