Vector Manipulation

C01 studied the boy before her and suddenly felt that people were right when they said ID photos made everyone look uglier.

Although Ron looked delicate in his ID photo, the dark circles under his eyes were deeply etched into his face. Combined with his dead-fish eyes, he looked utterly dispirited.

But now that she was seeing Ron in person, there was no trace of that despondency at all—

He was bright-eyed and full of energy, as though he had never been worn down by heavy schoolwork... Was he really a high school student about to take the College Entrance Exam?

She was somewhat puzzled, but she did not dwell on it. She simply waved the work ID on her chest before Ron and said in an official tone:

"According to the surveillance footage, we determined that you passed through Heavenly Listening 271st Block at 6:13 p.m... A Class B malicious superpowered incident occurred there, and it has been confirmed that an Ideal City resident died as a result.

"This murderer was exceptionally vicious. He used an unidentified superpower to kill that innocent resident, then ground the body to dust—

"According to our estimate, he is hiding nearby, somewhere within Heavenly Listening 271st Block."

As she spoke, she took out a recorder and pressed the switch.

"Regarding this case, we need to ask you for some information—

"Did you see anyone suspicious on your way home, or notice any unusual traces of abilities?"

Looking at the girl, who was merely asking routine questions, Ron immediately understood his current situation.

The old magician's death had been classified by the Patrol Bureau as a murder committed by a Superpowered.

And although he had not yet been exposed, the Patrol Bureau had already placed him under observation.

Whether he was considered a suspect or simply an ordinary member of the public who might possess clues, many of his future actions would likely fall under the Patrol Bureau's watch.

This was troublesome...

Ron's heart skipped a beat.

Compared to the Magician Association, which he still did not fully understand, the Patrol Bureau was indeed far more frightening.

After all... every Ideal City resident knew that the Patrol Bureau, under the Moen Municipal Government, was the city's largest violent organization.

Public security, peacekeeping, war... whenever the municipal government needed to resort to force, Patrol Bureau officers dressed in black would appear.

Although the Patrol Bureau lacked manpower in Districts C and D of Ideal City and had always dispatched only "Discipline Patrol" members made up of university students rather than its true core personnel, they were still an overwhelming force Ron could not defy.

After all, even students who could enter the Patrol Bureau's ranks—mere Discipline Patrol members—were absolutely elites among elites—

Only Superpowered above Lv.3 who had earned bachelor's degrees even had a chance of wearing a Patrol Bureau badge!

Not to mention the cutting-edge technical support available in Ideal City, including the legendary super Intelligent Brain, [Artemis], said to monitor the entire Cosmic City...

If they truly discovered that Ron had killed the old magician, what kind of fate would await him?

Would a group of Lv.3-and-above Superpowered beat him to death with righteous full-map vision, then drag him off to a laboratory to be sliced up for research? Or would he be exiled to the supposedly far northern Outer City to dig potatoes?

Ron shuddered, his mind racing.

Soon, before the patrol officer, the clear-eyed, innocent high school student wore the appropriately panicked expression.

"A murder case!

"—Right here in our neighborhood?!

"How could something like this happen..."

Ron looked as though he were still shaken. Only after C01 spent quite some time soothing him did he put on an expression of racking his brains to remember.

"Now that you mention it, something did seem a little off... but then again, maybe there was nothing unusual.

"When I came back today, it felt really quiet. I didn't see anyone, and I didn't notice any traces of superpowers. I just went to the mall, bought a few things, and came home..."

As he spoke, his tone grew increasingly flustered, and he began rambling.

"I'm done for. Why would something like this happen right before the College Entrance Exam... I don't have the money to move somewhere else!

"What if I run into him on the day of my exam..."

Ron was utterly panicked.

The College Entrance Exam...

C01 deeply understood and sympathized.

"Don't worry. We will bring the criminal to justice as soon as possible and never let him interfere with your daily life."

She comforted Ron, but as she continued speaking, she subconsciously sensed that something was off.

She could understand Ron very well—

After all, if she were an ordinary person with no ability to protect herself like Ron, and a deranged murderer had hidden near her home, she would be afraid too.

But... as an elite patrol officer, C01's sharp sixth sense kept telling her that something was strange.

As a Superpowered with a strong chance of competing for Authority, a warning from the extraordinary stirred within her heart...

It did not come from Ron. Rather, something strange that seemed capable of affecting her ability was hidden in the room behind him.

"Glug, glug..."

If she listened carefully, she could faintly hear a peculiar sound coming from inside the room.

Her gaze immediately sharpened. She scrutinized the boy before her and said:

"I have already recorded your witness statement... Next, would you be willing to cooperate with the investigation and let me take a look inside?"

