“It took a few moments for you to answer.” Lee Ping hinted. “I won't bother asking what distracted you during Soul Judge, especially when taking into account your achievement, but do take my advice on this. The next time you are under the effect of Soul Judge, seek the memories beyond your current incarnation. When you do, you will discover a boatload of Experience just waiting to help you progress further up the Leveling Ladder.”
With that said, Lee Ping returned to slowly walking towards the still ongoing gunfire, though, in the back of his mind, an inquisitive thought could not help but root itself. A curiosity centered around the fact on just how the girl attained so many SAP’s without involving the Experience of her past incarnations.
Still, as curious as he was about it, it had not distracted him from slowing down even further before actually ceasing all together on one corner of the building he was using to hide his approach.
Once at the corner, half of his head, the half presenting his black eyes, peeked to observe what lay beyond it.
Ugh… Another corner. Stupid building design.
Ignoring the slight annoyance, Lee Ping trekked a few more steps before repeating the same exercise, only this time he was able to directly see the origin of the ongoing conflict or at least part of it.
“Tch… It truly is bad luck on our part.” Lee Ping murmured.
Hannah, who had been following behind the man with the pretty face, stopped just slightly behind Lee Ping when she heard the frustrated tone. Nonetheless, the constant gunfire she heard, plus everything going on, prodded her to see what was happening. So, Hannah stepped forward and beside Lee Ping, only seeing the careful nature of her sole companion, she crouched down before slowly crawling on her knees to see beyond the building's corner.
Naturally, during the brief crawl, she was careful not to press the trigger for the gun in her right hand. Behold, her Summon, on the other hand, received no such consideration as its main body scraped the concrete while its head tentacular limb was exposed to pressure by the weight of Hannah’s upper body.
Nevertheless, since it was sleeping/unconscious, it did not protest the slight abuse.
Regardless of her Summon’s current state, Hannah observed the flashes in the distance, flashes that originated behind covers, yet every time landed on dark red figures before causing those dark red figures to burst into nothingness. How and what kind of nothingness, Hannah could not tell. Perhaps the bullets used were so powerful that those dark red figures with many limbs simply burst apart like flesh being sheared away bit by bit.
Perhaps it was something else entirely.
Regardless, from this distance, Hannah could not tell anything further.
Crouching beside him, Hannah glanced upward at Lee Ping. “What is going on? All I see are some blurry white figures shooting at blurry dark red ones.”
Staring at Hannah’s brown eyes for a moment, Lee Ping responded before returning his gaze to the action. “Focus on your Focus Points. Infuse it into your Flow and guide your Flow to your eyes. After that, try Scrying again. As long as you don't glare too much at that suited man with the glowing staff, and his two companions, you should be fine.”
“Try it.”
Once more, Hannah followed the instructions given to her, and when she did, the previous scene that felt so far away became something as if the action transpired but a few steps before her.
Truly, surprised by what happened, it took Hannah a few moments to understand what was going on despite the clarity with which she was observing things.
Namely, the blurry white figures looked like they belonged to some kind of religious organization with their white uniforms mixed in with silver armor around their vulnerable body parts like the chest. However, the thing that made them religious was the iconography of a circle containing a cross on top of a smaller circle on their uniforms, especially the large ones on their backs.
On the other hand, the blurry dark-red figures turned out to be many limbed arthropod-like creatures, specifically hip-sized ants as they marched out of the subway entrance only to be blasted apart by bullets before eventually turning into black dust particles.
Quickly comparing the sizes, Hannah had to admit that these ants were bigger than Behold used to be, though if height-wise the difference was small, length-wise the same could not be said, even if one outstretched all of Behold’s previous tentacular limbs in one direction. But then, as if desiring to prove to Hannah that there were bigger ones present, a larger specimen of the dark red ants appeared.
It was even darker than the smaller ones, and its chitinous shell demonstrated a markedly improved gloss and thickness. thus thereby explaining the unbothered attitude of the bullets hitting its body. Instead, all the bullets did was make it madder, as it screeched at its numerous attackers, before eventually choosing the closest one and charging at the man. However, due to its size dwarfing the black van she had been in not long ago, the charging attack became that much more menacing.
“Whoo!” Hannah voiced out once her mind caught up to what her new vision was seeing. “That is a big ant.”
