I sat on the bench, leaned back against the cold stone replaying the fight in my mind. Despite the end of the fight, she was tougher than the ogre. Her biggest weakness was that she had totally underestimated me. A fatal mistake.
The tell was probably something she would have masked against an opponent she thought worthy of the effort. For me, she just wanted to prove a point and get me out of there as quickly as possible. She didn’t consider me worthy of her time and she got a three-inch spike repeatedly plunged into her brain amongst other places.
I closed my eyes and smiled at the thought of it.
“You’re so much more than just strength and aggression,” a voice said, breaking me from my daydream. “I studied you well this time, and you know something, Earther? I knew you would win after about the third swing of her axe.”
I looked up to see that the Able was in the room, and he didn’t look happy.
“But why kill her? After the kick to the back of her knee, she was utterly finished. And why do you insist on alienating the crowd? They are a huge part of how we add value to your name.”
I stood, moved to one leg and stretched out my right quad as I faced him. “What the hell are you babbling on about?”
He grimaced at my reply. Then as if stepping over a steaming shit, he moved closer. “I am referring to your use of the Akra.”
“Ah! The Akra. Got you. What’s an Akra?”
He looked back at the guards. It was brief thing, but I saw the look of pure disbelief on his face. “So you weren’t intending to insult them on purpose?”
“Of course I was. A middle finger on Earth basically means screw you.”
“If that is your reasoning, then you might want to reconsider your insult. That particular salute originates from the second Siroth Wars. Billions of lives lost to the savagery of those rebels.”
“Just so you know, Able, none of your words mean anything to me. I feel like we’re talking a different language again.”
“Let me explain it more carefully to you, Earther. The salute you have brandished today is considered one of the most vile, insulting, and degrading gestures you could use among the people of the Union. In short, you are projecting the wish that you would like to see everyone in the Union burn. That you curse both their ancestors and descendants until the end of time. In essence, that you despise them and everything they stand for. You might as well scream from the rooftops that you are a member of the Siroth.”
I gaped. “Holy shit! That’s what I was doing? It means that much?”
The Able smiled as he finally broke through to me. “That is what you were doing.”
“Nice. I’ll definitely keep that up, then. Did you hear the reception I got! It was intense.”
The Able actually slapped his forehead. “You are broken, Earthling.”
“Insane,” one of the guards grunted.
I shrugged. “I’ve been called insane for most of my life. I don’t really see it that way.”
“Most insane people don’t,” the Able said. “And it doesn’t matter. A promise is a promise, and our Monarch said that if you won, we would ascend you. Are you ready?”
“Does a bear shit in the woods?”
He turned and strode from the room, and I followed eagerly after. “You’re still making it sound like this ascension’s for my benefit. And while I’ve no doubt it’ll help me, we both know there’s more to it than that, so stop trying to sell it like you’re doing me a favor.”
“Oh but we are.”
“Still, I want those five hundred Unitols that Talla was offered.”
He chuckled. “Hardly. She was proven, and she only took the fight because she was desperate for money. You took the fight because you’re desperate to survive.”
“Nah, I would have took it even if you offered me nothing.” I pumped a fist. “I was born for this shit! I’d still like to know your endgame here though.”
“I’m sure you do, and I am sure I will not divulge all of my secrets to you any time soon. Just understand that I am an Able. A mage of high standing within the Union, and I achieved that rank by asking the right questions and carrying out the right experiments. I believe you are the right question. I will find out if that is the case with my experiments in time. But first you must ascend.”
He was creeping me out a bit now. But I’d come this far, and while my alarm bells were ringing, I was in too deep to pull out now.
We ended up in a small room which was lined with a completely smooth material like marble. It was seamless apart from the door we’d entered through.
“The ascension chamber,” the Able declared. “I do hope you enjoy the experience. I remember it being quite euphoric.”
I shrugged and watched as they all left the room with impatience. As the door closed, I noticed that the back of the wooden door was covered with the same type of material as the rest of the room.
The moment it closed fully, the seams of the door disappeared, and a pulsing red light spilled out of every surface of the room.
That was the last thing I could remember before waking up in another small room. It took a moment to observe my surroundings. Nothing unusual. Bare stone walls. A bed that I was sitting on, and a couple of chairs with a table.
Judging by my stiffness and the cramp in the arch of my right foot, I’d say I’d been in that position for some time. Otherwise, I felt okay, but disappointed. I’d expected more from this ascension business, but I felt exactly the same.
Swinging my legs off the bed, I stood up and did my little routine of stretches. I didn’t like stretching, and I didn’t make a habit of many things. I also didn’t like cats.
