“So you really were 7 years old! What the penguin! What the flying mother of hell did your parents say when you told them you-”
“I didn’t tell them obviously… I was a grown and mature girl already back then, 7 years old for a rululu is completely fine,” the confident voice of Lounae reached Rune.
“Well, it’s pretty disturbing to realize you started to slaughter monsters en masse so early and you’re still pushing for more. Anyway, are you coming back for the prospects finding event?”
“I think I heard in the camp that nearly everyone will come back… I’m probably included.”
“Cool! As a fellow behemoth path user, I’ll take you to all the restaurants on the list I sent you, I also have a cute rululu friend I’ll introduce you-”
“If he’s not on the behemoth path, then it’s no. Probably too weak.”
“Sigh, really? What do they teach young rululu girls? You probably missed your prince charming course, I think once you encounter him you’ll find him to your taste, be it in terms of looks or fighting ability,” acting exasperated and ignoring how she had the habits of cutting him in the middle of his sentences, Rune innerly enjoyed this teasing.
It has been an entire week since he joined the terror unit, and with less than 3 months until the prospects finding event, he understood that even the expedition front would be coming back for it.
“Enjoy all the fights you can before coming back, I clearly didn’t enjoy them and now I’m itching for a challenge but no one has time for it, and my build isn’t even complete.”
“You’ll go back to the behemoth anyway… So I don’t care,” uncaring of his plight, Lounae continued to mercilessly attack everything he said.
“Well, that’s it, I just wanted to call you to make sure you were 7 years old when you started. If you’re interested, I encountered one that was 8 years old at that time and while she isn't a prospect, she has a very special job qualification.”
“I’m hanging up.”
“No… Because I’m the one hanging up!”
And Rune immediately hung up, to his utmost satisfaction.
Following this call, he went back to refining the 2nd stage of his intent, the attention to details necessary and the slightest signals that only he could understand were addicting.
He even stopped to consider his previous 10 hours elemental training session, which he kept for routine’s sake, a limiting factor.
In other words, having discovered one of his talents, he put all his mind into exploring it to its limits. And while he hoped it wasn’t the only one, if it really was the only one, he would still feel satisfied with only this one.
From his 1st stage obfuscating-blinding-interfering intent cocktail, he added the absorbing intent, the extinguishing intent, and the undisturbed intent.
With this mix, he already had everything he needed to complete the 2nd stage for the first time.
‘Though I don’t really have a solution to push that side further… Not like focusing all my awareness on one sense will change that much.’
Ignoring this slight problem, Rune was approaching the last few aspects he needed to incorporate before stopping to diversify his 6-intents cocktail and only deepening what was already there.
‘Why don’t you want to absorb the ground’s vibration more than that? I know it’s linked to more physical change than normal, but the right property is already there…’
Pondering on the last few issues, they didn't only involve resolving complex interactions with the others' already present intents, they also needed multiple intents answers to be optimal.
Trying different solutions, he stopped for a moment as he felt something wrong with his perception.
And it wasn’t the first time it happened.
Locating this wrongness took him 15 seconds, and as it was rushing at him, he quickly sent a message to Rei to tell him from when he detected him and then gave him his current localization.
He got an answer a few seconds later.
[Rei: B*tch!]
‘Yes child, release your anger, I’ll accept it and not answer, hehehe.’
Without Rune realizing it, a group of 5 people entered his life, and he found them all to be unique and worth being friends with.
‘If you reach me, I’ll offer you my restaurant list, and then I’ll openly tell you I already sent it to our officer.’
Making sure he had backed off, he returned to tinkering with his clockwork-level of complexity intent, knowing that like everything in the Ether Law, it was gradual.
…
One day, as Rune was nearing the completion of his 2nd stage intent, his large, some would say enormous, perception sphere allowed him to see 2 people rushing there.
It had been so long since he had seen them, and while he was sure they all kept the same close-friends relationship they all had before, the most important point was that… The Undecided were finally complete again with their return.
