“2509… 2510… 2511…” I counted each step as I walked down the flower mountain. Snowball counted with me as we went.
Mr. Brutus said there was 10,000 steps. Snowball and I didn’t believe him. How could an architect plan out the steps perfectly like that? Math be dammed, that was ridiculous. It was even more ridiculous than a house without nails.
Snowball suggested they built the steps and coincidentally ended up needing exactly 10,000.
“I don’t know. That sounds a little too lucky. If it was me, I’d buy a lottery ticket, maybe two…. Hmmm… Do they even have lotteries in this world?” I pondered.
Snowball said “Of course they do! How else would Mr. Brutus be unemployed and not have to worry about rent.”
“That was true. Last I checked there was no subscription fee for becoming Mr. Brutus’s disciple. What kind of adult sleeps in all day and doesn’t have to worry about rent. I worry about rent all the time and I have a stable job.” I agreed.
“Yeah! He should be buying us lots of snacks, and spoiling you rotten!” Said Snowball.
“What would you even win in a lottery from this world? For all we knew the currency was bagels. I don’t like bagels. I like donuts. They’re not as hard and taste way better. They also don’t need any prep to be eaten.” I said.
“I prefer macaroons.” Snowball added.
“Those are good too! You know who likes bagels? Alice likes bagels.” I added.
“Yeah, she would like bagels. She has lawyer parents, so it’s in her blood. Liking bagels should be a crime punishable by death. There’s something wrong with wifey.” said Snowball.
“Yeah, I know.” I responded “Speaking of Alice’s parents, they give off the feel of high class. Before meeting them, she made me wear a suit and tie, which was kind of dumb considering her dad wore some basketball shorts and a white T-shirt.” I said.
“That's so embarrassing! I bet you felt really silly.” Said Snowball.
“Oh, totally. I ended up looking like a total ᛁᛅᚴᚴᛅᛋᛋᛋ. Even her brother Mikey showed up in an anime waifu T-shirt and some kind of samurai-ninja pajama pants…. I forgot, what were we doing?” I said
“We were counting remember?” answered Snowball.
“That’s right!” I yelled.
My plan was to count each step and have the flower mountain people stop telling everyone there was 10,000 steps.
Yup, they’ll remember me as the guy that actually counted all the steps, erecting a statue of me in my honor, OR! Or… immortalize me in their folklore! From what I could tell, this world followed Japanese mythology, so it only made sense. I’ll be right up their with princess Kaguya and Momotaro.
I stopped in my tracks looking back towards the top of the mountain. “What step was I on again?” I asked. Snowball shrugged her shoulders also forgetting her count.
Mr. Brutus was quite a few feet ahead of us, so I doubted he was actually listening, or cared for that matter. Either way I rushed down the mountain until I was in shouting distance.
“Mr. Brutus!” I called.
“What!” He responded.
“We need to start over!” I said.
“Why!” He finally stopped in his tracks, looking back at me in irritation. There was no need for that kind of attitude. Didn’t he understand that I was trying to change history here! I was revolutionizing what everyone thought of flower mountain.
“Becauuuuuse! I lost count!” I sassed him.
He held the bridge of his nose then started walking back up. “Wait there.” He grumbled like the Mr. grumpy pants he was.
I smiled gleefully since I was getting my way, despite being so unreasonable. “Yay!” I cheered as Mr. Brutus approached me. He was a little scarier than usual, but that was just his exterior. I knew deep down Mr. Brutus was a gentle giant, even if he was grumpy sometimes. Maybe he needed to poop?
That's what I thought, up until the big guy reached over lifting me up by the waist. “Haha! That tickles! Mr. Brutus, I didn’t say uppies.” I laughed. He then slung me over his shoulder like a sack of shrieking severed Medusa heads. Then continued walking down the mountain.
“Where are you going!” I cried, struggling in his ogre-like grip, only to feel like a kitten in the arms of a silverback gorilla.
