It was still early morning when Lenny's eyes opened. He felt terrible, like a walking wound, and he could see Rose standing over him. She looked pale and sweaty and it was clear she had been using her ability to its limits.
"He's awake," said Harry.
Rose dropped to the floor. The corners of her mouth twitched, as if trying to smile. "Don't ever do that again," she said.
Lenny realised in that moment that he was back at Sanctuary. Harry must have filled her in on what had happened. "Did he carry me all the way back?" Although he had many questions, the main one on his mind needed answering.
"Did you get the core?" he asked Harry.
"What do you take me for?" he said, smiling, before handing over a rough-looking marble.
Without thinking, Lenny grabbed it and started to absorb its essence. A bright yellow light filled a section of the church foyer where they were gathered.
Rose turned to him. "That's new," she said, looking at him strangely.
The system, as expected, had a message for him: "Spirit core absorbed. Spirit: 8 of 12. Hidden affinity detected. You have gained plus 1 alteration affinity."
His spirit essence must have recharged a little while unconscious. With the one point from the scavenger-tier core he'd absorbed, plus three from the prey tier, he'd increased his essence by 50% in one day. It wasn't fully recovered yet though and he was anxious to try something, not wanting to be caught in a bad situation again where he didn't fully understand his own powers.
However, he didn't want to cause any permanent damage to one of his friends, so he opened up the skills tab and double checked the description carefully.
"Spirit drain: this will allow the user to absorb a portion of spirit essence from an opponent. Those with a higher spirit stat will have greater resistance. Physical contact is required to initiate this ability. Once contact is broken, the skill cannot be used again for one hour. The opponent will be temporarily weakened while their essence recharges."
'Temporary'—that was all he needed to know. "Hey, Harry, can I test something?"
"Erm, okay. Sure."
"Don't move," he said, grabbing his arm tightly. At first, Harry wondered what was happening, but then he could feel it. It was the same effect he would feel just after using his ability, but more subtle.
"Spirit 9 of 12." A few moments later: "Spirit 10 of 12. Conditions have been met. You have reached at least ten spirit essence. The enhancements tab will now be unlocked."
Lenny, shocked, let go of Harry's arm. The ability had instantly deactivated.
"Your ability," said Harry. "What is it?"
"My ability, it's complicated, but it involves the manipulation of spirit essence."
"I've never heard of anything like that," said Rose.
"Me neither, but that's my ability," said Lenny.
"This is something you should keep to yourself," said Harry. "Seriously, when we go to the assessment centre, you need to hide this."
"Why?" asked Rose.
"It's because it's an unknown," said Lenny. "Although, you're not telling me anything I don't know."
"Then why did you show us?" asked Harry.
"Isn't it obvious? I trust you."
"You just need to be careful," said Harry. "If the wrong person overheard…"
At that point, the door from the backroom opened, and Alfie stood there rubbing his eyes. "You guys up already?"
They looked at one another, not saying a word.
"We heard something outside," said Rose eventually. "We went to check it out but everything's fine. We'll head back soon."
"Okay," said Alfie, yawning. He closed the door behind him and the three of them stood there in silence for a moment.
"Are you planning anymore late-night expeditions?" asked Rose.
"No, I don't think so. I've learnt an important lesson today: I'm not ready to face prey tier beasts."