Chapter 32: 32：Heart Crystal

7th Ring, Sector 4, 7th Ring Unit Weapon Facility; Hancent stood next to three of his colleagues, all Head Researchers. A full-body suit of armour, made from monster leather was placed atop a steel slab. Dr. Steven stood 3 feet from it, doing a final round of inspection.

"Hancent; status of the projectile launcher?" Dr. Steven called out, his voice distracted.

"Green, go ahead," Hancent replied.

"Farimah; status of the sensors?" Dr. Steven strapped the suit of armour, attaching it to the steel slab below it

"Green, go ahead," A middle-aged lady in a white lab coat replied, her expression looking exhausted.

"Rorikela; status of the shielding device?" Dr. Steven adjusted a gun-like mechanism with wires strapped along it above the armour, a distance of a metre separating the two. The tip looked like the mouth of a gun's barrel, 3 centimetres in diameter. The entire mechanism scaled 12 feet in length, weighing a ton, suspended in the air.

"Green, go ahead," A lady in her twenties replied, flashing a thumbs-up.

"Gwanrukh, initiate the test. Penetration shielding, trial 7, fire." Dr. Steven took a couple of steps back, pressing a button attached above a cylinder, held in his hand. A glass chamber enclosed the steel slab, shielding it from the 5 researchers.

"Trial 7, initiating." Gwanrukh, a man who seemed slightly older than Hancent nodded, his expression on the verge of collapse, actuating a series of buttons and switches. The light in the room dulled, the mechanism hovering above the steel slab whirred in response, bright arcs of lightning flashed across its surface.

Smoke gushed out of it, entering a tube and escaping out of the enclosed room. Followed by a faint spark, a thin, long needle shot out of the apparatus, striking the armour atop the steel slab in an instant.

The sound akin to a sponge pierced by a needle resounded, its decibel low enough to not be audible enough for the standard human ears. The machine stopped letting out sounds, dimming down as the lights in the room lit up. The glass shielding ejected, allowing the researchers to take a closer look at the suit of armour.

There was a tiny pin-sized hole on the chest region of the armour, revealing a tiny needle beneath it. Dr. Steven waved his hands, lifting the suit of leather armour for further inspection. Next to the hole on the chest region, faint cracks developed all across the surface of the armour, weaving themselves together at a snail's pace.

The needle had pierced all the way to the other end, peeking out of the armour. Dr. Steven also noticed a 2 millimetre deep hole in the steel slab. The moment he touched it, the steel slab crumbled away like dust, raising a small cloud of dust in the room. With a wave of his hand, Dr. Steven suppressed the propagation of the dust cloud, pressing them on the floor.

The machines around them beeped with sounds, flashing numerous data that appeared like a tide across the large screens. Farimah jotted down the data in a book, her expression one of focus. Without moving her body, numerous buttons and switches before were engaged and disengaged, the keyboard typing on its own.

Finished with the data, Farimah handed the notebook to Dr. Steven, heaving a sigh filled with exhaustion. Taking the notebook in his hand, Dr. Steven went through the details, his eyes widening a little at the end, a relieved expression on him. He looked at Farimah, signalling her to prepare the sensors once again.

"Three, Four tests at most, we will be able to achieve the results those rock-brained fools from the military require. Hancent, fetch 4 extra sets of the Spindle Bee needles from the procurement department. While you're at it, give them a headache. I'll leave the decision at your discretion, find fault at whatever you please." Dr. Steven said, making some correction in the apparatus and preparing to manufacture another suit of armour, after incorporating the gains from the previous test.

He hurriedly scribbled some notes, giving it to Gwanrukh who inputted them into a computer, creating numerous design modifications to the armour in order to incorporate the changes. He was done with them within a minute; the image of an entirely different suit of armour flashed on the screen, bearing no resemblance to its predecessor.

"I have already thought up a good excuse to find fault with them. With their muscle brains, they are bound to mess up somewhere." Hancent chuckled, walking out of the testing room. The character of Dr. Steven was contagious, the more he worked with him, the more his character rubbed on him. Moreover, their brains usually operated at tremendous speeds, performing thousands of calculations and analyses every second, like a super-computer. So, it was imperative for them to find fault with other departments, a fun activity to give their brains some rest and reprieve.

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'Don't worry, dear, the armour we produce will increase your survival chances at the Raid. No matter what, I'll make sure that each armour is produced with the optimal quality, ensuring that there are zero substandard products.'

Hancent walked along a narrow corridor, walking past some manufacturing rooms, all working on producing suits of armours—a template present in their hands for reference. He also noticed some researchers shouting with frustrations, having to memorise the contents of the upgraded armour they just received.

