Chapter 31

  Rinse And Repeat

  Sparkling green motes of light form.

  Trash.

  Sparkling green motes of light disappear.

  Golden Life Ratio Mana Regeneration.

  Sparkling green motes of light form.

  Trash.

  Sparkling green motes of light disappear.

  This is how my afternoon went. Amazing what happens when your normally vibrant and energetic teacher suddenly calls out sick on a Friday. Hard to believe that missing just one teacher would induce so much drama, but here I was, using music class to practice my newly acquired Class augmented Skill.

  For a moment I thought about taking out the second Skill Tome, but ultimately thought it would be better for me to understand my current limitations with my newly acquired Skill.

  At first, I could only cast Trash on the motes after they landed on a solid surface, but by the end of class I had gotten to the point where I could get half of the motes while they were still in the air.

  Of course, using my Trash Skill, would require regular unaltered Mana to be used, which would make it so I couldn’t cause an immediate burst with my Golden Life Ratio Mana Regeneration Skill, but that was fine as it just forced me to go through more cycles before over saturation was once again achieved.

  With this process, a few different scenarios and purposes for why I would need to practice such methods came to mind.

  First, there was the fact that when I eventually went back to clearing out Bloom Park, something I am fairly certain Madame Bloom will insist upon tomorrow, during the daytime, before my time when I would be assigned as a Healer.

  Why would I need to have this method available for Bloom Park? Well simply put, Life energy is like crack for spirits. Just saturating an area with it, will cause the Spirits to come out and hungrily try to eat it. Which is when I can use my Bloodline Skill Soul Devour to strike down the throng of enemies that will clearly be distracted by the abundant and free-floating life Mana.

  The second reason for this type of training also involves Bloom Park. I want to get better at dissolving Necrotic Fireballs in the air. Or at the very least make it so they do significantly less damage when they land. Right now, I have to see the motes in the air, and where they land to get rid of them quickly. I could try harsher methods, but that might involve actually damaging the desks, which I probably wouldn’t mind for most classes. But not Madame Voyou’s class, especially not while she was out sick. Which was why I kept it simple. Maybe once I got more confident with my cleaning ability, I would try, but again I am still getting used to this training method.

  ***

  (Three Hours Later)

  As was expected, school eventually ended. Yes, everyone stared at me, the creepy girl who made glowing green lights appear, and then wink out of existence all afternoon, but honestly I didn’t care.

  By now most people knew I was granted Class exemption training, and other than picking up a few odd and end factoids about this world, most of what was happening around me didn’t really matter. The truth was, I had a new Skill, one that could potentially help me save a life, and I did not want to run out of Mana while doing so.

  I even feel my hand inadvertently go to the silver vial attached to my right hip. Apparently, part of why the box was so ornate is that it contained a long double silver chain that you could use to both hook around your hip, and around your shoulder, creating a seat belt like harness effect to keep the vial secure. The only reason why I knew about its function was I had seen a few of the more members of the DiVoratore family showcase the fact that they were rewarded one by grandfather.

  Even the brat, Veronica Smoulders, had one, despite not being awakened. Though apparently the reason she was granted one, was in case she did awaken at school, or wherever, she would have emergency Mana on hand. As the Smoulder bloodline had a tendency to burn out the Mana channels entirely of fledglings who were awoken too early. Before they had enough Mana related Skills to survive the ordeal.

  Really the entire Bloodline seemed stupid to me, clearly one of the most powerful bloodlines when they actually awoke their Bloodline power, as it was clearly at Epic or Legendary status, but what is the point of having a family Skill that could kill you. Legend has it that their immense power comes from the fact that their made once pacts with dragons. Of course, dragons aren’t real. Or at least they can’t be viewed in the real world. Instead, they are only able to be observed in Portals.

  Veronica has threatened to burn me to cinders more than once, after her powers fully awoke. Come to think of it, Veronica is another person who I would want to practice removing Mana particles from the air for.

