Chapter 131: Herald

After hearing their response, she took a moment to gather her thoughts before saying. “Herald, come out! While I go get my friends here some food, please take us to the nearest hero recruitment office. Thanks!”

After her words echoed out inside the carriage a holographic boy magically appeared in front of Hui Shi and Lain, while she walked into the kitchen. The holographic boy then bowed and said in a spirited, and childish voice. “Will do, sister! It should take us a little less than two hours to get there.”

Looking at the boy, Hui Shi and Lain could see that it was only about 6 to 7 years old. It had a light orange shirt on, and was wearing blue shorts, and a pair of khaki colored sandals. If not for the fact that the boy looked slightly holographic, the two of them would’ve thought it was a real flesh and blood human.

As Hui Shi and Lain were looking at the holographic boy called Herald with curiosity, it too looked at them, before greeting the two of them with a bright smile. “Hello you two! I’m Herald, Annette’s brother. Nice to meet you!” After greeting them, it bowed before looking towards the door that led outside, which was still open.

The moment it looked at the door, the runes on the door shone brightly before the door closed on its own. Shortly afterward, both Lain and Hui Shi felt a slight jerk, as if they just started moving. It seemed the boy had somehow communicated with the beasts harnessed to the carriage, and told them to move the carriage to an unknown destination.

Ignoring the sudden movement of the carriage, Hui Shi and Lain replied back to Herald. “Nice to meet you too, my precious little brother Herald.” Hui Shi said. Lain replied with a light nod, before completely immersing himself in studying the appearance of the holographic, Latino looking boy in front of him, who had high cheek bones, large round eyes and chubby cheeks that made him appear very adorable. Lain was too mesmerized by the holographic technology of runes to react as he usually would, so he could only nod absentmindedly as a greeting.

Hearing their reply, Herald beamed and ran over to the two of them, acting no different from a small boy. He then sat down next to Hui Shi and asked gleefully. “What are your names? Since you’re my sister’s friends, that means you’re also my friends too! Right?”

“Yes my little brother, we're friends too. My name is Hui Shi, and my brother here is called Lain. We just recently met your sister so we don't know much about her. Can you tell us more about your sister?” Hui Shi responded with curiosity. He was already growing fond of the little kid. Lain on the other hand was still too engrossed in studying the holographic child to respond to the child’s questions.

Chapter 130: Nice Place

Entering the carriage, what greeted Hui Shi and Lain was a large room that from Lain’s perspective was much bigger than the carriage as a whole. Seeing the large room covered in faint serpent runes, that were glowing faintly, and illuminating the space within, Lain couldn’t help but be mesmerized. He quickly reasoned that some sort of space enlargement effect was occurring within the carriage. Causing the space within the carriage to be much bigger that what he had expected.

Looking around the room, which seemed to be a living room, Lain realized that the interior of the carriage was no different from the inside of a home. There was a pink, four-sectional couch placed against the wall facing the door that they just came through, along with a pink colored low table at its center. The floor of the living room was covered in a greenish pink rug that had designs of various beautiful pink flowers on it. Which made the living feel more welcoming.

The rug also served a purpose of covering up the runes engraved on the floor. Noticing this, gave Lain various new ideas of how to cover up the glowing runes in his new house. Seeing the runes constantly emitting faint light all day would definitely drive him crazy after a while.

On the left wall of the living room was a doorway that led to a kitchen of sorts, from the viewpoint of Lain. And on the right wall of the living room was another doorway that led to another bedroom or closet of sorts. Lain couldn’t tell exactly what the room was, from his current viewpoint within the living room.

It also seemed from Lain’s point of view he believed there was likely a doorway leading to a bedroom inside the kitchen, similar to his own. He reasoned that the house seemed too similar to his for it not to have an extra bedroom like his.

“Nice place, sister Annette.” Hui Shi said proudly with a bright and extremely handsome smile on his face. He then casually walked over to the couch in front of him and sat down relaxingly. While Lain was still standing busily by the front door admiring the beauty of the inside of the carriage, completely ignoring the words and behavior of Hui Shi.

“Thanks, brother Hui Shi. Would you two like something to drink or eat while we’re on our way?” Annette replied with a smile of her own, she truly loved the radiant smile of Hui Shi. It always made her happier.

Hearing her words, brought Lain out of his trance. He quickly nodded his head, at her question before going towards the couch to sit down next to Hui Shi. “Yes. A glass of water will do. If you have a small fruit to eat on the way, that’ll be better.” Hui Shi replied to her, before moving slightly to the side to allow Lain to sit on his left.

Chapter 129: Entering The Chariot

Hearing his words, Lain quickly typed Hui Shi’s contact information into the keyboard located at the bottom of the screen before clicking connect again. Soon after, a chime-like sound could be heard coming from Hui Shi’s plaque. After the sound was heard, Hui Shi quickly pressed a few buttons on his screen before he closed the screen in front of him.

He then said to Lain, “You can close the screen by stating close my contact information screen.” Hearing his words, Lain quickly renamed Hui Shi’s contact information that appeared directly below Annette’s, before closing the holographic screen in front of him with a verbal command.

“Well, it’s time I head out. Thanks brothers for letting me tag along. I’ll let myself out now, in order to get some rest. Let’s meet outside two hours before noon tomorrow, so we can be at the recruitment office on time.” Annette said wearily, after making the holographic screen in front of her disappear. It seemed the feeling of tiredness had begun to wash over her mind. She’s had a busy day, and the information about the Fang Clan seemed to be taking a toll on her.

“Enjoy your night’s rest, sister Annette. I’ll also be heading into the first bedroom now. Thanks brother Lain, for lending me the room for the night.” Hui Shi replied with a smile. He and Annette then shook Lain’s hand before they both left the kitchen towards their desired destinations.

