CHAPTER 99: PERFORMANCE MODE

’Performance mode?’ Zephyr thought with a tilt of his brow. He liked the sound of that.

He focused on the distant end of the room, preparing himself to toss a casual fire spell across when abruptly, his brain was fed with a stream of information and the display he was looking at changed.

"Whoa!" Zephyr exclaimed with a wide grin.

The displayed text now had a different form.

PERFORMANCE MODE

CURRENT STATUS

Rank: Tier 1

Physical Condition: Average

Mental Condition: Strained

PASSIVE SUPPORT

Minor Pain Suppression (Active)

Enhanced Metabolism (Active)

Nano-Resilience (Active. Monitoring for foreign agents)

Memory Enhancement (Active) -82%

PREEMPTIVE SPELL SUGGESTIONS

Fire Arrow – 1.03s – Recommended

Water Jet Cutter – 3.46s – Alternative if more power is required.

Unlike the regular display where Zephyr only had the option to look at the status screen to get information, this was different. Immediately he had the intention to attack, the ’Performance Mode’ kicked into life and fed the stats directly to his brain even without him looking at the screen. The information was there, present at the back of his mind like a constant thought, but it wasn’t intrusive, it didn’t distract him from doing anything he wanted during a fight. It was simply there. The copy of the information that was displayed within his view only served as something for him to glance at if he wanted whenever there was a short moment of reprieve during a fight.

’Sheesh, Aegis. We’ve got premptive spell predictions now?’

Yes, host. As your spell arsenal grows, the strengths of this predictions would start to show more evidently. Right now there are too few spells for you to understand the depth of the predictions...

That excited Zephyr. He didn’t mind a second opinion whenever he was in the middle of a fight. The spell he cooses in the middle of a fight might not necessarily be the best at that moment, so it ws. Ice to have something he could cross reference with whenever he was caught in those moments.

’Speaking about spells, Aegis. Are we going to document every single spell variation I create?’ Zephyr asked. That seemed way too much. The attack spells Zephyr had in his arsenal so far were just four, and going by the time he’d used to create them, he reckoned that within a week, that amount would have tripled at least.

They needed to address their method of sorting now, before his status page got cluttered.

Yes, host. Every new spell you create would indeed be documented with its casting time and added to the list. But only the ten frequently used or most cost efficient spells with good damage would be displayed on the full list at any given time.

That would address the potential issue of clutter.

’Alright. That seems sensible.’ Zephyr nodded before clapping. ’Then let’s add some new spells to the list,’ he stretched his body, starting up a water spell as an experiment. He was going to try freezing it this time...

.

.

An empty space in the air blurred and deformed rapidly before tearing and spewing out an individual. Sage Maximus.

He appeared right inside a large hall where a score of men and women, both old and young, sat in a wide round circle, deep in heated conversations. They all had one thing in common here— They were strong.

Sage Maximus’ entry drew most of their attention, but the usual awe and reverence that was attributed to him naturally by everyone was nowhere to be found on their faces.

"Maximus! Where is the boy?!" A scrawny old woman that was all skin and bones stood up with a murderous glare. "We know you have him with you. Where have you hid him?"

"Hid?" Sage Maximus snorted while walking to his designated seat relaxedly. "I have no need to hide the boy. He’s simply taking a break in my estate. Is there anything wrong with that?" Sage Maximus sat down comfortably, dusting off imaginary dust from his robes.

"Maximus. This is not the time for games." Another man warned. This one was younger. Way younger. He looked to be at most twenty six years of age.

Sage Maximus sneered, "No one is going to have the boy!" he said with a finality that shocked even the conservative members.

"Maximus, may I remind you that you are blood bound to the cause... You willingly took the oath and went through the ritual... So you are well aware that you can cease to exist within the blink of an eye if the steps you take lead to the detriment of this Sanctuary." Peytr, the Overseer, who was also seated at this meeting, spoke up softly, trying to caution the Sage. He seemed to be on Sage Maximus’ side, but from his tone and expression, he most likely felt the sage was going about helping Zephyr in the wrong way.

Sage Maximus gave Peytr a passing glance but still kept silent for a bit before continuing with a softer tone, "Elders. You’ve all lived for more than a century, some of you even more... You’ve seen all there has to be seen in this world. You’ve put all your sweat and blood into the cause we fight for." He stared at each of them carefully, "Why then, at the point where we have a piece that could be of immense help to our cause, do you fear?"

"Fear—?!"

"You dare, Maximus—!"

"You’ve gotten even bolder—!"

Grumbling voices of dissent filled the hall at Sage Maximus’ words.

An old man cleared his throat softly at the front of the room, making everyone keep quiet immediately.

"Maximus does not speak falsely," the old man said between breaths. He was so old that speaking itself felt like a task.

A few of the elders frowned, but didn’t speak a word.

"If this is not fear... what then is this?" The old man said then kept silent, staring into the distance blankly.

Someone eventually cleared their throat when the silence dragged on for too long, resuming their talks after the old man did not respond again.

"The old one is right..." The new speaker said with a slight frown. "While I wouldn’t go as far as to frame my words that harshly, I still believe there is truth to what he says. The idea of a Pathfinder scares most of us here. We all know how Pascal was treated when he forged his path to Tier 4 all on his own," he stared intently at everyone, especially the very vocal dissenters. "—but even then, there was nothing like this. We still never took things this far...Why?" He asked rhetorically, letting the question hang.

"...because we felt Pascal could be contained." He answered by himself. "Because he was only adding a few shaky steps to an already forged path. Not creating one on his own from scratch."

"This boy might also be simply doing the same, no?" Another speaker cut in. This time a middle aged woman. "Why are we so sure that he’s a Pathfinder."

Sage Maximus snorted. "Dana, you in particular should know better than that." He said, standing from his seat to emphasize his point. "You all felt the origin feedback just as clearly as I did when he comprehended his first word." He said firmly. " His first word that was comprehended within minutes. Less than eight minutes to be exact... A Grade 1 comprehension level—In fact... possibly above that!"

His last statement caused a loud murmur to erupt from all parties in the hall, supporters and opposers alike.

"Yes!" Sage Maximus said loudly over their chatter. "I’m comparing him to the same person you all are, but are scared to say." The sage yelled.

"... I’m comparing him to Ashworth himself!"