After passing the introduction segment where Astryde described how she got her intel in a summarized way, Rune immediately hurt himself to the first point of contention.

In the form of a warning, it clearly said that this report wasn’t an orthodox convention-following report where the author agreed with everything she found, but a confrontational contested one, where some of the foundational knowledge she had considered acquired until now had been challenged.

Rune didn’t react that much to that, he had already somewhat expected it when back then, he had seen her writing down lines dedicated to the tier 6.

Following the report’s plan, he started reading the first major part which turned out to be an extremely detailed retelling of where Astryde, as a time watcher, got the intel making the core of this report.

Reading on the main lines about something he had participated in actively and even seeing his name written, even if he was still being presented more as an external factor due to the subject being the time watching itself, was an experience he found strangely fascinating.

It was just like being a witness. He was just a single part of the whole scene as a spectator and could only corroborate what was being told as such.

In other words, most of what Astryde told didn’t involve him.

It was only once this part ended that Rune entered known territory again with a second major part being called “Acquired Tier Knowledge”, condensing all the knowledge about entity tier in a few lines.

[Tier: 1

Cost for 1 stat point: 10 000 EP

Individual stat’s limit: 500

Total cost for maxed stats: 50 000 000 EP

Ether core (Include monster core) range value: 10 000 - 50 000 EP

Description: The tier acquired at birth. The only entities that don’t pass through this tier are ether-spawned entities. This tier doesn’t represent anything special, it could even be said that dependent entities aren’t even considered to belong to this tier due to missing their soul specialty, the only mark of individuality it is possible to own.]

It started from tier 1 with a quasi copy-pasting of the IGS guide and quickly went through all the tiers.

[Tier: 2

Cost for 1 stat point: 100 000 EP (Cost difference: 90 000 EP)

Individual stat’s limit: 2 000

Total cost for maxed stats: 1 500 000 000 EP

Ether core (Include monster core) range value: 50 000 - 100 000 EP

Description: This tier symbolizes the birth of a class, even if a still nascent one with only the power to exert a stat cost change according to a predetermined ratio. The appearance of 3 mastery slots marks the beginning of ether builds and paths, even if still nascent one, same as the class.]

[Tier: 3

Cost for 1 stat point: 300 000 EP (Cost difference: 200 000 EP)

Individual stat’s limit: 5 000

Total cost for maxed stats: 9 000 000 000 EP

Ether core (Include monster core) range value: 100 000 - 200 000 EP

Description: At this tier, the class has matured sufficiently to allow for its first extraordinary function: Class path, to come into existence and give a fundamental a reality-breaking efficiency boost of 100%.

The fundamentals have also developed enough to open the way for an endless panel of specializations to be taken. An additional 3 mastery slots allow for much more advanced ether paths and build diversifications.]

[Tier: 4

Cost for 1 stat point: 800 000 EP (Cost difference: 500 000 EP)

Individual stat’s limit: 10 000

Total cost for maxed stats: 40 000 000 000 EP

Ether core (Include monster core) range value: 200 000 - 400 000 EP

Description: Reaching tier 4 symbolizes entering the true ether entity development period of an entity: The soul specialty reach maturity, the class path shows its future potential in the form of a choice between refinement or expansion, the involved EP costs are all explosively increased, the leveling speed of masteries is drastically slowed down.

All these downsides are nonetheless balanced by the ether soul now gaining the capability to accommodate provided masteries, eventually making the tier 4 a tier that, once developed, absolutely cannot be fought by lower tier entities even with classic beyond capabilities.]

[Tier: 5

Cost for 1 stat point: 2 000 000 EP (Cost difference: 1 200 000 EP)

Individual stat’s limit: 15 000

Total cost for maxed stats: 100 000 000 000 EP

Ether core (Include monster core) range value: 400 000 - 600 000 EP

Description: Identical to the tier 3 to tier 4 transition, the EP costs are explosively increased and the masteries’ leveling speed is slowed down even more drastically.

