About five minutes after picking up the horn Celeste’s time ran out. Midnight was about twenty seconds later. Either way that left Angelica and I to finish building the wall.

I gave us a few more wall segments, before saying, “Sorry we got side tracked, but are you good after hearing what Seth said?”

Angelica was quiet for a long time, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay,” I said, making another wall segment.

“That’s it?” Angelica demanded.

“That’s it. I am not good at subtle hints, but I will respect your answers,” I explained.

Angelica let out a sound that was equal parts frustration and lament, “Dammit, Celeste said you would say that.”

I shrugged again.

Angelica sighed, “... thank you.”

I shrugged again. I was doing that a lot lately.

A few slabs later Angelica asked, “So… you and Celeste?”

Oh my god. Highschool never ends. Please send help. “Yeah, gonna try at least.”

Angelica nodded, “Cool.” she nodded again, “You break her heart, I am going to break your knees.”

“That’s fair,” I admitted. I would heal.

“Like multiple times,” Angelica explained. “I am just going to keep smashing.”

I thought about it, “Where do we stand on this?”

“What do you mean?” she asked as we hefted another slab into place.

“Well any relationship Celeste and I have will require your participation,” I offered watching her response.

Angelica had the realization, “Oh… yeah.”

We were silent for three more slabs.

Finally Angelica said, “It’s her turn.”

“What?” I asked not following her meaning.

“Celeste has had to be part of every relationship I had, and she hated several, especially Nolan. That’s not important. What is, she never once in my life asked for anything… in that regard. I have watched a lot of Star Trek. So, it is her turn. I want her to be happy.” she shrugged.

“Okay,” I made another block.

After another few slabs she added, “For what it is worth, with regard to… other stuff. You’re okay, I guess. If things between you and Celeste go well I am cool with taking one for the team.”

I paused. Now the implication was there, but I prefer clarity, “By take one for the team you mean?”

Angelica eyed me flatly. Her face reddened before she said, “You honestly do not understand what I just said?”

“I don’t like making assumptions,” I all but apologized.

Angelica frowned as her face reddened slightly, “ I could have approached this without starting with the threat of violence. That mixed the messages. Anyways I said what I said. Could we drop this for now?”

“Sure,” I said, making another slab.

Oh good the prompts saved me

Destruction Check… Successful

Destruction is now at Trained Level

Construction Check… Successful

Construction is now at Trained Level

Cosmic Martial Art has advanced

The fifth stage of the martial art is Moving Mountains

The Glacier does not fret for trivial things like topography or matter in general. All can be ground beneath and shaped by the force of the Glacier. Moving Mountains allows the user to make one free Craft, Destruction, and Construction check per turn. The checks may be performed on any object within [Magic Attribute] yard that is not under the direct control of another being.

That sounded weird, but its meaning became apparent almost instantly. Before now I needed to have a clear idea of what I wanted and I needed to make some token effort with my tools for the system to then shape reality to my will. It was goddamn weird.

No thought required for the checks, which kept triggering as I looked at the wall: ice melted and the water flowed up into location and hard froze into the shape of the wall, Pink Floyd would not approve. The Construction and Destruction checks flashed by almost in the background of my mind.

This was strangely upsetting. I mean, the floor getting up and making itself a wall like some sort of messed up Disney effect, didn’t sit well with me.

The fact it just kept happening until the wall expanded to the edge of the twenty yard bubble was something I didn’t love.

Angelica whistled, but frowned when she saw the look on my face, “What’s up, Doug?”

“It just kept happening,” I explained. I took a large step forward and the wall expanded. After a moment I took another and more ice melted, the water flowed uphill to the side of the wall and froze into the shape of a fortification.

“That would mean you have somehow gotten a skill usable as a free action,” She said. She watched me dubiously.

“What does that entail?” I asked. I held still.

Angelica listened to Celeste for a moment before saying, “Celeste says that a free action is any action that does not require any thought. They just sort of happen automatically. She also said you can stop it by thinking about making the skill trigger use only.

I closed my eyes and cleared my mind. I felt the system not quite touching my mind.. It resolved into a mental image of a screen with an icon of a circle labeled ‘me’, a line labeled ‘interface’ down the middle. A much thicker division marked as ‘mental resistance’ stood between me and a large assortment of icons making up all sorts of the traits, perks and skills I had. There was one other icon on the same side of the Mental Resistance wall as the me Icon. It was a little blue box labeled ‘prompts'. While this would require more exploration later I needed to focus.

