Tepo was still bewildered. The Core of Time stuck to its own will. Why didn't it take the same path as every other core? Was it because it wasn't originally 'his' to begin with?
Anyways, the young man let the golden circle proceed. Inwardly, he felt a lot of awe for the entity which carried him through time and gave him a new life. If he forcefully disrupted the core, it would feel as if an apprentice told the master that their painting was too colorful and didn't follow the norm.
It was uncertain if the Core of Time knew Tepmodus' thoughts. It spread the Force of Time with one violent push. Abruptly the force filled the surroundings. Something within Tepo's chest reacted.
The fresh warrior had a weird itchy feeling. From one moment to another, two faint, golden outlines appeared, circling his core with some distance between them. Together they formed a ring, or circle. It was separated into four big segments which could hold the runes necessary for spells.
But the ring stayed illusionary. Only if three rings were formed would they stabilize themselves and the warrior would pass the first big level, becoming a three-circled aspirant. In the illusionary state the ring wasn't yet sturdy enough to carry spells.
Nevertheless, Tepo was delighted. Finally, he had made some advancement. Immediately a feedback spread from his chest. A pleasant feeling traveled through his entire body. He had become stronger again! Although the increase wasn't much before the third circle, but Tepo was glad for every little bit.
Excitedly, the young man jumped up. He moved his body. His steps were light and his arms powerful. He already felt a lot stronger than in his past life. He tried to move his force.
His core reacted smoothly. A tiny bit of the Force of Time moved into the storage bag, building a connection. For the first time Tepo took out his knife which Anvil had stored for him. It appeared in his hand out of nowhere.
Excited, the young man slashed through the air, testing his newfound strength.
But a few seconds later he frowned. Tepo only now realized something odd. His core had not built any bridges! Normally those were necessary to let the force reach his spells and activate them. How was he supposed to do this without bridges?
Tepo sighed in annoyance.
Why is my core causing so much trouble…?
Whatever. Let's figure it out in the future. As long as I can follow my goal, the Core of Time can have its will.
With such pragmatic thoughts Line felt as if a lot of pressure was removed from his shoulders. Other warriors had to carefully nurture their rings, but Tepo would just feed his core and let it do all the work.
From this perspective, wasn't Tepo way more comfortable than others?
In a good mood the young man took a short break from training. He exited the training room, wanting to reward himself with a quick snack.
As soon as he closed the door behind him, however, a languid voice greeted him:
"Judging from your face you made some progress?"
Tepo looked up, seeing Quill sitting at the kitchen table with a book before him.
Nodding, Line gladly shared the news:
"I have reached the one-circled state!"
"Within one week? Not bad! Your force definitely has a high synergy."
"Is one week a good speed?", asked Line curiously.
"Sure. They average should be somewhere around four weeks."
Tepo mulled over it, but he felt that this wasn't surprising. Somehow, he always had an immaculate sense of time. Hi synergy with this abstract concept should be high. He felt that his speed was only natural.
Quill rose his brow slightly. His ordinary face wasn't hidden behind his mask. He looked at Tepo's confident face but didn't deign to comment. Advancement speed really was one of the most irrelevant factors for a warrior in his opinion.
"Did you come to eat something? Are you taking a break?", changed Quill the topic.
"Yeah. Just a small snack."
"Mhm. If you have time, I can also show you the fourth floor finally. It's about time."
Tepo mulled over it for a second. But he also realized that he couldn't just train all the time. He quickly agreed to Quill's offer.
A short while later the two men were going up the stairs. Tepo felt his curiosity rekindled. So far, he wasn't able to get a clear look of the fourth floor.
Once they had arrived, Quill led Tepo to the right. There, next to the elevator was a wooden counter which was seemingly never manned. To the left of it was another wall with a door followed by another unmanned counter and the second elevator.
With this setup the floor appeared strangely empty. If Quill and Anvil hadn't already told Tepo that this was the intelligence & mission area, he would've thought this floor was unused.
Quill stepped forward, rapping the right counter with his knuckles. A moment later a door opened. A figure walked out of the adjacent room.
They wore the black robe typical for the organization, but with a hood, hiding their hair. A black mask with the Web's symbol in red covered their face. Not a single clue about their identity could be gleamed.
The hooded person nodded their head in greeting.
"Quill. Line."
"Web.", answered the senior member.
"Why don't you do the introduction?"
A second passed. The hooded figure stayed silent, maybe unwilling? In the end they faced Line, talking reluctantly:
"We are the Web. We span many worlds, gathering information and helping our members. If you need any intelligence, you can ask us. For a price of course."
Line felt a bit unsettled. The way Web spoke was plain, without emotion, their voice between male and female. It appeared they only saw themselves as a part of the organization, completely giving up their own identity. They formed the foundation of the Web.
Nevertheless, Line already realized how important they were. He would certainly use their service often.
"So, what would it cost if I wanted to know which important person visited Rocky Cloud City about a week ago?"
This question was only to gauge the price. Line wanted to use it for future reference. Web also understood. They stayed silent for a moment before answering:
"Your question is not very precise, but we know what you mean. The answer would cost you twenty contribution points."
Mulling over it for a second, Line quickly understood the concept of contribution points. It was rather apparent from its name. Still, Quill added a bit more information:
"Contribution points can be earned by doing missions, submitting knowledge or materials, or becoming stronger. Twenty points is a pretty low price. As a rule of thumb, you can say the harder certain information is to gather, the higher the price."
Line simply nodded. This rule sounded fair, although the new recruit couldn't yet fathom how extensive the Web's intelligence was.
"I guess the intelligence area isn't hard to understand.", concluded Quill nonchalantly. "But we still haven't shown you its most impressive feat yet."
While Line watched curiously, Quill nodded at Web. The hooded figure entered the other room again, before coming back with a pile of recording metals in hand.
"Let's look at Rocky Cloud City and its surroundings."
The hooded figure only nodded, shifted through the pile of devices, before pulling one out. They tapped on it and held it up. Suddenly a three-dimensional map of Rocky Cloud City and its surroundings was projected in the air.
By now, Line gradually got used to the magical objects in this world. He wasn't surprised by every little thing anymore. The young man began to study the map in curiosity.
Since the area was big and the map didn't take much space, everything depicted was rather small. It took Line a while until he spotted some peculiarities. Tiny dots in various colors were put on certain places on the map.
Line curiously asked Quill:
"This map is impressive! But what are these dots?"
"Dungeons of course.", answered Quill nonchalantly.
Line hadn't expected this. He looked at the many dots in surprise as Quill added some explanation.
"Those are the dungeons we know of. Most of them are of course permanent, used like mines by their owners. The rest are mostly rather dangerous, with high-leveled threats. Therefore no one managed to solve them so far."
Searching for a bit, Line found Floating Rain City at the edge of the map. Immediately a tingle ran down his spine. Why where there so many dungeons close to the city? He pointed, asking with a dry voice:
"And what is up with this place?"
Quill followed Line's finger.
"This is the Treasure Storm Zone where you stayed for a day. Many warriors will go there to find dungeon cores. But in order to avoid robberies they sometimes directly activate them. If they don't come back the dungeon will stay and will eventually be ranked as dangerous by us."
Line gulped. It felt strange knowing that so many high-leveled dungeons were close to his hometown. Maybe it was worth it taking a few of them down in the future.