56 Genesis 2
As its name suggests, 'Rune master' was an existence similar to an 'Aura master' but they were more scares in mortal realm because in order to qualify as a 'Rune master' a person has to gain the abyssal amount of understanding of mana language, which was runes.
Even then not everyone can become a rune master unless he was acknowledged by mana itself and those who succeeded in becoming one, will be granted the marking on their soul, which represented their qualification as a rune master.
Rune master were the perfect supporting force in any world as their ability to enchant magic crystal, cores and weapons were unparalleled.
A Rune master can turn any magic crystal into utility crystals similar to globe crystal, soul essence crystal and many other useful items.
They could also create runic weapons, which were different from the beast core weapon and contained the ability, which rune master was capable of bestowing.
My fake holy sword was one such weapon prepared by a rune master in the past, apparently I thought ether was also a runic weapon but merlin denied the fact saying it was a living entity.
Even 100 year in the past there were only 6 known rune master on the entire planet Amora, we didn't know how many rune master have born in past 100 year but we knew one thing that no matter how many rune master have born, there will always be scarcity of rune master and if such a person makes an appearance, no matter how secret the organization, they wouldn't be able to fight the temptation of recruiting him.
I didn't know anything about runes because if I try to become an rune master, it would take me at least 100 years of studying and even than it was not guaranteed that I would become an rune master thus this was the field, which I had neglected training in the past decade, but I didn't need to become an rune master because merlin was a peak rune master and best supporting companion one could ask for.
It took merlin 2,000 years to gain the title of rune master even though he had abundance of insight into runic language and only after some fruitful encounters; he received the qualification of rune master from mana.
Apparently the fragmented souls like merlin were not qualified to become a rune master but the hard work and determination he had put in made mana acknowledge him despite being a fragmented soul.
The portal directly led us into a dark room where two seats were prepared by the demon beforehand.
Merlin sat on one seat and the demon took the other seat a wooden table separating both of them.
'There are two people in the shadow, stronger than demon makia but weaker than that aura master jabel.' Merlin observed our surrounding.
Soon the red eyes of demon dimmed a little but regained their spirit once again.
'Someone has switched places with our previous host.' Merlin said.
'What?' I asked but merlin didn't reply me and questioned the demon puppet.
"You try to act like an esteemed host but talk through a puppet, shouldn't I take this meeting as disrespect toward my title."
"I knew it was impossible to keep this secret hidden from the eyes of qualified 'Rune master' but you are more impressive than I thought." The demon puppet spoke.
"You are half right, I am talking to you through a puppet but that is how our organization works, it is prohibited for us members to meet and annex ourselves with any guest who visits us, as we consider ourselves a neutral organization."
"In order to keep our agents and information safe we employ puppets at every branch with whom our agents share their basic senses who are scattered throughout the planet.
There are tens of puppets sharing consciousness between you and me which makes this process of information sharing safe and untraceable.
That is the reason I cannot personally welcome you, it is the system designed since the inception of genesis by an esteemed rune master such as you." The demon puppet said.
"Before you ask me anything, let me introduce myself, I am one of the 6 member of upper echelon of Genesis organization, my codename is silent reaper, when one of my subordinate contacted me earlier that a Rune master wishes to meet us, without caring about the proper procedures I allowed you the entry therefore please overlook this offence." Silent reaper said.
'He is telling the truth.' I told merlin.
'So someone from upper echelon is here, they are taking our presence more seriously than I thought; I have to be more careful while dealing with him.' Merlin said.
"So what is the proper procedure to contact your organization?" Merlin asked because we didn't know the proper procedure to contact them and just came unannounced at his doors.
"There are two ways, first is, if we deem you worthy of joining us, we would contact you ourselves which does not happen very frequently.
Second method is for an existing member of Genesis to introduce a new member to us and if he passes a few tests, we will allow him to become the member of genesis." Silent reaper disclosed the fact without much hesitation which raised some doubts in my mind as were they really a secret organization.
Demon jabel was an existing member of genesis and he bought demon makia with him to register him as the member of genesis but they were kicked out of here without taking any test, which demonstrated this organization's standards.
'From his talks, it seems he wishes to form a long term relationship with us, good thing that is what we want as well.' I said.
"Now that I have explained myself, I would like to know about your esteemed self." Silent reaper said his face not containing any emotion and a football sized transparent crystal ball appeared in front of me.
"I do not doubt the integrity of our esteemed guest but it is a core rule of our organization to verify the basic information of our guest with the help of truth orb, which even I can't bypass." Silent reaper explained.
