AA. 20 (Patreon)

The trio of connected mobile homes were empty when Nexus sent Nil home.

“Andrew?” He called but got no reply.

It was late in the evening, and it was not unusual for Andrew to be out. His self-employment gave him a flexible schedule, and he didn’t need to be up early. He was always the more social one of the pair, and Nil guessed he was out at a party or on a date.

Sharing the news with someone would’ve been pleasant, but he couldn’t tell the family about it. Andrew was the only one who would appreciate the news, and Nil’s former colleagues and chef friends wouldn’t, either. Fine dining was a cutthroat environment. People didn’t care to socialize or create connections outside of after-work drinks anyway.

Nil was hungry, but Layla advised him not to eat before a body ascension. He had heard it was a dirty affair. No one talked about it, and he wasn’t sure about the magnitude of it. Since Nil was a guest in Andrew’s home, he thought it best to take all recommended precautions.

Even though he lived in a network of mobile homes, Andrew had gone to great lengths to make it palatial. He had aethertech entertainment systems and several comforts most couldn’t afford. Most were refurbished using junk, but it was still impressive. His master toilet had a bathtub, too. Andrew preferred showers but kept it for when he had dates over.

Nil stuck a note on the door before stripping, locking himself in the bathroom, and climbing into the tub. Getting comfortable proved impossible, and he used a rolled-up rubber bath mat as a pillow. Finally, he used the Iron Ascension Token.

Congratulations!

Your body is about to ascend to the Iron Realm.
Please pick upgrade paths for your attributes.

Please pick a Feat:

• Steady Charger: Your balance improves the longer you’re moving in a straight line. Obstacles and terrain rarely get in your way. Vertical ascents are unaffected. Steadiness and rate of improvement increase with Might.
• Eye For Vulnerability: No matter how durable or armored a foe is, it almost always has a vulnerable point worth exploiting. Your ability to identify an opponent's weak points increases with Finesse.
• Iron Will: Where most of your constitution would crumble and collapse, you keep going with sheer will. Mind, now, increases your ability to ignore pain and fatigue.
• Through Sheer Grit: Hard work and practice encourage growth regardless of potential or talent. The only thing that stands in your way is how much punishment you can tolerate. Grind your way to a Sparkling future.

Most of the traits appeared to compensate for the lack of an attribute or reduce one's reliance on it. The online forums claimed that Might-focused individuals needed Finesse to use their strength and durability better.

“What's the point of phat muscles if you're inflexible or slow as fuck?” One Summoned poster asked. “Brute or Knight, if your ability scales with Might, you need Finesse to use it better. Meanwhile, Finesse makes you good with your body. It might improve your stamina, too. If you want speed and some power, you need that Might, or all those sharp senses and motor skills are fucking useless. If you disagree, you're an idiot waiting to die.”

Steady Charger reduced reliance on Finesse, letting Might-pumping Brutes run at targets or away from trouble without worrying about tripping on their own feet. Because of Brutal Battery's reliance on Finesse, it was useless to Nil. He intended to focus more on the attribute now and let Might grow naturally.

Finesse-focused fighters typically lacked power, relying on swift, accurate strikes. Figuring out an opponent's weakness would reduce the need for brute strength greatly through armor or an enemy’s defense. Even though Brutal Battery gave him power in the plentiful, it intrigued Nil the most. Eye for Vulnerability would help Nil use Expend better, using empowered attacks to drop foes. He couldn't tell whether it would help him find a way through defenses like Burning Sands’, but if it did, the feat was incredible.

Information is power.

Nil didn't want to rely too much on Expend's dual function because of how much it drained Brutal Battery and the burns that accompanied it. He liked it better as a trump card or finishing move.

Iron Will didn't feel worth considering. Nil imagined mages and summoners who didn't invest in Might relied on it. The attribute would continue to grow as he used Brutal Battery, improving his endurance and tenacity. Besides, picking a Feat that relied on the Mind attribute felt pointless. He'd only choose a Mind-related perk if he ever encountered one that granted free psychic resistance. Oth and the Cursed One were terrifying threats.

The final trait’s ambiguity gave Nil pause. Unlike the others, it didn’t have much of a description and read like a bad advertisement. The capitalization told him it scaled with Spark. Nil couldn’t be sure, but it looked like the trait would help overcome the growth rates determined by potential. He wouldn’t enjoy decent returns after taking them to the peak of their respective ranks, but if his takeaway was correct, it was still worth picking. It would allow him to invest all tokens in Spark and rely on hard work to increase the rest. The feat’s description didn’t limit it to attributes either. If it worked for abilities, then Nil could rise through Apocalypse Arena’s ranks faster than Adrian ‘Wildshape’ Wilson.

