Chapter 53 - Dream Team
Chapter 53 - Dream Team
Sal didn’t recognize her at first, probably because she wasn’t standing over him trying to hold his essence ransom in exchange for payment. The memories of her trying to squeeze him and Divinity for Q-Cred in exchange for her healing services washed over him and Sal crossed his arms as he looked at her. His visor, on the other hand, thought that it would be a great time to use Analyze.
| Name | Rochelle de Verdon |
| Alias | None |
| Class | Healer |
| Profession | First-Year Student, Quest Academy (Purple Cohort) |
| Rank | Guild Association: None Hunter Bureau: Current Rank | 0 Quest Academy: Current Rank | 118th |
Accreditations | Challenge Crests: 0 Certifications:
|
| Ability | Skill Name: Transference | Rating: III Skill Category: Energy Manipulation Skill Mastery: 92% Skill Efficiency: 88% Progress to Next Rating: 71% Evolutionary Capability: Yes Potential Cap: XV Natural Synergy: Regenerate | Amplify |
| Essence | Essence Type: Light Essence Gates: 70 Essence Absorption Rate: 4% Essence Control: 89% Essence Refinement: 97% Essence Calibration: 12% |
| Physical | Strength Rating: I Mobility Rating: II Speed Rating: III Fitness Rating: III Current Status Effects: Injuries: None Illnesses: None |
| Reputation | Bastion Families: Regarded Doom Society: Unknown Guild Association: Unknown Hunter Bureau: Unknown Quest Academy: Known |
| Threat Level | Analyzed Equipment: 0 Analyzed Martial Arts: N/A Analyzed Movements: N/A Analyzed Techniques: N/A Analyzed Body Composition: II |
| Wealth | Q-Credit: 18 |
Sal didn’t say anything as he looked through the list of details that appeared before his eye. He could tell just with a glance that she wasn’t doing well at the academy. Her physical prowess was worse than when Sal started, and her lack of essence absorption explained why she leeched off others instead of using her own. Worst of all was her account balance. She had only managed to accumulate eighteen Q-Cred in the last two months. Sal spent more than that on a single Purple Punch during Skill Registration.
Sal blinked away the information and looked across at her. “What can I do for Rochelle de Verdon?”
The effect was instantaneous. Her shoulders bunched up, and she pushed herself away from the table as though to create space between them. Her green eyes were panicked as she stared at Sal as though he were a demon.
“How do you know my name?” Her voice had an edge to it, but it was barely audible over the tones of panic consuming her. She looked as if she wanted nothing else but to stand up and leave the table, but there was something keeping her there.
Sal waved his hand like it didn’t matter. “Would you prefer if I called you Healer Bitch? It doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well, but it paints a pretty accurate picture.”
Sal watched her expression darken. He didn’t feel the need to step on eggshells when she was the one who had wronged him. He had a lot to get through and stuff to prepare, so he was happy to have this conversation, or whatever it was, cut short.
“Why are you here? Are you looking for Q-Cred again? I don’t see your goons with you.”
Rochelle grit her teeth. “I came to apologize for what happened before.” She shook her head and relaxed her shoulders, before moving her chair closer to the table. From the look on her face, she didn’t want to apologize one bit.
“I’m not going to make excuses for what I did. I was worried about making it through the semester and thought it was unfair that people like you who placed well in a race got Q-Cred. I let those feelings get in the way of rational thought, and made a mistake.”
Sal smiled. “You don’t want to make excuses, but then immediately make an excuse. I know you have a measly eighteen Q-Cred to your name right now, so I know you’re not lying about being poor. But what made you think that extorting people was the right choice? You’re a Healer. Everyone is going to want to recruit you. You could have just weathered the storm and eventually the Q-Cred would roll in as guilds try to enlist you.”
Rochelle shook her head. “This is a waste of time. I don’t want to have to go through all this.” She started to stand, but the moment she left the chair, she forcibly sat back down in it. Anger crossed her features for a split second before she regained her composure.
