Expenses

With a grunt, Fate used his Skill. The invisible waves only seemed to enjoy that, the Adept-Stage Mana overpowering his own and slipping between his intangible cells to study him further.

He shut off his Skill almost immediately, shunting the Mana out of his body's physical space. Or at least, that's what he expected to happen.

What actually happened was the Mana coalesced into a lump in his stomach that then used his veins and organs to run unhindered through his body.

He frowned at the feeling. It was like someone had started prodding his insides with their finger, trailing it up and down his muscle and bone. It wasn't painful, but it certainly wasn't enjoyable. It scoured every inch of his insides, its progress markable by the

He gulped down bile as the force exited through his lips, tracing his gag reflex on the way and almost causing him to spill his lunch.

Benedict Sedronol closed his luminous eyes and hummed in thought, scratching his chin.

"Well, you're healthy, that's for sure," the man said absentmindedly. "And you're fertile, too. Your looks aren't bad, I can't find any diseases or ailments, and you know how to handle yourself in a fight."

His eyes opened, landing on his daughter. "I don't see anything wrong with him. Sorry, but I'm not going to stop your marriage."

"I noticed you didn't mention anything about his personality, father," Samantha reminded.

"You'll learn to love each other," Benedict replied firmly. "You'll have centuries to figure it out. And besides, I doubt he's as bad as you make him out to be. Fate, is it?" he asked, turning to Fate.

"Yes, sir," Fate replied, slightly pissed off. It seemed every powerful Mage he met had to break him into pieces to analyze at their discretion.

First Old Man Travis, then Alessandra, and now this man. But unlike Old Man Travis, Alessandra and Benedict used their Skills to force an understanding. Travis had just grown used to 'seeing' things in Fate's eyes.

"Relax," insisted Benedict with a laugh. "It's not like I learned anything you'd want to hide."

"It's about the principle, sir," Fate replied.

"A man with principles, eh? Even better."

"Father, please," Samantha pleaded. "Take this seriously."

Benedict's blue pupils went to his daughter. "I am taking this seriously. You're my daughter. I wouldn't even consider this if I didn't know him."

"But you don't know him, father."

"Don't I?" His head turned to the babbling brook in the distance, clasping his hands behind his back. After a long moment of silence, just as his daughter was about to say something, he asked a seemingly unrelated question. "How many Lights do I earn from my factories and mines in a year?"

Samantha furrowed her brow, not getting where he was going with this. "Approximately 143,000 Lights per factory and anywhere from 100,000 to 400,000 per mine, father."

"And how many factories and mines do I own?"

"Fourteen factories and five mines, father. But how is any of that relevant?"

"After paying my staff, my taxes, and normal expenses, I have a little over seven hundred thousand left over every year. Considering that the future of my daughter and the Sedronol name is on the line, I used it at my discretion."

His jaw set, his eyes boring into Fate's with a look that said he wanted to rip Fate's true self out of him and lay them bare before Benedict's daughter.

The luminosity of his eyes kicked up a stage and kept increasing. To Fate's credit, he didn't look away, even as that brightness became as blinding as the artificial sun above.

Not because it didn't hurt, but because he was getting more and more pissed off at this old man, and rejected any action that would show weakness.

At the same time that the light dimmed down to a soft shine, Fate figured out what Facet Benedict had.

It wasn't Light, as the Sedronol Line had the blood of the Trethenem, one of the Nine Races that governed Radiation.

Rather, Benedict had Electromagnetism, of which light a was part of. Fate had learned this not too long ago when his Radiation professor, Senden Trept, taught the class about wavelengths and the electromagnetic spectrum.

Since it was only a two-hour class, there wasn't enough time to go in-depth on each topic, but he knew the basics, such as light being part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

It was important to note that the light from Electromagnetism and the Light Facet were two separate things, though they shared several overlapping aspects.

While the light from Electromagnetism isn't particularly special compared to mundane light, the Light Facet, like all Facets, incorporated practically everything their Facet both were and represented.

The Light Facet, for instance, bore all the mental, physical, and spiritual significance of light itself. In some cultures, Light represented intellectual thought. In some, it was the gaze of their gods, and in others it represented good.

Light incorporated all of this, and much more.

The Electromagnetism Facet, on the other hand, would only incorporate the spiritual and mental aspects of Electromagnetism as a whole, with its other pieces like radio waves and ultraviolet light, only borrowing from those aspects.

Light from an Electromagnetism Facet would not bear the mental or spiritual significance of the Light Facet, instead only bearing that of Electromagnetism.

How light is part of Electromagnetism, how that connection makes Electromagnetism important to the way the universe works, its relation to other parts of the EM spectrum, and things like that.

It was a very complicated difference and a thin line, one that was almost nonexistent at certain points, but it was there.

It was the same reason Fire could emulate cold when one understood deeply enough, but that same cold was not part of Fire.

Even the heat was only important insofar as how it made Fire itself what it was, the life-giving and forest-destroying capabilities that it gave Fire and made it something some worshipped and others feared.

Those waves Fate had felt earlier were likely some kind of radiation as well, which explained how they could bury into his skin. It was either the type of radiation Benedict used or his expertise that left Fate unharmed, likely a mixture of both.

"Do you want to hazard a guess as to what I did with the Lights, Fate?" Benedict asked.