Chapter 31

Integrating

After the incident, Frank was let go. He was even given a few days off for rest. Of course, Frank knew this for what it really was, time to observe Frank and see if he went running back to Constance.

For his part, Frank didn’t even feel the call or need to find Constance.

Instead, quite the opposite seemed to be the case, as unbeknownst to Frank, Constance was not doing well.

According to the team sent to monitor Constance, she was deteriorating. No, not just deteriorating, but seeming to have breaks within her body. Her once indomitable diamond like skin was now able to be pierced and cut, just as Frank had managed to do.

Of course, Frank knew nothing about this, as he was effectively sent back to his room to recuperate and adapt to the new realm he now found his body in.

“Hey kid, how you doing?” Holsy asked, checking in on Frank as was now his habit.

“I’m fine,” Frank replied.

Silence.

“Still as talkative as ever I see.” Holsy stated, then he added, "well that is likely a good thing. Otherwise, they would take worry with you.”

Seeing Holsy, Frank asked a question that was pressing on him. “Do you know when my family will be taken up here?”

Startled.

At that Holsy grabbed Frank by the arm and tried to pull him. Only for Holsy to realize that Frank was a lot more solid than he had given the kid credit for, as he just stayed in place.

“What are they feeding you, rocks?” Holsy asked, just shook his head. “No, never mind. Look we did you a solid, when we pulled up your feeds we disassociated all records with your old family from your actual district.”

“Why?” Frank asked, he remembered something like this being told, but now that he had more time to think about everything, this seemed to make no sense.

“Because, do you want your family a bunch of non-powered people living up here on the surface with you? They would get crushed. Also given that they are not strong enough to go out and farm for cultivation resources means they would effectively be at your mercy. So rather than just hunting for your own resources, you would also be forced to harvest resources for all the members of your family, effectively slowing down your progression rate and making it so you are easily controlled.”

Hearing him speak, Frank got the feeling that this guy was a borderline conspiracy theorist. That said, he did find a lot of truth with what Holsy was saying.

Holsy reading Frank’s face seemed that more was needed to convince the boy.

“Think about it? Your rise is considered meteoric, but did you do anything truly crazy?”

With that Frank began to think and realized that by most people’s standards what he did could be considered a little unhinged.

“Never mind, you are likely a bad example. But still, just imagine you being forced to share your resources with your parents and brother while you are at this stage?”

Hearing that, Frank realized something.

“So, the plan is to wait until I improve a bit more, then bring my family up, once my cultivation is settled?”

“Yes, exactly.” Holsy replied.

There was silence for a moment as Frank processed these words. Then finally after a few minutes he nodded to himself and replied with one word.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Holsy asked, making sure that Frank was in on the plan.

“Yes.” Frank confirmed.

“Phew, I was worried there you’d put us all in jeopardy.”

At that Frank paused, and seemed to realize something. Holsy seeing the look on Frank’s face had to ask.

“What’s wrong?”

Frank debated for a moment, then asked. “So I take it, you couldn’t pass along a message to my parents?”

At that Holsy’s face dropped. “Sorry, right now they think you are dead. They even got a survivors bonus since you hadn’t started your life as an adult officially. It’s not the best news, but they did get a government paycheck for your loss.”

At that Frank could only nod.

Then pausing, Frank asked, “aren’t you afraid of people listening in on this conversation?”

“I would be, if I wasn’t so good at sound modulations. That is part of my mid-tier air affinity, I can manipulate the air waves around us so that any listening devices will be distorted.”

At that Frank could only nod before stating, “that must help with keeping stealthy approaches and exits from areas.”

“Hey, you’ve got a good head. Yes, that is part of my skill set.”

Awkard tension.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

At this point it was clear that the majority of the conversation had gone its normal path, but for whatever reason Holsy was still here.

“So, what else did you want to talk about?” Frank asked.

Holsy first looked confused, then seeing Frank’s gaze he could only shake his head.

“Look, I need your help.” Holsy stated.

“My help?”

“Yes,” Holsy began, but then caught himself as he clearly looked flustered for this.

“It’s about the incoming Armed Forces ball, I have a huge favor to ask.” Holsy said, while not making eye contact with Frank. This was one of the few times when Holsy didn’t make some approximation of eye contact with Frank. That along with the fact that Holsy seemed to be reddening slightly in the face showed that for the first time, Holsy was not confident in what he was going to ask.

“Yes, I’ve heard about it.”

“Well, I was wondering if you already had a date for the dance?”

