After defeating the oozes, I was pretty low on mana. However, it didn’t appear that there were any more nearby. The trail of ruined asphalt road led to where a portal had theoretically once existed, but nothing seemed to be there anymore. Unless it didn’t feel like anything and only went one way, but as I chucked rocks through the area there wasn’t much else I could do.

I filled in a quick report to the Power Brigade. Defeated interdimensional monsters, saved heroes. Midnight participated. That was basically the end of it.

Those heroes were called Dicer and Zappo? I thought heroes were allowed to name themselves. It seemed like they were rookies though so perhaps they would choose better names. Or quit, maybe, since they almost just died. It was unfortunate for them they happened to have exactly the wrong kinds of powers for the targets that appeared. Something from my world, or an equivalent. Most of the monsters were killed in my world, but oozes could live out in the wilderness eating literally anything organic. They had weird properties, so knowing how to properly fight them was important. Which made me wonder what information on other sorts of monsters I could find. I’d been focusing on heroes, but creatures from worlds that weren’t like my own had to be pretty common too.

The cause of the portal- and there had been a portal, witnessed by some of those nearby when the creatures came out- was currently unknown. There had been a number of others that appeared on a similar timeframe. The assumed answer was Doctor Doomsday, but the timing seemed wrong and the quantity of portals was actually too few for his normal grandiose plans. Whatever the reason, I didn’t feel the need to worry about it too much.

-----

“This is Channel 72 News with exclusive footage of the attacks earlier today from our very own Jack Brannigan,” a nicely dressed woman smiled towards the camera. “Jack?”

“Of course. Excuse the quality please,” as he gestured a portion of the screen began to show some shaky footage. “I was on the scene but didn’t have proper equipment with me. I approached the area where people were fleeing for their lives from horrible alien monsters.”

“Jack…” his co-anchor gave him a look.

“What? Oh. Anyway, these creatures seemed to have the ability to dissolve anything they touched. A danger for all of the good citizens of New Bay. But what should happen except the arrival of two rookie heroes in succession!” Jack continued to narrate the footage, somewhat similarly to what he had done in person- but the audio of the actual event was vaguely audible in the background.

The video showed the two heroes slicing and zapping and otherwise causing the creature to split apart and eventually cover over them, only to be rescued by a giant man and overlarge cat respectively.

“Keen-eyed viewers will have spotted this pair in the footage earlier,” Jack commented. “They skillfully dispatch the multiplied creatures. However, the heroes are exhausted in the encounter. One more appears and…” Jack clapped, synchronizing with the explosion of the second one. “It’s gone. Obliterated by a little-known hero. Who is Mage? Check back at 11.”

The screen clicked off after the recorded news broadcast ended. A young man in a nice suit looked between the two of us sitting in the room with him. “Well?”

“I thought we did pretty good there,” I frowned. “I did tell him to get away from the situation, but he didn’t really listen.”

“Yes, I know,” the young man nodded. Calculator, I thought he went by. He was kind of important, if I remembered correctly. “I’ve seen the full footage. There were just a couple things you were missing. Can either of you think of what it was?”

“I don’t know,” Midnight said. “We were supposed to clear the area of civilians before we began fighting, right? So we couldn’t kill it faster.”

“There was no problem with your combat performance, given the situation,” Calculator assuaged our worries. “But here’s the thing. You introduced yourself as Mage, but forgot the most important part. You’re a member of the Power Brigade. And you. Midnight. You work for us too, so you need to be known. I understand you were off duty so you couldn’t have our logo on, but you have to say something. You’re still getting paid by the city for your help, but you guys have to support the brand.”

“I thought heroes were the ones who needed the spotlight,” I commented.

“That’s how they make their money,” Calculator nodded. “But the Power Brigade has to be brought to people’s mind. If people think of us first, they call us first, and we pay people. And likewise if the two of you are more well known, there can be special request for you which means more work and bigger paychecks.” I was getting paid enough though, so I wasn’t that enthusiastic about the idea. “... If you get recognized for it, you’ll be called in to fight things.”

“Oh! You’re right,” I nodded. “I’ll endeavor to make sure people remember me in the future.”

“I mostly go with Turlough,” Midnight said, “But I agree it might be nice to be recognized.”

“We gotta get you a costume,” Calculator said. “I know clothes probably aren’t comfortable, but we could do a collar, or anklets, or a hat… you should talk to Francois about it. He’ll get something that works for you.”

-----

I was going to take Calculator’s advice about being known seriously. He had a good point that people would be calling me in for the things I made myself known for. Extra was already familiar with me and liked my translation abilities, but if I was called in by then any job would only be like a quarter fighting on average. But if people knew me as someone who fought, I’d get jobs like that more. I had been focused on training, but practical experience was much better. For one thing, exploding that ooze had been quite a lot of experience. It was quite reasonable that I avoid killing sapients if I could help it, but monsters like that were free experience.