“Now’s not the time for your cutesy bull. Did the lore keeper feed you sugar or something? Why are you all uppity?” He questioned.
“Put me down! I want to play!” I cried.
That’s when Mr. Brutus gave me a hard slap to my butt. I screeched in pain. “That hurt! I’ll tell Shadow on you! She’ll scratch your eyes out!” I cried.
“I need Isaac not Aku.” Said Mr. Brutus.
That was when I realized Aku had been in the driver’s seat. Well shit, it was hard to tell her emotions apart from mine, even though it should have been obvious.
To regain my sense of self, I tried to focus on my other body. It was never far, like a third appendage you never use. I could feel it, the other me bleeding and broken. The pain felt so fresh as if it had just happened. That was enough to give me prospective.
“Sorry Mr. Brutus. I didn’t realize I wasn’t in full control. It’s hard sometimes.” I said still hanging over the giants shoulders.
Mr. Brutus let out a sigh. “Have you found the essence in the stone yet?” He asked
“Yeah, see!” I held the rock in his face while making it do the glowy thing.
“Nice, and you learned it off screen.” Said Mr. Brutus.
“Yeah. It was super hard. I had to learn about the rocks past and its ancestors. Even the history of rock kind, including all 7 great rock wars, before it showed me the way. Now I can do that glow trick with just about anything.” I said proudly.
“You had a whole flashback sequence going on in the last two-thousand steps?” He asked.
“Yup. 24 and a half to be exact. Did you know that the 4th great rock war was won by obsidian because it coated most of the planet after five super volcanos erupted at nearly the same time?” I said.
Mr. Brutus took the rock out of my hand, put it in his mouth and started chewing. “Hey! You ate Rocky! He was my best friend! I’m the godfather to his children you ᛅᛋᛋᚼᚬᛚᛁ!!” I cried.
“That’s enough of the bit, let’s get back to the important stuff.” He waved me off. “Can you feel the essence all around us right now?” He asked.
I huffed, then answered. “Yeah. It makes me feel dirty.” The energy in the air and ground was all filthy with aspects. Compared to my Qi that stuff was actually really gross, like unfiltered water from an old rusty faucet.
“That’s good.” He shifted my position so that I was sitting on his shoulders. I was so tall now. That got a giggle out of me as I bounced on his surprisingly comfortable back. It’s like it was made of soft boiled potatoes.
“Now try this.” He held his hand up in front of me and I watched as essence seemed to gather in it. It swirled around in multiple colors. It was just like that lightshow the lore keeper put up to intimidate Bully, only not as big or shiny.
“Even though its dirty it looks pretty.” I said.
“Try to do the same, and remember don't stuff it into your body. You wouldn’t know what to do with it. That's why you nearly died last time.” I nodded in response, but there was no way he could have seen me.
By this point we were half way down the mountain. I tried doing what Mr. Brutus wanted, but was having issues. I did manage to put together a few wind aspects, along with trace amounts of other aspects, but not much else.
Also, while I was focusing on other aspects, all the wind aspects disappeared and all I had left was water aspects, but here’s the thing. Where the hell did the water aspects even come from. I didn’t gather a single one yet the mass of energy in my hand was primarily water aspects.
It was black too so that told me it wasn’t purely water. Did I make corruption again? It couldn’t be. This stuff wasn’t hard or crystal like. It was like regular essence, but all mixed together in a super disgusting way.
That wasn't right. There aren’t even that many different aspects. Mr. Brutus had a bunch of different stuff when he did it. How?
I released the gathered power and tried doing it again. This time instead of pulling in whatever I could get my hands on, I tried to find all the different aspects around me.
There was a lot of wind aspects surrounding us. Below us I could feel earth and cold aspects. Then there was the light aspects in the sun light and even a few heat aspects. With the heat aspects came small amounts of cold aspects.
I didn't quite understand that. Cold wasn't actually a thing. It’s the absence of heat, but for whatever reason I could feel it as an energy. How strange.
