On the ride home, Gusti informed them the Clan used a commonly agreed upon monetary system among local Cultivator groups, organizations, and governments. Everyday items were paid for with small coins about the size of a nickel. The smallest denomination was the suj. They were dark in color and stamped with some kind of animal that Josh couldn’t recognize. Rust along the raised edge of the stamp led Josh to assume it was made of ferrous metal.
Gusti put things in perspective for them. “Three suj for a drink at the clan pub. Nine for a meal. It takes twenty suj to change one cobre.” He pulled a cobre out of his pocket and tossed one to Sen. It was the same size as the suj, only made from a dark red-brown metal. With another long-faded stamp that Josh thought might be a Beast Affin swinging an axe.
“There’s ten cobre to the lua.” Gusti showed them by pulling a few from the pouch around his waist. It glistened silver with streaks of glittering crimson in the light of Baroo-7’s sliver still above the horizon.
“Then there are fifty lua to a sol.” Gusti didn’t have any on him but informed them it was a smaller coin by more than half compared to the size of a suj.
It was prized for its value in crafting as it held and allowed the transition of Essence from one source to another without significant loss.
The last coin was the estrella. It was exchanged at the rate of twenty sol to the estrella. Gusti informed them that it was the same size as the sol. Of course, bartering was standard in the Clan as well. They had seen it themselves with Jorng’a.
Lastly, the Clan and Cultivation-based systems also used gems and crystals as currency with or without a charge of Essence invested. The ability to transfer Essence from beings with higher Cultivations so that crafters could utilize this in their work made for the creation of more powerful weapons, working tools, inscriptions, potions, etcetera, possible. The base metals and crystals that facilitated this transfer had their own inherent value which directly led to the monetary worth of crystals and coins.
When Sparky returned them to the farm, Gusti set them up with a small but livable space in one of his outbuildings that looked like it had been built with farmhands in mind. A simple square room with two sets of bunk beds on opposing walls. The bedding had been rolled up and tied off, awaiting its occupants.
Being past the spherical level of Cultivation. Gusti no longer needed to eat for sustenance himself. He only did so now for social occasions and to show respect.
But Josh and Sen would need at least one meal daily to keep up with their work and training. Indah, his housekeeper, would bring them breakfast every morning after their chores.
Gusti also told them he would fill them in about the contest the next day when he saw them in town. He reiterated that he was sure they had much to think about after everything they had done today and would leave them alone for now.
“The main house is empty except for the staff that help me maintain it. You can trust them. They have been with my family as far back as I can remember.” He also showed no awkwardness nor embarrassment to some of their more direct questions. “I’m a confirmed bachelor. Mostly ‘cause I never had the good fortune to find anyone ornery enough to put up with me. My brothers have been away from the Clan for the last few decades. I suspect they will be gone until after the Clan clears off Mwezi.”
Josh figured that it made sense that Gusti wouldn’t be spending nights at his place this close to the contest, considering that he was essentially his Clan’s equivalent of a sheriff, if he understood things properly. There were too many new faces coming and going he’d need to be closer to town.
But Josh was curious about how long they had been in town and where the Sundai Clan called home. But being too specific was a sure way to make people suspicious of you and put people on guard. Neither of which he wanted to sooth his idle curiosity, especially to Gusti who had only been fair and decent to them. So the lawyer in him throughout an open ended question.
“How long has the Clan been on Mwezi?”
Gusti raised his brows and scratched his head with long fingers studded with hair tufted knuckles. “Well let’s see…It's been about two standard galactic rotations, just long enough to get the young ones settled into a routine and make them feel comfortable for the Blessed One’s Challenge.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Oh, that long?”
“Well yes, the contest only occurs once every 1000 standard rotations. We used to just come a few months before the race…but we noticed that some of the youth were having trouble adjusting to the new location and might not have ended with the best performance. As a Clan we decided long ago that we want them to succeed and for their sakes the minor inconvenience of moving from the Galactic core is worth their future. '' Gust looked Josh in the eyes. “...It’s been pretty good for them. There has been a great improvement over the last seventy-fifty races since we started bringing them here early.”
Josh was blown away at the implications that this made for how old the Clan and likely Gusti were…but he had to start adapting to his new galactic environment as well. Cultivators live a long time. Something to remember.
Gusti took a minute to list out their chores for the next week, then the orange ape bid them good night and started riding back as he gently led Sparky in an about-face.
When Gusti had gone, Josh and Sen sat cross-legged on the floor across from each other. Josh immediately related to Sen everything he’d figured out about the new skill—Essence Efficiency and guiding him through their Bond on how to squeeze the Meridians and only let the most minuscule amount of Essence through. After an hour, Sen’s interface chimed as well, informing him he had picked up the skill. Disappointed, Sen reported that it only gave him an increased efficiency of eighty percent.
