Trying to hide his smile as he retold a story he had already disclosed a few times, Rune used his small talent as a storyteller to create colored and intent-infused energy models to animate parts of his moderately dangerous encounter with a bone golem, guardian of the city of Tolevia.

He didn’t attempt to enact the exact truth of “how he had survived and all the consequences that followed”, he just spoke about the main points and decreased or increased the tension according to how he felt.

“And that pretty much sums up my last near-death experience,” concluding his storytelling after he ran out of ideas, he dispersed the energy he used to animate some of the things he wanted.

“That’s pretty much an average story any stupid adventurer would have in their pocket,” Rei commented off-handedly, acting not impressed even after he had raptly enjoyed the whole story.

“Pretty much yeah, mine is just more impressive,” humbly taking the comment, Rune incarnated the saying that being too humble was being arrogant.

“And what happened after you escaped?” Snickered at this answer, Rei knew to not push more in this direction.

“Search for ‘City of Tolevia’ online and you’ll have your answer,” thinking for a second before advising that, Rune judged he didn’t have enough actual knowledge of what really happened to tell it.

He had pretty much been working in seclusion on completing his 1st stage cosmic mist intent when the first waves of prospect started if he remembered right.

The azoran teen on the side however finally seemed to have found her time to shine as she got her own tablet out and searched what he said online.

Seeing this action, Rune, who still wasn’t sure of her identity but had a strong hunch, sent a bait, “Rhia?”

“What?” The young azoran teen instantly gave him the confirmation that she was Rhia by answering directly. She was really the bubbly hacker girl of the terror unit.

“Hu… No, just asking to confirm it was you,” he said a bit awkwardly after being taken aback by the quick response, “You’ve grown up a bit too much so I wasn't sure,”

“So you weren’t sure who I was and still acted so casually with me? What’s wrong with you?” Blinking a few times in astonishment, Rhia looked at him and asked in stupefaction.

“No comment,” he remained silent and denied everything.

Pouting a bit at being ignored like that, Rhia didn’t pursue it further as she dived right back into searching for the latest news concerning the city of Tolevia online.

“What do you plan to do now that you’re back?” Bringing the conversation back to familiar territory, Rei brought up the subject of his future plans.

And after thinking of what to say for a few seconds while looking at his drink, Rune didn’t conceal his plan, he had no reason to, “I’m planning all the steps I need to take before being ready to enter the Unending Mountain Dimension.”

Rei shook his head slowly upon hearing that, showing a weird maturity that turned out to be a joke, “The perfect plan is to have no plan. Just go now and introduce our fantastic culture to those savage natives.”

“What a stupid punchline,” ignoring the second part, Rune gave his opinion of the first unintentionally.

“Well, I think that while it's stupid, it can fit some situations, just not the average one. And you wanting to go to the Unending Mountain Dimension? That perfectly fits for me,” he insisted that he was right with a rational-sounding argument.

“I think it would be an appropriate saying if he was out of options?” Rhia added quick-wittedly, not agreeing or disagreeing with anything, “If all your plans have gone to the trash and you urgently need to deal with a situation… Then this punchline applies in this case, right?”

“But we’re still talking of a ‘perfect’ plan if we follow the line to the letter, so…” Rune defended himself weakly as the conversation about what he planned to do seemed to have gone fully astray.

The two simply didn’t seem to care one bit about the fact that he was already planning his next adventure, they even readily accepted it and joked about it.

Debating like old friends, the 3 slowly settled in a friendly vibe that complemented the lively tropical jungle ambiance of the VIP day hall they were in.

No one raised sensitive subjects like the terror unit or the increasing crime rate and what the Cell was up to, they only continued to spontaneously come up with things to talk about.

“Hehe, I thought about you when I first encountered a flock of energy lives, I thought to myself ‘What can a neutralizer do against those things?’, then I dropped the thought as it was a really dangerous and marvelous moment.”

Even Rune successfully came up with spontaneous talking subjects, it seemed that he had really been writing and working for too long.

“It’s true that I specialize in biological entities neutralization...” Rei frowned as he thought about it more deeply, “But I know how to gain the capability to neutralize energy lives or spiritual lives though, and just those 2 options already cover like 99% of anything a warped law can give birth to…”

“I gave you some food for thought, you should also learn more things while you can…”

“I heard you lost the badge you were given to the track unit…”

“Ah, yeah. It was so unfair, I was tracked through the Dream…”

“Where are you on the power scale of tier 4? For you to think about the Unending…”

“Middle-high? If my cosmic mist allows me to hide from a tier 5 then I have enough levels to guarantee an escape…”

For close to 4 hours, the three terror unit colleagues had a catching-up time before they slowly started to run out of things to talk about and Rei and Rhia stood up from the table, bidding Rune goodbye before exiting the hall altogether.

It was at that time that Rune decided to check if someone had sent him a message during the last… Days? He wasn’t sure.

