Ch 11: Healing and Practice

(A/N: My app is getting fu*ked over for some reason unknown to me. I can't seem to reply to comments properly. If you have any queries, then you can ask me in the comments and I'll answer them in my author's notes.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Felix's POV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week had passed since the meeting. It was the Summer vacations but I was even busier than usual days.

Dad would pick me up when he went to work, in the name of letting me have some knowhow. I subtly used mass 'Compel' on the employees until my mana drained.

I didn't overexert myself like last time and directly stopped after I reached my limit. My growth slowed down but at least it was stable.

The 'Compel' on the employees was more like a subtle brainwash rather than a command. Although its effects were slow, the coverage was a lot bigger. Once they were fully brainwashed, we would slowly spread them out in sister companies to control the new employees. Then the new employees will be brainwashed by me and the cycle continues. I was in the making of a great cult leader.

We had also started to collect information about exceptional workers and people with potential in other companies. Our plan was to 'Compel' them and make them work for us. But that would be after our own employees were brainwashed completely.

Besides that, I had also memorized music theory to the T. As for training my ears, who needed that when I could memorize the notes themselves? That's not to say my ears were bad or anything.

The day we had a long drive, Dad had already invested in the crypto scene. We just had to wait a few years to cash it out just before it reaches its peak. I had also given him some information about the already existing companies that became successful later on, though it wasn't much as I wasn't that invested in the stocks when I was a kid or even after that, go figures.

Dad had hired some employees and was in the process of creating "pãy-trêê-õñ". After that, was the creation of the record label.

I had already written the songs in the chronological order of their release dates. The rule we had set was for the songs to be at least 2 years in the future so that we don't get into any trouble with copyrights or plagiarism.

Dad ordered the workshop in the backyard to be renovated as a gym, so I was waiting out on that.

Today was the day for Irene to come back from her grandparents' place. Today she'll probably know what had happened to her mother. Thankfully Aunty Martha was doing great, and had already been discharged from the hospital with a recommendation of weekly visits. The only remnant of her surgery was a collar, and a sanitized patch on her neck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Ding Dong*

Mom rang the bell of Aunty Martha's home. Behind her were Melena and I.

"Coming!"

The door opened, and we saw Irene.

"Feeeleee!"

"Now, now, you lovebirds, not here~"

Irene's face turned red at that, and she quickly tried to change the topic.

"Please come in!"

"Hohoho~"

Sadly, her opponent was Mom.

"Hey, stop teasing my daughter. She's gonna have a nosebleed."

Aunty Martha came over with a walking stick and said in a hushed voice.

The painkillers she was given were quite heavy, making walking quite unstable.

"Hey, who told you to walk? Get down on the bed now."

Mom commanded with finality in her voice.

"Yeah, Mom. Go to bed and rest. I can handle it"

Irene also chipped in.

Mom patted Irene's head with affection and then supported Aunty Martha to her bedroom.

Irene took us kids to the lounge, probably because Aunty Martha had told her to do so.

Melena and Irene had met a few times by now. But they were like fire and ice, never really getting along. At Least they didn't fight, just didn't talk much. I could only sigh at that and turned towards Irene.

"Irene, how're you doing? I heard you were with your grandparents. Was it fun there?"

"....."

Irene just remained silent. Through my talent's telepathic ability, I felt her emotions and found them to be quite unstable. I was getting a bit concerned and was gonna speak again when Irene just jumped at me.

She hugged me and started whimpering.

'Haah, this kid… '

I hugged her back and patted her head. After some consoling, she finally calmed down a bit.

"Thank you..."

"There's nothing to thank me about. I just did what I was supposed to do."

In response, she just shook her head, still hugging me tightly.

After some time, I started feeling an intense gaze on my back. I didn't need to know who's it was.

'I'm a child right now. They're children as well. How the actual fuck did I end up in this situation? It's just kids' possessiveness, nothing else…'

Even if my ever-permanent memories supported me, giving me a full timeline of the events, I was still in denial.

"Ahh~ you lovebirds~ get a room~"

"Aack!"

Mom came over from the back and teased. Irene, surprised, pushed me away and hid her face in a cushion. I could hear Melena's soft giggles from the back.

"Alright you guys, Martha is taking a rest now. We're going home. Irene honey, nothing's gonna change by hiding your face. You're coming with us to have dinner. Now, all of you, put on your shoes."

And so we did and went home along with Irene.

After playing and watching tv for a few hours, it was finally dinner time. We had a tantalizing dinner, and we all munched on it like there was no tomorrow. After it ended, Mom packed 'some' dinner, which was actually a truckload, for Irene to bring back home for her mom and dad.

I was made to go drop her off as it was night time and the dishes were quite heavy.

On the way, we were both quiet until we reached her door. Irene put the dish in her hand on the floor and took out the keys.

