Suzuki rushed through the tunnel connecting the second stage to the third, optical drives working at maximum capacity to capture any movement. Having faced the arduous second stage, he could not help but be curious regarding the third stage's test.
This curiosity was further enhanced by the increased difficulty of the second stage towards the end. Towards the end, the terrain became more complicated and filled with more cleverly placed obstacles. Even Suzuki could not keep up his starting blistering pace and instead, had to slow down and run rapid simulations in his mind of possible attack points to counter them.
Suzuki was thankful he picked the lightweight Gladiator as not only did it increase his speed, but the sound of its footsteps were almost non-existent, allowing him to ghost through some sections and ambush the unaware robots.
Unfortunately, upon entering the third stage, Suzuki instantly realized those attributes were useless. If the first test checked reaction speed, the second tested combat zone ingenuity. However, this third test seemed to try something else altogether—something every soldier required.
Gazing at the dozens of robots armed that filled the auditorium sized hall, armed with different sorts of melee weaponry and the turrets that sporadically popped in and out of the walls without a hint of a set schedule, Suzuki's conjecture was solidified by a holographic message that appeared in front of him.
Destroy As Many As You Can!
A simple message by all accounts, but it caused the being in the Gladiator to burst with unabashed excitement, fingers rapidly clenching and releasing in turns. With an excited growl reminiscent of the King of Beasts, Suzuki shot into the room.
The Gladiator, katana drawn, skillfully deflected all pellets in its path before slamming into the crowd of robots. However, what the robots lacked in speed and strength, they more than made up for with intelligence. Unlike a mass mob that would try to squish the Gladiator between themselves, the robots quickly spread out, forming a dense net around their adversary. This was to reduce the chance of Suzuki using the meat (well, in this case, metal) wall as a shield from other attackers.
Suzuki, noticing their actions, inwardly shook his head with resigned acknowledgment. If the coalition forces that faced Razznik had done something similar, they might have lasted longer. They would still have lost, but not as poorly as they did. However, despite the strategy's apparent advantages, there was one major flaw. Which was, with the spaces between the robots, Suzuki had more room to maneuver, and at most, he would be facing at most three to four simultaneous attacks at any one second as long as he was always in motion.
There was a slight momentary pause as the robots stared down the Gladiator. Blade raised, Suzuki was as still as an immovable mountain, sound receptors at full power to catch even the slightest movement.
The stalemate seized as a robot to his left dashed towards him with a two-meter long halberd in hand. Suzuki swiftly brought his blade down, its edge clashing with the halberd at an angle. With a slight jerk of the wrist, the halberd's momentum was redirected to his back, forcing another to retreat. Suzuki rotated towards the robot, dodging a downward swipe from another. Sparks flew as the missed strike slammed the halberd behind him to the ground.
Not one to miss an opportunity, Suzuki's sword swung upwards, disconnecting the robot's hand from its halberd. The stunned robot was not allowed a moment to process the shock as Suzuki's left fist tore into its brain and permanently shut it down, and his tail launched the spear into the air.
Suzuki sheathed the katana, using his bare fists to redirect the outstretched blade of an onrushing robot blows such that it ended up in the chest of another to his right. Suzuki jumped onto the edge of the sword and grabbed the halberd he had launched earlier. Like a starved snake, the weapon emptied the heads of both robots before they could react.
The Gladiator dropped to the floor amidst the sparks, immediately flitting the attacking robots with the spear, the sound of its blade cutting through the air, akin to the shrill cries of dragons.
The Gladiator's superior strength and speed were showcased in its entirety as it mowed down the robots with the ferocity of a lion and the agility of a tiger.
However, despite its tenacity, the numbers it was up against were just too high. Soon enough, it was forced to endure ranged attacks to its rear from his blind spots. To deal with the increasing horde, its operator had no choice but to increase the active cameras.
Suzuki faltered in his steps, nearly passing out as the cameras switched to give him a top-down, 360 o view of the room. The robots did not miss this obvious chance. Suzuki's tail barely blocked a savage blow from a war hammer to his rear, bought the momentum still launched him off his feet. He winced as a colossal robot appeared in his vision and slammed its fists down on his exposed chest.
Suzuki slammed against the floor with the impact of a bullet and reflexively gasped for air. His vision soon clouded as the robots piled on top of him one after another.
