Fulvia drained of all color, from her rainbow wings, to her golden hair, to her silver suit. All color drained away, leaving her literally as white as a ghost. Her entire little body stiffened, and she looked so scared her heart might burst.
“Hey, don’t go scaring her. She was going to tell me some stuff.”
“Indeed, she was,” Cyrus said, his voice low and more threatening than I’d ever heard. “Weren’t you, Fulvia?”
“I . . . He . . . I mean . . .,” she stammered, her voice little more than a high-pitched squeak.
“Great!” Cyrus boomed, making me jump and Fulvia start so hard she almost fell out of the air. The AI’s happy laughter filled the room and I finally glanced around.
When I’d seen the softly glowing wall behind Fulvia before stepping through, I’d assumed we were going to another tiny maintenance closet. Instead, the room was at least 3 times larger than any of the others. The walls were still flat, softly glowing golden expanses, although one of them had a raised panel with a complex diagram on it that looked like some kind of map. Three silver doors in the walls also confirmed we were standing in a wider complex this time.
Alien lettering on the doors caught my attention and I read them as easily as English. They read, “Consistency Departments", “Processing”, and “Design.”
“Since when can I read alien languages?”
Cyrus’s laughter snapped off and he said cheerily, “That last upgrade included all inner world languages. That includes spoken and written.”
Color was slowly returning to Fulvia, but she still looked terrified. She licked her lips and asked in a trembling voice, “You’re not angry?”
“Of course not! Why do you think I went through all the trouble of arranging your little meeting with Lucas?”
Her eyes narrowed and her fear shifted to anger. A little. “You pulled all that together?”
Cyrus laughed again. “Did you think it was simple dumb luck that got your workstation damaged the same day the troubleshooting team reported unusual mana spikes and requested a specialist?”
“I did until now.”
“Perfect. That means no one else suspects a thing. Good work.”
I spoke up. “I hate to interrupt, but it sounds like you planned for me to run into Fulvia in that cave and for her to bring me here. Where is here, by the way?”
Cyrus's voice shifted to sound like Liam Neeson as Hannibal in the A-Team movie. “I love it when a plan comes together.”
“Why?” Fulvia asked, flitting a slow circle around me, studying me closely. “You approved all the protocols for preventing game participants from discovering anything about the inner world.”
“I’m running a little experiment.”
She blanched and gave me a pitying look. “So why drag me into your train wreck?”
“My experiments don’t always fail,” Cyrus protested.
Fulvia shrugged. “You keep your successes better secrets than the failures, I take it?” She added to me, “There have been many, ah, surprising results from the more famous experiments.”
“Hey, no one has died in hours from any of them,” Cyrus objected. That didn’t help me feel better at all.
Stinking AI. He’d nearly gotten me killed on stage 1 with his little experiments. I was finally starting to see some positive results, but I didn’t want to get caught up in whatever next steps he wanted to push me through.
Unfortunately, I was neck deep in his grasp. I needed all the advantage I could get, especially if his other experiments had all ended badly. Maybe Fulvia could help me understand enough to avoid the same fate.
“So, what exactly do you do in the inner world down here?”
She pursed her tiny full lips, glanced up as if waiting for Cyrus to interject, then spoke slowly, as if choosing her words very carefully. “My team manages the conversion of Nexus energy to mana for consumption in the game.”
“Exactly!” Cyrus boomed, making me jump again. He was in rare form. “Lucas has touched Nexus energy and begun internal assimilation. You’re going to help him accelerate his progression.”
“Why?” Fulvia asked cautiously. “That’s well outside of the game parameters. No one under tier-5 usually has much to do with pure Nexus.”
“Wait, are you a tier-5 person?” I exclaimed.
She sniffed, as if insulted. “Tier-6, actually.”
“Whoa. So is your mana 60 times denser, or are you dozens of times stronger than me?” The idea seemed ludicrous, but who knew?
“Not on this world,” she said, as if that was obvious.
Cyrus interjected. “Slow down, Lucas. You’re putting the chariot in front of the llama.”
“You’re messing that one up on purpose.”
“Of course I am. How better to distract you from questions even you’re not ready to explore yet?”
Fulvia brightened, as in her entire body glowed, her rainbow wings sending out little arcing rainbows down to the ground on either side. I half expected to see little pots of gold grow out of the floor where they touched down.
