Chapter 46:
Calix had seen the light.
He had recognized the color of mana to gauge the levels of enemies and allies, and read the flow of neural networks to predict opponents' movents. This was also why he couldn't clearly distinguish between the bloodline abilities of the two heroes, Ranita and Ashapel Raimund.
Because his ability depended on 'vision'.
However, everything changed when a new ability awakened.
"You guys, using neural accelerators this way is completely insane! Of course, I need you to keep doing this so I can make a living."
"Ah-ah! It hurts, you old man."
"Of course, it hurts. Do I look like so quack healer to you? I'm a magitech engineer. Just accept that it's going to hurt."
Inside the campsite.
An old man wearing thick horn-rimd glasses roughly poked at the veteran rcenaries' neural accelerators with a thin tal skewer. He was a magitech engineer operating in the underworld, whom Captain Royce had brought with great difficulty.
"Well, well, look at this. Your ntal contamination level has already exceeded 80. Haven't you been seeing things? If you turn into a murderer overnight, you'll just have to accept it, won't you?"
"You think I've been a rcenary for just a day or two? I can easily handle 80!"
"Bullshit. Your neural network status is... 61 percent. If you keep accelerating like this, it'll be completely ruined within a few years. Neural accelerators can be fixed, but the human body is different."
"I'm different from ordinary folks!"
"Yeah, well. Let's see if you keep saying the sa thing when your lower body is paralyzed and you're crawling on the ground."
"...Please spare ."
While managing the unstable neural accelerators of the rcenaries, Calix felt sensory confusion. Not just visual signals, but explosive signals from hearing, touch, sll, and more were pouring in.
Wooooong-
The smooth vibrating sound of the neural accelerator, the tactile sensation of mana flowing from magic stones touching his skin, even the acrid sll of magical reagents. Too much information was flooding in at once. It felt like recognizing the world anew with all his senses, not just vision.
However, this was actually only within the realm of the five senses. What he had obtained was a more essential and direct power.
The 'sixth sense'.
'I can see everything. No, I can feel it. But it's different from before. I'm not reading and noticing the light of neural networks. Even that light... Is being read in advance.'
Calix imdiately read all the neural signals flashing from all directions. Regardless of whether they were rookies or veterans, the movents of dozens of Mountain Rabbits were captured in his mind one by one.
It wasn't like before, reading and judging the movents inside neural networks, the flow of light. He was reading even that flow of light in advance.
Tararara-rang.
Even before Hadiya plucked the strings of her portable instrunt, the process and result appeared vividly. As if he had known it all along.
"@#$!"
From the left to the rear, Volga would shout sothing at the rookies. No, he would shout. He would point with his right hand, move his adam's apple, and bark orders. Without looking, he already knew what would be done and how.
Everything was... Excessively clear.
The ear-splitting sound of conversations, the subtle trembling of the campfire, even the friction sound of soone leaning against a chair grated on his nerves.
Jjigeun-
Then suddenly, an unpleasant sensation seized his mind. With all senses operating simultaneously, had he reached the limit of his concentration? His head beca heavy. The excessively opened senses seed to gnaw at his mind.
[Warning, ntal contamination level rising.]
['Sixth Sense' usage can lead to excessive ntal power consumption, please be careful.]
The rise in ntal contamination level was a bonus. As is the way of the world, the sixth sense also had its pros and cons.
'...When exposed to excessive information, it actually restricts movent. Still, it's useful. I need to master it properly. I need to get used to accepting only what's necessary.'
This was directly confird later during sparring.
Hwaaak, ttuk!
"...Calix?"
"..."
"Why didn't you block it?"
Vice-captain Marik looked at his opponent with a puzzled expression.
Until just now, he had swung his sword freely. Unexpectedly, Calix blocked too well, and occasionally sharp counterattacks flew in, so he got excited without realizing it.
'When did he grow this much?'
If he fully utilized the Wind’s Scar, the difference in experience would quickly establish superiority, but even in this state, he was praiseworthy enough.
But at so point, Calix's movents stopped abruptly. Cold sweat ford on his temples, and his pupils trembled finely.
"Calix, are you okay? Hey."
