Transcendent Gene
Chapter 71: The Foundation Of Strength [1]

Chapter 71: The Foundation Of Strength [1]

The battle between Yhia and Heliux was bound to go on until either one of them died or fled. The Blue Steel Squadron absolutely could have stayed to watch the proceedings, but the moment the ground team entered the zephyr, it took off.

The twinjets that were still hovering near the original battlefield were collected, and from a distance, they used technology to monitor the battle instead of remaining within range.

The ground team’s job was done. Gio’s job was done. Now, only the operators were left working as they turned the battle into data that could be understood at a glance.

While that took place in the operation center, Gio left to meet Raymond and the rest.

The operators were busy already, so they didn’t say much about his departure, but that didn’t mean they didn’t acknowledge his presence.

Gio clearly saw their slight nods as he left, and he certainly felt the new air of respect in the air.

’As expected, it pays to do well.’

Gio left with a smile on his face. As he closed the door behind him, the people he was looking for arrived in the main area as well.

"Congratulations on the successful subjugation," he said with a smile, his gaze moving across the team of seven.

Raymond grinned.

"I should be the one saying that to you. I thought you only learned a couple of things here and there?"

"I learn really well."

"Brat."

Raymond’s grin only widened despite his words. He looked around at the rest of the team, who were all looking at Gio with a variety of gazes.

Not all of them were completely sure of him just because of a single performance, but the hostility they had before was gone.

"You did well," Jason said, walking up and patting his shoulder.

Natalia nodded from behind, and the rest also made sounds of agreement.

"It was a riskier plan than I’d like to entertain on a usual basis, but a good one nonetheless. With this, I think I can properly welcome you to the team."

Gio nodded with a smile.

"I’ll accept it gratefully, then."

Ulver stayed behind, as he was never someone to be so openly happy. As for the rest of the team, they crowded around Gio one by one with their words of praise and questioning.

Jax and Amaya energetically questioned him about how he created his strategies, Natalia stood at the side and slapped their necks when they went overboard, and Jason laughed at it all like an uncle who knew when not to get involved in family conflicts.

In the process, Alice also approached to introduce herself properly.

"We’ll be meeting more often from now on. Your name was Gio, correct? Treat Mirei well, and I will treat you the same."

She shook his hand formally, her eyes colder than even Natalia’s. After giving her greeting, she left as if she wanted nothing to do with the team.

Truly, both sides were interesting.

"Don’t worry about her. Mirei got all the peppiness and she got all the common sense. She’s not good at expressing it, but she’s not a bad person."

Gio nodded at Jason’s explanation.

’This team is solid. Their chemistry is good, their abilities work well together, and it looks like they don’t have trouble when actually performing in missions.’

It was a jovial atmosphere, unlike anything Gio had the pleasure of being a part of in his past life. He couldn’t say he didn’t like it.

The team was full of smiles and casual conversation after coming off of such a big win. They even almost forgot that it was a mock subjugation the whole time.

But that was indeed the case. This was never an ordinary mission, but instead a test for Gio.

"Everyone!"

Raymond clapped his hands and got the team’s attention, including Ulver and Alice who were doing their own thing.

"Now that the mock subjugation is over, I don’t think we need to doubt Gio’s usefulness anymore, no?" He asked, somewhat rhetorically.

Still, Jax felt the need to respond.

"Come on, Captain! What’s the point in saying the obvious?"

They were doubting his skills earlier, but it wasn’t just one or two of them who felt embarrassed now that they’d seen what he was capable of. There was no need to bring it up more than necessary.

Raymond shook his head wryly.

"Well, I don’t plan to keep him on the zephyr the whole time he’s with us, but if it turns out he’s not good at other stuff, he’ll always be useful in the operation center."

His eyes connected with Gio’s.

"For now, you’ll remain in the operation center and learn the various individual roles there. Once you’ve shown considerable progress there, I’ll move you into something new."

"Understood."

There wasn’t much to be said. It was more of an atmosphere than a conversation.

Gio could feel it. These people had accepted them as a part of their team, even if it was only temporary.

For now, that was more than enough for him.

***

And then, two months passed.

It started with more mock subjugations. In order to ensure that Gio could perform at the same level in an even more dynamic atmosphere, they spent a week traveling through the Wilds and taking down different beasts.

When they confirmed that Gio was indeed as skilled as he appeared to be, they started their real missions.

That was when the targets changed from beasts and monsters to humans.

Their battlefields weren’t random jungles and deserts anymore. They were fighting in Rest Cities deep in the Wilds where people only lived if they had no other choice.

Gio wasn’t able to get a clear picture of exactly what they were doing. He was assigned to various tasks within the operation center, but all of them confined him to a single vein of information, making it difficult for him to understand the full scale of the operations.

’In this way, the operators never know too much. If they ever get captured, they won’t be able to spill much information about the team’s activities.’

It was fine enough, but why did they have him checking climates and making city maps?

’This is another test, huh...’

It was a realization Gio had within the first few weeks.

If he wanted to get promoted to any meaningful role, he needed to solve some mystery or puzzle that Raymond left for him. That was a task he put his mind to, but in these two months, he chose to put his main focus on something else.

He never planned to try his hand at it so soon, but the situation had changed.

If he wanted to have any chance of entering ground team operations, he needed at least a little bit of power.

’Most of them are unreachable right now, but there has to be at least one...’

It was a task he could only work on while he was in the confines of his own quarters, a task that went beyond the knowledge of both the current humanity and its future counterparts.

Gio was going to reconnect to the source of his power in the Tower of Babel.

He was trying to touch the very thing that made him so much stronger than any Calamity humanity ever saw.

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