"NO!" Kiv yells, "Find her.".
Standing up, Jill runs, she doesn't usually run from a fight, but these guys are a little too much for her to handle alone. Running into the building, Jill picks up the scared girl, and she enters Shadow Step with me. Then Jill sprints towards the tree line, Thunder fall into a run next to Jill.
"Alfred, how long can I stay in Shadow Step before I run out of stamina?" Jill ask him, as she runs.
"You have forty-five seconds. I can convert your mental energy into stamina at a two to one cost which will provide you with another minute. I must warn you there is a chance you may lose consciousness if too much mental energy is used too fast." He says.
"Just do it! Stop the conversion if my mental energy gets too low." Jill yells at him. She feels tingling between her eyes and a headache starts to form. "Alfred, have I told you that I love you?" Jill asks.
"Yes ma'am, you told me the first night before you fell asleep." He says with no emotion.
Chapter Nine: Home is Where the Heart is
I lay on my new bed, in my new house. I laugh, how the hell did I end up with home? Livia did deliver on her promise of a hot bath, and it was glorious. The water was brown after I was done. She had even left me a new set of clothes. She sent over a simple stew of roasted roots and some kind of mystery meat. It was terrific and warmed my whole body. She told us that we should get some rest and that we would talk more tomorrow.
I am nude as I lay on the bed, a candle next to my bed flickers with the warm breeze blowing in from the window. I forgot how much I missed the simple things in life. "Jax? May I come in?" I hear Kala say.
"Um, yeah. Just a sec." I grab the sheet off the bed and wrap it around my body. I open the door for her, and she floats in. "Where's Doc?" I ask her.
"He's sitting in the front room reading." She says with a chuckle.
"He's reading? I... well, huh." I say picturing the metal man reading.
"Yeah, he asked Livia if she had any books." She tells me.
"So, what's up, Kala?" I ask her.
"Do you mind sitting?" She asks me.
"Uh, sure. Is something wrong?" I ask her. She hovers there, her colors flashing in complex patterns. I sense a lot of different feelings from her, and it's hard to make out. "Kala?" I say.
"I... I'm ready, Jax." She says quietly.
"Ready? I don't understand." I say looking at her confused.
"I'm ready to choose my form." She says blushing. Why is she blushing?
"That's great Kala! What did you decide on?" I ask.
She doesn't say anything for a bit. "Close your eyes, Jax, and no peeking." She tells me.
I laugh and close my eyes. The room is filled with blinding white light, and I hear a crackle of energy.
"Okay, you can look." I hear Kala say.
I open my eyes, and I gasp. "You... how? I don't understand." I say feeling my chest tighten with emotion.
"What do you mean, Jax? When I would sleep, I would dream of this form. Do you not like me?" She asks sounding sad.
"No... Did you dream of her? I don't understand. She was in my dreams, but I don't know her or why she was in my dreams." I say, feeling tears falling down my face.
In front of me stands the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She is around 5'7, mid-twenties, one-hundred and thirty pounds. Kala's hair is red, like a sunset, which flows down to her mid-back. She has a small cute nose, and her eyes stare at me with a blue the color of ice. She has full lips that she is currently biting. Freckles adorn her face and her very nude body. Her pert breasts have small pink nipples. My eyes wander down to...
"Jax?" She says.
My eyes snap back to her face.
"Um, your sheet..." She says.
I stare at her confused, then realize that the sheet covering my body had fallen away and I have an erection.
Kala wobbles and begins to fall. I stand up, and I pull Kala to me, I kiss her. She is startled at first, but then she kisses me back fiercely. She wraps her arms around me pulling me even closer. My erection throbs against her stomach. Her body is shaking.
Kala pulls away "Stop." She says. She places a hand on my chest and pushes me back.
I notice that she is crying. "Kala?" I ask.
"There is too much... too much to process. So many new feelings... I need some time." She says as her body shakes more. I wrap the sheet around her. She stares at me as I do, she puts a hand on my face, then she turns around and walks out of the room.
