I am an Eldritch Entity

[Ardenox]

The reason he had to keep scanning his memory was because he couldn't remember the entirety of Jeremy's life even if he only scanned the past four months.

Remembering the overload of memories his brain went through when he first awakened still sent shivers down his spine.

So everytime he only filtered what he wanted instead of registering each moment of the target's life in his own memory.

Within a few seconds, Eryndor locked onto the timeframe he wanted in Jeremy's memory.

A month ago, Rodrick had gone missing for a period of time.

Since he didn't tell anyone, Jeremy took a guess that Rodrick might have gone for a solo mission.

The Mayor's opposition died one by one a few weeks ago, considering that Rodrick went missing a month ago, there's a high probability that he left the Academy for this task.

But if he didn't personally enter the town how did they die?

Eryndor knew that mages didn't have such a high range in the early stages.

Jeremy was in the Academy the entire time Rodrick was out removing opposition leaders for his older brother.

So he couldn't have mind controlled Jeremy to carry out the task.

If he had a person under him who followed his orders, Rodrick wouldn't have to leave the Academy.

He could've just ordered the person to carry out the task while staying in the Academy.

That left only one option.

Eryndor's heartbeat sped up just thinking about it.

Rodrick might have another person under his mind control.

Eryndor wasn't arrogant enough to think he had considered all the possibilities but the one he thought about had far higher chances of being the correct one.

Just as he thought about it, another question soon popped up.

Why didn't he kill the people himself but mind controlled someone to do it?

Eryndor couldn't make sense of this point.

It was very likely that he was missing more pieces of information.

With a tired sigh, Eryndor fully laid back on his bed and grabbed his phone.

He opened his group chat and sent a message after a minute of thought.

"Does the victim know they have been mind controlled in the past? Will alerting the victim of their situation alert the controller?

"And lastly, can mind controllers modify memories? Like removing, adding, or changing memories?"

It was Paulina again who was the first to respond.

"Just like how someone else can find the problem in the memory of the victim, the victim can also detect the situation themselves if they happen to realise the inconsistencies.

"As for the second question, I am not too well versed in it, but the controller should only be alerted if they are connected to the victim when you alert them, at least as far as I know.

"For your last doubt, there are various types of mind controllers, but ones who can modify the memories fall in the smallest category, it's rare to run into one with that ability.

"Majority of the mind controllers can only tinker a bit with their own memory before sending it to the victim's brain.

"The main part of their ability lies in controlling minds to do their task, having little to do with memories."

There wasn't any reply from the other two group mates but Eryndor was already satisfied with the answer he received.

Maybe those two had already fallen asleep.

His reason for asking this was that if professor Melissa was controlled, it would be a useless endeavor to alert her of the suspicious things happening here.

But knowing that only when connected would Rodrick be alerted, Eryndor put his mind to ease.

He couldn't be controlling professor Melissa when she was sleeping right?

Eryndor temporarily put aside his thoughts and began cultivating after sitting cross legged.

It was late into night, he could do the thinking after going through his daily practice of cultivating.

Closing his eyes, he imagined the circuit of meridians.

A few minutes later when he had imagined a large portion of it, the sensation of Qi in his meridians appeared.

With precise measurement, he controlled a certain amount of Qi which he could handle and began moving it through the circuit of meridians mentioned in the practice technique.

As soon as he completed a round, he could sense that the amount of Qi in his meridians had increased.

He repeated the procedure, this time controlling a larger amount of Qi to move through the circuit.

The amount of Qi one could control to move through the circuit was directly proportional to the amount of Qi they gained after completing one round.

But one had to make sure they were controlling only how much they could handle.

If they mistakenly sent their Qi in a meridian which was not a part of the circuit or lost control of some Qi during moving it through the circuit, the cultivator would suffer serious backlash.

Eryndor only controlled how much he was confident of handling and continued cycling his Qi.

Finally, after a certain point, all the Qi in his meridians began boiling.

Imaginary warmth spread through his body, giving him an almost lifelike illusion of being submerged in warm water.

Suddenly, the sound of a glass breaking rang in his ears as all the warmth disappeared.

Clenching his hands, Eryndor controlled his Qi to form on his fists.

Within a moment, a silver sheen coated his fists, giving Eryndor a sense of power contained in them.

Good, stage two of Qi Gathering realms allows me to manifest my Qi on the surface of my body. Stage one is merely the entry level.

I'll now have more means to protect myself and deal more damage.

Having completed his cultivation session, he laid back down on the bed and opened the group chat again.

After a moment of thought, he asked another question which was bugging him a few minutes ago.

"Is there a situation where one absolutely has to kill someone?"

It was Drakarion who replied this time.

"It's not yet confirmed by the Human Federation but killing is absolutely necessary for these beings to survive.

A feeling of dread welled up inside Eryndor as he had a faint guess as to what it might be, and indeed, Drakarion's next message confirmed it.

"Anomalies."

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor grabbed his hair due to frustration of not being able to think of any other possibility.

The possibility that Rodrick might have mind controlled an anomaly was too scary.

Should I tell other people?

Perhaps.

That was the only choice left. He decided he would tell his teammates first.

As for why he couldn't just leave all of it aside?

He already knew how Rodrick wanted them to head towards the fake bear area. Eryndor could choose to avoid it, as their mission would be completed without heading there.
But he didn't feel like leaving it here.

