Today Is The Day
The day of the cultural event arrived with the usual last-day surprise announcement.
Rune didn't know who or what decided the schedule, but from the time the first cultural event happened, the next one always happened between 5 and 9 days later, which was one week plus or minus 2 days, making sure no one got used to a rhythm.
This festival, maybe due to being accompanied by Adreana, a friend, or possibly it being the first he went to since coming back, seemed to be the festival with the most festive air he remembered.
More people inundating the wide streets, more new things he couldn't make heads or tails, more organized, more experience all in all.
As for the mid-concert event, it was, as he expected, fantastic.
Breaking his usual silent and emotionless face next to Adreana didn't make him flinch, intented singing just was that good.
Hearing intented singing once again made him want to do things he wouldn't usually think about, fortunately, his mental rationality of "I'll go to the next ten festivals" acted up and he enjoyed the rest of the festival like nothing happened.
Besides the new pieces of music added to his playlist, of course.
…
Once back at their apartment base, they parted to go about their businesses.
Adreana went back to her room and continued practicing whatever she was practicing, and Rune opened his note.
Today was the day.
Sacred Dimensional Perception
Soul Specialty (Tier 4)
Your perception is something sacred, anything entering it or interfering with it needs to be controlled or eliminated. To accomplish that, your perception doesn't need to be defensive anymore, it only requires the birth of an offensive property. Your birth foundation will be completely reshaped and every unused potential will be excavated to make this path a "Reality".
Perception-based spiritual powers become capable of influencing the realm of perception and damage spirituality. Perception-based spiritual powers receive a boost of 600% in spiritual intensity and spiritual strength. Any foreign spiritual powers entering your perception can be countered depending on your will, this counter is instantaneous and its efficiency is increased by 300%
Confirm?
'Sacred path, has the potential to majorly increase my perception control fundamental, countered by composite element refinement.'
'Spiritual powers path is very cool, a lot easier to get in than composite element path.'
'Can also counter spiritual powers, uncommon power, no real use apart from very rare situations, and has other solutions anyway.'
'Final judgment, unsuitable for the present, very minor uses, has potential only when taking fantasy into account.'
Even with all the goodwill he mustered, he didn't find anything that could change his final decision.
Temporal Baptism Dimensional Perception
Soul Specialty (Tier 4)
You tried to see things under a different temporality and realized that this path was one you could see yourself walk further, time is a fickle property but you're ready to make the necessary sacrifice to become intimate with it. Taking this path for the second time will allow you to completely change your birth foundation remaining power and use all the potential that exists inside your ether soul.
Permanently change your perception of time to be extended by 40%. You can at any time choose to depart from your current temporality and enter a different temporality with 150% extended time without suffering from any consequences. You can choose to undergo a time-baptism that will allow you to live for an uncontrolled time into a temporality with 300% extended time. You'll be able to sense any time-affecting events that leave traces.
Confirm?
'Temporal path, really powerful path, but doesn't solve the escape issue I need to solve now.'
'Saw a combination with a composite time element, where this specialty is used to escape the side-effects of slowing downtime for everyone, including the user.'
'Drawbacks are strange, "permanently" and "uncontrolled time", very heavy considering the amount of time I'll spend with this tier 4.'
'Final judgment, uninteresting.'
Innate Dimensional Perception
Soul Specialty (Tier 4)
An ether soul never really changes, it can only mature. What you were born with, the friends you got across your life, what you experienced, what you did. After maturing you decided that the initial path only needed a little refinement to become what you are meant to be. All the potential remaining in your ether soul will be unlocked and used to create your own path, a path where your perception is an impregnable fortress that affects all of your spirit.
Your perception sphere resistance to external and internal changes is increased by 800%. Your awareness resistance to external and internal changes is increased by 300%. Your spirit's ability to create momentum is rendered harder by 100%. Your perception's resistance to abnormal perception changes is increased by 600%.
Confirm?
'Innate path, the spirit becomes a fortress, easier spiritual passive training, the one I need to properly refine my future composite element.'
'When you love, you go past the faults, so it has no faults.'
'Final judgment… Yes/20.'
'Yes!'
*Ding* Your soul specialty has been upgraded from Temporal Dimensional Perception (Tier 3) to Innate Dimensional Perception (Tier 4)
Feeling the change, he felt his slightly extended time perception slowing down, returning to… Normal.
And as this ability departed, with him as the center, his perception disappeared, retrenching itself as his entire spirit changed.
His slight awareness division got snapped back into place, and only after all the inner changes were finished did his spirit once again project a perception sphere to see the outside world.
Passing from the balcony to the apartment, blocked by nothing, then to the whole building, then the whole residential park, then to its limit of 7 777 meters.
All this happened in ten seconds, and now Rune wholly became a tier 4 entity, one with a perception specialty that wasn't impeded by average perception-blocking structure.
Feeling a sudden insight, an absurd insight, he hastily noted it down.
'If everything develops as it should, I'll become a scout with extremely resistant and pervasive perception, a tank with behemoth survivability, and a mage with a stealth element… I don't think such a build can belong to anyone other than an adventurer!'
