After giving it some thought, Will decided not to say anything. They had broken up well before the virus outbreak and he had already moved on a very long time ago. Will scarcely even remembered her and getting involved with Celia would most likely distract him from his plans. The two had separated in the first life, and although it was a bit premature this time around, they would separate in this life as well.
Will spent the entire shift taking note of any items that he may need in the future and bumbling about until one of his supervisors admonished him for not doing his job. Although he found out that there were no employee discounts, he did get a free membership.
After work, he bought a tub of protein supplement then dropped by a nearby community center he had found online and signed up for the gym. The community center was also incidentally right next to his high school. After what he would consider a light workout with a large focus on cardio, his body already started giving up on him.
It's going to take some time to get back into shape.
Will arrived home completely exhausted but he did get to sit down and enjoy a homecooked meal for the first time in years. After dinner, Will finally had the free time to sit down and research something he had been curious about ever since he learned about it in the future. Something that would be very important to his survival in future.
[Mental Power].
Because of the lack of infrastructure in the future, it became very hard to find information online, especially with so many servers shut down. Therefore Will was appreciative being able to use a fully intact internet.
[Mental Power] was something that was kept confidential by the government and the company Will worked for. The short briefing Will received explained that [Mental Power] prevented people from losing their minds from high exposure to the virus, and at high enough levels, ESP—extrasensory perception, was possible.
He wasn't exactly sure by what means but Will believed that this was related to how Sara had been able to send him back. Meaning that this was a power that would be extremely useful in the future and if Will couldn't figure out how to unlock ESP, he had to at least raise his [Mental Power] as high as possible.
After 15 years, the highest level Will achieved was only Category 2. He knew that his [Bloodline] couldn't compete with the elites of the world and so Will felt that [Mental Power] was his path to power in this life.
Details were not given out on how to raise one's mental power but Will had a very strong lead. At the end, when he was being absorbed by the Adephagia Virus and his mental power was lowering, Will's Neural-Chip had detected a large decrease in activity from the prefrontal cortex.
Will's research on how to strengthen the prefrontal cortex showed him that it could be achieved through meditation. After reading through some articles about meditation and breathing techniques, Will sat back, closed his eyes, and gave it a try.
Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. In. Out.
After about half an hour of the breathing exercise he felt he wasn't accomplishing anything. His mind constantly wandered and he didn't feel any different. Will looked up another breathing technique and tried it instead. Will constantly changed breathing techniques and different styles of meditation to find one that would work. This continued for three hours until his mom came in and interrupted him.
"What are you doing?" She questioned.
"Meditating."
She gave him a strange look. "Are you trying to achieve enlightenment? Never mind. Take out the trash." She turned around, shaking her head and muttered to herself. "This crazy kid thinks he's an immortal now."
After stepping out to finish the task assigned to him and taking a breather, Will decided that perhaps meditation wasn't for him or maybe he just needed more practice. When he returned to his room he continued his research on strengthening the prefrontal cortex and found one that might be more applicable to him.
Playing games. Specifically puzzle games. Therefore Will spent the rest of the night getting the rust out of his gears and brushing up on on his gaming skills that had been left untouched for 15 years.
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Will opened his eyes in the middle of the night to see himself being swallowed by a mass of flesh. It expanded and burst against the walls of his room consuming parents.
"William! William!" They called out to him.
The monstrosity constantly expanded more and more, absorbing all of their neighbours and soon the entire apartment complex was consumed. But it wasn't satisfied with that and continued latching onto nearby buildings.
As it expanded, Will was pulled deep down into the core of the mass. There he saw a bloody and disfigured face with no skin. Looking into its eyes was like looking down into an endless abyss of suffering and misery. The face opened it's mouth and spoke to him.
"William." Sara's voice called out.
Will startled awake exhaling out the breath he had been holding.
"William." His mom shook his shoulder.
"Huh?"
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"You didn't set your alarm? It's time for breakfast, go washup." She gestured outside his room with the spatula in her hand before returning to the kitchen.
"Yeah..." Will sat up on his bed and rested his head in his hands for a moment. "Shit..."
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After breakfast, Will noticed that his dad was preparing to go out.
"Where you going dad?"
"Going out for some errands."
Will immediately thought of something and limped off to his room to get dressed up. "I'm coming too. I need to go to the bank."
"What's wrong with you?" His dad asked.
"I went to gym yesterday." Will's entire body was completely sore and it was only now he fully realized how out of shape he really used to be.
"The gym? You!?" His dad exclaimed in disbelief. Both his parents found the piece of news unbelievable and began discussing something between themselves while Will limped away.
He returned to room and opened up his closet. What he saw almost blinded him. The only shirts he owned were designer shirts with extremely colorful and gaudy art taking up most of the space. Many of them had featured skulls or the use of glitters. Will grabbed one shirt at random. This one had a depiction of a throne with a crown on top and was engulfed by an angel's wings. There was almost no blank space on the shirt that went unused.
I actually wore this stuff? I'll be first to be noticed in a crowd and targeted if I wear any of this.
