Ethan clapped his hands together; the sound carried through the speaker with a slight delay. "Okay, now that we're done with the depressing part, what's the power this time?"
"Dude, read the room!" Aaron snapped.
"I am reading the room." Ethan tapped his index finger on his desk. "That's why I suggested a topic change. Dwelling on how he's gonna accomplish the impossible is not gonna solve anything or improve morale. Better to look at the silver lining of things."
"Also," he added after a moment, "didn't you say it yourself? Coming back to a problem after you've let your brain focus on something else might help with problem solving."
Camila snorted from beside him. "Please, you just wanted to see his new superpower!"
Ethan cleared his throat but didn't deny it.
"I mean, if I fail the quest, even with the Doll, I'll lose the power by the end of the week."
"All the more reason to get the most use out of it while you have it!"
"Dude!" several people cried out.
"Okay, fine!" Ethan raised both hands. "That was insensitive of me."
Magnus opened his menu:
[Name: Magnus Chane | Level: 9
Interest: N/A | Popularity: 65% | Sexual History: 38 times (12 known partners)
STR: 31 | AGI: 42 | STA: 61 | INT: 25 | SPD: 29
Powers: Telekinesis Lv5 | Invisibility Lv2 | Animal-Linked Comprehension Lv5 | Fortuitous Alignment Lv2 | Affective Discernment Lv4 | Premonition Lv2 | Aura Weave Lv3 | Sympathetic Transference Lv2 | Oppositional Resistance Alteration Lv2 | Linguistic Attunement Lv2 | Spatial Translocation Lv1 (Trial)
Power share: Alejandra "Alex" Reyes (Animal-Linked Comprehension)
Passives: Enhanced Strength Lv3 | Enhanced Endurance Lv6 | Enhanced Intelligence Lv3 | Enhanced Speed Lv3]
He quickly dumped all the five stat points from his recent level up into INT — his new "patch the hole" strategy developed during Spring Break, since he felt like he desperately needed more points there — and was just about to move on to opening the details of the new power when he noticed his INT stat was somehow 31 instead of 30. Magnus's eyes flicked back to his stats and he stared at it, wondering if the extra point could have had anything to do with his passives.
"Well?" Ethan prompted.
"Hang on," Magnus said, shifting his focus from the mystery he couldn't solve right now to his new trial power.
[Spatial Translocation Lv1 (Trial): The bearer may instantaneously relocate their physical form across intervening space, provided the destination remains within direct visual range. Passage occurs instantaneously, yet is bound by the bearer's perception; intervening matter does not impede translocation, provided the destination itself is sufficiently observed. The bearer cannot translocate to a location they cannot see.]
He read it twice. The System remained annoying with its wording, but this one seemed clearer than his more recent powers.
"Teleportation, I think," he finally said. "At least that's what I think it is. The System calls it Spatial Translocation."
He read the description out loud, and Ethan, Aaron, and Jade said almost simultaneously:
"Yep, that's teleportation."
Ethan immediately followed up with: "Bro! You're Nightcrawler now!"
"For maybe a week unless he can actually sleep with his professor," Aaron corrected, then added as Rachel smacked his shoulder: "Sorry!"
Magnus shrugged. "I mean, you're not wrong."
Then, he remembered something and opened his Inventory again. In it, beside the Stats Potions, sat a brand-new item, a skill book. He focused on it, and was met with:
[Enhanced Muscle Control Skill Book (Locked)
Prerequisite Not Met: Enhanced Endurance, Enhanced Strength, and Enhanced Agility required.]
He shrugged and closed the menu. On the call, Ethan was already calling for a power demonstration, trying to lighten up the mood again.
"Okay," Aaron said, leaning forward and pulling out what appeared to be the same notebook he'd used during Spring Break. "If it's sight-based teleportation, we need to establish the actual range and boundaries. Does it require unobstructed sightline, or just visual confirmation of the destination?"
"Distance," Ethan agreed. "We need to find the maximum distance."
"And whether it works through glass," Jade added. "Or around corners. Or—"
"Not around corners," Aaron interrupted. "It specifically says direct visual range."
"No. No, she might have a point." Ethan tapped on his desk. "Can he teleport around corners if he has visual through a mirror's reflection?"
"Guess we can test that," Aaron conceded.
"Probably range first, though," Jade mused. "Does 'direct visual range' mean anything he can technically resolve with his eyes, or is there a hard cutoff before that? Knowing this may also provide usable data for the other tests."
"Agreed. And we should also test whether solid objects block it," Aaron added, writing quickly now. "The description says intervening matter doesn't impede translocation as long as the destination is observed, which is a stronger claim than it sounds. That would mean he could theoretically see through a keyhole and still teleport through a locked door."
