Zalan has never been able to gain access to the higher tier Vis control manuals. They were seal off after the testing ceremony. Back on Earth, the testing ceremony was a way of finding out potential powerhouses and discarding those with no talents or had potentials only up to tier 1, like Zalan. Since the testing ceremony happens when a child is ten years old, Zalan could only sneak peaks at lower tier manuals or learn from other people through out his teenage life.
As bleak as it sounds, he managed to achieve a tier 3 rank from being lucky and discovering a body restructuring manual. It showed him pain like nothing he has experienced. Being abandoned by your family, whipped for incompetence, tortured for being framed for a crime he didn't commit. All walks in the park compared to the pain from the body restructuring manual.
Now Zalan was in a room surrounded by an assortment of different books that he could utilize as he please when he gets older and hopefully not have to resort to the body restructuring manual. How could he be not be excited?
His dream to have the power to do anything in his life is one step closer to being a reality. Starting with the small arsenal at his disposal along with a tier 3 teacher, he was already off to a good start.
'I can easily reach tier three or higher, and maybe even help out the humans in the war against the Chasm-Borns' Zalan thought as he gazed around with wide eyes.
As if reading Zalan's mind, Amanda raise her hand and pointed towards the books on the shelf. "Zalan soon you will be able to learn all those and become powerful enough to protect mommy".
She said with a grin on her face and lightly tapping his nose.
Perched in Amanda's arms, the thought excited him to the point where he forgot he was an infant as he tried to reach towards the manuals wanting to take a glimpse of what they contained.
"Not yet Zalan. Those aren't for you just yet. Be patient and the time will come for you to learn them".
She led him to one of the chairs in the middle and set Zalan down.
'These chairs are quite comfy.'
'But I don't care about the stupid stories, I want to look at the manuals!'
Unfortunately and contrary to his expectations, Amanda came back with a book in her hand. The title : "Mr. Bird".
'Great'
Fighting the urge to roll his eye, Zalan thought before wanting to doze off again.
As Amanda began reading, Zalan wondered if he should tell Amanda that he already knew how to walk and speak fluently. Normal babies begin both at around the 12 month mark. If Zalan suddenly showed Amanda that he could already do both at 6 months, he feared that he could be discovered and sent to program for special kids that the Association offered for geniuses. On the surface it looked like a special program to give children who come from lower backgrounds an opportunity to compete with ones from upper class backgrounds, but in reality they turn them into slaves for the association as secret weapons to fight against the Chasm-Borns. Zalan figured it would be the same as the ones on Earth where the Awakened Union did the same thing. Not wanting to suffer the same fate, he feared his mother would enroll him if he showed her he could talk.
But now, after discovering the library they had underneath the house, he was confident he could convince her to let him stay here and learn with Alex. Plus the book she was reading didn't make it any easier to overrule telling her he knew how to speak.
"Mr. Bird flew high up into the sky. Mr. bird looked around for seeds. Mr. bird flew around visiting other birds.
Mr. bird has nice fluffy wings. Mr. bird...."
With each new page, Amanda was showing even more vigour as she announced the amazing life and journey of Mr. bird.
'It was honestly unbelievable how someone could show this much enthusiasm reading this shit.'
After the journey of Mr. Bird has started to piss him off, Zalan turned his head and sat there staring at the flames in the fireplace before deciding that he would reveal to Amanda that he knew how to speak. And so he did. Turning his head back, he spoke in a moderately loud voice.
"F*ck Mr. Bird."
Zalan said as his eyes shown brightly at Amanda.
Amanda abruptly stopped reading her book and snapped her head towards Zalan. Her hand was shaking as her eyes widened in disbelief. It was as someone had shocked her and pressed the pause button. A moment later she started muttering.
"D—-did you just speak…?"
"W—what did you just say…?"
"Fluffy bird!"
Zalan responded with a smile whilst staring down Amanda. By now, she had stood up and pointed her shaking finger at Zalan who was sitting there nonchalantly on the chair as if nothing happened. Despite the many different questions racing through her head at the moment, her first instinct was to rush upstairs to tell Alex. And that was exactly what she did.
"AAALLLEXXXX!"
Zalan heard her shout as he saw her back disappear into the doorway and heard the clattering of someone scurrying up the stairs.
Zalan couldn't contain his laughter as the image of Amanda's shocked face came back into his mind. From the over arching eyebrows to small bit of saliva coming out the side of her mouth. Priceless. Zalan always had a strong mind and a humours side to him. He discovered that no amount of pain could kill this side of him. It became his coping mechanism. Part of it also came from him having no real connections with people and not really fearing death. But Amanda had changed all that. Although he knew it was just how mothers treated their child, his heart couldn't help but be touched Amanda's love.
'Just wait until she sees me standing'.
The thought of it sent Zalan into another fit of chuckles.
"That should be enough to show her I'm something." Zalan managed to squeeze in between wheezes.