Chapter 78
My Day Off
The day off, a tried-and-true tradition of rewarding yourself for a hard day’s worth of work. I still had a personal pass due to my grieving of Mel. I also had a few things to take care of financially, that were easily fixed with a few eSigned documents, and the promise of my first-born son. I kid of course, I still know that I can’t have kids. Although those comments about Goldie having a child, at the end of my last timeline were odd. But that unfortunately has all been reset now. For now, I am starting with a blank slate.
Ping.
I feel the ping of a message. Out of curiosity I check it out, though I wonder who it could be. I did exchange my number with the girls, yes, all twelve of them. My logic was simple, if they needed me, truly needed me, they should all be able to get ahold of me. But now, well they all try to talk to me in different ways.
I am about to put my contact on silence when I realize who this message is from.
Dr. Charleston: I can only imagine what you are going through. Want to talk?
That lighthearted question was all it took for me to drop everything and set up an appointment with Dr. Charleston. Just reading his message helped me to relax mentally. Then I felt, that if I was so relaxed from just reading his message, I could only improve by talking to him more.
Tremble, pulse.
There was a slight tremble in my mind when I thought about Dr. Charleston.
Badump bzz.
I still had a terrible poker face with my wings, but after that mental reaction I knew I had to visit the good doctor. So, I set up an appointment for as soon as possible. I would have to wait but figured that I’d head over just to sit back and think.
I had a lot of thinking to do, and nothing says you have time to think, like waiting in a doctor’s waiting room.
When I got to the parking lot for Dr. Charleston’s office, I noticed an odd vehicle. One vehicle that stood out to my senses. One vehicle out of literally hundreds.
Well, the vehicle itself wasn’t odd, but the fact that I felt I remembered it was. The reason why it stood out to me was simple. I could somehow see my resonance on the vehicle.
The base had also cancelled the use of automated vehicles on post, for the time being while an investigation was done into Mel’s death. This meant there were more vehicles than ever here in the parking lot. But still I saw this one, facing the entrance where it was easiest to get to Dr. Charleston’s office.
I was still in the middle of thinking about the oddly familiar vehicle when I entered the office. Or at least the main building where the office was held. This was a large military building with a lot of offices. This was the place where cadets would go for sick call, or other medical needs. From a military standpoint such a building made sense, as it meant when people called out sick, you only had to check one area to make sure they did in fact go to the doctors.
In my past, or the last loop, I had been denied the ability to see Dr. Charleston due to the fact that I separated from the military, and the academy both. So, while I was still waiting on the separation paperwork to settle in, I could use the good doctor’s services. A fact that I intended to take advantage of.
When I get into the office, I see the secretary and sign in.
“Thank you. Once the Doctor is done with his current session, he will meet you. Till then, please take a seat.”
Once done with that I go to the oddly empty waiting room. At which point I choose a seat and sit down. As I do, I see an oddly familiar women’s hand purse. One that you could use to hold your wallet, reading tablet, and other feminine products.
And before you go assuming my psychic resonance is all over this, realize it is not. I have not apparently touched this bag before. Though again, it looks oddly familiar.
I decide to keep an eye on the bag. This is one of those Zugzwang positions that guys often find themselves in. Oh look, we found an unattended purse. If we go to the purse, we potentially cause the woman who is looking for the purse to think we are either stealing it or invading their privacy.
If we do try to find out who owns the purse, we have in fact invaded the privacy of the individual in question. If we touch it, we could be accused of stealing. If we leave it, then we could potentially be part of making sure the woman in question does not get their hand purse back.
Judging by the empty room, I assume the owner of the hand purse is in the room now with Dr. Charleston. As such, I decide not to touch said purse, and instead will warn the person when they come out. If it is not their purse, then I will have to turn the purse over to the receptionist. At which point it will be on the receptionist to make the call of whether to invade the personal space of a hand purse.
