Brad suddenly made a decision.
Watching Hank pour his heart and soul into his research, he wondered whether he had been overlooking something all along.
Something emotional, or perhaps spiritual.
He had always used probability calculations to weigh outcomes and guide every decision and detail of his actions, but when dealing with a pure scientist like Hank, perhaps he needed to offer sincerity instead.
He walked over to Hank and pressed down on the hand holding the pencil that was scratching across the draft paper.
Hank did not react at first, his attention fixed entirely on the "recorded" data on the screen. Only after a while, when he tried to lift his pencil and could not, did he turn around in surprise.
Brad looked at Hank with his left eye while turning his electronic right eye aside-he had not looked at anyone like this in a long time, from a completely normal perspective.
No meticulously calculated data, no scans, no hostility assessments.
Looking at Hank's bewildered expression, he took a deep breath and chose his words carefully.
"I'm sorry. I deceived you about a few things."
Brad waved a hand, bringing up the footage of Ahmed transforming into the Life Stele, along with the actual key data recorded at the time.
"There is no Twelfth Energy Level. There is no upper limit to how much radiation energy Ahmed can absorb. I named that state his Life Stele form."
Brad projected the scanned data from the relative peak the Life Stele form had just reached onto the wall.
"All the data is here. According to the calculations, Ahmed can absorb unlimited radiation energy in his Life Stele form, and his strength keeps increasing with his size."
"But it isn't a one-way relationship. His increasing strength causes his size to grow, and