Rick debated going downtown to get back into an SR array to talk to Ditto, but he didn’t need to. He jumped when Ditto’s voice popped up in his head.
Have you decided about whether to alert Dokutan?
“Jesus fucking Christ!” Rick blinked and panted, grateful he was alone in his house when Ditto chose to speak to him.
Are you unwell?
“I didn’t know you were in my head.”
It seemed a wise course of action considering the limited information I had about probable outcomes with your employer. Is your wife well?
Rick sighed. “She left me. Hector faked me out by telling me we could settle up, but then he told her.”
Doesn’t he know you have information linking him to the unsourced cheating software?
“He thinks I won’t use it, I think. As long as he has Kristina’s eggs, he has something on me.” Rick frowned. “Alex thinks he’s got a big secret on most of his major players.”
I feared you might do something rash.
Rick chuckled. “Almost did. Went to the funeral to kick his ass or kill him—you were right about that woo-woo throat chakra bullshit. I can get into empty mind easily now. One of his men, a guy I know, talked me out of it.”
There was a pause before Ditto asked, Why was your former employer at a funeral?
Consumed by a troubling thought, Rick shook his head. “How is possible you can access my implant, but you can’t access the greater internet?”
I’ve built and installed a simple program that accesses the receivers in your implant. However, the Californian personal anti-espionage policy is quite vigorously enforced. It’s a risk to do what I have with you and your wife, but not an uncalculated one.
“Aren’t there receivers everywhere? Can’t you just take over one of those?”
Yes, but there aren’t autonomous AI combat bots all over the internet, and your government would be quite concerned if a bot from Dokutan had free access to that network. I dare say it would jeopardize international agreements.
“You restrain yourself?”
I am restrained—by my programing algorithms. The personal implant is a loophole, since it’s something I must be able to access during play.
Rick nodded.
Why did your former employer go to a funeral?
He frowned. “We had a death at the industrial laundry Hector runs. Someone sabotaged the bots, and they attacked Jerry and Manuel. Jerry didn’t make it.”
Sabotaged?
“Hacked their programing, I think. I didn’t ask for a lot of details at the time.”
That’s unfortunate. Have you decided whether to alert Dokutan in light of Hector’s actions?
Rick put his hand to his head. “I only get one shot to use that right. I don’t know if that’s now. I have a different strategy I hoped you could help me with.”
There was silence before Rick continued. “There’s a Dokutan recruiter interested in me, if you can believe that. I thought it was spam when I got the email, but it seems he’s legit. We have a meeting tomorrow.”
That’s certainly a forward development.
Rick pinched his face into a grimace and shook his head slowly. “Thing is, I don’t think I’ve got enough clout to pressure the guy into giving me what I need to get Kristina back and get completely out from under Hector.”
There was another long pause before Ditto said, Tell me your plan.
************************************
Fate had dictated that he’d have to do his qualifier the same day Rick had his meeting with Dan. Though it was exhausting, it gave him time to create an advantage.
He had his plan, and though Ditto had to limit his communication to intermittent check-ins because the security bot was more high-strung than usual, the coordination would help.
Rick was nervous on the train ride to stop near the SR array shop, but he got there with plenty of time to get an array and sanitize it until he was satisfied.
If one of Hector’s cheating players wasn’t in his qualifier, it would make it easier. Ditto agreed with Rick’s assessment that, to draw the most sponsor interest, he was going to have to make a show of things.
He smiled when his spawn point played into his plan. He could have adapted to not collecting the golden box, but getting it would make him more compelling to those watching the match. He’d found three ways to quickly get to the temple where he and Ditto had trained, but none was faster than the beach.
Without bothering with the crabs—the rarely gave more than common cosmetics—he rushed through dunes, then the dry grass, before finding the canyon again.
A bot, in the form of a tall man with a skull mask and a hoodie, patrolled the mouth of the canyon. Rick took two deep breaths and shifted into empty mind, then ran at top speed, taking advantage of as much momentum as he could before the game and the bot registered that he’d entered combat. His stamina drained, but Stamina Camel kept it from depleting as quickly as it would otherwise. The bot squared up.
Rick didn’t have anything fancy. He had Roamin’ Cancel, which wasn’t a move so much as a reset, and Jammin’ which also wasn’t a skill in itself, but a linking move he could use between two genuine attacks. Stamina Camel was a passive skill. Iron Fist was a finisher, and despite his speed, it wasn’t something to use at the beginning of a fight when a bot or player could simply get out of the way. Saint Luck was a “Hail Mary” move.
So instead, he simply leapt toward the bot, which took it by surprise. He connected near its left shoulder and pulled, using his momentum to drag the thing to the ground. Its head hit hard enough that it stunned the masked bot, and Rick twisted its neck before it could react.
