Alexis checked on her subject. John was irritable, but, like everybody else in the Guild, had agreed to her daily check-ups. These check-ups where technically not necessary as everyone had an unbelievable good amount of health, their bodies always in near peak condition unless injured. The check-ups however served a few important functions. They allowed Alexis to train her Comprehensive Scan. They also allowed her to build a baseline of everyone’s system and chart any changes over time. The interaction between Healer’s Eye, Comprehensive Scan and her medical Quantum Crystal Memory Lattice still amazed Alexis even weeks after she had first started checking up on her fellow Guild members. By now she had a medical file for every single person and could track the smallest changes. Kira, lying next to her, had probably been scanned the most.
Ryan in particular fascinated her, he was driven and improved at a greater rate than anybody else. There was a logical explanation for it but still, even after their experiments, he continued to relentlessly improve himself, pulling along others in his wake. Three months after they had founded Exsolutus they had all reached Level 15, with, Johannes, Miguel and William leading at Level 16 even if levelling had slowed down a lot lately.
After they had founded Exsolutus, accepted their charter and generally started to solidify their position Ryan had approached her and asked whether she would be willing to assist him in understanding the changes he was going through. “I want at least some clarity.” he had said. “I want to understand what is happening and how to optimise any possible improvements. At the moment, as far as I can determine, I improve myself in several different ways, training, cultivation and the Interface allocation of points. In future, with your help, I may also reinforce or mutate my body. I have no idea whether they interact, whether the systems work on the same basis or whether there’s possible conflicts.” After that he had paused and taken a deep breath. Then continued in a softer, more hesitant tone. “Honestly, it’s overwhelming and I’m a bit scared.”
Alexis hadn’t known what to say at first. Before the pause got awkward she had agreed that she would help and that they probably should all strain to achieve a better understanding of the changes they were going through. So, together with John, Tanya and Katrina they had worked out a basic program. Alexis scanned Ryan several times to build an in-depth profile of his body. Then Ryan went hunting again, with the aim to receive two levels worth of Stat Points and hold them in reserve. It took him three days and he had logged everything. Katrina controlled his diet, exactingly preparing each meal to the same specifications. Alexis scanned Ryan several times a day. She built a second profile after the hunt was completed.
The hardest part followed, an enforced bedrest for five days with half rations. Alexis had scanned Ryan thrice daily. A week of pure physical exercise, full rations, bihourly scanning. Five days bed-rest, full rations, bihourly scanning. A week of active cultivation, full rations, bihourly scanning. Five days bedrest. A week of combined physical training and cultivation. Five days bedrest. Allocation of stats. That regime had provided them with a lot of data points.
Close on two months after they had started the regime they presented their findings to the Guild, and promptly received an Achievement for it. The daily discussions between the five of them combined with John’s rigorous approach to data analysis had them pretty certain that their conclusions we’re mostly correct, which the Achievement seemed to confirm. Exercise naturally improved the system, the rate of improvement was however far greater than prior to initiation. It was also minimally dependent on the Energy the body had available. Cultivation served the same function, however, the rate of improvement was not linear. Unlike exercise, to her it looked like additional cells were grown directly rather than breaking down and rebuilding stronger. Stat allocation was a different beast altogether, initially it looked like an invasion of cancerous cells, before the new growth was integrated without a further trace.
They couldn’t resolve the irregularity of cultivation's bodily improvements at first. Thankfully Ryan wasn’t the sole cultivator anymore and they could make several comparisons. Eventually they had figured out that most of the Energy that was cultivated was allocated to improving the core, the small ‘losses’ Ryan managed to observe in his cycling were fueling their bodies, but the process was more or less random. Ryan had hope that a trainer would allow them to direct this better.
Stolen novel; please report.
