Chapter 18 the meeting of fate
After steeling his mind for whatever physical or intellectual trials lay ahead, Fighter followed the guard's brisk pace.
As they walked, his gaze was drawn once again to the colossal perimeter wall of the UCA. Up close, it was even more terrifying. The surface was made of a strange, matte-black composite—harder than any steel from Earth—and bristled with automated weapon systems provided by the military. Railguns and mana-cannons tracked the horizon with cold, mechanical precision.
Fighter couldn't help but marvel at the overkill. 'Why does the UCA need this level of fortification?' he thought. 'They have three Chapter Five [Heroes] stationed here as permanent deterrents, and a Chapter Six [Monarch] practically lives on the campus. A single Monarch is a walking natural disaster. To put it in perspective, a Chapter Four [Mate] is considered a Saint by the public because they possess the power to protect or erase an entire city. Why bother with walls?'
Rechel's voice cut through his internal monologue, dripping with its usual acidic sarcasm.
Rechel: [This is precisely why your intelligence is so... adorable compared to mine. Let me ask you: do you use a cannon to kill a mosquito? Ok.]
Fighter:'Depending on the situation? Absolutely. If I want that mosquito dead, I'm using the cannon.'
Rechel: [I am actually speechless at your sheer stupidity. How can anyone be this dense? Let me break it down for you, dumbass. The UCA is not just a school; it is the world's leading research facility for New World geography, Magitec, and Script Theory. Thousands of civilians and researchers come here daily. People bring their own troubles—crime, violence, greed. You don't summon a [Hero] to stop a pickpocket or a riot. The wall isn't for Horrors; it's to intimidate the regular people. It's high, hard, and menacing to ensure the "livestock" behaves. A five-year-old could have deduced that. Ok.]
Fighter bit back a retort. 'How was I supposed to know it was a research hub? The novel never mentioned that!'
Rechel: [You know the exact number of [Heroes] on payroll, yet you don't know the basic function of the building you're standing in? You are a walking contradiction. Slum-dwellers shouldn't even know the word "Monarch." I was wrong to assume you had a functioning brain. Ok.]
Fighter grumbled to himself. He couldn't explain to her that in the novel [Lightning Boy's Adventure], the author spent hundreds of chapters on power hierarchies and "Aura farming" while completely glossing over the administrative details of the school.
Suddenly, the guard's heavy hand gripped his shoulder, shaking him out of his daydream.
Guard: "This is your exam room. Get inside and wait. Don't touch anything."
The guard didn't wait for a reply or offer a chance for questions. He turned on his heel and vanished back down the sterile hallway, leaving Fighter standing before a heavy metal door.
Fighter pushed it open and stepped inside.
The room was small, lit by a single flickering mana-lamp. Sitting on a wooden bench in the corner was another young man. Fighter froze. The characteristics of the stranger's face were so familiar they felt like a memory etched into his soul.
The boy had messy blonde hair and a distinct, star-shaped burn mark on the side of his forehead. His eyebrows were thick and black, providing a sharp contrast to a pair of piercing, golden eyes that seemed to hum with suppressed electricity.
Though his frame was more muscular and well-built than Fighter's malnourished body, he was just as shabby and caked in dirt. He looked like he had crawled through the same hell to get here.
Fighter's heart hammered against his ribs. He felt a strange, magnetic pull of familiarity—not because they had met, but because he was looking at the living, breathing center of this world's destiny.
This was the protagonist of [Lightning Boy's Adventure].