Since he already knew about how Rodrick was trying to drag them deep into some scheme of his, it would leave a bad taste in Eryndor's mouth if he just let him be.

It was also not as if Rodrick was an unsurpassable existence in the face of whom Eryndor could only run.

No, with denial of his human identity and an almost certain guess that he was an Eldritch Entity came pride, with it came ego, with it came confidence which was only boosted by his various abilities.

Rodrick would pay a steep price.

Eryndor had to continue gathering information and strategize how he could change the situation.

He slept with restlessness that night, his subconscious brain still trying to come up with solutions.

*****

"I have something important to tell you guys."

Eryndor spoke in a rather serious tone, his voice cutting through the idle chit-chat his group was having.

"There were problems with the blue haired guy who shared us his contact card."

Eryndor went on to tell them the result of his findings without exposing any of his abilities.

They were free to interpret it anyhow they deemed fit.

There was a stark silence on the table as the three of them stared at each other, stunned at the revelation Eryndor had given them.

"You sure Rodrick is behind all of this?"

Valentina asked.

"At least all the clues point to him."

Eryndor nodded. He then glanced at Drakarion and Paulina, before explaining where he had used their explanations.

Well, how did Eryndor know how the mind of Jeremy looked to deduce he was mind controlled? Again, they were free to guess.

Seeing that the conclusion he reached was from their own explanations, they had no choice but to believe him.

They didn't expect that on their first mission they were already facing such a difficult obstacle.

Valentina suggested they move out as soon as the mission was over, but Drakarion had a completely opposite view.

"How dare he move against us when we haven't even done anything? I'll rip him into shreds as soon as he appears before me. He isn't up to any good I am telling you.

"As for his mind control? Just let him try haha, I'll give him a good gift."

Eryndor didn't know if he was boasting, but his last sentence made him feel like his decision of not using Cognitive Scrying on his teammates, an extremely right choice.

"He'd be dead if I knew his location."

Paulina only spoke a single sentence but it was enough to show her stance.

Eryndor got a good view on his teammate's personalities through the small exchange.

Valentina preferred not to fight. Eryndor was uncertain but he felt like she was also very morally inclined, thus her decision of not acting upon Rodrick without concrete evidence.

Drakarion was hot tempered and preferred fighting to solve pretty much everything.

Paulina was silent but deadly. The aura she gave off made Eryndor put her on the same level as Drakarion.

Both Drakarion and Paulina were morally gray.

Eryndor heaved a sigh and put forward a suggestion.

"I am thinking of alerting professor Melissa about this. If at all Rodrick has even mind controlled her, I don't think he'll be doing it at all times."

Paulina nodded her head.

"Yea, not to mention abilities do in fact need energy to be used. The Human Federation hasn't yet figured out what this fifth type is.

"He definitely cannot use his abilities all the time."

No one else gave their opinion, but their silence was answer enough.

Eryndor simply nodded.

"I'll do it after I have more conclusive evidence."

"Huh? Don't lie, you simply wanted a reason to contact professor Melissa is it not so?"

Drakarion grinned.

Eryndor helplessly raised both his hands and replied.

"Don't keep accusing me or I'll beat you black and blue someday.

"You can contact her instead. I don't mind."

The rest of them laughed at that, with Drakarion not taking the joke to heart.

He simply shook his head while replying.

"Don't worry, I have no interest in these things. Contact her yourself."

Eryndor smiled, but told them he would still need to wait a few days for more evidence.

Eryndor could feel the shift in atmosphere as they talked about other things over breakfast.

It was only a tiny bit more serious.

He wasn't sure if it was because they had confidence in themselves or had a reliance he wasn't aware of.

He simply shrugged.

After breakfast, the four of them headed towards the outer parts of the town once again, carrying big green leaves on them.

Today they would be fighting infected dogs the entire time as all the infected cats had been captured.

So far there wasn't a single casualty on the side of infected animals.

It helped that the storage compartment of the vehicle of the Academy was inscribed with healing spells.

They walked leisurely, having already settled on a schedule and how many infected animals to capture. There was no hurry.

When they finally reached the location of one such infected dog, Eryndor once again activated his ability.

One, to more easily locate their target, and second, to keep manipulating the contact card.

After a couple minutes he had already found their first target.

Handing the assortment of equipment on him which included safety pills, antidotes, tranquilizers and a few other stuff to Valentina, he walked ahead.

Putting a hand on Drakarion's shoulder, he stated.

"Let me handle this one."

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor was itching to have a good fight ever since he broke through to Qi Gathering stage two last night.

With renewed defenses in the form of Qi film over his skin, he had better guarantee of keeping himself safe.

His Qi film didn't have extremely high defense, but a test last night proved that it could still block a casual blow from a kitchen knife.

Of course, his Eldritch abilities were his strongest trump cards but he preferred not to expose them.

He put on combat gloves and approached the dog who had begun growling at him.

This one seems to have been infected at a lesser scale.

They had come across multiple such specimens already.

An infected animal showed immense aggression to any and all kinds of living beings excluding trees, but some who were infected at a lesser scale displayed a comparatively lower aggression, although still high for their species.

As soon as he crossed a certain range, the dog immediately pounced on his legs.

Anticipating the movement, Eryndor quickly imbued his leg with Qi.

This was the second application of Qi he found while experimenting with it last night. Any part of the body where Qi was imbued would amplify in all physical parameters.

