Every inch of her face ‘might be levied to discontent, sets itself to that high purpose now. Never in the bright brief years of his life, had Todd ever witnessed an expression of such afflicted disgust.

“How could you be so boring?” Chokes the fae-fiend administrator Charlie Two Foxtrot Four subsection B.

“I- I...” Todd stammers.

“No, it’s okay,” the firefly energy bloblets of her body loop drunkenly and her open palms tap feverishly against the empty air. “We can fix this. I’ll pull some strings, we’ll get ourselves a [Coin of Reset]...” Then accord between her eyebrows breaks down and they descend into a brawl with one another.

Gulping down a little courage, Todd squares his shoulders. “This is what I wanted.”

But the pixie draws a cutting line with her stardust-solid hand. “So we got your element wrong? Happens all the time! I’ve got this great hidden skill, not supposed to give it out in sub C grade tutorials: makes all the water in the body jump an inch to the left.” She puts her hands on Todd’s shoulders heavily, and they are an incendiary laceration. “You wouldn’t believe how lethal it is.”

“Ow ow, let go,” Todd exclaims, shirking off her grip and backing away. “This is the right choice,” he asserts, wiping moisture from the side of his eye with his hand. “This is what I want.”

Befor’s eyes are a wide hungry chasm, but then she recalls herself. The humans around her are withdrawing from her in a murmuring fearfulness, and her sister Aefore bears a severe watchful expression from aloft the far side of the mob.

Shaking her head like a dog shakes off a bath, her face ratchets back up to a blush-cheeked full-mouth beaming. “You’re such a silly head! Now you go get along there, little buddy. You’re holding up the line!”

Dodging waiting Cultivators, Todd retreats without hesitation.

After a moment, bent upright and hands on knees to recover, Todd looks up to see Randall jogging over.

“What was that about?” The big guy asks neutrally.

“Oh just Befor threatening me. You know, a tiny bit.”

Randall perks up, dubious. “Befor wouldn’t threaten anybody, she’s nice.”

Todd makes an effort to choke out a syllable.

“I get it man, you’re stressed out. Everything’s weird, nobody’s telling us when we’re going home, and you’re working yourself so hard already.” Randall continues gently. “But you’re being paranoid. Just… try to relax and enjoy this. This is the fuckin’ dream, man.”

“We’re here for a month,” whispers Todd absently.

“A MONTH?” Randall gapes. “Who told you that?”

“Pixie.”

“Why are they telling you all this stuff man? This is just like you. You’re doing so goddamn good at this, and all you can do is mope around.”

Todd flinches. “Ugh. Critical hit,” he admits.

“Yea, uh-huh. Meanwhile me over here? I can’t even hit level two.”

“I’m sorry Randall. You’re right,” Todd sighs. “Let me help you get your level, and we’re gonna get super badass together. Okay?”

Randall grins unreservedly. “Deal. I’m real close I promise. Go get your weapon first though, Aefore’s handing them out.”

Looking over to the leader of the pixies, Todd sees a wooden rolling rack beneath her. It’s hard to see from here, but it looks like it’s stacked high with short metal rods. “I can just go grab one?” He asks, walking backwards.

“Yea and get me one too!” Randall calls as Todd turns and lopes off towards this morning’s second helping of mystical amazing.

Less than five minutes later Todd rolls his regulation issue [Mercury Rod] over in his hands. He looks up questioningly at the silent hovering Aefore, then back down to his new weapon. Only about two feet long and narrow enough to fit in a one handed grip, the rod is a solid cylinder of cherry wood and silver metal. The metal part, a likely suspect for ‘bit one hits with’, tapers to a sharp squared point at the end; and the edge between materials is so clean as to be seamless. The only decoration is a single word in stark lettering embossed into the wooden handle.

Defiant.

“Thanks? I mean uh, this seems cool,” Todd bleats without conviction.

