In the afternoon, sunlight spilled evenly across the stone pavement of New Eridu's Lumina Plaza.
Ling and her brother Wise moved through the bustling crowd with several shopping bags in hand—packed so full the handles cut sharp red lines into Ling's pale palms. A few boxes of instant ramen, fresh vegetables, discounted everyday clothes… plain, necessary supplies. Ling muttered a quiet complaint as she walked.
Wise, steadier as always, said nothing—he simply took a few bags from her to share the weight.
Eisen walked beside them, his hands also loaded with shopping bags, just like the siblings.
He didn't do what he usually did—tuck everything away into that convenient personal space of his. Instead, he carried the bags clumsily like an ordinary person would.
His eyes reflected the vibrant prosperity of Lumina Plaza: high-rise buildings, enormous billboards, pedestrians of every shape and style, and the strange, abstract sculptures unique to this world.
Eisen had already absorbed most of the information about New Eridu—and this world—on the level of data. But that "knowledge" was fundamentally different from what he felt now: the noise, the temperature, the smell of food and exhaust, the flow of light across glass and skin.
Cold data can describe the concept of an execution threshold: define it, list the conditions, record its social consequences.
But no amount of stacked information can make you truly understand what kind of hell awaits someone ground into dust by society's gears—or how many inhuman gray-market chains have grown like mold around that single line.
History can write: "A great famine; people ate each other."
Six light words. Weightless.
But if you lived through the scorched earth, the starving corpses, the despair so deep that people traded bones and flesh—how many would stay calm?
Ink on paper always feels shallow.
Watching the human world from the clouds is one thing. Barefoot in the mud, feeling its cold, sticky pull—another entirely.
For Eisen, he preferred this: measuring and experiencing the world with his own eyes.
Not the abstract impressions he'd received before—like Black Swan's list, reduced to vague sensory descriptions.
Perhaps a truly omniscient, omnipotent being could hold both perspectives at once: the panoramic overview and the microscopic, lived empathy.
But Eisen had never been that.
He was only… strong.
Strong enough to do many things.
And still unable to do many others.
Just then, Eisen's gaze snapped to a familiar figure across the street.
Hoshimi Miyabi.
She was walking in from the direction of the HIA building.
Her colleagues from Section 6—Tsukishiro Yanagi, Soukaku, and Asaba Harumasa—had already reached the far end of the opposite sidewalk and were waiting in their own various poses.
Only Miyabi remained in the middle of the crosswalk—on the bold white stripes of the zebra crossing.
Her movements were strangely… focused.
She kept her head slightly lowered, eyes locked on her feet. Each time she lifted her foot, she placed it precisely on a white stripe—then stopped, standing still for a brief beat—before stepping again, landing on the next stripe without fail.
She moved very slowly, as if performing a solemn ritual, ignoring the hurried pedestrians around her—and as if she didn't notice the looks from her teammates: a mix of mild helplessness and the familiar resignation of people who'd long since accepted this behavior.
The red-light countdown on the traffic signal ticked down in silence, the numbers shrinking.
Miyabi remained unhurried—step… pause… step…
Finally, at the last instant before the light flipped, she planted her foot on the final white stripe, stepped onto the sidewalk, and rejoined her colleagues.
In Eisen's pupils, a faint glint flashed—so subtle it was almost invisible.
He murmured under his breath, voice threaded with astonishment.
"So that's it… That's how Miss Hoshimi Miyabi tugs at the Origin's authority inside No-Tail…"
He instinctively wanted to rub his chin—only to remember his hands were full of shopping bags.
"Huh?"
Ling immediately turned toward him, eyes bright with curiosity.
"What did you just mutter, Group Owner?"
Following his line of sight, she also saw Section 6 gathering across the street.
"Oh, it's Miyabi and them."
Eisen didn't answer her question directly. Instead, he proposed with obvious interest:
"Perfect timing. Why don't we go over right now and pull her into the subgroup? Fast and efficient."
"No, no!"
Ling shook her head hard, her face full of discomfort.
