Episode 8: Momentum

“So, what do you got for me, kid?” Arson stared down the opponents across the ring from Troy. He read their lips and grimaced. Their plans would probably work against Troy if she wasn’t able to close the distance and Arson found trouble being able to tell his roommate.

“Spit it out, kid. Your face looks like you need to use the bathroom.”

“They’re going to set the entire stage on fire, from the start. You got any movement abilities?” Troy looked at the small circular stage and then shared Arson’s grimace.

“Yeah, but I can’t use it very well, and if I miss I’m probably going to fly out of the ring.”

“Can’t use it how? ’Cause that dude looks like he’s ready, like all the way ready, for all the smoke,” said Arson. He could feel the heat roll off the young man’s body even across the distance that separated them and wondered how his coach could bare to stand next to him.

“Like my body fills with light and I move way too fast to be able to tell what direction I’m moving at all, it’s terrible,” said Troy. Arson shrugged.

“You used that cool looking hard-light clone of yourself just fine, are you telling me you can flood that thing with all your energy recklessly in a fight and it doesn’t explode?”

“No, of course I stop when it’s formed densely enough to cause damage.”

“Ok, so what’s the issue? Don’t let your body fill to the brim with light then slowly speed up until you’re moving fast enough that you can still control it.”

“Ok, that actually sounds like it could work, but I don’t have time to test something like that. The match starts in ten minutes.”

“Sounds like you have time to practice and you’re making excuses,” said Arson with a chuckle. He pointed at the open space in the ring and smiled.

“I got a new attack that could burn the skin off your body if you want to turn up the intensity a little?”

Arson had been playing, but now that they’d gotten the judge to put the private bubble around the ring for their practice, he was truly engaged. He couldn’t hit Troy at all.

He’d nearly gotten her in the first 60 seconds. Then her skin started to glow, and she began to blur in his vision. Arson only had 100 shots before he ran out of mana, and he had increased his speed slightly since he’d first gained the skill.

Regardless, Troy became less and less jerky in her movements as Arson unloaded orb after orb.

Arson hadn’t realized how serious they’d gotten until the dome disappeared and they didn’t stop for a second. Even the announcer stopped his introduction to watch as Arson’s arms pumped with every shot. He roared and Troy stopped and caught his final orb.

He was happy to see that the attack drank some of her mana and restored his own, and it also didn’t damage her due to the light around her skin.

“Thanks buddy. I think I may have this now.” Arson smiled at her and bowed before he left the ring. He noted the alarmed faces of Troy’s opponent and coach.

Arson knew Troy was fast and known to be so, but she’d just entered a whole new category of speed. She was now a feather-weight. She’d probably need to get her fighting license changed if she could clock over a hundred mile an hour 30 yard dash, which Arson had zero doubts about her doing.

“Maybe I should invite her to hunt for mana cores with me at night,” Arson mumbled to himself. Yet, his words still felt loud. The room’s atmosphere changed drastically. Not only did they look at Troy strangely, Arson had gained a few odd looks himself.

“Are these some noble brats slumming it to get names for themselves?” Arson looked over his shoulder at the words that came from behind him in the crowd.

“That kid had a crown, I swear I saw it.” Arson rolled his eyes and shook his head. He hadn’t meant for his crown to show, but it had. Troy fired him up, it had emerged, and he knew it would be hard to stop something like that.

His core was a natural part of him. He wondered if maybe when that core was fully formed it would be more easily contained, but for now it wanted to be free, even if he felt shame when he looked at it.

“Troy and I are from Maelstrom orphanage, both raised from birth, all you’re seeing is my friend’s hard work. Don’t take that from her—celebrate her greatness.” Arson didn’t look back, but the murmurs told him he’d made his point. So many from the bottom were quick to pronounce that if they had what a more privileged individual had, they would be great. Arson knew the lie in those words.

“Greatness yields for nothing or no one.” The quote from Almarine rang true in his mind, heart and it made his soul brighten.

The fight began and Arson smiled. It was the easiest 25k he’d made in his life so far. The match didn’t last more than a handful of seconds and Arson felt bad for the kid that fought Troy.

The bell rang and the boy was lifted off the ground by a kick to the stomach that landed before the bell’s hum could disperse from the air.

Troy didn’t give him any reprieve as she ran up his body and used him as a launch pad. Once airborne, two copies of herself were summoned as she hooted with excitement on her descent.

The boy exploded with fire, but he was so delirious, he missed Troy entirely.

The ring was saturated in flames and Troy heel-dropped the young man three times, one after the other. She stood among the flames and smiled before she walked off stage. The judge didn’t count, as the young man’s coach had thrown in the towel before the heel drops had even occurred.

“Hey kid, dinner on me tonight, we got some things to talk about!”

It took Arson far longer than he wanted to convince Troy that he needed her to come to the dump with him, but after his third promise of a feast, she relented.

