"Were you up all night?" asked Hyperion, noticing that his daughter's eyes were red and she was moving slowly as she walked to the table with a bowl of cereal.
"Yes, I stayed up until six in the morning and only slept for four hours," Selene yawned as she answered. She scratched her head, sat down, and started playing with her spoon instead of eating.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" Noticing her odd behavior, Hyperion asked. Selene froze for a moment before taking the silver box out of her shorts pocket and placing it on the table.
"It unlocks with Noeia. It seems to be a special alloy that reacts with this energy. Do you know about its existence?" Selene asked bluntly. She knew she could trust her father and that he knew many things due to his years of experience and study.
"Oh? I thought it was just an ancient story!" Hyperion said excitedly as he took the box in his hand and examined it. However, he did not use his power to open it. After a few seconds, he put it back in its place.
"Do you remember the big metal book in my workshop? The legacy of our ancestors," Hyperion said, his voice turning serious. This caused the sleepy Selene to receive a rush of energy, making her feel more alert.
"Yes, but you wouldn't let me look at it when I was a child, as if you were afraid I would break it," Selene replied with a grunt. Her father patted her on the head.
"It's an important object, little one. It's the most important legacy of the Saharis. It contains stories from the time of your great-grandmother, your grandfather, and me. In the future, it will contain your stories, too.
"Not only that, but it also contains our original version of the Noeia training method and research on enchantments, along with their respective improvements and subsequent additions," Hyperion whispered before channeling the Noeia out of his body. Ancient armor then appeared on his skin.
"I didn't think that book was so important. So everything you taught me comes from there?" Interesting. Although I still think manipulating the Noeia in threads is much better," Selene commented when she saw her father's state. Upon hearing her, he smiled before storing his energy.
"No matter how you train the Noeia, it's the result that has value. Each person shapes it in the way they consider optimal when manipulating it. You are very affected by music. Your threads are like the strings of your violin," her father commented. The girl nodded in agreement.
After hours of practice and familiarization, the threads had become her favorite medium through which she could influence and fine-tune her body using Noeia.
She considered herself an instrument to be played! Her punches and kicks are music, her fighting style is her rhythm, and her techniques are her score. Precise as a machine and alive as a violin, the threads were simply how her Noeia was molded on the physical or mental plane. This made it much easier for her to perform activities as a Noetarch or Glyphworker.
This is one of the things that makes this power special for humans because all its capabilities are a way for a Noetarch to express their individuality to the world.
It wasn't just the mind's influence over the body or the use of illusory concepts; it was simply making something as elusive as the 'True Self' real.
Whenever a Noetarch expressed their emotions through Noeia or emitted murderous intent, if they gave this energy a particular color or shape, every temporary physical improvement and permanent change to their bodies followed the intentions of their inner self.
There was no such thing as a fake Noetarch because they all revealed their true selves to the outside world in one way or another. Selene began to think about every Noetarch she had ever met, including her father, Noelle, Morgana, and a friend she hadn't seen since returning to the city.
Each of them was unique, representing their Noeia differently. This difference was especially obvious between father and daughter. Even if they permanently improved one aspect of their body, they used it completely differently, emphasizing the Noetarchs' particular individuality.
This was extremely valuable, meaning that the abilities of a Noetarch simply could not be categorized by levels of strength, statistics, or numbers as some people had tried in the past. Rather, they had to be demonstrated in the matters in which the Noetarchs were involved.
If anything, a 'role' could be created that could be assumed, although usually a Noetarch fell into several roles. It was better than having nothing clear. Selene knew she fit into several divisions, but, like the other Noetarchs, she didn't care much.
What about Selene's ability to see colorful mists that indicated the threat posed by biological and non-biological things? It only mattered when it applied to her, and it was extremely changeable!
She thought of Morgana, who had come to visit yesterday. The mist Morgana emitted was black, indicating mortal danger, but Selene knew the purple-haired girl would never hurt her, despite this.
Then there was her father. Although he emitted green mist, Selene knew that if she were Hyperion's enemy, this man's powerful body could turn her into mush in seconds. There was no doubt in the purple-haired girl's mind.
Then there was the case of the cherries. They were a normal fruit, but because Selene was allergic to them, they could be deadly if she ate them. Even though she was a Noetarch, she was still human. That's how special this whole thing was!
"This book recounts the existence of a special alloy that was extremely rare in ancient times. It was a byproduct of a series of investigations related to Noeia and a material that only people of high status could obtain.
This box is valuable in its own right, but I suspect what's really important is its contents. Is that right?" the man asked, sitting down next to his daughter and bringing her out of her stupor.
