“Then let’s begin!” the trainer proclaimed and started an endless series of sparring sessions with combat weapons, ending only when each of us had taken a severe beating and even some gunshots. It very painful and unpleasant, but it allowed us to level our armor, dodge and other skills at an advanced rate.
Over the next few hours, I was frequently reminded of Anya. She would have been delighted to be here. We got knocked out or lost lots of blood regularly, and our Medic could have gained a decent number of levels reviving us if she weren’t stubborn as an ass. Without Anya though, we still had the ship Medic. I saw and even felt him using healing magic.
But I wasn’t bothered by that. Before Ayni even got started, we had an audience, and that was annoying. Three large high-level Geckho from the Waideh-Tukhsh clan, the captain’s bodyguards, had come into the hold to watch us. They were talking at high volume, hectoring us, and not even hiding their mockery of the small peaceable Translator, saying she’d taken on a job that was bigger than her britches. Honestly, I was distracted by some new message on my helmet at the time, so I didn’t hear what Ayni said when she finally responded. Maybe she was challenging them to a fight, but I’m not sure.
But I did tune in eventually, and I clearly heard the Miyelonian ask those jerks where they had their respawn points. They said the Un-Tesh military base. Ayni apparently deemed that acceptable and disemboweled all three in the space of fifteen seconds. And she disemboweled them in the literal sense of the word — their rib cages were cut open, their innards fell out and their large arteries were severed. Their skulls were even trepanned to show us a living Geckho brain. And the Translator explained everything she was doing in real time. In fact, in a calm businesslike manner, she taught us three different methods of quickly and effectively neutralizing a Geckho using nothing but a knife and set of sharp claws.
Even I was struck, although I had seen the Morphian perform such lightning-fast refined butchery before when Fox sliced up the Great Priestess of the Miyelonian race in front of the thousands of worshippers. Just imagine my companions. For them, the devastating and bloody slaughter of three high-level Geckho enforcers came as a big surprise. Uline just passed out, while Minn-O nearly turned inside out. The noble Princess’s eyes rolled back, then she turned green and strained to hold back vomit. But the killing also had its positives. Our training session could now continue in peace, and our trainer’s Authority took off to unthinkable heights.
There is no sense in recounting the whole session, so I’ll just go over the most memorable parts. First of all, there was an intense sparring session between Imran and Eduard. Both opponents took off their shirts, revealing fit bodies, made of solid rippling muscle. The Dagestani athlete was somewhat taller and more flexible than his opponent, but the Space Commando was an indestructible mountain of a man.
All the sambo expert’s punches and attempts to grapple just bounced off him. Eduard’s meat hook hands whistled as they sailed through the air and could have knocked the wind out of the Gladiator if he had been reckless enough to let him get near even once. They were like a mongoose and cobra... Everyone watched their match. Even actively sparring partners couldn’t resist. And although the Gladiator was using his Fast Jump ability, getting out of dangerous situations and landing behind his opponent time and again, brute force won the day. After backing Imran into a corner for the umpteenth time, the Space Commando caught his nimble opponent and brutally knocked Imran out with a series of dastardly strong blows.
After the ship Medic brought Imran back to his senses and restored his hitpoints, Ayni commented on the battle, telling each of them their mistakes. The Gladiator had started off almost perfectly but, after taking half of Eduard’s hitpoints, he became predictable and relied too much on his class ability. Fast Jump, she said, wasted too many Endurance Points and had too long a cooldown time.
“If I had my blades, I’d have won!” the hot-blooded Dagestani disagreed, having taken the defeat too close to heart. But Ayni reasonably noted that if both soldiers were fully equipped, the Space Commando heavy exoskeleton would have rendered his blade ineffective.
