"The syringe… is broken again."

  "……"

  "Let's try again, this time with the orifram metal."

  Van was currently being surrounded by almost a dozen people, all wearing some sort of white mask that covered their nose and mouth; even wearing gloves as they all scurried around; casting shadows throughout the bright room.

  There were already multiple needles scattered beside the table where Van was lying, all bent and broken; with some even looking like they exploded. Queen Vivati was also there; her eyebrows were a bit raised as this was the first time she had ever seen doctors this excited and alarmed at the same time.

  It was as if they received a new toy; but every time they get too excited, Queen Vivati quickly pulls them back to the ground.

  "……Let's take a break."

  "!!!"

  Suddenly, several beeping noises started bellowing throughout the room; with the white light that showered the interior now flickering in red.

  "W… wait!"

  The doctors once again ran across the room as they all tried to stop Van from standing up from the bed, but the only thing they could do was jump around like monkeys; watching Van as he removed all the things attached to his body.

  "Let's continue this after a few hours, you guys seem tired," Van then let out a small but deep sigh as he casually headed to the room.

  "B… but——"

  "It's fine."

  Seeing the doctors almost wanting to cry, Queen Vivati finally decided to step in, "All of you can take a break as King Evans said. We'll meet you back here in 3 hours."

  "Y… Yes."

  Queen Vivati waved her hand, before proceeding to follow and chase after Van.

  And as soon as they were gone, all the doctors fell to the floor; their breaths finally having the chance to reverberate in the air.

  "Just… what kind of creature is King Evans?"

  "We… I don't think I am getting paid enough for this."

  ***

  "I know you're bored… but this will be over faster if you don't go out every other hour," Queen Vivati breathed out as she followed behind Van; his long hair flowing and almost sweeping the floor of the hallway, "You… will be able to leave faster as soon as they finish the tests."

  Queen Vivati then hastened her steps, trying to gauge Van's expression as she walked beside him. But his expression was the same as before; an expression showing that his mind was filled with thoughts.

  "What… are you thinking about, King Evans?" Vivati then asked; although she might already have an idea.

  "Home," Van then answered, "I am thinking of going home after all of this is over."

  "……Going home?" Queen Vivati blinked a couple of times, "Are you not going to deliver a message to the worlds outside the Barrier?"

  "That's why I said I am only thinking about it," Van let out a short but deep sigh as the door in front of him opened, revealing the room he had been staying in for a couple of days now, "I don't know how many worlds are out there besides ours, so I don't really have time to be resting… but I think I will be staying in this galaxy for a while, Queen Vivati."

  "W… what?" Queen Vivati took in a small gulp as she started preparing a beverage for Van, "You… are staying?"

  "I feel like if I stay here, I will find a way to reach the same speed as your ships—— a way for me to go Hyperspeed," Van sighed as he took a seat on his sofa, "That would be saving me a lot of time in the long run—— speeding through the Barriers in just hours… maybe even minutes."

  "But, according to your memory… you still have not found how your speed is increasing, right?" Queen Vivati said as she placed the beverage in front of Van, before taking a seat on the sofa as well, "You absorb Souls and level up your System, but that's not really the way your speed increases."

  "Hm… but it helps," Van once again sighed as he took a sip of the drink that Vivati made for him, "Since you've experienced my memories, then I would like your opinion…
……how do I go faster?"

  "I…" Queen Vivati was about to answer, but took a short pause to ponder for a few seconds, "I actually think you can go as fast as you want. You… yourself are limiting what you can do because… you really still think of yourself as human."

  "Is it really that simple, though?" Van breathed out as he looked outside the large window of his room, where several ships were flying outside.

  "I hope so, King Evans," the tone of Queen Vivati's voice suddenly became serious, "May… I speak bluntly?"

  Van did not answer; instead just looking at Queen Vivati and letting out a tiny snicker.

