Chương 153: Chapter 152 [Be Careful With That Son]

"Right," Leo said.

"So. The one who just walked in is Shai. She's a guard captain from Stonehall, a local village we've befriended. She's the first person we met here. The big guy behind her is Torren, he's a half-Orc. Don't let the size fool you, he's probably the most gentle person I've ever met. And the one with the wings is Rika. She's a ball of energy." Shai looked at him, then at the general space he'd been talking to.

"They can hear you?"

"They can see and hear everything I can. I'm replying to messages they send me." He paused.

"My Mum says hello by the way." Shai blinked. Then looked directly at Leo and the other people behind his eyes.

"Hello. It's nice to meet you all." [Karen] Oh she's lovely Leo. Hello dear. [Tony] So she's the cat girl Phil mentioned.

"Did he really?" said Leo, looking over at Phil. [Tony] Oops. Busted. [Jake] Hello [Olly] Hey Shai [Jace] The ears are real aren't they?

"The kids also say hello. Yeah, they're real dude. You think they have cosplay here or something? She's a cat beast-kin. Different species entirely to us. There's a lot of them here." [Karen] She has a tail as well. Is that real too? Shai's tail flicked once coincidentally. [Tony] This is surreal... Torren ducked his head slightly into Leo's eyeline and raised a hand. [Jace] Jesus, he's friggin enormous [Tony] How tall is he mate"Nearly seven feet," Leo said.

"He's kind of like a warrior druid. Loves his garden and baking." Torren looked at him.

"I do. Baking something and seeing the faces of your friends light up when they take a bite. It's wonderful." [Karen] He sounds lovely. [Chris] Is he gay? No offence or anything. Just seems very flamboyant.

"He's not. You're not the first person to think that though." Rika appeared at his shoulder, wings half spread in the small space, midnight blue catching the light. [Olly] Her wings look awesome. [Jake] Can she fly?

"Rika," Leo said.

"They want to know if you can fly." Rika looked him in the eyes and grinned.

"Yes. Not for long distances with equipment on but I can get myself up high quickly. Rooftops, trees. Helps with scouting and archery." [Jace] Yeah, thats sick as fuck [Tony] ask her to do it"We're indoors Tony." [Tony] Then go outside.

"Yeah, good idea. We can show you how everything looks. Before that though, I want to show you how I look. I know that sounds vain but I think it'll shock you more than the others." Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. [Jace] I bet. yeah go for it dude. Leo stood up and walked to the bathroom, before looking in the mirror. [Chris] Mate. You look like a beast. Nice man. [Tony] Dude. Holy shit. Why am I still bothering with the gym, when you look like that.

This is bullshit. I want a magic system thing. [Karen] Wow, You look so much better son. I'm happy for you.

"Thanks Mum." [Jake] You look like a Dragon Ball Z character or something Dad. [Olly] Yeah, that's crazy. Nice one Dad.

"Cheers lads. Okay, I'll show you what it's like outside now." Brandon was still on his own stream in the corner, talking quietly to Neil, occasionally laughing at something. He got up when the others did and followed them out. They headed out onto the street. [Tony] Hang on is that Dave Marsh. I went to school with him.

"Probably yeah," Leo said.

"Most people are still here. Nowhere else to go other than Stonehall." [Chris] This is so weird man. I can see the Greggs. [Tony] Is it still open"Nah. Would be a waste of manpower." [Chris] Devastating. He walked them toward the outer edge, where the road cracked and ended, the last few buildings open to the air on one side, walls sheared clean through. [Karen] Oh no. That must have been such a shock.

"We didn't see it happen. We were in the King John's beer garden when the sky split, then it opened with a black hole above us. Everything flashed white then went back to normal. We didn't realise we weren't on Earth anymore until we met Shai. We figured out something weird had gone on cos the landscape's totally different but that's it." He kept walking.

"Past this it's open ground then trees. Sea's over that way." [Jake] The sea's still there?

"Different sea. There's a load of weird fish in it." Beyond the broken edge the training ground opened up, Aldric's group moving through drills at the far end. [Tony] Who are they?

"People from town. They're getting trained by some of the guard from Stonehall. We were in the first training group with others joining and forming new groups as time went on. I think these ones are some of the later ones cos they're still on dummies." [Karen] They look like they know what they're doing. Is that because of the Ui thing you mentioned?

"Yeah. We pick stuff up fast." The stone dummies were already out on the far end of the field. The lads spread out.

"Let's do a quick magic demonstration," Leo said.

"I can't do it long while streaming but it'll be cool to show them." Phil nodded.

"Yeah, good idea." He held out his hand. A growing flame flickered across his knuckles. He let it grow slightly then punched out, in the direction of the target. A fireball crossed the gap, before smashing into the target and exploding. The runes on the dummy lit up a bright red before slowly simmering and returning to normal. [Tony] WHAT! [Jace] Holy shit Phil [Chris] Mate what the actual fuck. That's insane. Yer like a tank. Phil grinned and looked at Leo.

"Cool, right? Been working on it for a while. I've almost unlocked the next spell, should be any day now." Sam raised his hand, a disc of grey mist rotating above his palm. He let it drift toward the nearest dummy, watched it curl around the stone figure, then pulled it back. [Jace] AOE vision denial? Is he going a more supportive route dude?

"Kind of. That was the plan initially. He uses daggers so it's more he sets up his own ideal conditions to fight in. It's nasty." Luka went next. He raised his palm and a shield appeared in front of him. [Jake] That's like Reinhardt's shield in Overwatch.

"I have a dome one as well, I'm working on unlocking some CC," Luka said. Leo held his hand out. purple static crackled between his fingers. A moment later, a beam of light shot out and struck the dummy. A huge boom followed. [Tony] Thats mental man. It's like force lightning.

"Funny you should say that. It's what I was thinking about when I unlocked lightning. Did the whole 'unlimited power!' thing when I got it to work for the first time." [Chris] Of course you did. [Jace] Nerd.

"It changed recently, as a reward for winning the tournament we entered. No idea what the difference is yet though." [Karen] Be careful with that son.

"It can't hurt me, Mum. I am careful though. I don't use it if I'm not training or if I need it for self-defence." [Karen] What do you mean? Leo sighed. He hadn't meant to mention it.

"We got attacked by goblins. No one was hurt but I used it to protect the town. I'm fine before you ask, so is everyone else. We think the UI dampens things like shock so we can protect ourselves without the mental toll becoming too much." [Karen] That's worrying.

"I know Mum, but it is what it is. Nothing to be done about it." Leo decided to change the conversation as this wasn't what he wanted to focus on and he knew the more they spoke about it the more she'd worry later.

"It's a shame this wasn't working during the tournament," he said.

"Could have streamed it." [Olly] I can't believe you won. That amazing Dad.

"Cheers, son. I beat Sam in the final. Have a crown and everything. It was fought with wooden weapons and leather armour. In a proper arena as well. Hundreds of people were watching." [Jake] That sounds insane.

"Yeah, it was."