I am an Eldritch Entity

[Ardenox]

Eryndor embraced the feeling of growing stronger with relish no matter how small the increment was.

With each cycle of Qi he completed, he absorbed more Qi into his meridians, increasing the total reserves of his Qi. This became the maximum amount of Qi he could store.

Suppose he used Qi in a battle or while doing some task. He could concentrate on how the Qi in his body felt and focus on absorbing those particles from the environment.

This absorption would allow his Qi reserves to be replenished but it won't go above the maximum amount reached during the circulation of Qi.

Eryndor wished he could put these Qi in a particle accelerator and cycle them through his circuit of meridians thousands of times in a second.

He wondered if he would immediately break through from the Qi Gathering realm to the Qi Condensation stage if that happened.

He shook his head to snap out from his whimsical thoughts and continued cycling his Qi.

With his head no longer occupied by immense stress, he found himself being able to control larger amounts of Qi, boosting his practice speed by a significant amount.

By the end of his session, he felt like he had solidated his stage two Qi Gathering realm cultivation.

Instead of sleeping though, Eryndor continued sitting cross legged with eyes closed and focused on his Mind Palace.

After a moment, he appeared inside the vast hall of the Mind Palace.

As soon as his eyes laid sight upon the three orbs in the middle of the room floating above their altars, he was shocked.

The sizes of these orbs are different. How?

Eryndor very clearly remembered that when he first arrived here, all three black orbs were of the same size.

Looking at it now, the orb of Passive Regeneration had maintained the same size, while Cognitive Scrying had grown bigger than it.

The orb of Telekinesis was larger than both, giving Eryndor clues as to what might have caused such a change.

Is it that usage determines their strength?

Eryndor knew that he had used Telekinesis the most, followed by Cognitive Scrying and lastly Passive Regeneration which had been of limited help.

Frankly speaking, he wasn't interested in the idea of deliberately hurting himself to make his Passive Regeneration grow but it would be difficult otherwise.

It really seems like the amount of usage determines the growth of the abilities.

As soon as the thought appeared in his head, he was also reminded of how after a certain amount of energy of Consciousness was used by his abilities, it brought headache and fatigue which he absolutely wasn't fond of.

Jeez, were these power systems made by a masochist?

On second thought, growth was always accompanied by suffering.

He never had hopes that his growth and the journey to learn about his past would be smooth sailing, but a little whining was inevitable, his way of blowing some steam.

Eryndor carefully examined the three orbs to figure out if there were any other changes.

He went back and forth between them, putting his face just above their surface to closely scrutinise even the tiniest of details.

After a moment of going back and forth, he finally found a few more differences.

The density of these three orbs are different.

When he looked closely at them just now, he could see that the obs were in fact an amalgamation of countless black threads.

After a close examination, he found that the density of black threads in the orb of Passive Regeneration was lesser compared to those present in the orb of Cognitive Scrying, which similarly had a lesser density than the orb of Telekinesis.

Yes, despite the size of their orbs being bigger, their density was still higher.

Would it upgrade to the next stage after it reaches a certain size and the density maxes out?

That seems like the most plausible way.

Eryndor walked around them, scanning them closely for a few more minutes before deciding there was nothing else.

He walked over to the room of Sovereign's Cloak.

He hadn't forgotten how it had activated that day, even utilizing itself to the maximum capacity before disappearing.

Eryndor narrowed his eyes upon the various runes etched upon the black surface of the Cloak.

His memory was strong enough to still remember which of the runes had glowed at the time when the Cloak was resisting whatever attack which had taken place.

Could it have a connection with what type of attack was launched?

As much as he would have loved to try out his conjecture, Eryndor had zero knowledge in what these runes meant.

He made a note to ask his group about this later. It may turn out to be crucial information about what abilities the Anomaly under Rodrick's control had.

Just as he was about to turn around, he narrowed his eyes at the Sovereign's Cloak.

Nope, the size still looks the same.

Are the conditions for its upgrade different or is it that I just haven't used it enough?

Another note to add to my memory.

Eryndor left the room after finding no useful information.

Out of curiosity, he approached the second door and tried opening it.

Of course, it didn't open. Without any disappointment, he retreated from the door and focused about going back to his body.

Once back in his body, Eryndor yawned loudly, and stretched, feeling extremely light as he went to sleep.

*****

In another corner of the town, the other team led by professor Melissa was waiting near the jungle instead of sleeping comfortably at their inn.

Each of them recognised it was part of the process for capturing the Anomaly but it still wasn't something they could get used to.

Every single anomaly had a different method in which they can be targeted and sealed, making it difficult for a person to adapt to anything as the requirements kept changing.

Melissa turned around, scanning her group of students before setting her sights on one.

"Is there any update from Rodrick? He was supposed to meet us here."

The student checked her phone, then replied.

"No professor. He hasn't even seen the message, nor is he picking up my calls."

Professor Melissa narrowed her eyes as she heard the report.

Why is Rodrick not here yet? What is he up to?

 

[Ardenox]

The Human Federation hadn't yet contacted professor Melissa as they still hadn't verified the information.

So the red haired professor had no idea about the plot laid out by her student Rodrick.

She was simply annoyed about the fact that he hadn't yet arrived.

A few days ago he had asked to stay out of the reconnaissance stage of the mission as he was feeling unwell, informing her that he would join the team near the jungle when it was time to start their process of dealing with the Anomaly.

Now that ten minutes had passed since the meeting time, he still wasn't present, nor could anyone contact him.

Just ten more minutes, else he will be punished according to the rules.

Just as the tenth minute was about to pass by, everyone saw a figure approaching.

"Finally here huh?"

Professor Melissa spoke, her voice expressing disapproval. No matter what, Rodrick wouldn't be getting the complete rewards of the mission.

Rodrick's expression was unnatural and he kept trying to look at his surroundings as if something would pop up to attack him anytime now.

Professor Melissa furrowed her brows.

"What happened?"

A Mage was one of the most diverse paths as the only obstacle stopping them from making a spell model about literally anything was their knowledge regarding the subject.

If Rodrick had a very targeted spell model related to sensing, there was a possibility that he might be able to sense things she couldn't.

Rodrick turned to her and absentmindedly shook his head. "Nothing."

Furrowing her brows, she dropped the topic.

"Alright, everyone knows what to do, try not to make any mistakes or there's a possibility that you might die."

With that she took the lead and headed into the jungle.

Rodrick entered at the end of the group, still trying to scan his surroundings with a suspicious look on his face.

*****

The Dawn city was the main city of the Humanity as the headquarters of The Human Federation was built in the center of it, with numerous other structures covering it from all sides, forming a mini city of their own.

In the headquarters, in a well guarded room, a certain man stood nervously, gazing at the vast screen before him.

The reason why The Human Federation was serious about attempts of cross-checking information was because of an Anomaly which was contacted during the process.

Yes, it was a friendly Anomaly which had agreed to cooperate with humanity as long as a few of its conditions were accepted by humanity in return.

In the entire Federation, only a few individuals were qualified to face the Anomaly as they were the only ones who could handle its side effects.

Just the effects of touching or even witnessing it were so difficult to handle that an individual could only interact with it through a speaker which conveyed the Anomaly's thoughts and a screen which displayed numerous expressions.