Instead of dodging, Eryndor swung his leg at the incoming dog. He took care to watch out for its incoming paw while aiming at its head.

A blunt sound resounded as his enhanced leg hit the similarly enhanced head of the infected dog.

Eryndor quickly followed up with another kick when the dog fell just beside his other leg due to its initial momentum.

The infected animal was stunned from the hit. Trying to get rid of dizziness, it shook its head violently, resulting in its failure of dodging the kick.

Thud.

A heavy sound resounded as Eryndor's leg hit its jaw, smashing its teeth together, sending another intense jolt to its brain.

Taking advantage of the gap in its reaction, Eryndor imbued Qi in his fist and swung it on its head.

The force sent the infected dog right into the ground as Eryndor topped it off with a stomp on its head.

"Is it alive?"

Eryndor asked while panting. He was completely absorbed into the fight just now. The adrenaline rushing through him made it difficult for him to pay attention to anything else.

He wasn't experienced at fighting yet, so it was only logical that the first real fight would immediately put him into a fight or flight situation.

Drakarion stepped forward and checked the situation, giving Eryndor some time to rest.

He very well knew how Eryndor was feeling right now. He felt the same every time his father turned even slightly serious in a fight.

The exhausted young man watched as his team tranquilized the dog before transporting it away.

Patting his chest, he stood up.

I can't believe even with the enhanced physique brought about by cultivation and imbued Qi I couldn't knock down the dog in one move. Drakarion is a fucking beast.

He couldn't help but marvel about his teammate's capability.

He had seen several times how it took Drakarion only one full powered well timed hit or two decent hits on the head to knock out the infected dogs.

After sensing internal energy he could knock them with a single casual hit.

Of course, to have his teammates experience combat he went particularly easy, only participating to attract aggro and deflect fatal hits.

When they encountered another infected dog, Eryndor once again requested for a solo battle.

As always, with intense aggression, it was the infected dog which made the first move.

It lunged towards Eryndor, who braced himself, sidestepping just in time as claws tore through the air.

The dog charged again, but Eryndor ducked low, drove his shoulder into its ribs, and flipped it to the ground.

After being dizzy for a moment, it began rising, but Eryndor was faster, landing a sharp punch to its jaw and following with a swift knee to its side.

As the dog staggered, Eryndor darted behind it, locking his arms around its neck.

The creature thrashed violently, claws raking the ground, but Eryndor kept holding on, thanking the heavens for his cultivation enhanced physique.

Slowly, the dog's struggles weakened until it slumped unconscious.

Breathing hard, Eryndor released it, muttering, "Stay down."

"Now now, trash talking a dog are we? What's got into you today?"

Drakarion laughed, clamping Eryndor's shoulder as he watched the young women deal with the animal.

He simply shook his head with a tired sigh.

"Nothing."

Eryndor guessed it was likely because he was incredibly stressed.

Looking to fight was a subconscious reaction of his body to let off some steam.

The last fight beautifully succeeded in that as he returned to his calm self.

I need better control over my emotions.

The next few battles, Eryndor had some chocolate bars while watching the bloody scenes of battle.

It was worth sitting back once in a while to observe how his teammates fought.

No matter how relaxed he was though, he didn't let up on keeping an eye on his surroundings.

He always alerted his teammates as soon as a creature entered their range of sights, making sure not to alert them if the beast was far away out of their range of vision even if he had seen it coming their way through his ability.

The next few hours were spent capturing the dogs, after which they decided to go back to the restaurant for lunch.

They had been having packed meals for lunch and snacks, returning only for dinner.

But since they calculated that they had plenty of time to comfortably capture all the infected animals, they decided to go easy on themselves.

As they returned to their inn to have lunch in its connected restaurant, Eryndor notified his teammates that he would be back after changing his clothes.

He wanted to try wearing the Sovereign's Cloak.

Could he get new leads into the situation?

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor closed the door to his room and quickly focused on the 'Sovereign's Cloak'.

A moment later he felt a uniform sensation all over his upper body. The Cloak, as expected, had automatically worn itself over him, including the arms.

He looked at the golden runes over his Cloak and mentally focused on hiding them. Eryndor had no idea what they signified, so he wanted to avoid catching attention.

The golden runes over his Cloak and the patterns on its edges both dimmed considerably, eventually vanishing without a trace.

Eryndor could feel their existence but they weren't visible out in the open anymore.

For the sake of it, he changed his clothes and held the battle suit in his other hand before going back down.

The four of them moved out of the restaurant after lunch and a short break.

After restocking their supplies from a local store nearby, the group headed towards the jungle once again.

Probably because she was inspired by Eryndor, Valentina asked to fight the next infected dog alone.

The jungle was alive with distant bird calls, but Valentin's focus was on the infected dog which emerged from the shadows of the big tree nearby.

She took a steadying breath, her enhanced physique ready for the fight.

Beast Tamers obtained a relatively lower enhancement in their physique because the main focus of the power system was on the beasts they contracted with.

But like any other Beast Tamer, she could still use internal energy to do basic things like protecting her body and enhancing a certain part of it.

It required immense control, but she was talented enough to pull it off.

The dog lunged first, its claws swiping wildly. Sarah sidestepped, her movements precise, and delivered a sharp kick to its ribs, sending it skidding.

