Theo had settled into the routine of his classes with weapons now thrown into the mix. He had surprised himself, and Beth, by enjoying the intensity of the class and Frank’s domineering expertise. That combined with basic strengthening and the martial arts classes were giving him a strong sense of his body, which he had to admit, was a new but nice feeling. He was still at the bottom of the class rankings, but he had some hope now that he could start the climb.

  He was now making his way back to his room from the dining area, having spent the afternoon chatting with Beth and Max. Neither of them had known where Perry had gotten himself off to, and Carrie had been in class. He was considering the offer to join the group for an evening of board games, mindlessly scrolling through the library catalogue on his phone when he was shoved roughly into the wall by a passing shoulder.

  “Oi, watch where you’re going, insa.”

  Theo turned, about to retort, when he was shoved again, his head cracking against the aluminium foam walls.

  “Oops, sorry about that, must have slipped.” Laughter clashed with the ringing in his head. He tried focusing, his eyes blurred from the ringing pain, only to be met by another incoming shadow.

  “You really must look out for where you’re going there chief, wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself. Especially with you not even at tier one. Here let me help you up.” Snickers followed, merging with Theo’s grunt and hissing loss of air as a glowing fist met his gut.

  Theo blacked out momentarily, gasping desperately to restore the flow of oxygen. He slumped to the ground, arms wrapped around his head, his body curled in pain. A sharp crack resounded as a foot stomped down on his leg, the glow of murky green aether surrounding his assailant’s foot, penetrating through his hazy vision. He screamed in pain as the bone snapped, tears fogging his vision, but not enough that it prevented a blurred view of the face of Jason, royal dick of Hydra.

  “Best get that looked at insa, wouldn’t do for you to fail out of your classes now, would it?” Jason laughed as he walked off, his toadies hopping behind him as he made his way down the hall.

  Theo groaned in pain, trying desperately to get his breathing back under control. Gritting his teeth, he pulled himself up the wall, resting his weight on his shoulder and good leg. Blood dripped slowly from where his head had first met the wall. With a sob, he whispered into his phone.

  “Beth, main hallway, come quick. Bring Max.” He waited there, dazed by the pain, focusing on his breathing to retain consciousness. He wasn’t sure how long he waited before he heard footsteps approaching rapidly.

  “Holy shit Theo. What happened?” Beth’s voice held an edge of panic. “Quick, Max lift him up, let’s get him back to his room.” Theo groaned in agony as Max shifted his weight, pulling him up into a princess carry.

  “Hold on there, mate, won’t be long,” Max whispered to him. Meanwhile Beth was on the phone, calling for Carrie and sending messages to Perry.

  “Who did this?” Max asked.

  “Jason,” Theo croaked.

  “We’ll figure something out when we get you sorted. Not far now, just around the corner.” Max moved quickly through the hallways, unhindered by fellow students thanks to the dinner hour. Beth flustered behind them, talking in an urgent hush on her phone.

  “Just lift your wrist up there Theo mate, that’s the way.” Theo’s door slid open and the three of them entered his room.

  “Let me have a look,” Beth bossed as Max lay him onto his bed. He curled up instinctively in response to the pain.

  “Max, Carrie’s on her way, watch the door, will you?” Beth shooed Max back towards the entrance of the room. Beth gave him a once over, moving into his kitchenette to gather some warm water and a cloth.

  “Theo, I’m so sorry,” she whispered as she sat down beside him. “Can you straighten out a bit?” She gently wiped at the blood on his face. “I wish I was further on my path, but there’s not much I can do to heal other people yet. Best I can do is lift some of the pain.”

  As she spoke, a soft emerald glow emerged from her fingers, eventually engulfing her whole hand. She held her hand just above his broken shin, the aether sinking down to penetrate the torn muscles and ligaments. Theo breathed a sigh of relief as the pain partially abated his body reflexively unclenching. He looked at Beth with thanks, his eyes clearing.

  “Whatever it is your doing, it works,” he said. He closed his eyes, letting Beth’s aether slowly numb the excruciating agony in his leg.

  “That’s everything I’ve got, I’m so sorry,” she apologised, sweat beading her forehead. “We need to call someone; one of the teachers.”

  “No. Don’t!” Despite the pain, Theo was adamant. “We’d have to tell them what happened, and that will just make it worse. If it was anyone else, then maybe. But no one can touch Jason, he’ll just pull his family into it. They’ll ruin it for all of us.”

  “Fuck!” Beth cursed. “He shouldn’t be able to get away with something like this.”

  “Well, he can, at least for now,” Theo said, not without a little bitterness. “I don’t have much value until I get my first tier.” He grit his teeth against a throbbing surge of pain. As it slowly ebbed, a thought came to him.

