Zeus noticed Natalie and Mira sitting at a wooden table nearby, and he asked in surprise, interrupting their hushed conversation, which he couldn't hear clearly:
"Why do I see you two here so often? What about the academy?"
(Natalie): "I told you, this man is a complete idiot."
Mira slapped Natalie on the shoulder and answered Zeus's question:
"Right now, it's general holiday time... we'll be returning to the academy next week."
She looked at Aaron and added,
"Strange to see you walking... I couldn't sleep last night because of your screaming."
Mira laughed after saying that, while Aaron's face clearly showed irritation.
When Zeus noticed Aaron was about to start a fight with his sister, he pulled him away, wrapping his arm around Aaron's neck and starting a conversation on the one thing Aaron loved to talk about most:
"I found a place full of beautiful girls."
"...Really?!" Aaron said, excited. "Is it somewhere I don't know?"
(Mira, quietly to herself): "Girls? ...Was Zeus this kind of person two years ago?"
"No, that's impossible... I know my brother well. He's never had a girlfriend in his life and never cared about such things. But I do have to admit he's an expert at making women angry."
"I don't recall ever seeing him treat any woman badly... for example, he's been nothing but respectful and polite with me."
Natalie stared in shock, eyes wide open.
Mira shook her head at Natalie, a clear "what the hell?" expression.
"Did you just say he doesn't treat women badly?!"
"You're not counting yourself, are you? You're his sister. It's not weird for him to give you a hard time—especially since you're always the one to start the fights."
"Whose side are you on?!"
"I'm on the side of truth."
"You traitor! I'm your best friend! You're supposed to stand by me—even if it's against the truth or anything else!"
"You're exaggerating... forget about them now. You were talking about your combat suit. I don't think it's a big deal—you can wait another year to make those modifications."
"But my body never grows!"
---
[Three hours later / 1:00 PM]
About an hour after Aaron left, Zeus got to work on the twenty daggers that had arrived via a small drone delivery.
He had finished all of them.
Zeus activated his combat suit's armor, which surrounded his body in a black metallic shell, complete with a built-in helmet equipped with various support systems.
He then controlled the daggers—each embedded with an energy storage rune and three motion runes of different types.
The twenty daggers began to float around him, quickly shifting positions, then stopping suddenly with each linear change.
Eventually, they formed a formation, all pointing their sharp edges straight ahead of Zeus.
Suddenly, they shot forward at high speed, covering over 20 meters and slamming into the wall in half a second.
Zeus thought to himself:
"Most second-level genetic fighters probably wouldn't be able to dodge those daggers... unless they specialize in defense or speed."
The daggers flew back to Zeus, lining up on the ground beside him—except for one, which returned to his hand.
He checked the energy usage of the dagger and conducted several tests, concluding that:
If the dagger was used at full capacity—with constant floating, rapid thrusts every second, and sudden evasive maneuvers—it would only last for 30 seconds.
However, if he removed the evasive maneuvers and limited the thrusts to a single powerful strike, the duration would increase severalfold.
Zeus realized he could fight for a long time using these daggers one at a time—or maybe in sets of five—especially since the drained daggers would be recharging constantly.
Still, he decided to improve the weapon further by adding a valuable metal piece to the base of the dagger, allowing room for another energy storage rune.
Another crucial idea struck Zeus—he needed a holster for the daggers.
It wasn't practical to scatter them all over his body, and definitely not feasible to strap them all around his waist.
He kept thinking until he spotted a rotating disk.
"This might work... I need to find Lily."
---
"So, when are you coming back?"
"I don't really know... if you're in a hurry, you can go to another smith."
Zeus spoke with his sister through a digital call for a while, then said goodbye.
As he considered going to a workshop in the city, he remembered that Mira was studying Mecha Engineering.
"If she can use Lily's workshop equipment, it could save me a lot of time."
Also, Zeus's ideas didn't really require a professional's touch.
He opened his contacts list and scrolled through until he found Mira's number.
---
[Current Time / 1:15 PM]
Somewhere else, in one of the city's markets…
Mira was with a group of her friends when she received Zeus's call.
"Who is that?" one of them asked.
"Sorry, I need to take this," Mira said as she stepped away and answered.
"Hello."
"Hi."
"How are you?"
"I'm doing great. How about you?"
"Not so great."
"Did something happen?"
"No, but I'm having trouble building my weapon... I know I've been asking for your help a lot lately, and I'm really sorry about that, but I don't have anyone else I can call. I wanted to ask if you knew a good technical smithing workshop."
"Zeus, don't say that again—you're not causing me any trouble. I'm actually happy to help. As for your question, yes, I can recommend a really good one."
"It doesn't have to be professional. What I want to make is really simple, but I have no experience with tools—otherwise I would've just used Lily's workshop."
Mira paused for a moment. Zeus waited, expecting and hoping for the offer he knew might come.
"If it's not something complicated, I can make it for you at Lily's workshop. I mean, I'd gain experience from it too—and we can make any changes later if needed."
"That would be great, but I really don't want to bother you or wear you out."
"Don't worry about that. I told you—don't say that again. You're not bothering me at all. I'm happy to help you with projects like this."
"If you insist, then I won't argue anymore. So, should I see you when you're free?"
"Yes... how about this evening? If that works for you, I'll come over today."
"Perfect. I'm totally free these next two days before I return to active duty with the squad."
"You got reinstated?! That's really great news!"
At that moment, one of Mira's friends called out:
"Hey girl, we gotta go!"
"Zeus, I have to hang up. See you tonight, bye!"
"No problem... see you later."