As we assess the current status of Project Noah, I look at the troubled faces of what remains of our team.
"The team in South America was able to complete 87% of the task,"Rose began; "unfortunately they too were attacked and cursed. With only Tonks, Luna, and the Greengrass sisters just barely surviving and are currently in stasis." As tears started to trickle down.
"I think we should call it and return before it's too late." A somber Hermione declared. "While we can indefinitely put every survivor on stasis till we can find a way to counter what has been done to them, going home with a close to 70% completion is a lot better odds towards the success of Project Noah."
"I figured as much; I already instructed the house-elves, the goblins, and the sirens to drop everything they're doing and to stealthily reach these warded safehouses." As I pointed towards 3 marked places that are quite spaced out. "They will follow proper protocols for extraction and when a safehouse is compromised."
"Return process takes about 7 hours to prepare?" As I turn to Hermione for confirmation; in which she returned an affirmation to my question.
"We commence extraction in half an hour." Rose voicing out what we already know as standard protocol for this procedure, as Hermione starts clearing and prepping the ritual chamber.
Opening my eyes as my wand was vibrating beside me. Using a spell to turn my wand into an alarm for a brief afternoon nap as a perfume of mouthwatering food boosts me to alertness.
I looked around to see my new roommate, Illya, just coming out of the shower. After finding out that everyone's size increased by about 22%; the resizing of our temporary living space and its furniture was easy enough as it only took less than half an hour. Well since everyone's current size isn't even considered superhuman as we do have normal people in our realities with our current heights, it's just that it's just considered way above average if you consider our previous reality.
Well almost everyone got affected by the large increase in size; unfortunately my newly assigned roommate, who previously had a prepubescent body despite being the oldest amongst us, spent points into editing her body to match her body's age. Despite buying General Knowledge, she failed to match her changes to the standards of this reality.
Though to be fair none of us also took that into account, as everyone else just didn't touch the appearance editor; well everyone else minus Haruka as she changed her race to potentially match her friend's preference. Our size just automatically got adjusted before waking-up in this new reality, with 191 cm being the smallest amongst those who grew in our group; which translates to about 6'3" in imperial if you ask my British friends.
My guess is that if you used the appearance editor then whatever you did there is final and will be used in the next reality, much to the now 166 cm Illya's consternation. Quite a respectable height by Earth's standards but by the standards of this reality that height was an indication that you probably have dwarven heritage.
In this reality you find enhanced nobles with heights ranging from 200 cm to even 400 cm depending on genes, species, and the type of enhancements used. Where any non-enhanced base-human derived species at a minimum stands around 183 cm.
Pandiculating as I stood up, letting Illya know that I'll be heading out first, to walk towards the kitchen area, providing Illya with some privacy, I saw quite an amazing spread of food on top of our dining area. I joined Hermione who put everything in stasis for the meantime, as the people who prepared the food washed up.
"You can place your stat sheet over there." Hermione gestured towards a small table where a few stat sheets were already present.
After showing Shirou and the others who volunteered for food prep where our supplies are and how to operate the kitchen, we agreed that everyone else could take a break; but before everything, we should copy our stats into the parchments Hermione distributed to everyone.
The blood ritual of copying our stats unto a physical medium was unnecessarily annoying as it'll be difficult to do it alone. The tattoo of glyphs and runes that represents my status appears as long as my blood mixed with intent to view the status touches my back; however to copy it to a physical medium, a parchment in this case, you need the said parchment to be touching the center of your back as an unbroken trickle of blood flows down from nape to medium.
Shaking my head as I mentally shrugged, I smiled as Ryuu, Syr, and Lefiya approached the dining table. Copying what Hermione told me a minute ago, I pointed them towards the table where everyone else's stat sheets were placed.
We shall be having a planning dinner; where we'll discuss how we'll divvy up responsibilities and strategize on how we'll tackle our new reality. As the three sat down opposite of us, a still somewhat damp haired Shirou came out of his room and sat beside Hermione.
I teasingly grinned at her when she cast her eyes downwards and blushed. "Hey, I have a question for Gabrielle; I don't mean to sound accusing but did you buy the Charm skill?"
