Augmented Aspects: Chapter 244 Silent Whispers (Patreon)

Chapter 244

Silent Whispers

You ever have one of those days.

The ones where you go and clear off parts of your morning, cancel your morning joint workout sessions so you can get so quiet personal time to reflect.

Reflect on what, I don’t really know.

I had intended to work, to push my mind and body in the ultimate of all leg days.

Unfortunately, there was just one problem to leg day.

Dr. Cassiopeia Spiritlight, I beg you to protect me.

The voice of a little girl begging for help, while I was in the middle of Qi induced gravitational leg squats. No skill given for the movement, and frankly I couldn’t blame them for not giving me a skill with that name, but still leg day.

I was alone, as all of my students were actively trying to avoid me.

Almost as if they thought I would randomly try to make their mid-terms that much harder if they annoyed me.

I was already going to make their mid-terms that much harder, I didn’t need an excuse, but they didn’t need to know that.

Still, this was rather disconcerting as that child, that girl, her voice seemed to echo within my mind.

Worst of all, I could feel a slightly odd tether directing me towards the voice.

Was this a new questline that the world had opened up for me?

If so, why would having random children asking for help be the new way to get me to follow a questline. Surely they know it wouldn’t work on me? I’m heartless.

At least, I thought I was heartless.

Dr. Cassiopeia Spiritlight, I don’t know who else to turn to. No one else hears my prayers.

A second childlike voice calls out to me.

“Oh gods,” I groan, realizing where this is going. Realizing that whatever this ploy is to tug at my emotional heart strings is likely just beginning.

One child I could likely overlook and assume was my mind playing tricks on me.

Two children though, I am either finally going crazy, or this might be something I am expected to do as a Mythic bloodline holder.

I can already feel my Bloodline Insights skill raising with this, perhaps after this is done I will create the skill book for this that shows exactly why you don’t want to unlock the Mythic level bloodline, for that is where you start hearing random voices in your head.

With the second voice ask for help and sounding somewhat pitiful I was 90% of the way there.

Then finally I heard it, the voice that broke any resolve I had left.

Sobbing “please help.” More sobbing.

That was the third child’s voice. The sad part was, I could tell that this was a piggy-back off of one of the first two threads.

Threads of hope?

I don’t really know.

I’m certain if I had more time I could eventually do more than just feel this new type of energy binding someone else to me. But for now, all I could do was feel it there, like a thin narrow cobweb. A cobweb that just randomly fell onto me while I was in the middle of my leg routine.

“You never skip leg day,” I begin, but then realize I am just lying to myself. “Unless, it is to save children. Then you make it leg evening.”

With that comment, and mental acceptance that I will take on this quest, I receive a quest prompt.

New Questline Identified: Whispering of Hope (Repeatable): People have begun to use your name as a sign of hope. Answer the call and be the beacon of hope that others desperately need. Rewards: Experience, variable.

“Laying it on a little thick there,” I hiss, but I’m already stopping leg day, resigning myself to making up for this discrepancy with Leg Evening.

I then quit my self-imposed magical restrictions on myself, dust off my uniform, and get ready to go.

Seeing that this is a repeatable questline, I am curious to see what the system has in store for me. I am about to leave, if only to get the mental image of the crying child out of my mind, when I realize something.

“Crap, I need to check out,” I say to myself.

Not that I need a Cass-pass. It’s not like I am a prisoner here.

But this is going to be one of those things where I need to tell others where to go to find me, in case something happens.

Also, my filling this out now for something like three kids is not necessarily a bad thing.

Mentally I send out a pulse to the surrounding area to find the nearest person that I could inform. I first see Mallory, but she is clearly busy with my daughter and I do not want to impose on that in any way.

Then I look for Jhonny, but he is asleep, and will likely need his rest for the upcoming mid-term.

Then, “oh Gods! What is that?”

I all but freak out, but then I realize that the person with the slightly pulsing and oozing aura is none other than Charlaine, my new secretary.

For a moment I wondered what happened to her. Then I realized I happened to her. Well not me, but my pamphlet.

Honestly, I’m kind of impressed with how it all turned out. That definitely looks like a dark mark on the soul of the individual.

Pausing I do a quick scan and see that, yep at least five other people have varying degrees of that same oozing soul pustule.

“Boils for the soul,” I didn’t think it was possible. In fact, I would have thought that this act would be more necromantic than forcing a dragon guardian soul into being a Pomeranian first, but apparently, I would be wrong.

I’m guessing the reason I wasn’t punished for this was the fact that this was clearly a self-inflicted soul wound, and not something I actively did to them?

This is just a guess.

Who knows, after this I might end up on some sort of Necromancer watchlist.