It was how the Anomaly wanted to converse of course, as the Federation had recommended a remote controlled hologram for it.

As the man stood nervously, the screen finally lit up.

An extremely childish voice soon echoed in the room along with an expression forming on the screen.

"Why hast thou summon'd this great Deity of Cheese? -_- "

Visions of cheese filled his mind as various thoughts about cheese began sprouting up.

Through his Telepath realm, which was the second level of the Mentalist path, he withstood the visions while conveying the purpose of his presence.

"Another task? When shall thou cease working me unto mine end?"

The screen was occupied by a crying emoji expressed through symbols.

The man coughed lightly, choosing to ignore the whining as he began speaking.

He first talked about the information of professor Melissa's anomaly containment mission.

He then went on to narrate the information which had been sent by the Academy's student named Eryndor Noctis.

The longer he spent time in the presence of the Anomaly the more his thoughts geared towards cheese.

In fact, several times he replaced a few words with cheese, and other related words to it like, parmesan, cheddar, mozzarella and so on etc.

With clenched teeth, the man mobilized all his spiritual energy to activate several mental spells to ward off the effect.

When he was finally done, he asked while focusing on his mental techniques.

"Great Deity of Cheese, is the information cheese?"

His brain suddenly caught onto what he had said. Swiping sweat from his forehead, he repeated his question.

"Great Deity of Cheese, is the parmesan correct?"

He suddenly gripped his hair, draining all his energy to drive the mental spells to the maximum limit.

"Great Deity of Cheese, is the information correct?"

The man panted heavily, nervousness visible on his face. Having drained all his energy, he could feel the acceleration of the invasion of thoughts about cheese.

He just had to hold on for a few moments.

The expressions on the screen changed several times during the span of a few moments before it finally settled on >_< , along with which the Anomaly spoke through the speaker once again.

"The information hath truth."

The man bowed.

"Mozarella cheese."

What came out instead of thank you were simply the thoughts which had occupied his mind.

When he left the room, the agent waiting outside patiently asked.

"Was the information true, Sir Adam?"

"Cheese." The man replied with a straight face.

The agent had encountered the situation several times, so he wasn't surprised.

The entire reason he had never been dismissed from this position and was made to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement was because he had witnessed the high and mighty generals and officials of the Human Federation come out corrupted by thoughts of cheese.

Unfortunately only those who had reached high realms could deal with the effects.

Dispelling and cleansing corruption on a person of lower realm took far more resources and time than performing it on those with higher realms, hence only the few powerful individuals of the Human Federation were authorized to deal with the Anomaly.

The agent kept quiet, not willing to antagonize one of the strongest frontline commanders of The Human Federation.

He quietly took out a potion made by one of their alchemists following the Cultivator path and administered it to Sir Adams.

The man was adamant about not consuming anything which was not cheese but thankfully the corruption wasn't that deep.

This wasn't even the worst case the agent had handled, so it was quickly resolved.

Not willing to stay any longer, Sir Adams only informed him the information was correct and left.

The agent nodded without displaying any emotions and passed on the result to the Anomaly Containment department.

 

[Ardenox]

"The information is true."

As soon as the message was received by the Anomaly Containment department of The Human Federation, they immediately mobilized into action.

A stern-looking, blonde-haired man immediately began organizing his team. Unlike Professor Melissa, who trained the Academy's students with weak or easy to contain Anomalies, he led a team frequently assigned to handle the dangerous ones.

As the team began preparing for the upcoming mission, a red-haired man approached the blonde.

"I'll be joining this mission. I want to personally see through the safety of my younger sister."

Turns out he was the call operator who had talked to Eryndor earlier.

"Get lost, Sander, your days are over. You no longer have the authority you previously had. You can't force yourself into my team.

"The Federation gave you the job of call operator as a pity for your past. Stay in the office, leave the field work for people who are actually capable."

The red haired young man, Sander, listened to everything without retorting. In the end he added.

"I don't want anything to do with how you manage your team nor will I interfere with your containment and rescue process.

"I just ask that you add my name to your team so I have the permission to leave the headquarters. I wouldn't even utilize your team's resources."

The blonde simply sneered.

"You are dreaming Sander. Go back to your little cubicle. Stop thinking it's the past where you can throw your weight around."

A hint of warning crept into Sander's voice as he laughed lightly before speaking.

"I am being polite here Colt, do you still think we're rivals? I stopped considering that a long time ago.

"I may be injured but I am sure I can still take out trash like you. Wanna have a go?"

Just as the blonde man, Colt was about to flare up, warning bells rang in his mind.

At a certain point Sander's knife had already been placed on his neck.

Fear flashed in Colt's eyes as he begrudgingly agreed.

Watching Sander walk away as if nothing happened, fury flashed within his eyes.

Just you wait, I'll get back to you.

Colt turned his attention back to his team. They were instructed to move out on a short notice since this was an emergency case.

Everyone knew the legend of Sander. The most talented person on the path of Demons.

So much so that the Outer Domain of Demons invited him to train within their world, and that he was free to leave whenever he wanted.

Sadly, a disaster struck on one of his missions. His talent got to his head, deluding him into thinking that everyone would be as talented as him, as strong as him, would pick up things as quickly as him.

He made a risky decision which wiped out his entire team, and ended up returning alone with a serious injury.

The mission was completed, but at what cost?

For not following the protocols, The Human Federation banned him from ever going into field missions, relegating him into an office job.

What they wanted were soldiers who saved the people, not those who risked other's lives, no matter how talented they were.

He was still given resources to cultivate himself depending on his contributions as a call operator, but everyone could see it was a downgrade in his position.

Could a call operator make as many contributions as a field agent?

Sander verified himself on a device on his way out, which checked if the person was under a mission or not and headed towards an aircraft in the distance.

Since the distance between the Kantos town and the Dawn city was too large, the Federation had arranged an aircraft for the team.

Trains were not an option anymore as due to the expansion of earth, almost all of the tracks had been broken off at certain points.

Being a well authorized member of The Human Federation, Sander researched everything he could about the young man Rodrick.

Even the details he had hidden on the Academy's website were all visible to Sander.

He compiled all the information and sent them to the young man Eryndor, because even by taking the quickest approximation, it might take them a couple hours to reach Kantos town.

Although unlikely that he could dig out even more information, Sander wanted to support Eryndor on the off chance that he found something.

No amount of preparation was enough to calm him down when it came to his younger sister.

*****

In the Kantos town, Eryndor had just gone to sleep when a notification beep on his phone woke him up.

He sat up straight immediately after checking out what the message was.

A lot of information about Rodrick had been sent to him from the call operator who had talked to him moments ago.

Apparently his name was Sander and was also included in the rescue team which was going to be dispatched.

The Human Federation had confirmed the authenticity of his information and would reward their group after the matter had been taken care of.

Eryndor opened his laptop and began going through the numerous information about Rodrick.

His senior had apparently joined the Academy three years ago with numerous missions under his belt by now.

Eryndor went through all of them starting from the beginning, ultimately finding nothing of importance.

The only thing which could be gathered was that Rodrick had always displayed cautious behaviour but was willing to take the risks in the moments where the advantages of success far outweighed the disadvantages of failure.

