Since I wasn’t on duty for the Power Brigade, walking around in my uniform was generally discouraged. While I might end up fighting some crime, it was quite easy to rapidly reveal my stuff. It was merely invisible, after all. I wondered what sort of compromises Francois had to make for such things, or if necessity had simply provided inspiration. It seemed to be a common feature for our outfits now. I barely even noticed I had extra layers on, too. Comfort was something Francois had focused on from the start- along with effectively acting as armor, of course.

  Midnight was with me, his own Celmothian suit similarly hidden- though through different means, I imagined. Francois was a super tech focused on clothing whereas Midnight’s Celmothian combat suit was all based on real technology. Highly advanced adaptive material that Earth’s standard technology was a century behind. My old world simply would never have been on that track at all. Especially since it didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

  “I think this circle thing is going to do stuff soon,” I commented to Midnight. “I figure we can catch it active and pick up some proper world resonance. If it tries to snatch more people, maybe we can anchor them.”

  Midnight nodded seriously. “That might be good. If you think it’s likely to become active again soon, should we get Extra out here?”

  I shrugged. “I guess. They’ll probably make a whole big deal out of it, but I suppose that’s the point. Let’s see if we can get a better approximate once we spot it.”

  We began in the location where it had been wandering around yesterday. Because it hadn’t actively done anything, I had to use Arcane Sight to pick out any signs of a trail. The magic circle thing sort of wriggled around outside of the physical plane, and it didn’t feel particularly potent when inactive.

  Fortunately, it didn’t move fast. I wondered if it could even connect to anywhere that wasn’t New Bay, given the local state of things. Weak barriers, high mana, excessive probability extremes… the sorts of things that made a powered city instead of just a city. Supernatural happenings were just more comfortable here.

  It took us about half an hour to catch up. That was actually quite a bit compared to before. “It’s sprightly,” I commented.

  “Indeed,” Midnight agreed. “Even I can tell it’s increasing in power.”

  “I’ll ask for the nearest support.”

  -----

  I was quite certain that Extra had far more agents than I came into contact with during my frequent interactions. For the most part, however, I tended to interact with the same few people. Zorphax and Malaliel had been the first to interact with me, and never seemed particularly displeased with my quirks. They usually didn’t do as much field work, though.

  That was probably how I ended up with Inasyah. The werewolf angel had fought alongside me before, so I was not displeased that she was chosen. That said, it was a little bit…

  “I think we’re scaring people away,” I commented. I knew people tended to be nervous around me, even if people tried to pretend that wasn’t the case. Only people that didn’t know me, but people were naturally wary of aliens. Which I was, more or less.

  “That does seem to be the case,” she commented. “I will return in a moment.”

  We conveniently happened to be in a park. She wandered off into a bathroom… and someone that felt a lot like her returned.

  “Huh,” I said. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

  She looked more or less like a human. Mid tone skin. Brown hair. No wings. More relevantly, her Extra uniform had been replaced by street clothes. At least, it appeared to be. I wouldn’t actually be able to tell, because Power Brigade usually opted for high tech vests and the like. Not super tech, so it rarely felt like anything to me.

  “It is perfectly reasonable for us to be able to do this,” Inasyah commented. “After all, how else are we to infiltrate societies?”

  “... Is that a thing angels are supposed to do?”

  Inasyah just shook her head. It wasn’t actually a no, but perhaps more that she didn’t want to talk about it.

  She was from one of the brands that could lie. Though that was just like any normal person, so it wasn’t really something to bother with. It just meant certain assumptions were wrong.

  “Lucky thing it’s in a park, huh?” Midnight asked. “It hasn’t wandered into any private property or anything.”

  We kept our words rather vague as we followed the magic circle. Inasyah was simply following our lead, because she had only just begun to be able to sense it as it continued to grow in power.

  People passed over it all the time. It really wouldn’t have been possible to stop that, as it crossed over streets full of cars and the like. Yelling at people to avoid something they couldn’t see wasn’t a great method of getting them to actually do anything.

  We continued to monitor the situation. I was quite certain something was going to happen soon. The power had hit a peak some time before. However, group after group had passed by and there was no trouble. Maybe I grew a little bit relaxed. Either way, I wasn’t ready when a group of teens passed by.

  The ‘circle’ began to wriggle, stretching out underneath them. But also, some of it seemed to lunge towards us. Not everyone in the group seemed to be within the area, but I would have tried to protect them all anyway.