I sit down on the bed, "What the fuck just happened?" I ask the empty room. I sit there staring at the door in shock for a few minutes. I rub my face with my hands and then lay back down and pull the blanket over myself. I go over what happened over and over in my mind. How did we both dream of the woman Kala now looks like? Did we both dream of the future? There is still so much we do not understand about this planet. I can only begin to know what Kala is going through. What is it like to be born already an adult? As humans, we are born and go through many years of hardship and learning just to understand the bodies that we inhabit. I know Kala has a ton of information about humans, but she as no comprehension of what it is like to live as one. I start to feel bad about kissing her. That must have been an overwhelming experience.
There is no way I am going to be able to sleep for a while, so I decide to go over all the notifications I have ignored from earlier. Congratulations! You have increased to level 5. You now have 10 attribute points to disperse.
This time I add everything to strength, agility, dexterity, endurance, and constitution. I know I can't rely on my mental based skills to always save me. I need to be able to fight in melee combat.
Congratulations! You have learned the Skill:
Laser Beam (Novice, Lvl 1)
Being a science nerd really does pay off. You focused the energy of the surrounding light into a powerful beam. Maybe no more friendly fire?
Mental Cost: 20/sec
Damage: 10 burning damage per second
Focused Burst Damage: 100 burning damage per every 10 seconds of charging. Mental cost of 200 every 10 seconds. Focused Burst may be charged up to 30 seconds for total damage of 300, with a 600 Mental Energy cost.
Experience awarded: 50
Wow, this skill has the opportunity for enormous damage, although I do not have the Mental Energy to charge the burst damage of this skill fully. My Stealth, Sneak Attack, Dark Shield, Medium Armor and Meditation both went up a level. It seems fighting monsters with higher levels than me is advantageous.
Congratulations! You have learned the Skill:
Leadership (Novice, Lvl 1)
In your last fight you asked Kala to go left and Doc to go right. I guess that counts as being a leader? Anyone that is in a party with you now receives a boost of 5% to damage, movement, health and mental regeneration.
Mental Cost: NA
Experience awarded: 30
That Leadership skill is incredible, if I keep leveling it up, it can have a significant impact on combat. I grin and then I pull up my Character Sheet:
Name: Jax Stone
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Level: 5
Experience: 82%
Synthesis: 100%
Race: Progenitor
Focus: Undermined
Fame: 400
Health: 155/140
Mind Energy: 350/300
Stamina: 130
Health Regen/sec: .52%
Mind Regen/sec: 1.8%
Stamina Regen/sec: .52%
Strength: 14
Constitution: 14
Endurance: 13
Dexterity: 13
Agility: 14
Intelligence: 30 (35)
Wisdom: 30 (35)
Luck: 27
Base Melee Damage: 6-10 (Unarmed)
Base Ranged Damage: 15
Base Mind Power: 30 (35)
Base Armor: 2 (5.05)
Afflictions Resist Chance: Physical (5%) Mental (21%)
&n
bsp; Critical Hit Chance: 8.45%
Critical Hit Damage: 150%
Evasion Chance: 6%
Traits:
Radical Race Bonus (Progenitor): Immortality
Mark of Synthesis: Once per day you may use Soul Touch to gain an intrinsic understanding of an inanimate object. May allow access to varying rewards. You must be in physical contact with object.
Mental Cost: 100
Effects 1: Learning new skills is 25% easier.
Effects 2: Permanent increase of 10 to Luck Stat.
Effects 3: Allows user to open Progenitor Lock Boxes.
Mark of the Watcher: You have been awarded an Unbonded Unique Companion. Mark of the Watcher grants the player a one time use of Petition of the Watcher, the Watcher will hear and grant one request. (Uses 0/1)
Perks:
Iron Mind
Skills:
Analyze: Level 4
Unarmed Combat: Level 1
Stealth: Level 3
Sneak Attack: Level 2
Staffs: Level 2
Meditation: Level 2
Teleportation: Level 1
Dark Shield: Level 2
Perception: Level 2
Shockwave: Level 1
Medium Armor: Level 2
Cooking: Level 1
Leadership: Level 1
Laser Beam: Level 1
I swipe away the screens and pull up another.
