“Obviously, it all comes down to having the power to do it, and that’s your role! So what do you intend to do if one day you’re attacked by a fellow intelligent being?”

Mr. Finley, as he liked to be called, was doing something called participative pedagogy, investing Rune as a participant instead of as a simple listener.

“Make them unconscious, use a special restricting energy spell, and discuss with them when they wake up!” Rune knew the answer to this one as Mr. Finley hinted at the right way to approach it the IGS way before that point.

“Exactly! Peace isn’t something that happens naturally! You, and everyone else, need to proactively search for it. Understanding that maybe you’re the one in the wrong, that being betrayed is better than not searching for this possible peace, and that once you cross your bottom line for any reason, there’s no going back!” Like a disgusted dad, Aengus looked with disgust at Rune.

“Now, how’re you going to discuss with them when they wake up? Maybe they’ve been isolated from the world due to a disaster, maybe they voluntarily isolated themselves, maybe even they’re an undercover cell from a secret organization or are just puppets, but the first thing you have to think about is…”

He looked intensely at Rune.

“Is your IGS support network unreachable even after doing the emergency contact? If yes then you’ll be completely alone and you’ll have to open the guide that will be included at the same time in your connected lenses and in the form of a book in your assigned ether pocket dimension.”

Everything that could go wrong, could go wrong, was what he perfectly transmitted to Rune, to prepare him for the worst cases as well as the best.

“Now what would you do if it happens to you, Mr. Tudor?”

Thinking quietly for some seconds, Rune answered with his instinct, “Use an intent-infused voice to transmit my intentions of peace and use all the politeness I can to prove I’m not a threat despite disabling the assailant.”

“A very good start for a neophyte such as you, but you have to find the key points first, what are key points? Easily accessible information! Does he have clothes? Are they complex uniform-like clothes or simple ones? It’ll inform you about his possible origin and background, now I hope you didn’t forget how he fought you, what was his style? If you observe a clear specialization then never discount a possible militarized unit nearby!”

Cold analysis was something he emphasized a lot more than necessary, but Rune tried to commit everything to memory, those were distilled lessons from a being with complete and confirmed mastery of what he was talking about.

“You can’t expect anything from him! Never believe what he says as even if he is honest and is using an intent-infused voice, it’s not the right way to approach a foreign entity! Keep your distance, don’t involve such big words as “civilization”, start with little, there's no deadline and you have all the time in the world.”

“This section about the way to talk has other uses, very important ones, but can you guess them, Mr. Tudor?”

“Hum… For when the other approaches me directly without the intent to attack?” Still by instinct.

“Yes, but what about when you encounter a tier 4 entity that’s passing by? An invisible hostage situation! What do you think would happen if the IGS was enemy with a rebel group? And this group just happened to be hiding in the wilderness? What a coincidence right? Of course, you’ll be prepared for that! According to all the principles, I told you till now, what would you do if a tier 4 aggressively approaches you but you’re sure he’s an intelligent being?”

A direct death stare was directed Rune’s way, he had not been allowed to give the wrong answer.

Thinking very deeply about what he would do, he considered everything, escape, hiding, talking, attacking, and finally concluded the most IGS’s way ever.

“Sit respectfully on the ground like you’re not concerned with the being that could potentially kill you the next second, as an IGS citizen I can confidently say that neither I nor my civilization was ever in the wrong!”

“Huuuum! Veeery Goddaaamn right boy! He can punch you and cut off your legs! But... Attacking a fellow sapient?! What kind of degenerate are you!”

It was so overly dramatic with the added gestures that Rune could only admit defeat against such acting talent.

“Communicate! Maybe he just wants to disable you like you would do against a dangerous fellow unknown factor! Convince him that he can ask anything and you can even disable yourself for him! Expel all your energy in the most conspicuous way to prove it! Is he still attacking? Then it’s time for a strategic retreat!”

Mr. Finley looked like an old man but acted like a teenager.

“As you retreat, emphasize that you are no victim! You can run away when you want to! But you’re open to stop anytime as long as the discussion is open. And now we’re back to how to talk, everything you did before shouldn’t have any negative repercussions but in case, just in case! Apologize! Apologize the IGS's way!”

“Be sorry for the inconvenience you brought. Be sorry for penetrating holy territory or whatever, don’t say whatever by the way. Be sorry for… Everything!”

The climax being reached he could only start to carefully explain the simple art, the major art, the divine art, of talking your way towards friendship.

“Xenophobia is possible so…”

“Talking about your adventures is a sure-fire way to open the other for…”

“We’re no religious lunatics, you’re no religious lunatics, but sometimes… Well, you know…”

“If you do an improper gesture or say something improper, it's never too late to apologize, it’s also a foolproof way to prove you’re a true foreigner…”

“And then the second part, when basic friendship is made it’s time to stop the conversation and free your captive if it’s the method you used, of course! You freed him the moment he asked if it happened in the middle of the conversation!”

