Aleister, or rather Leonardo, frowned as he looked at the ocean. He was currently sitting atop a building nearby the sea, and his mind was working at a fast pace.
He'd managed to bring his Displacement to a level he couldn't believe in only a few days, the problem was... How was he meant to go further? It wasn't like Flash Air, where he had dozens of paths to evolve the spell. He could try transporting himself to other dimensions, but with no knowledge of dimensional transport or knowing what dimension he'd end up in, it was suicide.
He could try transporting his soul into other bodies, but he'd need to both have those bodies prepared and a deeper understanding of the soul. Making bodies wasn't that hard, but making sure it'd perfectly accept his soul was another issue, and his understanding of the soul was... Basic.
He could speak to Medea, but he was unsure if she had any knowledge on the soul. She probably did, but whether that knowledge would actually help him was the question
This spell cannot currently be improved more.
Two hours, Aleister and Medea had been traveling around Brockton Bay for two hours attempting to find a single leyline, yet nothing had been found.
"Nothing, not a single drop of mana! I had thought it strange humans lacked Magic Circuits, but this world completely lacks any leylines or mystery". Medea was clearly frustrated, taking a bite out of the cake Aleister had brought her. The two were currently resting at a cafe after the two hours of search, looking for all to see like a couple on a date (Something she was flustered about when he mentioned it). "Only their souls contain mana, and even then its barely a sliver of what could be found in my world".
"Troubling, so even if we sacrificed every captured Merchants, it'd only give us a small amount of mana?". He asked, glancing at the purple barrier around them. It wasn't visible to the ordinary eye, and to anyone listening in whether with natural hearing or technology, it made their talk sound like some ordinary couple talking.
"Not completely, burning a soul down for mana will still produce a large amount, I could last for months off the collected subjects alone... The problem is just how little mana is in this world. Theres no force pushing against mystery, which reduces the amount of mana required. But we'll still be using massive amounts of mana for various rituals, mana that we may not have". Medea explained to a frowning Aleister. The situation wasn't horrible, but his hopes of easily acquiring power through sacrificing souls or getting control of a leyline were washed away.
Earth Bet was not the Nasuverse, it followed different rules, it was lucky at all that souls here even had mana at all. Aleister cursed himself for not considering all this, but it also made him question. If he and Medea were the only things from the world of Fate, did that mean that mystery only worked for them?
If he had people believe his powers were god-like, could he ascend into a Divine Spirit? If the rules of his abilities only effected the things he created or influenced, that gave him an advantage. He just needed to plan, and rise.
The coin flip has decided Leylines do not exist on Earth Bet, making mana a bit of an issue. Its not as crushing as it would be in a world with Fate Gaia and Alaya, but it does mean no easily acquiring massive amounts of mana.
Aleister watched with amusement as Medea went over different dresses, he had promised her a day doing whatever she wanted and he had been both surprised and expected what she'd chosen to do. First they'd started with a walk across the more peaceful and beautiful areas of the bay, and then a visit to the shops, were Medea was happily filling her closest with dozens of clothes.
(His wallet was crying, but he already had plans to acquire more money. Being able to use alchemy to create most of the supplies he needed also helped).
"Aleister, which of these dresses is better? The blue one, or the purple one?". Medea asked, holding up two dresses. His mind raced, both looked beautiful in his opinion.
"A bit unfair to ask, you'd look stunning in any thing". He complimented, a pink flush to her cheeks. "But if I had to choose one... Purple looks stunning".
"A-ah, yes! I'll get that one then". Quickly putting the dress into their shopping bag, the two would keep shopping for a few more minutes (With the Caster insisting on Aleister buying suit that he'd freely admit he looked good, especially with how she was staring at him with a blush).
They would return to his house and after putting the new clothing away, Medea decided to cook a rather delicious dinner. Aleister smiled, while a large part of him still thought of Medea as someone he wanted to fuck, he was truly enjoying her company, when was the last time he'd had such pleasant company?
Bond up.
Medea: 3.
Medea is quite easy to bond up, as long as your honest with her and well, nobody can deny Aleister's very honest about his desires towards her.
Aleister frowned as he had to burn another pair of gloves, quickly removing the blood stained gloves and tossing them into a pile. His attempts at studying biology on the Merchants had been... Less then effective.
He was getting better, more knowledge, but with how damaged each of the drug addicts bodies already were they were far less useful. He'd already had seven drop dead or explode from a spell gone wrong, it was certainly messy.
He quickly began placing the latest body into an area he'd specifically prepared, a type of stasis storage Medea had created, letting him keep the bodies in decent condition for future experiments.
After putting the body away, he grabbed another set of gloves and got back to experimenting.
Knowledge increased.
- Biology 16%.
Captured Merchants - 27.
Well, we got so unlucky things here so we lost some of the captured test subjects. But also got a decent boost from 8% to 16% knowledge on biology.
Faust delivered a bone-shattering punch to his opponent, the mugger falling to the ground in agony as the vigilante glared down. The woman who had been the mugger's target was already gone, and likely the police or PRT would be here soon.
Activating the Ruby of Stealth, he began using Reinforcement enhanced strength to climb up the walls (Note to self, look into adding some kind of Spiderman style wall crawling to his Faust Mystic Code). After a few moments he was on top of the building, and began running, leaping and running from building to building, while his mind was elsewhere.
Nothing, he'd been patrolling across the bay for a couple hours. But he couldn't even blame bad luck on this, only his foolishness. How the hell was patrolling going to help him find out who was manipulating him?
No, relying on luck wouldn't work. He needed a plan, there were multiple paths forward he could see. He could target another gang, if he brought more attention onto himself, it may cause his unknown manipulators to interfere. He could also perform acts to enhance Faust's reputation, if he became to dangerous, his manipulators wouldn't dare meddle with him... Or they may resort to extreme acts.
Or perhaps he could dig into the PRT? Aleister had no idea what side of the law his manipulators were truly on, for all he knew they could be hidden inside the PRT. Or maybe they weren't even in Brockton Bay... Dammit! He hadn't even considered that option, if his manipulators weren't in the bay, how the hell was he meant to deal with them? He'd barely started making a base in the bay, how was he meant to search across the world?
As he landed on another roof, Faust frowned under his helmet. As bitter as it was, there was also the option of simply waiting till his manipulators moved again, using Medea's magic to track them down from there.
Sadly, trying to find whoever is manipulating Aleister by just patrolling randomly relies on a VERY lucky roll. At best, it just makes Faust reputation grow.
Some good things, some less good things. But next chapter will be an interlude from some different characters perspectives, who you guys hoping to see?