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Travelling Awakened camp

4:30 PM, Tuesday, May 14

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Arlo spent the past few hours wandering around camp, Harper having come back from talking with her mother a while ago and going around camp with him, showing him everything he saw from the sky up close. The small tent at the side of the camp away from everything else being their outhouse, the central fire in the camp that ended up being a real fire but managed via the use of magic, the weapon racks by the sparing area that had numerous different types of weapons on it. Harper showing him around with excitement like she could finally share a special interest of hers with someone else, like she was trying to show off everything they had.

It wouldn’t have taken that long for Harper to show Arlo around, if it wasn't for the fact that he would linger at each place, fascinated by what was going on. As up until now he hadn’t really got to see first-hand how magic items were made or enchanted. Also having passed a section of camp where some of the people that were out in the surroundings had come back with monsters several times bigger than they were, and had started to butcher them. Also having shown him around all the tents where people sleep in, some tents definitely seeming to only fit one of two people and others meant to fit several.

“So why is it that your mom couldn’t come out to meet me again?” Arlo asked curiously, looking over to Harper as they continued to aimlessly wander around camp, looking at whatever happened to be going on.

“Oh, yeah, she’s in a meeting with some of the others of the group to plan out what we want to do with the rifts around here, I mean we saw three on the way back, at least some people in the group should have a look see to see if they can find any goodies in them,” Harper said softly, having to remember for a moment what her mom had said.

“What do you mean goodies?” Arlo asked, not yet knowing the what’s or why of things that are important to Awakened. Although he has a general knowledge, smaller settlements don’t really spend much time on teaching the non-Awakened a lot of magic stuff, figuring if they end up needing to know that’s what Awakened academies are for.

“Oh, even though it’s been just over 100 years since The Outbreak, most of the magic materials, or the good quality ones at least come from inside rifts. So it’s more about planning how to get as much of that good stuff as possible, killing beasts while they do that is just a side positive.” Harper explained with a smile, “Do they not teach you that stuff in settlements?”

“No, not really, I mean like they tell us that Adamantium and Mythril are important to the Awakened and that they value it quite a bit, but don’t really tell us why, more of like a ‘if you end up needing to know we’ll tell you’, kinda thing,” Arlo said casually as they were watching some augurs sparing, having a earth and wind affinity respectively.

“Oh, that’s simple, it’s because those are both materials that don’t just have magic in them, but mana has become a part of their physical construction. Mythril is the most mana-conductive material by far. If materials have too much mana flowing through them then whatever it’s flowing through can start to deteriorate, it’s technical term is mana gouging I think. Where the mana that’s flowing through and the aura it emits dislodges mana that’s in the material causing damage to it’s underlying structure. But Mythril is able to handle whatever flow you throw at it, even from Cataclysm-level core mages. And Adamantium requires a specific process to actually shape where you intentionally fill it with an excessive amount of mana, because otherwise it can handle basically everything else you throw at it,” Harper eagerly explained, all things magic having always fascinated her, including awakened themselves, “We find some every once in a while, but it takes very specific circumstances and a very long time to create.”

“Oh, cool, so it’s that the materials are half made of magic or something,” Arlo asked, intrigued by this information, something he never really knew or thought about before, “So mana gouging, is that why Murphy said that because I had sever mana depletion that my body couldn’t handle that much mana going in at once?”

“More or less, living things aren’t particularly the best conductors of mana, only able to handle a certain amount of flow given a lot of factors, but especially when you don’t have much idle mana left that can help you repair any damage it causes, then you can really be in for some trouble. That’s also why we have cores in the first place.” She explained.

“Oh, good to know,” Arlo said, becoming slightly more worried about whatever happened to his core, he knew he used quite a lot of that energy to teleport himself and his friends to stay alive, but he was only now starting to realise the consequences that he would have to live with now that he did so.

“Hey Arlo, I’ve got something that I need to go and do for a bit, you alright with just being here?” Harper asked, rushing off after she got a nod from Arlo.

Now that Harper was no longer next to him he focussed a bit more on the two people sparing. Able to see a smile on both of their faces as the one with a wind affinity seemed to be using his speed and agility to try and get an edge, occasionally sending small bursts or blades of compressed wind off of the sword that he was using, only to be blocked by blocks of stone that seem to be popping up every time the person with an earth affinity stomps his foot on the ground.

