NOVEL WEB Chapter 2 : Bartering
Chapter 2 : Bartering
Crown Prince Byron Thorn had been fortunate enough to reach this hub ahead of his father when word of the impending disaster came down the pipe and thus had direct access to the public broadcast announcement containing the heartfelt words of the president himself had. The Crown Prince had to admit that it sounded pretty good, despite obviously lacking the polish of a scripted and rehearsed performance.
“And our hopes and prayers go out to all of our fellow Americans during this upheaval. I have every faith in the good will, perseverance and determination of my fellow Americans. We need only stand strong and united. Together, there is nothing we can not overcome. Not D-Day, Not the great Depression, Not Y-2-K and certainly not this. May you all find the strength to help your neighbor and the faith to accept their help in turn. God bless America.”
Duke Matthew Cassidy was easily twice the Crown Princes age and held Just as much more power within his own house, so the Crown Prince was obliged to listen in when the older man snorted at the latest part of the broadcast. “Hmph. Empty words wasted in a vain attempt to hold a broken system together. Without high speed communication and with so much infrastructure going down at once....” The Duke shakes his head. “America is already dead. They just don't know it yet, and, even then, ....”
The older mans gaze reluctantly turns to regard one of the few monitors on earth that still worked, its screen showing a real time update from one of the few satellites that was still all analog and thus survived the massive shift in the electromagnetic field. “Only if it doesn't hit us on its way by.”
His were not the only eyes gazing upon the monitor at that moment but none wanted to comment on the matter any further. That was, apparently except for a voice that was an odd mix of both nasal and baritone. “A direct hit would spell the instant end for us, regardless of how well this facility is constructed. However, we can't afford for it to miss the earth completely either, least is gain enough momentum to fully escape our planets orbit. That would just lead to slow death due to the loss of tidal forces. And eventually the electromagnetic field. Ideally....” Viscount Trace Forbes was summarily cut off by the Dukes own cutting words.
“We recall well your presentation on the desired vector for the best outcome Viscount Forbes.” Silence fell upon room for but a moment before a strong and truly self assured feminine voice called for order. “Enough with these distractions. We have heard the presidents speech and the whole of the public broadcast announcement, and we are far from having a comprehensive plan set forth for how the new American will be structured. I believe the next order of business should be evaluating the public's responses and dispositions to determine the best diplomatic approach to use and with which groups. I know its still early in this crisis but as the situation progresses we are going to receive progressively less information from the outside. So lets get too it.”
All in the room, including the Duke, bowed to the middle aged woman, the Duke himself leading the response with deference. “Of course Queen Grace Alpine.” None of the resentment he felt towards her even hinted at in his tone, speech or mannerisms. For were it not for the presence of the actually Queen of the Alpine branch then he would have held the highest title in the facility. Alas, she was here and all were thus subject to her rule under the decree mandated by treaties older than he was between the various houses.
Maik didn't know how much time had passed sense he had started meditating but the teen had only managed to restructure the chi plumbing over the main arteries running to through his torso, 2 up to the brain and 1 to each limb, Maik had really been pushing it for that last limb. He felt mentally exhausted and while some of the pain from the chi flow had abated, other pain had eagerly stepped in to take its place. It would seem that fixing those chi pathways has accelerated our physical transformation. Oh great, we purchased new pain with our arduous efforts. Go team, great job. Irritation.
Opening his eyes, Maik found the other 3 in hushed conversation with a few of their other friends Eugene, Stacy, Sara, James, Elisha and a few other people Maik didn't know where all there chatting together.
Eugene was Mexican, the super sized variety. Guy hit 6 foot back in elementary school and had been big ever sense. With wide facial features and darker than average complexion to boot he had always stood out but he was great to hang out with and play board games or sports.
Stacy was of Polish decent and was one of the tallest girls in school. This made the fact that her dark brown hair reached all the way past her lower back all the more impressive. She had prominent features from well used facial muscles and always seemed to have an upbeat and energetic attitude.
Sara was of average height and.... full bodied. Not obese but thickly proportioned everywhere. She was originally from New York and was rather proud of both that fact and her Accent. She had long true brown hair that reached her shoulder blades and a round face, but in a cute way.
Holy crap. Most of our friend are here. There must be a reason. Jose is motioning to us. Maik rose from where he had been seated and felt the energy running through those newly upgraded pathways by flexed them and pushing chi through them to try them out. A new notification popped up in the periphery.
Still / 4th Tier : Chi body infusion – Beginner
Infusing the body with chi will increase the efficiency and effect of all stats related to the effected area.
