In the morning, we continued travelling in the direction of the Giant again. After last night, Mark and Vir's attitude towards me improved somewhat. However, I believe that has more to do with a hope that I have told the truth about everything than in their evaluation of me as a person.
All of that hope would be crushed if I had lied about the portal and Snow, but, confirming with Snow that the portal hasn't been fully absorbed yet, I'm not worried.
Overall, they agreed that the stuff about my revival and the afterlife aren't important right now. What is important is my knowledge about the corrupt creatures and where they come from which far surpasses their own understanding. Or anyone's.
Now they are determined to learn as much as they can from me about the situation, even if it puts them in more danger than they prefer.
Knowledge is power after all. And a lack of power is deadly in this dying world.
This time I took them up close to the Giant and gave them the tour.
I showed them a few gargoyle corpses which were still recognisable.
I showed them the giant's heart and its ugly mug.
And most importantly I showed them the portal and the [Divine Totems] that are still siphoning power from it.
The totems aren't more numerous than before, but they do feel more established. They feel less like a concentration of divinity that was put there and more like they belong there now.
Mark and Vir mostly observed silently but did ask a few minor questions about it. Mostly things that revise what I told them previously like how I killed it, and what the portal and orb does as far as I know.
Once they were satisfied with their little excursion, they finally seemed to have a semblance of trust in me.
However, whether they trust me or not they are certain that they, and Wesker, needs my knowledge and power to advance. Otherwise, it'll remain a bastion of fragile safety until something else like the Giant rocks up to kill them.
And so, we started travelling towards Wesker again.
*****
For the past two months Mark and I have been traveling with this unusual man who claims to be some kind of revived warrior working with gods.
Honestly, I can't tell if he's insane or not but I do know he knows more about the state of the world than we do.
On our way to Wesker, Mark and I have probed him for information every night. We've got him to tell us about various corrupt creatures we've never heard of, their weaknesses and strengths, where he has been, some stuff about his abilities like this map that he can project in front of him, and even about a supposed town of undead skeletons asking him to kill them.
Some of the things he says are so farfetched that they border insanity, but he also straight up says 'I don't know' to some of our questions.
This man, Rey, has almost no desire to hide things from us and somehow, almost everything he says make sense in some twisted fucked up way.
Regardless, Mark and I are convinced that he isn't acting so he is either delusional or telling the absolute truth about everything, which is a terrifying thought. It wasn't until we'd effectively run out of questions to ask him that Mark asked something I'd never even considered.
"Rey. Is it possible for Vir and I to become as powerful as you are? Or is that something given to you by these gods… ummm… Snow, and the Goddess?"
…
Silence ensued as I took Mark's question in. It felt ridiculous. How could we become insane creatures like him. But it was Rey's response that broke my calm façade.
"Yeah, it's possible. I could help you too. But I'd expect your help in return. And naturally it would be dangerous."
…
Neither Mark nor I expected that answer. The danger part was expected. If it wasn't dangerous we would already be as powerful as him. It was more the very fact that it's possible and his confidence in being able to make it happen that stunned us.
"… H-how?", Mark replied, his voice shaking.
"Well… I'm not exactly sure but I'm sure we can figure it out. You both have abilities, right? Or at least I know you do Vir. The bullet you shot at me was imbued with mana."
Mark and I looked at each other. It makes sense that he would want to know what our abilities are to help us. But he could also be tricking us into telling him that. Telling someone your abilities is always a risk.
That being said, if he wanted to kill us, he could, he would have already. He doesn't need information about our strengths in order to destroy us.
"My job class is Sniper…", I told him everything about my ability and how I make use of it. The entire time Mark stared at me with his jaw dropped. I know I'm acting out of character. I'm taking a risk I would never usually take. But the thing is I actually want to believe everything Rey has told us. In the last two months he's done nothing to trick us that we know of and has been beyond understanding in our suspicions. I want to believe him. I want to take this risk. Especially if it means gaining power.
[Name: Vir]
[Job Class: Sniper]
[???]
[???: Death is sudden. Death is silent. Death is intended.]
[Abilities: Hellfire]
[Hellfire: you craft bullets from mana. If your bullet is true, you recover mana. Your hubris will make or break you.]
