After finishing a 1-hour awareness division training session, Rune thought about how he wanted to be here, but also not here.
“Sigh… My next adventure is so far away…”
Lamenting a bit as he kept feeding his energy to his cosmic mist sphere, he knew he could just fill 8 mastery slots with what he needed, but he wasn’t stupid enough to do it.
He wouldn’t be able to keep at peace with himself if he did that, and missing so many stats would block him in terms of how far he could go compared to his previous limit.
“And where would I go anyway… The hole tunnel? It would be a hell of an adventure if I truly went there, 100% something interesting happening. The white zone? It’s true that this zone is the energy compression paradise…”
Thinking and musing aloud in the sphere of mist felt really cool for him.
After anticipating and fantasizing for a few minutes, he got back to doing something he liked, creating intent and finding ways to interweave them while making them more intense and deeper.
Playing with his latest iteration of intent cocktail gathering 3 different intents, he was in a “deeper stronger phase”, meaning he didn’t search to add another intent, he only wanted to strengthen what was already present.
By splitting the end goal into smaller sub-goals, he was able to keep pushing as if there were no roadblocks.
For Rune, in 2 weeks, he came to really understand that intent was something that resonated with him more than other things.
It felt really strange as he already manipulated artificial intents via colors for a pretty long time, but never felt it was something he excelled at.
‘Deeper, this one needs to be deeper, this way it can cover more of the interfering intent without uncovering the blinding…’
Simple observations led him to know what was right and shouldn’t be touched, as well as things he knew could be increased, and the way each intent interacted.
‘I’m at least 80% of the way to suppressing even my own perception, only a few more days and I’ll reach it.’
*Ding* Energy: Specialized Cosmic Mist Element reached Tier 1 Level 32
He was so focused on reaching this stage that he ignored the levels he was gaining.
And like this, 5 days later, as the 500 meters wide circle area started to fill with cosmic mist close to the border, Rune felt something happen in the cosmic mist sphere in front of him after infusing it with his latest intent cocktail.
‘Spiritual perception extinction stage reached.’
Allowing this sphere to disperse, his spiritual perception of his surroundings started to dim, and a few minutes later, it went black, completely black.
Of course, his perception of what happened beyond the sphere of mist remained clear, accomplishing something like that was going to be the 3rd stage.
‘2nd stage, physical sense total absorption. Where should I start this one, what reinforces the nebula property the best?’
1st stage, spiritual perception extinction.
2nd stage, physical sense extinction by absorption.
3rd stage, spiritual sense total absorption.
4th stage, chaos interferences, total chaos.
Those were the stages Rune thought of when he visualized what he wanted his element to do. They weren’t classified, neither stage was harder than the other, but their priority was different for him.
With those 4 stages differentiated, he had very precise goals to achieve before moving on, sub-differentiating each of those stages was the method he found to progress, in his opinion, very quickly.
As he started his first steps in this second stage, however, his perception sphere, extending to 7 777 meters, informed him that someone was coming.
And it was someone he didn’t know.
…
‘Is he really here?’
Hosirha Sirmons had a recruitment test mission to do. It was personally given to him by Aengus Finley in the greatest secrecy, as could be expected of one of the directors of the Cell, the secret organization that was recently hastily formed for a reason not yet unveiled, even to him.
Having worked as a government's secret agent, a spy, for 50 years before the Ether Law changed everything, he became part of a training program aiming to make his previous abilities actualized in the new era. He succeeded.
‘Personality, introverted artist class-4. Character traits, silent, open-minded, pacifist, loyal. Education, ancient era exploration engineer, average results. Judiciary case, none. Familial situation, regular-6, no complication.’
Used to check the identity of the person he had to enter in contact with, he easily remembered everything that was written on Rune Tudor’s administrative and military-level datasheet.
‘Will he really enter the terror unit? Doesn’t seem likely from what I understand, but I’ll try my best if he’s responsible for this bubble of mist.’
Arriving at the land rented by the Undecided adventurer group, he didn’t hesitate to plainly show his face, violence was an impossible conclusion in his mind.
When he approached the bubble, a reaction he hadn't had in a long-time happened, his brain saw something that his perception didn’t.
His test-target Rune Tudor exited the bubble of mist with a few more steps and he finally appeared in his perception, he didn’t show any aggression, just some wariness, as Hosirha expected from a pacifist.
“Hello?”
‘Well, looks like he’s truly my target, minor social anxiety and awkwardness, swept away and hidden by experience.’
“Greetings Mr. Tudor, I’m named Hosirha Sirmons, as for the reason why I’m here, it’s due to someone requesting a test to be performed on you. Do you accept to undergo this test, with me as a witness?”
Not giving too much information was always a good move for him, his way of telling the situation was something he learned through years, and he was confident in it.
“Can you tell me the name of the person who requested it?” He asked back almost immediately.
‘Straight to the point, that’s a plus, and it doesn’t look like he realized the test already started.’
