Daniel started walking around the bookshelves at the center and came to the conclusion that the sound came from the space between them, but the bookshelves were back to back, and he wasn't strong enough to move them, so he called out "mom, dad, grandpa come here"
immediately all three of them appeared at the door and Phoebe said "it's late what are you doing here?"
Daniel responded "I need your help with something, can you move this bookshelf?"
Vincent looked at his grandson and said "this room wasn't touched since your grandma passed away, why do you want to move it?"
Daniel said "there's something between the bookshelves, that it's making a strange noise can't you hear it"
the trio went silent but couldn't hear anything and Vincent said "I can't hear anything, let's make a deal I move the bookshelf, but after checking you go to sleep, ok?"
Daniel readily nodded and replied "ok"
Vincent moved the bookshelf very gently, he was worried about damaging it, if it was anyone else he wouldn't have even considered moving it, but it was one of Daniel's rare requests and of course, he immediately became accommodating for him
to the trio's surprise a pendant hung in mid-air in the space between the bookshelves that looked like a drop of water, the strangest thing was that it looked totally normal, but at the same time even if they could see it they couldn't even register its existence, it was like the pendant was made of nothing
but they saw Daniel walk to it, then say "hello, who are you?"
at an unknown distance, a scrawny woman was lying on her back in a cage made of ice, suddenly for the first time in the many thousands of years she had been trapped, her call received a response, a kid with black hair and deep cyan eyes was reflected in the drop-shaped pendant and his voice said "hello, who are you?"
the woman seemed to be on her last leg, but her voice still carried an undeniable authority as she replied "kiddo, as no one taught you that before you ask for somebody's name, you should introduce yourself"
Daniel nodded and said "I'm Daniel Specter, now can you tell me who you are?"
the woman was shocked her voice trembled as she asked "you said Specter? are you Joseph's and Phoebe's son?"
Daniel looked at the woman surprised and asked "do you know mom and dad?"
the woman laughed and said "I do, I do, tell me how old are you?"
and Daniel responded "I'm three and a half years old"
the trio was at a loss, they were watching daniel, and from their point of view he was talking to himself, they were about to ask him what was going on, but then they heard what he said and froze
the woman was wiping a single tear she could no longer hold back and said "nice to meet you, Daniel, I'm Sophia"
Daniel said "that's the same name as my grandma"
Sophia replied "I am your grandma kiddo"
Daniel replied "impossible, grandpa said that grandma died, while fighting in a war"
Sophia sighed deeply and said "I'm not surprised, my blood-bound treasure broke in the fight, and I don't have an ounce of elemental or spiritual energy left, I'm using this pendant every day trying to call, but it only works with soul energy, and those three idiots never bothered to expand their knowledge"
in the meantime the trio was completely frozen, they didn't even dare to breathe, and just kept gawking at Daniel and the pendant
Sophia looked at daniel and said "make me a favor kiddo, repeat after me"
Daniel said "ok" and then said out to the trio "stupid old man, call Andrea over and ask her to triangulate my position, I expect to be saved as soon as possible, and don't let the kids come, they have to take care of daniel till I return"
the trio sprung up, Joseph and Phoebe had wetness in their eyes, while vincent immediately took out his book-shaped personal device and called Andrea over
Daniel said "he called her"
at that exact moment Andrea appeared and said "I'm here" then exclaimed surprised "Sophia, you are alive, what is this pendant?, no more important wait till I triangulate your position" a couple of runes appeared in Andrea's hand, and surrounded the pendant, after a couple of minutes she said "ok this are the coordinates, but she's moving, or better whatever she's in it's moving, go I'll keep order while you are gone"
Vincent said "tell her I'm coming" before disappearing in a flash of purple light
vincent reappeared just outside the solar system, a giant astral whale with a dark gray body and neon orange fins was sleeping there, he went close to it and said "Maya, I need your help, Sophia it's alive"
Maya said "master it's alive" with her excited and sweet kid-like voice, and continued "where? where?"