“Mr. Brutus…. What is cold aspect.” I asked.
“Good question. I suppose cold isn't really a thing is it? Heat and cold aspects aren’t actually heat or cold itself. Heat aspect is created when energy is put into matter. Cold aspect is created when energy is stripped away from matter. The heat you feel from a fire or sun shouldn't be thought of as heat aspects. It’s actually momentum aspects.”
That was both interesting and confusing. “So the true energy of the universe is quintessence, aspects give it a form. I wonder how science could advance if they knew?”
“There are worlds like that. There’s this one world where all the humans have become robots and run purely on quintessence.” Said Mr. Brutus.
“Wow. Is that one of Cosmos worlds?” I got excited.
“No, it actually belongs to another god. We were in the middle of recruiting them into the pantheon, when they went dark on us. Now their world is slowly dying.”
“Worlds can die?” I asked.
“Not usually. Typically it can happen when a god abandons it or dies. It’s normally a product of neglect.” Said Mr. Brutus.
“Why build a whole world only to abandon it? That sounds like it would be a waste. Abandoned by god.” I was reminded of all the prayers I threw out into the heavens, only to be ignored. “I guess even when they are there it doesn’t make a difference.”
“You’d be surprised kid.” Said Mr. Brutus.
“Why build worlds to begin with. Just because you’re a god doesn’t mean you automatically have to build a world.” I said.
“You don’t become a god at random kid. The world’s are how gods get stronger. Once you rank up to god hood, regular cultivation wont cut it. The only way to gather enough quintessence to ascend, is to create whole worlds and raise followers to gather and refine the essence into quintessence.”
That sounded kind of lonely. Would I ever get to the point where I’d have to make a whole world just for myself to get stronger. That begged the question. What was above god hood?
“How many ranks even are there?” I asked.
“Not that many. In order its living, nature, mortal, lower spirit, upper spirit, daimon, angel, archangel, Seraph, demi-god, and god.” Said Mr. Brutus.
“I think you missed one.” I said.
“Nope, that's all of them.” He retorted.
I scratched my head. “Okay…. so if there isn’t anything above god rank. Then how would they ascend again?” I asked.
“That’s the thing. No one really knows if there’s a rank above god, because no ones ever gathered enough quintessence to ascend past it.” Said Mr. Brutus.
I couldn’t imagine the energy it would take to ascend past god rank. That’s ridiculous. “What’s the point?”
“Uh, what?” Said Mr. Brutus.
“Why keep ascending? The lore keeper said you become immortal at the angel rank, so why go any further?” I asked.
“Tell me kid. You were bullied in school right?” said Mr. Brutus.
I thought about the many enemies I had over the years, and locked on to my brother. He was the worst because he was family, yet he treated me like garbage. “Yeah… all the time.” I responded.
“Well, imagine this. What if your bully one day became angel rank, and was still an ᛅᛋᛋᚼᚬᛚᛁ.” Said Mr. Brutus.
If someone like my brother had gained power like that… he would make life for everyone hell. Someone as weak minded as him couldn’t handle that kind of power. It would corrupt him instantaneously. He’d think himself a god.
“If something like that were to happen… then I’d have to get stronger than them.” I said.
“Right and what do you think they would do?” said Mr. Brutus.
“They would also try to get stronger. And eventually we’d both enter the god rank.” I said.
That was dangerous. I wonder how many assholes out there managed to become gods. Is that what that thing was? The one I saw in Cosmos soul. The thought made me so frustrated. To think there would always be a bully stronger than me made me want to curl up in a corner and hide.
“That’s why the lady puts a bottle cap on all ascensions. She strips the extra quintessence mortals make, keeping you all in the mortal ranks.” Explained Mr. Brutus.
“I get it, and the trials are a way to test the mortal population. What does she look for in a person, before they can ascend?” I asked.
