Limit Break
Aleck and I headed straight to the Chung Hak Library. The building was one of the largest in the Chung Hak Academy, but it wasn't particularly tall. Just three stories, far shorter than the surrounding structures. Still, the sheer footprint was massive—easily the size of two or three research labs combined.
Stepping inside, I couldn't help feeling slightly overwhelmed by the sea of books stretching out endlessly before us.
"Whoa……."
"Pfft, this is the first time I've seen you look so surprised, Aleck. Yeah, there are a ton of books here, huh?"
"Yeah…… you're right. There are more books on this first floor alone than I've seen in my entire life."
"Haha, no contest compared to the Mantis Hall library."
Katt chuckled at my words. He probably figured the only place I'd seen a bunch of books was back at Mantis Hall. But that wasn't the case. I had memories from twenty years of roaming the continent in my past life.
Even adding up every book I'd encountered in those memories, though, it wouldn't come close to the collection here on the first floor.
'This continent just isn't a place where books are widely distributed, after all.'
Primal outbreaks happened everywhere, and you could lose your life to random attacks just walking down the street. It wasn't called a land of the survival of the fittest for nothing. Who had time to sit around reading in a world like that? It'd be like begging to get killed.
Most folks would rather swing their weapon one more time or chant one more incantation.
'That's why books feel like something hoarded by the elite upper crust.'
The few times I'd gotten my hands on books were mostly in Estelle's private collection or during brief stays at Kun's place.
"Books on ancient species are on the third floor."
Katt led me up to the third floor. The second floor hit me with that same thick scent of paper, packed with even more books—maybe even more than the first floor. Without the automatic cleaning spells embedded everywhere, managing the dust alone would have been impossible.
As we climbed, I noticed fewer and fewer people. The second floor had been quieter than the first, but the third was practically deserted.
It seemed like the shelves here held more advanced, specialized tomes—dense, technical stuff.
"No one's here at all?"
"Oh! Yeah, probably because these are all specialist books. Mostly researchers from the labs come here. Unlike trainees, they can check out books, so they borrow them and go."
That explained the emptiness.
"Hmm, let me think……."
Katt racked his brain, heading toward the spot where he'd seen the book before.
'Ancient species.'
We arrived at a section labeled Ancient Species.
"Oh! Here it is."
Katt quickly spotted the book he'd read.
'Understanding Ancient Species: The Megaera Mantis Edition?'
The title was straightforward—exactly what I needed. It was thin, and the book itself looked ancient, giving off a real antique vibe.
'Not a recent publication, then.'
I grabbed it with Katt and moved to one of the nearby desks. We cracked it open right away, and I dove straight into the contents.
"Ha."
I let out an involuntary sigh of admiration as I closed the book.
"Interesting, right?"
"Yeah, it is."
"Heh, to think this thing might be our origin! Doesn't it get your blood pumping? Back in the Paleozoic era, mantises were the top dogs—not those four great clans!"
Katt spoke with barely contained excitement.
The current four great clans were the Hercules beetles, stag beetles, centipedes, and sky beetles. Where did their power come from? Primals.
Among primals, those four clans dominated the top ranks, and remarkably, that hierarchy carried over perfectly to their modern descendants.
'Mantises are strong, but not quite top tier.'
At a glance, mantises might seem supreme, but they bullied the weak. Against the armored might of the four great clans, they couldn't even scratch.
'That's why we're still under the thumb of the king centipedes…….'
According to the book, though, the rankings were totally different back then.
Megaera Mantis. This ancient mantis, presumed to have existed in the Paleozoic, was described as utterly invincible.
'Its forelegs weren't focused on grabbing like modern mantises—they were specialized for slicing.'
Absolute cutting power that cleaved anything. Legends even claimed an awakened Megaera Mantis could bisect the sky itself.
'For a specialist text, it's so outlandish it almost undermines credibility.'
But as someone who'd felt the Megaera Mantis's majesty firsthand more than anyone, I just nodded along. If even a third of this was true, it would have dominated all contemporaries, slicing through everything to claim the throne.
"This is what our mantis kin have always lamented about our forelegs. If only they were sharper for cutting…… But the Paleozoic Megaera Mantis actually had that power! It's such a shame it didn't pass down."
Katt gushed, eyes sparkling as he imagined its glory.
He was right. If mantises specialized in slashing instead of grappling, complete-body mantises with enhanced forelegs would be several—no, dozens of times stronger. They could pierce the defenses of our natural predators, the armored bugs.
'And…… it was bipedal, apparently.'
Shockingly, the Megaera Mantis's reconstruction diagram looked nothing like modern primal mantises.
'Pokémon…… that Scyther guy? Kinda reminds me of him.'
The artist's rendering bore a striking resemblance to Scyther. Unlike our stealthy ambush specialists, this was built for head-on bladework.
"But I heard the author got a lot of flak for this design—people called it pure fantasy."
Katt muttered wistfully, clearly doubting its realism himself.
'But…… it's no fantasy.'
I recalled the fossil fragment of the Megaera Mantis I was after. That razor-sharp, blade-like edge—what part was it? Now I knew: a section of the foreleg blade.
'Definite.'
And there was another reason I was sure it wasn't imagination.
'The being from my subconscious.'
I hadn't seen its full form—just a silhouette of the face. But it matched the diagram eerily well.
'Either way, this author definitely knows something about the Megaera Mantis.'
My eyes lit up as I turned to Katt.
"Senior Katt, do you know who the author is?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. In this field, her name comes up now and then. Merne or something…… She even founded her own school of thought in ancient species research. Total fringe, though—not many followers……."
"Any way to meet her?"
Fringe or not, I didn't care. I needed to know how she knew about the Megaera Mantis.
'Whether she's seen a fossil, that's the key.'
No way she could reconstruct it so accurately otherwise. If she led me to the real fossil……
It might awaken or amplify my powers faster.
"I think her lab's around the Raun River area…… Why?"
"Just curious if she knows where to find Megaera Mantis fossils."
"Oh, me too! I was gonna track her down myself. Imagine seeing the fossil of the Paleozoic apex predator with your own eyes! So romantic, right? Anyway, I'll look into it for you!"
"Really? Thanks, I'd appreciate it."
"You got it! Leave it to your senior—finally get to pull my weight!"
Katt's eyes sparkled at my request. He'd been feeling indebted to me for a while, it seemed. No need to carry that burden, but anyway.
Now I could offload the fossil hunt to him.
'Perfect.'
Better than me digging around myself—he'd been into this stuff for years.
"Today's been enlightening."
A bit of my curiosity about the Megaera Mantis had been sated.
'Gotta secure that Megaera Mantis blade fossil ASAP, as planned.'
Back at the dorm, my resolve to prioritize the blade fragment hardened even more.
I didn't know what it'd trigger, but my instincts screamed it'd bring real change.
'Also need a plan for the Thunderwing fossil…… Grab those support elixirs from the academy to rocket up to Maturity Stage.'
My brush with Drvito made faster growth a necessity—not out of fear, but caution. The king centipedes were plotting something here.
'No idea what, but only my strength can protect me.'
At my level, I could crush a standard first Maturity Stage without going all out. But a complete body? Different story. Had to level up fast.
Training. Training. More training.
I ground through the daily schedule, waiting for the next milestone opportunity.
I could've farmed miles on commissions, but short-term ones were scarce, and Drvito's crew stayed quiet—no provocations. Perfect time to focus.
Vmmm!
"This is……."
"What's up, Aleck?"
"Ah! Nothing."
During a routine session at the public training grounds, I paused mid-drill, eyes widening at the sensation.
Limit Break(S) trait is stirring.