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TFC Chapter 68: Headquarters
🕑 Added 2022-07-10 09:49:51 +0000 UTC“Hehe, that’s a better and faster job than everything I had hoped for~” Flying across the Rainbow IRC whose construction had been expedited by the presence of 12 grade 4 fairies, Aven communicated his honest impression to the fairy cohort that was following him.
“It wasn’t anything difficult.”
“The organization was top-notch, so I always knew where to go.”
“I tried to challenge myself by building faster and emptying the material reserve… It failed. But it was fun~”
“Things would have been much worse if I hadn’t been handed all the delicate areas!”
Exactly as one would expect from Eland’s fairies, they said what was on their mind without any filter.
Arriving at the central control area, Aven saw hundreds of yet-to-be-installed cables and lights, wall markings for future paint jobs, ground markings for all manners of furnishings…
40 days, or 13 of his cycles, after he had left the Forbidden Continent behind, Aven had finally acquired a place he could call headquarters, and it was steadily coming together with the help provided by not only ERA but Eland in general.
“It’s time to pay you for your job then, right?” Crossing his arms and turning around, he angled the camera that had now joined his permanent 4 boxes of luggage in the most professional angle possible to capture the reaction from what he was about to do.
He opened his shop and focused on the reward he had promised for every fairy fulfilling his conditions who helped him.
Faction Contribution Shop: Nation of Eland
Faction Authority: Violet Fairy
Faction Contribution Points: 57 879 175
…
Self Revolving Energy Mutation Elixir (1 460 000 FCP): An elixir created through an ancient rainbow fairy formula with most of its ingredients being extremely difficult to gather. Gives the self revolving energy energy talent to anyone consuming it.
Self Revolving Energy Mutation Elixir (Claim?)
Self Revolving Energy Mutation Elixir (Claim?)
Self Revolving Energy Mutation Elixir (Claim?)
Self Revolving Energy Mutation Elixir (Claim?)
Self Revolving Energy Mutation Elixir (Claim?)
…
“You!” He suddenly raised his voice to catch their attention, “Have done a marvelous job! Thank you!”
The next moment, 12 swirls of light manifested around him, transforming the scene’s atmosphere completely.
“Ho~”
“Can I touch it?”
“How pretty~”
Recording everything dutifully, Aven smiled casually as he thought back to the experiment he had done back then by gifting Commander and Rival expensive items to start chipping away at his mental debt towards them.
‘If even this time it doesn’t work… Then I’ll have the definitive confirmation.’
By investing 17 520 000 FCP worth of elixirs into the 12 fairies who had helped him, he both rewarded them, setting a precedent about how he was someone who didn’t hesitate to reward more than necessary, and confirmed for a final time that…
Materialized items couldn’t be used to contribute directly.
‘Or maybe I just need the given talents to have the time to influence the life of the people I gifted it to and help them contribute to Eland? Sounds a bit too warped to be true…’
When the 12 light swirls fully condensed and gave birth to 12 identical copies of a certain flask that was owned by someone in the military, he waved at everyone here to serve themselves, “One per person, obviously. You have 24 hours to do whatever you want with it, be it consuming it or using it to water a tree~”
“Did you try to water a tree with it before?” A female fairy curiously asked him.
“I will in the future. But no, I haven't tried it as of now,” Aven answered, “I doubt it will do anything other than making the tree eventually awaken though…”
“Do you have more works for similar elixirs? It’s much easier than trying to convince the fairy guardians to access the archives,” a male fairy sought more work in exchange for massive benefits.
“Maybe it’ll not be as fast to acquire an elixir, but you can contact Drayce Anca and discuss with him to see if there’s a job I need you to do that you can do,” Aven found a compromise quickly to not just say a straight no.
“One of my friends told me he wants to beat you, do you agree? I can tell him for you!” Another male fairy asked him something, but this time it wasn’t really a question that logic could answer.
“Tell him to come to me if he wants to ask something! What a coward!” Dismissing his logic in a second, Aven provoked the fairy he didn’t know.
“I’ll tell him that~” And that seemed to have been enough for the chaotic fairy who didn’t care about the timing.
Half an hour passed as a certain fairy satisfied his social butterfly self with the help of an impromptu fairy gathering in the middle of a freshly finished empty building.
In due time, the gathering dispersed, leaving Aven alone in the empty future control area of the Rainbow Industrial and Research Center, an area he had designed to be used as a pseudo command center.
“It’s just as I imagined it, minus the elevated evil boss desk and the hundreds of screens,” overlaying what this room would eventually look like once it was completely furnished with what he was seeing now, he felt a sense of fulfillment.
“Now, I just need to find the right people, the true genius who don’t need a bullsh*t innate ability to revolutionize a field, the ones that will stick with me for a long time, the ones I can invest in knowing… They’ll help me, and Green on the same occasion, climb the technological ladder.”
…
With the Rainbow IRC frame completed and an abusive amount of manpower and resources attributed to making it operational as fast as possible, it only took a day before a massive IUM flew above the sky of Elandia.