Marik took a step back and examined his opponent's complexion. For soone who had been moving perfectly, to suddenly stop. Sothing was strange.
"...Yes, I'm fine."
Calix tried to answer as casually as possible. However, in truth, he had just confird the penalty of the 'sixth sense'.
When too much information flooded in at once, his head boiled over. Even things that couldn't be seen were felt, so he felt dizzy even with his eyes closed. And at that mont, four or five possibilities overlapped in an instant... His body completely froze.
Paralysis symptoms due to sensory overload or sensory rampage.
For now, it was an ability like a double-edged sword.
***
The eting of key personnel was convened in the late evening.
Once the vacancies were filled with rookies and food had been stockpiled enough to not be a major problem, they judged it was ti to move.
"What do we need to be careful about?"
"Hagen, Zahira, Kotchap, and 5 others. We've administered stabilizers, but their neural network status isn't good. Typically, if it drops below 60, paralysis symptoms can occur during combat."
As Calix entered the tent, he saw Captain Royce and the magitech engineer conversing. They were ticulously checking the condition of the mbers.
"I see. So have we confird everything now?"
"Except for one guy."
"Who?"
At that mont, both their gazes turned toward Calix.
"He was so difficult about not wanting to be examined. I told him I was once part of the Mountain Rabbits myself, and only then did he show ."
"..."
It wasn't that Calix had refused. His neural accelerator was a sowhat special item, so he had responded defensively just in case.
If he had known the secret would be kept, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to avoid it.
"If you saw it, wouldn't you know?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know? Duang, you?"
At Royce's urging, forr Mountain Rabbit and current magitech engineer Duang responded with a fierce snort.
"That's a top-grade accelerator. It doesn't look flashy on the outside, but inside, there are dozens of layers of protective circuits. To analyze it, you'd have to completely pull it out from the neck and disassemble it piece by piece. Even then, I don't know if it would be possible."
"..."
Even at the ntion of a top-grade neural accelerator, Basim, Gregor, and everyone else showed indifferent expressions. Who would believe now if soone claid Calix's neural accelerator was low-grade?
It wasn't sothing to be surprised about in the first place.
"...Then, is managing Calix's neural accelerator impossible forever?"
"It's not impossible, it's unnecessary. High-output neural accelerators co with self-managent functions. They're built to recognize errors and adjust abnormal states on their own. Of course, I can't know if it's truly a top-grade device. It could be an experintal device that flowed out to the black market."
"Hmm, I see. But are experintal devices different sohow?"
"They are. Experintal devices are garbage made by copying mages' work. They ramp up the output, but the stability is a ss, so at so point, you end up bleeding from every orifice and dying. Usually, certain countries do that sort of thing a lot. To borrow their words, it's a sacrifice to make better neural accelerators."
"Is Calix's... Dangerous?"
Keuheuheuheu-
Magitech engineer Duang shrugged his shoulders and laughed. He was in a good mood, confirming that this person nad Royce was still the sa.
"I can't understand how soone like you ford a 4-Knot rcenary company. As a rcenary, shouldn't you be asking if it makes money? With your eyes gleaming and all."
"...Duang."
"Ah ah, it doesn't matter. It won't be dangerous. If it was really dangerous, his head would have burst open long ago. Anyway, call
again next ti!"
The old man left the tent without wiping the smile off his face, and dwarf Basim uttered a remark.
"Still a crazy bastard."
"Haha... But you worked with him before."
"That's why I'm saying this. He filled my disciple's head with nonsense. Saying he'd replace his neural accelerator at a cheap price."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"In exchange for just removing one organ, he says. Is that a good thing?"
"Uh..."
"And that bastard Volga is seriously considering it... Sigh, my fate."
The commotion was brief.
As the two voices quieted down, Captain Royce signaled the start of the eting and looked around at those present. From Vice-captain Marik to Gregor, Basim, Ella, Zahira, Hadiya, and Calix.
"We're departing soon."
It was ti for the Mountain Rabbits to set out on their journey again.
***
The conclusion was decided, but the process had to be examined reasonably and ticulously. Therefore, the captain of the Mountain Rabbits started by sharing the information they had collected.
It began with matters concerning the war.
