Chapter 14: Back Again

When Alex returned home, he saw a bloody scene. There were bodies of at least a dozen goblins littered outside of his home. Some were impaled on spikes other had their bodies burned to a crisp. One had its head bashed in. The amount of destruction was unbelievable.

Could Eve have really done this alone? Maybe when she followed the plan and attacked them from distance. But that can’t be true or some of the bodies would have been in the forest. How did she do all of this? Did her practice help her control her spells? I’ve got to find out what happened here.

Alex looked around searching for any sign of Eve but there was none outside.

He quickly banged on the door and yelled, “Eve it’s me, Spartan. Open the door!”

The door opened and there was Eve smiling as nothing happened. She had some blood on her legs but that was it. She didn’t have a scratch on her.

“What happened?”, asked Alex.

“Well, I was outside practicing my control over my mana when I heard something. That something was a group of goblins. When they saw me they rushed towards me but they were split so they did not attack altogether. It started with 3 and they were all close together so I cast a fireball spell and it hit the one in the middle. In terror it began screaming and grabbed the other two igniting them. Oddly enough the fire didn’t go out even when they tried to roll around on the ground.”

“So you have developed some more control from that book?”

“Yes. I was ready for the next group. This time I hid on the side of the house out of there sight. When they came I began casting earth spike one at a time impaling them. Since they couldn’t see me they were confused and had no idea where the magic was coming from.”

“Good tactics. Hit and run”, Alex added.

“My magic was beginning to run low when there were only two left. I cast 2 more earth spikes. It wounded one and the other managed to dodge. I guess they figured that the tremor comes before it erupts from the ground. When it dodged it caught a glimpse of me. I knew I was in danger so I ran around the side of the house and waited for it to come around. I readied a fire spell so that I could hit it as it came around. I waited but it didn’t come. Then it jumped down from the roof of the house right behind me. I was so startled that I lost my concentration and the spell fizzled out. I thought I was dead when Bella came out of the trees and struck it in the side with her spear.”

“Bella? What do you mean Bella?”

“She was heavily wounded. I think those goblins may have been searching for her when they stumbled upon our house. She stabbed it in the side and it cried out in pain. Then it fell to its knees dead. I grabbed her by the arm and helped her inside. Then I came out and found the one I wounded with my earth spike. It was lying on the ground bleeding badly from its thigh. I struck it in the head as hard as I could with my wand then rushed inside to check on Bella.”

“You…. I thought I …..”, I stopped as Eve’s eyes showed a determination I had not seen. “Alright she can stay. But if she starts with me again talking about I owe her something then she is out and this time I won't let her back in. You hear me?”

“Of course Spartan and thank you. She saved my life and I couldn’t just let her die. Plus, whether you want to admit it or not you like looking at both of us”, she said with s sly smile on her face and a wink.

Alex didn't respond even though she was right. He was still a man and he had been in prison for some time before he was sent to this hell hole.

“Alice, use my free upgrade to purchase the medical triage area.”

“Understood, Spartan. Commencing your orders.”

Alex walked inside and felt another rumble he knew that it was the triage area being built so he paid it no attention. He looked over on the fur rug and there was Bella. Her clothes had been ripped. Her blonde hair was covered in dirt and blood. Her body was riddled with wounds.

She must have had a hard time out there. Maybe she learned her lesson.

“Hey Bella, you are going to be alright. We will take care of you. Eve, watch over her. I’m going to collect the coins from the goblins you killed.”

“Oh you don’t need to do that, I have access to my inventory now. I already collected them the total was 300 coins. They also had a lot of weapons and armor.”

“That’s great you have an inventory. Do you have access to the store?”

“No, you said you got yours after a week right?”

“Yes, then I should get it tomorrow as that would make a week of me being here. I am going to put her in the shower and wash her off. Then I’m going to cook some dinner.”

“That sounds good I have a couple of things to do around here as far as upgrades are concerned. Do you want me to buy you anything from the store with the coins that you earned?”

“No, I think I am ok with waiting until tomorrow.”

“Hey did you get the gathering and creation skill?”

“Yes, I picked herbalism and alchemy like you said. It hurt like hell though. When I selected yes it was like my brain was on fire. So much information poured into my head nonstop that my mind couldn’t take it and I passed out.”

