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"Hey, you're Michael right?" A boy who appears to be in the same grade as Michael approached him in the cafeteria.

Michael paused mid-spoonful and looked up at the towering boy... 'Damn, he's tall' He thought looking at the brown-eyed, black-haired giraffe of a student. "Yeah" Michael answered.

"I'm Ben," he said with a smile. "I heard from my little brother that you were the reason why Teacher John went out to look for the students who were left behind. Otherwise, he would have had to keep hiding until the military came. Thank you!"

Michael acknowledged him with a nod and spoke, "I did it for my sister, so there's no need to thank me." 

Ben responded, "You still did it, and to be honest, if I were in your shoes, I don't think I would have had the guts to do it myself. If you ever need any help with anything, just let me know. I owe you one." 

With a nod of gratitude, Ben walked away.

Michael looked at the boy and thought to himself, "That's a scary-looking kid. Is he even a teenager? He looks like a man in his twenties." He chuckled to himself and turned to his sister to ask her about him. As he did, he noticed her smiling towards him.

"Thank you, Michael," Lisa said, expressing her gratitude towards him.

"Shut up," Michael replied jokingly. "Who was that guy?"

"Oh, him? I think that's Ben from Grade 2, Class 1," Lisa explained. "He's quite popular in the Academy because of his build. From what I've heard, he's deemed to have the highest potential to become a merger. I think it's because of his size, as most mergers are naturally athletic."

"Oh, is that a must-have?" Michael asked. He wasn't certain whether he had the potential to qualify to be a merger. Although he had a potential stat, he wasn't sure if he needed to reach a certain threshold or if he would pass the test if he took it presently.

"No, it is not a must-have trait in a merger, but it is one of the most noticeable signs, while others require testing to be identified" she explained "Why are you asking? You want to be a merger?" Lisa was taken aback when her brother showed interest in mergers, even if just a little. 'Perhaps what happened today changed him' She mused.

"I need to," Michael answered honestly. "As per what I've heard about the Blood Ant that me and teacher John defeated, it was an exile, one of the weakest in its species. It was also an old one, making it extremely weak, barely classified as a 1st Rank mutant... But despite all that, we nearly died and barely managed to kill it," Michael sighed. "If something like that happens again, I won't be able to do anything but die... I felt so powerless," he remembered the moment when the Ant was about to kill him, and it was only John's interference that saved him.

Lisa, stunned, kept quiet for a while before she spoke. "Something like this only happens once in a lifetime and might never happen again... We're safe" Lisa continued. "It's not your responsibility"

Michael shook his head and changed the subject. "Can you tell me about mergers?" He asked.

Lisa smiled and started spoking with enthusiasm as if something in her brain had clicked. "Mergers are people with special genes," she said, "according to the merger magazine, only 1 in 100 thousand people are mergers. When discovered, they are taken by the military for special training at a "merger camp", where they are trained and taught everything they might need." She became so engrossed in the conversation that she forgot to eat. 

"To become a merger, a person must have certain physical fitness criteria and be given a genetic mutation elixir, as I heard from a source. However, not everyone who qualifies can absorb the elixir. Some potential mergers fail to do so and either lose their potential and become normal civilians again or suffer irreversible damage," she continued. 

Lisa added, "The elixir itself is a mystery. Some sources say that it's created using mutants, but not all elixirs are the same. Depending on the mutant chosen for merging, a merger can gain its abilities. For the first elixir consumed, it must be from a 1st Rank mutant, or the merger will be overwhelmed and die. To merge with higher-ranked mutants, the merger must finish adjusting and merging with their previous mutant genes, or they might also die."

Lisa was now gesticulating animatedly. "The ranks of mutants have reached the 10th rank, and the strongest documented mutant so far is called the Chimera!"

Michael was silent for a while, digesting what he just heard. 'Zero, from now on, any data about mergers should be saved in a separate document, as well as elixirs and mutants, keep it updated and correct me using it if needed'

[Done]

"Is the Chimera the strongest mutant in the world? Where was it found?" Michael asked.

"Hmm... No, it wasn't found, this thing passed over one of the cities and instantly wiped it off the map, and neither is it confirmed that it is the strongest mutant" Lisa answered.

"What?" Michael was stunned. "Was it hunted down?" He asked.

"Hunted down? Michael, you must be kidding, that thing came out of nowhere and flew deep beyond our reach, we barely documented even 10% of our planet, why would we dare venture deeper when we couldn't even do that much?" Lisa said with a defeated smile. "You need to pay attention in school Michael"

Michael was shocked for a bit. '10% I thought this world was in the steam and coal era, they should have already discovered the whole planet, and even if mutants are blocking them they should already have an estimate...' Michael thought. 'Zero, let's calculate the size of this planet?'

[More data required, find a high vantage point]

Michael finished his food and quickly sat up, "I'm going to the bathroom" He told his sister before he ran inside the academy, heading to the roof.

As Michael reached the rooftop of the academy, he took a moment to catch his breath, surveying the sprawling cityscape before him. The smoke in the distance hinted at the aftermath of the cataclysm that had befallen the city. But amidst the chaos, he found solace in the panoramic view stretching out before him.

Michael nodded. "Alright, Zero, let's get this done. We need to measure the length of a shadow from up here and then again after a known distance." He scanned the area, looking for a suitable object to serve as a shadow caster.

Spotting a flagpole on the rooftop, he pointed towards it. "That should do the trick. Let's measure its shadow from here."

Zero swiftly calculated the length of the flagpole's shadow cast by the afternoon sun. Michael then paced out a known distance along the rooftop, carefully measuring each step. Once he reached the predetermined spot, they repeated the process, measuring the length of the shadow once more.

With the data in hand, Zero processed the measurements, factoring in the elevation and the angle of the shadows. After a few moments of computation, Zero displayed the estimated size of the planet on Michael's device.

Michael listened in closer, his heart racing with anticipation, as Zero revealed the result. The magnitude of their discovery sank in as the sheer scale of the planet unfolded before them.

"Whoa," Michael whispered, his mind reeling with the implications. "We're not on earth anymore, that's for sure."

Michael was horrified, how could a planet be this large?

"Estimated to be over 100 times the size of earth, how ridiculous!!"