"It's Magic time!"
==Magic Core==
Level: 27
QUALITIES:
Capacity: 10
Control: 9
Affinity: 10
Quality Points: 13
Jamie opened his Magic Core's status, slightly disappointed that it wasn't as high as the Mecha Core, but he was still grateful for it. It seemed that there was a different criteria for absorbing affinities to level high aside from killing the owner.
"At least we get some new spells."
[Strong Affinity Absorption Reward - Summon Killipede (Child)]
"Woah, I don't know if I should be happy or disgusted that I can see more of these things." Jamie said as the spell filled his head.
The new spell allowed him to summon child killipedes to do his bidding, though child killipedes were only the length of an adult's arm. It seemed that if he wanted to summon larger and stronger killipedes, he'd need to evolve the spell somehow.
Jamie also found it interesting that the spell had the Summon affinity, compared to the Earth affinity he got from the Killipede he killed when he found Prime. It was also directly given to him instead of being a level reward option. Maybe stronger or unique affinities absorbed would allow him to be directly rewarded with strong spells.
"Well, at least we got a new spell. Moving on."
[Magic Core Level 20 Reward - Choose an affinity.]
[1. Fire
2. Water
3. Air
4. Earth]
"Huh, same as last time, though the Earth spell is random now, too. Guess I really have to absorb a new affinity before I can choose it as a spell."
Not having any particular preference, and since he already had a fire spell, he chose water this time.
[Water Spell - Water Wave learned.]
"Alright, this is neat." Jamie learned about the spell and how to cast it, a slight frustration lurking within as he failed to learn anything else related to magic. "Now let me test a theory…"
Jamie spent 8 Quality Points on Affinity, lowering his available points to 5. Then, he opened the Level 25 Reward, which held the same options, and this time picked Air.
[Air Spell - Wind Lance learned.]
"Well what do you know?" He whistled. "The greater the Affinity Quality, the stronger the learned spell."
As the information flooded his head, Jamie immediately knew that this was his strongest spell yet. It compressed wind into a lance with great penetrative power, and cost 5 mana to cast, the most expensive spell yet. Nodding to himself, he realized he would soon need to plan his Quality Points spending better.
He needed a large Capacity to be able to cast a lot of spells, yet he also needed a high Affinity to get strong spells. Control helped him save Mana, but he felt that it should be saved for later. Spending the rest of his points in Capacity, he began to return to Shell.
==Magic Core==
Level: 27
QUALITIES:
Capacity: 15
Control: 9
Affinity: 18
Quality Points: 0
==Magic Core Spells==
Fire Blast (2 Mana per spell usage)
Summon Killipede (Child) (2 Mana per Killipede summoned)
Water Wave (2 Mana per spell usage)
Wind Lance (5 Mana per spell usage)
"All done. Let's charge up your mecha." Jamie nodded at Mollusk, while Shell raised an eyebrow.
"Really? After one kill? You sure you don't need more?"
Jamie shook his head. "No, that one kill gave me more than enough. C'mon Prime."
Commanding his mecha to place his hand on the other mecha, the notification appeared once more.
[UHF-172 "Mollusk" needs 1670 more energy to activate the repair function. Deposit energy?]
Jamie answered yes with no hesitation, and two red dots of light appeared at Prime's waist, signifying the Energy Cyclers' activation. Being drained of 37 Energy immediately but refilled by 20 every second, Jamie was able to continuously supply Energy to Mollusk.
With the rate he was going at, Mollusk had met the energy requirements in less than 5 minutes. Humming to life, the mecha's self repair function activated, making Shell gasp in shock. The two of them watched the mecha stand up on its own as the sparks and smoke disappeared.
"You actually did it kid!" She grabbed Jamie by the shoulders and shook him gleefully.
"Told you I could dooo it." Jamie was left slightly dizzy as Shell hurriedly jumped into Mollusk's Pilot Chamber, before remembering something.
She popped her head back out and tossed a small card at Jamie, who caught it.
"Thanks for the help, Jamie! That's my Token of Favor. It means that as a merc, I owe you one."
Looking at the pale card, Jamie noticed it had Shell's name and picture on it, along with Mollusk's full name. On the bottom half, three gold stars were engraved. Jamie supposed that was what made the card a Token of Favor.
"If you're ever around New Earth, feel free to cash in that Token if you need my help for something urgent. Otherwise, just use my name if you need anything. See you around, Jamie. I'm off to find my team!"
Jamie waved at her as the round top half of Mollusk closed, hiding her from sight. A large thruster burned to life in between the curved legs as Shell took to the skies, disappearing from sight within seconds.
"Now that was a beneficial encounter."
Now that Shell and Mollusk were out of the area, it was a little quieter. Jamie didn't really have anything else he wanted to do there since he already leveled up a ton, so he decided to go home.
As Jamie began to climb onto Prime, he heard a squeaky bark somewhere nearby.
"A dog?" He looked around before spotting the source of the sound. "Huh, you're a cute little pup."
Near some trees stood a puppy with fur the color of snow. It was small, fluffy, and cute, amplified by the high pitched barks the puppy released.
"Huh, you don't look like a monster." He picked the pup up and lifted it into the air, facing no resistance. "You must be special or something to just be alive out here."
He got an idea. Jamie looked around to make sure the pup's parents or anything else weren't nearby before he unzipped his jacket and stuffed the white pup in it.
"I know someone that will love you very well." Jamie mounted Prime and began to fly back to the slums. "Hmm, I should try and get Amy a cat or something."
On the way back, Jamie couldn't help but think about his goals. He wanted to take his family out of the slums, but how exactly was he going to do that?
Sure, he supposed that Prime was pretty strong now, but could he take on the whole of Dynamos? Even if he could beat the cops residing here in the slums, was he prepared to do so?
If his family was threatened, he would kill for them with no hesitation, as he had already done. But if he had to do it for a goal, just to improve their own lives, could he stomach it?
And what if the higher ups in Dynamos sent stronger people to take him out? People he couldn't face? Jamie sighed as his mind was a mess. On one hand, he wasn't exactly looking forward to grinding levels in the wasteland every day for months or years on end. On the other hand, how else would he grow stronger to eventually achieve his goals?
"I suppose I should just be satisfied that things are going alright at the moment." Jamie thought about his family. "I'll just go through whatever I gotta go through, as it's always been."
The puppy in his jacket barked as if to show its agreement. "I guess you agree with me, little guy. We still gotta give you a name… I'll let Aiden decide."
The sun was setting by the time he made it back to the border, reentering through the dented door as usual as making it back home through the streets and alleys.
As he arrived near the shop, he felt something off. The area was filled with an eerie silence. Immediately, Jamie ran to the shop, his heart dropping as soon as he saw the state it was in.
The garage was completely trashed, the shutter broken, and Amanda sat on the floor next to Aiden. As he got closer, Jamie's blood ran cold as he noticed the worst part. Seemingly feeling similar emotions, the puppy whimpered.
"Ssh, Aiden, it's alright, I'm here. Jamie will be coming back soon…"
The boy being talked about stood there outside the garage frozen, Amanda and Aiden failing to notice him. Jamie's ears were ringing as he felt nothing but pure, unbridled rage. As for why he felt that rage?
"I-It hurts, Amanda… Where's big brother…"
"Just hold on, Aiden. He'll be here any second now."
Amanda's face was covered in tears as she comforted Aiden, who was currently lying on the ground. Next to him was a puddle of clear liquid with broken glass pieces, a black case open next to it.
As for Aiden himself? He was crying, he was in pain, because his right arm was bending the wrong way, in the opposite direction. The bone was sticking out, and blood poured out of his broken arm.