It was the nearly midnight, and TaeJean's body was glowing with a soft cobalt blue aura that was slowly fading until it finally dissipated into wisps of energy around his body. At this time, he had gone through the cycle of battling the constructs of light 5 more times. The third time, he even asked Ameer to add one more. The final two cycles added the usage of projectile weapons that mimicked air canons, using the various pieces of junk in the yard as projectiles. The signs of the battles were all throughout the area. There were fallen junk piles, shattered car frames, several ruptured dumpsters, and a few craters.
Within in the day he had mastered the three basic principles, as well as switching between the three states in succession, thus beginning to master precision control of his power. He had trained for over 12 hours straight, only stopping to eat two pizzas Ameer brought him around 5 hours ago. He devoured both with no issues which was strange to T.J. because he was lactose intolerant. Yet his stomach didn’t have the “bubble guts” as he called them. He figured it was an effect of the S.A.N.S
As TaeJean deactivated his power for the last time that day, Ameer's limo appeared. He got out of the car and approached the boy. “Long day?”, he asked. T.J. responded ,“I’m finally just now getting tired. But I think I got the hang of the basics. So when will I learn the rest?” Ameer: “When your magic teacher gets here. She’s on vacation at the moment. You can also watch the videos she made on the next steps which are Property Shifts and discovering your first Potency." T.J. raised his eye-brow and asked, "Property Shifts? Potency?" Ameer: "You know how it is called Conceptual Energy? Well we came up with that name, because it affects all concepts and their properties. There have always been gods and sprits of everything you can name. And everything has properties, both inherent and emergent. A Potency is a concept you have power over. You can enhance, reduce, or even add properties that aren't naturally apart of it. You get it?" TaeJean responded, "Ummm, I guess."
Ameer continued , "Well don't worry, you will learn. That aside, something interesting happened today, or I guess, yesterday. A few hours ago, a burst of electricity lit up a club house belonging to the Urban Devils. Everyone inside was found dead.” “Cory,” T.J. said. Ameer: “Indeed. He will likely be on the run since U.N.S.E.A is in the city. He is either hiding here, or has left already. We are scanning security footage and the like. Nothing has come up yet. He hasn’t returned to his group home and there haven’t been any robberies recently, but he needs money to get anywhere significant. When he moves, you should be ready for him. I see you’ve been training hard.” The man pointed to a pile of crushed cars as he finished his statement. A junkyard was the perfect place for a budding Soul Borg to practice getting a handle on their Conceptual Energy. TaeJean looked around and surveyed his work for the first time, and upon taking it all in, the boy realized he could really cause some damage. Training in the junkyard had an additional benefit. It offered various materials and objects to test his striking and lifting strength on. He had used punches, kicks, and throws and such on dozens of pieces of junk in the yard. He had figured out the precise strength needed to break or bend the various materials present, including the various metals.
T.J.: “Yeah. I noticed my body is pretty tough.” Ameer: “You have skin like unhardened concrete, sinew like steel, and bones like diamonds. You are more than just ‘tough’. Assuming his outburst today was his maximum energy output, you and Cory are about even in raw power. If you we’re to fight today, I would give you a 50% chance of beating him. However each day you have to prepare, your chances definitely double. Such is the strength of a Soul-Borg. You grow freakishly fast.”
The two entered Ameer's limo “Don’t worry. I'll let you settle the score, but just incase he does beat you, you won't be alone. There are 3 other kids on base, slightly older than you. But I know you two have lifelong personal problems, so I'll give you a crack at him, and it should be soon. U.N.S.E.A is closing in on him and he definitely knows it. The whole metro is locked down. Barricades everywhere. Even regular criminals are taking a break today. I’ll increase the drones I have scanning the city. He seems to be actively avoiding surveillance. Probably wearing a hoodie or flu mask.”
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“It’s weird that you have drones scanning the city.” T.J. says accidently aloud. He was still creeped out by the fact that Ameer had drones following him for days. “Such is the price of protection. Speaking of U.N.S.E.A, don’t ever get captured by them. They don’t even know magic exists. A lot of problems would occur if they or society as a whole knew we live in an Omnistic world.” “Omnistic?,” T.J. asked. Ameer: “All the myths are true. You’ll see later.” “Neat. Where we headed?,” TJ asked as he entered the limo. “Your new home,’ Ameer responded. “Don’t worry about the hospital by the way. You were covered in third degree burns, with organ damage, definitely a life long cripple. Replacing you with a fake for a few days and having you pass in your sleep is a simple enough task.” T.J.:“Well there won’t be a lot of people who miss me. Wheres my new home by the way?” Ameer responded, “My home for now. A secret base where you live like a rich kid. I am a freshly born billionaire after all. 2 years in February. Maybe I’ll throw a party.”
T.J. whistled…. “Wheeewww. Now we’re talking. You my new foster dad?” Ameer chuckled sarcastically. “Aha. No. I’m your boss, I don’t want kids. Speaking of, play nice with the others.” T.J.: "I never start problems, and I can't wait to meet the rest of my new foster family.” Ameer: “Oh, you got jokes huh?” T.J.: “I got a mom too?” Ameer: “No, but I have a wife.” T.J.: “She doesn’t want kids?” Ameer: “We can’t have kids” T.J.: “All the more reason to adopt.” Ameer responded. “It’s a bit more complicated than that.”
Finally they arrived at TaeJean's new home. On a 60 acre plot of land sat an eight story industrial building, the head quarters of Play Ray Enterprises. Behind it sat Ameer's mansion. It was a strange four story tall octagonal shaped building. It was completely black. The entire area was surround by a gate. And underneath all of this was the destination of the two. The limo drove past the game development studio to the mansion. Pulling into the long drive way which forked they drove towards the south western side of the mansion. The garage opened. The vehicle came to a halt perfectly in a rectangular parking space. The driver dissipated, and TJ realized they had been a hardened hologram the whole time. It was then he felt the car start to descend. “Don’t worry. You’ll live in the mansion. I just want to debrief you on a day at the office.”
TaeJean looked out the window. He whistled “Pheeeewwww. That’s a real big office.” TJ looked down at the facility, it gave the impression of an enormous aircraft hangar. He would later learn that the facility contained four layers, and that each layer was 10,000 square meters., with several rooms and laboratories through out. T.J. wondered how Ameer was able to keep all this hidden. He also saw dozens of employees. He didn’t count them, but T.J. estimate there were at least 30 employees currently visible to him.
“Now, let’s take a look at the first day of the rest of your life shall we?” Ameer stepped out of the limo, and T.J. followed right behind. They were on the lowest level. He then sensed someone else's Conceptual Energy. T.J. looked up at a ledge and saw another boy looking in his direction. He appeared to be of East Asian descent, and had long dark hair. The two boys stared at each other for a few seconds, when suddenly a beautiful South Sudanese woman came over to Ameer and T.J. “You must be TaeJean. It’s so good to finally meet you!” She smiled and spoke like they had been long time pin pals meeting for the first time in person. She reached out and shook T.J.’s hand. Ameer spoke up. “TaeJean, meet Cherrae, my wife. Respect her as you would me.” “Yessir,” T.J. responded.
“Now, shall we get to touring?” Ameer said. Cherrae responded, “I’ll talk to you later. My work day is over. I’m going to sleep early today.” So the woman walked away. T.J. looked at Ameer. “I like her. She’s friendly.” Ameer: “She can also be scary.” T.J. asked, “She special to?” Ameer: “You don’t know the half of it.” The two walked towards the labs.
“Well, let’s begin,” Ameer said.