A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Ryan looked up towards the sky with a wide toothy smile on his face, his hands spread out to greet the falling snow.

"Ryan stop playing in the snow and get inside the house."

Upon hearing his sister's voice Ryan could not help but scowl as he trudged back inside the room with heavy steps.

Xuelong chuckled as she spoke, "You are acting as if you have never seen snow before."

"Of course I have never seen snow before as this is my first time viewing snowfall during winter, it has never snowed in our country like forever, yet now it is snowing."

Michalina shook her head in exasperation as she spoke with a sigh, "Even then you should be careful Ryan, during the period the weather changes like this, there is a high chance of falling sick, and in our condition it could be dangerous."

"I know sis, but I cannot help it."

Michalina chuckled as she spoke, "I know the feeling, and Ryan, Jessica found some Blu-ray one of your favorite band."

Ryuu looked at the disc as he let out a small sigh before placing it away as he spoke, "Sent my thanks to Jessica."

Xuelong looked towards Ryan with a confused look on her, "I thought you would be even happier to find recordings of your favorite band."

"I would be if these things were now worthless, in fact having them around would be a constant reminder of what we have lost."

Upon hearing that Shakidra, who was nearby, could not help but ask out loud, "But can you not play it like that big black disc from before."

Ryan looked at her as he spoke, "You mean the recorder?"

As Shakidra nodded Ryan continued with a sigh, "That recorder is created using a very different method and the technology behind it is not only at least a century old.", he then picked up the blu-ray as he began to speak again, "This thing is way more advance, compared to that recorder, and if you ask about how much it could hold, well think the record player as a bag that can hold a single rock, then a blu-ray is one that can hold thousands of similar kind of rocks."

Both Xuelong and Shakidra's eyes widen as Ryan continued to speak, "Then the quality of the sound, comparing the quality of a recorder with a blu-ray, is like comparing a toddler's painting with a world renowned artist, not to mention you cannot record the video."

Xuelong gained a confused look on her face as she spoke, "What is a video?"

"Think it like something you saw, like a dance that you wish to review again in the future that is a video that is played using a device similar to some I use like those turret controls that people use to see and find the enemies."

Xuelong frowned as she spoke, "Hey Shakidra this does sound like those 'recording crystals' right?"

Shakidra gave a nod as she replied back, "Yes, Your Holiness."

But, before anyone could say anything Jessica and Donna appeared bringing fresh snow along with them as Jessica spoke with a sigh, "I am sorry but it seems that we would be stuck here for a while the wather is rapidly deteriorating and a storm is at hand."

Michalina frowned as she spoke, "Have you managed to bring the fire wood?"

As Jessica nodded as Michalina continued, "We stopped here so that we could have some hot food, so what should we do, we can leave now and hope the storm does not catches us, or we can hanker down and wait for it to pass away."

Ryan frowned as he spoke, "The car is not fitted with something that could be used to cook, and since we are all hungry not to mention driving in such condition would be extremely dangerous as such I vote to stay here until the storm withers."

Xuelong shrugged as she spoke, "Fine by me."

Donna placed a pile of firewood as she spoke, "Since we are staying here for the time being then let us make the place of our temporary stay a bit more comfortable, the temperature would drop so a bit more firewood will be nice."

Xuelong stood up as she spoke, "I will lend a hand then, it would faster if you have another pair of hands working."

Jessica gave a nod as she spoke, "Thank you Your Holiness, and since most of the woods we are using are furniture so if require we can bring it here directly before chopping it off."

Michalina stood up as well, as she had decided to follow the group to gather more wood, leaving Ryan alone in the single storey house they had decided to take shelter.

Ryan let out a sigh as he murmured out loud, "Now, what should I make for lunch?"

With that thought in mind he left the shelter towards the large car parked outside, he placed his hand on it with his eyes closed and a few minutes later he had taken out enough ingredients that were stored inside it in a special crate.

