Guardian 2.4

On Tuesday morning, I finished my second altar in time to ask my dad to bring it with him to hide in his office.

Each of my altars had a range of effect, so I couldn't just stock a bunch in the same place. It was possible, and even beneficial to have some overlap, because the efficiency of the altars grew significantly weaker with distance.

I couldn't say that it became totally useless at a certain range, but like gravity and other physical forces, it tended to eventually drop off to the point where its effect became negligible, incapable of extracting any meaningful mana from the environment or prayers.

My power gave me an instinctive understanding of this, because I could sort of feel the mana flow after an altar was activated. I knew that around each altar there was an effective radius of around one and a half miles. But if somebody at the edge prayed, the altar would funnel only a tiny fraction of the energy to me.

With the second altar, my Power increased to 196. Located at the docks, the second altar was producing a little less than my first altar, probably because there were fewer people and greenery at the docks. On the other hand, it wasn't proportionally less by as much as one would expect from the difference in population density, given that its efficient area reached into the boat graveyard and trainyard. I wondered if that meant there was something like lingering energy from years ago when the place was bustling.

Or maybe it was emotionally charged, being a place where great dreams died. As if it was haunted by the ships. I don't know, that sounded cheesy, but this was magic and apparently I could summon guardian spirits, so why couldn't actual haunting spirits exist?

I might have better luck downtown with the dense population there, but I didn't know where I could put the altar, and keeping it secure was more important than maximizing Power right now.

Madison's active praying contributed a whopping 23 mana per day out of the 196. That was the actual amount she contributed in mana, and my interface kindly calculated a Power estimate after the first day based on the actual amount of mana rather than providing the daily 24-hour Power amount extrapolated from the temporary boost when she was praying.

It was way higher than I'd expected, and it was because Madison managed to incorporate prayers into her whole day. On top of dedicating an hour to the task with kneeling praying in her room, she did it mentally whenever she had nothing else to do, which meant through most of the classes she was bored in and any time she didn't need to pay much attention to what she was doing, such as breakfast, lunch, and dinner, before she fell asleep in bed, etc. All in all, her efforts added to up to the equivalent of more than four hours of active praying a day.

It also helped that we lived pretty close to each other, and we were together at school, so the prayers were being efficiently collected. My body was an altar for prayer purposes as well, so her prayers at school worked at 100% efficiency.

As I expected, both of us hit LV2 Regular by sparring over the weekend, though the EXP gains slowed down a lot after that. We didn't stop training though, and kept it up even in the afternoon after school.

With all this stuff we were doing, I began to feel disinterested in school. After finding out from Madison and there was no secret cape business going on at school, it just seemed so pointless. The bullying from Emma and Sophia had stopped, but I couldn't see myself making any new friends.

Call it inertia or habit, I had gotten used to being a loner and didn't know how to try to find new people to hang out with, or even if I wanted to.

And if I wasn't there for the social aspect, then the education aspect seemed underwhelming. I could bring up my grades but how much did I actually learn, how much would I actually use in the future?

I was probably disappointing my mom's spirit with these thoughts but I couldn't help it. The meeting with the PRT showed that I could make decent money as a rogue, and the more Power I had, the more I could make. I didn't really need an education and professional career to make my way in life, and I could do so much more by focusing on using my powers to help people instead.

How many people could I heal and empower if I had altars and followers in every city and town in the world?

Of course, I knew that education was important to grow wise and knowledgeable, and maybe I just wasn't wise enough to understand the value of what little I learned at school yet, and that was why I hadn't considered dropping out yet. With great power comes great responsibility, and how could I know if I was using it the right way without properly developing my mind at the same time?

My power didn't provide an easy way to learn things, after all.

When I was out in the Boat Graveyard sparring with Madison again, I told her that I had felt her prayers and that she was more dedicated than I expected.

I wanted her to be motivated to keep doing it, so I gave her another cast of [Endure].

And I had a sneaking suspicion that the hidden "Morale" stat was a very strong motivator. I mean, I thought that the spell didn't have too much of an impressive physical effect, which is why I picked it to use on her initially, but Madison seemed to feel quite differently about her experience under that spell the first time.

Maybe it just made her feel really good. It sounded a little like a drug if I put it that way, but I wasn't above making use of it, especially if it kept her loyal to me and made her a better person.

"If you keep this up, I'll give you an even better reward at the end of the week," I said, and I had meant it. If I got an extra 20 MP per day from her, I could easily afford to give her an item.

She beamed at me and clasped her hands together in a bow. "Oh, thank you Maiden, my lady most high and merciful. I am grateful for your blessing, and dare not hope for a reward, for I am your humble servant, and serving your holy purpose is all the reward I need."

"Well, okay," I said with a smile as I felt the mana. "But this Maiden is generous and I want to reward you, so keep working hard."

When we began the trek home, I asked her what Emma had planned for me.

"Actually, she's been quiet about that," said Madison. "We're supposed to be nice to you still, I think. I don't think she's given up on getting you to join us, but she hasn't shared anything with me. Sophia doesn't seem to care, though, and I don't think she's helping Emma with whatever she's planning, if she's planning anything at all."

"Do you think there's any chance that Emma might…repent for what she did?" I asked hesitantly.

"On her own, no way. She thinks she was helping you, remember?"

"But even if I don't appreciate the help? Even if I hate her for it? If she still thinks I'm her best friend, doesn't she feel hurt at all about that? Isn't there a way to make her see reason?"

Madison was quiet for a moment and looked at me almost piteously.

"Don't look at me like that! I'm not stupid!" I said with anger.

Madison looked taken aback and quickly apologized. "I wasn't thinking anything like that!"

I turned away. "Is it so wrong to wish there could still be good in her? She was like a sister to me!"

"Um…maybe…there is," said Madison.

"What? There is what?"

"A way to make her see reason, I mean. But I don't think you'll like it…" She said with pursed lips.

"How?" I demanded. "Just tell me."

"You have to put her in a position where she is forced to admit that she is weak," said Madison.

"What does that mean?"

"Look, you know how Emma and Sophia are always on about predator and prey right? They hate being called prey. They hate being weak. It's neurotic, really. But Emma especially, this whole making you strong thing is because of that. Whatever happened with the ABB, obviously Emma came out of it traumatized. That's when she met Sophia and betrayed you right?"

"Yeah. So?"

"So just imagine it. The ABB did, or was about to do some horrible stuff to Emma, then Sophia swoops in to save her. Any girl would be infatuated with their prince in shining armor. Except Sophia isn't a heroic prince, she's like a dark spirit of vengeance, that cares more about hurting the ABB than saving Emma. So she does, and Emma lies there in pain, hoping her savior will comfort her, will tell her that everything is going to be okay. But she doesn't. Instead, Sophia tells her," Madison said, before pretending to be Sophia again.

She held her head high and looked down on an imaginary Emma. "I didn't do it to save you. If you were just some helpless prey, then you would have deserved it. I wouldn't have even bothered if you didn't fight back."

Returning to her normal voice, Madison said, "After that, Emma can't get over what happened. How close she was to being tortured or whatever. She thinks to herself, if she was weak, then Sophia would just have let it happen? But Sophia saved her, she can't be bad. Every night, she dreams of the same thing happening, only Sophia isn't there, and it's so much worse. So then Sophia comes to her later and tells her about predator and prey, and asks her, are you predator or are you prey? Emma just knows she has to be a predator."

"Okay…but then how does making Emma admit that she's weak help?"

"Because deep down, Emma still wants the knight in shining armor to save her. She doesn't really want to be a predator, she wants to be pampered and protected, just like every other girl. She still wants her best friend to hug her close and whisper sweet nothings in her ear."

I looked incredulously at Madison. "Are you sure you don't just have an overactive imagination?"

"Every girl wants the same thing, okay? Trust me."

"Nuh-uh. I don't. That sounds like a bad stereotype to me," I said with a frown. A knight in shining armor, really? I imagined Armsmaster coming to save me, giving the teachers and principal a piece of his mind, and watching the faces on Emma and Sophia as a hero took me away from Winslow in the name of justice. No! That was horrible. It was embarrassing to even think about it.

"Okay, fine. Not every one, but Emma definitely does," said Madison.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because, she's been trying to 'make you strong' all this time. If she was so confident in herself being a predator and was happy with how things are, why does she even care anymore? She wants you fight back, okay but why does she need to be the one to hurt you? Why can't she just do what Sophia did, and wait for you to get into that kind of bad situation naturally?"

"I don't know…she's crazy? She wanted me to get powers?"

"Yes, but I don't think that's all. She could've just contrived something and got other people to do it, instead of hurting you herself."

"I guess. So what are you saying?"

"She wanted you to fight back against her specifically, and nobody else. Because subconsciously, she wanted you to beat her back down, to prove her wrong, to make her admit that she's weak and she needs you. And over time, when you refused to fight back, she started feeling guilty, but she couldn't stop, so she tried harder so that you would hate her, because you should hate her, and it would break her if she came to terms with the fact that she did terrible things to someone that loves her. But once you force her into a corner, where there's nobody that can save her, and give her no other choice but to face everything she did and beg for your forgiveness, then she'll come around," said Madison assuredly.

"I…what? Are you telling me to…physically assault her?" I could hardly believe my ears.

"No, no," she said. Whew. I knew I must have misunderstood. Then she started talking again."Beating her up isn't enough. You have to put her in a situation like what she experienced with the ABB, where she has to fear for her life. Actually, she's a girl, so we should make her think she's going to be raped. That'll work better, and I bet that's what the ABB were going to do to her too, and then sell her to one of their brothels after they've had their fun with her. You've got to bring back the trauma, make her nightmares come true, the ones where Sophia can't save her. Recapture the feeling of helplessness and horror."

"…" I stared at Madison with mounting horror of my own. "No. Just no. You're a girl too Madison, how can you even suggest something like that!"

She sighed. "I knew you wouldn't like it. But it's the only way."

"Can't you see that's just sick and wrong, Madison? What you're saying is practically torture!"

"We wouldn't really do anything to her. She just needs to think that we will," said Madison.

"Emotional torture is not much better! I won't play the part of the bully! I wouldn't be any different from you three if I did that!" I said angrily. "I think you need to reflect on yourself some more, Madison. I expected better than this. I guess it was stupid of me to think you'd changed."

Then I turned around in a huff and stormed off with large steps.

"Wait, Taylor, I'm sorry!" She ran after me.

Then I stopped and faced her again.

"I don't need you to apologize to me. I want you to go home and think about everything you just said and reflect on it," I said.

Then I dispelled the [Endure] enchantment on her.

She gasped and clutched at her chest, before collapsing onto a knee.

I looked at her with annoyance. "Stop acting already. I didn't do anything except return you to normal."

"I-it hurts…" She moaned.

I raised an eyebrow and quickly checked her status just in case. But there wasn't anything to indicate that something was wrong with her. Her health was full. However, I didn't know if illnesses would show up on the status window, so it wasn't entirely impossible that something did happen to her.

With a frown, I helped her up, and she leaned into me. "I'm going to be very angry if you're just pretending, Madison. What's wrong?"

"I-I don't know, I'm sorry…I feel…so cold. The light is gone!" She said in a stricken voice.

"Has this ever happened before?" I asked.

"N-not like this. Last time…when you took it away, I only felt tired," she said.

I considered her words carefully. Was it really related to [Endure]? I'd never experienced the spell myself, so I couldn't rule it out. But I'd never had problems removing [Heroism], and neither did dad when he took off the armlet. I'd missed it immediately, but it wasn't physically painful or anything.

"What do you mean the light is gone?"

"The…the light! It was so warm…but now it's gone!"

I took her aside and found some wreckage to hide behind. Then I again chanted the spell words for [Endure], targeting myself.

"Noble faith and diamond heart, eight stairs to the sun that rises, the light beckons and you [Endure]!"

I suddenly saw myself standing at the feet of a truly gargantuan set of marble stairs, floating in the clouds. They rose into the air taller than any skyscraper.

There were eight segments, with millions of steps forming each one, leading to the top, where a powerful white light bloomed. It shone on me and infused my body with an invigorating warmth.

I subconsciously began to walk on the steps, and every movement gave me an increasing confidence.

Nothing could stop me from advancing. This was a monument to the power of the White Realm, to Life's unlimited potential. Even if it took an eon to reach the top, like an ant building a hill, I could do it one step at a time.

I didn't need to be a hero or special person. That light which was like a searing star in my mind's eye as I took upon myself the mantle of [Heroism], I now knew that it was something that existed in everyone.

The light was eternal, as eternal as my soul, and as long as I had faith, it would never leave me.

The light both carried and simultaneously pulled me forward, and it was inside of me just as it was shining on me from above.

The vision felt like it lasted for an incredibly long time, but when I blinked, I was back in the trainyard with Madison, and no time had passed at all.

But I still felt the light inside of me. It had been there all along, but now it suffused through every inch of my body, and concentrated at my heart.

With [Endure] active, I felt as though I could take on the whole world. Was this really the result of a measly +2 Morale? I didn't know how much Morale each level provided except that the average for Elite was 2, based on [Heroism].

