New System, Who Dis?

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2069

“Like we practiced, moron!” Smegma coached, despite his body sticking out halfway through the ceiling. I really wished he could understand social cues, particularly ones around when his presence would be a distraction.

My parents were both teary eyed, and my father, the man who needed convincing, looked so crestfallen that I wanted nothing more than to give him a hug and renege on my request. Still, despite my low assessment on Awakening, I hadn’t given up on my dream of becoming a part of a Hunter’s team.

Now with the chance at my fingertips to better myself and my future prospects, I was going to chase it like a dog with a bone.Despite my parents clearly thinking that my mindset and future were headed down a toilet like spiral if I joined the Miners. I could see in their eyes the disappointment of wanting a better life for me than they had for themselves. Asking to join the Mining team was clearly to them, an admission that they had failed a fundamental part of their goals in raising me.

“It’s only for a semester,” I said again. “I’m going to need to take time off until pre- trial anyway, and if I go back a month behind, my grades will suffer!”

“All of your teachers already told me that they’ll accommodate you, Brodie,” my mother countered.

“It isn’t the same, and you know it. Sure, I can read and even watch the lessons online, but if I’m supposed to be taking a break like Ms. Stovall said, then shouldn’t I not be reminded of the place where the assault happened? I shouldn’t constantly have the thought of returning to already underway classes hanging over my head.” I knew that this was a low blow, considering I wasn’t too shaken up about the whole thing. I assumed the reason I was okay with using it in such a way was also because of the High-Grade Mental Fortitude Skill that I’d received. That and Smegma.

Wait—Why couldn’t I find the thing in my mindscape-universe-thing? I figured it would have turned up when I was looking for Demonic Vault earlier, but I realized now that I hadn’t seen any indication of it while I had been searching around. I made a mental note to try to look for it later.

My mother opened and closed her mouth a few times, before looking at my father.

“You could let him work with you until the first appointment with the psychiatrist. It would get you back to work and you could—” she cut off and glanced at me. I could tell she had been about to say something along the lines of, ‘keep an eye on Brodie,’ and thought better of it. I just hoped that my father would agree, and not keep ‘too close’ of an eye on me.

“When’s his first appointment?” Gary asked my mother.

“Next Monday, so five days from now,” my mother answered.

“Okay son, you can join the crew for four days. As you know we don’t work Sundays usually. You’ll work as my assistant which won’t pay well but will start teaching you about the mine and how to do the job. Then whatever the therapist says, we’ll follow, deal?”

I could tell he was banking on the therapist telling me I should continue with my schoolwork from home but wasn’t too worried about that. Even if that was the conclusion, I figured I’d have accomplished my first goal. Or at least hoped I’d have done so by then. Smegma had claimed that F-ranked Mana Crystals were worth anywhere from sixty to just over a hundred points—depending on clarity and size.

So, in theory I would only have to ‘sneak’ away about two hundred of those to get the Mining Pick. If my dad’s crew happened to be Mining in a higher ranked mine, then I’d need even less.

I doubted the last but I could hope. It would be beyond rare for Mana Pool Miners to end up in high ranked mines. Mostly because higher ranked mines were so rare. At least, if I understood what my dad did correctly. It all came down to the fact that even in High Ranked Portals you often found Low-Ranked Mines. The opposite of High-Ranked Mines in Low-Rank Portals? Forget about it.

I nodded enthusiastically and rushed upstairs. I’d felt my Mana Pool fill in the middle of the discussion and hadn’t wanted to close my eyes to will the points to the Demonic Vault Skill. Once in my room I closed my eyes and entered my Mental Universe. I found my Mana Pool with twelve stars surrounding the black void. My eyes couldn’t open fast enough. I found and then glared at Smegma. “You said Mana Pool’s didn’t grow before they Evolved.”

“I said nothing of the sort. I showed you the Mana Pool Skill Card.”

“Semantics, asshole!” I harshly whispered.

“Regardless. Low ranked ones usually don’t grow. Why? Do you have more than ten Mana points now?”

“Twelve!” I said excitedly.

“And you think some shitty Snatchers initial reading was one hundred percent accurate?” Smegma answered leadingly. I got his message and closed my eyes again to gain my twelve Mana Coins.

