Chapter 10 Combat Powers

Kristy spent the next twelve hours telling them about the apocalypse and different powers they might be able to unlock while they upgraded their powers they snacked on chips and Kristy fed and played with baby girl. Whenever she was awake.

"Absorbing these is getting hard" Brenda commented, sweat was forming on her forehead.

"That's because this is so much at once but if you finish the breakthrough, it will make your power stronger. To explain you need to fill your manna before the power crystals help with leveling up."

"The leveling up is condensing the strength of the manna. It does not give you a bigger manna core but compresses the manna in the core. The level up is just the access you have to the extra power. If we were fighting zombies and you were half way to level five as you are now the battle will use the extra manna that is above your core level first making you absorb more than one hundred cores to level up because of this people don't always absorb their cores when they get them, they stash them in the bank or the warehouse of a base to keep them from being stolen."

Kristy was ironic that the boxes that were not supposed to be stolen were what they were using. The anti-theft of the future is not space power proof.

"You can only meditate to refill to the max of your core level. So, you would have lost the other cores you just absorbed if you don't finish but you are compressing manna so every level gets a little harder than the last." Kristy thought of a good way to explain it.

"When you use the crystal core the manna is filled to the edge then started to compress from the center of your core outwards. So, the end of your manna core is the last part to be compressed stronger." "However, when your drawing manna from the air it enters the outside of your manna core that compresses it for you before settling in the center. If you think of filling the manna like a spring the new manna coming in can only compress to the ratio of the outside core and if you use up the more compressed manna in the core before it gets to the edges it is just gone."

"We are jumping four whole levels in one sitting. This will make the next level easier for us because our bodies will not fight upgrades as hard as the others. A bouncier spring if you will." Kristy continued to explain the best she could.

"Crystal cores are also used for emergency power. People will have around three sets to absorb only if they are out of manna and still in combat because the zombie won't let you sit for a half hour or longer to meditate and refill your core. Absorbing the crystal can be done in combat."

"This is also a waste of a crystal as it won't count to the upgrade. But it could save your life. Not that we should need to do this as we can take a nap in here and kill them physically if we're out of manna. This is another reason why I want us to get strong."

"I think I need one more crystal," Matty said when he finished his pile. sweat dripping down his back.

"Right, you were sucked dry. forgot about that sorry." Kristy apologized for the oversight, handing Matty another wood type crystal core.

"We do have more crystals of your type but they are not enough to get you to the next level because you need two hundred of these level four crystals to reach level six." Kristy explained why there were more but they should not absorb them.

Originally there was a mix of level four through eight cores in the boxes but it appears that the space started with the higher-level cores for its upgrade so most of what was left were level four and a few level three which must have been in the storage for a while. This is why there is a power usage meter in the space it seems it won't absorb a core till it can absorb the whole thing.

Kristy decided to keep an eye on it and try to top up the space before it absorbed cores if she could this could reduce cost.

Richard stood up and started practicing with his wind magic he started a huge tornado in the space the space was popping animals around like crazy to keep them safe.

He stopped the manna flow and let the tornado disperse. "This is going to take some practice to not destroy everything. Maybe we should not have gotten so strong so fast?" Richard said his thoughts out loud. Looking at the torn-up grass field he had caused.

"A power user has to adapt to their new strength every level anyway you just skipped adapting to the smaller ones." Kristy explained to her uncle feeling a little guilty for making their powers dangerous to practice with.

'They don't have the manna control to use less on instinct; it would take a mental thought to make it weaker for them.'

"The manna responds to your will if you decide to use less manna the power displayed will be weaker." Kristy explained. "This is referred to as manna control."

"Your power usage should be instinctual and just like moving a muscle it will follow what you imagine to happen. Your own mind is the limit of your usage."

"Similar to picking up something gently. you can use less strength than you have, but you can never lift something that is too heavy for you." Kristy tried to explain the strength of the power.

"Then, we need to practice our manna to control fighting zombies, and adjust our imagination in different ways to use our manna to create our combat style." Richard nodded that he understood after he told that to his kids who had just finished absorbing their cores.

Brenda was surrounded by water. It was flowing in waves gently as she slowly released her strength. "Are you sure water is a combat power? It feels so gentle."

"It is in between; there are less water users who are fighters. Most chose to stay in a base and supply water in exchange for more cores to upgrade."

"I have seen some water users who used a water whip to fight zombies; others speed up the flow of the water to use it like a saw and cut the zombies in half. It is your imagination that determines if you are combat or not, but it is a fact that fighting zombies gives you powers. So, if you decide to not use water for fighting once you awaken your second power, that is up to the combat style you prefer." Kristy informed Brenda of some forms of fighting she saw but it would be more beneficial for Brenda if she came up with a form of combat tailor made for her so Kristy did not elaborate more on the power as everyone uses them a bit differently.

"How do I practice?" Matty asked he didn't want to touch the grass in the space again. At least not right now.

