The building wasn't all special appearance wise, if anything it was somewhat menacing it was, like the other buildings, taller than the average skyscraper in the 21st century and has this metallic grey colour though one could clearly tell it was made of glass. They wished farewell to Rando and his parents while making sure to exchange numbers and keep in touch.
*whistle*
Connor was fascinated by the interior that seemed to really really enjoy incorporating the colour yellow into evey other part of the building and opposing colours to take it in easy kn the eyes. He simply followed behind his aunt and lead him to the lift that through the power of magic b.s didn't create any opposing forces when heading upwards and a minute later was on the 53rd floor of the 70 floor building.
Using a key card that Faye got from the receptionist at the front after a little chat with them. Connor didn't give them too much mind since they had a lackluster appearance.
His room number was room [532] written on a dark brown wooden plaque.
The room was mostly empty it had a bathroom, a kitchen area that was directly connected to an empty are he assumed should be a dining area and 2 empty rooms to be recreated according to the person living there.
"Connor, listen I want you to know I'm proud that you passed the RCA exam, but you should know that the world is much bigger than you've been living in since you've isolated yourself from people from the time you began living with me."
Faye spoke up once they settled down a bit and set up a couple of futons for temporary rest that they carried in a special backpack with around 5 cubic meters of space along with other essentials. Faye intended to have a long-winded conversation about how he's growing up and how changes will occur(not the body types).
So that's exactly what she did, this was one of the few times his aunt would act as his guardian; Connor half-listened in boredom but also he was aware enough to understand that his lifestyle would change henceforth. Though before contemplating any longer about his future he fell asleep thinking if he'd have that strange dream again.
A buzz rang in his head and he found himself in the same dreamscape he had before. The pink surroundings and white tiles took form in his eyes again.
"Hey! Welcome back it's been so long, so how have you been~?" (Voice)
"We literally talked like half an hour ago, and to answer your question sleepy."
The voice hummed in approval from wherever they were.
"So mind telling me why I'm here and what do you want?"
"Why do you assume I want something?"
"Is it not obvious? Cause you suddenly appear claiming to be the concept I've had since god knows when, you offer to train me and blatantly keep this vague for your own amusement, am I not right to be suspicious of you?"
The voice remained silent for a few seconds.
"Wow... your pretty straight forward huh? and here I thought from watching you, that you enjoyed pulling strings indirectly."
Connor didn't respond and waited for the voice to explain itself while he crossed his arms and sat on the floor.
"Ugh~ fine seems you won't be willing to stay from this topic. K then I'll tell you what I can, so I'm your concept you get that, but the basic concept of a concept is that us concepts were once real people chosen by the world to recreate our legacies."
"You're talking like this on purpose aren't you?"
"What could you possibly mean?"
Connor could almost the figure putting their hand on their chin as if actually curious, he got a tiny bit annoyed but his small constant smile never faded as he listened to this revelation.
"Do people know about this? About the fact that these 'concepts ' were once people"
"Well I know as much as you do about the current generation of the world so pretty much nada. Tough to give you something more thorough the people who first get the concept and the people they share this information with should know."
Connor absorbed the information and thought that the concept families should be aware of this then, maybe he'll read up then he is free for the week before school after all and his memory is pretty strong from studying the subjects he learned in the education capsules.
"Ok then anything else I should know how does someone train a concept? What effect does it have? What if I choose not to train it?"
Connor asked all the questions he believed were necessary for the moment.
"To answer all your questions in that order well to train your concept there are a variety of mental exercises that use mana, superpowers or just your physical capabilities I can give you a greater run down when I train you and you choose your method. The effects are varied for the concept bit overall I guess it could be said to be more powerful, the downsides are for you to figure out."
Connor found all of this pretty interesting since he felt even with the amazing abilities he has that it felt a bit limited. Though somewhere deep inside he felt like not taking this opportunity for more power and he didn't question as he took it as his own nature.
"Finally for your last question... I'm not giving you a choice you think I don't know why you'd choose not to take my teachings, I've watched you for years Connor I know why you're holding yourself back."
There was a chill in the air the pinkish horizon turned a murky dark blue as if turning to ice. The concept continued.
"Listen Connor I may not be able to kill you Connor but I can let you experience more pain than you thought possible."
Connor curled up on the endless floor with frosty mist exhaled with every breath. His throat felt clogged unable to speak he stuttered using what few breaths he could muster.
"A-a-alright I get it y-y-y-you're n-not give me a choice."
The blue vanished and the pink returned Connor on all fours coughed up nothing all the pain and soreness in his throat vanished leaving only a phantom pain in its wake.
"Good! Glad we could come to an understanding~ since it'll be annoying to talk to you every time you go to sleep, I'm going to give you a system like those old-fashioned novels back in the days before the calamities. Ha~ those were the good days."
Connor got a slight grip on his bearings, enough to ask,
"What do you mean by a system?"
"Oh that's right, you wouldn't know well I guess I can give you a bit of a rundown. You've... played games before right?"
"Uh-huh I may be out of touch with the world and its ongoings but I needed other hobbies apart from observing my bullies and performing pity scams to get some cash."
"Alright cool then I'll give you quests and instructions, you're free to negotiate for the rewards I'll give you and about the direction of the quests, there'll also be certain punishments for not doing the quests in the given time period?"
"Ughhh alright what sort of rewards can I expect to get?"
"Hmm... I can give you stuff like enlightenment in mana usage and levels, also training in stuff like martial arts, your superpower, and methods for using your concept. Oh! I could also gift you your lost memories..."
"there's also some stuff I need to negotiate with the world."
The voice whispered the last part under their breath, however, Connor didn't pay attention to it, his mind was ringing with the fact that he could restore his memories from before 8 years of age. Though on the surface, he always displayed an aloof feeling towards his past however he was also aware of his budding curiosity to know about himself, his family, his concept, and missed caring for actually living rather than the minor amusement he gained from observing, pranking and on occasion manipulating.
He wanted more, he wanted to know everything, a flame began burning the mana boiling in his head, the excitement he had long lost from surviving all alone when he was 8 sparked now. He asked the concept, that gave him this, the opportunity to do something with his life and had remained silent while Connor was thinking,
"What should I call you from now on? Concept? System? Do you have a name?"
"Well... I do have a name but you are not qualified enough to hear it yet. Though that whisper you hear when you use our abilities just call me that."
"You mean... mask?"