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Watching this fight play out on the big screen was Yukino, whose eyes refused to blink in fear of missing a single moment of this extraordinary battle. Glancing at the profile of the young man displayed on her PDA, she once again was caught wondering just what the hell this Mato Suzuki was made of.
His Neuro-Sync Levels were a measly 180 N.S. Though this was much higher than the 130 N.S average, it was not as mind-blowing as those whose N.S levels were above 200. Yes, like Ms. Yokina Natsu. Now that was a real powerhouse with an N.S level of 230.
It had to be known that Neuro Sync Levels governed the assimilation strength between the Human Brain and External Electrical Impulses like those from the Virtual Gear and the Gladiator.
The lower the Sync level, the lower the Synchronization, and hence at high computing levels, players or users would begin to experience a 'time-lag' between their commands and actions. The higher the N.S level, the smaller the 'time-lag' experienced. Common sense dictated that those with higher Ns levels became better gamers and Gladiator pilots.
But why then was it that she had never seen anyone fight the way Suzuki did. At least, no one had used the Gladiators to its full potential the way she saw him use it. It was almost like the Gladiator was the only body he ever had. And as such, he was able to push its potential and even try to surpass it.
"No need to think too hard on it," Shouyou's cheeky voice fleeted into her ear as he showed up behind her and took her PDA hostage. "His ability isn't something you can measure with something like N.S."
Yukino reached for her device, but Shouyou kept it out of her reach with a mocking smirk. Irritated, she folded her arms with a pout. Still, her curiosity prevailed over her irritation. "What ability are you talking about."
Shouyou tapped his chin with a slight smirk as he watched the robots pile on the Gladiator. "If I were to use a word..." He cocked his head to the side and smiled at Yukino. "Adaptability?"
"...Huh?"
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"Uack!" The miserable cry rang out in the training hall as a figure struck the wall and then weakly fell to the ground. Judging from how the other trainees in the hall ignored the young man's cry, it seemed to have become a regular occurrence.
The youth, a young 14-15-year-old boy, groggily rose to his feet, supported by an old worn-out wooden sword which he had remarkably refused to let go off. The youth, whose red eyes burned with undisguised rage behind a curtain of equally dark red hair, let out a desperate war cry as he charged at a disgruntled middle-aged man seated on the floor at the other end of the training hall.
The middle-aged man, garbed in a battle tunic, slightly shifted his battle-weary green eyes to glance askance at the youth before returning to the empty beer bottle before him. He distractedly scratched his thin beard as he muttered, "Gonna need to go bother Ol' Song soon. Think this was my last bottle."
By this time, the young boy had reached a meter of him, and the wooden sword swung down without a hint of holding back.
Without sparing the boy a glance, a repulsive force escaped the middle-aged man's body, immediately launching the boy across the hall once again, this time smashing against a wooden dummy.
The boy let out a pained shout as several bones shattered on impact, but to the middle-aged man's shock, the boy once more stood up, the rage in those red eyes ever burning. His right hand, though trembling from the pain, still refused to let go of that sword. He shakily raised the sword and pointed it at the middle-aged man. "Teach me!"
This back and forth had been going on for over five days. The middle-aged man never believed there would be someone who could punish himself like this. He took a good look at the boy, and finally resignedly sighed. "Wipe the floor clean." At the boy's widened eyes, he added, "My name is Geni Yamato, but from now on, I am only Shishou* to you." He had expected some resistance, but to his surprise, the young man stood up and walked over to the closet from which he pulled out a broom.
Since it was already close to closing time, there were next to no people left swinging their swords tirelessly at the mannequins. The young boy swept the over 50m X 50m hall all by himself, then arranged the practice swords and cleaned the hundreds of mannequins in the hall.
Yamato watched all these with a serene smile. This kid had tremendous will power. When the child was done, he beckoned him over. "I forgot to ask earlier. What is your name, and why are you willing to bear such pain for strength? For what do you seek strength?"
The youth's burning eyes fiercely met Yamato's with overwhelming drive behind them. "You can call me Razznik," he said as he lifted a training sword from the rack. "To answer your question: only living beings are permitted to feel pain." He raised the sword. "I do not live; hence I do not acknowledge pain. My sword is swung so that I might live..."
