Chapter 146 - A Distraction Given

The blood splatters still hadn’t been scrubbed from the concrete.

With Harry in tow, Brock ventured the streets of Adelaide, his eyes roaming the remains of destruction left in the wake of Zin Keene’s rampage. Inwardly, he found himself somewhat glad that that monster had killed him.

Toppled towers blocked off sections of the road and gouges had dotted the landscape, leaving dangerous holes behind and divots to avoid. Thankfully, it didn’t truly impair their journey, as people had already cut holes through the buildings and placed bridges over the chasms, allowing safe travel until they were fixed or removed.

Unlike King’s Cavity or Meiyo, Adelaide was yet to have its own teleportation hub. The SS mostly just warped people whichever place they they’d linked to without much regard. Ha-Eun had taken over in his sister’s stead, and her official stance was that they didn’t have the resources to spare for the construction, which Brock knew was pretty fair.

Sure, KC or Meiyo could chip in, but with the state of the world currently, things weren’t given out for free. You either traded or got nothing at all. Maybe when the world had stabilised further and construction materials weren’t in such high demand, generosity would be more widespread.

And strangely enough, Brock felt at peace walking the streets with his friend. No one noticed who he was, even without his cap and mask, as while many knew his name, far fewer knew what he actually looked like. A handful of the guards patrolling the area did recognise him, however, but they stayed professional.

By posing in front of their phones and taking selfies with him in the distance. I wonder if I can get Adam to cut off phone shipments to Adelaide.

If anyone was generous, it was the acting leader of Genesis. He’d turned the organisation around completely, although many of Max’s loyalist had left, disagreeing with how Adam wanted to run the place. And his first act of business was to spread communication across the planet using solar phones.

Whether it was to try redeem himself for never standing up to Maxwell or for some other ulterior motive, Brock had no idea. He trusted the man anyway, so he didn’t care.

“Do you reckon she’s still in the same place?” the sound of Harry’s voice broke Brock from his thoughts, and the man glanced at him.

He snorted, “You mean that hoarder shithole? I don’t she’d leave all that shit behind.”

“Alright. Awesome.” Brock could hear the excitement and hope in the boy’s voice, and it was an effort to resist smiling. He didn’t dare to do anything else. He didn’t dare think about what if she found nothing.

When they finally entered into Adelaide proper and were met with the quiet bustle of the streets, Brock noticed how people continually glanced toward the sky. He assumed Zin had attacked from up there. Idly, as they walked, he realised that people seemed to give Harry a wide berth as he charged ahead.

He couldn’t sense any E Grades around other than him, so that was probably why. They didn’t trust an unknown person with that much power. I don’t blame them. I don’t even trust myself with my own power.

What did surprise him, however, was all the glances he got from women. He’d evolved his race to E Grade like many others, and since then he’d collected only a few scars – his body seemed to have a greater degree of max regeneration now – so he’d kind of returned to the handsome savage look.

The old beast fur wrap he’d wore back in Alice Springs had been turned into a leather jacket which he wore with pride, and if one accounted for his fake jeans and combat boots, he looked hard. Like ex-military hard. Which he wasn’t. He’d touch a gun once in his life, and it was when he’d been committing a pre-System felony.

He didn’t really know how to feel about the glances, as he didn’t actually want them, but he supposed he could always ignore them. So, he did. The armour he wore underneath clinked as he moved.

Eventually, they approached the turn off to the old hag’s hoarder hole, and briefly, Brock considered visiting Ha-Eun. He’d only really gotten to know her during the funeral, but she seemed nice-ish, and he could tell back then that she had been struggling. Harry knew her better, though.

In the end, he decided it could wait, and they ventured down the street. A familiar old shop loomed in the distance, and Brock pushed past the door. The scent of musk and old candles met his nose. Dimly, the room was lit by candles. He detected the hag’s aura in the backroom.

Idly, as he and Harry moved to enter, Brock controlled the candle flames to dim and brighten, creating something of a sunset-coloured disco. Under Zonoebah’s tutelage and the advice of several of Meiyo physicists, he’d learned a lot about how his Augments functioned, and how he had used them to barely a fifth of their full potential.

Altering the brightness, temperature and heat conductivity of fire was only scratching the surface. He’d learned a lot more.

A voice resounded from the back, and it was harsh enough to make him flinch, “touch my candles again and I’ll smack the shit out of you.”

He retracted his influence and together, he and Harry stepped past the veil of beads. The room within was still as dark as they remembered it to be, although the old lady had upgraded from an aged chair to a discoloured couch. Just like before, her eyes were closed, yet Brock felt like she was staring into his soul. Blue runes spun in the air. Under Brock’s gaze, they flickered.

“Uh… hey, I dunno if you remem-” Brock began before quickly being cut off.

Her voice grated against his ears, “Don’t play delicate with me. I know what you’re here for. Those parents of yours, am I correct?”

Harry nodded, “Yeah. Can you find them again?”

A silence followed as her eyes bore into both of them equally despite being closed. Brock shuddered as he felt the entirety of her attention settle onto him, and her aura prod at his own, which he’d left unhidden. The runes above flickered again.

Then finally, as the sound of her exhaling rebounded within the room, she nodded, “I can.”

