Aisael fumbled as he tried to get out of his capsule. He would have face-planted onto the ground if not for the quick support from a man with a blue eyepatch.

“Brass?”

“How are you feeling?” Brass asked.

“Could be better…” Aisael replied nonchalantly. “What happened?”

“ARMA’s technicians were about to force open your capsule.” Brass helped Aisael to a nearby chair. “The match has ended an hour ago but you haven’t come out. We were afraid something might have happened.”

It took an hour for my consciousness to assimilate into this body?

Aisael rubbed his head. Not only was he unaccustomed to his present body, he also had a headache.

“⟨⟨Cleanse⟩⟩.”

“⟨⟨Recovery⟩⟩.”

“⟨⟨Energize⟩⟩.”

ARMA’s priests tended to Aisael and left after making sure he was in healthy condition.

Aisael felt refreshed. It was as if his body was rid of impurities and every cell was overflowing with vitality. It reminded him of the days before the war in his previous world.

“Young master Zhang.” Seeing that Blue One was fine, two men in gold and black uniforms approached him.

Brass placed himself between Aisael and the two men who were being unexpectedly respectful to House Clovis’ slacker.

“Elder Brass.” A man with sharp eyes addressed Brass. “We would appreciate it if we could have a conversation with young master Zhang, privately.”

“You can have your conversation here.” Brass folded his hands in front of him, declaring his intention to stay. The two men subtly exuded killing intent towards Brass.

“Do you know who we work for?” The second man pointed his nose skyward. “It’s best if you don’t get in the Overseer’s way.”

“Oh, really? Show us your contractual warrant. You better scram while you still can.”

The two men gritted their teeth and remove themselves from the room quickly. An elder from House Clovis saw through their bluff. It was pointless to push their way through.

Falsely claiming to be working for the Overseer was an offense equal to treason in Milestone City. They were lucky Brass did not have them reported and arrested.

“Who were they?” It was only Aisael and Brass in the room now. Other participants have left long ago.

“Probably goons sent by the co-supervisor to investigate you.” Brass shrugged.

“Investigate me? Why?” Aisael noticed Brass was looking at him questionably.

“You’re seriously asking that? You hold the lowest rankings in ARMA. Suddenly, you pull off reckless feats only the top rankers could perform, solo. Did you not think that would draw attention? Especially after First Blooding a participant from House Magnum?”

Brass began to doubt the competency of ARMA’s priests.

“What’s gotten into you, Blue One? Did you overdose on laemon? Let’s get back to base. I’m sure our priests will find out what’s wrong with you.”

Aisael could only do as told while gathering information of his circumstance. Both of them left the simulation-capsules-filled room and passed by a few halls. There were hundreds of seats surrounding a large three hundred sixty-degrees virtual screen hanging from the ceiling in each hall.

Astral Royale Massive Arena was more of a theater than an arena, although its name suggested otherwise. Its structure represented a futuristic and grander colosseum.

It did not take long before they arrived at a luxurious lobby catered for the thousands who gathered to make bets and purchase viewing tickets.

“Reiz?” Aisael addressed a familiar youth who suddenly appeared in their path as they were headed towards ARMA’s exit.

Reiz bowed towards Aisael ninety-degrees out of the blue.

“What are you doing?” Aisael moved away, evading Reiz’s bow.

“Please accept thanks from a humble Demi.” Reiz said formally.

Surrounding observers were curious. However, they sneered and turned away when they heard Reiz proclaiming himself to be a demi-astral.

Seeing Reiz’s earnest and uprightness reminded Aisael of a dear comrade.

“I won’t accept.”

Reiz sighed in dismayed hearing Aisael’s curt response. He was familiar with the repulsive looks and cold treatment a demi-astral received but he insisted on expressing his gratitude regardless.

At least I’ve tried.

Reiz felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and there was not a trace of hostility or indifference on Aisael’s face.

“I refuse to treat you as someone lower.” Aisael smiled at the visibly shocked Reiz and stretched his hand forwards. “I’d prefer to be associates with you, if you don’t mind. I’m aware that we’re different in many ways but it doesn’t mean we can’t stand on equal footing.”

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So he can behave fitting a young master when he needs to huh.

Brass was impressed with Aisael’s mannerisms.

Reiz straightened his posture and gripped Aisael’s hands firmly. Little did they know, the start of their bond was destined to become one of the strongest links securing Earth’s survival.

Aisael and Reiz parted ways shortly after.

The journey to House Clovis’ was long. It was not because of the distance but the path to their destination was a bustling one.

Being the core sustenance for Milestone City’s economy, the territory around House Clovis brimmed with activity. It was thronged with tradesmen of all kinds. However, the ones that stood out the most were the obscurity hunters and Digeet brokers.

Obscurity hunters could be seen dealing with weapon smiths for better equipment, token keepers for the upkeep of ability tokens, and simply going around recruiting others to strengthen their overall power level before the next hunt.

An obscurity hunter was a dangerous but rewarding occupation. Milestone City valued an obscurity hunter’s efforts as much as a city guard’s. The strong was defined by their capability to survive. However, the act of endangering one’s astral circuit for the survival of the masses was considered an honorable gamble not many dared to chance with. Especially those accustomed to the safety of Milestone City fortress-like walls.

