Chapter 9

Potential

“They are monsters of molten space metal. They can appear anywhere at any time, and all you can do is hope to get away alive.” – A survivor’s recounting From Encounter A Behemoth

The Past

<14 Years Ago, a 4-year-old Arla>

“Father?” A young Arla asked, seemingly unaware of her comments meaning.

“Don’t ever call me your father, I don’t now, nor will I ever earn that title. Just call me Marcon,” Marcon began, then he paused, “or unless we are running a con, where you take on a role of someone else, but when it is just you and me, only call me Marcon.”

Arla just stared at Marcon after that interruption, for a moment her face was little more than a mask. Yet, Marcon had been around her long enough to see the subtle signs of her trying to understand what caused this sudden outburst on his part.

Shaking his head, Marcon continued.

“Sorry kid, I’m still getting used to this role, but you had a question?”

Arla just stared at Marcon for a moment, before eventually nodding.

“What is pot-en-t-al?” Arla asked clearly looking up and to the right. Seeing the gesture, Marcon instantly understood what was happening.

“You see a blue screen?” Marcon asked.

Arla shook her head, her eyes still fixed on the one word.

“And it is telling you about Potential?” Marcon asked, this time making sure to spell out the word he thought she was trying to say.

If this was the case, then this would be a miracle. If she had this now, then she would be an early-awakened, meaning she wouldn’t need to have her powers kickstarted at all. This would mean she would easily have an S-class skill, or maybe an SS-Class skill.

“Yes,” Arla confirmed, what is pot-en-tial?” She pressed, trying to sound out the word similarly to how Marcon had phrased it.

“Oh potential is what your maximum limits in life are. It is how much you can expect to grow within your lifetime,” Marcon answered. Then pausing, “what is the system saying about potential?”

“System?”

“The system is another name for the blue box you are seeing, what does it say about potential?” Marcon asked, his eyes locked onto Arla’s as he tried to honestly answer every question she had. This was part of their deal, he would never lie to her, or try to deceive her, when it was just the two of them alone.

Hearing this, Marcon felt honest hope, while he had been saddled with the repercussions of his own actions, it might be easier than he thought. Particularly if she had a high potential, then it would just be a matter of dropping her off getting her the correct documentation, then dropping her off at the correct establishments and this will all be a minor 90-day blip on his life. An anecdote to his friends, well who was he kidding, at this point he didn’t have friends. He just had former acquaintances.

So lost was he in this, his momentary dreams of not messing up this girl’s life, that he almost missed the moment when karma dared to show her ugly perfectly proportioned face.

“Not en-ou-ff potential,” the girl said, her words tough to understand at first, but he had to give the girl credit, she could at least read well.

“Good job, not enough potential,” Marcon responding, correcting her instantly. Then his whole body paused as he realized what both she and he had said.

“FUCCK!” Marcon cursed, momentarily he lost track of where he was and more importantly who he was in front of.

The girl, his ward, as he was now the only person in the universe who had any bearing to take care of the girl, just stared at him. She just stared at him, seemingly petrified, though her eyes showed an intelligence that spoke of fragility.

“Look, I’m sorry kid,” Marcon began, then taking a breath to calm himself he continued. “For a second there, I thought you would have a chance at a good life, but it seems that we will have to try a little bit harder to get there.”

Marcon said, nodding to himself, then glancing down he saw that the girl had moved, though her face remained a blank mask. Seeing her, could only shake his head in jealousy at her ability to remain calm in such situations. Then again, he paused as he realized that she might not have a clue as to just how hard her life had become.

Seeing her, Marcon realized he was about to do something he swore he wouldn’t, he would lie to the kid.

“Scratch that kid, I lied. What I said earlier was one interpretation of Potential, but that is the older version. Your potential, that is your true potential is not determined by a system, but rather it is determined by how much energy you put into improving yourself that will define your true potential.” Marcon stated.

The girl just stared at him blankly, her eyes blinked twice, either telling others that she was being abducted by Marcon. A quick glance around showed that they were still by themselves, so that was good. Apparently, the blinking meant she was still alive and having basic bodily reactions, that was good, as it meant that she wasn’t out here trying to draw attention to the crazy man with terrets cursing at little girls, he thought to himself.

Taking another deep breath, Marcon was able to completely calm himself down as he looked at the little girl before him.

“How much energy have you put into yourself?” Marcon asked, deciding to double down on this lie and make it a possible reality.

