CHAPTER FIFTY TWO

  Magnanimous soul that he was, under any other circumstance, Richard would’ve gladly let them sit around and play with their brand new toys. Were it not for one very pertinent fact. That he was kind of on an insane time crunch, and really didn’t have time for any of their shenanigans.

  DAYS LEFT BEFORE RARE CLASS CUTOFF DATE: (2/15)

  “Alright people! I know you’re all excited to test out your shiny new abilities—no need to thank me or anything, yes yes, you’re all very welcome—but! Before we get to any of that, might I remind you about the second gift I mentioned?”

  Their ears perked up.

  How did it go again? A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down?

  Well, going by the looks of childlike glee on their faces—Richard glanced at Maya—on most of their faces…

  I’d say their collective sweet tooth has been sufficiently sated. Now, comes the bitter bite of medicinal herbs!

  Oh! And this was all purely for their betterment, of course. And not at all revenge for his less than stellar reception of only a few moments before.

  Hah! I mean, how petty would I have to be to even consider something like that?!

  No. This was purely academic. Impartial, some might even say.

  Leveraging their prestige bump to further my trifling need for justice? Bah! Perish the thought! Honestly, where do you even come up with this stuff?

  …

  Nyehe-

  Richard cleared his throat.

  “Ahem! Now then!” with a flourish, Richard retrieved three individual pill bottles from his spatial storage. “I have three separate pills with each of your names on them! Who wants to go first?”

  There followed a pregnant pause.

  “Any takers…? Anybody…?”

  His magnanimous grin began to slip. Paradoxically, as it did so, his captive audience seemed to ease. Growing visibly relaxed.

  Now how does that make any sense? I’m… charming. I’m plenty charming! …aren’t I?

  Robin was the first to speak up.

  “Not to say that we aren’t grateful for all you’ve done- or that we don’t trust you-!”

  “Oh, quit being so f-ing diplomatic!” cut in Denise. “Thanks for the stuff kid,” she patted her vambraces.

  “They’re really neat, but don’t think just because you’ve got a direct hotline to the guy or gal upstairs we suddenly trust you any further than we can-“ Richard perked up. “Uh- you know what? Never mind the analogy.”

  Richard slumped.

  “Actually, how about you first tell us what’s in the unlabeled pill bottles, and then we can decide for ourselves if we want to take them or not?”

  Richard blinked.

  Oh. Yeah, that… that was fairly reasonable.

  And so, Richard did just that, explaining the concept of prestige, the attribute barrier, basically everything they needed to know to put them miles ahead in terms of priceless knowledge when compared to the general tutorial-taking populous. They weren’t nearly so grateful as he might have expected—there were no heartfelt apologies, no one took a sudden interest in his rather conspicuous ring—though they were marginally receptive to the idea once he’d laid it all out for them.

  Maya, who’d been the first to volunteer the second she heard the words “additional free attributes,” stared down at the three chalk colored pills in her hand somewhat dubiously.

  “So… what? I just sort of… throw them back like they’re rare candies? And then what? Woohoo, free attributes? Seems kind of broken if you ask me. Why even bother fighting monsters at that point? Just pop a bunch of pills until your like, lvl 999, and then just stomp on all those bug-eyed alien mofo’s!”

  Eva slapped the girls shoulder.

  “Obviously it’s, like, not that simple. If it was don’t you think, like, everyone would be doing it?”

  “That’s what I’m saying, girl! What if we just cracked the f-ing code?! How major would that be, I’m mean like, talk about an exploit.”

  “You really think, like, no one’s ever thought of this before?”

  “You don’t know. This is a brand new world! We could be pioneers or some shirt.”

  “You’re ridiculous.”

  “Nah. I’m a trendsetter. Don’t hate me cause you ain’t me. Jealousy looks mad uncomfortable on you, girl.”

  Eva palmed her face, while Marlene and a few of the kiddies chuckled in the background.

  “Alright!” Richard announced. “That’s enough chitchat. Maya, you might want to lay down for this.”

  Richard had decided to perform the breakthrough outside this time around. Mostly because the stench of the old tent burning had yet to leave his sinuses. Richard had Maya lie down on a stretch of grassy turf. Their group sheltered from view behind a wall of several freshly pitched tents. Hidden away from prying reptilian eyes.

  “You ready?” the young woman bobbed her head. “Alright, go ahead.”

