Qin was still in the Squad room when Fen materialized from his Scenario, but he only gave the bloodied youth a glance before going back to whatever he was doing. Situations like this had happened so much by now that all of them were used to seeing Fen covered in blood, and after waving hello they simply ignored it. After all, they had all experienced Fen's regenerative abilities firsthand so they knew that as long as he appeared inside the Squad room after entering a Scenario then he wasn't in any danger.
Fen waved back before going back to his room and changing into another Opfer uniform. He already asked Raisen and the answer was no; there was no such thing as a self-repairing Opfer uniform. Only the Chosen were able to have access to such an item, but there was a solution to Fen's problem.
In the Shop there were some basic clothes for sale with exactly what he needed, but they were all either extremely ugly or had ridiculous side effects, like causing him to appear 12 cm (4 inches) shorter or making his skin turn blue. Fen was sure that it was the Foundation's idea of a practical joke; they didn't think that there'd be a candidate with such destructive hobbies and regenerative abilities. He was unique in that sense.
Fen could wear his Chosen uniform that he had 'borrowed' from the other side of the facility, but he didn't want to deal with the annoying questions that would pester him if he did.
'Where did you get it?' 'How'd you get across the facility?' 'Did you kill a Chosen?' Those questions weren't really annoying, but Fen was too tired to deal with them. It was much simpler to just bare with wearing a destructible black uniform. Besides, the color matched him better. The white and gold Chosen uniform could be seen from practically anywhere.
"You ready? Didn't take you long to finish the Scenario, huh. Guess I should've expected that much from you, talented bastard..." Raisen peered out from his desk inside the Training Hall. Fen had headed over after getting changed, and because he didn't know what he was supposed to bring, he simply prepared what he could before leaving.
"What's the pack for?" The old Knight gestured towards the pack on Fen's back filled with basic supplies, like food and water.
"For the Scenario space you send me to." Fen answered like it was self-explanatory, but the puzzled expression on the old man's face left him confused.
"What Scenario space?"
"The one you're going to send me to, saying that I'll need to bring you some bullshit mystical item in order to go through Stage Advancement? No? There's nothing like that? Whew, for once I'm glad to be wrong." Raisen was stunned speechless after hearing the explanation the youth gave him.
'Is that really how I seem to him, like a crazy old man? I never really cared about my image before, but wow. Maybe I should get a life coach or something to help me with stuff like this.' Raisen pondered inwardly.
"Ahem, there's nothing like that. All you need to do is listen to me and do what I say, and everything should progress smoothly. But first, I need to put up a barrier..." Raisen got up from his desk and walked to the center of the room.
Just like before, a pulse of Vital energy flowed out from his body and entered every inch of the room. Before Fen's Mana sense was too underdeveloped to observe what Raisen was actually doing with his energy, but not this time; now he could get a basic sense of what was happening.
The process of creating the barrier was done by combining the properties of both Vitality and Mana. Of course, combining the two very different types of energy was impossible, but it was possible to use one to support the other, which was exactly what Raisen was doing.
After his Vital energy flooded the room, he used his magical energy to immediately inscribe magical spellworks into his own Vitality, using the energy as a foundation for his power to take hold in. Fen could only describe it as using the Vital energy as the source of power, and the Mana as the motherboard meant to direct the power.
When it completed Fen felt like a pressure had suddenly been lifted from his shoulders, which Raisen noticed immediately from the look of surprise on his face.
"The Foundation already has trackers on you? Not a nice thing to discover right now, especially before your Stage Advancement." He frowned.
"Is that bad? Am I not allowed to go through a Stage Advancement or something?"
Raisen sighed before answering. "Well, it's definitely not a good thing. Although Opfer can go through Stage Advancement, to do so just a little over a month after entering the Program is unheard of even outside the Foundation or in other civilizations. Your talent is just as annoying as it is useful to you."
Fen shrugged after hearing Raisen's explanation.
"I can't help my own brilliance. At most, the people inside the VPF will only increase the number of eyes on me, but nothing more. Unless you or I speak about the real reason behind my progress, nobody should find about my racial talents, right?"
