Saturday [09/07/2019]

“I don’t get this at all…”

Isaac had spent his entire morning in his room with his eyes miserably glued to his phone. At the request of his principal, he had installed an app on it yesterday known as Way of Mastery. It cataloged martial techniques and cultivation techniques for students. In exchange for Prestige that the student had learned, they could gain access to newer techniques. They could even request to receive personal tutorage.

Isaac had zero techniques marked as learned in this app. While busying himself with figuring out the Fight Navigational System, and how this bizarre world worked in general, there had been no time. Things had changed. As another reward for his victory in the Battle Royale, Hopkins had provided Isaac with several credits that could be used in place of Prestige to acquire any techniques he wished, provided they were C-Rank or lower. This might have pleased an ordinary student, but for Isaac who knew almost nothing about the myriad of techniques listed in the app, he didn’t know what to pick.

He searched the app for techniques that met the criteria of “good for beginners”. He happened upon a few techniques that were apparently popular with cultivators junior high age and younger. The ones that caught his interest the most were the few tagged ‘Fundamental’. As a former practitioner of martial arts, Isaac knew the fundamentals were always the best to start with. Also, learning them would be both easier and quicker than learning Demonic Fighting Whirlwind or Uppercut of Crystal Perceptions.

Or so he had thought.

FAILURE! Isaac cannot learn this technique at the moment...

Isaac groaned at the prompt. “Every time…”

The first technique he had decided to learn was known as Chi Distortion. Its description was straightforward: One of the 'fundamentals' that all young cultivators should know. It disrupts or misdirects the flow of foreign chi by counteraction with the user's.

The technique’s instructions were written in plain English just like its title and description. At least at a glance, they were. Whenever Isaac tried to intentionally read the instructions, his sight would become dizzy and his mind jumbled. Focusing further only gave him a migraine. He went so far as swapping out his glasses, taking a screenshot and attempting to read it instead, or simply reading the instructions aloud syllable by syllable.

It always came to the same result.

FAILURE! Isaac cannot learn this technique at the moment...

He sighed and pushed his phone aside. “Dammit, I’ve got to stop. My eyes are starting to hurt.”

His strained eyes strayed aimlessly about the room while they recovered. It was a guest room his aunt had given him for the duration of his stay on Staten Island. It came with a desk that she claimed was new, though Isaac found the clearance sale sticker she had forgotten to peel off.

It was spacious, but mostly because it was so empty. Isaac hadn’t brought many things with him to New York. While he wasn’t exactly a minimalist, he disliked clutter and only brought what he thought he would need. In such a sparsely decorated setting, there was one small object that stood out. It was Isaac’s chi filter which sat upon the dresser.

According to his aunt, he had brought it with him from Kansas. It was something all cultivation students, whether they were Jungle students or not, possessed. Form what he read online, they were meant to be used during a cultivator’s ‘cycles’; a cultivation method where a one would absorb the energies around them to help them channel the residual chi in their chakras into the device. Wherein the filter would refine it of impurities and dissolve it into some liquid substance that was to be turned in to the student’s school once every two weeks.

Isaac had yet to complete a single cycle since arriving in this world. He didn’t know how it was done. He researched it, but could not replicate the method regardless of how many videos he watched.

“Doubt that excuse will work with the school. For whatever reason, they grade us on this. I’ve gotta put at least a few ounces in this thing by next Friday. Maybe doing it outside will help. A lot of the vids I watched were recorded outdoors.”

Getting up, Isaac grabbed his phone, his shoes, and his filter as he left his room. While heading for the door he encountered his Aunt Brenda lounging in her recliner and watching some Mafioso movie. Since he was young, he had always known her to be obsessed with crime dramas. The Godfather, Boardwalk Empire, The Wire, American Gangster, Scarface – she watched it all. She even read the Godfather novel at least once a year.

It was an odd passion for a cop. Granted, it was impossible to tell Brenda was one while she was off duty.

“Isaac? You heading somewhere?” Brenda asked, noticing him heading for the door.

“Just getting some fresh air. You won’t mind if I stay out late, will you?”

She snorted. “We’ve been over this already. You can stay out as long as you like.”

“Careful telling that to a 17-year-old. I might stay gone ‘til Monday morning.”

“That’s fine. You’re a pretty responsible kid. I’m not all that worried about what you might be getting up to in the evening. As a matter of fact...” Brenda stood and went to retrieve something from a drawer in the kitchen. “Here. Take this.”

Isaac caught it. It was a key.

“What does this go to?”

