Thus, the next day by evening, he opened his doors to reach Finim Barboach who stayed here during the day. There were some of his assistants spread about the room. He raised his head and smiled as Tumunomi Escaver reached him.
He looked at the ecstatic expression on the other man's face and paused until the man consciously calmed down.
"I want to get things."
"You picked the chip option, meaning that you cannot pick from the list anymore." Finim Barboach looked as if he was trying to sympathize with the kid. "At least, not unil the next phase is over."
"These are nothings on the list, just basic amenities."
"Oh," he smiled generously. "What can I get then?".
"I want a room. No, three instead. A cage, with trees and fake mounds and hills, pets, a pool in one. A deep pool. Then fans, industrial ones." He weighed what he had said. "Everything under hush, hush."
"Umm, you know some of these things are quite expensive, right?"
"I have contribution points for 4 years."
The man paused, "you never used a single one?"
"Nope."
He then raised a watch on his hand and seemed to be typing on air for a bit.
"True, I can see your records." Every day is 10 points. So, for 4 school years is 14,400." He whistled.
"Okay look at the pricing and see what you can get."
Tumunomi Escaver had never planned to spend them. In his first year of doing daily chores, he had done it not only because those who skipped theirs may not have what to eat that day but also because of boredom. But after meeting Derek, it was more of the workout and having a rival.
Rival? He liked that word but it was more of comrade.
Personally it was the first time that he had directly translated their special relationship.
The chip was really changing him.
He snapped out of his thoughts and went back to the list. When he got back, he saw Andrew grabbing Jacob by the neck. The older boy had not an ounce of anger on his face and Tumunomi Escaver noticed his temperament to be one of those who were silent.
He had read in some book that it made him more dangerous and unpredictable. So, he was curious about what will happen.
"You could have stopped him."
"This chance we all took is to have an easier life." He stared at hateful eyes calmly like a bottomless, unperturbed lake. "He tried and life was not so kind to him."
Jake wanted to be the one squeezing Jacob's neck but he only balled his fists and looked from a distance.
"So, what are you saying; he was weak?"
"You have seen the tests so far. Those who passed have contribution points and can move forward. And what happened to those who failed." Jacob still held his eyes. "Maybe he was just unlucky, not necessarily weak."
"So, what, you having the audacity to tell me to work out is to clear your conscience?"
"No, its to fight the battle he couldn't. For him. It's to show him that we would be grateful to the chance we have been given. Plus, who knows, we might be able to get something that can help him if we win again."
The boy held his eyes and could not refute Jacob's words
"Meaning we have to win."
He relaxed his grip.
"How can we win?"
The question disgusted Tumunomi Escaver as Andrew had a chip himself and knew how to use it by now. Jake was angry with the situation too. But he had not whined and whined.
He loved and hated and was surprised by what happened next, though.
Jacob jumped and kicked against the wall that his back was before so that he pushed the boy down and Andrew's back roughly met the ground before he bounced off him and then threw him into the other wall.
Andrew had been tossed a distance of 30 meters.
"By getting stronger!"
Tumunomi Escaver had a feeling that the gap between them might increase but instead of fear and anger he was strangely excited.
Excited at the thought of beating Jacob thoroughly and undoubtedly.
In the morning, he went back to his regimen and continued with even further intensity for the rest of the week. The end of the week came and Tumunomi Escaver only answered the door after he had finished his afternoon regimen.
It was Finim Barboach with clasped hands and a smile when he saw the door opening.
Finally.
"How are you?"
Tumunomi Escaver did not answer, only closing the door behind him and Jacob smiled.
Finim Barboach was talking to him and moving his lips but the sounds were coming directly to his head. It was like every time he spoke, he was hearing a voice that was in a studio booth after it had passed through a microphone that had pop filters and sound absorbers. So, every time the man did not speak all other sound was pushed into the background.
"We got the cages, the rooms, the pets, their setting, the feeds, the fans and all that."
"Okay."
"Everything has been set to what you asked."
"How do you do that and how many points do I have left?" Tumunomi Escaver knew but he did not want the man to stop talking because how weird and exotic it had sounded
"About over a thousand. And when you begin cultivation, we will talk about it."
"The AreaModifiers in the pool and in each of the rooms, including the Noise Dampeners on the doors took out a healthy chunk of them. So, you would have to build them back up."
"How can I do that? And can't I at least know the name of what you are doing with your voice?"
"Just like before chores. At least for now, but what I do is called Transferring Speech."
"Chores here?" It clicked, "taking care of cadavers and helping out with experiments?"
"Yeah, each one will have different points allocated and with each success more trust will be given for higher possibilities and even more points to gain."
"Is there a list I can observe and pick from?"
"Of course, but see what we did first."
He directed Tumunomi Escaver through corridors, and descending flight of stairs for a few levels before reaching the one where they stopped at. Thankfully, there were directions but with the chip in his head he might not even need them.
When they reached this level, he was shown that the first four doors – two pairs of opposite doors – were his.
"We took the courtesy of providing the uniforms for these rooms." He nodded to the first one on the left. "The uniform here will keep you from bites. And has antidotes tucked into the pockets."
He nodded to the first one on the right. "The one here should help incase a flu can become contagious and trunks have been provided for you too."
He looked at the second on his left. "The uniform for there is the same but no trunks." He chuckled to his own joke.
It was only the last room on the right he had not spoken about. "The walls for that one have been modified like you asked. They can withstand pressure and force and the room itself has a noise dampener apart frm the one on the door like the others."
"To be honest, I thought I would hate you."
"Nah, if you didn't win, I would have even acted against you."
Tumunomi Escaver laughed and donned the uniform. *Good*, he thought. *The less people he saw as friends meant less responsibility.*
He ignored what the man said, as he did not stop speaking and entered the room, shutting it.
Finim Barboach flinched at the turnaround behaviour of the kid. Was he offended that I told him we were not friends? When last had a junior treated him this way. Maybe he needed to work on their friendship. He shrugged and imagined the person staring at him through the nano camera to be laughing