The Over-Break System

-This dongle is located in quadrant three.-

And he was right; it took Tobs less than a minute to locate the faint Mana signature of the dongle.

“Tsk, OI, Old Man Norik, this one is in a different spot, that increases my bad feeling by a SOLID 30%. If our opponent is smart enough not to hide the dongles in the same position, the planning for this sabotage is quite intricate, and the odds of everything going up in flames has increased.”

Smack

[Oh, for crying out loud, would it kill you not to be rude to someone absurdly more powerful than you, Cyn?]

The sound of Brance facepalming loudly drew Norik’s expression, and he subtly nodded at Brance.

‘Why can’t that brat be more respectful like his little brother?’ Norik thought while mulling over Cynrik’s statement.

However, the person in question had already activated his two ocular skills and was wrist deep in the cables of quadrant three trying to locate the dongle with 10x zoom active.

Much like he did with the previous dongle, it took him several scans, even with 10x zoom, but after a few passes, he located and marked the exact location before pulling himself out from under the Aether Capsule.

“Two down, Norik; let’s move on to the next one.” Stepping beside the man, Cynrik tossed Brance a glance.

[If you don’t see me again, then that means we got it all figured out.] Cynrik said with a bitter smile. He left out one statement, though.

‘That or there is no big explosion.’ Cynrik had noticed something after examining the second dongle, which was the presence of a very potent hazel and golden Mana particle that, if left unchecked, would quickly level half the building.

He came to this conclusion after seeing how unstable the particle seemed to be as it interacted with the other particles surrounding it. Each time another Element got close, the strange particle would quiver and expand rapidly before calming down, giving Cynrik an ominous feeling each time he witnessed it do this.

Being so in tune with Mana in general because of his Bloodline and Mana Manipulation Ability, Cynrik did not doubt that that strange particle would easily cause some mayhem if not kept in check.

[Huh? That’s it? Did you destroy the chip already? Why bother making such a big deal out of it in the first place if it was so easy to find and destroy it?] Brance’s questions flooded the mind link, but they were left unanswered because just as quickly as they had arrived, Cynrik and Norik vanished from the room, leaving Brance alone with the unconscious Head, Dean Rimsfel.

One room after another, Cynrik and Norik made the rounds across floor B-22, stopping off in room C-03, where Selene was located. With each Aether Capsule he worked on, Cynrik got faster and faster at finding the dongles before tagging them with his Dark Mana.

As expected, each one was placed in a different location, and no two were ever identical. The dongles came in multiple different shapes, sizes, and Mana particle make-ups, but the one factor that stayed the same was the presence of the strange ominous hazel and gold particle.

Three hours later, Cynrik and Norik had cleared out all of the Aether Capsules on floor B-22 and moved down to B-23 through B-25, with each lower level floor having a total of eight Aether Capsules.

And to Cynrik’s surprise, there were multiple variations of the device the lower into the bowels of Vinestra the two went. For starters, the capsules on B-23 were built to handle Tier-4 beings, and each floor had stronger and sturdier Aether Capsules.

“Is this the last Aether Capsule?” Cynrik asked as he finished marking the final dongle, which was in the shape of a pyramid and significantly larger than all the dongles on other floors.

“No…there is one more.” Norik’s face fell as he remembered one of the highest-level secrets of the Academy.

“Oh? Well, then we should move out, right?” Cynrik replied casually while noticing the body language that Norik was very bad at hiding. He could tell that if there were another dongle attached to this final Aether Capsule, Norik would lose his mind.

“Let me guess,” Cynrik started.

“This last one is meant for Geralt to Evolve, meaning there are massive implications if we find one of the dongles inside, right?” Sniffing while rolling out his right shoulder, Cynrik kicked the ground with the toe of his shoe and looked up at Norik with one eyebrow raised.

“Tsk, you are too smart for your own good. Has anyone told you that smart people are the first to die in a world like Vinestra?” Feeling the facial muscles in the right half of his face twitch erratically, Norik wanted nothing more than to maim Cynrik or cripple him at the very least.

“That only applies to those dipshits who aren’t overly cautious and paranoid. Intelligence, Paranoia, and Caution, people who exhibit all three traits are the ones who live the longest…well, that or they go bat shit crazy, but who am I to judge?” Cynrik replied as he shrugged his shoulders and clasped his hands behind his head.

