When the now-opaque barrier over her face disappeared, Taylor found herself seated on the roof of the school building. The blue shell she had been wearing then disappeared entirely, and she leaned backwards until she was staring up at the cloudy sky. So far, the day had been horrible, but maybe it would get better. If only she could come up with something to say to the voice in her head.

"Yeah, this whole situation is awkward, but there's not much that we can do other than move forwards. Maybe we should go over introductions again and then talk about the whole parahuman, professional, Butcher thing?"

After taking a moment to consider the implications of having someone who could read her thoughts, Taylor lifted her head off of the concrete roof and set it back down in an attempt to nod. "Alright, a mulligan. My name is Taylor Hebert, and I'm from Brockton Bay. I…"

Fortunately, Betta was there to pick up after she trailed off. "It's nice to meet you, Taylor. My name is Liang Lidong, but you can call me Betta. I'm from another world, so I don't know if my hometown exists here. I'm from China, but I spend most of my time in Falan managing Wetlands City."

Taylor hummed in consideration. She knew that China definitely existed in Earth Bet, but places like Falan and Wetlands City were completely foreign to her. Perhaps it was like the difference between Bet and Aleph.

"I'm not sure how close it is to what you're thinking about. I thought it was just a video game, but Wenwei could use the magic from the game in real life. It's possible that it was a real and parallel world, but I'm not the person to ask. The only reason I'm bringing up the game is because the manifestation I can make looks like my character and I can feel the abilities I had in the game waiting to be used."

At the mention of abilities, Taylor became more interested. If she was a cape now, she could join the Wards, get out of Winslow, and end the bullying. If her powers were strong enough, maybe she could leverage them when joining the PRT for them to actually take action against Emma, Sophia, and Madison. Her thoughts beginning to wander, she began to imagine what kind of powers they were. Brute? Blaster?

Snapping back to reality, Taylor spoke up. "What abilities? And why are you bound to me in the first place? I don't know too much about parahumans, but the only one that hears voices in their head is the Butcher, and that's not a comparison that I want to make."

She felt the mental equivalent of a shrug from Betta. "If what I was getting from you about powers is right, then I guess we do count as a parahuman. In the game, I could do a lot of things as a Divine Noble. I could make magic scrolls, fight like a warrior, manage territory, breathe fire… I wasn't the strongest by a long shot, but I made do. Could you tell me more about these parahumans?"

Wenwei nodded in thanks as one of the villagers brought him a bowl of stew and a spoon. They seemed to be wary of him, with good reason, but that didn't stop them from treating him well as a guest. The town was even smaller than Red Mountain Town, his starting location in the game, but the community was very similar. There were no professionals in the town, but that was to be expected in such a small community.

As he ate, he ran through a mental checkup of his situation. He was in his physical body, which had an intelligence growth of eight and a half and was around level seven in game terms. The higher ambient mana in this world meant that he could recover mis magic through meditation instead of relying on Essence Transformation, which was fortunate because he didn't want to suffer that much.

He had very little idea where he was and even less of where Lidong could be, and he was relying on his Lesser Benediction to keep his soul alive. The village he was in seemed to be far less technologically developed than his world had been, though it was common for more rural areas to be less developed for a variety of reasons.

When he was almost finished with the stew, the man who had spoken with him earlier walked over and sat down near him. After waiting for him to swallow the mouthful of stew he had just taken, the man spoke up. "Hello again. In case I didn't tell you, my name is Nicholas. Is whatever you used to let us understand each other still working?"

Wenwei nodded. "Yes, and thank you again for the stew. It should last another three hours before I need to re-cast it, but it would be more worthwhile to learn your language if possible."

Nicholas smiled in agreement. "I'm not the best teacher myself, but I'm sure that someone around here could help you with that. I brought your story to the town council, and they're pretty divided on what to do about you. Only those of us that were there when you woke up saw the light of your 'magic', so nothing is really getting done."

Finishing the last bite of the stew, Wenwei set it aside and looked at Nicholas. "I'd be happy to provide a demonstration for them, and I need to build my house anyways. If you could direct me to an empty plot of land I would be happy to provide a demonstration of my magic to anyone that wants to watch. On an unrelated note, do you know where I could purchase a computer?"

His question was met with a laugh. "The nearest big town is a ways away from here, and I'm not sure a computer would do you any good without any internet or electricity. How about I take your bowl and share your idea with the council and see what they have to say?"

Thirty minutes later, Wenwei found himself on the edge of the village with a square of land marked by four lines in the dirt ready for him to build on. With a snap of his fingers, Roland began to cast one of his signature combinations of spells – Mud to Stone and Stone to Mud. The dirt turned to a solid stone surface before reverting to mud, which began to flow upwards into the shape of a two-story building before returning to stone once more. There was no door in the doorway or glass panes in the windows, but otherwise the building was fully functional.

