145 Preparation

Aida opened her eyes in a slight daze as she checked her phone. To her surprise, an entire day had already passed while she was busy integrating with Artie in her mindscape. It seems the flow of time inside her mindscape would vary depending on which space she was in. She made a mental note to ask Xiao Ai and Artie when they returned from their adventure through the internet. Perhaps she could use that to her advantage.

As she came down the stairs, they had all just finished dinner and were chatting happily while playing a game of jenga, even Rose and Little White were engaged. Everyone looked towards her with an inquiring expression. Aida knew that they had been wondering if she was successful, she nodded silently. They all smiled happily as Light got up to reheat the meal he had put aside for her.

Rin began recounting the day without needing Aida's prompting, "We have been training. In the morning, Light taught us all aikido techniques and then Lucifer taught us shooting. It was so much fun!"

Rose quietly nodded on the side in agreement, she became absentminded as she thought about her current life. She was the only one who didn't have a background in fighting and shooting at all, so everything was a very new experience for her. It showed in the way she stumbled and took longer to learn everything, but everyone was very supportive which made it enjoyable for her as well. She really liked the feeling of being a part of something and being accepted for who she was.

Yukio teased his brother, "Heh, brother you forgot about class and all the homework we were assigned today."

Rin made an exaggerated groan, "Ughhh brotherr, why did you have to mention that?"

A smile unknowingly appeared on Rose's lips as she heard the playful banter of the twins. She really enjoyed all the new experiences she had so far and hoped they would continue forever.

Everyone continued to pull more blocks out of the jenga tower and as Yukio pulled out another one, it began to tip over. Everyone groaned as they expectantly waited for the tower to collapse, but to their surprise it didn't. Rose had secretly created an ice barrier to prevent it from falling.

Yukio was delighted to see this and high fived her, saying, "Nice!"

Rose returned the high five and sat quietly, bashfully looking at the table as she removed the ice. Everyone laughed good naturedly and cleaned up the mess they made.

At this time, Aida finished her meal and coughed to get everyone's attention. Seeing this, everyone turned serious as well. She said, "We are almost to City M so things are going to get serious soon. Everyone should begin preparing."

They all nodded in agreement. It was something they had been discussing as well which is why they had begun intense hand to hand combat training and gun training today. Light and Lucifer realized that they probably wouldn't be able to employ their powers as it would be a dead giveaway that they were Variants.Therefore, the best solution in remaining low key was to use the most basic hand to hand combat and guns to resolve any issues that require force.

Aida then turned her attention to the twins first. "Yukio and Rin, I can sense that both of you are on the brink of upgrading to level 2, so try your hardest to reach it before we get to City M. We will provide you with all the gems you need to make it happen."

The twins nodded seriously. Both of them were eager to reach a higher stage. They had been practicing their skills nonstop, they even tried their best to continue training during their sleep. Yukio would hold Rose's hand while sleeping to continually pass more healing energy onto her while Rin would sleep in the shadows. Rin had mostly resolved his previous struggles with floating off while in the shadows by anchoring himself to the RV with Little White's help. Since his powers were naturally drawn to Little White's, he would instinctively stay in place without accidentally drifting off.

Aida made sure they had enough gems to absorb and gave them a target for when to break through. She also explained to them that they would progress faster if they purposely used up all their powers before absorbing more energy.

Leaving it at that, she moved onto the next topic.

"Ace, produce a report that we can all read before getting to City M. Can you also make IDs for every person here so they can safely enter and stay in the city without getting caught? We also need a place to be a base so work through the system and pay the necessary amount."

For any other person, this would be a fairly challenging task. However, for Ace, it was a piece of cake. He and Xiao Ai had already been discussing how to create the best fake IDs for everyone. The tricky part would be the physical card itself. Fortunately, the government representative that they still had onboard had his ID on him, so they could use that as an example.

"Yes master!" Ace said happily before running off to grab his laptop and get started.

Aida shook her head with amusement before saying, "That's all. Go do what you need to do to prepare."

With that, everyone went off to do their own thing.