Again, these are complex thoughts and scenarios that women force us to go through on a daily basis. As for now, I am currently at the far end of the room watching the hand purse, but will quickly move closer to the hand purse to provide protection if anyone else comes in. Of course, this means I will not be able to see when anyone leaves the doctor’s office, though I hope my hearing will alert me to their movement.
As it stands, I can only feel one mind inside Dr. Charleston’s office. Despite their wards, I can easily feel one mind, but not the other. I focus my attention but cannot hear any voices coming from the room. This was good, as it meant the privacy wards were in place. I also remember the receptionist saying that the doctor was already in with a patient. Thus, all I could do was sit here and wait, with my newly self-appointed task of guarding the random hand purse.
Not wanting to get too lost in thought, I decide to focus on my next task. Namely what to do with the remaining 72 certs. I could sell them for a high price on the open market. But I instead decide to use my remaining certs to buy down my seventh mage spell. Currently I am at 728 of the required 1,000. While the certs I have are mixed in nature, I do have a good few remaining that are mage certs. And every cert counts. So, I decide to add my mage certs to my mage class.
Focusing on the desired mage certs that are still burning a hole in my pocket, not literally, most clothing now has a built-in pocket polymer that is resistant to the residual residue of certs. I apply the first cert.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
The cert disappears, as I feel a slightly lighter note fill my body. This is odd, as I don’t quite remember this happening last time. But shrugging to myself, I continue to add the certs, focusing more on the process of getting rid of these certs than anything. At about the time I add the sixth cert, I am met with a new message.
Free Attribute Point Awarded.
At that message, I pause.
Badump bzzz.
I pause as I realize I am making a noise with my wings. A noise that causes the receptionist to look over at me.
“Everything alright in there?”
Seeing her reaction to me, I pause, feeling slightly embarrassed. “Oh yeah, just thought of something.”
With that she just looks at me, then after a second of my wings no longer flapping, she turns away. As she does, I can hear her mumbling to herself.
“Military cosplayers, there is always one.”
There was apparently more, but I was too confused to even understand what was happening. I opened my status to see how far I had progressed towards my new spell, when I saw a notation that looked odd.
Progress to Tier 7 Mage Spell 728 of 1,000
I felt a slight twinge of panic as I tried to understand what just happened. I had used six certs. I knew because I was now down to just sixty-six of the things. They had to have gone somewhere, right?
Then I looked, and I saw where they went.
Bzz, scratch, scratch.
My metal wings were scratching against the upholstery, causing even more noise than before. With that the receptionist glowered at me, causing me to stand up. If I couldn’t control my wings, the least I could do was control whether they would bang against the furniture.
“Sorry. Sorry.”
“Just take those damn things off.” The receptionist said.
“I would if I could, trust me.” I say.
There is a tense moment where we are seemingly at an impasse. She being the annoyed receptionist didn’t want me to disrupt her again. Me being the patient, was either unable or unwilling to take off said disturbance. Finally, after a second she just shook her head.
“He used to be one of the good ones. Never knew he had this side to him. Though it does explain a lot.” The receptionist muttered to herself. This time I think she was speaking loud enough so that I would hear.
I felt kind of bad, but there were bigger fish to fry at the moment. I had found where my certs went to.
Name: Kyle Goldman Age: 18 Race: Half-Human* Mage Class Type:
Prime Support (Omega)
Level: 3
Mental Class Type:
Psionic Prime (Omega)
Level: 0
My six certs went to increasing my Mage Class level. I was now on my way to becoming the best support mage possible. Also, since I was an Omega class, it explained how I gained a free attribute point. For the Omega classes all gain an Attribute once every three levels.
With that, I quickly applied all my remaining sixty-six certs to my different classes. I ended up with an odd mix, mainly due to the way my remaining certs were distributed. Since most of the girls wanted to be Mages, I found that I only had a total of 33 Mage certs, well 27 Mage certs after my original expense, and 39 Psychic certs.
This was good, as it meant I had an even split between the two classes. This meant that after my spreading out the certs evenly, I was left with the following breakdown.
