A thumb-sized serving of Heaven’s favor nestles in Todd’s palm. As he turns it carefully he sees no blemishes, no bruises, just the lush deep color that sinks into its meat. He doesn’t even find a mark left by the stem.

“What does it do?” Asks a voice, bringing Todd back to reality. Aefore is already gone, but the question isn’t directed to him. Instead he sees the third Pixie sister, Ciforre drift down to join them.

With a resplendent purple and flowing robes that burr off into energy at its edges, Ciforre has presented herself with subtler icons of power than her elder sister. She addresses the humans with a haughty bearing and a rigid posture. Looking down from her silver wire glass-frames, she opens the stone book in her hand and alights a finger towards the bottom of the page.

“Aged 46 Mister Teodore Alamilla,” she begins, addressing the red-flushed jerk from Todd’s first brawl, still trapped in his battle-ring. Alamilla reacts with visible surprise to hear the woman knows his name. (Which is clearly ridiculous, the Pixies are flying trans-dimensional energy beings. Why is anyone impressed by parlor tricks?)

Teodore raises his hand to his heart, to the big American flag and eagle blazoned on his t-shirt. The flush of his rosacea cheeks is matched with a rosy sunburn on the crown of his pattern balding scalp. His mouth gapes in awe.

“Teodore, which means divine reward; and Alamilla, which is the name for an arboreal subgroup of the genus Populus,” she continues, raising an eyebrow as if assessing him. “Therefor you are rightfully, called ‘God-Gifted Aspen.’” The Pixie raises a hand to thoughtfully (and completely unnecessarily) adjust her glasses. “A fortuitous name,” she says mysteriously, before turning away from him.

“The [Limitless’ Charity, Blooming-Promise Berry] is the first, gracious gift of the combat phase of the System Tutorial. The fruit is native to worlds classified as B and above. Though,” she pauses wryly, “on A class worlds it is considered more of an invasive pest than an agricultural product.”

“Here on your world it -”

“What class is Earth?” Todd calls out, interrupting Ciforre. She turns to face him, almost resentfully.

“Todd Kalogeropoulos, surname meaning ‘child of the holy-man’. And Todd from the Middle English meaning fox -”

“You foxy son of a monk,” Joe snickers, unable to help himself and Todd blushes furiously in embarrassment. There are a few titters and snorts at the outburst, especially from Randall, but Ciforre’s stern expression silences them.

“That is a technically accurate, but mis-spirited translation, Mister Joseph Faucheux.” she begins, as if scolding Joe, but her tone dips into a rumor of playfulness. “But I would presume a man whose name means ‘additional lawnmower’ would be more gracious.” Her jab stirs up even heartier chuckles, and Joe laughs with them: genuinely, good-sportedly at a public humbling. The Pixie gives them a moment to settle down, the corner of her lip curled upwards in a smirk.

“If I might continue? Mister Kalogeropoulos, at the time you resided on your planet ‘Earth’, the System had qualified it as a class F planet.”

Todd loses his good cheer into a puddle of a frown. There was something about that sentence which sounded uncomfortably like the past tense.

“The Berry itself is classified as a high F or low E grade spiritual fruit. F because its effect is reproducible by numerous lesser spirit flora, but E as only a very few specimens exhibit as repeatable an effect as this fruit.”

“You will remember your status screens?” Ciforre inquires, in a professorial tone. “Those of you who have yet to achieve it, you will understand shortly,” she reassures them. “Your ability scores measure the physical and mental limits of your body. But those limits are not fixed, they can and will improve as you advance in your Cultivation.”

“This advancement will be measured in discrete milestones, identified by your ‘Level’ attribute. As you advance your level, The System will respond to the expansion of your potential by awarding treasures called ‘free points’. I hope this isn’t too many numbers for you already Mr Randall Cho.”

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“Oh, oh, what does my name mean?” Perks up the young man.

“Ah, yes. I think it means round wolf bureau?” Randall purses his lips, miffed at his cheap title. “I don't know. I may be taking some liberties here. Please, no more interruptions,” she insists.

“You will have the ability to assign these free points to your own attributes. To increase the strength or vitality of your own body, for example. The effect is quite impressive, but in time you will find it is among the least of the miracles that the System will make possible for you.”

“And so, to answer your question; eating the fruit will grant you two bonus free points. It will also, as an inconsequential side effect, improve your natural life expectancy by an average equivalent to one full lunar month. Does that sufficiently answer your question?”

