chapter 59 the memory palace (work in progress)

the travel continued to be really comfy for Daniel who was cooped up in his lab, researching the cloaking shield

but it wasn't as comfy for the Quilin v crew, before reaching the frontline between the sun federation territory and the hive territory the ship wouldn't be safe from random attacks and they were transporting bait

the Quilin v suffered two more attacks after the run-in with the lesser hive queen, thankfully very few died, but the injured personnel reached 12% of the crew members, a number that was high for an elite crew such as Phoebe's

but Phoebe was actually bittersweet with these results, on one hand, these few casualties were rare when fighting with the hive, on the other, those few that died were still soldiers under her command, it wasn't the first nor the last time but this didn't make it any less hard

but something was truly troubling her and Sophia keeping them distracted,and it was the gossip that was at an all-time high on the Quilin v, everyone on the ship knew that they had a hive princess egg on board and that a mysterious guest was living in the cargo bay 4

every attempt to discover who it was had been crushed by the simple fact that Daniel never left the small lab on the cloudtrain, he had absolutely no interest in the Quilin v since everything was based on spiritual energy, and he had no use for this kind of knowledge

the only people who knew what was going on were Phoebe, Sophia, and the bridge staff, these few couldn't be tricked into spilling their guts after a few drinks

but at the same time, the crew did know something and it had a powerful synergy with a story that was currently at the top of every chart in the Sun Federation

the unit Daniel saved on the unnamed desert planet had sneakily taken some photos and videos of the maru's the cloudtrain and Daniel himself, but since he was covered entirely by the fluffy F.A.S.S.A v4, they had no idea who it was behind the armor and just published them in a forum as the wandering robots who saved them from the hive

These few photos and videos had already made it in record time to every social networking site and were now known to almost everyone in the sun federation

basically at this point it was too late to swipe it under the rug, giving also to Vincent and Joseph back at home a big headache as the people but most of all the relentless journalists were asking for informations

and this takes us back to the problem on the quilin v, this was because anyone on the crew who saw those images would recognize the cloudtrain in cargo bay 4, and some less disciplined members that could also be referred to as newbies had published photos saying that the wandering robots were on board of the Quilin v, giving the specter's the headache that was mentioned before

at this point, it was too late to hide the existence of the robots but at the same time, no one who would be willing to talk knew that the robots were Daniel's

in fact, a date was decided for a week after the Quilin v returned to Verulus to discuss Daniel's situation and do some damage control

for this occasion, a certain member of the Specter family was invited back home, along with Andrea, Obelix, uncle White and of course Daniel's parents and grandparent's

after the breakthrough to blue soul level, Daniel wasn't just a smart kid who couldn't cultivate and had a freakish mutation, he also had an innate ability that if known outside would make him a target, and they had to understand how it worked if it was the real deal, and how to hide it from their enemies

just because the Sun Federation it's powerful it didn't mean that they didn't have civilizations just as powerful in the neighborhood, thankfully the hive and other threats that couldn't be reasoned with kept everyone in balance, and avoided these civilizations to fight with one another

now that the Quilin v was inside the sun federation territory they didn't need to worry anymore and while they were traveling home Vincent was busy with the invitation

in the vault of the specter family, in the public section, a big crystal could be seen rising from the ground behind another arch different from the one in front of the hazard room

Vincent approached the crystal and after resting his hand on it, the crystal activated with a blood-red light

a deep voice came out of the crystal and said "kid what happened?"

Vincent said "there's a situation at home with the last one born in the family, a discussion is programmed for 11 days for now, but the situation it's not good, I'm calling to ask you to come home"

the deep voice asked "is he alive? what happened?"

