Quest Academy: Scavengers, page 39
“No, Salvatore. I think I’m very trustworthy. My power allows me to plant memories into your mind. I could make you think we’ve been friends since childhood. I could empower you to become the greatest Hero the world has ever seen.” Erika turned to Rochelle. “Or, I could make you courageous enough to confront the fears you’ve been facing.”
Her blue eyes locked onto Sal. “I use my abilities when the circumstance calls for it. Now, let’s try that again. What needs to happen for you to join my team?”
Sal sighed as he folded his arms. “First thing. Our team. If I join this, it’s not yours. It’s a collection of people with their own aspirations. A team needs to work together, build trust in one another and support them. There is no hierarchy in a team, just roles that need to be carried out efficiently and effectively. Our team of Supports won in the Silver cohort because we trained hard together.”
Erika gestured at the revolver in the case. “You also had the connections to get yourself kitted out in great equipment. If you join our team, would we be able to use these connections to get equipment?”
As Erika spoke, Rochelle looked around to distract herself from the conversation. Her eyes eventually landed on the blueprint that Sal had been mapping out.
“Can I look at that?” Rochelle pointed at the blueprint.
Sal didn’t hesitate and slid it across to her.
He already had it saved in the visor, so the sketch itself didn’t really matter to him anymore. She wouldn’t be able to determine much from it without context, so he was happy to let her see it. A small part of his brain worried that she might be petty and destroy it in front of him.
Erika frowned at the interruption but didn’t say anything as she looked back at Sal calmly. “Your value isn’t necessarily in the equipment you bring to the table, but it helps. I want you for your abilities and experience. What will it cost to bring you to my side?”
Sal laughed at that. “Bring me to your side? How do I know you’re not doing this to piss off Divinity?”
Erika’s smile returned as she tapped her long nails against the surface of the table. “I don’t have any animosity toward Divinity Khan. She has a competitive advantage from being able to see into the future and course correct. But when it comes down to capability, she will undoubtedly see a future in which I take the top rank in the academy.”
After a moment of silence, Erika got to her feet, surprising both Sal and Rochelle. “I have a Defense class to recruit and can’t spend all day sitting here having a back-and-forth. You may not like my personality or my methods, but you can’t reject my results. Think about my proposal and let me know by tomorrow.”
With that, Erika strode off through the canteen. A whole section of people in chairs moved their seats forward to clear a path for her, all in immediate succession. Sal sighed as he turned to Rochelle, who stared back at him.
Before he could say a word, Rochelle filled the space, but not before checking that Erika was well out of range.
“Ugh, I told her that you would never be on a team with me.” Rochelle took a relieved breath as she leaned in closer to the table. “It was like she didn’t care what I did to you, because she said she’d make it work. Apparently, that method was to mind control me into drooling on a table! No matter what I said to her, she stonewalled me and told me that I needed to follow the plan and do everything she said.”
Sal burst out laughing and nodded. “If it’s any consolation, I’d have you on my team before her.”
A radiant smile transformed Rochelle’s face as she placed the blueprint down on the table. “I’m genuinely sorry about before.” She looked away and took a deep breath, as though psyching herself up.
“Any chance we can start over?” Rochelle pointed at the blueprint. “I can detail my ability for you, if it makes us even?”
Her green eyes were wide, and she looked incredibly hopeful. Sal didn’t need her to do anything as his visor and ability would have been able to make short work of it. But looking at her trying to extend the olive branch, Sal slid over a fresh piece of paper and rolled the pen over to her. “Sounds like a deal to me.”
Sal’s humoring smile evaporated as Rochelle’s hand moved rapidly over the fresh piece of paper. Whatever he had thought he managed with his own sketching, this was like watching a master at work. Rather than drawing the weave, Rochelle focused on the threads and how they moved essence. She detailed a series of calculations that could only have been made up with the speed she produced them.
Sal wasn’t going to put any faith into what she was presenting, but he had to admit that she was ridiculously talented at drawing. A chunk of time passed before Sal was allowed to see what was going on.
Rochelle had taken one glance at Sal’s stare and used her arm to shield her work. A cheeky grin crossed her features, and Sal couldn’t help but laugh at the childishness of it all. Eventually, the sound of the scratching pen died and Rochelle moved away from the drawing. It was packed with a series of details and numbers that made zero sense to him. He didn’t hold much hope, but he activated his visor to check it with Analysis.
Transference (R:3) Raw Structure is being updated.
Transference (R:3) Raw Structure has been updated to:
Transference (R:8) Essence Structure and Calibration Method
Essence Calibration and Essence Refinement have been improved
Rochelle’s smile grew even wider when she saw the stupefied expression on Sal’s face. “Pretty cool method, isn’t it? My essence absorption rate is atrocious, so I worked on developing an efficient method to refine what I could get. It’s much easier when you can heal any fuck-ups during experimentation!”