“Technically speaking, those are not ants, but ant-shaped Nightmares.” Lee Ping commented as he observed the big ant-like Nightmare almost skewer the Mortal it had charged at. Luckily, the man in a partially armored white uniform knew to dodge aside through a quick jump and roll action before realigning his aim and firing back at his enemy. “Terminids, to be specific. A branch of the Insectoid Nightmares since there are many variants depending on what they had feasted upon during their Spawn stage and which Rift had spawned them in the first place.”
“Soo… ants but not truly ants?” Hannah stated confusingly while watching the very same man with her new sight, before witnessing the partially armored white-uniformed man give up on his current useless attacks and instead choose to step away from the giant bug. Luckily he did, because, not a few moments later, the giant ant-like Nightmare exploded with gruesome showmanship of having green blood splatter everywhere around it, especially the street and buildings near it.
It became so gruesome that Hannah flinched from the sight despite not being anywhere near the explosion of flesh and bile.
As for what killed it?
After recovering from her flinch, it took Hannah but a few seconds to find the perpetrator holding what could only be a mini rocket launcher, or bazookas as Hannah was familiar with from the few documentaries she had watched during History class.
“Something like that.” Lee Ping affirmed after seeing the big one destroyed.
Not hearing any further explanations, Hannah continued observing the fight as the majority of the religious soldiers returned their attention to the smaller hip-sized Nightmares emerging from the subway entrance.
Regardless of the action, after watching for a few moments, Hannah realized something.
“Why did you mention bad luck when all this began? From what I see, the ants stand no chance. Does it have anything to do with the Third Class Emergence you mentioned before?”
----------------------------------------
“Not exactly.” Lee Ping elaborated. “There are three basic attributes determining the Class of an Emergence.
The first attribute is all about the volume of the Shroud Zone, meaning the larger the amount of space a Shroud Zone covers the higher the Class of the Emergence.
The second attribute is all about the Level of the Nightmares caught within the Shroud, hence, the higher the level of the Nightmares, the higher the Emergence Class.
Usually speaking, the first and the second attribute vary a lot, because sometimes a Larger Shroud Zone is needed to contain large numbers of Low-Leveled Nightmares while sometimes a Smaller Shroud Zone is required to contain lower numbers of High-Leveled Nightmares.
As such, to bridge the gap between the first two attributes, the third attribute takes into account the Category for the Nightmares in question. With those three as the basis, the Emergence Class System is created. Starting with Class 1 and ending with Class 5. From Class 1 being the least dangerous to Class 5 becoming a literal Death Zone for anybody below Adept Rank.”
Struck with newfound knowledge, Hannah quickly interjected her companions' words. “What about Third Class? What about us?”
“Depends on the Nightmares and the composition of the Party involved within the Emergence.” Lee Ping answered. “In our case, however, both suck since Terminids belong to the Swarm Category and I… well… I… am terrible with Swarm Zones as my Abilities and Skills are geared for single combat instead of wholesale slaughter.”
Breaking visual contact with the action in the distance, Hannah stared at the man with the pretty face, only the moment she tried, she was privy to the man's facial pores due to the magnification of her improved sight. Quickly canceling her improved sight since it was fairly simple to retrieve the Flow from her brown eyes before actually separating the invested Focus Point from within the Flow.
As a result, Hannah instantly understood that Focus Points were not consumed upon use, instead, they could be repurposed all the time.
Either way, as that slight enlightenment was instantaneous, Hannah had no trouble listening to the next words of the man with the pretty face. “That being the case, a good Party composition would be needed to cover my weakness. However, we have no pre-prepared Party for this event.” Ceasing for a moment, Lee Ping sighed before laying out his true thoughts. “Truthfully, I was thinking of mingling with the Mortals for an easier Clear. Unfortunately, now… after seeing who we are dealing with, even that has become out of the question… I mean, I had a hunch it would be so, but I hoped it would be otherwise.”
Frowning for a second, as a few revelations passed through her mind, Hannah asked for clarifications. “So… The bad luck you mentioned was not just from the Third Class Emergence, and your unpreparedness for it, but also from those men fighting the ants? Why? Is it because you are a criminal? Also… Why did you call them Mortals?”
“Criminal!” Lee Ping repeated with a rather shaper tone, as if somewhat flabbergasted at the pointed accusation. “I am not a criminal.”
