Disclaimer: English is not my first language. I'm using Grammarly to check the Grammar and using Word to write it.
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Mia was right.
The ley line was unclaimed.
That was something that she quickly changed.
She was even humming happily the entire time.
Not that I don't understand why she is so happy.
This is big.
We will have to find a better way to hide the warehouse later.
The night went better than I had expected.
After that we decided to turn our focus on why I didn't receive a perk from the grimoire.
We grabbed some food before going home and spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what had happened.
In the end, we got a lot of theories but it will be up to the Grimoire to see if we're on the right track.
Come on Grimoire, don't cheap out on me.
Give me something good.
Mia also rented the apartment next to mine. She also set up bounded fields in both apartments.
I need to learn that.
She already said that the moment we got more money, we're moving to a better apartment.
Right now I'm relaxing after training all morning and Mia went out to buy some things that we're going to need.
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Mia, holding a plastic bag, enters the apartment.
I'm at my table, eating a sandwich.
"Hey, I got you a turkey sandwich and they didn't have the tea that you wanted. So I bought green tea instead," I said, taking a bit of a club sandwich.
Mia grabs the box of green tea, "Where did you buy this? This's the cheap stuff."
"Mini marked three blocks from here," I said.
"Of course, they aren't going to have Earl Grey," Mia said.
I shrug, "I don't know anywhere that sells tea."
"You can find it in any supermarket but let me do that. I'm sure there's a place in Brockton that sells quality tea," Mia said, grabbing the turkey sandwich.
"Someone is picky about their tea," I said with a smirk.
"You don't know what you're missing. You should cut down on soda and start to drink tea. It's good for your health," Mia said, taking a bite of the sandwich.
"Tea is just leaf juice," I said flatly.
"Oh, you're lucky that my grandmother isn't here or she would have smacked you in the back of your head," Mia said with a shudder.
"How painful would that be?" I asked.
"She can bend a steel beam with her bare hands," Mia said, taking another bite of the sandwich.
"....well, it's a good thing that she isn't here," I said quickly.
Mia nods in agreement.
"What did you buy?" I asked, finishing the sandwich.
"I got us burner phones," Mia said, handing mine.
Nice.
"I also got in contact with one of my suppliers for exotic products," Mia said.
I told Mia my idea about trying to buy reagents online. She explained to me, in great detail, why that would never work.
Magi society just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
How do you reject the modern times?
"Oh! So there is a version of them here," I said.
"Well, it was his daughter that I spoke with. Hmm, it's kinda weird to think he has a daughter. One time, he did this whole rant about how he didn't like children," Mia crosses her arms.
"Still good news. How does this work?" I asked.
"We have money, they have the product. Simply as that," Mia said, finishing the sandwich.
"And can we trust her to not screw us over?" I asked seriously.
"We can trust her. My supplier isn't the only one that has another version of them here. I made some calls to some acquaintances and they vouched for her," Mia said.
Okay, now we have a way to attain reagents.
"How many contacts do you have?" I asked curiously.
"A few of them. You need to work on getting some for yourself. You never know when you're going to need to be smuggled out of a country," Mia said casually.
"What?" I asked.
Did I hear that right?
"Nothing," Mia said quickly.
Mia and I kept staring at each other for a few moments in silence.
"So, hum, did you buy anything?" I asked.
Let's ignore that for now.
"Materials for Alchemy, some books for you, and documents for me. The ID that I have is useless now," Mia said.
"Right, we should have fixed that already," I said.
Shame that the grimoire didn't take care of that.
Mia shrugs, "We have been busy with other stuff. By the way, did you get anything from the grimoire?"
"Nothing yet," I said, shaking my head.
Mia hums, tapping her finger on the table.
"We just have to repeat what we did last night," I said with a shrug.
"I got another idea," Mia said grabbing my laptop.
Mia uses it for a few moments before turning the laptop to me.
It's a countdown to Uber and Leet's next stream.
...oh, I get it.
"You want me to fight these two," I stated.
"You need experience and these two are perfect for your first fight," Mia said.
Yeah, they are the laughingstock of the city.
I'm not even sure how they survived this long in Brockton.
"So we are finally going to step into the limelight," I said, rubbing my chin.
Parahuman fights tend to make a lot of noise.
I notice Mia frowning heavily.
"You okay?" I asked.