“First the choices they make. Then If they are willing to work hard to improve, and finally if they can handle the knowledge that comes with knowing about the greater multi-verse. Some people break down. A lot of the time, the lady has to erase their mind, descend their souls, and send them to purgatory.” Said Mr. Brutus.
“Why not pick the most obedient players? That way she’ll know they won’t go dark.” I asked.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Because then it would be a cult. Okay, that’s enough talking, now get to work on gathering that essence. I didn’t carry you on my back, so you could ask questions.” Said Mr. Brutus.
I sighed and went back to meditation. The universe was even bigger than I could ever imagine, and the after life was merely a tiny part of it.
I took my time identifying each and every aspect. It was slow, but I knew that the ending result would be great.
Later
Swirling and writhing, the essence orbited my body. It danced and mixed with other aspects. They looked so happy mingling with one another.
I wanted to draw in more, but I couldn’t. My control range was only about 6 feet, and I’d already identified every aspect around me.
It was time to bring them home. I started by pulling them in towards my open palm, while fighting the urge to pull it inside my body. It was harder than you think. For whatever reason my body felt like a dry sponge begging for energy. It must have had something to do with the lack of Qi inside me.
The dirty power swirling in the palm of my hand, was pretty thick compared to what Mr. Brutus did. I think I might have over done it. That was okay though since it just meant I did a really good job, right?
I opened my eyes and saw Mr. Brutus sitting across from me. Between us was what used to be a campfire. The wood was burnt, but there was no fire to be found. I was left wondering when Mr. Brutus put me down, and when did he start the fire.
In my hand was a ball of multi colored light. It was so cool. “Wow! I did it Mr. Brutus!” I yelled in excitement.
He nodded. “Yup, you sure did. You even stripped the fire aspect out of the fire. I’d be mad if I wasn’t impressed. Then again it’s probably those clothes helping you out. Still, you got the hang of it pretty quickly.” Said Mr. Brutus.
“Fire aspect? Don’t you mean heat aspect?” I asked.
“Not at all. If you combined wind aspect with heat aspect, you get fire aspect, which is the essence of fire itself. You can combine aspects to make higher tier aspects. Like for example water is a 2 tier aspect, because it combines certain wind aspects to make it.” Said Mr. Brutus.
Wind aspects… so “Hydrogen and oxygen? Do they hold their own aspects then?” I asked.
“They do… but they’re very similar to one another. It’s only a tiny difference. Its not hard to get one or the other since you can simply tune it to the right frequency.” said Mr. Brutus.
Frequency… “Can water aspects be changed into fire aspects, if one were to tweak their vibration?” I knew that the lore keeper turned my slippery slippers into sand, so wouldn't that be the same thing?
“Your talking about a full change in frequency. Doing something like that’s nearly impossible. Even a god with all 10 gates unlocked wouldn’t have enough control over energy frequencies, to turn one completely different aspect directly into another. The only way to turn that water aspect into fire aspect would be to strip the hydrogen and oxygen aspects away from each other, then add heat aspects to ignite the two.” Said Mr. Brutus.
That made a lot of sense. The lore keeper managed to put wind and earth aspects into my shoes turning them back into sand. The earth aspects made the glass impure and the wind aspects broke it down. So it wasn’t all just magic mumbo jumbo.
“Then what do I do with this thing?” I waved the ball of essence around.
“it’s getting dark and you’re going to need to rest soon, so let’s call it a day for now. Maybe I’ll teach you something else before you go to bed. How about you toss that thing into the air and see what happens.” Said Mr. Brutus.
He had a wide grin growing across his face, making me feel like he was about to pull a trick on me. Mr. Brutus wouldn’t do that. He’s a good guy.
I smiled back at him and did as he told me. Then watched as the essences scattered above us and floated in the air like confetti. Each one a different color. It was so pretty. Like the stars had come down to visit. “Wow!” I cheered.
“Yeah, you sure did gather a lot of them. That’s way more than what the brat got on her first try.” Said Mr. Brutus.
