Chapter 37: Verification

Twelve hours.

That was how long it took for Aleph to raid the three bases. He had to fly from the Mu Continent to the Far West. His flight time alone reached more than six hours. If not for the comfort the nuclear suit brought, he wouldn't be able to do it.

Throughout those raids, Aleph encountered similar things to Donnie Valdez' base. The underground research conducted by those Fire MOTH councilors were revealed to him.

The sheer amount of human lives poured into it reached thousands at the very least.

Fortunately, the other two weren't as crazy as Donnie who placed a self-destruction option in his death. It allowed Aleph to invade the base more peacefully compared to the first one.

"Sigh…"

He sighed as he felt a pain in his head.

Click-!

The moment he landed, his first action was to close the small gap above the ceiling of the abandoned hangar. 

Seeing the familiar workplace slightly eased his fatigue.

Tap-!

Tap-!

Tap-!

He stepped onto a platform before leaving the black metal suit. Moments later, it slowly descended to its storage room below. Its battered and stained appearance was the testament of his battles last night.

"Harnessing honkai… Mobius reached that level with pure hard work."

He compared the progress of the councilors to Mobius. The former had to sacrifice thousands of human lives for their experiments. Meanwhile, all Mobius had to rely on was her hard work. Her work was far better compared to theirs.

"Vill-V…"

His mind moved towards the girl who helped him stage the entire chaos last night. 

"There's a reason why she was detained inside the second institute."

Vill-V's abilities are too terrifying. She contributed to Aleph's raid by remotely accessing highly-secured networks. As long as a "flaw" existed, their defenses were no different from paper.

She already showed what she could do once during her raid in Fire MOTH. The higher-ups are not dumb enough to let her be free.

Now that she has hidden external help, the degree of what she could do increased greatly.

"Sigh…"

Everything he encountered today exhausted his mind. There were mere conjectures before, but seeing how bad it was personally was another thing. 

Knowing there could be tens of thousands who died due to fellow humans made him sick. It showed him how human power was limited. 

Even if he could face an entire army alone, it was still too difficult to affect the entire humanity.

Before, he thought that as long as humanity did their job, it'll be good enough.

Now, it seems like the status quo of humanity's internal struggles need to be destroyed.

"Mei's matter needs to be settled with."

Aleph sat on one of the couches inside the hangar. His body doesn't feel tired, but the familiarity it brought gave enough comfort to his mind.

He took the towel soaked in a metal bowl filled with ice. It was the thing he got from the freezer.

"Huh…"

Upon placing it on his eyes, an unprecedented chill came from it. The iced towel added to the comfort he felt.

For a few minutes, he didn't do anything. It was only when he felt his mental fatigue alleviating slightly did he open the 'logs' from his [Achievement Hunter].

[Achievement Unlocked: Serial Killer

[Reward: Tattered Robe]

[Serial Killer: Kill one hundred humans.]

[Achievement Unlocked: Nemesis of Scholars ]

[Reward: Fountain Pen]

[Nemesis of Scholars: Kill one hundred scholars.]

[Achievement Unlocked: Sword of Damocles]

[Reward: GN Sword V (Blueprint)]

[Sword of Damocles: Punish a grave evildoer with one's hands.]

[Achievement Unlocked: Dark Undercurrents]

[Reward: Kyrie Eleison]

[Dark Undercurrents: Assist wronged souls in their revenge.]

Last night, Aleph ushered in numerous rewards. There are more than a dozen achievements he has unlocked. Though, he only paid attention to four of them.

[Tattered Robe: An item embedded with Presence Concealment (B). Wearing it can reduce one's presence.]

[Fountain Pen: A pen stained with scholar's blood. Writing with it can increase the chances of inspiration related to a study.]

[GN Sword V (Blueprint): A weapon used by a specially-made mecha. It is extremely fit with GN Particles, allowing it to change into three forms.]

[Kyrie Eleison: The prayer which brings salvation to the dead. Using it against dark creatures can allow them to rest in peace.]

These lines of text flashed in the midst of darkness. It doesn't matter whether his eyes are open or not when it comes to this strange thing.

"If the robe can be stacked, I will have three layers of stealth." He thought. "I'm becoming more of an assassin, not that it matters. As for the prayer…"

Kyrie Eleison was the thing that made him interested the most.

"Are honkai beasts treated as dark creatures?"

Such a simple question hid innumerable answers. Up to date, there isn't a standard when it comes to honkai. They are enemies of humanity due to their nature of attacking humans no matter what.

If the [Achievement Hunter] judges them as dark creatures, it means that their presence brings harm to everyone. If the contrary happens, there might be other things in play.

After some thought, Aleph decided to bring all of them out. He removed the now warm towel from his eyes and stood up.

The [Tattered Robe] was true to its name— a piece of black tattered robe. When he wore it, something changed.

Aleph could no longer hear the sound of his own breathing. His footsteps left no traces on the ground. He became an invisible man in the truest sense.

"It's a lot similar to Sphere Boundary…"

Aleph set it aside and chose the blueprint next.

Under his surprised gaze, stacks of paper appeared out of nowhere. They are more than several hundred pages long.

"Theory of GN Particles and its effects… Aeolia Schenberg,."

Aleph read the name of the author. It sounded extremely unfamiliar to his ears.

"Another world…"

It subtly confirmed his theory of his past life more.

The next thing was the Fountain Pen. It appeared like an ordinary fountain pen in Aleph's hands. Though, he could feel that his ideas are popping up at a much faster pace. He examined its ink and found out that it seemed to be bottomless.

The final item was the [Kyrie Eleison]. It was presented in the form of a small booklet.

Aleph was immediately reeled into it. 

"Deuteronomy… Sacred chant… thaumaturgy…"

The moment he finished reading everything, the booklet turned into motes of golden lights. At the same time, a memory appeared inside his mind.

"...I see."

Just like the blueprint, this [Kyrie Eleison] seems to have come from another world. It was the 'thaumaturgy' used by priests to exorcise evil spirits. Though, its true effect lies in its capability to affect the so-called "soul".

"The soul truly exists…"

Aleph was slightly dumbfounded. He didn't expect this 'magic' to confirm the existence of souls, something that has been the topic of debate for hundreds of years.

According to it, evil spirits are 'souls' that aren't permitted to interfere with the world. Their resentment was the one who anchored and allowed them to stay.

After reciting the single line from the "Bible", Aleph could then "exorcise" these evil spirits.

"Yawn… I need to think about it later."

Despite being only nine in the morning, Aleph dragged his body across the institute.