Back inside the room, where Isabella, Harrison, and all the scientists were watching Atticus's live stats on the screen dropping down at a fast rate, his trembling form showing no signs of stopping.
Just as Isabella was about to scream at Zarathustra to stop everything once again, she suddenly paused.
What had made her pause was one change.
It was a really small change that honestly shouldn't mean much considering what they had been witnessing for a few minutes now.
One of the numbers representing Atticus's live status had suddenly slowed down.
Each of the scientists' gazes, including Zarathustra's, shot towards that particular stat – it had been vitality, literally the most important stat there.
But looking at Atticus's trembling form, they saw that he hadn't changed; he was still shaking intensely.
Before they each had time to think about what was happening, the vitality stat, which had been dropping down slowly before, suddenly became even slower, and then in the next instant, it started rising upwards instead.
Every single individual in the room watched with bated breath as each of the live stats initially dropping down started shooting upwards with speed.
Their gazes shot towards Atticus's form on the screen, which was already calming down, his form becoming stable and still after a few seconds.
A deep exhale seemed to permeate the space as each of them released a sigh of relief. But at the next instant, it was as though they completely forgot about the near death experience Atticus just had; each of them jumped up in elation.
They had finally done it; they had found a host for specimen X!
But out of everyone in the room, the most elated about this development was Zarathustra. He was so happy that he unknowingly started chuckling, his eyes wide open, shining like stars.
'We have to get as much data from this as possible,' Zarathustra's head was going through hundreds of tests that he planned on performing on Atticus.
They had just accomplished what they had been trying hard to do for years! Words could not do justice to how he was currently feeling.
With a huge grin on his face, Zarathustra walked closer to the screen, his gaze fixated on Atticus. "Prep the testing room," he ordered succinctly.
Before each of the scientists could carry out his order, Isabella's cold voice sounded, once again subtly releasing her aura, "That won't be happening. He needs rest, so he would be going back to his division immediately."
Zarathustra's initial grin immediately contorted into a deep frown as he turned towards Isabella and flared,
"No way! Do you know the gravity of what we have just accomplished!? We might have just made history! We need to study it thoroughly!"
Zarathustra instantly turned towards Harrison; the fact that he had ordered the whole thing meant he had something like this in mind.
"Vice principal, surely you understand. The data we could potentially gather from conducting this experiment would benefit the human domain as a whole. It's for the sake of humanity!"
Isabella instantly chimed in, her tone cold, "He's not a test subject."
But Zarathustra didn't even turn to look at her; his gaze was still fixed on Harrison, hoping he would give the go-ahead.
The rest of the scientists all kept quiet, standing by the side. Neither of them had any authority to intervene in a high-level situation like this.
Harrison didn't say anything for a few seconds, his gaze focusing on Atticus on the screen. The room descended into an awkward silence despite the intense tension in the room.
After a few awkward moments, Harrison finally responded, turning to face Zarathustra. He spoke dismissively, "Send him back to his division."
Harrison didn't even bother to wait for a response. With a short look at Atticus's figure, he turned and immediately left the room without uttering any more words.
Zarathustra's bafflement was palpable.
He stared at Harrison's departing figure with wide eyes until he walked out of the room.
'What…' He was so flabbergasted about the current situation that his head went completely blank. No matter how long or how fast he thought about it, he couldn't understand just how that man thought.
This was something they had been trying to accomplish for years, something that would completely change exosuits for the better, something that would benefit the human domain as a whole, and yet, he expected him to let all of that go?
Zarathustra was unwilling. No, his logical reasoning just wouldn't accept that.
'He had been the one to order this experiment and now he had suddenly changed his mind?'
Zarathustra took in a calming breath. He was an Enigmalnk, the brains of the human domain. It was a title he carried with complete pride.
'Enigmalnk act with their brains not heart,' Zarathustra repeated this mantra in his head.
Although considering how lively he was, he was a bit different from the others who were more gloomy and completely demotivated, but this was because Zarathustra had always made a point to never become completely demotivated.
More importantly, it was a clause in the academy contract.
In his line of work, even a second of that was dangerous. Imagine getting tired of everything and then in a moment of weakness, attempting to sabotage the student's exosuit.
The result was obvious; such Enigmalnk mana core would blow up into smithereens.
After calming down his thoughts, Zarathustra instantly formulated his next course of action. He turned his gaze and saw Isabella's intense gaze fixated on him.
Clearly, she remained behind to make sure he followed Harrison's order.
Zarathustra clicked his tongue, muttering under his breath, "Fucking bitch."
Isabella obviously heard him but completely ignored his remark. There was only one thing she was worried about right now, and she couldn't help but pray that her assumptions were wrong.
At this point, there was no one in the academy who didn't know Atticus' vengeful personality. 'I hope I'm wrong.'
"Release the pod," the sound of Zarathustra ordering the scientists broke her out of her thoughts.
She turned and saw Zarathustra walking towards the door of the room Atticus was in and immediately followed.
…
In the confines of a room, three pods sat, a few meters apart from each other. The room was completely quiet and practically empty apart from the pods.
Just as it seemed as this peaceful atmosphere would continue, the largest pod, the white one in the middle of the room, suddenly started elevating, its form standing vertically after a few seconds.
And then, abruptly, the door suddenly opened, releasing staggering amounts of white smoke in the air.
From it, a white-haired boy fell from the pod, landing on the hard floor on one knee.
It was none other than Atticus who had successfully tamed specimen X and completely assimilated with his suit.
Although during the initial process of assimilation, Atticus' clothes had turned to nothingness, but if one were to look at him now, they would see that he was fully clothed. It was as though they had never disappeared in the first place.
Atticus felt drained. He felt exhausted, weak, fatigued, and utterly depleted of energy
Although he now had access to his mana core, his mana had been completely drained.
Atticus placed his palm on his head, shaking it in the next instant, trying to clear the disoriented feeling that enveloped him.
Simultaneously, the door to the room parted open, and Zarathustra followed closely by Isabella and another scientist walked into the room.
As Zarathustra walked over and saw Atticus' tired state, he immediately gestured towards the scientist to help him up.
'I need him in a good mood,' he thought.
The scientist nodded his head and immediately approached Atticus. But just as his outstretched hands were about to touch Atticus, Atticus' lowered head abruptly snapped up, his crimson gaze meeting that of the scientist.
The result was immediate as the scientist's hands abruptly stopped mid-air, feeling a primal fear that ran deep through his core.
It was as though a beast was looking at him. No one had to say anything; he knew instinctively that if he moved, he'd die.
"Student Atticus! It's fine, it's us!" the familiar voice of Isabella suddenly interrupted the scene. Atticus turned his crimson gaze towards her, calming down slightly.
Taking a deep breath, his crimson gaze started dimming, turning back to normal, and the tendrils of black mass that had been moving up from his neck, converging on his head, started receding.
The scientist, seeing that Atticus wasn't focused on him again, immediately took back his hands while breathing in and out profusely, as though he had just run a marathon. His clothes were completely drenched with sweat.
Although he had orders to help Atticus, he completely ignored them. He had no intention of going close to that monster ever again; he valued his life greatly.
Zarathustra gazed at the black mass that was receding down from Atticus' neck in intrigue, his smile widening in the next instant.
There was no doubt about it now—the boy's suit was different.
'I have to examine him thoroughly, no matter what.'