Chapter 32: More of a Mech Scientist than a Nexian

The academy’s shopping district was surprisingly large, with stores for practically everything a student might need, and Declan soon entered one dedicated to electronics.

Only a handful of students were inside, allowing him to browse the shelves without much trouble.

After looking through the available products, he gathered everything he wanted and brought them to the counter, where the female employee began scanning each item.

"One 47-inch Curved Veltrix ArcDisplay..."

She continued reading through the list.

"A 15-inch Nexora V15 Pro Laptop, Numbox Wireless Keyboard, Gunith Pro Click Mouse, Edifier 270 Soundbar, PSB-A Docking Station, and an Adjustable Lihuips Hue Smart Bulb."

She finally stopped and looked at Declan, genuine confusion visible on her face.

"All of that will be thirty-five points."

Declan nodded, but the woman hesitated before speaking again.

"I know this isn’t really my business, but..."

Her gaze shifted toward the mountain of electronics he had selected.

"What exactly are you planning to do with all this?"

Declan scratched his head, briefly unsure how to answer.

"You’re a newcomer, right? I’ve never seen one spend their starting points on this many gadgets, or even any electronics at all."

"Let’s just say I’m more of a..."

Declan paused for a moment as he considered how best to explain himself.

"...Mech Scientist than a Nexian."

Something flickered across the woman’s eyes at his answer, but she didn’t ask anything else.

Instead, she packed his purchases together and handed him the enormous bag, allowing Declan to pay and leave without further questions.

_________

Two minutes later, he entered another store.

After wandering around for a few minutes, he found the remaining things he needed and brought them to the counter.

"A Voltic Motorized Standing Desk, an Ardent Executive Chair, and a foot mat."

"Ten points."

Declan’s face twitched at the price, but he still placed his device against the reader.

BEEP!

[-10 points.]

[Points left: 40]

His heart practically shattered.

Thirty-five points...

Then another ten.

He could practically feel his points bleeding away as the employee packed his purchases into another large bag and handed them over.

Fortunately, the weight meant nothing to Declan.

With everything he needed finally purchased, he left the shopping district, though he soon noticed several students staring at him as he walked, which immediately made him more cautious.

Earlier, he had discovered a narrow alley that provided a convenient shortcut back toward the dorms, and under normal circumstances, it would have saved him a considerable amount of time.

But Declan wasn’t about to take that risk.

Instead, he chose a longer route that kept him closer to the instructor offices.

There was no way he was going to walk into some isolated alley carrying thousands of points’ worth of equipment and allow someone to steal it, especially when recovering the stolen devices wouldn’t be easy since none of them were registered under his name.

His detour added roughly thirty minutes to the journey, but eventually, Declan reached the dormitory and took the elevator upward.

When the doors opened, however, he found someone standing outside a nearby room.

She was the student living directly beside him.

A pink-haired girl, probably nineteen or twenty, had just removed her card from her door’s scanner and turned toward the elevator, only for her eyes to widen when she saw Declan standing there, practically buried beneath several enormous bags.

At that moment, a giant pink bubble of chewing gum covered half her face.

POP!

The bubble burst, and she stared at him in surprise while Declan simply continued walking toward his room.

He reached his door before she finally reacted.

"Waaaaaaaaah! You’re my new neighbor!"

The girl quickly swept her tongue across her lips, pulling the remaining gum back into her mouth, while Declan gave her a brief look and raised one hand.

"Hey."

She immediately smiled brightly.

"My name is Evie. Evie Elvaretta."

She extended her hand toward him.

"Declan Ezra."

He accepted it, and for a brief moment, each of them had the thought.

’How cold.’

’How warm.’

Their hands separated, but before Evie could say anything else, Declan’s attention suddenly shifted as his eyes locked onto something farther away.

"Wait..."

He stared toward the railing.

"What’s that?"

Evie turned in the same direction.

"Huh? What’s—"

BEEP!

When she looked back, she found that Declan had already disappeared, leaving only the sound of his dormitory door closing behind him.

She stood there in confusion, blinking several times before finally realizing what had just happened.

"...Did I just get tricked?"

_______________

"Huuuuu..."

Declan released a long breath as he entered his room.

