Shhh It was a secret read and  discover it youself!!!!!???????????????☺????

Maria ( Based off of me) has always wanted to be Spanish or have close Spanish friends so that she could practice Spanish around them, as her family disapproves of it. One day she gets her wish granted, in the worst possible way. Will her friends be there forever or will they appear then disappear when she does?

Michael slowly woke up and noticed it was pitch black outside. He checked the clock and saw it was 2:15 am. That potion knocked him out for four hours. "Open my stats"

Name: Michael Rodriguez
Strength: 1.0           
 Intelligence: 1.4
Stamina: 0.9             
Agility: 0.9
Status: Healthy
Credits:1,000

It seemed like each stat increased by 0.3; finally, he clicked on the basic training manual and an influx of information flooded into his brain. There were some physical training methods that look like martial arts and there were some meditation techniques specifically for raising intelligence. He first tried the meditation technique.

 It was hard to clear the mind and enter the meditative state. After about an hour he finally felt his mind loosen and entered a trance. When he woke up he felt relaxed and felt like his mind was sharp. Then he tried the physical exercises and barely finished one set when he collapsed.

It was 4:00 am and he needed to mow the lawn in the morning so he went to bed for once with a smile.
The next day he trained for 2 hours before heading to the storeroom. It took him four hours to mow the lawn for the whole compound. When he finally finished he felt like he could eat a horse. He grabbed his bike and headed to the only grocery store in town. On the way, he saw Brett yelling at his dog while trying to walk it. Brett got a golden retriever when he was in middle school and he bragged about it to everyone. But he quickly got tired of the dog, hence the current situation. Michael knows he was stronger and will keep getting stronger; however, Brett's dad was the police chief; which was the main reason he frequently got away with his actions.

"One day I will get my revenge but I will probably have to leave town to avoid trouble from his dad" Michael murmured. Fortunately, the system gave him confidence because he knew he could survive anywhere with the system. The only problem was that the skills were so expensive and he had no idea how he was going to be able to afford them. Michael decided to just finish the training missions and get stronger; He will worry about money later.

He bought some instant noodles and some microwave meals and headed home. He got back and ate some noodles and resumed training. He trained till night and collapsed in the bed. The next day he spent the morning reading web novels and spent the rest of the day training. Before going to bed he checked his stats again.

Name: Michael Rodriguez
Strength: 1.4            
Intelligence: 1.8
Stamina: 1.3             
Agility: 1.3
Status: Healthy
Credits:1,000

It only increased by .2 per day and he knew the training speed was not always going to be this fast. But as long as he can keep getting better, one day he will be strong enough to protect himself.

The next two weeks he trained furiously hoping to finish his mission and become stronger. He stayed away from Brett but he grew more confident each day. Finally on July 4th as the fireworks were going off in the sky he heard an alert from the mission tab.

[Congratulations on finishing your first mission. All rewards have been granted]

"Status" Michael was excited to see the changes.

Name: Michael Rodriguez
Strength: 3.1            
Intelligence: 3.5
Stamina: 3.0             
Agility: 3.0
Status: Healthy
Credits:2,000

He felt like a new person; He was much stronger and felt like his mind was more efficient. Michael used to be 5 ft 8 in and weighed 140 pounds. Now he grew 2 inches and gained 20 pounds. His muscles were toned and he looked like a pro-athlete. He was very happy with his progress and was looking forward to the future. As he sat there watching the fireworks he felt resonance with the holiday. Just like America, he too gained independence on this day.

 There was an intermediate genetic potion and a training manual in his inventory; also there was a new mission.

[ Mission 1: A strong Emperor (Part 2)
Objective: Every emperor needs to be strong in order to realize his goals of building a magnificent empire. Use the genetic potion and practice the intermediate training techniques to increase all stats to at least six.
Rewards: Advanced genetic potion, Advanced training manual,1000 credits]

"How many more training missions are there?" Michael did not want to spend the rest of his life training. What is the point of being superhuman if all you do is train?

[With the advanced materials host can train till all stats are at least nine. After that host needs to purchase the supreme genetic potion and the training manual himself. Furthermore, supreme training requires the X-51 training chamber and many additional materials. Therefore, this will be the last training mission.]

Looking at the store, Michael noticed the supreme genetic potion and training manual costs 1 million credits each. He didn't have the heart to check the price of the training chamber.
Michael then headed to the public library. He knew he needs to find ways to make money and he decided to increase his knowledge. With his new stats, he can be considered a genius.

At the library

A blonde teenager was sitting at the library looking bored. Brenda hated this job but after high school, she did not really have much choice. Since her grandmother was the librarian she was lucky to get the library clerk position. She saw a teenage boy walking into the library and she was stunned.
"Hello Brenda, How are you?" Michael was not happy to see Brett's sister, but their family was practically everywhere in this town so he was helpless.

"Michael wow you look different. Did you have a late growth spurt?" Brenda could not believe what she was seeing; Michael Rodriguez was famous in high school because he was the wimpiest kid in school. She knew her brother loved to beat him up and humiliated him often. She never really cared about him and just thought he was an eyesore. Nevertheless, here he was looking like a changed figure. His wimpy figure was replaced by a toned athletic body and he looked confident.

"Yeah, I guess so. I was wondering if I can check out some books." Michael knew all his high classmates would be astonished if they saw him, but now he did not really place them in his eyes. She gave him the forms to fill out and he got a temporary card. He went to the business section and checked out some books on investing. He also checked out a Spanish textbook. He learned some Spanish in high school but he needed a refresher. Spanish was practically an official language in Texas; so it was good to know.

Over the next two months, he spent all his free time training and reading books. Michael now felt like he was Superman; He could bend pipes, run faster than a racehorse. Most importantly he felt like he had an extra brain. He could multi-task and read multiple books at once. He could remember things from elementary school.

When he meditated he felt like he was one with the world; like he was accessing a higher state of consciousness. He felt empowered; Like all the past worries and stress was just a petal in the flower of life. He checked his status.

Name: Michael Rodriguez
Strength: 6.2            
Intelligence: 6.8
Stamina: 6.0             
Agility: 6.0
Status: Healthy
Credits:3,000

There was an advanced training manual and genetic potion in his inventory. The potion tasted sweet going down his throat and surprisingly it did not hurt like the other times. This time he felt his body was gently being reformed. Before he felt like he was standing at the edge of the bridge unable to go any farther, now he saw the bridge extending farther inviting him to come and conquer. The advanced training manual built upon the other manuals and added more strenuous exercises and new meditation poses. 

The basic phase took him two weeks while the intermediate phase took him two months. He knew the advanced phase would take even longer. Therefore, He decided to gradually train; he was strong enough for now. He turned his attention to all the books stacked in his room.

He read all the books in the library about investing and learned Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Japanese and even French. Learning languages were easy; he mostly watched anime in those languages. However, after learning about investing he was in a dilemma. All the methods in the books recommended long-term investment portfolios and stock options. These methods required a large amount of capital, to begin with. It seems that there was no easy quick cash method. "Will I ever be able to afford any skills?"

Michael was just an ordinary boy living in modern-day America. He grew up in an orphanage with a bleak future. One day he acquired a mysterious package only to inherit a system. Join Michael as he changes his fate and conquers his destiny; armed with a mysterious system that tries to convince him to take over the world.

