"So it’s settled then, let’s rest for a few days.
Bologue, continue familiarizing yourself with your Secret Energy, Palr, you can take a good walk around the Field Operations Departnt, just don’t get lost."
Lebius instructed, with Bologue and Palr sitting across from him, one face filled with indifference and ferocity, yet with so eagerness; the other face had turned completely pale, head slightly tilted back, pondering life’s aning.
One is an employee with sowhat of a ntal problem and will never resign, the other is an employee with so mindset issues, contemplating resigning every day.
"Co on, let show you around."
Yuriel stood up, signaling Palr, who naively thought Palr was unfamiliar with the Field Operations Departnt.
Palr opened his mouth, wanting to say sothing, but the words caught in his throat, his whole deanor showing an indescribable sense of defeat. He finally nodded and followed Yuriel out.
"Oh, right, there’s one more thing; Geoffrey, take Bologue to get a change of clothes and equipnt."
Looking at Bologue’s conspicuous white hospital gown, Lebius instructed.
"Oh yeah, what about my clothes and equipnt?"
Upon hearing Lebius, Bologue suddenly rembered that his clothes and equipnt seed to be missing; no one ntioned these things along the way.
"They were all destroyed; you drained all the surrounding ’Cold Iron Souls,’ even your clothes and equipnt weren’t spared," Geoffrey said.
"What about my Shock Hamr?"
Although the ti spent together wasn’t long, Bologue had already ford a special affection for that hamr. Few weapons could make Bologue like them so much.
"Also destroyed. Alchemy Armants are categorized by levels; your Shock Hamr happens to be the cheapest kind, and this thing generally isn’t used for combat," Geoffrey said.
"Then what’s it for? Demolition?"
Bologue still rembered the thrill of wielding the hamr, the sensation of shattering everything was really satisfying.
"A hamr is a hamr, the Shock Hamr is used by the Sublimation Furnace Core to forge steel. I just thought you’d probably like it, so I got one for you."
Saying this, Geoffrey felt sowhat embarrassed; technically, a greeting gift should be sothing good, but as Palr ntioned, getting approval from the Sublimation Furnace Core for sothing is quite difficult.
"Don’t be too upset; you’ll have good stuff later... Belli seems really interested in you, doesn’t she?"
Geoffrey said with ill intentions, squinting his eyes slightly and looking at Bologue, making Bologue feel uncomfortable all over.
"What are you planning?"
"Bologue, surely you’ve noticed by now, each action group is essentially like a mini-Order Bureau, each employee has different roles, but regrettably, those people from the Sublimation Furnace Core aren’t very pleasant; everyone struggles with those lunatics, leading to many action groups without any coordination with the Sublimation Furnace Core."
Geoffrey stood by Bologue’s side, continuously hinting to Bologue through his words.
Bologue briefly recalled the pathological female minister who undoubtedly had issues, the deputy who would occasionally punch and kick the female minister, and a forr minister who was involved in taboo research and withdrew.
Currently, Bologue had only encountered three people from the Sublimation Furnace Core, and all three had significant problems.
"No way, don’t even think about it, Geoffrey."
Bologue vehently refused; he didn’t dislike Belli, but just the thought of being watched by those eyes... being observed by such people was unsettling.
This feeling was too strange, like sothing sticky crawling over his body, making all his pores reject it.
"Oh, nothing, Bologue, you’ll agree eventually." Geoffrey chuckled, not sure what was on his mind.
"Impossible."
Bologue felt he wasn’t the type to give in easily.
"Actually, within the Field Operations Departnt, few can refuse the Sublimation Furnace Core. Your current resistance is just because you’re a newcor; you’ll understand soon enough." Geoffrey’s expression was playful.
"Ahem."
Lebius coughed twice, interrupting the absurd conversation.
"Ti is precious; you’d better hurry up. Although you won’t die, I also hope you can avoid dying as much as possible during the mission."
Lebius demanded.
"I understand, and even if I accidentally die, I’ll take out all the witnesses."
Bologue nodded, then left the office together with Geoffrey.
...
"New clothes, new equipnt, and new Alchemy Armant."
In the activity room, Geoffrey brought over a big box filled with things prepared for Bologue, who imdiately started changing clothes in the room.
"This is your uniform; take care to maintain your figure, they are custom-made; if you gain weight, you’ll need to reasure."
Geoffrey opened the box, took out a few pieces of clothing, and handed them to Bologue, speaking while not forgetting to pull on his belt.
The white shirt protruded from his bloated belly; although Geoffrey really wanted to conceal it, it was still too obvious.
"Alright."
Bologue changed into the Order Bureau’s uniform, not much different from what he usually wore, still a white shirt, tie, and jacket combo, only with so added lines and seams in certain corners.
It looked both clean and crisp, allowing for a wide range of motion without restricting his actions, combining elegance and sharpness; nonetheless, there was the familiar Concealer trench coat.
Initially, Bologue thought this was so precious item, contemplating whether to remove the coat before combat, but later learned that any mass-produced Alchemy Armant was quite cheap, including this trench coat.
In addition to these two items, there’s also a black work uniform, covered in straps and pockets, looking like it can hold quite a few weapons.
