"Nice to meet you, Seeker Fria-al Delass Brhant."

"You are?"

"A recruiter from the Rozast looking for talented harvesters.”

“What kind of talents could possibly be found in this village that you have come so far?"

"A few days prior I came to know about a Harvester named Inero-ie. He procures most of his equipment from this place, I was hoping to acquire some information about the harvester."

“And why should I–”

A medallion stops Fria-al mid-speech. Qi rushed into her eyes.

‘Interesting…’

“Are you really just a recruiter?”

“Just a servant.”

“Hoh, just a servant… So what sort of job will he be undertaking? As his guardian, I will only accept if the job is safe enough.”

“Outside is considered safe?”

Questioned the recruiter, head tilting.

Fria-al scowled at bad memories that started floating up. Becoming a Seeker had been easier than getting that stubborn kid to acknowledge her as his guardian.

"I have no say in that, unfortunately."

Her mood worsened remembering the condition he had been brought back in this time.

“A guard. One with exceptional combat experience and talent. If Harvester Inero-ie accepts, he will be invited to the capital along with other recruits where the final selection will occur.”

'Searching even such a faraway place all for a guard…then they should be searching through the other settlements too.'

“Who is being guarded that so many resources are being used?”

“That is of no concern to you.”

"It certainly is… hmmm…there are not many… and to search even village level settlements… Is it–"

A presence. It was hidden, only a small wisp of pressure, but it forced her to pause. It made her more curious about this sudden development.

‘May I can use it…’

“Just scholarly curiosity.”

“Seeker Brhant, curiosity killed the cat.”

“Okay okay… As an apology, I will help you but be warned he is very stubborn. You will need something to entice him."

"That should be easy."

"Hahaha… we will see. Come on in."

A small space with a high ceiling. The interior design did a good job of making this narrow space seem somewhat large. Taking off her temperature harmonization bracelet, she invited the recruiter to sit on the sofa.

Seated face-to-face, the recruiter started the conversation while Fria-al scrutinized each and every gesture, from the movement of his limbs to the shifting of his eyes to the changes in his expression.

“His primary duty will be guarding the assigned member of our great family, protecting them from any harm that may come their way. He will be alongside them wherever they might go."

“'Assigned member'? Why not just use her or… would highness be more appropriate, my Lord?"

“You have the audacity to act like that despite knowing who I was?”

Frial-al smiled.

“Why did you act like that but then show that medallion?”

“Sigh… Anyway, this will be an exceptional opportunity for the Harvester Inero-ie.”

"Will he be with her Highness even if she goes outside?"

“Especially then.”

“What will be the frequency of the visits to the outside?”

“Very rare.”

"Excellent. Now there is one problem in getting him to agree. He is obsessed with the outside. Tens of cycles and I still haven't been able to reduce his expedition."

“What do you mean by obsessed?”

“Was it not strange how little time he spent in the settlement, always leaving as soon as it was possible?”

She asked while presenting the esteemed guest with what little she could provide. Meaning not much other than nutritional biscuits and some green tea.

“I acquired this almost five cycles ago. I had hoped to share it with Inero-ie but here you go.”

The tea was very very expensive.

“If you have saved it for him then no need to bring it out.”

“After the amount of worry he gave me this time, no, you drink it.”

“You have guts, Seeker Brhant. It was a curious thing but so were many others, like how little is known about him.”

“So tell me, what can you offer? I will see if it will entice him.”

***

Lengthening, and crawling, the Qi strings very slowly increased in size and number, filling the pod and slowly edging toward its inner borders.

‘....S..lo..w…’

The progress was painfully slow and his control over the Qi had started worsening. As his control worsened so did his ability to maintain the threads. It was unfamiliar, being this helpless in something that had become second nature.

With the threads destabilizing, he was again stuck in a void, there was no sense of touch, nothing that he could smell, void of any noise.

An intense feeling of discomfort gripped his muddled mind and a torment filled the void he was trapped in. He searched for the cause but the pain spiked to even higher levels making it difficult to even think.

A sudden ease as the pain quickly lowered and then he was unconscious.

