Episode 9: Recipes for Success

“This map is super detailed,” said Troy after the group parted and gone their separate ways. Arson’s watch had a walkie-talkie function and he and Troy used it in tandem with her own flatscreen to communicate.

“Stay in that zone and you should be good. It’s marked as green and from what I remember there was a lot of large machinery in that area.”

“Well, it is the edge of the junkyard dude, I just hope the equipment we’re looking for is there.”

“Trust me, it will be. The problem isn’t the equipment, it’s getting it to work. We will need plenty of washing machines until I figure out the spacial enchantments.”

Arson found his way to the edge of the section he’d been at last night and positioned himself at the edge of the blue zone.

He needed to know why Jade felt he would need all his stats unlocked to enter a blue zone. He didn’t want to lose his life, but he did need to know what he to be wary of.

Arson hated it about himself, but fear needed to be experienced to be justified. Yes, the stove is hot, but how do you know until you touch it? Yes, the second floor is high up, but what teaches you not to jump, more than the fall?

Arson couldn’t fear something he’d never seen or heard, or even had a chance to experience first hand. He refused.

“So what do we do now, wait until sundown?” Arson lifted his watch as he looked around.

“Yes, I think we have around 20 minutes before we see action.”

The two waited but before Arson knew it he was in a full sprint toward Troy. Her screams of fear made him instantly regret everything. He could have and should have warned her better.

“What the sparks.” Arson couldn’t say much more than that.

He’d arrived at Troy’s marker on his map to find the young woman terrified, yet… deadly.

Troy had become a blur of light in the dark of the set sun. She kicked and punched with authority and made herself a danger to be around.

“Troy, what are you doing?”

“I’m killing all the sparking demons, who brings a girl into this kind of place? I thought you liked me. Are we not friends?”

“Calm down, it’s just monsters, and you realize you're getting stats and experience for this right?”

Troy looked away for a moment, then back at Arson. Her gaze went distant momentarily before her eyes widened.

“So much XP, what the hell is this place?”

Arson laughed and summoned two orbs of conductive waters. He blasted the incoming group of robots and Troy blurred. Her every movement left streaks through the dark of night.

“Are you ok now?”

“Yeah I guess, but you could have warned me!”

“Nope. Jade didn’t tell me, and it didn’t feel right to tell you. I think it’s a rite of passage—you don’t flee for your life, and you get to stay,” screamed Arson over the violence with a laugh.

“You’re a brat and you know it!”

They destroyed monsters in the green zones for the majority of the night until Arson couldn’t take any more. He needed to know why the small blue circles were so abundant, and why Jade felt he needed all of his attributes unlocked to enter them.

“Hey Troy, follow me. I need to check this out before we head back for breakfast!”

Arson ran toward the nearest blue zone on the map and froze when he got to the edge of the area. There was a single set of living armor in an open clearing. Arson put up his arm to stop Troy as she tried to walk past him, but she moved far too fast now for the attempt to work.

“Hey wait,” was all Arson managed to say before the armor charged them both, and Arson got his first prompt of the day.

“Seventh Style: Error, missing Styles 1-6, retreat recommended. Defeat the master of the 7th Omni form’s armor to gain access to new techniques.”

“Troy, we need to run!”

Arson fired at the armor as it closed the distance. Troy managed to glance at him before the armor vanished.

By the time Arson was able to see the armor again, both he and Troy had been flung in different directions. In one smooth motion, the armor had kicked Troy and simultaneously punched Arson.

Troy managed to land on her feet and slid off-balance for a few dozen meters. Arson smashed face-first into a nearby trash heap.

His vision went blurry for a moment and he felt more than half of his life-force leave his body. By the time Arson got out of the heap Troy had already re-engaged.

Arson was shocked by the fight. Troy wasn’t able to hit her opponent and was struck often, and hard, but she remained upright.

“Don’t just stand there, kid. I need your help!”

Arson shook his head to clear his vision and focus. He charged two orbs and smashed them together, but kept going until the single two-handed orb was almost the size of an award winning watermelon.

“Duck, woman!” Arson fired, and the orb streaked through the air faster than any other orb he’d fired yet. Troy dropped prone and covered her head, and the armor tried to dodge. Only—

Boom!

The orb snapped the remainder of the distance between it and the armor like a spark of lightning. Arson wondered if he somehow magnetized the orb, but he doubted there was a way for him to make his attack seek out mana. Or could he?

Arson felt good about his attack when it landed. It sent the armor through the air and into a trash heap, which made Arson feel he’d gotten revenge on the thing that made him eat garbage.

Then it rose out of the heap undamaged, without using its hands. He yelled for another retreat. Troy blurred and even picked Arson up as she ran out of the zone with him over her shoulder.

“I’ll be back for you!” Arson glared at the armor in the distance, but then he heard a laugh from the thing that sent chills down his spine, and rethought his declaration.

