Lab Rats

(Third Person Pov)

This will only create trouble for him in the future. If it was Noah, he would have used a much more efficient method.

Lucy thought looking at the Noah standing on the ground who had just shown a cruel spectacle to everyone present as she compared him to her brother, Noah.

They are indeed different.

Lucy concluded.

She had been wondering that maybe, just maybe her brother was simply putting up an act and acting differently. That maybe...

But those hopes of her were now dashed.

She was now sure that he couldn't possibly be her brother.

The reason she ended up entertaining the maybe in her was simply because of the incident that had occurred during their duel.

She had survived an encounter with a hooded man where she was sure she was going to die after she had uttered the name of her brother.

At first, she had thought it was a coincidence, it wouldn't be hard for Laura who is a high ranker to simply sense something wrong and she arrived to help her.

But...

What Laura told her after capturing the hooded man bothered Lucy.

"It's great Noah acted fast or else this might have spelled disaster. You also did a great job surviving" Laura praised Lucy as she rubbed Lucy's head gently.

Lucy's face scrunched as she muttered under her breath "Noah..."

"Yeah. That guy just now suddenly did some cool big attack which on using he seemed to be in a bit of pain, smashed the barrier and broke the wall, made eye contact with me, and urged me to get here and I am glad to have listened to him and my instincts, still though, to have that kind of strength for someone his age is unheard of. You guys had a really unfair duel." 

Laura's demeanor might have given the impression that she wasn't interested in anything but the way she talked so much about it while looking in the direction of the place where the duel had taken place, it was clear that she had become interested in Noah.

Regardless, what caught Lucy's interest were the two words that Laura had used.

Sudden and pain.

Lucy couldn't understand what would urge him to act like that. 

Did he know I was in danger? But how?

And then, she remembered she had uttered his name.

But he wasn't her brother.

And so, she was left confused.

Lucy talked with Laura a little more, it was basically her getting some praise and being told she would receive a reward which felt like a bribe when she was asked to not disclose the incident to anyone.

In the end, though, her thoughts were simply filled with questions.

Let's say, he learned about my situation somehow but why would he help me? Because I am part of the main cast of characters in the novel or maybe... 

She thought and that was when she had ended up hoping, that maybe, just maybe ...

Well, that hope was now dashed.

How did he know I needed help? That was something that happened because the plot must have changed or did he already know how the plot would change or maybe the plot didn't change, the process did but the end results remained similar.

Lucy didn't know the answer to that but what she knew was simple.

I am sure that he doesn't care about the main cast dying, what he cares about is their usefulness.

Lucy thought as she recalled the night of the incident, he had called her and asked her to keep erase all his footage from the cameras, not just that he had also asked her to temper with his black-colored bracelet.

Why is his bracelet black colored? Because he is 1st ranked?

She had wondered when she was tempering with his bracelet, equipping it with another AI, one that would be in control of his, not the academy.

At any rate, Lucy didn't find the arrangement to be bad.

She was useful to him and he was for better or worse the only lead to her brother.

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(Noah's Pov)

It's been 4 days since my first duel ended and I never received another challenge.

Not only that, I haven't made a single contact with another human!

I have truly been living like a shut-in.

Even Julianna doesn't seem to contact me. She leaves the food to the maid and the maid leaves the food at the door like I had told her.

I felt pure bliss.

This was the best. Not having to trouble myself with others was the best.

I could live without any troubles.

Every day I did my training.

I fought against artificial monsters, I trained my proficiencies, I read the book Aurelias had given me, and I advanced my weapon skills by watching Enyo in the VR and receiving her lessons.

I am now a D-ranker as well.

Yes, I had leveled up.

All in all, life was so smooth sailing.

...Until the system arrived.

[There's a girl in front of the hidden dungeon]

Now then, how did my actions cause this girl to reach the hidden dungeon?

I had no idea.

And there was no need to think. What matters is that there's a girl in front of the hidden dungeon.

The hidden dungeon had a blue portal, in other words, it was an easy hidden dungeon.

There are only 2 easy hidden dungeons left in the world and I knew about them both.