The old Knight sighed. "What you say is true, but... still, when you say that I just want to punch you in the face. Here, why don't you stand still for a few seconds, just let me relieve some of my stress that I've accumulated from the last few days."
"Like hell I'd let you do that."
"Damn, I was so close..."
Fen laughed a little after seeing the disappointed expression on Raisen's face. Their relationship had improved a lot over the past few weeks, and he was much more open around him now. He wasn't so closed off and they were even able to joke around with each other now. Though, Fen doubted that what Raisen said was a joke; he looked completely serious when he said it and the forlorn look in his eyes looked much too real to be an act.
[Hey, the only person who can abuse Fen is me. Back off old man!]
'Oh, it's Dey... Wait what the hell?! Dey!?'
Fen nearly jumped out of his skin after seeing Dey manifest his energy body form inside the Training Hall, thinking 'What the hell is that God doing?!' inside his mind. Raisen's reaction was even more intense than his own.
A disgusting amount of Vital energy exploded from his body and his body glowed with strength. Multiple different Vitality constructs formed in the air around him, instantly turning the empty Training Hall crowded as all the available space was used to store various weapons. Vital energy started swirling around the old Knight as green beams of the complex energy formed around him, looking like bombs just waiting to go off.
While Fen had never seen Raisen perform in combat, he was still surprised to see the dazzling armor that seemingly appeared from nowhere, instantly enclosing the Knight into a crimson red suit of intricately designed metal parts and pieces.
All of this happened in just a short period of time.
[Woah there. I'm not a bad guy, just here to watch over Fen as he breaks through the Second Stage of his development.] Dey raised his hands in a non-threatening manner, which didn't really do much to alleviate any of Raisen's concerns. The God's immaterial form gave away his true nature instantly, raising his danger level to the highest level in Raisen's mind as only individuals of the highest rank were capable of using energy to create doubles of themselves. [You can put down the weapons now. I really am not a threat, just ask Fen.]
"Fen?" Raisen asked without taking his eyes off of Deion, taking the extra time given to him to prepare his defenses and methods of attack to instantly attack the foreign God at any given moment.
The God had a sinking feeling in his chest as he practically watched the youth's thought process, going from startled to amused in an instant. If not for Dey's superior senses, he might have missed the minute changes in Fen's expression that clearly labeled his current emotions.
"Nah, no clue who he is. Fire away please, if you would be so kind." Fen's blood was roaring with joy as his eyes lit up from schadenfreude. While he didn't exactly know how powerful Raisen was, seeing the two people he hated the most in such close quarters made him realize an amazing opportunity; why not make them both fight? Either way, Fen couldn't possibly end up in a bad position.
[Why, you...] Dey could only growl and turn his eyes filled with hope towards Raisen as his mind spun to weave a way out of the predicament Fen placed him in. Though, this was partly his fault because of the many times he treated Fen like a punching bag. Even Raisen didn't do that, only going as far as to nearly driven Fen insane with rage from mockery.
And that was only the tip of the iceberg of the many times Dey pissed him off; there was the time he forgot to mention energy signatures before he entered the Scenario space, the time he took out his frustrations on Fen during his magical training, popping in at random times to poke fun at him and relieve even more stress, mocking his relationship with his girlfriend who existed in another dimension...
Deion remembered all these times.
'Damn, did I turn into a horrible person after so much time? I should get out of the Void more often...' Prolonged isolation in a secluded dimension with very little visitors deteriorated his social skills, but because he was a God Deion was blessed with very long memory; so even if he did lack social interaction for a few decades his actual personality wouldn't change too much. So, this lead to two possible answers as to why Dey treated him so badly.
One, he spent a lot more time than he thought inside the Void. This was unlikely however. There existed only one person who could exhibit top-tier combat power and abilities while inside this dimension, and that was Deion, the one and only Void God. It was impossible for him to lose track of time while he was inside his own realm... but that would mean that the second possibility was correct, which was impossible.
That meant that he was a terrible person all along. But that was just as unlikely as Dey losing time inside the Void! If anything, it was even more unlikely...