'And that's another punchline to say in the future!'
…
Exploring the capital city, because the Secluded Corner, as good, amazing, and welcoming as it was, wasn't the only unique place to find.
Training his elemental masteries, because it was the only reason he couldn't switch to his true provided adventuring build.
Actualizing his awareness division passive training, because his spirit's new properties could allow him to make it more intense while keeping the same training rate. Do the same for momentum manipulation and perception control.
Keep up to date, the next step of the Undecided was the money step, and though anyone had yet to announce they finalized their adventuring build, the 40 000 000 000 EP necessary to max their tier 4 stats and the 9 000 000 000 EP loan they all took wouldn't respectively find and reimburse themselves.
Rune didn't have to think too much to end up with this list of things to do.
Those were his directives for the short to medium-term future, and to help him accomplish those in the most efficient manner, he bought a personal pocket dimension.
Drowning in drinks he loved and being asphyxiated by too many donuts would increase his satisfaction and so, logically, boost his productivity.
Said a scientific review made by Rune himself.
At 20 000 000 EP for a 5 cubic meters pocket dimension with no destabilization time limit, he found it to be a bargain and decided to acquire one as soon as he saw the web advertisement about it.
So he visited the nearest commercial street.
And realized he had missed a big part of what made the neon capital the neon capital.
There were holographic screens everywhere.
They weren't even used for regular advertisements, they were used to show trendy things, funny news, interesting events, entertaining shows…
He just had to look at one screen flashing with purple-pink color to end up captivated by an employment announcement searching for cute humanoid girls and boys, with the objective to test "propaganda" level builds.
The problem was the screen showing what he recognized to be "magical girl" outfits, "gothic" outfits, "serious butler" outfits…
Apart from that, he had to enter a massive commercial center to go to the shop he wanted, and inside it was the equal of pandemonium-level distractions.
He didn't even try to fight.
He just went with the flow and only ended up buying what he came here for 3 hours later.
He didn't regret anything he did during that time.
'Why would anyone want to lead a savage life away from civilization for the majority of the time? Who could really say the commodities available at the capital weren't interesting in the slightest? If floating islands didn't exist...'
Being an ascetic was only interesting when it had a finality behind it, and Rune wasn't enlightened to the way of the world enough to discard his own feelings.
Civilization was good, if there wasn't somewhere to communicate his exploration results, then it wouldn't be exploration, it would be wandering.
'I'm a bit of a patroller myself, aren't I? Proud of you Rune, continue like that.'
His mini introspection journey that came about due to buying a personal pocket dimension came to an end, with neither a feeling of urgency nor a feeling of relaxation.
'I don't have much of a chance to finish before Adreana, but I at least want to be middle of the pack. 4th would be the best, just outside the podium, prestigious but not enough.'
He decided that 12 hours per day was fine, so his 12 hours remained 12 hours.
…
[Brand Brand: Official Opening of the Secluded Corner Tomorrow! Check out the official announcement on our official website or the gastronomy section of some news site!]
'Well, let me check my leveling first.'
*Ding* Energy: Specialized Mist Element reached Tier 1 Level 20
*Ding* Energy: Specialized Light Element reached Tier 1 Level 64
*Ding* Energy: Specialized Light Element reached Tier 1 Level 65
*Ding* Energy: Specialized Darkness Element reached Tier 1 Level 20
*Ding* Energy: Specialized Nebula Element reached Tier 1 Level 20
*Ding* Energy: Specialized Mystic Element reached Tier 1 Level 20
*Ding* Energy: Specialized Illusion Element reached Tier 1 Level 20
"Hehe," smirking demonically at starting another cycle of all-round leveling, he opened his masteries.
Masteries
Tier 1 Masteries
Physical Fundamental: Reinforcement: Tier 4 Level 8
Physical Fundamental: Fighting Instinct: Tier 4 Level 8
Physical Fundamental: Body Control: Tier 4 Level 9
Energy Fundamental: Fine Manipulation: Tier 4 Level 4
Energy Fundamental: Grand Manipulation: Tier 4 Level 4
Energy Fundamental: Energy Compression: Tier 4 Level 8
Spiritual Fundamental: Perception Control: Tier 4 Level 1
Spiritual Fundamental: Awareness Division: Tier 4 Level 6
Spiritual Fundamental: Momentum Manipulation: Tier 4 Level 5
Tier 2 Masteries
Energy: Specialized Mist Element: Tier 1 Level 20
Energy: Specialized Light Element: Tier 1 Level 65
Energy: Specialized Darkness Element: Tier 1 Level 20
Tier 3 Masteries
Energy: Specialized Nebula Element: Tier 1 Level 20
Energy: Specialized Mystic Element: Tier 1 Level 20
Energy: Specialized Illusion Element: Tier 1 Level 20
Tier 4 Masteries
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Empty]
In one month, he gained 2 levels in reinforcement, 2 levels in awareness division, 1 level in momentum manipulation, 3 levels in grand and fine manipulation, and lots in his tier 1 elemental specializations.
Focusing on only one element, the light element, would allow him to quickly shift to the elemental dissociation training part, and he wanted to get to it as quickly as possible.
