Chapter 5- Finding Safety in a Safe House

A certain freshman college student found herself gawking at her cousin, who also happened to be her best friend. They were born of the same year in school, and while they lived in separate households, whenever they were together something just... clicked. They were closer, some said, than even the "Gemini Twins" that were on the school leaderboards.

"...Miya?" She looked down at her cousin, who was rolling all over the dirty roof and, for some reason, could NOT stop her incessant giggling. "Hello, earth to Miya?"

After about 30 seconds, she got a reply. Miya's laughter finally started breaking up. "What...?" Miya replied sullenly.

"What is going on with you?" Her phrasing was a mistake. It caused Miya to break out in intense giggling again, and as a result she had to wait another three minutes for Miya to calm down. Three whole minutes! If it was anyone but Miya, she'd have been gone. After the giggling finally stopped, she asked about what she came for.

"Professor Gargle is having issues with his class again. It's the perfect time for punishment."

Suddenly, Miya's eyes got cold. Standing up, her excess spirit ki blazed like fire. She used a spirit technique to push all the dirt off her body, and her beauty was unblemished. She tilted her head. "Count me in."

----~~~~----

Veil woke up, his head throbbing. Then, he sat up like like lightning. A tremor rose through his body, but he stabilized himself against... a bed? "Hello?" He asked tentatively. 

He heard a sort of static-y sound, and then a low voice spoke calmly from across the room. "Good morning, Veil."

"Mr. Jamieson?"

"Yes, it is indeed myself." Richard spoke rather wryly. A moment passed, and Veil's mind started to remember what had just happened.

All of a sudden, memories from his past came- memories from both his life on Earth, and the life before him on Faera. Was he two people, or one? The differences were clear, but so were the similarities. He didn't have those memories before- what happened?

As he began to process everything, he remembered what had just happened. He touched the awakening stone, then... something lanced through his arm and he blacked out.

"Mr. Jamieson, I remember the awakening stone. Do you know why I blacked out?"

Richard paused a moment before replying. Tweaking his moustache, he replied in the familir southwestern drawl. "....Veil, while I am not sure why you blacked out, there are several ways in which I am aware of that could cause this. Firstly, there is the possibility of a special mutation. If there was a soul mutation that resulted in mutating enough of your cells, it would cause your body to collapse from the pain. Other than this, the soul is known to be strengthened during awakening. If your soul previously had a kink in it of some form or fashion, or protection from your parents, it could cause a hiccup in the awakening process. While most forms of soul protection would not cause this, there are a few that might. ...If you mind, would you be willing to take the ring off? There are no cameras here, and I cannot quite see if you've had any special mutations if I cannot see your face." Richard smiled. 

'Right...' Veil thought. His brain was still a bit messed up from the whole, 'I just woke up, I feel weird, and a bunch of memories just crashed into my brain' thing. Rolling over, he got out of bed and took off the ring.

"Well, just looking at you, I can tell that there are no obvious mutations. They might actually be a little harder for you to sense. For now, let's see if we can get your affinity checked. You should have an innate affinity. If you have a second, there's no mutation. If there is no second affinity, then the second affinity should exist.

To look for your affinity, you'll have to sense out your innate soul space. While you can't access it fully right now, you should be able to sense the affinity residing within it.

Additionally, you're now an awakened Ki Holder. Congratulations! 

You're currently in one of my safehouses. This one is located in the Cutstone Mountain Range, in the Alliance State of Cool Shine."

'Cool Shine... So that should be Colorado.' Veil thought.

"I plan to leave you here for the next few days to assimilate into your new realm. I'll come back each night around 6P.M. to check in on you. There's food and drink stocked in the fridge. I've also left a couple books on the bookshelf in the living room regarding various cultivation knowledges.

Here's my phone number if you need anything else. I plan to add you in some form or fashion to the college itself. However, before doing so, we'll need to take care of Julian, or find a way for you to disguise yourself. I'll start the paperwork tonight. I'm assuming you're on board, but I still need to verify. Is this what you want, Veil?"

"It is my duty just as much as it is my desire, sir."

"Well then!" Richard clapped his hands together. "What would you like to make your new name, then?"

Veil thought for a moment. If he was to go down this path, he would have to change his name... At least for a time. "How about Veil Caster?" He asked. He figured the irony was worth it for the time being. Even if there were secrets kept, they always came out into the open eventually. That being said, keeping a positive mindset is always a must, and silly names help towards that goal.

"Just like your dad, I see." Richard muttered. "In that case, I'll see you tomorrow. It's currently 7:30 P.M. I'll recommend trying to get in bed before sundown. I'm sure you've no need of sleep after the long rest you've just had, but it is indeed nice to keep a schedule. Once you've tiered up, though, that should no longer be a problem. Good night, Veil."

"Thank you, Mr. Jamieson. A good night to you as well." Veil said with a small, yet formal bow. No sooner had he said this than had Mr. Jamieson left the room. All he heard was a small static-y whoosh, and poof! He was gone. 'I think Nano would actually be a great investment, just for the space system alone. I should wait to check my affinity first, though.' Veil thought to himself.

