“Dude, you guys totally owe me a new guitar”
Terry whined when they got out of the stadium. All of them had managed to get into the next round, which was in a couple of days. Terry did not seem to care that he’d lost to them but he mourned the loss of his guitar.
Jonathan just shook his head.
“T, that was your weapon, I wouldn’t ask you to replace my sword if it broke. That was a risk you took bringing it onto the battlefield. Daphne did what she had to stop you”
“Yeah… but that was a ‘Fender Custom Shop 1960 Stratocaster Relic’, with an authentic vintage finish. You wouldn’t believe what I had to do to find that one…”
Bonnie stepped in at that point to comfort him in their usual sweet manner.
“Teddy, baby. We’ll find you a better one, don’t worry”
That seemed to mildly sedate him as he twirled his pasta. They were sitting at a restaurant enjoying a meal before they went back for the meeting with Gob. Herny and his team had taken off as soon as the battle had ended. Saying something about heading to Builders Quarry.
“Fine, fair enough… On another note, you guys were amazing out there. I’ve never seen people adjust to our sound on the fly like that. But don’t think that means you’ll win next time though, we still have a few tricks up our sleeves”
Jonathan welcomed the challenge.
“I look forward to it, you guys are amazing musicians, especially what you did at the end there. I’d love to have you guys on my team.”
Bonnie giggled at this.
“Damn straight! Things may have gotten a little harder but we ain’t gonna stop hustling! One day everyone is going to know us. Both on the battlefield and the stage!”
Conversion flowed easily between all of them and the evening quickly approached.
They finished their meal but eventually had to make their way back towards the base.
When they parted ways, they traded socials so they could stay in contact. Mark found their pages, promoting themselves as aspiring artists.
“See ya, Tots.”
Terry waved as he and Bonnie flew away.
At the same time, Ning Wei said her goodbyes. A black car had arrived to pick her up. Mark liked her, she was real quiet, oftentimes only answering direct questions with one-word responses, but she seemed very genuine and honestly, she'd been a huge help in the fight. Plus, she seemed to get along well with Jonathan, though now that he got a closer look, Mark didn’t think either of them had romantic feelings towards the other, but, that was none of his business.
The journey to their building was not long and when they arrived in the area, Mark could see a few of the street lamps had been repaired. They were beginning to fix the surrounding utilities as they expanded their territory. Jobs had been put up for the Logistic and Crafting teams to begin maintenance on all infrastructure, but it was a slow process.
Entering the well-lit building they all made their way up the elevator and found Ethel, Karter, Chloe, and Gibby sitting around a table discussing something.
Sam was first in.
“What's going on? Is something wrong?”
Karter looked up, shaking his head.
“We are not too sure yet. Our scouts have noticed worryingly large groups of people skirting the edges of our territory. They haven’t trespassed yet and seem to be mostly non-combatants, but it’s something that needs a response”
Jonathan's face hardened.
“Should I go 'talk' with them?”
Ethel shook her head.
“Right now we need to tread lightly, how we respond to this will be on display to all the local factions. Too weak and we’ll be looked down on, too aggressive and it will harm our chances at making allies later. Karter has recommended a once-off patrol in the areas with the most activity, and I agree. Tomorrow I’ll free up some time for a couple of you in the morning. Find out what’s going on”
The plan was simple but effective. It would depend on what they found of course, but at least they would know how to proceed. They were just finishing up when Gibby spoke.
“And on that note, are we finished here? I would really like to get started with these three. Preferably somewhere private.”
He couldn’t have looked any more eager if he’d tried.
Sam nodded and then made a suggestion.
“What about the roof? No one will be up there tonight.”
They all agreed and said their good nights to everyone.
Arriving on the roof, Mark saw someone had installed small lights on the walls, brightening up the space. The two cherry trees looked strong and vibrant in the planters.
Gibby turned on them as soon as the door to the stairwell had slid shut.
“Okay, who’s going first, or do you wish to do this separately?”
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Mark looked at Sam and Jonathan for their answer, and they shrugged. Mark took that as they didn’t mind and he spoke up.
“It’s fine, let's just get started. I’ll be going first.”
Gibby smiled as if he expected that.
“Alright, so I have your consent to look at your attributes, skill levels, and magic compatibility?”
Mark hadn't heard anything about skills but he just nodded.
Gibby had him sit down and insisted he at least attempt to drop into [Meditation] to relax. Luckily, lots of practice had made this easy an easy task.
A hand was placed on his back and he felt Gibby release his Aura again. True to his promise Mark had not felt it at any point since their initial encounter.
Once more, he was faced with this unsettling sensation, as if a thousand eyes watching him from every direction. Then the Auar and Prana sunk into him and it was as if the world was staring into his soul. Almost involuntarily, his Prana reacted, brushing the intrusion aside.
Gibby grunted in pain.
“Mark, don’t fight me, just relax your energy.”
Once more the intrusion approached, this time Mark had to consciously rein in his Prana, to plead with it to let the eyes pass.
Mark knew this feeling, it was similar to lowering his Will against someone, the sense of wrongness was overwhelming. Only as he attempted it he found he had more control over whatever this was, but that did not mean it was easy.
Each time he pulled his Prana back, it tried once more, and each attempt that grazed Gibby's energy, damaged it slightly.