“You’re welcome. Enjoy your night’s rest” Lain replied to them slowly, as he watched them leave, while standing in the kitchen. He reasoned to himself while standing there that the day had been an eye opener for him, so a few hours of rest would definitely help refresh his mind that was filled with questions, and wonder.

After they disappeared from his view, he quickly said out loud, “Close the holographic screen in front of me.” To the key in his hand, which then caused the screen in front of him to disappear. He then entered the bedroom next to the kitchen, laid down on the bed and closed his eyes, with the key placed on the bed next to him.

More than seven hours later, Annette, Lain and Hui Shi could be seen standing by the front of Annette’s carriage exchanging greetings. After exchanging greetings, Annette said to Lain and Hui Shi with a bright and charming smile. “Well, let’s get going. I’ll take you brothers there on my chariot.” Before walking to the side of her carriage and opening the door. Lain could tell from her smile that the rest she received from the night truly helped clear her mind of the troubles that occurred the day before.

“Thank you.” Both Hui Shi, and Lain replied to her. Hui Shi then followed her into her carriage. While Lain stayed behind for a few seconds to enjoy the fresh morning breeze and the view of the beautiful large tree-like grasses around him that cleared his mind of the extreme sadness that he had unknowingly felt last night, before following Hui Shi into the carriage.

Chapter 128: You’re A Fast Learner

At the top left of the blank page was a series of Svalian letters that Lain reasoned would be the contact information of the device. So he ignored it, and looked down at the keyboard.

Seeing the keyboard, he quickly dialed the information that was stated earlier by Annette, before clicking the connect button, to see if something would happen.

Soon after he clicked the connect button, he quickly heard a sound echo from the location where Annette was standing, before the screen that had just disappeared from her front reappeared in front of her again.

Seeing the screen appear. Annette quickly clicked a button within the screen. After clicking it, she then said to Lain. “You learn pretty fast. Clicking the connect button allows you to contact the person you wish to speak to. If the person accepts the contact request that you sent, the two of you will be able to communicate orally until either party decides to press the disconnect button. You may also communicate visually as well, simply by stating to the screen that you wish to communicate visually. After making that statement, a holographic video of you will be shared with the person you’re communicating with, but you will not be able to see the other party visually unless they also turn on that feature.”

Strangely as she spoke, an echo of her speech could be heard from the holographic screen in front of Lain. Which he found very fascinating. After hearing her words, Lain quickly clicked the disconnect button which turned off the echoing coming from the screen. After disconnecting, he soon noticed that on the blank page on the screen in front of him, directly below his contact information, the contact information he had just typed had somehow miraculously appeared. With a connect button situated to the right of that information.

Looking at Annette’s contact information, Lain couldn’t help but click on it. After clicking on it, two buttons immediately popped up on his screen. One said “Rename” while the other said “Delete.”

Seeing the two buttons, Lain quickly figured out what they meant, and clicked on the Rename button, which brought up a keyboard that allowed him to type Annette’s name on it. After typing the name and clicking on an “Accept” button that was located on the keyboard itself. The contact information quickly changed to Annette’s name. Before the new keyboard disappeared from view.

“Brother Lain, you’re truly a fast learner. Please add my contact information as well, before we go get some rest. It’s 39034^&.” Hui Shi said in acknowledgment.

Chapter 127: Contact Information Screen

“Okay! It’s 77!^545.” Annette replied. Soon after, Hui Shi tapped quickly on his screen, after a number pad appeared on it, as if he was dialing the information given by Annette.

After less than a minute. A chime-like sound was heard in the kitchen, which seemed to come from Annette’s screen. Hearing the sound, Hui Shi quickly said to Annette. “That should be me. I just sent you a contact request, sister Annette.”

Nodding at his words, Annette glanced at her screen, before pressing a few buttons on it. Soon after, the screen disappeared from her front.

Seeing the screen disappear, Lain who was watching the two exchange contact information couldn’t help but ask them in curiosity. “How does this contact thing work?”

Hearing his question. Hui Shi smiled at him and replied, while playing with the plaque in his hand. “It’s actually quite simple. Everyone can purchase devices that function just like the key in your hand, that allows you to browse the web archive, check your bank account balances, as well as communicate with others. The heroes of the hero division give these devices free of charge to heroes, while everyone else has to acquire them on their own.

Each device, once connected to its user’s account, will have its own unique contact information that the user can share to others in order to communicate with them from any distance. Certain government officials can also directly contact a person simply by searching their name in the government’s database regardless of what device they’re currently using.

Like I stated in the past, every citizen of the empire is entitled to a unique identity or account within the empire that’s directly linked to their bank account, as well as other accounts that they wish to open within the empire.”

“Thanks for the explanation. Does my key also have the ability to communicate as well?” Lain asked in doubt, since it seemed to him that his key should be capable of communicating with others as well, since it also had the web archive function.

“Yes, it does. Just tell the key to pull up your contact information screen, and a contact screen will pop up in front of you that allows you to insert the contact information of others.” Annette, who was listening by the side, replied to Lain’s question. She had completely forgotten about Lain earlier, or she would’ve given him her contact information as well.

Hearing her reply, Lain gleefully did as told. Soon after, he stated out loud for the key in his hand to pull up his contact information, and a holographic screen quickly appeared in front of him. Looking at the small rectangular holographic screen, he saw a blank page, with a keyboard located at the bottom of the screen, as well as a connect and disconnect button directly below it.

