[Xander – 12 years]

  Fruits and veggies are important, too, so I go to the produce section and look at those. Bananas, apples, carrots, blueberries, celery, strawberries, cherry tomatoes… will that be enough? I'm not fond of raw tomatoes but I've seen S.G. and Connor eating cherry tomatoes and both Trey and Katie say to factor in other peoples' likes as well when getting food for a group. There's also usually a fruit dip and ranch dressing to go with snacks like these, so I look at the ones here.

  The fruit dip on the shelf here doesn't look like it will taste that good, but I still grab a bottle of ranch. Then, I grab the stuff to make fruit dip. Whoever's house we're going to, their dad (or aunt) will probably be fine with me making fruit dip there. Maybe. If not… I guess I can just make it on my own at home and eat it there, after the hangout.

  I think that's everything I want to grab, so I go up to the registers to check out.

  "No bags, please," I tell the cashier as I put my stuff on the conveyor.

  "That's a lot of food," she says. "Are your parents around?"

  "My parents are dead."

  "What?" She laughs.

  "My dad died before I was born and my mom died not long after giving birth to me," I tell her. "I'm am orphan in foster care. And I don't see why it's important that my parents are around, I want to buy these."

  "It's quite a lot of stuff."

  "Please get me your supervisor."

  "Why?"

  "Because you're not scanning my stuff, just commenting about how much it is," I say. "That's not your job. Your job is to scan a customer's items, inform them of their total, and process the transaction, then give them their receipt. You've not begun scanning things and are instead just commenting about how much I have. That is extremely rude. Therefore, I want to speak with your supervisor."

  "I'm not refusing to scan your stuff," she says without scanning anything.

  "Can we please get a supervisor to register two?" I ask.

  I should've known this would go badly when only even-numbered registers had cashiers at them. At least I didn't go through one of the other evens that are open, this definitely would have been even worse.

  "I'm not getting a supervisor," she says. "Where are your parents?"

  "I wasn't asking you," I tell her. "I used magic so that the three associates talking at the service desk would hear me, one of whom is now coming over here."

  "I'm Nancy, the head cashier team lead," the woman who approached says, and she's honest when she says that. "What's the problem here?"

  "He-"

  "She was asking me," I interrupt. "Stop being rude! Ma'am, she won't scan my stuff, she just keeps commenting about how much it is and asking where my parents are. She even asked again after I told her my parents are dead. This is extremely rude and unprofessional, and considering that I'm in here multiple times a week, I'm not going to be happy if I need to go shopping somewhere else. Look, I even have receipts from my visits last week. I haven't been home yet today and Sundays are when I take them out and put them away."

  I move Trenton to my shoulder and pull my wallet from my back pocket and open it up, then pull out the receipts from here and show them to the head cashier team lead. That's a long title. To make sure I can put the receipts back where they came from, I also use a little bit of magic to keep gaps between the receipts they were between.

  "And my friends are already outside," I add. "So I'd like to finish buying this stuff as soon as possible."

  "A lot of that looks like it's for baking?" Nancy asks as she hands me back my receipts, which I return to my wallet, which I return to my back pocket.

  Since most of the stuff on the conveyor belt isn't used for baking, I think she's referring to the stuff on the receipts.

  "I do a lot of baking with my foster dad and his chef," I nod. "It's usually Katie who takes me here, though Trey sometimes does. And my friends are waiting, and I know at least one of them bought something cold. Ice cream. So can we please start scanning my stuff already?"

  That last bit was directed at the cashier.

  "Go over to the desk," Nancy tells the cashier.

  "But-"

  "Now," Nancy says firmly, and the cashier walks off. "Sorry about that. You're not the first to complain about her, another boy just left a complaint a few minutes ago with the team lead up the desk. I'm assuming he's one of the boys you were hanging out with? He was buying bags of chips and pretzels"

  "That might've been Isaac," I say as she does something on the register, then begins scanning my things. "But I don't know, there could've been another boy doing that, too."

  "Are you boys having a party?" She asks. "This is a lot of food, even for a mage."

