Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

"Hm..?"

Aleph found himself in a familiar sight. It was the sea of stars. They seemed stagnant—no movements and the likes. Their brilliance could be seen now and then.

'This place feels… familiar.'

He tried moving his head around, to which he succeeded. There wasn't any sluggishness in his mind, as opposed to the first time he had a dream like this.

'As expected…'

Aleph looked at the colorful lights that surrounded him. It was something that couldn't be easily described as a mix of colors. It was more apt to describe it as a manifestation resulting from a high-level being—a signal of his soul's extraordinariness.

This time, he looked down at his 'body'. 

Currently, Aleph was an orb of light. He did not have any fixed form nor shape. It was akin to a meteor streaking through the starry sky.

'This familiar sensation..!'

He recalled what he experienced on the 'gate' to the Sea of Quanta. He saw a small dot of white light. It swiftly expanded until it gave off an illusion of devouring Aleph whole.

Before he knew it, he was already injured.

'I need to ask Albion—?'

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden sensation. 

Aleph did not have any physical body at this moment, thus it could not be easily described. The best he could do was to compare it to an extremely strong earthquake.

Its sheer intensity woke Aleph up from his 'dream'.

Tap.

The first thing he felt was a touch to his face. His eyes saw a pair of valleys covered by a stretchable black fabric. He looked upwards and faced Elysia's startled gaze.

She bent her knees when she decided to play a prank on the sleeping Aleph. Little did she know, he would be awakened by one single touch.

"Ehehe… You're actually a light sleeper."

Hearing her 'casual' (i.e., diversion) remark, he had an urge to use this against her.

"What's the deal with my face? Do I have something?" He asked.

"No…"

"Really? There aren't any markers and the like?"

"Yes, there aren't any! Really… would I do something like that?"

"I mean, there's a high chance of you doing just that."

Elysia's reactions were exactly what Aleph predicted. This was another rare moment of victory against her.

"Let's talk about your body first."

She immediately heaved a sigh as he shifted the topic willingly.

"It's only been two days. You're even faster than Kevin. That might be one of Herrschers' perks."

"Maybe."

Even Elysia did not know the answer as to why her body completed the process in two days.

Nevertheless, it gave Aleph an idea.

'Major Anna… no, most Herrschers on the early stage have weak bodies. If this was supplemented by the MANTIS surgery…'

The more he thought of Elysia's current situation, the more he felt that he could replicate it for Anna.

His interested gaze lingered around her for a while, to which the latter sensed. She didn't mind it much as she was used to receiving it from him.

That, and the fact that Aleph wouldn't do anything outside of pranks.

"Ahem. I just thought of something. Sorry if I stared for long."

Before he could avert his gaze, Elysia spoke:

"Heh? It's alright. This is a treatment a cute girl like me would receive."

"Alright, alright…"

His disinterested voice rang throughout the empty hangar.

*****

Aleph did not stay in Elysia's station for long.

He went to his last destination. Part of it was related to the Evolution Cube, but part of it was to officially recruit three members to their "pseudo-Flamechasers" group.

"M—Sir Aleph."

The nun greeted Aleph in her usual nun outfit.

'Does she have ten pairs of her uniform..?'

Aleph shook this useless thought off.

"How are things going?"

"With your supplies and personnel, everything is going smoothly." She responded. "Sir Aleph. A huge disturbance occurred."

"When?"

"Eight days ago."

It matched with his brief face-off with the Cocoon prior to his visit to Sakura.

Despite using his 'neutralizing domain' as well as his Meta-Morph state, one look was all it took to get riddled with injuries.

Had he not fully adapted to Albion's body, it would have been a near-death encounter.

'Speaking of it…'

Aleph's sight briefly went towards a 'panel'.

[Innate Cursed Technique: Adaptation]

[Permanent Load: 1 / 5 (See More)]

[First Load: Adaptation to Honkai Energy]

Aside from Star Rage that messed with imaginary mass, Adaptation was responsible for taking in an attack and creating the perfect 'countermeasure' against it. 

Simply put, it was a Cursed Technique that requires him to tank an attack directly. After enough attacks were tanked, it would then 'nullify' the said phenomena from negatively affecting Aleph.

The reason why he thought of it was the 'ticking' sound he heard after the attack.

Shockingly, it could even 'adapt' to the Cocoon's attacks. Only, it depended on him on whether he would live after tanking that level of attack. It was alright if he did, but if he didn't... well, he's dead.

"I know why it happened. I got attacked."

"..."

Aponia did not say anything upon hearing his words.

"It's not a huge problem for now." He explained. "I came here to take you with me to the fifth institute. Your ability will be strengthened by that operation. But, it might last for five days at least…"

Aleph began telling her his concerns. It was mainly the 'personnel' Aponia would need to designate and renewing the 'Discipline' on her patients.

As of now, they hadn't moved away from Sundown Alley due to time constraints. However, there were private security personnel as well as the supplies given by Aleph to the sanatorium.

At the very least, food and safety wouldn't be their concern for some time. 

"I'm concerned with staying in this place. I'm planning to move everyone here during your operations."

"I will follow your arrangements."

As expected, he got Aponia's full support with ease. Aleph talked with her for some time until he went out to find the second person in his mind.

"Uhm?"

An imaginary question mark appeared atop Pardofelis' head when she saw a Fire MOTH personnel walking towards her. She was pulling a cart behind her which housed numerous toys.

He looked unfamiliar to her, but not for long.

She recognized the man who was the contents of all the news headlines all over the world.

"M-Mister Aleph…"

"Hm… You're very mindful, unlike Vill-V."

"M-miss Magician?"

Aleph's joking tone diffused Pardofelis' tension. After all, it was as if an ordinary civilian met a 'god' who could destroy an entire city with ease.

The scenes she saw that night—the collapsing high-rise buildings and extremely strong earthquakes—flashed inside her head.

The tension that was about to die down rose again.

"Vill-V was known to be an eccentric researcher on our side… though it's an understatement. She's someone who makes things explode for fun."

The moment she heard how 'accepted' Vill-V was, she slowly calmed down.

'Creating bombs are worse than petty theft, right..?'