The beast recovered quickly, charging again with unusual aggression.

This time, Sarah ducked low, grabbing its front leg mid-leap and twisting.

The dog yelped as it hit the ground hard, but it wasn't done yet. It snapped at her legs as it scrambled up, forcing Sarah to leap back.

With a burst of speed, the dog lunged again, but Sarah pivoted, locking its neck in a firm hold from behind. It thrashed violently, but her grip held steady.

Slowly, its resistance faltered until it slumped unconscious in her arms.

Everyone more or less knew that Eryndor pulled off a chokehold because it was the only thing he could do, but Valentina did it because she didn't want to resort to crueler methods.

Just when everyone thought it was over, Eryndor notified them of another dog coming their way.

Before Drakarion and Paulina, who were always alert of their surroundings, could step in, Valentina raised her hand in the dog's direction.

Everyone saw a white flash blast out of her hand straight at the infected dog charging at her.

It hit the beast straight in the face, snapping its face sideways as it skidded towards them.

Everyone narrowed their eyes at the small white thread-like snake on Valentina's arm.

"That's one strong ability."

Eryndor applauded.

Valentina smiled modestly as she explained.

"It's even stronger but I held back to not kill the dog."

Indeed, everyone could see the creature's body struggling to get up.

Drakarion was quick to administer a tranquilizer and pack it up.

Seeing that their eyes were still on her, Valentina explained.

"Both black and white snakes are one of the strongest among level 1 of beasts, it would have been easy to have killed the dog so I held back."

Everyone raised their eyebrows in amazement as they marvelled at her luck.

Unlike humans, beasts didn't have 9 stages in each realm. They simply jumped from one realm to another without going through stages.

Their strength in a realm depended on their potential.

Being one of the strongest at realm one meant that her snakes had a high chance of continuing to be strong at realm two even after considering the consumption of potential to jump from realm one to two.

Everyone is a fucking monster. Only I am normal.

Eryndor didn't feel the least bit of shame when he thought about it. He truly felt he was the only normal one here.

He stood up while patting his butt and began leading his group to the next spot.

This time too it was Valentina who fought the beast alone, but rather than executing a hand to hand combat, she simply used her white snake to blast the creature.

It was truly a wonderful experience for Eryndor to have his mission carried by his teammates.

Feels great to simply be the brain of the group and watch the tasks being executed.

"Arghh, done. Last animal of the day."

Eryndor exhaled heavily and jumped down from the vehicle of the Academy after placing their last captured dog of the day in the storage.

With the rest of his group, they headed towards a different restaurant, eager for a delicious dinner since all they had was snacks and protein bars when they got hungry during the evening.

After about two hours when it was dark outside, they finally left the restaurant after having a fulfilling dinner.

Eryndor walked lightly alongside Paulina, with Drakarion and Valentina walking ahead. They were all discussing some random topic.

As he walked, Eryndor spotted a small stone on his path.

Instantly, he felt an extreme drain on his existence, the kind he felt when activating his abilities.

But no, he very clearly felt it was his Sovereign's Cloak activating. Due to hiding the runes and patterns, no one could see that a part of them was actually glowing.

Eryndor didn't know what those particular glowing runes meant, but to not alert anyone, he acted nonchalant.

He kicked the stone, watching it roll while talking with his group, all the while keeping a watch around himself.

Turns out, he had underestimated the drain. It quickly got so intense that a slight headache began assaulting his mind and a feeling of fatigue began creeping in.

His Sovereign's Cloak suddenly disappeared out of existence, as if it finally couldn't hold on.

******

Link to the discord server of this novel - https://discord.gg/WRTzMPSrev

 

[Lillie Jones]

thanks for the chapters

 

[Ardenox]

Paulina who just turned to ask him something tilted her head.

"Didn't you have your cloak on you?"

Eryndor didn't display anything on his face.

With an expression of genuine shock as if he just remembered, he replied in a hurry and ran back to the restaurant.

"Oh yes! I forgot it in the restaurant. I'll go get it back."

Eryndor didn't know if it worked, but from what he had observed so far, Paulina had the highest senses in the group and possessed a scary memory to go along with her acute observation skills.

She remembered the slightest details about everything and was incredibly attentive about her surroundings.

He once guessed that this trait of her might partly be the reason she always replied first in the group chat.

Eryndor didn't know if he had fooled her, but he could use the excuse of the dark surroundings at night time and the black color of his collared t-shirt to proclaim she might have seen incorrectly if she brought it up later.

He ran over to the restaurant and quickly left from the other entrance.

Arriving at a secluded spot, he focused on having the Sovereign's Cloak appear once again, all the while thinking of what happened just now, and why the Sovereign's Cloak disappeared out of existence.

Some invisible intangible attack might have been used on me, the Sovereign's Cloak somehow saved me.

Eryndor's eyes narrowed as he remembered a piece of information.

The altar of Sovereign's Cloak said it was only at the Latent grade, which is level 1.

Eryndor knew that the rest of his abilities, however, were at a higher grade.

His Passive Regeneration was at Stable grade, which was level 2, and both Cognitive Scrying and Telekinesis were at Active grade, which should obviously be higher than level 2.

Which means my capacity for energy of consciousness is enough to handle the use of an Active grade ability.

No wonder I didn't fall unconscious even if my ability was used to its maximum capacity.

Eryndor had a slight gist of what transpired.

