- Oliver -

  Isabe used the teleport to return to Area 55. While Katherine headed home, for Oliver, the journey would be different. There was only one person outside the Academy whom he knew and whose whereabouts he was sure of. The boy sighed deeply, feeling the anticipation and long journey awaiting him.

  ‘I'm going to have to take the ship again,’ he thought, remembering how tiring the trip to Luna was. "Anht hours of travel to get there."

  There was no spaceport in Rome, but he could use teleportation to get to the one. Oliver found himself there for the third time, yet he was still impressed by the colossal structure that rose before him. The space terminal resembled a maritime ptform but on titanic proportions, allowing various ships to nd a within minutes.

  Sleowers—some gilded by the setting sun, others refleg the soft light of the clouds—rose around an immense tral dome. These towers helped dock ships and board passengers while the dome housed those waiting for uping trips. The stant flow of people and vessels created a teological ballet that fasated Oliver whenever he wit.

  The deep blue sky was a good omen, indig his journey would be smooth. Fortunately, he didn't o buy a ticket; he just had to present his status as an Academy student. Oliver finally remembered to turn on his gau, realizing he would to secure his entry.

  ‘Finally!’ Athena’s familiar voice sounded in his mind.

  ‘What?’ he thought, startled to hear her.

  ‘You turned on the gau; I was missing being ected to the Z Crystal‘ said Athena, in a tohat seemed slightly happy.

  ‘But you said you didn't he energy?’ Oliver questioned mentally.

  ‘Not needing it doesn't mean I don't like it,’ she replied.

  ‘You should have told me; I could have tur on earlier,’ he made a final ent before looking at the attendant before him.

  "Hello! Where would you like to travel?" asked the attendant with a professional smile.

  "Luna, Selene. Please," Oliver replied.

  "Certainly. We have one leaving shortly, iy minutes," the attendant expined, sulting his hologram.

  "That's great," the boy responded.

  "Pce yau here," the attendant instructed.

  Oliver extended his hand over the hologram, waiting. His gau emitted a beep, and a notification appeared.

  | 100 Credits debited.

  "100 Credits?!" He was startled upon seeing the notification.

  "Excuse me, but credits were debited. I'm from the Academy; shouldn't it be free?" Oliver questioned, frowning.

  "Hmm. One moment." The attendant checked his hologram before replying. "It appears your enrollment is paused; in the meantime, paying to use our facilities is needed."

  Oliver hung his head upon disc this, but luckily, he received a good amount of credits by advang irial Tower. With a resigned sigh, he thahe attendant and headed to the waiting area, watg other ships depart while he awaited his turn.

  "Flight to Luna, Selene, will depart in 10 minutes. Prepare for b," announced a female voice over the loudspeakers.

  As soon as the annou was made, a few dozen people lined up at the three designated entrances for the ship. The enviro was a mixture of voices, mae sounds, and the distant hum of the ships' engines.

  Without much dey, the ship departed for its eight-hour flight.

  After long hours of travel, Oliver finally found himself ba Selehe neon lights of the lunar city flickered uhe transparent dome that protected the metropolis from the elements of space. Fortunately, he could easily taich one app he installed on his gauhey agreed to meet at the old bar hidden in the lower areas of the city, a discreet and familiar pce.

  Upoering the establishment, he was enveloped by the cozy atmosphere, illuminated by soft lights. Nico was already waiting for him at the bar with his drink prepared.

  "How are you? Are you still in one piece?" Nico asked Oliver, pretending to check if the boy was missing parts.

  "I'm fine, just the usual. Iortured, imprisoned, freed, haunted by nightmares, and back to training." Oliver replied, showing a tired smile.

  "I knew you'd e ba one piece," Niehough he couldn't hide the relief in seeing his pupil before him. "Still, I brought something for you. I imagihese past six months have been, at the very least, striking."

  Oliver sighed, feeling the weight of ret memories. "You imagine what Orks usually do with their captives."

  Nico frowned.

  "Actually, no. In my experience, you wouldn't have e out of that alive," Niitted with a slightly somber tone as he pushed a package across the table. "Usually, soldiers use it when they have PTSD or are just too messed up in the head."

  Oliver opehe package to reveal a silver headband.

  "Put it on before you sleep; it will help reduce yhtmares and, little by little, help you overe them," Nico expined.

  "Did it work for you?" Oliver asked.

  "You won’t go back to who you were before. But it will lessen the impact of your experience. We need something like this, or else the soldiers would lose their minds within the first few months of the Wave," Nico expined with a sad tone.

  Oliver nodded, still examining the headband.

  "I wish I could say it was easy. It wasn't my first experieh life hanging by a thread. But it was the first time I was responsible for other people's lives; it was frightening," Oliver fessed. "For the first time, I faced a Red Ork."

  Nico's eyes widened. "They didn't mention that in the news."

  "It didn't even e close to what you had described. We didn't stand a ce; even four of us against one didn't make him break a sweat," the boy spoke wearily, recalling the failure.

  "Don't worry; you're evolving quickly. With yesterday's annou, soon you'll have the ce to bee a Rahat will greatly reduce the gap between you and a Red Ork," Nico tried to ence him.

  Oliver gave a slight smile. "Right, but will that reduce the gap between me and a Titan?" he asked, almost jokingly.

  Nico choked on his drink.