Knowing himself well, he knew he could totally ignore the imminent emotional reunion and say hello normally later, but he wanted to go and observe from closer than the mist dome, so he stood up and walked in the direction of the exit.
He just did it slowly enough that when he exited the dome, coincidentally Arik also exited at that time, they walked together in the direction of the entrance area.
Once past the entrance, it was an area smartly named “entrance area”, a place where hundreds of crates made the most complex structure ever, and in there, Utopia, Gar, and Adreana had already started to discuss with the returning sister-brother duo.
“Maybe we should sip cocktails here and see if our importance in the group is enough to attract them?” Arik wanted to do a prank.
“They don’t seem emotional enough, I expected something funnier to happen, let’s do it,” Rune agreed with the most ridiculous justification.
The two smiled as they prepared a big table and started taking barrels of infused juice, and started to drink them between themselves.
The reaction from the other side was slow at best, dumbfounded at best of the best, exactly what the asocial duo wanted.
“Look, everyone understood our importance. Or maybe it’s a tradition I correctly engraved in our group? Welcoming returning members with a barrel of infused juice…”
“Very appropriate for someone like you,” Arik grunted from the seat opposite to him.
“Well, I can confidently say it’s Adreana who gave me a barrel of energy-infused juice first. And it wasn’t even a quality one like what I gave each of you.”
As the entrance area wasn’t far from the mist dome, the group of 5 reached them fast and sat chaotically like it was their home and they were allowed to do anything.
“It’s been a while Rune and Arik, happy to know you didn’t change and even pushed deeper into your asociality,” Nelo the mellow guy hadn’t changed in the years he passed adventuring.
“Yo Rune, Yo Arik, thanks for the drink, really needed that, we didn’t stop at the capital so I’m still a wild girl,” Astryde directly compressed herself a glass and began to drink.
“Mmmh…” Arik grunted.
“Ok,” Rune nodded.
And then, as they planned, they acknowledged the other with an appreciative and noble nod and just started listening from the side.
‘What were the lyrics again? It really feels like I thought of that ages ago…’
Searching for the bits he remembered about this song he associated with what he felt when the Undecided first met all together in Utopia’s rented training tower.
‘Ah, that’s right… It was something like, let us stand together while we look for the light, if we gather up the pieces of our dreams, they will form a map to our destiny…'
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
(One Piece OP 5 "Kokoro no Chizu" - Studio Yuraki)
‘Let me see if it exists on this side… Ah, yes! Let me send it to everyone, who’s the artist? Kelly? Oh, never heard of her, let me listen to it again first.’
Confirming it was still the same, he sent it to everyone present here and smiled as they continued to discuss even when they were clearly playing the music.
“But the worst was when Nelo tried to snipe them! He did it for 5 hours before he exploded and started to rush at them!”
“I didn’t explode, I strategically decided that sniping them from 10 kilometers away was a bad move.”
“If I had a video, you wouldn’t be able to argue! Accept what I’m saying!”
“I’ll make sure to provide a camera to everyone here to make sure justice is served in the future.”
“The cameras we bought with Arik cost us more than an arm, really a scam!”
“If you want, I can give you an arm every minute!”
“Drink your baby juice and stop annoying me.”
“Hehehe, you’re lucky I don’t have any alcoholic drinks with me, I would put you under the table in two seconds!”
“I found a bar the other day that specializes in putting anyone under the table, I can give the address to you if you want…”
“He’s so dishonorable and stubborn he would destroy the energy taste before it took effect, I know him too well.”
“Even if I did, the result would be I put you under the table!”
Chaos reigned at the Undecided table, and if someone listened from the side, they would only be able to gather one useful tidbit of info every 10 sentences.
But everyone had a smile on their face, the current atmosphere was like a clone of the one they had back when they were tier 2 and pioneered the tier 3 jungle region transition.
As they planned long ago, everyone became a true adventurer on their own.
Some had more adventures than others, some had more difficulties than others, some made many new friends, some had seen their paths completely changed, but they all joined together again as tier 4.