Name: Kyle Goldman Age: 18 Race: Half-Human* Mage Class Type:
Prime Support (Omega)
Level: 7
Certs Remaining: 5 (of 8)
Mental Class Type:
Psionic Prime (Omega)
Level: 8
Certs Remaining: 3 (of 9)
I still had the eight certs, while I could apply them, I didn’t see much point at the moment. Especially with how applying my certs ahead of time seemed to have come back to haunt me big time, 728 certs wasted on a spell that I couldn’t get to. Also, the leveling system didn’t seem to make much sense. Unless you thought about it like this, you had to pay for the next level. Thus, trying to go from level seven to level eight meant I would need to spend eight certs. Thus, starting from level zero means I would need to spend one cert to increase my level. That was meant to be the give me level, and the easiest to achieve. Most people would need a total of 45 total certs, before they could gain their first attribute point. Again, this was since most people only had common rarity classes. If others were in my position, they would likely be very mad as they were denied not just one, but two attributes. While I would still gain attributes at level nine for both classes, I already earned four free attribute points.
I earned four attribute points, and my threshold for my attributes had been increased by two. A fact I noticed almost immediately, especially as the bonuses from my titles kicked in. Well only one real bonus, the other was a negative modifier for killing a celestial being. Still, no regrets there. Just more of the same. I did notice that my Attributes had all increased due to the limiters being removed. Before I reached the fifth level in both classes, all my attributes were still capped at 20, well all but Power, but we already knew that. Now that the limiter had been removed, my attributes automatically increased. The only two that weren’t at the new maximum were Strength and Endurance. Endurance had been at the old maximum but stayed when the limiter was removed. Strength was the only one that stayed below my old maximum. This made sense as before the titles my Strength and Endurance were both at 16 and 17 respectively. This meant that even with the minus 10% and plus 25%, Strength only went up by 2, while Endurance went up by three. I assume part of this is likely due to the fact that the system only rounds down, not up. Thus, any remainder would be missing.
Attributes
Free Attribute Points: 4
Physical Attributes Total Strength 18 Dexterity 22 Agility 22 Endurance 20
Mental Attributes Total Perception: 22 Intelligence 22 Willpower 22 Power 45
I could easily apply the free attribute points, but I eventually decide against such an action. For the moment I want to keep them. At this point I realize I could have likely gained a lot more levels had I kept the 588 certs that I had given to the girls. But that is the wrong way to look at things. Right now, I have twelve new friends who can help fight the Prolaxians, and I have even more reason to fight and kill Prolaxians. A win-win I say.
Click.
“Thank you.” A female voice calls out from the opening doctor’s door. With that voice, I take in a deep breath, as I know who that voice belongs to.
Bzzz.
“What? What is that…” The voice of Jess asks, as she turns from the receptionist to see me standing in the lobby, wings buzzing madly.
I really need to work on my wing control.
She stares at me for a second, then dawning recognition fills her face. “Kyle?” She asks.
I stand there and nod.
But then I see something out of the corner of my eye and realize I can hopefully avoid more of this awkward situation. Seeing the object, I have been guarding, from no one, but guarding all the same. I reach forward to the seat and hold up the hand purse.
“Is this yours?”
Seeing the purse, a look of first shock, then embarrassment crosses her face.
“Yes.” She says, as she rushes over to grab the purse. Her motions indicate that she is fiercely protective of the purse, almost like she expects me to do something to it if she doesn’t take it quickly.
Within a second she is over to me and grabbing it from my fingers.
“Thank you.” She says.
Chime.
The door opens, as a new person comes into the office. I cannot see the person from my position in the lobby, but I know they are there.
There is an awkward moment as I turn my attention from the person I can’t see in the doorway, back to Jess.
“I need to see the doctor.” A deep gravelly voice calls out.
The doctor who had been near his office door hears the voice and calls out. “Oh sure, come in, come in.”
That is when I see them, the person that just came in, or rather the it that just came in.
“So, um… would you like to…” Jess begins but is immediately cut off as all hell begins to break loose.