“Aweso-” Harry cheered but found himself cut off much like his friend.

“But… he has to leave,” the ritualist pointed a bony finger at Brock, and he furrowed his brows, “I have no idea what’s wrong with you, but you’re disrupting my runes. I won’t be able to cast any rituals with you here.”

I’m… interfering with her runes? Wait… His eyes looked up, and he noticed the fine streaks of aura rising up from them. They were well created, enough that barely any leaked, but enough for him to notice. It seemed his passive ability was interrupting her runes. But I’m not even touching them.

He’d tested it, and it only occurred with contact.

Nonetheless, he vacated the building per her request and left Harry to find the fate of their parents. It wasn’t something he really wanted to do, as if they were in fact dead, it would leave the boy vulnerable, and he wanted to be there to stay strong for him. But life had a funny way of making things difficult for you.

Although, the whole rune disruption made him wonder. His passive effect was something he’d figured out how to turn on and off, and he was certain it was off. He glanced at his skin, or more specifically, the dark flesh that hid underneath. Is it related…?

Possessing all questions and no answers, Brock decided to drop the matter and wait for the ritualist to finish. She was still one of the few Blues he’d seen, as it seemed to be the rarest colour of fluid out there. From KC’s resident elemental, he’d learned that Blue was the colour of information-based Ascendancies. That was why she was able to use rituals to find people, among other powers she had.

It was rather fascinating stuff.

According to Zonoebah and evidence Meiyo’s scientists had gathered, there were six fluid colours: Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Purple and Yellow, and each of those possessed their own niche toward what kind of abilities they’d grant.

Red – his colour – was based upon energy, and often saw conjuration abilities granted, like his Ethereal Shackles or manipulation abilities like Erin’s earth control. Of course, it was also possible to get neutral Techniques that fell into no category – like most of his – and that was with any fluid.

Blue, as mentioned before, related to information; things like direct intelligence, knowledge, and more conventional, fantasy style magic. Green was of course based on life, and encompassed healing, plant manipulation and creating constructs, like golems.

Orange was the colour of physical powers, and it was common for people to receive Techniques that directly enhanced one’s body, or even transformation abilities. Harry’s power to inject toxins worked under the transformation principle, where his aura was converted to the poison of choice, though that was a more abstract use. Generally, it was people turning into animals, or half breeds.

Purple, from what had been seen, was the colour of space, time and summoning. Obvious it gave abilities related to any of the three. As for Yellow, it was a more difficult fluid to understand. The abilities it gave were concepts. Jane’s Ascendancy was based upon ninjutsu as a concept, encompassing most common beliefs of them as well as works of fiction depicting them.

Out of the six, he found Yellow to be the strangest and most unpredictable.

Eventually, as Brock found himself fucking around with his Augments a few minutes later, the sound of the door opening startled him to attention, and he glanced over. His eyes dared to glimpse Harry’s face.

He was smiling, “She said you could come back in.”

Following the teenager, he returned to the darkness of the hoarder hole, and found the blue runes where they’d been when he’d left. Occasionally, they flickered, and he felt himself becoming rather uncomfortable just existing. Would he interfere with people’s powers anywhere he went, or was this also something he could control?

Honestly, he was surprised he hadn’t discovered the matter earlier. Although, he supposed he’d rarely been around others during the past three months, so he didn’t really have anyone to witness its effects on.

“They’re alive.” The hag’s voice brought him back, and he felt his hope surge. Though, he restrained himself. He felt a ‘but’ coming, “but they aren’t on Earth.”

“…Excuse me?” Brock shook his head. Did… did he hear her right?

She snorted, “I mean what I said. They aren’t on Earth. That’s why your little shadow people haven’t found them yet.”

Harry furrowed his brows. Brock could see his stance getting defensive, nervous, “So… where are they then?”

“In the waiting zone for the E Grade evolution trial, within 2 meters of each other. At least, that’s what my powers are telling me.”

The boy glanced at Brock, “But… that means…”

He target of his attention sighed, “that you can’t go and find them, yeah.”

This… certainly posed a few issues. From what he’d heard of the E Grade trial, it was safe to a degree. He’d been told that you were sent into a sub-dimension along with millions of other beings from their Echelon and given a mission. Find a Splinter of Ascension.

That alone was too much of an issue, as there were easily more than enough for everyone to get one. The real issue was the matter of rarity. While uncommon and rare Splinters were abundant, epics, legendaries and even the rumour iridescents – no one know if they were real or where the rumour had spread from – were in short supply.

And for that reason, those that possessed one were a hot target. Fortunately, if you were ‘killed’ in the sub-dimension, you were sent back to your planet with a six-month cool-down on taking the trial again. Which to anyone that was actively pursuing power, was career ending.

And since Harry couldn’t go, that meant he was the one who had to find them. Among all those millions of people. He could ask others to go in his stead, as he knew a few that were on the brink, but the trial could begin at any second and their parents were their responsibility.

Brock was more than willing to take on Harry’s responsibility in his stead. But that would mean entering the flow of power growth again, and he’d rather enjoyed settling down. Who the fuck am I kidding? I’m agoraphobic, depressed and I think Zin Keene gave me PTSD. I need something to distract me for a while.

He sighed, “Do you know when the Trial will begin?”

“Two days.”