Reinforcement and awareness division.

One energy training, one spiritual training.

To maintain the right mindset and the right physical habits, Rune had decided that every day from the moment he finished his purge, he would dedicate an hour to active reinforcement, and one hour to active awareness division.

In the large park, in the middle of where the apartment residential park was located, he was finishing his reinforcement hour.

One moment, he was empty of any signs pointing towards reinforcement, and the next, as fast as he could support it, he pumped all his energy into his lower body.

Making 5 000 energy vibrates took him half a second, but it was the challenge, it wouldn’t be training if it was easy.

*Ding* Physical Fundamental: Reinforcement reached Tier 4 Level 6

“If only! It was that easy!”

Reinforcement combined instant but extreme physical intensity with the same level of close to instant and extremely intense energy manipulation.

Doing only one hour of it per day was enough for him to acclimate back to normality, before bouncing back to a level of intensity that should only be found fighting for his life in the wilderness.

…

For his awareness division training, his only goal was to strain his spirit just enough for it to need the next 23 hours to recuperate under a normal passive training regime.

And there was no notification at the end of it.

That was normal.

Spiritual training was always between the therapeutic, the boring, and the methodologic.

One time he felt his one hour of meditation passed quickly, the other he stopped it before the ten-minute mark because he wasn’t feeling right.

Of course, for those 2 hours of focused training, he passed them in his accelerated temporality, it didn’t boost his overall learning and practice speed that much, but it was the only time of the day he passed in this state.

Now that his spirit was strained, and he still felt a little numb after the intense reinforcement he did, he was ready for the next 22 hours of doing whatever he wanted.

Except that in 4 hours, when night had completely fallen and the capital transformed, he had a meeting to go to.

From confirming the meeting place with Aleda, informing Lenya about when he was coming, to realizing the next festival was tomorrow, he felt he had a full schedule.

And it was all of his own makings.

‘Once this meeting is over, I’ll probably start working on elemental manipulation. If I’m fast, maybe I can overtake Adreana and be the first to finish my build…’

Timing-wise, the information he had available spoke of him and Adreana soon completing their tier 4 build.

In a corner of his mind, however, he knew that he couldn’t be that much ahead, so he was expecting the Undecided to be gathered once again in the following year, ready for the next step of their plan.

‘If Adreana can purify a zone, and I fill it with my composite element, with Utopia and Gar managing a bit, we can find a place and make people pay for visiting it and training their perception.’

This idea was something he had not long ago.

He got it when he thought about the “Making Money” part of their plan. Only gathering them with monster cores was inefficient, so they needed to “sell” their abilities and services to other people, concluding that was easy back then.

But as tier 1 or tier 2, even as tier 3, they wouldn’t be able to take the necessary steps to make it happen as they wanted.

Meaning, gaining money and continuing advancing their masteries at a fast pace.

With his 2 daily training hours done, he used his energy to purify his body of anything, be it sweat, first, even dust.

Taking a shower or a bath had become unnecessary the moment everyone got access to energy.

If he wanted to swim in hot water, he could always go to newly-opened aquatic parks or gigantic baths, he even read about a gigantic hot spring that was being tamed, it was supposedly in the tier 2 mountainous zone.

‘Well, maybe in the future, or when I can’t advance, or when I'm blocked during my element creation…’

‘Or maybe, even…’

…

“So I wait at the entrance? And I accompany her? What the penguin did you prepare? Are you really betting everything on this amateur meeting?”

A human was discussing with someone through his connected lenses at the entrance to the highest building of the 85th street of the west district, south capital sector.

“A practice run? Wut.”

His interlocutor was probably saying disturbing things as it brought a confused expression on his face.

“Tell her it’s a practice run???”

After multiple such exchanges, the call was ended, and Rune only had to wait until Aleda arrived.

‘No, it would be too stupid, and we’ll talk again in the future, maybe I’ll expose my acting talent in the future but not today.’

Meeting alone in a bar not yet open for anyone else? With jazz and a warm fuzzy mood? In the middle of the night?

He could create interesting stories with just this bit of context, and the majority were related to someone who wasn’t him.

Was Rune ever able to watch a funny video before an exam? Like stress didn’t exist? To the surprise of no one, including himself, he was able to.

So he ignored the fact that he wouldn’t be able to control what was soon going to happen and started to read funny news websites.

An entire week immobilized during his purge allowed him to reintegrate the web community and, once again, become a shadow viewer and supporter who lurked around everything and made up more than 90% of all the views on videos.

The largely prolonged longevity of everyone didn’t make the net any less of a place of chaos and ingenuity, and considering it was possible to earn money, or EP, with all sorts of support, Rune couldn’t say no to anything that catches his eyes.