It was interesting, like true life lessons from history, it was compressed but Rune couldn’t see an argument to say those lessons were wrong or right, they just fitted right with his principles, so he accepted them.

“Your mission isn’t that of an ambassador, it’s simply to become friends. You’re just an average citizen of the IGS through and through, going on an adventure because you wanted to. If the other clearly has no way to guide you into his own civilization or is hiding it, it’s no problem! Tell him you’re from the IGS using hints, and maybe he’ll transmit that a civilization such as us exists near them and you’ll even gain a friend!”

“If you can apply even a tenth of what I just said then you’ll become friends with any intelligent being that is even a little open to such an act, culture can vary, but the concept of friendship is lost only in very warped societies. And it takes very careful preparations before engaging in active contact with them, but I’m losing myself a little here… Did you find this personal seminar interesting? Does it correspond to your own principles, I sure hope it does!”

‘What did the IGS before the rululus were incorporated look like? With fallible minds and not god-like sages.’

It was the true feeling Rune ended up with, not once did the rululus fail to their task, and never once except at the beginning the thousands of other species complained about them, a harmonious cycle that was once again unveiled before him in the form of an introduction.

“It really reminded me that I’m happy to be born in the IGS, I would have only encountered monuments of wisdom such as you by luck if the Ether Law didn’t awaken in this cycle, I accepted everything, not one of the lessons you said appeared to be wrong for me,” Rune told his honest feelings.

“Oh thank you, you flatter me. For me, it’s talented people such as you that I have the pleasure to help and guide on the path that will lead to everyone not having regret. You have your responsibilities as much as I have mine, and when everyone does his best then it’s a golden age, the awakening really brought more than just a golden era, it brought hope and dreams to everyone.”

“Through my current job, I can see young people like you reaching for their dreams, but everyone can be like you, an old father who wants to help his family, 9 years old who dreams of being a hero, a criminal who has hidden intentions, we accept everyone, just maybe the later who’s not going to receive his loan, probably postponed for an undetermined period hehehe.”

With his sphere, Rune could see Orobas arriving, so it was time to end this, and Mr. Finley was aware of this too.

“Thank you for your attention, Mr. Tudor, you perfectly correspond to what a mature hot-blooded asocial average human should look and act like, you stood out by becoming a tier 3 but you already know that in reality, you didn’t yet reach the level to have a say in even the most minor of conflicts, work hard and as our leader says, I hope you’ll be rewarded for it!”

“Thank you for your precious time! I’ll work hard to one day use everything you taught me and not disappoint the principles of the IGS,” Rune of course wasn’t really a true patriot to the IGS, still, he respected their history, no war, just pure cultural assimilation, and those qualities were transmitted to his family and then to himself.

Opening the door, Orobas was waiting for him behind it, ever so slightly smiling, “Your connected lenses are ready, please follow me, I also have to explain all the new subtleties you’ll have to deal with in the near future.”

Starting to walk not towards the exit, but towards the end of the floor, Orobas started talking.

“Your file has been verified and you can receive a loan directly, it also seems that you have interesting tales to transmit to us, a 4-month long adventure should at least have some interesting nuggets right?” Judging from his expression, he just seemed to really love adventuring tales.

“Those tales can unfortunately only be utilized as references, I’m not the most organized when it comes to measuring time after all, but yeah. I also have other things to do, though I’ll search the net for the majority of them.”

“About all the equipment you may or may not want, only when you embark on a true expedition will you receive them, just between you and me, an ether pocket dimension is… Really! Difficult to manufacture currently.”

“It’s a completely new technology after all, so it’s been modelized that they’ll tend to collapse in around one year after they start to be used. Once you get one, however, they are so useful you can’t go back to not using one,” experience seemed to be talking, and Rune was in attentive-student mode so he tried to memorize everything.

“All your equipment will have to be asked for by making a request via your connected lenses, but it’s currently very easy for you to get a general package so don’t worry about it. When you receive it, don’t forget to test everything with the responsible support unit, if everything is done correctly you’ll never be cut off from the network, even after tens of thousands of kilometers, just don’t rush in a straight line for a whole year.”

Orobas seemed inclined to give lots of tips and Rune wouldn’t refuse any, he would transmit them to his friends later and confirm those he missed.

“Here we are, enter the room and receive your pair of connected lenses, also ask for your loan. I’m waiting for you here and I have all the day before me so take your time to correctly configure your lenses, you don’t want them to have problems, you would have to come back to get a replacement as we’re pretty short of them so we can’t give you a second emergency pair.”

They arrived at another room, or more like a busy workplace from what Rune could see.

