Chapter 185: 175. Brunch

“Dude, come on,” Jay groaned at the front steps of the Stronghold residence. “Why are you here?”

“I’ve glimpsed the future and knew where to await for you, fiendish one!” Beren laughed haughtily while filling the doorway with his huge and muscular frame. “And Francesca does this wonderful thing with waffles that add an extra bit of fluff to them. Its quality is low for the likes of me, but the love she inputs is magnetic.”

“Hello, Beren,” YoAnna greeted from behind her husband. “Congratulations on succeeding past the three challenges.”

Beren’s smile hardened. His silver eyes looked at YoAnna like nothing else mattered in existence.

The Duelist could barely look away. He only did so to regard the obstacle standing between him and the greatest living trophy in the universe.

That obstacle was Jay Luckrun.

The simple [Godling] of Duels didn’t hide the eagerness to destroy Jay on the front steps of the Stronghold residence and take YoAnna as his. But he couldn’t. The Duelist had tenets to follow, which he probably wanted to break. The tension between Beren and Jay became so palpable a Systemless would get hurt from the feeling. It was good that the homes were upgraded to Good Quality.

Beren glared down at Jay. The [Freak] waited boredly for Beren to move. The staring contest continued unfettered, so Jay slid his tail right underneath the silky black and gold coverup YoAnna wore over a different bikini outfit. He wrapped his tail around her supple thigh.

YoAnna looked down at Jay’s tail. She gave it a welcoming pat even though she had to withdraw her divinity to keep from hurting her husband.

Beren stared at this interaction with disgust and outrage. He was so flummoxed he struggled to say a thing.

“Beren, hon, we got guests coming in!” Francesca said with a cheer, her flip-flops slapping down the hallway behind Beren. “I know you got all that muscle like a gate guardian, but you can’t fill up the doorway all day!”

“Your wisdom speaks plenty well of you, dear Francesca,” Beren said, backing off reluctantly, which ended the tension swiftly. “I shall return to my seat and practice patience. My greatest ancestor always told me that was a weakness of mine.”

Jay didn’t move until Beren took a seat in the back patio. He smiled up at Francesca, a Rank 2 Homemaker [Mage] and the older sister of Frank. The moment Jay and YoAnna crossed the boundaries into the Stronghold villa, they could feel the magic Francesca woven into her home. It was friendly, warm, and inviting.

Francesca gave them each a kiss on the cheek before locking arms with YoAnna and engaging in high-pitched girl talk. Jay released his tail hold on YoAnna when he saw Frannie peeking around the corner. Frank’s niece bolted forward and jumped with all the energy her young Systemless body could produce. Jay caught her gently with his tail and pulled her into a hug. He was extra careful since the Systemless were so fragile, and Frannie was one of the most precious of them.

They moved into the back patio where everyone was waiting. Beren was seated moodily in a corner to himself as he stole glances at YoAnna.

Casey and Hailey were in bathing suits while they lounged near the edge of the Olympic size outdoor pool the Strongholds had to themselves. Frank and Dennis were playing with practice swords on the training grounds, a lot with hard packed sand that was as big as a football field. They’d been at it for hours, drilling edge alignment to ensure Dennis had a better grasp on it. The Ultimate [Fighter] had come a long way since when they’d first started.

Emily and Senior Agent Cabana were occupying another corner of the patio. They waved at Jay as he came over to greet them while Frannie shrieked with joy as his tail swung her around upside down.

 Even while under the shade of a patio umbrella, Agent Cabana’s chrome magitek legs gleamed with a mystical polish that mundane materials lacked. And the supremacy of higher quality materials gleamed brighter compared to lower quality, too. It was pretty noticeable when the Rank 3 Professional [Medium] showed off her Superior Quality magitek legs while sitting on a Good Quality sofa.

With Jay and YoAnna’s arrival, the only people missing were Mike, Macy, Mike’s familiars, Ms Zhou, and Mr Hernandez. Jay sensed Mike, Macy, Fuzzy, and Cutie leaving the labs right now. Fuzzy had been making a fuss for the past half hour to get the Miraculous Magic Science addicts out of their workshops and into a social setting.

Eventually, they arrived, looking a little less fresh compared to everyone else. They must’ve pulled another all-nighter. Mike greeted Jay with a quick fist bump. Macy greeted YoAnna with a quick hug before she scampered wide around Jay and ran for Agent Cabana to check on her magitek legs.

Macy’s hands pulled apart and revealed a Swiss Army knife collection of magic tools that hummed, spun, sparked, and prodded as she tinkered with Agent Cabana’s legs. Macy finished up quickly and hid away all her internal limb gizmos, making her hands look as if they were flesh and bone like they had been originally.

She had spellcraft enchantments embedded where Jay couldn’t sense that her legs, arms, eyes, and other parts had been exchanged for magitek. This was just another example of changes among many as the Champions reached further heights of power, distancing themselves from their origins. Before Jay could walk over and say hi, Macy ran off to hangout with Casey and Hailey.