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BOOM!!!
Yukino stared, mouth agape in shock as the dozens of robots that had been piling atop the Gladiator were suddenly blasted in all directions by an unseen force. She turned to Shouyou with surprise written all over her face. "Don't tell me... he could not have!?"
Shouyou gravely nodded as he passed her PDA back to her. "He activated it."
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"That's right." Suzuki's voice echoed in the hall as the Gladiator rose to its feet. It had escaped the pile-up using a controlled magnetic burst, but the Gladiator took an hour to recharge it so the blast could not be used a second time. "I am not human." It stomped the halberd against the earth, its silvery sheen severely imposing against the dark Gladiator. "I should stop fighting like one." After a short pause, he instructed. "Activate Earth Pulse"
For the first time, a warning interrupted the commanded.
Warning:
The System Cannot filter data From Earth Pulse.
Brain Damage a Possibility.
Please Reconsider.
Suzuki ignored the warning. "Progress is impossible without risk. Proceed."
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Outside, Kimuri, while hiding his shock at the crazy bastard on the screen, happened to pick up on the administrators' conversations. Brows slightly furrowed, he peered over his shoulder and asked, "What're you guys talking about?"
Yukino cast Shouyou a scathing look, which he replied to with a shrug of his shoulders.
Shouyou sighed and shook his head with a small smile. "All matter on earth experiences a branch of magnetism called diamagnetism, a weak repelling force so tiny it is next to impossible to notice it in everyday life. It took a while, but we finally found a way to release a similarly weak pulse from a machine such that it could detect the movement of other materials in its vicinity that repelled this pulse."
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"Like a radar?" Natsu offered, challenging eyes demanding an answer.
"If radars were a thousand times more sensitive, then yes, just like radar," Shouyou confirmed. "We decided to call the finished project Earth Pulse, an ability which allows Gladiators to constantly release weak pulses in a certain range to sense the movement of every particle that repels them." He cast a glance at the chibi who was biting her lollipop with a dark expression. "To put it in simpler terms, it can track every movement down to near molecular levels in its active range."
"How come we weren't aware of this?"
Shouyou revealed a bitter smile as he inputted some instructions onto Yukino's PDA. "Unfortunately, this stream of information proved too heavy for regular humans to bear, but we noticed the burden lessens with improved NS levels. So we created King's Journey to boost the N.S level of the average person artificially."
Tsukuda adjusted his glasses, a slight frown between his brows. "Wait, so you're focus isn't only on us here in this compound? Are you actively raising the NS levels of all gamers worldwide? Why?"
Shouyou flashed a teasing grin at the youth. "You are not ready for that yet."
"Noted." A cold voice brought the attention of everyone in the room to the young man rising from a recently opened pod. Suzuki wiped trickled of blood leaking from his nose as a pair of bloodshot eyes stared at Shouyou, not even sparing a glance to the others in the room. "When will I be ready?"
Shouyou's eyes twinkled with a strange light. The relationship between him and this child was too odd for others to understand. Although Suzuki had very few things he would enjoy more than socking Shouyou in the eye, there was also a tight bond of trust reserved for very few people in the child’s life. "I will let you know when you are ready."
"Noted," murmured Suzuki as he picked his shirt off the floor and put it on. He slung his bag over his shoulders and then walked to the door. However, a dainty hand stretched in front of him, and stopped him in his tracks.
Suzuki’s eyes traveled up the arm to the teenage girl barring his path. Eyes narrowed, he seethed, "Move."
Natsu's brows furrowed at his curt tone, but she swallowed her anger. "I believe it is only good manners to greet others, is it not?"
Suzuki snorted. "Do you greet everyone you see on the road? It's a wonder you get to your destination at all."
Natsu blinked, her tongue momentarily tied. She had not expected him to twist her words in such a manner. Luckily, she managed to recollect herself quickly and glared him down. "That is not the same thing."
"Whatever," Suzuki spat, his patience running thin, especially when he saw the others snake up behind him and form something of a circle, surrounding him. He glanced askance at Shouyou but was only mildly surprised to see that both he and Yukino had magically disappeared. Useless! That man was absolutely useless when it mattered! His eyes, still bloodshot from the backlash of Earth Pulse, carried a distinct murderous vibe to them as they rested on the young girl.