“You… work in a place where women are forced to please men through shady contracts by lending money!” Hannah sternly replied, but then, reminded of her current situation, she also arrived at a staggering conclusion. “You… You also force minors… Spirit Minors… No… Is there even a word to describe how you're forcing undeveloped babies into…”
“HOLD ON!” Lee Ping instantly cried out. Perhaps a tad too loud since he immediately scouted left and right to see if anybody had heard him. When he noticed nobody doing so, he sighed and addressed Hannah’s advocated problem. “First… Everything Rose Peach has done so far, it has done above the Law, both with Gaia’s Protectorate and the Local Mortal Government.
Secondly, none of what Rose Peach offers, whether for the employee or the customer, has been done through undermining the Root Principle of Existence. If you don't know about it, it's called Free Will, and all Mortals have Free Will, though somewhat biased and instinctive, with which to choose just how to speed up their Awakening Process.
Thirdly, Gaia’s Veil of Ignorance blurs the lines of Morality. So if you have a problem with that, take it up with Gaia Herself.
Understood!”
Not agreeing, yet neither disagreeing, Hannah and Lee Ping stared at each other for a few moments.
Regardless of the staring contest, the longer it went on, the more Hannah desired to not lose it. As such, she steeled her resolve just like she had done so right before capturing the Monster stalking her Nightmare Instance.
With that being the case, a few more moments passed between Hannah and Lee Ping.
In the end, as difficult as it was, and despite starting to sweat from her current actions, Hannah refused to downgrade her profound opinion as the majority of that opinion lay rooted within her mind, and for quite some time as well. In fact, it had been there ever since she had learned of her mother's sacrifice for her. Only, before this very moment, it had never actually been able to express itself, nor in the same intensity.
In truth, that intensity only grew more and more, and Lee Ping was certain of that fact because, unlike Hannah, he knew what a Contest of Will’s entailed. However, unlike Hannah who was entirely new to it, he had the ability to not be constrained by its side effects. As such, Lee Ping wondered what had truly enabled the young girl the ability to initiate and hold on as long as she had done so far.
It's not an Ability. Lee Ping voiced in his mind. At the same time, since I am still getting that hollow sensation from her, it is not a Skill either... Actually… Considering what she is doing, that hollow sensation can only be a missing Aura.
Yes… No doubt about it.
In the end, after one single moment of consideration, Lee Ping focused his own Aura and unleashed it in such a way that it affected none but the girl in question.
“Ghhhh!”
Sensing the slight resistance occurring, Lee Ping snorted and refused to hold back. “Hmph!”
The result was almost instantaneous, like a sudden mountain manifesting on Hannah, forcing her to drop to the ground and with no way to move any muscle, much less actually stand up. Yet, this crushing pressure came not just from above. No, that was just its strongest direction as the crushing force came from every single direction, at the same time, as if trying to squeeze the very life out of her.
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If that was not enough, the crushing force was inlaid with pride and arrogance that made Hannah realize her own significance in this new world she had found herself in.
Nevertheless, just as Hannah thought everything was over for her, the crushing force vanished, and the man that had made her feel it, broke their eye contact in favor of parsing the ongoing conflict between people and ants.
Still, that did not mean that Lee Ping ignored her. “Remember that sensation. Integrate it and realize that I am but one stage above you, with three more awaiting you before you are even qualified to speak to Gaia about her Rules.”
“That said… I commend you on holding out for as long as you did.” Lee Ping added as an afterthought.
----------------------------------------
Recovering from the sudden introduction of being crushed through nothing, Hannah carefully uprighted herself to her knees before once again drawing on her Focus Point to infuse it into her Flow. After that, she focused that flow on her eyes to improve their sight so she would once again witness the ongoing conflict of guns shooting at hip-sized ants.
Though, during the process, she did notice that she was missing one Health Point and two Stamina Points. At the same time, she realized that barely a few moments passed since she had first placed her sight on the man wearing pieces of silver armor on their torsos.
Still, as warned before, she did avoid looking at the man with the glowing stuff and his two companions.
“Back to what you were asking.” Lee Ping said without any indication of feeling bad about what he had done. “Ignoring your definition of a criminal. The reason we can not interact with those Mortals, bearing the circle/cross/circle banner on their armors, is because they are racist assholes.”
“The moment you and I grace their sight, we will become nothing but practice dummies on which to practice their shooting skills.”
Surprised by the notion, and with a desire to treat the last minute as if it had not happened, Hannah quickly spoke up. “Why?”
