As he was eating his second cone of churros, this one with a rich and abundant chocolate sauce on which the vendor didn’t scam him, Rune observed those around him, listening.

“Yeah, bro! I got true info! Tonight’s the debut of an idol group! It’s a first bro! Do you hear me?! A first!”

“Let’s go try the energy fishing stand! Go go go!” “Yes, honey…”

“No, I’m not obese! Just a little coated! Rude!”

“Ah ah ah!”

The cultural event that happened weekly was more of a festival than anything else, maybe for the culture department, culture wasn’t just arts, it was also what made a civilization prosperous and easy to live in, a subject on which everyone agreed.

‘Only missing my little brothers and sisters to become an accomplished big brother hehe.'

Rune had happy thoughts, everything was happiness.

One day allowed him to pretty much finish his fauna and flora report, but as he had so much time he didn’t send it and opted to keep it and read it again later, the primary advice he received was “check, check and recheck” after all.

The cultural event was not enormous, it was super-enormous, covering over 10 times what his sphere allowed him to see, and he wasn’t a super-human that could observe and take everything into account.

‘I love it, no need to test everything, oh dear! Oh, gorgeous! Churros!’

Once again possessed by the power of those churros, Rune couldn’t escape, “Give me another 2 cones, one chocolate, and one sugar!”

“Aye aye, sir!”

…

At a stand of skewered monster meat.

“Give me 5 skewers! Only one with extra spice! All the others with as little spice as you can!”

Rune never supported spicy food.

…

At a stand of free display and choose candies.

‘A little of this, a little of that, oh! A lot of that, and then…’

…

At a bakery and pastry stand.

“How did you even get strawberries? Are the bio institutes so strong that they remembered by heart their DNA and cloned them???”

“Don’t know, but now you have strawberry cake!”

“Gimme one whole strawberry cake, add 3 croissants and 3 chocolate bread please.”

…

This culinary re-discovery was so intense that Rune lost himself to his gluttony for the next 2 hours, only awakening when the central scene 10 kilometers away started to play a musical introduction.

It was the signal that tonight’s main show was starting soon, so he “walked” a little quicker than necessary to arrive there as soon as possible.

Of course, he didn’t leave anything behind.

*Ding* Spiritual Fundamental: Awareness Division reached Tier 3 Level 39

‘Yeah, yeah, if you want, enjoy notifying me of this as long as you can Ether law, at tier 4 it’s one passive level every month if I only go the passive way and at tier 5 it’s one every year.'

Complaining funnily to himself, Rune had to slow down drastically as he arrived in a very high traffic area.

Flying wasn’t prohibited, it was just very not recommended by signs and he would never be the first one breaking a strong recommendation, he wasn’t that sensitive to other people’s glances, but he wasn’t that comfortable ignoring them either.

He could already see the elevated stage in the distance starting to project light animations, in terms of quality it was DIY compared to what was available in their native dimension.

The fact that the stage was clear of anything supported the theory that the group performing tonight didn’t have instrumentalists, everything was pre-recorded.

‘Or maybe it’s a stage play to confuse and surprise, wouldn’t be the first time.'

Rune was here to enjoy himself, still, he respected basic civility and didn’t force the passage, being first wouldn’t change anything, and he had too much food he could lose if he did force his passage.

Eating a whole strawberry cake with an energy spoon didn’t awaken a sense of shame in him despite people giving weird glances at him, food he didn’t eat for years was more important than everything currently.

He didn’t have to worry about his weight anymore, nor the impact being overweight could have on his health, just a quick 5 minutes sprint without sustaining his body with energy was enough to burn all his accumulated fat.

Even the necessary one that kept him alive. But he couldn’t die from that so it wasn’t a problem.

In his initial plan, he wanted to overload his sense of hearing and sight, but after going on this short gastronomic journey, he changed that and put everything in his sense of taste, savoring every bit of flavor this street food could give him.

Though for him it was a 9-star food level.

