Midterms have already started back in Cube. But different from the previous ones, this time Cube prohibited access to family members and reporters, all because of what happened during the previous ones.

This made the atmosphere at Cube bleaker and less exciting than before, not that students could pay attention to it, considering they’ve been swamped with the theory exams before the more exciting combat exams could even start.

As Cristopher, Hajin, Rachel, and Olivia walked outside of the class where an exam just took place, they could hear how people were ditching the difficulty, saying how they would try to sue their teacher for making something so hard. Complaints could be heard all around the place, as a lot of cadets were worried about their theory results.

“How is it that you two are so relaxed?” Olivia, who was exhausted because of her late-night study session where she tried her best to at least not bomb the exam, complained to Hajin and Cristopher.

“It’s just that you’re a block-headed idiot.” Cristopher shrugged.

“You…! Ha… Forget it. I’m too tired to fight with you.” Olivia said while shaking her head.

“Yeah, not surprising considering you had to squeeze every last neuron you had to pass the test.” Cristopher chuckled. “It sure must be exhausting to be so dumb.”

“…” Olivia glared at him, but just shook her head. Ignoring him.

“Master, I think you’re being too harsh on Olivia.” Rachel muttered to Cristopher.

“Nah, not at all.” Cristopher just shrugged.

“You really are dude.” Hajin said with a sigh.

“Oh come on.” Cristopher rolled his eyes, only to see Olivia smirking at him, her face out of sight from Rachel and Hajin. “This little-” He was about to punch her head.

“Hey! Kim Hajin!” But someone ran past them and stopped in front of Kim Hajin, interrupting him. It was Chae Nayun, who stared at him for a moment, fiddling with her fingers.

“Great. Another idiot.” Cristopher said with a sigh as he kept walking. “I’ll leave idiot number two to you, dude.”

“Hey! I’m not an idiot!” Chae Nayun shouted at the departing guy.

Olivia, who also went behind Cristopher, could only shake her head, while Rachel just nodded at Chae Nayun, and went behind the other two. Leaving only Chae Nayun and Hajin.

“Well?” Hajin asked with a raised eyebrow and a tilted head. “What is it?”

“...Um, well. Are you going to the library?” She asked while averting her gaze.

“No.” Hajin shook his head. “I’m going back to my dorm.”

Chae Nayun narrowed her eyes at his answer. “What? Are you not going to study?”

“Nope.” Hajin answered shortly with a shrug and started to walk again, going past Chae Nayun. She flinched and rushed once again to stand in front of him, looking directly at his eyes, which Hajin could swear looked really pitiful right now.

“...Can you help me out?” She said after hesitating for a moment. “I bombed today’s exam too…” Her voice sounded quite desperate, and a little saddened.

“Now?” Hajin frowned at her request. “It’s the middle of the exam week.”

“I know… But I can stay up and scram tonight!” Chae Nayun sighed as she scratched the back of her head. “I’ve heard that if you memorize key points it can increase your exam’s score by at least 10 points.”

“I think you’re better off asking Yoo Yeonha for something like that.” Hajin said, still with a frown.

“...But I… Had a fight with Yoo Yeonha…” She said, almost in a whisper.

Before Hajin could answer, he received a message on his smartwatch.

[Kim Hosup: Hajin-chan! I found out who Agus Benjamin is!]

It was Kim Hosup with information that he really needed, and which made his eyes go wide.

[Kim Hajin: Where is he?] Hajin answered quickly, ignoring the muttering Chae Nayun that was looking away.

[Kim Hosup: Nowhere, he already passed away.]

“...Huh?” Hajin was surprised.

“Huh? Huh what?” Chae Nayun asked with a frown and a tilted head. “Are you even listening to me?”

“Yes, yes.” Hajin waved his hand dismissively before he started writing once again.

[Kim Hajin: What do you mean? Can you explain in more detail?]

“Hey. Don’t ignore me.” Chae Nayun called him with a frown. “Are you going to help me or not?” But Hajin kept ignoring her.

[Kim Hosup: He was living inside a Korean retirement center until 4 years ago, which was when he passed away. Who would have thought? What a twist, what a twist.]

[Kim Hajin: Got it. Thanks.] He answered after finally discovering why the Book of Truth couldn’t locate Fermin Jesus. He was already dead.

“Oi~!” Chae Nayun kept muttering things and trying to get his attention back.

[Kim Hosup: By the way, Hajin. I decided to quit my job. I put in my resume at the place you recommended.] Reading his message, Hajin smiled.

[Kim Hajin: That’s a good idea. For now, can you tell me the location of the retirement center?] Hajin answered before noticing the date. September 7th. Soon it would be time for the next main event, and it would be best if he could get Tomer to join the good side before then.

