[[[ Mole Village / Marwan's House ]]]
[[[ The Day After the Duel / 3:00 PM ]]]
(Marwan): That's a great idea—I've thought about it before. Once things settle down and we get the iron mine running, we'll build an academy to train our young ones.
(Zeus): Brother, there's no need for all that. Just hear me out. You get me the students, and I'll take care of the rest.
(Marwan): I don't understand how you're planning to train the students without providing shelter and food. You can't do that without a proper facility and a suitable staff of workers and employees.
(Zeus): I'll handle all of that. I'll even use my own money—don't worry about the budget. I know you're all struggling financially right now. Listen, let's find a middle ground. Just send me the gifted kids from all the villages. I'll set up a one-month camp for them. That's much simpler, isn't it?
Marwan hesitated for a moment, feeling an odd sensation—as if Zeus was looking at the students like wild rabbits waiting to be slaughtered and roasted over a slow fire.
In the end, he couldn't argue further and decided to give the idea a try. If the camp succeeded, perhaps he'd allow Zeus to build the academy early in his own style.
---
"Yes, the first part of the plan went just as expected… Thank you, little sister Natalie… 'If you want a little, ask for a lot'—I'll never forget your words and your painful lessons."
Zeus left with a wide smile and headed to the markets to gather a few supplies.
Outside, there was a vehicle used by the military crew of the village forces—a two-door open-bed truck—recently assigned to Zeus. Zeus now held an honorary military rank in the new Desert Forces organization.
His rank was Honorary General.
The word "Honorary" indicated he wouldn't serve in the army in any real capacity, but he had enough respect and esteem from this army to be treated like a high-ranking commander.
---
Zeus' vehicle exited the main tunnel and headed to the village's central marketplace, located in the open-air central plaza surrounded by mountains—where all tunnels leading to the other village branches began.
"I need to send an order to the vegetable traders… Maybe twenty sacks will be enough? No, I should bring more—around 2,000 kilos of potatoes and ten sacks of rice. I also need to buy a truck… Putting all that aside, do I need anything else while I'm at the market?"
Zeus was lost in thought, planning the camp's preparations and his daily needs.
---
. . . .
[ Several Hours Later ]
[ Nebula Village ]
The old village chief read Marwan's letter and spoke in a calm voice:
"That's fast… But no matter. The earlier, the better."
(Khaled): What are you talking about, Grandpa?
"Marwan is organizing a training camp for young people with genetic talents."
(Zahraa): Does he even have time for that?
"Someone else will train them—a man named Zeus."
(Khaled): That bastard? I won't allow it.
"It's not your decision to make. But if you insist, you can go too and help with the camp. We'll gather the talented youth from our village and send them with you. Watch over them and take care of them… That's an order."
As you command, sir.
---
. . . .
[ Three Days Later ]
[ On the mountain peak beside the long ravine of Mole Village ]
Zeus' hair blew wildly in the strong wind as he stood completely focused on his work.
"Let's give it a try."
Zeus stood in front of two identical new weapons—each consisting of thirty solid metal rods, linked end to end by metallic balls that fit into the sockets at each rod's ends.
A unique sinew from a beast passed through the center of the balls and rods, ending in a sharp spearhead.
This weapon had around 30 energy storage and production runes engraved on the ball joints, and each rod had three motion runes. The sharp tip had a single rune—for explosive energy discharge.
The two chains floated in the air, extending straight ahead.
"Length: 7 meters. Let's see how far the cord can stretch."
Immediately, both chains shot forward, still held by Zeus at one end, stretching to their max extension.
"About 30 meters! That's better than I expected. But keeping the cord taut like this uses extra energy. I should limit the extension mode. Seven meters is enough for most fights. Now I just need to fix these chains—should I wrap them around my arms or build a spatial compression wristband? That'll cost money—maybe later."
The chains coiled around Zeus' arms and body, the spearheads resting near his palms.
He raised his right hand and fired a small energy orb that exploded twenty meters away, obliterating a large boulder.
"A reserve of 3,000 units—more than enough to use this thing as a machine gun!"
Indeed, Zeus reduced the size and power of the energy orbs and tested firing 50 rounds as quickly as possible—discovering that nothing hindered the firing system from being programmed to shoot 50 rounds per second.
The sound alone was incredible, and the destruction left a huge hole in a rock.
"I can still go faster. What would happen then?"
He gave the command to test again—further shrinking the energy orbs, reducing energy usage per orb, and increasing the firing rate.
In the next moment, a laser beam burst from the sharp heads of the chains, and Zeus laughed.
"Of course that's what happens! How didn't I see that coming? Now… let's go to the real deal behind this weapon."
Zeus ran and leapt off the edge of the massive cliff—around 3 kilometers high.
As he fell through the air, he savored the feeling to its fullest.
The soldiers below saw something falling from the sky—some thought it was a black rock or a bird.
Only when someone realized it was a person did the crowd fall into stunned silence.
As Zeus neared the 300-meter mark, his falling speed had skyrocketed due to the weight of his suit, weapons, and body.
At that moment, Zeus fired his chains toward both sides of the ravine, keeping one loop of each chain tied to his arms.
Using the flexible rubbery nature of the cords and the intermittent motion of the runes, Zeus dramatically slowed his fall and launched himself upward again—the chains extending and retracting so rapidly, it looked like Zeus was flying with grappling hooks.
He checked his suit's metrics—he'd reached a top speed of 750 km/h.
An incredible speed, comparable to that of sports cars—and that wasn't even his limit. That was just the natural speed he could maintain at a balanced energy cost.
Not to mention, this was his first time trying this tech. He still needed practice.
And then, he made his first mistake. In his excitement and shouting, he didn't realize he had reached the village and the end of the long corridor—now launched into the air with no walls nearby to grapple onto.
At a height of 1 km, he found himself plummeting toward the market center.
"Damn it!!! Am I going to die because of my inventions!? Damn, damn, damn!!!"
He fell faster and faster, his eyes wide open—everything around him suddenly slowed to a crawl. What Zeus didn't see was that his eyes were now filled with black veins connected to his deep black pupils.
A strange silence settled over him, clearing all distractions.
Zeus fired his hooks toward the ground at maximum speed, using the runic powers to reduce his speed as much as possible.
His landing created a dust cloud explosion and shook the entire marketplace.
People were stunned. No one knew whether to run into the swirling sandstorm to check what fell—or to flee from whatever this strange thing was.
(One of the children): Mommy, I saw him! He was a man wearing a black combat suit! We have to help him!
The mother was shocked by her son's words. Only one thought entered her mind: if it really was a man who fell, he was probably scattered in pieces. That was a sight she didn't want to see—nor for her son to see.
(Mother): Come on, sweetie—let's go. Now!
No! Wait, let go of me! Mom?