Codename: Freedom - Book 5 - Chapter 24

Mel’s time came sooner than we expected. It was just a week later when he broke through. Victoria had been keeping a close eye on him, commanding he make his way to the recovery chamber before he broke through.

I only made it after he’d broken through. Even Krato insisted I go to congratulate him which I found curious, but it didn’t really surprise me. I doubted my Ekseliksi trainer would admit it, but the more my training progressed, the easier going he was. Or maybe he didn’t think he had to be as difficult since he was killing me so often in simulation.

Mel was still in the industrial dome I’d used while recovering after my rank E breakthrough with people surrounding him. Olivia was there with many of his men. Isamu was included. Victoria was also there. Peter and Oliver acknowledge my arrival.

They were all here.

As soon as the man of the hour saw me, the big grin fell from his face, and he marched toward me. He had the severe edge he got when serious.

I smirked.

Clasping hands, I pulled him in and dipped low.

A genuine rank D Othisi push kept me from snagging the back of his leg.

“Ha!” he chimed as he took a defensive stance even Kline would be proud of.

I prepared to lung when Victoria insisted, “Can’t you boys wait until your in a training sim?”

Olivia snickered.

We stopped sparring. This time when we clasped hands, I did my best Kline impression and tried to embrace the life out of him. It didn’t work.

After some giddy cackling, he sobered again and grabbed me by the shoulder. It was just a look he gave me, but it said everything that needed to be said.

It wasn’t until I was alone in the same recovery chamber with Victoria that night when I got to see his breakthrough. It wasn’t exactly dramatic, but the psionic rich air around him churned as a pulse of green energy erupted from him in every direction.

I couldn’t help but smile. Not just because his advancement was going to help us in the event or that I was finally going to have a real rank D user to spar against besides Krato. He’d changed a lot in the last year and a half. That talent of his that was always obvious to Barrell and me was finally out in the open. He wasn’t just coming to grips with it anymore, but excited about what he could do with it.

Victoria was standing at my side with her arm wrapped around my back. After Mel’s breakthrough had finished playing, she asked, “Are you okay?”

Looking down into the silver-streaked eyes, I asked, “What do you mean?”

She gave me her best puppy dog look. “Does it feel unfair? He certainly isn’t lazy, but no one trains as much as you do.”

I shrugged. “Maybe, but we’re on different paths.”

Her eyes slipped to my chest, and she nodded. “That’s true. There’s something you must know. Peter was able to test Mel’s genetics. He has the markers of a possible Vasileia candidate.”

“He’ll break into rank C?”

She shook her head. “It’s only possible. He isn’t a member of any of the current bloodlines. Because of that, it’s impossible to say for sure. He just has a much higher chance than normal.”

I narrowed my gaze. “But I thought the Vasileia reached rank C just like I might reach rank D. It was only a matter of time.”

She tried to look hopeful, but I knew her too well to miss the hesitation. “I could be like that. Not even children of the main houses have it so easy. Some of them also perish in the process of trying to breakthrough. It’s only the chief bloodlines like the House of the Epithumia that don’t have issues breaking through.”

She still hadn’t met my eye. “I was born with my psionics unlocked, Lucius. That isn’t even common amongst the Vasileia houses. Though, it does happen. If Mel had grown up Ekseliksi, then I’d have more confidence one way or the other. I can say that it’s likely, but not for certain.”

I snickered. “How long do you think it will be before he reaches rank C?”

“It could be a year or a decade. The closer he gets to the peak of rank D, the more I’ll be able to say.”

“Got it. At least I’ll have someone at rank C to train with if he gets there.”

She finally looked up at me if rolling her eyes counted. “Have you been using the techniques I taught you to speed your advancement?”

“Yes. And even when I haven’t in here, Destiny simulates the environment in my training sim.”

“So you’re using training and using recovery techniques at the same time?” She held up her hand. “Of course, you are.”

Slipping her hand under my collar, she reached for my chest. I felt a pulse of energy.

“You’re at what, 370 MEPS?” she asked.

With a smug look, I began to say my Maximum Energy Per Second was 369 but then found it had ticked up one point. With a sight, I replied, “Yup.”

“Your speed of advancement is still exceptional. I blame Destiny.”

The AI didn’t bother appearing, but she did respond through our headsets, “Thank you.”

As she went to remove her hand from beneath my shirt, I caught it.

“There are a few other things I needed to tell you,” she claimed.

“I’m sure there are.”

She tried to step back.

I didn’t let her go.

***

Victoria wasn’t sleeping tonight. While Destiny and I were studying a life-size Manticore King, she was playing around with a hologram of the future Prodos. It would one day be a city. For now, it was a fort with the strongest defenses in all of Vanguard. That was an undisputed fact.

There were positives and negatives to everything, of course. The psionically enforced walls and energy field made Prodos nearly impregnable. But that also meant that nothing could get out. We’d invested in some old-fashioned heavy artillery that were positioned between the inner and outer walls so that the psionic field could shift from one to the other in order for the weapon to be fired. Doing so left it vulnerable for a time. So unless the psionic field was moved, we had no offense.

