The next morning,
The glowing crystalline ceiling of the bedroom reflected in Henry's eyes. He had been awake since before dawn, his eyes tracking the shifting light. He hadn't really slept. The threat of Felicity projecting her consciousness into his mind to "eliminate" him kept him in a state of hyper-vigilant paranoia. Sleep was a vulnerability he couldn't afford right now. He had spent the long hours of the night researching Arcadia City's hunting grounds, mapping out escape routes, and analyzing the system's interface.
At 6:00 AM, he finally stood. He walked into the bathroom, splashed freezing water onto his face, and stared at his reflection. The purple eyes stared back, sharp and predatory. He took a breath, letting his shoulders slump just a fraction. He softened the hard lines of his jaw and allowed a mild, uncertain innocence to wash over his features.
The mask was on.
He left the room and padded down the frozen marble stairs, heading toward the training facility. He needed to knock out the physical quests early and get his body primed.
As the heavy doors to the training room hissed open, the sheer concussive force of an impact echoed through the massive space.
Henry stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening... not in feigned innocence, but in genuine tactical awe.
Felicity was already there.
She stood in the center of the room, dressed down in dark joggers and a fitted crop top, her pristine white hair tied back in a severe ponytail.
Surrounding her were five towering combat robots... advanced, heavily armored hulks that had apparently replaced the standard holographic dummies.
And she was in the middle of all five of them.
One of the robots swung a massive metallic fist at her head. Felicity didn't even look. She ducked smoothly, her movements blurring, and drove an open palm into the machine's knee joint. The reinforced steel buckled with a horrific screech. Using the robot's collapsing momentum, she vaulted off its falling chassis, spinning mid-air to deliver a devastating heel kick to the visual sensors of the second robot, defeating both of them in a single move.
She wasn't using her abilities. She wasn't using weapons. She was using nothing but raw physical power and speed.
The third and fourth robots charged simultaneously. Felicity landed gracefully, pivoted on her heel, and caught the third robot by its arm. Then with a terrifying display of leverage and strength, she ripped the limb cleanly from its socket and used it as a club to decapitate the fourth. Then she dove her palm into the third's chest, crushing its internal mechanical organs before letting it fall to the ground.
Just then, the fifth machine lunged at her, but she simply sidestepped, grabbed it by the cranial plating, and drove it face-first into the floor. The reinforced concrete cracked under the impact.
Silence descended on the room.
Felicity stood amidst the sparking, twitching wreckage. She wasn't panting. She barely had a sheen of sweat on her forehead. She simply looked mildly inconvenienced.
Henry swallowed hard. So that's the power of an SSS rank, he analyzed coldly. If she decides to kill me, I won't even see it coming.
Felicity dusted off her hands and turned, her sharp eyes instantly locking onto him by the entrance. The lethal warrior vanished, replaced by a warm, welcoming mother.
"Good morning, Henry! Come on in." She urged.
Henry stepped forward, perfectly projecting a mix of intimidation and boyish wonder. "Wow," he breathed, letting his voice crack slightly. "I... I wish I could fight like that."
Felicity chuckled, walking over to grab a towel. "You will, in due time. Practice and patience, darling. Did you come down to test out your new weapons?" she asked.
"No," Henry said quickly, shaking his head. "I'm just here to lift some weights and do some cardio. I want to keep my body in shape before I start stressing over weapons."
"That's very responsible of you," Felicity said. She wiped her brow, but then she paused. Her sapphire eyes narrowed slightly, focusing intensely on his face. "I don't recall your eyes being purple, Henry." She said carefully, her tone a mix of amusement and suspicion.
Henry didn't miss a beat. His lie was already chambered and fired before his conscious mind even registered the threat. "Oh, these?" He blinked innocently, tapping near his eye. "They're just colored contacts. I found a case of them buried in my wardrobe this morning and decided to try them on. I don't know why, but I kinda like them."
Felicity tilted her head and stared at him for a fraction of a second, as if considering his words. Henry furrowed his brows and watched her closely, already preparing a contingency. He was going to make a run for it.
But then, Felicity smiled. "Purple was always your favorite color," she mused. "I think they look quite dashing on you."
"Thanks," Henry smiled sheepishly.
"Well, I have to go freshen up and head to the guild for a meeting," Felicity said, tossing the towel aside. "Make sure you don't overexert yourself. I'll be back this evening." She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead.
