Chapter 38

The final four hours with Jewel passed by quickly. Only a few rifts opened up, and those that did, were a breeze to clear for Henry. With his Bladed Drakeling and Evil Eye at level 15 each, the duo actually took down each D.E.D. that came through the rift, on their own. The Greater Rift and fight against the Larpen’s invading form, had gotten Henry even more used to their synergy, and he found utilizing the Evil Eye to serve as a support D.E.D. was extremely efficient. He also figured it would have been even better to bring the Storm Crow into the mix, but thought better against it. It was one thing, for the Larpen battle, but another, for these smaller rifts. He was still slightly hesitant about being to brazen.

Following the conclusion of their shift, promptly at midnight, Jewel had Henry take her not back to headquarters, but instead to a local bar. It seemed, after a hard day of work, the Reaper felt like having a few drinks. Henry, on the other hand, found himself suddenly, and oddly, tired. Sure, it had been a 12-hour shift, and it was late, but mostly it had just been a lot of driving around. After all, the fights involved his D.E.D., not him directly, and yet, he was completely drained. Luckily, Jewel didn’t ask him to stick around for drinks. She just thanked him, and told him she would see him later for her continue babysitting job. Which reminded him that he had been tasked by Jon, to get his D.E.D. above level 20 as quickly as possible.

A much more doable task, in Henry’s mind, if another Greater Rift opened. After all, the amount of experience gained from that rift, had far outshone the experience he’d been gaining for his D.E.D. by defeating the normal demons coming through the regular rifts…which begged to question why he was even killing them all, and not asking them to join his team. After all, wouldn’t that be the most efficient way to climb in power? Form bonds with the weaker ones coming through, then power level them during Greater Rift battles by supporting stronger D.E.D. It seemed like a solid plan in Henry’s eyes, but he doubted any of the other exorcists would see it that way. They all seemed rather intent on whole ‘only have a few, super powerful all in one D.E.D.’ lifestyle. As if supports were pointless.

Henry figured many of them weren’t gamers. Because if they had been, surely they would have shown some respect for support styled D.E.D…right?

Henry thought about that as he drove home. There had to be a reason why no one else seemed to do what he was doing. Some reason why they all seemed to favor only a few, powerful D.E.D., and why they all wanted him to just get rid of his Evil Eye in favor of another combat centric D.E.D. However, the exorcists weren’t the most forthcoming with information, and he figured he should limit his contact with JJ about D.E.D. related things. Then again, his dumb ass best friend had blown his cover already…so Henry wondered just how secret JJ’s existence actually was. Maybe the exorcists just didn’t see him as worth their time right now. Though, that really didn’t make sense. From what Henry could tell, JJ was powerful.

Which, did nothing for Henry’s wandering mind. So, once he got home, he tossed his shirt aside, grabbed a cold drink, and set up the hookah. He figured he could relax for an hour or so, and then head off to bed. After all, he had exorcist work again the next day, according to Jon. In fact, they had work for the next week. Apparently, the shift work came in weeklong blocks. They were assigned the noon to midnight shift for a week, and then would shift to midnight to noon for another week. Then they would have a week off, during which time they could be snagged for away teamwork, or partake in any Greater Rift openings, if they occurred. Otherwise, they were free to do as they pleased.

The only thing that made that bearable, was apparently, Henry was going to be paid, daily, for these shifts. Which, come to think of it, Henry realized he hadn’t checked yet. So, as he took a long, refreshing sip of his drink, he pulled his phone out, and activated the app. After a moment, he flipped to his profile, to see just how much he’d been paid. From what Jon had told him, funds would be distributed to his app, and from there, he could deposit them into a bank account if he wanted, or into other apps such as a PayPal or Venmo.

Henry

Knight

Strike Team- Alpha

Resonation Tier Potential- SSS

Current Resonation- B-

Max D.E.D. Points- 500

Current D.E.D. Points in Use- 100

Funds: $300.00

Henry’s eyes went wide as he looked over his profile, as he realized a few things. First, all of the fighting, along with the Greater Rift battle, had evidently bumped him into the B- range. That increase, which he’d not realized had occurred, increased his number of D.E.D. points from 450, to 500. Since he’d become an exorcist, not even a week ago, he’d already increased his D.E.D. points by 100. Granted, he figured part of that, was due to the power leveling taking place, and was not the standard for growth. He also guessed, it would continue to get harder over time. Otherwise, he could only imagine how quickly, and how high, his points could climb.

From there, the next bit that caught his attention, was the current D.E.D. points in use. He only had his Bladed Drakeling and Evil Eye summoned, and the two level 15 D.E.D. were apparently equal to 100 of his D.E.D. points. Which meant, he was using a full 1/5 of his points, with just those two D.E.D. As he thought about it, and the fact not everyone had high resonation tiers, he could start to see why people might focus on just one or two powerful D.E.D. They couldn’t handle summoning more at a given time. Especially as their D.E.D. grew in levels, and cost more points to summon into the world at any given time. Henry wondered if the organization, given its age, had devised ways around that limit, or if it was a fact set in stone. That, he guessed, was a question for a later time.

The final bit that got his attention, was the amount of funds that had been added to his profile. Before his shift had started, he’d been at 0. Which meant, for his 12 hour shift, he’d received 300 dollars. That added up to 25 dollars an hour. And, given his current life as a college student, that was a lot of money. A hell of a lot of money. Especially if that was how much he was going to get paid every night. Some quick math told him that was $2,100.00 a week, and given the Exorcists were a secret organization…he had a feeling this income was going to be tax free. Finally, being an exorcist came with an awesome, tangible perk.

He could barely hide the excitement over the influx of fortune that had come his way, as he settled in, fighting against the exhaustion flowing through him. Before he headed to bed, as he unwound from the day, there was one last thing to be done. After all, he’d held up his end of the deal, and it was time, for the Storm Crow, to uphold its. He summoned the D.E.D. without another thought, watching, even as it crackled into being, as his D.E.D. points in use climbed from 100, to 150. The level 11 Storm Crow, it seemed, cost him 50 D.E.D. points.

IS IT TIME? The Storm Crow asked, its head tilting to the side as it looked at Henry. He took a long hit from the hookah, the heavy, flavored smoke, or perhaps the action of the drawing of it through the hose, helping calm his nerves even more. As he blew it out slowly, his eyes tracing the flow of it, noting how it interacted with the air around the D.E.D., he nodded. It was time to hear just what the Storm Crow had to say.