"That's either extremely useful or a massive liability," Jade noted.
"Depending on what's on the other side of the door," Ethan agreed.
Harper sighed from the other side of the screen. "You three sound way too excited about this."
"It's a teleportation power," Ethan said. "Of course we're excited."
"It's also a power Magnus might lose in six days."
"Which is why we should test it thoroughly while he has it."
"You know that argument is not getting any better just because you keep repeating it, right? If anything, it's less convincing every time you make it."
Magnus raised a hand. "For what it's worth, I also want to know what it can do."
Harper stared at him with the expression of someone who was doing math about her own furniture. "Okay. Before any of this happens in my apartment, we're moving anything breakable first."
"It's fine, we'll be careful," Ethan said, giving off a distinct impression he'd never had to pay for anything he'd broken.
"I don't know you well enough to trust that," Harper said flatly. "Alex, Sofia, help me clear the living room."
Alex and Sofia exchanged a look and got up without argument. Between the three of them, they relocated lamps, decorations, electronics, and anything else that looked like it might object to someone suddenly appearing next to it.
"This is ridiculous," Harper muttered to Alex as she moved a vase onto a shelf. "I can't believe I'm rearranging my apartment because your boyfriend can teleport."
"C'mon! You're actually enjoying this a little, aren't you?" Sofia said. "You get to feel young again by living vicariously through us."
"Sofia!" Harper glared at her. "I'm just twelve years older than you guys. I'm still young!"
Then, the actual testing began.
Magnus stood, glancing around the space. "Where do you want me to start?"
"Something close," Aaron said. "Establish the floor first."
Magnus focused his power, looked at a spot near the far wall — clearly visible, maybe fifteen feet away — and thought about being there instead of here.
The transition was instant and disorienting in a way none of his other powers had prepared him for. For a split second, the room seemed to shift. One second he was standing by the couch, the next he was against the far wall, with the specific kind of vertigo that came from skipping the part where his body actually crossed the distance.
He staggered slightly. Alex caught his arm.
"Whoa," he said, blinking. "That's… okay, that's weird."
"Any pain?" Sofia asked.
"No. Just… disoriented. Like my inner ear didn't get the memo that I moved."
"YES!" Ethan shot both hands into the air and yelled into his mic. "Now do it again!"
Aaron nodded from his side as well. "Try a further distance this time."
They spent the next twenty minutes running him through increasing distances — across the living room, into the hallway and back, between rooms through opened doorways, around corners with mirrors held up. Each jump left him slightly more disoriented than the last, though the recovery time seemed to shorten as he got more used to the sensation.
"Try something you can see through glass," Jade suggested.
Sofia was already pointing at the window. "There!"
Magnus focused on a spot on the balcony outside, visible through the closed window, focused his power, and thought about being there.
He arrived on the balcony in the fresh air, glass fully intact behind him.
"Okay, that confirms it," Aaron said, writing rapidly. "Intervening matter genuinely doesn't matter. Just line of sight."
"That's actually terrifying from a security standpoint," Harper said, eyeing her own windows with new suspicion.
"For future testing sessions, maybe not in my apartment," she added after a moment.
By the time they wrapped up, Magnus was breathing a little harder than the exercise should have warranted, and Alex had made him sit down with water, over his protests that he was fine.
They'd managed to establish the most important limitations they could without turning Harper's apartment building into a laboratory: Magnus could relocate himself instantaneously to any point he could directly see, even if there was an obstacle between him and the destination. The farther the destination, the harder it was for him to judge precisely, but the power itself didn't seem to have many limitations.
Which was, frankly, more than enough to make everyone on the call start thinking about all the things he could potentially do with it. Unfortunately, none of those things involved solving the immediate problem.
"So," Sofia said, drawing attention away from the blatant show of affection between Alex and Magnus, "teleportation's cool and all, but we still haven't solved the actual problem: Professor Marquez."
The room shifted back toward the heavier topic, though with less dread now than before. Ethan had been right, the power demonstration had done something to lighten the mood, even if only temporarily.
"Right," Aaron said. "We were talking about legitimate reasons to be near her. Office hours didn't hold up. What else—"
"Wait." Naomi's voice cut in. "I might have something."
She had been quiet for most of the discussion thus far, texting someone on the phone or waiting for someone's texts, but she was raising her hand now.
Everyone looked at her.
"Mia is taking Psych 101 with Professor Marquez this term."
Magnus blinked. "Mia Chen?"
"Wait. She is?" Alex asked at the same time, leaning toward Naomi immediately.