Kristy handed Matty a bag of seeds. "Seeds are like ammo for wood type users when we are not in the space you can attach to any plant around you in two years the weeds will grow all over. even in the city so you will need to carry less seeds with you then."

"These are flower seeds so you're not wasting food to practice. Wood type users turn seeds into arrows and can use the plants growing in the ground to wrap and trap their prey or like spikes to cut them." Kristy explained.

"You know, like the whomping willow in Harry Potter, think things like that." Brenda jumped in with a thought.

"You don't just make things grow; you control the strength and density too. To be soft enough to bend or strong enough to pierce through metal this is all your choice. Your mind is your limit." Kristy reminded them.

The three continued to practice using magic while Kristy played with the baby who was awake. She won't leave the space while the baby is awake so killing the zombies coming to them can wait.

"Alright, I think that's enough for now." Richard got his kids to stop practicing. "Kristy, show us the weapons. We should not use these powers in the building till we have more control. I want to finish this and pack up before we go to bed." Richard must be tired. They had had a nap but he went through the bite hallucinations and lost his wife all in one day.

Being unconcise for the change was not restful they slept no more than two hours, before Kristy arrived and just spent another 12 hours upgrading their manna. Kristy almost suggested they sleep now but knew her uncle phrased his sentence that way because he wanted to feel as if he had done something before sleeping. He spent most of the day hallucinating in Matty's bedroom. You never know what horrors the infection gave him.

Thinking about what was out there had kept him from breaking down; it was the only thing keeping them going as their loved ones were not even buried yet.

It was different for Kristy, for her, she lost her mom five years ago and she was happy to see her family that survived this time. She had already mourned their loss and said her last goodbyes the other night.

Kristy's family were scared and worried about what was happening so even Richerd who would have taken charge left a lot of the planning to Kristy who knew what was going on.

Also, Richerds kids were not small children any more. they still respected and listened to him for the most part, but now they had their own opinions and would overrule him sometimes. like when they decided to go out together to fetch Kristy. Richard wanted to protect his kids, but they wanted to protect him too so this was a weird dynamic.

"Space display all weapons." Kristy gave the order, and everything she had decided was a weapon. popped into the air and floated in view.

"This is so cool," Matty was ecstatic walking between the floating weapons.

"Yes, but I can only do that in here," Kristy told them. "There are inner space users and outer space users. The inner is referred to as thieves. The outer is loved by people because they can remove things from the space like black holes or lock their prey down the way I make these float. They can stop zombies from moving, others have short distance teleportation like I can do in the space they can do everywhere. Pop up behind zombies and break their skulls. In short, your powers can be displayed in many different ways matching your personality."

"You might get a space type later but it could function completely differently than mine." Kristy told them.

"Our other powers can affect each other too. For example, my time magic changed a lot of functions for the space magic. Or a better example there was a lightning user who unlocked a space type that could lock down his prey. The lightning merged with it he would pick an area of space and lightning would converge from the space bubble to hit everything in that space. Some referred to it as a domain skill instead as both skills had become a new one."

"We will need to come back in to reload so you can pick more than one to try out so you know which weapon you like and can pick a favorite." Kristy told them.

"All this ammo and weapons will be garbage in four months. The Zombies reach level two and a bullet won't break their skin anymore." Kristy informed them of how much time they had to use all that was in her space.

"We will need to contract a medal power user to craft us a hand weapon later for when our manna is out. The metal is imbued with the metal user's power so it is stronger than any steel we have now." Kristy explained that unless one of them awakened metal type powers they will have to go to a base to hire help with their weapons.

They each picked four weapons to try out and Kristy put the rest away. She summoned the ammo for each weapon picked.

"Serenity is not asleep yet Kristy." Brenda pointed out as Matty started to strap the weapons he chose on himself.

"Serenity, that is a pretty name." Kristy nodded, accepting the name Brenda gave the baby girl. It's a good name; she is not much of a crier.

Richard took the baby who finished drinking her bottle. But was still wide awake from Kristy and patted her back. Bouncing her in a steady rhythm softly.

In less than ten minutes she was asleep. She had spent five hours awake when the others were absorbing and practicing their powers, then the time to pick weapons she was exhausted but happy to have so many people hold her. Except when she was squished.

"You're so good at that" Kristy told uncle Richerd.

"I had a lot of practice." Richard looked at his kids all grown up now, and surrounded in weapons. 'Time moves fast.' Richerd thought

"Let's move her to the jet. It is a better place to sleep." Kristy touched her uncle's shoulder and they flashed to the jet.

"Moving like this makes you a bit disoriented." Richard commented.

"I have been having her sleep in the chair. It has arm holders like bumpers in case she rolls." Kristy pointed to the reclined first-class chair." Richard placed the sleeping baby in the chair. And tucked the blanket around her.

Richard nodded to Kristy to let her know he is ready to go back now.

They disappeared from the jet and were back next to Brenda and Matty, who were double checking their weapons.