Jonny sat looking at the book but not reading it feeling the air and the people around him as they walked around the buffet. He had a plate of fruit that he was slowly picking at as an excuse to be there and not be bothered.
He was amazed by how fast he had learned over the last 2 days, he could now tell not only when someone was walking behind him, and in what direction they where going, but also what gender they were and what color clothes they were wearing. He was working on making the area wider and figuring out what the people had on there plates as they went by as well. It didn't seam useful but if he could do that then he should be able to tell when someone was holding something deadly behind him.
His phone buzzed surprising him with his timer going off showing him that he only had 2 hours before the 3 guys woke up in the dorms of the collage. Jonny almost felt a little embarrassed about how he spent his time. The mana candles were a good idea, and with them not actually having anything to fight right now getting started on the basics was proving to be more useful than he originally thought.
Closing his book with out putting a book mark in Jonny headed home making sure to drive instead of using his portal. He had made sure not to use them out side of his own home and was planing on that until today where he would open a portal inside the RV so that he didn't have to half the guys walk out of his house when they were supposed to be IN the RV.
Jonny noticed that no one was working across the street today witch was strange it seamed like people had ben there 24/7 until today, but still useful for Jonny.
After going into the main bedroom of the RV he made sure to close all the blinds and sun shaders on all the windows including the windshield. Before opening the portal to the Bunk room he had ben calling the Dorms, seeing them the first time sense Drew had gone in and Jonny had dropped off the other guys so that they could get there full upgrade.
To his surprise the men in the beds weren't the same as the ones he had dropped off. Where the short, red haired Luke had ben was now a taller blond headed man. The tall thick Jason was now much slimmer and shorter more statue of a man with slick silky hair that fell to his shoulders.
Where Micheal had ben a skinny young man with long dark red hair who almost looked like he was made of plastic.
So far Drew looked the same but there was something odd about Bucky when Jonny tried to look at him he couldn't remember any details like there was a fog right where Buck's body should be.
'thats one fucken strange way of looking while the body is being changed.' Jonny thought to himself shaking his head. He hadn't given much thought when Tutorial first told him it would help these guys change there looks, but now it seamed strange to him how much they had changed.
Taking a seat on one of the empty beds Jonny tried to meditate while also thinking about what things about himself he mite change if given the chance. He wondered if it was arrogant or just healthy that he couldn't come up with all that much to change. Not needing to shave anymore because he simply couldn't grow a beard sounded nice but at the same time if he changed his mind latter and wanted one hed be out of luck.
Other then that Jonny had ben blessed with natural good looks and made sure to keep a good work out schedule while eating healthy, so it wasn't like he didn't try to keep himself looking good.
Jonny shrugged off the thoughts and got back to his meditation he didn't get this easily distracted that often be he had to admit he was getting a little antsy waiting for the guys to wake up.
Again there had ben the worry that he had waisted his time while the others slept that he would look like a fool when they woke up to find that all this time he had just fucked around then sat around "meditating" this whole time. When he could have ben learning how to make magic items or to make magic tanks.
He knew he still had some points left over and it had ben increasingly tempting to use them on something showy or flashy, but he already had the points form when he had done those hidden quests. He didn't feel like he had really erned those of corse but he thought it would look impressive to one of these guys who just woke up.
A change in the air made Jonny look up sharply, he had felt something change in the air around Drew and had a sudden strange urge to look at them with manna vision. Cycling though them he saw that Drew was half glowing strange complicated lights of different colors crawling down his body and his head shown with a large single that seamed to be made of other smaller symbols.
Glancing at the others he saw they were more solid giving off a glow he would expect to see on a living person, but again he noticed much smaller this time odd glowing patches on them that he couldn't quite see. For Mike it was on his chest just above his heart, for Jason it was on his left shoulder, and for Luke it was on his forehead. All of these strange shapes seamed to be getting smaller as he watched.
He noticed Luke's change a little just before it became to small to see. Luke's eyes shot open making Jonny jump back.
"the hell are you doin?" Luke asked Jonny "you trying to kiss me or somethin?"
