~~~Lee~~~

"I still think..." Bradley stopped moving mid-sentence as a shimmering bubble appeared around him. Everyone else turned to look at Lee, where he stood just inside the doorway.

"What? I'm leveling it," Lee protested, not quite able to hide his grin at the unmoving earth mage.

He couldn't help but be in a good mood after seeing that notification this morning.

Debuff Downgraded: [Critical Soul Wound(Rune Seal)(Shielded)]

-1 Twin-Soul Attribute per 12 days

Stanley was definitely doing something, and whatever it was, it was working! Lee just wished he could figure out what Stanley was doing so he could help. He assumed it had to do with the soul awareness skill, not only because it kept leveling but also because the skill mentioned strengthening the soul... but how the hell was he supposed to actually do it?

The bubble vanished, and Bradley continued speaking as if nothing had happened. "...that Mar is a better choice than..." he trailed off, likely noticing that everyone had abruptly turned their heads between one instant and the next. "Are you even listening, Lee?"

"I am, and I agree with you. Mar with an army of invisible beasts sounds like a great idea," Lee said, then dropped a bigger bubble around the whole group standing outside.

They didn't stop moving this time. So far, the skill could only get close to stopping time inside the bubble if he kept it small. Like the size of a single human. The best part of the skill was that it didn't seem to matter how many or how strong the people inside the effect were. Only the size of the bubble seemed to matter.

Inside the bubble, Lee watched his friends move in slow motion as they noticed the slight shimmer surrounding them. Or maybe they noticed the wall guards moving faster. Either way, Alejandro drew his sword and lashed out at the shimmering wall of the bubble.

Though lashed was a bit of a misnomer when he moved so slowly. Probably about half as slow as normal...

Lee let the sword land on the bubble rather than remove it first. The hit sent a backlash into his brain, and Lee did everything he could to keep the bubble standing despite it. He failed.

Using a rune weapon was cheating.

Then he dropped a speed bubble instead of...

It barely went up, and Alejandro turned into a blur as he attacked again. Another spike of pain stabbed through his head, and Lee wobbled on his feet.

Skill Level Up: Temporal Shift

Temporal Shift has reached the Level 10 Threshold. No Evolution Available.

Temporal Shift Upgraded to Level 10 (Basic)

Worth it. Working on it late into the night and more this morning had earned him some progress. His friends weren't being dicks just because he was messing with their time. He'd asked them to do that because he really needed to level his new legendary skill, and pushing the limits had always been the best way to advance a skill.

Temporal Shift was amazing but limited. Mar's suggestion of trapping an army in slow time was still a distant dream for now. But if he kept leveling the skill...

Lee carefully dropped a bubble around himself, going for precision this time because the bottom of his bubble had to squeeze through the almost non-existent gap between his shoes and the floor. This time he nailed it, bringing the world outside to a halt.

The mana beyond his little bubble got far blurrier and harder to see, but it gave him time to think and to move. Slightly. He could move his arms, but trying to take a step would only speed up the destruction of the circular bubble when he stepped on it.

Any attempt to pass through, from inside or out, placed pressure on the skill, and while Lee could actually step briefly on the inside slope, a rune weapon would just break it instantly.

There was also a bit of a time limit, whichever way he shifted... time. From inside a bubble, it seemed to last ages, but to those outside, it would vary depending on if he sped or slowed himself.

The other limit came from his mana. First, the total amount he could dump at once when casting the spell.

Then there was the option to channel extra mana into the skill, but that came with an exponential increase in cost to keep it going the longer it stayed up. Lee could keep it going longer if he stuck it on someone else, but if he was inside the bubble, then he couldn't get any extra mana from Three.

Three was another issue entirely. That humming web surrounding him wasn't static. The massively complex rune that was Three had a constant flow of energy moving through it, like electricity through a computer. That flowing energy was as deadly to his time bubbles as a rune weapon.

It meant that he had to be very selective with the bubbles inside the building, whereas outside it didn't matter if he slowed or sped a chunk of dirt along with whoever he stuck in a bubble.

Unfortunately, he couldn't place a bubble large enough to include the entire building. Never mind the fort...

Lee canceled the speed bubble around himself and tested his max range again. It covered just over half of Three, which of course meant that it broke instantly. Still, it was slightly better than before.

Not that maximum size mattered right now, since the effect would be negligible, but it was an easy indicator of progress he could compare to.

It wasn't all bad, even at this low level. If he met another D-grade like the last one, he could stick a slow bubble on it and buy them time. As long as the monster wasn't too big, or it didn't have pieces of Three inside it, or if he could nail it just right while inside the building. All good reasons to not only level the skill but also to practice catching moving targets. Especially inside Three.

"But I only have ten soul!" Mar protested. Strangely, she was the loudest voice in opposition to her taking the legendary skill.

Bradley was the most in favor of her taking it. "You're on par with pretty much everyone else, so that doesn't matter."

Sure, he had a bias, but pretty much everyone else was on board with the idea. Especially when Saira rejected it outright.

It was just too hard to pass up the chance of her getting invisible beasts, thanks to the skill sharing in the description. No one knew how the compatibility worked, but still. Invisible monsters on their side!

