I had to laugh. Why I still wasn’t freaking the fuck out? I didn’t know. I assume the human mind must have had some kind of protective mechanism to defend itself against the absolute, batshit crazy.
Over the following days Ember and I trained religiously. She left the weights room on the third day, as she had developed a much more muscular body, and wanted to focus more on movement and agility. I didn’t care too much and stayed on in the gym.
By the end of the first week, I must have eaten a literal fucking farm’s worth of livestock. I was bigger than Ogun now. I would officially say He-Man physique status. Though he was still obviously a goddamn giant towering over me. Ember told me she didn’t fancy me anymore, but she’s a dick like that. So, yeah.
On day ten, I had headed back into the weights room, leaving Ember in the gymnasium area. There were often a couple of other people doing some training, but this day, a new face had come to enjoy the weights. New for the gym, anyway. I was, in fact, very familiar with this big bag of dicks. It was one of the assholes I’d met in the axe olympics who called himself Thor, but I found out later he was called Roger.
“Oh, if it isn’t the axe thief,” he said as I walked in. He came over to me and I noticed he was nearly my height, and stocky too.
“I see you’ve been using my axe to help you train. What a pussy! Can’t train like a man? Like the rest of us?”
“It was always my axe. It’s not my fault you're too thick to realize that, Roger.”
“You think because you’ve put some muscle on that you're suddenly the main man. Well, it takes a lot more than that. You’re still a skinny, weedy, noob in mine and everyone else’s eyes.”
“You’re still a stupid, clueless, knacker who isn’t called Thor and never will be. You’re a joke, dude. Now do your exercises and fuck off.”
He didn’t. Instead, the shithead swung at me. I heard the axe shout, “Let me have him!” But this was my fight. This guy was always going to be a problem, until I dealt with him. Man to man, fist to face.
His punch landed on my face cleanly because I was much slower than I thought I was. I’ll not lie. A small pang of ‘I overdid it on the muscles’ kicked in. They clearly hindered my freedom of movement, or at least I should have balanced it with movement based exercises. However, it did help me take the punch. I staggered back a few steps, but that was mainly because I wanted to create some space.
When he swung again, I ducked following up with a crunching right hook to his ribs. I jumped backwards onto the balls of my feet, ready to lunge forward with a roundhouse. I ended up having to pull it short because he was falling to the floor like a slow-motion mime artist, clutching at his ribs. Seems like I really did crunch something.
While Roger melted to the floor, I decided after that I should probably go and improve my agility and speed with Ember. I should probably check my stats too, since I hadn’t for a while, and it looked like strength had been boosted insanely by my training. That could wait for now, though, as I looked to the now deflated Roger on the floor. He was trying his hardest to get back to his feet. “You should probably get that looked at straight away,” I said, noticing he was wheezing in a worrying way.
“Fuck you! This isn’t over,” he gasped, as he staggered out of the gym door. I followed him out.
“Are you sure you don’t need any help, Roger?”
He ignored me and made his way across the gym floor, though the other people training there didn’t. That included Ember who was looking at me, questioningly.
“It’s just Roger, an old friend!” I shouted overly loudly enough, so he would hear as he left. “Think he picked too heavy a weight.”
“Is that right?” she asked. I couldn’t tell what emotion she was displaying.
“Yeah. One minute,” I said.
I quickly returned to the weight room to grab my axe, then walked over to where Ember was training. I resettled the axe against the wall. Ember looked at me questioningly, “What the fuck’s going on, Shaun?”
“I’ve decided it’s time to work on my agility, and stuff like that, with you.”
“Okay. Why now? And who was that limping away?”
“Oh. That was one of the axe olympian jerks I told you about. He decided to show me how real men do business. He caught me cleanly with his first punch, and he really shouldn’t have, so I’ve decided it’s definitely time for some movement based training.”
“And?”
“And what? I’m here to limber up a bit.”
“What did you do to Roger?”
