Time Twister 81 Pov: Faykes' Mission

I looked up the screens and sighed. It seems like his clan, others had some form of communication with the Galactic empire. I wonder why Xander wanted to know this information about the clans.

Oh well, he was quite close to completion. Just 3 more clans to investigate: Velles, Morningstar and Cloverfield were the remaining ones.

Ironically, these three were part of the top 20 clans in terms of influence, power, and economic force. It was quite hard to get the necessary information about these respective clans, as the information dispersion is stratified.

I began to talk to some of my contacts, which I obtained by utilizing my family's connections with other families. Truthfully, every clan had placed their own spies into other clans, and vice versa. It's a matter of controlling the dissemination of information and the clearance these spies will ever reach in the family. Some are deeply embedded, reaching high enough in the clans' information network, while some are simply at the 1st or 2nd level of the family.

Of course, there are also special cases, such as double agents, working for both clans and may or may not favor one over the other based on the information received.

The man finally answered, I told myself, before acting serious in front of the man's hologram.

"h.e.l.lo, Baskin. Any information concerning what I asked you to look for?"

"Oh, F. You got lucky. One of the elders accidentally spilled the information you were looking for during one of the talks concerning the outsider."

"Sweet. Thanks, Baskin. That's all I need to know. You can return to your post." I said in response, quite happy with the results. At least I can be sure that the Velles clan also has their contacts in the Galactic Empire.

"Sure. See ya when I see ya, F." The man turned off the communication, and I sat there, deep in thought. I was stuck with a problem, should I search Xander's clans? I should ask him for clarification on this topic.

I dialed his number and immediately, a hologram of Xander appeared in front of me, with a spoon in his mouth. It seems to be dinner for him.

"What is it?"

"Ah, Xander, I'm basically done with the mission you requested me to do. However, I don't have any information concerning your clans' situation. Is that ok?" I asked as I wasn't sure if I should intrude on his privacy. For all I know, he might rage out about the issue.

"Hmm? Oh, right, that mission. I almost forgot about that." When I heard this, I wanted to spit blood. Hey, hey, I remember you a.s.signing this task to me ok? I had been working very hard for this for the past 2 weeks ok!

"About my family, no need to investigate. I already know they have connections with the Galactic Empire. Just send me the data you have and I'll reward you based on how in-depth the information is." Xander continued to speak, chewing a piece of shumai and a spoonful of fried rice.

I wonder sometimes why Xander kept eating food. He was obviously already in Master cla.s.s; he didn't need sustenance anymore. Could it be a habit? I shook my head, not delving deeper into the issue. If he wants to explain it, he will explain it in due time, I told myself.

I then responded to Xander, "Ok. I'll send the files in a while." I then compiled and organized the doc.u.ments and recordings, statements and experiences into their specific clans, and then compressed the file, encrypted it, and sent it to Xander's communicator.

After a few minutes, my communicator rang, and Xander's voice came from the other end.

"Come to the villa to collect your reward." The call then ended, and I was surprised at first, before being excited. It seems I'm going to get another reward then.

I left my apartment and headed to Xander's villa. The distance was roughly 25 minutes if I used private or public transportation, so I opted for a private one. Afterall, privacy is quite important. I had my driver head to the villa. In 30 minutes, I reached the villa.

There were now more guards present in the villa, I thought to myself as I saw the unfamiliar faces standing by the gate entrance. They also seemed stronger than the previous guards, huh.

As I was heading to the entrance, the two guards eyed me coldly, releasing pressure towards my direction. I freeze of course; with cold sweat building behind my back.

I had to muster my strength to say,

"Xander called me to come to his villa today." The pressure lessened, but it was still there, while one of them coordinated with the other guards probably inside to notify Xander.

After a minute, the pressure disappeared and I was allowed to go inside the villa. I looked around and saw there were a total of 6 new personnel in the place.

I entered the front door and saw Xander was just watching in the living room. I headed to his location and sat at one of the available seats, waiting for Xander to start the conversation. Although I was usually chatty, I know when to distinguish the mood of the place.

After a few minutes, Xander turned to look at me, and handed me a list, saying,

"Choose 2 of the options on the list as your reward." I was momentarily puzzled but when I saw the list, my eyes widened, a bit taken aback with the resources shown.

Option 1: Increase spell foundation by 200 years.

Option 2: Two Low-Cla.s.s 8 fruits of your choice of element.