“No, I trust my own ‘eyes’, asshole. I saw nine mana in my little galaxy thing and had already spilled one to the Demonic Vault accidentally. Now there’s twelve! Now, how long has it been since I drained all my Mana?” I said absently as I began looking for a space within the Universe that the Mental Fortitude Skill might reside.

“Probably about ten minutes of worthwhile conversation and another two plus hours of worthless emotion.” Smegma sneered and shivered like his body was covered in ick. I rolled my eyes.

Two hours to fill twelve points of Mana. I began doing some quick Math. When I realized it would be well over a hundred days till I reached the ten thousand Mana Coins for the Mining Pick I groaned. So, stealing Mana Crystals it was…

“You know I can feel the way you’re justifying the theft, right?” Smegma said casually.

It was my turn to shiver like I had ick on me. “You can read my mind?”

“Not really,” Smegma said with a back-and-forth motion of one his three taloned hands. “I can hear you when you’re mentally talking to yourself, though. It’s actually how you can talk to me, without speaking aloud.”

“So, are you saying you have a problem with my reasoning?” I asked, trying to cut off my habit of internally debating things in my head.

“I have no problem with theft to begin with. I just find it odd that you’re justifying it at all. Not to mention claiming that it might help you become a Hunter which in turn will help the world, is a bit thin, in my opinion..”

I mentally thought, [Then I’ll just pay back the value later—when I can.]

“Why bother?” Smegma laughed. His laugh was anything but pleasant. He sounded like an evil character high on helium. “I don’t even live in this world, but I know enough about greed to understand what the likely outcome of a valuable resource appearing in a random location is. It means that the closest power with the biggest fist is going to gain control of that resource. The chances of that powerful group or individual being a ‘good guy’, are practically nil. So what do you care even if you took every scrap of value from under their nose? You’re not stealing from a poor innocent soul here, you’re likely stealing from a blood drenched warlord out there somewhere in the world who’s using the most socially or lawfully appropriate form of slavery they can manage to leech every drop of materials they can get.”

I frowned at the Demon. That was a very dark outlook to have, and not wholly accurate. Still, it probably wasn’t far off. The guy who owned my father’s company was certainly well off, when compared to Gary and Clara, right? Definitely not blood-drenched, right? Eventually I shrugged. I didn’t have to justify my reasons to Smegma anyway. I would pay back what I stole…

I returned to searching my Mental Universe for Mental Fortitude. By the time I had recovered five points of Mana I still hadn’t found it or the Recovery Skill. I converted the Mana to coins and gave up. Five points would roughly mean an hour went by and if I hadn’t found either Skill—so Mental Fortitude was better hidden than I thought. So was Recovery for that matter.

Opening my eyes I asked, “Does Mental Fortitude and Recovery work without Mana?”

“Of course, they do. Otherwise, you’d have to activate it. They’re called passive Skills for a reason, stupid.”

“Thanks for that. What I meant to say is—is that common?” I asked as my face flushed.

“Then maybe you should have been clearer. There are probably more passive Skills than there are active ones. However, I never took the time to count.”

“Some merchant you turned out to be.”

“Shut up!” Smegma glared. “I am a merchant and a researcher. You’re thinking of a scholar.”

“I’m just saying, merchants should know their wares,” I countered, feeling pleased that I was getting a reaction out of Smegma. He’d called me a few names today, and while it didn’t bother me, I wanted to return some of the razzing.

“Yeah, sure, whatever, I spent most of my time as a researcher by the way,” Smegma mumbled, as his reddish cheeks seemed to gain a shade or two. I thought he might have rolled his eyes too due to the movements of his eyelids, but because his entire eyeball was pitch black it was tough to tell. I celebrated the ‘victory’ all the same, and realized I did so through mentally talking to myself when Smegma glared at me.

That was something I was going to need to work on.

I spent the rest of the day scanning through screens and writing down Skills that I thought I could use to become a Hunter. Thanks to my excitement about the end-goal of my actions, the day quickly turned into night. I grabbed my phone and made a Swiftgram and then a Smilebook post before setting a two-hour timer. I figured I would wake up and dump my Mana into Demonic Vault before restarting my timer and going back to bed. Closing my eyes, I got ready to do just that. I paused as I counted the stars, feeling that something was off.

