ADAPT
Book Two of A TOUCH OF POWER Series
Written by Jay Boyce
© 2019 Mountaindale Press. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by US copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter One – Virtue and Sin
Chapter Two – Petty
Chapter Three – Collection
Chapter Four – Impaling
Chapter Five – Spymaster
Chapter Six – Fire
Chapter Seven – Neighbors
Chapter Eight – Fellacai
Chapter Nine – Bond
Chapter Ten – Splutter
Chapter Eleven – Names
Chapter Twelve – Scrying
Chapter Thirteen – Trust
Chapter Fourteen – Living
Chapter Fifteen – Death
Chapter Sixteen – Flight
Chapter Seventeen – Frank
Chapter Eighteen – Reinforced
Chapter Nineteen – Crystals
Chapter Twenty – Gravity
Chapter Twenty-One – Potential
Chapter Twenty-Two – Dirt
Chapter Twenty-Three – Contracts
Chapter Twenty-Four – Promises
Chapter Twenty-Five – Still
Chapter Twenty-Six – Trouble
Chapter Twenty-Seven – Introductions
Chapter Twenty-Eight – Barraged
Chapter Twenty-Nine – Hope
Chapter Thirty – Temper
Chapter Thirty-One – Friends
Chapter Thirty-Two – Options
Chapter Thirty-Three – Improvements
Chapter Thirty-Four – Challenge
Chapter Thirty-Five – Obstacles
Chapter Thirty-Six – Fame
Chapter Thirty-Seven – Practice
Chapter Thirty-Eight – Creed
Chapter Thirty-Nine – TMI
Chapter Forty – Shocking
Chapter Forty-One – Illusions
Chapter Forty-Two – Sure
Chapter Forty-Three – Innocence
Chapter Forty-Four – Pride
Chapter Forty-Five – Mirrors
Chapter Forty-Six – Secrets
Chapter Forty-Seven – Replay
Chapter Forty-Eight – Perception
Chapter Forty-Nine – Interrogation
Chapter Fifty – Spatial
Chapter Fifty-One – Auras
Chapter Fifty-Two – Ring
Chapter Fifty-Three – Business
Chapter Fifty-Four – Terraform
Chapter Fifty-Five – Truce
Chapter Fifty-Six – Wind
Chapter Fifty-Seven – Smoothies
Chapter Fifty-Eight – Healers
Chapter Fifty-Nine – Surgery
Chapter Sixty – Safe
Chapter Sixty-One – Message
Epilogue – Angel
Afterword
About Jay Boyce
About Mountaindale Press
Mountaindale Press Titles
GameLit and LitRPG
Fantasy
Appendix
People
Places
Magic
Known Beasts
Abbreviated Timeline of Events
Jade’s Ability Descriptions
Acknowledgments
To the many, many people who have supported me in the creation of this book and the continuation of my writing, thank you. There are far too many to name, but it’s your support that has made this book so rewarding and my writing possible. I could never have come this far without the unrelenting encouragement and support I’ve gotten.
I’d like to give a special thanks to Dakota and Danielle, who have been amazingly supportive and understanding, despite dealing with my occasional craziness. For doing all the things I never wanted to and putting up with my stubbornness, thank you for believing in me.
I want to thank God for giving me the opportunities I have and the wonderful people in my life. For making me who I am.
Lastly, thank you, my readers, for your continued support. No author can ever succeed alone, and you are the reason I can keep doing what I love.
Prologue
F.E.A.R. has two meanings: Forget Everything And Run or Face Everything And Rise. The choice is yours to make, or so they say. In my old world, I had no such choice. My life was decided by the people around me, and the only thing I had true control over was my mind. I couldn’t rise; I couldn’t run. All I could do was imagine and envy the freedom of others to make the choices I could not.
I’ve given it some thought. What was the reason that I would be picked above all others to come to a new world? It was then I realized. What was the one thing I had that no one else did?
The first guy to come over? He was called Caldwell the Diligent, and it sounded like that was the deciding factor of his life. Diligence was one of the seven virtues. Maybe when the gods they speak of were planning things, they wanted to call over people who were amazingly virtuous, and it worked the first time. But what happened after diligence came? Wrath and pride. Maybe somewhere the system got twisted, and it called over those who were filled with an emotion so intense, it ruled their personality? In any case, it sounds like it worked out in the end for the people here.
But what about me? I wasn’t particularly virtuous, and I’ve finally come to the conclusion that it was my sin that drew me here. My ability was the embodiment of envy. Jade, the green-eyed monster of envy; it even had a certain ring to it.