  "We've been doing a lot of physical stuff," I tell her. "So we're all pretty hungry and wanting food. The agreed-upon plan was for S.G. to buy the soda, Connor would be the ice cream, Isaac would buy the chips and pretzels, and Sam would buy the dips and toppings. They usually switch off who gets which, and that covers all of the basis, and I didn't know what to get. I decided to get healthy snacks and something for us to eat for dinner."

  "That's a lot more than what they paid for," she says. "Especially with you getting stuff for dinner on top of snacks. Doesn't seem very fair."

  "It's not, is it?" I ask. "Well, I decided to do it, and I do make a lot more money than they do. Plus, I'll eat a lot more than them. S.G. knows a little bit of magic, but he's a very basic mage who's from a normal family. Connor, Isaac, and Sam had their first lesson on Monday, so they can't even use magic yet. But I use magic all the time, and a lot of it."

  "I can see that," she smiles and dips her head toward Trenton. "You're using telekinesis to keep him on your shoulder and in a sitting position, right? And was that telekinesis you used to keep the receipts separated so you could put the ones you pulled out back where they were?"

  "Yeah," I nod.

  "Since you said you're a high-level mage," she says. "I take it that means you have a good bloodline? Are you one of the Lumaria Kings?"

  I don't feel anything malicious in that question.

  "I am," I nod. "But I'm not like most of the others. I teleport and stuff all the time. And I accidentally drained most of my mana on Wednesday, but all of the teleporting I've done since then has kept me from recovering too fast so I'm still pretty low. I'm at about half of where I would be if I weren't teleporting but still doing everything else."

  Yesterday, I even teleported by accident when I saw the General show up for the game test. At least I'm not in trouble for Wednesday, even if I can't help but be worried that they're going to pull a "gotcha!" on me and punish me.

  "You can teleport?" She raises an eyebrow, and I think that's disbelief and doubt I'm feeling from her.

  "Yeah," I nod. "Oh, um, no bags. I forgot to mention that. My backpack has a spatial expansion and stasis spell on it, so we can save the paper."

  "Did you leave it with your friends?"

  "I left it outside," I tell her. "There's a protective enchantment on it to make sure no one tries to steal it."

  "That's neat," she says. "You said you and your friends earn money? But you earn more? I'm guessing you're not walking dogs and mowing lawns?"

  "I know S.G. does," I say. "And they sometimes help their dads or aunt with things like building a new deck and get paid for that. I even helped with fixing up S.G.'s aunt's back yard for her new house. But I also do other stuff and make money from that."

  "What kind of other stuff, if you don't mind my asking?"

  "It's very public so it's not hard to look up," I tell her. "I'm a magitech engineer, and I made puzzle spheres that should be in stores now, and invented a hoverboard and a new type of augmented reality stuff. My name's X-Xander King, so you just search it and any of those and you'll probably get results. We actually had another demonstration and test of my augmented reality set yesterday, along with a game I'm developing for it. S.G., Carter, and I streamed it, too. Carter's not here, he lives over in Autumn Hills."

  "What kind of game is it?" She asks.

  "A zombie shooter," I answer. "I don't really understand it, but S.G., Connor, Isaac, and Sam like playing them and it's easier for me to understand it this way, even if I don't really understand it. I had a lot of fun playing it, anyway."

  "That's good to hear," she says. "And that's the last of the items. Let's see…"

  She takes off ten percent of the cost because of the trouble (they apparently have had a lot of complaints about that cashier), then I pay and she gives me my receipt. I take the cart with my purchases outside and stick everything into my backpack, then return the cart to where they go.

  "That was more than just snacks," S.G. says. "Was that meat and buns and stuff?"

  "Yeah," I nod. "It's almost time for dinner, so I bought stuff for that, too."

  "For all of us or just you?"

  "All of us, if whoever's parent or aunt owns the house we're going to is okay with me grilling," I answer. "If not… um… I forgot to think about asking first so I guess maybe there's something else?"

  "How much?" He asks.

  "What do you mean?"

  "How much was it?" He asks. "It's not fair for you to pay for dinner by yourself, not for all of us. We can split it in five, I've still got cash."

  "Yeah!" Isaac says. "How much for us?"