Looking around, Arlo couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching him, but couldn’t find where from. He could feel that something was making it past the pendant that he was wearing, but looking in the direction that thing seemed to be coming from he couldn’t see anyone, but he could feel slight fluctuations in the level of that off feeling from the mana inside him. Looking around a bit more intently, always looking back to the direction it seemed to be coming from before looking elsewhere to try and find whoever it was, until he felt a hand on his shoulder when he was looking away from where it seemed to be coming from, causing him to jump a little as he looked back over to see who it was.

“Interesting,” the person said, seeming to be the same height as him, dressed in grey flowy robes with a belt and some pouches hanging off of it, curly hair that seemed to be a shade between grey and brown covering her head. Looking at the person, they seemed old and young at the same time, thin but strong, looking both intrigued and curious, “interesting little cloak you have there, I see them around kinda often, kinda makes you stick out like a saw thumb, or to me at least. It’s odd how you seemed to be able to sense my perception blocker though, you really had your head on the swivel, I almost thought you could see where I was.”

“Are you Nancy?” Arlo asked, moving back slightly to create a more comfortable distance between her and himself.

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“The one and only,” she replied with a small chuckle, “Zack found me and said to have a look at you, but I’m curious, how could you tell something was off? My attention blockers mimic the signals and mana from your core, you shouldn’t have been able to tell that anything was different.”

“Yeah, about that. When you’ve awakened at like, just past ten this morning and did something in the process that left you in severe mana depletion, and even now still feel the small amount of mana that you have been given as off or weird. Where I’m not even sure how much of a core I still have, feeling any difference in the amount of uncomfortable is noticeable,” Arlo explained awkwardly, feeling like he had to explain himself.

“Hmm, I suppose that makes sense, if you’ve used all your mana and not claimed any since, as well as with something being up with your core, even if it was mimicking the comfortability of owned mana you would feel even minute differences if it hadn’t changed for a long time,” She said as she walked around for a bit stroking her chin as she thought things over, “Well then young man, you are the first person to even partly notice my spells effect on them in over 40 years.”

“What, really?” Arlo said slightly surprised.

“Well it’s the problem that you're having that’s causing it, as soon as you start to take ownership of at least some mana in your body it’s something that you won’t be able to do anymore, although I am slightly intrigued by why your core isn’t taking anything up. Do you want to come to my tent quickly so I can get a better look at it for ya?” Nancy asked, wanting to lend this new member of the group a helping hand.

“Sure,” Arlo said before starting to follow her through the rows of tents until they got to one that although it wasn’t the biggest, still seemed like it would have ample room inside. Stepping in after her Arlo could see stuff that had been partially taken out of bags as well as a collapsible bed chair and table, that all seemed like it would be rather comfortable.

“Do you want to take a seat?” Nancy said, pointing at the chair before starting to draw some mana from her hand, with a seemingly vibrant beige colour to it. Slowly she formed it into a magic circle that went over the floor to the tent, building it up from the inside out, “Just going to do this so the aether outside your body matches what’s inside, so none wants to flow in or out when you take that pendant off, alright?”

“Oh err… sure,” Arlo said, going along with things for now.

“Ok, I’m done, you can take it off now,” Nancy called out softly a few moments later. Taking off the pendant Arlo could feel a spike in the amount of that pressure before it quickly went down to a similar level of pressure on him than with the pendent on, “Ok, now if you’re ok with it I’m going to need to send some of my mana into your body to see what’s going on, alright?”

“Will I feel anything when you do?” Arlo asked, not quite sure what to expect.

“Well it’ll feel foreign, a different kind of foreign to the aether in you now but still kinda familiar,” Nancy explained.

“In that case sure, I guess. But just saying the current level of stuff is still a bit high, so can you try to not add to that too much?” Arlo asked, not wanting to feel more uncomfortable with the pressure than he already was.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, I’ll make sure to let it thin out enough before doing anything,” she said before drawing out a tiny mote of mana from her fingertip causing him to feel a sudden surge of pressure, the mote getting even smaller than it already was as she let it expand in volume, a mist of translucent beige filling the top of the room. As she let it expand the pressure from it reduced to something negligible. After she seemed satisfied with how much it had decompressed she started sending it towards Arlo’s body, Arlo able to feel the slight fluctuations as it entered his body, feeling the fluctuations move around inside him, looking at Nancy he could see how her face turned from one of interested to one of concern with each passing second, “I… have no idea how you’re still alive.”

“What do you mean?” Arlo asked, getting some concern of his own.