“Very much so,” she asserts with a tremulous electro-warble confidence. “This is designed to be the perfect starter weapon for a warrior...” arms folded, she looks Todd up and down in a blunt assessment. “Who showcase more promise than talent.”

He ignores her slight; after all, she’s right.

“It will change shape to fit your desire,” she explains. A small amount at first, but the weapon will grow with you as you Cultivate. However it will quickly be outpaced by the equipment which becomes available to you later on.”

She plucks up one of the rods from the pile beneath her, and as she cups one hand against the metal, it ripples and shifts. First, the metal flattens and becomes a sharp looking dagger. Then it rounds again but bends by ninety degrees and extrudes another branch. She twirls her new tonfa idly between her fingers before shaking the weapon out. By the time she returns it to the cart, it has reverted to its original shape.

“You’ve sold me,” Todd concedes. “Are there limits to how much it can change?”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Limits in changes to mass, volume and hardness yes. Complexity too. You will find these limits loosen as you grow, but not by much. You should also not depend on it to change shape quickly enough for the needs of battle.”

“Got it,” Todd murmurs, concentrating on the weapon in his hands.

“This is a tool which would never follow you into the E grade,” Aefore cautions. “It is no Spirit Tool, able to evolve past its humble beginning classification. No, by the time you have familiarized yourself with a few martial weapons and choose the type best suited for yourself, it will already be necessary to discard it.”

Todd nods.

“It was untoward of her to react in that way,” Aefore’s voice softens.

“Who?”

“My sister. I am disappointed at your skill selection too, but that is not your failure, it is ours.” The creature almost looks regretful. “I should have anticipated your need more rightly.”

“You don’t need to apologize.”

“Young Mister Kalogeropoulos, it is our most sacred duty to see you reach your fullest potential.” She smiles at him graciously.

Todd licks his lips, which have gone unexpectedly dry. “Or see us die trying, right?”

The pixie’s expression hardens, becoming a stone mask of affectionate cruelty. “Yes.”

He swallows an acid taste. “I’m going to grab a second one for Randall, is that okay?”

Receiving no objection, Todd runs from his second pixie of the day, this time with a gift for his friend in hand.

Over the next two hours, the two young men painstakingly review the introductory contents of the [Root of the Limitless Promise Cultivation Manual]. Todd patiently clarifies several of the more critical points, and manages to resolve some of his own misconceptions as well. By the time Randall reaches the second level and runs off to pick his very first [Skill], Todd decides he’s ready to tackle the third level in earnest.

Visualizing the flow of energy within his body, he breathes in sharply through his nose and lets himself drift along with the current of newly absorbed Cosmic Energy. He does not begin laying down new foundational circuits just yet. Each new line will accelerate his Cultivation and his growth, but he understands now that building them incorrectly would impede or even cripple him in the long term. For now, he is content to inspect them from the crystal and plan them out in his mind.

“Are you working on three already?” A tired voice asks.

Opening one eye, Todd sees Candra assembling herself clumsily into lotus position and shaking out her shoulders.

“Nothing better to do,” he confides.

“You could test out your new skill,” she counters, and he hears her fall into the cyclic rhythm of the Limitless promise root breathing technique.

“Yea,” he pauses with no small amount of restrained enthusiasm. “But until I grow my Cosmic energy reserves a bit, it’ll be a pretty big drain.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

He shrugs fractionally, so as not to interrupt the rhythm of his rising diaphragm. “I assume so?” A long moment stretches between them.

“You’re such an asshole, Todd,” Candra hisses.

Surprised, he opens his eyes and trips over his pulmonary cadence. Candra’s eyes are squeezed shut tight to the point of a quiver, a bead of sweat rolling down her temple to meet and merge with a falling teardrop. “Are you okay?”

“No I’m not okay,” her quavering breath collapses into ragged coughing as she blinks open her eyes and stifles a sob. “Just let me have this. Everybody’s stronger than me here.”

