Chapter 11 : No pain, No gain._The appliance repair Cultivator

Maik did not wake as a result of his alarm. In fact he barely reached semi-consciousness when the family dogs started pouncing on him with their front paws. His voice came out as a little more than the wispy hiss of dead leaves blowing in the wind. "nnnnnnuuuhhhhh ?" Maik's..... Something hurt. Maik wasn't entirely sure what was hurting, only that what ever it was that all of it was hurting and that it was located somewhere in his everywhere.

Feeble attempts to lift his arms yielded... mixed results and more licking from Magus made Maik realize that half of his face had already been coated in puppy kisses by the dogs attempts to wake him.

Maik felt a faint surge of what might be called content when he heard his mother open the front door and call to the dogs, urging them to go out and potty. Only they didn't. They stayed, nuzzling and whining at Maik as if something was wrong. But there was nothing wrong. Maik just needed.... Five ?.... Ten minutes ?..... An hour ! Yeah. Just another hour of sleep and... I'll be good to go.

Maik dosed back off to blissful sleep until someone rudely started pouring water on his face. Maik tried to sputter, to jerk himself upright but all he really managed was an enthusiastic wiggle as he rolled off the couch.

In a detached way Maik realized that his father, Michael had been scolding him while splashing the water in his face but now actually sounded concerned, and was even using his father tone. "... Whoa ! Are you alright. What's wrong ?"

Maik struggled to form words but the everything that was hurting included his cognitive capabilities so it was more like his was grunt mumbling his speech. "UmmIii... Unnnnn. Unndon't Know. Evereessing hurrrss."

Michael helped Maik back up onto the couch and proceeded to start checking the groggy man out. Maik felt his left eyes get peeled open and it hurt like he was suffering from sleep deprivation. An annoying mix of itching and stinging but also... something else. Like the rest of him, his eyes felt... strained, want out. He winced and his father started peppering him with questions.

"What did you do ? I've seen stoners with clearer eyes then you have and your complexion is off."

Maik had woken up a bit more at this point and could manage more coherent speech. "Iii think I over did it... Last night. Did four skill... tutorials in a row... Leveled a lot... Used a bunch of... Stat points."

It was about that time that Terra came down the stairs to have a look around and add even more good news. "Oh. Him too huh ?"

Michael did not sound amused. "Him too ?"

Terra elaborated after a sigh of resignation. "Sigh...Yeah, Mitch is totally out of it, I would say he was up partying all night partying and partying hard from the look of him if he we hadn't slept in the same room."

Michael rubbed his face. "Well that's just fucking great."

Meanwhile Maik had tried to start meditating. Maybe if I try some chi healing. I didn't purchase the skill but I can't be that far off.

But trying to so much as cycle his chi only made the pain worse. "OUWwww. Okay. That's what hurts."

Michael's voice had shifted to his land lord tone at this point. "What hurts, and can you fix it well enough to go run calls today ?"

A flash a annoyance flared within Maik as a result of his father priorities but now was not the time to have that argument again. Instead he explained. "It's like... The muscle that I use to move chi hurts for some reason."

Michael took a calming breath and tried a more pointed line of questioning. "Okay. We know where it hurts but why does it hurt. What did you different last night ?"

Maik walked them through everything that had happened and everybody was taken off guard by how much Maik had managed to contribute yesterday. Neil enough so that he start interjecting.

"How. The. Fuck did you manage to contribute so much more yesterday ?"

Maik was quick the the answer. "Well, ever sense I became a remedial citizen I've had access to 90% of the chi pool and I'm only charged 10% on all chi I expend. So If I stay on it I can really output a lot."

Becky got the nest question in first but it looked to be one shared by many of those in the room. "Then why didn't you contribute that much the day before yesterday ? Weren't you already a remedial citizen by then ?"

Maik though about it but the answer was easy. "Because I was so busy being careful not to hurt myself again. I just didn't do that Much, as far as contributions goes. Not until my stats were a little more balanced, like they were yesterday."

Neil had been deep in though but now shot upright as he proclaimed his theory as though it were the obvious answer. "Muscle fatigue. When the system was taking 90% of the energy you tried to use, you never actually had to move all that energy. Now you can use 90% of your chi and you just spent all day yesterday moving a metric shit ton of it. Now your chi muscle is fatigued and will have to recover."

Maik let out a long suffering half groan, half sigh. Feeling marginally better after having drank some orange juice and eating half a dozen protein bars. Food, especially of the chocolate coated variety, always makes things better.

Mitch and been coaxed into joining them in the living room by the promise of food and Michael was rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration at this point. "Are either of you going to be able to get any work done today or not ? Its almost 8:00 and we need to be able to tell the customers something."

Ian stood up. "I could run Maik's route today. I'm still a little swore from the wreck but its nothing I cant handle."

Maik nodded when Michael looked his way and the decision was made. Maik hadn't mentioned how his chi bar was not refilling at the moment, as if something was still sucking up all the energy that should have been going towards refilling it. All he really wanted to do was to fall into a food coma for a day or two, but that would require raiding one of the refrigerators and preparing a rather large meal. Thankfully he had multiple boxes of protein bars to raid.

With Mitch having just become a remedial citizen yesterday it seemed he was in much the same boat, just having skipped the off day of imbalance which Maik had suffered through. In fact, upon talking with his oldest brother Maik found that Mitch had reached become a Tier 2 entity and was Level 7. Maik was Tier 3, Level 4 but It was amazing how fast Mitch had shortened the gap due to Maik having taken it easy for just one day. Now he was laid up and taking it easy again.

