Chapter Twenty-Seven: Like Dolphins Can Swim.

“As I told you before, Water is the opposite of Fire.” Rynan and Marc sat in front of the fire, each holding a cup of warm tea.

“But opposites, specifically symmetrical opposites have just as many things in common as they have that are different. Fire Mana is the Mana of Creation. It will strengthen your muscles, increase your stamina, fill an object with energy, or fill the sky with light. Water Mana is the Mana of Entropy, It can dissolve poisons or impurities. It can protect your body from observation and scrutiny. It can absorb all the heat in an object or it can create a field of mist that blocks anything from detecting what is inside.”

She put her hand on her chest. “My pendant is an artifact that blocks skills such as appraisal. It uses a Water Mana spell, embedded into the amulet with runes, and powered by a Mana crystal.” She reached into her dress and removed the necklace and handed the pendant to Marc. He examined it closely and felt the weight in his hand.

“Now, try your appraisal again.”

Marc looked at her and summoned up her status window.

NAME: RYNAN RIVERWALL

AGE:

BASE LEVEL:

RACE:

AFFILIATIONS:

STATUS:

Marc was surprised. He looked down at the necklace in his hands, then back at Rynan.

“Of course, I prefer to use the amulet as it is powered by the Mana Crystal installed in it. The privacy skill is an active skill, so in order to use it I need to consciously activate it. If I am not expecting someone to take a peek, then I might miss the opportunity. Another problem is that it will continuously use Mana while active. If a skill requires a lot of Mana or has a long cooldown, then it can get hard to manage all the time.”

Marc thought of the Inner Fire skill. He wondered if there was an artifact like that.

Rynan smirked, anticipating what he was thinking. Putting that aside, she continued.

“As you know, passive skills are those that draw Mana directly from the environment. They are always active and will not drain your Mana Core. They are also not always tied directly to your elemental affinity. For example, Grenn has a detection skill that warns him of nearby beasts and animals. It’s similar to your map, but far less powerful. He only gets a sense of where things are, and how dangerous they potentially are.”

Marc handed the amulet back and Rynan placed it back around her neck, but left it out of her dress, glinting in the firelight.

“Passive skills can be obtained in a variety of ways. The detection skill is taught as part of Guild training for patrol members. Not every person can learn every skill that way, but some are easier than others. Active skills however are almost always tied to your Mana affinity. Meservi’s Analyze skill for example. This is a skill that is rarely ever held by anyone but an Air Mage, and is rare even amongst them.”

It seemed that the Analyze skill was indeed different from his Appraise skill.

“What is the difference? Do you know?” He asked Kira.

《As far as I can tell, apart from his skill being an active skill requiring Mana to be used to activate it, it seems to be less effective than my capabilities. For example, he must see an object with his eyes to use it.》

“The technique that Grenn used to unlock your Mana is a common way that the Guild uses its trainers to help new members build up abilities and unlock potential. I supposed you wondered why I hadn’t used that earlier when you were trying to unlock your Mana?” She eyed him carefully.

“It… Yes, It had occurred to me. I assume you had your reasons, so I didn’t ask.” He admitted.

“You may not like my reasons. To be honest, I didn’t trust you enough yet. I knew you would unlock tremendous potential, and I wasn’t sure what kind of a person you were. I’m sorry. I just wanted to observe you a bit longer.”

Marc thought back to when he had arrived in the Witch’s Den. He had been very motivated to build up his strength. He wanted to defend himself and become the kind of person he had long given up on in his old life. A person of importance and value.

He wondered if he had changed. Meservi had offered him a chance to go to the city under the protection of the Guild. He would have been able to quickly unlock his Magic and maybe even gained some status and power, and yet he turned it down.

Then he looked at it from Rynan’s perspective. She had already expressed her concern that he might lose himself to the forces around him. That if he kept constantly struggling against the winds that blew around him he would never learn how to stand upright as his own person.

He wasn’t entirely sure he agreed with her viewpoint, but he knew one thing for sure.

“I understand why you did that then. I’m not sure I agree with your reasons.”

She looked at him, a hint of fear in her eyes.

“But I do know that you did it out of concern only for me. And whether I agree with your reasoning or not, I promised to follow your teachings, Teacher.”

Rynan relaxed just a fraction, and her eyes seemed to melt a tiny bit.

“Thank you, Marc.”

