by Adam Sampson
“I was dating this girl, she convinced me to come visit her in Germany. But then her religious family didn’t want her to date a non-believer. It was this whole thing. Really stupid on my part. But at least I got a language skill out of that.”
“So you don’t believe in God?”
“No, I believe in God, I just wasn’t a devout catholic like her parents wanted. How about you, do you believe in God?”
“My parents raised me in their church, but I don’t think I believe in God anymore.”
“Really? Why not?”
“I think what made up my mind was the aliens. Almost all of religion is human centric, Jesus died for our sins and all that. I guess when I learned about the trolls I realized that humans aren’t the center of the universe. Like when humans discovered that the sun does not rotate around the Earth, I think I discovered that we aren’t that important to any supreme being.”
“Huh, I went the other way on that one. I believe more because of the aliens, not less. The trolls tell us that most intelligent life in the galaxy is bipedal, humanoid basically. That really points to some supreme being out there, pulling the strings. Maybe humans are insignificant, but I think all humanoids are his creations.”
“I like the way you think, Peter. You are wrong, but I like how optimistic you are.”
Peter laughed. They had a good rest of the evening. After a few more drinks at the biergarten, they took the long way back to the barracks. They stopped and stared at the sky for a bit and talked about how weird it was to be on an alien planet. Neither of them knew the name of the enormous moon, but it fascinated them both.
Pretending he was dropping her off at home, Peter stopped at the door and said good night. The night had gone well, but Peter was suddenly nervous. What if this made everything awkward? How were they going to sleep in the same room again, now that they were dating?
Lola misinterpreted his hesitation and reached over to gently pull him closer by his lapels.
They kissed.
Peter wasn't as worried anymore.
Chapter 15
Peter slept in the next morning and woke up with a smile on his face. It had been a good date. He pulled up his screen on his cuff to check the time, then stopped in confusion. His blue screen looked all wrong, the writing was funny. As he stared at it, he realized that he could understand the writing! Everything was written in English now. No, wait, it was still written in galactic, it was just that he could understand it all now.
How had this happened? Why could he understand this now? Was he hallucinating? He looked carefully at his main screen and saw that he really could read everything, it wasn’t just some passing hallucination. Concentrating, he saw that he could still see the galactic letters, they just translated into english words in his mind. Peter saw himself there, his upgraded skills and possible options for further improvement. It showed so many options and sub options, things he didn’t even know were possible. But wait, back up, he upgraded all of his skills to level four, why wasn’t his strength at four?
Then he realized what had happened. He was talking to Lola when he tried to upgrade his strength last, he must have hit the wrong button! Instead of purchasing the level four strength upgrade, he must have accidently hit the translation skill.
He had to show Lola this, and walked out to find her. He found her sunning herself on the moss outside.
“Lola, I got to show you this,” Peter said, and showed her his screen.
She looked at his screen for a moment and said, “What? What am I looking at?”
“Oh, that's right, you probably can’t see it,” Peter said and sat next to her, “I hit the wrong button a few days ago, and instead of purchasing strength, I bought translation. I can read everything on my screen now!” Peter said.
“Cool, I always assumed that was an option in there somewhere. But does that mean you aren’t as strong as the rest of us? Didn’t you just waste all your orbs on that upgrade?”
“Yeah, but I will be a mage soon, I doubt I will need strength for that,” Peter said. He was honestly surprised she wasn’t more excited about this. The translation skill opened up so many possibilities. His mind was racing.
“Yeah, I will keep you safe if a monster comes for you anyway,” Lola said with a smile.
“My hero,” Peter said. After a moment he said, “Last night was nice, by the way.”
Lola reached over and grabbed his hand, “Yes, it was nice.”
They sat in silence, enjoying each other’s company for a while, but then Peter got back to reading his status screens. He couldn't help himself, it was so fascinating. He was uncovering options and skills that he had never heard of. He even found an option to change the text to a more normal layout, lines and columns like a book instead of the random assortment of shapes. The shapes must have made sense to the trolls, but he much preferred the book layout.
Peter Grey
Level 4 Unclassified
Cuff age 1 month
0 Squad Orbs
11 Self Orbs
Previous page
Next page
Magic skills
None
Upgrade list here
Time
Map
Phone
Squad Locator
Passive Skills
Strength level 3
Speed level 4
Constitution level 4
Upgrade list here
Active Skills
None
Upgrade list here
Utility Skills
Translation level 1
Upgrade list here
He didn’t dare spend any of his orbs yet, but he was pleased to find that he had more orbs available than he was expecting, eleven of them. He wondered what his new mage skills would cost.
The next Tuesday was the first day of their skill class training, which started after lunch. The usual crew was standing outside their barracks, waiting for Rex to come by and give them directions to their class teachers.
“Why are we starting our classes now, why not wait until level five?” Peter asked his squad.