Lee sped up his own time again and dipped into his soul storage. It was harder to focus when he had to remain standing, and while mana rushed out of him, but it was worth practicing. Not only would it work as a nearly instant mana dump if he needed to use a mana beam, at least from an outside perspective, but it would also give him time to craft runes on the fly mid battle. Not that he wanted to be doing that... but just in case.

Thanks to having liquid mana, and a lot of it at that, Lee suspected he was pushing the skill further than it would otherwise be possible. Especially when the rising mana cost reached levels akin to unleashing an actual mana beam—only from his entire body at once.

He kept it going until he was just shy of mana-burning himself. To test if the upgraded rank made a difference.

Going all out put him at about ten seconds inside the bubble and less than one outside. It would be about the same if he slowed someone else. But in reverse. The size of the bubble still didn't seem to change the cost or duration, just the maximum rate at which he could slow or speed them up.

For now.

Sure, he wouldn't be able to push it right to the limit if he wanted to unleash a mana beam afterward, but if he had at least some time to spare, he could just keep recasting it. That would take more concentration and micromanagement, but he should be able to lock down a small enough target almost indefinitely. Assuming he didn't miss...

It was a tradeoff for his other plans of leveling the plate skill. But come on, this was a legendary skill. Plates were good, but this skill had more promise for when shit really mattered. Plus, he could still create plates inside the static bubbles...

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"Mar," Lee said, interrupting the pointless arguing and holding up the golden shard. "I want you to learn the skill."

"O... okay," Mar stammered. "Um... do you want me to swear an oath first? I was already going to..." She flickered in and out of sight, embarrassed. "It just felt so... awkward..."

Alejandro laughed. "It is a little weird, but the extra mana makes up for it."

"I... never really needed more mana..." Mar said meekly.

"None of you have to swear an oath. I wouldn't even accept them if it wasn't for the mana... so it's up to you, Mar. I trust you, with or without it." He tossed the shard to her.

Mar panicked slightly as she caught the skill, then looked around at everyone while she flickered. "I want to... but... does it have to be in front of everyone?"

Lee smiled, suddenly glad he'd never had to do this from her end. "No. We can do it privately."

They broke up finally, and Bradley followed Mar inside, taking her hand as they followed Lee to his elevator room. Then Mar stammered her way through the oath with a few prompts from Bradley.

You have accepted an Oath of Fealty from Mary Singh.

"Huh..." Mar said. "That's kind of weird."

"What is?"

"If I think about punching you, then I get a feeling about how much it goes against my oath..."

That was only slightly alarming. "Um, do you think about punching me a lot?"

She said nothing and only reached over to Lee and pinched his arm. It was immediately followed by a yelp from her. "Ow!"

"Umm..."

"Sorry!" Mar exclaimed, blushing furiously before she vanished. "I just wanted to see..."

Bradley pinched Lee, too, then grunted. "Huh."

"Seriously, guys?"

"I think it just gives back the pain," Bradley said while rubbing his arm in the same spot he'd pinched Lee. "Though I think it would be worse if we were in danger... or if I really wanted to hurt you... there's this feeling..."

"It's weird," Mar said. "I don't like it. It feels like something's watching me... inside my head."

"I can release you from the..."

"No, it's fine! I'll get used to it!"

"Either way," Lee said. "Let's see what the skill does!"

She didn't look ready, and her soul was nervous as she stared at the shard in her hand. "Are you sure you want me to learn it?"

"Jackson was Alejandro's other choice, but he said it was a long shot, and we don't know if he's coming back after that last invasion... You're it."

Mar stared at it for a long moment. Then her gaze became unfocused, and the shard dissolved into her skin. She finally blinked and looked up. "Um, I think it worked? Now I just need to find a beast."

"Alejandro has lists of lairs and monsters," Bradley said. "We can check it and see if anything sounds more compatible with invisibility. But... please, no snakes?"

"Aww, but I wanted a snake, and I heard there was another giant one out by..."

Mar was just teasing him, but Bradley's abrupt spike of panic was very real when he gasped, "There is!?"

She noticed and abandoned the joke, squeezing his arm. "I was kidding!"

"Oh... okay. I..."

"It's okay," Mar said, rubbing his arm gently. "No snakes. Got it." She hid the smile from her face, but Lee could feel it in her soul when she said, "What about one of those mouth creatures from..."

Bradley groaned. "You hated those just as much as I did."

"Does it say how many beasts you can tame?" Lee asked, trying to diffuse the escalating teenage hormones.

Her eyes unfocused. "No... but I think I'll know more once I get one. I think it will depend on how strong I am versus how strong each bonded beast is..."

Lee left them there, making awkward, lovey eyes at each other, and practiced catching himself in time bubbles as he walked through the garage. The walls Bradley had put up weren't a problem if they got inside, but the pillars were all Three, so he had to avoid those.

He didn't like how his normally overpowered Mana Mind vision went so blurry while in a bubble. It felt like he was blinding himself. Like something might sneak up on him.

