[Castle Bonus---Big thanks to Readable and RolaySalt!! (5/10)]

Sylas looked down at himself. He was still shirtless, and he wasn't going to find anything to replace it anytime soon. His bottoms were practically barely more than rags at this point, and he was just happy that his dignity at least was well hidden. Other than the key around his neck and the wraps around his hands and wrists, he had nothing else.

'It'll have to do. Maybe that Rudimentary Village will have someone who can give me real clothes.'

He stood to his feet from the stone he was sitting on, tossing a clean bone to the side. He didn't bother collecting the remaining body parts. He had found out the hard way that even forging weapons with his hands would be seen as a slight by the Scorned Wraps.

So he could only pick up things that were already weapon-like enough and store them to use as a projectile with his Charisma, or leave them be.

After a breath, Sylas rushed in the direction of Casstle Main.

It wasn't long before it entered his sights. A wetland that was only a few inches of rain away from becoming a swamp appeared outside a clearing of trees. The grass was tall, at least half a foot, and every step felt like he might sink into a muddy quicksand adjacent.

Casstle Main was up ahead and it lived up to the namesake quite well… not the castle part, but the Rudimentary Village part.

The walls were just posts of wood that were the kind an old, shabby suburban home would have as a fence. The actual village was just four buildings. Well, it was more like one shack and three kind-of-shacks-kind-of-tents. The mixture of wood and cloth wasn't bad, though. The rest of it, though, were actual tents made of thin beast cloths.

Sylas couldn't exactly look down on the appearance. After all, look at him.

But what Sylas saw next left him feeling much less… reassured.

There were two groups of people ahead.

One group came from where Sylas assumed was the village. He remembered that a City Stele came with militia, and judging by the uniform of the men—if you could call it that—they were all of one unit.

There were five of them, and they seemed to be standing at the ready, not-so-subtly protecting two women.

Across from them were three people. Two men and a woman. They stood somewhat together, but from just a casual observation Sylas could tell that they had likely accepted a Quest just like he had. That was because they weren't a unified front like the first group at all.

The trouble wasn't this. The atmosphere still looked somewhat harmonious and there weren't any fights that were about to breakout.

The issue was what they were wearing.

'How?' Was the only thought Sylas could have.

They weren't exactly dressed like noblemen and women, but they were dressed much less shabbily than himself, and they even had weapons to boot.

---

[Lauren Mitchell]

[Level: 1]

[Physical: 31]

[Mental: 17]

[Will: 13]

---

[Alex Reynolds]

[Level: 1]

[Physical: 37]

[Mental: 13]

[Will: 9]

---

[Morgan Hayes]

[Level: 1]

[Physical: 47]

[Mental: 29]

[Will: 31]

---

Sylas blinked, feeling a bit shocked. He hadn't even run into an option to progress his level, but these people already had?

What was more interesting than that was the fact their Mentals were so high. He had 122 Charisma, yet that man, Morgan Hayes, only had 18 less Mental than him. Sylas was immediately curious about what his stat distribution was.

He turned his attention to the militiamen.

---

[Marcus Tanner]

[Level: 2]

[Physical: 42]

[Mental: 22]

[Will: 12]

---

'A level 2?'

He checked the other militiamen and they basically all had the same exact stats and the like.

Sylas had been so distracted by everything else that he had forgotten to ask the Madness Key about how to level up. He didn't want to for now, but it was probably best that he knew what to avoid, so he didn't accidentally ruin his own plans.

---

[How do you level up?]

[Creatures that have ascended beyond Level 0 will have a Gene Core within them. This Gene Core can be used to absorb their Genes and convert it into a higher form of Aether known as Pure Aether. Absorbing Pure Aether can elevate the state of your body and increase your strength. This is known as Cultivation by many]

---

'So they found a stronger beast. But how did they defeat a beast that powerful if the level zeroes I've come across are already so strong?'

The only explanation Sylas could think of was that they had experiences similar to his own. The difference was that their Dungeons gave them actual equipment while his gave him rags.

However, Sylas wasn't completely disappointed. Just by their stats, he had come out ahead. If they scanned him, they should see:

---

[Sylas Grimblade]

[Level: 0]

[Physical: 50]

[Mental: 47]

[Will: 94]

---

Even the strongest of them, Morgan Hayes, didn't have comparable stats.

Sylas turned his attention to the two women the militiamen were protecting.

---

[Olivia Thompson]

[Level: 0]

[Physical: 32]

[Mental: 21]

[Will: 27]

---

Sylas nodded and moved on to the other woman when what felt like a white light blinded him for a moment.

'She...?' Sylas' brows rose.

Suddenly sensing something, the woman in the distance looked toward Sylas and he almost immediately felt something press against his mind as well.

But just as quickly, the woman frowned, closing her eyes as her nose scrunched up. Clearly, she had just felt something similar. But it surprised her a lot more than it surprised Sylas.

By then, everyone seemed to have noticed Sylas running in from the distance.

Several probing touches pushed at Sylas' mind, causing him to frown. It wasn't because he felt that they were rude, considering he had done the same thing just now. It was just that he didn't like the feeling. It was like fingers were poking right at his brain.

But all of them reacted much the same as the woman had. Much more violently, in fact.