Undisclosed Location.

Suzuki’s lips curled up into a rare smile as he watched the black-haired, cool archer he was all too familiar with, stand upon a podium, trophy in hand as she gave a short, thank you speech. His smile spread even wider as he realized the source of the joy within his heart. He was proud! Not proud of himself for accomplishing something, but proud of someone else. He was proud of Ayumi!

Suzuki clutched his chest to restrain the butterflies that had begun to dance within his heart. This small but prominent exhilaration, accompanied by a small heat in his chest that seemed to wish to rise to his eyes. This feeling seemed to carry equal parts joy and excitement! So, this was pride in someone else!

Suzuki closed his eyes as he reveled in the newfound emotion. Though he had sympathized with the plight of some people, he had never felt what it was like to feel proud of someone who achieved something extraordinary. This was a first for the young man, and he intended to commit the feeling to memory.

Stood next to Suzuki, Jade looked up at the young man. Her gaze traveled from the smile on Suzuki’s face to the confident young woman on the screen. Someone who could cause the stoic Suzuki to release such a profound smile (or any smile in general) could not be an ordinary acquaintance. Jade’s eyelids twitched as she forced down the uncomfortable feeling in her chest. She looked back at Suzuki, whose gaze seemed to be fixed on something far away.

Well, she had never been one to be indecisive. Since Jade had confirmed the faintest hints of jealousy hidden within the depths of her heart, she now knew what she had to do. Jade’s expression betrayed none of the emotions in her heart as she calmly stood by Suzuki’s side while waiting for his strange state to pass.

A few moments later, Suzuki’s eyes flashed as he exited the brief reverie. He took a deep breath, a profound look in his eyes as he nodded at the screen. “Let’s go.” With those words, he climbed the stairs to the corridor above while Jade silently tagged behind with a queer smile.

Usman watched the duo’s backs with bemusement and confusion. Leaving aside the fact that they had ignored his presence in the room, he was more interested in the recent changes in ‘Suzuki.’ Originally, Usman had not been sure of it, but during Suzuki’s ‘enlightenment,’ Usman had clearly ‘felt’ something change in Suzuki.

It was not something tangible or huge, but if he were to put a word to it… Presence.

Yes, it would be presence. It now seemed the black hole known as Suzuki finally had a bit of presence. Usman could not understand how it happened or was supposed to work, but it had been obvious that since they met, Suzuki had begun to culminate more and more presence.

Was it indeed as a result of Kashi? If so, what was Razznik supposed to have been then?

Considering Suzuki was almost devoid of genuine emotions when Usman first met him, the young agent wondered what the hell Razznik was supposed to have taught Suzuki. Furthermore, if the Suzuki he initially met was an improvement on a previous version, then…

Usman shuddered at the thought.

Usman sank into his thoughts, his brows bunched together in a tight frown. He pulled out his phone and typed in a short message to his superior. “The entity Suzuki requires further investigation.” Usman placed the communicator in his pocket, then turned his attention back to the screen.

The Archery Princess left the grounds after accepting her trophy, so the station played a rerun of her matches leading to the finals.

The Archery Princess’s saga was a real moneymaker, and the stations intended to earn the maximum profit possible from her name.

Usman sighed as he watched the special. “Yep, it’s much easier to understand the motivations of humans." With a wary gaze thrown at the staircase, he added, "So much easier to read than those monsters.”

Meanwhile, oblivious to Usman's thoughts, Suzuki led Jade into his room then took a seat at the workstation. He booted the laptop and turned on the in-game simulator for L.N.E, a program that allowed gamers to test out new, potential recipes without the fear of losing their in-game Syros. Of course, they then had to pay for the materials used in the experiments with real-world cash.

It was an immensely popular program that earned Genaco a few billion Yen annually from their various Virtual Reality Games.

Suzuki loaded his most recent project, the yet-to-be-named Flying Ship, and projected it using the mini-holographic projector connected to the system. He put on a pair of Synth-gloves and began to take the model apart to discover areas that he could improve.