It was a big room at least the size of a tenth of the entire floor surface, and people were acting like energized gamers with all the screens turned on, complete silence, and frantic hands movements.

Someone came to guide him to a desk the moment he entered, the women behind it directly gave him a closed box.

“Here is your pair of connected lenses, we all know they’re cheap to make and easy to produce but that’s the only reason you can even have them now, so you’re going to have to wait some month before getting something better,” she was clearly like a robot repeating the same line for the umpteenth times.

“Thank you,” Rune took the box, and following Orobas’s advice, he opened it directly and put them on.

When both lenses got to their rightful place they automatically activated.

[Welcome User Rune Tudor]

[Starting calibration process, please follow the following steps]

From vision calibration to voice and sound adjustment, Rune knew mostly everything about how it all worked, it was really the most rushed visual software he saw in his entire life.

Fortunately, there was everything basic in it, motion sensors, vibration interpreters and makers, simple components that had been optimized to be the most compact as possible.

[Finished calibration, to activate menu please swipe your vision three times to your right, you can change this process if it is an inconvenience to you]

Rune swept his vision three times to the right and there it was, no problem and it all seemed to work.

[Parameters

Internet

Contact

User Guide

Mission Network]

Accessing the internet, rune tried the vocal search, “Internet,” and then a typical internet search page appeared the next second, with the first being the official site of the IGS, “Open IGS official website”.

The vocal commands worked perfectly.

He then used his contact to input Nelo’s information and the next moment.

“Yes Rune, hello, do your lenses have a problem?”

“If you tell me the result of 2 times 4 then no,” talking to himself he confirmed that he could also hear sound and so his lenses worked perfectly.

“42.785 celsius degree.”

“I’m hanging up, see you later,” Rune hung up and thanked the woman for her work and told her that there was no problem with his lenses, “Do I also receive my loan from you?”

“Do you agree to take a loan of 9 billion ether points at a 1% yearly interest rate with a 10-year term for repayment?” A line she also probably repeated time and time again from her corporate expression.

“Yes,” no way he was refusing that, if the ether pocket dimension was as overpowered as what he heard then farming EP would become streamlined.

“Then give me your hand please.”

Extending his arm, he immediately received a notification.

*Ding* You received 9 000 000 000 EP from Amaia Galen

“When you plan to go on an expedition, please use the mission network in advance for the Adventurer’s Society to prepare for it, you’ll receive a message when everything is ready,” Amaia told her last line before hinting that it was time to leave her alone.

“Thank you goodbye,” Rune retreated with simple words and a simple smile.

Exiting the busy slash gaming room, Orobas was waiting to bring him back to the entrance.

“I’m done with everything right?” Rune asked the obvious but correct question.

“Yes, now we’re releasing you with peak tier 3 stats and a full guide on how to optimize your build, it’s still a work in progress but take into account that the current peak civilizations shouldn’t have anything better than that. The amount of legacies left on the information board is staggering at best, infinite if we’re realists,” maybe he was embellishing the guide a little but Rune intended to correctly read everything.

Not only for his specialty advancement path but also in case he missed crucial pieces of information as he did with the composite elements.

“I’ll carefully read everything, I’ll also not hesitate to ask my rululu friend or an advisor from the IGS if my build has holes in it,” Rune told of his true feelings and then they continued to make small talk.

Months of adventuring alone didn’t help his social skills, so he only answered to the inquisition from Orobas, and a minute later he was freed.

Exiting the building, he immediately invested all his EP to become a peak tier 3 stats-wise.

Rune Tudor (Tier 3)

Class: Steady Pathfinder

Specialty: Shelled Dimensional Perception

EP: 1 001 000 000

Stats Total: 50 000

Health: 5 000

Health Regeneration: 5 000

Strength: 5 000

Cohesion: 5 000

Energy: 5 000

Energy Regeneration: 5 000

Purity: 5 000

Affinity: 5 000

Momentum: 5 000

Perception: 5 000

For his low priority stats, he needed to invest 1 800 000 000 EP to make them reach 5 000, for his high priority ones, he only needed 450 000 000 EP.

In the future it would only be exacerbated, even more, every stat point at tier 4 cost 800 000 EP after all.

‘I’ll ignore the 1 800 000 EP per stat point at tier 5 for the moment, my sanity is at threat after all.’

He stopped thinking about it, he still had so much to do.

A connection to the internet meant he should be able to find a means to send news back to his family, and maybe even the billion EP he was standing on if those services were advanced enough.

As for if those services were expensive or not, he didn’t need to worry, he was pretty rich.

Taking the highway once again, he stopped accelerating at 300 meters per second, it was maybe a little overkill for inner-city traveling but he didn’t see a speed limit panel anywhere, so he could do it with impunity.

5 minutes later, he was back at the temporary Undecided apartment base.