"Due to the… special nature of your Manifestation, you should receive several more benefits per Level, with the trade-off being that you take much longer to advance in Level than others. Records show that someone at the peak of the Exemplar Level typically gains the Manifestation-tinted Divine Energy reserved for Avatars," Margaret explained.
"You seem to be only a few steps away from this peak, so for the foreseeable future we will gladly help you advance your power."
"Isn't that more detrimental than helpful, boss?" Hank asked. "Receiving advice on one's Manifestation, even from someone with the same type, almost always stunts an Embodiment's growth."
"Which is why we will be helping him in a different way," Margaret replied. This world has many sources of negative thoughts, feelings, actions, and many more. I expect showing mister Fate here such sights will help him greatly.
"Enlightenment is rarely easy, so this could take several months, but it is the only path forward that I see. Robna, this will be your job. The rest of us must stay here and keep the base secure."
Robna nodded, grinning. "A few months, just me and him, alone?" She eyed Fate like a piece of candy. "We'll see how you feel after that."
'Wonder why she's so caught up on that. It's not like I hate her, I just don't really feel anything toward her.' Fate was once more confused by Robna's actions.
"Does this sound appropriate, Fate?" asked Margaret.
"Not like I have a choice. Gregovich has to die, one way or another. If this will help, then I'll do it."
"Then you and Robna will leave tomorrow morning. You're welcome to stay here for the night," Margaret offered.
"No thanks. Meet me at the city gate tomorrow morning," Fate told Robna.
Their business concluded for now, Fate left and headed for his ship.
The next morning, Fate found himself leaning against the wall next to the city's large metal gate. He pushed himself off when he saw Robna approaching.
Robna was wearing brown leather pants and a leather jerkin, with black pants over the leather ones and a black long-sleeved shirt under the jerkin. Her long blonde hair was tied in a ponytail, and her hands were gripping the straps of a large backpack resting on her back. She visibly hunched under the weight. When she saw Fate, she smiled and waved, speeding up.
When they were only a few feet apart, Fate eyed the backpack. "That's a lot of stuff."
"Well, of course. We're gonna be on the road together for weeks, maybe months. Did you not pack camping supplies?"
Fate chuckled, grabbing the pack with both hands, prompting Robna to let go of the straps. He slid the pack off of her and slipped it onto his back, trudging through the gate toward his ship. "C'mon, I'll show you something."
A few minutes of hiking later, they made it to his ship, sequestered in a small patch of trees. Robna stared at it for a minute, then turned to Fate. "You must be new here. We can't use ships on this planet; the people here don't know what they are and would freak out if they saw them. They'd probably deem it a metal dragon or something and send an Avatar to take it down."
Fate returned her stare, his eyes twinkling with amusement. He hit a button on the ship and a ramp extended, the hatch sliding up and out of sight.
"Stay here," he said, not waiting for her reply. He went up the ramp and placed Robna's backpack on the couch next to the threshold, then went to the cockpit. Turning the power on, he flicked a few switches and activated the cloak. The loud gasp outside told him it had the desired effect.
He went back to the back of the ship, leaning against the hatch's frame and smiling at Robna's stupefied expression. From her angle, it no doubt looked like he was leaning on air, standing in a portal to another dimension floating five feet above the ground. "What was that about being seen?" he asked teasingly.
"Th-this shouldn't be possible," Robna stuttered. "I didn't feel even a drop of Divine Energy. How does it bend light?"
"Embodiments have Manifestations as a shortcut, but where I come from, everything achieved was a result of science. Almost everything I've seen in the multiverse via Manifestations was accomplished by mortals with nothing except time and intelligence. The only thing that shocked me was the teleportation pads, but that was something my home's government expected to figure out within the next hundred years or so."
"That sounds like a wonderful place," Robna said.
"It is. C'mon, let's go on this spiritual journey thing."
It turned out that learning about Negativity was a lot bleaker than even his worst expectations. Having decided to tell Robna the main function of his Null ability, he had found her sighing in relief afterward and exclaiming that she was lucky.
Asking why, he learned that it was for two reasons. One, his ability would require him to see the absolute darkest moments of this world, the moments no sane person would ever let see the light of day. Two, she wouldn't have to go with him on his 'enlightenment field trips,' as she called them, but merely needed to point him in the direction he needed to go.
He had doubts on whether it would really be so bad, but the sheer and utter happiness on her face, mixed with what was definitely a gaze of pity, made even him somewhat apprehensive. Robna was the type of person to wear her heart on her sleeve, so the magnitude of emotion she displayed told him that this would be highly unpleasant.
And so it was that he found himself in a cellar underneath a popular bar in a city Robna called 'Tegrathn,' unseen and unheard as the four people in the room committed the vilest form of torture he had ever seen on a girl that couldn't be more than nineteen.