Vol. 3, Ch. 76: Checks and Balances_The Awakened World

A glare should never cross Aria's face.

Mainly because she has laser eyes.

I'm sitting in Sophia's office, filling out the arrest form. Aria is sitting next to me, fuming, and making sure I fill it out correctly.

Thomas, Madman, and Alayna are in the holding cell Hiro is in. The succubus has to erase his memories, then Madman has to take his soul and crystalize it. Finally, Thomas will send it back to the correct dimension once the gateway opens.

We're cremating the corpse too.

Oh, and Thomas was pissed. Royally. Yeah, apparently, shirking your job then arresting someone is really grating for him.

Just as I sign my name, the door slams open. Thomas marches forward, right towards me.

"You. You! Do you have any idea what you did today?!" He holds his fist up to my face, index finger pointed. His other hand holds a glowing, blue gem of some kind. Most likely the soul.

I remain silent. I'm…afraid of what he's going to say. "YOU PERFORMED AN ARREST WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THE LEGAL PROCEDURES REQUIRED!!!"

He calms down, just slightly. Looking behind him, Aria has abandoned me on the opposite side of the room. "Look. I've tried being gentle, in what arguably, little lessons I've given you, but if I need to bring the foot down, I will…"

"I'm… I- I'm sorry," I stutter out.

"Kid. I'm calling you that because that's what you are. You put off the task I assigned you, and instead went off to some forest. Now, I have to put out feelers there to find the dimensional rift and close it. I've also had to shut quite a few people up because if it got up the ladder that an UNTRAINED hero arrested someone BY HERSELF, then Wilcox will be riding on the guild's ass!"

"Okay…" I don't know what else to say. My muscles are shaking, and I feel hollow. Looking into his eyes is something I can just barely do.

"We're accelerating your training," he says after a silent, tense minute. "I'm installing new facilities in the trench base. I expect you to go to at least one of them per day and spend an hour there. You can also do one of our challenges, like when you did mine. Sophia's excepted, for obvious reasons. Mine as well."

Without another word, he roughly grabs my arms, and everything flashes.

————————————————————————————————————

The teleport back to the underwater gym area; the one with all the challenge doors on the wall. Two new hallways have been added on opposing sides, and a familiar robot is in the center.

"I've repaired Franklin. He's going to be teaching you how to take and give hits. Only the basics as more fine-tuned knowledge requires a teacher, ergo me," Thomas explains. Seeing our arrival, Franklin waves to us, to which I return.

Leading me down the left hallway, relative to facing the challenge doors, I'm lead to a shooting range, for firearms of all kinds. "This, obviously, is a range. I've been experimenting with different types of shielding, and I've created a high-powered energy shield that can deal with most physical projectiles. Of course, the cost of maintaining such a thing takes an entire Dyson reactor to itself."

He leads me down towards the other hallway where a bunch of insectoid drones are crawling under a tarp that says, 'Under Construction!'

"This is eventually going to be a place for you to focus your mind and train your Psychic Attunement. Thing is, Alayna said that you need to actual build a foundation first, and she also criticized my designs." He said that last part a little quieter, almost ashamed.

The main gym area has another robot in it. A militant-looking Arthur is talking with Franklin in modem noises. Wearing a bullet-proof vest; thick, black pants; brown combat boots; and a beret that can't seem to choose a color.

It's hard to focus on it, and each time I do, it switches from red to green to black to purple.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. That's Gunther, an Arthur that I modified to be more skilled in projectile weapons and more…like a drill sergeant," Thomas says in a deadpan voice.

"Really? Gunther?" I ask with exasperation apparent. "You're kidding."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"I'm not," he shamelessly says.

Gunther notices us and marches right up to Thomas's face. I just realized this but the Arthurs are taller than me, but shorter than Thomas; I stand at six feet.

"I don't like your attitude! Drop and give me twenty!" Gunther metaphorically spits in Thomas's face.

Unamused, Thomas replies, "Really? I outrank you. So… I belay that order and instead turn it on you."

Gunther nods and begins doing one-handed push-ups. I think Thomas went a little too far on the personality and dropped the bot's intelligence. Noticing me doubtful face, Thomas reassures me.

"It'll be fine. He's a little cuckoo when following chain of command, but he knows his way around a gun." That did little to reassure me.

After finishing his push-ups, Gunther turned around and began walking towards the range, most likely to lie in wait until someone arrives. Someone meaning me.

Franklin rotates to face me. If he was capable of showing any emotion, then he's quite the stoic robot as he just stares at me for a good few seconds. "Hello, Alice. I haven't seen you since our battle."

"Uh, yeah. I seen you've—um—changed." That's an understatement. Where he used to have stubby legs has been replaced with a small bevel, allowing for quick twists, but he's rooted in place. His I-beam has been replaced with a foam copy.