Chapter 126: Exchanging Contacts

“Thanks for the offer. I’ll stay in the first bedroom. It’s been a long day.” Hui Shi said, after hearing their responses, before sighing again, and continuing. “I would like to invite you to seek shelter at my church, if you find the burden of being monitored by the Fang Clan too great. In the arms of our church, not even the Gilagesh Empire can harm you, much less the Fang Clan.”

He couldn’t help but extend an olive branch, in case they truly couldn’t find a way to protect themselves, and require shelter. His Ensieth Church will never be afraid of the Fang Clan.

“Thank you, brother Hui Shi. I may need to take the offer in the future, if I believe I can’t handle the situation.” Lain replied with a thankful smile.

“Thanks as well. The insect from before may not be monitoring me, but if I believe it is, I’ll gladly take you up on your offer. Let’s exchange contacts, before I head out to my chariot to rest.” Annette replied. After she did, a small holographic screen strangely popped up in front of her. The screen was covered with words that were written in Gilbrazen.

Seeing this, Lain was visibly surprised. He couldn’t help but look at Annette’s body, hoping to figure out where the source of the screen was, but after a minute of looking he still couldn’t figure out how the screen got there.

Noticing Lain’s puzzled look, Annette decided to explain what just occurred, while Hui Shi reached into a pocket on his light blue priest robe to pull out a rectangular, stone plaque. After pulling out the plaque, a holographic screen also popped up in front of him. But this screen was covered in images and words written in Svalian.

“The screen in front of me was created by a ring given to me by the Justice Bureau, after becoming a hero. It functions as a telepathic communication tool that allows its user to communicate with the Justice Bureau officers within the city, in case of an emergency, a surveillance tool that allows the Justice Bureau to watch the surroundings of the user, after being given permission, as well as an everyday tool for the users personal entertainment and convenience. Just like the key of a house.” Annette stated, while pulling out a ring from her bosom. After letting Lain see the ring in her right palm, she quickly placed it back inside her bosom with a shy smile.

“Heroes can control the ring with their minds, after becoming its user.” She added shyly. Hearing her words, Lain quickly nodded with a look of understanding on his face. He then looked towards Hui Shi, who had a plaque in his right palm, and a similar holographic screen in front of him.

Hui Shi, after pulling out his plaque, gently looked at Annette with closed eyes, and a bright smile, before saying. “Please, sister Annette. Let me hear your contact information.”

Chapter 125: Is It The Fang Clan Again?

“That sucks. The Fang Clan member from before is too sinister for me to handle alone by myself, if it ever decides to attack me. Wait! Why would it target me though? I am just a weak hero with little power. Chances are it is likely you, brother Hui Shi that it may be targeting. I heard the priests of Ensieth were all very powerful people that are protected by Lord Ensieth himself. He may be mad that you healed us back then, so he decided to tail you, in order to find out how powerful you truly are, before he comes after you himself.” Annette stated while shivering.

As a hero, she had never been given a mission to fight those much stronger than her, especially those at or above the unity stage. And she believed judging from the dangerous insect following the Fang Clan man from earlier, as well as the behavior of the guards towards him that he was definitely someone at the unity stage or higher. Only nobles, and people at the unity stage or higher get preferential treatment by the guards at the gate.

“That might be so. It must be brother Hui Shi that he’s after. I haven’t done anything that’ll make him come after me either. Besides, my current power at this current time may even be weaker than sister Annette, due to the restrictions placed on my strength. So there’s nothing noteworthy about me for him to be chasing after.” Lain added as well in bafflement. He just arrived in the city, and may already be targeted by a powerful enemy. He hadn’t even heard of the Fang Clan until earlier today, but now he may be going against them.

“Well, you may be correct. But I hope you keep my warnings in mind. We may all be the target of the Fang Clan. The Fang Clan have always been a cruel and highly dangerous clan that practices many secretive arts. Going against them is no different from going against an untouchable zone. So be very careful from now on.” Hui Shi replied, after a brief moment of pondering.

After making sure that both Lain and Annette nodded at his warnings, he then sighed, and said to them. “Well, that should be all for tonight. We should probably get some rest before we head to the Hero recruitment office tomorrow morning. I believe brother Mon Dupa is expecting to meet us at the nearest office within this district.”

“Yeah. We should. I’ll go rest in my chariot tonight. I wish to spend some time alone, with the new information I just received about the Fang Clan. That way I can figure out a way to protect myself in the future. I may need to buy some protective instruments tonight.” Annette replied, after a moment of thought. The thought of the Fang Clan possibly coming after her slightly weighed her down.

“Great idea, sister Annette. Brother Hui Shi, you can stay in any of the rooms, if you wish for a place to rest in. I’ll stay in this second bedroom, in order to rest my head, and think about how to deal with the Fang Clan.” Lain replied as well. He wasn’t sure the Fang Clan was truly coming after him. But he still needed time to rest and figure things out on his own.

Chapter 124: We’re Being Monitored?

Looking at the king sized bed in front of him, he couldn’t help but feel amazed by its size change. “That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” Annette asked gleefully next to him.

“It truly is. This is a very useful feature of the bed. I thought I may need to buy a new bed to replace this one in the future, if I ever needed to invite guests over.” Lain replied, with a smile. He knew he was short of money, so a new bed would’ve been hard to acquire as he was right now. This feature truly saved him from future trouble.

After another two minutes of Annette looking around the room, while Lain played with the holographic screen in front of him. Adjusting the settings of the furniture in the room, Annette finally said to him. “Well, that should be the end of the house tour. The back of the house, from what I can see, is just a forest of overgrown Riddlegrain grass, and Old Pike trees. Old Pike is the name of triangular red colored trees, if you’re wondering. They have a slightly sweet citrus-like scent and taste to their leaves that makes them a favorite snack for children in our city to snack on.”

