Gnosis Society

A small grin appeared on Zane's face. This was it. He was currently experiencing the feeling of reaching the finish line in a race.

Finally, he was officially a member of an Interstellar organization, a part of something greater. The messages continued to sound in his head without fall.

[New member registered.]

[Zane Black Valois: Disciple] 

[Status Upgraded.]

[Authority level upgraded.]

[Scanning the Star..20%...40%...60%...80%...100%...]

[Scanning Completed. No base detected.]

[Contacting the nearest branch office.]

[Contact established.]

There was silence as Zane tried to make sense of what he had heard from the system. Base? What does that mean? His system had never said anything about it. 

He furrowed his brows as he glanced at his watch. It was still 2 hours before his birthday. He needed the Gnosis system to be functioning perfectly in order to buy the pathway he wanted.

The Valois family did not have the kind of scribe pathways he was looking for... His heart rate increased steadily as his toes curled due to his anticipation.

[Searching for a suitable location.]

[Search Completed.]

[Establishing a Gnosis base]

[1%...5%...]

Zane's narrowed his eyes before he lowered his face in thought. They were establishing a base here on earth. How? Buying a house or constructing one? He rubbed his hands as he felt the familiar pool of excitement churn in his stomach. He could not wait to see.

The familiar beep sounded again signifying that the base has been established.

[Gnosis systems insufficient.]

[Aeon position cannot be assigned.]

[Dispatching Five Gnosis Systems to Earth Star base 01] 

[Systems Dispatched.]

[System Warning: Disobedience of the Gnosis rules now results in punishment in addition to the loss of points,] the electronically-synthesized  AI reminded before leaving.

[Congratulations to User Zane Black Valois for passing his probation.] His exclusive System, 340901 intoned.

Zane smiled, it was still that same monotonous voice but after two years he could tell it apart from other electronic voices.

"My results were Satisfactory," Zane said, his chin was lifted slightly.

[It is acceptable, just slightly below Very Good and Outstanding.]

Zane's eyes twitched, he breathed in deeply, and adopted an unconcerned look before commenting, "The Ancients say that unreasonable haste is the direct road to error, it is better to move wisely and slowly."

[You are right.] 

"How many people ran before me in unreasonable haste?" Zane asked in a light tone.

[Twenty people passed Probation with Very good results and two people passed with Outstanding results. This is the cumulative results of the last two years.]

[One of the two people is present in this galaxy.]

"..." Zane smiled sweetly, "To bring honor to our Milky Way galaxy must not have been easy. He or She has done well. Let's move on. What next?"

[You must note these rules as very important. Membership in the Gnosis Society is permanent. No kind of scheme, contract, or death can get you out. There is no punishment for trying to leave but there is punishment for failure.]

[Points are everything. There is nothing you cannot buy at Gnosis. As long as you desire it and have enough points for it, It is purchasable. Purchase can be made with both intel points and knowledge points.]

[Upon your promotion, Intel points usage and viewing have been opened up for you. Intel points are used to purchase pills, Skills, Weapons, Techniques, and other Miscellaneous items.]

[Missions must be carried out and orders from your superiors must be obeyed.]

[Finally, your membership of the Gnosis Society must be concealed no matter what.]

Zane chewed on the words of his system. Most of the rules were in contradiction with each other or was there something he was missing?

"Who are my superiors? Is it all those who have a higher level in the society?" If it was then that was extremely terrible.

[No, Your superiors are those with an official position in the Society.]

"Like the Aeon?"

[Yes, the Aeon is the lowest official position of the Gnosis Society in every star. The Anax is the position above the Aeon and is the leader of the nearest branch office in the Galaxy. You don't have the clearance to know other positions.]

"So, If I become an Aeon, I could take orders only from the Anax."

[There are exactly thirteen Anax in the Milky Way Galaxy but yes, you are correct.]

"How is the Aeon selected?"

[It varies but most times it is through a panel.] System 340901 was glad, its user had finally seen the light. It would put all its effort to make sure he becomes the Aeon of Earth.

Zane sighed. He recalled the AI saying that it sent five Gnosis systems to Earth. Five more people contending for a position. This just got more troublesome.

However, that was a thought for another day, that thought along with the loophole he found in the second rule. He would dissect them both later.

"Open my Promotion package."

