Zen briefly scanned through the rack without paying any special attention to anything as nothing caught his interest. Some might say that it was strange for an unawakened child without an ability would be ecstatic at this chance to pick any gear of their choosing however Zen was different. The grades of the gear here went from flawed to subpar which for someone in zen's situation was more than enough to cause excitement but perhaps it was because he had seen them regularly before he didn't seem very affected.
Zen quickly started browsing through the pieces of gear looking for anything suitable but didn't seem to be interested in anything and wasn't really interested in browsing the entire warehouse for gear he knew nothing about so he was honestly beginning to consider the idea of just picking something at random because using aether gear had conditions for the user and zen couldn't exactly know which ones he was capable of using so he just kept browsing feeling that he would find something eventually.
Meanwhile on Celia's end
She had just finished send the message to zen as she wiped her face still being affected by the kiss and it's effect on her. A faint hoarse voice dripping with rage suddenly rang out close to her
" You crazy Bitch! What are you happy about,you think you can screw up my plans!!,You almost got caught,if i hadn't taken care of it he would have figured you out!".
Celia suddenly tensed up as she broke into a cold sweat and started stuttering due to fear.
"M-m-my lord, it's nothing like that at a..."
"Shut up!"
The voice didn't seem interested in what she had to say
"Do you honestly think that just because he seems weak and harmless that you can beat that kid you arrogant bitch! , let me tell you the truth, that boy is more than you'll ever know,i told you to wait for the effect to become stronger, do you really think you can defy me!!!!"
"N-no my Lord.... it's just that were running out of time and..."
"Silence! ,i don't want to hear about it, you caused this you make sure you fix it. I'm not at full power so the seal i placed on him won't last long , the only way to do this now is to rush it, you need to complete this mission before the seal disappears and you're found out, you have a week "
"A week my Lord that's..... It shall be done "
"Good I've got something to help you "said the voice. A small box suddenly appeared out of nowhere and floated towards celia stopping in front of her.
"Thank you my Lord"said celia as she accepted the box.
"Now don't forget your task, whatever it takes you must find a way to get him to tell you his true names and the design of the soul array, that's all that matters , once those are in my hand I'll be able to use him to finally accomplish my goal "
"But my Lord if i may,why don't we just capture him and torture the information out of him "
"That won't work ". That was all the voice said before it disappeared. Celia noticing here lord was no longer present finally took a sigh of relief, she had been under so much stress. She clenched her fists thinking it was all zen's fault her lord had scolded her.
"Damn human , you just wait, once i finish making you my puppet you'll grovel at my feet and beg for mercy as I put you through the worst pain imagineable " however she suddenly stopped to think. "However there does seem to be something strange about him, what i did there would've worked if it wasn't for that damn physique of his,i felt like i was in a blender... seems I'll have to be careful after all "
. At this time Zen who was unaware of all this was still unable to pick a specific piece of gear. Sighing zen looked towards a sheathed long sword on the rack which seemed to release an impressive aura and was about to consider simply taking it and going to look for celia when his gaze suddenly fell on something. It was a medallion necklace shaped and designed to resemble the yin-yang symbol however the yang side was missing. As his gaze fell on this medallion his mind went blank and a faint figure appeared in his mind. It was a woman clad in a beautiful black and blue dress, she had faint blue hair and delicate skin however her face as well as the rest of her features were indiscernible, however she seemed to be really beautiful from her figure. She had her hand stretched out towards him and in it was the same yin medallion necklace that he saw on the rack , almost on instinct zen stretched his hand out towards her. A feminine voice filled with joy suddenly rang out in his head as she stretched the medallion towards him
"Happy birthday A...."
But before it could finish the memory faded and the image disappeared. The moment it did zen snapped out of his daze. What he just saw was a memory that happened years ago, he remembered that the next thing she said was his name but he quickly shrugged it off and raised his head. As he did he noticed that his the hand which at this point was once again covered by his glove that he had stretched out was by coincidence pointing at the medallion . A small satisfied smirk appeared on his face which was perhaps the first emotion which had been visible on his face for a long long time.
