"Kowtow to you?! With your garbage-tier genetics, Kaelen?!"
The library corridor was already bustling with early patrons, but after processing Kaelen's deadpan offer, Xander couldn't contain himself and burst into hysterical, booming laughter right on the spot.
He laughed as if Kaelen had just delivered the greatest stand-up punchline of the century, literally doubling over and clutching his stomach as he squatted on the polished floor.
His loud, obnoxious outburst instantly drew irritated glares from several reading patrons nearby.
"What? You seriously don't believe me?"
Kaelen wasn't the least bit offended, merely waving his hand in an exasperated, 'suit yourself' gesture.
"Haha! Bro, you've got to be kidding me! It's one thing to mess around with your boys, but don't start believing your own delusions!"
Xander wiped tears of mirth from the corners of his eyes, still chuckling as he used the wall to push himself back to his feet.
"I had no idea you were such a top-tier comedian. When did you get so damn funny?"
As he spoke, Xander looked Kaelen up and down, clearly not buying a single syllable of his claim.
After all, thanks to centuries of pop culture and historical records, society had a very strict, default image of what an Ascendant Sword Master was supposed to look like.
They were supposed to be ancient, bearded, transcendent sages radiating an aura of celestial indifference.
But as for Kaelen's current aesthetic...
Well, aside from having the face of an arrogant corporate model...
He was just a broke, nineteen-year-old junior archivist who hadn't even passed his 90-day corporate probation period.
Where was the slightest hint of a world-ending, reclusive Grandmaster?
You'd have an easier time convincing Xander that the sky was green than convincing him Kaelen was the Sword God!
Xander shook his head, thumping his chest to clear his lungs. He nudged Kaelen's shoulder fraternally and whispered,
"Stop daydreaming, man. This Sword Dao titan is 100% an outsider from the Imperial Capital, or maybe even an international vagabond. There is absolutely zero mathematical chance it could be a local from Neo-Veridia."
"Huh?"
Hearing this absolute certainty, Kaelen was genuinely confused. "Why does everyone automatically assume it's a touring foreigner? Why couldn't it be a hidden expert born and raised right here in the city?"
However, the second the question left his mouth...
Xander, standing right next to him, rolled his eyes so hard Kaelen feared they might get stuck, shooting him a look of profound, withering contempt.
"What alternate reality are you living in, Kaelen? Do you honestly think Awakened Grandmasters are mass-produced in factories? You think they're just walking around everywhere?"
Xander explained, his tone dripping with the irritation of explaining math to a toddler. "Neo-Veridia is classified as a Tier-2 major city, right? A massive population. But we only have three—three!—Awakened experts in the entire metropolis!"
"Only three?!"
Kaelen was actually stunned to hear that confirmed.
That ratio was terrifyingly, unsustainably low.
A sprawling mega-city with millions of citizens is only defended by three Awakened powerhouses?!
If a massive, coordinated Beast Tide were to breach the outer walls in the future, wouldn't the entire population be slaughtered in hours?
A full-scale Beast Tide is no joke!
Those three Grandmasters would be completely swamped by sheer numbers. If they get bogged down fighting Emperor-Tier bosses, the civilian sectors would be completely defenseless!
"That's exactly right. But even though there are only three, every single one of them is an absolute apex predator in their specific combat field!"
Xander's eyes lit up with deep reverence as he continued lecturing, his voice hushed with awe.
"Our boss, Director Silas, is one. The Chief Commander of the Enforcer Bureau, who holds the frontline against the Wastelands, is the second. But neither of those titans specializes in Sword Dao.
"The only sword specialist is Dean Li of the Aether Academy... but he gave an exclusive press conference at 6:00 AM this morning explicitly stating that even if he burned his life force, he couldn't replicate the 'Heavens-Severing' strike that cut that mountain.
"So, using basic deductive reasoning, it's a total no-brainer that this mysterious Sword God has to be an outsider passing through!"
With that flawless logic established, Xander waved a dismissive hand. "Anyway, stop fantasizing about having main-character energy and get to your desk. If you miss your clock-in window, HR is going to fire you before your probation ends, and then you really will be begging on the streets instead of being a Sword God."
His stark warning...
...actually struck a very real chord of fear in Kaelen's heart.
If I actually got fired from this cushy library gig, it would be a logistical nightmare to legally access this many combat manuals ever again.
If I lost a job this flawlessly aligned with my slacking goals...
Where the hell would I ever find another one?
At least until I successfully invent my infinite-mana Astral Conduit Art, I absolutely cannot lose this minimum-wage goldmine!
Sobered by the threat of unemployment, Kaelen immediately cut the idle chatter with Xander.
The two of them practically sprinted toward Sector 1.
...
[Sector 1, Ground Floor.]
The air was heavy with the comforting, slightly musty scent of ancient paper and ozone. The atmosphere was serene, broken only by the faint, rhythmic rustle of turning pages and the soft hum of the ventilation system.
After arriving in their designated zones, Xander and Kaelen went their separate ways to scan their ID badges.
Then, they headed to their respective booths to officially 'start' the workday.
Once Xander was out of sight, Kaelen finally had a moment of pure, uninterrupted isolation.
Perfect. The coast is clear. This is the optimal environment to invent a new god-tier engine.
Kaelen was highly satisfied with the quiet atmosphere.
He casually swept his gaze across the aisles, confirming that none of the early-bird patrons were paying him the slightest bit of attention.
