The Over-Break System

{{Don’t you dare do anything reckless!}} Brance howled because, of course, he was trying to stop him from doing something stupid. However, having spent two lifetimes predicting the idiotic actions of his older brother, there was very little to be done in situations like these. Fuming, all he could do was watch as Cynrik reached for the last of the untested Resonance Plates; well, that and suffer through hearing Selene’s muffled laughter in surround sound.

{{Oh, I’m absolutely fucking doing it!}} he exclaimed, while Benny, seeing the grin on the lunatic’s face, muttered, ”Here we go.” Gabby leaned around Brance with an excited ”Uh-oh,” and Melody put her Watcet down.

’Fucking vultures, all of them, I’m not even doing anything crazy this time.’ A tiny pulse of Odinforce entered the glass, and the silver Runic lines flashed pitch black before falling still, leaving Cynrik staring at the rim that had reflected the overhead projection moments earlier. For several seconds, the plate did precisely fuck all, leaving him wondering if he’d finally found Academy equipment capable of ignoring him out of spite.

Then the damn thing pulsed, reset itself, and sent two notifications to his Watcet.

[RESONANCE ERROR]

[UNABLE TO IDENTIFY BLOODLINE SIGNATURE]

’Heh, would you look at that.’ Without cracks, smoke, or a broken Rune, the channels had returned to silver, which was a hell of an improvement over what usually happened when Cynrik messed with Academy equipment.

”See, Professor? Didn’t break it.”

After checking the messages, Wallin gave him a long look. ”I’m choosing to count that as progress, Mr. Jetlensr.”

”Wow. Tough crowd. I demonstrate restraint for once in my life, and all I get is judgment.”

”You’ve been in my Class less than an hour, and your definition of restraint is that the machine survived.” Her golden eyes shifted from the restored plate to the diagnostics on her Watcet. ”Although...this is interesting.”

Now THAT caught his attention as Wallin displayed all six results, showing ordinary nulls for Gabby, Benny, and Melody, identification failures for Brance and Selene, and Cynrik’s matching failure with an additional overload warning in the diagnostics.

”Big Bro Cyn, it actually picked up your Bloodline before it freaked out!” Gabby exclaimed. ”The others didn’t even get that far.”

”Technically, they detected both signatures,” Melody corrected, comparing the error codes. ”They just couldn’t identify them.”

”Either way, still counts as not breaking it.”

”Don’t make me regret admitting that.” Benny broke out into a laugh, making Cynrik shoot him a look that SCREAMED ’shut your mouth before I force it closed.’

{{Hmph. Who needs their shitty tech? Tobsie already knows everything bout our bloodlines,}} Selene remarked, apparently deciding someone ought to defend her Husband from the grievous injustice of being mildly criticized.

-That is NOT the same as knowing how to increase all three Purity ratios.- Tobs sounded offended on principle. -I can tell you what Bloodlines you carry, but there isn’t some conveniently labeled instruction manual waiting in your files. Until there’s an actual change to analyze, I can’t give you a guaranteed method.-

{{Traitor,}} Selene accused.

-Cry about it.-

Eavesdropping on their little spat, Cynrik nearly choked trying not to laugh, but Wallin changed the projection before Gabby could ask what had amused him, sparing him an explanation that couldn’t possibly mention Tobs.

”Anyone with a usable profile should see an assigned circulation pattern on their workstation. Follow it exactly, without activating a Skill or transformation. We’re looking for the Bloodline’s natural reaction to stimulation. A change in temperature, pressure, Mana flow, physical traits, anything that deviates from your baseline.”

As the Students began cycling Mana, scales crawled along one boy’s forearm before slipping beneath his skin, faster than Cynrik could get a proper look. The Plate had recorded the change, though, so he checked its readings before moving to a girl chasing glowing markings down her neck and the poor bastard with slit pupils, who looked ready to trade his results for something to stop his headache.

’Must be fucking nice.’ His own plate, naturally, remained as helpful as a brick.

For the next exercise, Wallin gave the three unreadable Bloodline carriers a neutral circulation route, leaving Gabby, Benny, and Melody with observational diagnostics instead. Melody compared nearby readings with the diagrams while Benny watched the more painful transformations, still unsure whether he’d missed out or dodged a bullet.

Beneath the desk, Gabby caught Brance’s hand. ”You good?”

”I’m fine, Gabs. Just annoyed.” He squeezed her fingers before circulating Light Mana along Wallin’s route, earning neither a reaction from the plate nor the slightest stir of his Nephilim Crest.

The neutral route did absolutely nothing for Brance and Selene, but Cynrik ran ordinary Mana through it three times, searching for any sign of a reaction. On his fourth attempt, he slowed the circulation to half speed and followed every turn, only to get the same dead response from a Plate that had practically choked on his Odinforce.

”You know,” Benny remarked, ”if you keep trying to murder it with your eyes, it’s probably going to stop cooperating out of self-defense.”