'Magic is like an ultimate cheat, some of this would have taken months to grow in normal situations are being grown within weeks without having to think about soil fertility or weather, really it is cheat though at the same time the farmers are suffering from lack of mana too much more often than not.'

With that thought in mind as he began to plan his dinner, his mind went back to the meeting he had with his patron God a couple of months ago just after the siege.

*********************

An incredibly tired Ryan fallen asleep when he found himself in a familiar place, as a sudden sense of uneasiness and anxiety hit him, the reason for it being his previous experiences.

He quickly kneeled in front of the ever-present flame as he spoke with his head bowed low, "My Lord."

Ryan waited patiently for God Avtis to acknowledge him, but as time passed by the uncomfortable silence suffocated him as he felt his heart would give out if Avtis do not speak out in the next second.

After what seemed like an eternity Avtis spoke, "Ah you are here, it is so difficult to notice when someone so insignificant like you is in front of me."

Ryan's brow twitched but he did not say anything as Avtis continued to speak, "I saw your fight, it was reckless yet quite brave, your idea to get out was not that great but would have worked somewhat, but you are lucky that Oena's apostle was there."

"Though that dragon you killed.", that he paused for a moment as Ryan's heart beat sped up, which further increased as Avtis uttered the next words, "I kind of like dragons you know."

'Oh oh, mom sis it was nice knowing you.'

As Ryan mentally made his peace with himself knowing he was about to kill he was stunned into silence upon hearing his next words, "Roasted dragon legs of Elder Dragons and above is Heavenly I love them."

Ryan collapsed on the floor from his kneeling position as he could not help but exclaim out loud, "You like to eat it."

Another silence descended amongst them as Avtis spoke slowly, "Yes, I like to eat draconic meat, is there any problem with that."

Ryan shook his head as he replied back hurriedly with an uneasy smile, "No of course there is no problem, it is just I never thought they would be edible."

"Even though we do not need it, Gods can eat many things, some of them being incredibly delicious though many of them are not meant for mortals, dragons are something that you can eat safely so you might understand why I like it so much, though comparing the meat of an Iron Dragon to Elder is blasphemous."

Ryan quickly returned to his kneeling position as Avtis continued to speak, "Well the reason I brought you here was because I wanted to rewards you."

Ryan's eyes widen slightly as he schooled his features while Avtis in his flame form continued to pace in front of him while he continued to speak.

"You must have seen some of the wonderful skills that your fellow apostle's uses one that helps her to run on air, one that makes a very strong armor from blood of her enemies."

Ryan nodded as Avtis continued with what seemed to Ryan was full of pride and happiness from the tone of his voice.

"Excellent, then you would love what I have in store for you, the skills that those two have are not suitable for you, you would learn to fly later on in your life so giving you the 'air walk' is a waste, you use guns most of the time so giving you 'armor of blood' would be another waste as wearing armor on top of armor would only drag you down, as such I came up with something for you, now choose."

Suddenly a pair of a flaming hands appeared in front of him, one held a blue pill and the other a red, as Avtis spoke, "You take the blue pill and learn a skill, and you take the red and learn another skill."

Ryan suddenly had a feeling of déjà-vu as he was reminded of the most famous scene from one of his all-time favourite movies, but he could not help but ask out loud, "What skills will I learn from them?"

His question earned him a chill down his spine as he quickly blurted out with a shaky smile, "Ahahah, sorry I was kind of excited about learning a new skill."

Ryan let out a sigh as he selected the red pill before eating it, as Avtis spoke, "Ah so you choose to follow a different path than Neo, choosing the blue pill instead."

Ryan did a double-take at that as he looked at the flaming hand before rubbing his eyes to see the vision unchanging as he spoke out in disbelief, "But… but the red one was on your right hand and the blue on your left, I chose the red."

"Hmm… may be you should get your eyes and brain checked."

