CHAPTER 67. Token of Gratitude. (EDITED)

Upon exiting the room, I followed him into the broad alleyway-like space. Along the way, he didn't speak a single word, and neither did I.

We soon reached the end of the alleyway, at least that's what I thought, until Jay placed his hand on the wall, and an entrance opened to a vast, spacious room that was big enough to fit a football stadium.

I was gobsmacked by the room's scale, and the environment was like a research lab with equipment that looks futuristic.

Other than that, what caught my attention was the almost hundred humanoid robots, among which a few were operating on white-coloured holograms.

Simultaneously, another few conducted various tests on the people with their hands and legs locked up to the metallic tables, as they were injected with something.

All those 37 people that were treated as test subjects had one aspect in common, and it was that all of them had partaken in the conspiracy against 'Nav-Yuga' in one way or another.

But none of them were shouting or trying to retaliate. With that, I could only assume that they couldn't control their bodies, just like what happened to me in the Court.

Then, Jay reading my thoughts, said in his usual emotionless tone, "Yes, you guessed correctly, none of them have control over their body. Would you believe me, if I said that killing all of them was the easiest thing I could do right now?"

I instinctively gulped when he said that without even batting an eye.

Jay continued, "But instead of killing them, I decided to let them helplessly experience being test subjects, as the A.I controlled robots inject them with all kinds of deadly diseases on the planet, and analyse how their bodies react to them, in order to create advanced medical vaccines for the diseases."

Upon noticing my reaction, he shook his head and said, "Don't worry, I won't treat you like them. Just follow me."

After that, I followed Jay as he exited the vast research room in the opposite corner to where we initially entered.

As we continued to walk, I asked Jay why he didn't treat me as a test subject just like the others, or even torture me like the Director, even though I was the one who planted the bomb that sent Jay's grandfather into a coma.

Then, his reply changed the way I look at him.

"Others might judge you for what you have become, but I, who have seen your memories, know what you have experienced to become what you are today, and just like me, you would do anything to save your family."

"Right now, I am in a state of harmony where my decisions are mostly based on logic and rational reasoning instead of emotions. So, there is no such thing as good or bad to me, only with me or against me."

"When I contemplated without taking my personal emotions into consideration, I realised that I should, in fact, be thankful to you for persuading the Quadnite Conglomerate Chairman to not kill my family, and if not for that, you wouldn't be standing near me in one piece."

"I know that you did that out of your cautious nature thinking that I might become a killer that only lives for my revenge. But, what you didn't know, was that your single decision saved me from becoming a hatred-filled monstrosity that goes around killing everyone, with the power I received from the System."

Even though I didn't understand why he couldn't feel emotions, and the so-called 'System' he was talking about, I still understood that he currently held no intention to kill me.

Before I could get my hopes up, Jay said, "If it were up to me, I would let you live. But the bomb you planted under the orders of Quadnite Conglomerate's Chairman took Uncle Aadrik's life, who was my family's Chief of Security and most of all, he was the father of my only friend, Rownak."

"I will let my friend be your Judge and Jury, and he will decide whether you live or die."

After a short walk that was filled with silence, we finally stopped, after reaching something that actually looked like a door.

Jay placed his hand on the door and said, "Even though I can't help you much about it, I have prepared something as a token of my gratitude."

Just as he said that, the door opened, and he told me to get inside. I didn't know what he meant by token of gratitude, but when I turned back to ask him about it, he locked the door.

Just when I was about to try to pull the door with all my strength, I heard a familiar voice coming from the room that I was in, "Mom, Look! Dad is here!"

Upon turning around, what greeted my eyes made me fall to my knees as tears rolled down my cheeks.

My 10-year-old son, who could barely walk due to him being in the final stages of Leukemia, was now running towards me cheerfully. His body wasn't weak anymore.

He then jumped onto me as he hugged me tightly, and chirped excitedly, "Dad, Mr Baby Santa said that my disease was cured and I could play as much as I want. Let's play 'Hide & Seek'."

I didn't understand what he meant by Baby Santa, but then my wife approached me and explained everything that had happened today.

I learned that, at around 1'0 clock in the afternoon, some bright white glow appeared in my son's hospital ward, and that when they re-opened their eyes, both of them were in an unknown white room that had all necessities of a house.

According to her, a flying angel baby in a Santa Costume appeared in front of them, and had my son ingest a drop of a golden liquid, which drastically improved my son's health.

After that, the baby angel gave my wife 6 more drops of that golden liquid, and told her to feed it to our son once an hour for him to make a full recovery.

Before vanishing, the Baby Angel told my wife that I would soon come here, and that the golden liquid was a token of gratitude from his Master.

Hearing the words, 'token of gratitude', I realised that it was Jay's doing.

It was my dream to see my son recover and live normally like any other kid his age. Now that my dream turned into reality, I could die peacefully.

I didn't tell them that I have a day or a few at most to live, before I'd meet my final judgement.

I hugged my son and wife before all three of us played 'Hide & Seek' as my son wished.

*****

It was already 11 p.m, and there was just an hour for the 18-hour rest period to end before the start of Day 3 of the Alpha Program.

I intended to go back to my house, and see if my siblings could become the Holders of my Major ORIGIN SIGILS, before they even assimilated with the System.

If not for MJ reassuring me that nothing harmful would happen to my siblings, I would have waited until the start of the Beta Program so that they could assimilate with the System, before making each of them one of my Major ORIGIN SIGILs' holder.

But before that, I looked at the two sets of 6 Armour-type Spirit Items (A/N: Helmet, Shoulder Guards, Gauntlets, Tassets, Greaves, Boots) with one set containing Common Grade Spirit Items, while the other set has Uncommon Grade Spirit Items.

It was enough to upgrade the growth type Spirit Item by two grades, utilizing those two sets.

Initially, the set of Uncommon Grade Armour-Type Spirit Items were also of Common Grade. That was because Dante could only use his Fate Stats to obtain Common-type Spirit items at most since he was only in Tier-1.

But, MJ managed to remould one set of Common Grade Armour-type Spirit Items to Uncommon Grade ones, using his Grade-4 Spirit Energy Engineering, thus making it possible for me to upgrade from Common Grade to Rare Grade.

After placing both Sets of Spirit items in front of me, I accepted the notification that popped up in front of me.

[Specific Spirit Items that are needed to upgrade the Growth Type Spirit item are available, Do you wish to start the absorption process?]