Apprentice of the Hidden Sage

It has been 2 terms which are equivalent to 6 months since Will became Ader's assistant. Within that period of time, Will's efforts did not yield the expected result. The relationship only existed within school grounds wherein no Babel research existed. How could Will witness the prowess of the Essence of Language if he could not even reach the perimeter of Babel's research?

Will almost finished all of his curricula within these 2 terms. The only remaining obstacle that hindered his graduation is his Capstone project. After that, his graduation will be set in stone. Once he reaches the age of 12, he'll be Bachelor's degree holder. He could push through either Master's degree or a Doctoral for his postgraduate studies.

During this time, Will completed his study in Anatomy. He took almost all of the courses involving Anatomy including theoretical and practical courses. This caused him to have too much free time. In order to fill the empty slots, he delved into extracurricular activities outside the university. He signed up for combat training and marksmanship training near the university.

Combat training includes Mixed Martial Arts and Knife Combat. He did not take anything specialized except for the Knife Combat. The training is intense, but not detrimental to child growth so for an 11-year-old, it is acceptable. Meanwhile, Marksmanship Training for his age is legal with parental consent. Will's parents were quite lenient to him after revealing his academic talents, thus they allowed him to indulge in his hobbies.

---

Another term passed. Will completed all the courses in his curriculum. After a bit of process, he will finally graduate.

'Ader doesn't seem to be the kind of person that invites an apprentice on his own initiative.'

The testing phase for Babel is still in progress. After that, it will take longer to analyze the huge bulk of data that will complete Babel. Almost 2 years had passed, and yet Babel is still in Testing Phase. How long would take for the official launch of Babel to take place?

Will decided to continue his studies and push through his post-graduate studies. Once he started his post-grad, aside from some courses, most of his time will be spent on his theses and dissertations.

After pondering, Will decided to still pursue Computer Science. The only difference is that he is now on his path to becoming a Ph.D. New Capitol University offers postgrad studies, so he did not make it harder for himself to enroll. He also did not let the opportunity to have a full scholarship slip by.

Post-graduate studies usually take as long as Bachelor's degrees because post-grad students usually take their courses and write their dissertations while working on a job. Most doctoral students don't rely on their parents anymore, so along with the tedious school work, they have part-time jobs.

In Will's case, he is a full scholarship student. He doesn't need to work for money. Also, he doesn't need to cultivate his career yet since he is just 12. All he needs to do is accumulate educational merits and attainment.

He doesn't really care about merits and attainment. What he cares about is if he could persuade Ader to agree. If he wants to persuade Ader, he needs to show that their minds were set on the same goal. The most solid proof Will could provide is a dissertation. He wanted to show Ader that he is fond of the secrets of linguistics.

---

Will finished his dissertation and presented it to his panelists. The panel includes Dr. Ader Wilson. Ader knew this runt because he is his student for 2 terms and also his assistant for 1 year. Will is currently 13 years of age. He's supposed to be a seventh-grader or 1st-year middle-schooler. Instead of learning his fair share of algebra and enjoying youth, Will is currently pursuing a chair in the Academia.

His dissertation involved the relationship between Mathematics and Language. Cryptography comes into mind when these two fields were involved, but his dissertation is quite different. In his dissertation, he exhibited the similarities between different languages using Mathematics as a tool. He designed an algorithm that could find the roots or ancestors of two or more languages by representing them with floating numbers. The floating numbers will undergo analysis until the program could yield the common ancestry. The data pitted against each other are sets of values containing thousands of words turned into numbers. The program is set on clashing a whole library of words against another library until it could accurately judge what are roots of these words are.

It was far cry from what Ader Wilson is trying to obtain in his Babel. The panelists were awed by the results of the research. They gave Will a big seal of approval and allowed his paper to be published in a certain journal in Computer Science.

On the other hand, Ader Wilson is conflicted. He actually wanted this impolite brat as an Apprentice in his laboratory, but he also want to hog all the glory of Babel. He is aware that Babel is only a program that could dig the essence of the most archaic language out of its burial grounds. The study of the language itself and getting a full view of its entirety is a different matter.

