I stayed at the guest room again and woke up the next morning, but it was close to noon! The curtains were open enough to filter the sunlight into the room, but the initiation from yesterday must've taken a lot out of me to be fast asleep then! I was watching TV again there was a knock on the door.
"Come in." I said. I walked towards the door, but it got opened before I reached it.
Someone who resembled Etta opened the door and greeted me.
"Hi. Are you Olympia?" I asked.
"Etta must've told you didn't she?" She chuckled. "I'm Olympia, and I'm her younger sister!" She introduced herself. Her hair was blonde like Etta's, but was a sandier hue and reached to the middle of her back. She wore glasses, had green eyes and wore a white blouse with green stripes, a green skirt, white tights, a dark green shawl with a white bow, and a round brooch pinned to the bow.
"Hi. I'm Damien, that visitor who arrived from the Human World. I stayed and became an Operating Superstar yesterday." I introduced myself.
"I heard about your initiation! Etta was so excited she called and asked me to visit as soon as I can to meet you!" Olympia said. She reached out her free hand; she had a clipboard in the other. "Piper said this is how humans often greet people, don't they?"
"I'll still give a handshake." I chuckled before we shook each other's hands.
"How are you feeling now?" She asked me.
"I feel okay although I slept in a lot. Getting up was easier this morning than the last." I said. Olympia started writing down some notes.
"That's normal after being initiated and being reformatted. Sleeping in for a few extra hours isn't that extreme for a human who was reformatted!" She cheerfully said.
"Oh, I'm surprised too. After the initiation yesterday I was sure I was going to sleep in all day today!" I said with a nervous laugh.
Olympia smiled and was happy to see I didn't experience any issues. "How prepared do you feel now?" She asked.
"Not great... I'm still not fully recharged" I said groggily. I'm not sure if I'll feel well enough for Valencia's debut party and I don't know when I'd start training or when I'll debut." I started to worry.
Olympia wrote down a few more notes before she responded. "That's still a few days away. If you're still not feeling well and if Valencia wants to duel anyone to demonstrate her strength during her party, I could remind her you're not ready yet and you shouldn't be volunteered for it."
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Juna will be leading your mentorship. If you're feeling well enough now, I can tell her and you could start training today. If you're still feeling sick, I'll tell Phuong and she'll check on you."
"What would the training process be like and what notes are you taking?" I asked her.
"You'll start by learning the specific way we can channel the inner workings of the world. If you'll also be training in a combat skill, you'll just start with being trained in the basics while you discover what your strengths are. These notes are about your well-being and to monitor your progress for any complications." She explained.
I thought about how I was feeling a little more and took a few steps around the room. "I feel ready to get started, if it's not going to wipe me out." I said.
"Sure. I'll tell Juna that you want to start today after breakfast, and to be cautious." Olympia said. She walked out of the room, and I followed to get breakfast.
After I finished breakfast, Juna and Olympia approached me.
"I'll show you the first steps." Juna said to me, and motioned towards the hallway. She was wearing a different outfit than before. She wore a her cape with a long-sleeved white button-down mini-dress, a seashell brooch pinned to the front of her cape, a black tie with a gray "#" pattern on it, gray stockings and black dress shoes.
"Alright. I'm up for this." I said. After I put my plate and silverware away, I followed. I assumed I was going to a training room. If there was one, and I assumed there was, I hadn't seen it yet.
I was getting confused as we were walking closer to where the bedrooms were when Juna stopped in front of one of the doors. She opened it, which revealed a simple bedroom. It was in a contemporary style, but most of the decor I could get a glimpse of was in shades of black, white and gray. The wallpaper provided a splash of color with a blue wavy pattern.
Juna stepped into the room first.
"Is this yours?" I asked. She nodded. "You can step inside." She said.
Olympia and I followed her into the room and looked around. I got a closer look and saw that the room was simpler than the others that I'd seen, including the guest room I've been staying at. There weren't any rugs for decor so the hardwood floor was bare, but there was a jar of seashells on the desk.
