The Cyborg System-Chapter 63: Preparations

Rose made her usual prayers. She felt that, in some way, He had seen fit to bless Lenny and give him the strength to defend himself against a stronger opponent. Of course, she knew he had a strange ability, and even some upgrades, but knew nothing of the system which had helped to guide some of his decision making.

She had been doing well in Melee Arms class, and though she was still carrying the staff given to her by Mother Mercy, as a valued spirit weapon, she had swapped to mainly using the glaive in class and found it suited her style better. Though similar, the ability to slash your opponent gave another tool to deal with those less resistant to slashing attacks, rather than simple crushing blows.

Further, through attending Group Warfare, she had learnt to work better in a team, coordinating her strengths with her allies. Though she often did not have the strength to deal a significant amount of damage to predator tier beasts, she was a good distraction, and if she did take any damage, it was usually quick to heal. Ivy had started to rely on her more, sometimes using her as bait to set up her own strikes, depending on the beast they were going up against.

She knew that no further significant gains could be made today, so took an irregular day off to allow herself to fully recharge.

*

Harry found himself in the library on the fourth floor of the Prism building. After looking through a number of catalogues of known abilities, some historical records of the Terra Firma faction and some collated newspaper clippings on the Battle of Land and Sea, he had found some useful information.

Apparently, leading up to the massacre of his clan, a sort of ceasefire had been agreed between the two parties while their leaders were in peace talks. Due to the birth of two children, Maria Poole—leader of the Drowned—had reconsidered old hostilities and provisionally agreed upon a partitioning of territories to avoid any further clashes between their clans. It was said to be going well, according to reports at the time, though it was likely that the press would be hoping for the best outcome for the public—presumably the one which would maintain the highest number of spirited to protect them.

Harry knew nothing of any children belonging to the Drowned leader. They would have been prominent people indeed, and yet, there were no other references to them in any of the documents he had found. What had happened to them? Were they hidden in plain sight? And why had the peace talks between the factions failed?

Harry scratched his head and continued with his search but found little of use. In the end, he had checked out a book on Terra Firma, which made reference to a number of earth abilities, though not how to use them. Still, maybe there would be some other clues in the text, and at least knowing of their existence, he would have some skills to try and replicate.

*

When Lenny got back to his room, he had been greeted by James. He had agreed to allow Lenny to borrow some supplies for the upcoming expedition but made him promise to keep some notes on anything outside of the usual modifications that became available to him.

James too was regretting not asking to join in with Lenny, especially after finding out he had a member of the Salamanders on his team. Instead, he had been assigned a random grouping with a bunch of people he did not know. While he had found information about their abilities on the school’s database, he was not particularly impressed and considered that, even with himself as a green sash, they would definitely be one of the weaker groups.

When Lenny sat on his bunk, he used his scan skill.

"Scanning... Fire Ant Gauntlets detected. Tier: prey. Effect: when activated, the gauntlets will imbue fire damage into the user’s strikes. Cost: 3 essence. Passive stat enhancement: +2 strength, +1 speed. Durability: 83 of 100."

A fire affinity? That made two on his team. While he might usually have complained about this lack in variation of skills, the elemental abilities were powerful, and Lenny had to admit, the fire ability was one that he feared going up against more than most. The stat enhancements were a nice bonus too but paled in comparison to the predator tier equipment worn by most of the instructors.

He thought about Master Yamamoto and his demon tier tachi. There was nothing else close to it, though a few members of staff may have had a single piece of monster tier equipment. Lenny’s mind raced at the idea of the stat boosts provided by such a weapon. It wasn’t even his only sword. Was his wakizashi just as strong? Could a single person hold so much consolidated power?

The more he thought about, the more a thought repeated in his head. "Maybe I should give the sword a second chance?"

*

Nicholas sat on his bunk feeling the flames move through his fingers. It was a habit he had picked up recently, allowing the essence to curl around his digits like a snake. It was a partial distraction from his thoughts.

When his faction had reported the death of his father, he couldn’t believe it at first. George was the indominable figure of strength he had looked up to all his life, his guardian and his idol. He’d always felt a distance between himself and his mother, though he could not tell why. She didn’t seem to have the warmth a mother would usually show for their child, and when she had become obsessed about having another, and showered him with love and affection, he could not understand why her heart was so empty for him. What had he done wrong?

In his closet sat a prey tier orange jumpsuit, synonymous with his clan. It was a gift from his father, not long before leaving. He’d initially agreed to see him off, but something had come up at the last minute and his father had gone against his word, which was unusual in itself. Now, he would never see him again.

A little number than before, though still quite raw deep down, a warm tear fell down his face.