BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

"Two E and a D ranked power, that's not too bad," Erik said while looking at his status. He wasn't aware of Orson's and Conal's powers' ranks, but he was of Logan's. The young man wasn't even really interested in the two lackey's brain crystal powers.

Still, Logan's one would be plenty useful since he could simply kill thaids from afar without risking any danger.

"Let's try this out..."

Erik started channeling mana; he could feel it traveling from his brain crystal to the brain and from there to the rest of the body. By instinct, Erik knew what he had to do to make a poisonous mana dart, so he did so.

He concentrated the mana he accumulated on his hand. The ethereal substance started condensing on top of his palm until it became a small needle-like object about ten centimeters long and had some kind of metallic look. It glowed faintly greenish blue when held up against the light.

Erik grabbed the dart with care and observed it; he then threw it to the wall, trying to hit the spot he was aiming at.

He wasn't able to since his aim was terrible, but he found out something from this little experiment, the dart's penetration power was high, but it wasn't too strong.

Erik wondered how Logan could pierce the Lomalin's defenses with his darts since they could go very far inside a concrete wall. Then the dart disappeared as the mana that composed it dissipated.

<I wonder...> Erik thought. He then conjured another dart and activated another one of his powers, the sharpening one. He was hoping to improve the dart-piercing power by making the tip sharper.

As the dart appeared in his hands, Erik started channeling mana into the object, and soon the mana coat enveloped the tip making it sharper.

The young man threw the dart again against the wall, and this time, the dart went much deeper inside the wall.

"Wow, I can sorta combine multiple powers!" Erik enthusiastically said. "This is great news!"

The next thing Erik tried was the ability he got from Orson. It was similar yet different to the other powers he used, and Erik simply made a couple of bones protrude out from his arm.

Later he tried Conal's power, the most boring of the lot since it allowed him to partially shapeshift into an animal. It would have been more useful if he could shapeshift into a thaid.

Still, Erik was also aware that he knew nothing of these powers and that maybe he would be able to develop them further as he increased his neural links.

He had seven now and could feel the difference from how it was before gaining the biological supercomputer.

Mana moved much more freely inside his body, and he could feel his brain crystal pump a higher amount of raw mana into his body at the same time.

Though apparently, the first neural link didn't improve his stats, or better, it didn't change his DNA much besides allowing him to use the power, so he didn't improve his physical attributes.

Erik looked at his watch as he tested his new powers, only to find out he was almost late for school. He was in a bad mood despite his new abilities since killing the three boys took a mental toll on him.

Erik then went to the kitchen and immediately completed the first daily quest by having an abundant breakfast.

The usual notification appeared in Erik's field of vision, but he didn't pay it any attention and went to dress. Later he got out of his house, headed to the train station, and after a short trip, he arrived at school.

The place was the same as usual; multiple students were rushing out of their cars to enter the building. All the students wore the same uniform and carried tablets full of books under their arms.

They walked towards the entrance doors, passing through the main gate where they could see many students waiting outside for their friends, talking with each other.

There weren't any teachers around, but the bell rang right away when the gates opened, signaling that classes had started.

Apparently, Amber, Gwen, and Floyd weren't at the main gate to wait for him as they started doing recently.

<I guess I upset them,> the young man thought. He knew he hadn't been very polite yesterday, but panic set in, and he wasn't in control of himself.

As Erik walked toward his class, he passed by Principal Harris' office while being able to see what he was doing. There were six people inside the room.

They had troubled faces and alarmed looks. Erik stood there looking at the people inside the room until he finally recognized one of them, it was Logan's father. The young man didn't see him often, but he remembered when the bully's father came to school to pick Logan up.

<Those must be Conal's and Orson's parents, then...> Erik guessed as he observed the people inside the room. At a further glance, he could also see some similarities between Conal, Orson, and their parents. Conal had his father's upturned nose, quite small, and a tip pointed upward, and his mother's green eyes. Orson, instead, took his father's colossal build and her mother's oval-shaped face.

He never saw their parents before, but the similarities between them and their sons were astonishing, making it easy to understand who they were.

Erik couldn't understand their words, but he had something in mind. They were probably searching for their sons, who were last seen at school.

***

"Are you sure they were last seen here at school? Mister Harris?" Logan's father asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. I've asked their teacher, and she said they were in class until the last lesson. Afterward, they went out with all their classmates, but we have no more information from that point onward."

"Someone must have seen them after they left class!" Orson's mother said with worry and apprehension in her voice.

"We are doing all we can, Miss Smyth..." Principal Harris replied. "We will find them," he added.

The group quickly left the room, followed by two police officers.

After the incident with the kids, the principal called the cops to help search for them. With the recent increase in crime rate all around the city, especially the theft cases, the police needed extra hands to solve these crimes. This led them to mass recruit militaries who had just ended their ten-year mandatory service into their ranks.

Principal Harris was not really happy about calling the authorities since this brought a bad light to his school, but he understood the situation and did what he had.

As soon as he heard that the kids were missing, Principal Harris ordered everyone to keep quiet about the matter to avoid panic among the students. Still, it was clear that they would find things out sooner or later.

Logan and his friends were infamous at school. It wasn't only because of their confrontation with Erik inside the cafeteria but also because of the bathroom incident and the countless rumors about them bullying many low-ranked students.

However, none of this mattered now. Their disappearance had hardly anything to do with bullying, in his opinion. After all, what sixteen years old student would do something so complex and dangerous as to kidnap or kill three students?

Besides, only low-ranked students would do something like that, but they didn't have the capabilities. In his opinion, the three students were probably kidnapped or robbed by some street thug.

A few minutes after the cops and the parents left the school, Erik entered his classroom. He was trying to recall what he did yesterday as much as possible, hoping he didn't make any mistakes along the way.

It was impossible for them to find the three boy's bodies since they were outside of the barrier. Still, they would likely connect their disappearance with him if a camera had caught him without his mask on the train.

<I really hope thaids got rid of the three pricks' bodies...>