The truth orb in front of me was not 100% accurate but it had the ability to trace fluctuation in mortal soul, and it was the verified fact that whenever someone speaks lie, their soul would fluctuate.
This iron rule applied to everyone in this world but me and merlin were exception because our soul was not mortal soul but the soul of a celestial being.
Even other heroes can't bypass the ability of truth orb because there soul was mortal soul and their system didn't possess active consciousness similar to merlin.
It was not possible for merlin to take over my body for more than few hours because of his weak soul, but it was enough time for him to fool this genesis members.
Merlin had evaluated the fact that whenever I tells lie, my soul didn't fluctuate like other mortals and my soul was so stout that even he failed to extract my soul essence many times during our training in sea of consciousness therefore whether it was me or merlin truth orb would be useless against us.
"I am not obliged to share my real name therefore I will not tell you that, you can call me 'Thunder emperor' and I have been in seclusion from past 50 years in ancient ruins of pengia."
I said placing my hand on the crystal but the crystal didn't lit up and a smile appeared on the lips of silent reaper.
As we have expected, the crystal failed to detect the lie, merlin could intentionally create a fluctuation in his soul if this agent tries to check the genuinely of crystal but he didn't push him further sensing it would be disrespectful toward merlin.
The pengia ruins whose name I chose, was a well-known place and had a long history attached to it.
There has been only one Rune Grandmaster in the history of planet Amora, and that person was victor pengia, who existed 1,000 year ago.
In his last moment, he made an ancient dungeon in search of a person, who will inherit his legacy on eastern continent but even after 1,000 years has passed, no one has come close to expectation of rune grandmaster victor pengia.
Even then thousands of scholars challenged the ruins every year only to die miserably while one in a million fortunate person came out of the ruins alive by becoming a 'Rune master'.
That place was sacred ground for scholars of this planet and one of the three wonders of this world because normal Rune master could only enchant weapons, crystal and create some formation but a Rune grandmaster was an existence who could handle the elements like space and time, allowed him to manipulate time and space by mana itself.
Every intercontinental teleportation gate existing on this planet was created by grandmaster pengia 1,000 year ago and protected by powerful array designed in such a way that only king of this world could control them and an entity below mythical rank won't be able to harm it.
"So Thunder emperor is a newly ascended Rune master, I congratulate you on behalf of entire Genesis for overcoming this hurdle." The puppet didn't make any expression but I could feel sincerity in the voice of silent reaper.
"I would like to ask few questions while you keep your hands on the crystal." Silent reaper said and merlin nodded.
"Are you a human or demon?" Silent reaper asked which proved he didn't buy my fake persona but also wasn't able to deduce my real identity.
'That was to be expected from the upper echelon of genesis, there is also a faint chance that if he meet us personally, he may be able see through our disguise but this way of communication is beneficial for us.' Merlin said and I agreed.
"I am a human." Merlin replied and the expressions on the face of silent reaper softened.
"Are you an apostle sent by celestial being to conquer planet Amora or have affiliation with such entity?"
"No, I am not an apostle sent by celestial beings nor I have any affiliation with such entities." I said and the crystal remained inactive.
"Do you have any ill intention for approaching Genesis?" Silent reaper asked.
"I don't have any ill intention toward genesis, I have come to ask genesis for help regarding a certain matter and in return I will help you to the best of my abilities." Merlin said.
"May I know how you come to know about our location and who we are?" Silent reaper asked.
"I met Earl Jabel in the deep forest few days ago and he informed me about your existence in return of my help, unfortunately he couldn't come with me because he is dead." I said keeping my hand on the crystal.
"Earl jabel… interesting, I would like to hear how he died but that is not important right now, you can remove your hand." Silent reaper said and I removed my hand from the crystal.
He had his eyes glued to the back of my hand, where rune master symbol was engraved because whenever someone used rune forgery the symbol on their hand would glow golden but nothing like that happened to my hand.
Suddenly a guard stepped out of the shadow and placed his hand on crystal and said.
"I am the 34th shadow knight." The next second the crystal lit up and my ability also confirmed that the person has said lie.
Confirming the validity of crystal and placing it inside the storage space once again silent reaper turned toward me.
"I have satisfied my curiosity and hope you will pardon my intrusion, to compensate you for my misbehavior, I will answer any one of your question free of cost." Silent reaper said in an apologetic tone but I was glad he acted this way because things turned out to be in our favor.
"I accept your sincere apology…" Merlin said eying silent reaper.