"Now isn't like the future! We're close with Miyabi later—not yet. Right now I'm a complete stranger to her. If I walk up and say, 'Hi, in the future you'll become my close friend, join my magical chat group,' she'll think I'm insane—or a suspicious person!"
She paused, then spoke seriously.
"We need a proper opportunity—get her alone, explain everything clearly."
Beside her, Wise sighed and rubbed his forehead.
Eisen, meanwhile, gave Ling a profoundly odd up-and-down look.
That look said, very plainly:
So you only ever use the Word-Spirit Tights to brainwash your brother, huh?
Other people—especially future allies like Miyabi—you suddenly care about consent. You won't force them.
But unlike Bringer, Miyabi wasn't an enemy—and Wise also agreed that using word-spirit mind control on a future companion was inappropriate, so he didn't suggest it either.
Maybe only siblings like them—bound by deep trust and history—could use such a blunt method of "forced belief" without hesitation.
Eisen shelved the urge to comment on Ling's selective morality and returned to the point.
"There was something just now."
His tone sharpened slightly.
"In that instant, Miyabi got stronger."
"Stronger?"
Ling and Wise echoed at the same time, faces filled with disbelief.
They looked again. Miyabi was talking to her teammates as if nothing had happened.
Eisen continued calmly.
"She just imposed a constraint on herself—she had to cross the street stepping only on the white stripes. And when she maintained that constraint and completed the goal, her power increased by a sliver."
"It's extremely subtle, but it's real."
Ling's eyes widened even more. She stared at the ordinary zebra crossing like it had become an alien artifact.
"A constraint… like walking on the lines? Stepping white stripes across the road? And that… makes you stronger?"
Her voice rose, shaken.
"Isn't that way too silly? If you can get stronger like that, then what are other people training for? Fighting on the edge of death, bleeding and sweating—what, just to look stupidly hardworking?"
Wise's brows also knitted tight, clearly stunned by how violently this clashed with common sense.
Eisen, however, remained steady, and began to break it down.
"This isn't random or childish."
"My guess is Miyabi does things like this frequently—maybe even unconsciously. She's used to setting tiny rules or goals for herself and following them with absolute discipline."
"It's that long-term behavioral pattern that inadvertently tugs at the Origin's authority fragment inside No-Tail."
He looked at Ling.
"Ling… doesn't this feel familiar? It's very similar to the Seer's ability you mentioned."
"Set a goal—if it's achieved, you receive power as feedback."
"In essence… it's a highly personalized quest system…"
Eisen's sentence cut off mid-breath.
At the same time, Ling whispered, almost blankly:
"A quest system…"
They both snapped their eyes to each other—as if struck by the same bolt of lightning.
Shock flashed in both their gazes.
Because they had both realized the same thing.
A group item created by extracting Ling's core concept—
Rope-Net Commission.
Its description and the pattern Eisen had just described—Miyabi's constraint → completion → reward—were practically identical.
The Rope-Net Commission was literally a task system: it generated missions, and if members completed them, they received direct power infusions or upgrades.
And yet, in their hands…
It had almost become a decorative prop.
Tsunade was consumed by her ninja-world reforms and chakra-network research.
Sakiko was racing from crisis to crisis to deal with her father's shadow.
Mash and Chaldea carried the burden of safeguarding human order.
Ling herself was obsessed with finding Teacher and solving the Origin problem.
Everyone had their own battlefield. Who had the time to chase random, irrelevant errands the Rope-Net Commission spawned?
As for Kafka…
She'd practically entered a "do nothing" state.
For now, the Stellaron Hunters had no script to execute, and Kafka's missing fear—because of Eisen's interference—had also removed her motivation to pursue it.
And Eisen himself—undisputed strongest in the group—spent most of his energy acting as an insurance policy across worlds, and handling the hard problems for other members.
So this tool, meant to be a quest system, had been reduced to something like a daily feed:
Refresh it when bored, see what weird mission text pops up, treat it like scrolling short videos…
Sometimes it even offered useful intel—like when Tsunade happened to refresh something critical.
Mostly, though, it was just for amusement.
Actually completing the missions?
Almost no one did.
"The Seer… Miyabi…"
Eisen's eyes grew brighter and brighter, as if the path had finally clicked into place.
