Syler stepped forward, and the man held the prisoner up towards him. The lack of suffocation surprised him, but then he noticed a soft glow around the man’s skin.
“Potential shield spotted. Might take more than a few shots to disable him,” Syler said.
“Copy, I see it too,” Diego said.
“Copy. Me too,” Grandview said.
Syler took a risk. He held up one hand, and with the other, he lowered his gun to the ground. Then he held up both hands as he walked towards the man.
“Careful, Captain. Don’t want you getting caught in crossfire,” Grandview said.
Syler snorted. He appreciated her concern, but he’d already taken it into consideration.
He pointed behind the man and then gestured downwards with the palm of his hand. The man shook his head — which Syler could only assume was a negation of his suggestion. The man was not feeling inclined to shut the generator down.
The frequency of pulsing increased. Where the colour of the pulsing light had started as a soft blue-white glow, it now turned more purple.
“Fire a warning shot.”
Two bullets hit the ground in front of the man’s feet.
Syler winced. It wasn’t his smartest play, as ricocheting bullets could be unpredictable, but it was an informed risk he was taking. The man startled, glowering at the Guardsmen behind him, and then back at Syler. But there was a shiftiness to his eyes, a sense of uncertainty. Their warning was working. The man didn’t want to die today.
Syler gestured towards the generator and then gestured downwards with his hand again. The man hesitated, but then shook his head again. A sigh escaped Syler’s lips.
They’d have to do this the hard way.
“Take out his legs,” Syler said, stepping back.
The man’s shield flared, then failed against the hyper-accelerated lead. Fury turned to agony.
He dropped the hostage, who scurried out of the way. The hulk tried reaching for the smaller man, but with his legs ruined, he had little luck. He gazed at Syler with hatred and started clawing towards the circle on the ground.
The team closed in on him. Syler noticed that the smaller man was gasping for breath, and he cursed. The big man’s shield must have been covering him as well, giving him access to a small amount of oxygen.
Syler took off his backpack and grabbed the re-breather. He attached the small gas canister to it and put it around the man’s head. The man resisted at first, but he was quick to surrender to his fate. Once he realized he could breathe again, he seemed to sigh in relief. Grateful eyes met Syler’s own.
Syler's attention returned to the enemy combatant who was bleeding from his legs. Syler bounded forward, grabbed the man by his legs, and pulled as hard as he can while backpedalling. He let go of the man’s legs in time to avoid the man’s attempt to grapple him to the ground.
The three Guardsman surrounded the man, weapons up, ready to fire.
Their enemy grinned. He laid his head on the ground, closing his eyes. His intention was apparent. The shield had already regenerated. He wasn’t having any trouble breathing, but he knew it wouldn’t be able to protect him from whatever devastation the ship was about to experience.
Syler contemplated ending the man’s life, as his perceived usefulness had approached zero. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He glanced back to see the smaller man, who was pointing to himself and then to the pulsing generator which had taken on an alarming red glow. Syler considered himself an expert at reading context clues.
Red wasn’t a good sign.
He could only assume the smaller man’s meaning, and figured he was their best bet to surviving. He nodded and gestured for the man to do what he needed to do.
The man on the ground didn’t like that. He tried to grab for the slave as he passed by, but Syler stomped on the man’s legs. The shield deformed, just enough to apply pressure to the gunshot wounds.
It proved to be a sufficient distraction.
The slave scurried around the magical circle on the ground, and he pulled a tool out of his pocket that looked like a screwdriver. He examined the etchings on the ground and seemed to find what he was looking for. He stabbed the tool towards the circle. The pulsing red light no longer pulsed, but it didn’t recede either. The man hurried from the circle, sprinting towards a pillar. He pointed at them, and then mimed a rifle in his hand, pointing the imaginary gun at the pillar.
“Shoot the pillar!” Syler yelled.
The man dived away, and they all opened fire.
It took some doing. The material was tough. But after so many shots, the red light suffusing the room eased back to purple, and then blue, and then faded. The sphere held aloft above the magical circle turned from translucent to a solid gold sphere, dropping to the ground without noise.
Syler sighed.
Crisis averted.
He glanced at the man on the ground whose eyes were closed. He didn’t move, but Syler could see that the man was still breathing.
