Chapter 102: Increasing Mention

He picked it up, and there she was, a pink-haired girl buried in a pink bedsheet.

It was about 1:20, so it made sense.

"You donkey. Just what have you been up to?"

"Just busy..."

"Hold up. Let me guess, you were busy getting your ass out of the grasp of the second-years you loved annoying?"

She asked, snickering evilly as he rolled his eyes.

"You wish."

"I do. And my wish will be fulfilled sooner or later."

"That’ll never happen."

"We’ll see," she said with a pout, before her face softened.

"How is the second year going anyway? I heard from a friend that the schedule is tougher."

She asked, curiosity bubbling in her pink eyes, and he had to nod.

"It’s really insane. I’m just getting out of the cafeteria now," he replied.

"Hehehe. Good for you!" she said, giggling happily.

"What did you choose to join, Mech Institute or Core Defense? I know your troublesome donkey head will go for Core Defense."

"You’re wrong. I joined the Mech Institute."

"That’s impos..." Evie was saying, but the words halted in her throat as he turned the camera to the lab coat he was wearing.

She was more than familiar with that.

"You... you really went with Mech Institute!?"

Evie couldn’t believe her eyes.

He had really gone to the Mech Institute.

In the Mech Institute, there was zero self-protection class, not to mention anything related to battle, and Declan had excelled in just one thing in the Newcomer year:

Fighting.

He was incredibly good at it. All that was needed to become a star in Core Defense.

How could he leave all of that and go for Mech Designing?

"I didn’t know your donkey head was a nerd too."

"Tch, I’m not a nerd!" he shot back.

"Hehehe. I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have made the Mech Institute Class if you had gone in with a proper metric score," she claimed, and he grinned.

"You’re still sore from me being promoted, huh?" he asked, watching her face redden.

"I’m not!" she shot back, and Declan hmphed, disappointed.

"Getting jealous of your own friend’s success... bad friend," he added, as she fell silent, looking away from the phone to the side.

It fell from her hands in the next moment, the phone turning dark as the connection was severed.

"Weird, did I hit a soft spot?" Declan mused, but then he watched a message appear.

{< I’m sorry. I just hate the fact that the door closest to mine is now empty. >}

He hummed.

[She’s sad you left, and she’s the only one in the corridor, in other words, lonely. Not because you got promoted, you dimwit!]

The system panel flashed, and he clasped his head.

"I never even thought of that."

[Of course you didn’t. You would have been totally fine if she were the one who left the corridor.]

"How could you?" Declan wanted to reply, but then paused.

"You know, on second thought, I really would have indeed been happy if she were the one left."

Still, he typed back the message:

{<I get it. It can feel pretty lonely without an annoying donkey around to disturb you. Should have called to annoy you sooner. Me sowee>}

The message made Evie giggle, her hand rising to cover her pinkening face.

To get off the topic, she quickly typed:

{< It’s late. 1:32. When is tomorrow’s class starting? >}

{< 6:15 >}

{< Tsk, go snore already. Will text later. Byeeeeeeee. >}

Declan shook his head before switching off the phone and keeping it in his pocket.

He made his way to the dorm building and soon stepped out of the elevator.

In the corridor, he spotted someone sitting on the railings, staring down at the ground below, where students moved in a crowded stream.

The swinging leg paused, and the hooded figure turned to find him stepping out of the elevator.

"Declan"

"Xup"

He mused beneath his breath, reaching for his purple card.

He was about to slide it over the scanner when,

"Your Mech Module..." she called, and he paused.

"I never saw it at all the last time, and even without it, you were able to knock out six Mid-grade Nexians,"

Kiara said, tilting her head to the side to look at his back.

He hummed silently, faintly turning to look at her.

"And?" he asked.

"Your Bionic Fluids. You didn’t get them from the school, did you?"

Though five days had passed since then, Kiara was still numb from what had happened that day.

Without undergoing Mech Transformation, she had watched him easily defeat six Mid-grade Nexians.

Knocking everyone out was something even she would find exhausting and that was why she had brought him with her to the fight.

Yet she still couldn’t wrap her mind around how he had done it without shifting into his Mech Module Form.

