No, that's not right.
Aidan decisively dismissed the thought.
The focus must have changed. Elio's current goal should be to get him through his growth period. Once he's developed, he can escort Stelle. Elio's current positioning for Aidan should be a sub-DPS, while Stelle is the absolute main DPS, because this story happens precisely because of Stelle / Caelus.
However, in the early stages, Stelle should be supporting him, and in the mid-to-late stages, he and Stelle will go at it together.
Understood. Just wait for me to develop, and then we'll show the enemies our broken combo skills!
"Don't fight her, she's not an enemy."
Aidan reached out to stop his two escorts.
"Another acquaintance of yours?"
"Not mine, she's Stelle's."
"Mine?"
Stelle pointed at herself, her golden eyes filled with confusion.
"My acquaintance? I don't even know myself, how can I have acquaintances?"
"It's a long story." Aidan waved his hand. "Anyway, she's not here to cause trouble right now. I'm Erudition, just listen to me."
As the smartest person on the entire Astral Express, Erudition Aidan's words were highly credible. You could trust Erudition Aidan unconditionally, provided he wasn't researching Aether Phase Engine.
Firefly was a very honest child; it would only take a few words to coax everything out of her.
"Are you sure?" Dan Heng did not retract his spear tip, still pointing it at Sam. "A Stellaron Hunter, a wanted criminal with a bounty of nearly ten billion, is Stelle's acquaintance?"
"I'm sure." Aidan nodded. "And she won't fight us. Otherwise, with Sam's combat power, the five of us combined wouldn't be enough to take her on."
Delta gripped her greatsword, her brow furrowed.
"What you said makes me very unhappy."
"It's just a fact." Aidan patted her shoulder. "Don't get excited, she's not the enemy."
The sound of footsteps drew closer. A squad of soldiers clad in heavy armor rushed out from around the corner. The leading captain scanned the street, his gaze sweeping past Sam without pausing for a second.
"Strange, I clearly saw them running this way..."
"After them!"
"...Are they blind?"
March 7th watched as the squad headed off to the right as if they had completely ignored them.
"Wait a minute!"
Suddenly, the officer stopped, turned around, walked back with a frown, and looked up to meet Sam's gaze.
"...Hello, citizens. Did you just see a person in silver armor run past here?"
"That way."
Aidan pointed in a direction.
"Thank you for your cooperation—pursue!"
March 7th and Stelle's mouths hung open.
Are these people blind?
"Are they silver chariots? Are those big eyes just for decoration?"
"Alas, that is also a battle." Aidan corrected Stelle's erroneous statement. "silver chariot's eyes are not for decoration. Although silver chariot's eyes cannot share vision with the user, when silver chariot's eyes are injured, the user's eyes will also be injured."
"Doesn't that make it even more useless?"
Before they could continue, the squad of soldiers wandered back again.
"Are you sure it was that direction?"
"Yes."
"Hmm..."
The squad leader pondered for a moment.
"Fine, maybe the suspect escaped by climbing the walls."
"Captain, the suspect is wearing such heavy armor, can they really climb walls?"
One of the members asked.
"Nonsense, that suspect runs faster than anyone i know! Hurry up and report to Officer Gepard for a lockdown!"
The squad of soldiers left.
Yes, they just left so naturally, completely ignoring the giant Sam standing right in front of them.
"Just how ridiculous is your invention? They were right in front of its face, and they still didn't notice?"
March 7th looked at Aidan, for a moment not knowing what to complain about first.
"It just makes them think everything is fine, diverting their attention so they won't suspect us of being a problem."
Everyone fell silent.
"As expected, Erudition is just underhanded, underhanded beyond limit."
"Nonsense, my stats are so low. If you nerfed my IQ, how would I even play Erudition?"
Aidan crossed his arms.
Sam's massive silver-gray armor still exuded a strong sense of pressure even in a static state. The red light beneath her visor flickered a few times as she shifted her gaze toward Stelle.
The invisible pressure binding her vanished, and the hydraulic devices at the joints made a slight venting sound. She did not make any aggressive movements, simply standing in place.
"What mission did Elio give you?"
"There are some things you shouldn't know too much about."
"I know about you and Stelle, so naturally, I can infer your purpose for being here."
"I mean no ill will, nor do I wish to be your enemy."
"I certainly know your goal is to prevent the universe from heading toward its worst future. So, in your script, what position do I hold?"
"Right now, I have no reason to act against you." Sam's voice was devoid of any emotion. "My goal is to ensure the Trailblaze stays on track. As long as you do not interfere with this goal, we will not interfere with each other."
"Oh, let me ask one more trivial question—the direction you ran just now was intentionally toward us, right?"
Sam did not answer.
"No answer is a default 'yes'." Aidan nodded. "So Elio's instruction to you was'stop when you encounter the people from the Astral Express'? Or more specifically—'once you meet them, cooperate temporarily'?"
"Your inference is meaningless."
However, although Sam seemed tight-lipped, just from these few sentences, Aidan had already obtained most of the information he wanted to know.
Aidan had basically coaxed out what should and shouldn't have been said.
"Acting together?"
"Unnecessary."
"You can protect Stelle closely."
"There is no need for that."
"I know you want to, and more than just a little."
Aidan raised an eyebrow.
In the realm of intelligence...
One can only say the Erudition is still too underhanded.
"What do you know?" Sam stared at him.
"A lot."
The surrounding air seemed to freeze. March 7th looked at Aidan and then at the tall silver armored figure, confused as to what riddles these two were playing at.
"You know nothing," Sam finally said.
"I know more than you think. For example, who is inside your armor, what your serial number is, your height, weight, hobbies..."
Sam:?