8
1524 Words
Matt tried to listen to the man, but something was nagging him. There was a resonance with his Concept as the man stood there and hovered over everyone.
His musing was interrupted as the Tier 33 continued, “As this is intended for training and not actual bloodshed, my soldiers will be pulling people out of combat. We will be assisted by a second planetary level AI that will be linking with your own AIs. We will only be reacting to the information about whether or not you can survive any attack. If you wish to keep something hidden, feel free to restrict your AI. But don’t b***h to me when you get pulled out because of an attack you think you would have survived. I. Don’t. Care.”
There was a murmuring at that, and while the Colonel let the crowd buzz, he felt something at the man’s feet. It seemed close to his Concept, so he used his own to probe the area. It caused the Tier 33 to immediately glance at him. He was afraid he pissed the man off, but he got a grin instead. Suddenly, what the Colonel was actually doing became more clear to his spiritual senses.
The man was using his Concept to harden the air, so he floated. It felt like a standard ability that all Concepts could do, much like how monsters could lock down fighters in a rift, if they had general Concepts.
Matt flexed his own Concept, but instead of willing mana regeneration to those around him or repulsing objects, he willed the air to harden in front of him. He tapped it with a finger and felt a slight resistance, before what felt like a plane of glass broke, and his hand went through it.
He looked up to see the Colonel nod at him as he continued speaking. “This is a game meant to sharpen the weapons that you will become. To that end, you will earn points like in any real war. However, unlike in a real war, if you sacrifice all your accumulated war points, you will be able to buy back your ‘life’, and rejoin the fighting.”
Thorne held up a hand and said, “You may choose to not rejoin the game, and cash out your points, but know this. If you’re dead, you can’t spend your points unless you cash out. However, you can spend your points as you wish while you’re alive. Yes, that means you can spend your points right before a big battle. The Empire even encourages that. That comes with a second caveat as well. If you have zero points, you can’t rejoin the fighting. You need to give up at least one point to rejoin. For those on the Path, note that you can choose to leave the side you have chosen for the cost of twenty thousand points. Good luck to those who choose that route.”
The man glanced to the sky. Following suit, the gathered crowd all witnessed ships ripping through space as if they came from behind some hidden screen. Matt counted four different designs, but as he watched, hundreds, and then thousands of ships arced down to the clear area in front of the two buildings.
Right in front of their two groups.
“Those are our Pathers. Welcome them, try to recruit them, fight for your side for wealth and glory. Good luck.”
Like that, the man vanished.
Juni called out to everyone, “All right. We have access to the ship’s logs and have cross-checked them with the people arriving. We will highlight anyone who chose our side blue and anyone unchosen as green. Do your best to sway them to our side. The kingdom started with a number of contribution points to hand out, so anyone who brings someone over to one of the kingdom representatives will get one point. Anyone who directly recruits someone will be given ten points.”
He turned away and moved into the mass of oncoming people.
Matt just looked at Liz. “That looks like a pain. Want to skip this and go wait on the side?”
She didn’t even wait for him to finish, already disappearing into the crowd.
3
Matt sat with Liz and Aster on a nearby stone wall while everyone else scurried around, accosting the few people highlighted in green in his HUD. It was more like a school of fish swarming around prey than any normal human interaction.
Seeing nothing interesting, Matt started working on his Concept again. With an effort of will, he hardened the air in front of himself and tapped at it, causing the plane of solid air to crack.
“What the f**k, Matt!?”
With a questioning look, he turned to Liz, who pulled at her hair as she glared at the area in front of his hand.
She poked his ribs and growled at him, “How are you doing that?”
He tried to get away from the finger of doom, but as he wiggled away, she scuttled after him.
“That hurts! And tickles. Stop! No fair! I’m running out of wall.”
Liz finally stopped but still pouted at him.
“How are you doing it?”
Matt noticed that for all her joking attitude, she was serious about her question.
“I just felt what the Colonel was doing and tried to sense it. When he felt me, it became clearer, so I copied it. It’s not strong enough to stand on yet, but it really doesn’t seem hard to do.”
Liz mixed a glare with a pout for a truly odd sight.
“You can’t really do that until Tier 10, though…” She let the statement trail off as she watched him recreate the plane of solid air. “At least that’s the common convention.”
She started poking the air in front of her, but he felt nothing with his Concept.
Liz gave up after two more attempts. “I don’t know if it’s my Concept being internal or what, but I’m finding nothing here. What are you doing?”
Matt thought about it for a minute before replying, “I’m just recreating what the Colonel did. I felt him hardening the air, so I just wanted the air to be solid. I didn’t really find it hard. Why? Is it normal for people to not be able to do it?”
Liz leaned back and started ruffling Aster’s fur while dodging playful nips aimed at her fingers.
“Yeah, most people can’t do it at our Tier, as they don’t have the willpower. Maybe you’re getting a benefit somehow with your image, but I honestly don’t know. It’s impressive that you can do that already, though. I’m proud of you.”
Matt let the compliment bolster him as he added a ruffling hand to Liz and Aster’s game, but he still wanted to help Liz. To that end, he tried to explain further. “I’m doing what you do when you resist monsters in rifts from trying to restrict movement. It’s like that, but instead of countering their own will over an area of effect, I’m recreating what they were doing. I’m willing the air to solidify.”
Liz looked up from their game of ‘tease the fox’ and poked at the air once more, before raising an eyebrow at him. “But I don’t do that. When I resist a monster’s Concept with my own, it’s with my body. I force my way through it, so it’s not able to slow me down or restrict me. I don’t counter their Concept; I fight through it.”
“Huh. I didn’t know that.” He really hadn’t known that she hadn’t used her Concept in that way. He had always assumed that she was using it just how he was.
In his mind, when someone tried to push you down, you resisted in the equal and opposite way, or you redirected the force. That way, it wouldn’t be able to apply the intended effect on you. It was exactly how one would resist a physical blow they were unable to dodge.
He did it constantly every time he fought.
That was when he realized why he might be able to make the change. With a thought, he turned the Concept from just hardening the air into willing a plane to exist and resist his forward momentum. The harder he pushed, the more it resisted. It was like his Concept’s repulsive effect but facing him.
The new resistance was also much easier to produce in comparison. With a flat palm, he shoved hard and slid backward until the back of his knees pressed into the wall. It drained some willpower, but as the area was a small, flat plane, and not a sphere around his entire body, it wasn’t that bad. The cost still increased with his force, but it was a good starting point.
Aster nipped a too-slow finger, and he returned his attention to where it belonged. With his family.
- Writer
