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((Triple Wednesday -- Page 2 of 3))
“Agh, could you at least look at me when you are talking to me?” said Erisa.

“You know I can’t,” said Parson. “My job is to not take my eyes off the field in front of me.”

“Hmph. Honestly, what could possibly happen if you looked away for two seconds?”

Oh, what an innocent creature, she was. That was what he loved about her, though. Not a cynical bone in her body, not a jaded thought in her head. He just smiled to himself and kept watching.

She wasn’t entirely unjustified in her annoyance, however. She knew how old he was despite his appearance. She knew how powerful he was. No doubt, she thought this kind of work to be below a regional captain of the Vanguard.

And indeed, it was. But they were short-handed. Abolish had struck a major blow in Korgum two years ago, and Parson had been forced to send most of his men there as reinforcements. Now, he had to either help pick up some of the slack around here himself or let the weaknesses in the city’s security get worse.

It didn’t help matters that Calthos as a whole was in a state of disarray, either. Montero, being the capital, may have been the safest place in the country, but that was really only due to the Wall.

Parson knew very well that if something were to happen here--something beyond mere civil unrest and political turmoil--then the task of protecting the city would fall largely upon his shoulders.

His and Overra’s.

It had only been four years since he and she had finally become capable of using pan-rozum. With that, had come his promotion to regional captain from a normal captain, but even now, he wasn’t entirely confident in his ability to control that power. Pan-forma, though less powerful, was still much more comfortable and useful, he felt. And he and Overra could maintain it for a much longer period of time, as well.

But that was something that they needed to work on, he knew. Pan-rozum, as one might expect of the most difficult and advanced of all the hyper-states, was incredibly flexible and held such potential that even some of the strongest people in the world said that they felt as though they had hardly scratched the surface of what pan-rozum could theoretically make possible.

The problem, they usually said, was practice. Pan-rozum was so much more taxing on both the body and soul than any of the lesser hyper-states that even just maintaining it for long enough to test anything out would leave the servant and reaper unconscious for days.

Until they neared that crucial one hundred year marker, apparently.

From what Overra had been telling him, one hundred years was widely considered the “turning point” for any servant and reaper pairing. The level of soul-synchronization around that time would begin opening many doors.

Which was why it was their goal.

Overra, Nerovoy, and Feromas’ goal.