The Aura still swirled around the bookstore.
Mark didn’t even try to curb the aggression that entered his voice.
“Retract whatever the hell you are doing right now, or you’re going to have a problem on you’re hands”
He could see that Gob’s Aura was even able to approach Jonathan. It was not that the guy had not seen it coming, more that in the current situation, he didn’t see it as a threatening action, and thus didn’t think to block it.
Reading the intentions of someone's Aura was something only another Aura user could explain, but Mark could very clearly feel something was different with this energy.
Mark’s angry tone rippled out and put everyone on guard.
By the looks of things, whatever skill or spell Gob had just used was not normally detectable and an embarrassed look appeared on his face.
Retracting his Aura right away, he held up his hands in a gesture of surrender, glancing at Chloe in wonder.
“Ah… It seems like I have walked right into your prediction. I’ve gotten so used to relying on my Aura, I didn’t even think. Please accept my apologies”
Mark did not relax and everyone was looking between the two of them, waiting for Mark to make a move.
“If it helps, I didn’t learn much.”
A lot of eyes narrowed at this.
Mark collected himself and said.
“Explain what just happened, or we walk. I don’t care how good you are for our chances, we’ll find someone else”
Mr. Gob’s attitude had done a full one-eighty since releasing his Aura. His eyes almost had this fever-like obsession to them, as he took them all in.
“Right… I just used my Aura to collect data on you all. With it, I was able to tell your highest attribute, though, not your levels. But, I can extrapolate. This is an ability I have kept close to my chest, as I assumed most would react badly to my curiosity.”
The already quiet room became ice cold as the others stared at him.
Mr. Gob seemed to try and calm the mood by explaining further.
"Rest assured, Chloe is right, I do not want this secret getting out so know that I will not sell this information. On principle, I never sold it before because that’s bad business and an easy way to get killed. But another reason is that I didn’t want my clients aware of my abilities. Now at least you all have reassurance of mutual destruction."
He seemed hesitant to share the information at first but, the cat was out of the bag, and there was no regret on his face.
He was making it clear that he wouldn't share their stats with anyone because they could just as easily explain how he had that information and then they would both be exposed.
Mr. Gob paused and then continued speaking.
“Look we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot and it’s entirely my fault. I’d like to work with you all. So what about, as an apology, a heavy discount for my services. My best package is a premium advice service for everything in the city. Usually going at ten thousand, I’ll give it to you for five– No– Three thousand Sp.”
Sam and Jonathan looked back as if waiting to see what Mark thought. Daphne was wary and Chloe looked on with a thoughtful expression.
What Gob had done was kind of like gauging their strength, it had just felt too invasive. To a lesser extent, Mark could also sense people's attributes, his way was more guesswork and he could only do it through physical contact. But, it was probably possible, that as time went on, more and more users would be able to do things like this.
Mr. Gob was just ahead of the curve and while the intrusion was unpleasant there were no rules for this type of thing yet.
Mark had people to worry about now, and he had to think of the bigger picture.
He would have to keep an eye on the nosey guy though. His Aura was probably capable of more than he admitted to.
The room still felt stifled but eventually, Mark let out a slow breath.
Chloe had to have seen this coming, she had nudged the outcome in their favor.
By making him interested she had made him use his Aura which, in turn, revealed the fact that he had it to Mark.
It looked like Mr. Gob's curiosity had turned her prediction into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Mark indicated for them to go on, but warned against using his Aura around them anytime soon.
The cost for his services were high for anyone walking in off the street, hell most people hadn’t even earned that much in total yet. However, each one of them had been fighting and earning since day one, and they had all amassed decent fortunes.
Sam didn’t hesitate to accept the discount.
The man cleared his throat, inviting them deeper into the shop.
They were led to a small but orderly backroom.
In the center of the space, a large table sat with a map sprawled out across it.
While the walls had hand-drawn charts and canvases all across them. Right away Mark noticed more of those scratchy Inscription things in here, almost identical to the ones he’d seen before.
His attention was drawn to the map as the others surrounded it.