  "I'm not splitting it," I shake my head. "I did it without asking any of you, and I eat a lot more than any of you. So splitting it into fives wouldn't be fair, anyway. Did you guys want to put the snacks in my backpack? It's got a stasis enchantment on it, so the ice cream won't melt, too. Oh, but no chocolate allowed."

  "No chocolate!" Sam says. "Got it!"

  We move the rest of the food (apart from the chocolate stuff) into my backpack, then start walking. Our stop is apparently going to be S.G.'s aunt's house, and Trey gives permission when I let him know. He did already give me permission when I asked initially, but I didn't know whose house it would be as it wasn't decided yet. Letting him know now that it's been decided is important.

  When we arrive at S.G.'s new home, there's another car in the driveway aside from Ms. Rachel's. I think that's Mr. Fuller's car, so he must be here again. It's obvious enough to my senses that they like each other, and the other boys can apparently tell, too. S.G. even told us that he thinks they've decided to secretly date.

  Ms. Rachel and Mr. Fuller are sitting on the couch while Hunter is sitting on the loveseat when we enter, no one doing anything inappropriate.

  "Not without supervision," Ms. Rachel tells me when I ask about grilling.

  "I hadn't thought that far ahead," I say. "I'm sorry."

  "It's fine," she chuckles. "You can grill, you just need to be supervised. Give me a few minutes and I'll be out back."

  "Okay," I say, then head out back with the other boys.

  Mr. Fuller comes out back with Hunter, who pulls off his shirt once he's out here. That matches the other boys, who took theirs off again after they left the store. I'm not going to take mine off, that makes me too uncomfortable.

  Plus, I already spent a lot of time shirtless today, and even touching someone while shirtless. I'm amazed I haven't freaked out and teleported back home and hidden myself away.

  That might happen randomly later, though. When my body stops being so exhausted from all of the hanging out.

  When Ms. Rachel comes out back, Mr. Fuller offers to help me with the grilling, and she agrees to that, so we get to work on dinner. S.G. and the others play cards on the deck rather than running around, since they're probably as tired as I'm feeling. Hunter plays with Turtle, though, who's out back with us.

  Turtle keeps wanting to come over and be beside me while I help grill, but he can't be since I might trip over him. At least he still likes me even with having new owners, and it makes me happy that he's had new owners for at least a week now. No one's ever kept him this longer before, I don't think.

  "Do you have sides to go with the burgers?" Mr. Fuller asks as we finish. "Or did you just buy stuff for the burgers?"

  "I bought snacks for us to eat after," I tell him.

  "We can eat them with dinner!" S.G. calls over. "And the snacks we bought, too!"

  "But not ice cream," Ms. Rachel says. "I'm fairly certain you boys bought some of that, too."

  "They did," I nod. "It's in my backpack, and most of the toppings. Sam has the chocolate toppings in his backpack, though, because I am not going to let chocolate go in mine. My backpack has a stasis pocket, so the ice cream won't melt in there. That's why we put it in for the walk here, so it wouldn't melt."

  I pull out the snacks apart from the ice cream and its stuff, and we serve ourselves stuff. Ms. Rachel brought out pitchers of lemonade, water, and tea while Mr. Fuller and I were cooking, so I'm able to drink lemonade as we eat.

  Once we finish, Hunter shoos me away from trying to clean up the dishes.

  "I'll handle it," he says. "You hang out with your friends."

  "But I'm part of the reason the mess was made."

  "The cook shouldn't be the one to clean up."

  "Katie and I always clean up after ourselves."

  "That's a different situation," he snorts. "This is a bigger group. In that case, someone else cleans up after. You go have fun with your friends."

  That's confusing.

  "Okay…"

  I help my friends and Sam bring the snacks down to the basement, though I'm told to hold off on bringing the ice cream out just yet. Since we just ate dinner, they want to hold off on dessert for a little bit.

  "Thanks for thinking of dinner," Isaac tells me. "We totally would've forgotten until Aunt Rachel and Mr. Fuller told us and gave us… whatever it was."

  "You're welcome," I say. "I was hungry and it was close to dinnertime, so I wanted something for dinner and not just to snack on. Um… what now?"