“I see. Thanks for the help! I’ll try plucking the some leaves in the future, they may be great for brewing tea” Lain replied, before they both walked out of the room, towards Hui Shi, who was standing in front of the floor to ceiling window in the kitchen, pondering over things Lain, and Annette were unaware of.

“Brother Lain, I would hold off on bringing guests over right now. I heard you earlier mention this, and I would caution you on this, since I believe we’re being monitored by the Fang Clan.” Hui Shi said gloomily with a look of concern written on his face, as he saw Lain and Annette walk towards him.

“We’re being monitored?” Annette replied in shock. Before looking around desperately. She couldn’t help but shiver, since she didn’t notice anything strange, even though after Mon Dupa’s appearance, she became a lot more alert of her surroundings subconsciously.

“Really?” Lain asked as well, while looking around in slight doubt. He was too focused on the house tour earlier to pay attention to his surroundings. He had just arrived in the city, so he thought he should have no enemies.

“Yes. I just saw a monitoring insect patrolling the outside of the house, that I believe may be from the Fang Clan. There aren’t many insect controlling will powers in this kingdom from my understanding. So, if my guess is correct, this monitoring insect is likely from the Fang Clan. But since there are other insect controllers in this kingdom, it could be them, although the likelihood of it being them is very low.” Hui Shi replied. He couldn’t help but ponder again if his current guess was correct. Although the Fang Clan was likely the culprit, he reasoned that he, Annette, and Lain may have other enemies that he didn’t know of, that may be capable of either controlling an insect or hiring an insect controller to monitor them.

Chapter 123: Moth-Like Insect

Appearing to be the bed that was made for a child instead of an adult. The table, desk, and closet were situated directly in front of the doorway, with the closet being on the wall opposite the doorway.

While Lain and Annette were looking at the last bedroom, Hui Shi slowly walked towards the floor to ceiling window, and turned his face towards the forest behind the house with a higher level of scrutiny, as if he was looking for something, even though his eyes were closed.

Looking towards the forest of grasses, for more than a couple of minutes, he noticed a small, green colored, flying moth-like insect, with legs and eyes, similar to those of a spider. It was the size of a fruit fly and was watching them menacingly as it flew around the backyard of the house, a dozen or so feet from the window. Noticing that it was being monitored by Hui Shi, even though Hui Shi’s eyes were closed, the tiny insect quickly flew into the forest of grasses, and disappeared from sight.

Noticing the tiny, but menacing insect disappear from his front, Hui Shi stood there in deep contemplative thought, as he remembered that the Fang Clan were masters at controlling insects. ‘I hope this isn’t the Fang Clan at play here, but unfortunately it possibly might be. There’s already so much to deal with in this world filled with danger. I can’t believe the Fang Clan members have nothing better to do than monitor a priest and two regular people.’ Hui Shi thought to himself, after moments of careful deliberation. But before he could continue his train of thoughts, the voice of Annette caught his attention, so he decided to forget what just occurred for now, until everyone was done looking through the house.

“It is truly identical.” Annette's voice rang out, as she looked into the room, completely ignoring the sound of Hui Shi’s bare feet moving around behind her. She then said to Lain. “If this bed is like most beds that I’ve come across, you can adjust the size of the bed through the holographic menu. Just touch the bed’s icon within the holographic menu, using two fingers. Then drag those two fingers towards opposite directions, and the bed’s size will enlarge as your fingers move apart.”

Hearing her words, Lain nodded his head in appreciation, before clicking on the last bedroom’s menu button. After doing so, the holographic screen in front of him changed until he was looking at a holographic replica of the room in front of him.

After seeing the holographic screen change, Lain quickly located the small bed within the holographic room, and touched it with his two index fingers before dragging them apart. As he did so, he amazingly saw the bed in front of him enlarge slowly, along with the bed within the holographic screen.

He continued to enlarge the bed until it was the size of a king sized bed, before he let his two fingers fall down from the holographic screen.

Chapter 122: A Strange Anomaly

“Touching the top of the two tubes on the countertop causes the runes inscribed on them to condense water from the environment outside the house into the tubes, and release them from the holes within the tubes. Giving you access to hot and cold water. You can also just state loudly to the house key that you wish to turn on cold or hot water from the kitchen’s faucet, and the same thing will occur.” Annette continued, after seeing Lain pull up the holographic kitchen.

“Thanks! This is a pretty interesting kitchen. Life would've been so much easier, if we had this back at my home.” Lain voiced out in jealousy.

“Me too. I didn’t grow up with a kitchen like this either. I bought my first home, only after years of effort working with the Justice Bureau officers.” Annette added with slight melancholy in her voice.

“You two must’ve had it rough growing up.” Hui Shi couldn’t help but say, before putting his hands on both their shoulders, in understanding. The golden glow emanating from his warm hands quickly entered their bodies, cleansing their slightly melancholic minds, and soothing their aching souls.

“Yeah.” Annette, and Lain unwillingly replied with sighs. Before going back to looking around the room again, after being cleansed by the sacred, golden light emanating from Hui Shi’s hands. It seems they’ve come to terms with their difficult pasts.

After opening a few cabinets, and playing with the appliances within the kitchen for a couple of minutes in silence, Lain quickly got over the novelty of the kitchen’s appliances.

Seeing Lain stop moving around in wonder and awe, Hui Shi realized it was time to check out the last room.

“You should probably go and check out the last room, called Bedroom 2 in the holographic TV menu. It’s likely identical to the first bedroom that we just came from, and will be very familiar to you.” Hui Shi stated with a slight relaxing smile on his face, before looking through the floor to ceiling glass window in the kitchen towards the backyard of the house that showed the forest behind the house. It seemed that something outside of the window caught his closed eyes.