Sure, enough there were thirteen now.

“I gained another point of Mana,” I said to Smegma, who had switched places with me and was on the back of my office chair.

Shaking his head, Smegma said, “No you didn’t.”

“I’m looking at my Pool right now. There are thirteen points!”

“Then it wasn’t full earlier!”

“I know it was! I felt it!”

“Yeah, the idiot who found his Pool this morning is suddenly the expert!”

“I’m going to punt you out the window. I’m telling you it increased—twice, now.”

“And I’m telling you I’ve never heard of a Skill that starts the Pool capacity in the F-ranks that has the capability of that kind of growth, and if it existed I assure you that I’d have heard of it.”

“What the husk?! Like you ‘heard’ about the number of passive Skills in your own damned shop? I think you’ve already clearly demonstrated that you don’t know and haven’t seen as much as you’d like me to believe. I’m literally looking at it—” I cut off as my door opened. I realized I had raised my voice more than I had intended.

“Everything okay in here?” My father asked, his face pale.

“Sorry, I was just getting ready for bed, but was having trouble falling asleep.”

My dad came into the room and sat on the bed beside me. “Your mother and I were talking downstairs. I’m glad you’re going to get out of the house with me. I know I argued against it, but your mom made me see how good it will be for you. We both just want you to know that you can always talk to us. We promise to hear you out, no matter what it is.” He took a long pause and then looked me straight in the eyes. His own were glassy with unshed tears. “I can’t help but think this is our fault, somehow.”

I reached out and hugged him. I felt my own tears threaten to come then. It was strange. While I wasn’t dwelling on the assault, my parents were. “It isn’t your fault,” I soothed, hugging him tighter. “It isn’t anyone’s fault but that assholes’. You heard Ms. Stovall. He was a Snatcher and a murderer…”

My dad tensed as I reminded him of the less than pleasant terms used in the Police Station, but then gripped me harder. “Just know that you can tell us about things like what happened on that Instantgram thing.”

I chuckled. “It’s SwiftGram dad,” I said in a mock annoyed voice. “Instantgram would be a stupid name. And don’t worry, I’ll be more careful.”

My mom came in and joined the hug soon after. I consoled them both, trying my best to convey that I was okay. I could tell that it wasn’t effective, but in time they’d probably understand. It didn’t help that they both had the Mana Pool Skill but had never truly tapped into it. So, they could only imagine what it had felt like to have it used forcefully against my will. That of course muddied my feelings on it as well. Without Mental Fortitude, would I be a complete wreck?

Certainly, a Mana Pull against a person’s wishes was a serious crime, and even now I never wanted to have anyone touch my Mana Pool again, but was it that bad? I had no reference point to use because I was simply over it. Or at least I was coping with it far better than even I thought I should be.

By the time my parents left my room to let me sleep, the only conclusion I had was that I understood why certain individuals with Mana Pools actively lent their Mana to anyone. Even now, as my Mana was neither refilling nor being used, I could feel the energy—no, the power that was literally sitting inside me.

I could see how that rush could be addictive.

As soon as the door closed, I mentally said, [Are there no low-ranked Mana Pools that can grow?]

“Not that I, nor my entire race was aware of when I started training to become a Trader,” Smegma answered. He spoke aloud since no one could hear him anyway.

[You mentioned a way to check my Skills this morning, do you sell anything that can do that? Or can you just look at mine for me if I let you?]

“No, I can’t tell you, even if you let me—or I would have already asked you to let me see, moron. On the other side, yes my Sect sells Spent Mana Crystals of all ranks. I’m pretty sure that the low-rank Spent Mana Crystal will be a waste of money. It’s just going to show you that you have a low E-rank Mana Pool.”

[Is that how you identified Skills back on your planet?] I mentally asked.

To my surprise, Smegma didn’t instantly respond, making me search around for the Imp. I found him staring out my window. I couldn’t tell what he was looking at and mentally prodded him.