Still, I find that I can’t just forget everything and everyone else around me. I can’t just run from the problems they’re facing. They’ve quickly become my friends, even if they’re still keeping secrets. Then again, so am I. So I guess it’s time to face the music and rise. Maybe it’ll work out this time, too.
Chapter One – Virtue and Sin
Day Six
The light shining on her face signaled the start of the new day, and she opened her eyes, the silence of her room comforting her. No beeping monitors, no doctors or nurses to disturb her. It had just been a very realistic nightmare. She held her hand up, happy to be able to do so without resistance. She laughed softly to herself. She was fine, which could probably be considered something of a miracle, given her stupidity last night. Granted, it wasn’t complete stupidity. She’d stayed up for an hour on the roof, staring at the stars in introspection, all while nomming down a massive amount of food until she almost felt ill. All of this was in preparation for the real stupidity: mass siphoning the guards she’d touched.
Jade had been hoping her new ability would negate some of the massive drawbacks from siphoning so many people, since it had helped so much with the counts earlier. She’d literally felt almost nothing from skimming the top off of two very high leveled people. Perhaps that and her realization that she was here because of envy had led her to try and bite off another huge batch. Sneezing a few times, she glanced around, trying to see if she’d breathed in dust or something. Not seeing anything, she shrugged it off and went back to her happy perusal.
Still, as she stood up and stared in the mirror, she grinned, because she was okay. She was more than okay! She was practically glowing, and she sang softly to herself, “Oh, what a delightful moooorning. Oh, what a marvelous day!” Laughing, she
pranced around the room, gathering her clothes and heading to the washroom. The inn was oddly quiet, but she ignored that in favor of taking a nice relaxing bath while she checked her profile.
Admiring the fact that her skin felt softer and smoother, that her hair seemed stronger and shinier, that her bust had gone up in size again, and that overall, she now had visibly defined muscles when she flexed, she giggled giddily and finally pulled up her floating blue screens.
Name: Jade Winward
Age: 18
Strength: 12.21
Dexterity: 13.11
Constitution: 12.19
Intelligence: 18.31
Magic: 13.76
Charisma: 12.44
Luck: 15.19
Special Abilities: Adaptable, Siphon
Skills: Accessorycraft, Acrobatics, Appraisal, Archery, Athletics, Blood Magic, Bluff, Compulsion Magic, Danger Sense, Dark Magic, Deception, Diplomacy, Dodge, Earth Magic, Eating, Engineering, Fire Magic, Glasscraft, Haggle, Healing Magic, Heat Resistance, Herbology, Illusion Magic, Information Gathering, Insight, Intimidate, Life Magic, Light Armor, Light Magic, Lightning Magic, Mana Sense, Mathematics, Mental Fortitude, Metal Magic, Modeling, Nature Magic, Navigation, Pain Tolerance, Perception, Perseverance, Persuasion, Running, Sense Motive, Singing, Sleight of Hand, Small Blades, Speed Reading, Stealth, Tailoring, Tracking, Unarmed Combat, Walking, Water Magic, Wind Magic, Writing
Accessorycraft
Beginner 4
33%
Acrobatics
Beginner 9
56%
Appraisal
Intermediate 5
14%
Archery
Beginner 8
24%
Athletics
Intermediate 4
92%
Blood Magic
Intermediate 3
3%
Bluff
Intermediate 4
52%
Compulsion Magic
Beginner 6
92%
Danger Sense
Beginner 5
6%
Dark Magic
Beginner 3
93%
Deception
Intermediate 4
2%
Diplomacy
73%
Dodge
Beginner 9
96%
Earth Magic
Beginner 10
6%
Eating
Intermediate 3
27%
Engineering
Beginner 5
92%
Fire Magic
Beginner 8
21%
Glasscraft
Beginner 4
70%
Haggle
Intermediate 2
81%
Healing Magic
Intermediate 5
25%
Heat Resistance
Beginner 5
52%
Herbology
Beginner 10
79%
Illusion Magic
Beginner 4
10%
Information Gathering
Intermediate 9
20%
Insight
Intermediate 6
47%
Intimidate
Beginner 10
83%
Life Magic
Beginner 8
23%
Light Armor
Beginner 7
83%
Light Magic
Intermediate 7
10%
Lightning Magic
Beginner 6
15%
Mana Sense
Beginner 9
87%
Mathematics
Beginner 7
4%
Mental Fortitude
Intermediate 6
14%
Metal Magic
Intermediate 1
88%
Modeling
Beginner 6
92%
Nature Magic
Beginner 4
Navigation
Intermediate 2
39%
Pain Tolerance
Beginner 7
40%
Perception
Intermediate 7
9%
Perseverance
Intermediate 5
28%
Persuasion
Intermediate 5
16%
Running
Beginner 4
53%
Sense Motive
Intermediate 5
6%
Singing
Beginner 4
10%
Sleight of Hand
Intermediate 2
73%
Small Blades
Beginner 7
0%
Speed Reading
Intermediate 7
78%
Stealth
Intermediate 1
7%
Tailoring
Beginner 8
18%
Tracking
Beginner 4
58%
Unarmed Combat
Beginner 6
57%
Walking
Intermediate 7
16%
Water Magic
Intermediate 4
61%
Wind Magic
Beginner 10
69%
Writing
Beginner 2
15%
It was a good thing no one else could see her sheet, because even she could tell it was absolutely ridiculous for someone who’d only been in the world for five full days. She had to laugh that her three highest skills were information gathering, speed reading, walking, and only then did light magic come in. The simple things in life really were the best!