This is my first novel so I would appreciate any constructive criticism and support.


This novel will also be posted on RoyalRoad.

"This world is like a bad lover to me. Every day I wake up and I get stabbed. I go to my kitchen, I get stabbed. I eat some cheese, I get stabbed. If you wanna go out you can. I'll show you the nearest town, but honestly just stay here." Windfrom says. What a sad man. Not a single ounce of ambition or hope. Nothing human about him.
 I couldn't stand this. Men like these are why the revolution fails, the working people have been so beaten down that they feel they might as well not try. I get up. I look down at him. His eyes, sunken deep into his face, look up at me.
 "You've had a tough life. I know the way you look at me. Someone has beaten you down, someone has taken everything from you. I, well I'm here to help you. I've seen God himself." The appeal to God always works with these folks. Religion is a commonality among the poor since God is in everyone, it gives them hope. However, when I say God, he frowns and starts to inch away from me. He's afraid.
 "I-i-i don't want anything to do with God's." He says nothing more. It's odd for a man to go one minute speaking confidently about not trying to cower before me once again. I sit down on the ground with a sigh. My beard is itchy these days, too itchy to deal with fools.
 "I mean no harm, old soul, the whole God thing is," I pause for effect.
 "Metaphorical" He looks at me confused. We are two men sitting in a room in a desert, after almost killing each other, and yet we can't find any common ground. Where's the old love between killers.
 "I mean to say, that I'll help you find revenge if that's what you want. If not I can still help you in many other ways. I have seen too much suffering to ignore yours." He's staring at me while I talk. It's odd seeing a man who's obviously never had to read someone, try to read you. His eyes fixate on the bridge of my nose.
 "Friend, friend, friend you won't find my secrets on the bridge of my nose. Tell me what ails you. Who has stolen what." The words come to his lips. He's about to talk. He's about to spill his story.
 "Us poor folk must stick together, Windfrom, may I call you that? Oh nevermind, who's going to stop me. Anyway, only us together can stop these oppressors, these horrible people from wronging you." His eyes stare up at the ceiling now. He twiddles his thumbs. Sweat goes down his cheek, the room is not hot.
 "I've never seen a raid before you know. Well, I 'had' never seen a raid before that moment. I don't know if there's much else to say. Everyone is gone, everything is gone, and now old Windform is all alone. Do ye pity me?" I did not. The story was about what I thought. Something out there is evil. Windfrom stares out onto the sandy wall. His mind is turning, the cobwebs of sadness are being undusted from their frames.
 "What should we do?" I say and Windfrom turns to me. He starts to laugh, at first a tinkle of a chuckle, and then an uproarious laugh. I see a tear however in the midst of it.
 "We die. That's how this ends for me at least. I'm going to die. Whether it's you that kills me or someone else. Just leave me. If I had killed you at least I would've had something to eat for the week. Being friends? Honestly, what's the point." Hope lost. He lays down on his back and stares at the ceiling. I shift in my seat. I've lost a man.
 "I might as well just end it now. I feel my blood begin to depower, soon I'll be a husk. I hear heaven doesn't reject sufferers anymore." At those words, I hear a mighty click. Like a key being shifted into place, however that key came right from Windfrom's chest.
 Two seconds pass and his mouth grins at me. He mouths a word that my mother would say was not allowed in the newspaper. The air smells metallic for a second. And then…
 BOOM
 Windfrom's entire chest explodes in bloody glory. A small intestine is on my face as I recoil back. Blood coats the ash floor, and guts coat the walls. I retch at the sight of it, it is not the worst sight I've seen, but it is the closest I've been.
 All that's left of him is his smiling face, his dangling arms, and in the center of where his chest would be a still-beating heart. I sit for a minute and stare, all that talk of friendship and now he's just dead.
 I leave the room and go out into the hot desert sun. At least there I don't have to look at his corpse. I breathe in deep, it's dry out, and his blood and specks of guts still hold on to me. A man is dead, it's not my fault, but I was the catalyst.
 I walk away and to the other rooms. Most of them have nothing in them. One of the rooms, most likely a now decayed storage shack, has what seems like food. Little bits of some kind of grain and bags of and bags of blue cubes that shine in the light that's streaming in.
 In another room, I find a coat and two books. The cot is half destroyed from years and years of old men sleeping on it. The books are serviceable, however. I look inside them to find that they are both in some foreign script. It looks like a cross between English, Spanish, and what seems like Chinese. As I stare out onto the page, the words fall into nothingness.
 Only to be replaced by, Spanish words? Words that didn't seem to be possible by the standards of anyone yet somehow. Spanish. The book was much-like an annotated atlas. Filled with places that Che had never heard the names of.
 His eyes rested on the description of a giant walking metal city. He noticed an annotation not like the rest, in big bold, charcoal, it read 'pendejos.' The city walked around a place called the Stormfather's Respite. It said that this place was free from the Livingstorms of the Stormfather's Wastes.
 I knew where I had to go. The book's final pages composed a map. On it is a compass, inscribed on the side of the compass it says, 'point to where you want to go'. Does that mean I should? Maybe there? I point to Stormfather's Respite. The ink on the compass swirls and points towards a different wall.
 Onward into the abyss it was for me. No use staying for longer in a place like this. Survival is simply survival and I must thrive.
 I pack up the bags of grain and a couple of the blue cubes. If anything they'll be useful for later to trade-in for something.
 These things inside my head, they control me. Does that mean they are somehow real? Are these not just some sort of literal manifestation of Freud. I focus on my core. I focus on myself. I reach deep inside of myself and look and peer inside my mind. 
The red has become a scarlet. Like the deep color of blood and The Monster itself has grown. He, and now I know it's a he, is alive and throbbing with millions and millions of little beings. He's clashing against The Man.
 I knot my brows and focus. Ideas, thoughts, all sorts of things enter my mind. Take over the world? Unite the people of Northern Ireland? I take these ideas and hold them in my souls' arms. And mold them and mold them. They will become the mold that sticks together my two parts.
 The soul space as I call it is somewhere inside of me but also not. As if my body had been superimposed on a copy of my body yet in this copy nothing physical happens, as far as I can tell.
 However, something inside of me, deep in those nooks and crevices of my mind tells me it's important. That somehow this new thing is the key to understand all of this.
 The ball of ideas is still forming in my mind. They try and poke out of the core yet I know they cannot get out. It forms at a snail's pace, I watch as little specks of ideas go onto and attach to it. 
 I start to get up when I hear something. I pause, I'm reminded of the horrible sound of jungle insects, and yet louder. Where is this sound coming from? Is it from the dune over there? I look. No. Is it from that one? I look. No.
 I look up. Dotting the skies are hundreds of insects, each adorned with plates and plates of metal that form a thick skin-like armor. The insects have hundreds of eyes and a storm of bladed legs each. Their wings are large and scaley. And on top of each of the insects is a man.
 "Master Uramesh, the Wonder-Artificer, the Twelve-Time Bloodline Saint, father of the Current Warrior God, we have come in your time of need. Where are these opponents who have come." A voice from the sky says. It's too loud to be from any one of these men. Until I realized who said it, in the middle of their formation. On an insect bigger than a building, one really, really, really, big man.