Eryndor continued going through his class history, his performance in various subjects and even his battle footage during combat sessions.

I can't fully figure out the intricate details of this battle, maybe I'll have to ask Paulina about this since she is aiming to be a mage. She would know more details about the spells Rodrick is using.

In the information he was given, there was also a section which listed all the anomaly containment missions he had taken under different professors.

As Eryndor went through the details of the missions from one to another, one finally caught his eye.

Not wanting to miss out on anything, he checked the rest of the missions including the details about the current anomaly containment mission headed by professor Melissa.

But nothing stood out as much as the one he found earlier, at least to him.

Clicking on the file of that anomaly containment mission for more details, he eagerly waited for it to load.

This might be the anomaly which Rodrick is controlling.

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor once again read through the abilities of the Anomaly which the mission undertakers were supposed to deal with.

He went through it thrice and couldn't help but feel that things indeed fit too well.

The abilities of the Anomaly were related to fortune and misfortune.

Yep, it could mess with fate to a certain extent.

No wonder Rodrick didn't stay in the inn with his group anymore.

Eryndor knew that it was his Cognitive Scrying of Jeremy which might have brought about a sense of misfortune in Rodrick's fate.

The young man must've then immediately moved out of the inn, going to his elder brother's mansion where he felt the same sense of misfortune plaguing his fate.

No wonder I couldn't find him there as well.

Rodrick likely kept switching places until he could feel the aura of misfortune fading.

All he needed to do was use the Anomaly's abilities on himself to sense his fate. As to why he didn't bless himself with fortune?

There might be a price.

This also explained the time when his Sovereign's Cloak exerted itself to the limit and disappeared.

It was probably an attack of misfortune, and the Anomaly sensor was the 'misfortune' which plagued their group.

The misfortune played out in the manner that he, the paranoid cautious one, left the scene, which allowed the first aid box to be successfully received by the team.

But wait, what part of it did the Sovereign's Cloak block?

Eryndor thought hard about it for a few minutes before his eyes widened.

Holy shit!

Eryndor remembered kicking a small rock when his energy of Consciousness began draining.

No fucking wonder!

It meant that the misfortune which Sovereign's Cloak blocked was most likely him tripping on the stone and falling.

It would also allow the first aid box to be more easily received. Even him being present wouldn't be an obstacle as he would have fallen on the ground simply a moment ago, making him more receptive to the first aid box in that particular time frame.

But wait, is the Sovereign's Cloak only capable of blocking misfortune on the level of being tripped?

Eryndor furrowed his brows, leaving his bed and pacing around the room.

A minute later things clicked into his mind once again, an excited whisper escaped his mouth as he punched his fist into the air.

"Yesss!"

What was the question I had when Rodrick delivered this to us?

Eryndor remembered being confused why Rodrick had chosen the night time.

But…

That question appeared because the first aid box was delivered standalone at night with just a reason that the kid's family 'was grateful' for help.

What if he had fallen?

The delivery of the first aid box would be paired with 'his fall' and be called 'a timely appearance' even if the boy had still later declared the gratefulness of his family.

The question wouldn't have arisen in his heart.

With the doubt of time being solved, his question would have geared towards 'How did Rodrick know he would fall?' and so on.

The Sovereign's Cloak exposed this gap.

Eryndor now knew that Rodrick delivering the Anomaly sensor at night was an important clue.

Could it be because he couldn't do it at any other time?

Eryndor went over to the laptop and checked the details of the mission.

*****

Anomaly File: Hand of Destruction
State of Anomaly: No independent consciousness detected. Executes its abilities based on a set of conditions.
Classification: Unstable - Fray - Anchor
Operation Lead: Professor Melissa Ashford

Description:
The Hand of Destruction is an immobile but highly volatile Anomaly capable of annihilating all matter within its range down to the atomic level.

This effect is triggered after a subject sleeps even once during a period between two nights, which is approximately thirty six hours.

The Anomaly's timer stops for twelve hours after a cycle of two nights before restarting at the night of that day. The Anomaly is impervious to all attacks during this duration.

The destruction extends to inanimate objects, as the Anomaly perceives their inert state as "sleeping."

Consequently, even the ground beneath its range has been obliterated, sparing only a specific, unidentified slab of material upon which it is situated.

Containment procedure:

1. Enter Range:
- Operatives must enter the Anomaly's range during nighttime.

- Under no circumstances should anyone sleep within the Anomaly's influence. Even brief naps (e.g., ten minutes) will trigger annihilation.

2. Weaken the Anomaly:
- Employ multiple students' abilities to inflict damage on the Hand of Destruction.

- Once a critical damage threshold is reached, the Anomaly will split into smaller versions of itself.

- Each mini-Anomaly causes damage without requiring sleep as a condition, but their destructive capacity is significantly reduced.

3. Defend and Counterattack:
- Utilize defensive abilities to block damage from the mini-Anomalies.

- Combine Professor Melissa Ashford's unique ability with the designated Mystical Artifact to deliver damage to mini-Anomalies.

4. Reversion and Containment:
- After each mini-Anomaly sustains sufficient damage, it will revert to its original form and become temporarily inactive.

- At this stage, approach the Anomaly and secure it within the designated Containment Box.

Additional notes:

1. Environmental Considerations: The Anomaly has obliterated all terrain within its radius, leaving a deep pit around it.

To enter the range, enter this pit and spend two nights while avoiding sleep.

2. Ladder Formation: The Anomaly resides above a slab of unidentified material which is unaffected by its destruction. The slab also seems to be unaffected by gravity, which means it floats above the pit.

To secure the Anomaly upon deactivation, operatives must form a human ladder from the pit's base to reach the Anomaly and place it into the Containment Box.

Extreme caution is advised throughout the operation to prevent collateral damage or operational failure.

End of Report

*****

Eryndor knew what the classification of the Anomaly meant.

Unstable was the third level of Risk class. Considering that it completely annihilated targets, this was a reasonable classification.

But he also wondered what kind of abilities would be classified under the last two levels of Risk class.

Fray was the second level of Disruption class. It also seemed reasonable considering the Anomaly was immobile.

Anchor was the first level of Containment class. This meant that the Anomaly was extremely easy to contain, which was also true given that it only needed one to not sleep and have adequate damage and defense capabilities to seal it.

After he was done reading the file, Eryndor finally knew why the question was so important.

Why did Rodrick send us the Anomaly sensor at night, and not anytime later?

Eryndor looked outside his window at the night sky.

Because they are going to start the procedure of dealing with Anomaly tonight.

"This is an extremely bad situation."

Eryndor whispered.

It seemed that their team would need to step up instead of waiting for The Human Federation's rescue team.

 

[Ardenox]

Since it would only take two nights for the containment procedure, it could've happened anytime during the one week time frame.

Eryndor didn't really know the details, but since their own mission had a deadline of one week and that the two teams arrived in this Kantos town together, he simply took one week as their deadline too, considering they'll head back towards the academy together as well.

He knew that the headquarters of the Human Federation was in the Dawn city which was several hours away even by the aerial route.

Eryndor hoped the rescue team wasn't arriving from somewhere so far away, but instead from a nearby town or city.

There's also another problem.