“This house, obviously. Now you can stay away as long as you want.”

Isaac received a new item: Key to Aunt Brenda's House (x1)

“Oh… Wow. Thanks?”

“No prob. Get some coffee on your back, okay?”

Isaac assured he would as headed out the door. Another reason why it was hard to tell his aunt was a cop – she was the least strict person he knew.

Fresh air had always been one of the quickest ways for Isaac to clear his mind. This is why he thought he had lucked out that, out of all of New York City’s boroughs, his aunt resided on Staten Island. Whereas most of the city was an urban, concrete jungle with the occasional big park here or there, Staten Island was by far the greenest and least congested borough. Its population fell just below 500,000, and it had several large contiguous natural areas and parks fittingly called the Greenbelt.

Brenda stayed in Heartland village, which was in the geographical center of the island, and was met on three different fronts by three different parks. Isaac had visited all three in the past few days, but the one he preferred had always been LaTourette Park in the west. Conveniently, it was also the nearest to Brenda’s home.

However, after making the brief trip over to it, a prompt appeared.

WARNING! Entering rival school territory!

Isaac cocked his brow. He visited the park before and hadn’t received this ominous message before. Was it because school had yet to start then? Now that he was officially affiliated with a Jungle School, was straying too far from his ‘home turf’ a problem now.

“Well, that’s annoying. Guess I’ll head to Willowbrook then?”

Isaac made a new journey up north to Willowbrook Park. But as he came close…

WARNING! Entering rival school territory!

“Are you serious? Is anywhere outside of New Springville ‘rival school territory’?”

The sophomore hoped he wouldn’t have to head back home as he started toward the final park close to Heartland Village – New Springville Park. He was anxious as he approached but gave a relieved sigh when he entered the park without any prompt appearing. He believed he could finally enjoy some peace in a park. How quickly he had forgotten the nature of the reality he currently resided.

“Hey! You with the filter! C’mere for a sec.”

A tired expression came across his face. He already knew what business he would be dealing with before he turned around. Four boys approached him, each with an unscrupulous smirk on his face. While three of them sized Isaac up their leader, and tallest among of them, addressed him.

“You a cultivator?’

“Would I be carrying a filter if I wasn’t?”

“Answer the question, smartass. You are cultivator or ain’t you?”

Isaac sighed, pushing up his glasses as he answered. “Yeah, I am.”

“Alright. In this park, there’s been a new rule established: the cultivation tax. You wanna do some cycles, you gotta pay up first.”

Isaac just stared blankly at him for a moment. “Dude, why didn’t you just say ‘give me your money’ instead? Like, cultivation tax? For real? Aren’t you embarrassed to say that out loud? Man, I hope you haven’t been saying that to other people, cause if you have…”

The punk scowled at Isaac’s dismissive words. Some of his friends started to snicker, but he shut them up with a look. He then got in Isaac’s face; close enough that they could hear each other’s breathing.

“A’ight, you little bitch, since you wanna talk shit…” He said while leaking off his essence. “Remember that I gave you a chance.”

The tall boy, while not as huge as Bronson, was tall enough to tower over most teens his age; Isaac included. Unfortunately for him, his size and rising chi didn’t arouse a response out of Isaac. This caught him off guard more than the sophomore’s comments had. The brute was used to people backing down as soon as he got in his face. Isaac shows no signs of doing so.

The look in his eyes was calm, but somehow still caused the punk’s nerves to quiver.

“Uh… Y-you think you some tough shit?” the boy asked.

“Not really. Look, if you wanna try and take a swing, go ahead,” Isaac responded. “I got stuff to do today.”

The punk hesitated. Before he could find the nerve to escalate the confrontation he heard a passerby comment: “Hey, isn’t that guy Heartland’s new Guardian?”

The passerby was a young woman and a friend, both carrying with chi filters of their own.

“That skinny, nerdy-looking dude? You sure?” the first girl's friend asked.

“Yeah, look,” she said while whipping out her phone. “My boyfriend goes to that school. He took a video of the Battle Royale on Friday. See? It’s him!”

The other girl’s eyes widened. “Woah… He’s steeling off on like five dudes at once.”

The punk and his friends’ ears perked as they listened to the chatter. The hesitation within the former devolved into full-blown belliphobia.

“You going to actually do something?” Isaac asked.

The boy said nothing as he and his friends disengaged with the Guardian. As always, people’s moods and intentions quickly changed once they realized Isaac wasn’t as low on their aforethought food chain.

