Chapter 42 Need to be strong
Tenka's p.o.v -
Damn it Sam, you don't go easy on me. My headgear got singed. Still, in just ten minutes, I gained 5% proficiency with my mind acceleration skill. My AGI seems to climb up too. (Sigh.) Let's go!
Right now, my body temperature is very high. I ran for ten minutes at high speed, and the last three uses of [Blink] used all I had left. My heartbeat is very fast, and I did not breathe either in those ten minutes. The air was too dry and hot to be useful.
Now I am in a dark chamber with a blue pond. I guess the next part is underwater. I almost dive into the water, but luckily I caught myself before going into shock because of the temperature change and all that.
Instead, I realize I have to meditate first, or I would not make it to the other end. I spend around a half hour on recovery to regulate my temp and refill on oxygen. Once I am back to top shape, I dive in.
During my meditation, I revisited some of Sam's memories since I have access to his "cloud"... I can match this cave to the one he visited last time in the ocean. The colors and creatures wandering around are beautiful...
I can't believe Katriel managed to connect with him like I did. Worse, she connected to a deeper degree. But Sam said it's an unexplored science, and he could not do something like this with me back then... (Sigh.)
(Does he like blonde girls?)
Back to the underwater cave. I am still diving into the depths. The pressure is building up. Lucky there is enough light due to all the glowing algae. I wonder, what does he want me to train here?
I start to feel very compressed. The water is heavy. My eyeballs feel like they are shrinking. I have to adjust my eardrums. My lungs are caving inside my rib cage.
I hit the bottom. At this depth, I don't have to swim to sink. The water pressure is enough to keep me at there.
The cave stretches in front of me in a straight line. An underwater hike it is!
I walk at the bottom for a while, making sure to avoid dangerous-looking things, like Scyther...(Shiver) My power converges to my lungs again. I spot an air pocket. I don't know if I will be able to breathe in with all this compression, or if it is even a good idea to breathe this air.
In the end, I find a way to breathe using my mouth as a valve. I swallow the air instead of inhaling, or I would just lose my air. It's enough to get me going longer.
I come across a big cave. In the center, there is a big creature. It looks like a cross between a lizard and a fish. Its long tail ends with a fin. It has long limbs with claws at the end of the webbed digits. Its face is almost flat with very sharp piranha teeth.
It bolts at me. I barely have time to pull a dagger to defend myself from its claws. Its jaw almost clamps on my neck and face, before my other dagger reaches its chest first. In this high pressure, I barely manage to graze it, before it bolts back into the distance, so fast I can't hope to follow.
This creature seems very quick-witted. It's also very strong, living in this environment. I have to use all my power, to move fast enough just to survive the first clash.
After a dangerous battle, I manage to only scare it away. I get on my way because I'm running on fumes. Sure enough, he did not make this thing impossible. I find an air pocket big enough to put my head in.
I can finally breathe a few times normally before going on my way.
This goes on for an hour of fighting at high pressure, while llacking oxygen. At the end, I find a metal lift with instructions. I have to sit in a chair, buckle up, put a breathing mask on, and press a button.
The lift starts to ascend slowly while I breathe in and relax. Sometimes, the lift stalls for a few minutes before going again. In his memories, this is called decompression. If I were to climb up too fast, my cells would collapse because of the gas expansion and concentration.
I only just realized I must look like a skeleton in here. (Giggle.) I'm already so thin, being compressed like this... (Does he have a thing for thin, blonde women? Giggles.)
Out of the water I finally am!
In front of me, there is a fist-sized golden ball with instructions. It's actually food called ambrosia. Sam and Ammit told me about this food; that it could actually fill "them" up and is super tasty. I gulp, then eat the whole thing in two bites, my eyes tearing up like a baby. I even lose track of time too.
Breathe. This feels good. I'm almost back to top shape, but I will still need to rest later.
The next room is a mountain path made of dark stones climbing in the distance, but the gravity also increases as I set foot on the path.
My muscles spasm after what I just went through. This works out the small, strange muscles all over my body and fortifies my internals too. He really pushes my body to its limits. The weakness that I feel right now is the first of its kind.
A red, flashy ball appears in the corner of my sight. I have to dodge it the second time it moves.
"You're joking... Right!?"
"No, babe. Just dodge them. You don't want to lose your flexibility, do you?" Sam teased.
