Chapter 7: Consequences and Learning

POV: Zac

“She's gone. You can freak out now, Zac." I heard Winnie call out to me from above the alley and immediately used the nearby wall to hold myself up as I started hyperventilating. I didn't say anything while dry heaving a little bit. I hadn't eaten anything since I woke up, and I am grateful for that right now. While trying to gather me, Omega and the others started to walk towards me. Omega was the first one to speak,

"You better get used to it. They won't be the last people you'll have to kill. You should be happy. It's good your first kill was used to take out the trash."

It wasn't surprising that she spoke like this; she was hundreds of years old, she no doubt had her fair share of kills. Though something was bothering me. Before I could articulate it, Lynoe began to speak.

"Couldn't have been that bad. There wasn't even any gore or blood; what are you dry heaving for?"

"I…" I responded as I wasn't quite sure of my own feelings at the moment. Things felt wrong right now. Looking down at the ground, I gathered my thoughts, trying to come to terms with what I was feeling at the moment. I knew what the problem was, but I didn't want to admit it to myself. I closed my eyes and finally spoke,

"Killing them, I felt nothing. What disgusted me was not killing them. It was the lack of feeling I got after using that Darkness. I didn't feel anything."

The three looked at me curiously as I refused to make eye contact with any of them. After I used that power, I felt like a piece of me was taken away. During that entire encounter from beginning to end, I was too nervous to think straight. If it weren't for Omega feeding lines into my head, I would have been a silent blundering mess. That was until I used that Darkness. The instant I called on that, my fear and empathy that I had disappeared. When I was using it, all I thought was to feed.

Thinking back, that feeling is what I was having difficulty squaring. I wasn't controlling that power; I was barely guiding it so that it would not consume me. I felt a hand on my shoulder; I looked over to see that it belonged to Omega. She had a severe expression on her face,

"That's fine. That Bent of yours is a weird one and extremely dangerous. Take it slow; there's isn't much information on it anywhere, so you'll have to learn how to use it mostly on your own."

I nodded my head as I finally got myself off the wall. I was still feeling off, but this sort of thing wasn't something that could be dealt with within a few minutes. We started to walk out of the alley, and Winnie was the first person to break the silence.

"Hey Zach, you sounded pretty confident in there; where did that come from?" I gave a nervous goofy smile. I’d hate to admit that this wasn’t totally out of my wheelhouse. I have been in my fair share of fights before,

"I don't know what to tell you, other than that it was Omega. She was feeding me lines."

"Not the whole time. Whenever he was talking to that girl, that was all him." Omega responded with dissatisfaction in her voice. Lynoe raised an eyebrow as she nudged my side and nodded her head. Apparently, she approved.

"So you're confident talking to women, but a mess at everything else, great," Winnie said, a bit annoyed. That was a little harsh; I wouldn't say I was a mess at everything else. I was just in a strange new world; give me some time to adjust, damn! We were back on the busy platforms, and it looked like we were heading back home. Sighing, I rubbed the back of my head; I felt exhausted. I had only used AOS a little bit, and I was already this beat.

"I need to get stronger," I said to the three of them. If today taught me anything, it was power was the most crucial thing in this Castle. I wouldn't be able to rely on Omega and others for everything. I needed to get my shit together and do it quickly. Lynoe started to laugh,

"No shit, you need to get stronger. You just started something with a group tied to the Black Market. This won't be something easily dealt with."

"Yeah, but they don't know it was us," I said, a little nervous, now that Lynoe had reminded me what I had just done. It was honestly a stupid move, and all for a pretty face. Winnie looked at me, seeing that I was clearly in deep thought. She shook her head,

"They will start to investigate once his group doesn't report in. If you're going out on a date with that girl, they'll look into you too. If that Aonani girl doesn't sell you out completely. Idiot." Winnie scalded me with a voice that showed little to no emotion. She was right, so I couldn't say too much in return, but I doubt that Nani was going to rat me out. She didn't seem like the type, although granted, I've only known her for like 3 minutes, but still.

"I don't think she'll completely sell us out. But I don't think she'll lie to them either if they ask her. The longer they are focused on figuring out who the mysterious Senohoi is, the longer they aren't bothering her. So she wouldn't give them anything solid to go on." I reasoned with the group, and the three of them seemed to at least somewhat agree with my assessment of the situation. However, that didn't mean I was out of the woods. They would most likely look at their enemies first and then check any new arrivals or locals. So eventually, they'll look my way.

