Chapter 13: Ch 13 – Island / Storm

Issac recoiled a bit at the loud and exciting voice that came from his terminal. 

"You're loud."

"I was admitted into the Mantle! Of course I'm loud! Wait, you passed too, right?"

"Yes. Both technician and pilot tests."

"Awesome!"

Anthony cheered, causing Issac to smile. It really was a great occasion. 

Anthony suddenly asked.

"Hey, where are you?"

"...Honestly, no clue."

Issac spun around where he stood. He had wandered off for a couple hours, and all around him were flying cars and buildings. The place wasn't cramped at all, being a wide open and grand landscape that Issac could freely explore with wonder. Only, he had no idea where he was located.

"Well, share your location and I'll come pick you up. I've already moved into my new residence. It's really nice!"

"Sure."

Issac tapped his terminal a few times, and Anthony immediately saw where he was. 

"What, did you wander off like a headless chicken?"

"Pretty much."

Issac shrugged, causing Anthony to snicker. 

After that, it wasn't long before a flying car slid to a stop beside Issac. The hatch opened, and Anthony waved from within. 

"Get in!"

Issac jumped into the car, and it flew away. As Anthony was heavily experienced with flying mechs, he could handle a flying car with ease. It was like how Issac would wildly drive his truck without any problems. 

The two were quick to fly toward the floating island mansions. The floating islands gradually rose into the sky, but on the surface underneath them were thousands of other houses and residences. 

"See those floating island spirals? There are 13, one for every generation of people who have come through the Mantle. Each generation is 10 years long, and we're in the 13th generation. Of course, we're just about the youngest in our generation, but there's not much we can do about that."

Anthony spoke as he flew to the ground level of the 13th island spiral. There, he parked in front of a large house. All around him were other houses. 

"Welcome to the Zeta residences!"

He introduced as Issac stepped out. The house was large and expansive, though not as massive as the mansions that had their own islands. 

Anthony strolled into the house with a high chin, smiling broadly the entire time. 

The house was incredibly modern. Marble constructions with hints of mechanical hardware, and power lines that pulsed with glowing energy. The inside of the house was decorated just as a normal house would, with dark wood flooring, a wide living room, an equipped kitchen, and a luxurious master bedroom. 

It was just a living space. However, Anthony was quick to bring Issac to one special area. 

"Behold, my mech room!"

He motioned and entered a large underground chamber. It looked like a bunker, but this bunker was empty. 

"This is where you can test the functions of your mech. Obviously there's little space for flying, but there's plenty of space for movement and weapons testing. This is also where modifications and maintenance can be done. Since you're helping me, you'll probably be down here a lot."

Anthony smacked Issac on the shoulder, causing him to bob his head. The area was definitely spacious. 

"You just need to get the right tools and I could."

"That won't be a problem. My father has a fat wallet, and I'll be making use of it pretty soon. We'll have all the tools we need. Anyway, wher-"

*Ring!*

Anthony's words were suddenly stopped. Both he and Issac took out their terminals. They were receiving calls from their parents. 

"Hello?"

They picked up, Issac answering the call from his mother. 

"Issac?"

"I'm here."

"Good. So you passed, huh?"

"I did."

Issac answered plainly, but he was obviously stifling his excitement. Victoria chuckled. 

"That's amazing, sweetie. Speaking of, how'd your technician test go?"

"Good. It was long though."

"How long?"

"6 hours."

"My, that is long."

Victoria sounded genuinely surprised, though happy. Issac hummed. 

"Yea. By the way, I actually saw your equation pertaining to dark energy filtering. They had a lot of questions about it."

"Did they? You bringing that up actually helps me a lot. Did you get them all correct?"

"I did."

"That's my boy. You really do have your mother's smarts. What about your pilot test?"

"It went well. They said that my power is a force type that can manipulate electromagnetism."

Issac gave the details that were on his card, causing Victoria to hum. 

"Mm. It was why we taught you Hardlight. You should be very proficient with electromagnetic energy now. Just so you know though, your power is one with the highest potential in the galaxy. Force types are extremely rare, though in the Mantle, they can be seemingly everywhere."

"Wow."

Issac was surprised. He didn't expect his power to be so great. Though, if manipulating the fundamental force of electromagnetism wasn't great, then he didn't know what would be.

"Anyway..."

Victoria drifted off.

