Chapter 17 – A Hunting, We Will Go

Laraaq woke up feeling well rested and excited for the day. Last night he was able to talk to Shadowalker and make sure he was okay. Sure, it wasn’t as long a conversation as he would’ve liked but it checked the boxes as far as he was concerned. His friend was good. They had a high-level plan. Finally, he felt like he could get more involved in the rescue operations.

“Good morning, Carol.” Laraaq said as he walked over to the coffee maker.

“Mmmm. That’s good coffee!” Laraaq had to admit Carol made one hell of a cup of coffee.

Carol smiled. “Someone is in a good mood this morning.”

“That I am. I am planning on helping the rescue ops over the next couple days.” Laraaq replied.

“Yes, my son mentioned something about that. He said you were going with him.” Carol shared.

“Yep. Excited to see how many people we can save and how many monsters we can slay. Let me know if you get wind of anything interesting. I’ll have my two-way radio just in case.” Laraaq explained before heading outside.

He knew from experience the last few days that Carl was an early riser. Sure, enough Laraaq found Carl with a squad of men near a bus. “Morning Carl.”

“Morning Sir.” Carl replied.

“Laraaq. Please drop the sir. I’m no fancy knight.”

“Just a sign of respect Mr. Laraaq.” Carl stated.

“Well as long as you follow orders, I don’t care what you call me as long as it’s not Shirley.” Laraaq deadpanned.

The two of the three men just stared at Laraaq confused. Carl chuckled. “He, he, he! Nice Airplane movie reference. Let me introduce you to the squad.”

Carl pointed to the tall gangly man who couldn’t be more than 20. “This here is Jerome. Ex-army. Decent shooter.”

Laraaq shook the man’s hand. It was firm but not overly so. “Nice to meet you, Jerome.”

“You too Mr. Laraaq. You tell us where to shoot and We will get it done.” Jerome said it as a way of greeting.

Then Carl pointed to a shorter stalker man with tattoos on his arms. He looked like he had a hard life but was maybe mid-twenties by Laraaq’s guess. “This is Mario. He used to be in the marines. Also, a decent shot. Good small blades skills.”

Laraaq shook Mario’s hand. It too was firm, but more strength applied but not over the top like Mack. “Nice to meet you, Mario.”

“You too Laraaq. I wanted to say thank you for taking care of Tom. He was a menace.” Mario replied in a thick accent.

Laraaq nodded. “Not a problem. I don’t like people who take advantage of women and children or abuse their position. Where are we headed today?”

“A few locations. We are going to head to the farthest and work our way back. First up sounds like a family who have been trapped inside.” Carl explained.

Laraaq decided to sit in the back of the bus and meditate while they drove. He knew he had to work on forming his core. As the group journeyed onward, Laraaq dived inward. Self-reflection meditation wasn’t exactly his strong suit.

Since the apocalypse Laraaq was more of a man of action. To him, the apocalypse was a second chance at truly living rather than going through the motions like so many of us every day. Now he was asking his mind to shift, to slow down.

“This is infuriating! System any advice?”

You are lucky enough to have me.

Query Accepted

I can induce you into a meditative state and help your imagination but there is a cost. You must remain in that state for a minimum of three hours.

Laraaq opened his eyes. “Hey guys, how much longer?”

Carl called back to him. “I didn’t expect you to be the ‘are we there yet’ type of guy.”

Laraaq made a forced laugh. “Ha, ha! Cut the nonsense. I’m about to go into a deep meditative state that I won’t be able to come out of for a few hours... so kinda need to know ETA.”

Carl replied. “Got it. You should be fine. Our current ETA is just shy of four hours.”

“Sounds good. Carl, watch my back. I’m trusting you.” Laraaq stated.

“You got it, boss.” Carl answered.

Laraaq’s system brought up an image in his mind. It was a silhouette of a human body, of his body. He could see what looked like veins and arteries flowing through him. They would reach what looked like clusters and then continue on. Some clusters were larger than others, regardless of size, they all seemed to dim when he would look at them.

Mentally he asked. “System what are those dim clusters?”

Query Accepted

Those are your meridians; some call them your mana gates. They are key connection points that exist both in your spiritual and physical body. You must first form a core and gathering spiral before any attempts can be made to open your meridians.

‘Interesting. It’s similar to some of the cultivation fantasy stories I’ve read in the past. So, how do I form a core?’ Laraaq thought to himself, yet his system answered him.

Query Accepted

You must gather the loose mana that flows through your system and condense it into a single place central to your body. Many gather it close to their heart to make it easier to open that meridian when the time comes.

“Wait, so I can technically form my core anywhere in my body?”

Of course, not all beings are bipedal or have a body shape as humans. They form their core where it most suits them. DUH! Do we need to do another brain scan?

“Well, that makes sense.” Laraaq commented in his head as he studied the diagram of his body.

