After half an hour, Jay and Arthas finally arrived at the neighborhood of the house in the southernmost part of the city.

"It's good that there's no traffic, sir. Otherwise, it might have taken us about an hour to get here."

Jay wasn't used to traveling within the city unimpeded, considering the sheer number of vehicles on the roads almost the entire day.

"Well, that's one reason why we chose this shift."

Arthas spoke while looking for a good parking spot along the road in front of the house.

Fortunately, it was a sparse rural neighborhood with plenty of apparent space and a lack of competition.

"Is your team already inside, sir? What should I say to them later?"

Jay was a little tense that he might have to face more people of Mr. Arthas' caliber.

It was never comfortable for anyone to hang out with a crowd far from their likeness.

"Them? Oh, I haven't told you that most teams in our organization only consist of two members.

One is specialized in reconnaissance or divination and the other in combat or relocation. I am the former."

It seemed like Mr. Arthas' mood had already improved from the earlier conversation about transcendents, seeing that he was speaking about ascendant matters again.

"Oh, alright, sir. Hmm. I understand the logic behind the configuration, but it seems too small for a monumental task such as monitoring an entire city, especially one as large as ours."

Jay thought the team members should have near-godlike abilities to monitor an entire city in real time.

Or they have significantly narrowed down their observation areas to several locations and utilized rotations.

Either way, such a team could use a few more members at least.

"Well, ascendants with suitable abilities are far and few between, much less those with the right mindset, hence the personnel shortage. Also, we can't monitor the city in its entirety. Not even close.

If we could do that, we would already be beyond transcendent, giving us no reason to work as observers in the first place.

There are a few areas that we focus on, but we still look out for strong metaphysical fluctuations from everywhere in the city. If we sensed one, we would try to focus on it on a case-to-case basis."

"Even so, you're still very powerful, sir. The thought of sensing metaphysical fluctuations from everywhere in the entire city, even from far away, seems like a dream for me."

Jay couldn't even imagine how long it would take him to reach this level, considering his current rate of improvement.

"Haha. You're giving us too much credit. We have specified tools to assist us in this task, courtesy of the organization.

Although I said earlier that we shouldn't rely too much on tools for our safety, they are still helpful if handled with caution, even reverence."

"Reverence, sir?"

"Yes. Reverence. Respect their abilities and the assistance they provide you, but always keep a sense of distance and awe at the same time.

You don't want to reach the point where you subconsciously think they are part of your power. They are external help, and they always will be. They can be taken from you anytime.

The artifacts themselves could even take over you if you're not careful."

Arthas had a solemn look as he spoke while passing bags to Jay from the back of the pickup truck.

"What? Are they alive, sir?"

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Jay couldn't help but tense up because of Mr. Arthas' solemn delivery and ominous words.

"In a way, yes. Thoughts and emotions are deeply embedded in every object in varying concentrations, often negligible.

This is especially pronounced for metaphysical articles such as artifacts and potions. They are often contaminated with trace amounts of thoughts and emotions from their maker, the materials, or even the environment.

Frequent unregulated use of even the 'purest' of articles would gradually taint the user's psyche unnoticeably. If you're not careful, you might become a chaotic amalgamation of thoughts with no sense of self, which is a potent source of mental pollution."

"How do you address that kind of problem, sir?"

Jay could only scrap the thought of hoarding metaphysical articles in the future.

Although, this was a good thing in itself. It meant the gap between neophytes and veterans wasn't hopelessly wide, albeit only regarding metaphysical resources.

"As long as you are aware of the problem, simple self-suggestion will suffice, albeit the difficulty is having awareness in the first place.

There are metaphysical methods such as hypnotism and purification, but they introduce another instance of risks on their own. Frequent self-reflection is one way, though it's far from enough.

I know it's not your cup of tea, but you should interact with people more. The onlooker sees more of the game. Other people often notice subtle changes in your mentality that you can't sense yourself."

"Alright, sir. I'll keep that in mind."

Jay wasn't a social reject by any chance.

Although he preferred to keep to himself, he had no problem maintaining a decent social presence.

