Chapter 28

"Yes!" Delilah insisted quickly.

"Really?" Courtney asked. "No offense Daryl, I just want to understand." Courntey added quickly.

"None taken, I am just as lost as the rest of you." I told her then frowned. "In truth I want to know why she never said anything until now. Some warning would have been nice."

Everyone at the table was silent for a few moments as they pondered that for a few minutes.

"What did that stuff about being a convergence mean?" Megan asked.

We all looked to Delilah.

Delilah settled on the table in front of me then looked around at everyone that was watching her. "From what Daryl's mother said there are eight world chains that connect to this one." Delilah told us.

"She called them strands." I commented.

Delilah nodded. "Different schools of thought use different words, it is the same thing. Now do you remember how I said a hub was a meeting of world chains, usually four, which meant eight worlds and half of those would have to be full of mana before the hub's gates would start opening?" she asked.

I nodded along with everyone except Grace.

Delilah caught that difference in responses. "Hmmm, well I am not doing a recap now. But the more worlds that are full of mana the more gates that will open each week releasing mana into this world. Also there is usually only one emotion that can trigger the transformation to a twisted. A normal hub with four chains would only have to deal with four gates and one emotional trigger. A normal convergence with four chains differs in that all the other worlds attached to it must be saturated with mana before the gates will open. Also there will be two trigger emotions that can cause a transformation into a twisted." she told us.

"Wait, two emotions?" Karen asked. "How?"

"Remember I spoke of the mana spirits?" she asked but didn't wait for us to respond. "Think of the convergence as a meeting place between the territories of the mana spirits." she told us.

"But you said that was theoretical." Karen pointed out.

"Yes, the exact mechanism is unknown but the idea is still sound." Delilah replied. "Besides it is the easiest way to explain the concept. Doesn't change the fact that more than one emotion will cause transformations."

"Can we tell the difference, or will it not matter?" Micheal asked.

"Yes, and yes. Before that though this world is not a normal convergence." she told us.

"Hey Heather!" a female voice said interrupting our conversation. We all looked up to see Samantha had come over to our table.

Seeing her up close I could make out the resemblance between the sisters better.

"What are you guys doing here?" Samantha asked with a smile.

"We came to get you." Heather replied honestly.

"Bit early Heather, I don't get off until nine." Samantha replied.

"Have you been watching the news?" Micheal asked.

"Those monsters?" Samantha asked.

I leaned back in my chair and ignored the conversation as I reflected on what was implied. Since I heard what my mother had said I could guess where the conversation about the convergence was going. Instead of two emotions that triggered the transformation there would be four, with eight strands there would be sixteen worlds connected to ours. Since all of them would have to have been saturated before any of the gates would open then we would have sixteen gates that would be opening to flood our world with mana, four times as many as what had already opened, eight times as many as I could actively remember. Twelve more gates for five and a half more days. With those numbers it wouldn't be odd if another gate opened tonight.

I didn't forget the fact that my mother was recommending a harem, I did find it odd since she left my father for sleeping around. Then again maybe it wasn't because he had been with another woman but hid it from her, or lied. I was so young back then that I didn't remember.

It didn't matter though. I had already decided to leave things as they were and see how things went. I cared for Karen and Megan, Micheal could be a problem but if Megan was honestly interested and didn't mind Karen, I would figure out how to deal with him.

Mother had said to rope in Grace, but I could talk to Karen about that later, I wasn't going to ruin whatever we had going on now just because of a comment from my mother. I was curious about Grace's abilities, but I could ask her about those once we were back in the car. Instead I decided to take a look at my own abilities, with all the mana I absorbed from Mike, I should have a few more wisps I can use, plus those from the last gate opening. If there was going to be another opening tonight I should use the wisps I have to make a few more abilities.

'Delilah, any thoughts on abilities I should try and get?' I thought towards the shadow fairy.

'Healing and regeneration. Besides that other elements would be good. Though with those you would have to add wisps so you can summon an elemental. Having more elementals would help you if you get into another fight. A taming ability would also be good. If you could tame the beasts before they gain too much sentience that would help later on.