When he was Aldenoah, his life was not enough for him to achieve his dreams. His principles might have ascended, but he died before getting a glimpse. Now, he still has the same goal, but the method used is different.

He might get a glimpse and be enlightened, but it takes time for a tree to mature and more time for it to bear fruit. He needs someone to continue his legacy in case he dies before attaining its fruit. With that, at least he knew that his efforts won't be in vain.

But, still, Babel is like a child to him. It is his brainchild - the product of his two lifetimes worth of hard work and constant dreaming. Exposing his child to an apprentice is a hard pill to swallow. George might be his research partner, but George is not as passionate about Linguistics as Ader. In fact, the role of George is to ensure that the math is correct and the program is written in the most efficient way. No matter how near George is to the proximity of Ader's work, he is only privy to a limited number of things. The working mathematical equations are his, but the results won't be as rewarding to him as it is to Ader.

Months had passed since the successful defense for Will. He got no invitation from Ader and he kind of expected such a thing. It seems that he needs to initiate contact.

---

In a villa somewhere in a remote area. A wide courtyard could be seen. The courtyard is decorated with visually pleasing flowers and greenery. A buck-naked man is relaxing underneath the shade of his big parasol laying on a recliner. From his side, a voice could be heard filled with fear and respect.

"Sir, the laboratory has been located."

It took a few seconds of silence before a reply came.

"God really despises Aldenoah's guts. God hates persistent rats." he absently looked at the sky.

"Hunt the rat and take everything. Leave not one behind."

The buck-naked man took a sip of his juice ignoring the man from the side goes.

---

After a class, Ader completed his load for today. He went out of the university premises and hailed a cab. For a highly educated person like him, academic attainment does not always equate to money. Even though hailing a cab is quite expensive, gas prices these days made owning a car more impractical.

Ader told the cab driver the destination and sat on the shotgun. He relaxed his body as the journey will take a bit. Little did he know, he is being followed.

---

'Why am I stalking an old uncle. I'm not sure when will they launch Babel. I might be a bit early in the story, but it will be too late to cry when I missed it.

While Ader was hailing a cab minutes ago, Will hailed a cab as well and followed him. Ader did not directly go to the laboratory. He took a few turns while walking afraid that he was being tailed.

To be honest, his project is not the most novel thing to be coveted by powerful people. If one tried to listen to his theory, one might say that he is a quack. Being a quack in the science world is not good for one's reputation and so for one's credibility. Who would steal something from a quack? Who would steal something with no credibility and value?

Nonetheless, today, he is right. He is being tailed, not by one but by one person and a group of hoodlums. With his inept skills in misleading enemies, now the uncle is being cornered.

'Oh shit! Why am I in this situation?' it is not Ader. It is a youngster aging from 14 to 15. He is quite tall for his age, but his face proves his youth.

"Uhm! Don't mind me, just do your business. He-he-he." panic is etched on his facial expression. Cold sweat is trickling. In his sight, thirty-plus men were cracking their knuckles. Some had their hands inside their hoodie pockets. No one would like to know what was inside their pockets. 'F*ck! According to my combat training... run.'

Will - the young man in his teens is now in a predicament. Is it too late to pray now?

"Will? Wait a bit, bad hoodie people. I'm gonna talk with my apprentice first. Don't touch him. He doesn't know anything about my research. He's not part of my research team. He is also not hiding a copy of my results in a USB drive I gave a month ago if ever I die. Right, Will?" Ader winked. Seeing the blank faces, he added, "Will what are you waiting for?! Run, don't mind me. Tell my wife and kids that I love them. Also, the file, hide it somewhere safe."

As if the others did not notice the first one, he winked again and this time with a "tsk".

'You fucking nutjob! You're deliberately implicating me you piece of shit. Since when did I become your apprentice? Since when did you have a wife and kids? Aaaaaahhhhggg. Infuriating!' Will's face is as pale as a paper.

"W-who might you be sir? I'm just here to buy soy sauce."