Mathew

Dunking his head under the water, Mathew was amused as bubbles tickled their way out of the gaps between the plates of his armor. Breaking the surface of the water, he shook his head by rote. Resting his arms across the back of the tub, Mathew looked to Harper.

"Hey," Mathew said. "Thank you. I needed this."

Maybe a little bit of embellishment but from what he was picking up with his Mental Attack skill, everyone else needed some room to breathe.

"You're welcome," Harper flashed a small smile.

"Think we can drown the bird?" Ben asked.

"Can't go a minute without business, can you?" Mathew asked back.

Intense irritation rolled from Ben. But he just grunted.

Trying to recover, Mathew kept talking. "Pretty good meeting spot, though. Any chance we can get a table in the center to make this a more official conference room?"

"Haha, I'll uh... see what I can do." Harper smiled again. "Anyway, Ben, the Hub can only make so much water in a given time. The limit used to be energy, but now it's actually the spring from my transition world. Best I can tell it became a magical spring when it transferred, but as a component, its grade can be a limiting factor."

"No drowning then, huh?" Ben chewed on his lip.

Mathew shifted his awareness into his menus. A lot had changed, and he had to integrate those changes into his understanding. Huh, maybe he needed the downtime too.

A lot of the changes were locked behind him having an uncontested Territory. With the minor irritation he could manage from the clutches of a hot tub, Mathew shifted to the options he had agency over.

[Living Skeleton Armament - Prime

Mastery over Living Skeleton Equipment, both weapons and armor

Increase skeleton strength and durability 10% per skill level

Increase skeleton weapon damage by 1% per skill level

Increase skeleton armor protection by 1% per skill level

Prime adjustment

Benefits - Due to a history of occult activity, overhealing will funnel into armaments.

Cost - As the skill progenitor of this evolved skill, the ability to summon and dismiss the armament is restricted to .25% per level. Currently using 0/6.25%]

Hope rose and stuck in his throat like a clenched fist. Gingerly he felt into cost adjustment. Details flowed out. As the living progenitor of the skill, Mathew became a biological template of sorts. The world would use his template to emulate the skill to anyone he gifted Living Skeleton Armament to. This would let others gain power based to some degree on Mathew's achievement. The cost he had to pay was relative to what the skill would be to others.

Anyone who was gifted the skill would grow gear in their own metaphysical world and could summon or dismiss it by will. By comparison, Mathew could only transfer a small amount of his armament to another place.

Resistance against his hope crumbled away. He could take his armor on and off. Not all of it, not right now but eventually. Feeling into the skills 'user guide,' Mathew found he had to select a portion of his Living Skeleton Armament. Then the skill would integrate it to a separated physical space that would still be connected to his Health. While his skill built the space, it would also construct the version of himself that didn't have the armament attached. When he swapped the armor or weapon away, he would have skin and even hair underneath.

How much is 6.25%? Mathew thought. By experimenting, he found it wasn't much. Not even enough to contain his exoskull. It wasn't far off, though. Drawing back the boundary of what he considered his exoskull from his neck forward, Mathew found the amount of material that could be turned into summonable equipment.

He'd still have armor up his neck and the back of his head forward to just behind his ears. Still, this would give him his face back. Mathew had never missed his ugly mug as much as he did now. It was his, and he could have it back! Finalizing his selection, he felt the skill slowly get to work. It would take some time, and watching it wouldn't make it work any faster.

Reaching into the other prime aspect of the skill, his intelectus seemed to glitch in translating information before working as expected. Overhealing was the generation of Health after all his Health was restored. This extra Health would infuse his armaments the same way he'd infused Ripper.

Gah! He missed Ripper. The hive node between them was so seamless that Ripper's absence was jarring and uncomfortable.

Turning to better things, Mathew set his mind on the other advancement he could decipher.

[Adjacent magic slot (1/2) unlocked

Decomposition - Rendering material or energy down to its base components

Pooling - The process of metaphysical membrane storage ]

Mathew had a hard time guessing which would do more for him. While Decomposition seemed strong, probably stronger than Digestion at causing destruction, he couldn't help but wonder what potential Pooling held. Maybe he was wrong, but this seemed very much like the same pool as Health and Magic. Plus, the metaphysical storage was how abilities worked.

He'd ask for advice. Maybe someone else would have an insight for him.

Looking up, he really saw his companions for the first time in a busy few days. Grant was at the edge of sleeping. His journey had been trying and the weight was showing.