Suzuki was about twenty minutes deep into his analysis when he realized something was missing. He had not heard Jade's voice in a long time. Usually, she would be right next to him, arguing about some part or area, but today she was oddly quiet.

Unable to suppress the discomfort in his heart, Suzuki looked up from the hologram and to his left. As expected, Jade's laptop was still on the table, but the woman herself was not at her seat.

Did she leave?

Suzuki frowned as an unfamiliar heat invaded his chest. Before he could explore the annoying feeling, shuffling feet drew his eyes to the center of the room. As if doused with a bucket of the purest morning dew, the heat in Suzuki's heart dropped as he gazed at the little figure battling with some hologram.

Suzuki found himself unable to look away, wholly enraptured by Jade's figure. The slight crease in her brow; the mixture of excitement and frustration in her eyes; the confident smirk at the corner of her lips; the way she clucked her tongue whenever something did not go exactly as planned.

There were so many details he had never noticed. Despite having a lot of work to do himself, Suzuki found his legs moving of their own accord till he was next to Jade.

Suzuki had never been much of a conversationalist, so he turned his attention to Jade’s experiment. The young man's brow rose with question as he stared at the multitude of runes written on a parchment.

The interesting thing was that these runes were placed in the boundaries between two concentric circles. Suzuki's interest piqued as he realized the structure was very similar to the mandalas that appeared whenever mages cast their magic.

Unable to hold his, and indeed ‘Kashi’s’ curiosity, Suzuki leaned over and asked, "What're you working on?"

Jade's brow twitched as an unrecognizable glint flashed in her eyes. However, the hand which held a virtual brush never stopped moving along the magic circle. "I've been thinking of my place in the team."

Suzuki paused, unsure of how to respond. This was not the answer to the question he'd asked, but he'd learned enough from Kashi's interactions to know that people do not always answer questions directly. He decided to humor her and see where this was going, "What do you mean, your place?"

"You know," Jade muttered with a little bitterness in her voice. "Everyone on the team's got something they're the best at. Taki's the best merchant and people-person on the team, Taiga and Saeko are brilliant at combat. Taiga's like the strongest magician in the entire game, and Saeko's the strongest amongst us all in one-on-one combat. Even Stryke has an important role with the recruits!"

A defeated sigh escaped the young woman's lips. "As for Kashi... well, he's Kashi." Jade let out a bitter chuckle as she lamented, "And don't get me started on Leila. If there's a more perfect woman, I ain't seen her yet." Jade's voice dropped to a whisper, but her hands continued their work. "I need to find a place of my own. I don't want to become a background character." For a split second, she glanced at Suzuki out the corner of her eyes. "No one cares when a BG goes away."

Suzuki frowned. The uncomfortable feeling had returned, but there was a difference from the last time. This time, the heat was not so intense. Instead, it was like a slow burn, with a heaviness to it like someone was slowly dropping a weight on his chest. Suzuki somehow instinctively understood this feeling.

He was in pain.

But this pain was different.

This pain resulted from the distress reflected in Jade's eyes despite her sarcastic laughs. Suzuki could not understand why he would feel the pain of another person. How useless was this? What purpose would this emotion serve exactly? Though these sardonic thoughts floated in his head, Suzuki's lips seemed to have a mind of their own. "So, did you find what you were looking for?" He looked at the mandala she was designing. "Does it have something to do with this?"

"Yeah," Jade answered with a nod. "There ain't much I can be proud of except my programming skills. I'm not much of a gamer, and I don't know much about fighting except for basic self-defense lessons and stuff I picked up while playing. That's the real reason I became a magician." The brush in Jade's hand glided over the parchment as new shapes and runes took form in the magic circle. "I've been thinking for a while now, ever since I first saw you could combine runes to achieve other effects. Could runes be considered as lexemes in a programming language? If so, could I possibly create some rules of combination that would make it easier to achieve larger things?"