"Huh? Oh, yes! This little thing is what kept me awake all night." Selene, pulled out of her deep thoughts, opened the box with one hand, revealing the gold coin inside. Then she began to eat her breakfast.
"Don't make that face! It's not just a gold coin. Take that paper over there and read it." Noticing her father, Hyperion's inquisitive gaze, she pointed to the carefully folded brochure.
After a full minute, enough time for Hyperion to quickly read the document, the man placed the paper on the table, bringing two fingers to the bridge of his nose.
"I understand why you slept so late. How accurate are the words written there?" Hyperion asked quietly. Selene was unsure of what her father was thinking, but she answered him anyway.
"Well, from what I've experienced, it really does allow you to have lucid dreams at a higher level. It took me directly to my mental passage without having to meditate.
"The feedback is 100% real. "Although I haven't tried anything I've never seen or heard of before, it seems to have an internal database that fills in those gaps," she explained. She went on to describe in great detail all the things she had tried during her sleep, including her plans in that regard. However, she did not mention creating a sun or her own personal fantasies.
"Can you use it to invite someone else into your dream?" Hyperion asked suddenly. This caused Selene to fall silent before opening her eyes wider. Her father's words gave her another idea to add to the process of deciphering and transforming the gold coin.
"That's an excellent idea! Not right now. We'd have to find another one of these things, which I highly doubt will happen. But who says we can't achieve this goal ourselves?" Selene raised her hands, her expression full of enthusiasm.
"You mean us? Don't you want to do this alone?" Hyperion asked, raising an eyebrow. His daughter coughed a little, embarrassed, and her cheeks turned red.
"It's too hard for one person. We have to work as a team. The only Glyphworker as good as me that I know is you," Selene said, putting her arm around her father's neck. He couldn't help but stare at her. When he saw her puff out her cheeks like she did as a child, he sighed and accepted his fate.
"All right! I'll help you. But don't leave all the work to me, okay?" Hyperion didn't receive a verbal response, but his daughter threw herself at him and hugged him tightly.
He was about to say something when he heard Selene's soft breathing. He realized she had fallen asleep while clinging to him like a monkey to its mother. Resigned, Hyperion carried her to her room and left the silver box with its contents next to her gauntlets.
"Sleep well," Hyperion whispered before leaving the room and letting his daughter rest.
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Selene had been home for two days, but she hadn't slept properly in over a week, so she fell asleep easily.
She could force herself to stay awake, but as a Noetarch who uses biological knowledge to enhance her body, she knew the disadvantages of not sleeping properly.
She simply decided to let go of her consciousness when she hugged her father. He was the most powerful person she knew and could undoubtedly protect her in an emergency. As a result, her body came out of the state of alertness it had been in.
Besides, she wanted to get a good night's sleep because of its restorative properties for her physical and mental health. Not to mention, she wanted perfect skin!
For the Noetarchs, the saying 'The body is a temple' was not just empty words, so even with their various enhancements that put them above humanity, they had to take proper care of themselves.
Sleep is also a mind-related field, a very interesting and little-known one. This is why Selene and Hyperion were interested in the functions of the gold coin.
Possessing something like the Noeia did not make a Noetarch an expert in the field of the mind or similar topics, including the subject of dreams. Everything had to be researched or learned from scratch, something universal to any human, regardless of their extraordinary abilities.
Dreams are often strange, confusing, and random. Even if you have a certain lucidity within them, these aspects do not change and can be exacerbated to the point of confusing people with certain developments.
This is why the Dream Interface Core was so important to Selene; it gave her complete control over her dreams. This was essential if she wanted to explore them in depth.
However, Selene's current dream was not influenced by this technological device. It was like any other dream she had experienced throughout her life.
But this time, something was different. The dull sensation of dreams was still there, but she knew she was dreaming. Not only that, but nothing in her dream had anything to do with her or her memories, which were usually the starting point.
Furthermore, there wasn't anything resembling her own "self"; she was merely a spectator in the space she found herself in: an empty, gray passageway.
'Could this be a side effect of using the Dream Interface Core? I guess I need to be more careful with that thing,' Selene thought. Perhaps it was because she had spoken mentally, but as soon as she finished, the space shook.
Something began to emerge from the ground, twisting the lines inward as if swallowing them: a handmade of neon purple lines that was constantly opening and closing as if trying to grab something.
Soon, another hand, then arms, a head, shoulders, torso, and legs joined it, a complete body, the same one she always took on when entering her mental passage after deep meditation sessions.
This version of herself looked like a yarn doll and stood still as if all her energy had been drained. Then, Selene felt something drawing her in. That version of herself was pulling her closer. She felt no fear or panic, only a strange euphoria.