"It's all for the better. Mainly to help you train better. Strangulation may work on biological opponents, but even then, you had to think quickly to defeat me." If he wasn't criticizing me, then I'd think he was slightly proud of my tactics.

He's right though. I planned to lynch him. Didn't work out so well. Yeah, stopping airflow only really works if your opponent actually breathes. Luckily, I can give myself a temporary strength boost, and that let me separate his head from his body.

"I'll let you two work on some forms. I," he emphasizes, "have a lot of cleaning up to do."

————————————————————————————————————

"Show me what you have got," Franklin challenges, and also pronouncing each word though some could be omitted. He hold up the foam bar, right at the perfect height to punch.

I twist into the punch throwing my weight behind it.

"Good," he remarks. "Not great as the form is a mere imitation and if I simply moved out of the way, then you would've tripped.

Now, keep your shoulders square with your feet. A thirty-five to forty-five degree angle works best. Keep your dominant foot back. Remember most power comes from your waist, not the flimsy muscles in your arms.

Place your thumb over your knuckles. If you were to keep it under your fingers, then you might break a bone or tear a ligament. You should learn to wrap bandages over your hands, because you'll be fighting a lot and they reduce damage.

You can just look that up online though.

Keep your arm and fist aligned as to not break the wrist and reduce power."

I punch with the new advice, and, somehow, it feels stronger.

[ Through repeated actions you have unlocked the skill: Punch(Minimum, Active) ]

[ Through repeated actions you have unlocked the skill: Fisticuff Proficiency(Minimum, Passive) ]

[ Punch — Allows the user to perform a hard-hitting punch with a higher rate of success. ]

[ Fisticuff Proficiency — Allows the user an easier understanding of fighting techniques that involve hands. 1% bonus to Power and Agility when performing a skill under this purview. ]

What.

So… Punching gets me a minimum and active, but biting and swiping with claws gets me just active? Is it because of my wolf side? Maybe… Those were more…instinctual than punching.

[ Name: Alice Windshaw

Species: Lunares Wolf Beast-human

Age: 24

Level: 12

Experience: 620/1475

Titles: Rank D Adventurer, Hero's Disciple, Void-touched

Effects: Normal

Health: 540/540

Magic: 60/60

Mana Regen: 35.0/hr (x1.5)

Power: 200

Endurance: 167

Intelligence: 159

Wisdom: 146

Agility: 144

Dexterity: 160

Skills: Empowered Senses(Minimum, Passive)

Procrastination(Minimum, Passive)

Medium Physical Regeneration(Minimum, Passive)

Fisticuff Proficiency(Minimum, Passive)

Observe(Major, Passive)

Deductive Reasoning(Major, Passive)

Transcription(Passive)

Mapping(Passive)

Track(Minimum, Active)

Danger Sense(Maximum, Passive)

Presence Detection(Medium, Passive)

Inspect(Active)

Sharp Teeth(Major, Passive)

Powerful Jaw(Major, Passive)

Claw Swipe(Active)

Beast Transformation(Active, Hereditary)

Partial Beast Transformation(Active)

Bite(Active)

Punch(Minimum, Active)

Acrobatics(Medium, Passive)

Balance(Minor, Passive)

Jump(Maximum, Passive)

Wall Jump(Minor, Passive)

Climb(Medium, Passive)

Dark Vision(Passive)

Sleep Immunity(Passive)

Fall Resistance(Major, Passive)

Poison Resistance(Medium, Passive)

Mental Resistance(Maximum, Passive)

Radiation Resistance(Medium, Passive)

Alcohol Resistance(Major, Passive)

Soul Resistance(Minor, Passive)

Pain Resistance(Medium, Passive)

Hunger Resistance(Minimum, Passive)

Void Resistance(Medium, Passive)

Abstraction Resistance(Medium, Passive)

Lunar Power(Passive)

Clairvoyance(Major, Active)

Telepathic Nexus(Minimum, Active)

Meditation(Medium, Active)

Mana Vision(Passive)

Mana Sense(Passive)

Mana Circulation(Major, Active)

Mana Manipulation(Medium, Active)

Mana Absorption(Minor, Passive/Active)

Earth Magic II(Minimum, Base)

Water Magic I(Minor, Base)

Mental Magic I(Minor, Base)

Radiation Magic I(Minimum, Base)

Non-Elemental Magic III(Minimum, Base)

Rock Hand(Minor, Active)

Earth Bone Enhancement(Minor, Active)

Summon Water Sphere(Minimum, Active)

Create Water Sphere(Minimum, Active)

Summon Mud Sphere(Minimum, Active)

Mineral-To-Mud(Medium, Active)

Magical Mental Blast(Minor, Active)

Curses: Weak Solar Constitution(Medium, Passive) ]

Ugh. Messy. I kinda wish I could alphabetize those skills.