Daniel looked at Sophia with his big cyan eyes and asked "can I have the books? please"
Sophia smiled and said "go to to your left, the red bookshelf, take out the books I tell you in the order I tell you"
Daniel nodded happily and went almost running to the bookshelf
Sophia started the list "lotus encyclopedia, 100 ways to cook radishes, how to tend to spiritual plant's volume 5, gardening for dummies, . . ."
Sophia's list went on and on, till Daniel took out 40 books, suddenly the bookshelf flew up on its own and behind it, a formation was glowing, the books he removed started flying and arranging themselves back even if the bookshelf was no longer there,
when they finished Sophia said " give them a tap in reverse order"
and Daniel did, as he finished a gunmetal gray 12-inch slim rectangle with a black glass panel in front appeared from behind the formation, then the books went back in the bookshelf, that then went back to its place
any of us seeing it would realize it was a tablet, but for Daniel, it was the first time seeing something like this
Sophia said "that's one of the backups of my library, most of the vault library books are also included, every book I ever had on technology it's saved on it, don't let anyone outside the family know you have it, the password it's the firefly flies in the burning sky, say it while you keep your free hand on it, or your bracer will be destroyed"
daniel had the hexagon on his left arm, so after putting the right hand on the screen he said "the firefly flies in the burning sky" suddenly the tablet turned into a slick bracelet, and a logo on top, of a rose, flashed white
Sophia said "now it's yours, when you want to use it, tap the rose twice and it will turn back into a tablet, if you don't use it for a while it will come back on its own"
Daniel said "vault library? and shouldn't a tablet have engravings on it"
Sophia said "the family vault it's bigger than you imagine, after all, we have a long history and a very long life to accumulate stuff, anyway this tablet it's a piece of technology a friend had custom made for me"
Daniel's attention was immediately captured and exclaimed "did you say technology?" he had his doubts since the nanites wanted to enter it, but he couldn't be sure, this tablet was much more advanced than the bracer, Daniel could tell with a look by the way it changed shape, the bracer rearranged itself but the dimension and weight didn't change, the tablet instead went from heavy and bulky to thin and light in a flash, the two weren't comparable
Sophia nodded and said "yes, sadly my friend wasn't a talented cultivator so she died of old age many years ago, but she was a brilliant hacker, her name was steel rose, like the flower engraved in the bracelet, she wrote some books about it, you can find them in the tablet"
Daniel said "thanks grandma, this is the best gift I received since the fun ball"
Sophia said "I'm glad you liked it, but you must learn to walk before you learn how to run, don't lose yourself in the books"
Daniel nodded and said "sure, no problem"
Sophia saw that he was eager to look at the tablet, and said "well go now, grandma needs to rest for now"
Daniel said "ok, bye grandma" before running outside, to the lakeshore
Daniel finally had some books about real science, but he was also very tired, as he laid down on the deckchair he drifted to sleep accompanied by the sun nurturing sutra chants
at this point Phoebe came out and saw him sleeping, she also noticed the new bracelet he was wearing "he conquered, teacher too, I hope she contained herself and didn't talk too much" she thought while looking at the bracelet
Daniel once again slept till lunchtime, but instead of the usual plate, the food today came in a box with drawings on it, Daniel looked at the box and then at Joseph who gave it to him
Joseph said smiling "it's a cheeseburger, meat patty, cheese, tomato, salad, and sauce in a bun, with fries on the side it's good, try it"
Daniel opened the box, but the burger was too big for his hands, so he clumsily took the burger, because of his little grip lost some pieces, as he tried to bit into it, barely successful he found out that the taste was indeed good, but it was too messy, and as he struggled to eat it, he asked "why is it in a box instead of a plate?"
Joseph said "because it's takeout, I brought it home on my way back"
Daniel asked "takeout?"
Joseph said "I went to buy it, in a fast food restaurant"
Daniel nodded and said "I understand, I still haven't had an economy lesson, but I guess, it's called fast food and takeout, because people can go there and buy boxed food in a short time"
Joseph asked "what do you think about it?"