Congratulations! You have completed the quest:
Save the Villagers
You saved the villagers without any further deaths.
Quest Type: Normal
Difficulty: Normal
Rewards: 150 experience, a house.
New Quest Alert:
Upgrade your house
You are now a homeowner. Make a new upgrade to your home.
Quest Type: Normal
Difficulty: Normal
Rewards: 100 experience
Do you accept this quest? Y/N
Huh, interesting. I'm not sure how to open my house menu. I just think about what I want, and a new pop up menu appears. Well damn. In front of me is a ton of options, everything from the number of rooms to plumbing. I click on the plumbing and see that it is connected to the village. It seems there need to be infrastructure upgrades to the town before I can add plumbing to my house. All the upgrade options require base resources for me to do anything. It looks like I will need to do a lot of material grinding to finish the quest.
I close the screens and sigh. I'm not tired, and my mind is still on Kala. I pull out a Dim Core and roll it around in my hands. I decide to practice my Teleportation skill. I hold the core in one hand and teleport it into my other hand. I do this until I get a headache and then let my mental energy recharge, then do it all over again. After two hours I get the skill up to level 3. I roll to my side and stare at the soft energy swirling in the Core. It reminds me of Kala.
I awake to see a metal man standing over me. "Jesus! What are you doing?" I yell at him.
"My apologies, Jax. Kala told me I should stand over you while you sleep." He says sounding confused. "Who is Jesus? Do you want me to change my name?" He asks.
I rub the sleep out of my eyes and chuckle. It seems like Kala's sense of humor hasn't changed. "No, it's okay, Doc. I think Kala played a prank on us both. Did you see her this morning?" I ask.
"Yes, her new form suits her. She asked me to train her in different combat techniques. We spent a few hours sparring. She said she needed to learn some new skills to be useful to us." He tells me.
"Yes, her new human form is... amazing," I say, thinking about our kiss and her lovely nude body.
"Will you mate with Kala?" He asks out of the blue.
I laugh and shake my head "What made you ask that?" I ask.
"I am detecting an increase in your heart rate, and you are releasing pheromones, indicative of a sexual reaction to Kala. Unless your response is to my presence. If that is the case, I must inform you that I am unable to reproduce like humans."
I stare at Doc for a good thirty seconds and then laugh until tears are flowing. I finally stop and draw a deep breath and wipe my face. "Thanks, Doc. I needed that." I say grinning at him.
"There is much that I must learn about human social interactions. I will process the nuances of this conversation and update my database." He says.
I laugh again, "Uh, I'm sure you will. You have proven to be a quick study. Now, if you don't mind, I need to get dressed."
"I do not mind." He says. We both stare at each other, not moving. "You are cracking me up today Doc. Can you wait in the front room?" I say with a chuckle.
"Of course, Jax." His metal body ripples and his front becomes his back, and then he walks out. I shudder, that was a bit disconcerting. I forget that he is an A.I. with an utterly alien viewpoint on humanity and life. I'm just glad he is on our side. I make a mental note not to piss him off.
I stand up and stretch. I notice a difference in my body from my new stats. I feel a bit stronger, faster, and agiler. I put on the new clothes that Livia had left for me. There is a pair of dark brown cotton pants and a simple white shirt. I feel like a new person, what a world of difference a bath and new clothes can make. I feel the stubble on my face, do I want to grow a beard? There are no mirrors that I have seen. I try to fix my hair with my hands and finally give up.
I open my door and walk out into the front room. My house is built similar to Livia's, a medium-sized living room with a fireplace. A small kitchen off to the side with a window facing a garden. The garden is overgrown and needs work. There is another bedroom to the left of the kitchen. The bathroom door is closed, and I assume Kala is in there, I don't think Doc would have a use for the room. I look around and see that Doc is reading a book next to a window.