[Congratulations once again on your successful promotion. Your Promotion package is based on your results. You have received 150 Potential Probe Cards, 1 Class mask, 1 random class skill, 1000 knowledge points and 100 Intel points.]

Zane's grin reached his ears. If not for the fact that it was night and he would be rushed to the hospital, he could have gone to the balcony and howled like a wolf.

150 Potential Probe Cards, that was an additional fifty to what he was expecting. It seems like Satisfactory is not bad at all. 

The Class mask was a box of red velvet cake, extremely useful for his life of lies. It would mask his main class and allow him to pretend to have acquired another class.

The random class skill was just the icing on the already delicious cake. It was not a random skill but a random class skill. That is a skill that was tailored to himself. This promotion package was really worth it, he could not wait to promote to another level.

"When is the next promotion exam?" Zane asked, his hands itching.

[In a year. 200,000 knowledge points or twenty thousand Intel points is required for eligibility.] The system's monotonous voice seemed to have a faint trace of mockery.

"Let's move slowly and wisely. There is no rush." Just forget it, a wise man knows when to retreat.

He opened the operation platform and viewed his status.

{Name: Zane Black Valois

Potential: A

Authority: Disciple 

Class: None

Fraternity: None

Knowledge points: 121,420

Intel points: 1,890}

Zane could tell the tick in his head growing. He had read almost so many books in Cloud city's library.

He had continued his reading streak here at the library yet the total points he had gotten did not equal 20,000. 

The majority of his Knowledge points were from the knowledge from the diary. That would have to change. Should he go for rarer books?

While he was dealing with these thoughts, his hands were excitedly clicking and enlarging the potential bar of his status.

Talent: 24

Luck: 15

Willpower: 7

Potential: A

Zane swallowed. How could his Willpower be so low?

He was somebody who has read about his future, suffered the pains of everything. Is he not hardened enough? Don't he have enough determination to walk the rocky path? Are they positive of the accuracy of his potential?

"Hey, System..."

[Trillions of Tests have been carried out. The Potential Probe Cards have 98.50% accuracy. All probes under S potential have 100% accuracy. None has ever been wrong."

Zane was speechless before he sighed, "You used to be so cute before. Is this the feeling of watching your child grow up?"

System 340901 was smarter thanks to its upgrade and wisely did not comment.

Zane smiled at the luck and talent. He has been very lucky in this lifetime. He was pretty happy.

An alarm rang out, derailing his train of thoughts. It was an hour to midnight. He still had enough time.

"Quick, System, I want to buy two of the best scribe pathways. Let them be tailored for me."

[Ding! Calculating...]

[The rune scribe and the Arcane scribe are the best pathways close to your stats. The price of both of them is 45,000 knowledge points. The price of tailoring is 20 Intel points] 

Zane nodded his head. No price was too high when acquiring a perfect class for you. 

He looked through the prerequisites of the rune scribe class and the arcane scribe class. He checked all the boxes, even the weirder ones.

Both classes had similar preconditions of Intelligence attribute of over 15 points, Agility to be over 6 points, Basic proficiency in 4 languages and Intermediate proficiency in Calligraphy.

This is because the scribe class is foremost a scholar and keeper of knowledge but that is where the similarity between the two classes ended.

The rune scribe was high-level mage class with the rare skill of spell creation. As long as a rune scribe can study and understand the knowledge behind a spell creation, he can cast the spell notwithstanding the class restriction of the spell. 

It was indeed an exceptional class. However, the pressure on the class was extremely high as well, not only is spell casting limited to the amount of magic points one had, the repertoire of spells one had is also restricted to the  comprehension and Intelligence of the person. 

It is not a surprise that a high level of focus and excellent researching ability are prerequisites for the Rune scribe Class. The Rune Scribe Class was one for the intellectual elites.

The Arcane Scribe Class was different from most mage classes in the sense that it was a non-combat class. It was a class that seeks forgotten and ancient knowledge.

Recording the rise and fall of empires while aiming to be an epitome of knowledge, a living library. The Arcane Scribe class had a unique skill, Influence. The more you know, the less you are influenced by the domain of knowledge.

Just like the rune scribe class, it had strange prerequisites. A neutral stance in political affairs, advanced proficiency in one lost language and a high aptitude for diplomacy.

Zane sighed, he was glad he met all these conditions but which one should he choose?

While he continued to mull over his thoughts, the clock struck twelve and he was lost to the world. At that moment in his heavily protected room, a figure walked in.