Chapter 23: Stalker

"...And that's the thirtieth."

Aleph chose to destroy every single surveillance camera within the hangar. It didn't matter if it was outside, but the things he was doing here could elicit unnecessary troubles.

Showing off his strength while maintaining a sense of unknown is the most effective way to deal with the Fire MOTH councilors. So long as they hadn't figured out his limits, they wouldn't move so easily.

'Elysia… I'm walking behind her footsteps.'

Even now, the higher-ups didn't know Elysia's 'limits'. There are speculations that several nuclear bombs 'might' work. Though, nobody would choose to do that as long as there's a chance of winning her over to their side.

In short, the more powerful and mysterious you are, the more they would hesitate to take action, in turn leading to Aleph having a peaceful time.

[Achievement Unlocked: Stalking is Bad]

[Reward: Information Retribution]

[Stalking is Bad: Deal with peeping toms perfectly.]

[Information Retribution: Upon being stalked, receive information related to the stalker.]

Aleph was surprised to see an achievement pop up randomly. Immediately, new rows of text appeared in his sight.

[Name: Vill-V — Expert]

[Location: Fifth Floor Dormitory, Second Institute, Mu Continent, 0002…]

[Emotion: Aggrieved, Sleep-Deprived, Annoyed, Surprise]

[Status: Assistant Research Director — Second Institute]

[Summary: A person worth being recommended to a psych eval. Though she has a huge potential, it was buried by certain circumstances. Currently interested in Aleph due to his abnormal strength.]

"..."

He fell silent upon seeing the extremely detailed information in front of him. Although it was short, it was concise.

"Who's the one stalking now..?"

It didn't take long before he recovered.

"The [Ratio] technique is up next. I also need to work on [Sphere Boundary] and [Juezhao]. I haven't tried it yet."

Aleph continued testing his limits.

*****

One week later.

"How did you cut them down? I knew you worked out, but not to that extent…"

"It's quite complicated. You only need to know that I could do that."

Compared to the travel from Mu Continent to the Far East, the distance between the third institute and Kevin's military base only took two hours of land travel. Aleph took this time to visit his friend.

Originally, Kevin has an exaggerated physical prowess in Chiba Academy. Nearly two months of training honed him enough to drastically change from his prior self. As early as a month ago, he already went on expeditions to places struck with minor honkai eruptions.

"How about this? You have a simulation room here. I'll show you how I did it."

"Alright."

Aleph noticed him becoming more serious and taciturn compared to his past self.

"By the way, did you meet someone?"

"Someone?"

"A girl."

"..."

Seeing Kevin's mouth twitch, Aleph patted his back.

"There's no need to worry. You'll definitely find one someday. Who knows, maybe there will be two?"

"...I won't do that."

Kevin used to be on par with him in terms of being more carefree. Seeing this good friend of his change drastically made Aleph aware of the impact the honkai caused.

Soon, they reached the simulation room. It was made of pure silver steel. Several glass windows were placed alongside it. 

Resting inside the room are mechas around three to four meters tall. They have the same design as the chariot-class beasts.

"It uses chariot-class honkai beasts as the standard. Your score would increase the longer you survive from them. Once they deal a threatening blow, it will be stopped."

Kevin explained the rules of their training room with familiarity.

"Head to the changing room first. The testers wear a designated exoskeleton suit to prevent any accidents."

Aleph did as he was told. He entered the changing room, to which he saw a standard black exoskeleton suit. There are some parts that expose the body such as places around the neck and hips.

It was created purely to withstand the force of the mech.

'A skinsuit, then the exoskeleton itself. That's why it takes quite a long time to wear them.'

Aleph experienced putting on a suit for the first time. He had to change into a black skinsuit first before putting on the exoskeleton. Several straps and buckles had to be connected before being able to move properly.

Fortunately, he wasn't that unfamiliar with them. The third institute focused on mechas and exoskeleton suits. The batch of exoskeletons he delivered to the Sapphire City branch was personally overseen by him.

Five minutes later, Aleph came out of the changing room. He saw Kevin giving him the go signal as the latter turned to look at the technician responsible for the simulation room.

Beep-!

The chariot-shaped robot was activated. Its camera, somewhere within its head, glared at him with red light. 

A total of three robots were present.

Swoosh-!

Swoosh-!

Aleph saw that their charging speed is exactly the same as the chariot-class beasts he fought. Every time they charged, a sound akin to two metals clashing rang in the simulation room.

Swoosh-!

He continued avoiding them with great ease. His spatial awareness was strong enough to let him pull off such tricks, more so when his body became stronger. Reaction speed, agility, and the likes are upgraded to inhuman levels.

While Aleph was immersed in dodging them, bits of memories emerged from his mind.

Boom-!

Boom-!

For a moment, his vision overlapped with a memory. Five-storey tall mechs bombarded their surroundings. His vision was filled with clouds of dust as screams resounded throughout the battlefield.

'This… war?'

Sou-!

Aleph was forced to snap back to reality as he instinctively avoided one chariot-class robot. He scanned his surroundings and saw the two other robots about to charge at him.

'It's time.'

One of the things Aleph discovered was that the chariot-class beasts act on a pre-encoded program. Once their path of charging was determined, they wouldn't stray away from it. Only, there is a two second interval before the "planning" and "acting" phase happens.

Aleph had to react and move out of its way within two seconds, lest he be turned into a pile of flesh. Of course, Aleph could also predict their routes in advance, which is the safer option.

This requirement only occurs during one moment—

Bam-!

—the time when the chariot-class beasts collide with each other.