  "Video games!" S.G. pumps his fist up into the air.

  [Luke – 13 years]

  "Sorry about Parker," Tyler looks like he's feeling pretty guilty over Parker storming off.

  We're hanging out in the theater at home after swimming in the pool for a bit, and it's now just Tyler and me here. Parker got upset at Tyler sitting to my right even though he – Parker – normally sits to my left, and… well, he left. Loudly.

  Dad's preparing dinner for us right now, though I'm going to assume he noticed my friend's departure and won't bring stuff for him. I really hope Parker gets over himself soon because this is just ridiculous.

  He will never have a monopoly on my time or friendship. Ever. And I don't want to lose him as a friend.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "Nah," I say. "He's just going through stuff. I really don't get his jealousy. And I still don't get how you can crush on someone who's the same sex as you."

  Tyler sighs.

  "Luke?"

  "Yeah?"

  He quickly reaches over and grabs me by the back of the head and pulls me closer as he leans in, pressing his lips to mine. This is a kiss. Whoa. He's kissing me. Aw… he stopped. That felt nice. Though my heart is racing a lot now and I feel a little light-headed. His face is flushed, too. That doesn't seem like embarrassment.

  My face feels heated, too. What do I do? Should I kiss him back? It feels like I should've.

  "So, um…" he fidgets a little. "Did that gr-um… did you like that?"

  "Yeah," I answer. "Why'd you stop?"

  Tyler stares at me.

  "What?"

  "Luke…" he fidgets again. "For being smart, you're kind of dense about stuff."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Think of the girl you like the most," he says. "Can you imagine doing that with her?"

  "What? Ew, no!"

  He makes a "there you have it!" gesture with his left hand.

  "I don't get it," I tell him. "Can we do it again, though? I liked it, even if it made my heart race for some reason."

  Tyler groans.

  "Luke," he says. "Why would you want to kiss someone or like kissing them if you didn't have a crush on them?"

  That's… a good point. This really doesn't make sense, though. We're both boys. How can I like him like this? But I do. Thinking about it… it kind of makes sense in other ways. Like, I often compliment Parker, Xander, and Tyler when I see them because they look good to me. It's something I've even done for over a year with Parker.

  No wonder people think we're dating.

  Thinking about it… I am a bit more physical with Tyler and Parker than other boys are with their friends, aren't I? Not in the roughhousing way, but I like sitting right beside them… and I guess I'm reluctant to stop when we're touching, like if I put an arm across their shoulders or if I'm leaning on them for support or something. It's something I've wanted to do with Xander, too, but I know that he would never let me.

  Xander put it pretty bluntly, didn't he? Everyone who's been willing to actually spend time with me more than necessary is someone I developed a crush on. When I try to think of anyone else, I can think of a couple of boys from school I think are cute and nice and who I'd like to hang out with more and maybe hug and stuff… but none of the girls.

  This is really confusing, since they're all boys. But if that's what I'm attracted to… wow have I been dense.

  I'll blame puberty on it.

  "I'm gay," I say aloud.

  "And now that you've realized it…" Tyler hesitates. "Um… do you wanna be my boyfriend? I know you like Parker more and have known him longer, but I do really like you, Luke. And have kind of been wanting to kiss you since we met on vacation…"

  He's a lot cuter now that he's being all shy and… oh. Oh, my freaking goodness. I think about how cute other boys are all the time and how in the greatest bolt of lightning ever have I not realized it? Well, probably because same-sex attraction is just confusing to me, but still… the number of times I've complimented Parker must be really high, too.

  "Uh… I've never dated before," I tell him. "And I don't really get to hang out with others other than you three, so I don't really know what it entails. Other than kissing and hugging, I guess."

  "Lots of things," he says. "Um… texting more. And hanging out more. And, um… going on dates? Which I think is just hanging out somewhere."

  "Cool," I say. "Oh, um… will your dad let you date? He doesn't let you have sleepovers, for whatever reason."

  "Because we don't know you that well," he says. "Dad's a bit protective of me, and he knows I'm bi. He's worried-"

  "What's 'bi'?"

