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After the feast, Gilbert managed to recover most of his Mana Road by the next day, but he chose to stay in the rear.

He judged that it would be too much to participate in the battle since he hadn’t fully recovered his Mana Road yet.

Even though he could have forced himself to join, with Briana already decided to participate, there was no need for him to step forward.

With someone capable of replacing Gilbert, an outstanding Colossal Mech Knight, it was the right decision to focus on recovering his Mana Road for the future.

[Are you worried?]

“Kind of.”

Staying in the rear with CT-777, he glanced at the minimap and answered.

It was the right decision, but it didn’t make him feel at ease. He had an abundance of power to face monsters, and with that power, he might have been able to save comrades who could fall in battle.

Of course, all of this could just be his arrogance.

He wasn’t an omnipotent god. Though aided by the system’s abilities, he was still fundamentally a human with limitations.

Even if he forced himself to join the punitive force, it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to perform the same level of piloting with his unrecovered Mana Road. Perhaps, his subpar piloting might even endanger the punitive force members.

With that assumption, he suppressed his desire to join. No matter how he thought about it, staying in the rear seemed like the most rational decision. The gap left by his absence would be excellently filled by Briana.

[Gil. Trust the punitive force members.]

“I know. Professor Briana is participating anyway.”

[Objectively speaking, the probability of problems arising if you join is over 70%. If you don’t join, it drops below 10%.]

“So, my body isn’t in a suitable condition to pilot a Colossal Mech.”

[I think you know that best.]

“If you say so.”

Gilbert looked down at CT-777’s Artificial Spirit core once again.

Unlike the first activation, where its mechanical aspects were prominent, it was now capable of everyday conversations and offering words of comfort.

It meant that as Gilbert grew, CT-777 was also developing through learning.

Witnessing this in real-time, it was no wonder many users highly rated CT-777’s potential.

It seemed that the contact with Fressia during the battle with the Monster Ogre had touched something in CT-777. It now had something akin to emotions and was learning and developing at an accelerated pace.

If CT-777 continued to learn, it might even grow into an advanced Artificial Spirit like Fressia.

“Right. Trusting and waiting is what I should do now.”

As the sounds of artillery and the roars of monsters gradually became audible, Gilbert wished for the safe return of the punitive force.

***

“Ugh! These bastards!”

[Monsters approaching from the right, 50 meters behind!]

Fressia tirelessly briefed the locations of the relentless monsters. Facing monsters driven solely by destructive instincts, disregarding their own lives, was no easy task.

Even Ian, one of the top cadets, was struggling for the same reason.

Accustomed to duels, the pressure of life-and-death combat and the reckless close-quarters fighting gave him a significant sense of disconnect.

This was true even though he possessed a Characteristic Skill specialized in handling Colossal Mechs.

Ian was undoubtedly a talented cadet, but his limits were clear. His lack of real combat experience compared to his skill became glaringly obvious in this battle.

With his talent, given enough real combat experience and time, he could become an outstanding Colossal Mech Knight. But now, he was in the midst of a battlefield where life and death hung in the balance. Whether he had talent or lacked experience was secondary.

What mattered was the simple choice of whether he could safely escape this battlefield.

Indeed…

Even in the urgent situation, Fressia calmly analyzed Ian. Her comparison was with Gilbert, with whom she had recently synced using an unknown Characteristic Skill.

She divided the criteria and compared Ian and Gilbert. Having synced with both, it wasn’t hard to determine their superiority.

The analysis result was devastating.

Except for mana capacity, Ian was completely outmatched.

She was certain that even with future efforts, this gap couldn’t be closed.

Talent wasn’t exclusive to Ian. Gilbert, the so-called delinquent, also possessed talent that reached the skies.

It was an undeniable fact that he was more outstanding than anyone Fressia had seen in her long existence.

Whether it was situational judgment, piloting skills, swordsmanship, or mana utilization, he was the best in countless categories.