Of course, it does, I am explaining it to you.

Laraaq mentally sighed as he tried to ignore the system and focus. That was when he saw tiny motes of light randomly located in his body. They were haphazardly moving about, with some parts of his body more concentrated with the notes than other parts.

The other thing he noticed if he really focused was that the motes of light weren’t uniform in color. Most seemed to be a mix of a neutral color and reddish orange, with a few deeper reds, browns, blacks, and blues thrown in.

Laraaq mentally talked out his observations. “I can assume as I have been primarily using fire those are the reddish-orange motes. The neutral color must be the Unaligned mana. Hmmm, if that is the case perhaps the brown one is for Earth mana?”

His system once again answered his question.

Query Accepted

Correct. As you have been able to deduce on your own, the colors of the mote signify the type of mana. Neutral is Unaligned mana, typically the mana of the world itself. Some parts are saturated in a specific mana type. Your body can convert some but not all mana. Too much mana of a type you have no affinity can poison you to the point of death.

“What about the other colors I see?” Laraaq asked.

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I am getting there! Do not be so impatient!

Query Accepted

Reddish-orange motes are Fire mana. Brown motes are Earth mana. Blue motes are Water and Ice mana depending on shade of blue. Black motes can either me Dark mana or Death mana depending on the shade. Finally, the deep red motes represent Blood Magic.

“Blood magic? I have an affinity for Blood magic?” Laraaq asked in surprise.

Query Accepted

Correct. It is not a high affinity, but it is present.

“And what about the others?” Laraaq inquired.

Query Accepted

The dark motes are from the environment. There is much Death and Dark mana in the surrounding atmosphere. Lucky that you have affinities in these two magic types as well. You also have some minor affinity for Water, Ice, and Earth magics.

“What happens if I gather different mana types into my core? Will that change the core I have?”

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

“System!”

Fine!

Query Accepted

The answer is yes and no. You do not possess a high enough concentration of any one type to affect your core. In time that will change as you begin refining the mana in your system. That is when your affinities will matter, and choices will need to be made.

“Long story short. It doesn’t matter right now, but eventually it will.”

Correct

“So, how do I gather them into one spot? They all just seem to be floating around.” Laraaq inquired.

Query Accepted

You mentally will them to move and collect into one area. Once that is accomplished, you must visualize you mentally compressing them together and holding them there until the core takes shape.

“Do I have to gather all the motes inside me?” Laraaq asked in concern. He knew he would have a hard enough time doing what the system described. If he had to collect all the mana, he’s not sure he could finish in time for the rescue mission.

Query Accepted

No. It is not required to collect all the motes of mana, just enough to apply enough mass and pressure to create your core.

“Got it. Well, no time like the present.” Laraaq mentally commented before he put all him Mind towards his new task.

First thing Laraaq spent time on was mentally grabbing hold of one of the motes. He visualized a spectral hand grabbing the mote and attempting to move the tiny ball of energy. It was one of the Fire motes and it felt warm, almost hot, to the mental touch.

Laraaq doubled down as the heat seemed to rise and the warmth was becoming unbearable. Then he felt his spectral hand become more solid and the Fire mote began to move. He tried to move it directly to the center near his heart but found the mote would move very slow until he moved it near one of those arteries or veins he saw. Once it touched what he realized was a mana channel, the mote seemed to glide much quicker along to the center of his body. Progress would slow down again any time he tried to pass it through one of his dormant meridians.

Slowly but surely, Laraaq began to gather a mix of motes near the center of his torso by his heart. It was a loose collection of mostly neutral, some Fire and Earth motes as they seemed the most abundant and the most pliable.

Laraaq paused his efforts to ask the system a question. “System can you notify me when I have enough gathered to start my compression?”

Query Accepted

You have already reached that number.

“What?! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”

Simple... You did not ask.

Rather than lose his concentration he just ignored the system and tried to visualize two spectral hands forming cups to scoop the motes together. Laraaq then willed both hands to begin to squeeze together. He pushed and pushed and almost felt like the motes were tiny magnets that would be repelled as they drew closer. Yet Laraaq refused to give up.

Sweat and pain from the strain was beginning to echo across his mental landscape. Laraaq was about to stop when suddenly, the resistance vanished, and his mental hands slammed shut into a cupped dome. When he dropped the spectral hands visual, he saw a small bright ball glowing where the hands met in the middle.

New notifications flooded his mental vision.

Congratulations! You have formed a magical core! Core is currently Stage 1 and Unaligned.

Congratulations! For creating a magic core before level 13 you are granted an additional spell based on the types of mana motes used to form your core!

Congratulations! For using a high concentration of Fire motes in forming your magic core you are granted the tier 2 Fire spell: Flame Spear!

Spell: Flame Spear (Tier 2)

Description: Manipulate Fire into any size spear of flames. Size and heat intensity dictate mana usage. Collateral splash and force damage is possible depending on mental control of flame spear and intensity of the heat.