“I see now. He’s still only dealing with basic spells. Upgrade to attuned, I assume?”
“If that was all I want, I could have arranged for anyone else.”
“Ah.” Fulvia’s smile turned a bit predatory, making me suddenly nervous.
“Um, what does that mean?”
She ignored me and continued speaking to Cyrus. “That much progression this early will be . . . difficult. I was threatened with demotion if I ever used my technique again, and that was with a tier-3 person.”
“This is an unsanctioned bout, and you’ve been wanting to try it again. I know you have.”
Her smile widened, but I blurted, “What technique? What demotion? What happened last time?”
I had no idea what they were talking about, but I wasn’t an idiot. This was sounding worse and worse. I turned, looking for the door back into the dungeon. I usually got great prizes from these secret inner-world rooms, as Fulvia called them, but maybe this time I’d take a pass.
Cyrus said, “Nothing to worry about, Lucas. Fulvia discovered a novel way to help foster exceptional progress in vital areas of mana utilization that you need.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Fulvia said, flitting in front of me, still smiling. She cracked her neck, then her knuckles and scanned me, this time like a cage fighter preparing for a match.
“Hey, hold on. I saved you,” I reminded her.
“So I’m going to reward you with my personal attention.”
Cyrus added, “Fulvia is the reigning champ in the Inner-World hand-to-hand upper-tier bracket.”
“You can’t be serious. I can’t fight you.” She was tiny.
“No, probably not, but at least give it a go,” Fulvia said, flitting side to side, hands coming into a fighting stance.
This was insane. Cyrus had trapped me here to fight a fairy? “Why go through all this trouble?”
For once, he answered. “Because time is tight. We’ve got to get you to a minimum level of advancement before stage 3 or chances of success will plummet.”
“Of course,” Fulvia said, nodding in understanding. “Lots more attention starting on the next stage.”
“Exactly,” Cyrus said. “Clear?”
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“Not at all! What are you talking about?”
“Do you want to thrive, or do you want to wallow in mediocrity and die early?” Cyrus asked, his normal overly-friendly tone for once deadly serious.
I licked my lips. “Of course I want to survive and win. Why do you think I’ve pushed the limits so hard?”
“Exactly!” he boomed, voice filled with mirth again. “That determination has led you here to enjoy a unique boon you can’t get any other way.”
I looked around again, but still no sign of the rift doorway we’d entered through. “You’re not going to mess with my stats again?”
Fulvia frowned. “Stat manipulation is a huge aberration flag.”
“I dealt with it. Relax. Lucas, my entire goal is to make you strong enough to survive what’s coming. For both of our benefits.”
How could I believe him? He’d messed with my life, my stats, and my experience non-stop since day one. He’d claimed that was just an initial test, and that I would now begin seeing rewards, but this didn’t sound like a reward. Unfortunately, I also didn’t see a way out. He wanted this. So maybe I could gain some leverage.
“I need some more information, or I’m out.”
“Out?” Cyrus asked, his voice so soft I barely heard it.
Fulvia paled again and shook her head slightly, eyes wide with fear. She was an inner-world, high-ranked official by the sound of it, but she seemed even more afraid of Cyrus than I was. What else did she know?
I took a deep breath, firming my resolve. For once I had some bargaining power. I wasn’t stupid enough to pretend pushing Cyrus too far would be wise, but I had to try pushing him a little.
“Listen, I can see some of the benefits you promised with the early tier-1 upgrade, but this whole experiment has nearly gotten me killed more times than I can easily count. I’m willing to work with you and want the power you’ve promised I’ll begin seeing. I just want a bit more information. Not knowing what’s going on or why things are working the way they are makes it 10 times harder for me to function. Give me one extra bit of information as a sign of good faith.”
For several seconds, Cyrus didn’t respond. Fulvia hovered back from me, looking more afraid than ever. Was the room growing chillier, or was that just my imagination?
Finally Cyrus responded. His booming laugh echoed from the walls, making both me and Fulvia jump. “Great negotiation tactic, Lucas! Way to stand up for yourself! You’ve unlocked a Crisis Management ability.”
“Crisis Management. Ability. Uncommon. Level 3. Plus 5% per level to the Effectiveness of Intelligence.”
