Despite the fact that he got practically nothing from that fight, Mike was feeling good. He had completely wasted them "amazing...to think I've become this strong." However, he needed to level up, so he sent out a PM to everyone else



His message sent, he decided to train his ID skills a bit. Making ID fields and breaking them to level those skills. After all; they all couldn't be dependent on Ren to make an ID for them

Opening his eyes and not making a sound, Lucian stood back up to join Ren and Saito in the grind. "it worked." He had now obtained the power of the wind. He had questioned deep in his mind what would happen this time, as his last communication with nature had left him feeling as if he had drown, this last time was another surreal experience, as if he was rag dolled by the wind. The power of nature truly was horrific, powerful, destructive...yet...tranquil, soft and soothing. It was a strange mix that he felt every time afterwards...strange indeed.

He would try out his new moves, though only trying the wind one after confirming that he was strong enough to take the elementals as was. But would otherwise try to skill grind as his focus, and gain experience as a secondary objective. Always making sure he could see the others just incase a boss mob were to appear.

The power did indeed work. Upon saying its name, using it like any other Skill, a burst of wind would be launched from his palm, looking like a small, swirling wind. It did indeed work, but one of the six dots around the newest mark upon him was gone, meaning that the power only had five uses left before it expired and had to be renewed. The water one, if he tried it, worked as well, one of the six dots around the mark representing the water themed power disappearing, showing that it only had five uses left now as well, Lucian only having 68 MP left as using the powers did take a bit of MP despite their uses being limited. It was probably why these were only beginner abilities.

If Lucian used Observe on any of the elementals to 'confirm if he was strong enough to take them as was', he would receive the following window displaying their information.



Ren and Saito were currently fighting their own elementals, Undine helping Ren fight. The one Ren was fighting was pretty low on HP, Ren looking like he hadn't taken too much damage, Saito having just destroyed his as he looked back to Lucian, quickly running over to him. "Bout time you woke up, its been about a few minutes or so, care to join us?"

Nobody was answering...that kind of sucked. Maybe they were all busy or something. "This really bites; My ID Create skill isn't strong enough to make an ID with anything worth hunting. Zombies sound like they would be a good idea to hunt, and since I got that title from that boss fight, I might be able to solo them too. Alright, that settles it; I'm going to need to train my ID Create a whole lot. I don't want to have to rely on the others for something like this. Hummm...there don't seem to be any people out on the streets right. This might be a good chance" and with that, Mike began to walk home, using ID Create and Escape along the way.

Once he got home, he went to his room and sat down on his bed "okay, this time I've just got to get it right" he said as he began to meditate. Once he felt it's effects take hold, he tried to manipulate his mana again, hoping that he would finally get good enough to make a mana transfusion skill

Using ID Create and Escape over and over again was actually a bit tiring. While the two Skills themselves had no MP Cost, it still seemed that they, like all other Active Skills, consumed one's initial stamina, just as many other actions do in real life, and thus doing it over and over again could tire one out.

---

Mike Stamina: 18 - 18 Vit = 0

---

While it was indeed a bit tiring, Mike didn't seem to have too much of a problem using both a good number of times on his way home. He had to take a short breather only once, but that was just for about five minutes or so and could have been done without wasting any more distance between him and his house. He gained 3 Levels in both of those Skills during his walk home, which wasn't too bad for a Skill that seemed to level up more slowly than most of the other basic Skills he possessed, some more powerful, special, or more useful skills probably leveling up more slowly thanks to their nature.

After that, Mike began to try and meditate and figure out if he could manipulate his Mana. The lessons for controlling and flowing the energies within his body that Keiichi gave him during his attempts to learn the Seishin no Ken techniques and the style itself seemed to help. The Meditation Skill seemed to help out here as well when he used it.

---

Mike Focus: 96 (Fumble)

---

Unfortunately despite all of the things going for him, Mike still couldn't handle it. In fact, suddenly as he tried to control his Mana that same feeling overtook him once again, the one that happened before. As he tried to flow and manipulate his mana something went wrong. The shattering of glass inside of him, immense pain once again, the 'shards' seeming to stab and cut all inside of his very being. He would find all of his Mana instantly drained as though his spirit were shattered as if someone hit his very being with a hammer. It was excruciating, incredibly painful, but something he felt before back when he tried to manipulate his Mana after that boss battle.



