Chapter 126: Turtle Shell - I

Given the current situation, I first checked to see how much it would cost me to get an answer. It was too big a risk to drain my mana when battle could rush to me from beyond the range of my senses.

After all, since I could use Spatial Magic to intrude at random, others could do the same thing. Though I doubted they could appear right in front of my face...

It would still be a problem if a bunch of A-Ranks surrounded me.

Thus.

[Absolute Awareness].

I needed 1600 points of mana to get an answer.

’...’ I paused before thinking, ’Good enough.’

[Absolute Awareness] seeped into the gleaming blue screens of the Gaea System, searching for the relevant piece of knowledge and draining about a hundred points of mana every second.

I sifted through various <Trait> mechanics, energy cycling algorithms, and quantitative power calculation methods.

Exactly sixteen seconds later, I retrieved all the knowledge I needed to construct the criterion that the Gaea System uses to determine whether one would successfully awaken a <Trait> or not.

And when I did...

My eye twitched.

<Archetype Synchronization>.

A mode of assessing one’s ’closeness’ to the stereotype that the Gaea System perceives. The closer or the further one is from that stereotype, the higher the likelihood that one will awaken a <Trait> based on that stereotype.

For example:

Suppose my perceived stereotype was that of a Mana Mage. The Gaea System would assess how closely I’d been acting out the characteristics of a Mana Mage. If I were 100% exactly how one would expect a Mana Mage to act, I would have a 100% <Trait> awakening rate—which would always be a <Trait> that contributes to the concept of being a Mana Mage.

On the other hand, if I acted in the opposite extreme, becoming a purely physical warrior, then the Gaea System would also reward that based on how extreme my deviation had been. 100% deviation also awarded 100% awakening rates. Of course, the <Traits> awakened in this case would also be antithetical.

In essence, the higher the synchronicity magnitude, the greater the likelihood of success. Whether the synchronicity is 1 or -1, it didn’t matter. Only those at 0 would suffer from an inability to acquire any new <Traits>.

The lukewarm gained nothing, while those who were extremely hot or extremely cold would be rewarded with everything.

Furthermore, one’s <Archetype Synchronization> rate resets after every awakening. None of the Hunters on Earth knew about it, but it was fine since they were slowly gaining Levels, with enough time to synchronize with their archetype before each awakening.

Finally, it seemed like the Gaea System would award a Hunter with a new archetype after every 1000 Levels gained.

So, for mine...

[Absolute Awareness].

I checked and, apparently, my <Archetype Synchronization> level was a terrifying -0.9953276... or around 99.5% in the opposite direction!

What the hell?

[Absolute Awareness] retrieved one last fact for me:

My archetype was ’Observer.’

"Ah..."

It made sense why it was such a close antithetical synchronization. I was in no way acting like an observer. Did the Gaea System assign me this archetype because of [Absolute Awareness]?

"..."

It seems like it did do that because of my Gift.

That kills all manners of surprise, but it also means that I had a really good chance of getting all 13 <Traits> promised to me since I knew exactly what I had to do to get such a value.

But that also meant that I had to bide my time with my awakenings.

I could not rush all 13 awakenings at once.

"But that’s good enough, no?"

Taking a deep breath, I tapped on the Gaea System’s gleaming blue screens.

[Would you like to attempt a <Trait> awakening? Y/N]

I tapped [Y].

Then, the world blinked out of existence for a horrifying split second. It felt as if my surroundings were drenched in the darkest of blacks, deeper than the deepest abyss.

My senses broke in that frightening moment of nothingness, perceiving a paradox of fragments.

Ultimate strength, ultimate knowing.

Omnipotence and... omniscience?

How... interesting.

[Congratulations, Hunter Aventine Tidea! You have succeeded in awakening the Trait, Fine Motor Control (E-Rank).]

"..."

Well, it was the <Trait> supposedly gained at Level 10. Feeling a bit underwhelmed, I checked my <Archetype Synchronization> rate, and indeed, it had reverted to 0.

My archetype was still Observer.