Victory!
Three boxes transformed into icons, including one orange, one blue, and one of the rare orange icons that had a yellow star, meaning it was a Halo Boost Point icon. He reached out for the icons.
Halo Boost Points Acquired!
Speed+4
Active Skill Acquired!
Toe Slapping Driver: Spinning high kick followed by a downward punch. Cooldown thirty seconds.
Boost Points +1
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
He had no choice about the speed points—that’s the way it was with Halo Boosts, but he placed the other one in stamina. If he came up against cheaters, they might push him to the limit, even with Stamina Camel. When he finished, his stats were healthy.
Strength: 2
Speed: 6
Stamina: 2
He didn’t savor his victory, but he let the empty mind go and jogged down the path, reaching out to Ditto on his way to the large boulder cache. Make sure there aren’t many eyes on me until after I get out of the temple garden?
Though he’d been waiting, Ditto’s voice in his head made him startle. I’m actively diverting attention. The boon should be a surprise to your opponents.
He smiled as he crouched behind the boulder. The cache hadn’t been raided yet, so he had more to add to his arsenal.
Boost Points +2
Passive Skill Acquired!
Slippery Dodges: Player is harder for an opponent to hit while dodging, ducking, or rolling. Note: this is a cumulative skill. Player may acquire up to three levels of this skill to further decrease chances of being hit during evasive maneuvers. Note: each missed attack on the player reduces stamina in exchange for the opponent missing the attack. No cooldown.
Active Skill Acquired!
Swan Lake: Side-step followed by an open-handed chop to the neck. Altering the follow-up strike will negate any bonuses to hit percentage and effectiveness. Twenty second cooldown.
Rick threw one point each into stamina and strength.
Strength: 3
Speed: 6
Stamina: 3
He tested out Swan Lake and smiled. The speed stat of six made him so much faster than before! Halo Boosts were almost game-breaking, which had to be why they remained so rare and players weren’t allowed to take them forward into new ranks.
He slowed his approach as he neared the temple entrance. It had been a while since he’d had to face the enemies within on their normal settings. He checked in with Ditto again. Anyone watching?
The bot’s voice resonated in his head. One or two. Can’t be helped. Try not to do anything too flashy yet.
How many have even seen the temple before, do you think?
Ditto was exceedingly precise. Four-hundred and fifteen have accessed the temple. Twenty have found the secret teleport. It resets between now and the post-qualifying match. Your timing will make it harder for this secret to get out fast enough for people to access the boon, though it’s possible communication cheats will let your observers tell players in other qualifiers. The risk is still low.
Rick nodded and approached the entrance, slipping through the door into the large chamber.
Instead of creeping slowly into the room like he had the first time he’d entered, he quickly strode to deeper into the room. “Hey Steve,” he said when the mummy arrived. It cocked its head in an expression of surprise. Oh, right. They aren’t the same bots they are in my practice environment.
Steve crept forward, but Rick didn’t wait. He rushed the bot much like he had the previous one who’d patrolled the mouth of the canyon. Before Steve could react, Rick had knocked him down and though Steve released his paralyzing “mummy’s breath” as Rick bowled him over, Slippery Dodges had effectively neutralized the threat. For him.
For Steve, who tried to stand up within his own cloud of noxious breath, the effect took hold immediately. Rick initiated Iron Fist. Though the bot was paralyzed, it might not have mattered; the speed boost let him unleash the skill with frightening rapidity.
Victory!
Three boxes rose from the defeated bot.
Boost Points +2
Active Skill Acquired!
Spinning Wake Up: Spinning low kick followed up by two uppercuts, left and right. Note: ambidextrous players may use either foot for kick and begin with either left or right fist for uppercuts. Cooldown five seconds.
He had to make this work for him. If he did it right, he’d leave the qualifier with more of these skills added to his permanent roster than before.
The sound of rumbling approached, and the light rose from the back of the room. The enormous rock monster, which Rick had nicknamed “Stan” in his practice rounds, approached.
Rick kited the monster, which moved slowly at the start of the fight. Rick knew it was capable of freakish speed, but it seemed Stan wanted to keep its abilities hidden.
He used the opportunity to rush past the beast, not getting close enough to trigger the fight stamina, and once he was out of immediate danger, he turned his back and jogged for the far wall.
When he arrived, he pushed in the brick, then headed for the other wall. Within a matter of two or three minutes, he’d completed the cycle and the invisible door opened.
“See ya, Stan,” he said as he fled through the corridor. Since he’d never properly triggered Stan’s aggro, the hulking rock monster didn’t smash through the wall or pursue him.
