Even with almost every inch of my body covered, I felt naked. Equipping my body with mana might as well be just using my hands.

I suppose it's because I can feel everything my mana touches.

Kalli smiled. You get used to that.

I thought you said you couldn’t feel things you touched with your mana?

The redhead didn’t answer but turned noticeably red.I didn’t have time to think about that now.We were being led through the repository by a group of angry-looking guards.Shara had gone off to see the administrator.Her bodyguards blocked the building security from approaching the girl.

That didn’t stop them from leading Kalli and I to the back. When we got there, the guard held my wrist and guided me to a door, saying, “This way. Please wait in here.”

Kalli noticed that they were separating us and insisted, “You don’t need to separate us. I’m going with him.”

The exasperated guard stepped in front of the angry redhead, “Listen, ma’am. They are sending for a specialist to try and get the artifact off of him. The process will likely leave him naked. I’m very sorry but I just can’t allow you in there.”

“Oh”, Kalli muttered, allowing the guard to guide her to another room.

Shara sent reassurance. Don’t worry Melvin. I am talking to the administrator now. Worst case scenario, we will just have to buy that artifact.

You can do that?

She laughed. It wouldn’t be the first time.

You got a relic stuck on you before?

The laughing continued, only slightly more hysterical. No, silly. It wouldn’t be the first time we paid to make a problem go away.

I sat anxiously by myself in a room with nothing but a chair. Shara gave me an update. It’s going to take a little while. The only dispeller on hand is female and they are looking for a male for you.

I wasn’t entirely sure what would be more embarrassing. Stripping in front of a man or a woman. I preferred neither, but apparently, that wasn’t an option.

Can’t I just pay for the relic and keep it?

Shara’s reply was serious. If it were that simple, we would have already done it. Very little is known about that artifact. It could be cursed. Also, the fact that it carried an S rank means that the curse could be powerful. They don’t want to take any chances if they can help it.

Sitting by myself was giving me anxiety. I wanted to ask if Kalli could sit with me, but I didn’t want everyone to think of me as a kid who didn’t want to be alone.

I decided to distract myself by playing with my new toy. It was mine after all. It had chosen me. I funneled mana down the sleeve of the hoodie and willed it to form a boxing glove on my closed fist. The red and blue material of the glove formed just like I had imagined it.

Too soft.

It hardened into a spiked gauntlet. No matter what I did it still felt like I wasn’t wearing anything. I was still clenching my gauntleted fist when a man wearing a yellow robe walked into the room. He opened his mouth to greet me but paused when he saw what I was doing. When he spoke again, he said, “Tell me what you are experiencing right now. Can you control that?”

I nodded silently. He closed the distance between us and took my gauntleted hand in his. I could feel his touch as though he were holding my hand. He noticed my expression and asked, “Can you feel that?”

I nodded again. He asked, “What else can you make it do?”

I shrugged. He prodded me, “Change its shape into something else.”

With a thought, I transformed the gauntlet into a sword, causing the man to jump back, “Impressive. Very impressive.”

He continued to size me up, tugging on the hoodie to observe how it adhered to my skin. After finishing his testing he took a step back and stood in silence.

I reached out to the group.

What is he going to do?

Shara sent reassurance. Don’t worry. He’s only trying to help you.

I held my breath as the standoff continued. The man took several more minutes before finally coming to a decision, “Alright son, hold up your arms.”

I did as requested and he stepped forward once again. This time he pulled up the sleeves of his robe and stretched his hands out toward me. He closed his eyes and spoke words of magic.

“Erzsatze”

I felt it rather than saw it. His mana tentatively touched my shirt looking for an opening. It attempted to mix with the mana in the same manner that mine had when I first took control of the artifact. I felt the armor react on its own. It siphoned mana from me to power itself and lashed out at the mage in a flash of white light.

His robe billowed as he sailed back through the empty room and crashed into the wall. I stood there in shock with my hands still raised, unsure of what to do. The mage slowly climbed back to his feet and dusted himself off, “That didn’t work. Did you do that or was the armor responding by itself?”

