As we leave I can see on the map mode that all but one of the Institute members have buggered off, as a group we walk down the road to a tall five story building with fancy signage and outdoor dining areas. The last Institute guy stays where he is.

As we walk through the massive dining area filled with people, Carson talks to one of the receptionists, “Hi there, can you let Cheryl know we're here and can we book a quiet room.” “Of course Master Carson, your normal room is available.”

We move inside into a Hoist and move up to the fifth floor, we exit into a corridor lined with a blue carpet and polished wooden walls carved with all forms of animals, flowering plants and Air Domain cities floating in the sky.

The Air Domain cities look like a cumulonimbus cloud, the base of it closest to the ground being considered outskirts while the main vertical part is filled with cities and houses made of cloud. The Anvil of the cloud (the top flat bit) is reserved for the more royal and well to do residents of the Air Domain.

Entering into a large room it has a low table and cushions on the floor for seating with a small array of crystals at one end of the table. As we are seated the door opens and an older Elf woman appears, “Hello Carson, anything you’d like to order?”

“Send up several dishes please Cheryl, we’re going to have a relaxed celebration over lunch and would like not to be disturbed.” “Of course, food will be brought up in a few minutes. Let me know if you need anything else.”

As she leaves she places down some glasses and a glass jug of water, Lockness has been looking around the room a bit in awe and I agree, there are massive wooden carvings of all sorts of creatures covering the entire roof and walls. “Guess wood carvings are quite popular here eh?” I ask.

“Yes, now before we discuss anything let me turn on the privacy system.” Carson fills one of the crystals near him with mana and the walls shimmer a little before clearing. “Now before we start I would like to say congratulations, I hope both of you become great Adventurers!”

“Goalial!” they cheer with water glasses raised high, it translates as Cheers! As we all drink and start talking with different conversations going on Proctor Wellingpar turns to me and asks “What do you say on Earth Michael?”

“Oh several things, depends on the region. Cheers is what we normally say back home.”

“I was most impressed with your abilities, how did you know I had teleported behind you?”

“My clones retain their memories when they disappear or poof I like to say. When number 4 as we call him saw you teleport he poofed back into smoke and his memory of your teleport was immediately given to me. I am actually quite interested in your teleport Power, I was thinking of a Creation Power for short and long range teleportation so I am curious how it works for you.”

“I look at a location within 30 metres of me that I can see and then my body and the air of that location are swapped, when I was testing Lock you may have noticed that the weapon I had taken dropped out of my then mana made arms, that is because it is only teleporting things I am directly wearing or holding.”

“That is quite interesting, do you know the process? Like what the Power is actually doing?”

Wellingpar is a little confused at this “Just that I know it is swapping our locations?” I nod, my thinking for a teleport Power needs further research and thinking but there are a few methods we can try.

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Swapping bodies and matter like his Power, wormhole/portal travel, Transporter travel like in Star Trek, there are quite a few methods out there. Something for number 2 to investigate, he’s taken up investigating things.

“Do you have any feedback for us?” asks Lockness, “Yes actually, Michael, your pillars of stone that you shot out could have been much smaller and done the same damage but with a sharpened tip. Lockness, you did well but you did lose your weapon and had to use your Lightning Field to turn that around.”

“But in saying that, both of you did well considering your experience and how many powers you each have so for now I would suggest taking on some simple missions and earn some money to purchase Taught Powers that would compliment you.”

“Sounds like a plan, Lockness you willing to join up together?”, “Sure, I’d be down to join a party with you.”

At that a knock on the door sounds and Carson turns off the privacy system, the door opens to several waitresses who bring in several platters of dishes, cut meats, cheeses, a soup noodle dish and several fruits and vegetables of which some I recognise from Farmers Rest Island.

We spend most of that afternoon drinking, eating, listening to stories and joking around, Carson while very stoic is also quite jolly, Bertinald has a hobby of making clothing and Hope jewellery, Lockness spent most of his younger years learning from his grandfather, a retired Adventurer and he wants to continue his grandfather's “Lightning Legacy” as he calls it.

Wellingpar has a Taught Power called “Cliffna’s Ethereal Instruments” ethereal musical instruments playing, a whole orchestra of live phantasm music. I pulled up some music from the memory crystal and Wellingpar did a good rendition of Ode to Joy and actually quite likes listening to 1817 Overture, finds it amusing that bell towers and cannons were used and wants to add it to his Power.

I did promise that I will share more music once I have a translation for lyrics, these guys are gonna love Rock and Roll!

I introduced Koda and Wojtek to the others, turns out they can change their size and so became the size of a bear cub, playing around and even eating some cuts of meat. They are indeed intelligent, responding to conversations somewhat with their limited intelligence.

I was going to create numbers 1 and 2 but they are currently working on stuff at the moment so I pulled up numbers 3 and 4 who joined us in the celebrations, number 3 got into a drinking contest with Hope and number 4 got many congratulations for spotting Wellingpar when he teleported during the exam.

I'll have to pay back numbers 1 and 2 some other way later, I did not expect it to go for this long! Overnight we did come up with some questions and so had a quick chat with Carson while Hope and Number 3 were almost passed out. “Master Carson, how did that pen detect that I was an OutWolder?”

“A series of Pens were created by an OutWolder many years ago, some 300 years ago I think? Wellingpar was it Opakkap or Pletsun who created the OutWolder Pens?”

“Bloompool Bopo, your memory going old man?”, “Haha maybe!”

“I was also wondering why the city guards didn’t go after me, I mean the Institute must have had a reason to check me out?”

“Yes, so when you passed through the gates there was a crystal which scans people as they pass through, a report by the guard lets them know if it is a possible false alarm. You mentioned before that you were wearing an OutWolder amulet, that's reason enough for them to suspect it being a false alarm.”

“Now the Institute has their own measures but basically the report shows the probability of a person being an OutWolder, I think it's something like 30% probability they will check it out. They may have seen or heard that you held the pen so then that confirmed it.”

Number 4 turns from talking with Bertinald and asks, “You also mentioned an announcement or something?” “Yes, an interview or we can just put out a bulletin that an OutWolder has joined our branch. I am assuming though that you’ll be making an announcement yourself at some point?”

“Yeap, I was thinking of a book with an image crystal that would contain tons of information about Earth. You can add that to the announcement, that should hold them off for the time being. Then I can get started with some projects I want to try.”

“Actually, I wonder how Numbers 1 and 2 are doing right now…”