Daniel said "it's a good idea, after all when people are busy, they probably don't want to waste time cooking"
Joseph said "I meant the taste"
Daniel said "the taste is good enough, but the size it's problematic for me, makes it messy"
Joseph laughed and said "that's the fun part of eating a burger"
but Daniel didn't find it fun to get dirty, although something good came out, he discovered the fries, and enjoyed them more than the cheeseburger, but afterward, he felt the need to bathe, since he had sauce all over his face, shirt, and hands
as he was inside the warm water, all Daniel could think of was the tablet, and as soon as he finished, he ran back to the deckchair and tapped twice on the bracelet
after the bracelet transformed back into a tablet, the screen lit up and the rose logo appeared and disappeared, to leave space for a list of categories, this tablet was made, with the only purpose of having a copy of Sophia's collection, daniel saw a search bar and curiously searched rose
many books with rose in the title appeared, and a few authors, but only one author had the same rose as the bracelet, as a profile picture
as Daniel clicked on that author a list of books appeared
passing through firewalls like a knife through butter
how I hacked my way into the teddorian empire queen private pictures
the great hack war of the Seterian federation
how to hack cultivators systems
the list went on with 10 more titles, rose was apparently a very prolific hacker and author, sadly he didn't understand a word since he lacked the basics, so he used the search option and typed basic knowledge, and a lot of titles appeared and some were exactly what he was looking for
basic knowledge of chemistry
basic knowledge of physics
basic knowledge of mathematics
all of them were published by the committee for the proliferation of science
finally, Daniel found a basic knowledge of computer science and started reading
[Computer science is the study of algorithmic processes, computational machines, and computation itself]
a lot of pieces of information were continuously absorbed as he read, the floodgates were open, but this wasn't just helping Daniel, the nanites were also improving, and before he could realize it, Phoebe came looking for him
Phoebe said "Daniel, can you hear me, I said dinner is ready"
Daniel stood up and said "what? it's already time for dinner?" he looked around and the sun was already setting, so he followed her inside
Phoebe said "you lost yourself in teacher collection"
Daniel asked "teacher?"
Phoebe said "yes your Grandma Sophia, taught me how to cultivate, so she's is my teacher"
Daniel said "I thought she was your mother in law" as they entered the kitchen
Vincent was still away, to rescue Sophia, so only Joseph and Phoebe were present
while entering they heard Joseph say "it's perfect now" and with a flip tree steaks were plated next to mashed potatoes
they didn't want Daniel to eat alone, so since he became big enough to eat at the table, at least one of them always accompanied him
Phoebe said "what were you reading that got you so distracted" she was a little jealous because Sophia never gave her a tablet, and even when they thought she was dead, they could never enter her private library in the vault
Daniel said happily "basic knowledge about sciences, did you know that grandma's friend wrote 14 books, but I couldn't understand them because they were too advanced, that's when I found the basic books that I'm reading now"
Joseph said "we are happy for you" while Phoebe smiled and nodded
after dinner, Daniel should have completed the tutorial, but the new books were much more interesting and he said "tomorrow" before going back to read
for the second time, Daniel found himself wishing for a faster learning system because he could read faster than the chapters of the books could scroll down
once again Daniel lost all sense of self and found himself being called for breakfast, as he went down many things were going past his mind, but most of all he wanted a laboratory, where he could apply all this new knowledge, of course, he didn't know enough yet, but it was better to prepare for the future
while sitting at the table he asked "mom, dad is there an empty room I could use?"
Phoebe asked "why do you need another room?"
Daniel said "I wanted to apply some of the things I read in the books, but I can't do it in my bedroom, nor can I do it outside"
the two looked at each other, they didn't dare move even one of Vincent's display cases, so they did the only thing they could do, call and ask permission
Phoebe said "your grandpa's display cases are everywhere, I think we need to ask him, wait a moment I'll try calling him"
Daniel asked "he is far away, how can you call him?" he knew his own personal device couldn't reach out of the solar system
Phoebe said "our devices are different, after all, I'm an admiral, and I need to be able to communicate long-distance"
half a minute later a little holographic Vincent, appeared in the middle of the table
daniel said "good morning grandpa"
than Phoebe explained Daniel's request and after a good laugh Vincent said "at this point, you should have realized, that he doesn't need that much supervision, just convert the ballroom, since we never used it, that should be big enough, you can move the display cases in the basement, I'll take care of them when I'm back, also make him a credit card if he wants something he can order it" said Vincent
Joseph and Phoebe were shocked by Vincent's words and all they could say was "but he's not even four"
Vincent laughed again and watching Daniel said "isn't he?" the meaning was clear enough e may biologically be 3 and a half years old but how old was he mentally, at this point, it was better to anticipate his needs, than to have him ask for it tomorrow when he needed things for his new room
Phoebe said "ok, we'll do it"
Daniel said "thanks grandpa, I'll help too"