Chapter 256: Runic Hacker

The sound of a page being turned reminded Priam that time was slipping away. Ignoring the fleeting fantasies of power that came with rapid progress, he focused on the orbs before him. They held the secret to the next ideal upgrade of [Dark Vision], and he wanted it for both himself and Oasis.

Activating his addon, Priam began to craft a three-dimensional model of the orb. Perhaps it was the evolution of his perception, or maybe the new clearance level from [Knight of the Aether], but he could now discern the external runes on the sphere. Without hesitation, Priam set about copying and annotating them.

Most of the runes were imbued with unknown Concepts, and Priam noted each flavor detected by the evolution of his meta-perception. He assumed the Aelbes crafters had used their Concepts to enchant the very runes. For anyone else, the project might have ended there, but Priam possessed Concepts Archipelago. By purchasing Concept fragments from the Sun Shop, he hoped to be able to recreate most of the enchantments.

I've neglected this Talent lately, but it's every crafter's dream...

Once the outer layer was copied by his addon, Priam focused on the inner layer. The runes composing it were infused with a strange Concept, and Priam's attention seemed to slip over them. He spent several minutes trying to circumvent the anti-espionage security before finding a simple solution: letting his addon copy them alone. The enchantment easily distracted Priam, but was powerless against a machine.

The Aelbes' anti-espionage protection finally slowed him when his Domain reached the sphere's core. A spiritual bubble, akin to an artificial sphere of authority, blocked his Supremacy from penetrating it. Priam pressed on for a few seconds before scowling at his failure.

While half his attention sought a breach, a parallel thought process was at work. Domain was the second Supremacy he had discovered, and Priam knew his resurrections and [Homo Elysian Obsession] gave him an edge over most Tier 0s. Though not that close to Domain II, Priam could see what that stage entailed. Damn, that this artificial bubble is more powerful than Domain II...

Brute-forcing through the protection was hardly feasible. Accepting this, Priam opened his Potential and overclocked [Ideal Aether Perception]. If video games had taught him anything, it was that there were two ways to access a vault: the hard way and the soft way.

Lvl Up: [Ideal Aether Perception] lvl 17

META (Affinity) +3

META (Perception) +6

POT -212

It took nearly fifteen minutes and an obscene amount of Potential for Priam to grasp the perverse ingenuity of the Aelbes construction. Far from being annoyed, the discovery made him ecstatic. The sublime ritual opened up a horizon of possibilities.

The bubble was both a defense capable of emulating a Supremacy and a lock—or rather, a recognition system. The Aelbes hadn’t achieved a level sufficient to create an AI to command the bubble, so they had set up a sort of test—a lock—to deactivate it.

Revealing this lock was as simple as it was dangerous: it required transmitting a certain amount of aether to the sphere. Having unlocked the ideal upgrade of [Aether Perception], Priam knew that an individual's aether had a sort of unique signature. Transmitting his aether to the bubble risked it storing a sample that would allow the shaman to verify if someone had tried to access the core.

Refusing to fall for such a basic trap, Priam first tried to force ambient aether into the sphere, only to realize it was futile; the sphere wanted the aether of a living being. Let’s modify my aether signature.

At the epic rank, [High Aether Manipulation] was incapable of reproducing another’s aether signature, but the skill could at least scramble his own. It was always easier to destroy than to create...

Lvl Up: [High Aether Manipulation] lvl 8

META (Affinity) +3

META (Focus) +3

META (Endurance) +3

After absorbing a hundred points of aether, a ripple traversed the bubble. At the origin of the wave, Priam detected a tiny hole which he scanned. His Domain detected a thin cylinder of vacuum extending into the bubble—a lock one centimeter deep and one millimeter in diameter. Unlike a traditional lock with pins, this one was lined with ten runes that seemed capable of accepting a bit of aether.

The challenge was clear: he had to activate these runes in the correct order to unlock the bubble.

[If each rune can be activated once, the number of possible permutations is 10! = 3 628 800.]

Only Gryphe's presence stopped Priam from cursing the lock's creator—probably one of her ancestors. He didn't need his addon to know he could spend days working on the code without finding the right combination. Part of him considered summoning Promesse to violently shatter the bubble, but his competitive spirit was excited by the prospect of solving a puzzle created by a Tier 4.

... No need to rush. There must be a way around this lock.

Observing the runic lock closely, Priam realized the protective bubble didn’t extend inside the cylinder. Instead, a type of magically opaque metal constituted the lock. Despite his efforts, Priam's sphere of authority struggled to penetrate this material beyond a millimeter. It was little, but enough to glimpse the lock’s mechanism. Bingo!

A neutral aether current flowed from the bottom of the lock to the entrance, passing through each activatable rune. Helped by the Polyglot Merit, Priam understood that activating a rune would slightly alter the aether flow's affinity—like adding a dye to water. Unlike colored water, the changes to the aether weren’t commutative, so their order mattered. Activating the first rune, then the fifth, would yield a different result than activating the fifth, then the first.

Once all ten runes were activated, the lock would compare the result with the recorded signature. If they matched, it would open.

