"Now, let's see what's wrong with that fish," Yuki murmured.
With the event coming to closer, he had some nagging questions to answer, so he dived at high speed after saying goodbye to the girl and her mother.
After making it to the surface of the thermic cloud, he switched to shark form and dived below it, and a red shadow appeared beside him as soon as he broke through.
Taking a look at the fish, he tried to link his instinct to it, but the eagle's voice came before that. "Try to read its memory; the creature already submitted and won't resist."
"I can do that?" Yuki asked surprisingly.
"Yeah, that scan of yours should be able to do so," the eagle confirmed.
After Ray did so and a screen appeared with a video playing, instead of seeing it with his eyes, the whole thing — which contained the creature's entire life — flooded his mind.
Whistling in surprise and admiration at the things this fish had done.To his expectation, it indeed had minor control over the thermic cloud and had put all the area's order, but that was instinctive. How and why, it had no idea itself.
As for its origin, it was, as they expected, a breach from Flora Sea."Hey, first, do you know what Flora is planning?" Yuki asked after confirming his speculation.
"As it appears, creating a highway to her host," the eagle answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "It may sound dangerous for humans, but that's her wake-up call."
"For what?" Yuki asked.
"To start exploring her host already, and second, a preview of what will happen," the eagle explained cryptically.
Absorbing his words, Yuki started to descend in deep thought — the life embryo's actions, the alien threat, and all that made his mind buzz.As a matter of perception — from the life embryo's perception — he had a couple of theories, and all of them needed direct contact to confirm.
"I guess I need some time to find a way to meet Life… or at least visit Flora," Yuki thought and started to head back.
"Scan." While advancing, he activated his scan.
[Yuki Alexander (14 YO)][Instinct Avatar: The Mist – Copycat]
[Energy Lv: unique], [Body Condition: Healthy]
[Proficiency: Programmer (GM), Driver (M), Scientist (GM), Inventor (M)]
[Abilities: Adaptivity, Guardian-Shift, Element Manipulation (Shadow, Space, Metal, Gravity, Water, Flame, Electricity), Element Avatar (Dark, Space, Gravity, Metal), Technomancer]
Nodding in acknowledgment, he started to raise his speed, and soon he was outside the thermic cloud.
"By the way, little hint — every embryo not only controls the concept but also protects and ensures the concept keeps going," the eagle's voice started in his mind before going silent.
Yuki didn't understand at first, but soon he froze, then started to laugh. "So, it's just a matter of keeping the old ways?" he asked, not for an answer but a confirmation.The fact that weird restrictions existed in that containment meant it refused to acknowledge the current ways of humans. And why only that — not forbid or start to kill humans?
Simply because they were inhabitants, and erasing them would be counterproductive to the planet as a whole.
So now, let's take it from their perception(embroy's); if you had a territory and was tasked with protecting something shared between all people in it, but some of them took actions that would sabotage not only the common good but also themselves — what would I do?
You erase them. If you can't, you make them stop that action. If you can't, then look for the source and have it disappear.
Now yuki started to understand, somehow, Flora's actions.
By its appearance, it not only created free zones for wild creatures to survive but also gave humans places where they could learn to coexist with nature.
And from what they scavenged from Flora, it contained some ruins from unknown civilizations, which meant some of the ancients had advanced their lives, and that without affecting Flora, or get affect by it restruction.
As for the breaches, they were probably intended to shorten the distance to something, or the complete opposite: to destroy something at the other end.
"I guess I need a blackboard in the lab now, also…" Ray started to murmur, thinking. Thankfully, he was alone.
...….
Back at the Mana 1 — now the Sea Gate.
After Yuki left anna and jumped, he didn't notice the shocked eyes of two ladies at the side, simply because they recognized him.
"Isn't that…? But how?!" Jason murmured, looking at her friend. "I… thought he was dea—"
Stopping in her tracks, she noticed her friend sprinting out from the balcony and directly out of the room.
Following her, she found she was already knocking on the next door.After seconds, a "Come in" came from the other side.
Anna had already integrated with the concept and was having a chat with Third in her mind space, and after opening her eyes, she heard the knock.