And of course, how could I avoid my own part... I’ll do my best to be honest. At first, I looked pathetic compared to these fast, muscular warriors. Eduard, Imran, or even Dmitry, who’d graduated from a military academy, all put me to shame. And that was to say nothing of the beefy Geckho, who surpassed me in every way and didn’t leave me a single chance. I only beat the Princess twice. The first time was stupid and because of armor advantage. My suit’s forcefield allowed me to absorb all the cartographer’s blows and get right up to her, then I used my superior strength and crushed her like a bug. But as for our second fight, we were on even footing. I was wearing just a track suit, and that made the duel critically important to both of us.
For the first time, Minn-O and I were squaring off on equal footing, so we were both very invested in the outcome. I decided to play fair and refused to use my psionic abilities, although I didn’t say that out loud. It was hard without magic. The nimble girl moved unpredictably and with blazing speed, attacking with her hands and feet She was also not at all ashamed to take cheap and crippling shots. I was helped only by intuition and luck. Over the course of our duel I raised my Danger Sense skill by four points and Minn-O, I suspect, did as well. Probably, if my wayedda wasn’t afraid to look me in the eyes, she could have won. But she was constantly expecting me to use magic, so she kept her eyes averted and missed a simple leg sweep. That was no easy trick to pull off, though. You try doing one without thinking about it. And so I won again, having broken the Princess’s arm in a submission lock, immobilizing her and forcing her to admit defeat.
But near the end of the training session, Ayni said I was allowed to use magic... After that, everything turned on a dime. I suddenly knew how to fight! It really was a feeling of omnipotence. And I got payback for all my defeat and humiliation! None of my opponents could touch me. As soon as the matches started I took control of my opponent and forced them to make mistakes, stop fighting or even surrender. In the end, I managed not only to restore but even to slightly raise my Authority, which had fallen in the first half of the session. Repeatedly losing and waking up unconscious in the capable hands of the ship Medic tended to do that.
After six hours of practice, I had leveled up twice, increased Strength and Constitution by one each, and seriously improved a bunch of skills! I simply couldn’t get enough of my delightful new stat table:
Gerd Gnat. Human. H3 Faction.
Level-64 Listener
Statistics:
Strength
14
Agility
17
Intelligence
23 +3
Perception
26 + 2
Constitution
16
Luck modifier
+3
Parameters:
Hitpoints
317 of 1420
Endurance points
61 of 1050
Magic points
7 of 582
Carrying capacity
62 lbs.
Fame
51
Skills:
Electronics
44
Scanning
7
Cartography
52
Astrolinguistics
69
Rifles
48
Mineralogy
[confirmation pending]
???
Medium Armor
49
Eagle Eye
60
Sharpshooter
32
Targeting
19
Danger Sense
38
Psionic
47
Mental Strength
45
Mechanism Control
41
Attention!!! No skill chosen
Attention!!! You have nine unspent skill points
&nb
sp; Sure, Mineralogy was still up in the air, but I was hoping to solve that by using geological analyzers for their intended purpose, not just as a skeleton key to break locks or fry electronics. First though, my Scanning would have to be brought up to 19. But that was all on track. The first skill levels always went very fast, then I would hit ten and start spending free points.
I didn’t think long over what to choose as a fifteenth skill. After the recent class change, my character was now extremely mana dependent. Even Scanning now took Magic Points, which was to say nothing about Psionic and its huge expenditures. And so, my mana reserves and restore speed had become critically important.
You have taken the skill Mysticism level 1.
As the skill description said, each level of Mysticism increased my Magic Points by one percent and boosted their regen speed by just as much. Yes, it wasn’t much yet, almost unnoticeable, but Mysticism would become more significant as it grew.
Chapter Three. Seeing a Comet
I RETURNED TO MY BUNK and discovered Tini sitting on a bench, now back in the game. The kitten was clearly spooked and, just after seeing me, he hurried to say why:
“Master Gnat, in the real world I was contacted by the Miyelonian lady who plays Ayni! Well, she is just baffled, because her Fame keeps shooting up. She’s also mad at us for leaving the Medu-Ro IV station without her! But master, that means that our Ayni... well, the one who is here on the ship... is not who she’s pretending to be! I think she might even be...”
