The door behind Feyd closed by itself while Feyd himself was left slightly confused. He had left after talking slightly longer with Jace, mostly answering some questions.
'What did I do wrong...?'
He felt uneasy at the prospects that he had been disrespectful to his superiors already, and even more so when he couldn't be figure out what he did wrong!
"Hehehe, I'm sure my words will bug him for a long time"
Jace snickered to himself as he looked intently at the door. He slowly looked away and opened a drawer before muttering to himself.
"Well I guess this is as good of a time as any to begin my plans..."
A dark, purple coloured metal was glowing with an eerie light.
Feyd, just like Jace had predicted, was thinking about his "casualness" untill he got back to his inn.
'I still can't tell...'
When he entered the inn he saw a white haired, dark skinned Elf eating some food. It was his friend and companion, Ray.
Feyd paused for a moment before waving his hand to signal a greeting to Fay.
"Hey! Where have you been?"
Ray looked up from his soup as he swallowed a mouthful, "Ughm, nowhere. You dpne registering for the military?".
"Mhmm yeah, you should too"
"Yeah yeah I will I will"
Feyd was about to sit with Ray when he suddenly saw a white crystal being tossed towards him while Ray got up to head towards their room.
Feyd hurriedly caught the crystal as he heard Ray speak, "That's a crystal with that Vice Leader's teleportation Gift. I'm sure it will be of help to you".
"Woah, when did you retrieve this!? Didn't you say you did nothing?"
"Going to the bandit camp isn't anything much. Also do you even know how to use that?"
"Hmm, well not really. Just that they give the powers of their past user"
Ray raised an eyebrow at those words before plopping down onto his bed, slightly exhausted.
"Well how'd you learn that?"
"That Vice Captain from last time told me. Wait, how do YOU know about it"
Ray shrugged, "Mhm".
Seeing that his friend wasn't going to reply Feyd chose not to ask more and instead shared what had transpired earlier.
"...And then I left the headquarters"
"I see"
Ray nodded his head before pondering about what Feyd had just told him. The military of this world wasn't, and isn't, very strict– Well atleast in a hierarchical way. Superiors and subordinates have a pretty casual relationship with only vast differences in rank requiring high caution.
And upon analyzing Feyd's behavior Ray could tell that he wasn't conventionally disrespectful or too casual, which would mean that:
'That guy is messing with Feyd'
It would also make sense considering what Ray had observed about Jace. A casual individual who seemed to enjoy having fun.
"You have nothing to worry about. He's probably just screwing with you"
"Hmmm I expected as much"
Feyd then told Ray about the military's plans for him, and also Ray if he joins. About three months of training specifically related to information and knowledge considering his physical and combat capabilities were up to par. They had realized Feyd knew very little about the world and a few hundred or so books were his only source of knowledge.
And though a hundred may seem like a lot it paled in comparison to what an average person would learn about the world in 18 years, especially in Cecillia Kingdom which had a proper education system. They planned to teach him whatever they considered necessary while giving him time to train.
It was special treatment considering he was a Manipulator.
"Alright, that doesn't seem like a bad thing. It would do us good to know more about the world. You remember when we first found a town and almost got sent to jail for harassment?"
"Oh yeahhh! That was uhh really not a fun experience. And what do you mean 'almost'? We did get sent to jail"
"Hehehe"
When Feyd and Ray first found a town they entered the place with sparks in their eyes. They had an intuitive sense of what a 'town' was and what 'civilization' might be like but they didn't have any concrete ideas or knowledge.
Instead they were completely clueless of all social norms and behavior. Ray had wanted to ask a shop keeper how much some apples would cost, but she was busy with some work while bent over. And so to catch her attention Ray poked his rear a few times.
The woman then slapped Ray and called the guards to report him. Ray was extremely confused but smart enough to understand that he should probably run, and so he did. Feyd saw Ray was being chased by some weird people with armour and spears and so he rushed in to help.
A while later the two fought a group of guards inside a temple of Jimmy and destroyed a few statues and decorations.
In the end the two were captured and locked up where they were interrogated. After it was confirmed that they had lost their memories they were let go, although they still had to pay off the damages they had done during their fight with the guards.