Otherwise, my gut tells me I’ll be in for a nasty surprise. The thought briefly made Priam smile. Who would be dumb enough to trigger an alarm a few meters from a Tier 4? An idiot who can turn back time.

Understanding the lock's mechanism didn’t help him find the correct signature, but it did help him avoid the traps. Three of the runes seemed off, coloring the aether with the same affinity. The instinct granted by the Polyglot Merit whispered to Priam that these runes were more taint than dye. A smile spread across his face as he realized they were traps. So, there were only seven viable runes, leaving... five thousand and forty combinations. Doable with brute force.

[Probability of finding the right combination on the first try: 0.0185%]

Priam’s competitive spirit and pride forbade him from backing down now, so there was only one thing left to do. Manipulating his aether, he activated the good runes from the deepest to the nearest—he had to start somewhere—and studied the aether flow's change in affinity each time.

Just before touching the last rune, Priam took a breath. How would the protection react to an error? There was only one way to find out.

Click.

The bubble trembled, and a hundred furtive marbles appeared on its surface. Priam's eyes widened as they were fired in all directions. FUCK!

[In the Zone].

Time seemed to slow as his dual consciousness and addon hunted and destroyed marbles as fast as possible using [Divinatory Interception]. These weren’t probes seeking information on him, but distress signals. Unstable, the aether marbles were trying to escape his Domain to explode.

Spending his Potential as freely as a retiree blowing money in a Las Vegas casino, Priam targeted and annihilated each marble within his Domain. Four by four, the signals were mercilessly crushed. He ignored those racing toward his body, which exploded on contact with [Revelation Resistance].

For a stressful second, his overclocked brain smothered each alarm. The last probe reached within ten centimeters of his Domain’s edge before being obliterated.

POT -8

Lvl Up: [Divination Interception] lvl 8

META (Affinity) +2

META (Perception) +1

Priam’s eyes opened as his addon deactivated [In the Zone], and he waited, holding his breath.

META (Perception) evolved (Specialty: Ace)First Polyglot Merit unlockedEnnobled Mind[Aetherist - Gold] acquiredRunic knowledge above the minimum threshold

Gryphe looked up before nodding. “Of a Tier 0, yes. I'm trying to understand what you did better than me.”

Priam didn't hide his surprise and the shaman pointed a finger at him. “I spent twenty-five years growing Rohan’s soul, yet it’s smaller than yours. I thought I was nearing the apocryphal limit, but it seems I still have room. Got any advice by chance?”

“I don't even know what apocryphal means,” Priam admitted, blushing.

The shaman stared at him, then burst out laughing. He waited nearly thirty seconds for her to calm down. “Innocence is bliss... Many consider this research taboo,” she confessed, wiping away a tear of laughter. “All I know is that while growing a soul is possible, without increasing its density, it risks collapsing under its own weight.”

“A pretty exotic way to die,” Priam muttered to himself.

“Not necessarily,” the shaman grimaced. “Supremacies allow one to control their own soul, and someone like Rohan could likely survive... But by becoming apocryphal. Even you must have heard of one of this universe’s three taboos?”

Priam nodded, waking his headache. “A Grace awarded to the one who kills the apocryphal,” he grimaced.

“And everyone who helped them.” The shaman's tone was serious, speaking of the potential annihilation of her entire tribe.

“So why take the risk?”

The shaman gave a thin smile. “To become more powerful, why else? The ancestor of the Gaeserts had six Legendary skills at Tier 0, and I’m not talking about fake skills tied to a core. I want the same for Rohan... But to do that, I must do as you did: increase the density of his soul. Any advice for an old woman?”

Priam opened his mouth to declare his incompetence before thinking of something.

“I have a title that started crystallizing my soul.” Normally, he would never admit this, but Gryphe would soon forget. “[Iconoclast]. I got it by pissing on the god's statue.”

The shaman stared at him for several seconds before shaking her head. “If I couldn't detect a lie, I’d believe you’re trying to kill my clan's future. Instead, I now know you're completely insane.”

“Thanks for the compliment,” Priam laughed, leaving the tent.

He had one last bait to cast before Kazuki’s Tribulations began.

Status:

PHYSICAL:

Strength 755

Constitution 1 195

Agility 897

Vitality 1 147

Perception 814

MENTAL:

Vivacity (D) 599

Dexterity 673

Memory 875 (+11)

Willpower 1 168

Charisma 697

META:

Meta-affinity 868 (+39)

Meta-focus 420 (+3)

Meta-endurance 714 (+4)

Meta-perception (A) 425 (+79)

Meta-chance 274

Meta-authority 234 (+6)

Potential: 12 449 (-193)

Tier 0

Sun points: 1 487 599 (+333)

[He Who Eludes Death] charge: PRIMED

[Tribulation]: Five Tribulations pending.

Future Tribulations delayed until:

Time: 152 days 16 hours 17 minutes 14 seconds.

Next thresholds: 12 attributes > 600 / 6 attributes > 900 / 1 attribute > 1 200

This arc is already complete on Patreon if you want to find out what happens next!

/ANovelConcept