Shu was stunned. "You... you really tried for a whole day?"
"I have to admit, Kallen and Kiana are indeed quite different. But Kiana was still in the process of familiarizing herself with the Key of Genesis at the time, which would have made it even more difficult than me teaching Kallen," Otto said with a nod. "As it turns out, not just anyone can teach someone else to cook in a single day. Not even I can."
"Shu, you actually have many strengths that others can't match. You are not useless just because you've lost some of your power. So you can go and do what you want to do with confidence, without worrying about what others might say."
Otto paused, then suddenly chuckled at Shu. "Besides, I don't think you'll be rejected. You probably won't even have to try that hard to pass Bianka and Rita's test."
"Oh, please. Of course I know I'll pass..." Shu rolled his eyes at Otto. "I know my own abilities. If I can't pass, it's either because I've gone crazy or the examiners have..."
"Compared to something being wrong with Bianka and Rita, I think the possibility of me going crazy is higher..."
Otto's movements faltered. He looked up, his gaze somewhat strange as he looked at Shu.
"Then what are you nervous about?" he asked, his hands still methodically sorting through documents.
"I was just thinking... I don't really know either of them, and they don't know me by this identity. What if I really do go crazy tomorrow and say or do something out of line?"
"The probability of that is too small," Otto sighed. "Shu, haven't you noticed that you're being overly anxious? This is a mental issue."
"Is it?" Shu retorted. "Overly anxious..."
Otto wasn't the first person to bring this up. Kiana and the others had said the same thing this morning—that he was in a state of excessive anxiety and needed a good rest.
Now that Otto had also raised the issue, Shu had no choice but to give it more thought.
But the conclusion was still the same.
"This is the only way I can stay vigilant and ensure your safety," he said sternly to Otto, which only earned him a look of disdain.
Who was talking about that?
"In any case, you don't need to worry too much. No matter your identity, you are you. Trust in your own abilities to break through any shackles, and trust that gold will always shine," Otto said, then looked down and fell silent.
The corner of Shu's eye twitched. He felt that seeking help from Otto was a waste of time.
He wasn't comforted by Otto's words at all. In fact, Otto's "of course you'll shine" attitude only made him more nervous.
Forget it. He was better off going out and finding some confidence on his own... or finding a nearby mission to practice on.
Tomorrow morning's assessment shouldn't be too difficult, so he had to be careful not to pick a particularly hard mission...
With that thought, Shu opened his phone and started searching for commissions on [Spark] with the new account Otto had registered for him.
Although this account couldn't accept commissions without a City Exploration Team certification, Shu didn't need to accept one right now. He just wanted to try one out for practice.
Yeah, doing a few should put his mind at ease...
Thinking this, Shu scrolled through [Spark] for a while, then found himself stumped by a pile of commissions that all seemed to be of similar difficulty.
He scanned through them. The missions on Spark could be roughly divided into two types: exploration and subjugation.
There were more exploration missions, and they were relatively simpler. This was because Otto's current project was to reboot the entire surveillance system of ARC City.
Due to the loss of contact with the space satellites, the network everyone was using was a unique one based on the quantum cluster computer—the former [Spider Web], now [Spark].
ARC City was complex, Fire Moth was short-staffed, and resource issues were paramount, which was why there was a huge backlog of exploration missions.
The more difficult exploration missions required traveling to nearby cities.
For example, the clean-up in Sapphire City, or the investigation of Jieyang Mountain... these missions mostly involved scouting for remaining zombies and other dangers, and reporting the intel back to [Spark] or Fire Moth to facilitate subsequent subjugation missions.
Shu's initial thought was to take on a couple of subjugation missions to practice, since that was what he was good at.
Fighting? Could those Honkai Beasts be harder to fight than a Herrscher? He had survived Gu Chu, that monster. Was he supposed to be afraid of some Honkai Beasts, Deathly Honkai Beasts, or even zombies?
But that was all Shu was good at.
