Erie couldn't help but wonder why Gene was so friendly to him. It wasn't a bad thing—just unusual. Erie was not used to people being nice out of politeness, but Gene seemed genuinely at ease around him.
"Hey! Don't worry about him! He'll catch up with us!" Gene said, waving dismissively.
Erie glanced at Alex and, for once, saw a look of genuine happiness on his face. It was a rare sight, one that made Erie pause. Maybe this place wasn't so bad after all. Deciding to focus on the moment, he continued walking alongside Gene. And, for some reason… Jake.
The three followed Levi along the building's perimeter as he guided them through the facility. Midway through the tour, Levi approached a vast training field where other students were in drills.
"Wait, what is that?" Erie muttered under his breath. He turned his head toward the field, eyes scanning the crowd. His heart skipped. Jake was there—standing among the students.
Yet when Erie blinked, Jake was walking right beside him.
Erie's breath hitched. "I… I could've sworn I just saw him over there."
The three were taken through multiple testing facilities, battle areas, and technology areas. He explained that eating buildings was a theory as if he were proud of their achievements.
Erie took note of the training areas and the training ground as if she were the most interested in them instead of everything else. But something did catch his attention.
"You guys, look here! The library is our finest foundation yet!" he paused, but he still noticed chatter. "Attention!" Levi yelled. "Good! I got your attention! Here, we give you everything you all need for this academy! You can find your ability and skill books here if you don't have an ability yet!"
Erie was interested in this. He wanted to search the library, believing he would be able to find an ability that could suit his fighting style. He always wanted to know more about his system and hoped that this library carried the information he needed.
Eventually, the tour ended. They ended up in a small gated neighborhood. All the houses lined perfectly in unison and seemed quite large. "And this is where you will be staying!" he announced. When you are settled, feel free to look around! You still have a long day ahead of you! But remember, the curfew is at 8 PM!
Levi's voice rang out across the field. "Your belongings have already been transferred to your new rooms, so you don't have to worry about that!"
Erie glanced down at his watch. His house assignment flashed on the screen: 27GH-B.
Beside him, Jake peered at his watch while Gene stood close, casually leaning in. "Hey, Erie," Gene asked, "what's your room number?"
Erie raised his wrist, letting Gene see the glowing text. "27GH-B."
Gene grinned, lifting his watch. "Well, what do you know? We're in the same house!" His screen displayed 27GH-A. He nudged Erie with his elbow, still smiling. "So, who's in C?"
Before Erie could even process it, Jake's watch flickered—just for a split second, the display distorting unnaturally. Then, without a word, he raised it close to Erie's face.
27GH-C.
Erie instinctively leaned back, eyes narrowing. Something about how Jake moved—how his watch had glitched—sent a chill up his spine.
"Okay, okay, okay! I got it!" Erie said quickly, waving his hands as he tried to create space between them. He nearly stumbled in the process, forcing Gene to stifle a laugh.
Not too far away, Alex stood watching. His gaze lingered on the interaction between Erie, Gene, and Jake. His jaw tightened slightly, but he said nothing.
Finally, he exhaled and muttered, "I want to hang out with you, Erie. But I can't be seen with you until you level up." His fingers curled into fists at his sides. "That's why I switched rooms with Gene… He doesn't seem to care about being around you; one day, you will understand."
*******
After Erie set up his room, he was finally free to explore the building for the rest of the day. The sun was still high, meaning he had the entire day to look around.
He soon realized he would be sharing a house with two others—luckily, they weren't strangers. His housemates were Jake and Gene. Their home had three rooms, a living area, a full kitchen, a laundry room, and a shared common space. This one was much larger—and far more comfortable than his old house.
The setup was minimal inside their rooms: a single desk with a pull-up and dip bar attached. There was no TV or radio, and even stranger signal blockers were installed outside.
"I guess they want us to focus," Erie muttered, noting the complete lack of entertainment.
"I'm done packing!" Erie called out. Gene stepped into the hallway. "So, do you want to do anything around here?"
Still in his room, Jake raised his shirt slightly to show he was still packing, then turned around to finish sorting his things.
Again? Erie frowned. He watched as Jake casually picked up a shirt—but the moment he folded it, it vanished from his hand.
Erie blinked. "Wait… what?"
His mind raced. Had it been a trick? No, it was too seamless. The shirt was there one second, and it simply ceased to exist the next.
"What ability does this guy have?" Erie thought, his stomach tightening.
Gene, oblivious to the tension, glanced over Erie's shoulder. His expression shifted slightly before he spoke.
"Uh… Who are you talking to, Erie?"
Ereie dismissed Gene's question and shook the thought of what he had seen
"I want to check out the library," Erie said
"I see where this is going," Gene announced. "YOU want to find an ability?" Gene asked
"No, there are a few things I want to check out," Erie replied. You do not want to be bothered with that type of stuff.
"Ha! Gene laughed. Look, Erie, I love to read, but at the same time, I don't read."
"What?" Erie looked at Gene and shook his head. He was confused but thought Gene was a goofball who made corny jokes. When they arrived at the library, it was filled with students. Erie quickly noticed that all the students had two ribbons on their arms: moist silver ribbons and a few gold ribbons.
No one noticed them walking in, but Erie and Gene walked around the library, marveling at the statues, shelves, and books. One statue caught Erie's attention. It was a man with silver hair and silver eyes. His hair floated in the air, and he held out his palm like he was about to blast a beast.
What stood out was that each room seemed floating, and a teleporter was needed to enter each room.
Gene's eyes lit up, and he saw a comic session with a picture of Goku. "Welp! Here's my session, bro!" he said excitedly, taking off running.
"I never seen anyone smile that big over a picture, "Error thought. What a Goku?" he said as he stared at Gene, cheesing into a book.
Erie finally looked around the school library. As Levi stated, most books were ability books, but his system would chime in every time he picked up an ability book.
"Wind ability book detected."
"ability book not compatible with the fighter."
"Would you like to learn about ability?"
Another book.
"Air ability ability detected."
"ability book not compatible with the fighter."
"Would you like to learn about it?"
"Seriously, are wind ability and air ability different?
"would you like to learn more about wind ability vs air ability?"
Erie looked again at the words. He didn't have time to worry about what made this ability different, so he said no and kept looking around.
"There has to be something related to the system here! "Erie thought a little. "Maybe I'm looking in the wrong session?" erie picked up another book called "The History of the Sunwarriors."
Erie began to read the book, and the more he read, the more he learned that the sun warriors were banished and exiled from Earth years ago.
"What happened? Why were they banned? The rest of the pages were ripped out of the book. I want to read more about them." At the end of the book, he sees a sun, and next to me, he sees a moon. And in the middle, he soon gets a ring. "What is this?" he thought. As soon as he closed the book, he received an update.
"The history of the sunwarriors has been revealed."
"New quest: learn more about the sunwarrios."
"Quest reward:..."
"Really!" Erie yelled.