[CYA] Chapter 108: The Calm Before

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<Alex, Real - Endure, High School Hallway>

Alex was sitting in the hallway outside the school cafeteria. It had been a long day, during which he’d focused almost exclusively on his upgraded spell.

It had taken him hours just to get it back to the utility of the previous version, and from there, he’d been able to focus and alter the effect to be more directed rather than omni-directional, but that was about the extent of it for the moment.

He had created a few slightly altered variations that he thought he could make again at need but not many. There would be so, so many that he could make in the future.

As it turned out, the little symbols facilitated by the spell—and which were empowered to create the effect—weren’t able to handle very much mana individually.

That actually made sense as this wasn’t a force blade or lance spell or anything like that. Too much force in a small area would be just that, and that was outside of the current scope of the spell.

He could move that way eventually, but for now, he effectively had to utilize many symbols in tandem to get any effect. That also helped explain the tendency of the symbols to act on a gradient, striving to be similar to those near them, in that way it spread out the load of the spell and actually helped accomplish any given objective more effectively and efficiently.

As Alex sat and contemplated, Ben was walking by, heading for the bathrooms by the look of it, and the men exchanged a head nod.

Following his usual patterns, Alex almost absently reached out with his Life Blood Transfusion, feeling the standard connection to the man, knowing that he could send blood his way with ease.

But, he wanted to do the opposite. He’d been trying to do the opposite for days. As such, he’d been trying on and off for days to have the skill work in reverse, sending blood from Ben to Alex.

He was taking a sip from a drink cup—some horchata that the cafeteria staff had made as a special treat—and that caused him to think of things a bit differently.

Instead of trying to move Ben’s blood, he moved his own, creating a gap and linked that emptiness to Ben. It was an odd way of thinking about it, almost like assuming their circulatory systems were already connected, and all it took was pressure in the right direction to make what he desired happen.

Regardless, it worked.

Ben hesitated, shaking his head. “Wow… that was interesting.” He frowned, glancing toward Alex. “Was that you?”

Alex, for his part, felt a very unpleasant swelling in his left arm—where he’d created the connection—but thankfully, it quickly spread out, simply leaving him feeling unpleasantly full. “Yup! Finally worked.”

Even with the discomfort, he grinned maniacly. True, Ben had tacitly agreed to this, so it wasn’t like he could cut his veins open and drain enemies with impunity, but it was a step forward in this skill. Ben sighed, shaking his head. “Glad it worked out for you, Alex. Now, I’ve gotta pee.”

The big man turned and kept moving.

The added blood didn’t seem to do anything for Alex except increase his blood volume, unfortunately. Or had it? I suppose blood-doping is a thing?

He didn’t actually know much about it, except that some athletes apparently would take in a unit of their own blood for some sort of performance advantage? Yeah, he didn’t know how that would be useful. He also didn’t know if it would work with someone else’s blood.

The feeling wasn’t very fun, but he also didn’t actually know how much he’d taken. It could have been a tablespoon or a full unit. He just didn’t know, and Ben’s reaction—given the man was rather well leveled and physically enhanced—seemed like it was on the higher side.

Regardless, it was something. Unfortunately, the way it had been done made him think that he would be unlikely to be able to take HP or Life from someone else with this method. Still, he would never say never, and it was worth testing… but not now.

His brain felt so foggy, and with the light already fading outside, he had determined to go to bed early.

It had been three days since he finalized his mana circulation technique, meaning it was the end of the fifteenth day of the tutorial.

Halfway done.

His time had been a whirlwind, and he was honestly grateful to not have had more down-time to truly contemplate all that was happening.

He’d been in almost a haze of training. He hadn’t even taken the time to really look at his full stats in a while. When that came to mind, he called it up, just to be thorough.

Character Sheet:
Alex Johnson
Life-Aspected Human (Epic), E, Level 9
Class: Life-Aspected Great-Bladesman (Epic), E, Level 9
Class 2: NA
HP: 9396/9396
SP: 1275/8275
MP: 2493/3300

Titles:
Reactive Resilience
System Initiate

Physical Stats:
Power: 143
Agility: 210
Fortitude: 210

Mental Stats:
Power: 121
Agility: 210
Fortitude: 121

Magical Stats:
Power: 165
Agility: 150.7
Fortitude: 154

Unused Points: 0

Attributes:
Basic Resistance - Acid (Lvl 4)
Basic Resistance - Curse (Lvl 3)
Basic Resistance - Examination (Lvl 5)
Basic Resistance - Magic (Lvl 3)
Basic Resistance - Venom (Lvl 1)

