After putting herself to a task, Taylor found the time flying by. It was a little ironic, really, how she enjoyed lightly working now. It didn't stress her out since even passive Hypercognition made things far easier to understand and memorize. Still, she'd need an actual hobby, if only so that she didn't worry Dad too much.
That, and she needed... well, she needed a friend. With her Hypercognition, she was more than aware of her thoughts, and time and time again through the week, the feeling of loneliness crept into and infected her thoughts. Even as she threw them away, she did so somewhat bitterly.
Senior was right, as much as she didn't want to admit it. She missed having a friend; Emma's plan by making one of her cronies pretend to be Taylor's friend had acknowledged and exploited that weakness. It was a weakness, as much as she didn't want it to be. At the end of the day, she was human... though, even with Hypercognition, she found it difficult to try plucking up the courage to try and meet new people.
How pathetic was that?
She sighed, turning off the computer and pinching the bridge of her nose. There was no escaping the fact that she was a loser anyway. She could get all of the superpowers in the world and the only way she would actually be able to get someone to like her was by being related to them (i.e., her parents) or being in a deal with them, like with Magister, Senior, or Hunter. After all, she doubted any of them would bother with her without the ITP or whatever other-her had done.
Maybe she was being cynical or something, but she couldn't help it. Emma had been the only real friend she ever had, and Emma had told her that she only pretended being Taylor's friend. Taylor had figured that Emma had said that only to hurt her, but as time wore on and she failed to find any friends, in or out of school, she was beginning to suspect that Emma was telling the truth.
Maybe it wasn't cowardice after all? Maybe it was just her being realistic. According to Magister, Taylor ended up killing someone, so she doubted that she'd had any friends in that life either.
"... damn it... she muttered, wallowing in self-pity even though she knew the futility of it. "... I really—"
Whatever else Taylor was about to say was cut off by the ringing of the phone. Dad was busy watching TV, trying to relax after work (Taylor envied him, in a way, for being able to do that), so Taylor went over and picked up the phone to not bother him. "Hebert Residence, how may I help you?" she said somewhat tonelessly.
"Sounds like you've had a rough day, huh?" Taylor blinked, before recognizing the voice.
"Aisha?" Taylor asked, bemused.
"Yep." Aisha popped the 'p', a little discomforting through the phone. "My bro's been busy lately, but he's made time to teach us martial arts. I'm still up for it, but are you game?"
"Absolutely, I've been bored out of my mind," Taylor said, the words flowing out easily as memories of jabbering and chatting with Emma on the phone resurfaced. They were painful in retrospect, but they allowed her to not stumble over herself. "Where should I meet you?"
"My brother's offering to use his new apartment for the session." Aisha then rattled off an address. "We'll start with or without you in an hour, by the way; I'll make sure to laugh at you from the balcony if you're late. See ya!"
The call ended, and Taylor just sort of... stared at it. She put it back, feeling strange. Technically, this was just another deal she had, since Aisha had enjoyed the little spar they'd had before. This had nothing to do with friendship, and honestly, Taylor probably didn't need the practice with her Combat Flow as high as it was.
But even so, Taylor wanted to go. She hadn't lied, after all; she had been bored out of her mind. Not only that, but she'd also been moping and dreading the following day. At long last, Winslow had finished its sweep for hazardous materials, so she'd be going right back... there... the following day. She doubted that she would keep her 'friend', and she didn't think that she'd fall for another fake friendship like that.
Right... right. Just another fake friendship. Even with this, Taylor would have to fake it. If she could trick the training program into thinking she made a friend, she'd be able to get more tutoring from Senior. There was nothing but benefits towards going for this.
Taylor told Dad where she was going, and before she knew it, Dad was driving her across town.
"Now, Taylor," he said, a little hesitantly. "I'm not going to assume anything yet, but make sure you have your pepper spray."
Taylor rolled her eyes but held up the can of Mace nonetheless. "I'll be fine, don't worry."
