Chapter 9: Crystals! Part 1

Just as Vorst opened his eyes, Marc’s figure vanished from the throne room. Lily immediately opened her eyes and turned her head to the side. A black figure was leaning against one of the huge pillars. Her eyes were closed, but Lily knew that she was fully awake.

[--Lily--: Hello there, Ragna-nee.]

The left obsidian eye opened for a swift moment before closing again.

[--Lily--: Ah, are you jealous, maybe? Hehe.]

Seeing the strange atmosphere, Lily joked. Yes, Calla was quite taciturn, but it wasn't this bad; something must have happened.

[--Calla--: A Hero, huh?]

A bomb was suddenly dropped.

[--Lily--: W-wha! You were listening?]

[--Calla--: A Hero might not be a bad choice.]

[--Lily--: So... will you support me?]

[--Calla--: Hmm... Very well...]

[--Lily--: Hm. Thank you, Ragna-nee.]

[--Calla--: *nod* But... 'she' won't accept that.]

A fearless smile appeared on the face of the ex-Lord of Betrayal.

[--Lily--: The war has just started. I'll just have to win.]

***

Meanwhile, Marc was seriously depressed...

Who would have thought...

Over 40 thousand years...

Yes.

During those nights...

Right...

From a certain day, he had NEVER spent a single one alone...

To think that it would develop into something like this...

***

CRASH.

A large body was sent flying.

A boy leisurely walked as he approached the beast. The monster was terrified. What the hell was happening?

Black wolves were quite intelligent and attacked in groups, and this one was a King type, the strongest of them all. Though their average level of power was only 2-3 LST, there were hundreds of them in the cave.

But this boy...

Vorst was in no hurry. After all, this one was the ONLY one left standing...

To understand what was going on, we need to go back several days in time.

***

[--Lily--: These terminals are very handy.]

[--Marc--: Indeed.]

Right now, Vorst was sitting peacefully inside Heran's Library...

This morning, he was informed that in a few days, he would be transferred to Athena's Institute. That’s right; they informed him, they didn’t ask. Although the Principal did sit down with him and carefully explained the intent behind all of this and the threat that Mersa was facing. There was no reason to refuse, so he easily agreed. However, at the end of the meeting, just as Vorst was about to close the door behind him, he heard the Principal mumble those words: “Thank heavens, it seems like he doesn’t remember…”

[--Marc--: ...]

Inside and outside the Alliance, everyone knew the name of the most prestigious cadet academy of the Kollos Alliance. It was even said that Athena’s Institute and its sister (or brother?) school, Mars’ Cadet Academy, were the foundations of the Alliance. In fact, they boasted enormous influence inside the nation. Furthermore, most of the Rankers of the Alliance graduated from these two schools...

The fact that Athena was an all-girls school was common knowledge. So much so that even in the official introduction site of the academy, it was omitted. Not seeing anything suspicious, Marc browsed further through a lot of material.

For the first time, he stumbled upon the subject of Crystals...

In this world, Crystals are one of the most important resources. There are two methods of acquiring Crystals. The first and most common is through Crystal Mines, which appear on planets with a Solid Crystal Core. From these, Color Crystals are mined, which power most of the universe. Color Crystals are a unique material commonly used in Alchemy and Engineering to make modern weapons, armors, and other common equipment.

The second method is the Crystal Cave, which appears on planets with a Liquid Crystal Core. Vorst and Mersa were on one of those planets right now. One of the main reasons for this is that Crystal Caves generate monsters. The black scorpion is a prime example. As mentioned before, normal attacks are completely useless against beings with a Photon Core, but there is no perfect defense—attacks charged with nano-photons are capable of penetrating Photon Defense. Fight fire with fire! Monsters possess the Photon Core and are capable of such moves. The main difference between them and humans is that their crystal core starts as liquid, and after death, it solidifies!

Furthermore, killing a monster will not only allow you to harvest the valuable Color Crystal or even find a rare Energy Crystal and provide valuable alchemy materials, but it also speeds up the Power gain! Every being that possesses a Photon Core releases a high-density wave of natural nano-photons at the moment of their death, and that can be easily absorbed by the killer. On the other hand, artificial nano-photons are totally useless in that aspect; the high density of those even slows down the Power gain!

So far, all of humanity’s efforts to artificially create natural nano-photons have failed...

[--Marc--: Pfff. Of course it’s useless; this is a rule of the universe—no matter how much effort you put in, what can’t be achieved simply can’t be achieved.]

Marc's insights on the rules of the universe surpassed all of the current living beings in this New World. He could even fully utilize Runic Magic, which was powered by his understanding and knowledge of magic equations.

That’s all dandy, but what really caught Marc’s attention was one article in the Engineering Section...

[--Marc--: We need Crystals. Loads of them. Lily, make preparations.]

This sight was quite common. Marc never did any serious planning; he was simply too lazy. In fact, he had already formed the 'ultimate, perfect, infallible' plan. Usual. Raid. Just raid everyone around until you get enough. Simple. But in the past, such acts of barbarianism were poorly received among his girls, so from that moment, he let them do the planning. There was no need to hurry; he had all the time in the world.

[--Lily--: As you wish, Lord Marcdrak.]

The Demoness glanced at the black-haired girl sitting across the room. They made eye contact and both understood his intention...

***

[Time: After several hours of browsing through Athena's site.]

[--Marc--: No idea. Nothing suspicious here.]

[--Lily--: Yes, I couldn’t find anything either.]

In the end, they came back to the original purpose.

[--Calla--: ... There are no boys in any photos.]

[--Lily & Marc--: ...]

[--Calla--: But please don’t misunderstand, m’lord! I have no interest in any other males! I just wanted to see if there would be any insignificant ant that would try to lay their hands on Miss Mersa.]

Vorst quickly typed a new inquiry. When they knew what they were looking for, results came instantly... All-girls school...

Looooooong silence.

[--Marc--: ...... Apparently... I have a sudden urge to kill... something.]

Such words escaped the mouth of the young, innocent-looking 11-year-old boy.

[--Lily--: ... There are Cave Crystals near the academy, not far from here. Do you want to try?]

[--Marc--: That might not be so bad... Let’s go then.]

Vorst stood up and moved toward his lodgings. For others to suit up, they would need to enter garrisons, but as he shared the VIP treatment with Mersa, his room was located in a special building where everything was right at hand...