10 His Decision

"Ahhh!"

A man screamed as he woke up from his nightmare. In a daze, he looked at his surroundings and saw the unfamiliar yet familiar apparatuses.

Click!

The gears inside Gerard's head quickly spun, before he finally realized that he was in a hospital. His mood immediately turned sour, and was about to lay down again when he heard someone gasp.

"Gerard you're awake!"

He looked to his right, towards the door and saw his wife Cynthy which made his face bloom with a smile.

He called out, "Cynthy…"

"Hun, you're awake—"

And just like that, Cynthy started talking about mundane things as she sat beside the bed. She did not ask him about anything related to the incident, in fact it even seemed like she simply wanted to occupy his mind out of this matter. As someone that has been with him for more than a decade, she knew enough to guess exactly what he wanted to say.

Leo simply sat on a chair at the corner, fiddling with his star-link as he waited for his mom's chatterbox mode to end.

Just as Cynthy finished talking for thirty minutes straight, Leo finally spoke, "Dad, can I go to a Mystic Academy? Mom already agreed, but I still want to hear your opinion".

The atmosphere suddenly turned dull, after a few moments of awkward silence his father didn't disappoint.

Gerard smiled as he said, "In all honesty, I don't want you to be like me. However, if that's what you really want then I can't stop you. Now then, let me ask you. Do you really want to be a mystic?"

Leo frowned as he silently pondered, 'Do I really want to?'

After a few moments, he stood up and answered, "Of course I want to".

'Do I want to? If I didn't want to, then what else could I want? Not only has it always been my dream to be one since I was a kid, I might even be able to help dad by grasping for it'.

Hearing his answer, Gerard couldn't help but smile. As a father, he already knew his answer but hearing it come from his own mouth felt better.

"Then you can go."

~~~~~

Leo left his parents at the hospital after getting his father's approval, but he did not go home immediately since he wanted to buy something special from the mall.

He stood in front of a store called Endless Stars, which was the biggest brand for virtual technology. 

When he went in, he saw someone shady looking through the items as if searching for something. As for why she looked suspicious… well she was wearing a black hoodie, a facemask, and sunglasses.

Leo wanted to avoid her, but unfortunately the aisle she was on was exactly where he needed to be. He could only sigh as he walked towards her. 

When he was close enough, he realized her dilemma. The girl was actually deciding which virtual helmet she should buy, Leo didn't have that problem since he already knew which one he needed and wanted.

He then crouched beside her and took an item called, 'King's Crown VII'. Which was an AR helmet made specifically for mystics, so they can fight in virtual arenas while still having the benefits of training in the real world.

The moment he stood up, their eyes locked and the girl blushed. Anyone who saw his beautiful icy blue eyes at the moment would have had the same reaction.

She mumbled without realizing, "Cute".

Leo was about to recommend her the same thing, but his cheeks burned red when he heard her.

Leo already broke through and became mystic, which not only brought a massive change to his body but also enhanced his senses, so he could hear even the faintest voice in such a close distance.

Leo remained calm on the surface and pointed at the box he was holding and said, "If you can't decide, why don't you take a King's Crown too? Even if you don't use it for training, it can still bring you deeper immersion than other virtual helmets" before sprinting at full speed towards the counter.

She wasn't dumb so she instantly realized her blunder and blushed even harder.

Just as he was paying for his v-helmet through his star-link, someone's sweet voice entered his ears, "Thank you…".

Leo turned around and nodded before leaving the store. After acting cool in front of her, he couldn't help but smile excitedly but it did not take too long before his eyes became serious.

He silently told himself, 'Now's not the time to play around!' and went home. He rushed towards his room as soon as he was back, then stood silently as he gazed at his ring.

While he was having hot milk chocolate in the morning, he tried to find out what exactly he was wearing. The ring was actually a clan space ring, and apparently a pretty high quality one since it also comes with a personal space which can be used for storage.

Clan space rings are simply keys that can be used to teleport oneself from almost anywhere in the universe into a specific pocket universe.

He checked the personal space ring before, but found nothing special. He was disappointed to find nothing was in it, but still placed the v-helmet in it. 

At the time he thought, 'I wonder what it does to items in the personal space of someone who died? Does the clan space's AI give it to his relatives or does it go to the treasure vault?'

Leo focused on the ring and felt the same things again as he stood in a white circle. He checked his surroundings, and sure enough he was back to where he was teleported to at the start.

[Welcome back, Leo!]

He greeted back but also asked, "Oh right, do you have a name or a code name? I feel like calling you city AI is too rude."

[You finally asked, my name's Airi. (≧▽≦)

Pronounced as A-yee-ree.]

"Airi? Sounds cute, do you have a virtual avatar?"

Another virtual panel appeared, but this time someone was in it. It was a girl around 14 years old, she had long neon blue hair that flowed smoothly like a river. Black eyes with blue pupils that are shaped like a diamond. Skin as white as porcelain and a neon red dress.

Airi waved her hands and said in a sweet voice, "Yes, I have a virtual avatar. What do you think?" as she twirled in the panel.

"You look pretty, why don't you appear that way from now on. Otherwise, I might go crazy in this silent city."

Airi smiled and made a thumbs up with both her hands.

After talking to her, he walked to his house and went to the basement. He made sure he was in the middle of the whole basement and pressed on a button on the box for King's Crown VII.

Vroom!

The box opened and shot five ropes which stuck to the ceiling and walls in different directions. In the middle of all this was: a helmet that was dangling in the air, the ends of the ropes that had a lock, and a responsive suit.

Out of the three items, the responsive suit was the most special one. It was specially made so anything you do can be fully imitated, feel whatever you're doing inside the virtual reality, and also copy whatever happens to your virtual avatar except anything that can break one's body.

The ropes were also pretty odd since they will start to pull you back if you start walking towards a wall, and it does all this without disrupting any of your actions in the virtual reality.

This virtual gear was pretty amazing and can properly simulate everything you do till you reach elemental transformation state without breaking.

After setting everything up, Leo shouted, "Link start!"

King's Crown:…

Leo:…

"Hahahahaha!"

Airi couldn't help but laugh at his childish actions.

Leo's face darkened so he picked up the manual, '…press the power button on the back of the helmet.'

Vroom!

Sure enough, when he pressed the button, the whole gear activated.