"You haven't met the brother, have you? And he's going to be violent, with the only other person being his family member?"
"Dad, the whole point I'm going is so that I don't have to worry about being attacked."
"And he knows that, which means that he knows he can still attack you," Dad groused. However, even as he complained, he continued driving her across town to where Aisha's brother's apartment was. Taylor could tell that he wanted her to be able to defend herself, even if he was unsure about the teacher.
"Don't worry," Taylor promised. "I'll be fine. Worst comes to worst, I'll punch him in the nuts," she promised, knowing that with Telekinesis, there was nothing to worry about. "It's not like he's a super-villain or something."
Dad rolled his eyes. "Fine, kiddo. Stay safe. Call when you're ready to come home." He dropped her off, then drove away.
Now that she was near the apartment complex, a strange sense of anxiety clawed up her throat. She quickly remembered, though, that this was a deal to her, not actual friendship. She was here to entertain herself and maybe get some more combat experience. With that in mind, she rang the buzzer for the apartment number that Aisha told her. "This is Taylor," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "I was invited here by Aisha."
"Come in," a deep male voice said.
As the door to the complex swung open, Taylor took a deep breath. Dad's warning rang through her mind, and when she went upstairs and knocked on the apartment door, she applied a telekinetic barrier a centimeter or two away from her face, just in case things went wrong fast.
When the apartment door opened, she took down the barrier as well. Mostly because, in reality, there was no danger. The brother's hands were open, one by his side and the other stretched out in a handshake. "Brian Laborn," the deep male voice of before said. "And you're Taylor?"
... oh no, he was hot. All of a sudden, Taylor was anxious for a different reason. "Taylor Hebert," she said, fighting back a squeak. As she said so, Aisha popped out from behind Brian, a shit-eating grin on her face. Taylor flushed a little more, before faking a cough as she walked inside. "Sorry that I took so long, I live across the Bay."
"No problem," Brian said simply. "I'm glad you helped pique my sister's interest in self-defense—"
"Less talking, more sparring," Aisha said, annoyed, before swinging an arm at Taylor. Combat Flow instantly kicked in, and with a small step to the side and her arm at an angle, Taylor let the blow slide off her. "Nice."
"Aisha!" Brian barked, but Aisha was already in the zone, her arms swinging fast. Immediately, Taylor fell into the back-and-forth flow that the two of them held during the training session a little under a week ago.
The problem was that it wasn't challenging anymore. Oh, Taylor still had to move around a lot, but by now, Combat Flow and Hypercognition both surpassed the threshold to become a 'Novice', which meant that Aisha couldn't really throw anything at her that Taylor didn't instantly have an answer for. Even turning off her passive Hypercognition didn't help that much, since Aisha was somewhat predictable and Taylor could easily throw her off-balance with the right application of force. Taylor had to forcibly disrupt her Combat Flow to actually make it even.
In five minutes, Aisha was breathing heavily, while Taylor had barely broken a sweat. "How the hell are you able to do that?" Aisha asked. "Are you a parahuman or something?!"
Taylor snorted. Though she hadn't exerted herself too much, she still felt much more comfortable now. "Even if I was, I wouldn't need any powers to win," she taunted. "You're fast and unpredictable, but if I get you off your rhythm, you're easy pickings."
"Ugh... shut up..." Aisha groaned, before turning to her brother. "Well?"
"Well, what?" Brian asked, annoyed. "You didn't seem to care about what I wanted earlier, did you?"
"You know what I mean," Aisha said, rolling her eyes. "How'd I do?"
"Taylor got your number. You're inexperienced," Brian said dryly. "You attacked her like a berserker and were barely able to defend yourself."
"Defending yourself doesn't really matter if you combo them in one hit," Aisha said, brushing herself off while getting up.
"And if I can defend myself at all, you'll never get that 'combo', will you?" Taylor asked. "Want to go another round and see if you can get a combo off?"
Aisha's eyes lit up. "Don't mind if I—"
"No!" Brian said, palming his face. "Aisha, I did not come here to see you and your new friend try to beat each other up!"