Blood:
Life Finds a Way (Unique)

Mana Circulation:
Vortices of Power

General Skills:
Great-Blades Initiate - Dadao (Rare)
Advanced Kinesthetics (Rare)
Inventory (Common)
Analyze (Common)
Danger Sense (Uncommon)
Basic Mana Sense (Rare)
Basic Mana Manipulation (Uncommon)
Basic Carving (Common)
Speed Reading (Common)
Crude Magical Symbol Facilitation (Common)

Spells:
Shaped Force Burst (Common)
Create Rations (Common)
Create Water (Uncommon)
Detect Life (Uncommon)
Detect Unlife (Uncommon)
Basic Small Force Blade (Uncommon)
Life Blood Transfusion (Common)

Class Skills and Spells:
Life’s Active Defense (Uncommon)
Multi-Strike (Common)
Life Manipulation (Common)

Class Bonuses:
All Life related Spells and Skills cost 50% less to use.
Your Life related Spells’ and Skills’ effects occur 50% faster.
Your HP is calculated at Racial Base + 15 x Physical Fortitude.
Your MP is calculated at 20 x Magical Power.
Your effective Physical Power is 40% greater for physical attack and defense when you are armed with a great-blade and unrestrained.
You take 25% less damage from Physical attacks when you are armed and unrestrained.

Not too bad, even if he did say so himself. He was still only level nine, despite most other Initiates being well into teens in both their classes. He wouldn’t even get his second class until he got another level in his class and race, but he was still pretty closely matched to them in stats and ability despite that.

His higher rarity race and class meant slower growth speed, but larger steps, and a stronger result in the end. At least, that is what he was hoping for, and for the time being he was still happy with his choice, even if it was frustrating at times.

He’d get more levels soon enough.

He noted once again that his mana circulation was considered an attribute, which was interesting, but he supposed it made sense. It was a feature of his body now. It didn’t have a rarity, which he felt was because he still didn’t know enough about it yet for the System to assign one, but only time would tell.

On other topics, the three unturned Initiates were fully healed, and incredibly grateful. They hadn’t had any more insight into what had gone wrong at their base, and while that was unsatisfying, Alex understood that their memories around the events were fuzzy, seemingly further muddled by the turning and unturning processes.

That did remind Alex of the last unturned left, the last person with the ‘Late Onset Rigormortis’ Infirmity.

Phil was still in the infirmary, and Alex hadn’t seen him in a couple of days. Honestly, it hung over his head as something left ‘undone.’

He’s not even an Initiate. Rather than being an argument against helping him, Alex took that thought as a self-rebuke. The man had so little HP that he should be trivial to cure.

With a groan, Alex pushed himself to his feet, heading toward the infirmary. He would sort this right now.

Less than two minutes later, he was knocking on the door, opening it when he heard the acknowledgement.

“Alex.” Phil smiled as he strained to push himself up to a seated position within his bed. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

That man seemed genuinely glad to see Alex, and that made Alex feel even worse. “I’m here to see if I can cure you.”

“Are you sure?” The man frowned. “I’m no warrior, and I know you have so much to do. I’ll get better eventually, I’m sure of it.”

Alex knew he wouldn’t—even ignoring the fact that he’d likely cease to exist at the end of this scenerio—but he wasn’t about to tell him that. “I’m sure. With what I’ve learned, I think I can do this without any risk to me, and I want you to be better.”

Phil’s smile returned, and he held out his hand, clearly having remembered watching the Initiates be healed. Alex took his hand, and found exactly what he’d feared.

The infirmity would take thirty Life to fully remove.

That’s it. Just thirty.

Why didn’t I look sooner? He felt like a horrible person as he activated his spell to Transfuse his Life into the other man for the purposes of healing.

This would only take him an hour and a half to recover from.

He’d left this man in constant pain and infirmity for days because he couldn’t be bothered to check, and then be a bit weakened for an hour and a half.

The Life flooded through Phil’s body, and the man drew a deep breath, color returning to his cheeks, and a sparkle entering into his eyes. “Oh, my!” He laughed. “Alex, thank you, thank you.”

He jumped up and wrapped Alex in a hug that Alex received awkwardly for a moment before Phi pulled back. “I’d kiss you, but that’d just make things awkward.”

They both chuckled, Alex a bit nervously.

“My wife just went to get us some food… I’m sure she’ll want to thank you too?”

Alex shook his head, and not just because of the oddly hanging offer of a kiss of gratitude. “I have other things to be about. Your thanks is more than enough, Phil. I’m glad that you’ll be alright now.”