Here the kitten took a pause and gave a heavy sigh, clearly afraid to continue, so I finished his sentence:
“A Morphian. And not just any Morphian, this is the one that killed the Great Priest Leng Amiru U-Mayaoo.”
After confirming his most ghastly suppositions, the Miyelonian youth melted in fear and pressed his ears to his head, so I hurried to reassure him:
“Don’t worry, Tini, your rulers have known this for some time, and they have no problem with it. Or do you think your authorities are so foolish that they would let an assassin get near their sacred Priestess?! Personally, I doubt it. Let’s say her bodyguards were simply yawning and missed the assassination. Seems unbelievable to me, but who knows? If that was so, would they not increase security measures after the attack? But they didn’t. They allowed the Morphian to walk around freely in the form of a First Pride warrior! Those elite soldiers know one another very well, they’ve probably been working together for a long time, and you think that a new one just showing up wouldn’t arouse suspicion? Unthinkable! Your rulers allowed the Morphian to do its work, paid in full and let it leave the station unimpeded.”
“But... how can you be so sure, Gerd Gnat?” Tini asked, still dubious.
“Come on, even at my low Psionic level I could tell that thing wasn’t Ayni by its thoughts. Heck, I noticed a few times! But the Truth Seekers are professionals. They read me like an open book! They could tell a fake guard from a real one in a second! That wasn’t when I noticed, though. After the Truth Seeker interrogation, we needed to walk through an inspection corridor between the main station and space port zone. Well, the First Pride, clearly acting on orders from the Truth Seekers and in violation of every safety protocol in the book, led Ayni and I around the checkpoint without being scanned or searched at all! Why? Because they didn’t want the Morphian to be discovered! I didn’t notice at first, but eventually all the pieces of the puzzle came together and I realized what happened. You want me to tell you what really took place on the Medu-Ro IV station?”
Tini, still scared and pressing his ears back, slowly closed and opened his eyes, which for a Miyelonian was equivalent to a nod of approval. I started explaining with gusto:
“Leng Amiru, or another no-less-important Miyelonian hired the Morphian to kill her. With thousands of pilgrims watching, the wicked Morphian was supposed to gruesomely murder the priestess and provoke righteous furor in Miyelonian society. After all, that was a live broadcast to the whole galaxy! The completely predictable rage of billions was supposed to lash out at the masterminds of the crime, who would soon be revealed by Truth Seekers investigating the murder. The murder of the incarnation of the Great First Female would be a legal and indisputable reason for war, and the target of this secret operation was none other than the Meleyephatian Horde.”
“Ah, that’s right!” Tini said, now lighting up. “I noticed all the news channels showing anti-Meleyephatian propaganda before the murder of the incarnation of the Great First Female. You’re right, master! It all adds up!”
“Yes. The Morphian was supposed to take the appearance of a Meleyephatian, meet with some random members of that race on the station and, in full view of many security cameras, spend some time with them before committing a vile murder. And there was a backup option in case the Meleyephatians who spoke with the Morphian were somehow able to prove their innocence. After all, maybe they could provide a recording of their interaction and show their whole vapid conversation. That most likely could not stop the war now, but it would put the Union of Miyelonian Prides in a very unfavorable light before the Geckho, Trillians and so on...”