The idea was ridiculous. Not only could he still see enough to recognize people, but time practically stopped out there... So yeah, a stupid worry. Still bothered him.

So he went upstairs and used it on the kids during their playtime.

It was good practice for hitting moving targets, and most of them thought it was hilarious to see everyone outside the bubble go zipping around when he slowed them down for a second. Speeding them up didn't really work if they were flying, since they'd just crash into the side of the bubble instantly.

He practiced larger bubbles as well. Big enough to fill the width of the courtyard, if not the length. The time alteration was much less, but the kids still made a game of not crashing into the shimmering walls.

Luckily, the discs still functioned like normal, even inside the bubbles. Unluckily, Lee's soul didn't stop broadcasting while he was inside one. It actually got louder. Probably because he was putting out ten seconds of... himself in only one second.

Lee spent most of the time inside his apartment and used Mana Mind to spot the children. There were only a few crashes because of his meddling... primarily when the frozen rider became abruptly unfrozen and resumed the same speed they'd had before he trapped them. It was fine. The kids were tough.

Gabriel came knocking before they had to go back to class, and he came with the same question he had every day. "Can you teach me yet!?"

"Not yet," Lee said, as usual. "I'm getting closer."

It was good motivation to not focus too exclusively on his fun new toy and keep working on the runes. Aside from the ever present threat of invasion and death, of course.

Alejandro had put out a call for people to bring in any of the older runes they were still carrying around. There were a lot of runes in the fort, and Lee didn't want to take them back at random. Some of his older, less efficient designs had survived longer than they probably should have, thanks to Three recharging any rune that entered the building.

Now it was time to upgrade and consolidate. Some of the old armor had used a rune for each piece of metal, whereas now he could do the same with a single rune. Stuff like that. Plus, some of May's original creations had required extra soul from his Soul Infusion skill to make up for the weaker material... if they upgraded, Lee could use less soul to do the same or more.

He went back downstairs when Wilson finally showed up. The experience with Nicholas the day before had solved the issue of how to have meetings without bombarding others with his soul. Plus, they still needed to talk about how to deal with the mystery oaths... so they met in a doorway.

"As the first issue on the agenda," Wilson said. "I have been working to resolve the situation since you first informed me, and I am pleased to report that I have obtained oaths of fealty from the entire Guard. So we don't have to worry about..."

"Really? What's your buff give them?"

Wilson frowned at the interruption, and his soul felt... prickly. "They are aware of your more... substantial offer. However, I did not wish to press the issue."

"Relax; I was just curious. I'm not complaining... as long as we're not forcing people to swear."

"I agree..." Wilson hesitated, his soul turning nervous. "Unfortunately, while I was bringing things under control, there have been some... departures from the Guard's ranks."

"Departures? Because they didn't want to swear? Or because they couldn't?"

"The more concerning issue," Wilson said. "Is that the departures included two of my bodyguards, both of whom I trusted with my life."

Lee eyed the two bodyguards with Wilson. He was slightly ashamed to realize he didn't remember if they were the same people from before. All he knew was that they were residents. "You think someone got to them? Did they say anything?"

"They left in the night. Last night, I believe, and including them, we have lost eight total from the wall."

"You think all of them had the secret oath?"

"I think it is likely," Wilson said with a nod. "Why else would they flee in the night?"

"But they left. That's good, right?"

"Perhaps."

"You think one of them was the person getting the oaths? Or could they still be in the fort?"

"I would discount nothing. Who knows what magic is out there that we've never heard of?"

"How are the rest of our people? Have you brought up the oaths? Make sure you tell them..."

"I have spread word of the... buff they will receive, and that it is entirely voluntary. I suspect some will come to you, but many more are reluctant. It will be difficult to... claim everyone."

Lee rubbed his face blearily at the thought of trying to convince the masses to do... well, anything. He wouldn't force anyone to swear, but he would accept the oaths if they wanted to. Knowing he could trust the sworn people was a nice perk, but he felt that doubling their mana was the real gain to be had. If they didn't care about the mana, though...

"It's fine. You got the guards covered, and I think most of the hunters have already signed on with me for the extra mana. That leaves us in a great position overall. We just keep an eye out for anything sketchy, and we should be good. Hopefully whoever was doing that left with the others..."

"Yes, Commander. I do believe the future is looking brighter by the day," Wilson said with a smile.

"Um..." Lee shut his mouth. He hadn't told Wilson about the D-grade yet, and he wasn't sure if he should. The guy seemed happy right now, and it wasn't like Wilson was going to be facing off with the next one... so did he need to worry? Probably not. "Yeah. It's good."

"Moving on to the next item on the agenda. Our current tax rate may be insufficient for..."

Lee sighed and settled in for the long haul, trying not to let his mind wander to potential rune combinations while Wilson droned. He resisted the temptation to drop slowing bubbles on Wilson because it would need to include the two guards standing beside his chair. That would make it just weak enough that Wilson would notice... plus it would only make this whole process take longer.

Perhaps a slowing bubble on himself? If he sat on a hover plate and curled up slightly, then he could make the bubble even smaller. And potentially slower. He did need to keep leveling the skill...