Chapter 68

Well that was awfully nice of him. Syn’s mocking tone kicked in the moment Dan got to his house, having received a ride home from Peter. The senior had insisted, implying the way Dan had played on the court, had earned himself an easier trip home. He’d also told Dan to take the next day off of practice, implying rest was just as important as hard work. While Dan hadn’t mentioned the pain in his arm, it was clear Peter had still noticed it was bothering Dan.

“Shut up.” Dan muttered as he walked into his empty house. He didn’t even let his heart get hopeful. His dad was still gone and wouldn’t be back any time soon. There was no one waiting for Dan at home. Meaning it was another lonely night in an empty house.

Just because you want to sulk, doesn’t mean I’m going to let you. Syn chuckled. Besides, you heard Peter. You did great. There’s no doubting that. And he’s right, you’re going to want to take tomorrow off. Trust me on that.

Dan winced as his shoulder flared again. The pain had been seeming to intensify ever since he’d finished playing. Likely due to his adrenaline wearing off. Still, he was baffled by it. Getting hit by a literal truck had hurt less.

“What happened to my arm, anyways?” Dan asked, figuring if Syn was going to be talkative, the least he could do was be helpful.

Short answer? You over did it.

“You don’t say…” Dan replied dryly, heading over to the fridge to grab some leftovers. Nothing like microwaved pizza for dinner. Who needed proper nutrition when you were a teenager?

Long answer is a little more than that.

“That’s usually what a long answer is.” Dan said, not sure if he was amused, or annoyed, by Syn this time around. Sometimes Dan swore the entity would do whatever he could just to mess with Dan. Other times, it seemed like he actually cared about Dan, but just couldn’t bring himself too actually be completely forthcoming. As if being super helpful physically pained him. A terrible trait to have for someone who was responsible for coaching individuals on how to use their new magical powers.

Remember when I mentioned Auto-battle could force your body to go above and beyond its normal capabilities?

“Yeah. You said its like an adrenaline rush, and grants me bursts of speed and strength.”

Right, well, about that… Syn trailed off. It’s not just that it’s allowing your body to use more of its capabilities, but instead, removing limiters your body has placed on itself.

Dan stopped, slice of pizza mid mouth. “What? Limiters?” All that came to mind was a certain vampire in an anime, that had limiters placed on his powers.

Right, you’re a freshman, so I’ll try to keep it simple. You know humans have muscles, right?

“Syn,” Dan let out a heavy sigh. “Don’t be an ass.”

Laughter coming through his mind from Syn, and a few other voices, confirmed Syn had done that just for Dan’s reaction. That was another thing Dan was starting to figure out about Syn. If he was alone, the strange voice was more likely to give straight, down to earth answers. If he was surrounded by whoever it was he interacted with, he had a tendency to poke at Dan just for amusement. The fact these entities seemed to get a kick from playing around with whoever they’d given powers to, was a bit concerning.

Alright, sorry. Well, not really, but anyways. Human Physiology 101. Humans are a lot stronger and faster than they appear. It’s a trait of your species. It’s why humans, are usually the ones we kill off and teleport to other worlds. Especially those from your particular planet. Because your world doesn’t have magic, you humans have even more untapped potential than those who live in worlds with magic and such.

Dan tried his best not to focus on the implications of what Syn’s statement had. He’d gathered of course, that whatever it was Syn did, involved killing people, transferring their bodies and consciousness to other worlds, and giving them magical powers. The fact Syn was implying Earth, Dan’s Earth, was a favorite because of its lack of magic, meant Syn and his buddies were constantly preying on them…as if they were just prized animals to be picked for slaughter. It was unsettling.

“Go on.” Dan prodded, trying to still eat his pizza, while his stomach was sinking.

Yeah, so. Anyways. Human bodies, at any given time, are utilizing a lesser degree of their muscular capabilities and such, as a way to preserve themselves. The human mind, and body itself, regulate its functions, to do the best it can to keep you from hurting your precious bodies. These limiters are subconscious, and exist, to keep you from breaking. If humans had full access to all their strength, speed, and such, at any given time, well…I’m certain your species would kill itself off from stupidity and wear and tear before long. Especially because, while your bodies are capable of crazy feats of strength and such, they aren’t equipped to deal with it for extended periods of time. Your body, quite literally, keeps its own power in check, to prevent it from destroying itself.

Even though Syn had made a snide remark about Dan’s education level, he had heard similar types of statements before. Maybe on a nature documentary? It was some background noise, and he couldn’t fully recall it.

“So, what you’re saying is, Auto-Battle caused me to damage myself?”

Er. I’m saying, when I mentioned heroes using auto-battle at 500% and falling over dead after a short amount of time, I was serious. Auto-battle treats your body as a tool. It will remove, for a moment, the limiters set in place, in order to allow it to use your body at the percentage you’ve selected. Running your body at 100 percent, technically, just means it is utilizing your body to its full capabilities, with all your inhibitors in place. Anything past 100 percent, begins to remove limiters, and poses a potential risk to your body.

A cold feeling began to creep over Dan. He set his pizza down, knowing full well he wouldn’t be eating anymore any time soon. He felt sick to his stomach. “So, at 500 percent…”

At 500 percent, your serve literally tore a good chunk of muscle and such away from your bone, and likely did some major damage to a good amount of tendons, ligaments, joints, and so on. Oh, and your collar bone likely cracked from the force. Doesn’t take much to break that bone though, so, meh.

Pain seemed to respond to Syn’s statements, as the extent of the damage began to make itself known. Dan looked hard at his arm and tried to tentatively flex his fingers. If he was as broken from that one serve, as Syn made it seem, surely, he shouldn’t be able to move his arm. Surely, he wouldn’t have been able to keep playing.

It’s magic, idiot. Syn said with a heavy sigh. Short of having your entire arm shattered, or saying, a limb removed, as long as you’ve got HP, you’ll be able to still use your limbs and such. Already, you’re body has stabilized itself, and when you wake up tomorrow, you’re going to hurt something fierce, but the wounds will have begun healing.

Dan glanced at his character sheet, noting that his health, indeed was down. He’d noticed during the game that the serve had cost him 17 points of health. However, now it was down nearly 50 points total, sitting at 153 out of 200. That, was alarming.

Yeah, using injured body parts makes your health go down. I would have warned you if it got below 50 percent. Until it heals back up to full, you’re going to feel pain in that arm, and your back, and all the other areas that you wrecked on the court today.

Another flare of pain caused Dan to wince, and he half expected his health points to drop again. “Is, there anything I can do to speed it up? Or, at least, make the pain hurt less?”

Syn snorted. He literally snorted in Dan’s mind. Have you heard of this thing called Tylenol? Laughter erupted in Dan’s mind as he growled, knowing full well he was going to be in a world of pain until it healed, and knowing that, at the very least, sleep was the fastest way to force his body to recover. But, as much as he hated how the laughter intensified, Tylenol, wasn’t a terrible option either.