Rodrick had probably already sensed the misfortune on him since we've deduced his plot.

But Eryndor had gone through several packets of information related to Rodrick now.

He knew that Rodrick was a cautious man, but also someone who was willing to take the risk if the benefits of success outweighed the risk of failure.

Rodrick would surely join the team on their mission. The allure of a Mystical Artifact was too great to refuse.

But since he had sensed the misfortune, Rodrick would act as soon as the timing was right.

There was no time to wait around for the reinforcements of the Human Federation.

Eryndor messaged Sander with a faint hope in his heart.

"Where has the rescue team been deployed from? How much time will it approximately take to reach here?"

He got a message from Sander immediately, one which made his heart sink.

"From the headquarters, Dawn city. Will take a couple hours. Why?"

He pondered briefly and sent all his findings, without exposing his abilities of course.

Sander knew that the young man Eryndor couldn't give proof for his speculations but from the experience just now, he figured the young man wasn't lying.

Everyone had secrets, and Sander wasn't interested in digging too deep.

On the other hand, his anxiety simply increased when he read through the message.

Who knew the anomaly which was under Rodrick's control would be one which had abilities related to fate.

It was one of the most troublesome domains to defend against.

If it was something tangible like elemental ability or physical attacks, there would've been a larger possibility of their survival.

Sander clenched his fists tightly, before he abruptly remembered something.

He took out his phone and messaged a person.

"I am calling in that favor. Now."

The person on the other end immediately sent a message.

"Send me the location and the details. Remember, I'll only make one move within my capacity."

Sander didn't reply immediately but mulled over his words before trying to negotiate.

"Aren't you a human too? Can you not be stingy with your help? I'm willing to compensate if you save my sister."

"I lost touch with humans when I was kid, I've been raised by the Anomalies. What makes you think I resonate with humans?

"Off with the nonsense, I don't care about your sister. Are you calling in your favor or not?"

Sander gritted his teeth but helplessly replied a moment later.

"I am calling it. The file below has all the information. Do consider my offer again."

There was no reply on the other end.

Without being disappointed, he immediately switched to Eryndor's chat.

"I've sent a person to your place. He should arrive within a few minutes. You can ask him to help you just once.

"He is powerful, and is good at several domains including but not limited to offense, defense, agility, mental, elemental, surveillance, etc.

"Oh yea, and his name is Erin. Use him well."

Eryndor heaved a sigh when he read the message.

It was a rare solace in this otherwise hopeless situation. Eryndor already knew how to make use of the person.

Before packing up the things, Eryndor sent a message to their group to start getting ready.

It was time to move out.

Eryndor took out the equipment given by the Academy and administered a particularly heavy dose of tranquilizing serum to a capsule and loaded it onto an injector.

He repeated the process with a few more capsules, till the leftover amount was just enough for the remaining infected animals of their mission.

He also loaded the pockets of his battlesuit with all the capsules of a specific type of antidote.

Paulina had replied to him just a moment ago about the type of poison spell used by Rodrick in the video of his battle during combat sessions of the Academy.

She also broke down all the spells learnt by him, giving him a rough idea of his combat prowess, and suffice to say, it was worrying.

Rodrick had one poison spell, two offensive spells - one for close range and one for long range, one defensive spell which covered his entire body, one surveillance spell and one movement spell.

All of his spells except the poison and close range offensive spell were at the peak stage of Mana Novice realm, which was the first level of the power system of Mages.

His remaining two spells were at the mid stage of Mana Novice realm.

After packing everything, Eryndor donned his Sovereign's Cloak over his battle suit.

It was uncomfortable, but Eryndor valued his safety over comfort. On top of that, this was the only means of defense he had against fate type Anomaly.

He didn't fear the Cloak would be damaged. He had tried once, and nothing put even the slightest of marks on it.

A minute later, Eryndor stood in the living room with his battle suit packed with supplies. Since he had distributed it among the other three, the suits didn't look bulgy.

Eryndor told them the same thing he had explained to Sander, without exposing any of his abilities.

The three looked surprised when they found out it was an Anomaly which dealt with misfortune and fortune.

All of them were aware of how rare that attribute was even among anomalies, and acknowledged that it would indeed be difficult to go against something as abstract as fate.

As they left their inns and headed towards the red area, Eryndor messaged Sander.

"I hope the Human Federation has notified professor Melissa about the situation."

Seeing that he didn't get a reply immediately, Eryndor put the phone in his pocket and began leading the group towards the red area.

 

[Ardenox]

It was night time, with silence reigning on the streets.

Hardly anyone lingered outside in the cold, and only a few shops remained open.

Eryndor led his group towards the red area at a steady jogging pace.

While jogging he inched closer to Paulina and took out a piece of paper on which he had drawn the runes of his Sovereign's Cloak.

They were the ones which had been activated when the Cloak defended against misfortune.

Paulina took a good look at what Eryndor had passed her.

Drakarion and Valentina, drawn towards what was going on, also surrounded Paulina and took a look at the paper.

Unfortunately neither of the two recognised any of it as they shook their heads after a moment.

Paulina hesitated a bit before passing the paper back to Eryndor and saying.

"It might be runes of misfortune."

It was indeed misfortune which my Cloak defended against. Good to have certainty.

Eryndor didn't have the slightest bit of knowledge in what runes were, he only saw various designs on his Cloak and termed them as runes.

It seemed that there was another thing he would have to gobble up knowledge about.

As they were jogging uniformly, Paulina made a gesture of making an announcement, attracting their attention, before speaking.

"I've stepped into the Mana Novice realm."

Everyone glanced at her in surprise, before they began congratulating her. In such times of difficulties every extra boost in power was welcome no matter how small it was.

Eryndor asked her, curiosity etched across his face.

"Weren't you waiting for a spell model of the Academy?"

Paulina gazed at him in surprise, not expecting him to remember that. It was just said in passing after all. She explained in an excited tone.

"That spell model is actually not that expensive despite being one of the most prized possessions of the Academy's archives.

"It's because it is one of the beginner models, relatively easier to make, and also because the Academy themselves hope the students will exchange for it.

"I just had to add in even the rewards of this mission plus the extra rewards of jotting together the various clues and exposing the plot to finally get that spell model.

"Since I already had the necessary knowledge of that spell model, I easily modified and mixed it with the idea I had in mind to make my first spell model."

"What's it about? If you don't mind me asking."

Valentina chipped in with a smile on her face.

Paulina first turned to Eryndor to ask, "How much time is left till we reach our location?"

The latter tilted his head. "Will just describing your spell model take long?"

She nodded, "Like five minutes."

"We have that much time then, you can explain."

Paulina turned to Valentina and then at everyone before asking.

"I hope you know the path of power systems is intent. It doesn't follow science strictly."

Eryndor's eyes narrowed in thought. This was the first time he was hearing about this. Paulina explained seeing his confusion.

"All arts and spells of various power systems have a base in science and you'll notice that. But sometimes people create arts and spells which don't follow the laws of science.

"They make it through sheer willpower, just pure intent to achieve the impossible.

"It's what is popularly termed as going against the heavens. It is also why practising any of the power systems is in a way rebellion against the heavens."

Paulina took a deep breath and continued.

