While everyone else in the academy was going to sleep, nine individuals met in a meeting room containing a long table that looked like a half circle.
It was Head General Paul, General Nathan, General Duke, Sergeant Faye, Sergeant Leo, Sergeant Shizuka, and Sergeant Dillon. The final individual was Martha, Paul's secretary, who stood to his right.
They all sat in the same formation as the last time they were in here when they were watching the Ability Level Test, with Paul at the far back in the middle, either General to his side, and the Sergeants forming a row in front of their respective General.
Paul clasped his hands on the table.
"Alright…" He said with a stern expression. "Let us begin this emergency meeting…"
Duke rubbed his eyes, trying to ward off the sleep that threatened to take him.
"Head General Paul." He replied, addressing the Head General. "With all due respect, couldn't this wait until morning?" He asked.
General Nathan smirked.
"Yeah." He replied. "He needs to get up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed so he can start in on bribing and extorting the fresh meat with his little Ability Books."
Duke's head snapped towards Nathan, a look of pure outrage on his face.
"Why, you little…!" He snarled through grit teeth as he slammed his open palm on the table, hard, producing a loud bang, and causing the table to shake.
"Enough." Paul said in an exhausted tone, looking like a tired father who was sick of watching his two sons constantly fighting and bickering.
While most of the people in the room looked confused, Shizuka looked perfectly calm. She leaned back in her chair, legs folded and her arms folded behind her neck, as she closed her eyes, an amused smirk on her face.
She already knew exactly what this meeting was about. After all, it didn't take a genius to put two-and-two together.
Meanwhile, both Sergeant Faye and Sergeant Dillon locked eyes with each other. They both shared a look of understanding, as they both had the same thought, and they were just trying to decide who was gonna pop the question.
Sergeant Dillon lowered his glasses, and gave Faye a look that said he was pulling seniority.
Faye let out an annoyed sigh.
"Head General." Faye replied, turning to Paul. He glanced over at her. "Does this 'meeting' have anything to do with your little visit to Military Base 1 earlier?" She asked.
Her question caught the attention of the two Generals, who immediately dropped their death glares at each other, and turned to the Head General.
Paul nodded his head in confirmation.
"Exactly." He replied, before glancing over at Martha.
Seeing that was her que, Martha walked forward, and placed a wooden box the size of a basketball on the table.
Shizuka smirked as she saw it. After all, SHE was in Paul's office when…what was currently inside it…was created.
Martha withdrew a key from her pocket, and inserted it into the box's keyhole. She turned it to the right, and an audible click was heard. She removed the key, and the box's lid swung open as if it were spring-loaded.
As the interior was revealed, everyone took a deep breath.
Inside the box, laying on a fabric cloth like an expensive piece of jewelry, was a chunk of glathrium the size of an ostrich egg, the same chunk of glathrium Tsukuru had created earlier that day, which Paul had in-turn displayed to Oscar.
"Holy shit." Sergeant Dillon muttered, pulling his glasses down to get a better look.
Nathan and Duke exchanged looks, their previous grudges put to the way-side at this revelation.
"Verify its authenticity." Nathan replied.
Duke nodded, and reached out for the chunk.
Grasping it like an athlete would a basketball, he brought it up close to him.
He fished in his chest pocket for something. A moment later, he pulled out a small loupe, the magnifying tool used to examine diamonds.
"Geniune." Duke replied, rotating the glathrium in his hand as he examined it close up with the tool. "High-quality, refined raw, 100% purity glathrium ore." He replied. "This is the good shit." He announced, speaking in the same manner a drug kingpin would when examining a high-quality product.
He pocketed the loupe, and then began to rock his hand back and forth.
"Feels like…ten kilos." He replied, using his strength as a makeshift scale. "I'd say…about 10,000 credits." He replied, judging the market price of the chunk. "Maybe more."
Duke slowly placed the chunk back in the box, and turned his glance to the Head General.
"Where'd it come from?" He asked.
Shizuka smirked.
"Tsu-Tsu made it earlier this morning." She answered, causing everyone to turn to her. "Not long after the Ability Level Test."
Duke stared at her, dumbstruck.
"Are you telling me a Level 1 made this?" He asked.
"Yes." Paul replied, causing Duke to turn to him. "That's exactly what happened."
His gaze shifted from one individual to the next, looking at each one, his gaze lasting longest on Duke. "I've also shown this to the Supreme Commander." He announced. "He's placed the boy on the 'Do-Not-Touch' list." He replied.
Suddenly, as Duke looked around, he saw that everyone was looking at him.