Wow. That was actually super cool, and way better than I’d hoped for. The low Effectiveness of my stats was a huge limiting factor. Anything that could help reverse that was more than welcome.
“Thank you. Can you tell me anything specific about this experiment and why you’re doing this?”
“I’ve already given you many clues, and will continue to do so. It’s not wise for you to understand the ultimate goal yet. For your own good and both of our survival, I can’t tell you everything.”
That made Fulvia look even more startled.
“You’re running this game and seem to have absolute control. What could threaten your survival?”
He chuckled again. “In the early stages, few watch closely enough to notice the little changes I’ve made with you. It’s easy to conceal things from the highlight reels. However, like I said, once you hit stage 3, some of that will change. Far more access will be granted, along with entire magnitudes more scrutiny. Now is the time to make vital changes and set your progression path. Trying to do so later will draw too much attention. As much power as I wield, there are forces in the multiverse far mightier than I.”
Fulvia was nodding slowly, her fear subsiding. “You’re still taking a huge gamble.”
With another of his characteristic chuckles, Cyrus said, “No one will care if the entertainment is good enough.”
“So who will be watching? What do you mean by access? How—“
Cyrus cut me off. “I can’t tell you more yet. Just understand that our window is closing. For you to succeed in your missions, you must get stronger, and fast. This is a major element to the power upgrades I promised. Fulvia is the person who can help you make it happen.”
He hadn’t given me nearly enough to feel comfortable with the situation, but I did get the sense he was telling the truth. Maybe Fulvia was a plant, nothing but an actor playing a part to help Cyrus rope me into his scheme, but it didn’t feel that way. Her reactions were too honest and diverted too far from a scripted role.
The clues he’d given in that rather vague rant felt important. I needed to consider them more. It was obvious there were aspects to the game we didn’t know yet. Would that open up new opportunities, or just pile on the danger?
Probably both. Still, Cyrus seemed extremely motivated to help me get stronger, and that was exactly what I needed. His ultimate goal might be to pit me against an unstoppable ultimate boss, but if I got strong enough, maybe I could figure out a way to survive.
“Enough delay,” Cyrus said briskly. “Our time here is limited. Fulvia, do your thing.”
Her color brightened and she grinned, flitting closer again, that predatory look returning to her eyes.
Reluctantly, I raised my own hands. “Nothing personal, but I will defend myself. You could get hurt.”
She snorted and shot forward like a missile, her tiny fist catching me on the jaw before I could react. It felt like getting punched by Bristleback again.
The blow snapped my head back so hard, I back-somersaulted twice before slamming face-first onto the floor. The inside of my skull felt weird like it was full of gelatin that got sloshed around by the hit. I’d never felt anything like that. Was it an ability of hers?
“Ow.” I spat some blood as my bracelet quickly healed my aching jaw. Scrambling to my feet, I set myself. She’d asked for it, so it was on her now. “No one said begin.”
“Oops,” she said with a little shrug.
“No using magic of any kind,” Cyrus interjected. “That would disrupt the training.”
“What training? She just punched me in the face.”
“I had to start slow to gauge how your channels react.”
“What are you talking about?” I snapped.
She just made a pulling motion and a little gong sounded. Grinning, she said, “Begin.”
Then she shot forward again, but this time I was ready. As she zipped for my chest, I side-stepped and snapped out a quick strike. Not hard, but it should be enough to knock her tumbling.
She smoothly adjusted course and slapped my striking fist aside with shocking ease, then punched me in the sternum so hard it audibly cracked. Again the force of the blow catapulted me back. I slammed into the glowing wall like a battering ram, but didn’t even manage to dent the shiny metal. I bounced off, skidding across the smooth floor, coughing up blood.
This time, the sense of wrongness radiating from the point of impact out through my torso was more intense. The pain was intense too, but that inner weirdness was worse, in its own way.
After practicing with Mana Sense, I knew my mana wasn’t stuck in one pool, but tendrils of it stretched out all through my body, like a new and invisible network of veins. With that punch, it felt like Fulvia had reached into me and yanked on a bunch of those mana veins.
As I rolled to my hands and knees, she hit me from the side so hard two ribs cracked. The blow flung me into another wall as the air was blasted again from my lungs.
That did it.
She might be an adorable little fairy, but I was going to swat her like a fly. I hadn’t even seen that second hit coming, and my mana veins were thrumming so violently I wouldn’t have been able to trigger any spells even if I wanted to.