In the end, Will gave up after searching through everything and not finding anything normal, other than his work polo. He went over to his parents room and picked out one of his dad's dress shirts to pair with his jeans and jacket.
"Okay, let's go." He said to his dad when he returned to the living room.
"Don't forget to pickup some eggs." His mom reminded as they were putting on their shoes.
"What do you need go for the bank for?" His dad asked on the way to the car.
"I don't need to go to the bank. At least not yet."
"You don't? Then why did you say you need to go to the bank?"
"Why did you say you were going out for some errands?" Will countered.
"Ahh..." Papa Lee had a look of understanding. "You knew."
"Sort of."
If it was the past Will, he wouldn't understand what his dad was referring to. But it was one of the regrets both father and son carried after the virus outbreak. Something that Will was determined to change.
"Is that my shirt?"
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They pulled into the parking lot of an old apartment complex. The building looked like it had been built in the 1950s. It was constructed with bricks but the color was starting to wear off, red fading to white. Will's muscles ached because they had to climb up the stairs to reach their destination. They were soon standing in front of a door waiting for the occupant to answer.
"Coming!" A muffled voice called out from the other side. The door opened and Will was greeted by a young woman he hadn't seen in 15 years. If one looked closely, they would see that she shared many facial features with the father and son pair. "Will! I didn't know you were coming."
"It's good to see you, Vivien." Will pulled her into a giant hug, feeling just as emotional as when he had met his parents yesterday.
"It's good to see you too. Don't you have work today?"
"I have an afternoon shift." Will said as his dad barged into the apartment.
"Where's Casey!?" Papa Lee called out in a high tone. "Where's Casey?"
Childish laughter immediately responded to him and a little girl that was only a year and a half soon waddled her way out into the small living room. Will and his sister joined them as Papa Lee was playing airplane with a jubilant Casey.
"Casey, look who's here." Vivien said, Papa Lee brought her over to meet Will. "Do you remember who this is?"
"Fatty Lee!" Will was dumbstruck at the nickname that came out of his niece's mouth.
"Who's teaching her these things?" Will demanded in mock anger but he was glad to finally meet all his family members again.
His older sister was 20 years old now but she was already pregnant with Casey when she was still 18 years. Their mother had been completely furious when she found out about the pregnancy and immediately disowned Vivien, kicking her out of the house. Vivien and Casey had gone missing after the virus outbreak and both Will and his father had been full of grief. They regretted the way things had turned out. Now that Will was back, he would make sure things turned out differently.
"Haven't seen you in awhile." An East Indian young man suddenly entered the living room. He came up to Will and they shook hands. "How's it going, Will?"
"It's going great. How about you, James?"
"Hon." James greeted Papa Lee, who was still playing with little Casey and nodded in return. "Not bad, I got promoted, so we're looking for a new place to move to.
"Have you decided yet?"
"Not yet." James gestured at the dining table where a stack of real estate listings laid.
"James wants to mortgage instead of rent." Vivien elaborated on the reason for their indecision.
"That's smart, investing your money into a house." Will browsed through the listings while James gave Vivien a look that said 'See?'. Vivien rolled her eyes in response. "What did dad say?"
"As long as we're close." She said.
"Close is good! Family is good!" Papa Lee added in English.
"But what if we need to move again? What if James' position at work changes again? We also have to pay taxes and insurance. And if something happens to the house we also have to pay for repairs, especially with these as our choices." Vivien gestured at the listings in Will's hands.
"But the market is pretty good right now to buy." James replied. That opened the flood gates as the couple began arguing their point back and forth, but Will had stopped listening. His attention had been caught by the address on one of the listings. He rapidly pulled out his phone almost dropping it as he flailed around to catch it.
"Be careful with that." His sister said.
Will pulled up Goorple Maps and searched the address. What he saw confirmed his suspicions.
"You have to get this place!" Will chirped excitedly, pointing at the listing he was looking at. "No matter what."
"Why this place?" James asked, holding out his hand. Will passed him the phone.
"It's a mortgage." Vivien said unenthusiastically after glancing at the listing.
"Because the land value in that area will go up by a LOT in the future." Will explained.
"How do you know?" Vivien asked.
"A buddy of mine told me." Will made up something on the spot before quickly changing the subject. "Anyways, you have to trust me or you'll regret it. I can help you pay off the place."
"You don't need to do that. But how much is it going to go up?"
"More than double." Will knew that it would go up much higher than that. The land value of that property would be worth at least 10 times more in the future. The reason for the massive rise being...
"There's nothing in the area." James exclaimed after looking through the map. "All I see are farms and...a military base?"
That's exactly why. That place is going to be one of the safest places to live and it has a renewable food source. If they moved into that place Will wouldn't need to worry about them anymore.
"Are you sure about the land value?" Vivien asked worriedly.
"I'm 100 percent sure. I'd bet my life on it." Will guaranteed.
"Well...we'll talk about it." Vivien said. Will could see that she wasn't as opposed as earlier while James was open to the idea. Papa Lee leaned in over James' shoulder, taking a peek at the map.
"Wah! So far!"