Chapter 146 - Into The Swamps (1)

"Ah... home sweet home." Arnold mumbled as the travel portal collapsed behind him. He arrived inside his room, inside the workshop! He quickly took off his hazmat suit and went inside to shower, "This shit actually works! I can only wonder what kind of possibilities, this ability has brought with itself, and the best thing about it..."

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Void Travel is in cooldown.

You can use this skill again in: 59:46 minutes.

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"It's low cooldown! I can freely travel to anywhere around the world, as long as I've been there before... the only downside is its mana cost, but it doesn't matter much, I already have more mana than what I can use."

He turned the knob of the shower and started washing his hair and face, he didn't have the time to go for his full routine as Amanda and Allen were waiting for him, and the way Allen talked over the communicator felt like they wanted to talk about something important.

Still, he felt like a kid on Christmas! There were so many things he could do with this additional effect of the void domain. He could now freely travel across the wastelands, or he could visit Nicholas in Brazil, he still had some unfinished business with the White Wolves but then he was sure Nicholas would've already taken care of that as he was now the President of Brazil and not the father of the guild master of that guild, also, Nicholas wouldn't forgive anyone who dared to F around him or his students. Regardless, Arnold was planning to go to Brazil and meet Nicholas again someday. He could only imagine how Nicholas would react after seeing him, or if he would react at all. Nicholas was someone no one could know what he was thinking about.

He once again turned the knob of the shower and the water stopped flowing at once, he wiped the remaining water off his body using a towel and stepped out of the shower, still thinking about his new ability.

The more he thought about it, the more diverse its applications became. It was clearly more than just a travelling ability and Arnold could think of various tactical uses of [Void Travel] as well, for example, If he was losing in a fight he could use the portal to retreat to somewhere and recover while waiting for the cooldown to get over, or he could use the skill for an element of surprise and sneak up on his enemies, or he could also attack an enemy when they expected the least. As he had already said, the possibilities were endless with this ability, and he couldn't wait to try the ability in those scenarios.

He quickly put on a black T-shirt and blows dried his hair before tying it up in half-up style by tying the hairs on top and back of his head as a man bun and left the sides as they were. This was the style he generally preferred, it looked classy yet stopped the hairs from interfering with his day to day activities. (Author's note: If you're confused about the hairstyle, it's the same as the one Chris Hemsworth had in his turn as Thor and Thor: The Dark World.)

As he was dreaming about the things he could do with his ability, Allen came knocking on his door.

"Brother, you in there?" Allen asked through the door.

"For the last time, I'm not your brother!" Arnold replied as he opened the door.

"There you are! Come on we got- Woah, dude, you sure you're Chinese?" Allen asked, desperately trying to hold back his laugh.

"What are you getting at?" Arnold didn't want to indulge in Allen's weird games, nor did he have to the time for that.

Allen only chuckled and pointed towards Arnold's crotch with his eyes, it was then Arnold realised what was wrong...

In his excitement of thinking of ways to use [Void Travel], he had forgotten to wear anything to cover his below... he did warp a towel around his waist but it had slipped away and Arnold hadn't noticed it until Allen pointed it out. However Arnold wasn't embarrassed in the least... he had been n.a.k.e.d in front of a fire breathing Wyvern, and a lesser God after that during his trial, so he couldn't care less about Allen seeing his junk, still he quickly squatted down, grabbed the towel, and warped it around his waist once again.

"Way to embarrass yourself, brother!" Allen finally gave up and started laughing like a maniac.

"Embarrassed? For what? You're not the first man who has seen this- wait I didn't mean it like that!"

What Arnold had wanted to say, was that people and a few other beings have already seen him n.a.k.e.d so he wasn't embarrassed, but instead what he said, had a whole another meaning.

Allen started laughing even harder than before Arnold realised what he had just said, "So.. do you mean you're interested in guys! Well, I've never seen you with a girl either so that would make sense... good for you brother and congratulations! You're finally out of the closet! I'm just thinking what would've happened in Amanda came to fetch you instead of me... Hahaha..."

