"Mr. Robert?" A man in a suit asked. He had a pin on his lapel that marked him as a member of the ATA.
"Yes, that's me."
Robert stood up, checking both sides to make sure he was alone in the hallway. He was. This early in the morning, before the Sun even painted the horizon dark orange, the building was empty but for them. To be fair, he knew the building was rather empty but he was trying to see if the... liminal guest was around in real life too.
But if his newly acquired power was what he thought it was, he wouldn't be around in real life that much either. Only one percent of the time. That thought made Robert let out a self-derisive snort.
"Is anything the matter?"
"No, forgive me. I just had a rough day."
"You're welcome. Now, please. This way. Let's start your consultation."
Robert was led to an office that resembled a psychiatrist doctor's room. A comfortable recliner, a grand chair, and a stack of scrolls along with a few books on the coffee table between the two pieces of furniture. The consultant gestured to the recliner and sat on the chair. Robert took his spot but didn't lean. He sat with his back a little too straight, his body a little too tense, his mind a little too frayed.
"Do you want something to drink?" The consultant asked.
"Do you have something for jittery nerves?" Robert candidly replied.
"Indeed we do. How does infused goldenmary tea sound?"
Robert had never heard of the expensive-sounding tea. "Sure."
"This tea is one of my favorites. It has a relaxing effect that's hard to reproduce."
The consultant hovered his hand over a crystal slab on the coffee table, and a steaming mug of tea appeared out of nowhere. The scent was divine and Robert's mouth started to salivate.
"Please, feel at home," the consultant said with a very friendly but still business-like tone.
The cup had a transparent golden liquid inside. He couldn't see any impurities floating around the tea. Robert nodded and sipped the tea. It was hot but not burning. The smell and taste reminded him of... wild flowers, honey, nutmeg, cinnamon, and... chocolate? He wasn't sure of the last one.
As the warmth spread on its way down to his stomach, Robert felt his tense muscles let go and relax. The feeling was so good a tear escaped his eye. Robert downed the whole cup and leaned on the recliner. He felt like being hugged by his mother after coming back from an afternoon outside playing in the snow.
Then he remembered where he was and his predicament. Robert sprung back to a sitting position. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.
"Don't worry. You reacted better than most to the effects of goldenmary tea. Now, let's start. I assume you have a rudimentary knowledge of affinities and techniques, correct?"
"I do," Robert said.
It was part of basic education, after all. He wasn't a sloppy student who paid zero attention to his classes. Somewhere in a different dimension, a prisoner in an alien mine sneezed.
"Great," he took one of the scrolls. It was made of white paper wrapped around an ornate wood roller. "Let's start with the Life affinity, the most common among your three. This is the Mending Pulse spell, the most basic healing technique. It provides minor healing, the quality of it depending on your mastery of it."
Healing had a quality that could range from minimal, a stopgap first-aid measure to stop bleeding and not much more, to supreme, able to restore lost body parts and regenerate a body back to its prime. The higher the quality, the more expensive the healing was, both in terms of money and ether cost to the healer. Higher quality healing also was of a higher rarity and more difficult to access.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"But it starts at minimal."
He handed the scroll to Robert, "Surely does. Glad you understand. But it is a way to start." He took another scroll. "This is the vitae infusion tempering technique. You will practice this at dawn and dusk, to temper your body."
A question lingered in the air. Robert nodded. "I know of body tempering techniques. They are exercises to infuse the body with the energies or elements of one's affinities."
"Correct. We seem to have an honor's student here," the consultant joked to ease the tension. "Vitae infusion will make your body heal faster, and easier to heal. You'll also age slower. Given your power's nature..."
"It would be a good thing, since I'd spend ninety-nine percent of it in a liminal void." Robert winced as he remembered the encounter he had. Compared to some of his rambunctious characters, MIckey Mouse was a guardian angel.
Robert noticed the radical gap in behavior and demeanor between the consultant and the broker. Was it intentional? A way to manipulate people?
"It was your choice," the consultant said. "And you already merged the power into your soul. I highly doubt a Prime with these affinities would grant an useless or detrimental power, though it can happen. That's why I picked vitae infusion for you. Now, onto the basic time spells. Minor haste and minor slow. These spells are two facets of time dilation. One slightly dilates time for you or your allies, and the other contracts time around your enemies. Be warned that they don't interact well. If a hastened person gets into melee range of a slowed person, only the strongest spell will remain."
"I got it. If there's more allies than enemies, use slow on the enemies, otherwise, use haste."
"In a nutshell. Now, the only tempering technique I found for the time affinity comes from Asia. Chronal shearing involves using haste and slow on different parts of your body." The consultant said with a cringe.
"Is it supposed to be painful?" Robert asked. Tempering techniques usually were, at least, the most powerful. They damaged the body to allow it to be reconstructed stronger.
"Very. At least, practicing both tempering techniques will balance each other out."
Robert took the scrolls with reverence. He glanced at the table and only saw the book. "What about my third affinity?"
"Unfortunately, void spells, techniques, and tempering manuals are unavailable. They go beyond the scope of these initial consultations. Void Archhumans are very rare and very seclusive. Last couple times training aids about this affinity went up for sale, they fetched prices above ten million dollars and ended up as flukes. I recommend not letting anyone learn you have a void affinity. The ATA, of course, is bound to utmost secrecy regarding our clients."
Silence seized the air. In this world of Archhumans, monsters, passages, and magical technology, people's lives were worth little. An Archhuman with a dangerous power would be hunted down, experimented upon, or even killed before they could become a danger.
"Finally," the consultant raised the book. "This is the Qigong martial arts. It will help you focus on your Life affinity, give you means of self-defense, and meditate.
"I recommend you to focus on the healer/support niche. Just the spells you received can make teams fight to have you join them. But beware of those that are too eager to get you. The fact you have valuable affinities doesn't mean you will be safe from those who yearn to gain power at any cost."
"Got it."
"I suggest you take it slow, use the money from the sale of your other vestige sparingly, get a cheap gym membership, and work on basic mastery of what you have here," the consultant waved his hands at the learning materials in Robert's hand. "After you feel comfortable using your healing spell, you can try to find a team to delve in a passage."
Robert pulled a big gulp of air and breathed heavily. He had nowhere to go and nothing to his name except for these scrolls and the book. Not even a bag or backpack to carry them.
"Is there somewhere nearby where I can buy some supplies?"
*
*
Robert paid five hundred dollars to buy a backpack. It was made of Gallivant Goat leather, and the shopkeeper guaranteed it to be water and dust proof, resistant to slash and piercing, and comfortable to use. But it was just a leather backpack. Hells, he would take one made out of synthetic cloth or even non-fabrics, but around the ATA headquarters, no such goods could be found. Every shop around the marble square catered to rich Archs to whom five hundred dollars was pocket change.
Robert paid with his new account. The insurance company had frozen his other bank accounts but hadn't put a lien on his identity so opening a new account was as easy as accessing the bank's page and typing his personal information. With his precious learning materials safely inside the bag, he remembered to buy one more thing. A second watch. The one he had was perfectly fine but he needed to perform an experiment.
He needed to determine whether the liminal void he was slated to pass 99% of his life inside was the same pocket dimension or if it changed every time he entered it. He also needed to test the passage of time. Thinking better, he bought a third timekeeping crystal with a leather strap. One to keep away from his person, another to drop in the liminal void.
Six hundred dollars poorer, Robert made his way out of the posh district. He could afford to book a hotel room for longer if he went outside. Just a mile or two away, several districts, including ones considered slums, were accessible.
He crossed the same gate he used to enter, the guard just waving him past. They were more concerned with undesirables getting in than people leaving.