Adapt (A Touch of Power Book 2) Read online

  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

  Intermediate 6

  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

  83%

  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.