Option 2.1.: Fire element

Option 2.2.: Water element

Option 2.3.: Air element

...

Option 2.679123.: Fire, Water, Air, Wood elements fruits.

...

Option 3: Five kilograms worth of DemiG.o.d-level magic beast materials (Can be used for elixir making, weapon/armor development, or standalone use)

Option 4: One DemiG.o.d artifact that can increase your fighting power 10-fold.

Option 5: One complete, error-free personal resurrection for free.

Option 6: Make your breakthrough to G.o.d cla.s.s. (Warning: Read the fine statement)

Option 7: Portable pocket s.p.a.ce with a radial s.p.a.ce of 10 kilometers (non-living items only, in stasis)

Option 8: Your own planet (Warning: you will be automatically transported there)

Option 9: 1 Seed of Creation

Option 10: 1 Seed of Destruction

Option 11: 1 Seed of Life with 1 Fruit of Life

Option 12: A chance to get a contract with a demiG.o.d sprite

Option 13: A chance to comprehend Order and Chaos elements

Option 14: A chance to comprehend Life-Death elements

Option 15: A chance to comprehend the Yin-yang elements

Option 16: Allows you to buy the materials from Homer Simpson with a 99% one-time discount.

Option 17: Get 1 lucky stone that lasts for 100 million years.

Option 18: Get 1 mysterious, unknown seed.

Option 19: Get 3 Flowers of Creation (note: Can be made into an elixir that boosts your lifespan by 10 times your current lifespan limit. Can only take it twice in one's lifetime. Can be used for cultivation purposes.)

Option 20: Get 3 Flowers of Life (note: Can resurrect recently dead (like within a week) and completely heal one's body injuries, no matter how severe the injuries are.)

Option 21: Get 50 tonnes of any metal or alloy you know of, with flawless quality.

I… am just speechless with the options available for me to exchange with. Wasn't it going to be sage-ranked skills? Then again, I didn't have much use for them except as reference materials…

What should I choose? What do I actually need? I began to check what I currently have. Right now, I only have a 10-year perfect foundation, with the help of the fruits I had received before. If I wanted to reach Transcendental, I needed 100 years. If I want to reach the Immortal Foundation, I needed 1000 years.

I don't know the purposes of the seeds nor do I have any use for them. The flowers they produced were quite tempting, however, I'm not sure if they rot or decay.

Honestly, I'm quite tempted with having my own pocket s.p.a.ce as personal storage. The other thing was that I could buy stuff from Homer Simpson, probably the mysterious being who was the other end of the number that Xander sold to us, his friends. However, this was a risky thing: What if the currency required is something I don't have? Then there's no point in having a 99% discount. And I a.s.sume that Xander would still give me missions in the near future, so there must be other rewards to pick from in the future.

After a few seconds of silence, I replied to Xander my choices.

"Option number 2 and option number 7 are my choices." I chose these because the fruits can at least aid me to improve my spell foundation by at least a total of 300 years if I fully digest it, so it was the option that best suited the situation.

"Huh. Smart choice." Immediately, Xander waved his hand and 2 fruits rich in elemental aroma appeared in front of me, as well as a simple Aldrite crystal necklace.

"Just drop a drop of your blood essence to bind it to you, and you can access it using your own thoughts rather than your magic energy. It also has a 2-time defense mechanism, allowing you to escape from the enemy at a distance of 1 light-year. Well, hopefully, you don't use it till you're at least a demiG.o.d, or else you won't survive in s.p.a.ce."

"The fruits don't rot, just place them inside the pocket s.p.a.ce. That's all I have for you. You can leave already if you want." Xander said, signaling me to get lost. I sighed, thanked Xander before standing, and heading to the door. However, before I left, I looked at Xander, and asked,

"Do you want me to stay with you? So you won't be bored alone in the villa."

"Huh? Oh. Meh. Up to you, I guess." Xander asked, before his voice visibly changed in tone, and became quite apathetic. I rolled my eyes. You don't have to act like that, you know, I thought to myself.

I began to talk about Xander about stuff for teenagers and kids at his age would love to do.

In the next three hours, until late at night, they were talking and watching shows, playing online games, and even played indoor sports.

When I said to Xander that I had to leave, his face changed again, becoming colder by the minute, detached. I hugged him and rubbed his head, like what I used to do to my younger cousins.

"Let's play again tomorrow?"

"…Ok, up to you, I guess."

Some things seem not to change.