Maik had drifted off to sleep but the usual dreamscape wasn't what he found. Instead Maik was presented with some kind of system notification.
Tier 2 skill : Fundamental Chi control : Advanced
Intermediate : level 2 : 750 / 900
XP Earned : 404
Level up
Intermediate : level 3 : 1154 / 1,350
Error ! subject does not quality for EXP
Special circumstances afforded by Global Open Quest
EXP stored until the end of next billing cycle.
All EXP must be used by the end of next billing cycle or EXP will be lost.
Tier 3 skill : Chi manipulation : Advanced
Capable : level 2 : 659 / 900
XP Earned : 404
Level up
Capable : level 3 : 1063 / 1,350
Error ! subject does not quality for EXP
Special circumstances afforded by Global Open Quest
EXP stored until the end of next billing cycle.
All EXP must be used by the end of next billing cycle or EXP will be lost.
Tier 4 skill : Chi cultivation : Advanced
Beginner : level 1 : 224 / 400
XP Earned : 104
Beginner : level 1 : 328 / 400
Maik blinked and then blinked again, a strange thing to do while asleep. The notification windows didn't go way while his eyes were closed either, so he decided to take a moment and analyze what was going on here. However no matter how hard he focused on or tried to mental interacted with the display, there simply wasn't any more information gleam or changes he could make.
Maik was just starting to get frustrated with the whole thing when the notification window dispersed and he finally drifted off into his usual dreamscape, unanswered questions lingering to plague his dreams.
Maik woke to a rumbling that had started low but was gradually growing stronger, like someone had turned on the sub woofer and was slowly cranking it up to max power. He rose to unplug the after figuring out that the stereo was off but even that didn't stop the ever increasing rumbling. Someone suggested it was coming from outside just as pictures started falling off the walls and Maik followed them out the front door only to have his gaze drawn upwards. Half of the sky was filled with the bright radiance of the creator marked orb that drew closer at a noticeable speed.
That terrible nightmare lasted up until the 6 AM morning alarm on his phone went off. He quickly reached for and dismissed the ring tone with a heart lurching in his chest, thankful that it was just a bad dream. Maik's cousin Derek wasn't too happy either by the sounds he started making as she groaned and stretched from where he lay on the opposite couch.
"What the fuck.... Maik ? You awake ?"
"Yep. Whats up ?"
"Did you dream that... that you leveled any skills. ?"
A small part of Maik breathed out in relief that Derek's question was about skills rather than staring immanent oblivion in the face.
"That I did Derek. Unless I've gone insane. How about you. You just as crazy ?"
"I Don't know about that. But it said I gained 2 levels in Fundamental Chi control and another 2 in Chi manipulation."
Derek was eager to talk about his notifications and the two quickly started going over their findings. They cross referenced and hypothesized what they had seen while more family members joined the conversation. Thanks to Derek, and the others, witnessing the advancement of levels 1 and 2 for both the fundamental Chi control and the Chi manipulation skills they were able to extrapolate a formula for how much XP it took to level their skills.
With Maik and Mitch having those 2 skills at higher skill ranks they were further able to refine and verify the formula worked. It was also discovered that while Mitch's Fundamental chi control and Chi manipulation skills were both higher level but each a rank lower then what Maik had. Maik also had the Chi cultivation skill, something non of the others had.
Maik started outlining what they had deduced thus far. "So it looks like our skills advance based on the amount of Chi we actually use, with relation to that skill. That's above and beyond what gets taxed. Easy enough. The base amount of XP for all skill levels seems to be 100. The base is multiplied by the tier of the skill first and then is multiplied again by the rank of the skill. Talk about exponential. After that comes the level of the rank. Thank fully it doesn't multiply by the level. Instead each level increased seems to add half again to the total of the previous level."
By the time they had figured all this out the rest of the house hold was up and about, gathered in the dinning room and kitchen and preparing breakfast.
Mitch fallowing up. "Right. This base seems to multiply again for each increased rank. So in my case the Fundamental Chi control skill is already Capable rank. It seems that the rank is multiplied as well. So that's 100 x Tier 2 x Capable 2 for a total of 400. Thankfully this base is not multiplied by the level. Instead there is a progression. for every level that the skill increases past 1 it multiplies the base by 1.5. At level 2 it became 600 to reach lever 3 and then at level 3 it became 900 to reach level 4."
Maik's older cousin Neal spoke up with mild confusion. "Wait, wait, wait. That cant be right unless the amount of XP needed to advance a skill level resets each time it raised in rank."
Mitch glanced at Maik who just shrugged, so Mitch continued. "That is our current running theory, yes. At least, the math works when we assure that it resets with each rank up. Its not like this thing will give us any more assistance. At least, supposedly, not until we become remedial citizens."
Breakfast had been being prepared during he conversation. Eggs, grits, spam and biscuits. After breakfast they checked on local and national news, everyone pulling out their smart phones and checking different feeds while speaking up to share interesting tidbits as they found them. There had been many wrecks the previous day but that alone wasn't world ending.