***

A massive building, its top touching the ceiling, spread across a massive area. The headquarters of all harvesters in this settlement.

Medical Department.

Alarm!!

Alarm!!

Alarm!!

[Dr. Shedill, emergency at IRHP.]

Lightning quick, stepping out of her office, accelerating through a crowded corridor, a light gust the only indication of her passage. She reached the top floor. Moving quietly, her steps quick, she joined the stream of her juniors.

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“Situation?"

“Harvester Inero-ie. His core had started weakening, dangerously so."

"Current condition?"

"Stable for the moment."

"Will recovery be delayed?"

"Most likely not. The reports don't show any problem. We had jointly infused a stream of Life aspect Qi as soon as the alarm was triggered because the core instability was increasing too quickly."

"Did you find any reason?"

"There were only passive Qi signatures..”

"Though the reports did highlight that they had multiplied.”

"But that shouldn't result in the core almost exploding."

A chorus of voices informed the doctor who then asked.

"Current status?"

"Unconscious."

A narrow white hall, its walls filled with pods as far as the eyes could see. The group came to a stop in front of a pod. Filled with a green liquid, suspended inside the pod was a mutilated human body. Despite that, it was possible to see the regenerative effects of the pod.

He finally had some muscle mass, not like before when it looked more like a collection of bones than a living human. His condition had greatly stabilized, no longer on the edge of death.

"When will the regeneration start?"

"We had decided to delay that for a bit, is that ok senior?"

"You are all capable enough. If you have some problem call for me, otherwise do what you think is right."

"Yes, senior."

The group exclaimed quietly.

Doctor Shedill stared at Inero-ie, his eyes full of holes, most of his face missing, half of his chest still torn, his lower body nowhere to be seen. She turned away.

As she checked the reports, it was as her juniors had said, there was no problem.

"Do you understand why this problem occurred?"

All shook their heads. She did not expect them to know. All of them were new, just having finished their studies and it was also their first time dealing with such a severe case.

“Something to keep in consideration when dealing with any harvester, especially the older ones. They will usually have abilities that often only need a minuscule amount of Qi to operate, a necessity for the work they do, for us a problem, as occurred in this case.”

A pause to let it sink, to give them time to think.

"When they are brought back in conditions as bad this–,” She pointed at Inero-ie, “ they will react unpredictably upon regaining consciousness as happened just a moment before.”

Another pause.

"Why don't we lower the trigger condition?"

To which their senior replied.

"Think about it for a moment, you already know the answer."

Another pause and the group started thinking and discussing in hushed voices. One among them quickly went through the reports.

“The report only shows Qi readings of one category, passive consumptions. This implies that this harvester was capable of using that small amount of Qi but if we lower the trigger conditions to take this into account then there will be false alarms.”

"Excellent."

"But if usage was so small, why did the core weaken so abruptly?"

"This ultra-low Qi cost is balanced by a very high level of control required to weave a spell and an even great pressure experienced by the core.”

"What kind of ability did he use, Dr. Shedill?"

To the question asked by the youngest among them, the doctor answered.

“You will have to ask him that.”

Finished with her mini-lecture, the doctor conducted an in-depth examination of the reports, tweaking the settings of the pods to make the regeneration process more harmonious with the current condition of the patient.

“The core has not yet fully stabilized.”

Life aspect Qi streamed into the healing pod, empowered by her Dao and Law. A little at a time it entered Inero-ie’s body, heading toward the core. A buzz echoed in the quiet hall as the pod started working at full capacity to curb any adverse reaction from occurring.

Time passed and her Qi divided into individual cords that started warping around the core, weaving a structure that would offset some load off the core.

“Create an alert that will send me periodic reports.”

"Yes."

A quiet chorus agreed and then spread out while the doctor check other active pods.

***

Slam!

“No! Absolutely not! There should be another way!”

Knrama furrowed his brows at the behavior on display but continued nonetheless.

“If Harvester Inero-ie is as obsessed with the outside then the Frozen Sea will surely entice him and if there had been another way, you would have already found it.”

“Huuu… Maybe I was wrong about this…”

Though seemingly calm, her anger could not be hidden.

