Chapter 29

Frank woke up with a start. No nightmare, no training with Granspier, not even a visit to the Akashic Records. A damn shame, he was hoping to get some advice from either Sir Granspier or Raziel before he had to leave. But it couldn't be helped. It was nearly five o'clock in the morning. Far earlier than he had normally been waking up these days.

Frank pulled up the quest notification again to check how much time he had left until the mission began. 

'New Quest! Test of Courage: First Portal Raid

You have worked hard to form your core, you have changed your attributes, and you now have tied up lingering doubts keeping you from your path. You are ready for the next step.

In 10 Hours: 12 Minutes, a one time use personal portal will be activated for your use. You may gather 3 allies of Neophyte rank or higher to accompany you.

Unawakened humans may not journey to other worlds without risk of intense danger and permanent damage due to incompatible spiritual energy oversaturation. It is recommended that unawakened humans do not accompany you through the portal.

When you proceed through the portal, further orders will be given.'

He had until about three in the afternoon to finish up his preparations. He had already planned ahead of time with his dad. Harold took the day off and would help him to prepare or to gather any last minute supplies they overlooked.

Then, about an hour before it was time for the timer to finish counting down, Frank and his dad were going to drive out to a forest trail across town. Frank would hike and teleport as far into the forest as he could until the countdown finished and Harold would drive the car back home. As for Lauren and Nina, the rest of the family had decided they didn't want to miss saying goodbye to Frank before he left. They decided the best way to do this would be for Lauren to attend school most of the morning, but then halfway into the day get picked up by Nina to attend a fake doctor's appointment. This was mostly done to avoid messing up Lauren's school attendance record too badly given how many days she had already missed in the term.

Frank got up and began to do sit-ups in his room. He took in the sights of his room, suddenly aware that he was going to be away from it for a long time. It hit him that he wasn't sure when he would be back, or what sort of mission the system would give him when he went through. Frank wondered if he should have got in touch with more Awakened on the forum to see if anyone was in his area and able to help him for the mission. He hadn't bothered to try, he spent all the past week keeping himself trained and grinding his skills. It was too late to get something together on such short notice, especially with complete strangers. 

As he was pondering all of the things he "should" have done, he heard a knock on the frame of his open door.

"Morning, soldier. Got ya some breakfast! Figured it would be best to pack on the energy before we get your last checks going"

"Thanks, dad! But where did you find a place serving breakfast at five in the morning?"

"Frank, it's almost six"

Once again Frank got lost in his thoughts, this time he had been doing sit-ups for roughly forty five minutes straight and hadn't realized it. When he stopped and stood up, his chest was on fire.

"Argh, fuck! Dad, you should have said you were leaving! I zoned out and have been exercising since I woke up! The same exercise- argh"

"What? You can't be serious, were you really just doing one exercise for almost an hour?"

"Yes!" he groaned and began to walk around his room to try to calm his aching muscles

Frank got notifications from the System that his strength and stamina had each gone up by one. Luckily, after walking around and stretching a little, the pain and soreness melted off of him by the time he decided to go to the kitchen and have breakfast. Frank didn't want to admit it, but it was scary what sort of things he could do now. He was definitely not a normal human anymore. His rapid body changes and freakish endurance were nothing short of miraculous, as well as his recovery after a workout. If his recovery was like this if he got injured, he might just make it on the other side of the portal. Maybe. 

"Frank... do you remember when you were little and your cousins came over, how you guys always used to play with the foam swords and pretend you were knights?" Frank remembered it clear as day when his dad brought it up, embarrassed despite it being normal child's play. 

"Yeah, now that you bring it up. Why?" Frank asked between a mouthful of omelet. He recognized this omelet, it was almost exactly the one he got the one time he went out with Lauren when she skipped school. It was from the same breakfast place they went to. Except that Harold had ordered pancakes and some big hash brown patties as well. Frank would certainly eat it all, even though his appetite wasn't as insane as it had been after forming his core and assigning his first attribute points.

"Because it's funny that instead of playing cops and robbers or anything else, you and your cousins always used to play knights, or knights and monsters, or something like that. And now here you are, hours away from going to fight those same monsters for real. Frank... you know I'm going to worry about you the entire time you're gone right?"

