Chapter 23

The Good Doctor Take 2

“You said you had been working on your own theory of what is happening to you. Would you care to explain what your theory is?” Dr. Charleston asks. A seemingly simple question, but one that I am even doubting at this moment. Once again, I am in his office, but this time I want to take a little more active control in the way the meeting goes.

Taking a breath, I begin. “My theory is what I am referring to as the Unique Universal Theory. Now this doesn’t completely negate your theory. Instead, it just tries to help me understand why this universe is so different than what I dreamed up in my visions.” Visions is the term we have both come to agree to call my previous lives in the Awakening Trials.

I pause for a second before continuing. “There are things in this lifetime that are wholly unique to me. Like being able to level after four years. The weird thing about certs, the way who generates the certs can impact the outcome of the cert.”

With this the doctor raises an eyebrow and I know that is his cue that I need to elaborate.

“For instance, when a mage generates the certs. Those certs either need to be applied by a mage to a mage class, or they need to be applied by a psychic to a psychic related class. Also, there is a way to apparently force a class change to being a mage or psychic by applying enough certs to the problem.”

“You are of course referring to your girlfriend? The one who is now enrolling into the Academy as a full-fledged War Wizard?”

With that he hit the nail on the head. I had been trying to avoid talking directly about the problem, but now that it was stated so blatantly, I couldn’t refute the claim that this had been bothering me.

“Yes.” I answer.

He nods, then asks “how does that make you feel? She is already an Omega class mage with a maximum rarity. Also, she has decided to join the Academy to get closer to you, well and to train her overwhelming powers. How does that make you feel?” The good doctor asks.

“If you are asking if I think she deserves this break, then absolutely I do.”

“No,” he cuts in. “That is not an emotion. I am asking how you feel about this situation.”

I pause, then try to answer the same question again. “Good, happy.”

He looks at me, as if he doesn’t trust me with that answer. “Please explain how this makes you happy?”

I pause, then try to answer to the best of my ability. “She is a great person who deserves this opportunity. I do feel bad that she chose to come here to get her powers vetted, thus forcing her into servitude to the military. I also feel a little guilty that she might have done so for me. She had more than enough money to afford the best trainers to get her powers under control in the allotted time.”

“There, guilty. You said you feel guilty, while guilt isn’t an emotion I did want to touch on this subject. Mainly why do you feel guilty? This was her choice was it not?”

“Yes.”

“Did you in any way talk her into this?”

“No.”

“So then why the guilt?”

“Well, she was free of these constraints. Free to live her life as a powered civilian and she threw it all away to come here and be with me.” I answer.

He nods. “So, you are still saying you do not like the way you got here, even though you realize it was for the best?”

“I realize it was the best. The way I was when I first got here was chaotic and hectic. I feel that I now have a somewhat cognizant understanding of what is expected of me. But again, this universe makes no sense to me. Or again it is not what I remember.”

“What do you remember?”

I shake my head. “Nothing. Not even my childhood. It’s as if everything I learned in the Awakening trials was it, that was my whole life. I don’t remember my childhood. I remember my brother was a narcissist, but I don’t know if that is something that began recently or if he always had the inflated ego. As for the whole levels and certs thing, why don’t I remember these aspects of my life? I don’t remember them at all.” I answer.

The doctor nods his head sagely. “We try to keep children from knowing these things. It has long been a concern that children will often worry about things that are far outside of their control if given the chance. As such we focus on getting a firm foundation of knowledge, before setting them loose in the Awakening trials.”

I nod to myself. This does help make sense.

“So, your brother still won’t talk to you?”

I shake my head. “Nope still blocked.”

The doctor nods and then marks something down. “I want to go back. How do you feel about Mel joining the Military, likely to be closer to you?”

“Frightened.”

“There, now that is an emotion. How do you feel frightened by her being here?”

“What happens if she sees the real me and then grows resentful. That or she finds someone else. Someone who is more impressive.” I admit.

He nods, but then asks. “I must ask. What do you mean by more impressive?”

I shrug. “Someone who is more powerful or capable with Mage or Psionics. Basically, someone who is just better than me.”

The doctor nods his head. “Out of curiosity, where do you get the idea that someone could become more powerful than you at magic or psionics? Has anyone demonstrated more control, or power than you in those areas?” He asks.

“Well no.”

“Also your Power attribute is quite substantial at thirty-three points. Do you know why that is so important?” He asks.

“Yeah, because only someone level sixty-five or higher could have a score equal to that.” I answer back.