“This is Captain Syler,” he said after opening a channel to the shuttle. “We’ve deactivated the self destruct sequence. The ship is dead in space. We’re bringing back guests. Let the Relentless know we’ve got a critically wounded enemy combatant, and what we think is a liberated captive.”
----------------------------------------
So begins the elucidation of the Foundation Stage:
Forge the Physical
Foster the Mental
Induce Epiphase
Relentless Formance
Unceasing Temperance
Until the Call is heard,
and the student is Initiated.
Let us begin…
Hunter had read the manual over a few times by now, cross-referencing what his father had written in his journals. To his pleasant surprise, there were some parallels. The Tara Sovereign Foundation Stage Manual went much further. But Hunter got the distinct impression that despite the etherically advanced society which had created this manual, his father’s research had been still been groundbreaking.
It wasn’t merely the fact that humans on Sanctuary had no experience with cultivation that gave Hunter such an impression. It was the fact that despite the similarities, what his father had discovered differed from the means by which the Tara Sovereign Sect expected their disciples to develop.
The differences started right from the beginning.
A Drawstone would passively provide boosts to health, strength, endurance, and longevity. A physical and mental training routine and a healthy diet maximized these gains. The Foundation Establishment stage typically progresses in a way much different to what Hunter and the rest of his people were used to. In this case, Drawstone did most of the work.
He wasn’t sure what to make of this yet. Either most cultivation civilizations misunderstood the potential benefits of Drawstones, lacked them, or found them so common that their effects were considered widely known and needing no explanation. He would need to talk to Trey about this.
And that wasn’t the only thing Hunter discovered.
He found a special method used in the Inducing Epiphase stage of Foundation cultivation. This method helped students become familiar with, and master, their etheric channels.
They would use a formation which drained the student of all the ether in their body. Drugs were used to alter the students’ consciousness. Their auras were then manipulated by the teacher to channel limited amounts of etherium. In order for this to work, the teacher would need to be beyond the second phase of the Elemental Initiate stage. Before that, their mastery of both their aura, and etherium, was too weak to help a seeker progress.
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Apparently, this process required a long period of specialized training, as improper usage of the technique could cause some psychosis in the student, which would take time to resolve. It could also lead to a diminishing of their potential, as a sound mind was required for the long marathon of a journey that cultivation offered.
Hunter was unimpressed by the processes. It explained why there were so few cultivators compared to the amount of non cultivators — as Aruon had said. Perhaps a filtering process ensured only the most appropriate candidates would gain the opportunity to receive a teacher’s guidance and a sect’s resources.
Although his most critical questions had yet to be answered, he remained undeterred. This was more than he’d known before. Now he knew that there was a method. Worst-case scenario, they could take the risk.
Best-case scenario, and this was just a guess: Drawstones could offer a way towards Inducing Epiphase without risking psychosis.
The possibility of a new path was encouraging, but it wasn’t an answer in itself. So Hunter closed the manual with some disappointment and checked the time.
The Sabletown delegation would soon be arriving. Hunter wanted to get to the event early. He presumed things would be very busy afterwards, and there were some people invited to join the Oberon party he was looking forward to talking to.
Hunter exited his office and waved to Joey Geraldin and the rest of the team. He had spent a few hours in the morning coaching them on more synergies, which they would use in the next phase of the colony’s expansion. Assuming the beastwave threat was over, they’d returned to the old budget priorities. The colony’s defenses were still important, they were going to shift more towards upgrading naval systems instead of ground defenses.
That being said, upgrading the ground defenses would be simple with the synergies which Hunter had shared thus far. He would approve all proposed designs; then, he would send the packaged designs to the Oberon Guard for testing. After a few rounds of suggestions and requests returned, and improvements made, a brand new generation of infantry weaponry was being developed.
The first navy systems to be updated were coming down the pipeline for review as well. Hunter would have a meeting with the shipwrights and artisans later that day to discuss their most ambition visions. From what Hunter understood, there were talks of returning to an older class of scout ship in order to explore this spatial sector, as well as nearby sectors.
