BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

After a short shower, Erik, Amber, and Emily went to the living room, where the trio conversed while waiting for dinner.

"Why don't you sleep here tonight?" Amber asked Erik. "Since we need to go to the same place and you are already here, you can simply stay," She added.

"I don't know," the young man said. "I already abused your and your parents' hospitality by staying at your house this past week...."

"Oh, don't worry about that, we have many empty rooms. It won't be a problem!" Amber said.

Emily was looking at Amber with a slightly pissed-off look. It wasn't really appropriate for Erik to stay at a young woman's house and the thought of Erik staying there irked her.

However, she was a little bit conflicted by these emotions. After all, she didn't really know Erik that much so she shouldn't have problems with him staying at Amber's house.

"All right then..." the young man said. Emily's heart thumped a little bit when she heard the young man say that, but she couldn't say anything about it.

"Where is it that you have to both go tomorrow?" Emily asked.

"The Red Palace," Erik said.

"Ah... I get it. Is it the first day?" Emily asked.

"Indeed, but I'm a little bit worried if I have to be honest."

"Why?" Emily asked again.

"Because as much as I've understood, things won't be simple there. The ranks will be based on fighting prowess, and there will be much stronger individuals than I am."

"Don't worry, Erik, I will help you train. Besides, at the current speed you are progressing, I don't think you will have any issues in the long run!" Amber said.

"I wish..."

Immediately a waiter arrived at the room where the three were talking and gestured to Amber.

"It seems like our food is ready. Let us eat in the dining hall," Amber suggested. They left the living room and entered the hallway. Amber quickly made way toward the dining hall, and once there, they found Caiden, his wife, and their youngest children.

"You finally arrived!" Caiden said.

"Hello, mister Joyce," Erik said while Emily made a curtsy.

"And hello, Erik, Emily. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Erik answered.

"Me too!" Emily replied.

After that, the six ate dinner while chatting about this and that. Clearly, Caiden asked Erik several questions to understand the young man better. He also inquired whether he felt confident enough to fight against the other students.

Erik replied truthfully, saying he didn't know since he wasn't aware of the other students' strengths and that Amber's was probably his threshold. Caiden and his daughter gave him some advice to improve himself during training. Still, ultimately, everything depended on how much Erik was going to train.

After dinner, Emily was brought back to the Stone's mansion, and Erik went to his room to train. He needed to speed up the development of the neural links, or he would be in huge trouble at the Red Palace Dojo.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to make new neural links that night, and he simply went to bed. The following day they were going to meet with Professor McAllister and the other students to reach the Red Palace. That was going to be a very important day, and he didn't want to mess up.

The following day, Erik woke up and quickly washed his face. After having dressed up, Erik checked his daily quests.

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[Quests List]

[Daily]

<Eating Habits:>

-Rewards for completion: Ten Experience, ten DNA points

-Failure Penalty: None

(Eat a healthy meal)

<Physical training:>

-Rewards for completion: Ten Experience, ten DNA points

-Failure Penalty: None

(Train for at least an hour. The Host may choose whatever exercise to complete the quest.)

-----------------------------

After accepting them, Erik went to the dining room, where he met Amber and her family. After breakfast, the two friends took the car and were brought to school.

At the main entrance, some students who qualified to join the Red Palace were waiting with professor McAllister.

Once Amber and Erik arrived, only Anderson, Aaron, and Mikey went to say hi. Erik actually observed Nathaniel smirk while Karl looked at him scornfully.

"Hello, guys," Anderson said.

"Hi!" Erik answered.

"Aren't you excited? We are going to enter the Red Palace!" Anderson asked.

"Yeah, I guess... What about you?" Erik said.

"Oh yeah, me too. I couldn't wait for this day to come!" Anderson replied enthusiastically. "I bet we will improve a lot there."

Erik didn't know since he didn't talk to Anderson often, but the young man was a training enthusiast, and joining the Red Palace was like a dream that came true for him.

They chatted a little bit, and then when the last person arrived, Allan, Gwen, Darragh, and Floyd, Professor McAllister called out, "Okay, everyone, let's head inside the bus!"

"Yes, sir!" the students shouted in unison. One by one, they went inside the vehicle, and once everyone boarded it, they started traveling toward the western district.

Erik didn't know what he was going to find. He often heard about the place, the Red Palace, and even saw a couple images on the internet. However, no image could have prepared him for the real deal.

During the travel, Erik saw many buildings. Skyscrapers so tall as to reach the clouds over the city. However, there was a building that was different from all the others. Initially, Erik could only see a red skyscraper. However, as he got closer to the building, his amazement grew.

The building was much taller than the average skyscraper, and its width was astonishing. As they drew near, Erik realized that the whole area around the structure was filled with smaller structures placed inside a huge garden, but he couldn't see them well from his position.

Once Erik arrived in the building's vicinities, he marveled at this place's opulence. Basically, there was a huge garden, probably several kilometers long, with countless multiple small buildings probably used for different purposes, and full of flowers, trees, and bushes.

Erik noticed a small hospital, different training grounds, obstacle courses, and the like. But what really amazed the young man was the Red Palace itself.

The skyscraper was the tallest building he had ever seen. It was entirely covered with red stone, and its size was imposing. Countless giant windows showed the city below. It seemed like a fortress, but unlike any fortification, Erik knew. The architecture was simple, yet it exuded wealth.

"Wow..." Erik whispered.

Once they got close to the main gate, the students realized that the building was surrounded by high walls topped off with towers and turrets. Multiple guards, security posts, and cameras were scattered here and there, and nothing could get past these people.

The students entered through the gates, and they arrived in front of the building's main door after five more minutes.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Anderson asked, not without irking Floyd.

"Yeah..." Erik replied, marveling at the structure. Professor McAllister then interrupted his thoughts.

"Come on, everybody, follow me!" he ordered. They did so and soon reached a large door made of wood, with the carving of a huge tower in the middle.

The door opened automatically when they approached, and soon after, a woman came out to greet the students.

"Welcome, young boys and girls. I'm Amanda Smith. My job," she explained, "is to guide your journey here, help you settle down, answer questions, etcetera. Now, I need you to fill out some papers, so follow me to the reception!"

"Thank you very much, Miss Smith," Professor McAllister said. "C'mon guys, let's go..."