OK, fine, he is right. I start jogging and dodging, making sure I stretch all my muscles and tendons as the gravity increases too. I also have to keep my abdomen tightened quite a bit to keep my internal organs from tumbling around. Luckily, that food just melted in my system, not causing any stomach cramps and heaviness...
I almost become dazed and keep my pace on automatic mode. My mind is thinking of my seven chakras in harmony right now. My body burns from head to toe, but I am very much in control. I feel all the micro-muscles and nerves working overtime. These are things that I never felt about myself before.
When I wake up shivering because of the breeze from the top of the mountain that I just climbed, a flag is fluttering beside me. My body is wet and a bit cold. I take a good breath, making smog leave my mouth, and grab the flag, makiing me appear in front of Sam.
"Hey sexy. Get into a bath and rest up, ok! I will massage you later..." Sam whispered.
I barely kiss him before appearing in the bathroom. I guess I must stink. (Giggle.)
(Sam actully like her smell XD)
~ Salaba's p.o.v. -
In the next room where I find myself, there is a bunch of strange black rocks dancing in what seems like wind, but there is no wind. At least, not enough to make rocks dance and fly around.
I can feel a tingling in my spine. It follows the magnetic wind pattern. After the previous trial, I can tell what Sam wants me to learn. If I can wield gravity, I can also wield magnetic force. Maybe?
I find a spot to sit and meditate. After a while, I can perceive the polarity around me from my spine in the back of my neck and upper back. I can also hear it somehow.
I try to transform my power by passing some of it through that area and trying to move a rock nearby. My spine seems to burn, and the rock I focused on, shoots like a meteor out of sight. I shiver my eyes wide... I could have died!
It's ten times "easier" to wield this power than gravity, and uses less power! I just never knew anything about magnets before Sam crammed this into my brain. I never even saw any before being in this room.
I look around and find a slab of black rock to sit on. Then I try to make it levitate slowly. Once I get the hang of it, which only takes a few minutes, I make it float in the vortex of flying rocks to elevate the difficulty level.
I did not realized, that my slab would accumulate momentum and almost throw us away, because of another rock's polarity, switching mine in it's own momentum, the rock I sit on going down with me on top, with the other one stuck to it... But no harm done.
I could fly, but I have to make sure not to attract other magnetic stuff... Still, now if I get up, I might get a rock in the face. I went too fast...
Wait! I have an idea. I create a neutral bubble around me with my power.
The rocks that cross paths with it fall to the floor. I quickly pull the slab from under me and use it as an umbrella.
Sure, this is a domain! I go to the center of the cave and expand it to the entire cave. All the rocks fall down. I avoid a few, some crashing on my "umbrella".
I close my eyes and focus on the feeling, coming from the ground. I resist the natural vortex and train my new ability a bit more. I can leave the room, but this is a feeling I want to remember and perfect.
I expand my domain as far as I can, keeping the polarity stable, against what seem like an ocean around it, until I feel the strain.
I stay there until my spine becomes a bit sore, then I leave the area for the next one.
(Does she learn by instinct? Cause this was too fast! Even if I guessed her powers... She has a hard time with theory, but practice is like a fart for her...) Sam think.
In the next room, I find a golden ball with instructions. I eat the delicious ball in one bite and almost climax... I'm still tired, but full of energy nonetheless.
The last room is a strange one. There are small tables and chairs in rows. One bigger table is facing the others at one side of the room, with a blackboard behind it. Sam showed us the blackboard's uses, so I guess this should be a place of learning.
Since I'm not the one who will teach, obviously, I pick a seat near the window. These windows look so clear and clean, nothing like the stuff I have seen. Outside, there is a giant city made of glass and concrete. This should be a view of Sam's old world...
My thoughts are cut off by a bunch of wooden puppets coming in. They all wear similar clothing and have a simple name written in common, on the face stump.
One of the dummies comes to me and speaks.
"This is my spot," Bob said.
Time stops and a blue panel pops in front of me. There is a question written on it.
A student calls out your mistake on the first day of school, will you:
A: Smack him on the head and resume your sightseeing.
B: Bargain for the seat you like, and do not go down too easy.
C: Give him the seat, trying to make friends.
D: Ignore.
What? This is strange? In real life... I admit I was tempted by the first choice, but this is Sam here... I guess I should leave all the doors open. I call out my answer. Time resumes its flow.