I wasn't in a hurry or worried about the girl entering it because she wouldn't be able to.

There was a reason I hadn't challenged those 2 hidden dungeons yet.

You simply can't enter alone.

In other words, I had to think about who I would like to make strong alongside me and who was trustworthy enough to not stab me in the back I also needed someone who would follow my orde- I mean who would listen to me inside the hidden dungeon.

All in all, I needed a team.

Just thinking about a team made me want to puke.

At any rate, the point is, I couldn't have gone into the hidden dungeon and she won't be able to either.

The problem is, she might end up calling someone to go along with her in the hidden dungeon which I can't allow to happen so I need to fucking make my way towards the dungeon.

Ugh, what a pain.

Just when I thought, I could finally have a few day's rest...

Without wasting my time, I made my way towards Laura. I had forgotten to take my ticket to the dungeon from Regis.

...

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(Third Person Pov)

"Damn it!" Aqua cursed as he fell to his knees, huffing and puffing, his sword lying on the ground, his body bruised, the palm of his hands bleeding. 

"Really? Is that all our best specimen can do?"

The woman standing in front of Aqua said, she had a smile on her face that annoyed him, and her hair resembled a blue nighty sky and her cyan-colored eyes looked at him with clear arrogance filled in them.

She was none other than his instructor and ...master.

Unlike other students who all trained in the same room with their instructors, Aqua was allotted a different room.

He simply couldn't train properly with others in the room, he had to keep his abilities hidden after all.

Alyssa was similar to Aqua in that regard, she was also allotted a different room for her training.

But this wasn't all, it wasn't an instructor from the academy that was currently training Aqua but someone sent by them.

"When did you become a softie? Did being away for a month changed you so much? Didn't that boy tell you? The only choice you have is to try to kill me if you want to win. There's nothing else you can do. Weaklings don't have freedom of choice." 

"Fine. I will just kill you then"

Aqua's tone was cold, incredibly so, his eyes dark. He slowly stood up, grabbed his sword once again, and had a fierce look in his eyes.

Around him cackled three different elemental affinities.

In a world where having a single elemental affinity is considered a huge blessing, Aqua held not one or two but 3 different elemental affinities.

And that wasn't the only thing great about him, Aqua proceeded to strengthen his inner muscles with mana.

Manipulating mana externally, such as creating a layer of mana over your body to increase your defense was easier than trying to manipulate mana inside of your body.

However, it was not just about how hard or easy it was, it also came with risks that could kill you.

Indulging in the process of manipulating mana to mess with your body from the inside was not just a risky and difficult process but also a painful one. It demanded precise control and intense focus.

This was the reason brain tempering was prohibited, and people didn't dare venture into this territory anymore due to how impossible of a thing it was to do, proved by the past actions of the people.

But when it came to the straightforward task of fortifying one's muscles or strengthening a specific part of the body for a certain period of time? The nigh-impossible feat became possible.

And so, people dedicated themselves to learning how to fortify their muscles, going through the pain, having their muscles torn from the inside only to heal them using a potion and then repeating the grueling process ...until they finally were able to do it.

But even so, it was a technique that was most efficient when used by someone high-ranked due to their high proficiency.

At any rate, due to its nature, it was recommended that the children not involve themselves in such training. The academy typically introduces this technique to students during their 3rd year, while those in the special class receive the training in their 2nd year.

...Alas, all the instructors were actually already beginning to teach this technique to other students in special class this year. The main cast currently were being told to build their muscles by doing intense training every day.

Anyway, the point is, that Aqua already knew how to strengthen his muscles using mana. 

Currently, Aqua had fortified his muscles in the body using mana, he didn't simply fortify a particular part of his body but the entirety of it except for the brain, something even high-rankers would have a hard time doing.

It was just one of the proof of the pain and efforts that Aqua had gone through in his childhood. 

Without a single word, Aqua launched himself towards her, ready to slice her throat up.

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Aqua's body was lying down on the ground with his face upward, and on his abdomen sat his master while she laughed.

