“Ah! Damn it!”
Oliver only had time to think that before a sharp pain hit his eyes. bined with his body's exhaustion, it was enough for him to pass out on the bed.
--
--
“THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!”
“Wake up, kid!”
“THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!”
“e on! Open up.”
With the noise in the room, Oliver couldn't keep sleeping. His eyes were still heavy, but little by little, he began to remember where he was. Memories of the previous day started ing back.
He ran his hand over his face, and where his broken nose had been, it was now in the right pce. His eyes finally opened, and he could see his room better. The day before, he had rushed straight to bed. Now he noticed there was a rge window a great view of the city, especially of the dome, and if he looked closely, he could see Earth through the dome.
“Hmm,” Oliver grumbled.
Dragging himself, he went to the room's door and pressed the button beside it. The door quickly slid into the wall, revealing Nico.
“Finally. Let's go; you have a busy day today.” Nitered the room, already talking about what they o do. But he stopped to take a good look at Oliver. He was still wearing his Academy uniform, but what really caught Nico's attention was that he no longer had any injuries and seemed a little taller.
“Huh?” Niuttered. Without giving Oliver time to pin, he pced his hands on the boy's face, examining him closely.
“You didn't have a healing Boht? To have healed like this... Did you evolve from yesterday to today?” Nico asked.
Oliver finally remembered that he had pressed the evolution button before sleeping. His eyes wide the thought that there might have been some ge in his body. He quickly walked to the bathroom, where he could see his fa a metallic mirror.
“Everything looks normal,” Oliver thought as he examined his face. “Maybe he noticed just because I healed? Huh?!”
Oliver realized what had ged. He did feel a bit taller, and his skin seemed better, but the biggest ge was in one of his eyes. His left eye, or at least the iris, was no longer brown like the right o had ged to a light green.
“Apparently, I evolved?” Oliver ented.
“Don't worry; it happens, especially after a lot of training and stressful moments. I just didn't expect you to evolve on the first floor,” Niarked.
“Maybe this week will be even more useful for you than I thought,” Nico said. “But before we start the day, let's get something to eat and... maybe some new clothes.” Nico looked at the boy, assessing the clothes he was still wearing.
They left the room, walking toward one of the elevators.
“Let's start with a good breakfast. This hotel isn't as luxurious as the others, but it has breakfast, which is perfect!” Nico excimed.
Oliver nodded but was focused on aask. He was looking at his Gauo uand what had ged during his evolution.
[+1 stitution Point!][+1 Strength Point!][You got a new Boon!][You got a new Boon!]
“Damn! stitution and Strength will help. It would have beeer if it was Agility, but at least I got two Boons!” Oliver thought.
--
Status PageUser: Oliver [Nameless]Level: 3 [Pawn]Experience: [10/300]
StatsStrength: 7 [Pawn]Agility: 14 [Knight]stitution: 6 [Pawn]Energy: 14 [Knight]
BoonsInsight [Pawn][Growth][Use 200 Experience Points to Upgrade]
Observation [Pawn][Growth][Use 200 Experience Points to Upgrade]
Left Eye of Learning [Knight]
Right Eye of ■■■■■ [Knight][Evolve to Unlock]
SkillsRanger on Handling [Knight]
Ranger onEnergy Pistol
--
“One of the Boons is locked?” Oliver wondered.
He tried clig on the Boon to read its description, but nothing happened. Not knowing what else to do, he selected 'Left Eye of Learning.'
--
Left Eye of LearningYour vision tio evolve, but each part of your body is seeking to specialize.Your left eye is capable of learning and replig what it sees.With a Boon level of [Knight], you learn abilities and teiques of this level or lower.
--
‘Not bad. It'll help me keep improving,’ Oliver thought.
He tinued following Nitil they reached a spacious restaurant. They both sat at a table, and Nico began the dishes.
“You o eat well, especially after evolving,” Nico said, pointing at Oliver. “After the evolution process, your body is still adapting to the ges and needs nutrients.”
While Nico expined more about the effects of evolution, dishes started arriving at the table: eggs, ba, some fruits, and drinks that Oliver had never had the ce to try.