The Imp started and then turned the dark black orbs of its eyes on me. “No, we could simply pull the cards from our chests and examine them. I’m not sure how I know that Spent Mana Crystals can read the Mana Signature of a person—and create explanation cards—I just do!”

I frowned at his tone. It was clearly a bit lost. Like Smegma was admitting to having forgotten something. Or possibly scarier—finding knowledge stuffed into his head, by something else. I shivered at that thought. Still, if any spent Mana Crystal could read Mana Signatures..

[Why are you distinguishing a Low Rank Mana Crystal if all Crystals can read Mana Signatures?]

“The higher the rank the more sensitive it is,” Smegma answered, his voice hollow, causing me to grab my biceps as goosebumps rose. “Spent F-rank and E-rank can handle up to C-rank skills. D and C up to low A, and so on. If you try to force it to identify higher ranked Skills, it will shatter.”

By the end his voice sounded more natural, almost returning to his haughty know it all tone. He made a gesture with his hands, and a screen popped up.

Low Rank Spent Mana Crystal

Consumable

High-F-Rank: Mana-drained (Previously High-F Rank Mana Crystal)

This Mana Crystal can identify the Skills of the holder up to C rank.

To use, infuse your Mana into the Spent Crystal for five minutes. This will allow the frequency of your skills to reverberate and be identified. The Crystal will then create Cards that identify the user's Skills.

Cost: 100 mC

“Smegma…” I drew the Imp’s name out with a faux-arrogant lilt. “Turns out I now know something you don’t.”

“Lies,” the Imp snorted.

“No, for real. I know how the Mana Crystals’ identify Skills.” I gestured at the prompt in front of my face that he, for obvious reasons—couldn’t see.

Smegma glared at me, clearly refusing to ask me to give him the information. I stared back. This standoff went far longer than I’m comfortable admitting before I started to feel guilty about holding back information with the firehose of knowledge the Imp was giving me. I cleared my throat.

“It looks like a person’s Mana has a sort of ‘fingerprint’, or as the System prompt calls it—a frequency that, when injected into a Spent Mana Crystal, allows the System to interact with the information inside of the Mana to ‘identify’ its inherent properties.”

Smegma blinked. “That… makes total sense, actually.” For just a moment he looked like he might thank me, then he smiled wickedly... “I can probably sell that information to dumb humans like you after I take over this planet and become your intangible, unknowable God-King.”

I choked on my spit a bit, thinking about a demon who wouldn’t even be able to prove to a group of amateur ghost-hunters that he even existed, taking over the world. After a moment, I turned back to the prompt, frowning. I really wanted to know what my ‘Skill Cards’ looked like. Sighing, I mentally closed the information window…

Since I couldn’t even afford the hundred Mana Coins, I reset my two-hour timer, and funneled the thirteen Mana points over to Demonic Vault. I now had thirty-nine mC, which meant I’d be able to purchase a Spent Crystal sometime tomorrow.

“When I use a Crystal to gain Mana-Coins, does it become a spent Crystal after?” I asked, realizing that I probably would be at the mine by the time I managed to save enough coins. Which—if I was right, perhaps I wouldn’t need to spend any Coins at all, and get to have my cake and eat it, too…

“Yes, but if there’s too many flaws in the Crystal, it might break when you try to use it to identify your Skills once all the naturally present Mana’s been drained from it,” Smegma stated, his voice still not quite losing the deep melancholy that had been present since he began talking about his world.

I tried to dismiss the uncomfortableness of the last few questions and answers. That the System or something could shove information into the Demon’s head, disturbed me. No matter how much I rubbed my arms the goosebumps and shivering wouldn’t recede. My mind asked me a pertinent question that I hoped the Demon didn’t hear.

‘Is the Demon even real, or part of a System Skill? For example how can a Skill he sells have knowledge of Earth, that he doesn’t?’’

The latter point made me think he might just be a System creation. That didn’t exactly make me more comfortable with the notion of knowledge being inserted into what appeared to be a creature with its own thoughts and personality but it did help. I managed to get my shuddering to abate by telling myself that the System couldn’t do that to me.

Right?

I pulled my blankets over myself a little too quickly and said, “Moogle, lights off.”