'While on our journey back I came to a realisation. I am weak. I needed to learn enhancing asap. With these thoughts I gathered questions for Casey.'
"So uh… whats up with your bow"
"Whats wrong with it?" she said with a smirk.
"I have never seen a bow with that much destruction power before."
"Its an artifact. Specifically one that can only be used when both hands are enhanced."
"Makes sense. So how did you learn to enhance."
"Like I mentioned before, my parents spent a lot on making me strong, I've been able to enhance for a few years now which is why I can do two limbs at once."
'I remember Jared saying that after learning enhancing it takes a lot of time to be able to cover two limbs at once and most people would only ever be able to do two. Only the strongest most experienced could do three limbs or the whole body.'
"Wow impressive, do you have any tips on learning enhancing?"
'After saying this she looked at me as if I was joking and asked "Out of curiosity how many limbs can you envelope?"
"Zero"
"Really?"
"Yep, any tips."
Looking a little pale she said "wait until we get back please."
'We walked most of the way back in silence besides discussing our plan for when we return. Did I do something wrong?
'When we eventually got back it was pitch black and we were let into the city. We headed straight for the main street and put our plan to action. Casey was going to sell our materials and mystery artifact, my job was to find rooms in a nice, affordable inn for us both and keep the potion machine safe.'
'Walking around late at night with an expensive looking machine is almost asking to get robbed. Luckily that didn't happen.'
'I checked inns looking for the highest quality room at a good price and stumbled across 'Explorers Ease'. I headed in to talk to the owner inside. I find myself to be sweating and rehearsing what im going to ask in my head before I inquire about the inns. Am I that bad at talking to people? "Surely not" I mumbled to myself as I walked in the doors to see the worker to be a tall muscly guy. He looks to be maybe mid to late 20's so I was surprised to see someone this young owning a business on main street.'
Putting down the machine I asked "Im uh looking for a room for two people for… two nights maybe? What would the prices be.
The young man replied in a monotone voice "For two people, two nights would be 450pc (profile coins)."
'Good value I thought, when I got the urge to ask him the question I had been wondering since I walked in.'
'With a deep breath I asked "Have you ever adventured before?"
'Confused by the sudden question from a stranger he replied without eye contact "I trained to be one once, I'm pretty good at enhancing but my combat skills are poor. The reason I stopped training wasn't because of my lack of skills though."
'I wanted to ask for the reason but he obviously didn't say it for a reason. I wont lose sleep over not knowing though, I don't particularly enjoy prying into strangers private lives.'
'Giving him the 450pc Casey transferred me, I successfully rented our rooms and entered mine with the machine setting it on a table. The room was clean and looked pretty fancy. It was a large room with a nice bed in white sheets, a red rug covering part of the timber floor and expensive looking furniture. There was also decorations like paintings but I unconsciously ignored them.'
'My back was still aching from the fight so I decided to try get the machine working in hopes of getting a potion. Ignorant of the fact it needed materials to produce one, I was pressing buttons hoping something would happen.'
'After a while of pressing buttons and nothing happening I decided to meditate, determined to unlock enhancing. I sat on the bed legs interlocked and hands down by my side, relaxed my whole body. After some time of focusing, I entered my 'mind space' once again. The mind space is the embodiment of your soul, accessible through meditation. It was here you gained the ability to enhance. Everyones mind space was different being tailored to their soul and desires.'
'I opened my eyes and was back again. Crouching low to shield myself from the intense winds blowing, I sat on a ledge. My soul space was beautiful. I was on top of an incredibly high snowy mountain trying not to fall off with the wind. Looking down made me confused. I felt like the view below was the most beautiful thing possible, but it also felt like I couldn't see anything. As if a thick fog covered it. I didn't know what to do here.
'In the distance there was a bright sun. But it had a large hole in it which emitted no light. The mind space hasn't changed since my last visit and neither has my ability to enhance. I stayed for a while looking for a clue to help me progress but came up empty. Sighing I left the space and returned to reality once again unsuccessful.'
'When I opened my eyes I was left with a jumpscare seeing Casey in front of me who was inspecting my face very closely.'
"Oh.. uh you found the inn I see, what do you think?" I said startled.
"Its nice." She said backing up looking annoyed.
"Have I done something wrong why do you seem annoyed with me?"
"That would be because I am. Why didn't you tell me you couldn't enhance?"
"I didn't think it was necessary."
"Are you trying to piss me off?"
"N-no"
"I made that plan for killing the Dungeon Lord assuming you could enhance because you never told me you couldn't. You could have died. Even entering a dungeon without being able to enhance is crazy."
"Do you want an apology?"
"No I want you to be better. To be less self centred. If you had died in there it would have been me who sent you to your death."
"Fine. Help me be better then, how do you figure out your mind space?"
"If you are unable to enhance after a long time of meditating, theres probably something hanging on your conscience."
She then said in a sincere voice "I dont know anything about your past but you might need to hear this. It wasn't your fault, there was nothing you could have done."
'Her words hit my ears and all of a sudden I had a tight but warm feeling in my chest, like I had unconsciously agreed with her and forgave myself.'
'I got the urge to check my soul space and did just that. I entered and the wind still blew strong, below I could still see and at the same time couldn't see the views and I was still on the ledge. Nothing changed, except for the sun which no longer had a hole in it. I felt my body well up with power and in my soul I knew, I had done it. I have achieved enhancing and it was thanks to Casey's words. I wonder if she had to be told the same herself.'
'I left the space once more and tried it out. I couldn't explain how to enhance. It was just like instinct. Just like how you are able to move your arm, I was able to envelop one hand or foot at a time and remove it. I couldnt even do one full leg or arm yet. My enhancement was white but slightly transparent. Come to think of it Ethan's was dark grey and Casey's was red. I wonder if the colour represents something.'
'Moving on, I was excited to test my enhancement and challenged Casey to a hand to hand combat spar in the morning. She agreed and we both went to sleep in our rooms'
'Morning came and we stood in an open field near the inn. Facing one another, we both threw up our guards ready to go.'