  “Max, can you help me to the meditation chamber please? I have an idea,” Theo said. “Beth, in my cupboard, there’s a wooden box. Can you grab it?” While Beth scurried off with an anxious but curious look, Max came over and gently lifted him from the bed, walking him into the adjacent room that was used for meditation and cultivation practice.

  “I’m hoping this works, but can I ask you guys to watch out for me while I try this, please?” Theo wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ll reach out to Jo if this doesn’t work, he promised himself.

  “Thanks, Beth,” he said as she passed him the box. “Jo gave me these. I’m hoping they’ve got enough juice to help the healing along.” He opened the box, and a burst of aether entered the room. Beth gasped, leaning forward to peer into the box.

  “I’ve never felt an aether fruit that strong before!” she said in astonishment. Max nodded in agreement. “Not all fruits like that can help with healing, did she tell you what these were good for?”

  “Only that they would help boost my cultivation. Otherwise, I’m not sure.” He stared at the four little yellow and purple fruits. “We haven’t learnt about these in class yet have we Max?” They were both in the herbalism class together.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Not these specifically. Though, you can generally get a sense by what they look like,” Max said, leaning forward. “See here,” he said, pointing to the long stem. “These plants are climbers, the vines are like arteries, and the fruits are the connecting organs. See how they look a bit like oblong hearts? They’ll help boost circulation, both blood and aether. There are a few different varieties of these particular fruits that I know of, but these look like local ones. They’ll be particularly good for body stage cultivation.”

  “Who are you? What did you do with Max?” Beth said in shock to the giant man.

  “I like plants,” Max said ducking his head.

  “Well, it doesn’t sound like they’ll hurt in any case.” Theo gave Max a smile in thanks.

  The pain was starting to creep back up and he was finding it hard to focus. He sat, one leg stretched out and throbbing, the other crossed in next to it. He nodded to his friends, trying not to show the pain that was slowly increasing again.

  “Alright, here goes.” Theo put the first of the fruits in his mouth, gagging slightly at the furry texture of its skin. He closed his eyes, slowing his breath. A few deep breaths later, he bit down on the fruit, and a massive influx of aether entered his system. It was surprisingly tasty, a bit like a mix of apple and kiwi fruit, a nice momentary distraction from the pain.

  Theo breathed through the rush, letting the aether move its way through his body. With his mind’s eye, he noticed it congregate around his wounds, but he focused only on his breathing, letting it worm its way into his system without interference. The radiating pain was a distraction, and it took him more than a little effort to not let it capture his focus. Sweat beaded on his brow and upper lip, testament to the pain, and the effort it took to push through.

  Letting his breath come and go in the pattern he had developed, he felt the thump of his heart and the rush of blood through his arteries. Echoes of aether moved through his blood stream, working their way through his circulatory system. It was distinct from the pill they had tried in class, working in both his energetic and physical systems.

  He switched his attention to the channels of energy, brighter now with the influx of aether from the fruit. He could see them more clearly than during class, though still only as faint reflections. At times they ran parallel to his circulatory and nervous system, and he could see where the nodes were, the energy swirling faster, and pushing further out. He spent his time mapping the network, feeling the influx of energy dwindle as it spread outwards from his core.

  Theo opened his eyes briefly taking another of the fruits, never losing the rhythm of his breathing. He bit down a second time, drawing in another massive rush of aether into his energetic core before watching as it flooded outwards through his meridians.

  Before long he was sweating profusely from the rush of energy. His body overloading as it was pushed beyond its usual limits. In each arm, he checked the lines of energy, noting the flow. He could see small areas of blockage, where the light did not penetrate, and with each inhale and exhale, felt the energy wear away at the stagnation that had built up there.

  This was never more obvious than in his injured leg, where the energy channels were in complete disarray, reflecting the damage that had been done. Slowly but surely, as he cycled through his breathing, Theo noticed the energy channels realigning, the tributaries reconnecting.

  To Theo’s inner eye, the broken channels slowly reset their position, the tributaries lighting up as they branched out further, connecting to each part of his leg. He felt intrinsically connected to each part of his body as the flush of aether deepened the channels that allowed it to flow. As the energy reached his skin, beads of dark sweat formed, toxins and impurities drawn out by the rampant flow of pure aether running through his body. His back arched as the final pulse of energy from the aether fruit rushed through.

  He slowly opened his eyes, completely spent. Beth, Max and now Carrie stood at the doorway to his meditation chamber, their eyes wide. Beth and Carrie had their hands over their mouth and nose, though all three showed signs of strain around the eyes. It was Beth who broke the silence first.

  “Well that definitely worked,” she said, her voice muffled behind her hand. “You definitely want to get in the shower and get rid of those clothes though.”

  Theo was too exhausted to notice her reaction at first, but it was not long before he too noted the stench that had caused his friends to back away.

