A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Chapter 74: The Gift (part-1)

"So that is what 'Holy Lord' Avtis told me?"

Ryan spoke while putting extra emphasis on the word 'Holy Lord', which made Ylerias flare up her nostrils as she spoke with anger, "Lord Ryan I understand that you have some issues with him, but please can you put aside your anger and think carefully what would have happened if you had not received his blessings, but more importantly I do not think you have forgotten your punishment have you?"

Ryan shivered at being reminded of the punishment he received as he replied back, "Please do not remind me, I am in no hurry to meet Him again."

Ylerias shook her head as she spoke with disbelief, "It is a great honour to have an audience with Holy Lord and yet you are wary to meet him, I do not know what I should think about you."

"Definitely something good Lady Ylerias, though what should we do about the information Ryan gave us, Holy Lord Avtis warned us about some unknown enemy, so how do we deal with them?"

Ylerias's brow scrunched up in deep thought as she replied back to Michalina, "If we knew the identity it would have been better."

Ryuu simply stretched before he spoke with a tired sigh, "We do not know the identity and either I will learn after I end up getting my fifth circle or we will stumble upon them but since there is no way of knowing it, as such I propose that we should focus at our current goal."

Michalina looked at her with confusion written in her face as she spoke, "And what would that be?"

Ryan flashed a brilliant smile as he replied back, "Why of course we are going to get strong while I will try to reach my fifth circle as soon as possible, also at the same time I will try to uplift the technology level of our world as much as possible."

Ylerias nodded in agreement as did Michalina, they would have to grow stronger and in case of Michalina she vowed to help Ryan to evolve the technological level of their world.

"It would be a tedious and slow process."

Ryan nodded at Ylerias's words as he spoke, "Yes it would be, but it would be better than nothing and from what I learn from Holy Lord Avtis's words our enemy is extremely dangerous."

Yelrias nodded as she gained a contemplative look on her face as she spoke, "True if only we can get hold of other Apostles it would have been great but as of this moment I do not know their location nor do I know about their conditions for all I know they could be dead."

"Lady Ylerias I hope we will meet our fellow Apostles, having a unified front it would be great."

Ylerias nodded in agreement as Michalina decided to change the subject, "Lady Ylerias during Ryan's bonding with his gift, and you said you had received yours in a similar manner so does your lie dormant in another shape as well."

"Yes it does, my weapon when not in used looks like a small metal plate on my back.", her eyes then fell on Ryan as she spoke, "So, what does your weapon look like?"

Ryan suddenly felt uncomfortable upon being asked the question he was a bit embarrassed about his weapon's looks, but Ylerias thought that Ryan was simply hesitating on showing him his weapon which made her feel slightly disappointed at Ryan.

"It is okay, I understand that you wish to keep it a secret trump card, as"

Ryan hurriedly raised his hand to prevent her from speaking as he spoke quickly, "Forgive my lady, it was not my wish to hide my gift from you, it is just the gift I received is kind of embarrassing."

Jessica who was sitting by their side listening to their conversation spoke for the first time, "Show it, Ryan, you are amongst your friends and family, so there is nothing to be ashamed of, we are all here for you."

Her words were followed by an encouraging nod from Michalina making Ryan sigh reluctantly as he raised his hand, then with a flash, the rings disappeared followed by a stunned silence before Jessica burst out into laughter.

Michalina looked at his brother's hands which seemed to be wrapped by dirty bandages, making it look as if he was wearing a fingerless glove made up of dirty bandages.

Michalina growled upon seeing the gloves while Ryan sent a stink eye towards Jessica, before Michalina erupted with anger, "After going through all that pain my brother received some dirty unwashed bandages."

"Michalina please behave.", as Ylerias spoke in a stern tone Michalina gave her a slight glare as Ylerias continued, "When I received my weapon it looked like someone had broken off a curved branch broken off of a tree, but look at it now.", as she spoke she produced her beautiful bow something there were having impossible difficult to correlate with a broken branch from a tree.

"As such Ryan would not have to worry, as long as he can keep on upgrading it, his gloves would evolve and change as well."

Ryan looked at his glove as a small smile graced his face as he spoke, "I am glad to know that its looks would change, even though I know it would upgrade but for a moment I was afraid that I will have to use this forever, after all, I am allowed this glove only."

Michalina looked up towards him her face blank, "What do you mean you can only use that glove?"

Ylerias nodded in understanding as she spoke with a sigh, "Like in my case the only weapon allowed to me is my bow, as any other weapon that I use becomes completely useless."

Michalina's head swivelled towards her as she spoke in a stern voice, "Please define 'useless' to me."

Ylerias gave an uneasy smile as she replied to her, "Well as you can see any arrow that Is not released by my bow becomes useless if it is used by me, take for example a creature that can be brought down by an arrow using a certain bow, now if I were to use it then I would need more than a hundred just to kill the very same creature."

"So in other words any weapon that you use other than yours has its strength lower greatly."

"It is as you have perceived Jessica, at first it was not much of a difference but as my level increased the difference became more and more pronounced."

Michalina grimaced at that as she spoke, "That means sometimes you might have to face severe problems when you do not have access to your weapon."

Ylerais smiled as she replied back, "I will never face such a situation, no matter what happens my weapon is tied to my soul as such I will always have access to it, no one can separate me from my weapon and I believe it is same in case of Ryan, no one will be able to separate him from his weapon."

Jessica looked at Ryan as she spoke, "That is nice but seeing it he has gloves on his hands that means that he can only be fought using punching and kicking?"

She then sent a pitying glance towards Ryan as she spoke, "Do not worry I will use all your latest weapons and use them to the fullest on your behalf, while you practice using your hand and feet."

Ryan growled as he spoke, "You know Jessica, you are standing on a structure created by yours truly and if you annoy me too much I can"

Jessica let out a yelp as she found herself suddenly hanging upside down courtesy of power cables.

"Put me down this instant Ryan."

Only for Ryan smirked back at her as he spoke, "Huh, why should I? Since you were having fun at my misfortune why don't I have some fun on yours for a change?"

Jessica growled hard as she shouted back, "Put me down and I will not rearrange your face."

Ryan simply shrugged at that as he replied back, "Statement like this makes me want to keep you hanging like that."

Michalina sighed as she spoke, "Please stop you two, and Ryan put her down if she starts something as she superior I will discipline."

"If you say so sister.", with that he gently put down Jessica as the wires disappeared from where it came.

Michalina looked at the polished surface of the roof of their newest base, and it was as good as new without any sign of the previous of wires erupting being present as such she could not help but ask out loud, "Where did those wires come from Ryan?"

Ryan simple smiled mysteriously as he replied back, "From places."

Ylerias who was looking at their interactions with a frown on her face before she spoke, "Lord Ryan, you said wanted to meet and form a united front with rest of our brethren right?"

As Ryan nodded Ylerias continued with a sigh as she looked up to the sky, "Then I advise you to cease being so friendly and familiar with your companions even if they are your family."

"And why is that Lady Ylerias, why should my brother cease being familiar with his family."

With a sad chuckle, Ylerias spoke, "Other Apostles may not be as understanding as us, to them the moment you become an Apostle you stop being a normal person, even your no longer belong to your race, and sadly it is true, like in my case or in Ryan's case he is no longer a human, we have to do perform various duties for our patron Gods and Goddess and as such emotional attachments can form hindrance and as such greatly frowned upon and discouraged."

A tensed silence descended amongst them before Ylerias spoke with a weak smile in an attempt to change the subject of their discussion, "So, what do your gloves do?"

Ryan appreciated the change in the subject as he spoke in an excited manner, "Well for starters my gloves."