There was so much more in development. It was an exciting time, if a bit anxiety ridden. Those plans largely depended on the upcoming networking event with Sabletown. Trey would meet with June and a few other Sabletown big-shots in private. Hunter had high hopes for that meeting, and he trusted June did as well. After the battle against the Peacekeeper fleet, much of the top brass circulated the footage of June’s capabilities as an Elemental Adept. Hunter, being who he was, had access to those recordings and analysis of the footage as well.
June’s abilities were incomprehensible. One man wielding enough power to destroy the colony and a large part of the Oberon fleet is both humbling and troubling.
General Marko was campaigning hard to negotiate as many cultivation resources as possible. He had declared that Skyhold would need to develop martial parity with Sabletown yesterday, and Hunter couldn’t blame him.
As much as he respected June, he knew Skyhold could not allow itself to remain behind in the power curve. It was fortunate that June appeared to have no designs on taking over Oberon Enterprises, because everyone knew that if he wanted to, he could.
It was chilling to consider. If he were Trey, he’d want to contact local settlements as fast as possible. They needed connections, intelligence, and resources. Something told Hunter that developing their own Elemental Adepts wouldn’t be as easy as they were hoping.
But maybe they wouldn’t have to develop an Elemental Adept one step at a time, following a traditional cultivation route. Hunter himself had been subject to a great etheric mystery when his power mirrored the Class-1 creatures that had assaulted the old outpost. The power which had gripped him appeared intelligent, guiding, and compassionate—towards him, if not his enemies.
There was something else going on beneath the surface. Something that was connected with this sensitivity. And, he hypothesized, with Drawstones as well.
He couldn’t confirm it yet. As far as hunches went, this one was weak. But he could not deny that there was something else going on with him.
Now is not the time of your demise…
He remembered the voice, more clearly than anything else that day. The certainty, the confidence, the sheer power it conveyed.
Something told him that whatever was the source of that voice, eclipsed the like of an Elemental Adept.
He’d meditated on it, since he’d had questions. No answers came, but what he found was something pleasant and unexpected.
He no longer feared the possibility that he would become like his father. He realized that in the course of the last few weeks, he’d proved that, if anything, he was no longer his father’s son. Unlike his father, he wasn’t alone. After taking a leap of faith, he’d brought Trey and Aera into his confidence. They would be with him every step of the way.
They were more of a family to him than his father had ever been.
Now more than ever, Hunter was an Oberon. The Koar name was only a memory.
Deciding on a choice he’d been deliberating on for some time, he made his way to the Administration Office.
The first face he saw surprised him as he opened the doors to the extensive building.
“Idra?” Hunter asked.
“Mr. Koar! It’s a pleasure to see you here. I’m surprised that you’re visiting the Admin office. What can I help you with?”
“I was wondering if you could keep this a secret. I’ve been thinking, and I’ve decided that I want to make an alteration to my public record.”
“Oh?” Idra asked, leaning forward, her voice taking on a conspiratorial whisper, “How exciting! Let me know what alteration you’d like to make and you can consider it done.”
He informed her, and her eyebrows shot up in delight. Having assured him it would be done before the meeting started, he left for the Command Centre, feeling cheerful.
----------------------------------------
“You have no idea how good it is to see you, Sly,” Hunter said, embracing his former bodyguard in a hug. He pulled back and laughed as he saw the Guard Captain’s confusion.
“Er, you too, sir. I’m glad to see that you’re okay. You seem a lot less—ah,” Syler said, studying Hunter’s body. He appeared to struggle to say what was on his mind.
“Frail?” Hunter asked. “I hit a bit of a growth spurt.”
He realized that he’d used his old excuse. Shaking his head, he corrected himself.
“Actually, that’s not entirely true,” Hunter said, glancing around. This wasn’t something that he’d wanted everyone to know yet. The few Guardsman, navy officers, and admin staff who were already present and preparing for the event were out of earshot. He pulled Syler further to a corner, which was unoccupied.
“What’s going on, sir?” Syler asked, lowering his voice.
“It’s a bit of a secret. Aera and Trey know, and I’m sure a couple of others have either figured it out or have an idea or two about my growth. But until it’s officially declared, I want you to keep this to yourself. That’s an order.”
Syler nodded.
“Before he died, my father discovered a way to speed up his affinity growth.”
The Guard Captain’s eyes widened, but he remained silent and waited for Hunter to continue.
