It was imperceptible, but it was there. A heavy pressure surrounded Aleph. That was why Hua saw through a part of his current conflicts.
"Are you willing to become stronger?"
Suddenly, Aleph asked her this question.
She didn't hesitate to give an answer.
"I am willing."
"Alright. I will put you in Project Soldier's list. You should have heard of it from your superiors."
Due to the prior notification to the Commander-in-Chief, there was already a mature plan put in place. Aside from the specially-chosen soldiers with sufficient honkai resistance, there were also testing sessions about to be put in place.
Even civilians can be tested by it. In turn, they would receive certain privileges once they agree to become a part of the project.
Hence, Hua heard it already from the prior announcements.
"Though it isn't enough to immediately grant you power similar to mine, it's much better than your current strength. There's still a huge gap between humans and MANTISes."
After a moment of silence, she responded:
"I understand."
"...I will tell you about the finer details later."
Aleph wanted to ask why she didn't even ask about the negative side-effects. But then, he realized.
'It's not just me who was fighting.'
*****
Aleph lay flat on his metal bed inside the temporary base. He seems to be blankly staring at the tent's ceiling.
{Results: New reactions were detected in the artifact.}
Great Sage's voice rang in his ears. His mind was directed towards the mark in his left hand that continuously drained two-thirds of his cursed energy reserves.
Even if he had the reversed curse technique to heal his brain, his cursed energy output began to fall off.
'It's already an hour…'
Just when he was thinking, he felt a sudden halt in the energy absorption. It didn't take long before Aleph's cursed energy reserves became full again.
"Hm..?"
The vertical mark in his left hand began to shine dimly. It was then that someone came out from Aleph's shadow. It was a mix of murky red and black.
A familiar girl with a gothic lolita dress appeared inside his bedroom.
"Ara. That was too sudden of me, Ain."
"...That was reiyoku?"
Beyond normal sight, Aleph's dark blue world told him everything. His elemental sight worked wonders as he immediately saw what was different from Kurumi.
"Your eyes are even sharper than before. What else can you see~?"
"Sorry."
He immediately disabled his elemental sight. It became his habit to turn on his elemental sight every time he was about to experience something new. It was akin to his instincts getting ready for a potential ambush.
Only now did Aleph realize how 'disrespectful' it was to peer through a friend of his.
Seeing this reaction, she smiled in return.
"So you still have that side."
"I can't help it." He replied.
Back then, when the two were talking about things, a mention of Kurumi's 'problem' was enough to turn Aleph serious. He wouldn't joke about a friend's dire situation whenever they encountered one.
That resulted in him being 'unnecessarily' serious in some joking scenarios.
"Kurumi, that was your power?"
"Mn." She nodded. "I wanted to prepare myself for events I could be of help. It is your world that needs saving, isn't it so~?"
Aleph's elemental sight fed him back the information regarding Kurumi's state. Before, she only existed as an empty vessel. She could interact with the world and touch objects. But, she would only have a strength similar to that of a normal human's.
Later on, she explained it came from her 'injuries' when fighting the 'First Spirit'. The 'journey' to this world also took a toll, depriving Kurumi of her reiyoku (spiritual power) as well as her authority (time).
"I can access my power now. How~e~ver…" Kurumi made a dramatic pause. "It requires something important."
"What is it?"
"A kiss."
"A—what?"
Aleph knew his face must've been funny looking now. Still, he wasn't in a capacity to control it.
"Fufu. Why? Is it impossible?"
"No… It's just… you might be forcing yourself…"
"A kiss on the cheek?"
"...Ah."
He showed a look of understanding. It was the second time he was being played like this. The only other person who was able to do this was Mei.
Beep-!
Seeing the name of his caller, Aleph's heart trembled slightly.
It was Mei.
"Hee? Who was it?"
"Another friend of mine."
"Rea~lly?"
Kurumi came closer one step at a time. Her hands were placed behind her back.
Aleph swiftly took the phone and answered it.
"How was everything?"
Mei's raspy voice came from the other side.
"It's fine. I shouldn't take long here. Maybe around a week or so."
"Alright. Is there anything else? Have you encountered any other problems?"
"No… there isn't any. Why—"
It was a soft touch on Aleph's cheek. It made him abruptly pause his words.
'She really… did it..?'
It was a kiss… on his cheek. His peripheral vision saw Kurumi near his face.
She broke away a second later. He could immediately feel a sense of connection with her. Atop this startling action, it seemed like she was telling the truth when it comes to her powers.
Aleph's mind processed everything swiftly.
'What?'
'What? She did it?'
'I thought she was joking.'
'No. I thought she was teasing me.'
'This is… real.'
It was the first time Aleph miscalculated.
To greet his shock, Kurumi merely gave a silent smile towards him. Her pair of black and golden pupils made his heart skip yet another beat. A playful stare right after the kiss was a deadly combo.
"...Aleph? Is something wrong? No. There's something wrong. What was it?"
Mei's serious tone brought him back to reality. It was at this moment did he realize… he screwed up.
"No. It's not a big deal. It must be fatigue."
"...Remember to take care of yourself."
*****
First Institute, Mu Continent.
Beep-!
Upon ending the call, Mei frowned.
'There's something wrong.'
Judging from Aleph's words, she couldn't glean anything wrong. Even his excuse of fatigue was reasonable for someone who fought multiple emperor-class honkai beasts in one day. The only other noticeable thing was the change of his tone over the call.
'What was it?'
Her heart…no, intuition was telling her something was wrong; and it should be something that came from her blind spot.
For example, a thieving cat.
Her finger continued tapping on the desk for a while.
'I shall keep this in mind.'
Without finding any evidence of sorts, she became determined to keep this occurrence to her mind.