“There’s probably nothing much in there. But I’ll follow you along.” Annette added before guiding Lain to the doorway of the last bedroom that was situated on the right side of the kitchen.

Looking into the last bedroom, Lain saw an identical bed, closet, chair, and desk inside of it similar to the first room he had visited. There was truly nothing there that was different, other than the fact that the bed in the new bedroom was located on the left side of the room, and was smaller in size than the one in the first bedroom that he visited.

Chapter 121: The Kitchen

Entering the room, Lain couldn’t help but gawk and look around. While looking he saw cabinets all over the room, covered in faint rune patterns. Some cabinets were placed above his head, while others were placed closer to the ground. The only locations without cabinets were the windows in front of him, the entryway that he came from, and a doorway towards his right that seemed to lead to another room.

On the left side of the room that he was currently in, an island table was placed, along with chairs that seemed to be chiseled from stone. The island table wasn’t too large, but was big enough for 6 chairs to be placed around it. It was still small enough for people to move around it within the kitchen.

Placed on the left most wall of the kitchen, was a countertop that was also made of the same stone-like object, pervite. It seemed it was created to be used for washing and chopping foods of all sorts. On the countertop, two faucet-like tubes made from the same granite stone-like object could be seen by Lain. Directly below them was a round concaved section of the pervite countertop that seemed to have been made to hold the water.

While Lain and Annette were looking around, mesmerized, Hui Shi’s voice rang out. Dragging them out of their trance. “This room is the kitchen. Clicking on the kitchen menu button will allow you to view the holographic version of the kitchen, and control the various appliances and cabinets within.”

Before Lain could press the kitchen’s menu button, Annette continued where Hui Shi left off in glee. “If my guess is correct, the temperature of the table in front of us, on the left, can be adjusted, along with the countertop, and the cabinets around this room. That way food left on top of them or inside of them can be kept warm or cold.”

After speaking she smiled and glanced at Hui Shi, before saying, “Am I right brother Hui Shi? Some kitchens are usually custom made differently, so I may be wrong here.”

“That’s correct, sister Annette. This standard room comes with adjustable countertop, cabinet and table temperatures. Swiping up or down on these appliances through the holographic TV screen allows you to change their temperature at your whim.” Hui Shi replied, with a dashing grin, but before he could continue speaking, Annette added with a nod and a smile. “And the coolest aspect of these two appliances is that you can touch their surfaces without getting burned or frozen, no matter how high or low the temperature gets. This allows you to cool or cook your meals on their surfaces without the threat of bodily harm!” It seemed she truly loved explaining facts about the kitchen.

“That’s interesting.” Lain replied, before clicking on the kitchen menu button on the holographic screen in front of him. Which pulled up a mini version of the kitchen.

Chapter 120: Entering The Kitchen

It was almost the size of a small stadium. The shelves, and clothing hooks, were still there, but they were now spread out from each other, as the space between each hook and shelf seemed to have expanded. Even the ceiling was eight times its previous height.

“Pretty cool, right? You can go back to normal, by telling the key to return the room to its previous size.” Hui Shi stated with a smile. Annette, standing by the side, also smiled as she looked around the expanded room. This space expanding technology, always marvels her every time she experiences it.

“I see. Thanks for the advice. I like the closet at the current size, so I’ll leave it at its current setting. I may use it in the future for training.” Lain replied, while still looking around at the expanded room. He couldn’t believe that runes could be used in so many unique ways. Although he didn’t like the fact that it was all powered by blood, he still had to admit that runes were truly a useful invention.

“Great idea. It’s great to have a place to test your strength. There shouldn’t be much else to this room other than its space expansion feature, and its ability to take damage, from what I’ve heard. So we should probably move on to the next room.” Annette replied. She then looked at Lain, to confirm his answer. Seeing her look at him, Lain could only smile, and nod, before going back to gawk at the expanded room some more. He truly loved the space expansion feature of this room.

“That’s true, sister Annette. Let’s go to the kitchen.” Hui Shi stated, after hearing her words, and seeing Lain’s nod of approval. Then after looking at the closet, one last time, he turned his back on the gawking Lain, who was still looking at the expanded closet in admiration, and walked back towards the living room, which they came from, before making a left turn into another room.

Seeing Hui Shi leave, Annette couldn’t help but chuckle and say to Lain. “Let’s catch up to brother Hui Shi. You’ll have a lot of time to admire your new home in the future.” Before following Hui Shi towards the next room.

Looking at his future training room one last time, Lain couldn’t help but thank Elder Micas and Elder Trent in his heart for the home he just received, before following Annette into the next room.

Entering the kitchen, what greeted Lain, was Hui Shi, and Annette standing inside a large, rectangular room, with a floor to ceiling window, that stood opposite the entryway that he just passed through. They were looking around in slight intrigue, at the familiar, yet unfamiliar room.

They both stood by the left and right side of the entryway quietly waiting for Lain to enter the room and acclimate himself to the features inside of it.

Chapter 119: The Closet’s Interior

“I heard that most closets are made sturdy enough to be used as training rooms, from a friend of mine. Is that true, brother Hui Shi?” Annette, standing by the side, couldn't help but ask, while also looking around the room.

“Technically yes. But this room, although can be used as a training room, requires special blood to power the runes in it in order to handle the destruction that fighting within it can cause. But right now, it’s not capable of that, as the blood given by sister Annette earlier was used to power the runes in the entire house, not just this small closet, so fighting within this closet right now, would need you to pour blood specifically in this room, in order to power the runes within it.” Hui Shi replied, in deep thought.