Naomi nodded. "She told me over Spring Break. But I wasn't sure I remembered that correctly, so I had to check with her first before informing you guys." She held up her phone. "She's just texted me back."
"And she's already in the class?"
Naomi nodded again.
Sofia tilted her head. "Okay. Keep going."
"For this week?" Naomi shook her head. "Since it's the first week of the term, there's not much we can do, even with Mia onboard—run-ins, coincidental meetings at best—and that's already risky of seeming sus as hell to Professor Marquez."
She lowered her phone and added: "But, since we were talking about chances of this quest repeating again and again, I was thinking maybe we should think about contingencies, like letting Professor Marquez see more of Magnus as, well, himself—make her understand he's not some creep who's coming on to her—so if his System hit him with her again in the future, his chances would be higher at least. Mia could ask Magnus to help her with the class. We don't know if she's good or bad at Psychology yet, but it's a viable cover either way."
"I don't love the fact we're discussing me chatting up a professor even without the System's orders." Magnus rubbed the back of his neck. "And I hate the fact that I can't actually oppose this because it's probably a good and logical idea in the long run."
"I don't like it, either," Alex said slowly, already turning it over. "But she's right. And this could actually work. Mia already knows you, and people know she knows you, so her asking for your help is believable. You also got, what, straight A's in your Psych 101 last term?"
"I guessed most of the multiple-choice questions in my final. I don't think I'm qualified to tutor anyone."
Alex snorted.
"That's what makes it all the more perfect, though!" Naomi countered. "Mia has a legitimate reason to ask for your help—your grades last term—while you have a legit reason to come to Professor Marquez to seek help with reviewing the materials she covers."
"It gets you into her class environment without actually enrolling," Aaron agreed.
"And gives you something to talk about with her besides 'Hi, I'm here because my supernatural System wants me to sleep with you,'" Ethan added.
"Thank you, Ethan," Magnus said dryly.
"You're welcome."
"Okay, let's actually build this out." Alex gestured Naomi over, and the two of them shifted toward the side of the room, heads bent together, already deep into logistics — what Mia would need to actually ask, how natural the request needed to sound, how they could work this into Magnus's schedule given everything going on around him, System and otherwise.
The conversation between everyone else, meanwhile, drifted without any particular direction, because the most urgent problem already had a plan attached to it, even if it was only an unfinished one.
"So," Camila said. "How was everyone's actual first day back? Because mine was a disaster."
"Oh, do tell," Rachel said.
"I fell asleep in my 9AM lecture. Like, actually asleep. Drooled on my notebook."
"That's rough."
"It's fine, the professor didn't notice. I think. I hope."
"My roommate's back from her own break trip," Jasmine said, from somewhere off-screen. "Already complaining that my side of the room smells like sunscreen."
"Yeah, can confirm," Jade said. "This place smells like sunscreen."
"Oh, right! You're still at the beach house?" Camila asked.
"Yup. Hopefully my building's situation will get resolved sometime next week, but until then, I'm taking an extended vacation and working from home—well, from Sofia's home, I guess."
The conversation rolled on, easy and familiar. Maya somehow managed to turn a completely ordinary first-day story into an argument about which professors were secretly evil.
It felt strangely normal. After everything that had happened in his life lately, sitting in a room with everyone arguing about classes and professors and stupid stories from the first day felt almost comforting. It was like they were back at the beach house again, with the same loose, easy energy momentarily transplanted into a laptop screen and Harper's living room.
And for a little while, Magnus simply listened.
He sat back against the couch, absentmindedly scrolling through his menus — stats, powers, inventory — before ending up on his quest menu again.
Sofia's monthly quest was almost finished. Sofia's Trust was sitting at eighty-seven percent out of ninety already, with nearly two weeks left.
He focused on the weekly Conquest Quest, and was greeted with:
[Conquest Quest: Seduce and Sleep with Target — Elena Marquez.
Time Limit: Complete by Sunday at Midnight.
Time Remaining: 6 days, 12 hours, 26 minutes.
(i) No Hidden Objective Detected.
Reward: Permanent Power Retention + Stat Boosts.
Penalty for Failure: Heart Failure. And possibly excruciating pain.
Good luck!]
His eyes flicked to the new line of text between the countdown and the reward listing that he was definitely sure wasn't there ever before, and focused on it. Nothing happened.
He tried again. Still nothing.
He couldn't interact with it. There was nothing to click and nothing to expand. There was no explanation, no tooltip, or any indication of what it even meant.
Magnus sat with it for a second longer, the conversation still going warm and easy around him, and then closed the menu without saying anything.