I’d been meditating the whole time and hadn’t realized where we were. It was a small clearing in the valley. Around us were a bunch of trees. There wasn’t any flowery ones though. I thought we were alone, but I could hear the sounds of animals in the forest.
This was like when dad took my brother and I camping. It was a whole other world, but still nature was the same. Actually, scratch that. It wasn't the same at all. Why were there so many eyes looking at us from behind the tree line? ‘Mr. Brutus!” I cried.
The eyes in question were numerous in numbers. They all seemed to glow like tiny embers. Considering how low they were to the ground it was safe to say we’d encountered a pack of wolves.
“Yeah, I know. The fire was supposed to keep them away, but you stripped the life right out of it. Hang on.” He said.
I watched as Mr. Brutus spilled some of his flask on the burnt wood. Then lit a match and threw it into the boozed up sticks. It lit instantly and I was met with a much welcomed wave of heat. A moment later the creatures from the forest started to recede into the darkness.
I got to my feet and yelled. “Yeah! Take that, you fucking long nosed, dirty faced, sister fucking, rotten flesh eating, furry looking, over glorified snot nose, retractable dick fucking, Alabama baby humping, tail wagging, shit licking, butt sniffing mutts!”
“You potty mouth.” Said Mr. Brutus chuckling, before taking another drink.
I sat back down. “That’s just how I was raised.” Not being able to hear bad words made it… wait a sec! I could totally hear them!
A new pink window popped up in front of me.
System:
Princess Aku: I did it! I broke that filter thing!
I sent a message back to her.
Isaac: You did what now?
Princess Aku: I got rid of the filter enchantment on the kimono! Now papa can say all the bad words he wants! Praise me please!
She changed the enchantment? I didn't know her hacking skills could do that. That made me wonder what else she could do.
Isaac: That's amazing kid! Good work.
The next message was just a giggle. I could hear her in my head the same way regular chat worked. The window closed soon after.
I eyed Mr. Brutus’s flask. I wonder if what he was drinking was actually alcohol, or gasoline? If it’s alcohol then it had to be at least 80 proof. The way it instantly lit up like that made me think it might have been stronger. Possibly even Jet fuel.
“Don't worry about those beasties. Even if they do attack I can pretty much take them all out with one blow.” Said Mr. Brutus.
I Wasn’t sure if he was lying, but I'm sure he’s strong enough to fight them off. I went ahead and scooched closer to the fire. It was a little chilly, but thanks to the flames I wasn’t cold.
Mountain air was weird like that. The air was always cold. It was actually night time. That was disappointing, I really wanted to see a sunset on the flower mountain.
“Cosmo packed you a lunch. Go ahead and eat. I don't think you've eaten at all today. That's probably why you haven't regenerated a lot of Qi.” Said Mr. Brutus.
I’d nearly forgotten about the lunch Cosmo packed me. I really was hungry. I think the last time I ate was breakfast with the socialists… oh, that was in my other body. This body hasn't had anything to eat ever. Its just like when I woke up in the new world. That's probably why I haven't pooped or peed yet.
Am I going to have to do that in the forest? It wouldn't be the first, but this time it felt wrong somehow. That might just be Aku talking. Like when I wanted to piss in that drain, but she wouldn't let me.
The wolves definitely pose a problem. Maybe I can do it while in a tree. One thing was for sure. I'll need to do it away from the camp sight, otherwise I'll attract more animals.
I took the pink lunch box out. Inside was a bunch of sandwiches. I offered one to Mr. Brutus, but he refused and instead started sipping on his flask.
It didn't take long to finish off the food. Cosmo had even cut the crust off for me. They were pretty good.
It had grilled ham, with lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, and a slice of what I think was goat cheese. It reminded me of the sandwiches Pablo’s grandma used to feed me, whenever my so called friends and I would go hang at his house.
That grandma couldn't speak english and would always try to feed me. Pablo said she thought I was starving because I was so small and skinny. She was a really nice lady, and refusing her food felt rude. I especially liked her quesadillas.
