Chapter 9

  Wes lay back for a time before he heard a voice, “you all finished up selecting your ability?”

  Wes shot up and turned around. He couldn’t see anything, so he called out, “who’s there?”

  A flame burst to life in front of him. With the light the flame provided, he recognized the man standing in front of him. He was one of the two with Argyros. He asked, “have you been here the whole time?

  “Of course, I was ordered to watch over your training. My Family's patriarch is wise; he has placed you on my path for a reason.”

  Wes got up and walked over to the man. “Why didn’t you show yourself to me then?”

  “It is not my place to interfere with an awakening. I would have stepped in if you were going to die. But that would have reflected poorly on your rewards.”

  Now that Wes no longer felt threatened, he scanned around him using the light of the flame in the man’s hand. “Holy Shit. Did you do all this?” All around him lay those giant humanoid creatures.

  “Not me, my brother grew quite bored, so he let out his anger on these failed beings. I am however, curious why you decided to stick to the river?”

  “Because if I didn’t, I knew I would die. I had no idea you were here to swoop in and save me.” Wes replied.

  “What would you have done if they charged you?”

  “Jump into the water, of course,” Wes answered.

  “Do you know how to swim?”

  “Nope.” Wes shook his head.

  “That aside, what would you have done with the fish?” The man asked.

  “Fish? There was fish in there?” Wes asked.

  “Yes, they have quite sharp teeth as well.” The man pointed to his sharp canine.

  Wes shuddered at the thought of drowning and being eaten alive. He had a thought. “Wait, why didn’t they attack those things?” He pointed at one of the big creatures.

  “If you recall, they never went in.”

  Wes was about to speak, but the man raised his hand. “Before you ask, yes the Bombloid did have half its body in, but they tend to leave them alone because they explode quite violently when injured.”

  Wes slammed his palm to his forehead and bent over. He began chuckling at not knowing how close he was to being eaten alive.

  Wes looked at the man. “Hey, what is your name?”

  “My name is Coren of 9081Ec. My brother is Rocen of 9081Ed.” Coren answered.

  “Holy hell, you are from the outer realm? What the hell are you doing here? Don’t you all live in luxury?”

  “Perhaps those on 9081E do, but those on the moons served at the privilege of our system's resident God. He is a benevolent god, of course, but he is quite demanding. Plus, our path is highly restricted with so little substance going on the higher up you go.” Coren had a certain look in his eye that Wes had seen before but couldn’t place.

  “Well, damn man, still you have to tell me about it sometime. If you are going to be leading my training. We will be spending a lot of time together, so why not get to know each other?”

  “I will lead your training, but talking of the outer realms is forbidden. If you have not ascended the steps of the Path yourself, then we can not have a conversation about it.” Coren replied.

  Wes clicked his tongue. “I did not know that? Is it rude of me to ask your level?”

  “Quite rude.”

  “Well, I guess it can’t be helped.” Wes shrugged his shoulders.

  Coren made the flame in his palm bigger. It doubled in size twice, and he could see most of the beach around him clearly again. “Now, back to my original question. Are you all done selecting your ability?”

  Wes raised his eyebrow at the casual use of power by Coren. “Oh, nah, I haven’t. My status is a bit weird now. It's…”

  The air from Wes’ lungs was gone, and he could not say another word. Coren spoke, “do not share with me anything about your status. In fact do not share it with anyone going forward unless you trust them with your life for the rest of eternity. Today’s friend can and will be tomorrow's enemy. Just figure it out yourself and call out when you are finished.”

  After Coren and his light disappeared, Wes could breathe again. That was not mana manipulation like Argyros used. The very oxygen in his lungs had been sucked out. He thought, so fucking cool.”

  He brought up his status screen.

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  Name: Wesley of 29744C

  Race: Human

  Age: 27

  Unique abilities: Imperial over Metric, Back in My Day

  Abilities: Deposit

  Skills: N/A

  Achievement(s): Bloody Soul, Pragmatic Savant

  Trait(s): 3

  Current Status: Blessed

  Savings: 2,483,255

  Next Level: 207.36

  Level 1 Exp Per Sec: .0024

  Current Exp: .492

  Wes brought up the other screen he had closed as soon as Coren called out.

  Wager life itself with each pull. Your reward will forever be proportionate to your risk.

  Wes read the description over and over. Dozens of boxes were shaded in with nothing showing. The only one that was showing anything was the one that had a picture of something he had never seen before. He was not crazy the last time. It did read slot machine.

  With no other options available, he selected the slot machine. What appeared in front of him with the same blue hue as his status screen was a box and a long stick on its right side. On the bottom of the box were three smaller boxes. They read in order Minute, Hour, Day.

  Wes took a moment to take in what it all could mean. He brought his status up again to check on his status. Looking over his traits, he confirmed what it all could mean again. It seemed it wanted him to bet his experience he had accumulated. He did not know how many minutes had passed, but simple math said that it had not been an hour. He looked to where it said savings and wondered if it meant the same as what it meant back in the village. They would save some of what they grew for the colder months. It was a reserve for when they needed it. He wanted to bet a day but was worried that he would die if he pulled the slot and it didn’t automatically pull from his savings. Wes thought to himself, I am not going to get anywhere like this.