Ryan's eyes widen as he stood up as he spoke in an accusing tone while pointing a finger at the flame, "You switched them at the laaaaa…"

Whatever he was going to say was stopped as he found himself being shoved headfirst into the ground as Avtis spoke nonchalantly, "I see so you wish to learn the sword skill instead of learning to teleport wherever and whenever you want with a single thought and without wasting any mana, do not know what to think of you."

Ryan wanted to curse and scream at Avtis, it was very clear that he would learn what Avtis wanted him to learn and the entire act of giving him a choice was a scam, he never had a choice, to begin with.

"Now I will impart you the skills.", and as those words came to his ears Ryan found himself seeing on the ground but before he could think about how he came to that position from being shoved headfirst into the ground, a series of movements using nodachi suddenly poured into his mind.

The feeling was nowhere comfortable or painless for Ryan, as he felt something drilling in his head and he let heaved a sigh of relief as the process concluded a few seconds after it began.

Ryan's eyes widen momentarily as he was finally able to perceive all the information that had been poured into his mind.

"Fascinating isn't it?"

Those words brought him out of his focused state as Ryan spoke with a nod, "Indeed it is, though I cannot help but feel something is wrong with it."

"Oh, then please explain what is wrong with it, then?"

"Well the sword style seems well and good but it would be too tiring on body so using it for a long period would cause severe problem to the user."

A small clap was heard as Avtis spoke with a drawl, "Excellent, it seems my wisdom is finally rubbing onto you my dear disciple, and you are right this style has that severe flaw with increase in level and efficiency and power of the skill would increase drastically but it would also lead to many unfortunate incidents like your heart giving out while using it."

Ryan frowned as he spoke, "Then this skill is practically useless, even if I do not manage to reach that level I would be incapacitated upon using that skill."

"True, that was why a counter was made to it unfortunately it also had a flaw, the purely defensive style made with no attack whatsoever, and I am going to teach you the skill otherwise known as the 'Yang Sword', after you reach a certain level with the current one, the 'Yin Sword', and then maybe you will be able to use the complete version which is known as the 'Yin-Yang Sword'."

"I see."

"Oh before you go from now on you will not refer me as God or Holiness or something of that manner, I want to call me as Shisou."

Ryan had a look of disbelief as he could not help but question out loud, "Shishou?"

"Yes, why not I was thinking about Sensei for a moment then I thought about Shifu, but 'Shishou' not only sounded better but I am currently more partial to manga than manhua, though in the future it might change along with what you would call me by, but enough of that do you have anything you wish to ask of me."

Ryan frowned as he spoke, "No, at least for now I do not have anything to ask of you."

"I see, the for now since my business with you has concluded you may leave, though a friendly reminder the time is running short, and remember more you make something you might get a surprise gift related to that thing and now shoo ."

***********************

As Ryan recalled the memory of his latest and last meeting he filled a headache, he did not know what to think about his 'Shishou', at best he could describe him as Chaotic, and since that day more and more questions seems to pile up in his head but he was unable to contact him so all he could do was to wait patiently for his 'Shishou' to contact him.

Ryan let out a sigh as he patiently created his cast-iron stove with chimney, as well as a samovar before he began to make a late lunch.

'I think I should make goulash it would go well with the bread we have alongside a cup of hot tea would work wonders.'

Near about two hours later the door of the shelter was open as the group of five trudged while making a strong imitation of snowmen or in their case snowwomen.

From the sound and the snow that was blowing in Ryan knew that the storm was a vicious one, as soon as they stepped inside the house Michalina shouted out, "Close the door bolt it shut."

Jessica with the help of Xuelong managed to close the door shut albeit with difficult courtesy of the howling wind.

"Welcome back, the lunch is ready."

Michalina let out a huff before she spotted the iron stove that would fit in the home of some Victorian age noble as she spoke with a smile, "Hot food."

Ryan gave a small smile as he spoke, "Yes hot food, with hot tea."