Street Cultivation 2

by Sarah Lin

  Rick swallowed, since her eyes left no doubt about what she meant. That look and her light touch were putting all kinds of images in his head, but he forced himself to focus. "Emily, that's... as much as I want that, I don't want to mix training and our relationship. It just feels..."

  "No, I understand." Though the smolder in her eyes faded, she leaned up to give him a quick kiss, then pulled back. "I thought it was a sexy idea, but I completely get what you're saying. Let's sit."

  His knees were feeling weak anyway, so it was easy to slump back against the wall of the room. Emily sank down beside him, leaning against him and lacing her fingers through his. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to say something, but settled for putting his arm around her. It was stupid, but he did it uncertainly, like he expected her to be mad about his arm despite what she'd just suggested.

  "Actually, I know you don't need any extra motivation." She smiled up at him, this time more her usual sharp smile. "When something important is actually at stake, you're one of the most driven people I know, and I like that. I just know that all of this is hard on you and I wanted to make it a bit easier."

  "Thanks. It's good to know you're thinking of me." And it actually was - sometimes he felt like she treated him as a human weapon. She seemed to treat herself that way, so he thought he could understand, but it wasn't always pleasant and left him uncertain sometimes. Throwing anything sexual into the mix felt like it would just make it completely impossible to think logically.

  "I actually really look forward to the day when you catch up to me." Emily squeezed his hand a bit tighter and settled her head against his chest. "I like training with you, but I don't like leading the training. I hope we can get past all that and just be together. Because I do want to be with you."

  Rick wasn't sure what to say to that, but before he could get his thoughts together Emily leaned up and kissed him again. This kiss wasn't quick and she shifted fully to face him. His arm slid down to her side for some reason, and whatever he had been intending to do, all thought went out the window when Emily slid up against him. Suddenly she was straddling his lap to kiss him and his hand was on the curve of her hip.

  For a moment he just fell into it, hungrily feeling her body against his. But the next moment he was incredibly conscious of the fact that they were alone together in a sound-proof room. That should have excited him, and it did on one level, but it had been a long time since his last relationship. So much of his life had been forced by his circumstances, there just hadn't been time.

  If Emily had gone aggressively, there was no way he could have controlled himself. Her kiss became more intense and she bit his lip, hard, but then she pulled back a bit. She stared at him with their faces almost touching, then gave a much softer smile.

  "It's been a really long time for me, but I'm not ready. Sorry."

  "Uh, that's okay." He put an arm around her back and pulled her closer, then immediately cursed himself as an idiot. Yes, it was a nice affirming gesture and Emily settled against him happily. It also kept her on his lap, which he was going to regret.

  He didn't regret that they'd stopped, though. Maybe he was a bit old-fashioned, but he didn't want to throw himself into a relationship too fast. As much as he liked what he knew about Emily, he wanted to know a lot more. Her comment about training him rang true: too much of their relationship was based on issues of power.

  "Emily..." He stroked her back, hoping that he wouldn't ruin things. "I never want to push you, but you hardly ever talk about yourself. There are so many things I don't know... I mean, I understand if you don't want to talk about everything, but..."

  She was completely still for a moment, then shifted off his lap. Rick worried that he'd offended her, but she moved to sit beside him again, leaning against his side. Since she hadn't left, he put his arm around her again and just gave her space.

  "I'm not used to talking about that sort of thing..." Her voice was much softer than he was used to and her hair fell so it was hard to see her face. "I want to, but... Rick, if I tell you something, will you promise not to tell anyone? Not even your sister?"

  "Uh... I think I can promise that. Unless it's something crazy that's a threat somehow."

  "No, nothing like that." Emily was silent for a long time, then spoke quietly. "Do you know very much about the Southeast Asian front of World War IV?"

  Of all the directions Rick had guessed the conversation might go, that was not one of them. He stared down at her, then realized how vulnerable she was being and struggled to answer. "Only a bit. History classes in school almost never got to recent history."

  "Then I won't get into the politics of it. What matters is that my parents went off to fight with the rebels, and I do mean they just abandoned us." A tide of bitterness rose in her voice as she continued. "Three children in a war zone and they just left us with a family friend. Not a very good friend in the end, because when the economy collapsed, we were a liability and got sent off."

  "That's horrible. Your parents... didn't come back?"

  "Given the casualties in the war, I assume they're dead. If they're not, that's worse. Because all of us were put in an orphanage controlled by one of the local mafia sects. Those sects claimed to fight for kin and country, but they didn't care. They used all the orphans as slave labor, either to put together crude munitions or, if you showed any talent, to refine lucrim."

  Rick listened in horror. Part of him didn't want to hear, but if Emily was finally being open, he wanted to know the truth about her. When she was silent for a while, he decided it was safe to prompt her. "You said there were three of you? What about your siblings?"

  Emily gave a bitter snort. "You'd think that experience would bring us together, but it didn't. We don't talk much anymore."

  "I see. That's awful... I feel like even saying that is making light of it." He swallowed as he thought back to their first conversations. "Shit, I'm sorry for what I said, implying that your parents gave you everything. I had no idea..."