“Quite a few reasons.” Lee Ping replied. “The most obvious one would be because we can actually interact with those Mortals. Come, I am sure you have heard tales of Priest exorcizing Demons from people, and whatnot. Right?”
“I did,” Hannah replied with surety, only remembering that tiny fact, and seeing the action beforehand, a frown of mystery appeared on her face. “Mother had hired a few to rid me of my Nightmare problem. Turned out they were just quacks.”
“Perhaps or perhaps not.” Lee Ping added without any fanfare. “More than likely, though, they simply had no jurisdiction to exorcize your Nightmare.” With that said Lee Ping made no notion of explaining further. Instead, he refocused on the Mortals before them. “Those Mortals you see belong to the Moon Order, or Order of the Moon.
I am sure they have a proper Latin designation for themselves, but I never bothered to learn it. Instead, I simply use what everybody else calls them, hence, Moon Order.
By the way, there is a twin for it called the Sun Order or Order of the Sun.
Anyway, the point is this.”
“Remember when I mentioned that, even if a Mortal could smash a building to rubble, he/she/ them would still be considered a Mortal until they ignited their Spark of Life, their Ego?” Nodding, Hannah perked her ears to the topic, but her eyes did not cease watching the battle going on. “Well, due to backdoors existing within Gaia’s Shells, the one you were squeezed out of not long ago, some Mortals have managed to prematurely tap their Souls to create entirely new Paths to Awakening.”
“Try Scrying the man with the glowing staff and his two companions. However, do not try looking deep into them. You should be fine just getting a feel for the energy around them since they are not as sensitive to Scrying as us.”
Hinted at its existence, Hannah gazed at the man with the glowing staff. Though, now that she was taking a closer look, she saw the man wearing silver armor all over his body as if he were a knight of old. His two companions sported a similar armor style, only theirs was much more modernized with their sleek designs.
The armors aside, soon enough, Hannah discovered that strange feeling, and just like the man with the pretty face had pointed out, it was completely different from what she possessed. Only, regardless of the difference in the energetic pattern between her and them, the true distinction between them lay in something else.
“The Veil?”
“Indeed. The Veil is still there.” Lee Ping affirmed. “Unlike the Original Path, The Path of Dreams and Nightmares, theirs does not enlighten them to the Truth of Existence. Not immediately, that is. As a result, these Powered Mortals still remain integrated within the Veil of Ignorance. To a certain degree, at least.
They do so until they reach a definite point on their Path to Awaken completely.
Nonetheless, at that point, and even before that point, the perception of Existence for these Powered Mortals becomes incompatible with ours, thereby resulting in those Powered Mortals not being able to relate with us on the same level existing between you, me, and every other Dreamer.
The same stands for Nightmares, but we can ignore those for now.”
Ceasing his explanation for a moment, Lee Ping watched another of the big ants appear and screech its existence at its enemies. However, unlike the last one, this one actually managed to grab one Mortal with its pincers before separating the upper from the lower half, right at the hip level where the silver torso armor failed to protect its wearer.
A consequence of that, however, was that the ant-like Nightmare got blown to bits, such that its blood and bile painted its nearby surroundings to a degree.
“He… He… He died!” Hannah stuttered out as her improved sight delivered extremely fine details to her attention, like the pained visage on the man’s face, the red blood, and the viscera hanging from the man’s upper body before it too was sent flying from the explosion.
“This is another reason as to why I don't like them.” Lee Ping added. “They are true zealots in their Faith, so they won't hesitate one second to sacrifice themselves for their Creed.”
“Still… There is a reason for that as well. Watch what happens now.”
Mesmerized, though not in a good way, Hannah watched as a few of the men ceased shooting their guns in favor of rushing for the blasted body of their fellow believer. Once they reached the two separated halves, they picked up those two big pieces and rushed them to the silver knight-like man with the glowing staff. Then, in front of him, they laid the two body pieces and brought them as close to each other as possible before quickly leaving both the dead body and the silver knight-like man in favor of shooting more of the hip-sized ants.
Even without seeing it, Hannah subconsciously knew where this was going.
As such, she witnessed the silver knight-like man speak with vigor while holding his silver glowing staff above the bisected man. Though Hannah could not hear any of the words echoing from the man since the distance between them was too far, not to mention the constant gunfire beside him, she did note that each time his lips moved, his staff resonated with the same energetic pattern around the knight-like man. As a result, his staff began emanating a silver radiance around itself, specifically, the crystal at its top. When that silver radiance reached a saturating peak, the knight-like man tapped his staff on the bisected man’s forehead, causing the silver radiance to infuse itself within the bisected man.