"In that case I choose you...huh?"
Zen wasn't sure whether he imagined it but for a short second it almost looked like it glowed in a golden light , however he quickly shrugged it off and picked up the medallion before putting it on. The moment he did his eyes suddenly changed as his sclera and irises (white and center of his eyes) turned a pitch black and his pupils became a ghastly pure optic white . Zen suddenly felt a stinging pain in his eyes which caused him to stagger slightly and nearly loose his balance but before he did his eyes had returned to normal and the pain suddenly disappeared
"What.... what was that?" said zen as he rubbed his eyes slightly . At this time he suddenly heard a voice from behind him
"Hey! Zen, you picked something out yet?"
As zen was about to turn to face where the voice had come from,as he recognized it as Celia's voice however the moment he tried to turn around his eyes suddenly reverted back to that strange form. His sclera and irises became a pitch black and his pupils turned white. His view of the world suddenly changed as time seemed to suddenly come to a halt and the entire world in his vision became black and white with dozens of black and white outlines everywhere around him, he was also able to see faint white and black lights inside the pieces of gear around him, zen suddenly had an idea and looked at the medallion and saw a bright almost blinding light. He suddenly felt the medallion begin to vibrate on his chest and could feel it getting warmer and warmer as it began glowing in a bright light. Suddenly in front of him,up in the sky something that could only be described as a giant mass of black fire suddenly appeared out of nowhere surprising zen . Zen looked on at the giant black fire ball in confusion at what was happening but he quickly threw those to the back of his mind as the giant fireball suddenly charged toward him as if to attack him
Zen quickly attempted to evade by jumping out of the way but suddenly realized he was stuck, he couldn't move a single muscle and had to watch as the large ball of black fire violently slammed into him. As soon come as it touched his body the ball of fire suddenly disappeared and an extremely cold feeling spread out from his chest all over his body.
"Hmm? Zen? what's wrong?, you're just standing there"
Zen turned around to look at celia who was looking at him worriedly and suddenly realized he could move again. Before he could say anything he suddenly heard something faintly
[Foreign entity detected]
"Did you say something " asked zen but celia simply shook her head and curiously tilted her head as she looked at zen who seemed a bit Spaced out and decided to try something
"Hey I was meaning to ask you, is zen your real name?"
Zen's eyes suddenly glowed with a brief dark light which quickly disappeared
"What do you mean? Of course my name is zen. Why do you ask?"
"Oh nothing,i just suddenly realized that for people like you having some sort of super secret identity should be a thing, right?"
"No, i don't have a false identity , sorry to disappoint. I've got what I need what about you?"
Celia in response raised a certain wooden box with some strange engravings on it.
"What did you take?" Asked celia and zen simply gestured to the medallion on his neck
"Seriously, you picked that one, listen to me that thing is useless trash,they took it from you when you got here didn't they, well once they did they tried dozens of different types of energy to get that thing to do something and ended up with nothing!. I don't even think it's beast gear"
Zen listened to her and simply replied
"It's okay, I'm not really interested in anything else "
However celia stubbornly shook her head
"No, besides it was originally yours before my dad took it from you, it's only right you take it....why don't you take something else ". Zen however simply refused, not because of some stupid reason like being generous but simply because his case was a bit special .
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure"
"Okay then, it's your choice but don't worry about it, you won't need gear if you have me to protect you"
Hearing that zen didn't say anything feeling somewhat helpless as he knew that was pretty much impossible. Celia started walking towards the elevator and said
"Well if you're not taking anything we better leave,no point just hanging around "
Zen agreed with her and followed behind her and got in the elevator as it closed behind them and took them up.
About five minutes later they had arrived at where they had started and the moment they stepped out of the elevator it closed and once again resembled a regular wall
"Well that was all well and good but i should probably take you to your room now "
Zen nodded and followed behind her as she led him to his room where he'd be staying. About five minutes later they arrived in front of a door
"Well this is it let's check it out " said celia as she placed her palm on the biometric scanner on the door which let out a ding and opened.
Looking into the room zen had only one thought
"A fancy prison "