"I know, dad. I know. I'd be shocked if you weren't" Frank swallowed a few more forkfuls of perfectly seasoned egg and cheese before he added, "You know the first thing I'm going to do when I get back, right?"

"What's that?"

"I'm going to focus teleport back home and charge my phone, then text the group chat to see who's not busy and start calling"

"You know I'll drop everything to come home and hear about your adventure, right?"

"I know, I actually promised Vinny I'd tell him my story too. The three of us should go out for drinks when I come back"

"I'd like that, quite a lot actually" Harold smiled as he ate, imagining the happy atmosphere as he and his son shared drinks and tales with his oldest friend. Frank wanted to tell Harold that the story Vinny shared that spurred this promise on was a rather unhappy one, but he decided he didn't need to worry his dad much more than he already was. 

---

Before long, the whole Lepari family was assembled. Frank and Harold were finishing up checking and double checking Frank's gear and deciding how best to carry it all, especially given the new addition of the camera equipment. When Harold asked about it, he sighed and decided it wouldn't be too much to carry given Frank's sudden muscle gain. In fact, wearing his full gear didn't seem to encumber Frank nearly as much as they had thought.

Frank thought it was going to be slow going when he wasn't using [teleport] to get around, but he had no trouble jogging or even sprinting. Was every point of strength really so potent? Or was it a combination of different attributes working together to allow Frank to carry his gear so easily? Either way, it wouldn't hurt that every meal he ate or shot he fired would reduce the weight he would need to carry. 

After cleaning and maintaining the guns one more time, they began checking on electronics that needed charging. Things like the camera batteries, the spare power bank, Frank's small flashlight, and of course his phone. He knew he wouldn't need his phone much when he was on the other side of the portal, but if it didn't break then Frank decided he would take pictures of all sorts of things so long as his phone had power. Finally, the three lenses on the back of his phone would come in handy. The young man wasn't much of a photographer by any means, but if there was anything beautiful in the new world he was going to explore, he would make it look as best as he could. 

He wasn't the only one thinking of taking pictures though. Nina was an emotional wreck seeing everything being prepared and packed. She saw her son was freshly showered and shaved, and now outfitted in the camouflage hunting gear and stab resistant vest he'd bought in anticipation of this trip. She couldn't believe it, none of them really could. It was really happening, at last. She asked her son to pose for pictures over and over, then melted down into tears when none of the pictures felt right.

"Mom? What's wrong?" Frank walked forward and held his mother close, she returned his embrace and tried to compose herself.

"M-my little boy! You've changed so much, and so quickly, it doesn't feel real! A-and n-now I'm standing here about to send you off to war with aliens, called up by some magic force we can't even see! It isn't real, I'm going to wake up soon, it isn't real!" She was losing it, crying into his shoulder as the rest of the family stood stunned.

"Mom, it's okay. This is what I'm meant to do, I was picked special for this job" Frank wasn't entirely sure he was telling the truth. While the circumstances were extremely unusual, Frank was the one who chose his powers and his actions. The system was giving him opportunities, opening doors, but Frank had to walk through them on his own.

He was far from the only one being picked, however. More and more people were introducing themselves on Fat Buck Ranch as newly awakened humans. In fact, Frank was surprised there wasn't more widespread media coverage of this phenomenon. Surely, more and more people would try to show off their powers, or at least tell their friends and family? Frank decided to put it out of his mind, he had more pressing concerns. 

As Nina kept crying in her son's arms, Lauren looked at her phone and spoke up.

"Um... So while we were on the way home, I ordered lunch for everyone. It's almost here. I know I should have asked what you wanted, but I wanted it to be a surprise..." Lauren looked down while everyone stood puzzled.

"Sweetheart, how did you order takeout? You don't have a terribly big allowance..." Harold scratched his chin as he asked the question on everyone's mind. 

"W-w-well I have a couple friends on the forum, and when I told them Frank was going away one of them gave me a gift card to use for a family meal, so..."

Frank laughed at his sister's innocent plan and her sheepish manner. Normally, he would scold her for taking a stranger's gifts online. But that might ruin the mood coming from him, so he went to pat her on back.

"It better be something tasty, I had a big breakfast hours ago. You know I'm going to miss meals together almost as much as I'll miss you" Lauren looked up at her brother and finally saw the change she'd been missing, that she refused to acknowledge since he Awakened. She started to turn red and put her phone away. As soon as she did, she took aim so she could start punching her brother's solid chest, tears streaming down her face.

