Havok told us that new blood vessels were being formed, and he was assisting in their growth. I didn't know what he was talking about, but he assured me it was a good thing.
With the clearing, we were getting quicker and quicker all the time, pretty much throwing shit, on the shelves to the beat of Havok’s wild and heavy music. I’d even say there were a few hours in which I began to enjoy it. When we stopped, on Ember’s command, we were just under halfway through the room.
“Let's check your Mental Clarity now. Then we should get something to eat and rest up a little, ready to crack on with training some of your mental skills. Otherwise, we won't have time to sharpen you up.”
“Okay, boss,” I said, glumly. Although I knew she was right, I could have done with a bit of kicking-the-shit-out-of-a-training-bag for an hour, just for a change of pace.
Entering my Interface Room, I was pretty impressed by the changes:
Name: Shaun Sutherland
Age: 29 GY
Transcendence Level: 101
Strength: 203/1000
Agility: 74/1000
Speed: 108/1000
Intelligence: 46/1000
Constitution: 210/1000
Wisdom: 15/1000
Mental Resilience: 60/1000
Mental Clarity: 42%
Potential: 99%
“My level is 101! My Wisdom and Constitution went up, too!” I shouted and over-enthusiastically jumped into the air with a fist pump.
“Welcome to the one hundred club, Shaun. And now your Mental Clarity is nearly as high as mine, you’ve no excuses for being useless anymore.”
“I’m over the moon with it. But why is my wisdom so shit still? It seems to be related to Mental Clarity, but yours is much higher, even though we’re close on Clarity now.”
“I imagine it's because I've actually used my Mental Clarity to make informed decisions on occasion, whereas you haven’t.”
“Oh, right. That could be it, you cheeky bitch.”
“Don't worry. We’ll get you using your head, rather than your muscles. More interestingly, why has your Constitution gone up so much? Let me check on mine,” she disappeared from my Interface Room as soon as she finished talking, which was annoying.
I moved back into my normal state to find her there, smirking. “I’m level 101, too. My Constitution has also gone up by ten. I wonder if it's the heat we’re working under?” She said.
“That's great! And yeah. It must be why. What a fantastic side effect, we will have to see if we can keep that up.”
“Maybe train with low oxygen?”
“Probably cold too, we will probably have to go to a cold ass planet at some point.” I laughed.
“More than likely. Now come on, let’s go to the canteen.”
We went and filled up on food. Still just meat and veg for me, yet again. It was starting to get boring fast. I was beginning to feel the need to have some more exotic choices programmed in. Although I didn't think a curry would be a good choice right now. Afterwards, we went back to the gym to train.
“The main thing I think you’ll need to work on is seizing your opponent,” Ember said, standing a few paces away from me, “Now, seize me.”
I did as asked, quickly morphing into her Mindscape, then moving into her Nerve Center. I felt through the room in order to find the nerve bundles that operated her legs and arms. Once finding them, I took a grip and thought about paralyzing those limbs. With that done, I came out of her Mindscape to check. She had a wry look on her face.
“Well done, Shaun. It took you long enough, didn’t it? I’d have had you killed while you messed around in there.”
“It took a while to find which nerve bundles did what.”
“You’re supposed to be in a fight! Just grab everything, and think paralyze,” she kicked out of my control, subsequently getting her movement back. “Now, try again. But this time try to appear directly in my Nerve Center, then do as I said, because I'm gonna come over there and kick you in the nuts as soon as you close your eyes.”
“What? No. Don't do that!” I squawked, indignantly.
“You can easily stop me. Just don’t fuck around. Okay?”
I took a few deep breaths, then did exactly as she said. Without hesitation, I fully concentrated on appearing in her Nerve Center, rather than the corridor. Then I paralyzed anything I could get my arms around, which turned out to be everything. I really didn’t want to take a shot to the nuts. Coming back to normal state, I saw Ember lying on the floor, not two paces away from me, locked up solidly. Again, she freed herself from my control. I suppose this was good practice for her too.
“Brilliant!” she laughed, “Again, all you need is the right incentive. How did it feel? Any easier with the work we did in your Cognition Room?”
“You know what, it was actually a lot easier. Thanks, Ember.”
“I’ve noticed that the clearer your mind, the more time seems to pass when you’re in the Mindscape, like a small time dilation. It becomes more obvious each time I improve. At least I don’t think it’s an effect on time.”
“I had noticed. Yet another thing Ogun never told us about. So you think it’s just your brain's ability to process shit faster?”
“I can't think of any other reason for it that makes sense, so yeah.”
“Well, whatever it is, it’s really cool. I’m glad we’ve practiced it a little, but in a fight like the one I'm about to have, I don’t want to paralyze someone's body completely. They’ll die, won’t they?”
“There’s a simple solution to that. Get in there, paralyze everything immediately, and then go through what you don’t want paralyzed. We both need to get used to what nerve bundles do what, so we can do it
