Chapter 517:Research?

Chapter 517: 517:Research?

Over the following days, Silver and Ravenna gradually settled into their new routines.

He spent his mornings learning navigation, emergency logistics, improvised defenses, and tactical survival under unpredictable conditions. His afternoons were divided between regular combat training and independent practice, during which he continued refining his spatial abilities.

She spent most of her mornings in laboratories, studying beast anatomy, core structures, and mutation classifications. Her afternoons included practical research exercises, combat training, and controlled Phoenix Heart Seed integration sessions.

Their schedules overlapped less frequently than before but they still found ways to see each pther even if it was only fir a few minutes. Sometimes they met for lunch, sometimes they only saw each other during evening training, and on particularly busy days, they communicated through messages until one of them finished.

Silver discovered that he enjoyed the independence more than he’d expected. He was developing interests that didn’t revolve entirely around becoming stronger.

He wanted to understand how people survived outside the sanctuaries. How settlements organized their defenses. Why certain communities succeeded while others collapsed. And how a Contractor could remain effective when equipment, communications, and carefully prepared plans failed.

His progress accelerated.

Not merely in rank development, but in the way he approached problems. His spatial abilities became increasingly efficient, and his Advanced Swordsmanship began improving through constant practice against more experienced opponents. His physical strengthening skills also benefited from the demanding survival exercises, particularly when he was required to operate for extended periods without relying on his most powerful abilities.

One evening, after completing a difficult training session, he opened his system.

[Status Overview.]

[Name: Silver Ruddington.]

[Rank: Three.]

[Soul Capacity: Unrestricted.]

[Spatial Sense Lv3.]

[Short-Step Lv3.]

[Space Slash Lv3.]

[Spatial Distortion & Barriers Lv2.]

[Spatial Displacement Lv1.]

[Phantom Draw Lv4.]

[Advanced Swordsmanship Lv3.]

[Primal Strength Lv3.]

[Iron Bones Lv3.]

[Field Analysis Lv2.]

[Mind Fortress Lv2.]

[Linked Awareness Lv2.]

[Insight Lv2.]

[Shared Beast Absorption Lv1.]

[Recent Development: Significant Improvement in Combat Integration and Spatial Energy Efficiency.]

[Rank Three Energy Saturation: 43%.]

Silver stared at the final line in satisfaction. His progress had been unusually rapid.

Part of that was undoubtedly due to the improvements brought about by the Void Tempering Fruit, which had strengthened his spatial energy pathways and improved his ability to circulate soul energy efficiently. But his system also played an important role, allowing him to develop through rewards, skill proficiency, and resources that ordinary Contractors couldn’t easily obtain.

He smiled faintly.

"Not bad."

Then he closed the interface.

He wasn’t satisfied, not yet.

Ravenna’s progress was equally noticeable. Her Phoenix Heart Seed integration had reached seventy-eight percent, from Silvers observations, and her Rank Two energy saturation had increased to ninety-five percent.

She was now approaching the very peak of Rank Two.

Her flames had become denser, more controlled, and considerably more efficient, while her Mountain Titan Physique continued strengthening her physical foundation.

During one afternoon training session, she managed to maintain Flame Edge for nearly twice as long as she could before Hollow Creek without suffering significant exhaustion.

Ravenna smiled as she examined her core.

"Just a little bit more."

She was very close.

And although she knew that reaching one hundred percent saturation wouldn’t automatically guarantee a successful breakthrough, the prospect of advancing to Rank Three filled her with excitement.

She wanted to become stronger, not because she needed to catch up with Silver but because she had begun realizing how much she wanted to accomplish for herself.

There were things she wanted to discover, questions she wanted answered, and mysteries that had followed her since childhood, especially her mother.

Ravenna lowered her sword and smiled faintly.

"One thing at a time."

The first real problem began during Ravenna’s second week of research training.

She had been assigned to assist Professor Ross with the classification of several preserved specimens recovered from the outer Green Zone. Most were ordinary examples of low-tier mutations, but one particular specimen immediately caught her attention.

It was a fragment of dark biological armor. The material resembled hardened bone, but its internal structure was unusually complex, containing several overlapping layers that appeared to have developed independently before fusing together.

She stared at it before the memory of the enormous Tier Five beast with its malformed limbs, black armor and the surgical-looking scars along its body.

Her expression changed.

"Professor?" She called.

Ross looked up from her tablet.

"Yes, Arkland?"

"Where was this specimen recovered?" She curiously asked.

The professor glanced toward the identification label.

"Outer Green Zone. Why?"

She frowned and continued her questioning.

"Which location?"

Ross looked toward her.

"That’s not particularly relevant to your assignment."

She hesitated.

"I think I’ve seen something similar," she quietly replied.

The professor’s expression became serious.

"Where?"

Ravenna looked toward the specimen.

"During the Hollow Creek incident."

Ross remained quiet and watched her as continued, "We encountered a creature with abnormal armor and additional limbs. Its body looked as though several different biological structures had been combined."

The professor slowly lowered her tablet.

"Miss Arkland."

Ravenna looked up.

"Yes?"

"You’re here to classify specimens according to established procedures."

"I understand."

"Then do that."

She frowned.

"But Professor, if this material came from a similar creature, shouldn’t we investigate whether..."

"Arkland." The professor’s voice hardened. "Not every unusual specimen is evidence of some grand conspiracy."

She froze.

"I didn’t say it was."

Ross just stared at her, then sighed.

"You’re a talented student. Your observations are good, and your understanding of energy compatibility is developing quickly. But research requires discipline. If you begin treating every anomaly as proof of something extraordinary, you’ll waste your time chasing assumptions."

She lowered her gaze.

"Understood."

Ross nodded.

"Good. Continue your work."

The professor returned to her tablet.

Ravenna looked toward the specimen.

For several seconds, she remained motionless, then she quietly recorded its identification number.

She wasn’t going to argue, not yet. But she wasn’t going to forget it either.

That evening, she returned to the academy library and began searching the public research archives.

She started with ordinary mutation classifications, then moved toward abnormal core integration, and then experimental compatibility studies.

Most of the documents were theoretical.

Several described failed attempts to stabilize incompatible beast characteristics, while others discussed the possibility of using external energy sources to influence biological development.

Ravenna read carefully.

Hours passed of her going through documents before she finally found something.

A reference; buried inside an old research summary concerning experimental biological stabilization.

[Related Archive Designation: Project 006.]

Ravenna’s expression changed.

She immediately clicked the reference.

[Access Denied.]

[Restricted Military Research.]

She frowned, then tried searching the archive designation directly.

Several results appeared; most were inaccessible but one contained a secondary reference.

[Supplementary Experimental Record: 096.]

Her eyes narrowed.

"Zero-nine-six?"

She clicked.

[Access Denied.]

[Authorization Level Insufficient.]

"Aaargh!"

She leaned back.

For a moment, she simply stared at the screen, then she opened the document’s metadata. The original publication date had been removed since the author information was restricted.

But one field remained visible.

[Research Division: Biological Integration and Adaptive Evolution.]

Her expression hardened.

Biological integration and adaptive evolution were the same concepts she’d encountered at the Transit Research Station.

She slowly opened her notebook and wrote down the designation.

096.

She didn’t know what it meant.

A specimen number?

An experimental classification?

A separate project?

But she knew one thing, it wasn’t ordinary research. And she intended to find out why.