Lance thought as he tried to remember if there was anything else in the System which might boost his abilities—and what those skills actually did.

No, nothing came to mind. All he could really do was examine the effects of investing points into his stats or skills.

He decided to test it out with one of his abilities—he would try Mind Reading for now, since the others couldn't tell if they were being targeted or not and therefore wouldn't react until after he was done anyway. If nothing happened, then there wasn't any point in trying the others.

[Magic increased by 1!]

Lance raised his hand into the air as he thought about what he wanted to do while simultaneously activating the skill. It felt different than when he'd used it before, if only subtly. There was a hint of emotion to the thoughts he was reading that he was fairly sure hadn't been there before.

Alright. That was progress. What about Mana Manipulation? Would that help?

He had five skill points to invest. Should he use them on that?

That brought up another question: Was that a good idea? His current abilities let him spy on people or attack monsters without letting them know and they let him bypass armor—wouldn't increasing both of those be enough for now? They were exceptionally useful skills--would they still work well if he increased Mana Manipulation or would the System try? He could test it out, though—maybe he could increase by one point at a time and see how his skills reacted.

[Mana Manipulation increased by 1!]

With a mental shrug, Lance reached out and pointed his index finger towards Jacob; like the others, his friend's mind was blank but for the sense of confusion which emanated from within it. Was it more responsive than before? He thought it might be, but it was hard to truly tell.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Then, just as he was about to pull his hand away, something else caught his eye. It wasn't so much what he saw as what he felt: a flicker of fear inside Jacob's head, followed quickly after by an instant flash of anger. At the same moment, Grace raised her gun into firing position while Sophie pulled a knife out of her belt in response to whatever she'd seen. Both of them had aimed their weapons directly at him with a single look between them.

Jacob thought.

"Lance!" Grace yelled out loudly. "Get down!"

His eyes snapped open and he turned behind him—he hadn't sensed any sounds of people coming—and then they widened even further when he realized why she had shouted. Two men were racing towards them at full speed—one on each side—while another one was already close behind him and gaining ground fast. They weren't dressed like police officers or anything else he recognized, but they weren't quite monsters either.

A blur of light appeared before him and he jumped backwards; he barely managed to avoid having his foot hit it by a few inches as the attacker came to a stop where he had been standing just moments before, throwing off his balance slightly as Lance fell onto his ass in the dirt next to the building once again. A second later, there was an explosion from behind him, followed by the sound of a body hitting the wall with a dull thud: Sophie, who'd leaped away as the three attackers charged in only to be hit by a Special Ability of some kind. She looked like she was still alive, at least.

"Fuck you guys!" The man who'd thrown himself through the air with the ability—it was hard for Lance to tell since he hadn't gotten a good look at his face—was screaming at them now, holding up a gun which must have been firing something at them—probably bullets—and waving it around wildly. "You can't catch me! Go home!"

"We're not here to fight," Grace said calmly while she lowered her weapon and turned towards Lance instead; he could see that Jacob had his gun loaded and aimed right at them from ten feet away; it seemed like they were going to wait and let whatever happened play out rather than trying anything stupid themselves. Sophie stood on wobbly legs next to him, clutching her stomach where blood dripped between her fingers and onto the ground below.

This was... not a good situation.

Lance thought. If he couldn't detect these people, that probably meant [Mind Attack] wouldn't work in its current state.

But that was as it was now.

[Magic increased by 3!]

[Mana Manipulation increased by 4!]

[Special Ability menu expanded!]