“Come on!” Chae Nayun said desperately. “I’ll buy you something delicious~” She said, but Hajin only ignored her as he ran towards the portal station, sending a text to Cristopher that he would be out for a while.

***

At the same time that Hajin visited the retirement center where Fermin Jesus lived his last years, Cristopher was in his dorm room.

[Kim Hajin: I’ll be out of Cube for a moment.]

He looked at the message that Hajin sent him. {I guess the midterms took his mind out of the previous event, but, I wonder what the hell is he going to do outside.} He asked himself, before shrugging, figuring out it had something to do with the plot of the story. He then turned to look at Evandel, who was meditating inside the room where she slept, in front of him. His eyes turned soft and a smile appeared in his mouth.

“Keep going. You’re doing great.” He said, and Evandel gave a small nod back at him. Different energies hovered around her, as she tried to train them all at the same time, increasing her control. After a little while, he stood up from the couch. “Keep focusing on it. I need to do something else, just give it your best until you’re tired, Ev.” He said, receiving another nod from the child.

After smiling at her focused face. He walked towards the living room and stood in front of the table they had there. On it, there was a leaf and bluish-emerald dust, which, while clumped, had a slightly similar size to the leaf, the dust was over a cloth laying on the table.

[Emerald Dragonite’s dust]

[Dust from a crystal formed under the influence of a Water Dragon’s Energy. It contains water element properties and remnants of Draconic Energy. The original crystal has been grounded using Draconic Energy to form this dust, absorbing more Draconic Energy as a result.]

[Misteltein Leaf]

[A byproduct left by the god-slaying branch after its awakening.]

[You can drink a tea brewed, which will increase your body’s health, or you can grind it and use it to make an amazing weapon.]

{I guess I can start working on this.} Cristopher said as he took the leaf and put it over the dust, he then started to use the dust surrounding the leaf to cover it. With a smirk, he put both hands over the mix of leaf and dust, closing his eyes.

In the next second, a small field of blackish-red energy formed from his hands and surrounded the leave and the dust, making it float slightly over the cloth, until it looked like a blackish-red floating orb of energy, covering the leaf and dust. He stepped back from the table and sat on the ground with his legs crossed in a meditative stance, the orb following the movement of his hands, never leaving the middle of both hands.

Once he sat down. He took a deep breath, and the sphere of energy floating between his hands started to spin. Slowly at first, but with every moment that passed, it rotated faster and faster. Tints of red and black could be seen mixing together as if fighting. Soon, Draconic Energy started to seep out of Cristopher, forming some kind of spectral string as it floated around him for a moment and then shot towards the sphere, doing a few rounds around it, before going back inside Cristopher. This process repeated itself multiple times. At first, only one string of energy came out of him at a time, but as the process repeated itself, more strings of blackish-red energy seeped out of him and shot towards the sphere, changing its rotation’s direction time and time again.

Everything around him seemed to disappear as he focused on the sphere rotating in the middle of his hands. Sweat started to appear on his forehead as the amount of energy that shot towards the sphere increased. He wasn’t sure how much time has passed, but as the sphere’s rotation started to slow down, a sigh escaped from his mouth. Soon after it started to slow down, the sphere came to a complete standstill.

“So beautiful…” Close to him, he heard Evandel speak, which make him open his eyes, as he looked at Evandel sitting slightly far from him, looking at the sphere in his hands that was slowly letting out blackish-red energy.

“You finished your training?” Cristopher asked.

“Yes.” Evandel nodded, still focused on the sphere of energy. “A while ago, daddy. As you weren’t in the room I looked for you and found you here. But you were too focused, so I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Really?” Cristopher raised an eyebrow. “Did you wait long?”

“No.” She shook her head, before tilting it and looking confused. “I don’t know…? I think maybe?”

Cristopher chuckled at her confused face, before standing up, and moving towards the table, positioning the sphere over the same cloth where the dust was before. Evandel kept her eyes focused on the sphere that was quite beautiful on her eyes.

“What is that, daddy?” She asked.

“It’s just a little thing I’ve been working on since a few days ago.” Cristopher said with a smile as he put the sphere over the cloth, letting it disappear gradually as it made its way to the appearing dust. It was emerald-colored dust, with tints of darker green and light blue. It somehow seemed to be glowing in a reddish color, but it was a really faint glow.

“Woah.” Evandel exclaimed in surprise. “What is that...?”

“This is a special dust.” Cristopher said with a smile as he patted Evandel’s head. “It’s something that can be used to craft new equipment and armament.”

“Really?” Evandel tilted her head, before her eyes went wide, she turned to her dad. “Can I make new friends with this?”

“Haha… No.” Cristopher shook his head after chuckling. “It’s not to make friends, just equipment, Ev.”

