The Deceitful One

Friday, 10th December 1580.

The sunrise crisply shone on the snowy streets of Damascus, bringing with it a deluge of early morning activities.

Workers could be seen shoveling the snow on the streets, making sure that the steam cars along with the few horse-drawn carriages had a clear path for transport.

The light of dawn seeped into Bryan\'s apartment as he slowly opened his bleary eyes. He removed the blanket that was on top of him, got up from the bed, and walked to the window.

A shade of rosy hue decorated the morning sky as the sun gradually rose. Today was yet another off-day for Bryan and like always, he was planning to spend it at home.

Bryan turned around and then walked toward his bathroom to freshen up. He was ready to begin his day.

Ten minutes later, after having taken a warm bath, Bryan exited the bathroom with a white towel tied around his waist. He went to the wardrobe in his bedroom and took out another clean pair of white pajamas to wear.

After getting dressed, he headed to the kitchen to cook himself some breakfast. He almost always had eggs, bacon, and bread in the morning and today would be no different.

Another ten minutes later, a delicious aroma wafted out from the kitchen. A few minutes following that, Bryan exited the kitchen with two plates in his hand and an eager expression on his face.

He had cooked two sunny sides up, cut up half a piece of baguette, and four strips of fried bacon. He picked up the cutleries and dug in with great enjoyment.

As he was eating, he planned out his activities for the day, which consisted of meditating, refining the mask, Deceit, and then meditating again.

Bryan was going to make the most of his day off from work. By being productive and of course, staying warm.

After finishing his breakfast, he washed the plates in the sink and hopped onto his bed. Sitting in a lotus position, he calmed his mind by taking a few deep breaths first.

A few moments later, he entered a trance-like state as the energy particles in the air swirled around him and gradually entered his mind.

He had now begun the process of carving mind runes!

Meditation was a tedious process and the more one advanced, the longer it took to carve the mind runes. Because after each rank the mind runes became more and more detailed and one required extremely high concentration and precision to carve them.

With each mind rune the spiritual force increased. In the Apprentice stage, one had to carve a Toal of 54 mind runes.

9 runes for Rank 1, 18 runes for Rank 2, and finally 27 runes for Rank 3. After one has carved 54 mind runes, they would then have to combine the 54 mind runes into one and fuse it with their soul.

This would result in the formation of the sea of consciousness. This was one of the two criteria to advance to a Transcendent. The second criterion was the Rank 1 potion.

Only when these two requirements were met would the Apprentice transcend the mortal flesh and truly become a Transcendent!

Of course, one could still become a Transcendent by directly drinking the Rank 1 potion and completely ignoring the meditation technique. However, this had latent risks.

The mental imprint brought about by the potion would turn the Transcendent into the very monster whose ingredients were used to concoct the potion. Like the case with Kenny Adams.

That is why meditation techniques and potions were considered the two sides of the same coin. Meditation techniques strengthened the soul whereas potions strengthened the body, forming the perfect balance.

After a peaceful three-hour-long meditation, Bryan opened his eyes which shone like dark gems. He thoroughly examined the mind rune he had just carved and smiled.

\'I have finally carved the 40th mind rune. Another 14 to go and I can finally advance become a Transcendent!\' He thought gleefully.

Bryan then got off the bed and did some stretching. After sitting in the same position for over three hours, his joints felt a little stiff.

After stretching for a few minutes, Bryan got back on the bed and sat down in a lotus position once again. He then took out Deceit from his silver pocket watch.

The refinement process for this artifact took a long time. And there were still a few more months to go before Bryan completely refined this mask.

\'As expected of a God-Level Artifact! If it wasn\'t for me being a descendant of Medici, I would have never been able to refine it. Not until I became a High-String Transcendent, at least.\' Bryan thought in his heart.

He then held the mask with both his hand and began to inject spiritual force in order to refine it. But right at the moment, he heard someone knock on his door.

Knock Knock Knock!

Bryan\'s eyebrows furrowed as he wasn\'t expecting anyone to visit him today. He deftly put Deceit back into the pocket watch and took out Hand Cannon from it after.

He then walked towards the door and asked, "Who is it?"

"Bryan, it\'s me," Elijah answered from outside the door.

However, Bryan still didn\'t put down his guard. He walked closer to the door, extended his spiritual force out of his body, and checked outside the door.

Through his embryonic form of spiritual sense, he could vaguely see two figures standing outside. And he recognized these two figures.

Relieved, Bryan finally let down his guard and opened the door.

Elijah and Andrew entered Bryan\'s apartment. This wasn\'t the first time they were visiting, so with great familiarity they walked to the living room, however, they didn\'t take a seat.

Andrew noticed the pistol Bryan was holding as he closed the door and couldn\'t help but ask, "You\'re so vigilant, even at home?"

Bryan pointed to the ground with the pistol and shrugged, "There\'s no helping it. Did you forget? Someone tried to assassinate me right in this apartment."

Andrew chuckled, "Fair enough."

"Anyways, why are you guys here?" Bryan inquired as he put away the pistol.

Elijah replied solemnly, "There\'s an emergency!"