Even though this gastronomic tour was supposed to be somewhat of a goodbye ceremony for him, or at least that’s how Rune thought about it, none of his friends seemed to remember that part once the tour really began.

They seemed to have truly and simply hijacked his restaurant tour, doing with it as they wanted, even relegating him to the background.

Yet, it didn’t displease or even sadden Rune in any way that they all acted like that.

The Undecided as a group of 7 individuals had come far, they had gone through thick and thin together and eventually succeeded at whatever they had planned on doing.

In such an old group of true friends, everyone knew that not giving attention to Rune was the best way to interact with him.

Just having the occasion to know when he’d disappear was already beyond what they expected of him, and they had Utopia to thank for that, as otherwise… Not much more needed to be expressed.

The tour ended with the whole group robbing blind a take-away specialized refreshment bar and bringing everything back to the training park.

There, the group started dissolving with no one saying goodbye to Rune and only Adreana handing him as much EP as his ether soul could handle at its tier 4 state.

*Ding* You received 98 414 313 599 EP from Adreana Kita

The absurd sum didn’t seem all that absurd when Adreana didn’t even flinch as she handed him everything, as if it was just some chump change.

In fact, Rune was even surprised that he didn’t straight up receive 99.9 billion EP, considering he could swear on his favorite music that he had never absorbed a single monster core through all the previous bone region adventure!

The passive EP gathering in tier 4 ether density seemed really as civilization-defining as the guide said it was… How much EP could be generated by the millions of expedition front patrollers if he had generated more than a billion by himself?

When he opened his status…

Rune Tudor (Tier 4)

Class: Armored Pathfinder

Specialty: Innate Dimensional Perception

EP: 100 000 000 000

Stats Total: 100 000

Health: 10 000

Health Regeneration: 10 000

Strength: 10 000

Cohesion: 10 000

Energy: 10 000

Energy Regeneration: 10 000

Purity: 10 000

Affinity: 10 000

Momentum: 10 000

Perception: 10 000

The number of 0s and 1s in quick succession and in mirror disposition was so weird that he believed his status window had crashed.

“Is it really okay to give me that much? Is the Undecided company really swimming in EP?” Before leaving, he wanted to be sure of something so he asked Adreana.

“The economy might change every day, but with an average of 100 000 monthly memberships and peaks that have gone to 200 000, an estimated month earning is 100 billion EP,” she dismissed his worry immediately impassively, “Or just enough to max the stats of a tier 5 entity, or what you need to fill your tier 4’s EP storage.”

Having awkwardly exposed his complete non-understanding of the state of the Undecided company and of the Undecided training park, he stepped back, “I think my flight towards the gravity corridor might be soon, so I need to go, bye!”

Leaving her behind after “robbing” her of the quasi totality of her EP storage, he really didn’t find anything left for him to do besides departing.

Everything that needed to be said, including his investment plans and his family-related issues, had been talked about over the course of the gastronomic tour, so he could leave while being free-spirited and with no regrets.

Once he reached the minor node, he asked to be teleported to the biggest teleportation node currently in existence: The transportation node.

The node and all its surroundings had been developed in an extremely short time following an explosion in the reduction of travel times thanks to the establishment of the transportation branch by the energy builders guild.

The IGS government had completely no part in it, showing that the private sector had already started taking back its rightful place as the economic engine, producing at the same time the demand and the supply.

Rune was perfectly aware of how the IGS worked, it had been taught most thoroughly during his education and in various entertaining supports. Also, the fact that companies owned by the government hadn’t existed before the awakening of the Ether Law self-confirmed his hypothesis about what would happen soon:

Everything previously owned by the government to create a basic economy would be sold to museums, redistributed, or razed, only leaving behind the administration.

Once he arrived in a color-unified and futuristic-looking space beacon hall that reminded him of the deep front base of the bone region, he didn’t even try to look for signs and connected to the local network of the node.

‘Gravity corridor flight platform 57… Gravity corridor flight platform 57… Where are you… Ah~ Here! GC57!’

Using the sponsored navigation app of the network of this place, he quickly made his way through uniform white and gray corridors, exiting the hall a few minutes later as he had been slowed by the many people blocking his way.

‘Now… That’s impressive.’

Despite having seen many fantastic scenes and pictures over his relatively short career as an adventurer, he knew himself sufficiently to say he would never have enough.

To have a clearer view of the etherships-ridden sky, he increased his altitude a bit, not worried one bit about missing his flight.

The background music he had put on allowed him to more deeply immerse himself in this novel sight, accentuating the thousands of etherships landing or departing, leaving visibly disturbed and varied ether trails behind them.

‘And everyone using them is probably a tier 3 or tier 4, I can totally see this node being drowned in newcomers soon. Except I’ll not be here anymore hehehe!’