"I'm sorry, since it's my first day and there are no names on the seats, I claimed this seat as my own. But if you can give me something in exchange, I can give you my seat."
The dummy flinches and thinks before making its way to another seat without a word.
(Well, seems like a strange reaction. I should be careful.)
The class quiets down as a taller dummy makes its way to the front. He stops beside the blackboard and stays still, but his voice sounds in all directions. The blackboard lights up with images.
"Welcome to the interactive classroom, where you have to keep your WIT quick and BOOST your INTelligence. Let's proceed with the attendance. Answer 'here' when I call your names."
The teacher calls a bunch of names while I simply wait for mine. Once it's done, he calls out to me and asks a question, while all the faceless heads turn to look my way.
"Salaba, one name was missing from the roster. Which one was it?"
(What!? I didn't remember all the names! Wait! This should not be impossible...)
Piecing the clues together, I call Bob's name. Clearly, this was done to give me a chance and a glimpse of what kind of challenge this is.
My head almost wants to melt, and my heart to cry. The difficulty level is insane. I need to remember every detail of the room, the people, and as much as everything I can, in fact.
"Correct!"
Ding-ding-ding.
A dagger appears on my desk, and Bob's face is already looming close to me. I have no time to move, but my instincts from the last trial kick in.
The dagger flies from the desk, at insane speed. The pommel crashes in the middle of his wooden face and splits it in half from the shock.
Bob's body vanishes, and reappears at his seat like nothing happened. I levitate the dagger back into my hand. This is going to be tough.
"Now dear..." (I cringe). "Name five of your fellow students' names."
I almost want to give up, but my brain gives me a glimpse. It is enough hope for me to start naming five people successfully and be attacked again after receiving a second weapon, a sword.
This time, things get messy, as more students attack. Both weapons levitate and leave slashes all around me. I use my fists to punch them to smithereens. Once done, the class resets.
Text starts to flow around the room and images succeed one another. I push energy to my brain slowly. A ticklish and annoying sensation burns around my brain and optical nerves, but I push past it and keep my eyes open...
~ Amy's p.o.v. -
In Sam's Mindscape, seven character screens float in front of me. Right now, 90% of my processing power is dedicated to Sal.
When she used her power toward her brain, her pupils dilated. From the way they scroll around, they are burning information into her brain, but her innate ability is using brain signals, wich are partialy magnetic and electric.
Not losing a microsecond, I spam a bunch of Arithmancy, vector application, nuclear/atomic knowledge. I send all that could fit her power affinity, and also "basic knowledge" that includes many things from Sam's world. These are things on the level of rocket science, displayed as subliminal messages on the screen.
This continues until Salaba collapses on the floor, with a bit of blood under her nose. She is sleeping.
From the readings, her mental energy is completely drained, and with good reason after this trial. (Giggle.)
I went overboard, and she did too. Skipping boring courses can be very addicting.
I will have to wait until she wakes up to see if this worked. Normally, people accelerate after injecting power into the brain. But in her case, the opposite happened. I suspect that instead of boosting her INT, it is her WIT that get boosted more than her speed. She burns all the information straight into her "cloud", or INT, since her mindscape is not yet formed.
"WAIT!"
Too late, she is evolving. This is bad. I'm so scared and uncomfortable right now. For the second time since my birth, I feel fear for my integrity. If she does something like Sam did when we evolved... (Shudder.)
(Slap!)
My hand just shot at my face.
I breathe. Luckily, my breath takes only a microsecond from the dumb, slow clock of this world... I'm sure it was just a fluke because we come from another world and the Sword of Destiny touched us... I'm sure... Later... I have time, relax...
I transport Salaba to a sphere, just like the *-Men's old man's device. But instead, the walls are black. The magnetic field is very high and fluctuating, and so is the gravity, with a high static charge building around her.
Her hair stands straight up in a four-foot ball...
She unconsciously sit up in her sleep and lets the elements wash over her, her cells changing a bit to accommodate her peculiar power.
(All conditions are met.)
Salaba's eyes snap open, but they look a bit dull. Her subconscious took the forefront in her time of need. She was always so intuitive, having a strong integrity and inner self.
That is something I do not have much experience with, since Sam put all that into Bes. He also kept some too, as the main to "create" his own integrity, while I had a written integrity that is expanded upon, based on Sam's knowledge, making me the "mind" part.