The additional problem with anyone who wasn't in a safe place when the 'Pulse', as the media was calling it, happened added to the worlds problems but again not the end of the world. There were a lot of broken limbs from where construction workers fell off of roofs, plane crashes that were in the middle of landing and other such accidents. Still thanks to safety gear and regulations most Americans made it though the Pulse with no more than minor scrapes and bruises from falling down like a drunk at a frat party.
Those issues were all over the media. What wasn't in any of the media, on any head line or part of any blog, chat room or post board, was anything to do with open quest to prevent the moon from crashing into the Earth. Nothing. Nada, Zip. However there were a lot of public announcements aimed at helping the public stay calm, assuring the American people that the government was here to help and that everything would be okay.
Also that there was now a price freeze on all goods and services. BUT, everything was fine.
This meant that despite loosing a third of their work fleet, on top of all the weirdness, Mike's Driven Appliance Service was still in business and they needed to take care of their customers. It was supposed to Maik's Saturday off but Ian's van was totaled so somebody needed to do his route.
Maik's father adopted his business tone. "Becky's calling all of today's customers first thing to verify they still want in the schedule and I need to go inspect the work vans, take pictures and send in the claims on their damage. Ian and Mitch need to rest up after getting in those wrecks, so I need you to take care of Ian's route."
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
There was no point in arguing. When the head of the Daley manor said he needed you to do something it was less him asking and more him passing along a decree that you were expected to obey and Maik had long learned the futility to treating it as anything less then an order to be carried out.
This didn't mean Maik was upset with the current circumstance. In fact he looked at it like an opportunity. All but one of the calls scheduled for the day had elected to stay in the route and another customer had called requesting service to take that ones place, meaning that Maik still had 6 service calls in today.
Time to really push the limit. See what I can really do.
Before going to any of the calls he stopped at a gas station to refuel and then parked. Adjusting his seat to keep his spine strait and adjust his posture. It wasn't hard to get into the right frame of mind and start meditating given how often he practiced and soon he was diving into his cultivation technique once more. This time he did have music playing, his smart phone plugged into the sound system to provide good heavy base Phonic music while he drew the energy in through his crown and root, feeding that energy into his chi circulation cycle.
He swirled, drew, pulled, spiraled cycled and repeated. Once he had the process running smoothly he opened the window to start contributing chi energy into the system.
Looking at the hour long music track he had put on told Maik that he had managed about 44 minutes of cultivation time. This was further confirmed when he looked to find that he had managed to contribute another 182 chi towards his goal.
286 of 1,400 towards Tier 1 rewards.
That means that I actually processed One thousand, Eight hundred and 20 something Chi. Fuck this 90% tax man. This is Bullshit.
The first call was a strait forward dryer repair where the heater had burnt out due to their exhaust vent being clogged. Maik had the part on the van and the customer was happy to pay the extra for the tech to clear the vent while he was there. Curiously the customer didn't feel like talking about any of the strange happening from yesterday or last night, though the couple did seem a little on edge while they wrote out the check for Maik's services. The man in particular.
"And your sure its okay if we pay with check, not cash ?"
Maik gave his best reassuring smile. "We've been in business sense 86 sir, so were a bit old fashioned like that. Other companies might be trying to do away with checks but we trust out neighbors."
The mans smile looked like the kind one gave when they were finally able to set down a heavy burden. it was a smile of relief. On any other day that would be a red flag for Maik to that they might not get paid and have to red flag this customer. But today was not a regular day and he didn't make a fuss, just happy to provide some reassurance that some things, the important things, would remain normal. Regardless of what happened with the open quests.
He wasn't so successful when he stopped after the first call. Only managing 28 minutes of cultivation the second time and adding another 136 chi to the contribution total. This was because Maik started to feel strained if his Chi reserves fell below 60 and he still had another 5 calls ahead of him, so he preferred to not push the limits too hard.
No need to risk getting into an accident myself.
The call after that was more taxing, both in what the job was and the customer in question. Here he was applying the reword kit for a french door Samsung refrigerators Ice maker. An involved job that required the replacement of 3 parts, the installation of 2 new parts and no less than 3 mechanical adjustments. Even with all that there was only a 90% success rate on the kit actually fixing the problem for more than 90 days.
Maik had literally replaced over a hundred such kits at this point so the labor wasn't a problem, just time consuming. It was the customer. First the tried to accuse Maik of charging them too much, sighting the new price freeze mandate. Then the old bat nagged Maik the whole time with conspiracies, saying that this was all part of the 5G mind control that the government was trying to deploy. Finally Maik was done with the repair and it was time to collect the bill but she was still going.
"You mark my words. A reckoning is coming for all those who have sinned. Charging that kind of money just to fix and Ice maker. I tell you its the end of days and you should treat your elders better than this. My mother owned a Frigidaire for 24 years. Twenty Four, and it never broke down. She gave gave it to the church. I had one for 15 years and only had to have the ice maker in it fixed once. 1 time it was something like $180.00. Now your charging me $481.50. Shame on you."
She angrily jabs the credit card at Maik while he keeps his opinion to himself, though internally he was screaming at the old lady.