Turning his vision around, he saw Ben was wound tight. Even in a relaxing hot tub, he had an edge about him. Lightly spying on his mind, Mathew felt Ben wanting to step out of the shadows. While Mathew didn't know how to decipher that, he didn't really want to spy on those he trusted.

Pouring water over herself, Harper's wild hair stuck down straight, and Mathew's brain short-circuited for a moment. Reasserting control over his hormones, he reminded himself that he'd used up his armament summoning allotment. She seemed to be doing well. That she'd been thinking about amenities was testament enough to that. It made Mathew feel good about the work he'd done so far. Leaving a place for others to grow in was a worthy result for his effort.

Finishing his panorama at his right, Amber was floating on the edge of the pool by her neck, looking straight up. The water dripping down her face was not all sweat.

Reaching out, he held her left hand under the water and channeled power through Mental Support. As he worked, he could feel the improved synergy bumping his elbow. Rather than causing him to mess up the work, it layered down better support. Mental Attack would identify a weakness, and Mental Resistance would offer how to best defend it.

Amber turned her head enough to look at him. Through his spying, he could feel her gratitude and conflict at him providing her support while she was still responsible for the threat to his sanity. She squeezed his hand and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of the water and the support of her mind being empowered.

That was enough for Mathew. He'd have time later to pick everyone else's mind about what he should choose for his second magic.

"Hey, where's Ripper?" Harper asked.

"Last I saw, the spider lady had it," Mathew answered.

"That's the one that showed up and saved you?" Harper confirmed.

Mathew nodded. "Yup."

"What happened to her?" Harper asked.

"I don't know," Mathew said. "Like I said, last I saw before the Alpha hit me was her fighting with Ripper. Now that you mention it, I do remember other spiders showing up."

Amber started giggling. "Hey Mathew, do you wanna start a club for damsels saved from distress?"

"Ha, ha. Very funny. Super original," Mathew deadpanned, but inside, he was happy to see his support was helping. "I suppose I'll have to grow my hair out."

Amber wilted a bit. Damn, I can read minds. How am I so bad at this?

"Because I may be able to get out of this armor eventually," Mathew sent over his notification. "It seems like a flat upgrade for my skill. I can't do much with it right now, but it is only a matter of time, right? It's your fault, by the way. Passing my ascension and getting this Knight class. The first line to that notification is about having approval. I can't even guess who would give me official approval. So thank you."

"Laying it on a bit thick," Amber said. "Keep going, more about how good I am."

Laughter and mist filled the room for a bit and the weight of everything got a little bit lighter.

Grant climbed out dripping water through the Hub as he left. Maybe now was a good time?

"So another part of the upgrade I got has to do with magic. I'm having trouble picking between the two of them." Mathew willed the notifications over. "I think Decomposition has a lot of damage potential, but Pooling probably has more versatility."

"Adjacent magics?" Grant mused from the other room. "I read a report once on the matter. Two subjects. One gained radically different magic, while the other was almost specialized in parts of the magic she already had. May I see?"

If he wanted to trust Grant in the future, he'd have to grow inroads. Plus, he wasn't about to pull his punches and hide what he was capable of. So there wasn't anything to gain by not being transparent. Willing the relevant notifications over, Mathew tried to place his magic by the description Grant had given.

Breaking down material and storing it was integral to digestion. So his best guess was that this would be a specialization within his magic rather than access to some totally new theme of magic.

"Given your relatively low damage output, Decomposition would be best," Ben sighed and slunk deeper into the water.

"Hmm, if it helps, magic seems to fall into two categories," Grant said. "One is conceptual magic like Amber's and mine. The idea is essentially what defines that magic. While the other category is natural. The magic was about some process in the world. Yours seems to be the second."

"Okay, so specializing in the nature of digestion as it exists in the world," Mathew nodded.

"Just so," Grant moved his grip on the crimson cutlass to hold it by the blade. "For you. I already have a weapon, and you recently lost yours."

"Thank you." Mathew was reading Grant's mind as much as he dared. The offer was genuine and... freeing? Mathew almost wanted to say he was honored but decided not to.

Scan.

[Caustic Resolution

Blood forged cutlass by Clare Jackson. This work embodies a pivotal decision she made in the journey of life.