Eventually I found an Icon labeled preferred skills. It included a massive list of skills. Hundreds of entries. The obvious things like Willpower and Unarmed were near the top, but the list included stuff I never rolled like: walking, chew: bubble gum, persuasion…

Probably shouldn’t mess with this too much until I understand what it is. A few moments of searching later I found Construction, Destruction and Craft. One by one I selected them and mentally clicked them all to require a direct trigger.

I opened my eyes and found that almost no time had passed. Again this raised an unsettling question. My mind wasn’t this mechanical and well organized before the system. What did this mean?

I was not the Titan.

But what did that mean?

Rather than engage in any existential questions, I took another step. The wall didn’t magically spring into existence. Then I mentally triggered the skills and the tools glowed, but the ice didn’t budge.

It found it took a gesture, a simple sweep of my hand for the ice to melt. I turned my hand palm up and raised it. The water rose into the air. I clenched my fist and it solidified.

“But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked,” I muttered to myself.

Angelica looked at me confused, she clearly heard something from Celeste before saying “You and Celeste are nerds.”

“I am just remembering the histories, so the elves can’t claim it as theirs,” I said, hand waving more walls into existence. This was much faster.

Angelica shrugged, “Are you seriously going to pretend some old book series is history?”

“Of course not, it was also a cartoon and a movie we would rather forget,” I explained.

Nerd,” Angelica said, dragging out the word into four syllables somehow.

“And I guess you are a jock?” I pushed back.

Angelica blinked at me, “No shit, Doug.”

We kept walking as I kept shaping the wall. It quickly became almost second nature to me. Like breath in, melt ice, breath out, shape and solidify, and repeat. In the course of a few minutes I could do it without breaking stride.

“How’d that happen?” I asked. Mostly just making conversation.

“Unlike some people, I got laid in highschool,” Angelica joked. She tried to sound serious but basically cracked up part way through the barb. It was nice to hear her joking. Don’t get me wrong, in a pinch she was the person I wanted watching my back, but seeing her outside the context of violence was good. Even if she was kind of a shit.

I snickered, “High school survived the apocalypse… that sucks. I will have you know I got laid a lot in high school. Not with a bunch of people, but one person a large number of times, which in my opinion is a better path as far as satisfaction goes. That said, I was not a jock.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Marnie, right?” Angelica nodded. She realized she tipped her hand a split second later. I saw it on her face.

Willpower check… Successful

Emotional state remains in control

Note: Repeated rolls will increase the difficulty.

How did Angelica know her name?

I paused, “I don’t recall saying that name.”

Angelica was quiet for a long moment, “You didn’t. I know it because Zach told Celeste about her a long time ago.”

“And you didn’t mention this because that is hard to work into conversation?” I offered.

“... Yeah, plus most Titan spawn are kinda notorious for… violence when you pry into the Titan’s past.” Angelica said. She seemed on edge still.

Too many things were happening all at once. While this was surprising it wasn’t necessarily something to get bent out of shape over. It certainly raised a lot of questions, but some part of me suspected this was a distraction.

“How about this? Tomorrow after we resolve this duel stuff, we sit down and talk like adults. Too much is moving around us. I feel like we are being positioned like pieces on a chess board. We got to start sharing info.” I felt a sort of acid burn in my stomach. I joke about avoidant behavior but that is partially because I do that. Hell this was basically a stalling tactic disguised as a commitment.

Angelica mulled that over, “Yeah that is probably over due.”

We built the wall. Brunhilda was not at all salty that I built more of it than her. No claims of cheating were made. There also was a lack of any tantrums that required alcohol to stall out.

People were getting wise to the fact that geography was being altered. Rather than talk to people, something I was beginning to realize I was actually quite bad at, we went back to Seth’s place. Making a mental note to examine if my isolation before the System may be leading to an unhealthy level of introversion, I closed the door.

Spine was still sleeping. Seth had pulled more of the art supplies out and seemed to be sketching something. He looked up from his work, “done already?”

“Yeah,” I sat down across from him, “Walk me through duels.”

“What do you mean?” Seth put his pad and pencil down.

“The mechanics, rules, etiquette. All of it.” I said. If direct violence wasn’t the best path forward.

Seth thought tilting his head from side to side trying to figure out a place to start. Finally he said, “The purpose of duels is technically to settle disputes between equals. They aren’t necessarily to the death, but effectively they almost always are, here at least. Most people have grown too used to being under the effects of the Warrior’s Suraksha. Issuing a challenge to a duel is basically an extreme escalation of a disagreement.