  “Fuck it.” He placed his wager on a day. He was glad to see it pull from his savings.

  Savings: 2,483,047.64

  Nothing else happened after he pressed the day. He found that he could move around the slot machine. It floated in space. He moved his head from side to side, checking each side for another thing to press. He walked behind and found nothing at all. The only thing that stood out was the long stick poking out of the side. He touched it as carefully as he could, but nothing happened. He ran his fingers all over the slot machine, trying to find how to activate it. He pushed on the stick, and nothing happened. He punched at the end where it mushroomed out, but still nothing happened.

  Giving up, he yanked on the stick. The machine hummed to life. A sound he had never heard before came out, and the pictures in front started to turn fast. He could not make out one from the next with its rapid movement. The first picture came up after a loud click. It had a picture of a red fire, the next click turned over a second after the first, another blue fire, the last clicked, and it had a picture of a thick blue line that went back and forth.

  Wes felt a pressure greater than anything Argyros ever exerted on him slap down on his shoulders. The sensation washed down toward his toes before rebounding on the soles of his feet and shooting back up toward his head. It oscillated from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet until his world went silent. The Slot machine began to fade.

  Due to you wagering what you could produce in one day. Your first reward shall be doubled.

  Ability Unlocked: Eternal Spark

  Wes could feel exactly how to use it. All the information on it was implanted in his mind as soon as he read the name of it. He wanted to activate it right then and there, but Rocen and Corcen had joined him the moment that he felt the weight on his body.

  Rocen spoke for the first time, “What did you just do?”

  Wes looked up from his seated position at both Coren and Rocen, holding identical flames. They both looked down at him with an expectation of answers in their eyes. He relented under their gaze. “I got a skill.”

  Rocen asked, “what is its name?”

  Coren waved him off, “you know better than that. Uncle would be very disappointed in you.”

  “He may, but he would understand. You felt that just as I did.”

  Coren did not reply to Rocen. He instead looked at Wes and asked. “Did anyone come and speak to you?”

  “Huh?”

  “See nothing,” Coren said.

  Rocen was still looking around him. He appeared to be trying to find something that wasn’t there.

  “Someone want to fill me in?” Wes asked.

  Rocen answered, “Never mind, little fool. We will go now, we are not the only ones who must have felt that. He reached and grabbed Wes, and they both were in a big house before he realized what was going on. The stairs on either side of him were wood. They had a great shine to them. And the floor under his feet was all white with flecks of yellow and blue in it. All over the walls on either side of him were portraits ascending with the stairs. All had a resemblance to Argyros; the only changes would be hair and eye color. The occasional scar on a few of them was a differentiator as well. Rocen slapped the back of his head. His chin slammed into his chest, and the back of his head throbbed in pain.

  “Enough Gawking, follow me,” Rocen said.

  Wes did not say what was at the forefront of his mind. He nodded and followed Rocen through the middle of the stairs. A great big area was in the middle of the stairs. It was at least 30 feet wide with dozens of places to sit. Some were wood, and some had pillows and linings of different colors. He wanted to sit in them and see how they felt. The smell of the area was unlike anything he had ever smelled. He made his mouth water and his nose recoil at the same time.

  When they came up on some doors that were at least 20 feet from where they first arrived, Rocen stopped. He turned around, “The clan’s current head is on the other side of these doors. He and our family patriarch do not have the best relationship. It would be wise if you kept stupid thoughts to yourself.”

  Not giving him any time to answer, he opened the doors. He grabbed Wes’s shoulder and pushed him through first. He followed behind and shut the grand double doors. A man who looked younger than Rocen and Coren sat in a big chair at the far end of the room. All around, everything had the red hue that he related to his home planet. The man did not look up from whatever he was reading. He said. “Sit, young man. We have much to discuss.”

  Wes walked over to the long chair that three or four people could sit at together and took his place as far away from the man as he could. The man kept reading for a few minutes more before putting down the thick stack of papers. “So tell me, why should I not offer you to one of the Goddesses, your sister offended?

  “I mean, you can, but I tend to hold grudges. And when I become a God, I will remember this.” Wes answered.

  The man became serious, “What makes you think I won’t end your walk on the path right here and now?”

  “I’m guessing that Argyrs would not like that, you would have killed me already otherwise. If I am this great big burden you are trying to say I am. Then I wouldn’t be here. So logically, I can only think that you do not want to piss off Argyros. Either he is stronger than you, or he can cause you a lot of headaches.”

  The man relaxed his expression and sat back in his seat. “I like your thinking, but I think you made a mistake in your logic.”

  “Really, what?” Wes asked.

  “Only that I have been looking for an excuse to kill Agyros for millions of years.”

  Wes was shocked at the man’s answer. “Oh, my bad then.”

  Current Exp: 1.728