To say that Maik was upbeat on their way to lunch would be untrue. It was more like the feeling you get when you think you just lost the game only to figure out there was still a chance at a comeback, that you were still in the game as a legitimate contender. Yeah. That mix of excitement and determination tempered with anxious energy. No small part of the came from the teens heavy use to the 'Minor healing' and 'Chi body infusion' skills fixing up the aftermath their romp with the coach that morning but at this point there was barely any soreness left.
Those bubbly feeling lasted until they found out that neither Maik nor Stacy were getting any extra food with their meal, a point she just had to ask about when they sat down to eat with some of their other friends. “The meditation is helping but I was kinda looking forward to a larger meal. Didn't you and Boyd have something worked out ?”
The Chi instructor shrugged, inwardly thankful that the 'Enhanced biological resource' skill was doing its thing to mitigate Maik's calorie intake requirements. “You recall that I failed hard in my attempts at politics yesterday ? Well this is part of it. Seems that the trilogy is more concerned about the food supply then we thought and are sticking to strict food allowances until more stable production is up and going. Boyd might have also been a little cranky due to being hungry during our talk”
She scoffs. “Fuh. Does he even know what its like to run low on Chi like we were yesterday. How empty it makes you feel ?”
The lilin couldn't help but smirk. “Oh he knows. They've been using the sending skill as lot to demonstrate the practical use of Chi manipulation to all the new heads of departments. Boyd was rather forceful in making sure to assert his position over me in the decision making process. In fact I was truly surprised at the Length of Width of his argument, not to mention how deftly he inserted his point into my understanding of the situation.” Still smirking the lilin shook their head. “No, he really dominated that conversation, that's for sure.”
Skip and Eugene were with them and didn't look too happy with the news either and it was Eugene who spoke up first. “But the meditations are helping. Must be working.” The super sized Mexican pointed looks at and gestures at Maik with his spork. “Compared to yesterday you two don't look nearly as starved.” The big guy seeming to miss any of the implications that Maik had subtly dropped though Stacy did look a tad suspicious.
The Chi instructor had been talking with Stacy about her progress during the sessions and was liking what they were seeing. “That's correct. Its like the air is just jam packed with loose Chi now and can be absorbed to replenish depleted reserves, all be it slowly. At my skill level the draw seems passive but at you guys level it will require conscious effort. That and it seems that people need a little extra right after they finish large modification such as a big stat boost or...” The lilin pointed looks at Skip. “A race change. I wouldn't have pictured you as an elf man.”
The pointy eared ginger lightly blushes and partially turns away to sigh. When he looks back he leans in to whisper so that only the 4 of them can hear. “I'm not an elf. Now don't go spreading this around, but, I saw that I could become a tier 4 race. Fay, young adult and just had to take it.”
Eugene was flabbergast. “What ? Why do you get the cool magical race option while all I get is some strange Huari giant ?” The others looked at him with controlled expressions as they tried not to giggle at the larger teen.
Maik faltered first, the grin coming despite their best efforts. “Well, you have to admit. It kinda fits man.”
Eugene's expression sobered them up with how upsetting the option was clearly making him. “....Look man. Its not just a race...” He lowers his voice. “It says that if I Chose this race I'll manifest as the direct descendant of this Huari, who, get this, is or was a God of the Tawantinsuyu people.”
The confused looks on the others faces wasn't helping matters and Stacy blurts out. “Who and of what people ?”
The Mexican explains. “Apparently Tawantinsuyu is the native name for what we call the Inca. You know that civilization the Spaniards reported finding in south America ? I looked it up in the library yesterday.” Now it was everyone else turn to be flabbergasted.
Maik suddenly had a rather pertinent question that he had to voice. “What tier is the race ?” The usually decisive young man held up 4 fingers but no thumb close to his chest. The lilins response was instant. “Take it. As soon as you have the points. Take it. Skip ? Your race tier ?” The ginger held up the same number of fingers and no thumb. The lilin sighed through their nose and nodded to the others before conceding. “The one I chose was a higher tier as well.”
