Seed of Titan-Chapter 195: The Newbie’s Dossier

While Drai froze, his eyes kept watching as Gramps floated to Danny, who immediately slapped his butt upon his arrival and blurted, "Wake up, old man!"

This startled Gramps awake, and he started flailing around when he realized he was no longer lying on the sofa. At the same time, his body began to lower, and his feet were soon back on the firm floor.

"Thanks, Ghost," Danny said while giving a thumbs-up to seemingly no one. He then turned to the groggy Gramps. "You got a whole night to sleep, old man! Now, go introduce yourself!"

After rubbing his eyes with an annoyed look, Gramps turned to Drai.

"Linus, Gramps—call me whichever, bud," he curtly introduced himself before taking out an unfamiliar device from his pocket, quickly immersing himself in it.

Before Danny could scold Gramps again, someone else spoke up.

"That’s enough, Daniel," said the bookish man with an authoritative tone.

Drai was quite surprised that Danny managed to swallow back his words without complaining. From Drai’s short observation on his squadmates, he had been thinking that Danny seemed uncontrollable. Drai had even begun suspecting that Danny was actually their squad leader, which worried him quite a bit.

Frost, the bookish man, then gestured at the pigtailed lady to continue.

"Hi, I’m June, but most people call me Cubes," she said. "I’m a mechanic and heavy weaponry specialist. Nice to meet you, Drai, and welcome to the squad."

"Likewise," Drai replied.

"Hello, Drai," the curvy brunette immediately followed up. "I’m Mandy. I mostly handle incendiaries, explosives, and heals. I’m glad you joined—we’ve been looking forward to a new member for quite a while now."

"Oh? Did you lose a squadmate or something?" Drai asked.

"Uh... Yeah, something like that," Mandy hesitantly muttered while glancing to her right where the rest of the squad stood.

Realizing that he had probably touched a sensitive matter, Drai quickly added, "Everybody here has a nickname. Don’t you have one too?"

"Well, I do, but no one here ever uses it," she replied, seemingly relieved that Drai hadn’t dwelled on the previous matter.

"May I know why?" Drai asked further.

Instead of Mandy, Danny was the one who answered, "Because her nickname was popularized by perverts."

Hearing this, Drai’s eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement.

"They call her Candy, you know, from ’eye candy’," Cubes added.

Drai’s frown deepened as he stared at Mandy, failing to understand how her voluptuous figure had resulted in such a nickname.

’Do people actually enjoy seeing all these pointless layers of fat?’ he silently questioned.

Drai’s peculiar reaction somewhat baffled the others, since they had expected him to simply nod understandingly to Cubes’ words.

Meanwhile, Mandy inwardly sighed as she looked at the seemingly confused Drai who was staring hard at her body.

’Welp, looks like we ended up with another weirdo who can’t appreciate these curves,’ she thought before glancing at her other male squadmates.

"Nas," Frost suddenly said, causing Drai to withdraw his gaze.

Just then, a breathy male voice whispered into his ear.

"Naseem, infiltrator. Welcome, friend..."

Feeling a cold chill on his back, Drai warily turned his head to the right. Yet, no one was there.

Except for Gramps, who was still preoccupied with his device, and Frost, the rest of the squad chuckled upon seeing Drai’s reaction. Danny had even burst into laughter and was clinging to Beachball, otherwise he would’ve collapsed to the floor.

Seeing this, Drai merely scratched his head.

After the laughs subsided, Danny remarked, "And that’s why we call him Ghost."

"Can you guys see him?" Drai asked as his eyes scanned the room.

"No, but we can notice his presence," Cubes replied while pointing to the side.

Following her lead, Drai squinted hard as he inspected the seemingly empty wall and door. Before long, he noticed that something was amiss.

"The wall and door are a bit distorted..." he muttered as he gazed at the invisible figure that was rippling the scenery ever so subtly.

"Yep. It’s nearly impossible to spot if one doesn’t look closely, but we’ve all adapted to it and can spot Ghost quite easily if he’s close enough and doesn’t deliberately conceal himself further," Cubes explained.

Drai then waved at the distortion, and he watched in astonishment as part of it shifted and moved back and forth, presumably waving back at him.

"It doesn’t help that Ghost doesn’t like to make a noise either," Mandy added. "He wouldn’t have scared so many people to death with his abrupt presence if he had warned them beforehand."

"Why not whistle a tune or sing something before you whisper into someone’s ear, Ghost?" Danny suggested.

Drai waited for Ghost’s reply while wondering if he’d follow the reasonable suggestion, but in the end, it never came.

"So is his invisibility permanent?" Drai asked again.

