Genetic Ascension

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He couldn't take anything here for granted, even the water.

He pulled the grime off of his body and he seemed to feel better and better with every wipe. Soon, he was practically clean. Unfortunately, his pants were very much not. He was reluctant to put them back on.

At that moment, he heard footsteps to his back, and he sent a glance over.

A familiar woman—Olivia, if he recalled correctly—appeared. She didn't seem surprised to see Sylas, or maybe she wasn't surprised to see a person here and wasn't necessarily looking for him.

The woman's eyes were unruly, but Sylas didn't really care. She didn't really seem to be interested in him, but was rather trying to test if he would get antsy under her gaze.

He had seen women like this before. They tended to like pretending to be bold, but shying away at the idea of the actual act. If you pressed them, they would fold. She was most likely far more innocent than she let on.

He slicked his hair back and shook the water out.

"Olivia, is it?"

Olivia nodded.

"Nice to meet you."

Sylas tossed the cup back into the bucket and then bent down, sitting on the balls of his feet. He would just have to sacrifice this water to clean up his pants a bit, it seemed.

"What's your name?" She asked from behind, as though she didn't know. Honestly, she just wanted to see if there would be a response. If she was asking his name, then that meant Cassarae hadn't even bothered to talk about him. Maybe she could see something from him.

She was disappointed.

"Sylas."

"Mm," Olivia nodded. "I can give you a pair of pants if you want. It would just cost three coins."

"Coins?" Sylas asked, suddenly more interested in this conversation.

"You don't know what coins are?"

"I don't."

"Ah, maybe that makes sense if you're a bit lucky. They fall from humanoid creatures. They're the only ones with drops other than Genes, at least so far."

"I see. Then I'll try to gather the funds at a later date. I don't have that right now," Sylas said forthrightly.

"I can give it to you on loan. Just give me five coins later."

Sylas thought for a moment, then nodded. An almost 70% profit was ridiculous, but he didn't care much. He really didn't like the feeling of being dirty. If he hadn't been so tired yesterday, he would have never slept in this state.

By the time Sylas had dried off somewhat, Olivia had returned with another pair of simple pants, similar to his original ones, just a bit darker.

"Thank you." Sylas nodded to her.

"No problem. We'll probably move out in a couple of hours."

With that, she left, humming a tune.

**

The group gathered at the entrance of the Rudimentary Village.

Three militiamen and Cassarae were staying. As the City Lord, there were some restrictions on where Cassarae could go and for how long. Sylas wasn't sure about the specifics, but he believed his grandfather had said something about the Popularity stat.

As a Rudimentary Village, Casstle Main wasn't solidified enough for Cassarae to leave for long periods of time without the villagers also becoming unruly. As such, she appointed someone she trusted to manage things, that being Olivia. There was also Marcus, who was perfectly loyal as well, but mostly due to the bindings of the system.

"I wish you all success. Please listen to Olivia's orders. She is a full extension of me. I hope that our cooperation can be fruitful."

Cassarae met everyone's eyes and eventually landed on Sylas. She hesitated for a moment, but she eventually spoke anyway.

"Sylas, are you sure that you don't need any armor? I can give you a set on loan."

Sylas shook his head. "No, it's not a problem. These pants were enough."

His answer was quite firm, so Cassarae didn't say anything else. Since he had made it so far, and he didn't seem to have any of the scars the others had, he should know what he was doing.

"Alright. Again, I wish you all success."

Cassarae watched them all leave, a hint of worry in her eyes.

This Gnoll Rudimentary Village wasn't the first they had cleared; it would be the third. The first had almost wiped out her militiamen and the advantages she gained were all wiped out, trading with the system for more.

There was a slight respite after the first time, so she was much more cautious the second time around and took her time. Unfortunately, the result was that, not long after clearing this second village, a third appeared.

Luckily, the destruction of the second village had given her a Quest Trigger reward, allowing her to recruit some help while still benefitting from the destruction of the village. It should have only called those with strength strong enough to complete this mission. But of the 16 spots she had, only four ended up being filled.

That meant something much more worrying than she wanted to admit.

That Quest Trigger reward only had a limited range of about 100 kilometers. That meant in this range, barring those that might have ignored her request…

These were the most powerful humans here.

That idea was daunting.

Soon, more and more of such humanoids would begin to appear and the danger would only increase.

The first month had been a grace period for her. The first Rudimentary Village appeared after that and she cleared it within a week, taking heavy losses. The second Rudimentary Village appeared a month and a half after that. She took almost three weeks to clear it, and then another one appeared soon afterward.

From six weeks to three weeks. Would the next only take a week and a half to appear? Or was it just a coincidence?

"City Lord," a voice came from Cassarae's side. It was an older woman, one who seemed to be in her fifties.