Rune’s inclusion into the front line didn’t change much.

It wasn’t a question of having overwhelming offensive power or being able to support every other prospect, it was just that as time passed, the swarm of bone golems never seemed to get lower and allow the front line to advance.

And that was despite the slowly increasing number of IGS people joining on the fun. Rune heard snippets of mid-fight conversations that allowed him to understand that he had underestimated the power of the prospect network.

Once the first prospects arrived at the Tolevia camp and shared the real situation of a seemingly incredibly challenging but extremely rewarding city site, supported by the amazing records made by Rune, and the first data associated with solo dive attempts made by adventurous prospects…

All that made the gears turn on the network.

Nests had been exposed before, cities had been discovered before, small anomalies had been mapped before, but something mixing those 3? Confirmed by too much data to be fake?

That led to the city of Tolevia slowly becoming a trending subject, and that popularity translated into reality by making more and more prospects take a vested interest in experiencing it personally.

When he thought about it, for 78 people to have arrived during his intent tinkering seclusion, wasn’t it at least 2 people per day at a very conservative estimation of him having been lost in it for 39 days?

Once he realized this discrepancy and observed how 5 additional people had joined the front line, Rune took it upon himself after he dealt with yet another bone golem to retroactively learn how much time he spent making his intent’s 1st stage reach completeness.

He found the result in under a minute: A bit less than 2 weeks.

So the rate at which people were gathering here reached an extraordinary 6 people per day.

So days passed as the front line kept crushing more and more clones of the same bone golems, except with slight variations in builds ranging from identical to completely different.

Rune hadn’t kept a precise count on how many bone golems he had killed over the past… Days? Week? Weeks? As usual, he hadn’t kept track of the time and didn’t even try to know after his attempt at trying to know how fast new people were arriving.

And unlike the slight voice in his head telling him that repeatedly going against the same species, again and again, would get less and less challenging as time passed and he got to know their few weaknesses that would slowly cumulate to a perfect quick and efficient killing strategy…

He was utterly proved wrong after he confirmed only rare and unique monster nests gave birth to monsters that were guided by their greater to have somewhat identical builds in the monster nests section of the guide.

‘Sigh… Being able to take a break just like that in the middle of a battlefield feels good.’

If he only focused on the front line a few kilometers away, he would be able to watch it live as a spectator that could intervene anytime he felt like it.

After crushing what felt like hundreds of bone golems, he thought it was a good moment to learn some new things and try to answer a few questions he wanted answers to.

That’s how he ended up retreating a few kilometers away and got thoughts about how sipping a cocktail while watching live with his perception an intense battle should be added as an important item on his to-do list.

Divagating for more than half an hour, ruminating on what he learned about monster nests, Rune finally understood that he probably only learned a very small part of the puzzle facing him in the distance as he looked over the horizon showing standing buildings and more bone golems.

Bigger bone golems.

‘Then… Next is logically dimensional studies.’

Going to the section of the guide, he found some section titles that inspired him: Dimensional linking zones and the generated abnormal law warping, dimensions evolution over extremely long periods of time, monster-dominated dimensions and their consequences…

Those few immediately gave him the impression that they could be the answer to the Tolevia conundrum, after all…

‘Under the Ether Law, everything can be explained rationally and logically. And this time isn’t an exception.’

With this fundamental statement rearing up its head, Rune started reading the introduction of each section with interesting titles, before ultimately settling on the “dimensions evolution over extremely long periods of time” one.

He didn’t try or need to ponder about what he read, he just needed to keep it in his mind. He was neither a scholar nor a scientist, he was an adventurer, the most mixed and amazing vocation he could think of.

Motivating him even more was also the fact that he had already started taking his life in this direction years ago.

Fauna and flora studies weren’t unknown to him, and lately, with the more advanced monster behavioral analysis and material analysis, it just proved that he took the acquisition of knowledge at least as a form of hobby.

Even if it was a really mood-motivated hobby.

…

‘So life is really that important in the evolution cycle of finite dimensions… If only the period of time necessary to change the nature of the ether wasn’t so long, I’m sure it would be something more widely used to conduct research.’

Closing off his connected screen and standing up, Rune felt fulfilled after not only reading a full guide’s section but also understanding it.

He understood it so much that he had even stopped realizing he was reading the guide, a big condensed document with only texts and thrown together pieces of information, halfway through.

‘I wonder if fighting will help me digest everything that I read? If it really does then I’m sure all scholars are battle-maniacs! Hehehe!’

Not even a day had passed from the time he retreated to take a break, but even then a few more people had joined the front line formation and allowed its speed to increase by a few meters per hour.

Or at least that’s what Rune optimistically thought.

