Episode 5: When Speaking Too Soon

Arson hid on the top of a trash mountain and took back every word he spoke about trash being a non threat. He observed such things as discarded living armors battle each other, broken magical weapons without wielders causing chaos, and even ghost battle in the anarchy below him, he knew.

This is why people don’t work here, who cares about sparking smells and mana cores when this is your work environment.

Everything had gone fine at first. He’d even managed to find another core. Then the sun set and all sparks surged loose in the dump, and Arson even got a prompt for being in the area after sundown.

“The affinities of the universe can be touched through the stars at night, and nothing in this lifetime will experience more wasted potential than an item once used but cast aside by both the weak and the powerful. This karmic energy has created a domain of resurrection that is powered at night and silent under the sun’s grace. Be wary young Arson, the portal is open and mana thrums dangerously around you. Can you survive the night?” Arson didn’t know what to do. He lay there terrified, and wished that he’d left the first chance he’d had.

He clutched the mana core he’d found and tried to meditate. The vibration in his hand made him calmer and he took deep breaths.

He felt that he would have to get rid of the core soon as something told him it was why there were more creatures near the base of his trash mountain than others. Then Arson’s mind set fire and he sat upright and looked around.

In the moment of inspiration he had no fear. He merely searched for what he thought was a hidden boon within all the chaos.

More mountains in the distance had groups around them, some larger or smaller than the groups near Arson. They all battled for some reason, or something, and once again his mind flickered toward the mana core he held.

“Is knowing really worth 50k though?” said Arson as he cocked his arm back to throw. The white orb soared into the crowd at first and Arson was saddened that nothing changed.

Arson was forced to duck down once more, as an entire crowd of robots burst free of an adjacent hill. The group exited the trash heap and fired on anything that moved. Arson thought this would end the nearby battle, but then the sword came.

A weapon that looked to be made of pure white marble and embedded with diamonds swept down from above and cut the entire group in half. All that remained was dead robots and half crushed living armors.

The coast was clear, but Arson didn’t know how long that would last. He rushed to retrieve the mana core. He even managed to strike a ghost as its ectoplasm used a living armor to reform itself. He swung with his shovel on pure instinct and was rewarded by his first ever bit of experience and prompt.

“You have killed ectoplasmic armor level 0.1, do you want to gain stats or experience?” Both the words “Stats” and “Experience” were highlighted in white gold and Arson chose “stats” before he rushed back up the mountain of trash he hid on originally. He’d heard a noise and didn’t want to get caught by whatever had made it. He hadn’t truly taken the time to consider his choice.

Arson’s worst fear occurred. A living armor landed nearby and Arson knew this was not trash, nor could it ever be called trash.

The armor was absolutely beautiful. He couldn’t tell if he was looking at ancient shogunate armor or a mech suit. Then scattered bits of metal, mana, and a weird white fog that reminded Arson of the frozen particles in his Soul Realm, was sucked into the opened mask of the suit.

Arson burned the memory into his mind as the suit took off into the sky in a burst of speed using dazzling white wings that contrasted the all black armor.

“Where the sparks am I right now?”

More time passed and Arson grew angry that he’d ended up in not only an immediately life threatening position, but he had also wasted time. Something he prided himself in not doing, ever.

Arson meditated through the fear; sounds of violence surrounded him, and another trash heap obliterated.

All that was left in the distance, was an area that looked as if someone dumped a giant trash bag on the ground.

Then Arson remembered his overlay. He felt like an idiot for not checking his status sooner, but he had lived his entire life without the ability to do so.

Since then, he’d been constantly assaulted with new experiences. He had managed to luckily become a Cultivator, and somehow gained a lot more freedom after being kicked out of school which made him wonder if he was going to be a lot busier now that he was one.

The window opened to show his stats page. The only thing different from the last time he saw the page was the slot that read available stat points. It now read, 3.2 instead of 3.0.

Arson looked at his three options once more and frowned. He still had no clue what “Weapon,” “Armor,” and “System” actually correlated with in the Cultivation world. Nor had he ever heard of them being options for stat allocation.

“Weapon” sounded as if it was going to maybe be a conglomeration of his offensive stats. While Armor could be defensive and maybe add vitality, or regenerative stats. This left him to assume that System had to be mana-based in nature. He put a point into weapon, and was immediately proved wrong in his conclusions.

“Sparks…” A window with seven offensive options popped up and Arson was shocked to see his allotted choices.

Spark Bolt: This lance of lightning does minimal damage at lower levels, but can both grow through use and the understanding of light or lightning based properties of Univers.

