Arknights: The Holy Son's Leisurely Life — Chapter 67

Chapter 67: It’s Like Being a Sugar Baby

“Target practice is fine, but it gets a bit boring after a while,” Lucian said, casually waving a hand to dismiss the suggestion.

Ever since he had arrived in Lungmen, Lucian had strictly abided by the Rat King’s unspoken rules, leaving his Guardian Gun completely untouched. He had spent his time fighting street-level gangsters with a simple model gun, so he was not particularly worried about his marksmanship getting rusty. He simply did not feel like shooting static targets in a sterile room.

Besides, Penguin Logistics already had Exusiai reigning supreme as their resident Sniper Operator. Lucian turned his attention to the young feline medic standing beside the control console and asked, “Exusiai is a Sniper Operator, Texas is a Vanguard Operator, and Croissant is a Defender Operator, right? So what slots are left to fill?”

“Filling slots…” Folinic’s brow twitched, her expression instantly souring. “Are you playing a video game?”

She looked thoroughly displeased. Her sharp, uncompromising attitude was a perfect mirror of Kal’tsit’s demeanor—truly a direct disciple of the icy lynx. Yet, despite her annoyance, she was just as serious and responsible as her mentor, and she dutifully answered the question.

“We have Caster Operators who are skilled in Originium Arts combat, Support Operators and Specialist Operators who use highly specific abilities on the battlefield, and finally, the most well-rounded frontline fighters: Guard Operators. Those are roughly the remaining categories.”

Lucian gave her a bright thumbs-up. “Got it. I am definitely a Guard.”

As the old saying went, every man possessed a burning, melee-loving heart. Even in traditional party setups, a team needed a balanced roster of warriors, mages, priests, and rogues. Penguin Logistics was currently lacking a versatile, heavy-hitting frontline fighter, so it was only natural for Lucian to step up to the plate.

In the back of his mind, Lucian was already running the numbers. If Penguin Logistics were to recruit a fifth official member in the future, it would absolutely have to be a crowd-controlling Support class. Someone like Angelina would be perfect. Once the current situation at Rhodes Island settled down, he planned to have Angelina officially register as an Operator as well. Piece by piece, Lucian was preparing to build his own elite squad within the landship.

Unaware of the man’s grand scheming, Folinic offered him a deeply perfunctory look. “Alright, fine. A Guard test it is. First, you will demonstrate your Originium Arts, and then we will test your basic physical parameters. Guard Operators specialize in vastly different areas, but because they are required to engage enemies at extreme close range, they must possess exceptional hand-to-hand combat skills. If you do not pass this baseline, you will be relegated to logistics support.”

Lucian nodded thoughtfully. “Hmm, if I fail, I will not let it hurt my pride. Cooking in the cafeteria sounds like a relaxing gig anyway. But Miss Folinic, are you being particularly hostile toward me? Or is it just my imagination?”

“Huh?” Folinic raised a delicate eyebrow, her gaze turning frosty. “Why should I be nice to someone who bullies my teacher?, you are a man, and clearly a pervert.”

“You have got it all wrong. I never bullied Kal’tsit… You know what, never mind.”

There was absolutely no point in trying to untangle that web. Folinic likely had zero understanding of the incredibly complex, deeply layered history between him and Kal’tsit, so Lucian wisely abandoned the attempt to clear his name.

However, when a man needed to prove his worth, he had to get serious.

Lucian fell silent, his easygoing smile fading into a look of intense, unblinking focus. He stared directly at Folinic for several long seconds, his gaze so piercing that the young medic instinctively took a step back and crossed her arms defensively over her chest.

“I will take this test seriously,” Lucian said, his voice dropping an octave. “Is that acceptable?”

Ten minutes later.

“Ah… ah…”

Folinic’s face was entirely drained of color. Her hands were trembling so violently that the pen slipped from her fingers and clattered onto the floor. She looked frantically back and forth between the reinforced testing chamber and the live camera feed on her monitor, her eyes wide with absolute disbelief.

“Is this real or fake?!” she stammered, her voice cracking. “Free-flight via gravity manipulation, exceeding one hundred kilometers per hour… And he can come to a dead stop and execute sharp turns mid-air?! Does this person not experience vertigo?! Where did the physical laws of inertia go?!”

Leaning against the wall behind her, Exusiai popped a piece of candy into her mouth and said nonchalantly, “Inertia can be eliminated with a localized reverse pull. Lucian looks like he is just flying in one direction, but he is actually calculating and controlling gravitational forces from all directions simultaneously to stabilize his body. If he actually gets serious, he can float straight up into the clouds without a single hair on his head moving out of place.”

“That is completely absurd!” Folinic was so terrified by the sheer physics-breaking display that her tongue tied itself in knots. “Do you have any idea how much raw computing power that requires in a human brain? How microscopic the precision of his Arts control needs to be to achieve that without tearing his own body apart? And speaking of which, where is his casting unit?! He is not an Infected, is he?! How is he using Originium Arts of this magnitude without a staff?!”

