~~~Lee~~~

Gabriel Morales may Adapt to Runic Class Requirements: [Liquid Mana Core] [Liquid Mana Channels]

Gabriel Morales has [Child] Trait. Acceptance and Adaptation Pending on Guardian Approval.

Lee watched Gabriel as the boy vibrated nearly out of his seat, then followed his pleading gaze to the two people who had the final say in his life.

Maria and Alejandro shared another silent but outwardly neutral look between them. Meanwhile, their souls told an entirely different story, and Lee could only imagine what this moment must be like for them.

From the first time he'd met them, at the beginning of the end of the world, he had seen no hesitation from either of them in using or embracing their new abilities. Until now.

From what Lee could feel coming from their souls, he thought he understood the hesitation. They had fought for and secured their place in this violent and dangerous world. A terrifying world where death and the destruction of all they held dear lurked around every corner.

They didn't want that life for their innocent little boy. Not any of it.

Unfortunately, he was already in it. There was no escaping from this war. No avoiding it. There were no innocent bystanders left. Lee wasn't drafting their baby into the war; he was only giving him the tools to better survive what was sure to come.

Alejandro finally turned to Lee. "His affinity is very high. Did anyone else match that?"

"You can't choose someone else!" Gabriel whispered in wide-eyed horror. "Please pick me!"

"Relax," Lee said with what he hoped was a comforting smile. It turned slightly sheepish when he added, "I actually forgot to check anyone else after the anubians..."

"Oh?" Alejandro tilted his head. "How did they do?"

"Affinity was low, but they couldn't learn it, regardless. No liquid mana... and no adaptable trait."

"Says he adapt," Maria chimed in, nervous energy churning through her. "What mean?"

"The class requires liquid mana," Lee said. "He has to become like me... mana-wise, at least." He could feel the concern radiating from Maria and added, "It might hurt." Even just gaining the class knowledge had hurt like a... Lee wasn't sure how bad it would be to gain a new mana pool and mana channels.

"I don't mind!" Gabriel jumped in quickly, probably worried his parents might call the whole thing off.

"Does it say how much it will cost?" Lee asked. "How much of his adaptability?" It was important. If Gabriel ever decided he didn't like the runic class, he would likely have to spend the same amount to switch back to any other class.

"Fifteen percent."

"That's not too..." Lee frowned. Eighty-five percent affinity. "I want to check something. Alejandro, do you want to be my apprentice?"

"What!?" Gabriel immediately protested, while Lee got a new notification.

Alejandro Morales is not eligible to be an Apprentice.

"I can't," Alejandro said, answering the question before Lee could ask. "Anyone with an apprentice is locked out of becoming one themselves."

"Oh." That meant Maria was out as well. Which left... "Anita, do you want to become my apprentice?"

You have requested Anita Morales to become your Apprentice.

Anita Morales's Runic Class Affinity: 35%

Anita Morales does not meet the Runic Class Requirements: [Liquid Mana Core] [Liquid Mana Channels]

Anita Morales may Adapt to Runic Class Requirements: [Liquid Mana Core] [Liquid Mana Channels]

Anita Morales has [Child] Trait. Acceptance and Adaptation Pending on Guardian Approval.

"Nooo!" Anita wailed immediately, while Gabriel looked like he wanted to do the same. "I don't wanna!"

Anita Morales has rejected your Apprenticeship request. Refusal Pending on Guardian Approval.

That was an interesting and somewhat bleak revelation—that she didn't technically get a say, though it was her affinity that drew most of Lee's attention. He sent a questioning look in Alejandro's direction.

"The same, fifteen percent adaptation," Alejandro murmured.

Meanwhile, while glaring at Lee and Alejandro, Maria moved to comfort her children, one of whom was now crying and the other who looked like he was about to start.

Maria Morales has rejected Anita Morales Apprenticeship request.

Lee barely noticed the notification as he stared back at Alejandro, a familiar chill creeping through him as their gazes simultaneously swung to the distraught Gabriel. If they discounted the cost of adapting to liquid mana, then Gabriel very likely had a full one-hundred percent affinity to the runic class.

While his thoughts churned with guilt over what was almost certainly his fault, Lee tried to ease the boy's mind. "You're already in, Gabriel. I was just checking her affinity."

"I... I am?" The poor kid had actually thought Lee was seriously trying to replace him. Then the boy looked at his father. "Is that true? Will you say yes?"

