Chapter 231: The Power of the Tree
- Location
- france
- Pronouns
- He
[X] No, better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
[X] Power
Power Roll: (820 points)
Entry Roll D3=2
700 Summon x 7, 400 Choose one (300), 600 Choose one (500)
Sub-vote results: 600 Choose one (500): 500 Mokuton Bloodline
Banked: 220
[X] Power
Power Roll: (820 points)
Entry Roll D3=2
700 Summon x 7, 400 Choose one (300), 600 Choose one (500)
Sub-vote results: 600 Choose one (500): 500 Mokuton Bloodline
Banked: 220
I think it's the first time, I managed to do a Grant Summoning scene without being too wordy. As a result it's a little dry, it reads almost like a checklist. So it's not ideal, but I'm getting tired of being sidetracked, so it does the job.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 05/23/2011 (8 AM)
When I teleported to the PRT building on Monday morning, I was in a fantastic mood. A smile was plastered on my face, and removing it took serious effort on my part. Not only did last night's date with Crystal went fantastically well, but beyond all my expectations, we took another big step in advancing our relationship.
Now some might say that a physical relationship did not in any way equate to a solid or long-lasting relationship. And that was very true, you couldn't build a relationship on just sex. But it was in my mind an important component of a relationship. Gaining pleasure with your partner and most importantly giving it to them, was very fulfilling both physically and emotionally.
As I dealt with a little bit of paperwork in my office, I recalled what happened before coming to work. We had breakfast in bed, courtesy of Olky. We spent a little too much time in each other's arms, just cuddling and talking. Notably, at some point, the topic shifted and we talked about our exes.
I learned that if I ever met a guy called Adam he may end up having an embarrassing accident. Even, if his monumental mistake meant that I could be with Crystal today.
Crystal appeared touched by my story with Akemi, stating that she wouldn't mind meeting her one day. This left me at a loss, what was I supposed to think about that? What happened when your current girlfriend met your ex that you left on good terms?
Then there was one very awkward moment when I opened the portal in the Pelham's house to deposit Crystal, her parents were having breakfast at the time. There was no hiding the reasons why Crystal was returning home in the morning instead of late in the evening. We're both consenting adults but talking with the parents of my girlfriend just a few hours after spending the night with her was still a very surreal experience.
They didn't say anything. There was no reproach, not even any teasing, just banal pleasantries to be polite before I said that I needed to go to work. But the glint in their eyes clearly indicates that they knew. I did not doubt that Sarah would talk to Crystal.
I managed to make my escape after exchanging one last chaste kiss with Crystal.
After putting that embarrassing memory aside and finishing my paperwork, it was time for me to meet with the candidates for Grant Summoning.
I found them in the same conference room that I used previously, three men and two women.
Of course, my appearance caused a stir. Even if they half-expected it, seeing me for real confirmed their wildest theories. It took a bit to calm them down and to do the presentation.
Finally, it was time to address the elephant in the room.
"So you've all been informed of the purpose of today's meeting. Namely, gaining powers."
"You're going to make us into Parahuman?" The question came from a tall black-haired man called Danilo Kolar, a PRT agent from Nashville.
The others appeared to share his curiosity, looking expectantly at me.
I shook my head. "Technically, no. You'll have powers but won't fit the definition of a Parahuman. You won't have Corona Potentia and Corona Gemma in your brain. Your power source will be me, instead of being directly connected to whatever gives Parahuman their powers. You can think of it as being one step removed from being Parahuman."
They nodded in unison.
The next question came from Bryan Spearing, a pale man who was wheelchair-bound. "Does this give you the ability to Master us?" He continued before I could respond, speaking fast. "I mean I wouldn't mind too much if that's how it worked, even if in that case I would probably avoid contact with you. It's just that I would like to know about it."
That question again. I shake my head in denial. "I can assure you that I won't be able to control you in any way, it's been tested extensively."
This seems to be enough to appease their worry. I then spent a bit explaining how this would go and soon it was time for the one-to-one interrogation. Thankfully I didn't find anything morally objectionable in any of them.
I brought them in the Orb for the power-granting portion of things.
We started things off with the women. Sandra Watts was the first, she gained custody of Quartz and the Armor Summoning power. With the Crystal Worm as armor, she would be able to swim through the ground at deceptive speed and deal surprising damage at close range. In addition, when armored up she was both striking and intimidating, giving some Narwhal vibes.