Perhaps that’s why I’m getting this new quest out of the blue? Hopefully to even the scales of karma that are going to be weighed against me.

After seeing her though, and the others she inflicted with the same pustules of soul poisoning, I can definitely feel that I would likely end up with some major necromantic points if I avoided the obvious trap related to these desperate children.

That said, I was going to help them before seeing the secretary and her current predicament.

I’m certain I could cure her, but healing her self-inflicted wounds would likely need to take a backseat to seeing why kids were desperately calling my name on leg day.

Sneak, sneak, sneak.

Charlaine is trying to move stealthily through out the faculty building.

For a moment, I wonder what she is doing, but then realize that she is already being stalked by no less than three bored skill tomes that are covertly following her every move.

Seeing that she apparently thinks she is pulling something over the skill tomes that are clearly onto her, I can only smile to myself.

Gracefully, she slowly lopes up each step from the first floor to the second floor.

Realizing that time is possibly the perfect time to make an entrance I Teleport in, right behind her.

Poof.

Silent loping step. Pause. Then slowly increase more weight on the step as you wait for the building to groan under your weight. Pause, then begin switching the left foot up.

Seeing her slowly move her way up, I inwardly smile devilishly to myself.

“Oh good, I caught you.” I call out loudly from behind the would be stalker.

Startle-jump.

Hearing me call out from behind the secretary, Charlaine who had been trying to silently ascend the stairs jumped wildly into the air. Before gracefully falling down and catching themselves in a cat-like pose.

A high Dexterity, I note to myself.

“Oh, my. I didn’t hear you come in,” Charlaine cried out, clutching her hand to her chest. Which both covered her heart, and the magical pamphlet that she was now trying to return.

Unfortunately for her, returning the pamphlet won’t be as easy as taking it was.

“No, you probably wouldn’t.” I admit, then smile.

Charlaine visibly flustered by the sight of me smiling at eye level to her, while silently fluttering my wings behind me just stares for a moment. Then her forced acting skills take over as she forcefully tries to regain control over her emotional state.

“Might I ask what brings you here?” Charlaine asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

Unfortunately for her, I want to twist the knife a bit more.

“What brings me to my office?” I ask, trying to sound confused by the statement.

At that Charlaine pauses, looks up and to the left and then centers back on me.

“Yes,” Charlaine finally posed.

Realizing that time is of the essence and that I might be able to get away from here a lot quicker than expected if I cut my victory short here, I decide to go for the kill.

“Actually, I wanted to speak to you. So this was a fortuitous encounter.” I state.

“Me? Well how may I be of assistance?” She asks.

“I just wanted you to know that I will be off running a few errands this morning. I plan to be back by noon, but in case anyone asks, you can tell them where I am.” I state.

“Okay, where are you going exactly?” She asks, starting to seem a bit more confused by our conversation.

At that, I just focus on the icky feeling of the energy cord that links me to the children. Then turning slightly to my left, her right I adjust my sight. Then pointing past her right side, I state “that way.”

“That way?” Charlaine asks, then turning around looks and sees that my office is down the hall and to her right. “To your office?”

“No, I am afraid my business will likely force me to leave World’s End for a time.” I state.

“Leaving World’s End, is that allowed?” Charlaine asked.

“What, I’m not a prisoner here.” I quip, stating my own argument from earlier.

“No, of course not. I just didn’t know of any transports leaving and arriving back before noon is all.” Charlaine stated, having apparently way too much insight into the logistical operations of our base. Something I would need to tell Mallory about later on. How easy is it to find out about our shipping operations.

That said, that was a task for later Cass. One who dealt with three kids, one of which was crying.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine on transport.” I state.

At that Charlaine just nodded her head.

“So again, that way, back by noon, and off World’s End.” I repeat.

“All right?” Charlaine stated, “are you…” was all Charlaine got out before I was fully gone.

Poof.

I did a quick Teleport just to the outside of the building. I was going to warn my books about the arrival of the thief. Fortunately, they were already aware of her arrival with seemingly ill intentions.

Through our odd bond, I sent a brief update for her to not be able to return the pamphlet under any costs and that she was to be run off before she got close to my office door, until I returned.

At that the books seemed to acknowledge the task, before zeroing in mentally as a collective on Charlaine.

Honestly, feeling all of their combined attentions, I could only feel sorry for Charlaine. At least, until I realize she both stole from me, and was now trying to return my cursed book back to me.

Realizing I had checked all the boxes of proper protocol for leaving base, I decided to get out.

Yes, I should have told Jhonny, who likely would have had a lot more questions to ask.