I also told him everything that we have learnt and understand about mana, which, granted isn't a whole lot. The only thing he seemed surprised by was how people tend to gain the ability to use mana in the heat of a life-or-death situation. And how we can see a description of our ability and job class.
After me Mark did the same, explaining how his ability works.
[Name: Mark]
[Job Class: Leader (Innate)]
[???]
[Abilities: Survive]
[Survive: You can survive. You must survive. No matter what survive. He needs you to survive.]
Once we were done explaining, Rey sat in silence whilst he thought about it. Mark and I sat in dreadful silence as we waited. After a while Mark asked, "Rey… what do you think."
"Sorry, give me a moment, I'm writing everything done and comparing the differences with what I know."
We didn't know what he meant by writing it down, but we assumed that map ability of his has something to do with it. After a while he spoke.
"So… Job classes are new to me. So is the revelation about unlocking an ability that uses mana at the time of discovering its use. Things work a bit differently for me. None of my abilities use mana. Only my spells do. As for the question marks you told me about, I can guess but its too unclear for me to be accurate. Especially how you described the placement of the question marks in those runes.
You see, one of my first abilities is called [Soul Manifest]. I don't even understand all of its functions but one of them is allowing me to see my own stats, abilities and spells in the same rune format you spoke about. And one thing that is obvious is that is very deliberate in its formatting. So you'll have to figure out the details of what your job class and question marks mean but as for your abilities, I believe I can help."
Mark and I both listened intently to what he had to say. Just the fact that the awakening side of things worked completely differently for him is a major discovery. It means that there are other ways and powers that can be used that we don't know about.
His ability [Soul Manifest] doesn't seem all that powerful in and of itself either. But it is information. And information that can give him insight into gaining power. That is definitely powerful.
"Before you do… is it possible to see this [Soul Manifest]? I understand if not. I'm asking a lot."
Mark seemed worried by my question, but Rey barely reacted. "Sure. I think. I haven't to show others before actually. I wonder if its possible. Although I will omit some parts for privacy reasons. I hope you understand."
"YES! That is perfectly fine." My excitement betrayed me as I practically jumped at the opportunity. Mark as showed signs of intrigue.
"Let me try this out."
With a small node of light, runes started to appear in front of us. They read.
[Soul Manifest]
[Name: Rey Stein]
[Race: Human (Awakened)]
[Constitution: Sloth]
[Soul Level: 76]
[Mana: 30 940]
[Intelligence: 532]
[Physical Level: 59]
[Strength: 499]
[Agility: 813]
[Stamina: 547]
[Ki: ?]
[@###%$^()!@#!@$#$%^#!@]
[Karma]
[Spells: Accel]
[Accel (Mastery 2): increases the speed of the user by 51 %. Costs 1 mana per second relative to the user]
[Domain: Minor Flame]
[Incarnat (Mastery 2): allows the user to produce a crimson flame at will. This spell costs 500 mana to use. The flame can be empowered with additional mana at 25 % the cost]
[Plasma Arrow (Mastery 1): concentrated flames shaped like arrows piece your foes clean through. Everything is destroyed when faced with your flames. Mana cost 800 per arrow.]
[Abilities: Soul Manifest, Soul Archive]
[Soul Manifest: allows the user to manifest there will. This ability assists the user as it's understanding of the user increases.]
[Soul Archive: allows the user to document information in any understood language or imagery.]
Mark and I both read the runes incessantly. The number of revelations included were mind boggling. Even knowing that he has omitted information from the display I am in awe at the sheer detail and extent of his power.
30 000 fucking mana!? What the fuck is 500 intelligence? Or 500 strength? A [Domain] of flames? And the spells are nothing like anything I'd heard of before. His abilities are strange as well.
Mark and I were both half pale and half invigorated as we read through the runes over and over again. Rey was giggling in the background as we did but neither of us cared. Can he really teach us to get stronger. We have to know. I want to know!
"Rey…"
I trailed off as I put my thoughts together. The decision was obvious. Whatever may come, in this treacherous apocalyptic world only one thing matters. Survival. And the strongest survive.
"Please teach us. We'll do anything you ask."
Mark was solemn and serious, but he agreed, "Yes. Please Rey. We'll do anything."
Rey was silent as his eyes widened a little. After a few moments he smiled.
"Very well."