Special Abilities

Fitz was the first one to go into the exam room to get her special ability checked out. It didn't take much money for the appraisal, but it would take all we had for Fitz and Russ to get their abilities checked out. The two had wanted Ona to get her abilities appraised too, but the silent girl refused.

Russ tried to push the matter, but the girl wouldn't budge so he gave in. They wouldn't have had enough money for it anyway.

The two of them waited until Fitz came out of the room with a goofy smile on her face. 

"I guess she likes what she saw." Russ remarked and Ona smirked. 

"Turns out that I'm awesome now." Fitz said, proudly.

"Yeah?" Russ questioned, "Never would have expected that to happen."

"Hey! Isn't the team leader supposed to like, not incite fighting?" She whined. 

Russ decided to move on. "So, what's the verdict? Can you fly or something?"

"Not quite. When I activate [Scout] I can sense any hostile people or a target within a large range. On top of that it gives me temporary physical enhancement boosting my body to about double its original capabilities for the duration." She said, still giddy with the excitement of having her own ability. 

"That'll be an asset alright." Russ mused, with his hand on his chin. "I don't see how that alone would raise your threat level so high though."

"Oh! And, with the ability to sense hostile people comes the more fine tuned ability of sensing hostile intent, so I know when someone is about to attack me." She added. 

"Hopefully we won't have to deal with too much hostile intent for the next hundred or so missions, but it's great to have our options open up. Maybe we really can make it up the ranks and make some real money." Russ said with checked excitement. 

Ona stuck her tongue out at Russ with the last thing he said. 

"And his true motivation comes out once again. Money." Fitz complained. "Don't you care anything for adventure or glory?"

Russ shook his head, earning a huff from Fitz and a shrug from Ona. It was the latter girl that Russ looked at, getting lost for a moment in her deep brown eyes. Even after all that had happened since then, the night that he went to the forest with her wouldn't leave his mind. The pale moonlight causing he skin to glow and hair to sparkle as she led him by the hand through the woods was a vivid image that stuck in his mind, almost haunting him. Why had she taken him to that tree? Was that where she stayed? Was she just being friendly... or was she lonely? These questions and a plethora of others stayed in the back of his mind constantly, but Silent Voice had been running ragged ever since that night. Even having almost been killed just the day after. After getting out of the infirmary, it was decided that the two of them would stay with Fitz in her apartment, in order to work on team bonding and coming together as a party. Russ never had the time to really digest the night or talk to Ona about it. 

"It's time for you to go in now, isn't it?" Fitz snapped Russ back to reality. 

Russ nodded, regaining his eagerness to learn what his special abilities were... and why his threat level is still only two. 

"Wish me luck." He said going into the room. 

Inside the room there was an older man holding a large stone tablet. 

"Step up to the mark indicated on the floor and activate your first ability." The man said in a business-like tone. 

Doing as the man said, Russ stepped up, activating [Greed]. The man studied his stone tablet for several minutes before speaking.

"Huh." He said under his breath before speaking up. "Ability: [Greed]. Effect: Imbue a nonliving object with an intense desire for a certain thing of the ability user's choice."

"What?" Russ blurted out. "What does that even mean? How could I use that?"

The man nodded at Russ's questions as if they were expected. "This is a strange ability for sure. As far as I understand the magic text," He referred to the tablet he was reading from, "It is similar to making an enchanted object or artifact. You will have to learn its limits and applications on your own, but when you use greed on an object the effects might exert some effect on the ones who come into contact with said object."

Russ shook his head in confusion, 'No wonder my threat level is still only two.'

"Well then, the record says that you have two more abilities?" The old man prompted. 

"Yes." With a sinking feeling, Russ activated [Apple of the Eye].

"Tch." The man let out another sound before reading out the ability. "Ability: [Apple of the Eye]. Effect: Place a weak blessing on an inanimate object to make others find it more favorable."

'What?' The same question went through Russ's head, but he kept himself from repeating it aloud. "At least the usage of that one is clear, whether it's useful or not."

The old man said nothing, only offering a cryptic smile. "One last ability?"

Russ sighed, activating [Return].

"Ability: [Return]. Effect: Place a blessing of return on an inanimate object up to a certain size. As long as that object is within a certain radius of you then you will be able to call it to your hand at any given time." The man finished off. 

"Okay, that one actually sounds pretty neat." Russ said, thankful to get at least one cool ability. "I guess I'll have to learn the size limit and effective radius myself?"

The man nodded. "Take your card to the front desk when you leave here. With this set of abilities you should be marked as an enchanter. There are no hard divisions or classes really, but labeling people that have certain skill sets makes it easier to organize them and make individual requests if needed."

"Awesome!" Russ couldn't contain his burst of excitement at getting his own title. "Thank you very much sir." Russ said before leaving. He filled Ona and Fitz in on what he had learned and they were both happy and jealous. Rather one was happy for him and one was jealous.

"No fair!" Fitz said. "I guess that is what I would expect from the captain though."

She seemed to ignore the fact that his abilities seemed largely useless, especially in combat. Ona gave him a thumbs up once she heard everything and the group went to the counter. 

After getting Russ's card updated the group took the rest of the day off, checking out their abilities. At the end of the day they ate with the last of their money and went back to Fitz's apartment. 

They were all in high spirits, learning about their abilities and the night ended on a good note.