New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live



The rest of the morning was boring for Alex, except when Clark was jolted awake with smelling salts. He had made a fuss about suddenly being surrounded by strange people in a strange place.

Alex had to help calm him down and explain where and why they were where they were. In the end, Clark accepted, although reluctantly, to get tested on by the strange scientists.

In the meantime, they had already brought Phoenix to another room, where she was also getting tested. Surprisingly, she had made decent progress in mana pool size and the intensity of her controlled flames.

This made her happy, as she always felt she was holding Alexander back on this side of the veil. Hearing that she had advanced by leaps and bounds made her feel she could finally be helpful to him if another situation arose.

Every time they had an incident, up to now, she had been assigned almost a supportive role. She was tired of being at the back.

That wasn't her style. Kary was a fighter, not a helper.

As for Alexander, he had to stay by Clark's side during his testing, as the man had asked this. He didn't trust the weird men, and Alex couldn't fault him.

Once Clark was tested, and they had hard data for his capabilities, Alex was disappointed. He had expected more.

Jack and his scientists had found a way to quantify mana, which was beyond Alexander's comprehension. And with it, they had established the start of a power scale.

Alex currently stood at the top of that scale; his mana levels only equalled by the young gale, but its purity was much higher. But Clark was barely above a human in terms of power.

It didn't make sense, though. They had just fought, and Alex knew that the last hit would have dealt massive damage to him had it connected.

The power level shown for him made no sense.

'Maybe his power is only observable in actual combat?' Alex mused.

It was now his turn to go through the works, and Alex had to focus. He did the same as usual, condensing as much mana as possible through the measuring device, showing his mana levels.

Then, he did a panoply of physical tests to determine how much he could boost his body with it. He excelled in those parts.

Then came the next part of his tests. These were specially tailored for him.

Since he was a summoner type, the tests consisted of summoning each of his soul companions one by one and having them run some tests. Then, he was to summon them simultaneously and hold them out for as long as possible to see how long he could fight at maximum summon capacity.

They also tested him on the time he could stay melded with each soul companion, with and without the other companion summoned.

Sadly, Alex still could not get Luna out. He wasn't even able to communicate with her yet.

He had, though, managed to sense her around his soul. This meant he could eventually reach out to her.

But he wasn't there yet.

His tests were the longest ones, given the range of them. But they eventually ended.

And just in time, as well.

Mr. Gu entered the facility, looked at the three people there, and smiled.

"I see I am right on time. Good. I will be taking Mr. Roberts back to his home before the three of us go to Mr. Boudreau," he said, pointing them at the door behind him.

Clark looked at him with weary eyes before glancing at Alex. Alex smiled at him and gave a brief nod, signalling he was okay, before walking away.

Only then did Clark start moving, and he kept his eyes on the strange Chinese man all along, alert if he tried anything funny.

They were guided to the same lift they had come from, which led to the parking lot, and took it wordlessly. It was only once in the limousine that Clark opened his mouth.

lightsΝοvεl ƈοm "So, this Boudreau guy. Big shot, I take it? When do I meet him?"

The question surprised Alex and made him wonder why he wanted to meet the guy. But Mr. Gu was ready for such a question.

"Ideally, never. But if you wish to meet him, I can ask him if he wants to meet you, although I doubt it. We only brought here you because you showed the traits and are linked to Mr. Leduc. In any other circumstance, you would have never seen this compound. At least not until you gave us a reason to take you here for a more unpleasant stay."

Everyone in the limo felt the hidden threat and the lingering awkwardness it left in the air.

They quickly reached Clark's small apartment building, where Mr. Gu politely asked him to stay quiet about the facility and gave him a card with a number to call if he ever felt like his newfound power was running wild.

Then, he was almost thrown out of the limousine, and the vehicle darted away, heading toward the downtown area.

'What kind of people has the kid gotten himself linked to? If I didn't know better, I would think he was held against his will…'

But Clark couldn't muster the energy to care about this any longer. He was spent and couldn't wait to get in a hot bath and catch some Zs.

This wasn't his problem. He already had a few of those and didn't need the problems of others as well.

Alex saw him stay on the sidewalk momentarily as the limo pulled away, wondering what was happening in his trainer's head. He could only imagine the confusion likely in the man's head.

'I guess I'll have to explain in more detail the next time we have a moment. I hope he doesn't suddenly refuse to train me…'

Alex looked at the buildings go by in the window, and his thoughts wandered back to New Eden, where a war had been dodged, only for them to prepare for a bigger one.

His life had gotten so complicated in just a few months…

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