After that, Brian took charge of the session, even as Aisha complained the whole time. He led them through some basic motions of a variety of martial arts, all of which Taylor learned fairly easily. When Aisha ignored Brian for the sixth time in ten minutes, Taylor took him to the side and suggested they implement the techniques in a spar.
"I know what kind of a learner she is," Brian said, a little annoyed. "But if you or her fail, you'll get injured."
"I'll be fine," Taylor said. "I've got a tough body. I'll make sure she doesn't get hurt."
"I'm not paying for your hospital fees," Brian warned.
"Wasn't going to make you pay the fees," Taylor shot back, whatever burgeoning crush she might have had on Brian forgotten due to the reminder of hospitals and the cost of going there. "Like I said, I've got a tough body."
"Your funeral."
Aisha and Taylor got into positions for their spar, and then, with a clap from Brian, they began. Taylor went somewhat gently on Aisha, though Aisha didn't go gently on her.
It took around twelve exchanges of blows and techniques, like body slams, gut punches, and jerks to try and pull each other off balance, taking around a minute or so of real time, before Aisha messed up. Maybe she hadn't listened properly to her brother, or maybe she was being careless. Either way, pain immediately began to blossom in Taylor's shoulder.
Taylor, though, was lucky enough to have Hypercognition already active, allowing her to react in case something went as wrong as Brian had feared it would. A pair of specific telekinetic forces allowed her to both absorb the blow by moving backwards and jerk Aisha's hand, in a poor grip, into something resembling the correct motion. As she fell to the ground, Taylor made sure to use Telekinesis and Inertial Absorption to soften the blow and make it soft.
"Taylor, are you okay?" Brian asked, eyes flashing.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Taylor said, brushing herself off and getting up. Aisha blinked. "Aisha, your hand position was wrong. You would have broken my wrist, but only by using all of your might and exhausting yourself. You need to properly use my force against me instead of trying to overpower me. It's not like that'll work against anyone."
Aisha groaned. "Yeah, I know." Aisha looked at Taylor's wrist. "You said I would have broken your wrist, but I didn't."
Taylor might have let something slip out. "I reacted quickly to soften the blow", Taylor said, technically not lying. Taylor then paused. "That being said, be careful, please."
Brian nodded. "Self-defense only works in court if it's reasonable and justifiable. I don't think any lawyer will be able to defend you in court if you kill someone who just gives you a shove."
"Ugh..." Aisha rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine." Aisha then looked at the clock. "I'm tired, and it's getting late, so do you two mind if I order a pizza?"
Neither Taylor nor Brian objected, so Aisha walked off into another room to make the call. As she did, Brian looked over at Taylor. "You really are tough, huh."
"Yeah, she wasn't going to—"
"Not what I meant. My sister almost sprained your wrist, and you shrugged it off. Not the injury, but the attack. You don't really seem to care that she almost hurt you."
"I've faced worse, and she's let me come here to learn."
Brian pursed his lips. "... of all the friends that she's had, you're definitely one of the more... unique ones."
"I'm not Aisha's friend," Taylor said, shaking her head. "We had a fun time one night, and Aisha invited me over to do it again. We're friendly, sure, but not friends."
Brian crossed his arms. "Friendly, but not friends?" he parroted. "What's the difference?"
Taylor thought about Magister and about Agent Cooper. Taylor was under no illusion that Magister treated her, at best, like a funny child; there was a difference between a fifteen-year-old and someone who lived for millions of years. Agent Cooper worked for the PRT, and any smile he'd had was just a mask for a recruitment offer.
Was Aisha like them? Probably not, but mostly because Aisha was interested in having fun. Taylor found no fault in that, but she also recognized that if she decided not to humor Aisha's demands, this 'friendship' would end. It was a deal of mutual benefit.