"Larger things?" Suzuki repeated with confusion. He could barely understand what she was talking about, but he had a feeling he should let her finish before interrupting.

"Yeah," Jade replied. "Our current technologies depend heavily on gemstones. Leaving aside how expensive and rare they are, they simply aren't suitable for all projects. Using gemstones for lamps or the headphones you created really is a waste. Wouldn't it be better if we could find a much more affordable means to achieve similar effects? To be honest, though, I didn't really think of all that until I discovered a series of patterns in the magic circles I studied." Jade chuckled, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. She then proceeded to explain the patterns she found.

All magic circles, regardless of purpose, were made up of three major parts. The first of which was a pair of concentric circles. These circles formed the foundation of the spell produced. More complicated spells could have three or more concentric circles to house the complex arrangement of runes.

The second part was the runes etched into the border area between these circles. According to Jade, these runes were like the main instructions in a programming language that told the computer, or in this case, the world’s mana, what phenomenon to change or affect.

Finally, an image occupied the interior of the innermost circle. These images could take different shapes. Jade likened them to preprocessor directives that affected what kind of commands could be written out in a program. Except, in this case, the images determined what kind of elemental magic circle it should be.

For example, the pentagram was a famous symbol in magic circles. The pentagram was a stabilizing, neutral diagram that channeled the five primary elements, namely, Water, Fire, Air, Earth, and Spirit. The eight trigrams went even further, adding more properties such as thunder, lake, and mountain to provide even greater stability and increase the possible areas of application.

In contrast, a flame diagram would significantly increase the absorption of flame elements but severely reduce other elements' absorption. This was useful when the purpose of the magic circle inclined to a specific element.

"Take this magic circle as an example," Jade said as she finally finished the drawing. She took a step back to admire the diagram, which depicted a snowflake bound within a circle, with several runes within the concentric circles, some of which Suzuki recognized.

Jade pointed the virtual brush in her hand at the circle and explained, "The snowflake boosts the collection of air and water elements in the air, but heavily detracts the collection of fire and earth elements. In this case, it doesn't really matter because..." With excitement in her eyes, she clapped, "Commence refrigeration simulation."

The holographic projector created a box large enough to fit a human next to the magic circle. Jade clenched her fists, her eyes shaking with hidden anxiety as the parchment that housed the magic circle draped itself at the bottom of the box's interior. A few seconds passed without a reaction, but just as Jade's gaze was beginning to cloud with disappointment, the parchment burst with a bright light as it melted into the box, leaving the eye-catching magic circle on the box's surface.

Seconds later, a visible, white gaseous stream began to emanate from the magic circle. The stream expanded till it occupied the entire box. Jade waved her hand, and the box's lid slammed shut, preventing the gas from leaking out.

An announcement promptly rang out from the system, "Simulation successful. Congratulations on creating a new form of runic manipulation. Would you like to name it?"

"Name it?" Jade turned to Suzuki with a wide grin. "Want to name it?"

Suzuki glanced at the image, then muttered casually, "Why not call it an array?"

"An array?" Jade repeated with a pout. "Not terribly creative, but I guess it'll do." Jade instantly set the runic manipulation name to Array then looked at Suzuki. "That's it then. Any questions?"

Suzuki examined the array with a scrutinizing gaze. "I can see the operational costs will be much smaller if we use arrays. But I feel like there's a catch somewhere."

"You're annoyingly observant when it suits you," Jade muttered with playful resentment. With a light shrug, she admitted, "Yeah, there are a few problems. First of all, we're currently severely lacking in personnel who are good with rune manipulation, and I'm not sure how much time we'll need to train recruits. The next problem's that the ingredients for making the ink used in rune-crafting depend largely on getting blood and body parts from beasts. If we use our normal hunting methods, who knows how long it will take to acquire enough materials for large scale productions?"