She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. Now, she could feel her body moving. Her point of view was similar to that of a human, no longer omnidirectional as before.
'But it feels so heavy and uncomfortable. Dreams always have these strange limitations,' Selene reflected, looking at her hands woven with purple threads and remembering dreams she had had.
In these dreams, she couldn't run freely. She always felt as if she had a heavy weight on her or as if the air were too thick to move through. This made her really frustrated when she was little.
Her blows had no real impact or force. If anything, her jumps were slightly more noticeable. In general, except for her ability to walk, other forms of mobility were severely limited.
She felt the same way here and inevitably missed the gold coin and its functions, especially the world she had created while experimenting with that object.
As if her thoughts had activated deep mechanisms in her mind, the environment shook and drastically changed, making her think a lot.
The light turned gray, the grass was gray, and everything in her view was colorless but bore some resemblance to the things she had built in that test, only without details. Almost nothing in a real dream is detailed, and things may have different names or appearances.
This was her dream, trying to recreate those constructions as if she wanted to relive that special dream. However, Selene knew it was nearly impossible to return to a previous dream, at least in her experience, except on rare occasions.
Seeing and experiencing this reminded her of her thoughts and ideas. Couldn't she do those things in her dreams and in her mental passage? Even with sensory feedback!
Now, she had added something else to the list. When she woke up, she was going to meditate until she entered her mental space. Then, she would start filling it with things, regardless of whether they made sense. She simply wanted to carry out this exercise.
Even if they were fake and didn't restore her sense of touch as in the dreams caused by the Dream Interface Core, she still wanted to do this. She took it as an exercise in meditation and control.
She also thought about involving the Noeia. Would this be useful in combat or her daily life? She probably didn't know, but she felt that, in the long run, doing this could benefit her.
As a Noetarch and possessor of the Noeia, with a natural talent for categorizing threats and benefits through a mist of colors, Selene trusted her instincts. She had a determined personality.
If it didn't bring her any tangible benefits in the end, she could take it as a hobby to keep her mind active and fresh, even if it was just doing something unnecessary.
'How should I start this project? Oh! I'll just represent objects I'm familiar with, like when I mentally simulate things I want to build.
I'll make those representations detailed and instantly evoked so that I don't have to describe them all the time, as happens with normal thinking.' Selene concluded before lying on her back in the grass, wanting her consciousness to rest completely.
'Is this dream a product of my active brain, or a malfunction of the Dream Interface Core? It doesn't matter. It gave me a valuable idea. As long as it doesn't cause my brains to leak out of my nose and ears, I'll keep using it,' she thought before everything around her collapsed.
Now, she simply had a common, strange, random dream, like all the dreams that are forgotten shortly after waking up. Her body rested because it needed it.
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When Selene woke up, it was already the afternoon. Although she was still sleepy, she felt much more comfortable than she had several hours earlier. However, her stomach was growling because she had only eaten breakfast.
Sleeping was a great way to digest food! She was very hungry, so she went downstairs and saw some plates of food on the dining room table, specifically on her usual seat.
Without hesitation, she began to eat, leaving her communicator crystal beside her. This caused it to project an interesting video due to its source.
The official Underground Fights app! It was connected to Vetrorum, the social network that dominated the Eclipse City network. In fact, you could say it was just an isolated forum within an independent program rather than a completely separate app.
This made it much easier to navigate, allowing her to find official information about the event series and understand how it operated without rumors or urban legends.
She decided to watch her first video, a clip from a past fight uploaded recently by the event staff. In it, she saw a woman with blue hair and eyes, a prosthetic leg, and a metal tail with sharp edges.
The woman was facing a Crystal Horn Rhino, an imposing creature with dark armor and great height. Its name comes from the polished mineral that serves as its horn.
The woman fought skillfully, although the unusually fast rhino occasionally rammed her. This made you wonder how something so large and heavy could move so gracefully.
Just as the fight reached its climax, the video ended with a message from the staff. It said that to see the fight in its entirety, one had to pay for a subscription that would give access to more content like it.
"What an awkward trick, but it seems to work. I want to subscribe," Selene muttered, food still in her mouth, as she entered the video comments and waved her finger.
She found it particularly interesting that, next to the names of the people commenting, was the city-state to which they belonged. Many of them were not from Eclipse City.
Although the current network spanned cities, it was common knowledge that communities were isolated from one another. Even Selene's Vetrorum profile lacked followers from other cities, and she didn't follow people from those places.
It seems that the scope of these fights was wider than she thought! Now it made more sense that the government was behind them. Although it was not stated in the information she read, it was implied that this was the case.
