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ArabicChat Group Crossover: My System Simulates Infinite Anime Worlds — Chapter 13
Chapter 13: The Cultivation of a Tool-Man
[Simulation Log: Progression Report]
The day finally arrived when you achieved Current Propulsion. A current of raw power, a bio-electric field you could command, now coiled within you. To your regret, you quickly discovered this was not a technique ordinary people could learn; it was a path only you could walk.
For a time, the sheer novelty of it brought a rare sense of exhilaration. With each day’s rigorous training, you could feel the humming energy of Current Propulsion evolving, pushing toward a brand-new world of possibility.
[End Log]
On a day like any other, you and Mei returned to the familiar halls of your high school after a long absence. As you settled into your seats, the teacher announced a new arrival: a transfer student from Northern Europe.
He had a shock of short, messy white hair and a smile so bright it seemed to generate its own light. He was the very picture of a sunny, charismatic boy, and in an instant, he had captured the infatuated gazes of nearly every girl in the classroom.
His name was Kevin.
The name struck a chord deep within your memory. You found yourself taking a few extra looks at him, studying his cheerful, white-haired appearance while your mind sifted through the fragmented archives of your past lives.
Instantly, an image surfaced: a different Kevin. A man steeped in melancholy, his face an expressionless mask. He wore a specialized tactical coat, his hand gripping a greatsword wreathed in roaring flames, his eyes as cold and unforgiving as glacial ice.
Your mind began to race, rapidly deducing the connection. A conclusion clicked into place with chilling certainty: this boy, in his current state, was the perfect raw material. He was an excellent future tool-man.
In the span of a few seconds, a complete ‘Tool-Man Cultivation Plan’ had been drafted in your mind.
You mentioned the gist of it to Mei later, and she expressed no objection. Her only condition was simple: as long as you didn’t bring up Mobius, everything was fine.
Ever since that fateful encounter with the serpentine scientist, your life with Mei had shifted. You were living together now, a quiet arrangement that was disrupted every single night when Mobius’s face would appear on your screen for a video call, right on schedule. Though most of it was framed as academic instruction, a significant portion was just… nonsense.
And from that nonsense, Mei sensed something deeply unsettling. She could feel Mobius’s intense, predatory interest in her would-be boyfriend. Her mind would then drift back to the incident at the hospital, the so-called ‘accident.’ Even though it was unintentional, she had seen everything, and the memory still left a bitter, upsetting taste in her mouth.
After finalizing your plan, you began to have some contact with Kevin.
You found he wasn’t difficult to get along with. He was a genuinely good person who smiled often and loved playing basketball. His only real flaws seemed to be a certain density when it came to complex thought and a mild rebellious streak.
There was just one problem. His eyes would occasionally fixate on Mei, a look that suggested he was entertaining ideas of his own.
A faint sense of danger pricked at you. Through your constant contact with Mei during this time—living together, sharing meals, and your own occasional, carefully calculated remarks—you knew you had already raised her affection to a very high level. Neither of you had formally confessed, but an unspoken understanding had long since been reached.
One day, Kevin sought you out, his expression uncharacteristically solemn. He looked you dead in the eye and said, with the utmost seriousness, that you had to make Mei happy.
You were a little confused, not quite understanding what kind of emotional wire had been tripped in the tool-man you were preparing to cultivate.
For his part, Kevin was simply drowning in melancholy. He felt that there was no greater pain in life than this: the person he liked was already with someone else. Not only that, they were even living together.
For a while after that, you could feel the heartbroken and depressed aura radiating from him every day. It was only under the slightly stinging, backhanded comfort of his good buddy Su that he finally began to move past the sorrow.
Nearly a semester had passed since your transmigration. You watched Kevin and Su walking down the hall, arms slung around each other’s shoulders in easy camaraderie.
An idea sparked. “You know,” you couldn’t help but say, “if Su were a girl, would you just marry him, Kevin?”
The words hung in the air. Kevin fell silent for a long moment, his expression shifting as he sank into a world of self-fantasy.
Beside him, Su also fell into a state of deep thought.
Seeing both of them completely lost in their own heads, you found the situation far too interesting to leave alone.
It was time to add fuel to the fire. Taking out a pen and a piece of paper, you began to sketch. With a few deft strokes, a modified, gender-bent version of Su took shape on the page. And while you were at it, you drew a freshly baked female version of Kevin as well.
Mei, peering over your shoulder to see what you were drawing, narrowed her eyes, a flicker of amusement dancing within them.
You handed the paper to the two boys. Su, who usually had his eyes squinted in a perpetual state of calm, suddenly had them wide open.
He stared at the curvaceous, beautifully rendered versions of himself and Kevin on the paper. It was hard to imagine that his own female form could look like… that. His gaze, however, was fixed on the drawing of the female Kevin. If the real Kevin looked like that, Su thought, he might not be able to stop himself from pursuing him just like all the other boys.