“Gravity Pulse: This basic snap of force has the strength of a punch, and knocks back any prey weak enough to be subjected to the dome it creates. Force emitted and area of domes size is increased with both level and gained knowledge on space & time properties of Univers.

“Wind Clouds: These three clouds orbit the Cultivator and shoot compressed gusts of wind at targets for as long as the ability is channeled. Movement while casting increases the mana cost. Strength of strikes and mana cost are both increased and decreased prospectively, based on the Cultivator’s understanding of mana control and the wind properties of Univers.”

Arson was shaken by those choices alone. He almost chose wind clouds immediately but knew he needed to examine all of his options even if he felt like he was under pressure. He only got to make the choice of his first skill once, and if he was going to be in this kind of environment regularly, he wanted to be prepared.

“Aura of light: This allows the Cultivator to increase their regeneration passively for both life force and mana can increase the rate of generation by expanding your understanding of the light, healing, and aura-based properties of Univers.

“Beam of Frost: This channeled beam of cold may take long to freeze an object but has an effect that increases the damage taken by ice over time, a relatively low mana cost and can be used easily while in motion. Effects intensify by increasing your understanding of cold, and water-based properties of Univers.

“Conductive Waters: this orb of water will not electrify your enemy, but is filled with the power of the sun’s energy so these boiling water atoms may boil the flesh from your foes or shut down electrical systems by literally drinking in all the energy they come in contact with. Size of orb conjured, stability of water and charged atoms, as well as how much energy can be drained is determined by the Cultivator’s understanding of water, spatial forces, as well as the effects of foreign energies in regards to the properties of Univers.”

Arson almost had to force himself to read on. The noises around him grew more and more alarming, but so did the strength that could be gained in his choice of a seemingly basic starting skill.

“Touch of the SunStorm Sovereign: Combine all of the basic tools of the SunStorm Sovereign into one attack of pure devastation, increased by understanding nearly any attribute of Univers, *Note* this ability cannot be gained before gaining the six pieces of the SunStorm. This ability cannot be gained after level 1.0. Use wisely, even the SunStorm feared her own might.”

Arson tried to select it before he’d even read it all and sighed as he completed the small passage mentally. He looked around and made sure he wasn’t a moment away from death and looked over his options once more.

All of the attacks seemed to be ranged, which Arson enjoyed, as he didn’t want to be close to a single creature below him. He also noted that some seemed to be a lot vaguer in their descriptions, and Arson didn’t know if that meant the abilities were more or less restricted, or if the descriptions lacked depth for another reason entirely.

He looked around once more at all the types of enemies he saw below and made his choice. A new prompt greeted him as he came to his feet, ready for action.

“You have chosen, Conductive waters. A basic vision has been prepared for you to learn how to cast this ability as naturally as possible,” said Arson as he mumbled the prompt under his breath. He clicked yes on the prompt more worried about the creatures below, as more and more of the living armors seemed to make it pass the battles around them to be able to climb the trash mountain Arson had climbed. He was high up, but not high enough to feel safe.

Then the vision took him. He saw a young girl who reminded him of Jade, only the girl’s eyes were different, one golden and the other crimson.

She fought 3 or more opponents, Arson couldn’t tell as the enemies seemed to be blocked out of the vision. Their figures made of shadows and blurs of color.

Arson wondered if this girl was the SunStorm Sovereign, but then was far too dazzled by her actions to care. She moved like lightning incarnate, only her limbs didn’t move jerkily, but like calmly flowing water without obstruction or hindrance.

The orb formed in her hand and Arson knew the first enemy she drove an orb through died instantly. Her hand exploded through the being’s chest and Arson couldn’t tell if it was the Orb or her punch.

The blurred figure of the dead body remained wrapped around her arm, as she used the body to block more attacks as they came.

The same orb still in hand, she shot it at a distant enemy only for the orb to take the enemy’s head off from what Arson could tell. Then she summoned two more orbs and closed in on her remaining opponents.

Arson watched as the girl moved. In the vision it felt as if he could feel the combat firsthand. How she summoned the orb, how she changed it to accomplish both close and long-ranged tasks.

Arson knew he wouldn’t be able to replicate all of the cool combat maneuvers he’d witnessed in the vision, but if he could manage to use the orb situationally as she had, he could manage to survive the night.

He believed that for only as long as it took him to open his eyes. A living armor had managed to crest the peak of the small mountain Arson was on and locked onto his position before it charged.

“You have to be sparking kidding me!”