Raine kept pace behind Mel and Celeste. They ran at a decent, Discipline-powered clip down the northern road. Celeste’s speed dropped sharply and Raine's hand blurred through the air. Despite her ducking to the side, he hit his target with perfect precision.

  A meaty thwack from 2% of Raine’s Potency was followed by a girly screech, “Ouch! Stop hitting me!”

  Having signed a contract allowing him to do so without the PVP protections, Raine wasn’t about to listen, “Sure. Soon as you stop slowing us down with your tantrums.”

  She growled like the hell-cat she was, fists shaking at her sides, “They aren't tantrums! I'm not a little girl!”

  Raine shrugged, “Doesn't matter what you want to call them.” He reiterated the same lecture for the twelfth time, his finger jabbing into the soft flesh between her shoulder and armpit with each point, “When your emotional state and body are out of sync, you can't use Discipline. If you can't control your emotions, then you have to control the tempo of your body to match your emotions.”

  She stepped back with a wince, rubbing her chest, “Control my tempo. I'll show you tempo…”

  Raine shuffle-stepped, vanishing from her sight to appear towering before her. She fell back a step but he didn’t let her escape, “All emotions desire a physical outlet, especially anger. Transform your anger into action or I'm going to keep hitting you.” Raine raised his hand and she fled down the road.

  Unfortunately for her, pain is the best way for her to learn this particular lesson. I suppose I could try explaining the underlying principles… Nah. She’s too stupid for that to work.

  Mel, who was having no issues burning Discipline to run, tripped over a pebble on the road. Celeste’s arms shook with fury, the rapid shift away from fear ruining her tempo again. She dove to the side, sliding across the dirt face first. Spared the pain she knew should have already landed, she looked back to see him shaking his head sadly, disappointment overwhelming his expression.

  [Argh! I hate his ugly face so much!]

  Leaping to her feet, she faced off against him with her fists up, “Don’t you dare repeat the same shit lecture again! Why did I pay you if you’re going to be such a crap teacher?”

  Raine sighed heavily, massaging his forehead with two fingers.

  Do I tell them? We have to speed up our pace one way or another. There's other ways but they have their own risks…

  “Fine, but I’m only going to say this once, then it's back to the whip,” Raine motioned them closer while carefully examining their surroundings for eavesdroppers. A contract appeared in both of their interfaces stating their agreement to never repeat what he was about to tell them. The repercussions being a permanent ban from ZionLine and forfeiture of all their assets to him, real and digital.

  Really don't want this leaking to the public yet. It’s one of my biggest advantages, and shouldn’t be widely understood for several years.

  Celeste’s eyes boggled. [Years?! How could he know something like that?] She was unable to fathom how powerful a seer must be to see so far into the future. She had certainly never heard of such a thing. Even a few weeks was considered a genius that PsyCore would need to possess, no matter the cost in lives or credits.

  The girls glanced at each other, a bounty of meaning shared between them. Both understood that the potential credits to be earned by sticking with Raine far outweighed the short term benefits of spreading information. Especially if keeping it to themselves would mean an extra advantage under their belts in such a difficult environment. Mel signed right away, the idea of betraying Raine’s trust further than she already had, was too painful to consider. Celeste hesitated a brief moment longer, the promise of knowledge, power, and wealth too tempting to ignore.

  Raine’s gaze bored into them one at a time, imprinting a sense of gravity that was reinforced by his tone, “No matter how close it feels to the real thing, this world isn’t ours. We are visitors here, and even standing on this road right now, we aren’t truly here.”

  Raine stamped his foot, releasing a ring of dust before continuing, “So, how did I interact with the road if I’m not really on it? The answer is simple enough, I used an attribute that the natives of this world don't have: Connection. Connection isn’t just a means to increase the power of elemental attacks, it literally connects our brains to this world that isn’t ours. Through that connection, we gain the ability to manipulate. But we still aren’t truly here.” After enunciating his last words, Raine gave them a few seconds to mull them over.