“Every ‘tough guy’ thinks he’s a shark until meets a bigger fish,” Isaac muttered.

He shrugged and then continued on his way. Before he could take more than two steps, his path was obstructed.

“Hey, Mr. Guardian. You wanna hang out with us?” the girl from earlier asked, as she and her friend blocked Isaac’s way.

“Have we met?”

“I’m Sarah, and this is Olivia. There, now we’re all met up.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

Olivia giggled. “Relax, man. We just wanted to see if you wanted to meditate with us. We’re cultivators too. We brought our filters just like you did.”

“Thanks for the invite, but I wasn’t planning on--”

“Dude. Two super cute girls are inviting you to hang out with them, and you’re gonna say no?” Sarah asked.

“…Didn’t you say you had a boyfriend?”

Sarah put a finger to her lip. “Did I say that?”

Isaac blinked. His gut told him that random women who didn’t even know your name showing interest in you rarely led to good things. However, there was the possibility that following these girls’ lead could help him learn how to finally perform cultivation cycles properly. The experience could be a valuable one.

Also, they were both very cute.

“Sure, I guess,” he answered.

The girls were delighted and had him follow them. They led him to space further in the park but away from the trail. They eventually arrived at a totem pole. Isaac had seen several like it before. There was one every few miles in any direction on Staten Island. Apparently, they helped regulate the spiritual energies in the air and kept the spirits from going too wild.

“Why here though?” Isaac asked.

“Totem poles make it easier to convert spiritual energy into chi and make it easier to channel that chi,” Sarah said.

“Why doesn’t everyone do it then?”

“Because it doesn’t help that much,” Olivia said. “It speeds up the process a little, but unless you’ve literally never done a cycle before, you don’t need a totem pole to get the job done.”

Isaac was suddenly very glad he had taken the girls up on their offer.

When two sat down around the totem pole he did the same, trying to pretend he knew what he was doing by following their example. When they shut their eyes, he shut his. When they started breathing slowly and deeply, his breathing began mimicking theirs. When he could sense them releasing their chi and steadily absorbing the energies around them, he did the same.

They were meditating, just like the cultivators in the YouTube videos he watched. It was nothing different than what he had attempted before save for the additional sounds of birds chirping in the distance or the footsteps of the occasional jogger.

But gradually, likely thanks to the totem pole’s presence, he found that he was able to distill his mind further than usual. Background noise became more distant until it muted, and all his other senses followed not shortly after. Isaac’s mind was gone.

Then he noticed something felt… off.

Isaac opened his eyes. The totem pole and his filter were no longer in front of him. The girls and even the park they sat in were nowhere to be seen. Isaac sat alone on a grassy mound in the center of a body of water. He wasn’t sure how large a body it was as the wall of fog surrounded him and kept him from seeing further than a few feet in any direction. The only thing with him on the mound was an array of eight scrolls which were sat beside him.

“…Where am I?”

The answer came in the shape of a screen.

Welcome to your Inner Sanctum. Please choose from the selection of scrolls to proceed with a course of action.

With no other course of action, Isaac did so. As his hand came close, each scroll’s purpose was revealed to him.

PEFORM CULTIVATION CYCLES

The straight-forward title said all Isaac needed to know. Upon selection, a bar showing his cultivation progress manifested above him. The bar continued to load as he looked through the other scrolls.

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE

Opening this scroll manifested a large map of Staten Island which highlighted how far Heartland High’s influence reached throughout it. As he thought, it only covered the neighborhood of New Springville.

SCHOOL STATUS

The general Power, Morale, Academics, Cultivation Quality of Heartland's students were displayed. It was about what Isaac expected from Heartland High. There was also a category that displayed Isaac's reputation at the school. It read "Despised".

"Looks like Monday's gonna be interesting."

OBJECTIVES & MISSIONS

This scroll displayed Isaac’s current objective: Unification of Heartland High, as well as three current Main Missions which involved him defeating each of the Three Lords. He was still unsure how feasible that feat currently was for him.

ISAAC'S STATUS

Isaac’s Status Screen was conjured just like it always did when he Leveled Up. This time, he could, thankfully, check to see what each Attributes actually did, and Willpower and Charisma did indeed mean more than their names implied.

TECHNIQUES

It was blank.

TRAITS

This was perhaps the most interesting of all the scrolls. Isaac wasn't aware these 'Traits' existed until now.

[Battle Junkie]

Denotes Isaac’s condition as a belliophile – someone who loves fighting. Isaac receives a plus modifier against effects that target his mental status while in combat. He is also capable of entering a state called Fighter’s High that briefly raises his Strength, Endurance, and Focus.

