Tichaona was given some more solution by the dark figure, which she injected into his arm. They had moved away from the control room, and were now back in the infirmary, once again, for the third time. As the dark figure nursed him back to health, Tichaona began to discuss the terms of their agreement. Having seen this sadistic and cruel blue alien woman, cry and plead for him to come up with a suitable arrangement that would benefit both parties, he became slightly interested in understanding her logic. It was clear that because he had attempted to kill himself, in his past life, that she couldn’t threaten him with death. With that said, she was still a temperamental, prone to violent acts upon being instigated. Whatever terms he was going to come with, were going to have to account for erratic nature.

“So I have thought about how we are going to make this work between us, but first, I need to understand why I had to face fucken wolves instead of doing other kinds of training. I am sure that there are other means, that could get me there, to that level I need to reach, to be useful for your cause. So break it down to me, how would my power be useful to your cause.” he asked, as he flinched over her spreading the solution all over the bulging hand marks left on his neck from her choking him.

“It would have been better for me to explain once you’d have attained reasonable strength, but alas, I shall detour from my original contrivances. My brother attained his power through the assimilation method. His strong will, managed to subdue the souls of all those he killed for experience points. His speed in growth was faster than anybody else's and he also inspired others to attain power this way. The only problem was that, most of the imitators who would slay their brethren for a little boost in power, didn’t have the same kind of strong will and were at odds with the accompanying psyches that they took from experience points dumps. Some were successful, but generally speaking, absorbing a deceased xp had its drawbacks.” she said, moving her hands around his neck slowly, with a caressing touch.

“So how did you free me from that guy? The guy who I was sharing a conscious with like I was suffering from a split personality.” he said, looking over his shoulder and glancing at the tilted body of the dark figure who was spreading the solution all over his neck.

“I ascertained the ability of transubstantiation as I trained, at the cost of my eyes turning white as snow. With that I can extract souls or consciousnesses from a body. I separated the mind of the madman from yours, so you can thank me for that by being helpful towards my cause.” she said, as she put down the wet cloth that was soaked with the solution.

“That’s fascinating, well, thanks. I guess, the assimilation method was just too good to be true.” he said, as he began to recline on the stretcher. The dark figure went through a compartment that was lodged on the wall and took out a bottle that looked like a spray can. She then sprayed his neck and the foam slowly turned into an adhesive cast. The plaster like texture took him by surprise, but seeing as he really needed something to give his neck a breather after taking the full brunt of her choking him, he didn’t complain.

“The assimilation method was something that only my brother could handle, something that my foolish spouse couldn’t accept.”

“You mention your spouse or is it husband, in a negative light, was there trouble in paradise?” he asked, curious to know about what happened to the missing man in her life.

“More like foolishness in paradise. My spouse was introduced to me by my brother. He was charming, a merciless brute and capable of rousing others around him. He conspired with the others and got me involved. My brother had become the bane of our existence as he murdered our kind, accumulated higher levels and sought power by any means necessary. We actually managed to defeat him, by the graces of chance, but when he was disemboweled, the temptation of his experience points lured in my foolish spouse. He then got consumed by the novelty of the titan we had slain and absorbed his experience points. The several psyches that had become subservient to my brother performed a mental hostile takeover and soon enough, my spouse’s soul became nothing but part of a collection of sheep, possessed by the shepherd who is my brother’s consciousness.” she said, looking daunted by the mere thought of him.

“That’s crazy, so your spouse’s body was taken over by your brother?” he asked, with his mouth ajar.

“Yes, it was a complete possession. With the merging of the experience points, he became too strong for us to face. It was better for us to hide and train, but catching up to him by normal means would take a while. The man wasn’t going to just wait for us to catch up. He made the scope of his powers so insurmountable that facing him was like seeking death.” she said, now reclining on a ball chair opposite the stretcher.

“So did you try use your soul separating ability against your brother? Can’t you separate the consciousness of his from your spouse?” he asked, glancing at her with inquisitive eyes.

“I tried that, but whenever I got ahold of his immaterial form, he would just switch his consciousness with one of his several souls and beat me. It was not entirely a useless attempt because I made an interesting discovery. You see, separated souls can be affixed onto gems and you can use the powers of the deceased by channelling it from the gem. The downside to that is that you have to fuel the gems with mana. They basically have to be recharged and will behave like a lowly levelled specimen as yourself.” she said, as she stretched out her hand to show him the amulet that was wrapped around her arm.

“Wow, that’s amazing, so your ability isn’t teleportation?” he asked, amazed by her story but soon enough wincing after getting peeved by her offensive ending remarks.

“My power has always been poison, but with the soul stones, you could say that I have a plethora of tricks under my belt. However, the use of mana plants is an annoying and backward.” she lamented.

“What do you mean backward? Don’t you need mana to trigger your ability?” he asked, down struck by her utter contempt towards the useful mana plant.