Rex chose that moment to appear in their midst and said, “It is because the cuffs were designed by the trolls. They have this thing with the number four, they think it is lucky. Probably because trolls only have four fingers. The Chinese hate it, they think four is unlucky. That is why we have groups of six, it is a much luckier number.”
“Hey! Quit appearing out of nowhere like that,” Emma said, her hand over her heart.
Rex shrugged and said, “You should have chosen the ranger class, they are the ones that can see me coming and can sneak around, too. It really is the best class. Speaking of class, you all should be getting to class right about now, shouldn’t you?”
“You haven’t told us where to go, jerkface,” Emma huffed.
Rex quickly directed everyone off to their different destinations. The warriors went to the fields outside the armory, the tanks went to the shooting range, and the rangers went to the south gate. Soon Peter was standing alone. No one from Frank's team had wanted to be a mage.
“You are with me. We don’t have a mage trainer on the English side of the base, so your class will be in the Chinese section. Let’s run, I wouldn’t want you to be late on your first day.”
They ran out of the blue star section and into the red star section. Rex dropped off Peter at the door and Peter walked in. It was set up like a Gung Fu Kwoon, a Chinese martial arts studio, with tatami mats lining the floors. There were weapons along one wall and decorations across the opposite wall. It was nicer than the facilities in the English section.
Peter stopped at the entryway and took off his shoes. He read once that you aren’t supposed to walk on tatami mats with your shoes. As he walked into the room, he saw another student already there kneeling at the front of the room. He was tall and fit, with a buzz cut. He looked like what a regular soldier should look like. Perhaps he would have volunteered if he was given the cho
ice.
“Hello?” Peter said.
“Howdy, Thor dropped me off and he said to wait here. The teacher should be here right on time,” he said.
“Cool,” Peter said as he knelt down near him, “My name is Peter, what is yours?”
“Mike,” he said.
“Thor, Huh? Is he a good trainer? Seems nice to me,” Peter said.
“Yeah, he is pretty good. We are going to miss him when we go on our own. How about you, who is your trainer?” asked Mike.
“Rex.”
“Oof, that’s a tough one.”
“Yeah. It is an adventure. Can’t argue with the results though, we always do well in the field.”
Mike grunted noncommittally and they knelt in silence for a moment. Two more students came in, both older women. They introduced themselves as Sofia and Olivia. They were both typical southern ladies with a homey look. Peter wouldn’t be surprised if they could produce lemon bars from thin air. Peter almost laughed as they sat down next to Mike. They may have been old enough to be Mike's mother, but they were certainly enjoying his physique.
Right as the stan started, a man appeared at the front of the room, and it was someone Peter knew.
“Lao Shi, are you our teacher?”
He laughed and smiled as he said, “You know that isn’t my name, right? Lao Shi means teacher in Chinese. My name is Lee Huang, I am actually Vietnamese but the Chinese have adopted me. You may call me Lao Shi since I will be your thaumatology teacher. You will be spending most afternoons here.”
Lao Shi was interrupted by a young soldier entering the room at the back. The young man turned and started walking over to them. He was short and chubby, and had long black hair pulled back into a ponytail. Before he could get too far though, Lau Shi threw up his hands. A green bolt streaked over to him and instantly formed a shield inches in front of the man. It was oval and as tall as the man, translucent green and shimmering. This all happened in the blink of an eye and the soldier bumped into the shield.
“What the frick?” the young man yelled.
Lao Shi flicked his hand and dismissed the shield as he said, “Please remove your shoes.”
They all sat in silence while the young man walked back to the door and removed his shoes, then slowly walked up to kneel with the rest of them.
“As I was saying, I am your magic teacher, and I will be instructing you Tuesday through Friday. We start promptly on the 8th stan, please respect your fellow students and be on time,” Lao Shi said with a look at the newest student.
“Your first lesson begins now. A mage’s mind is his most valuable asset. In order to cast any spell, your mind must stay focused and calm. Poor thought patterns, such as panic will leave you unable to cast spells.
“I have a spell, called fear blast, that will test your ability to remain calm. I will cast it at its lowest setting and you will resist it,” Lao Shi said and rolled up his sleeves.
“Wait, you aren’t going to teach us spells yet? We are just supposed to sit there and take it while you blast us with spells? How is that supposed to help us kill monsters?” the young soldier said.
“What is your name young man?”
“Flynn Johnson.”
“Flynn, I am your teacher and I expect your respect. My methods are time tested and will help produce the mages the Protectorate needs. It is my duty to teach and your duty to learn. Get comfortable and calm yourselves.”
The five of them sat back and got comfortable. Peter tried to calm down, but he didn’t close his eyes, he wanted to see when Lao Shi cast the spell.
After a minute, Lao Shi cast the fear blast spell with a flick of his wrist. A deep overwhelming sense of dread and doom washed over them all. The fear hit them like a palpable force and the five students bolted away in fear. The terror was crawling around in their mind, forcing them into action. It was like they didn’t have a choice, they just had to get away from that spot on the floor.