Here I was forced to take a short pause, because Minn-O came into the cabin, now wearing the refit spacesuit. She was clearly expecting some comments on her new look, and I expressed all the anticipated words of praise. And it wasn’t just white lies. Minn-O looked impressive and even stylish, a true space Amazon! Satisfied with my reaction, she didn’t return to her bunk, just plopped down on a bench. But she didn’t know Miyelonian, so I continued the story for Tini:
“So, I’ll finish up about the backup option. As you know, there are many races in the Meleyephatian Horde, including a few human groups. And the Miyelonians found some people on Medu-Ro IV who fit that role perfectly. They were from Tailax, and the Morphian was told to spend some time with them as well. But there was a cock-up. The Morphian met me instead and left plenty of clues leading back to Gnat and my humanity. But eventually it became clear that my faction was a Geckho vassal, not Meleyephatian! The Miyelonians had no quarrel with the Geckho, so the Truth Seekers had to make some adjustments, urgently wipe the camera footage and put on that whole circus with thought reading and whatnot. But the mission was nevertheless accomplished. They pinned the blame on the Meleyephatians, then the Morphian received its reward and calmly flew off aboard the Tiopeo-Myhh II. And so Tini, don’t you worry about this false Ayni. In fact, take advantage of the unique chance to be trained by an excellent warrior and teacher! Don’t be ashamed, go into the cargo hold while Ayni is still with us! And don’t come back until you hit level fifty!”
* * *
AS SOON AS my ward left, the noble Princess stood up and closed the metal curtain into the corridor.
“Gerd Gnat, I wanting talk with you. First of, is praise. You be amazing! When you not surrender, but use all abilities, the difference between simple muscular warrior and true mage-ruler is obvious!”
After a second of hesitation, Minn-O sat down on the bench next to me and placed her arms modestly on her knees. She was clearly trying to get near me in her bashful way. And I didn’t get antsy, or try to feel her up, afraid to spook the already shy Princess. She spent half a minute in silence, then decisively turned to me and looked me right in the eyes:
“Gnat, according to all traditions and customs of my world, you already have been me legal husband for whole day, but I still no affection. I am your wayedda, supposed to be you most closest person. But still, I don’t know lots about you, your past and present, your goals and wishes. And, what makes me bitter and even somewhat afraid, I do not have slightest idea of your plans about me.”
I noticed Minn-O’s grasp of my language had improved. She still wasn’t perfect, but she was speaking quite fluently. This learning speed spoke not only to leveling Astrolinguistics, but also high Intelligence. And so, not knowing where to start, I praised her progress with my language and asked about her character’s stats in the game that bends reality.
To me it
seemed a simple and even banal question. But Minn-O unexpectedly turned away and refused to answer, saying that every lady had her secrets. She wanted to stay mysterious and revealing her character sheet was the same as standing naked before me. Here I couldn’t agree:
“Ladies’ secrets are little tricks like inserts that make your boobs look bigger, or strapless bras that push them together. Those are the kinds of details men better not delve into. But I am not asking you to reveal ladies’ secrets. I just want basic game information. It would allow me as a commander to understand just how much I can rely on your level-55 Cartographer in a serious fight, and what use you might be in times of peace.”
Minn-O lowered her eyes and looked embarrassed, her ashen-gray cheeks even flooded with red blush. I realized that I had accidentally broken some moral taboo of her world and had said things that were utterly beyond the pale. Her next words confirmed my guesses:
“Talking about that is consider uncultured. Also, the ‘ladies’ secrets’ you described are not need in the game... As for stats and skills of Cartographer... no, I can’t, too personal. I’ll have to explain why I chose this or that, what guided this choice. If really is necessary, read them from my thoughts, you can use Psionic magic, after all.”
Minn-O then looked me in the eyes, as if inviting me to mental conversation. I had to admit, I was intrigued with this mysteriousness and stubbornness. So, I met eyes with her and... drowned in the stream of the Princess’s thoughts.
“How can I communicate to Gnat that I care about him? I’m crawling out of my skin to attract his attention. And he looks at me so distantly, I don’t even know if he likes me or not. I even took the Lover skill for him. After all, I didn’t want to disappoint such a sophisticated and cute boy with so many past girlfriends. But the most important is how to bring my husband into my world. Grandpa said it was possible. His backwards H3 Faction is doomed. And its days will be all the more numbered after the legendary General Ui-Taka takes up the fight. I need to save Gnat and bring him to our world before his faction gets wiped out. After all, doesn’t Gnat understand that a mage like him will live better in our world?”
Game Changer (Reality Benders Book #3) LitRPG Series Page 4