After breakfast Daniel and Corvax decide to head back to the inn before each going about their own day. Daniel says that he wants to get more practice with his earth skills, and Corvax says that he plans to visit some training grounds and get some practice in sparring people. I plan on going to Morah’s house to see if the kid is doing better. We all go our separate ways with the plan of meeting back at the inn tonight.
Half an hour and about a dozen portals later, I’m back in front of the house Baradia compound after visiting a few stalls in a market, with the same two guards at the gate. Both of them instantly recognize me, probably more because of the fact that I step out of a portal right in front of them than anything else, and let me past the gate with no issue.
Walking up to the door, I knock a few times, and after a few moments it swings open, revealing Elsine behind it.
“Hi Ray.” She smiles while gesturing for me to enter. Her crimson eyes trace over me, looking over all my various wounds before meeting my own gaze. “Rough couple of weeks?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever done something a tenth as hard as surviving on this planet has been. But honestly, it’s been the best month of my life. I got burned to a crisp earlier this morning, and other than the horrifying burning pain, it really wasn’t that bad. Back on Earth that would have been a lifelong injury, but here, it’s just Tuesday." I shrug.
Elsine looks thoughtful for a second. “Have you ever considered that maybe something is just wrong with you? Like in your head, I mean. I heard that you cut off your own hand.” She jokes.
“There’s almost certainly something wrong with my head, but I like to think it’s beneficial instead of detrimental. And I had to cut off my hand to save my life, thank you very much. Like a wolf who chews off his own foot because it’s stuck in a trap, or something equally badass. And look, doesn’t this new hand look cool? Especially now that it’s black.”
“Is that your basis for how to act? If something is cool or badass?”
“... no.” I clear my throat. “I mean no.”
“Sure, sure. So, what are you here for? The kid won’t be awake for a few more hours at least.”
“I’ll wait. Has his family been found yet?”
Elsine begins walking and waves me along to follow her. “Yes, well, no. He doesn’t have any family. From what little we were able to find out, his parents died a few years ago in a beast attack, and he’s been on his own ever since. He has been in Barad for about a year now, but no one knows where he lives, only that he frequently sold things at one of the gates.”
“You guys just let orphans fend for themselves here?” A little bit of anger and accusation slips into my tone.
She stops in her tracks and turns around, looking me straight in the eyes. “You don’t get to do that, outworlder. I’ve done my research on Earth. Your people conquered the planet and its wilds long before you were born into your era of safety. You think you have the right to judge me, to judge us, after only surviving on this planet for a measly month? You may be strong, Ray, but much of that strength was given to you only because you are an initiate. People like me, and like that kid, have had to suffer for each and every scrap we get.” She takes a step forward and points a finger at me. Her tone isn't angry, but it is sharp.
“So don’t you dare look down on that boy with pity. He’s strong, stronger than any boy should ever have to be, but that deserves your respect, not your pity. This isn’t Earth, and it never will be. Only strength matters here. Anything less will get you ripped apart by monsters because that’s what Helot is to us locals. A planet created for us to suffer on, and nothing more.”
After a few moments of thinking while Elsine stares me down, I decide to concede. She’s right, after all. This planet is her home, and I'm just a tourist here, albeit unwilling.
I put both of my hands in the air. “You're right, I may have been unfairly pushing my morals onto you. I'm still getting used to civilization here.”
“You're forgiven. And while our ways may seem harsh, they are the product of over fifteen centuries of continued survival on this planet. You must either adapt or become strong enough to overcome.” She turns around and continues to lead me toward the kid.
The room she leads me to is different from the one I set him down in. It's bigger and has an attached bathroom with a tub in it. There's also a desk, wardrobe, mirror, and everything else you could expect in a guest bedroom of a medieval noble.
The kid is lying on the bed, asleep. He looks fine, the swelling on his face is completely gone, and his chest is rising and falling steadily.
I step in the room and walk over to the bed, Elsine leaving me at the door. I take a good look at the kid, unsure of what to do.
I originally intended just to check on the kid, maybe find out why that guy was beating on him if he was awake, but after hearing that he has no family, I can't just leave him here alone. I'll at least stay until he wakes up.
With nothing to do but wait, I decide it's a perfect time to get some training in. I pull the [Gravitic Generation Array] out and sit on the floor in the corner of the room, as far away from the bed as I can get, just in case. I examine the cube with my mana, seeing just how much damage I did to it with my last use.
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Some of the finer mana channels have been burned pretty badly, and parts of the heart inside have lost a little mana conductivity, but it's not too bad. I only need it for one more purpose, and then it can shatter into a thousand pieces for all I care.
I push mana into the cube and adjust it until I get what I want from it. The amount of gravity weighing me down increases, the rug around me pressing to the floor even flatter with the steadily rising force.
At twice the strength of gravity, I barely feel impeded. At three times I'm forced to mana boost my body if I want to endure this for long. It isn't until it hits about four or five times that I really start to struggle, and this is where I stay.
I activate [Concentration] just enough to focus my mind and give it a slight edge. I settle into a comfortable position and shrink my spatial perception to this room only. I try to focus on the difference between the gravity around me and the rest of the room with my senses.
I increase or decrease the gravity at times, rapidly move my arm in and out of the high gravity zone, and do a plethora of other experiments, all in an attempt to sense gravity in some way. None of them work, so I swiftly move on to my next idea.
I use the cube to try and create a singular point of gravity, like a sphere being compressed from all sides. It takes a lot of mana and control, but eventually I'm able to create a pea-sized sphere of intense gravity. After a few seconds of feeding it more mana through the cube, it starts to tingle a little but at my spatial senses. It almost feels like the start of a weak spatial rift.