This time, however, true to being the mid-tier of the developing period, the increase in individual power is simply represented by the gains of a higher stat threshold, 3 additional mastery slots, and the ability to change your slotted masteries without losing their tier and level.

There is no secret in the fact that statistically, for anyone to reach this tier, he would have to either train diligently for hundreds of years of longevity his tier 4 state gives him, or risk his life and defy the odds by taking a path where death isn’t a rare outcome.

The tier 5 is also the starting tier from which masteries can be manually changed or evolved to wider variants in exchange for reducing their tier and level back to tier 4 level 0.]

However, it was at tier 5 that the knowledge retelling part ended.

And just with this fact, the report became weird.

‘To think the conspiracist could potentially be right, fortunately I never agree to anything before having the proof before my eyes. I should have known something was shabby when the tier 6 intel was said to have been determined through models…’

[It seems there’s a gap however between what the retired tier 7 entity said about the tier 6 and what the IGS guide exposed on the nature of the tier 5 to tier 6 transition.]

The third major part “Contested Tier Knowledge” started like that, to Rune’s greatest thrill and dismay.

Seeing the number of remaining pages in this report clearly indicated that he had already read more than 2 third of it, so he carefully appreciated each number and word that remained.

[Tier: 6

Cost for 1 stat point: 4 000 000 EP (Cost difference: 2 000 000 EP)

Individual stat’s limit: 20 000

Total cost for maxed stats: 200 000 000 000 EP

Ether core (Include monster core) range value: 600 000 - 800 000 EP

Description: The last tier of the trinity that makes the ether entity development period. At this stage, a fully refined class path should reach 800% additional efficiency for a single fundamental after 3 stages of refinement.

Same as the previous tier 4 and tier 5, in the logic of the entity tiers being split into groups of 3, the tier 6 should only show another drastic increase in EP costs and in leveling time. Another set of 3 mastery slots should round up any builds and extremize all the rests, creating truly undeniable powerhouses.]

This pack of intel represented the end of the official IGS guide knowledge on the tier 6, and the next pack represented unknown territory that Rune gleefully started to read.

[Unconfirmed description: In addition to everything mentioned above, mentions of a “Class Expansion” starting from this very tier 6 have been repeatedly observed (See time watching summary: 1385-45; 1385-56; 1385-145; 1385-174… 1382-312).

Such a term (Class Expansion) has also been repeated and emphasized upon in nearly every discussion the subjects of tier 7 or tier 8 were brought up in.

With the agreement of the Archive Research And Guide Agency (ARAGA), I successfully corroborated this term with knowledge found in globalized information board’s sources judged untrustworthy but highly possible.

After crossing the results, some of those sources have helped me in completing the subsequent theory of the tier 6’s class expansion that is already mentioned in scientific articles such as “Tier 6 and beyond” by Lorry’s Enterprise or “Tier 4-5-6: Unfounded trinity development” by Bray Exploration Team.]

Following a few more paragraphs dedicated to supporting and sharing a theory that she didn’t seem to be the only one to support, the report finally breached into the explanation of this class expansion.

[At tier 6, in addition to a new refinement or expansion of the class path and a reshuffling of the stats’ EP ratios, the class also proposes a last option that is called globally as “Class Expansion” and in the same way as all the class-related options, multiples choices are available, 3 from the information I have gathered.

1st option: Class Mastery: Allows you to select a mastery from your mastery slots, this chosen mastery will grow much faster than normal.

2nd option: Class Specialization: Move a specialization mastery from your mastery slots to your class, this specialization will take on the properties of a soul specialty and will not be restricted by levels anymore.

3rd option: Class Deepening: Double your class path efficiency bonus, this will allow fundamental-dependent paths and builds to gain an advantage that cannot be demeaned.

Each of those options has of course been mentioned by the time watched target and…]

‘Okay, well, that seems dope. But tier 6 though? That’s a bit too far for me to think about it now, right? Who knows how far I’ll have pushed my exploration immortal path by then? Will I have taken intent specialization masteries? What will be the state of my endless adaptation? So much I cannot possibly fathom now.’

