Edited by: ASaltedFish
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“I wonder what’s taking so long,” Adjutant Ito, the man who couldn’t stop moving or talking, whispered just loud enough for Marshal Caecius to hear him.
Marshal Caecius was taping his left hand on his left leg and also felt it was taking a bit too long. “Hmm.”
He knew that Aster had to tell Amari about his two quantum beasts which would prompt the director to come in and oversee the testing.
Even though he knew this, he was still a little impatient. He wanted to know what his compatibility rate with Aster was. Then, he would slowly get to know Aster and hopefully, have Aster forgive him for what he did. And hopefully, pursue romance after that!
It seemed both Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito were a bit… hopeful about their future partners… Unfortunately, there were two souls in one body. Even if they knew they were not pursuing the same person, to others, it would seem like they were fighting for one guide.
There was a lot to think about for the future.
*****
Amari came back into the testing room followed by two people. The first person was the director, Yun Da-Eun. She had a similar appearance to Mr. Yun, his adviser at the military academy. She had long, wavy, dark brown hair and eyes that were almost black. Yun Da-Eun was a bit taller than everyone else in the room.
As it turned out, they were siblings and both guides, which was quite rare. Mr. Yun Chan-Yeol, Ellery and Aster’s advisor, was A-ranked, while his older sister, Mrs. Yun Da-Eun, was S-ranked. She was a widow with three kids, and unfortunately, her husband died on the battlefield and she refused to remarry.
The second person to enter the room was Vice Director Theodore Martinez. He was a short, dark-skinned man with short curly hair. He seemed to take good care of his hair as it looked shiny and soft. He also had hazel, almost gold eyes, which complimented his skin color well. Shockingly enough, he was also an S-ranked guide but was single because he was still deciding who he wanted to marry.
Mrs. Yun Da-Eun and Mr. Theodore Martinez was stunned to see Aster with two quantum beasts. Amari was not lying! How was this even possible?!
Amari had plenty of time to calm down and digest the fact that Aster had two quantum beasts, so he introduced Aster to the Director and Vice Director.
“Mr. Aster, this is our Director, Yun Da-Eun, the strongest S-ranked guide in the Association. I heard her little brother is your adviser at the military academy.” He then motioned his hand to the Vice Director. “And this is Vice Director Theodore Martinez. He’s also a S-ranked guide.”
It didn’t surprise Aster or Ellery that the Director and Vice Director were S-ranked guides. It was quite fitting since, for the longest time, S-rank had been the highest rank a guide could get to.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” Aster said while politely bowing, “Thank you for coming today to help us with this.”
Director Yun snapped out of her stupor. “It’s no problem at all.” She smiled, “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well.”
“I heard from Amari that you have two quantum beasts. I couldn’t believe it at first, but now that I am seeing it in person, truly, this is an amazing discovery.”
Mr. Martinez rubbed his eyes and then looked at Sol and Lune. “Truly, a sight to behold. You told Amari that when you woke up from your coma and lost your memories, you found out you had two quantum beasts?”
Aster nodded. “That’s right. I was a bit worried about having two quantum beasts and thus, two spiritual seas because it was stated on the Starnet that guides could only have one quantum beast. I didn’t want to go to the Guide Association until I was able to secure my safety.”
“So that’s why you are trying to sign a contract with Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito…” Director Yun rubbed her chin. “That also means they know about this situation.”
“That’s correct, Director Yun. Marshal Caecius is compatible with Lune.” He pointed to Lune who was lying on his head. Then he pointed at Sol. “Adjutant Ito is compatible with Sol.”
“I am surprised that their spiritual seas are different… Then again, even if they are both red pandas, there are some color and marking differences.” Director Yun was now super curious and wanted to keep asking Aster more questions.
“Ahem…” Amari gave a fake cough to get everyone’s attention. “I apologize for interrupting, but Mr. Aster still needs to test his rank, test his compatibility rating with Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito, and then sign the contract with the two. They are waiting in the waiting room. Our representatives, the Sentinel association’s representatives, as well as the First Fleet’s legal team are also waiting.”
“Ah, of course, of course. Sorry about that.” Once Director Yun got excited, she would only stop if someone else stopped her in her tracks.
Director Yun and Vice Director Martinez walked over to the orb.
Vice Director Martinez brought everyone back on track. “We have decided that you will test two times. We will also put two ranks and two quantum beasts in your file, but for the public, we will only have your overall rank and your two quantum beasts. That way, you will be able to sell the stabilizers for both quantum beasts and provide more guiding services. Is that alright?”
Aster nodded. “That’s fine with me.”
“Perfect!” Director Yun clapped her hands together. “It doesn’t matter who you start with, so choose one. Then let us record the name of your quantum beasts, and you are good to go.”
“I understand.”
Since Sol was in his hands, Aster chose to test with him first. He helped Sol put his paw on the orb, and then he put his own hand on it. They put spiritual power into the contraption at the same time and saw it light up. When he felt it reached the wires, he stopped putting in spiritual power. Sol did the same.
It took a minute, but soon, the results popped up on the projector on the wall across from him.
On the report, it said:
Name: Ellery Aster
Age: 22
DOB: D08, M05, Y4510
Rank: SS
Potential: SSS
Quantum Beast: Red Panda – Sol
“SS-ranked?!” Everyone except for Aster shouted in disbelief.
With that recorded, Aster ignored the three people in the room and then put his hand on the orb with Lune. He did the same thing he did with Sol.
