2225 AD— Thirty-five years had passed since humanity shattered the Bisolarans' spatial prison with their own forbidden weapons.
That desperate counterstrike nearly tore the blue planet apart, but it forced the Zeta Reticuli invaders to sign the Mutual Spatial Arms Limitation Treaty, dragging the interstellar war into a grinding stalemate.
The cosmic weapons' collateral damage scarred Earth with unstable spatial convergence nodes—and triggered an unforeseen Ki Energy Resurgence.
To the Bisolarans, this energy was barely perceptible. But for creatures of the Blue Planet? A revelation.
Where humanity had once barely survived through technology alone, now Enhanced Combatants emerged—soldiers capable of finally fighting on equal footing.
Yet in the shadows, a darker truth festered:
The very power that promised salvation became a currency of corruption.
And those in high places?
They were the first to discard their masks of morality.
------
In the quiet of the academic affairs office at Outer District Third High, Sanctuary 79.
A young woman stood with her back to the door.
The sharp lines of her form-fitting skirt and the sheen of her black stockings sketched a silhouette of severe allure.
Banging…
A heavy, rhythmic thumping began, its source unmistakably her desk.
The steady cadence suggested a focus, an intensity, suited to business.
she was hammering the desk, with a document labelled:
{Kidney Collateral Loan Agreement}.
At that moment, Amanda, the homeroom teacher, frowned slightly.
A trace of resentment flickered through her glasses and fell upon the sixteen-year-old boy in front of her.
"Jake Nickelson, have you thought it through? This is the second week in a row your grades have dropped. Are you still denying that you haven't been taking cognitive boosters lately?"
"...."
"Fine! Silence means consent. You know if your grades keep falling, you'll be kicked out of the OC Elite Class. That means someone like you will lose the chance to receive free genetic awakening in Grade 11.
Awakened students get huge bonus points on the college entrance exam — some even skip Grade 12 and gain direct admission! That's something most students would sell a kidney for!"
Amanda paused, gazing at Jake's numb expression with a look of pained disappointment.
"Besides, the school isn't asking you to sell it outright — it's just a loan. But if your grades keep dropping, you might be forced to sell yourself to the Reserve Armed Division. Kidney or body — think carefully!"
Seeing Jake remain silent, Amanda shook her head.
"No one's forcing you. I'm doing this for your own good. If your grades improve, will my bust get bigger or my brain development score go up? Think seriously about the school's suggestion!
You think just anyone can collateralize a kidney? Look at those kids in the Low-Ability Class — begging me for loans. Did I even glance at them? Think hard about why the school is willing to invest in you!"
Jake had more pressing matters on his mind. Most of Amanda's words barely registered. Feeling the teacher's hostile gaze, he shifted his eyes away.
Amanda noticed his gaze seemed to fall on her thighs.
Hmm?! Think you can slip away from me? This performance bonus is already within reach — no way I'm letting it go!
With that thought, she was about to pull a Sharon Stone leg-cross.
Smack!
Jake stumped the ground and walked away. "Teacher, I'm leaving now — otherwise I'll miss High-Energy Physics."
"...."
Amanda froze. For now, she had no countermeasure. Class attendance was paramount for students — especially High-Energy Physics.
After Jake left, the gloom on Amanda's face deepened. She was under immense pressure, being responsible for the only elite class in Grade 10.
Though this was a school, things were different in the Outer City of the Sanctuary Zone. Competition was fierce — even bloody. Students relied on grades, teachers on performance.
And teacher performance wasn't just about student grades. It also included meeting the school's loan quota.
A student needed more than good grades and health. Pressure and potential made them financial livestock for the school — borrowing high-interest loans during school years and repaying them after graduation.
That was the mark of a sustainably developed student — a true talent.
Seizing every opportunity to issue loans to promising students was a basic skill for any competent teacher.
Otherwise, what's the point of being a teacher? Might as well join the Reserve Armed Division as an instructor and no longer being a human....
Thinking of the horrors of the Reserve Armed Division, Amanda shivered. She quietly sent a message to the physics teacher via her terminal.
[David, help me pressure Jake a bit more. We'll split the bonus 70-30.]
------
Jake walked away clutching the Kidney Collateral Loan Agreement, his mind replaying his mother's last words three weeks ago when she'd paid his last tuition:
"Don't worry, I'll be safe and back soon."
Now, two days without her check-in messages...
"Jake, Auntie will be fine! "A voice piped up from his side.
At the sound of the voice, Jake turned to see a girl who had suddenly appeared beside him.
Standing at just over five feet tall, she had flawless body proportions, a delicate, beautiful face framed by perky twin ponytails.
Her whole being thrummed with teenage vibrancy that made the air around her seem brighter.
The girl is petite but dangerously curvaceous for her size, tilted her head back to peer up at Jake's towering 6'1 frame, her mischievous grin unwavering even as he ignored her.
When he didn't respond, she simply bounced alongside him, her twin ponytails swaying with each energetic hop, her generous assets jiggling slightly with the movement.
Every step radiated playful persistence, as if sheer enthusiasm alone could crack his gloomy demeanour.
The more the girl acted this way, the heavier Jake's mood became.