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  These thoughts and more went through my mind as I made my way to Ronaldo’s Pastries. Though to my surprise, the shop was clearly closed. On a Friday afternoon?

  As I approached, I saw Ronaldo, his son Junior, Markan, Mr. Yi, and Madame Bloom all in attendance.

  Chuckles.

  Seeing the confusion on my face, Ronaldo arose to his feet, “go on the shop’s not locked up. Junior will go with you and lock up once you are done.”

  I nod, relaxing a bit as I see my meal reward already out and waiting for me in a paper bag.

  In a matter of seconds, I once again quickly burn away the dirt and grime that comes from a single day’s life in the shop. Even making sure to use Trash to remove the build up of waste in the back.

  Then going to the front, I pause.

  “Sit down, enjoy yourself,” Ronaldo exclaims, excitedly gesturing to an open seat at the outside table. Once there, I do as instructed and pull out my pastry and begin eating. Today is a form of meat pie, I almost want to protest, but it is too good. The crust is crisp and fluffy enough to melt in your mouth.

  I was so lost in my own food, that I barely noticed the one set of eyes still staring at me. Pausing mid bite to look at the set of unsettling eyes, directly back at Junior I paused and stared back.

  Shiver.

  Seeing that his stare had been spotted he quickly twitched and looked down and away at the ground, clearly embarrassed by being caught. Yep, still got it, I preened to myself at realizing that I could still frighten almost any boy away.

  With that, I happily went back to eating my treat.

  “So Mr. Acevedo, are we in agreement?” Madame Bloom’s words finally cut in through the food induced coma that I was experiencing with my tastebuds at the moment. Ronaldo Acevedo, looked from Madame Bloom’s outstretched hand then to me, then back to her hand and nodded and shook.

  “Very well, I accept your deal, Now if you don’t mind us, we have a bit of entertainment to see tonight,” Ronaldo said gesturing to his son.

  For a moment, I wondered where exactly he was going? Was something so important that it was worth actually shutting down early?

  At that, Madame Bloom just smiled coyly and said, “funny, I just so happen to have asked both of my drivers to meet me here today. Would you care to ride with me while we discuss future business arrangements?”

  Future business arrangements? What exactly was Madame Bloom doing?

  Seeing the look of confusion on my face, Madame Bloom just gestured to the overly excited Markan and the stoic as ever Mr. Yi.

  Taking a moment to clear my Trash from the area, I quickly use the Skill, before getting up and heading towards the first of the two carriages. This is the one being driven by the older of the two drivers, the one that picked us up last night after the event was over. Still, I didn’t really mind as it was better than walking. Also, it still seemed to be much faster that most automobiles at this time.

  Getting in, I once again found my costume for the night. My black healer’s robe bearing House Bloom’s insignia throughout. A robe that easily slid over like a kid’s Halloween costume, hooked into place under my legs, and came complete with a set of black gloves with three lines going down the back of the hand and exiting between my knuckles. The last part was the hood, which oddly felt more comfortable than I thought.

  Maybe it was the fact that I could use Trash to get rid of my sweat and odor from inside the hood, making it so that it had a perpetually clean feeling to it, that made this process so much easier to stomach. But putting on the hood almost felt natural.

  Despite the entire process taking only half the time as the first time to put on and seal correctly, I still barely finished before we arrived at the venue. Maybe the older driver was faster as well? Knowing more unique shortcuts to travel? I didn’t know.

  All I did know was that by the time I had a moment to sit down and relax, that next second is when the coach came to a complete stop. Then the slight adjusting of weight as the driver jumped down from his platform and came over to open the door for the three of us to exit did I realize we were truly here.

  Again, it might just be me not used to moving in relatively sealed spaces like the Bloom family coaches, but I swear there is a temporal distortion around them while we travel. Getting out I pause to look around for any signs of mana having been used, but I don’t see anything.

