Chapter 6

"So that is what has you spooked." I said to head off any argument. "It sounds bad, really bad. Still a bit of a jump to making a telepathic bond with me, one that I can't even make at the moment."

"You said you could upgrade them, do that until you can." Megan replied. "Once you can make the bond use the rest to activate a physical ability that gives you abs."

"Abs, seriously?" I asked. "I can get a superpower, and you want me to waste it on abs?"

"Got to agree with Megan." Karen spoke up then lifted her shirt a bit to expose her tan toned stomach, "Abs are their own superpower."

It took me a moment to pull my eyes away from Karen's exposed skin. It wasn't my first time seeing it, but she did seem fitter than she had before.

I shook my head. "Just because I can, doesn't mean I should." I told the girls.

"Stop being stupid Master." Enya spoke up.

"Huh?" I said looking over at the red raven. "Two very beautiful women are asking you to create a bond with them to ease their fears. Are you really going to make them beg for it?" she asked me then tilted her head a bit to peer at me as if asking if I was serious.

I shook my head. "I'm not going to make them beg. I'm just not going to do it." I replied then stared at Megan. "Think about it Megan. Even if I can make it work, and that is a big if, telepathy is the ability to read another person's mind. Not only would you get to read my mind, but I would also get to read yours."

Megan frowned at that as she reconsidered.

"What if you could use it to a lesser extent? Just sending and receiving thoughts?" Karen asked.

I looked at Karen in surprise. I could understand Megan, she was quick to come up with an idea and go for it with everything she had before she thought the whole thing through. Karen was always a much more cautious person.

I shook my head. "No, firstly I have no idea if I will even be able to do that. Secondly, I don't want anyone in my head, and I am sure you wouldn't either once you have a chance to calm down and think it through." I told her. "If you are scared then stick close to someone who makes you feel safe."

"Might be your only chance to tie them to you." Enya commented.

I shook my head. "No Enya, that wouldn't work out in the long run." I told her. "Besides girls, I told you I needed to practice with the fire ability and you want me to use the bond on you without even practicing?" I asked. "I don't even want to guess how badly I could mess that up."

"What else would you practice on?" Karen asked seriously.

I stared at her in shock.

Karen shifted closer to me. "You said it yourself Daryl. The bond works on living beings. What is the better idea? Practicing bonds with friends you can trust, or strangers?" she asked.

I hated it when Karen made sense, but even if what she said made sense I wasn't going to do it. I shook my head. "You aren't wrong Karen, and if you are both willing I can try the weak bond that lets us sense each other, but I am not going to use the few wisps I have to upgrade my mental ability in hopes it will unlock telepathy." I told her. "Or abs."

"Abs might not be a bad idea Master. It could only be accomplished with a physical ability which would improve your capability of surviving if you found yourself in trouble." Enya spoke up.

"Whose side are you on?" Megan asked.

"Do I have to be on a side?" Enya asked, tilting her head to the other side.

That silenced all of us.

"I will not do anything to harm Master or his companions, but as to your argument, I have my own opinion that isn't based on your fear of the twisted. As Master said staying close to him is your best bet if you want to be safe. Having the ability to speak to him from a distance won't help you when you get into trouble if he isn't nearby." Enya told us.

Megan seemed to deflate and leaned back into the couch. "Fine, I get it." she said. "The idea of running into one of those things, it just scares me, a lot, a whole lot."

"So what do you think he should do?" Karen asked.

"Practicing is good, never hurts, getting used to a power when it is weak will help in controlling it when it becomes stronger. Besides that, this world seems to have only recently began to increase its mana content. I don't know the why of that, but I do know it won't stop. Awakenings are triggered by mana waves. I don't know how many waves have already happened, but the ambient mana is too low for this to be over. More waves will come. Based on the conversations I have heard, Master should use what he has to create as many abilities as he can. When the next wave comes it should improve how much he is able to gain from the wave." Enya explained.

"How would that help?" Karen asked.

I bit at my lip as I thought about it. It made a bit of sense once I considered it.

"I don't know." Enya said confidently.

"I get it." I said.

"You do?" Karen asked.

I nodded. "From what I understand I can only hold so much mana within my core at one time. Once it is full I can't absorb more. With more abilities I will drain the mana gathered in my core faster letting me absorb more mana into my core." I told them as I pieced it together myself.

"But isn't there a limit to how fast you can absorb mana into your core?" Megan asked.

I nodded as my mind raced to figure that part out. "Yes, but that is based on two things, my ability to absorb mana, and the amount of ambient mana. Right now the ambient mana is low, so I am not able to absorb mana at my maximum rate. When the mana wave comes I should be able to absorb at my peak ability." I explained as I deciphered the information in my head to form the answer.

"Faster." Enya told us.

"Faster?" I asked.

"The mana waves are special, not sure how, something about the makeup of the mana, but it ignores your ability to gather mana. You will absorb it based on the number of abilities you have and some luck." Enya told us.

"Luck?" Megan asked.

"That makes more sense, the luck is how many abilities you unlock during the wave or how would he have three abilities and a connection while unconscious." Karen pointed out.

I groaned. "Doesn't that mean I could also gain some pretty nasty abilities then accidentally activate them? Like I did summoning and bonding with Enya?" I asked.

"Yes." Enya replied seriously. "Though to be honest I have no idea how any of that works. I only show up in the aftermath."

"Well then it seems like you know what to do." Karen said confidently. "Plus, I would bet the more abilities you already have the less likely you will be to gain new ones."

I nodded, that did make sense. If the mana was forced into my core but didn't have anywhere to go, it would need to make a place, like forming my mana heart or an ability. Now I had a better understanding of what had happened when I was making my mana heart and where the pain was coming from. Once my mana heart had formed I was out of whatever danger there was, but that didn't mean the mana wave was over. I probably gained my abilities between the formation of my mana heart and the end of the mana wave.

That only left me with one question. Should I use five wisps to unlock an ability I wanted, or use six wisps to unlock two random abilities. Two was better than one, but random abilities wouldn't be any better than gaining them from the mana wave,... except I wouldn't have to worry about accidentally triggering the ability. Though I wasn't actually sure if that was a risk. I would be conscious this time, wouldn't I?

"Enya, how often do these Mana waves come?" I asked.

"Sorry Master, I have no idea. The people in charge always had them form new abilities right away. Does that help?" she asked.

I sighed then nodded to her even though it didn't really. Gaining the new abilities as soon as possible could just be so they had the most time to learn how to control them before the next wave.

"Is there a problem?" Karen asked me while leaning closer. After scooching over earlier she was very close. Leaning towards me like that put her face right in front of mine. All I would have to do was lean forward a bit and I could kiss her. I glanced down at her soft lips for a moment before I was able to control myself. Internally I cursed myself for being a fool who couldn't move on. "Yeah, I can gain one ability I can think of and am compatible with, or two random abilities I am compatible with." I told her.

"Abs!" Megan exclaimed.

"Random." Karen told me.

"Random." Enya said, adding her own opinion.

"But…" Megan wanted to argue but stopped as she looked at Karen who gave her a serious look. "Fine." she relented.

I had no idea what just happened between the two women. I was curious, very curious, but seeing the look Karen gave me when she turned her gaze back to me I knew better than to ask. Now was the time to activate the random abilities. I was happy they agreed to that, it was what I wanted to do too. Two was better than one. Now I didn't have to worry about anything going wrong, they had suggested it themselves.