It was Alejandro's turn to look awkward. "I don't actually have the final say..."

The mother got to decide... Which kind of sucked for all the fathers out there, though Lee thought it sounded fair. Women had to do the lion's share when it came to actually creating a child.

All eyes shifted to Maria, who was busy comforting Anita in Spanish.

"Mama?" Gabriel's voice trembled. "Can I be a runic?"

She looked at him with glistening eyes and pulled him into her embrace with Anita. There she spoke softly to him, still in Spanish.

Lee followed along as best he could, once again reconsidering his choice not to learn the Myriad Tongues skill. Like so many others, he'd opted not to spend one of his limited non-class skill slots on the less than necessary translation magic.

Sure, he had a spare slot, and he would probably get more at the next grade, but... what if he needed that one slot? What if a skill showed up that was perfect and he couldn't learn it? It was tempting, but ultimately not worth the risk. Especially when considering that she was only speaking Spanish, a human language that he could learn with some effort. Not like the anubian’s language...

Another issue along that line was that Z had divulged they couldn't actually count on getting more non-class skill slots. Every race had their own rate of growth, with some getting more every grade while others only got a handful. Ever. There was no way to know if humans were among the lucky ones. Not until someone reached the next grade and found out.

Lee resolved, yet again, to put in more effort toward learning her language the old-fashioned way as he listened to Maria talk to her children. He’d been working at it and had learned more since they met, but barely enough to follow along. He got a few words here and there, enough to know that she was warning him about how it would hurt and how much she didn't want to do that to him.

Despite the warnings, Gabriel never wavered in his desire, so after another look and a nod of acceptance from his father, Maria agreed.

Maria Morales has accepted Gabriel Morales Apprenticeship request.

"Ouch," Gabriel immediately cried out as pain flared high in his soul. Then it got so much worse. "Ouch! Mama! Ow, ow, ow..."

What felt like far too much time later, he finally and mercifully slipped into unconsciousness.

"I'm so sorry," Lee whispered into the fresh silence, his eyes closed and feeling like a terrible person for what he'd inflicted on the boy. Even if it wasn't his intention. The system should have just knocked him out. Why would it make him suffer like that?

Alejandro was already at his wife's side the instant Gabriel's cries started, and he must have recognized the pulsing flash of her healing magic. "Is he okay?"

"Sí," Maria said, pulling Gabriel's limp form into her arms while a different and arguably far worse pain screamed from her soul.

"I'm sorry," Lee said again, not willing to open his eyes for fear of seeing the expression on Maria's face. Not that it mattered. Mana Mind showed him everything, anyway. Including what was happening inside Gabriel's body.

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It was a mix of fascinating and horrifying, as the boy's core pulsed and deepened. It didn't get bigger, only deeper... somehow. Meanwhile, every mana channel inside him did the same. From the tiny vein-like threads to the thick lines running directly from his core.

Watching it happen gave Lee a strange sense of déjà vu, as if he'd seen this very thing happen before. Which he probably had. Most likely when he'd first touched the source... or rather, when Stanley had. Since that had to be when he'd gained his own liquid mana...

The strangest part was that Gabriel's body was rapidly increasing in mana density, but it wasn't coming from outside of him. The mana filling his flesh came from his core—far more of it than Lee could originally sense within. Which meant it was coming from something else—something deeper. Maybe his soul? Or wherever it was that a human's adaptable trait resided?

"It's not your fault," Alejandro said, breaking Lee from his speculations.

"But it is," Lee said, still without opening his eyes. "If he hadn't been in the room with me when I made Three... this wouldn't be happening."

Alejandro shrugged. "Maybe, but don't you see that it's better this way?"

Lee opened his eyes. "What?"

"He was always going to get a class, but I'd rather he have your class than one that would send him into..." Alejandro did a good job keeping the horror of what he was imagining from his voice, but his soul betrayed him as he said, "Into the fighting."

That was a fair point, and one he'd heard before. Though it helped to hear it again. A little.

"Your class is powerful," Alejandro continued. "We all know that. But it's also something that he can do best from right here, inside Three. And I can't imagine a safer place for him to be."

"I felt his pain," Lee said. "It hurt..." He glanced between the three pairs of eyes watching him and couldn't bring himself to tell them it was likely the worst pain the boy had ever known. Pain akin to Lee's worst mana burn during the hidden invasion. Then he remembered the events leading to the soul-link and how everyone here had felt his pain—so, second worst. Both of which were still Lee's fault.