Whatever kind of attack it was, it was clearly above Latent grade.

The Sovereign's Cloak defended against it using his energy of Consciousness, but since the attack was above its grade, it disappeared after fully exerting itself.

The full extent of consumption of energy of Consciousness by a Latent grade ability resulted in a slight headache and fatigue building up despite the recent dinner.

By the time he had completed his analysis, the Sovereign's Cloak reappeared around his body.

So there's a small time frame before which I can summon it again.

It was good to know of these small details.

Eryndor headed back into the restaurant and left from the front entrance, jogging back to his group who had waited for him.

As soon as he joined them, Valentina handed him a box.

With a smile, she added.

"A small boy from the town came up to us with this first aid box. He said their family were grateful for our help and would like to give us at least something in return."

Eryndor laughed lightly as he received the box.

"Why give it to me?"

Drakarion had his hands behind his head while replying to him.

"Who if not you? You were handling all the stuff like this so we thought it would be better if you kept it.

"Also, the boy said he made the thermometer himself, don't be surprised if it doesn't work."

Valentina nudged Drakarion with her elbow. "Be nice, he at least made an effort."

Eryndor had a faint suspicion in his mind, turning to Paulina, he asked.

"I am hoping you remembered how that boy looked? Can we visit him tomorrow to thank him?"

Paulina tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at him before simply nodding.

The rest of them didn't find anything odd with Eryndor's actions.

Once he was back alone in his room, he quickly examined the box closely while cross checking with his memory.

Alright, this isn't the box used to store the Mystical Artifact of professor Melissa's group.

With his mind at ease, he opened the box.

As was the case with every first aid box, inside were an assortment of equipment and items used for a quick fix or a stop gap measure until real treatment.

He took out each one of them and carefully scrutinized it. All the medicines and equipment were in their original containers and fully sealed.

Keeping them aside, he took out the thermometer which the kid had made himself.

It was round shaped, its glassy surface painted on opposite ends such that an empty strip was visible in the between.

There were a few markings and words which he couldn't make sense of below the empty strip of glass.

Attached to the circular thermometer was a small handle ending in a metal tip which was a standard for thermometers.

As soon as he took in the entire structure of the thermometer, his eyes narrowed, a faint suspicion in his mind that it resembled something.

A moment later his pupils widened after he went through his memory.

Eryndor placed the thermometer down on the floor and brought a knife from the kitchen.

Holding it tightly, he began scraping the sides of the thermometer. Slowly, the paint began wearing off, exposing a similarly glassy surface with more markings and words.

He stabbed the knife into the handle hard, easily pulling off the entire handle. It was a fake made of cardboard, with nothing inside the handle.

There was simply a small, but thick rope attached to the circular equipment which the handle had covered, or you could say, hidden away.

Eryndor held the unfamiliar equipment under lamp light and gradually became certain of his guess.

He carefully examined the markings and the small words which still didn't make any sense to him.

If I didn't know it wasn't a thermometer I might have really passed off these markings and words as a childish attempt at making one.

He took a deep breath and slowly whispered while keeping his eyes trained on the equipment.

Why the fuck did that kid give us an anomaly sensor?

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Ardenox]

Was it the kid at all? Did someone else put it there? Who could it be?

Unsurprisingly, a single name popped up in his mind.

Rodrick

Eryndor's eyes narrowed.

Why would you send us the sensor?

Eryndor examined the cut off rope attached to the sensor and realized it wasn't the one which professor Melissa had but one which was attached to the box containing the Mystical Artifact.

He had seen it in the memory of Jeremy. It was one of the few instances which he bothered to remember.

Eryndor couldn't make any head or tails of the situation.

Why give us this sensor in the night anyway? He could've waited a bit.

Eryndor couldn't help but think about that point.

After a few minutes he simply stood up and left the room with the anomaly sensor in hand.

On the way to the living room, he knocked on his teammate's doors.

One by one, each of them peaked out of their doors, and upon seeing Eryndor's serious expression, followed him after halting or completing whatever they were doing.

When all of them had gathered, he placed the anomaly sensor on the table before them.

"Can anyone recognise this?"

Contrary to his expectation, no one spoke. Not even Drakarion or Paulina who he thought were knowledgeable.

With a grave expression, Eryndor revealed.

"It's an anomaly sensor."

Paulina and Drakarion narrowed their eyes, before the former picked up the sensor and carefully examined it.

"This may be a recent model, since the anomaly sensor I know of looks different."

"Same."

Drakarion agreed with Paulina.

Eryndor hesitated, and went through his memory once again. A moment later he confirmed that it was indeed an anomaly sensor.

"How do you have it?"

Valentina asked.

Eryndor shot her a playful smile.

"Guess."

"I wouldn't know it no matter how many chances you give me."

She answered with exasperation.

Paulina, who sat beside her, chipped in with hesitation visible in her voice.

"Was it the thermometer?"

Eryndor raised his eyebrows at her.

Paulina really is observant as fuck. How did she guess it? Is it because she knew the kid had made the thermometer and I expressed intentions to meet that kid tomorrow?

His thoughts came and went within a moment, nothing visible on his face as he appreciated her.

"Wow, got it on the first try."

Despite guessing it herself, Paulina and the other two had surprised expressions on their faces when he actually confirmed it, before it transitioned into one of contemplation.

"Rodrick. It's him isn't he?"

