The general and Xavier soon went their separate way after leaving the staging hall.
The general headed for his office while Xavier steered towards his new abode.
As he walked to his new house, the general words reverberated in his head a bit longer, and a thought flew in.
He was curious to know the state the virtual hall was in now.
'Is it still in shambles or have some progress reigned? It has been 3 days now. A little site-seeing won't hurt. I just hope that no one recognizes me and creates a scene.'
He decided to make a little stop by the virtual hall and take a quick peek.
He walked in and took his quick peek and boy were they fast. The entire hall looked good as new. The chambers were all intact, the cracks on the walls, all sealed up, almost as if there was never any wreck in the first place.
'I wonder how they fix it up so fast.'
Lost in his gaze and amazement, he felt a little touch from behind. The greasy feel frightened him a bit as he stuttered backwards a bit.
"Sorry about that. Didn't mean to frighten you."
It was only a boy. He was on an apron. The kind one wears when working on an engine or a car.
His hands and face were coated in grease and his clothes couldn't be pitied any less.
"Hi. I'm Max. Max Quanta."
Xavier gave a little wave before he gave out his own name. "Xavier."
"That's a nice name."
Xavier instead of receiving the compliment he reciprocated a skeptical stare at the boy. Was it the grease in his hair or the tools hanging from his wear that gave Xavier such an expression?
Max too couldn't seem to crack the mystery behind his gaze, even though it was something rather too obvious.
The boy standing in front of him didn't look any much older than him. As a matter of fact, he was one of those that newly awakened a few days ago, already pulling his weight around the academy.
"Say, you don't look much older than me, so how come you're one of those fixing the place up?"
Max looked confused for a while and gave out a little laugh, loud enough to be heard by everyone in the room. "Ohh, is that why you're giving me such a skeptical look."
He laughed a few seconds longer before answering his question. Xavier just stood there watching the young man laugh frantically over such a meagre question – was the look on his face really that funny?
"Sorry about that. I actually am. I awakened metal a few days back and joined the SCC just yesterday. You see I'm kinda a tech guy and so far here, it's been pretty awesome."
Max saw the confused look on Xavier's face and knew he needed to intervene with a little explanation. "SCC. You know Syllox Control Centre. It's one of the institutions the general just talked about."
"Ohh, I get it. So you are getting paid or something."
"Well, the terms haven't been agreed upon–", cut halfway through his explanation another guy appearing much older than the two called out to Max.
It was the head of the SCC, and from the look on Max's face it seemed that Xavier could tell that too.
The leader walked up to the two and said "What's going on here? Max, we need you to run the final test on the chambers. Who's your friend here? He looks familiar."
"This is Xavier. He's a freshman as well."
"Xavier, Freshman," the guy pondered while analysing his face. "Oh I remember you. You're the guy that wrecked this room during the test, aren't you?"
"Yeah, that's me," Xavier gave an embarrassed expression.
"Really,that was you. That's so cool," Max commented.
"I'll hate to break up you conversation but no one is supposed to be in this place right now. We are still running the final test in all the chambers so if you could come, let's say tomorrow afternoon that will be great," the SCC leader said.
Xavier nodded his head in understanding and left the VR – virtual room but not before taking Max's ID to keep in touch through their comms.
He seemed like a really nice guy and having an inside man in the VR will be of some advantage to him in the future.
After Xavier left he made his way to his home.
He walked for a while and made it to the estate. There were a number of houses all bearing similar structures internally and externally.
As always there was a clear distinction between those of different genders.
The boys' houses were painted blue and were on the left side of the estate while the girls' pink and on the right.
He raised his comm and glanced at it to get his address.
''Number 75.''
He walked past some houses looking out for the seventy-street.
"Seventy street. Yes. Seventy, seventy-one … seventy-five. Finally."
He had found his house.
There was a device locked onto the handle of the door.
"PASSCODE NEEDED," it rang.
He looked at his comm and saw some characters on it. He aligned its screen to the sensor on the device and a green light shone.
"PASSCODE CORRECT. WELCOME XAVIER VON."
He pulled the handle and stepped into his house. He took in the refreshing air that the house was saturated with. At every glance he admired all the ornaments and decorations the house was blessed with.
The best part of it all was that he had no one to share it with. The single night he spent with Avon and Leo didn't leave him with any regret on not having a roommate.
He explored the house. Below was the kitchen, full stocked, the parlour and the dining.
He ascended the stairs and discovered the glimmering tiles bathroom, the bedroom boasting with its tempting bed and a balcony facing the pavement near he street – the perfect place to take a wonderful view of the estate.
The house was wonderful. After his little adventure round the house he took a bath and decided to look around for his friends' houses.
As he stepped out through the outer door, he ran into a 'frenemy', awaiting his tour.
"What a coincidence running into you. I can see your leaving. Can I go with you? I am ready for my tour now."
Xavier heaved lightly on sighting Ollie.
'This guy.'
If only this favour wasn't ordered by the general, he would have sent him to coventry, laying aside his prince hood.
"Okay, let's go. I was just about to get you," he gave a shifty little smile to the prince as they strolled along the estate streets.