Che Guevara is resurrected from the dead by God. He's then thrown into a world of utter chaos. There's dragons and cultivators and magic galore.

In this world now he has the special ability to have a unique version of himself?

THIS STORY HAS:
Cultivation
Weird cultivation
Fights
Inevitable revolution against abusive capitalist regimes
Planned romance
Idiots,
Lots and lots of idiots

It was boring and I didn't understand anything, hell even Mr.Binns Hogwarts History lesson would be less boring than this and he is the ghost professor for Merlin's sake. Spanish was good I already learned 3 languages in my free periods and Spanish was one of them. I feel proud of myself. 
Biology, it reminds me of herbology except we need to see cell of the plants, should we really need to see this, maybe professor Sprout would like this lesson, I remained silence and read biology book from beginning, because I was a more than Hermione if it's turn my grade. After 40 minutes I finished my book. Yey lunch time. I saw Angela and she waved to me I made my way to her table and greeted others plus Bella. I just smiled to her. Jessica and Lauren were gossip girls, I can handle that, I don't like to make enemy because I have enough enemies just for my last name I don't need more. I feel like a normal teenager girl who has worry for her grade and relationship, should I think about my college or career, I always wanted to become teacher or auror. My O.W.L exams results were all outstanding. But in this world maybe I can become engineer it sounds interesting. I laughed with them and told them about my twins and our pranks.
"Let's go guys break time almost finishing" I said to them they pouted
"But it's too quick I'll miss you Lisa" Lauren said, in the corner of my eyes I saw Bella rolling her eyes 
"Don't worry we have English together" then she locked our hands and went together. She told me about her life and we laughed together. English literature was easy thanks to Hermione, she always lent some muggle books to me.
My last lesson was Gym, I changed my clothes and saw all boys looking my way with dropped jaw. We played volleyball. I saw this sport in TV and remembered how to play, it's easier than Quidditch, I'm best chaser at Hogwarts. Riding flying broomstick and throwing balls to other teams ring while keeper protecting it was not easiest thing in this world. But I love Quidditch.
Our team won and all guys congratulated me like I saved the world. While Bella was sitting and send me nasty glare. I changed my clothes.
"Lisa let's hang out this weekend, I heard cool coffee shop opened at Port-Angeles" Jessica told me
"of course Jess, I'm in" we made our way to parking
"Wow is this really yours?" Eric questioned
"Yep, my baby" I smirked
"You are coolest girl I've ever known" Mike gave me thumbs up
I gave them my signature smile and ride to my home. I saw Paul and Jacob.
"Hey boys" I hugged them and went inside.
"Why don't you watch TV while I'm preparing dinner?" I suggested
"Do you need any help?" Paul asked
"No it will be magical process, and I'm good at this" I smirked and went to kitchen about 30 minutes later I finished.
"boys dinner is ready" I shouted. Bella walked inside
"Bella, dinner" I told her
"I won't eat and dad won't come tonight" she said and went to her room 
"Lisa how did you do this" Paul exclaimed I chuckled at his childish behavior 
"so how was your first day?" Jacob asked
"it was interesting, I made a lot of friends" I said happily 
"good I want to hear it" then I talked about my day they laughed and helped to wash dishes, actually they washed it while I was talking.
"Let's watch movie" I suggested and they agreed "you can choose movie I'll back" then I went my room to change my pajama 
"you look cute" Paul said to me 
"Thank you sir" I said in a tiny voice they laughed "those high heels almost killed my legs"
"I'll massage it" Paul said, my face lit up and placed my legs in his lap, we started movie and he massaged my legs.
"it's already late, you can stay here if you want" I said yawning they nodded their heads I prepared bed for them and went to my room. It was an amazing day maybe I can live like this. And i slept in peaceful dream.
It's already become one week since I arrived here. Without any letter from my friends I was holding Daily Prophet, right now this was my only source to know what's happening in wizarding world in my own world. It's become darker. Sometimes I wish I never leave my friends, but I know it would be a better choice for all of us. 
But my new life is not that bad, my classmates love me and I get along with La push guys. Paul and I become so close. This Friday I may or may not put some pranks in my school, I just thought they need some change so I helped them with that, back in my days I turned all Slytherin's hair into ginger just like weasley's, they didn't get rid of it that easy. 
Jess and Lauren come to my house we become close, then we went to Port-Angeles. We have had a lot of fun together.
When we come to my house I saw Paul standing there, I hugged him tightly 
"hey boy what are you doing here?" I asked
"to accompany this beautiful lady to meeting" he joked 
"It's honour to go with you my sir" I joked back and turned to giggling girls. I hugged them and said my goodbye.
In the resort I listened their story, but it's sounds like history then I know what they are. They are shapeshifters, now it all makes sense. 
And I think Jacob would be a soon shift into one, lately I saw how his demeanor changing. Bella is trying to be close with him. Maybe she is trying to move on, because I know it's the best way. I have some experience in my past and now I know Paul is looking me with these love sick eyes, I just don't want to hurt him, he is brother but not my lover. And I didn't end my relationship with Malfoy.
It felt like I chose the worst choice if it's about boys. He was a git to everyone except me, I trusted him but I know his father is deatheater, what a great coincidence. 
So right now, romance is the least thing I wish in my life. 
I slept in the Jacob's house that night.

She is a daughter of evil. Everybody afraid her last name but she grow up in the orphanage and when she turned 11 years old magical letter come to her she was a witch and very powerful one. Sorting hat put her in Gryffindor and she befriended with Weaslay twins one year later famous Harry Potter started his first year she was kind and brave one she protected Harry every year when Voldemort trying to kill him. Now it’s her 7th year but her father tried to catch her, he needed her power and she didn’t want to be his deatheater and kill her friends. She can’t help but run away from Hogwarts and magical world. It was August 5th her birthday from now on she become an adult and can do magic without trace so she went to Forks her uncle Charlie her mother’s friend. She only wanted to hide away from his father


ps: it's just a fanfic so this amazing characters don't belong to me 
ps2: also who knows what i was thinking when i'm writing these.

