Chapter 22: Improvements

Everything returned to the usual routine. Apart from body pain, constant headaches, and unpreventable nosebleeds, Aleph continued working. 

Honestly speaking, he did not have as much workload as the other researchers during normal days. The duty of an assistant director was to approve certain research directions, distribute fundings, regulate certain experiments, and so on. 

It was his unnecessary meddling that pushed him to help some studies that were stuck in a bottleneck.

Nevertheless, it earned him an extremely good reputation within the third research institute. This resulted in a rather "excessive" concern out of everyone.

"Are you alright, Doctor Aleph? Should we call a Doctor of Medicine?"

"You must be pushing yourself too hard, Assistant Director. You should take a rest. We can take over here."

"That's right. There's no need to push yourself too hard."

In the end, Aleph was forced to take a week-long sick leave.

"What should I do now..?"

He was blankly staring at the clear blue sky. Strangely enough, his eyes didn't hurt from looking at it for quite a long time.

Although he still experienced the sensation of pricking needles all over his body, he didn't feel as weak as three days ago. His meeting with Mobius at that time went surprisingly well despite his strange state.

"There's nothing to learn from my condition. All I could do is wait."

Aleph went to the open space within the third institute. It served as one of the hangars where experimental mechs take off.

Aside from the usual damaged mechs and huge chunks of metals, there was an 'emergency forging room' where certain parts could be made with ease. This place was added to the hangars due to the seriousness of the second major eruption. Mechs needed to be implanted with self-destructive bombs just to serve as a slight diversion for the formidable Herscherr of the Void.

Now, it became a place for Aleph to 'create' honkai weapons.

"The usual thing."

He didn't come here to forge but to check his current strength. 

He came in front of a huge slab of metal. Several marks are added to it. Signs of being cut down could be seen in its edges.

The thick metal couldn't impede his cursed technique's power. Nowadays, it was used to approximate the cursed energy used to activate his [Ratio] technique. He would use different weapons and examine how much they consume to cut down a toughness at that scale.

"I have a feeling about this…"

Shockingly, Aleph tightened his fists. 

Bam-!

His punch dented the metal slab considerably. All it took was some twitching in his right hand.

"I really… that amount of cursed energy affected my body. I might be able to tear down seraph-class beasts bare-handedly. As for the impact generated by the chariot-class beasts… It still needs more computations and testing."

'Strength' wasn't simply an ability to punch through metals with ease. A lot more needs to be tested such as the internal damage his body sustains as well as the physiological activities caused by it.

"If I add more…"

Aleph jump started his [Active Power State]. Lines of bright purple ran through his entire body, reaching to his neck.

'Hm..?'

The moment he thought of strengthening his body, the cursed energy inside him acted. It flowed naturally along the lines.

He was surprised to find out that he 'instinctively' did it instead of strengthening his arm solely.

'It feels like a habit. My previous actions were deemed worse… Like there's something wrong with it.'

Aleph caught onto something.

'If only the arm was strengthened… it might cause severe injuries to the body as a whole. Blood circulation and likes might be affected…'

He temporarily placed a theory before he finished the process of enhancing his entire body with cursed energy.

When he let out his second punch, a loud noise rang out within the hangar.

Bam-!

Aleph was surprised to see his fist embedded several inches deep into the metal slab.

"What the hell…"

When he removed his hand, he saw a huge dent on the shape of his fist. There wasn't much noticeable pain except for the occasional itch and pricking sensations.

"I'm this strong right now… What would happen if I recover?"

Aleph felt like he could still go further. It's just that he is currently injured due to something.

Just as he was wondering, a pricking sensation struck his neck. It was his [Danger Sense] acting out. It was mild enough compared to the other times he felt the sensation.

Aleph looked at its direction.

"A camera."

He already turned off most of the surveillance within this hangar. It begs to differ that no danger could come from it, yet it did.

There was only one explanation left.

"I'm being watched..?"

Aleph recalled the list of people who could've hacked through the security of the third institute. The entire building mostly used an internal network of their own. There were only three connections to the network outside.

Even so, this place was included within the 'internal network'.

"Mobius? It's possible. A hidden spy? Could it be from Sakura's group? What about the other institutes?"

The first institute focused on honkai energy. There weren't any notable people who had enough skills to infiltrate their network.

The second institute, on the other hand, has several of them.

"The troublemaker of the second institute..?"

There was one figure who stood out from the rest—a genius from the second institute. It was said that she was personally recruited by Elysia after some circumstances.

He wasn't fully sure if it was her, but she has the highest probability of doing so.

'To deal with it or not?'

Aleph sighed before he made a decision.

"I'm sorry, Doctor Einstein."

*****

"How did he find it?"

Looking at the screens who turned into static gray boxes one by one, the expert frowned.

"Just when we decided to monitor him…"

It didn't even take a minute before Aleph discovered her peeking. It was something straight from a supernatural movie!

It's not like their world wasn't one already, though.

"You must know better than me."

The girl seemingly spoke to another person, but she was the only one inside the room.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

"So that's how it is."

Seeing that nobody replied to her, the aggrieved expert could only continue finding some other ways to effectively stalk him.