Passage of time

In an small apartment complex in the suburbs in Yue City.

Yan woke up from his bed and looked at his surroundings. It was his room and his bed.

He recalled the last bits of his memory and then shook his head really hard.

"Dreaming?"

He got up from his bed and went to the washroom to wash his face. His body felt unusually wobbly.

"Did the terror of that blood taker went to my head that I am even dreaming about him?"

He thought as he washed his face with water and went to sit on the living room.

The moment he entered the living room though, his eyes darted to a box that was carefully placed beside his sofa.

And with it came the memory and the realisation that it wasn't a dream.

'I might have missed it in my groggy state or is it something else...?'

He thought as he went to check the box and it had the insignia of his university (Shen Hai).

It even had a cute pink note that read:

[You were unconscious so I dropped you home. You body was causing trouble to the other customers.

P.S. - Read the guide for your Martial Master's ID card properly.]

Yan blankly looked at the note and at the cute handwriting on it.

"I need to be careful with other Martial Master's. They are stronger that I expected. Maybe this is the reason for their freedom and reverence?"

Yan used chopsticks to pick the pink note and threw it into the dustbin along with the chopsticks.

He sanitised his package and opened it.

Inside it was two sets of uniform that Shen Hai sent to him.

It also contained a small black badge, a small piece of purple stone and a belt.

"Where is the guide for this thing?"

He immediately took out the things in the whole box and searched for the guide and found it at the bottom on the box.

The guide page had only three lines written for the respective items and as usual was blank.

[Put a drop of blood into the badge to activate it.]

[Put the data gem above your Martial Master's ID card and let it absorb it.]

[Use the data gem linked Martial Master's ID card to activate the utility belt. Check its functions in the ID card.]

"Hmm. Where are they getting so much paper from?"

Yan drop a blood on the badge using a blood sugar test kit. The moment the drop of blood touched the black bladge, it shone a bright green and turned into a tangerine badge.

It was to be worn on his uniform collar to signify his academic status.

'Tangerine must be first years then.'

He then stared at the badge for the next few minutes waiting for something to happen but nothing happened.

"Just that?"

'Where is my card?'

Yan ignored the badge and moved towards the second item but then realised, he didn't know where his card was.

He had fainted midway and the note didn't specify where his card was.

He immediately checked all his pockets but found nothing.

"Where is my card?"

Yan said after a while of searching. He then remembered a crucial detail from the note and immediately began to search the room while mumbling.

"The guide. Where did I put the card box? Things always disappear only when I need them."

After an hour of searching, he found the card box, beneath his shoes. He had been using the box as a shoe box for the past week.

He removed out his shoes and took out the guide and began reading it from the beginning to the end.

Five hours later.

Yan was on the last page of the guide and he was blankly reading all the information. The guide was just that long and the main reason he just threw it up as trash.

He completed the last page of the guide and then burnt it when he found out that a pdf copy of it existed in his card.

After reading the guide, he realised three things. One that the privileges of the Martial Masters were basically off the charts.

Two, that the technological advancements of this time was basically magic. It cannot not be called as science at all, even though everyone claimed it to be.

Third, he had been right to choose a normal life.

For he knew that the more you are given, the more you have to lose.

Basically: With great power comes greater responsibilities.

Except no one was telling about the responsibility or what he has to lose.

"Now isn't the time to mull over this though. According to the guide, the card has become a part of me and I can recall it from my body by just thinking about it."

"I just need to concentrate and it will reveal itself."

Yan, once he knew the process, was able to recall the card about 26 tries.

He then placed the card on the dining table and put the purple data gem above it. Soon the card began to slowly absorb the data gem. Although the process was super slow.

Yan ignored the process and felt the connection between him and the card.

Soon he realised that the card felt like his limbs or to be more precise, the card felt like him.

He can fully control the various virtual features of the card even through he wasn't holding it.

And the most unusual thing was that he perfectly knew how to use every function of the card. Even the information of the Martial Net, Soul Bank, and various other things were like alphabets to him.

It was like he had known them from a long, long time.

"This thing can literally brainwash someone to death and they are supplying it to teens in puberty?"

Yan thought of all the different possibilities and finally formulated the perfect plan to his goal.

Now, he knew how he was going to do _

*Knock knock*

His thoughts were disturbed by the knocks on the door.

"Who's here in the middle of the night?"

Yan thought while looking at the clock.

7:59 AM.

He gently nodded his head and went to receive the guest.

It was Miss Ye.

"What do you want Teacher Ye?"

Shi Yan said while holding the door knob with his hand. His actions easily conveyed his feelings.

"I forgot to get your Martial Master's ID card number yesterday. The school needs to submit it to the Martial Education Bureau for you to skip your exams."

Teacher Ye said in her usual annoyed voice.

"Okay. Get inside."

Shi Yan answered while opening the door completely.

"I just need the ID number, you can give it to me here."

Teacher Ye replied.

"That's why I said get inside. My ID card is doing something weird on its own and it will take time. Not that much though."

Shi Yan said while pointing at the dinner table, although the card wasn't visible from where he pointed.

"Then I will come later."

She said that and began to leave the area.

"It's xx xxxx xxxx x ."

Shi Yan said his ID number out loud.

"Huh?"

"That's my ID. xx xxxx xxxx x. You don't need to come later. It's Saturday."

Shi Yan said and looked at Miss Ye.

"... Oh. Can you repeat it one more time?"

She replied after a pause.

"xx xxxx xxxx x."

"Thanks. Are you sure that it's the right number?"

"My card just finished its weird thing. So I can tell you that. Told you, it would not take much time."

Shi Yan slowly said.

"If you say so."

Teacher Ye took a brief glance at the inside of his room and silently left. Her thoughts only know to her.

Yan looked at her and then closed the room door.

He came to the dining table and looked at the progression of the absorption of the data gem.

"Not even a tenth."

He sat down beside the dining table, on his sofa, and tune into something to watch on the TV to pass the time.

He could have interacted with the various interfaces of the card but since he didn't know if his actions might slow down the absorption process or even worse, may can some fault, he stopped and left the card alone. It was a semi-living object, what if he fried it to death by his interference?

"That's what the page said as well."

Hence he spent his whole afternoon watching the various soap operas to bade his time.