The Will and Charisma of the scorpion were so low that had Sylas used <Astral Bind> from the start, he would have won immediately. Its average was only 45, while Sylas' was 180. That meant that Sylas could freeze it for a full half minute with just 0.5 Aether Units expended. If he chose to splurge on Aether, he could have kept it frozen in place for minutes with ease. The only way out for the scorpion would be to have a skill that countered his binding, something it clearly hadn't had.

But Sylas wasn't happy.

'Stupid on my part. I saw its stats, so I should have taken advantage of the weakness. If it had a Skill to counter, it would be better to find out sooner rather than later.'

He had wasted Aether on <Solidify> when if he cast <Astral Bind> first, it would have all been over almost instantly.

He had to refine his battle style not just in hand-to-hand combat, but also in tactics. Approaching battle like it was a chess game was ideal. If not, he could end up making a fatal mistake.

In just this short time, he had made several mortal mistakes that had gotten him killed. Those were things mostly out of his control, so it was fine. But it was unacceptable if he made a mistake that could have been prevented.

He had to be better in the future.

[You have slayed Sand Scorpion]

[Rewards]

[>Fragmented Fire Crystal (Consumable)]

[>Inflexible Gene Elixir (Consumable)]

Surprisingly, Sylas recognized what the Fragmented Fire Crystal was. It was a method of changing your matured Aether into the fire element. This would allow you to use fire-type Skills and things of the like. Obviously, it could only be used if one was at least Level 1. But what interested Sylas more was the fact it was just Fragmented.

He wondered what that meant. Was Aether divided into more tiers than he knew? If you absorbed a Bronze Fire Crystal, would your Aether be even more powerful?

Sylas put both rewards away into the Madness Key and then placed a hand on the BOSS creature. He wouldn't be Level 1 anytime soon and even then he wasn't sure if he'd be interested in this element by then. It was probably best that he try to sell it in an exchange. Maybe it was worth something.

He still hadn't used his Bronze voucher from the Castle Main Quest rewards. As time passed, he felt that it was probably better if he did that sooner rather than later.

[Sand Scorpion]

[Gene Detected]

[Common Gene: (7) Constitution (F)]

[Attempt Assimilation?]

[Yes][No]

Sylas rejected and tossed the scorpion into the Madness Key. There was no need to make an attempt at something he knew would fail.

What he did do, though, was take the Basilisk King out. He didn't consider it before, but technically, couldn't the Basilisk King absorb the Fire Crystal?

Sylas didn't take that step because it wouldn't necessarily help the Basilisk King. But he did think that since he still had an active Quest to get the creature its confidence back, he might as well try to spend some more time with it instead of letting it rot in the Hibernation world for days on end.

As expected, the Basilisk King was unbothered by the heat. Its Constitution was 123, so it was more than equipped for this.

Together, the man-beast pair entered the forest of flaming trees.

The heat increased, as did the pressure.

Sylas noticed that the Basilisk King was beginning to feel uncomfortable. While it shrugged off the heat in the desert easily, it had clearly kicked up a notch here. Ultimately, the recommended Physical for this place was 130, and it was almost 20 stat points below that in terms of Constitution. Overall, it only had 80 Physical, so it was an entire 50 points short.

Sylas thought about putting it back in, but when he remembered the Quest, he decided to just watch for the moment.

[Quest Received]

[Sorrow of the Basilisk King (Fragmented)]

[A King without a Kingdom. The Basilisk is a fallen creature; from where? No one knows. Maybe even They have forgotten Their former glory. You have met a Basilisk whose pride has been shattered and whose Will has been torn asunder. Remind this Basilisk King of who He is.]

[Fragmented Reward Requirements]

[>Awaken the Pride of the Basilisk King]

After his session with the Professor, he had a deeper understanding of the Basilisk King's path of progression. It could be said that so long as its mind was in such a poor state, it would never improve even a single measure no matter what Sylas fed it.

Sylas slowed his pace and continued to walk forward. He could feel the Basilisk King looking at him from time to time, and he could just as easily feel its thoughts.

It was uneasy. It wondered if Sylas was torturing or punishing it, but when it saw the ease with which Sylas was walking, it felt rage.

Was Sylas looking down on it? Humiliating it?

It wanted to lash out and rip Sylas' head off, but when it had this thought, Sylas only gave it a simple glance and then looked away.

It shuddered, the fear that had formed in the depths of its heart roaring back.

Its eyes began to sting beneath the heat and it felt as though its blood was boiling even with the help of its blackened scales. The moment it cowered, those feelings all became worse.

Sylas didn't try to help or comfort the Basilisk King. In his opinion, pride had to be self-administered. It wasn't something someone else could give you. If you didn't have self-belief, then you would never be prideful no matter how you were coddled.

So, even as the Basilisk King continued to slow down, panting, Sylas maintained his same original speed, almost like a metric for how much more pathetic it was becoming.

A mournful hiss came from the creature.