Despite her placating words you can still hear and see a bit of judgement from Ryuu's tone and words, "Oh, I do apologize for that one I'm what you call a quarter Veela. My mother's ancestry does emit a charm-like allure towards those who are attracted to the fairer sex."
With this Syr, her grey haired friend slowly turned to Ryuu with a foxy and teasing smile. "While I am proud of my heritage; this allure sadly is a hindrance sometimes as most people assume the worst out of me. Where men without an ounce of self control; drool, stutter, and force their way to get my attention. While the women just automatically assume I'll steal their significant other." I harrumphed at the end of my well practiced rant, as I've said this multiple times in my life now.
I felt a consoling pat on both my shoulders as Hermione and the newly arrived Rose who just sat to my right. Smiling slightly, "Luckily I found friends who don't judge me for what I am."
"Ahem," the still grinning Syr coughed to gather everyone's attention, "so does that mean Ryuu that you are affected by Ms. Gabrielle's charming aura?" As she said this her body is now fully facing Ryuu with chin on top of her palm and her elbow on the table, sporting a large grin.
Ryuu stiffened up as the tips of her ears turned red as she tried to stutter a reply. Syr then turned her gaze to me with a somewhat sober expression.
"We do apologize if we offended you Ms. Gabrielle; Ryuu was just being cautious as everyone here from Orario had a really bad encounter with a charm user. A few years ago the Goddess of what could be considered the strongest Familia in Orario, Freyja, used her charm on everyone in the city, this was so she could steal someone from a different Familia." She started with a slight crease on her brow.
"Fortunately Goddess Hestia was able to break the charm on everyone which then concluded into one of the biggest and bloodiest war games in Orario's history. Luckily there weren't any casualties on both sides." Syr with her eyes closed and her hand over her chest, as if she was offering a thank you in prayer for the fortunate outcome of what she described was a tragedy.
"Freyja and her familia lost the war game and was later ordered to disband her familia, as Freyja herself was banished from Orario." Syr solemnly concluded.
As Syr was explaining what happened before, the now present and complete former citizens of Orario were sporting stiff, awkward smiles, and were looking at Syr with incredulous faces.
"I have a question though." Haruka Azuma, the previously human now elf girl suddenly voiced out. When everyone's attention was directed towards her. "I thought the gods and goddesses who came down to… ummm was it Genkai?; anyway the gods who came down to the lower world had all their abilities sealed. How was she able to charm the whole city?"
Syr, again sporting a mischievous grin, tried to answer Haruka's question but was suddenly interrupted by Lefiya. "The gods and goddesses' abilities or what we call as arcanum aren't necessarily sealed; I could be wrong but I think that before arriving at Genkai they are subjected to a system made by Ouranos, he's the first god who descended and is the god who prevents the monsters in the dungeon from coming out."
"A goddess of beauty, love, and sex, like Freyja can't just stop those aspects that defines her being, her beauty and charm is part of her arcanum and is also part of her existence, the goddess of the forge Haphaestus can still make amazingly inhuman weapons, the goddess of tricksters Loki can't help but be mischievous." Lefiya continued.
"Rather than sealing they probably have a system that once a significant level of arcanum is used they automatically get returned to Tenkai, as even the mere everyday task of updating or granting Falna uses arcanum. This is also the same system that prevents the actual killing of a god or goddess." Lefiya finally concluded as she coughed and jerkingly elbowed Ryuu though all she got was a confused stare.
"If I'm not mistaken", Lefiya looking pointedly at Ryuu as she tilts her head towards me, "Your Goddess Hestia unleashed a lot of her arcanum in the dungeon once and she also needed to use a lot of her arcanum during her ritual where she broke Goddess Freyja's charm over Orario?"
In which she got a nod and an affirmative sound in return.
"Even in those very obvious instances where the divinity or arcanum was used she was not sent back to Tenkai." Lefiya concluded.
…
…
Eyebrows were raised at the random and sudden awkward silence.
…
…
…
"Ms. Gabrielle!" The now 202 cm tall Ryuu suddenly stood up, tipping her chair over, as she bowed 90 degrees towards Gabrielle. "I apologize for my inconsiderate actions."
"No, no, no.. no need for that type of apologies; and everyone just please call me Gabrielle or Gabby for short. While I'm used to those types of reactions from people who don't know me, I do understand being cautious especially with the description of Charm in that store." I placated the elf.