Ace picked up the phone, it was his grandmother calling, surprising, not because it was on a Sunday morning, but because it was her calling him, not the other way around.
"Hello Samantha, good morning"
"Good morning to you too, how are things going around there?",  'Ah, she wants to know how the meetings went', Ace thought, thinking of the best way to respond
"Well, for the most part, I made a deal with Lucrum, and as you know, they asked for a meeting. However, as you are probably aware, things with Epsilon did not go as well, she thought I was just a vulnerable kid and tried to blackmail me."
"How did it go?", there was myrrh in her voice, she obviously knew how it went, but she wanted him to tell her, to judge him on what emotions he would display during his response.
"Well, I destroyed her life, and Epsilon knows it, they will now have to try harder, and of course, I will drive an even harder bargain, they will not be happy."
"Good. I am proud of you.", and she hung up
Ace let out a sigh of relief, he knew he had passed her test, he would not even be surprised if she was the one that leaked the info, just as a way to see whether he would comply to her demands, and buckle under pressure.
What Ace did not know, however, was that on the other side of the line, Samantha and Veronica were smiling, happy with how fast and well he had grown.
Ace had a pretty busy day ahead of him, he would have to sort through all his notifications, but luckily, he had a plan to deal with it. There was a reason other than hacking as to why he had wanted to learn how to write programs and code in general. He had another project, this one of great importance, that he had wanted to begin working on since forever. He was going to build his own A.I.
He did not want a stupid one, though, he was going to build a self-learning A.I. A monster that only he would be able to control. He would feed it all the information he could find, on anything, and then have it create a schedule for his life, one that would help him optimise his time to the maximum, without becoming boring or repetitive.
He had built it himself, truthfully, the premise of it was simple, the problem was that it required expensive technology for it to truly shine, it would have to be hooked to a high-speed connection that would allow it to download vast quantities of data in a short time. He had, of course, asked for help from a few of his grandmother's employees. He had promised them that he would share the source code with them. Of course, only before asking his grandmother. 
She was fine with it, they would remain loyal to her no matter what, and having one for the whole group would increase their capabilities by a large margin. Of course, she also knew they would not share the source code themselves since it would create security threats if they did so.
And it was in this way that Ace built Alfred. Ace had not actually chosen the name, the A.I. had, it had for some reason developed an admiration for the resourceful butler, and it seemed that it inspired to be the same. He had fed it all types of information, he had begun with defence protocols it could put in place to protect itself, Ace had put some of his own, but the A.I. would be able to build its own, and update them as it was needed. He had then made it learn all about video games, streaming and social media. It had, for some reason, also learnt about pop-culture, and in one night, had learnt all the internet culture had to offer.
The A.I. that was now hooked all over the house, connected by speakers that lined all over the room to the supercomputer Ace had built in a room adjacent to his. He asked it to sort through all messages on his accounts, and once it had done so, give the correct and appropriate responses. It knew that if anything interesting came up, it - well he, would have to inform Ace.
In this way, his work for the day was sorted, and he could go relax and do his own thing. He caught up on a few novels, his enhanced brain could now read at extreme speeds, and looked through some advanced etiquette guides Samantha had sent him. He memorised all the information, as he always did, and sent a message to his grandmother that he had finished. She seemed to find it important that he learnt all about various topics, so she sent him guides, books and videos on all sorts of things. Ace, wanting to oblige, ensured he committed them to memory. 
It was in this way that he had learnt all sorts of interesting things, he had no idea whether they would ever be of any use to his grandmother, they probably would. To his surprise, his grandmother answered fast, however, it was only a one-word reply: [Languages]. Ace laughed, his grandmother had realised that his brain seemed to have no limit, so she decided to challenge Ace as much as she could. There was a link to a file in another message. As Ace clicked on it, he groaned, his free time would be cut in half. His grandmother wanted him to dominate all the languages she considered 'important', meaning, the ones that would open the most doors for him. This included German, Spanish, French, Arabic, Mandarin, Korean and Japanese. She told him that if needed, she would send a tutor to teach him, to which he replied: [No.]. If anyone else found out about his learning speed, there would be a problem.
In true Goldsign fashion, she wanted him to learn them all. Ace was of course already on it, he had always thought it would be wonderful to travel to various places and enjoy them to their fullest, so in his downtime (downtime = lesson time), he had begun learning various languages. He could speak, French, Italian and Spanish, and was finishing up with German. Finishing up meant that he now had the level of a Native, and all he had to do was learn the slang that was more commonly used. However, he would have no problem conducting a deal. 
As with all languages, he had minimized the accent by listening to genuine natives speak the language and simply working to learn how to mimic their accent. This allowed him to have a seamless accent, which would not separate him from any native. After he finished up with German, he would move on to Mandarin, then to Japanese and Korean. He would finish with Arabic. Once he did that, he wanted to keep learning languages, but whatever else caught his fancy would take precedence.
This way, he could maximise his ability to learn, while also motivating himself with something that would be truly fun. Especially considering his trip to Vienna, his German would be useful there, and meeting people from around the world would mean he could 'practise' speaking the languages he had learnt.


*************************

After getting dressed, Ace got in the car that took him to Sophie's house, she had said to meet him at 10, which had left him a lot of time to do his own thing, considering he had woken up at 5 in the morning, and she lived only 10 minutes away. When he got there, it was 9:55, and he was led through the main house to a 'small' one in the garden, it was an expanse where it seemed that the family met their guests, it was a massive open space, with decor tastefully placed around the room. It did not give out a sense of opulence, but you knew the people that owned it were rich nevertheless. How rich, depended on how much you looked, one could spot the luxurious billiards table or the massive 8k televisions displayed around the room. Ace, however, noticed the book stand, It was not as big or noticeable as the other pieces, but was sure as hell worth a lot more. Every book there, seemed to be expensive, Ace assumed that none of them had actually been read, but the rare collection caught his eye nevertheless.
"Like them?", Sophie came up from behind him, giving him a hug which he turned around and reciprocated. She was dressed in a yellow flowery dress that suited her quite well.
"Yeah. These are amazing, some of these are worth more than what people make in a lifetime.", Ace heard the tinge of admiration in his own voice, but did not mind it. If anything, it would only give Sophie the false impression that she could use these books as a bargaining chip. She could of course, but if Ace wanted, he could get his Grandmother to gift him an even greater collection than this. Money was not a problem, and as of right now, connections were not either.
"Hmmm, well, the others are not here yet, but I can give you a tour if you want", 'fashionably' late, of course, Ace detested such a construct, but he understood that it was merely a way for someone to feel wanted.
"Sure let's go."

The story of a boy overcome with pain, that suddenly isn't.

                                      **********

The story is about a boy, Ace, who is suddenly healed from his pain. He decides to make the best out of his god (?) given gift.

You can expect politics, show business, videogames, sports, and much more.

I hope you enjoy the novel, Happy Reading!




The image does not belong to me, full credits to the creator, if you wish for me to remove it, contact me at: insidiouswebnovel@gmail.com

Raúl González had some regrets lately. If he had retired a year later, he might have been able to take the club's 10th European Champions Cup as a gift for his retirement. Now, he was simply the manager of Real Madrid, mainly responsible for communication between the senior management and players. As such, when he was with the team, he felt more like a player who simply wore a tuxedo.
When the team was training, he just stood on the sidelines and watched with Coach Michels. He usually did not express his opinion unless Michels asked for it.
Now, he had more to say.
"Michels, for tomorrow's game..." Raúl started to frown.
"Do you want to ask me how sure I am of winning?" Michels smiled. "I really don't know."
"No, I am worried that Nottingham Forest's playstyle will restrain the style we were excellent in." Raúl gently shook his head.
Michels hesitated for a little and said, "It's a problem, but that is what Real Madrid's football is all about. No matter what opponents we face, we will use our usual style to contest. What suggestions do you have, Raúl?"
Raúl had no good advice. He shook his head and stopped talking.
"Our scouts came up with the latest information about Nottingham Forest. They used all-out tactics in the first half of the FA Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur, and I think that might have something to do with us." Michels was still talking to himself. He suddenly turned his head and looked at Raúl. "Maybe Twain wants to go on the offense with us in Bernabéu."
Raúl, who was focusing on watching the team's training, was taken aback by his claims.
"Go on the offense against us?" As soon as the remark left his mouth, he started laughing. "That's crazy."
There were few teams in the world that dared to play against Real Madrid in Bernabéu. Barcelona might be one of them, but Nottingham Forest definitely wasn't.
"I don't think that's likely. Nottingham Forest's playstyle is defensive counterattack, and Coach Twain has always believed that championships are won from defense. He can't use offense against us in such an important game. A defensive counterattack has high odds, though."
Michels smiled at Raúl and said, "Why didn't you choose to be the head coach after you retired, Raúl?"

