"Welcome to Fort Dominion, Aodhán Brystion.” General Deaton began and smiled. “You might need to choose a code name soon if these kinds of activities persist.”
Aodhán nodded, and he continued. “Before we delve into the discussion, though, I would like to thank you for heeding the council’s call and being here today. We—
“I certainly hope you’re getting something substantial out of this.” Zero interjected, his gaze teasing yet searching as if trying to figure Aodhán out and determine his weaknesses.
“Leave the kid alone and stay out of his fucking business.” Geneva scowled, but her gaze was just as questioning, and Aodhán realized that this was the moment that determined if he was a goody two shoes hero or a money-grabbing, have-no-care mercenary.
Aodhán wasn’t sure he was the latter, but he certainly wasn’t the former either, so to be safe, he just nodded and said. “I’ll be getting something if I succeed.”
Rahim had briefed him on the deal principal Zatya had struck with the council on his behalf, and honestly, entering the black forest was a reward so great that Aodhán didn’t have the heart to negotiate for another reward. The problem now was that his reward wasn’t monetary. It hadn’t been an issue before, but with a fine of 400 platinum coins now hanging heavy around his neck, Aodhán needed money, and he needed it urgently.
It seemed quite shortsighted of him considering the vast benefits the Black Forest would offer him compared to a monetary reward, but Aodhán couldn’t help but feel that this debt was another shackle that the council wanted to use to tie him down.
He still had about six months, though, and perhaps now that he was here, maybe he could get one of the champions to hook him up with a well-paying gig for the duration of the mission. If he couldn’t get that, though, then he should at least get their contact information just in case. He could probably get Geneva’s easily, but perhaps he should be nicer to Artemis; after all, he was the one who could travel across the entire kingdom in a blink of an eye, or so Aodhán had heard. What was more emergency response than that?
“Can we focus?” General Deaton spoke, his voice cutting into Aodhán’s thoughts easily, and when they all turned their attention back to him, he sighed and continued. “As I was saying. We really do need your help. There are several individuals who have been able to identify the changeling, but they are all above the advanced class and can’t directly participate in the war. That is why we need you. There are several others like Captain Tyrus who have a skill or ability similar to your core sense, but they are either limited by range, tier, or just plain useless. We believe that with you working alongside these other individuals, we can identify the changeling soon and root them out before they can cause much more damage.”
“I understand.” Aodhán nodded, and General Deaton continued. “Now, we’ve been given a brief analysis of your abilities, but I would like you to introduce yourself and give us a better understanding of what you can do.”
Aodhán frowned. “Is that necessary for the purpose of the mission?”
“Not exactly.” Artemis responded with a curious expression. “However, it will give us a broader understanding of your strengths and help us oversee this mission better. In case it wasn’t obvious, we’ll be watching you.”
“Yeah, I got that.” Aodhán responded dryly, and Artemis scowled again.
Before he could respond, though, General Deaton spoke. “I have a meeting with the supreme in two hours. If we could cease these distractions, I would be very grateful.”
Aodhán stood up and exchanged a glance with Tyrus before speaking. “My name is Aodhán Ashoka-Brystion, and I’m a first-year student of the 5th academy. I consider myself a mid-to-long-range soldier with most of my skills geared towards offense. I can also defend myself and my team members without problem, but I’m terrible at support for now.” He considered his next words for a moment before uttering them. “As you all know, I have a spiritual opening, two seals, and a deep well of willpower as a result of my status as an inheritor. Lastly, I’m currently able to fight up five or six tiers, four if they have crossed the 2nd milestone.”
Geneva whistled appreciatively. ‘That’s quite a list. Impressive.”
Aodhán smiled, feeling a bit proud of himself, and it was obvious the other champions shared Geneva’s sentiment, even Artemis, who didn’t like him, shrugged and muttered. “Not bad. Not as good as me, but not bad.”
Tyrus, on the other hand, shifted awkwardly, burning in embarrassment. He could fight up two tiers, at most three if he was particularly enraged, so to hear that a boy half his age could fight 5-6 tiers up definitely made him feel inadequate.
When Aodhán sat back down, General Deaton nodded and said, “Thank you, Aodhán, that truly is an impressive list of feats. However, before giving you any details on the mission, we need to test your abilities first.”
“What does that mean?” Aodhán asked, and this time, it was Matharantha who responded, her voice raspy and ominous.
“It means your status, seals, and feats don’t matter if you can’t pass this test. You are a child after all, and we will not risk the life of a child just because the council says he is capable.”
“I’m not sure I understand.” Aodhán frowned, still a little confused, but Zero explained.
“What Matharantha is trying to say is that the changeling is a champion-ranked advanced awakened who has managed to evade everything the military has thrown at them so far, and regardless of your impressive advancement, you are still only an evolved awakened. How do we know you can even sense her core?”