Intelligence gathering... that was the shortest plank in Shu's barrel.
Ever since his evolution, Shu had never been at a disadvantage in a head-on fight. But lack of intelligence had severely limited his performance, often preventing him from using even 30% of his full strength.
On the other hand, his opponents... Shu couldn't for the life of him figure out how they always managed to come up with abilities and skills that perfectly countered and restricted him.
Like the Canopy of Desire. That was the first time Shu had truly felt helpless, unable to even come up with many ideas on how to break it.
Yes, that was his weakness, something he wasn't good at.
He wanted to practice, not just warm up. The low-difficulty subjugation missions wouldn't even serve as a proper warm-up, but an intel mission... that would be a new challenge for him.
Decision made. I'll pick an exploration mission.
With that in mind, Shu quickly filtered and selected an exploration commission in Sapphire City.
[There are still sixty thousand zombies within the Pearl of Sapphire. This is Fire Moth's next target area for clean-up. Before the major sweep, Fire Moth will clear the area around the Pearl. Please proceed there for reconnaissance.
Special Note: Do not alert the zombie horde within the Pearl of Sapphire.]
Sapphire City. Shu had a strong impression of the city. After all, it was where he first began to master his power... the twin-bladed Deathly Honkai Beasts that the sisters had become, the mutated Lava Emperor, and that shelter...
If he remembered correctly, wasn't that shelter near the Pearl of Sapphire?
This would be like revisiting an old haunt.
Recalling his experiences when he first gained his powers, Shu suddenly felt like time had stretched on for so long.
Had it really only been three months since he'd grown from being scared of zombies and struggling with a single Deathly Honkai Beast to hunting down Herrschers?
To be precise, his growth period was even shorter.
A large portion of that time was spent recovering from injuries, traveling, and so on. His improvements had all relied on others or on breakthroughs in the heat of battle.
If he really calculated it, his growth period was probably only a few days?
Why did it feel so long?
Shaking off these complicated thoughts, Shu stepped out of the elevator, which had reached the surface. The other people in the elevator quickly exited, each carrying some form of equipment.
They showed something to the guards at the gate and left in groups of two or three. Soon, Shu was the only one left from that elevator ride.
Seeing Shu standing at the gate without moving, the guards didn't seem surprised.
Entering and exiting required a permit or to be escorted by one of the well-known figures. And not everyone could carry their permit with them at all times.
Even if you didn't leave it in your dorm or at home, it could be lost due to various accidents while on a mission. They couldn't just lock people out, could they?
So, permit registration was really just to see which team the person leaving belonged to. Who was actually leaving was monitored in real-time by the base's quantum cluster computer.
But everyone leaving still needed at least one permit. That was a hard rule. So, people like Shu, who came up first to wait for their companions, were a common sight...
"Hey? Where'd that guy go?" a guard glanced over casually and suddenly noticed someone was missing from his field of vision. He quickly asked his colleagues, "Did you guys see the person who was standing in the corner?"
"Who?" someone asked, not understanding what the guard meant.
"The one who was standing in the corner before, the one with white hair, blue eyes, the handsome foreigner."
"Oh, that guy. Hey? He is gone... anyone see him?"
Everyone shook their heads, saying they hadn't dealt with him.
"That's weird," the first guard said, scratching his head. "Where did he go?"
None of them had dealt with him. Had he snuck out?
"Maybe he went back down with the elevator? Maybe something happened with his teammates and they had to postpone their departure?" a colleague suggested, looking at the recently closed elevator doors.
"That seems to be the only explanation... You're all sure you didn't let him out, right?"
Hearing the chorus of affirmations, Shu, who had already slipped past the gate using some clever tricks, guiltily rubbed his nose.
He really couldn't blame them for this. They had checked several times just because he had disappeared. He had seen for himself how thorough these guards were.
If it weren't for his extraordinary abilities, they would have definitely stopped him.