Relying on his encyclopedic memory of the floor plan, he navigated deep into the back rows, making a beeline for a specific, highly neglected bookshelf that housed the most basic, foundational Astral Conduit Arts.
Within seconds, he located the two manuals he needed.
They were wedged tightly in the darkest corner of the bottom shelf. Because their Aetheric circulation theories were notoriously inefficient, no patron had touched them in decades, leaving their leather covers buried under a thick layer of grey dust.
These two Conduit Arts are fundamentally flawed; they're practically suicide to practice individually. Awakened Grandmasters wouldn't use them as toilet paper, and Mortal Tier novices physically can't survive the strain they put on the heart.
But for my specific needs? Their flaws are mathematically perfectly complementary.
Kaelen blew a heavy cloud of dust off the covers, unable to suppress a wicked, arrogant grin.
He cracked open the first manual, his eyes scanning ten lines of complex Aetheric theory at a single glance.
Thanks to the passive processing boost of his God-Tier Comprehension, his brain functioned like a high-speed scanner. He only needed to sweep his eyes over the pages for a fraction of a second to permanently burn the text, diagrams, and energy pathways into his cerebral cortex.
Less than five minutes later, Kaelen had flawlessly memorized the entirety of both notoriously difficult manuals.
Alright. Time to initiate the fusion sequence.
Kaelen carefully reshelved the books.
Finding an incredibly inconspicuous, shadowed alcove behind a row of encyclopedias, Kaelen began his daily, sacred ritual of extreme slacking.
He slumped back into a plush reading chair, pulled a book over his face to block the light, and closed his eyes.
His consciousness instantly plunged into the silent, grey void of the Aetheric Mindscape.
Inside the void, the tens of thousands of characters from the two Conduit Arts shattered into glowing blue code. They formed a massive, swirling ocean of text, violently colliding and orbiting around Kaelen's avatar.
Everything I have achieved today, I earned through my own grueling, relentless hard work.
Mindscape... initiate simulation protocol!
With a single, commanding thought from Kaelen...
The swirling storm of text instantly reacted. The complex Aetheric theories were violently scrambled and then meticulously reassembled at quantum speeds. As if guided by a sentient, divine hand, the redundant, suicidal pathways were aggressively deleted, while brand-new, hyper-efficient theoretical bridges were generated to fuse the two arts together.
BOOM!
A shockwave of pure, crystalline enlightenment rocked Kaelen's soul.
In that singular, transcendent instant, he understood the fundamental mechanics of universal energy absorption.
A moment later, a brand-new, utterly flawless Astral Conduit Art solidified in his memory banks.
It's done!
A look of sheer ecstasy crossed Kaelen's physical face beneath the book. He honestly hadn't expected the quantum fusion to resolve that fast.
This processing efficiency is completely and utterly broken!
As he reviewed the sleek, hyper-optimized energy pathways of the new technique in his mind, Kaelen realized his masterpiece still needed a proper, intimidating title.
In the future, I'll definitely absorb and fuse even more high-tier Conduit Arts to upgrade this engine further. So, for the base model, let's call it... the Astral Mantra!
Kaelen was practically buzzing with joy after forging the Astral Mantra.
But since its base code was constructed from two mere Mortal Tier manuals, he knew its Aether-absorption rate wasn't truly 'infinite' yet.
When I finally gain access to the Ascendant-level manuals upstairs and fuse every known method into a single, unified theory... that will be the true, god-killing Astral Mantra!
...
The remainder of the workday vanished in a blur of highly productive slacking.
Kaelen had barely spent three hours secretly circulating the Astral Mantra—which was already regenerating his Aether reserves at a terrifyingly rapid pace—when the lunch chime echoed through the halls.
Clocking out the absolute millisecond his shift ended was Kaelen's most ironclad, unbreakable religious principle.
He promptly punched his card and met up with Xander to hit the cafeteria.
"Bro, I read on the dark web that the Sanguine Fiend has been accelerating his timeline. He's claiming victims faster now. The entire population of Neo-Veridia is having a collective panic attack. You seriously need to watch your back when you walk home, Kaelen."
Sitting across the table, Xander warned him gravely, his words slightly muffled by a mouthful of synthetic noodles.
"You're telling me to be careful?"
Kaelen popped a piece of braised pork knuckle into his mouth, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"Yes! Look at you! You're a good-looking, fair-skinned, delicate little archivist. You're exactly the prime demographic those psychotic Blood Cultists love to drain!"
Xander shook his head, sighing with the heavy burden of being the 'responsible' friend. "You're physically weak, Kaelen. Even the ambient shockwaves from two Awakened experts fighting three blocks away could accidentally liquefy your organs.
"I don't have a lot of real friends in this corporate hellscape, and you're one of the few I tolerate. If you ever run into actual danger out there... just run. Don't try to be a hero. Don't even think twice."
"Yeah, I hear you. This world is way too unpredictable."
Kaelen completely understood Xander's genuine concern and didn't bother arguing his 'delicate' status.
He just sighed inwardly. When the sky actually falls, there will always be someone taller, or stupider, to hold it up. I have absolutely zero desire to be a comic-book hero eliminating evil for the ungrateful masses, let alone harbor some tragic, self-sacrificing complex to serve the state.
I just want to be an invisible nobody with god-like power, living a highly comfortable, peaceful life. Is that really too much to ask?