Minutes passed and the light show with the accompanying opening music was becoming stronger, more dynamic, more flashy, more elaborate, and when smoke was released, it signaled that the concert was beginning very soon. It was imminent.

‘Oh, that’s right.'

Rune proceeded to completely retract, or cut off, his perception sphere.

He wanted a complete immersion, the backstage was protected against perception sphere, but the goal of the smoke was obviously to further some goals he very much wanted to see as a lambda human with lambda eyes.

Finishing his food quickly, he hurried to switch his awareness to overload his sense of sight, for the impressive effects, and sound, obviously for what was soon to come, the 2 most important ones.

Once he entered within 50 meters of the stage after navigating the dense crowd, he reached what he judged to be the best position.

5 minutes later, as the music and light show reached a climax, it was time for the opening of the concert.

It was the moment where you were taken from simple reality to be sent straight into a land where colored lights, flashes, and sound bent reality around you.

The music completely stopped, only leaving the lights, all of those then changed to a red color that gave the stage the same color, also coloring the smoke by the same occasion.

Music started to play again, a slow controlled tempo, like a heartbeat, and it accelerated, bringing in sync the heartbeat of all the receptive people in the crowd, Rune included.

Then came the soft melody with the lights all transitioning to nuances of blue, changing the mood in an instant.

Goosebumps spread on Rune, he was very receptive to what was happening.

The rhythm changed again, people around him started to make noise, clamoring for what was happening, the next moment the shadow of 4 people was transmitted through the smoke.

The music showed signs of getting carried away a little, accelerating at an odd tempo.

Before it happened.

“Hello everyone!” Four distinct voices said the same thing.

Rune’s mind became shocked as he unconsciously smiled. One of his short-term goals was completed, assisting to an Ether law-supported concert.

The crowd around clamored louder and louder, they felt the same thing Rune did.

Intent-infused voice, a voice able to break the language barrier.

The path of an energy singer, or idol in this case.

“I hope y'all have the greatest of time!” The girl on the right spoke again, alone.

“Not like you can not enjoy what we’re about to do!” The one next to her continued on the same path.

“But you can try!” The third girl did the same, with the same jovial intent in her voice.

“We’re not going to take it personally! Promise!” A little threatening this one, the smile was threatening too.

A short dialogue to make the expectation even greater.

The air became charged with a succession of 4 distinctly female voices, with the corresponding movement accompanying those in the smoke, reflected on their shadow.

From the weird music rhythm, something was becoming clearer by the second, the melody, and the smoke was then blown away in a second, unveiling 4 weirdly dressed girls, it was stage clothes, idol clothes.

The 4 separated and went as far from each other as possible, the melody was now completely clear, resetting the crowd of its expectation.

5 seconds later, after taking every step following the rhythm of the melody, they started to sing to accompany the melody that started only 5 seconds earlier.

“You know who it is!” The first layer of intent.

“Coming 'round again!” The second wave of intent.

“You want a dose of this, right now it's ADK uh!” Rune lost to the third.

He became just a fan among the crowd. He later learned that this song was named POP/STARS.

He added it to his favorite playlist.

(POP/STARS original by K/DA)

…

The next 2 hours passed just like a dream, this wasn’t the music he expected, Rune didn’t even know if it could even be compared to what he listened to during all his life.

He even created sound-less beautiful fireworks using 3 minutes' worth of energy to show his appreciation, the ending was even more intense than the start and his fanboy mind couldn’t stay passive at that.

‘And they were only tier 2…’

Like a bodybuilder who forged his body through sweat and effort, the current generation of bodybuilders under the Ether law was different, some could accomplish prowess beyond their strength as long as they had a strong enough will.

This phenomenon could sort of enter the domain of beyond mastery, but it was like the engineer path, only an imitation of the true thing.

Artists followed the same path, they couldn’t be defined by their tier but it could still assist a lot. Charging and unleashing more intent was reliant on the 4 energy stats, but as for the purity and clarity of the intent they used?

It only depended on the artist himself, and in this case, Rune had no comparison, just that his mind lost its ability to think.