Valentina mumbled.

"Who else?"

Drakarion replied with fists clenched.

Eryndor waved lightly to attract their attention before explaining to them how locked Mystical Artifacts attached with anomaly sensors worked and what had transpired in the meeting of professor Melissa's group.

He told them about Rodrick's suggestion regarding the Mystical Artifact assigned to them and how professor Melissa had allowed it.

He then began analyzing the situation.

"This sensor—" He held the sensor before continuing. "Was the one which was connected to the box containing the Mystical Artifact.

"And no, that first aid box is a normal one. Don't worry.

"So, Rodrick wants us to head towards the area where fake bears are located with this in our hands. I mean, we'll obviously carry a first aid box with us right?

"On second thought, I don't think it matters even if we don't carry it. I think he simply wanted us to have this in our possession."

"Sounds like he wants to set us up for something."

Paulina muttered with a frown.

"I have the same feeling."

Eryndor agreed.

"Does he want to run away with the Mystical Artifact? I mean, I know my doubt is completely without a base to refer to or derive from, but just a curious question."

Drakarion shrugged while he spoke.

Eryndor didn't try to find out the whys and whats about his doubt, but simply built another question on top of it.

They could always try a new point of view if previous ones reached a dead end.

"Professor Melissa will likely always be holding onto to the Mystical Artifact. No way she is letting anyone near it. How will Rodrick get it?"

"If professor Melissa is no more."

Paulina whispered.

Each of them fell into silence.

No matter how unlikely, this seemed to be the truth.

Rodrick only had a chance of getting the Mystical Artifact if something happened to professor Melissa.

"But how will anything even happen to professor Melissa?

"I am pretty sure professor Melissa is experienced enough as it is plus the Academy wouldn't allow students on a mission they weren't sure of succeeding."

Valentina reasoned.

Eryndor questioned back.

"What if there was an element they didn't consider?"

Eryndor reminded them about his guess of an Anomaly being the second mind controlled existence under Rodrick after Jeremy.

The gears in their mind turned as Paulina was the first to lay it out.

"Sooooo, they fight an anomaly, but another anomaly under Rodrick's command joins the fray.

"The situation goes south, due to Rodrick's targeted planning, something happens to professor Melissa and the rest of the group.

"Rodrick acquires the Mystical Artifact. Anddd done? What next?"

The group fell into silence, each of them thinking hard.

Something clicked in Eryndor's mind after a minute as he spoke.

"What if there was mutual destruction? The team and anomaly both destroy each other, of course, with Rodrick's anomaly's intervention that is.

"Rodrick takes care of the remaining few people if at all some escape death by chance.

"He takes the Mystical Artifact and stores it in the original box which is made to deal with the majority of the influence of anomaly, which means it can also defend against external tracking to an extent.

"And then, he'll take another box which professor Melissa should likely have, which should be given to her by the Academy to contain the anomaly, and throw it at us when we reach that area.

"Do you realize what this implies?

"It means we are agents of the Eight Outer Domains who brought some one time use Mystical Artifact and tracked the other team through this sensor in our hand.

"Then we unleashed it as soon as we got near, causing the demise of the mission team.

"Rodrick gets the Mystical Artifact which he'll hide somewhere and also would have made an achievement by apprehending us."

 

[Ardenox]

Eryndor looked at everyone with a serious expression.

"I know all of you are powerful, but can we deal with a senior? He is a proper Mage, the profession which never fights without preparation, and also has the ability of mind control."

Eryndor could try to attack with his telekinesis but if Rodrick had a strong enough shield he wouldn't be able to deal with it no matter how sharp or heavy the object he controlled was.

He couldn't hold Rodrick through telekinesis high up in the sky and then drop him, expecting him to turn into a meat paste.

He had already experimented with the infected animals.

It took an extremely high amount of energy of Consciousness to control something with consciousness.

And it only increased if the person or beast in question was powerful. Controlling Rodrick who was a genuine mage was nearly impossible.

Considering his Telekinesis was at Active grade which had a high probability of being level 3, he had an inkling that he might need to nearly drain himself dry to control Rodrick to that extent.

No one answered him. Even Drakarion kept quiet when he heard that Rodrick was actually a learned mage.

Eryndor was partly confused when he saw Drakarion's reaction, shouldn't he express some intent to fight? Was he the rational kind of battle maniac?

Drakarion smiled wryly when he saw Eryndor looking at him weirdly. With an awkward laugh he explained.

"My dad is a Mage."

Everyone raised their eyebrows at that, no wonder having assumed that his dad would be a Martial Artist given how Drakarion was trained so professionally from childhood.

If his dad was a Mage, it made sense why Drakarion would take Mages seriously.

Although it was surprising, everyone's attention soon returned to the matter at hand.

"Wait wait."

Paulina raised a finger with a frown, then spoke with a confident tone.

"Both the boxes actually have the same property.

"The one which is used to store the Mystical Artifacts and the one which is used to contain the anomalies are made the same way. Let's call the former box 1 and the latter box 2 for convenience.

"There are also two sensors, both of which can sense anomalies all the same. The only difference is one is connected to box 1. Let's call this one sensor 1. Sensor 1 also has the function to unlock box 1 after sensing an anomaly.

"The other sensor in professor Melissa's hand is a standalone sensor, an individual piece basically. Let's call it sensor 2.