This was a hand-to-hand fight, though. I knew how to do that. I rolled back to my hands and knees, but instantly flung myself onto my recently injured side and struck out with a backhand even before I spotted the flying she-devil.
She’d gotten cocky and was coming in to hit me on the opposite side. I caught her with the full force of my backfist. It felt like punching a brick wall, but this time she was the one sent careening like a tiny rainbow cannonball across the room. She smacked into the raised map panel so hard it cracked.
“I warned you,” I told her as I jumped back to my feet.
Fulvia drifted closer and grinned. She cracked her neck again and said, “Oh, yeah. You’re not totally useless. It’s on now, Lucas.”
I might be toast, but battle lust swept through me and I matched her grin with my own and charged. The little monster laughed, a throaty chuckle of pure delight and shot in to meet me.
We met in a flurry of blows, my huge fist colliding with her tiny one with impacts that shook the room like thunder. The physics of the fight made no sense. I had to force myself not to dwell on how she could stop my momentum in mid-air without getting sent flying every time, or how her tiny fist didn’t drive into my knuckles like a dagger.
Fighting a miniature flying fairy was so weird! I poured in all my skill, magnified by my 6 levels in Hand-to-hand Fighting, but she kept up, catching or deflecting every single hit. She buzzed around me like an insane hornet on speed and I did my best to squash her. Fists, elbows, knees, feet, I threw it all at her.
She met every single strike, grinning, her teeth glowing with bright white light. After a full minute of fighting so fast our limbs blurred, she laughed.
“Not bad, Lucas. It’s been a while since I got to spar with a half-decent opponent.”
She spoke in a conversational tone like we were sitting around a table, sipping tea, not in the middle of a crazy-fast fight that would make Bruce Lee cry with envy.
I started to grunt a reply between punches, but she suddenly slipped down the inside of my arm and drop-kicked me under my peck. I staggered, my mana veins writhing like living snakes through my torso, but I managed to only slide back 10 feet before catching myself.
She came in again and I deflected her wide, then launched into another furious attack. Fulvia again met every blow, then just as my mana veins started to settle down, she slipped past my fist and punched me in the kidney so hard I actually felt my organ rupture.
“Hey, that hurts!” I hissed, trying to back-hand her again.
She ducked it and punched me in the other kidney just as hard. That staggered me and she took advantage of the distraction to upper-cut me under the jaw. This time I saw stars as I back-flipped more times than I could count before crashing head-first into something. Wall, floor, ceiling, I couldn’t tell.
Before I even dragged in a pained breath or blinked my eyes back open, she hit me again. This time in the left thigh. The blow didn’t break my femur, but only by the tiniest margin.
A punch to my right bicep spun me over. I hit the ground on my back, blindly flailing with my left hand, but she caught it and wrenched me over onto my face so hard something tore in my shoulder.
My Tesla Coil bracelet was falling behind, as was my innate regeneration, but I was getting ticked off. Growling, I tried to roll over, but Fulvia punched me in the temple so hard, my skull rang like a bell. Had she just cracked it?
I collapsed to the floor and Fulvia tore down one side of my body, raining punches so fast, I couldn’t distinguish one from the next. Every muscle, every bone, every organ screamed as tiny punches seemed to drive through me and target each and every one individually.
I tried to scream, but lacked the breath. My vision was blurred, my mind foggy, and my mana veins thrashing totally out of control through my entire body. She wasn’t training me or sparring with me. She was trying to kill me.
I didn’t care what Cyrus had said. I had to protect myself. I tried reaching for my mana pool to trigger a spell.
Nothing.
What the hell? My mana pool was totally empty. My body was full of mana, but it was boiling around through me under the influence of Fulvia’s power, totally out of control. I could barely feel the strands of my mana veins as they were ripped out, woven together, or fused back to different parts of my system.
Fulvia continued her barrage, beating me back up the other side. My health was plunging fast and I couldn’t even trigger my hotlist. It was like Cyrus had turned off my entire menu interface.
Pain roared through me, but it felt distant. My mind felt sluggish. I couldn’t think, couldn’t react. All I could do was lie there like a slug and take an epic beating.
Passing out was the best part of the whole match.
What do you think of the edits I'm considering as outlined in the pre-chapter note?