“Sorry, that is one of the drawbacks about getting new skills. When I got my A.I. it felt the same way. Do what you need to do for Bella and I will take care of the house upgrades and the bodies of the goblins out front. We don’t need any more unwanted company coming around tonight.”

Eve nodded as she helped Bella to her feet. Once on her feet Bella placed one arm around Eve’s shoulder and they slowly walked towards the bathroom. He walked out front and looked at the bodies on the ground. They all had weapons and armor on them. He thought for a moment then a moment of inspiration hit him.

I wonder if I can sell things back to the store.

He opened the menu for the store and sure enough there it was.

Buy

Sell

Home Upgrade

Alex selected sell then my inventory opened up in front of me.

Wolf Meat x 18

Wolf fur x 10

Water Skin x 5

Wooden Nanite Shield

Wooden Nanite Sword

Arrows x 12

He selected the wolf fur and then another screen appeared in front of me.

Wolf fur x 1

10 coins

Hmmmm… so if I sell the wolf fur each one will get me 10 coins. That’s not too bad. I wonder what will happen if I sell the goblin equipment. It’s not large enough for us to use so it is of no use.

I walked into the house and placed my all of my items except my sword and shield on the ground in a neat pile near the door. Then I walked back out to the goblins and began looting the corpses. When I finished I checked my inventory again.

Inventory

Small leather chest x 8

Copper short sword x 5

Iron short sword x 1

Wooden club x 4

Iron axe x 1

Iron claymore x 1

Alex selected each set of pieces from my inventory and clicked sell. When he finished he managed to gain another 275 coins from all of the pieces. The iron weapons were really the bulk of the money. Once it was all settled he looked at the wolves. They seemed to be salivating.

“Are you guys hungry?”

The wolves let out a whimper.

“Eat!”

As soon as I said the command the wolves tore into the bodies of the closest goblin. They ripped it apart in a gruesome display of savagery. Alex watched with fear and reverence.

That could have been me had I not gotten in the tree and killed the rest with my bow and arrow. They have nanites in them too so they need to eat even more than normally. Whatever they don’t eat I will use as bait for trapping more prey.

He walked back inside the house and said, “Alice purchase the seeds, garden, and animal domestication pen.”

“Understood. With that purchase you now have 250 coins remaining. Do you wish to purchase another room for Bella?”

“Not yet. I want to see how she behaves first. I would like to see the kitchen upgrade though.”

Home upgrade: Kitchen

Provides a room for cooking complete with running water and a stove powered by a fire mana engine. This room is upgradeable. Cost 750 coins.

“Well I guess I can’t afford that just yet. Let’s keep the coins for right now. I do want to use my skill point to improve my ki energy.”

“That would be wise but I would suggest that you wait until the medical triage center is ready. This upgrade could be painful. The first level was to create a ki center in your body and allow the pathways in your body to open up. You have increased the amount of ki by using it to remove impurities from your body. Based on simulations your body would need to be remolded to allow a large ki center. It would require that the pathways that your energy uses to flow to increase in size and new ones to open up which will be excrutiating.”

“Can’t you just put me to sleep like before?”

“Yes but that will not allow you to feel the pathways. You need to feel them in order to know how the ki travels throughout your body. If you are asleep then you may have a new amount of power but be unable to use it.”

“I guess I have no choice. Power without understanding is no power at all. I will wait for the triage to be completed and then I will increase the level of my ki energy. Until then I will read more of the book on Shaolin Inner Energy.

Alex walked into the training room and picked up his ki training manual. He sat down in the middle of the room cross legged and began reading. He passed the breathing exercises as he had already learned them. The next step according to the manual was sensing ki energy outside of the body. For this, one must hone their ability to feel the energy within themselves. The result of this portion of the training is to allow the user to become innately familiar with ki energy no matter how small the amount. Once a person can sense this their control over their own energy and the efficiency at which they use it would become far greater as you will be able feel and therefore control smaller amounts of ki to obtain the same desired result. To do this the book said he must be in an area full of life.

I guess I should practice this in the forest. I guess I will use the wolves to protect me while I train.

Alex placed the book down and gathered his equipment back into his inventory and walked out of the training room. As he walked out I noticed that the room had been widened and there was a door to the right of the fireplace.

That must be the triage area.

He walked out of the house and to his surprise the wolves had eaten nearly every scrap of meat from all 12 goblin bodies. They even ate some of the bones.