  "No, it's fine." Emily brushed her hair out of her face and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm not comparing hardships, Rick, I'm really not. The story isn't actually over. Before we got too old, humanitarian organizations came in and rescued us. I got an excellent education, and because my scores were good, they sent me over to an elite school in the United States. So as shitty as my parents were, at least they didn't curse me into adulthood, like yours did."

  All he could do was nod, taken aback by the revelation. Maybe it didn't change anything immediately, but it was crazy for him to imagine that Emily had once been a war refugee. Somehow it made him feel simultaneously closer to her and further away. Before he could think of anything to say, Emily went on, all the warmth from a moment ago draining from her voice.

  "Here's the thing, Rick: that mafia sect still exists. When the country industrialized it became a significant corporation, and now it has a huge influence on the government. I can ignore that, but the men who ran the orphanage have attained positions of rank." She pushed away, fury in her eyes cast far beyond him. "They've never once apologized, never even acknowledged what they did in the war. The same man is still in charge."

  "Damn." What was he supposed to say about actual war crimes? Rick tried to stroke Emily's back, but now her posture was stiff and unyielding. "So are you involved with activism about this? Trying to make the government acknowledge the war crimes and issue an apology?"

  "No. One day I will go back, I will force him to apologize, and then I will kill him."

  Rick's throat was unbelievably dry and he stared at her. There was absolutely no hint that she was joking, only a deep fury that he now realized had always lurked underneath her calm. She no longer seemed focused on him, but he felt like he needed to say something or he'd drown in the new fact. "Is that why you have the secret lethal version of your aura blade?"

  "That's right." Emily pulled back and softened a bit, returning to her normal calm. "It's also how Granny Whitney convinced me to participate
in the tournament: she had detailed information about the current state of the organization. I'm not strong enough yet, but when I am, I'll be prepared."

  He had absolutely no idea what to say to that. After a pause, Emily leaned in again and gave him a peck on the lips, though he was too stunned to kiss back.

  "You're the first person I can imagine beside me through all that, Rick. I don't want to draw you into a big quest for revenge, but... I can imagine you being at my side, and I want that."

  "Emily..." He wasn't sure what to say and just trailed off. Fortunately, she just gave an odd smile and then stood up.

  "Sorry, that's a lot to drop on you all at once. And I'm serious about helping you with your problem now. All of that is a long way off, so for now I just want a stable career that can get me closer to my goals. Sorry if that was too much."

  Rick stood up and put a hand on her shoulder. "No, thank you for telling me."

  Truthfully, though, he wasn't sure if he was glad. His view of Emily before had been incomplete, but it had been easier. He wasn't sure how he felt about this Emily, but it wouldn't leave his mind. The moment when they had been kissing felt like a very long time ago.

  Chapter 46: Melissa's Technique

  For a few days her brother had been out of sorts, throwing himself into his training, but that day when he came back from work Melissa was glad to see him in a better mood. That was good timing, especially given how things had advanced with her. She straightened up from her place on the couch to grin at him.

  "No ambushes by Jack today?"

  "Nope, all clear. I actually managed to find another anomaly, too." He kicked off his shoes and walked into the kitchen area to find something to eat. "Everything okay here?"

  She nodded and decided to hide her eagerness via some more mundane questions. "Yeah, it's all good. How many more anomalies do you need, though? And when are you going to run out of them?"

  "That's actually a really good question." He glanced back at her, momentarily serious again. "The quotas are increasing such that it seems more like they're trying to eliminate people than actually creating a fair work environment. No one in the top ten is in danger of falling behind just yet, but I worry they're leading up to something."

  "Yeah, and things will be coming to a head with Jack no matter what." She kept a smile off her face and searched for something else to talk about. "Any progress on that secondary foundation thing?"

  "Sort of. Emily insisted on an appointment with Delsin and we're going to go meet with him soon. I hope we might get some answers, but I'm not sure. Uncle Frank said that I should go with an M-type foundation. It would take an investment of all the lucrim I'd been storing up, but it's true that it would massively increase my generation rate quickly. I don't know, though..."

  Her brother was mindlessly eating cereal out of the box, eyes staring off into the distance. Dang, she'd just wanted to distract him, but now she'd brought up something serious. Melissa hopped up to lean over the back of the couch and look at him directly. "You're thinking you don't want to?"

  "Yeah, maybe so." He swallowed and then set the box down absently. "For so much of my life, Uncle Frank has been my source of advice for everything... it feels really weird to disagree with him about something. I mean... he's the most successful member of our whole family, and he's obviously given a ton of great advice..."

  "Relax, bro, I'm not going to judge you. Uncle Frank is great, but nobody's perfect. What are you thinking?"

  "Well, the overhead on an M-type foundation is really heavy. If you're set up in life and know what you want, I can see how it'd be a good investment. But in my position... when I run the numbers, there's a good chance it wouldn't work out. It could turn out more like a demonic bond and I could end up with a nasty aura leech."

