Chapter 342. Unexpected Impersonator (Patreon)

Cayeun Suncloud’s priceless transmission artifact felt cool in Euryphel’s hands. It felt almost surreal to hold.

Before meeting Ian, he might have been intimidated holding something like this, might have felt unworthy of his mortal hands cradling the work of a lauded ascendant. But despite his mortality, Euryphel had essentially been to Eternity using the very artifact in his hands. He’d walked alongside some of the most powerful people to exist.

It shouldn’t have been surprising to realize that they were still just people, but it had been, to him. He’d thought them unreachable.

Euryphel’s thumb caressed the button on the artifact. His fingers still had nerve damage incurred during the fight with Ari, muting the tactile sensation. Even so, touching the button sent an electric shimmer down his arm, causing his hair to stand on end.

In that moment, Euryphel understood what Ian had meant when they spoke for the last time before Ian had descended with Maria and Achemiss. He’d said that the former prince now had a much greater chance of ascending, for better or worse.

Euryphel had seen the heights beyond the mortal world. He’d viscerally experienced just how small and limited his existence was.

It was like Ian in the Infinity Loop, feeling like the present reality was stifling, like a glass ceiling that needed to be shattered.

Euryphel took a deep breath to settle his thoughts. Then, he entered a scenario. The burden of acting in real life, where actions were remembered and permanent, fell from his shoulders, filling him with security and confidence. In scenarios, he could do no wrong. If he made a mistake, he could do it over.

He set a recall point so he could recurse. This way, he’d be able to run these experiments one after another with negligible time passing in the real world.

Euryphel had used recursion more and more over the past week. Once, he’d used it constantly, but in the wake of Ian’s ascent, he’d taken his therapist’s advice to spend less time in scenarios. Now wasn’t the time for moderation, however, even if he recognized that spending excessive amounts of time in his scenarios wasn’t healthy.

Visualizing his quarry, Euryphel pressed the button on the artifact. He found himself transported to a large assembly hall. On the far wall was the flag of Sere, covering it like a massive drape. A blue X emblazoned the white flag, subdividing it into four portions. In each section were two crests, each representing one of the eight states within the Sere Consortium. Stitched in bold uppercase on the top of the flag was a translation of “RICHES FOR MANY” in archaic Luxish. On the bottom was the translation of “FREEDOM FOR ALL.”

Sere was an amalgamation of different states brought together by a mutual goal of profit and a desire for autonomy. That’s why it was a consortium, rather than a federation or a union. Sere wasn’t lawless, but its regulations were lax, and practitioners held great power. Most of Sere was sparsely populated desert, but larger cities were centers of wealth where riches actually trickled down to the regulars, ensuring a decent standard of living. This was a generalization since Sere was so divided, but it was largely true.

Sere wasn’t known for its fighting force. It was an western state, firstly, meaning it was already classified as second-tier compared to the forces in the East. That was changing, but the East was still firmly on another level. The Fassari Summit brackets made the difference stark. At the previous summit, Sere entered with two blocks, Eastern and Western Sere, with the former in the bottom tier and the latter in the middle tier, one rank behind the SPU.

Due to the SPU’s performance then, and its absorption of Selejo and the other nations in the Ho’ostar peninsula, it was now on a completely different level, reborn as the first tier Selejo Imperial Federation. In a direct confrontation, the Federation would wipe the floor with the Sere Consortium.

At least on paper. But Euryphel’s intelligence painted a troubling picture, one where Sere was responding to the Federation’s ascendance by allying with powers in the East, bartering with the Infinity Loop tech for powerful glossware, like the defensive armaments the Life practitioner spy Tsarika Rumin had used. The East had a stake as well–the Federation’s rise was a threat to their power. Even if Sere had little of value to bargain with, the East would probably still help them. And now that they had the Infinity Loop, a technology that promised to create monsters like Ian Dunai?

It was all such a headache inducing mess without even throwing Achemiss into the fray.

Euryphel’s gaze fell from the flag, focusing on the current speaker at the dais. Before he could hear anything, a shout sounded from behind him.

“Hey! How did you get here?”

Euryphel sighed inwardly. The person he’d visualized before using the transmission artifact was a lower-ranked member of Luxelles’ cabinet. He had a strong Sun affinity and was a capable fire elementalist, so he’d participated in the Fassari Summit a few years ago. Since Eury had met him before, he could use the artifact on him.

The artifact typically transported its user behind the person it was used to visit. That was important, as it meant that if Eury appeared behind someone who was alone, he might be able to hide himself and spy without being noticed. Appearing in a packed assembly hall, however, was just about the worst circumstance he could imagine. First, not only would the assembly likely not mention anything too sensitive–and useful­–but Euryphel would be spotted almost immediately.

While people yelled behind him–and a few tried to grab him, only to find their grasping hands empty–Euryphel considered who to visit next. Ideally, he’d find an official in a private meeting in a secure location. Unfortunately, Euryphel didn’t personally know many high-ranking Sere officials. He’d met some at Fassari Summits, but there was rather high turnover in positions of leadership. Members of the consortium government represented top families and guilds. The actual representatives weren’t democratically elected, but rather appointed on a rotational basis by their organization.