With the sandwiches done I laid on my side and watched as the fire cracked and danced in the night.
“How much Qi did you recover?” Asked Mr. Brutus.
I thought about it, then answered, “Uh… 20%?” I guessed.
Mr. Brutus nodded. “That's more than enough. That food should speed up your re-gen for a little. I'm going to teach you another way to use your Qi.” Said Mr. Brutus.
I sat right up. Another way to use it! Like aside from auras! What else could I do! Shoot giant world destroying Qi blasts. Create 100s of clones of myself! Stretch my body like it was made of rubber! Shoot a giant heaven piercing lazer sword! The possibilities had me drooling!
“I'm teaching you how to use Qi sight.” I watched as his eyes glowed that molten brown again.
That was disappointing. “What can I do with that?” I asked.
“Think about it like this. Up until now you've only been able to see the first layer of the world. With Qi sight you'll be able to see the second layer. Why don't you try it? It should speed up your training and it's not that difficult to learn.” Said Mr. Brutus.
The more skills I had the more versatile I’ll be. I might not become a master at everything, but at this point I still wasn’t sure on what was useful. I shrugged my shoulders. “Okay, what do I need to do?”
“It’s just like your aura, but instead of cycling the power through your whole body, try doing it in your eyes.” Said Mr. Brutus.
I did as he asked awakening my Qi. The power sprung to life following my will. It zigzagged through my body like electricity through a coil, until it reached my eyes and started chasing it’s own tail.
My vision went dark like I was blind. “I can't see anymore!“ I panicked failing to hide the worry in my voice.
“Don’t worry, you ain’t blind. You’re just not making the right pattern. Try adjusting it little by little.” He said.
“Can't you just tell me what the pattern is?” I asked. Last time I figured out the star pattern on my own, but that was just me being lucky. There was no need for that, since I had a teacher now.
“You need to figure it out on your own kid. This is important for your growth.” Said Mr. Brutus.
I think I get it. He could tell me exactly how to do it, but that wasn’t beneficial for my future. I could do it exactly how he tells me every single time, but I’ll never understand why it works. By hinting towards something, he can point me in the right direction without taking away my creativity.
It was like when I was little, and I didn't know what hot was, so dad let me touch hot water. It hurt a little, but I understood what hot was, instead of just taking his word for it and never figuring it out.
So I focused. Slowly changing the pattern. For over ten minutes the darkness wouldn’t go away, until I tweaked it just enough to where my vision was back, but blurry.
I played with it some more, moving the energy around until it was back to normal. I tweaked it a bit more and found that I could see the details in the trees and identify each blade of grass. It was amazing.
I tilted the energy some more, and found darkness allover again. That didn’t seem right, until I pushed it a little further and saw colors. So many colors. It was even more beautiful than the essence I released earlier. I tweaked it some more and watched as those colors focused creating shapes, and forms.
The more I played with it the clearer the picture got. Finally I realized something, it was Mr. Brutus. There was two balls of light inside him. One was so bright. It was pure white and glowed like a sun, while the other was a bit more dirty with purple and golden brown light ribbons. Were those dual affinities?
The two light ribbons seemed to circulate through his body. I tried tweaking it some more and before I knew it everything was in perfect focus. Those were his dantian and soul.
It wasn’t just his soul, but all the souls in the vicinity. There was hundreds of them. Even the trees had souls. Even the blades of grass had them. The creatures of the forest were visible now. Their souls much bigger than the plants and greenery.
The real insane part was how far my vision reached. I could see not just what was in front of me, but behind as well. I don't know how far, but I was sure it had to be at least 100 feet.
I looked to myself… no it was more like I focused on myself and saw my own dantian. It was very blue and not as big as Mr. Brutus’s. “This… this is insane.” I tried to get up, only to feel vertigo take over, causing me to stay on one knee. I guess I wasn’t used to this sight yet.
