Damon's Ascension-Chapter 90: Opposites Attract

Felicia would not openly admit it, but she was quite pleased that Damon chose to come over. After sharing her location through the VQD, she immediately rushed out to inform the nearest workers to help her clean up her special bunker, which also served as her private lab.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Felicia frowned as she found her reflection to be a bit too unkempt. Even though her health had improved after investing in Fortitude, there was nothing she could do about her hair, which was enough to give Rapunzel a run for her money.

She was slightly motivated to straighten it, but she had long given up when she reached 14 years old and mostly just washed and shampooed it, then left it to its devices each day. She simply sat down at her desk and waited for Damon while checking her character panel.

[Name: Felicia Rothschild || Race: Homo Sapien (Pure) || Faction: None]

[POW: 2 || MOB: 2 || FOR: 3 || MEN: 5 || PRO: 9]

[Abilities: Eternal Providence (EX), Empower (EX).] frёewebηovel.cѳm

Following her preference, she had invested most of her points into Mentality as she aimed to become a top scientist who understood the truth of the universe’s creation and fundamental rules, as well as evolve humanity past genetic limitations.

However, at some point, she had been reluctantly forced to invest points into Power and Mobility, simply because the difficulty within the instances became too much to ignore. Most of the Skills granted to her were based on Mentality and Providence, allowing her to function without much reliance on the other stats. But she couldn’t stand being a pseudo-glass cannon, fragile, slow, and too dependent on luck.

While she sat there with her legs crossed, her mind on the latest scientific paper she had read just before the call, one of her workers hurried over to inform her that Damon had arrived. Felicia was startled by this, wondering if she had daydreamed too long or whether Earth’s Prime Rep had somehow acquired a Teleportation Skill.

She stood up and instructed the worker to let him in while following behind her in brisk strides. Felicia was tall, though much of her height came from her long legs, accentuated further by her preference for wearing high heels.

Far more concerned with intellectual pursuits than appearances, she remained largely oblivious to the charm she held over the opposite sex. Her pride lay in her mind, not in how others might look at her.

So when Damon was accompanied into the large laboratory area where Felicia did most of her private work, what he saw was Felicia in a skintight white bodysuit that he had seen in the call, walking over to him in long and confident strides with her hand on her hip, her gait that of a diva on the catwalk.

Damon was slightly stunned as this was his first—or second if that call was somewhat included—time realizing that this ’deputy’ of his, who typically looked unkempt and dressed in an unfeminine manner, was actually quite the looker.

Felicia smiled and was satisfied with Damon’s own appearance. As usual, the young man came completely clean and tailored in a tuxedo that was form-fitting while his low afro was combed to perfection, not a single lock of hair out of place.

They say that people tend to prefer people with opposite traits to themselves. Felicia wasn’t exactly a slob, but she did not put much stock in wasting time to butter up her appearance. But she extremely appreciated Damon, who did so for himself.

Likewise, Damon had been born and raised to stand before cameras and crowds, learning from a young age to keep himself prim, polished, and presentable. Yet, when faced with the ’unruly’ and ’untamed’ nature of Felicia’s appearance, especially her wild hair, he couldn’t help but marvel at her beauty despite all of that.

"You sure arrived quickly," Felicia joked as she let Damon in.

Damon smiled and entered walking briskly with his hands behind his back. "I used one of Ambrose’s shuttles that are extremely quick for low orbit and planetary traversal."

Hearing about the vampire, Felicia’s smile waned. "Damon, your affection for this vampire..."

"You want to advise me to be wary of him? I agree, but we do need allies and someone knowledgeable to guide us on many things. Ambrose has contributed a lot to the problem-solving of our race in our early days, so it’s not time to kick him to the curb just yet," Damon explained with a reassuring smile.

Felicia pursed her lips. "It’s not up to me to decide who you trust. I just don’t really like him much, so my words are biased."

Felicia arrived at her central terminal and turned to face Damon, leaning on the terminal casually. "So, you want me to contact the Universe Will? I have no problem attempting to do that, but are you sure it will respond?"