Not that he searched for the most hidden stuff either, he watched things according to his previous taste, from newly-released video games, to web series, to hastily finished movies…

And as he watched “Ether Panda 3”, a movie with beautiful animation and was easy-to-watch, he was interrupted by his sphere seeing the person he waited for appear.

With no dignity as a tier 4 to maintain, nor an ego to satisfy, not even his male pride, he waited until the scene was finished before pausing the video and smiling as he allowed his connected lenses to deactivate the eye-cinema mode.

“Good evening, Ms. Calico, can I call you Aleda?”

The person before him was a female rululu, long free light blue hair, light blue-white skin, light blue eyes, she appeared a lot more mature than other rululu he encountered before, but she seemed awkward and uncomfortable standing under his scrutiny

“Good evening to you too Mr. Tudor, as you allowed me to escape some of my responsibilities, just address me as you like, and I’ll reciprocate.”

The hardest hurdle passed, Rune relaxed a bit, his interlocutor too.

“Then, Aleda, please follow me, and let me tell you that not everything is under my control anymore.”

“Was there a problem?” A bit confused, she asked for more details.

“The place we’re going to is... A bar, but it didn’t open just yet. I just know someone there and when I visited they agreed to host my meeting with you, cause then you’ll be able to give your impression and everything.”

He obfuscated the advertisement part, he wasn’t that much of an honest idiot.

“Oh! Then they have drinks! And for them to have got their own place in such a prominent building!” Aleda filled the gap by herself, to Rune’s greatest enjoyment.

Taking the first step, he already knew the way so he didn’t have to look at direction panels.

“From what I learned, the 4 owners already knew each other before coming, and they owned a prosperous and highly rated bar, their main clientele was rich people in search of unique and expensive service, and though I’ll not say one of the reasons of their success, I think you’ll recognize it immediately, so I won’t say a thing.”

Acting as a tour guide, he told of everything he learned, once again mentioned it was meant to be a practice run, and that they would only officially open in at least another month if nothing changed.

He didn’t insist too much, it wasn’t his job to convert her to a regular of the Secluded Corner.

Once on the 42nd floor, he navigated the corridor and arrived at the door.

“The Secluded Corner?” Aleda read the name aloud, a pensive expression on her face, she also saw the “Not Yet Open” sign.

“It’ll be a first for me too, so let’s just enter and see what it’s like,” Rune looked more excited than his companion as he pushed open the door.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX91qsrVWt4 Bar ambiance please)

A slight soft ringing ensued, a sound probably linked to the opening of the door.

And the whole bar had changed from the last time he was here.

Maybe they rushed the general decoration and lighting because there were no more turned-off lights or misplaced tables and stools.

Unconsciously, his eyes couldn’t help but gravitate to 2 places, one where he wanted to look, a place that was made to be looked at, the other his brain couldn’t help but react to.

The whole majority of the bar was plunged under a purple atmosphere, coloring the wooden furniture in the same purple but darker, but it was only remarkable due to one place that was in complete contrast with this color.

A warm orange-lighted bar counter, with Lenya, the bartender, standing behind with her two arms crossed over it, looking at them with a smile.

As for the second place, it was a person.

Angeni Sonia.

And he couldn’t resist what his brain was telling him, he couldn’t bring himself to stop the rotation of his head, and as he let go, he remembered what he was told not even 2 days ago.

“When the bar officially opens and she puts on her evening dress, her flower, her pouting, and glacial expression and uses all her power, you’ll beg to get a single hello from her.”

Standing by the window bay, she was like a totally different person.

Her discolored hair took on shades of cyan and purple, with a dark purple rose adorning her hair.

He wasn’t a specialist in haircut, but describing it as a complex hair arrangement wouldn’t be wrong, with the rose-adorned side allowing her hair to fall and the rest elaborately tied together.

She didn’t seem to have any make-up on as she only closed her eyes and looked to the side.

Probably letting the duo admire her? He couldn’t see any other answer.

The evening dress he heard about was a dark purple one that stopped under her armpit and descended to mid-thigh, with the end of it being waves-patterned.

Maybe it was only his brain that got entranced, but he could swear he saw her glitterings a bit from her hair to her dress, like he was hypnotized.

‘I can’t look away.’

He was really trying, but he couldn’t, it was spiritually and biologically impossible.

It was like the first time, the more he looked, the more he realized how his definition of “beauty” evolved by the second.

Not being able to look away, he started to walk towards the bar, his companion didn’t follow him.

Only once he sat at the bar did he pull himself together and use his perception to see what changed.

At the entrance, there was a standing sign on which he read the rules of the bar.

“The Secluded Corner’s Rules: Talk over a drink, integrate with the mood, no pictures or videos unless explicitly permitted, respect everyone.”