This spectacle, unsurprisingly, ended up being massively relayed by the media within the hour it happened, and Aven Amias’s name was included in most of the articles written.
At the same time, as if a crazy tycoon had swept through the city, all sorts of industries were stripped of their products, all bought at above-market prices, to be used to furnish a new building that all the high authorities of Eland and beyond had a report on their desk for.
The wind of change wasn’t yet noticeable for everyone amidst the escalating succession war of the Emma Empire and the still restless Bright Canopy that seemed unable to agree on new underworld regulations and authorities.
Rogue branches had nearly all acquired their independence, and with the end of the abomination surge now quasi-confirmed, things were taking a turn for the worst due to the presence of power-hungry supers who wanted to use the weakened 5 nations state to earn themselves some advantages.
Undercurrents existed everywhere, and the simple establishment of an industrial and research center near the Rainbow Mountain by a notable young grade 3 fairy really wasn’t that important in the grand scheme of things.
And that, Aven understood it thoroughly. There was realistically only one worry that was always present in his mind. Not the succession war, not the rogue canopy…
‘Why is the invisible enemy… So passive? What are their goals if they don’t even try to disturb my development and growth? If they’re a faction capable of getting to the top of my dynamic quests, they should know everything about me, right?’
Thinking about how smooth his life was, Aven worried even more about the meaning behind the invisible enemy dynamic quests.
Dynamic Faction Contribution Quests: Nation of Eland
…
Dynamic Invisible Enemy: Your faction is being progressively invaded by a hidden faction, its traces are hard to find to the point that only a few extraordinary survivors have been able to report its existence after they escaped its clutches. The more information found and the more action taken to resist that invisible enemy, the greater the contribution.
…
Dynamic Contribution: Claim?
As he was readying himself to claim his contribution reward more than 24 hours after he paid the 12 grade 4 fairies that had expedited the construction process of the RAinbow IRC, his mind descended into a spiral of consideration about this quest that just existed on his quests window.
‘Progressively invaded… Hidden faction… Extraordinary survivors… Escaped its clutches… There are really not a lot of hidden faction types that can suit this description, and no matter how I see it… I should be a prime target.’
Having been constantly reminded of the existence of this danger, Aven had never ceased to theorize and hypothesize more about this invisible enemy, but now that nothing had even come close to happening to him after more than 40 days…
His theories’ foundations were shaken. All of them.
“I’m here to beat you,” all of a sudden, a voice came from behind him.
Pulling himself together in an instant, Aven turned slowly to look at the culprit, a fairy, who had interrupted him on his conspiracist inspiration, and remembered a certain chaotic fairy, “Are you… The guy who told his friend he wanted to beat me up?”
Sending an appraisal his way, he got his name.
Saum Stonestride
Faction: Nation of Eland
Ignoring him totally, the dark-haired, dark-eyed, and dark-skinned fairy adopted a fighting-ready posture, “I’m gonna beat you without using energy, and if I win, you get me in on your cultivation resource-related projects.”
“So… a pure savage fight with benefits?” Aven’s tone betrayed his sudden curiosity about this completely out-of-the-world development, “Sounds interesting~ But if you’re not using any of your energy despite being grade 4, then I’m not the one who’s going to be beaten up, so… Are you sure?”
“Since when are tech supers above martial supers when it comes to close quarters fighting? I’m sure you've never fought a fairy before, humph!” Ridiculing him, Saum continued on his provocation.
“Well… I guess let’s find out?” Putting down his 4 boxes and setting his camera down with a wide-angle, he let himself get caught up in his new prospective colleague’s rhythm and similarly adopted a fighting-ready posture, “I only gathered the martial knowledge of everyone in Eland, including yours, nothing much in my opinion when Athal is the true martial powerhouse.”
“Hu!” Getting the confirmation that the person facing him wanted to be beaten up, Saum grunted as his wings fluttered and the two ended up colliding a mere second later.
And for the first time since he had become a fairy, Aven engaged in high physical efforts by frontally resisting the brute that tried to overpower him with pure strength.
“Hahaha! You wish!” Calling for all the strength that his energy-based body was able to give, his limited physical talents and his essence stabilizer universal talent helped him push his strength above what he should have had and… Didn’t push back Saum.
Keeping the same serious and provoking look on his face, the dark fairy changed his approach after he similarly began using all his strength and it didn’t work.
Yet, every time he tried to break the deadlock he was in via his knowledge in close quarters combat, his attempt was immediately prematurely stopped by his opponent.
Quickly enough, the two split and collided again, having both used quick and efficient flight movement that defied gravity.
Exchanging a few blows here and there, Saum’s face gradually lost its provoking look and was replaced by slight confusion as he couldn’t gain any ground on the smiling Aven who seemed entranced by this curious situation.
“Ho~ I never realized how fast my reaction speed had become!” Stopping at some point and taking a defensive posture without any openings, Aven commented on the situation, “Energy lives are so different and marvelous, not being bound by biology anymore is something I’m sure any human martial super would want.”