The only answer was Bionic Fluids, liquids that cleansed a Nexian’s body, strengthened bones, and increased muscle toughness.

They were like steroids, but almost instant, working directly to increase strength.

That was the only explanation she could think of.

And even the Academy wouldn’t sell such high-grade Bionic Fluids, meaning he must have gotten them elsewhere.

"If I didn’t get them from the Academy, where could I have gotten them from?"

Declan asked in return, watching her reply with a shrug.

"The Black Market?"

"Black Market, huh?" Declan mused quietly to himself, a glint crossing through his eyes.

He had been told the same thing once before by the Dorm Officer when he had blown up his room. The man had suspected him of buying a destructive object from the black market.

’I guess it’s a place just as prominent as the Academy Shop, but perhaps they sell more unhinged gadgets.’

’Maybe I could check them to see if they’ve got some of the materials I’ll be needing soon,’ he thought quietly.

"Do you want one?" he replied to Kiara, who furrowed her brows.

"Whatever Bionic Fluids can do must be bordering on Forbidden Level. If it is, I don’t want it."

"A pity," he mused, sliding his purple card and pushing in.

"If you’re using Forbidden Bionic Fluids to boost your strength, stop. It’s not worth it,"

She said, this time seriously, but all he did was shrug it off, disappearing into his room.

Kiara stared silently at the closed door before turning back to look at the students below, exhaling a puff of white smoke.

"Another shooting star..." she mused whilst look right at his door.

Jumping off the railings, she disappeared back into her room.

____________________

When Declan got back, he threw the purple card on the table before removing his PC from his bag and placing it on his desk.

"I’ve gotten the confirmation I need. I’ll be working on creating the Mechs first, Ember Buster and Bladecore Humanoid."

"What I need next is to confirm the materials. For that, I need all notes on Mech Projects possible, to understand what is for what."

"After that, all that will be left is procuring them,"

He mused, his hands reaching for the keyboard.

Nothing but the sound of fingers tapping on the keyboard echoed through the room until...

BEEP!

BEEP!

A beeping came from his device in the phone holder.

His eyes skimmed past it as he went back to his work, but he stopped a moment later and turned back toward the device.

His hands paused over the keyboard as he grabbed the phone holder from the stand.

On it was a messaging notification, and it came from the sender he had saved as Boss Ash.

Tapping twice, he was sent to the message inbox, where he found a simple line:

{< Disappointed? >}

"Hmmm," Declan hummed quietly at the message before typing back:

{< At what? >}

The reply came within seconds, swifter than he expected.

{< Not giving the mission you wanted after promising, and not being aware that you were already a second-year. >}

He unconsciously shrugged his shoulders.

{< It’s fine. >}

{< Congratulations on your promotion. Hope it wasn’t too late and... I’m sorry about everything. Just a bit busy with things. >}

{< Thank you, and it’s fine. A bit busy right now, too. May text later. >}

He ended the conversation before plugging his device back into the holder and focusing on his research.

Five hours later...

DRIIIIIIIIIIIING!

His device rang, and he turned toward it, seeing the time displayed on the screen.

It was 5:45.

The class for the day ought to start at 6:15.

’I’m still far from getting it all, but I guess I can always come back to it after class,’ Declan mused quietly to himself, quickly saving all his research.

He got up afterward, dressed, and quickly left for class.

___________________

Two days later...

Declan’s schedule for the past few days had remained the same:

Go to class. Get back late. Jump straight back to his desk. Work on research till morning, then repeat.

But by Friday night, he had finally completed the second phase of his plan.

"All of the materials gathered," Declan mused, looking at the list of tech gadgets he had on his monitor.

It had taken far more hours than he expected because he had to go through hundreds upon hundreds of Mech design builds, learning what every tech component did and figuring out how to integrate them into his own Mech creations.

Still, after more than 48 hours of research, he finally got it.

But that also created another huge problem, one he didn’t intend to address right away.

The time was 4:30, and since it was Saturday with no classes, he got up from his seat and headed straight to bed.

He had barely slept for close to a week now, and when he hit the bed, his consciousness was immediately robbed, slipping into darkness.

But when next he opened his eyes, it wasn’t to the familiar ceiling of his bedroom...