"Me?" When asked so suddenly, Raúl wasn't sure how to respond. "I don't think I'm fit to coach."
"Not as a head coach… You can be a youth training supervisor. If you want to do it, I can recommend the idea to the head manager."
"It's not the difference between a head coach or a coach." Raúl thought about it before saying, "At Real Madrid, I think it's too tiring to be a coach."
He didn't continue, but Michels knew what he was trying to say and silently nodded.
Raúl mentioned the key point. One should not be deceived by the fact that Michels had done a good job at Real Madrid over the years. He had always been subjected to checks and balances at the top of the club, which was a tradition in most Spanish clubs. In an elite team like Real Madrid, the restrictions on a head coach were especially high. For an introduction and transfer of a player, he only had the right to advise but not decide. There were too many factors for a club like Real Madrid to buy a person to consider. Hence, the competitive aspect did not feel as important.
In the management dressing room, the manager's actions were limited. Dressing room factions were inevitable for any big team. In this aspect, the Premier League managers were better than them because the Premier League managers had absolute authority. The factions in the dressing room did not triumph over a head coach. The authority of the Premier League managers came from their football tradition and the support of the club's senior management. The players were in awe of the head coaches like a bunch of kids under their captain. The coach of La Liga would have it worse. If they had a tiff with any faction in the training room, his authority would be greatly challenged. Coupled with the small actions behind the backs of the top management group, the head coach was sandwiched between the higher management and the players. Both sides could easily be unhappy with him.
Michels was doing well at Real Madrid because he met a good general manager—Valdano. Thinking of the former, Mijatović, any head coach under him would be tortured. Valdano knew fair authority delegation would benefit the club, so he did not pick on the transfer list the head coach propose. That created the revival of Real Madrid.
Otherwise, this team might still be continuously stuck in the top eight, which would be the ultimate joke.
Both Michels and Raúl had put these problems behind them since they did not need to have such troubles now. Otherwise, they would not have been able to reach the Champions League final. The next game was an opportunity to prove Real Madrid's value to the world and for Florentino to rebuild his Real Madrid empire. Such a game could not be lost.
　　※※※
Twain did not have time to complain to others about the chores of a head coach. He was busy taking the team through the tactical drills of free kicks. For such an important game, the free-kick was not something to be neglected. Twain had predicted that the match in Bernabéu with Real Madrid would create tremendous pressure, so perhaps free kicks would be the key to crack Real Madrid's door.
After all, there was an excellent free kicker on their team—Gareth Bale.
Chris Kerslake was explaining the coordination in a free kick on the field. The coaching team designed many variations of strategies behind a free-kick, hoping it would be useful during the game.
The team was training at Bernabéu stadium, which was a suitable training ground. The turf in Bernabéu was better than the city stadium, but there was no obvious difference. On top of that, Twain could not guarantee that the workers would not pour too much water onto the field on the second day.
The reporters had been ousted by him. The team's training content could not be known to outsiders. He also emphasized that he did not want Bernabéu to have any equipment to film their training content. He knew this was home ground for Real Madrid, so it was difficult to ensure that Real Madrid would not play tricks. His repeated reminders and persistence had angered the staff at the Bernabéu, who, in their eyes, thought Twain was questioning their work ethic. Real Madrid was a club that valued its reputation, so they made it clear that the club was dismissive of doing such a thing.
Twain shamelessly and reluctantly gave up his persistent pursuit.
He had a typical petty man's heart. He would do it in his own city's stadium, so there was no reason other clubs would not do the same.
Real Madrid did not place any cameras or spies in Bernabéu stadium. As per what the staff member said, the great Real Madrid was dismissive of despicable means to help the team to victory.
Twain was still looking into the stands, searching for suspicious people.
　　※※※
At the press conference that afternoon, Twain was besieged by the Spanish media.
The Spanish and English media were divided. The Spanish media asked questions that would embarrass Twain, such as, "The outside world is optimistic that Real Madrid will win the title. Will you be affected by this prediction?"
Another example was, "The outside criticism of Nottingham Forest's football is conservative and utilitarian. Will you consider changing that?""
The Spanish media had apparently studied Tony Twain. They knew he was a man with a bad temper and no filter. As such, they deliberately provoked him to see the effects, which would allow them to obtain ground-breaking news.
Their research was not professional. They only wanted to provoke Twain. They had forgotten that he was not a porcupine, which would roll up as self-defense against such a siege. He was a cunning wolf. If one dared to provoke him, one needed to get ready to take his anger.
For the first question, Twain was dismissive. "Do you mean Real Madrid would win as long as the outside world was optimistic about them? Then, we don't have to play in the Champions League final. Let the outside world announce that Real Madrid won the title, OK? " Twain opened his hand and coldly stared at the Spanish journalists.
This rebuttal put the Spanish journalists in a bad spot.
As for the second question, Twain was surprised. "Why should I change this situation? I can win the championship now, so why should I give up the championship to satisfy the wishes of the outside world? I think... No one with a normal brain would make that choice, would they?"
When he said that, he stared at the reporter asking the question with a smile. It was as he was saying, "Only someone as abnormal as you could ask such a stupid question, Mr. Reporter."
The Spanish journalist was embarrassed and finally sat down.
"You don't have to play well to win a championship, Twain." Another reporter stood up.
Where was the press conference? This was clearly the Champions League version of the debate wars.
"I don't have to take a more risky approach to win the championship. Besides, in my opinion, playing well is equal to the runner-up." Twain was intentionally provoking the Spanish media, who were arrogant because of their home-ground advantage.
Fortunately, Michels had finished his press conference beforehand. Otherwise, if the two people sat together, there might have been another conflict brewing.
"Do you mean your tactics tomorrow will be defensive counterattacks?" a middle-aged bald man stood up and asked. His face was slightly pale. He was trying to link the question to Nottingham Forest's second-day tactics.
Twain knew what he was trying to do. There was no way he would leak information on his strategies for the next game during this chaos. "That's not certain. Maybe tomorrow I'm going for a full-on attack or defense." Twain showed his hands again. "Don't you think I'm going to do defensive counterattack? Oh my, I think it'll be interesting to fight offense with Real Madrid..."
"Don't you want a championship, Mr. Twain?" The middle-aged man, without changing his face, continued to argue with Twain.
"Of course I want to. Why wouldn't I?"
"But you said that playing well was the runner-up..." The man who thought he triumphed over Twain in this discussion started to laugh. Around him, many people started to laugh as well. They were all Spanish reporters.
In their minds, it was a dead cycle. They thought, Twain thinks he can't win a championship if he plays well, but he also wants to win the title. He is definitely playing conservative football, but he does not want to admit to playing conservative football and says he's going to play offense against Real Madrid. So, let's see how he talks this out!
They did not think Twain would suddenly relax and speak without hesitation. "I'm confident that we will win, even if we go on offense against Real Madrid."
As soon as that was said, the journalists present, whether they were from Spain or England, were taken aback.
A reporter wanted to continue asking questions, but Twain stood up and signaled for the press conference to end.
"Mr. Twain..."
"Mr. Twain, please wait!"
"Coach Twain..."
"Hey, Tony!"
A group of reporters panicked. What were they doing before? After all that arguing with Twain, all they got, in the end, was useless information.
　　※※※
Chris Kerslake was sitting in his room, sipping fragrant coffee, and flipping through the newspaper. He knew nothing about Spanish. Luckily, there were several pictures, so it was better than nothing to pass time.
"Half football, half bullfighting, the Spaniards' hobbies are really limited…"
The assistant coach muttered to himself. He suddenly heard a soft noise from the lock. He alertly looked up and stared at the door. He saw the door slowly slide, which opened a gap. A hand reached in. Its fingers displayed a few stances, which were followed by a quick shake, magically throwing out a scarlet cloak.
The door opened. Twain proudly raised his head and rumba danced on the way into the room. He was humming "one dada two dada" in rhythm. His strong and firm body spun on the same spot for two rounds before ending with an aggressive pose. "Ah! Come! Madrid Bull!"
The poor assistant coach jumped forward. The coffee from his mouth flew onto the newspaper in his hands and the table. Some coffee flowed down the corners of his mouth and chin, dripping and splashing onto a picture of Ribery. A drop of black coffee fell on his white teeth, making his picture look like he was missing a tooth.
Chris Kerslake scrambled to wipe the coffee off the side of his mouth and chin. As he used the newspaper to wipe the table, he asked, "Did you go watch bullfighting this afternoon?"
"No, I went to the press conference and bought this on the way back. " Twain shook the cloak in his hand as it made a loud noise.
"Tourist souvenirs, huh?"
Twain shook his head and smiled. "Isn't the souvenir the Champions League trophy? This cloth has its special use." After saying that, he did another signature move of a bullfighter. He waved to his left and right as he elegantly spun around, mimicking an angry bull passing by him. The wind created by his waves blew Kerslake's hair. "How do you feel about my progress?"
"I've never seen such an old bullfighter." Chris Kerslake finally cleared himself of the mess. He looked at Twain and laughed. "What the hell are you going to do with it?"
"Secret, it is a secret." Twain winked at him as he cheerfully chuckled. 
　　※※※
PS, Words from the author,
There were several depressing feedback left in the forums recently, stating that the book Godfather was coming to the end. I am grateful for the friends who are concerned about Godfather, however, this simply makes me not know whether I should cry or laugh. Before finishing this volume, I still have another two volumes in my gallery. This is only the seventh volume, so there will be an eighth one that I have not finished writing. How can the book end here?
Everyone, please do not be worried, I was hoping to finish writing the book earlier this year. However, with my procrastination habits, I will try my best to end this book by the end of the year.
So, this is not the time to bid farewell. Everyone just continue to read. Tony Twain's story has not come to an end yet. (To be continued. if you want to know what comes after, please log in to www.qidian.com. There will be more chapters to come. Please support the author and legal reading!)


