My reoccurring nightmare came that night, but it took no sleep from me. Whether through false bravado or pure naiveté, I deflected that pillar of blood in my dream and Jessica came out unscathed.

  It seemed so simple in the dream, I willed the deflection to happen and it did. Still, the comfort that brought was reassuring in its own way. The strength to shape the future, that was something that could be obtained. Most definitely.

  Jessica was soundly sleeping next to me when I woke. I pulled the covers back up over her shoulders and snuck away, creeping down the staircase into the living room. Both Lucas and Glenn were already awake and quietly chatting to each other.

  “Morning Mike,” Lucas said, “quite the story Jessica told us last night.”

  I scratched my head, wondering if Jessica had embellished what happened. “She can be a compelling story-teller,” I replied. “Have there been any incidents in the new group?” I changed the subject rather promptly.

  “Nothing yet,” Lucas said. “I’ve started talking to the single woman of the group.” This got a side-eye from me, as he didn’t seem the flirtatious type. It seemed my stare gave away my doubts.

  “Not what you’re thinking. I’ve just noticed she seems to be the black sheep. Either because she’s the weakest, the only female, or something else—I might be able to get some information out of her.”

  “He ran by what you talked about yesterday. I agree it’s suspicious.” Glenn added. “Everyone has secrets, but lying about the amount of people in your abode doesn’t make sense unless you’re covering something up.”

  We continued to talk about this for a few minutes, mostly in circles. Long enough for me to grow bored, “Alright, I’ll leave you two to figure it out,” I said before briskly walking away.

  A night’s rest had left me feeling refreshed. The recovery buff from the abode really added onto my already decent regeneration. My MP was comfortably above eighty-percent, and the soreness had diminished greatly in the spots I’d been skewered. Thomas had a huge hand in that, though.

  My goal today was to study Bone Manipulation. The thought of my own flesh ripping open and pieces of my bone coming out in any manner was unsettling to say the least. I had no doubt that was possible, but whether I could bypass that altogether with my bone armor was the question. A hard but unpredictable and malleable armor gave me some hidden aces in melee combat.

  Even as a ranged attack, if I could send a bone knife flying out at tremendous speed from distance… that could do devastating amounts of damage to an unsuspecting target. It was versatile in both offense and defense, and that was key.

  I had no idea what to expect, so outside our home was the best choice to practice. I didn’t want to leave any holes, or worse yet, a puddle of blood inside if this skill turned out to be a terrible choice on my part.

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  The morning sun was low in the sky still when I made it out front. A low fog hovered, and the humidity was quick to stick to the skin. Even just standing there had the crevices of my body moistening with sweat.

  I cast Bone Manipulation without much intention. There was no direction or thought on what I wanted to happen with it, and the idea was that I’d not accidentally rip open a part of my body by doing so. I needed to feel the effects on my body first.

  A ripple like the flex of muscleslithered beneath my skin and across my entire body, even the top of my head and sides had a strange sensation—that if I just thought for a shape or an object I could force it up and out. Through my flesh if so needed… and I worried that was needed.

  The feeling wasn’t unexpected as it was the power of the ability waiting for my action. No different than readying a Fireball—one push and the flames would soar from your hand. It swelled and flowed as I moved from body part to body part, imagining shapes and sizes but not manifesting them.

  My forehead held a layer of sweat after just ten minutes, but progress had been made. The skill seemed relatively easy to use. In fact, even from the get go it felt like second nature. With a thought, my focus shifted to a part of my body and if I so willed it, I could force the bone out through my flesh.

  Did I dare to do so right now? Absolutely not. I could already tell that forcing the bone through flesh would bring extreme pain. It wouldn’t be fatal obviously, but it would no doubt tear muscle nerve and flesh in its path. Thomas would be able to heal the worst of it fortunately.

  I was just about to cast Bone Armor when a sound caught my attention from behind the abodes. At least from my group, no one else was up yet, so it wasn’t one of us. I walked over slowly to not arouse suspicion and peeked my head around the corner.

  In the open area just in front of the quartermaster was Lucas’ black sheep. Two daggers sliced the air in a flurry. She danced with imaginary enemies, twisting and turning and sending out punches and kicks and swipes in every direction.

  If I had been just ten levels lower I’d probably have been impressed by the display. Now though, she looked a little clumsy, a little slow. The fluidity of movement was lacking, which meant her AGI stat must have not been up to par with what she was trying to accomplish.

  Still, what impressed me was the determination. Even I didn’t train my body like she did—most of us didn’t. It was hard to find the time to do something so laborous and tedious when outside of fighting monsters to survive you merely wanted a break to live.

  She was so focused that she hadn’t noticed my approach. I managed to watch for two or three minutes before coughing loud enough to break her focus. “Sorry, didn’t want to disturb you.” Her face immediately turned beet red, which was unexpected. Was she the shy type I wondered?

  “You are… Mike?” she asked.

  “That’s me,” I replied, “do you always train like this?”

  “Every morning.” Which wasn’t the response I expected—It wasn’t uncommon to see those stronger than you and strive for strength temporarily.

  “Do you want a training partner?” I asked. Her expression turned into that of a deer in headlights. “Not with me,” I clarified, and then pulled a single skeletal warrior from my shadow. It didn’t need to be a general to give her a run for her money.

  She was startled at first, “With that…? What is it?” She backed away a few steps.

  “Just one of my summoned undead. It should be a decent fighting partner. You can borrow him, and I’ll send Lucas your way. He’s an expert in melee combat.” And just like that I had gotten Lucas an in.

  She nodded her head in hesitation and then brandished her daggers. “I’ll leave you two to it.” I said, and sent my warrior at her. I didn’t even need to focus, a simple don’t kill her was enough.

  I stood off to the side and summoned Bone Armor, not really worrying if she could see. Judging by the fight she didn’t have time to pay any attention to me. I focused on the sensation I felt earlier.

  Uh oh… I couldn’t feel my armor…