It seemed that, for now, resting and recovering was his only option unless he wanted to try and do something else.

Wow, it happened again. That just sucked. However, Mike was far too stubborn to give up so easily; he would master his mana. On the bright side, he could finally make IDs with zombies (as well as wisps and ghouls), so that meant that he wasn't dependent on Ren for IDs to train in. "Gah, the pain" he moaned, "come on Mike, this is nothing. You've been in worse pain before. Remember that time you woke up on the operating table? That was a lot worse. So just power through this" he said to himself. Before he did anything else though, he got on to the Abyss Auction site to buy that Spirit Channeling for Dummies book as well as the Recipes for How to Create Different Kinds of Pseudospaces one, and he chose the express delivery option as well as the ATM card. He could afford to spend a little extra money to get it here faster since he needed to get stronger faster, and the stronger he was, the more money he could make. "Alright, now I just have to wait. I'm so excited, I wonder what kind of cool new stuff I'll be able to do with these books" he thought out loud. After that, he decided to try and see if he could get some EXP for his Observe skill by using it on things in his room

After Lucian finished using his skill to observe the wind elementals, he heard Saito chime in, asking if he was ready to join them.

"Yeah, I am about as ready as I can be at this point," as he pulled a bo staff from his inventory, tightly gripping it in his hands, "Mainly focusing on my skills today though, as they will be more of an undetectable strength. Something that we know, but people can't see. So, I will likely throw a few heals at the wind elements if it looks like we can take them, and grind my natures power over the wind. So less drops and raw experience, more skill experience and a bit stronger than we should be the next time someone tries anything."

Lucian saw no flaw with his logic, if they could take the wind elementals, might as well heal it and get the most out of his skills, rest for a moment if he ran to low on mana, or needed to get six more stacks of his power to use. This would be an efficient way of training skills, without having to move around as much to get to the elements. If relaxing was taking to long, he could always just pop a pot. He knew the idea of saving them for when they were needed was a good idea, but, like he found from gaming, often those items remain in your inventory till you beat the game, never used as no 'emergency' was ever bad enough. Better to train harder. He could always just save the big mana pot.

"I wouldn't say that I know them. I just know of them and have a few questions." she answered the other girl. "And it is nice to meet you. If I may ask, what is the language origin of your name?" she asked before she knocked on the door to the dojo.

She was unused to traveling with someone for an actual reason. Most of her time was spent alone or in the company of a guardian...aka a watchdog. So, she remained somewhat formal in her tone and speech so as not to offend Sasha.

As Mike finalized his purchase, choosing the express delivery option, and spending nearly all of his money on three books, he would hear something outside the window to his room nearly moments later. What appeared to be a small UFO with present tied to the underside, like some kind of strange delivery system. If not for how quickly it arrived, it would be almost comical. This was apparently how good the Abyss Auction was if it could get things there that quickly. Of course, as did Ren, Mike had to put in his address when he registered the account, but to deliver something in a few seconds to his window was quite the impressive, if not somewhat creepy, feat.

As what happened with Ren, a robotic voice instructed Mike to put the cash in a small hole that opened up in the top section of the UFO. Mike could try and just take the parcel and destroy the UFO to get free stuff, but pissing off the Abyss Auction probably wasn't a good idea unless he was suicidal since they seemed to have people working for them that were ??? Level and could get stuff to their windows in just several seconds. Needless to say, it would be better if Mike followed the rules, unless he decided to be incredibly bold and not do so.

---

"Heal it with wind based skills huh... sure, I don't mind, but don't you have any other powers you can grind? Sure these things aren't too tough, but they can still be a bit of a pain..." Saito responded to Lucian's inquiry about him healing the elementals around the same time that Ren and Undine managed to destroy the one they were fighting. Although he was interrupted as when Ren destroyed the Air Elemental, the level number above Saito's head went up by one, indicating that he leveled up, although Saito didn't seem to notice.

