26th August

Recess had just ended and all of the students were already seated in their seats waiting for their teacher to arrive. As they were waiting Yuki could hear some of the girls talk about the , specifically and its wielders.

"Don't you think, like, it's really unfair how they all get to have the when they don't even really deserve it? Like, they are all so weak and they still have it!"

"I know right! They are so privileged! We deserve it way more than them."

Yuki had no idea what the girls were talking about but he was definitely disgusted by it. But before he could think more on it the new teacher entered the class. He was a tall Asian man wearing a white shirt under a black blazer paired with black pants which gave him a professional feel. "Hello Students." He spoke in a thick Asian accent, "I'm your teacher Jung Ji-Yeong (鄭 智英) who will be teaching you about and . You are all tight on time as you have a mission coming up so I think we should get into the lecture without any more delay."

"First of all, what are ? Can any of you make a guess?"

A number of students raised their hands to that question but Yuki wasn't one of them, he was looking around to see who all had raised their hands to decide if he should do it or not; Christine, Rusty, Tonio and Arnold were one of the few who had raised their hands, then Yuki looked at Kai and Lin, they hadn't raised their hands but their expressions were saying that they already knew the answer. While observing his classmates Yuki realized that John was one of the students who had raised their hands, this provoked Yuki into raising his hand too.

Ji-Yeong was looking through the students with intrigued eyes, and after a few seconds he asked Rusty to answer.

"Sir, as far as my awareness goes are weapons that are fueled by to apply them into different forms of uses."

"You are mostly right there, but not completely, you may sit. are articles that either have stored in them or operate on it. These can be put into many different uses and are not limited to weapons. But before learning about you should know about which is short for ."

"These are microscopic designed in a way to loosely replicate DNA. These are then inserted into one of the many types of which then gives it the information it needs to carry out a certain task just like how DNA supplies cells with genetic code. In the most basic sense it's a program for a computer. Let me show you all a live example."

Saying he removed a small metallic cube from his pocket, the cube had a blue gemstone engraved in two of its adjacent faces. He placed the cube in front of the students with one of the gemstones facing the ceiling while the other was facing the board. He then walked away from it and instantly it emitted light onto the board, projecting a diagram of something that looked quite similar to DNA. It was ofcourse, .

The students were wondering why the illustrations looked so shit. Apparently it's because I drew it.

"So as you can guess, this thing right here is a projector, i won't explain how it works right now as you'll understand it better when we start learning about the different types of , and then if that's clear then anyone has any questions, not about the projector but about ?" Ji-Yeong scanned the fascinated students with intriguing eyes as they were trying to process the information he had just presented them with. As more students started making way with it a hand rose up, it was that of Arnold. The former gestured to the latter to proceed.

"Sir, you said these were made to replicate DNA, so why does the diagram show them to be broken?"

"That's because I said they were made to loosely replicate DNA, this thing is more like a combination of DNA and digital signals merged with a carrier wave. The surrounding the strands are supposed to strengthen it while the and act like a message signal, and their structure, from the bonds to the breaks in between make the message like 0s and 1s do in a digital signal. So now. That we have cleared the most important thing out of the way, let's move forward."

"Now it's time for the next most important thing, and that is the . This is the gemstone your goes into. It is supposed to conduct and do exactly as the says, this is basically the compiler of the system. There is nothing much to know about these other than their many different types and which ones are used where so that's where we will be heading now, but you should note that by your curriculum you would be learning only 3 of them."

"The first out of these is the which is right there in the projector you see. This is the simplest one of them all, designed to do the stuff you students can do, or atleast, as I've heard your training has just started but getting back to the point these stones can perform the most basic and the biggest feat one has achieved with them kind is to light a bonfire. Once again, any questions regarding this?"

"These stones, so these are the we are talking about?" It was Arnold again.

"Not quite. The can be used as or can also be a part of them, but they are not themselves."

"Okay then, continuing with the different types of , the next one is the or for short. This one has a very specific function and that is, as you must have guessed it, to communicate. Talking about how this works, when activated it will convert all and any sound energy it can from its surroundings and convert it into these Crux-ified digital signals. These signals are then sent over a distance and received by the target and turned back into sound signals."

Once again Arnold was having a doubt, "So do these have infinite range? And how sensitive they are to the sounds around them."

"The definitely don't have infinite range, it would otherwise be too convenient. Each of them are designed differently to have different ranges. But the sound sensitivity stays the same, it can record any loud vibration in 5m of its range."

"Now we will be moving on to the last you guys can study about. But let me warn you, you need to be really careful using this one, as it doesn't go really well with , which is something you'll be seeing a lot during your mission."

⛧ ⛧ ⛧

"And then Miss Yuan interrupted the lecture and took Sir Ji-Yeong with her. She didn't specify the reasons, only said that there was a change."

"A change in what?"

"No idea, apparently in what we can know and what we can't. They are hiding so many things from us."

The sun was shining in bright orange color, projecting its rays through the window panes. Dusts swept up the brown pavements as Yuki and Naomi were having a walk in the city complex after their lectures were over, interrupted, in Yuki's case.

"What do you mean by 'hiding'?" Naomi asked with a confused look on her face.

"Simply hiding. They want us to go on this life threatening mission and at the same time not tell us anything about it. This simply isn't how it works!" Yuki vociferously stated his displeasure with the events, whereas Naomi was doing her best to help calm him down. "How what works? I'm pretty sure if they're not telling you something it's for your own safety." She specified. "How are we going to be safe when we don't know any shit about what is going on!" Yuki asserted with clenched teeth

"They will help you! Trust me. And if you think this is wrong then don't conclude that it's the teacher's fault, it's the Avalon HQ you should blame, they have always pushed their decisions on the teachers." Naomi declared with a raise in her voice. "So that's what politics Miss Iva was talking about." Yuki professed while fidgeting with his fingers. "You talked to Miss Iva about the BOD!?" Naomi's eyes widened as she cried out.

"She told me about it! otherwise I didn't even know it existed!" He justified himself with a louder tone and hands spread out. "Yes! After you asked her about the mission!" She asserted. "Doesn't change the fact that she did!" Yuki cried while clenching his fists.

Noticing the atmosphere, Naomi realized she was getting too far and decided to pipe things down. "Listen Yuki, there are some things you will eventually find out, at the right time一" Though before she could even properly begin she was cut off by Yuki. "Now you're giving me that bullshit too一" She didn't let complete his sentence likewise and spoke over him, "This is not bullshit! This is how things should have flown in the first place, this mission, this new curriculum, it doesn't make sense." She acquitted with a sigh.

Yuki stayed quiet for a few seconds and then spoke with a softer tone than before. "At least you agree on something there. But then, all of this is happening because of me." Naomi was confused by Yuki's parlance. "Because of you? What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"Well, there's something I haven't told you yet. All of this, this is happening due to m一"

Tsu-chuchuchuchu….

It was the summoning bell going off, the welders were just summoned.