  "Bisexual," he says. "I'm attracted to both boys and girls."

  "How does that work?"

  "The same way attraction for one does, but for both," he says. "But it doesn't mean I want to date both at the same time. I only wanna date one person. You."

  "Good," I say. "He's worried 'bout what?"

  "Well, you're my first real friend in awhile," he says. "And not everyone is accepting of people who aren't straight. So he's worried about me spending the night at someone's house and them finding out I'm bi and reacting kind of negatively. Especially if said person is as strong as you are, since you could quite literally obliterate every trace of my body with your lightning. So he doesn't want me to spend the night until he's sure it's safe. But it's been obvious to, like, everyone that you and Parker are into boys, so I felt it was safe to tell you.

  "But us dating?" He asks. "Well, he'll be fine with that since we have been hanging out for, like, a month now. And, y'know, you're gay. What about you? Will your parents let you date? I know Parker said he's not allowed to, but it's because of his, uh, jealousy problems."

  "He should just get over himself," I groan. "And I dunno? My parents did give me a talk about rules for dating and stuff when I turned thirteen, and an adjustment to some of the stuff they told me during the puberty talk. An expansion to it. We can ask Dad when he comes in here, though. He's on his way over now so I think he's got food."

  We wait for Dad to arrive and when he does, he's pushing a cart with plates of food on it, the main dish being a chicken-and-rice one that smells amazing.

  "Dad?" I ask as we get up to grab our food. "Tyler and I were talking and am I allowed to date or is that a no-go until I'm older?"

  "What's brought this on?" He asks.

  "I realized I'm gay and like Tyler and while I'd like to date Parker, he's not allowed to date," I answer. "But Tyler is and I like him, too. So we wanted to date. Well, he asked me and I do."

  "Yes," Dad closes the door to the theater. "Your mother and I already gave you the rules for it once we felt you were old enough… but let's go over them again in case you forgot. Before that, though, I want to know what you two think dating is."

  "It's where you like someone a lot and want to hug and kiss them," I say. "And spend more time with them and text them a lot. Like, if I'm gonna go pick up a game from the store and Tyler's in the area, I'll invite him to come with instead of just going by myself like I normally would."

  "Okay," Dad says, then looks at Tyler. "And you?"

  "The same, I guess," he shrugs. "I don't really know how this works. I just wanna hold hands with him when we hang out, and he makes my heart all fluttery."

  "And that's fine," Dad says. "It's something new to both of you, and I'm not going to give a breakdown of everything. Figuring out what to do is up to the two of you to figure out. But there are some rules so you know what isn't allowed.

  "I do think the two of you should wait until you're fourteen or fifteen before kissing," Dad says. "But I also know how teenagers are and that you're less than four months from fourteen and Tyler's only two months from there. You'll do it even if I say to wait longer. So let's start by discussing what an appropriate level of kissing is."

  "There's an inappropriate level?" I ask.

  "Yes," he answers. "And you need to know what it is so you know not to do it. And your mother and I are going to trust that you're responsible enough and mature enough to abide by the rules that are set. Understand?"

  His tone and expression are extremely serious. So whatever the inappropriate level is, it must be really serious if I cross that line. Like, "I'll get fully grounded for a month and not allowed to date until I'm out of their house" kind of serious.

  "Yes, sir," I answer.

  "Okay," he says. "And Tyler? You're hearing these rules, too, so that you know where our lines are. If you push Luke into crossing them, you will be banned from seeing him again, even just to hang out. Understand?"

  "Yes, sir," he responds.

  "Good," Dad says. "So to start with…"

  [Greyson – 10 years]

  Adjusting this line to the left a quarter of an inch should do it, especially if I use the new enchanting solution I created for it. Let's see… create the new flow, connect it to both parts, then erase the old lines. Double-check it, triple-check it, quadruple-check it, and complete. That should do it.

  Now, I should swap out this piece here for the new one I made, so I swap the enchanting brush with the detacher. Right after I do that… why does it feel like the mana wall just turned on?

  I'm on my back with only my feet outside of the mega computer right now as I adjust some of the enchantments and pieces inside a part of it. That prevents me from just lifting my head up and looking, but I think I can see part of it if I try.