"If that is the case, he could have simply given us box 2 and sensor 2. By giving us box 2 and sensor 1, there is a small doubt here.

"Look at the thick rope—" Paulina pointed at the thick rope with wires inside connected to the sensor in her hand and continued.

"It poses a question, why do we have a sensor of this type if there isn't even a box connected to it?

"Wouldn't it have been better if he kept box 1 and sensor 1 for himself without cutting them apart like this and give us box 2 and sensor 2 for a more plausible framing?"

As her speech reached this point, Paulina jumped from her seat, excitement visible on her face as her speech hurried but maintained clarity.

"Look, look. To any kind of official which apprehends us, for the sensor which we have, Rodrick or in fact anyone else can simply claim that the Outer Domain which sent us had stolen this sensor from another team of the Human Federation.

"Or you know, literally any kind of explanation would work since there isn't much of a difference between sensor 1 and sensor 2 except the former can activate the box.

"Literally no one would care about the properties of a sensor, the Outer Domain which sent us could have gotten it anyhow they wanted.

"But but but—" Paulina raised her finger, her face an epitome of concentration as she continued.

"This could be a big thing for us. A very small but extremely important clue."

Paulina pointed at Eryndor and continued.

"According to Eryndor, Rodrick might have an anomaly under his control.

"Which means even if he did keep box 1 and sensor 1 with him without cutting apart the wire connecting them, he can still open them by mind controlling his anomaly to approach the sensor 1, which will then unlock the box after sensing an anomaly nearby.

"But he didn't do so. Why?"

The gears in Eryndor's brain turned as his pupils widened briefly. He answered with hesitation.

"He doesn't have complete control over the Anomaly."

"Exactly." Paulina pointed at Eryndor and hopped. Her excitement was palpable.

"It is very likely that the Anomaly is resisting control. Or his mind control is not always guaranteed to work on it. This is the only reason why he wouldn't take risks using the sensor connected box.

"As to why he didn't give it to us?

"It's obvious—no first aid kit comes with a built-in thermometer, especially one that looks like a child made it. How could a kid create a thermometer-integrated first aid kit that looks like a factory-produced item?

"Anyway, keeping that aside. The Anomaly is most probably not completely submissive yet.

"And mind controllers use a very common technique when they encounter such situations of resistance.

"Classical conditioning.

"Use a hand gesture or any unique signal, fiercely use mind control ability to dominate the mind for a short period of time such that any resistance is futile, then give it a reward.

"Over time, the resistance of the mind decreases after the hand gesture, as it associates it to a reward."

Paulina once again extended her hand in Eryndor's direction before continuing.

"According to him, Rodrick used his anomaly to kill the opposition of the Mayor. And all anomalies have a compulsory need for killing living beings.

"Those opposition party leaders were the rewards.

"Are things coming together for everyone?

"We just need one chance. Just one chance to witness the hand gesture.

"As long as we know the hand gesture, we can perform it and do something else. Like hit the Anomaly or something. Anything which invokes resistance from it.

"It will break the psychological conditioning. It will break or, worse, reset Rodrick's mind control over the Anomaly.

"We can tell this to professor Melissa.

"As long as Rodrick performs any kind of weird moment, following which a new Anomaly attacks or things start going south, professor Melissa would know it was Rodrick's work.

"It is already proof enough, plus using this she can also disrupt Rodrick's control on Anomaly, making it free. This will only cement the proof.

"Since Anomalies are chaotic beings, there is a chance that they might fight among themselves rather than teaming up, which means the team could be saved."

"This will put Rodrick in deep shit."

Paulina panted heavily as she stopped talking.

Everyone looked at her speechlessly before Eryndor spoke out their collective feelings.

"You are fucking brilliant, Paulina."

 

[Ardenox]

Paulina smiled and humbly replied .

"I didn't do much, just connected the dots which Eryndor already made an effort to find out.

"The appreciation should be credited to him for being cautious and finding out so many hidden things, else we would've fallen into a trap without knowing anything at all."

Eryndor simply shrugged while smiling.

"I mean, thanks. But don't underestimate yourself, if it was just putting two and two together, I am pretty sure even Drakarion would've done it."

Drakarion, who had taken out a packet of chips from who knows where, tilted his head to Eryndor.

"Looking for a beating are you? I'll hit you with this pack of chips."

Although his mouth was full of chips, everyone still heard his reply.

After a good laugh, Eryndor brought out his laptop and immediately pulled up the Academy's website.

He cross checked the number he had saved earlier with the one displayed on professor Melissa's profile just in case.

Seeing that the number was correct, he called professor Melissa and put it on speaker.

Everyone watched with bated breaths as the call began ringing.

First ring…

Second ring…

Third ring…

Their anxiety kept rising until the last ring, when it was finally picked up.

"Hello, Professor Melissa is currently unavailable, how can I assist you?"

What greeted their ears wasn't the professor's voice but a male voice with professionalism evident in his tone.

Eryndor's first thought was if the Academy disallowed private communications during missions but that was clearly not the case.

He could exchange small messages with his friends and parents just fine the past few days.

After a moment of thought, he replied.

"I wanted to relay some information to Professor Melissa personally, is it possible? It's extremely urgent."

The call operator was quick to reply as if he had done this many times.

"I am sorry but she is really unavailable. It could take anywhere from around 3-4 days. I ask for your patience as it's an important matter.