The girl just shook her head, no.

“Exactly kid, see. How can you possibly have potential when you don’t work on yourself. What, do you think the universe is just going to reach out and give you a free handout? That is not this universe, no matter how much we wish it was.” Marcon replied.

Hearing the message, Arla just stared up at Marcon.

For his part, Marcon paused clearly not knowing what to do, it was clear that this was his first time with this, and from every conceivable metric he had for himself he knew he was failing.

“Way to make a good first impression,” Marcon muttered to himself as he looked away, while trying to figure out what to do next.

Hearing the moment, Arla felt her body move, reliving the moment she had so many times before. Then finally, she was able to move and change the scene the way she had always wanted to. The way she had been too frightened to try at first, knowing that she now depended on this man, a complete stranger to take care of her.

Reaching out her hand, Arla grasped Marcon’s own dangling hand.

Marcon who had been completely lost in his own thoughts, looked down at the sudden clasp, then his eyes veered slightly further to the left where he saw the deep blue eyes of the little girl staring back at him.

Seeing those eyes, Marcon knew his life would forever change from this moment onwards. Using his thumb, he gently clasped down on the little hand that was in his own much larger hand.

“Come on kid, let’s go work on improving your potential, it’s not going to fix itself.”

With that Marcon turned and began walking, his hand gently pulling Arla along. As they moved, Arla could almost swear she saw a bit of moisture build up in his eyes.

Marcon clearly missing the change in intensity of stares from the little girl attached to his hand continued speaking.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Have I ever heard about the rules to live by?”

Arla just shook her head no.

“Well, the first rule is the most important. I want you to remember this now and forever…”

***

The Present

Seeing the message, about identifying a Behemoth class Harbinger, a creature noted as a Cerusian Superpredator, Arla felt a wave of intensity flood through her.

In this moment, she realized that one of two fates awaited her.

Either she died, or she would finally awaken her true potential, just as Marcon had noted.

Now that the moment was here, Arla felt a cold sense of calm take over her body. She had worked for this moment, trained countless hours, bled gallons of blood, over and over. So that when this moment came, she would be ready.

With the moment she had been waiting and training for finally here, Arla felt calm.

Not excited, or jittery as she had expected, as she would have been before Marcon.

No, this time, this moment, she was ready.

And she didn’t hesitate.

RATTTA-TATTAT-TATTAT!

With both barrels blazing of her modified long barrel turrets she released Spirit Infused burst after Spirit Infused burst. Not only was she using the Crafting version of her power to continually resupply her power cells. But she used the Support version of her Spirit Infusion to further weaponize each plasma charged burst that erupted from her cannons.

The effect was exponentially more powerful than just a single application could be.

With this the rounds had a concussive outer shell that burn and tore through the hard space-resistant carapace that the Behemoth supported.

The only sound she heard was the minor vibrations that were transmitted through her space suit. Everything else was deadly silent, as all external comms were destroyed.

On the main communications channel a faint electronic distress signal could be heard, but other than that faint sound, only silence reigned in the vastness of space.

This meant that vision dominant species like humans had a clear advantage in space, for their bodies had been adapted to notice the subtle differences in silent terrains. Here in space, the lack of smell, the loss of touch, and the lack of hearing were all minor inconveniences that were overshadowed by the need to see in space.

Which meant that Arla, with her 50% human genetic materials could see the microbursts of outer exoskeletons being ripped and burnt apart from the Behemoth’s skin.

The beast had apparently meant to take the time to mock Arla, as it just stood there, arms open wide.

Seeing the odd gesture, Arla realized it was one of the Behemoth’s traits. Part of their intimidation factor was to stand there and take as much punishment as an enemy could dish out, then when the attacker was either too tired to continue to attack, or lost their nerve and fled, that was when the Behemoth would charge forward and kill the weakened or fleeing target.

While Arla was burning through her reserves at twice the speed as she would if she only used one version of her Spirit Infusion, rather than both, she felt good. Fine even, she had been through far worse. Had pushed herself to and through the brinks further and further, until she knew for a fact that there was no form of weakness in her. She would either stand here and continue to release blast after blast at the monster until it died, or she’d just keep firing. There was no alternative.

“WAAHHH!!!”

The Behemoth finally cried out, as two distinct lines and patterns and wound markings began to burn their way through the outer layers of the beast’s carapace and finally release burning hot magma. At least that is what everyone called the bright red liquid that would burn through hull decks and uniforms if left to drip on an opponent.

