Into the Swamp

My first thought was giving the ticket to G, even if I'm tempted to just take it for myself I can get things from that level from system easily now, actually right now I can buy those powers for myself, but the way to improve my friends are not that many, at least not the efficient ones. Also, the chaotic nature of my power might get on the way of the "predictions" that the power can make, so it's not that useful when I use it.

Unfortunately, since G already has Combat Perception this ability wouldn't be a good match for him, from the understanding I have of this powers and some other abilities that I have seen in the store I have a general idea of how they work. Combat, probability, causality and some other types of perception have different routes to achieve similar effects. Combat perception it's a lot more limited than the other two that I mentioned, but it still had a lot of stuff in common, so even if G's power is a lower tiered version that's only used for combat, it wouldn't be that effective for him to have it.

Sophie doesn't know about the system, and it's going to stay like that for a while, so she is also out of the question, Rose isn't suited for it either… she might even be able to achieve the same effect with some knowledge with the processing speed she has in her brain.

That leaves, Hayley and Hope as the best candidates for it. If I consider Hayley's position as one of the leaders of the hunter teams, she should be able to use this together with her tactics skill and achieve good result while hunting.

On the other side Hope's ability is more versatile and knowing her she should be able to use this in creative ways, she might even upgrade her understanding of the power and advance to C-Rank.

"What's on your mind?"

Rose left the claws on the nightstand and sat at my side looking at the ticket in my hand.

"I'm not sure who I should give this power to."

I was about to explain to her my thought process, but she looked back at me and interrupted me before I could talk.

"Hope is probably better suited for it."

I think she reached the same conclusion as I did, but she was biased towards my sister due to her conflict with Hayley…

"Why not Hayley?"

"Well, first Hope is your sister, and you should prioritize her survival don't you think?..."

… Even if she is biased, she is right about that…

"Leaving that point aside, even if Hayley's current position in Green Shelter will make better use of it, we are not going to stay here. In the future, it's not her who is going to be giving orders… you are our leader… and if the orders don't come from you, it will be Dante or me. I agree that her ability is amazing, but currently it's… too one dimensional she can freeze stuff but there isn't more to it, and that's unlikely to change, Hope's power is more versatile and has a lot more of possibilities. She would definitely get more from Causality Perception than Hayley in the long run too since that kind of knowledge will improve her understanding of her own power…"

After hearing it from her, I understood that indeed for a short time Hayley and Green Shelter would get the most out of this power, giving it to Hayley would mean a short boost for Green Shelter, but it wouldn't be a huge boost to us. We need to think of the future and if I use that point of view Hope is the best suited for it.

I looked back at Rose in amazement as I nodded.

Even if it didn't take me too much time to get to the conclusion of giving the power to either Hope or Hayley, she was able to take another step after hearing the problem almost instantly. I couldn't help but fill that I need to boost my intelligence.

"You know that you are amazing right?"

She blushed a little with the unexpected compliment and was ready to say back something like "I know right", but I stopped it by sealing her lips with mine. She responded to the kiss and pushed down to the bed…

…

Two days went by.

Yesterday I gave the Esper ability to Hope, the blueprint and materials to G, and the purple coat to Isabella who couldn't believe that I gave her such item.

The coat defenses were high but it was too nice to take it to battle, and I learned from the past that no one is safe, if instead of a chihuahua that power fell on a snake the losses would have been higher than when the Alpha Cow sent the sneak attack.

After that, the food tasted even better than usual…

Today was the day we have planned to go to the swamps.

We have the map of the area that Hayley visited, besides that as this might take a few days we were asked to continue the mission of mapping other areas.

The team was, of course, my party, plus Emma (with Alfred included…) and Sophie. During yesterday's training, I asked Sophie if she wanted to join my group now and since she accepted happily, she was also part of the Aes Sidhe. There was no pop-up for her because not all the people that belong to my faction knows about the system's existence. Just a verbal agreement is all I need to add them for now or to kick them out.

This was counted as a high-profile mission, so besides my people, Blake sent some people with us.

Mark, Giorgio, shotgun-guy, two shielders, and a sniper were with us. Giorgio was selected to help with the mapping, even if it isn't his area of expertise, he is capable of doing it and can defend himself with his Esper powers.

Without counting Rose's pets, we were fourteen people for this mission. The group was too big to my liking, but according to Hayley, this is fewer people than when she came here. I understand that the place we are going might be filled with beasts and despite our abilities, sheer numbers might at some point be overwhelming for just us, the extra "tank" are always welcomed to the group.

We left through the west gate and went to the swamp leaving the city without any mishap on our way.

As we get to the border of what used to be a dark green forest the place was completely different from what I remember. I haven't been in the place since the battle against the Alpha Snake, and the fire made a mess with this place.

The floor was still covered by the ashes, and unlike before the sunlight didn't have any trouble finding its way to the soil.

The only thing that could be seen standing were blackened half-broken trees. My heart ached a little when I thought that I was responsible for this destruction, but I couldn't do anything to solve it.

We moved to get into a battle formation, Mark and G at the front the goons protecting the flanks and Alfred at rear guard. Shotgun-guy was near Alfred in the case that he needs support. The sniper and Sophie were near Hayley at the center with Emma and Giorgio.

Rose fed me with information while she moved in her Astral form in the sky. She had seen the map of the area, so she had a good idea of the topography of the place and where we are going.

Since we have no clue of where the last corrupted beast might be we are planning to pick the mapping mission where Hayley left it. Because of it, I told Mark and Hayley to guide us there as they already know the way.

While they guided the group, I was talking with Rose who was constantly surveying our surroundings.

It took a while before we were able to see something green again, and it's in this area where we finally found some beasts.

Sophie's ability hasn't grown enough for her to use the bow as she wanted, so she had to stick to the crossbow for the moment.

I didn't need to make any move, but still got some points from G's and Hope's kills. The beasts that appeared were pretty weak and didn't hinder our advancement at all. After walking for a couple of hours at a fast pace while killing some minor beasts, we finally arrived at the area where Hayley killed the corrupted beast.

This place was also the last one to be mapped so from now on we had to rely on Rose's ability to know where to go and move slower to give Giorgio enough time to do his job.

A stream of images of the surrounding came into my mind as I thought of our next move. This place wasn't affected by the fire, and it was most likely going to be filled with the remains of the Alpha Snakes lackeys. I already identified some areas with beasts, but none of them seemed to be the one we were looking for.

So we had to just go deeper into the heart of the swamp.