The m, Aleph went straight to the director’s office. The aftermath of his ambush wasn’t that easily dealt with.

  “You look different.”

  Her eyes narrowed as she noticed Aleph’s differences.

  “It’s my shoes. I developed ohat hid rollers to run faster.”

  Of course, it was all bullshit. He could still expin the nuclear-powered suits and the likes, but immediate biological ges are hard to expin.

  “The ander-in-chief will pay you a visit.”

  “Oh, well.”

  Expeg his rea, Einstein no longer paid much attention to it.

  “Will you do something with them?”

  Her attentioo Aleph’s potential as. She knew how angry he was st night.

  “Yes, but not now.”

  His reply hid a bunplications.

  Einstei out a sigh. She was aware of the nuclear-powered exoskeleton suit that Aleph had been w on for nearly two months.

  “Give me a heads up. If what you’re pnning to do is that bad, we o prepare for the aftermath.”

  “I know. They must’ve implicitly agreed to it.”

  The two weren’t dumb enough when it es to politics. Although their energy ent in stifideavors, they knew how the politics above worked.

  Aleph’s ambush was a test from above—oher he could be as formidable as Elysia.

  If he was, they would stop toug him for a while. If he wasn’t, they are ready to remove him from the equation.

  “You’re not the reckless type. That’s all.”

  Heariein’s trust in him, Aleph was touched. They began with exging research papers. He didn’t think she could trust him enough.

  Just like that, Aleph headed to the abandoned hangar. It has a rge enough unch-pad that he could use.

  He stepped on the pedestal. The meical arms began w around him. When the helmet ced, the GUI started w.

  “Let’s see… Will they appear?”

  Aleph began w on the problem he discovered yesterday. These problems were the ohat slipped past him. They only appeared ohe suit was brought together.

  It was mainly a problem caused by the materials itself. Some of the materials in his past life correspoo some in this world—even, some are better pared to their inal terparts.

  Using the better materials resulted in a sort of disruptiohe suit was assembled.

  Fortunately, the core portion, the ciruclear reactor, remained fully funal.

  [Status check finished.]

  [All 115 systems online.]

  [No errors detected.]

  In the few hours, Aleph was immersed in debugging all sorts of errors. His mouth twitched whenever he recalled the [No errors detected] text. Just the ones he came across now amouo dozens.

  During his break, Aleph explored his new earnings.

  “I didn’t need much sleep. Was this a perk?” He mused. “It’s too bad that earning achievements is difficult.”

  He thought of the ining missile from yesterday. If he hadn’t dodged it in time, he doesn’t know whether his current strength could withstand a head-on explosion.

  It also made him aware of his shortings.

  “I still don’t know my fullest capabilities.”

  Aleph measured his perimeters with tests. He has records of his speed, rea time, aimated strength. What he cked was the records of his endurance. Unless he harms himself—which is something that no sane person would do—he wouldn’t be able to know his limits.

  “Ugh… Should I really do that?”

  An internal struggle underwent his mind. It was at this moment did he discover that he wasn’t as crazy as Mobius who dared operate on herself with great uainty.

  “Tsk..! If I ’t even know whie is lethal or not, how would I fare in a real battle?!”

  As soon as Aleph made up his mind, he walked to one of his desks and opes partment. The M9 pistol with the [Unlimited M9 Magazine] resent there. Along with it is a silencer.

  Without thinking, he disehe safety lod poi at his left hand.

  Sou-!

  Aleph had closed his eyes from the moment he aimed at his left hand.

  A few seds ter, he felt no pain whatsoever. He opened his eyes and found something shog.

  “...”

  The bullet remained in his left hand. If it weren’t for the traoke that came from it, he wouldn’t have thought that his bare body could resist a bullet point bnk.

  Aleph removed the bullet and found his skin unscathed.

  “Base form… it was resisted.”

  He ducted this test two more times, oh his APS active while the other with the cursed energy strengthening to his body. During those times, the bullet failed to pee his skin. The amount of “unscathedness” also increased, especially when he used both the APS and the cursed energy strengthening.

  “What the hell…”

  Thinking of the not-so-minor details he had overlooked, Aleph was stuhe speed at which he gained cursed energy was extremely fast. The st time he got injured was during his escape from Nagazora.

  “I should test it more…”

  *****

  The day.

  An ued appoi came to Aleph. To prevent the previous i from happening, he was the only one who went outside.

  Upoering a familiar coffee shop, he saurple-haired girl with her usual ponytail.

  Aleph sat on the seat opposite her.

  “What are those injuries?”

  The first thing Mei noticed was the bloody gauze underh his coat.

  “I got into an act.”

  Aleph thought of the things he did yesterday. Once he made up his mind, he slowly let go of his worries when it es to self-harm. He tested various ons—from guns to cold ons—to see how far he could withstand them.

  He even chose to activate his Active Power State as well as the cursed energy reinfort to keep safe.

  Unfortunately, he got the short end of a stick. He tried withstanding his own [Nitro Crystal]. Its characteristics bypassed both his cursed energy reinfort as well as APS. Its ‘sharpness’, so as to say, ranks oop list of his current ons.

  Before that, he even borrowed a mecha from the third institute. He successfully fought against it without any ons.

  The things used to deal with chariot and even tempr-css beasts could be faced head-on by him.

  Fortunately for him, Mei seems to have the iion of not pursuing it.

  “You always told me to take care of myself. I don’t want to see our positions sed.”

  “Yeah, I’ll be more careful ime.”

  After expressing her s, the two went to discuss some matters.