The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

"What if it’s been completely purified? Well, if that is possible, we might be able to find out other purposes of not just this monster, but every monster we’ve discovered."

Those words resonated with Aisha more than anything else she found in this world.

If the lobster-like monster that was shown in class today were to have its miasma completely removed, would it taste the same as lobsters in her world?

What about the other monsters in this world? What form and benefits will they offer? Are they also like that monster, with an appearance she was familiar with?

Although this was only her speculation, Aisha still wanted to know the result of it. Unfortunately, the corpses of monsters from inside contaminated zones and mutated planets are kept by the Association. The Academy also has them. However, they are confined within the Resources Department, and only samples of them are stored there.

That wouldn’t be enough to test her theory.

Besides, Aisha also has to consider one thing. What if she was getting too excited? What if someone had already tried it and failed? And she already knew that a perfect 100 percent purification was impossible in this world. Not when dark energy was everywhere.

Besides, the people in this world would have been more desperate than her to find new sources of food.

But compared to them, she knew something they didn’t.

Near the end of the class, the professor called her again.

"Go to the Resources Department before you head home. You need to get one of the assigned specimens for the practical assignment. Make sure to finish it before our next session."

"Understood, Professor."

The moment the bell chimed, the room erupted into motion. The students hurriedly gathered their things and moved towards the door. They’ve been waiting for so long for this moment to arrive.

Lunch is here.

"Are you going to the Resources Department now?" Kane appeared at her side before she could rise from her seat. "We’re all coming to the cafeteria. Do you want to come with us?"

Aisha thought about refusing, but under the gaze of three people’s eyes, she could only surrender. She had a bad premonition that if she refused, one of them would definitely do something that would have her reluctantly dragged to the cafeteria.

"Sure."

The cafeteria was massive, easily large enough to seat the entire student body at once. But the moment they stepped inside, Aisha remembered something.

Like anything in this world, the cafeteria was also a place divided by rank.

The first floor was crowded, noisy, and filled with tables with four chairs, and hundreds of students engaged in conversation and lined up for their meal. Aisha also noted that it was the same bland, nutrient-dense food served at the hospital.

Thinking about it again, it was very different from the second floor. It was designed like a high-end restaurant. Each table looked like it came out of a rich movie scene. Even their food was elevated into something more acceptable, with food having vibrant colors.

"Look at these arrogant people looking down on us," Vesper exasperatedly sighed. "Just because they can eat on the second floor, they’re already thinking they’ve won at life!"

"They get the good stuff," Kane reminded him.

"Hmph! I could’ve gotten them as well. It’s just that I didn’t."

Sabel and Kane glanced at each other. If only Vesper weren’t in their class, he could easily do well.

Aisha, who walked slightly slower than them, saw Kane stop just to walk beside her. He said, "Vesper had some conflicts with some students from the top classes. Don’t be offended, okay?"

Aisha shook her head. "I’m not."

At this moment, Vesper also remembered that Aisha once belonged to the top classes and asked her, "Aisha, this will be your first time eating on the lower floor, right?"

Aisha nodded.

"It’ll be so different. You’d be surprised." Vesper snickered and kicked off on an imaginary stone.

"What’s so different?" Aisha asked. "They’re all bland and nutrient packs plated in pretty plates and bowls."

Vesper smiled at her words. "I like you."

Aisha frowned and heard him laugh like an idiot.

On her side, Kane told her, "Don’t you receive white energy pills?"

"White energy pills?" Aisha repeated.

Aisha searched her memories and found it.

Everyone has some degree of miasma innate in their bodies. It starts forming the moment someone is born. Since babies are usually more sensitive and vulnerable to things that the naked eye can’t even see, dark energy, or miasma, will be inhaled into their bodies. And even before they are born, their mother can give them miasma just from carrying them in their womb.

Because of this, many babies are almost always confined inside the hospital for a year before they can be released to their parents.

And once these babies grow up, depending on their luck, they can be either a sentinel or a guide.

Still, being a sentinel or a guide doesn’t mean they’re free of innate miasma in their body. It only prevents the miasma from completely eroding and controlling the structure of their bodies.

Thus, guiding, having psychic powers that fight miasma, and energy pills are important to live a normal life.

The Association developed these energy pills to allow ordinary people who did not become sentinels or guides to live without worrying about becoming mutated and corrupted beings.

And the Imperial Star Academy only allows students from top classes with high ranks to get their hands on a white energy pill, a lesser form of energy pill created from powders of energy stones, once every month.

"The white energy pills the academy gives to students from the top classes are less effective compared to what the Association has. However, it is enough for sentinels and guides to stabilize and regulate their mental and supernatural energy." Kane talked like he was reading a textbook. "Though you might know more about this than I do."

Aisha didn’t respond. The memories she possessed weren’t complete yet.

"And they’re insanely expensive," Vesper added on. "The only reason the students have access to the lesser copy of the pills is that the empire subsidizes it. Hoping we’ll grow up into proper heroes for them, I guess."

They joined the line with trays sliding through the counter. A small scanning terminal needed a student to press their student badge so their meals could be automatically deducted from their account.

Aisha watched the process with mild interest until it was her turn.

She pressed her badge to the scanner.

The display flickered. There was a list of standard meal options that only students from the lower classes could get. The academy didn’t forget to update her student badge.

But at the very bottom of the list, one additional option remained visible.

Energy Pill — 5,000,000 Star Credits.

Aisha stared at it for a long moment.

Beside her, Kane, Vesper, and Sabel had also gone completely silent. All three of them were staring at her screen in disbelief.

"Wait, isn’t that—"

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