"NO!" Jonny tried not to shout. "i just-"
"whats going on?" Jason asked sitting up.
"Jonny boy here was trying to get sweet with me." Luke said glancing over at Jason then looked confused. "what the hell did you do to yourself?"
Jason looked unfazed. "got sick of blocking a whole hallway by myself."
Luke did a cinda face shrug "you got a point. Was terrible trying to fit in an elevator after you."
Luke finally seamed to see Mike who was still just laying there thinking. "oh god thats what you thought you should look like? Hope we don't need to keep a low profile or anything."
"Coulda ben a lot worse" Jason said. "I asked how far we could take these changes and She said skys the limit. Coulda came back a 6’ hamster if he wanted."
"i was tempted for wolf's ears" Mike muttered finally sitting up and looking around. His eyes had changed to a bright blue and his pupils were slits like a cat.
"fucken hell" Luke muttered his own brown eyes had changed to green.
Mike smiled showing small fangs "like it?"
"jeasuse christ" Luke shook his head "you became a fucken vimpire?"
Mike shrugged. "needed new teeth anyway."
Jonny just sat there waiting for them to get done he was a little surprised as well but had expected that from Mike who it seamed like until they had called him up hasn't left his basement room in a good couple months.
The back and forth between them continued for a little bit seamingly everyone had something to say about the others body choice. Jonny felt a little left out feeling it wasn't right for him to join in when he hadn't changed at all.
They eventually wound down and got quiet as if none of them really knew what to say now.
"so... What have you ben doing while we were out?" Luke finally said looking to him.
"well... not a lot achly." Jonny said then started from the beginning and told them what had happened as best he could, after he was done Mike shook his head.
"i think that achly counts as a lot." he said.
The others nodded Luke seaming to notice how tight his clothes around his arm had become. "I think we need to get some new clothes and cheak to see if anyone has ben missing us."
Jason whos own clothes where now baggy around him nodded.
Mike who also had clothes that used to be for a man twice his wait nodded. "I mean id like to get started reading some of those books but yeah I think we need to go shopping."
Jonny was surprised by that but wasn't going to stop them it would be hard just to walk around with how baggy the clothes on Jason and Mike were. "ok well iv got the portal open and ready to go back to the RV so if we go back there Luke can drive us to the store and get you guys some clothes."
Luke nodded getting up.
"any idea what would happen if you kept the portal open while trying to drive?" Mike asked
"...not sure. Dose it mater?" Jonny asked
"yeah if it terns out the RV movies but the portal does not then it could rip apart the RV or just anker it in place." Mike said seamingly a little exited.
"i... uah.. really?" Jonny asked a little worried
Everyone stared at Mike for a minute he looked away then shrugged. "i mean maybe."
"ok..."jonny said. "well I guess we play it safe and all get in the RV so I can close the portal before we leave?"
Everyone shrugged agreeing it didn't seam worth the risk. They piled out of the portal into the back of the RV with a little difficulty and grabbing at falling clothing.
Luke made his way into the front to drive while everyone els started looking at there phones. Mike sighed "do you guys mind if I go in the back?"
After a brief shake of heads Mike who was the only one of them who wasn't apart of the Casino's business before this headed to the back to call his worried mother.
Jonny let out a breath shaking his head. "if he was only 20 that would be much less uncomfortable."
Jason nodded working on a txt. "What are we supposed to tell people man?"
Jonny's mind went blank for a moment looking at the very different man before him, reising just how big that question was.
"jeez man didn't mean to break you" Jason said glancing up at Jonny's fish impression as he tried to speak.
"sorry... Im just realizing how much is really going on." Jonny said sitting down across from Jason.
"the world is changing" Jason agreed. "We are the first to walk this new crazy path of magic... We need to make it count."
"yeah..." Jonny said getting the feeling that he was talking to some one much smarter then him. Wich was strange considering that what he had said wasn't anything much but the calm serious way he had said it made him feel there was a lot going on inside his head.
Jonny glanced out the window behind him to see how close they where to the Sam's Shop seeing that they weren't headed in the right direction they where headed out of town getting on the highway.