'I wonder what their reactions will be if they know that this template is naught but another test product. We are still far away from achieving our objective. Or maybe they have been used to it by now.' Hancent shook his head, dispersing his thoughts, exiting the building. He flew towards another building, situated a hundred metres away, directly entering its 37th floor. As he entered a room, a small smirk crept upon his face.

…

8:30 AM, Heima barely managed to enter the auditorium, noticing the double door close behind her. She wiped her sweat, hurriedly occupying an empty seat. She talked with her mother late into the night, not noticing the passage of time. As a result, she couldn't get enough sleep, despite her mother waking her up from 7:00 AM. No matter what, she just couldn't open her eyes. It was 8:20 AM by the time she managed to wake up, thanks to the mild thrashing from Henrietta.

Skipping on her breakfast, not even having the time to brush her teeth, Heima could only rinse her mouth, hurrying towards the auditorium after wearing her uniform. Seeing her friend Gita seated a couple of rows before her, Heima pursed her lips, having no intention to greet her.

Greeting her meant the need to talk, the need to talk required her to open her mouth which she didn't want to at present, having not brushed her teeth. Heima heaved a sigh of relief as she spotted only unfamiliar faces around her. She then focused her attention on the dais, at madam Rizenne who placed a hand on the podium, flipping through the pages on a book.

"Has anyone heard the term 'Heart Crystal'? 5 points if you know its appearance, 10 points if you can account its details." The middle-aged lady, Madam Rizenne abruptly began her lesson, making a screen flash to life behind her, the words 'Heart Crystal' appeared on it, in clear bold letters.

'I know it. I have read it a day before when I was referencing about the Tier 1 Skills.' Heima thought, intending to raise her hand. After a moment though, she retracted her hands, a slight blush on her face. She didn't have the courage to open her mouth, a sense of inferiority complex clouding her thoughts.

Seeing no students raise their hands, Madam Rizenne spoke, "Heart Crystals are crystallised essence of the energy present in the food we consume daily. Generally, such energy is stored in our blood vessels, circulated throughout our body. This energy is passively used by the body, but, the presence of the Wisdom Parasite in our body changes the status quo. It allows the trace amount of energy carried by each blood vessel to be stored inside the heart, the organ that pumps the blood. As time passes, a small crystal forms beneath the Aortic Valve, termed Heart Crystal."

Upon pressing the remote in her hands, an image appeared on the screen, showcasing an irregularly shaped crystal that shone with a reddish-black lustre. The image of a scale was placed beside it, as a reference to its actual size.

Madam Rizenne continued, "The energy stored in the heart crystal can be used to swiftly invoke a Skill. The energy expenditure isn't apparent with Tier 1 Skills since they are mainly sensory-based. But, from Tier 2, without the energy in the Heart Crystal to draw upon, just activating a Tier 2 Skill will make your body shrivel up, losing all its fat and moisture."

On seeing a tinge of fear creep upon the faces of the students, Madam Rizenne said with a smile, "Don't worry, your Heart Crystal will soon begin to form. It will be apparent the moment you experience slight pain in your chest region. Your body will also swiftly adapt to the change, so you don't have to be afraid of the pain."

The image on the screen flashed, forming five different crystals. "The colour of the Heart Crystal changes according to your Tier, as the higher your Tier, the greater the energy stored in your Heart Crystal. Due to the energy getting compressed multiple times, it experiences a qualitative change upon each Tier. You can distinguish them based on their colours should you happen upon one: Tier 1 is reddish black, Tier 2 is Dark red, Tier 3 is light red, Tier 4 is orange, and Tier 5 is yellow."

Ravis Macht raised his hands, speaking after getting permission from Madam Rizenne, "Ma'am, is the Heart Crystal the same for both the Warriors and Espers? And, what about the Frenzy beasts; do they have something similar?"

"I was expecting you to raise this question," Madam Rizenne said with a smile. "Unlike Warriors, Espers accumulate the energy inside their Brain; hence we termed it, Brain Crystal. Their formation and uses are somewhat complicated, so we will focus on them during a later class. As for the beasts, they too possess a similar counterpart, but we designated them the same nomenclature used for us. There are slight differences between the two which is a topic for future lessons."

10:30 AM, the class concluded as Heima hurried towards her dorm, picking up her toothbrush, and heading towards the restroom to brush her teeth. It felt pretty embarrassing for her to sit in the auditorium, so much that she could hardly concentrate the lecture.

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