I am an Eldritch Entity

[Ardenox]

'I am an Eldritch entity?'

Eryndor found himself questioning his existence after an accident which tested the limits of human endurance.

His sealed consciousness burst open, expanding and covering the entirety of the Earth before receding abruptly.

Subconscious use of Telekinesis controlled the stones to protect him as the overload of mind reading the entire population of Earth burdened his mind.

Eldritch entities were one of the few Anomalies which had characteristics such as immense consciousness, Mind Reading, and Telekinesis.

They were categorized as the strongest beings of the Main Universe.

This world had Anomalies all along, with secret organizations placed everywhere to combat them.

Was he one of the Anomalies sealed by them in the past?

*****

When the cosmic limit rose from 0 to 1 – Qi, Mana, Spiritual Energy, and Internal Energy surged into the universe, marking the Era of Superpowers and the emergence of Anomalies.

Simultaneously, 8 Outer Domains—Cultivation, Magic, Mentalist, Martial Arts, Cyborg, Beast Taming, Demon, and Buddhist Worlds—formed portals to the universe.

In response, humanity united under the Human Federation to combat Anomalies and repel the Outer Domain forces.

******

Watch as Eryndor uses both the power of Chaos - Eldritch Entities and Order - 8 different power systems of all the Eight Outer Domains, to rise through the numerous Realms and become the strongest Entity.

*****

My inspiration for this work comes from the SCP universe, in which I added a bit of my creativity to make the power system and world building logical and consistent.

The synopsis and first chapter go hand in hand. I urge you to read at least the first chapter before deciding.

Note: I'll post the novel here till chapter 40, for further chapters you'll have to head to Webnovel.

 

[Ardenox]

Classified Report on the Sealing of the Eldritch Entity.

[Last Updated: 29th May, 237]

Operation: Eclipse Mantle
Compiled by: Dr. Kirchoff
Date: 12th March, 229.
Anomaly Class: Apocalyptic - Fracture - Fissure
Status: Entity Contained.

Incident Overview:
An advanced consciousness detection array in Moliken Town spotted a massive anomaly in partial manifestation.

Preliminary assessments confirmed basic abilities, including telekinetic disruption and cognitive intrusion, identifying the source as an Eldritch Entity.

Containment Measures:
1. Human Vessel Binding:
Using the Crucible of Dominion, the entity's massive form was compressed into a human body.

It limited its physical capabilities but the entity retained full mental control.

2. Memory Erasure and Identity Implantation:
The Mnemosyne Core erased the entity's memories and implanted a fabricated identity as "Eryndor," a human integrated into Earth society.

3. Power Sealing:
A Hypnotic Imprinting Trinket sealed the entity's powers under the condition it believed itself to be human. Breach risk arose only if this belief faltered.

Outcome:
Initial containment was successful. Monitoring confirmed the stability of the implanted identity over 8 years. Eryndor exhibited no awareness of its true nature and integrated seamlessly into society.

Containment Status:

Year 230 (Age 11): Placed under a couple with a lost child of similar age Roulin Port. Identity stable.

Year 232 (Age 13): Relocated to New Hope City and enrolled in school. Identity stable.

Year 234 (Age 15): Developed strong emotional bonds. Identity stable.

Year 237 (Age 18): Displayed romantic interests. Identity stable.

Subject fully believes himself to be a human.

Monitoring ceased due to resource constraints. The entity is deemed self-containing under the seal of self-hypnosis.

Closing Notes:
Personnel involved underwent standard cleansing and psychological counseling to mitigate exposure risks.

End of Report

*****

As the report collected dust in the most secured location of the Human Federation, the subject in question was trapped beneath the rubble of a fallen building.

Eryndor sat hunched in the cramped pocket of space.

The hunger was overwhelming.

His lips were cracked and caked with dried blood, his tongue thick and dry as sand, while his hollow cheeks told of days without food or water.

He had long lost track of time, trapped beneath the ruins of the collapsed building. Each moment felt like it might be his last, yet somehow, he clung to life.

Time and again, he found himself proven wrong—waking up after every bout of unconsciousness, defying the death he was sure would arrive in his sleep.

He had never considered suicide, holding onto the fragile hope of rescue.

Somehow, against all odds, his body refused to give in.

At some point, a single thought began to push its way into his weary, despairing mind.

How have I held on for so long?

It was a small doubt, but it was enough to crack the foundation of his identity.

Days blurred together as that doubt deepened.

The length of time he lost consciousness remained the same, and yet he continued to wake, even when he thought it would be his last sleep.

By even the most conservative estimate, it had been well over two months. And then, for the first time, a thought surfaced—unbidden but undeniable.

Am I even human?

It wasn't a fleeting whim or a joke, the kind which teenagers entertained when their imaginations run wild.

No, this was a genuine question, born from his own physical condition and the impossible endurance he was exhibiting.

When the fissure in the foundation of his identity enlarged, going as far as doubting his own existence, a crown-shaped trinket buried deep within his consciousness cracked, releasing a wisp of pitch-black smoke.

The moment it touched his consciousness, Eryndor felt himself stretch—everywhere, all at once. All his senses suddenly went haywire.

A flurry of voices exploded in his mind, growing louder with each passing second.

They seemed like memories. A lot of them. All at once.

"Arghhh!"

His scream tore from his throat, guttural and hoarse, a result of months without water or speech.

His body crumpled to the floor, his hands clutching his head.

Around him, small stones from the fallen structure began to levitate, forming a protective barrier that spun rapidly.

The wisp of black smoke withdrew from Eryndor's consciousness, as if it had suddenly realized the consequences it had unleashed.

It retreated toward the crown-shaped trinket hovering in the distance, now trembling violently as if it were fighting to contain the force it had sealed away for so long.

The moment the smoke touched the crown, it was as if the balance had shifted.

The trinket shattered, breaking into countless golden fragments that swirled around, merging with the powers it had been sealing.

A few moments later, a dazzling Golden Palace deep within Eryndor's mind stood in place of the crown.

When he opened his eyes, what greeted Eryndor wasn't the usual wreckage of the building, but a huge palace of gold.

With little effort, Eryndor pushed open the massive gates and stepped into the grand hall. The space stretched out before him, with eight rooms branching off from the central area.

At the heart of the hall stood three altars, each one bearing a black orb, silently rotating in the air above it. As he drew closer, a faint glimmer caught his eye.

The altar was etched with a small line of text, intricately carved into its surface.

[Passive Regeneration - Stable]

[Telekinesis - Active]

[Cognitive Scrying - Active]

Are these the abilities I have? No wonder I didn't die, Passive Regeneration might have played a hand in it.

Eryndor understood the meanings of the words, but the terms 'Stable' and 'Active' eluded him.

He pondered briefly: Are those levels? Ranks for abilities? Which one was better—Stable or Active?

He shook his head, trying to clear the confusion. There was no point in dwelling on things he couldn't understand right now.

Turning his attention back to the massive doors, he stepped forward and attempted to push them open. Despite his full strength, none of the doors budged—except for one.

It trembled slightly as he pressed against it.

This one... this is the one I can open. Probably.

He stepped back, gathering himself, and charged toward the door. He slammed his shoulder into it with all his might.

The door shook violently but refused to give way. Panting, he steadied himself, took a deep breath, and tried again.

The result was the same, no matter how much force he applied. The door remained unmoved.

It feels like I am missing something.

Eryndor narrowed his eyes, recalling the flood of information that had crashed into his mind just before he arrived in this place.

Most of it was irrelevant, but there were intriguing pieces that seemed to offer him some understanding.

Some of those pieces hinted at a way to open the door before him.

This world was entirely normal. The Universe only allowed lifeforms of level 0; that is, mortals.

But 200 years ago, The Cosmic Limit increased from 0 to 1 – Qi, Mana, Spiritual Energy, and Internal Energy surged in various parts of the Earth.

Ordinary people couldn't feel this subtle shift, but those who had the right techniques could harness these energies, gaining powers beyond the norm.

These people could elevate themselves from mortals to something greater.

Where did these techniques come from? The Eight Outer Domains that had invaded Earth.

The Cosmic Limit was the threshold that determined the level of lifeform allowed by the universe.

Two centuries ago, when the Cosmic Limit had risen from 0 to 1, Earth instantly faced the invasion of the Eight Outer Domains.

The Cosmic Limit had, in a way, protected humanity on Earth, as it prevented the truly dangerous beings of Outer Domains from entering and wiping out humanity or enslaving them.

Only lifeforms at level 1 or below were allowed, ones which could be dealt with by the current technology of Earth.

But the Eight Outer Domains weren't Earth's only concern. There were also the Anomalies—unpredictable, deadly entities that killed indiscriminately.

These creatures had no specific form or power, not even a guarantee of a conscious mind.

Their only purpose was destruction, and they were feared and hated by both the Human Federation and the Outer Domains alike.

Among the flood of information, one fragment stood out—an unsettling clue that made Eryndor question his very existence.

There were places in the universe that weren't affected by the suppression of the Cosmic Limit.

It was theorized that these places were home to beings so powerful they could disregard the Cosmic Limit.

These beings were called Eldritch Entities, and the realms they inhabited were known as Forbidden Voids.

All known Eldritch Entities had been observed to possess Cognitive Scrying and Telekinesis.

Could I be one of them? Would I need to master those techniques in order to open the door?

Eryndor knew the Human Federation would soon come to him as his feat of surviving three months without food and water reached them.

He had decided to join them, to acquire the practice techniques and know more about himself.

 

[Ardenox]

"Have you still not identified the source of that consciousness?"

The man in the black windbreaker spoke through clenched teeth, his hands balled into fists. The Cosmic Limit was supposed to prevent the emergence of such monsters.

Who, in the current age, could sweep across the entire Earth with their consciousness, casually skimming the minds of countless people?

"Sir," an agent replied, "Our field teams are scouring the planet and nearby space. We've observed no new anomalies or significant changes in existing ones.

"We suspect the entity was merely passing by, and its consciousness brushed Earth unintentionally."

The man in the windbreaker, evidently the superior, turned to another agent seated at a nearby computer.

"Contact the Eight Outer Domains. See if they've uncovered anything. They are in the same boat as us if the entity has even an iota of malicious intent against us."

As the agent nodded and began typing, a sharp ring echoed through the room, silencing the activity around them.

The tracking, speculating, calculating, and every action regarding the consciousness paused.

The man in the windbreaker took a steadying breath before picking up the receiver. He recognized the caller immediately—it was Dr. Kirchoff, the renowned scientist.

He alone was half the reason The Human Federation could stand tall and contend with the Anomalies.

"Dr. Kirchoff," he began, "Were you also alerted by that consciousness?"

The aged voice which replied from the other end was calm, without any hint of panic.

"Yes. And let me be clear: the Human Federation has no means of resisting an entity of this scale if it decides to attack us.

"Our precious assets were drained ten years ago in the battle against the Eldritch Entity.

"There's nothing to gain by investigating this further. Halt all operations and redirect the resources to the usual tasks of the Federation.

"We can't use the little resources we have to investigate everything which we come across. Learn to recognize and selectively ignore tasks which will bring no results.

"Do you understand Operative Fredrinn?"

The man digested the words of the scientist, realising the situation was indeed what he spoke about.

There was nothing they could do even if they somehow managed to procure some information on the consciousness.

"Understood, Sir."

"Good."

The line went dead.

Fredrinn slowly placed the receiver back and gave the order to cease all investigations related to the consciousness.

Resources were redirected to routine operations.

Similar scenes took place in the lands of Eight Outer Domains. Some of them even questioned if it was one of the seniors from their specific Outer Domain who made a move.

They were promptly rejected.

Thus, after a short period of chaos, the various bases of powers returned to their own work.

*****

Eryndor withdrew his gaze from the door, deep in thought.

The fragmented memories crammed into his mind had painted a broader picture of Earth's current state.

He now knew the general locations of the Eight Outer Domains and the Human Federation.

The surge of Qi, Mana, Spiritual Energy, and Internal Energy two centuries ago wasn't an isolated event but tied to the rise of the Cosmic Limit and the subsequent invasion of the Outer Domains.

However, the common public remained oblivious to these truths.

Why suppress this knowledge?

He speculated that the information was guarded in highly secure places, inaccessible even to his Cognitive Scrying, which likely had its limits.

The limited people who possessed related knowledge might very well be heavily protected against such scrying.

Eryndor wasn't foolish to believe his Cognitive Scrying could bypass everything.

He already had an inkling that this palace might be in his mind, so, he simply closed his eyes, and focused on heading back into his body.

Indeed, without any delay he was back into his body.

He was back to feeling weak and feeble.

The return to his physical form brought him some ideas about one of his abilities.

His Passive Regeneration was likely dependent on the surrounding energy, which seemed depleted here, explaining his slow recovery.

Else, there was no way his body was only regenerating to this extent.

Nevertheless, he still felt far better than before. At least he wouldn't be dying anytime soon.

Resolving his current situation was still of paramount importance.

He flipped around, resting his knees on the ground and placed his hands on the rod of concrete which he felt was the easiest and most likely to move.

Gathering all the remaining energy he had, he pushed against his hands, yelling with all his strength and mobilizing all the force of telekinesis he could, directing it towards the same rod of concrete.

It moved.

Finally, The rod moved a bit.

But that was it.

It fell back to place as the force acting on it disappeared. Eryndor felt himself losing consciousness as he overexerted himself both physically and mentally.

Just before he felt the darkness consuming him, muffled voices drilled into his ears.

"Captain, there's movement here! Someone might be stuck here!"

"Go ahead Jon, take all the equipment with you. I'll call everyone as soon as possible."