’I guess I’ll wait until it’s a completely certain ordeal before undergoing an awakening attempt again...’

With that said, I had regenerated enough mana to act. It was time to turn this room of ours into a turtle shell we can hide in while I waited for my companions to recover.

"...Let’s get to work."

** *

Aventine’s situation at the moment was rather awkward.

<Fate> had lured him towards the territory of a group of Beast Humans to cause a disturbance. Upon using another [Absolute Awareness: Divination] to further understand what his purpose here was...

He couldn’t help but sigh at the sheer magnitude of schemes his mere presence here had caused.

The butterfly affected even a few people from another city. When the news that the organization known as the 16 Claws had been attacked by an unknown individual... nearby organizations coveting their status turned an intrigued eye.

Furthermore, Aventine realized that his stealing of the Red Eye of Bhulmasine restricted the 16 Claws from nurturing an S-Rank Beast Human.

It seemed like <Fate> did not want this group to have strength beyond that of A-Rank.

’How tragic,’ Aventine lamented for their sake.

The world was going against their rise to power. On the other hand, others were being bribed to follow the same whims that stunted their pursuits.

After Aventine struck, a bunch of other small events seemed to have been manipulated by <Fate>.

He counted:

17 Beast Humans betrayed the 16 Claws.

3 murders occurred in the process of betrayal.

42 new members were enlisted in the 16 Claws due to the situation.

6 spies infiltrated the organization as a result.

Some people’s careers ended, while others just began. A random, seemingly unrelated family was driven into desperation while another found themselves striking it rich.

Because Aventine struck at this specific time, a young lad’s birthday was disrupted as his father was killed by a passing madman. Now, that young lad was set on a path of vengeance.

...And many, many more.

It was terrifying how many things were happening to his surroundings, all because of one <Warp>.

Not to mention the effects his absence had caused in the Soulless City of Grakkis.

Hau’goth had gone to look for him at this time—hoping to ask for help with a certain something.

However, because Aventine had long departed and moved deeper into the Walvaskaz Empire, the scholarly Minotaur chef could not find him.

Now, because of that, a new criminal organization had formed in the Soulless City...

’Insane...’

Despite having <Perfect Estimate>, <Parallel Thought>, and 985 points in his Mind attribute... The sheer information overload was still as unimaginable as it had been before.

All Aventine could do now was look deeper into certain things and cover a broader range.

It was like perceiving 100 events after only being able to isolate three.

However, there were still a few billion events to go before he could process all the information that [Absolute Awareness] could shove into his brain every second.

Of course, Aventine did not forget the main reason he used his Divination ability.

’This should be a way to expose me even further to its schemes.’

Without <Absolute Prophecy>, he couldn’t be sure.

But with a little thought and a pinch of critical thinking, he identified three of the most likely scenarios that would develop from hereon out.

First, there were the SSS-Rank bigshots and their attention. With Aventine having escaped from them, a lot of people were surely going to investigate him and his abilities.

The day that they figured out his limits would be the day he died.

Second, there were surely a few opportunistic bastards who would strike first and question later. These were definitely the most troublesome, as they were going to be hunting him down at the first sign of his existence. If he moved without the <Power of Death> at all times, then there was a high likelihood that he would encounter battles very often.

This would feed into the first scenario—more fights meant more opportunities to discern his abilities. Then, the greatly increased entangled threads from <Fate> would just cause a correspondingly great cascade of despair.

Third, of course, was the most direct development: the retaliation of the 16 Claws. In fact, they were already rapidly closing in on Aventine’s location at this very moment. They’d finally located the destination of his <Warp> and were frankly appalled beyond recognition.

They’d contacted all of their members outside their territory to monitor the surroundings... only for the thief himself to have hidden right under their noses.

Apparently...

’This room is supposed to be the room of their chosen one—their organization’s heir.’

Aventine smacked his lips.

’It would have been the place where their first S-Rank Beast Human would have the pleasure of staying.’

Ah, how unfortunate it was to be targeted by <Fate>.