Chapter 68: A small Tribute
The first time Marcus unlocked his second ability he based his actions on the understanding that “Anchor” was an ability to reduce push back. The mental image he had formed based on that was a stone and later one a heavy mass of red energy in his stomach. And it worked.
But it is the nature of abilities that they are not zero and one. Works and does not work. Instead they are gradual, the better you understand the nature of the ability the more powerful it can become. Marcus understanding of Carapace had greatly increased to the point that he needed a completely new mental picture to activate it.
“You tell me when I can hit you.” Grace said with a smile on her face and a large wooden board in her hands. “You understand that this is serious training and not “beat up Marcus, the game”. I might need some time to make it work.” Marcus said and Grace leaned on the board like a cane and smiled. He closed his eyes and concentrated. In truth Marcus already had a good idea what he wanted to do. When he had his first success he imagined being a stone and that he was heavy, that worked but not for the reason he thought. It was not the heavy part but the fact that the stone was hard too (working theory). Marcus imagined to be made out of stone, he concentrated on the aspect of being hard and resistant. There was a reaction and he could feel heat on his skin. “Try now.”
WHAM. The wooden board shattered as Grace smashed it against his chest. Marcus opened his eyes and Grace looked surprised at the remains of her weapon. “I did not hit you that hard, promise.” It worked, Marcus thought.
Of course he already had several years of familiarity with Anchor/Carapace and even so he had changed his mental picture his mind seemed to connect correctly with what ever made abilities work. Grace grabbed a lead pipe “Ready for round two?”.
They continued and Marcus slowly refined his mental picture until he only imagined a thin layer of metal covering him. Grace stood next to a pile of broken tools that had gathered there over the last few hours. “Do you want to take a break or continue tomorrow?” She asked. Marcus looked at her and found that when it came down to it, she was a real professional. “One last test for today. Let’s try the normal sword. But try not to go overboard please.”
Marcus concentrated on his mental armor, he did not need to close his eyes anymore and saw Grace swing the blade against his arm. It was a soft swing for her level and the blade hit his arm, deformed and was pushed back. “Looking good. But lets see how well it works for real.” Grace said and her arm moved incredibly fast, Marcus only saw the sword shatter and pain rush through his body. “Not bad for now. But to be useful against class holders it needs to be a lot stronger.” Grace said and dropped the remains of the sword out of her bleeding hand. Marcus arm was cut to the bone but quickly healed even as she spoke. “Let’s go find Candis. Your hand needs healing.” Marcus said. The backlash had been strong enough to make her hand bleed, Marcus had not expected that. Of course the hilt was broken and the sharp pieces had injured her hand but that in itself was evidence of the effect of Carapace.
Grace walked with Marcus and felt extremely happy in this moment. Her right hand was hurting but she was filled with joy. He did not say anything about being reckless or being too much. He did not scold her or tell her she needs to act in moderation. Marcus went along with her and let her bear the consequences of her own actions. “Thank you for not yelling.” She said and after a few steps Marcus said “I think I need to refine my mental picture more before we try knifes or other pointy weapons. I need to get to the point I only use my “red energy” to visualize the effect. Movement and activation speed have to come later too. We still have a lot to do.” Grace smiled and felt great. Of course Candis was not that happy but Healing Hands and a Link to Marcus healed Grace’s hand in minutes.
Days went by and while Achara and Grace trained most of the time, Marcus worked on his Carapace. After three weeks he had reached a point where he could surround himself with red energy in the matter of seconds. “OKAY! Here it comes.” Grace shouted. Marcus steeled himself and pushed Carapace to the max. A piece of granite, the size of large melon came flying at great speed and hit him against the chest. It hurt but the rock cracked and shattered into dozens of pieces and Marcus only swayed slightly. Marcus looked down to the broken pieces and smiled, only to quickly raise his arms and Carapace against a second even larger rock coming his way. The impact made his arms numb and caused an explosion like sound. Marcus slowly lowered his arms looking at Grace in the distance. “Ehm, incoming?” she said.
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His arms were slightly bleeding and Kou and Janette came running from the villa. “What happened, there was booming sound right now.” His wounds had healed and Marcus shook his arms. “All is good, Grace just made sure Carapace can stop even a train.” One thing Marcus had learned over the last weeks was, that Grace always pushed a bit further than what you would expect. He should have seen the second rock coming. “For now I’m happy with Carapace but at full power it eats my endurance in two minutes now. I need to use it only in moments I really need it.” Marcus said and joined the others on the way back into the villa. “But training has to wait or Azaa is going to be angry if you do not show up for your first scheduled meeting.” Kou said and Marcus agreed. He was actually looking forward to going back to the ginghi, even if it was only for a day or two.