Not taking this discovery as life-changing knowledge that could bring him to change his entire path to accommodate one of those options, he continued reading until the tier 6 part ended and the tier 7 part started.

[Tier: 7

Cost for 1 stat point: 7 000 000 EP (Cost difference: 3 000 000 EP)

Individual stat’s limit: 30 000

Total cost for maxed stats: 700 000 000 000 EP

Ether core (Include monster core) range value: 800 000 - 1 200 000 EP

Unconfirmed description: Between the tier 6 and the tier 7, a violent rupture seems to happen in terms of EP costs and stat’s limit with an increase of 50% for the latter.

Accompanying all the normal expected changes such as the gain of 3 more mastery slots and a new refinement or expansion of the class path, a new instance of class expansion should also happen.]

This part didn’t drag on and quickly the tier 8 intels were exposed.

[Tier: 8

Cost for 1 stat point: 12 000 000 EP (Cost difference: 5 000 000 EP)

Individual stat’s limit: 40 000

Total cost for maxed stats: 1 200 000 000 000 EP

Ether core (Include monster core) range value: ?

Unconfirmed description: Same as the tier 7 description, all the expected tier upgrade changes should happen.]

And as all good scientific articles should do, the conclusion part was equal to saying everything that had been written and established could be false, or that everything could be a conspiracy brought together by coincidences.

Astryde didn’t get wet by writing that beyond capabilities hadn't been mentioned at all and that the few mentions of it were too blurry to be used anyways.

‘Okay, so basically it was only an extremely entertaining read about something I’ll eventually reach.’

Adopting an extremely arrogant face upon openly stating his ambition internally, he closed off the report and sent a thank you message to Astryde before switching to another… “Report”.

‘Now I’m entering the heart of the matter. Now we’re talking. If it isn’t preparation for my next adventure then what is?’

Scrolling through a certain data file he received not that long ago all things considered, he opened a text file named “Archive Request_Growth Mastery Research Faculty_Rune Tudor”, a very telling text file he had only perused when he had the time but hadn’t really dived heavily into.

However, as the sky had already started taking on the colors of dawn, the time to change hall had come and he temporarily put off reading this intriguing archive request in favor of taking a respite and properly enjoy the VIP hall he was in until he had to leave.

…

‘So… I can pretty much expect 5 distinct adaptation stages at minimum.’

Rubbing his baby skin-like shin, Rune interiorized what he gleaned from the mass of information that was the archive request file.

The basic principle of an archive request was simple: There are necessarily people who once existed, be they too ancient to even know where to chronologically locate them or recent, who have attempted, failed, and succeeded at doing anything you could think of.

And those same people had shared their legacy onboard selflessly.

Having long completely agreed with those 2 facts, Rune was a devout and passionate follower of the “Standing on the shoulders of giants” thing, always remembering that for maybe all his life, he would neither be the first nor the last to come up with something revolutionary, he would always be just someone in the middle.

This wasn’t a confession of weakness or lack of ambition on his part, at least that's not how he thought of his own mindset. For him, it was just reality.

Just his ambition of visiting places no one had ever visited before was enough to tell he wasn’t content with purely following an already paved path, he wanted to create his own.

But it turned out that he couldn’t have control over when he was born, so he had adapted to his time and used what was available.

He was being realistic.

‘Huhu… The level gains every time I encounter a new adaptation source are probably just because the mastery itself is still only tier 1, otherwise it would counter the fundamental time increment property of every growth mastery.’

Surprised at some things, confused at others, Rune slowly deciphered what he wanted to know the most from the compressed text file.

The first thing he found as a common shared property was the presence of stages in all time-exposition type growth masteries.

He didn’t know how this property would reflect itself on his own endless adaptation growth mastery, but unless what he created was a total anomaly, 5 stages should be present, and he tried to theoretically imagine what they would be for him:

The contact stage: Most probably for the first few percent of adaptation, where a process of familiarization would take place and his cohesion would slowly familiarize itself with what it was fighting against.