"One of the commanders of The Human Federation made this spell model called 'Crimson Hope' when he was resisting the siege on one of the cities of humanity.

"He died fighting after rushing into the enemy ranks alone, crippling the entire army of the Cyborg Outer Domain when he used 'Crimson Hope'.

"This spell model ties the existence of the user to their Mana. After activating this, the user can sacrifice parts of, or entire body, mind or soul to power up their mana.

"Intent can bridge the gap between comprehension of science and making something a reality.

"The commander didn't need to know how the principles behind the spell model worked, just his absolutely monstrous intent for a single purpose made it a reality. His intent bridged the gap for his lack of comprehension.

"Of course, anyone who wants to learn this spell model must know the principles behind its working to use it if their intent is inefficient."

She went into thought as if to phrase her words and resumed speaking.

"I won't go into the details but I modified the spell such that now, 'the state of my existence' is connected to the 'state of my mana' and a few more tweaks.

"I hope you guys know about the electron. It is a quantum particle that exhibits location superposition.

"In simple terms, this means it doesn't have a single, definite location but exists as a probability cloud at possible locations.

"When observed or measured, this superposition collapses, and the electron is found in one specific place.

"I made the spell model such that my mana will exhibit that property of the electron, and since 'my state of existence' is connected to the 'state of my mana', I'll exhibit the same property regardless if the human body can do it or not."

Paulina looked around, but found that only Eryndor was barely following through. Drakarion and Valentina both had dazed looks on their faces.

"Chuck it, I'll just show it."

As soon as she said that, an extremely exquisite and complicated spell model in a circular shape appeared above her hand as she infused mana into it.

It glowed blue in the darkness of night before Eryndor and the other two found multiple Paulinas at several places.

All of them talked at once.

"I exist in multiple places at the same time. Nothing can affect me since I haven't yet collapsed into one place in reality.

"Of course, my mana isn't strong enough to stay unaffected by stronger energies exuded by higher realms. I can still be affected if a stronger mana or any other energy interferes with my spell, but within the same realm?"

"I—"

Mid-sentence, every Paulina vanished, or you could say, collapsed into the one jogging alongside them, who continued the sentence.

"Am the sole observer of my existence."

*****


To people who've read one of my other works, The Wealthiest Verdant Emperor, yes, this is the same skill with same mechanics. This is not a shared universe, just some concepts I carried over. I feel a bit embarrassed to have copied the skill, even though it was me who made it in first place. It just feels like I took an easy way out here and didn't work hard enough to create something original and amazing.

 

[Ardenox]

"That was a cool as fuck line, did you rehearse it or something?"

Eryndor raised his eyebrows at her. Paulina blushed but refused to say anything.

Drakarion laughed raucously.

Paulina smiled, and switched the topic.

"I think we should tell each other our abilities so it is easier to cooperate during tense situations.

"We already know about Drakarion's ability, so it's the three of us. I'll start, and I hope we're okay with it."

Everyone nodded at her, approving of the idea.

"I can sense vital points on anything. Whether it's on the body or on a shield or a sword in the middle of swinging, anything.

"It includes when you're in different stances of battle, whether you're attacking or defending, I can sense the vital points in anything and everything.

"It also changes with my intent. If I want to sense weaknesses in battle, it shows me vital points for weakness. If I want to heal someone, it shows me vital points important for healing.

"You get my point, it shows me vital points which are prominent for the purpose or task I have in mind."

"That's a pretty useful ability."

Valentina commented. Drakarion thought deeply for a while before asking.

"Did you ever use your ability in our spars?"

Paulina smiled cheekily at him while replying. "Never."

Wow, she is stronger than I credited her for.

Eryndor inwardly thought, and reaffirmed his view of his teammates as monsters.

Valentina spoke after things settled down.

"Alright, I'll go next. I can copy abilities."

Everyone looked at her in astonishment.

This was far bigger than surprise than anything they had come across. In all the years since the Cosmic Limit increased from 0 to 1, and now from 1 to 2, there had never ever been such a broken ability.

The Human Federation would have surely documented such an ability if there was even a single occurrence of it.

Eryndor had a surprised expression as well, but various thoughts began popping up in his mind.

Crap, I've activated my Telekinesis several times while we were together.

Eryndor remembered shifting the aerial path of the infected cat with his Telekinesis when it jumped at him during one of the first fights.

Even later, he had used Telekinesis several times to control the contact card.

Eryndor wanted to know the details of her ability and evaluate if he had been exposed or not. With an exaggerated tone of fake envy, he said.

"Jeez, that's a main character level ability."

"True, even I am jealous."

Drakarion agreed with him, nodding his head as he gazed at Valentina.

The young woman waved her hand and clarified.

"Actually, I need to activate my own ability first if I want to copy someone's ability. I can't passively sense and register the ability to use it later.

"If someone used an ability without me having activated mine first, I wouldn't be able to copy it.

"There's also a range limit of around four to five meters around me, only inside which I can copy abilities.

"If someone used their abilities twenty meters away I wouldn't be able to copy it even if I saw it and had my ability activated.

"Where the ability is activated matters more than who activates it. If the person is in front of me, but they used their ability twenty meters away then I still can't sense nor copy it.

"And lastly, I can only keep a registered ability for twelve hours at most, with a maximum of four at a time. I can replace these four anytime I want."

The group nodded collectively, feeling the restrictions were somewhat reasonable. Of course, that didn't make her ability less powerful.

Everyone knew abilities grew powerful and had lesser restrictions as they climbed the realms.

Once her ability truly blossomed, those restrictions would be as good as gone, and who knew what kind of extra power ups the ability would get.

As the team talked to her about the ability, Eryndor fell into thinking.

Judging by those conditions, there's an extremely low chance that she sensed my ability. After all, using Telekinesis to shift the path of the infected cat was the only time it was in her range of sensing.

And there's a high chance that she didn't have her ability activated at that time. I mean, there was no need to at that point as literally nothing risky was taking place. I am ninety-nine percent safe.

Eryndor gazed at Paulina who was in the middle of talking to Valentina.

There's also the issue of the Sovereign's Cloak which Paulina might be suspicious about.

Eryndor had wanted to reveal one of his abilities along with Passive Regeneration which he had told the agents of The Human Federation.

Since The Human Federation already knew about it, he would of course tell the same to his teammates, but as a sign of trust and to solve some doubts of theirs, he had planned to reveal one more ability.

What should I do?

He soon had an answer. He would reveal none of the two, but instead Cognitive Scrying.

The fact that he had two abilities should temporarily suppress any doubts they had about him possessing more abilities, as it was already incredibly rare to have two. There had never been a case of more than two.

Just in time, when their talks died about, Eryndor spoke.

"It seems it's my turn. My ability is Passive Regeneration and Cognitive Scrying."

There was silence in the group before Drakarion asked with shock.

"You have two abilities? So fucking rare and amazing. Damn it, only my ability seems useless now. I was pretty proud of it back when I awakened it. Now my ability seems like I am simply made to be a meat shield."

Eryndor was more or less relieved that their focus was on the fact that he had two abilities rather than how privacy invading his Cognitive Scrying was.

But he still clarified himself.

"By the way, I've never used Cognitive Scrying on any one of you. I can't really give any proof about it so you'll just have to believe me.