Keeping his thoughts for himself as he gradually stopped looking at the ethership-ridden sky, he followed straight paths and crooked turns to finally arrive at his destination, the flight platform GC57.

Opening his cosmic mist cover when he approached, he received a messiah transmission.

[Authorize GC57 Flight Platform access for confirmation of your ticket?]

‘How convenient~ I love technology.’

Having his flight ticket confirmed a few seconds later, he didn’t have to bother with people asking to confirm he was where he should be, everything was automated.

Stepping onto the platform, the ethership he was going to take was already there, waiting until it was their departure time for launching towards their destination.

‘Things have already progressed that much? They don’t even need to transport things while sending us to their destination? Is the pay that good?’

With nothing to do, as he had already done everything he could think of prior to arriving here, Rune’s curiosity mixed with his expectations and the thrill of knowing he was beginning his next adventure right now.

He knew that owning a very practical pair of connected lenses and an ether pocket dimension full of things to entertain himself with would only remain true for a short time before he lost everything he had on him.

It was like he had gained a new outlook on life, the IGS, the society he had been part of, lived in, and supported all his life would not have anything to do with him anymore very soon.

He would become a lone adventurer in unknown territory.

But until that happened…

‘Oh oh~ So the pay is really that good. And it’s paid by trip too?’

Rune started by reading the most basic article related to the energy builders' transportation industry, then went on to read about more hypothetical things like their wants to oversaturate the market as quickly as possible, but there was a lack of willing people to…

‘I remember there was a debate between a teleportation network and etherships… In the end, no one won, right? Now it's a teleportation network for tier 1 and 2, and etherships for everything above.’

Wrapping up his 10-minute long studies on the subject, the departure time written on his ticket was fast approaching so he entered the ethership and found himself a comfy seat on this luxurious transport he paid a bit to get into.

Before leaving the IGS and everything he knew behind, he at least wanted to experience the best of the best he could have, that’s one of the reasons he had wanted to leave only after doing a gastronomic tour.

‘It reminds me of the Duke of Andromeda, just without the massive size, the countless services, and the cruise aspect.’

Thinking for a bit about etherships made especially for doing expensive cruises, he wondered how a momentum engine could deal with ships weighing thousands of tons…

As his curiosity took him on another imaginary trip, the departure time came and the gateway was folded back up after everyone who had been enjoying the air and the marvelous sunny weather outside came back.

For the majority of the crew, maybe the totality of it, it wasn’t their first time at all, so there was no anxiety, nervousness, or fear propagating aboard, they all just discussed normally. What was taking place was just routine for them.

Soon enough, the ethership took off, and with it its more than 100 relaxed crew and more than 300 passengers.

Everyone here was at least a tier 3 entity, all the crew was experienced, and all passengers were rich enough to pay for this rich-class flight.

All in all, this was a perfectly normal flight that should take from the time of departure slightly more than 6 hours to travel the 1.5 million kilometers separating the capital from the place where the gravity corridor started.

And the place the gravity corridor started was located on the mountainous region major expedition’s axis, with thousands of etherships each having some destination alongside it, be it at the front, the back, or even its beginning.

‘Sigh… How much perception do I need to be able to see anything at this speed?’

Despite having a large window made up of glass-like material just next to him emitting its own ether color, the exterior world was but a blur to Rune’s eyes. Even if he wanted, he had no way of knowing anything except that the color of the world quickly shifted from green to gray.

In fact, not even the speed at which he was traveling was known to him, it depended on how many of the momentum crew were tier 4 entities and how many had advanced their provided masteries to… Anyway.

Flying over the major expedition axis didn’t really change anything, maybe it reduced the chance of colliding with passing flying monsters a little? It was only when 6 hours had passed that the light signifying they were arriving at their destination lit up.

As the ethership gradually slowed and lowered its altitude, the scenery became observable again, and Rune having sat on the most exterior right column of seats, his objective, the gravity corridor, was also slowly being unveiled.

It was after all a gigantic futuristic pipe that started for seemingly no reason, and apart from the base established at its entrance, there was nothing on the horizon indicating why it was built.

‘I really hope there are easy exits and entries for me to start growing my gravity adaptation… The architects would not have forgotten about those, right?’

With his pre-teleportation training plan in mind, Rune absent-mindedly looked at the lifeline he would use for weeks at best or months at worst. Not that he intended to grow his gravity adaptation all the way, he would just use this conveniently placed corridor to test things he wanted to try.

And he had much in his mind to experiment with concerning how to grow an adaptation, be it from a time-related or intensity-related exposition…

As the ethership reached the ground and was properly secured, the gateway was once again opened and people started disembarking without any security control.

The status of the gravity corridor base was a bit controversial at the moment due to the militaristic shift happening in the IGS.

The dimension department, to which the patrollers were attached, had until recently been the only military department with real power, but now that the situation was quickly progressing towards a finished colonization process, their status was shifting.