And that wasn’t all.

He had already mastered his Characteristic Skill, excelling in almost every aspect compared to Ian.

She didn’t want to admit it, but even with her guidance, it would be a distant dream for Ian to surpass Gilbert.

That was the gap between Ian and Gilbert.

“Fall back!”

Ian pulled the control stick, driving his Iron Sword into the belly of a monster biting into his shoulder armor and slashing it open. Guts and blood spilled out, but his eyes were already on the next monster.

He was undoubtedly a man who deserved the title of genius. He was growing, correcting the shortcomings he had in his first real battle.

Even now, it was the same. The sight of him struggling against the monsters was hard to find.

He had become a hunter, easily handling monsters that would crawl towards him even after being cut in half, and moving on to the next prey.

Though his piloting skills were still not fully developed, and his armor was dented and shattered here and there, the frequency of such damage decreased over time.

He was clearly a genius.

In terms of talent alone, Fressia had seen few who could match him among all the contractors she had been with.

If he continued to grow smoothly and fully mastered his Characteristic Skill specialized in Colossal Mech Piloting, Ian might become an unprecedented, supreme Colossal Mech Knight.

Yes, he might have.

If only Gilbert Lion Heart didn’t exist.

Fressia had synced with Gilbert and discarded all her previous standards for genius. The word “genius” existed solely for Gilbert.

Growth rate?

He was already at a mature stage but continued to grow stronger. At just over twenty years old, he piloted more skillfully than knights who had ridden Colossal Mechs for decades.

While Ian was growing, Gilbert was growing even more.

This meant only one thing.

Ian would never catch up to Gilbert in his lifetime.

Fressia finally accepted this fact she had been avoiding.

“Fressia! I won! I outperformed that guy Gilbert in the monster punitive battle!”

[…Good job, Ian.]

Ian, who had driven his Iron Sword into the last monster’s body, shouted with a bright, childlike smile. Fressia couldn’t share his joy as usual, looking at that smile.

It was as if she knew the future would be very rough.

But Ian, intoxicated by the fact that he had surpassed Gilbert for the first time, didn’t notice Fressia’s reaction at all.

***

“The operation has failed.”

The Count bowed his head to the connected communication device and reported. Although the goal was to cause chaos, failing to inflict any damage on the punitive force was a blow to his pride.

Especially since he had failed to meet his lord’s expectations. Even though the plan accounted for failure, achieving only half of the goal of causing chaos was painful.

[Hoho, I didn’t expect you to make such a mistake. Was the punitive force that formidable?]

“We were lucky to create a Monster Ogre, but he stepped in.”

[Him… You mean Cadet Gilbert, right?]

“Yes. He single-handedly cut down the Monster Ogre.”

[A Monster Ogre, you say? Hoho.]

The elderly man on the other side of the communication device stroked his long beard.

He had thought Gilbert was extraordinary from the start, but he hadn’t expected him to become such a constant obstacle.

Contrary to his expectation that Gilbert would shine briefly and then fall, he was beginning to shine even more brilliantly.

This was an unprecedented situation even for the elderly man who had lived a long life.

Thus, he began to think that Gilbert might be the one to fulfill his long-cherished wish. After all, the reason he had stepped forward now was also because of Gilbert.

The elderly man’s eyes were no longer on the Count. What he saw now was the image of the delinquent who had boldly expressed his opinions to him.

[For now, let’s observe the situation a bit more.]

After much deliberation, the elderly man decided to maintain the status quo.

He wanted to see if Gilbert could truly fulfill his long-cherished wish.

The Count, who had been listening with his head bowed, slightly raised his head.

In the communication device, he saw the elderly man with long, white hair let down.

A man who traversed the horizons of knowledge, seeking truth.

The Great Sage, said to hold all the world’s knowledge in his mind.

“Understood, Horizon.”

[I’ll contact you again next time.]

Horizon, the history professor at Demia Empire Academy, ended the communication.

 

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