Similar to the network and Vetrorum, all city-states, regardless of how they operated internally or their alliances or enmities, had unanimously united in creating such technological works.
No matter what, they were human, and the remaining knowledge of the old network indicates that it was used by everyone in Cancri, connecting the world and allowing knowledge to be deposited in it.
Even Eclipse City and Dusk City, bitter enemies who had fought bloody wars in which many had died, participated in this project together.
Vetrorum was the social network and the main platform on this network. Everything started there, including the application Selene used. There was no competition, nor was it necessary.
On this social network, Selene could find and do many things herself. She had posted the mini-games she had programmed on her profile. She also posted her violin recitals, photos for others to see, and images commissioned by Glyphworks.
She had come across comments from people in other cities before, but never so many, even from people in places far away from Eclipse City.
"Hmmm. I'll have to watch that girl's fight. Those prosthetics weren't normal; they looked like Glyphworks. How could she have been injured so severely that she needed a prosthetic spine?" Selene muttered as she collected the dirty dishes and her communicator.
After washing them, she went straight to her room. Instead of throwing herself on the bed or sitting at her desk, she opened her closet and took out a carefully rolled blue mat.
She placed the mat on the floor, spread it out, sat on it, closed her eyes, relaxed her body, and took regular breaths. This allowed her to enter a meditative state with ease.
There was no need to adopt a specific posture, light incense, or say anything. You simply had to concentrate and use the Noeia training method, which greatly facilitated meditation.
Unlike other forms of meditation, which anyone could do, Noeia training required a specific method. Although these methods could be done while standing or moving, they were limited in that they required concentration.
This made the purple-haired girl remember what she had talked about with her father a while ago, inevitably making her think about what she had heard about other methods.
What was the requirement of the method used by Selene and her father? It was somewhat peculiar, to say the least. In general, the first step is to take your consciousness deep into your subconscious, in this case by meditating.
This step was very difficult for Selene as a child. She would always fall asleep and have nightmares due to the chaotic nature of the human subconscious. However, she persevered for herself and for her parents' support.
Her family's method of descending into the subconscious differed from many others in that you have to make the Noeia spark within everyone, vibrate, and pulsate simultaneously. However, only those with talent could trigger a significant effect.
Selene possessed this talent and was quite good at it. Of course, this does not mean that a person without talent cannot try. However, the effort required is so arduous that almost everyone gives up. Still, there must be someone out there who has persevered.
As the saying goes, 'A Noetarch can come from anywhere.' However, this saying is incomplete. The other part states, "A Glyphworker always comes from status," implying the need for inheritance, resources, and knowledge necessary for this profession.
Selene had only met one other Glyphworker besides her father. She had only heard about or seen the work of the others, such as the person who took orders on the black market.
Selene turned her thoughts back to the previous topic. In essence, the training method only showed one way to stimulate the spark and the path to reach it. Some did it through meditation, the most common method.
Selene knew people who chose risky methods: injecting themselves with poison, jumping from a high place, climbing a cliff with only their hands, or killing a monster without equipment and drinking its blood.
Her friend Morgana had managed to become a Noetarch by doing the last one! Even when they were girls, Morgana had shown her wild side. She achieved this feat because her father was a general in the city's army.
Those methods resulted in this spark becoming the gray mist representing the Noeia, a mind-born power that emerged from the depths to the surface. It now began to interact with the outside world, your body, or anything else that could be stimulated by this power, such as enchantments.
From this point on, the only remaining task was to learn how to channel this energy, understand its capabilities and effects, and choose a way to represent it beyond the misty form.
Everything else depended on you as a Noetarch from there. Do you want stronger, bigger, heavier bones? Go for it! Do you want sharp teeth, eyes as powerful as binoculars, and super-sensitive ears? You can do it! Everything was at your discretion.
However, Selene was not meditating to bring about permanent changes to her body. That was an extremely serious and cumulative process, seeking qualitative change over the years.
The purple-haired girl freed herself from the storm of thoughts that came when she tried to relax. At least they reminded her of things she had learned over time.
Years of practice brought her to a mental space that was just as she remembered it: empty, with only gray lines decorating the surroundings. The first thing Selene began to create was not a model of a weapon, but herself.
She wanted to add more detail to her inner self, the representation of her consciousness, and not just an indeterminate figure with no features except the neon purple color of the Noeia threads that formed her body.
So she got to work, starting with her hair first. If any part of her inner self was going to be detailed, it would be her fabulous haircut! Like many of her endeavors, this process was going to take time, so she didn't rush it.
She wanted her inner self to represent 100% of the beauty of her outer self! Thus, her inner self, Inner Selene, took on a more defined form. Could one say that she was in the process of being born? In a sense, one could say yes!