"Aaaand, I'm done!" Kyle said as he shrank and stopped beside Lady Arrowstrife.
"17 years is very fast," she said. "Next, try to condense the Law of Body."
"Sure thing, Lady," Kyle said with a smile as he closed his eyes.
He gathered all his insights.
As he gathered all his insights, he realized that there was a lot to consider.
The Law of Body seemed as complex and complicated as the Law of Yin-Fire and Yin-Metal put together.
However, that also wasn't too surprising, considering that those Laws had five Fragments each, while the Law of Body had ten.
The Fragments of Size, Metabolism, Efficiency, Speed, Power, Muscles, Organs, Bones, Skin, and Nerves.
All of these Fragments worked together.
In a way, there didn't seem to be any Base Fragments. Almost all the Fragments were equally complicated.
Kyle tried to imagine an overarching concept.
He thought about the individual Fragments for quite a while.
Yet, even after several minutes, Kyle felt like he hadn't made any progress.
'Huh?' he thought. 'Why is this so hard?'
Certain parts of the Fragments vanished from Kyle's brain as he thought of other parts.
Several times, he completely forgot what he had just wanted to do before starting over again.
It was like Kyle was trying to solve a complex equation with several variables, but wasn't allowed to write down the individual numbers.
It was like he was forced to simplify the equation in a single step without being allowed to take notes.
He forgot results he had come up with earlier and had to solve them again.
'Brah, why is there so much to consider? It's crazy how much I have to remember!'
The feeling Kyle felt was very familiar.
He had felt the same way while refining his Law of Meteor.
"Ah, I see," Kyle said. "That's why you used the word try, right?"
"The more Fragments a Law has, the harder it is to condense the entire Law," Lady Arrowstrife said. "With Elements, you have a Base Fragment. You can metaphorically stand on it and just incorporate the other Fragments."
"In this case, there's no Base Fragment. You can't just slot the other Fragments into one."
"The presence of a Base Fragment makes it easier to comprehend a Law. The Law of Body doesn't have one."
"Huh," Kyle answered, "and what can I do about that?"
Lady Arrowstrife just threw an even look at Kyle.
She didn't need to explain.
She knew that Kyle already knew the answer.
When Kyle saw her expression, he just sighed. "My Momentum isn't strong enough, right?" he asked.
Lady Arrowstrife just nodded wordlessly.
Kyle just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, guess I have to add another attempted suicide to my to-do list."
Lady Arrowstrife slowly blinked once at Kyle's way of phrasing.
"This is not a bad thing," she said. "In fact, it's a good thing."
Kyle raised an eyebrow.
"You are supposed to be stuck," she said. "You need a True Battle to become stronger. True Battles are not always easy to come by, and that's a perfect reason for you to enter the Array of Stars' tryouts."
"On the surface, you will look like someone who wants to join the Array of Stars, but in secret, you're just searching for a True Battle, which the tryouts can provide."
"The people managing the tryouts will see through that disguise and will consider you as someone who just wants to take advantage of their tryouts. They will feel like they managed to uncover your true self, and they will be less likely to suspect you of being a double agent working for a different power."
"You are not someone who already has everything he needs. You are missing the Law of Yin-Wind and a True Battle. These are things the Array of Stars can provide."
"They will view you as exceptional, but with their help, you can become unique. They have something they are willing to give that you desperately need. That makes you reliant on them."
"When they inevitably confront you, you will act hesitantly and carefully. Their attempts at persuasion will get more direct, and they will reach a level where you are almost forced to accept. That's when you will accept."
"They uncovered your secret. They gave you a couple of things already. They promised you many advantages. They worked hard to convince you."
"And then, they will finally get you."
"They are the ones who will seek you out. You didn't even want to join. They had to do so much to get you to join."
"In this way, your true identity will be safe," Lady Arrowstrife explained.
Kyle nodded a couple of times with an impressed expression. "Has anybody ever said that you're pretty good at this?"
"It's my job," she answered evenly. "If I weren't good at it, it wouldn't be my job."
The next moment, the Ether around Kyle distorted again, and moments later, he found himself inside Lady Arrowstrife's building on Orchis again.
"For the next years, you will learn everything there is to know about the general workings of the Supreme World," she said. "After that, we will be going over your new background and how you can portray it convincingly."
"After that, you will leave for your mission."
Kyle nodded, but then, he thought of a question.
"Won't there be investigations into my fake background?" Kyle asked.
"Your background won't be fake," she answered. "You will assume the mantle of a real person. We have already found a fitting identity for you. The current owner of your future identity left to comprehend the Law of Yin-Fire 70 years ago."
"One of our people killed him in secret around ten years ago. The organization he belonged to conveniently lost a devastating battle and was taken over by a rival organization."
"Anyone who personally knew the current owner of your future identity was killed off. There are only people left who knew him distantly, as well as old records."
Kyle farted(blinked) a couple of times.
"Okay then…"
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