I could use that time to get stronger, but there was still so much I didn't understand before that. So far, the only thing I had learned to defend myself was how to summon the Quqe mask and the fundamental uses of my Bents. Even then, Omega was guiding me with how to use them. That whole situation, I was utterly dependent on her. That needed to change quickly. Omega saw the pensive look on my face and let out a sigh,

"It's fine. They're just a low-level Crime Syndicate with very loose ties to the Black Market. I have a couple of favors and can just ask them to take care of them for us if it really comes to that. But I won't, for the moment. I think this will be good practice. Let's see how you manage this."

It seems the only reason Omega indulged my slight deviation was that she already had the situation under control. She was like a pair of training wheels.

"I'll give you 2 years to get the situation under control."

"Why 2 years?" I asked Omega curiously. It seemed a little arbitrary.

"2 Years is about how long it should take for me to give you a formal education suitable for this world. At the end of those 2 years, I'll be sending you to The Higher Learning Institute. To start your AOS training in earnest."

"Ok, if I'm going to be spending 2 years getting homeschooled, then what's the point of dealing with these low-level thugs?"

Omega seemed to be able to get rid of them with the help of her connections, but she wanted me to handle it instead, while at the same time getting homeschooled? Why?

"Call it extracurricular activity," Omega said with a smile on her face, and Lynoe began to laugh. Winnie remained silent as she stared at me up and down. I looked back at her with a curious expression on my face,

"What?" I asked.

"Your body is sturdy but stiff, your muscles defined but have no real power behind them. Your gait suggests you have some melee training, but it has not been seriously maintained. Thus it will more than likely be sloppy. Your complexion suggests a suboptimal diet that will need to be monitored. I am observing you, so I can make the most efficient physical workout and training routine to give you the quickest results." Winnie responded while at the same time not stopping her eyes from scanning my body. It was a bit uncomfortable.

"Yeah, Omega can handle all the boring stuff, I can teach you Close Quarters combat, Winnie can handle Firearms and AOS tools," Lynoe said with a smile on her face. She was way more laid back than Omega and Winnie; hopefully, some of that would rub off on the other two.

"The boring stuff, Huh? You both will still need to instruct him on the basics on your Bents as well." Omega responded to Lynoe while I just stood there listening to the three of them coming up with my curriculum as we made our way home. The more I listened to them, the more depressing it got. It sounded like I was heading back to school, and that was the worst possible outcome. So I decided just to block the conversation out of my mind.

"Devin, I'm hungry. Can you get something ready for when we get back?"

"Of course, Zac, what would you like?" Devin responded quickly.

"Um, steak and potatoes?" I asked, not sure if they had something like that here. But I mean they should, right?

"Can you send me a visual, please? I'm not familiar with that phrase." He asked, and my heart sank just a bit. If this place didn't have steak, what was the point in living here? I thought of the image of a beautiful plate of steak and potatoes and sent it to Devin. A few seconds went by, and to my relief, Devin responded,

"Ah, yes, I see. I will begin preparation now."

I let out a sigh of relief and then peaked back over at the 3 new women in my life as they were still discussing the best plan for teaching me. I groaned; this was not what I was expecting when I got booted here. To have to go back to school.

It wasn't long before I found myself standing back in front of my new home.

"The hell?"

I let out a surprised gasp. When we left the house, I really wasn't paying too much attention. Now that I had a chance to give this place a good look, all I saw was a door. Granted, it was a very nice door, but it was just a door on the side of a huge tree. The door also didn't have any knobs to speak of. I also noticed something else, I hadn't heard the sounds of people from the platforms for a good while. When I turned around, I saw that the crowd from the platform was a good deal off in the distance. Omega must have seen the confused look on myself and began to explain.

"Even with the use of AOS, it could be hazardous to the trees if we carve too deep and too often. So only the homes at the top level are given this honor. All other homes are built like shops and other buildings, directly on the platforms. The homes crafted into the trees are never huge, but homes built into these trees offer some premium benefits."

