Kharon's hand began to phase through. Shortly after, his body followed as he entered the apartment. Looking around, the whole place was filled with shelves and mountains of books. Kharon scanned the room as he quietly walked around. Noticing something, he bent down as he picked up a familiar book.
'The History of Lunaris Haven, by Leonard Regane. Could Philip be a bit of a historian? Or maybe he just wants to know more about the past. Like me...'
Placing back the book in its exact spot, Kharon continued to scan the room. The place was fairly small but heavily furnished, with books. Kharon walked into several different rooms before finding his target. Sitting on a desk opposite to his bed was a young man; no older than twenty-with long brown hair which was tied in a manbun and soft, fair skin. His eyes were glued to the page of a book as he read it as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.
Kharon watched him silently as he walked into the room. Philip didn't seem to notice his presence as he continued to read his book with great focus.
'How can someone be this engrossed with a book? He should have at least noticed the slightly colder air in the room. His instincts don't seem to be the best. This should be quick-'
Suddenly, Kharon was ensnared by invisible chains as he struggled against them. He looked up at Philip whose eyes seemed to be staring directly at his soul. Kharon broke into a cold sweat as he realised his mistake.
'I was overconfident and let my guard down. How didn't I notice the trap he set?! I was careful when entering and I couldn't sense any runeweaves. Using True Sight might have been worth the risk. He found me either way. These chains are far from normal; they seem to be targeting my soul. Is he using ancient runes...? Regardless of if that's the case, I already have a solution.'
Philip slowly stood up from his seat as he began walking towards Kharon. His presence seemed to press on Kharon's mind. With each step he took, the stronger the pressure became. Kharon remained as still as a statue while Philip began analysing him. His now green eyes moved so quickly that Kharon failed to keep up with their movement. As Philip slowly outstretched his hand, he realised something was wrong. But it was already too late as Kharon smirked.
A large flash of light blinded Philip as Kharon broke free from his restraints. He quickly jumped back as he phased through the wall. While doing this, he activated Silent Craft. An invisible chain shot forward towards Philip with great speed like a ray of light. Noticing the faint changes in the air, Philip anticipated its trajectory and dodged it. But suddenly, Kharon phased back into the room as he appeared behind Philip. Following this, the chain suddenly changed direction. It flew at great speeds as it coiled around Philip like a snake constricting its prey.
'It's a good thing that I have safety measures. If I didn't have a premade runeweave to disable other lesser ones, then I would have been done for. I guess the illumination runeweave also helped. I hope it will help the other members as well. Unless they are able to handle the situation without it. That would be ideal.'
Kharon sighed as he looked at Philip cautiously. The chain constricted even more as Kharon drew a quick runeweave and integrated it into his chains. Suddenly, Philip seemed to grow weaker as he stopped resisting the chain's pressure. Kharon walked towards him as he stared into his eyes and gave him a friendly smile.
"Hello, Philip Graystone. I am the Architect. The leader of an organisation called the Null Order. The reason I am here is to try and recruit you. Would you be interested in joining us? This is a one in a lifetime opportunity for you to do something big. Our organisation intends on overthrowing the Arcane Association and all that it represents. Are you interested...?"
"No. I have never heard of your organisation before. It must be quite small and feeble if it has to send its leader to recruit members. The power you can mobilise isn't very impressive to say the least. As the leader shouldn't you be, at least a tier higher than the rest?"
Kharon nodded his head as he maintained his friendly smile.
'He truly is quite sharp. But it doesn't prove that he is very capable. What can I do to convince him...? There should be something he is interested in. Maybe he has a secret I can help him with. He is really into books and history considering his living space. Offering him some knowledge from the past could work.'
"You are right about our organisation being small. But it doesn't mean it's weak. Can you really dismiss the fact that I captured you despite your earlier trap? I may not be a tier 3 wielder yet, but I soon will be. The Null Order doesn't want to gain control of the whole world or anything. Our main goal is to simply make the Arcane Paths more accessible. Your class shouldn't determine your future. Should it?"
Philip seemed to pause as he thought about the question. Kharon watched him as they looked at each other before Philip asked, "Why would you break into my house and fight me if you wanted to recruit me? It doesn't make much sense."
'Is he avoiding the question? Well considering his job and background, I would say he is from a middle class family. But for him to be a wielder, he must have worked quite hard. As far as I know the noble families and Association have a monopoly on the path of knowledge and a few others...'
"I was testing your security measures. At first I thought they were a bit disappointing considering your path. But you more than made up for it with that trap. Fighting you is a lot quicker than waiting for you to sleep. I thought you were going to spend your whole night reading. Well, if you aren't interested in joining us, then I will take my leave shortly-"
"I am interested. But I am guessing there is a catch. Will I have to give a portion of my money to the organisation? Or will I have to become a puppet of sorts?"
'He is quite the pessimist. I wonder what caused him to become like this. It must have been quite a tragic event. Or maybe he is just very skeptical of others. Knowledge can be as much of a blessing as it is a curse...'
Kharon sighed as he answered, "You will need to go through three trials before you can join. But considering your intelligence, I can allow you to skip one of them. Your life wouldn't be directly affected by the organisation. You will be free to go about it as you want. But sometimes, there will be missions which you have to do. As for finances, it's optional if you want to contribute to the organisation's fund. When you go on missions, you can request funds from the Null Order to carry it out."
Philip eyed Kharon skeptically as he asked, "The organisation pays for any expense during missions? Wouldn't that lead to funds being depleted fairly quickly?"
"To get funds you would need to write a request. I will explain more about it if you managed to complete all three trials."
As he said this, Kharon pulled out a black ring from his bag as he slipped it onto Philip's finger. He snapped his fingers and in an instant, Philip was gone. Kharon began to vanish, reappearing in his seat at the Eclipse Sanctum. He quickly stood up as he went down the stairs and walked through the corridor. He looked into one of the rooms as he saw Zack fast asleep. He pointed at him as Zack began to levitate.
Shortly after, Freya walked out of the pantry with a plate of food. Seeing Zack's floating body she chuckled before asking, "Is he already in the room?"
Kharon nodded at her as he continued to walk. They all walked into a room overlooking a wide city as Philip stood at its centre. He was warily eyeing the place when he seemed to notice something in the grey sky. Kharon's eyes slightly widened as Philip looked straight at him and smirked.
'That is quite impressive... I am not fully sure how he did it. But that feat alone is worthy of respect.'
Smiling back at him, Kharon snapped his fingers. Philip seemed to immediately be put under a high amount of pressure as his legs dug into the ground. The buildings began to crack and crumble under the pressure. A large, looming shadow was suddenly formed as something began to fall from the sky.
"It seems like he is being subjected to enhanced gravity. I would estimate it is about x500 the Earth's gravity. But I could be wrong considering how the Arcane Obelisk has enhanced the whole world."
Zack woke up as he was placed on the ground by Kharon. He looked at the scene before him as he said, "Destroying a mountain while in the real world would be closer to destroying a continent if the world wasn't reinforced by aether and the Obelisk."
"Then I guess Philip is in a bit of trouble. The Room of Trials is made to simulate several aspects of the real world. But a city is a city and a mountain is a mountain. They aren't really reinforced by aether. I am not trying to kill potential recruits."
Freya joined in the conversation as she added, "We will just have to wait and see."
Philip looked up at the sky as he saw the large meteorite descending upon him. His lips slightly quivered as he said, "So this is what they call a trial..."