Hearing this he leans forward, then stops to sit back and stare at me. His hands are crossed over his notepad, which he uses to stare at me for a good few second. “You really don’t know do you?”

“Know what?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Do you remember a few weeks ago when there were the quarterly orientations?”

I nod.

“Did you happen to see the Sophomore flier?”

I nod again.

“Do you remember the question it asked about the attribute that could not be increased after the Awakening trials? Or something to that effect…” He waves a hand as he tries to recall the exact wording.

“Now that you mention it, I do remember something to that effect.”

“What do you think that means?”

I shrug.

He nods his head before continuing. “That was a veiled way to say that aside from going to a second temple, and partaking in those trials, your Power attribute is set for life. This means that most people at most get twenty points, because that is the most, they can get in their first trial. You on the other hand are different. You started off with thirty-three points in Power. Can I ask how such a feat was possible?”

I nod. “I just put the points in there. In my past… visions I remembered being able to put any number of Attribute points into those. I found that if I didn’t have my mind balanced at twenty, after my power reached twenty-one or higher, I had problems. My mind couldn’t take the amount of force I had and that often caused a lot of problems for me.” I answer truthfully. Again, recalling my past lives as if they were tangible memories, despite me not being able to remember a thing about my actual past of this life.

Dr. Charleston nods.

Thinking about the Attributes and the fact that I could increase my physical attributes on my own I feel guilty about the five points I spent on Agility and Dexterity. But then another thought comes to me. “I have a question, why haven’t my physical attributes increased? I’ve been working out strenuously for the past two months and I’ve lost a lot of weight but have not noticed any real difference in my physical attributes.” I state.

The doctor looks at me with another skeptical look in his eyes before answering. “Your Attributes are locked now. That is the point of the Awakening Trials. They unlock your future potential, but lock in your progress until you gain an attribute point from leveling. I have heard times when people who have done as you have, trained diligently, gained more than one point of increase for the application of a single attribute point. That said, those stories are rare and nearly considered to be myths.”

Hearing that I don’t feel quite so bad at increasing my Dexterity and Agility, especially since they are at the first peak for performance.

Silence.

“Changing the topic, a bit. I first wanted to commend you for your recent charity work with Professor Astria.”

I shrug. That whole experience is still so odd in my mind. Then I remember something.

“I do remember something I wanted to talk about. The scourge that I spoke about at length when we first met. The ones that killed me in my visions.” I say, hoping that would jog his memory. He nods in understanding, so I continue, “those Prolaxians looked exactly like them. I mean they were. When they broke through Astria’s wall, I remembered them swarming me in my past life…” I trail off as more visions of the past come back to me.

Nodding Dr. Charleston replies. “I figured they might be similar. The visions you spoke of did seem to mirror these monsters.” He replies and I realize my mistake. I spoke about the visions as if they were a past life.

“So, my question is, why do I remember so much about them, and nothing at all?” I ask, before continuing. “I mean clearly, I know what they are. I saw them in my… visions. But in my visions, they always came much later. Here not only does the universe know about them, but they fought and lost and came back.” I say, referring to the way the Endarians have had their home destroyed and have come back with technology that is well beyond what I remember from the visions. I even remember the Endarian song of peace, Endar Rising. Something that would have been lost for generations apparently.

“You are referring to the fact that you don’t remember hearing about them in your history books?” He asks.

I nod.

“The reason why is simple. We humans never fought them. At least not on the full-scale invasions that the Endarians and Dwenvar have. Most of the struggles happened thousands of years ago, back before we even began entering space. For us humans, it was a lot easier to fall in with what the other space faring races were doing. In this case they were making a sort of sport out of vanquishing the ancient foe. This again reminds me; how do you feel about your time with the charity? The crowd loved you, by the way.” He asks.

“You saw that?”

“Me, not just me, but everyone. This also brings me back to a point on your Power. Your affinity for Pyrokinesis is what 42%?”

I nod. Of course, he knows this, these are part of my scans I provide to gain entry to this room.

“So that means that theoretically 58% of all Pyrokinetic users should be better than you, am I correct?”

I nod.

“But let me tell you. That wall of flame you summoned to burn the Prolaxians to dust. That was a thing of beauty. I bet if the other name wasn’t copyrighted, the announcer would have been calling you another name other than Heal Boy. Still, you cut a dashing figure in that healer’s garb. But I digress from my main point. Your Power attribute is extreme. Remember what was said about Attributes being able to cover for a ten percent difference in a Skill or Affinity?”