“Yeah, try to see the essence of the world.” Said Mr. Brutus.
I focused on the fire and surely enough there was a red hot light coming from it. Its like I can highlight the aspects I wanted. I tilted my head. It did something similar.
I finally understood why Mr. Brutus wanted me to learn this. I’d been moving essence without being able to see it and now that I knew what it looked like, I could control it way better.
The 6 foot reach from before, had now been extended even farther. “Would it be enough” I wondered.
Reaching out I gathered the power of the world once more. There was so much of it, but I could only gather so much at a time. Still the energy reached out in strands coalescing in the palm of my hand.
“Kid, what are you doing? That’s very impressive, but be careful.” Said Mr. Brutus.
I wanted power. A lot of it. More than anyone has ever had before. More than Squirmy. I needed it to save everyone, so I gathered essence and started to form it into a familiar shape.
“Is that? Are you trying to make a magic circle without a lens?” said Mr. Brutus as he stood to his feet. “I see your just shaping it without absorbing it into your body.”
The circle was the easy part. It was the runes I had trouble with. I managed to form them one after the other, but it was taking too long. Sure I was able to gather enough essence, but it still wasn’t right.
“I think what your trying to do is impossible, and it’s amazing you actually managed to go so far, but it’s still not going to work kid.” Said Mr. Brutus.
The last rune was put into place, but for whatever reason I couldn’t get it to activate. “Come on.” I murmured.
“That’s insane, but it still won’t work. You don’t have the right building blocks. Your trying to build… a fire spell with a combination of random aspects. If you wanted a fire spell you need the right type of aspects.” Said Mr. Brutus.
That reminded me of when I was near the soul gate. The color of the spell wasn’t right, so I changed it to red. The only thing was, I didn’t have enough of the red stuff. With no way to cast the spell, I threw the whole construct into the air and watched it spread out into multiple particles. The light show wasn’t as big as the last one though.
I fell back on my butt a moment later. “I was so close. If I can make the magic circle smaller, then I bet I can cast the spell.” I speculated. It would need to be way smaller though, or I’d need more time to cast it.
Mr. Brutus scratched his head before he sat down. “I've never seen a cultivator pull that off. At least not one at your rank. Usually only those that have opened up more gates have that much control, but even then it's not worth casting spells by that point. You should have more destructive power as a cultivator by then, and besides, a cultivator doesn’t have the same amount of control over essence as a mage would. The amount of concentration you'd need is more than you can afford in a fight.” Said Mr. Brutus.
“The power systems were created by people in the past right?” I asked.
Mr. Brutus nodded.
“Then what’s stopping me from walking my own path.” I said.
Mr. Brutus smiled widely at me. Then started laughing. “No way! The kids gone rogue!” He slapped his knee.
“I want to learn magic too. I know I can make it work. I just need to make it smaller. The smaller it is the less fire essence I need to build it.” I said.
Since the magic circle was so big I couldn't reasonably gather the right aspects to cast it. Not without focusing for a long time.
That’s why in game once you upgrade the focus cost of a spell, the magic circles got smaller. I always thought it was strange, but it also told you where the other players upgrades went, so I didn’t mind it that much.
“Maybe, but you still need to input the right types of aspects into the right runes. You don’t even know what the runes on those spells do.” Said Mr. Brutus.
I didn’t know it was that complicated. Obviously it used fire. That was a combination of wind and heat so those were the obvious aspects in the spell. “I get it, but if I want an edge I think magic will be very useful.”
It wasn’t about the power that came with magic. It was about the versatility. The way the lore keeper used it made it seem so useful. It worked for more than just fighting.
Revenge and saving the world was great, but I needed to think about the future once Squirmy is gone. I’m obviously going to live for a long time. The life I had back home was just the beginning.
Once I live that life, I want to see the rest of reality. I could bring Alice along. We could ascend the ranks and once we reach the angel rank, then we’ll be together forever. What more could we want.