Josh smiled slyly. “Well... it looks like I can finally give you some daily training too.”
Sen smiled the same way back at him. “Speaking of which, it’s time for your daily beati—I mean training, to get us both accustomed to our new weapons.”
They practiced primary sword forms and Josh started getting used to the new length and need for increased Essence circulation to wield the longer weapon. Josh wanted to use the new acceleration skill of the sword. Much wiser, Sen was adamant Josh understood the new weapon before he attempted it.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it... learn to walk before I fly.” Josh swung overhead with the bastard sword fully enhanced, looking to create an opening in Sen’s midrange.
Sen screwed up his eyes in confusion. ~Apologies, brother. I thought I had established a proper reference of your current skills. If you think you are ‘walking’, it’s clear that I was wrong. Forgive me. I’ll correct this misunderstanding now.~
Sen blocked Josh’s incoming attack and swept his leg out from under him, while somehow simultaneously disarming him and sending Josh’s sword spinning over his head into the darkness to clatter on the stony ground.
“You are still learning to crawl, brother.”
Cycling Essence to heal his bruised tailbone, Josh rolled his eyes. Sen had always taken his Sensei duties seriously and there was no hope of matching him. But Josh loved him for that. They both knew there was no way Josh was going to make it back to Sophie in this iteration of swords, monsters, gods and Cultivation if Sen didn’t push him to grow stronger… Josh also knew that Sen was never going to go easy on him. It simply wasn’t in the Cultivator’s nature. In fact, Josh suspected that the man showed love through the ritual of regular and thorough beatings. Just exactly like every older brother Josh had ever heard about… Which was fine in Josh’s book. He didn’t plan on going easy on Sen either.
Awkwardly rising and shuffling over to pick up his weapon Josh had to walk like he had a stick shoved up his butt. It couldn’t be helped while the healing from his cycling of Essence was still taking effect. Josh would use that to his benefit.
Josh preferred operating on some kind of reward system. Positive reinforcement was always more enjoyable than the pain of the opposite... However, even he had to admit that despite his preferences, pain had always been the best teacher and Josh's fall-back default nature was competitive. He had to admit that he had a bad habit of slipping into his Chicago-teenage-trash talking persona during sparring and athletics. Such degeneracy was what kids—and men who had failed to stop being kids, did when the momentum of a fight was going against them. The right comment at the right time could slow things down and allow a guy on the ropes to get back into their rhythm. Many times growing up Josh had either delivered or been the recipient of random insults about himself or loved ones. It was the nature of the beast in the gyms where he had trained… and video games, he supposed. He shuddered as he remembered the absolute depravity on display that greeted his ears in nearly every victorious post-game lobby.
Now, Sen had never discussed the specifics of his martial training in any detail. He’d simply spoken about how he had spent about 500 years training in the ‘physical combat methods of Josh’s world.’ But Josh seriously doubted that his self-training had included experiencing debauched inner city juvenile irreverence.
~Message received loud and clear, Sen. I’m a babe in the woods and you’re the Big Bad Wolf. But I wouldn’t be a true friend if I didn’t let you know that with that ponytail and those orange robes—which looks like my mom’s summer dresses, by the way—I’ve been wondering if your parents had any sons… or if you were all girls–~
As Josh finished his hobble toward Sen, he had mostly turned with his back facing him while pretending to rub what was now fully-healed sacrum. With no warning, Josh sprung his sword in a full reverse-arcing sweep at the height of Sen’s chest…and his blade whistled as it passed through nothing but air an instant before Sen’s foot slammed down on this head along with the rest of Sen’s body to drive Josh face-first into the dry ground.
“AArrwaggkk!” The shrill sound emitted by Josh was soon joined by the horrible crunching of his shattered nose. A torrential gout of dark blood along with a full constellation of stars quickly followed on the sanguine flow’s heels..
Pawing himself up to a sitting position Josh began cycling his Essence in a loop to his head and face to deal with the broken nose and concussion. The heavy bleeding slowed and Josh continued to dizzily dab at it with his fingers in that way that spoke to how every nose injury always felt like there was something wrong, even if nothing was.
Sen was a shadow above him and Josh looked up with his legs splayed out in front of him.
“Full marks brother. Distraction of a superior foe is always a worthy strategy. If you can achieve it.” Then Sen leaned in, “...And the coupled immortal progenitors that gave me and my siblings existence—my parents, as you would call them, had twenty progeny. Though I do not believe that any others have ever traveled into a physical matter iteration. Of them, ten would identify as male and ten would identify as female, should they ever take on mortal form.”
Sen’s face took on a sharp smile. “One thing I am sure of, however, is that if the females ever did come to a physical-matter iteration, based on that sound that just came out of your mouth—you would be a great instructor to teach them how to scream like a little girl.”
The worm had turned and it was packing an uzi.
It was going to be a long training session.