Training the 5 other elements simultaneously was done easily by just pumping lots of energy into them, doing that allowed him to learn more about them and level them slowly.
Gaining 3 levels in his until then stagnant energy manipulation fundamentals strongly comforted him that he wasn't only creating an element, but that he was also progressing towards tier 5 with an efficient path.
The single level he got in momentum manipulation when he tried to feel what his spirit could do with momentum now, and as he thought, like his perception and awareness, it wasn't a decrease of efficiency, it was just making changing them harder.
Not getting a level in perception control had vexed him, but he recovered quickly thinking about the fact that it was his only spiritual fundamental with planned active training.
'Ok, so tomorrow just before midnight? Not really tomorrow then, more like tomorrow's tomorrow, but it could be argued.'
Checking the Secluded Corner official website, he found the correct hour and even a list of news sites that published the news.
'Well, only one thing to do then.'
Passing through the window door to the apartment, he called, "Adreana! I'll allow you to discover one of the best bars this city has to offer, it's tomorrow on the eve of the next day! Do you accept?"
Lifting her head and pausing her satanic energy manipulations Rune stopped trying to understand since 2 weeks ago, she nodded, "Ok, come pick me up when it's time."
And she continued.
'Humph! My charisma is just too good.'
And he left the inside of the apartment once again.
'I can feel it.'
Acting like a chuunibyou, he grinned, his heart was beating a bit faster too, and not due to acting.
'Nothing will happen during this opening!'
That's what his instinct was telling him, and he already had proof during his descent of the hole tunnel that his instinct truly existed and worked.
…
"No, of course I didn't read the block of 50 pages! I only read the synthesized version and I'm perfectly happy with leaving you on your own!"
"Ok! Ok! Then let me explain how absurdly profound and convoluted my path is now that I got all the basics down!"
Energy infused in their voices as they bantered like schoolmates, Rune and Adreana were on the highway towards the Secluded Corner.
"The energy domain path or the energy domain mastery, at least the complete variant I want is composed of 5 parts, so you might think it takes only 5 slots right? Right! But no!"
"Each of these 5 parts needs different parts to make them, and some of those parts need even more parts to make! Right now, even if it tells you nothing, I'll soon finish the first major part, so I'll only have 4 to get."
As she wasn't searching to teach Rune her path, she only brushed the surface and decided it was ok.
"Oh! So I still got a chance to catch up with you? If I'm lucky I'll only need 2 to 3 more purges, whereas you… Nyeheheh!" Emphasizing the ridiculous laugh at the end, Rune only said that for the joke.
The star shining on this region had long disappeared who-knew-where, a region was only a flat land in the end, not a spherical orb of dirt and rocks rotating around a greater gravity body.
In a single month, not much had changed, the roads were still compressed dirt passing through elaborate reinforced concrete and neon-lighted buildings.
"I swear they better have a good reason for making me walk on comfortable dirt, couldn't they have at least put neon bands all the way through it?"
"Civilized people's problem, not my problem."
"If that's the case, I don't answer savage people."
"Nice, you got one answer right, or at least as close to right as you can possibly be, your repartee level is really at the same level as Arik I swear," Adreana judged him condescendingly.
"I'm bringing up subjects that don't even matter, why would you try and answer my inner thoughts made reality?"
"Because I know it doesn't matter."
"..." Rune remained silent.
"..." Adreana won, and she dared maintain a straight face like it was only natural.
Not even indicating it, he branched off to the right direction leading where they were going.
Once at the building hosting the Secluded Corner, the highest tower of the district they were at, he slowed down and joined the flow of people entering it.
"So, what type of bar is this one? For it to be only open when the sun's down, it has to be a little hot right? Or does it belong to someone with high status? And why did you target this one in particular? I checked the different gastronomy news and the announcement for this one wasn't that wide and eye-catching…"
"When you come again in the future, ask questions, I'll personally spend two or three days' worth of free time there every week, only leaving when I need to train or because I want to explore and do other things."
"Is your prospective wife there or what? Is their drink specialist amazing?"
"Well," taking a deep breath, Rune answered, "I don't know for 'my' prospective wife, but I'm sure 'your' prospective wife is there."
"So they have sexy women? I hope they're really at this level for you to say they'll change my sexual orientation."
"..." Rune gave up once again, Adreana was too much of a repartee monster and loved having the last word.
'I love smart people who get wrong deductions. It proves that the world still needs idiots like me.'
He put particular attention to keeping a poker face, letting nothing escape him.
What changed from last time wasn't just the flow of people and some more lights here and there, because this time, Rune's perception sphere pierced through every perception-blocking protection.
He had already become used to seeing things he shouldn't be allowed to see, and he often just subconsciously ignored everything.
This time, however, as he made his way up, he kept focusing his attention on one particular room and observed what was happening inside.
'So Brand also helps Karayan in the kitchen? For 30 people to be here at the opening, maybe some of them are ancient acquaintances?'
The bar itself had changed from last time, the lights were correctly placed, new decorations were added, all the shelf boxes contained something…
Once he arrived at the door, he took for himself the duty of leading the way for Adreana, he invited her after all.