"Idiot! You stupid fucking idiot, why do you have to go away? Why can't you ignore the mission and just stay here with us? Why do you have to leave? It isn't fair!" Harold quickly rushed over to pull Lauren off of Frank, who barely felt the flimsy, untrained blows of his sister's fists.

"You know why I can't. You watched Lincoln's stream with me. You've seen the things coming through the portals. If the System is giving me an opportunity to go take the fight to them, I have to take it, even if I don't want to"

"But can't you stay here longer? Spend every second with us before the portal opens?" Lauren begged, tears glistening down her cheeks like repeat wishes upon shooting stars. This time, her wishes would go unheeded.

"No, I don't know what happens when the timer runs out. I don't want to risk the portal opening someplace weird and having it stuck in the house, I don't want to risk the portal being a two way connection for invaders to come through, and I definitely don't want to risk you being pulled inside if it sucks me in by force"

Frank had thought of all of these scenarios in horror as he thought about how to prepare for his raid. This is why he decided that instead of just sitting at home and taking the portal when it was time, he had to drive out with his gear and teleport as far away from people as he could get. 

"Alright, everyone, calm down. Lauren, thanks for buying us lunch. You really shouldn't be getting gifts from strangers online, that's just begging for trouble at your age. But this time, I'll let it slide. Everyone, go sit down at the table and cool off a bit. We've still got plenty of time before Frank and I have to leave" Harold took control of the situation and everyone else went to sit down as he waited for the arrival of what felt like the last family meal they would have for a long time. 

---

After another set of long goodbyes, hugs, and rounds of "I love you", Frank and Harold had finally set out for the forest. They chose a spot that wasn't terribly popular but was also close enough that the family could check for strange events if something went wrong. 

Before they left, Frank sent $200 to Nora so she could heal him when he came back, if he had injuries that required it. He figured he wouldn't need money on the other side, so better to spend now on something he might need rather than sit on the cash and wish he'd prepared a healer beforehand.

On the drive down, Frank couldn't help but watch the timer tick down on his quests tab. He could feel his guts doing backflips even though he'd gone to the bathroom before he left. His rifle was neatly packed away behind them, in its case and on the floor, the massive backpack sat beside it. They'd left a little later than they intended, but they were still making good time.

"Dad, is this how you felt before you got deployed?" He asked, his voice lower and more shaky than he'd intended.

"Nope. This is far worse. It was one thing when I was the one getting shipped out, now I'm shipping my son out and I can't even be there to watch his back. You remember that you've gotta find or make a shelter before nightfall, right? If you can, I mean" Harold responded, throwing out every little question he could think to ask his son to make sure he didn't forget important survival tricks. He was worried, even if he was trying not to show it much. 

When they finally found the trailhead, there was a long pause before either man made to get the gear. Frank was carrying his rifle by his side, his pistol in its holster, and a backpack nearly full to bursting with supplies. He had the camera attached to his chest by harness, and plenty of spare mags across his vest and on his belt. Thinking about what would happen if he ran out of ammo made him extra thankful for his [swordsmanship] skill, hoping he wouldn't need it too much. He had a combat knife with him, but Frank realized his skill didn't extend to knives or daggers.

"Alright son, this is it. To think this is how you finally leave the nest and spread your wings. A hell of a way to make your old man suffer with worry, you know"

"I know dad, I'm sorry it had to be this way. But I'm coming back, you can count on that. Like I said, first thing I'm doing is I'm charging my phone and texting you"

Harold put his hands on his son's shoulders. He grasped them tightly and gave his son a good, long look.

"Yep, I can tell. You're just a few steps down the path, but you're already looking every part a soldier. My son, my little boy. I never thought I'd see the day. Just promise me one thing before I can't take any more goodbyes"

"What's that?"

"That you'll make those crazy, green motherfuckers think twice. Teach them what Humanity is capable of when we show them our teeth, and make sure they fear getting bit twice"

Frank smiled, both men had tears in their eyes as they embraced one last time. Frank wiped his tears and waved goodbye as he made a [teleport] jump down the trail and started jogging into the forest, running to forge his destiny.