***

  al Energy: 6

  ***

  Six. Six points of al energy, whatever that meant. Unsurprisingly, the skill had worked as it had said it would.

  Natalie’s thoughts were foggy after the events of the st five minutes, but she forced herself to focus. It was easier thahought it would be, because for all that her and Jordan’s brief intimacy was intensely distrag, so was disc how her css worked. It was something she’d been looking forward to her entire life.

  “Yeah,” Natalie said. “It worked. I have … six points?”

  She couldn’t help the iion. Sedary resources weren’t on for a css. Maybe not unheard of. Berserkers, to her knowledge, had a ‘rage’ resource. And a few others had simir. But it was far from standard, so it wasn’t something she could talk about fluidly … especially when the resource was ‘al energy’.

  “Six points,” Jordaed. “And how much you get doh that?”

  “How many skills I progress?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I guess I’d have to test it.” Her intuition wasn’t giving her any hints. The skills, either, hadn’t said how muergy was required to move a skill from ‘progression 1’ tression 2’.

  “Or you could use it to empower something,” Jordan added. “Though, that seems a waste, in most situations.”

  “Better to focus on the long term,” Natalie agreed.

  She found it, to be ho, somewhat amusing how pointedly the two of them were ign what had happened. She didn’t protest. How caught up in that experiment the two of them had been … it was best they left it behind. She and Jordan were friends, not more.

  “Why waste it on strengthening a skill temporarily, when you could do so permaly?” Natalie added.

  Jordan heated. “Well. I could see some uses. Important fights. Might be worth ‘wasting’ some, to scrape out a critical win.”

  That was a given. “But in most situations, save fression,” Natalie crified.

  They were on the same page. They nodded in agreement.

  “I wonder how long the cooldown is,” Natalie said. “On the harvest.”

  A pause. Jordan quirked her eyebrow. “Are you asking to go again?”

  Natalie smirked. “Only if you want to.”

  Jordahe taunt in her voice. She rolled her eyes. Things seemed to be mostly back to normal … even if Jordan still seemed a bit flustered. Natalie was, too.

  “First, figure out how far six points go,” Jordan said. “I’ll help you out, but only if I o. Because you’re my friend.”

  The reminder washed through Natalie. She was, oddly, and for a reason she couldn’t expin, grateful for the firmation. That their … experiment … had, indeed, been because Jordan wao help Natalie figure out her css. Not more.

  Sure, she wasn’t blind. They’d gotten worked up. Jordan might’ve been too enthusiasti the kiss to be wholly ‘practical’. But it hysical rea. The same reason Natalie had felt like she was on fire.

  She pulled her thoughts back. Testing. Could six points advance a skill? Based on how easy they’d been to earn, Natalie doubted it. But how would it work? Advang? Would she he full quantity, all at once? Or could she pour it in, chipping away at the amount needed?

  Could she tell how far she’d gotten? Was there a cap to how muergy she could store? Did it decay, over time, iivizio spend it, rather than hoard?

  Natalie had been told by friends and family these sorts of questions would crop up. There was simply too many specifi how a skill might work to reasonably fit into a skill description. Experimentation was the only way to discover the answers. Hence why Jordan had been so quick to help Natalie. Experimentation was normal.

  “What should I go for, first?” Natalie asked.

  She didn’t think six points would be enough to advance a skill, but either way, it was best to be funneling the energy into what she would rogressed first.

  “Hm,” Jordan said. “You said [Advance] is maxed, already?”

  “That’s what it says.”

  She nodded. “Makes sehere’s a cap. And that some skills start at one, and ’t be advanced. What’s best?” She thought about it. “[al Harvest]?”

  “What, not [Heavy onry]?” Natalie asked jokingly.

  Jordan paused, and her eyes flicked down to Natalie’s crotch. She looked away, then coughed. “Uh. Yeah. It’s pretty … iing … that you make it bigger.”

  “You say weird. It’s weird.”

  “It’s weird,” Jordan agreed. “How big, anyway? And why would you want it bigger?”

  Why wouldn’t she? If Natalie had to have a cock between her legs, she’d prefer if it was a monster. Was that weird? She hadn’t really had time to digest everything.

  “Guess I’ll find out. Eventually.” She appreciated how in-stride Jordan was taking all this. Natalie had always been able to lean on Jordan, a pilr in her life, and that trend was tinuing. “But, uh. Yeah. Harvest is probably best. Means more energy, more progression.”

  “Though … it won’t just be kissing.”

  The two of them paused.

  “Not just kissing,” Natalie repeated. “Yeah. I don’t expect you to—obviously I don’t—“

  “We’ll figure it out ter,” Jordan said, looking away. “And yood with girls. So it won’t be. You know. An issue, to find didates.”

  Natalie had never felt awkward talking about her love life before, but now, suddenly, she was. She’d definitely had more success in that front than Jordan had, though Natalie wouldn’t call herself a womahough, Jordan didn’t seem to care about the idea? Of Natalie hooking up with others. But of course she didn’t. Why would she?

  Natalie said, “We’ll figure it out.”

  “Go ahead,” Jordan said, brushing past the topic. “Try. Find out.”

  Advang her skill. Right.

  She closed her eyes. It might not be necessary, but it felt like the right thing to do. She focused inward, in much the same way as she’d used her [I] skill. Havily unlocked her css, she didn’t know, fully, what she was doing. She’d heard talk throughout her life about how these things worked, but hearing was different from doing.

  Fortunately, it worked like she expected. Fog her i, her desire to use her [Advance] skill and fuhe energy she’d gathered toward [al Harvest], some enigmatic force sagged from her: the energy funneled into the skill in the manner she wanted.

  There was no diredicator. Nothing crete, as an [I] might provide. But, she felt something. A benchmark of sorts. Her [al Harvest] skill filled up, an abstract sense of an orb being filled with pink energy. The liquid sloshed up to the ohird point, and Natalie’s harvested energy ran out.

  “Huh,” Natalie said. “Looks like a third?” She couldn’t tell exactly how much, but between fifteen and twenty ‘points’ seemed like the number she’d o reach. “So it’d take two more … kisses.” The sentence had barreled out of her, before she realized what it might sound like. That Natalie was asking for more.

  “Hm,” Jordan said.

  A long pause.

  “Well,” Jordan said. “Then I guess we should find out if there’s a cooldown.”