”I’m not glaring, you jackass. I’m concentrating.”

”Sure you are.” Gabby buried her face against Brance’s shoulder, failing miserably to hide her laughter, and Melody made the mistake of agreeing with Benny.

{{Kuekuekue, you do look pretty pissed off, Darling,}} Selene chimed in.

{{I’m a picture of inner fucking peace.}}

{{Uh-huh. Maybe tell that to the poor plate.}}

Before he could come up with a suitable threat against his Wife, Tobs intervened.

-You’re wasting your time. Standardized Expression and Resonance Training aren’t going to provide the three of you with anything your existing Bloodline abilities don’t already accomplish. And the Refinement methods she’s describing aren’t applicable to your Bloodlines either.-

He stopped mid-cycle. {{Hold the fuck up. All three methods?}}

-For increasing your Purity? Yes. They weren’t designed around the way your Bloodlines function. You can learn how the techniques work, but repeating them until your Mana runs dry isn’t suddenly going to change that.-

’...Motherfucker.’ Five fucking years waiting for a proper Bloodline Class, and Cynrik had finally found someone teaching Refinement, only for Tobs to rule out every standard method before they could even get started. Across the aisle, a kid was figuring out how to sit comfortably with a fresh set of horns while Cynrik stared at a perfectly intact Plate that couldn’t tell him a goddamn thing about raising his Purity or explain why his Odinforce pulse had triggered a warning neither Brance nor Selene received.

{{So the Class you’ve been obsessing over can’t actually make us stronger,}} Brance concluded, and Cynrik could practically hear how much his Brother was enjoying that little revelation.

{{Not directly,}} Selene corrected before he could tell Brance where to shove his observation. {{Doesn’t mean the information’s useless.}}

An amber flash across the aisle interrupted his sulking as Wallin stopped a Fire-aligned Student from forcing too much Mana through the assigned route, then walked him through the proper circulation. When the boy tried again, the Plate gave a different reading even though his Bloodline hadn’t changed, letting Cynrik see that the first result had been forced Expression, not Refinement.

’Oh. OH, you beautiful bastard.’

{{She’s right, Brancie. If we know what makes other Bloodlines respond, we know what makes them reject something, what kind of materials they need, and how to recognize when things are about to go horribly wrong.}} He was already opening another note. {{Doesn’t do shit for my Purity, but that doesn’t make it useless.}}

{{And there it is,}} came Brance’s immediate response. {{You found a way to turn a safety lecture into a threat.}}

{{Knowledge is knowledge. It’s not my fault people insist on teaching me how to ruin somebody’s day.}}

”Why are you smiling like that?” Gabby asked, completely oblivious to the Mind Link debate.

”You don’t want to know,” Brance assured her.

”I definitely don’t,” Benny added before Cynrik could protest, and Melody wisely went back to her notes.

When Wallin returned to find all three neutral-pattern diagnostics blank, she compared the error codes and glanced at Cynrik’s growing notes, leaving him little room to argue for another experiment.

”None of you will attempt catalyst-assisted Resonance. I can’t identify your signatures well enough to determine compatibility, and I will not introduce foreign Bloodline material into a Student based on guesswork. Understood?”

”Fine by me.” Letting a random Beast Bloodline eat his insides had never been the plan. Watching somebody else’s compatibility tests...now THAT was interesting.

”I can practically hear the questions forming, Mr. Jetlensr.” Her gaze dropped to his rapidly expanding notes. ”You may observe the demonstrations and examine the results. You may NOT perform unauthorized experiments just because you think you’ve spotted something everyone else missed.”

”Is that a compliment, Professor, or did somebody write a warning about me in your files?”

”Both. One evaluator called your observational ability ’overly keen and exact.’” Wallin waited for the inevitable pleased grin before adding, ”The assessment was filed as a warning to the faculty.”

”Damn.” Benny barked out a laugh as Gabby leaned toward Cynrik’s Watcet to see what had worried Wallin, while Melody gave the Professor a small nod before returning to her notes.

With his hands off the catalysts, Cynrik studied a sample that looked compatible until its rejected reading appeared, comparing it with the Fire Student’s corrected response while the younger Students squirmed through Wallin’s explanation. Brance and Selene finished their permitted exercises without a Bloodline reaction, but Cynrik barely noticed the Professor return until she spoke.

”You know, Mr. Jetlensr, I was considerably more comfortable before I saw how much you learned today.”

”Heh. Knowledge is power, Professor.” Saving his notes, Cynrik stood up finally and wrapped an arm around Selene’s waist. ”You should be proud; I’m a great student. Look at all the notes I took; that counts for something...Maybe extra credit?”

”Hardly extra credit-worthy, Mr. Jetlensr; get going before I have a mental breakdown at giving you too much information for that greedy little mind of yours.”

”Welcome to our lives,” Benny said as everyone packed up. Cynrik barely heard him, checking the Fire Student’s corrected readings against the three failed identifications. His own overload warning still bothered him.