"Hey, look up there! What is that?"
"A black... bird? It's so fast."
"And there's a blue... butterfly behind it?"
That day, the people of Jinzhou tilted their heads skyward and spotted an unidentified black shape soaring at near-impossible speed. That was Rover, not taking his Subject Three exam so much as having already finished it.
Rover's talent proved extraordinary. The Flight module was a specialized system built for peak performance, and that pursuit of extremes made it brutally difficult to control.
Failing Subject One ten times like Chixia was rare.
Failing Subject Three ten times was far more common. Well, not common exactly, since the number of lucky souls who could survive ten mid-air accidents and still walk away in one piece was vanishingly small.
Most people who failed the Subject Three flight exam needed a wheelchair for the foreseeable future.
But with his superhuman physique, instinctive mastery over force, and reflexes that bordered on precognition, Rover had fully adapted to Flight within ten seconds of takeoff.
He even threw in a few aerial maneuvers from his previous life: high-altitude front flips, flat spins, falling leaf drifts, and more.
On the ground, the Flight module examiner's eyes blazed. She whipped out her Pangu Terminal to record every movement, shouting something between "holy hell" and "absolute legend" while mentally bookmarking it all for later study.
"Hmm, so top speed scales with how much the body can endure."
Rover had long since completed the designated flight route.
Now he was freestyling, testing his limits.
First difference from the game: the Flight module in reality offered more freedom and ran on the user's stamina. As long as you weren't exhausted, you could keep flying indefinitely.
Second, maximum flight speed depended on physical capability, and as a Rover, he had an absurd advantage there. His body was built different in every sense of the word.
The Flight module's wings were strictly for movement, though. Not like the Crownless's wings, which doubled as weapons.
"But if I ran into the Crownless again now, its aerial advantage would be cut to almost nothing. Even without her fighting alongside me, I could take it down in short order."
He shifted his flight posture mid-thought, and that was when he noticed the butterfly that had been perched on his shoulder, the Shorekeeper, was gone. Blown off by the speed.
"Oh no! Where'd she go?!"
He scanned the sky in every direction. Thankfully, the Shorekeeper's butterfly form left a burning blue contrail in its wake, easy enough to spot.
W-wait for me...
By the time the little butterfly caught up to where he hovered, Rover extended his hand with an apologetic look. The blue butterfly took one look and gave up flapping entirely, crash-landing into his palm with the graceless abandon of an emergency descent.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to leave you behind."
It's okay. I'm fine.
Lying in his palm, the blue butterfly went completely limp.
She'd gotten off easy, at least. She had wings to chase him with. Down on the ground, a certain Camellia and a certain Spider Lily could only stare at the sky in helpless silence.
Camellya and Phrolova: "..."
Rover passed the Flight module certification without a hitch. The examiner grabbed his hand with both of hers, practically begging him to stay on as a flight instructor.
"Please, master, teach us to fly!!" chorused a group of students awaiting their own exams, faces lit with worship.
"Sorry, I'm busy saving the world. No time."
"Don't say that! Master, please! If you can get us airborne, we'll do anything!"
The students who'd failed multiple times stared at him like a messiah descended from the heavens. One of them, a man in a wheelchair, had tears streaming down his face as he latched onto Rover's leg.
"Broken legs, broken schmegs. Flying uses wings, not feet! Just have someone push me off the cliff at the start. Anyway... please, carry me to victory!"
"You are one committed individual," Rover said through his teeth.
In the end he spent a short while coaching the batch of Subject Three examinees. After their last-minute cram session with the Rover himself, every single one passed. Except the wheelchair student.
He'd gotten airborne and cleared every checkpoint, but a legless bird had no landing gear. He spent half the day circling the sky with no way down.
"Turns out you do need legs for flying. Can't land without landing gear." Rover shook his head. "Worst class I've ever taught."
The examiner tried once more to recruit him.
He launched straight off the ground and flew away.
Having already memorized Jinzhou's layout during the exam, he didn't need Chixia as a guide this time. He found his destination immediately.
"Last stop. Once this is done, I can go meet up with her." A small smile crossed his face. "Already miss her a little." With that, he walked into the finest weapons shop in Jinzhou.
Inside a room hung with standard-issue armaments, an old man sat assembling components with practiced hands. In seconds, a black arm guard took shape between his fingers.
"Welcome, young man. What can I do for you?"
"I need this Originite: Type II reinforced. And I'd like to buy some backup weapons." He handed the Sword over. The old man's eyes brightened.
"Interesting. It's an ordinary Originite: Type II, but I can tell from this blade that its wielder is anything but ordinary. Your weapon is glad to serve you, but it has a ceiling."
A few sentences were enough to mark the old man as a master.
His meaning was plain: the Sword was adequate for most people, but for Rover, it fell short.
He already knew. During yesterday's battle with the Crownless, both he and she had noticed that damage dealt with the Sword wasn't much greater than what their bare fists could produce.
The blade had nearly shattered several times, too.
Freezing the Sword's time with the Temporal Mandate prevented breakage even under extreme combat stress, but did nothing for its output.
"Any recommendations, sir?"
"As a weaponsmith, I'd love to say yes. But old as I am, with eyes that aren't what they used to be, I can still tell your strength runs deeper than I can measure." He shook his head, took the Originite: Type II, and began oiling and honing the blade. "Nothing in my shop can fully channel what you've got. For a Resonator of your caliber, I'd say only the legendary Emerald of Genesis could keep up with you."
"Emerald of Genesis. Used to have a few of those in my inventory."
The name of that standard-banner five-star Sword drew a wry smile from him. Before transmigrating, he could've equipped himself and her with a maxed-out Emerald of Genesis each without breaking a sweat.
But where was he supposed to find one now? The Originite: Type II would have to do until something better came along.
Besides, it had its own advantages.
Both he and she had a habit of throwing their Swords. Doing that with a five-star weapon like Emerald of Genesis would be criminal. The Originite: Type II was basic kit. He could hurl as many as he wanted without a pang of regret.
This particular one, though, his starter weapon, carried sentimental value. He'd reinforce it to its absolute limit and use it until it couldn't be used anymore.
Then it would go into his Tacet Mark space as a keepsake.
So...
"Sir, I'd like to buy ten... no, make it twenty Swords. Quality doesn't matter. As long as they're throwable."
"Tw-twenty?!"
"I have a partner. She likes throwing them too."
He smiled. With twenty blades between them, he and she could throw to their hearts' content. For the two of them, expendable Swords were more essential than any medicine.