Turlough (No surname)

Level: 17

Experience: 771

Storage +1

Firebolt +2

Shocking Grasp +3

Grease +2

Force Armor +6

Mage's Reach +1

Translation +1

Haste +4

Disguise

Familiar Bond +1

Enlarge

Energy Ward

Sonic Lance +1

Remaining Points: 7

Killing those creatures had given me a level, so I’d taken the chance to spend some of the points. A point in Sonic Lance because it felt good to use and would provide a nice kick to its power. Firebolt got a boost because it was actually quite nice and it would be nice if it were more efficient. Translation was mostly to save on mana throughout the day since I was constantly relying on it. The single upgrade only saved a minute or so of regeneration every couple hours, but the duration might go up with the boost as well. At 4 points to upgrade it seemed worth it.

Finally I upgraded Familiar Bond… because I wasn’t sure what it did. It was easier to find out through practice rather than speculating, and I didn’t have access to the research here that would tell me.

Midnight Deathstalker

Level: 9

Experience: 231

Familiar Bond provides access to:

Storage +1

Firebolt +1 +2

Shocking Grasp +1 +3

Grease +1 +2

Force Armor +1 +6

Mage's Reach +1

Translation +1

Haste +1 +4

Disguise

Enlarge

Energy Ward

Sonic Lance +1

It was pretty clear to me after I had done it that Familiar Bond capped the level that Midnight could make use of my other upgrades. In short, the efficiency. That was one of the possibilities I had thought it might be. Of important note was that Disguise, Enlarge, and Energy Ward were not upgraded- meaning I did have to have those upgrades for Midnight to get them.

“Your level is increasing pretty fast,” I commented. “But surprisingly the gap in total experience isn’t narrowing.”

“Should it be?” Midnight asked.

“I think so,” I nodded. “You’re fighting things that are relatively stronger, so you should receive more experience. Or I should receive less. Then again, most of your experience will be coming from combat. The one good thing about Curse of the Barbarian is that I about double my gain from combat. And I might be getting some of your experience.”

“I would say that is unfair,” Midnight commented, “If this power wasn’t yours to begin with. I wouldn’t be able to use magic or level up without the bond.”

“Even if it is unfair, it’s not like we could do anything. The only negative I can think of is that it might prevent you from having a power of your own? Though the chances of that are slim anyway.”

“It seems silly to bet on randomly awakening something when I have a very nice option available,” Midnight admitted.

It wasn’t completely certain that Midnight wouldn’t be able to get a power, but there was some knowledge of ‘power exclusivity’. Certain sorts of extraterrestrial and extradimensional creatures with inborn powers didn’t seem to be able to get them other ways, and once people had a power they didn’t seem to be able to awaken new ones. Expanding their abilities was a different thing altogether, but forming entirely new powers didn’t happen. My class was being treated like a power, and I had to agree that it made sense. Everyone from my world could have one, but it was basically a power. It was little different than an inborn ability except for the fact that there was a choice involved.

“Turlough,” Midnight asked politely. “Would it be possible for you to upgrade Storage again, and also Familiar Bond?”

“Don’t you have enough tuna on you?” I asked.

“I don’t have hands,” he pointed out. “I would like to carry other things as well. The maximum capacity is limited as it is, and the efficiency also seems worthwhile.”

Even though he said that, and I knew he was telling the truth… I also knew he would increase the amount of tuna in storage at least a little. I technically had enough points but…

“I’d like to work on some other things first,” I said. “When more things are upgraded, I’ll also increase Storage and Familiar Bond. Okay?’

“That’s fine,” Midnight said. “I appreciate it. I’ll try to help you level up lots.”

“That’s great,” I nodded. “Though we shouldn’t rush things. I’d like to get into lots of fights where we aren’t super at risk of death. At some point I plan to have Stoneskin, but it’s kind of mana intense right now. Before that, staying at a distance or fighting people with energy attacks is best.”

“I have a question, Turlough,” Midnight said. “... Why are acid and cold energy types?”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because cold is just a lack of energy? And acid is just… stuff.” Midnight did a funny thing with his face that was kind of like frowning. “It doesn’t make sense with physical laws at all!”

“You tell that first thing to Ice Guy and see what he thinks,” I countered. “And acid is ‘chemicals’, and chemical energy is a thing.” Then I shrugged, “Also it’s magic. That’s not the weirdest thing that powers do.”

“It’s only one of the weird things, though!” Midnight complained. “Why do things cost the mana they do? Making a wormhole or something to the tuna dimension should be way more expensive! I mean, I don’t want it to be,” Midnight quickly clarified. “But that seems harder than lifting stuff, and is instead cheaper.”

“It’s all about impact,” I explained. “Sure, five or ten pounds of stuff are no longer being carried around, but it’s an instantaneous thing. Mage’s Reach is actively doing stuff for a while. And you have to spend the cost again when you bring it back. You’re just shoving stuff over a flimsy barrier twice.”

“Space itself is flimsy?” Midnight asked.

“Sure. I mean have you seen how many portals Doctor Doomsday is throwing around?”

“I concede that point,” Midnight admitted. “But I don’t have to like it.”

I shrugged. It was all completely normal to me, but he wasn’t from somewhere with magic. Frankly, I thought all the things that were done without magic or powers at all were pretty crazy. Even the giant buildings, though admittedly in New Bay a good amount of construction also involved powers.