Chapter 16: Fleeting Cloud Steps
When he comes to, Zeno finds himself standing in a small dark room which is enclosed from all side with only a window and door acting as a link to the outside world.
'Profile, what's going on? Where am I?'
Zeno tries to talk to Profile through his mind. He waited for Profile's robotic voice to answer but to no avail. It seems Profile has gone offline for some reason.
"Profile, can you hear me? Are you there?"
This time, he asks out aloud thinking it must be some sort of hiccup in the line. Still, there is no response. It was as if Profile never existed in the first place.
"Damn it!!"
Seeing that there is no response, he could only try to explore the room by himself. He tried to invoke his favourite 'View' skill only to end up in failure. Whatever this is, he doesn't have any sort of precautions against it.
For some reason, this room feels awfully familiar to him, but he could not put a ring on it. It was as if someone had put a lock on his memories prohibiting him from remembering it.
Suddenly, the door is opened and 3 people come inside. One is a tall man whose face isn't visible under his hat. A large brown suit above a white shirt and a pair of brown pants down his waist, he looked like a prestigious person. He is accompanied by a middle aged fat woman and a young boy seemingly 6 or 7 years old.
The three of them hadn't noticed Zeno till now even though he is standing right in front of the door, inside the room. It is as if he doesn't exist in their eyes. He could feel a strong vibe of déjavu seeing this familiar yet unfamiliar scene.
Looking closer at the boy, he recognizes it to be his own face on the boy. Not the face of kid Zeno but the face of Noir Rivera when he was a kid. Black hair paired with pitch black eyes, the boy looked like someone who had been crying for a long time as dark circles had formed around his eyes and his expression, a mixture of grief and loneliness. The middle aged lady was showing the room to the man who had come to leave the kid there.
That was when Zeno remembered what this was. This must be a dream regarding one of his memories from childhood.
"Is this what they call a lucid dream? Didn't know it was this spooky. All of them look too real as if they are all real people, not some sort of vision."
Zeno understood why he was feeling a strong sense of déjavu from the moment he opened his eyes. This was the place where he grew up from when he was a small child.
He tries to touch Noir only to have his hand pass through him as if the former was a ghost spying on them. He doesn't know why he is experiencing this but he isn't that fond of it.
What he is seeing now is a memory he would not like to remember. This memory is about his first day at the orphanage where he was abandoned by his father. His mother had just passed away and his father was leaving him in an orphanage. He doesn't remember both his mother's or father's face but he could still remember his father's last words ringing in his ears.
~Don't worry, daddy will bring you home on Sunday. Till then take care of yourself~ Those were the words.
Noir didn't know why he believed that man's words, but since then every week on sunday, he would always pack his clothes and bag, and wait for his father to take him back home. And everyday he would be disappointed by the time evening comes and nobody has come for him. Even though he knew this was a place for kids who were forsaken by others, he still held onto the hope that someday his father would come and bring him back home. Somewhere in his mind, he himself knew that wasn't going to happen but he would still continue to wait, every Sunday nonetheless. He abandoned that habit at some point in his life when he grew up and was mature enough to accept the fact that it was all just a big lie.
"I didn't know I was this pathetic."
Zeno comments to himself feeling a bit nostalgic.Even though he said it was pathetic, his expression betrayed no shame. Instead it portrayed only warmth and a bit of solitude.
The dream about the memory continued to go on making him remember about things he didn't want to remember. Now he has to see it all happen once again as Zeno, a third party.
The lucid dream continued to show his whole period of life he had spent in this room like a timelapse video from his first day till moving out of it when he became 18 years old. During that period, he had grown up from being a crybaby to an asshole who didn't care about anybody.
When the 18 year old Noir in dream left the room when moving out, locking it down from outside, Zeno came out of his dream to end up opening his eyes at the Mindspace where he is greeted by the vision of the cosmos inhabited by Profile, Abyss and his other Gift.
[Good morning, User]
Profile's morning wishes brought Zeno's mind back to reality. Having regained his senses, he proceeds to question Profile what happened.
''Didn't you hear me calling you?"
He wanted to know whether his voice was heard outside and if it did, why Profile didn't respond. There is a bit of silence before he gets a response from Profile.
[It seems user has experienced a lucid dream, judging from the rapid eye movement of user just a few moments ago.]
Zeno was surprised to hear that Profile who was linked to him couldn't experience what he had seen. Even though more than 10 years passed in front of his eyes during the dream, only a few moments seems to have passed here.
[Dreams are an involuntary processes that can normally occur to a person. Whatever happens in it is a figment of imagination of user. Profile can only try to enter it forcefully at this stage thus ending the dream and waking up the user.]
[Would user prefer Profile to do that, next time something like this occurs?]
Profile asks maintaining his monotonous robotic voice.
"No, its okay. What time is it? How are the results of our technique?"
[Time is 6:30 am and user can view the results yourself.]
'View Level'
Zeno invokes the skill trying to only see the progress he had made in his Cosmic grade.
[Name: Zeno Lockhart/ Noir Rivera
Cosmic Grade/Level : 1 {0/200} >>{6/200}]
"So this excess energy points are like experience points in a video game, right?"
Zeno had thought those excess energy points to be some sort of experience points, when he saw it last night on the info tab of the technique. That is why, he had asked Profile to run it to see whether it could level him up.
But seeing that only 6 points could be obtained and 194 points are required to cross the next level or the cosmic grade, he would have to run this technique for 194 hours more. That is, he would have to run this technique for just more than 8 days to reach the next level.
[Referring from user's memory, the analogy can be considered apt.]
"So can you run this technique while I am working?"
Zeno asks Profile getting up from his bed.
[That is not possible, user. This technique is modeled on the basis of breathing of the host.]