“I can’t tell you the name, but it’s someone you had multiple interactions with, and you got something out of all of them. Can you guess who?”
“Huuu… I’m not really good at remembering names, is it Mr. Finley? It’s really the only person who looks like someone important I… That I ever encountered in fact, hehehe. If it’s one of my friends then it’s a good joke.”
‘Tries to use humor to not make the other awkward, has a good deduction and good logical senses, and I don’t think having difficulty remembering names is really a criteria?’
“You guessed right, it’s Mr. Finley, so? Do you want to perform the test?”
“Yeah, why not.”
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‘Straight to the point and doesn’t ask too many questions, but maybe it’s just that the situation isn’t making curiosity rise up?’
“Ok then, the only thing I need to test is your ability to use your cosmic element, we’ll not fight, but I need to know how much you can push your anti-perception abilities.”
“Well, that’s just perfect, this place will be open in not long, so feel free to enter this… Hu… Cosmic mist dome? I don’t know what they planned to call each changed area, it’ll probably be a different name the next time you come if you ever come again.”
Gesturing, Rune invited Hosirha into the mist bubble which his perception couldn’t see at all, it wasn’t empty space, it just was there but not there, it was like he could conclude it was a forest, but he only did due to the forest outside the bubble.
“I’ll be happy to oblige. What can you tell me about your growth in the few weeks following the acquisition of your composite element mastery?”
“For uninitiated, or maybe even the majority of the initiated, it’d be hard to see it, but using intent to artificially reinforce an aspect of an element is something known. It’s just that doing it through the use of a second specialization masteries is a lot more efficient. And of course, as you can guess, I use complex intents to refine my element,” Rune happily shared what he was doing with a big smile.
“And why are you doing it? Is your composite element only a side project?”
“It’s mainly to actively train my minor and grand manipulation, as well as train my perception control, and secondly to save mastery slots. My soul specialty is perception-based, and it’s really suitable to pierce through anything, so I planned to use it to create an element that’d allow me to escape even a son of a lizard peak tier 4 speedster bird, rounding 3 masteries and maybe reaching beyond in some in a few hundred years.”
“It definitely sounds like a good plan from my point of view. Is it normal for us to still be able to talk like this in the middle of your element?”
Rune turned his head to look directly at his tester as he continued to walk towards the center.
“If it’s only the basic element, then yes, its degree of anti-perception depends on my grand manipulation, a bit of my fine manipulation, and a bit of energy purity. If it’s for my refined version then no, but I only focused on perception-extinction-related intents until some hours ago, I just started refining the physical sense absorption necessary intents, so the first results will only appear in some days.”
“That’s fascinating, will it bother you if I observe your progress for a few days? You’ll have a discussion partner in addition to proving you can refine your element very quickly, and once you show me, you’ll complete the test easily.”
‘And after you complete it, you just have to go see Mr. Finley and say yes to integrate the terror unit. If we had this element, our first operation would be a lot more apt to succeed…’
Suspecting nothing and taking the situation for one of those “random things that happen in your life”, Rune agreed.
…
Coincidentally, 3 days after Hosirha arrived, the mist dome was completed.
An entire circle of 500 meters was completely covered in revolving grey-white mist with specks of shining white and empty-black wandering about.
Different from 2 days prior, the grey-white color had darkened a bit. It was the result of Rune increasing the element’s ability to absorb all the signals that used the physical side to be transmitted.
Now, when the two persons inhabiting the center of the dome wanted to talk, they had to not be more than 5 meters apart, or only a dull sound would reach the other’s ears.
This phenomenon’s intensity only changed when they distanced themselves from the center, at the border, the distance was increased to 30 meters, a still very remarkable result.
“Well, I think I saw enough Mr. Tudor, if it was only up to me, you’d easily pass the test. After I report, you’ll be convoked by the person you guessed to have given me this mission. I really hope your answer will be positive. With that, goodbye.”
The charismatic human that had joined him for 2 days finally decided to go, and Rune would certainly not say no to this decision.
“Goodbye to you Mr. Sirmons, I hope we’ll see each other in the future, and while I can’t say the meeting’s issue with Mr. Finley will end up with a positive answer, I would never refuse a funny, serious, or important demand,” with no idea of all the implications his new friend was implying, he acknowledged.
“In this case,” Rune heard some distant words as his interlocutor was leaving, “I don't have to worry.”
A few seconds later he appeared again outside the mist dome, then a minute later he exited his perception sphere.
‘How does someone learn to talk and act like that? Is he a diplomat or public speaker by profession?’
As his friends often told him, he had a tendency to ignore things he didn’t want to think about, and didn’t think deeply enough when it came to social interactions, so for him, what just happened was only something to one day tell the tale and stop thinking about until then.
…
‘The logistics associated with this test is very fast…’
5 days after Hosirha departed, he received a convocation form from Olivia, his first support he only contacted monthly to maintain a friendly relationship.
