“You’re back!” Susan bounced over as soon as she spotted him. “Is Andrew with you?”

“Unfortunately, not.” Nil smiled sheepishly. They exchanged hugs and were glad his family didn’t linger. They had met Susan before and waved her goodbye before returning to their quarters. “The quest won’t end until his trainer is satisfied with his progress. I think she wants him to ascend to Iron first. He thinks it could be another five months or so before Samara releases him.”

“It's fine.” She sighed. Susan’s smile appeared genuine. “I’m just happy he’s finally got what he wanted. It will be nice to have a soul-smith for a boyfriend.”

“Hold on a moment,” Selia interrupted. The phase shifter looked healthier than the last he had seen her. Her complexion and build seemed to improve between each of their chance encounters. The body ascensions had fixed whatever damage her ability and Symbiotech’s experiments had inflicted. Nil couldn’t help but think she looked incredible. “You two have a hook-up with a soul smith? What do I have to do for you to hook us up?”

Shawn, the Barrier Projector, and Adam, the Regenerator, followed close behind her. The first only nodded politely, while the latter gave Nil a hearty handshake. Adam showed subtle changes since their last meeting. Bony protrusions covering his knuckles and elbows. His jaw also appeared better defined. It almost seemed as if similar armoring was on the verge of growing over parts of his face. Nil guessed the man had gained a new feat or ability.

“Pay the material and labor costs,” Nil answered. “If you’re nice to him, he might just throw you in a bidding war for his time.” His words weren’t necessarily true. Andrew would need people for the sake of experimentation and training. Combat and quests alone would make his progress far too slow. “I’ll put in a good word for you and Adam.” He glanced past the pair at Shawn. “He’s on his own, though.”

“I don’t need any handouts,” the barrier projector commented. “I make my own way in life.”

“Boy, you’re an angsty one.” Susan laughed, turning to Selia. “You weren’t kidding.”

“Shawn grows on you,” Adam said. “He’s a good guy. Just a bit up his own arse.”

“It's rude to talk about someone when they’re right in front of you,” Shawn added.

His friends ignored him, continuing the banter.

“I met Selia and Adam last week,” Susan told Nil. “They’re good people. I see why Layla hired them too.” She lowered her volume and leaned close to him as she continued. “Shawn just returned from his quest last night. I can see why you think him a prick.”

Nil didn’t know when the Nexus had employed Adam, and he didn’t care to ask. He liked the oversized brute and was glad to have him around. Combatant acquaintances would prove extra useful when taking on group quests and team events in Apocalypse Arena. The traditional climbing method used a point system, and the soon-approaching team game would get participants a third of the necessary to get to the Bronze Gauntlet. Unlike the qualifiers, it demanded squads of four to six. Nil considered a perfect opportunity for training. However, a little voice in his head told him all three of his new colleagues intended to go through the Death Gauntlet, eliminating people people for the Nexus.

It was the quickest way to climb, making it perfect for Adam, who was frustrated after his Gauntlet of Ten loss. Meanwhile, the other two had a personal grudge against Symbiotech and all affiliated with it. They explored the rest of the structure together and made plans to spar or train together from the following morning.

The following morning, Nil found patterns drawn in the garden room. He had left Meatball free with raw fruits and vegetables stolen from the cafeteria. She had finished half of them before creating spirals and squiggly shapes in the dirt. No seedlings or sprouts peeked out of the ground. Nil didn’t expect anything to appear so soon but couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

As he freshened up for the day, the Spirit Pill called to him, but he resisted. Nil couldn’t afford to spend twelve hours a day on meditation just yet. The prospect of going on a vegan diet after eating horrid food for two weeks didn’t appeal to him either. Nil wanted to play with his newest toy. He still had a couple of hours before he was due to meet the others and study his new manuals.

During the latter half of his quest, Samara reiterated several times that Qi and the Source were not the same. The first followed several universal rules, while the latter did not. However, Qi and cultivation techniques appeared to work perfectly in tandem with Brutal Battery, and he hoped they would also work with energy that flowed through his soul weapons.

The tri-finger blade, though powerful, felt awkward. Nil hoped to get better at projecting and controlling his energy before shaping it into blades that took the form of knives or punching daggers. Eventually, he hoped to develop something akin to bladed knuckle dusters that extended into knives.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Blending the weapons with his fighting techniques or learning something new would improve his combat effectiveness significantly. Nil hoped to meet with the Forge’s weapons teacher as soon as possible and put together a decent training regimen.

What was I thinking with Restless In Body And Mind?

The feat didn’t demand much physical activity to focus. Something as simple as using a grip trainer or dexterity exercises with a coin made it possible to concentrate on cerebral activities. However, being able to do nothing but read and not split his attention made everything made reading and the absorption of knowledge significantly faster. Nil didn’t need to read technical passages multiple times either. He understood the concepts during the first or second read-throughs.