“She’s avoiding me,” Jay said.

“Yup,” Mike said.

“Let her come to you,” Emily suggested. “Macy’s a little flighty with major decisions. You know how she is.”

They all knew how Macy could be, which Jay found strangely comforting. Some things changed, and some things remained the same. Jay would not force the issue. The conversation would happen naturally.

“What had you guys up all night?” Jay asked.

“Enchanting holy magic into items and then testing different ways to break them efficiently,” Mike admitted.

“I was there to help,” Emily said. “I’m also doing deep research to see if we can push talisman production higher. But holy research takes precedence.”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” Jay said. “They neutralized my affinity crusher with a combination of holiness and narrative. That was outrageous.”

Mike nodded. “Holy magic as an elemental type is highly unfair. We did good against the foot soldiers yesterday, but I believe those were the weakest the angels will send at us.”

Jay nodded along. The USA wouldn’t risk their best. They’d sent those people as a test run. And a promise of force. They’d have to rely on their angelic partners to know the results. Holy forces had the advantage of divination, after all.

“Their stronger forces might truly pose problems since it seems like holy energy can beat almost anything through the purity of faith,” Mike said. “And they can leverage their holy weight in the narrative and push most if not all of our Chance Statuses toward the low end except for certain individuals.”

“Hailey was there with us last night, too,” Emily added. “I don’t know how Hailey finds the time to help Company Magic R&D and keep up with being the Secretary, but we’re all hands on deck with this issue.”

“Hailey’s a multifaceted person of the highest degree,” Mike said. “Between the leadership that’s available, we’re amid workshopping and testing to see what could thwart holy magic efficiently other than using holy magic to combat holy magic, which isn’t favorable against our foes. So far, we’ve found infernal magic such as hellfire to be a decent equalizer. Darkness and darkly bent magic to a degree. Death doesn’t leverage any great advantages, but it can help neutralize the Chances of complete and utter revivals.”

“Oh, fuck,” Jay said. “That would be stupid hard to fight against.”

“Indeed,” Mike said. “Hailey’s unseelie magic has led us down a rabbit hole where we believe fairy magic can maneuver around holy magic and neutralize some of its advantages. Fuzzy’s pushing herself to be as much aid as possible on that aspect. Having Kleo here would help as well.”

“Along with getting to pick Lilith’s mind on this subject,” Emily added.

“She’s going to disappear into her labs for sure,” Mike said. “It’ll take an act of YoAnna to bring Lilith out.”

No doubt about it. Once Lilith landed, she wouldn’t see the light of day unless they forced her.

Jay nodded to himself. The more magical portion of the Champions were already hard at work trying to counter the many advantages the USA held. The 777th’s part in this Pre-Apocalypse shenanigans was a pain.

Jay could see Mike’s mind was still in the labs and workshops. The particles in Mike’s blue portal irises were speeding up, which was sometimes a byproduct of the Genius Affinity at work. There was a lot more that Mike was probably not discussing since one source of their headache was sitting in the corner and staring at Jay’s wife.

Worrying about angel involvement couldn’t take away from the problem that the scientists and engineers of the biggest world power also had spellcraft to work with. Hailey would have drafted a report and delivered it to the main leaders of Company Magic R&D to read, depicting her observations of the Arctic Circle battle. Jay could imagine Mike was working overtime to account for as many factors the Protectorates would face in the future. And that included the damn Russian Warmades that could spring up at any moment at the worst of times.

“Sit, relax, and take a breather, buddy.” Jay patted his friend on the shoulder.

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“You know I can’t.” Mike frowned. “It’s hard, Jay. The game has grown larger than ever before. I don’t have enough time in the day. I shouldn’t be relaxing.”

“Try, at least.”

Mike nodded stiffly as he chose a seat in the sun. Frank and Dennis finished up with their swordplay and joined Mike.

Jay lingered near Emily and Agent Cabana, sensing the latter wanting to speak. The agent hesitated, which was rare. Jay figured the subject she wanted to broach concerned a certain someone.

“I haven’t heard anything from her so far,” Jay murmured.

“She’s not dead,” Agent Cabana said. “We both know that.”

“We don’t know when she’ll show.”

“Summer Solstice Ball.” Agent Cabana recrossed her chrome legs. “She’ll be there. It’s just like her to show up for a big event.”

“You aren’t afraid of what she’s become?” Jay watched Cabana curiously.

The professional woman smirked. “I bet ten malarkey I can still wrap her around my finger.”

Jay smiled. “Ten malarkey she has you wrapped around her claw. Good luck, Senior Agent.”

“Throw me in the air! Throw me in the air!” Frannie demanded while still held by Jay’s tail. He did as the little terror requested until Ms Zhou and Mr Hernandez arrived holding hands. He released Frannie so she could run over and crash into the couple.

