Chapter 18: Welcome to i9

After Pneuma gave Trint an hour to test his Beta form, Pneuma told him to head to the city. It was a boring run other than skirting around other high-level instances and people. As he got closer to the city, he stopped trying to avoid people and entered the crowds, expecting to be stopped or confronted.

Without much in the way of distractions or obstacles, Trint made it to the pool of ascension to get to i9.After he ate a fresh meal and Pneuma made the necessary system purchases, they were ready to move up.The plan was to get on his feet fast and try to exit the civilized area without getting detained.But first, he equipped his new weapon. A different style of i9 sword, he would have to inspect later.He checked the other supplies that Pneuma got.He liked the food and saw some potions he knew would keep him topped off in battle.He had bought some basic supplies himself in the city. But Pneuma told him what was worth getting in this iteration, what he would buy for Trint, and what they should wait for in future iterations.

Trint’s initial concerns were unfounded. Few even approached, and none harassed Trint now that he was at a higher level. Many people had a skill like [Analyze], and Pneuma said they could only see his level.Pneuma had blocked all other information. There were few as strong as Trint in i10, based on level alone. No one stuck around long after they could level, especially when it took them proportionally longer and they only had 400 days to get through the iteration—no time to mess around or wait.

After confirming he was ready with Pneuma, Trint stepped into the whirling pool. This pool was many times larger and more people were ascending simultaneously. The same thing that would help him avoid issues upon arriving in i9 was the increased number of people ascending and combining cities into fewer but larger centers of civilization. The more ascenders that arrived at the same time as him, the better his chances of going unnoticed.

The ascension was nearly identical to the last. The only differences were the amount of Spirit drawn out of Trint and the size of the arrival pool. All the rest started the same.

When Trint landed in the i9 pool, he fell to his knees in the shallow water at the pool’s edge.He was supposed to be empty of Spirit, and he was, but something shifted in his chest.He felt a hungry void start spinning in his chest.It was like the white stone had turned black inside him and was spinning in his Spirit.The stone void began pulling like an invisible tornado with Trint at the center.If any could sense Spirit, they immediately felt the density near them decrease.It was hard for most to place what was happening, but for miles around this ascension pool, an unseen and unfelt wind blew, headed straight towards and into Trint.

Like a train that got going too fast, Trint was unable to slow down the pull of Spirit.He felt his energy level return to normal in the first few seconds, but quickly after, there was an infusion of energy into his whole body.It was like the gravity increased, and Trint went from upright on his knees to his hands splashing down in front of him and his head hanging low.It was all he could do to not fall straight into the water.Quickly though, the gravity increased but at the same time, a strength, Trint could feel flooded him.He knew he was stronger and more than he had been in i10.He felt the spiritual winds buffet him, and although the gravity and spiritual wind were strong, he became a strong tree amid this storm.

The forces swirling did not stop, but Trint rose to his feet. Everyone was now looking right at him. Not all knew what was happening, but the few who did were wide-eyed. Some pointing, and all the rest looked to see what they could not see or sense.

‘Trint, Trint, can you hear me?’ Pneuma yelled above the sound of the wind.

‘Yes, Pneuma, what is going on?’ Trint questioned, feeling equal parts scared and powerful. Something was going on.

‘I don’t know,’ Pneuma admitted, “But it would be best if you started moving. You’ve already drawn the attention of everyone here and likely some who would be trouble if they sensed you drawing all the local Spirit.’ Pneuma’s concern was bleeding through his words.

Trint took a few steps as the crowd watched him. One step out of the pool and an explosion of Spirit blasted outward, with Trint at the epicenter. Even those who didn’t earlier feel the pressure felt it now. It was physically felt and mentally hit like a hammer. Many collapsed and were knocked out as they hit the ground. There were only two people not lying down after the wave passed them. They were wobbling, and one fell to his knees.