This is a story about the pursuit of victory.

— "I subscribe only to the theory of victory. I only pursue victory. As long as I am able to obtain victory, I don’t care if it’s total football or counterattack. What is the ultimate goal of professional soccer? In my opinion, it is victory, and the pinnacle of victory is to become the champions. I am a manager. If I don’t wish to lose my job or be forgotten by the people, there’s only one path for me to take, and that is to lead the team in obtaining victories, in obtaining championship titles!”

The main character was not well-liked by people.

— “⋯We conducted a survey which had been deemed by Manager Tony Twain as extremely meaningless. In a random street survey conducted, ninety-three percent of those surveyed chose the option ‘I hate Tony Twain’, while only seven percent chose the option ‘This person is rather decent, I like him’. It is worth noting that nobody chose the option ‘Who is Tony Twain? I don’t know him’. Mark, do you know why Manager Twain felt that our survey was very meaningless?” Parker, a reporter from <The Daily Telegraph> laughed loudly and said when he was being interviewed by BBC.

But there were also people who were madly in love with him.

— “⋯ Became the spokesperson of world-wide famous clothing brands, shot advertisements, frequented the fashion industry’s award ceremonies, endorsed electronic games, has a supermodel girlfriend. His earnings from advertisements exceed his club salary by seventeen times, owns a special column in various print medias, publishing his autobiography (in progress), and is even said that he is planning to shoot an inspirational film based off his own person experiences! Who can tell me which part of his life experiences is worthy of being called ‘inspirational’? Hold on⋯. Are you all thinking that I’m referring to David Beckham? You’re sorely mistaken! I’m talking about Manager Tony Twain⋯.”

He was very knowledgeable about Chinese soccer.

— “⋯ I’ve heard about it, that Bora gifted four books to his manager Mr. Zhu before your country’s national team’s warm up match. After which, the team lost 1:3 to a nameless American team from Major League Soccer. The new excuse that Mr. Zhu gave for losing the match, was that Bora gifted “books” (‘books’ and ‘lose’ are homophones in the Chinese language). Here, I recommend that you guys find out what that one specific book is. Which book? Of course the one that caused you all to score a goal. After that, tell me the title of the book. Before every match, I will gift ten copies of that same book to you. In that case, won’t you all be able to get a triumphant 10:0 win over your opponents every time?” An excerpt taken from Tony Twain’s special column in a certain famous Chinese sports newspaper.

