Watching the teleportation array was an outstandingly important job, one which many members of the Bureau spent years training the requisite skills to do, not to mention the extensive application process. Among the various guilds, the concept of a singular hub organizing multiple locations for teleportation had only been theorized recently, with an unaffiliated person presenting not only the final component magic circles and materials, but also a completed hub to normalize its usage.
The Hub, as some had taken to calling it, was a massive array consisting of smaller magic arrays carved into an almost unbelievably black stone almost half a mile wide. Supposedly the various mini-arrays locations correlated to distance from the Hub itself, but only the person who'd designed it actually knew for sure.
This person had, of course, been a researcher from the Department of Dimensional Concepts acting on the orders of its director, Gala Talib. Easily one of the smartest and most learned people on the planet, Director Gala rarely made appearances of note, but in addition to authorizing the release of this information she had also gone to great length to look into one of Director Marcus's pet projects for someone meeting a set of criteria she refused to clarify.
After several weeks of digging, she'd come across Matt, an orphan whose parents had been killed in an explosion caused by two Walkers fighting in a suburban area. Despite having been entirely unaffiliated with The Bureau, at the behest of a figure of importance, the young man was given opportunities that outstripped any of his common peers, let alone the exemplary survivors of his Uplift program; the very same one that Lilac had risen to prominence through.
Contrary to what the participants in the Uplift Initiative had been told, it was not in place to create powerful Walkers, though that was a pleasant side effect. The true purpose was to find and nurture exemplary talents among the youths of the world who would never, under normal circumstances, be given a chance to explore those talents.
The extent of the initiative explored everything from crafting to research, combat to leadership, with a grueling multi-year cycle designed to weed out those unsuitable…frequently through processes that risked death or permanent disablement.
Now it had to be said that, despite his presence among the group of rising stars, the young man himself was…ordinary, if not actually somewhat below average. For the vast majority of those involved, it was a genuine surprise to find him consistently surviving the battery of tests and training courses.
His stats were around baseline for an untrained, non-Gate Walker; his skills and other stats even less impressive, though he did have an unrevealed Unique Class. Thus it was that despite his mediocrity, the young man found himself sitting in a comfortable desk chair, several monitors glowing in front of him and every amenity a person could reasonably expect in the magically expanded room that overlooked the multibillion dollar teleportation array that arguably stood as the first, and most important, line of defence to one of the most important organizations in the world.
It was here, in the lap of professional comfort and overlooking the most complex piece of magic currently accessible to the general public, that Matt found himself with a predicament.
He LOATHED this job.
Everyone he knew believed he'd had some incredibly important benefactor or, even worse, had slept his way into the cushy role; an idea that Matt found abhorrent, though not on some moral grounds. The Bureau didn't care about one's proclivities overly much, but the idea that he'd take some kind of shortcut like that got under his skin, made all the worse by the overwhelming pervasiveness of the rumor.
Add this to the fact that even if something should happen, he had no way to do much of anything about it.
He WAS mediocre, something he knew and had long accepted as the simple truth of his life, despite his continued efforts to amend the issue.
Matt was smart, reasonably smart enough that if he'd been born prior to the system, he likely would have made his name through investment or, given some luck, even as a researcher in his own right. However in the contemporary, he was just some guy who'd lost his parents and didn't have much going for him.
Except there seemingly WAS someone watching out for him at every turn, regardless of his desire to prove himself on his own merits.
When the other kids in the Initiative had begun mocking him for his stats or lack of skills, there had conveniently been a therapist on hand to guide him away from anger or petty thoughts of getting back at them. Not that he didn't feel those things anymore, of course he did; just that he sincerely no longer felt like it was something to pursue in any serious capacity.
This therapy also covered areas of general concern like his feelings on faith, guilds, going so far as to explain that loyalty to The Bureau should be sincere, not forced.
Through a series of thinly veiled efforts, he never lacked for money or opportunities and sooner or later the other kids began to come around, playing with him and sharing the details of their far more complicated training routines, which as they grew older he began to be excluded from.
This adjusted social path had been working extremely well for Matt, as even though he'd likely never be a Walker, at least he had friends.
Friends who were now, at bare minimum, incredibly jealous of his comfortable chair and extensive entertainment system. It was not a joke to say that the office had good amenities, as it was assumed that the person watching over the array was at the pinnacle of capability…or at least should be.
Matt had accomplished his goal of making friends and avoiding becoming a loner by walking a clean middle road, never bragging about what he got and trying not to downplay it either. It was common knowledge that excessive humility could easily be interpreted as a form of arrogance, something Matt lacked in any capacity.
Discarding the idea of him using his body for advancement out of hand, that he had a benefactor of some kind was one of those open rumors that pretty much everyone assumed was true even if he didn't know who it was.
