Young Michael
“Time to get up,” I said with a bit of exasperation. Us lifers, got assigned to a new kid each to help them adjust. The first time it was interesting. Now it was a chore. Since I was the chosen child, I was assigned Laurance. At least the airship trip during the upgrade had been quite fun. A shame we couldn’t come back and see the huge battle. I heard it was epic and Emperor Michael was unstoppable like always.
Laurance had stayed up late crying. The first night was free, but after that you had better keep silent or you would get a beating. Weaklings would get eaten by the monsters or tossed into the void. At least that is what we were told. Kids that were constantly difficult, got spanked, food cut, or were sent to the time out room. That was the absolute worst. There was nothing to do in there and it was meant for a person to reflect on their mistakes.
I gave him a hard shove in the shoulder. “Wake up,” I said again loudly near his head. He would be slow, which was why he had to get up now. If you were sick, you had better be dying or have a serious injury. A lot of the whiny Earth kids complained about not being able to use their phones, computers, or loads of other things that were absolutely pointless.
If they didn’t toughen up fast, once they graduated they would die quickly. Emperor Michael when he visited always told us how it really was and insisted our caretakers not coddle us. So, while physical fighting was not tolerated or stealing, complaining about harsh words would just get you punished. I shook Laurance much harder this time and then ripped the blanket off him.
“Wha-“
“Wake up. You need to have a shower and get dressed. I am not missing breakfast,” I told him.
“I want my mom, and Rocky,” Laurance complained. That was his dog summon.
“If you don’t get up, then I am going to spar with you,” I told him. That was the exception to the physical bullying rule. If the new kids didn’t want to do something, then their assigned guide, me in this case with Laurance, could beat them up. I would get punished as well, but they would be punished also by being sent to one of the remedial homes, which were a lot stricter. The adults were former soldiers, not moms like we had here.
“You are a bully,” he said, and I rolled my eyes as he got out of bed. I was being kind to him. The adults had it a lot worse. They were tossed into fighting monsters right away. If they didn’t fight, they were executed. The executions were some of the best entertainment around here.
The showers were communal. The other kids in our home were getting up as well. All boys, since the girls had another one. But they would join in on the classes. Thankfully Laurance was moving, and we got to the showers first. Being late was a good way to get behind and delayed. Excuses weren’t tolerated. You couldn’t give a monster an excuse when they were ripping your face off after all. Or if someone like the Divine Empress showed up, she would stop to chat about things.
You had to be ready to face the day, and fight. Laurance got changed into our blue and gold uniforms. A sign we were under Imperial Protection. Children born here got a golden dragon as well. That was to show who knew what they were doing and who was completely clueless.
“Beds,” I told Laurance. We had to keep our room tidy. If there were issues, then we would get in trouble. It wasn’t that hard and only took a few minutes. I had to show Laurance how to properly tuck the sheets. His night clothes were carefully folded and left on the pillow. Earth possessions like clothing were taken away. Personal items would be kept until they were of age.
Once the room was tidy I dragged Laurance to the dining room on the bottom floor of the group home. “Morning mom,” I greeted my mother, as I got a bowl of soup and a piece of bread.
“Michael, and Laurance? How are you?”
“I don’t like it here,” he muttered.
“Well you need to adapt. You only make it hard on yourself if you complain and cause problems. Everyone has to do their part to support the Emperor,” she said. “Michael, make sure to lead him in prayers.”
“Don’t worry,” I told my mom and led Laurance to a table. Other kids were starting to trickle in.
“Before we eat, we should always thank our benefactors. You can listen now, but make sure you join in next time.” I brought my hands togeather and bowed my head slightly. I kept my eyes locked on Laurance to make sure he was paying attention and not stuffing his face.
Stolen story; please report.
“Thank you, Almighty System, for watching over us and providing the strength needed to fight the monsters. Thank you, Emperor Michael for protecting us all from the great evils of the Systemic Lands. Like level 7 monsters and the Divine Empress.” That last part wasn’t needed but I felt it was necessary. Since he had just defeated a level 7. It was rumored to be able to speak and was the size of a city. Also the Divine Empress, since she had almost killed me as a child and used children to fuel her evil powers to conquer the Systemic Lands leading to an eternity of suffering and torture. She made people into furniture and had them scream for her amusement.
“Now we can eat,” I told Laurance. I quickly ate. That was something Emperor Michael pointed out. Eating quickly and efficiently was a skill, when you knew food was safe. Everything was training if you made it training. Laurance was only halfway done when I finished which gave me time to observe the other kids.