"The war with the Niboria Empire seems to be flowing as expected. In the first month of the war, Paladin and Silvana Fortresses fell, and currently a battle line is ford in the central-north region, I heard."
"Leader comrade, the central-north region... Doesn't that an they were pushed back miserably? Usually, they just make a fuss in the north and then go back."
"Gregor, it seems the Empire prepared quite well this ti. I heard that Marquis Ashapel took the field in siege warfare and won consecutive victories. Also, the Emperor's son is included in the expeditionary force."
"Ha! The bloodline of Emperor Caracal ca directly?"
As Gregor exclaid with an excited expression, Calix listened carefully to the content about 'Marquis Ashapel'.
'Will I et him again if I go to the battlefield?'
Unfortunately, the captain made a different judgnt.
"And we will not participate in the war."
"...Captain, is that possible? It's ti to mobilize large rcenary companies now. The rcenary Guild won't just leave us alone. Unless we completely disappear near the border-"
"That would be the case normally. But we can't choose a war commission either. We're too deeply entangled with Duke Saitz to participate directly. We might end up dying like dogs."
"Ah, co to think of it... There was Duke Saitz."
Royce chose to over-prepare rather than let his guard down.
Even if Duke Saitz himself didn't care about the Mountain Rabbits, there was a high possibility that those under him would view them as a thorn in their side.
So they wouldn't go to the battlefield.
"Then how do we refuse the kingdom's conscription order? If we disappear like this, we won't be able to accept any commissions until sumr at the earliest."
However, Zahira's point was also valid. Since the Mountain Rabbits were a large rcenary company, completely hiding their tracks was worse than doing nothing.
Therefore-
"We're going east."
"East?"
"To refuse the conscription order, we need a justification. Fortunately, our rcenary company's reputation has risen quite a bit."
"The eastern kingdom then... Anomalous phenona? Using anomalous phenonon subjugation as justification?"
"Similar."
The captain of the Mountain Rabbits answered briefly, then nodded toward the young man who raised his hand. He permitted him to speak.
"Calix?"
"Justification is established when it's recorded. There's no aning in us claiming it ourselves."
"...So?"
"In my opinion, we'll need a commission formally registered with the rcenary Guild. Did you have sothing in mind by any chance?"
Ah.
Smart ones are all good but... They're no fun.
"From here, it would be better to hear directly from Lady Ella."
With that, Royce passed the baton to the 4th Circle cleric, and Ella stepped forward to bring up the matter. And from the very first words, extraordinary content was included.
"Well, the truth is... The Holy Empire isn't very interested in this war."
"...You're very straightforward. If the northern nobles heard this, they'd faint from joy."
"The people of the Astria Kingdom might be disappointed, but reality is cold. The Niboria Empire will plunder food and then return. They can't ignore the pressure from surrounding countries to annex territory."
"That's true."
"On the other hand, the crisis is real."
"...What kind of crisis are you referring to?"
At the question, she took a mont to catch her breath and recalled the contents of the letter she received from the Papal Court.
"Unsettling movents are being detected in the east."
"...The Shadow Lands."
"Yes. The Order has been aware of this for several years and is currently at the stage of dispatching an investigation team."
"You're not telling us to go all the way to the Shadow Lands, are you?"
That couldn't be.
Ella shook her head and brought up the main point to those with visibly relieved expressions.
"A mber of the investigation team and prince of the Latia Republic, Adrian Deconti, needs help. To reach the investigation team's eting point... No, please escort him just to the Storm Forest. This is a commission from the Order and also my personal request. It's truly important work."
"Hmm, I see. But the Storm Forest... Are you talking about that place in the eastern border region? The place where mana swirls in whirlwinds and plants move alive?"
"Yes, that's right. I heard the anomalous phenona have beco more severe recently. Until half a year ago, the route wasn't blocked, but now no one who goes there cos back."
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, Dwarf Basim spoke with an expression full of composure. Since they had spent quite so ti together, he seed to be trying to help sohow.
"Then let's not. It would be better to go to the battlefield instead."
"..."
"Haaa... Basim."
"What, you wench! Again, I'm the only bad dwarf!"
The dwarf was truly cold-blooded.
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