Josh's eyes fluttered open. He was askew on the floor. Sen fed Essence into his Meridians crouched over his side. One hand on his head, the other over his Core. Eye roll to a pleading look.
~ Brother... have you ever looked before you leapt?~
Shamefaced blush. ~Ya... that was dumb, even for me. Sorry, Sen, I didn't know "escalating" costs meant the Death Express. Let me check my status and see how much Essence it actually was...~
Physical Health Status:
45000/45000
Spherical Cultivation Units
Free Essence:
123500 → 122500 → 112500 → 11250 → 28,569
Spherical Cultivation Units
Quick mental math told Josh that the costs increased by a factor of ten every second. One thousand for the first. Ten thousand for the second, and a whopping one hundred thousand for the third. Based on how he had felt, Josh was sure if he hadn't stopped feeding Essence to the skill, it would have had to start breaking down his Core Essence. Having just Attuned, there was presently no dedicated Essence in his Core being banked toward his next Attunement. Josh wasn't sure what would have happened if he had to break down Core Essence that had already been converted to an Attunement. Would he lose his Attunement? Would his Core be permanently damaged? Would he become a spiritually risen undead?
Best never to find out. But permanent Core damage was likely the first and least harmful thing that would happen.
Joshua Elias Tanner, you are a complete imbecile!
Sen looked down at Josh’s face but didn’t comment on the obvious truth in Josh’s thoughts. He pulled back the flow of Essence and stood up to refill his own tanks.
Josh got to his feet on wet spaghetti legs and then related what he knew about absorbing Spacetime Aura and the phase skill to Sen. An hour later, Sen could absorb Aura and implement the phase skill. With some practice, it became apparent that there was a built-in default of one second for the skill's duration. They would need to experiment with it to see what exactly would happen to them if the skill was turned off while something was still passing through them. But it seemed obvious what the answer was. Neither Josh nor Sen was interested in having their 'reunified' bodies joined with the atoms of objects that hadn't finished passing through them. Both agreed that of their skills, this was potentially one of the most useful... and dangerous.
But, if you give a kid a new toy, he will want to play with it. Once Sen had the hang of ‘phasing,’ he worked it into their daily training, quickly creating drills for Josh in possible combat situations where one second of matterless disunion would be beneficial.
Sen's application of the phase disassociation skill was a natural addition to his attacks and counters. As with Dezain, Josh noted the skill included phasing any objects worn, carried or in contact with them, which was good. It would suck having to drop your weapons to phase. It did raise a previously unthought-of issue for the skill’s use, however. He bumped into Sen during their sparring at the exact moment of propagation, and Sen phased with him.
Warning! Escalation of Disunion Phase skill’s Essence deduction for phasing an additional Cultivator. Warning!
Checking his status:
Physical Health Status:
45000/45000
Spherical Cultivation Units
Free Essence:
97,006 → 86,006
Spherical Cultivation Units
It had immediately gone to the second level of cost. Good thing I didn’t bump two Cultivators at the same time... I’d be dead!
Josh filled Sen in about the serendipitous discovery, and they both treated the phasing skill with greater respect and trepidation.
They continued training, and, as always occurred during their spars, Sen increased the pressure on him until eventually Josh couldn’t keep up and was knocked to the ground breathless. Josh did notice Sen would occasionally break a light sweat, as he had just now while pounding Josh into the carpeted deck plates.
I know I'm getting better! Someday it will be Sen down here... At least one out of ten times!
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
~More like one out of a thousand, brother! Maybe! But you are improving. Which is good. We are going to need every advantage we can get!~
Josh Nodded. Agreed!~
Alysa’s door opened and she strode purposefully, out interrupting their practice. "Josh! Sophie says she needs to speak with you and Sen right now!"
* * * * *
Fluffy pink clouds still floated in the sky above. But the deciduous forest had been joined by multiple stands of leaning palms. The streams now fed into aquamarine tidepools with small white sand islands dotting the landscape off into the distance.
My daughter is developing a taste for the tropical. Miranda must have taken her down to the Keys again.
Sophie's main clearing remained unchanged, save for the fact that she was standing next to a hamster the size of a city garbage truck. A basal growl erupted from deep in its chest. The normal-sized house cat making the third corner of the conversation triangle hissed and arched its back. Then it ran for the hills like its tail was on fire. Once it had gotten about twenty-five yards away, a star-shaped flash enveloped it, and the cat was gone.
Sophie looked up at the hamster and shook her head as disappointed as any mother would be when her child was discovered to be the playground bully.
"...Hammy... Did you like it when Mrs. Snipps used to do that to you?"
Hammy buried his head under his paws, clearly ashamed of his actions. Sophie stroked his nose. "It's ok. I know you won't do it again... Do you want to go back or stay?"
Somehow hearing his inaudible response, Sophie continued. "Ok. You can stay as long as you like. You know the way home. I have to go talk with my daddy now!"
Important business finished, Sophie turned and ran to Josh.
"Daddy!" She slammed into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Josh smothered back as he lifted her to eye level.
"Is this Hammy!?" Josh shifted her in his arms to point at the massive hamster.