On one of the walls was a tall framed black and white photograph of a bell tower that had a futuristic Art Deco look to it, and the base of the tower was in a pyramid shape with a row of windows in the front. Juna noticed me looking at the photo and told me "That's the most iconic building in my sector, and its namesake. It's also the headquarters of my other team."
"That's interesting!" I said. I was curious to know more, but Juna already stepped away towards the closet and might've been looking for something.
The room was mostly tidy, aside from the large stack of papers and paper tape on her desk, some of which was strewn about.
Juna opened the closet door and was looking for something. After about a minute, she pulled some things out of it and approached me. I saw that she was holding half a dozen metal pipes similar to the one that she wields as a wand, and propped a few longer pipes along the wall.
"They are an Awks tradition. Choose one of them." Juna said. I looked at each of them but they looked nearly identical. The lengths of some were slightly different and some were a little rougher or more polished than the others, but they were all short enough that they could be used as wands.
"How do I decide?" I asked. As an instructor, Juna is terse.
"Which one feels right to you."
I felt frustrated for a moment that she didn't give a logical, straightforward answer. I expected one from her, but I quietly followed what she said. Each of the pipes felt a bit different. I held each of them like I would hold a wand, waving them around as if I were casting a spell but then I took a step back- One of the times I waved a wand around, I saw sparks come from it!
"Did I cause that or was it from the pipe?!" I asked. This reminded me of the sparks from the tape reel that I was holding just a few days ago, before I ended up here. Before my life changed.
"You're eager for Mage training, but don't go to step 2 when you haven't done step 1." Juna said. "Choose your pipe."
"So this is a glimpse of my own power, but I'm going too far ahead." I thought. Carefully, I held the pipes without waving them around too much and without thinking about casting any spells. When I cast those sparks, I was visualizing myself casting a spell and I was very focused on it. I had to be careful and contain my excitement.
A few steps away, Olympia was writing down something on her clipboard. "I'm just observing but I don't want you to feel pressured." She told me.
I picked up the longest pipe that was propped against the wall. A two-hander. I held it in both hands and it felt the most natural. "I choose this one." I said. In that moment I realized it made sense for Juna to answer about what felt right to me.
"Very good. Follow me." She said. She picked up a book from her desk, carried it along with her pipe out of the room. Olympia left with her notepad and pen, and I left with my new pipe.
When we stepped out of the room, I saw some of the Developers standing nearby, and greeted them.
"Hi, Damien. I'm also tasked to help you with your training." One of the Developers introduced themselves.
"Alright. I'll need the help I can get." I nervously said with a chuckle.
"We'll be glad to help!" Another Developer said.
I followed them along with Juna and Olympia and they led me to the training room.
The training room may have been one of the largest in the building. I pondered what was in this room before it became the Programmable Darling Patrol's headquarters. The oldest framed photos and their plaques that I saw on the lobby walls showed that this building used to be a mill, but it was built onto and converted.
There must've been several machines, and in their place were some fenced areas for sparring matches, workout equipment along another section of the room, targets for target practice in another. The wall at the back had a section with a rock climbing wall! There was also an open door that led to an indoor pool.
"Can we check out the pool?" I asked.
"After your first training." Juna said tersely.
She led me to one of the sparring match rings when the entrance door to training room opened again. Piroska was there in her combat outfit along with another person who had long blue hair with light blue streaks and wore an outfit in the same style as the other PrDP team members I saw in combat, but in blue, black and gray, and the outfit had a sailor collar and hat.
"Will you be looking forward to challenging me, newbie?!" The other person challenged me, but I hesitated.
"Have we met?" I asked. The other person immediately looked annoyed.
"Ugh... This is Valencia!"
"Oh, now I remember!" I said after a few moments.
"Hi, Damien!" Piroska said. She entered the room following after Valencia. "Wow! You must've recovered quickly!"
"I'm surprised I did too." I chuckled to her. "Let me start step 1 before I attempt step 2." I told Valencia.