I wasn’t sure how much to tell him. But it was true, I didn’t do it, even if it had used my mana. I replied, “It wasn’t me. The artifact did it.”

He nodded absentmindedly and muttered, “Self defense mechanism. Interesting indeed.”

I waited for him to say something else, but when he didn’t offer anything, I asked, “So what’s going to happen next? What happens if you can’t get this thing off of me?”

He twirled his beard around his finger, “That all depends. We need to determine if the item is cursed. We might need to hold you for observation. We have already determined that the item allowed you to claim ownership of it. That does have meaning when an unclaimed relic chooses a master. Legally speaking, ancient relics belong to themselves and are free to assign ownership to whomever they please. We cannot allow it to cause harm to your health though. For example, if you can’t remove it to use the restroom that would be a problem.”

The thought of being trapped inside of a mana suit made me panic. I thought about what I would do when I had to pee. The mage looked down and turned away, averting his gaze, “Well. That's one problem solved.”

I looked down and realized my shorts had vanished. I blushed and gave a thought to make the artifact cover me again. The mage sighed and announced, “I’m afraid that we are going to have to bring in some higher-level help to look into this. I’d like to get you a room nearby for at least a day so we can run some more tests. Would that be okay?”

I thought about it, “Well. I’ll have to ask my mom. She would worry if I didn’t come home. Also, Kalli might want to stay out here too if I have to.”

The man nodded as he made his way to the door, “Let me know what you need. We will make the arrangements.”

Kalli, they want me to stay here overnight. Do you want to stay too?

She didn’t answer right away. Shara did though. Make sure they put you up at the Hilton. They have some good magical rooms reserved for awakened.

I didn’t want to stay if Kalliphae went home. I tried her again.

Come on Kalli. It will be fun. Hotels are amazing. They have this thing called room service.

Kalliphae Hellquist has left the group

My heart stopped. She hadn’t left the group since I first learned we could be in one. Something was wrong. I jumped to my feet and slammed into the door. It held up and I fell on my butt. I tried the knob on the second attempt to discover that the door wasn’t locked. I looked around the hall and found two doors. I opened the first one and found a supply closet. The second revealed an empty room similar to the one I had been held in.

Shara sounded urgent when she sent me her thoughts. Melvin, what’s wrong? You’re freaking out. Why did Kalli leave the group?

I don’t know. Where did they take her?

She tried to calm me down with her thoughts. I’m sending someone to check on her now. Try to relax.

I heard footsteps coming my way as Sebastian ran by, looking in the empty room. His gruff voice in group chat startled me. Miss Hellquist is not in her room, Lady Shaw.

I felt Shara start to panic. Moments later the room turned red and emergency klaxons sounded. I ran back the way we had come, hoping to find Kalli around every corner. I checked the rooms in the repository for any sign of the pyromancer. It was disorienting not to be able to see her on the map.

I ran to the entrance and even looked around outside. There was no sign of Kalli. I flinched when I felt a hand touch my arm. It turned out to be Shara. Don’t worry, Melvin. We will find her. I already called Daddy. He is getting some detectives to investigate. You might not know this, but The Shaw family is the biggest family name in San Diego. We will find her.

I paced around the hotel room frantically. The call to Mrs. Hodgins had not gone well. She freaked out. I couldn’t help but feel that it was all my fault yet again. She didn’t say anything to accuse me but she got quiet and suddenly had to go.

Mom wasn’t going to be home from work for several hours, so there was little point in trying to contact her. I did leave a message on the machine. I made up a friend and told her I was spending the night. I wondered if she could buy it. I’d never spent the night anywhere before.

The hotel was very nice. Under normal circumstances, I would have already ordered room service, tried out the hot tub, and scoured the TV for programming that I wasn’t supposed to be watching. Unfortunately, the whole world had come crashing down around me in a Kalli-colored haze.

I needed to do something. Waiting for The Shaws to rescue Kalliphae was taking too long.

I could go to the guild?

I worried for a moment that I was broadcasting, but when Shara and her bodyguards left the group, the group had been disbanded. The guild was useless. Even more so than The Shaws. Nobody knew where Kalli went. It was up to me to find her.

