"Of course, she’s a comrade who fought alongside . I didn’t want them to join on the adventure in hopes that they could stay safe and sound."
Finishing his bread roll in two bites, Howard looked into Nula’s eyes.
"Don’t worry, Vivia is not as fragile as she appears to you. Although I haven’t had many interactions with her, I’ve researched quite a bit about her. That girl is much stronger than what you’ve seen. Her adventurer level is even higher than yours, and she’s a quite skilled magic potion maker."
Nula took a bite of her bread, paused, then continued, "I dare say, if she had the talent to beco a magus, her future achievents would certainly not be minor."
While many talents remain uncertain without trial, one’s character can often be readily assessed.
If a person’s talent defines the lower limit of their achievents in a certain field, then their character will determine the upper limit.
"As long as she’s safe."
Howard seed to breathe a sigh of relief, hurriedly finishing his breakfast.
"I’ll be troubling you these next few days. I won’t go out, to avoid running into Vivia."
"Sure." Nula readily agreed, tidying up the table and picking up the unfinished food.
"I might go out again this afternoon. Is there anything you want to bring back for you?"
"Clean bandages, and if possible, so herbs. I don’t like the sll of magic potions."
"Got it."
Nula waved her hand as a farewell gesture and walked out the door, pushing it open.
As Nula’s footsteps faded away, Howard sat on his bed, gazing into his palm.
A certain yearning churned quietly within him.
If, just if he now possessed absolute "power," would the situation still be this passive?
Howard sat cross-legged on the bed, holding his breath and concentrating, his consciousness diving deep like a submarine.
The fastest way to enhance strength was to leverage it.
Since there was a deity hidden within himself, why not seek a thod from it?
...
His consciousness passed through a layer of warm seawater, devoid of any light.
Howard’s "field of view" was pure darkness.
To say "field of view" was actually inaccurate, as Howard, in a purely conscious state, had no organs at all.
He was rely a thought, roaming in the depths of his soul.
He was searching for another consciousness.
He couldn’t be certain of what "Two’s" essence was, but one thing he was sure of was that "Two" was not fundantally different from him.
The two consciousnesses should belong to one soul.
This was also why he sought "Two."
Theoretically, what "Two" could do, he should be able to do as well.
There was no difference between him and "Two," whether in terms of energy strength or soul strength.
The first search yielded no results.
Howard’s consciousness moved through the warm, pitch-black seawater, but found nothing, neither a second consciousness nor any odd entity.
Could "Two" be hiding again?
Sotis "Two" would do this, concealing itself, avoiding Howard’s call.
He didn’t know what "Two" was up to, but he knew "Two" was always acting towards a goal.
As the second search neared its end, a faint light appeared before Howard’s "eyes."
"Two" manifested, responding to his call.
Controlling his consciousness to approach the light, he passed through it.
It felt like traversing a tunnel, with countless stars flashing by, resembling the changing starry sky of ti.
It seed like a second yet felt like an extensive period, and Howard’s consciousness stopped in a purely white space.
A blurry orb of light hovered in the center of this white expanse.
Supre Deity?
The mont Howard saw the orb, these words flashed through his mind.
It was unavoidable; it looked too similar.
"Howard? Are you looking for ?" Two’s voice resonated directly within Howard’s consciousness.
Drawing closer to the orb, Howard observed it from below.
The orb, with a diater of about a ter, floated about two ters off the ground, perfectly spherical without any distortion.
"Yes, I’m looking for you."
"I want power."
Howard responded to Two’s question.
Howard’s understanding of Two ca from Nula’s descriptions, making this their first encounter with each other’s true form.
For two consciousnesses sharing a soul, physical appearances were secondary; the essence of consciousness was the fundantal difference between them.
A brief yet seemingly prolonged silence followed.
Two’s voice once again echoed near Howard.
"Do you understand what you’re saying, do you realize what that statent implies?"
Two’s voice bore no discernible emotion, but Howard could sense a kind of astonishnt, followed by feelings akin to disappointnt and resignation.
Did Two not want him to make this choice?
"Will I beco like you?" Howard asked.
Two didn’t respond, or perhaps, it had already answered.
"Even so, I still want power."
"Why?"
This ti, Two’s reply was imdiate, echoing by Howard’s ear the mont his words were spoken, causing Howard to pause before he could react.
"Even if you turn out like , would that be acceptable?"
"Even if it ans losing the qualification to be human?"
Howard hadn’t yet answered when Two’s questioning followed.
Again, there was a brief silence, but this ti, it was Howard who remained silent, not Two.
The orb of light slowly descended, touching the ground and gradually reshaping.
In about the span of two breaths, a blurry humanoid figure emitting white light stood before Howard.
This was Two’s consciousness incarnate, yet Howard still couldn’t discern what Two truly was.
It didn’t seem human, but its essence of action was fundantally no different from a human’s.
After a long mont, Howard reached a conclusion.
"It doesn’t matter!"
He looked towards where the eyes of the vague humanoid figure would be, his voice filled with determination.
From birth, he had always felt subtly different from those around him.
Now, Howard finally began to contemplate what kind of person he truly was.
Too many non-human traits manifested within him.
"If this is your wish."
Two’s voice faded away as the humanoid figure slowly receded, "Based on the highest principle, I do not have the authority to resist you."
"If this is what you desire, then accept it, hoping you won’t regret it."
"Directive set three, unlocked."
A torrent of data engulfed Howard.
...
In Rodel City, at the adventurer Rodel branch guild, a slender figure cloaked in a dark cape entered the hall without drawing anyone’s attention.
At the Rodel branch guild, such figures, intent on concealing their identities, were not uncommon.
After all, not all adventurers were beloved by the people, nor were all adventurers virtuous citizens.
The profession of an adventurer, at any ti, has been a shadow wandering in the gray areas of society.
The figure made no stops along the way, heading straight for the counter with a clear purpose.
"Vivia, you’re here again! This is the fourth ti this week!"
A young service attendant, around twenty years old, behind the counter, looked at the overly youthful face beneath the hood with so concern, "Taking on so many quests in such a short period, are you in need of money?"
"Not exactly short on cash, just trying to earn a bit more while I have the chance."
Vivia didn’t lift her hood but directly pulled out several quest docunts from beneath her cloak.
"Here are the proofs, signed by the clients. I’ve already received the rewards; I’m just here to register them."
For adventurers to raise their badge levels, the only way is to complete quests.
Only after completing a sufficient number of quests at the corresponding level will the guild review the adventurer’s capabilities and then decide whether to promote their badge level.
Thus, registering one’s completed quests at the guild becos a significantly important task.
The service attendant took the quest docunts to help Vivia with the registration.
"By the way, about the person I asked you to keep an eye out for… have you found anything?"
This had beco almost a ritual question for Vivia with each visit.
The previous tis, the service attendant had managed to evade with vague responses, but this ti it seed impossible.
Vivia produced a roll of paper, on it, a portrait of a young man, showing only the frontal view.
Even so, the service attendant recognized him imdiately—it was the magus she had once served!
The youngest magus she had ever seen!
Though his na was unknown to her, the service attendant knew that just a few days ago, during the monster tide defense battle, this young man had shone brightly, single-handedly killing nearly ten spellbeasts and spellbeast subspecies!
By individual achievents, his was arguably the highest in Rodel City!
Yet, for so reason, he had never co to claim his reward.
The attendant’s instant reaction to the portrait did not escape Vivia’s notice.
She was never one to be lost in a fog, quickly clarifying her thoughts.
"Have you seen him?"
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