Much to Todd’s surprise, Lanky Busdriver Larry ends up making the cut for the redburr extermination mission. While there are still concerns about his level, his skill produces a spear out of shimmering light energy, and it’s universally agreed that he’s going to be uniquely suited to fighting in the cramped underground tunnels.

Discount suburban road-warrior Teo picks up the third position. He stomps over to Bernice, scarlet with anger and cursing under his breath. It seem Andrew will not be changing his mind, and Teo has for some reason found that refusal to be vicariously emasculating. With his broad shoulders and hefty gut, Teo looms comically over the short policewoman while he listens intently and deferentially to her instructions.

The final fourth spot is another controversial pick. A few of the crafting candidates have insisted that the bonus reward on rebooting the support hub will be hugely valuable in the long term and to that end, they get shockingly loud. Within minutes, an unfamiliar figure shuffles in place next to Bernice. Their features are obscured by a head to toe suit of [Redburr Shell Splint] armor and their arms lift high over their head. Below, the Fletcher girl, Jingshu, and one other swarm about in a circle adjusting and securing the straps. They retie one of the rounded wooden breastplates into a makeshift shield and strap it to the armored figure’s arm.

Todd truly hopes they know what they’re doing.

Meanwhile the newly assigned team leads have spread out and begun to recruit small groups. Like anything unfamiliar and untested, the process is less than smooth. Some of the leads are trying to group with friends or family exclusively, others are attempting to avoid undesirable members. The elderly, the wounded, and the weird are passed over particularly often, even as more than one group begins to exceed the eight member limit. It takes Joe’s direct intervention to rebalance the teams, and he entreats the unsure and unwilling with broad, animated gestures and back slaps.

Todd’s task starts after the next step. Each team lead is responsible for identifying any of their members at level four or below for mandatory cultivation training. Those early levels are critical: they’re both fast and easy to earn, and as far as Todd is concerned represent an easy stack of bonus attribute points. It’s true that there’s no way to know how much danger will greet them planet-side, but there’ve also been three pixies of reasons to think the threat is as high as it is nigh. That small handful of points, multiplied over a hundred (or however many, the population counts have been a mess since day one) souls might make a world of difference.

Tipping his [Greed Satchel] over, Todd scrapes out the full sum of his possessions onto the floor and then repacks his armor, food and sportswear. Working from a seated position, he sorts through his little collection of treasure. He pushes apart three nexus crystals, one healing pill, a scruple of skill serum, the basic cultivation manual, a nickel colored weapon-raffle coin, a small stack of decorative patches, his reverted [Mercury Rod], and his three energy restoration pills, rattling happily in their little corked glass sleeve.

On one hand, it doesn’t seem like a lot. On the other, this little spread represents three completely different pathways of advancement. His remaining unspent standard crystal and new restoration pills should be able to multiply his cultivation significantly, whereas the elemental crystal and skill treasure could be a huge blessing for his [Water Spear]. But his weapon represented a pathway he hadn’t even considered before; between it and the coin, Todd suspects they represent a hidden lesson about interfacing his own energy with that physical objects.

Could he get a magic sword like Officer Bernice if he chose to spend today cultivating the coin? Is that even something he really needs if he already has the rod?

Any decisions he needs to make will have to be delayed, as the first group of cultivators has arrived. Todd rises and stands with Doctor Chowdhury to greet them, then motions for them to sit. Over the ensuing hour of instruction, it becomes apparent to Todd that there are three main difficulties his students are contending with. The first group is probably easiest for him to relate to. They simply experienced the entirety of their preconceptions apropos the laws of reality yanked out from under their feet. No biggie. It’s right reasonable to be turned adrift.

A good number of the elderly cultivators seem to be falling into this bucket. They’d spent too many years alive to reinvent their notion of possible so fast. Unfortunately, the rest of the group seems to be just plain thick.

Group two is insufferable, Todd never would have thought he’d use the words layabout or shiftless unironically, but the younger cultivators are plumbing the depth of his patience and dragging up mud from the bottom. “Can you sit down, please?” He is forced to ask more than once.

At the start of this session, Todd had thought he would be able to share all the exciting tricks and insights he’d gleaned from the Root of the Limitless Promise manual. Instead, most of the growing crowd are overwhelmed by the basic exercises such that multiple, and often personal instructions become necessary. Abigail’s return is the first big win. She manages to organize the cultivators into small groups that tutor each other, which frees up Todd’s time to answer more specific questions.