Khonsu has no integrity, as his body is linked to Ammit and his spirit to the soul temple. Only his mind is free. It is ironic, since it was his original name, but he has no direct access to me now.
This characteristic enabled her to become slightly dumb, having stronger instincts... But now...
The catwalk leading to the door disintegrates. She is left floating with the platform under her. The room starts to twist and wiggle toward her forehead. The rooms from this castle are made from energy, so she just absorbs the whole room into her third eye.
Now she just floats, asleep in the dark grey. It is the fastest evolution yet, thanks to the castle. She used something that was already existing, finishing its transformation inside her body. I suspect she has a real space as a mindscape, more like my stomach than my mind.
I teleport her to us in a bed, beside Izuka who is also sleeping. Both are smiling.
Mily is pretty excited about what I did since it is the same as I did with Sal. But in her case, I put a lot less information in, only basic knowledge until she gets used to it. She used 4 hours to gain a tenth of Sal's haul, and in one hour at that. Her mind is slow for now, coming from further behind, so she might need more than one session.
Well then, time to focus on the last contestant standing.
Katriel's p.o.v. -
This is a nightmare. I'm now surrounded by 16 soldiers, 16 archers, and 8 spell casters. The only thing saving my skin is that they always use the same attack pattern. Well, each wave has a predetermined set of actions. Once they are done, they restart the motion. So to win, I evade the first wave and plan my attack. In the second, sometimes I deliver the blow on the second wave, or sometimes mess around for a while before finding an opening.
Once I break a link, the whole thing crumbles as I create more holes. The thing is, right now against 40 people, I can only defend. This is my limit. I can't put any more power into any part of my body. I'm capped. (Tsk...)
My whole body is burning from the constant strain that I put on it. My breath is even but deep.
Suddenly, a blue window appears at the bottom of my sight. Sam must have noticed my predicament and helped me.
Amy's p.o.v. -
But no, Sam did not help her. Amy did. She thought:
("She is topped out, and I don't see an evolution path in the short term.")
This is bad, since she is one of the warriors. Sam thought to have one of the biggest potentials in her. Turns out, they made her reach the cap she had before, but the cap is not ready to pop yet.
Still, Amy has more than one trick in her bag. She uses the best tool related to Katriel: her strong soul connection to Sam. We know how to make her break the cap, but she will have to work hard so she is not a glass cannon. After all, the others would be jealous if she evolved just a few weeks after her awakening.
I cut a small piece of myself from any other task and dedicate it to her. She does not have a complete mindscape, just the beginning of one like any normal human can make, so I can only do small things to not hurt her mind.
After synchronization, I realize her inner mind is close to my own thought speed. She seems to follow Sam's path of evolution already. Maybe I should do like Sal and Mily, cramming information through visual and audio means?
That's it! We will fill her head with Sam's, Beno's, and Barabas's memories! It would be the best test to know what happened back then. It will take her a while to evolve, but once she does, we might have to flee from the beast that came to attack me last time. Hopefully, the test should be positive and make potential break trough the roof; I'm 80% sure.
She will be like Sam. A bit of a jack-of-all-trades, but as a subordinate, she has more direction for herself: the desire to defend and protect. Even as a weak woman, she would try to defend Sam herself, as if he ever needs it.
...
Back to her training. With the system windows, she can double her performance... Well, there is a second outside brain helping her, but her body is starting to overheat. I slow the momentum of the soldiers for a while. I bring her temperature down slowly.
I teleport her to a stretching room with a wooden dummy trainer. After a bath and eating the golden ball of high-powered ambrosia, I teleport her to us.
(If you readers must know, Amy can use the castle, is Arianna allow it. The castle is an artifact just under the level of the sword of destiny. A god level artifact.)
~ Sam p.o.v -
"Hey Kat, congrats. You held on the longest, but this is not over for you, and then, not for the others either later. Rest up!"
I let myself be teleported with Katriel, into a white room.
"Kat, do you know how I gave you as much power as I could...?"
"Yes, is something wrong?" Kat asked.
"No, not really. It's just, since you are close to me and my power, I mean in our bond, you will evolve the same way I did. You don't have to, but if you want to help me do one last big experiment for your evolution, you could help me a lot. Something big happened during my evolution, so recreating the elements as they were back then, minus a big detail, I could prevent future accidents and gather data of all kinds."
