Parasite King

He'd already increased his mana pool by 60 in a month, compared to only 35 the first few months before he'd level up. Maybe it wasn't much now, but over time it would only grow.

After meeting his two guests, Jonah had come to a realization. He'd been slacking off. He had been passively whittling away his time here, hoping that someone would come and rescue him.

He could try and argue that he was trying to survive, that he didn't have the time or energy to think about escape. He could even say that that the soul-strain had affected his thinking process. That it didn't let him focus or think clearly. Hell, he was pretty sure Gwen and Reggy thought he was either mad or broken.

Reggy, in particular, talked down to him like a police or military officer might with a particularly dense citizen. Gwen spoke to him like he was a teenager that couldn't be trusted with responsibility (despite being several years younger than him). He guessed he didn't make the best first impression.

Not that he really cared. He was still slightly suspicious of the two. His soul-strain addled mind had even thought they were just hallucinations at first. Or maybe some trick by the Gamemaster to taunt him.

No, he could blame a lot of things for what he'd done and how he'd acted up to that point. But in the end, he knew the real reason.

He was afraid.

Not just of the general situation, or the giant monster snake that had eaten him; he was afraid of himself, fearful of taking responsibility. Afraid of messing up.

He was waiting for someone else to come along and take the reigns from him, to point him in the direction he needed to go. It had always been like that, whether it was following his uncles around on their crazy adventures, or chasing after the shadow of his mother. He'd always been a follower, not a leader.

Even when he finally had the chance to take his life into his own hands, to step out into the light and become something more, he'd let the clinic slip away. Oh, he wasn't a slacker when it came to his work, certainly. He'd put in the effort to keep the clinic running and worked more hours than anyone else on the staff.

But he'd always left someone else in charge. He'd always let others make the decisions and point them where they should go. And it had cost him everything his mother had built.

Now he was faced with a choice; would he continue to simply follow orders and hide in the shadows? Or would he seize the power in front of him and do the things only he could do?

As he meditated on these things, he continuously drew in more mana until he hit roughly 130%, the current maximum he could stand with his injury. Jonah's body creaked as he stood up, and headed around back to see Reggy working once at his table, methodically cataloging and organizing the worm parts. It looked like he'd switched out with Gwen for demo duty while he was meditating.

Jonah's lips twitched as he watched the older man shift through the parts like he owned them. Nonetheless, he held his tongue. He didn't really appreciate the man commandeering his workspace. Despite that, Jonah wasn't selfish or foolish enough to think that he could make better use of the materials than a dedicated Craftsman. More so, one with 20 levels on him.

He recognized that they could be put to better use for mankind as a whole than he was able to offer, and to selfishly claim 'they were his, so only he had a right to them' was irresponsible. Besides, if what they had told him about Billy was true, he was sure he'd see his fair share in time.

He stifled down his complaints and approached the man, speaking in a steady and clear voice.

[Jonah] - "Sir Reginald..."

Reggy continued to work on the materials, changing and shifting them in ways that Jonah could only dream. He didn't even bother to look up at Jonah while he spoke. Though his voice was formal and without any annoyance, reminding Jonah of how the nurses in his clinic often answered their patient's owners as they finished their paperwork.

[Reggy] - "Yes, Mr. Hiiland, how can I help you?"

[Jonah] - "I wanted to ask for your assistance with something."

[Reggy] - "I'm afraid I'm quite busy at the moment. It'll have to wait until I'm finished here, I'm afraid. We still have a lot to do if we're going to escape any time soon."

[Jonah] - "Actually, it's about that. I have a few skills that might significantly increase our chances of getting out of here. But I've never been able to figure them out. I don't have your information network, so I wanted to see if you might have some ideas.

With that, Jonah pulled up his class skill list and made it visible to the man. Reggy, for his part, sighed and put his tools down before glancing over with a slightly annoyed look. As he read further on, however, the annoyance quickly turned to intrigue. Reggy raised an eyebrow as he scanned the skills once more, the gears in his head beginning to turn.

[Reggy] - "Hmmm, Interesting. You said you got this class from the Leviathan Worm's soulstone? We've seen soulstone classes before, and they do tend to be more rare and powerful than store-bought or sponsored classes."

