That evening, somewhere in Dawn Academy...
"Interesting," said a man in a white lab coat, "Hiroshi is quiet overprotective of his daughter. To back off after one name? This Liam boy is quite the character."
"Master D, a student has caught your eye?"
"Actually, quite a lot of students have caught my eye. But that boy intrigues me due to Hiroshi's attitude. He said that boy saved his daughter's life? Let's see... Full name: Liam J. Paxton, blood type O, stands at a height of 172.8 cm scored an impressive 689 out of 700 in the entrance exam, and has the Venma: Hemokinesis. Distinct features being his eye coloration."
"Master..."
"Yes, GAIA?"
"You... have no designs towards that boy, right?"
There came a short laugh. "Relax, GAIA. Harming him goes contrary to my personal goals."
There was a short silence, but the air seemed to get just a little colder.
"I'll just be observing an interesting... person up close."
****
Lisa's initial shock, and an intense thirty minutes of grilling, Lisa and Liam spent another hour and half studying Hunter Economics. Or to be more accurate, Liam was tutoring her on Hunter Economics.
Lisa groaned, her face on the book, "Ughh~, Liam I can't take it anymore~!"
"You lasted an hour and a half," he smiled as he booted down his laptop, "I'm impressed. You never focused that hard when we were kids."
"Shaddup. I want to do well, but all these calculations are too many!"
Liam shrugged. "Econometrics and Macroeconomics are important topics."
"But we're studying the basics of Microeconomics and Public Finance in class!" she retorted.
Liam looked away, scratching his cheek, "Ehe... well, learning ahead is always good right?"
Lisa looked at him, then looked away with a sigh. "Yeah, yeah. I guess I know how you ended up topping the class all the time when we were kids... but don't get cocky just because you have some mature habits!"
Liam laughed, thinking to himself: I never really enjoyed studying until my Dad taught me different languages anyway, and he always bribed me to pass with stuff I liked, mainly because Mom would grill both of us if I didn't do well.
"Remember son, when you do well, you're your mother's kid. When you don't, you're mine, and we both get punished."
Liam chuckled at the memory, and Lisa turned away, crossing her arms.
"Oh wow, now you're laughing at me? Or are you laughing at those stupid memories of yours about me?!"
"N-no, it isn't like that!" Liam tried, all the while smiling widely.
Lisa kept her head turned and hmphed.
"Oh, and thanks for not acting terrified when you heard the details about my Venma. Most people would."
Lisa turned slowly, looking down at the table. "Yeah, no worries. I know you can't control your own blood that easily, and you can't control other people's blood. But either way, even if you had the ability to control me, I would still trust you."
He can manipulate blood, but only blood that's outside his body or blood belonging to himself. Directly controlling blood inside another person's body requires him to touch them and intense concentration, making it extremely difficult and risky, and per his words...
"Are you sure you aren't chuunibyou?" Lisa narrowed her eyes at him. As he began to protest, she cut him off:
"You named the current applications of your hope. Crimson Threads, Blood Hardening, Coagulation Control. Why?"
Liam's ears reddened in embarrassment. "That's!... well, because things are easier to understand once they have names. Think about it; try learning Math whilst it isn't called Math. Names help to solidify a concept."
"Smart-ass," Lisa grumbled, annoyed by how logical he sounded.
He smiled warmly at her, "Yeah well, even if you can control me, I can definitely trust you to either not to, or do it for a good reason."
Lisa stared at him, reddening a little. Embarrassed, she looked at the table, "Y-yeah sure. Anyway, I won't control you."
"Sure, sure. But I did say even if you end up doing so, I'm sure there'd be a valid reason."
Lisa glared at him, but the glare softened a little before she said: "Did you get a girlfriend or something?"
"HUH?!" Liam flinched as if she'd slapped him.
"What, you actually did?" Lisa smirked at him, "You're so good at sweet-talking all of a sudden, so I'm curious."
Liam shook his head, "Nope, no girlfriend for me."
"You serious? Damn, some girls are missing out," Lisa laughed.
"Th-the hell is that supposed to mean?" Liam muttered, covering his mouth as his ears reddened.
"Anyway, it's getting late," Lisa said as she put her tablet-what she'd been taking notes on-in her bag. "It's eight o'clock already, though we got here at four."
"Really?" Liam rose his eyebrows, "Well it's been fun."
They smiled as he followed her to the door, and they fist bumped before she left.
That was great! Liam grinned as he stretched, And I finally found one more person that can can trust me...
He squatted for second, smiling warmly at the feeling of mutual trust, then he stood up.
"Alright, time to workout. Thirty minutes of that, then move on to finally continue my self-defence practise... wait a minute, now that I think about it, I met my classmates at the entrance exam last year's October. How did I forget about so much about them?"
Liam recalled the events after the entrance exam.