Two more snaps created furniture inside the building – chairs, a table, a desk, shelves and closets, and more. It had cost nearly a third of his total magic, but such an expenditure was no longer a concern for him.

The watchers gasped in shock at the building. It was nearly the same size as their houses, and yet it had taken less than ten seconds to build while theirs took several months. None of them moved as Wenwei walked towards the entrance of the building, and when he stopped and turned just before entering a few of them held their breaths.

"By the way, Nicholas, please get back to me about the computer. I'll be able to pay for it in a few days. For now, though, I need some rest."

Taylor was still on the rooftop by the time the final bell was ringing. She and Betta had spent most of the day talking about the differences between their respective worlds and trying to find a way for Betta to block off his connection to Taylor's vision and thoughts. So far only the latter had been achieved, and although it would be awkward for her to shower while wearing a blindfold or some equivalent it would be far less embarrassing than having a 20-year-old man watching her and reading her mind at all times.

They had also come up with the basics of a plan. First, they needed to go back to Taylor's house and change into non-bloody clothes. After that, they needed to look up the rating systems so that they could approximately judge how strong the two of them were. From there, they could go to the PRT and tell them a doctored but true version of events and get Taylor into the Wards.

As Taylor watched, the blue armor faded from translucent to near-transparent and her body stood up. As Betta walked back towards the roof access door, Taylor directed her thoughts at Betta in the form of a question. How would they make it home without getting stopped, jumped, or otherwise attacked for their appearance? Also, if anyone talked to her, how was she supposed to respond without removing the head portion of Betta's body?

In response, she felt her jaw move as Betta began to speak. "Just because I speak directly into your mind doesn't mean that I'm incapable of speaking in any other way. As for how we'll get back unmolested, two of the passive abilities of the Divine Noble will help us there. Inherent Nobility means that everyone will see us as equal to or superior to them, and Noble Prerogative will keep others from questioning our choices so long as our choices do not affect them. Now let's go, the bus should be leaving soon."

One bus ride and blindfolded shower later, and Taylor was seated in front of the family computer, scrolling through the pinned post on PHO which detailed the power classifications. It had originally been leaked as a part of the PRT handbook, but later had been published openly for the public to better understand the threats that local capes could pose to them.

Next to the computer was a pad of paper where she was writing down what she thought the PRT's ratings would be for Betta's description of his powers.

Mover: 2 (Spell Puppet)
Shaker: 3 (Territory Management, Magic Scrolls)
Brute: 3 (Spell Puppet)
Breaker: 0
Master: 5 (Knights of the Round Table)
Tinker: 5 (Magic Scrolls)
Blaster: 1-5 (Magic Scrolls, Fire Breath)
Thinker: 2 (Unclaimed Wealth)
Striker: 0
Changer: 2 (Spell Puppet)
Trump: 5 (Knights of the Round Table)
Stranger: 2 (Inherent Nobility, Noble's Prerogative)

Total: 30-34

Once they had finished deciding how they would respond to the threat that they could pose, using several notable capes as examples, Taylor began to group the ratings in the way that she had seen throughout the cape wiki. For each set of linked ratings, the predominant one would come first, followed by the others in terms of strength. The final rating number would be the highest of the set of types. In the end, her paper ended up looking like this:

Changer/Brute/Mover: 3
Tinker/Blaster/Shaker: 5
Master/Trump: 5
Thinker: 2
Stranger: 2

Total: 17

The two of them sat there for a moment once they were finished, comparing the numbers to official ratings for heroes in the local Wards and Protectorate. Without exception, her ratings were higher on average but lacked the high individual ratings that heroes like Armsmaster, Dauntless, Clockblocker, and Vista possessed. Nevertheless, she didn't see a team of highly-specialized individuals rejecting someone more well-rounded that could balance things out.

Taylor broke the silence. "Damn."

Betta's laugh followed her. "Damn indeed. This is a far better if less precise system for judging strength than we had in Falan, and I can't help but run the rest of F6 through it."

"Are you the strongest? Is it a similar situation to what the Wards will be?"

Betta went quiet for a moment before replying. "Li Lin, Husseret, Brazil, and Raffel would probably be on the same tier as them, with one specialized rating and the rest weaker or nonexistent. Schuck would probably beat us, and nobody could beat Roland."

"Why the two of them?"

"Schuck was the dragon knight, remember? The Saint Samurai? With Margaret, he's got the mover and brute down, and with his class he's got shaker, blaster, trump, breaker, and master if you count his face. He's equal to or better than us in everything except our magic scrolls and even then he probably has a decree to counter those."

Taylor scoffed. "I still don't believe that you had a friend so handsome that he seduced a goddess, a dragon, and half of your college class. That's just absurd, even if he was a cape. And what about Roland?"

"Roland? Start by raising every rating to six. He's a blaster ten-plus, tinker ten-plus, and shaker nine at minimum. The man's a menace, and if he weren't on our side we would have all died several times over. Did I tell you about the server-wide event?"