  Mel’s lips were pursed so tight her nose crinkled, “That makes a kind of sense, but what does it have to do with using Discipline. And why is it so easy for me, but not her?”

  Raine patted her head with a fond smile, “Good questions. What do you think the reason might be? No wrong answers here, this isn’t a gap in logic that’s easy to bridge.”

  Celeste planted her fists on her hips, “Because there’s something wrong with my connection.”

  Raine kept looking at Mel, waiting for her to guess as well, “Uhm, because the world isn’t receiving the right message through the connection?”

  “You’re both close. There's nothing inherently wrong with your connection, Celeste. And the world is receiving the right message, the problem is that the information you’re sending is scrambled. The brain is a complex organ. Our thetadrive headsets have to take all that complexity and distill it into electrical signals. What do you think happens if a portion of that signal essentially relays, move left leg left, while another part is stuck on, move left leg right?”

  “Nothing?” Celeste guessed.

  Raine shook his head, “Nope, your leg will move in whichever way the dominant portion of the signal wanted. However, the movement will be slow, awkward, and unable to be boosted by Discipline. Keep in mind that emotions are just chemicals in the brain, and they are birthed from the same electrical signals as thoughts and memories. They have just as much sway in the connection as an active thought. So, the memory of how you should be moving, and the desire to move slightly differently, can easily conflict.”

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Mel’s brow wrinkled and she shook her head, “I don’t get it. It sounds like you’re saying we need to align our emotions, thoughts, and memories, with a movement? I don’t feel like I’ve been doing anything like that to use Discipline.”

  Celeste nodded along but wasn’t following in the least; she experienced a burst of frustration and fear, not wanting to believe that his earlier jab at her intelligence was true.

  Raine snorted, “If you’ve ever cleaned something while angry, you know that emotional states vastly alter the speed and severity of every action. Mel, you’re having a hard time understanding because you’re lucky enough to be an emotionally balanced person. You pretty much have one emotional state. So long as nothing comes along and knocks you out of balance, the signals of your connection will remain aligned.”

  Raine tilted his head toward Celeste, “You, on the other hand, are all over the place. Think back to your first attempt to use Discipline, jumping back and forth outside town.” Raine lifted his hand, counting his fingers, “On the first try, you were excited. When you failed, you got frustrated. You saw Mel succeed easily, then you got angry. After that, you swapped to determined. Each of those emotions carries a different tempo. Worse, human emotions can't be truly controlled so you have to develop control over your reaction to those emotions. Anger begets rapid action. Grief, jerky release of pent stress. Sadness, smooth and methodical. Determination, fierce and prolonged. The list goes on and on.”

  Celeste’s eyes grew wider and her mouth formed a perfect O-shape. Then, her lips twisted in a frustrated snarl, “It makes sense now, but how do I actually do it?”

  “The only answer is practice. Preferably with one emotion at a time. It’s going to be harder for you with your wild emotional swings, but once you get it, you'll be a much more difficult enemy to face because your movements will always be subtly unpredictable. Unfortunately, you lack the discipline to sync your mind, emotions, and body.”

  “That's such a stupid system! Why would they design it that way?” Celeste kicked the ground, releasing her own spray of dirt.

  Raine's grin was wide and his eyes carried a hint of fanaticism that drew both girls in, “That’s the best part! It's designed to bring each of us further down the martial path. Ever heard of Satori?” They shook their heads and Raine wasn’t surprised, “Look it up on your own time. But in short, it’s the state of the centered self. It's impossible to become a true class four martial without achieving Satori as easily as breathing. That’s what kind of ‘game’ we're playing. Every step you take here will lead you closer to true power in the real world. Now shut up and focus or I'm going to start hitting you with 5% of my strength.”

  After Raine’s explanation, their speed increased significantly. He made a mental note to dive into the how and why with Celeste going forward. Simply telling her what needed to be done wasn't sufficient. The girl’s problems with authority would need to be beaten out of her slowly. Luckily, Raine had years of experience with training unruly recruits. In comparison, Mel was an angel and he was glad she was around to serve as an example for the stubborn Celeste.

