Chapter 2 - A New World Has New Things

Veil smiled and shut the wooden door. Flipping all three locks, he ran up the stairs, oblivious to the spiritual shield that enveloped the house. His priorities were clear.

Running up the stairs, he rushed to his bed. On it was a small box made from a jaded wood-it was silver, green, blue, and purple in color. In his previous life, he had obeyed the letter. What his dad had requested from him had always had a solid reason behind it.

But this time, he knew- trouble would come knocking, and he had to do everything in his power to stop it.

He slowly opened the lid. Unbeknownst to him, he was holding his breath. The lid slowly creeped open. The jade was making a strange, otherworldly creaking sound. Veil's eyes got bigger, but then- all of a sudden- a snake popped out at him!

Veil jumped, and instantly shrank back. But the snake didn't move. Looking closer, it was an ethereal blue, reminiscent of ghosts, holographs, and dead people who once wielded swords made from light itself. "Damn it, Dad played a prank again." After about 10 seconds, the snake disappeared. Inside the box was a flat stone and a ring. Veil decided to pick up the stone first.

It was pure black in color, and the smoothest stone he had ever felt. Rectangular in shape, light seemed to bounce off its surface just like a mirror. There was a slight indentation towards the bottom. He put his thumb on it.

"Identity match: Veil Tremmons." A robotic voice sounded. 'A phone?' The thought went through Veil's head like lightning. While he never used one personally, he knew what they were.

"Implementing new user process... Updating software... Creating User Data... Relaying New User messages." 

"Hello, Veil." His mother, Vivian, was on the screen.

"Hi." His dad waved with his silly grin.

"Veil, as you've probably guessed already, we sent you box with the knowledge that we won't see you for a while. While we weren't able to say goodbye, as this has happened so fast, please know that we did everything we could to set up a life for you in the best way we could. We should only be gone for a couple weeks, but if you're reading this it is probably much longer. Just in case, we've already left behind in our wills a way for you to move forward.

You're old enough to keep your mouth shut, and since it's here we should probably say it. As you have probably learned due to your father's nature, we are not simple. We're actually part of a governmental service. We work as part of Division Zero. As you know, there are several peace-keeping organizations within the Freedom Alliance. Our job is the most secretive. We travel to various small worlds that pop up around the globe. We sweep through them and send various relics back to the government. Every now and then, we can apply to use some of the things we find for ourselves.

The ring in the case is one of these. It is a relic. It can conceal your presence- both from the casual viewer and from Spiritual Senses. We have limited the ring and the phone so that only you can use them- unless someone stronger than us breaks the seal on it, that is. 

This phone is actually a top-of-the-line government model. It runs on quantum technology and cannot be hacked. It cannot be traced. The style is based off of the Udroid 9 to conceal its true nature. It matches all of the spirit transmission technologies on the market, and all the variations that will be introduced through 2055. It is worth more than anything we've ever given you. What's more, it's actually contractable. If you desire to use one of your spirit slots, you can use it. It's programmed to stay in the Spirit Ki Formation stage unless you choose to change it. While we don't recommend doing this from a combat use perspective, if you are desiring at some point to modify a machine-type spirit-pet, It is more advanced than most of what will be on the market for the next 30 years and has high customizability due to its skill: "Spatial Compartmentalization."

It is of the metal and spatial type. The 'Spatial Compartmentalization ability' allows it to shrink parts to connect to the phone, making a virtually seamless transition from a box in your hand. Unlike the ring, the phone also boasts a small storage space.

While it was originally given to us for use by the government, rest assured that the government cannot track it. You are free to use it as you desire. Just let your morals keep up with you, okay?

We recommend using both the ring and the phone yourself even if you can't use the ring yet- the ring should conceal both you and the phone.

Separately, the homeschool curriculum we've given you has passed you through high school. As such, we've asked Julian to take you to Golden Alliance College. We've already sent them your tuition funds, and we've done so in a hope that you will enjoy your time there. We've asked the head of Miller Hall to take care of you. He's an old friend of ours. His name is Richard Jamieson. While you don't know him, he's your mother's godfather, and was there when you were born.

When you get there, they should have an awakening stone you can use. Also, if need be, there's a stone underneath the fridge. Just yank the vent cover off, grab the stone, and swipe it with your phone. You should get some extra funds. 