“No,” Saum denied his statement as he prepared himself to charge, “The pros don’t make up for the cons, being made of energy is the worst thing for the martial energy system.”
Charging once again, the two shifted from a strength-based contest to a technique-based one, each using opening moves, counter moves, counter-counter moves… In short, they were trying to dominate the other through experience.
The fight went on to last for 10 minutes before Saum had had enough, “Freak you!”
And then he started to fly away.
“Wait!” Only to be caught up to by Aven the next instant, “You’re my future colleague, and I suddenly feel like eating some barbecue, want to join me?”
Saum was the first to have so clearly displayed a desire to join him on his path to changing the world, and while Aven certainly hoped he wasn’t the last, it didn’t change the fact that he had long prepared a list of criteria that people willing to work with him had to check.
And one of those criteria was “accepting to eat with the boss”.
Though in this situation, his image as a “boss” hadn’t been built at all, so… Anyway, it was just a random criterion he had decided on to make sure he knew everyone that would be working with his era-changing integrated machines.
…
“I suddenly feel like meeting more people… Who should I visit?” Aven muttered to himself as he flew across the dark night sky.
After a barbecue night that ended more marvelously than marvelous in his book, Aven was still only halfway through his 14th cycle, so he decided to return to the outside world, or the world outside of the Rainbow Mountain summit area.
“Or I could help with the furnishing? And film some more?” Pursuing his train of thought as he looked at the brightly lit Elandia, a plan soon formed in his mind, “Bhanas should be the one charged with procuring the ores and basic chemicals… I want to meet him again, we’ve only met one time after all. I’ll send him a message later.”
Bhanas Tarius, a production manager he had encountered back at Blackdale IMC, and he would certainly not have made it to his list of people he wanted to work with if he hadn’t been a kindred soul of his.
The image of an exhausted-looking middle-aged man struggling in the morning to accommodate a handsome young man, and the following entire morning that turned into a familial discussion around a cup of tea had, for some reason, remained engraved in Aven’s memory as a rare case of social compatibility, whatever it meant.
Arriving at the Rainbow IRC in which the night shift was still hard at work completing all the steps that still needed to be done, he found the production area in which only a lone IUM stood and started getting to work helping the staff.
And as it turned out, an enthusiastic grade 3 fairy who proactively helped was somewhat of a monster in terms of productivity.
The people working here had a whole hierarchy of steps to follow slowing them down, they didn’t have energy telekinesis, they needed to procedurally use lifts to reach the hard-to-reach places, they had to read again and again the blueprints provided, and they… Were working.
It was a job for them.
Not for Aven.
‘Thanks higher powers for showing me again that I’m slowly departing from the secular world… It still feels as weird as when I first realized that if I really wanted things done, I would have to do them myself.’
When the whole huge production area ended up fully painted, networked by thousands of electric and data cables escaping in all directions, all the huge pipes and ventilation vents that only needed the refrigerating and air-conditioning units to be installed were set up, hundreds of lights were put up, and a whole load of security cameras and mechanisms for huge gates had been installed and tested…
Merely 5 hours had passed.
“Thanks for your work~” Thanking the people who had worked with him for the past 5 hours even though he had largely outclassed them in terms of work done, Aven picked up his phone and saw that it was about time for Bhanas to arrive at the prefab building next to it where he would pursue his job as a production manager.
Exiting the Rainbow IRC after seeing that, he first went to fetch some snacks which he brought with him as he headed for Bhanas’s temporary office.
Getting to the area with no fuss, he was coincidentally just on time to see a lively exhausted-looking middle-aged man enthusiastically get down from a normal car, and to confirm his hunch, he appraised him.
Bhanas Tarius
Faction: Nation of Eland
‘His faction already changed? Has it been a week since I told Drayce to recruit him?’
Positioning himself above him and lifting his shin to take on the most superior and arrogant look-up posture, Aven called this familiar man out, “What a coincidence to meet you there, Bhanas.”
“Eh?” Looking behind him, then around, and finally, up, the perfectly average middle-aged man with brown hair and blue eyes, the same as Aven, smiled when he saw his ‘new boss’ looking down on him, “Good morning, Aven.”
Unable to continue acting when seeing this familiar and friendly attitude, the fairy putting on an act immediately let his face show a bright smile too, “Good morning to you, Bahnas. It’s been a long time~”
“I have a shady prefab office not far away, and I saw your message that you wanted to meet me, can we go discuss it there? I have a few calls to make urgently,” his attitude didn’t betray any discomfort, unlike the first time they met back when Aven was a simple newly transferred engineer asking for directions on a tour around Blackdale IMC.
“I’m just here to discuss with a kindred spirit, the place doesn’t matter,” releasing his hold on his flight, he slowly descended until he landed on top of Bhanas’s car which he used to jump again and head towards the near plain prefab building, “Let’s go~”
