Sylas didn't say anything as Professor Fembroise cried, just standing there in silence.
Humans, even the smart ones, weren't always perfectly rational creatures. Well, that might not be how he put it.
In his opinion, even when Humans were acting irrationally, there was probably some underlying reason for it. Vesta, obviously, had a lot of pent-up anger toward the Terranova Government for hiding the matter of the Summoning from its citizens.
If they had been more honest, more upfront, then she could have warned her son ahead of time. Then she wouldn't have lost him to that damned Trial.
It was all their fault, and Sylas didn't blame her for blaming them.
However, to go as far as to help the alien Races… this was too much. It was too short-sighted, and even if it dealt the Terranova Government a blow, Vesta would probably suffer much more for it in the future.
Maybe she knew this, maybe she didn't care, or maybe she was naïve enough to believe that she would find a way out later.
But no matter what it was… it was unacceptable to Sylas.
And luckily, the woman herself seemed to have finally realized as much. Now, Sylas could get down to what he really wanted to address.
Sylas was many things… but a fool was not one of them.
If he thought that there was even an inkling of a possibility that what happened with Professor Fembroise would occur, he would have taken extra precautions.
Though, to be fair, at the time, even if he had had some doubts, there was little he could have done anyway.
Because of the system's 30-day ban on him killing her, he couldn't just leave her out in the lava, and he obviously couldn't let her flee into the Ruby Territory on her own, or else all of that would have been in vain.
But this aside, what was important here was that given everything Sylas knew… this should have been impossible. Especially considering his Legendary Profession.
If this was something that would have happened had just anyone entered the Basilisk King's mouth, then Insight would have warned Sylas.
The fact he got no warning at all meant that the trigger wasn't the Basilisk King, but instead something about Vesta herself.
And this was only natural.
The system placed so much emphasis on Vesta, going as far as to punish him so harshly and reward him so thoroughly just for sparing her life.
This all pointed in a single direction.
Something… was very, very special about Vesta.
As the last of Vesta's tears were wiped away, and she took her final deep breaths, the Professor before Sylas now was much more like the woman he had known for all these years.
Maybe their relationship would never go back to the way it was before, and Sylas was just fine with that. To be honest, it wasn't as though they were ever the closest of friends. At best, they were colleagues in adjacent fields.
Instead, this might open up a path for them to actually get closer. But whether that happened or not would depend on Vesta.
And true to her intelligence, Sylas was very satisfied with her next move.
[Name: Vesta Fembroise]
[Species: Shedding Human (E)]
>[Constitution: 2999]
>[Intelligence: 2999]
There were many things Sylas could have taken notice of first.
There could have been the fact that her stats, right down to Will, were perfect, identical replicas of the Basilisk King's. And yet, he never got the feeling that his Legendary Profession was of any use on her.
There was the fact that she had a single ungraded Title that went by an odd name.
There was the fact that despite having such ridiculous stats, she was actually still a Level 0. In fact, her stats dwarfed his own even now by a nice measure too…
There was the fact she had no Genes at all to back up these stats, nor did she have any Skills or Gene Talents to supplement her in the slightest.
There were so many things to consider, so many things to look at…
And yet there was only one that consumed all of his attention.
[Species: Shedding Human (E)]
"I do not know what it means either. All I know is that one day I was focused on my research, trying to find a way to bring modern technology to this new world, and the next I was receiving a System Reward. After that day, my body changed, and though I didn't look or feel any different, everything came easier to me."
Sylas stayed silent for a long while.
Was it really that simple? The system could go as far as to reward something like an E-Grade Race to someone?
And what exactly was a Shedding Human? Was that something all E-Grade Humans would become? Or was that just a very specific type of Human?
[Champions of the Grimblades]
It felt like there was a very big piece of the puzzle missing here, but Professor Fembroise likely didn't have enough context or understanding of the world to truly grasp what she was missing. That meant that this mystery would either be lost to time… or it would be up to the Professor to slowly figure things out on her own.
"But… what I can say is that ever since I gained this new Race, I tend to gain strength from the things that I eat. And if the target is in a particular state of evolution, then the results and benefits are also much better.
"However, I've never gained as much benefit in a single sitting as I did with your snake…"
A silence fell between them again. Sylas stood in thought for a long while before he eventually nodded.
With a step forward, he turned the key to the Professor's cell, opening up the door.