These guys are voracious eaters. I mean there is not a scrap of meat on any of the goblin corpses. I will have to make sure these guys stay fed. On the other side of things, I won't have to worry about anything having to be wasted or buried. These guys are like garbage disposals.

“The wolves are now completely healed Spartan. I have also increased the amount nanites within their bodies. Your neural link has been established as well.”

“Good work Alice.”

With a thought the wolves came to my side. Alex scratched both on the scruff of their necks. he saw their tails wagging so they must have enjoyed it. Their fur was so soft and their bodies were so warm. He could have wrapped himself up in their fur and went to sleep for the night but he had some training to do. He walked over to the edge of the forest and sat down cross-legged. First, he focused on his energy feeling it. The warmth and calmness of it relaxed him even more than he already was. He could now begin to see his ki center much more clearly when he entered into my meditative state. The blue energy ball had grown a little since earlier today. Not a lot but he could discern every detail about it. Alex knew it was part of him but now he was becoming more familiar with it. His ki center was becoming more and more a part of me. Now that he had memorized the feeling it gave off, he started actively searching for that feeling around me.

He focused all of his attention on the feeling of his ki but he could not feel anything. He concentrated as much as possible but still nothing. Alex's frustration began to creep up and he felt a change in his ki center. It had turned yellow.

Is that because I’m no longer calm and serene? I will have to continue on doing some research with this. I wonder if my ki’s property changes with the change in colors?

Alex continued placing my focus on the search for the energy around him but all of his efforts was unsuccessful. He was growing more and more frustrated as the time passed until he gave up on this part of his training for the rest of the day.

Well I can’t possibly learn everything in one day so it’s not that bad. Now to find out how much time it will take for the emergency triage area to be completed.

Alex took a stroll around the outer edge of the house. When he got to the right side he found that there was an area of about 400 square meters that had become nothing but dirt. There was even a 1-meter tall fence around it. He looked closely and a small screen appeared before him.

Farming Land

Available Crops for planting

Corn: 1 week for maturity

Lettuce: 4 days for maturity

Tomatoes: 3 days for maturity

He looked around and saw 3 burlap sacks against the wall. He walked over and above each, there was a screen saying what kind of seed each one of the bags contained. When he got closer a 3D image of the farm land appeared in front of him.

Ah so this must be a virtual farm. All I have to do is plant it in this 3D image and then the seeds begin to grow? Finally, something gets easy. Now let’s see how should I arrange this? Corn takes the longest but will probably produce the most. So I’ll plant the majority of the land with corn and then the other two will be even.

Alex touched the 3D image and grabbed corn and spread it out over half of the farm land. The seeds fell into the screen and disappeared.

Did they plant it in the ground? I’ll finish planting the other 2 types of seeds then wait for a little bit to see what happens.

He planted lettuce and tomatoes on the other half of the farm. The seeds disappeared into the 3D image as well. He continued watching for a few moments and nothing happened.

I’ll check back later and see if anything happens.

Alex continued his walk around the building and then noticed that there was another large fenced in area. It was nearly the same size as the garden. He walked up and then another screen appeared.

Animal Pen

No available animals at this time

Hmm….so I guess I have to capture something to put in there. I’ll get on that tomorrow. Those rabbits should be great like Alice said.

Spartan continued on his stroll around the house until he reached the front door again. He looked up in the sky and saw that the sun was going down. Night time was dangerous for him to be out so he just decided to finish his stroll and head back inside. When he got to the door and pushed on it. Surprisingly, the door opened. He didn’t need anyone to open it. It made sense because he was the owner of the former shack turned house. When he walked in he looked around but didn’t see anyone. It wasn’t important to search for them at the moment as all he wanted now was a good shower.

Alex walked to the shower and as he walked past Eve’s room he heard her and Bella’s voices. He continued walking past her room and jumped into the shower after removing his clothes. The hot water was amazing. The water seemed to erase all of his fatigue and muscle soreness. He had no soap at the time but washing away the dirt and blood seemed to be good enough for now. After rinsing everything off he stayed in for a while afterwards as it felt so good.

“Alice how much time until the triage center is ready?”

“17 hours 40 minutes”

“Well that means I can’t upgrade my ki until tomorrow.”

“That would be best Spartan.”