A team was gathered shortly, doing their best to remove all the debris. One of them sent a camera attached by a rod into a small hole.

"Captain, there's indeed someone lying down there."

"Hurry up boys!" The Captain yelled.

In just five minutes they successfully removed all the obstacles and jumped down.

Everyone could see the horrible condition of the man laying face down, hardly better than a skeleton.

The Captain bent at his knee and placed his hand before Eryndor's nose, feeling a hint of hot air on his finger.

"He is alive. Quickly take him out and call the ambulance."

The Captain searched around his body, but couldn't find any phone or electronics.

No wonder no one knew about him being stuck here. If he had contacted anyone, we, or some other team would've rescued him far sooner.

*****

When Eryndor opened his eyes, what greeted him wasn't the fallen structure and dust laden surfaces he had grown accustomed to over the course of months.

It was a clean room with a myriad of medical apparatus. A nurse was filling a syringe by his bed.

Hospital? I am finally out?

"Oh? You're conscious now? Don't worry, you've been rescued and your parents have been called. Don't move around much, your body is still extremely weak.

"You can go back to your normal life after the hospital deems you fit to discharge."

Eryndor nodded silently, his thoughts elsewhere.

Can I really go back to my normal life?

A more pressing question followed.

Do I even want to?

No. There were too many questions to answer.

 

[Hyperionthetitan]

Interesting

 

[Ardenox]

Interesting

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the appreciation!

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor scrolled through his phone, his eyes widening as he took in just how much the world had shifted during the three months he'd been trapped.

Three months.

He confirmed after double-checking the date.

Surprisingly, no one had questioned him about how long he'd been buried beneath the rubble or how he had managed to survive without food or water.

It seemed people had grown accustomed to the possibility of miracles in a world where the extraordinary was becoming increasingly commonplace.

Surprisingly, the Human Federation, which had long operated in the shadows, had publicly revealed its existence, along with the truth about the Eight Outer Domains and the threat of Anomalies.

As for what had triggered such a monumental shift, Eryndor could only speculate. His best guess was that the Cosmic Limit had increased yet again.

With this rise, the four energies—Qi, Mana, Spiritual Energy, and Internal Energy—must have surged in both quality and quantity, this time becoming noticeable even to ordinary people.

But this wasn't just a boon. The increase in the Cosmic Limit had likely raised the upper potential of Anomalies as well, creating an immediate and overwhelming challenge for the organizations.

Judging by the chaos reflected in the news, those organizations were clearly losing control.

Eryndor skimmed through countless reports of mass killings, with descriptions of strange, monstrous beings wreaking havoc across regions.

Anomalies really do come in all shapes and sizes.

Earth's technological advantage over the Eight Outer Domains seemed to have diminished as well.

The hot weapons and other types of weapons were less of a threat than before.

Sightings of their forces operating openly were now frequent.

Some groups were abducting humans en masse and disappearing without a trace.

Others committed genocides, seized territories, or even declared dominion over certain areas.

A few groups even began distributing cultivation techniques to the masses.

In short, the world was descending into utter chaos.

Therefore, The Human Federation could no longer operate from the shadows, suppressing information and managing threats behind closed doors.

The escalating chaos had forced them to step forward and inform the public about the dramatic changes unfolding in the world.

As for why they had concealed the truth for so long? Eryndor could only guess.

Either the reasons for secrecy had been resolved, or the situation had spiraled so far out of control that silence was no longer an option.

Having spent 20 years on Earth, Eryndor held a deep, albeit complicated, fondness for the planet. It was his home—at least as far as he knew.

Naturally, this made him inclined to side with the Human Federation, the one entity seemingly trying to hold everything together.

But beyond that, he saw an opportunity. If anyone could help him unravel the mystery of who—or what—he truly was, it would be them.

He set a goal to find a way to contact the Federation.

A few minutes later, as Eryndor continued catching up on the latest developments, the door to his hospital room creaked open.

Looking up, he quickly realized it was his parents. Switching off his phone, he straightened up in bed, ready to greet them.

His father, Jordan Noctis, was like an older version of himself—black hair, sharp jawline, pointed nose, and piercing black eyes.

Clad in a simple black sweater over white pants, he radiated an air of calm simplicity.

His mother, Elena Noctis, in contrast, had a bolder presence.

Despite her modest attire, her long, fiery red hair, aquamarine eyes, and high cheekbones gave her a wild charm.

Time had only added a touch of grace and maturity to her beauty.

But something about their expressions unsettled Eryndor. Their mournful gazes were fixed on him, and he could sense their sadness.

But he couldn't understand why it wasn't mixed with relief or joy at seeing him alive.

The weight of the silence grew until his father finally broke it.

"Son, you have already updated yourself on what's happening in the world outside I hope?"

He simply nodded, intending to continue listening to his dad.

"There are incomprehensible things happening everywhere. Your mom came across one such Anomaly."

Eryndor's pupils dilated as he looked at his mom, who gently nodded his way. His dad continued.

"It wasn't a malicious Anomaly, not even a conscious one. It was a simple stone looking like any other.

"It had the power of triggering and resurfacing hidden memories as informed by agents who arrived to capture it later."

His dad took a deep breath and continued, "You see, it triggered some memories hidden deep within your mother.

"Probably those which were suppressed by The Human Federation"

Eryndor sensed the shift in his dad's tone. His tone sped up, as if he wanted to finish everything in one go.

"You are not Eryndor Noctis. At least not the one we named. Our child went missing when he was ten years old.

"According to the memories your mom recovered, you were handed to us ten years ago by a man covered in black clothes from head to toe, when you were ten years old.

"They somehow made it such that you would henceforth be Eryndor Noctis.

"No one, our relatives, our neighbours, your friends, or even us, sensed anything wrong.

"We have always loved you, and we still love you.

"We will continue to love you as our child, we have raised you and watched you grow. The memories we shared for ten years aren't false.

"We simply thought you had the right to know as the person involved.

"We know. You might have something to do with The Human Federation. That man in black clothes had the same symbol The Human Federation has.

"You might even be an Anomaly for all we know. But remember, you'll always have a place at home.

"And lastly, since you were both raised by the same parents, the previous Eryndor Noctis could be considered your brother too.

"He went missing but his body was never found.

"With all the miracles taking place we have a small hope that one of them might help us reunite with our child.

"Could you keep a look out for him?"

Eryndor dumbly nodded his head.

Without replying to anything, he closed his eyes and reclined back on his bed. His mind was a jumbled mess.

His mom softly spoke for the first time.

"We love you, son. Take your time thinking about it. We won't tell anyone about this."

Eryndor took the extra pillow by his side and stuffed his face with it, finding comfort in the suffocating darkness and silence.

Turns out 10 years of his 20 years, that is, nearly half of the life he lived on Earth was fabricated lies.

His memory when he was before 10 consisted of living with the same parents, but turns out he had been handed over to them when he was 10 years old.

Doesn't that mean those memories he had of before turning 10 were all a set of lies injected into his brain?

It took him nearly half an hour to get over the existential crisis. Patting himself on the cheek, Eryndor forced a smile.

This also means that nearly half of my life was still true. Half of my memories are all genuine.

Keeping a positive outlook helped him stabilize his mentality.

He looked down at his hands, realizing that his body was regenerating faster than expected. It was really like he had speculated.

His regeneration depended on the energy of the surroundings, the hospital had far better and higher concentration of energy than a narrow cramped space beneath a fallen building.

The question was, even if no one asked him about how he survived and how he was regenerating so fast, it was sure to attract attention from organizations who might invite him to their ranks without asking about the specifics of his abilities.

Eryndor was already prepared on how to answer them.

He anticipated their arrival, particularly of The Human Federation.

 

[Ardenox]

The hospital didn't discharge him even though he had already completely recovered on the second day itself.

They are deliberately keeping me here.

As expected, on the fourth day of his stay at the hospital, a group of three entered his room.

Putting aside the book he was reading, he turned to them.

His eyes lit up as they fell on the emblem of the Human Federation emblazoned on their armbands.

Two women and a man stood before him.

One of the women pulled a stool across the room with a low scrape, positioning it directly in front of him before sitting down.

She had short brown hair, a few stray strands brushing against her forehead, and a scattering of light freckles between her brows.

Like the others, she wore a sleek black tracksuit, though hers was accented with bold red lines that hinted at her higher rank or specialized role.

Gesturing to her armband, she spoke.

"I hope you already know who we are."

Eryndor nodded. Of course he did.

"Good, then we can cut to the chase.

"The team which rescued you might not have known about it, but we do. The building you were trapped under collapsed three months ago.

"Your parents also began the search for you through various newspaper outlets and missing posters three months ago.

"Coupled with lack of traces of food and water in the space you were found at, it should be impossible for you to survive.

"You can choose not to tell us the specifics about how you survived. Can you at least inform us if it was some sort of ability?"

Eryndor had come across this online before. Beyond the techniques practiced by the Eight Outer Domains, another path to gaining power lay in possessing an innate ability.

This method was impossible to replicate—either you were born with the ability, or you weren't.

He nodded gently. Eryndor wanted to be upfront about this.

"I awakened something like Passive Regeneration."

They had only expected a simple yes or no, but his willingness to be forthcoming subtly surprised them.

However, it quickly became clear he had no intention of delving into the specifics of his ability. Still, they weren't disappointed.

No one wanted to expose how their ability worked.

The woman replied.

"I see. Now it makes sense how you survived.

"I want to invite you to our ranks on behalf of The Human Federation. Do you accept it?"

Eryndor wasn't too surprised by the outcome. The Human Federation needed any and all kinds of manpower to hold up the crumbling civilization.

A crumbling civilization of the Earth that is.

All of them mentally heaved a sigh when Eryndor agreed to join them.

Majority of the people The Human Federation picked out wanted to take the approach of wait and watch.

Some of them even expressed interest in joining one of the Eight Outer Domains.

The rest were ones who were already poached by smaller local organizations. People like Eryndor who agreed to join on the spot were rare.

The lady smiled and spoke once again.

"Information will be transferred to your mobile number immediately.

"It's about the details of the course and the number of paths you can take for your future.

"You are required to check-in at your local Human Federation office so they can transfer you over to the headquarters.

"Check-in at the office after wrapping up everything you want to since you won't be able to return for quite some time."

Eryndor had a confused look on his face as he asked. "Course? Paths?"

The lady looked far more approachable now that he had agreed to join.

"Innate abilities are more commonly found in youngsters.

"The practice techniques of the Eight Outer Domains also show greater results on people of the younger generation.

"Therefore, The Human Federation has an academy where they train the younger generation in various fields.

"There, we have several courses depending on what the students want to do.

"As for paths, it's the practice techniques we've borrowed from the Eight Outer Domains.

"You're free to choose whatever path appeals to you, though we do have our own recommendations. After that, you'll undergo training across various disciplines until you're deemed ready to handle supernatural events.

"We can't just enroll you into our ranks and start sending you out on missions right?"

Makes sense.

Eryndor agreed with her.

The agents exchanged a few pleasantries with Eryndor before departing, leaving behind a badge.

The badge depicted a bleeding snake coiled tightly around the upper half of the blade of a sword, its lower part piercing through eight distinct hands stacked atop one another.

Eryndor quickly deduced the symbolism—the snake represented the anomalies, while the hands signified the Eight Outer Domains.

Quite a bold and provocative badge.

Eryndor silently judged it and put it in his pocket.

Academy huh? I'll be learning about how to deal with the Eight Outer Domains and the Anomalies now.

Quite an interesting turn of events. I hope I can open that door of my Mind Palace soon.

Eryndor got up from the bed, picking up his book and leaving the room.

This time he was allowed to leave the hospital without any issues.

Should I head straight up towards the local office of The Human Federation?

Eryndor had a few friends, but they weren't close enough that he would inform them of his decision to join The Human Federation.

He decided to visit his parent's home, meeting his parents who were both engaged in odd jobs around the house.

They were home because employment all around the world had taken a hit with the apocalypse-like situation of the Earth.

He informed them of The Human Federation's invitation and how he had already accepted it.

He eventually decided to have his dinner at their place.

Eryndor planned to review the information that night, ensuring he fully absorbed it before heading to the local office.

A quick online search revealed that the office was only a fifteen-minute walk away, making it a convenient departure point from his current location.

"Good night dad."

"Good night mom."

After having a talk about their son and telling them how he'll keep an eye out for him, Eryndor retreated to his bedroom.

The Human Federation had long sent him important information he would be needing before joining the Academy.

It was time to check it out.

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor reclined on his bed and opened the file sent to him by the agents of the Human Federation.

The contents were a word-for-word recounting of his earlier exchange with them, a proof of the file's authenticity.

It was locked with the password they had discussed during their conversation at the hospital, ensuring its security.

To confirm their legitimacy, Eryndor had also verified the agents by calling the helpline number listed on the Federation's official website.

He opened it with great anticipation, eager to get in-depth knowledge.

It took him about half an hour to read through the entire document.

There were two important things which it explained about in general.

First was the power system of the Eight Outer Domains.

The Human Federation, through a series of confrontations over two centuries, were able to get their hands on techniques of all the Eight Outer Domains.

But some of them were incomplete, some had higher restrictions, some had resource limitations.

The Human Federation suggested a few power systems out of all, each carefully selected for their cost-effectiveness or suitability to the current situation, among other factors.

Eryndor condensed the points listed in the document for his own convenience.

This made it easier for him to make quicker decisions, without the need to sift through long, dense paragraphs each time.

1. Cultivation world: Relies on the energy 'Qi'. The power system is about longevity.

It has low resource requirements at least in the early stages, fulfilled by the environmental Qi itself, making it extremely cost-effective.

