25
1236 Words
Sam was pestered by his sister until he actually gave real feedback on their actions.
“Matt, you’re a good team leader, but not a great general. Now, I’m not saying you can’t develop that in the future, but you don’t have the natural ability.”
Seeing something on Matt’s face, he hurried to add, “That’s not a bad thing. I sure as anything didn’t have the ability when I was Tier 6 either. s**t, I didn’t start learning to lead massive amounts of men until I was thrust into the position myself. I’m just saying, you can work on that if you want. On the flip side, you’re a natural as a squad or company-level commander. You seem to have a knack for small-unit leadership, which is a fantastic start.”
He looked at Liz and tapped her on the nose. “You need to trust yourself. You did well with the political s**t. Even I don’t like politicking, and I grew up when Mom and Dad were just Tier 20. Trust yourself, little sister.”
At that point, Aster returned and c****d her head at the newcomer, which necessitated another round of introductions.
Aster had no problems with new people and quickly situated herself into the man’s lap for pets. Meanwhile, she happily chatted about what she and the other bonds had gotten up to.
Matt mock glared at the lap traitor but had to laugh at the antics she had gotten up to.
Eventually, Mara and Leon returned, and they went out to one of the fancier restaurants on the other side of the planet.
The dinner was exquisite, but Matt mostly watched how Mara and Leon acted with their firstborn. For all their playfulness, they were generally concerned with his health and wellbeing despite him being Tier 35 and having fought in numerous battles through his advancement.
It was touching to see them care so much. And for all that, Liz was smothered by the attention Samuel seemed to happily welcome.
Samuel’s arrival put most of their plans on hold, as he and Liz spent most of their days with him. Matt found the older man easy to talk to; he was a good listener and always had a helpful suggestion to offer.
As one of Liz’s brothers, he would have been let in on their double identities, but that cat was out of the bag with him seeing them in their masks already, and he was more than happy to spar with both of them under each identity and offer suggestions.
While most of his suggestions weren’t groundbreaking, they were practical, and always were intended to help them reduce wasted movement and go for the kill.
It wasn’t hard to imagine why his combat style had evolved in that way, but both he and Liz took the lesson to heart.
Samuel had spent all of his time from Tier 15 to Tier 35 in the military, honing and perfecting his craft.
One thing that stuck out to Matt was their talk of Intents.
“Do you know what you three want?” The Tier 35’s question came after they had gone through a Concept workout. It was similar to Luna’s but focused more on practical power than the control she usually pushed for.
Liz was the first to speak. “Nothing yet. None of us have even finished converting all our essences with our Concepts yet.”
Sam shrugged as if that wasn’t an issue. “That makes it harder, sure, but there is nothing to stop you from exploring where you want to take your Intent. You can already start trying to shift your personality in that direction. While you’ll still need to deal with the uniqueness that everyone’s Intents demand, there’s nothing that stops you from nudging the process along. Tier 24 will be upon you before you know it, and you don’t want to get stuck at the end of the race, only to find the door locked shut.”
“I’d love for my Intent to give me mana concentration, but I have no idea what my Tier 25 Talent will be. It would be dumb to use my Intent for something that might be solved by my next Talent.”
Sam rolled his eyes, and flicked Matt’s forehead hard enough to make him see stars.
“Don’t be stupid. When I say push your Intent to the end you want, I’m not talking out of my ass. Having your Talent solve your mana concentration issue and having an Intent that does that isn’t a bad thing. The effects would be multiplicative. Also, your Domains are about finding your own true self amongst the chaos that is the world. If your Intent is farting bubbles on rainy days, and that fits you, that’s what you should go for. A fitting Domain is better than a Domain you think is powerful.” Seeing Matt’s raised eyebrow, he added, “Domain being the collective name for a Concept, Intent, and Aspect, if you didn’t know that yet.”
Sam then leaned in and stage whispered, “And with enough mental gymnastics, you can get almost any effect out of any phrase or image.” Sitting up straight, he added, “I knew a guy who turned a laziness Intent into letting him practice in his sleep. The man was always working but, somehow, was always lazy about it. Find what fits you, then work to make it practical.”
That got Matt thinking, but he didn’t have any easy answers. He couldn’t start trying to touch on his Intent, as Luna had strictly told him with no further explanation, but he let the Tier 35’s words percolate in the back of his mind.
The idea of using a laziness Domain to work hard gave him some ideas, not for his Intent, but for his talisman making.
Using that idea, he created a slow barrier instead of a hard-shelled barrier like [Mana Barrier]. It had some potential for a future project. For the same amount of mana, he could slow ranged attacks by creating a barrier of a jelly-like consistency, mixed in with a little repulsive force provided by his Concept.
As the end of the week came up, they had another masquerade to attend, and they wanted to see if any new top contenders appeared.
7
Zack studied the stream of information as it rolled in, looking for any clues as to the abilities or identities of the masked Pathers as he jotted notes into his spellbook.
Glancing at the time, Allie was now forty minutes late for her shift. If the patterns over the last week were anything to go by, he expected her to be late by another ten. And yet, that somehow managed to be an overall improvement.
He pulled up the information feed on the top ten Masks again and reviewed what details they’d sniffed out over the last two weeks.
Currently in tenth place, and determined to stay there, was a team of four who had matching masks, each emblazoned with a different number written in the same, dead language. The fact that they were using thirteen, twenty-one, thirty-four, and fifty-five from the golden ratio was interesting. Zack had whittled away hours looking for a connection between that and the abilities they had revealed so far, but he hadn’t cracked the riddle.
Yet.
- Writer
