A Chemist's Interstellar Saga

Chapter 38: She Wants It Both
Chapter 38: She Wants It Both

Bauer was leaning against the window, comfortably smoking a cigarette.

From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Ortiz looking scared and started to mock him, ”Come on, you’re a lieutenant of the Fifth Legion. How can you be afraid of a military academy freshman? If this gets out to the legion, you’ll be the laughing stock.”

Ortiz didn’t care about Bauer’s mocking and retorted lazily, ”If we keep this between us, no one will know.”

”Coward,” Bauer rolled his eyes in disgust.

”Coward or not... That depends on who it is. We all know that there’s a high chance Drexel will be the admiral of the Fifth Legion in the future. Try being brave against him...” Ortiz replied unwillingly. Then he thought of something else and added with relief, ”Luckily, he’s young now and easier to fool, or else we couldn’t have settled today’s matter so easily.”

”Could it be that there really was a problem with the weight ring today?” Bauer frowned seriously.

”Logically, we were correct, but Arix just can’t be dealt with by usual standards,” Ortiz said with a gloomy face. He forwarded the information he had just received on his optic computer to Virtanen and Bauer, then continued, ”This is from the medical room, just sent over. Arix’s health report. Take a look.”

After both had carefully read the information, Bauer, speechless, rubbed his forehead and said, ”It looks like President Gunder has set a trap for us, and we just walked right into it.”

Virtanen’s face looked bitter as he complained, ” A body neglected for over a decade, nourished well for just one month, and then trained for another month to rise to Star-Class? If there were such a good deal in the world, let me be the first to know.”

”Stop dreaming. It’s not even dark yet, and you’re already dreaming so sweetly,” Ortiz shot Virtanen a glance.

Bauer, somewhat skeptical, frowned and said, ”But Ortiz, are you sure there’s no mistake with this medical report? She’s been malnourished for over ten years? If we consider interstellar law, that’s enough to charge the Kering family with child abuse.”

Ortiz sighed, ”One hundred percent correct. I asked Marlone, and he said his niece Arix has been drifting on Planet Waste all these years. It was only a month ago that she was found and brought back to the Kering family. Otherwise, her physique wouldn’t just be at Planet Class. But given the living conditions on Planet Waste... her merely being malnourished is actually the best outcome.”

”What about her psychic power? If she really was just at Planet Class, even Moon-Class physically, she should have died a long time ago. She couldn’t have survived until now,” Bauer asked curiously.

”Oh, I heard that a month ago she only had Moon-Class psychic power. Then, someone made her drink poison. They intended to destroy Arix, but it ended up fully awakening her Supergiant-Class psychic power instead,” Ortiz explained. He found the story increasingly melodramatic, as it resembled the plots of webnovels he read on the interstellarnet.

The main character doesn’t die on Planet Waste, doesn’t die from poisoning, meets a noble benefactor, enrolls in the military academy, finds her biological parents—it was like a checklist for a protagonist.

”Ortiz, did you think of something?” Virtanen noticed Ortiz was silent for a while and asked in confusion.

”I’m thinking that maybe we underestimated Arix,” Ortiz muttered.

”We definitely underestimated how fragile Arix is. High-intensity training seems unsuitable for her now. For now, let’s stick to the normal training regimen for someone with Planet-Class physique, and we’ll see about the rest later,” Bauer decided firmly.

Ortiz wanted to say more; he actually thought Arix seemed very much like a protagonist. So, he felt even if they pushed her to the limits in training, she’d likely be fine. After all, most protagonists are like weeds, always bouncing back.

But in the end, he wisely kept these thoughts to himself. After all, a novel is just a novel, not to be confused with reality.

The medical room was bustling now.

This time, many students had gotten injured during the weighted cross-country run. However, most of them had minor injuries like sprained ligaments or twisted ankles, which were quickly healed with a scan from the treatment device.

Those with slightly more severe injuries, like Arix, just needed to spend half an hour in the healing pod before being transferred to a regular bed. Students who had just woken up and didn’t want to stay in the hospital could even go back to their dorms directly.

Drexel, who was looking after Arix in the hospital, politely saw off five girls who had come to visit Arix. Then he sat back down beside the hospital bed, continuing to peel the fruit in hand.

Arix was on the hospital bed, and now her fingers twitched for a bit. She slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to see Drexel, who was focused on peeling the fruit.

”Drexel...” Arix called out in a hoarse voice.

Drexel looked up with a bit of surprise, ”You’re awake! Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

”Water,” Arix’s voice was hoarse and weak.

”Oh, right, right, just a second.” Drexel hurriedly got up, put down the fruit, and clumsily poured a glass of water. Ta carefully handed it over.

Arix sat up, leaning her upper body against the headboard, and took the water from Drexel. She drank the whole glass and finally felt her throat ease.

”Thanks, I’m fine now,” Arix said with a gentle smile towards Drexel.

Drexel took back the empty cup and hesitated for a moment before carefully asking, ”Do you know everything that’s been going on?”

”What do you mean? About my psychic power or the tampered weighted ring?” Arix said nonchalantly.

Arix was well aware of her own condition. A mismatch between her physique and psychic power? She thought she just needed more training. That was also why she didn’t speak up, even though she knew something was off with the weighted ring.

Drexel was a bit flustered; he was a bit surprised that Arix knew everything.

”So, what are you thinking now? How about we skip the hardship? After the training ends, let Mom and Dad get you some supplements to improve your physique,” Drexel said, worried about Arix’s condition but reluctant to see his sister suffer through the training.

Arix looked at Drexel, who was obviously distressed, and smiled. She reached out and grasped Drexel’s wrist, comforting him with a laugh, ”Alright, stop worrying. You’re frowning too much and the wrinkles are starting to grow.”

”How can I not worry? You’re my only sister,” Drexel said this, but his heart felt a bit more at ease. He then asked, ”So, what do you plan to do next?”

”I guess I’ll just follow the instructors’ training plans. Then, I’ll take those supplements you mentioned,” Arix said casually.

Drexel rolled his eyes and muttered, ”Here I am worrying about which option you should take, and it turns out you want to take them both?”