Mako and Bill had also communicated with each other through the teleportation marker and they decided to meet up back home before going over to the headquarters.
Mako took a slight detour before heading home as there was another destination on his list that he wanted to visit, the Cemetery.
Mako wanted to visit his grandmother's grave one last time before he left Emerald City for who knows how long.
The trip to the cemetery was a quick one as nothing of importance happened. Mako cleaned his grandmother's tombstone and made a quick silent prayer. He talked a bit telling her all about what had happened in his life and promising to visit again as soon as possible.
It was always hard for Mako to leave the cemetery because his heart would ache knowing he was leaving his grandmother behind, but not this time as a part of her aura, her love was laying dormant within his heart and he knew that his grandmother would always watch and protect him.
Mako arrived about half an hour after Bill and upon arriving Bill rushed out of the house, eager to tell Mako the full details of everything that went down when he went to visit his father.
Mako was completely shocked by the series of events that Bill narrated including their fight and learning about what his father had been up to all this time.
Bill was very grateful for everything that Mako had done for him as he finally had his family back and now he could focus on making them proud.
The reason they decided to stop at home first was that they still needed to pack up in preparation for going back to the military base which was set to be in the late evening.
Bill was also still wearing his dirty and torn military uniform, so it was better for them to finish their business at home before finally heading out toward the Dark Raven HQ.
Bill didn't have much luggage in terms of clothes and he just added all of his items into the case his father provided filled with all kinds of books.
Mako only had one suitcase that belonged to his grandmother which meant that he limited space and had to be picky with what he wanted to take along with him.
There was also his inventory that he could access through the system but it also had a weight limit and Mako only wanted essential and important items to be stored in there.
Mako opened the suitcase which was caked in a thick layer of dust and started adding all of the new good quality clothes he had purchased after winning the fights and other basic items.
Mako also pulled out a cardboard box from under his bed that was full of all the items that were displayed on the shelves of the secret room which he had taken with him.
They all looked like weirdly shaped rocks and each of them had different textures, and his Analyze skill still failed on them which told Mako that they were something important and that was why he placed all of them in his inventory to take with him, just in case he might learn something about them in the future.
While Bill was showering and getting ready in the main bathroom, Mako entered his own bathroom and quietly flipped the lever behind his mirror to open the passageway again.
This was going to be the last time Mako was going to be home in a while, so he wanted to make sure that he didn't leave anything behind.
He checked the room thoroughly again but there was nothing else inside the room; however, before he exited the room, he tried inspecting the pedestal that originally held the chest which contained the system.
The pedestal looked very unique but was unfortunately merged with the ground. It looked like it was carved out of just stone and had quite intricate details carved into it.
On the top plate of the pedestal, there was a flat plate with a circle in the middle. Mako just thought it was for alignment purposes to signify the center of the plate and he randomly just decided to touch it.
Turns out, it wasn't just a random circle and was instead a button. Mako's finger dove in as the button pushed down, activating a mechanism within the pedestal.
Suddenly all the gaps between the carvings began to expand and glow with a bright blue light and before Mako could even remove his finger, a large amount of electricity built up and surged into Mako through his finger, giving him a major shock.
*ZAP!*
Mako's entire body felt the electricity coursing through but somehow, it wasn't causing him any pain. It was a really weird and unreal feeling which lasted only a second as, in the next moment, the pedestal returned back to its normal state, leaving Mako majorly confused as to what had just happened.
However, before he could even think a notification popped up explaining everything that Mako needed to know.
[System has received a supercharge]
[New Quest Received]
[Supercharge the system 5 more times]
[Reward: Unlock more features of the system]
[Penalty: None]
The pedestal was a charging port, most probably keeping the system active and charged while in the box, and now Mako had just absorbed all that charge into himself by pressing the button and it seemed that if he got zapped 5 more times, he will unlock something new.
Mako moved toward the pedestal again and pressed the button again, but this time nothing happened. There was no glowing light, no electricity build-up, and no shock.
*Ding!*
[User has already received a supercharge from this location, find the remaining pedestals to gain all the supercharges.]
"What! There are more?! In different locations...? Are there more systems out there? I thought my system was the only system that was fully made, then how can there be more pedestals?" Mako said out loud in confusion but this time the system didn't reply with a response leaving Mako alone to figure out what all of this meant.
After thinking for a while nothing made sense to Mako anymore, he clearly saw his great-grandfather run in such a terrible state with the only finished system, and all the research and everything else was destroyed so could there be 5 more pedestals and who knows where they are either?
Mako gave up due to frustration and decided to just leave this matter for now and give it some more thought later after he learned a bit more about the system and could it possibly refer to telling him about 5 more pedestals.
Mako silently made his back out of the secret passage and got ready to finally leave for the Dark Raven HQ as well.
At around noon, Mako and Bill arrived, their faces filled with excitement and curiosity as they stepped into the headquarters.
Benson greeted them as soon as they entered and directed them to Paul's office. As they entered which had a very different atmosphere than the time they had visited before. Back then the atmosphere was gloomy and very serious with a lot of tension in the room, but now there was practically no tension, and the atmosphere was filled with positivity.
Paul stood up from his chair which was also a first for all Mako, Bill, and even Leon as he moved forward to greet them with a smile.
Paul extended his hand, greeting Mako and Bill warmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you both again. I've heard a lot about your accidental encounter with my son and all the things that happened during the test. Thanks a lot for looking after him and building a good bond with him,"
Mako and Bill quickly caught on to what Paul was trying to do. He was trying to make it look like they weren't given a job by him to look after Leon and that they just did it out of the goodness of their heart.
Mako and Bill exchanged glances, their expressions a mix of knowing and understanding as Bill responded," You don't have to thank us, we just did what we would have done even if it had been someone else instead of Leon."
Paul nodded gratefully at Bill's response as he motioned for them to take a seat around a table where he had laid out several books. "In light of recent events and the potential you all possess, I want to offer you something."
There were several books laid out across the table with some having different colored crystals and others being regular books also in a variety of colors. These were ability and skill books that were presented in front of Mako, Bill, and Leon.
"You guys have blown me away with the amount of impact you have made in the Dark Raven and in my family even though you two are our latest members. These here are rewards that are reserved for higher-ranked members of our guild but I have made an exception for you guys as I am going to allow you both to pick 3 items each from this pile," Paul said cutting straight to chase as he presented all the different books in front of Mako and Bill.
Since Leon was his own son, Paul had already given him everything that he would need in his journey moving forward which included several skill books and training manuals and some power items as well.
With anyone else, Paul always played fair with all members and so he allowed his higher guild members to pick three items from the pile that he reserved for them and he treated Mako and Bill in the exact same way.
Mako and Bill were both drooling over the items that were presented but before they could begin deciding what they would choose, something stuck out in both of their minds that they just needed to ask about.
"Guilds? What is that?" Both of them asked in unison.
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