"Thank you… Feelee. Mom glossed over it but I know it was probably very bad for her. They wouldn't have sent me to grandpa's if it wasn't so bad. If you didn't tell her, I don't know what would have happened… "

'It seems that Aunty Martha emphasized my part a bit too much… '

"Don't fret over it. Aunty Martha was probably worried about not being able to make you food."

" Mhm. "

Irene just smiled and nodded. She opened the door, and we put the food on her dining table.

"Phew… I'll be going now. Lock the doors and tell Aunty Martha that food is here. Goodnight!"

She went with me to the door to bid farewell and close the door. I stayed outside the door until I heard the click of the lock. I had already 'Compelled' all the security guards and police in the neighborhood but it doesn't hurt to be careful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week had passed yet again. The brainwashing of all the key employees was already completed. Only the normal employees were left. The workshop was also completely transformed into a gym.

The workshop was quite big to begin with, so the gym was quite roomy. The gym had a fighting ring, punching bags, and training dummies. It, of course, had the usual training machines as well as treadmills. But we kids weren't allowed to use them. I had also told dad to add hooks to the ceiling in a grid, the hooks were 6 inches apart from each other.

Irene and Melena were sitting in the gym with Rolo in between them, sticking out his tongue and wagging his tail. He was having the time of his life as both Melena and Irene subtly fought to pat his little head.

They were both watching me demonstrate moves with different weapons. Of course, they were toy weapons I had gotten the other day. Dad was working on an excuse to give me those wooden ones.

I only let them watch for now as they might pull their muscles if they did it incorrectly. Melena was, of course, not allowed to do anything more than walking and sitting right now, but Irene was making a fuss about trying it.

I was honestly glad for her enthusiasm. I didn't know the talent Irene would awaken, as she had already disappeared by the time "Etheria" was released in the previous timeline. But it doesn't hurt for her to train for it. I had already devised a plan to make all the prospective exceptional players train in advance, after I have thoroughly brainwashed them, of course.

I didn't let Irene train with the toy weapons, as she might just break them.

"Wait up, I have something better for you."

I took out a stool ladder and brought some small foam balls attached to a thin rope. I stood on the ladder and tied the ropes to the hooks on the ceiling.

"Hey, Mel, take two of these balls and stand right there."

Melena had become a lot more expressive and comfortable with the family by now and even started to call my parents 'Mom and Dad'. She was heading in a good direction. I also decided to be comfortable calling her by her nickname.

"What are you guys doing? Is this some kind of training from those kung fu movies?"

Irene had hit the bull's eye.

"Yep, now stand over in the middle and dodge the balls. We'll start with one for now"

She stood there vigilantly, though most of her vigilance was towards Mel.

"I'll start from here. Get ready!"

I threw a ball and she dodged it easily. In her trademark smugness, she forgot that the ball was attached to a rope and was swinging back towards her. She got hit…

"You lose. It's my turn now."

"What! I want another try!"

"Nope, only after I'm done."

A kid's attention span was very low. I had to make it so the training seems like a commodity and a contest so they don't get bored with it. Lesson number 1 to manipulate kids…

Irene took my place and took the balls.

"Hah! Take this!"

She threw it really fast, but I easily dodged it. The ball swung back in a curve towards me and I dodged it without even looking back.

"One more! Melena!"

Melena threw over a ball as well. Now two balls were swinging towards me at the same time, but I easily dodged them. After dodging a few more times, I intentionally let myself get hit.

There was a fine line between encouraging a kid with sheer coolness and discouraging kids by making it seem undoable. I stopped right when I felt they were impressed and enthusiastic, through my 'talent'. Lesson number 2 to manipulate kids…

Then Irene and I took turns until she was exhausted. Because of mana, my body had already started to mutate a bit, giving me far more stamina and strength than a normal ten-year-old.

Melena was staring at us enviously, so I consoled her.

"Don't worry Mel, the doc said you can even run after two weeks. Just wait out these two weeks, then you will beg me to stop training."

In response she smiled a little and nodded.

We headed out of the gym and Mom brought us lemonades. I welcomed it wholeheartedly. It was freaking hot out in the summer.

We had some lunch and played some video games the whole evening. Irene went home after that.

I didn't go to my room but towards the study.

Dad was sitting there with his laptop in front of him. He had a frown on his face.

"Dad, is the operation today at night? Did they confirm it? "

"Yeah, they had sent me some information from a spoof account. It's tonight. They have already secured the perimeter of the Mayor's house, secretly."

"I hope that son of a bitch gets what he deserves. We should probably tell Melena after this happens."

"Language, son… I sure hope so. As for Melena, let's keep it from her for now. She is finally starting to recover mentally. It might be detrimental to her."

I nodded back, acknowledging my shortsightedness and lack of consideration.

"Let's just wait and see, they'll send us updates, right?"

"They said they'll send the information only after the operation is done."

"Seems about right… "

And so, we waited for the night…

(A/N: I'll be going at the same kind of pace from now on. Fast-paced but still slowed down for some specific events.

Thank You all for reading this chapter!!!)