“We treat it as weighted training clothing. Now that we know it exists, we can work around it when needed and embrace it otherwise. Essence is too useful to abandon, but for certain periods of training it should be avoided. I’ll get basic parameters established shortly, but it comes down to more specialization in their skillsets. We can’t have one Archon being a master of all anymore.”
“We figured that out long ago.”
“Well they haven’t. Paul sort of did, but he still tried to straddle the line. They won’t relent from being the best in everything. That’s their strength, but when options vary widely and they have to choose between them, they can’t handle that. They’ve been doing the impossible so long, they’re finally facing something they can’t cheat.”
“Are you sure of that?”
“I’d be happy to be proved wrong, but the do-it-alls are going to have to retool or become the jack of all trades, masters of none.”
“They won’t accept that.”
“No, they won’t. But something is going to have to give. If I’m right, Saiyan skill needs the higher precision. Essence needs larger wells. You can’t have both at the same time, and if you split your training between the two, you’re going to fall behind the specialists. The trailblazers’ head start only lasts for so long.”
Davis huffed. “Give them the playing field and they’ll figure it out. That’s one problem I don’t have to worry about.”
“It won’t be that easy this time. This has been stretching them for a while. I don’t think they can juggle this one, but it will be interesting to see how they tackle it.”
“Have you told them yet?”
“You’re the first.”
“Call them all in to the amphitheater.”
“All?”
“Let Paul be Paul for now. He can catch up later, if he hasn’t already figured it out by now...”
5
June 22, 154930
Poolion System (Home Two Kingdom)
Turron
It had been two months since Paul and Cal-com left the desert and returned to their ship. From there they’d flown under cloak to various parts of the planet, skipping over the cities and settlements and going for the raw nature that existed in many forms. First was jungle, then ice, and now the pair were camped out on a secluded island that had more beach than forest, but the air was warm, the waves gentle, and absolutely no one around.
Their ship was sitting invisible on one of the beaches with its landing skids making imprints into the sand, but otherwise you couldn’t tell it was there with your eyes or sensors, though Pefbar could see it. That said, Paul rarely used his nowadays, and let Cal-com get supplies out of the vessel whenever needed. Since arriving on the island Paul had remained outside, choosing to sleep under the stars or a primitive lean-to he’d made from dead trees.
The Human had said he needed to disconnect further from everything, and the Voku hadn’t argued. This was why he’d brought him out here initially, though he hadn’t expected the payoff to be so grand. Every day Paul changed some more, though the big swings were a thing of the past now. His genetic code was still shifting away from Human and towards something else…something more powerful, as attested by the fact that his cellular density was surpassing Human limits, and according to Cal-com’s Regenerator scans he was no longer physically capped.
That revelation had drawn raised eyebrows from Paul, but somehow he knew before he told him. He was gaining a very spooky sense of precognition with regards to information, but Cal-com put that down to introspection. If this was a buildup of adaptation surging forth now that he could finally relax, then with it would come a new sense of normal, and through that Paul was going to be able to see and understand things differently than Cal-com could.
What caused his initial change was still unknown. The mysterious companion hadn’t spoken to him since they’d left the desert, and Paul had spent most of his time sitting and observing. He guessed the ocean waves gave him something more to look at, and even now he was sitting on a rock with his bare feet dipping into the waves when they made their way up to him, and Cal-com knew to give him his space. His job was to watch over and protect, not monitor. Whatever was going on inside of him was beyond his knowledge or control, and Paul was going to have to ride this out on his own in one way or another.
From the outside he hadn’t changed much. His eyes were the biggest difference, and his skin had gotten a little redder. Not from sunburn, but from the alteration of his skin cells with different elements that normally would not be there. Somehow his alchemy ability was being used to manufacture stuff his body needed that didn’t exist in his foodstuffs. Paul said it was auto-activating, which had never happened before, and that was just one of many changes happening to him.
He hadn’t tested much of it, for fear of interfering in the process. Paul also hadn’t used Essence again as far as Cal-com could sense, and once he’d stopped again the changes in him accelerated back to their now normal cadence. Whatever buildup was left inside him was going to be worked through gradually, it seemed. Perhaps that’s the way it was meant to happen all along, but Paul had been bottling it up for some time so it got so intense when finally released that it blacked him out.
It was a loose theory, but the best they had at the moment. Paul said his mind felt like it was being jammed with static, and his top priority was to drain that away as if it was a toxin. He was attempting to