"Hey!" He yelled, offended. "What the hell?!" He yelled. "I know how to follow orders!"
Nathan rolled his eyes at Duke's response.
"He also wants to 'show him off' during the Military Base Tournament." Paul replied. Duke sighed, and leaned back into his seat.
"Well, let's hope he's reached a high Ability Level by then." He puttered, folding his hands behind his head. "Last thing we need is to become the laughing stock among the seven bases by showing off a low-Level student."
Paul looked down at his watch. The built-in watch displayed "10:01" in the far-right corner.
"Well, I think that's everything." Paul replied, as he began to get up out of his chair and stand up. Almost in unison, all the others got up as well. "We've got a big day tomorrow." Paul replied. "Let's see what those fresh kids have to show."
Everyone left the meeting room to go to their own respective rooms for the night.
The next morning, at exactly 8 am, a loud trumpeting melody rang through the dorms, waking everybody up.
Tsukuru, who was familiar enough with old media from the previous era to get the reference, let out an amused chuckle.
"Cute." He muttered, causing the other three to turn to him.
As Quinn woke up, the first thing that greeted him was a System message.
[Daily Quest 2 has been completed. 5 Exp received. Exp: 75/100]
Tsukuru groaned, as he got out of bed.
The others all turned to him.
"Well, I'm gonna get in first." He muttered with a slightly raised hand, as he slumped towards the dorm room's built-in bathroom, the door of which was located on the room's right wall.
As he entered, he saw a bare-basics bathroom. It had a single toilet with a sink counter next to it, and a single shower stall on the far right of the room.
Tsukuru walked into the shower stall. He noticed it was completely barren, with the military not even providing a shower pouf or loofah. The school had clearly intended for the students to either buy their own supplies at that 'supply store' Tsukuru and the others had gone to yesterday, or bring their own.
Tsukuru muttered something incoherent under his breath, his eyes narrowed in irritation.
His eye twitched in annoyance, as he realized that he had completely forgotten to throw the shower pouf he owned in the Green Estate bathroom in his System's Inventory before they left, due to him being rushed.
He let out a sigh.
"Fine." He muttered, as he opened his hands and activated his Ability.
A System screen appeared in his vision.
[Skill Video Creation has been activated.]
"I'll do it myself." He muttered, as the sound of electronic interference filled the shower stall, echoing off of the wall.
Translucent, light-blue pixels appeared in his hand, the pixels producing light that illuminated the shower stall. The pixels clustered together into a wavy, spherical shape. There was a bright flash of light that blinded Tsukuru. When it faded, he was holding a shower pouf in his hand.
A new System screen appeared.
[-1 MC. MC: 19/10]
Tsukuru then flicked his finger to bring up the System's interface. The row of icons appeared. He clicked the one showing his silhouette. As he clicked it, a rectangle containing three rectangles appeared to the right of the icon. He pressed the third rectangle, labeled "Inventory".
Pressing it, he brought up his Inventory screen. He pressed the square within the grid that showed his bottle of body wash, causing a new System screen to appear.
[Would you like to withdraw Body Wash from the System's Inventory?
[Yes] [No] ]
He thought the word 'yes', and the bottle of body wash appeared in his hand.
He flipped the cap, and held it upside-down in his hand over the pouf. He dumped a generous amount onto the pouf, and then flipped the bottle back right-side up.
He thought about placing the bottle back in his Inventory, and another System screen appeared.
[Would you like to place Body Wash back in the System's Inventory?
[Yes] [No] ]
He thought the word 'yes', and the bottle disappeared, breaking down into pixels, which then faded.
Tsukuru then turned the water on and activated the shower head. He held the pouf under the water and began to rub it back and forth, until suds appeared.
He then lathered himself with the pouf, before washing it off with the water coming down from the showerhead, soaking his hair in the process.
He then opened the System interface again. Going through the same process as before, he opened the Inventory again.
He pressed the square in the grid showing his bottle of shampoo.
A new System message appeared. It was similar to the message that had appeared when he wanted to withdraw the body wash.
He thought the word 'yes', and the bottle of shampoo appeared in his hand.
He tipped the bottle over in his hand, and squeezed a decent amount into his open hand.
He then imagined placing the bottle back into his Inventory. The System prompt appeared. Tsukuru thought the word 'Yes', and the bottle of shampoo vanished, breaking apart into pixels.
He plopped his hand onto the top of his head, applying the shampoo to his hair, and lathering it.
When he thought his head was lathered enough, he stood under the shower head, and rinsed it all out.
Tsukuru turned off the water, and opened the shower stall door.