Jonny headed to the front of the RV "where the hell are you taking us man?"
Luke glanced at him "Pallie's Its where we all get our suits boss owns the one in the next town over."
"Suits? is that what you guys really need right now? I thought wed just stop by the Shoppe and you guys could just get some stuff to get by with." Jonny said a little annoyed.
"yeah and we will after we get our new numbers in the system." Luke said. "and stop freaking out its not like we don't have the time, plus the suits are mandatory for our job type so we need to get Micheal set up."
"you guys have to wear suits that scream "tv mob or bad guy mook"?" Jonny asked a little disbelieving.
Luke got a serious look on his face and said in a deeper more authoritative voice "we are Men. In. Black." He grinned "we even get sunglasses and really shitty fake badges. Cops who get called on us just call people crazy and if they do show up we normally keep copies of the book of morman on us."
Jonny shook his head "thats some scary shit man."
Luke had a good laugh. "yeah but thats why I work here man. The people incharge are fucking genuises."
Jonny went back to sit across from Jason and decided to read on the way to the mall he held up his book letting his screen activate over the page a way he worked out to hid his use of the screens in public.
He thought that soon he would need to only work on his meditation on his own time it didn't seam like something that the others would find as useful as making magic weapons.
The drive was mostly calm but at one point Mike started yelling a little bit before getting quieter again. Jonny wondered what Mike was telling his mother and whether or not they needed to stop him from saying to much but what he had ben yelling was along the lines of no I cant tell you and no you wouldn't belive me. So he hoped he wasn't telling her anything big.
A few minutes latter he came out looking annoyed and sat at the table looking a little frazzled.
Jonny wasn't sure to ask or not but luckily they were turning into the off ramp for the mall just ahead. Jonny wondered only just now how many people worked for his uncle and how many of them needed to get suits from this one store and how they payed for all the suits. He also wondered if he asked if he would get any answers.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
After parking they all piled out immediately heading to the sporting goods store, getting some tight work out clothes to put on so the measurements would be less awkward. Even Jonny got a new pair sense Luke was putting it on the "company card".
Pallie's wasn't just a place to buy suits as Jonny had thought it was also a international market selling all kinds of things from across the world.
Mike seamed almost like a kid looking around excitedly pointing out things that he wanted to try, then seamed to notice he was getting odd looks from the others then looked a little ashamed.
"odd place to buy a suit." Jonny said glancing at Luke to see if he was messing with them.
Luke just smiled and headed toward the back oddly there was no suits but bolts of cloth and raw materials with signs in a bunch of different languages telling the prices of custom work. Apparently you just needed to buy the cloth and thread then pay 30 dollars more to get it made up however you liked, including a bulk discount and payment plans.
"Is this really profitable?" Jonny asked in disbelief
"hell if I know I just shop here" Luke said showing a badge to the dark skinned woman in the multicolored traditional dress. She glanced at it then looked back up at Luke. "we need measurements taken as well and 2 new accounts."
"Sure thing" the woman said then called out in a different language to someone in the back.
An old man with dark skin, spots across his bald head, and a very neat very white mustache on his top lip came out glanced at the 4 of them then said something to the woman who responded with a nod.
"Il take the first one for measurements" he said in a thick accent Luke rased a chin and headed back.
"I looked at the books once" Jason said quietly to Jonny. "It terns out there are a lot of people who are willing to pay to get things that achly fit instead of off the rack."
"oh..." Jonny glanced at the woman's traditional clothes
"not just that" jason said "I used to come in here to get my close expanded, and iv seen the back room they don't judge." Jason leaned in to whisper even quieter "they also got a sister store called Sandy's"
Jonny blinked at that giving Jason a saprised look Sandys was the name of one of the costume and fancy underwear stores in the mall, it wasn't exactly a full on sex shop but it was close.
"yeah heard of that one before huh?" Jason asked with a smile.
Jonny smiled back "yeah had a girlfriend big into anime"
"lucky you" Jason said with a cuckle.
