Chapter 76: Sage Maximus
The difficulty now lay in maintaining this absolute regularity and instantaneous flip between the two states, as Zephyr had to cycle between them in intervals, all while still focusing on what the Bit itself meant. The more he cycled between the states of pure presence and pure absence, he physically felt his mental energy drain rapidly, and just as he was about to give up before he lost his mind, he felt it. An intense feeling of rightness. Of approval. He felt his mana node thrum, like something tangible just settled into it. It was ecstasy. His mind sharpened into a focus like he had never experienced in his life. Making him feel like everything—every concept was almost at his grasp. So in this extreme state of clarity, Zephyr took a risk.
His mind, moving at insane speeds, sorted through the past few months, the spell models he’d seen, their similarities, Aegis’ analysis, the patterns. He shaved off the fluff, narrowing down to two words, transistors, and logic gates. All the knowledge he had about them came to the fore of his mind. Although he didn’t have the same level of comprehension as he did about the word Bit, his moment of ecstasy and clarity made him feel like the knowledge he had was enough.
But just as he was about to try comprehending them both, the extreme state of clarity ended abruptly, snapping him back to reality.
Zephyr would have yelled in frustration if he could, but his head felt too muddled as he came down from that high. Almost sluggish, like his brain was... slow?
If it felt like this for him, with his enhanced acuity, he couldn’t even begin to fathom how jarring it would be for regular people.
But that was something to think about some other time, because through the muddleheaded state, he could already feel the presence of people around him, putting him at alert.
As he slowly opened his eyes, he saw the three people that had been in the library staring at him with wide eyes. Particularly Master Gregory. His gaze was extremely fervent. "G— Grade 1," he stuttered. "You have a Grade 1 connection to Origin," he whispered in disbelief, looking at Zephyr in a different eye. "Are the Exalted this different from us?" he muttered rhetorically.
The bald butler had just made a move to step out of the library and make a report when he noticed a short man, who had entered the library at some point, looking directly at Zephyr. His abrupt presence drew the attention of everyone in the room, making them turn sharply.
"Sage Maximus!" The three of them bowed their heads in respect.
Sage Maximus nodded lightly, walking towards Zephyr. "I felt an intense surge of Origin feedback a moment ago," he said. "It came from... you," he stopped right in front of Zephyr, who while aware, was still settling from the sensation he just went through.
Sage Maximus noticed his expression and let him have a moment to get his bearings, turning to the two librarians and the bald butler. "Grade 1?" he asked, just to confirm what he already knew.
"Grade 1," Master Gregory nodded, still shell-shocked.