Tai had instructed both Izai, and Katalia, to meet him on the following Firsday. Katalia sought for an excuse not to come but Tai ensured her that it was only to help the Folk kid learn some Pulsing basics.
Tai lived at the bottom of a two-story apartment that was squeezed in-between its towering neighbours in the southernmost district of Polassa. He lived directly below a family of Pelfrio. Their hoofsteps sent flaked drifting down from the ceiling, lightly coating Tai’s furniture.
“I don’t mind,” he said. He showed Izai and Katalia his small backyard. “It’s the price I have to pay for this.”
It was a nice yard. A small round table was set on top of neatly arranged stone tiles. A grassy area stretched out before giving way to a small brown shed. Flanking the shed were two small trees, whose branches periodically brushed against the shed every time there was a gust of wind.
“Ever been down here?” Tai asked.
“Me?” Izai widened his eyes. “I live just south of the river.”
“Not you.”
“Me,” Katalia responded. “Sure, my dad is into the Pirates. He used to come down here all the time to watch the games until those Saint assholes took down Kira’s statue.”
At these words a memory flooded into Izai’s mind, so vivid as if it were a Pull being orchestrated by Divine Puller. It had been a cold night. The Polassa Pirates had beaten SolarFrost Saints. An angry mob of Folk had begun to gather, waiting for the Saints’ bus to come out.
Izai could still remember Olav’s father, cold as he was, mumbling something to himself with a rock in hand. The police quickly dispersed everybody until the crowds of thousands had become dispersed groups of 100s.
“What about that Akila statue?” someone in the crowd said.
Suddenly, like sheep in the middle of a moving herd, they followed the flow of the group until they stood before a proud Akila statue. The woman held a pike in one hand with her great wings spread as wide as possible. The statue read:
‘To Kira. Who had everything to lose but nothing to gain. Yet still stood against the tyranny of her own family.’
The crowd tried to pull off its head. “It’s too stuck there.”
“Anybody a Pulser?” someone shouted out.
The crowd began to murmur amongst itself.
“Damn, even a Pusher? We could try and freeze it until it shatters,” they said.
Olav’s father volunteered Izai. It had only been a year since his Talent-Birth. His father had always insisted on not telling anyone that he was a PureBorn. “They’ll want your body kid, for service and entertainment. Be careful. This isn’t the Divine Epoch anymore. Us Talentborn will become the new serfs I swear.”
He remembered the look on the faces in the crowd as he walked up to the statues. A mixture of fear, awe, and what he could only interpret as respect. The statue was about 20 feet. He climbed until he found a balance on top of an outstretched wing.
“Jump on it with your Pulse kid,” he heard one person yell.
“What if it’s reinforced,” someone else yelled.
He did as was instructed, using his Pulse, and the head fell off. A week later it had been reattached. Every Akila in the city looked for who had done such a thing. But nothing ever came of it.
Tai cleared the table off the stone tiles before heading into the small shed. From it, he returned a wooden pole that had protruding sticks. “It’s a wooden dummy,” he said.
“From when?” Katalia craned her neck, “the Mythic Epoch.”
“It’s not a fancy tool,” he said, “but it will get the job done.”
Katalia scanned the wooden dummy for a moment before turning, “he’s a SolarFrost, wouldn’t he need a punching bag?”
“That’s for Osarok to decide.”
Katalia paused for a moment and her jovial tone turned weighty. “You talked to her?”
“Of course. She’s still interested.”
“And did you find the Taur yet?”
“I found one. But he’s only a PrimeBorn Pulser. He was in the junior Pirates team but they kicked off due to shitty behaviour.”
After moving the protruding wooden arms around, Tai took a step back. “There are five phases every Pulser goes through. Rather every TalentBorn but this conversation is specifically for Pulsing. First, the Mythic Phase. Which both of you are in. Your cells still in their infancy. You can only do basic things,” at this he began mimicking the actions he was saying, “a simple punch, kick,” he took a step back, “and a jump. All aided by your Pulse.”
He took out a sheet of paper which had the following:
’40 40 40’
‘0.11 0.08 0.11 – 2 ‘
‘0.13 0.06 0.13 – 4’
‘0.15 0.04 0.15 – 8’
“These numbers mean anything to you?”
Izai shook his head. Katalia nodded.
“Obviously you know what they mean Lia.”
“I thought you asked us both,” she shrugged.