“Much later,” mumbled Arson to himself.

“You’re a psycho if you think we’re going anywhere near that place again,” said Troy. Arson hadn’t realized how fast they had moved until she’d spoken and her voice came out slightly muffled by the wind.

“Says the girl who charged past me to fight,” Arson said as he struggled with discomfort on her shoulder.

Troy dodged opponents easily and made their return time much faster than Arson could have pulled off alone. Even at a dead sprint and seemingly endless energy stores.

“Sorry,” said Troy after a time.

“For what?” Arson asked. He’d only given her grief as a joke, but his tone must have shifted the delivered message. It was something Arson knew he needed to work on, so he spoke up as they came to a complete stop.

“Don’t look at me like that. I was only kidding about you charging in. It’s not like I wasn’t seconds from firing off on the thing myself. Don’t worry about it. Look, I found mana cores, and have almost enough to unlock my second and maybe even my third attribute,” said Arson. Troy smiled and looked around as the sun rose.

“Well, with the laundry machines we found, you should be able to start with Jasmine soon, right?”

“Yeah, we still have to get them fixed, or figure out if the spacial enchantment will work on them or not, but I doubt it will.”

“What makes you say that? It seemed to work on the few items you tested last night?”

“Yeah but all of those items were small and made of one material. I kept it super basic, but I’m unsure about how more complicated equipment may work, or if it will at all.” Troy just nodded at first, until she spoke up again when something must have triggered a thought in her mind.

“Hey, did you get a weird notification when we entered the green zone about Styles?” It was Arson’s turn to nod.

“Any clue what that’s about?” asked Troy. Arson shook his head.

“I’m going to ask Jade, and you know you are more than welcome to stay for breakfast,” said Arson. The girl’s stomach rumbled, and they found themselves eating breakfast with the same group.

“So what happened?” Arson asked Jasmine as he handed the cores from the previous night over to Jade discreetly under the table. He needed to know how much she’d give him for his haul before he could move their plans any further, but knew that his gains should remain private.

He’d been stolen from and had stolen to survive in the orphanage. He no longer would since he’d been given other options, but he knew the skill well.

Since he didn’t know the twins, Jasmine, or even Troy all that well, he didn’t know how much of those same practices they themselves used. He’d keep their earnings as secret as possible.

His wants weren’t for wealth anyway. The orphans would most likely gain the most value from what he earned in the end.

“We pulled a city contract, no grudge or gripe from Mr. Kim. He has dozens of contracts he doesn’t want, and even took them on our behalf, and delivered them to us for the low price of 100k, and he said we can pay him back when something in the contract reaches its maximum interest rate, whatever that means,” said Jasmine in between bites. Arson and Jade shared a look, and the mirrored alarm in their eyes made them both burst into laughter.

“What? What’s, so funny?” asked Troy. Jasmine looked confused, and so did the twins and Troy.

“We won’t be letting any interest rate rise anywhere. Just make sure there aren’t any penalties in the contract for paying the total amount before a certain date, or in full, otherwise,” said Arson as he looked at his new 375k balance a moment before he invoiced her enough money to nearly faint.

“Kid, what are you doing in the dump that has you throwing around this kind of money?” said Jasmine.

“Nothing you need to worry about. Pretty sure you guys are safe in the warehouse, which I have been meaning to ask you about. Jade, wait no. Jasmine, why are you guys here if you have a contract, and why did we pay to have it brought here?” asked Arson.

“I told them to,” said Jade. He looked to her then waited for an answer, only to have her sigh.

“I asked you if I could use the warehouse, but you never really gave me an answer, and I do get the vibe that you don’t necessarily want a lot of people here to bother you. But I have a plan for that too,” said Arson before Jade cut in.

“It’s ok, kid. I just have the oddest feeling that with that watch on your wrist you will actually achieve whatever insane plan you have,” said Jade. Arson looked at the watch he now knew he didn’t want to part with, and back at Jade with more questions in his eyes.

He took off the watch and slid it across the table to Jade. The item pulsed with energy, and seemed to hum the farther it was from him.

“I don’t deserve something so valuable, nor do I want my achievements to be determined by the gift of someone much more powerful than me,” said Arson. He smiled as Jade smiled.

“You are the 11th and final owner of that watch, Arson, it can’t be passed on, or returned. It’s actually more of a danger for it to not be on your wrist at this point.” Jade slid the watch back over to Arson, and he frowned as he put it back on.

“Why would you give it to me?” asked Arson.

“Well, to be honest, it was a fluke. I test every new worker I have as a piece of a promise I made and you just so happened to be the one the watch worked for, but I didn’t say what I said to discourage you. I only said it because of the faith I’m quickly coming to have in you, Arson. I wish I didn’t need all this, but it seems as you needed a place to grow. Well, I needed something to stir me up,” said Jade.