“Right hook to the ribs. Judging by the wheezing it sounds like he may have punctured a lung.”
“No, Shaun. You may have punctured his lung. Typical! Come on, stiff ass. Let’s get to work.”
Before we got started, Ogun turned up. Of course he would!
“A word, Shaun, if you please?”
I went over to him, and he led me out the door and into one of the classrooms.
“I hear you had a fight?” he enquired.
“Nope. I most certainly didn’t.”
“So, how did Roger end up in the infirmary?”
I grinned, not really wanting to blow my own trumpet. “He hit me, then took another swing. I landed one punch to his ribs. Situation over. Definitely not a fight.”
Ogun chuckled his deep booming chuckle at that. “He said you jumped him and kicked him on the floor. I swear, you all have selective memories. I am a bloody telepath without equal amongst you, I can tell when people are lying so easily. Yet, people still try to lie to me.”
“How do you tell if people are lying?”
“Ah! You're after my tricks?” he laughed. “Well, I don’t mind telling you. You will have noticed the display in your stasis room, where the person's mental projection, or avatar, sits. That’s where you will find all non-transcended avatars sitting, eyes closed.
If you watch the display you will see their thoughts, in the form of images. Any questions you ask the person, whether trying to lie or not, will ninety-five percent of the time show what really happened on that display.”
“Ha! Really? That is so stupidly easy. Why only ninety-five percent?”
“Some people have a genuine special ability to completely believe their own bull-shit. Remarkable, but real.” He laughed.
“It’s remarkable, but I reckon I’ve met more than a few of them myself.”
“So, now I have told you my secret, remember, until you can move in both the physical and mental realm in tandem, I will catch you out if you lie to me,” he said, wagging a finger.
“Thanks for letting me know,” I said, laughing at his threat.
He stood up and patted me on the back. “Well done on the ‘not fight’. Some people are asking for it. Thor,” he said, rolling his eyes and laughing, “what a dick.”
I really enjoyed the little conversations with Ogun. He seemed almost to be relaxing around me. I’d never heard him talk like that to anyone else.
I went straight back to the gym and dove straight into training with Ember. It was absolutely brutal. The mass of muscle I’d gained had a huge effect on my range of movement. I had kinda thought I’d be getting a break, coming off the weights. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
I almost felt unlucky to have the axe heal my overstretched muscles, ligaments, and over-rotated joints because it meant I had to keep going with the torture. On the plus side, I got to spend more time with Ember, and train in kickboxing again. Although, we mainly did calisthenics and gymnastics. Yeah, really unpleasant.
Two weeks passed us by training, eating, healing, and sleeping. When the announcement was made across the ship that we were leaving Fystr controlled space and we would reach our intended destination in a further two weeks. Ember started panicking. “Shit, Shaun. Two weeks till we land again, and we’ve done nothing at all in our Mindscapes!”
“I know, I know. But we were both in bad shape physically. We needed to do this,” I replied, and I meant it. I
wanted a stronger mind, but I needed a stronger body first. No point being fucking Einstein when you’re getting your damn head chopped off by an angry Fystr.
“We did need to train, but we should’ve been balancing it out with clearing our cognition rooms, and training our new skills.” She replied.
“Look, it’s fine. We can do it now. I’m pretty happy with how much tougher I’ve become. So, yeah. Let’s hit the Mindscapes tomorrow.”
“Good. I’m glad you agree. What’s your stats now?”
“Hmm…” I closed my eyes and had a quick check, communicating telepathically with her.
Name: Shaun Sutherland
Age: 29 GY
Transcendence Level 71
Strength: 162/1000
Agility: 60/1000
Speed: 98/1000
Intelligence: 40/1000
Constitution: 120/1000
Wisdom: 2/2000
Mental Resilience 15/1000
Mental Clarity 2%
Potential: 99%
She waited until I opened my eyes before she responded vocally, “Fuck, Shaun. That’s so embarrassing. You literally haven’t moved at all on the mental stats! We’ve two weeks before we reach this alien planet. Come on. No gym today. Let's head to my room and work on un-stupiding you!” she said, grabbing my hand and leading me off out of the dining area.