He could readily count on others to tell him if he acted strangely.

"Well, that's enough for now. Let's go inside, shall we?"

They were already standing at the door after retrieving some supplies from the back of the pickup truck.

-

Bare. That was Jay's first impression of the house.

Although it looked like a typical inhabited house from the outside, with curtains adorning the glass windows and whatnot, the inside was almost empty, save for some basic furniture like chairs.

"Empty, right? Well, there's always a chance that a confrontation might happen here, so it's better to keep it as bare as possible.

Follow me to the back. My partner is waiting there."

There was a small in-ground pool at the back with a table and a few chairs at the side.

A bald, middle-aged man was sitting on a chair facing the pool, fiddling with his phone.

"It's about time. Oh, is that the promising young friend you were talking about before?"

The bald man greeted his friend and noticed a young man at the back.

"Yes, he is."

Mr. Arthas just nodded and replied curtly while putting down a bag of supplies.

Jay took over the conversation when he saw the bald man looking over with a smile.

"Hello, sir. I'm Jay Cruz, Mr. Arthas' new student. Pleased to meet your acquaintance."

"Likewise, young man. I'm old man Arthas' teammate, Vergil Gil.

Oh, I know that expression. Yeah, I have the same name as a game character. I've been told that many times already.

But I assure you it's only a coincidence, considering I was already busting balls when the game's creators were still in their fathers’."

Both of them shared the same names as video game villains, which Jay hoped wasn't an omen of sorts.

"Don't let this man's vulgarity rub off on you, young man."

Arthas jokingly warned Jay while setting up something in the middle of the table.

Unwilling to comment about a senior in front of them, even in jest, Jay swiftly found another relevant matter to speak about.

"Umm. What are you setting up, sir? It looks like a crystal ball, like the one fortune-tellers in movies use."

"Ah, yes. This is a standard-issue multi-purpose Amplification Orb.

As the name suggests, it amplifies ability output, albeit with a significant, non-linear increase in energy consumption. In essence, we are trading an unfair amount of energy for a reasonable increase in performance.

Fortunately, the burden isn't only ours to bear. The organization has also set up an energy convergence array to assist with its usage."

"But won’t it make this place conspicuous, sir?"

Jay had shallow knowledge of metaphysics, but common sense dictates that any form of convergence was bound to attract attention.

"It will, but not by much. The world is lively with ambient metaphysical fluctuations here and there, either from the environment or other ascendants, which somehow help cover up the situation here.

Also, even if it attracts malice from others, immediate retaliation from afar would follow should they attempt to poke around. Higher-ranking members leave their own forms of insurance at important locations.

And finally, as another layer of insurance, the two of us are not exactly weak by any means."

By this time, Arthas had finished setting up the artifact.

Not long after, the still pool waters began to fluctuate, gradually showing an overhead view of a place somewhere in the city, replaced with sights of different locations after short intervals.

Jay forgot to ask follow-up questions as he stared blankly at the still pool waters, which resembled a movie theater screen.

This was the first time he had witnessed a metaphysical phenomenon in a visually striking manner.

So far, his experience with metaphysics had always been abstract, which was why this moment truly caught him off-guard.

"It's marvelous, isn't it? Too bad this geezer refuses to use it for peeking into toilets and dressing rooms."

Vergil made snide remarks about his partner, waking up Jay from his reverie.

"If you want trouble, do it without me."

"I would if I could. Too bad my specialty lies elsewhere."

Jay couldn't join in their banter, even though he would like to.

The wide generational gap and the short period of acquaintance between them were there, at least for now.

"Alright, save your chatter for later. I'm taking this young man on his first exposure to the world of descendants. Don't mess things up."

"Well, if you insist."

Vergil then turned to Jay.

"Listen carefully to this geezer. He might come off as somewhat stern, but he's an effective teacher. I can vouch for that."

"Thank you for the praise. Haven't heard that in a while."

Arthas addressed his rowdy friend before turning his attention towards Jay.

"Come closer, young man. I'll show you a glimpse of the true world behind the veil of the ordinary."