Stacy swallowed and looked a little apprehensive. “All of us, really ?” Now it was her turn to lean forward and whisper. “Mine talks about the inheritance of some goddess Minerva. I just don't know about.... becoming the embodiment of some.... roman goddess inheritance. I'm a devout Christian you know ?” She sat back up strait, tall and proud even seated. “Plus, what are the odds ?” She meets all of their eyes. “As a member of the medical department I've talked with a lot of people and... subtly asked about this topic. Most people just have the tier 3 options.”
Maik's voice was the immovable mountain of assured resolve to Stacy's ocean of doubt and worry. “Its just a race, not even a species change. It shouldn't change your beliefs or who you are inside, but it will make you more powerful. Much more powerful.”
The tall young lady shook her head and looked away from Maik's gaze. She searched the eyes of the other 2, Eugene's in particular sense he was in much the same boat. No answers were to be found there however, the big guy just as conflicted about the choice as she was so she ultimately turns her attention back to Maik. There was a lot more fire in her eyes when she met the lilins gaze once again. “You didn't answer my question. What did you inherit from in order to get a tier that high ?”
Maik didn't even fight the compulsion to keep his secrets on this one and just told her. “Its called Lilin. A primordial race of humans and its oddities were totally worth it.”
Skip nodded while Eugene and Stacy frowned. It was the big guy who broke the silence. “If you say so. Things north of campus seem to have settled down and I hear that its more good news than bad coming on the radio. Maybe we should hold off on anything major like changing our race until after some expert can study this. Or at least until the caravan gets back with news on whats happening out there.”
The lilin just shrugged. “You can wait if you want. But the longer you do the more you'll miss out on. Then again maybe your choice isn't as great as I'm imagining. I didn't see any of those options when I picked my race evolution.” The lilin gestures at the ginger with their last spork full of apple sauce. “Your race provide anything special ? Like traits or affinities ?”
The fay smirks and puts an index finger to his lips, obviously not wanting to divulge all of his secrets. The lilin scoffs a laugh before downing their milk to finish the meal and then checks the time. “just before 1. That gives us another 30 minutes before I need to start training up the faculty, Sara's still manning the food court and Eugene will be training with me later. So how about it skip. You up for a quick lesson in tier 4 skills before I need to get back to work ?”
The ginger shakes his head. “I have some things I'm still working out. Race related things I'm still exploring. Maybe some other time.” He actually smirks and winks at Maik before the this next part. “Besides... My 'Chi manipulation' skill is already at Experienced.”
Both Stacy and Eugene quietly gaped at him and the boyish gingers just seemed to find that even funnier as he started laughing. Maik Shook the amazement off. The lilin clearly wasn't the only one who was special it seemed. “Well in that case. Sense I still have half an hour I think I do some focused meditation.” Stacy looking like she wanted to ask something but Maik had already instructed her on the motions she needed to practice repeatedly in order to advance her 'Chi manipulation' skill higher. More advanced methods would be taught when she had the skill to handle them.
Thirty minutes. It doesn't sound like a lot of time but it was the most free time the teen had to them self sense this whole disaster started. Back in the lecture room Maik took one of the raised seats and assumed a meditative pose before focusing inward. Cycling Chi through each of the Chacras to energize the whole of their body was the first step. Then projecting a cone downwards to pull from the earth to the base chacra while using the crown chacra to project a second cone upwards to pull from the heavens.
As the energy was drawn into those chacras it was refined and condensed with a counterclockwise motions, seeming to turn from smoke into mist. Both condensed streams of energy were pulled to a metaphysical location, below the heart and just a few centimeters in front of the spine, Maik's center. The roughly spherical shape eagerly drew the energy by spinning it in a clockwise direction for further refinement, feeling like it turned from mist into fluid. This was allowing Maik to continuously compress an enormous amount of the smoke thickness energy into the small space of the lilins center. So much so that Maik had probably only managed to fill the space to about 10% by the time the teen felt their shoulder being nudged.
Slowly Maik brought their awareness back to the outside world, opening eyes to see Boyd standing to the teens right. The math teacher wasted no time. “The others will be here soon so we may as well get started.”