Passive: -20% acid damage taken when equipped

Active: +3 Monster friendship skill when brandished

Permanent:

30% affinity +.3 resistance

85% affinity +3 resistance

Equip Yes/No]

Equipping the sword, Mathew heard her voice again. "I refuse."

It was a whisper in his mind, but there was even a feeling of her within the Alpha spectrum. He may have to be careful of leaving tracks of himself lying around.

"Sorry to be the buzzkill, but does the new magic come with another set of overpowering feelings?" Harper asked.

"Ah, yes," Grant answered. "Best I know is just the two subjects I read about, but they both experienced new layers of mental influences."

"Seems to me like our magic pushes us to use it," Harper lowered into the warm embrace of the water. "I wouldn't want whatever motivation would make me want to make things rot."

Sobered, Mathew flexed his awareness against the mental weight he held. He could take more weight, but did he have to?

What motivation would make him seek Decomposition? Contempt, hatred, maybe?

Mathew already had a monstrous half of who he was. A more tame motivation would keep him from being distracted in critical moments and a more manageable burden for the rest of his days.

"Okay, and if all else fails, Digestion may still cover my damage potential eventually as it is," Mathew said. "Any last thoughts before I pick Pooling?"

"Nah, just don't complain to me if you don't like it," Ben grinned.

Mathew prodded his intelectus forward to select Pooling.

[Pooling magic integrating...

No compatible skill detected...

Mixed power distribution half passive, half active

0/225 Pooling points, 25% pooling power available]

"Passive power?" Mathew muttered.

His effort to drop his intelectus into the description was interrupted by Grant. "Passive power, you say. I've got one of those, very convenient because it doesn't take additional mental effort to direct."

Nodding, Mathew finished probing with his mind.

The active points worked as a pool of energy he could manipulate like he did Digestion magic, except it was about a whole different concept. Mathew wasn't sure what that concept actually was yet. Information from the passive side gave him a better idea. Expanding his Health pool, Magic pools or even more interesting seeing those of others. Passively detect anything that could be manipulated by the active magic.

Selecting passive detection motes of information lit up in his mind's eye. While it gave Mathew a good guess as to how much they each had for Health and magic points, the information Mathew gleaned mainly was about how they stored them. Not about what their magic was.

Grant's magic didn't show up to Mathew's new magical vision. Neither did any of their equipment. Actually, something was showing up. In the girl's room, there were stationary objects that pooled power. Also, underground?

"Harper, does the Hub have a basement?" Mathew asked.

"No." Harper shook her head then paused. "What do you mean we do? We have speakers now. Feel free to use them."

"As you command, Warden." Harper's voice came from a square frame on the wall. "Greetings inmates, Amber and Mathew. I am Hint, the intelectus of the Hub. It's nice to be given permission to meet you all. Oh, that's not quite right. It's nice to be given permission to talk with you. I've already met and monitored each and every one of you for days. To answer your question, co-owner, I do have a basement."

"uh, hello there, Hint," Mathew let his mind catch up. "You said co-owner. Can you explain that?"

"Yes, there was a heartwarming, almost romantic moment before I came to be. At that time, Harper was my sole owner. She declared, and I quote, "When I called it my Hub. It might be, but you're putting your body and your life on the line for this… this team. That makes this your Hub too." Thus you are co-owner of me." Hint said.

"uhhuh, and you singled out Amber as different?" Mathew probed.

"Correct, she is not an inmate at this prison." Hint replied. "I don't even know if she could be."

"Hold up," Ben sat up out of the water. "I'm an inmate at a prison?"

"That is correct, Ben. Conspiracy to commit theft." Hint's tone wasn't judgemental at all. All the same, Ben's shoulders slumped.

"You never told me that's how you think of everyone," Harper said.

"You never listened or never asked." Hint showed a smidge of emotion.

"What do you think of me?" Harper asked.

"Inmate and Warden Harper, co-owner of the neglected intelligent prison Hub," Hint answered.

"Inmate and Warden," Grant asked. "How does that work?"

Mathew could feel Grant digging for a weakness against Harper but it seemed more habit than malicious.

"For magical extraction to keep her fear at bay all night long, Warden Harper becomes a voluntary inmate of her prison cell." Hint answered. "Otherwise, my abilities wouldn't be able to affect her."

"You never told me that!" Harper snapped.

"Again, you never asked." Hint replied.

"Can you show us the basement? It would be nice to have some more room." Mathew asked.

"Of course, co-owner." Hint squealed excitedly. "I can even show you the experiments!"