Win two is somewhat bitter, as the instructors share the basic method for absorbing energy from nexus crystals. It’s a short-cut, providing little to improve a person’s spiritual channels or foundation. Plus, without strong technique much of the energy is wasted or evaporates. The other problem is their supply, as the main way to obtain crystals has been from fighting in the swarm. The cultivators are forced to rely on donations which Business Jenny procures upon request and ferries over. Even then, the crystals end up shared between two or even three cultivators. So it is with a sigh of great relief that Todd overhears the first few pupils power through and announce their ascent to level five.

It’s a shame that not everyone is making the effort.

“Lay off, geek,” snorts a young man that ought to know better. The boy is maybe eighteen or nineteen, tall for his age and with a squared set to his jaw that Todd might not grow into himself until his thirties.

“Can you just try? You’ve got an opportunity right now to bank some serious levels. I know this meditation stuff is boring,” Todd pleads, “but if you get into trouble tomorrow and you haven’t laid down a proper foundation –”

“So what? I can,” the boy makes a motion to indicate air quotes, “level up by killing bugs, right? So screw this, I’ll just fight.”

Todd rubs the side of his nose and squeezes one half of his face shut tight. Maybe he’ll get an aneurism and mercifully die, free of these jackasses.

He watches with dread as two of the kid’s friends rise to join him in delinquency. Pressing both fists to his forehead, Todd briefly shuts his eyes and calmly repeats himself. “You’re not ready yet. I am telling you.”

Abhigjna’s voice surprises him, and he sees her standing at his side wearing a cruel little smile. “Todd, I am thinking that you should teach these boys what it means to be level eight.”

Todd blinks. “Oh, did I level up? How did I not notice?” Reflecting inward, Todd finds an internal feeling of pressure in his chest which is similar to what he’s become accustomed to as the boundary between levels. Ah, but it isn’t. This feeling is just stress.

He’s actually completely overlooked his progression past two full levels. What had he done to advance so fast? Todd looks down at the nexus crystals in his hand. One has gone completely dark, and the second is starting to dim. Add to that all the energy recovery yesterday, and the monster he had to kill this/last night, and maybe he can see how that would be enough.

Todd pulls up his status menu and, sticking to his balance strategy, quickly assigns his four points spread out over his physical attributes.

Name

Todd Kalogeropoulos

Level

8

Race

F – Human

Alignment

Human (Earth)

Titles

Chosen

Strength

13

Dexterity

13

Endurance

13

Vitality

13

Intelligence

14

Wisdom

15

Luck

9

Nexus Coins

602

Free Points

0

He looks with surprise at Abhigjna. “How’d you know?”

The doctor’s gaze holds laser focused on the troublemaker, but she answers Todd blithely. “Because I have also, and I doubt I am so far ahead of you.”

“How do you think,” Abhigjna taunts the boy, “that you are as strong as the dripping man? My opinion is that you embarrass yourself.”

“Whoa, no.” Todd raises his hands in peace and his eyebrows in protest. “Please don’t start me a fight, and please don’t do it calling me the dripping man,” he groans.

“Oh yea?” The kid scuffs the underside of his nose with the back of his hand and saunters forward a step. “You think I’m scared of moist master here? Can’t even barely fight one little baby crab-a-dillo?” The boy dips slightly and waves dismissively at Todd’s scabbing leg.

“Don’t be a dick, man,” Todd moans. How is it possible that no one else woke up to such a rabid murder crustacean as he had? He feels like such a dweeb in front of the lowbies. “Mine was kind of big.”

An ugly little glint reaches the kid’s eye and Todd regrets saying what can only have been interpreted as a sign of weakness. The teen closes another step, bringing his face in uncomfortably close. “Maybe I should be teaching this lesson,” he threatens.

Todd frowns. “That doesn’t even make sense,” he says as Doctor Chowdhury brushes past him.

“Your friend is all talk,” she brashly gloats to the boy’s two peers. “He is frightened he has measured the dripping man wrongly.”

Todd’s stomach sinks like lead shot in a dark pond. A civilized man will suffer all manner of indignities if he’s alone to bear it, but to be disrespected in front of his friends? There’s no limit to the stupid that’s possible when a fool’s got a choice between saving face and breaking it.

The fist cannons forward and Todd watches it mournfully as it clips his wrist and drives past it into his chest on the right side. The thump rattles him and he staggers back to absorb the blow. “Doc, what the hell?”

Raising his fists up to the side of his head and rolling his right shoulder, Todd flushes a cycle of energy through his body. It would be impossible to fight and focus on all of his channels at once, so he falls back on his cultivation’s basic five-figured-star loop technique to circulate his power.

