Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

The guest lounge of the second institute had many points similar to the third institute’s. They weren’t as impoverished as the fifth institute who occasionally suffered from budget cuts.

‘She looks… normal?’

Aleph thought as he took a look at the woman in front of him. She was sitting opposite him, drinking her cup of coffee in an elegant way. She gave off the office worker vibe due to her “professionalism”.

‘Mobius wouldn’t joke with this.’

Two weeks ago, he asked for Vill-V's contact number from Mobius. After working with the nuclear-powered suit, he decided to set off to the second institute discreetly using it.

Its flight system was completely fixed. The accessibility was also changed positively using the blueprints he has inside his head. It was necessary to build the suit’s first version to remove the overall system errors when the suit was first built.

‘She doesn’t seem crazy… but the panel wouldn’t lie about such things.’

Recalling Mobius’ words, they were:

“She has many screws loose. Prepare yourself to deal with her craziness.”

With a sigh, Aleph initiated the conversation.

“I will go straight to the point. You are the one who discovered the traces of those who ordered the attack on me.” He said. “I’d like you to help me deal with the future aftermath.”

Hearing the words “future aftermath”, Vill-V’s eyes narrowed.

“What kind of future aftermath is that?” She asked.

“One brought by killing three Fire MOTH councilors.”

“That sounds interesting.” Vill-V’s lips curled up in response. “I will not question your capabilities. What’s in it for me?”

“I’ve heard from Mobius that you are short on research funds. Your experiments are deemed too dangerous to be left alone.”

“How much?”

Aleph raised his hands and pointed four of his fingers up.

“Forty percent of what we’ll get in this raid.”

Knowing Vill-V was shunned within the entire Fire MOTH plus Mobius’ guarantee, Aleph was confident enough to trust her to a certain extent. His [Information Retribution] rendered all methods of spying ineffective, hence he knew there weren't any recordings of their meeting now.

In the first place, Aleph agreed to meet with her in the condition of it being off-the-grid. No cameras, recorders, and the likes are allowed.

At the very least, this woman worth being placed into a psych evaluation is far more trustworthy than other Fire MOTH members.

“Oh? You’re greedy.”

“The biggest industries will be divided openly. What we can acquire is their personal and untraceable wealth.”

From the very moment Aleph thought of revenge, he thought of acquiring a part of their assets. It was a pain to deal with the traces and the likes, but with Vill-V’s presence, things became far simpler.

The woman across his seat fell silent for a few seconds.

“I like the sound of it.”

Soon thereafter, she offered a handshake, to which he accepted.

Just as Aleph was about to go inside his suit, she asked him something.

“That energy reactor… it is nuclear, no?”

“Yes.”

Aleph did not bother hiding it.

“Nuclear… I see.”

He saw the glimmer of light in her eyes.

‘What a monster.’

Both Mobius’ and Einsteins’ evaluation of Vill-V told him that she was a freakish genius. She made an automatic mech army all by herself, without any support from consortiums and the likes.

If Fire MOTH wasn’t her enemy, she would have succeeded in her raid.

Thus, it wasn’t strange for her to have ideas after seeing his miniature nuclear reactor.

“If you have any ideas you are conflicted with, you can reach me.”

“...I’ll take your word.”

*****

Beep-!

Inside the suit, Aleph became accustomed to flying. The flight systems are currently working properly to maintain his altitude via the thrusters on his hands, feet, and the smaller boosters on his arms and legs.

It has been a day since his visit to the second institute. Just like before, nobody knew of his departure from the third institute, save for Einstein.

Aleph fully trusted her. The technology of manufacturing the miniature nuclear reactors are in her hands. With it, her research project will be fully realized.

“Two months… I didn’t expect you would make such a mess in that span of time.”

A [SOUND ONLY] sign is present on his upper-right GUI. Einstein’s voice was heard from the other side.

“They need to be swept one way or another.”

“You are the first one to act.” She reminded him. “You are taking a risk nobody took before.”

“Have you ever heard of the saying ‘killing the chicken to scare the monkey’, director?”

“Yes. It came from the Far East.”

“Since they aren’t taking me as seriously as Miss Elysia, I will force them to do so.”

A month and a half.

That was how long it took Aleph to plan the next series of events. His personal capabilities made him confident enough to take this mission. The superimposition of the nuclear-powered suit and Grade One Sorcerer Rating was a terrifying individual force.

The former made up for his lack of defense while the latter gave him stronger means of attack. Both the problems Aleph discovered when he was on the battlefield are solved.

“I won’t say anything further. I bid you good luck.”

“Thanks.”

Beep-!

The communication line between them was cut off.

‘Making things more chaotic… It’s just right.’

Aleph planned his steps well. With Vill-V cleaning up his traces, no direct evidence would be pointed at him. Nevertheless, the suspicion would be there since these three are the ones who ordered the hit on him.

‘Once the dark matter suit is created…’

He thought of the combat suit he ‘invented’ yet didn’t have any chance to use back then. With his past memories in the form of dreams, he knew more about his past life.

One of them is his ‘death’.

Before he could try the dark matter suit, his entire research base was dropped with several nuclear bombs. He couldn’t even react until the ETA was a minute or so away, leaving him with no chance to even enter the nuclear shelter.

“{Arriving in the national airspace of the Far West.}”

A robotic sound came from the mini-speakers. The GPS indicated his current location in the Far West.

“Intensify the stealth modules.”

“{Output increased to 100%.}”

Ironically, this stealth system was taken from the [Invisible Blanket] he obtained back then. Aleph was able to create an improved stealth system based on it and the original blueprint.

“{Estimated Time of Arrival: Ten Minutes.}”

‘Ten minutes…’

An unforeseen star streaked through the night sky.

*****

A/N: Here's the debt chapter from yesterday. I got a terrible headache that prevented me from writing a chapter. Sorry about that.