After a minute, the information on the projector was updated once more.
Name: Ellery Aster
Age: 22
DOB: D08, M05, Y4510
Rank: SS+
Potential: SSS+
Quantum Beasts: Red Pandas – Sol and Lune
With the updated information, no one could speak. It was so silent, Aster felt like he could hear his as well as everyone else’s heart beating.
He was the only one who was calmly reading through the results, “I wasn’t expecting SSS-ranked potential for the both of us.” Aster mumbled to himself, “Oh, so that’s the day of my birth…”
It was the first time he had seen his birthday since transmigrating into Ellery’s body. The formatting of the DOB of day, month, and then year. The Interstellar calendar was the same throughout the Zephyrus galaxy, so the months didn’t have a special name to them.
[This. I. What???] Ellery was in total disbelief. [Test it again! Ask to test again!]
“Let’s go to a different room and test again.” It was like Director Yun could hear Ellery because she suggested the same thing.
Using her authority, Aster was made to test his rank in every room on the floor and it said the same thing. His current rank was SS+ and his potential was SSS rank. Only after going through the four testing rooms did the others believe that Aster was SS-ranked with SSS-rank potential.
“How is this possible?” The three Guide Association members mumbled to themselves trying to figure out how this could be possible. They were still amazed and baffled even after Aster went through the four testing rooms.
“I’m going to get the Marshal and Adjutant Ito and wait in the compatibility testing room,” Aster called out but didn’t get a response so he made his way to the waiting room. His social battery was running out really quickly and he wanted to go home and recharge.
[Your social battery is very low… as always.]
‘Being around people is exhausting. It’s like they are all sucking the energy out of me.’ He didn’t mention that Ellery also made him tired so his energy levels were super low since coming to this universe.
‘If only you could take control when my energy levels get too low…’
Aster entered the waiting room and saw Marshal Caecius tapping his finger on his leg while Adjutant Ito was bouncing his legs as quietly as he could. They both seemed anxious and worried.
“Marshal Caecius, Adjutant Ito, let’s go,” Aster stood in front of the two and whispered loud enough for them to hear.
They couldn’t see anything from his expression, but Aster’s eyes looked like they were urging them so he could hurry up and go home.
Even though Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito wanted to ask why it took so long, they were not in the right place to do so. They followed Aster out the door and into the hall. There, they saw Director Yun, Vice Director Martinez, and Amari in the hallway. It looked like they were waiting for Aster.
“Mr. Aster! We were just about to ask where you were.” Amari ran over relieved to see him.
“Marshal Caecius, Adjutant Ito, it’s good to see you.” Director Yun smiled, looking a bit tired. It looked like she just accepted reality.
Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito greeted her and the Vice Director. It wasn’t the first time they met, so they exchanged polite greetings.
Once everyone was done, Amari guided everyone to a compatibility testing room – it was the one across from the first testing room Aster went to.
It had the same layout and even had a glass sphere in the middle of the room. This time though, he noticed the wires in it were slightly different. There were only two wires, but they were entangled together and branched out halfway through so one wire would go to the left and the other to the right.
Amari guided everyone over to the compatibility orb explaining to Aster how it worked and what he had to do. Aster was listening attentively while Director Yun and Vice Director Martinez talked with Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito.
Director Yun felt it was time to warn these two – it was something she’d never done before, but this was a special case. “Marshal Caecius, Adjutant Ito, after everything today, if I hear a word of any kind of mistreatment toward Mr. Aster, just know, we will be ruthless and unforgiving.”
She had a smile on her face but for some reason, Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito felt a chill run down their spine. She was scary!
“We also hope to negotiate another contract and establish that we will also do checkups on Mr. Aster for his safety every month.” Vice Director Martinez chimed in. “After all, the contract that was made does not reflect the current circumstances.”
It was something they had talked about while Aster went to get Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito. Of course, they would ask Aster himself, but for now, it was best to threaten the duo a little lest they even have the slightest idea of hurting Mr. Aster!
“Director Yun, Vice Director Martinez, you know we would never hurt Mr. Aster.” Adjutant Ito didn’t know what was going on or why they were being threatened, but he did his best to appease the two who looked like they wanted to protect their child from potential lovers!
Marshal Caecius couldn’t say anything because he actually hurt Aster a little while ago and was still feeling remorseful about it.
“Marshal Caecius, would you like to go first, or would you like Adjutant Ito to go first?” Amari interrupted the four who were fiercely whispering to each other.
The four looked over at Amari and Aster who were patiently waiting for them. Marshal Caecius looked over at Adjutant Ito and it seemed they came to an agreement through their gazes because Adjutant Ito said he would go first.
That was fine with Aster. It didn’t matter to him who went first or who went last as long as he could get this over with. He didn’t know how much longer his social battery would last.
If only he could switch with Ellery when he wanted to.
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Grandpa Marky: Hey everyone! Sorry I didn’t update yesterday. Suddenly, my work schedule changed to Tuesdays instead of Wednesdays, so I ended up working yesterday. It will be like this for the next month though. Screw my schedule, it was never set in stone in the first place haha xD.
Also, thank you to Shi and Yaaslin (and the others who supported me with my first novel)! Y’all completed the Ko-fi goal so I will be posting one extra chapter this week! Thank you for supporting me 😀 I really appreciate it. (Also, please thank ASaltedFish for working overtime. I wouldn’t be able to post a third chapter this week if not for you!)
Okay, that’s it from me. Have a good day/night my beautiful grandchildren <3Â
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