2. Magic world: Relies on the energy 'Mana'. The power system is about knowledge.

It has high requirements of knowledge from the beginning stage itself. Need extensive knowledge on the subject to form the related spell model.

Not suitable for drop-outs.

3. Mentalist world: Relies on 'Spiritual energy'. The power system focuses on the use of mind.

It has low resource requirements, but due to opposition from the higher ups it is strongly discouraged to be pursued in the Academy.

Eryndor suspected that people felt uneasy when confronting them, likely due to their ability to read minds, a power that could make anyone wary.

No one wanted to cultivate a group of mind readers.

4. Martial Arts world: Relies on 'Internal energy'. The power system focuses on body refining.

It has low resource requirements and is strongly encouraged by the Academy.

5. Cyborg world: Relies on 'Spiritual energy'. The power system focuses on modifying the body and relying on external items to rank up.

It has both high technological constraints and high resource requirements.

The current technology of The Human Federation can only barely perform a rank one operation.

It isn't advised to choose this one as the Federation is unsure when it will be able to catch up or borrow the more advanced technologies for higher ranks.

6. Beast Taming world: Relies on 'Internal energy'. The power system focuses on contracting different beasts to use their power and make them fight for you.

It has low resource constraints plus the emergence of new beasts on Earth allows this power system to have a high potential.

7. Demon world: Relies on 'Mana'. The power system focuses on pure destructiveness.

Has low resource requirements and has the highest destructive output out of all power systems.

Due to past incidents, the Academy evaluates the mental state of students before recommending it to them.

8. Buddha world: Relies on 'Qi'. The power system relies on the mastery of karmic links.

Proficient in divination, location searching. Their attacks are exceptionally challenging to defend against.

It is one of the slowest power systems to get started with, and to continue powering up.

Currently the most mysterious power system.

Academy discourages students from pursuing it before completely researching it themselves.

Eryndor then jotted down his own thoughts on the power systems, with the most important factor being the speed and ease with which he could begin training.

He needed something that could be accessed and started quickly.

Cultivation was possible.

For the magic power system, he didn't think he wanted to sit through university lessons again to form some spell models so becoming a mage was out of options.

He could consider it later but right now when he wanted the fastest way to gain power and verify if it could open the door in his mind palace, magic wouldn't cut it.

As for becoming a mentalist, Eryndor wasn't interested in the constant surveillance from the Academy, nor did he want to draw unwanted attention or suspicion from the Human Federation.

Becoming a martial artist was certainly possible, but he didn't like the idea of refining body and having limited range to attack.

It might be possible at higher realms of power but it certainly didn't seem feasible at lower ranks.

He would end up being a meat shield.

Cyborg was a no brainer.

Even though he wanted to be quick, it seemed unlikely that the Academy would provide him resources for rank one for free.

He would have to work to exchange the materials for it, which would take some time.

Beast Taming had the same problem.

It was a quick route and even had a higher potential than being a Cyborg where the Federation didn't have corresponding technology of higher level.

But he likely wouldn't be given the beast for free. He would have to work for it.

Same with the Demon techniques.

He didn't want to wait till the Academy was done evaluating him psychologically and gave the pass to cultivate the technique.

Lastly, the Buddhist technique.

It was also a no-brainer.

He had no grandeur delusions of being able to quickly successfully practice a power system the Academy evaluated as one of the slowest.

The Academy has said that one person can practice more than one power system but it is difficult and also discouraged since it means more resources were used on a single person for no quantifiable increase in power.

It is difficult as it is for a person to power up, adding to that another power system, it is like climbing with an extra load.

I can choose other power systems later after making sufficient contributions if cultivation happens to be unbearable or useless.

After going through a few more rounds of discussion with himself and searching information on the internet, he ended up choosing cultivation as his path.

It would be the quickest and easiest way to power.

If it didn't work out, Beast taming would be his second choice.

 

[Ardenox]

The second major point the document mentioned was the working of the academy.

He went through it several times and committed the important points to his memory before finally going to sleep.

When he woke up in the morning, his parents were quietly eating their breakfast while engaging in small talk.

With a smile, he served himself breakfast and joined them.

"Mom. Dad. I was thinking about our talk from the hospital.

"I realize I still love you both despite half of my memories being false.

"The other ten years of my life were still true and you both played a massive part in how I came to value, cherish and enjoy my life."

He engaged in a bit of small talk with them, and finally left after finishing his breakfast.

He had no idea what to carry so he only took a bunch of clothes and other essentials in his bag before heading towards the office.

It took him around fifteen minutes to reach the office.

It was a huge twenty floor building. Eryndor entered the lobby and gave the receptionist his name, who quickly escorted him to the fifteenth floor.

When he arrived, he realized there were three more people in the room.

There was a young man and two young women.

The young man was quick to introduce himself and the others with a genuine smile.

"Hello, I am Drakarion Sylen." He put his hands on his chest.

"And these are Valentina Iztek and Paulina Lockheart."

He pointed to the blonde and brunette respectively.

"I hope we can keep each other company when we join the Academy since we all come from New Hope city."

Eryndor knew not to turn away when someone gave you face. Not to mention it would indeed be good if he had allies in an unfamiliar place.

He smiled and told them his name.

Just five minutes later when they were getting to know each other, a well built and huge man entered the room with two others in tow.

He had the same red lining to his black tracksuit that the lady who recruited Eryndor had the other day.

The man was bald and had a square face, wearing a serious expression as he spoke. His loud voice was exceptionally clear to everyone in the room.

"All 4 of you have been selected by The Human Federation for training. I hope you students will go on to contribute to mankind and safeguard Humanity from external threats.

"I am a professor at the Academy who was also from this city, and my name is Jared. We can be said to have common roots, so don't let me down.

"C'mon, I am tasked with escorting you towards the academy."

The four of them quickly got in an armored bus along with the professor and his two underlings.

Once everyone was seated and the vehicle began moving, Jared faced them, and introduced them to the situation of the Earth from an insider's perspective.

"Now look, you all must have heard of the most basic information shared to the common man, what I must tell you is that it is more urgent than it looks.

"There is this thing known as the Cosmic Limit, which is basically the power limit of lifeforms allowed by the universe.

"Two hundred years ago, the cosmic limit increased. That is when the four energies began manifesting in the universe. Naturally, It manifested on Earth as well.

"That is also when the Eight Outer Domains and the Anomalies; which are the weird monsters, began attacking Earth.

"We were able to resist it back then thanks to our technology and weapons among other things, but two months ago the Cosmic Limit increased again.

"And frankly speaking, we can no longer hold on. That is why we decided to expose ourselves in hopes of attracting people to join our cause."

Jared pointed to the red lines of his tracksuit.

"This red line is for people who are in rank one. Rank one of any kind of power system.

"It took us a hundred years to steal the first ever practice technique. It was the cultivation technique, also what the majority of them got started in since it was the only one we had.

"It also brought us despair, in a way. That cultivation scripture spoke about three levels, and according to it, the person we killed was only at level one.

"It meant there were two more levels about it which were restricted by the Cosmic Limit. Our subsequent clashes proved that they had more levels above three, not sure how many.

"We put that thought aside and levelled up one after another.

"Since then it became easier to steal the other practice techniques, finally completing our collection fifty years ago."

Jared was a big man, and it felt especially disheartening and discouraging when he made the face he was making as he continued.

"The Cosmic Limit which increased two months ago has begun expanding the Earth. It isn't fast, but a gradual process.

"The distance between cities might increase drastically in the near future, which will make the task of defending Humanity more difficult.

"We suspect that the infusion of four energies two hundred years ago strengthened up the Earth for its eventual expansion, which is now, at the second increase of Cosmic Limit.

"We don't know when the Cosmic Limit will increase again, but please, we can only pin our hopes on the younger generation.

"The abilities youngsters awaken might be the gift of Earth to resist the outsiders, as not once in two hundred years have we come across individuals from Eight Outer Domains possessing innate abilities."

The big professor took a deep breath and leaned back into his seat.

"We, the older generation, will hold the fort as much as possible so you guys can grow.

"Yes, I am putting pressure on you. Don't let us down."

Eryndor looked outside the window with a heavy heart, noticing a plane as the bus stopped just near its entrance.

"It's time for the final stretch, c'mon.

"Once we disembark near the Academy, you're on your own. I hope you guys have decided on the path you want to take."

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor came face to face with one of the largest buildings he had ever seen, and, judging by their expressions, the other three seemed to share his sentiment.

Standing before them was supposedly the main building of the Academy.

The four of them had already completed their registration at the hall, where they declared the paths they intended to pursue and received their room keys.

Surprisingly, they were all assigned to the same villa, with no separation based on gender.

The woman at the counter had offered a blunt explanation: if they couldn't maintain self-control at such a critical stage, they wouldn't amount to anything—neither for humanity nor for themselves.

She also warned that those who succumbed to laziness, lured by the Academy's luxurious accommodations, would only tarnish their own reputation.

This arrangement was part of the Academy's first test: weeding out the unworthy by scrutinizing their discipline and work ethic.

When the four of them reached their villas, they were thrilled to witness the modern and spacious structure before them.

The villa had a ground floor which contained the hall, kitchen, gym, lawn, a swimming pool, and a reinforced training area.

The first floor had four bedrooms, one lounge and bar, and a playing area which housed four sets of latest gaming devices of all kinds.

The villa contained all the up-to-date convenient devices such as coffee maker, a robot exclusively for cooking and one for cleaning, reclinable sofas and a smart AI connected to all the electrical appliances.

It had everything one could ask for. The question was, do they dare use it?

Or rather, do they dare continuously use it?

None of the four felt confident they could resist indulging further after trying the luxuries even once, so they unanimously agreed to avoid them altogether.

Eryndor withdrew to the bedroom assigned to him, unsurprised to find the wardrobe already stocked with clothes tailored perfectly to his size.

A larger percentage of the clothes were all battle suits, bringing about a sense of anticipation for battle in Eryndor.

After hanging up the clothes he'd brought from home, he changed into something more comfortable and rejoined his group to head toward the Academy.

Yes, the courses had begun long ago, and they would all need to work hard to catch up.

They all went their different ways after reaching the main building as each one of them had taken a different path.

Eryndor took the path of Cultivation.

Drakarion, the young man who smiled and was quick to introduce everyone, took the path of Martial Arts.

Valentina, the blonde, took the path of Beast Taming.

Paulina, the brunette, took the path of a Mage.

When he entered the class he was given a copy of the cultivation system by the professor and was told to take a seat.

"For the new guy here, I am Professor Rockin, assigned to teach you history and cultivation.

"We have already covered cultivation. If you happen to have any doubts, you can ask your classmates or your seniors since I am not free the majority of the time.

"If nothing works, you can submit an application of your doubt. I'll clarify it as soon as I am relieved of my duties."

Professor Rockin was a well built man, not too huge and not too thin. With black hair and an average face he looked as average as anyone could get.

After informing the new student of the basics, he refocused his attention on the tablet before him.

As he worked with his device, the screen of tablets placed on all the students' benches synced and displayed similar information.

The sound of Professor Rockin was heard again as he spoke into the microphone attached to his headband.

"Shown on your screen is the information of a few Anomalies. Today we'll learn about how they are classified.

"This classification method was invented by Dr. Kirchoff, the lead scientist of The Human Federation who specializes in researching anomalies.

"Get this into your head first, all the Anomalies have different powers, and their way of application is also different.

"Some of them need conditions to activate and some of them don't. Literally no pattern could be found in Anomalies except they are different."

He swiped on the screen and continued.

"We classify the Anomalies by their Risk class, Disruption Class, and Containment Class.

"Risk class is basically the inherent lethality of the Anomaly.

"There are five ranks of Risk classes: Safe, Caution, Unstable, Critical, and Apocalyptic in the ascending order.

"Currently we have only come across Safe, Caution and Unstable ranks.

"Next comes the Disruption class.

"It is the amount of damage the Anomaly can inflict to the environment and people around it if left alone.

"There are five ranks of Disruption classes: Dormant, Fray, Tremor, Shatter, and Fracture in the ascending order.

"We have come across Dormant, Fray and a single Tremor rank, which I'll tell you about later."

Professor Rockin took a deep breath and gazed at the entire class, peering into the eyes of each student as he asked.

"Do you all understand everything I explained until now?"

Seeing that there were no questions, the professor moved on to the final classification.

"Containment Class is the calculated probability of difficulty of sealing the Anomaly.

"It is also the most important type since no matter how dangerous the Anomaly is or how widespread the destruction it can cause, it'll all be useless if we can't seal it.

"Containment class contains five ranks as well: Anchor, Threaded, Spiral, Fissure, and Spectral in the ascending order.

"Again, we have come across Anchor and Threaded ranks, and a single Spectral rank."

He looked at everyone with a grave expression, with the students gradually registering his final line.

The Human Federation has already encountered a Spectral rank anomaly!

The professor might not have said it but a detailed description of Spectral rank was clearly mentioned in the tablet on their desk.

Spectral: Containment is infeasible or impossible currently; requires mitigation or suppression instead.

Example: Anomalies with infinite scaling, omnipresent influence, or uncontainable properties that necessitate ongoing suppression rather than containment.

It meant they had already encountered an Anomaly which could not be contained in the second Cosmic Limit itself!

The future suddenly looked much bleaker to all the students.

 

[Ardenox]

Professor Rockin took a look at everyone and suddenly chuckled.

The class looked startled. One of them nervously asked, "Professor, were you joking?"

Rockin shook his head with a smile.

"I just found it cute seeing you all downcast. I'll tell you about the Anomaly which was classified under Spectral rank in Containment class, it is the same anomaly which was categorized under Tremor rank in Disruption class.