Henry stood still, playing the affectionate son perfectly as she began to walk away. But just as she reached the massive doors, she stopped.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Felicity said, turning back.
Henry's muscles instantly coiled. He felt the shift in his own posture before he could prevent it... a micro-tension that travelled from his jaw to his shoulders in the same instant. His eyes moved to her hands automatically, reading them. His mind ran the immediate calculus of what she might have forgotten, what that phrase could precede, how many of those possibilities required a response that wasn't conversation.
His right hand dropped lower, already prepared to draw the weapons in his inventory and fight his way out. He knew he most definitely won't stand a chance against her but better to go down with a fight than as a coward.
But Felicity simply reached into thin air, and a small, silver ring materialized in her palm. Then she turned to face Henry with a smile that suggested she had noticed absolutely nothing about the shift in his posture and had formed absolutely no conclusions from it.
Henry made his right hand relax as she tossed the ring across the room. He caught it effortlessly. It was light. Almost surprisingly so for something made of metal. He turned it once between his fingers.
"It's a spatial storage ring," Felicity explained, her smile bright. "You can keep whatever you want in there. It'll make carrying your new weapons much easier, and you won't have to carry your gear by hand."
Henry stared at it. He already had the system's inventory, which was vastly superior and completely invisible. The ring was redundant. But, his calculating mind realized instantly, that it was the perfect cover. Wearing it meant he would never have to explain how he was pulling things out of thin air when reaching into the system inventory.
"Just focus your mind on the ring, and you'll be able to see what's inside and pull it out by will," Felicity added.
Henry slipped the ring onto his index finger. He closed his eyes and concentrated... and the interface of the ring opened in his mind instantly. There was only one item inside. He reached out, channeling his intent, and pulled it forth.
Instantly, a sleek, gold card materialized between his fingers.
Felicity's eyebrows shot up. "I'm impressed," she said, genuinely surprised. "You accessed it on your very first try. Most people struggle with spatial alignment for days before getting the hang of it."
Henry offered a modest shrug. "Maybe it's my memories of using the ring that resurfaced and made it easier for me to access it," he said, meeting her eyes with a small, sheepish smile.
"Perhaps," Felicity agreed warmly. Then she pointed at the card. "That's yours too. Spend it however you want. And when it runs low, tell me immediately. Don't wait until you're out."
Henry raised a brow at first. Then he looked down at the gold card in his hand. It wasn't just a piece of metal. It was a high-tier credit card. And stamped across the digital interface on the front was his balance: 5,000,000 Credits.
His jaw physically dropped. Five million credits. In the world's global economy, credits were everything. This was the equivalent of handing a teenager five million pounds in his past life. It was an absurd, staggering amount of wealth.
He looked up at her, and let the gratitude on his face be real in the way that the surprise was real...because even through the calculation, he recognized what had just been placed in his hands.
"Thank you, mum," he said. "This is... a lot."
Felicity smiled. "You're welcome, Henry," she said softly. "And if you need anything else, let me know."
Henry smiled back. "I will."
Felicity gave a satisfied nod. Then with a final wave, she turned and left the training room.
Henry stared at the empty doorway, his expression returning to its original cold scowl.
She's trying to buy me. he deduced. She suspects I want to run, so she's trying to anchor me here with luxury.
To Henry, the money Felicity just gave him was a tether. An obvious one. It was a reason to stay, a reason to feel indebted, a reason to be here long enough for the day after tomorrow to arrive. He didn't think Felicity was operating from cynicism, necessarily. It was also entirely possible that she was watching every exit and sealing them methodically in ways that looked nothing like surveillance.
Henry shook his head, trying to push away his paranoia. Stop, he told himself. You're spiraling. Focus on what's in front of you.
He slipped the card into his inventory. It didn't matter what Felicity's endgame was. The threat of her psychic intrusion tomorrow remained. He had to escape.
Then turned his attention back to his daily quests.
He dropped to the floor, knocking out the ten pushups and twenty situps with robotic efficiency.
[Objective 3 Complete: Do ten pushups and twenty sit-ups]
[You have received: 10 EXP, +5 Durability, and +2.5 Stamina]
[Exp: 50/100]
[Durability: 30 >> 35]
[Stamina: 70 >> 72.5]
Henry moved to the weight racks next. He picked up a 10kg dumbbell. Instead of trying to find a massive 100kg weight to strain under, he simply lifted the 10kg bell.
The system screen came up, displaying his progress:
[Weight Lifted: 10/100 kg]
Henry dropped the dumbbell. Then he picked it up again.