Here the magma would flow out from the wounds and instantly freeze once contact was made with the vacuum of space, instantly clotting the holes. An evolutionary effect that made Behemoths one of the undisputed powerhouse species of space.

There of course was just one problem, the fixes caused by the coagulating Behemoth blood were shallow, and thus easy to disrupt. Furthermore, Arla kept firing in larger circles that first spiraled out, before spiraling back in.

At first glance, one might assume that this was due to Arla having poor control over the weapons and their rapid rate of discharge. However, the effects soon became clear as wider and wider wounds began to bleed through, and heal instantly.

“How you all ever survived long enough to become a dominant force in space, I will never understand,” Arla muttered to herself, her voice being picked up on the open broadcast systems, but that was not a concern for Arla at this moment. At this moment, there was only one thing, the moment the Behemoth realized that it’s indomitable protections were not enough to

Finally, the beast had taken too much, and it was clear that Arla was not running out of energy, or becoming frightened of the beast. With the beast likely feeling pain for the first time in its miserable life, it began to move.

Thump.

Even through the void of space, the Behemoth made colossal movements with its feet. This was due to its ability to create miniature Black Holes, or similar effects that would suction energy into its body. Energy that would both seal it to an object or place, and later be converted into more fire magma blood. At least that is what the scientists all postulated.

That said, while Arla used magnets, or Cerusian magnetization runes on her boots to gain traction in space. The Behemoth needed no such tricks, or maybe just its own set of unique racial tricks, as it just walked forward under its own odd powers.

Arla for her part just continued to aim and fire, moving her barrels to anticipate the movement of the monster charging forward.

Then as the beast charged, Arla let go of thoughts, of tactics. Those were only good for the initial contact, now that they were here, in direct combat, this was when her instincts took over and she felt a serene sense of cold adrenaline pump ice through her veins as she stared down the charging Behemoth and waited.

“Rule one,” was all Arla said to herself as she prepared for what was going to happen next.

With that as her battle cry, she moved, pivoted a half step back, right foot. This was done for multiple reasons, first she didn’t actually reengage the magnets on her right foot. Instead she used the still intact connection on her left foot to bend down and provide tension.

This way, when the Behemoth charged forward, rather than activating the Suction rune on her right foot with Spirit Infusion, she instead surrounded her foot with the weaponized coating of Spirit Infusion, a subtle difference, but a difference all the same.

The half step back, also caused a moment of adrenaline fueled excitement to course through the Behemoth, as it finally saw the signs it so desperately wanted. With the half step back, Arla gave the illusion of retreating, which caused the Behemoth to fully commit to its charge.

Arla didn’t need to the intense glow of the Behemoth’s eyes change to know that it had gone berserk. As her mind already saw the changes. The way its movements became more chaotic and wild. The way it didn’t seem to fully latch onto the floor of the open hull deck with its vacuum suctions. The way it focused more on lobbing its way forward, than maintaining one constant stream of contact with the ground.

These were the signs that Arla looked for, and when the beast came within striking distance both made their moves.

The Behemoth rose up, letting its body rise high from the ground, only to then activate two black voids that were directed at Arla. Voids that would pull her in, and create a suction that would be inescapable for a species in space to resist and flee from.

However, Arla had no plans for retreat. Instead she too jumped, but forward. Disabling the suction rune for her left foot, she kicked off the ground, and found herself pushing forward with violent torque, as she kicked out with her right leg. Her body spun and torqued wildly, for a moment it looked like she might have over-kicked, might have completely missed her target. But that was when the voids of the Behemoth corrected her motion, pulled her back into trajectory, and allowed her to just swing over the outstretched clawed feet of the beast, and deliver one quick power infused strike to the beast’s torso. A torso that had been ravaged by relentless bursts of energy to this point.

Heat.

The moment her strike hit the intended area, Arla knew her strike was true for she could feel the heat burning its way through.

Fortunately, the Spirit Infusion worked also as a temporary protection from the lava-like blood, as the blood ended up coating around the extended energy her body produced. There was a minor stiffening of her foot, and while the weight of the new cooled magma coating on her foot would likely be excessive in a regular gravity situation, here in space it was negligible at best.

With the kick applied, the monster that had been jumping into the air, found itself rising higher. Simultaneously, Arla found herself able to push back towards the deck. Immediately, her instincts kicked in, allowing her to activate her suction runes once more and once again regain positioning on the deck.