Almost as if she needed proof, she brought up the task that required her to make a friend; just as she had thought, it hadn't been completed. It would never be completed, either, since Taylor simply couldn't make friends, even if she wanted to. That's just who she was.
"Guidance counselors and hospital nurses are friendly too, aren't they? Do you consider them your friends?" Taylor shot back.
"... you have a point, but I doubt Aisha could be performative and polite," Brian said, making Taylor snort. "She genuinely likes you, and she easily makes friends with people who don't get overwhelmed by her."
"How long does she keep being friends with them? Only as long as they can withstand her?" Taylor asked. Brian's mouth thinned, and Taylor figured that she hit a sore spot. Taylor could easily 'withstand' Aisha, but Taylor could imagine Aisha's reckless and flippant attitude causing her problems with maintaining friends for longer periods of time. "... sorry."
"No, no," Brian said, shaking his head with a sigh. "You've got a good idea of her personality. This is only the second time you've met?"
"Aisha doesn't hold anything back," Taylor admitted. "I had an idea of what she was like ten minutes after meeting her."
"But you came back," Brian said. "Because of martial arts?"
"Yeah." Taylor paused. "That, and she definitely keeps things interesting."
"Yeah, I'm the star of the show." Brian turned around to see Aisha standing in the hallway, a smirk dancing on her face. Taylor, lightly using Clairvoyance, hadn't been surprised in the least. "Spilling my dark, nasty secrets, bro? Should I do the same?"
"Ha, ha," Brian laughed humorlessly. "Hilarious."
Aisha rolled her eyes. "Pizza's on the way, just plain since I figured that if there's anything a white person wouldn't be allergic to, it's cheese." Taylor had no idea if that was racist or not, so she reserved comments. "Anyway, I want to see you go against my brother, Taylor."
Taylor and Brian looked at each other, then at Aisha. "Why?" Brian asked warily.
"Because she's talented," Aisha said, as if it was obvious. "She started learning this stuff at the same seminar I'd been learning at; we're both beginners, except she can wipe the floor with me after a week while barely trying. You've wanted someone to practice against for a while, right, Brian?"
"I don't think doing it while hosting a guest would be appropriate." Brian looked at Taylor, but Taylor shrugged. "... you're up for it?"
"Like I said, I'm tough," she said. "Might as well give it a shot."
~
Combat Flow: 13 → 14
With that third level up in Combat Flow, going from 11 to 14 over the course of thirty minutes, Taylor had to acknowledge that Brian could wipe the floor with her.
Oh, if she were to use Hypercognition, she'd easily turn the tides, but having a faster reaction time was a bit like cheating. After all, if Brian looked like he was moving in slow motion, the challenge was drastically lowered. More than that, at her level of Hypercognition, using it even here on Earth would make her reaction speed visibly unnatural, and she didn't think that Brian would be comfortable with fighting her if he knew what she was actually capable of.
But once she limited herself to Combat Flow only, things became far more difficult. Even as a Novice, Taylor was still new to the field. She could react fast and had good instincts, but instincts even at her level weren't enough compared to years of experience training with techniques.
She was definitely making Brian exert effort, judging by the sheen of sweat on his skin, but she was far worse off, gasping for breath.
"I... need to exercise more," she muttered, wearily picking herself up from the ground.
"Every fighter... needs to do that," Brian admitted, wiping his forehead. "Another round?"
Taylor opened her mouth, but whatever she was going to say was interrupted by the doorbell. Aisha got up, stretching. "Finally! Brian, get the coke."
"Guess not," Brian said, sighing in relief. "You've got a lot of talent," he continued, walking to a small fridge and grabbing some cans of coke from inside it. As Aisha brought of the pizza and Taylor put down some paper plates on the kitchen counter, Brian sat down as well. "Not too much experience, but talent to spare."
Taylor opened the box of pizza, pulled out a slice, and took a bite of heaven. "Thanks," she said, her mouth full. She would have blushed in embarrassment because of her manners, but after the third time Brian threw her to the ground that night, she figured that he wouldn't mind some impropriety (Taylor was more than glad that Brian took a second to show her how to break her fall safely, or she would be far more battered than she'd been before). "Really 'ppreciate it."
