With the end of the NIST National Tournament, Klaus and all the other Special Program departments on the New York campus had to get on a plane to return to New York, and luckily they managed to get tickets for his family to return on the same plane, which was good.
While they were waiting to board, Ard kept asking excited questions about Klaus' abilities, eager to learn everything he could about archery, and this didn't irritate Klaus, quite the opposite, he had great patience and a constant smile while explaining some basic archery techniques.
During the flight, Klaus stared out of the window, thinking about his next steps. He urgently needed to become an evolved now that he almost literally had a target on his back, because if Charles Richards saw Kaizen as a hope to be able to control the evolved, definitely soon the evolved began to see him as a potential threat.
Michael and Chun noticed the thoughtful expression on Klaus' face, and Michael whispered:
"Are you all right, son? Something seems to be bothering you."
Klaus, with Ard sleeping with her head resting on his left shoulder, turned to his parents on his right and sighed. "Yesterday Ashley broke up with me, because I didn't tell her about what I do for a living, or about my past."
Chun squeezed his hand gently. "Oh, Klaus... Why didn't you tell us?"
"I just didn't want to bother you."
"It's no trouble at all for us to help you through a difficult time. You know, our family will always be your safe haven. Never forget that."
Chun's words brought Klaus comfort, and he smiled. "Thanks, Mom, Dad. You always know what to say to make me feel better."
The plane continued its smooth course through the skies as the family snuggled into their seats. Ard woke up sleepily, rubbing his eyes and yawning loudly. He gave Klaus a sleepy look and asked:
"Are we there yet?"
Klaus laughed softly. "No, there are still many hours left."
The boy rubbed his eyes again and yawned a second time before settling down again.
After several hours, they actually arrived in New York and since all the participants in the tournament wouldn't have to take part in the program's monthly competitions, they could go home to rest for a whole week. So when Klaus arrived home and put his suitcases down, it seemed that all the tiredness had finally hit him at once.
He stretched with a sigh of relief and spoke to his mother, who was getting some things out of the car:
"Mom, I'm going upstairs to put my clothes in the drawers. Then I'll come down and have something to eat."
"All right, son, but get some rest!"
When he finally steps into his room, he drops his backpack on the floor and throws himself on his bed, feeling that the week of rest he has more than earned will be a short time for him to fully recover from the physical and mental stress of the last few days.
Klaus closed his eyes for a moment, letting himself sink into the soft mattress, and the conversation of his parents downstairs was his soundtrack to sleep.
After a few minutes, he woke up to a startled cell phone ringing next to him.
The soft buzz of his cell phone brought him back to reality. He stretched out his arm and picked up the device on the bedside table, looking at the illuminated screen with the name 'Emma' flashing.
He rubbed his eyes, still sleepy, before answering.
"Hello?" he said, trying to wake up the voice.
On the other end of the line, Emma answered. "Klaus? Sorry to call unannounced. Are you home yet?"
"Yes, a few hours ago, I think." Klaus got into bed and answered with a yawn, looking out of his bedroom window as it was getting dark. "And you? Have you left Los Angeles yet?"
"Not yet. I'm taking advantage of the fact that I'm in town and have a few days off to discuss some contracts with agencies. Anyway, I see you're going to set up a Guild? Are you sure about that?"
"Yes, I think that's the best option for me now. I can no longer hide what I do, and it's better to have control over it than to let others take the reins. With a guild, I'll be able to get bigger quest contracts with the Adventurers' Guild and I'll be able to earn not only a lot of XP, but also a lot of money."
On the other end of the line, Emma was silent for a moment before answering:
"If you say that, it means that the farming areas are almost no longer enough for you, right? In other words, you'll soon become an Evolved."
"Exactly. I intend to do that when I reach level 200."
"Clever... That's the middle level that most of the strongest Evolved evolved too. Some others have waited until Level 300, but none have ever gone beyond that, as far as I know... But, Klaus, you know this is going to put you in the spotlight, right? You already have a lot of eyes on you, I know, including those of people who may not mean well, but if you become a guild owner and an evolved one at that, the threats won't just be from Rise Online."
"I know, Emma, but I'm not doing this thoughtlessly. Many already hate me for minor things, so I think I'll be able to handle it... I won't hold back out of fear."
Emma seemed to ponder this. "You're right... Could it be that the Evolved will finally show themselves again?"
"What do you mean?" Klaus asked, confused.
"You know what I mean. They mostly don't seem to care about anyone or anything that happens in the world of the unevolved, but it's not like they live on a different astral plane."
"Wait a minute, you mean that the Evolved can 'live' with the non-evolved. For example, can one of those guys from the big guilds in Europe and Asia just fly into the Tretidian Capital and knock on our door?"
"Of course they can. Wait, you didn't know that?" Emma asked and was then answered only with silence.
All this time, Klaus had taken it literally and thought that the Evolved had literally ascended to another form and it was as if they were playing on another server, a server apart from the ordinary players, and discovering that this wasn't actually true came as quite a surprise.