Take a look inside?

Ron froze for a moment, then nodded.

In an instant, it was as if the world had lost a frame. C01 lightly snapped her fingers—

The girl flickered and appeared out of thin air inside the room, her gaze immediately falling upon the source of the sound—

Shattered internal organs, congealed blood, twisted plants, incomplete brains, all churning atop lava beneath scarlet moonlight and rising white mist...

Well, it turned out he was just cooking hotpot.

Her sharp gaze swept across the room, but she found Ron's small apartment spotlessly clean and neatly kept, without the slightest sign of anything wrong.

...It seemed she had gone too long without hotpot.

She would have Haidilao for a late-night snack tonight.

She turned off the recorder and added a new note to Ron's file among the records locked in by [Artemis]: "No witness information, suspected uninvolved party."

"Thank you for your cooperation. Although you were unable to provide any useful information, that may not necessarily be a bad thing...

"After all, such a vicious criminal would never spare passersby who might expose his identity. Naturally, you would not be an exception."

Seeing Ron turn around in stunned realization that she had entered his home, C01 rarely softened her voice as she reassured him:

"But you do not need to be afraid. The Patrol Bureau will ensure the safety of every Ideal City resident—

"A vicious maniac like that will never escape our grasp!"

She seemed as though she wanted to offer Ron a few more words of comfort, but the pager hanging from her collar began to beep.

She saw a message pop up from the command center on her brain-computer interface, telling her to return to the Patrol Bureau quickly for a meeting and prepare a wanted notice for the case's suspect to be announced tomorrow.

"It seems we can only talk this much today."

C01 took out her phone and gestured for Ron to scan the code.

"Add me as a friend... If you discover any clues related to this case later, or if you encounter danger from the suspect in this case, call me directly. I'll always be available."

"Ah, okay, okay..."

Ron could only force a smile and nod. After adding C01 as a friend, he watched numbly as she snapped her fingers, flickered, and vanished into thin air.

Only after a long while did he close the doors and windows and collapse onto his little sofa.

Thankfully, he had not given anything away. No one had noticed that he was brewing a Potion, much less known that he was the murderer.

But when Ron thought of C01's performance just now, he felt no relief at having muddled through. There was only bitterness he could not suppress at the corners of his mouth.

What exactly had that been...?

Spatial teleportation?

He decided to take back everything he had previously thought about the Discipline Patrol—who said Discipline Patrol agents could not be the Patrol Bureau's core personnel?

If Ability Models were compared to spiritual roots, then even the worst spatial Ability Model would count as a heavenly spiritual root. It was leagues beyond a miscellaneous spiritual root like Telekinesis!

A Superpowered capable of using spatial abilities could never be just a temporary Patrol Bureau worker...

If he were truly found out, did his feeble Telekinesis really stand a chance of resisting someone like her?

Even if Ron's ability level could rival hers, the power exhibited by an Ability Model like Telekinesis would be far weaker than spatial abilities...

Ron sighed. The excitement of awakening Telekinesis and becoming a Lv.1 Superpowered had completely shattered at that moment, turning into melancholy that settled in the depths of his heart.

The gulf-like disparity brought him back to his senses from the excitement of awakening his superpower, and he began seriously analyzing his own ability.

Then he discovered a huge problem—

Forget how he would defeat those Discipline Patrol agents if the Patrol Bureau uncovered him later.

Even for the College Entrance Exam half a month from now... his Telekinesis could not beat anyone!

In Ideal City, apart from the academic examinations, the College Entrance Exam also had an extremely important test—

Ability assessment.

The rarer and more powerful an Ability Model was, the higher its rating would be in the ability assessment.

The rating from the ability assessment was extremely important. The Three Great Academies at the pinnacle of Ideal City only admitted applicants with ability ratings of A or above.

Other universities also placed great importance on ability ratings. Raising it by even one grade would let someone surpass countless peers...

Unfortunately, Ron's Lv.1 Telekinesis was the worst kind of Ability Model.

Even if he relied on his own computing power to reach Lv.2 later, this ability would not make any waves in the exam. He would be nowhere near the Three Great Academies.

And if he failed to get into one of the Three Great Academies, the student loans from his school years alone would let him personally experience the enormous hand of the megacorporations.

It seemed... he was more or less hopeless when it came to superpowers.

Was he supposed to count on Telekinesis to fight the Patrol Bureau, or count on it to turn his life around during the College Entrance Exam?

Heh. He might as well count on the Potion Sequence, which was already outdated in this version...

At that thought, Ron opened the handbook and clicked Change Profession without hesitation—

[Detected legacy-version profession: "Potion Sequence [Death]" conflicts with the 4.0 major version. Continuing to load it will subject it to erosion by major-version settings. Continue loading this profession?]

