armyinform Chapter 115: POOL
Chapter 115: POOL
"Everyone, we are ten hours away from our destination. Prepare for exit."
Mark’s cold voice sounded through the entire spaceship.
Silas opened his eyes from where he sat.
"How much time has passed since I entered seclusion?" He asked himself quietly as he stood up from the bed.
"Rion, how long did I spend in seclusion?"
"300 hours, Master Silas," Rion replied almost instantly.
Silas shook his head.
"That long?" He mused aloud.
As he was still reeling from the fact that he had spent so much time, he suddenly remembered something.
"Were you able to tell the manager to cancel all appointments?" He asked.
"Yes, Master Silas," Rion answered.
Silas had asked the manager to schedule meetings with people who wanted to invest in their company, as well as those who wanted to assist in the creation of their first game.
Silas nodded and stood up from the bed.
"This rune model is really complicated," he muttered, taking a cup of water from the side of his bed.
"Since I started reading it, I only understand a few things, like what it is used for and a few runic commands."
He removed the cup’s cover and downed the water in a single gulp.
"I will continue later. Thank goodness I diverted some of my time to the other models and cultivation."
Although comprehending the models was not something he needed to do manually since his skill could handle it, he still felt he could have achieved more with the same time he had dedicated to runes.
"System," he called.
[Name: Silas Lancaster]
[Skills:
Infinite Library
Absolute Drop
Edge Aether
Aether Manipulation]
Looking at Aether Manipulation, Silas could not help but think of Lilura.
This was the skill he had gained from killing her.
"Expand."
[Aether Manipulation:
Compression: Compress all aether, increasing potency the finer it gets.
Fragmentation: Split one attack into as many as you want, with each split reducing the power of the attack proportionally.
Expansion: Increase the length of an attack, with the power reducing in proportion to the expansion.]
The skill looked simple, but in the right hands it could be deadly.
Especially given how creatively Lilura had used it during their battle.
Silas snapped out of his thoughts and began walking toward the door with calm steps.
"At this pace, how long would I need before I can detonate my core?" He wondered. "Even after absorbing so much aether, it is not budging."
He rested his palm on the door knob. With a gentle tug, the door opened with a creak.
"Welcome," Asher greeted with a curt bow.
Silas nodded. "Thank you."
As he walked toward the right wing, he spoke with Asher.
"So, you stayed beside my door the entire time," he said.
"Yes," Asher replied almost instantly.
Silas sighed.
"What do you know about runes and their branch of science?" He asked.
Asher went silent at Silas’s question.
Silas noticed but Asher spoke before he could address it.
"Runes are a diluted version of Edicts," he said. "They were discovered by the Patriarch of the Solarion Clan after years of research."
Silas blinked. "Edicts? The same ones that can only be accessed at the Primordial Realm?"
"Yes," Asher nodded. "Our human empire has been unable to produce more than one Primordial Realm cultivator since its creation, and even that person disappeared over a million years ago."
"What happened to them?" Silas asked with furrowed brows.
"The rumour is that they are attempting to break through to the next rank, but the only person who can say for sure is probably the Emperor."
Silas nodded.
"The runes were created by the Patriarch so humans would have a way to hold their own against other top races in the absence of their own Primordial Realm expert."
"Do you think the runes are enough to deter the other top races from invading the human empire?" Silas asked, stopping as he looked back at Asher.
"No. But they are also afraid to try something so risky since it is not confirmed whether the expert would protect humanity or not."
"So both sides are at a standoff."
"Well, the situation on the battlefields has gotten worse though. Even if they cannot invade, they push humans back on the ground."
Silas shook his head as he continued walking.
"So many things happening. It makes me feel like ignorance is a luxury."
"It certainly is, sir," Asher said with a smile.
Both of them fell silent as they made their way toward the recreational centre.
As he walked in, a cool breeze brushed past his face, making him pause for a moment.
