“Okay. That answers the question of how you’re gonna fool the people in the academy who have seen you before. But this is equally impressive and disturbing.” looking at a man looking slightly shorter, younger and chubbier than Jianmen standing by Jianmen’s side, Josephine Wong shook her head and looked at the man from up to down: “I guess this way they cannot tell that Mr. Lun Wang is actually you. But … yeesh.”
“Oh come on, it’s just an avatar. I am quite proud of it, but why so creeped out?” Jianmen shrugged and asked: “It’s still technically me with the same memory and skills, just a different look and less powerful.”
“Yeah, it’s not that simple. For example, how do I know you’ll be able to maintain it for the entire duration of the audit program? ” Josephine Wong gently poked the man’s face and nose with her finger: “Long duration mind split is no joke.”
“Yeah, no worries about that. The longest I’ve maintained multiple avatars was a few decades in earth years, and I was maintaining at least a dozen.” Jianmen said and laid back on the reception’s desk.
“Yeah, Josephine, don’t worry about me.” the shorter and chubbier man spoke out, with a laughter inducing and cartoonish high pitched voice.
“Uhuh, I think this might be the real you. ” Josephine Wong stepped back and said: “And this grumpy old man who can’t take anything seriously is the avatar.”
“Or, how about the thought of neither of us is real?” Jianmen and Lun Wang spoke at the same time: “This is freaky, huh? What if the real me is a big brain monster with ten thousand tentacles?”
“Then I’ll never barter with you again.”
“How cold of you.” Jianmen shook his head and stopped the action of Lun Wang by retracting the part of his consciousness from the shorter and chubbier body.
“Well, thanks for the show. I’m gonna get to San Francisco. ” Josephine Wong smiled and gave Jianmen a light hug: “Pleasure doing business with you, as always. And don’t forget to call if you need anything.”
“And the same to you.” Jianmen looked patted on Josephine Wong’s shoulder: “I’m always here to help.”
“How long is always?” Josephine Wong laid down her mug on the reception’s desk and waved Jianmen with a smile: “See you around, Jianmen. ”
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“Always as always.” Jianmen also waved Josephine Wong goodbye.
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“Hello Good evening Ms. Caroline Baker, Mr. Jie Lin. And Mr. Yu!” a dark purple SUV stopped at the front door of Xianshi Inn, Garret stepped out of the car and greeted the three people standing at the front door: “I am here to take Ms. Baker and Mr. Lin to the academy.”
“Alright, drive safe Garret.” Jianmen smiled and said.
“Of course, Mr. Yu.” Garret appeared nervous when talking to Jianmen: “Don’t worry, they’ll be fine. It’s not everyday Ms. Wong asked me to drive audit students to the academy. I’ll treat this task with the utmost caution.”
“Thank you Garret.” Jianmen nodded: “And Jason, Caroline, no worries at the school. If you need anything, just call me. I’ll be there in a second, if I’m not busy.”
“Thanks Boss.” Jason waved at Jianmen before entering into the spacious SUV.
“Alright, thank you Boss.” Caroline threw his luggage and backpack into the SUV, then gave Jianmen a light hug.
“Be good, do your best and enjoy.” Jianmen nodded: “And don’t worry, I’ll take care of Kane and Alex.”
After Caroline went into the SUV and closed the door, Jianmen handed Garret a wooden coin: “You know, Garret, it’s a tradition of mine and my culture to give the members of a younger generation a gift upon first acquaintance to show good will. I was not able to do that, so I’ll give you this now as a first-meet gift and a thank-you token.”
“Thank you sir!” Garret bowed and said: “It’s really an honor!”
“Thank you. And say hi to Josephine for me.”
When the SUV drove off, Jason and Caroline were already settled in the SUV’s comfortable seats and started drinking the wine that was placed in a bucket of ice with a note addressed to them.
“Okay. Ms. Baker and Mr. Lin, we are about to enter Carver Street. And we will make a turn on Creek Avenue. ” Garret’s voice came through the loudspeaker in the room: “Interesting note, do you know that Creek Avenue does not exist in the civilian world? To civilians, it’s just an invite-only parking building near a business building belonging to Foreseer Corp.”
“Yikes. Does Foreseer Corp work with the Division now?”
“A little bit, yeah. Ms. Wong’s not very fond of it, and I didn’t know any of the civilian tech stuff so I have no opinion.”
“Yeah. They have a reputation of selling old and expensive technology solutions to other giant companies who don’t know better, and suing other companies with patent lawsuits.” Jason chuckled: “I used to wonder how’d they survive this long, not having any major innovation in over a decade.”
“Well, contracts from the Division are quite generous.” Garret said: “Many big families like to do business with them. My family too.”
“What’s your family like Garret? Can you tell us a little about it?” Caroline asked: “You know, for us half civilians?”
“Umm… sure, why not? But there’s not much to talk about though.” Garret chuckled: “We’re a small family, we own and run several small businesses. Our biggest business is material purification and priming, we had decades of experience and knowledge on that. We also do magical tools and weapons maintenance and simple fixes. My father is a master of material and weapons priming, he wanted me to continue on his footsteps. But I just don’t want to - that’s why I am taking my third year off from the academy and training with Ms. Wong to be a knight.”
“A knight? Nice! What’s that like? Are there many knights in the world?”
“It’s tough, you know. Running errands for Ms. Wong is actually me being on break. And unfortunately there aren’t many actual knights left. I’m afraid we might face a similar destiny of the paladins, if my generation of knights don’t work harder and continue this legacy.”