We’ve been training for over a week while we wait for The Goddess and Esther to build up their multiverse-traveling technology. I’m quite excited about it, if not a little impatient as I think about the sheer destruction that the U.S. government is surely causing to Mystix in the meantime.

If only I could dream again and see what is going on out there. Sadly, I can’t.

Mount Osore is our base camp for operations; the Multiverse Portal Generator is being built right now inside a house the local monks graciously provided to us. The group spends most of its time here, but we do go back to the main Tanabu district of Mutsu for food and rest in the famous Grand Hotel. Both to help build our image with the community, and to escape the terrible sulfur smell that permeates every facet of existence up in the mountains.

It’s honestly very gross. The monks who live at the temple must be far stronger than even the most powerful system user, if they are able to stand it.

But thanks to its incredible magic energy, keeping us energized and keeping my Life Points from draining even a single point no matter how tired or hungry I get, it’s a great spot for combat training.

Julie and I have done some incredible sparring lately as a result. I knew this woman was strong since the first time I sensed her aura, but I never would have imagined just how much so it would be. I am stunned by just how many fireballs she can launch without even a single word spoken, a single Destiny Card skill activated that I can tell. She does not have to even use Ancient Eleven, or Japanese, in the same way that Master Keitou does to activate her own magic. It’s purely natural.

While I don’t understand any of it, I do understand that this woman is incredibly strong, and honestly more powerful than me by a longshot. She lacks the training and awareness to properly utilize her abilities, but the raw strength alone is staggering.

In today’s matches, Francis and Delta have been practicing their hand-to-hand combat, while Julie and I have been practicing our elementals.

I’ve won three out of five battles so far, but each one was a very quick victory only decided by my clever use of Destiny Cards such as [[Drop]] to make her fall over at a pivotal moment, or [[Geochange]] to make the ground into hazardous slippery ice that she could not adjust to. I won by only a hair on my pink head.

Luckily, victory still counts as such.

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

Because of my very long time in captivity, being forced to level-up in the most mundane and routine ways in order to gain points for cards to trade to U.S. soldiers, I have not been particularly enthused by the Destiny Points progression process as of late. I have become almost desensitized to the dings for how frequently they used to occur. But today, they feel at least somewhat welcome.

I’m up to [Total: 587 DP.] That’s plenty enough to level up a few times or to customize my Destiny Card roster, but I’ll do that later, when I have a quiet moment to myself.

As the final fight finishes, The Goddess approaches me, and then looks me over with salacious eyes.

“No shirt, buddy?” She puts her hands on her hips. “I approve.”

“It’s the heat of summer next to a sulfur lake,” I say. “It is only fitting to do battle in the coolest way possible.”

Delta and Francis, finishing up their own sparring, come up to me as well. Delta shakes her head at me.

“Sexism, that’s what it is,” she says. She points at me, as well as the similarly shirtless (and very muscled) Francis. “You men can go around parading your pecs while Julie and I have to sweat our boobs off.”

Julie, doing a diligent post-combat stretch, says, “I don’t mind.”

“Neither do I,” The Goddess says. “Not that I’m doing any sort of physical labor.” She taps her head. “My expertise is all up here.”

Delta rolls her eyes and decides not to bother pressing it further.

“How’s that proceeding?” I ask.

“Decently. Thanks for convincing Pablo Rosas to help me, though. He’s been doing all the heavy lifting with equipment, which gives more time for me and the little one to do our thing. Also I get to soak in that eye candy while he’s carrying everything.” Her eyes flutter. “Anyhow, I figure we’re fixing to make a breakthrough on this device. Any day now.”

“I’m hella hyped,” Francis says. “I can’t wait to be done with this place.”

“Well, that’ll be a while yet,” The Goddess says. “The real snag here now is the quantum decryptor. I don’t suppose any of y’all know what that means, so I’ll make it all simple and say, we need a special key to bypass the normal route through my Domain. It breaks the lock so we can go anywhere we want, wherever we want. But actually creating one is, um, a bit beyond my current capabilities.”

“Didn’t you create this whole multiverse?” I ask. “Can’t you simply break through whatever lock you built?”

“Well the thing is, um...” She stammers out a few incomprehensible words before saying, “The multiverse, uh, well, see, I made a lotta use of open source repositories in my design. Totally fair, everyone does it. Just peachy. It’s open for a reason, you know? It’s just, um, I forgot to read all the documentation.”

Julie bows her head. I can’t tell if it’s a neck stretch or if she’s brooding. “So the fundamental design of this entire multiverse was copypasted?”

“Hey now, I ain’t done nothing wrong! Everyone does it!”

The Goddess storms off in a fit of embarrassed annoyance, and leaves the four of us here outside in the smelly heat.

Quiet, except for all the bubbling water pits and the screeching cicadas in the distance.

“Want to call it a day?” Delta asks.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Francis says.

Julie and I look at each other. “Not yet,” we say simultaneously.

Just a few more battles will do.

And then a few more.