Mr. Finley said it could be weaponized, but comparing the risks and benefits, one side completely annihilated the other. Now he could comprehend why the culture department took the budget from every other department after a synergistic, genius, passionate and hard-working group of tier 3 did an event.

“For sure I’m not leaving before listening to another!” Exclaiming to the sky, Rune felt no shame.

The emotional aftermath he received allowed him to be pumped up for hours, making him only pursue his every desire as long as it didn’t hinder someone.

‘And now! Back to food! I saw that stand selling a fries-kebab combo, but he had his hands full at that time! But now…’

Some famous street foods were missing, probably because they couldn’t be imitated or restored yet. Ingenuity, however, answered that empty category by filling it with hundreds of different monster meat made into sausages and new varieties of edible plants and fruits with strange tastes.

If he had to judge this specific cultural event, he would give it the note of “Would definitely come again/20”, a very high commendation from someone who already planned his next adventure destination.

The next 3 hours were the second part of Rune’s gastronomic journey, food as ether life forms could only accomplish 2 objectives, EP gains, and taste pleasure.

To eat cooked monster meat containing EP, you needed a specialized chef who could create an environment where the meat didn’t dissolve or use specialized and specific manipulations.

The easier way to consume monster meat was to empty it of its ether, making it inert so that it didn’t disintegrate anymore in a normal environment with a normal ether density, the gain of EP from eating ether life forms flesh was insignificant anyway.

Coming back to the apartment, Rune laid down at his usual spot with his usual deckchair, the high from the concert wasn’t gone, and sitting still like that made his body and mind feel like something was wrong.

The solution was obviously to listen to more music while finding the recently updated ones he just heard from the idol group named ADK and selecting those he favored to bring with him to his next adventure.

…

A day later.

Rune calmed his inner turmoil and proceeded to read his fauna and flora report again, revising and correcting things he saw. Only practise could help him become better at that so he read it 2 times before sending it to Olivia for her to transmit to wherever it needed to be.

He also used this opportunity to tell her that he planned to go back on a long term expedition as soon as he felt like it, and that wasn’t before he received his modified connected lenses allowing him to listen to music independently of being connected to the internet and witnessed some more cultural events.

With nothing else to do, he could only wait for 2 things, one, the next cultural event, two, his salary, if it could be called a salary.

He also had rewards from previous area reclamation missions that were deposited on his account unknowingly.

Once he connected to his bank account, he saw that 53 000 000 EP were already deposited, and after looking at the reason for the different bank transfers, he saw a first transfer with the reason “Mission: Area Reclamation, due 4 000 000 EP” and a second transfer “Mission: Area Reclamation, due 49 000 000 EP”.

‘I don’t know the criteria but maybe reaching the straight cliff and a new region with also a tier 3 zone is a big part of the payment? With the path creation in dangerous condition pay included?’

Wondering was useless and deep inside he didn’t care, compared to what he would soon earn, those few millions were peanuts.

And he was right.

5 days later, only one day before the upcoming cultural event, he received a notification that his bank account received a transfer of funds.

He received 2 separate transfers, one of 1 212 939 941 EP, and with it was a document detailing their provenance, it was the payment from all the monster cores he gathered.

‘7 956 cores, more than 90% belonging to tier 3 monsters, an overall average value of each core is 152 456 EP per core, ok, seems legit.’

And the second transfer of 236 550 200 EP, the one for the monster corpses, less valued but still compensated, with of course an accompanying document to detail their provenance.

‘5 694 corpses, all tier 3, an overall average value of each corpse is 41 542 EP per corpse, even the net don’t have an answer as to what all those bodies could be used for…’

The IGS, some random company, or a random research institute could probably find a use for what he couldn’t think about, that was their job and they loved surprising the world, a little bit of controversy never hurt.

‘So now I have…’

Going back to his general bank account, he saw that he had 1 502 490 136 EP available, compared to what he had on him it was more than two-third of his fortune.

‘And added to that.'

He opened his status.

