Transcendent Gene
Chapter 223: Ruin Exploration [1]

Chapter 223: Ruin Exploration [1]

The moment he woke up, he was face to face with Professor Farris. The man had quite a stern look on his face, but the look in his eyes said something different.

"Gio."

He said his name before looking over at the boy who was in the capsule next to him.

"Shiro."

He addressed both of them together, forcing them to pull themselves out of their equipment and stand in front of him.

He looked between them before sighing.

"The two of you are banned from simulation days from here on out. When we have these classes, just take it as a free period to train on your own."

Outright, without a word of explanation, they were forbidden from participating in the classes they were most looking forward to. Naturally, they were prone to reacting negatively.

However, as Gio said, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

"Calm down, the two of you," Tieran continued.

"You’ll still be able to enter Simulated Riftworlds, but to keep it simple, the two of you are clearly at a different learning level than the rest of the class. Take these."

He handed them a slip of paper containing a new schedule.

"These are the days you’ll be entering Riftworlds. Rather than being with the class, the two of you will enter together and receive a different kind of training."

Two people weren’t enough to clear most Riftworlds. The one they entered this time was chosen because of its simplicity as a realm students could use to first learn how they worked.

Though they were banned from the class, it was only because they were sent somewhere even better. Their new curriculum would be far more specialized, allowing them to get far ahead of their peers.

Looks of jealousy and sneers filled with a mixture of negative emotions shot at them from all parts of the training hall as Tieran spoke. Within them, there were also some filled with genuine admiration or competitive spirit, but they were not the majority.

Even as they left, they continued to receive glances and heard the words being said behind their backs.

Neither of them cared about those words enough for them to even be mentioned.

’It’s good when people show their potential on their own.’

They were young, so they were allowed to let their emotions control them. But, depending on how those same people grew...

Gio shook his head. They were not the ones he needed to focus on. Rather–

"–We work pretty well together, huh?"

Shiro’s voice cut off his thoughts.

"It’s not bad," Gio said, shrugging with a small smile.

He had to admit that Shiro was good. He was a fast learner and his instincts were better than most people he’d met thus far.

’He was able to pick a lot of things up without being instructed. By the end, I’m sure he already had an understanding of how Riftworlds as a whole work.’

"Next time, you should try a little harder to come out on top, though."

The light provocation was accepted with an equally charged grin.

"You don’t have to worry about that. I’m at your toes right now. Give me a month and we’ll be face-to-face."

"A month, huh?"

Gio looked at his holowatch.

’Actually, isn’t "that" going to be discovered in a month?’

Humanity’s path to strength was a long one. The few Starlight Class Sequencers in the world were all extremely old. The power they held reduced the effects of aging significantly, but the amount of time it took for them to reach that level was usually sixty to seventy years at the very least.

Even moving between Origin Levels was a process that took months to years. Gio was confident in expediting that process not only because of his own strengths, but also because of the gifts this world could give.

The Forthcoming didn’t just bring with it terrors that threatened humanity.

Looking back at Shiro, Gio spoke again.

"Say, how about we make a deal?"

"A deal?" Shiro replied in interest.

"Yeah. I’ll give you until the end of October. Conveniently enough, we have a simulation class around then. If you can really stand face to face with me by then..."

His eyes shined with a light that Shiro had seen in himself several times. With that look alone, he knew that Gio had something good hidden in his sleeve.

"...well, I won’t spoil you yet. I’ll just say that there’s a certain adventure I want to go on, and I can guarantee that you’d kill me if I didn’t let you go after telling you."

"An adventure?" Shiro echoed.

"Yeah."

"Here or outside?"

"Outside. We’re going to have to sneak out of Celeste–"

"–I’m coming."

Gio didn’t even have to convince Shiro. The moment he heard that they had to leave the city, he immediately accepted the deal.

"When’s that class...? The 25th? Hmm..."

Shiro mumbled to himself before nodding and patting Gio on the shoulder.

"I’ll leave you alone then. Expect good things!"

"I will."

Gio smiled as he watched Shiro run away. Really, his mentality was one of his best assets. If he could maintain it, he would go very far.

’Well, I don’t know if he’ll be able to catch up when I don’t plan to stop going ahead, but from what I’ve seen, a month should be enough for him to gain enough strength to get by over there.’

They weren’t going on any adventure. Realistically, Gio was planning to challenge something above his level again.

’Going alone isn’t going to work. I need at least a team of three, so I should find time to see Neriah’s progress too. Aside from that...’

A week was enough time for him to adjust to academy life and lab visits. He worked on his body and trained with [Virtual Manifestation] and Hekat’s ability every day, but he was only getting used to the strength he had.

’In other words, I’ve been slacking.’

There was a four-day weekend approaching. It was the longest amount of time so far that the students were granted to spend without academic obligations.

’Something close to Celestelle with guaranteed rewards that I can do in four days...’

The [Memory Book] roared to life. Papers and documents flashed through his mind one by one. They cross-referenced themselves according to the parameters he set, thinning until there were only three sheets remaining.

’It really is more convenient now. Is this how it was strengthened back then?’

He looked between his three options before settling on one.

’An ancient ruin discovery? I wouldn’t have remembered it otherwise, so it had to be a smaller one.’

The societies of past centuries left many relics of their existence. Some of them were preserved, some of them had been built upon to create the new world, and some of them were buried in the dust, waiting to be discovered by future generations.

Anything that fit in the last category was usually related to the eras immediately succeeding the Forthcoming.

’Even if it’s something small, it’s definitely worth checking out.’

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