  Worst, trying to look around and get a better feel for where we are, I realize we are in a section of town that I have never been to before. Also, I am fairly certain that this area is different from where we were yesterday. Again, some high-level chicanery Skills are in place to make it so nothing seems familiar. Or they moved locations but given the size and scale of the last place, it seemed almost impossible to find a place that was as well developed as the last one.

  Even the guards manning the door look different. Though there does appear to be some recognition in their eyes, as I can hear the knocking pattern from the one guard to the people inside slightly change.

  Circular metallic dragging sound, tap.

  The guard seems to make a distinct pattern of noise, grinding his knuckle loudly against the metal door in a looping motion. Then proceeds to strike the door in the center of the loop just made.

  Once again, a heavy duty eye slit slides open, an intense penetrating blue stare. Then a nod, and the door opens.

  Unlike last time, where the person who opened the door looked disgruntled, this person looks excited.

  “Oh our esteemed Healer has returned, come right this way, and make yourself at home,” the receptionist stated.

  With that, I was ushered in to the now three times packed back staging area.

  “Hey is this her? The same Healer from last night?” A male who was in the middle of waxing his stomach hairs asks, jumping to his feet and coming over. By all appearances, he should be handsome, thick wavy blond hair, blue eyes and a clearly muscular body, but looking at him, all I can think is ICK. Especially with the fact that he still has two gauze pulls stuck to his stomach and a few strips of hairs that he clearly missed. Basically, he looks like my brother did, the one time he got violently sick at the barbershop and had to leave the premise immediately. Same thing, all except, this guy doesn’t look like he even cares about his wild patches of freely waving fur.

  “Yes, this is the Healer that everyone has been talking about,” the usher states, but his body language changes almost immediately. “I will remind you about the recent policy change about workplace harassment directed towards the staff. That goes double for our competent Healers.”

  With that, I instantly understood that there was likely some past tension caused by this guy. Tension that likely had been earned from a number of failed attempts. The guy all but screams pampered rich kid who never has enough mirrors in his house.

  With that the Usher guided me and my two guards to a corner, only once we were here hidden away slightly, did the Usher seem to relax.

  “Phew, sorry about that, but as you can see we are triple booked for today. So thank you both for coming back,” the Usher stated to both Mr. Yi and Markan. Then turning to me, he said, “especially thanks to you for coming back and allowing this to happen.”

  With that the Usher seemed to remember something as he tapped his head, “oh before I forget. I was told to make sure you had this readily available.”

  With that, the Usher pulled out a second silver vial for Mana regeneration, as if they grew on trees. Which they might, as it is quite fruity in flavor and texture. The Usher holds it out to me, along with the straw and looks confused for a moment. He might be perceptive enough to see the bulge under my own robe. A clear wardrobe malfunction on my part if there ever was one, but fortunately Mr. Yi reached in to grab the vial and the straw.

  “I’ll take those,” his crips voice calm and brokering no argument.

  The Usher gives a quick glance to me, which I nod, and he hands it over. Then he pauses for a nervous second, “well unless you need anything else from me, I will be going. Feel free to eat and drink as much as you want. Also, no pressure, but a number of the fighters from last night have asked to meet with you again.”

  At the you, the Usher pointed his finger directly at me.

  I am curious as to why, but again part of this hood is that I have to remain mute. Which I give an open handed gesture. One where I clearly want him to clarify his last statement, but he apparently assumes contrary.

  “Right, well if you do need anything, feel free to call for me. I am Poleman, Keith Polmean.” The Usher stated, then was off, effortlessly swimming his way through the cacophony of people.

  “Looks like you drew everyone out of the woodwork yesterday,” Markan commented to me, then glanced around the room. Then I could almost see the moment he recognized someone of importance. “Holy shit, is that Death Machine?”

  I had no clue who any of the names these fighters used related to, but looking in the direction that his eyes were, I quickly saw who he was talking about.

  That’s when I realized, I did know who Death Machine was. But unlike Markan, I knew who she really was.

  So that’s where she went.

  per day, until our reign on the top 50 stops.

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