Building a magic system on threat of destruction

Jack slept in Riniox's room that night. She slept in the room as well, offering up her bed and taking the floor. There were five other mercenaries guarding the outside of the room and window that rotated out throughout the night. Jack was a bit nervous. The attempt on his life had been harrowing, he had suffered damage because of it, though the bore-bots had patched up enough that he wasn't in any immediate danger. He lay in Riniox's bed, trying to put the events of the evening out of his mind. He could hear Riniox snoring loudly, she had fallen asleep quickly all things considered.

Jack suddenly remembered the warning Plexion had given him and opened up his screen. Words appeared as he did. [Whew, that was a close one. You doing okay, Jack?]

Jack hadn't really tried to reply to Plexion up until now, and speaking aloud while Riniox was sleeping nearby seemed like an unnecessary risk. Instead, Jack typed out his reply, [Yeah, I'm okay.] It felt like a lie even as he typed it, Jack didn't feel okay at all. Despite all the assurances, despite all the comforting, Jack had still been through something insane. Even the disconnect he felt for his body, the knowledge that he would probably be fine as a ghost didn't help. Someone had tried to bash his head in with a hammer, that sort of thing stuck with a person.

[Hey, don't worry about it.] Plexion typed out. [You've got the King of all demon's looking after you, I'd never let you get hurt without a warning.]

Jack typed back. [That's assuming I have my status sheet open. I haven't implemented pop-up screens yet.]

[What? Like a kid's book?] Jack realized that Plexion had no idea what he was talking about and chuckled to himself. Notifications and pop-ups weren't a thing in this world, the vernacular he was used to was still a problem.

Jack chatted with Plexion about his future plans and implementations until his brain relaxed enough to let him drift away.

When morning came Jack was hauled outside by Riniox. She marched the two of them straight over to the training field, a great many mercenaries following along out of interest.

"Well Jack, we still have company watching, but safety waits for no one. I can't train you physically because of your robotic body, so you'll have to learn theory and application." Riniox barked the words at him like a drill instructor. Her tone was serious and Jack could see mercenaries stand up straighter out of habit.

Jack decided to ask a question. "Can I learn some magic to defend myself? That seems like the easiest solution."

Riniox was shaking her head before he even finished. "At some point, you can learn magic, but the truth is you'd be worse than useless with it."

Jack frowned, worse than useless was a bit harsh. He was about to speak up again when Riniox darted forward, throwing a fist at his face. Jack panicked and fell backward, steam suddenly shooting from his vents in alarm. He landed on the ground and brought his arms up defensively, his eyes shut in panic. When nothing happened, he looked up to see Riniox's hand extended toward him. He took it slowly and she helped him to his feet.

"I'm not going to teach you how to hurt people right now. You don't know how to protect yourself, and if you can't do that then you'll just get killed before you can fight back. let's start with your panic problem."

"My panic problem?" Jack parroted back to her.

"Yes, you had something terrifying happen to you. It's easy to see you're on edge, glancing around and nervous. Besides, you seemed so scared of me hitting you that I'm surprised you didn't get a skill for pissing your pants." Riniox chuckled lightheartedly.

Jack looked down. "I don't have pants...or a need to pee I'm pretty sure. But I see your point." Jack had been terrified, the sudden blow had brought him back to that hallway and how scared he had been.

Riniox nodded, "Of course you do, I'm right! Now, let's get started. All I want you to do is not take a step."

Jack was confused for a moment before Riniox suddenly kicked up at his head. She stopped just short of where his head had been, but Jack had panicked and threw himself backward again. Riniox knelt down to help him up, "Again." she said simply. She repeated the exercise dozens of times after that, throwing different blows at Jack to get him to actually stand his ground instead of panicking.

When Jack finally was able to resist his fear and stand his ground, Riniox gave him a congratulatory smack on the back. "Now I'm going to actually hit you, try not to run."

