Chapter 86: The Spoils of War

The last item from the Deacon's ring was a wrist guard, forged from a heavy, dark metal that seemed to drink the light in the room. Ethan noted its specific, ergonomic curve; it was clearly designed exclusively for the right arm.

Without hesitation, Ethan slid it on. The metal was surprisingly light, its surface cool and smooth against his skin. He closed his eyes, took a calming breath, and channeled a delicate trickle of his psionic energy into the device. An astonishing thing happened. A low hum vibrated up his arm, and the wrist guard came alive. With a soft but distinct vwoom, a circular shield composed of shimmering, metallic light materialized in front of his arm, expanding from a single point into a solid barrier in less than a second. The size of the shield was perfect, large enough to cover his torso and head, a gleaming bastion against any potential attack.

"Ooh~~" Ethan couldn't help but let out a gasp of genuine surprise and delight, a wide grin spreading across his face.

He found this new toy utterly fascinating. He began to playfully control the shield, a child with a brand-new gadget. One moment he would infuse a pulse of Aura, making the shield snap into existence with a satisfying hum. The next, he would cut off the psionic feed, and it would instantly collapse back into the wrist guard with a faint hiss. This was repeated several times, his initial awe giving way to pure fun. "Open, close, open, close…" Ethan played with this newly discovered treasure with endless, childish delight, testing its reaction speed, admiring the way the light danced on its surface.

After he had made it appear and disappear more than a dozen times, he suddenly remembered his purpose. "Wait a minute, aren't I supposed to be checking the rest of my spoils of war?" So, with some reluctance, he put away the wrist guard and continued to check the next item, the final prize from the Deacon's ring.

It was an exquisite, small wooden box, its surface polished to a soft sheen. Ethan handled it with care, prying open the delicate lid. Inside, nestled on a bed of what looked like plush, black velvet, lay three round, glossy pills. Ethan carefully picked up the box, fanning the air with his hand towards his nose, just as he'd seen researchers do with unknown chemicals in old films. He carefully sniffed. A fresh and pleasant fragrance, complex and layered with herbal notes, drifted up. It was a clean, green scent, like a forest after a spring rain. Just from that light sniff, he felt a warm, gentle stream of psionic energy enter his body through his sinuses, a soothing and invigorating sensation. A trace of deep curiosity and keen anticipation couldn't help but rise in his heart.

"Could this be one of those legendary Aura Pills Mr. Gordon was always talking about?" Ethan muttered to himself, his mind racing. "But I'm still not sure what type of pill it is, or what it does." For this kind of item that needed to be taken orally, he didn't dare to try it lightly. An unknown drug could bring about completely unexpected, and potentially dangerous, consequences.

For now, caution was the better part of valor. He placed both the wrist guard and the box of pills on his desk and turned to his computer to do a proper search. First, let's understand the wrist guard. He was continuously impressed by how the scientific researchers of this era had developed the public psionic item scanning function. Through a simple scanning operation on his datapad, the detailed information of the wrist guard was quickly pulled from the Global Concord's public database. A 3D wireframe model of the shield appeared on screen, rotating slowly.

The screen displayed: "Steel Shield, Advanced Psionic Gear. By injecting psionic energy, the user can activate a shield formed from metal-attribute Aura, capable of withstanding the full-power blow of a Rank Three master. A high-grade Steel Shield can even resist several attacks from a Rank Four master."

Ethan stared excitedly at the information on the screen, his eyes flashing with a joyous light. "I've really struck gold this time!" he said emotionally, leaning back in his chair. This advanced psionic gear was equivalent to having the defensive strength of a Rank Three psionicist on call, and a high-grade one at that. This would undoubtedly bring a huge boost to his own survivability in a fight.

He then navigated through the database, his curiosity piqued. He wanted to understand the system behind these incredible devices. He learned that the ranks of psionic gear were divided into ten tiers: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Exquisite, Star, Lunar, Solar, Immortal, Sacred, and the theoretical, almost mythical, Divine rank. The last two ranks were grayed out in the database, with a note saying the information was restricted to users of a higher clearance level. Each rank was further subdivided into four quality grades: low, mid, high, and a supreme grade above that.

The key to it all was the psionic runes. Hundreds of years ago, psionic smiths had discovered that when Aura flowed through specific, intricate patterns etched onto the metal, the forged gear would produce unique effects. This discovery had given birth to the entire field of modern psionic engineering. He learned that the number of runes was one of the most important standards for measuring the grade. Taking his Advanced-grade Steel Shield as an example, the quality was determined like this:

Low-grade: 101 to 300 runes

Mid-grade: 301 to 600 runes

High-grade: 601 to 999 runes

Supreme-grade: Exactly 1,000 runes

The database stressed that a supreme-grade item was not just incrementally better; it was a qualitative leap, often possessing unique abilities not found in lower grades and holding a value many times greater.

Ethan picked up the wrist guard again, observing it with newfound appreciation. The intricate psionic runes, he now saw, were all carved on the inner wall of the device, a dense, web-like pattern of flowing lines and sharp angles. When worn, the runes would be hidden safely inside, protected from being scratched or damaged in battle.

He decided to try and count them. Five painstaking minutes later, his eyes were burning, and a dull ache started behind his temples. "Ah… this is killing me!" This small device had a staggering number of runes carved into its inner surface, so densely packed together that trying to distinguish one from the other with the naked eye was maddening. Staring at the tiny, complex patterns for so long made Ethan's eyes so sore it was unbearable.

Looks like I have to get a little plug-in for this job.

Ethan activated the Omnitrix. "Grey Matter!"

In a flash of green, he transformed. As the tiny, frog-like creature, his perception of the world warped and expanded. His super-high intelligence, normally geared toward complex machines, now processed the psionic gear with equal ease. He didn't just see the runes; he understood their function, their energy flow, their precise relationship to one another. He took one look, and his hyper-advanced brain processed the entire device in a fraction of a second.

"So that's how it is," he chirped in his high-pitched, synthesized voice. "There are a total of nine hundred and eighty-six psionic runes on it. Infinitely close to the supreme-grade. It's just a pity it's that little bit off."