Emilio ended the call with his sister, and decided he might as well finish with the whole plan and call his manager. Amelia was watching the TV in the living room, so he went to the room that was his office as he waited for the woman to pick up the phone.

  “Hello?” He heard a familiar voice on the other side of the phone.

  “Hi Mili, it’s Emilio. I’m sorry for missing the day on Friday,” Emilio apologized.

  “Oh, hi Emi. Did you have to call on Sunday? You could have waited for tomorrow morning,” Milagros complained. “I know I said ‘as soon as you come back’, but I wasn’t considering the weekend.

  “Also, don’t worry about missing the day. Your niece picked up the phone and told me you entered the Monolith. You are not the only one to have missed hours due to this, but I have to admit that I’ve not heard of anyone taking as long as you.”

  “Yeah, sorry about that. My lovely niece decided to run to the Monolith the moment she saw one. I had to go after her to take care of her. What I didn’t know was that we were not going to be together either way. It was an emergency so I couldn’t give you a heads up.”

  “That sounds more like the Emi I know. I was really surprised to know you had entered. Not many people dared to go on the first day.

  “Even I haven’t entered yet, do you think I should? Is there a reason why you took so long to come back?” Milagros asked.

  “You definitely should. If a week passes by, you will miss a huge chance. The best thing you can…” Emilio stopped mid sentence because he received a System message.

  “Emi?” Milagros asked when she noticed that Emilio was interrupted by something.

  “I’m sorry, apparently I can’t talk about the Trial with you,” Emilio explained.

  “Ohh, I know. All the people who took it have the same problem. There is still some information that is public knowledge, but not too much. Can you tell me what took you so long?” Milagros asked.

  “Let’s just say I did quite well in the Trial.”

  “Well, that’s good to know. I am happy that you are doing well,” Milagros started to end the conversation. Also, Emilio realized the hard part was here.

  “Mili, I need to talk about something else with you.”

  “Can I help you with anything?”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Yes. I will try to say all I can with the System limitations. I believe that I will need these new abilities that the System is providing us really soon, so I decided to focus on training them. That means that I don’t think I will be able to keep working in the team,” Emilio spurted the bad news at once. “I can take some unpaid leave for this month and see what happens afterwards. Maybe I can keep working, maybe not. I’m sorry for not giving the proper advanced notice. It all has to do with the integration.”

  Milagros was completely stunned by what she heard. She didn’t know what she was expecting from a call with Emilio on a Sunday, but for sure she didn’t expect him to almost quit on the spot. She took a deep breath and took her spot as the manager she was.

  “First of all Emi, do not apologize about the notice. This is the definition of Force Majeure,” Milagros commented. “I can’t say I was expecting this, but I understand it. If you need some unpaid leave I will approve it, but first take your pending paid leave days. You have almost a month left, don’t you?”

  “Thank you. Just so you know, I think you should focus on your new abilities too after the Trial. I might be able to tell you more if we talk after you take it.” Emilio added, trying to help her out.

  “Now that you say that, I might have another idea. You said that you did well in the Trial. Are you on the road to having 7 Stat points in each Stat by the end of the month?” Milagros asked

  “Do you refer to the …”

  “Ohh, I get why you are calling ‘it’ like that. I might be a bit better than that requisite for the moment” Emilio hinted.

  “Then you might not need to take the leave. On Friday, there was a leadership communication looking for people who fulfill this criteria. I think they are hunting for this new kind of talent. May I know your Stats?” Milagros asked.

  Of course a multinational was looking for these new talents, why wouldn’t they? They might not know what they can do yet, but they could slowly explore it when they have the workforce.

  At the same time, Emilio realized he had way more leverage than he thought he had. In this new world he was a talent. And a pretty big one given what Tuor said. If he played his cards right, he might be getting a better deal than he had planned.

  “I can tell you, but be careful with asking this. I think it will become a taboo question. It is pretty private information. I have 10 in Vitality, the other Stats are 1, 2 and 3,” Emilio revealed, making Milagros gasp and take a few seconds to recover from the shock.

  “You are not going anywhere. I won’t allow it.” She decided, “I will vouch for you with the higher ups. You will not be taking either paid or unpaid leave, just do what you think you should without worrying about your regular work. Just connect yourself tomorrow morning to have a real update about what you are planning to do. After that, you train all you need. I won’t be the manager who lost a big talent for a month's pay.”

  The only reaction Emilio had was to laugh “Then I will have to thank you Boss.”

  “Thanks to you. I will talk with you tomorrow.”

  “See ya. Also, please take the Trial as soon as possible. If you manage to get a good result remember that some tips and bribes go really far,” Emilio hinted cryptically and hung up the phone.

  As soon as he was off the phone he saw Amelia entering the room.

  “If you were going to spy you could have asked for me to stay in the room” Emilio told his niece.

  “Sorry Uncle Emi,” Amelia apologized, but she didn’t look as if she regretted anything. “So… How did it go?”

  “She didn’t accept my time off,” Emilio smiled.

  “Did you quit?” Amelia asked.

  “Nope, apparently Mili will support me in training. I guess being really good in the Trials has some impact in a big company.”

  Thanks for reading!

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