"Looks just like an employee from a regular company," Bologue comnted.
"Yes, an employee from a regular company," Geoffrey said with a smile, "It’s no longer an era where we wield swords to fight for the lord, our clothing aesthetics must advance with the tis."
"Of course, the most important thing is to be low-key and concealed, after all, we are operating in a magnificent city, not so remote and dark forest. The more ordinary we look, the better our disguise suits us."
Geoffrey continued talking about those secret societies.
"Initially, the uniforms of the Order Bureau were not like this; they were sleeveless coats with the rear ends drooping down like swallowtails, covered with a big cape reaching over the elbows all the way to the abdon, outlined with patterns in gold thread..."
Listening to Geoffrey’s description, Bologue could imagine that elegant and mysterious scene, like a phantom beneath the night sky, in the darkness adorned with noble gold.
"Sounds like... nobles," Bologue said.
"Exactly, nobles. Do you think those ancient secret societies differ much from today’s great families? The only difference is that one controls power and wealth, while the other, in addition to controlling power and wealth, also commands extraordinary power," Geoffrey explained.
"Such attire is rarely used today, only employed during so important ceremonies, while stubborn secret societies still preserve these traditions."
Listening to Geoffrey, Bologue beca sowhat curious about the traditional garb of these Condensers.
"Your folding knife and flying knives are also in here," Geoffrey rummaged through the box, "There’s no way to give you a new Shock Hamr for now, after all, you wouldn’t want to return to the Sublimation Furnace Core, right?"
Bologue quickly nodded.
"But you’re a Condenser now, lack no ans of attack, Shock Hamr deserves to be phased out," Geoffrey muttered as he pulled out another oddly-shaped item.
It resembled an arm guard, made entirely of black tal, with large pieces of armor beneath which lay chanical structures, ropes coiled around gaps, faint glows and patterns flickering across its dull surface.
"This is the standard ’Arm of Adaptation’ for the Field Operations Departnt, as you can see, it’s an alchemy armant, but it has no peculiar effects by itself, mainly forged for adapting to different modifications."
Geoffrey rolled up his sleeve and donned the arm guard, which clung tightly to his skin.
"This thing is entirely driven by Ether, so its size is compressed quite small; depending on usage tendencies, various modifications can be made, like this."
Ether was injected within, accompanied by Geoffrey forcefully swinging his hand, generating a rattling sound of twisting tal beneath the arm guard, followed by the hook shooting out, with the rope swiftly uncoiling.
"A more compact and concealed hook, and it can be triggered multiple tis with Ether."
Geoffrey swung his arm, the hook loosened and rapidly coiled back inward, like a darting venomous snake returning swiftly into the arm guard.
"Mostly we operate in cities packed with skyscrapers, nothing suits short-distance rapid movent better than this," Geoffrey said as he removed the arm guard and tossed it to Bologue, "Since you were not a Condenser before and couldn’t freely manipulate Ether, I never gave this to you, now you can discard the Hook Gun."
Bologue donned the arm guard on his left hand, and with the flow of Ether, he experienced a strange sensation as if the guard had beco part of his own body.
Soon he noticed several grooves on the arm guard, dragged by so chanical linkage, as he picked up a folding knife, its handle perfectly fit within.
The folding knife snugly attached to the arm guard, as Bologue forcefully swung his left arm to hear crisp tallic clicks, the knife flipped out from under the guard, its blade extending segnt by segnt, transforming into a sharp arm blade.
"Yes, that’s it, you can add whatever weapons you need, as long as it’s within the arm guard’s capacity but beware, adding too much would make the guard bulky and very noticeable."
Geoffrey explained, using Yas as an example.
"Like Yas’s ’Violence Suppression Action Group’, where each mber has different weapons attached to their arm guards, ranging from anesthetic needles, axes, to one guy who installed a mounted machine gun."
Bologue tried to imagine that scene, his expression turned peculiar.
"I prefer keeping just the hook function, as it allows easy concealnt."
Geoffrey placed a coat on Bologue, threading it through the loose sleeves, completely hiding the intricate arm guard, which went unnoticed until Bologue fired the hook.
"Indeed, quite convenient."
Bologue tidied himself up, returning to looking respectable and formal.
"I’ll head ho first, see you at the combat room tomorrow."
Bologue waved goodbye to Geoffrey, speaking as he pushed open the lounge door.
Palr and Yuriel walked up, Yuriel with a smile, whereas Palr retained his disheveled deanor, having actually been taken by Yuriel for a stroll around the Field Operations Departnt.
In so aspects, Yuriel is surprisingly ticulous.
"Yo! Bologue, ready to go?"
Seeing Bologue, Palr perked up slightly.
"Yes, what’s up."
Bologue responded.
"Ah, just perfect! I need to leave too, how about I give you a ride?" Palr suddenly acted attentive.
Bologue pondered for a few seconds, considering it a good opportunity for them to better understand each other.
Of course, the main reason was that Bologue’s ho was too far, he was really unwilling to squeeze into a tram.
Just as he responded to Palr, Palr stepped up like a good brother, draping an arm over Bologue’s shoulder.
"No need to be formal, we are indeed partners!"
Palr kept emphasizing.
"In the future, fighting as sworn brothers!"
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