Aria soon after arrived at the entrance of her apartment building, and made her way up to 3rd floor. After opening the front door, she saw Ben standing in the kitchen cooking up something for dinner. Ben was fairly tall, standing at six-foot-one, with short light brown hair. He had the same piercing blue eyes as Aria. His looks made him popular with his female coworkers, though he rarely seemed to noticed.
Aria walked through the entryway and into the kitchen."Hey Ben, I'm back!"
"You're a bit late aren't you? Normally you would be back an hour ago," he mentioned glancing at Aria with a questioning look.
"I... uh was at the park nearby. I was reading a book there and lost track of time," she came up with an excuse on the fly.
"Just don't make it a habit, and don't stay out too late alone," he cautioned. "With portals showing up randomly these days, anything could happen."
Aria knew he cared for her, but he wouldn't have to worry about her as much now that she awakened. But how does she tell him that? She can't just say a ball of light fused with her and gave her a video-game interface. She would sound like a nut case.
"Don't worry, I won't," she said before retreating to her bedroom. She locked the door behind her and got changed into her comfy clothes. She then collapsed on her bed.
Her room was a decent size, with a small walk-in closet and private half bathroom. Since blue was her favorite colour, the bedspread and decorations around the room were all different shades of blue.
She was a bit of a nerd at heart. She liked superheroes and cartoons, some posters hung around her room and above her desk was a shelf lined with some figurines. In the corner of her room was another shelf filled with classical and opera CDs-an influence from her parents. They named her Aria after all. Aria continued to listen to the CDs they left behind as a way of connecting to her parents.
Once she was settled on the bed, Aria opened the system once again. She tried to see how she could prove she awakened without revealing the Celestial Engine System. For now she would keep it secret until she had more information regarding it.
Aria looked at her light manipulation skill and focused on activating it. She felt a bubbling energy from her core flow through her body to the tips of her fingers. A sphere of light began to form in the palm of her hand. This light illuminated the room with a powerful radience. She tried moving the ball of light around and juggling it from her one hand to the other. After playing around with the ball for a few minutes, she thought about deactivating the skill and the ball vanished.
She noticed her Aether Points had reduced by 3 points. Aria wondered how to regain those points, if it was over time or by eating maybe? While thinking about it, a notification popped up in front of her.
[ User's Aether Points will automatically regenerate over time at a rate of 1 point per 30 seconds. ]
"Well that answers that question," she whispered. Aria realized she could use the light manipulation skill to demonstrate that she awakened. Perhaps she could even get a rank assessment done.
"Aria, its time to eat!" Ben called from the other room. Aria came out from her room and joined her brother at a small table right beside the kitchen. On the table was a simple meal of mashed potatoes, green beans, and meatballs. Her brother had been slowly getting better at cooking over the years of taking care of her. He could now cook a decent meal- a far cry from the soggy ramen noodles he used to make.
Between their parents' inheritance and Ben's job, they lived a modest but comfortable life in their 2 bedroom apartment. They were far better off than many people who were displaced by the monster attacks.
Ben sat down 2 glasses and a pitcher of lemonade on the table. They both sat at the table and enjoyed a nice meal together. While Ben was venting about his coworker who wouldn't shut up, Aria was distracted as she tried to think of a way to bring up her awakening.
"So, what are you thinking about so deeply?" Ben spoke up first and asked Aria. "You've been very distracted since you walked in through the door."
Aria took a deep breath "Well uh... I think I awakened today."
Hearing this, Ben choked on his lemonade. Trying to recover, he looked at Aria with wide eyes.