Arknights: It Can't Possibly Be My Fault... Right? — Chapter 48

Chapter 48: 6th-Circle Fireball

“So, uh… have you eaten?” Kai asked somewhat awkwardly, his fingers tightening around his bowl.

If there was anything more humiliating than oversleeping and standing someone up, it was being caught red-handed by the exact person you stood up while you were busy stuffing your face in the cafeteria.

Kal’tsit did not answer. She merely stood there, her piercing green eyes locked onto him in absolute silence.

‘Uh… is she angry?’ Kai muttered under his breath, keeping his gaze fixed on his half-eaten meal. He had been entirely too careless. He really should have asked Amiya which specific dining hall Kal’tsit frequented before deciding to grab a late breakfast here.

“I am not angry, nor is there any logical need for me to be angry,” Kal’tsit finally spoke, her voice a cool, measured stream that immediately pelted Kai into a state of slight bewilderment. “I am fully aware that you exerted your utmost effort during the previous operations, and I acknowledge the physical toll it took on your body. Therefore, as basic compensation for extreme physical strain, adequate sleep is a medical necessity. Based on the aforementioned variables, I will not reprimand you.”

She paused, her gaze narrowing just a fraction. “However, I expect there to be no next time.”

Kai looked down at his own arms. After a full night of uninterrupted sleep, the glowing, volatile Arts patterns that had previously spiderwebbed across his skin had almost completely faded, leaving behind only the faintest trace of energy.

Catching her underlying meaning instantly, Kai sat up straight. “I guarantee there won’t be a next time. If I oversleep again, I’ll… I’ll use all my personal allowance to buy treats for Ceobe.” He raised four fingers in the air, trying to project the utmost sincerity and reliability.

“I was not referring to your tardiness,” Kal’tsit replied flatly.

She walked around the table and took the seat directly opposite him, elegantly crossing her legs. Reaching into her pristine white coat, she withdrew a thick stack of printed documents and placed them squarely in front of his bowl.

If not tardiness, then what? Kai swallowed his confusion along with a large piece of steak, his eyes dropping to the bold, capitalized letters printed across the cover of the dossier.

Kai Potential Assessment v5.2.1 beta

It was even a beta version.

Kai pointed at the imposing stack of paper with his fork. “Is this perhaps…”

“This is the detailed procedural plan for the physical and Arts assessment to be conducted shortly,” Kal’tsit interrupted smoothly. “Since your mouth is currently occupied with eating, it is an optimal window for me to provide you with a complete overview.”

Without waiting for his consent, she flipped open the cover to the first page, her eyes scanning the dense blocks of text to verify the parameters.

Kai nearly choked on his steak. “Wait, can’t you at least let me finish chewing first?”

Kal’tsit briefly raised her eyes to meet his. “These procedures were originally scheduled to be completed three hours ago.”

“… Forget I said anything. Please, go ahead.” Knowing he possessed absolutely zero moral high ground in this situation, Kai could only vent his lingering frustration by aggressively stabbing the remaining meat in his bowl.

After a thoroughly educational and entirely unenjoyable breakfast, Kai followed Kal’tsit down the metallic corridors toward the Rhodes Island training facilities. Because his meal had been rushed, Kal’tsit had not managed to finish reading the entire document aloud. True to form, she used every second of their walk to continue listing off safety protocols and data collection metrics.

“Did you memorize the sequence?” she asked as they approached the heavy blast doors.

Kai nodded immediately. He was not just trying to brush her off; he genuinely understood the core mechanics of what they wanted from him. Stripped of all the medical jargon, the plan was simple: drink the Sanity Potion, beat up some training dummies, beat up the simulated environment, and then beat up some real people. He was exceptionally good at all of those things.

Seeing his confirmation, Kal’tsit pushed the heavy doors open and stepped inside. Kai hurried in right behind her, but the moment he crossed the threshold, his footsteps faltered.

Why were there so many people in here?

It was not just Dr. Y.P. standing by the control consoles. Almost the entire senior staff of the Medical Department had gathered in the observation area. Beyond the sea of white coats, a handful of elite Operators were lounging against the reinforced glass. He immediately spotted Blaze, who grinned widely and waved enthusiastically at him from the back row.

Seeing her carefree attitude, Kai felt a twinge of confusion. Did she not know about the embarrassing forum post yet?

Before he could dwell on it, his attention was pulled to the center of the training platform. Several glass vials containing the familiar, glowing liquid of Sanity Potions were neatly arranged on a metallic pedestal, waiting for him.

The moment the guest of honor arrived, the Medical Department Operators broke their silence, forming a tight circle to engage in a rapid, heated debate. Kai could not catch the exact terminology being thrown around, but he assumed they were arguing over the specific testing sequence Kal’tsit had just lectured him about.

A moment later, Dr. Y.P. detached from the group and walked over, carrying a handful of oddly shaped, metallic adhesive patches.

“Take these. Attach them to these specific biometric nodes,” Dr. Y.P. instructed, handing the patches over before pointing to several key locations on Kai’s chest, arms, and neck.

“Oh, sure. Just stick them straight onto the skin?” Kai asked, turning one of the lightweight devices over in his palm. He had absolutely no idea what they were supposed to measure.