‘Where should I go this time? The left wing full of Rune-approved muscle-brains? The center where all the super deadly teams are? The friendly right wing? Should I become a roamer now that I’m used to it? Not like I can join the nascent backline full of Nelo clones… Or as a guard maybe? That would be interesting now that I think about it hehehe.’

Unable to make a decision, he figured he could simply let himself be carried by his successive targets and encounters.

The situation was still evolving and changing as more people arrived, and he didn’t see the need to accelerate his golem killing speed, so that conclusion felt natural.

‘Let’s go then, let me just check what a single session gave me before that though.’

He brought up all the leveling notifications he had deactivated.

*Ding* Physical Fundamental: Reinforcement reached Tier 4 Level 70

*Ding* Physical Fundamental: Fighting Instinct reached Tier 4 Level 68

*Ding* Physical Fundamental: Body Control reached Tier 4 Level 68

*Ding* Energy Fundamental: Energy Compression reached Tier 4 Level 68

*Ding* Spiritual Fundamental: Momentum Manipulation reached Tier 4 Level 25

*Ding* Cohesion: Specialized Cohesion Infusion reached Tier 4 Level 82

*Ding* Energy Compression: Provided Energy Defense reached Tier 3 Level 94

*Ding* Energy Compression: Provided Energy Structure reached Tier 3 Level 94

*Ding* Energy Compression: Provided Energy Armor reached Tier 3 Level 94

*Ding* Energy Compression: Provided Quick Compression reached Tier 3 Level 87

*Ding* Body Control: Provided Humanoid Body reached Tier 3 Level 88

‘Mmh, so my cosmic mist still hasn't advanced to tier 4? Probably just a question of time.’

Succinctly analyzing the very balanced-looking leveling of his masteries, he couldn’t help but think about what such an intense and dedicated session would give him a single month in.

‘It’s a prospect-like training, so I should set my expectations super high, right? Ok! Let’s do that! I’ll be able to kick Lounae’s ass as long as she holds back a third of her stats! That’s my goal! Ambitious but I’ll still make it!’

Laughing internally at the best comparison he could make while self-mocking himself on the way, he felt the slightly familiar but more so unfamiliar wave of training determination fill him.

Without procrastinating more than that, he focused on the left wing of the front line and started rushing towards it.

His peak body control strength that was now equivalent to 74 400 wasn’t star-high, it didn’t explosively increase compared to his last session, but it still increased.

And the fact that it increased, even by just 2%, was the symbol that as long as he put in the necessary dedication and training time under the right intensity, he could still get a quick progression.

It also meant he didn’t have the right to complain about his lacking strength.

…

‘That’s… The official appraising company, right?’

One day as he was keeping on fighting against what felt like an endless number of small bone golems, Rune observed in his perception how an entire company of patrollers, easily recognizable by their custom-made uniform adapted to their changed bodies, caught up with the front line pushing towards Tolevia.

At first, it was only a few dozen organized in formation, then this few dozen became over a hundred in an instant.

By focusing on them, and more particularly on the few eye-catching ones, Rune was able to understand that they were already discussing all the things that needed to be done in the open.

“We should let the prospects have their fun and not intervene…”

“The preliminary reports are saying the numbers are in the millions. And those few are small and basic ones among them…”

“I think leading my scouting platoon inside is asking to die…”

In the blink of a non-existent eye, a few guys reported tons of useful and theoretical intel on the situation to one guy, obviously the big boss of this patroller company judging by the size.

“Let’s just follow a power-centric support formation for now,” he eventually gave his order, and while Rune didn’t know what a “power-centric support formation” was, he realized what it was as the company didn’t try to change the front line at all.

They just joined it and made sure it was stabilized, letting everyone act as they wanted.

‘Maybe with them…’

For Rune who had kept observing and felt how slow the front line advancing speed had become as they closed in on Tolevia despite the joining of more and more prospects, this reinforcement was more than welcome.

He wanted things to change but couldn’t do a thing against the endless swarm of bone golems.

And as surprised as he actually was when a few hours after the patroller company comprising of 160 people joined the front line and the then extended formation made of more than 300 people started to pick up speed, he didn’t think it would remain so for long.

But as he wasn’t the only one that had the capability to get some sort of long-range sight equivalent or substitution, it didn’t take long for the public commanding core of the patroller company to also realize it and discuss it openly.

“In a day at worst at the current advancing and cleaning speed, we’ll reach an area where bigger monsters that have until now remained completely impassive at what’s happening here…”

“I don’t think it’ll change things, they only gain another 4 limbs and a few meters in height at best, nothing hinting at an important transition…”

“My scouting platoon can’t make a really useful trip, so why not repurpose it? It’ll also allow us to know if poking the deeper and untouched layers of the nest will definitely activate it before we reach it…”

Following only 10 minutes of various propositions and ideas, the company leader decided on the most obvious choice, “Repurpose the scouting platoon into an advance force, poke them as hard as you can for a good hour before coming back.”