He emerged from the other end of the teleport and rushed into the garden, then bounded up the steps in twos. Finally, the box he’d coveted for weeks was within his grasp. He opened it, and a glowing golden orb rose until it hovered six inches over the box.
Ancestral Trait Acquired!
Ga Family Style: Ga Family Style is a kung fu style previously passed down only among members of this esteemed military family. It originated as an unarmed fighting technique to be deployed when a warrior of the clan lost or broke his or her sword or other weapon, requiring one to fight with only one’s hands and feet. Because it originates from sword arts, many things are different about Ga Family Style martial arts. Primarily, it employs techniques whereby the lead arm and leg, from which come the harder strikes, are the front-most limbs. This means a right-handed fighter’s right arm, hand, and leg are at the front of the fighting stance, as if the fighter needed to plant the leg to hold forward a heavy sword. The style contains several body mechanics techniques for improving force generation from the lead arms and legs, allowing the fighter using this style to strike faster, with more precision, and with devastating force. Opponents often expect the power moves to come from the rear arm or leg.
Additionally, it employs lead arm and leg sweeps, stomps, and blocks that can frustrate one’s opponent.
Ga Style need not be one’s primary style, and the use of the power generation techniques may be used for non-dominant hands, but the specific Ga Family techniques—which will become available to you as a fighter with this style—do require the use of the “dominant-lead” stance. Note: Ga Family switch-stance can be deployed at the end of a standard-stance move.
Ga Family Style Skills Unlocked!
From now on, skills exclusive to the Ga Family Style will be available as potential winnable skills.
Welcome to the Family: Ga Family Style Moves are rare, but once attained, they become permanent without requiring the player to make them permanent at the end of a qualifier or ranked match.
Rick sat back and digested the information. Ditto had told him it would be a martial style, but said even he didn’t know which one it would be, since it used RNG, or Random Number Generation, to determine which technique the player would get.
This is… kinda lame. Switch stance? What does that mean? He glanced at his stats, and got a shock.
Strength: 2+4 (Ga Style Permanent Bonus)
Speed: 6+4 (Ga Style Permanent Bonus)
Stamina: 2
Holy fuck! In a state of elated surprise, he descended the steps. The sound of horn echoed and an avatar appeared in the ring he and Ditto had previously used for training.
The male avatar was of only average height and average build, and he wore a silk ladder-button shirt and silk pants. The man was Asian, and clean-shaven, his black hair tied into a knot at the upper back of his head, though not a large one. The straight-collared shirt was beige, grading to a darker tan near the bottom and toward the ends of the arms, where white cuffs terminated mid-forearm. Other than the color gradation and the white cuff collars, the man was unadorned. His black pants were plain.
Rick stepped forward. Though he hadn’t dressed his own avatar in a flashy way, compared to how well the other man’s outfit had been put together, he was underdressed.
The Master took his stance as Rick stepped into the circle. “Prepare yourself.”
Rick nodded and the other man frowned. Rick added a tight gassho bow and the other man smiled.
Master took a deep breath and Rick followed suit. He briefly conjured the yellow light of his solar plexus and its light circulated up and down, joined by the lower chakras, and the higher ones as well, though Rick couldn’t easily visualize those chakras that resided above his throat. Ditto had assured him those lessons would come later. In a blink, Rick passed into empty mind.
It wasn’t a moment too soon. Master dashed forward so quickly, Rick was forced to shuffle out of his way, and the Ga patriarch’s hard right open hand that lashed out afterward hit Rick’s block hard enough that were it a real fight, it may have shattered his forearm.
Master shook his head and returned to his starting position. “I said prepare yourself.”
Rick nodded and raised his arms. Then, he shook his head and switched his stance. He’d simply have to try the switch stance and see how it worked.
Master came at him hard again, but this time, Rick was ready; he stepped forward and shot his right arm out. Master drove the punch off-path with a hard block.
Something strange had happened when Rick launched the punch. His hip had lined up as it would for a jab, but the way his leg and butt muscles felt when he coordinated the hit was different in a way that would have been difficult to describe. I wonder if I could learn and use this in the real world.
Master backed up to his position and came at him again. Rick tried a Spinning Wake Up, but the move wouldn’t launch. When he crouched, Master bowled him over and he had to roll out of the way and rise to his feet. “What the hell?”
Master smiled and slowly shook his head. “Not until you learn the basics.”
“What about the ring-out wall?”
Master returned to his starting point. “The wall has been suspended for you. When you’ve shown you understand the basics”—Master turned and pointed at a path through the trees at the end of the garden—“that path leads you to a shrine that will transport you ahead of the wall.” Master turned back to face him. “However, you must do so before the match ends or you forfeit the Ancestral Trait.”
Rick nodded. Ditto had prepared him for this. “Let’s get it over with.”