Sal couldn’t find the words to respond. Her drawing had been processed by his visor, and it had improved how he processed essence? There were too many questions running through his mind, but the biggest one was how an external device had somehow changed his internal state. His essence was linked to the visor, but for it to help him in such a way…he couldn’t get his head around it. Did this mean that he’d be able to improve himself just by using the visor to read things? Would he be able to use it to learn martial arts? Sal’s head swam with concepts that felt so alien to him.
Rochelle slid the newly constructed blueprint toward him, the smile not leaving her face. “If we’re starting over fresh, I’m Rochelle, but my friends back home called me Roche.”
She offered her hand across the table, and her smile faltered while Sal was busy reading through the information on his visor. When he saw the hand outstretched, he smiled and took it.
“Salvatore Argento, but everyone calls me Sal.” He laughed at the silliness of it all and was about to ask a question about her design when she raised her hand to ask him something.
She looked conflicted, and Sal wondered whether she was going to ask for some Q-Cred. He didn’t know whether it was just a cynical streak from growing up in an auction house, but he was rarely proved wrong about people. If she asked for money, he’d probably give it to her, but never see her as a friend.
“Can I heal you?” Rochelle asked out of the blue, which completely caught him off guard.
He pointed at himself, and Rochelle nodded.
“I can tell from your drawing that you’re trying to figure out why your ability is overloading your eyes. I can’t give you the answers, but I can regenerate what’s broken.”
Sal recalled her remark about his eyes the first time they had met. When he took her power, he had restored them with her ability, but he didn’t question what was causing the issues. Was his Mythcrafter ability not aligned to his capability? Like how Barry’s version of Illusion was too much for him to handle?
“I promise not to hold your health ransom this time,” Rochelle added with an awkward smile.
Sal laughed as he spread his hands wide. “Okay then, but if you find something to heal, I’ll actually pay you.”
Rochelle’s eyes widened, and Sal couldn’t even get his next words out before her eyes illuminated into a glowing ethereal green.
Chapter 55 – Rested
Sal blinked as he turned over in bed. The sunlight came in through his dorm window, and he realized that he had managed to sleep peacefully the entire night. No nightmares or rogue cramps somewhere in his body had managed to improve his psyche more than he could have imagined. The other pleasant sensation was how well-rested he felt.
Rochelle had managed to find a whole range of issues, if her healing was to be believed. He didn’t doubt her for one moment, because when she had listed the minor injuries she came across, Sal identified them within his own body. He guessed that he had been attributing them to the exercises he did in the morning, and assumed that they’d vanish over time.
His eyes, though, were a completely different story. When Doctor Bob had ran a test on him in the Doom Society, he had felt his eyes water at the sudden burning sensation at the back of his sockets. Rochelle’s healing had not only caused a much more intense burning, but it came with an accompanied sense of capability. It was hard to describe, and it wasn’t like his vision was impaired or anything before, but the time in which it took him to activate his ability had shortened drastically.
It was a wonderful experience, and Sal felt in peak form afterward, but it came with the realization that there was definitely an imbalance with his body and his abilities. His eyes were gradually suffering from injuries because of his repeated use of the Mythcrafter ability. Sal wondered whether the headaches he got as a kid were his body’s way of telling him that it was dangerous to use the ability for prolonged periods of time.
Sal looked out the window at the city below. They had another day to complete their teams. Then it was the weekend, and then they’d be heading out on their first excursion week. Classes taking place in a Reclaimed Zone. It sounded insane just thinking about it, but the normal sense of dread that Sal usually felt was nowhere to be found.
With a smile, Sal got out of bed and kicked his shoes out of the way. He needed to get his exercise routine done before he thought about anything else. If he procrastinated, then he’d end up not doing it and feeling guilty for the rest of the day. Each of his movements were fluid and practiced. There were none of the tremors in his body that he had ignored over the last week.
Rochelle was worth every part of the fifty Q-Cred he had sent her. Her reaction to it was absolutely priceless as she nearly broke down in tears in front of him.
Sal decided that he would be using her services more regularly if it meant keeping him in perfect condition. The thought had crossed his mind of creating some kind of incubation tank, like a recovery booth with Rochelle’s powers, but the cost of making something like that would be astronomical. It didn’t stop him from sketching out the idea, though.
Dropping to the floor, Sal started his first set of push-ups, hating every single moment. When his nose touched the floor, he pushed back up and repeated the process until he could barely move his arms. Toward the end of his last set, Sal gave more thought to the recovery pod idea. It struck him that he probably shouldn’t be trying to make creative solutions when he was hurting, or all he’d end up with was a series of Rare-grade gym equipment.
As Sal got ready to do some sit-ups, he thought about Erika’s proposition to form a team. It wasn’t nearly as bad as he thought it would be, and now that he and Rochelle had an amicable sort of relationship, he was happier to join the team. The unknown factors of the Broken Brophy guy and the mystery Defense class made it a little harder to calculate.
Sal had no choice when it came to Anthony, Blathnaid, Jack, or Barry. Yet, that team became incredible with the right formations and training. Sure, the equipment had helped, but Sal would be able to make equipment for any team he was on.
Sal crunched his body forward and winced as his tired muscles reminded him that he was indeed alive.
