The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 133: Chapter 131 — Lies

It took Zephyrion mere moments to finish comprehending all of Victor Jasper’s research.

It turned out to have been a great catch, as he had discovered something truly valuable within it.

Victor Jasper had dedicated his entire life to searching for a way for Ascendants to break past the limitation of single-element usage. Because of this, all of his research had been centered around the root cause behind it all; resonance.

People’s resonance had always aligned with a single element, limiting their ability to use the runes of other elements. The general knowledge had always been that one was born with their resonance, and there was no changing it.

However, Victor Jasper had stated otherwise.

According to him, resonance was divided into two categories: Alignment and Compatibility.

Alignment was what the world generally knew as resonance. It referred to the intensity at which one’s existence aligned with the WorldPulse.

This determined how seamless the connection and communication between a person and the WorldPulse would be.

The second was something Victor had discovered during the course of his research, and it had been what started the entire process in the first place.

Compatibility.

This determined which element one’s existence aligned with, and which element a person would be capable of using.

However, unlike Alignment, Compatibility was not formed at birth. It was tied to one’s sense of self, shaped through existence, environment, and upbringing.

In simple terms, a child born within a household of metal Ascendants would usually be raised around concepts such as resolve, rigidity, and endurance.

Each of these aligned with metal, causing the child’s existence to gradually lean toward the metal element as well.

Victor’s experiments had essentially been attempts to artificially rewrite this process.

He believed that if he could rewrite an Ascendant’s sense of self, then he would be able to break the limitation of single-element usage entirely.

To achieve this, Victor had resorted to numerous methods throughout the years, but had eventually settled on one.

Pain.

Through overwhelming pain, he attempted to rewrite an Ascendant’s sense of self, reducing them into a sort of blank canvas.

Unfortunately, after hundreds, perhaps thousands, of deaths, Victor had eventually concluded that human identities were simply too coherent and stable. They were far too difficult to erase completely.

This was why he had ultimately resorted to using beasts.

Unlike humans, beasts possessed far more instinctive and adaptable identities, and through countless attempts, Victor had eventually achieved breakthroughs.

Done going over the research in his mind, Zephyrion released a slow breath as his eyes gradually narrowed in thought.

Victor Jasper’s research, while utterly maddening, made an alarming amount of sense.

The world was divided into elemental empires, each possessing its own truths, beliefs, and religions. From childhood, the people of each empire were conditioned in ways that reflected those truths.

For Ferrans, strength through tempering. Endurance. Resolve. Rigidity.

During their formative years, these teachings likely played a role in shaping their Compatibility itself.

If that were truly the case, then one’s element was not determined at birth, but gradually shaped through environment and upbringing.

Yet these religions had existed since the era of the elemental gods themselves. Zephyrion found it difficult to believe beings of such power would have been ignorant of something like this.

Which meant the world’s religions, empires, perhaps even the entire elemental system itself... had likely been intentionally designed to divide humanity into different paths for reasons still unknown to him.

Regardless, Zephyrion did not particularly care that the world was being lied to.

What interested him more was what this meant for him personally.

If Compatibility was truly determined by upbringing, then what about him?

He had been raised within one of the ruling houses of the Ferran Empire. Resolve and rigidity had been ingrained into his very existence since childhood.

Yet despite that, he could still wield multiple elements.

Of course, it was possible Victor Jasper’s research was flawed. However, Zephyrion found that unlikely.

After all, the man’s research had been backed by concrete evidence. He had successfully created beasts capable of wielding multiple elements.

Which meant the most likely explanation was that Zephyrion’s resonance itself was... different.

After all, he had never encountered anyone whose resonance rivaled his own. As for how that allowed him to wield multiple elements, even he did not know.

’Hmm...’

Zephyrion’s gaze lingered on the research papers before him. Every detail had already been committed to memory in case he ever chose to make use of it in the future.

What remained now was deciding how the papers themselves should be handled.

Victor Jasper’s research essentially proved that the current elemental system had been intentionally constructed rather than naturally formed.

