Like me

"It's Devon." He emphasized, "Sir."

"Only people close to me can call me Devi, sir instructor." Devon coldly scowled at Gavril, but the other person did not mind the stare.

"Yes, Devi." His white teeth mischievously glinted, as he arrogantly smirked. "I know we're close. You don't have to remind me."

"Gavril, stop teasing him." Rafiel interfered with the man's shamelessness and glanced at Devon.

"Let's look at your stats first."

Pane handed him some papers, probably a collection of Devi's data for 20 years of his life, but Rafiel wasn't satisfied. His fingers unconsciously drummed the table, "These weren't sufficient for me."

In an area the others couldn't see, Gavril tauntingly tilted his head to Devon, before complying with Rafael's demand. He shifted his attention to his greasy hands.

An obvious disgust was displayed on Devon's face. The man instantly reacted as if he could hear the kid's mind.

He elegantly used the table napkin to remove the meat juices from his white, long fingers and straightened his black suit, as though the man who was roguishly wolfing the food was not him

"Can you please enable the [Public View Mode]?" He gracefully ordered, but he knew that Gavril was deliberately mocking him.

Public View Mode?

The ignorant Devon patiently waited for anyone to talk about it, while maintaining a stoic expression and not letting his lack of knowledge reflect on his face.

He pretended to concentrate on finishing his milk buns, but his ears waited on their reply.

Minutes passed, but no one responded to the question until someone coughed exaggeratedly and broke the awkward atmosphere, trying to catch everyone's attention.

Devon glanced up and saw everyone looking at him. He questioningly pointed at himself, and everyone simultaneously nodded in response.

Oh, they were asking him.

He unhesitatingly turned to his dad for help. "What [Public View Mode]?"

"Touch your core." Core--Where?

Pane chuckled at his confused reaction and patiently assisted him. "That circle chip embedded on your wrist."

"Oh, this virtual tab tattoo?" He showed his pale wrist, contrasting the black circle.

With his learning speed, he smoothly followed the instructions and found the [Mode] on the settings. He temporarily set it for the others to see. Even so, he imposed limitations and kept confidential information private.

With that, they all started to peer on his basic information, such as his name, age, gender, code, weight, and height. It included statistics about his fighting skills, weapon manipulation, flexibility, learning capacity, technology literacy, and a long continuous list.

Rafiel diplomatically concluded as he jotted something on his tab. "Aside from a high learning ability, your other skills are a bit… unimpressive, Mr. Devon."

Devon is aware of his physical limitations, but he doesn't know how to respond to the underwhelming comment.

"… I …can exercise."

But when he was met with a blank stare from the three after his response, he turned to his number one moral support, Daddy Pane, … who was also looking at him with eyes of helplessness.

Hmp.

The three proceeded to evaluate the data on their screens and were done scanning the stats, so Pane instructed Devon to change back the mode to private.

To distract the pouting kid, he also began showing him the other features of the core, as the visitors started conversing in a corner in a low voice, making sure that the father and son wouldn't hear their voices.

"Devi, this core is designed for multiple functions." He showed the kid his core and set its mode for Devon to view. But Pane restricted some, as Devon only saw little data about his father on the screen.

"As you already know, it contains data about yourself." He showed his own as an example. "But, you can also send to and receive from others."

Ding!

Devon received a message notification from his core which contained information he saw on the screen of his dad. He compared the two pieces of information, which were completely identical.

"It connects us all to a virtual world where we can easily communicate. You can share it with one person … or to multiple people."

Ding!

Gavril complained in their background, "Why did you send me your picture, you narcissist!"

Rafiel: "…+1"

Mika: "+2"

"Anyway, it is also our identification." Pane coughed in embarrassment when he saw Devon's accusing eyes. "Once you are identified as the citizen of Camati, the main will affix this to your wrist."

"But--." He looked at Devon with a warning expression. "It also acts as a tracking device."

"What?"

Devon, without delay, erased his plan to temporarily run away someday if his dad wouldn't approve his traveling plans.

Understanding his child's thoughts, he smilingly added, "However, only the main has access to such information."

"You've been mentioning 'the main,' dad. What is it?"

Pane's eyes were instantly filled with nostalgia. "It was once my home." His smile radiated with a hint of sadness.

"I'll bring you there someday."

His home… which means his family's ho--Knowing that it wasn't a good topic, he immediately moved on to the previous topic. "What--what other uses does this core have?"

"… One of its best features, is the infinite spatial storage." He grabbed Gavril's take-home bag of fried beast legs and stored it in his core.

The almost 3 inches in diameter circle could accommodate such a big food.

"You can store any inanimate things in your storage. It will be preserved in the condition you brought it in. If you stored a hot beast's legs,--"

Pane took out what he stored, "--You will get hot beast legs."

"But only inanimate, right?"

Pane put the take-home bag away, as he noddingly replied, "Yes, Devi. You cannot store living things."

"So, I can bring…" His eyes moved unabashedly towards Lime.

Pane straight away interrupted his ideas. "Don't think about it."

Both were having a good time talking about other things, while the three in the corner of the dining room hadn't finished their serious discussion yet.

Rafiel's gaze focused on the result after calculating Devon's stats. "This kid isn't ready yet."

Mika calmly whispered, "Then, we can train him."

A loud voice rang and jolted everyone from their seat. "Devon, do you not recall anything about your childhood?"

Pane intimidatingly responded. "Mika."

He sounded pissed from her outburst and for asking an unsensitive question.

"What?" Despite concealing her facial features, her excessive movements made people discern her unapologetic state. "Aren't you all curious?"

Pane immediately appeared conflicted between wanting to know and willing to wait.

Seeing that her words managed to influence his state of mind, Mika hauntingly asked again,

"Devon, Kid, do you not remember anything?"

Her red eyes behind the shadow of the cloak looked penetrating for Devon as if she would do something if he didn't respond satisfactorily.

The sound inside the room suddenly ceased and all appeared tense, waiting for the receiver of the question to respond.

"… I'm sorry, but my memories are hazy." Devon was telling the truth.

But Mika wasn't very pleased with the answer, "Really? I don't think so--"

"Mika." All three men reprimanded her simultaneously, signaling her to stop her shenanigans.

"What?!" She felt wronged by their voices and irritatingly replied, "How can we help him, teach him if we do not know his genuine state?"

"Right, Devon?" She turned to Devon, pressuring the kid to speak up. "Why don't you tell us why you are so different from what you were in the past?"

"You're so different from the Devon I knew." Tears of bitterness started escaping from her eyes.

Did she know little Devon?

He immediately handed her his handkerchief, which she readily accepted in a yanking manner.

She sadly added, "You are nothing like him."

"What do you mean?" Devon anxiously turned to his dad. His face was trying to hide his emotions.

This time the four men let her talk. They knew Devon was her bane. But they were on standby and would immediately stop her if she spouted hurtful words.

Meanwhile, Devon saw no accusations in his Pane's face, but love and acceptance. His smiling appearance reassured him.

He composed himself and calmly retorted with facts, "Isn't it normal to forget things from the past, especially for someone who was in a coma for years?" Devon's usually laid-back countenance slowly radiated a smile of confidence. "Like me."

When no one was looking, Gavril's face blossomed with a grin, affected by the kid's aura.