An entire adventurer’s group of tier 4.
Broke tier 4 of course, but still, tier 4, and while when they made their plan, the part that came after the “Make lots of money” step was left empty, no one doubted it wasn’t because it was the end.
It was because they had too many choices.
…
3 weeks had passed since he joined the terror unit, and it was the limit they all agreed to, defining a separation between the preparation phase and the serious phase.
Already, Rune had completed his 2nd stage intent and, after passing by the fake shop, enhanced the photon-based signals blocking measures.
Arsen, the planner, and Miki, the emergency planner, had, with the support of Rhia, the hacker, done an extremely thorough infiltration plan with the best and worst-case scenarios including a way to block an emergency photon-based signal that they were sure existed.
They just couldn’t locate it.
Rei had often visited the mist dome and got used to completely dissipating in it, believing he couldn’t be seen. His second layer of personal spiritual stealth only served to enhance that point further.
Rune had to undergo a crash course on basic non-etheric stealth, which wasn’t like military training and consisted more of Hosirha continuing to talk about why opening doors was something to fear, as much if it was by someone unknown than if you were the one doing it.
Basics like not moving random objects, using perception to observe the makeup of a room, and looking for weird pieces that should be here but were hidden by perception blockers, analyzing a person’s demeanor, and deducting if he was wandering or going somewhere… Rune got everything.
Though remembering that everything was another subject.
Entering the “back shop”, Rune noticed he was the 3rd to arrive out of 5, Hosirha was only a supervising officer after all, so he wasn’t included, with Arsen and Miki already there, in a meeting room.
But they weren’t talking at all.
Once he arrived there, he similarly found a seat and remained silent, waiting for the only missing members, Rhia, the hacker, and Rei, the main actor.
5 minutes later, Rhia arrived, followed shortly by Rei, making the terror unit complete.
Once everyone was seated, Arsen started the first official meeting of the terror unit, a branch of the terror cell, which was a department of the Cell.
“Rune, make a slight veil of cosmic mist hover around, please. Rhia, check for unidentified devices in this room.”
Completely taking on his role as the planner, Arsen waited until their already secure fake shop was checked again and securitized again. Only after he concluded nothing was wrong did he truly start.
“The first and hopefully last attempt will take place tonight,” he dropped the bomb that everyone expected, “And now, let me explain our plan from the start again, no recording, only your memory of this meeting will leave this place.”
Then everyone received a stream request.
[Direct Streaming Link Request received from Arsen Glass. Accept? Refuse? Dismiss?]
After everyone agreed to it, a gigantic map of the capital city was displayed, with their current location and their objective highlighted.
“The initial plan is to have Miki, Rune, and Rei on the field, you’ll depart from this fake shop, and under the cover of Rune’s cosmic mist, make your way to the HQ through this itinerary.”
A very straight but sometimes very convoluted itinerary appeared on the map.
“Once at the HQ, you will escort Miki around as he will sense the inside of the HQ by making turns around it and not entering. During that time, Rune and Rei don’t have anything to do and must remain completely in the shadows, waiting for the mutual confirmation of both myself and Miki for which scenario we’re going for.”
The map switched to a 3D model of their target building, the Adventurer’s Society HQ, or simply HQ, on it, a particular window was emphasized, it was the window present in Aengus Finley’s office.
“While the probability of every condition to make a direct assault being fulfilled is slim, still prepare yourself for it, the direct assault scenario is the easier one as it just implies forcing our way in, neutralizing the target, and leaving before anyone realizes what’s happening.”
But the path leading to the target’s window from the exterior was still pointed out next.
“In case this scenario happens, replacing the window before departing is imperative, Rhia will block the signal from the broken window but additional security loops are certain to be present, so make sure you have the replacement window with you, as well as the replacement desk, never too prudent.”
After saying this, the 3D model of the HQ unfolded itself to let everyone see the extremely detailed, most likely to happen, scenario’s plan.