Brian took a bite of pizza. "Why did you only start martial arts now, then?" he asked. "Any reason you're willing to take punches this easily?"
Taylor, who was grabbing another slice of pizza, stiffened. Eventually, she figured that a doctored version of the truth was the best. "I've been bullied for a year or so now, and I was shoved into a locker two weeks ago. It was infected, and I got hospitalized. Once I got out a week ago, I decided to start learning how to defend myself. Apparently, I have a talent for it now."
"... wait..." Aisha said. "You're from Winslow, aren't you? Mary (she's one of my friends, by the way) told me that her older sister got two weeks off school because of some infected locker or something like that. That was your locker?"
Brian, though, was looking at Taylor's bare arms. Taylor looked at them as well and realized that a few scars from the locker incident were visible. She hastily oriented them out of sight, though she figured that Brian had figured out what they were from either way.
"... that must have been stressful," Brian said. There was a strange intonation to his voice now, a strangely deep tone as if Brian had put on a suit. She was reminded, in a subtle and awful way, of that Agent Cooper, as if he was fishing for information. "Have you been doing okay?"
"I've been doing fine," she said, the warmth rapidly draining from the room. Looking for a distraction, she looked out the window and saw Dad's car by the sidewalk. "Thanks for the night. Call me back when you want to do this again, okay?" Taylor asked.
"Sure, though you can just give me your cell number and I'll call you there," Aisha said.
"Don't have one," Taylor said, and before Aisha could ask and bring up memories arguably worse than the locker incident, Taylor grabbed her can of coke from the table and got up. "See you two later."
Aisha groaned but waved goodbye. Brian waved goodbye as well, but the stoic, pensive look on his face didn't leave Taylor feeling too well. Taylor left, feeling somehow worse than she had before.
~
Taylor laid down in her bed, staring at the status screen above.
To train in the 'Psychic' Path, you must complete the task set by your mentor in the 'Psychic' Path
Task: Make a Friend
(0/1) Friends Made
A week had gone by since she'd gotten the task, but it hadn't changed in the slightest. Taylor had done her best to be nice and affable, but in her heart of hearts, she knew that friendship wasn't something she was capable of.
Maybe she hadn't tried hard enough, but any time she thought about just... just starting something, meeting someone new and opening her heart to them, she just felt her stomach tighten. Senior's words about her 'guarding a wound' rang true now, but she didn't feel like she could expose it. Not to Dad, not to Aisha or Brian, not to anyone.
The only people she could really be honest with were people like Magister and Senior, who could read her mind. Even then, Magister had her own agenda, and Taylor wasn't sure if Magister's explanation a week ago held the whole truth in it. And she'd only met Senior once; she couldn't even talk to him, now, could she?
A second later, though, a panel appeared in front of her. It was a message panel, with a keyboard; not from Magister, but from Hunter.
Heads up, Taylor, I'm sending the animal over. He's feisty, but you can handle him. If I've tuned the dimensional time ratio right, he should arrive around twenty-four hours after you get this message.
Taylor stared at the screen. Right, Hunter's task. She hadn't forgotten about it, but she'd pushed it to the back of her mind over the past few days. A part of her thought that maybe, while she had the time, she should go and prepare, maybe even ask Hunter what animal it was that she was supposed to take care of.
A larger part realized something else; the training program had a messaging system as part of it. Concentrating and iterating through different prompts like 'Chats', 'Forums' and 'Conversations', she eventually learned that 'Messages' gave her each set of text communications between her and others. One was between her and Magister, while another new one had Hunter's message.
She went over to Hunter's message and typed up a response, as if she were emailing someone.
Thanks.
She entered the message and watched it enter the history. She hadn't really factored in the message system before; Magister usually liked using some sort of telephonic feature and had only started using the textual feature once Taylor had entered the tower. It made sense, though. Hunter had told her that she should have messaged him before coming over, so that he wouldn't be fighting a building-sized monster and so that he could greet her.