So the homes themselves weren't allowed to be made too large for the sake of preserving the trees. I had already seen how some of the "elite" of this society carried themselves. So the idea of them paying exorbitant amounts for tiny homes seemed unlikely, even with the benefits offered that may be provided. Omega saw the look on my face and grabbed my head, forcefully turning it to my right.

There I saw our neighbors, off in the distance, or what would be our neighbors if they were not so far away. They had a vast Victorian Style Manor that began to curve around the corner of the tree. The Manor seemed to be connected to the tree. I tilted my head to the side, as Omega then pointed behind me and to both sides.

"Everything within 6000 square meters is ours to do what we will. I didn't commission for a large mansion because there was no need for it, but something does need to be done for it not to go to waste."

I nodded my head that made more sense. The ones who had the money to afford these homes wanted to show off. So, of course, that'd have more extensive manors built outside and leave the entrance into the tree like some kind of back door, so they could still reap the benefits of whatever these trees offered. I didn't require all of that. I was a simple man with simple needs. As long as I had a place to sleep, the rest didn't really matter. Besides, the inside was big enough, from what I saw.

"I'll figure out something; let's just get inside first. I'm starving." I said to Omega, who placed her hand over the door, and I watched as that familiar aqua green light shone and then slid the door out of the way. When I looked inside, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Devin had already changed the color of this place in the short amount of time that we were away. Maybe it was the color change, or perhaps it was because I was finally looking at this place; I really liked it.

On the other side of the door, two staircases to the left and right went straight up to the second floor. I could see straight into the living room from where I was standing. There was a large wooden coffee table in the middle, with the back of a couch facing me. 4 oversized chairs, each with its own ottoman, were facing the coffee table. There were walkways on the outside of each staircase. The one to my right leads to an opening that leads to the living room. The opposite walkway opened up into what I assumed to be the dining area and the kitchen. There was an opening here that led to the living room as well.

"I can smell it."

I said, getting a whiff of the food Devin had promised me. It smelled familiar; whether or not the resulting taste would be the same remained to be seen. I turned the corner into the walkway that led to the Dining area, getting a quick look at the Brickwork. It lined the walls that supported the two staircases. This coloring was a lot more pleasing to my eyes. There were off-white walls with the natural pale purple of the wood and the strange green grass-like carpeting. However, the Dining area and the walkways were made of the same material I saw in the bathroom earlier.

"Are the changes I made to your liking Zachery?" Devin asked me, showing almost anxiety.

"Yeah, it looks much better."

"Very good! Your meal is waiting for you." Devin responded with apparent joy in his voice. I picked up the pace in my steps and then looked behind me to see that Omega and the others were heading towards the living room.

"You guys aren't hungry?" I asked.

"Enjoy your meal Zac and join us in the living room when you're done," Omega said as she took a seat on the couch, and the three of them started talking about stuff I really didn't understand. Shrugging my shoulders, I took my place at the table, and in front of me was quite the sight. There was a steak sitting there in front of me, but it had a blue tint, and the mashed potatoes were red. I stared at the meal in front of me for a few moments.

"Screw it," I said as I began to reach for the utensils.

Mercifully, these weren't too odd. The fork was a fork, and the knife, while it was a T-Grip Rocker Knife, was still a knife I had at least seen before. I supposed that made sense, this kind of knife could be used by a wider variety of people efficiently. I grabbed the knife and quickly dug in. It was better than what I was expecting. It didn't exactly taste like steak, but it was close enough, and it was a lot more tender. I wasn't going to ask what it was made from to save my own sanity.

I quickly finished my meal, washing it down with some kind of flavored water that tasted like a cross between a peach and a mango. It wasn't bad, just odd, like everything else here. I left the table, letting the aqua green lights that I assumed were controlled by Devin take away my finished meal. I sighed as I made my way back into the living room. I don't know why, but I felt like a kid about to get a stern talking.

I took a seat in the free chair, leaving Omega on the couch by herself. The three of them looked over at me, and Omega was the first one to speak.

"We have a lot to discuss with you, Zac. First, we need to come up with a cover for ourselves; I was thinking-"

Before Omega could finish, I started to give my thoughts,

"We are a Quartet of Siblings. Omega will be the eldest; I'll be the spoiled youngest, easy." I said indifferently. I had already been giving this some thought since the moment that we obtained Lynoe and Tuwinnie. We all looked alike, and I wasn't going to be calling any of them mother. Even if it was for a cover. So this made the most sense. Lynoe nodded her head,

"That's what we came up with ourselves. Precise details are needed, however. How about we say our mother was a Cultivator?"