“First of all,” Tai pointed to the number 8, “you were an Outside Pulser. Hence why I asked you to Purge so you could go back down past a Central Pulser,” he said as pointed to the 4, “back down to an Inside Pulser,” his blue finger rested on the 2.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Tai gestured for Katalia to go up against the wooden dummy. She took a stance. Her front leg placed forward while the other was positioned slightly behind. “You’re still a Central Pulser?”
“Last time I checked,” Katalia said.
Tai instructed Izai to watch carefully. Katalia gave a straight punch to the dummy.
Tai began, “Let’s break down this simple punch.” He circled the numbers for a Central Pulser on the chart. “This is Lia’s Duration Cycle. It means that when she punches,” he gestured for her to demonstrate, “it takes her a whole 0.36 seconds to go from a neutral stance to attacking and back to neutral. The cycle has three parts,” he circled each number as he spoke, “first, there’s the Startup, which lasts 0.13 seconds. During this time, your Essence is racing to find an exit, while your Pulse cells on the outside mirror this. Basically kid, your body is being guided by your Essence like a puppet until you reach the Active portion. This lasts 0.06 seconds and is when your Pulse Essence is released. For Lia, her Essence has a Strength of 4. Know what that means?”
“I hit four times as hard,” Katalia said proudly.
“Exactly,” Tai nodded. “After that comes the Recovery phase, which also lasts 0.13 seconds. During Recovery, your Pulse Essence settles back to neutral, and your Pulse cells do the same returning you to your neutral stance.”
Katalia gave it another go, and Izai could grasp what Tai was attempting to say. “So it’s not really me fighting, its my Essence.”
“I mean. Your Essence is a tool,” Tai said. “You’re the one who decides the appropriate time to use it.” He then turned towards Katalia, “hit another medium.”
Katalia nodded. She stepped back, her right leg swung in a wide arc, and her shin struck the wooden pole with such force it emitted a loud crack.
“That’s another move that she can do in her Duration Cycle.” Tai turned his attention to the other numbers on the paper. The ’40 40 40’. “These are your V-Cores. Your Valour, Vitality and Vigour Core. These determine the effectiveness of your Pulse cells. At the Mythic and Still Phase they all have a value of 40. Your Valour core determines the health of your cells. Let’s say Lia hits you with a clean strike. You lose 4 Valour Points. When this number reaches 0 that’s when you enter Cell-Lock. Now of course you can naturally gain your V-Cores back. At the Mythic Phase 1 point per day, going all the way up to 8 points a day in the Divine Phase. Of course there are tricks to bringing this number back up. But that’s not relevant for now I guess,” he rubbed his chin. “Now when you reach 9 Valour Points left you go into Resource Management. That means your Cells will start decreasing your strength to try and preserve themselves. So, at 9 Valour Points your Strength will only be 90 percent effective. If Lia had 9 Valour Points her Strength of 4 will only be 3.6. It will go all the way down until 1 Valour Point her Strength will only be at 0.4. Now this is stupid in the Mythic Phase as it has no benefits. But from the Still Phase, this means that your Cells will become stronger and resist more damage basically trying to stop you from going into Cell-Lock.”
He then moved on to explaining Vitality. “Vitality refers to how much more your cells can endure in moving and emulating the Pulse. For every action you take, you use your Duration Cycle. Lia uses 0.32 seconds which means every move she does takes 0.32 from her Vitality Core. This also has Resource Management. When you reach 9 Vigour Points your Duration Cycle is only 90 percent effective. Your seconds slow down. You still lose 0.32 from your Vitality Core but the problem is the timing is slower. At 9 Vigour Points her Duration Cycle will look like 0.15 0.10 0.15 until they reach 1 when it will be at its lowest 1.30 0.80 1.30.
After this a loud bang was heard from upstairs and loud hoofsteps from inside could be heard coming up to the balcony. An elderly Keranas man peered over with a cigarette in his mouth. “You get into contact with your guy?” the man said.
Tai looked up, using his hand to shield the sun, “It’s looking good. A lot of the Coalition Folk clubs are searching for as many youngins as they can find.”
“Do you think he has a shot?” the man replied.
“Easily. Have you looked at the SolarFrost Celestials? They only field one Folk at a time. Times are changing my friend; people want to win more than just see themselves represented on their teams.”
“Thanks. I’ll tell him.”