While she'd remembered a lot from the conversations she'd had with the mentors, some things slipped her mind. Now, though, she was able to pay attention, and she was able to realize something else as well.
Hunter had expected her to be able to message him, even without knowing his name or having him message her first. That meant that there was some sort of mechanism she could use to create new messages of her own instead of replying to one.
Remembering the prompt she used to open the message, she went through some additional ones as well. None of them worked, and Taylor would have started feeling frustrated, until she realized that it might not have worked the way she wanted it to. She tried opening a chat with Hunter; not even the previous one showed up, so her prompts were wrong. Instead, she decided to reply to her previous message to Hunter.
By the way, Hunter, how do you send a message to someone new? I keep on trying to do it using prompts like 'Message Hunter', but it doesn't work.
The response that came back made her palm her face in embarrassment.
You do remember that my name isn't actually Hunter, right?
Right... right. They were titles they gave to Taylor instead of actual names, and it wouldn't make sense anyway since she wouldn't know their name before meeting them.
'Message Psychic Mentor,' she commanded, and at last, a prompt showed up. She thanked Hunter once more, then drafted a message for Senior.
Hi, Senior. I'm sorry, but I can't complete the task. I'm not capable of making friends.
Even as she pressed enter, shame welled up her chest. She tried pushing it down, knowing that she had essentially given up and whined about how too hard it was, especially when it was something kindergarteners could do, but she needed Senior to have realistic expectations about what she was and wasn't capable of.
Then, off to the side, then panel describing Taylor's task changed.
To train in the 'Psychic' Path, you must complete the task set by your mentor in the 'Psychic' Path
Task: Meet New People and Share Positive Experiences with Them
(8/1) New People Met
(3/1) Positive Experiences SharedClick to expand...
Taylor blinked, just as the world spiraled around her. She took a brief second to thank herself for already lying down before she fell unconscious.
~
"How pleasant to see you again," a deep voice, eerily reminiscent of Brian now that she thought about it, said. Taylor turned around to see Senior's human sitting down cross-legged, mist billowing up behind him.
"We're in an astral space, right?" Taylor asked.
"Yes, your life isn't in danger, right now." Taylor breathed a sigh of relief at Senior's words, before sitting down as well. "Looking at you, I can tell you've been through some adventures, haven't you?"
"Yeah, I have." Taylor looked at the ground. "You told me the task was to make a friend, right? I... failed. I couldn't do that, and you changed the task to something I'd already done."
"We can discuss that later. In the meantime," Senior said, smiling. "Tell me what has happened since we last met."
"You can read my mind, can't you?"
"Of course, I can but finding that out isn't why I'm asking. No, I want to see something else, something harder to discern using solely telepathy."
Taylor sighed, before thinking about what had happened. Eventually, she began speaking again; about her visions and dreams, which hadn't resurfaced since that first day, and her attempts at learning martial arts and making friends.
About climbing the tower, about Magister and the Corrupter, and about fighting for her life against the monsters in the cathedral floor.
About having no option but to unlock her inertial shroud and fighting for her life, and about how strange even her Earth life had become now that she wasn't a normal human anymore.
About meeting Hunter and learning just how easily she could die now, and about how things were just... changing, in a way.
"... and after I told them about that incident, my Dad drove over. I'd screwed up the conversation, so I told her to call me back and then left. I didn't talk to Dad in the car, though I made sure to tell him that I was safe. After that, I had something else small to eat, laid down in bed, and moped around until Hunter contacted me. After that, I figured out how to contact you, and..." Taylor sighed. "That's about it."
It had taken her a long, long time to finish, and Senior hadn't said much in the meantime, instead passively studying her and asking her an odd question now and again. Taylor just sat there, feeling a little stupid.