"If it's extremely urgent, you can relay it to me, and our team will decide if it's appropriate to be conveyed to her."

Eryndor looked around at everyone but no one seemed to have any opinions or ideas.

I guess the procedure for dealing with anomalies is truly different from a normal mission like ours.

This may be our only chance though.

Eryndor spoke into his phone after phrasing his thoughts. He decided to expose that he also knew of professor Melissa's mission.

"The information I have could decide if professor Melissa's anomaly containment team would be wiped out or not."

There was a long silence on the other end along with sounds of typing before the operator spoke again.

"This number, Eryndor Noctis? No wonder you know of professor Melissa's mission. But I hope you know that the words you spoke can not be treated lightly.

"Are you aware of what you are proclaiming? If you go ahead with it, the amount of resources we'll have to utilize to confirm your information would be significant.

"If it happens to be a false alarm you will be severely punished by the rules of the Human Federation, the Academy can't shield you on this matter."

Eryndor faltered at this step, because he truly didn't want to divulge the source of his information.

His teammates understood the dynamics of the group and were tactful about such subjects, but this was different.

The call operator would need proof to not immediately dismiss their statements.

Chuck it, we'll see how it goes. Worst case we head inside the red area ourselves or try to find another way.

Eryndor took a deep breath and narrated all the information.

While listening to the sounds of intense typing, he continued with occasional breaks to catch some breath.

Towards the end, he spoke about Paulina's conjectures and also a way to combat against it.

Just as he finished, before giving the other person any chance to reply, Eryndor spoke once again.

"I am ready to accept the punishment if it turns out to be false. Please check the information and rescue professor Melissa and her team."

After a short pause, he added. "And I hope Rodrick's punishment isn't light."

Seeing that Eryndor didn't give him any chance to ask about the proof or such and straight up agreed to a punishment, the operator was quiet for a moment.

After a bit of consideration, he replied.

"Considering that you're the Academy's student I'll relay the information to the verification team.

"As much as I hope the information is just a false alarm, I hope you can do your utmost to help from your side if the Federation demands it in the situation that your information turns out to be correct."

After a pause he added.

"Professor Melissa is my younger sister."

The call immediately ended after that.

The four of them looked at each other in silence, unsure of what to do now.

"Let's just sleep."

Drakarion got up while crumbling the empty packet of chips in his hands.

"Don't put your phones on silent, gotta pick them up in case the Academy contacts us. I reckon it will be an important day tomorrow."

Indeed, there's nothing else left for us to do.

Eryndor thought. He too stood up, echoing Drakarion's statement as he added.

"True, get some rest. It's already too late."

The team dispersed into their own rooms after bidding goodbyes.

Sitting cross legged on his bed, Eryndor began his daily round of cultivation.

He controlled a certain amount of Qi and began circulating it in the circuit mentioned in the practice technique.

For the first time in a while, Eryndor felt better in terms of stress.

It felt like a heavy load had been lifted off his heart when the complete plot was revealed and The Human Federation was alerted.

The fire in his heart to get back at Rodrick was still there but he also realized this was a better option than confronting him personally or even with his team.

As mentioned earlier, Rodrick was a Mage who had been treading that path for far longer than even the combined time of all four of their paths, plus an anomaly to boost his prowess.

The method Paulina spoke about would only free the Anomaly, with no guarantee of who it might attack next, making their survival an uncertainty.

Not to mention it was unlikely they could've defeated Rodrick even if he didn't bring out the Anomaly.

Eryndor heaved a sigh, removing those thoughts from his head and focusing his attention back on cultivation.

 

[bloodyparty]

The hot weapons and other types of weapons

Click to shrink...

Very nice story! Are you translating it from another language? I'm pretty sure with "hot weapons" you mean firearms

 

[Ardenox]

Very nice story! Are you translating it from another language? I'm pretty sure with "hot weapons" you mean firearms

Click to shrink...

Thanks for reading! I am glad you liked the story.

No, I am not translating it. I wrote it in English itself, though it is my third language. I always differentiate weapons between hot (combustion, explosive force) and cold (swords, knives). I didn't know hot weapons wasn't a common term, I'll keep that in mind for the future chapters. Thanks for pointing it out!

 

[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?"

 

[Shadowbyte]

It's sounds like Eryndor will have to learn the psychic abilities path and the magic runes sub path of magic to maximize his other abilities.

They were against walking 2 paths but he might have to walk 3.

He also might not be the only one downplaying their abilities.

We will know immediately if the ability copier displays telekinesis.

 

[Ardenox]

It's sounds like Eryndor will have to learn the psychic abilities path and the magic runes sub path of magic to maximize his other abilities.

They were against walking 2 paths but he might have to walk 3.

He also might not be the only one downplaying their abilities.

We will know immediately if the ability copier displays telekinesis.

Click to shrink...

Hello! Thanks for reading!

You're in for a surprise if you think he'll walk three paths. No comments on other statements.

 

[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?"

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[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.

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[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."

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[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.

 

[Ardenox]

As mentioned in the synopsis itself, I'll stop here. For further chapters, you'll have to head over to Webnovel - I am an Eldritch Entity.

Chapters have been released up to 68 there, and I'll be updating 3 chapters per day for this week, then switch back to 2 per day unless I get my book gets another promotion.

This is the discord link to my novel - Discord

 

[Heavenly Mark]

I like this idea