“Sigh, kid, listen, I have half a mind to force you to sign a Soul Binding contract before allowing you to know this information. Can you at least act serious about it?” Massaging his temples, Norik sighed loudly to relieve some of his pent-up stress.

So far, the fact that every one of VSFA’s Aether Capsules had been tampered with weighed heavily on him, and so far, all Cynrik had done was locate and tag the dongles; they hadn’t even reached the tricky part yet.

“Let’s be fair here, Norik; you know damn well that eventually, my Faction and I will require the use of these high-level Aether Capsules if we wish to Advance further down through the stages. There is no point hiding them as we will use them in the future.” Countering snarkily, Cynrik rolled his eyes.

“So you think, who says I would allow that? Aside from being decades from now, you would have to become an Alumni of the Academy even to receive that privilege, that is to say, you live that long.” After snorting, Norik grabbed Cynrik by the back of the neck, as he and Selene frequently did with Benny, and teleported to floor B-30.

Upon entering B-30, Cynrik flinched and took a moment to get used to the increased gravitational pressure; meanwhile, Norik observed the boy, judging how high his Particle Resistance was. If Cynrik couldn’t handle the pressure, he would have to help.

Then, much to Norik’s surprise, Cynrik tipped his head to the side, letting out a loud pop from his neck, and was soon fully acclimated to the 10g of Gravitational Pressure.

“Damn, so much for standard spacial gaps between floors; we are farther down on the planet than I expected. Seriously, 10g is no joke, hehe.” Catching that watchful gaze Norik was giving him, Cynrik played it off as 10g was nothing special.

“Not bad, anyway; welcome to floor B-30, and as you surmised, we are indeed very far down under the surface of Vinestra’s crust. Although floor B-22 is 800 meters down, B-30 is 2000 meters; as such, you are correct; we are currently subjected to 10g of Gravitational pressure.” Extending out his arm and motioning around the room, Norik’s following words rocked Cynrik’s perception of how things worked.

“Welcome to the Aether Chamber, this room is the highest level of Advancement Technology and the room Beings use to advance to the Immortal Stage. This entire room was crafted out of a single chunk of Evolution Stone and cost me the majority of my fortune to create. It is also the most heavily guarded secret I have.”

“Aside from you, me, and Yennifer, there should be no one who knows of its existence, seeing as I eradicated the person who built it, heh.” Norik chuckled as he said the last part of his statement, leaving Cynrik amazed at the man’s foresight and brutality.

“That’s pretty fucked up, old man; how could you wipe out such a high-level craftsman,” Cynrik murmured as he looked around the room in amazement.

Unlike the stone caves he had been in previously, the room looked like something straight off the bridge of a fantasy spaceship. The Advanced technology in the room was astounding, and when he thought about how nothing in the room appeared to be made out of stone, Cynrik couldn’t help but be confused, seeing as Norik had explained that it was made entirely out of Evolution stone.

Leaving that thought alone, Cynrik quickly located an impressive control panel and walked over as if he owned the place, annoying Norik in the process. However, the man stayed quiet and observed the boy sitting in the captain-style chair in front of an impressive monitor display and control panel.

‘This thing is like an alien spaceship; how am I supposed to do a diagnostic exam? It’s fine; fake it till we make it.’ Extending his hands out over the massive keyboard filled with buttons and small monitors, Cynrik began typing out coding commands, hoping one would eventually work. As if lady luck was on his side, one of the many command prompts he entered opened up a diagnostic screen on the primary monitor.

Through the screen, Cynrik navigated several systems and eventually located the components box on the opposite side of the room, hidden behind a false wall.

Getting up from the chair, Cynrik briskly made his way to the hidden wall, equipped one of his hidden blades, and used it to pry open the false wall. Next, he picked the lock to the door for a components box the size of his entire body and was greeted by a horrifically unorganized tangled wall of cables.

“OH, FOR FUCK SAKE! Does no one on this planet fucking understand the importance of goddamn cable management?” Cynrik Griped as he swiftly untangled hundreds of cables one after another.

Meanwhile, Norik was utterly beside himself at how easily Cynrik, who should have had no knowledge pertaining to technology of this level, navigated the command console before going and popping open the false wall and components box.

‘What the fuck did this kid do in his previous life? Was he a fucking Computer Engineer for NASA or something?’ Norik thought as his eyes flicked from the central computer to Cynrik.