“Aww, that’s the sweetest thing I think I have ever heard,” said Jasmine. Arson scowled at her, and everyone laughed. Even the twins, Arson noted.

The boy and girl hadn’t taken their eyes off him since they’d gotten back, and he wondered what had changed.

“So is anyone going to tell Troy and me what happened while we were out?” It was time for Jasmine and Jade to share a look before the older woman’s smile prompted Jasmine to explain.

“Jade already has washing machines and all kinds of other cleaning equipment and supplies, the stuff may not work long-term if we take on more contracts, but she’s given us a more-than-fair price for rental, I hope,” said Jasmine with a glance at Troy, Arson, and Jade for confirmation. Arson laughed when Troy shrugged.

“I let the kid deal with the money stuff. If I win my first contract fight next week I’ll be paid my first million credits thanks to him, so I’m going to say as my new manager, he’s the one to work out the numbers,” said Troy with a point in his direction.

“Manager, huh? Sounds nice. How much can you afford to pay me per fight, as you can see my time is very valuable,” said Arson with a laugh, but he was the only one to do so.

“It was a joke. I’m not that busy yet, I still haven’t even managed to pick what I want to do as a profession, and I haven’t found a trainer for…” Arson trailed off and looked at Troy before he remembered the armor he’d lost to. The same armor that left his entire chest bruised and still in intense pain. It throbbed as he thought about it, let alone attempted to rub the area.

“Jade, what are the Styles of Omni?”

“By the bruise on your neck there I can tell you didn’t listen to me, which Style did you run into?”

“Style 7, and you didn’t tell us how many Styles there were.”

“There are 21 Styles in the Styles of Omni, which are considered to be the refined movements of all hand-to-hand martial forms. Then there are the 17 Martial Weapons of Omni, the 13 Spirit Forms of Omni, the 7 Magical Kingdoms of Univers, 3 Constructs of Omnipotent Will, and finally the Form of Omni.” Every face in the room scrunched at Jade’s words and Arson wasn’t the only one with questions. Even the twins bombarded Jade with inquiries and the woman seemed to happily teach them.

Arson knew that most Keepers weren’t like Jade, but it was probably the primary reason he didn’t plan on work elsewhere. He had a teacher in Jade—something most wouldn’t dare to be in Maelstrom without being rewarded handsomely.

Jade explained that Omni, or the “will of all things,” was the legacy left behind by a family known for Cultivation, and the creation of Ikarus, the first and last wonder of Univers.

“This family is said to still exist, but as to where they are and what they are doing, that is unknown.” Jade further explained. “It is believed that most of their members have ascended pass even the level known as godhood, and have become natural forces of Univers itself.”

The Styles began at 1 with mixed martial arts and ended at 21 with a Style that held movements that disrupted time and space through the use of different elements. Arson took in all the information and then looked at Jade once more and remembered the star that lit in his memory when he first met the woman.

After a while Arson excused himself and left the others to talk and eat while he worked on his stats. After he found a spot outside and slipped into a meditative pose, he entered his Soul Realm.

“Sparking heaven fire. What the?” The inside of his Soul Realm was active. Elements of so many varieties flew within his realm that he lost count as they were converted dozens at a time.

He exited and smiled as he brought up his status overlay, and looked at his available stat counter.

“Available stats: 2562, and counting.” The error he got when he tried to unlock his armor stat pissed him off, and his system stat gave him the same response.

“What the sparks does it mean not enough cores!” Arson heard Jade laugh from nearby and he tried not to roll his eyes. Then he remembered his incomplete cores and realized his odd three cores, and three stat attributes were probably connected somehow.

With that in mind, he again entered his Soul Realm. It took him far longer to access what he’d originally assumed to be a line of power in the chaos of the stat conversion, but the single cord of light still remained.

For whatever reason, he felt the point to be the northern-most point of the sphere that formed his inner sun, and the line went directly up from there.

He followed the line through his mental space to the place where his sun became so small he could no longer see it within his soul space—a reality that filled him with an odd fear. A fear that made him angry as he didn’t understand why he was fearful at all as he continued on, but he was.

It was as if the representation of his soul made him experience the void of space. The distance between stars made real to Arson as he followed an unknown path to experience something he never had before. Finally, he was confronted by a white light that seemed to bleach space itself and a prompt appeared.

“Unlock soul node, 1500 stat points, minimum, 10k maximum, make first attempt now, 26% chance of success, Yes/No.” Arson scoffed at the price and knew he had a lot of work ahead of him. He was excited to see what that would entail, but he wanted the best chance for this to work, and so he exited his Soul Realm.

Arson then took the time to find what he needed for the following night, and he prepared himself. He wanted to be able to have everything ready for him and Troy to work that night. After he was done, he meditated, trying to focus on healing the damage that had been done to his chest.

He did not wake up until the following morning.