Then why the FUCK didn't you buy another dependable Frigidaire refrigerator instead of the shiniest piece of foreign crap on the market. I could have replaced your old Frigidaire ice maker in 15 minutes, tops. This fucking, over complicated, half ass engineered, survey inspired, cocaine fueled fever dream of an ice maker took me over an hour and a half to reengineer, not fix. Fixing is what you do when you restore something to what it was. This was re-engineering, and this is your fault lady.
During the break after the 2ed call was even worse, Maik having only managed to cultivate for 17 minutes and contributing another 106 chi. He was also rather hungry so decided to stop for lunch. A piece of fruit, a sub sandwich and some dark chocolate covered cashews for desert. While eating Maik absently checked on his progress thus far.
528 of 1,400 towards Tier 1 rewards.
Maik actually did wind up taking just a quick 10 minute power nap that tuned out to a 52 minutes. By then it was almost 2 in the afternoon and he still had 4 calls left to do.
Damn it. I need to space out the cultivation sessions more and be more careful with my schedule.
In the end Maik didn't make it back to the manor until about 7:00 in the evening due to also taking a few minutes inbetween each of the remaining 4 calls to dump half of his available chi pool into the contribution window.
This left Maik felling a little more than a little warn down. Dinner was thankfully already prepared by the time he walked in and the others were actually waiting on him to start. Pot roast, and everyone had a big meal while details about what the insurance adjusters were saying. Maik's father was describing what the game plan was going into next week.
"So the insurance is most likely going to declare both vans totaled and do a pay out. We cant wait on that though so I'm going to start shopping around for another pair of work vans. By the time we have them purchased, lettered and the insides fitted with shelving We should have a check in the mail. Ian and Mitch should be fully recovered by then as well, and can get back on the road. At that point we can start looking into how thing are playing out on the whole with the economy and the local powers."
Maik noticed the pointed looks his father Michael was sending Ian and Neil's way when he mentioned local powers.
After dinner was the usual family time with a movie playing in the living room. It was a big living room and could totally seat 11 people on the couches and corner chairs before ever needed to pull out any of the floor seats for the kids to sit around the coffee table in the center of the room. They made it work but it was a little cramped with 15 people in the room at once.
It was a movie Maik had seem before, that one with the giant robots and sea monsters, the first one, because the second one doesn't exist and we shall speak of it no more. Because Maik had seen it before he did his best to put his effort into cultivating just one more time that evening. The stereo system provided great sound and the sub woofer shook the pictures on the walls whenever there was a big explosion but Maik used that base to fuel his decent into cultivation.
The result was mixed. he managed to maintain the act of cultivating for over half of the movie but his efficiency had clearly suffered from the distractions. Another 127 chi was added to his contributions.
After that Maik was pretty much drained and only added his input to the chi manipulation conversation that followed the movie if he felt that it was truly impact on the conversation.
"Yeah, I tried stopping at gas stations inbetween calls to cultivate and push chi into the contribution screen but every time I did so I get less and less out of it. I was really amazed at how much it seemed to wear me out."
Maverick just shrugged and stated the plainly obvious approach.
"I mean, I just stopped and put some chi into the system inbetween each call and then let it replenish while I was at the customer house fixing shit. Hehh. In total it looks like I spent 334 Chi today."
Maik check his total.
871 of 1,400 towards Tier 1 rewards.
871 minus 104 is 731. 731 minus 334 is 397.
There was a hint of snide pride in Maik's voice when he revealed his own contributions for the day. "Holy crap. I only contributed a little over twice what you did today. I'm at 871."
Maik's father sent him an admonishing look and a reprimand.
"Nobody likes a smart ass son."
This ultimately lead to Maik sharing his means of cultivating with the others before they all turned in for the night. Maik passed out within moments of his head settling into the pillow.
Once more there was a barrier between sleep and the usual dreamscape, a series of notifications that updated Maik as to his progress.
Tier 2 skill : Fundamental Chi control : Advanced
Intermediate : level 3 : 1154 / 1,350
XP Earned : 731
Level up
Intermediate : level 4 : 1,885 / 2,025
Error ! subject does not quality for EXP
Special circumstances afforded by Global Open Quest
EXP stored until the end of next billing cycle.
All EXP must be used by the end of next billing cycle or EXP will be lost.
Tier 3 skill : Chi manipulation : Advanced
Capable : level 3 : 1063 / 1,350
XP Earned : 731
Level up
Capable : level 4 : 1,794 / 2,025
Error ! subject does not quality for EXP
Special circumstances afforded by Global Open Quest
EXP stored until the end of next billing cycle.
All EXP must be used by the end of next billing cycle or EXP will be lost.
Tier 4 skill : Chi cultivation : Advanced
Beginner : level 1 : 328 / 400
XP Earned : 335
Level up
Level up
Beginner : Level 3 : 663 / 900
Error ! subject does not quality for EXP
Special circumstances afforded by Global Open Quest
EXP stored until the end of next billing cycle.
All EXP must be used by the end of next billing cycle or EXP will be lost.
Tier 4 skill : Chi projection : Acquired
beginner : level 1 : 0 / 400