“Wow that is an awesome spell. Flexible too. For sure something to test out soon. I wonder if I could make it work like a flamethrower?” Laraaq mentally exclaimed before going back to his remaining notifications.

Congratulations! For using a moderate concentration of Earth motes in forming your magic core you are granted the tier 1 Earth spell: Stone Skin!

Spell: Stone Skin (Tier 1)

Description: Harden a part of the outside of your body to be as hard as stone. This greatly increases your defense rating in that part of your body. Adds resistance to damage from non-magical attacks and reduces the chance poisons and diseases take hold on that part of your body. This spell uses both mana and stamina. The amount of mana used dictates the area of the body covered and the amount of stamina used dictates Stone density.

Congratulations! For forming a magic core prior to level 13 you are granted one additional level!

Level Up! Congratulations! You have reached level 8! +10 stats points per level. Total stat points to distribute: +10!

Laraaq came out of his meditation mentally, physically, and somehow spiritually exhausted. He was sweating and every part of his body was sore, even the hairs on his head. “How does my hair hurt?! How is that even a thing?!”

“Oh, hey boss, you’re awake. Meet Simon and Sharon.” Carl introduced the two new people sitting on the bus. The guy looked to be in his mid-thirties and the girl was in her mid-forties.

Confused Laraaq asked, “How long was I out?”

“Five hours. We just finished rescuing the two and headed towards our next location when you woke up.” Carl explained.

Sharon hotly spoke up. Disdain clearly in her voice. “You call that a rescue?! You killed my son! He was only seven!”

“What?!” Laraaq asked in shock.

Carl sighed. “Look lady. Your ‘son’ stabbed Simon and was coming after Jerome with a butcher’s knife!”

“He only attacked Simon because he told him no. Simon is not his father and has no right to tell my sweet baby anything. His job is to provide and protect us, which clearly, he is failing at!” Sharon replied while looking down at Simon.

Laraaq noticed the large badge wrap on Simon’s arm.

“New rule Carl, Jerome and Mario!” Laraaq spoke loudly to catch everyone’s attention. When they all turned to him, he continued. “Any kid you find under the age of 15 you shoot to kill!”

Carl looked shocked. “S-sir?”

“You heard me. Ask your system what the age cut off is. Only kids with significant trauma or are completely void of strong morals will be left in the apocalypse! You did the right thing; it is clear Sharon is a horrible parent that didn’t instill morals and boundaries or teach the kid anything of substance!”

Sharon looked offended and angry at the same time. Laraaq immediately summoned his new Flame Spear and pointed it right at Sharon. “You got a problem with that lady I can take you out right here and now and not bother wasting our food resources on you!”

Simon moved to put himself in between Sharon and Laraaq. “Please sir, she meant nothing by it. She is just in shock from the loss of her son.

Sharon’s look of rage turned into a smirk, one Laraaq recognized. He canceled his spell and looked Simon right in the eyes. “She’s playing you for a fool. Her kid was an evil narcissist, and that behavior is learned typically from the parents. This is the apocalypse, ditch her before she gets you killed!”

“Thank you, baby, for coming to my defense. I take back what I said. I’ll reward you later.” Sharon whispered to Simon.

Laraaq just turned away in disgust. He lost a man that was like a brother to a narcissist like this. A part of him wanted to kill the lady right here and now and throw the body out of the bus, but he knew he had to be better than that.

Turning back to his squad. “Strike that last order. Instead, we will sequester anyone under 15 until we can investigate which side, they are on, psycho or abused.”

The three men seemed to relax, and all nodded in agreement. While Laraaq had been confronting the narcissistic woman all three men had confirmed with their system the truth of his words. They didn’t like it, but it was another ugly truth about their new reality, and they knew one thing for sure, ignoring the truth gets you dead.

Laraaq took a moment to allocate his available stat points. This interaction showed him that as much as he hated the idea, increasing Charisma was going to be needed to deal with idiots like Sharon. Laraaq dumped 8 points into Charisma bring it up to 20 which should be peak levels for a normal human. The final 2 points he put into Strength as that was beginning to fall behind and he really was looking forward to hitting some people. ‘Man, narcissists really piss me off!’ Laraaq thought before he confirmed his choice and looked at his updated Character Sheet.

Name: Laraaq

Race: In Transition

Level: 8

Strength: 14

Dexterity: 20

Constitution: 20

Intelligence: 30

Wisdom: 26

Charisma:20

Spiritual Attunement: Unaligned

Core Stage: Stage 1 (Unaligned)

Spiral Stage: Not Formed

Health, Mana, Stamina Values & Regen Rates per hour (pH)

HP: 110

HP/pH: 5

MP: 165

MP/pH: 78

SP: 280

SP/pH: 60

Titles: Ruthless Hunter, Early Adopter