Mecha Devourer System

"Can you not call me that?"

Everlearn said, watching her grin.

"What's wrong? Got tired of being a rat?" she asked, and he rolled his eyes.

"I was never one in the first place."

"You know you are."

Winning an argument with Kiara would be impossible.

She was stubborn in action, just as she was in her thinking.

"Whatever you say," 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 W-Corers,"

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 numbed by what had happened that day.

Without undergoing Mech Transformation, she had watched easily defeated Mid-Grade W-Corers.

Knocking everyone out was something even she would find exhausting.

That was why she had brought him with her.

Yet she still couldn't wrap her mind around how he had done it without morphing.

The only answer was Bionic Fluids, liquids that cleanse a Corer's body, strengthen bones, and increase muscle toughness.

They were like steroids, but almost instant, and 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?"

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

"The Black Market?"

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

He had been told the same once before, by the Dorm Officer when he had blown up his room.

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

"Another genius courting death…" she mused with a shake of her head, jumping off the railings and disappearing back into her room.

____________

When Everlearn 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, Nakros Buster and Blade Core 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, grabbing the phone holder from the stand.

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

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

{< Disappointed? >}

"Hmmm," Everlearn hummed quietly at the message before he typed back:

< At what? >

The reply came in seconds, swifter than he expected.

{< Not giving the mission you wanted after promising, and not being aware that you were already a 2nd 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 before plugging his device back into the holder and focusing on his research.

___________

Five hours later…

DRIIIIIIIIIIIING!

His device rang, and he turned to it, seeing the beeping time.

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,' Everlearn mused quietly to himself, quickly saving up all his research.

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

________

Two days later…

Everlearn'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," Everlearn 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 creation.

Still, after more than 24 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…