Entering the TerraEdge, Ethan was wondering how rich someone must be to afford that. He knew that Trevor was from one of the four great families, but he was still "illiterate" about how rich and powerful they were. This had shown him a bit of their wealth. The TerraEdge was worth 100,000 Gold Cards from what he knew, more expensive than the street he lived on. One TerraEdge could buy the whole street and there will be a 30% balance, and he was going to ride in one. He didn't know how to feel about this.
"Strap in. The view is great from here." Trevor called from the drivers' area. Normally, it would take two drivers to operate the vehicle but that was considering if they were using the whole specifications and operational systems of the vehicle. Ethan's presence wasn't really needed as Trevor was using the driving mode which he could do perfectly.
"Okay." Ethan entered the cockpit and strapped on the seatbelts. Trevor then started the vehicle which started a few dings and then he drove out of the house, garnering attention from everyone in that community. They were just as shocked as Ethan to see the TerraEdge.
Trevor was very good at driving as in no time, they were speeding on a fairly empty road which was a bit surprising considering the age they were in. But it wasn't like they were complaining. It was even better for them as Trevor got time to move more comfortably and unrestrained, giving Ethan the opportunity to explore his surroundings from the car.
...
"Where's Harley?"
"She went to cultivate in her room."
"Good. Carmen. You can come out now."
"Yes master." From the shadows, a figure suddenly appeared. She had long braided black hair and appeared very attractive. Unlike the times others had seen her, this time she was without the veil, showing her beautiful face. She was currently in Ethan's home. She had been there since Trevor arrived, but she was hiding in the shadows.
"Master." She muttered while bowing to a red-haired woman, Madeleine Ethan's mom. Ethan would be very shocked out of his body if he sees this but unfortunately, he wasn't there to witness it.
"Mm. Let's begin the meeting."
"Here?"
"Of course not." Madeleine said as she waved her hand as a light brown energy flow from her and covered everyone there.
They instantly appeared in a room with four chairs. One of them was bigger than the rest and Madeleine sat on that. The rest were occupied by Carmen and the Avluvs.
"Won't the others join us?" Amor asked the question on everyone's mind.
"Not yet. This meeting is about the kids, so they won't be needed." Madeleine answered.
"Err master... before we start..."
"I know what you want to ask. I'm still not stable so I'm going to continue wearing it. I don't know for how long though."
"Sigh. Ethan is that special..."
"That's the reason for this meeting. I figured out something after observing him these few days. We had some interactions, mother and son and coupled with the results of his awakening and my situation; I came to a conclusion. It might not be fully correct but it's not wrong either."
"And that is?"
"It's possible Ethan would be a perfect hybrid."
"What?!" "Huh?"
"Yeah. I know how you feel but think about it. He's the only Beast Awakener with 100% compatibility with his Spirit Beast, he caused me to become a cripple and a normal human after his birth, he's already achieved Sync with his beast, and he's just a step away from breakthrough. Think about it."
"He's already achieved sync... and I'm still struggling to grasp it."
"But that doesn't mean..." Petra started to speak.
"No, you are wrong. Just achieving Sync should already ring bells in your ears. What family is master from?" Carmen asked.
"The Smiths."
"What are their most dominant races?"
"Dwarf and Vampire... no way."
"Yes. Vampire+Human+Dwarf. He's perfectly compatible with his spirit beast. This can't be only achieved with his human traits; the vampire trait played a role. Dwarves are also very entuned with nature, right after elves, coupled with the human adaptability trait, he managed to achieve Sync." Carmen deduced.
"But that's not all. There's something else at play. I sense an unfathomable power within him plus his talent and potential rank is above S rank."
"What?"
"But he's not the only one. Trevor, my stepson, also has talent above S rank and their fates are somehow linked together. I'm sure that's the reason why none of them has broken through till now."
"But if it's like that, then..."
"We have no power over that. What I want you to do is to protect them from the shadows. Use every resource you have to do that. Carmen is already doing a good job but don't make it too obvious."
