Ability Wielders

"No." Hayden said nonchalantly. "I consider myself a man of knowledge, and this secret art… The second you mentioned properties and "mending" the bond of molecules, what if this can answer the things that particle physics and quantum mechanics cannot answer?"

This sentence from Hayden caused Colton"s eyes to widen. "Heh, go figure… He is indeed a man of science."

"You…" Colton"s widened eyes persisted. Meanwhile, the four CHORUS members all shook their heads in confusion. "Are you suggesting that there exists a possibility that this whole supernatural stuff has deep ties with chemistry, physics, and all that?"

Hayden simply nodded with a faint knowing smile plastered on his face. As for how he knew of these? As a curious man, Hayden has already advanced his research on almost every branch of science, chemistry, physics, earth science, biology, and s.p.a.ce science.

As it was the era of advanced technology, nearly every single research paper and information can be freely accessed on the internet. On top of this, some information is simplified, easily understood as long as you can read, and is pretty in-depth in spite of being simplified.

With Hayden"s Divine Perception, he got to the bottom of everything, with his sources not exclusive to textbooks, but also teachers and, as said, the internet. As long as his appet.i.te for curiosity wasn"t satiated, he would go to great lengths to acquire answers, with some teachers baffled as to why Hayden was asking such absurdly advanced questions.

Due to that, Hayden was labeled as an Advancer, a student that bugs their teachers for answers and not deadlines. A student well-loved and, at the same time, also the bane of most teachers as Hayden was too smart and inquisitive for his own good.

Deeply, in the teacher"s point of view, Hayden should be a college student and not a high school student. Sometimes, even they would be perplexed by Hayden"s own questions.

"So, what do you think?" Hayden"s voice enticed Colton. "I mean, if I"m planning to research this, I"ll have to have a team, right? We won"t be known for our efforts as this is top-secret wielder stuff, yet, it will be a path that must be taken, right? Plus, I"ll pay you, and you can keep your freedom, I"ll keep you a secret to-"

"Deal." Before Hayden could finish his sentence, Colton agreed without a thought, his eyes possessing this newfound glint of interest, ideas, and enthusiasm. "If we"re going to do this, I need a communication link."

"Of course." Hayden smiled, satisfied. Indeed, Colton was the same as him, a person that wanted answers more than anything. Scanning a communication link with Colton, Hayden spoke, "I"ll contact you when the time comes. For now, go in hiding, here"s 100,000 credits."

Wiring Colton 100,000 credits, Hayden signaled Colton to sit for now as he was pulled by Eun-ha to the side.

"Honey, are you sure about this?" Eun-ha was anxious of Hayden"s actions. She understood Hayden"s intentions, however…

"Don"t worry." Hayden patted Eun-ha on the head. "You see that coat? At first, you"d think he"s a doctor. Nevertheless, if you look closely, there is no insignia on the left side of his coat. That"s actually a physicist"s coat. The thing with coats is that they have their insignia, and Colton"s insignia is ripped off. As for how I know he"s a physicist? Simple, the faded shape of the adhesive. And you know, the field of physics has been stuck on for a long time, with some even considering it a dead field. Those that come to physics are people who are men of science, set on cracking the mysterious of this universe, and would be desperate for answers."

It was all true, and ever since Stephen Hawking"s black hole theory and the verification of the final part of Einstein"s theory of relativity, the field of theoretical physics has been stagnant for too long. It has not made a breakthrough for approximately 30 years, and this was an era where terraforming Mars was underway.

As for the part regarding scientist"s coats, with the creation of the World Government, authority ent.i.ties in various fields were similarly established. One of those is the Inst.i.tution of World Science (IWS), an inst.i.tution dedicated to promoting fairness within the scientific world and monitors everything.

It was a branch of World Government and every scientist would have to register a permit prior to conducting their experiment. There were five main divisions in the IWS, with one of them being the Physicist Division. Each division has its specific insignia.

In Hayden"s view, "dividing," scientists according to their specialties were stupid as the scientific community should be united and helping each other.

"So, you trust… this guy?" Eun-ha asked with worry. "I mean, he leads a cult, tricking people into joining it…"

"I"m sure he has a viable reason… I mean, it"s inexcusable, don"t get me wrong, but you understand what I mean." Hayden shrugged this off. "Anyhow, he"s a good guy… Wait, let me ask something to him."