  "Ti-Ti-Titan? Where did you enter a Titan?" Nico stammered.

  "It was one of the traps in the prison," Oliver expirying to sound casual.

  "Then how are you here? Even aire squadron ers wouldn't be able to ha," Nico said, incredulous.

  "We had one of the Heirs with us," Oliver replied.

  "Hmm," Niodded, uanding. He khat some Heirs possessed extraordinary powers. "Which House?"

  "York," Oliver expined.

  "Gold. Makes sense," Nico respohoughtfully.

  "Exactly. By the way, what's up with that? Weren't there only five colors?" Oliver asked.

  "It's more plicated than that. When you enter Raraining, they'll expin. But even a Z Crystal has different quality levels. Different personalities."

  "Right, but why are there the five main ones and these different ones?" Oliver asked.

  "Sometimes, rarely, we find Z Crystals that are uhey have a different signature from the others. The most ohe five basic colors, but occasionally we find ones like Green, White, Gold, and several others," Nico expined.

  Oliver nodded, uanding a bit more of what he was expining.

  "By 'personality,' do you mean like Athena?" Oliver ented.

  "Athena?" Nico asked.

  "Yes, the AI that resides in the Crystal," Oliver expined.

  | He's going to freak out - Athena ented.

  "AI? In the Crystal? Are you talking about the Voice of the Crystal?" Nico asked.

  "I think so?" Oliver responded.

  "You hear the Voice of the Crystal?!" Nico excimed.

  "If you're talking about the woman talking to me ihe system, yes," Oliver expined.

  "Kid, you're something else. The Voice of the Crystal is a rare phenomenon. It indicates you're well attuned with the Z Crystal," Nico expined. "Each person ected at this level with the Crystal had some unique effe the system. What's yours?" he asked curiously.

  Oliver coughed, slightly embarrassed to reveal his secret.

  "I'm irely sure what others 't do. But from what I've heard, my difference is that I tell when I'm close to evolving, choose when I want to evolve, or wait and not evolve," the boy expined.

  "AWESOME. you only know your status or others' as well?" Nico said, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

  "Just mine," he expined.

  "A pity," Niented, smiling. "When's the ime yoing to evolve?"

  Oliver sulted his gau, where an interface dispyed his data:

  Status Page

  User: Oliver [Nameless]

  Level: 3 [Pawn]

  Experience: [430/300] [Click to Evolve]

  Credits: 7,100

  "I could evolve now," Oliver expined.

  Nico looked at him expetly, seeming to assess every part of his body for any ges.

  Notig the Ranger's anticipation, Oliver took a deep breath. He had already decided to evolve while still in prison, but he had never do with so many people nearby.

  ‘Let's do this. It doesn't hurt to test,’ Oliver thought before clig the [Click to Evolve] button. ‘ime, I’ll evolve my boons.’

  Immediately, he felt his entire body burn. A sharp pain radiated from his right eye while his bones seemed to break and rebuild repeatedly. The world around him blurred.

  "Wow, your evolution is horrendous," Niented, watg the boy writhe beh the bar stool.

  Oliver ched his teeth, trying not to make sounds of pain. After a few mihe sensation began to subside, and he mao breathe again.

  "Anything different?" Oliver asked, getting up from the chair.

  "Yes, you seem a bit taller again. But once more, your eye ged. The right one now has a yellow glow," Nico observed.

  "Basically, that's what I do," Oliver expined, still calming down.

  "Fasating. I'd heard of something like this. However, it's quite different from the average person. Of course, the evolution process is simir. But we don't know when we're close or far from evolving; it just happens at any moment," Nico expined.

  Oliver sat back down, relieved to have pleted the process.

  "I don't o tell you how important it is to keep this a secret. It's a good advantage over many others; some might get jealous because of it," Nico advised.

  "I uand," Oliver agreed. He was already used to keepis.

  "But enough about me; how are you?" Oliver asked.

  Niiled.

  "I'm good. You got lucky; this is my st week in Selene. Any longer, and you wouldn't have found me here," Nientioned.

  "What do you mean? Are they finally kig you out?" Oliver joked, but with a hint of .

  "No. The war has gotten so tough that even I've been recruited by a Great House," Nico expined, slightly pleased.

  "Really? Whie?" Oliver asked.

  "Dardanus. They're one of the weaker houses among the Great Houses, which made the iation easier, especially siheir territanymede, is quite far from h and suffered with the o of the Wave," Nico expined.

  Oliver had no idea which Great House that was.

  "So you're moving to Ganymede?" the boy inquired.

  "Unfortunately, no. I'm heading to the front lihey're sendio Olympus. Each House o tribute armies to tain the advan front-line ps," Nico expined.

  The boy nodded, slightly worried about his mentor.

  "But don't worry. There's no way they'll kill me," Niiled fidently.

  Perhaps a few days ago, Oliver would have agreed, but with the virus they had used on An, he was fearful for the Ranger.

  "Oh! Do you know how e is? I had no information about him after the attack," Oliver asked, remembering the instructor.

  "He was lucky. Seems he wasn't seriously injured; he's already returo the Academy and tieag. Especially now that several of the trainers were injured or, worse, killed," Nico expined.

  The two tinued chatting for a few more hours about different subjects, trying to keep to lighter topics before it was time to say their goodbyes. Oliver would return to h and use teleportation to Mars.

  "It's time to get back to training."

  GCLopes