The last duel fought was over the custody of a child. That whole situation was messy, claims of abuse… that’s not important. Well it is, but the facts didn’t settle things. The duel did. The winner was right. The loser was dead. That was two years ago.” Seth mulled over his thoughts for a moment. I could tell he had more to say about that duel, but it must not have really connected to my question because he stayed quiet for a long moment.

He sighed and continued, “The mechanics of it are fairly straightforward. A ‘wronged’ party issues a challenge. The challenged individual is allowed to accept or decline. Declining a challenge is often taken as an admission of being wrong. It also tends to make the person declining the challenge look weak and stupid. Technically you refusing Howard’s challenge was both the correct response and a savage insult.”

“What?” I didn’t follow.

“Duels are between equals. Howard may be a high ranking pupil of Madigan, and he has some pull in the community, but you are a Titan Spawn and the guest of Goddess Lola. You are not required to stoop to his level. Rejecting the duel and the way you turned him down highlighted that.”

While that wasn’t my intention at the time that actually made sense. No wonder Madigan was so mad about it. “So once the duel is issued, and someone says yes. What happens next?”

Seth frowned, “A lot of things are supposed to happen, but almost never do. Howard being Madigan’s pupil requires that Howard get his master’s approval before things can continue. Pupils are the responsibility of their master, so a master does have the ability to step in. Normally, though, that is handled by the master fighting the duel on behalf of their pupil. This almost never happens, and is controversial. A master preventing someone from participating is equally rare, because that would require an apology.”

I drummed my fingers on the table, “So it is easier to let people kill each other than force one to apologize.”

“Of course it isn’t easier, but it is what we do,” Seth admitted. “Then the time and place are agreed upon. A neutral observer is selected, and any rules and limitations are agreed upon. In this case it will be the training fields, at sunset, and Sunit. The duel will not have limitations beyond no outside interference”

That all made sense, “We get to the time and place, then what happens?”

“The neutral party will call the two combatants forward, outline the grievance and confirm that no one is willing to back out.”

“So wait, the challenger can just withdraw the challenge?” I asked.

“Yes, but you would look like a stupid asshole. I have only seen it done once, and it was when one master stepped in and the other did not.” Seth said.

“How about the actual duel?”

“Here next to the Mandir will cause several things to occur. The Warrior’s Suraksha will be withdrawn during the duel, but it will be replaced with Eyes of the War Goddess. The participants will be protected from any condition or attack that Lola does not allow. Also anyone who interferes directly will be affected by a smite. The actual duel is until one participant either yields or is killed. Most won’t yield because that puts them at the mercy of their opponent.”

“What happens if one person tries to run?” I asked.

“Here, Smite, most other places they get branded and an Apostate of the War Goddess. It is a tag visible next to their name. Follower’s of Goddess Lola are obligated to not assist anyone with such a mark. Some make it a point to kill them.”

That tracked, “So the yielding in a duel, is that basically a death sentence?”

“Eh not quite,” Seth tilted his hand side to side. “Etiquette and Goddess Lola strongly encourage accepting honorable surrender with mercy. That said, a very non-zero amount of times surrender equals death.”

“Thanks,” I considered what needed to happen next. Stepping into the fight was out. Sure it was an option available but it would almost certainly violate terms Sunit arranged. The optics of that were bad too. I needed to get people on board with accepting the goblins.

In the world that was I… the Titan… wasn’t really the kind to win hearts and minds. I didn’t like extorting people with the gap in the wall. It was at best a short term force that would fade as soon as the moment of danger passed. The impending clash between the goblins and the locals was all but certain.

It was at least a few hours until sunrise.

I need to do useful things.

Accumulate check… Successful

20 MP added to Mystic Well

Mystic Well

2750/20000

Brunhilda had certainly primed the pump. I quietly dug into my mind again and found the bundle related to the skill. It let me set it to continuously cycle.

As I kept trying to come up with next steps. That prompt kept popping up every ten minutes. Spine was going to need more… well, everything. I had enough bodies of White Shadows, Megaleos, and Cat Siths. I needed to upgrade his armor and weapons.

My misgivings aside, Spine would also need the last level the Path of the Snow Lion unlocked. Thousands of lives were at stake.

Howard, Madigan’s pupil, was basically nothing to me. I knew next to nothing about him. Moreover, what I did know about him wasn’t exactly impressive. Still, I wasn’t comfortable arranging for him to die. I looked at Spine still sleeping. He needed to win or his people would be stuck outside the city's protection. He had to give this duel his all. I could not ask him to hold back or try and spare Howard. Trying to hold back in a fight is an easy way to die.

I pulled two of the claws of a Cat Sith from my inventory two craft checks later the claws had lengthened and sharpened into curved blades. A rib worked to form to handles and the leather sting bound them

Craft Check… Successful!