Vincent said "this are the coordinates, let's go" entering in from where the blowhole would be situated, inside instead of organs and blood, there was a well-illuminated corridor, with many rooms on the sides, and at the end of it a big oval room, with what looked like screens, that permits the guests to look outside, using the astral whale senses
as soon as she received the coordinates Maya issued a warning "ok, jump ready, sit tight, entering hyperspace in 3, 2, 1 go"
while issuing the warning, the orange neon glow of her fins started to spread to Maya's entire body, and as soon as she was completely covered, a black slash with orange borders appeared in front of her, and the completely glowing Maya disappeared inside with Vincent as a passenger then the slash closed soon after
in the meantime back at home Andrea said "well my work here it's done, I would like to talk but have to go back bye Sophia, bye Daniel" before disappearing as silently as she arrived
Sophia said "so Daniel, while I wait, tell me about yourself" Daniel started talking about school, about the trio, and aunt Andrea, and also about the game, when they finished talking it was already 7 am, and phoebe was calling Daniel to go get breakfast, Daniel wanted to bring the pendant with him but as he went to grab it, his hand went through it like an illusion
Sophia said "don't worry kiddo I'll be here, the pendant connects two places through soul energy so the receiver it's fake, the place I had the strongest connection to it's the library, so it connected there, go have breakfast and sleep a little we can talk later"
Daniel went to have breakfast, then a wave of tiredness hit him, he walked to the deckchair by the lake, and soon later fell asleep under the sun
both Joseph and Phoebe had a million questions to ask Sophia, but it wouldn't be convenient to use Daniel as a messenger since there were certain things they didn't want to expose him too yet
joseph lost in his thoughts walked out and saw Daniel cutely sleeping on the deckchair, suddenly he felt the need to take a picture and send it, to the close friends and family chat group
(Joseph) thousand tunes sage: sleepy Daniel.jpg
(Obelix) I'm sharpening my battleaxe: "so cute, I see he's still holding that thing"
(Joseph) thousand tunes sage: "yes senior Obelix, 24/7, he really likes it, but for some reason doesn't like the name nanites"
(Andrea) sunny and goldy: "I see my cute nephew is cultivating diligently, good"
(Joseph) thousand tunes sage: "what? senior Andrea he is asleep, I have no doubt about it"
(Andrea) sunny and goldy: "I clearly feel he his absorbing soul energy from here, honestly any soul cultivator would feel it just by being at the peak of the mountain, I'm surprised you can't being so close"
(White) bag of bones: "maybe it's because he's in the eye of the storm that he can't feel it, go outside the portal and you should, good morning senior Andrea, brother Obelix, little joseph"
(Joseph) thousand tunes sage: "good morning uncle white, I'll try now"
(Phoebe) angry wild berry: "I'm coming too"
the two of them walked out the portal, and indeed, a barely noticeable energy, similar to the one they felt during Daniel's breakthrough, was making his way to the portal
(Joseph) thousand tunes sage: "I feel it, but why couldn't I feel anything from the pendant if it uses soul energy"
(Andrea) sunny and goldy: "I'm surprised Daniel could with just a green soul, that pendant isn't an average treasure, my best guess is that it was created for spies, I could feel it only while in the same room with it, and only because it was activated"
(Obelix) I'm sharpening my battleaxe: "what is this about?"
(Phoebe) angry wild berry: "right we have an announcement, it went down like this . . ."
(Obelix) I'm sharpening my battleaxe: "rude sister is alive, we have to celebrate, when are they coming back?"
(Andrea) sunny and goldy: "no idea, her prison is moving, even with the coordinates it may take a while"
(White) bag of bones: "good, finally some good news, but how did she survive all this time, her life stone was broken, we were all sure the empress killed her"
(Joseph) thousand tunes sage: "we'll know more when mother comes back"
Daniel slept all morning and woke up in time to have lunch, afterwards, he went up to his room and entered the virtual academy, but just as he was about to start the lesson a notification popped up
new update, increased number of simultaneous lessons from 10 to 20
Daniel happily exclaimed "they implemented it! there must be many people like me that felt school was too slow" afterward he closed the notification started the lesson, and almost instantly he added 2 more lessons and slowed the speed a bit reaching the perfect equilibrium for now
in the meantime the crazy bear man looked at the data and saw the student add 2 lessons and slow down the speed "he isn't reckless and seems to have it figured out, not bad, let's keep monitoring"
for Daniel going to school was torture, 90% of the curriculum was cultivator knowledge he was sure he would never need, but some of those magical subjects were becoming interesting even for him, for example, the lessons regarding spiritual beasts, astronomy, history this were the few he would follow with attention, for the rest between his and the nanites abilities, they would be memorized instantly as they were taught, and not a second thought would be spared for them
when it was time for dinner school time finished and after dinner daniel went to the library and said "hey grandma I'm here" while walking to the pendant
Sophia said "hey kiddo, how was your day?"
Daniel replied "good I slept all morning and woke up for lunch, then went to school, and finally, they added more simultaneous lessons, so hopefully, the school will finish faster"
Sophia looked at her nephew and said "why do you want to finish school faster? is it that bad"
Daniel responded "the first reason is that most of the curriculum is boring, and the second it's because grandpa said he would give me the pieces of technology that are abandoned in the family vault, and also tell me a secret"
Sophia's eyebrow started to twitch, and she said "he did that, didn't he" in an ominous tone
Daniel asked "has grandpa done something wrong?"
Sophia smiled and said "don't worry about it, I'll talk to him when he arrives here, you go play"
Daniel said "ok, later grandma" then he went to his room and entered S.L.B