Chapter 30 - The Preparation.

We quickly went over the plan, and personally, I liked it. I didn't see where they missed anything, but I'm sure there was more improvement to be made. "I like the plan as it stands. We still need to review it with Mana, see if she spots any flaws." I told them.

"Revan, I expect you to go with Phoebus, Kara, and Cyrus, so you can all review the plan together. Azalea and Phoebe, I ask you both to stay here, so we don't leave this base too open." Alec tells us.

"Understood. If that's all, Phoebus, Kara, Cyrus, let's go." Revan said, rising from his chair, grabbing the small pile of papers that detailed the plan. The three of us rose, and followed Revan to his car in the garage.

I decided to quickly glance at the quest rewards for this mission, and I smirked. The System did hold to its word. I was provided the power of Force Camouflage, which is the main perk of Sith Assassin.

New Power Unlocked!

Force Camouflage: When this power is activated, the effects of a stealth field generator are simulated at a better quality.

FP Cost: N/A

I was definitely going to test that later. The ride was pretty quiet, I think mostly consisting of a mental conversation between myself and Kara while she bugged me about details that I refused to give her. We arrived home, and I rushed inside. "Hey you guys! I'm home!" I called, grinning. Hazel smiled, and Mana laughed.

"You took longer than I expected." She told me. "Yeah, well, one of them was returning home from vacation, so I had to spend a day camping on their roof. Otherwise it would've been a much shorter time before I got back." I informed her. She smiled.

"Pesky politicians and their vacations. How selfish of them." She said, nodding sagely. Unfortunately, Revan interrupted after that. "Mana, we wanted to run the plan by you before we finalize it. After that, I'd give it three days before we put it into action." He told her, passing her the papers.

After a few minutes, Mana looked up at the group. "I like it, but maybe we bring more people to secure more ground, and keep guard of rooms we've taken?" She asked. Revan shook his head. "I'm the only one on the council allowed to go in, aside from the four of you. I'd imagine the four of you would operate well together, and I think it's best if I patrol any of the rooms we take." He explained.

Mana nods. "That makes sense, I guess. No involvement from anyone seeking refuge in that bunker, I'm guessing?" She asked him. He nods.

"Well, I'm fine with this plan, aside from that one point." She said, passing the papers back to him. "Good. We'll be here at seven in the morning on Sunday. With luck, most people would be too busy staying at home, or they'll be at church, then, given this country's disturbing obsession with religion." Revan said, turning on his heel to leave, and Phoebus followed him, as he lacked any other transportation.

I grinned at the three of my friends. "You know, that trip gave more than just an opportunity to advance from here. It also gave me a new power." I said, activating Force Camouflage. I shimmered out of existence, and deactivated it shortly after, reappearing. "It's called Force Camouflage. It's the same perk Sith Assassins get, and I guess the System saw fit to give me that." I explained.

"That could be useful. Now we don't have to save credits for a stealth unit for me, since you have your own built into powers now." Hazel said. I shrugged, unequipping my stealth unit, tossing it to her. "It's all yours." I told her. She grinned, and I went off to the deck to continue honing my powers, mostly training Force Camouflage so it'd evolve into its more advanced versions, alongside others that needed to evolve.

The following morning, I had mastered Force Camouflage and evolved Drain Life into Death Field.

Power Evolved!

Improved Force Camouflage - Master Force Camouflage: When this power is activated, the effects of a stealth field generator are simulated at a perfect quality, leaving no trace that you even existed in that area, and to appear visible to some while invisible to others.

FP Cost: N/A

Power Evolved!

Drain Life - Death Field: When used, you sap a part of the life force of all nearby enemies, taking one half of the damage you dealt to the target to heal you.

FP Cost: 40 FP.

I grinned. I just needed to evolve a few more powers, then I could focus on leveling up other powers. I glanced at my list of powers. I needed to evolve Force Push, Burst of Speed, Battle Meditation, Force Body, and Crush Opposition, those last two being ones I'd actually forgotten to take a look at in the first place.

Force Body: When activated, all powers temporarily take half of the FP cost in your HP when used, the other half of the FP cost taken from your FP. Essentially, it's splitting half and half of the cost between HP and FP. Hope you understand it, masochist.

FP Cost: N/A

Crush Opposition: When activated, this power saps the will of every enemy within a 15-meter radius of a target enemy, taking 2 points from their Str and Wis attributes.

FP Cost: 20 FP.

Aside from sparring for a short while with Kara, and having lunch, the next day went largely uneventful as I mastered those powers.

Power Evolved!

Improved Force Body - Master Force Body: When activated, all powers temporarily take approximately twenty percent of the FP cost from your HP, the other eighty percent still being taken from your FP.

Power Evolved!

Crush Opposition IV - Crush Opposition V: When activated, this power saps the will of every enemy within a 15-meter radius of a target enemy, taking 10 points from their Str and Wis attributes.

FP Cost: 20 FP.

Power Evolved!

