Jake had still been looking at the system screen, being amazed by what the enchanted armour could do, when Kevin's body that was on the ground below him began to move slightly.
Jake looked down at Kevin then removed the system screen and helped Kevin get off the ground.
"What took you so long?" Kevin asked as he dusted his clothes and looked at Jake. "Do you know how long we've been waiting for you?"
"Yeah I kinda got lost on my way here." Jake lied. "Let's head back."
He touched Kevin's hand and controlled his magic so that he doesn't mimic Kevin's possession magic. But then, remembering the new feature of the enchanted armour he discovered, Jake mimicked Kevin's possession magic and used it to replace the elongating magic.
He checked the system screen for the enchanted armour and just as he thought, Kevin's possession magic had now appeared there too.
[Enchanted Armour]
[Vanishing Magic]
[Elongating Magic]
[Blood Magic]
[Possession Magic]
'I can't wait to grow the list of magical abilities I'll have access to.' Jake thought then vanished before Kevin could ask why they were still standing and not moving.
With the added strength of Kevin's possession magic, Jake was able to use the vanishing magic to get back to the others a lot quicker than before since the distance he could vanish to had increased.
The convicts were still unconscious on the ground although a few had almost woken up but Sasha had used her magic to super speed to them and knock them out again.
"Now before they get all up in your business," Kevin was saying as he and Jake appeared in the midst of the others, "tell me personally. Just between the two of us, what are you really? Are you even human at all?"
"What do you mean by that?" Kyle asked as he walked up to meet them. Smith had healed the wounds of everyone with his healing magic and now he was recovering his mana slowly.
"Of course Jake is human." Smith said.
"Don't be so sure." Sasha said.
"And I thought we were friends Sasha." Jake said to her. "You don't trust me?"
"She doesn't trust anyone but forget about her." Kevin said in a rush. "How did you do that purple energy stuff back there? And how were you able to heal your bones like that? That is not normal man. I'm not even sure a monarch could do something like that unless it was a magical ability or something."
"So why are you sure that I wasn't using a magical ability?" Jake asked. "You don't know what magical ability I mimicked. It could be anything."
"Don't I?" Kyle said with a slight smirk on his face. "Correct me if I'm wrong but you've been using magic to teleport or something all night. And a while ago you used the blood magic you mimicked from Nine to take out all those guys. Unless you've got some more magical abilities you haven't used yet, I'd say that's pretty much it."
Jake was somewhat surprised that Kyle was able to observe all of that and actually retain the information long enough to process it. Sure they had all seen him use the magical abilities Kyle had just said but not all of them would actually think about it long enough to deduce what magical abilities he mimicked. He expected nothing less from Kyle.
What Kyle said would have been very accurate if Jake's magic had not evolved some moments ago and allowed him to mimic three magical abilities at once.
"Not bad Kyle." Jake commended. "Kevin did you also get all that from watching me?"
"Yeah, of course." Kevin replied but quickly changed the subject. "You're evading the question? How did you do that?"
"Okay fine. We're all friends so it's fair you guys should know."
"Know what exactly?" Sasha asked, keen to hear what Jake had to say. How much did he know? How much was he going to say? Would she have to do something?
"I don't know how I did the energy explosion but ever since the expedition we went on, I've been able to. It's like, Cat's death sort of unlocked something in me that made me able to do that but I still don't know how am I able to do it. I don't know what makes me different from the rest of you. That's if I am in fact different."
"Bullshit Jake!" Kevin said. "You gotta give us something better than that. You saw Cat die and now you're able to do something the rest of us can't? Come on!"
"He might not be lying Kevin." Smith said. "The first time we saw him use the purple energy was actually when Cat died. Why would he lie about it?"
"You always gotta side with him." Kevin said while shaking his head as if in sorrow. "Alright then. How about her?" he said and pointed at Rheya. "You disappear for a month, again, and then you turn up with one of the hottest chicks in the entire world?"
"I didn't notice." Jake said with a shrug while still keeping a straight face.
"Really? What exactly didn't you notice?" Kevin asked, almost outright shouting at Jake. "The golden eyes? The perfect skin? The kissable lips? Or the cloak or whatever she's wearing that just somehow makes her so goddamn sexy?"
"Wait, did you say I've been gone a month?" Jake asked.
"Yeah." Smith said. "It's been a month since the world penitentiary was destroyed and that's when you went missing. Again like Kevin said."
'I was only with the true mages for about a week.' Jake thought. 'Does time pass differently over there or am I just bad at keeping track of time?'
Rheya had been listening to Kevin and didn't know how to feel or react to what he said. She maintained her composure and stayed out of the conversation.
"And where'd you even get that armour you're wearing?"
"Are you jealous Kevin?" Jake asked.
"Are you kidding me? Of course I'm jealous. Look who you showed up with. Just look at her and tell me you wouldn't hit that."
"Kevin chill out." Kyle said. "That's not something you should be saying in front of the person you're referring to."
"Sorry about that." Kevin said to Rheya with his usual charismatic smile. "That's my way of saying you're beautiful."
"Thank you?" Rheya replied.
"This armour was given to me by..." Jake was saying before he felt a very severe pain on his right forearm. He couldn't see it but he knew it was the symbol from the binding contract that now felt like an intense burn as though someone was branding his skin and all his points of endurance did nothing.
He held the pain in and groaned a bit before completing what he was saying. "I mean I found it... when I was just wandering around. Until Rheya found me."
Sasha had began walking off at this point. She knew Jake was lying and she no longer had any reason to stay behind.
"Anyways I've got to get home." Jake said. "And Rheya is coming with me."
"Better say goodbye Kevin. You might not see her again." Kyle said.
"I'm not going to eat her but sure say goodbye."
"Goodbye beautiful." Kevin said with tears in his eyes as he moved closer to Rheya and went in for a hug. "I'll miss you."
Rheya allowed Kevin to hug her but didn't hug back since she didn't even know who he was and still felt the whole situation was extremely awkward.
Kevin hugged Rheya and began moving his hands down below her waistline but was stopped when Rheya hit the staff on Kevin's foot.
"Damn!" Kevin shouted as he backed up. "What does that staff weigh?"
"Keep your hands to yourself Kevin." Jake said as he laughed, his hair falling down to partially cover his left eye. "Let's go Rheya."
Rheya had been able to hear the thoughts of all of them except for Jake and Sasha.She knew Kevin didn't have any bad intentions but just wanted to get a little handsy. She didn't know why she couldn't hear Sasha's thoughts but she sensed something around her that for some reason was very similar to Jake.