A moment later, Hannah witnessed the bisected body twitch as it realigned itself magically. Something similar occurred to all the inner organs, with the intestines being the most clear example.
Then, soon enough, no visible organs remained. Right after that, even the scars of the man once being halved ceased to exist.
Not long later, the man opened his eyes.
----------------------------------------
“They… can resurrect the dead?” Hannah questioned with shock pervading her mind. After all, before Awakening, she had only heard of one individual who had managed to do so, excluding the medical field with their defibrillators, shocking hearts to beat with life once again.
Still, there was a clear difference between a heart beating and a bisected man coming back to life, especially when Hannah witnessed the same man stand up weakly before urgently fishing for something within one of the visible pockets on his pants.
From inside he picked up an elongated tube containing a red liquid before quickly stabbing the same tube into his left shoulder. Moments later, the tube was empty and thrown away. The resurrected man, however, seemed to regain his strength with every second following his resurrection. Nevertheless, it was as if the resurrection had taken more from him than he could recover in a moment's notice, hence why the resurrected man slowly got up and settled himself behind one of the white, silver, and bulky trucks beside the road.
What exactly he did there, Hannah could only postulate, but it was no doubt to rest.
“Not truly resurrected, since the man had not actually died yet.” Lee Ping finally spoke up. “Told you before. It takes a while for a Soul to truly leave Gaia’s Shells after they cease to function. During that brief window, it's possible to use Healing Abilities, or whatever else you use in their place, to fix the Shells back to their prime state before being injured so they can fight right back.
In this case, the Templar Cleric chose to conserve his energy for the long run, as that man won't be the only one nearing the brink of death during this Emergence. As a result, the Healing effect only fixed the heavy injury but did nothing for the missing bodily fluids.
No… For that problem, the Moon Order distributes their disposable minions with Blood Renewing Potions.”
“Either way, I've seen enough.” Lee Ping added before ignoring the ongoing conflict and retreating away from it.
Hannah, surprised by the sudden change, lagged a bit with her actions. Especially, as her improved sight hindered her vision. As such, after quickly returning her Flow to its default state and recovering the invested Focus Point within it, she stood up quickly and chased after the man with the pretty face.
Back beside him, she spoke her mind. “What now? How do we leave this place?”
“Both receive the same answer. Plan B.”
“What is Plan B?”
“If Plan A was to group up with the Mortals in order to cruise through the Clear with ease, then Plan B is to establish our own Party in order to sidestep the Mortals altogether and eliminate at least one Sub-Boss of the Emergence to receive its Clear Reword; Return Token.”
“Return Token?” Hannah repeated once. “So… we can not just stand aside and let those… Powered Mortals do all the work for us?”
“Not this time, I am afraid.” Lee Ping replied before arriving at another corner of the same building and checking if the path was clear for them. “Take a deeper look at the fiery shimmer of the Shroud and tell me what you think of it.”
Since they had stopped for a single moment, Hannah stretched her Insight at the particular phenomena, only it did not take long for her to notice the anomaly. “The silver radiance is similar to that of the… Templar Cleric’s staff.”
“That it is.” Lee Ping confirmed and finally stepped away from the corner in favor of walking in one specific direction not too far from the subway entrance. “Not every Shroud holds the same properties. Some are more benevolent while some are outright malevolent to everything living inside them because a Shroud’s properties depend on the one who called it down.
In our case, the Moon Order has done so, so the Shroud will burn away anything Non-Mortal, or under the protection of the Veil, passing through it. Regardless. The problem is that the Moon Order has the habit of seeking out any Spirits, still within the Shroud, with the intent of eliminating them.
Naturally, this is only after the Emergence is dealt with, but as the Shrouds Callers, they get an inherent advantage in seeking everything hidden within it.
So, while I could hide from them, the same does not apply to you and probably others as well, because we can't be the only ones caught within this Shroud. That is why the Silver Shroud does not actually forbid passage through it and instead burns away all Spirits who have no choice but to try their luck and escape through it.”
“Oh…” Hannah murmured as she followed the man with the pretty face around another corner of the same building before both of them crossed onto the street where numerous cars would hide their visual presence.