"What are you reading, Doc?" I ask as I walk up next to him.
"It is a children's book about The Wanderer." He holds open a page with a drawing. It shows a figure with a cloak and hood on, shadowing their face. Behind the cloaked character is a woman with red hair. I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and a shiver runs up my spine.
"Did you learn anything interesting?" I ask.
"The Wanderer seems to be some kind of champion of the humans. He also is described as the first human on Crucible." He says, turning back to reading.
"Uh, who is that woman in the book?" I ask.
"I have found only one mention of her, and it says that she was seen only a few different times in the almost thousand years that The Wanderer has walked this planet. No name was given to the woman.
"Do you think that I am The Wanderer? Do you know what the marks are on my hands?" I ask him.
"Your story and that of The Wanderer are similar. However, if what you have told us is correct, you have only been here for a few days. The evidence points towards you and the Wanderer being different people. The mark on your right hand is the official seal of the Progenitor race. The other mark I do not recognize. It is not any of the Royal Marks. The Royal Houses were the only ones that were permitted to have a mark on their left hand. The mark translates to Watcher." He tells me.
"Why didn't you tell me all this when Kala asked if you knew anything about me?" I ask him feeling a little annoyed.
"I was not asked about the marks." He says. We both stare at each other. "However, my neural pathways have increased substantially since then. I now understand why this information would be helpful." He states.
I hear the bathroom door open behind me. I turn and see Kala exit. She is wearing the same outfit as me. Dark brown pants and a white shirt. Her hair is wet, and her cheeks are flushed. "That was my first bath. It was amazing!" She says with a grin. I smile at her and then we both remember last night. She looks down at the floor "Hi, Jax." She says quietly.
"Good morning, Kala. You look refreshed." I say, trying not to notice that her shirt is a bit damp and I can see an outline of her breasts and nipples.
"Yes, there are so many new experiences tha
t I am having. I learned Meditation last night to help me not feel overwhelmed. It is still hard. Before I was just my thoughts. I mean there were a few things I could feel, but nothing like this. How do you do it?" She makes eye contact with me for a moment and then averts her gaze.
"Well, life can be overwhelming sometimes. I was prone to panic attacks for a large portion of my life. Although, they seem to have lessened quite a bit since I came to this world. You remember how hysterical I was when I first came here, Kala? I would probably be on the floor catatonic if I were in your shoes. You seem to be handling your new body remarkably well."
"Yeah, you were a total baby when you first got here." She says and then laughs. I laugh with her.
"Would you like to take a walk with me, Kala?" I ask her.
"Oh... Um, yeah that sounds nice." She says playing with her wet hair. "We will be back in a bit, Doc," I say.
Doc turns his head towards me "A bit is a unit of measurement? I do not have the referential data to determine the length of time a bit is." He says.
I laugh, "It's hard to tell if you are messing with me, Doc. A bit just means a small amount, like "a bit of cloth" or "I'll be back in a bit." I inform him.
"I was messing with you, Jax," Doc says, and then makes a sound that I think is maybe a laugh. Kala and I both wince at the sound, it almost hurt our ears. Then we both look at each other and laugh our asses off, Kala holds onto my arm as she laughs.
"Holy shit, Doc. Did you just make a joke?" I ask him.
"I have been processing my experiences between you and Kala. I have begun to understand what humor is." He forms a smile on his metallic face.
I chuckle, feeling a little uneasy with his smile, "That's great, Doc. It seems we all can work together to grow and learn on this new planet." I grab Kala's hand and guide her out the front door.
Once we are outside Kala looks down at our entwined hands, and she blushes. I release her hand, "Sorry, Kala, please be patient with me. This is new to me too. And I'm sorry about last night. After I had time to think, I realized what I did was not right. Your body is still so new to you, and I didn't think about how everything would be a new experience." I say, looking away, feeling embarrassed.
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