Vincent responded "he's fine, but we can't talk details on this channel, trust me you want to be here for the discussion"

the deep voice sighed and said "I'll be there" before closing the channel

many people listened in on it, confirming once and for all that a new member of the specter family was born, and these weren't just foreign spies, but also domestic ones

the eyes of other powerful families and foreign civilizations were now pointed at the Specter family, trying to discover what they were hiding

but Vincent wasn't just anybody the moment the call finished he came out of the vault and activated all his power to the maximum

for a long time now he had planned to upgrade the Specter castle dimension, and now was as good a time as ever to make it as secure as possible for the imminent meeting

as everyone was planning how to spy in the Specter dimension, the entire mountain trembled and was illuminated by purple lights

innumerable materials were melting in the purple light and suddenly the vortex leading to the Specter dimension became a much darker shade of purple, and the dimensional wall became much more solid crushing the hopes of those who wanted to peek inside

at the same time, many technological civilizations tried to check on the various devices they painstakingly smuggled to Vincent, discovering that every single one of them was destroyed

at this point, everyone was even more curious especially after seeing the higher-than-ever security, in some ways doing this Vincent proved beyond doubt that whatever it was it was mind-boggling information, but this was still better than anyone of them discovering the truth

at the same time though, something would happen sooner than this, Daniel had to have a talk with an expert under Phoebe's request

but this expert wasn't a powerful fighter, but a renewed psychiatrist who would help the family get a hold of how to manage Daniel

with a week remaining before the meeting, the Quilin v finally reached Verulus, but before anyone could see who came out of the cargo bay, the cloudtrain with everything that was inside was teleported outside Daniel's lab inside the Specter dimension

Daniel obviously realized that he was moved and came out to say hello

Vincent and Joseph were waiting for Daniel outside and as soon as they saw him they welcomed him and afterward, Vincent said "kid you missed our appointment to go fishing"

Daniel responded "we can go another time, where are mom and grandma?"

Phoebe and Sophia appeared at this moment and said "we are here"

Daniel said "good everyone is here" and from a cloudtrain section, some 5mt high maru v4 started bringing out the souvenirs he got from retak

Sophia said "these books are signed by the author's good stuff" after receiving the collection of first editions

Vincent said "this is an oddly shaped float" while rummaging through the fishing gear bought on retak

Joseph said "wow this flute it's a low-third stage weapon" while studying the collection of instruments and music sheets

Phoebe said "nice collection, I'll go plant some of it later" after inspecting the box full of seeds and branches

Vincent found the statues and one immediately caught his attention "this looks good, I already know where to put it" while holding a statue of two fish jumping out of the water

Daniel was smiling happily, the family liked the souvenirs and soon he would go fishing with grandpa somewhere good

so Daniel asked "when are we going fishing?"

Vincent laughed and said "the day after tomorrow, because tomorrow Dr. Bishop will come to have a chat with you"

Daniel asked "Dr. Bishop? who's that?"

Phoebe patted his head and said "I know you remember, in exchange for planting the itchy explorer's you promised to meet with an expert"

Daniel nodded and said "ok"

the family celebrated Daniel's return, Andrea, Obelix, and uncle white also came for dinner, and contrarily to what he thought, no one asked Daniel to show them his ability, instead, they told him not to use it this week so that he could show it during the meeting

the next morning arrived quite fast, but at the same time a lot had changed in the specter dimension

the lab that was previously there as an industrial-style concrete box had been completely recycled, and in his place, a brand new building was standing

the walls were transparent and from the outside one could see every model of cloudtrain, maru, scout, and fassa even starting from the swimming shoes

a copy of everything Daniel had ever invented, even the livebox and the meat pelletizer was carefully positioned in the giant glass building, that was something like a snow globe that had an illegitimate child with a museum

and above it, the entire cloud train was slowly flying in circles like a halo

after all, Daniel no longer needed the old lab, the one on the cloud train was much smaller but also much more advanced and resistant

this was also caused by the fact that while Daniel was away, an empty patch of land had already been chosen by Joseph and a defensive array had been carved in it where Daniel could freely explode anything without worrying about repercussions

the moment Vincent saw this structure envy clawed at every part of him, this was the ultimate display case in his mind, for a moment he entertained the thought of demolishing specter castle and building something similar

in reality, many men and women of the Specter family would be jealous of Daniel's new building he named the memory palace

it was built in a way that allowed the people to visit and walk through it taking a good look at the collection, Daniel had long thought about collecting every step of his inventions and was reminded for a moment that the real original maru v1 died working for anchor sand, the one in the museum was just a copy

as if it wasn't enough Tickles created plaques that gave an explanation of the history and use of these objects

Basically, Daniel was bored while he wasn't working on the cloaking shield project, and Tickles was a crazy zealot who had to sing his master praises, when the two mixed the synergy created this museum