"We termed it Dread Cloud. It is a semi-translucent cloud shaped anomaly of pink color.

"As the name suggests, its ability is related to Fear. And not normally, it feeds on fear against anomalies.

"It was the great scientist Dr. Kirchoff who was able to deduce the conditions of its growth.

"The more people know about anomalies, the greater number of people will fear it.

"Let's be realistic. Would a common man be fearless if he faces one of those weird monsters? Some might be, but a greater percentage would feel fear.

"As long as even one person exists who feels fear against anomalies then the Cloud of Fear will exist."

Professor Rockin spread his hands in a helpless manner.

"Don't you find it strange that no one knew about anomalies up till two months ago? Dread Cloud was the reason we put a blockade on the information.

As I thought

Eryndor mentally patted himself on the back for being able to partially guess the reason for the blockade of truth.

Professor Rockin continued speaking as Eryndor refocused his attention.

"The most we can do is imprison it, but once more and more people begin to fear the Anomalies, the stronger it will grow, eventually enough to break free from the imprisonment."

The professor heaved a sigh as he concluded.

"It's a relief in a way that its actual ability which is capable of damage puts it under Tremor rank of Disruption class, with its Risk class being of Caution rank.

"Else it would've been a lot more dangerous."

Eryndor asked a doubt which had been brewing in his mind.

"Professor, what is its current status?"

The man simply smiled.

"Not even I am authorized to know such information. This was simply common knowledge in The Human Federation so I shared it with you guys.

"Due to the nature of anomalies, authority to view certain documents is highly restricted, needing several layers of verification before you are deemed eligible."

Professor Rockin then brought out two big boxes from the corner of the class.

He had a big smile on his face, as if excited about something.

He opened the first box. It contained a cage with plenty of mice, loitering around in the cage.

The second case consisted of an old fashioned watch.

He pointed to the watch and announced with a grin.

"This anomaly is of an Unstable rank under Risk class."

Instantly, all of the front benchers stood up and retreated, bringing out a soft laughter from Professor Rockin.

"This is why you should have the full information. It comes under Dormant and Anchor rank for the other two classes.

"Even among Dormant rank it's one of the most reclusive Anomaly."

Professor Rockin put on a thick pair of gloves and took out one mouse from the cage.

He trapped it in a different small hand sized cage and placed it near the watch.

Taking out a large torch, one the size of a human's torso, he held it up facing the watch and mouse.

The class watched with bated breath as the mouse was erased out of existence as soon as the light from the torch fell upon it.

"Can anyone tell me what happened?"

Eryndor narrowed his eyes and spoke, his gaze fixed on the torch.

"Is it perhaps that the Anomaly can annihilate any living being around if both are exposed to high brightness of light?"

Professor Rockin was a bit surprised. The newcomer was quick at picking up new concepts.

He smiled, "Correct."

He then took out another mouse, but this time exposed both to the flashlight of his phone.

"See? Nothing happened, the brightness of the phone's flashlight isn't enough to satisfy its condition."

Professor Rockin packed the items back into several boxes and continued with the class.

Eryndor updated himself with the history, downloading all the notes into the tablet provided by the Academy.

It went on for a while before everyone was dismissed.

There was only a single lecture per day, so Eryndor was free to explore the rest of the building.

But he hadn't lost sight of his original goal.

He wanted to quickly get started on a power system to verify something he had on his mind for quite a while now.

On his way back to the villa, he met up with Paulina.

It may be that he was lost in thought or he didn't pay attention, but he hadn't sensed her coming at all.

He flashed her a smile, and asked. "Are you done with your class too?"

The brunette was shorter compared to his height of 6'1, standing at around 5'7 he guesses.

Her facial structure leaned on the cuter side, with a small nose and baby fat still visible on her cheeks. Her small hair swung sideways as she shook her head.

"No, I left the class. I already knew everything about the topic the professor was teaching."

Eryndor recollected that Paulina had chosen to go down the path of a mage.

The magic power system was heavily dependent on the knowledge of the user to form a spell model.

Apparently her class was about a theory which she was already well aware of. No wonder she chose to leave.

As they walked towards their villa, Eryndor asked about her plans.

"Do you intend to form a spell model now?"

He didn't know how the magic power system worked, but he figured it might be related to making a spell model.

"Nope, not now. I want my innate spell model to be the best I can aim for. There is a spell model in the academy I am aiming for.

"I'll gather enough credits to exchange for the spell model, which I'll then modify according to what I have in mind.

"It might take a bit of time."

By the time she finished, they had already reached the villa.

Eryndor wished her good luck and retreated to his room.

It was time to take the first step into a power system.

He hoped the cultivation was as easy to get started with as they made out to be.

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor glanced at the practice technique of cultivation on his personal device.

The first stage was surprisingly easy.

To step into the Qi Gathering realm, one only needs to be able to sense Qi and absorb it into their meridians.

From then onwards, the amount of Qi one can hold in their meridians determines their stage from one to nine at Qi Gathering realm.

The practice technique of Cultivation involved visualizing a closed circuit of meridians. The more complete the visualization the higher the chances that one can sense Qi.

Once the person absorbs the first ever unit of Qi they sensed into their meridians, visualizing the circuit to keep absorbing Qi wouldn't work.

They'll then need to control the unit of Qi to go through the circuit of meridians mentioned in the practice technique to keep absorbing the Qi.

Eryndor emptied his mind and sat cross legged on his bed, closing his eyes as he began meditating .

Thus began his efforts to take the first step in the long journey of cultivation.

Grrrr…

His stomach growled.

His eyes shot open as he looked around the room, his gaze finally resting on the clock.

It's been three hours already?

He had made some progress in the visualization of the circuit but he couldn't feel any Qi yet.

Eryndor didn't ponder any longer.

His motto was to not linger on things which couldn't be solved through thinking. He liked acting on it immediately.

He decided that meditating would be better if he ate something first, since it was his hunger which broke his visualization.

When he descended the stairs, the rest of his roommates were already sitting on the dining table, each eating their own meal.

He made a basic pasta with the already prepared ravioli and joined them on the table.

"It was a fight class today, and guess what? I was the strongest despite being one of the latecomers."

It was Drakarion who spoke, then tore apart a hefty chunk of meat from the chicken leg with his teeth and began chewing.

Eryndor spoke as he placed his plate on the table and sat beside Valentina.

"Has no one successfully embarked on Martial Arts yet?"

The young man took a while to process the food down his throat before answering.

"Nope. The first realm of Martial Arts is Iron Body, and you need several resources to start refining the body.

"Our classes began three months ago, and even the person with the most progress in our class has only gathered eighty percent of the materials required.

"So we are technically at the same starting line in terms of physique. Not really a big deal that I won haha."

He laughed boisterously.

Eryndor inwardly sighed.

It was indeed a good thing I didn't choose that path.

Valentina asked as she put down the burrito in her hand.

"Are you trained in combat?"

"Yes, my dad trained me since I was a child. I couldn't be more familiar with getting beat—" He caught himself, and coughed. "I mean, beating up people."

Paulina explained her circumstances when asked, leading to everyone turning their eyes finally to Eryndor.

He realized they were all talking about their first day at class, and he seemed to have missed Valentina's chance.

"Nothing special, just some history and basic knowledge about anomalies."

He told them about classification of anomalies and the extra information about Dread Cloud.

Minutes later he was chuckling as he looked at their reaction. It was exactly as he had guessed.

After finishing his ravioli, he went back to his room to continue his practice.

Paulina looked at Drakarion and confirmed.

"He chose the path of Cultivation right?"

He nodded while tearing apart another huge chunk of chicken.

The Brunette who aspired to be a mage giggled.

"No wonder he is in such a rush to practice. He will be the first among us to embark on a power system."

"Nope."

Valentina interrupted their convo, raising her hand.

Before any of them could speak, two thin threads slithered up her arm.

Paulina narrowed her eyes at her female companion.

"Snakes? Two at that? As far as I know, the first stage of the beast taming path only allows a single beast.

"Plus, the Academy gave you a pet so quickly?"

Valentina extended a finger, upon which the small white snake which almost looked like a thread slithered up.

"First, I've only contracted one of these two guys.

"And second, I found them myself where I was living. After verification the academy allowed me to have these two as my contracted beasts."

Drakarion grinned.

"It was lucky of you to come across two non-hostile beasts. No wonder you chose the path of beast taming.

"On that matter, your path uses internal energy too, right? You seemed to have sensed it quickly enough."

The blonde smiled, swatting her other hand as she replied.

"It's not actually the case, I got the practice technique a month ago so I had plenty of time to sense internal energy."

Each of them dispersed shortly after, heading to do their own work.

*****

Deep in the night, a shiny speck of light entered Eryndor's senses.

With his eyes still closed, he tracked the path of the speck of light, watching with bated breath as it entered the envisioned route of meridians.

Eryndor instantly felt as if he was undergoing a transformation, both physically and mentally.

I've read about this. It happens when you sense the Qi for the first time and bring it into your meridians, heralding your start of cultivation.

Without paying attention whatsoever to the transformation going on, Eryndor quickly focused on the Mind Palace.

Instantly, he found himself in the hall where he last left.

Gazing at the door which he failed to open last time, Eryndor took a deep breath and tried again.

It took every bit of strength he had, and the moment where the door stood closed as if something hadn't yet been achieved didn't take place.

Eryndor smoothly passed that hurdle.

Indeed, he needed to embark on a power system to open the door.

There was an Altar situated in the middle of the room with a cloak hovering above it.

There were a few sentences etched onto the Altar, with a bold heading above them.

[Sovereign's Cloak]

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor approached the altar, his steps slow and steady as he took in the majesty of the Cloak.

The Sovereign's Cloak was made of a dark black fabric. It was embroidered with golden runes, each of them pulsing faintly with a soft glow.

The edges were trimmed with a thin line of shimmering material embedded completely with various patterns.

Eryndor returned his gaze to the lines etched upon the altar.

[Sovereign's Cloak]

[Grade: Latent]

[An inviolable shield that encompasses all forms of protection, including but not limited to:

Defense against physical attacks.

Resistance to mental manipulation, psychic attacks and mind-reading.

Immunity against attempts to scry/divine your location or future.

Protection from control-based abilities such as immovability, body manipulation, and possession.]

[Note: The Sovereign's Cloak consumes energy of Consciousness]
Eryndor's eyes widened in surprise, his heart filled with astonishment as he read through its description.

Is it mine to use? I mean, of course it would be, but…wow. I wonder what does 'Latent' mean though.

And what is this new energy? No information I've come across ever mentioned this energy.

Judging by the name, he figured that it was probably an inherent energy which every living being possessed.

Eryndor stepped forward, now face to face with the cloak as he raised his hand to touch it, wariness evident in his approach.

Fortunately, nothing happened as the Cloak gracefully wrapped itself around his body as soon as he touched it.

It's comfortable.

The Cloak brought about a warm comfy feeling to him despite being in his own mental space.

He also noticed that the Cloak re-sized itself automatically to fit his personal body measurements.

Ahh, this Cloak looks cool as fuck. It's even better when I wear the hoodie.

He excitedly thought while examining the Cloak.

After looking around the room, he left after realizing there was nothing else.

The opened door now had a huge title above it.

[Sovereign's Cloak - Latent]

He paid no heed to it and advanced towards the next door.

As expected, when Eryndor tried opening the second door, it shook a bit compared to before when it was absolutely still.

Eryndor had a few guesses about the next condition to open the door so he calmly retreated from the Mind Palace.

When he was back in the real world, Eryndor realized the Cloak had followed him outside.

With a focused effort, it was gone.

Convenient. I can wear and remove it with a thought.

Eryndor relished in its ease of use but his mood dropped just as easily.

How will I explain where the Cloak is appearing from and where it is disappearing to?

He didn't know if something like spatial artifacts existed or not. He also had no idea if there were people with more than one talent.

Eryndor didn't intend to take any risk.

He contemplated briefly and ultimately settled on only using it when there was no possibility of its exposure unless a safer method came up.

Exhaling lightly, Eryndor leaned back into his bed and went to sleep as it was already midnight.

Practicing techniques didn't relieve you of the need to sleep, at least in the early stages.

*****

Eryndor woke up early in the morning, surprised to witness the training area already occupied with his roommates.

The two women were fighting against Drakarion, who still managed to maintain an upper hand.

Holy shit, I need to step up my game if I want more power.

His thoughts had two meanings, as he meant both in terms of hard work and the amount of skill his roommates had in combat.

Eryndor was quick to admit he was nowhere near the level of any of his roommates.

Paulina had a very dangerous style of combat, as she always went for the vitals. Her movements allowed her to always stay out of range of Drakarion's attacks and swoosh in within a moment to aim at vitals.

Valentina had an extremely basic combat style. She could only be on the receiving end of Drakarion's offense, launching a counterattack once in a while when Paulina attracted his attention.

Lastly, Drakarion had the most dominant combat style out of anyone Eryndor had seen. Granted, he wasn't into watching fights, but he still had a basic judging sense to realise that much.

His bare fists were powerful enough to match the gloved fists of Valentina, and even push her back.

It was a point of considerable importance because they weren't common gloves but specially reinforced heavy gloves.

Even in the face of Paulina's accurate strikes he always somehow turned the situation around such that he wouldn't be the one to retreat.

He counterattacked every chance he got, parrying strike after strikes easily to swing his hammer of a fist with deadly force and precision.

He seemed to have eyes everywhere, with an almost inhuman combat sense to always respond correctly in any situation.

Can I ever reach that level? Even if I practice endlessly?

Eryndor hesitated for a moment before a wry smile graced his face. It would be difficult.

