[Water Affinity: You have immersed yourself in elemental water, and part of it stays with you. You hold a permanent connection with liquids, especially pure water. Your Mana can be used to interact with liquid.]

Water Affinity? That was… a trial? I’d honestly say it’s a little convenient, but I don’t believe most people would willfully experience what I just did. Fewer still would survive it. And only I would get the ability to manipulate the elements with the one thing I don’t have: Mana.

The ground squelches beneath me as I push myself to a sitting position. All around me, there are noticeable footprints where my skyward launches damaged the grass. For a moment, I sit and experience the moment. The wind nips at my wet clothing, gracing me with the bite of cold, even through my resistance. The smell of wet grass and moist air suffuses everything, and part of me hopes the rain will be back soon.

I’d only ever seen the valley at night and during the eternal noon the covers the rest of the day/night cycle, so the interim cloudiness is a welcome and beautiful change. The relative darkness over the wet grass grants the terrain a certain simplicity. The wind no longer creates waves in the grass, but causes them to shudder with its passing, sending small sprays of cool water into the air. The exhaustion of my activity, the strain in my muscles, and the light noises of a land starting to dry off all evoke in me a deep sense of serenity…

I take one final breath in, savoring the taste, and exhale as I get to my feet. For now, there is work to do, and people to be mad at me.

---

“I fucking hate you.”

“I know.”

“Why do you do this to me?”

“It was important.”

“Important enough to run off and do it without saying anything? Lynn was sure you were dead! We had to seal the entrance to the cave just to keep the water out!”

“Was the black eye on one of the guards at the front your doing?”

“So what if it was?! He should have known better than to-”

“Stop you from coming to get me?”

“...Yeah. Dumbass. You should be dead, and you’re not, but you’re just going to keep testing it, aren’t you?”

I shake my head, smiling morosely. “It was stupid, yeah, but… I never would have forgiven myself for missing it. Especially now that I know what it was.”

Lauren looks at me, curiosity behind her smoldering eyes. “It was really that fucking great?”

“More than I could ever convey.” I reply, momentarily losing myself in the memory.

“Next time, you’re taking me.”

“Next time? You don’t honestly think I’m going to do it again, do you?” Even with my face schooled, she sees right through it.

“Don’t start with me. Next time, you’re bringing me. Promise.”

“You might die.”

“Promise.”

“Hmm. Did you like the ocean, Lauren?”

“The… yeah. I remember… I used to go there, I think. With people I cared about. It was alright, but people preferred laying in the sun to pretty much everything else. Made it kinda boring.”

“The water is almost the entire reason to go! I mean, sure, good sand is a lot of fun as well, but the ocean…”

“Don’t go making me jealous of the ocean. I don’t even know how I’d go about fighting it.”

“Hah, tell me about it.” We share a smile, just for a moment.

“What now?”

“Now… ugh. So many things. I need a plant from deep in the forest to fix my dumbass status ailment, we need to wait till tomorrow when we get the next stage in our quest, I need to bring Kaythe back, I need to figure out how the fuck I’m going to deal with having half my Energy pool, and we need to figure out the rest of the village, which hopefully survived the flood.”

“... You placed the town?”

“Yeah.”

“Without saying anything to Lynn?”

“Uh huh.”

“Awesome.”

“She’s going to kill me.”

“Yup.”

---

“-placed into three groups, with teams of roughly five. Marie will lead the builders, Tom will coordinate the artisans, Seth and Samuel will handle close combat training, I will handle ranged, and, oh, Amadeus, you will handle healing.”

Lynn had clearly called some sort of assembly right outside the mouth of the cave, but had neglected to inform me or Lauren. Whether this move was an oversight or the result of irritation became entirely clear with that last comment.

“Is there a problem with that, Amadeus?”

I wipe away the grimace that had taken up residence on my face just as all eyes turn to me. Oof.

“U-uhm, well actually I was planning on goi-”

“You’re not leaving until we have a defensible town, which you so graciously took care of placing, and you’ve taught at least one person how to heal like you do.”

“Well, Loriane can-”

“She left just after the rain stopped, and took Amy with her.”

“Wait, what? Why?”

Lynn waves her hand, dismissively. “Who knows? She said nothing to anyone. Unfortunately, this leaves only you to fill the role.”

“No worries, I’ll handle it.” God fucking damnit. “Do you have any promising candidates?”

She smiles broadly. “One, certainly. Chris?” The man whose eyes I just healed… oh boy.

He steps forward, awkwardly, looking highly out of place. “I would… greatly appreciate the c-chance to learn.” I’m not a teacher, so this is going to be some serious bullshit, but whatever. Worst case, I fail completely and just force a Self rune into his chest and make him figure it out. Not that I have the Energy to spare…

“Alright Chris, come with me.”

I quickly stride away from the crowd without bothering to look if he’s following me. I don’t like the limelight on the best of days, and though this was a pretty good day so far, it’s currently trending downward. I look up, gauging the time… the rings are already out. Not long. I guess the storm took a while. I wonder when we’ll get another…

I walk to the top of a nearby hill and sit down. Where once my clothing being soaked felt nice and refreshing, now it’s more bothersome than anything… but I don’t exactly have extras, and I don’t need to make this guy any more uncomfortable than he is already by undressing. I turn back to address Chris, but notice Lauren has followed as well. She notices my stare. “What? You promised you’d teach me anyway. Two birds, one stone, and all that.” Fair enough.

“Chris, you wouldn’t happen to have an Energy resource in you status menu, would you?”

“S-stamina, you mean?”

I sigh, loudly. “U-uh I mean, no, sir.”

“No, it’s not your fault, I’ve just heard the same thing a few times. Basically, I have four resource pools: Health, Mana, Stamina, and Energy. Energy is what lets me heal. I’ve always had that resource, so I have no idea how to get you to also have it… so we’re going to be experimenting. Now, I need to check something. I want you to resist me, not physically, but with your mind.” I reach out my hand for him to take.

“S-sir?”

“Amadeus is fine, please. Take my hand.”

“What do you mean ‘resist’?”

“When I healed you, and you felt something weird? Fight that.”

Chris continues to look confused, but still takes my hand.

“Be confident, that’s essential.”

“O-ok.”

I roll my eyes, but immediately regret it when I see his pained expression. I’m taking my frustration out on him, and that’s not fair. Regardless, I push some healing Energy at him, and I’m met with staunch resistance. “Good, now fight it.”

Chris screws his eyes shut, and a small trickle of black Energy seeps back. I eliminate it easily and wait for more, but nothing comes. “Is that it?”

He pants slightly from exertion. “I-I… yes.”

“I see. Chris, I’ll get to the heart of the issue: your ego is too small. You don’t believe in yourself or your ability to enact change. That needs to change. So, I’ve got a task for you. When you complete it, we’ll go to the next level of our training. Sound good?”

“W-what’s the task?”

“I’m glad you asked.” If the words didn’t scare him, the smile certainly does.