Shocked silence and thoughtful, hungry looks play over the nearby listeners.

Todd looks down at the treasure in his hand. One bite, maybe two, and in an instant he could increase his strength by a full forty percent. That’s insane. That’s amazing. But...

“So the System is capable of awarding these bonus points directly?” He asks.

“All things are possible through the System,” Ciforre responds without hesitation.

“So why do you give us the fruit instead?”

The stone book slams shut with frightful solidity. A sharp glare cuts at him, as the violet-flashing scholar tilts her glasses and displeasure at him.

“Are you malcontented of your reward?” She threatens.

Todd is quick to deny it, shaking his head and sputtering until her attention passes him over again. It doesn't matter, he doesn’t need the answer from her mouth - he understands already. The fruits are rewards precisely because they are something which can be stolen from each other.

“So,” Teo’s voice growls out with a guilty, almost wounded sound. “That’s what we would get if...” his eyes skirt reflexively towards the elder woman standing near him. The woman’s hands roll and gesture as she continues to ask him a string of rapid fire, hushed questions in Spanish, but he ignores them and waits with trepidation on Ciforre’s response.

“If you were to win your fight,” the Pixie says in a casual, dispassionate tone. “Yes, that is what you would receive.” She turns her head, pretending to inspect her fingernails in distracted boredom.

“Oh, you sly bitch,” Candra growls quietly.

Coming to the rescue, Joe raises the obvious next question. “Couldn’t one of the participants choose to surrender?” Murmurs of approval echo his question.

“An insightful possibility, Mister Faucheux! Unfortunately the ‘Prideful Duel of Braves’ Array is not designed to deactivate upon detecting a combatant’s victory.” She shakes her head apologetically. “It is designed to detect a defeat,” she shrugs to more effectively communicate an empathetic, shared helplessness.

“And you can’t let her out?”

“I am not authorized to deactivate the Array,” she lies.

Joe hangs his head, seething his conclusion in a hiss through clenched teeth. “So someone needs to lose.”

“Someone always needs to lose,” she says somberly. The corona of her hair pulses and dims as if in respect for the gravity of the situation. Todd looks over and sees Joe, shaking with an impotent anger. He sees Randall, looking at the fruit in his hand with envy. He sees Candra struggling to think of answers and coming up with none.

What if…? But the thought dies unfinished.

“What are all these pouty-wouty faces for?” Giggles a tumbling flash-flood of pink fireflies. It swoops around and between the humans, nearly spooking them out of their socks and onto their backsides. Then Befor springs out of her somersault and up into the air with a toothy jubilation. “Cee-fee,” she cries out in a tone of bubblegum horror.

“Yes Befor?”

“Surely these humans know the bonus reward for the menus quest?” Befor squeaks in babydoll concern.

“Oh, you mean the [Nettle Salve Skin Mending Pill]?” Replies Ciforre innocently, as if it’s the first time she’s considered it. Putting a hand on her chin, she turns in place, and looks out at the Humans instead of her sister.

“With a healing pill so sweet, and lovely, and heal-a-licious...” the newcomer beams.

“You’re right, sister!” Cifour slaps her hand on the book victoriously.

“Any teeny weeny hurt they got done would be fixed in no time!” She squeals in excitement, spinning up into the air before bobbing back down.

Todd blanches, his hearth hammering in his chest. Befor just gave everyone here a blank check to hurt one another without consequences. He looks to Candra and Joe, sees them alit with disgust and anger.

“Oh but they’ll have to hurry though,” the satanic little cherub says, nodding emphatically as its curls bounce in trailing phosphorescence.

“It would certainly be prudent for the humans to hurry and resolve their matches, it’s true,” agrees Ciforre solemnly.

Todd looks at his friends and sees they are just as afraid to ask as he is.

“Ah,” Joe clears his throat before speaking up. “Why exactly would they need to hurry?” He asks.

Ciforre snorts rudely, and Befor giggles as well.

“Well it’s not like the Arrays stopped shrinking while we were talking, now did they, ya sillies?”

Wait. No.

Holy shit.

Todd looks down and the fog clouding his vision fades, the same fog from before that tunneled his vision and kept him locked on the Pixies and their antics. He hadn’t even realized he’d been affected again.

The red rings imprisoning the other humans had shrunk. Shrunk to a fraction of their size. The only room left now was the arms length it takes to beat each other bloody. And as his eyes widen in horror, Todd sees the rings glow once more.