"How do I look?" Velicia asked, twirling in the dress she had bought earlier today. It was yellow, with a skirt that flared out longer at the back than the front. Her curly hair, resembling vermicelli, cascaded naturally down her back."Nice," Justin replied, lounging casually on Velicia's study table. "But it doesn't quite go with your hair."Velicia quickly transformed her hair into shiny black locks, and Justin tilted his head momentarily, deep in thought."No offense, not meaning to offend you, but you kind of remind me of a bee—" Justin was about to say, but Dim-Dim hurriedly stood up and said with an exaggerated smile that looked natural, "Wow, Vel, you look so beautiful! By the way, let's go to the Venator building now before it's too late!"And Velicia responded to Dim-Dim with a bright smile. "Let's go!" she said.It was half past four in the afternoon, and like any Venator class advancement exam day, the streets of Safe City Pine Barrens were bustling, and every hotel room w
"I will fight my best with Damian, Oriyan, Charlotte, and my brother Valee!" shouted Valir, and everyone applauded for his enthusiasm."Okay, thank you, Valir!" said Jenny Fall. Then she tightened the microphone on her lips, "Monsterbot S will be active in 5! 4! 3! 2! 1!"And then all the lights in the room went out, and Dim-Dim felt his heart race as he watched the monsterbot move with astonishing speed. But instead of attacking the Venators, it ran towards the tree where Charlotte was perched with her sniper rifle.At that moment, Dim-Dim finally understood why Damian and Oriyan were crouching near the monsterbot: their goal was to prevent it from escaping. Unlike type A monsterbots that attacked blindly, monsterbot S tended to evade.Oriyan arrived beside the monsterbot first, shooting its leg, but the bullet missed and Oriyan quickly halted its momentum. Damian arrived next to the monsterbot, then seized the Venator van from its hands. He succeeded.The audience erupted into hyste
Several minutes later, Damian and his team went to the back of the exam arena, and he took pictures with various important people. Dim-Dim and Cath waited eagerly, while Damian was asked to pose more warmly with the mayor of Safe City.Dim-Dim saw Mr. Miller and society members lining up to take photos, and heard Cath sighing heavily beside him."It's okay, after this we'll definitely be able to take a photo with Damian," Dim-Dim said, expressing words he himself wanted to hear. He saw Edel had just entered the area behind the arena, and greeted her.Edel smiled broadly at Dim-Dim before showing a bouquet of flowers with an album slipped in between blue Poppy flowers - the symbol of Venator - which she had prepared for Valir."Wow, where did you get those flowers?" Dim-Dim asked."At the store," Edel said cheerfully. "This is the last stock of blue poppies they have!""Wow, you're so lucky!" exclaimed Dim-Dim. Blue poppies were the coolest gift a Venator could receive, as the flower o
The results of the exam showed that there were about 18 Venators who passed. Among the 18 Venators were Damian's team, Clarinassa's team (Xavera almost got eliminated while saving Jay, but they all managed to pass), and a few others.However, they couldn't be considered Class S Venators until they actually succeeded in killing a type S monster.And when the mission to besiege the headquarters of the type S monster was announced the next day, the 18 of them immediately underwent intensive training with the assigned Illicitors.Dim-Dim was doing light warm-ups at the edge of the arena, morning dew clinging to his hair, when he saw a girl enter with Oriyan."Hey, guys," Oriyan greeted Damian and the others. "This is my sister, Amaliah. She just threatened to kill my goldfish if I didn't bring her here—" Amma nudged Oriyan, and he immediately said flatly, "—kidding. Basically, my sister wants to see us train.""Welcome," Valee said, smiling sweetly."Get ready to be impressed," Damian sai
"Stay focused, everyone!"Dim-Dim scanned his surroundings, only to see the three monsters emerging through the door at the arena's edge."Get ready!" exclaimed Clarinassa, adjusting her infrared goggles as the lights dimmed around them. "This batch of Monsterbots is programmed to target Illicitor first," she said.Without further ado, Dim-Dim transformed into a Eurasian owl and flew away from the others.He spotted Velicia, her hair glowing blue, as the three Monsterbots charged towards her."We need a plan!" Velicia yelled. "How do we take these Monsterbots down?""There is no plan!" Damian answered, running towards her. They met in the middle of the arena, and Damian intercepting the monsters while Velicia kept running."Bottom line, don't get hit until we destroy these robots!" Clarinassa said. "Anyone got scratched will be disqualified from the monster type S capture mission!"Hearing this, Dim-Dim hurriedly flew towards Icaros, one of the Monsterbots chasing him at heart-poundin
The mission of capture the type S monster started suddenly.Dim-Dim was asleep in his room, dreaming of a forest whirling rapidly around him as if he were running—when suddenly his phone blared, notifying him of a new mission.Dim-Dim's eyes opened, and though slightly dizzy, he immediately got up. And with a wide yawn, he exchanged his pajamas to his glowing-in-the-dark Illicitor uniform, its color a bright blue.He was attaching weapons and various important items to his pocket holster when suddenly he heard the sound of squealing tires of vans outside the building, followed by the sound of footsteps of people running outside his room."Dim-Dim, hurry up!" a few seconds later, he heard Clarinassa knocking on his room door."Wait a moment!" Dim-Dim yelled back, while searching for his communication earpieces.When he was ready to pack, about 30 seconds later, there were already three vans waiting in front of the building.Clarinassa immediately pulled him towards their team van parke
"Mm... Damian? I also felt unwell one day after seeing my hair turn white for the first time," Velicia said. And suddenly Dim-Dim felt his heart pounding hard. "Maybe... you're not sick, but... yeah. Maybe you get a superpower," she continued."Wait, you mean—" Dim-Dim couldn't even finish his sentence now."Well, if what you felt last night wasn't just your imagination, then you have superpowers, Damian," Velicia said again."And your power is turning your skin as hard as a Type A monster's skin, that's pretty cool, actually," Oriyan said. "That's the kind of power that would make me very jealous.""But, guys, I'd worry if we lose the number one Venator in the world. It would be a disaster," Flo said. "Even though we'll get an Illicitor with powers similar to a number one Venator, I'm still...""No, don't give me that kind of hope," Damian said. "Not everyone can have superpowers. The chances are even less than 0.1%. Most people who get superpowers are either old or children, but I—"
They arrived at the location at five in the morning, and Dim-Dim was shocked to see that the hiding place for the S-type monsters was a large building with a canopy built on an open landscape, a vast grassy plain, surrounded by cliffs.For the next fifteen minutes, Oriyan attempted to check the area and returned with a report that the building had no windows, and its walls were as strong as the outer walls of Safe City, which were no less than fifteen meters thick and made of concrete and steel."Okay, we'll attack them in half an hour," said Clarinassa, and instantly Jay and Mouse ran in opposite directions to find a place to set traps, while the snipers searched for good and strategic yet hidden spots on the cliffs.Dim-Dim was warming up inside the van when Damian suddenly called him through the communication device embedded in his ear."Dim-Dim," Damian said, his voice hoarse. "I'm not feeling well. Later, during the mission, please don't rely too much on me. And if something happ