[No recent top‑up… has Stella's virtual avatar been downgraded to minimum pixel resolution?]
Stella was the AI assistant he had generated based on his own imagination. He didn't know why he had designed her this way, yet there was a special sense of familiarity about her.
It was a familiarity that came from deep within his soul — a warmth and closeness that seemed to cross both interface and time.
It felt as if Stella wasn't just an AI assistant, but the kind of closest companion and comrade bound to him by blood.
Jake had always wondered why he felt this way. After a brief moment of distraction, he returned to reality.
He knew that if things went on like this, he would no longer be able to use retinal AR imaging. Fortunately, the neural‑link his mother had paid for was on an annual plan — but when that expired, he would have to switch to AR glasses.
One of the basic requirements of the elite class was that every student must use a neural link to transmit knowledge and study through retinal imaging technology.
And now, Jake could see the road ahead leading to the teaching building through the loose pixel clusters that made up Stella's body.
long and swallowed in shadow.
------
Meanwhile, 4,500 km away, Bering Strait
The last chokehold between humanity's surviving continents lay silent but for wind and cracking ice.
A crescent-serpent-marked anti-gravity assault craft cut through the clouds.
"Our shadow ghost in Guardian-17 dumped the nav data. Target is locked."
Inside the Craft, an elderly man in black robes stood by the viewport, waving off the officer who had delivered the report. He turned to the young man seated nearby, his voice cautious:
"Young Master, is such risk truly warranted? This target is not only the youngest rear admiral in the United Continental Forces—he commands one of only five quantum-class destroyers in existence."
He leaned forward, his robes whispering against the deck.
"Moreover, these prototype micro-singularity warheads are untested. Their targeting precision and yield remain... unpredictable. And should word of our tactical gravity weapons leak... .it would bring consequences too grave for us to bear."
The old man's knuckles whitened on his staff. "Let this old one confront him alone instead."
The young man exhaled, fingers steepled.
"Master Tony, their quantum destroyer's spatial distortion field could deflect even our guided missiles—coordinates or not, even with our shadow ghost on board. Without the singularity warheads, our odds are statistically negligible."
A holographic tactical display with the warhead and nav data flickered between them.
"And crucially, only gravitational weaponry leaves signatures matching the Bisolarans' rumoured experiments. "He met the elder's gaze.
"You're a Solar Master-rank, yes. But can you guarantee a one-shot kill against Solar Initiate-rank Jack Nickelson? "
His voice hardened. "If he survives—the military's golden boy, with half the Admiralty backing him—how long before they use that failure to purge our House of Crescent Serpents!? "
The young master's jaw tightened.
"We've stretched Jack Nickelson's exile to fifteen years from his son Jake using every clan resource, but the Military Joint Council's patience wears thin. If we can't hold him anymore then this leaves us no choice but elimination!"
"The Council barely tolerates our obstruction of their star admiral's homecoming."
The heir hissed. "The blood of Jack Nickelson's boy, that little Jake won't catalyse the ritual until his eighteenth birthday—we also need his mother alive until then."
The elder's robes rustled as he hesitated. "Rumours suggest... that...you have...certain pla.n…designs on the admiral's wife as well?"
A sharp laugh from the young man.
"The house Shadow Division intelligence confirms her unique constitution fuelled Jack Nickelson's rise from nobody to Solar Initiate-rank! Do you know what that means?"
The heir straightened his cuffs with deliberate calm.
"Don't mistake my cultivation needs for vulgar lust, Master Tony. The Dual Ascension Art requires multiple partners—this is to refine my energy, not debauchery!"
The old man remained silent as the young master pressed on, his voice edged with urgency.
"More importantly, you should know how many resources our house has poured into keeping his wife and son hidden in the wastelands 79, keeping them off the military's radar for fifteen damn years!"
The elder's silence spoke volumes. As one of humanity's supreme combatants, he had waited patiently....but now, unease flickered in his eyes.
"Young Master, even the Purple Astral Division's foresight remains unclear. Fifteen years of divination, and we still only see a 50% chance of breaking through the Solaris-rank Barrier using their bloodline."
His grip tightened on his staff. "And if we're exposed assassinating a rising star of the Federation...."
The young master shot to his feet, cutting him off.
"Enough! We've invested too much to back out now! The moment Jack Nickelson reunites with his family; do you think we'll get another chance to study his wife's... unique physiology? To extract his son Jake's Bloodline Source? "
His knuckles whitened. "I just got Intel says the military council is preparing to promote Jack Nickelson to vice high admiral. After that, he'll be untouchable! "
A vicious smile twisted his lips. "But kill Jack now, and his family becomes ours. Fifty percent? For a shot at surpassing Solar Rank—a possibility of reshaping the Federation's entire power structure? That's more than enough. "
With that, he turned on his heel: "This is for humanity's future!"
He tossed over his shoulder before striding toward the command centre.
As the doors hissed shut, the old man exhaled.
He gazed into the distance, as if his eyes could transport him across time to witness the destruction of *Guardian-17*.
[The Young Master... truly has the makings of a Scheming Overlord. Nickelson's family…that little Jake boy…gone!]