“Right, if you want to grow your faction, then a big part of this is how safe it is around your home base. If you attract people to sign up with you, they will expect you to keep the surrounding neighborhood safe. The strength of a faction is measured by how much ground they can absorb and simultaneously guard”
It made sense but leaned towards a city that was a constant battleground. Gang wars would be a common occurrence.
“And I don’t need to mention, the more people you gather under your banner the more productive your faction becomes. Try to keep fighting on the outskirts of your territory. Make alliances with the surrounding factions and offer the best benefits, and you will naturally attract the most people to your cause.”
Everything he was saying helped build an image of how to proceed, going into deeper strategies as time went on. They talked for so long that Cara dozed off in one of the armchairs.
Mark had to begrudgingly admit the guy was well worth their time and points.
His map alone was worth more than they’d paid. Chloe and Daphne were working hard to copy all the major information, to cross-reference it with theirs later. Mark looked down at the chart now and saw dozens of divisions and faction territories with small annotations.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Near the center of the city, was a residential area for the wealthy, and right beside that, a religious district.
The frontlines were a narrow piece of land, stretched across the whole city in a band. It was called, Builders quarry, and as fighters cleared out the Corrupted, the builders would move to expand the wall in that direction. This way the territory the humans lived in was slowly expanding once more.
The bottom section of the map was where they were now, mainly owned by The guilds and home to a place called Crafters Cove. Which was exactly what it sounded like. The loyalists and armies took up the core of the city and a good portion of the walls. While NAS dealt with the frontlines and danger zones. All three of the main powers had divided the usable land fairly but there was a clear distinction between the valuable areas and what each of them were getting out of this. Together a delicate power balance threatened this city.
As Chloe and Gob spoke Mark’s attention was drawn back to the canvases on the room’s walls.
Taking a closer look at the charts Mark could tell the guy was giving classifications to the system's attribute combinations. Basically, he was creating ‘Classes’ to represent the attributes.
The work reminded Mark of a post he’d seen online a while ago, they even followed the same naming scheme, only these projections were much more comprehensive.
Warrior, Caster, Healer, Spellsword, Paladin, Priest. Six designations that then further split off into sub-classes depending on their specific focus. This could be affected by anything from attribute distribution, and fighting styles, to the types of spells they used.
That post had given Mark some insight into his current build so he searched the walls for ‘Priest’ and found the designation. Walking over to the chart he read through it
Priest
Prana(Majour) + Mana(Minor) -Traditionaly-
Depending on which attribute is primary, can lean towards further specializations or ‘subclasses’.
Eg. Focusing on Mana can lead to a powerful battlefield control class (Termed: Will Binder) focusing on inhibiting the enemy. While Prana leans more toward protective measures (Termed: Defensive Authority) leaning towards enabling allies.
Either way, both specializations lend heavily to a party focus, so trust is key between players.
Pros - Players are capable of full-party cohesion, exponentially increasing other's effectivity on the battlefield.
Cons - A lack of Aura, puts players in great physical danger. Defensive authority mitigates this to a certain extent.
Speculated that ‘Healers’, ‘Priests’, and ‘Paladins’ may be capable of expunging Corrupt energies from themselves and possibly others. (Confirmed!)
Looking at the diagram, he realized a lot of the information here was accurate to his own experiences. But, this looked like it had been written a while ago, so these projections were spot on, which was impressive. There was a lot more information on the page but Mark discounted a lot of it as just theories. Though, something caught his eye, at the bottom of the chart was an amendment, newly written in red ink.
Alert: Certain Aura’s have been recorded as capable of bypassing the priest's defenses entirely. Because of the ‘Perfect balance’ between the three energies, it is possible that there is some aspect of Prana that still needs to come to light. The system would not allow one energy to completely destroy another. Therefore blocking the unblockable may be possible but we don’t yet understand the interactions.
Well, that was both worrying and interesting at the same time. Aura users had always been Mark's toughest matchup. It stood to reason that they could get skills that were devastating to ‘Priests’ spells. Though he wasn’t sure how he would match up. Right now his extra attributes meant he fell into ‘Defensive Authority’, but he saw no reason he could fill both ‘subclasses’ because of the additional attributes he had.
A voice appeared beside him and his musings.
