Asking questions (1)

Erik woke up refreshed that day. His mood was on the stars since he was bound to acquire another brain crystal power in a few days.

He wasn't sure what to do, but he was keen on revealing this second power he would acquire. Erik knew that was bound to create trouble, but his current situation and desperation pushed him to take this step.

After all, it wasn't the first time something like that happened; some were born with brain crystals that later allowed the individual to develop a second power. It was rare but possible.

Erik had to complete four daily quests to get enough DNA points to give the system the required energy to use the extraction power.

So, the first thing the young man did when waking up was check his daily quests. He accepted both and walked to the kitchen to complete the first one. He needed food anyway.

It didn't take much time for him to prepare everything and eat. He looked at his quest status satisfactorily since the first daily quest sported a massive COMPLETED beside the quest name and gave him ten DNA points.

Erik left the house a few minutes later, wearing the school's uniform. As usual, he headed to the train station, going through the full of billboards city streets until arriving there.

Since it was the last school month, most students were heading home after classes, while others would stay behind because they had exams or other extracurricular activities planned for the week.

Getting good academical scores before entering the Military was essential since they would be much more interested in the student in question and open a wide array of possibilities for them.

The train departed less than five minutes after Erik arrived at the station, leaving the platform and speeding through the floating rails stretching inside the city as a maze. He later arrived in the western district and walked to school.

Erik was in a good mood despite the occasional scornful glances the other students gave him. Not only was he now E ranked on the Ferebitz scale, but he also fixed the problem that prevented him from making new neural links.

He was already putting much effort into making new ones, but that was not an easy process. For example, General Becker, Frant's most powerful individual, was "only" at the η level, while the highest rank reached, aside from Solomon Judd, was α.

He was bound to develop new links and improve his power sooner or later. Not only this, but he was going to get a new power. The young man searched for information about the Thaid he had killed and found it was a Densoph.

These Thaids had a brain crystal power that allowed them to sharpen things, and they usually used it on their massive front teeth.

He would get this awesome power if everything worked as it theoretically should have. Would he be able to cut everything with a wooden sword? That was a cool prospect. The power also looked battle-oriented, so he hoped he would get a good rank.

However, Erik had to focus on what was happening, which meant dealing with his classes. Luckily, he only had theoretical classes today, so he didn't have to embarrass himself in front of his classmates.

Not only this, but Erik also injected information about different school topics, starting from math and ending with geography. Essentially, he didn't have to study anymore.

There was more, though; since the day he shared Logan's and his friends' video, they stopped outright beating him, probably because the teachers kept an eye on them after their stunt was revealed.

After taking his seat in the class, Erik stared blankly outside the classroom windows, watching everything pass by slowly.

Erik stood up and left the classroom at the end of the lessons. He had to reach the farm to work. So he went to the train station and headed to the northern district this time.

After a while, he arrived at Mister Fox's farm and found him carrying on his shoulder the tree he had grown with his power the previous day. The man was trying to bring it away from the main gate.

<FUCK! THE TREE!> the young man thought. Due to fear and anxiety, he quickly forgot about it. However, there was no way he could move it due to his meager strength.

"Good morning, mister Fox," the young man said, sounding as polite as possible.

"Erik... I was wondering if you could explain this tree out here," the old man said while transporting the tree out of the way. Erik followed Mister Fox but didn't know what to say to his employer. "Was it you?" Mister Fox asked.

It was obvious it was him since he was the only person in the city capable of making plants grow faster. Besides, the tree wasn't there the previous day before Erik left the farm.

"Yes, sir..."

The young man didn't know if his employer would be mad or not at him, but he knew that if he started lying, he would only worsen his situation.

"Care to explain?" Mister Fox asked.

Erik tried to keep his composure but didn't know what to say to Mister Fox. If the attack happened elsewhere, he could have at least said he had nothing to do about it.

Still, the tree was in front of him, so it was apparent the young man had made that apple tree grow there. Erik reasoned on what to say, but telling the truth was the best thing that came to mind.

"Yeah, it was me. Sorry Mister Fox," the young man said.

"Why did you do something like that? I had to carry this damn thing alone over there!" the man replied.

"Sorry, sir. A rat scared me." Erik hesitantly said.

"A rat? Are you seriously telling me that a rat scared you and you made this thing?" the man interjected.

"Yes, sir. I thought it was a Thaid."

"You stupid kid, did you really think a Thaid went past the barrier? Besides, since when were you able to make things this big?"

"Not much, sir. It's just that I made a new neural link, and my power improved a lot," the kid lied, but it was believable.

Aside from the tree in the middle of the road, Erik's power improved, so much was good news. The older man dismissed the situation because he knew how much that would increase his sales.

"All right, just do your job, all right?"

"Of course, Mr. Fox." The young man nodded. Then he went to the barn to change. Erik then started working.

After a while, Erik stopped to eat under one of the trees on the farm. The scenery was beautiful today; the sun shone brightly above, and the sky was clear blue.

Erik took off his jacket and shirt and lay down beneath the shade of the tree, enjoying the warmth of the sunlight against his skin.

While eating, Erik thought about the events that occurred last night. His mind drifted back to when he saw the thaid coming toward him.

He remembered how terrified he felt. How things unfolded, the quest, the blood, the corpse, and how he escaped death.

After his brief rest, Erik went back to work again. Soon enough, he finished harvesting the vegetables from the field.

Erik then changed into more casual clothes, and Mister Fox entered.

"Hey, kid! You done?"

The kid smiled nervously.

"Yep, almost…" Erik replied.

They both exited the barn and headed toward the house. Probably to give him his daily pay.

When they reached the exit gate, the older man handed Erik the money for his work. "Here," Mister Fox said.

Erik opened the bag and counted out the money; there were twenty new dollars. He couldn't help feeling relieved after receiving payment.

As Erik raised his head, he saw a group of soldiers walking in their direction. They were Military wearing full combat gear with their faces concealed behind helmets. The soldiers were directly looking at the duo; there was no doubt that these people wanted to talk to them.

"I'm Sergeant Roma Sinclair. Do you mind if we ask you some questions?" the woman said.