The lilin stretched as they got up, a grunted. “Yes Sir.” Was offered sense the department head of medical was there as well. Looking at the clock revealed it to be 1:26, so the lilin had only gotten about 25 minutes of cultivation in. Still that was enough it seemed.
Tier 4 skill acquired – Cultivation Chi – beginner
Cultivation is the act of actively drawing in from any energy source and then actively converting that energy into any form that can be used as fuel for Magical application, the simplest of which is basic Chi.
Tier 4 skill advanced – Cultivation, Chi – Capable
The simplest is Chi ? What are the more complex forms of magical energy ? Mana duhhhh. Duhhhh. I would like to point out that that is not confirmed as yet. A rose by any other name still smells just as sweet.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
In the end all of the trilogy member attended that first group, except for Leavery as he went with the caravan. With them were the heads of the Agriculture, engineering and medical departments. Like with Stacy Maik helped them all through the motions, showing them how to manipulate their Chi flows for optimal improvement. On top of this he was able to impart each of them with 3 tier 4 skills each over the next hour and 15 minutes. They each had differing interests for their first Tier 4 skills save for one and it was one that Boyd had actually learned, though Maik picked up on it after working with the math teacher to teach it to the others.
Tier 3 skill acquired – Magic resistance minor – beginner
A strong enough aura or magic projection can penetrate the natural defenses of a life form, allowing the caster to directly manipulate the target from within, in accordance with the skill being used. Magic resistance greatly limits the effectiveness of such attacks.
There was no wondering how the math teacher acquired the skill but Maik was actually glad they had it now. The lilin really had crossed a line yesterday and others the teen cared for having this skill as an assurance that Maik couldn't accidentally cross that line again was somehow comforting. Until we find a way around it. Oooo a new pet project. Behave. We can be that guy who tried to hack peoples minds for a living and help develop new defenses. Or we could secretly take control without them knowing. Creative. Good idea. Primal. Bad. Your being bad and you need to stop it. Gurrrrr.
The second thing that Maik realized during the session was that their Chi recovery speed was a lot faster for a while after starting the session. After that Chi recovery returned to normal and Maik had the suspicion that all the energy that had been collected in their center had been used up. This was confirmed during the 15 minutes break between sessions and Maik was left wondering why it worked that way. If the collected energy had already been part of their Chi pool then why hadn't the Chi bar changed to reflect that. Why the rapid regeneration instead of another bar or and expanded Chi bar ? There wasn't enough time in a 15 minutes break for those questions.
The next afternoon session went much like the first with each of them improving their “Mind & body connection' skill advancing to capable, gaining the 'Magic resistance' skill and learning 2 other tier 4 skills each. Eugene had apparently been one of the few still volunteering for patrol duty and had earned the privilege to be there. He chose Chi body infusion and Sending.
Shortly before the 3ed and final of the days sessions was when things changed. Nathan, now Boyd's second in command, sprinted into the room. “The caravans back. We have injured. Anyone with the “Minor healing' skill is needed. Now.” There was no time to waste on pointless questions. There was only action, running, breathing and worry and focus. Maik's reserves were looking good at little over 50% at 962 calories remaining in the tank. so they infused some Chi into their body to move faster and boy was it an improvement. Not super human by any means but a noticeable difference all the same.
Fifteen. There were Eight people badly injured with bullet wounds, One who was critical, 2 with minor injuries and 4 with something broken. The nurses office wasn't designed to house this number of patients so Bullet wounds were receiving priority attention. Maik was directed to the critical patient as soon as they arrived. The man had been the schools resource officer when the disaster hit and had been one of the people Maik trained up yesterday. He thankfully had ballistic armor but only Kevlar, no plate and it seems that rifle rounds were used. He had taken one such round in the chest, another in the abdomen and a third in the leg. The one that hit the leg went strait through but thankfully missed the bone and the main artery. The other 2 rifle bullets were still inside the mans body. There were also 2 smaller caliber rounds, probably pistol, one in his shoulder and the other in his hip.