Rather than take offense at their doubt, Aodhán smiled and said, “I can sense your core.”
Despite having expected this exact response, his words sent a ripple of shock across the whole table, except perhaps the general, who simply stared at him curiously.
“What exactly do you sense?” Zero asked after a moment of silence, and Aodhán prepared to push his core sense to the absolute limit. Usually. He never channeled his willpower when using core sense, as the barrage of information would be overwhelming, but this time Aodhán wasn’t trying to expand the range of his core sense but narrow it to a pinpoint focused on one person alone.
Immediately, he did so; the world dimmed, but Zero’s core blazed like a sun to his senses. The man’s core brimmed brightly with null essence, and even with his perception cranked up to the absolute maximum, Aodhán only got a little more information aside from Zero’s tier. The tier disparity was just too large for Aodhán to pick up anything of any particular importance, but he imagined all that would change when he eventually entered the advanced class.
Pulling his senses back from Zero’s core, Aodhán announced. “You are currently at the 86th, and from the way your core brims with null essence, I imagine it’s still settling from a recent advancement. I couldn’t gauge your willpower or sense your bloodline because of the disparity in class and tier, but from the brightness of your core, I can deduce that you have a sufficiently high spiritual cultivation. A spiritual force perhaps, and definitely more than a dozen seals. Your spiritual cultivation isn’t as high as Artemis’s, but I imagine you’ll have little to no problems ascending to the mythic tier.” He paused and smiled. “I may be wrong about that last part of course.”
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Zero stuttered, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to come to terms with how correct Aodhán had been.
“Is he right?” Artemis asked, unable to hide his pride at having a higher spiritual cultivation than Zero.
“He is.” Zero responded, still in shock. “I can’t believe you got all that just from staring at me for about three seconds.”
Aodhán shrugged and was about to respond that he had pushed his core sense to the absolute limit for that, but Artemis suddenly blurted out. “Do me next,” posturing in a way that suggested that he doubted Aodhán’s ability would even work on him, and he was right because the moment Aodhán channeled his willpower and focused on Artemis’s core, he was nearly blinded by its intensity.
Artemis’s core roiled turbulently with spatial essence. It was so dense and bright that the intensity of the spatial essence sent Aodhán’s head spinning. Sharp pain stabbed into his mind just like the time he had tried to see through the academy cloaking runes.
Aodhán only managed to hold on for a second before gasping and holding his head in pain, a reaction that definitely gave Artemis immense joy. Aodhán waited until the pain subsided before speaking. “You are at the 95th tier, and from how packed your core seems, you are very close to another advancement. From the intensity of your core, your spiritual cultivation is through the roof, much… much more than is expected. An intent—
“That’s enough. You can stop speaking now.” Artemis cut him off with a glare, and before anyone could ask him to do them next, Aodhán turned his attention to General Deaton, who was still staring at him curiously.
“So, did I pass your test?” he asked.
General Deaton nodded. “Excellently, Mr. Brystion. I take it your limit is the Mythic class?”
Aodhán nodded, and General Deaton continued. “I think we can all agree that you’re up to the task. Another bit of information I want to know, though, is your range. How wide can you expand your ability? How much area can it cover?”
Aodhán knew what General Deaton was doing. He was building a portfolio so as to better estimate his abilities in the future. It was standard procedure, but Aodhán would be foolish to not keep some part of his abilities secret.
“I’m not sure.” Aodhán responded. It was the truth too, because it had been a while since he had expanded his core sense to the absolute limit. “I cannot give you an exact value, he continued, but I can assure you that as long as the changeling isn’t above the advanced class, I can sense them.”
General Deaton seemed unsatisfied with his response, but rather than push the matter, he said, “Fine. Now, let’s discuss—
“Check my core.” Matharantha suddenly said, and General Deaton scowled at her. “Will you children stop cutting me off!”
Matharantha inclined her head in respect and apologized. “I’m sorry, general, but before we move on, I’d like to test something out.”
“Fine, but make it quick. The earlier we get Aodhán on the mission, the faster we catch the changeling and the more lives we save.”
Aodhán noticed that except for Geneva and the general, none of the other champions seemed particularly pumped to save any lives. He turned his attention to Matharantha, and when she gave him the go-ahead, Aodhán focused on her core and instantly regretted it.
There was no pain this time; instead, the world blurred, and rather than the reflection core Aodhán had expected to see, he found himself staring at his own core instead. Compared to that of the champions, his core almost seemed dull. It roiled with storm essence, but its center was calm, just like his understanding of {Eye of The Storm}. His willpower blazed brightly, no longer looking like a dense ball now that he was staring at it from a different angle; instead, it moved and roiled like a river of liquid flames surrounded by a host of wild and untamed flames.