As soon as the order was given, the one responsible for the repurposed platoon and more than 40 people who had joined the front line retreated from it, joining into one mass in the now fully established backline.

‘It’s so weird how they do it…’

Trampling on yet another 2-meter high bone golem that had the misfortune to become his target, Rune knew he wasn’t concentrating as much as he needed to, but he was just too interested and curious in what the patroller company wanted to do.

Forcing him to refocus a bit for a single second, a bomb of fluorescent green element exploded in front of him.

But once he made sure there were no adverse or insidious hidden effects, he ignored it and the 16 000 armor he lost with it as he kept punching the main bone body of the golem until it stopped moving 20 seconds later after a few more futile attacks.

‘So open, so confident, if the goal was to make me believe they have my back, then it’s a success.’

Adding a new bone golem corpse to his mounting pile inside his ether pocket dimension as he thought about how the patroller company acted, he felt that soon, some changes would happen.

But even knowing and feeling that, he had no intention at all to find or do anything at all.

He was training, so he was ready to respond to whatever would be thrown at him.

A few hours went by where Rune continued on his training as usual.

He wasn’t a major actor or factor in this Tolevia’s assault scene, he was far from the reinforcement prospects in terms of killing efficiency, in fact, he wasn’t even at the level of Arik who was having the time of his life at the central front.

At best, he thought he had the potential to become a somewhat successful roamer once he really decided to commit to it, though he didn’t have this need for change at all at his current state, so he remained in the left wing and… Cleaned bone golems at his own rhythm.

Slowly and steadily, he would gain a few percent of efficiency here and there, inching closer and closer to the inevitable great grind that all tier 4 entities needed to face to become tier 5.

Nonetheless, while his gut feeling had told him a change was coming and he had been ready to bet his life it had to do with the patroller company, he could never have expected that it was completely unrelated to them and their active probing of the deeper layers of Tolevia.

What gave him the hint that he had been completely wrong was the growing discussions and talking amidst the normally fighting-focused prospects.

‘They’re all talking about a certain someone who’s coming soon.’

Rune only had to tune in onto the central teams to hear them talking about the same thing.

“Joben keeps spamming the thread about how close he is, but it’s already been more than 2 hours!”

“Ignore him, he just has too much energy and doesn't know where to spend it.”

“Hahaha! Was that a pun Kali?”

“Oh… I didn’t realize it…”

And this same thing seemed to be that a certain prospect named “Joben” was spamming the prospect network about how close he was to arriving at Tolevia.

‘And the majority seems to know him personally too.’

Despite his growing curiosity, Rune didn’t try to search for his name online or do anything about it. If he was really coming then he would know why the overall mood atmosphere was reacting to his arrival when he finally arrived.

‘I would bet my money on him being a bit strong?’

As hours kept going by without signs of this “Joben”, the prospects didn’t settle down and even made the expectations climb between themselves, at the same time allowing Rune to listen in and understand a few things about why he was being talked about.

First, he was strong. That much was clear, a few even seemed to agree that his presence would unlock the whole front line’s advancing speed by itself.

Second, he belonged to the first generation of prospects. He was a senior, Rune didn’t know why it was so important but it was part of how the prospects made him out to be.

Third, he was friendly with everyone. Pretty much every team had stories about him and how he once traveled with them.

Fourth, he was suicidal and too ambitious for his own good…

‘I’ll judge by myself whether he’s suicidal or not… But what sorts of things has he done for him to have this image and reputation? Is it just traditional hearsay amplification?’

In his mind, a mental picture of a friendly bodybuilder who loved to run straight into any mess he could find was definitely formed, only waiting to be put to the test against the real thing.

Eventually, a group of people he had never seen before entered his perception, neither too fast nor too slow, but with none of them showing any signs of their build choices and their overall power, he dismissed them as just another group of prospects.

The Joben he had heard about should be somewhat of a show-off.

But when almost every prospect started acting weird as this group approached the central front, Rune had to rectify his observation.

‘So one of them is Joben?’

Unwilling to interrupt his current fight with a bone golem though, he decided to accelerate the conclusion by being more aggressive while diverting a bit of his focus to listening in on the central front where things were changing naturally after the group of 4 individuals arrived.

“Hahaha! Long time no see, everyone! I heard this place was too interesting to miss, so here I am! But damn! How are there so many people already?!” A humanoid skeleton adorned with nothing else but a simple prospect uniform and traditional equipment took the time to greet everyone in an overly enthusiastic and happy manner.

And in answer, unexpectedly, nearly everyone said something as they echoed his greeting.