Hearing that from Holsy and seeing his obvious embarrassment at the question, Frank felt that something was off, but for the life of him he couldn’t understand what.

“Um, you’re awesome and all, but would this cause issues?” Frank asked, trying to avoid answering if at all possible.

“What? Me, no, my sister. I have a little sister and she saw your dance moves. Then I bragged about knowing you. Then she said prove it. Then there was this big thing where she promised to introduce me to her team member if I introduced you to her and got her to be your date for the dance.” Holsy blathered out.

Hearing him go on, Frank could only stare at the man who up until a few moments ago was listed as one of his saviors. After this display of, whatever it was, Frank still had the man in high regards, but suddenly thought of him as more human.

Honestly, the whole thing seemed to be a hassle, but given that Holsy had done so much for him up to this point, this seemed like a relatively minor request. Though he had to double check to make sure.

“Let me get this straight. You want me to go on a double date with you, your sister, and your sister’s teammate. You are setting me up with your sister, so that your sister will set you up with her teammate, is that correct?” Frank asked.

Holsy thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah, that was probably a lot clearer than what I was trying to say.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

Frank nodded. At this Holsy relaxed, knowing that this was a good as Frank signing his name in concrete to cement the deal. That was until a confused look came to Frank’s face.

“Well, there is one problem.”

“What?”

“I don’t know what to wear.”

“You know what, since this is a favor to me, don’t worry. I’ll help you get your uniform up to code and provide everything you will need for my sister.”

At that Frank could only nod, though it was clear he was thinking about something.

“What are you thinking about?”

At that Frank who had been willing to hold back his thoughts finally found himself asking.

“Is she worth it?”

“My sister, of course she…” Holsy began, getting slightly indignant at the idea that Frank would question his sister. But before he could get too far, Frank corrected him.

“No, the girl that your sister is going to set you up with, is she worth it?”

At that Holsy just paused and looked at Frank for a moment. “You ever have that one girl who you know is perfect, that just by looking at her you know she is a million miles out of your league. But you know if she just gave you one chance you would pounce on it with all your life to give it the shot that you would never doubt. A million years from now, you would look back and say with confidence that it wasn’t meant to be, but I did try my absolute best to get her attention.”

Hearing that Frank could only nod, before adding. “I never pictured you for a romantic.”

At that, Frank thought back to his own unrequited love, that of Maddie, who might never get a chance to leave the slums. Seeing Holsy, and sort of seeing him as a role model, Frank realized that this would at least be good practice for when or if he ever got a chance with Maddie.

“Alright, let’s do it.” Frank said.

“Alright, my man.” Holsy said, patting Frank on the shoulder and then continued, “don’t worry about a thing. Just be ready to go tomorrow night. I have to go now to get everything ready.”

Frank just nodded, before an excited Holsy seemed to leave the area in a whirlwind of frenzy as he darted past and around students. Students who Frank was just now realizing had been watching him the entire time.

Seeing them all there, his peers, staring at him with clear disdain on their faces, Frank could only put up the barrier. This was the mental wall that protected him from such glares.

When he was younger, this was what he would do, he would center his mind and let all outside distractions wash away from him.

He was the oddity, not only was he a cultivator of dark energy, but now he had somehow risen to the Blood Cultivation realm.

This was another reason why he had been given time to relax, as his uniforms were being altered to express his new rank.

To make matters worse, he didn’t know what happened, but he had not seen either Dr. Evans, nor Major Demoniker since his transformation.

Instead, all he got was his reading taken. Not that Frank himself was allowed to get his readings, where not one, not even two, but three unique glyphs lit up on his body. Two of which were dark glyphs meaning that they were related to the darkness element.

Thinking back, Frank wondered if these two glyphs had anything to do with the odd dream he had. The one where the robed figure and the vampire queen both seemed to fight over him. The whole thing seemed so surreal, like his mind instinctively knew what was happening to him, and then came up with images to explain everything in a way he could understand.

Looking back, he thought about the one dream he had where the vampire queen bit his arm, only for him to then be awoken back to life on the death row run.

That of course sparked memories of the nice delivery driver who stayed with him and gave him someone to talk to. He remembered she had a nice voice, though thinking back it had been so long since he last spoke to her and there was a slight distortion to her sound that he wondered if he would ever have a chance to talk to that girl.

Then just as he had this thought, a shy female all but forced her way forward, impeding his path.

“Hello there. I mean, hey.” The fellow student said.