"You said the first problem is time," Suzuki pointed out with confusion. "What about the lessons themselves. I don't think anyone can go as far as you have with just the runes I have."

"Ah. The reading material, huh. Don't worry. I got that covered too." Jade walked over to the workstation and returned with her tablet. "In programming languages, there are two main things you have to know before switching to a new language, the syntax and the semantics of the intended language." Jade knew Suzuki did not have much of a background in programming, so she explained further, "The syntax determines the correct order of combination of the individual words, or in this case, the runes while, semantics are the meanings behind the combination of sentences."

Jade tapped on the screen, and it came to life. The top left corner displayed several videos of mages performing various feats, with a close-up view of the mandalas that appeared around their hands or feet each time they cast a spell. Several runes Suzuki recognized from the book of creation flashed by at the right corner of the screen. At the bottom left corner of the screen, a series of runes formed next to each other.

Jade noticed Suzuki's confusion in the slight crease of his brow. With a triumphant, slightly proud chuckle, she explained, "I created a program to cross-reference the runes in the book of creation you showed me against runes in mandalas. The good news is the runes in both cases are from the same source, some lost language or something," Jade said. "After cross-referencing hundreds of gamers' uploads, the system finally found a reliable pattern and was even able to decipher the meaning of a few new runes."

"More importantly, I finally got the basic syntax for writing runes into an array," Jade said with a triumphant grin. "This was my first test creating an array from scratch. Still can't believe it actually worked," Jade muttered. Overwhelmed by equal parts joy and disbelief, she suddenly stretched her arm in front of Suzuki and demanded, "Pinch me! I can't believe this is happening."

Suzuki, ever the gentleman, promptly squeezed her arm with his fingers much to Jade's shock. Suzuki was not sure why, but the astonishment on her face was strangely pleasing. He was almost tempted to repeat the action. Luckily, he managed to resist the urge, settling for a tease instead, "Did that feel real?"

"Way too real!" Jade complained with exaggeratedly puffed up cheeks. Luckily, Jade switched moods with the speed of a lightning bolt. Her eyes suddenly brightened as she revealed a cocky toothy grin. "Point is, I can have an introductory lesson prepared in a day or two tops. With the right teaching methods, we can have an army of array masters in our guild soon."

"Mhmm," Suzuki nodded, but there was a knowing glint in his eyes. "Sounds too good to be true. There has to be a catch somewhere."

"Fine." Jade flicked her hair over her ear and rolled her eyes in playful resentment. With a cluck of her tongue, she added, "It ain't gonna be easy to teach. We'll need candidates with high magic and intelligence if this is going to really kick off. Plus, I'm only proficient in some basic arrays. More complicated array structures need more time and a shit-ton of resources." Jade clasped her hands behind her back and twirled cutely, her eyes wide open like she was a shoujo character. "The guild can afford it, right?"

In response, Suzuki only raised a brow, "What's that supposed to be?"

"Tch, blockhead." Jade clucked her tongue with a slight frown. Suzuki would never admit how funny he found those little creases. "So, is Kashi gonna approve it or not?"

"Kashi approves," Suzuki replied with a shrug. "You guys can hash out the details in-game, but here's a suggestion. If you guys want to start spreading knowledge large-scale, you'll need more than just yourself. I suggest looking into starting up a school or academy or whatever. How it'll work is up to you guys, but according to fantasy law, first, recruit some brilliant minds. There should be a lot of reclusive scholars and researchers who will be willing to sign up as teachers if you fund their research."

"A school, huh," Jade muttered with surprise in her eyes. "That's ambitious. I'm surprised you could come up with that."

"I'm standing on the shoulders of giants," Suzuki shot back with a snort. However, when Jade only returned a blank stare, Suzuki elaborated. "Anime and Light Novels. I've seen this exact plot a thousand times. The country with smarter people always wins the war in the end."