Li Du walked into the hotel, looked around and said, "Nice atmosphere. The style is unique with all the yellowish-brown bricks. What's the name of this style?"
Hans grinned. "Water shortage style."
"What?" Li Du asked, confused.
"It was a Spanish mudbrick house," Hans explained. "A very ancient style of Spanish houses.
"The yellowish-brown bricks that you see is a local feature of Tucson. The weather here is dry all year round, without any rainfall for long periods of time. That's why they used bricks dried under the sun instead of fired in a kiln."
"What if it rains?" Li Du asked. "Does that mean the house will collapse?"
Hans shrugged. "The thing is that it doesn't rain often. Even when it does, it's only a few drops and causes no harm to the already dried and hardened bricks."
Li Du had learned something new and believed that people in Tucson never bothered to take precautionary steps. If it were him living in these houses, he would worry about the house collapsing.
The hotel was famous and their service was fantastic. If the guest brought a child under 14, they would add extra bedding for free, and they even prepared dinner for the kid.
The hotel had a garden full of a wide variety of plants, which was a rare scene in a desert area.
Behind the garden was a swimming pool, and in front of it was a library. These formed a resort, where people could either drink a cup of coffee on the patio or read books in the library. When the weather was hot, they could choose to chill in the garden or swim in the pool. All of these were great activities for relaxation.
Besides that, the hotel allowed their guests to bring pets. Li Du was required to pay 20 dollars for each pet, and 40 dollars if the pet exceeded the weight of 20 pounds.
Fortunately, Ah Meow and Crispy Noodles were under this weight, which saved Li Du some money..
After using the little bug vigorously in the morning, he felt exhausted. After checking into the hotel, he went to the garden with three of his pets and found a quiet place to drink some coffee.
The was a croquet court beside the garden. Li Du watched with interest—some people were passionately playing and he had never played the sport before.
Croquet was an outdoor sport that involved hitting balls with a mallet through silver hoops embedded in the grass or flat ground. It originated from France, reached England in the 13th century, and then spread to Scotland and Italy in the 17th century.
This sport spread to America in the 19th century.
Despite the late introduction, Americans loved the sport as well. The National Croquet Association had been formed to widely promote this sport to everyone. It was actually easier to play than golf.
Ah Meow couldn't contain himself when he saw the balls flying around the court.
Right after Li Du put him down so he could take a rest, the ocelot jumped over to the court and started running around.
Li Du was so tired that he had no energy left to chase after him. He could only shout after the big cat. "Ah Meow, come back here!"
Ah Meow ignored Li Du's call and continued chasing after the balls. They seemed like fish to him. He jumped around; then he used a paw to swipe a ball and pounced on it.
The croquet balls were small: the size of pool balls. The material used was hard and heavy like pool balls as well. So when Ah Meow hit the ball with his paw it was very painful—he felt the pain in his bones. He mewled a few miserable cries and stumbled a few times running back to his master.
After that, Ah Meow sat down quietly. This didn't last long, however, because he found another thing to do: catch fish with his paw.
There was a pond in the garden. Much like a Chinese garden, they had aquarium fish like goldfish in it.
The first to notice the fish was Crispy Noodles. He cast a sneaky look at the fish and crawled quietly to the pond. He swung his paw in the water and tried to catch one.
Those poor fish were shocked by this. Normally, those who came to the pond were men and women. No one had ever tried to catch the fish for food—not to mention with their bare hands.
Crispy Noodles was excited; he put his paw into the water and when the time was right, he immediately scooped out a fish; it landed on the ground!
Ah Meow's eyes sparkled. Fish!
Li Du was tired both physically and mentally, but he still stood up and chased after the two furry rascals. "Why can't you guys stay quiet for a moment?" he scolded. "F*cking come back to me now!"
Ah Meow and Crispy Noodle thought Li Du had decided to join in their adventure, so they ran around the pond, waiting for Li Du to catch them. Li Du could only chase after them using whatever strength he had left until he finally caught both of them.
When Li Du returned to where he'd been sitting, Ah Ow was missing.
Li Du panicked and thought, Ah Ow is still a puppy. What if she was taken away by someone else? Li Du was extremely upset because Sophie could become angry about this. He was afraid that she would break up with him.
Just when Li Du was about to go to the hotel staff to ask them to show him the CCTV, Ah Ow appeared before him. The chubby little puppy had been finding spots to do her business. She'd peed happily all over the garden as if she wanted to mark her scent.
Li Du felt weak all over; he laid down on the chaise lounge and watched her run around the garden. He was upset that all of his pets loved to make him worry about them.
As Ah Ow was peeing, her nose suddenly twitched. She sniffed around, then ran to a sandy area and started to dig up the sand.
Li Du glanced at her and said, "Ah Ow, please stop digging. I am begging you, please come back right now!"
Ah Ow ignored him and in no time, she had dug a small hole.
Li Du was speechless and decided to let her do what she wanted. Since it was part of the garden, he could cover it up with more sand afterward.
Ah Ow continued digging and suddenly came running to Li Du with something in her mouth. She tried to climb onto his leg.
Li Du glanced down and noticed that Ah Ow had a bracelet in her mouth. The bracelet was decorated with bright and colorful gems; the gems seems dirty due to the long time underground.
It looked like a fake gemstone bracelet, but in case it was actually a real one he released the little bug to examine it.
His guess had been wrong.
When the little big was released, it filled with excitement and immediately flew to the bracelet. It started to suck the time energy from it.
Li Du wanted to summon it back, but he thought for a while and let it be. The bracelet had been found by Ah Ow in the middle of nowhere, so there was nothing wrong with claiming it as his own.
As the little bug continued sucking the time energy, the bracelet became duller and older; it eventually lost its shine and started to have cracks on it, and then it broke into fragments.
After the little bug had finished taking all the time energy from the bracelet, Li Du wanted to take a closer look at it. But the moment he touched the bracelet, it collapsed into dust.
Ah Ow realized that Li Du had great interest in the bracelet, so she went back to the hole she made and continue digging.
Li Du wondered why there had been a treasure buried in the sand. He decided to go take a look at the hole. As Ah Ow continued digging, something was unveiled!


They love gold, and they love silver. Even more so, they love gems that dazzle, like stars across the skies. 
Firearms, jewelleries, and precious metals; A collector’s world will not be complete without antiques.  
Storage auctions, old goods trade, re-estate sales and gold-digging. But the truth is, if one wants to make money, then the supreme way is through searching for the legendary treasures. 
Holding the fort, there’s an ocelot, a wolf, and an Andes condor. At the side, there’s a loyal hound, an irascible ape, and an African honey badger. Who said that you can only rely on humans when treasure hunting?! 

George assured to relay the true accounts of the story when evening comes. He said it is half-baked to share it during daytime due to the newcomers and there's still a lot of things to attend to. 

   A little while, a huge sound echoed from nowhere. It was a warplane mercilessly dropped down dozen-like killer bombs in the area not far from them. It made Magee covered her ears as she suddenly ran back to her place. It was such a desperate shocking reaction of a civilian like Magee. Out of pity George followed her instantly.

   " Hey...are you okay?" He was just standing outside her place and lean his chin on her round timber cubicle entrance door.

  " Why there's a lot of bombs horrendously being dropped today. Its destroying our place, too much. This destruction is really toying our habitat, our lives, everything that we have. What was our sin...we even did nothing over their power." She stoically whispered to him, terrified and deeply breathe while on her bamboo bed.

   Then there's a huge blast again and it's too close to their cave. The tremor eventually shook the gallactites ceiling and rocks beside the waterfalls. 
    George bowed down his head and so confused on how to comfort her from shedding tears. The new recruits and the rest of the soldiers we're just very still, waiting for the next attack.

   " Magee, everything will be alright when this war is over." George tried to talk to her despite her silence. 
   She looked at him and sighed.
. 
   After an hour, the deafening sound of warplane was gone and she signaled him to return to the new recruits on the table and reassured him that she's fine.
  Lunchtime came and Magee did not join with them. It was Albrecht who gave her three pieces of sweet potatoes and had it wrapped with green banana leaf. Unlike George, he entered straight and seated beside her without removing his apron. Since Magee was smooching her face on her knees while wrapping her tiny hands on her feet, Albrecht disturbed her so she can have her lunch.

   " Here, eat this. I've got some water for you too."
   George was just outside her place, looking at Albrecht trying to help. A little while, George signaled Albrecht to back off and give her a space. 
   In the kitchen, Albrecht was busy segregating and arranging the newly arrived stuffs while George was sitting down so silently. Albrecht got tired of waiting for him to talk yet George was staring to nothingness. 

   " Hi. Is there anything that I can help for you?" Albrecht asked and seated beside him.
  " Hmm, what if, I'll persuade her this early on the storytelling about Kabang that I promised to relay to her tonight." George glanced to Albrecht.
   " You're too softhearted on her. But I guess, it's also helping if you tell her what you know about Kabang, as well as Captain."
  " Hmm, not about Captain, we don't have any right to reveal anything yet. Besides, he's coming back for her. I'm just interested to entertain her about the controversial cave of Kabang. Who knows, she might take a bite of your sweet potatoes." 
   " Hopefully. Go then, don't worry about the men around, I can manage them." 