Jonny thought that mite be why the woman at the desk was only acting like Mike was cinda off instead of just refusing to talk to him like he thought most people would do.
Luke came back out and Mike went in next getting a disapproving look from the old man on the way back.
Jonny was given the single page of info to fill out. "holy crap and they deliver? I mite be coming here more often" he muttered. Noticing there was lines to fill out what type of clothing you wanted. Jonny was tempted to get some old style magicians clothes but he remembered that he was supposed to be one of the first in a new world not a showman so he just put down the basic 3 peace suits of the others wishing he could at least get some odd colors to throw into it.
Jonny decided that he would just get some odd socks it wasn't much ...hell it was pretty much nothing but still hed know about it. Bing part of a huge underground network of criminals was going to take some getting used to.
Jonny handed the forms back to the woman at the desk who nodded at him before attaching them to clip boards. "hel be with you shortly, if you want we can announce your names when you are ready"
Jonny started to say no then saw her eyes dart to a group of women holding bolts of cloth and waiting nearby. "right of corse."
Jonny moved back seeing that Jason and Luke were on there phones talking quietly. Luke gave him a little wave indicating that he should listen in. With a shrug Jonny decided to look around the store he didn't remember ever bing here before and it wasn't like they didn't have room in the RV.
Jonny rubbed a finger over the golden ring as he looked over ils with strange foods and exotic smells. It was interesting but he didn't really see to much that grabbed his attention. So it was a good thing that his name was called only after a handfull of minutes.
It didn't take long at all the old guy was a pro barely glancing at his measurements before nodding and moving on. Jonny bet he could tell most of his at a glance the measuring tape was just so his customers wouldn't complaint. He was told his suits would be sent to his house tomaro and they could get him one now if he payed the extra. Knowing that it would be tomaro before Drew woke up Jonny said that it would be fine to wait.
Jonny met up with the others seeing how he was in fact the last one to get his measurements taken.
"Well I mean we're already here" Mike was saying a little defensively.
"Yeah but we got bigger fish to fry." Luke was saying "you can buy toys on your own time for now we need to get back and start reading I figured you'd be drooling to get your hands on the stuff."
Mike blinked frouning "yeah... but I thought this was a day off to go shopping and get new shit."
Luke gave him a long frown with Jason glancing between them before Luke finally said. "that was before we got our new orders. Boss wants us to get started ASAP."
"besides this was more a trip to get some clothes that wouldn't fall off when we walk" Jason said noticing Jonny.
Mike looked a little annoyed but nodded "fine. but you guys make it sound like you never get days off."
"Thats because most of the time we don't do shit." Luke said "we're just always ready to go when they need something."
Jason nodded "yeah half the guys seam to forget why there getting payed. Half our job is just being ready when the time comes."
Jonny didn't like the sound of that it made him wonder just how many people were actually working for his uncle and how many he could trust.
They headed back to the RV
"Should we even bother to drive it back?" asked Mike
"Yes" jason said "we don't know how long we will be so no point in risking it getting towed."
"Ok so lets open the portal and go in to get started I mean its not like anyone els needs to be in there." Mike said
"Fuck you" Luke glared at Mike
"Hes got a point" jason said calmly.
"I know he dose." Luke said "thats cinda why im pissed you guys are going to get a head start on me."
"Its only a 20 minute drive" Jonny said "really not that much of a head start man."
"fine you guys go ahead Im going to put it back into the casino it was part of the new instructions from the boss." Luke said. heading up into the RV.
"Don't make any plans to go home just yet." Jason said "We were told to do as much as possible and gather as much intell as we could then report to the on sight manager when he wakes up."
"who?" Jonny asked.
Luke shot him a don't be a dumb ass look. "your uncle."
"ah right." Jonny said wanting to tell Luke that he was pretty sure at this point that Drew was actually the one in charge. He opened the portal in the sealed off back room. "Il set a timer and get you in half an hour. Just to make sure you aren't driving."
Luke glared but nodded as the rest of them walked into the collage workshop.