---

Lucian Negotiation: 54 - 31 Negotiation = 23

---

Saito gave a heavy sigh though and just nodded. "Alright, go ahead. Just be careful alright, using too much of a power on an elemental of the same element can not only heal it, but make it stronger too, so if you have any other Nature Powers on you, I suggest you grind those as well." With that he looked over and saw a lone elemental, it being about fifteen or so yards away. "Alright, you hit that one with your wind power then ill cast one of my spells on it..." With that he moved forward a short bit and began chanting, now being the time for Lucian to join in on the grinding.

"Wow! It's here already!?" Mike jumped in surprise. Taking out the money, he put it into the hole in the UFO. After he payed, he got his new books "this is so awesome!" Feeling really excited, he quickly used his new books to get the power they held...or rather that they taught "I wonder what kind of awesome new things I'll be able to do" he wondered to himself

"Ah. We've been training there for the past few days." Sasha was still shaken from the earlier attack. She couldn't help but check her mini-map every other second. "My mom's Russian. Dad has a thing for foreign culture," she explained. "Come to think of it, a lot of people in our little group aren't Japanese... I wonder if it means anything."

They had safely arrived at the dojo. Sasha crossed her arms and waited for Genji to answer the door, impatient to continue training her skills.

And soon Sasha's waiting would come to an end. The dojo's gate would open and standing there would be Genji Ban, wearing just a t-shirt and jeans, his hair a little wet as if he had just gotten out of the shower. "Sorry bout that, finished some brief training and was in the shower." He had a towel wrapped around his neck, using it to dry off his hair a little more before speaking once again. "So I take it you're here for training?" He looked to Sasha first before looking at Erica for a few moments before looking back to Sasha. "Either Silas turned into a girl, or this is another one of your friends with that special power of yours."

Genji then looked back at Erica once again, Erica able to see that he was Level 25, which was probably incredibly strong, and that his class was 'Heir to the Chikyū-shin no Ken'. "So, what's your name? My name's Genji, but... if you have that same power that Sasha has, then you can probably see that already."

"We've been reproducing," Sasha said with a grin, and invited herself into the dojo. "She's here to train. Silas will be coming shortly."

"We've been attacked by two guys. Someone wearing platemail and a magician. Does that ring any bells? Nobody's dead yet."

"Russian? Hm, it could. Do we have anyone that is fully Japanese?" she asked the other woman. She looked over at the man when he answered the door and read through the information she was allowed to.
"...Erica." the girl looked at the man and cleared her throat before she continued her answer. "My name is Erica Takagi-Ban. I am here for training and for some answers." the tall young woman met the man's eyes evenly.

Lucian nodded, he knew that it may be risky, but it seemed harmless enough to try it, "Tornado's Whirlwind." Aiming at the elemental which Saito was targeting, Lucian began to use his newest power, he could tell by reading the skill that it would be strong, but hen he felt the power of the wind in his hand before he unleashed it, it just made it ring even more true to his mind the forces that they could control and bend via the gamer ability. He would then try out Ocean Waves, which would be weaker due to the lack of water around, but still do more damage due to it not being the element which they were fighting. Any damage was better than healing a foe, but grinding was grinding, as long as they would make it out alive.

When Mike touched the Psuedospace Book, nothing came up. Touch it as much as he may, no notification window saying that he acquired a Skill Book or any window asking him if he wanted to learn anything appeared. The other two had the similar windows, stating that he acquired the Skill Books 'Divination for the Divination Challenged' and 'Spirit Channeling for Dummies', each one having their own window pop up of course, but nothing appeared for the other book. Which could only mean one thing, that the third book he acquired was not a Skill Book at all, but something he would probably have to sit there and read if he wanted to get anything out of it.

Upon hitting the Yes button on the window asking him if he wanted to learn from the Spirit Channeling Book, the book would glow a yellow color as it slowly began to vanish into what appeared to be glowing, ethereal scraps of paper that all flowed towards and through Mike, Mike feeling the power and knowledge of how to perform Spirit Channeling flowing into him.





