Ryan grabbed his gear and started hiking. It was just past dawn and he had decided to leave without further farewell. Naturally, that did not happen. Josefina and Johannes were waiting at the gate. She gave him a tearful hug, asking him to take care of himself. Johannes was more stoic, just shaking his hand. Yesterday evening, at the farewell dinner, they had completed their Interface handshake, promising to co-ordinate when the group would head for town, so nothing more needed to be said now.
As he walked away, Ryan considered the last few days. Although his intention was to leave as soon as possible, he had stayed at the homestead for two more days, exploring the Interface with Johannes, getting the farmworkers settled in their new reality and preparing for the long trip to Windhoek. He had opened the weapons safe and distributed all the rifles and handguns, except for his own .38 and his .300 Winchester Magnum. It had also been necessary to train most of the farmworkers in handling a firearm. He had stayed at the farm longer than expected but couldn’t leave with a clean conscience any earlier, so much had to be done. In any event, it probably was worth it as he was now exceptionally well provisioned and had a better understanding of his Interface, he had also assigned his remaining points, all to Energy.
He headed east along the gravel road, having considered and rejected moving cross country. It would have been the shorter route, but would probably have been a significantly more difficult hike. Visibility on the road was significantly better too and any ambushes were less likely to succeed. He also had high hopes of meeting further travellers.
Several hours later he was continually questioning his choice, as he was bored out of his fucking mind. He was actually looking forward to something, anything happening. He had spotted game in the bush at several instances but foregone any stalking or hunting. The game was, according to what he could observe, behaving normally. He hadn’t been close enough to Inspect the animals and stuck to his plan of getting to town as quickly as he could.
What was pleasant was that he wasn’t feeling tired or exhausted, his body was now clearly running on Energy, probably tied into the whole quantum fluctuation potential shtick the Interface had going on. How that was possible escaped him, smarter minds than his would need to figure that one out.
“Why was he walking?” if the body ran on energy he should see how far he could push himself, within reason, as falling unconscious in the middle of nowhere was probably not considered safe behaviour anymore. Ryan started a fast paced jog, the backpack was uncomfortably heavy and unwieldy while jogging, but nothing he couldn’t handle.
He kept an eye on his energy levels, which was now visibly shrinking, but not too fast. He had currently 927/1030 remaining, his total had been raised by a whopping thirty points after assigning three points to it. He had planned to increase his capacity to a level that would allow him to use Dimensional Shift more than once, but that had proven to be unfeasible, requiring over five levels worth of attribute points solely dedicated to Energy capacity. Ryan didn’t consider that a sustainable strategy and raised Efficiency and regeneration next.
As slowly as his Energy pool was now shrinking, it wouldn’t regenerate much quicker. Ryan had experienced with Dimensional Shift in the last two days and figured out that he was regenerating about three Energy per minute, if well fed. When he was hungry it declined to about one Energy per minute. Basically, he could use Shift about once every four hours, and the range was only about 100 metres further experimentation had shown. Running the numbers now, he calculated that he could sustain his current pace for about 8 and a half hours before draining his full pool of Energy.
It was a significant improvement over what he could have achieved before Initiation, especially weighed down as he was. Trying to use his time more productively, Ryan considered figuring out how the Energy system fuelled his body. Remembering his experience on assigning his stats, Ryan tried to push himself into the same mind-set. Nothing he tried had any determinable result. He even tried to enter a zen-state, as his fiancée used to insist on calling it when she wanted him to join her in meditation. It was frustrating, but at least he wasn’t bored.
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Giving up, he focused on his jogging. Visualised the way his muscles moved, weight was distributed, trying to find a more efficient stride. Eventually he forgot about his environment, fully focused on running, improving. Then understanding blossomed, he could feel the energy circulating through his body, the blood the medium of transport, being fed to every single cell.
He followed along the myriad flows. The energy seemed to be concentrated in his heart, a static point that refused to circulate with the pulsing blood, diffusing energy into its environs. Touching it conjured a vision, looking at a tranquil pond bathed in moonlight, half empty but being fed by small rivers. A spinning ball of water, small, spraying misty droplets into the void. The desert, soaking up sparse rain and erupting in bloom. A glacier, successive snowfalls compacting season by season by season forming ice hard as steel. The ground rushing at his face.
Ryan came to a moment later, sprawled on the ground, mouth full of dusty gravel. A flashing red alert covering his field of vision. “Haven’t I disabled those?” he thought, wincing ruefully as he picked himself of the road.
Congratulations Player: You have found your centre. Good luck on your journey.
“Huh?” was the only response Ryan could muster. “Why congratulations, what centre, what journey?” Ryan was certain it wasn’t talking about his current journey to the capital. He wished his fiancée was still alive, she probably would have at least and idea what the message was supposed to convey. To Ryan, it just didn’t make much sense. He would search the Help menu later, but suspected it wouldn’t prove very enlightening.
A look at his energy levels showed that he had plenty remaining and Ryan decided to keep on running until shortly before dusk and then finding a kraal with a water tank on the farms adjoining the road. He wouldn’t approach a farmhouse as he didn’t know any farmers in this area. Looking at the landscape, he judged that he had made about 50 kilometres so far, much more than he expected this morning.
He found a suitable campsite a few hours later, the red dunes of the area picturesque in the fading daylight. The wind-pump supplying water to a tank nearby. A copse of camelthorn trees would provide some shelter and sufficient firewood to keep a fire going through the night. Ryan pitched his small tent, something he would have foregone prior to Initiation as back then he didn’t fear any predators attacking him. Now however, the way animals could mutate and the resultant aggressiveness, he’d rather put another layer between himself and nature. Stacking some thorn-bushes against the tent, primarily the viciously barbed swaarthaak, wasn’t an expression of paranoia. Prudent, it was prudent.
Putting the kettle on some coals he brewed some tea, sipping it and enjoying the darkening bush while waiting for his steaks to be done, the last ones for the near future unless he hunted for some meat, which wasn’t necessary as he carried plenty of food. He climbed into his sleeping bag after he took a dip in the bracing water of the tank. Sleep eluded him, he tossed and turned, restless. He couldn’t shake the horrible images his imagination conjured about arrival in Windhoek and finding his brother dead. To distract himself he decided to have a gander at the Help Menu to see if he could find any information on the congratulations he received earlier that day.
The Interface succinctly informed him that all beings part of the system would be able, in one way or another, to cultivate the quantum energy in order to improve. Finding one’s centre was the first step in the journey for any sapient being if they chose to consciously cultivate the energy.
That was all the Interface offered, it didn’t provide any guidance on how to ‘cultivate’ energy, nor how that would improve oneself. He was certain that the concept of cultivation would have an equivalent in some of humanity’s myths and lore, but had no idea where he could find any more specific information. So for now, Ryan decided to just forge ahead on his own, following his gut.
Settling further into his sleeping bag, he tried to recreate the feeling he had experienced just before he bought some dirt. Trying to visualise the energy flowing through his system, trying to feel the flow. Nothing. He could feel nothing. Ryan considered that he had been actively moving his body at the time, focusing on improving his actions before he was able to feel the energy flow and visualise it. Maybe that would prove to be the solution, however, for now, it might be better to catch some shut-eye.