She proceeded to actually make contact with her blows after that. Jack could tangibly feel his fear melting away to frustration as they continued. Forcing his body to stay where it was proved quite challenging. Riniox did not hit him hard, but she did not give him much of a break. When she attacked (much slower and more deliberately than she had the night before) he either backed up a step or two, or he would be hit and gently pushed back. Riniox would then immediately follow this up with another strike.

A sort of dance emerged, where Jack would backpedal even as Riniox seemed to flow through martial art katas. Smooth, fluid motions carried her constantly toward Jack until he began to see a pattern. His fear was still there, but he felt frustrated by its grip on his mind. So in an act of defiance, he moved into one of the strikes, picking a moment where he recognized his attacker's motions and slipping inside her guard. He stepped past the blow and pushed her, intending to knock her back for a change. She didn't budge. In fact, his push did the opposite of moving her, she froze mid-punch, staring at him. Then a wide grin broke across her face.

"Oh hoh! So you are a fighter, after all, Jack," she said cheerfully. "That will make this much more enjoyable for me."

What followed was perhaps the most frantic game of tag Jack had ever taken part in. Riniox declared that all the assembled mercenaries were to try and tag Jack and that Riniox would defend him. The assembled group looked warily at their leader until she promised seconds of dinner for anyone who could touch him. That raised spirits slightly.

The men and woman charged at Jack even as Riniox beat and battered them away. Jack wasn't sure what the point of this was until the mercenary leader started calling out orders for him. She told him to move to her left or right, to grab nearby objects and throw them, or more often to simply back up or run. He did as she asked, watching with interest as she moved masterfully to position the people around her. He had no idea how she did it, but she held off ten people from getting at Jack for over twenty minutes before calling a stop. The assembled group was panting and bruised. Riniox had taken a few hits but seemed to be in better condition than anyone else there besides Jack himself.

"Did you learn anything?" she asked him, her eyes expectant.

Jack felt that he had learned the most important lesson from that experience. "I learned that I should keep you around as a bodyguard."

Riniox laughed uproariously at that, her shoulders shaking with the movement. "Yes, I suppose that is a good thing to learn." She shook her head in amusement before growing more serious. "Now, what did you actually learn." stressing the word actually to indicate the joking was finished.

"That I need to move, that staying still gets me killed. You had me move constantly, though I couldn't always tell why."

Riniox nodded, then called up her status screen. She gestured for Jack to come over and knelt so that her screen was at eye level with him. She pointed at several skills on her list. [Dodging], [Running], [Avoidance], [Teamwork], and [Being Protected] skills. "I think we can safely assume that you are qualified to use these, don't you think?" Riniox smiled at him. "I think that before the day is out, we can help you get a few more things under your belt."

Jack stared at the list, then opened his status screen and made some changes.

Jeler sat defeatedly in his bunk. He was confined to quarters for the day, only to eat basic rations and not do anything. He knew that Riniox wouldn't keep him here for too long, she had made it clear that he would be resuming his guard duties soon, but that she wanted to personally make sure he was safe. He felt like such an idiot. Why had he let Jack talk him into leaving, he had known that it was a dumb idea.

It was just...every day was so fun with all the crazy stuff Jack got up to. It was like his life had suddenly become this wild game, and all the guards and extra people were the icing on the cake. He had messed up, and Jack had almost died because of it. Jeler had seen him, just sitting there on the floor. A few dents and bumps, but the look in his eyes...he had seemed terrified. Jeler inwardly cursed himself for his stupidity.

Jeler activated his [Point Defense] skill and a small blue screen appeared midair. He looked at it, it was a skill that only existed because of him. Jack had taken his suggestions and worked to make a whole new magic, just because he had asked. Jeler looked at the simple blue square before taking a deep breath.

He would not let Jack down again, he would protect him at all costs. Jack was changing the world, Jack was important, and if Jeler could help keep him safe then he would do anything in his power to do just that. Jeler swore an oath, an oath that he would serve Jack and give his life in defense if necessary.

"Come hell or high water," Jeler mumbled the words to himself, but his heart was ablaze with conviction.