"I can't believe you told your aunt you leech off of Ian," Tanner says once we're well into the ruins.

"Telling her that Ian sends me money regularly to ensure I've got enough satisfied her," I say. "And it's much easier to get away with saying than trying to tell her my job without telling her my job."

"Fair point," he says. "Are we going to go do training away from Ali so you can explain the new techniques?"

"Yeah," I answer.

The question is, how willing will he be in regards to actually attempting them?

I lead him to the pond where I gave him his first lesson, and the two of us sit on the edge. We're both wearing jeans, so unless we take off our pants, we aren't putting our legs into the water this time. Our jeans are a little too tight to roll up.

"What are the new training techniques?" Tanner asks now that we're seated.

"You're probably not going to like them," I tell him. "The first one is focusing on an individual mind and attempting to read the thoughts, rather than just sense the emotions."

"That's far more personal than I want to do," he says.

"The second is attempting to manipulate the emotions of something you're sensing the emotions of," I say, and he groans. "These are ways to branch out your ability, and branching out with it is another way to gain power and control with it."

"I know," he lies back, staring up at the sky. "But neither of those are things I want to do. One involves invading someone's personal thoughts, the other involves manipulating their emotions. Both of those are-"

"Things you can also do with animals," I say. "There are fish in the pond, Tanner. You don't have to do it to a person."

"There are rabbits beneath us, too," he informs me. "They've got a burrow that goes up to about five feet from the edge of the pond. Even to an animal, it feels wrong to try those things."

"You can stick with the slower method," I tell him. "And continue to intrude on humans, or you can try building up power faster by using others on things like fish and rabbits."

"I suppose," he sits up, then closes his eyes.

I adjust my position so I can lay stretched out without my feet hanging over into the pond, using my hands as a pillow. Closing my eyes, I listen to the sound of Tanner's breathing, the gentle breeze rustling leaves in the trees, the stream flowing to the edge before splashing into the pond in a small waterfall, and all the other sounds of nature around me.

Well, Tanner's breathing technically doesn't count as one of the sounds of nature, but it's there as well, slow and rhythmic as he focuses his powers. After several minutes, though, I can hear a little bit of aggravation in his breath, short huffs every now and then. He's trying, but failing, and it's annoying him.

Meanwhile, I just enjoy the feel of the warm, late spring morning sun on me and the cool breeze that kisses my skin and ruffles my hair. I could probably strip and just sunbathe, but that would probably bother or distract Tanner. Besides, I'm relaxed like this, and moving at all would break this peaceful and serene feeling I have at the moment. So I'll stay like this for now.

Maybe an hour after Tanner began his attempts, I start to notice an increase in my own aggravation. An increase that's unnatural, because I'm actually relaxed. Opening my eyes, I clear my throat, and Tanner gives me an apologetic look.

"I figured out how to manipulate emotions," he says. "But it seems I can't target anything specifically, it's… anything within a certain distance of me."

"Why the aggravation?" I ask.

"Well," he says. "At first, I was trying to just affect the rabbits under us, I figured they'd be easier than the fish, since their emotions show up more strongly in my mind. After awhile, though, I realized that I wasn't making any progress, so I took a guess that I couldn't just focus on one mind, so I tried to focus on the group of rabbits down there, then later, just pushing the emotion into my range. I forgot you were here, to be honest, or I'd have asked you to leave my range."

"You forgot a mind as strong as mine was here?" I ask.

"You felt extremely content," he tells me. "While somewhat neutral. That softened the presence of your mind because there was nothing intense in your emotions or mental state, and it somehow slipped into the background while I focused. That's… actually new to me, now that I think about it. I've never had a person's mind slip into the background before. Even quiet, passive people tend to remain in the foreground."

"Perhaps it's a sign of you gaining more control," I say. "Which would be a good thing – it means you might be able to suppress stronger minds eventually."

"Maybe," he agrees. "Anyway, as I was doing that, I kept trying to just make everything here hyper. I figured, that would have the most obvious effect in addition to me feeling that in their minds. You know, they'd probably start moving around a lot."

"But that didn't work," I say.

"No," he answers. "I kept getting more aggravated. Just a few minutes ago, though I thought about something. It is something new I'm trying, an aspect of my ability I've never attempted before. What if, at least starting out, I can only influence in others the emotions that I'm already feeling? So if I wanted to make something hyper, I need to be hyper, myself."

"That makes sense," I tell him.

"Yeah," he nods. "I was feeling aggravated more than anything, so I figured I'd try that. It took me a few minutes, but I finally felt the aggravation in everything rising. Then your mind came back into clarity, reminding me that you were here. The way it snapped back into focus, the curiosity and amusement you felt on top of the aggravation… you knew that was me. That the aggravation increase was me using my power, I mean."

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"It was kind of obvious," I tell him. "But I'm probably unique. Most people wouldn't have thought of someone affecting their emotions and mental state."

"How did you notice, then?" He asks.

"I'm always aware of my emotions," I tell him. "And I'm not prone to fits of random aggravation while I'm just relaxing. Your huffs had faded by that point, your breathing returning to the steady rhythm it gets when you're focusing on something, and I'd already let the huffs fade to the background, so they weren't bothering me, anyway."

"So someone who's aware of their emotions would probably notice?" He asks.

"Yeah," I tell him. "And being aware of your own emotions at all times isn't that easy for normal people. We aren't empaths like you, we don't sense the minds of others and have to keep our own separate from them. So it's unlikely you'd be noticed by very many people if you were manipulating their emotions."

"I don't want to manipulate peoples' emotions," he tells me. "It's essentially mind control."

"Yeah, I know," I tell him. "Don't mind me, Tanner. Just keep practicing."