I tinkered with my map. I wanted to add Kalli to the map the same way I had added treasure.

ERROR: FORBIDDEN ENTRY

I frowned. Why couldn’t she just show up and tell me where she was?

This whole rescue business would be much easier if we were still in a group.

I thought of everything I knew about grouping. Kalli told me that you had to be close to the other person to invite them. Did she leave the group? Was she forced to? Was there a way for me to tell what she did? Then a long-lost thought hit me.

Isn’t there a way to be in a group, permanently?

I excitedly took out my M-Phone, “Hey, PAA. I need you. How do you marry someone?”

PAA cleared its throat to answer me, “Ahem. The first step to a successful proposal has to do with the purchase of a ring. Then you must approach the girl’s father and…”

“Shut up PAA”, I shouted, “I’m serious here. Can you tell me the system requirements for marriage?”

PAA hesitated before replying, “I’m afraid I cannot help with that sir. Might I suggest a tutorial?”

“How do I request a tutorial?”, I bellowed.

The phone AI quickly explained, “The tutorial may be requested whenever you are attempting to use a system function that you do not understand. For marriage, might I suggest getting down on one knee and proposing?”

I groaned. Kalliphae wasn’t with me. Would it work by myself? I dropped to my knee and spoke clearly, “Kalliphae Hellquist, will you marry me?”

I was answered by silence. I threw the phone back in my fanny pack.

Worthless piece of junk.

I decided to try editing my traits.

Skills

Traits

World Editor

Bloodline M

Manipulation

True Sight

Buff (Edited)

Enhanced Regeneration

Enhanced Mana Regeneration

Absorption

Wife: Kalliphae Hellquist (Edited)

ERROR: INAPPROPRIATE SYSTEM TRAIT

THERE IS A TUTORIAL AVAILABLE FOR THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT SYSTEM

WOULD YOU LIKE TO TAKE THIS TUTORIAL?

I mentally clicked YES. The same cat-girl from the first tutorial materialized out of thin air. She walked toward me and poked a finger into my chest, pushing me back onto the couch, “So, you’d like to get married. You are a little young for marriage, but I suppose you manipulators think you have all the answers.”

I leaned forward, “I don’t want to get married. I want to connect one of its features using my other skills.”

Aya blinked and asked, “Which feature would you know to know about?”

“Someone told me that a married couple is always in a group?”, I stated, “How do I do that?”

The AI corrected me, “Married couples have access to a chat engine that works separately from group chat. The feature automatically connects when the nuptials are first consummated.”

I was getting frustrated. I didn’t have time to consummate anything. I asked, “How is that set up? Where would I find that in the menu? Can you show me what it should look like?”

The cat-girl was starting to look frustrated with me, and I couldn’t blame her, “This information is not typically included in this tutorial.”

“But you do know the answer”, I pressed.

She considered my comment for a moment, “What you are attempting to do is unprecedented.”

“Might as well try it”, I continued.

She finally caved and told me, “Very well. The trait looks like this”

Skills

Traits

Mate Chat[Mate Name]

I looked at the menu skeptically, “Will that work?”

The AI answered, “When you activate the trait, the person named will receive a prompt asking if they wish to join. If they choose yes, the connection will be established.”

“We don’t have to be close to one another?”, I asked nervously.

Aya looked up as though she were thinking about something, “Under normal circumstances, close proximity would be a requirement. A manipulator can bypass this requirement and force the system to send the link.”

I waved the AI off, “Okay. I think I have enough information. Thank you, Aya.”

She bowed slightly, “Will that be all?”

“Yep”, I grinned, ready to finally make some progress in finding Kalliphae.

“Very well”, Aya said, “Until next time.”

With a pop, she vanished. I quickly modified my menu and added the trait.

Mate Chat[Kalliphae Hellquist] (Edited)

And I waited. And waited. And waited. I was starting to think that the plan had failed when I got the message.

KALLIPHAE HELLQUIST HAS JOINED MATE CHAT