"Charm | You become very alluring to the opposite sex and mesmerize them. Your outward appearance will not change. (Targets under the influence of Charm will become very controlling and possessive and will want to keep you to themselves. You are unable to designate a target for this skill.). Non Refundable. - 50 points"
"Looks like if you purchased Help Guide you can still inquire about certain things. I thought of the Charm skill; and yes I now really understand your problem with that particular skill." As everyone paused, it looks like everyone tried testing the Help Guide skill.
Unlike previously where we had the floating screen and the Help Guide will provide a worded description of things; now the Help Guide works by just providing the information directly to your brain. It is akin to remembering something that you previously thought you didn't know.
"Unlike with Charm, as long as people have their own self control they can resist it over time, in fact if you are aware of it you'll get used to it and gain resistance from its passive effect."
"How about you Mr. Shirou? It looks like you aren't affected by Ms. Gabrielle's allure, does that mean you don't find her beautiful?" Syr inquired with an innocent face.
'I think everyone now identifies Syr as someone who always stirs the pot.' As I moved my focus towards the one being asked. Who has his eyes closed with his arms crossed trying hard to slip from everyone's attention.
"Mr. Shirou?"
I think I saw one of his brows twitched.
"Oh, most passive mental interference will not work on sword-brain over there." A now changed Rin, both she and her younger sister are now sporting very casual wear, both are now in jogging pants and a somewhat oversized shirt. In response the previously stoic Shirou opened his eyes and glared at Rin.
Rin maturely sticked out her tongue at him in return. "Plus, we regularly cycle Od around our bodies so any minor external influence doesn't take purchase."
Oh this piqued my interest, as Hermione also straightened up in attention. "Cycle your Od?" I asked Rin to further elaborate. "Yes, it is akin to flushing your system and at the same time breathing. We take a few units of Od and run it all through our magic circuits and expel it in the end."
While Rin was explaining this my newly assigned roommate, Illya, came out of the room and is now trying to adjust her seatt as everything is a bit higher now. Shirou then stood-up went around towards Illya's seat and muttered "Trace On" as straight-vector patterns lit up on his forearms and a chair manifested into reality; and adjusted its shape to bring the seat higher and a foot rest was added so Illya's legs doesn't just dangle.
"Just for everyone's reference Od is the mystical energy we produce, while Mana is the mystical energy produced by nature, and finally magic circuits are pseudo-nerves that are anchored in our souls that process these energies and convert it to magical energy.", Rin continued.
My head kinda froze, 'He just used two words and from what I'm hearing that was in English.'. It just now clicked into me that we are now actually using a different spoken language. Since the English words he muttered sounded a bit foreign despite me knowing the meaning of those words. We still retain some of our accent but if I concentrate hard and listen to the actual words said, it no longer sounds anywhere near any spoken language in our reality.
Though it's weird that terms are getting translated but the words he used for his spell is not covered under the translation. I haven't tested this since recently we rarely voice out spells anymore so I'm not sure if it also does for our wand based spells; but back to the spell he used, he not only conjured an object he was able to adjust it significantly after the fact with the same spell? That part of the spell's not clear to me as I mentally shrugged and put that on the mental list of things to clarify later; but on top of that it was all accomplished wandless and it looks pretty effortless from my perspective.
When they briefly described their magical system and from the brief conversation with Illya, I assumed their abilities were pretty limited and quite frankly weak, but quick wandless conjuration and transfiguration is beyond my capabilities. I peaked at both Rose and Hermione as they probably came to the same conclusion as I, judging from their curious faces.
"Take Gabrielle's allure for example;" Illya interjected after Rin's lecture on the difference between Od and Mana. "you guys are talking about her allure right?" Illya clarified as she looked around for an affirmation.
"From what I observe it is akin to Saber's Charisma skill,"
"Saber was one of our comrades a few years ago and is no longer with us." Shirou soberly interjected.
"She had the charisma skill which functions like a conceptual authority, you can't help but be in awe and inspired by her grandeur." Illya continued. "While her aura is somewhat oppressive and seems to overwrite your common sense, it is also very natural; to have a skill which actively overwrites common sense is abhorrent to nature, and is easily squashed or counter-acted by Gaea itself. Meaning that reality is in line with Saber being charismatic and it is only natural for everyone to be in awe of Saber."