[Olivia: Today 3:00 PM, short-notice official convocation from my superior to you, it’s for an interview-type session and you need to arrive before this time, see you]
In 5 days, as he didn’t need to fill the mist dome permanently anymore, he went back to the capital 2 times, one for a festival and to reunite with his friends, and another one to go to the Secluded Corner alone.
He really liked this place.
Bringing up the time in a corner of his connected lenses’ vision field, he realized he only had 4 hours before the deadline.
‘Is this another test? Creating my most hated enemy, a deadline?’
Not bothered by it that much, Rune took his time and departed 2 hours later.
Running at full speed in the still virgin forest was a feeling he never got fed up with, his long period of combat inactivity truly led him to think fighting was an activity that belonged to his hobby.
Not desiring to think about this further, he just kept a steady rhythm of 300 meters per second or 90% of his maximum 330 meters per second strength-based speed.
In one hour and a half, he went from a forest to a plain, then from a plain to a crates wasteland, and finally from a crates wasteland to the capital construction site. The number of hints indicating it was still a construction site was too much to ignore.
Arriving 30 minutes earlier at the Adventurer’s Society HQ, he simply contacted Olivia and they met together at the entrance.
“Hello Rune, how are you doing? Come with me please, I’ll escort you,” still professional, Olivia greeted him while accomplishing her directives.
“Yo Olivia, everything’s fine, nothing extraordinary to tell you, did you have the time to visit the restaurants I sent you?” Following behind her naturally, he started a discussion.
“Some of them, yeah, but 80 must-go is a bit too much and lately we’re getting paid a lot more for each hour of work so I don’t go out often.”
“Too many people to manage? Aren’t you part of the support department? Why is the massive influx of people in any way linked to you?” Rune asked, he knew what Olivia’s job was, and what she said didn’t seem to stick with what he thought it was about.
“I’m still in the support department, I’m still assuming my work there, but! There are secondary assignments that can be taken to help the administration, and it’s so well paid that I’m sort of in a crunch period, but it’ll probably abate by the time the prospects finding event starts.”
“Ah… Money, money, my group also wants lots of money! We’ll soon open a training park, the demographic target is adventurers and people who want to experience chaotic and unusual environments. If you’re interested, just search for “Undecided Training Park” and you’ll find it on the web,” Rune advertised their project a bit in good humor.
Discussing like that, they reached a waiting room where they separated. She really acted like it was a crunch period and couldn’t lose time.
‘Well, what was I expecting from the HQ? Of course, their perception-blocking measures are better than other places…’
From the moment he arrived, his perception sphere was completely blocked everywhere, every room, every floor.
‘Practicing my perception intrusion ability is pretty far down my priority list, I’ll only begin after I complete my 4 stages, only then will it be a really efficient mutual training method of my intent cocktail fighting my perception.’
With only waiting to do, he entertained himself for 20 minutes before someone entered, someone he knew.
“Yo Orobas,” he greeted the rululu receptionist who had tested he was a true tier 3 back then.
“Hello Rune, it’s been a long time since we last saw in person, I greatly appreciated your restaurant's list, I experienced some bad surprises with dubious sites before so I know how to enjoy such luxury,” the smiling Orobas responded in kind.
“So? Here to take me to see Mr. Finley? Or you’re just hanging around and came to see me after you heard I was here? You’re also in a crunch period?”
“Hahaha! Crunch period! It sure looks like one, it was Olivia who said that? I’ll use it against her when I see her again later. And of course, I came to escort you, here, follow me,” good-naturedly replying, he made the discussion flow like water and gestured to him to follow.
“I don’t know why you were summoned, but if it’s for a personal interview with Mr. Finley, it’s probably something relatively important. To my knowledge, you’re the first to have been summoned like that.”
“What can I say? I’m a genius and someone finally discovered it, now I have to take charge and save the world.”
“Oh, really? I heard something about you taking more than 8 months to-”
“It’s pure defamation! Tell me the name of the one who said such a slanderous thing now! It’s not 8 months! It’s closer to 9!”
“Hehehe, oh, that was a good answer, I’ll transmit it personally with all the indignity you transmitted me, I swear it on my honor.”
Like that, the Rune-Orobas duo reached the door to an office, and after Orobas knocked on it the old-fashioned way, it opened.
“Enter Rune, I’ll be on my way, bye, or maybe later if I’m charged with escorting you back,” Orobas accomplished his job and departed.
Stepping through, Rune was welcomed by, not a futuristic room full of technological things, not a rustic room with a wooden desk and wooden shelves, but an office room.
A simply decorated office room with a large one-way window, a large metal desk, some tables with stuff on them, and a comfy-looking chair.
And on that chair, Aengus Finley, who preferred to be called Mr. Finley, the old rululu who did his IGS moralities course when he became tier 3 and told him some inside news about the culture department, was working with 3 screens before him.
“Hello Mr. Tudor, please sit, I’m wrapping up my side and I’ll be all to you,” the confidence and demeanor of an old rululu was something Rune hadn’t experienced in a long time.