  Though she hadn't planned for things to get anywhere near that serious, Melissa did her best to give her brother what little advice she could. "You don't need to decide ASAP, right? I mean, I know you need to decide soon for training purposes. But you could talk to Delsin and get information about his foundation so you can make a full decision, right?"

  "Yeah, I definitely could. You're right." Rick shook his head and abruptly looked at her. "Alright, now what is it that you've been so eager to tell me?"

  "Aww, dangit!" How had he known? Her brother could be so oblivious sometimes, then sometimes he just saw straight through her. Still, she couldn't even feign annoyance for more than a second before she leapt up in excitement. "I know exactly what Lucore I want! I've actually been working on it for a long time, doing a bunch of research. Heather was really helpful, and Emily showed me some designs online..."

  She eagerly went over her plans, intentionally moving around the main surprise. Her brother came to sit down beside her, always reliably interested in such details. It felt great to be able to talk about those things with him, though she could see that he was trying to put it together in his head. Though she dragged it out, eventually he just addressed it directly.

  "Alright, I think I get the theory. I was nervous about using your Steel Lucore for another purpose at first, but I get how that could be a stable system. From the specs, it seems like it could work and I don't see any problems in your lucrima soul. But what are you using it to do?"

  "That's the best part!" Melissa went and got one of the embarrassing books, opening it to the drawing that had started all this. "This is a heavily modified version of an old technique called 'Manifest Destiny' - now don't read the text! The creator believed a whole lot of ridiculous things! Just look at this part where it talks about the effects."

  " 'Manifest Destiny brings out the destiny of the user's soul, displaying outside the glory within...' " He understood immediately, eyes slowly rising to meet hers. "It's a method of weaponizing an aura spark, but for you..."

  "That's right!" She couldn't help but throw up her hands triumphantly as her brother became the first person in the world to learn the truth of her technique. "It should manifest the ether void outside me, but in a controlled state! That way I don't just devote so much of my generation rate to keeping it from killing me, I can actually use it."

  "You're crazy... but in a good way." Her brother grinned at her as if he couldn't quite believe it. "Are you sure that it will work and not backfire on you?"

  "Oh, I did all the usual safety things. Testing theoretically and with other substances and small amounts. But I haven't actually tried to use it for real." Melissa was still grinning like an idiot and struggled to get it under control. "Rick, will you help me test? I don't think anything will go wrong, but after you've helped me so many times, I think you're the best person to be here if anything does."

  "Of course." He got serious much faster than her, of course, getting to his feet. "I won't say that I'm not nervous, but if you've done all the research, then we have to give it a try."

  "Great!" Melissa shot up, got into a combat stance, and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, she opened one again. "Uh, give me a sec. I put a whole buncha safeguards in place."

  He nodded and stood at a distance, giving her time. Melissa tried to calm down, not thinking about what she hoped to accomplish. Instead she just reached down and touched the sphere she'd built around the void where her soul should have been. Then she reached inside...

  All the lights in the room dimmed and she let out a yelp of surprise.

  Everything snapped back to normal the next second. She grinned sheepishly and pulled herself back together, again focusing. The task wasn't so difficult, she was just nervous because this time was for real. All she needed to do was touch the flame and not let it burn her. There was nothing to burn, she was the flame...

  It surged from within her, this time stably. Melissa opened her eyes and saw that an aura had lit up around her, but that was the wrong language because it was no normal aura. Instead of casting light around her, it seemed to drink it all in. The void was outside her core, yet it wasn't a threat. Not to her.

  She took a step forwar
d and something felt strange. When she looked down, she saw that her foot was sizzling into the floor, burning the carpet. Melissa let out a cry of panic and tried to pull back the effect, unsuccessfully. Dang, it was harder to control than she thought, but...

  Without warning her brother lunged in to tackle her, his arms wrapping around her. She had a moment of true terror, afraid that the aura would consume him, yet somehow Rick resisted. He actually might have been able to smother it and save her if she had been out of control, but it wasn't anywhere near that bad. Melissa withdrew it and just leaned forward into his arms.

  "It's okay, bro, I'm fine. Just wasn't completely controlled."

  "You're sure?" He pulled back and looked at her, concern obvious in his face.

  "Absolutely sure." She wanted to hug him again, but she was also excited about the technique. "What did it look like? Was it badass?"

  Rick stared at her for a while, then shook his head with an odd grin. "Yeah, it was. I've seen black auras before, but yours was... I don't know, it was like it leeched the light out of everything else. Intense in a way that was just... different." He looked down and frowned, noticing some burns on the carpet for the first time. Melissa hadn't realized there were so many and now felt a surge of regret, but Rick just smiled. "It's a potent effect, though. You should be proud."

  "Actually, it should have done more than that. I don't know if it's because you're more used to it, but your lucrima soul didn't react anything like people at the gym." Melissa pondered that for a moment, trying to figure it out, but in the end she was just too excited. She tried her technique a few more times, at first not getting it due to fear of overshooting again, but eventually getting a handle on it.