I could see how people might be capable of fighting on with fatal injuries in this state, and why losing it might feel quite devastating. But on the other hand, Madison had already experienced losing it once, and it wasn't such a large impact. What changed?

The only way to find out the truth was to dispel it from myself and see what happened.

So I dispelled it.

Immediately, the light receded, and I felt shockingly weak.

It was then that I understood just why Madison had such a severe reaction.

This wasn't a physical pain, it was a pain that was soul deep, like people who were trapped in Plato's cave who had seen the sun for the first time only to be forced back into the dark prison.

This wasn't as simple as gaining confidence then losing it. The light had broken some kind of critical boundary, it allowed our souls to become truly alive in a way I couldn't express with mere words.

In those moments, I had understood that I was more than just a brain in a body, and to be forced back into this prison, this shell, it was literally soul-crushing.

I wanted to immediately cast [Endure] on myself again. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough mana for another cast on both of us. Dispelling spells refunded only a tiny fraction of the cost, and I'd spent the rest of my recent mana on the second altar's gold. I felt bad using it on myself rather than Madison when it was my mistake, but I also didn't want to just cancel the punishment on her.

So I decided to just power through this, as a way to punish myself for my mistake. And Madison would just have to deal with it too.

"Madison, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize this would happen. Please bear with it for a while, I'll fix it as soon as I can," I said, hugging her. She smiled weakly and thanked me.

I had to send Madison home in this state, and I hoped that she'd be okay.

Once I had calmed down, I thought carefully about what had changed between the first cast on Madison and now.

The only thing I could think of was gaining two levels. And maybe that was the answer. There must have been a change in our base Morale when we leveled, so that the +2 from [Endure] at this point caused us to hit some vital threshold.

If I was right, going from LV0 to LV2 must have increased Morale from 0 to 1. Then turning LV4 Elite brought it up to 2.

If there was a critical threshold at 3 Morale, then that could explain it.

Based on my previous theory of there being a world-class level of ability beyond Elite, I felt that 2 Morale couldn't be the limit for normal people.

However, I also knew that just because the numbers were given as integers in my interface didn't mean that stats actually progressed only in discrete units. Beyond Elite, it was possible that people could get to something like 2.99 Morale with enough training and discipline. If the first four levels to Elite only provided 2 Morale, or averaging 0.5 per level, then it was entirely possible that the 5th hypothetical level still didn't bring it to 3.

But the +2 from [Endure] brought us there.

This was both a scary and exciting discovery. It meant that I had to be much more careful about who I used [Endure] on, lest they suffer the same kind of extreme withdrawal symptoms, if I wasn't planning to give them a permanent [Endure] item. I really should be testing all my spells before using them on other people.

On the other hand, I could be quite sure that Madison would be loyal to me, if only because I could mete out an unbearable punishment for betraying me.

Moreover, this had implications for the other stats as well. Were there similar thresholds for all of them, above which the difference became more fundamental?

Either way, I'd have to slightly delay the next altar, in order to make Armlets of Endure as soon as possible. Each one would be 140 MP, so it'd set me back by about a day and a half. I should still be able to finish a third altar by Sunday evening. The only question was, where would I put it?

O O O

Mirror

Taylor Hebert: [3(2) attack, 3(1) defense, 3(1) max health, 3(1) resistance, 5(1) speed]

Abilities: [****] [Administrative Intellectus] [Wizard]

Experience Level: Elite (LV4) 36/60 to Veteran (LV3)

Champions: None

Gold Reserve: Bankrupt (0g)

Mana Reserve: Barren (48 MP)

Power: ~196

Soul Capacity: 2

Upkeep: 0

Equipment: Armlet of Heroism, Armlet of Speed +3

O O O

A/N: Thanks for everyone who reviewed. A couple of answers to questions:

STR: All that is explained in Baptism 1.3 the spellbook. It's the Artifacts that are limited. Items aren't, but the cumulative bonus to a single stat can't be higher than +3 so there's no point in stacking them (but she can have lots of different effect items). The Holy Weapon and Armor enchantments aren't equips, she can cast them whenever. The item version is also in the form of a spell charge rather than a passive enchantment. They need to be activated.

Vilkath: The range is listed this chapter. Brockton Bay is a pretty small place. The estimates I've see would suggest that it's no more than 10km by 10km on the high end. If you're from a big city, it will seem odd but BB is actually smaller than Boston, which isn't really a big metropolis, and it doesn't include the conjoined suburbs that are part of the Greater statistical area. Taylor in canon gets around the city just by walking/running.