“Sorry, let me try that again.”
Sal focused his visor on her again. Something seemed wrong, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was. When the red screen flashed, Sal could see Rochelle’s weave clearly. He made a mental note to save it, which the visor did in a heartbeat.
| Transference (R:3) Raw Structure has been saved. |
Sal raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t a blueprint this time, but rather a structure? Was it because he didn’t map it out in his own body? It didn’t matter right now; he’d think about it later. His visor looked beyond the weave and at the essence around Rochelle herself.
It was clear that the stats weren’t lying; she had the worst battery out of anyone he’d looked at so far. If Sal was to hazard a guess, he’d have said that she went through a core break herself. Her internal gates were almost nonexistent. She had seventy of them compared to Barry’s ninety, but she was barely using two of them. Was she even going to her Skill class?
Just as Sal was about to ask her a question, he noticed a foreign essence surrounding Rochelle’s head. Focusing on it, he could see that it was tethered to a student sitting a few tables away. Sal turned to look at them and was surprised to see Erika Clifton looking at Rochelle intently. Sal froze at the implication that immediately crossed his mind.
“Rochelle, are you being mind-controlled by Erika to apologize to me?”
Rochelle’s eyes widened in shock.
Sal couldn’t blame her: he knew her account balance, her legal name, and had pieced together that she was being forced to do something. From her perspective, it must have looked like he had some kind of foresight ability.
Without answering, Rochelle tapped the table once, which Sal took as an indicator that he was correct.
“Why would Erika want you to apologize to me? She must want something from me.”
Another tap on the table.
Sal glanced at the finger in surprise and then looked back at Rochelle. “Guessing she’s stopping you from talking about it?”
Another tap.
Sal shook his head and called over to Erika. “This will be so much easier if you just come over and join us. Can you let her go, please? It’s painful seeing her trying to be nice.”
Erika looked startled by the discovery.
Sal turned back to Rochelle with a sigh. “I don’t know if that was a real apology or not, but I’ll forgive you for now. Looking at your ability and how you process essence, I can only imagine what sort of corner you felt like you were pushed into.”
The moment Erika’s influence evaporated from Rochelle, the Healer slapped her hand down on the table and gave Sal a murderous look. “It wasn’t a real fucking apology. You turned me into a damned pariah in my cohort. Those guys went and told everyone that I’m a fucking vampire, that I leech away essence to kill people. Not a single person wanted me on their team, and now, even when the opportunity to form up with different cohorts comes about, guess what? Everyone knows that I fucked over two out of the top three in the entire year. Nobody wants anything to do with me!”
Sal didn’t know what to say to that.
Erika made her way over to the table and sat in the seat next to Rochelle. She placed her elbow on the table and cupped the side of her face, watching Rochelle go on her tirade with a bored expression.
Rochelle glanced to her right and saw Erika looking at her lazily, and it seemed to unlock a whole new level of anger. “Erika offered me a place on her team. I know the rumors about how she controls her team with her powers but I didn’t care, if it meant I’d get through this semester. But she had a condition.” Rochelle’s anger seemed to boil over as she locked eyes with Sal. “I had to apologize to you and make nice.”
Sal looked at Erika with a raised eyebrow, but she merely shrugged.
Rochelle clenched both of her fists on the table as she looked between them. Tears of frustration formed at the edges of her eyes, and she shuddered in anger. “I don’t care what I have to say to make this right. Just help me get through this semester and then we can go back to hating each other.”
Erika sighed as she sat up properly. “This is why words are useless.” She pointed at Sal. “He’s already forgiven you after seeing how desperate your stats are.” Erika moved her hand and pointed at Rochelle. “She feels guilty about what she did and is desperately trying to come across as strong and capable. She’s currently neither of those things.”