Walking over back to Colton, he imposed his question, "Why are you in a cult? I mean, why are you a priest in your cult?"

"Well…" Colton told his story of how the man who taught him the art wanted to proliferate the knowledge of the secret arts to the world among the common ma.s.ses, and he didn"t know how else to do this to make it convincing.

At the end of the day, many people"s opinions on something that cannot be explained by modern science will either be supernatural or alien technology. Taking into account that alien technology would need some sort of technological visuals, while magic would merely need circles and cultic things, Colton chose to do the supernatural.

On top of this, to make it more believable, he needed something to attribute this magic to something, and mythological G.o.ds were perfect. At first, Colton wanted to do some sort of cult for Bathala when he met Evershifter.

Her thirst for blood and the fact that she"s more powerful than him as she was a cognizant, he had Evershifter be the protector of his cult, switching it from a G.o.d of creation to the G.o.d of darkness, Saragnayan. Unfortunately, the price of that was to let Evershifter roam around and let her kill people.

"However, before you make a move," Observing the five people"s reactions, particularly the four Level 4 wielders in the room who were clearly fuming because of what he was saying, he quickly testified for himself. "In my defense, the man informed me of a catastrophic event that would happen 30 years succeeding his departure from this world… I am merely a puppet that wants to help people in need!"

Colton proceeded to tell Hayden and the others what the man who taught him informed him. Apparently, there would be a huge invasion from another world that would come through from the Lagusang Itim, and that forthcoming date is in… 2080.

Checking the telltale signs of a liar, Hayden concluded that… Colton was telling the truth, he was not lying at all.

"Then why the h.e.l.l didn"t you contact Puting Araw?" Hayden was shook being apprised of this information. "I mean, they"re the largest organization in the Philippines, right!?"

"Y-you don"t know?" Colton"s voice was trembling. It wasn"t that Hayden was powerful, he was scared of the authority that Hayden holds among the four Level 4 wielders. From their countenances, they should have made a move by now, yet, they haven"t solely because Hayden was talking, or that"s what Colton thought at least.

"I don"t know what?" Hayden"s eyes squinted, understanding that Colton wouldn"t act this way if there was no reason to not approach Puting Araw.

"Puting Araw"s leader, your founder, Rose Kapayapaan, is in cahoots with the Triple A and Philippine Government. I don"t exactly know the connection, and I wouldn"t risk this causing ma.s.s panic all over the world if I don"t verify this information, both from my teacher, and the connection between Triple A and the government." Colton"s eyes filled up with resolve.

Surprised, Hayden didn"t utter a word, sitting down and taking a deep breath. Puting Araw and Triple A is working together? What does that mean…? "So this is why Puting Araw agents can roam all around without the disturbance of anything at all…?"

"This information…" Eun-ha muttered in Korean, gawking at the three people who was staring back at her. "I, I don"t think we should relay this to the Higher Council…"

The Higher Council, as its name proposes, is the body of authority within Lunar a.s.sembly. The Higher Council are strong wielders who thrive in Korea"s celebrity industry, in both South and North Korea. There are ten members of the Higher Council, five of which hail from South Korea, and the other five obviously from North Korea. Each member of the Higher Council is a leader of their own party, with Kim Taehyung one of them.

Other than maintaining order, the Higher Council is responsible for the settlement of dispute between its members, as well as keeping celebrities in line and keeping good manners between them. All Celebrity Hubs are governed by the Lunar a.s.sembly.

"That"s absurd!" Mi-sun disagreed instantly. "A huge invasion? What if this huge invasion entails the end of humanity? The apocalypse? Wouldn"t it be better if we convey with the Higher Council this vital piece of information?"

"I agree with Mi-sun noona on this one." Mieko sided with Mi-sun. "She"s right, if this would spell the doom of humanity, we have no rights to keep this information a secret. The world of wielders has hidden its presence for far too long, we have over a century of history, I think it"s time to reveal our presence to the world."

With that, an argument ensued among the three people. Stepping in, Sayuri broke the two parties. "Wait, Eun-ha, why do you not want to give this information to the Higher Council?"

"First, this information fell on our laps solely because of Hayden-ah." Eun-ha spoke, gazing at Hayden. "Second, this is uncorroborated information. Third, we have no jurisdiction in the Philippines, and this information is not ours to disseminate. Lastly, this will all happen in 2080, there are myriads of events that may happen in the near future. We have to give Hayden-ah time to at least verify this information."

