Aisael was visibly stunned. He was beginning to regret agreeing to Jia Ling’s deal too quickly. He should have listened to the conditions and attempt to negotiate if he knew this would happen.

“The second favor isn’t urgent.” Seeing Aisael freeze up, Jia Ling tried to put him at ease. “It can’t be attended to right now anyways due to various circumstance.”

“The second favor is an IOU?”

Jia Ling nodded.

Aisael felt a sense of relief. He has more time to acclimatize with his environment since the second favor did not require immediate attention. “So what now?”

A knock sounded and a lab technician came in with what looked like a golf bag. The lab technician placed the bag before Jia Ling, bowed and left.

“This is...?”

“For you to train with before the upcoming matches.” Jia Ling unzipped the bag and revealed a pair of sleek battle forks. She handed them to Aisael and he inspected them closely.

Although he had a bit of experience with the battle forks from ARMA’s matches, he did not have time to appreciate its design and beauty. The battle forks felt a little heavier and had a familiar black shine.

“What is it made of?”

“Astralite, an alloy that allows inanimate objects to be imbued with circuitry, giving them the trait to upgrade.”

Aisael looked up in surprise. Astralite resembled closely to the alloy ELZB, his supercomputer companion, was made of. The only difference being the latter has the capability to grow its own consciousness.

Aisael viewed the battle forks in his hands with new light. Upgradable weapons were hard to come by even in his world.

I guess the tech to create upgradable weapons has advanced to a practical level here than back home.

“Go ahead and put some energy into it.” Jia Ling wore a hopeful expression.

Aisael released a strand of energy into the battle fork in his right hand. Immediately, the pair of battle forks in his hands gave a low and short hum. “They’re in sync!”

“The battle forks are a twin-circuit weapon.” Jia Ling explained proudly. “The amount of energy you insert will be shared equally between both forks. This gives non-ambidextrous users an easier time wielding it. The only drawback of a twin-circuit would be the amount and quality of Digeets needed for it to upgrade. The requirements are much higher compared to a regular weapon, hence why twin-circuit weapons are rarely produced. We’re fortunate enough to be able to produce a low-silver circuit battle fork. You should be able to get used to the battle forks in no time since they share the same grade as your circuit.”

Jia Ling briefed Aisael on Blue One’s identity so he would roughly know what to expect from the people around him. She also gave him a map of House Clovis as well as Milestone City. It was a simple layout with the significant places clearly marked.

“Thank you Head Technician Jia, I’ll be in your debt.”

“You still owe me a favor! Just call me Jia Ling.” Jia Ling waved nonchalantly at him. “Go to the Four Dragons' training grounds. You’ll find Brass there.”

Aisael bagged up his battle forks carefully and slung it over his shoulder. He studied and memorized the map with ease on his way to the training grounds.

Aisael soon found himself standing before a simple yet grand doorway with the words “Four Dragons' Training Ground” hanging above it. He entered and was met with a variety of gazes, most of it were filled with skepticism.

“It’s the Slacker…”

“Huh? Why’s he here?”

“Did he come to gloat after first blooding House Magnum?”

I guess this is an expected reception given Blue One’s reputation as a good-for-nothing.

[You just have to put up with it for the time being.] ELZB stated plainly.

Aisael inwardly agreed. He was not about to let himself be on the receiving end of these unwelcoming gazes for something he did not do. He found Brass supervising a training session over a group of 14 to 16 year olds. The trainees did not react to Aisael’s appearance as they were immersed in close combat drills.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Brass, however, noticed Aisael’s presence and beckoned him over. He kept his expression calm even though he was inwardly surprised to see him at the training grounds. It seemed that Blue One may be turning over a new leaf.

“Miss Jia said that I’d find you here.” Aisael said.

Seeing Brass eyeing the bag curiously, Aisael brought out the battle forks. Brass held them preciously like how a child would with a new toy.

“Twin circuits!” Brass exclaimed. He could feel the energy flowing from one battle fork to the other. “I’ve thought the rumors were exaggerated but it turns out the battle forks indeed earned its place in the top tier weapons ranking list.”

At this moment, the group under Brass’ supervision has stopped training and came over to look at the weapon in their instructor’s hands.

Tch!