Sal gave Erika a sharp look. “So you can read minds as well as control them.” He didn’t wait for an answer as he activated Analysis.
| Name | Erika Clifton |
| Alias | Reserved Title: Queen |
| Class | Controller |
Profession | First-Year Student, Quest Academy (Gold Cohort) |
| Rank | Guild Association: None Hunter Bureau: Current Rank | 8,754th Quest Academy: Current Rank | 2nd |
| Accreditations | Challenge Crests: 2
Certifications: 0 |
| Ability | Skill Name: Mind Master | Rating: XI Skill Category: Psionic Skill Mastery: 100% Skill Efficiency: 79% Progress to Next Rating: 8% Evolutionary Capability: Yes Potential Cap: XX Natural Synergy: Swarm | Dominate | Subjugate |
| Essence | Essence Type: Psionic Essence Gates: 120 Essence Absorption Rate: 42% Essence Control: 100% Essence Refinement: 97% Essence Calibration: 96% |
Physical | Strength Rating: III Mobility Rating: IV Speed Rating: VI Fitness Rating: VI Current Status Effects: Injuries: None Illnesses: None |
| Reputation | Bastion Families: Well Known Doom Society: Regarded Guild Association: Well Known Hunter Bureau: Well Known Quest Academy: Well Known |
| Threat Level | Analyzed Equipment: 0 Analyzed Martial Arts: N/A Analyzed Movements: N/A Analyzed Techniques: N/A Analyzed Body Composition: V |
| Wealth | Q-Credit: 2,110 |
Sal couldn’t tear his eyes away from how many gates Erika had access to. Lombardi had said that there were sixty gates when they joined, but Rochelle had seventy, Barry had ninety, and Erika had over a hundred and twenty?
No matter what way he tried to understand it, he couldn’t get his head around it. He wanted to ask her, but she was staring intently at him as though deliberating about telling him about her abilities. Mind Master didn’t make much sense to him, but the naming convention was like his Skill Master ability. He was able to do incredible things relating to skills, so did that mean that Erika was able to do the same with minds?
Erika’s lips curled upward as though she were amused. “That tracker is preventing me from hearing what’s going on in that head of yours. Where did you get it?”
Sal couldn’t be sure whether she was fucking with him. She wasn’t above using her abilities to deceive others, especially if Sal considered what lengths she went through to get Rochelle to apologize. There was no way that was from the goodness of her own heart. Sal decided to not trust what she was saying, and to operate under the suspicion that she would be able to control his mind or thoughts at a moment’s notice.
“I made it,” Sal answered curtly as he looked between the two girls. “I don’t mean any offense, Erika, but I highly doubt that you took time out of your day to help Rochelle. Her apologizing to me isn’t going to change anything, so why don’t you just tell me what you want?”
Erika gave Rochelle a withering look before giving Sal her full attention. “Apparently my methods for the tournament weren’t as flawless as I anticipated. There’s too much focus on teamwork and cooperation for me to come out on top. Since you can’t team up with people from your own cohort, it looks like the dream team of you and Divinity is being split up. She’s also a Controller, and there’s no need to double up on roles, which leaves you.”
The silence that took over the table was palpable. Sal couldn’t believe his ears or whether he was following her train of thought.
“You’re suggesting that I join your team? With Healer Bitch?”
Erika nodded and gestured at Rochelle. “I’ve already secured our Offense class. Healer Bitch—great name, by the way—takes Healer spot. You’re in Support, which leaves us with a Defense to find.”
Sal exhaled as he finally put the pieces together. “Of course. And you want me to enlist Hannah?”
It made sense. Hannah was going up the leaderboard since she got her gauntlets. Her Barrier protection would give them a lot of versatility, if it included healing from Rochelle. With Erika as the Controller, and a half decent Offense, they’d have a hell of a team. Sal just didn’t know how he was going to have a conversation with Hannah after everything that happened with the Bastion stuff. Her words had stung, and Sal wasn’t ready to have that conversation with her.
Erika looked at Sal with a raised eyebrow. “Who’s Hannah?”