“This closet can also be used as a training room? What special blood is required?” Lain, listening by the side, quickly asked, after realizing that this slightly large closet could also be used to test his strength in the future.

“I don’t really know. But if it works like the battle room in my chariot, then you’ll probably need the blood of a creature that’s stronger than you, otherwise the room will not be able to handle your strength.” Annette replied shyly. She could only guess, as she didn’t know the technicalities of how it worked. Some houses were built vastly differently than others, so she may be wrong.

“Well, you’re correct. All you need is blood capable of handling your strength at max capacity. Drop the blood on the pervite floor of this closet, and the runes will absorb enough blood to first replenish the entire household, then store the excess for when the room is damaged from within.

This alternative use of this room comes with the ability to expand its size to the size of the entire house, in order to accommodate your battles. You just have to hold the house key with you, and verbally state that you want to enlarge this closet to its maximum capacity, and its size will increase drastically before your eyes.” Hui Shi added, before looking at Lain with a slight smile, to see if he understood.

“I see, thanks. I may use this feature in the future. I don’t have that many clothes, so the little closet in the hallway that leads to this closet will probably be all I need.” Lain, replied with a nod, before walking a couple steps into the room. After doing that, he stated verbally. “Please expand this room to its maximum capacity!”

Immediately after he uttered those words, the walk-in closet that he was in, that was smaller than a normal room, changed drastically. The runes on the floor and walls, glowed brightly in a light blue hue, before the air around Lain, Hui Shi, and Annette, seemed to warp and stretch before their very eyes, causing them to feel slightly dizzy. By the time the bout of dizziness faded, the room had already enlarged into a size much larger than the entire house.

Chapter 118: Entering The Closet

“I see.” Lain replied, before getting up from the ground. He then stated loudly. “Please turn off the water.”

After his words echoed out in the air for a second, he quickly noticed the rain that was falling onto the bathtub disappear quickly.

“You’re catching on.” Annette couldn’t help but chuckle and say, after watching what just occurred.

Hui Shi on the other hand could only smile and nod at her words, while Lain smiled back at her as well, as a sign of acknowledgement.

“The toilet also works the same way. After using it, telling the television to flush or clean the toilet, will automatically clean the toilet, both inside and out, using the runes engraved on it.” Annette said, before walking away from Lain, towards the entrance of the bathroom.

“I see. This is completely different from the bathroom at my old home. We had to bathe in buckets, and could only use outhouses for toilets, as we lived far from town, in a more secluded area.” Lain voiced out in jealousy. Before also walking towards the entrance of the bathroom.

“I’ll try to figure things out on my own in the future. There’s no need for me to test the toilet right now.” Lain couldn’t help but say with a blush on his face, because he didn’t want to use the features of the toilet right now. Even if he did, he definitely wouldn’t use it while others were watching him.

“Sounds good. Just remember in the future that many of your voice commands can be accomplished by the bathroom’s intelligence system, as long as they’re reasonable. This includes changing the layout of the bathroom itself.” Annette replied, standing by the side, and looking at the quiet Hui Shi, standing by the entrance.

Hearing her words, Lain nodded slightly. Hui Shi, seeing his nod, quickly said. “Now that we’re done here, let’s go to the closet before we head to the kitchen. There’s not much to show in there.” Before walking out of the bathroom towards the closet’s entrance opposite them. Annette, and Lain, quickly followed behind him quietly.

Entering the closet, Lain saw an empty room, with white hooks and shelves on every wall. Its design was simple, as he expected from a room that was designed to store clothing.

“This room is a standard closet. There’s nothing really special about it other than the fact that it has space enlargement runes engraved within it that makes the area within it larger than it should be.” Hui Shi stated, with slight boredom, as he looked around at the empty closet.

Chapter 117: The Bathtub’s Holographic Screen

“Yup, they are.” Annette replied, after arriving by the side of the holographic screen, with Lain. After seeing the holographic screen up close, Lain couldn’t help but marvel at its ingenuity.

On this new holographic screen, there were only three large buttons that read Bathtub, Shower, And Toilet.

While Lain was staring at the menu buttons, Hui Shi continued. “There should be three standard light-blue colored buttons on the screen. Bathtub, Shower and Toilet. The appliances in the bathroom are controlled by voice command. Clicking on a button tells the holographic television which appliance you would like to control using your voice.

You can also use your voice to tell the television, which appliance you wish to command also, by stating the appliance’s name before you issue the command.”

“Commands?” Lain couldn’t help but ask, before clicking on the shower button. Clicking on the shower button, made the holographic button that was originally light blue in color start to wiggle back and forth in place for a couple seconds, before turning red, and staying still again.

“Yes. Commands allow you to control the appliances. You can give any reasonable demand to the holographic screen, and it will do as told. For example, if you click on the shower button and tell it to turn on the water, the runes in the room will condense water above the bathtub that you can take a shower in.” Annette replied with a smile.

Hearing her words, Lain did just that. He quickly said, “Please turn on the water in the shower.”

A second after he did, water started falling from the space above the large bathtub. The water seemed to appear from thin air directly above the ceiling of the bathroom before falling towards the bathtub on the floor of the bathroom. Strangely, Lain noticed that the water, upon touching the bathtub, seemed to evaporate and vanish from sight.

Marveling at the sight of that, he couldn’t help but bend down and touch the bottom of the bathtub with both hands. Touching the bottom, he realised that it was dry to the touch, but the water that fell on his hands didn’t evaporate, but instead rolled down his hands towards the bathtub below.

Watching Lain play with the bathtub, Annette, continued her explanations. “Saying the same command after pressing the bathtub button, causes water to condense at the bottom of the bathtub instead of evaporate. Naturally, you can change the temperature of the water that falls down, on command as well, by stating that you want hot, warm, cold or very cold water. You can even tell the holographic system what exact temperature you wish the water to be in, and it’ll change to that temperature.”