“You can’t be much better,” I complained as we went.
“I might not have improved, but I started off a lot better, you dumbass. It’s a wonder you can string a sentence together.”
“Forty Intelligence, Ember. Don’t forget it.”
“Need I remind you of your Wisdom and Clarity already?”
“Well, we’re going to go do something about it, aren’t we? Whether I want to or not. It’s like my worst nightmare. Who’d have thought that becoming a superhero would involve actually tidying up my room!”
“Yeah. Well, tough luck. We’ve avoided it long enough. Time to man up.”
We got back to Ember's old room, which we used as an office of sorts, seeing as we used my room for frustratingly platonic sleeping quarters. I used to be happy with that, but damn it’s hard to cuddle up to someone you love and keep it just friendly.
We each took a seat. I was about to talk, but Ember closed her eyes to go straight into her Mindscape. It didn’t really leave me with too many options, so I delved into mine.
I appeared instantly in the Cognition Room. It was overwhelming, to say the least. I walked the few feet forward that I could, booted an old beanbag that I remembered from being about eleven years old. Then, with a sigh, I started piling things into neat stacks because there wasn’t anything else to do with it really. There were shelves but they were unapproachable at the moment. After about twenty minutes I achieved what felt like exactly fuck-all, because I didn’t even have anywhere to put all the junk. I mean, I would have liked that beanbag in my ship quarters, but as far as I could figure, like me, it was just a mental representation. I tried not to think too hard about what that meant.
It wouldn’t be so bad if I had some help… a revelation hit me. I could help Ember in her Cognition Room for a bit, then maybe, she’d help me. That wouldn’t be so boring. Without a second thought I travelled over to her Mindscape and went to the Cognition Room. I found her lying sprawled in her big pile of junk, not doing anything at all.
She jumped up with shock, embarrassed that she’d been caught. “What are you doing here?”
“See you’ve been busy,” I said, completely ignoring her question.
“Ugh! I’m just thinking about how to sort it. I like to plan.”
“Right,” I laughed. “That’s exactly what it looks like. Anyway, I’ve come here to offer my services. Honestly, I felt like tearing my hair out. I mean, I did try to tidy, which is more than I can say for you. But still, I was getting nowhere fast. Maybe if we work together, we’ll go quicker, or at least be less disheartened. I’ll help you, then you’ll help me?”
“Yeah. I think I’d like that. It’d be nice to have company,” she paused, looking thoughtful. “Maybe the axe would be able to offer some advice.”
“You’re right. I hadn’t even thought to ask it.” I tried reaching out to it from Ember’s mind.
“What’s up Shaun?” came the reply, almost immediately.
Ember spoke over me before I had a chance to reply, “Hey, Axe. Me and Shaun are organizing my Cognition Room. We’re wondering if you’ve any advice?”
“No. Although, I saw Jotun’s Cognition Room and it was immaculate. He very rarely went in there and there were only ever a few things out of place.”
“That’s disappointing. Stupid Jotun,” she said, sulkily. “And sorry for calling you Axe. I feel bad about it.” She turned to me and complained, “I can’t believe you still haven’t named him.”
“Yeah. A name would be nice, Shaun! I know I said that I didn’t like my last name, but I didn’t think it would take you this long.”
I shrugged. “Sorry, dude. Do you have a name in mind yet?”
“No. That is your job, lazybones, and I think I’ve waited long enough. No name and I haven’t even been swung in anger yet. I want to go and wreak some havoc man.”
“Boom!” I shouted with a big grin. “There you have it. As simple as that. You’re no longer Axe. You are Havok.”
“I like it. I like it a lot, Shaun,” Havok said.
“Me too, Havok, me too,” I replied.
“Nice name, Shaun,” Ember added happily, “I think we both thought you were going to call him something completely shit, so well done.”
