As the only one of the two who remained conscious during the collapse of the gate, it was Elane’s turn to speak now. Though it was clear to both of them that she seemed quite reluctant to do so.

’Things must still be awkward between her and her father.’ Rohan guessed.

It wasn’t hard to pick up on the hints that ever since her first, second and third failed Awakenings, Elane’s relationship with her father must have changed in some ways. To Elane, all these changes were probably for the worse.

Though Rohan wasn’t going to pry, it was interesting to watch the dynamic between the two.

’Beats not having any parents at all, like me.’

"After that... the boss finally succumbed to its injuries, and so we were able to escape alive before the horde got to us." Elane replied, choosing to go along with Rohan’s story. She could tell that he didn’t want to explain himself right now, especially after only just waking up from that day’s events.

She stopped talking after providing that small input.

Elane did want to talk some more with Rohan about what happened after he passed out, but not while her father was present.

"I see. So this Liam character, he’s definitely been taken care of?" Harland asked. It was abundantly clear that someone like that shouldn’t be allowed to roam freely in society with everyone else.

People who could sacrifice a hundred other people and not bat an eye like him were thankfully rare, but they did unfortunately exist. Rohan and Elane were just unlucky to meet one themselves.

"Hmm. Well, that’s all I need on that front. If I need you to follow up on anything, I’ll just ask Elane."

Harland stood up after that, putting on an overcoat with such grace the man had to have practised it hundreds of times. But it didn’t seem like he was heading out to leave; instead, he moved over to Elane’s side and glanced at her with a renewed look of pride, mixed with a little guilt, then looked over at Rohan with curiosity.

’Huh? No way...’

Rohan wasn’t focusing on his following actions, though; instead, he focused on the coat the man had just donned. In particular, the striking badge placed on the chest.

’H-he’s a Colonel in the Federation’s Self Defence Force!?’

It all started to dawn on him now.

Why Elane seemed to be so knowledgeable despite never actually thinking she’d be an Awakened. Why Harland was there, waiting in his room instead of an official from the government.

Even why Elane seemed so awkward and timid with her father’s presence there...

Rohan couldn’t help but shoot a sharp gaze at Elane.

’Your father’s a big shot...’

The Self Defence Force was the most elite and respected branch of the Federation’s military in the entire Federation — due to one thing alone.

They were the first line of defence protecting the Human race from attacks of other hostile races, most notably the Hoplite race, who were the current most difficult pain in the Federation’s backside.

And not only that, but he was a Colonel!?

It had to be known that to be a Colonel, the bare minimum requirement was to be a C rank, though with the new knowledge Rohan had learnt from his time in the Origin Realm and his encounters, the requirements had to be even more stringent than that.

’They likely have to be an Elite tier, maybe even Commander tier, on top of their C rank status...’ Though this was just a suspicion.

The Federation didn’t spread much to the public about beasts and Awakened above Elite tier, so he couldn’t know for certain until he had higher access.

Knowing this, he couldn’t help but sympathise with Elane now. She had an immense amount of pressure weighing down on her as the daughter of someone so powerful and so far up the food chain — only to end up as a failure that couldn’t even Awakened.

It was no wonder she looked so awkward in his presence and skirted around the topic of family whenever it was brought up in conversation.

She felt ashamed.

’But you don’t have to be for much longer.’ He thought.

Things had changed massively for Elane over the past few days — the biggest being her surprise natural Awakening.

With both her father’s support and Rohan as her teammate in the Origin Realm, she was bound to reach heights matching her father’s someday. Besides, Rohan was still curious about her. Did she have a talent of her own, for example?

’Perhaps even higher, if my growth continues like this.’ Now that Rohan knew he could evolve other people’s Genetic Armaments, and there was a high likelihood it worked on unassimilated genes too, he wouldn’t mind helping Elane out.

Especially since she’d caught onto his unique talent already, which saved him the effort of trying to be sneaky about it.

Outside of his thoughts, a grin had grown on Harland’s face while he looked back and forth between his daughter and her new friend.

"Now that we’re past the events surrounding the Spike Beast gate, why don’t we talk about you two?"

Elane blushed, avoiding both of their looks, while Rohan was soaked in his thoughts, barely even realising Harland was speaking to them.

"Huh?" Rohan muttered.

"I hear your performance was quite spectacular in the Origin Realm and even more so inside the Spike Beast gate. I was planning on gifting you a recommendation letter to enter a decent university of your choice as thanks for saving my daughter’s life, but I don’t think that’s necessary anymore."

Rohan returned from his stupor, ears perking up hearing Harland’s words. Elane did too, realising her father’s topic wasn’t what she thought it was going to be...

Hearing him speak about ’the two of then’ with a big grin on his face made her heart skip a beat at first, so she was quite relieved to hear it wasn’t what she thought.

But this talk of universities also had her intrigued. She wasn’t expecting her father to bring up something like this.

"With the abilities I hear you’ve displayed, I reckon you have a decent shot at making Primus University’s assessment standards. What do you think? You’ll have a bright future ahead of you if you make it into the best university on Earth."

Rohan couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Truthfully, the thought of going to university had never even crossed his mind. As someone barely surviving all throughout high school, never expecting his life to amount to much, Awakened universities seemed so far away from him that he’d forgotten they even existed.

’Yeah? Why wouldn’t I be able to qualify for these prestigious universities! I have my absolutely broken Evolution Gene after all. If I can’t qualify with that to aid me, then I can only blame myself.’

However, he wasn’t liking the fact that Harland knew about some of his strengths.

’Just what did you tell him while I was unconscious?’ He thought while momentarily looking over at Elane.

’I have to determine what he knows before giving him a direct answer.’

"What about Elane?" Rohan asked. He might be able to pass Primus University’s strict assessments, but what about her?

"Don’t worry about that. The assessment period is in September, so the two of you will have plenty of time in these few months to strengthen yourselves in the Origin Realm.

Though I’d suggest holding off from entering another gate for now. At least wait until you’re at the peak of F rank."

Rohan and Elane both nodded. They planned to heed that warning anyway after what happened with the Spike Beast gate.

All the social platforms and forums were still rife with activity over what happened, since it wasn’t every day that a plot as bold as that took place.