His aura was so weak Maik didn't even need permission to look inside the guys body with chi sight. The lilin enveloped the officers whole body in his aura field and imbued it with the the effect of the minor healing skill. The head of the medical department was there with Maik and the head of agriculture was using sending to link them together so they could communicate directly while they worked. From the bruising and cracked ribs it was evident that the Kevlar had stopped multiple smaller caliber rounds as well and the head of medical cataloged the injuries out loud as she looked the man over using both her eyes and the lilins aura enhanced Chi sight. Then they got to work.
Being able to sense what she was doing in 3 dimensions did so much to help her performance. Surgery that should have been well beyond her expertise was performed with efficiency and minimal invasion of the patients body. long tweezers easily found and removed all the foreign matter without needing to cut at or widen the wounds, Minor healing and Chi body infusion were projected and combined to convinced damaged veins to close and stop bleeding until the work was completed. After that the wounds were sterilized. Bandaging was applied and the patient was deemed to be stabilized. Though their work was meticulous and efficient the mans wounds were many and it had taken a full 32 minutes to complete.
Maik had really burned through their Chi reserves on that first patient. After using Auric effect to project 3 different effects at the same time for the 32 minutes it took for the officer to get patched up Maik was down to just over 10% or only 191 calories in their Chi bar. The lilin was drenched in sweat from the effort of upholding so many effects at once but there were still wounded to be tended too. Thankfully the head of medical hadn't needed to use as much of her Chi on that first patient, letting Maik carry the bulk of that task while she focused on each individual wound in turn as she patched the guy up.
Tier 3 skill advanced – Auric projection – intermediate
Tier 4 skill advanced – Auric effect – intermediate
There were also 3 others who now had the Minor healing skill and thankfully their patients only had 1 bullet wound a piece. Fortunately none of them were in terribly life threatening places and all of a small caliber. This meant that despite the much lower skill level in both minor healing and basic medical knowledge they still managed to tend to 2 patients each in the time it took to patch up the officer.
The head of medical moved to tend to one of the remaining bullet wound patients while Maik assisted Stacy with the final one. There were no words. Just tired and grim focus on the task at hand. In the end Maik had 62 calories left in the Chi bar and really needed a nap. Thankfully they were told they could take a break so the lilin found a quiet spot to start cultivating.
Sleep nearly took them several times as the lilin delved into them self and then started up the process of drawing in the free floating energy that now saturated everything. Maik drew in and refined until they had stored up just about as they had earlier that day, stopping and relaxing to just watch and see what happened. The liquid feeling energy began to seep out of the center, a trickle that flowed directly into the spine and into the bone marrow. As it did so, Maik observed the Chi bar going up rapidly. Now that Maik was examining the interaction closely, they could see and quantify the lilins current passive Chi regeneration while resting. 21 calories a minute. Pretty Good. Meh. Then Maik used that information to measure out how much roughly 10% of their center being filled with the liquid level of refined energy was worth. 522 Calories in total so the lilin was figuring that they could cultivate about 18 calories worth of energy per minutes on top of what they were gaining passively.
At least that was the case under optimum conditions. Properly fed, hydrated and well rested. Satisfied with this result for the moment Maik brought their perception back to the waking world and got up to head back to the infirmary. On the way they reviewed the passive regeneration and frowned as it was lower than what Maik had calculated it should be. While they were feeling a little peckish that shouldn't account for such a sharp drop. Siting back down to see what was up lead to Maik figuring out that there were 2 levels of passive regeneration. The 21 Calories per minutes was when the lilin was cycling their Chi, just like when Stacy was cycling her Chi and recovering. If the lilin wasn't cycling Chi then the passive recovery dropped to one tenth of that.
This wasn't usually an issue for Maik as cycling Chi was practically second nature to them after all the practice and training over the past 4 years. However the lilin was pretty warn out from the extended exertions, like laying down after running a mile, so the change was noticeable.
By the time the lilin arrived back at the infirmary they were at just over 700 Calories in the tank and feeling much better. This was good because everyone else with the Minor healing skill needed a break at this point, though every patient had also received care. Leavery saw Maik come back in and instantly drilled the teen. “Daley. Firstly, Good work on Stevens. Second, now that you've had a break, Can you get back at it ?” The lilin nodded and and directed to the officers bedside. The man was still stable but far from recovered and would still need much tending.