See, if you hadn’t listened to her, you’d have gone with the Vanguard and you’d have beaten the crap out of anyone who got in your way.

  And been that much more like you wanted me to be?

  Like someone who’d make his mark on the word? Definitely.

  Bullshit. You were making me your attack dog or something like that. If you hadn’t left, you’d have continued screwing with my head until you were the only one who made sense.

  I ask for the level 2 Switch ability to not have to listen to more of his justifications.

  Oh, take that link thing.

  And have you talk to whoever I’m trying to protect? No thanks. You’re enough of a bad influence on me. I’m not letting you foster yourself onto anyone else.

  Don’t you want there to be at least one person giving them good advice?

  I’d love that, but that’s not you by any stretch of the imagination.

  Fine. Let me guess, you’re taking that protection ability, so whoever you care about will be nice and safe.

  I ignore the derision in his tone as I reread the information. I’m surprised my mother’s voice doesn’t offer an opinion. I don’t hear her often, but this feels like the kind of situation where she’d try to steer me in a good direction. She is why I took the Guardian class, instead of assassin. Maybe she trusts me to make the right decision this time?

  My father scoffs, of course.

  He is right that I should keep whoever I’ve selected safe. I have made myself a bodyguard, after all. But doing that at the expense of keeping myself safe feels wrong. The best way I know of protecting anyone, beyond getting them out of dodge fast, is beating the crap out of whatever is after them.

  That would make the Spectral Guardian perfect for the job. It’s not like I use my mana for anything.

  So, it’s all about them, isn’t it?

  That’s the problem with that enhancement. And if I’ve planned things correctly, he’s already out of danger, and everyone’s focussed on me. So it’s not like he’ll need the protection.

  The expected comment about my planning capability doesn’t come.

  The same thing applies to Vitalize. Yes, if he’s injured, that’s going to help, but I’ve already screwed up if it’s gotten to that point.

  Another opportunity for my dad to comment he isn’t taking advantage of.

  Dad?

  Keep going, I want to see how much of what I taught you stuck.

  You already know what I’m going to pick.

  But I want to hear your thought process.

  You already know that, too. You’re my subconscious.

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  Isn’t it amazing how often you say that, and yet, you still think of me as your father?

  Whatever. The only one that makes sense for me to get is the shockwave enhancement.

  Not the only one.

  The only one, since I’m the one that’s making the decision. It takes who I’m protecting away and clears the area immediately around me so I can prepare for the upcoming fight.

  Only if your opponent weighs less than you. This wouldn’t have helped against Bernard.

  That goes up as I put points into it. And I mass more than most people.

  But not most of the monsters you’ve encountered.

  I don’t see anything else in there that’s going to help me against that.

  That’s true.

  I ask for the tier three abilities.

  Any thoughts?

  That he doesn’t immediately have a snarky or denigrating reply for me tells me this tier isn’t going to be great. Healing magic is about the best of the bunch, I add, when he still hadn’t commented.

  I’m not going to contradict you. Everything else seems designed to get you into more trouble than you’ve already gotten yourself in. Knowing healing magic at least means you can stop depending on others for that.

  And I can use it on others too.

  You aren’t level ten, so it isn’t like it matters.

  I ask a variety of questions to the system, trying to get how much experience I still need to reach the next level, and get nothing. If it can be done, it’s beyond me. I’ll have to ask Terry.

  I ask for tier four—

  What’s the point? It’s not like you’re going to reach it anytime soon.

  I’m trying to plan ahead, so I’m not in this situation again. You know, having five ability points I didn’t use for four levels? Knowing what to expect means I can ask Terry for advice instead of depending on you.

  I call up Tier four.

  Well, that was a waste of time.

  Not really. Now I know that if I wanted to get Linked Casting, I’d want to get the prerequisites.

  And are you getting that ability?

  No.

  As I said, waste of time.

  Guardian’s Resolve and Endurance look interesting, but otherwise nothing jumps out.

  I call up the list for tier five

  I guess there are limits to what the system gives us access to. But at least I know what I want now.

  I put my five points in the Shockwave enhancement. To see if I can, I call up the list of healing spells.

  That can wait anyway.

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