"ok so there is a book on top of the book cases telling you how to get started and what the other books are... If it helps the first book your supposed to read is about meditating and learning to control mana." Jonny said closing the portal.
Jason and Mike glanced at each other. "and how long is that supposed to take?" Mike asked.
"the book claims between 2 weeks and a year." Jonny said.
"Im not sure that is going to work out for anyone." Mike said.
"The boss is wanting results as fast as possible." Jason agreed.
"well I just spent points on it myself." Jonny said. "one for basic stuff and one for more advanced things."
"Great so how do we get points." Mike muttered
"well I-" jonny started.
"He means how should we go about getting points." jason said. "We learned all about points and how to get them while we were out but the way to get points was left veage. She said that killing things was one way but with the rats gone that seams unlikely."
"yeah..." Jonny said thinking that maybe they could just put there little statues and make some themselves then just kill them.
"Well you did say that dog got big and powerful just form coming in here right?" Mike asked
"yeah..." Jonny said clearly confused.
"Well In that case we should bring in other animals and see if they tern into monsters and get some EXP that way" Mike said.
Little blue boxes appeared before Mike and Jason at the same time that Jonny's phone went off.
" '+' bring different animals into the college then record what happens rewards +1 point per new type of animal. this is an on-going quest."
"Well..." Jonny said looking at the note. "Im not robbing a Zoo so don't ask..."
Mike glanced between Jonny and his pop up. "your screens are app based?"
"well... no but I fused it with a phone so now I can use it like a phone and set the screens how I like" Jonny said. "remember I told you back when you guys first woke up."
"oh... yeah. Sorry there was a lot of things going on in that story." Mike said shaking his head
"Maybe you should write it down." Jason said waving away his own screen "Im sure more people would like to know the story or at least the important info on it."
"trouble is whats important." Jonny muttered shaking his head.
"all of it." Mike said "at least until we can get more information."
Jason seamed to agree.
"OK but we still have half an hour to kill until I need to pick up Luke." Jonny said "so our best bet is for you guys to go ahead and read the first book to see what you want to make your next steps."
Mike frowned but headed over to the nearest book case and grabbed the book off the top. Jason seamed more interested in the odd items on the tables and the little statues inside the book case, but he too took a book and started reading.
Jonny started thinking about where the hell they were going to put these animals if they really did start rounding them up for points, when another golden thread of light shot out from his ring.
"hey guys im going to be back in a minute." Jonny muttered following the golden line.
Mike didn't even look up but Jason frowned as if he wanted to ask but decided not to.
Jonny followed the line out and down a flight of stairs off the main hall leading to what what looked like a hallway filled with empty rooms. The golden line turned into letters "live subject storage"
Well I don't remember being told about this place. jonny thought trying to remember all the places Wallace told him about. Jonny decided Wallace must not have known.
He looked closer at the nearest cell seeing something like a hand scanner on the side with a small book inside a wire basket attached to the wall. Jonny picked it up letting his Phone download it before reading it.
It was instructions on how to use the rooms, they weren't just empty cells they were enchanted to be able to make force fields to keep the animals contained or with some adjusting house multiple animals in the same cell.
There was also a way to adjust things like temperature and lighting inside the cells so that experimentation could be done on the things inside.
It could also make food in the form of cubes, gells, or liquids. All of witch could be adjusted with an additional setting to scan the living thing to find out what its current prime food source would be.
holy fuck. Jonny thought looking at that this thing has everything...
He couldn't help but feel a little pit of unease open in his gut he wasn't sure why exactly, he had just found something that would be super useful and was exactly what he was looking for. Besides there was books upstairs on animals and plant enchanting there should be a place to actually train and practice at it.
Still he couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something. He shrugged it off as best he could playing around with the settings on the cell looking at it through his mana vision to see if he could find out what kind of enchantments had ben put on it.
He was glad he had put a timer on because it seamed like he had just started looking at the control panel before it went off letting him know that he needed to get Luke.
Luke was sitting on the bed looking irritated he jumped up when he saw Jonny. "About fuckin time"
Jonny held up a hand stepping out of the portal "Just another minute I wondered off im going to portal us back to the others."
