Chapter 7 - Home

She had arrived in front of her house. The journey was quick because of the shuttles that Sir Ottar had provided. They were top-tier shuttles that could reach top speeds of 200km per hour if needed. With this Pheobes' journey home took only a third of the time it took for her to arrive at the Novaium centre.

Her parents had already received the news about her results via phone. Staff and doctors of the hospital all received phones out of convenience, allowing for instant messaging and information to spread.

Phones were useful items that those on the lower rungs of society could simply not afford- essentially they were luxury items. Those who couldn't afford a phone would have to resort to in-person conversations or letters.

The Novaium possesses a database of the majority of people in the world collected by the Syvernisi and TOI, this had many practical applications especially since they have been doing this since their rise to power. They were people especially those in the Swamp unit who had patchy information about them such as parents. However, with the introduction of the Novaium, they collected information about their aptitudes, aptitude grades and age.

The Soulnet is managed by the command centers and it uses the phones and other technical devices that connect to the Soulnet as nodes to transfer information instantaneously and securely. Due to the grandness of Wisteria, it is impractical to have a central server and so this alternative is used. This is probably the best choice because if a hypothetical central server collapsed due to X reason or Y reason, then the entire soul net would collapse with it causing anarchy because of how useful it is.

Using Soulnet devices as nodes in the 'mesh topology' makes it so that if one device fails the rest are not affected. This makes it very stable and with the technical superiority that the Novaium possess it is near impossible to hack into it and access the database without getting spotted and eradicated.

When children achieved noteworthy achievements, their parents would be informed via Soulnet as it is the most streamlined process. There are other ways but most of these children's parents are well of enough that it wouldn't be that difficult to get a Soulnet device. Some cases can be a little more special.

It hadn't even a second after she had thanked the driver for her services when her mother and father opened the door and stood waiting outside- big smiles on each of their faces.

Running to hug the both of them she couldn't help but exclaim, "I've done it! I couldn't believe my ears when I heard my results".

The Neighbours and civilians watched the interaction with curiosity. There were other parents whose children either didn't manage to enter the academy or barely managed. They recognised the difference in treatment between Pheobe and their children and even themselves. This was the Blue strip. Where only about 10% of the population managed to enter the academies.

There were many different academies spread throughout the world each could house a rough maximum of 100,000 students new students per year. With hundreds of thousands of residents in the South Forkland region alone, excluding those from the Swamp so it was competitive to enter the academy despite the low acceptance rate.

Getting into the academy wasn't a done deal as the end-of-year assignments will disqualify those who do not manage complete it to the standard expected of them.

Parents with children who were at the same venue as Pheobe had already informed their parents of what occurred at the centre. It wasn't hard to link her to one of those people who achieve phenomenal results especially when she had arrived in a high-class shuttle. Some of them even approached the family to offer congratulations on their success. Possibly to gain favour? Perhaps, or it could have just been out of kindness.

After the Cranbell family finished accepting the greetings and enter their home. Pheobe's father, Oswald and her mother, Gloriana just had to give their daughter a large hug. It lasted for a minute- no one speaking until Oswald began to shed tears. Tears of happiness show how proud he was of his daughter.

"Even if you had not done this well, we would both have been proud of you.". While looking up as if to hide his tears he continued, " It seems that I have to thank God for blessing me with you". Her mother added, "That's right, it's as if Jessica's soul was aiding you this whole time."

Normally, any mention of her younger sister would have been taboo, but in this case, it seemed like the right thing to say. She was the catalyst that engrained the unyielding determination to reach the top into Pheobes' bones, causing her to spiral into deep training.

At first, it worried her parents but they soon came to realise that it was her way of coping with the loss. She was only 7 at the time of their loss, and her sister was 5. What a bright soul she had been. But alas, as they say, 'those who shine the brightest fall the fastest' and that had been the case with Jessica.

Pheobe maintained self-control and made sure to receive ample rest time after training so she did not lead herself to ruination. This placated her parents and seeing how much effort she was committing and how they were beginning to bear fruit, they knew that they had to help and would constantly buy soul-nourishing beast meat and potions to aid her.

Phoebe simply basked in this moment, wishing it would never end. This was one of those moments that was just pure bliss that one would experience very rarely and sparsely throughout their life. She knew that she would have to leave her parents which she loved very dearly for five years and yes, there would be breaks, and she would be able to see her parents but that didn't amount to much. So at least for now, she would enjoy this brief period.

But before that she had to learn about the so-called 'transcendents', "Mum, Dad, when I was at the centre, I learned about the word 'transcendent' however I do not know what that means. It seems like it is really important information but I haven't been able to receive anything else, do you know anything."

"Ahh, the trancendents huh. It's our dream to become transcendent. It's in our blood to try and make it to the pinnacle but only those who are destined to become transcendents can become transcendents. They are those who have managed to overcome the limits of mortals. You've heard about how people have a hard time advancing beyond the Archerios class and that is due to the barrier separating mortals and transcendents. I cannot tell you how transcendent occur as both I and your mother are mid-level Archerios rankers"

Pheobes's eyes widened in understanding and amazement at both why the Novaium covered such people as teachers and also the difficulty to meet such qualifications. Once again she was amazed by the might of the command centres and had to sit a moment to digest the new information.

Today had been one of the most information-infused days in her life and knowing that it was just the calm before the storm she continued to enjoy the day.

She began to talk about her aptitude and how it was vastly different from her parents. She was a fysikas while they were elementas, normally even if a child's aptitude was not in some way related to their parents it was usually t least the same class. Cases like Pheobe's were rare but proven.

"My aptitude is summoning phoenix wings, which means that i can inherit the strength of the legendary Pheonix, but it also means it will be harder to learn initially and will require a lot from me.

"Don't worry cupcake, we will support you as much as we can using our experience to guide you. In our case, because we are life-based elementas we did cause as much damage and destruction as other people have. Our soul power converts into life energy and can be used to heal people, cure them of curses, etcetera. This in turn draws life towards as plants will begin to show signs of increased grows and animals will become more friendly, I've heard about some people befriending legendary beasts as well such as the enlightened one"

BIn actuality, her parents would not be able to provide much support as their experience would be different to their daughter's. When they realised this they settled on emotional support. It would not take long until the first sign of her aptitude would show up and they would not have been prepared for what was to come.