Taylor shook her head. "Tell me about it later. I'm going to find a pay phone and call ahead to the PRT to let them know that we're coming. Do you think I should bring the bloody clothes?"

Betta sent the equivalent of a nod to her. "Definitely, and if you had a phone I would have taken pictures of the locker. Leave at least one piece behind, though, just in case they take what you give them. If there's any blood on your shirt, leave that here so that it doesn't seem like anything's missing. Otherwise, leave your shoes and I'll form my own around your feet."

Moving through the house, Taylor retrieved a plastic bag and a backpack. Placing the pants and socks she had been wearing earlier into the bag, she tied off the handles at the top and then placed the plastic-wrapped evidence into her backpack. Writing down the non-emergency line for the PRT on her notepad, Taylor took that as well as she left the house, locking the door behind her.

A short walk later and two quarters poorer, and Taylor was about to be connected with the PRT.

"Hello, my name is John Evans, how can I help you today?"

"Um, hello John. I'm a cape, I just got powers this morning. Can I come in and join the wards or something? Is there a procedure?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone. "My apologies, that's way above my pay grade. If you're okay with staying on the phone for a minute, I can connect you to one of the local Protectorate, who can schedule these things without filling out a mountain of paperwork. Is that okay?"

"Yes, that's fine."

"Alright ma'am, please hold."

Thirty-four seconds later by her count, there was a click on the other end of the line and someone else began speaking. "Miss Militia speaking."

"Ah… I'm a cape and I just got powers this morning. Can I come in to the PRT and join the Wards or something?"

Immediately, Miss Militia's tone of voice changed, giving a combination of empathy and seriousness. "Are you okay? Are you in need of medical attention?"

Taylor shook her head before remembering that physical gestures didn't translate across the phone. "Oh, no, I'm fine now. I was just doing some research on the power classifications on PHO and I figured it would be better to join the Wards than to join a gang."

"And I'm grateful that you made that decision. I'm currently on patrol, but today's a pretty slow day. If you can make it to the Docks by five PM, we can take you to the Rig for power testing and an introduction to the Wards program. Otherwise, you can get a note from your parents to take a day off of school and come in tomorrow."

"No, I can make it today. I'll be kind of tall and blue, and I won't have a face but don't worry about that. I'll see you at five!"

"I'll see you then. Have a nice day."

Replacing the phone in the cradle and stepping away from the phone booth, Taylor was once again grateful for Inherent Nobility and Noble's Prerogative keeping people from bothering her. "So, tell me more about the server-wide event."

Betta laughed. "Buckle up, kiddo, because this is a wild ride. So I mentioned how World of Falan had only 500,000 players? This was the first and only time that more than half of them ever gathered in one place. The event limited the levels of its participants to level five, prevented them from bringing in equipment or NPCs, and otherwise equalized everyone. Everyone knew that Roland and Schuck were being unfairly affected, but they didn't care.

The event was a battle royale-style fight where everyone was dropped into an unfamiliar environment and forced to fight each other to survive. Food, water, weapons, and other supplies were randomly distributed across the battlefield as well. To force people into a conflict, there was a magical field that dealt damage to those within it that left a circle of safe area, and over time it randomly shrunk more and more to force players together.

So we spawn in, nothing but the clothes on our back, seven of us against everyone else. What do you think Roland did?"

Taylor thought for a moment about Betta's previous description of Roland. "He magicked a way around the limitations of the event?"

"Exactly. He summoned water and sugar from thin air, made us armor and weapons out of stone that he would later enchant, and used divination to point us in the direction of our enemies. He conducted a campaign of psychological warfare, using his stealth and mobility more than any shows of strength. But that wasn't even close to the greatest feat he managed during that event.

Our biggest opponent was the Phoenix Guild. They were a group of fifty Elven Summoners, a hidden class that could summon armies of mobs in large numbers. Instead of fighting them head-on, he calculated where the safe area would shrink to and cleared out that area, and then started raising a wall. By the time the safe area shrunk far enough, the wall was over ten meters high and three meters thick of stone stronger than reinforced concrete. They died an ignoble death, while we sat there and ate."

Taylor was silent for a moment before replying. "Was he always like that?"

"He shot a magical nuke at a god simply because he could. He was the brains of the group, Schuck was the heart, and the rest of us were the limbs. If he was strong enough, he would simply escalate any problem out of existence – if he was too weak, then he'd turn the problem into a benefit. I wonder how he's doing right now."

Wenwei sat in anticipation in his new house, surrounded by eight systems of magic condensing the ambient mana into magic bricks. The magic power affluence created by these systems overlapped his body, enabling him to recover energy at nearly triple the speed he naturally would. It was best to have a nuclear deterrent, after all, before you announced yourself to the world. Perhaps it wasn't a floating city, but that would come later.

And even with Lesser Benediction, he didn't know how long Lidong's puppet body would last.