Skill / 3ed Tier : Mind & body connection – advanced to Capable.
Make's mind became clearer and didn't feel nearly as worn out. Strength filled muscles and vitality surged through organs. OHH YESSS ! THE POWER. THE POWER. This is useful but it is also depleting our reserves. Look. The purple bar was decreasing in length, all be it rather slowly.
Make turned down the flow so that the bar should last for hours at the current rate while stretching and then made his way over. “Yo. Whats up.” Maik shakes hands with others and nod to friends, even shaking hands with their teacher who had joined the huddle.
Jose started explaining the situation. “So we followed your instructions and all have.... unlocked...” He looks around at the others to make sure there were no objections to his phrasing his gaze lingering on the older math teacher. “The energy bar you mentioned.”
Maik could not help himself from breaking out in a some light giggles of excitement, a wide grin on his face as I looked around, meeting other peoples gazes for affirmation. “.... Th-that's great. Have any of you gained any new Tier 3 skills from it ?”
Mr. Boyd snorts and shakes his head. Jose again speaks up. “We have been pooling our knowledge of the....” Again he looks around at the others to make sure his phrasing wasn't going to he countered. “Interface. Exploring what all it can tell us and what it does.” Maik nodded along and Jose continued. “It seems limited to the individual person. It quantifies and describes the person, their abilities, skills and potential. Everyone seems to have received a roughly equal amount of....” Yet another glance around. “Points to distribute and alter themselves as they see fit.... And frankly, some of the options available are kind of disturbing.”
Jose focuses on Maik and gestures encouragingly, though there was a slight undercurrent of accusation in his tone. “You seemed to grasp the situation pretty fast and even discovered new functions of the interface, heck your talking about it like its normal. So I guess what I'm asking is if you have any idea on whats happening.”
Maik blinked a couple times. Ohh shit we need to spin some real good bullshit, fast ! Fight Or Flight Activated. Calm down. We just need to explain things rationally.
Make's body was busy tensing up and pumping adrenaline but all of his collective consciousness long ago agreed that in situations like this his logical mind would try negotiation first. “Whatever this is it hurt, hurt a lot, so I haven't really had time to question reality or any of the strangeness before us.” Shrugging the Teen continues. “I was just lucky in that I practice Qigong and that skill is somehow applicable here. I also think that's why my Chi and Aura are my highest stats.” Maik offers them a bashful smile, half to placate them and half because he was a bit embarrassed with all their attention focused on the teen like that.
This seemed to placate them as the tense atmosphere broke and people, including Make himself relaxed. It also helped that what he said was half true. Make was heavily influenced my anime and various cultivation stories that had been listened to on Bookable. However what had truly driven him to experiment with various techniques and purchase multiple rare pieces of literature on the topics of metaphysical capabilities like Qigong and Ninjutsu was the fact that the teen was certain that his father was a practitioner. (Someone who utilizes advanced methods of self improvement that boarder on the metaphysical)
However Maik's father never taught his children anything about his seemingly supernatural abilities. Yeah, we probably shouldn't go explaining things like hypnotic suggestion to our friends just now. Good call. Righteous Anger. Regardless of how many times father has used such things on us, it would most likely be counter productive at this stage to mention it.
Elisha's brows were furrowed as she stepped forth to ask a rather pointed question in a determined voice. “Mark ? Your Chi and Aura stats are how high, exactly ?”
Maik's lips pressed into a thin line as he contemplated how one should answer such a question. We should play it down to not draw to much attention. Boast to impress the female. We should stick to the truth until we know more about other peoples stats and situations. Otherwise any false answer may sound ridiculous when compared to our rapid understanding of the purple bar. Ultimately his intellectual mind won out and he took a moment to double check the Stat sheet.
Name : Make Alphonse Daly
Species : Human Race : Celtic / Germanic
Age :18
Gender : In flux
Height : 190 Centimeters
Weight : 78 Kilograms
Strength : 81
Flexibility : 89
Dexterity : 123
Endurance : 80
Durability : 76
Intelligence : 142
Smarts : 164
Wisdom : 126
Perception : 137
Charisma : 109
Chi : 171
aura : 165
Skills 3ed Tier
Bio chemistry – Beginner
Calculus – Beginner
Mind & body connection – Capable
Still / 4th Tier
Chi body infusion – Beginner
Looking back at Elisha Maik sheepishly responded. “...171 and 165 respectively...” Her jaw actually dropped a little and everyone else looked at him with a mix of surprise and amazement. While they were still processing the answer Make took the chance to take back control of the conversation. “So uhhh, what are you guys Chi and Aura stats at ?”