Glancing quickly, Frank looked for the important markers. She was a C Ranker with a second affinity and had five slashes on her right arm. A quick glance showed that her last name was Song, and she was still in the Body Cultivation phase. Meaning technically, he shouldn’t be talking to her as he now out ranked her, at least according to accomplishments. That said, it was hard to prove anything to anyone at this point given that he didn’t have a proper uniform to wear at this point and was left to walk around with civilians while his new uniform was being adjusted.

For her part the girl was quite pretty. Though she lacked the glowing hair of an underground cultivator, like Frank, her hair was pretty. Black with a hint of blueish tint at the ends. Seeing the hair, Frank wondered if she had any ancestors who spent time in the slums.

“Hello,” Frank said, trying to be courteous, but also realizing that this was likely a mock date event. Or something similar. Given how many people were constantly staring at him, and watching him, Frank felt that this was likely an ambush of some kind. The classic a pretty girl comes, asks him out, and then never comes or worse, does invite him out, they go out. She seems to enjoy the time, only to then break up with him horribly for all to see, all while Luther Camello laughs. Of course, Luther Camello is dead, but those memories are hard to remove.

Also, it is a lot safer to be guarded.

Hell just earlier this week Frank had his own mind spliced open by an elder vampire that he had foolishly let his guard down around.

In fact, had it been anyone other than Holsy who posed the idea of a double date with him, he would have quickly shut that line down. The only reason he felt somewhat comfortable with Holsy was due to just how much he had been through with Holsy, and for everything that happened Holsy had been the most open and honest of individuals.

Even Dr. Evans seemed to be hiding things from him, what with the oversized lab coat made for a male that had the name Evans clearly sewn into it. Then there was the seeming familiarity with the vampire patient, and it was clear that Dr. Evans too had her own secrets. Secrets that almost cost Frank his very sanity, had he not noticed the deception.

To this day, he still checked and found himself doubting his own sanity, wondering if there might have been more that the vampire was able to slip past his defenses. In that field, Frank had to admit that he was exceptionally outclassed, which was why he wanted to be extra cautious from here on out. Thus when the pretty girl came out of nowhere and began talking to him, Frank was hesitant to say the least.

When that same person came with an dozen or more gawkers and gazers, Frank couldn’t help but be wary. Still, proper decorum would dictate that he at least be cordial, lest he get made out to be the bad guy from the start.

“We, uh, haven’t met, but I was wondering if you might have a date for the dance tomorrow?” The girl asked awkwardly. After she was done talking, she bit her lower lip in a cute way and she had an expressive way of talking with her hands by nervously pushing them together.

Watching her Frank could tell that she was nervous, though for his part Frank had grown to associate this with the girl being nice, but being put up to ask him out by others. This was why he asked what happened next.

“Tell me, you were put up to this?”

“What, how did you…” The girl stammered out.

With that Frank just nodded, and then gave a look around at all the gawkers before walking away. This time he was glad he avoided any awkward situations before they happened.

“Wait, you didn’t answer.” The girl asked, suddenly running to catch up with Frank who was speed walking away. Not going fast enough to run, but quickly enough that the girl who was not a Life energy expert had to sprint to catch up.

“I already have a date, thank you.” Frank said in as nice of a tone as he could manage.

“Oh, okay then.” The girl said, slowing down and looking somewhat dejected as she came to a complete stop.

Seeing that she was done chasing him, Frank let out a sigh of relief, as he was once again glad to have met Holsy. Now he had a date to the dance, and felt relatively confident that Holsy would set him up for success, especially as he wanted to be with a friend of his sisters.

The entire thing seemed off, but for now Frank was glad he mostly avoided being made fun of.

Had he turned back he would have seen Bethany Song, the girl he outright rejected looking somewhat miserable at the rejection. Worse still, she saw the way others who had witnessed the display both pity her and look at her with glaring scoffs.

Seeing the gazes, Bethany questioned her choice of wishing to be forced to have a second awakening so she could be here and live through this humiliation.

But before they could see her even appear weak, she took in a deep breath forcing her back to straighten. Then she calmly but briskly began walking away.

What Frank didn’t know, was that the reason why everyone was out and about was not gawk at him. Rather everyone had been let go from their Friday classes early, so that they could all make final preparations to attend the annual Armed Forces Ball. This was everyone’s chance to see the current and future leaders of the world. Here they would be introduced to what many would consider to be the royalty of the cultivation world.

This was an important time, and one that everyone who attended would remember where they were when everything finally unfolded.

Yet, no one was prepared for what would happen next.