Illya raises her hand as she extends her thumb "One, Saber has the charisma skill because Saber is charismatic."
Raising her index finger as well "Two, reality supports this as truth."
Finally raising her middle finger and waving her three raised fingers, "So because of this everyone finds her naturally charismatic." Illya concluded then gestures towards me "The same probably works the same way with your allure, it is a conceptual authority of beauty one which everyone agrees upon, whether it be through jealousy, attraction, perversion, love, or just simple knowledge of its reality and its effects."
Illya then paused and coughed towards her closed hand. "Anyway, I got distracted there, what I'm saying is Gabrielle's allure or rather the magic coming from your allure isn't that oppressive as it does not try to fight our common sense, to put it simply it is not active brainwashing. So it can be easily flushed with just a simple cycling of Od."
"Well I don't mean to offend you Gabrielle; but if anyone wants to learn the cycling of Od exercise just approach me or Rin. Well.. umm.. Provided concepts are still compatible between magic systems." Illya offered towards Marin, Haruka, and the people from Orario.
"Yeah, we also have a mental practice called Occlumency which is basically internal mind arts. Where you can protect your mind from outer influence." I added "Everyone in my team, Rose, Hermione, and I, are really good practitioners of the mind arts and can help you create mental shields."
"Plus, with Occlumency there are a lot more benefits like easy memory recall and if practiced properly better mental and psychological health overall is a bonus." Hermione also added.
"Anyway, did you perhaps purchase Inherit Previous Life's Assets? Good thing you were able to change the size of the clothes as well." A bubbly voice asked as Marin gestured towards the clothes both Rin and Sakura were wearing.
"Yeah, just a simple application of Alteration and we were able to resize our clothes." Rin looked down at her get up while she played with a few of her hair strands. "Judging from the rate of degradation of the mystery, we probably won't have any clothing mishaps for at least a day."
Marin's eyes lit up as she clapped her hands together as she leaned in more and asked, "Alteration is that a spell that sounds like it is called? Can you alter any clothing into any shape and size that you want? Can I easily learn that spell?" She asked all that without breathing
"Why don't we ask our resident expert?" Rin thumped Shirou on the back.
Shirou looks at Marin, as he addresses her "There are certain practices or rather there are prerequisites needed for you to be able to properly alter an object." He starts as a simple steak knife appears within his grasp which he proceeds to bend.
"If it's just a basic non-conceptual alteration you need a good grasp of structural analysis and reinforcement." As he says this he presents the knife again as it slowly by itself bent back to its original shape, then the tip of the knife changed into a fork, he then reverses the grip and slams it towards the wooden table where the fork-knife hybrid is now partially embedded on the wood.
Of course this action surprised us because it was done without warning. Rin shook her head and raised her hand towards the table, while Shirou presented the clearly undamaged fork-knife to us, "Anfang" she muttered to herself as the table repaired itself.
"Once you can reinforce any item without saturating its structure." He said this as the object bursts out into motes of light, "then you can begin with alteration, though alteration is still subjected to degradation so it's not permanent."
"If you really want to learn this spell, both Rin and I can help you with the theory and concepts behind it." Illya offered.
"Yeah, Shirou can help you with practice but don't approach him when it comes to lessons; he'll probably say something like, "Objects break when they get broken." Rin advised with a cheshire grin.
"Yeah, or objects change when they are altered." Illya also added with a large grin.
"I only said that line in the heat of the moment!" Shirou complained, "And I was 17 back then when are you going to let go of that?"
As the three were bickering with each other, Sakura was giggling at the sight of their antics.
Turning towards Marin, as I try to ignore their admittedly entertaining dynamic. "We do have spells that can essentially permanently alter objects. " I offered as I looked at the others who had not changed their clothes yet. "If any of you need a change of clothes you can approach us, we have plenty to spare, and we can also easily resize it." Rin's sister, Sakura, also extended the same offer to everyone.
"Wait, I could have sworn I heard someone saying Goddess Hephaestus and Goddess Loki from my room?!" Illya suddenly voiced out.