Chapter 57

Ryker

Tetra and I lay there, staring into each other's eyes for what felt like a lifetime, but our moment was interrupted by the telltale tightening of the suit, foreshadowing the pain I knew was to come. Anticipating the ordeal, I rolled onto my back and gritted my teeth, just in time for all my limbs to be forcibly straightened and frozen in place, preventing me from harming myself further during the healing process. My involuntary whimpers of pain caught Tetra's attention, prompting her to push herself to her knees and crawl over to my side. Placing her hand on my chest, she asked, "Ryker, are you okay?"

After waiting another minute before answering, I said, "Honestly, no. Ruby did a real number on me." A flash of irritation crossed Tetra's face, but she quickly composed herself and asked, "What do you mean by that? How is she responsible for this?"

At her question, a six-inch-tall copy of Ruby appeared, standing on my chest, her hands clasped together in front of her and her head tilted down. She said, "Tetra, Ryker, I think I owe you both an apology." We both glanced at each other, then settled our gazes on Ruby's diminutive form, and I heard Tetra say, "Yes, you do! Your behavior has been most unbecoming."

I smirked at Tetra's haughty response and I told Ruby, "She's right. Your jealousy is getting out of hand. If I were anyone else, you would have killed me by pulling that stunt. How much damage did you manage to inflict on me during your little tantrum?"

Ruby's building indignation at Tetra's words was immediately doused by my question. She tried to force a smile but ended up looking constipated and confused before saying, "Uh, well, you have roughly 56 stress fractures, 16 breaks, and more muscular and vascular injuries than I am willing to discuss with you."

I blinked several times in disbelief at the miniature A.I. and said, "Well, how much damage were you able to inflict on her?"

Ruby gave me a wide, triumphant smile and proclaimed, "I was able to give her a mild concussion and 4 nasty abrasions!" I closed my eyes and counted to ten while measuring my breaths. Opening my eyes, I looked at Ruby and said, "Regardless of the outcome, what you did back there was really impressive. What was that battle assist protocol and the perception overdrive?"

Ruby perked up even more at the question and answered, "During our merger, I was able to coat, embed, and in some cases replace parts of your nervous system. In doing so, I have a measure of control over how fast your nervous system functions. When the battle assist protocol is activated, I increase your perception and reflexes by roughly 40% of your base capability. On top of the perception boost, through my control over your suit, I am able to assist in your movements to increase accuracy, speed, and strength. The problem in doing this comes from the limitations your species has baked into its DNA. Temporarily speeding up your perception is not that big of an issue with your regeneration. But when I boost you past the 40% mark, the stress placed on your brain and nerves starts exceeding your body's ability to out heal the effects. The perception overdrive is a great example of what happens when this limitation is ignored. When activated, it boosted your perception by 120% and caused you to suffer three hemorrhagic strokes."

Tetra narrowed her eyes in my direction and said, "Wait, so that was Ruby's doing?" I nodded my head the best I could manage and said, "Unfortunately, yes. By myself, I am not capable of reacting that fast nor skilled enough to capitalize on it."

The speed at which Tetra's mood shifted caught me off guard. One second she was concerned over my well-being, the next she was scowling down at me with an expression of rage. She placed both her hands down on my chest and pushed herself to her feet, rebreaking three of my ribs that were partially healed, and I yelped in pain. After swaying for a moment, she turned her head to the side and spat on the ground, saying, "You dishonorable dog! If you think for a second that borrowing the strength of your companion to trick me into sleeping with you will work, then you have another thing coming." With both hands, she gestured up and down her body and said, "Until you can beat me on your own, you can say goodbye to all of this! I am cutting you off!"

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I was in so much pain that only half the words she said reached my throbbing brain, and the parts and pieces I did make out I ignored. I closed my eyes and focused inward, trying to concentrate on the inner workings of my mana and vital energy. The second I did this, I was able to sense the ebbs and flows of my power cycling through me, and I fell into the breathing pattern that I found helped me to draw on my surroundings.

As I meditated, more and more of the energy was absorbed by my heart, and my body finally stopped healing. I cracked open my eyes and took note that Red, Ruby, and Tetra were all sitting around a table, chatting animatedly across the room, and the remaining pain in my body snatched back my attention. I glanced up at my bars and saw I had bottomed out my mana during my recovery but had managed to bring my health back up to 60% of its max.

With some effort, I was able to move to a sitting position and continued my meditation. I found that the longer I focused on speeding the flow of energy into my heart, the faster mana was produced by it. The moment I made that revelation, Silver's gravelly voice resonated calmly through my mind. "Good, I have been monitoring your progress and am pleased to see you figured out the role vital energy has on your mana regeneration. For you, there is nothing more important. You will rise or fall depending on how much mana you have available to you. So finding ways to lower the time it takes to create more is paramount."

I bobbed my head and tried to maintain my concentration on the draw of energy, then inwardly said, "I agree, but I would prefer to not need the mana to be successful." Silvar's laughter broke me out of my fugue, and I let out an irritated breath. He appeared, sitting a few feet in front of me and wiped at his eyes while finishing his bout of laughter, then said, "Yeah, that's rich, kid. Your entire kit revolves around you getting the stuffing beat out of you. Sure, it would be nice if you had an ounce of skill to back it up, but I believe Ruby demonstrated that it isn't a limiting factor any more."

I had to agree with the old worm. Ruby’s ability to make micro-adjustments to my actions on the fly will prove to be quite invaluable in a fight, but an idea was nagging at me, and I asked, "I know that right now Ruby’s ability to overpower my body is wonderful and terrifying, but won't I eventually outgrow the suit's ability to impact my movements?" A copy of Ruby appeared sitting next to Silvar, and I leaned over to find her still chatting away with Tetra across the room. Shrugging at how alien the situation was, I listened as Ruby said, "Theoretically, yes. If you survive long enough, you should be able to train your body to the point that the nanoweave will not be able to halt or alter your movements. That being said, you will still be able to feel the pressure placed upon your body. With some training you can use it as a cue to change your movements yourself, but this issue is not an issue at all right now. You have a long way to go."

Silvar effortlessly rose to his feet and gestured for me to do the same. With a grunt of effort, I painfully reached my feet and began to stumble next to Silvar as he strolled. The monk worm hummed a tune I was unfamiliar with and then said, "Now we begin your next stage of training. I want you to concentrate on drawing in vital energy while you are moving." I looked over at him and tried not to curse. The little success I had so far took every ounce of concentration I could muster. How in the hell did he expect me to manage this?

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes to find the power. Just as I began to feel the energy, I saw a flash of white in my vision, and then everything went black. I found myself staring up at my companions huddled around me, giggling like a bunch of children with an old playboy. Blinking to clear my vision, I reached up for someone to help pull me up, then I realized three of the four were incorporeal and the only one with an actual body was staring at the offending hand as if it was covered in snot.

Pushing myself to my feet, I said, "What just happened?" Silvar grinned evilly and said, "Funny that. I was asking myself the same questions when I watched you walk face first into the medicine ball Tetra threw from across the room. I guess next time I tell you to cycle while moving you will do it with your eyes open."