"Something I wasn't sure would work, but I'm glad it did," Laz responded honestly.

"THAT? WASN'T... WHAT?" Ruby had trouble calming down. As far as she was concerned, she had just witnessed someone ma.s.s hypnotize an entire group of people while writing in the air. She had a lot of questions... they just wouldn't form sentences she could voice.

At this time, Leona could only laugh a bit at the faces Ruby was making before turning to Laz.

"I thought you said you couldn't do that?" She asked with a rather sweet smile.

"I couldn't. At least, up until now, I didn't know I could succeed," Laz answered. And that was the truth. Based on what Vivi had told him, he needed to be much more aware of the runes abilities to merge them as such. It was one thing to know their general meanings and to be able to use a single one, but when combining them, it was about as easy as mixing oil and water.

"So how did you?" Leona pressed. She really wanted to know. Reggie had been trying to do the same thing for a bit now but with no luck. He could use two runes at the same time, but that was just using them by themselves and not combining them. And as Laz had said, it wasn't easy.

"It was like.. I knew what I wanted to do and I knew what I wanted the runes to do. I also had a good idea how to make that work. Since all those things came together, it just... poof!"

As Laz finished his unhelpful explanation that left Leona confused since Laz himself was the one who had previously said that these things just don't go poof, Ruby had finally come back to herself.

"Wait... Leona, honey, you know what happened?" She finally asked.

Leona couldn't help but giggle while looking at Ruby's face. Even though Ruby had seen a lot of things, stuff like this was still very new to her. She had her own ability, but it wasn't anything great, at least not yet.

"Come on. Let's go finish our work and I will explain." Leona took Ruby's hand and headed towards the exit Ruby had been guarding, leaving Laz with his thoughts.

It wasn't his fault that he did what he said couldn't be done, after all, those words had just been relayed through him from Vivi. The fact that he did what she said couldn't be done... well. He was just going to have to chat with her about that. For now though, he wanted to reflect on what it was that had happened.

There weren't many runes to begin with but the most common ones numbered only 25. The two that Laz had brought to use were the rune of Odin, also known as Wyrd, and the rune of Sowelu. Sowelu, which refers to completeness or wholeness, was used as the base, imparted on each of the girls as their current selves. In essence, it refers to the wholeness that is a person in many ways. For this use, Laz made it represent the girl's completeness of self. After that, Laz added in the rune of Odin. Now, the rune of Odin is actually rather unique in that while each of the 24 other runes has a symbol that corresponds to it, Odin does not. The rune is blank. Depending on how it is read and therefore used, Odin can refer to total emptiness or unimaginable possibilities. It's all in how you see it. For Laz's used, he used it in a rather simple manner. He used the rune to cause a blank patch in the completeness of the girls memories. Once that void existed, all Laz had to do was fill it in with a small story and from that point on, as far as the girls were concerned, that is what happened.

For some people, they might be able to forget something and honestly not remember it, but it is still there in their minds. It's just buried deeply enough that it can't be found. But using the runes like Laz did was different than that. It didn't bury the memory, it made it so that the memory never existed in the first place. It made empty that part of their memory. Of course Laz was now completely worn out because of it.

Although it had looked simple on the surface, the fact was that having to use runes to affect so many girls at the same time was a huge drain on Laz's energy. Had he not been a bit super charged thanks to his rather s.e.xy yet hidden stalker, he wouldn't have been able to pull it off. It also would have been impossible if there had been an infected in the group as it would have taken far more energy than he could have carried to hit that person along with everyone else. There was no such thing as a power without a restriction and this just further proved it.

It had worked, but Laz was going to rush to try it again. He needed more practice and a far better understanding of what he was getting in to. He knew he succeeded this time, but he could have just as easily had totally erased their minds as well. That wasn't the type of person he wanted to be.

Watching the girls drag the much larger bodies of the thugs back into the main floor area of the warehouse for a moment while chatting, Laz sat down on the floor and closed his eyes. He really was feeling totally drained. Using his breathing and circulation method, Laz started feeling the thin energy in the air start rus.h.i.+ng into him, slowly filling him up. He knew it would take a while for this to happen, but he had no choice. He had run out of the special water and nectar a long time ago. He then thought of the strange fog producing lamp and couldn't help but make a mental note to move that adventure ahead slightly. It wasn't only because he wanted to take and investigate the lamp more, but he also felt like Leona, Dee and Reggie were ready to face that kind of experience. At the same time, Laz had a rather interesting thought on if he could sneak a final boss into this cave fight.

Although his recovery was slow, he wasn't in a rush at the moment. He was already much stronger than the two girls, but they had expended far less energy in this last fight than he did. And with their own various training mixed with their internal energies, the girls were more that strong enough to carry two bodies at the same time. The only reason they probably weren't was that trying to get through the narrow door was difficult enough without having to deal with a body getting stuck on something.

