Chapter 91: Of all the things to be scared of …

Chapter 91: Of all the things to be scared of ...

Wednesday came and went, and nothing important or even remotely interesting happened. Their building was scanned from top to bottom to check for structural flaws or undermined areas, but there were none, simply because the summoning system was specifically designed to not tear apart things mankind found useful. After all, few things would have reduced people’s willingness to use it like their homes being torn apart with every summoning.

Isaac couldn’t really help with that, so he’d ended up relegated to busywork, getting a few extra samples where they were needed and helping clarify some things in various reports.

At least they’d managed to determine that summoning even a Hunting Ground didn’t endanger the building and they’d also gotten permission to summon them on university property so long as proper precautions were taken, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time, just boring and monotonous.

Today, though, today stood to potentially be a far worse experience, albeit in a very different way.

Isaac sighed as he walked into the [System]-research building, walked down the stairs and into his office. He’d put a Tier 3 summoning circle under his rug, so when he dropped a Lesser Space Elemental core onto it, he could immediately call his storage space here and anchor it at his place of work for the rest of the day. It had become a daily ritual for everyone a while back due to how easy they made both the retrieval of stored goods and cleanup, and he always did it, even though he probably wouldn’t be using it today.

Over in the nearest summoning room, someone was messing around with another Dark Forest hunting ground. Well, there had to be two of them, the new protocol Bailey had drawn up decreed that there had to always be an appropriately levelled person keeping watch on the outside, no matter how strong the person inside was.

Normally, he might have dropped by and joined them, but right now, he had to prepare for later.

Isaac quickly stripped out of the clothes he’d run here in, and switched them out for his ‘public appearance’ outfit.

An obvious option would have been a suit, but that would have looked overly formal in one of today’s lecture halls, nevermind while worn by a student.

A hundred years ago, sure, every professor had worn a suit, even Chemistry professors in the middle of doing experiments, something that Professor Chandler often made fun of.

Besides, this was his first ‘proper’ public appearance, not a blurry cellphone video of him fighting a Swamp Knight, not a two minute interview with a blogger in between fights during an Event, not a handful of statements to a reporter after he’d jumped out of a lake, but an extended period of him interacting with the public and being the main focus of attention. Therefore, it would not only set the tone for how he presented himself, it would also be somewhat off putting if he ended up wearing something totally different in the future and this outfit needed to be ‘him’.

A navy blue polo shirt and dark grey formal set of pants gave him a solid, nice to look at, semi-formal appearance. He could move in it, it wasn’t a major departure from his normal outfits and it didn’t make him look like a peacock.

He slipped a pair of leather bracers onto his wrists, far shorter than traditional ones meant to be used as armor but longer than typical fashion accessories, perfectly splitting the difference by looking nice while still being functional.

All in all, he was both prepared to fight but not aggressive, his outfit looking nice without lacking functionality.

He was currently getting a few similar outfits made from magical materials, but they weren’t ready yet, sadly.

Isaac sighed again as he sat down at his desk, summoned his laptop from storage and went over his presentation for the millionth time. Sure, he could be pretty good with individual people, but those were individuals, people he could get to know and adjust his approach to. Crowds, on the other hand? Blech.

The one upside was that his sensory [Aura] let him check his notes without anyone being the wiser.

Later, he wasn’t entirely by how much except that it wasn’t time for the presentation yet because his alarm hadn’t gone off, his focus was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Come in.” Isaac called, spinning around in his swivel chair to face the newcomer.

“Hey Isaac, how are things? Would you like a little help going over your presentation?” Bailey asked.

“That obvious, huh?”

“Very.” Bailey nodded “You’re normally a boundless font of energy, practically bouncing off the walls when there’s nothing challenging to be done. But you haven’t so much as snuck a peak at the experiment next door all day. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s on your mind.”

“Damn, figured I was harder to read than that.” Isaac sighed for the third time “But yeah, someone to actually give me advice rather than doing the same thing over and over would be great.”Ñøv€lRapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on Ñôv€lß¡n.