Rochelle was an interesting factor, though. If Sal could create something that would give her access to essence reserves, she’d be a huge resource on the battlefield. It was so funny that he had actively disliked the woman a few days ago but now he was thinking of how he could harness her ability for his own benefit.
Sal laughed and regretted the action immediately; his body crumpled to the floor and he was left wheezing on the ground, looking at the ceiling. When he had first started this routine, he needed to use the soft mattress to bounce into the position. Those sit-ups hadn’t really helped his development in the slightest.
In less than an hour, he finished with his routine and was happy that it was out of the way. Lots of people talked about how exercise made them feel great, but Sal definitely wasn’t in that camp.
After a long shower, Sal restored his uniform and got dressed for the day. He was going to stop by the workshop to finish the designs for Chatfield as he had left the man waiting for far too long already. Sal picked up the metal case that contained his visor and revolver and made his way to the door.
It was still the early hours of the morning, so he had pretty much the whole day ahead of him. He should have been thinking about the feasibility of joining Erika’s team, but realistically, there weren’t many reasons for him to say no. He did question what he could potentially squeeze out of her as payment for joining the team. It would be nice to have a Mind Master owing him a favor.
Sal’s journey to the workshop wasn’t eventful, with practically nobody in the corridors or elevators. The lobby itself was virtually dead when he walked through it, save for the few vendors setting up their booths. He wasn’t going to cheat on Alex by getting his coffee elsewhere, and Sal questioned whether he even needed it at this point. It was such a foreign experience waking up in the morning without exhaustion and aches.
When he entered the workshop, he was met with the familiar buzz of activity. The regulars looked as if they had been there from the previous night, while some of the second-year students looked to be getting an early start to their day. By the frantic rushing around, they still had classes to attend and the early hours were the best time to get extra work done.
“Hello, stranger,” Martin called from his workbench. A crooked grin was accompanied by a wave.
Sal smiled and walked over to him, curious to see what he was working on.
Martin had been invaluable when they printed out the components for the Legendary sniper rifle, but Sal realized that he didn’t know much else about the man. Sal didn’t even need to activate his ability to identify the project because he had seen the blueprint weeks ago. A miniature version of the combat drone was resting on the desk. It was separated into multiple parts but didn’t have any mechanisms. If Sal was to guess, it was a rough design rather than a prototype.
Sal gestured at the tiny device. “Did Upgrade enlist you into making the drone? It’s a lot smaller than I expected, but looks great.”
Martin laughed as he shook his head. “Nah, this is a personal project. Wanted to make a toy drone for my nephew, just something that flies around for a bit and comes back.” He gestured at a tiny circular device that rested beside the toy drone. “He wears the bracelet, and the drone will always come back to it. This design is a mock-up of what it should look like before I get into the essence programming. Might need to wait for Upgrade before attempting that, though.” He chuckled as he looked up at Sal. “Glad to see you’re back, by the way. Upgrade was worried she pushed you too far with that dungeon stuff.”
Sal faltered. He hadn’t spoken with Upgrade since they had returned from the dungeon, other than telling her that he needed a break from crafting. Sal needed to tell her that he was fine, because he didn’t want her feeling guilty about something that had actively helped him.
“Where is Upgrade? Is she around?”
Martin snorted. “At this hour? Are you crazy? She hasn’t pulled an all-nighter in weeks, so I can only guess that she’s still sleeping in her bed. Give it a few hours and she’ll likely poke her head into the room.” He gestured at the room that Sal usually worked in.
The cutting words of that second-year flooded back. His accusations that Sal was getting preferential treatment and was using limited resources that he didn’t need. The memory of that along with the potential of Upgrade misunderstanding his absence started to weigh down on him, and Sal realized why he had needed a break from the workshop completely.
Martin gave Sal a sideways glance. “If you’re worrying about Upgrade, don’t bother. We grilled her for a bit when we found out what she did, but it was probably for the best. I can’t imagine it was easy, but I heard you did a great job in there. She was practically boasting about how quickly you picked up the basics.”
Sal smiled. “Thank you, Martin. I still want to tell her that things are good with us. I don’t want her feeling guilty about it.” He was going to leave it there, but he wanted Martin’s opinion on the room stuff. With a gesture to Room 17, Sal grimaced slightly.
“A second-year told me that I shouldn’t be using the rooms in the workshop as a first-year. That I’m taking away resources from them. I’m kinda inclined to agree, since I have the tools in my equipment.” Sal held up the fingerless gloves to Martin, but the older crafter didn’t react.
“Those students can get fucked, Sal.” Martin shook his head as though the topic exhausted him. He sighed and pointed at a cluster of students standing around a single desk.
“There’s a lot of inferiority complexes when it comes to crafting. You see someone produce something good, and you feel that you’re terrible. Some students end up clinging to strange excuses, like needing additional resources or certain equipment. If he or she needed the multi-tool from Room 17, they could have easily reserved one of the other rooms that had one. The fact that they decided to pick a fight with you over it tells me that their problem wasn’t with the multi-tool.” Martin glanced at Sal with a sad smile.