Upon trying to learn from the Divination book, a red window appeared, much like when he tried to learn from the Scroll that Keiichi gave to him, and it read the following.



It appeared that Mike now had two Skills that were beyond his reach, one much less beyond than the other, and a book that seemed to require actual reading rather than pressing a button to gain its contents. Of course, reading would probably have to wait until Mike got some more rest since he was still in a large amount of pain from the Spirit Break Ailment, his MP still at 0 and it not replenishing at all.

---

When Sasha mentioned that they were attacked by two men and a brief description of both his eyes widened a bit, his laid back expression becoming more of one of concern, but that quickly fading and replaced with relief as he did hear that no one died. "Well, i'm glad to hear that everyone is alright. And those descriptions don't ring a bell... probably some small time Hunters. Still, the way you guys are right now im surprised that no one was killed... they must have underestimated you all or something, but that means that they probably will be back again soon."

With that piece of info out of the way, Genji turned to look at Erica now, deciding to address the next issue. "Ban huh... I guess either our last names are the same by coincidence or..." He looked into her eyes for a few moments, as if sensing something before giving a nod. "You must be from one of the other branches of our clan, which would make us distant cousins... if its training you're here for, by all means come in. But if its answers you want as well... then you are going to have to tell me what sort of answers you are looking for."

Genji took a few steps back and opened the double doors that made up the entrance gate a little more. "Still, this probably isn't the best place to talk, come in and we can talk more inside." After they walked in he closed the gate behind them and then took them over to the courtyard where he had taken Sasha and Silas beforehand when they first came here together for training and talking.

"So, aside from training, what sort of answers are you looking for Erica?"

First Lucian used his newest power, Tornado's Whirlwind, on the creature. Saito looked a bit impressed as a whipping, whirling wave of wind shot from his palm and towards the Air Elemental, another of the dots around the mark on his left arm disappearing once again.

---

Lucian Tornado's Wind: 91 - 79

---

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the blast completely missed the Air Elemental, not that it would have mattered since it would have either healed or even strengthened the elemental. The Nature's Power Skill did go up in level though after he used the Tornado's Wind power on, or at least in the direction of, the elemental. Right as Lucian unleashed his blast though the creature did begin to move towards them. Fortunately Saito's chanting was faster though as he unleashed one of his spells at the creature. Three barrages of those Arcane Missiles from before shot from his finger tips, all twelve missiles honing in and striking at the creature before it could get too close.

---

Arcane Missile Storm (Auto Hit)

Damage Dealt: 80

---

All twelve glowing blue missiles of arcane energy slammed it all at once, each dealing single digit damage, except for a couple that dealt 10, all at once. Despite that showy spell though the creature was alive, but barely, a measly 10 HP left, the likes of which Lucian was able to see thanks to his Observe Skill allowing him to see that information. Unfortunately the Elemental moved before Lucian could throw his second power, a blast of wind being shot towards Saito.

---

Air Pulse: 4

Hit! (Max Damage)

27 Damage

---

Saito was hit square on by the pulse, even being knocked back a couple feet as the attack looked a good bit painful, draining a good chunk of his HP. Fortunately though now Lucian was able to get off his next power, Ocean's Wave, launching the unseen wave of spiritual force towards the creature, leaving Lucian with only 38 MP left.

---

Ocean Waves: 10 - 12 Projectile = -2

Hit! (Max Damage)

Damage Dealt: 13

---

Despite being a weaker power, especially with no water nearby, the power hit on the mark, withering away the last of the creature's essence as soon enough the elemental faded out of existence, leaving behind another Air Crystal. This one looked a bit bigger than the ones the other Air Elementals from last time left behind, and it seemed to be glowing a bit more brightly than the other ones, meaning it was probably a stronger Air Crystal. Saito walked over to it and handed it to Lucian, holding a hand over his stomach. "Store this in your inventory for now and we can split up the drops later... ugh, lucky that attack didn't break a rib...I envy your power, no bodily damage from attacks must be pretty nice." One did have to remember that, unlike the Gamers, these others' bodies were 'normal' in a sense and could still be injured and broken.