Chapter 116: Bathroom In Detail

“It is pretty cool. I’ll let brother Hui Shi finish introducing the features of the room now.” Annette couldn’t help but say shyly, before letting go of Lain’s hand, and waiting quietly by Lain’s side, as he looked at the holographic room in front of him in wonder.

“Thanks sister Annette, I’ll continue now by letting you know that directly in front of us is the entrance to both the bathroom of this room, and the closet.” Hui Shi stated, as he looked left and right, while standing in front of the closet.

“Directly in front of us is a wall with hooks, and shelves that can be used to store clothes and towels, so it can be seen as a small closet of sorts. On its left is a doorway that leads to the bathroom of the room, and on its right is a doorway that leads to the formal closet of the room.” He added, with a smile, before walking towards the bathroom’s doorway on the left.

“Both the bathroom and the closet have space expansion runes that make the space within them larger than they should be.” Annette stated with a smile.

“Is that so?” Lain couldn’t help but ask, as he looked away from the screen in front of him towards the walk-in closet, which now appears to be an entryway that leads to the bathroom and the real walk-in closet, before following Hui Shi into it.

“Yup. The bathroom is a normal bathroom, with a toilet bowl, as well as a shower section that allows you to clean yourself.” Hui Shi replied. Before moving to the side to allow Lain and Annette to enter the room.

Entering the bathroom, Lain couldn’t help but notice how large it was. It was almost the size of the bedroom that they just exited. On the left side of this bathroom, situated directly on the opposite wall facing Lain, was a bowl that Lain assumed must be the toilet bowl. On the right side of the bathroom, was a large bathtub that reached from the opposite wall, towards the entrance wall that Lain, Hui Shi and Annette were standing by.

On the entrance wall, directly above where the bathtub is, there seemed to be a holographic screen levitating by it.

After seeing this new holographic screen, Lain couldn’t help but walk over to it. Seeing Lain walk towards the screen, Annette quickly opened her mouth to speak, as she followed him from behind. “That holographic television is a bathroom menu. Every house has it.”

Hui Shi, while looking around the clean, and white colored bathroom that was covered in faint, light-blue runes, said slowly, “It allows you to change the settings of the bathtub and the shower. Its controls are pretty simple, and very easy to learn.”

Chapter 115: The First Bedroom

He then turned around to see if there would be changes to the doorway, as Annette’s left hand fell off his shoulder. Looking at the doorway, he was immediately mesmerized, as the opened doorway within the blink of an eye quickly turned into a wall that looked no different from the other walls in the room, covered in runes. Doing this, he completely enclosed everyone inside the room.

Feeling very interested in this technology, he swiped down on the same holographic door icon in front of him again, which caused the wall to quickly vanish before his eyes and turn back into a walk-through doorway.

“See? It’s pretty useful isn’t it?” Annette said, while she also looked at the doorway along with Lain, in slight admiration.

“It truly is.” Lain replied, with a smile. He couldn’t help but think in his mind, while mesmerized by the magical properties of runes. ‘I can’t believe there’s such amazing technology in this world. If only my village wasn’t so remote. We definitely could make use of this technology back home. I wonder how much it costs to build though?’

“Now that you know how the doors work, let’s continue.” Hui Shi added, before going towards the closet on the left side of the room. Annette, hearing him, quickly grabbed Lain’s left hand and dragged him along.

After walking by the chair and desk, they ended up stopping in front of the walk-in closet in the room. After stopping, Annette quickly opened her mouth and joyfully said to Lain. “The table and desk should function like most tables and desks in other houses.”

“You’re correct sister Annette, tables and desks are often made with drawers that have space expansion runes inscribed within them, that make the room inside of them bigger than usual. And they also function just like the sofa in the living room. Their weight can be adjusted through the holographic television to make it easier to move them around the house as well.” Hui Shi added, while looking down at the chair and desk that they just passed in satisfaction.

“So I can adjust the table and chair in front of me just like I did with the sofa from before. That’s pretty cool.” Lain couldn’t help but blurt out in amazement before clicking on the Bedroom 1 menu button. Which brought out the holographic version of the room.

Although he wanted to play around with the chair and desk in front of him, since he already knew how they worked, he decided it was best to wait until they were done going through the house in detail, before coming back in the future to explore each feature of the house until he’s satisfied.

Chapter 114: The Doors Menu

Hearing his words, Lain quickly pushed on the Doors menu button on the menu, after briefly glancing at the Bedroom 1 screen that showed the inside of the bedroom that they were currently standing within, in real time.

After pushing on the Doors menu button, the canvas that previously showed the current bedroom disappeared. After its disappearance, multiple pictures of doors appeared on the screen, in 5 rows that led down the screen, with each door having a name situated at its center.

While Lain was looking at the doors that appeared on the screen, Hui Shi continued with a charming smile on his extremely handsome face. “Each door in this house also functions as a window, including the main door of the house that’s situated in the living room. The main door is also the only door in the house that can be pushed open on opposite sides of it, in order to enter or exit the house. Along with the main door, every wall in the house can also be turned into a window, and a doorway, using the same vertical swiping method that I mentioned earlier.

Swiping up on a wall changes its opacity rating from 100% to 0% and vice versa. Setting a wall’s opacity at 50% or higher turns it into a see-through window. Any rating below 50% allows you to walk through the window, as if it’s a doorway, but odors, winds, and small objects cannot pass through.

Once the rating is set to 0%, all objects can pass through the wall without any setbacks, as it becomes a fully functional doorway.

