Edited by: ASaltedFish
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Aster stood on the left side of the glass orb while Adjutant Ito stood on the right.
Just as directed, they brought out their quantum beasts. Sol and Dusky. Dusky was a bit larger than the last time they met since the room was bigger. He was standing on his hind legs, making him slightly taller than the glass orb that was sitting on a pedestal. As for Sol, he was comfortably sitting in Aster’s arms once more.
Dusky couldn’t help but move a little closer to Sol who didn’t seem to mind it, even flicking his tail to tease Dusky. His personality was just like Ellery’s.
The four of them put their hands on the glass orb, injecting as much spiritual power as needed to touch the wires. Once they were touched, they let go of the glass orb and waited for the results.
Several seconds later, the compatibility rate showed up on the projection on the wall in front of them. The compatibility rate was actually 95%!
“I remember when Mr. Aster had a high compatibility rank with that boy from the Vales family. Wasn’t it like 89%? Who knew it would be higher than that!” Vice Director Martinez exclaimed in excitement.
It had been a long time since anyone had seen compatibility rates this high, one after the other.
Adjutant Ito was also excited at first, but then he calmed down looking at Aster. His compatibility was with Ellery, not with Aster. Since Aster had more control of their body, he wouldn’t be able to talk with Ellery that often, not to mention getting to be with him.
It felt incredibly bittersweet now that he was thinking about it.
Since Aster and Adjutant Ito were done, it was finally Marshal Caecius’ turn.
Just like before, they summoned their quantum beasts, but this time, Lune came out with Casir, Marshal Caecius’ quantum beast. Casir was the same size as when Aster first saw him and was chilling in Marshal Caecius’ arms this time.
Since he was so close to Lune, Casir couldn’t help but want to nuzzle up against him. Lune was a bit startled at first, but since their compatibility was high, he didn’t mind it and brought his face a little closer.
Aster couldn’t help but blush and look away. He wasn’t used to this at all. Physical affection was something he never experienced, so he got shy and embarrassed quite easily!
Marshal Caecius’ mood was a lot better after this. Casir was also in a good mood because his tail was moving quickly, like a canine species when they were happy!
The four of them put their hands on the orb and did the same thing, putting in spiritual power until it touched the wires. Once it did, they let go and waited for the results.
The data on the projection was updated and it showed that Aster and Marshal Caecius had a 98% compatibility rate! It was incredibly high once again.
Once again, they exclaimed in excitement. Even Caecius had a smile on his face because his compatibility rate was higher than Adjutant Ito’s!
He felt like he won this time.
Aster already told Amari which quantum beast he was going to try with Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito, so Amari, the director, and the vice director were not confused as to why he did it like this.
It was the first time someone had two quantum beasts in the history of the universe, so no one knew what to expect. They could only follow the wishes of the person with two quantum beasts.
With the compatibility tests out of the way, everyone went to the meeting room on the sixth floor which also had the director and vice director’s offices. There was only one meeting room on the 6th floor, and it was used for important individuals and meetings.
Originally, Director Yun and Vice Director Martinez were not going to come, but with Aster’s status and rank, they had to be there. It was also to make sure that Aster wasn’t taken advantage of right under their noses.
In the meeting room, the lawyers and representatives of each Association and the legal team of the First Fleet were already there. They had been there for about 30 minutes, not understanding why it was taking so long. Still, they didn’t complain.
When they saw Aster walking in with the Director and Vice Director, they knew something serious had happened; hence the delay.
“I apologize for the delay,” Director Yun was the first one to speak up. She decided she would direct the flow of this meeting. In her mind, this was all for Aster’s sake. “I had Mr. Aster retake the rank test three more times to confirm his new ranking.”
To retake the rank test three more times? What happened? What was the use of that when all the testing orbs were kept up to date and tested daily to make sure they were accurate…
The meeting room was a large conference room with twelve chairs. At the head of the table, Director Yun sat there with her Vice Director to her left and Aster to her right. Next to Aster was Amari, then Marchal Caecius and Adjutant Ito. The rest of the group either sat down according to rank or stood behind their coworkers and superiors. There were a lot of people in the conference room, making it a bit cramped, much to Aster’s displeasure.
Apparently, Director Yun and Vice Director Martinez already looked through the drafted contract and felt it needed to be updated considering Aster’s current rank and the potential stated in the testing orb.
So, to make sure that Aster’s full interests were covered and to make the contract more beneficial to him, they were doing most of the talking. This was fine with him because he didn’t want to talk at all. Aster was already worn out and no longer wanted to socially interact with anyone. Still, Ellery made sure to pay attention and kept him in the loop about everything that was going on.
Ellery would occasionally get Aster to talk for him so he could inject his input on some of the information.
“The price for guiding services should be increased because his rank doesn’t reflect what’s on the contract.” Director Yun stated while pointing at the contract that was being projected behind her. It was holographic and touch interactive, so she was able to zoom in on the rank that stated he was an A-ranked and would be paid as such.
“If he’s not A-ranked, what rank is he now?” Someone in the First Fleet’s legal team asked.
Vice Director Martinez replied, “He’s SS-ranked with SSS potential.”