“Just so we are clear I never got to see anything from you. You Prana was too thick, I couldn’t push past it”
Mark frowned, he had been maintaining his distance from the guy, listening to everything he had to offer but was still on guard.
Turning his neck to look at the guy he wanted a little more information.
“That's good I guess. these charts are pretty extensive. I take it you are following the ‘Paladin’ route?”
Mark asked pointing up at the chart. It was a main in Aura and secondary in Prana. The guy was the very picture of a paladin, it was not hard to believe he would disperse his attribute in a similar fashion. Mark knew he had Aura and Prana, but what was interesting was that Aura could also carry and sustain Prana outside the body, something Mark had never been able to test before.
Gob nodded.
“And you are either a ‘Healer’ or ‘Priest’, I'm leaning towards Priest. Not to brag, but there aren't many people -Other than pure healers- who have as much Prana control as I do, and even then they struggle to figure out what I'm doing. The only way you could have even detected me was if you had huge reserves of Prana and practiced with it extensively. Cus, you did more than just find me, you kicked me out on my ass”
Mark didn’t respond verbally, instead, he pointed to the red amendment on the Priest's section.
“And that?”
Gob cocked his head.
“Yeah, I put that there because it is exactly as it sounds. Some Aura’s are capable of interacting with the metaphysical, and as time goes on it is only going to get stronger. I’ve seen a woman capable of breaking through any obstruction placed in her path regardless of what it is, she can only do this a certain number of times before the lash back arrives, but it's an incredible trump card”
In that respect Aura was incredible. Mana was true freedom and creation but Aura was a narrowing down of a person's world.
Jonathan’s Aura spoke to that, he focused down on the world to such a degree that he could enforce his desire over reality to cut something without even moving from the spot. It was an embodiment of his personality and mindset. As sharp as a blade and ready to do damage if needed, but sheathed and friendly when times allowed for it.
Aura was unwaveringly focused.
The two energy concepts were completely opposite but still leaned toward one another. Prana was slightly different from the other two in that it was pure unrefined life, and yet it was the most intangible of them all.
Present yet untouchable. Just like the soul.
It might be that Aura could affect it if it were directed enough.
All of these were guesses but Mark didn’t have much else to go on.
Gob interrupted his thoughts by saying.
“If you ever have time you should check out the Thunder Dome. The Guild runs it as a way to release pent-up energy. I go often to fight or even just to study the new techniques and developments. One can even make bets on the different types of fights ”
The sudden scattering of pages drew their attention to Jonathan who was currently staring at Gob with laser focus.
Speaking with a steady voice, barely above a hum.
“There’s a fucking Thunder dome?”
Gob looked surprised.
“Yes. Right next to the Institute”
Sam suddenly looked up from a list of all the different faction's names.
“You mean NAS University?”
Once more, Gob had not expected the feral looks sent his way, as the two hungry wolves stared him down.
“Aaaa…Yes, they are used by people interchangeably so it was just easier to have them close together. Theoretical knowledge on campus and practical skills in the arena. Violence being the fastest teacher and all that”
Sam made a dismissive snort at the last comment.
“Right, let's finish up here and head over. I want to see it for myself!”
Cara woke up to them packing up all the documents Gob had arranged for them.
As part of the service, Mr. Gob would provide regular checkups at their home base and help them through the different growing pains that all new factions went through.
It turned out the reason he took so few clients was because he was so in demand. He was incredibly thorough with his clients, which limited the time he could spend on each. Even taking them on now would mean he’d be giving up one of his slots to them.
The guy's intrusiveness rubbed Mark the wrong way, but he couldn’t argue that Gob knew what he was doing.
Additionally, as an extra service, he hinted at ‘class breakdowns’. It was not normally something he did, but the fact that they knew about his ability to see their attributes, allowed for it. He could then figure out how they could best use the system. He wanted to talk with each of them concerning the direction they wanted to take things. Basically, he’d help them optimize their ‘builds’. They never agreed to it just yet, but they never said no either. The deal would be kept in check with the understanding that if he revealed any information about them, they would do the same about his abilities.
When they exited the store, Gob looked like a happy cat that had stolen the cream. He waved them off promising he’d come to their building soon. The bell of the door rang ominously as they exited the bookstore.