Rebellion: Prince of Dawn

Chapter 23.3: The Hanged Man

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CLINT KINO

I woke up from the operation without my ability to speak. For most people, losing their voice meant losing a part of themselves. For me, losing it felt more like finding a piece of it.

Though my throat was numb and stinging, it was a pain I welcomed over the dry heaving of blood.

We stayed in Roa for a month. Every morning I'd get checked up to make sure my recovery made the right kind of progress. While I stayed at the inn resting in bed, Axel took jobs from the Adventurer's Guild.

"Do you know what jynx is, Clint?" Axel asked one time when he returned.

I nodded.

"What about an alchemy ability?"

I nodded.

"You should develop one. It doesn't really matter if you know jynx to develop one. You can make a contract with yourself and set rules. Sure your gates will be exhausted for a few days when you finish developing it, but you'll have your own gimmick. And if you take an interest in jynx, you already have a start."

I pointed at him with raised eyebrows.

"Of course I do."

I shot a thumb at myself and shrugged.

"I don't go around telling everyone I have an ability. It ruins the purpose of a gimmick." Axel handed me a wrapped rectangle. "Here, Kid. It's a gift for surviving Zogern. Go ahead and open it."

I tore away the wrappings and was presented a book called The Basics of Jynx.

It said that when developing one's unique ability, it was easier to start with an already existing spell and tweak it into something unique.

Developing an ability from scratch was still possible but it was more difficult, especially if your gates were weak. This way took longer as you had to go through a lot of trial and error to set rules and limitations.

Most alchemy users never bothered to learn the basics of jynx. They developed unique abilities because they didn't want to study jynx in the first place.

The book stated that knowing your opponent's ability was knowing their weakness.

So that's why Axel never said anything.

When I decided on getting an alchemy ability, Axel revealed his so I could develop mine more easily. It was a gun-focused ability he called Don't Damn Me.

Whenever he activated Don't Damn Me, six bullets will automatically manifest themselves in the chamber of whatever empty firearm was in his hands. One bullet was subtracted with every subsequent activation until zero. The ability would reset back to six bullets when the sun, relative to him, was at its highest point.

He's a gunslinger so he developed a gun-based ability. I want to do the same.

Back when Axel was teaching me the basics of gunslinging, one part stuck out: "Your gun is your responsibility. A gunslinger losing their gun is like a swordsman losing their sword—a death sentence. This is why it's normal for a gunslinger to carry more than one pistol."

Axel travelled with four pistols. One was the holster on his belt. Second was tucked behind him. The third was holstered along his ribcage. The last was a one-shot pistol hidden in his boot.

Based on Axel's advice, I planned on getting more firearms but as of now, the gun Big Sis gave me was all I had. But even if I was strapped with a hundred guns, there would be instances where I wouldn't have even one.