Chapter 52: Information Layer, Unexpected Surprise (5)
"Alright, how do I get out of here?" Grey inquired to Eterna after he was done looking through his brand-new technique.
"..." Eterna silently stared at Grey for a while before speaking. "Just imagine your body falling down — you’ll get back to the real world."
"Oh, alright." Grey nodded and immediately imagined himself falling down from a sea of clouds.
He didn’t even bother saying farewell to Eterna, and before he knew it, he was back in his old world.
"I’m back in my body." Grey stretched his arms. He could now sense his heartbeat, muscles, and skin. At the same time, he also felt a distant realm from within his mind — that feeling came from the cognitive anchor embedded with his spiritual conduit. It was directly connected to the information layer, where he could draw information from.
"Alright, it’s time to go home." Grey nodded and turned to switch off the terminal, which now had a blank screen on it.
Just then, Manager Victor abruptly rushed into the training room with a panicked look on his face.
"Huh?" The instant he rushed in, several Evolvers from the Association followed behind him, and he froze with a stunned expression when he saw Grey.
"Oh, it’s Manager Victor." Grey greeted him. "What brings you here?"
Just then, a voice rang in his mind — one he was very familiar with, as he had just finished talking to it a few minutes ago.
"Your breakthrough put a heavy load on the cosmic energy-gathering array below the Association. The amount you took was far more than the array could handle at once," Eterna spoke clearly within his mind — or through his Mind Link, to be accurate.
"..." Grey fell silent when he heard her voice. "From stalking me indirectly, you decided to stalk me directly by entering my head?"
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
"You are connected to the Blue Star Network." Eterna’s figure manifested from the corner of his vision — in his Mind Link interface, to be more exact. "The Blue Star Network is a part of me. It is not my fault that I am connected directly to you now."
"..." Grey sighed upon hearing this. "Whatever, just don’t randomly start talking in my head. People will think I’m crazy."
"..." Eterna just silently stared at Grey before vanishing.
Back to Grey — Manager Victor, seeing it was him, greeted him with a dumbfounded smile. "It was you, Young Grey."
"Indeed." Grey nodded. They had just met this morning, but he didn’t expect to meet him again today.
"Young Master Grey, there was suddenly a spike in cosmic energy in this area. It was so massive that the sky above the Evolvers’ Association twisted due to the storm of energy gathering at one place. It even overloaded the array..." Manager Victor trailed off, expecting an answer from Grey.
"It was me." Grey nodded. "I needed energy to undergo a breakthrough."
"Huh?" Hearing the word breakthrough, Manager Victor’s eyes shot open.
He swiftly took out an eyewear device from his pocket and put it on. Immediately, a shocked expression appeared on his face.
"This... Life Level 2..." Manager Victor was flabbergasted.
Didn’t this guy say he just finished metamorphosis today...?
What sort of speed was this?
Besides, Level 2 in a single day?
"This... Young Master Grey." Manager Victor trembled with wide eyes. "Have you actually achieved a breakthrough?"
"Indeed, I have." Grey nodded with a smile.
"This..." Manager Victor was bewildered. He had never encountered something like this before.
Even his sister, Alissa, took a week to advance from one level to another.
Shaking his thoughts away, he spoke to Grey. "Since it was Young Master Grey, it can be overlooked. However, next time, please contact me personally when you want to undergo a breakthrough. I will make the necessary arrangements for you. You don’t need to draw in so much cosmic energy. I will arrange a Tier-2 potion for you, Young Master Grey. As we said before, we will provide all the resources you need."
Hearing this, Grey simply nodded. "Alright, I’ll keep that in mind."
"Alright, Young Master Grey, I won’t disturb you further." Manager Victor said as he left the room with the guards.
At the same time, he had a shocked expression on his face as he passed by.
This level of monstrosity was something he had only seen within the legendary floating cities.
...
Back to Grey, he took a quick shower, wiping away any impurities that were stuck to his body before heading out with Mimi, who now jumped onto his shoulders and laid down comfortably around his neck.
"These energy-gathering arrays — they’re formations, right? Like the cosmic energy conversion diagram?" Grey asked in his mind. He wasn’t talking to himself but to Eterna.
"Yes." Eterna’s figure materialized in his mind, "Formations are structured systems designed to interact with the workings of Heaven. You can think of them as coded sequences — symbols, lines, and energy nodes arranged into patterns that serve as commands. Each configuration corresponds to a specific principle of Heaven, and when executed properly, they form a complete instruction set. In essence, formations are a language — a framework that allows cultivators to communicate with Heaven, request its response, and channel its power in a controlled manner."
"I’m surprised that you actually responded," Grey said with a bit of surprise on his face. "You really are following me, aren’t you?"
"..." Eterna said nothing again and vanished.
But on the other hand it made sense, people utilized Eterna to ask her questions all the time. So it wasn’t a surprise that she responded. She had to respond either way.
Grey shook his head and continued walking. Before going back home, he planned to stop by the Golden Chamber and buy books related to formations.
Formation Masters — that was an actual occupation in this world, and they were respected by everyone. Even Evolvers respected them. He decided to pick up a thing or two about formations — they could always be utilized in combat.
Hence, he decided to head straight to Sector 6’s Golden Chamber. It was open 24/7, so it didn’t matter even if it was this late at night. Even after entering, he saw many Evolvers there purchasing or selling things like monster carcasses from the Outer Ring and other materials.