Chapter 249

Calmly walking forward with his hands buried deep in his pockets, Ray weaved past the numerous Aspirants rushing to either make it to their next class or retreat to their rooms for a brief rest before the day’s next activity commenced.

Surprisingly, the Tribrid wasn’t heading toward his own dorm; instead, he was navigating in an entirely different direction.

As he walked, a series of heavy thoughts weighed on his mind.

’How many things is the government actually hiding from the public? I never heard of beasts before joining the Academy, let alone beast weapons. I wonder if the elders back home have heard of these things before.’

He paused his internal monologue for a split second, a cynical realization hitting him.

’What am I even saying? Of course they would have, considering the majority of the human population either wants to be a Meta-human or is striving toward it.’

He leaned aside just in time to avoid a shoulder-check from a hurrying Aspirant.

Straightening his path, he continued his musings.

’... Which means they must have heard of beasts, since Metas require them to expand their Meta-force pools. And now, with Felix here, I’ve learned there’s an entire hidden world filled with werewolves.’

He heaved a weary sigh, never straying from his intended destination.

’I’m not foolish. Sooner or later, I know I’m bound to clash with the werewolves. On top of that, I don’t even know if the Celestials are friends or foes.

Then there’s that strange threat Bruce and Elyon were trying to recall but couldn’t. What is truly going on in this universe? I really don’t want to play the hero, but why do I feel like everything is starting to revolve around me? Like I’m being forced into a corner.’

The mental exhaustion was becoming palpable.

His head ached slightly as he scratched his chin, finally coming to a halt before a familiar door.

With his sharpened hearing, he could pick up the distinct sound of objects clattering to the floor, followed immediately by a loud, frustrated curse.

Taking a stabilizing breath, Ray pushed the door open and took a deliberate step inside.

His eyes lit up in shock.

"The hell?!"

***

"The hell?!" Ray shouted again, as the room he had walked into looked more like a chaotic dump filled with garbage than an actual workshop.

It was overflowing with strange equipment, complex tech, and various "useless" scraps that he couldn’t even begin to name.

But the clutter was not his primary concern.

Staring straight ahead, he could see Van sitting in a chair, but something was emerging from his friend’s back.

"Are—are those tentacles?" Ray asked in utter confusion as he carefully picked his way through the mess.

The appendages were indeed protruding from Van’s back, but instead of being made of flesh and blood, they appeared to be crafted from some type of dark metal.

Obsidian metal.

The two tentacles were flailing through the air, darting around with precision to bring various tools directly into Van’s waiting hands, enabling him to work continuously without needing to stand up every few minutes to fetch equipment.

Hearing the sudden outburst, Van spun around in his swivel chair to find his best friend standing there, silhouetted by the open door.

"Oh? Ray?" Van uttered, blinking.

Tilting his head to look behind him, Van stared at the open door for a moment before letting out a small sigh.

One of his mechanical tentacles darted forward with startling speed, causing Ray to instinctively lean to the side.

The contraption swept past him and pushed the door shut with a loud Thud—! before retracting back to Van’s side.

"What the hell is that thing?!"

"Oh? These?" Van smiled proudly, holding out his hand.

One of the tentacles settled onto his palm, moving with the fluid grace of a snake grazing against the hand of its master.

"I was constantly losing my focus every time I had to stand up to grab a tool. Sometimes I just wished I had extra hands, so I willed the mechanical spiders to form a pair of tentacles—the same way I turned them into that hand cannon. And look!"

He shouted excitedly, grabbing the project he had been intensely focused on and flashing it in front of the Tribrid.

"... I’m almost finished."

"So... they aren’t actually embedded in your skin, right?" Ray asked, his eyes narrowed as he inspected the point where the metal met Van’s uniform.

"Of course not, silly," Van chuckled loudly. "So, what brings you all the way here?"

The moment the question was asked, Ray snapped back to his original purpose and sauntered over until he stood directly in front of his friend.

"I came to give you something."

Van raised a curious brow.

"A gift? What’s that?"

Ray let out a measured breath before extending his hand, palm facing downward over Van’s lap.

[Inventory]

Soon after, one after the other, beast cores began cascading from his palm.

One.... two.... four... six... ten....

Van counted with widening eyes until the stream finally ceased.

The egg-shaped cores gleamed against his trousers as he picked them up one by one to examine their quality.

"These are all Advanced-rank... why are you giving them to me? Wait, how did you even manage to acquire this many?"

Ray shrugged nonchalantly before launching into an explanation.

After a minute of summarizing his deal with Captain Jake, he finished his tale.

"I’m giving you these because I have a nagging feeling that I will not always be there by your side. Though I swore to protect you with all my life, circumstances might keep us apart, so this is my way of helping you prepare. If you can grow just a tiny bit stronger, it will go a long way toward letting me relax."

Ray paused for a second, his expression softening as he looked at his friend.

"... You proved you could handle yourself against most threats back there. You helped me... you saved me more than once when I was in a pinch with that strange ability of yours.

This proves you are no longer the weak Van I used to know. Though you’re still not quite at the top, you are now capable of holding your own. That’s why I got you these—do whatever you want with them. They are honestly more useful to you than to me right now."

Van listened attentively, his eyes glistening for a brief moment before he rubbed them clean and flashed a wide grin.

"Thank you so much, Ray. This really means a lot. I can finally get to work on increasing my MF pool."

"Don’t use them all for that. Keep some for your strange... uh... techs. You might need them for power sources," Ray added, watching as the mechanical tentacles lifted the cores and neatly organized them on the cluttered desk behind Van.

The boy nodded, his smile never wavering. "Now leave me be! I’m very much busy," Van joked, waving his hand dismissively in the air.

Ray smirked and turned on his heels, exiting the room and closing the door behind him.

’Well, that felt nice.’