Opening his eyes for a brief moment and seeing them both chat away, Laz closed his eyes again to focus. This time though, he felt something rather weird. Most of the energy in the air was thin and spread out, almost like a rain drizzle that was so light that you would only be hit by a rain drop if you were lucky. And it was a really small one at that. Every now and then though, he felt like he was intentionally getting hit with a rain drop the size of a peanut.

As he sat there, be started to notice that the peanut size bits of energy always seemed to come at a certain time, almost like thy were timed. It took a few more breathes of time before Laz figured out where the they were originating from.

Packed in one of the back corners of the room, totally buried by various random pieces of junk, Laz pulled out a small jewelry box, just a few inches in width and height. He could tell there not only was there various bits of energy being ejected from the box, but there also seemed to be a constant dragging of energy into the box.

'Now what is going on here?' Laz asked himself as he opened the box.

Inside of the box, laz found two matching earrings of a bird holding a stone. The stone was milky white yet had facets that reflected light, making it seem like it was surrounded by a rainbow. The birds themselves were very intricately carved, making them seem almost alive. Laz had no idea how something so small could look so real.

Watching them closely, Laz was amazed. The stones were like a vacuum, drawing in the thin energy in the air and when enough of it was drawn it, it was all forcefully pushed out, like a valve that once full, would empty. Noticing the amount that was being handled, Laz didn't find it to be a large amount since he could draw in far more than that on his own in less time. The reason this was astounding was that it was happening without outside a.s.sistance. This meant that anyone who wore one of these would be able to constant cultivate and grow stronger without making any effort. He couldn't believe something like this existed.

While Laz was lost in thought in his findings, the girls had finished up dragging the bodies into a large pile in the center of the room. Leona had also finished explaining what she knew to Ruby who now was very interested in this concept of runes. She was hoping that maybe Laz could teach her a thing or two as well. Laz had mentioned that it was rather dependent on your power and ability as to whether or not you could learn, but Ruby didn't see any reason not to try. Especially because although Leona couldn't use them, she was still learning all she could about them.

The girls walked over to see Laz sitting on a pile of crates while looking at the box in his hand while lost in thought.

"Hey?" Ruby called out but didn't get an answer. Looking at each other, they giggled while sharing a feeling that Laz looked really handsome while he was thinking seriously. So to get his attention, or possibly because the effects of his blood's scent hadn't completely worn off yet, both girls went over and sat down on either side of him and gave him a kiss on each cheek. This unexpected act caused Laz to snap out of it quickly while looking left and right at the girls on each side.

"What is this you found?" Leona ask, her eyes looking at the now closed box he was holding. At some point, he must had knocked it closed while thinking.

"MMmm..." Laz wasn't sure what he wanted to do, but looking at the expectant faces of Ruby and Leona, Laz finally made a decision.

"These are a present for both of you," Laz said with a smile.

"A present?"

"Both of us?"

Ruby had asked the question about both of them since she felt like she wasn't that close to him yet.

"Of course. Both of you. After all, without you two, this wouldn't have gone nearly as smoothly," Laz said while laughing a little. Although he was rather dense sometimes, he could still understand a few hints when they were given.

Opening up the box, both girls saw the earrings and gasped. The earring's themselves were beautiful while the stone looked exotic and unique. If there was one point of discontent on their minds, it would be that neither girl would have the complete set, but that was only a pa.s.sing thought at best.

Laz gently took out one earring and handed it to Leona while taking out the other and handing it to Ruby. He knew that both girls have several piercings in their ears although Ruby didn't normally wear any. That was mostly because she tried to remain unnoticed and earrings had a way of making you stand out. As for Leona, she popped out one of the upper earrings and placed it at almost the top of her left ear while Ruby did the same with her right.

Just when they were about to thank him, the stone had completed a round of acc.u.mulation and let loose the condensed glob of energy. And because the earrings were being worn, the energy didn't fly off but instead immediately entered their bodies.

The girls momentary happiness at the gift had instead turned into one with both girls wearing an O face while the energy entered their bodies and circulated around before coming to a rest. Both girls could only feel a little bit of improvement from this, but what shocked them was that it happened even when they hadn't done anything.

Seeing their surprised faces, Laz couldn't help but shake with laughter until the girls calmed down enough to start playfully hitting him.

"You could have said that was going to happen," Leona scolded.

"Do you know how shocking that was you d.i.c.k," Ruby scolded as well.

"You didn't really think I would just give you a normal earring did you?" Laz laughed some more, clearly not hurt by these fake punched hitting him.

"You jacka.s.s. The way that warm glob of energy was drawn into my body was from my head. It felt like someone just came on my head without telling me about it..." Ruby complained, causing Laz and Leona to stop what they were doing and look at her.

"What?"