Lastly, any rating above 50% stops you and all objects from passing through the wall, turning it into a window, instead of a doorway. The opacity also increases with each percentage increment, until you reach 100%, where the window then turns into another solid wall that can’t be seen through or entered.

And if you’re wondering if you can get trapped within the doorway if someone changes the opacity while you’re walking through? Fear not, the opacity will only change after you set it, but only after any objects currently within the doorway have exited the doorway.”

Hearing his words, Annette couldn’t help but chuckle. She then placed her left hand on Lain’s left shoulder, saying to him. “This is a pretty useful feature that allows you to turn any wall in your house into a window or a doorway. Giving you the ability to freely enter or exit your home at any location in case of emergencies. Nifty, isn’t it?”

Lain couldn't help but nod his head, after hearing both Hui Shi, and Annette’s words, before swiping up on the door icon that correlated to the doorway that they just came through, only stopping when the rating number that floated next to his finger stopped at 100%.

Chapter 113: A Tiny Toad

‘This world, or in this case, this universe, that’s probably crawling with the corpse race is pretty interesting. This strange universe will definitely suffer for a few more years before we can get rid of the corpse race.’ He thought to himself. Before closing his eyes and continuing his train of thoughts. ‘I wonder if Lain is alright. Teacher, you’re a fool for limiting our strengths. We truly need all the power we can get to survive in this dastardly world.’

After thinking these thoughts to himself, he then slowly opened his eyes, before heading back inside the grass building next to him that seemed to function as a house. Saying to himself, “I need to go take a nap. This world is weird and boring.”

Left behind by him were the three grass-ball chairs that occasionally were passed by strangers wearing grass garments that were molded into various shapes that resembled dresses, gowns, shirts, shorts, skirts, and pants. Strangely, the language spoken by these strangers as they passed by the chairs were very similar to the Svalian dialect, spoken by the trio that had just left, but with some slight differences here and there, that made it more unique.

As the people busily passed by, a tiny, finger sized green toad could be seen hopping onto one of the grass chairs. After taking a full five minutes trying to climb up the uneven, grass chair with all its strength, it finally arrived at the top of the chair where Jaiym previously sat on before laying down, and looking up at the sky in thought. It could be noticed from its eyes, that this toad seemed to have some level of intelligence, as it relaxed on the chair and looked aimlessly at the sky above it in deep thought, while people walked by, completely ignoring its tiny existence.

Back at the stone house in Yearning Peace City, after Lain, Hui Shi, and Annette entered the room that previously had the sick father of Elena sleeping within it, Hui Shi smiled. He then started to look around once more, because the last time he entered the room, he was in a rush and only saw the bed and picture frame.

As he, and the now entering Annette and Lain looked around, they all saw a small room with a walk-in closet on the left wall of the room, a waist high stone desk and chair combo, next to the wall connected to the living room that they just came from, and the bed and picture frame that was previously mentioned that were situated next to the wall opposite the entry doorway that they just walked through.

After looking around for a few minutes in the room that was bare of anything other than furniture, Hui Shi then turned around to talk to Annette and Lain. Saying to them, “This room functions the same way as the living room on the holographic menu. Swiping up or down on any furniture can change its texture, and swiping in the middle of the holographic screen hovering in front of you can change the room’s temperature.

Lastly, before we continue, I would like for you to pull up the Doors menu at the top. I would like to show you something.”

Ch.112: Where's Lain?

“Now, I wonder what’s going on with Lain. It seems the Gilagesh Empire as a whole is sending small teams of heroes, and the Justice Bureau officers to the area we grew up in, due to this corpse race issue. I hope he doesn’t get caught up in all of this.” The lady spoke, after watching Rufut disappear before her eyes, to Jaiym.

“Well, I think he may be in trouble. He’s probably exploring the outskirts of our Sval Kingdom, near our home town, Yearning Sweet. That means, there’s a chance these corpse race rejects may find him. And knowing our teacher, he must’ve placed a lot of restrictions on his strength, that’ll make him much weaker than all of us.

An omnipotent guy like him can’t truly learn much from exploring the small world that we grew up in. If he wasn’t the strongest out of all of us, he would have received less restrictions on his strength than us. But now he’s definitely going to struggle against the insignificant insects called the corpse race that plagues the surroundings of our Yearning Sweet Town and beyond.” Jaiym replied, in slight sadness. It seemed he truly didn’t want Lain to be harmed.

“That sucks. Maybe I should go to him. I really need to help him!” The lady couldn’t help but reply in anxiety, before standing up, but after standing up for a couple of seconds, she sat back down again in defeat. Saying to Jaiym with anxiety, and depression written on her face. “Oh right! We’re here. I can’t go to him right now, unless our teacher releases his restrictions on my body.”

“Don’t worry, my funny little sister, Ralif. Little Lain can handle himself very well, you know he always wanted to travel solo across the world. He may suffer a bit, but don’t worry about his life. He’s not invincible for no reason, so even with the restrictions he should be able to manage. When he’s bored, he’ll probably go back home.” Jaiym stated after seeing her actions, with a slight look of worry on his face.

“If you say so. I’ll go back inside now. This place creeps me out. If I talk to anyone here, I may accidentally punch them in the face for being cannibals.” She replied, before gloomily standing up and heading inside the hut shaped grass building situated in front of her.

Watching the young lady called Ralif walk into the building, Jaiym nods slightly in acknowledgement, before looking up at the sky above him. Looking at the blue sky above that shone with a slight hint of purple, due to the countless tiny spores in the air, strangely had no moons around it, and also was covered in a distant belt of asteroids that encircled the planet in plain view from the ground below, he couldn’t help but feel bored inside.