“After Miki ascertained a direct assault is impossible, you three will enter together under the cover of Rune’s cosmic mist, this location is the one that will allow Miki to have the most coverage, so wait at it for a few minutes and let Miki map out what’s happening above.”
Then, multiple itineraries appeared on the model.
“The moment the situation is ascertained, guard unit or not, or we’ll go through with it, or we’ll retreat. If we’re going for it, Miki must be positioned outside to be able to observe a bit and give the apparent movement he can conclude. And then begins the infiltration mission.”
3 paths were highlighted, one leading to the general stair, and two to secondary staff stairs.
“Now, let me explain the 3 main itineraries we prepared in further detail than before. Depending on the influx of adventurers, depending on the receptionist’s rotation, depending on the security patrols, we got everything, so Rune and Rei, the most likely stairs you’ll take is this one.”
A path leading to a stair Rune never used before became obvious.
“Receptionists are less susceptible to be sensitive to very close anti-perception measures, so you’ll have to follow them very closely to escape the first security measure, simple pressure plates.”
All over the 3 stairs going from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor, the steps became red.
“There are of course the usual micro-cameras, with all the different wavelengths, biometrics, and mechanical-detecting capabilities, but this is a hidden one, so make sure to not step onto the stair’s steps!”
He made a little pun, grinned for a second, then returned to his serious self.
“Once you get to the 2nd floor, you first have to find an entry point for Rhia, connect her to the internal network in multiple places to be sure, don’t worry about leaving those devices behind, they’re only temporary energy constructs she made for the occasion.”
On the 2nd floor map, dozens of internal network access points were pointed out.
“We’ll then proceed with one of our tens of possible entry points, with all the data provided by Rhia, and find Mr. Finley's position. We’ll also be able to find suspicious people that are possibly from the guard unit, and as they’ll have greater anomaly detection capabilities, you’ll be directly advised against encountering them.”
On the map, a single room was then stressed out.
“This is the target’s office, Rune will have to do lots of prep-works to isolate everything that’ll be happening around it, so here’s an overview of what you must make sure is blocked.”
Tens of shining points associated with names appeared around the target’s office.
“In addition to the usual everything-in-one camera and pressure plates at the entrance and exit, intrusion-special countermeasures like direct anomaly report, strident sound alarm signal, an emergency button wirelessly connected to the guard unit of the HQ, a wired photon signal hidden all around the room, a possible permanent guard overviewing his room through an internal network of perception intruders…”
What could be expected from a newly born behemoth of the IGS? It was something a lot of people wanted to know, and the answer was a lot easier to find than they expected.
“And the greatest problem we have to face, the adventurers themselves, if a tier 4 is visiting, Miki will make sure you know he’s here, but he won’t be able able to do much more, so after you ascertained all the risks, it’ll be time to start the neutralization job.”
The next instant, the whole 3D model became red.
“And now, or we hope fate is on our side, or we shape it. Naively thinking Mr. Finely, the temporary administrator of the Adventurer’s Society, who suddenly stopped working and communicating will not be seen is impossible to even conceive. So our duo must immediately prepare for an emergency escape through the window, but of course the best case scenario…”
A clear path leading back to the first floor was shown.
“You escape amidst the rampaging guard unit undetected through this path, it’s not the best, it’s not the fastest, but it has the most hidden places.”
And those hidden places were flagged.
“To ease your job, Miki and I will start our physical distraction job while Rhia will overload the parts and sensors belonging to a completely different path, you have to escape within 40 seconds, if not, the guard unit will not be our only problem as prospects will start to show up…”
Zooming out, the 3D model of the HQ became only a point of light amidst a gigantic city. It was the capital map again, with an itinerary.
“Last but not the least, the escape path, escorting the target back and making sure he doesn’t play any tricks, if Rune had to serve as a distraction, then Rei will have to take a bit more risk and accelerate.”
That was the plan.
‘Well, can’t say I’m not excited.’
Though the grin on Rune’s face already said it all.