"Oh, I knew what you meant," Jade retorted with a cheeky grin. "Just wanted to hear you explain it."

Suzuki took in a deep breath then said as he walked back to his workstation. "Send me the array textbook when you're done. Kashi has Rosario's Brush. He doesn't need to worry about ink."

Jade returned to the workstation and shut her laptop. "Will do," she said with a smile as she picked up the laptop. "Just gonna put some finishing touches on the cipher program. Should have enough for a textbook by tomorrow." Hugging her laptop to her chest, she waved at Suzuki, "Laters, then."

"Laters," Suzuki replied. As Jade reached the door, he suddenly added, "Thanks, Jade. You're pretty brilliant."

Jade paused, her mouth opened wide in shock. She quickly mumbled thanks then ducked her head as she scrambled out of the room.

Left in the room, Suzuki pulled off his shirt then walked over to the virtual drive. He climbed inside, and as he descended into a deep sleep, he muttered to someone no one else could see, "Thanks."

Adachi Residence,

Tokyo, Japan.

Adachi Ayumi knelt before a set of tatami doors with the Archery championship trophy wrapped in her arms. Though her eyes held their usual cold, her trembling fingers revealed the agitation she felt deep inside. Ayumi had never been one to fear anything, but at that exact moment, she felt an unfamiliar sensation of equal parts dread and excitement as she stared at the sliding doors. She almost felt like a gambler whose bets had all cleared save for one last, final chance. The last bet was a 50-50 gamble, which would either set her off for life or render all the previous bets null and void.

The anticipation sent her heart racing, and just as she was about to explode, Ayumi heard her father's solemn voice summon her.

"Coming father," Ayumi acknowledged with a bow. She slid the door to the side, then gracefully rose to her feet and walked in to see her familiar figure of her father's back.

Lt. Colonel Adachi was not much for words. Since his retirement from the army, he either stayed in this room with his wife's memorial tablet, or at the company.

Ayumi knelt respectfully before her father and the memorial tablet of the mother she never had the pleasure of meeting. Ayumi sat still, awaiting her father's permission to speak. Thirty minutes passed, and still, her father remained motionless in front of the memorial tablet.

Most teenagers Ayumi's age would have long since given up the painful seiza position and switched to a more casual sitting posture, but not even a twitch of a muscle could be seen on the cold princess's face.

"You have grown." Lt. Colonel Adachi finally spoke as he raised his head to gaze at the memorial tablet. "Your mother would be proud."

"I am grateful not to have besmirched the family name." Ayumi bowed with her head to the floor.

"You did well," Lt. Colonel Adachi complimented, but listening to the cold tone, one would be forgiven for thinking he was sarcastic. "I suppose you are here about the agreement?"

Ayumi, still with her head bowed, affirmed his thoughts. "Yes, Father. Please, help me find my friend."

"Raise your head."

Ayumi did as she was asked and raised her head. Shock flashed past her eyes as she stared into the eyes of her father. Apparently, he had soundlessly turned backward at some point in time to face her. Even more shocking were the pride and satisfaction in the dark, cold pits of his eyes.

"An Adachi never breaks their promises," Lt. Colonel Adachi swore with a solemn expression. The faintest hints of a smile crept up the corner of his lips. "You have done your part splendidly. Now let me fulfill my end of the bargain."

Ayumi trembled as she fought to hold back the pool of tears that welled up in her eyes. She blinked back the tears as she bowed once again. "Thank you, Father."

"Do not thank me. Your hard work and volition gained this opportunity. Be thankful to yourself first." Lt. Colonel Adachi waved his hand. "You can run along to your game. It would seem it truly does do more good than harm in your case, at least."

"Thank you, father," Ayumi carefully placed the trophy by the side then left the room, making sure to slide the door shut behind her. The unflappable Archery Princess released a very rare sigh of relief like a significant burden had been lifted off her shoulders. With a determined glint in her eyes, she walked over to her room. "Time to get to work."