The eight days of travel to Veridian were not a journey; they were a continuous, high-speed calibration. The Micro-Sense Augmentation (MSA) fragment of the Code of the Omni-Architect treated the world as a complex sensor array.
Ares felt every particle of dust shifting under the host's cheap leather boots, calculated the precise thermal exchange rate between his skin and the air, and predicted the degradation of the path surface three hundred meters ahead. He consumed minimal food and water, his movements so perfectly optimized for energy conservation that he covered the eight-day distance in six, arriving with his meager Mana pool still at 95% capacity.
He was a ghost moving through probability fields. Local hunters missed his perfectly calculated steps by millimeters. Low-level predatory beasts aborted attacks because Chronos had predicted the exact moment of their muscle fatigue, causing Ares to slightly change his pace, frustrating the predator's innate rhythm.
CHRONOS SYSTEM: Physical Training Efficiency: 9,100% greater than local baseline. Host vessel muscle fiber density increased by 12% during transit. Requirement Status: Identity acquisition needed. Current status as 'Kael, deceased porter' is inadequate for tournament entry.
The regional capital of Veridian was an architectural monstrosity of stone and chaotic energy. The city was protected by a sprawling, ancient Magus Array, its boundary visible to Ares as a pulsing wave of inefficient energy transfer—a low-resolution firewall to his godlike senses.
The sheer volume of data streaming into Ares's consciousness from the MSA was momentarily overwhelming: the complex, overlapping heat signatures of tens of thousands of citizens; the imperceptible tremors of commerce; the rapid, shallow breathing patterns of the fearful; and the deep, controlled respirations of the local magi.
He located the point of entry: the Auxiliary Records Office, a low-priority bureau responsible for verifying small-scale trade and temporary residency papers.
Ares did not enter through the door. He observed the building for three hours from a perch on an adjacent rooftop, mapping the routine. Chronos provided a constant stream of behavioral data.
CHRONOS SYSTEM: Target Identification: Records Clerk 'Elara,' aged 37. Key behavioral flags: High stress levels (92%), chronic financial instability (99%), predictable addiction to a localized euphoric herb (Flag 7, available in the market).
Ares descended, his motions smooth, silent, and entirely non-magical. He found Clerk Elara on her scheduled late-afternoon break, slouched near a back alley, anxiously counting coppers to buy a moment of chemical peace.
Ares approached her, not with threat, but with clinical certainty.
"I can guarantee you 50 silver coins," Ares stated, placing a small, precise pile of Baldric's ill-gotten silver on the bench beside her.
Elara started, her eyes wide with desperate hunger. "Who are you? I don't..."
"I require a new identity for the Adept Magus Tournament. A forgotten, unverified youth from a minor trading town in the south. Name: Aron Vellis. Status: Tier 1 Novice, self-taught, no Guild affiliation. Your cooperation, achieved through the manipulation of 37 variables including fear of debt and dependency on Flag 7, has a 98.7% probability."
Ares's voice was devoid of malice, making the chilling accuracy of his statement far more effective than any threat. He had dissected her life, and now he was presenting the dissection results to her as fact.
Elara, overwhelmed by the silver and the unnerving certainty of his diagnosis, stammered, "Th-that's highly illegal. Forged papers are a lifetime sentence..."
"I did not ask for a forged document. I require the processing of a Lapsed Provisional Registration for a deceased trading apprentice, whose records were lost in the recent border skirmish," Ares corrected, his voice a low, precise instrument. "You will simply re-assign the identifying number of the deceased apprentice, 'Vellis,' to the name 'Aron.' This is technically a bureaucratic correction, not forgery. You will then erase the audit log. The 50 silver is yours."
The method was brilliant: it exploited an administrative loophole rather than challenging the central Magus Authority directly. It was the difference between blowing up a wall and simply finding the one faulty hinge.
Elara's resistance crumbled under the pressure of financial salvation and the cold logic. The entire transaction took seven minutes, 50 silver coins, and the manipulation of one bureaucratic cog. Ares was entirely untraceable.
The next day, Ares stood before the imposing stone gate of the Veridian Magus Guild, the location of the tournament registration. The air was thick with the chaotic, showy Mana of young magi attempting to impress each other.
He walked past the guards, who were visually scanning him for the typical signs of arrogance or weakness. Ares, thanks to MSA, projected only a carefully calibrated air of quiet competence—the exact statistical average of a confident, non-threatening Novice.
He presented his paperwork. The registration clerk, a dour man with a low-grade magical aura, scanned the documents.
"Name: Aron Vellis. Tier 1. No mentor. No affiliation. You are registering for the Adept Magus Tournament, Novice Class?"
"Correct," Ares confirmed.
"The tournament is a test of comprehensive control. Are you aware that you will be competing against Novices who have spent up to five years training under a registered master? Tier 1 is rarely sufficient to pass the preliminary duels."
Ares felt a microscopic twitch of the clerk's brow—a 0.003 second hesitation betraying mild condescension.
"My calculation suggests my probability of winning the High-Grade Resource Cache is 99.998%. I have secured my entry fee." Ares placed a final, single silver coin on the counter.
The clerk scoffed but processed the registration. The paper was stamped, and Ares was given a simple, iron badge engraved with the number 773.
As Ares turned to leave, he felt a sudden, distinct flicker of energy—a brief, but intense, highly refined Mana signature that passed through the hall. His head snapped up, not in surprise, but in identification.
CHRONOS SYSTEM: Energy Signature Match: 99.9999% match with Primordial Elemental Trace, identified in a pre-seclusion exploration of the Ninth Sub-Dimension. Conclusion: An individual with access to, or inherent use of, high-dimensional energy exists within the city. This anomaly does not belong to this sector of the multiverse.
Ares paused. It was the first time in this weak world that an energy signature had registered as anything other than pathetic. He looked toward the source, a grand balcony reserved for the city's ruling Magus Council.
An unexpected variable, Ares thought, a thin, almost invisible curve touching the corner of his mouth. The game has increased its complexity.
He left the Guild Hall, the iron badge 773 heavy in his palm, already calculating the approach vector for this new, high-value anomaly.