Half of us were lifers, while the rest were new arrivals. Every kid we did a good job with in getting settled over the next ten days, we would get a mark on our record. Each mark was 100 points for when we left this place. While not much, they would add up. In the last 3,000 days or so, I had managed to accumulate 271 marks, which would be 27,100 points.
Hopefully Laurance would be positive mark 272. I had some failures, but those Earth kids were completely hopeless. I got the better kids most of the time. It helped being named after the greatest person of all time.
“We wash up our own dishes,” I told Laurance once he was done and showed him what to do. We also had to wipe down the table and bench where we ate. Once that was done, I pulled him into the courtyard that all the group homes surrounded.
Classes were held outside every day. The first class was martial arts to tire everyone out. “Let’s warm up, it will help, trust me,” I told Laurance.
“Warm up?” he asked as I began jogging in place. I rolled my eyes.
“We have martial arts as our first class. It will hurt more if you don’t warm up. We need to start running and then we can stretch afterwards,” I told him. Laurance was slow as we jogged around, with me easily being twice his speed. Whatever these computers and phones were that kids from Earth used, they were clearly mental traps of some kind.
I had plans to be a body mage. That was a key role that many teams needed. Emperor Michael often complained about how people weren’t willing to run in and trade hits with monsters due to the risk and fear factor. I had learned pain was temporary, and was doing meditation to focus my mind and body to resist curse damage.
I couldn’t wait to get stats. It was annoying but understandable, since there would be issues with my reach if I got them too early. Realistically, I would need to wait until I was around 20 years old and done growing, but there was no way I could wait that long.
While it wasn’t promised, I had hope that I would be brought onto Emperor Michael’s airship. Even as a chore boy, I would need stats to survive in the high-level zones. That was the quickest way to power, getting recruited.
I would then show my stuff and get onto his personal team. He had lost Joyo, so he needed a front-line fighter. That could be me. I saw Teacher Conner come out and give me a nod. He was our senior martial arts teacher. He was a war veteran, also of wars on Earth and against the Divine Empress. As other kids came out I had Laurance do stretches.
At least he listened, which was better than some other kids I had to drag around. The new kids were taken to the side for instruction. Don’t put your thumb under your fingers. Don’t flinch and keep your eyes open. Keep your feet moving. Basic stuff like that.
Teacher Conner began calling us up in pairs to fight while the rest of us watched. The fight was over when he called it, or someone gave up. Anyone who gave up was sent jogging the rest of the time. If you couldn’t fight, then you better learn how to run.
I was called up along with John. We gave each other a nod and then started fighting. No hand signs or other words were needed. Speaking wasted energy or needed to be used for skills Emperor Michael said. We both rushed forward punching out. The first exchange was the most important.
Ducking down, I delivered two body blows, and John bent slightly, and gasped for air. His hands dropped and I delivered a massive punch to the side of his face. A tooth went flying out and I felt his jaw break along with the fingers in my hand.
I ignored the pain, and came in with my other hand and punched his gut again as he tried to block his face. The first attack was the most important. He bent over hard and I circled around behind him and tapped his neck. That was an instant win move.
“Winner, Michael,” Teacher Conner called out. I helped Conner up to his feet and brought him over to the healer’s table. We both took a swig from the life infused water and I could feel things healing. It would take an hour or so.
“You got me good, damn, going low,” John said with a sigh as he rubbed his jaw. We made our way back to the group to watch the other matches.
“Well you like your wild swings. One hit and you are finished,” I replied. John’s swings were brutal.
“I like to end it quickly,” he said, and I nodded at that. I had lost to him before. Scores weren’t kept, but there was a tournament once every 100 days. I had won a couple, and lost a lot more. It was single elimination with no healing between matches. That was a lot trickier to do, since you had to not get hurt if you wanted to keep going.
Weapon days were fun as well. We got those two days every deek. The injuries were a lot worse, which was why it was limited to only two days. The kids who didn’t want to fight were sent running. I shook my head. They wouldn’t last long or not amount to very much.
Fighting was the most important thing one could do. Emperor Michael fought monsters and evil people. Running away wouldn’t save you in my opinion. Only killing monsters and getting stronger. That was how things needed to be done. Laurance would probably be a runner like most of the Earth kids who didn’t understand how things worked around here. You could tell them, but it was like talking to a monster, a complete waste of time.