So when he'd been chosen, it was with a heavy sigh that he found himself cracking open a soda from the fully stocked fridge and resting as his supervisor assured him it was an important job…but not one where he'd need to actually worry about much.
As for why he hated the position so much?
He was mediocre…but he didn't have to be.
Matt spent every waking moment training and studying, learning to be someone of use to Walkers, even if only in a support role. Weight lifting, distance sprinting, and dozens of other exercises aimed at increasing his strength and mana were all being delayed for this job where his most strenuous activity was…requesting meals through the intercom. Meals provided by a world class chef whose meals provided permanent stat increases…increases that seemed to do nothing for him.
This baffled even the most knowledgeable researchers, who'd almost immediately requested he be sent for study; a prospect he was glad was shot down almost as fast as it was made.
The research division, and its many, MANY branches were not well known for what most would call ethics, and he knew of more than one example of someone being sent in and returned in pieces…still alive in one instance.
That heart attack avoided, Matt still had one curiosity that had persisted even from his childhood.
His unique class.
Nobody could see it, and when he tried to tell people what he saw, they only heard static, as though the System itself refused to let it be known.
Pulling up his System screen, he looked at it for the millionth time, still unsure what to make of it.
Unique Class: Eversoul
Without the presence of ******,what is the focal point of eternity? Perhaps the freedom to choose also means the paralysis of choice, a conundrum contemplated throughout all of history.
All within One.
The description of the class made no sense to him, though it did raise questions, particularly in that he couldn't share it.
It was clear, to him at least, that something was missing beyond the censored word; without which the class would just be lines of text in a window nobody could read.
Unique classes weren't unheard of, though they were harder to classify in terms of value. Some of them were overwhelmingly powerful while others sat just below garbage in terms of usefulness.
Realistically, unique classes were like anything else in a post Gate society, only as useful as the person using them. Matt held the pet theory that the prominence of Walker lifestyle had pushed people into the belief that only abilities and skills with combat potential had any value, despite the fact that he personally knew several Walkers who specialized in support roles like manufacturing and alchemy, though their numbers were admittedly low in the population.
An alert popped up on his screen accompanied by a curt beep announcing someone was coming through one of the teleportation arrays, catching Matt by surprise. Despite its importance, the Hub wasn't used often enough to really justify a constant guard, at least as far as he was concerned, but today sparks and light flickered around one of the closest arrays as someone came through.
Taking a ready position at his desk, Matt was surprised to see it was Directorial Assistant Amy Leingod coming through, with two people floating behind her. The two gorgeous women were unconscious, even as disheveled as they were, and wore wrist and ankle shackles that crackled with arcane power.
Sitting as he did, at the bottom of the Bureau hierarchy, Matt didn't really know much about the young woman beyond that she was supposed to be powerful and important. Seeing her in person, he noted that she had an otherworldly aura to her, like she wasn't fully human, but rather some demi-goddess who had deigned to grace the Earth with her presence.
He wondered for a brief moment if maybe he was under a charm effect, and with a brief, and subtle, glance at his system showed he only had buffs from being in the office.
Seemingly sensing his concern, a tiny twitch of the young woman's lips showed a playful smile as she said, "You don't need to worry Matthew, I'm not so bored that I'd need to spend my mana charming strangers."
He coughed lightly to cover his embarrassment and said, "Of course not, Ma'am. I've heard of some people whose class gives them passive effects on the world around them…I thought maybe you had something like that."
Amy's eyes narrowed as she Inspected him and said, "Eversoul, huh? I'm not sure I've ever seen that ability before. I'll speak to Director Marcus about you…I think you're being wasted here."
"You don't need to do that, ma'am, I'm not really worth the extra attention," he managed to stutter out before a wave of realization struck him.
"Wait…you can see…"
The world twisted around him as a spike of pain drove its way directly into his head, worse than anything he'd ever experienced, easily eclipsing the anti-torture training he'd been forced to endure.
Before he blacked out, he saw his System screen flickering and glitching as an ability blinked into existence just under his class.
The door to the office opened silently and a figure walked through, watching him with an almost melancholy expression, coming to rest in a chair that appeared from his inventory.
Matt began shaking on the ground as information pushed its way into his mind and his body began reforming to reflect the changes he was undergoing and the old ability appeared, letter by letter, on his screen.
System Update: Forcible Regression
Ability Returned: True and False
True and False:
Reveal Truths and Craft Falsehoods.
In another Time, and another Place, the person you were endured innumerable hardships and trials, using this ability as the catalyst to tear down the Heavens themselves.
Today, the things that hid between realities are just as real and hungry, but now you need not face them alone.
His eyes closed as a painful, fitful sleep overtook him and the figure sitting in the shadow of the room looked up, clearly interacting with a system window.
"Yes…I think its time for us to get started. Its going to get worse before it gets better."