"The st time I evolved... hmm. It was a long time ago," Nico began to expin. "We were still at war, and I was on a newly quered p. We barely had any food whetacked, trying to recim the surface. I had to fight for hours without being able to use my boons since I haden or rested. Horrible experience. Would not reend."
Oliver didn't wait and began tasting each dish oable. That's wheiced that, once again, the people serving them were two androids, both feminine in appeara this time looking like women ihirties.
“Hmm... why do we still have to fight the Waves?” Oliver asked. “Especially when we create androids.” He said the sed part more quietly.
“Doesn't the Academy teach that in css? Ah, maybe it's something they cover in schools,” Nico said softly, scratg his head.
“Look, I'm not the best person to expin history—e would certainly know better. But basically, after the first Waves, the Empire was formed to fight the Orks, yada yada yada,” Nico said.
“The Empire's main focus was on produ. Back then, we only had the Z-Crystal and Ranger Armor. With the Z-Crystal, every pany started testing what reviously impossible,” Nico tinued.
He poi the androids and expined, “Droidtech began produg androids, but many others tried ing, mechs, tanks, sers—you , it was tested.”
“But if all that was tested, why do we still have humans on the front lines?” Oliver asked.
“Because of the Z-Crystal. I 't expin the exact reason—you'd o talk to a stist. But the crystal's full potential only be extracted by regur human beings. Using es doesn't work, aher do androids. Sure, we still have tanks and mechs, but they e an absurd amount of energy. It's not easy to find crystals rge enough to power those maes,” Nico expined.
Oliver rying to absorb everything Nico was saying. There was a lot anda about the front lines and fighting the Orks, but he didn't know what kind of arsenal was used. He hadn't even seen mechs before.
“Now that I've answered one of your questions, it's your turn to answer one of mine,” Nico poi him. “Who are you? Actually, how do you eve?”
“Huh?” Oliver replied, not uanding the question.
“I'm bad at history, but I remember that Asia was one of the first pces destroyed during the early Waves. In theory, we shouldn't have any Nameless left, at least not ones who look like you, especially at ye,” Nico expined.
“... I Waves, weren't there any attacks on cities in all of Asia?” Oliver asked.
“Hey! Don't dodge the question. And h hasn't been attacked much retly, except for a few isoted invasions. Most ret Waves have occurred in the ies,” Nico said.
“I-I'm from the first Wave. For almost a tury, I was frozen in one of the VATs,” Oliver expirying to gauge Nico's rea. It was hard for people to believe something like that, especially since surviving the early VATs was rare.
“Holy shit! Of all the possibilities I sidered, that one didn't even y mind,” Nico excimed, hitting the table as he judged the boy.
“You believe me?” Oliver was surprised by Nico's rea.
“Why would you lie? Besides, what you said is so absurd it must be true,” Nico ran a hand through his hair, trying to put himself in the boy's shoes. “So you khe world before the war...”
Oliver nodded.
“That's rough,” Nico said. “And your family?”
Oliver shrugged. “I have no idea, but they're probably dead.”
“No firmation?” Nico asked.
“No. There's hardly any record from that time; it's been over a hundred years. They could be buried under rubble or even in VATs. God only knows,” Oliver expined.
“Is that why you're at the Academy?” Nico asked.
“What do you mean?” Oliver responded.
“To find out what happeo your parents,” Nico said.
“No. Actually, I don't know. I'm just trying to survive for another day. I didn't even think I could try to find out something like that,” Oliver expined.
“You have no idea of the records a Ranger access. If you want to discover what happeo them, being a NEA Ranger would be a good start,” Nico suggested.
“Hmm... thanks,” Oliver said gratefully.
“No problem. Besides, you made me some money yesterday, and if you keep it up, who knows—I might earn a small fortune,” Nico said.
He cpped his hands twice quickly, catg Oliver's attention.
“Speaking of fortune and money, it's time to get you ready.” Nico stood up, signaling for Oliver to follow.
“Where are we going this time?” Oliver asked.
“We're going back to the Trial Tower, but this time, we're heading to the Zeroth Floor,” Nico expined.
GCLopes
