Veritas looked at the door in front of him before sighing and opening it, his arms had recovered slightly that he could lift them up or grip some small things.
Walking in his house, he was surprised to see Edward reading a book with Goldy sitting next to him.
Edward looked up from his book and saw Veritas, ragged and a mess. His arms were still purple, bruises on them with puncture marks that told Edward a story.
Narrowing his eyes, he looked up to Veritas' face.
"What happened, child?"
The old man asked, Goldy meanwhile simply opened one eye curiously but stayed laying down next to the old man's leg.
"Ah... well, things happened."
Veritas rubbed the back of his head, his hand twitched as he quickly lowered it down before looking at Edward with a sheepish smile.
Edward sighed before shaking his head and standing up weakly.
"I took care of the dog, you should also get that checked out... before that, go clean up. I'll go get some food from my room, there's still some leftover."
Veritas blinked as he watched the old man walk past him before getting out of his room, Veritas smiled at the departing man as he took off his bag.
Veritas looked down to see Goldy staring up at him, specifically his arms.
Smiling, he knelt down and sighed.
"Well... I somehow miss you, sleeping alone on that cave with no pillow to hug or... you, wasn't enough. It felt weird. Not only that, the whispers too..."
Veritas complained silently before shaking his head and smiling, the dog simply looked up at him silently before nuzzling its muzzle towards Veritas' injury.
Veritas flinched slightly but simply smiled.
"Thank you..."
Time passed, Veritas took a quick shower and was back to the living room. He was wearing a simple black shirt and white shorts.
The extent of his injury was visible now, and he was honestly surprised to see how badly he was close to death.
A knob being turned snapped him out of his thoughts as he look to the side to see Edward bringing a plate with food, ice packs, and a roll of elastic bandage.
The old man sat down next to Veritas and placed the stuff on the table in front of them.
"Just sit there son, I'll feed you."
"What... no, you don't have to-"
"Moving your arms with that kind of bruising won't help you recover faster, be glad that someone is willing to help take care of you, Veritas."
Veritas looked at the old man in silence before slowly nodding.
"You're 17 now if I recall correctly?"
Edward asked out of nowhere as Veritas looked at him with raised brows before nodding as he opened his mouth to eat.
"You didn't go out to the neighboring city, did you?"
Silence filled the room as Veritas look at Edward, staring at those old tired eyes.
Veritas was sure he could lie... but, somehow lying never felt right to him, at least to people he was fond of.
Edward, while he wasn't exaclty close with, he was fond of him. The old man always greeted him whenever they met and he would chat casually with him.
"... No, I didn't."
Edward sighed, his eyes glancing to the bruises and injury on Veritas' body.
"This might be insensitive, but I guess you didn't get the System? Or you just got it recently?"
"... I got the System."
Edward grunt before nodding, lifting the spoon to feed Veritas once again.
"Did you go out to hunt some Corrupted? Which was, absolutely reckless?"
Veritas felt like the old man already knew what happened, so he simply sighed before answering.
"I did, I also am planning to apply for the Academy and before undertaking the trial... join an expedition."
Edward looked at him, staring at the young man with confusion.
The chances of someone getting accepted for Eden Academy was higher than 50%, it's just that for the first trial it would be free.
Even if one fail, one could still retake the trial, and most of the time the second trial one applied for would almost guarantee success to join the Academy.
Sure, the Eden Academy accept the best seed first, the ordinary or weaker seed later. But... usually, children simply needed to prepare themselves by training their body or getting used to their Path.
Not going as far as this, applying for an expedition?
"If I may know, Ver, why are you going so far as to even go for an expedition? What drives you to do this?"
Veritas looked at Edward, the image of "him" staring back at him, palm outstretched with those 0 and 1s close to his face.
The System somehow appearing to save him...
His red System, which was different from everyone...
Veritas was both curious and scared, he needed to prepare himself in case the Agent returned, and he wanted to know more about the Agents and System itself.
So... Veritas spoke.
"I need to discover more about Agents and how to... kill them. Then... I want to learn more about the System itself."
Edward looked at Veritas with wide eyes before a chuckle escaped his mouth, he crossed his arms and look at the young man speaking with certainty.
"Well... not a lot of people go into this Guardian life seeking to kill and learn about the Agents... and System... do you doubt it? Why do you want to know more about the System?"
Veritas pondered for a while, thinking about how to answer the question.
"It's... intriguing, why does the System only give the chance for 16 year olds to obtain it, is the System universal like one host? Or is it separate entities... It's... simply curiosity, Mr. Edward."
Edward look at Veritas before eyeing him up and down as he slowly nod before continuing feeding Veritas.
After a while, Edward finished before applying the ice pack on him wrapped with a towel.
Edward instructed Veritas to wrap the elastic bandage around his arm, Veritas took the instructions seriously and nodded in response.
Standing in front of the door, Edward looked to Veritas.
"Take a rest then, heal up, prepare yourself."
Veritas look at the old man in confusion before nodding, he was going to do that after all.
"Thank you for everything you've done, Mr. Edward."
With that, Edward walked out of the room, leaving Veritas alone with Goldy as Veritas smiled upon seeing Goldy.
"Hey buddy... prepare for cuddles tonight, because I'm going to lock you with me..."
Goldy looked at Veritas before barking at him and biting his leg, Veritas winced, laughing soon after.
***
The next day... Veritas was surprised by the sudden visit from Edward.
"What?"
"You heard me. Get ready, we're going to an Agency of my acquaintance."
Veritas blinked for a few times, looking at Edward dumbly.
"You'll be having a spar with an aquaintance of mine, and we'll see how you fare against him. If you do well... he will decide whether or not will he invite you in for an expedition."