Chapter 66: Tea party
The next day,
5:20 AM.
The morning sun streamed through the curtains of the Glacier Palace, casting a warm glow across Scar’s bedroom.
Scar lay on his back, already awake with his eyes open. He had only slept for about three hours, but he felt entirely rejuvenated. He sat up, rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms. A satisfying series of pops echoed from his joints. His spine felt perfectly aligned, and when he inspected his left arm, there wasn’t a single trace of the brutal puncture wounds or the venom from last night. He was back to full strength.
The fight with the Serpenthis had pushed him to his limits, and he was incredibly exhausted after the battle. So, after his arm got healed, he decided to call the hunt early and return home. He needed to be at peak condition for the Speednasium today; there were many equipments he wanted to test there, and he couldn’t do that running on fumes.
He threw off his bed covers and left his room, walking to the training room to quickly knock out his system quests. He completed them after a short while, then began heading back toward his room to shower and get dressed. But as he reached the top of the grand staircase, he paused.
Felicity was walking down the steps, completely foregoing her usual regal or formal attire. Instead, she was dressed in an intricate, flowing Japanese kimono. The silk was deep crimson, embroidered with golden cranes, and her hair was pinned up elegantly with traditional wooden ornaments, giving her a complete aesthetic of the culture.
She spotted him and paused, offering a warm smile. "Good morning, Roy. How was the hunt last night? The guards mentioned you returned a little after 2 AM."
Scar kept his face perfectly neutral. "Yeah. It was cool. Just hunted a bunch of lesser-rank beasts. It was a walk in the park, really." He leaned against the banister, deciding to sprinkle in a half-truth to sell the lie. "I killed a big snake, too."
He deliberately left out the part where the ’snake’ was a D-Rank galactic beast that had nearly liquefied his internal organs with hemotoxic venom. There was zero benefit in telling her that. If she knew she had been right all along about the extreme dangers of night hunting, she might permanently restrict his movements at night. However, as the words left his mouth, a cynical thought crossed his mind.
It’s all completely pointless anyway. She can just read my mind and know the whole story. She probably already does.
Living with a psychic mother who could pluck his near-death experiences straight from his brain might just be the most brutal punishment he could imagine.
Felicity looked at him for a long moment, her eyes slightly narrowed in clear skepticism. But she didn’t push it. She simply nodded. "I see. I’m glad it went smoothly."
Before she could pry any further, Scar gestured toward her outfit. "So, what’s the occasion? You look like you’re going for an anime convention?"
Felicity chuckled, smoothing out the silk sleeves of her kimono. "I’m having a private tea party with the leader of Jade Nation today. It is only right that I respect her culture and traditions."
Scar scoffed, crossing his arms. "Wouldn’t it be far more productive if you followed me to the speed gym and trained me personally, rather than playing dress-up?"
Felicity snickered, shaking her head. "No, Roy. Today is my day off," she said. "It’s a day where I can take a short break from all the ruling, politics, and fighting, and have a moment of peace and rest. Which is something I rarely get. Do you really want to take that away from me?"
"Well, you’re the one who keeps telling me I need to be trained for what’s coming," Scar pointed out logically. "Which means I should be your number one priority."
"You are a priority to me, Roy. You always will be," Felicity said, her tone softening with a warm, maternal affection. "But sometimes, Mama’s got to relax."
She tilted her head, studying his face. "Besides, I wonder what exactly Vincent did to you to make you want to convince me to train you instead. Just a few days ago, you were trying to escape from my clutches."
"I just don’t like him," Scar stated flatly.
Felicity began walking down the rest of the stairs. "Well, too bad. Vincent is going to be your trainer for as long as he lives."
Scar’s ears perked up at the phrasing, his mind instantly running the variables of that specific condition.
Felicity paused at the bottom step immediately and looked up, her expression turning dead serious. "Don’t get any funny ideas, Roy."
Scar tutted, rolling his eyes. "Fine. But if he gives me any weird feelings or tries anything stupid, I’m quitting."
"Alright," Felicity agreed with a soft laugh. "I have to get going now. Have fun today. I will be eager to hear all about your session with Vincent when I return." She turned toward the grand doors, then paused. "Oh, that reminds me. I had one of the maids deliver something to your room. It will help you with your communications and daily logistics."
Before Scar could even ask what it was, she stepped out the doors and was gone.
Scar let out a frustrated sigh and walked back to his room. The moment he stepped through the doorway, his gaze instantly zeroed in on a foreign object resting on his study desk. He walked over and picked it up.
It was a sleek, silver wristband.
He recognized the tech immediately from his inherited memories. It was a mobile wristband—the modern equivalent of what smartphones used to be in his old world. However, this was infinitely more practical and advanced. It handled everything from: instantaneous communication, financial transactions, global networking, to biometric syncing and many more, all without the need to carry a fragile glass rectangle in his pocket. And basically everyone in this era had one.
Scar snapped the silver band onto his left wrist and tapped the surface.
Almost immediately, the metal hummed to life. A crisp, high-definition holographic screen projected directly into the air above his forearm.
"New user detected," a smooth, synthesized AI voice chimed from the band. "Please identify yourself."
"Henry Myers," Scar answered.
"Analyzing voice parameters," the AI responded.
A second later, the screen flashed green. "Voice identification successful. Welcome, Henry."
Then, the singular screen smoothly expanded, unfolding into a wider, multi-layered interface displaying various apps, communication logs, and live news feeds. It was incredibly intuitive, reacting flawlessly to his eye movements and minor finger gestures.
Scar let out an amused chuckle, swiping through the interface. "I’d like to see Apple try and top this."
After spending a few minutes setting up his basic preferences and locking down the privacy settings, he headed to the bathroom. He took a quick, scalding hot shower to wash off the lingering grit from the night before, then walked into his massive walk-in closet.
And when going through his clothes, he noticed that for some incredibly weird reason, his wardrobe contained dozens upon dozens of tracksuits and athletic wear. But he didn’t think much about it. He pulled out a dark green tracksuit and dressed quickly.
But as he turned to leave, he paused, his practical paranoia kicking in. He grabbed a second, identical tracksuit and tossed it into his system inventory.
"Just to be safe," he muttered.
Then, he left his room, navigating the quiet halls of the palace, and stepped out into the bright morning sun of the estate. He equipped the visor Alicia had given him, but specifically left the Talaria X in his inventory. He wanted to rely entirely on his natural, unassisted baseline speed today.
He took a deep breath, focused on his path, then broke into a sprint.
WHOOSH!
The world blurred, though not as violently as it did when he wore the boots. He tore through the avenue, quickly completing his daily 1km running quest and receiving the immediate system rewards.
As he stopped by the park, his stomach gave a loud rumble. He detoured slightly, rushing into the park to get three burgers to make up for the breakfast he skipped. He ate them quickly before moving again, this time into the city.
Thanks to his raw speed and the visor’s passive Accelerated Perception filtering out the visual clutter, he navigated the crowded morning streets with absolute ease. He weaved seamlessly between pedestrians and other obstacles, a green blur dancing through the city infrastructure.
A minute and a few seconds later, he arrived at the Speednasium.
He skidded to a halt just outside the massive, modern facility, taking a moment to catch his breath and let his heart rate settle. Then he walked through the sliding glass doors into the expansive, high-ceilinged grand lobby. And almost immediately he stepped in—
"Hello, Henry! Welcome!"
A loud voice suddenly boomed through the entire lobby, echoing as if it came from invisible, omnidirectional speakers.
Scar frowned instantly. He recognized the overly enthusiastic tone. It was Vincent.