It wasn't that Maik was resentful of his brothers advancement. He was happy the others were making progress. It was just that Maik had felt so special with how far he was ahead of the pack just the day before. Standing so tall and proud and now his lead was significantly less. His fathers reprimand came back to him. "YOU ! Are not nearly as clever or special as you seem to think you are and you need to stop forgetting that."

Shortly after lunch is when Maik was finally starting to feel normal again, normal enough to do something other than nap and eat anyway.

With nothing particularly pressing on his time Maik started to explore the interface in more depth, now finding that he had access to so much more information thanks to his V.I.P. status. Eventually he found the Standard goods and services control matrix, A system run store that seemed to offer information, usually in the form of skill tutorials, crafting tutorials or other data related services. It didn't seem Maik could procure anything physical though, at least not right now.

The currency of the realm seemed to be chi and boy where things expensive. Aura manipulation would have cost him sixty one thousand six hundred and fifty chi to purchase. Maik knew it was hard to put a price of phenomenal cosmic power but figured that price was pretty fair, all things considered. Speaking of expensive, the idea to look into what this 5th Imperial Congregate used for money came to mind and that rabbit hole lead him to 2 skills in particular that we stared at for a while.

Crafting skill tutorial : Tier 5 / Chi stone : Cost / y 246,600 Chi

Allows one to craft Chi stones. These are physical yet inert constructs which store a set amount of chi for later use in a variety of applications.

Requirements :

Alchemy : Intermediate

Chi projection : Effective

Crafting skill tutorial : Tier 4 / Alchemy : Cost / y 123,300 Chi

Allows one to enhance and augment the standard applications of chemistry with the use of metaphysical methodology.

Requirements :

Chemistry Intermediate

Chi projection : Intermediate

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

As it happened, these stones would come in various denominations starting at the tier 3, which would each contain 1,800 chi. Any lesser currency would be traded using mundane currency made of precious metals. Each subsequent tier would double in capacity and were not rechargeable, simply breaking down into dust when depleted. Setting aside his dreams of becoming the worlds first chi stone bank for the moment, Maik went back to browsing.

"So yeah, its not like people wont be able to become remedial citizens after the 'save the world' quest is over, its just that they will have to go through a system run registration process and they will need to pay a nominal fee for entry."

It was Thursday evening and everyone was back at the family manor. Not only had Mitch reached Tier 3 rewards but Maverick and Derek had both reached Tier 1 Rewards. However Mitch hadn't picked a class just yet.

"I'm waiting until after I've leveled some more skills before I pick my class. I have to imagine that there is some kind of penalty for switching classes."

All eyes turned towards Maik, sense he had the most access to the system and had been browsing it for the better part of the day. "Sigh. Yeah. That's one of the things I want to go over this evening. Most of the neat stuff we are getting is promotional and attached to the 'save the world quest. The class that I got for free. Its a one time thing and only then because it was given out as a reward for participation in the quest."

Maik double checked his interface and began to read from it. "Paid promotional features such as awarded classes shall be available rewards up until the promotional period of the quest ends, and only up to a limit of one class per person."

He dismissed the screen and faced his family. "You can change classes as often as you like.... If your willing to pay for the class tutorial and meat the requirements."

Ian slipped in the rare comment. "Uh Huh. And just how much are they ?"

Maik took a deep breath and informed them of what skill tutorials cost and how a class cost five times as much based upon the tier of the class. Exclamations of outrage and shock were the common reaction.

"This means that the tier 5 class I got, Empowered crafter / mechanical, would have cost a whopping y 1,233,000 chi to purchase if I hadn't gotten it as a reward. So yeah Mitch. You really should be taking your time about choosing your class, but I have to ask. What class are you thinking of going for ?"

"I'm thinking empowered sentry. Its a combat class the plays well to my strengths that focuses on defensive buffs and high endurance."

Maik blinked a few times at that. "That doesn't sound like it will help you fix appliances or improve you ability to do any aspect of your job really."

Ian was the first to scoff. "Man ! I mean its cool that your focused on keeping it real and all but shiiiiit. I'm already plenty good at fixing stuff, so I'm using my magic powers to become a bad ass."

Everyone else either shared that sentiment or was being stoically reserved like Maik's father. What followed was a round of enthusiastic discussion about builds and different combat roles each person would take if and when society came crashing down. Maik listened in and offered the occasional comment but he had already become disillusioned with the idea of society crashing just so those who were prepared for it could get ahead.

Friday morning came without any new developments to Maik's abilities. Unsurprising, given how little he had done while in recovery. Mitch had gotten back to the grind by last evening but Maik had just taken the whole day off to recover, and while his chi felt a little stiff at first, after some good stretching and some meditation everything was feeling much more limber. Still, he would need to take it easy for at least one more day. maybe 2.

Ian offered to run Maik's route today as well. "I don't mind running another days route if you still need time to recover man, its no big deal."

Maik smiled warmly, knowing what his cousin was trying to avoid. "Nah man. I'm good. Not 100% but good enough, so long as I don't go pushing it. Besides. Boss man has your new van and you still need to get it outfitted and set up."

Ian looked crestfallen at the prospect. A floor mat needed to be installed, one by four boards needed to be fastened to the inner walls of the van, Then shelving needed to be bolted to those boards, Another board fastened in place to divide the back of the van into middle and back sections, van parts stock tallied up, parts bins loaded up, specialty brackets installed for specialty tools and then all the hardware needed to be loaded. Ian had a busy day ahead of him and he wouldn't get paid a dime for it.

Mitch was likewise working on his own new van so the two of them commiserated in their shared suffering while the rest of the technicians went about their usual routine.

Active Quests : Personal

Type : Private / Continued

Duration : Until 1:00 PM today

Objective : Repair Spunkmire, David's Trash compactor