Author's Note: Hello everyone! Thank you guys so much for the support and good wishes! I'm feeling much better now and I am finally recovering well. I want to give a major shout-out to the person who gave me my first 5-star rating- I seriously appreciate it and that was such a crazy motivation boost lol. I would highly recommend anyone just joining this novel to add it to their reading lists since my upload schedule is basically nonexistent, too. Thanks again everyone for your continued support- your comments seriously make my day! Please enjoy the chapter!

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Jimmy sprinted through the halls towards the fountain. That whole ordeal took way longer than they expected, so it was completely up in the air whether the security guard was alive or not. After a minute more of running, he reached the intersection with the fountain. To his right would be the body of the guard, but Jimmy hesitated to look towards it.

This is like Schrodinger's cat, just without the cat... and the box. Actually- the hall kind of acts as the box, doesn't it? Screw it, the longer I wait the more likely he's gone. I gotta check on him.

Following his thoughts, Jimmy turned the corner and approached the still body. At first glance, it appeared that the guard had met his fate, but once he got closer, shallow breaths were still barely visible.

"Oh thank god, I made it in time!" Jimmy muttered in relief.

Though he was greatly tempted to pour the healing potion down his throat upon seeing his grave condition- that only would have wasted it, since they only worked on Crystal Users. After a bit of pondering on how exactly to make him absorb a crystal, Jimmy took a gamble and placed one in the guard's hand before forcefully clenching it tight. Just as he expected, the crystal shattered and the golden particles rapidly absorbed into the body.

Well, that solves the first of the problems, but he still needs to actually become a Crystal User. I was out for a while before the thing finished, but there's no way this guy can hold on for that long... shoot.

Jimmy stepped back, completely lost on how to handle this. He sat there pondering the situation and the possible ramifications of his decision.

Man, I'm sure that Fairy Guide thing I got would really help me right now, but I definitely can't afford to go unconscious in this situation.

"Hey, robot voice, how long after first absorbing a crystal are healing potions effective?"

[ I apologize, but that question can not be answered at my current capabilities ]

"Worth a shot," he said with a sigh, "thank you anyway"

Okay screw it, I'll just wait as long as possible before I give him the potion. The second it looks like his breathing is about to stop, I'll pour it.

With this plan in mind, Jimmy got close to the guard and stared intensely at him. To ease his anxiety about messing up the timing, he counted the time between breaths to see how fast that time was increasing. Roughly 10 minutes later, it was reaching a dangerous level and Jimmy couldn't wait any longer. He summoned a potion from his storage into his hand and tilted the guard's head up before pouring it into his mouth. It took a bit of a weird throat massage, but he was finally able to make the man drink it.

The guard's reaction to the potion was completely different from Rodger's. Rather than all of his injuries instantly glowing and rapidly healing, this process was a lot slower. It took nearly an entire anxiety-filled minute before his injuries even began to glow and even after that point, they healed gradually. Jimmy breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the guard's breathing slowly begin to stabilize.

When Rodger turned the corner a few minutes later, the glow was still persisting.

"Hey, Rodger! Did you- oh my god that idiot"

An unconscious Dylan being dragged by his leg followed right behind him. Rodger dumped him off next to Jimmy with a clearly annoyed expression on his face.

"Apparently the kid also had a knife and wanted to help get the crystals, even though I told him I'd handle it. You can put together the rest," he complained.

"Thanks for looking over him, but if you're gonna hit him with your hammer, please do that before we use a potion on him. Speaking of which, this guy is still out. I think the potion is struggling since he's not fully a Crystal User yet."

"Ah- makes sense. You did well though, kid. By the way-" Rodger paused while handing Jimmy his backpack, "we got about 43 crystals if I counted right. A few things snuck up on me while I was getting them, but I took those ones for myself"

"Of course, that's only fair. I'll split these crystals between us. You up to go 45-45-10? Dylan didn't really do anything, but he's a bit behind us at this point."

"Yeah, I don't mind. I'm gonna go check out the shop though, I want to see what I should save for."

"Sounds good. There's not much we can afford though, so let's go hunting later while that discount is still here. Oh yeah, mind watching over me when you're back? I had enough Battle Credits to evolve and I'll have to get knocked out for it."

