“Intent matters. I knew it mattered.” Joe’s lips twitched upward at the thought, as clarity started to return to his vision. His eyes, which every time before now had become painful and dried out, were remaining nicely hydrated, even though he could only blink once every few minutes with great effort. If he physically could have facepalmed, he would have. Joe had no idea why he hadn't thought to activate this skill previously. Panic, perhaps? Lack of oxygen to the brain?
He was still struggling to breathe, only able to pull in one lungful every fifty seconds or so, but it did not feel nearly as terrible as it normally did. Beforehand, he’d had to focus at least half of his attention on making his chest rise and fall. With his skill reducing his need to breathe by… maybe a quarter? Joe started to feel real hope. His characteristic training notification went off, he stayed alive, and kept staying alive. Eventually, even the recruiters started to take note at the greatly extended time-to-live he was showcasing.
“Did you do it? Did you choose Mind Over Matter?” The Elf stepped forward excitedly, the first time Joe had seen something other than vague disgust on his androgynously ‘pretty’ face. “Work with us, and I promise that you will reach heaven in a single bound! You can start directly in the Officer track. I have seen you go from not even understanding that you needed to look at the Mortal Limit, to breaking it in under five full days of attempts. I'm not one to have eyes and fail to recognize Mountaindale!”
“Ignore the pampered twig, human!” The Dwarf cut in, panic filling his voice for once. “I’ve recognized your talents ever since you arrived. Were it not for this… thing stopping me, I would have been working with you to improve and reach this stage the entire time. I would have been able to keep you alive; we would have… hold on one abyssal second… why aren't you getting up? What did you choose…?”
At practically the same time, the two recruiters realized that he had not actually broken the Mortal Limit. The Elf only deigned to shrug, then went to sit on an intricately formed tree stump. “It appears the carp did not jump over the dragon gate. It appears that sometimes a fishy is just a fishy. It appears the Celestials don’t smile upon this one. No talent, no luck. Cast off even by his own Zone.”
“I still… believe in you. You can do it. Take the chance to grow and better yourself,” The Dwarf promised very unconvincingly, before he too went and sat down in a meditative pose on an anvil that had been repurposed as a chair. “If only I knew what you were going to decide.”
Joe's eyes moved between the two of them, frustration mounting in his heart. Neither of them would help him because he might choose to work with the other? Because they had a deal? So, helping a potential enemy was worse than rescuing a potential ally? Joe wanted to spit at both of them, but ended up only drooling out of the side of his mouth.
Right then, he resolved that if he didn't need to make a choice between the two, he wouldn't. When Joe was strong enough, when he broke the Mortal Limit, he was going to get out of here on his own terms.
Chapter Two
Almost… almost. Joe broke his concentration to heal himself, and the almost complete structure for his mana circulation pattern shattered into motes of light that faded away like a handful of glitter thrown in the air. Gasping in a long breath, he let his face fall to the side and tried to throw up from the pain.
Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how Joe thought of it, he had not had anything to eat for days and days. The healing water washed from his hands, traveled along his body, and brought him back up to his maximum health. He was lucky that Lay on Hands did not require him to physically touch himself on the chest, or some other strange somatic gesture. He still couldn’t raise his arms, after all.
“You can do it,” the Elf called over, pretending to speak with affection for the human that was keeping it from gaining boons and sleeping well. “It won't take you weeks or months like it does for everyone else. You can do this very easily. Perhaps if you just give it your best shot-”
“Stop pretending that you care about anything a human would be able to accomplish.” The Dwarf growled at the simpering Elf, obviously missing the sarcasm. “All you want to do is pad your bottom line, get a bonus for convincing the humans to join your race over mine. A foolish choice, and we both know it. The winning side is ours, and it always will be. I look forward to seeing your new face after our first battle.”
That final taunt made the Elven liason’s face contort in rage, but he replaced it with a sneer a moment later and launched his own verbal offensive.
Joe stopped listening; he wanted to get this process down. He focused, putting all of his mental energy into holding the mana weave that was propagating throughout his body. The voices of the squabbling recruiters faded into background noise once again, and Joe pushed on his free-formed mana, again, again. This system was built with him in mind, which meant it was something perfectly structured for himself. Joe knew that if he could not make this work, there was no way to progress in this Zone. There was no other option—there was nothing beyond success—that meant that he would succeed. Now, or… maybe after he had a few more
