A Chemist's Interstellar Saga

Chapter 21: One Month Later
Chapter 21: One Month Later

”Arix, you’re reading this boring stuff again?” Cirilla’s playful voice carried a hint of disbelief.

Cassian was curled up on Arix’s legs. He opened his eyes to look at Cirilla, then lay back down with a look of disdain.

Arix was reading a book in the garden at that moment. Hearing this, she put down her ”Complete Guide to Mecha Design” and looked at Cirilla. She smiled helplessly and said, ”I thought you had gone back to Mulado. School starts the day after tomorrow, after all.”

This past month had really tested Arix’s patience. All she wanted was to quietly study mecha, but Cirilla always dragged her into fights, calling it ’training together.’

Cirilla looked at her with the expression of a bossy cat looking at a foolish servant and retorted, ”All military students need to receive professional trainings before the school really starts. Our military training will last a month, right at Hecaris. Why bother going back to Mulado just to come back? Look, I’m not here to fight today. Wait... drop that sad face of yours, okay?”

After a month of spending time together, Cirilla had come to understand Arix quite well.

Besides mecha, which could always catch her interest, Arix was like a lazy fish in other matters, the kind that only let water bring them to anywhere.

Hearing this, Arix breathed a sigh of relief. She immediately put on a smile and asked, ”So, what brings you here? Is it good news or bad?”

”Of course it’s good news,” Cirilla said haughtily, then continued, ”There’s a mecha auction this afternoon. Are you interested?”

”Interested? What kind of mecha is up for auction?” Arix perked up immediately at the mention of mecha.

”I don’t know exactly. All I heard is that Master Gunder just made a new mecha, and it’s a Star-Class,” Cirilla said, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

”Star-Class! It will be an exclusive mecha then.” Arix gasped.

”Exactly, an exclusive mecha,” Cirilla’s eyes shone with excitement.

Each exclusive mecha was an important strategic asset for the Alliance. Usually, they didn’t allow anyone but soldiers to pilot them.

Even military students of the Alliance had to get a recommendation letter from the military academy and approval from the Alliance corps to purchase their own exclusive mechas.

The AI chip in an exclusive mecha, like that in common mechas, had superb computing capabilities; however, the exclusive mecha’s chip boasted an attractive independence— to pilot it, one must bind their psychic power with it.

Once bound, unless the owner died, the exclusive mecha could not be bound to another person.

For a mecha pilot, owning an exclusive mecha was like having a faithful partner who would never betray you and could be relied upon to fight side by side on the battlefield.

Arix had ranked in the top ten in her last exams, which normally meant she would be rewarded with a Comet-Class common mecha. However, she hadn’t yet received any news about this common mecha, making the dream of owning an exclusive mecha seem even more distant.

Arix sighed, accepting her reality. ”An exclusive mecha would be great. But without the school’s recommendation and the corps’ approval, even if I bought one, it would just sit around as a doll. Still... it would be nice to just go and take a look.”

”I actually have an old one. Unfortunately, my family thinks I’ve been spending too much and started controlling my allowance. I can’t afford a new one,” Cirilla sighed too.

Thinking she needed to invite other friends, Cirilla didn’t linger much longer. She agreed to pick up Arix at 14:00 that afternoon and left in a hurry.

After watching Cirilla leave, Arix didn’t go back to her book but instead picked up Cassian and started petting him.

”Ow,” Cassian made a comfortable sound with his soft, milky voice. He nuzzled against Arix’s fingers touching him.

”Croissant, do you know about the therians of the Empire?” Arix asked casually.

Cassian stiffened for a moment, then quickly relaxed. Pretending not to understand, he guiltily licked his fur.

Arix felt the little body under her fingers stiffen briefly. Her eyes drooped, and she felt she already knew the answer.

Although Arix spent almost every day with Cassian, she wasn’t the one who uncovered this secret.

A few days ago, Drexel accidentally saw Cassian tidying up her room. He secretly collected a few of Cassian’s hairs and sent them for testing, only to confirm that this cute little puppy was indeed a therian.

Drexel’s face turned green with anger, and he stormed off to tell Arix about it.

Although surprised, Arix took it well. Whether puppy or therian, he was still Croissant, the one who cheered her up every day, and that was enough for her.

Cassian was silent for a while, realizing his identity might have been discovered.

He felt uneasy for a long time.

But when he looked up and saw Arix smiling at him as always, he gathered the courage to jump down from her lap.

When Arix could see Cassian clearly again, there was a little boy with silver hair in his place. He looked at her nervously with big golden eyes and said in a soft voice, ”Arix, I didn’t mean to deceive you.”

Arix was so charmed she felt she could barely breathe. She touched her forehead, trying hard not to faint from his cuteness.

After a moment, she gently said to Cassian, ”It’s okay, I’m not mad. Croissant... I mean, you’re a therian, so you must have your own name, right?”

”Cassian, not Croissant. I’m not a piece of bread,” Cassian said, still harboring some resentment towards his old name, emphasizing it a bit.

Arix coughed awkwardly and changed the subject, ”The Empire is very strict about protecting young ones, how did you end up all alone in the Alliance?”

”A month ago, I fell into a wormhole. When I woke up, I saw you. Also, I’m not a youngling; I’m already 18 years old. The reason I look like this is because my psychic power hasn’t fully recovered yet. Give it some time, and I’ll be back to normal,” Cassian insisted firmly on his age.

Arix was amused by Cassian’s serious little expression. She chuckled affectionately, ”Alright, I know you’re not a youngling. Are you happy now?”

Cassian nodded contentedly. He sat close to Arix, curiosity sparking in his eyes, ”How did you figure out I was a therian? I thought I hid it well.”

”Guess,” Arix teased, winking playfully.

Cassian took the challenge seriously and thought hard, but he couldn’t figure it out. He really couldn’t pinpoint when he might have slipped up in front of Arix.

Seeing Cassian’s brow furrow as if he were an old man, Arix laughed and interrupted, ”Okay, stop thinking about it. It’s not important. It’s lunchtime now, and it’s a good opportunity for me to introduce you to everyone.”

With that, Arix naturally took Cassian’s hand and started walking towards the dining hall.

She didn’t notice that Cassian’s cheeks were slowly turning pink behind her, his eyes sparkling with an enchanting light.