New Mission
After a little experimenting, Alex discovered it took around 1 hour for his mental energy to recover. "Judging by how quickly my mental energy got used up, It doesn't make sense for them to base a Path on sensing. Unless there is a way to increase my mental energy," thought Alex
Going back into his manual. The only way he found to increase the amount of mental energy he possessed was to keep using it. "So it's like a muscle, the more I use it, the stronger it becomes," thought Alex.
Noticing the manual didn't possess any more information he guessed this Cultivation manual was an incredible basic one. "Closely guarded secret my arse. This is just the basics of the basic."
"So I have two options. Stick with the Church and get scraps or try my luck with Shadow and see what I can get out of him." The only thing stopping Alex from betraying the Church was what they would do to his sister.
"Shit, I would need to secure her safety as well as my own, I highly doubt they would just leave her alone if I screwed them over," thought Alex.
Knowing what was out there, Alex just couldn't settle for a fake Path when the true ones seemed so much more fun and interesting. Even if it cost him his life he would rather risk it than live his life in a cage.
Over the next couple of week, Alex heard nothing from Cain or Jasper. Using his spare time away from physical Training he focused on training his Mental Energy and practising with the two Runes.
It wasn't until the third week he got a message. "So I've got a new mission? At least I can test out my new abilities," thought Alex.
Alex's maturity of the previous two weeks had started to improve with leaps and bounds. He didn't know whether it had to do with what had happened recently or whether it was increasing his mental energy or both. But his mentality was definitely improving.
Meeting up a the rondevue point, Alex was delighted to see Jasper there. With a big grin on his face, he walked up to Japer giving him a big hug. "Nice of you to finally showing your face," said Alex teasingly.
Smiling at his apprentice's remarks. "What can I say, maybe I just got sick of your face and needed a break," said Jasper with a grin.
The back and forth continued until Kristina got tired and intervened. "Enough with the bromance we have a job to do it.
"Someone's cranky", Said Alex. "But you're right, what are we here for? Jasper proceeded to tell them what the mission entailed. They had been enlisted to secure a mine somewhere on the outskirts of the country. Apparently, some high-end researcher had discovered an ancient ruin.
Our mission is simple, we have to babysit some old academic snobs and make sure nothing happens to them while they do their stuff.
Confused and annoyed by his lack of knowledge, Alex had to Ask. "What's an ancient ruin"?
"An Ancient ruin is an underground compound normally used by ancient civilisations. They can hold anything from techniques all the way up to new Paths. The Path of Immortality was rumoured to be found in an ancient ruin," said Jasper.
Excited at the idea he might found some interesting stuff Alex couldn't wait to start. The other looked less eager. Having been in ancient ruins before, they knew it could go from incredibly boring to incredible dangerous at the flick of a switch.
The civilisations who once occupied the ruins weren't stupid enough to leave their possessions and secrets unguarded, Golems, ancient beasts, traps, you named it could be found there.
After hearing all the danger he might encounter on the mission, Alex's joy dropped slightly but he was still insanely excited. From what he was told, ancient society's didn't follow fake Paths meaning he might find something from a real Path.
Going to a room Alex had never been in before. The room contained something called a warped door. It was basically a massive spacial door that allowed long-distance transportation.
"Amazing," said Alex looking at the door. The so-called door was just a massive square, silver frame dotted with multiple Ruins.
It wasn't in till Kristina walked up putting her hands on a glowing red Gem that the frame it up in white light before slowly turning translucent allowing everyone to see what was one the other side.
Walking through the door almost made Alex vomit. The spatial pressure applied to his body and the feeling of travelling that far through space was anything but pleasant.
Looking around everyone minus Isabel seemed to be suffering from nausea, realising he probably should be too, he quickly got with the act trying to blend on.
After everyone spent a few minutes recuperating, the team was ready to set off for the ruins.
Sitting inside a luxury range rover, Alex ended up sitting next to Isabel. Once again he found himself a little shy. "You nervous for the mission?" Asked Isabel. "Not as much as the first one. Probably more excited be honest," said Alex trying to keep his cool.
"Yeah the first is time is always the most unnerving," said Isabel teasingly, pulling a mischievous grin. Luckily for Alex, the driver interrupted them before he lost his cool. "We're here," said the driver.
Getting out the car Alex was disappointed to see the entrance to this so-called ancient ruin was just a mundane looking cave entrance with a white tent next to it.
"What did you expect? A massive ancient looking door with glyphs. Not exactly a good way to keep something hidden," Asked Isabel nudging Alex with her elbow.
"Well yeah kind of," said Alex once again finding reality disappointing. Out of one of the tents walked out a middle-aged man in a lab coat. Being around mid-'40s, short with brown hair and glasses. He couldn't have fit the stereotype of being nerdy any more if he tried.
Everyone welcome, allow me to introduce my self. My names Michael and I'm the head researcher on this mission.