   He stood up right away and took a bath first before proceeding to see her. Still reluctant if she'd let him in, so he preferred to stay inside her  place, just beside the door which was approximately half a matter distance from her. He then placed a small bamboo chair he brought and smiled at her before looking at his watch. Its 1700 hrs and he felt she'd calmly get back on her bed too after taking a bath and sip the 'salabat' that Albrecht offered her.

  " Magee, how are you?"
  " Here, I'm trying to understand things. But what brings you back?" Magee smiled and asked.

  " The story I promised you. I guess it's nice to start this early."
   Her eyes rumbled in glee as she was still combing her hair and sat properly on her bamboo bed. She smiled like there'd be no tomorrow.
   " Wow...I'm so excited. Here, I'm ready to listen now." 
   " Whew! I'm a soldier Lord, don't know seeing myself sitting down here for a storytelling. But if this is helping I'm leaving to you my men for a while." He smilingly thought.
   " Yes, I'm listening now." She pressed her hands after putting down the comb. 
   " In 1917, Captain was assigned not for war but some local but official mission here in the Philippines and still, for some military purposes. His badge had gone through as far as his travel could go. So he reached Tikaban in 1917. Since Philippines is under the American occupation even until now there's always a joint force between the Filipino-American militia. But anyway, the Captain had found a great friend in Tikaban, and that's Sr. "Sibal" Siballio, a much respected personality in Tikaban. He was an educated man sprang from a well-known Filipino-American descent that turned out as native of this province and secretly writes several books. His hospitably welcome the Captain to his own house. While that time, Albrecht's father, a German Jewish refugee from Europe considered Tikaban as his hiding place and with her was his young Filipina wife, Albrecht's mother and two sons. Grandpa Sibal welcomed the five strangers in their house till there was an announcement of the global public health crisis on Spanish flu, otherwise known as "trancazo." According to history, this pandemic was worst among others because of its three-wave outbreak against Filipino people.  The first wave was sometime in May of 1918, seconded after the sixth month. Then the third wave followed on the third succeeding month. That time almost everyone in Katabata province, a neighboring province of Dabaw, Katabata was badly hit and the place was almost a ghost town, yes, almost 90-95 percent were ill. I don't know but, that same year, two countries had been in chaos if which of them was the exact spot where the flu originated. But let's go back to Albrecht's father's story.  Everything was a little better not until Albrecht's father went to Manila on March, 1918 to send a letter to some relatives who stowed away in Spain. He personally handed the letter to his Spanish friend who worked in a ship that was scheduled bound to Spain and stayed a night or two in the ship and when he was about to return here in Tikaban, he was charged of some kind of flu by the authorities that later found out that he has acquired the deadly Spanish flu. Due to some contacts of the Captain in Manila he immediately found out that Albrecht's father could not return anymore in Tikaban and that the American authorities started to include everyone in the family should be quarantined. Their family was identified as the carrier of the deadly Spanish flu in the Philippines. Due to that rumor, the Captain as convinced by a bachelor granpa Sibal who then both decided on not to wait for the authorities to locate the wife and children but to hide the family in a safe haven in Kabang. Lolo Sibal packed a lot of beans, nuts, root crops, sacks of salts, sugar and many more. He brought books and in short he brought almost everything in the cave that no one in the locals knew. The Captain also had no way out but to hide and quarantine himself since he had a travel history and similar house with the infected person.  Although, the Captain and Lolo Sibal knew that he may have acquired it when he went back to Manila. Some of the Captain's closest contacts also said that there was a rumor that there were a few angry Filipinos in Manila who would like to kill the family of the  infected German Spanish flu carrier. Though it was just a rumor spreading but the Captain had made a decision that later lost temporarily his career. 

     No one from the Tikaban locals knew that Sr. Sibal, the Captain, Albrecht's mother, Albrecht and Baldur secretly hide in the cave for twenty long years.

   " Wow...and then?" Magee got down from her bamboo bed and took right away the folded 'binandahan" empty sack, put it on the ground, comfortably sat on it and fronting George who was exhaustingly sitting down on a bamboo chair. At least he was moving his neck towards another direction, otherwise it's a grave stiff neck.

   " Do you really love to hear this story? It's so heartbreaking. I still have time to retract." George bowed down his head and smiled.

   " No, no, no....I'm here, I can listen. Hey, hey, Albrecht, good that you're here. Come, sit down here, c'mmon."

   Then Albrecht immediately moved inside and sat beside her.

   "Whew! this is so heartbreaking in my part. Facing you both is painful.

There was an embezzlement in the air for Magee.

 Can't even imagine how my sister cried when I told this story to her. Hmm...but this moment is more...I don't know."  George started to be teary eyed.

   " Why?" Magee asked her curiously.

   " Shh...Albrecht lightly slapped her hand. Just wait for his turn to speak. Keep silent."

   " You have just slapped me! George, Albrecht slapped me, did you see it?"

   " I can even slap you again and again. Quiet!" 

   " Shh...calm down. Enough. I will not continue if you're both noisy." George smiled at them.

Reluctant of her roots, a 20 year old Magee and a Captain's daughter - was sent by Lolo Sibal to UST in 1938 to study Philosophy. Way back then, Lolo Sibal was a survivor of the 1918-1920 Spanish flu plague who was accidentally trapped , along with the Captain for twenty years in the legendary cave of Kabang. Interestingly, the Captain left to him the wealth for Magee's education and returned to the United States. In September, 1941 Magee has heard from a UP friend that the Japanese are coming in December of the same year so she returned home empty-handed and stayed with her family. Without them knowing, her father, the Captain who survived has returned to the Philippines for another military mission on the same month of September, 1941 and assigned the 25 year old 1Lt. George of the infantry and the in-charge of the platoons in combat to take care of his daughter in whatever means. One day, during the early weeks of the Japanese occupation, one of its officials named Hakanori proposed to Magee through her mother and agreed for the wedding. Magee was against to it despite her multiple attempts to escape. Accidentally, the night before her wedding, she fell into the abyss nearby their house and found herself the next day that she was with the Filipino guerillas together with the American and German soldiers. She noticed the Captain personally but only in a short encounter and there - he was gone. In the fight for freedom under the Japanese occupation, 1Lt. George used a different tactic and studied very well the terrains and natural habitat of the place. He led the disarming of any Japanese patrolling and collected all their weapons and uniforms, worn by Filipino Guerillas in disguising. He also applied sharpened bagacays in holes, pulleys, and ropes in all sorts, throwing rocks, powdered some poisonous plants and made antidotes, used herbs and root crops for their survival and even dug some exit points and tunnels all over just to reach the cave of Kabang. Alongside with Magee at war where he only started as his guardian through the Captain's request had smoothly twisted and subtly turned out that he became madly in love with her. One day...

Rune's Prose & Poetries

LUCID DREAMS

my wandering crazy mind is just doodling in the sands...

it's just me ...this is a collection of my amateurish writings of poetry, short stories, and prose...

These are all short stories compilation a different story per chapter.

WARNING: Adult contents, please be advised that you're reading EROTICA


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
RuneMcGrey
Copyright©2014-present

All writings remains MEG Cabingan a.k.a. RuNe also known as runemcgrey's property.
Don't use it for any other purposes without her permission.

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