But he quickly cheered up again.

He most likely wasn't a human, he could afford to not be stuck on limited means of combat.

Passive Regeneration

Telekinesis

Cognitive Scrying

And now, Sovereign's Cloak.

He could very easily afford an entirely different style of combat which had zero need to rely particularly on being proficient at basic human level of fighting.

The fight ended shortly after, with both of the women panting due to being out of stamina. Drakarion looked the same as always, with no hint of sweat or heavy breathing.

Eryndor was curious.

"Is your ability combat related?"

The young man grinned.

"Yes, but I never used it once in this fight. Or more like, I didn't feel the need to."

Without anyone prompting him, he continued with a laugh.

"No need to ask, I'll tell you. My ability is Damage Mitigation.

"As long as I am conscious, I can mitigate a part of the damage I received to anyone in my vicinity."

The two women had pale faces when they realized how much more difficult it would've been if they had managed to even land an attack.

Eryndor sighed and shook his head.

Fucking monster. Will I be able to defeat him if I use everything I've got?

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor didn't ultimately follow through with his idea.

He didn't want to expose his abilities to anyone here, not before he trusted them at least.

"Want to have a fight?"

Drakarion asked with a smile on his face. It wasn't anything malicious or with ill-intention but simply a basic question.

"I can't fight. I've never trained in this."

Eryndor shook his head.

"I'll only be asking for a beating if I spar with you."

Drakarion was quick to counter-offer after he gulped down water from a bottle nearby.

"I can teach you."

He hesitated but eventually gave in, it would indeed be beneficial to learn how to fight from someone as trained as Drakarion.

Both of them took their stances. The two women retreated to the side, but didn't leave the Training area. They were eager to learn as well.

The sound of training boots scuffing against ground echoed as Eryndor lunged at Drakarion. His punch was wild, straight at the young man's face.

Drakarion sidestepped with ease, his arm snapping out to strike his overextended elbow, forcing his balance forward.

"Lesson one: Control."

He spun behind Eryndor, his voice sharp.

"Overextension kills. Every move should flow—no wasted effort."

Eryndor stumbled but recovered, throwing a low kick aimed at his shin.

Drakarion caught it with his forearm and twisted, forcing him to hop awkwardly. Before he could regain his footing, the young man's heel slammed into Eryndor's shoulder, sending him to the ground.

"Lesson two: Stability. If you're not grounded, you're vulnerable. Unless you learn to fly of course."

Grunting, Eryndor scrambled back to his feet, his movements more deliberate now. He feinted left, drawing into a step, then darted in with a quick jab aimed at his ribs.

Drakarion smiled as he redirected the jab to the side and countered with a palm strike to his jaw, stopping just short of impact.

"Lesson three: Deception. Feints are good, but only when your opponent doesn't see them coming. Otherwise, you're just announcing your plans."

After wiping his hands against his pants, Eryndor adjusted his stance, trying to anticipate his next move.

Drakarion took the offensive this time, closing the distance with a sudden, fluid strike aimed at his neck.

Eryndor blocked it just in time and retaliated with a knee aimed at his midsection after a quick moment of thought. He caught his knee mid-arc and spun, dumping him on his back in one smooth motion.

As he gasped for air, he stood over him, hands on his hips.

"Lesson four: Adaptation. React, but don't overthink. In a real fight, hesitation is the same as death."

Eryndor groaned, pushing himself back up with a determined gleam in his eye.

"Got it. Control. Stability. Deception. Adaptation."

Drakarion smirked, extending a hand to pull him up.

"Good. There is obviously more to the fight but these are few of the overall basics which you should drill into your head."

Eryndor realized his forehead was already damp with sweat. He didn't think such a short spar would consume so much of his focus, attention and energy that he would start sweating.

Even with the transformation last night, it was a difficult match for him. It made Eryndor come to terms with the fact about how strong Drakarion actually was.

I need to start working hard.

He nodded to Drakarion, implying that he understood his advice.

Before he even left the Training area, Eryndor could already feel himself reinvigorating.

Passive regenerations even regenerates the energy I spent huh. Very convenient indeed.

Over breakfast, all four of them decided to take a mission to gather some credit points.

To obtain resources to get started on practicing different techniques or to speed up your practice, one needed to exchange them with credit points.

One can obtain credit points through a number of tasks listed in the mission hall.

As for the attendance in lectures, the Academy didn't attach much importance to it.

All the information taught in the lectures was recorded in the library, along with videos of personal tips from the professor and combat guidance.

What you actually missed out on was a chance to form connections with others, including the professor.

Eryndor left the villa after having a hefty breakfast, approaching the main building of the academy.

Since the other three had some work to do, he figured it would be convenient if he could choose their mission and do the registration by the time they arrived.

[Authority required: 1]

[Mission difficulty: 3]

[Mission venue: Kantos Town]

[Mission timing: The vehicle assigned to the mission leaves in an hour. The entire operation is estimated to last a week.]

[Mission Brief: Stray Animal Containment Operation]

[Objective: Contain and capture stray animals within the designated area, which has been affected by the local Anomaly.]

[Be advised: The animals may exhibit unpredictable or aggressive behavior due to their exposure.]

[The Academy will provide all necessary tools and protective gear for this mission. Ensure proper usage to minimize risk.]

[Health Advisory: While injuries sustained during the mission will be eligible for healing at an 80% discount, it is strongly advised to avoid harm.

Note that treatment for injuries caused by Anomaly-infected animals requires specialized healers, incurring significantly higher costs. Proceed with caution.]

[Rewards: Each participant will receive 50% of the realm one materials required to initiate their power system journey.

For students following a power system that does not require materials to initiate their journey or have already begun their path, equivalent-value practice materials will be provided as compensation.]

[Prepare carefully, remain vigilant, and prioritize teamwork.]

When Eryndor looked at the rewards he decided this was the mission he wanted.

It would help his roommates and give himself plenty of resources to speed up his cultivation.

Coupled with how strong his roommates were, he hesitated less than normal when he read the mission difficulty.

Drakarion is very strong, no doubt. Paulina is equally deadly, and Valentina has already contracted a beast, she shouldn't be weak.

If I discreetly use my other abilities, it should easily be a safe and rewarding mission.

Authority corresponded to the realm of power system required for the students to take up on the mission.

He figured their group's power already ranked high enough in realm one despite Drakarion and Paulina not having embarked on their power systems yet.

"Did you choose the mission?"

Valentina asked, she was the first to arrive.

"Yes, we'll leave in under an hour."

 

[Ardenox]

Paulina joined them a minute later, and Drakarion arrived last after about ten minutes.

When each of them stood up to leave, a group of people walking their way caught their attention.

A blonde woman was leading the group, her attire was a tracksuit with red linings.

Is she a professor? And why are they heading towards us?

Eryndor was indeed correct.

The leading woman introduced herself with an extended hand which Eryndor was quick to reciprocate.

"I am professor Melissa, my team would be travelling alongside you."

Upon noticing that all the four newbies before her were confused, she explained patiently.

"Your mission is in Kantos town too, right?"

Eryndor nodded, but refused to elaborate.

"Good, you shouldn't share your mission details with anyone other than your group.

"Anyway, we are the team which is responsible for dealing with the Anomaly."

All four of them raised their eyebrows at that, feeling quite surprised inwardly that they were already able to encounter squads which dealt with anomalies.

"As your professor and the seniors who constitute the rest of my group, you can ask us if you happen to have any trouble. We'll try our best to guide you regarding your mission.

"But don't get your hopes up, you'll still have to carry out the mission yourself."

Eryndor agreed with her, and politely responded to accept her help.

Out of courtesy, the four of them waited as the Professor took her group to register for the mission.

*****

The vehicle had two long rows of seats facing each other.

"What kind of anomaly is it?"

Eryndor asked professor Melissa who was sitting opposite him.

A student sitting beside her was the one to speak. It was a cute woman wearing glasses, scrunching her nose as she responded.

"What did professor Melissa speak about not long ago? It is a basic rule to not share mission details. Conversely, it's rude if you ask someone that."

Eryndor shrugged.

"I could argue that I simply want extra information related to my own mission. Do I not have the right to know more about the Anomaly I will be operating around?

"I am looking out for the safety of me and my teammates."

Professor Melissa was a woman who didn't religiously follow rules.

She narrowed her eyes at Eryndor with a smirk.

"Good point you've made there. But I can only say that the Academy would've given you the information if they deemed it necessary.

"Since they didn't share anything about the Anomaly with you, you can safely assume that the Academy has run simulations and other calculations where they determined that the chances of you encountering the Anomaly are nearly zero.

"Your safety is guaranteed as long as you don't intrude upon the area marked as red in the information package given to you."

Eryndor knew when to back down, not to mention he was conversing with a professor.

He respected them from the bottom of his heart for defending Earth.

Even if they got plenty of money and resources from doing so, it was still a profession fraught with dangers enough to threaten their life.

One of the seniors from the group sitting down the lane spoke amidst the talking which was going on among them.

"Do you want to share your mission details with us? Maybe we can guide you or give you some tips."

Eryndor was quick to refuse.

He was paranoid by nature. Who could guarantee that the senior won't come after them or sabotage their mission?

The atmosphere between the two groups couldn't be said to be harmonious exactly due to earlier exchange, but it didn't stop Eryndor from gathering more information.

I am nothing if not shamele—, hmm, curious. I am very curious.

With a doubtful look on his face, Eryndor once again posed a question to the professor who was simply sitting with her hands crossed beneath her chest.

"Professor Melissa, yesterday was our first lecture at the Academy, and I haven't yet had the chance to visit the library. Could you tell me about the realms of power in anomalies?

"In the lecture, we were taught about the Risk class, Disruption Class, and Containment class. But they are basically an evaluation about its ability right?

"There should also be inherent levels of power within them just like our power systems, no?"

Professor Melissa had a look of appreciation on her face as she replied.

"That's an astute observation you have there. Most students overlook that point once they are taught about the classification classes of anomalies."

She took a look outside through her window then glanced over everyone before resting her eyes back on Eryndor.

"We've almost reached so I can't really go into details. Since the Cosmic Limit has increased twice, we've assumed the current Cosmic Limit as two.

"And since the Cosmic Limit is two, the power level allowed in anomalies is also up to two.

"The two realms are Latent at realm one and Stable at realm two. You can find more in depth explanation and examples at the library.

"If you want to know even more, you'll have to increase your authority level. Which I am sure you know how to do."

Eryndor nodded his head, making sure to keep everything about himself normal.

There wasn't a hint of abnormality in his expression or any body movement.

Latent and Stable huh. Looks like I really am an anomaly sealed by the Human Federation in the past.

I wonder what level 'active' is at? Third level? Doesn't that mean I have an even greater advantage over others than I initially thought?

My abilities are literally above the Cosmic Limit.

Unless my opponent's abilities are so powerful that they can jump realms, it would be difficult to contend with my abilities haha.

A minute later the vehicle stopped near a gate.

As everyone disembarked wearing the battlesuits they were provided and equipment in hand, Eryndor looked at the signboard above the gate.

Welcome to Kantos Town.

Here begins my first mission.

 

[Ardenox]

The good natured senior who volunteered to share some tips earlier stopped by Eryndor's group as he offered his help again while they were moving into the town.

"Here's my number, if you happen to run into any difficulties, you can contact me."

He had distinct short light blue hair with gray eyes.

Coupled with his sunny smile, everyone who came across him for the first time couldn't help but have a good impression of him.

As soon as they were far away, Eryndor was quick to throw away the contact number in a nearby dustbin.

"Why did you do that?"

Valentina asked. She felt it would've been a good backup if they had a senior's number.

Eryndor never used his Cognitive Scrying on his roommates, as they had been good to him all this time.

It would prick his conscience to read the memories of someone he would be staying and getting along with. Hopefully.

But he had used it on the light blue haired senior just now as it was rare that a person would want to offer help despite being told off once.

Unsurprisingly, he learned that the senior's ability allowed him to sense the location of any object he locked on.

Eryndor didn't want a location tracker in his group, but he also couldn't expose his ability.

He simply cooked up a lie.

"I don't trust him.

"What if his ability allows him to influence the surroundings of any object he had locked on using his ability? Or something like sensing the location of the object?

"If he had locked on that card with the contact number then it would mean little to no privacy for us. What if they sabotage us?

"I don't want to take the risk of trusting any unsolicited help in this broken world. Not to mention he offered twice.

"There could be any type of ability out there, before I have complete information on people, I'd like to take a more cautious approach in dealing with them."

Eryndor then spread his hands as they headed towards the designated place of lodging mentioned in their information package.

"Anyway, all students have access to the Academy's website. It has all the professor's information including their medium of contacts up there.

"I checked earlier and Professor Melissa indeed has a contact no. which I've already saved in my phone. I feel it is far safer this way."

Drakarion laughed with a hint of teasing in his tone.

"Are you sure it's not because Professor Melissa looks hot that you saved her number?

"Red hair, red eyes, red lips. Did you fall so hard for her that you resorted to getting her number from the Academy's website?"

He laughed once again, drawing various kinds of looks from the passersby on the street.

Eryndor shrugged before spreading his hands.

"I gave my reasoning for my actions. You can interpret them in any way you want."

The four of them finally reached their inn.

The Academy had already booked their rooms so they directly headed upwards to keep their bags and discuss strategies for their mission.

*****

With Professor Melissa in the lead, the other group was heading towards their destination.

Their lodgings resided in the other part of the town, a bit closer to the center.

As she continued walking, a few seniors deliberately lagged behind the group.

The light blue haired young man who offered to help no longer had a sunny smile on his face. With a dark expression he glanced around their small group and said.