Much to Nil’s delight, the Qi Projection and Shaping technique primarily built on cultivation techniques he picked up in the welcome pack. He needed more literature or trial and error to patch up the gaps in his knowledge, but that was more for Shaping than Projection. He needed to master Projection first. If he understood the manuals correctly, better control and improved energy emission abilities would significantly improve his ability to Expend. Now that he had the gauntlets’ protection, he intended to use the ability’s alternate function more freely and, hopefully, more efficiently.

For the time being, Nil focused on improving his energy circulation and focusing techniques. The first involved speedily and consistently moving Brutally Contents around his body, while the latter helped him gather and concentrate it in one part of the body. Nil believed the training wouldn’t just help him create better-formed and more energy-efficient source blades but also improve his sudden or channeled releases. The training wouldn’t necessarily boost his destructive power but reduce how much energy he burned and better concentrate it.

Nil felt far from achieving his goal towards the end of his solo training. However, even marginal improvement helped reduce the time between Absorb and Expend. He hoped the new techniques would help him reduce time spent in a neutral state. Despite Toggled Supercharging, he felt vulnerable without Absorb or Expend active.

At quarter-to-seven, Nil jogged down to the cafeteria. “Is Shawn not joining us?” He asked, finding everyone else already present.

“He started warm-ups at five, ate breakfast as soon as the cafeteria opened, and is in a session with the new ability trainer,” Selia answered. “That boy is a workaholic. Shawn is never satisfied unless he’s putting in more hours than everyone else. Downtime is a luxury concept, in his opinion.”

“That’s how people burn out,” Susan commented.

“Believe me, you’re not the first person to tell him that, and you won’t be the last,” Adam said, shaking his head. “Thanks to my ability, I almost never get tired. I can train endlessly until mental exhaustion takes over. My body regenerates through fatigue, lactic acid buildup, and all else. Shawn took me pushing myself before the qualifiers as a personal challenge. Don’t get me wrong. He’s a great guy and amazing at what he does. But he’s just a bit much and takes a while to get used to. If I were on a quest, facing a horde of Cursed Ones with no end in sight, I’d want Shawn by my side. He’s competent, loyal, and protective of anyone he considers—” Adam mimed quotation marks. “—his people.”

“How’s the ability trainer? Nil asked. “I need to meet with them and weapons trainer. Figuring out my gauntlets and getting my mastery to an adequate level will take way too much time if I go at it alone.”

“Well, it's your lucky day,” Selia told Nil, placing an arm on his shoulder. She leaned on him, brushing a stray lock over his ear. His eye caught Udit’s. As the ludus manager, his duties involved daily check-ins with the cafeteria staff, and he was in the middle of doing just that. The man raised an eyebrow, staring him down momentarily before returning to his duties. “The ability trainer already knows you. She came from Golden Aegis.”

“Isabella is here?” Nil asked excitedly, the piled-high tray suddenly losing its appeal. He couldn’t wait to show the woman his repaired soul weapon.

“Sound less excited, please.” Selia poked his side. “Or are you trying to make me jealous?”

Nil rolled his eyes. “Will you ease off if I take you out this weekend?”

“Am I being too forward and pushy?” Selia asked, moving away from him. “I’m sorry. I have a pure sense of what’s appropriate and boundaries.”

“I’m not holding it against you, Selia,” Nil said. “Spending half a life time as a lab experiment will probably screw up just about anyone’s social skills and sense of boundaries. And—” He caught himself. “I didn’t mean to be short with you or come across as rude. You’re incredibly attractive and fun to be around. So, if you’d like to go out sometime, the offer stands.”

“Sunday.” Selia grinned. “We can go out for a bite to eat after Adam’s match.”

“Or, I could get us some incredible steaks and fry them up in my suite,” Nil said. “That’s not meant to be suggestive. Just given everything online after my last match and the Symbiotech quest, it's for the best if I don’t appear in public.”

“I’d like that very much. Thank you for asking.” Selia leaned in and kissed his cheek. Nil wasted no time and messaged a meat supplier friend to arrange an A-5 Wagyu ribeye joint. “Even if the date doesn’t work out, I’ll consider us even.”

“Well, that sounds extra exciting.” Adam teased, nudging Selia. “Do you know what you’re going to wear, or should we go shopping?”

“Focus on training, big boy.” Susan chuckled. “We girls can sort ourselves out.”

“Now that’s settled, I’m going to go find Isabella.” Nox scarfed down the rest of his breakfast before rising from the table. “I’d like to get a training schedule booked in as soon as possible.”

“You’re going to be as bad and boring as Shawn aren’t you?” Selia sighed.

“You should’ve thought of that earlier, Selia.” Nil joked. “Our date is set in stone now. No takebacks.”

The woman feigned horror and disappointment as Nil put his tray away and departed.