In the evening Marcus packed his cloths and his new fancy armor. The clan had really spent a lot of money on it. They did not want to tell him how much but Marcus secretly investigated and found something similar for 1,5 million dollar. The new armor looked lighter and less bulky but in truth was even heavier than the last, slightly over 40 kg. The higher density materials and better production techniques made it a full level higher in defense than his old armor. It was strong enough to resist even Janette’s heavy rifle, but only on the most defended areas. “Ready for the trip?” Janette leaned at his open door and watched him pack. “Nearly.” He said and put another pair of socks in (you can never have too many dry socks). “You got a gift for Azaa?” Janette said and Marcus looked at her with surprise. “A gift? Why would I need a gift?” he was honestly confused.
“You are telling me that you are going to meet Azaa the ancient, powerful mage without even a small gift?” Janette said with raised eyebrows. “But I’m giving her something, my blood.” Marcus said a bit upset. “That is the reason for your visit of course but you should have at least some kind of formal present. You have watched enough of those historic dramas, you know you don’t show up at the palace of the water dragon without some offerings.” Janette translated into a language Marcus understood better. That made sense to Marcus. Azaa was a legendary existence in a way and even so it was a business meeting he should show his respect with a gift. “Damn, I did not think of that.” He said and Janette rolled her eyes and vanished for a minute. “Here I bought this some time ago out of a whim, I think it will do fine as a gift from Earth.” It was a baseball sized round stone, or better two halves of the stone. When you opened it it revealed purple and white crystals inside. “An Earth geode.” Marcus said and smiled and took it gratefully. Janette smiled too, but for other reasons.
The journey to the Mihr Jhel was so much easier now compared to a month ago. The time consuming travel through the jungle was replaced by a helicopter ride of a few minutes. Only Marcus had to wait half a day for the next flight, and made the trip with several containers of food and other provisions. On the other side of the portal waited large carts and ginghi to transport everything to the city and Marcus hitched a ride after helping to load all the containers on the carts. He arrived in the city by nightfall and notified the embassy that he was in the city. Only minutes later it knocked on his door, while he was still unpacking. “Come in.” he said and Azaa stepped in “Hello Marcus.” she said in a much better English than last time. Marcus made a bow and looked at her. She wore a pale blue dress with a high neck, like he had seen before and she looked overall very lively. “Did you have good journey?” she said and Marcus realized that there was no translator anywhere. Did she learn English to this level in only a month? “Yes, thank you. There were no problems.” she nodded in understanding. “Can we begin, soon?” She said and Marcus agreed even so he had just arrived. If this is the speed we are going I can just leave in half an hour, he thought.
He followed Azaa, but not before taking the gift with him. Achara had helped him package it and it even had a red ribbon on it. They entered her study and things looked like always beside the soft glowing stones that gave the room light. “Have you grown stronger?” she asked and Marcus said “Sorry, no. I spent my time training and improving my abilities.” Azaa furrowed her brows for a moment and Marcus thought she was angry but then she picked up an electronic tablet and checked some words. She nodded once she understood everything. In the meantime Marcus revealed the gift from its carry bag and offered it too Azaa “A small gift.” She looked at it and carefully unwrapped the geode. Marcus watched her eyes and face for her reaction. She opened the stones and inspected the crystals for a moment. “Thank you.” and then she moved the stone to a shelf with many other interesting stones and crystals. Marcus felt a bit disappointed but it was only a small formal gift in the end.
They went through the procedure of blood draining and blood massage and Azaa practiced her English by asking general questions and Marcus did the same. As predicted half an hour later he was done and ready to leave. “Well, I guess I can already leave again.” he said and Azaa tilted her head. “Stay tomorrow, big event. You can watch.” Marcus was happy to do so, he had no idea what the event was, but if it meant to learn more about the ginghi it was well worth the time.
That night, Azaa lay awake in her bed, her eyes focused on something immaterial. After an hour of thinking, she stood up again. Azaa put a heavy robe over her light night dress and quickly moved through the sleeping city. In contrast to modern human cities, Mihr Jhel was silent and dark at night and Azaa used a short cut over several roofs to reach her study quickly. She slipped in and walked to a shelf on the side. She picked up something small and carried it over to her work desk. She put the stone on the upper end of the desk and opened it, so that the crystals were visible. Azaa moved the gift from Marcus around a few more times and looked at it for a while. Satisfied, she returned home and went to bed again.