Ignore the risk. Continue installation!

[Profession loaded: "Potion Sequence [Death]."]

[Loaded profession detected. Extracting settings.]

[Setting Extracted: Death's Blessing (Lv.1)

Walk through the lands of death's shadow; dive into the sea of the dead.

At the end where living beings wither away, the god without sorrow or joy has bestowed blessings upon you.

"God has already answered me... What is called life is merely a restless prelude before boundless silence."

—Lost Church, Third Cardinal Archbishop, Silent Vilaya.]

[This is a bound setting of "Profession: Potion Sequence [Death]." After loading this setting, you will gain affinity with the dead and acquire all extraordinary abilities of the Gravekeeper.]

So this was... magic?

As the new profession loaded, countless spells appeared in Ron's mind.

This extraordinary knowledge seemed to originate from the Potion he had consumed. Once he had completely digested the Gravekeeper's Potion, he immediately understood and mastered it.

Many of them looked quite familiar to Ron, because spells of the same names had been recorded in the old magician's ring.

For example, Necromantic Fire—

Ron snapped his fingers. Magic power flowed through his body, and a pale green flame easily ignited at his fingertips.

Bone-piercing cold radiated outward from the flame. It was far more powerful than the Magic he had cast with the emerald ring!

The old magician's Magic really had been a watered-down version...

Ron was thinking this when his vision suddenly blurred.

Icy magic power coursed through his entire body, making Ron feel colder and colder. For no reason, he felt as though his vitality were draining away.

Pollution and desire from deep within his blood, from the foundation of the extraordinary, seeped into his marrow along with the flow of magic power!

What's happening... Why do I suddenly want to hurt myself?

No, that's not right...

Is this... what they call "pollution"?

Ron vaguely remembered that—

When Kurt had begged for his forgiveness, he had said that he had suffered pollution from the [Truth] pathway.

Then was all this strange phenomenon now the pollution of the [Death] pathway?

The roar of a flowing river sounded beside his ears. In his daze, he could faintly hear cold whispers coming from within it...

Sounds ordinary people were powerless to hear fell clearly upon Ron's ears because of his computing power, which far surpassed that of ordinary people, and his more robust soul.

The next moment, the influence that had still been within tolerable limits began increasing without end!

He immediately tried to stop the spell he was casting, to stop the deathly magic power that was polluting him from flowing through his blood, only to find that he no longer had the strength to control it...

It felt as though a red-hot iron rod were stirring inside his brain. The world spun around him.

The flame at his fingertips also began to swell and dance restlessly, as though it intended to swallow Ron himself!

An inexplicable craving rose within his heart...

It was hunger, indifference, and a bloodthirsty desire!

If Ron looked into a mirror at that moment, he would discover that his eyes had gradually turned crimson and his face had become pale.

He was becoming less and less human.

Just like Kurt.

Watching himself constantly slide toward the abyss did not feel good.

No!

He had to uninstall this profession first!

Otherwise, before he could even gain anything from it, the profession itself would kill him...

Snap.

Ron braced himself against the tabletop, sweat pouring down his forehead as he endured the dizziness and opened his personal panel.

Change profession...

Wait!

Only then did he discover that [Potion Pathway [Death]] actually had another page he could open—

When he opened it, he saw a withered World Tree rotting away. From its roots to the branches at its crown, there were ten rings of light.

The rings above were exceptionally dim.

But the ring at the roots had already been filled by the mark of a savage, withered hand.

This... seemed to represent the Sequence 9 Gravekeeper...

At this moment, at the lower left of this mark, a tiny branching point of light was continuously flashing red!

Ron immediately clicked on it—

[Hidden Setting: Beyonder Loss of Control (Loss of Control 15%)]

[Listen, the blood is surging through your body, singing at the top of its lungs!]

[This divine blood, Beyonder blood, tainted blood... is always ready to break free of your control!]

"We are Beyonders, but we are also a group of pitiful wretches constantly fighting contamination and madness."]

[—Dunn, Saint and Commander of the Sin-Purging Knights, Order Cathedral.]

[This setting is bound to the Potion Pathway and concerns the essence of the Potion Pathway. It can strengthen your existing Beyonder abilities and add contamination to them.]

[However, whenever you use that ability, there is a certain chance that it will be afflicted with the "Loss of Control" state.]

[Under the Loss of Control state, your Beyonder ability will be twisted into a more powerful and difficult-to-control form.]

So that was because of this thing!

Was this the influence from the very essence of power that Beyonders in the Potion Era had to fight against at all times...?

But judging by Kurt's condition, ordinary Beyonders should not have been affected this severely.