  They soon reached a deep forest, the road weaving directly through it. The few beasts they encountered were split between the girls, giving them both a chance to practice utilizing Discipline in combat. At a seemingly random bend in the road, Raine pulled ahead and raised a fist. They came to a stop, dutifully waiting for direction.

  Raine accessed his inventory and swapped out his leather helmet for the old bandit shroud. The piece of cloth covered the lower half of his disturbing face and Celeste sighed dramatically, a hand over her chest. She opened her mouth for a snide comment but Raine’s hand slashing through the air silenced her.

  He motioned them closer, whispering, “First roadblock should be right ahead.”

  “Monsters make roadblocks?” Celeste was quick to ask, earning her a scathing glare from Raine. She blanched, then ran her fingers along her lips in a zipping motion.

  “This territory is currently controlled by a guild named Righteous. They won’t be able to directly hurt either of you. Don’t think you’re safe though. They can physically block your path, box you in, then bring beasts to kill you. There’s going to be flankers stealthed in the woods on either side of the road. I want you to count as many of them as you can find. The winner gets a new piece of gear.”

  That got their attention and they exchanged confident smirks. Raine continued, “Once the fighting starts, pick one that’s level five and start a duel. I won’t be helping either of you, and if you die, I’m not going back to town to get you.” Their confidence evaporated and was blown away in the gentle wind caressing the thick forest canopy.

  This should be a great chance to improve their situational awareness and problem solving while under duress. I wonder if they’ll figure out the trick in my wording. Hope not.

  While following close behind, the girls’ fingers were a blur as they threw private messages back and forth. They quickly came up with a plan and were all smiles when they rounded the bend. As promised, the roadblock was dead ahead, only a few meters away by the time it was visible. It consisted of hastily erected wooden spikes that stretched a short distance into the trees. All but a small opening in the center of the road was obstructed. Ten players with red armbands stood before the barrier in loose groups.

  Seeing the trio approach at a brisk walk, they perked up. Five drew weapons and clustered around the passage through the spikes. The rest fanned out while a large, muscular woman took the lead. She looked Mel and Celeste up and down with a scowl, then drew the sword at her hip when she failed to Identify Raine.

  Between the question marks above his head, and the obviously magical effect of his blurred armor, she was completely on edge when she barked a command, “Halt! That’s far enough. Passage is twenty silver per player. Alternatively, you can join Righteous and leave for free.”

  Raine snorted, knowing the lie for what it was. There were more roadblocks beyond this one, not to mention roving packs of soldiers, all with orders to charge twenty silver for anyone they encountered who wasn’t already part of the guild. Even if it were possible to get twenty silver in such a low level area, it would hardly be enough to buy passage through their entire territory.

  This new method of recruiting made perfect sense for the current ZionLine. Filtering through all the worthless players too scared to step out of the origin towns was a waste of time. It was significantly more economical to wait for the promising candidates to reach a good distance, then ambush them when they had more to lose.

  Raine scanned their levels, including the ten hidden in the woods, finding them all at level five. He perked up, glad he would be receiving plenty of starting equipment to use as bargaining chips to motivate the girls.

  Raine summoned the memories of all those he’d slain in the past. A desire to kill so powerful it seeped into the world as pure, unmitigated malice was unleashed as a wave of bloodlust. The players crowding the road turned pale. They fell to their knees, unable to withstand the river of death that washed over them.

  A large two-handed mace with a Lustrous Blue sheen appeared in a flash of light. He held the weapon loosely in one hand, resting its shaft on his shoulder. There was no need to exchange words with those about to die. He shuffled forward in a blast of motion. A casual swing unleashed a Rupture that annihilated their shoddy, illegal fortifications. Coincidentally, it also turned six of the players into clouds of red mist. Since he wasn’t targeting them, and they just happened to die nearby… he wasn’t marked with the red player debuff.

  Random pieces of equipment clinked to the ground and a scream split the air, heralding the slaughter that had just begun.