***

‘You sneaky bastard. Not bad.’

‘Yeah, hiding this from someone with your senses was a pain, but it was definitely worth it.’ Bailey sent back with a barely hidden smirk, getting up and joining Kass.

Several other people Isaac recognized as other university higher ups, though he’d never directly interacted with them, also joined the Dean.

“Mr. Thoma, in the name of the university, I would like to thank you for holding this lecture and your fantastic work discovering the principles, functions and uses of the [System] power known as [Aura]. In recognition of this achievement, it is my great honor and privilege to hereby bestow upon you the title of Doctor honoris causa.”

As the Dean continued to prattle on about this, both about how Isaac was a credit to his generation, but also slipping in university-aggrandizing statements, Isaac felt ... well, he actually wasn’t sure how he felt.

On one hand, he felt good, he felt appreciated, even if this was also largely a PR stunt. On the other, this was something that had been sprung upon him and that soured the mood quite a lot. Someone had pulled something over on him, surprised him, and that was bloody terrifying. Sure, he’d been looking out for people trying to assassinate him, or kidnap him and squeeze him for information, not someone trying to give him an academic title, but still ... he felt vulnerable. He didn’t like feeling vulnerable, in a fight, vulnerable was usually followed by dead.

But none of that showed on his face. [Hundred Faces] went on, and his expression stayed as that of someone trying to not look like a drooling idiot, overwhelmed with happiness, but only partially succeeding, happiness shining through the cracks in a stoic façade.

... and then the [Skill] levelled up, hitting 20 and evolving.

Hundred Faces (common, Level XX)

Ultimately, even the greatest criminal is unable to completely avoid being seen. But what is seen doesn’t have to be the user’s true face. This Skill allows the user to adjust their entire body, within reason, to allow for some degree of anonymity. This will not, however, affect the user’s physical capabilities.

After countless situations where this Skill has been used to hide the user’s true feelings it has evolved to act as a method to hide the user’s emotions as it does their true appearance. It is now far more capable of changing facial expressions to reflect false feelings and these false feelings will also be what emotion-sensing Skills will see.

Cost: 50 mana per minute while adjusting, 15 mana per minute while cloaking emotions

Yep, weird Evolution, just like he’d predicted. But it sure was useful.

Not the time, Isaac. He scolded himself, internally shaking his head.

“Thank you, Dean Kass.” Isaac inclined his head to the older man “I’m humbled to have been deemed worthy of this title, and I will bear it with pride as I continue to work towards understanding the intricacies of the [System], working under Professor Bailey.”

He then flashed the audience a brief smile.

“And then, in a few years, I’ll try to get a Doctorate the proper way, along the academic track.”

“In that case, I wish you good luck in your endeavors.” Kass said, sticking out his right hand, and the two of them shook hands.

Things continued in that vein for another half hour or so, with people coming up to him to congratulate him or ask further questions, which he answered the best he could.

Eventually though, things did wind down, so Isaac and Bailey headed back to their building.

“That was ... I’m sorry for springing that on you like that.” Bailey said “It was surprise that was meant to be, well, a surprise, but in hindsight ...”

“... I can be a little jumpy? Look, I get it, it was partially a PR thing on top of all other considerations.” Isaac sighed “Just don’t surprise me for the sake of surprising me and I’ll be fine, anything more than that is my issue to deal with.”

“Have you considered talking to someone about that? Someone who isn’t me or one of your friends, that is?” Bailey suggested.

“Considered? Yes. I’ll give it a little longer, try to see if I can just get past my stupid hang-ups and be done with them, but if I can’t ... a little therapy never killed anyone.” Isaac lied. He’d never be going to see one simply because he couldn’t talk honestly about his feelings without revealing what was probably the world’s biggest secret, but in a few days, he should be able to hide his feelings from even someone who knew him as well as Bailey did.