Chapter 10 - Modern Solutions

After placing the harvest rods around the core, we connected a residential energy storage unit to harness its power as electricity. From experience, I know the core in the castle is immensely powerful, almost limitless in its energy output. It could generate enough electricity to power a small country for a lifetime.

And it's clean energy, climate change enthusiasts would go nuts for this one.

The conditioning system has been installed and is now regulating and stabilizing the current flow. I hope I've recalled the process correctly; otherwise, all this hard work will be for nothing, and I'll have to start over.

One advantage of having immense speed is the ability to dodge the random electric sparks shooting out of the core. Installing these systems would have been nearly impossible without such ability. When I stepped out of the room, Fae laughed and said I looked like a mountain troll, my hair standing on end from the static.

I remembered past attempts to use these mysterious charged stones. Some had failed due to improper grounding or overloading the capacitors, resulting in accidents—even deaths. Now that my family is with me, I can't afford to make any mistakes.

After the setup, Neil and Zild installed outdoor, weatherproof speakers and cameras around the tower. Moonlink finally arrived, but the dish had to remain outside since the satellites orbit earth's atmosphere, not the inner realm.

Neil tested the speakers by ordering the mayor and his people to perform a salute, which they did, a bit reluctantly. He was clearly enjoying himself a little too much.

"Now show your butts—" Mom interrupted him with a karate chop to the head, demanding he stop. Neil winced, nursing yet another injury from his antics.

Mom took over the intercom and reminded everyone to maintain cleanliness on the island, emphasizing that we're all living in a confined space now. Everyone agreed in unison, but I knew peace wouldn't last long.

I realized that since we can observe the outside world through the castle's control room, there must be a physical or arcane connection we can exploit. After some investigation, I located the "eye" of the tower. It was connected to the control room panel by a thin, glass-like thread. Thankfully, there was enough space to insert an Ethernet cable.

I carefully drilled a small hole in the tower from the outside, allowing the cable to pass into the inner realm. Once connected to the mesh network, it would enable broader distribution of the Internet connection. We wouldn't be able to finish everything in a week, but at least we were making progress.

My siblings posted videos and photos of themselves near the castle, by the lake, and alongside enchanting animals exclusive to the inner realm. They were bombarded with compliments and gifts.

Barry's co-workers were pestering him with questions, asking where he was or he went out of the country. Neil's and Fae's classmates were greatly surprised, asking them why they skipped school. Though there are some skeptics who accused them of using green screen effects. 

Meanwhile, my parents shared a tour of their room in the castle, leaving our relatives green with envy. Uncle Jimmy wrote a comment where he accused my parents of breaking the inheritance laws by selling the island to a wealthy tycoon.

In my free time, I visited the leaderboard room. To my surprise, only a list of countries was displayed, with the message "No Sufficient Data" underneath. It seemed there weren't many people who had awakened their powers yet.

However, one country stood out with over a thousand favored humans. Azerbaijan? That piqued my interest. The question was how to get there. Hmmm...

I wondered what was happening in Azerbaijan to have so many awakened individuals. But with more skilled people, there would undoubtedly be more monsters as well.

My phone buzzed with an influx of messages. The first was from Markus: "Did you see the pillar underneath when you cleared the warehouse? It was said to have precious stones on it, but there are only a few. Did you steal some?" 

His bluntness made me roll my eyes. I replied, "If you can't remove them, how could I steal them?" 

He responded immediately, admitting he'd been trying to retrieve them without success. I told him to double-check his accusations before pointing fingers.

Next, I received a message from Ash, warning me about a strange, communicable disease spreading in the country. I muted her in my app.

Finally, I messaged Raymond, asking him to meet me. But there was no reply. I tried calling him, but he didn't pick up. He hadn't even updated me about the e-bike. Something felt off.

I packed my things, and Zild asked where I was going. I told him I had an errand to run outside and instructed everyone to stay inside the tower, not to open the door for anyone, and to take turns monitoring the surroundings. Zild nodded and relayed my instructions to the others.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

As I left the tower, the mayor approached me, offering his assistance. I politely declined, but he persisted, mentioning that his daughter, Vien, was single, had two degrees, and had recently broken up with her boyfriend because she was interested in someone else. 

"Are you curious to know who?" he asked mischievously. 

I brushed it off, saying it was none of my business, and hopped onto a vacant boat to return to the mainland.

I checked my Ogle Location to find Raymond, but his feature was turned off. I hoped nothing bad had happened to him.

Life on the mainland seemed to have returned to normal. I scrolled through social media and noticed some users saying that most videos regarding the attacks are fakes. Some have proclaimed that the videos are AI generated. 

I shook my head, thinking about the mayor who had seized the tower. Once the corrupt officials have taken control of most of them, that's when they'll finally say the truth. Perhaps they are devising some plans on how to monetize or gain control over one another. Power struggle is still a big problem in the government.

If only I could upgrade Mom's stats, she might be able to shrink that tower. But asking her to tear her own scroll was too risky. The cost of a revamp was high, and survival wasn't guaranteed.

I arrived near Raymond's home and knocked. The e-bike was still in his garage, untouched. My heart raced as I forced my way inside. The house was neat and clean, which only made me more uneasy. Did it mean what I thought it did?

Since he wasn't home, he could only be in one place when he was troubled. I headed to the arcade and found him there, playing a fish token hunter game. He sat slumped in his seat, looking sullen, with a bag of coins beside him.

Other players at the table were hitting jackpots, tokens pouring from the arcade machines like rain. I casually joined in and, to my surprise, ended up winning.

I raised my fist in triumph, but then I noticed him getting up to leave. Yeah, he was mad at me.

"What's wrong, Ray? I went to your house and didn't find you there. What gives?" I asked. He's usually good-natured, so if he was upset, he probably had a legitimate reason.

He turned around and showed me a video on his phone. It was a guy kicking a horde of rabid rats. The guy looked familiar… Wait, that was me!

"See, you've got some fancy kung fu moves, and you didn't even bother telling your best friend. Some kind of friend you are," he complained, looking at me like I committed a crime worthy of death.

I wanted to explain that a lot had happened recently and I'd been preoccupied, but before I could say anything, the ground beneath us began to shake. The tile flooring split and cracked, sending shockwaves through the arcade.