"I'll need to go now, sweetie. Cornelius should be calling Anthony right now. They have their own things to sort out. As for you, we're sending you a sum of money you can use for things in the Mantle. They've already moved all your things to your new residence, so spend some time settling in. Pretty soon, school and classes should be starting up. They're held in that massive castle you should've seen. Don't miss orientation."

"I won't."

"Good."

After that, mother and son exchanged goodbyes. When Issac hung up, he turned to Anthony who was already finished with his call. 

Anthony spoke. 

"I need to go. My father has summoned me."

"Sure. I'm going to head to my residence too. It should be ready by now."

"Nice. See you later then."

With that, Anthony and Issac left the house. After Issac stepped out and watched Anthony fly away, he tapped his terminal a few times. 

A few seconds later, a flying car drifted over to him. This was a taxi service with self driving vehicles.

Issac thought he had to pay for it, so he looked around to figure out how. But when he found nothing, he realized something.

"It's free? That would've been nice to know..."

Shrugging, he searched for his new address. 

"Let's see. Adress..."

Issac mumbled and tapped his terminal, pulling up a line of code. 

"Omega residential area, Ranked Island 99. Wait, island?"

Issac was confused as the car suddenly took off. It flew straight up, and Issac's eyes widened when it pointed to one of the lowest islands in the spiral. 

There were 100 islands in each spiral. The car took him to island 99, second from the bottom. 

The fact that it took him to an island at all though had Issac baffled. 

In mere moments, the car opened up, and Issac stepped out. 

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"...Well, it's an island, but where's the house?"

Looking around, Issac saw nothing but a clearing of dirt in the center of a forest of trees. There definitely should've been a house here, but it was as if they picked it up and flew off with it. 

It was a very natural place. Most of the islands were much larger than the mansions on them, having all kinds of natural formations. Some had lakes, others small mountains, and some were pure lands of machinery. Issac's had a forest on it, and he could faintly hear trickling water. 

*Meow*

"Nifty!"

After Issac her a familiar cute sound, he looked over. In the middle of the huge patch of dirt were containers and boxes. A black cat was sitting on top of them, looking at Issac with blue eyes. 

The cat jumped down at Issac's call, climbing atop his shoulder and nudging his chin. 

"Haha, good to see you Nifty. Man, they really left me with nothing but an empty forest, huh."

Issac sighed and looked around while petting his cat. There were many sealed off pipes that had once provided utilities to the previous house, but other than that, there was nothing to work with. 

Then, Issac suddenly walked off in a certain direction. After a bit of scouting with Nifty, he actually found a small river. It wasn't far from the empty plot. 

Seeing that, Issac rubbed his chin. 

"You know, I wouldn't actually mind building my own house. There are plenty of trees, and this river would be nice to work with. If I could tap into those pipes, then I'll have everything I need. Wood from the trees would obviously form the basis for the construction, I'd need to build a foundation. There's also the overall shape. Hey Nifty, jack in and let's map this out."

Issac pat the cat's head, causing its tail to plug into his neural interface. Both their eyes flashed, and Issac saw digital lines appear in his vision. 

"Now, time to do a bit of architectural design. Shouldn't be harder than designing quantum chips, right?"

Saying that, his hands waved. In his vision, lights flashed as three-dimensional objects appeared and arranged themselves. Many looked like logs of wood while there were also many smaller details like screw joints and load bearing beams. 

Without hesitation, Issac dove into a frenzy of design, planning out his ideal house.

.........

Back when Issac finished his call with his mother...

Victoria hung up her phone. The smile that was on her face when talking with Issac was wiped away, and she gazed deadpan at the men in front of her. 

Max sat to her side, his eyes closed as if he didn't care. It was like he didn't notice the three other men in the room. 

"Well, now you've heard it."

"...Yes."

The man sitting in front of Victoria nodded. 

He had come here not long after Issac finished his test. He had two reasons for doing so. 

First was to visit Maximus, a Strategic Echelon who stood at one of the highest peaks of power. A man like that suddenly appearing out of the blue wasn't something to be taken lightly. The movements of any Strategic Echelon were supposed to be monitored to some extent. After all, those people could pose a serious threat to entire worlds. 

The second reason though was to question Victoria.

"Your son showed knowledge of Secret clearance, and was rated as a level 3 technician. While much of the knowledge was theoretical, we can't overlook the possibility that you taught your son things that shouldn't be taught."

This was his concern, and Victoria understood it. 

