Episode 10: Stats and Credits

Arson realized he was wrong. He didn’t have time. He’d healed his wound completely, and wounded himself again the same night.

The much more grievous wound still only took a day to heal, and Arson realized healing fast was nice, but he was expected to be places and do things at certain times now.

He’d already received two infraction his first week as he’d missed two shifts to heal himself.

Jade had no choice and shrugged when she showed them to him. She wasn’t going to fire him, but they did go against his public record.

Jade only showed them to him because they were not only automatically filed if his shovel didn’t record weight each day, the notices were also easily sent via holo-watch.

The city bothered her, so she in return glared at him in a way that made him feel guilty. He’d been glared at by many and not cared, even Almarine, yet no face twisted him up like hers did. He didn’t want to let her down, despite being figuratively ahead in his hours worked.

Arson thought for a moment to himself about why the CityNation of Maelstrom would even bother her with a complaint about her single worker, but he quickly realized that as a Keeper she was wealthy beyond belief and a Cultivator’s government did anything to pinch pennies from anyone.

Ahead of hours or not, no reason felt justified under Jade’s displeased glare, so he stated none. Only that he would improve.

He did improve, drastically, over the following days. His knowledge grew, and after a three-day hunt, he and Troy had finally found it.

“The Valley of the First! Boo-yah!” Troy almost ran in again and then froze just outside with a look at Arson.

“I know what you said, but I think we should do this one together,” said Troy. Arson shook his head.

“No. I’m going to look at the ones nearby—see if we’re lucky enough to find more beginner-based armors. I won’t enter the ones Jade told us not to, but I’ll definitely mark them on the joint map for us.” Troy nodded and Arson was off. He wanted to save the excitement of the first valley’s teachings for when he was alone. Not only because he was certain he would make a fool of himself, but also because he didn’t want to immolate his friend.

He’d already been tainted by the vision of the SunStorm Sovereign, and had begun to Spartan-kick his opponents when the moment called for it, which was all the time. And it had gotten him injured. He began to try to heal himself while he stayed conscious and failed. This earned him another infraction.

Three days later he found himself in front of the area within the dump he’d hoped to find, and it was close to The Valley of the First style, yet much further than even The Valley was from the warehouse.

Before he entered the first magical domain he marked it on the map and checked his forgotten stat page. He’d pushed it to the back of his mind once he realized everything within his own system of Cultivation seemed to be a lot more expensive than normal.

“Available stat points: 15777.” He froze and wondered if he should turn back and try to complete another core before he entered his own first trial, but then realized there would probably be a cost. He closed the page and entered the area.

“You have entered the Dominion of Elements: Storm affinities recognized. Beginning step 1 tutorial.”

As Arson entered there were 11 wands that floated in the air, before faceless men and women formed around them. With the wands being the centermost point of their bodies, the magical instruments could no longer be seen once the forms were complete.

Then for the first time Arson saw tags above the heads of his potential enemies. Or were they teachers?

“Ok, so how do we begin?” He asked as he read over the names.

There was one for fire, water, air, earth, nature, light, dark, gravity, and three he didn’t have names for, so he assumed neither did his system. One of the symbols was of a circular device with 12 runes on it and two arms that seemed to spin out of sync for some unknown reason.

Another symbol was a metallic orb, and the final was of an odd white energy that twisted strangely. All while it attempted to either straighten or turn into a sphere before it formed a tangled symbol that resembled an hourglass to Arson.

Arson was surprised as all the figures stepped forward to be chosen from, and since he didn’t know if he’d only be able to choose one, he picked the one with the hourglass-like symbol as it was the most foreign (but also appealing) to him, and a prompt appeared.

“Arcane matter manipulation. To understand the art of creation itself, the seven basic elements should be known beforehand. Do you wish to continue? Yes/No.”

Arson smiled and clicked No before he clicked Fire.

“Fire. This element is by far the most understood, but that will change in time as all things do. Begin? Yes/No.” This time Arson selected yes and was shocked when the first figure stepped forward and spoke.

“You are young. Are you sure you would like to begin the process of teaching the body to understand flames? It is a pain-filled path.” Arson nodded and the figure raised her hands. Arson did the same, unprepared for what was next. He didn’t know if he should mirror the woman, then he heard a laugh come from the figure that made him wary to his core.

A wave of flames was released in his direction. In a panic he shot at the wave with conductive waters. Two orbs pressed into one in a flash before Arson shot his projectile straight ahead into flames.

The orb detonated and blew Arson off his feet. His body still somehow managed to be drenched in flames as he flew free of the area.

When he woke up, everything hurt, and Troy stood over him. Arson saw flashes of a new affliction within the borders of his overlay called “flame poison,” and he groaned in pain.

“Thank the Maiden’s Light,” stated Troy. Arson was glad to know she cared about him. She didn’t have to stick around him, or let him follow her around now that she was a more respected fighter, and he loved that she hadn’t changed.

