Jacob first brought the others into the now seemingly deserted city to let them finish off some stone hands as long as they managed to gather some essence they can use that to form their core.
Jacob wanted to lead the current duo with a different mindset as he felt that during his journey with the fiends he did not really take in their input and they merely followed him due to his strength so as soon as they had a bit of power they used it to betray Jacob, so Jacob wanted to go a different path this time mostly because he wanted to properly advance some of the skills much smoothly during the period with them and partially to lower the sting of betrayal and even if he did enjoy the killing of the kobolds and floaters in the end Jacob was still human and desire companionship. He did not want to venture through the entire tutorial alone so he would build a proper relationship with these two.
Hence Jacob adopted a different methodology this time and only gave Brian and Riley advice on how to handle the stone hands and he promised to step in if they were really in trouble. Even if Jacob showed how he would handle the stone hands that would now help the 2 currently Jobless individual even his first kill was stat boosted by a Job.
He let the both of them take the lead with 1 silver bear claw in each hand, with the bear claws they should be able to easily cut the hands. Jacob followed close behind keep himself on alert, the two ahead of him had a plan. There will be one focused on dodging and another focused on dealing enough damage to make it fatal for the stone hands, the one in the lead will keep their senses on high alert and keeping their feet light. The one behind would immediately pounce forward once they saw a hand reached out. So Brian and Riley agreed that being the physically stronger of the two Brian would act as bait for now and once Riley got enough essence to crunch in to a core they would take a break and then switch their roles allowing Riley to fulfill it better.
With Brian in the lead Riley following behind and Jacob standing further away in the middle of the street the duo began moving with Jacob a distance away. The first stone hand popped up as swift as a striking snake, Brian despite being so brawny was not as swift as he wanted to be was struck hard in his right shoulder causing him to fly away into the middle of the street. A shout of anguish accompanied the flying body as Brian crashed hard into stone, it would seem Jacob was only able to handle the stone hands easily was due to having his Job first. However Riley able to see her chance struck out with both hands bringing the 2 silver claws down hard into the out stretched hand, given how sharp the claws were the stone hand easily separated into 3 pieces, this time Jacob was able to see silvery white substance flowing into Riley and assimilating itself into Rileys’ body.
A look of comfort and peace appeared on Rileys’ face as the essence entered, letting her bask in the first feeling of essence. Jacob rushed to check on Brian as he laid there groaning in pain, Jacob saw Brian holding grasping his right arm tightly Jacobs lip was upturned as he saw the scene. Jacob was unable to see the exact situation of Brians’ arm however what he could see was not good as purple black bruising could be seen even on the uncovered parts and some part of the flesh seems twisted.
‘Holding on to his arm would only make it worse but this is a good time for me to try and learn how to use blessing’ Jacob knelt beside Brian on the side of the injured right hand, stretched forth his right hand and said
“Hold still Brian I might be able to do something to help with your pain. Please bear with me”
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Jacob felt the essence coursing within himself and tried directing it around his body, he was able to achieve whatever he wanted to do as long as the essence flowed within. When he willed the essence to concentrate in his brain he felt the utmost clarity as if he could solve any problems he faced it felt like his thought process was accelerated however he could feel a constantly growing throbbing pain amidst the clarity so he quickly withdrew the concentration of essence from his brain. It would be useful for immediate problem solving or when his body got tougher he would be able to channel it longer.
Jacob moved onto the next step after testing a few different enhancements to different body parts not just his brain but as soon as he willed the essence outside it started dissipating. Riley moved towards the two as her high came to an end.
“Whats going on? Is you arm gonna be alright?” She asked
“DOES IT LOOK LIKE ITS ALRIGHT!? ITS LIKE MY BALLS WERE LOCATED ON MY SHOULDER AND SMASHED REPEATEDLY!!” Brian shouted with some left field description of his pain.
“ For fucks sake Michael if you can’t do it just let me finish off some stone hands you mentioned your ability to recover grew after getting a Job. At least I can distract myself from this pain.” Brian bemoaned, Jacob gave a smooth reply not letting the additional from Brian get to him as this time he tried condensing the essence into an orb.
“Give me one minute if I can’t do it then I’ll help you finish up some stone hands” As he finished saying it the essence that was condensed into an orb slowly flowed out of his outstretched hand. It managed to exist outside long enough for the essence to start assimilating into Brian. All three had brightened expressions seeing the orb of essence sinking into Brian. Brian too felt the essence beginning to knit the torn muscles and broken bones. As the orb started to sink in the floor beneath them trembled, Jacob quickly dragged Brian with his right hand grabbing him by the head and he lightly kicked Riley away her face contorted in pain letting go of the two claws she still held.
As soon as he completed the action 3 stone hands erupted out of the floor from where the trio stood, the stone hands have new tricks now nowhere in the city would be safe not even the houses at this rate. However with a more immediate task at hand Jacob had no time to think of the repercussions of freely roaming stone hands, He let go of Brians’ head letting it fall down and he left the now encrusted in pain face alone. He leapt forward with Flowing Water in his left hand and casually swung it. With unparalleled sharpness Flowing Water sliced apart the tightly grouped stone hand even without any real power behind his swing. Confirming the death of the three stone hands with 3 sources of essence flowing in Jacob smirked at the ease.
“Riley you okay? Did I kicked you too hard?” Jacob looked towards where he kicked Riley to asked out of concern
“I’m fine thanks for getting me out of the way, I would not had enjoy flying in the air throw up by stone hands” Riley replied with a grateful smile and walked back towards the two after picking up the claws she dropped during the kick. Meanwhile Brian still in excruciating pain this time his neck felt extended as if it grew a few cm by itself, along with the pain in his right arm he was basically foaming.
Jacob quickly replicated his previous effort of essence transference, this time he successfully used it to help the arm knit itself. The pain visible of Brians’ face could be seen turning into relief as time passed. It took a good 20 uninterrupted minutes before Brians’ arm looked good as new, but Jacob noted a 1 in his blessing progress with a quick check causing his face to brighten.
“My action could only help you to accelerate your natural recovery so your right arm might feel a bit different from before as there was no splint, but once I get better we might be able to re break it and with a makeshift cast we can heal it properly. Also I think I should act as bait and let you guys finish the stone hands to prevent a similar incident, they seemed to be faster than last time too. Jacob spoke out with a nonchalant expression. Brian quivered a little upon the mention of breaking his right arm again and quickly replied
“ Its okay i-I’ll manage even if it feels awkward I do not want to feel a broken arm quite so soon again.” Both Riley and Brian agreed to let Jacob act as bait this time, they would take turns for the kills. Jacob got Brian up by supporting his left shoulder as his right was definitely still tender even after the somewhat forced recovery.
This time with Jacob acting as bait they smoothly killed at least 20 each with Riley killing 5 man, Jacob ensured each of them felt the essence within to be fill to the brim in their body. The more they could fill the bigger their start would be. After the essence hunt finished, Jacob brought them into a random empty stone house for them to start meditating and forming their cores. He gave them the same explanation he gave the fiends and assured them that with him guarding them they could form their core in peace.