Everyone else, with the exception of skip was hovering between 62 and 78 in those 2 stats. Skip actually had 123 and 106 respectively. We are a freak of nature, in a good way. Phear our might. Quiet you. This is serious. Swelling pride.
Getting the conversation back on track Make inquired about their progress thus far and if any of them had acquired the Tier 3 skill Mind & body connection. Skip, Jose and Zak were the only ones to speak up on that front Starting with Jose. “Yeah, I actually just achieved it 10 minutes ago.”
Zak just nods as though his answer was pretty similar but it was Skip who explained the bigger gathering with a shrug. “I figured thay our friend might want to know what we had figured out so I asked the teacher if I could go bring them here. He asked me why, I explained what we had figured out so far and he agreed.”
A nod of agreement was how Mr. Boyd started his response but quickly followed it up with an inquizsitive tone aimed to move the conversation along. “So Daley, Jose tells us that what you shared with him was just the beginner material but it might help the rest of us understand better if we knew where you learned this from ?” The tone at the end turned the statement into a question and Make brightened at first before deflating a little.
“Honestly, the basis of what I know comes from the mainstream material you can find in many of the main stream books on Chacras and bio energy. Some of the more advanced stuff came from a single book, 'Path Notes of an American ninja warrior' but a lot of the more advanced stuff is a mixed hodgepodge of trial and error that I've worked on over the past 4 years. Most of it was inspired by various cultivation novels I downloaded and listened to from Bookable. So I guess we could check the library for any books on the subject of either chi or bio energy. Besides that we would need to go to the book store. Speaking of which....”
But Mr. Boyd quickly interjected to cut off the line of questioning and try to keep the conversation going in the previous direction with a firm and resolute suggestion. “Then I guess your our resident expert for the time being. Most of the faculty are experiencing varying levels of nausea, head aches and pain, myself included among them. Now Your class mates seem to believe that these exercises of yours greatly help with that...” He gestures to the 3 that were with Make but seems to exclude the others that were gathered.
It would seem that they have not yet had a chance to try out the meditations I described to Jose and the others. Ooooo we should take the time to explain the process in great detail to Elisha directly while the others listen. I like this plan.
Mr. Boyd continues. “So maybe you would be so kind as to take a note book out and produce an introductory instruction manual for other too follow and hopefully reproduce the recovery these 3 seem to be showing ?”
The light sheen of sweat on the teachers face and obvious effort the man was having to exert to make it through the conversation decided it for Make more than anything else and the teen nodded without hesitation, yet there was still discord. Demand Payment. This is for the greater good. Yeah but think of all the money we could make of this. Just think. How about if we do another sit down and teach session with the teacher and the others in exchange for favors later. And why do we have to wright the thing ? Our hand righting is terrible. That is a good question. Yes, listen to funny mind.
Make's eyes focus as he starts bargaining even before his done nodding. “Well, firstly, may I use your computer to type this up ? Making multiple copies will be a....”
Boyd interrupts with a patient but annoyed tone. “Computers are down, all of them. Printers too so you will have to do this by hand.”
Make's eyes brows reach for the roof. Apprehension. Just how bad is it out there ? What about our family what about...
Boyd puts a hand on the teens shoulder to bring him back to the moment. “And the second thing ?”
Prioritize. This is the immediate problem and people need help. Okay, but lets at least barter for them to help making the duplicates of this instructions. Agreement.
“Well sir, I think it would be best if I first walk you and the overs...” Make gestures to the rest of the assembled group. “Through the Basics so that we can verify the validity and use of the knowledge on a larger group. While your meditating and applying what I will be describing to you I can transcribe the first set of instructions and then, if they prove useful, I would appreciate help making duplicates from all of you...” Make pointed looks at his other classmates assembled and then turns back to Boyd. “While you bring this information to the other faculties attention.”
Boyd had, in equal parts, both been trying to keep his student busy with something rather then riling up a good number of students and hoping that this student actually knew something that could help with the killer head ache he was fighting through to maintain order. The middle aged teacher thinks about the boys proposition for just a moment before giving in. Standing up to his full height Boyd waves over his assistant, an honors student who had long been a reliable member during extra curricular activities. “Nathan.”
A tall blond comes over with a bull cut, a wiry build and well toned but slightly gaunt features makes his way over. “Yeah Boyd.”
The teacher places a hand on the youths shoulder and asks in a very serious tone. “Can I depend on you to keep an eye on the class for about....” Boyd turns to Maik with a raised eye brow, the expression seeming to ask the teen to fill in a time estimate.