Suzuki knew her type. Rich, pampered brats who were used to things going their way and getting worshipped wherever they went. They loathed anyone doing better than them, and instead of trying to surpass them, they looked to bring down their opponents and suppress anyone who looked like they might have potential. Girls like this only made Suzuki appreciate the rare oddity that was Adachi Ayumi all the more. "Look, move out of the way, or I will make you move."
Natsu balked. She momentarily paled, but only for about a second before her cheeks burned with red fury. "You would hit me!?"
Suzuki, whose irritation had begun to reach a bottleneck, growled in a low voice, "Give me a reason to!"
Natsu snapped. Her right arm instinctively swung towards his face.
Pa! Thud!
On one side, Tsukuda grabbed Natsu's hand in mid-swing, while Suzuki's outstretched fist as caught inches away from her cheeks by Kimuri, the man's arms shaking slightly from the considerable force.
"Natsu-san, please let me handle this," Tsukuda soothed as he cast a wary glance at Suzuki. Just now, if Kimuri had not acted on time, Suzuki would have sent Natsu flying before her palm ever reached his face.
Tsukuda did not know how he should feel about this young man's brutality.
"That was a little much, no?" Kimuri muttered as Suzuki withdrew his fist. "No matter what, she is still a girl."
Suzuki glared at him. "Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword. When I hit someone, I am prepared to get hit in return. I expect the same of others." His eyes narrowed. "Do you also want to block my way?"
Before Kimuri could reply, Tsukuda chuckled as he pulled Natsu away from the door. "No, no, you can go as you please." Tsukuda glanced at Kimuri, who understood his plea and retreated. "May I just ask for your in-game name?"
Suzuki glanced at him. "Is that what this is about?" He snorted as he walked past the door, his voice leaving a slight trail as he disappeared down the hall. "... Maggot ."
The young man did not care for the visibly confused crowd he left behind.
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Two hours later, Suzuki stood at the center of his room, hands restlessly modifying the holographic models floating before him. As this was a critical period for Kashi, the young man, strapped for time, was forced to rush his experiments resulting in several failures.
If Suzuki were not at Genaco and instead at home, he could never have afforded to waste so many materials with such reckless experimentation. But ever since upgrading to Level 6, he received a weekly stipend of over 400,000¥, allowing him to burn through cash without blinking an eye. Of course, this reckless spending could only be used while the game's real money trading system was still offline. The second Genaco opened the market; all the vast corporations would descend on the game with the force of several billions of dollars in investments. By then, every single Yen he could save would be of utmost importance.
The reason Suzuki did not bother saving at the moment was that to him, laying perfect foundations by taking advantage of the in-game simulator this early on was his only chance of fighting those mega-corporations in the future.
Suzuki gazed at the floating [ Runes of Creation ] , his gaze so focused on transcribing some of the runes onto a floating gemstone, that he did not notice Jade stealthily slink into the room and take a seat on his chair.
Jade sported a small grin as she watched him work at the stone with such rapt attention. As per usual, he worked bare-chested, furrowed brows and frustrated gaze providing such a stunning gap from his usually apathetic or irritated look—It was somewhat endearing. She then cast her gaze to the gemstone, trying to figure out what it was he was working on.
Suzuki, totally oblivious to her presence, stared at the stone then muttered, "Simulate charge and release. Calculate expected effective time period." His eyes held a slightly pleading look as the gemstone released white gas from itself, the density simulating cold mist. The mist was strongest within fifty centimeters, then completely ineffective at a meter. The simulation seemed to speed up, with floating numbers next to it rapidly climbing.
Eventually, the mist retracted into the gemstone, and the numbers stopped climbing. The numbers read 230 Hours, 47 Mins, 12 Secs.
"Too inefficient," tsked Suzuki, eyes betraying his impatience.
"What're you trying to do?"
"Create a cooling system," Suzuki answered. His eyes suddenly widened when he realized what just occurred. He turned to Jade with shock in his eyes. "When'd you get in?"
"Just a little while," Jade replied with a serene smile. She waved off his suspicious gaze, skillfully drawing his attention elsewhere. "You said you're trying to create a cooling system? For that project?"
Suzuki nodded, the previous issue tossed to the back of his mind. "I ran some simulations of extended or faster flights and found some issues. Several gear systems tend to overheat. I need a way to cool them down."
