Adapt (A Touch of Power Book 2)
Page 13
93%
Bluff
Intermediate 5
73%
Cold Resistance
Beginner 2
57%
Compulsion Magic
Beginner 9
54%
Contractual Magic
Intermediate 2
8%
Danger Sense
Intermediate 1
22%
Dark Magic
Beginner 4
72%
Deception
Intermediate 4
50%
Diplomacy
Intermediate 7
46%
Dodge
Intermediate 1
72%
Earth Magic
Beginner 10
16%
Eating
Intermediate 6
1%
Engineering
Beginner 6
61%
Fire Magic
Intermediate 2
91%
Flight
Beginner 4
53%
Glasscraft
Beginner 4
70%
Haggle
Intermediate 2
97%
Healing Magic
Intermediate 8
12%
Heat Resistance
Beginner 9
26%
Herbology
Beginner 10
79%
Hypnotize
Beginner 1
71%
Illusion Magic
Beginner 4
56%
Information Gathering
Intermediate 10
15%
Insight
Intermediate 7
12%
Intimidate
Intermediate 3
15%
Life Magic
Beginner 8
39%
Light Armor
Beginner 8
50%
Light Magic
Intermediate 8
12%
Lightning Magic
Beginner 6
68%
Magic Resistance
Beginner 6
89%
Mana Sense
Beginner 10
29%
Mathematics
Beginner 7
27%
Mental Fortitude
Intermediate 8
74%
Metal Magic
Intermediate 1
88%
Modeling
Beginner 9
36%
Nature Magic
Beginner 4
90%
Navigation
Intermediate 4
9%
Pain Tolerance
Intermediate 3
74%
Perception
Intermediate 8
7%
Perseverance
Intermediate 7
9%
Persuasion
Intermediate 6
81%
Resilient
Beginner 6
60%
Riding
Beginner 2
9%
Running
Beginner 7
69%
Sense Motive
Intermediate 7
24%
Singing
Beginner 6
65%
Sleight of Hand
Intermediate 4
44%
Small Blades
Intermediate 4
55%
Spatial Magic
Beginner 4
9%
Speed Reading
Intermediate 7
82%
Stealth
Intermediate 1
84%
Summoning Magic
Beginner 2
52%
Tailoring
Beginner 8
18%
Tracking
Beginner 6
1%
Unarmed Combat
Beginner 9
2%
Walking
Intermediate 7
72%
Water Magic
Intermediate 6
51%
Wind Magic
Intermediate 6
90%
Writing
Beginner 2
25%
She took careful inventory of her skills. Archery, contractual magic, danger sense, dodge, fire magic, intimidate, pain tolerance, small blades, and wind magic had all ranked up to intermediate. Contractual magic was the most surprising one, since she hadn’t even had it before yesterday, but given that she’d been using it herself and siphoned eight different people with it, she supposed it wasn’t too far of a stretch.
Nothing had gone up to advanced level yet, but information gathering was close. Well, closish. Level 10 was supposed to be harder, so she wasn’t sure how long it would take her to fill the remaining 85%, but she figured…she’d probably have it by tomorrow at this rate. Surprisingly, mental fortitude had pulled into second place at the top of her skills, with light and healing magic tied not far behind and perception right behind that. If someone had tried to siphon her, she supposed those were the five skills they’d see for her.
Either way, the fact that she’d woken up ravenous a few hours earlier made complete sense, and she’d demolished the food at her bedside. A few fellacai had woken and looked at her curiously, then gone back to sleep. Despite siphoning around sixty people that night, it hadn’t been all that bad, actually. Either adaptable was even more of a jackpot than she thought, or her rising con stat had something to do with it too. It was probably both and maybe more besides.
Getting out of the tub at last, she used her water magic to clean up the mess she’d made splashing earlier and to dry herself off. Wind magic blew through her hair carefully, leaving it in beautiful wavy layers. She thought about what classes she had today—no combat classes, but she had her nature tutoring, geography, water, and light classes. However, she was also going to the guard post. She kinda just wanted to leave her hair down; it was so shiny!
Still, that wasn’t completely practical, so she did a crown braid across the front like she had when she went to meet the royals; it was out of her face, but the rest of it was able to hang freely down. Grinning, she went back to her room, opening her door to find her little fellacai fluttering all over, exploring the room.
As she entered, they stopped exploring to come over and greet her, their little forms whirling around her with glee. She laughed and chirped at them, “Good morning, my lovelies.”
“Morning! Good!” They mentally squeaked back at her. She grabbed a few things she’d need for the day, putting on her awesome boots and packing a few spare changes of clothes into her bag so she could leave them in her workshop. Thinking about something, she quickly closed the door to her room so no one could see her being ridiculous. She began to flap her arms, thinking that if she was going to fly, that was probably what would do it, since she didn’t have wings. To her disappointment, all that happened was she looked ridiculous, to the point that Lilith hovered in front of her face and asked in her tiny voice, “What doing?”