And as he thought a bit about those rules, the dark purple rose Angeni was wearing suddenly flashed, and as a response, she snorted a bit.

“Well, not like I expected anything else to happen,” Lenya talked from behind the bar counter.

“?” Rune didn’t understand.

Nonetheless, even after seeing his confusion, she only winked at him without explaining.

“Sorry, I didn’t read the rule,” but it came from the person he expected the least.

Aleda was shamefully bowing her head and looking at the ground as she excused herself and walked to the bar.

“But I couldn’t resist… You know, who would expect something like that… It’s clearly an ambush and I’ve never been good with this sort of thing…”

Hearing her mumbling, he made the link with what she said before.

‘Rules? Pictures or videos?’

It was Rune’s conclusion, but he didn’t say anything, the rose was possibly something that blocked anyone trying to take a picture with it in it.

“What will it be? All the supplies aren’t here yet, so if there’s no bottle present in one of the shelf cubes, it means we haven’t received it yet,” Lenya started her service while showing the massive shelf that stood behind her, full of different bottles.

Once he recognized the method used, he changed his connected lenses mode to code finder, and now he could read everything without having to ask her anything.

Looking at the top of the top, he saw the different proposed energy tastes, with 8 boxes transmitting info on what energy tastes were available.

Then below it were different unique bases and also general ones, like water.

Even more below it, close to the bottom, were normal cocktail names, with a lot more holes than in the precedent section.

And at the ultimate bottom were additions, things that couldn’t be drunk by themselves and could only be added to add unique savors and properties.

He even saw a simple soda machine, which could add the necessary optimal gas mix to make your tongue hurt like hell.

“Well, maybe I never said it before, but being a member of the Undecided, I have a character trait that you’re personally attacking there…”

Too many choices, simply too many choices.

“You’re too much of a neophyte, humph! You’ll need your millennia lifespan to experience them all, so start now,” the bartender was not exactly pissed off, but more like patronizing.

So Rune could only pick at random, “Xeno sweet C base, energy taste 1. The names aren't there yet it seems...”

“Brand is trying to see which one would be right for us, there’s a lot of different ways to name things and take orders, and we need the perfect one, so until we have it, we’ll leave it like that.”

“Hum… Who is she? Why is she so beautiful? There’s a build for increasing one’s beauty?”

It was Lenya who answered Aleda’s query, “If you want an answer, ask her yourself, and you have to talk about anything not about drinks or bar over a drink, so pick one.”

“She can’t even get a name? Now it’s going to frustrate some people.”

As she took a glass, different bottles, and prepared his drink, she was willing to discuss this.

“You don’t have our experience, and if it’s this way, it’s just so much more powerful at sending the right message.”

“Well, I’m sure it is, if before she was in star-state, now she’s in supernovae-state, what the penguin was that, seriously…”

“When you’re open, I’ll bring all my friends here to ambush them with that…” He added at the end.

“Make sure they have money with them, make sure they’re tier 4, make sure they want to have a drink, and I’ll happily entertain them.”

The next two minutes were a time of silence.

The relaxing mood really changed how someone acted, the cocktail and energy taste-making process were also fascinating, so there was no awkwardness.

When Lenya finally served the two glasses, she left and joined Angeni near the window bay.

It was a meeting after all, and it was only a practice run.

“So… My 9 slots are all empty,” bringing the subject up, Rune wanted to make sure they were on the same page, “And my composite element request is still the same.”

It was Aleda that followed, “No offensive or defensive properties, monolith perception dampening, that’s the short summary of what you want, but if it was only that, then I’d say take whatever elements you want and fuse the properties you want…”

Once the subject changed, she became like another person.

“You need a synergy with your perception specialty, you need an element with extremely broad perception dampening properties, not strong at the beginning, you need to eliminate even the failsafe contained in it that will make it affect yourself too, you need to be able to bend the perception of higher tiered monster entities…”

On, and on, and on.

That’s what Rune wanted, an element, a specialization that he thought of back when he was only a tier 2 only planning for a behemoth path-like build.

“That was the expanded summary, and I didn’t put all the necessary thoughts into it to see all the associated problems that will come later.”

Taking another sip of his drink, one he mildly liked, he wouldn’t take it again in the future, he simply nodded and grunted, “That’s it.”

“And now for things that you didn’t know you needed, you need to have no replicate or duplicate elements, you maybe need a tier 2 for all the elements you want to use, you need to learn the elemental dissociation to correctly isolate the necessary properties, it’s approximately a bit below my own level…”

She had no choice but to start using vocabulary he never heard before.

‘Well, it’s a scientific field, what did I expect? Simple maths?’