Chapter 197: Chapter 188 – Isolated

“No, I don’t have the Life Affinity.” Lancaster seemed grouchy as he looked at Serenity. “Some healing ability would be handy, but I don’t know where to begin. Do you think you can check me?”

“Anyone can learn their animating affinity…” Serenity trailed off as he remembered how difficult it was for Vengeance to learn the Life Affinity. It was easier than Liquid, but that wasn’t saying much. “It can take a while. Probably not something I can teach you tonight, but worth working on, even if all you use it for is checking yourself over.”

Normally, Serenity would flow Life affinity mana through someone who was trying to learn it; it wasn’t often the best way, but it was the easiest and it wasn’t harmful, so there was no reason not to try the easy way first. Unfortunately, Serenity didn’t have the Life affinity anymore. That also made it harder to check for worms that might have infiltrated Lancaster; Serenity had already checked himself and knew he was worm-free.

Unfortunately, he’d also found that his healing reserve was gone and his mana and essence weren’t regenerating normally; they’d go up a little, then disappear. He didn’t know what was happening; it had been difficult to even examine himself; he’d felt continually on the edge of the same painful emptiness as when he’d tried to lift Made.

Trying to reach out to touch a technological device was even worse. He could still feel them, but only when they were very close, and they weren’t very loud. That much was nice, even if everything else wasn’t.

“I don’t think I can check you,” Serenity admitted. “That doesn’t take much mana, but it does take some, and I seemed to have strained something. Or, well, I’m not sure. I’ve never had anything like this happen before.” He raised his shoulders, then lowered them slowly. “I’ve also never spent all my mana on an unformed spell before either. I shouldn’t have; I know better than that. I was just so scared and angry I wasn’t thinking.”

“What do you think that spell did? I know I felt something.” Lancaster hoisted himself onto one of the two beds in the room. They were the only furniture in the room; even the usual television was missing.

Serenity leaned against the wall; he hadn’t yet decided to sit down. “I’m not-” He was about to say he wasn’t sure, but that wouldn’t be helpful. “I think it was about protection, protection and strength maybe? I was angry at the worms but mostly I wanted to keep Rissa safe, and I remember wanting her to be able to protect herself.” He chuckled softly. “Not very helpful, is it? Do you feel anything different?”

“Now?” Lancaster didn’t seem to expect an answer as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he reopened them, he shook his head. “Not really.”

They sat silently for a few minutes. Serenity tried to think of any way to tell what he’d done; he was sure it wasn’t negative for anyone other than maybe himself, but he still didn’t know what it was.

His musings were interrupted by a question. “Is a core what I think it is?” A partial version of Lancaster’s Status flickered to life in front of Serenity.

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