Using [Space Control], I poke and prod at the little gravity ball and the spatial distortion it's creating, studying it intensely. After about fifteen minutes, several experiments, an increased level of [Concentration], and enough mana to fill up at least a quarter of my mana capacity, I start to feel something new.
I start to feel faint waves from the orb, separate from the spatial distortion it's creating. I focus in on this feeling while constantly adjusting both my spatial perception field and the orb and attempt to manipulate one of these waves with [Space Control].
I bend space slightly, and the wave reacts to it, changing direction. After a bit more practice I start to get the hang of using my skill to affect gravity, making coins float for a second, or pushing a pencil off a table.
During one of these experiments, when I try to move the orb itself using my manipulation of space, I actually manage to succeed, and upon doing so, I feel something in my mind click into place, and several new notifications pop up.
[You have gained a new active skill]
[Gravity Shift] lvl 1
[You have gained a new passive skill]
[Gravity Sense] lvl 1
I stop feeding mana to the cube and put it down, a huge smile plastered on my face. Two in one go? Am I just the greatest to ever do it or what? The only thing I'm missing now is the affinity itself.
The first thing I do is turn on [Gravity Sense], and I'm immediately disappointed. I was hoping that it would piggyback off of my spatial perception field, but it doesn’t. It's its own separate field with its own range limitations. And its range limitations are bad, at least compared to what [Space Control] was able to do at level one, but that might not be a fair comparison. The main advantage of space is the negation of distance. The strength of gravity lies elsewhere.
I immediately feel the same waves as before, but in much better quality and detail. I feel a constant, equal wave in the small area around my body that it allows me to sense. After a few minutes the skill level goes up, and the range increases along with it. I spend the next little bit as my mana regenerates, pushing my new sensing skill to its limits over and over, increasing its level to four by the time I decide to test out my other new skill.
I push mana into [Gravity Shift] and feel it activate, drinking in my mana as I manipulate the skill to create a small area of increased gravity right in front of me. I shift the gravity from a downward direction to an upward one, feeling with [Gravity Sense] as it changes from overlapping with the planet's standard gravity to resisting it and creating an area of slightly lower gravity.
For the next few hours I keep on practicing with my new skills, getting used to them. [Gravity Shift] is a general gravity manipulation skill of middling strength, I think. It’s not as powerful or potent as [Space Control], but from what I’ve heard, [Control] skills are some of the best, so that’s to be expected. As long as I don’t slack off and keep pushing myself, I should be able to evolve the skill. I just need a better understanding of gravity, which should also help me unlock the affinity.
Around eight hours after I arrived here, the door to the room opens, and Morah steps in. At this point I have a gold coin floating in the air in front of me, in a small zone of anti-gravity. Every time the coin gets close to the edge of the zero-gravity column it floats in, I use a small burst of gravity to push it back to the middle. It’s like a game, and the small, precise movements are better for leveling up my skill right now. I don’t think Morah would appreciate me launching projectiles in here.
“That’s new.” Morah says as she walks over to where I’m sitting on the floor. “Gravity, if I’m not mistaken.”
I nod my head and shut off the skill, checking the notifications that have built up as well.
[You have leveled up an active skill]
[Gravity Shift] lvl 5
[You have leveled up a passive skill]
[Gravity Sense] lvl 5
“I needed something with more oomph, and gravity seemed like the best option. Now I just need more practice.”
“You should visit the training grounds sometime. You’ll find plenty of people willing to spar there. I bet plenty of people would line up to face a real space mage in combat, even if it’s just sparring.”
“I’m guessing the Spacers Guild members don’t visit the training grounds much.”
“I’ve never seen one of them there. They like to act like fighting and dying is beneath them, leaving it to the rest of us while they sit back and collect the easy money.” She says, a bit of anger leaking into her usually calm and collected voice.
“I take it you don’t like the Spacers Guild that much.” I drop the anti-gravity field and catch the gold coin as it falls.
“Not many do. With the exorbitant prices they charge, only guilds and noble houses can afford to use their services. Most people travel in small groups or with a caravan and might only use the Spacers Guild services once or twice in their entire lives. Only the richest can afford to frequently travel by long-range portal or teleportation.”
“I’ve heard as much, and it’s very disappointing. The guildmaster here, Loranor, also keeps sending me letters to come see him like some kind of clingy ex-girlfriend. Very annoying.” I respond while standing up.
“So you have no desire to join the Spacers Guild?”
“None at all. And if Loranor keeps bugging me, I’m going to have a problem with them. I have too much shit on my plate as is.”
Morah gives me a sly smile and pulls out an envelope from behind her back. “This arrived here for you earlier today.” She hands me the letter, which is the exact same as the other three letters he sent.
“He’s actively watching and spying on me. What a dick.”
“That’s Loranor. He’s heard all about you by now and is probably seething at the fact you’re ignoring him. He’s set his sights on you, and he won’t give up easily.”
I look at Morah and the expression on her face and in her eyes. “So, what do you want from me? You clearly have some kind of plan.”
“What I want is simple. There’s a monthly ball that the city holds for all of the guild officials and noble house members in the city in a few days. I want you to go with me. It seems like most people are bringing the initiates that have joined their organizations, so most of the initiates in Barad should be there.”
“Will Loranor be there?”
“Almost certainly.”
It seems like a good opportunity for networking at least. I know one of the other planets that got initiated is also full of humans, so maybe some of them will be there.
“Alright, I agree to be your date. But I want something in return.”
“Okay, what is it?”
“I don’t know yet. We’ll call it a favor.”
She looks at me for a few seconds, examining me. “No major crimes or anything that will result in damage to the city of Barad or House Baradia in any way.”
I think it over for a few seconds as a smile tugs at the corner of my lips. “Deal.”