Todd reaches out a hand and then pulls it back.“Candra, what are you talking about. You’re crazy strong. Joe showed me the bruise you gave him, that was this morning.”

“That’s only because I put all of my points into strength!” Her pitch begins to rise with intensity, but she glances around in embarrassment and brings it down to a growly whisper.

Todd takes a moment to really consider how much four points of strength really means. After all, before the tutorial he only had five of them total himself. “Oh,” he dumbly replies.

“Todd, do you know how long I’ve been playing sports?”

Todd doesn’t. “I thought you were just a ref?”

“That’s just a part time job,” she shakes her head and her brown hair cascades messily around her. “I’m on the varsity women's lacrosse team.”

“Oh. Uh, that’s really badass.”

“Yea. Yea I want to think so too. But I bust my BUTT to stay on the roster. I’m always on the edge of getting cut from the team and I’m at practice all the time. You don’t understand, Todd. You don’t even understand.”

Looking for something to do with his hands, Todd cups them together and then nervously puts them back down on his knees. “So this is your chance to...” he hesitates, “be strong?”

Candra blots at her face with the hem of her Gi. “I’m just, it’s just,” she laughs. “It just sucks that I work so hard, and then Joe drags me down in two seconds. He’s like the laziest guy, but I still can’t beat him.”

Meeting her eyes, Todd glints a gleam in his own. “Well he is really freaking big.”

Her laugh melts his heart a little bit. It’s belly deep and honest and unpretentious. “He’s tall, Drips.” She wiggles her eyebrows mischievously. “Not necessarily big.”

Todd snorts, and then Candra breaks too and they descend into a half minute worth of  snickering mess. 

"You know, your eyebrow is looking way better," the young woman observes, making liberal use of her loose sleeve to smudge at her face. Mostly composed, she watches Todd raise a hand to touch at the nearly closed wound. "You didn't use the healing pill?"

"I actually think it's the Cultivation," Todd guesses hopefully. "Maybe it, I dunno, accelerates the healing process."  Candra nods thoughtfully, but looks not quite convinced before she closes her eyes again.

Together the two fall back into the rhythm of cultivation, but this time much more at ease. Wordlessly, as the minutes pass they are joined by Joe, by Nayira, then Walter and finally Randall. Finally it becomes clear that everyone who’s reaching level two today has done so, and everyone who will receive a skill has done so too.

“Congratulations on your choices,” Ciforre’s voice is recognizable by its echoey distortion and carefully clipped spirants.

Joe opens his mouth to thank her, but Candra raps her knuckle against his shoulder and he shuts it with a frown.

Todd looks at his friends and then up at his patron guiding spirit. “You don’t think I made a mistake?”

Ciforre folds her body out from under her and settles down neatly on the floor as Candra scoots to make room for her. “No. Not at all. Todd, as much as we pretend to know what’s best for you,” she pauses and waves a hand round the circle at the group. “Which I still officially say we do, by the way.” Her mouth quirks up mirthfully. “Eventually every Cultivator needs to choose their own path, determine their own destiny. The fact that you know where you’re meant to be headed already, even just a little bit?”

She reaches out to his chin, lifting his head to her without touching him.

“That’s a wonderful thing.”

Then her visage slips back into her usual severe businesslike demeanor. As she begins to rise, she pats out a wrinkle in her… dimensional essence(?).

“Now get yourself ready children,” she orders them.

“Oh yea, why?” Growls Walter, sounding insulted to be lumped in with the sub septuagenarians.

Tucking her tome underneath her arm, and tapping her glasses further up the bridge of her nose, Ciforre lances the old man with a withering glare. “I am afraid to inform you that in seven minutes, this plaza will flood with thousands of carnivorous, venomous insects.”

His friends gasp, but Todd buries his face in his hands and makes an angry, inarticulate sound.

The pixie barely spares him a parting glance as she turns to leave, but delays. “I would like to insist you survive,” she says simply. Then she’s gone.