  Normally, I could just use my magic to look outside of here. There's just one problem with that: Xander upgraded the anti-scrying enchantments on the base while I was gone. Why he did that, I don't know, and I only discover the upgrade when I try to look outside of the computer using my scrying magic.

  If I still used it to look into the base before teleporting in, I probably would've noticed it hours ago. It's really an impressive job, though. I'll have to take a look at what Xander did so I can figure out how he made it so that I can't notice it just passively.

  Unless he gave it the same treatment he gave the hoverboards. Then, I'll just ask him directly. It is my base, after all. I should at least know all of the enchantments on it.

  Ugh. I don't want to stop right now but I should check to see if Grandfather Adrian showed up and is snooping around. His mind is the only one I can never detect with my magic so I can't even rely on that to know if he's here.

  Carefully, I scoot out from underneath the mega-computer and confirm that the mana wall is active. Should I change outfits? I'm in just a pair of jeans and a white tank top right now, though it's not fully white anymore. There are splots of enchanting inks, paints, and other fluids on it from the work I've been doing today.

  And it's a brand-new shirt, too. At least I can buy them in packs.

  "Nah," I decide.

  Appearances aren't really that important, and it's not like I'm Xander. I'm not shy about my body, so my arms and more of my shoulders being visible isn't an issue at all. Though if he were here, I would definitely put on a different shirt so that he'd be more comfortable.

  Always make the gods comfortable so they don't dislike you.

  After reattaching the panel – since I was between adjustments, I can just leave things how they are – I teleport to the other side of the mana wall and find Grandfather Adrian sitting on a chair, facing the mana wall. He's in his old-man form, so I guess he only uses his real form for Xander. He also looks extremely serious right now.

  "I promise I didn't break any rules or laws," I tell him. "Well, not recently. I have full permission to be here right now."

  "That's not what I would like to discuss," he says. "I want to discuss how you know about the World Memory?"

  "The what?"

  "Don't play dumb with me, Greyson," Grandfather Adrian says sternly. "Xander accessed it on Wednesday. I looked in your systems after that to see where you had the magic logged, but couldn't find anything. I'm assuming this means you're storing the information on a device you don't normally leave around – but which you allow Xander to use."

  "Hey! Don't look at me!" I put my hands up. "I've never written down how to access the World Memory! Even if I'm absolutely sure of my security systems and I am the smartest person in the world other than Xander, I'm not gonna take that risk! I might be ten, but I'm not dumb! The only place I've ever stored that information is in my mind. Xander clearly knows how to access it because he's a god."

  "Xander's not a god," Grandfather Adrian frowns. "Though it does appear you're being honest. However, you've now confirmed that you do, indeed, know how to access the World Memory. You will tell me everything about why you used that, and now, or I will shut down all of your research. Accessing the World Memory is not something which should be done willy-nilly."

  "Well, yeah," I say. "I learned about it from my meditation baths, though it wasn't that obvious. It's something I figured out over time. And when I was trying to think of fail-safes for the mega-computer, it came to mind. So I spent, like, six months figuring out how to use it as a fail-safe for it. But I swear, Xander hasn't even seen that part of it, it's actually underground and I've never worked on it with him present because I was sure he'd tell me to stop if he saw it. And again, he definitely knows how to access it because he's a god."

  "Most gods don't know how to access it."

  "I'm pretty sure Xander's their king."

  "Gods don't have physical forms," Grandfather Adrian says. "They need to possess objects if they want one."

  "And he decided to possess an unborn baby before it acquired a soul."

  "That's not how it works," Grandfather Adrian says. "But setting that aside… you will now tell me everything about your mega-computer and why you are using the World Memory as a fail-safe, and how. Now. There are no exceptions. I want full honesty now, Greyson. This is a very serious matter."

  Crap. He'll definitely try to shut it down and this computer is to help create a better future for the world.

  "Can I go get some multi-purpose chickens first?"

  "Multi-purpose chickens?"

  "Yes," I nod.

  "And how are they multi-purpose?"

  What kind of test question is that? The answer is in the phrase itself!