  Maya sat up briefly, dry swallowed all three of the pills before following it down with half a bottle of water. Richard didn’t have time to pay the shocked glances shared between the four other women any mind. He was far too preoccupied with pulling out a glowing purple cube.

  Here goes nothing.

  Already, he could tell the pills were beginning to take effect. Malodorous sweat beginning to leak from her pores. Thankfully, before he fully went under, he managed to recall just how… well, distressing it could be to watch him overclock his ability slots for the very first time.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Oh! And also, if you think you see anything weird happening while I’m out, just know that it’s a trick of the light- uh, your imagination-? Erm- or, I’m in communion. Yes, that sounds about right! If you see anything strange it’s because I’m in holy communion with my goddess~!”

  He paused.

  “Also, if you interrupt me you’ll bring divine retribution down on all your heads. Alright, be back in a jiffy!”

  Richard quickly slipped his hand into Maya’s, slotted the ability cube for flesh manipulation into his chest, and immediately, all the lights went out.

  +++

  Richard awoke to the impatiently tapping foot of one very unhappy superego. He rose to a sitting position, immediately gratified to see that much of the damage to his soul palace had repaired itself in his absence.

  A brief instant of relief that abruptly fled when the first of many tremors to come suddenly rocked the multi-tiered library. His gaze was immediately drawn to the edge of the balcony, the breathtaking sight of the central well, and, after a few seconds of this, only reluctantly did he shift his gaze up to meet the eyes of his double—a perturbed frown furrowing the brow of his mature face.

  “Uhh… so. Fancy meeting you here! You come here often?… hehe…”

  “You do know that, for every time you do this, you risk permanent soul damage correct? As in permanent permanent?! Never going to go away, stuck with a crippled soul for the rest of eternity permanent?!”

  Richard blinked. Well, of course he’d known it in theory but…

  “My soul can handle it,” he pronounced confidently.

  “No. Your old soul, perhaps. However, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this infantile iteration is effectively being held together with bubblegum and masking tape!”

  Richard flinched at the clear rebuke in his double’s tone. The normally mild mannered superego looking truly peeved for the first time since he’d met him. Suddenly, Richard felt very much like the ignorant child he so resembled.

  “So we should call it off is what you’re saying?” Richard asked, all the levity having left his tone.

  “What? And leave the poor girl to manage all on her own? Preposterous! I’ll finish what you’ve started, and, I’ll even see to the others as well. It isn’t a particularly intensive procedure. I should be able to manage it in a minute or so. After that, however, I think that you and I need to have a long talk about boundaries.”

  As if to punctuate his point, a sudden tremor shook the balcony above, raining white powder down onto their heads. Richard lowered his gaze, suitably chastened.

  “Good, now, why don’t we see about breaking these young ladies through, shall we?”

  And this time, Richard actually had a reason to join in. It was something of an involved process after all, and while his superego might’ve been better then him at most things, there were a few areas in which Richard maintained the upper hand.

  Of course he was referring to the manipulation of life energy. It hadn’t slipped his notice, their earlier conversation, and it was true what Eva said. Gaining something like prestige wasn’t as simple as taking a few pills.

  At practically all stages of body prestige, one needed a grasp on the conscious manipulation of life energy to properly advance. To put it another way, purification pills were common place, but the knowhow on how to make the best use of them had eluded humanity until it was far too late to do anything about it.

  And as for how he was manipulating someone else’s life energy, that was quite simple. It was a quirk he and superego had noted some time earlier. That the bond formed between himself and his patient while using his lvl 100 flesh manipulation ability was so strong, that their very lifeforce was, if not his to command—he couldn’t use it to kill anyone for instance—but to guide? To shepherd. To lead in the right direction, effectively guaranteeing a breakthrough?

  With the help of his lvl 100 ability, that much at least, he was fully capable of.

  Abruptly turning to the third figure that’d appeared on the balcony, they kneeled down in unison to either side of her comatose form. Maya, or at least an imaginary representation of her, lay so still and peaceful, it was honestly starting to creep him out.

  “Right then,” his double pronounced, tugging on his pristine white gloves. “You’ll deal with all that finicky life energy, while I rework her musculature from the ground up? Of course it won’t be perfect, I doubt we have the time, but we only need a single star of prestige, correct?”

  “Regrettably, I doubt the pills I gave her possess enough of a kick to push her much further. And pulling directly from her natural lifespan to fuel any changes is entirely out of the question.”