The rapid growth stage: A stage that comes after the familiarization process ends. It’s a stage where he still shouldn’t need to expose himself to a dangerous threshold of what he was fighting against, so his cohesion would continue adapting even if he was in a totally safe environment.

The confrontation stage: From this stage onwards, safely progressing wouldn’t be possible anymore and the only choice to further adapt to environmental restraints would be to actively take part in the adaptation.

This stage implied not only a perfect understanding of the limits of his own endless adaptation, but it also implied that he would need to find appropriate anomalies, dimensions, or regions to confront himself against the environment.

The extraordinary stage: Reaching this stage would mean he had gone above and beyond the threshold dedicated specialization masteries would give him if he had gone with them from the start.

From this point, all the efforts he would have done prior would be fully paid back with massive benefits as the growth mastery would start to shine its true light and allow for things only thought possible with beyond capabilities.

The culmination stage: The last stage common to all growth masteries. Too far and the theoretical demands are too incomprehensible. Probably need arcadia-level warped law to attain full adaptation and immunity to a given environmental ether.

Once he judged he had finished understanding everything there was to understand about his type of growth masteries from the archive request, he brought up his endless adaptation window.

Cohesion: Specialized Endless Adaptation

Specialized Slotted Mastery (Tier 1)

A secondary specialization made from the fusion of the adaptation, self, isolation, and rejection effects. It has been specially designed to be able to grow as long as one’s cohesion fights against environments that restrict its user.

Based on a very precise set of rules, with time, this mastery can adapt one’s cohesion to resist any given environment, in any form.

Adaptations:

Erosion Ether Adaptation: 0%

Wind Ether Adaptation: 0%

Void Ether Adaptation: 0%

‘Now I’m only missing the tertiary specializations tests to finalize the endless adaptation part of my preparation. It also coincidentally turns out I need to purge my sense invocation specialization, that’s just perfect.’

Finding something he could easily optimize by simply thinking about it, he nodded to himself in simple satisfaction as he decided to make a purge the next thing he should do.

That’s when, for the second time since he made the Secluded Corner his thinking spot and workplace, someone sat at his table unprompted, without him having even realized someone had approached him.

And it seemed that this someone even had the audacity to not be alone as another soon sat next to him, bringing with him a few cocktails.

‘Did I cover myself in cosmic mist without… No, that’s just plain stupid.’

Disconnected from his upcoming purge plan, he became aware of his surroundings again and used his perception to identify the 2 bold individuals who sat at his table in a VIP hall with plenty of empty tables.

“I told you he was doing something,” an azoran teen pouted as she accused her companion.

“If I wasn’t here you would have still interrupted him, stop pretending,” a humanoid with burning red hair and eyes answered, uncaring of the small fit the azoran teen was throwing.

“Oh…” Surprised at the familiar appearance of one of his guests, memories of his first and only mission as a member of the nascent terror unit surfaced.

While his time as an active member of the terror unit hadn’t been a big part of his life if compared to the like of his life as an Undecided or as an independent adventurer, it was a period he remembered clearly, and so he easily remembered the name of the red-haired and red-eyed individual.

“Twice is a coincidence, but for us to meet again in those circumstances? What do you have to say for yourself Rei?” Rune asked as he started closing all the files that were opened on his connected lenses and tablet.

“It’s absolutely not my fault, I deny every accusation, and even dare to return it,” Rei made himself comfortable in his chair as he wittily replied, “I really thought you had died after adventuring where you shouldn’t have.”

“No comment, I would never do such a thing, being chased by a probably beyond tier 5 titanic bone monster? Thanks but no,” trying hard but ultimately failing at hiding the truth, the attention of the two was directly redirected to him.

“Now that’s a story I want to hear,” Rei narrowed his eyes, only allowing a burning red glimpse to look at Rune.

“Me too!” The teen azoran next to him enthusiastically agreed.

Thinking for a moment, Rune eventually acted hesitant, “If only my throat wasn’t so dry… Would one of you two city people help me quench my thirst?”