"This goes against all the lessons my parents hammered into my head about the importance of keeping the occult a secret," Mia takes her glasses off and pinches her nose.
"Well, everyone is going to think we're just two new parahumans. So, technically, we aren't breaking the secrecy of anything," I said.
Mia keeps staring at me for a few seconds in silence.
"Back home you would have been killed before you could finish that sentence," Mia said bluntly.
"Then I'm lucky that we aren't there," I said flatly.
Mia snorts a small laugh.
God, what the hell am I supposed to say?
She didn't seem to be bothered about the grimoire summoning her to be my teacher but I also didn't her thoughts about it. I was more focused on the fact that I wasn't alone anymore.
I also can't just go to her and ask:
Would you like to talk about the family and friends that you are never going to see again?
What do I-
My attention is brought back by a flick on my forehead.
"Always be aware of your surroundings," Mia said amused.
"Well, I-"
"I'm fine," Mia said suddenly. "And I mean it. That lady with the bunny ears didn't just whisk me away, she gave me a choice. I thought about it thoroughly, asked all the questions I needed to, and then decided to say yes."
Gazing into her eyes, I found no hint of regret.
I breathe a silent sigh of relief.
A warm sensation spreads throughout my body, and information about 'Kido' enters my mind but that isn't important.
Something is happening to my soul!
It's becoming stronger.
And there's also this feeling of familiarity.
Like I have been using my reiryoku for years. Training it so that I can learn all the 'Kido' spells.
That's...new.
"Ben!" Mia exclaims in worry.
When did she get next to me?
"What?" I asked.
"You okay?" Mia asked.
"Yeah," I said, nodding slowly.
Mia sighs in relief.
"I will be right back," Mia rushes out of the apartment.
What just happened?
Mia returns five minutes later.
"We're in the clear. None of the neighbors noticed whatever that was," Mia said.
"I'm not following," I said confused.
"Whatever you got, it was noticeable," Mia said seriously.
"Excuse me," I said.
"For a moment the air felt heavy and some force was pushing me down," Mia explains. "Did you get something related to gravity?"
"Not even close," I said.
"Workshop. Now," Mia said.
We quickly enter my workshop.
Mia crosses her arms, waiting for me to say something.
"I got all the spells that the shinigami uses called 'Kido'. It is divided into Hado and Bakudo which are direct attacks and supportive attacks respectively. I also got healing spells," I said.
Mia looks at me with wide eyes.
"Are you certain that it said shinigami?" Mia asked.
"Yes. What are they?" I asked.
"Death gods from Japanese Mythology. Are you a shinigami now?" Mia asked.
"No, I'm still human," I shake my head.
Mia narrows her eyes, "Can you even use these spells? Or do we have to wait for the grimoire to make you part shinigami?"
Can the grimoire do that?
Just change my species like it's nothing?
"Not only I can use all of them I also have a high degree of talent in each of the types of Kido spells. And I'm just as experienced as: Sosuke Aizen, Isshin Kurosaki, and Retsu Unohana," I said.
"And they are?" Mia raised an eyebrow.
"No idea but they have to be powerful shinigami if the perk is using them as a reference," I shrug.
"I will check those names later," Mia said.
"There's one more thing. This's one of four of the shinigami fighting styles, and if I can get all four my skills and power will be boosted to that of the members of zero division and Yamamoto," I said.
Mia frowns, "There's a chance that you might never receive the other three but let's not focus on that. This lines up with one of my theories. Whenever you fail to gain a new perk, the chances of being a powerful one increase."
I hummed thoughtfully, "What do you suppose I'd receive if the grimoire failed a few times to grant me something?"
"Possibly something that you would only find in the age of gods," Mia said.
Oh, I certainly hope so.
"One more thing. When you do your research, focus on how the shinigami strengthened their reiryoku," I said.
"What's that?" Mia asked.
"It's the innate spiritual energy that every person possesses. Only those that have high spiritual power can use Kido," I explained.
Why's she looking at me like I did something horrible?
"You're using your soul to power the Kido spells!?" Mia exclaims in horror.
I nod.
For the next hour, Mia had done all kinds of tests to check my health.
"I have never seen anything like this. Your soul is denser," Mia said amazed as she reviewed the data.
"The crazy part is that I don't feel different. This feels right in a way that I can't explain," I said. "Anyway, why did you freak out?"