We've added in our wills to move the house into a trust fund in your name; legally, we've made a daughter corporation your "father." Therefore, everything goes to you. The house is already paid off, and will continue to stay on no matter what.

But most importantly, son- we love you."

"We both love you." His dad, chimed in. With a wide grin, his dad added, "You probably already know that we've been talking as if you'll open this box the moment you see it. While we've made sure to uphold your trust in us, we've also pushed your curious side- as such, we're unsure which way it would go. Stay strong. Stay smart. We'll see you on the other side."

"See you around!" His mother exclaimed, smiling. She reached her hand forward and the video turned off.

Veil tried to gather his thoughts but was still confused by the world he lived in. It was earth, but not earth. The people were the same, but different. Animals and apparently phones could be contracted. 'Was I not brought back in time? Is this the legendary transmigration?' He asked himself. While it did fit the description, he didn't seem to have taken over anyone's body. He was still himself. 'Maybe it works differently.' He thought, honesty becoming his refuge.

Shortly after, the voice from the phone came on again. "Greetings from the (garble garble) YO! THIS IS A PIRATED COPY BRO! (garble garble) Freedom Alliance Technological Assessment Center. You have been selected to be a holder of a Bamphone 9000.2 . Your user identity has been set to 'Veil.' Would you like to change your user identity?"

'IT'S OVER 9000...' Veil freaked out silently in his head.

"Yes." Veil replied, steadily answering the question.

"What would you like to set your user identity to? Please spell it out loud or type it into the digital keyboard represented at the bottom of the phone."

'Just like Earth, huh.' Veil thought. He typed the name he had received at the age of 17 when he had staged the slave revolt. He typed the name, "S-E-N-D-E-R." It had two meanings. He had sent the slaves salvation, and he had sent retribution to those who had harmed them. He was fully aware that in life, two things were needed: strength for those who needed to be brought down, and mercy for those who needed to be lifted up.

"You have identified your User Identity as 'Sender.' Is this spelled correctly?"

"Yes."

"Would you like to change the pronunciation?"

"No."

"Would you like to name your Bamphone device?" 

"Yes." 

"What would you like to name your Bamphone device? This digital assistant is linked to the device, and can be referred to by the name of the device itself."

He thought about it quietly for a minute "Nano." He wanted to name it after his favorite quintuplet, but then decided to name it something less... suspect.

"Would you like to me to open the device manual?"

"Yes."

'This is getting kind of annoying...' Veil's rampant thoughts were starting to slowly die down as he became more invested.

The phone itself would never die. Because the world ran on spiritual power, everything worked differently. Instead of charging your phone with electricity, an awakener could charge it with a flick of their wrist (and a gentle push of Spirit Ki.) His phone constantly had just enough ki to keep it in the Spirit Ki Formation stage. It would never need charging, and unless he flicked the setting it wouldn't cross into the Spirit Ki Holder stage.

The phone's capacity was a full Domegemegrottebyte, which was more than he would ever need, and enough to keep a full database on literally everything. Maybe minus 8K video.

The phone also featured a "sound placement system." It could push sound straight to his ears without alerting anything nearby, While this worked against most people, it was 'bad idea against those at the Ki Emperor stage or higher.'

In addition, he could apparently synchronize the digital assistant's voice to anything with enough voice data. "Hey, Nano?" 

"Yes?"

"Can you use the voice and personality of the japanese anime character Nino Nakano? Wait, from the final season!" He added. He felt a little shy asking this, but he convinced himself that it was an "okay" thing to do. 'I'm a man!' he thought vigorously.

"Download complete, voice changed."

'Much better.' Veil thought. After scrolling through the interactive tutorial, it appeared to be complete.

"Welcome to your new Bamphone, I, Nino, am ready to assist you in any way you see fit. Either say my name or put your thumb on the indented portion of the phone to relay any commands. Tap the indent and then hold it to bring up the keyboard command line."

He hurriedly checked to see if he had a number for his parents, but there weren't any contacts in the phone.

With his phone set up, he went to go find the 'stone' underneath the fridge. After prying off the vent cover, he used the flashlight widget to see underneath it. 'Just like on earth, it's what you use phones for,' he thought.

Seeing the oddly placed "stone," he reached in and tapped his phone on it. Then he got a notification that changed his world.