As the last at the table, Tian-Gui cleaned up as well as he could, but even he couldn't finish it all. Letting out a long, satisfied sigh, he took another sip of the chicken broth soup, before deciding that it was time to get back to work once more. Their new members and Xenon were off doing some private training or whatever, so he had to do some catching up as well. A few quick incantations burned through almost all of his HP and MP in just a couple of seconds, before Tian-Gui, once again feeling the 'burn' that coursed through his whole body, approached Rei.
"Yo, Rei," he waved,
"you wanted to fix up armors and stuff, right? You good at that kind of stuff? Been thinking that I need to get better at armor repair myself, so hey, mind teaching me a few tricks?"
He just recently obtained the Knowledge talent as well, after all, and considering how quickly he could burst down his own stats...Tian-Gui was fairly comfortable now without doing too much sparring training.
~
Rei had finished what he wanted to eat as well. He wanted to fill up, but not stuff himself. After all, exercising and training when one is too full can actually be detrimental. Not fully, but it does mess up focus a bit. Plus Rei just didn't want to stuff himself anyway. If he couldn't finish it, he wouldn't.
Still, he cleaned the hearty plate he prepared and stood up now, looking towards Shouko.
"Yes, I need fifteen of your bombs. There is something I want to make with them..." of course she wanted money though, which was understandable. These people were only with him for their own profit after all. Buying things from someone you were supposed to be on a 'team' with. They weren't a team at all in that regard.
"So yes, i'll buy them for 1500 yen a piece. I just need fifteen of them."
With that he walks over to the Craft Bench, preparing to get started. He wanted to burn his HP consuming Skills, then use his MP for his Materia Magic to get some crafting done. After all, the Levels of the New Gamers are lower. So if they all had good items, they could make up for this deficit. Plus Rei wanted to try and make better Items for himself.
So after practicing multiple punches and kicks, each glowing green for a moment as in the corner of the HUD Tian and Shouko could see Rei's HP bar declining, he was almost about to get to work, but not before Tian walks up to him and asks about repairing armor.
"In truth, I know a thing or two since I did train that Skill a little bit. But I abandoned my ability to perform mundane repairing by hand. I use Magic now. Requires more materials and uses up my MP, but allows for much faster repairing."
He pats the bench. "Thankfully with this bench our Crafting improves when we use it here. Plus if you just dump any Armor in the chest" he gestures backwards with his thumb, "the armor will be repaired at a rate of two points an hour. Good if you just have random Armor you want to dump in there if you're not using it anymore."
~
Well, Magic certainly wasn't something he was going to get close to any time soon. Nodding slightly, Tian-Gui replied,
"Welp, a rate of two points per hour is too slow in this case, and I don't have magic, so I suppose I'll just do things the old way. Mind if I spend some yen on Steel Scale or whatever?"
~
Rei just gives a nod. "Go ahead. You don't need to ask me for something like that." Of course, then Rei remembered something.
"You went and learned Mana Bolt from Xenon right? You need some ranged attack options, especially since we already have some flying enemies that we are being pit up against. Plus being able to throw a ranged attack to put an enemy off guard right before rushing up right as they dodge or defend can be a great strategy as well."
~
"I actually went out of my way to learn Mana Burst," Tian-Gui replied,
"And charging usually leads into an attack afterwards...so yeah, nope."
"That being said, considering this new skill modification thing I've been getting into recently...probably should do that, eh? Learning actives is free after all."
~
Rei nods, standing up now. "I don't know it anymore, but I can still teach it to you. Will help with my 'Teacher' Title as well. There is nothing wrong with having Ranged game and like it or not, there are going to be enemies you can't get into Melee. Also, you're just squandering your potential by not utilizing the fact that you can do both Ranged and Melee."
He takes a few steps away from Tian down the way. "You're already familiar with Mana Burst, so the feeling should be very similar to that." He puts his hand out.
"Feel the Mana within you. Just focus on it, guide it to your hand, and once it's there just fire it forth from your palm. It's a bit less explosive than Mana Burst. You can even use me as a target if you'd like."
Rei gets into a stance now, crossing his arms in front of his body in an 'x' fashion.
"After all... there's something I want to practice for a bit."
~
Well, Tian-Gui had always liked Captain Japan more than Steel Man, but he saw the point in that. Not that he particularly liked said point or anything, but hey, if it would make Rei shut up about getting ranged attacks, that was fine with him. Bringing out his palm, Tian-Gui narrowed his eyes, imagining the flame that flickered within once more.
The flame that was no longer an explosion, but instead, was a jet. A beam. An arrow.
Something to strike down the evils of the world from afar, like heavenly judgment.
In his mind's eye, that flame was materializing within the veins of his arm, and, pointing it at Rei, he took in one deep breath and released his grip on it.
"Mana Sphere."
A blue sun emerged from the palm of his hand.
~
And fired straight at Rei as around 35 MP drained from Tian-Gui's bar, draining what he had recovered in the time it took him to talk to Rei about this.
Right as the Sphere is launched, Rei tenses himself and his eyes flare open a little. The sphere seems to slam into a thin wall of energy that appears in front of his arms right as the projectile hits.
Instead of dissipating though, Rei thrusts his arms forward quickly with a loud exhale right after it hits and doesn't break the shield. The shield dissipates as the projectile is flung back at Tian, slamming right into his torso.
Fortunately, since he just learned it, the projectile wasn't super strong. Plus he still had his Barrier Ring. So the damage was negated by both his Resilience and gear. If anything, it just showed that he still had more growing to do since his own attack couldn't hurt him. Of course, as an actual Skill it would probably be stronger.
Regardless, the windows appear now, showing that he indeed learn the Skill.
A Skill has been created through a special action. By practicing the stable projection of Mana as a projectile the ability to better do so, Mana Sphere, has been created.
Mana Sphere (Rank 10) (Level 1, 0/3)
Cost: 25 MP
You create from your palm a calm, stable sphere of Mana, which you then launch at an enemy. This has a Max Damage equal to 8 + 50% Ki Focus (4) = 10 and a Damage Mod equal to 4 + 30% SPI (16) = 8. Furthermore, as a more stabilized sphere it can be more easily controlled, thus increasing its Accuracy by 50% Ki Focus (4) = 2.
"You'll need to up that new Score of yours if you want any of your Energy Attacks to have any bite. It seemed a bit more stable than a Mana Bolt. Definitely a step up from that. Still... Ki Focus..." Rei thinks for a moment.
"Seems rather useful, especially for a more physical type like yourself. Perhaps if you learned some Martial Arts and Strike Skills it could become even more useful."
~
"More stable, hm…"
Tian-Gui stroked his chin thoughtfully as he recalled the sensation of the sphere that struck him. It certainly was weak in its current form, but it was a long distance attack that was more accurate and stable than Mana Burst. Perhaps he could do something akin to that then…
"Welp, guess the lesson ends here then," he replied cheerfully.
"Time to go fix up my armor!"
~
"Honestly I could repair it for you much more quickly. But I guess you do need to train your Skill after all."
Rei just shrugs. "We have about twenty minutes before the Peacocks arrive, give or take, so use the rest of this time wisely since we don't know if the others will be back by then and we have no idea if the Peacocks will honor their end of things and be friendly or not."