But those furry little fucks were born hunters, and they always did stretches and made it look like they enjoyed it, so I tried to do the same.
After my stretches, I tried to shoot a ball of power out of my hands like I’d seen other people do since I’d been here. Nothing!
I tested the weight of the bed to see if I’d gained super strength. Nothing.
I was getting disillusioned now, but I threw out a quick combo of punches. Same speed as always. Yep. No fucking super powers for me.
I banged on the door. “What’s going on, you set of bastards? I thought I was getting ascended!”
There was no answer. Not on first attempt, and not on the tenth attempt.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
I paced the room twice, then dragged the mattress off the bed and hoisted the bed frame up to use as a battering ram.
It was awkward, but sturdy, I set myself to charge, and the door swung open.
The Able stood there, shadowed by two guard and smiling until he saw the bedframe. “I knew you would survive. But… what are you doing to the bed, Earl.”
“Fucking Earl now, is it?” I looked at the bedframe and then back to the Able. “And what do you mean? Knew I would survive? I can’t remember you mentioning a risk of dying.”
“It’s rare. Perhaps five percent.”
“That’s not rare at all,” I interrupted.
“Rare enough. There was a concern over you because, honestly, Earl, I haven’t seen anyone take as long to ascend as you didn’t. You’ve been in there for over a cycle.”
I dropped the bedframe, and pushed it back into position with a clatter while I thought. My dad had always said that the wise man considers what he ate for dinner and checks the room before he farts. It had something to do with thinking before you speak. Seemed like cryptic bullshit masquerading as humor.
“Longer than most, hey? So how long do most people take?”
“Three days is average.”
“And how long is a cycle?”
“Five days.”
“Aye, well, that’s not amazing, is it?”
“I said over a cycle. You were almost seven days.”
That surprised me more for the time I’d been unconscious. “A fucking week?” I muttered.
He appeared to have lost interest and was now surveying the ransacked room with a frown.
I offered a sheepish grin. “Yeah, I was practicing to see if I had super powers. Sorry about the room.”
“It’s not I who needs your apologies. Perhaps you should direct them to yourself. This is your room for the duration of your stay with us. At least while you are a pool fighter. I suppose I should also point out that your door wasn’t locked.”
“Trusting,” I said with a wide smile. “Now tell me about this ascension bullshit. I don’t feel any different. Probably because of how tough I already was. That’s why it will have taken so long as well.”
“Unfortunately not, Earther. It looks like the opposite is true. The lower leveled the person, the harder it is to ascend them.”
“Bullshit. How do you know what level I am, then?”
“Because I can see it when I look at you, now that you’re conscious. Would you like me to tell you, or would you like to find out for yourself?”
“Tell me!” I snapped, mentally preparing myself for the worst.
The slick-back bastard grimaced. “You are level 9. Not what we were expecting at all. But you have proven you can hold your own in the arena by your own merit. I imagine you have very high Toughness, and for that reason, you will remain in the pool until you are killed or you lose too many proving fights.”
“Toughness? What’s that mean in regard to this ascension shit?”
“You have three base stats. Toughness, which is all of your physical attributes. Mental Acuity, which is all of your Mental Attributes. Then Harmony, which is all of your Spiritual Attributes.”
“So strength, cleverness, and holiness?”
The able gawped. “I think it’s safe to say that you are not high in Mental Acuity, though your fight IQ may save you from the score of a rock. You can see the levels of others or your own detailed breakdown with a mental command.”
“Sounds a bit mumbo jumbo to me. Just tell me the stats.”
“It is not mumbo jumbo. It’s part of the framework of being. All it requires is concentration.”
“Or you can just tell me.”
“I can only see your name and level. Your individual stats are personal. Though, in your defense, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Level 9 ascended before. 10 was always the lowest. I always thought of it as a kind of lower limit.”
I made no effort to hide my irritation. “Is that supposed to help?”
“It means your special, Earl. Just not the special we were hoping for.”
I gave him the middle finger as I tried to stare holes in the arrogant shit trying to see his level.
“I will be honest, Earl, you look like you are trying to pass a particularly troublesome bowel movement. Try this. Close your eyes and breathe. Imagine the world isn’t just what you see or hear, but threads of energy weaving through each of us.”
I did as he asked, eager to get some kind of powers out of this farce.
“Now with your eyes closed, focus on me. Picture me in your mind, standing here before you. Not as a body of flesh, but as a knot of energy. Once you have it, hold that image steady.”
I felt rather than heard him step closer.
“Instead of asking yourself what I am, feel it. Let the answer come to you. Don’t force it, just… let your awareness expand. Like water finding its level, the answers you seek will rise up if you allow it.”