In the end, Dey's shameless personality restricted him from being able to recognize reality. In that way, both him and Raisen would get along very well, as long as the powerful Knight didn't choose to blow him away right now, that is.
"Wait, is this your friend?! Your little ally was a God?!" Raisen's voice cracked as his brain thought through Fen's interaction with this new character, as well as the overall confusion that flashed across the young Knight's face when this God appeared. Shock, he could understand, but there wasn't any fear on Fen's face.
Even now, his student only looked amused rather than scared. The brat even looked curious about the skills and abilities that he showed and the crimson armor wrapped around his body, like he totally forgot about the existence of this superpowered-God! The combination of both those observations made Raisen put two and two together to get four, and figure out the relationship between them.
"Tsk. He figured it out." Fen frowned. While he didn't actually want the two of them to fight, it would've been entertaining to watch. Besides, he never really got to see what they could do ability-wise. The only thing he'd seen was Raisen's superior physique and Dey's weird energy manipulation skills during his skirmish with the Death Primordial.
After hearing Fen confirm his own suspicions, Raisen's mouth hung wide open in shock. His focus was so affected that the Vital energy constructs he made fizzed out of existence as the Vitality sustaining them ran out.
[He's quite smart. I think Fen mentioned that your name was Raisen? Pleasure to finally meet you, I'm Deion.] Taking the dissolution of the Vital energy weapons as a sign of non-hostility, Dey hovered closer to Raisen and extended his hand out in greeting. The latter absentmindedly accepted the gesture, his pupils shaking as his mind registered what he had just learned. [Uh, hello? Anyone home?]
Dey waved his hand in front of his eyes and snapped him out of his daze, only for Raisen to jump several meters backwards. Now that the initial shock had worn off, a faint look of apprehension appeared on the Knight's face.
"F-Fen, could you tell me how you met this guy again?" Fen had never heard his instructor's voice shake before... That said, Fen didn't think it was from fear, it was more like shock.
He didn't see the point in skipping any details now that Deion had taken it upon himself to appear in front of Raisen, so he started recalling the events that he experienced ever since entering the Program and becoming a Guardian candidate, making sure to explain every detail.
He started the story back when he first entered the Void, and how his dreams kept forcing him into an alternate reality, although he didn't realize it at the time. Fen had mistakenly believed them to be simple nightmares, but thankfully, before the Void Spawn could latch onto him Dey had snatched him away and pulled him into his own reality.
It was then that Dey revealed himself to be another Vitul, one that had survived the final collapse of their civilization caused by the forces of Heaven. Fen was obviously shocked when he found out, but that was the main reason why he put his trust in the God. Not only did he save his life from Void Spawn, but they were also the same species.
Hearing his explanation, Raisen slightly nodded his head and sighed.
"It seems that I underestimated the ability of Vituls. To even become a God... You have my respect, Deion." Raisen shook Dey's extended hand in earnest this time. "So, you're here to watch him break through to Stage two? By all means, while this room is sealed by my power you're free to do what you want."
A smile appeared on the materialized body of Void energy, and Dey floated over to a wall. He gave Fen a thumbs up after settling into a comfortable seating position. Raisen sighed, and shook his head at the peculiar sight of seeing a God sitting down in his Training Hall.
"...Anyways. I can make the seal last for a while, so I'll just start explaining the concept behind Stage Advancement so you know what's going to happen." Fen nodded and started listening patiently. "So, right now you're aware of three Classes; Knights, Mages, and Warriors. There's-"
"Are there any other classes?" Fen interrupted.
'Patiently my ass, I want answers to all my questions first.' Ever since encountering that strange mental energy that came from the Mutated Lesser Dragon, Fen was filled with burning curiosity about it's origins. He was certain that it wasn't from a magic spellwork because it felt different from Mana when comparing the two with his Mana sense, but it also wasn't like Vitality either; it was something else entirely.
"Dammit, can't you ever let me finish a sentence when I'm trying to explain something?!"
Dey giggled to the side while watching a fellow comrade go through the same thing he did while explaining anything to the annoying youth.