Chapter 7: Photon Core Part 1

[--Lily--: I'll make a Hero out of you!]

Green eyes were full of doubt as he watched the girl who announced that sentence with a cheerful voice.

***

**[Time: Early morning]**

[AN: From now on, while on the outside he will be referred to as Vorst, but inside he will be called Marc.]

In the elevator, there were two children standing: one male, one female. Vorst, as it was him, was completely relaxed; on the other hand, Mersa, whom he was accompanying, was fidgeting the whole time.

[Mersa: I-It's a nice weather t-today...]

They were indoors, going up in the elevator. Besides, this early in the morning, the sun hadn't even risen yet. However, since he had already received the links, he was obviously aware of her feelings.

[Vorst: Indeed, seems like it's going to be sunny...]

***

As nature dictates, the stronger one rules over the weaker ones. Even after the introduction of the concept of society, it was overthrown by 'guns,' especially the last 'disintegration railgun,' which demonstrated a true supremacy of 'Power.' But there was a main problem with 'guns': they were detachable. One day you were wielding the 'gun,' and the next you could find yourself on the other side of the barrel.

Everything changed with the Photon Core. Now equipment was only a support; the real power lay in the crystal core itself. Sub-race categorization was divided according to 'natural strength,' which, in other words, was potential. For example, a Wolf Mid-ranking race would need to train for several decades to achieve 10 HST, while the White Wolf would pass that step in mere years.

The structure of the Photon Core was similar to a miniature galaxy. With the crystal core in the center, nano-photons converged in an orderly fashion, forming a disk shape.

The size and thickness of the disk measured aptitude, or what Marc referred to as potential. Here comes the power of hybrids—they had two disks, which, in other words, meant a double power gain rate!

The size and color of the crystal core in the center measured an individual's Power. The bigger the core, the more powerful one was.

***

Both children were on their way to test their aptitude. One must know that an aptitude test was incredibly costly. For the Power test, they just needed to scan the color and size of the crystal core to get results, but the disk surrounding it was a completely different matter. It wasn't solid at all... Enough said, the cost for one procedure of an aptitude test would be able to feed a family of five for ten years. Today they were doing two of those...

[Mersa: Vor-chan...]

[Vorst: Yes, Mersa? *BAM*]

The White Wolf Princess knocked him on the head.

[Vorst: Why... *massaging sore spot*]

[Mersa: I know that Vor-chan has a problem with his memory...]

Namely, Marc had no memories of Vorst. None. Zero. Nil.

[Mersa: ... but at l-least please c-call me Mer-chan like you used to!]

A red shade descended on her face.

[Vorst: Got it, Mer-chan.]

[Mersa: Uh-huh.]

The radiance from her smile showed her happiness.

[Vorst: ... Mer-chan, you wanted to say something.]

[Mersa: Oh... Um... Huh... Eto...]

The 11-year-old male showed a prime example of patience as he watched the wolf girl mumbling away for a while.

[Mersa: I-I-I-I wanted to s-say... I thought about it a lot. I think. I... I-I think I'll have to go ahead.]

Vorst didn’t get a thing from this. First, his language skills weren't completely perfect yet. Besides that, he had absolutely no context information. No wonder multiple big '?' literally popped above his head. That didn’t escape the careful eyes of his conversation partner.

[Mersa: Uuuuu, how dense can you be?! I-I was talking about class! I think it’s time for me to do this seriously and advance in ranks...]

Having her power levels advancing without any trouble, the little girl grew complacent. The black scorpion incident was like a bucket of cold water; she realized how weak she was, especially compared to Rankers. She understood that the way she was right now, she would even lose to most adults. How could she protect him if she was so weak?! Therefore, she decided to leave him behind in order to gain power to protect him...

[Vorst: I see...]

[Mersa: ...]

Marc wasn’t dense at all. From a glance, he noticed that it was a tearing choice for her. For the last six years, she had spent her days with him... What’s more, now she was additionally charmed by those serious emerald eyes...

[Vorst: ... It's sunny today. From now on, if it's sunny, why don’t we have lunch together outside?]

Hearing that, she quickly nodded as a great mood washed over her. Vorst not only accepted her decision but also proposed a way to be together. As the doors of the elevator opened, she walked out with a light step while happily humming a song. Vorst silently followed.

All of the researchers inside stopped as they curiously watched this duo. One of them was an absolute peak in terms of talent, while on the other side was, in their eyes, the worst, completely hopeless case. Although they had no idea why the Alliance was wasting money on the 'powerless' potential test, they received their orders, and they would execute them...

***

The Principal had the results of two tests in front of him. There was also a communication channel open.

[???: 10th LST...]

[Principal: During the last two days, she did nothing but cry, and her power grew two ranks. Also, the results are obvious; her White Wolf aptitude output beat the previous record by 10%, while her Elf’s output increased by 20% and rivals that of Claire-sama.]

[???: Yes. That child is definitely irreplaceable. She is gentle and talented, a perfect candidate.]

[Principal: In comparison, the 'powerless'...]

The man looked in resignation at the numbers on the paper of Vorst's results.

[???: Useless... His level fell all the way down to 1st LST, his aptitude output... fell... I thought it was at rock bottom; I never would have imagined that there was a level below THAT.]

[Principal: Hmpf. Also, that thing you were waiting for. It happened.]

[???: !! You mean?]

[Principal: Yes, she decided to advance, leaving him behind.]

[???: ... *smile*]

[Principal: She might have done what you were waiting for, but not everything went according to your predictions. She didn’t dupe him.]

[???: ... *smile froze*]