Chapter 97 Consequences

"What are you saying? We didn't abandon anyone." Cain asked with an indignant tone.

"Oh yeah? So how many people did we save last night? How many homes were destroyed because of us, how many families...?" Clay was clearly upset, to the point that he couldn't finish his sentence.

"It's not our fault though! We didn't ask for this. These cultists are the ones who attacked us, we just defended ourselves! None of us were in a position to do help others." Cain replied with an annoyed tone.

"Except it is our fault." Leo said "The cult only attacked this village because we were here, or more specifically because I was here." Leo's face showed the guilt that he felt, and his voice displayed the weight his heart felt.

"It's still not your fault! We didn't know they would attack us randomly like that. It's still the cult who is responsible." Cain was still indignant about the situation, refusing to place the blame on the group.

~Sigh~ "Look, you're not wrong about this being the cults doing, but we still brought the cults violence here in the first place. On top of that we didn't do anything as the village was destroyed." Clay replied.

"We were fighting for our lives. I hardly believe that's a plausible reason to blame us." Nila added with her usually aloof tone of voice wavering slightly.

Cain jumped off his seat and slammed his hand on the table "Exactly! She's right dammit, we were just trying not to die!"

"Cain." Leo looked Cain in the eyes with a serious expression on his face and dead look in his eyes. Cain understood Leo's intention and sat back down and stopped his shouting.

"I understand what you mean, Cain. We were indeed fighting for our lives and we barely managed to retain that alone. That doesn't change the fact that a fight that was started because of our presence caused an entire village to be destroyed. We were powerless to help these people... We need to get stronger and stop the cult before something like this happens again." Leo had a strong sense of determination exuding off of him, making the others feel the weight of what they now considered their responsibility.

Initially the others were going along with Leo because they wanted to help out John, but after everything that's happened its become something like their personal mission to defeat this cult.

Leo felt as though he didn't have a choice in the matter, considering the cults intentions were to capture him for some unknown reason.

"On that note, I believe I may have a lead for us. One of the cultists bodies was recognized by one of the village guards when he came here last night. It was before Rene found you so you weren't here yet." Clay said while looking at Leo. "He said that the cultist was the son of the baker in a village nearby. I suggest we go there next to continue our search."

"Alright, we should all get ready so we can leave as soon as possible. I don't want to cause any more problems for the remaining villagers here." Leo said as he got up from the table at went back up to his room.

He slumped down onto his bed and sat there thinking about everything that had happened the previous night. That was when he remembered the skills he had unlocked.

[Battle Aura]

- A condensed version of [Aura] which allows the user to manipulate the energy surrounding him more freely. (Within a 10 meter radius, ranged attacks can be used.)

[Force Strike] (Cost - 10 Energy)

- Allow the force of a strike to impact a target from a distance. (only usable with the [Battle Aura] Skill.)

'Both of these are exactly what I thought they were going to be. The Force Strike I used in my fight was stronger than a punch using 10 energy but that's probably because the skill hadn't been generated yet.' Leo said half to himself and half to Dreifus.

'I agree. For a lot of your skills they seemed more powerful on the first use, before they were considered skills. After you do something with your ability that is worthy of becoming a skill, the system decided on an appropriate amount of power and energy cost for the skill to be most effective. I'm sure that as your energy increases, so too will your skills usefulness.' Dreifus added on to Leo's thoughts of the skill.

'I was thinking along the same line. If I remember correctly, you said that when using my ability I would be able to affect things like lightning and fire, Battle Aura should make that easier to accomplish right?' Leo asked with a slightly excited tone.

'That is true... As I've said before, my memory is a bit fuzzy and I can't remember things about my past too well. Because of this I'm not completely sure how you can use your ability to achieve those skills. Although I have a vague idea of where you can start...' Dreifus said, hoping his method would give Leo a hint into unlocking these skills.

'I understand. If all else fails, I can always wait till I've leveled up more and I gain a new skill point. That way I'd get the skills eventually anyways. Until then, why don't you tell me about this method of yours.' Leo was very interested in hearing what Dreifus had to say.

'Sure you could wait to level up and get a skill point, but that would take forever. Although... Each time you unlock a skill, the knowledge of how you're able to accomplish that skill using your ability suddenly comes back to me. If you unlock a skill that uses lightning for instance, I would be able to tell you the process required to achieve it, that should give us an easy method into these new skills.'

'I see... That's not a bad idea, if you tell me how I'm able to use even a single skill based on an element, I should be able to recreate that process into other skills of the same element. The only problem is I'm unable to see the skills I have to choose from and I have to hope I get lucky.' Leo responded with a slightly dejected tone.

'That's why it's only my backup plan. I have a different method that might get you there quicker, so pay attention...'