She happily noted the values of her new skills. She’d siphoned accessorycraft and tracking, so she expected those on her list, but danger sense was something that had appeared on its own after her encounter with the doppelganger. It wasn’t something she’d seen on anyone else’s list before. She was curious as to how it worked, but just chalked it up to spidey senses tingling. Or maybe it was something that only came when you had insight, mana sense, and perception? Did skills spawn new skills?
Deciding that was a useless path to tread since there were no obvious answers, she quickly got out of the bath and ready for the day. Given that she was going to be active and healing today, she opted to tie her hair back in a nice french braid while picking out clothes that were loose and comfortable to move in with short sleeves. Skipping down the hall towards the common room, she sang softly, “I’m walking on sunshine, wooooah, and don’t it feel good!” She jumped down the last step with a grin before it faded as she looked blankly around the common room.
She could vaguely hear the sounds of someone washing the dishes in the kitchen, but otherwise it was completely empty. Oh, there were a few empty plates that looked like they hadn’t been cleared off in the far end of the room, but that was it. Making her way to the kitchen, she poked her head in and saw Kaylee and Jessica washing the dishes. Clearing her throat, she called out softly, “Morning!”
“Oh, Jade, you’re awake! Let me get you something to eat.” They’d both turned to look at her, but Jessica was the one who rinsed off her hands and started to bustle around the kitchen, gathering things for her.
“Thanks… Just one question. Where is everyone?”
Kaylee laughed at her quizzical confusement. “Oh sweetheart, they’re already at Dracona! Eric told us you were exempted from the morning workout. I was actually just going to go make sure you were awake in a minute. You’ve got just under an hour to eat and get up there.” Jade had taken a seat at a nearby counter, remembering that she had very vehemently opted against going to the earliest classes.
She hadn’t thought it might isolate her so much. Ah well, she
’d be healing them, so she’d still see people in her armload of classes. She’d asked Eric what the normal course load was, and he’d told her that most people had less than half the amount of afternoon classes she did. So really, she didn’t feel too bad about missing one hour of general fitness.
Jessica plopped a plate full of food in front of her, smiling. “Seems like you’ve got a few admirers. Kaylee was asked by no less than five people where you were.” Jade paused shoveling food in her mouth to laugh a bit at that. Admirers?
“That’s unlikely. They were probably just curious.” She smiled and went back to eating. She wasn’t a bag of bones anymore, but she didn’t think she was anything particularly special either. It was probably Will, Jackson, Evan, or Adam who was asking, since she’d been eating breakfast with them the last few days. Or was it day? So much had happened in such a short period of time that she sort of felt like everything was blurred together.
“Speaking of curious, how did you do your hair like that? It’s so pretty.” Kaylee was now mooning over her french braid. “You always have the prettiest hairstyles, but this one would work so well to keep everything out of the way.”
Jade laughed. “That was kinda the point. It’s simple.” She pulled out her pocket watch, glancing at the time. She still had forty-five minutes, and it was around a twenty-five minute walk, she figured. Grinning, she declared, “Here, I’ll do your hair really quick, and you guys can watch me do the other’s so you learn how to do it. It’s not hard.” She pushed away her already empty plate because she’d unconsciously wolfed it down as they were talking.
“Really?” Kaylee’s eyes were bugged out as if she’d just won the lottery, and both Jade and Jessica burst into laughter as Jade nodded, trying not to cry because she was laughing so hard. Kaylee lightly whapped them on the arm and reprimanded, “Stop laughing!” This, of course, only made them laugh more.