Reality Bending Power: 14 -> 19

You might be happy to hear that I have enough data to correlate Power growth with Focus drops.

Ugh. Albert groaned in pain. His head felt like it had been pried open with a crowbar, filled with explosives and set aflame. He pulled himself up, slipping on the blood. At the edge of his vision, the number 22% told him he had regained some Focus.

How long was I out?

Longer than it’s safe. You need to leave. Now. Before the others notice.

Albert pushed himself to his feet. Vertigo and nausea fought for the first spot as to which of the two was most debilitating, but surprisingly, Albert felt better than before he blacked out. That was, until he saw Chief’s bloodied head and missing eye.

What the fuck did we do?

Ruptured blood vessels. Brain hemorrhage, fatal.

Did we have to?

You are too jumpy, Albert.

Albert stumbled to the other side of the bar.

I was right to be.

This time.

A scroll was strapped to the bottom of the counter like a shotgun would have been in Albert’s original time. Albert grabbed it and stuffed it into his shirt.

At the far side of the room, sprawled on the ground, was another body. The patron who had tried to stomp on Albert when he was on the ground. He seemed to have suffered similar wounds as Chief, a capillary exploding in his brain as pressure built up. A cloud of magic was peeling itself off of the man’s body.

That’s a scary weapon you have, Jeff. Albert croaked, wondering how his voice could fail when he was merely thinking the words. He pushed himself off the bar, and stumbling from chair to chair, he approached the door.

It only worked because they can’t control their mana to defend themselves.

Albert’s eyes took too long to adjust to the sudden brightness of the outside, but he couldn’t afford to spend any more Focus. With an effort, he blinked away the tears and scanned the area. He didn’t see any movement, but it didn’t mean that he was safe. He needed to leave, immediately.

What do we do now?

Albert could not take the road out of the village. He was covered in blood, and if the villagers working on the trees saw him, they would immediately know something was wrong. However, wandering the undergrowth of a forest while woozy and dizzy from Focus abuse proved to be challenging.

I need to rest for a minute. Albert told Jeff, panting, and sprawled himself with the back against a tree. With a jerking motion, he turned around and puked on the ground next to him, then jerked backwards to avoid his own filth. The suddenness of the movements made his head split.

You mentioned extrapolation? Keep me entertained, Jeff.

I did. I have extrapolated the correlation between focus and power you asked me about:

Dip below 15% focus: Power +1

Dip below 10% focus: Power +3

Dip below 8% focus: Power +5

Reliable?

Should be. More data required.

Albert nodded slowly. His head was heavy. Can you keep watch while I rest?

If you fall asleep, your mind-body connection cuts off and I lose access.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Albert frowned. He pushed himself to his feet, and groaned. He couldn’t seem to decide whether his feet were moving away or towards him.

Can you at least help me not fall face-first into a rock?

Ethereal ghostly steps appeared on the soil of the forest, like footsteps left there by a glowing person. Jeff’s cube spun out of Albert’s body for the first time since learning about his existence in the cave, and the small construct lit the area an electric blue.

A line connected the steps, and volumes of space were painted green, yellow and red. Albert only needed to stay within the green, otherwise Jeff’s efforts at stabilizing him would cost too much Focus and he would have to stop.

He swallowed.

Walking. He chuckled. Walking is hard now. What has become of my life.

The Focus counter ticked up to 27%

I’m above 15, why is the world still swimming?

You overtaxed yourself.

Listen, I have an awesome power, but you are telling me I can barely use it or I become this… he looked at himself. Drooling stumbling mess? It’s a curse.

In the distance, an area of darkness at the bottom of a small rock outcropping caught Albert’s attention. With the world spinning much less than it was before, he reached it almost without incident, and a faint light made itself visible in the depths of the cave, lighting the darkness blue.

Back here again. All this, and I could have gone down the tunnel instead. This is a curse.

Without any other choice but to venture inside the cave, he decided to brave the dangers of the ice people inside. Staying outside could be more dangerous, and out of the two, he preferred the devil he knew.

It wasn’t long before he encountered a monster. The light glinted on its translucent body, the ice giving it a sheen of blue. The monster roared and spoke, but Albert didn’t know what it was saying.

He glanced at his Focus counter and sighed. It was barely at 30% and his head still hurt. Still sighing, he extended his right hand in one slow movement a snapped his fingers. Jeff copied an old evergreen skill. Shing! He closed his eyes in pain, the light of a fireball too bright for him, bright enough to be visible through his closed eyelids. It was a standard orange one. So sad.

He jerked back and threw. Even though he barely stood, even though he had his eyes closed, the fireball flew true.

What a useless thing. A kill, and I don’t get anything out of it.

He stared at the cloud of mana.

I’m at 28%. Fuck the headache. Let’s do it. If my theory is correct, for all intents and purposes this cloud is equivalent to a dead body. Let’s Usurp it.

Jeff requested a scan using Reality-Bending to gain information that would otherwise be unavailable. Usually Jeff’s scans used the old System skills to gain information, a mix of Appraisal, the map function of Teleportation, Analysis Mode and Perception. This was the first time Jeff asked for a Free-Bending scan, and it was different than how Albert imagined it would be. It was not even an actual scan, but a set of questions to keep in mind while performing the Bending. The questions made no sense at first glance, asking for values and specific data that Albert had difficulty parsing together, and the list was near endless. It would have been impossible to hold onto it long enough to Bend if not for Jeff’s integration with Albert’s cortex.

As he did what he was asked, a ridiculous amount of information entered Albert’s brain, then was sucked away by Jeff’s calculations like a black hole.

I advise caution. This cloud created a mana-rich environment, and each point of Focus will result in a huge amount of mana. Limit yourself to 0.1% Focus-mana.

Albert did. The spell was weaved, and he watched with rapt attention for any changes in his body. When none came, even after a few seconds longer than Albert’s patience would have allowed otherwise, frustration became evident on his face. He thought about his body’s lack of mana, and what it entailed.

He tried again with more power. Still nothing.

Can I bend myself so that I can absorb mana?

That would require some serious power.

Is that your professional opinion? How much?

Unknown.

Sassy. He paused. I miss my inventory. There was food there. You think it’s still there?

I do not believe that the items have disappeared. The folded space was stable enough to still be there. It is just inaccessible to you.

Sweet. But I’m hungry now. What do I do?

Bend yourself to not be hungry anymore. It won’t build muscle, but you won’t die at least.

Muscle!

Jeff groaned.

Stop groaning. You’re an AI! Did you become conscious, sapient sentient and whatnot? Try bending.

I can’t Bend. There was a hint of sadness to Jeff’s voice. Even though there was no voice. Which means I am not either of those things.

Unless we are wrong in our assumptions.

You wanted muscle you said? I might help you.

Albert smiled. It seemed that Jeff was deflecting. His AI was becoming increasingly less robotic and more human by the second. He wondered what architecture it was built upon.

How? Did you do all the calculations?

Yes. The skill: Strengthening affected the bones, ligaments and connective tissue. Increasing muscle density and yield. However, we cannot use the spell version if we want to make it permanent. You will need to Free-Bend according to the following set of instructions. Sending now.

Nice, I like Free-Bending. Okay. Let’s try.

Albert read Jeff’s instructions. He closed his eyes and tried to connect himself to the universe, whatever it meant. He tried to let go, while picturing his own body stronger and faster and more resilient. He didn’t know whether he succeeded, however, because the next thing he knew, he was lying on the floor, a pool of blood frozen under his face.