Zol Knight appeared in the combat systems, right before the pod Alex slept in. The bots in charge of everything noticed his presence the moment he appeared, but his authority kept them in place.
He was more than qualified to be here even without an instructor's ID.
Hunter Zol looked at Alex's pod, narrowing his eyes as he observed the expression on Alex's sleeping form visible from the small glass opening around the head region.
The aura from the void energy emanating from him was more potent than Alex revealed earlier. 'This is different. Something is different,' he thought in silence.
He brought back his screen and watched as Alex fought the void creatures with everything he had, running around and evading all the attacks thrown at him.
His expression was stern, and his eyes revealed the fear hidden within. Zol's attention returned to the pod and he noticed how Alex's brows furrowed.
Suddenly, Alex's body trembled slightly, and the aura intensified briefly, startling Zol a bit, but he did not move from his spot. The aura was dangerous for anyone too weak, or on a similar level to Alex himself, but not him.
Looking at the surrounding pods and the ones Julia and Ross laid in, his thoughts spun as he considered what to do.
Soon, Principal Seraph appeared beside him and her eyes widened in shock when she felt the void energy Alex was giving off.
Before she could comment on what was happening, Zol said, "Are the pods self-sustaining away from their terminal?"
The principal was confused for a moment before realizing what Zol wanted to do. Her gaze returned to Alex's pod, "Yes. The pods can keep running for 12 hours after being removed from their power terminals."
She stated and before she could add anything else, Zol disappeared with Alex's pod. She missed how Hunter Zol pulled it off as she barely caught him move.
"What the…"
She was shocked by the significant difference in their abilities. Although she was already aware of it, experiencing it was still frustrating.
Hunter Zol appeared at the top of the combat systems where no one was around to be exposed to whatever was happening to Alex.
"…"
Placing the pod down, Zol watched as Alex's body occasionally shook and released a momentary wave of potent void aura. He could also feel the mana within Alex churn and flow within him.
"He couldn't do that before." He noted with a frown. Alex had mentioned how he could refine mana but couldn't circulate it as void energy powered his skills and he also confirmed as such.
"Is it the void energy's doing?" That could be the only explanation as to what was happening to Alex. Whatever danger he felt, it seemed his body reacted in a way that forced his stored mana to circulate.
But the question was, what was the effect of this action? The answer came soon enough when the pod beeped at short intervals.
Bringing up the status panel of the pod, Zol looked at the stats of Alex inputted into the system. He noticed the strength, speed and mana stats were over the set mark for a low-level mana awakened.
"Whatever is happening must have exponentially increased his physical stats and mana. The system can tell, but without the clearance to adjust the system, the stats will remain the same."
He noted and that was indeed the case. The void energy driving the stored mana in Alex's cells had increased all his stats exponentially, almost like a defence mechanism in response to his situation.
The system could tell from the readings it was picking from the cells of Alex that the inputted stats and what Alex's avatar was using were not adding up.
Hunter Zol quickly took over the system with the help of his AI to bypass its security and adjusted the readings to reflect the new stats Alex's energy fusion was causing. That was his best guess; the void energy must have fused with the stored mana to give him a boost.
While he was not entirely sure of what and how he felt that was most likely the case. And when he finished adjusting the settings, he was slightly dumbfounded by the results.
The pod had stopped beeping, but the readings he was seeing did not make any sense. "How is such a thing possible?" He asked himself and checked again.
After getting the same response, he smiled a little and entered the new settings. Alex was still experiencing the occasional body tremble and aura release, other than that and the frown on his sleeping form, nothing was out of place.
With that achieved, he looked back to his screen and watched what the new changes would bring. He slightly looked behind him where the principal stood at a distance and watched his actions. Of course, he didn't mind.
One thing was clear to him at this point though; he was going to protect the kid from any ill intentions towards him.
"I'll stay up here to watch over the boy. You can return if you want," he stated with a heavy tone and returned his attention to his screen.
Principal Seraph heard his words but remained silent. She had no words to describe what was happening or even understand it.
She wanted to ask but held herself back when Zol suggested she leave, implying he was not in the mood to explain.
She had even attempted using her divine sense but felt a stronger one block hers. She was not finding out anytime soon what was happening.
'Tch! This is the worst.' She thought and finally decided to stay there, just a larger distance away and brought up her own display to continue watching.
Her curiosity wouldn't let her leave without knowing something. At the same time, she knew not to offend him; they were in the same star system but were not friends.
The settings Zol inputted were about to be reflected on Alex's avatar. At the moment though, Alex was pinned down and out of options.
His eyes revealed the despair he felt deep within, but his expression also showed his resolve to not fall in the labyrinth.
'Whatever is happening to you, we'll find out together. In the meantime, survive your trail.' He thought to himself and stood a distance away from the pod with a holographic display before him.