Izumi met Tabane the following day.
Tabane welcomed Izumi herself who came to her laboratory.
"Izumi-chan. Good job creating a personal IS in no less than two months. If there is a Guinness World Record, you will be included in the list of the fastest IS creators and the first person to create the latest generation of IS."
Izumi shook his head.
"Don't make me laugh, Tabane-chan! This achievement is still far below yours. You created IS alone. Whereas I need your guidance."
"Don't be so humble! Even if I were to share my knowledge, not everyone would be able to understand it."
Even though Tabane's words sounded haughty, Izumi couldn't deny it because it was true. Indeed some people can create IS based on what they learn from Tabane. However, nothing beats Tabane's IS in terms of quality.
"How about that Akatsubaki? Not yet?" Akatsubaki is the fourth generation of IS, the same generation that Izumi made.
"Not yet, I still need to tune it to fit Houki's body."
"Tuning? Is that needed? Wouldn't AI adapt to a pilot if IS had been used?" Izumi tilted his head slightly confused as to what tuning for. Tabane never told him about that.
"That is a Secret!" Tabane put her index finger on her lips. Actually, Tabane didn't need to tune it anymore. However, since the IS that Izumi created was stronger than she expected, she tried to increase Akatsubaki's specifications.
"Tch, not fun!"
"What's your IS name?"
"It's Theomars."
— — — —
After chatting for a bit, Izumi took out his IS that was stored in his storage space. All sorts of information were already in his head. The basic movements of the IS, operation method, capabilities, characteristics, existing equipment, sensitivity, radar search, armor residue, output gauge, and so on.
IS Izumi works quite well, it's just that it still needs adaptation because it's not fully compatible with him. The movements shown by Izumi looked stiff because the compatibility was still inadequate.
Izumi should use IS more often, so the AI in his IS will make his compatibility reach 100%. And it can be seen that his current IS form hasn't even taken the 1st Shift form yet. Only after his IS has finished configuring settings so that it is fully compatible with the pilot can his IS evolve into its 1st Shift form.
"Tabane-chan, how to evolve, or upgrade to 1st Shift form?" Izumi suddenly asked.
"If you want to evolve it quickly, I have an idea," Tabane replied with a smile.
"How?"
"Hehehe."
Then, Tabane told the plan to Izumi how to quickly evolve his IS with a grin.
"Infiltrating the entrance exam at the IS academy and causing trouble?" Izumi was slightly taken aback by Tabane's idea.
"Yep, you just need to show up at the exam ground and cause trouble, you'll get an opponent who might be able to make your IS evolve." Tabane said while holding her chin. Her face looked up at the sky imagining something that would happen in the entrance exam.
Izumi pondered. Things like evolution would be no stranger to combat or survival. So, what Tabane said did make sense. The point is self-adjustment if he wants to evolve his IS.
"If you want, you can go to the IS academy now."
"Now? Today is the entrance exam?" Hearing about the exam, he raised his eyebrows and then turned to Tabane.
Tabane curved her lips.
"Well, luckily the timing was right when your IS just happened to be finished." Tabane said.
"If I show up with the latest generation of IS, won't you be in trouble? I believe no one has been able to develop the latest generation of ISs besides you."
Izumi scratched his head. Indeed, this was a good chance to evolve Theomars. However, he didn't want to trouble Tabane because of his appearance at the IS academy. In particular, there is one of the strongest IS pilots supervising the entrance exam.
"Hihi, fret not! They won't suspect me since the IS cores I possess are still intact. You managed to create an IS core with raw materials, so no doubt, that new core is not on the lists of world governments. Besides, even if they knew, what could they do to me? They don't even have the courage." Tabane replied with a giggle.
"Are you sure about this? If you get into trouble, it's not my fault, okay?" Izumi wanted to confirm it once again.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. How can a genius like me care about such a trivial matter?" Tabane wiggled her index finger left and right while acting smugly.
"Fine then. And, where is the direction to the IS academy? How far?"
"There is. It should be around 100 km from here." Tabane said while pointing in a certain direction.
"100 km? Hmm, it should be one and a half hours by driving the ordinary vehicle."
Flying using the default IS setting would be too flashy. Theomars couldn't change into a closed form, which was turned into a ring because it hasn't evolved to 1st Shift form yet. Izumi could have just flown there using his Devil Fruit power. However, it would be better if he just used the monorail. It would be safer and less conspicuous. Tabane told him that he would reach the IS academy in less than an hour if using the monorail. So, Izumi decided to take that transportation service.
— — — —
Without Izumi realizing it, he arrived on an offshore island. It has a decidedly futuristic look with all its domes and a branch-like tower in the middle of it. There are plenty of trees and parks to tone down the metallic look.
As its name suggested, IS academy is an educational corporation meant to nurture IS operators or pilots. The Japanese government saw it as a principle duty to fund and run it.
However, the results of the research were revealed to the entire world due to a common agreement, and at the same time, Japan had no right to either remain silent or hide everything from them.
The academy has opened its doors to foreign students without any conditions, and the Japanese government provided protection.
Izumi sneaked in silently, he jumped up and stood on the roof of the exam field. The exam field is an arena with an area of 300 meters in diameter. That place is like a football stadium without the grass covering the field. The spectator stands were filled with entrance examinees and examiners.
Izumi glanced at the exam field, the exam field in the arena is divided into two sections for examining new students, north and south sections. To the south of the exam grounds, he could see a young woman with short green hair matching her eyes and wearing glasses. That young woman seemed to be the supervisor of the entrance exam. If Izumi remembered correctly, her name should be Yamada Maya, a teacher's assistant.
While her height is somewhat petite, she has a voluptuous figure and very large breasts which show through when she wears a tight IS suit.
It seemed that the woman was observing the only male IS pilot. But she didn't know that there was another male pilot who didn't enroll in the IS academy.
Izumi also saw the only boy taking the exam, Orimura Ichika. When the examiner fights Ichika, whether intentionally or not, the examiner seems to lose control of her IS and causes it to crash into the arena wall behind Ichika, which makes him win easily.
Izumi twitched his cheek. Then, he pondered for a moment. It was nice timing to appear before them. He curled his lips, then laughed out loud.
"Hahahaha!"
Izumi's evil laugh could be heard throughout the arena. All eyes were on Izumi who suddenly burst into laughter. Everyone wondered who he was.
Izumi jumped from the top without using any assistance, then landed perfectly on the ground. This shocked everyone, be it examiners, or examinees. That height was around 60 meters. So ridiculous to see someone still fine when jumping from that height. Ordinary people wouldn't be able or probably wouldn't dare to jump from that height without any assistance.
Then, they heard what Izumi said.
"What a disappointing entrance exam. Since he's the only male IS pilot, you made it easy for him to pass the exam. How about if I test him instead? Hehehe." Izumi grinned evilly while glancing at Ichika.
"Who are you? This is not the place for an outsider like you to make trouble." Yamada Maya looked at Izumi warily. Moreover, Izumi was wearing an IS suit.
"Was there any other boy besides Orimura Ichika who could pilot an IS?" Maya asked in her heart.
"Well, I happened to be passing by. I heard there was a male IS pilot beside me so I wanted to take a look."
Everyone was startled to hear Izumi who claimed to be a male IS pilot. For all they know, the only male IS pilot published in the media is Orimura Ichika.
Orimura Chifuyu, Ichika's older sister, who saw this newcomer through the live broadcast on the screen inside the control room immediately stood up from her seat. She felt that this boy who had just arrived was very dangerous.
She could only sound the siren of danger to make an emergency evacuation because there were still a lot of students on the exam ground.