"Just tell me what to do. I don't understand you much. I know you care and won't harm me, so what do I do?" Kat asked.
(Tsk, why do I talk... Wait, better. Once I do it, you will understand me...)
"Nothing! Really, sit here and let me send you my memories. They will be folded and compressed to fit your brain. You need to go through events or meditation, and they will surface and unpack naturally, like they were part of you all along. Don't force things, otherwise you will suffer. Everything you need will surface at the right time.... Memories are linked to the soul, and I'm stuffing mine by eating some and having Barabas in my mind. That contains around 300 years of life inside a 15-something-year-old person's brain. You will need (BEL) to bring your soul to the same level as the mind. Needless to mention your body, since you take good care of yourself already. You just have to keep up this routine."
"My liege, there is no need to ask. My body, mind, and soul belong to you. As long as you don't discard me, I will always be by your side."
(So corny! Gods, what did I do to deserve so many amaizing womans in my life.)
"Thank you, love. No, I don't discard humans... Sapiens... Hell, I don't discard life... Much less my family."
We sit on comfortable mats, face to face. I put my hand on her head and close my eyes.
Amy's p.o.v. -
We say memories are linked to the soul, but the whole picture is a marvel to look at. Of course, only I can see this...
The memories, are truly a mix of body, soul, and mind. The body remembers to breathe or be scared of death and harm; this is muscle memory and instinctual memory.
The mind would be scared of losing things and be interested in knowledge, or curious about things. This is theoretical knowledge.
The soul part is the memories of the outside, or the "Am Not": what is not part of you, but still related to you.... mmm Like building a puzzle, but one peice in the middle is missing, your soul is that peice outline, the rest, you vessel, karma, energy, etc, is what builds your soul. In other dimention or realities or timelines, you would still start as the same person, tho the environment would make you act differently...
It is the influence from outside forces, like karma, but also things like love, hate, and the lingering presence we leave after death, or a lot of time spent in the same place, making the same actions, like a rocking chair rocking after the owner died.
Those are universal memories, something divine, inscribed in and out of time and ever-existing.
Since she has no mindscape but the start of one, it is messy but leaves a calm center looking like a Greek temple and a city made of stone, which she probably grew up in. I have to map her brain and soul.
For the mind, I just inscribe a locked rune (Thanks to Ari) to let the memories flow slowly in, but also to let her brain find the right memories instinctively. I use a mix of the abilities from Salaba, Khonsu, and Ammit, to burn the intel into her body and soul, using an ultra-small piece of her brain to cram it in. like I build a smalll hard drive in her brain and she can use it by focusing on the lock rune.
The eyes are truly a door to the soul, since if you see something, you can never forget it, and it changes you forever.
On the outside, the white walls are now displaying the 300 years of life in me, at a 1000x forward pace. My processing power is at 100% on her. These images will stay in her mind until the time of need.
I focus and make the second round an illusion. She literally lives the lives at 1000x fast-forward. I control the flow of power in her brain so she doesn't become a vegetable. Her flow and synapse reactions augmented by twice already after two rounds of life. This should be enough for now. She can go to sleep first, as she needs it.
(I can reproduce the illusion at home; there is no need to be in Ari's castle for it. This visit brought me so much data that I will need a couple of hours to sort the information out.) (Meaning a few years to her perspective, but hours for Sam.)
(I will wait until we go to sleep... I don't need to sleep, but our body does in order to remove some nasty pollution from the intense use of brain power. Sleeping is the only way to remove those toxins, but I can make this process more efficient, at least. I will make sure none of the toxins stay after he wakes up. I can observe the reactions of the body and know what Sam sees while he dreams. Very interesting!)
- Sam's POV -
I look at Katriel and wonder if she is okay. A long string of drool leaks from her mouth and her eyes are barely opened.
("What the hell, Amy!")
("She is fine. Just slowly wake her up, big doofus. Giggle.")
I gently pat her shoulder.
"Kat, are you okay?"
She snaps back to reality. Then, she realizes her compromising predicament. She digs a handkerchief from her cleavage and makes herself presentable.
"I'm fine, thank you, but I need sleep."
"We all do, after this. I'm mentally dead right now."
And so, we all get teleported to a giant king-sized bed. I realize the comfort that I missed from Earth and just let myself fall into darkness.