They were all the way across the room before they stopped. Lao Shi waved them back to sit on the floor in front of him.
“Fear is powerful, it can control you, it will stop you from casting. Fight against it, try to stay here when I cast it again,” he said.
The next cast of fear blast had the same results. All five were panting on the other side of the room as it wore off. It was more difficult to come back to sit this time, but they did it.
“Bravery isn’t the absence of fear. It is the knowledge that something is more important than fear. Be brave my students,” Lao Shi said.
The next two casts had the same results. Peter had been thinking about what was more important than fear, and he realized that he would do anything for his squad. They were his new family and certainly more important than fear.
The next time he was able to stop halfway across the room, before the fear had worn off.
“Good job Peter,” Lau Shi said, “Keep working at it. The rest of you, find your important thing.”
Then it was back to another fear blast, a sudden dump of terror crawling deep into their soles. This time Flynn was able to stop himself as well.
It was another half stan before the whole class was able to overcome their fear enough to catch themselves and stop running away. They still were bolting away when the fear hit, but they were able to stop themselves before they went too far. Two stans after they had started, Lau Shi called a halt.
They spend the next stan trying to move through katas while meditating. Lau Shi had some way of watching them and seeing if their mental state was in the right attitude, and would hit them if they got distracted.
At least now Peter knew where Rex got it.
At the end of training, the class walked back to their barracks, bruised and tired.
Flynn was rubbing his shoulder and saying, “That blows that we did all that and he didn’t even have us unlock any magic skills. I signed up for magic, but that stupid kek says we must master our fear first.”
“It sucks for sure, but I hear mages go nuts sometimes, maybe this is just mental conditioning so it doesn’t happen,” Peter said.
“Yeah, we will see. If he doesn’t unlock some magic for us soon, I might have to take matters into my own hands,”
Mike scoffed and said, “How are you going to do that?”
“I have my ways,” Flynn said.
Peter figured it out pretty quick. Flynn must have done the same thing he did: hit the wrong button and got the translation skill.
For some reason, Peter didn’t feel like sharing with Flynn that he could read his screen. It was nice having someone else that could do what he did, but there was something about Flynn, something that made him hard to trust.
Peter was the first one back from training, the other squadmates came back about a half a stan later. First back was Yoon and Emma. Both of them were covered in bruises and limping slightly.
“What did they do to you?” Peter asked.
“They shot at us,” Emma said and flopped back on her bed.
“It was quite painful. Remember that time Rex took us to the shooting range and they shot at us? We did that again, only this time they had much more painful ammo. We upgraded our constitution first, but it did nothing to lessen the pain. Our teacher kept telling us to focus through the pain. It was very unpleasant,” Yoon deadpanned.
Dima and Jonas had returned halfway through the explanation, and were happy to explain what they had done today.
“They showed us how to unlock the strike skill. It is an activated skill, when we use it, our sword glows and shoots forward. It greatly enhances the power of slashes and stabs,” Dima said.
“It was awesome. I made a target explode,” Jonas said with a laugh.
Another half stan passed before Lola returned. She was happy with her day too. She got the enhanced vision unlocked and her trainer took their class out of the base. Lola talked at length about how amazing everything looked with her enhanced vision. Not just that she could see farther, but a few more spectrums
were opened up to her as well. It was like she was cured of her color blindness.
The ranger teacher also taught the class about the monsters in the vicinity. Soon she would know all about their habits and weak spots. She even had homework for the next time the squad went hunting.
Everyone was sympathetic about Peter's’ training session, particularly since he was tortured without gaining any magic skills from it. But they all agreed that the tanks had it the worst. They all remembered how much it hurt to be shot at.
It was two days before Peter learned a magic skill.
Lau Shi was at the front of the room lecturing when he decided they were ready for the new skill. First though, he said, “Everyone take a look at your cuff. That right there is a bit of alien technology. Not even made by the trolls, they bought them in bulk from a different alien race. It uses coding and logic to turn orb energy into a tangible effect on the world. It isn’t really magic, it is a piece of technology that anyone can use, no need to be born from a long line of wizards. But there is a reason we call it magic anyway. That is because the technology in the orb interacts with our minds, interpreting our wishes and intent when we activate a skill. We have found that thinking about it as magic makes it better. ‘Casting a spell’ has a better result than ‘using a skill’ every time. So remember your attitude matters. Your intent shapes the magic, just believe and make it easier on yourself.”
Then finally it was time to learn a magic skill. It was the shield skill. They all learned how to create a green shield, and how to reliably place it anywhere they wanted. It could protect themselves or their teammates, or even restrict a monster’s movement.
The translucent green shield would only work as long as they focused on the shield. If they got distracted or even flinched, the shield disappeared. This is where the two days of mental practice paid off. Lao Shi would come at them with a weapon, and as long as they didn’t flinch, their shield would take the blow. After too many blows the shield would shatter and they would have to wait thirty seconds before they could create another.