After all, if they were battered by such surging desires and unable to control their restless magic, the Beyonders of the Potion Era would have played themselves to death long ago!

Could it have been because of the sound of that river and the whispers?

Feeling the drastic changes in his body, Ron suspected that if this continued, he would turn into a madman before half a day had passed...

As expected of an old relic from a bygone era. It packed a punch, but the side effects were huge too!

...Could it be removed?

The dizziness was growing stronger. Ron forced himself to stay alert and searched with a deep frown.

Wait, wasn't there a translucent minus sign beneath the [Beyonder Loss of Control] setting?

That minus sign practically blended into the air. Ron had nearly missed it.

Click.

["Setting: Beyonder Loss of Control" has been unloaded.]

The tiny point of light representing Beyonder Loss of Control detached from the withered-hand mark of [Gravekeeper] and existed on its own.

At once, Ron felt his mind clear, and the whispers no longer echoed in his ears...

Well done, Dimensional Update Manual!

You were right. Loss of control and contamination accompanied every Beyonder of the Potion Sequence, even touching upon the very essence of the Potion Sequence...

But!

I had the Dimensional Update Manual.

The version had changed, sir.

However, along with the unloading of [Beyonder Loss of Control]—

The Necromantic Fire at his fingertips also reined in its previous intensity, becoming as dim as the Magic released by the emerald ring, with no difference between them.

Clearly, in that mysterious age where people pursued divinity, power came at the price of danger.

But conversely—

Danger also meant power.

Thinking of this, Ron could not help but feel a headache coming on.

Although the problem of losing control had been solved, a new problem had emerged.

"Mystery" had already been heavily worn away in this version. If he also removed the [Beyonder Loss of Control] setting, not only could he use it only for a limited time because of that erosion, it would also become feeble and powerless without "loss of control."

No wonder the manual said that Potion Sequences were not suited to this major version...

But what about using superpowers?

His Ability Model: Psychokinesis could at least guarantee him a place in college, but...

That was all it did—get him into some college.

Whether he attended a vocational college or an ordinary second-tier university would not change his future in the slightest.

He would not get a second chance at the College Entrance Exam, an opportunity that could completely alter a person's fate.

There was not much time left before the College Entrance Exam. Since he had obtained the Dimensional Update Manual at such a perfect moment...

How could he stop here?

Ron gritted his teeth.

His brain raced, Lv.2 processing power running at full capacity.

Then he suddenly noticed a small blind spot.

The mainstream of the Potion version was uncontrollable danger. The power gained after drinking a Potion was no different, and a user's advancement depended entirely on who was less likely to lose control. Whoever was less likely to lose control could climb to a higher Sequence.

But now, in Ideal City, every person's Personal Reality was absolutely controllable through scientific development and guidance.

Yet accordingly, the upper and lower limits of each person's abilities were worlds apart.

Take Ron, for example. His [Psychokinesis] represented the lower limit. No matter how controllable it was, it had little value.

—But!

The setting of loss of control would twist a person's Beyonder abilities into a more powerful and difficult-to-control state.

Then...

What would happen if he combined [Beyonder Loss of Control] with [Psychokinesis]?

Using the previous dynasty's cannons to fire this era's gunpowder?

No sooner said than done. Ron immediately changed his class to [Superpowered] and loaded [Beyonder Loss of Control], which should not have existed in this era.

[Class changed: "Class: Superpowered"]

[Setting loaded: "Setting: Beyonder Loss of Control"]

The next second—

The familiar sensation of losing control surged over him.

His vision blurred once again, but he could no longer hear the sound of the river or the whispers.

At the same time, the psychokinesis that had once been entirely under his command began to stir erratically. The Ability Model in Ron's mind was wildly mutating, gradually changing from the simplest psychokinesis into an incomprehensibly complex form.

Such a complex Ability Model soon exceeded the limits of Ron's processing power. It had already slipped beyond his control and was no longer an Ability Model that a Superpowered of his level could command!

But as the Ability Model took shape, Ron could feel the invisible hand formed from psychokinesis, once entirely under his control, seemingly expanding, bursting...

Then completely dispersing... filling every direction!

It was like moving the apartment into outer space in an instant, away from Earth's gravity...

In an instant, everything floated.

This new Ability Model, unsupported by Ron's processing power and beyond what his Personal Reality could sustain, overwrote reality in an instant... erasing gravity throughout the entire room!

[Because you loaded the "Setting: Beyonder Loss of Control," your Beyonder ability has been twisted into a more powerful state.]

["Ability Model: Psychokinesis" has been updated—]

[You have obtained a new temporary setting: Ability Model: Vector Manipulation (Loss of Control).]