Jade glanced at the gemstone. "Were you going to apply cold air to them? That could be disastrous if frost forms on the gears."
Suzuki shook his head. "Nah, even I'm not that stupid. I was going to use a cooling water system. Saw it in a movie once. Problem is I need a way to keep the water cool. Unfortunately, if I were to use my current method, we would need to take them apart every few days just to recharge the gems. And that's with high-quality gems. The low-quality gems barely last a day." Suzuki snapped to Jade when he heard her chuckle. "What's so funny?"
"Haha," Jade giggled as she brushed tears from her eyes. "Nothing, nothing. You're just so different when you're working on something. You look like you can talk for hours on end." She sighed, her eyes shining brightly. "Kinda like my father."
Suzuki raised a brow. "How's he, by the way?"
"Dad?" Jade blinked. She tapped her cheek and cocked her head to the side. "Last I heard, he was bored, so he accepted the CIA's blackmail to work for them for a few years?"
Suzuki immediately regretted asking. This girl's family was far too messed up in the head for him to make heads or tails of them.
Jade, oblivious to his feelings, pulled out a pair of Synth-gloves from the back pockets of her shorts and slipped them on. "More importantly, rather than trying to cool the water that way, have you considered absorbing the heat and transferring it outside the system."
Suzuki frowned. "Absorbing heat?"
Jade nodded, her eyes twinkling with the hidden joy of educating the young man on something. "Yeah, like in refrigerators. You didn't think fridges blow cold air, right? They would be a hell of a lot more expensive if that were the case."
Suzuki murmured. "Is that so? Ah, yeah, I remember something like that in physics class. Entropy, was it?"
"Close enough," Jade commended. "It's actually Enthalpy. More specifically, heat loss by Conduction. If you can find a way to absorb heat from water directly, it should be a much more cost-effective method."
Suzuki thought about it. The very first rune he had learned was the absorb rune. And though he had combined it with flame, water, sound, and air, he had never explicitly targeted an entity like heat. Did that even have a rune of its own?
Suzuki searched through [Runes of Creation] and surprisingly found it close to the early pages under a list of runes titled : [Nature Runes]
Luckily for him, this rune, despite its lofty title, did not seem to require too high a level to draw. Or at least that's what he thought. If it weren't for Rosario's Brush, he would have been forced to wait till he was at least Expert Runemaster before being able to draw this rune.
It took Suzuki a few tries, but he was finally able to create a hybrid rune from Heat and Absorb successfully. To his surprise, the Runes of Creation absorbed the rune immediately after creation. It seemed like the book recorded all runes in existence, including those created at present.
Jade snickered as she observed Suzuki apply the rune to a gemstone, which was then 'submerged into water.' Suzuki's fervent gaze was so hilarious that she had to resist the urge to reach up and pinch his cheeks.
Suzuki ignored Jade's gaze as he muttered, "Begin Simulation."
The first try, they were somewhat embarrassed because the gemstone kept absorbing heat until the water turned into an ice block. Lesson learned, Suzuki accepted Jade's advice to treat it as a programming model and find a way to add a conditional command, so it stopped cooling when it reached a specific temperature.
This lead to another series of wasted materials as the duo struggled to find a solution. Eventually, Jade suggested they make two different gemstones. One to cool, and the other to measure the temperature. This proved much more manageable and after a few more hours, they both fervently stared at the simulator with bloodshot eyes.
When the water-cooled at a steady 16 o C, Jade erupted with a gleeful shout and jumped at Suzuki, who wrapped his arm around her tiny waist and spun around with absolute abandon. Only after a few seconds had passed did he realize what he was doing.
Frozen in place, Suzuki awkwardly stared at the girl whose legs were wrapped around his waist. "Um..."
Jade, grinning at his expression that resembled a deer caught in headlights, could no longer resist. She gently bit down on his nose then squirmed out of his grip before he could react. Gazing at the shock in his face, she forced herself to hold down her laughter. Maintaining her cheeky grin, Jade strolled out of the room, calling over her shoulder, "Kashi's kept Lune-chan waiting long enough, don't you think?"
Suzuki stared at her retreating back, wondering what the hell the momentarily increased beating of his heart represented.