At the same time, Arla once again continued to double fire her Spirit Infused rounds that were coated with a second layer of Spirit Infusion at the beast.

What happened next was an exercise in persistence and tenacity.

For Arla continued to fire round after round into the beast, each shot fired, impacting and further forcing the creature up into the vastness of space. Simultaneously the beast used its odd void suction abilities to try to pull it closer to the hull of the ship, and closer to Arla.

At one point the beast tried to position its void-covered paws towards Arla, where it attempted to intercept the stream of energy heading its way.

For a moment, Arla almost thought about shooting around the giant spheres, the reason being was that this was a primary fuel conversion point. Just as humans and humanoids ate through their mouths to digest food. Behemoths could use these spheres to grab energy and convert them into energy sources.

However, Arla didn’t try to avoid the spheres, for she assumed that like any digestive system taking in food and converting it to a form of energy the body could use would take time. Also, she knew that there was a limit to just how much energy a body could absorb at one time.

That was why, rather than aiming around the spheres that drew in energy that had been aiming for the now vulnerable chest and torso of the Behemoth, Arla decided to fully unleash as much super charged energy into the beast’s suction voids as possible.

The effects were not trivial, first the impact to the spheres themselves seemed to cut back the amount of space that could be covered by them. That or, the Behemoth was so far away that the impacts made getting closer nearly impossible.

What ended up happening was the beast, rather than dropping to the hull and crashing into Arla began to float away slowly. Meanwhile, Arla kept feeding more and more supercharged energy into the beast.

Arla figured that this would be similar to a person drying from dehydration, trying to gain a drink from a fully operational fire hose. A hose that they were not able to look away from.

In the end, Arla was right.

With the beast effectively floating, or being slowly pushed back, and Arla’s seemingly endless supply of ammunition, she was able to provide a constant stream of power to the beast.

Finally, the energy was either too much, or there was so much that the beast couldn’t contain it all. Unfortunately for the beast, it didn’t seem to realize Arla’s plan all along had been to out punish the beast. By the time it realized that it was in danger and tried to move, its central torso was already bloated with excess energy. So much that the wounds it had suffered before were now ripping apart, bleeding, healing, and then ripping apart again.

Until finally, it burst.

Supernova-Burst.

Poof.

Of course, Arla couldn’t hear the sound of the creature exploding, but she could hear the sound of frozen Behemoth blood fragments scattering into the sky and raining down everywhere. Many of the specks pelted against her visor, temporarily blocking her vision, before her suits functions took over and began devouring or otherwise removing the particles.

Deep breathing.

For a moment, Arla paused, and finally found herself breathing heavily. Had she always been breathing heavily, or was that something her body allowed her to do now that she had a moment to rest?

For a moment, she wondered if it was actually over. Only a system message let her know that the Behemoth had actually been killed.

Cerusian Quest Class Completed: Kill the Cerusian Superpreadtor (Youth): You have killed the Superpredator (Youth) before it became too powerful.

Rewards: Your Cerusian System is now activating.

***

The Future

<6+ Years from Now, a 24-Year-old Arla>

Knock knock.

Before Commander Hylinch could answer, Gerund, her XO entered her office. A look of apprehension filled Gerund’s normally stoic face.

Seeing him, and having just repressed the first Harbinger attack here since the base had been established, the Commander was ready to hear the status report.

“What are the final damages?” Commander Hylinch asked, anticipating the report, while dreading it all the same.

“Well, about that. We only had sixteen injured, five are major and will require your help. As for the others, well they have already been treated.”

“And the casualties?”

“None.”

“None?”

“That’s right, the gunnery crew was already locked and loaded. Apparently, the Lieutenant said she felt the Harbingers were coming?” Gerund said, as he stared and watched the face of the Commander.

Hearing that the Commander could only nod her head in understanding.

“Good, and they believed her?” The Commander asked, clearly assuming this to be the case.

“Well, about that. It seems that none of the other soldiers believed her, until she had already begun the counteroffensive.”

“A discipline problem then?” Commander Hylinch noted more than asked.

“A discipline problem,” Gerund agreed.

“You’ll take care of it?”

“Yes,” Gerund stated, a bit hesitantly, but that was his position after all.

“Anything else?” The Commander asked, after Gerund stayed around a bit longer than necessary for this report.

“Actually, there is one thing…”