“In the flesh! Thanks for performing those tests on me and everything! It turns out I do have a specialist ability! I can utilize almost all of the Spirit Arts!”

  He narrowed his eyes. “I was merely performing my duty as chief of this nation’s research and development center. Are you insinuating that my testing procedure was performed incorrectly? You have no specialist ability! Yes, being able to wield multiple Arts is unique, but it does not fall into the category of a specialist by our nation’s standard conventions. If you had asked me, I could have told you that your body has the capacity to wield multiple Arts yesterday. Now, is that all you wanted to say?”

  I held up my hands. “I wasn’t trying to insult you at all man! I just wanted to have a conversation and get to know you a little bit. You’re the brother of one of my best friends.”

  “You two are hardly best friends and I would rather not indulge your questions. Now leave.”

  I have to find out why he’s like this.

  “Alright, but before I go, could you tell me about your project for this class? I have to learn about them so I can discuss them with Mr. Writing.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “I suppose I can indulge you if it will expedite your departure. This is a new armor prototype that can track Spirit Energy and shift to defend the wearer at the moment of impact. I am also programming it to be able to detect kinetic energy and adjust to defend the wearer from any kind of melee attack.”

  “Awesome! So, it’s like an auto shield! With that thing, you would never have to worry about defense, and you could just focus on all out offense!”

  “I would never discuss it in such infantile terms, but yes. It is currently intended to significantly increase the output of our weaker soldiers. I aim to have it ready for mass production in the next year or so.”

  I pointed to a pitch-black sword in a display. “So cool! And what is the deal with that sword?”

  “Oh that? It’s just a protype blade that can absorb kinetic energy and convert it into Spirit Energy that can be manipulated by its user. Milliard is currently testing it now, and he requested his in the golden variety. I am hoping to develop the blade so it can automatically absorb and reflect a portion of the kinetic energy generated upon each contact. If I am successful, the vibrations from each sword strike would send shockwaves to induce muscle atrophy throughout the enemy that would eventually accumulate and paralyze them over time.”

  “Wow! So, with these two combined you wouldn’t have to be better than your opponent! If they can’t hit you, and you can slowly paralyze them as you fight, you would automatically win every battle! It would only be a matter of time!”

  “Yes. I call it the peon starter pack. Now does that satisfy your incessant questions?”

  “I’ve got one more for you. Why are you so aggravated, and moody, and rude! Marcus told me his reasoning and I can understand it.” I narrowed my eyes. “But I wanted to see if you had a reason, or if you were just a dick.”

  He gripped his forehead. “What exactly did that fool tell you?”

  “He told me how he was always mistreated and that he thinks Milliard and the other Archigos should do more for people. I don’t exactly know what Milliard does on the day to day, but from what I’ve seen, Marcus is making some sense. Though that’s still no reason to be rude...”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Hmph, rude you say? Comparably, the way you acted upon your arrival should be considered rude by the conventions you hold me to. I will keep my response brief. If you had suffered as I have, you would consider the fact that I grace these selfish fools with my presence each day as a lifetime’s worth of courtesy, let alone run the research and development division that keeps this nation afloat. That is all I have to say to you for now, boy…” He paused. “Aside from this, tell Marcus I said to keep his mouth shut. These fools cannot relate to our struggle, so his words are wasted on them.”

  “You’re right, and I’m sorry for the way I acted. Milliard taught me that my past is no reason to not give my all for the people I can help in the present, and it’s certainly no excuse for me to be rude. But I take it you and Marcus are friends then?”

  “Not even in the slightest.”

  My heart broke for him. “What happened to you man? Were you mistreated by the people of this society too?”

  He chuckled. “Mistreated you say? What a comical way to put it. I have no more words for you! Leave my presence!”

  I left feeling sad that I couldn’t get through to him too. I went back to Mr. Writing.

  “Hey Mr. Writing, I’m done touring the exhibits. You have some very talented students.”

  “I certainly do. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to help cultivate and shape some of the most brilliant minds this country has to offer. I take that job very seriously.” He smiled. “I hope you are a big part of this nation’s grand future as well James.”

  “Yeah, I hope so too, in the time that I’m here. But I’m not that great at anything but playing sports so don’t get your hopes up...”

  “Aww that can’t be true, what are your interests?”

  I rambled. “Uhh…I like to watch sports, and I know a lot about them. I want to be a big-time coach or a general manager for a pro sports team when I get home. Other than that, I guess I like doing Bible studies with my family. I spent part of the spring and the entire summer debating a religious group about fallacies in their doctrines and religious beliefs. People say I should be a preacher but I’m not really into that. I also love anime, and I could talk about it for days. It would be cool to write my own one day, but I mostly sit around and think about writing more than I end up writing. That unfortunately applies to more areas of my life than just writing. One of my life’s dreams is to see something I wrote as a top tier anime on the big screen in the movie theaters…”

  “See, that’s not nothing. I don’t know what ‘anime’ is, but you have a lot of varying interests that you’re very knowledgeable and talented in.”

  I sighed. “None of that really seems like it’s going to contribute to this nation’s grand future though. And in my world, unless I write a hit show or get drafted, none of that is going to make me any money either.”

  “Money is overrated. If you’re doing what God has purposed for you to do and spend time serving others, you will live a fulfilled life. It’s good to spend time working on the things that He created you to love as well.”

  “Yeah, I guess. Money and independence as a man are important too. Especially for one who is looking to get married soon. I’ve always had grand visions and big dreams. I don’t think I could be happy living a regular-degular lifestyle. I would always want to be pushing and innovating and trying to help people on a major scale. I’ve always told everyone around me I was going to change the world.” I sighed. “Now I’m not so sure…”

  “And you can, if that’s the path God has for you. You just have to make sure that’s what He wants for you and not just something you want for yourself.”

  “I mean, I think it must be based on the talent he’s given me, but you’re right. Thanks for the advice, sir.”

  “Anytime. Now, I think Mr. Milliard and Mr. Jaren were looking for you a little bit ago. I believe they’re searching in the courtyard as we speak.”

  “As loud as they are, I’m surprised I didn’t hear them coming. Alright, I’m on my way, let me grab Marcus.”

  I looked everywhere, but I couldn’t find Marcus, and I had no plans of disturbing a man on a toilet. Eventually I gave up and made my way to the courtyard.

  CRASH!

  I tried not to swear as I accidentally banged my shoulder into a locker. Why are the hallways in this area so dark? I thought schools kept their lights on until like 10pm or something. You can’t tell me this school is struggling to pay their damn light bill!

  As I stepped across the courtyard’s threshold, confetti and balloons rained from the ceiling.