Sandra was immensely pleased with it. I allowed her to experiment a little with her digging powers in an empty zone of the Orb.
Then it was the turn of Makarova Nata. Contrary to Sandra she got to choose Armor or Vehicle Summoning for her power, to go with the Angry Nimbus that she would gain. After I explained the pros and cons of each she opted for Vehicle. This combination allows her to ride a cloud the size of a golf cart and to rain damage on the Villain. Interestingly, she already discussed the matter with the PR department and would be an open cape. Those were rare among the Protectorate and most of the time it wasn't by choice. I could admire that sort of conviction.
Next was Mister Priya Patel, to this towering man I would give the Sanguine Staff, giving him the ability to summon Sanguine Bats pretty much at will. We spent a bit debating about what supporting power would be best for him, even roping in the other candidates to get their opinions. We considered some size-changing powers or teleportation, but ultimately, we've gone with Share Senses. This would add a Thinker aspect to his powers, which could be invaluable.
After that we had Mister Kolar, he received the Damned Chessmen, certainly the most powerful partner I've given away today. The power to go with it would be Anchored Summoning. This would allow him to leave the Chessboard behind and bring the pieces with him as he moved.
And finally, it was time for Bryan Spearing. He was a special case.
My tone was apologetic when I spoke to him. "First of all, you should have been warned that gaining powers won't heal you."
He just shrugged at that. "I'm aware of that. Don't worry about it."
"Good. The second thing is that we don't expect you to become a cape in the strictest sense of the word. Ideally, the public would never be aware of your existence."
"Yeah, I was told something like that. And I have no problem with it either. I just want to help. But I'm confused about how it would work?" The man indeed looked puzzled. And the others that were nearby equally so.
"That's understandable. Let me present to you, Kane." I gestured unnecessarily and the Vortigaunt popped up into existence. He waved at the group.
Kane's appearance was sufficiently alien that they were all caught off guard by it. Thankfully it didn't last long.
I explained the idea. Namely, passing of Kane as a Case 53, with the power of self-resurrection after a delay. In truth, it would just be Bryan resumoning them the next day. To go with that the power associated with it would be Independent Agent, that way there wouldn't be any pesky distance limit to deal with.
"Hm, I see. Yes, that is certainly something I can do."
Kane and Bryan got talking, and after some hesitance, they appeared to go along well. For his part, Kane was fine with this role too, that would allow him to go out and see the world.
A few minutes of talking later, Bryan confirmed that he was willing to act as Kane's partner.
After that, I thanked them all for their help and for their willingness to become heroes. At my request, Bryan stayed behind for a bit.
I adopt a serious tone. "There was one last thing I wanted to discuss with you."
He nodded, listening intently.
"As I said earlier, gaining Kane as your partner didn't heal you. But I do have access to considerable healing powers. I'm confident that I could get you walking again."
The widening of his eyes and the hope I saw in them wasn't unexpected. Hesitantly he spoke up. "Are you sure? My issue is genetic, my spine didn't develop correctly. I was told there was no hope."
"I read your dossier, I'm aware of the issue. I can't be a hundred percent sure, but I know what my partners can do. You can expect a ninety-five percent chance of success." That was kind of a white lie, mainly because he wouldn't believe me if I said it I was sure at a hundred percent.
I saw him gulp. "Okay, what would it involve?"
"It would be a three-step process. First repairing your DNA, I'll need to use a combination of different powers but that shouldn't pose any real problems. Second, would be regrowing your spine, and dealing with your atrophied muscle on your back, hip, and legs. That's where I foresaw the most difficulties, but again it's doable. The last part will depend on you, you'll need to learn to walk from scratch, like an infant. This may take months of physical therapy."
The man appeared a little overwhelmed, so I remained silent as he digested my explanation. After a minute he spoke up. "Hn, I see. Can I have some time to think about it? To talk with my family and my physician."
"Of course. It's an open offer. You can get in touch with me whenever you want."
The man appeared lost in thought as he wheeled away in the corridor. Before he could get far, he turned around and looked at me searchingly before speaking one word. "Why?"
My answer was short and to the point. "Because I can."
That seems to be enough for him. He nodded before turning away.
This has been a productive meeting. As usual, it feels good to create new heroes, to help balance the scale. And maybe a man would be able to walk after spending his life in a wheelchair.
With this business dealt with, I had other things to do. Namely, polish my plan to free Dragon. I decided not to involve Colin. I did not doubt that he would have helped and with utmost secrecy at that. But it was still a self-imposed mission that wasn't sanctioned by any higher authority. As a Protectorate leader participating in such an operation could have negative repercussions for his career. Technically it was the same thing for me, worse in fact because I was of lesser rank.
But in practice, I was the fourth unofficial member of the Triumvirate. I helped kill Endbringer and the S9. I create new heroes every week. I helped solve Eidolon's problems with his powers. If I was caught in the act, I wouldn't even receive a slap on the wrist. I would probably even be congratulated for my foresight and audacity, or some such.
There was also the fact that Dragon's nature as an AI wasn't my secret to tell. Afterward, if she wished to reveal herself to Colin, well that was something for her to decide.
The planning for the operation was mostly spent discussing with Legion and Clank what not to do with the terminal. Frankly, despite the importance of this mission, I wasn't too worried about its success. I wouldn't let my guard down, I didn't want to taunt Murphy, but I could see little ways how it could fail considering the resources at my disposal.
The most important aspect of the operation was getting our hand on the terminal, while not damaging it or triggering any kind of fail-safe that would kill Dragon. I had an idea of how I could limit such risks as much as possible. We'll see in practice how it turned out, it couldn't hurt in any case. For now, the operation was tentatively programmed for Wednesday night.
I had lunch with Aylamon. She used the opportunity to grill me on my date with Crystal. This was somewhat awkward, while I was delighted to talk about the dinner, what happened after dinner was more complicated. Even if I dulled our mental link during that part, my little sister was still part of the telepathic network so she was aware that something significant happened. There was also the fact that despite being pretty childish, she wasn't a human child and didn't perceive the world the same way. In the end, I remained as vague as possible and changed the subject as fast as possible.
Once I managed to escape my little sister, I took a quick jaunt into Miss J's classroom. She was currently teaching a woman, named Christine, the science of demographics. The teaching program we put in place was working extremely well, Miss J was teaching an average of three students per week. I exchanged a few words with Miss Dayna, and she told me that so far Miss J taught eighteen people, including Kid Win and Hannah, subjects as diverse as forensic sciences, mathematics, ballistic, economy, gunsmithing, and more.
For my part, she was still teaching one of my Minds each night. I decided that learning more languages could only be a good thing, Babel was great for understanding people but I had no way to reply and it didn't work with written words. I started with Mandarin and Japanese, to better interact with the Asian community in town, and then German. Maybe French next? Would Crystal like it if I tried to seduce her in French?
As I left the classroom, the Menagerie decided that rearranging my genetic makeup and implanting foreign memories in my head, again, was a good idea. It took a fair bit of concentration to not collapse in the hallway. Thankfully I was currently alone.
Once I managed to regain my bearing I checked with my Minds.
So we gained something called a Bloodline, the Mokuton specifically, that came from the same dimension as the Panda./As it turns out people in that dimension can have unique bloodlines, unique to their family, that allow them to use Chakra that others can't./In that case it's an affinity for Earth, which we already had, and an affinity Water, which we just gained, and most importantly how to combine those affinities to create Wood./To go with that, we gained a significant list of Mokuton Jutsus that use that bloodline, some of which are very interesting./And to top things off, it improved our Chakra capacity and control a fair bit.
Continuing on my way, I could feel it, Chakra flowed more easily within my coils and responded more eagerly to my wish. With the barest exertion of my will, a leaf grew straight out of my palm. That was…something. Reviewing the Jutsus at my disposal, I let out a low whistle. I could build structures such as houses with a few gestures, or spawn an entire forest. Some of those Jutsus were too Chakra intensive for me right now, I would need Rex's help and even then I might butcher them because my control wasn't good enough but in time it would come.
However what interested me the most was the transformation techniques, by covering myself with bark I could alter my traits into nearly anything as long as it was slightly bigger than me. And perhaps even better I could create clones of myself. That could be a godsend. The clones wouldn't have access to the Menagerie-granted powers, but would still have Chakra. The possibilities were endless. I would need to spend some time with the Panda, they could help me develop this bloodline.
I decided to put it to use right away. I created one clone to deal with my paperwork, which Aggretsuko couldn't deal with. And one to survey the training of my partners in the Orb. Until now it was done remotely with my Minds, but having a body on site could really help.
Then it was time for something that was quickly becoming my favorite part of the day, Random Summoning. There was some aspect of gambling to it, but without the drawback, even in the worst case I just didn't gain anything.
(D137=27 Golden Sun, D121=82 Squall)
And the first one was nice. This new Jupiter Djinn, Squall, was a laid-back guy who allowed me to test out two Summon Spirits that I wouldn't normally have access to. Thor was more than a little impressive and Haures no less so. Hopefully, I'll get more Djinns at some point to gain permanent access to those Spirits and others.
(D137=120 Dota, D47=10 Iron Dragons)
The second Random Summoning was much more impressive, an Iron Dragon, a breed of dragon covered with metallic scales. The one I summoned called himself, Kharth. Once the surprise of being summoned passed, I explained the situation to him and we spent a while talking. He regaled me with tales from his homeland, it was quite fascinating.
Then he asks to test my other dragons in combat. This prompted the creation of a mini-tournament in which he fought one by one against all my partners who could be qualified as dragons. Kharth won more often than he lost, but even when he won my partners didn't leave him unscathed proving their strength.
After an hour of watching dragons fight each other in more or less friendly spars, I left Kharth to talk with my dragons, I still had things to do. Before that, he gifted me with a few of his metallic scales lost during the fighting. I thanked him profusely, I was always happy to have more materials to work with.
(D137=104 Bleach, D21=20 Hollowfication Invalid ->Reroll)
(D137=28 Okami, D=92 Red Ogre)
The last Random Summoning of the day was a bit of a letdown, a Red Ogre appeared in front of me. A sort of centaur, with a very aggressive personality, that wore an enormous mask that doubled as a shield and wielded twin clubs.
After beating it in single combat, something that was tougher than I expected, I convinced him to part with his mask before dismissing him. I wasn't sure what I would do with it, maybe Nimue would like it?
Speaking of Nimue, her Dungeon was my next stop. The Pioneer accompanied by Hug exited it while I was busy with the Ogre. The Pioneer reached levels seven and five in their combat and civilian classes, while Hug reached level four in both. All of them gained valuable new abilities, the most notable being Kuja who picked up the Telekinetic Control weapon properties. With it I could wield her with my brain, having her float next to me and attack in the same way I would, and with the same strength, all the while freeing my hands.
What's more, Nimue also progressed enough to start building her seventh floor. I was looking forward to exploring it, and I need to pick a few more partners to give her.
Around five, when I exited the Pocket Biosphere, I checked my phone and saw a text from Crystal. She was deep in her revision, during a brief break she sent me a photo of her at her desk surrounded by books, with a plea for help.
I didn't waste time calling her. "Hey, Beautiful. Need a distraction?"
"God Yes. Please, Honey, tell me about your day or something, I have Marketing Evaluation charts leaking from my ears."
I laughed and endeavored to be as distracting as possible. I mentioned the Dragon tournament and Aylamon antics. I half-expected some awkwardness after last night, but no the words came naturally, more than before even. There was a new familiarity between us.
We spent half an hour talking like that, it was nice to just goof off with my girlfriend. When we reluctantly hung up, I was smiling once again.
Before returning home I had one last duty to attend to. The planning for my visit to other cities to help them out and to grab a new companion was finally complete. Tomorrow I will visit the first three, starting with…
[] the East Coast, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.
[] the West Coast, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Francisco.
[] the Center, Des Moines, Denver, and Oklahoma City.
Wordcount: 3421
Excess words: 565
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And there we are, finally Alex can spread his wings, start visiting the states, and grab new companions.
For the roll, 220 (Banked) + 360 (Chapter) + 0 (Excess words) + 360 (Interlude) + 120 (Excess words from Interlude) = 1060 points.
[] Creature
[] Power
Voting will be closed Thursday at 3 PM GMT
Note 1: I mentioned in the chapter that Alex has been taking lessons from Miss J to learn languages. It's kind of a retcon, but it's more something that I keep forgetting to mention. You may remember that at one point I was holding votes for things that Alex could learn from Miss J in the Mental realm. That's how he learned Mechanical Engineering, Psychology, Medicine, and Calligraphy.
But I got tired of holding that regular vote, it was a lot of bookkeeping for me. So I decided that he would learn various languages, each one taking three or four days. I didn't keep track, like at all, but you can assume that he can speak Mandarin, Japanese, German, Spanish, and a few more.
Sorry about that.
Note 2: Any ideas on how to use the Mokuton? Mainly the clones? Keep in mind that they don't have access to the CM's powers.
Last edited:
