About two minutes later.

  Needing a break, Masa Ed closed the book and returned it to the table.

  "You are going outside?" Lady Jasmine inquired, her eyes drifted from the book to him.

  "Yes," he replied after which he stood up and stretched. "I just want to look around." He added.

  "Be careful with the young ones." Lady Jasmine warned, but at her message that confused him, he paused; what's she talking about? He wondered. To gain clarity, he turned to look at her veiled face, but the look he caught on her expressionless and pensive face didn't make things clearer.

  He shrugged. Maybe, its not that deep. He made his conclusion, and so moving on... by pedaling at nothing, he stretched his legs in black suit panties that matches the black shirt he wore, half buttoned, revealing his chest.

  I kind of don't feel different. Realization struck him. He noticed that contrary to what they mentioned about someone becoming stronger after initiation, which is due to ether flowing naturally through someone's astral channels that became unblocked during it, he didn't really feel any different compared to how he felt at the strange place—the place where he had his short supernatural experience—when he first woke up there.

  "With your current physical strength, you can easily bring down ten to twenty able bodied mortal in one confrontation."

  He turned to Lady Jasmine. She wasn't done with her claims.

  "During the initiation ritual, what we do is activate your astral chart. We force your channels open by using the seed as a catalyst," she added. "Now that you are in the intiation realm—the seeding stage, what truly makes the difference between you and a mortal besides heavenly abilities you've unlocked is your acquired ability to make ether course through your channels. As ether circulates in cycles through a specific path in your chart that have been dormant since birth, it will irrigate and strengthen it. Its this process that develop and prepare your shell and spirit for the next stage. Your current strength is attributed to your shell growing stronger. Over time, it and your spirit are expected to slowly transform and grow stronger, and so is your senses, they will become sharper and more accurate."

  "I understand," Masa Ed pursed his lips. He has actually come to a conclusion that matches what she explained. However, what he has issue with that she seems not to have understood is the fact that he didn't think his strength when he first woke up at the strange place compared to now is any different; and another issue that crop up from her explanation that confused him also, is the fact he is certain he doesn't need to consciously circulate ether along some specific pathways through his chart; just like he his breathing naturally, he can sense ether coursing naturally through his entire being without his conscious control, he wonders why she hasn't noticed.

  Anyways, he smiled at her one last time which she reciprocated with a beaming one before he made his way to the door of the room that its four walls is painted white with gold stylized floral overlays at their corners, matching the one on its pristine white ceiling edges.

  Then as he reached the carved wooden door, he opened it outward, revealing a spacious balcony that its super glossy golden-brown floor, looking like its made of epoxy coated wood contrasts and compliments the white tufted carpet of the room, enhancing the spectacle of illumination from wall torches bouncing of it and a few meters away, the carved wooden balustrade polished pure golden.

  Not bad. He nodded faintly, showing appreciation. One foot first, he stepped out of the room, and as he closed the door behind him,

  "Master," Sugar addressed him. She paused right behind him, striking a perfect pose of a maid waiting on her master, her victorian maid outfit, an evidence she is truly one.

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  "Master, huh..." Masa Ed mumbled. He stared blankly at space, engaging his inner mind—taking a trip in it—practically zoning out.

  Few seconds later, he chuckled mirthlessly, expressing a strange complicated feeling that arose from what he got at the end of his mental trip. Few months ago, he was someone that loathed every elements of the elite level of society, but here he is now, he is being called master by what should be a certified maid; the possibility of it happening has never once crossed his mind ever...

  A sudden realization hit him.

  "Wait, why are you calling me master?" He turned around and faced Sugar.

  "Mistress gave us the order to treat and respect master as if master is her spouse." Sugar replied; her voice truly musical.

  "Spouse?" Masa Ed scoffed. "Only heavens knows what that bitch is up to."

  After a brief pause, he set himself in motion. With Sugar walking elegantly behind him, he approached the balustrade and as he reached it, he leaned against its flat top rail, resting his forearms on it.

  His eyes focused. He could clearly see how deep down below the ship deck is from where he stands.

  "Three floor below deck and four floor above deck," Sugar enlightened. "We are on the director's flagship—Queen Dawn—its one of the best and largest ships we have. Every floor is a minimum of 33 meters, excluding the last floor below deck..."

  "That room is on it? The one where I first met you guys," Masa Ed interjected. He referred to the room where he had his initiation chamber, asking if its on the last floor below deck.

  "Yes," Sugar replied. "We call it a basement chamber."

  Masa Ed nodded. "I thought as much."

  After a brief more look at the ship deck of a similar floor to the balcony, also matching the ship's deck building walls, Masa Ed finally turned his attention to Sugar standing diagonally right behind him; he turned around, and with his hands against the top handrail he lifted himself up and sat on it.

  He resumed. "So, why did you mess me up?"

  His eyes narrowed at her.

  "Master, it wasn't me." White Sugar protested. She smiled imperceptibly after her icy purple eyes captured Masa Ed who is yet stunned a bit by her musical voice like that of a canary. "It was her. Master will you forgive her?" She pleaded.

  I wonder if her voice is also like this. Masa Ed smiled faintly; the image of her twin flashed briefly in his mind. No, definitely no, He shook is head as fast. she is a dormant volcano, a female tiger in stealth...

  "I am not really mad," he replied her with a nonchalant smile. "That she can hold her impulses despite its overwhelming intensity is a sign of strong will... I respect her a lot, in fact... she would have been my type eight years ago, but now that I have updated—"

  He paused, prompted by White Sugar spellbinding full smile he is seeing for the first time. But then, in the following moment, he sensed a presence on his left, so turning his face in the direction, he caught sight of her twin standing close to him with her face facing away from them, her presence probably being the reason White Sugar smiled in full.

  So, female tiger is here. He raised the corner of his upper lip. With one push forward, he came down from the top rail and set himself in motion right away, choosing to go right, which is where the balcony adjoins a hall at right angle to it, his walking pace, moderately quick.

  Meanwhile, at his action that was like a man running from a plague, Snow frowned imperceptibly as she watched his back retreated further away, and Sugar after giving her sulking twin a pitying look, she hurried after him.

  "Master, have you forgiven my sister?"

  White Sugar voice along the soft echo of her shoe on the balcony floor reached Masa Ed just as he passed the thin edge of the hall's golden wall where it adjoins the balustrade at a right angle, after which he turned right to face its bustling yet not crowded interior.

  "I have nothing to forgive," he replied. "Who am I to forgive others when they did me no wrong."

  "But she did you wrong," Sugar was of a different opinion. She followed him into the incredibly spacious hall where a large group of people are gathered at one spot far in the distance, looking like a mob that just claimed its next victim.

  "What exactly is her problem? Its not like they are related?"

  "Maybe they are a secret couple..."

  "Its not like you can beat us all, crazy red bitch... Fuck!"

  "Come... all of you."

  Voices drifted over from where the mob is, followed by a sight of teenagers scrambling away from the center circle of their mob gathering that revealed a girl in red and black, which in her hand is a menacing scythe of black handle and a crimson blade that matches the color of her hair, looking like mother hen as she stand battle ready in front of a kneeling boy that is obviously bloody from serious beating.

  "Tch... Children." Masa Ed scoffed at the sight; his eyes lingered on the kneeling boy, observing every breath he takes, both consciously and not.

  "Master, the youngest among them is thirty two; the tall boy leaning against the pillar."

  Sugar informed him. She...