"Hahaha! Finally, this time all your attacks were focused on my vitals, that's how it should have been from the start. The way the old you have always been" The woman laughed genuinely pleased.

Aqua in response simply frowned, he knew about himself better than others. The image Emma and Aleister had of him was just a lie.

He wasn't kind, he wasn't caring. The truth was, he was a very horrible human.

That's how he thought about himself.

"Anyways, you do seem to have gotten stronger but nothing changes the fact that you are currently 3rd ranked which means that the other two are simply even bigger prodigies than you. Man, it's such a shame we never got our hands on those 2 kids. I can't help but wonder how strong they might have grown if they were in our facility."

Feeling annoyed, Aqua spoke up.

"Or maybe, I would have grown stronger if I had been picked up by their facilit-agh!"

Before Aqua could finish his words he ended up receiving a punch on his face.

"The hell did you just say brat?"

The woman asked, her smile gone, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Shit! I said I might have grown stronger if I was in their facility!" Aqua shouted while holding his broken nose which was bleeding quite a lot.

"How many more punches before you stop spouting bullshit? You have become a bit too much chatty after coming here." The woman proceeded to punch Aqua once again, Aqua used his arms as a shield to protect his face, and on contact, the bones of his arms cracked.

"Fuck you, Jane..." Aqua said in a pained voice as he continued "But my point stands, didn't you say that they are also part of a facility like yours?"

Jane scrunched her face

"Your stubbornness is real a pain..." She found it amazing and annoying how Aqua still kept on speaking, lightly shaking her head she continued

"I didn't that they both are from the facility. Alyssa definitely is, she is no different than a lab rat, like you, an experimental subject to be used. We don't know what their aim is, the higher-ups told us to stop looking into them. As for Noah, I said we don't know anything about him. We couldn't find a single shred of information related to him before the age of 14"

Jane sighed, her face showed disappointment.

"You were told to stop looking into the place Alyssa's from and you actually followed through? Just who are they backed by?" Aqua couldn't believe Jane would stop looking into something just because she was told to.

"They are backed by the Eldis Organization, those two-faced bastards."

Uh-huh, that makes sense, even she wouldn't make an enemy of them

Aqua thought and he began to speak 

"But the fact that you can't find anything about Noah indicates that Noah does belong to some facility or some organization too else he wouldn't be as strong as he is. Maybe the reason you can't find information is just because they are far stronger and far more capable than you people?" 

"Sorry, what did you just say, brat? Better than us? We are funded by the government itself!" Jane grabbed Aqua by his color pulling his face closer to hers, her eyebrows furrowed, her tone annoyed.

"...and you still can't find a single thing about him? Incompetency has its limits" 

"Hah? Say it again."

The killing intent Jane emitted was enough for Aqua to begin sweating.

"S-sorry!" Aqua shouted and Jane withdrew the pressure she exerted on him, Aqua whose breathing became a bit ragged, sighed in relief.

He went a bit far, he noted to himself.

"Tch," Clicking her tongue, Jane spoke up "We don't know, but if the facility does exist then the chances that they are involved in illegal practices are quite high."

"Like you are some sort of saint" Aqua retorted.

"Sure, we aren't saints but we aren't an evil bunch either. I had to say we fall into a gray area. Anyways, it doesn't matter. The chances that Noah ran away from the facility are quite high, they will come looking for him again and even if Noah isn't a runaway, they would still contact him at some point. We just need to wait"

"It's cool if they do contact Noah again but if Noah is someone who ran away, then you need to understand that they don't seem to have made a single move for a long time now. It's likely that Noah isn't their best..."

Aqua didn't want to believe that people their age who are stronger than Noah could exist but he couldn't deny the possibility.

"That's bullshit." Jane scoffed "Noah's level is already absurd. There can't possibly be more like him. The only thing that's possible is ..."

Jane's voice trailed off, and a crease formed on her forehead.

"Is..?"

Aqua urged her to continue.

"...Whether it was a facility or an organization he obliterated them by his own hands"

In that moment, Jane never would have expected that there would be a day she would face off against a monster created by the said facility.