“It’s me.”

Paragon Ying Xin’s voice echoed into the largely empty room, and Gaius, who was nursing his right hand by massaging it gently, sighed mentally. He had arrived at the battlefront a few days ago. His role, however, was not that of a normal combatant — his role there was to just fire his Moonshot a few times every battle.

Of course, it was worth mentioning that every time he fired, his right hand had to go crazy with drawing seventy-five sigils. Fifty explosion sigils and twenty-five quickening ones were what he’d stuck with in the end, but the strain of drawing just that many in rapid succession was beginning to have a toll on his hands.

“The door isn’t locked. Come in!” Gaius replied, a small frown on his face as he opened and closed his fist. The pain would go away a few hours afterwards, but this was proof that no matter how strong your body got from tempering it, the fragile bits like tendons and nerves still had to be taken care of. Gaius had the feeling that he was probably the first person in the world to suffer from carpal tunnel from drawing sigils.

Three people entered his room. Still preoccupied by some remnant pains, Gaius only registered who the two familiar-looking people were after Ying Xin started speaking

“You have visitors, Gaius,” the Paragon replied. “Allow me to introduce you. This here is the Republic’s Chief of Air, Mar—”

“Lieutenant Marie?” Gaius asked. “What are you doing here? And is that Instructor Aziz?”

Marie blinked. “You’re that…you took a class of mine before, right? Aziz, isn’t that him?”

“It is.” Aziz shook his head, and then asked. “You’re that kid who went for the Resurgence thing. What are you doing here?”

Paragon Ying Xin turned from Gaius to Marie. “You guys know each other?”

“Passing acquaintances, I guess,” said the boy. He wasn’t too sure about who these two were to him. He’d known that they had been active in Orb, leading armies and all, but it was nothing short of a surprise when these two showed up in his room, in the East of all places.

Gaius had a nagging suspicion that the only way he would be further surprised was if they had shown up in his bedroom at Seireiden right when he wanted to sleep.

“Marie taught him for a class, and then he ran over to join mine for a few days,” said Aziz.

Lieutenant Marie shot a nasty glare at Aziz, and the boy suppressed a smile at the sight. “And then Aziz got beaten up by him in a spar, so he sent the boy over to a more…advanced program.”

“Hey!”

“You started it,” Marie replied stately. “But what are we here for…oh. Oh.”

“Yes, you guessed right, marshal.” Paragon Ying Xin rolled her eyes. “I thought you would have guessed it a lot faster, but just let me introduce you to Gaius formally. This boy here is the Pint-sized Railgun, the person responsible for the largest fireworks to ever grace Feng-Lang.”

Gaius rubbed his nose awkwardly, casting his mind around wildly to find a topic to latch onto. “Marshal?”

“Yes, Marie here is the Republic’s Chief of Air,” Paragon Ying Xin replied. “Why?”

Gaius turned to look at the woman in front of him. Her appearance was almost like the one in his memory — black hair in a bun, immaculately dressed. “You were just a lieutenant a year or so ago. How did you climb that high?”

The boy turned to Aziz next. “And you were definitely a sergeant, last I checked. Are you two cheating or something?”

“Exceptional circumstances,” Marie answered.

Aziz shrugged. “She insisted on increasing my rank, but not my pay. More work and nothing else. I still wish I was a sergeant, but she wouldn’t let me resign my commission.”

“You two are weird,” Gaius replied. “So, Paragon, what are these two fellas here for? And why in my room, of all places? I don’t recall this place being a meeting room, and there isn’t much space for them to bunk here.”

“Easy there, boy,” Ying Xin replied. “They’re here to learn from us about what the Plenum called a ‘Gaius-class strategic weapon’. It was an unfortunate communication error, but the Republic jumped at the chance to examine the reports of giant explosions.”

“They are a man’s dream, after all,” Gaius replied. “So…they want to see me in operation?”

“That’s about it,” said the Paragon. “They’re also here to help us in Operation Spring Fury.”

“The Republic’s that generous?” Gaius asked. Doubt mounting in his heart, he turned to Aziz and Marie. “Are you two sure you want to follow me into the battlefield? I face Lords almost every time I step into the place. The two of you…a Knight, and a Squire on the doorstep. Won’t be enough.”

“You face Lords on a regular basis, and make it out unharmed?” Marie furrowed her brows. “How strong are you now?”

“I’m a pseudo-Knight, but my strength doesn’t come from cultivation ranks alone,” he replied. “It comes from…a whole host of secrets. There’s more to life than just cultivation alone, and when it comes down to it, they’re still made of flesh at the end.”

Gaius knew, deep down, that the direction his powers were progressing in was exactly perpendicular to that of normal cultivators. His strength — the ferocity of his qi and whatever other energies in his body — grew very slightly for every Engine he absorbed. But that was just the tip of the iceberg, something had only become evident after taking in the Apex and Saviour. What made him a real threat was the Abilities that he’d gained from assimilating each and every Engine.

Engines were, in the end, items were designed to emulate a Paragon’s powers. And he had taken in enough Engines to replicate a Paragon’s ability in almost every aspect of battle. Gaius had little doubt that these two in front wouldn’t last more than a few moves from him, even without unleashing his full repertoire of abilities.

“I’m curious about your strength,” said Lieut— Marshal Marie. “Let’s have a spar.”

The boy exhaled slowly, rolling his eyes. And of course, they just want to try me out anyway. If I win, would they stay further away during the battle? I don’t want them to be caught up in it…

“Let’s get on with it, then.” Gaius walked over to the open window. “There’s a nice place we can fight at. And there are always betting booths open, for those willing to try their luck.”

His last words were directed at Paragon Ying Xin, who, as expected, promptly took out an artefact and started speaking into it. Suppressing a slight grin, he leapt out of the window and turned into a blur.