  "Because if that was not the case and leveling up is the only way you can go faster… then I am afraid it would take you more than a thousand years before you can even think to have half the speed of our ship's Hyperspeed. Our universe will be lucky if the World Eaters have still not decimated it in that time span… but you said it so yourself, they could come at any time."

  "……"

  "If only Hermes was here to teach you… they said he can move from galaxy to galaxy in the blink of an eye, right? That's even faster than Hyperspeed."

  "Now that I have seen how fast your ships can go. I actually think…
……they might just be exaggerating the stories about him."

  ***

  After a few more days, the doctors and scientists have finally been able to extract enough samples of Van's blood; completely uncontaminated by foreign objects. The first thing they did was to try and duplicate the sequence of his genetic code; but for some reason, every time they do so, the blood starts to boil and wither away.

  They have also tried injecting it in a lab animal… only for it to explode, with not even the guts left as they melted down. The latest test they did was to put Van's DNA inside the Tubes, where humans like Ameera are born.

  But alas, even with all the tweaking, the blood remained as just that… blood.

  Multiple different tests—— all turning out to be a failure.

  "W… Wait, it went through!"

  And now, Queen Vivati and the other scientists were watching from their ships, only kilometers away from the Barrier as one of their tiny drones succeeded to move through the Barrier.

  "It worked… It fucking worked again!"

  "Grah!"

  "Awoo! Awo—— Good work, good work, everyone."

  "……"

  The scientists quickly calmed themselves down as they remembered they were in the presence of Queen Vivati. But still, seeing the smile on her face, it would seem that they were not alone in their joy.

  "I… I think it's still too early to celebrate," one of the scientists then let out a small but deep sigh as he shook his head, "This method… is still too barbaric to be feasible."

  "……"

  "……"

  "……He's right," another scientist joined with a sigh, "With no way to replicate King Evans's blood, we might as well give up on this method."

  "But…"

  And soon, the celebrations turned into an orchestra of sighs. The drone that was able to pass through the Barrier was actually coated in a very thin layer of Van's blood—— held by an energy shield so that it would not be contaminated by any other foreign objects; as they found that if just a single drop of dust touches Van's blood, it would no longer be able to pass through the Barrier.

  It needed to be pure in the truest of sense—— perhaps even his own children will not be able to pass through it… ……

  except of course if he mated with himself—— a statement which quickly raised Queen Vivati's eyebrows.

  "S… so… this is the view beyond the Barrier?"

  "!!!"

  All the scientists quickly merged their faces as soon as the feed from the drone reflected through the giant screen in front of them; and even though the view was almost identical to their view outside, some of them still began crying.

  "Finally… We have managed to see the galaxy beyond ours. Our known universe will once again become boundless!"

  "Yes, now we just need a million liters of King Evans blood and we can travel—— O… Of course, that's not possible."

  One of the scientists quickly stopped her words as she heard Queen Vivati clearing her throat behind her.

  "I applaud all of you for your hard work, everyone," Queen Vivati then muttered, "Right now we can only send drones, but I am sure that all of you can think of a way to cover entire ships in the future."

  "O… of cou——"

  "I'm giving you a week," Queen Vivati's voice became cold as she looked at the scientists one by one, "But good work."

  "O… one week? But that's——"

  And before one of the scientists could even utter a complaint, the ship's warning systems started to activate.

  "He's here," Queen Vivati breathed out as she switched the view on the giant screen; and as she did so, a bright flash welcomed their eyes; slowly fading away as Van revealed himself outside the ship.

  "……Fuck,"—— was the first word they heard from him, "How long has Ameera's ship been here?"

  "You don't have to worry about that, King Evans," Queen Vivati then let out a small chuckle as she spoke through the ship's microphone; letting our vibrations outside the expanse of space, "What we can say is you've gotten faster… way faster."

  "……How fast?"

  "You…
……are now at half the speed of light."

  "Fuck…
……still too slow. Let's go again."