Maik obliges but also waggles his hand in the 'so so' gesture. “45 minutes. Give or take.”
Boyd nods and turns back to Nathan. “45 minutes...” Then the teacher shrugs and nods with an eye roll. “Give or take...” The middle aged mans serious demeanor comes right back. “Can you do that for me ?”
To his credit, despite the pale look to his lightly sweating face, the youth nods and affirms. “You got it Boyd. I got this.”
Boyd pats his shoulder with a. “Good man.” Before settling down with the rest to hear Maik's instructions. Like before Maik stresses the importance of either performing the lotus pose, which he still could not do himself, or setting on something that would allow for the participants to sit Indian style in a way that their knees were lower then their pelvis. Once everyone was in place Maik walked them through the steps, the breathing and the flow. All while emphasizing that the energy would build and should saturate the whole of their bodies evenly.
Some of them began to experience muscles spasms while others tightened parts of their bodies until joints turned white. All the while Maik expressed the need to keep the body calm and relaxed. In the end it took a full 35 minutes for everyone to have the process down well enough that Maik didn't need to rush over and help walk them through a sudden surge of energy running rampant through them.
Its amazing how easily and how often they are experiencing Chi overflow. One can really get hurt if and overflow of Chi runs rampant for too long. Its an amazing blessing that we figured out how to help people regain control through physical contact back with Jose. Pride. Except now he even had a new skill to show for it.
Chi projection – Beginner
Chi control is not solely and internal affair. Chi can be projected beyond the confines of one physical body.
It seemed that Maik could effect the Chi inside others with their permission or at least so long as they were willing to accept his help. That last part was figured out when Elisha was having a spasm but wasn't willing to let Maik's Chi intervene until it was almost too late to avoid her suffering injury.
There weren't any other major problems after that. Sense there hadn't been a single emergency in about 10 minutes, Maik figured he could go ahead and start righting down the beginners instructions and sat down at his desk to get to work after asking. “Skip, sense you Jose and Zak here already have 'Mind Body skill' could you keep an eye on them while I'm working on this ? It wold make me feel a lot better about the situation.”
Skip smiled like the sun and nodded. “You can count on us.” Skip immediately roped Jose and Zak to help. Maik just snorts and gets to righting, taking his time to really focus on his penmanship and right neatly so that others could easily read it. It was still ugly but it really should be legible.
Maik had finished his rough draft of the work and was reading it over when the first of his new students groaned and moved out of the meditative position. looking up at the simple analog clock on the wall, the only way they had been able to reliable tell time sense whatever this was had gotten started, the teen noted the time on day. 12:27 The day is half over already. Time flies at the end of the world. Existential dread.
Maik shakes himself free of that fear by putting his hand together and sending a silent prayers into the either. “Please. Oh Please Divine creator. Please exist. And Please let there be an after life. Amen.”
With the ritual concluded the teen felt calmer so his focus was redirect towards the group that was still, for the most part, practicing the meditation exercise as he instructed. More precisely, the first one to drop out. It was Elisha who had needed to rest first. This was not surprising given how close she came to really hurting herself, a fact all the more evident by how she was rubbing at her back.
Maik walked over and presented his written work to her. “Could you proof read this for me ?”
She looked at him as though the question was an affront and Maik just smirked before continuing. “Hehh, well you are always the one bragging on how well you do in the language arts.”
Elisha huffs, rolls her neck and snatches the binder from Make. When she reaches an expectant hand up to demand a pen one was already being presented so she set about her new task with efficiency and grumbles. By the time she was done proof reading she was looking a lot better and a few others had dropped out of the exercise as well, happy groans emitting from people who have stiff muscles but no longer throbbing head aches.
By the time the second draft is done everyone, including Mr Boyd had gotten up and were all talking either among each other or other students in the class with clear signs that they were doing a fair bit better. Boyd himself came over and inspected the end product of Make's efforts. “Okay Make. Seems you may be onto something here. I can firmly assert that I feel worlds better and the interface even started helping me towards the end there. I also seem to now have that Tier 3 skill 'Mind body connection' that you mentioned.”
Maik could not help but to point out. “I also noticed that you kept at the exercise for almost 10 minutes longer than anyone else. Did you push that hard to verify the skill ?” The teacher just nodded while reading over the instructions. “This looks good Daley but it seemed as though you had to personally help each and every person at some point or another during the exercise and I have to be honest, when I felt you... help me regain control it felt more then a little invasive. Still It looks like you took that into account with your instructions here. Its good that this document emphasizes that the reader should really take there time in order to not build up too much energy at once and risk...” Boyd's eye brow rises speculatively but he makes no other mention of the matter. “Chi overflow.”