Sighing to himself, Veil took stock of his situation, and realized. He was ravenously hungry. He quickly found the kitchen and rifled through the fridge. His eyes continuously got bigger and bigger. Pizza... Seafood... Macaroni and Cheese, both.... The selection was paradise on earth. Not only did it have his favorite foods, they were gourmet.

After freaking out for a long while, he decided to eat the pizza first. It was philly cheesesteak, after all. Reaching out to grab the pizza, He realized that there was something indescribable in the door. Something he thought he wouldn't see for a while. His mother had gotten him hooked on the stuff, but he hadn't seen it since his parents started their vacation. In his past life, the same. With his parents dead, it brought back hard memories.

This time, though.. His parents were alive. He had to believe that his message through had worked. He grabbed the drink. It was a soda. "Lan Boy's Creamy Red Birch Beer, made with 100% Real Cane Sugar." 'This world of Faera may be different, but this drink was still the number one. The best and greatest root beer of all time.' Veil was immersed in his thoughts as he sipped the nice, cold soda through his throat. He shivered. 'So good....' He thought.

He brought the pizza to the table. It was devoured in much less than 12 parsecs. But he found that he was somehow still hungry. Going back to the fridge, he grabbed the seafood. He made sure to eat enough that wouldn't make him sick, but he was still hungry. He went through both the Macaroni and the Cheese like no other before. Yet the hunger was still not satisfied. 'Damn it.' He thought. 'I'll have to eat the salad.'

After consuming the evil bitterness that resided in the green aberrations, his body began to fill up. "I guess I have the nutrients I missed." He said to no one in particular.

'I just ate enough to satisfy a horse. It will be a while before I can get some sleep. I should probably try to figure out my affinity first. To do that, it'd be best to check my current cultivation.' Thinking this, Veil calmly picked up all his leftover dishes and cleaned the table off. He decided to look at some of the books Richard had suggested while his body was digesting.

There were several books on the wall. Several were regarding various common affinities. Of course, while it was rare, there was also one on the space affinity. There was also an encyclopedia of affinities as well as an encyclopedia on special mutations. There was also books on standard spirit cultivation, general combat training, regiment training, etc. One title peeked out from the rest. "Dylvan's Key to Mutation Cultivation." It seemed that Richard was indeed hoping that he had gotten a special mutation.

He decided to pick up the encyclopedia of affinities. After scanning it for 20 minutes, he felt he had a basic grasp on all the common ones. He looked at the rare ones, too, and had most of the powerful ones memorized. After waiting the alotted time for his system to settle, he looked around the house for a bit. He noticed the living room, bed room, kitchen, and bathroom. There was also a large rectangular excercise room. It was built in to the center of the house. The walls were made from a strange metal he didn't recognize. It was silver and green, and seemed to shift.

There was another hallway, as he noticed after a short while, that led to a giant circle around the house. It was made of the same material. 'Assuming that the material was protective, he soon realized an auxiliary cause for the exercise room. It was to test live combat. 'Makes sense,' he thought. It reminded him of all the comics from his previous life. 'You have to be able to punch something,' he mused.

In the corner was a ladder. Climbing it, he once again realized the effects that his Awakening had had on him. He was stronger, his build more lithe. No wonder he needed so much food!

Arriving at the top of the ladder, he looked at the room around him. There was a hatch for the door he just closed. Shutting it, he realized that the room was a meditation space. There was a mat in the center. The room itself was pyramidal in design. 'Come to think of it,' he thought, 'The whole house is both symmetrical and rectangular is shape. Maybe the whole house is a pyramid. Where exactly am I?' 

"Nano?" He asked. Since he was the only one there, it made sense to speak out loud.

"Yes, Sender?"

"Can you give me our current location?"

"I cannot connect to the satellite system. We appear to be in a closed-off space from the rest of the world. However, the local router is showing an internet connection. I've already gained access to the root administrative credentials for the next 12 hops. It appears to be linked to the school network. Mirroring credentials from the routers, I have managed to gain administrative credentials on the school's servers. You now have a satisfactory manner in which to reach the world wide web."

"DO YOU ALWAYS DO THIS?" Veil was flabbergasted.

"Why yes, Sender. It is protocol for me to create a wide enough berth to make sure that your internet security is complete."

"Ugghhh... I hope Richard doesn't mind..." Veil literally facepalmed himself.

"Don't worry, Master. I'm a supercomputer. I'm built for that."

Veil had no words.

He decided to sit down on the mat and start cultivating his Spirit Ki. To cultivate, one was to imagine a whirlpool in their Dantian and suck the energies from outside their bodies into their belly. However, since he had yet to feel his Ki (having skipped the 9 levels of the Spirit Formation Stage), he decided to work the Ki through the various parts of his body first.

Taking the lotus position, he meditated on the newfound energy in his dantian. He pushed the energy to his feet, and back to his dantian. He pushed it to his head, and felt a... space there; it seemed important. He assumed it was the Soul Space, but continued his process: growing more familiar with the paths that took his Ki throughout his body. He pushed the Ki to his hands and then.... blacked out again.