As Su Mo walked toward the center of the field, a series of three thunderous booms echoed from the direction of the swimming pool, drawing everyone's attention. "Testing the Railgun?" Su Mo immediately guessed it was Misaka Mikoto undergoing her ability test. After all, she was the only one in the school capable of making such a commotion.
By contrast, Shokuhou Misaki, another Level 5, wasn't the destructive type. Her ability, [Mental Out], was so complex that testing it took much longer and involved more steps. Logically, Misaki should have been undergoing her test at that moment, but instead, the blonde, starry-eyed girl appeared before Su Mo.
"Skipped your ability test again?" Su Mo asked, unfazed. "Yup!" Misaki grinned, flashing a V-sign with her fingers. "A girl's physical data shouldn't be so easily collected! Especially with my special ability, it's better to keep things under my own control."
Su Mo nodded in agreement. "Ability test data isn't exactly secure when it comes to people like Kihara Gensei. It's better to do the detailed testing at the Talent Workshop."
The Talent Workshop had started as a normal esper research institute, aiming to mass-produce geniuses by studying the DNA of great figures. But after witnessing Misaki's power, the researchers decided it was faster to brainwash existing geniuses than to make new ones. They took some of Misaki's brain tissue and developed a device—the Exterior—that replicated her abilities. Once it was complete, they even planned to eliminate her.
At that point, for various reasons, Su Mo got involved. He not only helped Misaki deal with the researchers but also saved her close friend's life. Since then, Misaki had placed her full trust in Su Mo. Following his advice, she brainwashed the researchers who tried to kill her and took control of the entire institute. From then on, both her and Su Mo's ability development was conducted there, ensuring their data remained confidential and secure.
"Understood, Mr. Su Mo!" Misaki replied, giving an exaggerated salute before pulling Su Mo away for a walk, much to the envy of the other students.
"By the way, Mr. Su Mo, you seem to give Misaka special treatment," Misaki teased, her eyes narrowing with a sly smile. "You've given her more tips on ability development than you've given me! Is this what they call falling for someone new? Are you finally planning to abandon me?"
"You're overthinking it," Su Mo retorted. "I just teach her more because I'm more familiar with physics than biology. And honestly, when it comes to hormone regulation, you're way ahead of me—you don't need my help there. Most importantly, you can't 'abandon' someone unless you've actually started something, right? I don't recall ever doing anything inappropriate to you."
Misaki had only grown up in the past few months, and Su Mo had never been interested in her before. Even now, she was still underage. While Academy City didn't have laws, only regulations, Su Mo had no intention of making a move on someone so young. At the very least, she'd need to grow up a bit more.
"Che—" Misaki pouted, clearly disappointed. "You always treat me like a kid."
She was clearly not that young anymore! There were plenty of adults who weren't as mature as she was! Still, matters like these couldn't be rushed. She'd have to take it slow—sooner or later, she was determined to make him recognize her charm. Gritting her teeth at the thought, Shokuhou Misaki decided to drop the subject and changed the topic herself. "By the way, there seem to be more incidents of esper crimes lately. And from what the Judgment members are saying, the abilities of the criminals don't match their original levels—they've all been boosted quite a bit. There's even a rumor going around, an urban legend, about a device called 'Level Upper' that can supposedly raise an esper's level. It all sounds pretty far-fetched to me. It shouldn't be that easy to increase your esper rank. Still, those recent crimes really are hard to explain."
The topic of Level Upper—a device that could enhance an esper's ability level—had become a hot topic in Academy City lately. In a city where ability levels determined everything, the chance to raise your rank was an irresistible temptation for students. Even though anyone with a bit of sense would doubt that a device could boost powers without side effects, most people preferred to act on impulse rather than reason. Misaki herself didn't believe there could be a device that raised levels without a price, but the fact that people's abilities were increasing was real enough.
"Level Upper…" Su Mo repeated, pausing as he processed the information. So, it had reached this point in the timeline. The spread of Level Upper meant the 'AIM Burst' arc was about to begin. The mastermind behind the arc was Harumi Kiyama, but behind her was Kihara Gensei, who had deliberately manipulated her actions. And above even Kihara Gensei, silently orchestrating everything, was Aleister.
To Su Mo, the appearance of the 'Aim Burst', that monster might have seemed like a freak accident caused by Kiyama, but in reality, Aleister's influence was likely behind it all. After all, the haloed monster was hard not to associate with angels, and when it came to angels, Academy City had its own: the scientific angel, Kazakiri Hyouka, the hidden core of the city's AIM diffusion field. The emergence of the Aim Burst monster was probably a rehearsal for Kazakiri's appearance, a test subject for collecting and adjusting data, with Kazakiri herself as the finished product.
The Aim Burst monster itself didn't mean much to Su Mo, but—"The Level Upper Network, now that might be useful." Remembering how the network worked in the original story, Su Mo's mind started racing. Users of Level Upper had their brainwaves synchronized to a certain frequency, allowing their brains to link up and share computational power, almost like cloud computing. The stronger your brain's processing power, the higher your esper level. By tuning into the right frequency, a user could tap into the collective computational power of everyone on the network—and, by extension, their esper abilities. The result was the emergence of 'multi-skill users' who could wield multiple abilities at once.
In the original plot, about ten thousand people used Level Upper, and Kiyama, who absorbed all that computational power, reached the upper limits of Level 4. She still fell short of Level 5, but that wasn't the point. The real significance was the 'multi-skill user'—someone who could call upon the abilities of everyone in the network and amplify them with shared computational power. For espers with only a single ability, this was a powerful trump card, and while it didn't mean much to Su Mo himself, it would be a fantastic way to strengthen his own subordinates.
In the world of Index, individual power could overturn everything, but before reaching that level, having a reliable force at your back was invaluable. At the moment, Su Mo didn't have many trustworthy people under his command, but the Level Upper Network could significantly boost their strength. It was definitely worth acquiring, as long as the network's controller didn't recklessly drain everyone's computational power like Kiyama did. Normally, there wouldn't be any mass comas among users, as even Kihara Gensei had demonstrated. Level Upper wasn't as catastrophic as people thought, but if the controller got too greedy, it could cause widespread problems. In that sense, choosing the right person to control the network was crucial.
T/N: We've reached Chapter 100!It's been an amazing journey so far, and I truly appreciate all of you who've followed, read, and supported the story till now. Your encouragement, comments, and feedback have kept me going chapter after chapter.
As we cross this major milestone, I'd like to humbly request your continued support. If you're enjoying the translation, please consider:
⭐ Leaving a rating — it helps new readers discover the novel.💎 Dropping some power stones — every stone motivates me to bring you more chapters, faster and better!
Thank you once again for being part of this journey. Onward to the next 100!