"Yes. He has a strong soul, so I let him get as big as he wants here. But he’s still learning not to be naughty." The disappointed look came back to her young face.
Josh looked directly into her blue eyes and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I'm sure he'll get it if you keep teaching him the right way. Just like brushing your teeth and brushing your hair, right?" He shook her gently around with his hands and made her giggle.
Sophie's eyes went to crescents, and she hugged his neck tightly. "You’re right, Daddy! I won't give up on him!"
Josh squeezed her back again.
Sen and Alysa walked up, and Josh pivoted to include them in the conversation. Sophie smiled at Sen and reached for him as he took her in his arms. She leaned over and squeezed her arms around him as tightly as she could as well. She whispered in his ear loudly enough for all of them to hear.
"Thank you, Uncle Sen'ak! I know it was you who saved my daddy in that cave. I am very sorry you have to keep doing it all the time... But you know how much he really needs you." She finished looking up at Sen from under her fair brows. Apparent hope in her eyes that he would continue for her sake.
Unusual Emotions warred across Sen's face. It seemed as if his feelings couldn't decide if he should be embarrassed by the praise or laugh at the honesty.
Being a faithful brother, Sen took the high road, "Don't worry, little one. I'll never stop saving your daddy. He helps me all the time, too, you know." He finished in a mirror of her expression.
As no lies could be told here, she smiled even wider and jumped down to hold Alysa's hand. Then Sophie's expression got serious. "I just wanted to see you and Uncle Sen'ak first, Daddy. But now I need RX and Anak here, too."
"Do you want me to go tell them?" A quizzical expression showed on Josh's face.
"No. I’ll get them." Sophie waved her hand, and the posterior of RX's goliath form appeared to the side of the group. He was obviously polishing what could only be described as his derriere plate with what looked like an industrial-sized Brillo pad.
He stopped, and his dome rotated back and forth a few degrees as he realized where he was. Then, in a plaintive tone verging on whining it spoke, "...Kid! If you and Soph have a playdate, you need to give me some warning. Let me tell you, some elements of my routine maintenance are not for the faint of heart—"
Sensing others, RX interrupted himself and dropped the Brillo pad behind him. It flashed out of existence as his dome section spun around, followed quickly by his inferior portions. Then the giant mech continued with a much deeper modulation of his voice. "...Ah...I see we're not alone..."
Sophie waved to him. "I'm sorry, Mr. RX. But I needed to see you and Anak right away!"
RX's dome section opened, and Anak shot out, landing a flying jump into Sophie's arms. Despite her dour expression, she broke out in giggles again as they hugged each other. He then ran over the top of her head and made her laugh all over again. Finally, the golden tamarin sat on her shoulder with his hand on the back of her neck to look out at the rest of them. His expression said that he already knew why they were all here.
~Well... Sophie’s acceptance is all the proof of the battle mech's pedigree I will ever need.~
Sen chuckled. ~Agreed.~
More than just their apparent friendship, Sophie seemed to gain something from being with Anak. Was it greater confidence? An increase in strength? A palpable surety of purpose? Maybe the best way to describe it was that she had become more vibrant and real. Not unlike the changes in Cronus when he stepped out of prison in the failing pocket dimension. The same could be said for Anak.
Like they somehow complete each other in a way that can't be quantified...
Josh dropped the thought when Anak started the discussion. "We called you all here because Sophie saw something and asked me to confirm it... Which I did..." The golden tamarin's look grew sharp as he made eye contact with all of them. "She is right. They’re coming." The little monkey nodded to Sophie.
She swallowed once in her tiny throat and spoke her truth. "Black Eyes. The Destroyer's main helper lives in the mind of the Ship King's son. She made him tell her about RX. Now she is coming to bring RX and Anak back to the Destroyer." She raised her eyes directly at the large battle mech who fractionally retracted his exo-plates.
Turning to Sen, Sophie continued. "Black Eyes is still mad at you for making her lose under the orange and pink sky. She’ll want to hurt you and Daddy when she gets here, too."
Slow tears started to slip down Sophie's cheeks. Alysa kneeled and put an arm around her narrow shoulders as Anak squeezed into the hollow of her neck. Josh moved to pick Sophie up, but she shook her head. "There's no time, Daddy… You have to go warn the Ship King. If you don't find a way to stop Black Eyes, she will hurt... Everyone!" Sophie finished with an anxious voice.
Wiping her tears on the sleeve of her nightgown, Sophie moved from Alysa to put a small hand on Josh's cheek as he kneeled down to her.
Dark clouds rushed in above them and turned the sky steel gray as the wind wiped up. The perfect match for his daughter’s eyes that had grown cold as ice chips. Sophie spoke, but her voice was one with the weight of eternity as it filled the soul space. "There’s no good in this being. She is completely adharmic. Do what you must to save our family!"
Josh's face cast itself in iron.
Ultimate Karmic ties or not, Sophie's contact with Black Eyes had been too much for his little girl to process unscathed. A turmoil of emotions swirled inside of Josh as he wondered what his choices were putting his little girl through?!