"Fair enough." She sighed. "But once you've gotten far enough, I'd like to test your skills!" She boasted. Piroska cheered her on and they walked away to the pool.
"Sure..." I said out of earshot.
Juna, Olympia and I walked to one of the sparring match areas; Olympia and the developers stood off to the side and were prepared to observe at different angles. Juna and I approached the center of the ring.
A small holographic screen appeared in front of her. It was about the size of a computer screen and was black with gray text. "Materializing your status screen at will is the first step. Everyone has this ability." Juna said to me.
"I visualized a gesture and a command for it to appear but you can start with a physical gesture." She said, and did a swiping gesture with her hands. "This is usually how you'd start. Focus and try it."
I nodded, and I tried the gesture. My right hand was in front of me and I swiped it off to the side, but nothing appeared in front of me.
"Try again."
"Screen materialize." I said as I swiped my hand off to the side again, and it worked! This was another thing that felt like it was right out of a sci-fi movie or show that predicted the future but here it was right in front of me. It had a date and time on it, even kept track of my stamina meter which fortunately was high at this time. I recognized the time, but didn't know how to convert it and the date to Human World measurements.
"Good job." She said.
"A verbal command can help, and with enough practice you could just silently say it." Olympia added. "You can scroll down on it by swiping down on those arrows, or by using a keyboard if one materialized for you."
I tried it, and my screen displayed my name, a portrait, my skillsets.
Juna typed several keystrokes on a holographic keyboard that floated in front of her screen. Another holographic screen appeared next to me with a message on it. "This is just one thing that can be done when channeling the inner workings." It read.
"Is that magic?" I asked.
"We classify this differently, but what you'll learn from this lesson may help you with training as a Mage." She said. Olympia observed my reaction and wrote down more notes.
"The subject is confused." Olympia said.
"You put that down?!" I asked.
"Of course, I need to monitor your progress. Juna, it'd help to explain this distinction between channeling the inner workings and magic."
"Sure. I'll explain." My mentor said and she looked towards me again. "Techlandia is a digital world and it is made of code. Everything is code. I also believe everything is a file."
"The subject may be having an existential crisis..." Olympia said and wrote down. I was stunned silent by the explanation, and must've shown it.
"I'm fine. I'm just surprised that what I suspected about this world is true!" I said. "So, is channeling the inner workings having the ability to manipulate code in the environment?"
"Yes." Juna said. "This was a simple example of it." She pointed to the screen that she materialized with a message on it, then it de-materialized.
She let me watch as she replicated the steps to create it, and let me follow along. It was difficult as each step took a lot of concentration. I had to keep the second screen that I materialized from not disintegrating in front of me, but it did on the first try.
"Keep going." She said in an encouraging tone.
I was frustrated but I didn't want to give up, and I tried again with advice that she gave me during the example that she showed. The second try still failed, but it lasted about 30 seconds. The third try lasted about one minute. That was enough time to start typing a message on it, but not enough to complete it.
The message and the screen I was typing it on disintegrated before my eyes. I sighed and prepared myself to try again. My next try felt more solid. After about a minute, the screen in front of me was still holding up and I smiled. In programmer tradition, I tried with a simpler message. It read "Hello World!".
Olympia looked and wrote down more notes, but she looked happy. Juna also smiled. "Very good." She said.
I continued for a while more trying to use this ability in more elaborate ways, but I clearly hit a limit. I could feel the exhaustion, and a warning on my status screen confirmed it. My stamina level was low.
"Who knew this basic demonstration could take so much out of me?" I sighed.
"It'll get easier with practice. Eventually these basic abilities will be effortless." Olympia said encouragingly.
At dinner time I recounted how my first training session went to the rest of the team. They were impressed and cheered for me, which was encouraging but I was still nervous about the days ahead. "Would I be prepared for Valencia's debut party? Will I be in missions too? What else would I be doing?" I thought.
When everyone was finished with dinner, Juna asked me if she wanted to introduce me to her students at The Bell Tower.
"Sure. I can stay up for a while longer, and I'd like to meet them." I told her...