The Keranas man left. “He has a nephew that plays Polassa Pirates, I told him I could get him in a better team in one of the Coalition countries.”
“Is that the PrimeBorn Pulser you were talking about earlier?” Katalia asked.
“No,” he shook his head. “Now where were we?” he tapped his rubbed his bald spot. “That’s right. But before we move into Vigour you must learn what happens when Pulse Cells meet Pulse cells.” Again, he referred to the Central Pulser numbers. “Let’s imagine Lia is fighting another Central Pulser. She lands a hit. What happens? Well after she hits, she goes into Recovery which takes her 0.13 seconds. But her opponent goes into an Involuntary Duration Cycle. Lia’s Strength of 4 adds an additional 0.04 seconds to her opponent’s Active and Recovery Phases. After Lia hits the other fighter, they get stuck in the active zone for 0.10 seconds and then Recovery for 0.14 seconds. Here’s where it means to be a KY Fighter kid. When you are in an Involuntary Active Zone you are stuck. You are frozen.” Tai grabbed him by the wrist, and he felt that same odd feeling that Koralo had given him in the Yin Kin Yin. “You cannot move for that moment. However, in the Involuntary Recovery you can move but you can’t use your cells. That means that Lia has an advantage over you since you are defenceless for those 0.24 seconds. She can set up her next move. What’s more when you get hit those 0.24 seconds are subtracted from your Vigour. Again, this has Resource Management. When you reach 9 you only have 90% effectiveness of your cells. This basically means you are now going to be in involuntary Duration Cycle longer and longer.”
It was now Izai’s turn. He stood feet spread apart, knees slightly bent, and awaiting Tai’s instructions.
“Quite the interesting stance you got there my friend,” smiled Katalia.
Izai looked down at his feet. He wondered what was wrong with it. He had won many fights before and after he became a Pulser using that very stance.
“Just go when you’re ready,” Tai said.
“Any move?” Izai responded. He took in a deep breath. He felt the Pulse within him channel his body and contort in a way that left him punching the wooden dummy. He looked back at his audience for applause. But none came.
“Can you tell me what’s wrong?” Tai asked.
“He overextended his Active Zone,” Lia replied.
“Overextended my Active Zone?” Izai wondered.
“Yes.” Tai smiled, “I knew I was right to let you Purge. See the Active Zone is when the Pulse Essence activates. It’s such a short period but it can be extended. Usually, people naturally do this but they also naturally stop themselves because it actually harms you in the process.”
“Basically, for every 0.01 seconds you spend extra in Active Zone you lose 0.1 of your Valour points,” Katalia clarified.
“What’s the point of that?” Izai asked.
“It’s so you can do other moves that aren’t basic. Your Pulse Essence when you extend your Active Zone acts as a miracle cure of sorts allowing you to do non-basic things like…” Tai stuck his arm out to Katalia.
“Really?” She rolled her eyes.
“I can’t let you do it on me because you’ll lose more Valour Points,” he replied.
She stuck out her hand. Katalia grabbed her by the wrist. “The Pulse Essence can only allow you to do quick, short, precise actions. But you can manipulate your Active Zone to quickly do other things such as,” he flipped Katalia over and slammed her to the grass. “Let’s say that this took me about 0.5 seconds to complete that would mean if I was a Mythic I would have lost 5 Valour Points but at a good a cost, I just eliminated Lia from the ring. It’s there for you to use strategically.”
Katalia stood rubbing her feathers. “How did you think play Iron Blitz this whole time?
“It gets better with time though kid,” Tai interjected. “From the 1st Dominion Phase 0.01 seconds will only cost you 0.05 of your Valour Points. And at the 2nd Dominion Phase it will be 0.01 for 0.0025.”
“Oh,” Katalia brightened as if an idea had suddenly popped in her head. “That’s why GaleStones are natural grapplers. Even in the Mythic Phase they lose 0.05 per 0.1 seconds.”
Tai instructed Izai to try and punch the dummy again. He tried. But again, was told that he overextended. Once more he tried and again, he overextended.
“There is a remedy to this of course,” Tai said. “We can artificially drain your Vitality so that you can learn to feel how the Essence moves slowly throughout your body in each move.” Tai spoke to himself nodding. “Yes. Yes. That would work, especially if I put your Duration Cycle at 1.1 0.8 1.1, and then slowly bring you up to 100% effectiveness.”