I nodded to myself then shifted my attention into my mana core. Before I made any decisions I needed to see how many wisps I had. If I remember correctly I had eleven after saving Grace, then I used five to gain the mana sight ability, so I should have six not counting any gains from Mike.

I shifted my consciousness into my mana core now that I had a moment, I wanted to see how many wisps I had now, and what changes had taken place after repeatedly draining Mike of mana. I had seen some changes but didn't pause to notice which ones it had been.

Taking a moment I found the changes. My mental ability had gone up to three and the link between mental and bond had become active. Besides that the number of wisps I had now was eleven. So I was sure I had gained five wisps from Mike instead of the two I gained from Grace. Given I drained him more than once it made sense, then I remembered I had also awakened Rosa, so I would have also gained some wisps from that like I had with Grace. With eleven wisps I could focus on a specific ability, with enough for a random, or two random with two extra.

I considered it for a few moments before drawing out five wisps and attempting to gain the regeneration ability. I already knew I couldn't get healing, and having an ability that would put me back together if I got injured sounded appealing.

I watched with bated breath as the wisps circled each other in an ever narrowing circle until they touched each other. The five wisps finally united into one and a new ability appeared. The image was a human silhouette with a glowing golden circulatory system. A single wisp floating around the head.

I sighed in relief at the appearance of the ability. As I had six wisps left. I wanted to increase the wisps in a few abilities, but gaining another ability sounded like a good idea too. I didn't want it to be random though, but if I gained an element I wouldn't have the wisps to add to the ability and summon a new elemental. As such wouldn't it be better to strengthen my abilities like regeneration? Considering it for a few more moments I gathered five wisps and tried to form a new ability. Thankfully the ability formed and a new image of a wolf with a color appeared in my mana core. I had chosen to get tame as the sight of a thirty feet tall elephant was difficult to forget. Then instead of adding the last wisp to either ability I attached tame to bond as I was sure the two would work well together. I wasn't wrong, the moment I considered it the wisp flew out to form the active bond like it had been just been waiting for permission.

With that done I shifted my consciousness back out of my mana core. Looking around I found Samantha was gone, but there were drinks in front of all of us. I grabbed the one in front of me and found it was sweetened tea.

"I ordered for you." Karen said after I put my cup back down.

"Thanks." I told her.

"What were you doing?" Micheal asked.

"Using the wisps I gained from the last gate and draining mana from Mike and awakening Rosa." I replied.

"Get anything good?" he asked.

"Regeneration and Tame." I told them. "Don't ask what they do, I will take the info dump later when we have more time." I told them. "What about Samantha?" I asked.

"It didn't take much convincing. She is going to quit after we are done with lunch." Heather told me.

I nodded, then looked at Karen. "What did you order me?" I asked curiously.

"I ordered you a bacon cheeseburger with avocado on the side." Megan spoke up from the other side of me.

"Cool. Thanks." I told Megan, giving her a smile.

"Daryl?" Karen called my name to get my attention so I looked back to her. "If your mom knows all about this stuff, why didn't she give you a heads up? I know it would have been hard to believe before it started to happen, but some warning would have been nice.

"She knew? That is a surprise, but I would guess it is because this all started sooner than expected." A male voice said from beside the table. We all looked up to see my father standing beside the table looking down at me.

"Dad." I said staring at the man in surprise. He was a tall broad shouldered man with straw blonde hair and green eyes. When we were standing next to each other, only those who looked closely at my facial features would even suspect that we were related, let alone father and son.

"Daryl." he said in return. "I need you to come with me now," he said. It was obvious he was prepared for an argument.

"Damn." I said with a groan. "Save my burger?" I asked Megan.

She shook her head. "Sure, if you want to eat it after it has sat in the car for a few hours while we go shopping.

I winced, then shook my head. "Fine." I said then pushed my chair back so I could stand up. As soon as I had Karen leaned over to give me a quick kiss, followed a moment later by Megan.

"It's none of your business." Megan said a moment later.

I looked over to see Micheal scowling but I ignored him as I stood up.

"So where are we going?" I asked my father.

He seemed surprised then reached out and placed his hand on my shoulder. "To meet some girls." he replied with a smirk then my vision swam while my vision felt like it dropped down to the floor. A moment later my sight went back to normal, but I wasn't standing in the restaurant anymore.