Transcendent Gene
Chapter 73: The Foundation of Strength [3]

Chapter 73: The Foundation of Strength [3]

The scene of Gio gaining the world’s acknowledgement wasn’t a fantastical one. It wasn’t completely silent, but it also wasn’t grand enough to be called a scene.

As he meditated on his bed, his body floated a couple of inches into the air. A light blue sparkle of light swirled around his body before entering his pores, dispersing stardust through his veins.

And then, as soon as it began, it was over. He dropped back to the bed feeling refreshed. His eyes opened, and as if on command, Raymond knocked on the door.

When he said his piece and left, Gio was left with two things to think about.

Firstly, Raymond’s words.

’I’m moving on, huh...’

He didn’t think it would be a monumental change, but anything was welcomed.

After all...

’I spent two months in that damn operation center only to realize that there was never a mystery for me to solve. Raymond never set out a puzzle in the first place.’

It seemed uncharacteristic, but it wasn’t. From the beginning, Raymond told Gio that he’d need to figure out the details of their mission on his own.

He wouldn’t allow him to understand it all easily by reading the information in the operation center.

Instead, with the roles he took in the past 2 months, he could only glean a few things.

The first was that they were moving from Rest City to Rest City. That much was obvious.

The second was that they were attacking human organizations. Gio didn’t know who or for what purpose, but he noticed that every time they left an operation, several auxiliary members of the squadron would stay behind.

None of those people had returned yet.

’It’s like they’re waging a war.’

It could have very well been something along those lines. There wasn’t another reason for military mercenaries to attack humans.

’But the things I need to figure out are who and why.’

It seemed that with these two months over and him having gone through all the positions Raymond wanted him to experience, he was going to start something new.

’As for whether that will be worth doing or not...’

Well, other than the first week, these two months had been quite dreary. It felt more like he was working an internship than enjoying one.

Gio already spent an entire lifetime working on the backline. He didn’t have anything against it even now, but he wanted to experience new things first. He really only wanted to take that role again if it was necessary.

’Aside from the neutral news, there is something good as well.’

He looked down at his own body with a smile. He clenched his fists as if it would let him feel the power coursing through his veins, but it wasn’t so noticeable.

The "stardust" in his system had no effect. At most, it made his blood look a little more interesting than the average person’s. It was merely a mark of acknowledgement and nothing more.

’But now that the connection’s been made, I can create it.’

The next part of the process was entirely on him, meaning he didn’t have to wait at all.

’To do it here...’

He glanced at the door to his personal quarters.

’It probably isn’t a good idea.’

This time, Gio couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t cause a scene.

Despite having the ability to continue, he patiently waited, knowing that they would be stopping for a week soon enough.

The zephyr’s crew needed to rotate. Some of the exterior pilots and members like Price would enter the ship and become a part of its crew while others would take their vehicles on new jobs.

This kind of meeting happened every couple of months, so Gio had known of it for a while now.

But it only became something to anticipate when he became one with that stardust.

It wasn’t much different from the scene that Gio saw when he first met up with them. The various aircrafts in the fleet landed together, and the people inside of them left to rest.

Gio arrived on the last day of their stop previously, so everyone remained gathered around the fleet.

However, this time, everyone went their own ways.

Most people went to the nearest Rest City. They stopped near one intentionally so that people could handle any business they needed to handle.

Gio also made his way there. He grabbed his own bike, made the journey, and spent several hours driving through the city until he found a good place.

He entered a rundown skyscraper on the south side of the city.

There was a woman standing at the reception desk as if she worked there, but he was sure she almost never had customers. She looked frail, her skin clinging to her bones and her eyes hollower than the widest tunnels.

Yet, since she was standing so confidently, Gio didn’t judge her too negatively.

"Give me a room."

Gio threw a bronze card on the desk. The lady looked at it and then back at him with a sneer on her face.

"If you want one, just take it."

"Yeah, I’m planning to. This is for you, so give me the room."

Gio’s words prompted her to look at the card. She took it into her hands and tapped it against a device on her hip.

Soon enough, that device told her specifically that there were 500 credits stored on the card.

The woman took another look at Gio before sighing.

"Fine. 9264. Nobody will bother you."

Gio gave a small nod and left for the elevator.

He could have very well taken a room for free, but his presence was already known to several people the moment he walked into the building. If he didn’t pay that woman off to give him a guarantee, he was bound to run into some trouble.

’But if she can just stand there openly without being targeted, she must be someone. I should be fine.’

Either she had enough status to protect herself as a woman in this kind of lawless environment, or she had enough ability. Regardless of the reason, it benefitted Gio.

He used the elevator to get to the ninth floor and entered the suite labeled "9264."

The space was originally an office building, but it could be used for whatever purpose nowadays.

The ninth floor looked mostly lifeless, and any signs of human activity were at least several days old.

Gio settled down on the floor in suite 9264, avoiding the various needles and strange items on the ground.

Closing his eyes, he focused internally.

It was almost as if he could see the internal structure of his body.

’With the stardust in my veins, the process of fusing Aether with my body can be properly facilitated.’

It would be a lie to say he didn’t secretly enjoy the process.

After all, in this world, this was the closest he would ever get to being an ancient martial artist, a being of true fantasy.

Since he would only be able to do this a few times in his life, he didn’t plan to take the experience for granted.

Now, he could start properly cultivating.