"What the hell is a Cultivator?" I asked, curious about the lingo in this place.

"A cultivator is a female that seeks out the most promising male specimen to facilitate the production of superior children. They are called ‘cultivators’ because they cultivate sem-."

"I get it, I get it, please stop! That's not frowned on here? Would that not put us in a negative light?" I cut off Winnie before she said something that I could not be unheard. Omega shook her head,

"Quite the opposite, actually. Cultivators are seen as ambitious and farsighted, and their offspring are often held in high regard. They all come from 'superior' parenting by design; thus, they are much more likely to be extraordinary."

I understood what they meant, but the idea of this pretend mother trolling for sperm seemed off-putting. I sighed as I would have to leave my other perceptions behind. Everything that made sense on earth was either turned entirely on its head or was slightly off here. I would be starting over from square one. I rubbed the back of my head,

"I guess that would help to explain my… unique heritage."

"That was my thinking as well. All though I believe it would be best to hide your existence if possible." Winnie said as she looked over at me. She was constantly staring at me so curiously, what exactly was she looking for, that she didn't seem to find the first time. I refocused myself and interjected,

"I disagree. I think it would be best if they both knew about me as soon as possible."

All three of them looked at me like I was an idiot. I understood they all wanted to protect because that was what they were designed to do. However, that line of thought would limit their thinking. They would be looking for the best way to keep me safe. Preferably with the least amount of variables involved. Taking some chances is needed sometimes, and I felt that this was one of those moments.

"Hear me out, ok? You said the two families my abilities stem from hate each other, right? So instead of killing me, if I'm proven to be something incredible, wouldn't they both be fighting to get me to join them rather than kill me?"

"Maybe, but as soon as you pick one, the other side will hunt you like a dog." Omega retorted, leaning back on the couch. Winnie nodded her head in agreement, while Lynoe just looked at me with a curious smile on her face.

"But you don't want to join one or the other? Do you?" Lynoe asked, seemingly already knowing the answer.

"Exactly! I'll let them both woe me and decide to remain neutral. I'll help either side with anything they need, except when it directly involves the other. From the way you talk about Cultivators and Bents, ability is what matters most here, right? They won't kill someone with ability if they can use them."

Lynoe had a broad smile on her face, and a smirk spread across Omega's face as well. Winnie had a soft smile as she closed her eyes and nodded. She then spoke,

"Your plan is decent. However, To gain their attention, you'll need to do something big."

"How big?" I asked.

"You're young for an AOS practitioner, very young. If you do well at the entrance examinations for The Higher Learning Institute, you'll draw all the attention you need." Omega said, looking at me with a knowing look. I didn't like the look on her face. I closed my eyes, letting out a deep breath as I prepared to bite the bullet.

"How well?"

"Top 5 you need to place in the top 5. " Omega tilted her head to the side and smiled at me.

"Of Course. Do you think that's possible? In 2 years?" I said, questioning the timetable that she had made herself.

"In 2 years? Absolutely. We'll just have to double the workload." Winnie said, much to my chagrin.

"And I guess I'll still have to deal with the Galdents too, right?" I asked.

"Of course. No one told you to help that girl. However, this will be good. If you're going with your plan, drawing attention to yourself will make you some enemies. If you can't handle some low-level crooks like the Galdents, you won't be able to handle what you might face in Higher Learning."

Omega responded with a stern expression on her face. I rolled my eyes and nodded my head. This was my idea, and they seemed open to it. I couldn't complain too much. I'd have to do my best to follow their suggestions to make this work. Alright, fine, if that's how it's going to be, I'd need to prepare myself properly.

"Alright, so what exactly are you going to be teaching me? I can already draw on, feel, and even see Soul-Source. What's left for this Higher Learning Place to teach me?"

"Everything. Higher Learning is one of if not the best AOS practitioner institutes in the Castle. What you know now would be able to get you into advanced classes in lower-tier schools, but is barely enough to get you accepted there." Omega crossed her legs, placing her hands into her lap.

"While we can give you an education on par with what you would get at the Institute. There are obvious advantages to going, especially regarding your plan."

