Thankfully there isn't an assessment during our missions; otherwise, we'd look pretty unprofessional right now.
I looked as if I'd just woken up and after leaving the train station, Trik and I realized we'd gotten off at the wrong stop. We were closer to the center of Atlanta rather than being dropped off near the west, so we had to hoof it the rest of the way.
Lucky for me, I'd brought my trusty compact board along before leaving home. It's a sleek board with energy-absorbing panels on the front end that...well, absorb energy. Then it can release it in controlled amounts of force from either the two fan ports on the bottom for height control or the retractable jet thingy in the back that provides the propulsion. Trust me; it's way cooler than it sounds. My dad whipped it up for me since Primordials aren't as earthbound as humans.
Controlling it's simpler than I initially thought it'd be. Once it's connected to my chip, I feel like there are two levers in my head: one for height and one for power output, so staying in control isn't difficult.
According to my dad, its top speed depends on its rider; with me, it's enough to break the sound barrier. Still, I haven't tried it out yet since he warned me that to achieve that speed, I'd have to be able to infuse my spirit energy into the panels while also maintaining physical enhancement for my body to be able to withstand the g-force, drag, and impact from any unlucky bugs.
Now, I'm proficient in controlling my spirit energy or enhancing my body with it, but multitasking isn't really my strong suit, so I decided it'd be best to hold off on that for now.
We had to cruise along the sidewalks since cities are considered no-fly zones for all aircraft. After about 30 minutes, Trik started complaining about being hungry, so we stopped by a nearby deli restaurant. Immediately after entering, my mouth began to salivate at the scent of food.
It hadn't occurred to me until then that it'd been over 24 hours since I last ate, and, at the moment, I was ready to eat the entire restaurant's supply.
We both ended up ordering nearly half the menu before finally being satiated. I finished before Trik and watched him devour every piece of food on his plate – even the bones.
Not sure I understand how he eats or how he digests food exactly, but it appears as if he puts the food into his mouth, and the food is then broken down into energy for him somehow.
Usually, when I ask him about it, he takes it personally and gives me vague responses that don't really answer the question. So, this time I asked something else I've been curious about – why does he eat the bones?
He says his body gets fuel from all the food, wasting nothing. He followed with a low comment about humans being incapable of assimilating what he refers to as the best parts of food—bit of a superior complex there.
When the bill came, to no surprise, it racked up to a pricey amount. It wasn't a problem, though; we still had plenty of money from our weekend in Las Vegas back in April. It was the most amount of fun I'd had, and now that I think about it, the luckiest we'd been since beginning the mission.
We'd agreed only to spend the money on food since we'll be traveling too often to buy something like a house or car. Besides, if all Primordials can fly and Death can teleport (pretty sure I read that he could somewhere), then what's the point in buying a car anyways?
After leaving the restaurant, we continued west and passed a martial arts stadium where experienced men and women battle each other while masterfully controlling their "chi." The poster outside had a man with an EQN of 837 facing off against a woman with an EQN of 841.
By the way, EQN are energy quantity numbers that's an essential factor in today's society. It can cement one's status almost as much as money does. Decades ago, the global corporation, TekTra, invented sensory devices called energy quantifiers that, when held, can measure how much spirit energy someone has. Now SVVL centers use them to determine a contestant's position and capabilities.
Considering the average human has an EQN between 500 and 600, I found it interesting to see a non-Watcher that close to 1,000.
We decided to take a peek inside. I used the compact board to float to the top of the stadium, where the ceiling was opened, and we saw thousands of people sitting in arranged seats with poly glass lined between each row. They were all cheering at the fight being displayed on giant projection screens. The actual battle was happening 80 feet below in the center of the arena.
I channeled some of my spirit energy to my eyes, enhancing my vision. It's a secret skill called omni-vision that most Watchers and Primordials use. I try not to do it around others since it causes the iris to glow the same color as my spirit energy; though, it happens instinctively when I'm on alert.
Like this, my vision not only gets enhanced, but it also makes other's spirit energy perceptible. I could see the match well now, and I gotta admit, they were pretty good. I've never seen anyone other than Watchers who could manipulate their spirit energy that well.
Standing inside a ring the size of half a basketball court was a burly man in his early 30s,from what I could tell. Probably 6'2", 6'3" maybe, and easily 250 pounds of bulking muscle. He was shirtless, wore green gym shorts that were a little too tight, white bandages wrapped around his fists, and his spirit energy radiated from him with an assertive orange flow. My guess was close quarters combat was his specialty.
On the other hand, his opponent was a woman, I'm guessing in her late 20s, who was dressed in a purple sparring outfit with her midriff exposed, revealing a very well-toned stomach. The material appeared light and Egyptian, with a slightly thicker hood and mask that only showed her eyes. Her weapon of choice was a polearm of some kind with a blade at its end, with her calm, blue energy imbued within it, so her specialty was probably mid-range combat.
By the way, just in case things are different in your time and you're wondering why anyone would let a master of polearms use a deadly weapon against someone fighting with his fists...the answer is overpopulation.
Remember how I said people weren't dying for two centuries? Well, new babies were still being born every day, and the planet started to feel it over time. Within 50 years, worldwide panic ensued after the human population reached an all-time high of 12 billion. To solve the apparent problems presented, every country came up with its own ways of trimming its numbers.
For example, some created these Spartan-like battle expeditions, and tried creating events using kid games with a death principle. But, with both ideas, people weren't dying; they'd just get back up, so they implemented a way to indefinitely "hold" those who should have died.