"He"s telling the truth." Hayden interjected, recovering from the bomb that was dropped upon him. "At least that"s what his teacher truly told him. The problem is, we don"t know this teacher of his and the certainty of this info. Hence, I request of you to not release this for now."

Turning away from them, Hayden talked to Colton, "How did you get the information regarding Puting Araw and Triple A working together?"

"When I was told of this, I, similar to any other rational human being would do, panicked and was lost of what to do." Colton explained, with Hayden nodding. "That"s when I found out Puting Araw. I was a puny Level 2 wielder back then. As a cautious man, I opted to investigate them first. Only with the help of teacher did I discover the hidden ties between Puting Araw and Triple A, and the fact that Triple A is stockpiling on weapons manufactured by Puting Araw for the reason of preparing. From that alone, I decided not to trust them and chose to work along. Although it will be nigh-impossible, it was better than trusting people working with someone to stockpile on weapons."

"Why the h.e.l.l would they keep this a secret?" Hayden shook his head. He had the impression that Puting Araw"s secret tunnels weren"t legal at all as, with current technology, those secret underground highways shouldn"t be a secret at all.

With this information, it all made sense how Puting Araw has such huge influence within the Philippines. On top of these, those huge structures, beneath and above ground, would most definitely be illegal.

Now, Hayden was relieved of the fact that he hid his status as a dual wielder since Puting Araw has such an enormous secret kept amongst the higher-ups. Hayden whispered in consternation, "Tsk, sons of b.i.t.c.hes… My gut was saying there was something, and I haven"t found anything within six months… You"ve justified my formerly-considered misplaced distrust on you, Anthony…"

Afterwards, Hayden shifted his head to the side whilst talking, "Get out of here. I"ll contact you when the time comes. Concurrently, I am in no state of mind to research anything. Plus, I may be embroiled in one terrible war in the near future. Until then, go in hiding. You"ve escaped the surveillance of Puting Araw for years, you can take care of yourself. Oh yeah, I may contact you from time to time for you to teach me more of this secret art."

Getting Hayden"s message, Colton skedaddled, getting out of the suite. n.o.body stopped him as Hayden was the one who dismissed him. With determined eyes, Hayden talked to himself, "Power… I need power…"

Closing his eyes, Hayden sensed around his body using his Divine Perception. His Heavenly Sense activated, he detected the eleven members of CHORUS and Colton, who was at the elevator.

Everything abruptly slowed down, the faint heartbeats from the chest of the four women in the room, their blood flow, the flow of wind and indistinct vibrations of the movement of molecules, Hayden could feel it all. The sickly sweet smell that Eun-ha was emitting in conjunction with calmness, and a floral smell, indicating that she trusted Hayden, while the other three generally felt confused and… Attracted? Especially Sayuri….

Subsequently, he threw this matter at the back of his mind and focused on himself. That was when his body lit up in his "mind"s eye." His body was white in color, and as he moved, the image in his mind would similarly move.

He stretched his hands, attempting to will some of the white energy from all over his body to gather in his hand. Suddenly, his body that had a cool refreshing feeling, with the warmth coming from the outer rims of his body into the Origin Crystal, and then went to his hands, with his hands feeling unprecedented heat.

He willed to cease the surging heat from all over his body, and when he willed for the life force gathered on his hand to emanate with the property of a gas and being flammable, tendrils of white mist escaped from his hand.

The sensation was phenomenal, as if the mist was all part of his own body, he could sense it and, akin to his own body, he could actually control it. In that instance, he made the mist surround his own hand.

Proceeding, Hayden hardened his hand"s skin and snapped powerfully, the intense friction generating heat, his hands abruptly engulfed with white-colored fire. At that moment, Hayden had an idea, and that idea was to focus on three things.

The first one was to inhale essence energy, albeit minimally as Hayden didn"t want to disturb people with the thunderous sound of the Breathing Technique. After all, he did hear it himself, and that he felt earlier the rushing footsteps of the CHORUS members when he executed it on the rooftop to deliver Evershifter to Puting Araw.

You see, the Breathing Technique, as Eun-ha described, was a technique to "drive" essence energy into the body by inhaling. Previously, whilst flying from Pateros to the Rain Sanctuary Hotel, Hayden found out that this was solely possible by infusing the essence energy that is from his lungs, into his blood. Next, he had to it go through his heart to let the essence energy undergo through the baptism of the Origin Crystal, effectively turning it into his own essence energy.