"... there's a lot we'll have to discuss," Senior said, tapping his fingers on the ground. "I'd like to talk to Magister personally. Even though she's attempted to keep her identity clear, you know more than enough about her for anyone of sufficient knowledge to put the pieces together themselves and exploit it to upend large portions of interdimensional politics."
Taylor's stomach twisted. "O-Oh..."
"Yes, bring her along next time," Senior advised. "If it rankles her pride, let her know that I will abstain from helping her if she wishes to maintain her game. However, considering your growth, your level of context regarding the forces you're working with is... poor."
"Well, Hunter told me more than even you did," Taylor said. "And how do I bring her along?"
"Just tell her and let her know when you're coming to meet me. She's competent enough to hitch a ride using you." Senior smiled. "And as for context... well, there are levels of context necessary to use powers safely, depending on the user's personality. For instance, you have a propensity to overcharge your arts, and while it isn't as dangerous when it comes to low-level psychic abilities, risking only the rupturing of blood vessels, other sources of energy give far less room for error."
Overcharging? There was even more to all of this?
"As I said, you need context. However, 'Magister' is your teacher, and while you are correct in not taking everything she says at face value, from what I personally know of her character and reputation, she will not attempt to sabotage you for her own amusement, nor is your deal masquerading anything more sinister or insidious... at least, in terms of its end goals."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Taylor asked. "And stop being cryptic!"
Senior's smile grew. "What's someone to do to have fun nowadays?" he teased, before the smile then fell. "Your mind isn't as fortified as you think it is, Taylor; neither against foreign agents, nor against your own demons. Sometimes, the answers you should get are unsatisfactory, if only because you aren't ready to understand, accept, or guard the truth."
Senior's words grew a little less cryptic, and as they did, Taylor felt a little bit of dread. The sensation of being over her head returned, and remembering how much Hunter rocked her understanding of the world a week ago, she figured that maybe Senior's cryptic but gentler approach was acceptable too.
"In the meantime, you've been doing well for yourself concerning your skills. Remember that while straining yourself and pushing your limits are important, focused and deliberate practice towards understanding is often much more useful than simply tearing yourself apart." Taylor nodded, remember the five levels in an hour she'd gotten earlier that week just from casual experimentation.
She could tell that her power hadn't sharply increased or anything like that. No, she realized that it simply took less effort to do things now, that she didn't have to strain her focus and push herself to the breaking point to achieve the same things.
"So then, do you want me to go, or..."
"If you wish to leave, we can speak about your task now." Taylor paled, then shook her head. "Very well. If you don't mind, would another game suffice?"
Last time, she'd gotten both Hypercognition and Clairvoyance from Senior's game. "I'm down. What are the options?"
Senior waved his hand, and three tables appeared behind him. "See for yourself."
Taylor sighed. "Fine." She then got up and looked at the options.
PathlessPsychicWarriorCombat Flow: (14/30) (Novice)
Cartography: (2/10) (Acolyte)
Ciphering: (1/10) (Acolyte)
Which game should she play?
[]: Bluff
You didn't know too much about Bluff, other than that Emma's dad would play it with Dad before that accident. You had some inkling of what technique you would learn from playing bluff, though, and now you knew the potential it could have. Then again, maybe it was best to learn something else to protect you, just in case there were protections against it. Then again, if you were right, it would be incredible. (Art Learned: "Telepathy", Art Learned: "???")
[]: Hangman
It had been a long, long time since you'd played hangman, but you can't figure out what art you would learn from playing it. Tag had become 'complicated', though, and you could only imagine how Senior would change Hangman to make things difficult. Though... there was something off about the pencil, now that you took a closer look at it. (Art Learned: "Thoughtography", Art Learned: "???")
[]: Roulette
You'd never been in a casino before, but a roulette? Why was that there? Did Senior want you to gamble? What skill could you gain from that? Would it be a useful skill, or... well, if it had something to do with probability, then maybe it would be helpful to learn anyway. It was a gamble, both in the game and the choice, so was it worth the risk? (Art Learned: "Scan", Art Learned: "???")