Before leaving, Shu took out his phone. While he still had a network connection, he sent a message to Otto, asking him to keep an eye on things and balance the books for him. It wouldn't be good if these guards got into trouble because of his sneaking out...
After sending the message and seeing Otto's reply of "?", Shu put his phone away. He looked up at the sky and was about to take off and fly towards Sapphire City.
"Hey? Are you new here too?" Just then, a lively voice suddenly sounded behind him, forcibly halting his impulse to take flight.
No ambiguity. Shu's feet had just left the ground when the voice yanked him back down.
He landed awkwardly and bounced on the spot a few times, then started nonchalantly twisting his waist, bending over, and doing stretches, as if he were just warming up before setting out.
After a full two seconds of this awkward stalling, Shu finally turned around, as if reacting with a half-second delay, to look at the orange-haired woman who had somehow changed into a uniform.
"Su... hmm? Can I help you?" The "Susannah" that almost slipped out scared the living daylights out of Shu. At the same time, he was annoyed that the perimeter monitoring he had set up seemed to have a loophole again.
Looks like I'll have to monitor the movements of people like Susannah, who have no trace of Honkai energy, when they're near me...
He wasn't worried that Susannah was actually being controlled by a Herrscher or something.
If a Herrscher made a move, there would definitely be a trace of Honkai energy, and in Shu's perception, that trace would be as obvious as a lighthouse in the dark.
It was just that monitoring ordinary people like Susannah in addition to everything else was a significant drain on Shu's processing power.
His thoughts were accelerated, but multitasking was still a privilege of geniuses.
Shu was still a single-core processor, barely keeping up with those multitasking freaks through sheer processing speed.
At this moment, Susannah, standing in front of Shu, didn't notice anything amiss. She simply admired the white-haired, blue-eyed, and very fi... fit-looking man in front of her with a tone of awe.
"Are you from the Kaslana family?!" White hair, blue eyes, a posture that just radiated terrifying strength... How was he any different from Mr. Siegfried?!
Perhaps the biggest difference was that the man in front of her lacked Mr. Siegfried's carefree, unrestrained style, and had more... a lot more... stability.
If it weren't for the sense of security he exuded just by standing there, Susannah wouldn't have even noticed this corner.
Shu, on the other hand, was a bit stunned by Susannah's question.
Kaslana... The white hair and blue eyes features immediately came to his mind.
Then he thought about the alias he had given himself...
Great, case closed. The image Otto had created for him really was Kevin.
"Ahem, yes..." Shu said, outwardly calm and composed, while emphasizing his own question, "So, do you need something?"
"No, no!" Susannah quickly waved her hands, then pointed to the side, in the direction of the station. "It's just... you're going to Sapphire City too, right?"
A question mark popped up over Shu's head. He didn't know how the decision he had just made in his mind could be so easily read by the person in front of him.
Especially by Susannah?
Wait, he remembered that Otto guy had pretended to be Susannah before.
It was said that in order to play the part well, he had specifically disbanded Susannah's team, transferred her to be his assistant, and followed her around for a long time...
No, that wasn't how things developed in this world. The person in front of him should be the real Susannah...
As for how she knew...
"Isn't everyone coming out now going to Sapphire City? The train only runs once a day, and today's train is about to leave," Susannah immediately provided a reasonable explanation, as expected.
Although ARC City and Sapphire City were close, they were still two different cities. After the zombie horde in Sapphire City was defeated by Fire Moth, a new "come back and explore later" area was unlocked on the City Exploration Teams' small maps.
The train that originally transported troops and various supplies was now open to the public. For just 10 Contribution Points, you could take a safe trip to Sapphire City.
At the same time, the 10-point fee also included support from the Fire Moth special team upon a distress call, access to the Sapphire City internal channel, and other services.
It was universally acknowledged as a very good deal.
But for Shu...
You might as well just rob me.
The person with a hundred million Contribution Points in his account was on the verge of holding up two demanding fingers right then and there.