Malicious Hook x2 crafted

Malicious Hook

This Heroic scale dagger has been made for one purpose: inflicting horrific damage. This dagger inflicts [Power]+10 cutting damage on a hit. If the damage exceeds the targets [Body] attribute a hit will inflict a bleed condition for five seconds. Also this Dagger doubles the duration of any magic effect channeled through it.

Note: This weapon is custom built to enhance the Elevated Martial Art, Path of the Snow Lion. If wielding this weapon with that style the user may wield a second Malicious Hook without penalty.

Bleed Condition

Targets affected by this condition will lose [damage from attack]/10 HP per second for the duration of the condition.

Note 1: Minimum damage per second is 1 HP

Note 2: Multiple Bleed Conditions can be applied to the same being. The damage is cumulative and the timers are separate.

Note 3: The end of Bleed Condition does not mean health loss will stop. Damage from blood loss will simply reset to system normal.

I stared at the weapons for a long time. I -the Titan- knew a guy who made the lugs for bombs. The ones the U.S. dropped out of planes. Someone asked them if they felt anything moral qualms about making weapons. The guy shrugged, and said, “Not really. It’s not like we see them used. Besides, the other option is street to street fighting.” I hadn’t really considered that exchange until now.

It would take someone wiser than me to unpack that sort of thing.

In this case I was going to see it, and I would be responsible for the outcome.

I kept staring at the knives. With these Spine could probably deal some scary damage. Assuming Howard was rare scale and level twenty that would mean he would have on average 90 HP. If every level put one attribute point into Body he would have a defense of 23 minimum. If Spine got the drop on him and Hit twice from Ambush, assuming the last 13 levels translated to at least one more point in strength would work out to a Power of 3 plus 7 from the pact with ten more from the Malicious Hook, and then adding the middle result of 3d10. Let's make that easy and say 6. So each hit would deal 26 damage which would double to 52 and be dropped to 29 from Howards defense. That meant Spine’s first hits could drop Howard to half his total health. Then two Bleed conditions would reduce Howard’s HP at least an additional 10 over the next five seconds.

That sounded devastating but there were too many ifs and assumptions for it to be certain. After the first strike, Spine's hits would likely be 5ish damage. Spine had a lot of Defense and could heal faster than normal, but he was still fragile. I don’t think he could survive a knock-out dragout fight.

I needed to be sure.

Analyze check… Successful

Analyze Skill is now at Trained Level

Name:

Spine Spindle-Bite

Race:

Goblin

Class:

Scout

Level:

20

HP:

41

MP

2 (7)

Defense

64

Power:

4 (7)

Mobility:

10 (7)

Body:

4 (14)

Mind:

4 (7)

Face:

2 (7)

Magic:

2 (7)

Traits:

Goblin Mode

Goblins can access a group collective. If a goblin knew it before, it is possible for the current user of this trait to know now. Accessing this knowledge requires a [Mind] attribute role. Use of this trait has consequences. Never go full Goblin.

[Titanic Regeneration] Reduced to Heroic Scale

Titan Spawn are often beyond mortal concerns. With this perk, your power allows your physical body to heal [Body-2] hit points per second. This will allow you to regenerate missing body parts and overcome damage based conditions.

Note: This Trait is from a Pact. it is reduced to Heroic Scale. Health Regeneration is reduced to [Body-2] HP per minute.

Perks

Shadow Assassin

Servants of the Titan Spawn can be both Cunning and Brutal in their work. This perk will unlock the skill needed to be the thing people fear in the night. Unlocks the following Skills: Blend In, Move Silently, Ambush, Detect Weakness, Terrify, and Manipulate Shadow.

Near-Perfect Foundation From a Great Master

You have pledged yourself to a Master greater than you. You have rendered yourself a vessel for their teachings This perk allows the user to learn Martial Arts faster. Provided their Master knows the martial art, the pupil is treated as three levels of scale higher with regards to meeting requirements. Also, their Master is treated as Two levels of Scale Higher when using the Mentor or any other educational Skills on the pupil.

Note: this perk requires a bond beyond basic Master Pupil.

Disposition: Spine is asleep. He is dreaming of green women.

Spine stirred in his sleep but did not wake. He rolled over and murmured, “As you… wish.”

I frowned. Yeah Spine was probably a wall as far as most people were concerned, and I was probably being conservative on his chances in a straight up fight with Howard.

I needed to be sure.

I waited for the faint light of the sun rising before I stood and said, “Spine, Wake Up. We need to talk.”