“What’s so great about weapons when you have high ability proficiency?” A guy with a snobbish appearance glanced sideways at the battle forks.

[Grai Shan

Condition: Healthy

Astral Circuit Grade: Mid Silver

Energy Type: Tier 3

Power Level: 90]

“I didn’t think you could be this naive, Grai.” A guy with prominent eye bags jibed sarcastically. “Do you expect your opponents to not lay a hand on you and wait till your energy recovers and ability tokens go off cooldown?”

What he said prompted the group to laugh.

[Mord Long

Condition: Healthy

Astral Circuit Grade: Mid Silver

Energy Type: Tier 2

Power Level: 80]

“They’d have been defeated by then!” Grai folded his arms and raised his nose a little higher.

“Come now, Mord.” A girl with neat braided hair jumped and slung her arms over the two guys’ shoulders, her feet dangling just a few centimeters above the ground. “You know Grai doesn’t like hearing that. We’re here to cover his weak points, not emphasize them.”

[Yang Cai

Condition: Healthy

Astral Circuit Grade: Mid Silver

Energy Type: Tier 2

Power Level: 80]

Both Grai and Mord shrugged her off not unkindly and the girl’s hands spun exaggeratedly as her feet touched the ground.

“Yang Cai, have a spar with Blue One.” Brass instructed the girl with braided hair over.

Those nearby were startled, including Aisael. He was not expecting to start training right after optimizing his circuit but this was a good opportunity to test his limits so he did not outright reject it.

Grai and Mord, however, thought otherwise. Yang Cai was their teammate as well as the star of the group. Why would an Elder put her up against the slacker, someone with the lowest of capabilities?

“Elder Brass, wouldn’t it be better to pair the slack- Blue One with someone of similar caliber?” Grai was about to address Aisael by his nickname but was nudged by Mord after the latter noticed Brass’ serious expression.

A dozen other youths agreed with Grai. No one knows whether it was out of fair consideration for Aisael or Yang Cai.

Brass could understand where their doubts came from. But he thought both Aisael and Yang Cai could learn a thing or two from each other after witnessing Aisael’s combat performance from ARMA’s last match.

Seeing Brass’ resolute silence, Yang Cai nodded and walked up to Aisael.

“Out of courtesy, I’ll let you make the first twenty moves without countering. After that, if you can last ten moves from me, I’ll concede.”

The small crowd were surprised at Yang Cai’s supposedly generous offer. One of House Clovis’ rising astrals actually took sparring with the slacker seriously. She even gave him a huge handicap.

[It won’t take more than 5 moves to bring her down.] If artificial intelligence could express human expressions ELZB would sneer at the favorable situation given to Aisael right now.

Although Aisael transmigrated into a substandard body, he still retained memories of his super soldier combat training. He walked up to Yang Cai and bowed.

“I’ll make the fight short in appreciation of your courtesy.”

Aisael knew what he said might have portrayed him as arrogant. But he did not care. How fast he can integrate himself into this world depended on how fast can society accept him. The first step to acknowledgment was leaving an impression, albeit a seemingly overconfident one.

Aisael got into a fighting stance.

Brass nodded, recognizing the change in Aisael’s eyes when he was about to fight. Yang Cai did not expect her kind gesture to be made fun of. She furrowed her brows and readied herself too.

“Looks like Blue One’s about to get his butt kicked.”

“Well, serves him right for disrespecting Miss Cai before they even exchanged moves.”

“Let’s see if he can walk the talk.”

“This will be no spar. It’ll be an effortless takedown.”

Four Dragons’ training grounds quietened down and the atmosphere became tensed. It was as if the training ground was hosting a match between two experts instead of an unremarkable spar. Both supervisors and trainees inched closer hoping to catch a show.

There was no countdown. Aisael and Yang Cai stood five meters apart, their eyes locked onto the other. Both of them were waiting for an opening.

Yang Cai should be feeling at ease. But for some reason, her instincts were warning her to be on guard, far from what she would expect when going up against the slacker.

Did Blue One actually First Blooded House Magnum? Why does he look unfazed?

The prolonged strain caused from her mind trying to accept her body’s wariness against Aisael made Yang Cai blinked.

It was at this moment Aisael launched forward.