In every sense, it was blasphemous. Anyone caught possessing such research would be hunted down without hesitation, and the papers reduced to ash.

It was dangerous.

Still, Zephyrion’s expression remained calm.

’Sell it.’

Risk was not a concept Zephyrion was unfamiliar with. His entire existence within the Order had been built upon calculated risks.

Though the ideal path was always to maintain enough control over a situation that risk itself became unnecessary, Zephyrion had long since accepted that in this world, achieving one’s goals required reaching for them.

The alternative was remaining passive.

And no one had ever achieved anything through passivity.

Having reached that conclusion, Zephyrion calmly packed away the papers before storing them safely.

...

The next day, training within Calderalth continued as usual. It was as though the week spent on the mission had already been forgotten entirely.

The iron trainees arrived early and began their usual run.

It wasn’t long before shocked whispers began spreading across the training grounds.

”He got even faster?!”

”H-how the hell is that even possible?!”

”Don’t tell me that monster advanced again...!”

”...that’s bullshit...”

The trainees of the iron division stared at Zephyrion moving like a blur with utter disbelief. Normally, by this point, it would have been around the twentieth time he had passed them.

But it had already gone beyond thirty-five.

Fiona and Kaiden maintained their positions at the front of the group, both looking deathly pale from forcing themselves to move faster.

In contrast, not a single drop of sweat clung to Zephyrion.

’It’s affecting my movement.’

Zephyrion could barely feel any resistance hindering his motion. The air, gravity, even his own body felt as though he were slipping through them.

Though he had not activated the rune art, Slip State, his body seemed to be instinctively manipulating the WorldPulse to reproduce a similar effect, albeit with far less potency.

His movements now felt lighter. Faster. More efficient.

Even with triple the weight attached to his body, he ran past the trainees effortlessly.

”Ahh, such beautiful rivalry.”

Demorian floated beside him, staring at the other trainees with a wistful look.

”I remember this sort of thing from my era. The men used to glare at me with so much hatred because I kept stealing all the women. Like I was supposed to care she was your woman. With a chest like that, how dare you monopolize public treasure?”

Zephyrion resisted the urge to sigh.

Due to their agreement, he had promised not to restrict Demorian’s appearances during a certain part of the day.

Since Zephyrion’s schedule mostly revolved around training either in his room or on the training grounds, Demorian had naturally chosen the latter.

Zephyrion was beginning to regret that decision.

’You’re distracting me.’

”Ah, my apologies, protege. I was merely admiring the scenery.”

’...you do realize they’re all seventeen-year-olds.’

”...Damn, really?” Demorian frowned deeply. ”Children in this era mature alarmingly fast. What a tragic age to be born in.”

He muttered under his breath about what a waste it was before suddenly pausing, as though he had just noticed something. His eyes immediately lit up.

”Oh? My protege... this is perfect!”

’...what are you talking about?’

”Your glorious journey toward acquiring women, of course!”

Demorian declared enthusiastically.

”Training grounds are where these things begin! Sweat! Rivalry! Hidden admiration! This is the foundation of romance! Given your talent, there’s no way you don’t already have admirers.”

Demorian swept his gaze across the training grounds. Nearly every eye present was focused on Zephyrion. Eventually, his gaze settled on a particular figure and a wide grin spread across his face.

”...what about her? That one’s already halfway gone. You probably won’t even need to try.”

Zephyrion followed his gaze toward Fiona, who had been glancing at him with a faint blush lingering across her face.

’...no.’

”Come on. I’m trying to save your catastrophically depressing love life here.” Demorian refused to give up. ”Just take off your shirt once and watch the women collectively lose their minds.”

Zephyrion’s brows furrowed slightly as he cast Demorian a flat look.

’...do you want to go back into the rod?’

”What?! Go back?” Demorian’s eyes widened immediately. ”My time isn’t even up yet!”

He protested instantly, but the moment he saw the look on Zephyrion’s face, his entire posture shrank.

”...I’ll be quiet.”

’Good.’