“But you are going to teach me now, right?” He asked with a smile.

Rynan laughed.

“Ha! Yes. Of course. That’s what we are doing now.”

She reached out her hands toward Marc, the left-hand palm down and the right palm up. She motioned for him to put his hands forward as well.

“Now, clasp my hands with yours.”

Marc grabbed her hands like they were shaking both hands at the same time. Suddenly she pushed forward and grabbed both of his wrists.

She smiled coyly like this was a high school dance. Marc’s face flushed momentarily, then he calmed down and grabbed Rynan’s wrists in a mirror of her grip.

“Okay, This may feel a bit strange. Just let it happen. Don’t fight it or push back. Yet.” Rynan instructed, a look of concentration on her brow.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

He felt an odd tingling sensation. As though he was in a thunderstorm and lighting was striking the ground around him.

The feeling started to get stronger, then it became a bit painful. His jaw locked as he lost control of the nerves in his neck. A bead of sweat slid down Rynan’s forehead and she focused on her task.

Then his right hand started to go numb. His entire right arm felt as though he had dunked it in a bucket of ice water. Rynan’s left hand was glowing bright blue and the light was moving up his right arm.

“Now! Push back against the cold. Fight it. Push it out of your body!”

The cold creeping up his arms was painful. He felt like his arm was freezing, turning into ice. The cold crept into his body toward his heart.

“Push the cold back, Marc!”

Marc felt the electricity entering his left hand. This hand was also glowing blue, but a lighter shade, a brighter light. The electricity coming into his left hand also hurt, but it felt somehow more benevolent. The electricity was helping him, Pushing against the cruel cold.

He wanted to help the electricity. To guide it to where the ice was and help it push it back. He willed the electricity to move across his heart. It pushed back against the cold like a wave crashing against a beach, then it pushed again. The cold was losing. It was getting pushed back.

He felt the electric shock across his whole body. It felt like a second nervous system for his body. It was strong enough to push the cold out of his body completely. He looked down and the darker blue light had retreated into Rynan’s left hand. Then the light in both of Rynan’s hands faded away and disappeared.

But he still felt the electricity. It zipped around to every part of his body. It no longer hurt at all. It felt great, his whole body felt energized. Then slowly, gradually the feeling began to fade.

He didn’t want it to go. He tried to get it to stay, to keep him energized. He willed it to keep moving and for a moment it sped up again, but as soon as he relaxed it faded back down. Soon it had faded completely.

Marc let out a deep breath.

“Wow. That was… intense.”

ACHIEVEMENT: UNLOCK BASIC WATER MAGIC

SKILL ACQUIRED: PRIVACY*

SKILL ACQUIRED: PROTECTION [1] CON +5, HR+ 0.1/MIN

【* INTERFACE LINKED SKILL】

YOUR INTERFACE HAS LEVELED UP!

INTERFACE [2] LEVEL: 9

《Woohoo!》

Rynan looked at Marc’s huge grin.

“I’m guessing it worked then?”

“I got two skills! And my interface leveled up to 9!” He nearly shouted. It felt like he was speaking louder and he couldn’t control it for some reason.

“Ahh, I guess that Kira must be happy too then.”

《Yesssss! Very happy.》

“I don’t suppose you want to share what skill you got? I’m guessing one was privacy though.”

“Yes. I got Privacy. It’s a passive skill though. I thought it was an active skill.” He gushed.

“Passive? How… Are you sure?”

Marc checked his skill’s details.

SKILL: PRIVACY*

BLOCK INVASIVE ANALYSIS FROM DETERMINING YOUR STATUS, SKILLS, EQUIPMENT OR LOCATION.

EFFECTIVENESS WILL DECREASE WITH DISTANCE TO TARGET.

RANGE: 50 METERS

THIS IS AN INTERFACE-LINKED SKILL. LEVEL UP YOUR INTERFACE TO INCREASE THE EFFECTIVE RANGE.

Marc explained what the skill box said.

“Oh my. That’s insanely powerful. Meservi is going to have a fit.” She said with a sly grin.

“It will block your location too? That might help if someone is trying to assassinate you, but if you need help, it could also hinder people looking to help you. There are also times you will be required to share some information. I don’t think anyone has ever seen a passive privacy skill.” She pondered the situation.

Marc stared at the skill again. He noticed the marker next to the Skill name and focused on it.