“After being hospitalized by a psychopathic Visgold, I decided it was time to take a risk and try the method out for myself. When you and I first met, my AR was at 5. Since then, I’ve surpassed Aera by a large margin.”
“That’s incredible,” Syler said. “What’s your AR now, if you don’t mind me asking, sir?”
“81,” Hunter said. It had risen a single point in the time since the Peacekeeper assault, “I estimate that I’m around the 4th phase of Foundation Establishment, by Sabletown’s metric.”
It was an educated guess. The later phases demanded continuous monitoring of one’s etheric channels. Etherium then had to be circulated constantly once the channels reached sufficient temperance, a word implying flexibility and resilience, according to the manual. It was a strange word, since the channels were more like magnets than they were veins.
He could analyze the comparison endlessly, but knew that the data he desired alrady existed somewhere. Smart men and women apparently explored all the answers to his questions for thousands of years, to an extent that might continue to astound him, or so he hoped.
Hunter hadn’t quite reached the phase where he was constantly and consciously circulating etherium through his channels yet. But it was great to know what the next step would be.
“How many phases are there?” Syler asked.
“It depends on the explanation, but there are 7 practical phases, although we could merge the first three—”
The door to the meeting-room-turned-banquet-hall opened. Trey entered with the General Marko, Admiral Bellinger, and a host of other staff and high-level officers.
“I’ll have to continue this some other time. What’s the ETA on getting a working method?” Syler asked.
Hunter shrugged.
“Best guess? We negotiate a deal with Sabletown and get access to their expertise within a few weeks. But for a proprietary, in-house method? It could take months. Who knows?”
“Well, I’ll take what I can get. Did you see the footage of the Sabletown mayor?”
Hunter nodded.
“We can’t compete as we are. Our only advantage is our industrial capacity, which is vulnerable in the face of a potential threat like the mayor.”
Calling June a potential threat was understandable, given the Guard Captain’s career path. But Hunter still felt June was worth lending the benefit of the doubt.
Before he could comment, Trey called him over.
“How’s research going, young man?” Trey asked, clapping Hunter on the shoulder with a genuine smile. He caught Aera’s eyes as she mingled with the other delegates, and she gave him a friendly nod. They’d catch up a bit later.
“Slowly, but surely,” Hunter said.
“Good. I’m glad to see you and Syler have been catching up. I’ve another surprise for you. He should be here somewhere—ah, there he is. Lieutenant?” Trey called.
Hunter hadn’t recognized the man at first. Lieutenant Guardsman Richard Pellar had cleaned up for the gathering. He wore a black ceremonial Guardsman jacket, medals lined the jacket above his heart.
“Sir,” the Lieutenant saluted Hunter, Trey, and Syler. Hunter smiled and offered his hand for Richard to shake. The gesture, which Hunter ascribed to the very public setting, caught him off guard.
“How’s the team, Richard?” Hunter asked. He was ashamed that he hadn’t taken the time to check up on the rest. He even missed Jeren’s incessant colour commentary.
“Everyone’s doing well. They disbanded and reassigned the squad throughout the colony. Joe was injured during a boarding action during the Peacekeeper assault, but we talked the other day and he’s recovering well. Bella and Jeren have been guarding a research team assigned to the Lake Striptea — ah, I mean,” he paused, glancing at Trey and Sly. “The A-Class lake. The water that the A-Class lived in has some beneficial properties.”
“Someday I’d like to go back to that lake,” Hunter told Trey. “If we can clear out the cave network, it would be an amazing place to declare as a national park, or something. The view from the cave is incredible. And the etheric effect stemming from the lake itself is extraordinary.”
“Maybe we’ll visit it sometime. We’re keeping this on the confidential list, by the way. The Lake is well within our the borders proposed in our discussions with Sabletown. I don’t foresee us losing exclusive access to it, and I don’t want to give June a reason to covet it.”
“Sir,” both Syler and the Lieutenant said, having just received an order from the highest source of authority. Hunter merely nodded as he allowed himself to be pulled back to his thoughts.
A presence descended upon the banquet hall. It was glorious, like a sword piercing the sky, reflecting the sun. All eyes in the hall sought to behold its source — a bald-headed man, seeming somewhat embarrassed as he bowed with an awkward smile.