Rune Tudor (Tier 3)

Class: Steady Pathfinder

Specialty: Temporal Dimensional Perception

EP: 394 489 523

Stats Total: 50 000

Health: 5 000

Health Regeneration: 5 000

Strength: 5 000

Cohesion: 5 000

Energy: 5 000

Energy Regeneration: 5 000

Purity: 5 000

Affinity: 5 000

Momentum: 5 000

Perception: 5 000

Where before he sometimes absorbed some cores as a reward for his effort, having a pocket dimension erased this need totally.

So he currently only had the basic billion EP overflow from back when he took the loan, minus the close to 600 million he sent back to his family on the other side, minus his various expenses, and some millions he got from some of his whims.

‘Largely enough.'

He concluded as much from when Aengus said “tens of millions”, and now that he had the desire to do it, the next step was contacting the customer service of “Digital Ventures”, the subsidiary from “General Electronics And Connected Devices” responsible for the current generation of connected lenses.

He got back to their official website and went to the special contact page, from which he selected one of the available customer services.

They didn’t have many different customer services yet, so choosing the general one was the right answer and couldn’t go wrong.

A little window with a text saying “Call In Progress…” appeared.

Rune wasn’t the type to complain, even if he was wronged by a product he purchased or not understanding how he got 6/20 at an exam he thought he did fine, he never said anything, he took it as life’s hardship.

‘No way it’s because I don’t want to talk to unknown people!’

The only time he even called for administrative matters was when he lost some documents he needed to apply to the exploration engineer curriculum he did.

5 seconds of waiting were all this call asked for before it was answered.

“Hello, you’re at the customer service of Digital Ventures, what do you need,” a jovial and seemingly experienced male voice was transmitted to Rune.

“Hello, I’m here because I want to have a custom pair of connected lenses made for me, someone told me it was possible as long as I had the EP for it so here I am,” Rune explained his reason concisely.

“Can you give me access to your personal information sir? I’m sending a request.”

On Rune's field of view, a window opened, it was the request for authorizing his personal information to be transmitted to Digital Ventures, he accepted.

“I just confirmed you’re completely capable of assuming the cost of a pair of custom connected lenses, can you describe what are your requirements for this customization?” Surprised by the smooth transition, Rune had to accept that nowadays even general customer service was able to decide something like that.

“I need a pair of connected lenses with an external memory able to store a large amount of music, I want to be able to listen to music even when I’m completely out of the internet grid.”

“We already had similar requests so it shouldn’t be hard to adapt it to your biological measurement following a simple telemetry, do you need anything else apart from this?”

“Hum… No, that’s all I need really,” It was too efficient for Rune, he was only a rural civilian and he liked it slow.

“In this case, the model you requested comes at a cost of 78 000 000 EP, there’s a guarantee of 1 month free of charge, no extension, and you can come to fetch it in 3 days or ask us to send it to someone who will safeguard it for you, is it fine for you?”

“Yup, send it to the Adventurer’s Society Headquarters, to someone named Olivia Sitri, she works for the expedition support department,” Rune communicated the info that allowed him to dodge all the responsibilities linked to getting what he asked.

“I’m sending the payment request immediately then,” the moment he said that a payment request of 78 000 000 EP from Digital Venture appeared in his view, and he accepted it.

“Thank you for using the customer service, I hope you’re rewarded for your hard work, have a good day!” His interlocutor remained professional and efficient all along, Rune really appreciated that.

“Thank you for helping me, have a good day too, goodbye!” He let some happiness transmit through, some of it was exaggerated fakeness but the base was happiness for efficiency.

“Goodbye, sir!”

The call was then cut, Rune could go for his next adventure in 3 days if he wanted, but leave the future for the future, because something Rune awaited for was coming.

‘Tomorrow's the day of the cultural event, more churros, monster skewers, and pastries for me…’

He was really expecting it.

‘So… Maybe this one and the next one before departing? Or one more? No Rune! Respect yourself! When you create your composite element you’ll have all the time in the world to enjoy those festivals! Ok! This one and the next, then I’m gone!’

But he still had to wait a day...