  "By having multiple purposes," I answer. "You can use their down to make bedding and pillows, collect their eggs for food, kill them and eat their meat, use them as test subjects, chase them around, and more. Therefore, they're multi-purpose chickens. It'll be easier to explain things if I have some of them."

  Grandfather Adrian narrows his gaze at me, but he knows I'm being honest.

  "Okay," he says.

  I teleport to the multipurpose chickens and grab two of them, then teleport back to the warehouse.

  "Please promise not to look at the enchantments," I tell my great-grandfather. "Otherwise, you'll just keep asking me questions while I'm trying to explain or demonstrate other things."

  "I'll refrain from interrupting you unnecessarily."

  Good enough, I suppose.

  "Osburc, please disable the mana wall."

  "Disabling the mana wall," Osburc says, and the mana wall fades.

  "A voice-activated system?" Grandfather Adrian asks.

  "You can introduce yourself," I say as I set one of the chickens down and take the other to the transfer pod.

  "I am Osburc," Osburc responds. "An artificial intelligence developed by Greyson. Please do not compare me to the more modern versions however. I am fully capable of human-like cognitive processes, including learning, and thinking for myself. There are restrictions within my program to prevent me from perform certain actions, and as such, I am incapable of going against what my fathers, Greyson and Xander, allow. My current instructions are to learn about human society and understand how they think and interact with each other. To that end, Greyson has given me access to the internet."

  "A terrible idea, really," I mutter. "I need to figure out a way to let you observe real people, not just shows and stuff. You know, Xander's hover magitech would be perfect for that. I could make you a floating orb that you can control to watch people through, if you want to something like a park or a school."

  "You and Xander created the AI?"

  "I created it," I say. "But Xander named him, so Osburc views him as a father. Also, I only just upgraded his voice to sound human today. He sounded robotic until now."

  "Is it not also thanks to Xander's mana battery design which I am able to function at all times now?" Osburc asks. "So you may have built me, but Xander gave me the ability to be awake at all times. My mind is also based on his magical mind spell, even if you were not able to fully replicate it. Therefore, it is also thanks to Xander that I am able to think."

  "Fair enough, fair enough," I say. "Can you open the transfer pod? You should have that capability now without me doing the other stuff," I look at Grandfather Adrian. "But only because I've put in my own security code. He can't do the transfer unless I do that, as a restriction. It's impossible, if I did the programming correct. Which I did."

  The transfer pod opens, and I place the chicken inside.

  "Transfer him in, please," I say.

  "That would be a 'her', Greyson," Osburc corrects. "Both chickens you selected are hens, not roosters."

  "Transfer her in, please."

  "Transfer in progress," Osburc says, and a few moments pass as lights on the pod's lid turn on. "Transfer completed."

  "Look there," I point at the display table, which shows the light-woven illusion of the chicken wandering around, pecking at the ground.

  "You scanned a chicken and created an illusion of light?" Grandfather Adrian asks. "That doesn't need a massive computer utilizing magitech which doesn't exist yet, Greyson."

  That suggests he didn't actually look at the enchantments yet.

  "I did scan the chicken," I say. "And that is an illusion. You are, however, missing several steps. That illusion is displaying what is going on inside of the magivirtual world contained within the mega-computer. Grandfather Adrian, I dematerialized the chicken and magivirtualized her into a magivirtual world. In other words, her body is no longer in the pod, nor even in this world. It's in a magivirtual one."

  I access some menus on another part of the computer.

  "She can't actually get hurt there," I say. "Even if I put another one in and they got into a fight. Or if a person went in and they got into a fight. When it's time to pull them back out, their bodies will be in the same state as when they'd gone in, though I've also factored in the aging process, so it'll really be as if they'd spent that much time out here. So you can't go in there for, like, thirty years and expect to still be the age you were when you went in. I'd be forty if I did that now.

  "Also," I add. "It's not complete. The only virtual world it holds right now is just an empty one, the one that she's in. It's not that large, nor is it that complex. When this thing is done, it'll be able to house dozens of magivirtual worlds, and massive ones. Thousands, even. Ones that are extremely complex, potentially even dynamic. Their purpose? Video games."