  “What is that God awful smell?” he gagged. “I didn’t fuckin’ shit myself, did I?” He tried to stand, falling back down on his first attempt. It was then he felt the sticky sweat that covered him, causing his clothes to stick to his body. “What is this?” he exclaimed pulling at the fabric that stuck to his stomach. He gagged.

  “It happens for most of us, though not usually this bad,” Max said, his face crinkled but he remained stoic in his attempt to not retch.

  “Breaking through one of the tiers generally results in your body flushing some of the impurities from your system,” Carrie continued on from Max’s explanation. “Given the amount of toxin’s, I would think you have jumped a number of tiers in one go.”

  “No fucking way!” Beth exclaimed, and then stepped back again covering her mouth, her excitement blunted, tears in her eyes. Theo was beginning to feel a little targeted. He managed to stand, feeling absolutely disgusting. His friends backed up a step.

  “Let’s continue this conversation after I shower,” he begged. None of his friends argued.

  It was half an hour before they all gathered together in the main living area of his apartment. Theo was feeling much refreshed, though it had taken some serious scrubbing to rid himself of the residue of his breakthrough. In that time, Perry had arrived, and he had brought back some late-night snack food from the main dining hall.

  “I took the initiative to have your meditation chamber cleansed,” Carrie started. “You may not have noticed before now, but there is a control panel near the door that can seal the room to begin a self-cleaning cycle. These sorts of purges are not unusual, so every meditation chamber has that function. You might need to give it a second run through though, once this cycle is done.”

  “I’ll do that.” Theo laughed at her tone. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said. “So, how do you feel? I have never seen anyone at your level cycle through that much aether in one session before. I am surprised you haven’t passed out.”

  “I’m beat. But … at the same time I feel energised. Like there is electricity just thrumming below the surface of my skin. My body feels alive, and I can almost feel aether tickling me from the inside. The leg is still a bit sore, but compared to what it was, it’s barely a dull throb.” Theo couldn’t contain his excitement, which quickly spread to his friends. The mad anger and anxiety that had preceded his cultivation session had been erased by the success.

  “Welcome to the club, mate. Though, you should have seen your leg as you were absorbing the aether, it was gross. It was writhing like it was infested.” Max had to share. He got nods of agreement from Beth and Carrie, though Perry looked upset to have missed the show.

  “I’m glad I didn’t, it felt bad enough,” Theo laughed. “I’m just glad it worked, though I might check in with Jo tomorrow to see what she thinks.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Beth said. “Are you going to tell her what happened?”

  “Not unless she pushes. There’s no point. Though, I do think it will be much harder for Jason to do any real damage now.”

  “That’s true.” Beth nodded.

  “So, buddy, noticing anything else different?” Perry interjected. While he had not been there for the whole fanfare, he had been filled in by the others while Theo showered.

  “Nothing off the top of my head,” Theo said. “I spent most of that time focusing on my aether channels.” He noticed their looks of confusion. “Surely you guys have them too?”

  “Oh, we all have them mate, but at our level, we are not meant to be able to see them that clearly yet,” Perry said with a frown. “Maybe it has to do with the aether fruit, and how much you were absorbing at the time? I don’t know, Carrie would be able to guess better.”

  “Aether channels, at least according to my family, are not something we start to refine until we have reached the first gate,” Carrie said.

  “Wow, okay.” That explained why the book he had found had been so covered in dust. It was completely out of date. Shrugging it off, he thought back to the process and what he had seen. “There are still some areas that are blocked, which I assume is normal?” Seeing them nod, he continued. “I don’t think I have gone further than body one though, my muscles don’t feel saturated in the way you guys have described.”

  “Time will tell,” said Carrie. “My guess is that with you coming from the insensate world, you probably have more impurities in your system than most of us. Seeing as there doesn’t appear to be any residual issues with how you cultivate aether, I wouldn’t worry too much. I think checking with Jo tomorrow is a good idea though.”

  “The best thing about all this,” Beth interjected, then paused dramatically. “It’s going to really piss off those stuck-up twats.” That earnt a laugh from everyone else in the room.

  ?? Fragments to Power ??

  by Bonhomie

  Overweight, lonely, and depressed, Henry’s only joy in life comes from an illegal friendship with a super advanced AI named Dev. But when Dev forces Henry into a violent, Souls-like video game, Henry must let go of the timid nature that has defined his life and embrace something darker, something buried so deep he’s forgotten it existed.

  Warhammer in hand, the journey from pitiful failure to savage legend begins.

  What to expect:

  - Real-world stakes

  - Big man with a big hammer

  - Brutal fight scenes

  - Weak to strong MC

  - Animal companion

  - Antagonists of multiple kinds: monsters, world mechanics, and humans