"But he's, my fiancé." Carmen said with a pout.
"He doesn't know. You have only two ways to get more closer to him. One is by being a superhero, always saving him from trouble at the last second and the other is taking him as a disciple. Of course, you will have to take in his stepbrother too to not raise too much suspicion. After all, your ages aren't that wide apart, and the smart ones will know your motives. And remember, he's bound to have a lot of women by his side from what I'm seeing."
"Mm. I will try my best. I choose the second."
"I knew you would choose that. You are always so easy to read."
"She's still young."
"Thank you, Uncle Amor."
"You are welcome young miss. I see you are almost at the peak."
"Hehe. I will be catching up to you real soon."
"Monster!"
"Hey! You can't call a lady that."
"You are a girl."
"Master!"
"Hahaha! I can't see, I can't hear."
"You guys are bullying me."
...
The TerraEdge closed in on Academy Street after half an hour of driving. This was where the academy was. Ethan could see the huge, circular building of the academy up ahead. Trevor drove the car to a four-way intersection and moved to the left. Very soon, they appeared in an area filled with apartments and flats of different sizes and colors with the most dominant being white and two stories. Trevor drove to a three-story building on his right with black tinted windows, a massive wall and large grey gate. Reaching it, he muttered the words, "Open" and the gate slid inside the wall to allow them entry.
"Welcome home." Trevor said to Ethan who had been shocked too many times that he had become almost numb to it.
"I thought you rented a flat?"
"Hehe. I got carried away a little and bought a house."
"..."
"Come on. Don't give me that look. I just wanted all of us to be together."
"..."
Trevor continued explaining things while Ethan kept looking at him with a numbed expression. He was too speechless to even react. After 3 minutes of that episode, they got off the vehicle. Ethan got his bag from the car but he before he could move something bumped into him.
Silvery blonde hair, blue eyes, sexy, slim but curvy, Clara. Ethan didn't know how to react, so he just hugged her back. Now things had gotten complicated. If Harley manages to win the bet, she will move in here and he couldn't help but imagine how dangerous the house would be for him. Now he just realized that he had been set up and he literally dug a grave for himself.
'Huh? She's an Advanced mage?'
'Interesting...'
'What? Is there anything going on?'
'You will know when the time is right, but it depends on how fast and effective you complete your missions and quests. All I can say is that she will be very helpful to you, and she will never betray once you accept her and she accepts you, you know... cough...'
'Don't say it. Is that past even important?'
'Very.'
"Welcome Ethan. I missed you a lot." Clara said in a little voice.
"I missed you a loter."
"Cough! Cough! Hi Ethan."
"Yo, Lamair."
"Hello perv."
"Nice to meet you too, Emily."
"You are always too hard to defeat with words."
"I'm a gentleman by spirit and nature."
"Yeah. Yeah. We all know." Trevor said sarcastically.
"But it's true."
"Let's go in." Lamair led the way into the house. At the parking area, two different vehicles could be seen. One was a car which was small as compared to Trevor's and a hover bike. It seemed that automatically, in the future, Trevor's TerraEdge would be used to go on mission outings as it was a moving house as compared to the rest.
In the house...
The interior was just as marvelous as the exterior with beautiful furniture arranged in the living room. To the right was the path to the kitchen. Left was the path to an elevator to maneuver the floors. The ground floor was the living room area with the kitchen and dining room. The next up was the training area for combat, affinities, etc. It had pods and such to assist in the training. Next up was the sleeping area with ten normal bedrooms and two master bedrooms; one for Trevor and the other for Ethan, which surprised him a lot.
There was also the basement floor which was used for cultivation.
In a few minutes, they had settled and began making preparations for school. They had two days before they reopened. While everyone was happily making preparations, internally, Ethan was sweating buckets. He had just two days to breakthrough, and he wasn't making any progress whatsoever and the system made sure to remind him of that, leaving him with the urge to curse but he knew better than antagonize the crazy system. What if changes the time to 30 minutes?
[First Warning!]
"..."