That was obvious. If it were the best school in the Castle, then, of course, the highest-profile families would send their children there. If I wanted to draw the attention of those two families, then going there was the best place to start.

"Also, We have no clue about what that Darkness is. Maybe one of the Sages there will have an idea." Winnie said with a worried expression on her face. This dark power that dwelled in me seemed to cause them as much concern as it caused me. I wasn't sure if that should make me more worried or not. I decided to take my mind off it by changing the subject,

"Sages?" I had an idea of what they were, but what that word meant for me may not be the same for the people in this CastleCastle. Lynoe was the one to respond to this question.

"Knowledge is Power in this Castle. The more you understand about a branch of AOS, obviously, the more powerful you will become. That's why BENTs are so important; they give you a natural affinity towards certain branches of AOS and allow you to understand them faster. So, of course, there are tiers of understanding."

Lynoe held up her hand, and an image appeared above her hand. It looked like a list, a tier list, to be more precise. She then continued, starting from the bottom,

"In order from least to greatest, the tiering is so. Student, Adept, Advanced, Master, Grandmaster, Savant, Philosopher, Sage, Demi-God."

"So, are all the teachers really powerful?" I asked.

"Yes and no," Omega said, not really giving me anything else to go on.

"Care to elaborate?" I prodded. Omega rolled her eyes. It seemed explaining this was common knowledge, at least to them. Me asking all these questions must have been annoying. Well, too bad! I needed to know before I could make any definite decision on how to move forward.

"Look, to be considered a Sage, you need to meet 2 requirements. You need to know how to accurately perform Sage-level Applications, also known as a System and have accumulated enough soul-source to use it safely. If you try to use a System that draws more soul-source than you have, you’ll die. So you’ll need enough to use it at least 3 times without killing yourself."

"So I need knowledge of a Sage level System and enough power to use it at least 3 times to be considered a Sage. Got it. But…" That made a certain level of sense. It also explained why that Lizeodan and his group were trying to see how much Soul-source I had. If I didn't have much, they could assume my level; if I had a lot, it would make guessing what I could do more complicated. However, it didn't seem that simple, based on how Omega was acting. Still, before I could ask my follow-up question, she had already interrupted me.

"The amount of power needed to perform any level of Application depends completely on one's knowledge of said Application. The better you understand something, the easier it is. I could perform a Sage-level application with the amount of soul-source it takes you to perform an Advanced Application. Also, just because someone's a Sage doesn't make them particularly a good combatant. There are countless uses for AOS; most do not involve violence."

"So, power levels are bullshit?" I said with a smirk on my face.

"Yes, power levels are bullshit. Study your craft to its limits, innovate and experiment. Then there will be no one that you can not put up a fight against." Omega said seriously. I nodded my head in understanding. What she said really didn't say it all, and everyone sitting here understood that as well. If I ran into someone who was a Sage, who had also studied their craft to their limits, if I were still only a Student, I'd be slaughtered, even if I used the masks.

It seemed that Omega was reading my mind,

"Before we discuss your training regiment, we need to talk about the Quqe mask. You are free to use Winnie's and Lynoe's Mask as you feel. However, I suggest that you only use mine when absolutely necessary."

"Right, Omega's mask is the only one I've ever seen with 3 eyes. It will be bad if people know that you have it. Especially before you get the backing of at least 1 of those families or the Black Market." Lynoe said as she looked over at Omega. The look in her eyes was filled with both admiration and a hint of fear. I could feel that they knew more about each other than they were letting on, but if they didn't want to discuss it, then I wouldn't pry too much, not right now. There was something that they were wrong about, though.

"It's not 3 eyes; there's 4," I said to the group, and all of them turned to look at me with shocked expressions on their faces, even Omega. It seemed she didn't know about this either.

"Show me!" Omega said with a spark of excitement in her voice.

I had noticed this earlier; Omega was very prideful. Informing her of something that made her even more unique among her kind seemed to fill her with joy. I nodded my head and did as Omega had instructed me in the alley. I held my hand up in front of my face, with my palm facing me. I gathered soul-source into my hand and called out,

"Omega."

Her mask appeared in my hand, and I gripped it down. On the outside of the mask were the 3 eyes as usual. On the inside, there was a 4th eye with a white-golden light shining out of it. I turned the mask around to show the others.

"What the hell is that?" Omega said, startled.

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter