CHAPTER 29: NEW ABILITIES

When morning came, His vessels were well rested and essence replenished.

With the new core, he realized the maximum range of his vessels had grown by fifteen metres.

Both him and Alia were cloaked up and mounted on their horses. It was not strange to see people covering their faces.

Hadrian needed to. Two teenagers on such horses would draw great attention. Not to mention, he was sure by now, word about him and his abilities was travelling through the mob.

Even when attacking that mage from four fronts, and with a skilled fighter vessel, I still struggled.

Hadrian thought back to the fight.

Truston was pretty beaten down and in a magical suppressed cellar. If I could get to him....

Tsk, They’ll probably move him.

Flicking his wrist, a coin appeared seemingly out of thin air.

Since he was the horse, he did not need to control the reins. His eyes were focused on the coin, amazed by the ability.

Hadrian wasn’t sure how objects were measured, but the ability was limited. At the first rank at least.

I wish I could carry my vessels in that space, then I would not have to worry about logistics.

He imagined at higher ranks, space path mages were capable of something like that.

"Carrying" alive subjects.

He did not know where the items went. They were not in the dull white space or the essence cores.

He could also only flicker items to his hand. So he could not flicker a weapon inside an enemy’s throat.

It’s still a very useful ability and the potential of its cultivation is great. Hadrian thought.

I wonder what a rank three or even five is capable of with this.

The other main ability he’d gotten was a spatial sense ability. He could map out an area in his mind and sense the relative position of things.

At rank one, the range was twenty metres. Of course, he had an advantage over other regular space path mages in this regard, his multiple vessels.

Since all his vessels could channel the essence of the cores, he could virtually expand his spatial sense mapping. Of course, this was an active ability that consumed essence, the more vessels that used it, the faster the essence was diminished.

The third ability was body agility. The control of his limbs and movements was given a mystical boost.

If I still had the Aisha vessel, training would be so much easier now. And I would learn moves faster.

Still, even with two rank one cores, he did not feel the slightest bit confident in facing Haldon or Truston directly.

His other vessels like the horse and hawk, when they don’t have the cores inside them, can only be temporary mages when channeling essence.

I don’t want to be surprised too much like last night. Hadrian thinks. I can’t rely solely on the memories of my vessels.

Now that they were gone, so we’re their memories.

Perhaps the memories are also in that phantom like state in the dull white space.

He made his way to the upper districts wanting to sneak into a school and steal books on the paths of magic.

...

In an underground space with concrete walls and a hard bare ground, a few men and women stand around three naked corpses.

"I’ve never seen magic like this." Haldon says. "Some kind of shapeshift."

Flicking his wrist, a long rod appears in his hand and he pokes the bodies with it.

Using the rod, he turns the clawed hands around.

Standing with his large arms crossed, Bagdona has a contemplative look on his face. His tongue licks his lips.

"So, this is why they weren’t afraid of death." He says.

Some look at him, others remain focused on the bodies.

Bagdona does not explain further.

"What are we to do about it?" A long faced man asked.

"What else? We find them." Haldon says. There’s a tinge of disgust in his tone.

"Did you take the essence core?" Bagdona asks, standing with his back straight and stiff like a rock.

Haldon shakes his head. "He could not have died long before I arrived.... But it was gone."

Bagdona’s eyes narrow in thought. "Earlier," he says. "I felt the boy was affecting me in someway though I could not explain it."

"Its something to do with the soul core." Nodding with his eyes still on the bodies, he says.

He sounds sure and the others don’t really have any input to add.

"Anything else?" Bagdona says as his eyes meet Haldon’s.

Haldon thinks for a moment and you could see it on his face. "The boy seemed to think I should know him."

"And, do you?"

Haldon shakes his head in response.

"What about the girl?"

"No."

"What about Gurov?" Someone else asks.

"He should have sent someone stronger." Haldon says.

"Perhaps they were just scouts?"

Haldon does not respond.

"You’ve destroyed a few months’ peace for your selfish goals." the man says to Haldon.

Haldon smiles. "I have given reputation to our mob. We don’t let people disrespect us."

The man glances at Bagdona but Bagdona seems to be lost in his own thoughts.

"Whoever it is." A woman says, "we have to find them. They killed one of our own."

"Exactly." Haldon gestures to her with a finger.

"Where do we start?" Another member asks. "The guy who brought them is dead."

"He wasn’t alone, was he?" Haldon asks with a raised brow. "And everyone leaves a trail."

"I want at least one of them alive." Bagdona says as he walks out.

"The bodies?" Someone yells.

"Get rid of them." Without turning his back, Bagdona says.

With Bagdona and a few gone, Haldon’s eyes darts between the remaining members.

"This is exciting, isn’t it?" He asks with a smile. Not expecting an answer, he takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and let’s out a loud exhale.

"Well, we should get to it." He makes one quick turn on his feet and follows the way up and out the underground.

"Don’t forget to take care of the bodies." Haldon shouts over his back.