It didn't take long for Sylar to reach the ground, and the moment his feet touched the soil, he blasted forward, leaving sonic booms cracking in his wake.
[Quest #008: Be the N° 1 Recruit of the Star Crucible
Mission Grade: –2
Status: ACTIVE
Reward: +1 Mutation Slot / 15,000 XP]
A sharp light flickered in Sylar's eyes as the system's voice echoed within his mind. He already held first place, but if he wanted to secure it until the very end of the Crucible, he needed to be the first to cross the finish line.
"In a straight line, the distance to the opposite side of Akai is twenty thousand kilometers (12427 miles)," he muttered as he ran. "But that doesn't include the mountains and canyons ahead. According to the map, the safest route nearly doubles the distance. I could still make it within six months… but I definitely won't keep first place."
A faint smile curled on Sylar's lips as he considered his alternatives. "There are several dangerous routes, with brutal terrain and xeno beasts, but with far shorter distances."
As he contemplated the dangerous paths, he didn't feel fear. He felt thrill. Xeno beasts meant XP. Xeno beasts meant evolution. Xeno beasts meant leveling up.
Given that one path offered both a guaranteed first place and countless opportunities to grow stronger, his decision was easy.
Before long, the massive mountain behind him vanished from sight, and a dense jungle appeared ahead. It was thick, dark, and alive with predatory sound.
As Sylar approached, he saw the terrain clearly: a labyrinth of ancient trees, strangling vines, and swampy clearings. The trees rose over a hundred meters tall (328 ft), their intertwined canopy so dense that it drowned the jungle floor in permanent twilight.
Fortunately, darkness posed no problem for him—his night vision and Echolocation ensured that nothing could hide for long.
But visibility was the least of his concerns.
The air was so heavy and humid that breathing felt like inhaling hot, wet cloth. Any lifeform below Grade +4 would suffocate within minutes. Even Sylar found it deeply uncomfortable, though he refused to let it distract him.
His senses sharpened. His grip tightened on his combat knife.
Massive ferns, razor-edged grass, and tangled root systems covered the ground, creating natural traps and hiding places. The constant chittering and distant roars made it clear he was far from alone.
He had been inside the jungle for less than three minutes when the terrain abruptly shifted into a swamp. Thick mud clung to his boots and slowed his movements.
A heartbeat later, something burst from the tall grass—hooked claws slashing forward. The creature resembled a raptor, but stood nearly as tall as a grown man, its body covered in feathered, mottled camouflage perfectly suited for the jungle.
The surprise appearance didn't hinder Sylar's battle instincts. He dodged the swipe effortlessly and, in the same motion, decapitated the beast with a clean slash.
But he had no time to enjoy the kill.
Echolocation chimed in his mind—dozens more approaching from every direction.
Another raptor lunged. Sylar seized its skull mid-leap and smashed it into the mud with bone-crushing force.
Before he could breathe, a third predator descended from the branches above, claws angled straight for his neck—only to meet the sharp edge of Sylar's knife, which sliced it cleanly in half.
Blood splattered across his face, warm and metallic, but Sylar's focus didn't waver. He stomped down on one raptor's skull, shattering it, then spun and drove a punch into another's chest with such force that its ribcage collapsed inward. A fourth beast leapt at his shoulder, only to have its jaws split apart by the knife in his hand.
Despite the carnage, the xeno beasts showed no fear or instinct for retreat. They were pure predators, adapted perfectly for the swamp: swift, silent, and able to attack from multiple directions simultaneously.
If Sylar had been a normal recruit, he would have been ripped apart within moments.
But Sylar was anything but normal.
The swampy terrain made rapid movement risky; with so many enemies and unstable footing, even a slight misstep could be fatal. So Sylar stayed grounded, conserving movement and relying on pure reflex, efficiency, and lethal precision. He struck only when openings appeared, giving the raptors no chance to surround him properly.
Before long, nearly two dozen corpses lay scattered across the swamp, staining the water crimson.
As Sylar crushed the head of one raptor with his right hand and sliced through another's spine, a third predator emerged—and this one was different.
Nearly twice the size of the others. Muscles rippling beneath its hide. Fangs dripping with a strange, sizzling substance. It lunged forward, aiming for Sylar's immobilized arm, exploiting the momentary distraction.
But before the beast could fulfill its attack, Sylar's eyes flashed.
A golden beam of concentrated heat erupted from his gaze.
The raptor's head exploded instantly, vaporized into a cloud of ash and burning mist.
[You have reached Level 24 – 10 Free Points Available]
A wide smile appeared on Sylar's face as the Nemesis System's voice echoed in his mind. The battle had been brief but brutal, yet it granted him another level—ten more points toward his evolution.
But before he could savor the achievement—
"RUMBLE!"
The ground shook beneath his feet. Branches rattled overhead. Birds and smaller beasts fled in panicked swarms.
The smell of blood attracted something big.
Sylar focused on the distance. He saw trees splitting apart, trunks snapping like toothpicks, and then—emerging into his field of view—a colossal creature stepped into the swamp clearing.
Nearly ten meters tall (32ft) and fifteen meters (49ft) long, the beast resembled a Tyrannosaurus in shape, but was far larger, far heavier, and far more vicious. Its bone-crushing teeth glistened beneath strands of drool. Large arms extended from its chest, ending in sharp claws. Scars crisscrossed its hide, each one a testament to countless battles survived.
Sylar's focus sharpened to a razor edge. He drew his Dawnfire Hybrid Sidearm, and twin lines of golden light began glowing behind his pupils.
Man and xeno beast locked eyes.
And then the world erupted.
The V-Rex moved with impossible speed for its size. Its mass easily weighed several tons, yet it still broke the sound barrier as it charged, generating a shockwave that shattered branches and sent ripples through the swamp. It reached Sylar in a blur, its claws slicing down with enough force to tear a tank in half.
Yet, Sylar was already gone.
He blasted sideways with explosive agility, twisting in midair as he aimed his Dawnfire. Two sharp trigger pulls echoed across the clearing.
The bullets drilled into the side of the monster's skull, blasting out chunks of bone and flesh. Sylar clicked his tongue—he'd aimed for the eye, but with both of them moving at high speed, accuracy was tricky.
Worse still: despite the damage, the V-Rex barely slowed.
It roared with earth-shaking fury, twisted its massive torso, and lunged at Sylar again.
He didn't hesitate. The moment his boots brushed the trunk of a thick tree, he pushed off it, rebounding through the air and landing behind the beast. Three more precise shots erupted from his gun—this time striking its left leg.
"SKRAAAAAAW!"
The monster's roar turned into a pained, rage-filled bellow as its leg was partially shredded. Yet even crippled, the V-Rex refused to fall. It spun its gargantuan body, tail whipping outward like a living battering ram.
Sylar's pupils dilated.
He raised his arm in a defensive stance and threw himself backward with every ounce of strength he could muster.
The tail still hit him.
Pain detonated across his arm, and his landing sent shockwaves through his bones. His arm trembled uncontrollably, nearly numb. And the V-Rex was already charging—its jaws wide open, ready to swallow him whole.
Sylar didn't blink.
His eyes flared.
A beam of concentrated heat erupted from his gaze, drilling directly into the monster's throat. Burning flesh and sizzling gore sprayed everywhere as the interior of its neck turned molten.
The V-Rex howled, thrashing in agony.
The moment of its pain was all Sylar needed. His arms regained just enough control. He sprinted forward, leaped, and plunged his combat knife into the creature's neck—using it as a hook to anchor himself.
With his free hand, he switched the Dawnfire into plasma blast mode, pressed the barrel against the half-melted throat, and pulled the trigger.
The result was catastrophic.
The monster's entire throat—inside and out—was obliterated. Flesh, bone, and cartilage vaporized in a burst of white-hot plasma. The V-Rex convulsed, stumbled, and finally collapsed with an earth-rattling crash.
Sylar didn't relax until he heard its heartbeat fade into silence.
Only then did the exhaustion hit him—heavy, crushing, almost numbing.
"Ahhh… not even fifteen minutes in this place and things are already getting serious," he muttered with a tired grin. "No wonder they call it a Death World."
Despite the fatigue, excitement pulsed through him. Beasts of this caliber meant rapid leveling—rapid evolution.
"System. Analyze."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
NEMESIS SYSTEM INTERFACE
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[HOST STATUS]
───────────────────────────────────────
• Designation: Sylar Bright
• Species Line: Homo Ascendens
• Rank: 1 – KINDLER
• Title: Bane of Necrasys
• Level: 24
• Vault Capacity: 43.5 / 60 TP
• Entropy Debt: 26% (Caution)
• Free Points: 40
• System Access: Basic – Status | Quests | Vault | Mutation
───────────────────────────────────────
[CORE ATTRIBUTES]
───────────────────────────────────────
STRENGTH (STR): 97
AGILITY (AGI): 99 → 139
VITALITY (VIT): 111
COGNITION (COG): 69
INTEGRATION (INTG): 44
WILL (WIL): 50
ADAPTABILITY (ADP): 74
Derived Values:
• Combat Efficiency Rating (CER): 286
• Evolutionary Potential (EP): 138
• Survival Index (SI): 161
• Cognitive Feedback Threshold (CFT): 119
───────────────────────────────────────
[INNATE ABILITIES]
───────────────────────────────────────
• Mutation – Super Strength (Grade +4)
• Mutation – Echolocation (Grade –3)
• Mutation – Hyperthermic Tremor Control (Grade +4)
• Psychic Power – Magnetism Manipulation (Grade +2)
• Genetic Power – Heat Vision (Grade –2)
───────────────────────────────────────
[VAULT DATA]
───────────────────────────────────────
Vault Tier: 1
Capacity: 60 TP (Grade 3 entities max)
Stored Entities:
• SYMBIARCH [MYC-Σ03] – 15 TP
• THRALL [MYC-Σ04] – 0.5 TP
• FOREST RAPTOR [XB-Σ04] – 0.5 TP (×25)
• APEX FOREST RAPTOR [XB-Σ04] – 3 TP
• V-REX [XB-Σ03] – 12.5 TP
───────────────────────────────────────
[MUTATION SLOTS] 3 / 3
───────────────────────────────────────
• Metabolic Surge (Grade +3) – 5% ED
• Tendon Bloom (Grade –3) – 11% ED
• Chitinous Sheath (Grade –3) – 10% ED
───────────────────────────────────────
Sylar grinned as he scanned through his stats, delighted by the massive haul of free points—and even more satisfied when he saw his Vault expanding with newly acquired entities. Every xeno beast he had slain had been added.
He dove into their mutation data for a moment, but quickly shook his head. "Their mutations are good… but not better than what I already have. Definitely not worth exchanging."
Without wasting another second, Sylar crouched beside the fallen V-Rex, carved out its heart, and coated it in mud to hide the scent from scavengers and predators.
Then he turned deeper into the jungle.