Phil nodded, beaming. “I’ll be sure to help how I can.” He laughed. “You brought me back from literal death, and now you’ve made me feel like a new man.” He clapped Alex on the shoulder. “I’ll make sure your efforts are worth it.”

Alex shook his head. “You being well is enough reward for me.”

The other man shrugged. “Then, I’ll do it for me. I have a new lease on life, and I want to live well.”

Alex gave a tight but genuine smile. “Then you do that. Take care, Phil.”

“You too, Alex! Thank you again.”

Alex nodded and turned, leaving just ahead of  Phil, who ran straight toward the cafeteria where his wife likely was.

Alex was left feeling a bit ill. If he were honest with himself, he didn’t know why he hadn’t healed the man sooner. He could have easily, with basically no loss on his part.

Feeling a bit conflicted, he found his feet taking him toward where he knew Mr. Weston spent his evenings.

Laura was following behind, detached as usual even as she filled the role of watcher for the spear wielders.

He arrived and found the classroom door open. He knocked, and the man called out from within, “Come in!”

Alex stepped in and was greeted by the man.

“Alex! Good to see you.” He came forward and gave Alex a hug. “What has brought you to my door?”

Alex returned the hug, somewhat surprised at the gesture.

Mr. Weston noticed his hesitance and chuckled. “Not a hugger?”

Alex shrugged. “I’ve always liked hugs, I just didn’t know we were at a hugging stage.”

The older teacher chuckled. “You seemed like you might need one.”

Alex huffed a laugh through his nose, shaking his head. “That obvious?”

Laura slid down the wall to sit in the hallway, already reading a book, so Alex put her from his mind.

Mr. Weston shrugged, motioning to a table with a few chairs around it.

After they sat, Alex told the man about Phil and about the various circumstances.

Mr. Weston listened attentively, nodding along and asking a few probing questions, but mostly just silently letting Alex talk.

When he finished, Alex leaned back holding his hands up as if surrendering to judgement.

Mr. Weston gave a tired smile. “So, did you come here for condemnation? Absolution? What?”

Alex groaned and put his head down on the table. “I don’t even know…  This won’t even matter in a month’s time when all this is over.”

Mr. Weston nodded. “Truth, it is likely that help will come by then, and he could have been healed at that time.”

Alex didn’t correct the man. As a non-Initiate the teacher, of course, would treat this like the real world. “But as soon as I thought about it, I realized that it cost me effectively nothing to relieve his suffering. Why didn’t I do that before?”

Mr. Weston shrugged. “I don’t know, why didn’t you?”

Alex threw up his hands. “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t think about him at all? With everything else going on, I didn’t consider that man and his suffering.”

“Isn’t that the way of things, though? We go about our days, not taking on the burdens of those around us. It is only when presented with a problem, when faced directly with suffering that most people will act. Even so, some will turn away even still.”

“So, that’s it then? I fixed it when I remembered, so it’s fine?”

“That’s up to you, Alex. Do you wish to hold yourself to a standard of correcting all ills, just because you theoretically could have? Or do you wish to fix what you can and bear through the rest? Do you wish to be blind to suffering, only curing that which you notice, or have your eyes wide open and be strategic about how you spend your resources.”

When put that way, Alex felt there was only one response. “I’d rather be aware, and choose where to help.”

“Well, then it seems like you might need to make a change to be more perceptive then.” The older man patted Alex on the shoulder. “That’s a hard thing to do, my boy. I don’t envy you the task.”

Alex chuckled. “Progress, not perfection.”

“A good phrase, that. In working toward your goal, every step is a victory.” The man yawned, covering his open mouth. “But this old man is tired. I can keep talking if you need, but otherwise…?”

Alex nodded, standing. “Thank you for letting me bounce all that off of you. I’ll leave you to it.”

“You’re a good man, Alex. Don’t self-flagulate over mistakes—perceived or actual—or you’ll erode that side of yourself.”

He chuckled. “I’ll try. Good night.”

“Good night, Alex. Sleep soon, and sleep well. You will need it.”

Alex frowned, glancing back at the man even as the teacher turned and went to a sleeping mat in the back corner. That wasn’t ominous at all… Just an oddity, or the System giving some sort of warning?

With a shake of his head, he dismissed it. He needed a shower and bed… He was tired enough that he’d just use his blanket and pillow in an empty classroom near the gym. No need to find a place in the more secure storerooms in the gym itself.

Tomorrow would have enough trouble to be getting on with, he didn’t need to borrow any for today.

With those thoughts, Alex wound down his evening, hopeful for a good night’s sleep.

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