“Sucks… But it is what it is.” Lee Ping added nonchalantly as he had experienced that situation once before. “Usually speaking, whoever is unlucky and gets caught within the Silver Shroud tries to go for the Clear Rewards to leave, but some are always left behind, and when they do, it becomes a game of Hide and Seek between Spirits and the Power Mortals of the Moon Order until the Shrouds natural time limit is reached.
As such, very few try to escape through the Silver Shroud. Typically, when they do, it's because they have no choice, or their Abilities favor that option instead of hiding or fighting back, hence why their chances of making it through exist when compared to you.”
“By the way, I am one of those few who could do so as I specialize in the Fox-Kin Racial Ability; Fox Fire.”
In the same instance that he said it, Lee Ping ceased moving forward.
Instead, he crouched down and brought his right hand forward before summoning a misty blue-white flame above his fingers.
Having crouched beside Lee Ping, Hannah was up close to the ghastly blue-white flame as it conveyed not just Heat but an electrifying sensation as well. There was more to it as well, but just as Hannah tried to pry deeper into its mysteries, the flame vanished.
Glaring at the pretty face on a man’s body, Hannah noted a proud yet somewhat frustrated expression.
“Pretty, is it not?” Lee Ping voiced out. “I lucked out with my current Racial Incarnation. Unfortunately, since my previous Incarnation locked me into the Dominion Branch, I had no chance of becoming a full-fledged Fox-Shifter. It's why, after overcoming the Second Tribulation, I focused my Second Stigma on specializing around the Racial Ability; Fox Fire of the Fox-Kin.”
That said, with the flame gone, Lee Ping stood up and continued towards the goal he had in mind.
With no other choice, Hannah followed right after, but part of her mind was stuck with the revelation the man had just thrown out.
“Anyway, the reason I showed you my Fox Fire is to make you familiar with its existence.” Lee Ping explained. “This way, you should not panic once you see it in action. Come… We are almost there.”
“Where are we going?”
“That building over there.”
Staring at the building in question, a perfectly normal four-story office/residential building as far as she could distinguish buildings from their appearance alone. “Why? What is special about it?”
“It's one of the few ones, caught within the Shroud Zone, above the subway network.” Lee Ping answered. “Well… Not perfectly above it, but it's close enough that it should have an emergency exit somewhere within its guts, and if not, it's close enough that I should be able to simply make a door for us, more importantly, without attracting the Terminids to our actions.”
Saying nothing more, Lee Ping led the young Spirit into the said building by directing a sliver of his Power into the locking mechanism for the entrance. Once the large door was unlocked, he went inside and Hannah followed him.
After that, they found the stairs leading to the basement. Nonetheless, they found no special door into the subway tunnel. That did not stop Lee Ping from standing on one particular spot and glaring at a specific wall.
“Ok… This will be our entrance. However, before I make it, we need to find some Party members for our upcoming Raid.”
“How?”
“There is an Application that can be downloaded that takes advantage of the Social functions of your D-Card.”
“Really?”
Lee Ping nodded. “It functions by dispersing a particular signal to every other individual that has the same Application active in order to facilitate contact between individuals stuck within Shroud Zones. It's helpful most of the time, but a consequence is that it also reveals the position of those who activate its search function.”
Notwithstanding the reason for this… Application, it was not hard for Hannah to imagine that it could be misused for evil. Still, after waiting for a few moments, and not seeing any action on the part of the man with a female face, Hannah quizzed him for it. “Are you waiting for something before using it?”
“Oh... It is already doing its job.” Lee Ping said, but seeing the confusion, he elaborated. “I activated right as we entered this building. Only you're probably more curious as to how I did it. Right?” Nodding in return, Hannah listened. “It's simple really… Just as there is a Basic version of the Optical Holographic User Display, there is an advanced version. However, since it requires more Focus and Power Points for its usage, it's not recommended for those lacking either of those Points.
Nonetheless, despite being only an Apprentice, as a Stigma User, I have more Focus Points than the typical Dreamer needs, since that is typically the first roadblock for those desiring the advanced version of the HUD.
Therefore, I don't mind reserving a few for more convenience.”
“What kind of conveniences?” Hannah wondered.
“Ah… Nothing that special.” Lee Ping elaborated smugly. “Just a complete customization of the O-HUD to my own liking, plus the complete integration of my D-Card with my Soul and all of its inherent functions, so I don't have to manually use it, much less carry it around all the time.”