Qasim rushed back to the Black Seed base without wasting a second.
The image of Serbi’s death refused to leave his mind.
Even after all this time...
He could still see the blood.
The shattered skull.
The eye staring back at him.
As soon as he entered the base—
"Well, well~ If it isn’t our little prodigy."
Valen waved at him with a bright smile.
"I’ve got some great ne—"
"I have evidence!"
Valen blinked.
Qasim hurried toward him.
"The Beastkin who was talking to me... his name was Serbi. The moment he was about to tell me something important, his head exploded out of nowhere!"
"He died right in front of me!"
"This is serious!"
"We need to open a full investigation!"
Valen quietly placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.
"Slow down."
"Take a breath."
Qasim stopped talking.
"Good."
"Now tell me everything again."
This time...
Qasim explained everything from the beginning.
Valen listened without interrupting once.
When the story ended...
He let out a quiet sigh.
"I’ll write the report myself."
"And hopefully they’ll send someone to investigate."
Qasim frowned.
"...That’s it?"
Valen already knew what he wanted to say.
"I know."
"I’m not going to lie to you... We already have too much on our hands."
He walked toward the window.
"Do you remember the village we saved?"
Qasim nodded.
"It has been confirmed."
"The people behind that incident belong to the most dangerous organization in the kingdom."
"The Scientists."
"They’re responsible for countless illegal experiments."
"And judging from what we’ve uncovered..."
"They’re preparing something much bigger."
"So right now every Black Seed team and many officials are focused on them."
"But this is serious too!"
"I know."
Valen answered calmly.
"I truly understand your frustration."
"But when several threats appear at once, you deal with the biggest one first."
Qasim clenched his fists.
"...That’s stupid."
"...Maybe."
Valen smiled.
"But you can change that."
Qasim looked up.
"Because of your awakening."
"You weren’t only the fastest in Black Seed history."
"You were the fastest in the entire kingdom."
"So there are some important people in the capital who wish to meet you."
"The capital?"
Valen nodded.
"You’ll attend a one week test at the Royal Academy."
"The place where the kingdom’s greatest young talents gather."
"What should I do there?"
"Simple."
"Stand above everyone else."
"If you prove your worth then your words may start carrying weight."
Qasim remained silent.
"It’ll begin in one month."
"So until then I need you to focus on becoming stronger."
"If you stay weak, nothing changes."
"No matter how angry you are."
The room became quiet.
After thinking for a long moment...
Qasim slowly nodded.
"...I understand."
Without another word...
He left.
Valen watched him disappear down the hallway.
The smile on his face slowly faded.
He quietly entered his office.
He opened a secret drawer hidden beneath his desk.
Inside rested a thick notebook.
Its pages were filled with long notes.
**Experiment 1.**
**Experiment 2.**
**Experiment 3.**
...
Valen opened the final page.
He dipped his pen into the ink.
Then calmly wrote...
**Experiment 32.**
...
Back in his room...
Qasim threw himself onto his chair.
Since the alchemy book mostly contained recipes for Great Works, he decided there wasn’t much he could practice without the proper ingredients.
Magic, however was different.
Levia’s notebook contained mana engines.
Spell structures.
And countless handwritten notes.
"My goal is to learn everything in this book within a week."
He also asked Levia to help him train.
She agreed immediately, mostly because she had nothing better to do.
Later that day...
Yasmin finally returned.
The two exchanged everything they had learned.
After hearing the whole story, Yasmin didn’t seem surprised that Black Seed wasn’t reacting.
"You... aren’t angry?"
Qasim asked.
She slowly shook her head.
"The Black Seed is much stronger than you think."
"Most criminal groups are made of ordinary people."
"At best they have a few Awakened."
"But Black Seed..."
"It already has people who reached the Third Step."
Qasim blinked.
"The Third Step?"
Yasmin nodded.
"Those people are monsters."
"No ordinary criminal organization can fight them."
"The only exceptions are the five greatest organizations."
"They each possess a few Second Step members."
She paused.
"But The Scientists are different."
"They even have Third Step members."
"And somehow..."
"They obtained a Cube Fragment."
"They’re the reason so many criminal organizations managed to Awaken in the first place."
"For the kingdom they’re the greatest threat."
Qasim finally understood.
Compared to everything The Scientists were doing...
The other organizations really were smaller problems.
"...They’re like cancer."
He quietly muttered.
"If you remove them the whole kingdom becomes safer."
His frustration slowly disappeared.
He could only become stronger.
Then...
He could change how things worked.
"Oh, by the way."
Qasim turned toward Yasmin.
"Can you teach me Irada?"
"Mmm."
"Sure, when?"
"I guess next week."
Before Yasmin could answer again—
Levia suddenly interrupted.
"W-Wait a minute my student!"
"I don’t think that’s a good idea."
"It’ll interfere with your magic training."
Qasim smiled confidently.
"Don’t worry, teacher."
"I’m planning to finish your training this week anyway."
Levia froze.
"...H-How arrogant."
She crossed her arms.
Her student had barely started learning magic...
And already believed he could master everything in just a week.
"...Fine."
She would simply have to remind him...
Just how difficult magic truly was.
Unfortunately for her...
She would deeply regret having that thought the very next day.
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