Jade smiled at her little queen, then replied with a small smile, “I was trying to fly like you!”
Lilith fluttered around for a moment, then finally responded, “No wings. No fly.”
Jade sighed, nodding as she said, “Makes sense.” But if she couldn’t fly without wings, why wouldn’t the system give her a correction when she siphoned it? She supposed it was probably just a movement skill, like running or walking. If she could fly, it would be easier to move through the air without crashing into something. Too bad she didn’t have wings. In DnD, all they needed was a stupid flight spell to be able to soar through the air…
She hit her head with her hand. “I’m an idiot!” she muttered, while the fellacai seemed
to be confused at her behavior, fluttering around her again. She slowly started pushing the feeling of magic through her body, thinking, I am light as a feather! I can fly! The warmth of her magic tingled through her veins, and then slowly, she began to float off the ground. Elated, she gave off a whoop of laughter, pumping her arm in the air in jubilation…which turned out to not be her best idea ever. She shot up, hitting the ceiling and flattening against it with a loud thump.
She heard shouts and yells from the corridor. Then her door burst open and Raphael was the first one through. He looked around frantically, not seeing her as he called out, “Jade!?”
His confusion only lasted a moment as she lost concentration on her spell, and she was suddenly falling. Slamming into the door in her best approximation of a belly flop, she ricocheted off and barely managed to put her arms out to arrest her fall so she didn’t slam head first into the floor. Still, her elbows, stomach, and knees were killing her!
“What on earth…?” Raphael and the people behind him—Jessica, Kaylee, and a few curious students—looked absolutely confounded. “Where did you come from?”
Jade grimaced, healing herself quickly as she sat up and rubbed her elbows, which had taken most of the impact on her arms. “The ceiling.”
Raphael asked slowly, as if talking to a child, “And how did you get on the ceiling?”
Jade grinned up at him. “Magic! I think I just learned how to fly!”
She could hear Jessica and Kaylee groan as they turned, shooing away the other students. Raphael offered her a hand up, which she took and allowed him to pull her to her feet. She was elated, and her fellacai were frantically circling her as Ramoth hovered in front of her face, ordering imperiously as she scolded, “Need. Learn. Fly. Better!” Jade just giggled and nodded at her.
“Okay, Ramoth, I’ll learn to fly better. You guys can teach me.” Looking appeased, Ramoth and the rest of her fellacai swooshed towards her head, seeming to like her new hairstyle, as she now had a crown of beautiful butterflies peering at the world.
Raphael shook his head, looking at her, then at the crown of fellacai. “I…” He paused, as if unsure what to even say. He ran a hand through his hair, then shook his head again. “Eventually, I’ll stop being surprised by the stuff you do…and how you look.” The last part was a mutter that she realized she wasn’t supposed to hear, but it made sense. She did look rather different from yesterday, though she was still recognizable.
“Maybe. But until then, let’s eat breakfast!” She grabbed his arm, taking her bag, making sure she had her sunglasses and her wallet with her keys and cards, she dragged him out of the room, locking it behind her as they descended to the common room. He excused himself to go do other things, while most of the students were now sitting in the common room and looking at her with curiosity. Kaylee and Jessica had returned to the kitchen to save the food from burning and serve it up.
She grinned at the students, showing them her brilliant white shine as she saw Jackson, Evan, and Adam. Chloe, Ian, and Mathis were also at the table next to them. She walked over to Jackson, plopping next to him and smiling at Chloe, with a small nod of her head beckoning the three of them over. Jackson looked a little surprised as Chloe, Ian, and Mathis immediately grabbed their plates and relocated.
Jade greeted them all. “Morning, everyone! Jackson, Evan, Adam, meet Chloe, Ian, and Mathis. They’re in my contractual magic class.”
She relaxed as the tension left and they started chatting amiably, until finally Jackson addressed the elephant in the room. “So Jade…” He paused as Kaylee brought her a giant plate of food, winking as she set it down in front of her and then left just as silently. Jade immediately started digging in, looking at Jackson with a ‘what?’ look. “There are some rumors that there was a mesmer attack last night…and we had a bunch of guards in here until all hours of the morning. Care to explain what happened?”
Jade swallowed, smiling innocently. “Why do you think I know?” He just gave her a look and she relented, seeing that everyone at the table pretty much had the same look on their faces. Apparently, there was no getting out of this one. “Fine, fine. I was on the roof and had a few mesmer come for me. They’re dead now.”