Alejandro smiled sadly. "I get hurt every day, Lee. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but usually less, thanks to the armor you gave me. Far better for Gabriel to hurt a little today than to have to go out there."

It wasn't a little hurt, but... "I guess."

"How long it take?" Maria asked, still holding the sleeping boy.

"I think it's almost over," Lee murmured while he watched the changes wind down. It looked strange. Gabriel now stood out as far brighter than anyone else, not counting Lee himself. In fact, Lee's own body and mana still far outshone the boy's, which was good because Lee had evolved away from even having mana channels... after he accidentally destroyed them.

Despite the process appearing complete, Gabriel didn't wake up, and Maria didn't try to make him. Instead, she carried him to bed, while Alejandro helped by dealing with Anita, who was feeling very left out by all the attention her brother was getting.

Lee followed along while they read a story to the one awake child, then lingered outside the kid's room after Anita finally drifted off. "I'd like to stay here," Lee said, to the questioning looks from the parents. "I want to be here when he wakes up. If he has questions, or if... well, just in case."

Liquid mana was... volatile, to say the least, and Gabriel was still a child, one who had just been given the keys to what could be a very deadly weapon. Especially if used wrong. Or right, depending on how you looked at it. Lee's memories of his own mistakes and mana burning were a little fresh right now, and he really didn't want Gabriel to follow him down that route.

Alejandro smiled at him, while Maria pulled him straight into a hug. "Gracias, Lee. Eres un buen hombre."

"What she said," Alejandro added, clapping him on the back before looking regretfully toward the front door. "Seriously. I have to get back out there, but I'll feel better knowing you're here with him. So thanks." He got his own hug from Maria, along with a quick peck, before heading back out into the night.

Much of the hustle and bustle of the fort calmed down at night, but not all of it. People slept less these days, with even six hours considered excessive. Despite that, not everyone wanted to hunt at night. Barely anyone, in fact.

Nocturnal predators had been a thing before the system, and they were still a thing now. Only ramped up. A lot. E-grade humans could see better in the dark than before, but the monsters who claimed the night were no joke. It was a small comfort to see by moonlight or even starlight when you knew that every patch of deeper shadow may now literally hide a monster from your worst nightmares.

So Lee sat outside Gabriel's room and watched through Mana Mind as the hunting teams trickled home one by one. Many came back with wounded among them, with some even carrying their fellows. Which meant almost every team passed through Saira's grove upon returning.

She was still the best healer anyone had seen, either here or among the various settlements out there. Unfortunately for all the people who tried to lure her into their teams, she almost never left the fort anymore. Between her healing and the fact she single-handedly grew the entire fort's non-meat food supply, she was far too valuable to risk running around out there.

That was Lee's opinion, at least, and if it hadn't been for the garage underneath his building, he would have hollowed out the courtyard space for her tree. Not that she would have necessarily agreed with that. Because no one told her what to do.

Not if they wanted to live a long and happy life.

Lee had asked a few days ago about a man he'd seen strung up from her tree. He'd been alive, but definitely suffering with the half-dozen vines impaling his flesh. It turned out he'd gotten a little handsy during his healing.

"I don't mind them looking," Saira had told him. "I am beautiful, and it is only natural to appreciate beauty." She had punctuated the statement with a languid stretch that did wild things to Lee's heart rate and left his face feeling hot.

Her smile afterward didn't help either. Then the smile shifted, and Lee saw once again that primal creature from nature's deepest, darkest corner looking out of her eyes. "But touching me without permission, well..." She blinked, and then she was only herself again. "Don't worry, I won't kill him. He's an idiot that only needs a reminder about proper behavior."

She'd sidled up close after that, circling close behind him without ever quite touching him. She carried with her a scent of flowers and herbs, with a deeper undertone of rich, damp soil, and her breath was hot on his neck as she whispered, "But you, Lee, you are welcome anytime."

He'd watched her depart back to her tree without turning around and with a feeling that maybe she was into him...

Maybe.

There was no way to know for sure. She was probably just being friendly. And after watching her use the last man who made unwanted advances as a health battery all day, he'd decided to err on the side of caution.

Lee pushed thoughts of the past away as he watched her heal each returning team here in the present. Her and her anubian apprentice. Because even with the potions, there weren't enough healers to go around.

Maria was doing her part on that front.