  Before I could even think of Dimensional Anchor or Multicasting, however, the circle became real, and a blinding light rose up from it, surrounding us. I suddenly felt unable to move or mobilize mana. There was a familiar sensation and then… I was under a starry sky.

  Some people were saying something. A new language that I’d barely encountered hit my ears. There was a man in robes- some sort of magicy guy- talking to a woman. She had some amount of power too. Maybe druidic? It didn’t quite feel right. Not a class, then. Probably.

  There were a number of others standing around with varying levels of power. Clearly, this place had mana and they could use it- but nothing else felt right. I was so focused on trying to pick out their words that I almost missed them casting some sort of big spell on all of us.

  I reflexively resisted. I didn’t like unknown magic, and I hadn’t had time to learn any of this. It was wrestling with some magic in my head, and I was tempted to throw more magic at it. However, with so many people watching I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to act unpredictably.

  The teens were freaking out. “What’s happening?” one girl cried out. The other three that ended up around us weren’t any more calm.

  The important looking woman yelled something. They calmed down. Midnight was just about as confused with me- and similarly struggling with something. I could feel the Translation spell in my head trying to win a war while also translating what I heard.

  It took a while for it to lock in, but with my guidance it began to eat the mana from the other spell. While the one they cast was pretty big, it wasn’t very good. Enduring, maybe? But not strongly reactive. Rather than fighting, it had just plopped itself in and filled up the area, doing little more beyond that.

  “... I trust that explanation will suffice,” the woman finished.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  No. No it would not. Come on lady, say it again!

  “Summoned heroes?” one of the boys commented. “But none of us are actual heroes!” he looked around, seeing two strangers. “Right?”

  “Right,” I nodded. Good job with your exposition, kid. He was probably older than Jerome, but he was still a kid. He was certainly weaker, magically.

  The man held up an orb. “The princess has declared that your potential must be checked so that we can set you on the right path.”

  The woman next to him nodded once. So she was the princess, then?

  They were way too hyped up. She wasn’t some world devastating beauty or anything, just carrying far too much fancy jewelry and expensive clothing. I was still not familiar with every sort of enchantment, but I had the general feeling her stuff would barely even take a hit. Francois would have words with her designers, if he ever got the chance.

  “Come forth!” the man said. “Declare your name and be tested.”

  One of the girls stepped up. “G-Graciana,” she said, placing her hand on the orb. At least she had the right instincts for that… probably.

  I wondered if the name was important. I paid very close attention, but I really only felt Divination magic. There was some text I couldn’t read displayed in the orb. “Advanced alchemical affinity,” the man declared, almost bored. “Acceptable.”

  Wow, they just yanked a bunch of people through to their world and they were going to be judgy about it? If people were arranged differently, I might think they were asking for a Meteor Swarm. And if it wouldn’t break the whole structure we were standing on. Some sort of tower? The peak of a castle, maybe?

  Next was Mile. Apparently, he had advanced spatial affinity. Raman had some sort of affinity for javelins, which was… sure less magical sounding. Though not really much different from Ayat’s affinity for the rapier. She didn’t seem pleased about that, though. Knowing little more than her name and her surface level appearance, I couldn’t say why. Maybe she just wanted magic.

  Next was me, it seemed. Inasyah hesitated slightly, so I approached. The guy only briefly glanced at Midnight on my shoulder, then held out the orb to me.

  If it tried to do anything unpleasant I was going to smash it. I could grab this guy’s wrist and toss him into the princess. Maybe take them both off the tower. Midnight could feel my readiness and would be ready to cover my back. His tail told me so as he turned on my shoulder.

  “Turlough,” I said.

  The orb was a little bit tingly. Honestly, it wasn’t that strong. Just some divination type stuff, but it didn’t delve very deep.

  “Advanced spatial affinity as well,” he said, looking disappointed. “But you are so much older… and clearly not the correct type.”

  Nobody would have faulted me for punching him in the face, would they? But I was already resolved to be peaceful and calm. I couldn’t help but reveal some displeasure, but that was still a restrained reaction.

  What a jerk. He was like twice my age. Just because I wasn’t a kid he acted like I couldn’t learn.

  No wait, I was already a fully realized mage. What did potential even mean in that context? Did he just misread Advanced Spatial Mastery? Where was the rest?

  I wasn’t going to ask. Inasyah looked quite more relaxed as she approached.