“If I would have been the only one to get my rear handed to me, I would have been annoyed. This place is great for sure. Still a death trap…” Arson burst into laughter as he took the girl in completely. She did have a black eye and a lot of bruises, but Troy’s increased healing would take care of the damage in a few hours.

“I gotta go to work before I can rest,” said Arson. It took him a while to get to his feet. Longer than normal to get to the hole, and 6 hours to complete his regular 1 hour worth of work.

Every inch of his body hurt, but not when he pushed himself to move. So six hours turned from 12 into 18, and he finally began to feel better.

He wasn’t healed at all. In fact, all of the stacks of flame poison still remained, he’d just managed to put the pain into the background of his mind through pure focus.

“You’re still out here. Do you not sleep, dude?” Troy returned and Arson smiled.

“No actually, not since my core partially formed. The closest thing to sleep I have been able to achieve is the coma-like state my body reaches when I heal myself.”

“Damn, you’re lucky. If it wasn’t for the weird energies that fill this place I wouldn’t be able to train here at all. I charge up in the sun, and even during the beginning of my fighting career, I had to pick days of the week to charge up in the daytime.”

“My body seems to love both the light of the sun and even more so the stars above us now. During sunrise sometimes, I feel invincible.”

“Well, Jade says you have to stop and come check on your people over a meal.” Arson nodded and found himself ready for the run back after only a few moments of being at rest.

Troy slowed down to chat with Arson as they ran, but not by as much as she normally did. Arson brushed past it when she made note of it, but not when Jade noted their quick return as well.

“Yeah, I suppose. Troy said I’m moving a bit faster, but I haven’t noticed anything different.”

“Gradual growth is often missed, kid,” said Jade as she chewed.

They spoke more on it while they ate and Arson learned a lot about the body and even asked about Flame poisoning. Jade’s smile filled Arson with fear when it didn’t touch her eyes as it normally did, and he knew that was her true smile. The smile of a person powerful enough to snuff out a continent, a Keeper.

“All elements external to blood will poison the body. The quicker the poison is absorbed, the more in tune with that element you are, so trust me the fact that your stacks haven’t lowered is a good thing. I recommend that you find your most unaligned elements first—that will maximize the pain, but also the reward, as well as give you more time to form your foundation. You can only go through resistance training once, and that will mold the pillars your power will stand upon for Cultivation within your body.”

“Why my most unaligned first?”

“The elements will be processed in order of saturation, so you want to stack the most difficult to process underneath the most easily processed. That way, you can stuff as many elements into your body at a time as possible, which will allow for maximum saturation and the ability to both sense and manifest more elements. These serve as the base for all elements in all of Univers.”

“Why doesn’t everyone do that like big brother Arson?” asked the twins simultaneously to Jade.

“For many reasons, but mostly because they reach a pain threshold they can’t manage and quit long before they touch every base element necessary for a direct connection to Univers to be formed.”

Arson planned on doing exactly as Jade recommended, and was now grateful for both the pain that he used to focus as he sat and spoke with his friends. He still didn’t know the names of the twins, but he never had to address them. They were seemingly enthralled by his every move or word.

Wait, when did they start calling me “big brother?” Aren’t they both teenagers?

Arson rose with Troy from the table after Jasmine gave him a status report on the contract with Mr Kim. Arson was pleased to know that everything was going well and made note that he needed to check on the equipment he had in his storage.

He hoped they were fixed and if they were, he needed to find a way to quickly unlock his profession. From what he gathered, when he had the ability to do so, a new window in his overlay would become available, and he’d have to choose.

He wanted to be able to craft things like his holo-watch, spacial inventories, and more. So he hoped for a tinkerer profession with maybe an undiscovered magical tie to runes and enchantments. If something like that was even possible.

Still he daydreamed as he and Troy decided on whether to stick together or go it alone again. Once Arson informed her that he wanted to attempt another element before he began to stat grind for the night, she decided to follow him and make sure he didn’t die.

Arson once again found himself in front of 11 men and women, who all seemed eager to inflict potentially obscene tortures.

Unlike the time before, Arson was only greeted by 10 of the wands. He expected this from what Jade told him would happen. None would truly train him in magic until his foundation was formed completely. So Arson made his second decision.

“Earth is known to all, but respected by a rare few, shall you gain understanding as to why earthen might is nearly unrivaled? Yes/No.”

Arson chose “yes,” and was almost immediately submerged into a quicksand that formed beneath his feet.

He sank so quickly his arms couldn’t move. By that time, Troy realized what had happened.

In a panic after his hands went into the earthy vacuum, and he was forced to raise his chin as his face nearly went under, Arson flooded the ground with conductive waters.

He thought that maybe it would form a pool and allow for him to swim out, but instead the ground solidified. This left him locked in place as the earthen mana restricted his movements further in a vise-grip of power.

