Location: Outside the Earth's solar system
Kelly watched through the window as the planets slowly faded away, she turned her head until she focused her vision on Jack, sitting on the opposite side of the table.
Jack held in his right hand a crystalline bottle with a violet-coloured liquid filling only a third of the space, he raised his hand and took a swig.
Upon noticing the expression on Kelly's face he moved the bottle away from his lips and slowly lowered his hand "Is anything wrong?".
"Well..." Kelly gestured pointing her chin towards the cockpit "You're never there."
"Because I don't need to" Jack drank the rest of the liquid in the bottle in one gulp "The route is already traced."
Kelly lowered her gaze slightly with a thoughtful expression.
Jack held up the bottle "Even if I wanted to be there for the whole journey I would only be wasting my time.... Which among you is able to comprehend at a glance what you see through the bottle?
Zeke slowly and silently shook his head.
Brendan surveyed the scene with a bitter feeling "Shall we watch a movie?".
Jack stood up from the couch "I'll pass for the moment."
After saying that, Jack left the room. His new address was the bathroom, after which followed a deep cleansing of every corner of his skin.
The cold water refreshed him, washing away the traces of dirt that covered his body.
After stepping out of the shower he felt his muscles rigid.
He stretched his limbs slightly before drying himself.
Sighing as he looked at the misty mirror, he gently wiped the towel over it.
As his own form revealed itself, he frowned.
He brought his right hand to his abdomen, feeling his skin without noticing anything strange.
｢Something is different｣.
There are no real changes in his body, however, he could feel that something was different... Weird, hard to ignore.
After observing himself in futility for a few minutes he turned away from the mirror.
He wore a generic grey two-piece suit, with no insignia or recognition "Couldn't they even fit a captain's uniform?".
He reluctantly threw his previous garments down the rubbish chute and went to the door.
He soon emerged from the bathroom, heading for his room.
A short, uninterrupted journey, as he passed the door frame his eyes lost their sparkle.
He dropped onto the bed and his consciousness began to fade.
The softness of a real bed covered him completely, his mind was lost in the calm and time disappeared.
At least that was the feeling that filled him in that instant. At some point a certain thorn prickled in his mind.
He pulled the memory card out of his pocket, slowly slid his fingers over the copper line on the front.
A stream of information flooded his mind, the room around him vanished, in its place he was met with a white projection, without borders or boundaries.
The space filled with immaculate white rendered any distance unrecognisable, wherever he looked. Everything is the same.
In the midst of the perfect nothingness Alice's voice manifested itself and reverberated in this space.
✠ Listen carefully, I won't be able to repeat it ✠.
"What the hell!" Jack exclaimed.
✠ You're the one I've chosen to inherit the techniques of my old house and you're probably the only successor ✠.
Jack raised his right eyebrow "Should I be flattered? This feels so one-sided."
Anyway, this projection is very strange.... Hm? I can't get out!｣.
Jack opened his eyelids wide.
His exaltation was followed by silence, he closed his eyes listlessly.
He would have to wait for the end of the screening.
✠ Right now I'm sending all the information to your interface....
I suppose before you make any decisions it is important to explain this to you.
These techniques will allow you to harvest and accumulate essence in the most optimized way possible.
Essence represents the foundation of ascension, without essence you cannot cultivate your body and soul.
I will show you a table with the most basic information of the breakthrough, then you can go deeper ✠.
Jack opened his eyes and just as he was told, a holographic chart appeared in front of him.
A simple list that doesn't even come close to being considered long.
Elemental kingdom
1- Essence condensation
2- Construction of foundations
3- Purification of the body
4- Extension of life
5- Creation of the spiritual sense
6- Strengthening of the body
7- Creation of the core
8- Development of the core
9- Fusion of the core
10- Challenging the heavens
Spiritual realm
1- Foundation of the soul
2- Development of the senses
3- Spiritual current
4- Reformation of the body
5, 6, 7- Extension of life
8- Tension in the heavens
9- Expansion of essence
10- Divine Retribution
Holy kingdom
1- Strengthening of the soul
2- Restructuring of the soul
3- Rebirth of the soul
4- Consecration of the soul
5- Life extension
6- Wayfarer of the void
"….."
Jack sighed ｢It's too elaborate to be a simple joke.... Does she really believe in this?｣.
Each stage is divided into initial, intermediate and leaping phases.
The holy realm does not represent the end, yet my knowledge does not surpass that limit.
...
Listen, I know it may sound hard to believe, no one would believe without thinking twice about something like this.
However, if you want to face this crisis by your own hand. You should at least try...
Now that you have listened to me, I hope you will make the right decision ✠.
As soon as he finished his last sentence, Jack snapped back to reality.
The memory card crumbled in front of his eyes, however, just as he said it would. All the information is burned into his mind.
Jack was incredulous, he spent an hour going step by step through everything that was transmitted to his mind, it was not only coherent. Even the explanations seemed to be made by different people.
If this were a joke, it would take years and hundreds of people...
He calmed his spirits, sat down and sighed deeply.
"It would have to be done." With a banquet on offer, there was no reason to hesitate. Anyway, he had already spent an hour on it. What more could he lose? Besides some time.
Among all the techniques, two came to his mind. Both are extremely advanced, for individuals capable of leaving the atmosphere... Heh.
One allows to absorb the essence of the void "Empty Ascension" and the second absorbs the essence of the sun into the body "Starwalking".
"For the moment it would be best to absorb the energy of the stars, I don't know how the void could act..." he whispered to himself.
He stood in an area with plenty of access to the light outside and took a deep breath.
His mouth moved strangely, forming sounds that barely seemed to make any sense.
The light around him began to warp, no, from the light he separated and superimposed a golden aura rippling through space.
This energy entered the pores of his body, straight into his bloodstream.
The essence moved through every part of his body following the flow of his blood, slowly accumulating in the vital spots of his body.
It went deep into the most hidden parts of his body
It was as if his body was boiling, his chest suddenly ached.
A painful pulse shot through his whole body.
The darkness rejected the light.
However, the response was weak.
A small predicament that would hardly be remembered.
｢... I didn't consider that I had the darkness in my body.... Anyway it doesn't seem to have the strength to oppose｣.
As the rhythm of the chanting increased, the essence was redirected to his abdomen, just below his navel.
New connections were created from the essence. The vital systems of his body were extended to a specific point.
At this point the essence began to swirl, a whirlwind of energy formed that violently drew all the essence around his body.
CAs he changed the direction of his spinning, he re-circulated the essence through his body, at the same time drawing it out.
This continued until an ethereal bubble formed where the essence could settle calmly.
This process took about half an hour.
Although they were small changes he could feel them clearly even without opening his eyes.
The structure of his body changed slightly and he also felt much healthier than he had in his whole life.
He opened his eyes, his vision was much clearer and more colourful. He was also able to see the essence that covers everything that exists.
The sweat on his body was a dark colour "Damn! I just took a bath."
｢... I see, it wasn't a lie at all.... I'll have to create two instances to study it｣.
After saying that, he wiped off the sweat with a towel which he immediately threw on the floor.
His eyes went slightly dull. His body started to move following his training routine.
While his body moved at an accelerated pace, even for his time perception; his mind wandered in the tons of information that was implanted in his mind.
While his body performed 1000 repetitions per minute, his mind consumed entire pages in a matter of seconds.
｢... Even something so simple has improved｣.
After five minutes he jumped into a fully erect state. He sighed deeply "Even right now this pace is beyond my capabilities...".
His eyes regained their sparkle and he brought his hands to caress his chin.
He plopped down on the bed ｢Apparently it would take me all day to process the information.... Anyway, it doesn't seem to go beyond general knowledge｣.
"..." he pulled his hand away from his face, looked around his room, doubtful of how he would manage his time.
✠ — ✠
Kelly threw three pieces of popcorn into her mouth, chewed softly as she raised an eyebrow.
She swallowed before bringing her gaze towards Jack's room "Have you been training this whole time?".
He indicated after no longer being able to ignore the noises coming from the place.
Zeke laughed briefly "He must be using his break for something."
Brendan raised an eyebrow "Can that be considered a break?".
Kelly narrowed her eyes as she discreetly watched Brendan.
Ledia lowered her gaze slightly "..... Huh. Maybe it's because he's an officer?".
Zeke cocked his head slightly "You know? Neglecting training is unbecoming of a team supposed to fight."
He sighed listlessly "If it wasn't for me, you'd all be dead... probably" he whispered to himself.
Kelly's countenance jumped slightly ｢.... Hell how could I have missed it ｣.
His face turned pitiful at the thought of the image a leader would have of such a team.
Ignorant of that, even the idea couldn't blossom in his mind right now.
And just like that, the popcorn container slipped from his hands.
Kelly was about to get up, Zeke held out his arm, covering the front of her "It's about to end, save it for later."
She gave a confused grimace and dropped back down.
For the rest of the show she felt frustrated, preventing any enjoyment.
With the credits rolled, she got up and grabbed a hand-held dustpan, as well as a squeegee.
She picked up the previously discarded items, then immediately threw them through a hole labelled Garbage.
As he took that action, Ledia and Brendan left the room.
Zeke stood in front of the couch "You're not very good at acting."
Kelly raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.
Zeke sighed "Just clear your mind, it's not good to fill you with one thing."
Kelly twisted her lips slightly, after which she moved from the spot.
Zeke for his part leaned against the wall, placed his left forearm behind his back and pondered with his face pointed towards the floor.
He couldn't help but laugh as he noticed one of the stains on his shoes.
He then scanned the rest of his clothes with his gaze, then looked at the couch he was recently sitting on.
"I see... I'm not so different from the others after all."
He sighed, the sounds of pounding echoing in his ears.
"We'll just have to play along".