  “Edel,” she said flatly.

  She laid her hand on the orb. Mr. magic tester read off her result. “Advanced dark magic affinity.” He didn’t seem to be concerned about that. In fact, he looked bored. “How disappointing, to not have any superior talents among your ranks.”

  Midnight licked the side of his paw. It was the sort of thing he did when pretending to be a normal cat. I was pretty sure he was physiologically capable of achieving similar results, but they did just have real hygiene options so it wasn’t something Celmothians usually did.

  I felt a tiny bit of magic. Mr. magic tester was still holding the orb, not really paying attention. I read the results- Translation was in full swing, and clearly at least a handful of these people knew how to read the local language.

  Basic energy talent. And he had the gall to complain about us?

  I kept my head relatively still, but I focused on the structure around us. How had they managed to pull in six people? Maybe the orb just didn’t work at all, but assuming it was correct this guy wasn’t good enough for this task.

  Oh, and Midnight and I obviously counted as just one. So I wasn’t giving them credit for seven.

  “Training will begin tomorrow morning,” the man with poor potential commented. “Kadresh will see you to your chambers. He will meet you down the stairs.”

  Inasyah and I were getting a lot of nervous glances from the teens. “Things will be fine,” I said. Normally, that would be a lie. They did relax slightly regardless.

  The princess was already scurrying ahead, and she glanced back for a moment, a suspicious look on her face. What was wrong with reassuring some kids?

  Apparently not much, as she continued to stomp off a moment later. I still pondered it. Ah, I’d spoken English. I probably wasn’t supposed to be able to do that right now.

  We walked down uneven stone stairs where we were met by a tall, thin man who bowed stiffly and not terribly sincerely. “Greetings. I am Majordomo Kadresh. I will be escorting the summoned heroes to your chambers.”

  We passed by many large doors. Fancy hallways with tapestries everywhere. Suits of armor. Knights. Fancy archways with gold decorated rooms. Servant quarters. Guard barracks. And then… our place.

  A small square room with three rooms branching off of it. The entire limited space was taken up by a dining room table, or at least I would have called it that. “There are three rooms. You may make your own arrangements.”

  Then the minordomo left.

  “Wow,” I said. “What an asshole.” The door was barely closed.

  “We have to share?” one of the boys complained. … Ramen?

  “We’re sharing,” said Lana or whatever, grabbing the other girl. The alchemical affinity.

  “But wait…” said the other guy. Meter or something. “Doesn’t that mean those two…?”

  “We’re adults,” I said.

  “And we wouldn’t do anything suspicious with a cat watching,” she commented.

  So we were going with cat? I was wondering if this was time to explain why we were here, but apparently not.

  “Hopefully the rooms are nicer,” Ayat commented. “This is pretty poor treatment for heroes.”

  They were not. Bunks with thin mattresses, small standing closets, and tiny windows. The whole thing was more like a closet, really.

  … I could make better. I had made better, even with my first casting of Shelter.

  People picked out their rooms. The teens, I mean. We just got the last room. The dirtiest one. I was going to have to actually cast Clean. Seriously, were there bed bugs?

  “I guess… we go to sleep?” Lana asked.

  Nobody stated the obvious, so… “It’s like two o’ clock,” I pointed out. “In the afternoon. I don’t think these summoners know about time zones.”

  “So what do we do?” Ramen asked. “They have guards out in the hall. I get the feeling we’re not welcome to leave.”

  “Strategy,” I said. “Also, isn’t everyone excited to get powers? Because that’s what it sounds like.”

  I would have been excited. I think random teens would too. If not for the whole abduction thing.

  “What’s the point?!” Ramen asked. “We’re stuck here forever!”

  “Didn’t you have spatial magic affinity?” Ayat pointed out. “Maybe you can teleport us back…?”

  He made a face. I think he was trying to do magic. He had no idea what he was doing, though. “It doesn’t work.”

  Wow. After just that?

  “If he can’t do it, I’ll figure it out,” I said. “But they did mention they were going to teach us tomorrow.”

  “Can it, old man!” Ramen said. “You think I can’t do it?”

  He stepped up on me, then shoved. He was the one that fell backwards, falling over the table.

  “I’m twenty-six,” I said. The other three still gave me looks that indicated that was old. “Why don’t we all sit down and have a proper chat? It doesn’t seem like our hosts are going to be particularly forthcoming at the moment.”