With that, Jay’s closest people were here at the Stronghold residence or out with Company Booty Pirates. Everyone gathered and sat at the tables as Francesca waved her hands and used magic to hover platters and bowls and pans of food from the kitchen and out through the open backdoor and onto the tables. It was a smorgasbord of options ranging from French toasts to egg benedicts with full meat-lover options or complete veganism. Jugs of milk, orange juice, and fruity alcohol that were perfect for the midday meal joined the tables. Everything was above mundane, even if it was Basic Quality at best.

The meat, the eggs, the milk, the produce– all of this had magic involved whether taken from a monster or grown by a Systemized farmer. With Jay’s Intellect, he could remember the taste of mundane food and compare it to magical food. The difference was almost astronomical. 

Everything was richer in taste and texture with magical food. And magical food was more fulfilling and zesty in ways that could only be enjoyed by the Systemized through small buffs. The relaxing atmosphere and YoAnna’s presence made the brunch a joyful affair, warding away the problems outside of this occasion. Even better, YoAnna relaxed enough to lean against Jay and remain warm and in control of the curse.

Beren glared from slightly outside of the Protectorate circle. The chatter rarely included him even if he was welcomed as a guest at the Strongholds thanks to Francesca’s friendly nature. But there was no denying the truth of his existence at a fundamental level– he was here to kill Jay, the husband of their [Godling] and their very prized Holy [Medium].

They tolerated him, which was not a true welcome to their family oriented atmosphere. Jay saw the frustration build up inside of Beren as YoAnna gingerly cut a piece of stacked pancakes on Jay’s plate and fed her husband with eagerness, affection, and a dash of divine backlash.

Jay sneered at Beren between every bite.

Before the Duelist exploded, he excused himself and left the brunch. With Beren gone, the atmosphere relaxed further as everyone transitioned from food and drinks to simply having drinks. They collectively moved around the pool where YoAnna could grow to twenty-five feet, her feet in the deep end. Jay and Frannie tussled playfully on YoAnna’s lap as everyone lounged, drank, and started up singing their favorite music pieces, breaking out into random karaoke fun.

Macy broke down into a fit of tears.

Casey joined her side immediately, letting Macy cry on her shoulder while Hailey and Emily hovered nearby. That didn’t ruin the atmosphere. Each person here could understand the pain Macy let out through her tears.

She had been the closest to Mr Allen, their late father.

Macy grew up with a mom that hated everything Macy loved. Macy was a capitalistic girl at heart, and Mr Allen shared her values as a successful businessman. They once had plans, apparently, to push Macy’s [Crafter] build to the limits and make a fortune in this new world. But Mr Allen died to a terrorist attack during the craziness of fighting the Benefactors and the up rise of monsters last year.

Dennis had to go to the restroom for a little while as Macy cried over a lost loved one.

Frannie seemed a little confused, and because of the magical nature of Rank 4s being highly influential, Macy’s crying affected her a little. Jay returned Frannie to her mother as the four-year-old began to cry.

Jay laid in his wife’s lap, half in the shade cast by her breasts, half in the sun. Her finger stroked his chest, burning him a little with the curse, but not by much. His mind went elsewhere sometimes as he wondered about all that had been lost and sacrificed.

Jay pushed his concerns away as best he could because having the time to relax like this was important. They would need to do this again once Lilith, Gatanna, the O’Kellys, and Kleo returned. Maybe Jay could convince Derek to take R&R from his assignment in Northern Florida to come down and hang out.

“We need to do this again next week,” Jay said.

Nobody disagreed.

Before Jay got up to convince Mike to lead the next bout of karaoke, Jay tried to reach out to his holy wife. YoAnna sensed what he was doing and helped. Connecting with Brit could be spotty depending on if she was on the good side or bad side of her war against the Holy Affinity.

Things felt so-so right now.

Jay asked if Brit could return next week. The answer was yes.

***

8 - Macy

Name: Macy Allen, Rank 4

Class: [Crafter, Level 69]

Race: Human

Allegiance: Multiverse Protectorate Pantheon.

Affinity: Industrial (Pig)

Statuses: [Health 1700/1700 HP], [Stamina 2480/2480 SP], [Mana 2170/2170 MP], [Chance x42/x42 CM].

Attributes: [1,052 Applied AP]; 85 Resilience, 85 Poise, 70 Strength, 178 Agility, 100 Perception, 117 Intellect, 90 Conviction, 327 Discovery; [0 Free AP].

Skills: [Valuehound]; [Discover Schematic]; [Gnomish Craft Supremacy]; [Breaker and Rebuilder]; [Construct Brilliance].

Talents: [Analyze], [Questing Starlight], [Champion Cloaking], [Great Status Overflow], [Nothing Goes To Waste], [Discovery Wanderer II], [Ranker 120].

Titles: [Diva of Ridiculous Luck], [Craft Chair of the Multiverse Protectorate Pantheon], [YoAnna’s Champion of Challenge and Change], [Prodigy of Monster Slaying], [Young Virtuoso of Violent Ballads], [Slayer of Assassins], [Hunter of Immortals], [Mightiest of Earth: #12].