For a minute, the room was silent as Skull and Bruce stared at me like I was a gold bar picked up from a trash can.
"Doesn't that mean he can undergo the Biogenic process without any risk of degeneration?" Sergeant Skull blurted out, his voice filled with undeniable excitement.
Bruce Ainsworth rubbed his chin thoughtfully before nodding.
"Yes… It may sound crazy, but this kid might be the only human capable of undergoing the Biogenic process with close to zero risk of becoming a deviant." He admitted after a moment.
"Yes!" Sergeant Skull screamed and jumped like a man who had just won a hundred-million-dollar lottery, while Doctor Bruce paced around, lost in thought.
'What is this Biogenic process they speak of?'
Since no one was talking to me, I decided to ask the voice.
[Biogenic process is basically forcing one's genes to undergo a second mutation.]
Huh?!
I was stunned but also confused.
'Why would anyone want to mutate themselves a second time?' I asked.
[At first, abilities get stronger with constant use. As your proficiency rises, the ability grows stronger as well,] the voice explained.
[However, when an ability's potential is spent, it stops growing. To get past this bottleneck, the only option is going through a second evolution by exposing one's genes to an absurd quantity of Aetherium. Once evolved, not only does the guardian become stronger, his ability evolves as well. However, this comes with a high chance of turning the person into a deviant.]
'Interesting…' I was taken aback by this revelation.
From the way I was treated on the way here, it was already clear how much potential guardians are valued—let alone actual guardians. This made me wonder why people would risk everything just for greater status when they already had so much.
Why can't they just be content with what they have?
[Greed… Ambition... Men are driven by these two things, and most times they are willing to die for it.]
'Hmph.' I snorted disdainfully.
I wasn't going to be a hypocrite and call them stupid, because I understood the insatiable nature of humans. When comfort becomes the norm, it becomes dissatisfying. When luxury is attained, the excitement lasts for only a short while before fading.
At that point, comfort and luxury would seem the same in the eyes of man—forcing them to seek something greater.
Man can never be satisfied.
"S rating…" Doctor Bruce's voice snapped me out of my reverie.
"What?" I raised my head only to see Sergeant Skull freaking out like a child.
"As a potential S-rated guardian with no family, you will be granted the title of Honorary Baron and a last name." Doctor Bruce said with a smile.
"Blackwater. Lucius Blackwater." I said without hesitation, leaving the two adults stunned.
"Blackwater. A nice name… I can see you already prepared for this before coming here." Doctor Bruce said while recording my information on his tablet.
"That was my family's last name before they were stripped of it and forced into slavery because they lacked the potential to be useful to humanity." I said those words with a straight face, and the room fell silent.
Doctor Bruce stood rooted to the spot, unsure how to respond, while Sergeant Skull scratched his head and glanced around with a hint of embarrassment.
Both felt uncomfortable with the system they stood for and protected.
"I believe Doctor Bruce has a lot to do now, so we cannot waste any more of his time…" Sergeant Skull said hurriedly, but Bruce waved him off.
He approached me and crouched, lowering his face to my level with a smile.
"Do you hate us for that?" he asked, searching my eyes for answers.
"Am I supposed to like the government for throwing me in the mines?" I responded with a question of my own.
Silence followed as he kept looking into my eyes, but he couldn't find the hatred he sought. All he saw was indifference.
After Lia's death, I had nothing else to give.
No hatred.
No anger.
I simply understood what I needed to do—and I would carry it out with an empty heart. If this man thinks he can perceive my intentions through my reactions, then he'll find nothing.
"You are right." Bruce smiled and rose to his feet.
"I'll have his ID prepared and also his new home in the nobility district. But for now, take him to the academy. He can stay in the dormitory until everything is ready," Bruce said to Sergeant Skull.
"A home in the nobility district?!" Sergeant Skull blurted out, and Bruce nodded.
"With an S-rated potential, he is bound to become an S-ranked Guardian, one of the most powerful beings on the planet. This country rewards talent and discards the useless. That's the only way to survive these dangerous times." Bruce glanced over his shoulder at me.
I believe the last part of his words was meant for me, but I didn't care.
After Sergeant Skull made some small talk with Doctor Bruce, we left the room and hurriedly headed for the elevator. As soon as we reached the ground floor, he quickly led me to the exit and only stopped speed-walking when we were out of the building.
"Are you crazy?" Sergeant Skull turned to meet my gaze.
"Is that a rhetorical question, or am I meant to answer?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
The man grabbed his hair like he was about to tear it out, but never went through with it.
"Listen to me. That man is an Ainsworth, a member of one of the Big Four families who basically run America. You cannot talk bad about the American system around them or you may end up getting hurt!" Sergeant Skull warned.
Only now did I realize why he was overreacting. It had to do with what I said about my family's last name getting stripped after they were forced into slavery.
"Ooh." I shrugged and walked past the sergeant.
As soon as I entered the vehicle, I shut my eyes tight and exhaled loudly.
I couldn't help but think back on everything that had happened so far. From a slave to an S-rated potential guardian and a noble in less than twenty-four hours.
If this had happened a day sooner, Lia would still be alive and I would be happy to share this new life with her. Unfortunately, I'm alone and empty now.
Bam!
The door on the other side yanked open and Sergeant Skull got in.
"Listen to me, there are people you don't want to mess with, and the Ainsworth family is one of them."
The man was still yapping, and it was beginning to piss me off. But once again, the anger faded as fast as it came—and the emptiness returned.
Instinctively, I rubbed my chest with knitted brows. This inability to feel emotions came with an irritating feeling of something missing.
I felt incomplete, like something had been stolen from me.
"Are you paying attention?!" Sergeant Skull's annoying voice was even worse than the emptiness.
Letting go of my chest, I relaxed my frown and turned my attention to him.
"What's so special about them?" I asked.
"As you just realized, the nobility system has been revived, and at the very top is the President of America," Skull explained. "I don't get why he still uses the word 'President,' but what do I know?"
"Beneath him are the four Duke-level families, which are popularly known as the Big Four. The Ainsworth family is one of them!" Sergeant Skull practically yelled the last part.
"Okay… so?" I asked with a straight face.
Sergeant Skull kicked the front seat out of anger and grabbed his hair again, struggling not to yell. I just watched him in silence while he threw a tantrum. The soldiers in front kept their faces straight and didn't make a sound, even when their seats got kicked.
Be it the president or the four duke families, I will drag every single one of them to the ground and crush them until there is nothing left.