"Ling—this might be the correct direction for developing your dormant Creator Authority."
"The design of Rope-Net Commission itself… is the biggest hint!"
Ling's brain caught up, and her eyes went round.
"You mean…?"
"Yes."
Eisen's words came faster now.
"You should imitate what that Seer does—more precisely, imitate the Rope-Net Commission's operating mechanism."
"Actively impose obstacles, tasks, or challenges on specific people."
"When they complete the goals you set, it becomes a trigger—tugging at the dormant Creator Authority inside you—and granting them power or rewards."
"And every successful 'tug' is a tempering, a resonance—an exercise of your Authority itself."
"Repeat that enough times. Quantitative accumulation becomes qualitative change."
"And step by step, you should be able to seize that Creator-level power."
Ling's face lit up. She nodded hard.
"Got it!"
"So it's basically grinding EXP—fill the bar, level up, unlock new skills, right?"
"Exactly."
Eisen nodded firmly, then glanced back toward where Miyabi and Section 6 had already disappeared into the crowd.
"I suggest we start the experiment with Miyabi."
"She's already able to tug at the Origin's authority fragment on her own. That means she has natural compatibility with the 'constraint–completion–reward' pattern."
"Let her complete tasks you set. Use her as the ignition point to activate and guide your Authority."
"Highest success probability. Possibly the highest efficiency."
Ling nodded so hard her enthusiasm practically sparked.
"You're right!"
"Then we need to speed things up—get Miyabi into my subgroup as soon as possible. No delays!"
The sunset draped HIA's headquarters in warm gold, glazing its cold metal outer wall.
After finishing the day's work—and especially after successfully completing her daily training of absolutely not attending high-level meetings—Hoshimi Miyabi finally reached the moment she'd been waiting for:
Clocking out.
She tidied her desk, took the uniform coat from her chair, and prepared to ride the internal rail line back to the Hoshimi estate as usual.
Just then, the private phone on her desk lit up silently and vibrated with the faintest tremor.
Miyabi calmly picked it up.
An SMS notification—sent from a completely unfamiliar number.
There was no name. No subject line.
Her fingers paused.
As New Eridu's top-tier Void-Hunter-grade combat power, Miyabi's privacy protection level was extremely high. Ordinary fans, media, even most official agencies could never reach this number.
She had essentially never received spam.
So who was it?
She tapped the screen. The message loaded.
Only one image.
The instant the picture finished rendering, the calm in Miyabi's eyes shattered.
Her pupils tightened sharply.
In the image—
A hair ornament.
Its style was antique and refined—unmistakably Hoshimi-family in character.
Every tiny detail. Every microscopic scuff.
She knew them all.
It was the ornament she had commissioned as a replica of her mother's relic.
Miyabi raised her hand on instinct, touching the back of her head.
The cool, familiar touch beneath her fingertips loosened her tension for a fraction of a second—the real ornament was still pinned in her hair.
But that only deepened the puzzle—and sharpened her alarm.
She removed the ornament from her hair.
Her fingers moved quickly, enlarging the received image to maximum zoom, comparing it to the real object in her hand with obsessive precision.
The curve of the design. The tiny chips. The unique oxidized coloration of the metal…
Perfect.
The ornament in the image was identical to the one in her palm.
Who was this?
How did they get such a clear, perfectly detailed image?
When was it taken?
And why send it to her?
As if the sender had timed it precisely for the instant her mind reeled, the unfamiliar number buzzed again—another message appearing on-screen.
"Meet me at the Sixth Street ramen shop. Keep your movements hidden. Don't tell anyone."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
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Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 150)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter190)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter105)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter225)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 195
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 170
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 225
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 210
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 115
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 130
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 105
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 90
My Harem Is Indescribable 85
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 90
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 100
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 75
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 60
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 71
Checking In in Demon Slayer 75
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 80
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 66
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 58
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 65
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 63
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 59
Why did they assign me to Uma 55
MYGO Beauties 56
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 45
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 49
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 36
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 35
The Uma Musume Who Became 30
I'm Definitely Not the King of 35
After Maxing Out Every Class 35
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