“Who knows?” Exusiai chuckled, her halo glowing brightly with amusement. “If he can use it, he can use it, right? That is just how Lucian is.”

“That is entirely unscientific!”

Folinic, a medical professional who lived and breathed logic and common sense, could not accept the reality in front of her. She stared at the man hovering effortlessly inside the chamber as if she were looking at a literal ghost.

Inside the testing room, Lucian calmly tapped his earpiece.

“Flying to this extent should be enough to pass the mobility check, right? But just so you have it on record, I can fly while carrying other people, but I cannot make external objects fly remotely. I do know another girl who can manipulate a large-area gravity field, though. I will introduce her to you next time.”

Folinic nodded blankly, her brain completely short-circuiting. “Ah… mm… okay. I do not think anything will surprise me anymore. Probably.”

She mechanically typed out the terrifying parameters of Lucian’s ability usage on her keyboard, then leaned closer to the microphone. “Then… next is the weapon testing phase. Do you have your own primary weapon? If not, you may select a standard-issue one provided by Rhodes Island…”

“I have my own.”

Lucian raised a hand, and the air around him rippled. Out of thin air, he conjured his Floating Blades—seven crimson Originium swords of varying lengths and sizes, hovering silently in a halo around his body.

“Maximum output right from the start is fine, right?” Lucian asked through the comms. “Bring out your toughest target.”

“Mm, mm, mm!” Folinic nodded like a woodpecker. She hurriedly tapped a sequence on the control panel.

The heavy floor plates of the testing chamber slid apart, and a massive steel pillar, two meters in diameter, slowly rose from the ground. This colossal block of metal was the very epitome of clumsy, immovable brute force. It was forged from a specialized alloy highly resistant to Originium Arts, boasting extreme durability against both physical trauma and magical degradation.

A normal Guard test would simply measure how deep of a scratch the Operator could leave on its surface. But Lucian felt that was a bit too petty for his current mood.

He had decided to show off for once. Reaching out, he grabbed the hilts of two single-handed swords, smoothly locking them together to form the base of a greatsword.

But he did not stop there.

The remaining Floating Blades shot forward, magnetically locking onto the base structure with heavy, metallic clanks. In the blink of an eye, the seven separate weapons fused into a single, monstrous giant sword that was taller and wider than a human being.

This was Floating Blades: Full Blade Mode.

Lucian gripped the massive hilt with both hands and forcefully activated the giant Originium crystal formed by the splicing process.

The crimson blade instantly ignited. Blistering heat radiated from the metal, and invisible super-vibrations began to violently agitate the surrounding air. The sheer kinetic friction caused the atmosphere around the blade to distort, enveloping the weapon in a terrifying, boiling layer of blood-red mist.

Taking a deep breath, Lucian let out a low roar and brought the monstrous sword crashing down.

“Eek!” Folinic squeaked.

The super-vibrating Originium blade struck the alloy pillar. The impact immediately erupted into an astonishing, blinding flash of crimson light, followed by a deafening shockwave of noise that rattled the reinforced glass. Folinic shrieked, slamming her hands over her ears and frantically cutting off the room’s audio feed.

The veteran personnel of Penguin Logistics, however, already knew Lucian had this ridiculous move in his arsenal. They had all put on heavy tactical sunglasses several seconds prior.

Shielded from the blinding glare, they casually watched the destruction and chatted among themselves.

“How long has it been since I last saw him use that move?” Texas asked, casually adjusting her shades.

“About half a year ago, I think,” Exusiai replied, popping another piece of candy. “Remember when that Victorian capitalist absconded with all those embezzled funds? That guy’s modified armored sports car was way too fast, so Lucian had to literally cut down the entire central highway bridge to stop him from escaping.”

“Oh, right! I remember that!” Croissant chimed in, her tail flicking. “Lucian’s face was so grim that day. The cost of repairing that bridge, plus the economic losses Lungmen suffered during the repair period, ended up being way more than that capitalist’s entire stolen fortune. Wait, how did we even resolve that massive debt again?”

“Miss Swire paid for it,” Texas said flatly. “In full.”

Ugh…

Exusiai and Croissant both slumped against the wall, utterly defeated by the sheer power of wealth.

Exusiai crossed her arms, her tone suddenly dripping with sour jealousy. “That rich young lady definitely found a way to make even more money off the resulting construction contracts anyway. But seriously, Lucian really needs to be a bit tougher. Letting her pay for everything makes him look like he is just living off a woman… like a total sugar baby.”

“The initial cause of that entire incident was that you, Exusiai, got too caught up fighting a bunch of hired bodyguards and completely forgot to catch the actual target,” a calm voice stated. “And then Croissant got lost in the commercial district and failed to reach the designated stakeout location on time.”

Lucian’s voice came directly from behind them, causing both women to jump out of their skin with a startled yelp.