"My contact number which I gave them has stayed at a single place all along.

"It's either that they have thrown it or have never moved from the place."

One of the seniors chipped in.

"This group doesn't look easy to fool, that Eryndor fellow was too paranoid. How will we blackmail credits out of them?"

The Academy didn't care what happened between students as long as it didn't reach the point of killing each other.

According to them, if you were cheated by someone, it's because you were weak or weren't cautious enough.

The Academy drilled the words cautiousness every moment they got, emphasizing it to the point of it being the motto of humanity.

At the same time, in an inn far away from their current location, Eryndor sat cross legged on his bed.

I've never tested the limits of my abilities. I only ever tried cognitive scrying on small insects and telekinesis on small objects.

Eryndor took a deep breath and focused on the 'Telekinesis' aspect of his abilities.

Instantly, just like every time he covertly practiced, he got the view of the entire room from a high point.

Eryndor focused on increasing the intensity of his Telekinesis.

Gradually, the view it gave him began increasing in range. But he could also feel that something within him was draining.

The amount of my Qi is as it is. What could it be?

He then remembered the fifth energy written on the altar of Sovereign's Cloak.

Energy of Consciousness?

It was very likely that energy, as he couldn't think of anything else.

As his view kept increasing, the drain became increasingly large and fast.

A pretty fucking broken ability if you look at this insane range, a pity I can't smell, taste, feel or hear anything though.

It is still amazing though. I am pretty sure even realm two Stable level wouldn't have been able to do this.

Finally.

He mentally heaved a sigh as he gazed at the contact number written on the card.

Carefully, he picked it up and controlled it to move in the other direction.

He took care to avoid other people while he controlled the paper, eventually placing it inside the lobby of a certain inn nearby.

Don't blame me for this, you acted first.

Eryndor had a very clear understanding about himself. He had never fought any animal, and even considering his abilities, he preferred having backups.

If something went wrong, he could always use the contact card to lure that senior into arriving at any location of his choice.

It could be to act as a bait, as a diversion, as a meat shield, anything.

The ideas were endless.

To more effectively use the contact card such that the senior would immediately be able to arrive, he would first need to know the schedule of the other group.

After all, even a senior wouldn't be able to refuse orders from a professor if it happened to be his turn to carry out some task.

With a malicious chuckle, he laid down on his bed, intending to take a short nap before meeting with his roommates to decide their plans.

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor felt refreshed after the short nap just now, it felt like his fatigue had been washed out.

I didn't feel tired from the journey whatsoever. Is it because I used my ability at such intensity that I felt fatigued?

It checks out I guess, energy of Consciousness huh. So if I happen to completely drain it while using my abilities, will I be knocked unconscious?

He made a mental note of this point and headed towards the living room of their booked apartment.

The two women were already present, chatting softly when their eyes caught Eryndor leaving his room.

"As always, it's Drakarion who is late again."

Paulina giggled while speaking, glancing at Valentina before continuing.

"Alright, I won the bet. You owe me a meal."

Valentina had a helpless smile on her face while agreeing to it.

They waited for a while before Drakarion finally joined them.

"So? How are we proceeding?"

Eryndor looked around before posing a question.

"We'll need information."

Valentina replied, to which Paulina added.

"We'll need to gather information from all the residents of the town first to have an estimate of exactly how many animals were infected."

"Alright, information first then. But we can directly head towards the town's mayor for information.

"We can ask him to notify every member of the town to upload the number of infected animals they've seen, preferably with a proof.

"I'll make a basic form where they can upload the data and a document which will record all of it."

Eryndor added his own points. He worked in the IT department before he awakened, so this was just one of the many small skills he had.

"What next?"

Drakarion asked while eating from his bag of chips.

"Then we will first target infected animals which are likely to stay alone.

Possibly the smaller, weaker ones so we get an idea of how exactly the infected ones act."

Eryndor suggested.

Valentina advised modifying the plan a bit.

"Maybe we can also gather information on people who were attacked by these infected animals?

"It would be better still if we know how the infected animals behave before dealing personally with them."

Eryndor jotted down the points before glancing up back at them.

Drakarion crumpled the now empty bag of chips and spoke.

"I'll fight first. Y'all can watch me. We'll have no problems. Mission finished."

Eryndor chuckled helplessly, inwardly feeling that what Drakarion said was not completely wrong.

There was indeed a possibility that Drakarion alone was strong enough to handle all the infected animals.

"Alright then, today we'll focus on information gathering, we'll start capturing the animals from tomorrow."

It took Eryndor barely ten minutes to get the form and document ready.

The four of them then moved out, eager to approach the town's mayor. It was a good thing that the Mayor's office wasn't located in the red circle mentioned in the information package.

Along the way, they learned from various people that the town's mayor this year barely won the election.

His position was so shaky and that it could have been uprooted by the opposition anytime.

But a few weeks ago, one of the leaders of the opposition died from a heart attack, one went missing and one had fallen sick.

Everyone was suspicious about the mayor but there was no evidence connecting him to the murders.

The Human Federation also didn't have the leisure to involve itself in petty squabbles over power in every other city or town, so the mayor was still sitting firmly in his position.

The four of them reached the mayor's office within twenty minutes, and immediately secured an appointment once they displayed their Academy's badge.

As they sat in the guest room, a middle aged man who looked to be on the younger side—probably in early thirties—entered the room.

He had dark brown hair along with pitch black eyes, pairing it with his average stature, he had a rather ordinary look.

Eryndor stood up and extended his hand as soon as the man entered the room.

"Eryndor here, we are students sent from the Academy to resolve an issue in the town."

"My name is John Altreck. I was informed of your visit. Is there any way I can be of any help to you?"

"We'll need your urgent help regarding information about the infected animals."

Eryndor explained to him about what he expected of the Mayor, and he was very open to coordination if it helped the town.

He promised to send patrols all over the town to inform people to fill up the form at the earliest.

Eryndor was tempted to use cognitive scrying as the matter of the mayor's opposition dying and falling sick were too suspicious, but ultimately abided by his principles.

He had recently been pondering over the issue, and had a rather far fetched guess.

He knew that he awakened when he genuinely doubted his identity as a human for the first time.

He might very well be an Eldritch Entity before he was sealed, but he had no memories of it.

Eryndor therefore had very little attachment to his life before being sealed.

If anything, he was simply curious about his past, a few important specifics such as who sealed him, and a hunger to unlock the power locked away within him.

The hunger for power was related to protecting his and his closed ones' lives rather than a selfish desire.

A part of what made him human were his memories, emotions, principles and morals.

If he let go of his principles, it might be a threat to his identity. Uncontrollable changes might take place.

What if he lost all memories if the seal completely broke apart? Reverting him to his Eldritch form?

He would be destroying the Earth where his parents and friends lived.

He had read in several fantasy books about how truly powerful beings had no personality or a sense of identity. Just actions based on the concept they represented or embodied.

What if something similar happened to him?

Eryndor didn't want to take any risks.

He simply narrowed his eyes at the mayor before leaving the room.

Their team would soon have information on all the infected animals along with the experience of people dealing with them by the night.

Tomorrow would be the day they would set out to capture them.

Eryndor was looking forward to it.

 

[Ardenox]

In a different inn of the Kantos town, the other group was planning their mission as well.

The students sat in various places in the big living room, with professor Melissa standing near the map stuck on a wall.

While they were going through their plans, a brown haired student sitting on a table spoke.

"How about we unlock our Mystical Artifact first? I don't want mishaps to happen when our group is fighting against the Anomaly."

The idea was clearly well received as several students agreed to it.

Professor Melissa had a pensive look on her face as she thought about the proposal.

There was a box kept in the center of the room. Attached to it was a circular device.

It was a specially made box designed by The Human Federation to contain Mystical Artifacts.

Mystical Artifacts, similar to anomalies, came in all shapes and sizes, with all kinds of abilities.

If a person wanted to use them, they had to go through the side effects which came with them.

Certain Mystical Artifacts were locked when a team applied to use it during a mission.

It was so that no one would have to go through side effects when carrying it with them.

Some of these locked Mystical Artifacts were bound by a sensor so that the box would only be unlocked when the sensor detected an anomaly nearby.

There were various reasons for such an arrangement, with one of the cases being when a Mystical Artifact was hostile to all entities, with increased hostility towards anomalies.

In this case it would only be appropriate for it to be unlocked in the presence of an anomaly where the Mystical Artifact would focus all its attention on the anomaly and not attack anyone else.

The main difference between Mystical Artifacts and Anomalies was that the former doesn't have consciousness, while the latter may or may not have it.

There was a common saying in The Human Federation.

'All Mystical Artifacts can be Anomalies but not all Anomalies can be Mystical Artifacts.'

Professor Melissa finally relented to the idea.

It was not because she was a weak leader but she knew how to consider the opinions of her group, and the student's point was indeed valid.

Adding on top of it was the fact that their Mystical Artifact was only locked because of the possibility of there being students in the group who could have ill-intentions towards it.

She had already read the information about the Mystical Artifact, it had no side effects when merely carrying it or any need of sensor lock. It had a sensor lock purely for the above mentioned reason.

There would be no problems if I unlocked it and kept it on me at all times. After all he is indeed correct, I don't want to rely on having it unlocked just before or during the confrontation with the Anomaly.

She looked towards the student who made the suggestion. She met his gaze, her piercing red eyes flashing a warning as they locked with his black ones.

She spoke. "Very well Rodrick, we'll unlock it before we confront the anomaly so that there's less of a reliance on its sensing mechanism at tense moments."

The student who made the suggestion, Rodrick, simply shrugged helplessly with a smile at the subtle warning directed at him.

*****

A few hours later after all four of them spent the day practicing or gathering extra information through their own means, they gathered in the inn's restaurant.

"Did y'all find anything impressive?"

Paulina spoke up after slurping on her noodles.

"I don't know if it can be counted as interesting but this information I got would've taken some time to find out. Kinda rare.

"It's about the mayor of this town. Apparently, his younger brother was invited to the Academy.

"This was one of the major things he relied on to win the elections."

Drakarion rolled an eye at her as he replied.

"I am pretty sure there are countless politicians out there who've got blood connections with the Human Federation or the Academy, what's rare about it?"

"Have some patience, would you?" Paulina exaggeratedly raised her eyebrows and deliberately made a haughty impression before continuing.

"His younger brother is in the other mission team which arrived with Professor Melissa.

"His name is Rodrick Altreck."

Eryndor raised an eyebrow at that as he responded with a smile.

"What are the chances of this happening? That the mission professor Melissa happened to choose was one where he was involved too? A rare occurrence—" He shot a look at Paulina "And rare information indeed."

They talked over dinner about a few more random topics, and their life before awakening before they finally retreated to their apartment.

All four of them gathered in the living room, their eyes on Eryndor as he checked the document.

"There are a few more people who are left to give their inputs, the mayor was really efficient with his task I must say."

"True, it would've taken us much more time if we individually visited the homes or asked the mayor to compile the information."

Valentina remarked.

Eryndor glanced at the document then at the clock.

"Let's wait a bit more so that all the people have given their input."

In this age, with the Anomalies and the Eight Outer Domains running amok, the common public had long realized that it was only the Human Federation which was willing to shelter them.

Therefore, when it came to important matters like dealing with the anomaly or even infected animals, the common populace took it seriously to respond to any demands of the mission teams.

They had enough common sense to realize that if a mistake happened on their end, they could very well die if the mistake held back the mission team from dealing with the threat.

Approximately half an hour later, all the houses situated in the Kantos town had given their inputs.

It was time to check the numbers and traits of the infected animals.

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor opened up the document and gave them the number.

"Well, fortunately it looks like this town didn't rely much on farming livestock.

"A few houses had cultivated chickens but they were easily dealt with by the people of the house themselves.

"There are around a hundred infected animals. There isn't an accurate number because some of the information isn't reliable or their proof overlaps with others.

"The infected animals mainly consist of dogs, cats, wild boars and a couple of bears."


"Bears are bad news."

Valentina spoke with a frown on her face.

Eryndor similarly had a grim expression as he continued.

"Yes, and on top of that, both of the bears are in the vicinity of the area which was marked red in the information package.

"It is mentioned that we aren't to intrude, and preferably not go near the red area at all."

Seeing that everyone was deep in thought, he continued.

"As for the abilities of the infected abilities, their physical parameters have seen an increase in all aspects.

"They displayed intense aggression upon seeing any not-infected lifeform, excluding trees. Their teeth and claws transmit poison which acts upon the lungs.

"They can be calmed down forcefully by waving big green leaves in front of their eyes. The aggression surfaces afterwards within five minutes of removing the leaves from in front of their eyes."

Eryndor took a deep breath and kept aside his laptop, taking a piece of paper from a locker nearby and drawing a crude map on it.

He then referenced the laptop and marked various spots on it.

"Well, these are the spots where these infected animals are usually found. People are forced to stay indoors all the time, or carry a big leaf with them if it's a necessity to leave the house."

Paulina gave a side eye to Drakarion as she responded.

"Makes sense. Even an aggressive cat or dog would be deadly enough for a person. Not everyone is like Drakarion."

Drakarion took the remark in stride, smirking and lifting his head in an exaggerated gesture of arrogance.

He then spoke as if it was obvious.

"So we are going from low risk to high risk animals, correct? With approximately 15-20 captures per day."

"Yup." Valentina agreed.

Eryndor had already begun rummaging through the supplies given by the Academy in search of an antidote which would counter poison from the infected animals.

A few minutes later, he was done gathering all the supplies including the big green leaves, which he bought from the inn.

"Alright, we're ready. Let's go early tomorrow so we can spend more time getting used to fighting infected animals.