"You finally decided to come out," Amelia called from inside the pool.
"All work and no play makes Silas a dull boy," Silas said as he walked closer.
"You just remembered that, did you?" Billie asked, splashing water at Silas.
Silas reacted on instinct, his body tilting to the side before the water could reach him.
But it was not enough to save him from both of them.
Amelia launched another wave as if she had been waiting for exactly that movement.
Silas shook his head and accepted his fate.
But the water did not reach him.
He looked at it, suspended mid air.
Without doubt, he knew who had done it.
He looked at Asher.
Asher nodded in confirmation, a smile spreading across his lips.
"Not fair," Amelia yelled, beating her arms against the water.
"Well, who started being unfair?" Silas asked with a loud laugh.
...
"Those girls and their persistence," Silas muttered as he tried to squeeze the water from his clothes.
He walked through the centre toward the changing room.
"Let me," Asher offered.
With a casual wave of his palm, the water evaporated, dissolving into a cloud of mist before disappearing into the air.
"Thank you," Silas said with a smile.
Asher bowed in response.
Silas entered the changing room with Asher waiting outside.
Soon, he came out wearing just a pair of shorts.
"Feel free to relax," he said to Asher.
Before heading to the pool, he stopped at the mini bar stationed in the corner.
"Mark," he said, looking at the robot in charge of the bar.
Having spent some time on the ship before entering seclusion, Silas already knew that all the robots were controlled by Mark.
"What do you want?" Mark asked directly.
"Cookies, a bottle of wine, and three glasses."
Silas did not wait long.
The robot disappeared behind the counter and returned with a tray.
On it sat a bottle of wine, a bowl of cookies, and three glasses.
Silas collected the tray gently.
A few steps away, he turned back.
"Give me that lollipop," he said.
Mark did not hesitate. It opened a drawer in the counter and produced an orange lollipop.
Silas received it alongside the tray and walked back to the pool.
The girls looked at him with a smile.
"At least you can be a gentleman sometimes," Billie said, snatching a glass from the tray.
Amelia took hers too.
"Even I who brought it haven’t taken anything yet," Silas said, setting the tray by the side of the pool.
"Who cares?" Amelia retorted, opening the wine.
A pop echoed from the cap before it settled.
"Manners dictate you pour for others first," Amelia said, filling her own cup with wine.
"Why are you contradicting yourself?" Billie asked, shaking her head as she collected the bottle from Amelia.
"Well, I don’t care about manners."
Silas collected the bottle and poured himself a glass.
"Cheers to a new life," Silas said, raising his glass.
A clink spread through the air as glasses met.
"Cheers to us passing the entrance exam," Billie added.
Again, they touched their glasses together.
"And cheers to a sustained friendship," Amelia said, raising her glass.
The glasses met once more.
"Ahh," Billie said, taking a sip.
"It really hit the spot," Amelia said, setting her glass on the edge.
Silas set his down too and unwrapped the lollipop.
"What is that?" Billie and Amelia asked in unison.
"I am not entirely sure. It originates from the mother planet. It is called a lollipop and is apparently extremely sweet."
Amelia blinked, staring at the stick in Silas’s mouth.
Billie was the same.
Both of them stared at it like it was a treasure.
"What? You can get one from Mark over there," he said, gripping the stick a little tighter.
"We cannot wait," Billie said, moving toward him to take it.
"I agree with her," Amelia added, following Billie toward Silas.
Silas did not hesitate. Seeing both of them close in, he shut his eyes.
"I had no choice."
The sound of something snapping was the only thing they heard before Silas pulled the stick away.
They watched him chew something, as though he were eating wood.
"Did you just bite through it?" Amelia asked.
Silas nodded.
Then he coughed.
He beat his chest with one hand and reached for his drink.
Without reservation, he poured it into his mouth.
After a moment, he was fine.
"Lesson learned. Never try to bite through a lollipop, especially when you are in a hurry."
They all smiled at that.