When the session was over, the groups went their separate ways. Without communicating, there was a sort of implicit agreement between them that the teams who had fought together would discuss their various fights away from the peering eyes of others, breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of their approach and deciding how to divide the spoils.
Of all the places to debrief, Ivy's group had chosen some outdoor picnic benches in a corner of the campus not too far away. Due to the cold and now melting snow, the area was empty, but an external heater was kicking out just enough warmth to keep you comfortable if you kept moving a little.
"So, thoughts?" asked Ivy, staring at Rose.
"Very impressive," she replied.
"Let's cut to the chase…" began Ivy. "I want you on the team. I usually get what I want. I can always go to the other healer in the year, but we both know I'd prefer if it was you. You've got good instincts. I think you proved that today with the little trick of your staff. So, what's it gonna be?"
"Although I want to get stronger," said Rose. "I need to stay with my friends. I trust them and we can protect each other out there on the beast planets."
"You think they can protect you better than I can?" asked Ivy amused.
"It goes both ways," replied Rose.
Ivy sighed. "Look, what's it gonna take to get you on board?"
The others in the group looked at Ivy, wondering what exactly she was thinking. Even Lenny was curious, though his presence had been largely ignored since he was asked to stay out of the battle with predator tier beast.
"There's nothing I really need…" Rose said trailing off. "Although, actually, I do know what you could do. Give me the core you guys got today, and I'll join you."
The others laughed, but Ivy considered for a moment. She thought for a while, mulling it over before coming to a verdict. "It's not worth it for one expedition," she said. "Sure, we might get the opportunity to fight another predator, maybe a couple if we're lucky, but even then, you're not exactly the main part of the team. You just help to keep us at full capacity."
"Fine," said Rose. "I understand. I know it's a lot, but you said if there was anything that would get me on board and that's the only thing I could think of."
"If you were to join us for our expeditions all year, we could make it a deal."
"How many are there?" asked Rose.
"Three."
"I'll do two," Rose tried to bargain.
"No, it's all three or no deal. And you lose the rights to any future high tier cores until the rest of us have been compensated to an equal degree."
Rose chewed her lip, then took a step towards Lenny and whispered in his ear: "What do you think?"
"Why do you want the core?" asked Lenny. "It'll be too powerful for you to activate yet if you stick it in a weapon or armour."
"It's for you, silly. That's how your power works, right? You need them to grow stronger?"
Lenny's eyes widened.
"Have you made a decision?" asked Ivy impatiently.
"It's up to you," said Lenny. "But don't feel compelled to do anything for my sake."
Rose smiled: "I accept."
*
When Lenny got back to his room that night, he had the core in his pocket. He'd wanted to refuse, but in truth, he was just too curious about how much power there would be in a predator tier core. A scavenger tier gave him one essence, a prey core four essence plus a small boost in his resistance to that affinity, so what would a predator tier core grant him?
For once, his roommate wasn't there, so he was without the familiar tapping away of keys on a laptop. He took the opportunity to sit on his bunk and examine it closely. He turned the rough stone over in his hand. It was much clearer than the prey tier one he had got from the large yellow rat back in the slums. It had a dark brown essence, which seemed to be so thick it was almost viscous.
After examining it, he grabbed the core firmly and tried to absorb its essence. It was quite similar to his spirit drain skill, which was one of the reasons he had found it so easy to use. However, absorbing the core was taking a lot of energy to initiate. After thirty seconds or so, though, the process had begun, and the room was bathed in yellow light.
"A significant amount of spirit essence is being absorbed," said the system.
"You have a firm grasp of the obvious," Lenny thought.
However, before the core was fully absorbed, something strange happened. An orange disc of light appeared in the ceiling, and before Lenny could workout was happening, his roommate fell through it, landing on his haunches.
He looked at Lenny, the lights dying down around him as a spirit core seemed to dissolve into particles.
"That's new," he said.
However, Lenny could not concentrate on being caught in the act as a wave of system notifications flooded his consciousness.
"You have reached at least fifteen spirit essence. A new ability has been unlocked: Spirit Share. You have reached at least twenty five spirit essence. You can now craft prey tier weapons. New modifications are available in the upgrades tab. A hidden affinity has been detected: you have gained plus four sonar affinity."
"Wait, what? Twenty five spirit essence?" Lenny thought. His spirit stat before had been only 13. "System, what are my current stats?"
"Name: Lenny Hope. Ability: Transmogrification. Strength: 14. Speed: 12. Stamina: 10. Perception: 6. Spirit: 29. Health: 15."
"Twenty nine?" thought Lenny. That means the predator tier core had been worth the same as four prey tier cores. That kind of made sense, as it was the same jump in capacity as between the scavenger and prey. Lenny could feel the increased essence flowing through his body, but his self-reverence was interrupted by a voice he had only heard a dozen times or so in the week he had been staying here.
"You have an original ability? How interesting? I read on the school files you didn't have one," his roommate said with little discomfort at disclosing he had hacked the school's private database.
"You can teleport?" asked Lenny. "That would have been nice to know."
"No, I can't teleport. I can portal. It's different. Less useful in battle maybe, but greater utility. Anyway, why are you hiding your ability?"
"I don't even know your name," said Lenny. "Why would I tell you that?"
"The name's James. Now will you tell me?"
Lenny rolled his eyes, lay back, and opened his system UI.
"System, check out the Skills tab."
"Skills: Adrenaline Rush, Spirit Drain, Spirit Share. Spirit Share selected. Use this skill to recharge your allies, but don't give them too much, or you'll be left with nothing yourself. Cool down: fifteen minutes."
"Okay, that's not exactly amazing, but I could see how it could be useful. Wait, does that mean… am I a battery?" He thought back to the young woman from Ivy's team that had essentially stayed out of the fight. Sure, her skills would come in handy over a longer expedition, but she'd been practically useless in the fight. "What was her name again?"
"Alright, let's make a deal," said James. "I won't tell anyone your secret, if you let me study your ability."
Lenny grunted.
"Is that a yes?"
Lenny thought for a few moments. "Why would you even want to know about it?"
"I want to work for Spirit Tech Industries one day," he said. "Part of that means staying curious."
"You didn't seem very curious to chat before."
"That's because I got everything I needed to know about you from your file already."
"Obviously not," said Lenny.
James was yet to take a seat and was still paying him close attention.
"Fine, it's called transmogrification," he said with a sigh.
"Trans-what?" asked James.
It was going to be a long night.