“I can’t teach you that. If you really want to learn magic you’ll need to talk with the lore keeper, but are you sure you want to do that? You still haven’t learned how to heal yourself.” Said Mr. Brutus.
He was right. Today was the first day of training. That meant I had 6 more days. Could I really learn what Mr. Brutus was teaching me and magic in that time?
“I’ve been blowing through most of the stuff you’ve given me. What do you think? Do you think I have the time?” I asked.
“Unlike everyone else you have an advantage. Your ability to imagine is what makes all of this so much easier. That’s actually why it’s easier to train children than adults. They’re way more open minded and creative. It’s not so much that you’re talented. It’s just that you have an overactive imagination. Lets not forget your kimonos effects.” He said.
I got it. I wasn’t special. I just had the right mindset, and the right gear.
He continued, “Once you master a level 1 aura, I believe you could master a healing aura quickly. Here’s what I think, stick with me and learn how to be a cultivator, and if there’s any time left you can go with that old lady and learn to shoot rainbows out your ass. Said Mr. Brutus.
“Alright, sounds good.” I agreed.
“You know, normally a mage draws that power in, then focuses it through their mana lens to print the runes needed for a magic circle. Kind of like a 3D printer.”
“That’s what I figured, but how do they get stronger?” I asked.
“Mages get stronger after ever spell they cast. The aspects found in essence not only form the magic circles, they also add themselves to the mages mana lens making it bigger. Over time mages can stack mana lens over each other for more control and power. Also part of the quintessence passing through theor mana lens, gets added to their soul over time.” Said Mr. Brutus.
That sounded OP. Simply casting spells was how they got stronger. That was so much easier than what cultivators did. What did we do again? Gather and refine energy? “Am I done for today?” I asked.
“Go to bed, were getting up early tomorrow for more aura training.” Said Mr. Brutus.
I wasn’t sure what time it was, but I did feel tired after the long day I had. To think I started the day innocently sleeping next to a cat girl. Since then, I nearly killed everyone with a bunch of fire balls, got everyone to think I was crazy, relived my horrible childhood, fought and lost to a giant bug, almost died, met god, found out Jesus wasn't canon, also that my mom wasn't actually crazy, beat up a girl, nearly died… again, made friends with a rock and watched that same rock get eaten by an alcoholic grumpy pants giant.
I was more than tired. I reached into my backpack and pulled out the sleeping bag. It was pink like everything else I apparently owned. I laid it out then pulled out the PJs, which were also pink. You know, for whatever reason everything from my kimono, the pajamas, even the sleeping bag, all smelled like baby powder. It wasn't an unpleasant smell, I just found it strange.
I sighed before looking back at Mr. Brutus. I didn’t want to change in front of him and I didn’t want to run into the wolf infested woods. I also didn’t want him to leave me alone in this scary place. I’ve played Slenderman.
He looked like he was about to offer to turn around, but before then I crawled into the sleeping bag PJs and all, then started stripping off my clothes. I then put on the PJs.
They were soft and fit perfectly which made me wonder when Cosmo had time to take my measurements. Well, she did craft my avatar, so I guess she must have taken them then. She probably stuck that info in my file too.
I crawled back out and saw Mr. Brutus had turned around. What a gentlemen. “I’m decent.” I said lifting both my arms into the air, causing my long sleeves to swing.
He turned back around. “So you are.” He took another drink.
The sleeves looked like they could be buttoned turning them into mittens. Wasn’t that what baby's used so that they don't scratch their faces? Cosmo might actually be worse than Shadow.
I folded the kimono back up and stuffed it inside my back pack. Then crawled back into the sleeping bag. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought it would be, but the warmth of the fire and the view of the night sky was nice.
I should take Alice camping. It’ll be fun. Closing my eyes I saw my dying body back in Serenity. The pain was getting worse and the screams were slowly dying out.
How strong can I really become in a week. Strong enough I hope.