The Human Federation hadn't yet contacted professor Melissa as they still hadn't verified the information.
So the red haired professor had no idea about the plot laid out by her student Rodrick.
She was simply annoyed about the fact that he hadn't yet arrived.
A few days ago he had asked to stay out of the reconnaissance stage of the mission as he was feeling unwell, informing her that he would join the team near the jungle when it was time to start their process of dealing with the Anomaly.
Now that ten minutes had passed since the meeting time, he still wasn't present, nor could anyone contact him.
Just ten more minutes, else he will be punished according to the rules.
Just as the tenth minute was about to pass by, everyone saw a figure approaching.
"Finally here huh?"
Professor Melissa spoke, her voice expressing disapproval. No matter what, Rodrick wouldn't be getting the complete rewards of the mission.
Rodrick's expression was unnatural and he kept trying to look at his surroundings as if something would pop up to attack him anytime now.
Professor Melissa furrowed her brows.
"What happened?"
A Mage was one of the most diverse paths as the only obstacle stopping them from making a spell model about literally anything was their knowledge regarding the subject.
If Rodrick had a very targeted spell model related to sensing, there was a possibility that he might be able to sense things she couldn't.
Rodrick turned to her and absentmindedly shook his head. "Nothing."
Furrowing her brows, she dropped the topic.
"Alright, everyone knows what to do, try not to make any mistakes or there's a possibility that you might die."
With that she took the lead and headed into the jungle.
Rodrick entered at the end of the group, still trying to scan his surroundings with a suspicious look on his face.
*****
The Dawn city was the main city of the Humanity as the headquarters of The Human Federation was built in the center of it, with numerous other structures covering it from all sides, forming a mini city of their own.
In the headquarters, in a well guarded room, a certain man stood nervously, gazing at the vast screen before him.
The reason why The Human Federation was serious about attempts of cross-checking information was because of an Anomaly which was contacted during the process.
Yes, it was a friendly Anomaly which had agreed to cooperate with humanity as long as a few of its conditions were accepted by humanity in return.
In the entire Federation, only a few individuals were qualified to face the Anomaly as they were the only ones who could handle its side effects.
Just the effects of touching or even witnessing it were so difficult to handle that an individual could only interact with it through a speaker which conveyed the Anomaly's thoughts and a screen which displayed numerous expressions.
It was how the Anomaly wanted to converse of course, as the Federation had recommended a remote controlled hologram for it.
As the man stood nervously, the screen finally lit up.
An extremely childish voice soon echoed in the room along with an expression forming on the screen.
"Why hast thou summon'd this great Deity of Cheese? -_- "
Visions of cheese filled his mind as various thoughts about cheese began sprouting up.
Through his Telepath realm, which was the second level of the Mentalist path, he withstood the visions while conveying the purpose of his presence.
"Another task? When shall thou cease working me unto mine end?"
The screen was occupied by a crying emoji expressed through symbols.
The man coughed lightly, choosing to ignore the whining as he began speaking.
He first talked about the information of professor Melissa's anomaly containment mission.
He then went on to narrate the information which had been sent by the Academy's student named Eryndor Noctis.
The longer he spent time in the presence of the Anomaly the more his thoughts geared towards cheese.
In fact, several times he replaced a few words with cheese, and other related words to it like, parmesan, cheddar, mozzarella and so on etc.
With clenched teeth, the man mobilized all his spiritual energy to activate several mental spells to ward off the effect.
When he was finally done, he asked while focusing on his mental techniques.
"Great Deity of Cheese, is the information cheese?"
His brain suddenly caught onto what he had said. Swiping sweat from his forehead, he repeated his question.
"Great Deity of Cheese, is the parmesan correct?"
He suddenly gripped his hair, draining all his energy to drive the mental spells to the maximum limit.
"Great Deity of Cheese, is the information correct?"
The man panted heavily, nervousness visible on his face. Having drained all his energy, he could feel the acceleration of the invasion of thoughts about cheese.
He just had to hold on for a few moments.
The expressions on the screen changed several times during the span of a few moments before it finally settled on >_< , along with which the Anomaly spoke through the speaker once again.
"The information hath truth."
The man bowed.
"Mozarella cheese."
What came out instead of thank you were simply the thoughts which had occupied his mind.
When he left the room, the agent waiting outside patiently asked.
"Was the information true, Sir Adam?"
"Cheese." The man replied with a straight face.
The agent had encountered the situation several times, so he wasn't surprised.
The entire reason he had never been dismissed from this position and was made to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement was because he had witnessed the high and mighty generals and officials of the Human Federation come out corrupted by thoughts of cheese.
Unfortunately only those who had reached high realms could deal with the effects.
Dispelling and cleansing corruption on a person of lower realm took far more resources and time than performing it on those with higher realms, hence only the few powerful individuals of the Human Federation were authorized to deal with the Anomaly.
The agent kept quiet, not willing to antagonize one of the strongest frontline commanders of The Human Federation.
He quietly took out a potion made by one of their alchemists following the Cultivator path and administered it to Sir Adams.
The man was adamant about not consuming anything which was not cheese but thankfully the corruption wasn't that deep.
This wasn't even the worst case the agent had handled, so it was quickly resolved.
Not willing to stay any longer, Sir Adams only informed the information was correct and left.
The agent nodded without displaying any emotions and passed on the result to the Anomaly Containment department.