"What… did you do?" Lorien finally couldn't help but ask sothing after gean vanished. But all she received in return was a glance from Sylas and then nothing at all.
Inwardly, she could only shake her head. She didn't know what else she expected.
Honestly speaking, this was a good opportunity for her. She was technically out of Sylas' control right now, and this would be the best chance for her to escape. She had already crossed Sylas' boundaries by choosing to co, but by the sa token, Sylas didn't seem to care very much about her in specific anymore.
But… when she thought about it, that made sense too. Why would he care when he already understood her plans? In fact, right now, he was in a far better position than she was to execute on those plans.
Lorien didn't know what this UniForge thing was, her understanding of Golden Grove was very limited, and now it was certainly far, far, far beneath that of Sylas' after his stint inside of one.
But what she did know was enough about the Unitaur Race to know that they were the true movers and shakers in this guild. And more importantly than that, she knew enough to know that Sylas had sohow gained their favor just monts after stepping foot here.
She didn't have the upper hand in anything anymore outside of knowing that Sylas had his hands on a feather he certainly shouldn't have.
But did she even have the leverage to make use of that? Not to ntion how much danger just the ntion of it would put her in, having this information was useless unless she could make it to the right people to let them know what was going on.
Imagine a normal day-to-day citizen got information that a rival country was going to nuke their own in a few days. Would this private citizen even have a thod to get this news to the president? Would anyone even believe them if they ran around the streets yelling about it?
That was the position Lorien suddenly found herself in, and she didn't need to think to know that Sylas was smart enough to figure that out too.
Suddenly, their roles had not only been completely reversed, but she was at a point where she couldn't even carry Sylas' shoes. From defeating him on what had once been the biggest stage, she was now an ant that had a hard ti even eting the look in his eyes.
The change was so abrupt that it stabbed at her chest. It was no wonder Sylas didn't bother to accept her offer of becoming his wife. He didn't need to do so at all.
"I…" Lorien tried to speak again, but her voice trailed off. She closed her eyes and exhaled.
When she opened them again, she found that Sylas was still looking at her calmly.
Then, a notification popped up on Sylas' screen.
—
[Contract Invitation Received From Lorien Myst]
—
Sylas stared at the notification for a long while. This ti, it wasn't a marriage contract, it wasn't even remotely an equivalent contract at all. In fact, the only clauses Lorien left in there to protect herself were ones about her Race.
Instead, she built the contract off of a rit-based system. The more useful she was to Sylas, the more effort he had to put into helping her Race. The two ca hand in hand.
Sylas couldn't go through it as fast as he could with the UniForge, but his Wisdom had gotten such a huge bump just now that it still didn't take him very long at all.
When he got near the bottom, he raised an eyebrow and gave Lorien a look.
"Do not look at like that," she said with surprising firmness. "I may have played a character for Ulrik, but I would have never let him touch unless he gave what I wanted. If the optics of it alone bother you so much, then you're free to remove the clause if you want."
Because their Wills were connected right now, Lorien could feel just how fast Sylas was going through the contract, and she could also tell what parts of it he had reached.
Despite this, rather than being embarrassed, she just t his gaze calmly.
"I'm also not a child. You're overdrawing yourself far too much. The speed of your evolution is outpacing your foundation. The more you overshoot it, the more difficulty you're going to have reining in your Will and libido. I do not know how many won you have back at ho, but you have none following by your side. It will begin to affect your judgnt if you don't do sothing about it."
"And you're the one who can fix that?"
"You're from a Summoned World, so you don't know. But this is a very common sickness, especially amongst those like you who co from small worlds and then accelerate upward. Your body is a vessel that the system is feeding, but that vessel has yet to adapt. All it feels is a constant bombardnt of danger and vast improvent. It feels the volatility of the current state of your life and it wants to leave behind contingency plans.
"Every ti you rearrange the foundation of your Genes, you're connecting with the very essence of evolution itself and the laws that guide the world, that's the only way it's possible.
"If you don't start spreading your seed, that potential lingering within you will begin to lash out and suppress your advancent. There are actually many techniques designed to do this more effectively."
Sylas looked at her calmly for a long while before he finally spoke.
"I can understand the logic. But if what you're saying is correct, then the strength of the woman involved is just as important. Right now… don't you think you're too weak to be that for ? Or is it that you want to invest in you so that you can keep up?"
Lorien's eyes beca chilly, but she didn't respond. It was as good as an affirmative.
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