Commission(IV)

That event with Oliver nearly drove Maximus insane. At that time, he wanted to beat Oliver up for being ignorant and oblivious to the truth, but he didn't carry through with his violent thoughts in the end.

At the end of that commission, just as Oliver had declared, Maximus did not get paid for his assistance. Even though Oliver's commission description promised that he would receive both the assistance fee and commission fee upon successfully completing his task, Oliver used a foul excuse to withhold the money.

Maximus could care less about that ignorant fool's arrogance towards him. After all, he too was an arrogant person in his own right, but for various reasons, he had always refrained from displaying his arrogance in front of others. This was especially so in front of people from rich and prominent families or those with influential backgrounds. Instead, he adopted a humble demeanor in front of such people to avoid conflict with them due to his past with such people.

Even then, in his heart, he had considered everyone to be inferior to him in terms of knowledge or expertise. As such, he didn't blame Oliver for not recognizing his assistance that extended beyond what he would have otherwise been paid for. However, to not even pay him the amount that was originally promised to him, especially after he had completed his task without any accidents was simply taking things too far.

Despite the unfair treatment he received, Maximus didn't bother to argue with Oliver over it for various reasons. Based on his previous experiences with people like Oliver, he knew that it would only escalate the problem at hand. If at the time, he had chosen to pursue the matter, the resulting consequence would bring with it endless troubles. However, that was something that he couldn't afford to deal with at that point in time.

With that being said, it didn't mean that Maximus had forgotten those grievances. In fact, he kept those injustices close to his heart. Once he attains his ideal Runic Path, those who took advantage of him by exploiting his talents and those who treated him unfairly using their statuses would receive their due payment with interest.

Until then, he would indulge them and steadily pursue his goal. When the day he gets his Runic Path comes, that would be the day he would settle all past and future grievances one after another without exception.

Maximus used his sunglasses, which was actually a technological artifact, along with his keen eyesight to scan and observe the surrounding of Young Lord Cedric's body. Unsurprisingly, he could see sprites of colorful tiny runes circling around his body. These sprite of tiny runes were emitting a faint blue hue, a clear indication of the natural element of water.

'So he had a natural awakening of water? No wonder he doesn't care about his Runic Path all that much. Instead, he seems to treat it as though it was a hassle as I have observed from his behavior. He had neglected my presence and chose to watch a dramatic movie, after all.' Maximus finally understood and also confirmed some of his doubts after observing the sprite of tiny runes around Young Lord Cedric's body. These sprites of tiny runes indicated that he was a naturally awakened supernatural power wielder.

As opposed to those who mainly relied on Runic Paths to gain their superpowers or supernatural powers, natural awakened supernatural power wielders were more powerful as they could easily control their powers as though it was second nature. Therefore, they don't really need to get Runic Paths if they want to.

As supernatural powers obtained from the Runic Paths are mostly artificial in the neophyte stage, they are difficult to control and maneuver compared to naturally awakened supernatural powers.

According to studies, those without natural endowments were more motivated to attain their Runic Paths as opposed to those who did not have natural endowments. Though, there were some exceptions to these studies, as some of the naturally awakened supernatural power wielders were just as motivated as those without naturally awakened supernatural powers. After all, who doesn't want to become stronger than their current state if there was an opportunity and means to achieve it?

Leaving that aside, Maximus suddenly said: "Seeing as how we are now on the same topic, can I see your Runic Constructs, Young Lord?"

"What do you want to see it for?"

"I need to make sure that there isn't anything wrong with it. Of course, if you don't want me to check it, that's fine too. You just don't have to hold me accountable for any problems that occur later on."

Young Lord Cedric squinted his eyes and stared at Maximus as he pondered for a brief moment before pausing the movie he was watching once again. Following that, he took out a blue crystal and tossed it toward Maximus.

Maximus caught the blue crystal that was about the size of a baby's fist, which looked uncannily identical to Runic Force Crystals. In truth, it was because it used to contain pure Ethereal Runic Force, but now, the Runic Force within it has been converted into tiny Runic Codes that formed numerous interconnected Runic Constructs. This was something only possible with the expertise of a Runic Construct Creator.

In order to store inscribed and manifested rune characters and symbols that would soon run out of Ethereal Runic Force after some time if they are not engraved or bestowed onto something, there needs to be an alternative method to prolonging their manifested state.

Engraving runes on weapons to create an artifact with certain functions or bestowing them on technological devices to enhance their functions was the only method. But what if you want to save the manifested runes for later use rather than bestow them onto something just to prevent its force from dissipating?

With that in mind, scientists in the supernatural community have developed a method based on various studies in the past. This method allowed the storage of rune characters and symbols or constructs that are made out of tiny Runic Codes, and that method required using Runic Force Crystals.

Runic Force Crystals are crystals that naturally form in the world and they contain a certain amount of Runic Force depending on their size. However, the mysterious aspect of Runic Force Crystals was their ability to not only store Runic Force but also store rune symbols and characters.

During the early days after the discovery of Ethereal Mystic Runic Arts and the plethora of applications of runes, a certain Scientist and Runologist made a hypothesis based on his research which later became one of the revolutionary and foundational keys to creating Runic Paths.

The hypothesis was that since Runic Force Crystals were made out of pure and highly condensed Runic Force and since even after the Runic Force was drained from the Runic Force Crystal, the shell still remained, instead of directly draining or utilizing the Force inside the Runic Force Crystal like always, they could attempt to find a way to utilize the Force inside to inscribe or in this case, manifest the rune symbols and characters inside the Runic Force Crystal without letting it escape to the shell of the Runic Force Crystal.

If such a method was achieved, the rune characters and symbols that are converted from Runic Force would be trapped inside the Runic Force Crystal. This would, in turn, prevent them from dissipating afterward.

Sure enough, this hypothesis came to pass as a theorem and it was later proved that it was indeed possible to store Runic Constructs using a method that was discovered after many tries and errors by this scientist and his colleagues.

Although to conduct something like converting the Runic Force into rune symbols and characters, a Runic Construct Creator still needs to inscribe or illustrate the respective runes and their structural forms on a piece of paper, familiarize themselves with them and then memorize them. Afterward, they should further study the runic codes that would form the Runic Constructs by doing intense calculations in order to ensure that there are no discrepancies between the functions and the Runic Codes themselves.

Once all of that was considered and confirmed to have no faults, they would then combine and analyze the final Runic Constructs to see if there are no flaws with turning it into a Runic Path before using their imagination to envision the final product. They would do this while holding onto a Runic Force Crystal to convert the force inside into tiny Runic Codes that would gradually form the Runic Constructs.

That was the eventual method that was devised after countless tries and errors that proved to be an effective method. Furthermore, this was also what ushered in the beginning of the Runic Path of Ascension that many non-superpowered individuals use to obtain their superpowers nowadays.

That aside, this process of converting and transforming force into runes couldn't have been achieved simply by an ordinary or mundane method. Instead, it was achieved by actively willing and directing the power of the brain to beckon the Runic Force in the Runic Force Crystal. This would allow the manifestation of the interconnected runes that the Runic Construct Creator had envisioned in their mind and transmitted.

In other words, this was an incredibly complicated process that involved the fine controlling and transmitting of the force of the brain, otherwise known as Mental Force, in order to achieve this feat. After all, in the event that one unknowingly makes a mistake during the imagination and envisioning process, there would undoubtedly be irreversible faults arising within the Runic Constructs. These faults could potentially damage the Soul Vessel during the fusion and assimilation process, which was otherwise known as the engraving and imprinting process.