This was supposed to be a normal day for Hartan Cullen.
Just test a newly awakened brat, ascertain his Class and its awakened ability. And of course... use the Song of Fate to infer his drawback wherever it may have been hidden deep within his soul.
Maybe if he ended it quickly enough, he could go grab a bite of the delectable seafood cuisine at the café down the street.
So...
A trail of sweat slid down his face, his knees giving way and slamming to the ground.
In front of him was a tree so colossal that he felt like dust beneath its behemoth mass, utterly insignificant and less than an ant.
Hartan Cullen, who had seen his fair share of wonders and witnessed many, many sights, was filled with terror.
Not just at the Colossal Tree in front of him, but at the titanic sphere of darkness swirling in the lightless skies above like a devouring storm. Beside it was a massive red sun, shining with blinding radiance but not enough to chase away the surrounding darkness.
Hartan felt his limbs trembling, his teeth chattering as tiny tears stung his eyes.
"By what sorcery."
The place was endless, like an infinite expanse stretching from one horizon to the next. Some distance away were four towering obelisks, the stone monuments large enough to loom above him like mountains.
But Hartan was a veteran. Although this place was frightful and looked nothing like a Harmonic Chamber, he was a man seasoned by numerous expeditions into horrid Mirrorths, witnessing such terrifying sights among the forgotten civilization.
Although this entire place felt way more harrowing than any other experience in his life...
But so what!
A long golden Resonance String lit up in front of him as he slowly picked himself up onto his feet.
He was Hartan Cullen, the Warden of Fate Song. He was a fucking Symphonist– a C Ranker– compared to this newly awakened brat. He would uncover whatever secrets this place was trying to hide, just as he had done with countless others. He would bring to the surface the concealed Fate of this young man, as he had done in the past.
Nothing could hide from him. Nothing could hide from Fate!
And this situation...
He could feel his blood boiling with excitement. Just how much of a secret was on this damn lad.
He yelled, his arms spread wide. "Just what are you, kid! What the hell are you hiding!"
His eyes turned feral, his face twisting into a fierce expression.
"It doesn't matter anymore, so I can only apologize to you in advance for what I am about to do," he shouted, the golden string in front of him glowing brighter with increasing radiance, his lips curled into a grin.
But soon his smile began to falter, and that was because the Resonance String in front of him was still yet to ripple!
It had gone silent, not letting out a single sound no matter how much he willed it.
Hartan's face slowly twisted, a snarl escaping his lips. Then he felt something else, the ingrained terror he had been trying to suppress already returning with full force, nearly leaving him a shuddering mess.
While some unique Fatesingers like himself possessed the ability to enter the Harmonic Chamber of another individual, that didn't mean that they were free from harm even in this form.
This was still a fragment of his soul. Any damage to it was probably more than enough to turn him into an idiot.
So Hartan now wanted to leave here. Since he couldn't draw any conclusion, he had to report this anomaly. This Harmonic Chamber wasn't like any that had ever been recorded, even among the three apexes that had awakened with a Class Rank beyond the divine.
The young man was strange, and Hartan was simply not that good a judge of character to assume that the young man simply wouldn't be moved to cause him harm, or at least attempt to do so.
Without wasting time, he willed himself to leave...
But...
"Damn it!"
No matter how much he pushed, he could feel a tyrannical will tugging him back, keeping him in place.
His legs began to tremble, then his hands followed.
He screamed, ruffling his hair like he had gone mad. "Kid, let me out of here! Right now!"
When he spoke again, his shoulders were shaking.
"What do you want! Didn't you already realize that this process had to take place the moment you walked inside!"
Then his teeth chattered.
"I am sorry! I..."
He began to whimper, tears falling down his face as he fell to his knees.
Hartan Cullen might be many things, but he was no fearless person. At the depths of his being, he was a sniveling coward.
A female voice brushed against his ears.
"Do you understand it now?"
His eyes widened, as if in a daze.
"Understand... what?"
"Some doors aren't locked to keep you out. They are locked to keep the Absolute hidden."