"Who knows? He never explained his ability to us," Mandy said.

"Oi, Ghost, how about you enlighten us now? It would be a pretty nice welcome gift for our new member, don’t you think?"

"Alright, let’s stop bothering Nas," Frost ordered before looking at Drai. "Greetings, Private Drai Varz. I am Sergeant Harr Amyew, the head of this squad, both in rank and function. I also serve as a combat support focusing on crowd control. Like the others, you may drop the formalities and simply refer to me as Frost, and I will also address you with your first name from now on. Are we clear, Drai?"

"Yes," Drai replied, secretly relieved their leader didn’t seem eccentric, unlike most of the others here. In addition, despite Frost’s unusual surname, it sounded somewhat familiar to Drai, as if he had heard it somewhere before.

"Now, do you want to tell us more about yourself or do you want me to do it?" Frost asked.

"Huh? You know about me?" Drai asked back.

"Only what’s written in your dossier from our database, and perhaps a bit more."

The last part of Frost’s statement intrigued Drai, but he decided not to pry. Instead, he told the squad leader to do the honors since Drai was curious what his dossier contained, though there was no guarantee that Frost would reveal every single detail there.

"Very well. Now, listen closely, everyone—that includes you too, Eric," Frost said as he turned his palm up and flexed his index finger, instantly encasing the device Gramps was holding in a thin layer of ice.

Ignoring Gramps’ obvious annoyance, Frost pulled up Drai’s dossier on his comm and began to read aloud.

"Drai Varz, born in Pontia, 2480. Only child. Lived the next 18 years with his parents in his birth town. Admitted to Soluna Academy after his awakening early this year under the recommendation of Professor Ravismus Ondor. Average academic performance—poor in theoretical studies but remarkable in applied lessons. During a student group activity, managed to discover a valuable research site. Took part in thwarting the invaders during the invasion of Soluna Academy. Went missing for two months after the invasion on Soluna Academy, which according to his recent testimony, was when he stayed in Shadowfen Caverns until his eventual escape. After returning to the capital, resided in the Velles estate until he enlisted here today as a special recruit recommended by General Alancho Skyward."

Frost then paused and raised his hand, quieting the squad members that had turned restless and seemingly wanted to interject.

"Let me finish first," he sternly remarked before turning back to his comm. "No criminal records. Personality assessment result: good. Affiliations: Soluna Academy, Velles Family, Demos Faction. Notable close associates: Ravismus Ondor, Christopher Maglan—"

"Daniel Cadent!" Danny gleefully added, earning him a collective side-eye from his squadmates. On the other hand, Frost merely flexed a finger in response.

"No more interruptions, please," he then said.

The others nodded frantically as they nervously glanced at the crestfallen Danny whose entire lower face was now wrapped in ice.

"Continuing from before... Natalia Skyward, Auridio Velles, Bismar Soltine, Haloeiva Astra, Muzianne Westwind, Alancho Skyward, Zar Augra."

Drai was stunned as he listened to the rest of the names. Although most of the people in the list were to be expected, he had no clue why his Valiant Ventures seniors were mentioned too. However, he had no choice but to put aside his questions for now, since he didn’t want to end up like Danny.

Meanwhile, Frost continued, "Current status: On an indefinite LOA from Soluna Academy; Member of the Seventh Squad, First Platoon, Alpha Company, Scarlet Army. Current level: ten. Physical-based class, extremely high strength and constitution, above average agility and dexterity, unknown intelligence, cannot wield mana, unknown other attributes. Notable skills: body enlargement, flight. Weapon choice: None. Feasible roles: Heavy assaulter, breacher, protector, aerial striker, aerial scout."

Hearing these details, the squad couldn’t help but scrutinize Drai, since his appearance didn’t seem to warrant such commendable strength and constitution. And after taking his age into account, everyone there felt that their new member was sort of an enigma—everyone except for Frost, whose voice hadn’t wavered at all as he read the last few bits in Drai’s dossier.

"Additional notes: Parents currently missing. Idolizes Alancho Skyward. EFK and more. Owns a dimensional storage. Obliterated a testing machine in the basic testing area during a pre-enlistment test."

Skimming the whole page again, Frost finally remarked, "Alright, that’s all we—"

A tiny notification suddenly popped up on the page Frost was viewing, cutting him off. After seeing what it signified, the sergeant refreshed Drai’s dossier before reading aloud the few details that had just been added to it.

"Broke a testing machine while playing around in the basic testing area shortly after his pre-enlistment test. Multiple photos and short clips of him after creating a ruckus in the testing area are spreading among the residents of the Scarlet Operations Facility, along with his tentative nickname, ’Monster’."