  "…video games?"

  "Yes," I nod. "Video games. You'll be able to play solo games, or even massively multiplayer online games. It'll revolutionize the future of gaming. Rather than simply playing outside of it, you can live the game, with no risk to yourself! It'll be true total immersion!"

  "And what, exactly, is the 'fail-safe' that involves the World Memory?"

  "There should be absolutely no problem when it comes time to rematerialize someone," I say. "But just in case, I've designed the system to access the World Memory to recreate them if they cannot be restored."

  The World Memory is an absolute record of everything to have ever happened or been in the world. However, it's not really a "database" like would be easier for me to understand. It's actually capable of performing actions, and one of those is restoring things that somehow ceased to be when they shouldn't have. It simply uses the last recorded part of them to do so, and can restore someone even if their soul is lost, since it can simply recreate even their soul.

  So having it as a fail-safe to recreate bodies if needed is trivial.

  "You aren't into playing video games," Grandfather Adrian says. "What gave you the idea to do this, and why do you think it'll change the future of the world for the better?"

  "It'll change the future of the world for the better in a number of ways," I answer. "First, the advancements in magitech I've had to make over the last three years to create it. For example, the pod performs a full scan of anything which gets transferred. That's why I have all the medical books, it was so I could learn what was necessary in order to program it to know what is the correct state for a body. That means there's a medical aspect to it as well. With the scanning magitech I developed for the pod, if you strip out the parts unnecessary for the task, you have a brand-new way of detecting medical problems in a person. A faster and more accurate one than any currently on the market.

  "That's just one aspect," I say. "Let's not forget that it also houses Osburc, the first true artificial intelligence in the world. The computer systems for the mega-computer are beyond any currently on the market. Some of the systems are faster and more sophisticated, and can be utilized in other ways. If you hooked Osburc up to every surveillance system in the world, you'd have the most efficient way of monitoring and detecting crime, even before they happen. And no, I'm not saying I've done that, just that it's possible."

  I haven't done it only because it's too difficult for me to manage that without him noticing, and I have other things to focus on. Figuring out how to do that without my great-grandfather noticing can come after I finish the mega-computer.

  "In addition," I say. "This program can be utilized to change how people watch TV and movies. Rather than just sitting there and watching it, they can go into a pod and live it. Depending on how the creators make it, they might even make it so viewers can interact with the movie or show and be a part of it in their own way. Would need to figure out how to do that if they're still doing real actors.

  "Oh, but that won't be the same type of pod as this," I tap the one before us. "This one will only be available at the designated facility for the magivirtualization process. I'm not sure if it'd even be possible to do it without the pod itself being physically connected. It might be a magical process, and it might be a magical system… but I think there are still some restrictions. So the ones for at-home gaming will be total-immersion without the magivirtualization. I haven't worked on developing them yet, but they'll include features to stimulate the body. Oh, and because peeing and pooing in it would be gross, even if it could be sanitized via its own magic processes, it'll alert the players that they need to go and should cease. And eventually, force stop so that they must get up and go before they resume.

  "Also," I say. "A magivirtual world would be a pretty useful place for police and military training. It can truly simulate real scenarios without any real danger to the trainees, but can be designed to still instill the sense of pain on them, so that they have reason to treat it as such."

  Those are just a few of the ways that the magitech I'm developing for this project can and will change the future. There are many more ways.

  "That's quite a lot," Grandfather Adrian says. "What gave you the idea to make this?"

  "Back when Xander and I met," I answer. "He said he wished he was born a video game character because they don't feel pain and they don't get actually hurt and can't actually die. So I decided, I'm gonna make a video game system that allows you to live the video game, so that he can get to experience that."

  My great-grandfather stares at me for several moments without saying anything.

  "Why did you get two chickens instead of one if you were only going to transfer one in?"

  That's a change in topic.

  "Because I'm hungry enough to eat two chickens once I finish explaining the mega-computer to you."

  "Okay," Grandfather Adrian snorts. "After we finish talking about your mega-computer's current designs and plans… we're going to discuss what is and is not allowed with it."