[Keen Analyzer]

A trait bestowed to a user of the Fight Navigational System. It allows Isaac to use Analyze and gather information on others by vigorously focusing on them for a moment.

Isaac cringed at bit at [Battle Junkie]’s description despite knowing how true it was. In fact, the truth of it agitated him all the more. Still, [Keen Analyzer] was the Trait that garnered more of his interest. He was unaware he had such an ability. Could he Analyze people at any time?

He pondered it while reaching for the final scroll.

LEARN NEW TECHNIQUE

He was caught off by how straight-forward it was. He peeked inside and saw that there was only one item listed under “Ruminated Techniques” – Chi Distortion. Isaac selected it. He was curious how long it would take to learn.

The answer was: instantaneously.

Isaac learned a new cultivation technique: 'Chi Distortion'!

“Well, that was easy. What does ‘ruminated techniques’ mean? Ones I've thought a lot about?”

Before he could ponder on it too much, the world around Isaac faded. He didn’t know exactly why but, just as he broke from his meditation, something told Isaac to jump out of the way. He did so, barely escaping Sarah and Olivia’s sneak attack in time. The ground where he previously sat was caved in by their fists.

“Shit! He noticed!” Sarah exclaimed.

Isaac shook his head. He had a hunch something was up with these two. Thankfully, he was warned while still meditating. Apparently, time did not stop while he in that ‘inner world’ like it did when he leveled up, completed a Mission, or received a prompt from the Navigator. He would make sure to keep that detail in mind going forward.

“So, that boyfriend of yours put you up to this, or is gunning for the Guardian’s head just the thing to do when you see the opportunity?”

The girls, failing in their ambush, looked fearful. Isaac kept a steady eye on them. Then a thought occurred to him that this was an apt time to test his Analyze ability.

“All I have to do is look at someone and focus, right?”

Isaac gazed intently at the girls until an interface appeared in his vision.

Sarah Gender Female Borough Staten Island Affiliation ??? Element Water Martial Rank E1 Cultivation Stage Flawless Inner Earth Fighting Style ??? Olivia Gender Female Borough Staten Island Affiliation ??? Element Fire Martial Rank E2 Cultivation Stage Tempered Outer Earth Fighting Style ???

“It worked!”

His sudden exclamation confused the girls, raising their already high anxiousness. They didn’t know what he was going to do with them next. Isaac then raised his hand and gestured for them to leave.

“Alright, just take your stuff and go.”

"…Huh? Is he serious?" Olivia asked.

"He's trying to pull one over us. He's got to be!" Sarah snapped.

The Guardian shut them both up with a stern look. “Do you two want to fight me?”

After a pause, both girls shook their heads.

“Then shut up and go.”

They didn’t wait for him to tell them a third time. They swiped up their filters and scurried off, glancing back once to see if Isaac had given chase. He hadn’t, and he was not planning on doing so. Fighting opponents who didn’t have the stomach for it disinterested a “battle junkie” like himself. He also still hadn’t gotten used to the ideas of fighting girls yet. Even during the Battle Royale, he pulled some of his punches when they swung against a female student. Isaac understood that female and male cultivators were essentially the same so far as potential was concerned, but it would take some time for the idea to fully marinate.

Besides, they had genuinely helped him resolve several issues he was having whether they knew so or not. Letting them go was, in his eyes, a show of gratitude.

“Anyway, how full’s my filter?”

Isaac looked over at it. His eyed widened when he saw it was filled to the brim with chi. The girls didn’t have this much in their filters, and Isaac’s cultivation meter was only half full before they attacked him, so why had he produced so much?

“…Is it because I went so many days without doing this?”

Isaac had yet to do a single cycle since he arrived in this reality, during which he mostly spent his nights fighting geists. His chakras must have been full of unfiltered chi until recently. It seemed he would not have to worry about doing cycles again for a while.

This only left his business with the Way of Mastery. Isaac pulled out his phone and opened the app. He could read the instructions of the technique clearly now and could begin practicing whenever. But not today. The time on Isaac's phone and the sun dipping down below the treetops convinced him to head home before it got too late. His aunt might have given the Guardian carte blanche to return home whenever he liked, but Isaac felt he had outdoors for one Saturday.

He spared the totem pole a fleeting glance as he left with his filter in hand. He only made two stops on his way home; both grocery stores. The first didn’t have his aunt’s favorite coffee brew.