“Could you please clarify?” Faye asked me while panting.

To prevent anyone from eavesdropping on our conversation, we had rushed out of the school building. At this time, we were walking around the campus, through the less busy areas. Once she caught her breath, I started talking.

“The Sloans have requested my presence” I replied in a neutral tone.

A worried expression appeared on Faye's face.

“The Sloans? They hadn't made any claims for years ... wait, is it because you're new here in the Perimeter?”

“ Probable, but it's irrelevant. We will crush them”

I explained to Faye the new action plan. I needed a patron and to find one I necessarily had to stand out during the inter-perimeter tournament. To do this, we had to do the operation now.

“The mid-term exams are in just under a month. I have to undergo the operation before that date, so that I am ready for the selection of the representative of the Perimeter”

Faye looked at me as if I was crazy.

“Operate on you?! Not even six months have passed and you expect me to operate on you?!” she shouted, attracting the eyes of passers-by.

Seeing the reaction that she aroused, she managed to lower her voice.

“There is no chance I can pull this off” she continued.

“I know you've already learned the basics. Marnie says that every now and then in the middle of the night you start yelling "I got it!" “ I replied.

Faye blushed slightly.

“Marnie and her wide mouth... Okay, I would probably be able to operate on you without killing you, but only that: I can open you and close you again, without too many side effects. That's not the hard part, the real problem, the one I haven’t sorted out yet, is figuring out how to produce a circuit for the aura... “

“Let's forget the circuit, let's limit ourselves to a body-remodelling”

Faye frowned and a confused expression appeared on her face.

“ Forgive me, but what do you mean? Wasn't the plan to build you a circuit? “

I stopped walking and Faye stopped by my side. Plan. Yeah, our crazy plan. The underlying idea was to build an artificial circuit to lay the foundations for my further evolution. Later, as she became more proficient in Forming, she would continue enhancing me in secret until I became powerful enough to become a force to be reckoned with on a global scale. Once we reached that point, we would have induced or forced a peace with the geogenais.

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Although it was quite elementary and could seem little more than a fantasy, it was a fantasy we both had decided to believe in. After all, life in this world was mostly spent waiting for its end to come: for Faye, this was an excuse like any other to do something and occupy her days, or at least it was so initially. Despite this, the more time went by, the more she had become convinced of the feasibility of our project and, according to the words she had said during our first meeting and which she repeated every now and then, "For some strange reason, I want to believe in you". So she had decided not to give up under any circumstances.

Unfortunately, we could no longer follow our schedule. Certainly Faye could have looked for someone else to upgrade once I was taken by the Sloans, but probably the only reaction she would have gotten would have been mockery, or worse. In this world, the hatred towards geogenais was immense. I had no doubt that she could have tried to keep her true goal hidden, but even if she had managed to do so, her collaborator would have realized during the development of the project that she was half-genai. In fact, the act of Forming necessarily required the use of mana and her true self would have been unmasked. I was convinced that I was the only one on the face of the earth not to have innate hatred towards genais. From what I knew Faye was of my opinion, so I was not replaceable. Moreover, I thought we had become quite close in this time we had spent together. At the very least, we were a little more than acquaintances.

Despite everything, I had already thought of a solution. Calling it a solution was perhaps a bit excessive, since from a certain point of view it was full of holes, but I saw no alternatives at the moment. It was certainly not the optimal way and it presented serious risks of complications, but it was currently the only option available.

“The important thing is to have a system in which the aura can flow, but it is not strictly necessary for it to be a true circuit”

Faye paled. It had been some time that in addition to studying the normal subjects necessary for the future practice of Forming, she had been leafing through historical records and had been analysing my body, to better understand how my biology differed from that of the modern archumans. What she had found was that although the first circuits developed relatively early, the very first archs did not have them but still managed to keep aura from leaking outside their bodies with a similar solution. Of course, I was already aware of it, since I had invented it myself. The only reason I had opted for a circuit was because it was the safest and most efficient solution, but now the only option was ...

“No, that's crazy! Are you really asking me to remodel your bloodstream as a substitute?! The flow of the aura will tear you apart, your veins, your organs and even your bones!”

Faye's voice had mixed anger and worry. Indeed, my proposal was somewhat "original".

“Well, the first archs did so...”

“Only those who survived and I assure you there were not many!”

I looked Faye straight in the eye.

“You know the rumours about the Sloans, don’t you? If I end up in their hands, I'm as good as dead anyway and our plans go up in smoke. This is the only chance we have “

Faye stared at me with trembling eyes but soon afterwards she spaced out. It was clear that she was trying to calculate all the alternatives and the relative risks. Looking at her darkening expression, I realized there was a good chance I wouldn't survive the surgery. But I didn't care: life had presented me with a challenge and I would take it. It didn't matter if my impromptu plan had even a one percent chance of success, I would hold on to that one percent and make it a reality.

Finally, Faye opened her mouth.

“Give me a week. Give me a single week, and I’ll make sure to be ready to go”