[Hence, it needs user to follow certain rhythmatic step which is not possible to do while working]
"I thought so."
Without thinking much more, Zeno proceeds to complete his work for the morning. He goes on to the kitchen to prepare food for morning and afternoon. That was the part of his deal with Adam he had to complete. Since their food ingredient stock was sufficient, it wasn't difficult to do so
That was when he noticed the rabbit head he had left in the icebox, last night. He goes out of the house and proceeds to bury it in the compound after removing the horn. Right now, he possesses all the ingredients for making the Muscle Strengthening Potion except for the Aurelius Ginseng.
"Adam, do you know where I can get some Aurelius Ginseng?"
After coming indoors, Zeno asks Adam who had just come downstairs from his room. Apparently the latter was holding some sort of leaflet in his hand which seemed to be pretty old.
"I don't know. Look for it in the market while coming back home. Here take this."
Adam throws the leaflet onto Zeno's hand who catches it. Then the former proceeds to dine on the food Zeno had worked on from morning. Apparently both of them have to attend the academy, one as a student and the other as a teacher.
"What is this?" Zeno asks while activating his well used skill.
'View'
[Pamphlet: Fleeting Cloud Steps Technique
Description: This pamphlet contains instruction and directions to master the universal movement type technique- Fleeting Cloud Steps.
Minimum Requirement: Cosmic Grade 3 or must possess 700 Energy points.]
"Dad gave this to me when I stepped into the fifth cosmic grade. It has no value to me anymore. That is why, I am giving this to you as part of the deal."
Adam replies without taking his eyes off the bowl. Today's dish was some sort of vegetable soup which has a pretty good taste and a fragrant aroma.
'Since when did he know to cook all this good stuff?'
Adam thinks to himself while drinking the soup. He manages to drink it all within a few moments leaving Zeno as a spectator. During this time, Zeno was holding the leaflet and trying to read it just for the sake of it.
"Until you manage to master the technique, you are in charge of the cooking and cleaning. It will take you weeks or even months to learn, so don't give up on it. All the best."
Saying so, he washes his mouth and runs out of the house like a cat with its tail on fire.
'Why the hell is that guy running? There is still one and half hour left till classes start.'
Zeno looks out through the main door to not even see a shadow left of Adam. It was as if he had flown out of there. Zeno leaves the pamphlet in his bedroom after scanning it. Since he cannot use it till he reaches Level 3, there was no point in trying to learn it now.
He then proceeds to eat his meal not trying to give much thought to it. He also have to go early since there was something he was planning to do. He packs up his lunch and all the books he need into a bag and leaves the house.
Walking through the path to Academy, he is once again greeted by the view of streets filled with people performing some sort of arts or plays. He wanders to the market which is only starting to get active since it is just early morning. Nonetheless shopkeepers could be seen displaying their stock on the counter for sale and calling out for customers.
Zeno searches for the Aurelius Ginseng among the products and was surprised to see that it was available in large quantity and sold in kilo quantities by many vegetable sellers. Apparently it is a common root type vegetable used in the dishes. However he couldn't buy any of it since he has no money on his hand.
"Should I just sell the fur I got from the rabbit yesterday?"
Since he had no money, he had taken the Moon Rabbit Fur with him for the purpose of selling. He proceeds to search for a shop that specialises in monster parts. Soon he was able to find one with no problem.
<Selvie's Loot Shop>
It is closed for now and there is a signboard hanging nearby its door mentioning that the working times are from evening 6pm to morning 3 am.
"I guess, night time's the most busiest time."
Zeno comments looking at the signboard.
[There might be many more shops specialising in the beast and monster hides in other parts of the marketplace.]
Profile gives his suggestion as a loyal servant.
'No, we will just come back in the evening and see.'
Zeno informs Profile his decision.
That is when, Zeno notices Paul and his teammates with whom he had gone hunting yesterday walking along the roadside to the academy. Since all of them were going to the academy, it wouldn't hurt to go with them. Moreover he can ask for his share from the last night.
"PAAAUL..."
Calling out loudly, Zeno approaches them from far. Seeing Zeno, all of them looks at him amazed as if they didn't expect him there at all.
"Didn't you say that there was a Berserk Level 3 Horned Moon Rabbit on loose in the forest outskirts? Then why is it that this big guy has no problem? He clearly went in the direction of the Rabbit's nest when we last saw him.
If what you said was true, he should have gotten one or two of his bones broken."
Mini asks Wayne who was also looking closely at Zeno approaching them.
"That was also what I was thinking. The matter about a large rabbit going berserk is true though, as its signs of rampage can be seen even from outside. Maybe he returned early before the incident occurred."
Wayne answers without taking off his eyes.
Last night, when Big Bunny went on a rampage, a considerable part of the forest outskirts was destroyed in the attack. Many Level 3 beasts not wanting to be bested, became violent and attacked hunters who had come trying for their luck.
Many of them got injured and suffered major wounds and 2 of them even ended up with broken limbs. Luckily the turmoil ended quickly within an hour. On close observation from daring hunters, it was found that all those level 3 beasts were knocked out senseless by something else. After some time, the knocked out beasts woke up and went back to their nests having suffered enough.
Paul and his team were lucky to escape from the outskirts before the event even occurred. On reaching the entrance, they were informed about the Beast rampage and thus informed the military guards about Zeno who had wandered off his own into the jungle. That is why, the guards checked Zeno thoroughly and gave him advice to not chew more than he could eat. Apparently Paul and team were planning to visit Zeno's home, if he didn't turn up at class even though they didn't know clearly where his home was.
"I knew he wasn't the sort of guy who would be done in by some beast like that. Now we can just ask him what happened."
Paul comments to the group while waving towards Zeno asking him to join them.
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