"well? Don't keep me waiting, come on in." Anya's mother spoke with much vigor and glee.
She looked like she was genuinely happy to see them, but even at that, Anya was a bit stiff when she spoke.
"Come help me set up the table." Anya's mom grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the house, leaving not only Anya but Wilder flabbergasted.
"What was Anya so worked up about?" Wilder couldn't help but ponder. The way Anya was behaving previously would make one believe that her mom was some sort of serious monster that could swallow someone in one gulp.
But she seemed like a pretty chill person.
Wilder also stepped in and walked behind them. On the outside, the place looked quite old, but upon getting in, it looked and felt very cozy and comfortable. This kind of setting was what Wilder was used to; the furniture was the same as that of the 21st century, and it gave him a sort of nostalgia.
"Don't roam around, just take a seat at the dining table. We will be serving food soon." Anya's mother's voice resounded from inside the kitchen.
And so Wilder hurriedly took a seat.
This was not like the other meetings he had with the other influential people in the city; it was more like a family dinner.
In truth, it had been a long while since Wilder had any home-cooked meal, and he was actually looking forward to it.
A few minutes later
"Thank you for the food," Wilder said as Anya dropped a plate of food in front of him.
Anya merely nodded, and soon they were all seated around the table.
"You are wilder, right?" Anya's mother inquired from him
"hm!" Wilder nodded while chewing a slab of meat from his plate; he had some manners at least.
Anya's mother was looking at him with a rather calm expression on her face, causing him to stop chewing.
He gulped down his food and looked up at her.
"And your parents, how are they doing?" Anya's mom's voice resounded once more.
But this time what she said caused Wilder's expression to change to one of shock; his eyes were completely widened.
"parents!!" Wilder couldn't help but scream in his mind.
He had been in this body for a while now, and at first he believed that it was just one of his clones, but after living this life and experiencing it, he had come to the conclusion that he was absolutely wrong. This body had lived, made friends and enemies, and was definitely not a clone.
That also meant that he probably had parents or that the previous owner of this body had parents, but up till now he hadn't heard anything or even seen anything that showed that they existed, so it was hard to answer this question.
"Wilder's parents were transferred abroad." This time the person who spoke was Anya.
"oh…." Anya's mother looked over at her daughter with an expressionless face before turning back to Wilder.
As soon as her eyes met his, he hurriedly nodded. This was awkward; he didn't know what to say about his own parents, but Anya did.
"Anya Your friend has a mouth; don't let that happen again." Anya's mom spoke casually, and though it didn't seem to carry any intent, the wording seemed like a warning, and it made Anya nervous.
Seeing the nervousness on Anya's face, her mother shook her head slightly before taking a bite of some of her food.
There was an awkward silence after that.
"I've been meaning to ask you this question but didn't have the chance. During your breakthrough to the enhanced human stage, what color was your core?" After the brief silence, Anya's mom spoke one more time to Wilder.
"Black," Wilder said firmly.
"oh???" Anya's mom was a bit stunned, and so was Anya.
She too hadn't asked Wilder this question even after the whole graduation ceremony; maybe she was afraid of Wilder surpassing her or maybe it was something else, but she just couldn't bring herself to ask this question.
But now that her mom had asked it, she couldn't help but feel surprised.
Even though most of the experienced people in the academy and the influential ones in the city had concluded the same, it was still strange to hear those words from his mouth.
That was supreme-grade talent.
"good good... I understand that you are getting a whole lot of invitations to join different armies and factions, but I will extend an invitation anyway." Anya's mom said as she pulled out a note from the pocket of her uniform and handed it to Wilder.
"These are the benefits you will get from joining the Demon whale army; we are the most prominent force in the whole city, and our perks are realms beyond those of the warhawk army, as well. " Anya's mother continued speaking to Wilder.
Meanwhile, Anya, who was seated by Wilder, developed a little shock in her eyes.
She didn't expect her mom to do this; Wilder had received countless invitations, and even though he hadn't picked one yet, he still had a lot of options. Her mother wasn't one to extend invitations without being asked for it by the party, but she did so right now.
But that wasn't the only reason for her shock.
Her mother had never invited her to join the army; if not for her initiative, she wouldn't even be in the warhawk academy, but now, she was inviting her friend that she had just met a few minutes ago, it was just too annoying.
"Just think about it, the perks are endless." After saying those words, the sound of her com watch sounded.
"radio?" She clicked on a small earpiece in her ear and stood up from the table to go to the kitchen.
From what she was saying from the kitchen, Wilder could infer that it was work-related.
"Can you pass the salt?" Wilder said to Anya suddenly while pointing with his fork.
"Ah!" Anya, who was in a daze, snapped out of it and handed Wilder the salt.