The big little bruiser steps in again, taking an angle to round Todd’s defense and lashes out another disciplined, straight-ahead punch. This fight isn’t going to be like his scrap with Randall, this kid actually seems to know what he’s doing. Todd leans back and ducks left, careful not to trip over the cultivator sitting behind him. He still takes the tap on his eyebrow, just at the edge of his opponent’s reach. The speed at which this guy is moving is sorely obnoxious, where had he been during the redburr invasion? If he could fight like this, he should have blown through level five right then on day two.

Todd takes a shallow breath and cycles more energy to his arms and head, letting the current through his legs slip. Twisting his hips, he moves one raised arm to deflect another incoming strike and takes it painfully in the broad of his forearm instead.

“Todd, don’t go easy on him! He is very rude!” Abhigjna exhorts him.

“Easy?!” Todd’s voice cracks a little as he shouts. He skips off one heel into a jump and twists his torso awkwardly to absorb a blow to his side. Coming down, he stumbles off balance and has to throw his own punch just to recoil off of his opponent. “He’s like a Cro-Magnon, square dance – OW – Mike Tyson – Aaa, watch the ear!”

Todd cups the side of his head and gingerly runs his thumb along the inner ring of cartilage. He gives it a quick glance, it’s come back with less blood than he’d expected.

“Like Klitschko?” The Doctor considers. “No, Klitschko was a points fighter. Todd, stop being soft!” She cries.

“I spec’d a lot in wisdom, okay?” Todd lifts a foot, thinking of a kick but aborts and swings his left fist instead. The punch collides with a guarding arm, and Todd feels fingers wrap around his wrist. Tensive pain signals some kind of twist maneuver, and his arm yanks around into a pinned position as he’s pulled in close. Then a series of fast jabs dig into his lower back as the kid takes advantage of the hold. “I spent on wisdom, so fucking sue me!”

Abhigjna’s mouth purses to a tight O, and her cheeks press up until the corners of her eyes crinkle. “Why would you fight him then?”

Sucking in air through his teeth, Todd burns through his cosmic energy, washing it through his bones and blood and muscle in thick sluggish looped ribbons. He twists his captured arm back around the wrong way, shaking with effort. Meanwhile his other elbow spears backwards to cover his lower back and encourage some distance. Feeling the grip on his arm loosen, Todd torques it harder and brings his own hand around to grip the boy’s wrist. He wheels around, face to face as he bends the arm straining outwards and snarls.

There’s a moment of surprise as Todd looks into the face of the boy trying to hurt him, and the state the latter’s in most clearly is not anger but exhaustion. Bringing up his free arm to his head, Todd blocks a sloppy blow, then raises his knee to take a kick shin on shin. The boy winces as his punch lands, but shrieks as his leg collides against solid bone.

“Oh shit, you okay kid?” Todd asks, releasing the arm and backing up.

“Screw you, how are you not tired?” The boy pants. He ducks low and propels forward with his fists tight to his body.

By this point, Todd doesn’t even really dodge the hits. He grunts as they land on his ribs and bicep, but commits to use the opening to swings his other arm round. Instead of a punch, he basically grabs the kid in a half hug. Then, taking a couple minor hits, he loops the other arm up over the kid’s shoulder and down.

“Let go of me!”

Leaning his head backwards, Todd grimaces. “Yea. God, this is awkward. I just... need to get my weight a little lower, can you turn a little?” Stooping at the knees, Todd squeezes harder and leans backwards. The other young man yelps as he lifts off his feet, and then Todd adjusts one hand to cup the back of his head, hops two feet into the air and hurls the pinned body down beneath him. While his hand gets bashed against the stone tile, cushioning a falling skull seems like a worthwhile trade. The kid wheezes as the air is knocked out of him, but seems otherwise alright as Todd untangles himself and climbs to his feet.

“Ah, that SUCKED,” he groans, shaking out both arms. Testing his tender ribs with his fingers, he rolls his torso and hears something pop. He shudders, hoping it’s a ‘back into place’ kind of sound. “Oh man, I am super mad at you, Doctor C. Where did that even come from? I’m like, really reexamining my perception of your character.” Turning away from her, he works his jaw and eyebrow like he can map its topography in pain sonar. At least all the shouting has stopped.

Spotting a pair of figures out of the corner of his eye, he angles towards one and motions him closer. “How’s my face?” He asks before realizing he’s addressed the kid’s two lackeys. White as a sheet and slack jawed, the young man raises one hand slowly and wobbles it flat.

‘So-so.’