Endless Debt-Chapter 908 - 38: Age Anxiety

"Take a look first."

Geoffrey tossed over a document, emphasizing, "Make sure to read it carefully."

Bologue took the document, sat on the sofa, and started reading it word by word, more meticulously than when he signed his employment contract.

"Negative Power User, huh..."

Geoffrey sighed beside him, "This is indeed a watershed."

Bologue nodded as he read, in the Order Bureau, a Negative Power User already counts as high-tier combat power. After Bologue’s promotion to Negative Power User, theoretically, if his qualifications were deeper, he could lead a brand new operations group independently of the Special Operations Group.

Of course, that’s just theoretical.

The composition of each operations group in the Order Bureau is not consistent, as their functions differ. There’s a clear distinction in combat power between groups, such as the Tenth Group, which includes Gold the Defender. Similar circumstances are found in the Fourth Group.

The Fourth Group’s Abyss Watchers are responsible for guarding this world’s calamity, and their leader is also a Defender, even the youngest Defender in the Order Bureau, carrying the latest iteration of the Alchemy Matrix among the defenders.

Then there’s the Ninth Group, the Atheists, whose functions relate to the Devil. Although they have no Defender, there are several Negative Power Users among them, proving to be a significant force.

Additionally, Bologue heard that the Seventh Group also has a Defender, but as an infiltration intelligence team, they maintain excellent secrecy about themselves, with the authenticity of these intel yet to be determined.

In comparison, the composition of the Special Operations Group is undoubtedly quite an anomaly, with very few members and disparate overall strength.

But it’s this seemingly inexplicable operations group that is involved in numerous major events, undertaking the mission of exploring the truth about the Devil and ending it all.

Accurately, it’s only Bologue truly bearing this responsibility; the others merely assist him in his progress.

Whenever Bologue realizes this, he feels a mysterious sense of fatigue.

"You’re quite lucky; all resources you need are readily available."

Geoffrey said enviously, "I was like you back then, promoted to Prayer Believer in the second year, but to accumulate enough merits to exchange for resources, I worked for four more years before successfully advancing to Negative Power User."

"How long did it take for your soul to stabilize?"

"Three years."

Bologue rolled his eyes at Geoffrey, who laughed heartily.

The implantation and ascension of the Alchemy Matrix can be viewed as a surgery on the soul, each time requiring a certain period for the wound to heal.

The time needed for everyone’s soul to return to stability varies, like Bologue, though a Debtor, his soul is unexpectedly stable.

The soul is like ice, with the implantation and ascension of the Alchemy Matrix being the process of melting the ice, then waiting for the melted liquid to cool, until it solidifies back into ice.

This is a cycle of self-renewal for the soul.

Even if the soul is unstable, Bologue can forcibly ascend due to his immortal nature.

Theoretically, Bologue could ascend straight to Seeker of Glory, but it’s merely theoretical—there are too many risks awaiting him on the ascent path. Take his promotion to Prayer Believer: without the help of an Astronaut, he nearly got lost, with his consciousness evaporating and his body turning into a living corpse.

Even if Bologue can endure this series of trials, repeated, short-term operations on the soul will still present significant risks, not to mention how complex and deep each operation is, potentially damaging Bologue’s Alchemy Matrix, distorting it.

Soul deformity.

Alchemists call this situation, which often occurs on the road to ascending as a Negative Power User, as the distorted Alchemy Matrix affects the soul and even reflects onto the body, further destroying the individual’s will.

To avoid this unnecessary trouble, Bologue advances step by step.

Negative Bishop.

As Geoffrey said, this tier is a watershed, distinguishing between mortal and extraordinary.

In tiers before the Negative Power User, the distortion of the body by Ether is not obvious. Upon reaching Negative Power User, Ether sublimates the mortal flesh, giving Bologue etherealized traits.

Pure Ether energy, to some extent, will replace the human flesh, further increasing affinity with Ether. Some Negative Power Users can even, through cooperation between Secret Energy and Etherealization, cause themselves to disperse as pure Ether.

Bologue read about similar examples in books, like a Negative Power User whose ability was to manipulate thunder. After etherealization, he could even transform into thunder, travel rapidly within the city’s power grid, or manipulate the city’s electricity to fight.

In contrast, Lebius and Geoffrey, known to Bologue, weren’t deeply studious of etherealization, merely treating it as an attached trait.

Bologue didn’t know much about Lebius’s situation, but he knew about Geoffrey’s.

Geoffrey, to a certain degree, is quite like Palmer; he’s somewhat lazy. If there wasn’t the establishment of the Special Operations Group, Geoffrey might have worked in the Logistics Department until retirement.

As described in the document, the Scholars’ Hall already designed a separate ascension process for Bologue. Bologue flipped through several pages filled with lengthy academic terms.

Bologue felt a headache as he read, then saw the annotations left by Belli on the later pages, explaining the content in terms Bologue could understand.