‘Oh?’

And someone had really sent him a message.

[Tiziana: I remembered something called “material ether radiation”, it’s a part of the unorthodox gardener path where the grown materials are damaging even to their creators. I think I can create a few samples for you to try and use your growth mastery to get a new adaptation?]

‘Ohoh.’

Not one to miss such a free opportunity, and also because it sounded like something really interesting, he answered back.

[Rune: Yes please, I’ll visit again once I finish with my purge.]

‘And now… I only need to choose a place where to do my purge.’

Adopting a different mindset as he knew he was soon going to earnestly start his research on his growth mastery, he found that, even if coincidentally and involuntarily, he had really made acquaintances he was proud of.

‘Even if I didn’t really try and just followed the flow… I still encountered so many people. Is that how the life of normal people should happen? Making encounters at work and nurturing the interesting ones until a sense of companionship or a friendship is created?’

For some unknown reasons, it was at this precise timing that one of the parrot-like inoffensive birds inhabiting this amazingly-designed tropical jungle hall decided to land on the perch available at his rustic wooden table.

And just this change, that already happened a few times over the time he had experienced this hall, was enough to make his line of thought change direction.

‘Is that something I should care about? With thousands of years of lifespan, are relationships something I should care about? Something I should actively maintain? Is it like Rei said and the perfect plan is to have no plan?’

In the end, being unable to come up with anything concrete in this area, Rune stopped thinking about the numerous links he had weaved without him knowing and chastised himself as he always did when what he was thinking about looked like nonsense.

‘If you have time to think about this, then you should have already started your purge!’

This reminder was enough for him to make up his mind and finish and hall relaxation break.

He still hadn’t finished exploring all the VIP halls, but he would come back, if at least a last time before leaving in case everything, including himself, pushed his next adventure forward.

…

*Ding* Energy Compression: Provided Energy Defense has been purged

*Ding* Energy Compression: Provided Energy Structure has been purged

*Ding* Energy Compression: Provided Energy Armor has been purged

*Ding* Energy Compression: Provided Quick Compression has been purged

*Ding* Body Control: Provided Humanoid Body has been purged

*Ding* Awareness Division: Specialized Sense Invocation has been purged

‘Sigh… Finally.’

Feeling his strength, nothing seemed different at first, but after sending a single punch Rune was able to tell he had lost a lot.

To confirm he wasn’t having delusions, he brought up his masteries.

Masteries

Tier 1 Masteries

Physical Fundamental: Reinforcement: Tier 4 Level 73

Physical Fundamental: Fighting Instinct: Tier 4 Level 80

Physical Fundamental: Body Control: Tier 4 Level 80

Energy Fundamental: Fine Manipulation: Tier 4 Level 63

Energy Fundamental: Grand Manipulation: Tier 4 Level 63

Energy Fundamental: Energy Compression: Tier 4 Level 80

Spiritual Fundamental: Perception Control: Tier 4 Level 11

Spiritual Fundamental: Awareness Division: Tier 4 Level 71

Spiritual Fundamental: Momentum Manipulation: Tier 4 Level 27

Tier 2 Masteries

Energy: Specialized Cosmic Mist Element: Tier 4 Level 13

Cohesion: Specialized Cohesion Infusion: Tier 4 Level 92

Cohesion: Specialized Endless Adaptation: Tier 1 Level 8

Tier 3 Masteries

[Empty]

[Empty]

[Empty]

Tier 4 Masteries

[Empty]

[Empty]

[Empty]

‘If I was still at Tolevia, I would have already gained a level in nearly everything.’

Reality hit him hard as he saw that except for a single level in his cosmic mist and his awareness division he gained while he was writing, his progress had completely stalled.

And this stall wasn’t going to go away anytime soon.

Additionally, with the purge he had just done where he had removed all the masteries he could to gain slots to experiment with, he had even regressed to be the equal of a tier 3.

‘From 684% to 280%, from 78 400 maximum body control strength to 38 000… And in exchange…’

Testing infusing energy into a reinforcement shape and making it vibrate, he felt happy when the punch he sent showed an “enormous” increase in strength.

It was like recovering the use of a limb he had kept on training with but that showed no great results, only to now have all his training show a result.

Sending a few more reinforced punches as he let his energy regenerate, he made sure to target empty areas and not disturb the surrounding peaceful green park area he was in.

‘In truth… I didn’t miss it that much? Anyway.’

Opening the training park’s map, he started running towards the gardener area with slight expectancy.

During the week he had been undergoing his purge, inspiration had struck him several times, and his desire to see through with all the experiments he had in mind drove him to not take his time and admire the scenery.

Five minutes later, he arrived at the popular gardener training area and saw Tiziana working on her own things.

Having learned the lessons about this place from Adreana, he didn’t hesitate to enter the active gardening area and go straight towards where he wanted to go, passing very close to other gardeners growing their own materials, seemingly oblivious of the external world.