Chloe sighed across from her. “Really, Jade? I think you skipped a few parts, like how many is a few and how did they die?”
Jade had shoved in another mouthful of food by the end of her question, so she quickly chewed and swallowed, sighing with a smile. “There were three, but at first there was just one. I killed it with blood magic, called the guards, and then two more showed up and tried to grab me and the body. I trapped them in with wind walls and then suffocated them, and by that point Raphael and the guards were there, so they finished them off.”
She looked at her food, remembering that she’d killed them, or at least that she’d killed one and basically killed the other two, though she hadn’t landed the killing blow, technically. She remembered losing her cookies afterwards…and then shoved more food in her mouth. She wasn’t going to regret killing them, even if her brutality last night had shocked her. She paused, thinking.
What about last night was it that got to me? Was it the possibility of death? Nothing new there, even if I suppose having knives in your face is somewhat different than a wasting disease. Was it the fact that I killed them without any hesitation? Or maybe the fact that I witnessed death, even if it was my own fault. It could even just be the realization of how much this world is changing me…
She shrugged to herself, shaking her head and shoving more food in. Whatever the cause of her breakdown last night, there were probably going to be repercussions she’d have to deal with in the future, but that was future Jade’s problem. She had enough on her plate right now…well, not completely true. Her plate was empty, and she looked at it a little forlornly.
Looking back up, she caught the others laughing at her sad look as Evan said, “Kaylee’s bringing you more.”
She brightened, and then Ian asked her with wide eyes, “So what Jackson said is true? You’ve had four mesmer come after you in under a week, and they all died?”
Jade pondered this. It was more like under a few days, but she was trying to remember when the first mesmer attack had happened. Saturday night? It seemed like eons ago. Either way, she nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s right. I was hoping that they wouldn’t make it into the city. There’s a trap we’re setting up that will hopefully stop them before they can hurt anyone in the future. I’m going to go check on it after I finish eating.”
Jackson looked curious. “But what about morning fitness classes? You already missed yesterday.”
Jade smirked at him as Kaylee brought more food. She smiled her thanks at the girl, who nodded, then turned to Jackson as she cut her food, preparing to eat once again. “I’ve been excused from them. My first class is private tutoring at eleven today. If the wall doesn’t take too long, I’ll try to make it back to heal people up after fitness ends.”
They groaned in unison, and Adam barked out with a sigh, “So not fair.”
She grinned. “Don’t be too jealous. My small blades class is private tutoring, so for an hour, I get cut to shreds repeatedly and have to heal myself while trying to counterattack and not get cut up even more.”
They looked a little horrified at this. “Wait, Viscount Xay is privately tutoring you? With actual blades, not wooden ones?” Adam asked with a gulp.
Jade nodded, and there was a collective shudder at the thought. “Enjoy your morning!” Mathis chimed in unremorsefully. It seemed what she was going through was far worse that what they had to endure, which is why she’d brought it up. She’d gotten a serious workout yesterday, and it was probably the class she’d grown the most from. Healing, dodging, blades, unarmed combat when he knocked her knives away, running, perception, perseverance, mental fortitude to keep going…he’d pushed her to her limits. She probably needed to thank him, since that’s most likely what kept her alive last night.
When she finished her meal, she announced, “Well, I have things to do, people to see, but I’ll talk to you lot later!” She grinned at them as they echoed her goodbye, and she walked towards the door, singing under her breath as she remembered her breakthrough, “I can fly, touch the sky, I can fly!”
She may not have had pixie dust, but she figured her fellacai were close enough. Absently, she pulled up her sheet once more, looking for something new. There was nothing under F, so she kept scanning until she finally found it.
Gravity Magic
Beginner 2
75%
Boo. Freaking. Yah. Although gravity wasn’t on her list of known magics… Oh well, something to look into later.
As she walked away, she heard Evan’s whisper, “Is it just me, or is her hair shinier than yesterday?” Oh right, she’d almost forgotten! There was a slight spring to her step as she opened the door and walked out into the sunshine.
Chapter Seventeen – Frank
Sticking her sunglasses on, she looked around only to see three guards straightening as soon as they saw her. She paused, stepping away from the doorway so she wouldn't get hit by someone else coming out as the guards approached. She smiled at Christopher, who was now accompanied by two other guards. As she stared at his face, she realized one of them was Dalton, the guard she'd healed after he jumped in front of a mesmer for her. The other one looked vaguely familiar as well, and she finally placed him as Sir Bick or Sir Tanner, one of the two who'd accompanied Christopher to escort her home that night. She greeted them cheerfully, "Hey guys, you my escort to the gate today?"
Christopher nodded, looking a little wary at her bright cheeriness. He was studying her as if unsure she was the right person. "Yes, Lady Jade?"