Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Each footstep disturbed the silence inside the bunker. It added a strange ambience that somehow complemented its eeriness.

Soon, they reached the spacious docking area. It was built underground. The moment the need arises, the section above would open up.

Several aircrafts made of cutting-edge technology were parked.

"Hm… We don't need these here."

Tchk-!

Aleph casually walked onto one of the planes and lifted it from below using one hand. The plane was easily placed to the far right of the dock.

He did the same to the rest. It was akin to moving styrofoam props—only, these were made of real metal.

"You already have your change of clothes, right?"

"Um."

Hua lifted the athlete bag she brought.

"Good. No matter how we do it, the clothes always get destroyed."

Hearing his words, she froze. 

A sense of embarrassment began to well up on her chest before the operation even began.

Hua looked down and tried to recover from her embarrassed look. Unfortunately, her chaotic thoughts mixed up when she saw her toes.

Recalling the three women surrounding Aleph, she noticed a certain trend—theirs were always big.

Hua did not feel any sense of regret, but rather, confusion.

'What should I do..?'

She did not care about her physique back then. Having lesser baggage was an advantage when it came to fighting.

At least, that was what she believed until she saw Himeko fight just as good with bigger "baggage".

She wasn't deluded enough either to force a change.

It was just that:

Confusion.

"You don't have to worry. I will turn around once you finish."

"...I understand."

Hua meekly nodded her head.

Her unusual reactions did not escape Aleph's gaze.

Thump.

'...No way.'

He was well-too familiar with this ambiguous atmosphere. This was how it was when he worked with Mobius.

'This is on me.' He thought. 'She was the valkyrie I loved to interact with the most..!'

It may have stemmed from his personal preferences. Hua's story and personality caught his eyes when he played the 'game' for the first time. 

She was just as precious as the tuna who went through numerous hardships to become what she was by the end.

Hua's stagnancy, confusion, as well as the tragedy that befell her took Aleph's attention extremely well.

In a sense, she was a character who went with the flow, only to get screwed over by fate itself.

Her story became even more significant when the exact same thing happened to him in his previous life.

"Ahem. Place the bag on the table over there. Then, we'll start."

For now, Aleph pulled off the same thing he did before—to buy more time.

*****

"Hm… three days. I'll confirm this later, but if this continues, I can use this as a preliminary conclusion."

Aleph blankly stared at the black cube atop his palm. Nobody knew that this small cube held miraculous effects. 

It wasn't difficult to imagine that its holder could rule over the world. The cube's function to strengthen all lifeforms—be they carbon-based, silicon-based, and whatnot—was enough to do so.

There were other functions of it, to which Aleph found in the research he took out of the Sanctum. 

For once, the 'evolutionary energy' created could be used as fission bombs that deal no environmental damage. All it did was to wipe out all lifeforms in its radius, turning them into either abominations or causing genetic collapse.

Aleph thought of the [Evolutionary Energy] in his listed options and thought that he might be able to utilize it like that. Though, his combat power was sure to drop without the assistance of cursed energy to empower cursed techniques; or honkai energy to use in conjunction with No Second Strike and Yamato.

At the very least, each energy he could use correlated to a part of his combat power, and that the most useful one for now was cursed energy. It could utilize both cursed techniques and the No Second Strike with Yamato.

Crack-!

Crumble-!

The black cocoon slowly crumbled. It revealed its dark interior, followed by the petite young girl inside it.

As promised, Aleph looked away from Hua. His seat was turned over a hundred and eighty degrees.

Tap.

Hua's body floated for a while before landing on the ground. She looked at Aleph with a puzzled gaze. Her confusion from waking up affected her usual operations.

It was only when she saw her entire body exposed did she react. Her swift footsteps headed towards the table where her clothes were placed.

A few minutes later, she walked right in front of Aleph.

"Your hair."

"Mn..?"

Aleph brought out a mirror to Hua. The latter noticed that her hair had turned white-red. Her pupils went from blue to bright red as well.

"You were in the Active Honkai Reaction state all this time. If you didn't notice, then that should be the advantage brought by the cube."

"Active… Honkai Reaction?"

The term was quite foreign to her. She was sure she heard it several times during the talks in Mobius' laboratory.

"It's the state where your ICHOR… basically the honkai beast injected into you, becomes fully utilized. You transform into a being extremely similar to them." 

Aleph explained.

"I haven't shown how others looked during that state. It's my oversight."

His golden pupils glowed a bright sheen as he raised his arm. Black scales came out of it as his fingernails turned black and grew longer. 

Crumple-!

Just a fist gesture of his created a sound of air exploding.

"It's like this. You might have sensed something new, but it's best if you learn how to control it first."

It didn't take long before she got the hang of it. Hua's body reverted to normal.

'She was the first one to enter the Active Honkai Reaction back then. Plus the cube's cheating…'

Originally, Active Honkai Reactions were treated as a dangerous last resort. MANTISes run the risk of losing control of their mind and turning into a complete honkai beast the moment they use it.

Originally, there should have been a sliver of thread separating their control and the risk of going berserk. They required Aponia's Discipline to properly utilize it in battles—basically inputting a command to themselves to not fully lose control.

Now, with the help of the Evolution Cube, it was controlled in an easier and anti-climatic way.

'Only experiences are left. That, and Project Chimera. Once these are completed…'

…they would become as strong as their endgame counterparts, if not stronger.

"...Senior."

"What is it?"

Just then, Aleph faced Hua's serious look.