"I'll kill you, if I hear another sound coming out of your mouth, I'll kill you." Arnold flipped him off and turned around, embarrassment finally got through his thick skin, "Wait here till I get changed into something."

As promised, not a sound came out of Allen's mouth.

****

"I'm telling you... not a word about it to else, or..." Arnold reminded Allen once again.

"Don't worry brother, your secret is safe with me. My lips are sealed until your towel betrays you again." Allen said and tried his hardest to control himself but he couldn't and started laughing once again... but he was about to regret that.

Arnold smacked the back of his head so hard that he almost fell on the ground.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Allen complained, caressing his head.

"For not keeping your mouth shut." It was Arnold's turn to laugh now, "By the way, what was it that you guys wanted to talk to me about?"

"It still hurts... what did you ask?"

"What was it that you guys wanted to talk to me about? And stop your drama, I didn't even hit you hard enough..."

"Uh... it was something about a conference or something which is going to be held next month in California, and Nathan invited you for that as a representative of Zone 4. He also wanted to personally talk with you and since we don't have a secure and verified communication channel in the workshop, hence you'll have to use the one in Amanda's office."

"He could've just called me on my communicator..."

"Information related to the military are not allowed to be done on personal channels. I thought you know that?"

"I didn't... apart from that, is this a regular thing? The conference?"

"Yes... happens every year. Usually, the Brigadier General went to these 'conferences' but since you're here now, you'll have to go. However this time they have scheduled the meeting earlier than usual."

"What do you mean by, 'earlier than usual'? Did something happen?"

"Usually the conference room place in November, but the Syndicate has preponed out this year to September... so yeah, I think something's wrong."

"Interesting, by the way, have you ever been to West America after all this happened?" Arnold asked Allen out of the blue.

"Yeah, when the outbreak happened, all of us had to move. If I remember correctly, we were living near the building which is now the headquarters of the Syndicate."

"And for how long were you there?"

"I'd say a couple of months before, until that Tramp, ordered me and most of the others to be thrown away back to East America to defend them. That man was a genius! Forced a bunch C rankers to protect the people who were mostly B rank or above. Big brain move. But why are you asking all this now?"

"It's nothing just curious..." Arnold gave a half-hearted reply.

"You don't sound much curious... either way we're here." Allen informed Arnold, but he didn't reply, a single text revolved inside his mind...

'Void travel... can be used to travel to somewhere within a moment ... as long as you or your summons or you allies have travelled to that place and stayed there for more than six hours.'

"What are you saying? I'm super curious about it..." Arnold smiled and entered the room.

Inside the dimly lit room, Amanda was talking with someone through a huge screen. As Arnold stepped closer, he recognized the owner of the voice which was coming through speakers, it was Nathan.

"I'm here." Arnold informed the gossiping duo, "Heard you wanted to talk to me?"

"Ah yes," Nathan said as Arnold entered in his view, "Brigadier General could you give us a moment?"

"Of course, Sir!" Amanda saluted the two of them and left immediately, Allen followed her suit. Nathan started speaking again once they had left the room.

"So Arnold or I should say Section Chief Arnold Ling, it is my pleasure to invite you for the fifth annual conference against crisis... blah blah blah, you get the gist. I can't do this official crap for so long. This tie is too tight, let me just..."

Arnold silently watched Nathan, while he proceeded to rip off the tie from his suit.

"Ah, much better... Mind telling me where the hell you've been this entire day? You know what, don't tell me. I have to many questions to ask you either way and the time is limited so let's get straight to business. We have some info regarding the swamps but I can't share it with you through this 'secured communications channel' for obvious reasons."

"So what do you want me to do? I can't enter West America until-"

"I know, I know. That's why the Syndicate has granted you special permission to enter West America. I'm sending a chopper, it should reach there by tomorrow and then by the evening you'll be here. We'll be able to talk freely then-"

"Forget about the chopper. Are you free tonight?"

"Yes I am but-"

"Then send me the address and end the communication, I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"But how will you get here so fast?".

"I have my ways."