Chapter 64

Before I had a chance to do anything, Karen and Megan picked up our wives like they weighed nothing then headed for the stairs.

I stared at the retreating girls for a moment then ran after them. "Hey wait for me!" I called after them, getting a laugh from the others.

I caught up to them at the bottom of the stairs. "Why the rush?" I asked them.

"Megan isn't the only one with a bad feeling." Karen replied while moving quickly towards our room then laying Caly and Grace on the bed carefully.

I sighed then pulled Karen into my arms and gave her a hug. She hugged me back for a moment then pushed me away. "Let's get our abilities dealt with first. That way we are ready for whatever happens." she told me.

I nodded. "I get it, but don't forget that Grace wasn't that worried about what was going to happen to us. If I understand that correctly, then no matter what happens at two we aren't going to be in any serious danger, at least not initially." I said as I tried to reassure them.

"That is a big if Daryl." Karen replied then pushed me onto the bed. "Either way, being prepared is the best idea."

Megan and Karen both quickly found space on the bed for themselves then closed their eyes and shifted their minds into their mana hearts.

With a deep breath I closed my eyes and shifted my attention into my mana core. Once I was inside I didn't waste any time. I was curious about my new abilities so I took a moment to look at them. The first was enhanced sight. I was a skill that allowed me to see farther with greater clarity, while it sounded simple, once I had put wisps into it I would never need to use binoculars again. Personally I felt it was an incredible support skill. Not as great as my mana sight, but still pretty good.

The other ability was an ability that surprised me. It was an ability called, spatial plane. Taking in the information I was sure that it was probably the ability that Caly wanted me to get after gaining all of the elements. Compared to my enhanced sight, I was surprised they could both be considered abilities. Spatial plane was definitely a very high ranked ability. With it I could create a space similar to my spatial storage, except it was like a tiny world. It didn't have an ecosystem of its own, but each of the elements was present so there would be no issues if I allowed living things inside it. Given the possibilities of the space, I could easily understand why it required me to have seven other abilities as a prerequisite to gain it.

Knowing that I already had the ability that Caly wanted me to gain, I quickly got to work. I went to my mana heart and shifted the embers back into wisps then drew out five to attempt a mental defense ability. I wasn't sure exactly which ability I wanted, so I just thought of the strongest mental defense I could obtain. The wisps swirled around each other then combined to form an ability called mental guard.

After gaining the download I was sure it was what I wanted. With that ability acquired I guided nine wisps into both my mental guard and spatial plane abilities raising them both to ten wisp each. I also shifted an additional three wisps into my last three elemental abilities raising them to ten as well. Once that was done I advanced all of my elemental abilities, then my mental, physical, mind guard, regeneration, and spatial plane abilities. With that done I had twelve abilities advanced to the second stage.

I had wanted to leave my physical at the first stage, but I wasn't able to advance my regeneration ability until I advanced my physical. I was thankful that I wasn't required to advance my spatial storage, though it made me wonder what exactly the requirements were. Did I actually need to advance my elemental abilities? Caly said I would need to so I didn't worry about it.

With all twelve abilities advanced I shifted the wisps in my mana heart back into embers then added an extra ember into my regeneration, mind guard, and spatial plane abilities. As I did I learned about the changes to each ability. I immediately understood why Caly wanted me to gain the spatial plane ability. The area I could create with my spatial plane increased tremendously with the upgrade. Also somehow the creation of the plane now included a microorganism ecosystem based off the world I am in when I create the plane. With each ember I put into the ability the area of space would increase significantly. At one ember I would be able to make a ten square mile area, at two embers that area increased to one hundred square miles. There was more to the ability, namely how I allowed others into the space, and how I shaped the terrain within, but I needed to give it a try to understand what all the information meant.

Despite how incredible the spatial place ability was, I loved the upgraded regenerations skill more. With it I could fully recover from any injury that didn't kill me outright. How long it took to recover depended on the number of embers and the severity of the injury, but I still loved the fact that I could regenerate a missing limb given enough time. I wasn't sure, but I had the impression that once I had ten embers in the ability I might even be able to survive being stabbed in the heart. I wasn't completely sure what the limits of the ability would be, but anything that made me harder to kill was a big plus in my book.

Even with the information about my mental guard and what had changed when it advanced, I wasn't completely sure what it did. When it was in its first stage it was a passive ability that stopped my mind from being influenced by other abilities. Now that it had advanced to the second stage it was still passive, but the number of things that it protected my mind from had increased, what else it protected me from was a bit fuzzy though. The one thing that stood out in all the information, was that I was never going to get drunk again.

Each of the elemental abilities now allowed me to control more of its element, and the sub elements connected to them. It also allowed my elemental companions to shift up a stage becoming more powerful. Which also reminded me that I needed to find time to summon the elementals of the other three elements. Delilah, Enya, and Sil had proven to be useful so I had high hopes for the next three.

The changes to my mental ability increased my perception and ability to process everything that was going on around me. I was sure it made me smarter, but it was more like I would have an easier time connecting ideas and understanding things than I could previously. Memorization would also be easier.

Advancing my physical ability seemed to cause my body to go through another transformation like when I had fully advanced to metal core making me stronger, faster, and more durable.

When I was done there were four embers left in my mana heart, but I decided to leave them there until I had a chance to talk to Caly.

With that done I shifted my attention back out of my mana core.

When I opened my eyes I found Karen and Megan had already sat up and were calmly talking to Delilah in her hot human form.

"Master." Delilah greeted when I opened my eyes.

I sat up and looked over at Karen and Megan. Both women were looking at Delilah curiously. "Delilah." I replied. "So are you ready to explain?" I asked.

"I can, but first I thought I should tell you about that issue I had warned you of earlier." Delilah replied.

Karen reached out and grabbed Delilah by the hand "Oh shit, your form is solid!" Karen exclaimed happily.

"Karen!" Megan grumbled unhappily.

Karen laughed then let go of Delilah and turned to Megan before wrapping her arm around the other woman's waist and leaned her head closer. They didn't say anything out loud, so I was sure they were talking to each other telepathically.

I looked at the pair of women for a moment, curious about what they were talking about. Then I shifted my attention back to Delilah, "Alright Delilah, what is the issue?" I asked her.

"It is the man named Jake." she told me.

Hearing that both Karen and Megan turned to look at Delilah. "What about Jake?" I asked.

Delilah hesitated a moment before speaking. "As you heard from Carol, he had not been awakened when the energy waves came. However, I am positive that he had awakened since before he arrived here." she told us.

"Why are you so sure?" Karen asked.

"He was affected by the first wave just like all the other awakened." she told me.

I frowned, "How? While the first wave didn't have a new mana spirit, it is still incredibly painful. With other unawakened around, they should have noticed." I asked.

"That is true, but he and Carol were keeping to themselves so no one noticed. Also he was one of the first to regain consciousness. When asked he claimed to have been watching after Carol." Delilah replied.

I frowned then shook my head. "Why even bother hiding it?" I asked as my mind raced.

"The only reason to hide being awakened is to hide his abilities." Karen said.

I frowned, I agreed with her. I couldn't think of any other reason to hide the fact that he was awakened, especially when his girlfriend had awakened.