A Digeet broker, on the other hand, is a non-life threatening trade which works to benefit everyone. They stand in as middlemen for those who wish to exchange Digeets of various quality. A Digeet is an essential material generated by an astral’s circuit. The quality of said material affects the quality of astral energy produced.

Astral energy is used to enhance one’s own astral circuit. Although there exist many ways to upgrade an astral circuit, assimilating higher quality astral energy still provides the most valuable gains.

It took Brass and Aisael an hour and a half to arrive at House Clovis’ entrance. The building was a combination of three skyscrapers linked together by broad platforms at the top, middle and bottom. Each skyscraper belonged to a prominent family that holds an influential position in Milestone City.

The three families that occupied the skyscrapers were the Zhangs, the Four Dragons, and the Xiong Maos.

However, House Clovis was not governed by the three families alone. There were other minor families working with or under them. True success was in cooperation, not competition.

Aisael followed Brass closely as he led them into the main lobby.

“Welcome back Elder Brass.” A lady receptionist greeted Brass sweetly with a smile showing her glistening white teeth. She did not spare Aisael a glance.

Aisael found it unpleasant but chose not to mind since he did not know the circumstance and background of the body he transmigrated into.

“Good evening Miss Swan, please inform Elder Zhang that we’ve returned.”

“Consider it done. Do you need anything else?”

“Yes, please arrange a full body checkup within the hour with one of the head priest.”

“Oh?” Miss Swan giggled at the man with an eyepatch.

“Not for me.” Brass placed a hand on Aisael’s shoulder. “It’s for Blue One. Make sure to have a copy of the medical report sent to me.”

“Yes, Elder Brass.” Miss Swan looked at Aisael casually. A surprised expression appeared on her face but she hid it quickly.

Something’s different about the slacker…

“That will be it. No need to trouble yourself, I’ll bring Blue One to the healthcare department.” Once again, Aisael followed Brass closely as he led the way.

Brass checked Aisael into one of the rooms at the healthcare department and left. The interior of the room was spotless and neat. Aisael sat on the edge of a bed and waited to be attended.

Calm and soothing music was playing in the background.

ELZB, have you found any clues to the source of the transmigration?

[Insufficient capabilities to answer inquiry.] The supercomputer replied emotionlessly.

Huh? What’s the mental capacity of this body? Aisael was puzzled.

[Mental capacity is at 550. Running passive training at an increase of 50 per day. Estimated time of restoring supercomputer functions: 54 years 9 months 2 weeks 2 days 6 hours…]

Aisael was surprised at how weak this body’s mental constitution was. He immediately immersed himself in a handful of fundamental mind training exercises.

[Active training detected. Mental capacity increasing at a rate of 5 per minute.]

Aisael had full access to his hyper-intelligent supercomputer companion when he was in ARMA’s simulation.

Perhaps a simulated environment does not share the same constraints as this body does? If so, I need access to a simulated environment often to utilize ELZB’s complete functions until this body becomes competent enough.

Aisael had already increased his body’s mental capacity to 700 in the time it took for someone to attend to him.

“Young master Zhang.” An elderly man in a simple yet pristine robe greeted Aisael with a light bow. Aisael returned the greeting with a bow of his own.

“Please lie down. The examination will begin soon.”

Aisael rested himself on the bed. The medical practitioner switched on an equipment that closely resembled an EMR scanner. A soft hum amidst the soothing music indicated the machine’s operation.

The examination lasted a little more than twenty minutes.

“Young master Zhang, your body’s in good condition.” The medical practitioner read from a generated report. “I’ll take this to Elder Brass and Elder Zhang. You can remain here if you’d like.”

The elderly man ambled out of the room with report in hand. While Aisael remained on the bed.

ELZB, show me this body’s changes before and after the transmigration.

[Blue One -> Aisael

Mental Capacity: 110 -> 500 (700 after mind exercises)

Condition: Intoxicated -> Healthy

Astral Circuit Grade: Low Copper -> Low Silver

Energy Type: Tier 1 -> Tier 3

Power Level: 10 -> 90]

The supercomputer projected inside Aisael’s mind an image breakdown of his body along with available statistics. Aisael noticed that his body was similar to the one he had. The familiar metallic circulatory system covered every part of his body, especially the head, chest, and joints.

However, upon closer inspection, the circulatory system in his current body was different than the one he had pre-transmigration.

This circuitry resembles a downgraded version of the pre-transmigration Camelion Circuit I owned. ELZB, optimize circuit.

[Insufficient capabilities to perform request.]

… never mind, trace an optimized circulatory system over the current one based on my memories.

[Tracing complete.] ELZB replied after a long tormenting minute.

Another circuit appeared over the projected image of his body. The lines were golden green and they gave off a priceless shine.

Time to do things old school.

Aisael began rerouting the circuitry in his body. Trained to have the physique of a super-soldier body, Aisael had learned to efficiently control the thousands of fibers that made up a single muscle. Tiny sections of circuitry repositioned every time Aisael acted. He did this with the supercomputer keeping track the position of the entire circulatory system in real time.

The optimization took three days and three nights. Aisael was conscious throughout the whole process. And to his pleasant surprise, no one came looking for him.

ELZB, what’s my current stats?

Aisael grinned with satisfaction at the results of his labor.