Mark felt the Prana output from Gibby, begin to climb. As an afterthought, Mark sent a construct to the cherry trees and began funneling energy into them through [Nature control]. His thoughts were that if he had less available energy, it would make things easier.
Luckily he was right, and it did help Gibby to make the connection.
“Alright, got it, and I… wait…”
Mark ignored his voice and just focused on keeping his Prana in check.
Minutes passed and Gibby never spoke, then he felt his Prana dissipate along with his Aura.
Mark opened his eyes and turned to look at the guy, who had a very thoughtful look on his face.
Mark was pretty sure he knew what the guy was thinking. If he had been successful with his probe, then he would have seen Mark had no Aura to speak of, not even the small amount all people would have started with. Mark knew that it would come up and he had not sent Sam and Jonathan away because he truly trusted them by now. This was one of his biggest weaknesses, there were only two other people who knew of this, and they were close to him. Adding two of his strongest allies to the list only seemed fair.
Mark looked at Gibby’s perplexed face and said.
‘You can ask’
Gibby looked at him.
“How in the world do you have survived til now? You have no Aura. Also, how is that your level, those numbers don’t add up”
Sam’s head turned to Mark in shock. On the other hand, Jonathan took the news calmly, it almost seemed like his suspicions were just confirmed.
“I don’t know. My attributes were like this when the system started up. I was always missing Aura and I am unable to gain any, the system compensated me for that, but yeah. I usually just rely on my Resistance and shields to cover it”
The roof lapsed into silence.
Mark looked at Jonathan
“When did you figure it out?”
He tilted his head in thought.
“Every person’s Aura has a flavor… scent? Well anyway, the stronger the Aura, the easier it is to detect, even people with weak Aura’s give off this residual. If I’m in close proximity and concentrate on it, I can sense it. I never sensed anything from you, and trust me I tried. There are ways to hide it, but not permanently”
Gibby looked excited by this.
“Not even ten minutes of work and I’m learning new things, you guys were the right choice. Did you say Scent? I work by sight. That's so interesting. I wonder if the same Aura can be interpreted differently by different people. I need to look into this, maybe synesthesia?”
Gibby was more mumbling to himself than any of them. Sam had to clear her throat to get him back on track.
“Right! Let me think… You have a large number of compatible magic’s which could help make up for the gap in Aura. The additional attributes are compensating, so your Mana being so bloated shouldn’t be a problem. Your skill levels are also pretty high… For now, your distribution is fine, but we will talk later about possible future directions. Okay, so weaknesses… -Oh out of interest, when you are on the battlefield, are you finding you can keep track of everything happening around you?”
Up until now Mark had never really thought about it. Usually, in a fight, he had the most room to watch the entire battlefield because he was not at the forefront of the fight. In that regard, he always had to take in dozens of variables. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he couldn’t always react to everything he was seeing on the field. Too many things were happening simultaneously, and there were only so many things he could manage at once. Healing, attacking, slowing down the enemy, enhancing his allies, and protecting himself and others.
Mark shook his head at Gibby's question.
“I can see them, but…no. In the chaos of the battlefield, I'm only one person, I need to pick where I focus my attention, that’s usually wherever I’m needed most at that stage.”
Gibby scratched his chin nodding excitedly to himself.
“Okay, for now, my recommendation will be to learn summoning magic. Now first off, forget the idea of summoning a dragon to your aid. That is not how I’ve come to know summoning to work. Really, it was just the closest way to describe imbuing Mana with life. Summoning is more like creating sustained computer scripts that run functions until they run out of energy. The main things you need are a mix of Mana and Prana.”
As Gibby explained the idea, Mark realized he had already accidentally done exactly that. When he had created [Bestowal] the spell had come into being almost of its own free will, in fact, he’d had to fight it to slow it down.
“I’ve heard rumors that it's really complicated to get working, but once you do, you’d be able to automate certain things on the battlefield. Freeing you up to focus on the more pressing tasks. I think there’s even a class at the Institute that focuses on it”
Mark mulled it over, it was good advice. Mark found that the more he learned about the system's capabilities, the more depth he found. So many things were possible with it, that there were just too many things to work on at once. He had to narrow it down. If he could use summoning magic to shore up some of his blind spots, he’d be way more effective in all aspects.
“Alright, I’ll take that into account, thanks, Gibby.”
Gibby nodded satisfied and turned to Sam.
“Well, how about you next?”
Gibby then repeated the process with Sam and Jonathan, and after each of them, he whistled in appreciation.
“Just wow. Okay well for you Sam-”
“Hold up Gibby… Mark, I wanna thank you for sharing something like that with us. My dad always says, 'Return the trust of those whose trust you want to keep.'”
Mark and Jonathan looked at her not quite seeing where she was going with this.
“Sappy, I know. But I have just as much trust in both of you, as I hope you have in me, so while I don’t intend to make my true level public, you two are the exception-”
Mark realized where she was going with this and before he could tell her it wasn't necessary, she blurted out.
“I’m level fifty-five”
Blinking owlishly, Mark digested the information, before he could even respond, Jonathan spoke.
“I’ve been saying we should trade our level information since day one, glad you’re finally on board. I just got to Fifty-nine on the trip here, with items my Aura’s sitting just over six hundred”