A moment later, Su heard the distinct sound of someone swallowing saliva beside him. He silently turned his head.
He saw Kevin staring, utterly transfixed, at the portrait of female Su. Su could see the other boy’s throat bobbing, his gaze burning with an intensity that seemed to want to devour the person in the drawing.
A chill shot down Su’s spine and his backside clenched instinctively. A wave of revulsion washed over him, and his internal sense of vigilance shot to its absolute peak, the alarm clearly showing on his face.
Kevin, in his stupor, eventually noticed the change in his friend. After sizing Su up and down for a moment, he let out a heavy sigh and wiped away a trail of unfortunate drool from the corner of his mouth.
“I’m a man with a normal sexual orientation,” he explained, a little helplessly. “I would definitely not be interested in my own brother.”
Su didn’t believe a single word. As Kevin spoke, his eyes were still constantly scanning Su’s frame, a look of deep regret clouding his features.
You, meanwhile, simply rested your chin on your hand, watching the farce unfold with immense interest.
As summer vacation approached, you cornered Kevin. “Do you have a dream?” you asked. Under the weight of your words and persuasive tactics, combined with the fact that his good brother had been actively avoiding him lately…
He joined your so-called tool-man training program.
Deep in a remote forest, far from civilization.
Mei sat primly on a small stool, a book open in her lap. Mosquito coils burned nearby, warding off insects, while several cold drinks sat sweating on a small table beside her. She flipped a page, occasionally taking a delicate sip from her glass before setting it back down.
On the winding mountain path not far away, you were snapping a willow branch with a sharp crack. In front of you, Kevin was running at a desperate pace, a massive rock strapped to his back.
Whenever his speed flagged, the willow branch would lash across his body, eliciting a pained wail.
“Demon!” Kevin shouted at the top of his lungs. “You’re a demon!”
The willow branch in your hand snapped again. “Don’t call me a demon,” you said, your voice perfectly level. “I’m doing this for your own good. You’ll thank me in the future.”
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, the summer vacation was over.
When Kevin returned to school, his entire aura had changed. If the old Kevin was a fair-skinned, pretty-boy prince…
His current style was more akin to the hardened tough guys from Fist of the North Star. His skin was tanned from the wind and sun, and his muscles strained against the fabric of his ill-fitting school uniform.
He garnered the appreciative gazes of many boys; even Su couldn’t help but look twice.
As they say, moderate exercise attracts the opposite sex, but excessive exercise attracts the same sex.
As for you and Mei, you were now boarding a plane to the M Continent. Mobius had invited you to participate in a scientific exchange conference.
The moment you stepped off the plane, you saw the welcoming party: Mobius and Blanca.
Today, Mobius was not wearing her signature white lab coat. Instead, she was dressed in a well-fitted, professional suit that accentuated her figure. It had to be said, as long as a person was good-looking, they looked great in anything.
Beside you, Mei’s gaze toward Mobius was sharp, her internal vigilance raised to its highest level. She felt the other woman was like a coiled snake, ready to strike and steal someone away at any moment.
Mobius led you to the pre-arranged hotel, the journey passing in a tense silence. It was only after you had entered the hotel suite that she began to speak.
She started chatting animatedly, holding a stack of data printouts. She seemed extremely excited, her words tumbling out in a rush as she spoke of evolution and the deep changes her own body had been undergoing.
After listening to her near-manic speech and seeing the crazed energy burning in her eyes, you decided to give her the Meditation Method.
Upon receiving the technique, Mobius was as happy as a child who had just been given the greatest toy in the world.
At that same moment, the door to the suite suddenly swung open, and a pink-haired girl appeared in the doorway.
She greeted everyone with a warm, disarming smile. You recognized her at a glance: it was Elysia, the same pink-haired girl you had once considered slicing up for research.
She was effortlessly familiar with everyone, moving through the room with an easy grace. After a brief, cheerful introduction, she excused herself and left.
You, however, noticed something was wrong with her. If it were the old you, you certainly wouldn’t have sensed a thing. But this summer vacation, you too had been progressing, bit by bit.
You had successfully mastered the Total Realm, a state that allowed you to amplify your power points many times over.
Your Current Propulsion had reached the absolute limit described in your fragmented memories—a staggering 500,000 Volts.
Under the powerful, continuous battery of that energy, the Pseudo-Herrscher Gem had finally begun its initial fusion with your body. You felt that once you broke through to the world of Magnetic Field Rotation, you would be able to completely tame the gem and make its power your own.
And according to your heightened perception, Elysia didn’t seem to be human. Not entirely. She possessed human characteristics, yes, but her fundamental nature was different.
She was a bit like the Herrschers described in the historical records, but she lacked their characteristic crazed, destructive drive.
also, during the brief exchange, you also noticed that Elysia’s gaze was constantly, almost unconsciously, lingering on you.
Although she did it with practiced subtlety, you noticed it all. You had a feeling there would be a chance for another meeting very soon.