"In normal cases, such abrupt change would have damaged the soul. Causing it to slowly deteriorate over time," Mia said, not looking away from the data. "Thanks to the grimoire, you don't have to worry about that."
Oh.
I gulp nervously, "That sounds painful."
"It's worse than just 'painful'," Mia looks me in the eyes. "There are fates worse than death."
Duly noted.
"Okay, let's talk about something else. Are we still going after Uber and Leet?" I asked.
"That's still the plan but now that you have Kido, it's going to call more attention than I wanted," Mia frowns.
Yeah, now I'm a versatile 'Blaster' and healer to top it off.
The gangs and the PRT/Protectorate are going to keep an eye on us.
"Okay, the stream is tomorrow night and you're going to train until then. Now show me what Kido can do," Mia said, interested in seeing the spells that the shinigami use.
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"How long until it begins?" I asked.
Mia checks her phone, "Five minutes."
We're atop a building, waiting for the stream to start.
Mia is wearing metal gauntlets, both marked with transmutation circles, and has a rapier strapped to her hip. According to her, those are mystic codes that she uses in fights.
"What do we do if we come across a Protectorate hero?" I asked.
Even if it's Uber and Leet, they can't ignore them.
"Try your best to give a good first impression. Besides that, I don't know, just don't insult them or something," Mia shrugs.
"Why would I do that?" I raised an eyebrow.
"You don't seem to have a high opinion of the Protectorate," Mia said.
"I would have a better opinion of them if they did a better job in dealing with the gangs," I said with a frown.
Anywhere else the Protectorate is capable of protecting their city.
Here in Brockton, they are incompetent as hell.
Mia hums, "Do you have a plan for the gangs?"
I shrug, "Use them to gain more perks and in the future, we can get rid of them."
"Are you going to claim their territories?" Mia asked.
"I got no interest or time to do that," I said.
Where's she going with this?
"That will lead to a 'Boston Games' situation," Mia said bluntly.
I froze at that.
"The power structure of this city is so volatile that it's kinda amazing that Brockton hasn't burned down to the ground yet. Taking out the gangs without a proper plan will only make things worse in the long run," Mia said.
"What can we do?" I asked.
"There are numerous ways that we can approach this problem but that's for another day. Let's keep focus on tonight," Mia said.
A warm sensation spreads throughout my body, and a 'Neural Lace' is woven into my brain.
I grab my head, hissing in pain.
"What happened?" Mia asked quickly.
"My brain just got an upgrade," I said, rubbing my temples.
"Spell?" Mia asked.
"No, it's some kind of technology called 'Neural Lace'. It makes me smarter, gives me perfect memory, and allows me to have multiple lines of thought in parallel to each other," I said.
"Don't split your thoughts until we're back home," Mia said seriously.
"Why?" I asked, blinking in confusion.
The stream started before Mia could explain.
Mia mutters a few curse words.
"You can fry your brain if you aren't careful," Mia said, looking at the stream.
"What!?" I asked alarmed.
"I will explain more later. Help me find where these two are," Mia said.
BOOM.
"...was that them?" I asked, looking in the direction of the explosion.
"Yeah, they just blew up a jewelry store," Mia said.
Okay, we know where to go.
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Please leave a review. It helps me to stay motivated.
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If you like my stories and wish to support me, you can find me over at pa-tre-on (slash) Regulareader.
Or at Ko-fi.com/regulareader
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Kido (Vasto White) 200:
Kido refers to the spells used by the Shinigami. This is the fourth and final fighting style used by the Shinigami. Kido is divided further into Hado and Bakudo which are direct attacks and supportive attacks respectively. Taking this power will grant you a high degree of talent in each of the types of Kido including binding spells, destruction spells, and healing spells. You will also gain experience on par with Sosuke Aizen, Isshin Kurosaki, and Retsu Unohana for each of the types respectively. Lastly there is a synergy bonus if you purchase all four of the Shinigami fighting styles. Your skills and power will instead be boosted to that of the members of Zero Division and Yamamoto.
Neural Lace (Generic Nasuverse) 100:
An advanced neural lace that's woven through your brain. It makes you substantially smarter, gives you perfect memory, and allows you to have multiple lines of thought in parallel to each other. It also has built-in programs that allow you to make mathematical calculations at an incredible speed and with perfect accuracy.