  “Naturally. Especially since she’s living for two. The consequences of such a reckless action don’t even bear thinking about.”

  His double started.

  “Wait! Please, please tell me you at least thought about how this might affect the baby.”

  Richard was aghast.

  “Just how negligent do you think I am?”

  His double merely stared at him, before replying with a deadpan…

  “Very.”

  Richard scowled.

  “If the pills were heavily impurity laden then maybe you’d have a point. Since they’re not, however, and since my energy control is top notch, the baby shouldn’t even be involved in the process. Really it’s you who I’m worried about. All that muscle growth simply can’t be good for the child’s development.”

  “Oh, give it a rest will you,” his double sighed.

  Richard acquiesced with a chuckle.

  “On three?” Richard suggested.

  The tremor that rocked their balcony immediately following said pronouncement had them leaping into action before his double could even begin to respond.

  +++

  “And…” Robin asked, incredulous. “This is… normal?”

  As she stared down at the convulsing one month old child, black veins creeping all along his body, and foam collecting at the corners of his mouth, it was all she could do to stop from rushing to his side. Maternal instincts she hadn’t even known she possessed screaming she take the twitching baby to the nearest hospital asap.

  “Yeah,” Donald said, punching the air and grinning ear to ear when it whistled. “Big bro is always doing weird stuff like that.”

  “Define… always,” Denise said, casually sharpening her rapier in the background.

  Having positioned herself as far from the two prone figures and the rancid odor they gave off as was currently possible. Robin eyed the woman, even as she eyed the infant in turn. Suspicion mixing with a cocktail of emotions Robin could not name. Her gaze as sharp and cold as the edge of her blade.

  Robin sniffed.

  Really? What’s the matter with her? I mean come on! He’s just a child. A strange one, sure, but still a child all the same! And what’s with her and that sword anyway? I don’t even think that’s a whetstone it’s just a wet stone. Surely that can’t be good for the blade.

  From where they sat huddled in the far corner—stuffing odd bits and ends into the peculiar pink parasol, whereupon even stranger bits and bobs were immediately spewed forth—Alice brightly piped up. Pausing in the gathering of blades of grass to supply some much needed clarity.

  “Sort ‘a like, every day I s’pose? Like he was always doing weirdo stuff. Like sometimes his eyes would go all black, kinda like now I guess?”

  Sanya butt in.

  “Oh! Or that time he carried around that dead piggy the whole day, remember?”

  “Uh huh!” Donald exclaimed, suddenly enamored with the idea of doing squats for whatever reason. “Or! Or! Or! ‘Member that time he ate the freakin’ guts straight out of that monkey’s belly with his bare hands!” he announced with relish, knowing the reactions he’d receive.

  And, as if on cue…

  “Eww!”

  The girls chorused, covering their faces as if they were back there in the forest seeing it for the first time.

  Robin… for her part, suddenly felt a lot less inclined to rush to the little boy’s aid.

  With his bare hands?

  “Uh huh…” was Denise’s only response, her blade sharpening taking on a slightly quicker tempo.

  Robin grimaced.

  Well, if she wasn’t dead set on labeling him a demon possessed nightmare child before, I doubt there’s much hope of changing her mind now. Honestly, I’m starting to wonder myself…

  And of course, it was just as she was beginning to harbor doubts, that the boy returned to the land of the living. Maya was the first to come to. Gasping in a great big lungful of air, before recoiling at her own rancid stench.

  “Ugh! What the swell is that?” she then sniffed the collar of her shirt and retched. “What? Did you guys dump me in manure or something? Ugh, so freakin uncool.”

  The boy, meanwhile, came to right on her heels. Eyes snapping open, the white of his sclera having been replaced by all black. He then struggled for a time, wrist slowly reaching for the center of his chest, before he plucked a purple cube out from nowhere, looking almost like a magic trick, and immediately collapsed. The bulging black veins receding in real time.

  Seconds passed, the only sounds his ragged breathing and Maya’s attempt at swearing.

  Suddenly, his eyes snapped open once more. Lucid this time, and back to their original color. He took a few long moments to gather himself, breaths still uneven, before he spoke up in a ragged voice.

  “Alright. Give me five to mend my arm, then we can start on the next one. Marlene? I think it was your turn next, correct?”

  All eyes turned from the supposedly holy, outwardly demonic child to the titular timid princess. Trembling ever so slightly, Marlene gulped.