Aodhán had never seen his core from this perspective before, and despite knowing that he had failed to sense Matharantha’s core, he took a moment to study his core from this angle before eventually pulling back his senses.
He found the champions staring curiously at him, and Tyrus explained. “You took an awfully long time this time around.”
“Three minutes.” Matharantha rasped. “What did you see?”
“My own core.” Aodhán replied honestly. “It seems I have found a limitation to my ability. Her reflection core somehow managed to reflect my ability, so instead of sensing her core, I sensed mine.”
“Do we need to test your ability against a change core to know if you’ll encounter the same problem?” General Deaton asked, but Aodhán shook his head. He had sensed Dylan’s core countless times. A change core shouldn’t give him any problem even if it belonged to a champion.
They discussed the matter for a few more minutes, but after assuring them that there truly was no need, General Deaton tapped the holographic screen beside him, and the image of a Sunstonian woman appeared on the screen. The woman had perfectly bland features, almost too bland that it was unnatural. Aodhán imagined he could walk past her without even noticing.
She had no visible bloodline manifestations, and even the rings that should have been around her irises were absent. The woman could have been mistaken for a sleeper if not for the mark of a blazing sun tattooed on her forehead, which marked her as a person of status in the church of Aeloria, the ascendant Sunstone worshipped.
“This is Seo-yeon, code named: Faceless, and she is the kingdom’s greatest headache at the moment. She isn’t the first changeling to come out of any kingdom, but she’s certainly the best. This champion has mastered the concept of change and twisted it so thoroughly that even the council of lords is concerned about what she might become after advancing into the mythic tier.”
“Apart from her excellent shapeshifting abilities, though, Seo-yeon is pretty weak. She has adequate offense and defense, but most of these just come from whatever creature she changes into. She has proven herself adept at camouflage and deception, capable of recreating and simulating the characters of people just by studying them for a few moments. In the past six weeks, we have lost three colonels, half a dozen lieutenant colonels, and dozens of majors.”
Aodhán frowned at the blatant loss of life, and General Deaton nodded in understanding. “It has been a terrible few weeks within the sector. We have tightened security, improved checkpoint protocols, and scanned each soldier, but there’s only so much we can do when our target could either be the grain of sand beneath our feet, a random bird, a rock, or even a book. That is why we need you, someone who can sense her core no matter how well she hides or what form she inhabits.”
“Captain Hadjen’s father was her first victim, and in less than a week, two colonels followed. At first, the changeling only took three victims a week, but now she’s devolving, and her methods have become harsher as her actions take a toll on her.”
“What toll?” Aodhán asked.
“At the very least, she must have accumulated so much negative karma by now that she has lost a few screws.” General Deaton replied with a small smile. “Apart from that, though, the mental toll of her actions cannot be little, not to mention the constant hiding and stalking she must endure just to kill a single victim. Her nerves are fraying, and what should have been a methodical and calculative act has devolved into something pleasurably sinister.
Aodhán nodded and stared at the image of the changeling for a moment before asking. “What is the plan then?”
“You will join the patrol.” General Deaton responded. “A group of soldiers with skills or abilities similar to yours. So far, we believe we have managed to contain the changeling within the sigma 15-25 sector after her last kill, but until the next one, which should be in a few hours, we cannot be sure. Wherever the next kill occurs, though, Artemis will transport you to the patrol squad there, and we will try our possible best to lock down the entire area.”
“What happens if I find her?” Aodhán asked a little nervously.
“Then you will notify us.” General Deaton responded, and in a stern tone, he added. “Under no circumstances should you try to capture her yourself regardless of what she might be masquerading as. To do so would mean instant death for you, and we cannot afford to lose you at this point.”
“I understand.”
General Deaton took out a small device, the size of a bean, and inserted it into his chip. “This will alert us to anything once you click on it. Please be discreet; I’d rather not have to deal with Zatya Malakov if something untoward should happen to you.”
“I’ll be careful.” Aodhán responded again, unable to hide the fluttering of nerves in his stomach.
“You’ll be fine.” Geneva said to him. “Remember, we are watching, and we will all be there in a blink the moment you alert us.”
Her words gave Aodhán a much-needed courage boost, and he firmed his resolve. He could do this. All he needed to do was not die.
He had barely finished thinking those words when an alarm suddenly blared, and a voice rang out. “Major Valen Shadowspire is dead. Southwest area of the Sigma 25-50 camp. I repeat—
“Get him to Shadowspire’s tent immediately.” General Deaton shouted, and the next instant, Aodhán found himself high in the sky above a ton of military gray tents. Artemis held him in his hand like he weighed nothing, and with a voice that echoed with so much willpower, it manifested in reality, Artemis uttered: {MY SPACE, MY RULES: NO BEING SHALL MOVE WITHIN THIS SPACE.}