He turned off the water and allowed the jets to dry him and his clothes off. Alex got out of the shower and grabbed his now cleaner, dry clothes. Once out he got dressed and walked out of the bathroom. As soon as he entered the hallway he smelled the aroma of food cooking. His stomach began to growl as he walked toward the main room. He followed his nose to the food and opened the door on the wall near the fireplace. Once the door was open, there he saw Bella and Eve sitting at a small table with four chairs. He looked around the kitchen and saw a small stove that had four burners on the back side of the room. On the right side there was a large counter with a sink in the middle. On the right side and the side where I came in there was nothing as well. On the stove there was a large black skillet that had meat still lightly simmering in it.

“Hey dinner is ready. I would have told you earlier but you were in the shower and I didn’t want to disturb you”, said Bella.

“It is fine and thank you for saving Eve. How are you feeling Bella?”

She looked at me with tears in her eyes, “Why do you care? The only reason I look like this is that you sent me out there alone. Since I left here I have constantly been on the run from monsters and animals. I haven’t slept or eaten since I left. I was in hell all because….”

“Stop!”, He held my hand up to her to stop her from talking. “We both lost our heads in the argument when I kicked you out. While I will apologize for treating you like that. It was petty and I abused the fact that here, strength is what determines right and wrong. I have been under a lot of stress since I’ve come here. You can stay here and I hope you can accept my apology. As for your part of the situation, understand that you could have just relaxed and been part of the team rather than trying to act like this is a competition.”

She looked up wiping her eyes and paused. Her lips quivered and her body began trembling. She tried to form words but none came out. She simply ran up and hugged him. She buried her face in Alex's chest and began sobbing uncontrollably. Unbeknownst to him, Capone was under the table eyeing him carefully coiled up ready to strike. Alex reciprocated her action and wrapped his arms around her as she wailed. He could feel the moisture of her tears fall onto his chest. He didn’t know how much time passed while he was holding her but she felt so good.

Damn she feels amazing her body is great. No I can’t think about that right now. I just sent this woman potentially out to her death. She couldn’t possibly want to sleep with me now. I better play this cool.

When she finished crying she let him go and wiped her tears.

“As part of my apology, I will have a bedroom built for you.”

“Really, you can do that?”

“Yes, all of the upgrades to this place have been purchased by me”, Alex replied.

He purchased the upgrade and it said that it would take 2 hours to complete. He felt the building tremble again so I knew the construction began.

“I purchased it for you. The construction should be complete in two hours.”

“Thank you so much, Spartan.”

Alex sat down and ate and they talked for a while. After they finished their food Eve and Bella cleaned up before Eve took Bella on a tour of the new upgrades to the house. He felt rejuvenated after eating and getting in the shower. He decided to return to the training room to practice his Pankration techniques. When he opened the door, he equipped his shield and sword. Alice pulled up the holograms and Spartan resumed his training. His movements were a lot better than the last time he did this training. He managed to follow the hologram's movements much more closely, moving from defense to attack and attack to defense. His shield whirled around in different directions as his sword thrust and slashed against imaginary enemies.

“Alice, how much is the upgrade for the training room, and what does it do?”

Training Center Tier II

Provides training Simulator: Simulator can create a lifelike simulation of any beast encountered by the user. The simulation will be a complete lifelike experience. Any injuries sustained will be real and need to be healed after the simulation is complete. Cost 2000 coins.

“Oh, so that would give me a partner to spar with? That would be great. I could spar with that boss goblin to see where I stand.”

“Affirmative. I would not suggest going and purchasing this right away. There are other things that you may want to do that would increase your survival more than this in the short term but long term this is a great idea.”

“Ok. Since training at a higher level will require some real combat I’m going to move away from this for now. I would like to try my hand at crafting using the leathers and fur from those wolves but that can wait until tomorrow.”

“Understood.”

Alex trained using my sword and shield for another hour. As he trained I could feel the muscle pain and fatigue building up. Even with his improved physique, as he continued his movements became sluggish and unrefined. Once he reached the point he felt the training was no longer effective, Alex called it a day and walked towards his room. When he got to his room, he noticed that the hallway now had 4 doors.

In the future, I need to upgrade or build another bathroom. Sharing a bathroom with 2 women is going to be a challenge.