Although the temple forgave them and didn't charge them anything, the regular civilians were not so kind.
Cabbages, wooden planks, clay pots, apples, horses, chairs, tables... The list continued for a dozen more entries. It took a whole month for the two to pay everything off by taking difficult quests from the Adventurer's Guild, otherwise they wouldn't even have gotten an Adventuer's Card to begin with.
They had also spent dozens of hours at the library to not cause a repeat of what had happened, while asking the kind old librarian there any questions they might have over 'proper' behavior.
Feyd had fun with Ray for a while longer before they each began to be productive. Ray left for the military for his registration while Feyd pondered about a matter regarding his Gift.
"I can feel it, there are two paths my power can take"
Feyd's Gift, Rift, currently was at a crucial crossroad. He had felt it clearly during his fight with Steam Cannon but had decided not to act upon it considering the seriousness of the situation. There was no way he would follow a whim when his friend's life was in danger.
However now that he had the proper time to feel things out and think about it he felt genuine confusion and indecisiveness over this choice.
His current ability Rift allowed him to create two spatial cracks or holes and connect them. Simple. However whenever he used this power on himself there seemed to be an almost intrinsic rejection, as if what was happening– Using Rift and traveling through rifts– was not supposed to occur.
However he could also tell that it would soon fade away and Feyd could then use his power without drawback.
However the new path he had felt seemed far more suited to Feyd than Rift ever did. But Feyd didn't know what it was.
Sure it was related to spatial travel, but in what way? Feyd didn't know. However what he was sure about was that it would suit him greatly, much better than Rift ever did. Maybe even perfectly.
This might be because Rift was a power of Feyd's previous self, while the new Feyd was a different person. Gift's are closely linked to the individual, thus if a person changes enough even their Gift can change in response.
However Feyd had an entire inheritance, and entire treasure trove of information on Rift. How to use it, creative special moves, it's potential uses, what it's future capabilities are, etc.
How did he know? Well ofcourse it was his occasional dream of his past self. Everytime Feyd entered he would realize he could see more inside. At first it was too fast and blurry for him, but as he grew stronger he could see far more and thus learn even more.
"This really is a though decision"
Feyd sighed before pocketing the Gift Crystal and leaving his room for a breath of fresh air. Maybe a walk would help him decide.
It really was a tough decision, especially considering it involved his future, his past self's 'inheritance' and compatibility with himself.
Would it really be worth it to enter a completely new, completely unkown path when a slightly less comfortable one with good lighting and signs posted everywhere was?
Feyd couldn't decide. Even after walking for the entire night, taking in the sights of the capital of th Watselands, Feyd couldn't decide.
Instead he decided to postpone his decision. He had plenty of time before he would be dispatched for work, thus he had a lot of time to think.
Instead of making a decision of the spot it would 8nsteas be better to make a move only after confusing things through properly.
Feyd and Ray both ate dinner together before going to bed. The next day would be when they both begun their training in the military headquarters.
And thus the next day they began their training. They moved all their belongings to the headquratss since 1) They weren't that close to the headquarters and it would be faster if they just lived there. 2) They had very little funds left and even those were running out.
The training was grueling. Saying that it was torturous would be an understatement. Although the physical portions were easy at their the military cranked up its difficulty after a few days where Feyd felt joy during exercise.
Knowledge was crammed into their minds every day in multiple categories. Geography, botany, zoology, common sense...
Eventually it got to the point that even Feyd's and Ray's naturally high intellect couldn't keep up and instead they had to put in extra effort so as to not fall far behind.
They also had to go on missions occasional fo get a feel on how things worked. Some times it might be solo missions, other times duo missions. A few times they were even led by one of the two Vice Captains to attack powerful bandits or to solve major problems.
The missions ranged from simple monster extermination to bandit clearing and investigating murders.
And so slowly 2 months passed. Feyd's and Ray's training had absolutely not gone to waste! They had learned much about the world, along with combat techniques of the military.
Feyd was currently learning how the military used swords, a basic sword art. Although it had its merits Feyd's natural combat style using instincts to fight was miles ahead of standardized moves provided by the military.
And so after 2 months of training and being in the military, the two would now be finally meeting the Captain of the Wastland in person.