"For the later days we can adjust the timing as we see fit based on how tomorrow went."

Every one of them nodded their heads and bid good nights before heading to their rooms.

Eryndor laid down on his bed and closed his eyes, intending to use his telekinesis to cross check with the map.

It never hurts to be cautious.

Just like the previous time, as his view extended beyond the room, the feeling of being drained increased, bringing along with a slight fatigue which he previously failed to notice.

As his view increased to eventually expand the entire town, he finally began feeling a kind of slight limitation on his ability. He could maybe go on for a bit more distance.

So this is the limit of my ability huh? A bit more than the size of a town.

He fully expanded his view, stretching it to the limits as he began verifying the places one by one.

Eryndor could feel that with the rate at which the drain was taking place, he could only maintain it for about twenty minutes.

And if he used telekinesis to move something, depending on the weight, the duration would further decrease.

After about ten minutes, he halted the use of his Telekinesis when he was done verifying all the places.

The sense of fatigue which began building up when he extended his view had increased to the point of being painful.

Headache crashed into his mind wave after wave as he tried massaging to relieve the pain.

He endured the pain and brought the map in front of his eyes before placing it back on the bedside lamp.

I didn't incorrectly memorize the places on the map.

Eryndor came across a confusing discovery while scouting the area just now.

There were no bears.

All the other information was correct, with simply a minute degree of deviation in a few infected animals.

But in the case of bears, even if he compromised on the range of other directions to increase it on the side of bears, he found no trace of them.

Wrong information?

Eryndor felt something was amiss about the whole situation.

He endured the intense headache and fatigue holding back his body as he struggled to get his laptop on the bed.

There are plenty of people who've witnessed the bear, but none of them seem to have any proof though.

Normally he would have dismissed it. There was no need for proof if so many people input information about having seen the bear.

Although the number couldn't be said that it was the majority of the people of town or even half of them, it was still a lot.

But why would so many people put such information? Or could it be that the bears have moved over deeper into the jungle or that I didn't search quite thoroughly?

The intense headache interfered with his ability to think logically but he was trying nonetheless.

An idea finally struck him in a few seconds.

He opened a new tab and searched if there was a local website for this town.

If not that, he hoped to search for any kind of website or page which would have information about this town.

After about a dozen minutes of searching, Eryndor finally stumbled upon pieces of information regarding the town.

It was the kind of miscellaneous information not related to the mission so the Academy didn't deem it necessary to include it in the information package.

He went through the information thoroughly, making sure to also check the images with extreme detail.

Finally after an hour of working hard, he gathered enough clues to form a point which was almost really the truth.

All the people who talked about witnessing the bears are from the mayor's faction.

Eryndor felt genuinely confused.

What was going on?

 

[Lillie Jones]

Watching

 

[Ardenox]

Watching

Click to shrink...

Thanks for reading!

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor knew something was wrong when things weren't making sense.

He sat down calmly on the bed, his headache finally residing a bit.

Did they do it on the orders of the mayor? But why would the mayor deliberately ask his people to send wrong information?

Eryndor assumed for a moment that it was indeed the mayor who directed his people to do it.

But then he had trouble thinking 'why' would he do this?

What would he get out of sending us incorrect information? And that too one which was so useless?

Eryndor termed this incorrect information useless because it was about a strong infected animal which wasn't present at the first place.

If it was incorrect information about a place having a weak infected animal when in reality it had a strong infected animal, it would've put his group in lethal danger.

At least there would be an outcome.

What good would this information do though?

The only thing which stood out about this was that the place of bears was close to the red area which the information package prohibited them from entering.

Again, what good would that do if we never set foot in the red area though?

It was still a uselessly wrong information.

Eryndor thought hard about everything, recalling all the information he had including the conversation with his teammates.

Aha!

He finally recollected something Drakarion spoke about not long ago.

He spoke about going from low risk to high risk infected animals as if it was only obvious.

The rest of his teammates, including himself, had agreed back then as if it was only logical to do things that way.

Why wouldn't it be? When battling with unfamiliar opponents, everyone wished to get used to fighting by going against a weaker opponent first.

By that logic, they would head towards the bears at the very end.

It would most likely be the last day of their mission where they would decide to deal with the bears after capturing all the other infected animals.

Eryndor's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he arrived at this point in his train of thought.

Could it be that the mayor wants us to head there on the last day of our mission?

He shook his head as the point still made little sense even with the addition of a specific date.

They could still choose to not head into the red area which was the only notable risk there.

Eryndor finally couldn't think any more.

Chuck it, I'll think about it tomorrow after I get some more information. It's time to rest.

He knew in the back of his mind that he needed to get the schedule plan of the other team from the blue haired senior through his Cognitive Scrying.

But Eryndor had no doubts that he would fall unconscious straight away if he once more tried extending his range and using Cognitive Scrying on top of it.

I might come across some useful information there which would help me fill the gaps in this incorrect information.

Eryndor of course hadn't forgotten about Rodrick Altreck, who was supposed to be the younger brother of the Mayor and also one of the members of the other group.

But he had no idea how to fit him into the current scenario so he could only be left aside.

*****

The next morning everyone left early to head towards their first target.

All four of them had donned their battle suits, equipped with multiple antidotes, painkillers and tranquilizers.

Yes, tranquilizers, since the mission was to capture the infected animals, and not kill them.

The error margin allowed was twenty percent, which meant if they mistakenly kill animals, it would be fine as long as they still turned over about eighty percent of the total infected animals.

Eryndor thought curiously as he walked alongside his team.

Which means the Academy already has plenty of information about this place. They already know there are around a hundred infected animals here.

On second thought, it made sense. Why else would the Academy be able to put a difficulty rating on the mission if they didn't have plenty of information about it.

It was part of the students' mission and learning process to find crucial information themselves.

The four of them finally reached their first spot.

Eryndor used his third person view of ability along with his extended range to quickly find the cat.

It was sleeping near the foot of a tree.

Subtly, he guided the team towards its direction while instructing them to keep quiet.

Everyone followed him, witnessing their target shortly.

Eryndor gestured to them by putting a finger on his lips.

Then, he directed Drakarion and Paulina to hold the limbs of the cat.

Before the cat could even register what was happening, Eryndor took out a tranquilizer and swiftly administered it.

Its piercing red eyes sent shivers down his spine as he watched them close gradually.

Its meows turned into whispers before the cat fully calmed down.

Eryndor was deep into thought as he made a note of one thing.

Infected animals seemed to have their senses lowered, else there is very little probability that a cat of all animals would be oblivious to people approaching, unless it was really in deep sleep.

I'll need more data on this.

"A rather uneventful first encounter I must say."

Drakarion remarked as he dusted his hands.

Valentina glared at him.

"What? You wanted someone to die instead?"

The battle fanatic young man helplessly put up his hands as he defended himself.

"Nope, not that intense either, you misunderstood me. I was just looking forward to a good fight."

Paulina used a two-wheeler vehicle to deliver the cat back to their inn while the three of them moved to the second location.

It was also a cat, this one a bit on the grayer side of color.

By the time they reached, Paulina had already returned.

"Meowwww."

The gray furred cat quickly pounced on the nearest person, who happened to be Eryndor.

Not one to be panicked so easily, he quickly used telekinesis to subtly change its direction and avoided the jump by sidestepping.

No one noticed what happened.

Eryndor mentally heaved a sigh at that and turned around to continue the fight.

 

[Ardenox]

As everyone focused on the battle, Eryndor carefully hid the contact card plenty of meters away below a few plants through his telekinesis.

I can't afford to extend my range drastically to move the contact card elsewhere, bringing it along with us is the only option.

Eryndor had to make a point to the blue haired senior who could sense the location of the card that they were indeed hunting the infected beasts.

As he thought of that, something suddenly clicked in him, but this wasn't the time to ponder over things so he shelved the thought aside.

Drakarion took the opportunity to kick the cat before giving it any time to stabilize itself.

The expected moment of the cat shooting off to crash into a tree didn't take place considering the force Drakarion put into his kick.

It only slightly pushed back the cat.

The kick only served to further infuriate the infected animal as claws emerged from within its paws.

The claws shined with ominous purple lustre even amidst the jungle, showcasing its sharpness.

"Uh oh."

Eryndor softly exclaimed.

The fight's difficulty just went up by a notch.

Drakarion positioned himself between the cat and the group, eager to protect his teammates and also to have the fight to himself.

The cat lunged once again.

Drakarion had a better response than Eryndor in that he slightly swerved to dodge the claws and launched a heavy punch at its head.

The punch landed right below its ear, emitting a heavy sound.

Everyone saw the cat's head snap to the side as it fell on the ground a few distance away due to momentum of its own earlier lunge.

"Do we already have the first casualty?"

Valentina spoke while glancing at Drakarion.

As if to answer their question, the cat stood up once again.

But they could see that it was swaying on its feet, no longer able to even walk perfectly.

It still had the aggression in its demeanor but it was as if its body wasn't listening to its command.

"Brain damage."

Paulina commented.

Eryndor stepped forward with a tranquilizer in his hand, understanding their roles, Paulina and Drakarion followed suit and held the cat.

Soon, the second infected animal was captured as well.

Just like last time, Paulina delivered the cat back to their inn and returned to join the group.

The battles were relatively easier, even when they encountered dogs.

Drakarion took care of pretty much everything, except one time when there was an extra cat in the surrounding area as they were dealing with an existing one.

Eryndor already knew about it, but alerted Drakarion only when the cat was in sight.

Paulina was quick and extremely accurate with her daggers, stabbing straight into its stomach while it was mid-air in its leap towards Drakarion.

Eryndor quickly tranquilized the cat while it was skewered on her dagger, storing it in a specialized bag before strapping it to the two wheeler.

By the end of the day, they had far exceeded their initial estimations, capturing around 40 infected animals.

While they were on their way to return to their inn, Eryndor recollected the conjecture he thought about earlier.

Did the blue haired senior put a tracker on us so that they can keep track of our movements? That we are indeed going from low to high risk infected animals?

Eryndor felt confused.

What connections did the blue haired senior have with the Mayor? Was the blue haired senior's name Rodrick Altreck? Was he the Mayor's younger brother?

He tapped on Paulina's shoulder.

"Do you happen to know how Rodrick looks? The Mayor's younger brother if you remember."

The trio's discussion stopped as Eryndor interjected with a completely new topic, with all of them glancing at him.

Paulina tilted her head, thought for a moment then answered with a bit of hesitation.

"I think he should have brown hair just like the Mayor. There was one among the group who looked a bit like the Mayor and had brown hair."

Eryndor nodded. "Thanks, that's some impressive memory."

She remembers the faces of so many people? That's kinda impressive.

Clearly, the rest of the teammates thought the same as both Drakarion and Valentina praised her about it.

Paulina smiled wryly, but didn't offer any explanation.

Eryndor fell back into thought.

So it's not the blue haired senior after all.

Then there is no connection between the location sensing and our team being fed information to head towards the vicinity of the red area?

Eryndor felt as if a layer of fog was surrounding all the events.

What was the missing link?

He heaved a deep sigh and decided to get a quick nap before trying to do a Cognitive Scrying on the blue haired senior.

Using Telekinesis on the contact card the entire day had left him feeling pretty tired with a slight headache.

It seems I made a good choice by using Telekinesis at a lesser range.

The drain seemed to be lesser than last night where he merely tested the limits of his range.

So range drains more energy than usage? Or is it because the constant card was so light that my usage was so less?

I'll need to keep experimenting for accurate data.

The four of them had a hefty dinner before retreating to their respective rooms.

All the captured animals had already been stored in the Academy's vehicle.

After about an hour, Eryndor groggily woke up due to the sound of the alarm.

Ah yes, I was supposed to wake up.

He didn't feel tired anymore, nor was there any sign of headache.

With a focused mind, he sat up and tapped into his ability.

This time he would be using Cognitive Scrying to extend his range and tap into the blue haired senior's mind.

Since both the abilities were at 'Active' rank, Eryndor hoped this one had an impressive range as well, else his future actions would be quite constrained.

As he activated the ability, his vision switched to that of the familiar third person view of his room.

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor immediately went to work, focusing on extending his view beyond the normal range.

Withstanding the feeling of drain, he only increased the range in the inner part of the town.

He had seen them walking in that direction the other day.

His vision passed over the numerous buildings and a few people who were still loitering out in the chilly night before finally spotting an inn.

Eryndor checked all the rooms, but didn't find the blue haired senior.

It's not this one.

He moved over to two other inns before he found the senior in the fourth inn.

The entire group was in different apartments, with professor Melissa having one full apartment entirely to herself.

He focused on 'Cognitive Scrying' while gazing at the blue haired senior.

Instantly, just like the previous times when he used this ability, his consciousness was transported into a dark place.

There were multiple light balls floating around, Eryndor could choose what memory he wanted to read.

He could think of commands like 'recent memory', 'important memory', 'sad memory' and many more types.

With a little more focus, Eryndor could also do things such as picking a word and filtering it through the memory.

He immediately thought of the recent memories and came across his memories starting from a few days ago.

He fast-forwarded through most of them, getting to know how Rodrick Altreck looked in the process.

From the looks of his memory, it seemed the two were friends. The blue haired senior's name was Jeremy.

Eryndor put a halt on the fast-forwarding scenes when the group meeting came up in the memories.

Unlike watching a movie, Cognitive Scrying could enable a person to read a large amount of memory in a few seconds.

Shortly after, Eryndor already knew what had happened in the planning session.

Satisfied that he got what he wanted, Eryndor focused on the thought of 'cancelling Cognitive Scrying' and felt his view shift once again.

He immediately withdrew all of his range and settled back down on his bed.