"Another thing, The Human Federation doesn't know about my Cognitive Scrying. "

Valentina beamed at him when he finished speaking.

"Did we ask you about your Cognitive Scrying? Chill out, just like how you've decided to trust us with your ability, we trust you with our boundaries as well.

"On another note, it seems this is how you gathered clues huh?"

Eryndor smiled but refused to answer. He went on to tell details about this ability but drastically suppressed their capabilities.

When they had finally reached the red area, a voice came from the darkness.

"Are you Eryndor Noctis?"

 

[Ardenox]

Everyone turned around to face a man who had been standing there, leaning against a tree.

Eryndor narrowed his eyes before speaking.

"That would be me. I would need your name to verify your identity."

The man chuckled. Eryndor could see a strange emotion whirling in his eyes as he gazed at him.

"Identity? I lost mine years ago. People call me Erin now, does that satisfy you?"

Eryndor couldn't quite put a finger on what the strange emotion was and it bothered him to no end.

Chuck it.

Eryndor inwardly shook his head as he gave Erin a polite smile.

"Yes. Thank you for coming to help us."

He then turned to his teammates and explained to them what Sander had told him.

"You must truly be powerful if Sander himself asked you for help."

Drakarion commended with a look that was half respect and half itching to have a battle.

Sander wasn't exactly a secret agent, anyone who researched a bit into The Human Federation would easily know about his exploits.

Erin had long black hair flowing freely till his waist, black eyes which were faintly glowing even in the darkness of the woods, and a well trimmed beard.

The man respectfully nodded his head.

"Sander was the only one who could match me in my realm back then. I don't know about his recent situation. I'll only move once to help you, so think wisely before asking me to make a move."

Eryndor nodded.

*****

Professor Melissa put the phone back in the pocket of her battle suit after she read through the message delivered to her.

During the containment process of an Anomaly, all the agents had been trained to switch off their phone. The Federation gave them different devices which they used to contact the agent in case of an emergency.

After reading through the message, Melissa was sure it was an emergency. A very big emergency alright.

She remembered talking to her co-worker after her mission failed. It was exactly the containment mission of the Anomaly of misfortune and fortune.

Since the Disruption and Risk class of that Anomaly was relatively lower compared to its Containment class, The Human Federation had postponed the attempt to contain it.

Melissa was sure the Human Federation would've attempted again when their containment teams had been freed from their current tasks.

But who knew Rodrick would mind control the Anomaly in that time frame?

Her co-worker had said that she suspected the Anomaly had leveled up to Stable realm, which was the second level of the Anomalies. This might be the primary reason their mission failed.

But since she couldn't procure any concrete proof, coupled with how The Human Federation had lowered the priority of containing that Anomaly, the mission file wasn't updated.

She worriedly thought while glancing at Rodrick's direction.

Since he could at least partially mind control a Stable realm Anomaly, doesn't that mean his mind control is powerful enough to overwhelm an individual in the second realm?

Melissa herself was at the third stage of Qi Condensation realm, which was the second realm of Cultivation power system.

She wasn't sure if she could successfully resist his mind control.

I need to hold on.

She clenched her fists inside her sleeves and led her team through the forest. She knew that Rodrick would somehow hurry up his plan so she would have to somehow hold on.

The only silver lining in the plan was that the original Anomaly they would be dealing with only attacked people who slept in its range.

It wouldn't indiscriminately attack other people in its original form. And when it split into multiple mini-anomalies, its destructive prowess would be reduced significantly, enough for her students to handle.

There weren't many ways available for Rodrick to implicate everyone using the Anomaly.

Hold on, hold on.

Melissa repeated the phrase, afraid that mind control and misfortune would twist her thoughts. Her only hope now was the small team of beginners who were heading her way along with a sufficiently strong helper.

After a couple minutes, they finally reached a deep pit.

Everyone on the anomaly containment team could see an extremely deep and precise round pit in the middle of the forest.

Situated in the middle of the circle, floating in the air was a shriveled, massive hand of about six to seven meters, resting on a slab.

Professor Melissa switched on her heavy-duty torchlight, shining it on the Hand of Destruction, making it easier for the students to see the Anomaly.

"Look carefully, this is what we would be dealing with."

It was a large shriveled hand, but under the clear light, they could see dried blood on its surface with eyes opening every now and then.

It had various sizes of eyes situated on its skin, with some having blue pupils while some had red.

Among the seniors there were some who had previously gone on anomaly containment missions while for some it was their first time.

Regardless, every anomaly was a new experience since no two anomalies were the same.

Melissa led them towards the pit, instructing everyone to descend carefully.

Taking out her prepared sticks, she stuck them deep into the slope of soil and slowly descended.

The majority of them followed her approach, while a few simply ran down, uncaring if some unfortunate incident might cause them to tumble or the high speed during the steep slope of descent may hurt their bodies.

Melissa recognised these few students.

Martial Artists, these brutes.

Scoffing inwardly, she continued downwards carefully despite fully being capable of running like the Martial Artists.

Breaking through from Qi Gathering realm to Qi Condensation realm gave a boost to their bodies along with sharpening their senses.

When they finally reached the bottom of the pit, they could directly see the slab holding the Anomaly directly above them.

The students, under the guidance of professor Melissa and a few other experienced ones, quickly set up a camp with various tents.

In a few minutes they had also started a bonfire with the materials they had prepared beforehand.

The group gathered around the fire, eager to keep each other company and to prevent anyone from sleeping.

Professor Melissa's mind was still on full alert when her enhanced sense of smell felt something weird in the air.

Suddenly, one of the students sitting near the bonfire had an expression of confusion as he muttered.

"Why do I suddenly feel sleepy?"

 

[Ardenox]

Professor Melissa's alertness immediately kicked into action as she activated a wind type cultivation art while yelling at the students.

"Anyone who has wind type art or spells utilize it quickly."

She herself summoned huge gusts of air which snuffed out the flame of the bonfire.

With the help of the students, they successfully drove out the weird smell she smelled earlier.

Before she could give further commands though, a student near one of the tents yelled.

"Professor Melissa! A lot of our food portions have spilled on the ground. There are also plenty of our food pills among them."

Her mind immediately sprang up in action as she headed towards the tent.

Fuck, Rodrick doesn't want to wait at all. But I can't alert him, not now. He doesn't know his plan is already exposed, he is in the open while we are in the dark.

I'll just resolve these issues without arousing his suspicion.

"Everyone stay where you are. I do not want any ruckus. Don't move! Keep an eye on each other. The sedative properties of the air were suspicious."

She witnessed the prepared food spilled on the ground.

Melissa remembered her students placing it securely to avoid such a situation.

Her mind was quick to deduce plausible explanations.

It would need a certain strength and angle of wind to push the container of the food like this.

Our wind spells just happened to move like the most unfortunate way? Is this the power of misfortune at work?

She realized that her reaction to use wind to drive out the weird smelling air was predicted by Rodrick and was a part of his plan.

Just to ruin the food?

Just in time, she heard Rodrick calling out to her.

"Professor, I happen to have a few supplies here. As you know my brother is the Mayor of this town.

"He said this was his way of helping since there isn't anything else he could help much with."

Before giving her a chance, Jeremy replied to Rodrick.