All three methods of improvement interacted seamlessly and, according to what they could determine, were safe to pursue. So they shared their results with the Guild. They had also shared their findings, as they did with most of their knowledge, with Resolute, the Guild that had been originally established by the survivors at Kapps Farm. Resolute had changed their base of operations to a safer location and the groups interacted regularly although Exsolutus hadn’t yet, and likely never would, disclosed the location of the Fortress.
Both groups had also farmed the Ant-nation for experience, at first the experience rewards of burning thousands of ants to death had been great. But they quickly realised that killing the same monster over and over again was penalised by increasingly stringent diminishing returns. So their dream of endlessly farming Levels had been dashed to pieces. Nonetheless, everyone had gained a Level or two out of it, with Resolute’s average level jumping up a whole 5 Levels. Resolute was also conducting operations in town, the former captives had a bone to chew with the slumlords operating in town and had, once they qualified, elected to accept the Liberator Title. Alexis was glad that the larger group, who had no qualms killing slavers and were more accepting of having comrades killed, where waging a guerrilla war against the darker elements in town. Resolute was growing in numbers slowly even with the losses they were taking. Survivors that weren’t willing to join could join the far larger sister guild, Libertas, or do their own thing.
“John, everything looks good. The daily training and cultivating is paying dividends. Listen, while I have you here, can I ask your opinion?”
‘Yeah, sure. No problem kiddo.”
“We need a full set of surgical equipment. I have been using the limited kit from the medical practice we looted, but I’d like a full kit. I noticed that if I do most of the work manually I use far less Energy to heal and that the body also deals better with healing cleaner cuts.”
“You want to do a raid in town?” John asked.
“Or trade with Resolute, but I’m not certain whether they would know what exactly would be required. So yes, a raid would probably be better. We could coordinate with Resolute too.”
“Hmm. Might be a good idea. I’d like to observe how they operate in any event, so a coordinated raid might be just the thing. Additionally, I’d assume they’d have a far better understanding of what locations have been cleaned out. So, ugh. I’ll address it in the council meeting tonight.” John was clearly unenthused about the meeting. “You know,” John continued, “we should probably take the whole Guild and do some serious scavenging in town. We need new materials and equipment for everyone to progress in their various crafts and scavenging is still our best bet to obtain the basics. I also want to raid the Library or at least a school library. The craft school would also be a good target.”
Alexis couldn’t stop her emerging grin. John was excited about sourcing new founts of knowledge. Her grin disappeared as she remembered the seriousness of the issue. They, or rather John, thanks to his obsessive compilation of everyone’s data and impressions, had quickly noticed that the Profession Skills often presumed a basic level of knowledge that very few of the group actually possessed. John’s query to the System Administration on the issue hadn’t been addressed either. So, up till now, it had been more of a trial and error approach for their crafts. They made progress, but it was haphazard and slower than it probably could have been. They also lacked a lot of basic tools, which compounded the issue. So yes, obtaining knowledge would be valuable.
“Well, guess we’ll head back to town. I’m sure everyone will agree it’s the sensible thing to do.” With that said, John got up from her examination table and headed out of her makeshift infirmary.
Alexis sat down on the floor and scratched Kira for a while, settling down to think a bit and quietly analysing why she had been so fascinated with one Ryan Alexander Hunter lately. Yes, he was ruggedly attractive in an understated way. He was driven, straightforward and somewhat charming. He was also reclusive, abrasive and downright dominant at times. Unlike his brother William, he was often uncompromising. Maybe it was the fact that he admitted a vulnerability to her and asked for her help? Before that train of thought derailed entirely she scoffed at herself and addressed the dog “Hey, Kira. Maybe it’s because I’m lonely and deprived. I need to get a grip of myself. Tangling with that boy won’t end well. What do you think?” The dog yipped and wagged her tail. Smiling she rose from the floor and headed for the pool to take a quick dip before dinner. She was still smiling later as she headed to the dining hall, making fun of herself but inordinately happy that her thoughts, for the first time since the carnage at the animal shelter, had consciously revolved around something that was not immediately practical or of concern with surviving in this new world.