Suppress The Vortex

[Spencer POV]

'This should be enough… probably.'

I used Visualization for double-checking the numbers and possible results, and as soon I felt confident, I used the ability again.

If everything works out as intended today, I will be able to complete two missions.

I'll confirm my theory behind the pearl's method creation. I was 99% sure about it, but until I see and analyze Hayley's tear with my own eyes, I wouldn't know for sure if I'm right or not. With that, the theory will be proved, and I will complete the first mission.

The second mission was something I needed to do to fulfill the first one.

[Mission: Stop the Alpha Cow's vortex.

Type: Normal

Reward: D-Rank Ticket (Energy type), 5 AP, 2000EP.

Time Limit: 3 yr 00mt 21d 12h 15m 02s]

One of the reasons I wasn't as worried about the vortex was this, the three years limit was something that gave me a possible timeline of the event that will happen if it hadn't been stopped by that time the vortex was probably going to be out of control.

Stopping the vortex wasn't in the original plan, but as I got closer to it and the winds started to get faster I understood that I had to do something about it before going farther, if I wanted to be sure that I will be able to come back and I won't be sucked into it.

The place I needed to see was near the center, the crystal most likely was already absorbed by… whatever it was that provoked the vortex to appear, but even if the crystal tear was lost, going near that place and using Visualization and Psychometry was enough to get my answers.

Without another option, I started developing a plan to stop the vortex or at least suppress it. The first day I went as far as I could safely do and started to analyze the laws surrounding the vortex and as expected, they were mostly related to Space and gravity.

The core of the vortex was unstable, and that brought a certain degree of randomness to the variables. The areas that I created with "Rules are meant to be broken" needed to be responsive to those changes, something that I haven't done before.

Dante helped me by keeping me in contact with Dr. Harting, who helped me with understanding vortex and clear some doubts about the way gravity works. The second day I got that introducing variables into the area was trickier than I thought, and the time it lasted was less than those with static rules. The problem is that I wasn't strong enough to cover the whole vortex, so I needed to create multiple areas around it to suppress it.

Knowing that the space stones might be an excellent way to create an energy source for them in the future, I changed my approach and decided into an area with multiple laws layered. By linking various areas with layered laws, I should have enough time to get inside and leave before the areas collapse.

A couple of days was a trial and error, using Visualization for too long gave me headaches, so I was forced to rest after I created a few, on the bright side, thanks to the constant use my abilities, "Rules are meant to be broken" was about to level up.

[Rules are meant to be broken (Legendary) Lv. 1

Experience: 983.235/1.000.000

Upgrade Requirements: 40, Physics (advanced) Lv3, Esper ability (Paradox inducement(C-Rank)/manipulation(B-Rank), chaos manipulation(?), order manipulation(?)).

The user creates an area where the laws of the world he is in have a different effect, the way they change depending on the relation and knowledge the user has with the rules, and the area and magnitude of those changes get stronger with each level]

With the size of the areas I'm able to create and the amount of energy I can put in them I need to surround the vortex with eight of them, right now my limit is five triple-layered areas, then it starts to collapse. I have faith that with the enlarged area and power, six areas might be enough to hold the vortex.

The only thing I'm worried about is that I'm not sure if the bonus point from perfect mind count towards the 40 INT I need to upgrade it. When I asked the system told that I'm an idiot, so I decided to just ignore it and keep going for now.

If I'm not able to level it up, I still have a couple of ideas, the next 3 AP I get will go to Int. The easiest way to get them is in the upcoming battle. Rose had a plan that might give me a part of the points as if it a party kill, but none of us was sure that it will work.

The idea was similar to when Stan ignited the forest, and the system recognized it as my kills. Rose has worked to guide them towards a similar situation and was also sure that Paws is going to be the last one that moves the centerpiece of the bombs. If the system recognize all this as his kills, I will get half the EP and some other bonus.

If that doesn't work or I don't get enough attribute points, I could always go hunt on my own, keep learning and improving my int on my own (I received 1 int since I started working on stopping the vortex). If none of this was enough, there is one last idea plan, that is to complete a mission that I was planning to do as we leave the city, but I could always go to the northern forest before leaving Green Shelter.

But for any of that to happen, I still need to fill the exp bar of the skill.

Taking a deep breath inside the dusty apartment, I blinked to the top once again. I must keep practicing.

____________________________

I added the first two layers to the third area, revised momentum and kinetic energy, the first few tries didn't include this two but slowing down the vortex with the proved a lot more effective than using gravitation and Space related laws, at least that way not much energy is used despite the constant change in the variables.

To completely stop the vortex the use of Space, and gravitation laws was necessary, but in this case the areas surrounding competed with it and the energy was drained too fast, the new "prototype" absorbed the Energy from the wind and used it to slow down the vortex, it would suppress and last longer than the previous method. The final model probably will be included at least this four layers, but creating the fourth was beyond the current me.

The Gravity was the third layer and worked fine, but his limit was still the fifth area.

He had to rest for a while before his next try. I just sat on the floor and waited until all the areas disappear.

It was when the system went crazy.

[Party Member Hayley Killed an F-Rank Beast, 5 EP rewarded]

[Party Member Hayley Killed an E-Rank Beast, 13 EP rewarded]

[Party Member Hayley Killed an F-Rank Beast, 5 EP rewarded]

…

So it began…

'System, ignore the kills under E-Rank and show the totals when I ask you.'

[Party Member Hayley Killed a D-Rank Beast, 25 EP rewarded, 1SP]

And here I thought that they wouldn't go all out.

I decide to stop what I was doing and just wait for them to finish. I didn't have a mission related to the Bees, so I didn't think it was a huge deal if we intervened or not, at least they weren't at the same level as the NDR or the vortex.

After the first wave of kills, Hayley seemed to slow down a little.

*BOOOOM*

The explosion was far away, but I could still hear and see some dust in the distance.

[Party Member Rose Killed a D-Rank Beast, 25 EP rewarded]

[Party Member Rose Killed a D-Rank Beast, 25 EP rewarded, 1 AP]

[Party Member Rose Killed a C-Rank Beast, 50 EP rewarded]

…

The explosion was followed by another string of notifications, this time from Rose, which mean that her plan worked as intended.

I was checking the notifications with a light smile when something happened.

The string of kills from Rose raised suddenly but what made me nervous wasn't that.

A feeling I knew from before… but this time it wasn't directed at me… someone broke the laws and was being rejected by reality.

Without missing a second I used the Astral Link skill, There for you, to go to the battlefield.