Mark felt his eyes burning as he rose from his bed. He barely slept the last light, anticipating her to attack and wondering if her sudden change was just a ploy for that — she did say if she could not kill him yesterday, then she would kill him today. Mark had to be on the watch for anything, not cool.

In his completely subjective opinion, that is.

He walked forward mechanically; groggily opening the bathroom door and staggering inside and took his bath. Changing out of his battle armour — yes, he slept with his armour on — to something more casual. After he was done, he turned around and left the shower, wearing a

“Good morning.” Hearing her greeting, Mark turned to Vysla who played with Nyra, and he felt his blood boil. How could she act so casually with Nyra as if they were on good terms? He could not understand and concoct a reason why she would be so warm towards a pet — his pet. Well, shucks.

Another day to remind myself how far away I am from real madness.

"Good morning. It is so heart-warming to see you creating a bond with Nyra." Mark did not care whether she noticed how uncomfortable he was with her around Nyra, forcing an awkward smile as he watched her. If it was up to him, he’d have her tied to a ship and propelled to the deep space.

He had even more serious issues to attend to. Today, the facility was going to have him equip his first ranged weapon of choice, which he would use in the completion of his grand training. It was not just a great day for his ranged combat skills, but his future as an Origin Core or a Spatial Guard.

The better he was at utilising weapons, the longer he got to survive in this brutal world. The art of close combat was the last resort for any descendant paired with their genes. Fighting Vysla was a reminder of how dangerous battling a target in close combat was for him.

From her mysterious fangs to scythes? If he had a gun, then the last thing on his mind was to use a sword for battle. Suppressing her in such an open space would have been much easier with access to his Origin Gear as well. He did not want to die, but yesterday reminded him that if he was too weak — he would not even be able to decide if he would be killed or not.

He sighed deeply, from close combat to ranged combat. He has had a lot of basic training, and with all he had learned — he was still bulled by a weakened threat. No matter the threat level, as long as he was not strong enough to put an end to it — he was going to be consumed. If he was not able to keep his life, then he could forget about keeping his dreams.

“When will you be back?” Vysla looked up to Mark, asking the question with a plain expression on her face. She wondered where exactly he was going to, or if she was allowed out of this area to explore the territory — but she decided to keep her curiosity to herself until the hostility in his heart died down.

If she did not do anything suspicious, it would take less than a few days before she could begin having her conversations with him. She knew or was sure that he was not interested in talking now, much less interested in answering her questions.

"You can follow me if you want; I have no issues with that." Mark smiled politely, hiding the wicked light that would have shone in his eyes. Did she think he was going to let her stay here alone with his dearest Nyra? In her dreams! He would try his best to drag her out of the house with himself.

"Uh… okay." Vysla stood up, dropping Nyra on Mark's bed calmly. After she had dropped Nyra, Vysla turned to Mark with a plain expression still drawn over her face. She wondered if he was serious or had some other thing in mind, but was more interested in finding out what she wanted than caring for why he would want her to wander outside. It was not as if they were waiting to ambush her outside,

Right?

She narrowed her eyes. Either way, she still followed Mark out the door to the outside of the barracks he lived in. The second she stepped into the sun, Vysla quickly retraced her steps back into the room, admiring the new area from the confines of the barracks. It was taking her a while to adapt to the sun, and the cold — and also the area she found herself in.

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There were a lot of ruined buildings, and even though the area looked like a post-apocalyptic oasis, it was bustling with activity. There were a lot of guards on patrol, and she could spot a few children around Mark's age rushing around the area. There were more than a few high-tech structures amongst the ancient ruins; a few of them looked very alien to her while most were familiar.

Vysla took in a deep breath and stepped back into the sunlight. It was burning hot, and very much unlike what she was used to. Although her body had weak immunity against heat, this was to the extreme and it made her feel very uncomfortable. She decided to continue the walk, and she if she could get her body to fully adjust to the temperature of the room.

“Are you okay? If you are feeling discomfort being out in the sun, then we can follow darker routes to the location. It would take a while, but it should aid you somehow.” Mark pointed to a darker path that led to the same area. There were numerous ruins in that area, and the shadows they cast over the path made it the best path to follow if you wanted to avoid the sun.

Vysla nodded and followed Mark silently. She had stayed up all night as well and was feeling quite sleepy. It was difficult for her to maintain her resolve in marching forward, but she did so anyway — her curiosity in the new world fuelled every fibre of her being. She was not going to let her mind rule her body, not ever!

"You see, today is a very special day for me. If I can find a class that suits me, then the system will be able to generate a license for me. With this license, I can return to the big family that governs us Origin Descendants and they would decide whether to send me to become a Stellar Guard or become a Core."

Vysla blinked.

Most of these terms were very alien to her. She did know what he meant by Origin Descendant or what the Stella Guard or a Core was. She just stared at his back as they advanced through the ruined path, wondering if she should ask him to explain them to her or if he was going to do so himself. Her curiosity was peaking.

“An Origin Descendant is the child of a parent who bears the Origin Genocode, a type of superior gene that is very rare amongst mortals. Carriers of this gene are referred to as Highborne, and my father and mother were one of the many descendants.” Mark paused for a second to catch his breath, stopping to recalculate his directions before taking a turn to the left… or was it right? Either way,

"Those with these have a high chance to become what we know as Core. They act as the heart of any force, the absolute best of their genotype. Although the competition for this title is fierce, it does not stop anyone with the capability to do so from joining and striving for victory. A Stellar Guard, unlike the Core, is the foot soldiers of any spatial conquest — dispensable firepower if you would like to address them as such."

Seeing that he did not want to explain anymore, she nodded her head in understanding. She wondered if it was normal for everyone to know this information, or if it was just shared amongst a small group of people. It sounded as if there was some sort of stigma towards these foot soldiers because from his tone he seemed a bit hostile towards the terms. The fact he suddenly stopped explaining after them, interested her,

“Is becoming a Stellar Guard something bad?”

Mark paused. He seemed to have collapsed into his thoughts, his breathing slowing down. After a short while, he shrugged his shoulder and opened his mouth to speak in a cold tone, "Of course, it is something all these pathetic lowlifes strive to become, but I find it disgusting. Throwing your life away for a dumb bastard to acquire another waste dump, and building more abandoned — it is beyond repulsive."

"Repulsive?" Vysla muttered with a frown on her face, tilting her head to the side as she wondered why he would feel that way about those who fought hard to conquer neighbouring planets for his civilisation. There was no reason clear to her why he would bear some resentment in his heart, but she figured that pushing it would just annoy Mark, so she decided against asking any more questions.

"We are here!" Mark suddenly shouted, pointing to a building in the distance, "It is just some miles away! If we walk faster without chatting, we can reach there in a few minutes at best. Just act natural, no rules are preventing unregistered newcomers from joining the others. It is just that you don't get to touch your first range."

"No thanks." Vysla rolled her eyes. The last thing on her mind was getting to own a gun that even her gene did not support, and it was even more baseless if all her enhancements drove her towards close combat. The gun would just become a limitation, just like dragging a paralyzed sixth limb around with you.

But, the building he pointed to was still quite far. He must be trying to void any inquiries on why he hated spatial conquest so much. She just had to let him do whatever he wanted until he was ready to talk, even if it took years, she had a lot of time on her hands. There was nothing else she could do now, but study and kill.