Everyone in the room gasped except for Aster and the three people who tested him. Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito were also shocked, even though they knew about his current rank. What was SSS-ranked potential? Legendary, just like SS-ranked but even more! Especially for Guides! There hasn’t been an SSS-ranked guide in over a thousand years.
Voices began to erupt around the room.
“SS-ranked at 22 years old and with SSS-ranked potential?!”
“How is that possible?”
“Are you sure this is accurate?”
“Is this why you had him retest three times?”
“Can we see the results? It’s not that I don’t believe you, but it’s just something I want to see with my own eyes!”
Vice Director Martinez did the honors of pulling up Aster’s file and the many times he tested his rank.
He went from A-ranked with S-rank potential to SS-rank with SSS-rank potential! How was this possible? And he even has two quantum beasts?!
People in the room began to talk over one another, asking all sorts of questions.
“Does he truly have two quantum beasts?”
“Why did his rank increase so much?”
“Is it really possible to change your potential rank?”
“If he has two quantum beasts, does that mean he has two different spiritual seas?”
Director Yun stood up and clapped her hands once to get everyone’s attention. “Enough asking all these questions at the same time. What are we? Students?”
She sighs. “I understand that this is shocking and groundbreaking news, but I, swearing to the Beast God, witnessed this miracle in person. Mr. Aster truly has two quantum beasts, and this is his new rank and potential rank. As for why, we are not sure, but we will do more research to figure out how this happened. Of course, we will keep Mr. Aster safe and won’t do any harmful experiments.”
Making an oath to the Beast God was only used in very specific and important situations. One time, someone swore to the Beast God but was lying and died of an unexplained heart attack moments later. Since then, people have been told to never lie, especially when swearing to the Beast God.
Aster didn’t know much about the Beast God, but from what he read online and with Ellery’s knowledge, there were Gods in the Interstellar, but they weren’t the all-knowing, all-powerful Gods seen in religions in his previous world.
Their life spans were much longer, but they could still die. They could reincarnate over and over with their memories intact, and they could create new lives using their life energy. Most of the people in this Galaxy originated from the Beast God, which was why people had quantum beasts.
Marshal Caecius saw Aster sitting in his chair, getting increasingly uncomfortable the longer he stayed in this room, so he cut into the conversation.
“I apologize for my rudeness, but I have some business to attend to soon, so let’s continue with signing the contract.”
He didn’t have any important or dire business to attend to; he just noticed that Aster was expressionless, but his aura was restless and anxious. From what he gathered, Aster was an extremely introverted, private person who would rather be in the comfort of their own home away from large groups of people.
He also needed time to recharge because his social battery was really small. This was different from Ellery, who was an extrovert who loved to be around people. It must be tough to share the same body…
“Ah, apologies for holding you up, Marshal.” Vice Director Martinez gave a slight bow and then looked at Director Yun to tell her to keep going.
She coughed. “I apologize. Moving on. With the update of Mr. Aster’s rank and potential rank, the price for his services must be changed. Not only that, but this clause about his protection needs to be updated, including increased personnel and maybe even talks about changes in residence. With someone as important as Mr. Aster, he must be protected to the highest degree. If the Alliance and the Federation find out about his existence, there may even be wars fighting for him.”
There were three major countries in Galaxy Zephyrus, with the Galaxy being named after the Beast God, Zephen. The Zevaria Empire was ruled by the Imperial family, who passed down the Dragon quantum beast, and then there was the Alliance. It was made up of a lot of smaller planets and countries that decided to band together and create an entity that would be in charge of overseeing them. They benefit from fair and equal trade as well as a shared military. As for the Federation, they had broken off from the Zevaria Empire over a thousand years ago and created their own country. It was the second largest country in the galaxy, and instead of having a strong military, it had advanced medical technology and a thriving fine arts culture.
Even with the advanced medical technology, there wasn’t a way to help sentinels without a guide, so all three countries cherished and were highly protective of guides. This also meant that there were times when Guides would be given all sorts of benefits to move to other countries. Guides were well sought after and the pillars of their society.
Regular people were seen as the foundation, sentinels as the roof, while guides were considered the pillars to a building. All three were just as important, but Guides were especially so because they held the roofs up needed to protect everyone. Well, this was how Aster saw the relationship between the three groups of people.
“To protect Mr. Aster, it is best if the Sentinel, Guide Association, and the First Fleet figure out a protection plan. This matter takes priority.”
Everyone at the table agreed with this. Even Aster and Ellery couldn’t help but agree. That was why they decided to seek out Marshal Caecius for cooperation in the first place. It was all to protect him while providing guiding services.
Still, Aster could see his freedoms slipping away ever so quickly…
Luckily, he was an introvert who thrived in the comfort of his own home.
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Grandpa Marky: Hey everyone! A bit of an earlier update but I will be posting the extra chapter this Sunday 😀 Also thank you RanDom_Chipmuck for sending some coffee donations my way! I really appreciate it <3 reading your message made me cry a little haha.
Also, I won’t be working for a month because they do not need me right now. Means I got more time to write! but also means I don’t have money for groceries and I’m gonna have to figure something out… Anyway, that’s it from me 😀 I will see you all on Sunday!Â
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