Damon nodded. "It will. I know for a fact that it’s been paying close attention to my actions. So much so that it’s tried to interfere in my favor more than once. Unfortunately, getting into direct contact to have something like a conversation with it is something outside my realm of possibility. However, for you, as someone who has literally been blessed with Providence, it could be possible."

Felicia folded her arms with a raised eyebrow. "I agree with that logic, but what exactly do you want me to do? Am I supposed to perform some sort of séance to let it possess my body?"

Damon was left speechless. "... something like that."

He then sighed. "I know what I am asking of you is great, but—"

Felicia interrupted him with a casual shrug. "Sure, I’ll do it."

Damon paused and then looked at her silently. "Are you sure?"

"What’s there to doubt? I might have humanity’s highest Providence, but on the universal scale, that barely counts for anything. There are countless personages with higher Providence than me in the universe, and nothing bad has happened to them from my investigation. Not to mention it’s just my body being used to convey a message, so what does it matter?" She replied nonchalantly, truly not seeming to mind.

Damon was baffled at her thought process as it completely went against him, but he appreciated it all the more for it. "Thank you, Felicia."

She chuckled. "You sound like you’re sending me to death row. Do you have a problem with the Universe Will?"

Damon coughed lightly. "We do have a little... disagreement."

Felicia gave Damon a look, understanding that this was a paranoid person who trusted no one but himself. However, unlike Ambrose, Felicia thought this was fine because such a cautious nature was good for their Prime Representative, so that he wouldn’t be caught off guard easily.

Compared to her, who was scatterbrained at times and often zoning out thinking about various equations, it was better to be more like Damon.

"Well, if you want to show me how grateful you really are, help me buy some Worldly Essence. Until the embassy is built, and we can initiate negotiations with foreign companies to enter the private sector, most of us are penniless in terms of Essence Coins," Felicia requested with folded arms.

Damon nodded. "Sure, I’ve actually just done that myself, and it was in doing so that I realized the problem we are facing. Just note that you will have to leave the solar system to collect it in person by entering the nearest Trust and Trades Company outpost to use their specialized Essence AR instance to collect it."

Felicia frowned at that. She was careless, not reckless. She did not like the idea of leaving the relative safety of the solar system and heading out where there were space pirates and all manner of creatures in the void.

"Did you also go out to receive it? Using one of your Avatars then?" Felicia inquired, wanting to know the dangers.

"No, I actually received it using a virtual avatar. My ability, Devour, allowed me to collect it even though it was not my real body. Maybe your Empower can achieve a similar effect?" Damon openly shared this feat because he was curious to learn if Felicia’s Ability could achieve the same effect.

Both youngsters had long since realized that their Abilities were diametrically opposite and worked in tandem as well.

Felicia hesitated. "There’s only one way to find out."

"Don’t worry, when you go, I will be there with you to make the procedure easier," Damon reassured with a nod.

"Thank you, Damon." She responded to his kindness with a brilliant smile.

Damon glanced at her terminal. "So how exactly has high Providence fared for you? What is your cooldown and how much Worldly Essence does it cost you to level up?"

Felicia tousled her hair lightly. "Pretty good. Not even talking about the luck aspect, it’s made leveling up easier. My initial cost for Worldly Essence was 40 units, and it took me 2 hours to ’cooldown’ as you say."

Damon was surprised. "Mine was 80 units of Worldly Essence and the cooldown was 1 hour..."

The two looked at each other and couldn’t help but feel the strangeness again. It was one thing for their Abilities to be opposites, but even their ’talent’ in terms of Worldly Essence was such?

"Back to the matter at hand, what’s your current unit cost and cooldown? Does it also double per level, or has it gone down?" Damon terminated the growing awkward atmosphere between them with a question.

"Right now? Well, as far as I can tell, each point in Providence reduces both cooldown and the cost by one percent each level," Felicia stated.

She then explained further. "So, if for example, at level 8 I am supposed to pay 5,120 units, with my current 9 points of Providence, I basically receive a 9% discount, meaning it would cost me 4,660."