Chapter 39: All are equal, but some are more equal
A black fighter was hovering over the border between Scorching Desert and Rusty Ruins. The fighter didn't have some sort of rescue mission, though there was a Second Rank Phantom on board who was watching the scene below curiously through binoculars.
Adam, surrounded by dozens of monsters, fought killing one after another. Desert Mechanical Rats were ordinary white threat-level monsters, but their numbers were huge. A single Nest could contain up to a thousand individuals and sometimes even that limit was easily broken through.
Such Nests were very valuable to the new Phantoms because in a way it was a relatively easy way to get a large number of Neutral Genes.
However, for such missions, squads of a large number of rookie Phantoms were always assembled so that each of them would get a lot of genes and the risk of even simple injuries would be minimized.
Soon enough, in a few hours, the head of the mission department would be shouting in fury in his office at both the workers and the military who had allowed what was happening right now.
In a way, Adam was extremely selfish, for such missions were called Golden Missions - extremely easy and effective for both the growth of the Phantoms and the Citadel.
Golden Missions were rare because not all monsters could grow to a population like Desert Mechanical Rats and still be weak enough for newbie Phantoms.
Getting to the Golden Mission was somewhat of a reward because getting so many genes so easily and quickly could not be obtained anywhere else.
Naturally, Adam was not supposed to be here. All of this had only happened because of Damien's wishes.
Whoooooooooosh.
A black fighter with azure wings swooped right over Damien's as something fell on the plane, heavy enough to make the fighter sway slightly.
Then, the hatch opened and a girl with long azure hair wearing a tight eastern dress with gold patterns stepped inside. She looked coldly at Damien, who paid no attention to her at all, continuing to watch Adam, who had already killed hundreds of rats.
"Do you even realize what you've done?" The girl frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.
Damien turned around, putting the binoculars away.
"Oh, Frida, what a surprise. You finally decided to go on a date with me? You know, it's not the most romantic place, but I don't mind." Damien shrugged nonchalantly.
"Shut up!" Frida shouted angrily as her hair whipped up and the aura emanating from it made the slayer shake like a storm.
"Hey, you better calm down. We're not alone here after all." Damien calmly said pointing at the pilot.
"Pfffffffft!" Frida snorted but the shaking stopped, "You need to pick up Adam Vinter right now and report it to the missions department. In a little while the Desert Mechanical Rats will restore their population and a deserving squad will get their Golden Mission."
Damien waved his hand.
"I'm not going to do that. I'm not your subordinate, and what's more, to some extent, you yourself are to blame for what's going on right now."
"What...?" Frida's face contorted.
Damien smirked.
"Adam's battle against Prime Stone Goliath, was just the beginning of their appearance, and it was you who saved him then, wasn't it? Otherwise, after such a glorious victory, he would have died."
Frida rolled her eyes.
"I did it because Phantom was in trouble, and the missions department got it wrong, the monsters were much stronger than they should have been. I would have done the same thing If it had been anyone else. Why can't you understand that no one is special? This Golden Mission shouldn't go to Adam alone." Frida's voice grew serious.
"Because you're wrong." Damien quickly replied, raising his binoculars and returning to watching Adam's battle.
"Hmm?" Frida frowned.
"You've been trying hard for years to prove that everyone is equal under the rules, but that's not true." Damien said nonchalantly.
"No one is special. Every Phantom, Blacksmith, Harvester, Operator, and Military is important. We all work together for the same goal, we all have our own responsibilities, but we all obey the same rules." Frida waved her hand.
"That's not true. I'm special. You're special. Adam is special. The very fact that there are Naturalborn Phantoms and Artificialones already calls your ideology into question. I'm not arguing that everyone is important, but someone is more important."
Damien continued, "Now that things are organized and relatively calm, you have the opportunity, to promote thoughts of equality. But as soon as things get serious again, your hateful cynicism about reality will return. The strong and talented are more important than the weak and ordinary. There's nothing you can do about that."
"You bastard!" Frida exclaimed furiously, clenching her fists tightly.
She walked over to Damien and grabbed him by the collar with a furious grimace.
"And...? What do you plan to do next? Are you going to fight me? Right here?" Damien arrogantly said.
"Yes. I'll do that, and you'll stop the mission! I'll make you go for it even if you're stubborn!" Frida shouted.
Damien looked away with a bored look.
"What mission? I haven't heard of Phantoms being sent on a mission where there are no living monsters."
"Agh...?" Frida turned around as her eyes went wide.
Adam, using Revolve, was absorbing dozens of genes from the Desert Mechanical Rats. Hundreds of corpses lay around him, and the desert ground was covered in dark oil-like blood.
His hands were trembling, his body was covered in scratches, and he was breathing heavily, but no more monsters were in this Nest, not a single one.
"He killed them all...? But... How? When I flew here, he only killed about 20%... I was hoping to convince you to finish the mission in half an hour when there should have been about 60-70% of Nest left." Frida muttered in a disbelief.
"Yep." Damien shrugged, getting out of her grip and stepping aside.
Damien ran his gaze over the already dead rats and said, "This is exactly what I was telling you about. Your calculations are correct, for an ordinary, inexperienced Phantom rookie who was helped to kill his first monster and kept in hothouse conditions. In two weeks, Adam has been through more trials than many rookie Phantoms go through in a year."
A sharp glint passed through Damien's eyes.
"He's a Naturalborn One, he has an excellent Operator and a matching ambition with an inherent persistence. In some ways, he's even fearless, as 99% of Phantoms would run away in a Prime Stone Goliath situation. He, on the other hand, has begun to fight, moreover, he is favored by luck since he has entered Resonance."
Frida bit down on her lip, clenching her fists tightly from the anger bubbling inside her. She had to say something, or Damien would be right, and she couldn't let that happen.
"Exactly! He's just lucky! If he hadn't entered the Resonance, he would have died!"
"Yes." Damien nodded, "Just like in absolutely any other scenario. However, if you never buy a lottery ticket you'll never win at the casino, because you just don't give your luck a chance to show itself."
"That's sophistry! Damn it! What are we supposed to do now? One Phantom has taken over the entire Golden Mission!"
Damien's corners of his mouth went up.
"Oh, now I'll invite you to the show that will happen tomorrow once Adam recovers. For he now has enough genes to reveal his Lock! Soon, he'll be fighting his Beginning Monster! Hah!" Damien exclaimed with an excited expression before jumping down.
Bam.
Dust kicked up as Damien stepped forward, passing through the veil.
"Ready? I'm warning you, your Beginning Monster is almost guaranteed to be awfully strong." Damien asked.
Adam turned around, looked at his needle in the sunlight, and muttered, "Yeah, I can feel it..."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone