"So can I go ahead with my plan then" Back in the false throne room Selina was itching to get her plan underway.
"You need my help to sneak out again" Mane nodded. There was no way she would be able to evade the 3 openly patrolling guards without Mane. Selina was too inexperienced for such a sneaky endeavor.
"No I don't" Selina shook her head and argued. "I saw plenty the first time" she continued and quickly exited Mane's barrier (which neither she nor Frederick knew about) and disappeared around the corner.
"What is she-" Mane was furious about her lack of tact and was about to go after her when a hand stopped him.
"What are you doing" Mane asked. The owner of the hand was Frederick. Everyone on the team knew that Frederick was attracted to Selina. He should even be more eager to stop her but he was preventing Mane from doing so now.
"She may be inexperienced but she isn't a fool. Do you know Selina's greatest ability?" Frederick asked. Mane was a bit puzzled. He had scanned both of them so he knew that they had awakened a glow each. Both of them weren't experienced enough to develop their own breaths yet. And the one who had didn't have any idea about it. Selina didn't have any stealth abilities. Her glow was perfect for frontal assault and massive destruction but that was it.
"You are a spiritualist aren't you? What did you see when you scanned Selina? What was in her specialty column?" Frederick asked. By now all the members of the Silver Wolves knew about Mane's spiritualist abilities. So Frederick wasn't a stranger to the spirit scan.
NAME: Selina Morgan
AGE: 15
HEALTH POINTS: 800
RACE: Zandorian (50%); Other (50%)
BLOODLINE: Heavenly Pistol Shrimp (Incomplete)
BLOODLINE RANK: Rank 9
LEVEL: Mortal Stage 8 (Level 28.79)
POWER LEVEL: 90,750
WIELDER TYPE: Energy Wielder
SPECIALTY: Strength, Vitality, and *Intelligence.
GLOWS: Fiery Punch
BREATH: None
"Strength and vitality. But recently intelligence has been added" a baffled Mane replied. "Does Selina strike you as a very intelligent individual?" Frederick smiled bitterly and asked. Mane finally understood what Frederick was saying. Selina wasn't the brightest in the team. Even the twins who could be pests at times were sharper than her. Mane wondered why intelligence was listed as her strength when she acted like a child more than any of them. The twins didn't have intelligence listed as a strength but she did. It was very weird. But as he watched Selina mimic his movements and get around the guards and finally reach the door, he was enlightened.
"She is a fast learner" Mane understood why Fredrick stopped him. Her ability was uncanny. She had only witnessed Mane sneaking around for a few minutes yet she was able to emulate his movements perfectly. Even the guards who were hidden didn't find a trace of her. As Mane monitored their auras he realized they were still calm. They weren't pretending not to see her. If they were, there would be a small fluctuation in their auras, but neither of them had found her out! It was amazing!
"She's out" Mane commented. "That was amazing" he praised. She had even opened the door the exact way he had when they first came in. The amount of strength he used to ensure that no noise was made and the way he opened it to the smallest possible margin to avoid detection was perfectly emulated.
"She would be happy to hear you praise her" Frederick smiled. It was true. Selina regarded Mane highly. It was simply because he was their captain and his strength was no joke. For someone powerful to regard her highly was bound to light up her face.
"So in the end the problem would have been you" Mane teased. If Selina had no problem sneaking around, then it wouldn't be an issue for her to get into the real throne room. Frederick on the other hand didn't have the ability to perfectly emulate whatever he saw.
"Hahaha. That is true" Fredrick agreed without a second thought. He was an intelligent and sharp individual, but he didn't have Selina's sort of learning ability. His intelligence was centered on his excellent observation skills and reasoning ability. He didn't take it to heart that he wasn't very useful in these kind of scenarios.
"But you have your own skills" Mane suddenly stated. He wasn't asking Frederick a question. He was stating facts.
"Hahaha. If you say so" Frederick just took it as Mane trying to make him feel better about his usefulness in this situation.
"Haven't you thought it odd that I brought you along with me?" Mane asked. His question startled Frederick. Indeed he thought it was odd that they had been included in the mission. Alexis didn't want Selina nor himself taking on such a risky mission when their power wasn't even in the top ranks of Zandorian wielders. Yet Mane insisted that he needed their help. But Fredrick didn't know what he could possibly help with.
"I don't think you even noticed it yourself but you have a very special talent" they had about three minutes until Selina's plan would begin. So Mane figured he should get it out. He didn't want to tell Frederick about it because he thought the older boy would have figured it out by now, but he obviously hadn't. Frederick may be talented but after meeting the Silver Wolves he started to look down on himself. He undermined his own abilities because of the gap between them and because of that he hadn't realized that he had a very special ability.
"Hah" Mane sighed. "Spirit Scan: Reflection" Mane chanted. He had progressed far in his casting abilities and he was now able to allow another person to see their own statistics. "See for yourself" Mane told Frederick who didn't seem surprised to see the strange screen in front of him. He knew about this too.
NAME: Frederick Fulbright
AGE: 15
HEALTH POINTS: 750
RACE: Zandorian (100%)
BLOODLINE: Gale Emperor (Incomplete)
BLOODLINE RANK: Rank 9
LEVEL: Mortal Stage 8 (Level 28.29)
POWER LEVEL: 80,750
WIELDER TYPE: Energy Wielder
SPECIALTY: Speed and Intelligence
GLOWS: Gale Kick
BREATH: Master Artificer
"I have a breath?" Frederick asked, amazed by what he was seeing. "Yep" Mane nodded. It was something Mane had realized some time back, but he hadn't put much emphasis on it until a recent conversation with his disciple – Aegeus.
*****************************
"Brother is great with artefacts. But he never realized it. He is good with identifying the talents of others but he disregards his" Aegeus told Mane
"Yeah. I've noticed he is really good with all kinds of artefacts" Mane assented. With the exception of using weapons which required mastery, every other miscellaneous device was like child's play to Frederick. He was capable of understanding the intricacies of devices without a manual; he could take devices apart and put them back together; he was also capable of creating a device with less complex materials as long as he understood its operation and makeup.
"That's my brother's strength master. I don't know how that can help you but it would be great if you could find a way for him to apply his skills"
"I will do my best" Mane nodded and accepted Aegeus' request. "But what are you doing here? Today is your day off. I thought you were going to see Aaliyah" Mane wondered. His disciple had been training diligently all for that girl's sake. He mentioned that he wanted to go and see her today so he was given the day off.
"I did. She sacked me" Aegeus said with a wry smile. Mane laughed and put his arm around the boy's shoulder. Since the inception of his body wielding training Mane had grown taller than most of his peers. Aegeus was now shorter than him so together one would have thought that Mane was the older of the two. Aegeus had become well-behaved. If it was two months ago, he wouldn't have left even when begged to. But now he did so obediently. He was starting to respect the wishes of those he loved.
"Cheer up. How about I take you around the city today? Afterwards I'd get you a weapon. How does that sound?" Mane said in a bid to cheer Aegeus up. Luckily it worked.
"Really?" Aegeus asked with sparkling eyes. "Yep" Mane nodded with a smile. "I have the perfect weapon for you. You wanted a rod, didn't you?"
*****************************************
It had been a week since that conversation with Aegeus and Mane had tested Frederick in every possible way. He had presented the boy with every random and broken down device he could find and Frederick had fixed them all. Even with his intelligence Frederick still didn't realize he was being tested.
"So that's why you gave me all those dysfunctional tools?" Frederick suddenly realized. He wasn't a master at using weapons, but he was able to create anything as long as he understood its makeup and engineering. Since last week Mane had been giving him strange materials and making weird requests.
"Could you make a sword out of this?"
"Could you make a tracker from this?"
"What about fixing this combat armor for me?"
Frederick didn't even realize his gift until now.
"Yep. According to my mother you are at the level of a master artificer" Mane confirmed. "And not according to the standards of Zandor" Mane added to wash away any misunderstandings. There was one thing he didn't tell Frederick though. His masters told him that artificers were more precious than a craftsman or blacksmith. An artificer was an advanced form of the two. For instance, the god currently working on Mane's weapons – Hephaestus – was an artificer; a god artificer – not a simple artefact craftsman. Master artificers were right under God Artificers. And since god artificers were so rare, master artificers were more sought after.
"There is a secret about this world. I don't know what it is, but I bet that's why Seth wants it" 1st told Mane some time ago. Mane felt he was right. Zandor was strange. People could undergo second awakenings like Abe and unlock another element without comprehending them. Someone like Selina could easily replay another's movements without much difficulty. The twins had battle awareness and abilities that rivalled Mane's; not to talk of their excellent understanding of each other which couldn't be attributed to the superstition that twins could read each other's minds. And there was hidden member of the Silver Wolves whose understanding of alchemy left even his masters in awe.
"I brought you here to deal with the artefact that controls the power of 'blessings'." Mane revealed and Frederick nodded. "So why did you bring Selina?" he wondered. Mane didn't know about Selina's gift so why did he bring her along?
"Well you are a pervert so I knew that bringing her will destroy all the arguments you would have made about coming with us" Mane answered. Frederick's brows twitched at the answer but there wasn't anything he could do. If only he was stronger than Mane he would have punched the boy in his face.
"Time's up. There she goes" Mane pointed at the door which was roughly opened to reveal Selina. She was restrained by two wielders of the profound realm.
"Let's hope this works" Frederick mumbled. Mane smiled and said
"Trust the plan Fred"