First had been the shock, then outrage filled her being.

‘How dare he suggest such a thing!’

How happy she had been on finding that he was alive, then the guilt of being so late when she had met him for the first time. Each time she saw Inero-ie, he looked less alive. She did not want her brother's sacrifice to be in vain. She wanted him to be alive and happy.

Inero-ie was neither.

Broken. That had been her impression upon their first meeting, an impression that kept solidifying each time he returned from his expeditions. What he did out there, she did not know but each time he returned, his condition would be worse.

“The only reason I am back in this detestable settlement is to somehow convince Inero-ie to stop his suicidal expeditions. That is the only reason…”

As a fighter she was useless but she had been an alchemist for years and then since coming here she had been learning and researching about the equipment used outside the settlement. Those were terrible days but she had pulled through and now she could create equipment that would protect him on her behalf.

A shudder ran through her body as the picture of the armor and helmet repeated through her mind.

‘He will agree if he knows that he will be getting a pass into a forbidden zone. He will die… most likely… I won’t allow that.’

Another spike of anger, followed by helplessness.

“I won’t allow that… the only reason I had in helping you was to ensure his safety. But what you are suggesting will only hasten his death. Surely you have looked at his past reports, each time he return in conditions worse than the last. If he gains access to a forbidden zone, I don’t think I will see him alive again.”

Knrama had remained quiet when she was getting her thoughts together and even when she had fired off a volley of sentences.

“Are you ready to listen further?”

“Fuuuu… okay. If what you purpose stops him from killing himself, I will help.”

"Humm… I can somewhat understand your concerns but what I suggested was bait.”

“How? I will warn you, he is not an idiot. His parents were both on the verge of gaining the status of Seekers all on their own and he had inherited their intellect.”

“Hum…. that will solve smoothen some problem. Only those that have performed 1st shedding and have re-reached Qi Gathering can gain access to the Frozen Sea. But he has not performed his first shedding.”

“Yes. He has been stuck on the Dao Sensing level for quite a few cycles.”

“We will use that to restrict his access with the guaranteed full access once he has performed the Shedding. If he accepts the job then he will not be free to leave as he is now. That way he will be spending more time in the settlement and you can use that time to your advantage.”

“Good but why are confident he will be selected?”

“Very high chances. Someone as talented and as experienced as him, not many become someone else's guards.”

"Even if that someone else is the princess of the great Mus-Draik family?"

"Yes. Seeker Fria-al, have you ever been to the outside?"

"Yes. I have often been to the Core Barrier accompanied by Inero-ie when I need to check certain things related to my studies."

"What do you think of that?"

"Terrifying and uninviting."

"The Core Barrier has the most hospital environment, the safest for humans. Even without the high beams installed to light it up, even more, it is possible to see clearly. Then what about the Mid Barrier?"

"It is considerably colder and its conditions harsher. The level of monsters found there are also greater. And the same with the Outer Barrier is even worse."

"An answer expected of someone learned but have you experienced that with your body? No, you most certainly did not and that is the difference. It is like asking what is so great about the title of Seeker.”

"So you are saying that Inero-ie is so amazing that if he participates in the selection he will certainly pass?"

"Yes so please try to get him to agree."

***

Alarm!!!

'Ahhh!!...... Where?'

He tried to manipulate the Qi but suddenly he fell asleep again.

***

23 days later.

"Dr. Shedill, he has been released from the healing pod."

"Good. Any abnormalities?"

"None, doctor."

"Good good. Lead the way."

Exiting from the ward they head towards the IRHPs.

"Report."

"Thank you."

Qi flowed into the memory stone and all the data appeared in her mind. She quickly read the report.

"Brat, you awake?"

"Wellll…. If you don't like me talking maybe I can extend the duration for which you cannot go outside. How about it?"

"What…want?"

It was strange, talking. The twisting of his tongue, the movement of his muscles, and the change in his lips, all felt strange. He tried to speak a few more words and as his mouth opened and closed, he had to wonder, 'Did I even talk?'

"Talk like a normal person or you are going to be in bigger trouble."