There are two concerning points in his memory.

The first one was that in Jeremy's memory of the recent few days, there was an instant where there was no sound, emotion, or sight.

He would have passed it off as the time when he was sleeping, since a person didn't have any sight, sound or emotion associated with the memory of when they were sleeping.

But it was not the case.

There was a complete blank canvas in that certain timeframe. And it wasn't when he was sleeping.

That timeframe was when Jeremy gave their group the contact card.

What the fuck is happening? Why does Jeremy have a blank space at that moment?

That wasn't the only weird thing about it. After the blank area was a dense space, where many memories resided.

Normally speaking, a person should have a memory span of ten seconds if they experienced ten seconds in real life.

But the dense part somehow had twenty seconds for ten seconds of real life.

And the suspicious thing about this was, that the extra ten seconds in the dense part belonged to the blank space which came before it.

This enabled Jeremy to be aware that he had given their group the contact card.

What the fuck is up with this jumbled mess in his memories?

What exactly was that blank space? And why was there a dense collection of memories just after it?

The second concerning point was that in the group meeting, Rodrick had suggested unlocking the Mystical Artifact of their group early.

Through Jeremy's memories he knew what Mystical Artifacts were, and he couldn't help but feel Rodrick was suspicious due to all the events he had previously encountered.

Eryndor endured the headache in his head and once again used Cognitive Scrying.

Keeping the range absolutely narrow, he once again reached Jeremy's room and repeated the procedure.

This time, he went back in time in his memories and only left after finding what he suspected.

Returning to the view of his own body, Eryndor massaged his head due to the increasingly severe headache he was experiencing.

But the discovery he just made left him feeling unsettled.

The period of blankness had appeared in Jeremy's memories once in the past before.

It was just after he told Rodrick about his ability when they were preparing for a test.

Eryndor could feel his rising heartbeat as a layer of fog was cleared away.

So there is indeed a connection between the location sensor from Jeremy and the information pointing towards the red area from the Mayor.

Rodrick is the connecting point.

Eryndor thought for a long time before opening the group chat of his teammates and sending a message.

"Does anyone know what causes blank space in a memory? And no, the target still has recollection of what took place due to the fact that the memory which belongs in the blank area overlapped with the memory in the part next to blank space."

It was a far fetched attempt but he was willing to try anything.

From the looks of it, all three of his roommates were trained quite professionally.

There was a faint possibility that they might have extraordinary origins, a suspicion Eryndor had harbored for some time.

He had first entertained the thought when Drakarion effortlessly overpowered students who had been training at the Academy far longer than him, utilizing its resources to their full extent.

Likewise, Paulina not only had a clear concept for her own spell model but also seemed familiar with the Academy's spell model archives—particularly the one she had been eyeing as her target to acquire.

And lastly, Valentina had already sensed her internal energy and contracted a beast before even joining the Academy, not to mention she had one more in reserve. Both of her beasts had passed the Academy's verification.

Despite having suspicions, Eryndor had always been tactful about it, never posing a question to them.

He would only discuss it if they breached the topic themselves.

Now, when he had already explored nearly everything, asking his roommates seemed to be a viable choice for further clarity on the situation at hand.

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor gazed at the group chat, and immediately saw Paulina typing.

After a few seconds she sent a reply.

"That's traces of being mind controlled. One done by a newbie mind you.

"That blank space is caused due to the person directly mind controlling the victim.

"Since it was them who was controlling the body of the victim in that period, the memory of that time frame is blank.

"But to not alert the victim, making them realize that there is a gap in their memory, the mind controllers send their own memory of controlling the victim's body immediately into their brain so the victims have a recollection of that event and there is no gap in their memory.

"Professional mind controllers will ensure that the memory they send back will fill up the blank space, not overlap it with the next part."

There was another message from Drakarion just below it.

"Another subtle way to check if the person was mind controlled is to go through the emotions and thought process.

"The period when they were mind controlled will often have a thought process and emotions which deviates from the victim's inherent thought process and emotions regarding the event.

"For example, suppose that the victim is an animal lover, with emotions of pity, sympathy and helplessness arising when they watch an animal cruelty video.

"But if there is a period of time when the associated emotion with animal cruelty is pleasure, and excitement, then you know something is wrong.

"Again, a professional mind controller will ensure all the thought processes, decision making and emotions are exactly like the victim's inherent ones."

Eryndor roughly understood the gist of it.

It seemed he was indeed correct, both Drakarion and Paulina had plenty of knowledge.

Eryndor didn't have any clue if the above knowledge was available in the library.

Therefore he couldn't deduce if they got their information from the library or somewhere else, so he only noted this point mentally.

Just like how he maintained tact about them, the two of his teammates also didn't ask why he needed the information this late at night or how he got his hands on such information.

With those thoughts out of his head, Eryndor's heart turned cold when he realized the current situation.

Rodrick mind controlled Jeremy to use his ability and give us the contact card.

Since Rodrick is the Mayor's younger brother, could it be that he was the one who asked the Mayor to give us false information through the people in his faction?

One thing was clear, Rodrick was deeply involved in whatever was happening and wanted to bring their group of four into the midst.

Eryndor took a deep breath and tried connecting the dots in his head, but there was still plenty of missing information.

He helplessly shook his head.

I need to increase my own strength.

If he had enough strength, no matter how wrong things went, he would be able to handle it.

Before going back to sleep, Eryndor practiced cultivation according to his usual habit.

He controlled a fixed amount of Qi, and circulated them through the route mentioned in the practice technique.

With the amount of Qi gathered in his meridians, it seemed he was on the brink of the minor stage one of the Qi Gathering realm.

Eryndor wasn't elated by the fast progress.

He knew it was quick only because he was in the earlier stages of it and that the concentration of energy in Earth had increased due to the recent increase in Cosmic Limit

Cultivation would only get more difficult as he continued climbing up the stages and realms.

With strict discipline, he laid back down on his bed only after completing a fixed amount of circulations.

Recently he had noticed something interesting.

Cultivation helped him deal with the fatigue in his body which was a result of using his abilities.

Unfortunately it did nothing to the headache.

Would I have to practice the mentalist world's practice technique to deal with the headache?

Due to no data on it, he shelved that thought aside and went to sleep.

*****

The next day was pretty much the same, except more of the team participated in the fights.

It was no longer Drakarion alone fighting the animals.

There was also a piece of good news, Drakarion seemed to have finally sensed his Internal Energy, boosting his prowess to new heights.

To start his Martial Arts journey however, he would still need the resources to refine his physique, stepping into the first realm of Iron Body.

When he laid down on his bed that night, Eryndor eventually decided to perform a Cognitive Scrying on Rodrick.

He was the one who made the first move, so Eryndor no longer had any scruples.

He simply couldn't do it the previous night because he had already extensively used his abilities, resulting in intense fatigue and headache.

Eryndor transitioned into his usual posture and activated his Cognitive Scrying.

With the familiar third person view, he began extending his range towards the inn where the other group was living.

After arriving there, he began scanning the faces of everyone there, searching for Rodrick who should be sleeping amongst them.

Huh?

There was no sign of Rodrick anywhere in the inn.

Where did he go?

Eryndor had no idea where Rodrick had gone.

If he blindly extended his range to cover the entire town, he would once again experience the intense exhaustion and crippling headache similar to that day.

Not to mention he would also no longer be able to further use Cognitive Scrying on Rodrick.

He couldn't imagine the pain if he pressed on with his ability after extending his range to cover the entire town.

After a bit of hesitation, he decided to go through Jeremy's memories.

Although he was a victim to Rodrick's mind control, he knew through his memories that he used his ability to corner newbies when they were alone and extort their credits along with the rest of his friends.

Even though he felt mildly confused why he gave them his contact card with his ability during the mission with professor Melissa nearby, he had still anyway planned to take his group and threaten them if they kept the contact card on them till they returned to the Academy.

Soon, Eryndor knew from his memory that Rodrick had taken permission to spend the night at his older brother's residence.

It's time to go to the Mayor's house.

 

[JangGun]

Was is a quest at one point cause it reads like a quest turned to story. I'm a good way

 

[Ardenox]

Was is a quest at one point cause it reads like a quest turned to story. I'm a good way

Click to shrink...

Huh? I don't get what you said. Do you mean this mission turned into something like an arc in itself? And that you liked it?

If I guessed correct, I am glad you're liking it! This mission has a lot more to offer!

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor controlled his range and headed towards the Mayor's house.

Through Jeremy's memory, he already knew where he resided so it didn't take long to find it.

It was a rather magnificent mansion which contrasted sharply with the majority of the houses in the Kantos town.

Politicians, all the same.

He inwardly sighed but continued nonetheless.

He scanned all the rooms, but was startled to discover Rodrick wasn't present here as well.

Might as well search the Mayor's memories.

Eryndor descended and looked at the sleeping mayor, with a thought, his Cognitive Scrying was activated.

It took only about a few seconds to scan through the memories of the past few days.

It turned out that when they visited the Mayor that day, the person had called his younger brother just after they left.

On the call, Rodrick instructed the Mayor to feed their group of four wrong pieces of information.

So it is confirmed, it was indeed Rodrick who indirectly fed us wrong information, and also the one who put the location tracker on us.

Eryndor didn't know if anyone in their group had offended Rodrick or if he was plotting against them just for the sake of it.

Do we look easy to bully?

Eryndor had a dark expression on his face. No one liked being on the receiving end of beating.

He couldn't wait to get to the bottom of this matter so he could foil whatever plans he had.

Now that the Mayor was confirmed to be an accomplice, Eryndor went deep into his memories to find out about the misfortune of his opposition in the election.

Maybe he could find something?

The results didn't disappoint.

John Altreck, the Mayor, had indeed asked his younger brother if there was any way to remove the opposition so his position could be more stable.

Rodrick had agreed to his request at that time, and in a span of last few weeks, one of the opposition leaders died through heart attack, one went missing and one fell sick.

There was no information or any clue in the memory of John about the details of what exactly happened to his opposition except for a certainty that it was done by his younger brother.

He hadn't even seen a shadow of his younger brother in the town during those events.

Eryndor withdrew when there was no other useful information and deactivated his ability.

What path did Rodrick take?

Eryndor fell deep into thought.

As far as he knew, the paths which could kill one through heart attack and make one fall sick weren't many.

Cultivators could do it through targeted cultivation arts. Similarly, Mages could do it too through targeted spell models.

Martial Artists and Mentalists had no such way at least in the beginner realms.

Same with the Demons and Buddhas, none of them were capable of such measures so early in the journey.

Cyborgs could do it, as they had an extensive knowledge of the human body along with the required means.

Lastly, Beast Tamers could also do it if they had the corresponding beasts.

Anyone with little power, not to mention a power system could make a person disappear so Eryndor didn't count that while filtering the power systems.

Now, which one did Rodrick take?

Eryndor logged in to the Academy's website.

It had comprehensive data on the students, but it was up to them if they wanted to hide it or display it.

Eryndor directly searched for Rodrick.

He is a mage.

But that was all there was to it. There was a couple of more basic information but not what Eryndor was looking for.

Rodrick had kept his mission history along with a few others private.

It meant Eryndor couldn't check what places Rodrick had visited in recent times for his mission.

The Academy didn't allow students to leave their campus if it wasn't for a mission or some extraordinary reason, so Rodrick could only leave the premises of the Academy through undertaking missions.

He had planned to see if Rodrick had taken any mission near Kantos town; that was the only possibility Eryndor could think of which would allow Rodrick to remove John's opposition.

No wait.

Eryndor stopped himself in time.

The Mayor's memory showed that there wasn't even a hint of his younger brother's shadow anywhere in the town.

There is a possibility he was hiding, but why would he hide from his own older brother?

Eryndor was pretty sure there were plenty of people who relied on their connections with the Human Federation and the Academy to amass wealth and power.

There was no reason for Rodrick to not meet his brother if it was simply to hide from the Human Federation or the Academy.

Allowing their relatives to gain power was a subtle way of the Human Federation's compensation to keep their employees satisfied.

They were after all fighting for Humanity, their relatives crawling up the political ranks or earning wealth through their connections was the least of the Federation's concern.

Could it be that Rodrick was not present at all?

But then who killed the opposition?

Eryndor couldn't help but feel that the schemes laid down here were each deeper than the last.

Rodrick was excellent at hiding, Eryndor couldn't do anything about it.

If nothing else worked, the last option would be to extend his range to cover the entirety of the town once again.

He couldn't do it today since he had already consumed plenty of his capacity for activation of his abilities.

Eryndor took a deep breath and once again headed in Jeremy's direction.

Even though there was no information of the missions Rodrick undertook, Jeremy was Rodrick's friend, and studied in the same class.

There might be a slim possibility he knew where Rodrick went.

Eryndor pushed through the fatigue and headache while he once again concentrated on Cognitive Scrying.

His focus faltered for a brief second due to the headache but he quickly stabilized himself, zooming towards the inn of the other group.

Without any hesitation, he once again delved into Jeremy's memory.

 

[JangGun]

Huh? I don't get what you said. Do you mean this mission turned into something like an arc in itself? And that you liked it?

If I guessed correct, I am glad you're liking it! This mission has a lot more to offer!

Click to shrink...

I did like it. This whole story is amazing! I was comparing this story to those on fiction.live where a group of reader decide of what to do next and maybe roll a die to see how well it goes.

 

[Ardenox]

I did like it. This whole story is amazing! I was comparing this story to those on fiction.live where a group of reader decide of what to do next and maybe roll a die to see how well it goes.

Click to shrink...

oooo I see! Maybe I can ask the readers in the future about some small plot points as well. I am happy to know you're liking the book! Thanks for reading!