The voice receded, as if the one that had spoken was moving far away.
He began to laugh. "In other words... I have seen God?"
He raised his head, looking at the fluttering, mesmerizing wings of a little being, watching the fairy settled on the shoulders of a young man sitting on a tall rock jutting out of the ground, his face swallowed by shadows.
Hartan gasped, feeling many of the memories in his mind already getting rewritten and altered. It was right then that he realized with frightening clarity that the moment he stepped inside this place, his life was no longer in his hands.
But his lips only curled, a few random thoughts lingering in his mind.
'How vexing, to have myself in the palm of a newly awakened. Scary, scary indeed...'
The familiar voice of the young man boomed from above him.
It was undeniably mocking.
"Hartan Cullen, I can only apologize to you in advance for what I am about to do."
Hartan slowly shut his eyes.
"Really? Karma sure is a bitch."
***
Moments later, Elias walked out of the towering Megastructure with Mr. Ferborn, the both of them walking through the lively streets.
Elias now had a hoverboard strapped to his back, a digital device attached right to his wrist.
He grinned, running his hands against its surface.
"You look very excited, don't you, Verdan?"
Mr. Ferborn stated matter-of-factly, looking at him with an amused expression.
Elias coughed, waving it off. "Don't mind me. This just takes some getting used to, I guess."
Mr. Ferborn shook his head, stopping right in front of a large park where a group of teenagers were playing a game of volleyball, large propellers strapped to their backs as they frequently shot into the air, chasing after the ball.
Mr. Ferborn sighed, his voice melancholic. "But to think you had an Epic Class! Who the hell was the idiot that tested your Resonance Strings as defective?"
He shook his head. "However, that begs the bigger question. Why the hell did you even keep silent the whole time? I may have been able to convince those old folks to give you better arrangements."
Elias shook his head. "I just don't want too much attention. Low key, low key, hehehe."
Elias still had no idea how Elyndra had done it, rewriting the memories of someone that powerful. And not just anyone at that, but a Fatesinger who should have had more resistance to that kind of attack.
He hadn't even realized that she was that dangerous until today, and now every memory where he had frequently antagonized her suddenly filled him with goosebumps.
From this point onwards, he was going to have to be on his best behavior in front of that tiny gremlin, at the very least until he got powerful enough to scold her without any fear.
Getting the Chordbearer into his Harmonic Chamber made the man incapable of fighting back or resisting, so Elyndra had been able to do what she wanted without attracting any attention.
Elias didn't even know that she was capable of something as ridiculous as rewriting memories, but thinking about it, Elyndra had been created by the Silent God. He had no idea what she could do, but it was bound to be frightening.
However, Elias was also filled with another kind of fear. What if she had tampered with his memories too—
He shook his head, clearing those thoughts away. No use thinking about that now.
But that revelation also raised a series of very interesting questions. Elias had always assumed she couldn't interfere directly in his affairs, but that assumption now seemed to be completely wrong.
Which meant she had either never bothered to help him before… or there were certain conditions that had to be met before she could intervene.
Whatever those conditions were, he was determined to uncover them.
But he was also pretty damn sure Elyndra would rather bite her tongue off than tell him. And that was assuming she didn't find a way to kill him first for even asking.
Getting her cooperation was about as likely as the sun deciding to rise in the west.
So, in the end, he could only chalk it up to dumb luck and call it a day.
After the process, he had been given a hoverboard, had his citizenship upgraded to Tier Three, in addition to the device now strapped to his wrist.
The device was imbued with the AI Nova, along with his personal information that only he could access.
Information that was all lies, but hey... no one cares about the details, right?
Name: Elias Verdan
Class: Copy Master
Class Rank: Epic
Description: You are able to briefly take after the attributes of any lower-ranked Class. To some extent, you can also do the same for Classes of the same Rank.
Drawback (Restricted Information): Using your abilities for extended periods of time increases your sexual drive.
Looking at this drawback again, Elias couldn't help but curse Elyndra for the thousandth time in his mind.
"Damn you, little gremlin!"