“Mhm.” Dr. Y.P. offered nothing more, turning back toward the monitors.

Left to his own devices, Kai retreated to a quiet corner of the room to apply the sensors. He winced slightly as he pressed them down; the undersides were lined with microscopic spikes that pricked directly into his skin to secure a reading.

Once the final patch was in place, he rolled his shoulders and stretched his limbs to ensure his range of motion was completely unimpeded. Satisfied, he jogged over to the center of the testing arena where Warfarin was already waiting, a thick clipboard clutched in her hands.

“Hey, starting with your test first?” Kai asked casually.

Warfarin did not look up from her registration forms. She merely hummed a low note of acknowledgment. “Are the monitoring patches secured? After I finish running the baseline diagnostics here, remember to stay on standby. The control room will determine your next testing phase dynamically based on your real-time vitals.”

Kai shifted his weight. Why did this suddenly feel less like a combat trial and more like a grueling, multi-stage physical fitness exam?

“Okay, got it.” He kept his complaints locked firmly behind his teeth. The sheer scale and formal pomp of this assessment were starting to make him genuinely nervous. He was just a standard Operator in the grand scheme of things. Was a full-department mobilization really necessary?

Warfarin finally lowered her clipboard, her crimson eyes locking onto his face as if reading his exact thoughts. She let out a long, helpless sigh. “Do you possess even the slightest comprehension of how highly sought-after you are within the Medical Department right now? While the general staff remains ignorant of your specific condition, those of us cleared for this data are either elite Operators or senior medical directors. The physiological secrets you hold have driven every single one of us to the brink of professional obsession.”

“Huh? Am I really that impressive?” Kai scratched the back of his neck, feeling a sudden wave of sheepishness.

When he actually thought about it, her reaction made perfect sense. If he were a scientist studying a man who could manipulate game mechanics and defy Terra’s natural laws, he would probably be foaming at the mouth for data too. According to Kal’tsit’s earlier lectures, he was currently classified as a living anomaly, making him rarer and more precious than a giant panda.

“You are a walking miracle for our research. Do try not to embarrass yourself,” Warfarin said, giving his shoulder a firm pat before stepping back and signaling the control room to initiate the first phase.

[Test concluded. Please exit the testing area in an orderly manner.]

“How was that? Did the sensors catch all the data?” Kai’s voice echoed from the center of the testing ground, brimming with high spirits. Judging by the sheer volume of his voice and the chaotic energy radiating from the platform, he had already consumed the Sanity Potion.

In stark contrast to Kai’s enthusiasm, a heavy, suffocating silence had descended upon the observation deck. The medical staff responsible for data collection were staring at their monitors in muted horror.

Kal’tsit sat rigidly in her command chair, her brow furrowed in deep thought. Warfarin leaned over the console beside her, her eyes wide. “Isn’t this output a bit… excessive?”

The vampire had spent the first half of the assessment sitting in the front row with the combat Operators, preferring to witness the kinetic impact with her own eyes rather than staring at a screen. She loved being as close to the violence as possible.

Dr. Y.P. approached the command desk, clutching a stack of freshly printed telemetry charts. He slid them onto the table in front of Kal’tsit. “The readings are all here. It is simply… unbelievable.”

“Mhm,” Kal’tsit murmured, taking the papers.

The first half of Kai’s potential assessment had gone exactly as expected. Without the introduction of the Sanity Potion, his baseline physical metrics—strength, speed, and endurance—were perfectly equivalent to those of a highly strong adult male. While it represented a significant, measurable growth compared to his initial onboarding data, it remained strictly within the boundaries of normal human limits.

But the moment Kai completed the baseline trials and moved on to the potion-enhanced phase…

A deafening roar shattered the sterile quiet of the facility. A massive, blinding wave of crimson flames violently engulfed the entire right hemisphere of the testing arena. The sheer concussive force of the blast not only vaporized ninety percent of the reinforced training dummies but also generated a shockwave that sent Kai himself, along with several elite Operators who had ventured too close to the blast shield, tumbling backward across the floor.

It was a very practical demonstration that conjuring a 6th-Circle Fireball inside a semi-enclosed bunker was a terrible idea, even if Kai was actively trying to suppress the spell’s total damage output.

Kal’tsit, who had been entirely absorbed in cross-referencing the printed charts, flinched as the shockwave rattled the reinforced glass. Her feline ears twitched sharply, flattening against her head as she glared at the inferno raging below.

“What exactly is he doing?” she demanded, turning her sharp gaze toward Warfarin. “Did the previous testing round not conclude three minutes ago?”

“Huh? Oh.” Warfarin had been too busy marveling at the hellish, burning crater inside the arena to process the question immediately. “Right. Earlier, Ace and Blaze were talking about how Kai unleashed some incredibly destructive ultimate move back during the Chernobog extraction.”

“And then?” Kal’tsit prompted, her voice dropping a dangerous octave.

“And then Blaze and the others couldn’t contain their curiosity. They started goading him, demanding he show them what it looked like by casting it right now.” Warfarin offered a casual shrug, entirely unbothered by the destruction. “I guess Kai agreed.”

As for the catastrophic structural damage currently melting the testing grounds? What did that have to do with her? She was a doctor, not an engineer.