"Jaxx, Mi Ling, how can I help you?" noticing their strange mood.
"If you're here for Feather, he just jumped a few minutes ago. Probably taking a dip." she asked.
"That… actually, I had a question. By any chance, was Feather in a plane accident when he was around six or seven years old?" Mi Ling asked in a breaking voice.
"Eh? Why do you think so?" Anna squinted her eyes, as it wasn't her favorite subject, and the question came out of nowhere.
"That… he gave the same feeling I had from a boy who saved me that day…" Jaxx gave a way out. "We were kind of the first to blow out of the plane after the explosion, and we didn't have time to grab a parachute."
"And honestly, we thought that was it for us," Mi Ling said, regaining her composure. "Then, out of nowhere, a boy years younger than me slammed a parachute on my back and took me in a nosedive."
"Then the next thing I knew, I was drifting alongside Jaxx and the boy." She looked at Jaxx, but the end part came from Anna's mouth.
"In the end, he deployed your parachutes, but his was empty, right?" Anna said and let out a deep sigh. "You figured out who he is just from a feeling?"
"Yeah," Jason said, dodging her eyes. In fact, they had already seen his face, and knowing her friend dashed without thinking, asking this question would put Feather in a tight position since he'd been compromised.
"Your lying skills suck, you know?" Anna sighed again. "Well, when did you see him?" The girls flinched before looking at the ground like they got catch in somthing.
"Hey, come on, don't act like I'm bullying you. I won't hear the end of it from Granny," Anna said in a mischievous voice.
This caused both to look up — and surprisingly, Anna had taken off her mask."Au… Aunt An?!"
Anna without the mask was actually very familiar to them. In fact, the wife of their grandfather was like a second mother to both her and Wanda.
And by extension, they loved and respected their great-grandmother very much.
Sadly, with the type of life they were in, they couldn't tell them. For them, Anna Akai was the widowed CEO of a high-end clothing and jewelry company.
"Now that I've got your trust, mind telling me when?" Anna said playfully, quite happy that they hadn't directly told her they'd seen his face. In fact, that could have brought him before the council — for good reasons. If this meeting weren't private.
"Well, he was smoking on the balcony and didn't have it on," Jaxx said with a wary smile. "But don't worry, no cameras or anyone around — just the two of us."
"Wait, we won't talk about how your son was actually the kid who saved us?" Mi Ling cut through.
"Well, it's already past — what could we talk about?" Anna said easily before giving her a weary smile. "But still, I'm surprised that you're one of the three people he saved."
"Wait, he saved someone else?" Jason asked, surprised."Yeah, from what I got, he caught a man who almost slipped from the plane like you two," Anna confirmed with a smile, remembering how she learned what happened.
With all the things happening that day, she didn't have time to confirm the real situation.
All she was looking for was the reason, who did it, and if her son was okay.Months later, a video went viral on Sky Net (a network of the Sky Guild, mostly used by Awakeners), showing an eagle view of a kid maneuvering a free jump from a destroyed craft, strapping parachutes on two free-falling people, and drifting them out of the crash zone.The video cut short right after.
Anna didn't mind it and didn't even know it was him until the said person watched it and commented, "Eh? Where did you get my video?"
Well, that was shocking, to say the least.
Now, back to the present, Anna felt like playing a little with those two girls.
"I see, but I'm really relieved he's okay. I still have that picture of him slapping into the water in my head," Mi Ling said, and Jason nodded.
"Anyway, now that you know who he is, I can't let you go, or else my boy will get in trouble with the council," Anna said, shifting their thoughts. "Care to join the main house?"
"Eh? I thought I got the invitation," Jaxx said.
"Oh dear, no. That's Wanda's invitation. Mine is more like taking a test," Anna added. "Of course, both passing and not, you'll still join — but the test gives you some advantages inside. Interested?"
They both looked at her with determination and nodded."Good! Then here's your test…" Anna started to explain.
_________________________________
And here it is the chapter!
That's the end of this arc, guys. What do you think?
Drop your opinions below!
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