"Anyway, I guess we can take Grinding today a little more slowly since these things are a bit tougher... although don't try too hard to heal them, mainly use your wind power to grab their attention if you are trying to grind that."

Huh, The fact that the Psuedospace book wasn't a skill book was kind of disappointing. He also wasn't sure what to make of the Divination book. However, the skill he got from the Spirit Channeling book intrigued him; he wasn't quite sure how he could use it, although he did have an idea; unlike what he had assumed, this was not a talent skill, which meant that it had to be leveled up like a normal skill. That 20 MP per minute was a really hefty cost...but Mike had a plan; he could use this skill to eat burn through his mana, and then use Meditate to recover it. He had been looking for a way to level that skill. Since he didn't have any way to quickly burn through his mana, he didn't really have any options. Decided that he wouldn't be able to do anything else today, Mike went to bed

Erica smiled thankfully at the man and followed him into the courtyard. She shifted from foot to foot fluidly, a habit of hers.

"The monks of the temple I lived in. The Garuda Temple. I asked them about my parents. Who they were, why I was abandoned...y'know, normal orphan questions. The head of the temple, Master Xia said that my father committed a grievous act against the Ban Family. The family of my mother. He didn't tell me what or why that affected me." she turned to her distant kinsman and seemed conflicted.

"I don't know their names...but I was hoping you had a familial record of some sort that I could look through?" she rummaged in her pocket and pulled out the familial seal of the Ban family branch she belonged to. "And to tell me what this is? I just...I just want find my family...and some training would be welcomed."

After saying goodbye to the group, Silas grabbed his bike that was still lying around somewhere on the streets, and went home. He was already gone for a few hours, Tomoyo probably would be up already, and probably dead worried. He arrived at the apartment he locked his bike and headed upstairs, constantly feeling in his pocket to check if the ring was still there. Why didn't he just have it in his inventory? It was just too precious of a gift to put in an 'inventory' maybe. He opened the door and saw Tomoyo sitting on the couch watching TV. Once she heard the door open she immediately looked up.

"Jeez, Silas! Where the heck have you been? Do you know how worried I was?" she said a bit angered, but noticeable not trying to be mean.

Probably not as worried as she has to be. I walked in and closed the door behind me. "Sorry sweet. I went to get something 'special' but it took longer than I thought. Met some friends on the way back, and got caught up in the conversation." Silas sat next to her and grabbed the ring out of his pocket. It was still in the little box, but the look on Tomoyo's face already started to get emotional. Silas opened the box and it revealed the ring. Silas chuckled. "No I am not proposing to you. But I wanted to buy this ring for you... it really fits you."

"I don't know what to say." Tomoyo said with one tear in the corner of her eye. She hugged Silas. "Thank you. But how in the world did you get all of this money? This must have been a fortune." she reacted.

"It was. But I kinda found a quick way to make money... and don't worry it didn't all go into this present. I have enough already to pay the rent and food for this month." Silas told. Tomoyo however got a bit suspicious now, and stood up.

"What exactly are you doing that gets you this amount of money? I want to know."

"Sorry, I can't tell you. At least not now. I hope one day I can tell you what exactly is going on, but not right now."

"Hahaha. You're not off that easily. Now tell me, please." she said not angered, but not happy either. More funny but at the same time serious.

Silas sighed. "Guess I'm not going to get away that easily." he chuckled a bit afterwards. "Okay. I'm not going into detail because I don't want to involve you. I got a special power, I've been training at the Ban-Dojo with people who have similar powers, and currently people are hunting me and the others... that is why I was delayed this morning. But don't worry I've got everything under control. And you don't involve yourself in this. You're my only weakness, and people might want to use that against me." Silas said and closed his eyes for her reaction.

"Okay." she simply answered.

"What?" I responded confused.

"I will see what happens. But don't die on me."

"Thanks Tomoyo." I answered. Silas stayed with Tomoyo for awhile. They ate something and watched some TV, and all this time Tomoyo didn't ask about his powers at all. What a great girlfriend. After some time Silas told that he needed to head to the Ban-Dojo. He grabbed his bicycle again and headed to the dojo.