Chapter 41 - Secrets of Mana Bonds

"Alright, fine. What do you have for me, then?"

Rynold was still disorientated from what happened outside his dream and it didn't help that he was practically looking at a ball of light. Regardless, he wanted to at least listen to what the god had to say.

"You know, a lot more people would be grateful that I'm willing to help out, especially when they're human," the god let out an arrogant grunt that supplied the atmosphere with a weird sentiment of debt.

Rynold, however, was indifferent to the god's disappointment. Raising an eyebrow, Rynold urged the god to continue with a simple response. "So?"

The god could be seen visibly facepalming at this point but to Rynold it was just a silhouette of light that looked weird. Admittedly, though, it wasn't the weirdest thing that happened today for him. It appeared as if the god had given up trying to act all high and mighty in front of this particular human.

"Listen, kid," the god continued, "you really have no idea how to use the powers that you've got there. Most of the actual equipment that you've seen so far has got nothing on the things that you've bonded with.

Apart from the Mech Knight, your Mana Gauntlets have more abilities than you could possibly imagine. Sucks for you, most of the powers are locked. The only tip that I could actually give to you right now is that Mana Bonds have a lot more power than you think."

Skeptical, Rynold raised his eyebrow once more. "I'm supposed to believe you because...?" At the back of his mind, though, he could hear himself cringe that this may be not the best way to speak to a god.

But what does he have to lose?

"Kid, you're an ass you know that?" the god looked back at Rynold with a face of utter disbelief. If only Rynold could see how rattled he had made the god, he would smirk in a mocking way.

"Look," the god continued, "if you haven't noticed, those powers don't just go to anybody. You have the Technomancer class, yeah? The system we designed doesn't just give those kinds of classes to whoever, you know?"

With a disheartened sigh, the god continued speaking, "Believe it or not, kid, I'm on your side. A lot of the other guys out there aren't this generous or nice to show up whenever their chosen ones have a crisis. After all, we don't just have one candidate to look out for."

Rynold considered his options. On the one hand, he could just ignore everything that this so-called "god" would say but at the same time, he had nothing to lose here when he's just giving out information. Doubtful, Rynold gave in and nodded, saying, "okay, okay. What were you saying about Mana Bonds?"

"Oho. Let this almighty god educate you, young human," the god said with an even more arrogant tone than before. "The Mana Bonds you generate are just a sample of the true strength of the equipment and even, rarely, a creature of intelligence. The ones you've encountered so far are relics of the past that some were even used by us gods."

"Okay. So what's that got to do with me, then?"

"I'm getting to it, jackass! Geez. You would think that you would at least be more grateful but you're just really difficult," the god sighed once more before continuing, "The Mana Bonds that you've got so far, the gauntlets and that old hammer that I threw out ages ago, are the ones reaching out to bond, right?"

Rynold's eyes widened. "What you're saying is that I can establish Mana Bonds too?"

"Got your attention now, asshole?" the god said mockingly before being serious once more. "In a sense, yes. You can develop a Mana Bond with an item or a living creature but that's still far too advanced for someone your stage. For now, you should know a few things about Mana Bonds.

One. A person could only have a Mana Bond with a few items but that limit can get bigger every time their Mana Cores get stronger.

Two. A Mana Bond works both ways. While they siphon mana or any source of energy from you or your Mana Core, you can get something stronger in return. So much so, that the mana you give out can alter or change the shape of the equipment that you've bonded with. The perfect example of that is your Mana Gauntlets.

Three. The stronger the mana you're producing, the stronger your Mana Bonds will be. The stronger your Mana Bonds are, the more powerful you'll become.

Fourth and last, you can't ever take over a Mana Bond of another person unless they're dead or the Mana Bond is broken. This is a rule even gods don't dare to break because the results could be disastrous."

Rynold was surprised. Even though there were a lot more things about Mana Bonds that he didn't know of, he might figure it all out eventually. What surprised him was that he could actually learn a thing or two from the god. The arrogance that the god presented didn't come from nothing, after all.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Rynold asked the silhouette of light before him.

"Are you kidding?" the god acted surprised. "You're the last few of the candidates that actually didn't know about stuff like this. Most of the other candidates of the other guys already know this stuff. It's like basic Mana stuff."

Rynold was surprised to find out that he was the last few to know these things. After all, he was relatively active over the past few days since the New World started.

"Fine, fine. But how could you have possibly known about the rest of the things, huh? Like the Mech Knight and these Mana Gauntlets. I get that the hammer was once yours but what about the rest?" Rynold was still instigating this god's ability to know these things.

Although, Rynold did know that it was a stupid question but he still had to have his answers. To which, the god responded by clicking his tongue.

"Oi, stop being stupid, would you? I'm watching you because you're one of the few that I've chosen. Besides, the Mech Knight and Mana Gauntlets were something I made. Although the ones you have aren't nearly as strong... yet." The god sighed before speaking further, "here, this is yours."

The silhouette suddenly shone with a brighter intensity and, before Rynold knew it, his hand burned with a hot sensation. The light lasted a few moments before finishing the engraving of a mark on Rynold's hand.

"That, assclown, is a sigil that shows you are a candidate of one of the gods. Most of the other candidates already have it, you're just late to the party," the god said before looking up to the sky in the dream space. "You should probably get going," he continued, "your Mech Knight is getting pretty wrecked out there. Use whatever I told you to win this fight. Don't disappoint."

With a snap of the silhouette's fingers, the dream space suddenly spun. Rynold made use of these last few moments with the god and asked, "who are you, exactly?"

"Hmph," the god let out an arrogant laugh, "Just call me the Mech God."

And, with that, Rynold woke up.

Meanwhile, Oliver, Skye, and Shyft were leaving the battlefield, obviously distraught over leaving one of their friends behind. They took a slight detour from their original route back to the radio tower and decided to clear some ghouls from the other parts of town while making their way back.

"That guy...," Oliver let out an expression of utmost anger.

"He'll be fine, you know how he is," Skye comforted her boyfriend while managing not to look upset.

Unfortunately, the message seemed to have sparked the opposite effect on Oliver, making him even angrier.

"It's exactly why I know him that's making me pissed even more," Oliver said while punching a low-leveled ghoul in the face. "That guy... even though his inconsistency with how he acts towards other people, he always had one thing that was constant even when the world didn't make any more sense than before this entire shitshow started."

Shyft sliced apart another low-leveled ghoul before saying, "I'm sure that kid's going to be fine. He's got that huge chunk of moving metal with him, anyway." His feelings were still mixed as he thought that he should be the one that was slowing the Behemoth Ghoul down, not his young nephew.

"I don't get it," Skye interrupted while casting Wind Blade on another low-leveled ghoul, "I've known him for a long time too but I don't see what you mean. Yeah, he swears a LOT and a bit loopy in the head sometimes, but all in all he doesn't have any quality in him that we need to worry about."

"No," Oliver said as he stopped dead in his tracks, "there's always that one thing he told me that I would never forget.

He's got a death wish."