Improved Battle Meditation - Master Battle Meditation: When in use, you and your allies obtain a temporary resistance to other powers, as well as a +6 to Str, Dex, and Con.

FP Cost: 75 FP per minute.

Power Evolved!

Force Whirlwind - Force Wave: When activated, a telekinetic explosion comes from within you, knocking back all enemies, doing damage equivalent to 1.5x the target's level.

FP Cost: 25 FP.

Power Evolved!

Knight Speed - Master Speed: When you use this power, you'll unleash your inner speedster, and your speed will increase by x1.6, for as long as you can sustain it.

FP Cost: 25 FP per minute.

That night, Kara and I stayed up, training our powers, while Mana and Hazel sparred, vibroblade to vibroblade, to make it even. By the time the night was over, At the end of the night, here's what my powers looked like, out of those I could level up.

Force Levitation, Level 45: When you trigger this ability, you will be able to move around the targeted object with your mind, the heavier the object or being, the higher the cost.

FP cost: 1 x weight in pounds every fifteen minutes.

Force Shield, Level 30: When you activate this power, you create a barrier, varying in size, that deflects energy damage. It's great for stopping annoying twin brothers from infiltrating their older brother's friend's secret bunker!

FP Cost: Varies in cost by size, and by energy damage taken.

Force Crush, Level 17: When you trigger this power, the target is lifted in the air, severe pressure getting applied to their organs, muscles, and bones, crushing them. Highly lethal.

FP cost: 10 FP.

Stasis, Level 18: When this power is activated, the target will freeze everywhere except for the head, so further conversation may continue, for the sake of peace, or knowledge.

FP Cost: 10 FP every twenty minutes.

Admittedly, I neglected leveling Stasis for a long time, and rightfully so, as it looks, as its cost didn't decrease, only changing how often the FP cost is taken. I could only assume the minimum FP a power could use is 10, not counting Force Levitation, as it seemed to be an outlier.

The final day, we all gathered in the living room, and went over all of our gear. I added a Jal Shey Mentor Belt to my loadout, increasing my Wis by 2.

"Maybe we should all get gear centered towards fighting without access to powers? It's possible they have whatever it was that disabled Cyrus' powers in there somewhere." Hazel suggested. So in the end, I had the set of gear I listed before, the Jal Shey Mentor Belt replacing the Multishield Generator.

I also had a set of gear for if that scenario comes to fruition, where I can't use powers. I bought a GNS Strength Enhancer, to boost Str by 4, a Physical Boost D-Package, which increases my Str, Con, and Dex by 3, a Rebreather Mask, which increased Con by 1, as well as increasing my regeneration by 1 point.

I also got a pair of Kubaz Scoundrel Gloves, which increased my Dex by 5, as well as increased my Computer Use and Security skills by 6. I kept the Mandalorian Power Shields, but changed my Jal Shey Mentor Armor for the (very expensive) Darth Malak Armor, which gave a +7 to defense, increased Str by 1, and increased regeneration by 2 points.

Now, as a precaution, I got an extra weapon, Freedon Nadd's Blade. When equipped, it gives +4 to my Con. It deals substantially less than a lightsaber, but it gives extra Con, which I couldn't complain about.

All in all, I couldn't complain about my gear. Mana didn't change her gear all that much, and neither did Kara. Hazel, however, did get a set of gear similar to mine, although she picked up Matrix Armor rather than Malak's Armor, her gloves being Ossluk's Gloves, giving +1 to Con and Dex, but +2 to Str.

"I'm going to sleep. Kara, wake me up before you go to sleep, so my nightmares cannot disrupt you." I addressed her. "Ding!" I glanced at the notification with curiosity.

I'm not sadistic. As it's the night before a major battle, to increase your morale, and to not disrupt your party's sleep, your nightmares will not occur.

"Seriously? You could've stopped them this whole time, but you choose only now?" I snark.

I could just take it back, you know.

I sighed. "Fine. Thanks, System." I turned back to the others, who looked mildly impressed at my restraint. "So, no nightmares tonight, huh?" Mana laughed. I nodded. "I'll be in my room if anyone needs me, then." I told them, slipping quietly into my room, where I found something unexpected.

"Revan, what the hell are you doing here?" I hissed.

"I came to warn you. I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I heard something, when I was deleting Aztecoro's data." He told me, his eyes shining with uncertainty. "What was it?" I asked him. "They have a plan to get rid of you, if killing you fails. The last machine they have..." He paused, sighing.

"Cyrus, the machine that I failed to delete was the key to the multiverse, in its experimental phase."

A/N: Hey guys. I know some people have an extreme hate-boner for the multiverse, but please consider, I started writing this without even thinking of the MCU, or any other media that started working on the multiverse concept at this point. I had this plot idea in mind from the start, and if you don't wanna read multiverse stuff, you don't have to. I'm just making that clear here and now. Anyways, on a lighter note, what's everyone been thinking? Like it, don't like it, any particular places you'd like to see improvement in? I like hearing feedback, honestly.