Luke glared "hurry up then."
Jonny opened the portal back up to the others "by the way did you get a message about a quest to pick up animals?"
"yeah damn near crashed when it popped up. Things are worse then computer adds." Luke said stepping into the workshop.
"Yeah. You can use points to make them less annoying" Jonny said.
"I know" Luke said "it was one of the things Tutorial told me cant wait to get some points to make these things easier to deal with."
"that mite have to wait." Jason said "it looks like we need to spend points into mana manipulation in order to get started any time soon."
"damn" Luke spat "at least this quest is going to let us rack up the points."
"true." Jason said "at this point we need to think up a game plan. I think it would help if we said what powers we were given."
There was a moment of silence as they waited to see who would go first.
"well you all know my power" Jonny said. "elemental solidification. If you want I can tell you some of the things I learned to do with it."
"Tempting." Mike said.
"i think we're good" Luke said then got a smug smile "i got all sorts of things."
Mike narrowed his eyes at Luke. "what exactly dose that mean?"
"mean?" Luke glared at them "It means im a badass."
"he means what did you achly train to do." Jason said calmly proving he had worked with Luke the longest out of them.
"well I can do kung fu shit like from a cartoon nocking guys out in one hit, cutting bricks in half, all that pressure point bullshit, and even lazer beams." Luke said sounding like a child.
"wow" jonny said "sounds like a lot."
Mike kept looking at Luke as if he had something he wanted to say but chose not to.
"I have metal mimicry" Jason said holding up an arm that turned a shiny gray. "i worked on only part of my body being metal, then being able to move while soild, Im planing on keeping that up and working on how to change what kind of metals I can become."
"Nice." Mike said shaking his head "we've got a pretty good party balice going here."
"this isnt a fuckin game" Luke said "and we mite not be working togeither once more people start geting suped up."
"Yeah." Mike said glaring at Luke then seamed to be standing a little to the left of where he was before.
"What power did you get Mike?" Jonny asked glancing at Luke wondering why he was suddenly being such an asshole.
Mike hesitated looking shifty as if hed like nothing more then not to say.
"is it something embarrassing?" Jason asked.
"its a dick power right?" Luke said with a bloody grin "the only thing you got was a bigger prick am I right?"
Blood dribbled out of Luke's mouth and he just now seamed to notice reaching up to wipe his chin he looked shocked then blinking he doubled over collapsing.
Jason moved to him checking to see what was wrong but Jonny's eyes were locked onto Mike who was still glaring down at Luke fists clenched.
"my power was to not to be able to affect anything." Mike said quietly "so the first thing I did was learn how to tern it off. Then I learned how to affect just physical things and only physical things. Meaning you wouldn't even noticed if I walked over and kicked you right in the balls... Until I wanted you to."
Jason shot a glance at Mike then to Jonny who was rooted to the spot Luke's face was slowly swelling new spots appearing on it as time passed.
"Mike... how bad did you hurt him?" Jonny asked gently as if Mike had a loaded gun in his hand.
"I just meant to hit him a little." Mike said "but I got to tell ya iv got a lot of pent up aggression."
"and are you still hitting him?" Jonny asked seeing a couple teeth drop out of Luke's mouth.
"no im letting it effect him slowly, making sure I didn't kill him by chance." Mike said watching Luke coldly.
"would you stop me from healing him?" Jonny asked
"...No." Mike said flatly Jonny wasn't so sure he believed him but being the only one there who had even a little bit of healing talent he got to work nealing down next to Luke and using mana to find the pattern that Lukes body now thought of as its "true shape" and started pouring life mana into it making his body change from the shape of a damaged Luke to a healthy Luke.
Jason watched intently as slowly the damage changed a bruise would fade then another tooth would get nocked out, that tooth grew back, but Lukes eye would tern red with blood. This sickening back and forth lasted for far to long in Jonny's opinion but even a minute was to long to be face to face with a man who would heal and be hurt so quickly. In the end it couldn't have ben more then a few minutes before Luke was back to full health though he just laid there groaning not trying to get up.