But frankly this is all Mallory’s fault for giving me a traitorous secretary to begin with. She set me up for failure by making it so I couldn’t trust the staff provided to me. As such, it is now Mallory’s fault for her not believing the words coming from my secretary, nor the way the secretary would give me at least an hour head start before reporting this incident to Mallory.

Realizing I had to leave now, I did just that.

Poof.

 By the third Teleport, I finally clear the entire city that we have managed to expand to.

Honestly, it is kind of cool to see just how much we have grown, and how much of the wastelands we as a guild have managed to claim back.

I know that part of this is that at least one of my Simulacrums rids on Ms. Kujo when she goes on her nightly walks. This is done as my Simulacrums can heal Ms. Kujo, but also the aura given off by my Simulacrums cures the Blight. This means that while riding in the big soft fluffy pile of fur, my Simulacrum has the most comfortable of rides, Ms. Kujo has a healer, and the land gets healed.

What do I get? Nothing but sharp dreams about lounging in clouds, when I finally do manage to find time to synchronize my thoughts with my Simulacrums.

Poof.

Not that I’m jealous.

Poof, poof.

Though I will say that I am glad I don’t have to go in stupid directions, like south, or turn left after the yellow sign.

Nope, magic is so much easier to track people by.

Poof.

Just go, land, find the direction, Teleport, and then you are so much closer.

Poof, poof.

Already, I do feel the slight constrain on my skills and Attributes.

This is what I dislike about my recent bloodline advancement. Aside from the obvious, looking like a toy flying porcelain doll, I now have to worry about climate change. Or rather going away from areas that are not dense with magical energies, unless I want my Attributes and beautiful Skills to be halved.

Fortunately, I had managed to avoid this flaw up until now, by never leaving World’s End, a place all but teaming with my particular flavor of magic. Or the Arcanarus Spirit Tower, which is just enough energy for me to be able to join and explore, without feeling a depreciation of my Attributes or abilities.

That said, I can see a remarkable difference between the two.

Sadly, I think that if I get another bloodline evolution it would likely limit me to my new home. That or I might take a third damage or reduction in capabilities in magical realms that are not my own.

It’s sad, that I know just by thinking this, that I have likely already given the world the thought for this. Then again, this might just be my own mind seeing the writing on the wall, and realizing where the next logical step would take me.

Right now, the effect of going to the Arcanarus Spirit Tower is negligible, almost like training at a slightly higher altitude.

Meanwhile, my movement now, through the desert that didn’t bother Legendary Bloodline Cass, is now like moving through an actual desert, while needing to take in liquids.

 Fortunately for me, the distance to my destination is negligible, as I only need to make something like twenty casts of Teleportation to make it to the other side.

Once there, like walking barefoot across a scorching hot sand, and finally being able to set foot in nice cool grass at the end. I feel the same.

Ahh.

Pausing for only a second, I relax and let my now thoroughly depleted reserves begin to refill at their normal rates.

Still, the idea of having to make that trek every time I want to come to the mainland is exhausting. I almost wonder if there is a way I can piggyback through different realms to end up here. Likely not what the system wanted with this penalty it imposed on me, but definitely something to think about.

For a moment, I have the idea of giving all my future graduating students enchanted items that increase their overall magical or Qi related capabilities, but hidden deep inside is an anchor point that I could use to avoid these terrible trips.

I could see it now, letting Jhonny go on ahead, to the location where I would need to go. He tells me he is there, then poof, I appear right next to him.

I could always claim it was for humanitarian efforts. I mean, I am a healer, there are wars going on all the time. It is not so hard to believe that people would need healing services. The fact that I could use it whenever I wanted to avoid long travels would only be a bonus, right?

Though I could see the idea of me randomly popping up next to them, while they are on vacation might be hard to sell. Which is why I will craft the items and give it to them, without telling them all the features.

You know, use that wording, “It does, X, Y, and Z and a few other things, but you will have to find those out on your own.”

Honestly, I don’t see this causing a problem at all. Well other than resources, which I will likely just write off as College classroom expenses.

It isn’t necessarily fraud, waste, or abuse to create items that are better than advertised, right? Also, as a Master Enchanter, it would be hard to find someone who would openly create items helping out each individual degree holder.

I am having this thought, when I finally get close to the center point of where my magical threads are directing me.

“What was I doing here again?” I ask.

Poof.

Then getting closer, I mentally see the layout of what has to be a prison with hundreds of children of varying ages. All left to rot, while parents are being forced to work away at other mines.

Rolling my head back, I let out a groan.

“This again! Why didn’t they learn after the first time?” I ask, as I realize I’m going to have to go Full Karen mode. I’m going to have to fix this place, and then ask to speak to a manager.

I might be a bit late for my self-imposed noon deadline.

Though it will be okay, I’ll just push everything else I was doing back further in my day.