"I'm not going to practice now that I remember you're here," he stands. "I'll move so that you're-"

"No," I sit up. "Sit back down, Tanner. I'll move out of your range. I'm guessing you did it with a limited distance?"

"Five feet," he nods. "My minimum."

"What's your current maximum?" I ask. "I haven't inquired about if it's increased or not since you started training."

"It's increased by about three feet," he answers.

"A ten percent increase in just a couple of weeks," I nod. "That sounds a little more than normal, but not by much. According to Ian, the others took about a month to do a ten percent increase, then it slowed drastically from there. So the theory that you're a little better than them and learn a little faster holds merit."

I can just imagine if he'd been training this from a young age. It's not public information yet, but it's been determined that at around seventeen years of age or so, a Sigil-Bearer starts to slow down heavily in how much they can increase their abilities. There's always a sharp spike at the beginning of training, but starting around nine or ten, there's also a small boost to the increases. It's not much, and it does fade after several years, before the drop at around seventeen.

However, everyone still has their own natural affinities for it. If Tanner's able to do a ten percent increase in half the time when he's eighteen, then if he'd begun training when he was little? When he was five?

He would have probably had the ability to influence a city by now. It's extremely possible he'd be on the level of an Immortal Sigil by now had he started when he was young.

Tanner's potential is immense. He's definitely the strongest empath on Earth, excluding the Sigil Gods, who are empaths only when they want to be. It's a good thing he's not a villain, then. Well, it's only a good thing because we're friends. If we'd never met, then I wouldn't care. One of the Sigil Gods would have dealt with him if he were a villain who'd been training his power since he was little.

"I'll let you get back to your training," I pick up my backpack and sling it onto one shoulder as I stand. "I'll go over onto the truck."

"The truck?" He asks.

I point at a box truck on the road, rusted-out and abandoned. While it wasn't damaged directly during the World Revolt, it was abandoned a few years later when two of the tires blew and the engine failed due to the owner's stupidity. But it wasn't exactly their fault – they were trying to find a place to live after the disasters.

Due to all of the problems that arose as a result of the World Revolt, they weren't able to properly care for the box truck. Many people ended up without cars because things such as gas became too expensive and repairing them wasn't something just anyone could do with the limited supplies. Even now, many people don't have cars, but travel via carpool scenarios such as buses.

I think only around ten percent of Frendok's adults have cars. With the way they're rebuilding the town, though, that's not a problem. All of the new construction is planned so that it doesn't take more than fifteen to twenty minutes to walk to the store. Assuming someone is walking at a reasonable pace and not a stupidly slow one, anyway.

Before the World Revolt, nations such as the US, built in an era of vehicles, were designed around driving to work or the store. Now, it's designed around being able to walk or bike there. Once the population booms again, that will most likely change, but for now, it's like this.

It's for the better, to be honest. It's healthier for the planet, even with all new cars made being electric. That doesn't mean relics like this truck don't still exist, especially as some people siphon out gas, but the oil industry has basically died.

"Let me know when you're ready for other training," I tell Tanner. "Or lunch. Whichever comes first."

"Alright," he says.

I head over to the truck and climb onto the hood of it, then onto the roof of the cab, before finally onto the roof of the truck. Pulling off my backpack, I open up the front pocket and pull out the mini broom I keep inside just for things like this.

Pulling my bag back on, this time on both shoulders, I sweep off the dust, dirt, pollen, and leaves that have gathered up here. Once it's cleaned to my satisfaction, I brush off the broom, then return it to my backpack, which I set down. Now that the roof's cleaned, I strip off my clothes and fold up my pants, setting them down, then folding up my shirt and setting that down on top of my pants. My underwear, socks, belt, weapons, and everything else sit beside my bag, and I lie down on the truck, using my shirt and pants as a pillow, my hands beneath my head as well.

The metal is warm from the sun, but not enough to be uncomfortable. The breeze is nice, too. Closing my eyes, I feel myself relaxing. However, I keep alert as well. Even when I'm relaxed, I'm able to remain alert and aware of my surroundings.

I trained myself for this, and Jay helped me out a little, then Ali, later on. Being able to remain alert even while relaxed is vital to being able to notice when something's off, to reacting the moment there's danger.

Thankfully, there's no danger to us right now. As Tanner trains over by the pond, I'm able to relax without detecting any problems. Whatever Ian did, it probably bought plenty of time and hindered the Klen's plans, delaying things.

Even if he couldn't fully stop them due to restrictions or deal with Wyatt because of the bastard's powers.

Surprising me, Tanner doesn't call for me until almost noon, giving himself more than three hours of training this ability he hates so much of. It's not unusual for him to train for an hour at a time, but more than three in one sitting?

I guess he's realized that he needs to try even harder if he wants to master it and hopefully find a way to shut it off. Perhaps realizing that my mind faded to the background, which has never happened before despite me often going into this calm, relaxed state around him while he trains, helped? It showed him that it's possible for the mind of a person to not push at his.

I dress and pull on my backpack, then jump off the truck and approach Tanner.

"I'm hungry," he tells me. "I'll still work on focusing on specific minds while around others, since that's safe to do, but I'll only do the new thing in a place like this."

"Alright," I say. "Is your empathic influence on a different range than your empathy? Or the same? Can you adjust the range to be different?"

Tanner's expression at my last question tells me he hadn't thought about that. I hadn't until right before I asked it, either.

"I'm going to try that out next time," he says. "Let's eat, then head over to Ali's. I want to do some more martial arts training. Please don't make me use a gun, though."

He's picking up on martial arts much more easily than using a gun.

"You're comparing yourself to someone who's trained with guns for two years and someone who's trained with them for six," I clap him on the back. "You're actually doing good for your experience level. Come on, let's catch a few rabbits, there are plenty around that'll make for a good lunch."