“I used to need the plant, when I was weak, but now that I am strong, I can generate mana from my body. Once you get to a higher level, you won’t have to chase after plants like a starving peasant. That’s why I wanted to get you strong through the fastest, but effective means possible.”

“You actually don’t need a mana plant, that sounds super convenient, but is it something your body gets after crossing a certain number of levels?” he asked, raising his eyebrows wide as he found this revelation fascinating.

“Yes, but I am not sure if the level caps, that were applied to us beta testers would be standardized with how you humans attain growth, but level 9 to 10 were the levels where most of my kind were able to conjure the mana from within.”

“Hmm, level 9 to 10, so I guess that’s a thing. Anyways, let’s get to the most important question of all. From what you have told me, this brother of yours seems like a big deal. A big enough of a deal that he kicked all of your asses and levelled up drastically. What level is your brother?” he asked, whilst making conjectures in his head.

“If you wanted an exact figure then it would be level 50.”

“50? Like god damn, that is really high. So what level are you?” he asked, worried about what she would say.

“I am currently at level 40. Though I must tell you that once you reach the top tier levels like me, it becomes increasingly hard to up scale because you’d have built up a resistance to so many things on this planet that you’d only be able to develop yourself through combat. Combat will always be the best option because you’re not repeating sets of a certain routine. Facing people at my level would probably increase my power, but we would probably destroy half of the planet if we got serious. The ecological nature of Goshem did get affected during our battle, 7 years ago, but the planet eventually recovered.” she said, now looking stoic.

“Okay this sounds insane and dangerous, but something isn’t adding up. If you guys went into hiding for 7 years and he is that powerful, did he like forget about you because he seems like he could find us if he wanted to. The custom goal is a very useful tool after all.” he said, driven by his curiosity.

“Yes, in a way, he did forget about us, or rather the bastard didn’t see us as a threat anymore now that he was all powerful. Initially we thought he had gotten drunk from the power he could quickly attain from murdering his brethren, but his intentions became pretty clear when I asked him. What my brother wants, is to evolve and become like the planet creating gods.” she said, with a blunt delivery.

“To become a god, like Sedulous? Wait I know we are capable of doing crazy shit, but planet creation seems rather outrageous. I can’t even fathom forming land plateaus, volcanoes and arctic areas, is he insane?” he asked, bewildered by his objective.

“Warrior in the making Tichaona, level 50 is nothing you have seen before. It is a level of miracles so do not write it off. It’s just that for him to get to the ideal evolution, he needs to consume a highly ranked mortal, probably one who is close to level 50. None of the surviving beta testers are at level 50, the highest would be the reclusive Garnol, the hermit who is at level 45. My brother would probably aim for any of the new members from your kind with high evolutionary potential. You see, you humans have the advantage of being highly reactive to this planet’s ecosystem. One of you, would eventually get to the level 50 mark and face my brother. They would lose and he would take their level 50 experience points and finally get what he wanted. This cannot happen because I am sure that if he were to become like the 3 gods, he would terrorize the universe.” she said, sounding daunted again.

“That’s a big responsibility, I mean goodness, this is a losing battle. So what made you have faith in my abilities, considering that your objective is to beat a monster like your brother? As far as I am concerned, I don’t seem to see how I would even out the odds or make a difference. It sounds like a problem beyond my control, something I cannot influence, so tell me, what does pitting me against fucken wolves have to do with gaining enough mileage to beat a man who wants to become a god?” he asked, now looking angry as he questioned her logic.

“You see, this may sound ridiculous coming from me, but I made use of the custom goal mechanic which only gave me 2 possibly options that could aid me in defeating him. Your ability is one of them. You power Barrier to Entry will eventually evolve into something fantastical so it will play an integral in winning. On the plus side, we would be able to move the experience points off his corpse with your ability without having to touch it. Touching his dumped xp would just revive the monster, giving him a different body to possess, so I want anything and everything about him, sealed off from existence.” she said, looking at him with earnest eyes.

“So, I basically go through your tough as nails training, get stronger, we beat the bad guy and then what? Happily ever after for you?”

“I would desist from obsessing about him and focus on my maternal concerns. You would be rewarded with me as your mate and we would have children, strong, powerful and beautiful children.” she said, with a supple smile.

“If there is one thing I hated about dating and relationships with women, is how they would plan their lives and also plan yours as if you were just an automaton that abides their whims. I think it’s time we got into what I want from our arrangement and trust me, I don’t wish to have children with you. That may be your idealized ending, but I think we should get a few things straight. Depending on your cooperation, I might just leave. You could restrain me or accidentally kill me, I mean I tried killing myself, so I ain’t afraid of death, but if I die, it will affect your plans. So as a man with leverage I would like to be treated differently. So listen carefully and be mindful of my position. We can meet half way, but I sure as hell will not be treated like shit by you. Do you understand, goddess?”

“Yes, I do. You may speak your mind.” she said, biting her lip as she got peeved by his flagrant use of his power over her.