From there, the body and Origin Crystal takes care of it. This action may possibly have something in common with the absorption of essence energy from the environment through the Origin Crystal itself, and with this, the Origin Crystal converts the free-roaming essence energy in the environment to become his own by "branding" some kind of "signature" into it.

By doubling the amount of entry points, this Breathing Technique effectively doubles the rate that free-roaming essence energy is being brought into his body.

With this in mind, the second thing that he"ll be focusing on was to channel this inhaled essence energy and the Origin Crystal-absorbed essence energy into his hands.

The third was to properly concentrate on the property of the gas being flammable. That"s when he jacked up the strength and compression of the gas, creating a stronger flame that surrounded his hand. From his estimation, the temperature was approximately 1,000 degrees Celsius.

Under the watchful gazes of the remaining four members, Hayden closed his fist, terminating the flame. Exhaling, black mist came out from Hayden"s mouth. A second later, white wisps of smoke once again rose out from his enclosed fist. Rapidly, Hayden opened his hands, brandishing his claws, making his claws clash against each other in the process to create friction.

This time, the flames were concentrated on his claws, stronger and possessed a temperature of about 1,400 degrees Celsius, akin to a blowtorch"s. Thankfully, the heat doesn"t exactly transmit to the air.

Satisfied, Hayden nodded with a smile plastered on his face. He closed his fist, reopened it, and pounded on his chest, a white mist swiftly covering him. At that moment, Hayden snapped, disappearing from the eyes of the four people.

"Hayden-ah?" Eun-ha called out. "What happened?"

"Oh, I made it so that the life force I covered my body with would mimic the light from the objects behind me, effectually making me invisible or unperceivable." Hayden talked. "The problem is all I see ahead of me is darkness as this in front of me is basically a barrier."

Hearing a snapping sound, Hayden materialized as the life force he configured to obscure him dissipated. "This is surprisingly easy… Well, maybe because I have the Divine Perception to aid me in doing this…"

Hayden spoke to himself while Eun-ha, Sayuri, Mieko, and Mi-sun were all speechless. Colton described as if the secret art was a hard thing to execute, yet, Hayden was here, insouciantly performing it as if what he was doing was simply a trivial matter.

Meanwhile, submerged in darkness and blending within the environment, and standing on thin air outside of the hotel was The Stalker. He was watching Hayden inside the suite of Rain Sanctuary Hotel, monitoring him as per his boss" order. His heart jumped when, out of the blue, Hayden turned to his direction, staring directly into his soul with a stumped expression.

"s.h.i.t." The Stalker thought to himself. "All those girls are Level 4 wielders. I better get out of here now or I won"t have a chance to escape at all…"

On that note, The Stalker disappeared from his position, teleporting into the top of the nearest building. "His power keeps increasing… What the h.e.l.l was that thing he did with his hands? How was he capable of creating fire? And to think that Hayden would have ties with not only one, but eleven powerful wielders…"

Rushing to the window he was eyeing, Eun-ha was startled, tailing him closely. "Honey, why? What is it?"

"Nothing, I just vaguely felt that someone was watching us…" Hayden muttered, his brows tightly knitted together. "Oftentimes, my feelings are correct… I don"t know why it"s failing me in the present…"

"Don"t worry, you"re only on your toes from this Kamay ng Lagim hunt." Eun-ha placed her hand on Hayden"s back. "Besides, n.o.body would make a move as you are surrounded by powerful wielders."

"Yeah, right…" Hayden muttered, his eyes narrowing into slits in befuddlement. "I know I sensed something… My gut has never failed me, and it never will…"

…..

RWL, Category – Internet: With the creation of the World Government and the Phantom Communications, or 7G, they launched the world"s largest search engine, World Search, indexing over two quadrillion websites. On top of this, there are various World Search varieties that the World Government itself implemented, such as the Knowledge Master where knowledge regarding everything in the world, including research papers, culture, history, and virtually anything can be seen, with the sole exclusions being the manufacturing of illegal drugs, weapons, and anything that is deemed illegal by the World Government. With this in mind, a powerful AI implemented by the World Government is also used so that the most accurate searches would show up instead of useless websites that aren"t even remotely the same as it.

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