"The heck is a Battle Credit?" Rodger sighed and shook his head, "There is way too much I've got to wrap my head around, kid"

After saying that, Rodger made his way over to the fountain and took off his shoes before stepped inside- instantly vanishing. Jimmy stared at the shoes for a bit completely bewildered about why he did that when he could have just dipped his hand in, but Jimmy decided to brush it off as an old man thing.

Jimmy did some rough mental math and split the crystals up while he waited, giving himself and Rodger 19 and leaving Dylan with 5. He absorbed 9 of his, leaving 10 in his storage for emergency use. Since Jimmy was able to heal by absorbing them, he figured it would be smart to keep them around as personal healing potions.

Not long after the sorting was done, Dylan squirmed himself awake and looked around confused before locking eyes with Jimmy.

"Oops... I didn't mean to do that. I'm finally a Crystal User now though! I didn't realize how much stronger it makes you... it's like I worked out for 2 years straight."

"I wouldn't be so carefree. Rodger looked like he wanted to kill you after you made him drag you back here."

Dylan rubbed the back of his head and noticed a bit of blood on his hand.

"Well, that explains all of the scratches I guess. Whatever, now that I got a cool ability he won't be able to handle me so easily!"

"Sorry, mate, but I doubt it. You saw what he did to those other guys; unless you got something insane, you're definitely screwed."

"I got a Tier II ability called Fortification. I'm not really sure what it does though."

"... So you think you can stop Rodger with an ability you don't even know how to use?" Jimmy muttered with a wry smile, "Say 'menu', it should tell you a bit more."

Dylan did as he was told and paused for a minute with a complicated expression on his face.

"It... makes walls," he finally mumbled.

"... What?"

"It makes freaking walls!" he screamed in frustration, "What kind of stupid ability is that!? You get a sick shield, Rodger got an overpowered hammer, and even a random guy got freaking fireballs, but I get stuck with making walls!? This isn't fair- I want a re-do!"

Though a part of Jimmy wanted to laugh at the ironic turn of events, a larger portion didn't want to rub the unfortunate reality into the already suffering Dylan.

"I didn't even know abilities could be for stuff other than fighting, but I guess it makes sense. There wouldn't be all of those weapons in the shop if everyone had their own," Jimmy stopped his rambling upon seeing Dylan's already comically large frown grow even bigger.

There's no way that ability can only make walls, right? The whole 'fortification' name makes it seem like it can do more... besides, I doubt there's even an ability that weak. Maybe it will do more when it's upgraded?

"Oi, Dylan, how exactly does the ability work?"

"Basically, if you give me a pile of dirt, I can roughly shape it; and I mean roughly"

"Oh, that's not nearly as bad as what you made it sound like. Once you get stronger, you'll probably be able to use other materials and shape them better or something. A wall would definitely help cover our blind spots in fights, too."

A bit of life popped back into Dylan's eyes after hearing this and he quickly stopped sulking.

"Yeah... yeah you're right! I can make a wall so strong that not even that old man can break through it!" he said pumping himself up, "speaking of which, where is he anyway?"

Jimmy simply pointed towards the fountain and Dylan turned to look.

"He turned into a nasty pair of shoes!?" he gasped sarcastically as he walked over to the fountain.

"Rodger went to check out what kinds of stuff they had. You should go look too; you're gonna need to save up for a weapon to use"

"Alright, I'll go later. Look at these old shoes though," Dylan laughed picking one up and facing Jimmy, "I bet all of the girls in the Great Depression were all over him"

"Dylan, Rodger is mad enough at you already. If this turns into a clique-"

"Hush, you're worrying too much, It'll be another year before that old man finds his way,, out of the..." he trailed off as a yellow glow leaked from behind him.

Slam!

Like getting shot out of a cannon, Dylan was launched over Jimmy's head before intensely crashing to the ground and skidding further than he thought possible.

"My god Rodger, I said you can hit him not murder him!" Jimmy groaned, running towards his collapsed companion.

"He's fine; that kid is annoyingly tougher than he looks... like a cockroach"

Sure enough, Rodger was right. Though Dylan had some limbs pointing in terrifyingly wrong directions and was foaming out of the mouth, he was clearly still alive somehow.

I don't know what's more insane; the fact that Rodger's strength increased that much despite only absorbing a few more crystals or that Dylan managed to survive a full-powered blow from him.

"You okay, Dylan?" Jimmy asked.

"lkjadlkjwlkajliuthltjlfjltmhjl"

Jimmy wordlessly handed Dylan a potion.