—The Ideal Human Project. The Black Company. The Gods’ Blessings.

What do they have in common?

***

Dropping down into the middle of a hallway, Lake bent his knees to break the fall. With a light thump, he found himself in the women’s section of the complex once again. In this section, the lights were completely off, but it was clear that light was leaking through from nearby rooms.

There were security cameras around, but as long as he wasn’t found out immediately, they wouldn’t be much help. It was inevitable that they’d know he was gone the next morning regardless.

Slowly making his way through. Listlessly, he looked around to observe the general layout of the facility. In such a large complex, there was likely a way to make it through to the exit if he was able to get a map of the route.

Walking around, he continued to build his mental image.

He was the perfect human, after all.

With predictable patrol patterns and a simple facility layout, Lake slowly walked through, evading the guards. For the system to set such an easy challenge for him, it was clearly more than just give and take.

Give and take. Equal trades.

Making his way down to the ground floor, he had still avoided the discovery from any personnel in the entire building.

Eventually, he reached a point where it wasn’t possible to completely avoid the guards. Hearing one approaching, he simply moved around the corner.

Click.

They unlocked a door to one of the rooms and entered.

Lake swiftly moved inside behind them.

For a brief moment, the guard didn’t notice Lake’s presence in what appeared to be a research room of some sort. When she began to turn her head around—it was already too late.

With his arm around her neck, not a word came out of her mouth.

“A-ah… a…”

Strengthening his grip, Lake stopped her from breathing completely. After a few moments, her body fell limp as Lake laid her on the ground.

…

Quickly observing the room, there wasn’t much to note. However, before he left, he noticed a single stapled document under a few other random administrative papers. It appeared that several pages had been torn out, leaving only two pages remaining of the document.

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CONFIDENTIAL - DO NOT OPEN

Final Report on Complex IV

04/12/2044

THERE WILL BE SEVERE CONSEQUENCES FOR THOSE WHO READ THE CONTENTS OF THIS DOCUMENT WITHOUT PERMISSION.

()

Abstract: To determine the viability of the Psychological Strain Hypothesis (PSH) in children to induce a God’s Blessing. Due to several developmental failures and major oversights, this project has been discontinued in Complex IV. However, results may indicate correlation in some cases. Subject Mia Hurtig has been moved to Complex II to continue testing.

(1) Introduction

Since the discovery of the God’s Blessing(s) in some women, attempts to recreate this incredibly powerful boost in strength have been tried and failed. It has been observed that trauma at a young age has been correlated to receiving such an ability. It has also been observed that interactions with men have been crucial in inducing this for an unknown reason.

(2) Initial Phase

In selecting a subject, we have been able to identify Mia Hurtig as someone meeting all criterium required to have a high chance of success. She will not be informed of this experiment in order to prevent insubordination. She will be allowed to develop within the facilities of Complex IV and later Complex II in order to build psychological strength.

We plan to utilise The Black Company’s theorem in order to increase the chance of success. In the case of a major failure, the action plan on page 7 will be followed—

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The remaining pages of the document appeared missing.

“Well isn’t this interesting. The men aren’t the lab rats, Mia Hurtig is—she was being used in order to gain something called a god’s blessing.”

Lake folded the document and hid it underneath his shirt.

“She’ll like to see this.”

Another guard would be approaching soon. Sliding the unconscious guard’s body into a nearby cupboard, Lake quickly got on the move once again.

His path would barely avoid the guard who was patrolling the east section of the complex. As such, he didn’t have any more time to explore the research room.

He continued down the wide corridors of the facility, deducing the direction to the exit. Eventually, the evidence of his escape would be found, but with his research article on Mia Hurtig, he did have some ammunition against them.

All he needed was a little head start after all.

*

Arriving at the exit of the facility, there appeared to be an alarm attached on top of the door. It was quite obvious that it was for preventing intruders from entering as opposed to people from leaving. As such, Lake simply unlocked it from the inside by breaking the circuit.

Sliding the door open, he was suddenly greeted by a gush of cold air.

Pulling the door back, he closed it behind himself. At this time, the timer had begun as to how far he could travel before he was found. It was possible that Mia Hurtig wasn’t the only person who might chase after him. In such a case, he’d have to fight—maybe even fight a losing battle.

Looking around, he observed the scene. Having been led through the city by Mia the previous day, it was clear the direction that Lake had to go.

He was to leave the city and try to seek out the truth in another area—with his newfound knowledge.

[Easy, wasn’t it?]

“I suppose so.”

[I thought so. Well, my reward was a little misleading. There’s not much to it]

“What do you mean.”

[You explained it better than I ever would]

***

—Future me, find The Girl Who Was a Gift From God. That’s the first step to saving the person most precious to you.