BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

There was a look of utter focus on Gwen. Her armor was taking many hits, but she ignored them since they were not enough to pose a problem, but she still had to pay attention given who she was facing.

The armor plates moved and shifted around her muscular body. Her long brown hair was visible under her helmet, making her look like an ancient knight with a long mane in her helmet.

"It won't work! I'm still going to hand you your shiny butt!" Floyd grinned. Though tall himself, he still had to look slightly up at Gwen's armored body, but that didn't intimidate him one bit.

"Take this seriously for once." Gwen charged forward. Her steps would have left small craters on the ground if it weren't because of the materials used to build the Red Palace. They were too resistant even for her to break them.

During all this time, she and the others had kept training, and since they were among the strongest in their generation, they did so under the guidance of the best teachers Frant could offer, including General Becker.

Gwen became much better than Amber in hand-to-hand combat, but that was expected, since Amber was more often than not on the battlefield with Erik.

The armor might have looked like something that would have made her movements clumsy, but she didn't look bothered by it a little. In fact, her movements were rather precise despite the bulk and utterly lethal.

Floyd prepared for her charge. "You know, you remind me of my refrigerator—big, shiny, and makes funny noises."

Gwen's armored fist shot out with devastating force, her technique perfect, but Floyd raised his hand almost lazily.

The moment her punch connected with his palm, all its tremendous energy... vanished. The impact that should have sent him flying didn't even ruffle his blonde hair.

Gwen was stronger than Floyd, at least in terms of physical attributes, but she was not as swift as him. The difference in muscle mass was too much. Gwen was basically an armored tank, while Floyd was much leaner, despite him having muscles of his own.

Besides, Gwen had at least 100 energy points more than Floyd. The problem was that his power was simply too strong.

Gwen's brain crystal power was rather simple. It allowed her to create an armor, which was, though, slightly skewed on offense rather than defense. Floyd, instead, could negate any kind of energy, of course, with limitations, but that included kinetic energy, thermal energy, electrical energy, and even the potential energy stored in objects.

However, his power also enabled him to disrupt mana flow into objects and living beings, effectively turning brain crystal powers into nothing.

However, that didn't just have defensive purposes, because Floyd could even stop the electrical and kinetic energy in a person's heart, though he rarely used this aspect of his power due to its lethal nature, unless he was on the battlefield himself.

While Amber was always with Erik, Gwen, and Floyd had been on Frant's battlefield. It was less dangerous than those their friends joined in with Erik, but it wasn't less hard for them.

Especially now that the gap between them and Amber widened because Erik gave her a new brain crystal power. The difference in strength pushed the two to train non-stop after they got decommissioned. That, though, had a reason. Becker recalled them and all Erik's friends to learn a new Neural link training technique that made them grow stronger at an incredible pace.

They knew it came from Erik, so that might have meant Becker chose them because they were his friends, or because Erik asked, but their skills were undeniable, so, even if that was the case, Becker didn't lose on the deal. He still got the technique and powerful fighters.

Both Gwen and Floyd grew stronger since they reached the 55 neural links mark. Thanks to Erik's training technique, they improved by leaps and bounds despite not that much time having passed.

It had been six months since they last saw their friends who went to Mur, and even longer—about a year—since they had a chance to compare their combat abilities.

Gwen and Floyd knew that during this time, the power gap between them had likely grown, especially considering Erik's group was constantly getting in more dangerous fights than them.

After mastering Erik's technique, they trained alongside a select group of people Becker selected. These people got so strong, thanks to Erik's technique, that they could be said to be compared to Becker before he got it himself.

Even Becker learned the technique, and his progress was remarkable. Unlike Gwen and Floyd, who were still in their fifties, Becker surpassed the 70 neural links mark within months of starting.

While Gwen and Floyd didn't mind this gap—they knew Becker's decades of experience and talent put him in a different league altogether. Becker turned into more of a monster than anyone had ever been. Well, aside from Erik. If Becker was a beast, Erik was simply a mythical monster.

However, they trained as much as they could. In truth, their growth rate had been even faster than Becker's, who had many more neural links than them to begin with.

One also had to consider that there was a war in Frant. They trained and fought until they couldn't stand anymore, but the war still forced them to stop when required.

There was a reason Gwen and Floyd were sparring. As soon as Frant's army kicked out the enemy troops from their territories, barely a week before, they started pressing Becker to send them to Mur with the others.

"That tickled," Floyd said, ducking under her follow-up strike. "Come on, Gwen, you're usually more creative than this. Is the armor affecting your brain? It's looking a bit tight around the head."

Frustrated, Gwen activated her armor's energy pulse, sending a shockwave through the ground. That was a new ability of her brain crystal power, one that she got once she made the 54th neural link.

It worked similarly to Vibration Burst, generating energy waves that could penetrate through armor and flesh, disrupting the target's internal organs and cellular structures. However, it was useless against Floyd.

The leaner man jumped, his power neutralizing the wave's energy where it touched him. He landed in a theatrical bow.

"And for my next trick..." He rushed forward, moving inside her guard. Floyd placed his palm against her breastplate and smiled. "Energy negation includes the bonds holding your armor together. Neat, huh?"

The plates nearest his touch lost their cohesion, crumbling like sand as the mana composing them got dissipated. What was worse was that Gwen couldn't get him off her.

Even Floyd gained a sort of secondary ability once he reached the 54th neural link mark, and that was the ability to negate two kinds of energies at the same time.

Previously it was blocked at once, but without this limit, Floyd became much stronger. It wasn't a new ability in itself, like in Gwen's case, but it was much better given how strong his brain crystal power was.

Floyd still remembered when he was only the seventh strongest kid in high school, and throughout his career at the Red Palace, he hadn't been the best either.

However, now he could stop even Anderson if he had been alive. Not only because of their obvious difference in neural links and strength, but also because of his brain crystal power.

Anderson's power created gigantic explosions. Floyd could have dissipated the heat or the mana, but not both.

The explosions would have had their effects reduced by whatever Floyd did, but he still couldn't stop the other effects his powers produced. Now he could.

Of course, if Anderson had been alive, no one would have said how strong he would have been or what ability he would have gained if he reached the 54th neural link mark.

Yet, knowing he was now better than him filled him with pride.

Gwen quickly backed away, but the damage was done—a significant portion of her chest protection was gone. Luckily, she was wearing a bra, or the two would have had an embarrassing situation at hand.

"That's cheating," she said, trying to regenerate the armor, but Floyd didn't give her the chance.

"And Allan won't like it!" The lightning spear user was now her boyfriend.

"Tell him I'm sorry!" He darted in again, touching different sections of her armor, disrupting the energy that held it together while Gwen tried to wrestle out of his control. However, Floyd just needed to touch her to affect her power, and stopping someone from touching you was everything but easy.

"And by the way, it's called strategy, my dear walking tank," he laughed, moving away from her desperate swings. "Besides, I thought you wanted me to take this seriously?"

Floyd could now wipe the floor with Gwen. Besides, Mur wasn't going to be so forgiving as he was. He needed to make Gwen understand how desperate a situation could be there.

Within minutes, Gwen's once-magnificent armor disappeared as if it had never existed. She stood in her training clothes, her muscular frame now visible, glaring at Floyd, who was smiling like an idiot, satisfied with his strength.

"Next time," she said, brushing sparkles from her hair, "I'll kick your ass."

"Weren't I the one joking too much?" Floyd grinned from ear to ear.