"Phew, thank god we have Rodrick here. Let's clean up the mess and light up the bonfire again."

Melissa took a deep look at Jeremy.

Wasn't he mind controlled by Rodrick too? A self directed play huh?

She glanced around at the camp which had a few students speaking in favor of Rodrick. She recognised them, it was a small group of their friends.

She coughed loudly, garnering their attention before she spoke.

"Tell thanks to the Mayor, but we can't use unverified items during anomaly containment missions. This is mentioned in the rule book."

Amidst the disappointed wave of murmurs, she continued.

"We'll salvage what we can of the spilled food and there should be some backup left in a few students' bags.

"It's just a matter of thirty six hours, talk less, move less and eat less. This mission will be over in no time.

"No need to whine about less food, unexpected circumstances crop up everytime. Life isn't easy, deal with it."

Rodrick smiled helplessly at those who were sending him glances before taking a look at professor Melissa.

Although disappointed, he didn't feel there was anything wrong with how professor Melissa acted. It was indeed all according to the rules.

But since he had used the Anomaly of misfortune and fortune, he couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong with everything.

He hadn't forgotten the miasma of misfortune upon his head when he used that anomaly before leaving the house.

But the allure of the Mystical Artifact was too strong to resist, not to mention he could further strengthen his anomaly by killing so many strong living beings.

He gathered his small group of friends and sat a distance away from the campfire.

"If you feel hungry you can come to me no worries. I'll secretly give you some delicious food packed by the cook of the Mayor's mansion personally."

He smiled at them. But then, his attention was attracted by the group sitting by the campfire where people were shuffling about.

Soon, he got the news that professor Melissa was checking all the bags for suspicious items due to the sedative gas a moment earlier.

Rather than the work of some Outer Domains or Heretics, professor Melissa thought something was wrong with the group itself.

Rodrick cursed inwardly.

Taking advantage of the fact that he wasn't completely illuminated by the campfire due to sitting a distance away from it, he discreetly moved his hands and legs to bury a few packets of sedatives and anesthesia.

A few students protested but were quickly silenced by professor Melissa who explained that the safety of the group was of greater importance than privacy and must not be compromised.

Later it became clear about why those students were against the search as some of them had barrier protection rubbers while some had suspicious grass in ziplock packets.

The hassle amongst the group settled down after back to back episodes of things going wrong.

There was a heavy atmosphere in the entire team due to suspicion against each other and another possibility that there might be an external enemy attacking.

Professor Melissa kept a strict eye on the group, a complete opposite of how she handled the team outside the mission or even during the reconnaissance phase.

This is bad.

Rodrick thought. He needed chaos to get his plan working.

The highest probability of things going wrong were when people weren't in the right mind to respond correctly.

If he orchestrated something in times of peace then professor Melissa could easily take control and settle things down.

Rodrick glanced at Jeremy who had lied down near the campfire while gazing at the stars.

A useful pawn. But you need to go.

He controlled Jeremy to slightly tilt his body and gradually reduce the talks with his friends.

When he was sure no one was paying attention, he stood up and headed towards where he had buried the sedatives.

After taking a quick but heavy sniff, he covered them once again before returning to his spot.

Rodrick slowly closed Jeremy's eyes and let the sedatives take effect before quickly breaking off his mind control.

He was unsure whether the Anomaly would target him or Jeremy if it was him who slept but used Jeremy's body.

So, to be on the safer side, he used sedatives to put Jeremy into sleep instead of performing the act himself.

Immediately after though, he noticed professor Melissa waving her hand, slapping Jeremy awake with her hand spell.

"Fucking hell."

Rodrick muttered under his breath. Just then, his watch beeped.

Hearing that, his expression changed. He had put a few sensory devices on the perimeter to alert him if anyone approached, and one of them had been triggered just now.

The uneasiness in him deepened as he gazed at professor Melissa with a dark look.

I have no choice. You forced my hand.

 

[Ardenox]

Rodrick mobilized all his Mana and activated a spell. Of course, he didn't display the spell model out in the open like Paulina did.

Instantly, almost half of the people fell flat on the ground.

I didn't want to use this so quickly in the beginning.

His plan had never been the sedatives in the air, or the food prepared by the Mayor, but the emergency rations distributed in a few students' bags.

He wasn't present in the group these few days, but Jeremy was. When they made the food to pack in all these bags, it was easy for him to mind control Jeremy and tamper with it.

Everything else was simply a distraction.

The spell he used now was one he had made himself, it triggered the effects of intense sleep. People who hadn't eaten anything were fine as they could resist it through sheer willpower or other means.

Those who had consumed the backup food however found it difficult to resist the spell when the sedative in their body was cooperating with the spell with high efficiency.

Majority of these people soon succumbed to sleep no matter how much the other seniors slapped or hit their body.

There was instant ruckus in the entire camp as people began moving about chaotically.

Rodrick narrowed his eyes and gazed at professor Melissa who was doing everything she could to salvage the situation.

He didn't intend to give her any chance though.

Since he could only mind control two people at once, he let go of the connection to Jeremy who was also included in the people who ate emergency rations.

Activating all the strength of his ability which he could muster, he targeted professor Melissa.

Instantly, his mind felt as if it had run into an iron plate.

An intense buzz rang in his ears as everything around him lost its sound, his vision became dizzy for a good few seconds before restoring back to normal.

With confusion, he gazed at professor Melissa only to witness a black orb shattering in professor Melissa's hand.

Rodrick's eyes narrowed dangerously when he looked at the pieces of black orb scattered near her legs.

Mental Defense Orbs?

As far as he knew, they were one time use items which needed to be used before the mental attack took place and needed a target to be designated, against which, or whom, it would defend.

Which meant professor Melissa had already marked him with Mental Defense Orbs, having known that he might attack her.

"How?"

He spoke out loud, while looking at professor Melissa who stopped paying attention to the students around.

Everyone else thought he was simply questioning how the situation in their group had turned for worse.

But professor Melissa who was similarly looking right back at Rodrick knew what the question meant.

Melissa was incredibly thankful for her cautious self to have bought the Mental Defense Orb in passing, thinking it would be good to have a backup despite the Anomaly in the mission not being mental oriented.

The unfortunate part was that she had only bought one.

Rodrick stabilized his mind, already having recovered from the backlash. He gritted his teeth, growling once again.

"Fucking how?"

Melissa had no plans to answer him, she simply waved her hand, conjuring several sharp spears of ice and threw them at Rodrick.

She kept her eyes trained on Rodrick, not willing to miss even the slightest of the details. Suddenly, her eyes caught a slight but subtle movement.

Despite being mentally prepared, she still found it absolutely horrifying when a body of mass appeared in front of her, tanking all the damage.

"Anomaly of Misfortune and Fortune."

She whispered, her gaze fixed on the horrendous form looming before Rodrick.

The creature was vaguely human-shaped, its body covered in patches of wrinkled, unevenly distributed skin.

Between these patches, a grotesque, purple mass of flesh squirmed incessantly, as if it were a living entity struggling to break free from the confines of the body.

Its head bore the crude semblance of a face, reminiscent of a child's crude sketch—distorted and unnatural.