I nod again.

“That is normally meant as a warning to students to not be overconfident with their Skills and Affinity ratings. But for you, you should likely take this as a realization of your true potential. With most people being capped at twenty points of Power, your thirty-three points puts you at thirteen points higher, or roughly 130% more efficient than your current Affinity would indicate. Thus, you should think of yourself, not at 42% but 172% affinity rating for Pyrokinesis. Your other magical and Psionic abilities also could be considered as part of the same scale. Again, this is not to say that you are a God. Nor are you immortal, but you have a gift. One that could be put to good use. Astria’s involvement with the MAC not only generated fifty billion crypto to help the community, but it also gained 49 certs for our school. This is a win, win for everyone. Especially you, as you were a direct recipient of your hard work. How did that go, by the way?”

He of course is referring to the rewards I got from helping. I sigh as I recall what happened. “I got a total of two certs, one from Astria and one from the Manager. I wanted to apply both to my Mage class as I want to evolve it to something other than Support Mage. But I was only able to apply one to Mage and one to my Psionic class.” I answered.

Nodding the doctor took down a note. “Ah, so you wish to be known as something other than a mere support mage?”

I nod.

“Is this part of why you feel odd about Mel’s recent Class change?”

I think about it. I hate myself for the thought, but at the same time I want to answer truthfully. I look to see that the truth crystal is off, but still, there is no point in being here if I am not at least honest.

Sighing I answer. “Yes. In a way I feel somewhat jealous that she has an amazing mage class that is already at the Omega level. This means she literally has the remaining three years and eight months here before she fully integrates to the system to just learn her spell craft. She doesn’t need to get qualified on a job or skill as she will be readily accepted to any military branch she applies to. Basically, it feels like she had everything handed to her. While I…” I trial off, I’ve had a lot handed to me too. Though I like to think I earned everything I currently have. Even if they were from visions, they were from visions where I put in the work.

Hearing this, Dr. Charleston nods in agreement. “Have you spoke about this to Mel?”

I shake my head. “No, all I got was a letter stating her changes and that she is busy wrapping up a few things before she comes. She wants to meet over the weekend so she can give me her surprise. But everything seems so chaotic.” I say with a sigh.

“So, what would you like to do?”

That is a great question. “Well, I have a lot on my plate coming up too. I have the cert finals for basic flight class. Then I have signed up as an auxiliary healer for after school matches. So that should be fun. Then I also have six more times to be Heal Boy,” I say the name mockingly.

Hearing this, the doctor nods in understanding. “I suspect with your Power and already high Healing affinity you are exceptional at healing too.” He states. “By my logic you could consider yourself to be a 187% Healer, at least compared to the best-known healer. Again, these are numbers based on my own observations, but you are being hired as a healer is a good thing. Also, if you truly want to evolve your Class as you say, focusing on Healing is a good way to go. There could be worse ways.”

I nod. There could be worse, like being a 229+% Mage Breaker. I think to myself. Even after reversing the bindings on Graves and his team they are still recovering. While they will get back to full force eventually, I caused a lot of damage to them. That is also not something I am proud about.

Ding-dong.

An alarm sounding like an ancient winding clock sounds off, letting us know the hour has passed.

“I believe that is all for today, unless you had something else you wanted to talk about?” He asks.

I open my mouth to say something, but then close my mouth. I have a lot to think about and a lot to work through. I am no longer the special one in my relationship to Mel, but is that necessarily a bad thing?

“No, thank you.” I speak.

With that the doctor nods in understanding. “Oh, one thing before you go. Well two things.” The doctor says.

I pause to look at him as I am now off the comfy couch he has.

“The first is that the school is looking for a new violin teacher, one who can speak Endarian.” He states.

I look at him quizzically for a moment, then a light bulb goes off as I realize this likely has to do with my performances that are being live streamed back to the Endarian Cluster. While I should get a royalty fee from the videos, I just asked for the payments to be made in certs. So far I have earned zero certs this way.

“Really?” I ask.

“Yes, this brings me to my second point. It seems that every violin for band members and every violin within the galaxy has already been purchased. You might have sparked a renaissance with violin music, as factories are now being converted to recreate the ancient instrument, solely for the export to the Endarian clusters.”

I nod, still having more to think about. I wonder if I can apply for that teaching position. “Thank you.”

With that I leave the room and realize while I feel better. I also have a lot more to think about than before.