This was a problem if he wanted to use the transmission artifact to spy on relevant Sere officials. It was one of the leading reasons why Euryphel had offered to use the artifact himself: Ian simply didn’t know many officials from Sere, outside of whom he’d met at the last Fassari Summit.

However… Euryphel had an idea he needed to test.

He killed the transmission, then snapped back to the recursion checkpoint. This time, he envisioned a different official, the one who had been speaking at the dais–Keraly Banks. Euryphel had never seen the man in person.

Euryphel suddenly found himself transported to the assembly room again, though this time at the front of the room. Keraly’s broad back and gesticulating arms were a few feet away.

Euryphel laughed uproariously.

Things suddenly became much more interesting.

—

Maria looked at Ian, not sure if they should do something while Eury was using Regret. Before she had the chance to say anything, the Crowned Executor exclaimed, “Ian, Maria, I have a lead.”

Ian blinked. “Eury, it’s been a second. A single second.”

“Your surprise is almost insulting,” Euryphel replied, crossing his arms and giving Ian a crooked grin.

Maria shook her head. She knew that Ian didn’t have romantic feelings for Eury, but their every interaction oozed flirtatiousness. It was both oddly funny and bitterly sad. In times like these, she felt the age gap between her and them. Euryphel was 28 and Ian was theoretically closer–at least mentally–to something like 35, while she herself was now mentally closer to 50. They were grown men but lacked maturity in some areas. Important areas.

Maria liked the think that with her help, Ian’s emotional side had developed significantly over the past years. Significantly didn’t mean Ian was the perfect partner. He had his romantic moments, but he was often stuck in his head, his emotions locked away. In those times, he had difficulty feeling desire and affection, even if he feigned them well enough. But she knew what he was really feeling through their lich bond, even if he wasn’t so self-aware.

It made her glad that she’d decided to take things slow with Ian. Her goal wasn’t to fix him–part of what made Ian such an imposing and powerful practitioner was his rationality and emotional severance. But she was happy with the changes she saw in him, with the easy way he trusted her and fell into her embrace. Of course, that was counterbalanced by the harsh training that they’d both undergone, training that pushed them both to their limits, even though they’d persevered in the end.

While Ian had time–and support–to develop emotionally, Maria couldn’t say the same for her cousin Eury. To him, it really had only been a handful of months since she and Ian had left. She knew Eury had never had a partner, had never explored that side of himself with anyone. He was cold and aloof to everyone… except, for some reason, Ian.

Quashing her pity, she asked, “What’s the lead?”

“First, I learned something important about the transmission artifact. Anyone I see while transmitting becomes fair game, so I don’t have to actually meet everyone in real life to use the artifact on them.”

Ian’s gaze became sharp. “That helps things significantly.”

I can’t believe you never noticed that, Maria thought over the lich bond.

I’ve never needed to use it on anyone I haven’t seen in person, Ian replied. Back in Eternity, anyone I wished I could use it on but had never met, would never be in the same vicinity as someone on whom I could use the artifact.

Ian walked over and took the artifact from Euryphel’s hands, scrutinizing it. “It makes me rethink how the artifact works on a fundamental level. Just seeing a video of someone isn’t enough to use the artifact. You have to have actually been near the target. But if being close to someone as a transmission is sufficient…” He trailed off.

Euryphel cleared his throat. “You can ponder the nature of the artifact later. We have a scheme to pull off.” As they were still in the meeting room, Euryphel pulled up the holo display over the table and pulled up an information profile for a Sere official that Maria recognized.

“Clara Belvaire is one of the major stakeholders for the Infinity Loop project. She’s a scientist from one of the leading families in Sere and is currently serving as a representative.” Euryphel’s gaze was full of excitement. “I was able to find her by transmitting myself to someone else, then running through walls until I found her alone in her office.”

Ian snorted. “These people are going to regret not investing in thicker walls.”

The wind elementalist continued with a smile: “I spoke with her in several scenarios. She was always intrigued by the transmission and had no idea how I could reach her through the extensive End arrays protecting the room.

“She recognized me, of course–I’m not wearing a disguise. But when I told her I was representing Ascendant Dunai in multiple scenarios, her responses confirmed that she knows Ian is back. How would she know this?”

Euryphel let the question linger.

“Because someone told her,” Ian said softly. “Achemiss?”

“Hold that thought,” Euryphel said.

Ian tapped his lip. “So, this official knows I’m back… Sere knows I’m back. We suspected it, but I had hoped to be proven wrong. It’s incredible intelligence to gain, however. Not bad for a second of work,” he joked.

“More importantly,” Euryphel continued, “Belvaire knows that the Infinity Loop causes corruption.”

Maria narrowed her eyes. “How did you get so much information out of this woman?”

“It was easy because she claimed that Sere had already been talking to the Skai’aren.” He pointed a finger at Ian. “She didn’t recognize the name Achemiss, which leads me to believe that he’s been impersonating you.”