Her own apprentice came back with one of those teams, and they still made a stop at Saira's tree like all the others. Probably because one of their members was missing a hand. After which, the young woman split off to head for Maria's apartment. Whereupon Lee got to observe while Maria continued their nightly human anatomy lessons.

Lee had volunteered in the early days, but now the woman was getting more hands-on experience in the field. For probably obvious reasons, tonight's lesson focused on the human forearm, particularly on reattaching all the pieces correctly should someone lose a hand. Maria insisted, and had successfully shown before, that it was completely possible to fix that type of injury. So long as you knew what you were doing.

Luckily, her apprentice already spoke Spanish, so neither of them had to waste a skill slot. Also lucky, Lee could butt in occasionally and work on his own Spanish skills in the process. He would have volunteered to lose a hand for his interruptions, but that wasn't something he could do anymore. Not with his runed bones.

The apprentice eventually left, Alejandro finally returned, and the couple went to sleep sometime after midnight. Or so Lee guessed. He didn’t have a clock.

Lee stayed awake and worked on his runes. He could get a nap later if he needed to. At least, that was his intention. Somewhere along the way, he must have dozed off while sitting in the hallway.

He should have stayed standing.

Because he awoke abruptly to a violent surge of mana nearby.

Liquid mana.

He knew it was a failed rune before he was even fully awake. Mana Mind, probably. A rune very much like so many he had made before. One that was about to explode.

Lee didn't wait for that to happen.

It wasn't his rune. So he couldn't simply take it back. It was crafted from someone else's soul. Gabriel's soul.

But it was still mostly mana, and Mana Mind gave him power over mana... so Lee went after that part of it. Which was the actual dangerous bit.

He instantly latched on and tried to drag the violently erupting mana away from the two nearby children.

It didn't work like he’d hoped. Liquid mana was not the same. It was magnitudes beyond what he was used to controlling with Mana Mind. He couldn't stop it all—not fast enough.

Lee begged for help from the only one who might save them in time. Three!

They had milliseconds. Not even enough time for a coherent thought. But his intent or desire must have been enough because Three acted in the same instant that the liquid mana exploded with a building-shaking bang.

Not in the expanding cloud of shrapnel it normally would have, but in a cloud of tiny streamers that avoided any human obstructions on direct lines into the walls, ceiling, and floor of the children's bedroom.

Lee had barely stood up halfway from the floor when Maria landed on the wall in front of him and rebounded off, directly through the suddenly open door into the kid's room.

"It's..." Alejandro followed a heartbeat behind her, a runed knife bared in one hand. "...okay," Lee finished, alone in the empty hallway.

He went through the door after the anxious parents while sending a thought of thanks Three's way. Both for how it opened doors for them and for grabbing the mana from the failing rune. He hadn't known Three could do that, but he should have.

If Three could recharge runes that only entered the building, there was no reason it couldn't do the opposite and take mana away. Well, maybe not from one of Lee's runes, but a leaking one? Hell, the building could probably shut down any and all external mana usage within its bounds...

The rest of Lee's attention went to the attempted rune from his new apprentice. It hadn't been a simple one. Lee hadn't even recognized it... His very first rune, and Gabriel went big. On the one hand, at least he was ready and willing to get started. On the other hand, "What the fuck were you thinking!?"

For once, Maria didn't scold him for his language. She only held Anita in her arms and joined Lee in staring down at the wide-eyed Gabriel, where he stood frozen with a hand hovering over his shattered nightstand.

Maria didn't need to scold him, and Lee regretted his outburst almost immediately. Because Gabriel was already terrified. He knew exactly what had almost happened. He'd felt the pure, raw power that he almost unleashed on himself and his sister.

Still, Lee quashed his regret. This was serious. Deadly serious.

Of course, it was partially his fault. He should have talked to Gabriel before they agreed to the apprenticeship. He should have told him not to try anything without getting permission first. Gabriel was a little kid and he'd just woken up with an amazing new ability that he'd been dying to try for ages now. Why the hell wouldn’t he try it out immediately!?

"Gabriel..." Lee took a calming breath as tears welled and then spilled down the boy's cheeks but kept his tone firm. "The first rule is that you do not use any of your new abilities without my direct supervision and permission. Understood?"

"Y—yes," Gabriel sobbed.

"Second rule..." Lee sighed. "Start small. What the hell were you even trying to make?"

"I..." Gabriel scrubbed a pajama sleeve across his eyes, then looked at the floor and said in a barely audible whisper, "I wanted to make the table walk."