Pick the sure thing or gamble?

Through Sheer Grit had the potential to be incredible. Most Summoned offered the feat and probably didn’t get the most out of it. As far as Nil could tell, individuals with the rare Summoner discipline primarily had Spark as a primary attribute. Mages relied on it to some extent, too, but not as much. As a result, most wouldn’t get full benefits from the feat. It also seemed the Schema tailored the feats to an individual’s ability and personality. He needed to confirm with others, but it felt like it.

The ascension wouldn’t start until Nil locked in his decision, and he didn’t want to delay increasing Spark any longer. So, despite the risk involved, he picked Through Sheer Grit. His body immediately grew heavy, and his eyelids refused to stay up. Nil happily sunk into a deep slumber, excited for what was to come.

“Oh my god!” Andrew swore when Nil finally unlocked the door to the bathroom. “Did you die and come back to life in there? It smells fucking disgusting in here. I’ll need to strip the fucking place.”

“Calm down,” Nil said. He wore nothing but a towel around his waist. His clothes smelled so foul he doubted they could be recovered. The only option was burning them. “It stinks of bad food poisoning at best. Bleach. A good scrub, and it will be all okay.”

Andrew blocked the door. “Fuck no. You’re going out the window, and I’ll hose you down in the yard—”

“I showered already and scrubbed myself—”

“With my loofa?” Andrew’s voice grew shrill as he peeked past Nil into the bathroom. His nose crinkled, and he retreated hastily, almost stumbling over the mat by the door and into the counter behind him. It was then Nil noticed the several air fresheners hanging from the ceiling. “You’re not stepping in my home. Go out the window. I’m going to have to hose you down and burn the place down.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll make the stench go away. I promise.”

No matter what Nil said, Andrew remained unconvinced. The men stripped the curtains, mats, towels, and all fabric from the bathroom together, wearing nothing but swimming shorts. Then they scrubbed all surfaces with the best cleaning fluids Andrew had—they were industrial grade since he refurbished a lot of items that came into the scrap yard. The pair worked until the only stench came from them. They went out the window and hosed each other off.

Andrew was hesitant but, in the end, agreed to fire up his hot tub. The pair sat in the bubbling water as the steam fended off the autumnal chill. Nil then told him about everything that happened during the emergency quest, the job offer from Layla, and the feats. Andrew thought his pick foolish because of the lack of guarantees. Declaring Eye For Vulnerability would’ve served him better. Nil didn’t completely disagree, but the name resonated with him. Hard work and tenacity helped him swiftly ascend the culinary ladder. Tireless practice was also responsible for his combat prowess and swift adaptation to Brutal Battery. If the feat rewarded him for pushing himself to strive for better, it was perfect for him.

The pair stayed in the hot tub when a delivery boy arrived with containers of Thai food. Andrew had rigged a remote control system to operate the scrap yard’s entrance gate from afar. The man shot them a weird look and scrunched his nose as he walked to the hot tub and handed them the food. He rushed back to his car, and Andrew laughed when they saw him gagging as they drove away.

The conversation moved on to discussing methods of training Finesse. Andrew had an unconventional idea. During the two days Nil was unconscious, the scrapper had rigged several old arcade games together and tweaked them to increase the challenge level. Whack-a-mole, basketball, skee ball, reaction ring—catching dropping sticks, and an assortment of others now stood against the mobile homes. Andrew had also erected a canopy over them to ward off the seasonal drizzles. Andrew was explaining a beer-fuelled training regimen when another vehicle flashed its lights and pulled up to the scrapyard’s gates.

It was a police vehicle.

“Did the fucking delivery guy report us?” Nil asked, sounding panicked.

“For what?” Andrew raised an eyebrow. “We’ve done nothing illegal. There hasn’t been any weed on the property for a while, too.”

“Then what is it? You don’t need to let them in without a warrant, do you?”

“I don’t, but that’s asking for escalation. Private security rejects get antsy when someone questions their authority.” He grabbed the remote and pressed a button. The motor operating the gates hummed to life, and the gates rattled open.

Nil’s heart rate increased as the vehicle approached. His eyes jumped to the metal scrap bordering the near stacks of compressed junk. Far too many caved-in car doors, fridges, and truck sides sat among them. Nil had left prominent fist imprints and foot marks on many of them. The police car stopped by the arcade machines, and two women stepped out of it. It was Katherine Park and Susan Johanssen.

“Oh, good,” the former said, looking cheerful. “You’re alive.”