Back in the space pocket hideout, Jason stood before an audio-only screen as he reported the findings of his researchers to his boss, before forwarding the actual file to him.

"That should be all, sir." He said with both hands clasped behind him.

[Mm. Have them send the collected cells to me. I''ll have my own people take a look at them.] The voice over the audio said, the tone flat and devoid of any emotions.

"Yes, sir. It would be done as soon as possible."

[Good. One more thing... Have you heard of the recent happenings?]

Jason promptly replied, already knowing what his boss was referring to, "Yes, sir. There''s been an increase in the appearance of void creatures coming from the veil tears as well as new ones opening in different regions."

[And what do you make of this?] The voice sounded intrigued.

"Well, I''m not sure. But I believe things will be turning chaotic real soon." Jason gave his input and the voice hummed in agreement.

[Exactly. Finding the boy now was a stroke of luck. With his cells, we might gain the ability to shrug off these incoming dangerous times. Continue with your work and keep a lookout for these dangers.]

"Yes, sir." Jason bowed as the secured line went off, ending the call. He returned to his seat and leaned in with a sigh.

"This region is relatively free from the emerging chaos, but things could change at any more. Better to set out protocols just in case."

With that thought, he proceeded to instruct his people to make preparations in the event they had to abandon this place.

Meanwhile, Alex remained calm in his pod, ignoring everything else going on around him. He had heard enough and could deduce what they wanted from him.

''It''s time I find a way out of here...'' He thought with closed eyes.

Genome studies revealed no change in his genetic makeup, eliminating the theory of his uniqueness tied to his genes.

The question that the researchers and their patrons asked themselves was: what makes Alexander different?

Moving on, Alex now focused on his void core. Because there was nothing they could do about that energy, the researchers let it be until they found a way for their model to accept the A-cells.

In Alex''s body, nearly imperceptible waves of void energy washed over him at all times and Alex eventually learned to control it.

''I see...I can choose to allow the void energy to infuse my body or I can hold it in the core for as long as I wish. Probably the principle behind the aura separation.''

It was a good discovery and like he thought, similar to how he could unleash just mana aura or a combination of both.

''If holding it in is possible, then it means there should be a space within the core where all that energy is being held.''

It was the most logical conclusion as he had come by it before. But he didn''t actually attempt to look inside the core as it appeared too small and there was no hole in the middle of his core.

Back when he got his flame abilities, he noticed how his abilities were tainted with colours depicting their nature, and came out of his core when he called for it.

So he dived in and what he saw almost gave him a heart attack. His physical reaction outside caught the attention of the researchers.

They saw Alex''s body tremble slightly as if he had been shocked by electrical currents. "Did anyone do something to him?" Dr. Venley asked but received only headshakes.

Alex had remained closed eyes for days now and hadn''t reacted to anything done to him. ''What is he doing exactly?''

The researcher would pay good money to know what was going through Alex''s head and void core.

Unfortunately...or fortunately, he didn''t have that ability.