Then came Troy’s laughter and Arson grumbled in annoyance. He couldn’t move at all and the earthen stacks of mana only intensified the pain as he gained the same 9 stacks of poison his fire had given him, only in the earthen variety.

“Get me the sparks out of here!”

It took a couple hours, but Arson escaped with Troy’s help. Arson’s rage at being swallowed by the ground and almost dying was offset by an entire evening filled with the utter annihilation of nearby monsters in the area.

Arson closed in on 20 thousand stat points and picked up pace halfway through the night.

Troy noticed Arson pick up the pace and blurred around him to match his increased rate. The two became like a vortex fueled by explosions and light. Arson covered Troy’s back and she guarded their perimeter like a sentinel.

“Should we go into a harder green zone?” Arson only shook his head as he spartan-kicked a robot off the top of a trash heap and shot it before it could hit the ground.

“No, if anything, we should maybe train in The Valley of the First until sunrise,” said Arson.

So they did. Which Troy was grateful for with her first high bar fight being the following night.

When they entered two armor suits formed from broken sets scattered all over the place. Both with the title MMA Olympian above their heads. Arson assumed MMA stood for mixed martial arts from what Jade had explained, but had no time to think about it as one of two armor sets charged him.

He was then brutalized for hours, and didn’t manage to land a single kick on the Olympian.

“Damn, you guys come back more and more beat up every night out. Are you sure you two aren’t going to end up leaving us leader-less and broke?” Arson and Troy looked at Jasmine before they shared a look.

“That is a possibility for sure. Nothing is promised in the dump at night, Jasmine.”

“Then, I want you to take the twins with you at night. I know you said it’s dangerous, but they’re both Cultivators, and I’d prefer that our meal ticket had a bit more safety in numbers. No offense, Troy.”

“None taken. I wouldn’t like it if I couldn’t be out there with him, either,” said Troy. Arson felt his face burn slightly and wondered if he let his concentration slip on his resistance training.

“I’ll think about it. We have a fight to go to tonight anyway. When I’m done with work and Troy wakes up, you guys are more than welcome to come if you’d like, and we can even talk about it more over dinner.”

The group agreed and Jade offered Troy a room to sleep in while Arson, Jasmine and the twins worked. Arson nearly forgot to confirm with Jasmine but spoke with her before she left.

“Did you handle the payment to Mr. Kim for the delivery?” asked Arson. Jasmine huffed and nodded.

“I may have botched the numbers, but trust me, I won’t let things like that happen more than once, I may not be a brainiac like you or Jade, but I’m going to get the job done. I even worked out him picking up all of the completed goods for free.”

“I see. Make sure he pays you for the entire completed contract up front, and all at once. I may even sit in on that meeting for bureaucratic reasons,” said Arson.

“Hmm. I’ll prove to you I can get it done by myself with time I guess,” said Jasmine as she turned her back.

“Don’t get me wrong, Jasmine. I’m sitting in on the meeting as support only, not to get in the way. I won’t even speak unless you prompt me to.”

“Thanks,” said Jasmine. She left without another word.

Arson sold his nearly 35 mana cores to Jade and had to force himself not to stare at his balance of 2.1 million credits. When he asked how much he owed her in food, he was thankful for her answer.

“You’ve increased my reported production by more than 1000% from your shovel alone, and I’ve been taking the food budget out of the mana cores you sell to me, and giving you what’s left after.” Arson smiled.

“Good. I’d probably go without pay if I was forced to choose between it and your cooking. Thanks Jade.” Arson once again hugged the tall woman to her surprise and darted out the door.

“Don’t be late for dinner, boy, you know I don’t like—” started Jade.

“When people eat your food and it’s cold, I know. Bye Momma Jade!” Arson was at the hole in record time and pushed his body to move.

He worked through the pain of his elemental poisons and felt rewarded for every movement.

Arson was not aware of how quickly he was growing through his physical efforts, but his actions also deeply effected his Soul Realm. An aspect of his body, mind, and soul he needed to pay more attention to.

Within his Soul Realm, some elements weren’t being converted into stats, but instead fed the sun with an overabundance of life-force, mana, and even overcharged his natural cells with stamina.

The mist that had once been slight now formed a violent cloud around the frozen particle ring.

Arson worked, and the sun ate more and more until the line of power that led to his first node began to swell. A thick braid of power formed and was joined by near pure white-gold lightning streaks.

The line continued to strengthen until it formed a peerless pillar from the apex of the sun to the face of the node itself.

The only thing that broke the smooth surface appearance were intricate lines of runes that were smaller than atoms, which began to stretch across its exterior unseen. They originated from the node and worked their way down to the sun with every breath Arson took.

“Yo Arson, come on. We have to get to my fight soon!”

Arson heaved his shovel once more and began his run back to Maelstrom City for the first time in what felt like weeks. He had a present to buy and a fight to corner.

“Focus, Arson, this is only the beginning,”