America came up with a similar approach by creating a martial arts tournament system named SVVL (get it?), where participants would sign a contract stating they'd relinquish their life in the event they lost.
Following their consent, participants would compete in a city tournament, where the champion would then be entered into the state tournament. The state champion would then be entered into a country-wide tournament. Those who lost were held indefinitely until scientists could figure out how to get people to die again.
What made people sign up was the reward system the government created. For city tournaments, the families of volunteers received $50,000. They received an extra $10,000 for every tenth consecutive win, and the overall tournament winner would receive $500,000.
During state tournaments, contestants no longer received pay for consecutive wins, but the champion would receive $10,000,000, and the country-wide champion received $100,000,000. Taxed, of course.
Combine that with Greed's influence on humans, him spreading the principles of spirit manipulation, and the match rules permitting any weapon excluding firearms. You have millions who felt invincible enough to win the prize.
After that, America's consuming population declined dramatically, resulting in other countries creating tournament systems of their own. Over the following century-and-a-half, consuming populations fell, with the only issue being where to keep all the people being held.
Thankfully that hasn't been an issue since Death's resurfacing, so space has been slowly increasing while the population continues to decrease.
Anyways, that's why I am currently watching a seemingly unfair fight between a polearms master and a hand-to-hand combatant.
To most of the audience, the fight most likely just seemed like an exchange of blows between a nimble woman and a solid man. But, to those few like me, who could see and sense spirit energy, it was clearly a fray between two masters.
The giant man was slow but durable. He'd focus his spirit energy into his fists to parry strikes from her weapon unscathed, then quickly spread it throughout his arms right before making contact during his counter strikes. That way he could increase the strength of his attacks without wasting energy.
The woman, though smaller, was able to withstand the devastating force from each strike by concentrating her spirit energy on her feet and calves while simultaneously spreading some to the points of the polearm that contacted his fists. After gaining some distance, she focused more on her legs and began to attack with so much speed and agility that the guy's only option was to spread his spirit energy throughout his entire body to protect himself.
Unfortunately, not only would that quickly eat away at his strength and leave him exhausted, but due to not having a large spirit reserve to begin with, spreading it throughout his entire body only gave him a thin layer of protection.
As the man guarded against the onslaught, the hardened spirit energy protecting him began to crack.
In a desperate attempt to stop the woman, the man slams the floor beneath them, causing it to shake and throw the woman off balance.
In one, swift movement the man punches the woman in the stomach while she'd off balance. The man then grabs her polearm with one arm and her neck with the other and slams her into the ground as he chokes her.
As the man grins in self-satisfaction the woman, struggling under his strength, reaches for her polearm in the man's other hand.
Gripping the end of it, she twists it causing imbedded blades to eject through the mans hand that was gripping the polearm.
As the man let go of the polearm the woman slashes the blade across his face, causing him to wail in pain. The woman takes this opportunity to coat her legs with her energy again and speed around the ring.
It would've been easy to determine the winner at that point, but I noticed the woman's spirit energy had begun to diminish fast. The energy consumption rate for maintaining that speed is high – way more than she could handle.
Both fighters must've realized they were nearing their limits and decided to put everything they had into their next attack.
The woman sped around the ring and flanked him from behind; then, midway, she leaped forward while placing her remaining spirit energy into the tip of the blade on her polearm – most likely with the expectation he'd continue to shield his entire body – but the man, instead, focused and charged his right arm with the remainder of his spirit energy. Then, whirling around towards the woman, he swung his arm in an arc, directly clashing with the woman's blade.
The force from their attacks impacting each other created a shockwave that shook the stadium, and it was at that moment, I grasped the purpose of the poly glass down in the audience.
Sadly, being an illegal observant of this fight and completely ignorant of its customs, I had no such protection from the shockwave.
The blast blew me backward off the roof over an 80-foot drop, but luckily, Trik and I have quick reflexes. Trik caught me underneath my arms and flew upwards to slow the fall while I focused my spirit energy on my legs.
As I watched the dim, aqua-colored aura enveloping my legs become denser, I felt the familiar sensation of power seep through my skin.
At first, it spread with an intense heat through every fiber of muscle within my legs, strengthening them before finally settling on the bones with a solidifying coolness that reached the marrow.
With my legs now reinforced, and the ground about 40 feet below me, I told Trik to let go and landed on the ground below me. Let me just say that landing on solid concrete is not as easy or as painless as TV makes it look. Even with my legs reinforced, I felt some of the impact around my knees. Next time I'll remember to roll instead of trying to look cool.
Still reeling over the fight I had just witnessed, I couldn't help but think about how different things are from what was taught during my training.
I mean, yeah, I already knew that nowadays, most people are aware of their spirit energy since Greed revealed it, but even then, I would have never imagined anyone other than Watchers gaining that kind of skill.
Hell, the guys back in Charlotte didn't have nearly that level of control over their spirit energy. They could only muster a thin coating around a fist.
Truth be told, I wasn't even aware of SVVL becoming more of a competition for professional spirit masters until now. I guess all the weaklings were weeded out since people started dying again.
I would've continued my astonishment, but Trik mentioned it being preferable to meet Death before dark, and it was already 3:50 pm, so we continued west.
After about 30 minutes, we had finally left the city of Atlanta and were in an area surrounded by dirt roads, grasslands, and trees, so I used the opportunity to get some airtime on my board. In less than a minute, we were cruising through the sky at 300mph – me on my board and Trik flying next to me.
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