Aria's driving.

With good reason too. Nora's sucking on a lollipop while Thomas and I are slumped in the shotgun and passenger seats respectively. The Higher Order of Thinking skill causes headache if used for more than four hours.

What isn't mentioned is that the skill is used for deep thought and that using it for fighting will accelerate the effects due to adrenaline.

Or at least, that's what Thomas said, but he also made the skill, so…

Downing some acetaminophen, he tosses the bottle to me. I swallow the small pills dry. I gag a little as one gets stuck in my throat, but my own spit lubricates my throat just fine.

"I have questions," I groan, mainly wanting to use as few words as possible.

"Guhhhh…shoot." Thomas collapses onto the floor.

"Why…was Nora kidnapped?"

Nora perks up at that one. "Oh, that? Yeah, one of us gets attack or kidnapped every three months," she answered with a smile.

"Sometimes four," Aria appends while activating her turn signal.

"Second, what was with the Senator?"

"Politics," Thomas grumbles. "He wants me to sponsor his re-election; however, I can only deny and not kill him."

"Why?"

An eye crawls onto the chair. A glistening shine over a glass eye with circuits replacing the veins and metal, spider-like legs sprouting out of the sides. I can feel the glare it gives me.

"Ever hear of the term, 'Power Vacuum'? Killing the Senator would just replace him with someone worse. It's best to just deal with him this way."

"Can't you just— I don't know… replace him?"

"Can you not infer that I don't want to deal with politics? It's messy, and though I can't escape it in totality, I try my best, okay?"

Silence reigns in the car. All the way back…

————————————————————————————————————

The next day, Thomas quietly opens the door. He looks haggard, more so than the usual. He normally just puts a mask on, but this time, he's visibly tired. He collapses on his armchair.

"Okay," he drawls, "I've managed to convince Alayna to help train your Psychic Attunement, or lack thereof."

"Great."

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He holds up a finger. "Ah, but there's two conditions. Compromises, more like. A solution to a problem that nobody likes. First, you'll need to do it at her…house. Second, you need to advance your rank to D."

"I can probably do those…probably."

"Yeah, I just don't like it. Sending you to the equivalent of a brothel. We can do the rank-up now, though."

So that wasn't really an option.

Now, here I am, in front of the same stern, crow-like, human woman as I fill out the form for a rank-up test. I can feel her staring into the back of my head as I fill out the form, hunched over the table.

This feels like failing a driving exam and having to retake it. The tension in the air is just too much.

I'm led to the same beige bricked room as last time, and, like last time, Emma stands there in wait. However, she now is wearing a remorseful smile.

"Ah," she exclaims softly. "You're back." She walks over with a slight stagger in her gait. Is- Is she wearing sunglasses?

Oh Ruler, she's hungover.

"Are ya ready?" She says while manifesting her old water sword out of thin air. She pauses for a moment, summoning a ball of water before drinking it.

"Aye, aye, Captain," I reply, preparing a special spell for her. She's good with water and fire. I have earth and water. Now, for this plan, I just need to prepare a mental blast, then use active Mana Absorption. I might get Mana Over-saturation, but I just need…eleven minutes to win.

"Go," she commands. She darts forward; I jump to the side. Avoiding the burning steam left in her wake, I prepare the mental blast.

If I were to prepare a spell, but not use it, then it'll still drain my mana pool while keeping the spell in stasis. Of course, this takes a lot of concentration, and if I fail, then mana will flood my body; however, that's a risk I'm willing to take.

All I need to do is wait eleven minutes with my increased Mana Regen, then hit her with the mental blast. Due to her hangover, she'll most likely trip up, then I can hit her with the Mineral-to-Mud and trap her.

This, of course, relies completely on the fact that I have to hold an unstable spell for eleven minutes while dodging her attacks, with an unstable boosted Mana Regen, and hope that this actually works.

She swings down her sword, the liquid blade slashing out like a whip, and cutting through a good chunk of the wall. Smiling at my antics, she decides to ramp things up a little bit.

With flame armor.

It wouldn't stop most physical attacks; especially since they can just go through, and elemental attacks can disrupt the fire. However, for someone that uses their fists to fight? It's a nightmare.

Honestly, this feels like she's just showing off.

How much mana do I have?

[ Magic: 12.57/60 ]

Oh gosh.

[ Through repeated actions skill: Mana Manipulation(Minor, Active) has ranked up to Mana Manipulation(Medium, Active) ]

Oh goody.

[ Through repeated actions skill: Mana Absorption(Minimum, Passive/Active) has ranked up to Mana Absorption(Minor, Passive/Active) ]

Oh wonderful!

[ Mana Regen: 34.3/hr (x1.75) ]

Hmm, so is my passive 1.5 times now?

[ Mana Regen: 34.3/hr (x1.5) ]

Yep. Alright, great. Now, only have to wait eight minutes. Eight out of ten, really, since the first two already regenerated.

[ Mana Regen: 34.3/hr (x1.75) ]

Oops, I shouldn't block this. Emma's throwing a punch at me with her free hand, and I don't want to be punched with flames.

I try to punch her, regardless of flames, but I was met with stiff resistance when she erected an aqueous shield. She thrusts her sword through, creating a cloud of steam, and forcing me to avoid being shafted. Ugh, I'm sweating from all this steam, and it's making my already tight clothes stick to my skin.

[ Magic: 14.57/60 ]

Six minutes.

[ Through repeated actions skill: Mana Manipulation(Minor, Active) has ranked up to Mana Manipulation(Medium, Active)

Neat. Not important right now.

[ Due to training, your Mana Regen has increased/decreased by 0.7 ]

Better.

I don't have a weapon; she does. I'm at a huge disadvantage. It's only a matter of time until she starts getting tired of my dodging and pulls out all the stops.

[ Magic: 16.61/60 ]

Four minutes left. I try and punch the very few chinks in her armor. The flames don't cover her body evenly, though still inflamed, I can attempt to strike those areas.

[ Health: 520/540 ]

[ Effects: Superficial second-degree thermal burn ]

Oh, that's a lot of words. I would process them if it weren't for the fact that the skin on my knuckles hurts. I'm definitely going to get blisters after this.

[ Magic: 18.65/60 ]

Two minutes left, and I'm in an annoying pain. I'm going to stop by my house for some Aloe Vera. I've been through Thomas's stuff, and he doesn't have any.

Because nobody in their family can get burned.

I'll go home before doing whatever I have to do next. Hopefully, it's heading towards Alayna's house for lessons. Either that, or wallowing in sadness and alcohol again.

I'm kidding.

I'm not. I kinda need this to boost my confidence.

[ Magic: 20.69/60 ]

Nice. I can finally finish this.

I unleash the mental blast on her head, alleviating myself of some of my inner demons. It causes her to trip and falter in her movements, giving me enough time to cast my second spell, entrapping her in the brick turned to mud.

With only sixty-nine hundredths of mana left, the spell immediately cancels, stopping Emma in place.

She shuffles around, but the flame armor had baked some mud into bricks around her. Stuck in place, she says, "I yield."

Pumping my fist into the air, I do a little victory dance. I've earned it after everything I've done. Though that smile on Emma's face still worries me slightly.

"You still have some paperwork to fill out," she comments with her sly grin.

I stop dancing. Dammit.