Completing its unsettling appearance, thin strands of silver hair stood upright, eerily waving in the air despite the absence of any breeze.

Students screamed, absolutely scared out of their wits as they gazed at the horrifying entity which had its mouth open.

Can't go back to the Academy after exposing myself like this, and judging by how professor Melissa knew about my ability and how I might attack her, there's a high chance that reinforcements are coming.

The beep which went off to alert me of someone crossing the sensors on the perimeter might be the reinforcements.

Rodrick didn't know where he had messed up. Everything was perfect for the entire month when he planned this, until a hint of misfortune suddenly began gathering on him in the past few days.

Disregarding everything else, he tried to activate his mind control once again.

Since he hadn't actually succeeded in controlling professor Melissa's mind, his energy of Consciousness hadn't actually been consumed in that attempt.

With frustration of having his plans foiled bubbling in his mind, he targeted professor Melissa again.

He felt the resistance this time around as well, but was quickly able to break through.

He had finally controlled professor Melissa.

A flicker of relief entered his mind amidst the despairing situation. Controlling the professor, he tossed the Mystical Artifact at himself, while making sure to maintain the distance.

Due to controlling the Anomaly which was at second realm all this time and now controlling professor Melissa who was also at the second realm of power, the drain on himself was massive.

He could already feel his reserves draining, barely half a minute more and he would be sucked dry.

He controlled professor Melissa to turn around, afraid that the situation later would intensify her emotions, allowing her to break free from his control.

He then proceeded to control the Anomaly and began heading towards the students which were running all around. He wanted to kill them.

It was the reward for his Anomaly in order to reinforce his mind control over it.

He only had a few seconds, then he would have to escape no matter what happened.

Some students ran out of the pit, while some were still trying to wake up their friends, while some had begun stealing. Some of them were too shocked by everything, looking blankly at what was going on.

Just as the Anomaly took a step in their direction, a voice was heard from above.

"Senior Erin, you can do it now."

 

[Ardenox]

Everyone, including Rodrick's attention, switched to where the sound had originated from.

Their sights turned upwards on the border of the pit where five people stood.

Rodrick's first thought was to run when he heard the voice, but when he actually gazed at the figures which appeared, only a single thought remained.

These kids?

It was a moment of carelessness.

He never underestimated anyone or anything, dedicating himself entirely to finish the task or the person.

But just like when a person gazed at an ant, their first instinct was to dismiss it. It was exactly what transpired.

Erin sliced his hand in empty air while everyone's attention was on them.

It was a simple motion, no one could make any sense of it. No one felt anything different either, except one.

Rodrick screamed, both his connections were severed abruptly in his moment of carelessness.

It wouldn't have happened if he had disconnected but there was no use thinking about it now.

Innate abilities and power systems affected each other just the same as anything else.

There was no such thing as only innate abilities affecting each other and power systems affecting each other.

If one had a fire type innate ability, a water oriented art or spell from one of the power systems would still affect it just as it would normally affect any other fire.

The distinctions which lay between the two was the type of energy used and their path of progression.

Both of which were still unclear in regard to innate abilities.

It was expected that the Human Federation would take a huge leap forward if they were able to find out how to develop innate abilities and what exactly was the type of energy it used.

A similar situation took place here. To cut the connection of his mind control which was Rodrick's innate ability, one didn't necessarily need an innate ability to go against it.

It barely took a few seconds for him to recover from the backlash of having his mind control disconnected forcefully.

Seeing that it was only the few beginners whom he had planned to make scapegoat of, a bit of relief washed over him.

*****

A few minutes before the team arrived at the pit.

Eryndor actually had no idea where the Anomaly was supposed to be.

What was marked as a red area was a massive space which would have taken too long to search through.

Obviously, he could only resort to using his ability once again. Due to his view switching to that of a third person, it was difficult to control his body, but he managed it with pure focus, and a few run-ins into tree trunks.

The others looked at him weirdly but didn't comment anything.

This isn't feasible in battle. He thought without any shame from the looks others gave him.

He would have to practice using his abilities and performing other tasks simultaneously so as to not fall into such a situation again. He put that on his rather long list of tasks to do.

"You said you'll only make a single move right? So it won't be a problem for you to just stay there after making your move would it? I am just asking for your presence."

Eryndor asked Erin with a hurried tone while running through the jungle.

The man nodded without a second of delay.

Eryndor intended to keep Erin in plain sight just so Rodrick could be put on passive.

If the tactic brought even a bare few minutes, before Rodrick realised Erin actually didn't intend to make any move, it would still be advantageous for him.

While moving through the jungle he kept checking the view which his ability provided.

Almost there.

When they reached a certain distance away from the pit, Paulina suddenly notified him that there were certain sensors ahead.

After a moment of thought, he said.

"It's alright, no need to disarm them."

It is actually better if we trigger it.

Eryndor was almost certain that it was Rodrick who had planted the sensors.

He hoped that Rodrick would hurry up with his plans after being alerted of people closing in on their direction, hastening up his actions and utilizing plenty of energy of Consciousness before he asked Erin to cut off the connection between mind control.

Yes, that's what the help he had decided on.

Quickly cutting the connection wouldn't have been enough, because as long as Rodrick had enough energy of Consciousness, he could use the mind control again.

Soon, they reached the pit.

From afar, the orange hue of light glowing on the surface of the pit due to the campfire burning at the bottom made it seem like a pit of hell.

And indeed, it was currently a hell-like situation at the bottom.

Eryndor gazed down, his vision already having notified him of what was transpiring down below.

He held back Valentina, who was about to use her snake's ability on Rodrick to disrupt him from controlling professor Melissa.

She looked at him with confusion and a hint of rebellion on her face.

He whispered, knowing her morally-high principled personality.

"She will be fine. Trust me, disabling Rodrick's ability is a far greater priority."

Eryndor considered himself a good man, but in times of need he understood the importance of rationality over emotions.

He instructed everyone to keep quiet, while he watched with indifference on his face as the events played out at the bottom of the pit.

A few moments later, when he saw the look of struggle on Rodrick's face when he was about to massacre the students, he finally asked Erin to make a move.

He was familiar with that look of being low on energy of Consciousness.

As soon as the connection was cut off, all four of them began descending down the pit, using the riskiest way of running down due to the situation at hand. They couldn't afford to be slow.

Erin stayed on the top, with hands folded in front of his chest while he watched what was happening.

The person Sander had told him to contact was surprising to say the least. He looked forward to how the situation would unfold.

With one glance he had already figured out the entire layout.

Rodrick was the strongest of the students, standing at the peak of the Mana Novice realm. He was on the enemy side.

Anomaly of Misfortune and Fortune was at the Stable realm, the second realm of anomalies. After being set free from mind control, he was on the neutral side.

But to reduce the casualties of students, they would have to contain him as well, putting it opposite Eryndor's side.

Melissa was at Qi Condensation realm, and on Eryndor's side.

Eryndor and his team of four were weak, and the students were still unorganized.

Eryndor's side was currently at a disadvantage in terms of pure combat prowess.

Erin narrowed his eyes when he saw Rodrick sneakily take hold of the Mystical Artifact behind his back.

Things look bleak for Eryndor.

Erin thought with a mix of curiosity and interest on his face.

He was looking forward to surprises.