Joining Tiziana’s side half a minute later, he didn’t interrupt her directly but instead, observed the massive 1-meter wide metallic cube she was growing live.

In the same way the time watching specialization was applied, once Rune focused on the cube and the various deposits of pure chemical element Tiziana had stocked near it, complex energy patterns and flow became visible.

It was like a production chain from what he saw, take minuscule chunks of everything, make them all pass through the cube core, the place where all the craftsmanship of the path was focused, give it a good boost of expendable energy, and a few seconds later the cube had gained new source material.

He knew from having read about it and observed it personally now: At the growth stage, all the complex things that came prior to it like material science research, type optimization, structure, and whatnot had already been done and couldn’t be modified.

All that remained for the gardener was to literally only maintain a construct that automatized everything for them.

‘That’s pretty much the state I’m in when I tinker with my intent, all crafting paths share this.’

Once he had his fill, he approached Tiziana a bit too much and patted her shoulder, waking her up from her trance.

Or at least it seemed that way as she still kept this glazed look in her eyes as she turned her head to look at him.

“I’m here to get some samples that emit ether radiations,” Rune said with a similar glazed look.

Wordlessly taking out five 30-centimeter rocks from her pocket dimension, she let them fall at her feet before focusing back on the material she was gardening.

Taking the few rocks without caring about his image at all, Rune then stepped aside without noticing the slightest bit of a mocking smile on Tiziana’s face.

As for the reason he didn’t notice it?

It was obviously because his armor, or more precisely, the cohesion infused inside it, had changed color once it touched the rocks.

*Ding* Cohesion: Specialized Endless Adaptation reached Tier 1 Level 9

From its normal translucence letting through all the light in and out, the areas that directly touched any of the 5 rocks all saw their color turn to fluorescent cyan.

The moment he saw that, Rune knew he got a new adaptation, he also got an idea of what this new adaptation was going to be named.

Though, to confirm his idea, he needed a much more straightforward piece of information.

So he opened his endless adaptation detailed description 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%

Radiation Ether Adaptation: 0%

‘Okay, so yeah. It’s radiation, and its origin is exactly the same as the radiation I know from the physics laws: The emission of energy by a substance.’

Contemplating for a bit, Rune’s scientific education background made itself known and led him to look up.

At the sky first.

Then at the star shining upon this entire region.

It would be a G-type star according to all the readings the IGS and astronomy-related private companies made, but as long as they didn’t reach it, no one could be sure.

‘Are its radiation too weak to even be considered a restriction to me? Is it just too far? I can’t think of any other explanation. However, I mustn’t fall into this trap of relying on my common sense from back in the physics laws, light is also a type of radiation according to it after all.’

Once he moved away from the whole gardener area, he reached an empty area where anyone could do pretty much anything they wanted.

This one, due to its proximity with a lot of popular training zones, was much more populated than what Rune was used to, but at the moment it didn’t bother him that much as his mind was wholly focused on the 5 rocks Tiziana had given him.

Moving those “radioactive” rocks all over his body, he quickly noted that maybe due to their creator not being knowledgeable on what she was doing, their degree of radioactivity was so weak that only direct contact would prompt his cohesion to consider it a natural restriction to his ability to adventure.

‘So… How does it work precisely? Is my cohesion-infused armor just blocking everything without sustaining any damage? Then, if that’s the case, why would it adapt to begin with? There is just no necessity. Is the damage too low?’

Puzzling out the situation, he knew that it happening now was better than it happening when he reached the gravity anomaly.

Starting his first experiment by cutting off his armor regeneration loop and sticking the 5 rocks close to his chest, he waited for 10 minutes before changing the process.

He created the feeblest, weakest, and thinnest energy-compressed energy plate he could, which after he removed all his provided masteries decreased his efficiency at energy compression to 480%, and locked it in the air.

Then, he proceeded to leave the 5 “damaging” radioactive rocks on top of it.

As he hadn’t infused his cohesion into it, because it was the purpose of the experiment, the energy plate didn’t change color and could only passively suffer from the radiation that made his endless adaptation react.

Suddenly, after a whole minute of waiting, the energy plate he had created with only a single point of energy collapsed, leaving the 5 culprits to fall onto the ground.

‘So now there are only 2 possibilities.’

With this first experiment having given him a definite result, Rune started filling his endless adaptation note document with new observations and 2 distinct theories.

‘One, let’s call it “threshold theory”, is the thing lots of growth mastery legacy talked about in the archive request, with me just possessing my growth mastery having given my cohesion a way to fight against what it is meant to fight.’

After he wrote his first exciting theory, he moved on to the much less exciting yet much more likely second theory.

‘Two, the “that’s logic” theory, my cohesion totally nullifies this slight radiation damage, and the adaptation I gained is only because my base reference for the creation of a new adaptation is a much much smaller damage cap than I thought.’

And that was as far as he could deduct and hypothesize with his first experiment.