“There’s a double-edged compliment, if ever I heard one. Now, come on. Let’s get you tidied up a bit, huh?”
We began in Ember’s Cognition Room in earnest. Havok had nothing to offer, but he was strangely very good company for an axe. He even started singing at one point. Go figure!
We spent most of the day in her room. We figured getting things onto shelves was the most efficient way to do it. By the end of the day, Ember’s stats seemed to reflect our hard work.
Name: Ember Davison
Age: 25 GY
Transcendence Level 76
Strength: 70/1000
Agility: 98/1000
Speed: 89/1000
Intelligence: 34/1000
Constitution: 80/1000
Wisdom: 44/1000
Mental Resilience 121/1000
Mental Clarity 18%
Potential: 83%
“Fuck’n hell Shaun, who’d have thought I would shoot up so much in a day of clearing. This is definitely the way to do it. Yet again we make a great team.”
I didn’t get the chance to respond as we were interrupted by a message over the ship's comms We were approaching our very first completely alien planet, and we were early.
C9
The Butcher of Xzonico
Ember and I stood watching the screen on the bridge. There was a predominantly red and blue colored planet ahead of us. Ogun told us it was called Xzonico and it presented an odd paradox. Apparently, it was much smaller than Earth, yet had very similar gravity. The atmosphere was breathable for us, thankfully.
I had thought the surface would be a barren wasteland, but to my surprise as we descended, I realized that there was actually a lot of plant life, which had predominantly red hued foliage.
When we landed on the planet, I spoke to Ogun, “So, how long are we staying here?”
“Not long, Shaun. Just long enough to get some supplies. There's nothing down there but one small town that operates as a supply hub. Hopefully, they will have everything we will need. I am still conscious that the Fystr are not far behind. Only we will be going down. The Seshat and the hunter will stay in orbit to watch for Fystr, we will get enough to supply all of our ships.”
Ember quickly butted in, “Can we go out? I really need to get off this ship for a bit, and I know Shaun feels the same.” This was the first I’d heard of me wanting to get off the ship, but who
was I to argue?
“Yes. Possibly, though you may have to leave the axe. At least, until we know that we won’t offend the customs of the people here. I will be going first with a small team to negotiate for supplies. I will assess the temperament and laws of the place and let you know.”
“Sounds fair enough. Do you mind me asking why there are no aliens in our section of the galaxy? Havok mentioned the purge, but I couldn’t really get much more out of him.”
“Not at all. It’s probably prudent that you know. The Fystr either wiped them all out or chased them into the other sectors of the galaxy. There are some dangerous warlike races in our galaxy, bigger, stronger, and more violent. There are some races who have a higher natural intelligence and cunning. There are none who combine their intelligence, strength, cunning, and ruthlessness into the complex harmony that the Fystr have managed. No matter the problem, we always overcome it.” Ogun stopped talking to us for a moment while he responded to a message over his comm I could only hear Ogun’s part of the conversation
“Okay, Rob. Thanks. I am coming along now.” He looked back to us. “We should not be long. You can go out next, if feasible.”
Ember and I waited on the ship. There was an air of excitement and tension. Going out into an alien planet. This was what dreams, or possibly nightmares, were made of. We went back to sorting Ember’s Cognition Room until Ogun returned.
It was four hours later when we were told over the ship’s comms to report to the armory. When we got there, Gus and Mick were waiting with another man. I recognised him, but I didn't know his name. He had short, light brown hair, average height, and a serious demeanor. But seemed normal enough.
"Ember," he said in greeting with a nod. Then, stuck out his hand to me and said, "Shaun. Nice to meet you finally. I'm Rob, and I'm happy to have both of you with us."
"Hi Rob. Good to be here,” I replied, then asked, “Hey Mick, Gus. You guys coming, too?"
"Sure we are," Mick said with a wry grin. "Let's hope it doesn't go as badly as last time."
Condition Evolution 2: A LitRPG / Gamelit Adventure Page 11