They made the hours-long trek to the dump and Arson was pleased to run into Jasmine and two of the other orphans Arson didn’t know the names of.

“They’re with me, but the twins don’t talk, so I will let them warm up to you, especially if you’re going to be their boss. Give them time and they’ll open up.” Arson nodded and waved at the boy and girl behind Jasmine, while she introduced herself to Troy.

The group made it to Jade’s and another round of introductions came and went.

“I hope you don’t make a habit of bringing all your friends for every meal without a heads up in the future, young man.” Arson shrugged and handed over the three mana cores he found earlier.

“There is normally far more than either one of us could eat, so I figured you would’t mind,” said Arson as Jade transferred 150k credits to him.

“I don’t mind. I’ll just need to prepare more, that’s all. You and that Troy girl seem to have huge appetites.”

“Sorry ma’am, Arson did some intense training with me before my own professional fight a few hours ago and apparently my new ability makes me really hungry.”

“It is not a problem, child. Arson just needs to send me a message before we have company is all, come now. Follow, follow,” said Jade. They entered the warehouse, and to Arson’s surprise, a different house was summoned by Jade and they entered a manor a quarter size of the orphanage.

“Your new boss is a Keeper?” Arson could tell Jasmine was shocked, as was Troy.

“Yeah, isn’t Mr. Kim from the laundry a Keeper?”asked Arson.

“Yeah, but I’ve never actually met him,” said Jasmine in complete shock.

Arson didn’t know the significance of a Keeper, just that they were important figures. They owned land, gave jobs, and cut pay checks. Beyond that, Arson was clueless as to what they were capable of.

The group ate and learned about one another. The twins stayed silent, but ate their fill, which made Arson happy.

“How much do we owe you for the meal, Ms. Jade?” asked Troy.

“Yeah, I was going to ask the same,” said Jasmine.

“You would have to ask Arson. This is his daily food budget you’re all enjoying,” said Jade. The two older girls shared a look, and Arson would have to ask one of them later what he missed.

“Speaking of which, young man, are you going to tell us why we are all here?” Arson looked at Jade and nodded.

“Yes, but before I do, I have to ask you a question.” Jade nodded at Arson to continue.

“Why was a practically destroyed jacket made whole again after I left it in my watches inventory?”

“The auto-repair function of the spacial enchantment, it is very rare and if I didn’t have many of those watches from my years of scavenging I would probably still be wearing it, why?” Arson looked at his watch and gulped. He’d been gifted the watch, but hadn’t known its real value. He’d cherished it as if it were worth as much as priceless artwork, but to know that it was worth as much as priceless artwork was entirely different.

“Is there any way that we can recreate this function on a larger scale?”

“What do you have planned, kid,” asked Jasmine. She felt she was quickly aware of what his plans were, at least on the surface.

“Ok, Jade, if you let me use the warehouse, I want to open a shop—a shop full of the goods that we restore from the dump, originally I was going to have the orphans use their individual skills and abilities to restore the items as best we could. But if we can create a form of restoration system using the spacial enchantment, we may be able to do far more than I had originally had planned.”

The group shared a look. Even the twins were on the edges of their seats, although they remained silent. Jasmine bit her nails in excitement, and even Troy bounced her leg like a child pumped full of sugar.

“Hmm. I’d have to move my manor, and you’d probably need some way of attracting customers once you're in full swing, but as for the enchantment, I was never good at the crafting aspects of Univers. Still, I may have a way that you could learn.” Arson could feel a sense of apprehension in Jade’s normally confident voice that made him worry he’d overstepped.

“Fix your face, kid. It’s just that if I do this, you’ll have access to knowledge that most Cultivators around your age, or even millennia older than you would kill for. I don’t know how I would feel about someone as young as you having that kind of access to information networks, especially Cultivation-based ones.”

“What about under your supervision? I only use the network thing you show me when you’re around?” Arson didn’t want to miss his opportunity, so he pushed.

“You and your friends bring me a dozen cores a week as payment for the warehouse and you have a deal, as long as you are always supervised when you use the Sovereign System app on your watch, I will give you access and let you rent the warehouse space.” Arson had seen the app Jade spoke about, but ignored it as he was clueless as to its use. He was glad he hadn’t known it was a database, or he would have wasted a lot of his time in an attempt to open it.

“Do the four I sold you so far this week count?” asked Arson. He wanted to get started as soon as possible, but Troy interjected.

“You’re stretching it, Arson. She’s doing a huge favor for you already. Let’s bring her the cores and make a killing after a little hard work.” The others nodded and Jade smiled.

“You can’t blame your young leader for wanting to push the boundaries as far as he can. No person knows their limits without a certain level of inner fearlessness.”

The rest of the meal was casual. They all ate their fill and Jasmine took the twins home shortly after they were all done.

They’d worked out the majority of their plans to begin and Arson was ready for a long night. Except this time, Troy and he would have a blast in a search for mana cores, and slightly damaged washing machines.

“It’s going to be a long night.”