In a game of capture the flag, that didn’t matter. The only time it would be an issue is when a flag was being captured, and the field needed to drop so that the flag could enter the base. The ability to move the field between inner and outer walls made it much easier. At no time did we have to completely drop the energy field.

That wasn’t Victoria’s concern right now. She was playing around with the diagram of what was supposed to be a living complex and convention center. It was like one of those high-end hotels with ballrooms with varying themes, gardens and swimming pools on the other floors, and mind-boggling architecture.

I still struggled with the answer she’d given me when asked why she was putting in so much effort—and money.

“There must be more reason for people to visit planet Hectate than natural resources and it being a strategic military position. There’s no guarantee Earth will always have the resources to supply us with everything we need once the Prime Simulation goes live. We must become self-sustaining. A place people want to visit and even live. There are several natural wonders. Places where the climate is just right for various recreational activities. Beaches, ski slopes… There’s a reason certain recreational activities have survived the test of time and are still practiced today.

“The first step it to give those with money reason to come here and invest. We cannot develop the entire planet ourselves. And even if we could, it would take too much effort.”

I chuckled. “So you want to tempt the kind of people that will build bunch of resorts and do the advertising for you?”

She winked. “We’re looking for the industrious and pioneer type.”

“Do we even have the authority over Hectate to do such a thing?”

“It doesn’t matter. All that we have to do is get the ball rolling. The more Hectate develops, the more they’ll need Prodos to defend what they build. Whether the money comes in the form of taxes that come directly to us, a new government is formed and that money if funneled to us through it, or corporations and individuals pay us directly, we will have more of what we need. And if we can get ahold of a few genuine battle cruisers, then we’ll have Earth’s greatest weapon against the Ekseliksi. We’ll be able to hold them back from landing planetside.

“Instead of being contested space, we’ll a stronghold in this sector. It will make us a staging planet. Instead of fending off invasions, we’ll be planning our own.”

She never ceased to amaze me. After creating a player bank in Freedom, why should I be surprised?

Turing my attention back to the massive dragon-like cat that had outlasted me in the first quarterly event, I walked around to its flank. A red glow came from a small location just behind its skull on its obsidian neck. As far as we could tell, at my current strength, this was the weakest point on the Manticore Kings body. There were a few points on its back that were susceptible to Falling Star’s spear attack. So it’s not like there weren’t other ways to kill it. But even if I had my shadow drone following me around with dozens of spears, there was no way I’d be able to land a perfect shot each time. They were big, but they could also move fast. And if I was attacking when they were in battle with another battalion…

I didn’t just need to be able to kill one but to perfect the process. And so we drilled. Phantom Fist wasn’t enough, but a correctly placed Dragonslayer came close. The problem was the angle. If I didn’t hit it just right, the blow didn’t even stun it. It was all or nothing.

So I didn’t just practice hitting it in the right stop but dueled against it as I did. That was just the beginning. Depending on its posture, the muscle of the neck could bunch up and make it even harder to hit.

After a few hours of that, Destiny and I moved on. It was something I’d continue to practice daily until the event. Where the Manticore King was positioned about halfway through the canyon-like tunnel, the walls were still a little more than three lanes of highway from one another. It made it easier for me to make use of the walls to better control my mobility, but it wasn’t the most efficient place for me to fight.

That’s where I stood now. We were close to the end of the outer layer, near the much shorter walls of the next. At this point, the walls were only two car lengths from one another. It was the best location for me to take advantage of what Krato was teaching me.

Standing at the center of the tunnel, I pushed myself up against the packed dirt floor. It wasn’t a great material for psionics, but it wasn’t the worst either. Loose soil with a lot of vegetation was about as bad as it got, and I’d practiced in it often. Rocks below the surface could cause a sudden change in how push responded, upping the difficulty.

I hovered toward one wall, then pushed energy out through my hand. I was still several yards away when push repelled me in the opposite direction toward the opposing wall. Once there, I pushed myself back in the opposite direction. Each time I neared a wall, I ascended a little, but that wasn’t my current focus.

I focused on the resistance, the feel. Soon I was flying back and forth as if I were bounding side to side except, I was five feet off the ground. This amount of exertion was comfortable. Enjoyable even. It was like warming up of a workout and everything just felt right.

Delaying my next push until I was closer to the wall, my energy erupted, sending me upward at a diagonal. I reached the next wall and pushed at a downward angle while pushing against the air on the opposite side of my body. It looked as if I was flying straight upward, but my momentum would only take me so far. When I felt myself slow, I didn’t just push myself across the gap, but backward toward empty space.

Reaching the middle of the tunnel, I used a full body burst of to send me back toward the same wall. It wasn’t as powerful as it would’ve been if I used the opposing wall, but it was enough that even Krato likely would’ve missed if he hadn’t anticipated it.

I did the same thing on the opposite wall before practicing moving forward and backward without the wall’s help. I couldn’t fly, but in this specific environment, I was getting about as close as a person could. What I needed more than anything else was practice. Both Marabella and Aeneus Raptis had given me the same advice in the past. I needed time in the air.

So this time, when Destiny spawned my rank D opponent, I was in the most advantageous place for me to fight him.