Finally, everything was here.

He dropped the bags beside the sofa and immediately got to work, putting the clothes into the wardrobe first before replacing the old bedsheets with the new ones.

Once his bedroom was sorted out, he returned to the living room, where the part he had actually been looking forward to could finally begin.

His setup.

The standing desk was assembled first, and although it surprisingly came with its own LED lighting, Declan still installed the smart bulbs he had purchased before setting up the executive chair, monitor, keyboard, mouse, soundbar, and laptop.

Everything gradually found its place.

The Nexora laptop even came with a dedicated stand equipped with its own cooling system, and after positioning it correctly, Declan connected the various devices through the PSB docking station before plugging everything into the wall.

He stepped back to admire his work, only to suddenly freeze.

"The foot mat."

He had forgotten it.

Declan smacked his forehead and reluctantly moved half of the setup aside so he could slide the mat underneath the desk before putting everything back where it belonged.

Finally, he was finished.

He stood there for a moment, admiring the result, and couldn’t help smiling as he looked around the room.

The space that had previously looked painfully bland now had an entirely different atmosphere, with the new furniture and electronics making it feel less like an academy dormitory and more like a place he could actually call his own.

[What are you doing?]

The system’s question appeared almost immediately.

[Everyone else is spending their points on Bionic fluids and other things to increase their strength.]

[And you’re buying expensive technology to decorate your room?]

It was a fair question, as the system wasn’t the only one confused.

Even the woman at the electronics store had wondered about his choices, and considering how every other newcomer was trying to stretch their initial points as far as possible, he could understand why.

They needed strength.

They needed resources.

They needed to survive.

Declan, meanwhile, had just spent nearly half his starting points making his room comfortable.

"I believe I already explained this."

He took one final look around the room, his expression settling into a faint smile.

"I’m more of a Mech Scientist than a Nexian."

With those words, Declan turned toward the bathroom and disappeared inside, leaving the newly furnished room behind him.

The warm shower did far more for Declan than he had expected, because as the water poured over his body and carried away the sweat and grime that had accumulated throughout the day, it felt as though some of the weight pressing against his heart was being washed away along with it.

Everything had happened so quickly... Far too quickly.

He had already accepted his death and the strange second chance that followed it, but ever since then, one event had crashed into another without giving him much time to properly breathe or process what was happening.

He had met Boss Morg. He had met a hostile Nexian and somehow survived.

He had encountered Dumblewick, been dragged into an aerial battle, met The Boss, received an X-Guardian Mark, and now, somehow, found himself enrolled in a Nexian academy.

Every step had technically been his own choice, yet when he thought about it carefully, could he really say that he had been in complete control?

Some things had simply happened too quickly for him to properly process them, and it was only now, standing beneath the warm stream of water with nothing but silence surrounding him, that Declan finally felt like he had enough room to think.

"I’m not a Nexian," he murmured, his voice barely audible beneath the shower.

"Nor am I really an X-Guardian."

A stream of water slipped over his lips before falling away as he stared at the wall in thought.

"I could call myself a Mech Scientist, but..." He paused before continuing with a quieter voice. "That part of my life already ended."

He leaned his back against the wall, allowing the water to pound against his shoulders while his thoughts continued to wander.

"So what exactly am I?"

For several seconds, there was no answer, until his eyes slowly closed and a faint smile touched his lips.

"I know."

His smile deepened slightly.

"I’m a wretched soul that crawled back out of death because I refused to remain ordinary."

He had died once.

He had accepted that death.

But he had refused to accept what his life had amounted to.

And there was another reason he continued to live.

"I couldn’t accept the death I was given."

His voice became quieter as the memories surfaced.

"And I couldn’t break the promise I made to him."

Those two things were the foundation of his second life, and everything else came after them.

"Those are the reasons I’m still breathing."

His expression hardened as he slowly opened his eyes.

"And from now on, everything I do has to serve one of those two purposes."

The academy immediately came to mind.

"Being in a Nexian Academy means I have access to resources that can make me stronger."

His fingers slowly curled into fists.

"If I become strong enough... then one day, I’ll be able to return the death that was given to me, and fulfill my ultimate dream."