As he spoke, he looked towards the building rapidly crumbling under the unstoppable assault of the E-Ranked Goddess.

[Reggy] - "Well, most of the time. That being said, they also tend to be much more focused and restricted than others. I can see that here as well. Most classes, even Crafting classes, tend to get at least one attack skill, or at the very least, something to defend themselves with. This could be a spell, ability, or even a passive like weapon handling.

Your class, though, seems to be entirely reliant on others. Your level bonuses are impressive, I admit, mana, in particular, is over twice the highest I've seen before. But without anyone to use your skills on, you're not much different than a non-contestant.

[Graft] is very interesting, though. I've seen skills that can copy other's before, even if at a lower level, but GIVING abilities to someone else? That's something new entirely... Once we get out of here, we'll have to run some tests and determine what it's capabilities and limitations are.

I'm assuming you're having an issue with the 'attunement' condition?"

Jonah felt himself frown as he listened to the man speak like he'd agreed to any kind of testing. Still, he gritted his teeth and cut off Reggy's ramblings; he still needed the man's help, it would be pointless to push back now.

[Jonah] - "... Yes, that's an issue — kind of hard to experiment when there's nothing to experiment on. I figure if we're able to figure out this attunement, then even the class boosts might give me enough kick to really do some damage. Imagine if I could boost both of your powers by 60%?"

[Reggy] - "Yes, if the sudden influx of power doesn't outright kill you. But there is some wisdom in what you're saying, I think. Luckily, I might have some idea of what to do.

Powerful, System recognized equipment can't just be equipped by anyone. Items, especially those of a more powerful or supernatural nature, have their own 'life', for lack of a better term. A user has to spend time with the tool, slowly adjust and adapt to it. With time, they begin to resonate with each other, and the user can fully draw out its latent power."

[Jonah] - "What? So you're saying I'm supposed to 'equip' people? I don't think you're supposed to take 'beat a mother****** with another mother******' literally."

Reggy's eyebrow twitched at the interruption, but he continued on.

[Reggy] - "No, not 'equip'. But I think a similar concept is being used here. Attunement sounds very much like what happens when someone resonates with their equipment. The name of your class is another clue, 'Symbiote', you and those you attune to work in symbiosis, each increasing the other's power and drawing out their potential.

If I had to guess, attunement might be somewhere between equipment and Auras."

[Jonah] - "Auras?"

As Jonah asked, a wave of power washed over him. It felt like the sun was hanging high over his head on a cloudless day. But instead of making him sweat or feel tired, it filled him with boundless energy. He felt like he could do a 10-mile marathon and end up barely winded.

As it happened, his [Mana Sight] picked up something strange. A wave of glowing mana erupted from Reggy in the shape of a bubble, enveloping Jonah and extending outward for another 20 or so meters. As Jonah watched the mana swirl around him, he felt his own mana leak from his body, mix with the strange bubble, and be reabsorbed, sending waves of energy through his body.

[Reggy] - "Auras are skills that project mana outward to create a localized effect. My own, [Solar Winds] restores vitality and offers a tiny healing bonus. A wide variety of auras exist, and we're still experimenting to determine their best use. Still, they all operate under the same principals. Imbuing your mana with a set idea or concept, good or bad, then projecting it out, where it's absorbed by the target.

My guess is that attunement works in a similar way to equipment resonance in that you have to form a 'connection' with your target. Auras might be a way to do this, or maybe mana manipulation in a similar way. Its something we'll have to explore later. I'll talk to Gwen and see if..."

Suddenly, Reggy's focus shifted as he stared at what Jonah assumed was a prompt from the System. Reggy's expression shifted from surprise, to confusion and finally to excitement. About that time, the distant sound of demolition stopped as well. The air next to Reggy flickered, and Gwen appeared next to him, visibly excited.

[Gwen] - "Reggy!..."

[Reggy] - "I assume that means you got the message too?"

[Gwen] - "Yes!"

[Jonah] - "What message?"

Gwen simply grinned and showed Jonah the notification,

[Gwen] - "Looks like we might be getting out of here sooner than we thought. We got to pick up the pace."