Chapter 85: Auntie Grace
After the relaxing bath I changed into a new set of clothes. I pulled a grey colored t-shirt over my chest and a pair of dark blue pants before pulling on a pair of shoes. It was a miracle that they had survived this long in the apocalypse.
These were the very same shoes that I wore in to school that fateful day.
Shaking my thoughts I put on the Aranian Combat gloves and the Full Coat and felt the stat boost immediately.
"Ah this might be the only chance to do this" I pulled out the Second Star Order soul stone I had gotten of the Dire wolf and opened up my stat window directly to the skill
[Charged Mind Level 1(Incomplete Unranked): Skill that was created by the user in an attempt to comprehend the mysteries but was unable to complete due to missing requirements. Currently the skill only allows the user to speed up their thought process by 10%.
Mana Cost: 6
Skill duration: 10 minutes
Cooldown time: 1 minute
Requirements to complete skill: Second Star order soul stone(1/1) ]
[Would you like to evolve skill?]
"Yes"
The soul stone in my hand floated into the air before it started to give off a faint blue color that soon began glow brighter and brighter. It was to the point that looking at it directly was causing my eyes to hurt so I had no choice but to look away.
The soul stone broke down into small fragments of light that floated towards my forehead. I stood there staring in awe. Then they went into my head and the pain came.
I groaned clutching onto the sides of my head. Sweat covered my face as I grit my teeth. The pain seemed to last forever. It felt as though my head was going to split in two.
The pain reached a breaking point before it slowly subsided and then it vanished as though it were never there to begin with leaving me panting on the floor.
[You have successfully evolved the skill
[
Mana Cost: 6
Skill duration:20 minutes
Cooldown time: 30 seconds]
Reading the new stats I couldn't help but smile. This was good. This was very good
I could already feel that my thought process had increased and for some reason the mana within me as well as the mana within the air, I could feel it clearly on my skin as though it was a breath of fresh air.
I took a deep breath and focused on my mana to the palm of my hand. Mana moved at my whim and in what felt like a blink a compressed ball of mana materialized in my hand and it didn't even take a lot of focus to do this. I concentrated once more and my mana surged before compressing and forming shapes around.
Soon all around me I was surrounded by pellet shaped bullets made of pure mana. This was the spell that Lydia had used against the Black Wasp on the first day of the apocalypse of course back then she had only shot one bullet while here I had created several of them.
"Since this isn't just a [Magic Bullet] why don't I call this [Bullet Rain]" I muttered and the Spirit Record seemed to agree with me as well because soon after
[You have created the unclassified skill [Bullet Rain]
[
Mana cost: 18 (can be higher depending on the user's wishes)]
I dispersed the skill and walked out of the room and headed for downstairs.
It was time to form a team.
…
With eleven people sitting within the living room of the house, the place looked quite crowded.
Lydia, Rina, Candice, Veronica, Vicky, Conrad, Grem, Mordecai, Dulton, Nale and Clara all sat in the chairs that were arranged in a square formation around a coffee table. Each and everyone had the forms that were given to me by Mayor Bennet yesterday and they were all thoughtful.
A few minutes ago…
"These forms are what the Mayor wants us to fill. We are to include details of whatever treasures we have as well as a description of our skills. Now I don't mind you telling everything about you Spirit Record treasures but I don't think they need to know all of our skills do they?
"…Well don't mind me I was blabbering on anyway be done filling them by today"
I motioned for Jordan to follow me as I walked towards the front door.
"And where are you two going?" Lydia asked, one eyebrow raised.
"Jordan wants to show me something" I nudged him in the side with my elbow. "Right dude?"
"Yeah yeah" he nodded in agreement.
"Anyway we won't take long. Bye" I stepped around Jordan and for all intents and purposes pushed him out the door before following after him and closing it.
From there we walked side by side and a peaceful silence settled. I couldn't help but remember how in the past it would have been Billy, Jordan and me but it seemed like those days were long gone now.
"Feels like ages since the apocalypse started. I'm starting to feel old" I joked and Jordan nodded in agreement.
We continued to walk past the rest of the other houses in the neighborhood that belonged to the families of the evolvers who were working for the mayor.
"So what are you planning really?" Jordan asked when we were far enough.
"Well I wouldn't say that I was planning anything really. I made a request that our friends be in the same team so to speak and be able to move as we wished outside the camp unless it was a really important mission" I said
"Hmm…that's good for us to work on our teamwork as well as grow without any major hindrances" Jordan said
"Yeah plus we get to monopolize on the soul stones we get from our kills"
"When do we start?"
"As soon as tomorrow. I keep getting the feeling that we'll need to be the strongest we'll ever be soon" I clenched my fist as I said that.
"How come?"
"I…I don't really know just a gut feeling I guess" I shrugged to which Jordan gave a short nod.
We walked on and just as we turned a corner.
"I found my mom" Jordan said and I couldn't help but pause my steps. I turned to look at him and I could see it. The happiness and the relief hovering in his eyes was so clear to see that I almost wondered how I had failed to notice it when he came to wake me up.
"That's…great…good to hear buddy" I said looking into up at the sky, a smile on my face.
At least some things were starting to look for the better.
The rest of the walk was filled with Jordan telling me about what he went through yesterday.
After hearing what Jordan told me about his mother I couldn't help but feel happy for him and hearing that he was had spent the night at her place instead of with the group was very understandable in fact I couldn't have blamed him if he had wanted to spend the rest of the day with her as well.
We walked into another neighborhood. One filled with cottages and small houses. This was where Jordan's mother was staying since she had arrived at this camp two weeks ago. We reached the door for the house and Jordan opened to let me in.
The place felt warm and cozy and the air of the place was reassuring to the point that I couldn't help but feel more relaxed than I should have been in this sort of apocalyptic environment.
I could hear humming from the kitchen a few feet away. The front door we had come in from led straight to a small living area were there was a single sofa fit for two, a small round wooden table in the middle and a two wooden chairs.
"Mom! We're back!" Jordan called out
"In the kitchen sweety!" his mom, auntie Grace, replied from the kitchen.
And that was where we went or to be more precise where Jordan led me to. Once we were there I noted what was in the area.
There was a fireplace where a pot was boiling over it. A dining table in the middle of the room, a sink and tap on the other side of the room. On the table there was what I could make out as vegetables as well as some potatoes and a small packet of salt.
"Huey its so lovely to see you in good health" Jordan's mother called out to me in surprise as well as delight.
Her face that seemed to be thinner than I remembered but she had a pleasant and radiant smile that seemed to remind me of my mother when she came back from work and found me making dinner for the day.
Tears formed in the corner of my eyes without me even knowing and I only seemed to notice them when a warm hand cupped my cheek and a tender thumb wiped them away. I don't know at which point Jordan's mom, auntie Grace as I usually called her, had been able to come this close to me without me being able to notice but her presence was warm.
"Its okay to let out your feelings sometimes as long as you know to keep moving forward" she spoke in a soft tone.
She gave me a few words of encouragement which I have to say were the exact words that I needed to hear and they seemed to fill me with a lot more determination for the coming days and what we needed to do.