“It’s like your core exploded while it was forming, you have even less protection around your soul at the minute than regular people. Your only saving grace is that you still seem to have wisps of core essence floating around in there but it’s incredibly perfuse, the only reason you may have lived through it was whatever amount of mana that was in those remnants came out and was just enough to tide you over until you said you were treated for mana depletion,” Nancy explained, still looking concerned.

“Wait, if it’s that perfuse won’t it leak out without the pendant on?” Arlo questioned in a slight panic, reaching for the pendant.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry, the essence that makes up your core is soul-bound, it can’t leave your body,” She said, trying to calm him down, “what even happened to cause this? You said you did something?”

“Yeah, Zack said I direct-intent cast a spell, we had multiple packs of firehounds pouncing at us and I wanted to escape so hard that when I awakened we did,” Arlo said, still sidestepping the issue slightly.

“I can feel that you’re worried about others finding out what you did, that people finding out is something that you are terrified of, especially in this state. And I get you, If I was only hanging on by a thread and others only offered help because they found out I had a psychic affinity I’d be about as scared. But you can trust me, I won’t tell anyone,” Nancy said trying to reassure him.

“Promise?” Arlo asked.

“Promise,” she said before letting out a small chuckle.

“Well, there’s this thing I do when in overwhelming situations and I don’t have an out, where I basically imagined all the steps needed to teleport me and my friends out of there and down the opposite street,” Arlo admitted awkwardly, not really knowing why he felt he could trust her but just that he could.

Nancy looked at him plainly for a moment as she pieced everything together, “I could tell that you didn’t awaken something common, but because everything was so diffuse I couldn’t really tell any more than that, but to think Zack unknowingly picked up someone that had just awakened a spatial affinity. Man is everyone going to be shocked when they find out.”

“I thought you said you wouldn’t tell anyone?” Arlo said defensively, leaning back as he did so.

“I’m not. But if you can come back from this people will find out eventually, won't they?” She explained, chuckling a bit at how defensive Arlo just got.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘if’?” Arlo asked, that singular word being the most concerning part of this entire conversation to him.

“Exactly what I meant, if. You’ve pretty well bugered your core, it’s down to fate and your own effort to see if you can essentially make one from scratch, that being a feet that I haven’t heard of anyone ever achieving. Your core being something necessary in order to have any effect on anything even remotely far from where your soul is in your body,” She continued, answering his question.

“So do I even have a chance?” Arlo asked, getting kinda down at the news.

“Well,” Nancy said before putting her hand on his shoulder, “ it depends on if you give up on the possibility before even giving yourself a chance, it takes a good few days of trying before you can properly sense the mana around you, and even more before you can actually begin to control it, if you give up before you even get to the point where it could even start to be a problem then there’s no way you’ll be able to recover. Who knows, you might even find that you can do things that others can’t from having to build up from scratch.”

“So… what should I do now?” Arlo said, thinking things over, not really knowing what to do.

“For the rest of the day at least, just try and relax and settle in,” Nancy said with a soft smile, “But if you can’t find anyone to help you tomorrow you can come back here and I can at least show you a direction to head in. You’ve had a long day, and you have a lot of work ahead of you, as long as you’re willing to put in the effort then you’ll at least give yourself the opportunity of developing in the future. Does that sound good?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Arlo said with a smile, glad that he at least has the possibility of being able to become self-reliant in the future.

“Alrighty then,” Nancy said as she took her mana out of Arlo’s body, Arlo able to feel as the two types of foreign feelings slowly faded back to one, the thought crossing his mind that some of his openness just now might have come from anything that her mana did inside him, but he didn’t really mind that much as he was glad that he could at least get some of that weight off of his chest.

Putting the pendant back on he could feel that the small amount of mana that was flowing in and out of his body had stopped, the mild fluctuations in the off feeling at the edge of his skin stopping as soon as he put it on.

“You were a really interesting case, you know?” She said with a soft smile.

“Really?” Arlo asked not knowing what to make of that.

“Yeah, basically everything about what I just saw has never happened before, or at least not that I was there to see, so it was interesting getting a unique view at something I’m so familiar with,” She said, “Anyway, I bet your friends are trying to find where you are, you might want to go and find them.”

“Oh, but thanks for this, and agreeing to help me in the future if I need it,” Arlo said as he approached the entrance to Nancy’s tent, turning back to find her with a soft smile on her face and with a reminiscent look on her face, Arlo leaving the tent a few seconds later.