Sylas shook his head. This wasn't the real reason he had taken the Arctic Emperor Cobra out. His real goal was something more unfathomable.

Its venom sack.

After completing his Arctic Royal Class, Sylas felt that his sense of Ice-Poison had increased manifold, and there was a familiar energy running through him. His Aether had changed in constitution, and it was now purely Ice-Poison based as well.

He wasn't yet sure what this would do to his normal Skills and if he would even be capable of still using them or not, but what he did know was that whether or not his other Skills had become useless, this venom sack was a hack for him.

This time, Sylas didn't need to be nearly as careful in cutting out the venom sack because he was confident in his immunity. However, the body of the Arctic Emperor Cobra was so tough and large that he had no choice but to Fuse with the Basilisk King.

After an hour or two of arduous and careful work, he had finally cut it up, preparing not just the venom sack but also a great deal of food for himself as well.

Holding the venom sack in his hands, he felt very satisfied. The Runes on it were far more complex than what he had seen from its son. Not only that, but he had a feeling that if he tried to complete these Runes, it would be far easier.

His comprehension of Ice-Poison deepened after just a few seconds, and he already felt the Skills he had yet to cast even a single time inch toward Common Mastery from Fragmented.

"Good. Just as expected."

Sylas stood to his feet. It was time to go.

As Sylas moved through the forest, he realized just how good he felt. There was a slight chill coming from his body, but it actually helped his body to stay cool, and he felt like his stamina got a nice boost because of it. Though, that might also be because his Constitution was now 170 rather than 140.

"Is this the power of mature Aether?"

His body was moving like a far more well-oiled machine, as though his stats meant… more, despite not having increased by much. Well, at least his Physical Stats hadn't.

Sylas decided to casually make a layer of Aether Skin for himself, and a beautiful radiance echoed across his body. Blue Runes flooded across and formed a thin film of what looked like blue ice. It seemed like just a single touch could cause it to crack apart, yet when Sylas punched a tree… he actually managed to leave an indent this time.

Not only did he manage to do such a thing, but he also didn't feel much pain from his hand at all.

"My Aetherskin is easily several times more powerful now. If before it only took 50 or so Damage to blast through it, it would take at least 200 now."

This shouldn't be just because Sylas had mature Aether now, but because Ice-Poison was heavily control- and defense-based. It seemed that even in its natural state, without the guidance of a Skill, mature Aether had its own positives and quirks.

"There's still nothing around…"

By this point, the Aether of the portal had spread so far that Sylas could easily use his Skills even here. There was no reason that there wouldn't be beasts present here.

Yet, there was nothing.

"Is this still related to Alex, or?"

Sylas was very confused at first. But as he closed in on the region where the battle had occurred, he came to a sudden stop.

The air looked perfectly fine, but there was something extra reflecting in Sylas' pupils.

Runes.

Poison Runes.

Suddenly, Sylas understood. He had underestimated just how potent the venom sack he had thrown out at the last minute was. The Basilisk King had worked itself to the bone escaping and moving locations from time to time, but it seemed that that had been completely unnecessary.

The entire region had become a biohazard.

After analyzing the Runes for a moment, Sylas was confident that it wouldn't be able to harm him at this concentration, so he made his way forward, still careful to pay attention to his body's situation.

Luckily, it seemed that he had overthought things once again because the poison couldn't even penetrate his Aether Skin. In fact, it seemed to have special immunity to poison in specific, suppressing and crushing it.

"No, there's something extra as well. It's consuming the poison and using it to strengthen itself at the same time… I can even feel that the time limit of my Aether Skin is actually subtly increasing."

This was a pleasant surprise for Sylas. It seemed his Arctic Royal Class had more depth to it than it appeared.

He changed directions a bit and chose to head to the very location he had originally thrown the sack down. The closer he got, the denser the poison in the air was.

He was slowly testing the limits of his Ice-Poison, but as far as he could see, it didn't seem to have any.

By the time the poison in the air was so dense that he could see it even without Enchanted Scholar, his Aether Skin had absorbed so much that it exuded a faint violet glow as a backdrop to its icy blue.

"There."

Up ahead, Sylas could see even the remains of the poison sack left behind.

Aquatic creatures had come belly up to the surface of the river, the grass, trees, and vegetation in the region had collapsed, even one of the nearby cottages looked as though an entire half of it had been eaten by termites and rotted from the inside out.

Sylas realized just how much he had underestimated the poison sack now. The bouncer look alike he had fought was more powerful than he knew. But now… he seemed completely immune to his greatest strength.

Not only that, but his own Ice-Poison seemed to be improving.

Sylas' gaze flashed as he noticed something else. A smile almost tugged at the corner of his lips.