Samuel woke up in a bed an hour later with a tube in his mouth that led to a bag of blood. He sat and noticed that all his injuries had healed.

Mira said from beside him “Damn being a vampire is so convenient. Your body just fixes itself the moment blood enters your mouth”.

Samuel asked “What happened?”

Mira chuckled and said “You lost to a Rank 6 is what happened. I told you that my energy is now part Diamond that means you can’t fully absorb my energy without absorbing some Diamonds. I didn’t even expect it. When I was fighting I just noticed that the connection with my Diamonds hadn’t fully disappeared after you absorbed them so all I needed to do was pump you full of Diamonds and blow you up. I tried controlling you by controlling the Diamonds but that wasn’t possible since the patterns kept interfering”.

Samuel had a look of realization as he thought ‘So that is what being Transcendent means’. Samuel smiled and said “I think I understand more now. Thank you” Mira said “You’re welcome”.

Samuel said “You’ll have to take my place fighting the Rank 7s now. You beat me so I’m sure no one will object to you replacing me”. Mira looked at Samuel in confusion and asked “Are you dying? You look fine though, the blood worked”

Samuel chuckled and said “I’m going to evolve. It will take some days for the process to be complete from what Jake told me about his own evolution”.

Mira was surprised as she said “Why would you do that, you can get Transcendent stats if you meditate enough on who you are. I’ve already shown you the way, at least for Transcendent energy it should be possible”.

Samuel said “I don’t want to get Transcendent stats...” He paused for a while before saying “You see my aura manifestations all have something to do with mistakes and punishment. I’m not a well read person so it was weird to me when I got purple aura that is fueled by reason. I made a lot of stupid decisions in my past, I don’t regret them, they were necessary for me to reach were I am today. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that I was a horrible person.

My aura manifestations revolve around the mistakes I made and the punishments I deserve in order to redeem myself. Now that I’ve seen you I know that the skills won’t reach Transcend until I’m redeemed. I learnt while fighting you that my Buggy World aura manifestation doesn’t affect my own energy this is because I didn’t consider myself a part of this messed up world.

When I corrected that notion the skill affected my own energy to the point where I couldn’t control the crystals I made after I made them since the friction was affecting the very energy it was made of.

If you noticed I couldn’t absorb them with my mace either that’s why I chose not to freeze your attacks but to absorb them since it would be stupid of me to try to see who will run out of energy first since you are at Transcendent.

In summary the more I get better with my skill the more punishing it is to me. I could train until I reach Transcendent but the skill will just get more punishing and a stronger body might be a good thing to have while I improve since the skill might eventually try to kill me. I also can’t wait to find a way to try to get another stat to Transcendent because we don’t have time. We need someone on Jake and Charlotte’s level of power before the monsters start taking us seriously”

Mira was surprised at Samuel’s peculiarity as she thought ‘Why will is own ability try to harm him? It’s literally a part of him even if he doesn’t realize it. He must really hate himself for it to go that far. Regardless, this is too far’.

Mira said “I can evolve now if I want, I’ll be stronger than Jake and Charlotte, and you can take your time”. Samuel said “I appreciate your concern but we don’t know how long your evolution would take. Get to Rank 7 while I evolve after I evolve we will see what happens from there. I take this drawback as one of the punishments I deserve; when I’m done evolving I’ll be closer to redemption…” Samuel was silent for a while before saying “Maybe I’ll even get other aura manifestations that are more forgiving”.

Mira had a sad expression as she thought ‘Everyone had their own story. Especially those who survived the apocalypse, there are no simple people’. She nodded and left Samuel’s room.

…

The next fighting period came but this time Mira went with Jake, Charlotte and Kenny. Her platoon would have to join someone else’s platoon until another peak Rank 6 came around.

She left the other people after Charlotte had stopped using her Magic on them. Mira was shocked when she saw Charlotte again because she was now a Rank 15 while Jake was Rank 14. She thought ‘Was Jade’s insight that helpful? Now that I think about it copying his armor’s capabilities brought me to the peak of Rank 6 with Nova’. Mira was then even more amazed as she thought ‘Then does this mean that I crossed the chasm between Rank 6 and 7 without Jade’s help? None of his insights helped me with Diamond… I’m fucking amazing!’.

Mira smiled as she praised herself, something she rarely did because she never had reason to. Kenny looked at her and smiled back even though he didn’t understand. Kenny was a 5 foot 4 inch tall black American with thick sideburns and he looked to be in his late 30s. He said to Mira “You excited?” Mira knew he had misunderstood her but she answered “Yup”.

Kenny said “Since you’re trying to be a hunter you don’t have to bother wasting your time getting any other stat to pinnacle. You just have to find a Rank 7 monster that is weak to your specialty and once you kill it all your stats will be increased by one major rank. I’m Kenny by the way”.

Mira replied “I’m Mira. Thanks for the advice”. Kenny said “I really thought one of my Rank 6s would get here first though. I had a lot of hope for Anastasia since her skill still has room to grow although it’s so powerful. But no one knows tomorrow I guess”.

Mira asked “Is everyone trying to be a Hunter?” Kenny shook his head and said “No but killing a Rank 7 is necessary to get a job”.

Mira pondered for a while before saying “A monster that would be weak to me would have low energy intrusion resistance and low agility”. Kenny nodded and said “We know we’ve already got a Rank 7 monster saved up for every peak Rank 6. We avoid killing any Rank 7 monsters that are weak to you guys. We’re going towards one of those now”.

Mira was pleasantly surprised at the amount of thought they put into their City and she asked “How do you guys know where the monster is? It could have moved”. Kenny pointed at himself and said “I have an advanced hunter job, which you will get too, so I have the Soul Map privilege. I can mark any soul and keep track of them”. Mira smiled and nodded and the group continued their sprint in silence.