BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

Erik immediately went to a nearby bench with Aaron, Mikey, and Anderson in tow. They all took a seat nearby, and after having each picked a dumbbell, they started their shoulder training.

"So, how is it going?" Aaron asked Erik.

"Not bad, Master Nieminen is an excellent teacher, and even master Rook knows how to do his job. There is nothing to complain about the Red Palace."

"Yeah, and the facilities are also top-notch," Mikey added. "The room they gave me here is even bigger than the one I have at home!"

Aaron, Mikey, and Anderson were not rich guys. They belonged to the middle class, meaning they mostly had everything they needed at home, but could not live the lavish lifestyle that Gwen, Floyd, and Amber lived.

That was also one of the reasons why they didn't mingle with the three rich friends before the Red Palace. However, now things were different. Here, the competition was going to be hard, and they were also inside a new environment, so grouping was the best thing they could have done.

"Your room? Damn, it's almost bigger than my entire house!" said Erik as he lifted a weight above his head. The other three followed suit. It wasn't like there weren't any machines available, but lifting weights by hand felt more natural when working out. At least, that's what Erik thought.

At that moment, Anderson chimed in, "Hey Erik, I heard your father is Lucius Romano. Is that true?"

The young man was a little bit reluctant to answer this question. However, he decided to answer not to appear rude.

"Indeed..."

"Whoa, you should be pretty proud then. My father read about him a lot in the newspaper a couple of years ago. Wasn't he the one that went into that laboratory on the Mur continent? I heard that they found a lot of interesting stuff there..."

Erik was perfectly aware of how famous his father was and how significant his achievements were. He was an AKAPPA3C ranger, part of 'The Phantoms', one of the nation's most potent and most accomplished military teams.

Their deeds were often on the front page of many newspapers, and Frant's higher-ups regarded them highly. Lucius himself was a powerful fighter. Although his power was only ranked C on the Jorm scale, he took full advantage of it, soon becoming one of the best soldiers in the country.

However, the truth was that he was the worst possible parent. Not only was he emotionally detached from his son, but he even left him two years prior, only to appear in front of him a month ago to ask him for a favor.

Erik didn't reply, and the other three quickly changed topics, sensing the young man's reluctance to talk about him.

"Can you give me that dumbbell?" Anderson asked Erik, and he quickly gave it to him.

Like that, the training quickly continued until only one class remained on the obstacle course.

***

"Any news from Etrium?" General Becker asked.

"Yes, sir, our spies reported the introduction of a groundbreaking technology inside the nation. Apparently, they found a way to use brain crystals extracted from thaids' bodies," a man said to the general. Becker looked at the man with a concerned look.

"What do we know about this technology?"

"Well, apparently, they couldn't use them to power complex machines or make rifles out of them but were able to create several weapons capable of unleashing the monster's powers," the man said.

"As you know, Etrium has advanced knowledge of the thaid's field. The nation was already able to use materials acquired from them very efficiently. Still, if they manage even to use their brain crystals, things will turn complicated for us," the man said.

And he was right. Etrium was a nation bordering Frant, with similar levels of technology to the first nation, but that had to deal with far fewer criminal activities compared to general Becker's country. They had more time, people, and resources to study thaids and develop the technology.

Since it became apparent many years ago that most thaids species were immune to conventional weapons due to the coat of mana surrounding their bodies, Etrium spent a lot of resources finding a way to use thaid's body parts to produce items.

Initially, they could use mostly their bones, fangs, and the like. Still, later, they developed ways to deal with skin, organs, scales, and many more: producing armor, weapons, and different tools.

However, they didn't keep this technology a secret. They shared it with the population, quickly becoming known as the so-called blacksmith nation.

In fact, this place had many artisans who could use this technology to create artifacts that were later sold to mercenaries. Contrary to Frant, who was mainly militaristic and whose thaid's affairs were handled by soldiers, Etrium had a totally different approach.

They let the citizens deal with the thaids by setting up legislation that allowed them to create mercenary organizations and which resulted in a flourishing environment where anyone could earn a fortune by hunting thaids.

The monster's body parts were then sold to the city, to researchers, to artisans, and the like to produce goods, creating a sort of mix between modern and ancient. Everyone benefitted from this approach, from the most humble citizen to the wealthiest merchant.

Initially, Frant didn't mind this since creating this kind of weapon to hunt thaids was not much better than using brain crystal powers. However, this new technology was a problem since it allowed to effective use of Thaids BCPs. Though, this wasn't the only concerning news. Apparently, if an armorsmith used the brain crystal and the other body parts from the same thaid to make armor. This would start releasing mana, meaning that each soldier could gain immunity against conventional weapons exactly as thaids did.

Despite having a lot of power, humans were not immune to bullets or lasers, so gaining this advantage was bound to tilt the continent's power scale.

Moreover, Frant was currently at war with Hin. If Etrium decided to attack the nation, the country led by general Becker would have a hard time.

"I see..." the general said. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes," another man said. "We received a concerning report from Major Fischer. He recently met with Professor Derr Xilion, who said he has strong reasons to believe that an Heniate is behind the thaids migration."

"Heniate? Isn't this a parasitic beast?" Becker asked.

"Indeed, probably the horde traveling here has already been infected. The Major also reports cases of contagion inside the city; many soldiers mutated under the thaid's powers, and he is currently purging them and their families."

"Is the situation so serious?" Becker asked.

"Indeed, sir, we are currently in need of your expertise..." the man said.

Becker thought about it for a little bit until he had a brilliant idea.

"I want you to redirect most of the troops around the east gate to cull the horde population," Becker said.

"But sir, then our defenses will thin down..."

"Not at all; we can ask the Red Palace and the military school for help. Let the kids gain experience by killing thaids."

"Sir, you suggest using untrained underaged people to protect the borders?"

"Yes and no. The teachers will be present to help them in case they mess up. For the ones still not part of the military school, they will be able to see how the outside world is. We will let them handle weak thaids. As for the older ones, who are already in military school, they will take care of stronger. This will all be part of their training. It is the best thing to do since we have a lot of students; the red palace only has at least fifty thousand members, while the military school has millions."

Not many people liked General Becker's idea. However, his words were absolute, and they couldn't defy him.

"As you wish, sir."