Issac was 22 years old, and upon taking his entry test, had shown himself capable of understanding Secret knowledge. Just learning science was fine, but when it came to certain technologies, there was a gray area that shouldn't be casually tread into. Issac had stepped into this gray area, and his mother was now under suspicion of having given him knowledge she shouldn't have. 

While it was shocking that he could understand such knowledge at his age, that was of lesser importance than the knowledge itself. 

Victoria took this in stride though. She wasn't insulted, but she didn't back down. She kept her chin up, as if looking down on the man who questioned her authority. 

"I didn't teach my son anything he couldn't understand."

"The question isn't if he could, but if he should."

"I maintain my position. Tell me, what exactly did he show you that has you crawling here like scared little sheep?"

"...The Avarice Equations."

"Oh?"

Victoria's brow raised, and she showed a little smile.

"You are familiar with them?"

"Of course."

"Then you should know that even the low level equations are Secret knowledge. Large scale applications are Top-Secret. You son should not know them."

"...I can already tell you that this had been a misunderstanding."

Victoria smiled wider, causing the man to frown.

"How so?"

"The Avarice Equations were developed by Victoria Raylane."

"...Yes?"

"Well, I didn't carry my maiden name into marriage."

She smirked at the man, and suddenly, he realized the situation.

"You are..."

"Victoria Exos, previously known as Victoria Raylane before I was married to my husband, Maximus Exos."

Max opened his eyes at that moment, staring at the man who had quickly dropped his interrogating demeanor.

Victoria didn't back off.

"I am the creator of the Avarice Equations, and as the creator, I have sole jurisdiction over how I use them. This is guaranteed by the Strategic Echelon known as my husband. Teaching my son everything about the Avarice Equations wouldn't violate intellectual law, let alone the shallow dark energy filtering methods he does know."

"...I understand."

"Do you? Because this matter shouldn't have been handled by an agent such as yourself."

She glared at the man, a security agent from the Mantle. Victoria knew that he was in charge of small matters such as detecting cheating in school, or in this case, picking out abnormalities in the testing and admission process for new students. 

"As soon as you saw my son test into the top 100 rankings, you should have reported it to your superior where it would travel up a few levels before being handled. If you had done that, nobody would have disturbed me, because they would've had the intelligence to find reasons for his advanced knowledge and the clearance to see my identity, the source of the advanced knowledge. But you didn't, so you prematurely jumped on the case like a little hound. And so, in exchange for your oversight you've earned yourself a demotion to work security in the Megalith."

"But I-!"

"Please leave, before I have my husband toss you out himself."

Victoria finally looked away, gazing at her nails as if they were more important than entertaining this agent. After seeing Maximus glare at him with an obvious threat, the agent scowled and marched out of the house, leaving the couple alone. 

When they closed the door behind them, Victoria let out a humph. Max just smiled at her, his previous hostility vanishing. 

"She's back."

"Shush. I just can't stand these idiots who jump at every opportunity to attack someone. Can't they just let my baby do great things?! And to storm into my new house with such arrogance! It's been all of 7 hours! At least give me a day to settle in!"

Victoria's hands flailed, obviously angry at the disturbance. Max sighed at her words though. 

"To think he jumped straight to the rankings. Even with your teachings, I didn't think he could do it."

"He's at the bottom though, and given a few more years, more will enter. If it had been a year later, he might not make it onto the list. But now that he's here, I know he'll be able to maintain his ranking."

"Everyone else in Gen 13 is older than him and Anthony. That kid also got highly ranked. He's in a Zeta household. And that's off of his pure power."

"Well, he is a force type. Gravity can be a deadly weapon with the right tech. Issac is a good technician for him."

Victoria fell back into her seat. A few moments later though, she rose back up. 

"Oh! We need to call that stupid security administrator."

"You're not actually holding a grudge against that agent, right?"

"Of course not. I just need to make sure they know that Issac isn't to be messed with. So long as they keep their dirty paws off my baby, there will be no problems."

"Fine, fine. Even in the Mantle you like to wave around that iron hand of yours."

"Hey, someone has to keep these people in check. These security administrators obviously can't!"

She shouted, and Max dialed a number. With that, a few waves were set off in the administrative sector of the Mantle. 

The creator of the Avarice Equations had returned to her stomping grounds. And she had a son taking Generation 13 by storm. 

........

Meanwhile, said son had finished designing his dream house.

 

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