“Ah…” Evandel nodded, though he could still see that she was slightly disappointed. Cristopher turned to look at the dust that remained. It was really beautiful, and if he was right, it would help them get nice ammunition.

{I guess it’s not bad to use a bit of the Dragonite that I have to create bullets.} He smirked as he thought. He did use part of the Emerald Dragonite, but as he didn’t have to use that much, he thought it wouldn’t be bad to simply mix a bit of it with the Misteltein Leaf to improve the bullets Hajin will use with the Devils. {It's even better when I can also increase the number of bullets.}

He remembered that Hajin got 5 bullets out of the grounded leaf and Essence’s Armory’s technology. So in theory, this time they could get more bullets, probably double of it or a little bit more, considering that, if he separated both clumps of dust, the Dragonite’s dust would be slightly more than the Misteltein Leaf’s dust.

[???]

[A mysterious dust formed through the mix of a byproduct of a god-slaying weapon, and an Emerald Dragonite filled with Draconic Energy. More Draconic Energy was used when grinding and mixing these two items. It has traces of God Slaying and Dragon Slaying power.]

[???]

“Mm…” Cristopher looked at it. {I guess there’s not enough Affinity for it to recognize byproducts of Dragonite.} He thought for a moment before something else came to mind. {Oh, right. I can use that.} He then went to the room to retrieve something. It was another dust, a blue-glowing one, the one that he received from Hajin. {I'm not really sure what the hell this thing would do, but, whatever.} He shrugged and mixed the dust into the newly created one.

“Ho…” Cristopher looked in amusement as, after a few moments, it glowed in blue light.

[???]

[A mysterious dust formed through the mix of a byproduct of a god-slaying weapon, and an Emerald Dragonite filled with Draconic Energy. More Draconic Energy was used when grinding and mixing these two items. A mysterious power mixed into it and awakened some of its latent characteristics.]

[???]

{This looks somehow outrageous. Interesting.} Cristopher thought as he rubbed his chin, curious to see what would turn out from it.

***

Just as Cristopher and Hajin were occupied each one on their own stuff. Yeonha was inside her penthouse.

“...Volunteer work?” She asked.

[Yes. From when he was 11 to when he entered Cube, he seemed to have volunteered often in orphanages, retirement centers, and nursing homes.]

Right now she was receiving a report from team 3, they had been tracing Kim Hajin and Cristopher’s past for some time now, and they seemed to have found a new piece of information from Hajin’s past.

“Volunteer work…” She pondered. She has heard the rumors around Hajin, as he usually went outside of Cube so many times, some of the rumors around were really harsh. {Who would tell it was the complete opposite?} She thought.

In a sense, she felt that he and Cristopher were quite similar in that aspect, as she learned that Cristopher also went back to help the people at the orphanage that took care of him.

{They seem like someone out of a movie…} Yeonha thought, after all, it was only in movies where she had found people like that.

“Amazing...” She pondered for a moment before going back to the call. “Rather than that. Is there anything else about him? Like something related to his birth?”

[We’re looking into it as much as we can, but we’re at a complete standstill. There is no other trace of his past left. Both cadet Kim Hajin and cadet Cristopher seemed to have come out of nowhere. Their past is blank, at least for now.] The leader of Team 3 said.

“Dig deeper.” Yeonha said. {I refuse to acknowledge that we can’t find something about those two’s past.} “What’s next?”

[An incident broke out in Torino, at the Colaion family’s mansion.]

“Colaion?” Yeonha raised an eyebrow, she already had plans to partner with them, so news about an incident breaking out in their mansion isn’t a simple matter. “What incident?”

[One of their executives was assassinated. But because they think the assassin came from Korea, they are asking us to search for the assassin.]

“...Search, you say…” Yeonha pondered for a moment. It wouldn’t be a difficult task if all of team 3 focused on it. “What do you think? Can you do it?”

[It’s not impossible.]

“Oh? And why is that?”

[We just hired a rather useful recruit.]

Hearing the team’s leader report, she frowned. Yoo Yeonha was a suspicious person by nature, she didn’t trust others easily, and hearing that the team recruited someone that she didn’t handpick wasn’t something she liked. “…Is that so?” She said.

[Yes. I will send you his profile now.]

Yoo Yeonha was still unsatisfied, but she opened the profile nonetheless.

[Kim Hosup

- 17 years old, 168 cm, 78kg

- Agent Military Academy graduate

- Gift: [Superhigh Speed Network]

*Connects his brain with a computer, showing incredible ability in information searching and tracking.

*Search speed increases with higher computer specs and internet speed.]

She read the profile, and while she wasn’t satisfied because of the unknown person, she still decided to give him a chance.