Nate glanced at the time and then at his phone. The discussion with his parents had taken a little longer than he’d thought it would. It was already creeping towards the afternoon, and he wasn’t sure he really wanted to disturb Angie anymore.

Maybe he should just try to get some more cultivating in while he could. After his efforts earlier, he could feel that he was finally beginning to make progress at last. It was still slower than grabbing the orbs from inside the dungeon, but this way was more reliable.

There was no guarantee he would get an orb every time he killed a monster. Or that he would even be able to kill a monster every night.

Without access to his meridians and core, he was the weakest thing inside the dungeon. Not to mention he had no idea how to handle his kukri blades, and it was a recipe that depended more on luck than skill. Which is exactly what he had gotten so far, for the most part, lucky. There was very little skill involved in his kills.

At least by cultivating properly, he was attempting to take control of his destiny, as it were.

His phone rang just as he was about to set it to the side, Angie’s name appearing on the screen as the caller.

A hint of apprehension balled itself tightly into the pit of his stomach as he answered the call. “Hello?”

“Nate, my father wants to meet you.” She announced without hesitation, dropping a bomb on him without even greeting him.

He blinked and pulled the phone away before bringing it back to his ear. “Angie? I think I just heard something really odd. Could you repeat that, please?” The knot in his stomach tightened in on itself.

“You heard correctly; my father wants to meet you. He wants to meet the person we’re getting this batch of medicine for.”

He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. “Um, when?” He croaked.

“Now, a car should be arriving outside your house shortly. I would suggest getting cleaned up, so you appear presentable when you appear before my father.” She hinted.

“Right, I’ll do that. Angie, we’re going to talk about this later.” He hung up and bolted for the shower.

It was one of the quickest showers of his life. He still made sure he was clean, but there was absolutely nothing relaxing about the affair. He was in and out as fast as possible.

Nate was pulling on his shoes when the doorbell downstairs rang. The last thing he grabbed was his phone, shoving it in his pocket as he ran for the stairs.

“Hello?”

He heard his mother say as she answered the door.

“Is Master Nathaniel Holmes ready?” A cultured voice asked from outside.

He breathlessly came up behind his mother and tapped her on the back. “I got this, mom. Angelica’s father wanted to see me for something. I’ll be back later, I guess.” He finished in a bare whisper.

“Um, alright, be careful, honey.” She said worriedly as he walked out the door.

Nate flashed her a tight smile and followed after the nameless driver. At the same time, he wanted to curse out Angie and her parents. The driver they had sent was only a little weaker than his own parents! Talk about sending a signal of power to someone.

You’re so weak that I have people at your level working as nothing more than chauffeurs.

Granted, it was possible he was reading a little too much into the situation, but he doubted it. Someone had already started playing power games against either him or his parents.

He waited until they were inside the car before starting to ask his questions. “Are you normally a driver for random people?”

“No, Master Holmes, I normally serve the young miss as her personal driver.” Was the prompt reply.

Nate mulled that over for a moment. It meant that he was more than likely also her bodyguard then.

“Who asked you to pick me up?” If it was Angie, then it was understandable, since he was her personal driver. However, if it was someone else, then the games truly had begun.

The driver glanced at him through the rearview mirror before answering. “The young lady’s mother ordered me to come and pick you up.”

Nate frowned. “I don’t suppose you would have any idea why she would ask someone such as you to perform this task. Surely any of the family’s drivers could have accomplished it just as easily?”

A slight smile tugged at the corner of the driver’s lips before vanishing just as quickly. “That is very true, however, most of the drivers are not as… capable as I am. Don’t you feel safer with someone like me at the wheel?”

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“Hmm, yes, I suppose I do.” He settled back in the comfortable seat of the car and looked out the window, his mind racing.

That answered his question. The driver had been specifically chosen because of his strength. What was her mother trying to say by doing something as petty as this though?

Frankly, it pissed him off more than it made him feel inferior.

He was sure the woman probably had her reasons, just as he was sure that they were likely inane and stupid beyond belief. Most times, power games seemed to stem from stupidity. Which was odd, considering the people themselves were generally quite bright.

Either way, he wasn’t going to get involved if he could help it and if he couldn’t… Well, he’d make sure to get as much as he could out of the deal for the trouble it caused him.

Outside the window, the city streets flashed past as they wound their way toward an older part of the city.

Nate spoke up one last time as the car slowed and they pulled up to a closed gate. “Any tips or words of advice you’d be willing to share with me? Something that might help me get through whatever is about to happen.”

