Dominic stared at the glass figurine of the blight.
It was once human.
They probably had a life.
A family.
“Anyway…” Adrian tilted his head back.
“You probably wouldn’t be able to hear resonance….
but you might be able to sense it in other ways.”
“How?”
Adrian thought for a while.
“How do you feel when I suddenly appear in a room?”
“Annoyance,” Dominic said flatly.
“Ouch,” Adrian laughed lightly.
“That’s not what I’m talking about, though.”
The air shifted.
The pressure in the room dropped.
Something cold crept up Dominic’s spine.
His instincts screamed danger.
“You felt that, didn’t you?” Adrian asked, the pressure in the room returned to normal, and it felt like nothing was wrong.
“It felt like I should run,” Dominic replied.
Though that sounds like an understatement…
Adrian nodded as if confirming something.
“You can sense resonance through touch.
It’s not constant, but you can sense it.”
He was smiling leisurely as usual.
It’s weird.
“How’d you figure it out?”
“When we first met,” Adrian replied.
“You reacted in a way I found interesting before I showed myself to you.” He paused, “A bit slow…
but it’s obvious you didn’t hear me.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Dominic asked as he remembered when he first met Adrian.
What was so interesting about my reaction?
“Not necessarily.”
“And this would help me control it?”
“It would help you understand it,” Adrian corrected.
“You can’t control what you don’t understand.”
Dominic wanted to flip something.
“So it’s not guaranteed.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Nothing ever is,” he said.
“But I know of a safer way to control your output.”
“Which is?”
“Instead of releasing it directly through your body,” Adrian said, “transfer it into something else.
A weapon…
an object…
anything that can carry it.”
“Transfer it?”
“Think of it like electrical current.
Direct output is faster…
but unstable.”
Dominic understood immediately.
“Indirect output is slower, but safer.”
“So can the object be anything?” he asked.
“Anything,” Adrian replied.
“But it has to suit both short and long-range control.
You’ll be working in the field with me, I don’t want you dying because you couldn’t defend yourself properly.”
Dominic thought for a moment. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Adrian’s face shifted toward the door.
“She’s coming,” he said, standing.
“Saron?”
“Yeah.
And she won’t be happy I left my post.”
Before Dominic could respond, Adrian added.
“If you have questions, call me.
Don’t text- I won’t see it.”
The air folded in on itself.
And Adrian was gone.
“…I don’t have a phone,’ Dominic muttered.
The sound of heels clicked against tile as Saron stepped into the room.
“Was Adrian here?” she asked immediately.
Her voice was calm yet sharp enough to cut through the air.
“Don’t lie to me.”
“He was,” Dominic replied, not bothering to lie.
“He just left.”
She reminds me of Mom.
Saron exhaled through her nose.
“That boy…” she muttered.
“I assume he told you something opposite to what I said.”
“He told me I might sense resonance through touch.”
That made her pause.
Her eyes lifted slightly.
“Really?” she said.
“I never thought of that possibility…
I knew someone who could sense resonance through smell.”
Dominic let out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding.
She didn’t dismiss it…
“The two hours you spent on meditation feel wasted, doesn’t it?” she muttered.
Most definitely.
Dominic said nothing.
Saron turned slightly.
“I have a new plan for your training–”
“I have a question,” Dominic interrupted.
She stopped.
Looked at him.
“What is it?”
“Well, Adrian mentioned transferring resonance into an object…
and controlling it that way.”
A subtle shift crossed her expression.
Her jaw tightened slightly
“Is that so?” she asked.
She’s annoyed…
“Is that a bad idea?” Dominic added quickly.
A pause.
“No,” she said.
“It’s a common combat method.
Just slower to master.”
Her gaze sharpened.
“Do you want to learn this method of resonance control?”
“Yes.”
“Very well.” She folded her arms slightly.
“Fortunately,” she said, “I use such a method myself.”
Dominic looked up.
“You do?” he asked in confusion.
A faint flicker of silver light appeared in her eyes as she raised her hand.
An umbrella formed in her grip. The source of this chapter is g.com.
It looked ordinary.
Almost disappointing.
“It’s my preferred weapon,” she said.
“It handles both long and short-range attacks, and doubles as a shield.”
“You can’t control your resonance either?” Dominic blurted out.
Saron tilted it slightly, and runes formed on the umbrella and before Dominic blinked, the wall behind him was shot by a silver energy beam.
A small hole formed cleanly around where it was shot.
Dominic swallowed hard.
I didn’t see that coming.
The umbrella in Saron’s hand disappeared.
“I’ve startled you, I apologise,” she said.
“I use the umbrella for personal reasons,” she said.
A pause.
“But not because I can’t control my resonance.”
Dominic hesitated.
“…I didn’t mean it like that,” he said.
Saron didn’t respond.
A silence settled between them.
Then she spoke again.
“Do you know what you want to use?”
Dominic felt a bit nervous and looked at his hands for a moment.
“…Gloves,” he said.
Silence.
Saron studied him.
Not immediately judgmental, just assessing.
“That’s…
acceptable,” she said slowly.
“Unusual, but workable.”
Unusual…
His chest tightened.
I should have said something else…
Saron stepped closer, bending slightly to meet his eyes.
“Why gloves?
Most aren’t durable enough for resonance output.
And I didn’t take you for a close combatant.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Do you have martial training?”
Dominic felt uncomfortable.
She was too close for his liking.
“No,” he said, moving back a bit.
“No.”
A pause.
“I see,” she said, standing up.
“It doesn’t matter…
Fortunately, many of us have a background in all sorts of martial arts…
with your object of choice.
I’d say boxing is your best choice.
I’d have to make arrangements on that, plus strength training…
There’s so much more to do.”
“Are you ready for it?” she asked.
“If you’re not physically capable, we would have to figure something else out…”
“Sure,” Dominic replied.
The way she’s speaking…
How hard can it be?