October 2186, had my birthday. Then in November we had Día de los Muertos and visited Dad's grave, then Mom's birthday, then the twins' birthday at the end of November, then meeting the extended family, then Christmas with them, then preparing for school, then January first was opening day...
Liam blinked, then chuckled before taking off his shirt so he could begin his workout.
"No wonder I forgot so much. Though my memory served me well in the fourth stage..."
****
Liam and Ares walked into a large room with well spaced desks, the other applicants already waiting for them in their seats.
A classroom?... is this gonna be a written test?...Nah, it won't be just that.
After taking seats in the back, fifteen minutes later the rest of the applicants joined them. Then the next person to come out of the door was Mark, and he was carrying a stack of papers.
"Welcome to Stage Four: Problem Solving. You will be each given a test listing real life problems you might face if you are a Hunter. Extra marks for clear language, correct use of expressions, and realistic solutions."
Liam frowned a little at Mark's erratic movements. Sometimes he would give a paper to a person, ignore the next three people on the same row to give a person a paper, then walk back down the row and hand the middle person a paper.
What's going on? Liam thought. He kept worrying until he was handed a paper, and his heart almost stopped when he saw the first words:
Stage Four: Problem Solving
Hemokinesis Exclusive Test
Liam stared at those words for several seconds before Mark spoke up.
"Alright, now that you've received your tests, you have one hour to finish. I'll give you thirty seconds to go over the question. Begin."
"Question"? But they said... "problems"...
You are currently trapped in a collapsed tunnel. You have an injured teammate whose Venma is Flame, and you have to protect several injured trapped civilians. Assuming you have managed to send a distress signal, and you are told to wait for thirty minutes, how would you survive and protect everyone whilst facing five Lispian Stalkers blocking the exit?
Liam froze as he saw the question.
Then a small smile played on his lips.
Solve the problem right in front of me? Seriously? That's it?
"Thirty seconds are up. You may begin."
Oh hallelujah, a straightforward test. Thanks Dad, for all the library visits, Liam thought as he picked up the pen he'd been given, went to the upper right corner of the answer space, and wrote:
Lispian Stalker
Behavior: Aggressive, intelligent, obedient to Alpha
Physiology: Dog like body, long neck, an exoskeleton of chitin, prominent snouts
Hunting patterns: Hunt in packs, take orders from their Alpha, coordinated teamwork
Weaknesses: Gaps in the chitin in neck and joints, lose all teamwork upon loss of Alpha and become rabid monsters, bad eyesight.
Now how to use this? Liam thought, First, stop my teammate from using his power. He'll use up oxygen, and fire is my weakness... hmm, as for the civilians, I can bet on them protecting each other with their powers, but they might fold from fear...
Liam began to write a few lines then paused to work out a short strategy. They have a powerful sense of smell, so they would definitely be attracted to me. That said, my smell would be a double edged sword; might keep them on me, but will make them a little rabid. I should aim for the Alpha... no wait, if it dies, they might lose all reason and attack whatever's close. It's a really low chance that they'd go for something else... hey no. I don't have to assume I'mthis weak. I can use all the applications I came up with if I could use more blood... wait.
Five living Mo.
Liam actually smiled as the whole plan came together, and he began writing as fast and as clearly as possible.
[Tunnel Survival Simulation]
[Assuming the tunnel is one built for cars, it's length should be at least 80 meters. The ideal solution is to use Coagulation Control on my teammate whilst carrying him, rushing the civilians as much as they can stand. Before the Lispian Stalkers can catch up, I hand him over to the civilians after telling him not to use his power as it could limit my own abilities.
When facing the Mo, I release a mist of blood around me and run in the opposite direction of the civilians. Due to the attractive qualities of the smell of my blood, the Lispian Stalkers would be drawn to me.
After gaining enough distance, I employ the use of my self-strengthening abilities, then create knives with my blood.
My target will not be the Alpha, as keeping them as relatively intelligent opponents give me patterns to exploit.
Upon finding an opening, I would stab one of the Lispian Stalkers in one of the gaps in their neck, leaving my knife to get myself clear of the rest, as well as to stop its own self healing.
As soon as one is incapacitated, the Alpha will be forced to attack, and that is the perfect time to press my offensive. The Mo will instinctively move to protect their Alpha, and may become rabid in the process. It is highly likely I will sustain injuries, but by manipulating my blood, and possibly theirs, I can turn every injury into a counterattack.
Prolonged exposure to the smell of my blood would slowly lead to lapses in judgement and slower movements, and even though I may sustain injuries that slow me down, I would still be able to stall the Lispian Stalkers for enough time to pass till reinforcements arrive.]
Liam nodded at his answer. Then he paused after going through it again, and he added:
[However, in the event that reinforcements do not arrive in thirty minutes, I would shift from stalling to combat aimed to kill.]