NOVPUBAfter spending the rest of the day shopping around and staying incognito, aka putting on a mask and creeping around like a stealthy assassin (not so much), Aoni finally hailed a rideshare and made it back to his dorm in one piece.
'Greedy, that was greedy, what the hell were you thinking, Aoni, spending a hundred million CD like it was candy.' Thumping himself in the head repeatedly and collapsing onto the couch, he couldn't help thinking of himself to be a spendthrift young master.
And considering the massive expense he'd just incurred, it couldn't have been more suspicious.
'Even if I was able to hide my Energia Signature thanks to the AN, that doesn't mean I wasn't being watched.'
| The Host was in fact tailed numerous times, however, due to my interference along with their stealth capabilities and natural lack of presence, they were unable to persist in following the Host |
'For the free?' Aoni asked while perking up…however, when he checked his TD, the lad slumped back in his chair because there was a distinct lack of 50k points, which had vanished.
| Nothing is for free in life. Of course, the Host's approval had been granted, even if the Host was indisposed by their greed |
Thrashing about on the couch for some time and muttering incoherently, Aoni finally gathered his wits only when he was inundated by over 50 text messages from Archie.
Deet deet deet
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" Knowing it would be a bad idea to answer the call, yet doing it anyway, Aoni's eardrums were blasted by his irate older brother.
"Uh…would you believe me if I said I have no clue what you are talking about?" He said shamelessly and blank-faced.
"Not a fucking chance, no one, and I mean NO ONE, can hack my accounts, yet mysteriously 150 million CD vanished, POOF GONE, WHERE IS IT AONI?" As he screamed, the hologram of Archie was in the midst of throwing things around in his room.
"Hold up, 150? I only took 100…"
"I KNEW IT!"
"Oh shit…that was a trap…" moving his arm away as his brother jumped at the hologram in an attempt to strangle him from hundreds of miles away, Aoni clicked his tongue and looked away.
"You are so fucking lucky that it was done the right way, because if not, a transfer that large would have shown up on every fucking alert system in the nation!" Dropping into his computer chair, Archie angled the camera so that Aoni could observe the five-panel computer display.
"The cycling is insane, where even did you learn to do all this, because I sure as shit didn't teach it to you."
"Ehh…picked some things up here and there…" Aoni responded while scratching his cheek.
"Bullshit, doesn't matter, it's your money anyway and while 100 million is a lot, it's a drop in the bucket for our books, all of which is thanks to your supply and my moving money around…regardless, warn me next time, I about had a fucking heart attack thinking someone was stealing our money."
"Thankfully, when I called Charlotte, she threw you under the bus immediately, or else I would have been sending hit squads in search of the money."
'Damn her, remind me to return the gifts I got for Char later…'
| The Host is lying to themself |
'Fuck off,'
"Anyway, I just wanted to touch base and see where the money disappeared to, it better have been something good because if not, I will totally tell Mom," Archie said with a shit eating grin so wide you could fit a car in his mouth.
"…you wouldn't…."
"Ohh, I so would, that's a hundred million bucks, little bro, Mom would crack out not only the knife, but you're getting cleaning duty and a beating with that stick she used on Clara all the time."
"Meep…"
"Yeah, meep. Anyway, this is a secure line, so spill what you bought?" As he spoke, the sound of Archie clacking away on his keyboard was practically deafening, yet being used to it, Aoni simply tuned it out.
"Odds and ends, mainly things I wanted for crafting that can't be found in my territory, some plants, primarily cold fruit plants/trees, and a few medicinal items."
"No nodes or high-grade weapons?"
"Nah, don't need them, between my crafting Attribute, and the shit from the ruins what I don't have I can basically make on my own."
"Right, that was dumb, anyway, looks like you got settled in at your dorm, no problems right?" Archie asked while half paying attention.
"Nah, it was exactly like you said it would be, admission was simple, and dorm empty, luckily we picked up plenty of furniture and equipment to build a crafting room otherwise even as a scholarship student I'd be fucked."
"Well, yeah, it's not like you are a Supreme-Tier seed or anything like that, of course they won't splurge on helping you grow, just do the bare minimum and get out. I already applied for your Flume Access, so you should be receiving a notification in the next day or two."
Flume Access, the soon-to-be bane of Aoni's School life, was heavily regulated by the EFU for obvious reasons.
And not for the good ones either, in all fairness Dangerous or not, the University didn't really care, all they wanted was an extra source of income derived from students, thus, if you wanted to use the School's Flumes, you'd not only need to apply for and pay to use them, but you'd also be required to hand over half your gains upon returning to Terra.
In this way, not only did EFU benefit, but they could also regulate students' growth, aka stall them out if need be.
However, there were several hidden downsides to using a public flume. The first was that you needed to register your strength when coming and going.
For Aoni, it wasn't much of an issue, especially since Flume access was only allowed on weekends unless given permission, heavily limiting how often he could go to Genovia.
In a sense, it was a good thing because he wouldn't be expected to have rapid growth spurts, and his Attribute notice could handle it all.
And second, the location of your Territory would be handed over…