I opened my eyes. “What a crock of shit. You’re just distracting me. Will you do me a favor, Able? Shut the fuck up a minute while I work this out?”
I focused on his sour expression as his face twitched at the insult of being told to shut up. I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to kill me. Worse, he thought he was oh so much better than me.
To give him his due, he hung about in the room for what must have been two hours as I failed again and again. But then I cracked it, and his name jumped up in front of me. I leaped into the air with the victory and read it out.
Name: Levashin Lectun
Title: Able of the Velkyn Arena
Level: 39
Class: Mage/Tradesman
“That’s kinda cool,” I said. “And Level 39 That doesn’t seem very high.”
That brought another laugh from the guards. I checked the closest to me.
Name: Nakira Umba
Title: Veteran Guard of the Velkyn Arena
Level: 19
Class: Warrior
“Hang on,” I said, thrusting an angry finger at the guard. “Level 9 is shite, but he’s only Level 19. How hard is it to get levels here? How high do levels go?”
The Able nodded at the questions. Apparently, they were reasonable to ask.
“Level 18 is very respectable and takes hard work and diligence. Remember, not everyone in the Union is ascended. Perhaps thirty percent of the population, but probably less. As for level, in the distant past, there are those among the Archons who are said to have reached Level 100. No one actually believes that other than them. While it is theoretically possible, it would require you to be one of the best mages, Warriors and Tradesmen in the cosmos, all at once. Even the Archons will admit that those masters did not stay at the pinnacle for long.”
“Why would that be impossible?”
“Oh, that’s easy to answer. To be the best at anything, you must train every day to a high level for a good amount of time. To do that at elite level for three classes? There just isn’t the time in the day. That being said, there are definitely a few Level 80s among the upper echelons of the Archon, Veloria, and most likely the Xeo.”
“Again. Not a clue what any of that means. I’m more interested in how I get stronger.”
“So you can find your brother?” the Able said with a plain face.
“Pretty much. Now how do I look at my own stats?”
“With exactly the same method, but this time, look inward and preferably don’t take two hours about it. I still have much to do today.”
“I’m on it,” I said, feeling confident. Turns out, I was right to be confident because my own stats flashed up a minute later.
Name: Earl Henshaw
Title: 208th Ranked Pool Fighter of the Velkyn Arena
Level: 9
Class: ---
Stats:
- Toughness: 16
- Mental Acuity: 13
- Harmony: 0
- Total: 29
Progress in Class:
- Warrior Level 0: 0/10
- Tradesman Level 0: 0/10
- Mage: 0
“The fuck is this shit?” I snapped more to myself.
Pretending to cover his mirth, but making it abundantly obvious he thought the whole thing was hilarious, the Able answered. “That is what it looks like to be Level 9. Though, as a first timer in viewing your stats, I imagine you have concerns about your class progress? If so, then do not fear. The Ascension System only works once you are ascended. You should rise in the Warrior class quickly enough at our arena. If you don’t then…” He smiled again. “I think you get the idea.”
“Oh yeah, you twat. I either die in the arena or I’m sold to the highest bidder.”
“Exactly! I assume Toughness is your strongest stat?”
“Way to go, sherlock,” I muttered.
His voice was starting to grate on me, and I was ready for him to go anywhere else but near me. Instead, he leaned forward. “And it is?”
I took another deep breath to stay calm at his patronizing tone. It didn’t work, but I managed to answer through gritted teeth. “16.”
The mood in the room changed. “What? No. That can’t be right.”
Even the guards looked uncomfortable.
“What can’t be right? Why is that so hard to believe?”
“Well for starters, 16 is… well, it is an incredible base Toughness score. Base Toughness is the score you’re ascended with, and it generally dictates how easily you will be able to develop that stat. Honestly, Earl, 16 is… it’s incredible! But it leaves me with serious fear over your other stats. Dare I ask what your Mental Acuity is?”
“No. You can fucking guess for being a cheeky bastard.”
“9,” one of the guards said.
“Too low for Harmony,” the other guard said. “Can’t be higher than 7 which leaves a maximum of 6 for Harmony.”
The Able spun on them, and for a moment, I thought he was going to burn them alive with his eyes, the anger in them. They both fell silent, and he turned back to me. “Just tell me, Earl, what are the other two?”
“Well let’s just say I won’t be doing magic.”
“I didn’t think you would be. But I take it from that, Harmony is very low?”
I shook my head. “Low would require a number. Both Harmony and the Mage class are crossed out. I don’t have access to them at all. On the plus side, my Mental Acuity is 13, which makes sense.”
Until that point, I didn’t think white was an option for a purple-faced alien, but that’s exactly the color the creep turned.