[Weight Lifted: 20/100 kg]
He repeated the motion ten times. And the system finally chimed.
DING!
[Objective 2 Complete: Lift a total of 100 kilograms]
[You have received: 5 EXP, +2 Strength, +2.5 Stamina]
[Exp: 60/100]
[Strength: 14 >> 16]
[Stamina: 72.5 >> 75]
Henry smirked. Two uests down,
He set the dumbbell down and looked at the holographic combat dummies, now deactivated and standing passive in their original positions against the far wall
He considered turning them on for a spar, but quickly dismissed the thought. He concluded that it was a waste of time and Stamina. If he wanted real Exp to level up, he needed to fight and defeat real opponents.
He left the training room, returned to his room, and took a quick, scalding shower. He dressed in a black tracksuit and white runners, then left the room.
As he descended the grand staircase to the main floor, he spotted Emily sitting in the cavernous living room. She was curled up in a massive armchair, staring blankly at the holographic screen projecting from her wristband. She was carrying the expression of someone who hadn't slept well and had decided that the world owed her an apology for it.
Henry adjusted his features, bringing the boyish innocence back to the surface. He walked over slowly, projecting guilt into his tone.
"Morning," he said softly.
Emily didn't respond. She didn't even blink.
"Emily... I'm sorry about what happened yesterday," he tried again, his voice trembling perfectly. "I really am. Please don't be mad."
Emily still didn't look up. To her, it was as if he wasn't even there.
Henry sighed and decided to try one more time. "Emily, I—"
Whoosh.
Emily suddenly flicked her wrist, and a jagged, razor-sharp blade of solid ice shot from her hand, hurtling directly toward Henry's right shoulder with the speed of a bullet.
To a normal human, it would have been an unavoidable, devastating hit. But Henry's passive Accelerated Perception was always running. The world around him sluggishly dialed down. The ice blade crawled through the air in slow motion. And Henry simply analyzed its trajectory. Then at the very last microsecond, with a subtle, almost imperceptible twist of his torso, he shifted his shoulder back just an inch.
The blade grazed the fabric of his tracksuit, whistling past his ear, and buried itself deep into the crystalline wall behind him with a heavy shnk!
Within seconds, it began to melt into a puddle on the floor.
Henry looked at the melting water, then turned back to her, forcing a look of hurt onto his face. "I see you're still mad," he said apologetically. "You probably dislike me even more after yesterday."
Emily finally looked up, her blue eyes burning with an intense, frigid hatred. "Dislike?" she scoffed, her voice dripping with venom. "I don't dislike you. I despise you."
Henry shook his head, keeping up with the guilty act. "Emily, I'm really sorry. That wasn't me. I didn't mean to—"
"Save it!" Emily snapped, standing up aggressively. "You almost murdered me. You held a blade to my throat, and you were actually going to kill me. I will never forgive you for that." She stepped closer, her fists clenched so tight her knuckles were white. "And right now, it is taking every ounce of self-control I have not to gut you right here. So stay away from me, 'brother'. And if I were you, I'd sleep with one eye open."
Then she turned on her heel and stormed out of the living room.
Henry stood perfectly still, maintaining the wounded, apologetic expression until he heard her footsteps fade entirely down the hall.
The moment she was gone, the sadness vanished. He let out a dry, contemptuous scoff.
"I should have killed her when I had the chance," he murmured to the empty room.
He remembered the fight with perfect clarity. When he had held the ice shard to Emily's throat, he hadn't stopped because Felicity yelled just in time. He had stopped a full half-second before the command echoed through the room, because his tactical mind had recognized that killing Emily would blow his cover entirely and bring the full, unyielding wrath of an overpowered mother down on his head. He couldn't take that chance.
So to put it simply, he had chosen to spare her.
"Next time," he whispered coldly, "I won't hesitate."
He turned and walked out the heavy front doors, descending the pristine entrance stairs, and moving briskly across the frosted courtyard toward the main gates. The guards paid him no mind as he slipped out onto the bustling streets of the city.
He found a quiet stretch of pavement outside and took a deep breath, dropping into a low, coiled runner's stance, ready to complete his final daily quest and begin his hunt for real Exp.
Then he pulled out a small stopwatch he'd found in his wardrobe, planning to use it to time himself.
But just as his muscles tensed to explode forward, a familiar, crisp British voice rang out sharply in his skull.
[What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?]