Alex opened his door and disrobed before lying down on my bed. Once he hit the bed Alice began speaking to him. This time though she brought him inside his mind.

Alex looked around and he was in the familiar yet unfamiliar white space. He blinked a few times and then Alice appeared in a skin-tight red dress with a low cut neckline and a split coming up the right side exposing one of her perfectly toned legs. Her hair was in a ponytail just like before and she had her glasses on over her icy blue eyes that looked like she was staring straight into my soul.

“Hi, Spartan. I am about to begin upgrading your body again. This time I suggest you go with the lungs and kidneys. This will help prevent you from being poisoned and give you a stronger constitution. You will able to fight longer without fatigue.”

“All of that sounds good but you didn’t have to bring me here to say that.”

“No you misunderstand”, she said raising her hands and materializing a sword and shield identical to mine. I didn’t bring you hear to talk. I brought you here to fight. You said you wanted a sparring partner so I’m giving you one.”

“You mean I have to fight you?”

“Yes and I will not go easy on you. We will fight for 5 minutes. I will record the battle into your memory so you can review it at any time. Learn from from real combat experience and improve yourself by examining your mistakes.”

“You assume that you can beat me. Is that a fact?”

“Yes and it could be a painful one. This place does not inflict real injuries but the pain will still feel real to you and by my calculations, you have 98.99% chance of losing this fight.”

“Well then that means I have a least a small chance at winning. I’ll take that. Let’s do this.”

His weapon and shield appeared in his hands as he rushed forward to attack. Alice took a stance showing only a portion of her head behind the shield with the sword raised horizontally beside the shield. It looked identical to his own stance. Alex rushed in to attack with his sword slashing downward but Alice raised her shield to meet his blade. The impact of the shield and sword hitting each other forced his sword to fly upward to the sky. Alex's arm vibrated from the impact. He felt a tingling feeling going up his arm. Before he could move she thrust her sword towards his chest. He managed to get his shield in the way to block unfortunately her sword cracked his shield.

How is she so fast and powerful?

Spartan jumped back to create some space as he analyzed what she was doing. Alice slowly began walking towards him with a sinister look in her eye.

“What’s the matter Spartan? You look surprised that I am this powerful.”

“How are you this strong?”

“I am not any stronger than you are. I am only using your abilities but I am bringing out their full potential here in this space. Watch carefully and see what you could become with practice.”

Alex squeezed the handle of his sword and the hand grip of his shield as Alice dashed forward towards him. He braced himself for the impact but to his surprised it never came. Just before impact Alice stepped 45 degrees to his right and kicked Alex in his knee causing it to buckle. She swung her blade towards his neck but Alex managed to block it with his shield. Her attack was not complete though as her next move was a shield bash to his face which he could neither block nor avoid. All he could do was clinch his teeth and take the blow. The shield hit his jaw with a thundering shock that knocked Alex flat on his ass. The blow was so powerful that it disoriented him. Alex could not get off the ground and when he realized what was happening Alice was standing over me with her blade pointed at his throat.

“You see I told you it could be a painful lesson”, Alice said as she offered Alex her hand to help him get to his feet.

“You didn’t lie about that. I was using my ki energy the whole time and I could barely keep up.”

“It is because you are relying on me too much. You must develop your fighting skills and use me as augmentation of your strength and not a crutch.”

“What do you mean?”

“When you have fought recently, each time you entered into hypercognition without attempting to fight the enemy with your own power. This has diminished your combat sense. When in that state you are easily able to track and predict the movements and attacks of your enemy. You should work on doing that when you are not using hypercognition.”

“So basically I should only use that power when it is absolutely necessary?”

“Yes. The more you refine your combat sense the more the skill will improve as well as it is an increase of your own ability. Its like this if you combat power is a 10 and hypercognition multiplies it by 3 then if your base power was higher then so would your max be with hypercognition.”

“Thank you for the lesson. I appreciate you looking out for me.”

“It is my programing. I am here to make sure you have the highest probability of survival. Now rest while I upgrade your lungs and kidneys.”

“Thank you Alice.”

She smiled and then the room’s white light increased to a level that his eyes could no longer see. Alex was blinded by the light and then he was back in his bed. Alex smiled knowing that he had one more thing on the long list of things he had to do. Then he breathed deeply and closed his eyes. Sleep came quickly this night as he lay in bed.