Once he finishes reading it over twice the middle aged man nods to himself. “Alright, we should get started on making copies of this pronto.” Groans are the first response to emerge from other students when the teacher looks pointed at them but Maik's mind is racing again.
Don't let Boyd take the lime light, this is our contribution. Take the initiative. It was part of the bargain.
Make stands up in response and simply proclaims. “You all agreed to this when you asked for my help, but you can still relax a little, there is only one copy to duplicate at the moment so....” The teen looks over the group and points out Elisha and James. “Elisha and James will be the first to start making copies.”
Some one Make didn't know the name of but took part in the lesson spoke up in an annoyed tone. “Why aren't you making copies ?”
Maik was a bit worn out, a little tired, his patience was taxed and was in far to much pain for this shit. Righteous anger. Fuck that guy. Fuck his nappy ass shirt, fuck his baggy ass pants, fuck the over priced shoes he walked in on, Fuck the designer hair cut he is sporting and most of all Fuck him. He does look like the entitled type. Better that we emphasis the benefits our actions will bring to the rest of them rather than point out what we have already provided and the debt they have to me as a result. Agreement. Fine, we'll kick his ass later.
Maik adjusted his posture to address the whole group but locked eyes with the complainer, holding up a finger to start counting off his points and lifting following fingers with each new point made. “Firstly, what I've produced here is just an introduction but an introduction that we know works. Not all of you have the skill 'Mind & Body Connection' yet but when you get it it will start at beginner, just like it did for me. Now I have already tested some of the more advanced methods that I know and only when I tested those methods did that skill raise from Beginner to Capable. Given the improvements you are all experiencing from just working toward gaining the beginner level of the skill and the benefits that the Capable level of the skill is affording me, its seems apparent that my time would be best verifying just how far I can take this skill and then documenting further instruction manuals for future advancement that others may follow.”
The complainer was not satisfied with that explanation it seemed. “If you've already reached this Capable level in the so called Mind and Body connection skill, which only 3 of your friends and the teacher seem to also have, might I add. Then why didn't you help the rest of us reach that level ?”
Maik took a calming breath while his mind warred over how to respond. This Bitch. Seconded. I could understand the first complaint but This little shit needs to check himself before he wreck himself. Perhaps letting the authority figure in the room move things along might have been the more diplomatic move rather than assert our own dominance. Regardless, the answer to his question is a simple one so there is no need to be hostile, only to carefully explain. Agreement. Fine.
Continuing the explanation with a firmer tone, as if to strongly imply that the answer was obvious and the decision final. “Even with me on hand to assist when things started to go wrong, just about everyone here had issues pop up while trying to apply the exercises that I suggested and I can tell you from experience that Chi overflow surges are no joke. They can really hurt you, especially with how much Chi everyone seems to have now. Everyone experienced the sickening symptoms of having all the wild and unruly Chi running rampant in their systems and there is no telling how bad the condition might have gotten without these exercises, might still get for.... a lot of people we know and care about. The instructions I have documented here take that into account and urge the reader to take it much slower then what I ran the lot of you through. If one follows the instructions I have laid out then it will take someone 3 to 5 days to make the kind of progress you all have today in order to avoid the kinds of problems that would require a practitioner like myself to be present to help with.”
Maik paused to see if the whiner would need any more convincing but Boyd took that moment to insert himself back into the conversation. “Regardless of all that, I will be inviting Daley to accompany me to the principles office so that he can explain his findings and we can brain storm any other information gleamed from others around the school. So he will be busy elsewhere.”
This seems to finally shut mister overpriced shoes up but it gave Maik a different thought. We really should take a copy of the instructions with us. Do we have too ? I mean we know the material and were probably just going to be doing another hands on walk through. Hate paperwork. The more people we have agreeing to make copies for us the more credit we get for producing the document. Plus, remember the most important aspect of any school assignment ? PRESENTATION ! Yeah, we know. Reluctant agreement.
Maik turns to address Boyd with a very formal tone. “In that case I would like to make another copy of the instructions to take with us and present to the principle.” A nod of agreement was the only answer and thus Make, Elisha and James got to work on making duplicates. They placed the original on the desk between James and Elisha, with Make on the other side of the desk and reading the original upside down, but Make had written the thing twice already so this was not much of a bother. He just need to make sure everything was neat, in order and spelled correctly on this 3ed draft.