The driver glanced back at him through the mirror as he waited for the gate to open. “I do have two tips, ones that even I follow when possible. Avoid the Lady Chrighton when possible. The mistress can be difficult to deal with if she doesn’t care for you. As for the master of the house, he prefers bluntness and honesty, over doublespeak and hidden agendas.”

“Thank you,” Nate said, licking his dry lips.

He was finding it hard to remember that these people were not one of the main powers in the city. By the standards of this world, their yard was absolutely massive. It was a display of absolute wealth and power.

On Old Earth, it wasn’t anything special, but here the roughly acre and a half that he could see was a definite status symbol. The entire city was surrounded by a wall designed to keep the invading monsters out. That meant that every inch inside was precious. Almost everyone lived inside skyscraping apartments and condos, or thin but tall duplexes. Only the extremely rich still had houses with yards larger than a postage stamp.

Somehow, he had gotten mixed up with one of those families. It was intimidating in a way because he knew what it was supposed to represent and relaxing at the same time. The lack of greenery outside his window for the last few months had been more disturbing than he liked to admit. Finally, seeing a decent amount of grass was nice.

The sight offset some of what was about to happen.

Nate smiled grimly at the driver as he opened the door for him a minute later. The house was three stories tall, with a concrete foundation that hinted at there being at least one basement floor. The carport overhang that they were currently under extended all the way to the front door. It would give people plenty of cover, even during the winter.

A maid opened the door as he approached and led him through a relatively small foyer to a sitting room off to the side.

“Master Chrighton will be with you shortly. If you will please wait here until he is ready to see you?” She gave him a small bow and left the room without waiting for a response.

He collapsed onto a nearby couch, his mind whirling. This was not anything like what he had been expecting from Angie’s family. He hadn’t really known enough to form a coherent image of her family, but it certainly wasn’t this.

The door opened and Angie slipped inside.

“How are you doing?” She whispered.

“How am I supposed to answer that, Angie? I have no idea what’s going on!” He hissed back to her. “All I can really say right now is that this place is not what I was expecting for your home. You mentioned your family was spread throughout several cities, so I was thinking you were some kind of, I don’t know, semi-powerful merchant family. Not this!”

“Yeah,” She drew the word out and tickled her chin. “I might not have told you everything. Um, sorry?”

He gave her a blank-faced stare. “I think that’s kind of obvious by now.” Nate groaned and sank into the back of the comfortable couch. “Whatever. What does your dad even want with me? And don’t tell me he brought me out here just so he could meet me. That’s something out of a bad anime plot.”

“Anime?”

Nate stopped and blinked at her obvious confusion. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen any anime since he’d been here. The internet existed, but it only connected everything on their current continent. Creating an underwater pipe network like what they had done before was impossible here.

There were dimensional zones out in the ocean. The monsters out there would destroy anything they tried to build instantly, assuming the people even survived long enough to make the effort.

Each continent remained in contact with the others through different means, but high-bandwidth internet was not one of them.

“It’s a type of show,” He told her after a few moments, wishing he hadn’t said anything at all. It was an innocuous comment by itself, but still, one that would seem odd if she decided to look up its meaning.

Which he thought was highly likely. Oh, well, there was nothing he could do about it now, except be more careful in the future.

“Well?” He prodded, refocusing her attention on the question he had asked.

“Daddy does want to meet you, but no, that isn’t why he had you brought here so suddenly.” Angie stood up and walked over to the window. “What can you tell me about what happened to you when you were attacked?”

“What? I don’t understand?” Nate sat up in confusion, his mind scrambling to keep up with the sudden change.

“I assume you’ve been watching the news surrounding the structure, right?”

“Yeah, of course. My parents were put on probation because they refused to go on such an obvious death trip. What does that have to do with any-“ A lightbulb went off inside his mind. “Ohhh, the signs.”

She gave a short single nod. “As soon as father saw those, he knew he had to distance himself from those families. Any cultivator, or being powerful enough to create a building around a dimensional portal, is someone we can’t afford to be on the wrong side of.”

“And so naturally you remembered what happened to me and thought what? That by aligning yourself with me, you would be quasi-aligning yourself with that person?” He asked doubtfully.

“Not quite, more like by aligning with you, we would be declaring where we stood. Nothing more. That’s why I was wondering if you remembered what had happened during the attack.”

“Oh, well, I hate to break it to you, but I don’t remember anything. The entire event is gone, and a fair chunk of my life before it, along with it.” He told her grimly, his lips set in a line. “When they interrupted the ceremony, it was just as I was about to create my core… In other words, just when all the energy I had gathered was at its most volatile. It decimated my meridians, my core,” He shrugged. “My memories, all so they could have a brief moment of violence against someone they had never met before.”