Prior to arriving in the Endless Dimension, the dimension department had only been categorized as a sub-department of the defense department, and it only took off due to the revolutionary happenings and the need for manpower.

After close to a decade had passed, the patrollers were now confronted with a choice: Either integrate the military completely or find their own path. Their previous status as half-military was slowly being taken back.

Such a change didn’t just happen in the patrollers, even the prospects were not spared from having to make this choice.

Although they had access to more options and guidance due to their talents, the militaristic restructuring shift that was happening wouldn’t ignore them for too long.

Eventually, all that led to the gravity corridor that had until now been managed by the dimension department slowly being transferred to the much more global defense department.

Rune had read a bit on this subject, so he approximately understood what was taking place, but in the end, it all didn’t concern him directly. He was an adventurer. And an adventurer belonged to the Adventurer’s Society, a private sector behemoth.

After disembarking, he started observing this peculiar base built with the only objective of funneling enough resources into the gravity corridor.

Underground, he saw thousands of antimatter reactors working at full throttle to support the immense power demands of the adaptable miniature black hole technology used in the gravity corridor.

‘How many of those are just needed to support the last few hundred kilometers facing the gravity waves? 80%? More like 90% for me.’

The sight wasn’t any less impressive than the sight of the transportation node, the ether itself vibrated as the massive power circulated through the base before being injected into the 200 meters wide pipe-like corridor.

When Rune focused his perception on the top portion of the gravity corridor, what welcomed him was pulsing bits of matter seemingly made of nothing but ether.

“Black hole” was only the name given to this phenomenon due to its parallel with something that had looked similar when their defective law had still been of actuality.

In truth, once the ether density reached tier 1 and the Ether Law reached its full capacity to apply itself, even recovering a defective dimension to a complete state, black holes made of matter would not be able to exist anymore.

Proud of himself for knowing everything there was to know about the gravity corridor, Rune acted like a tourist as he toured the base in a winding path slowly approaching the gigantic gate that symbolized the entrance to the gravity anomaly’s engineered safe path.

Besides the energy generators, there wasn’t really any other heavy industry, everything was imported from the private sector and assembled prior to being transported, optimizing the size and efficiency of the base.

‘I don’t think I missed anything… Let’s go then.’

Having ultimately reached the core part of the base, he was now confronted by 2 choices: Express transportation, or leisure walking.

Those 2 choices impacted how he would enter the corridor, either he would pay for taking a shuttle that would bring him to the landing zone of the Unending Mountain DImension, or he would pay to simply enter and walk at his own rhythm while enjoying the unique scenery of the gravity anomaly.

Going to the obvious right place with a flow of people entering the corridor through relatively big gates, Rune directed his gaze towards an obvious mark that symbolized what he wanted.

[Gravity Corridor Walkway Access Ticket: 10 000 000 EP. Authorize?]

‘I really love technology!’

Paying instantly from his online account, he then joined the flow of people entering through the gates and when he was faced with a closed gate, it automatically opened, letting him through.

‘A small step for… No, that’s too old… Onwards to my dreams!’

Taking a snack out of his pocket dimension to celebrate his entry, he ate with gusto what he would anyway soon lose access to.

After walking at a leisure speed for a few kilometers, the gate section of the corridor ended and transformed into… A corridor. As its name had hinted.

The top section was fully occupied by large bands of miniature black holes producers to equalize the gravity to normal.

The middle section was the transport shuttle domain. As he was still at the entry, the shuttles he saw passing by above him weren’t fast, but a few more kilometers ahead, all the shuttles accelerated to their maximal speed of dozens of kilometers per second, rapidly disappearing from his sight.

And below those, there was the ground section. The walkway was made of reinforced concrete, but with his perception, Rune was easily able to see that below was a secondary corridor with emergency currently turned off black holes producers.

‘So if everything collapses it’s not the end of the world. Well, if they even did that, what are the chances they forgot to create exits?’

Comforting himself that his training plan would surely happen without problems, he finished his tasty snack and started accelerating.

Even if he wanted to start growing his gravity adaptation by exiting, he needed to reach at least a gravity of around 10 to 20g.

Changing the music playlist playing to the one he had personally built over years of adventuring, he freed his connected lenses' processing power by removing every distraction.

Slowly but surely, steadily and free-spiritedly, Rune was starting to extricate himself from his social network.

The place he was going, the decision he had made, the consequences he had understood… All those things that had made him hesitate a few times with proceeding with what he was currently doing were becoming inconsequential.

He wasn’t driven by any motivation but those he created for himself, so even as he started disconnecting from the social network he had always been part of, no real regrets appeared inside him.

He didn’t believe himself to be important, he also didn’t believe to be someone unimportant. What he was doing, he was doing them for himself.

As for what he brought to himself? This question didn’t exist in his mind.

He was an adventurer, and it was time to start his next adventure conditioning. Nothing else mattered.