DO YOU WISH TO DISABLE PRIVACY? YES/NO

He mentally commanded the skill to disable and the status switched to .

“It looks like I can disable it.”

《With my current level I can control it and even customize it a bit.》

“Customize? A bit?”

《Let me play with it for a while. I might be able to adjust what people appraising you see. This could be very helpful!》

“Hmm. Kira says she might be able to change what people who analyze my status and skill can see.” Marc explained.

“Really? That’s amazing!”

《I know. I am AMAZING!》

“Now she is gloating. She is happy she leveled up too. Even though she didn’t do anything to help.”

《You didn’t explode did you?》

“Huh?” Marc froze.

“Umm Rynan. That wasn’t dangerous was it?”

Rynan looked at him. “Of course it was. I just poured an immense amount of Mana into you. From two different orientations. If the balance was off even a little bit you could have stopped your heart or might have exploded.”

“What the…”

《You are welcome.》

Marc was not sure if either one or both of his companions were messing with him now.

“Rynan, you’re not secretly communicating with Kira right?”

“No, unfortunately not. I wish I could It sounds like an amazing experience. Maybe someday she will have the ability to speak to others besides you.”

《Oh pleasepleasepleaseplease》

Marc thought that this was getting out of hand. He needed to move the subject of conversation.

“I also got another skill called. Protection.”

SKILL: PROTECTION [1]

ACTIVATION: CHANNEL INTERNAL MANA TO CREATE A PHYSICAL SHIELD AROUND YOUR BODY, CONSTITUTION +5, HEALTH RECOVERY + 0.1/MIN

DURATION: 12 MINUTES

CD: 36 MINUTES

“Protection? That’s good. Very good. A protection ability can increase your defense against physical and some magical damage. That’s the ability I was trying to awaken. Try using it.”

Marc thought about it. He had become very used to the Inner Fire skill after using it hundreds of times over the last week. He knew instinctively now how to awaken the Fire Mana and let it awaken the skill. Now he tried to do the same with Water Mana.

Nothing.

“Umm… I’m not sure…” his brow creased with concentration. He just didn’t know what he was supposed to do.

“Try to remember. Remember how it felt to push back against the cold.” Rynan coached.

Marc remembered pushing against the cold in his arm. The pressure coming from his heart to force the cold out of his body.

Slowly he felt a pressure build in his gut, then move up into his chest, and finally out to his arms.

He looked down and saw that his entire body was now covered with a faint blue glow.

“Excellent! Not bad. How long can you keep it up?” She asked, looking impressed.

“Twelve minutes out of an hour.” He said proudly.

Her expression was one of a parent looking at a child using the adult toilet for the first time.

“Good, good. That’s a good start.”

Marc was crestfallen. He had hoped this was an impressive feat. He just got the head part of eating all his peas and carrots without making a mess.

“Ok, you can let it go now,” Rynan said.

“Huh? Aren’t we going to test it out?”

“Test? You want me to test your shield?” Rynan asked with wide eyes.

“Yeah. How do we know if it wor…”

Marc opened his eyes. The world was spinning and his breath had been knocked out of his lungs. He was also upside down.

YOU HAVE TAKEN DAMAGE. -8% Health

After a second he caught his breath. He rolled onto his back and then sat up. He had been knocked across the room and was now sitting by the front door which he apparently had a recent close encounter with.

《Idiot.》

He looked over at Rynan who had an innocent doe expression on her face. Then she smiled an evil grin and lifted her right hand and flexed… her pinky finger.

《You remember that she is stronger than Grenn right?》

“Remind me to save the physical training for Grenn.” He said aloud.

She laughed. “So, how was it?”

“Well, it hurt, thank you very much. But not too badly. Felt like a strong punch I guess. I’m recovering a bit faster. Maybe 5 minutes to get back to 100%.” He reported back.

“That’s good! A hit like that would have left you unconscious for hours when you first got here.”

He thought about that. He did feel a bit more confident, if not necessarily stronger. His durability meant could take a lot more damage at least. When using his skills that is. Armed with these skills and the techniques and knowledge he had gained from training with Grenn he was somewhat confident he could take on the Vorpal Rabbits now.

He grinned and thought to himself. “Be Vewy Vewy quiet.”

《Oh yeah, There’s a good role model. I think I’ll bet on the Rabbits.》