‘What are you?’ The older woman still standing looking at Trint asked, in awe and amazement. Trint looked around and then toward the questioning woman. He saw her level. She was nearly max-level for this iteration at level 30. Nine levels above Trint, but she was seeing something new and unique.

’Now, it’s really time to go, Trint!’ Pneuma warned.

After the shockwave and the crowd of people collapsing, the winds and storm of Spirit had settled. Trint could still feel the massive increase in the entirety of him. His body felt more, his thoughts were more precise than ever, and he felt something new. He had run a mile away from the center of his recent public spirit bomb. That only took moments, but now he slowed down to match the crowd. There were still some looking back the way he came, and he heard conversations discussing what some had just felt. But no one was paying attention to him specifically.

Trint was trying to get through the crowds but was also distracted by the changes he felt. The new thing he was feeling was coming from the place in the center of his chest where the stone had entered at his adoption. He looked down, not with his eyes but with a new sense. He immediately stopped walking as his sight shifted from physical light to a blinding glow from his chest. His new view adjusted, and he could see a small grape size sphere in his chest and what seemed like circuits pulsing out from it into his body. They were like blood vessels supplying the golden light to the rest of his body. But this was no circulatory system he had ever seen. The lines were more angular and had sharp turns, like actual electrical circuits in a computer chip. Nature didn’t usually use straight lines, and this was almost all straight lines and angles. He looked away from his chest and saw the same lines in his limbs. Then he looked outward and saw a grid forming a cage around himself. The grid stretched to about 10 feet around him and was connected into a honeycombed pattern but reached in an approximation of a sphere around him, even beneath the ground.

‘Trint, I know you are wondering what is going on.’ Pneuma calmly stated. ‘I have some answers, but some of this is new to even me. But right now, you need to breathe and keep moving.’

Trint hadn’t realized he had stopped breathing. He took a deep breath, and as he did, he saw a current of golden light suffuse his new circuitry. The grid outside his body contracted and closed toward him, stopping an inch from his skin.

‘That is the best I can do at the moment.’ Pneuma said. ‘I can’t fully pull your Spirit in. But at least it won’t be bumping into anyone else. The time for subtlety is gone, I suppose. So hurry and get us out of the city.’

Trint began moving more quickly and found jumping onto the top of buildings was much quicker than walking in the crowded streets.His new stats and strength made jumps across buildings, not an issue.He did cause some damage with the force of his jump and some when he landed.But he refined that too and found just the right amount of pressure needed to match his strength.He was also aware that the increases in his Mind stats like Adaptability were helping with the adjustments.And Wisdom was helping process the stimulus of his spiritual sense.He tried extending the sense; like flexing a muscle at a gym, he felt tension.Then there was a pop, not like a tearing of muscle but like a seal breaking.Suddenly, Trint felt and saw everything for 1000 feet around him in every direction. He was in the air, mid-jump across a 30-foot gap between rooftops, moving at about 30 miles an hour.His senses were bombarded but again, his Spirit and Mind adjusted, and his Body stats compensated for his distraction, and he landed safely and continued.It took him another hour to get to the outskirts of the city.It was truly massive compared to where he had come from.He was beginning to wonder what the higher iterations held.

‘First, I need to figure out what is going on with my Spirit.’ Trint thought.

‘Trint, you will be alright.’ Pneuma reassured. ‘For now, find us another instance at around level 22 to 24.’

An hour later, Trint was still looking for his next challenge. In a level 23 instance, far enough away, he could be separated from other people. He’d seen a few people in the last 15 minutes. The density of people was much higher, and evidence of that was the people he kept passing in the area. Trint had been splitting his attention in the previous hour, running and thinking through the changes since arriving in i9. Pneuma remained silent. So left to himself, Trint began testing things, flexing his spiritual perception, trying to shape and extend it, and then trying to isolate the sense to a single thing. He even risked projecting it toward a person he skirted around. He wasn’t sure if they stopped and stared at him as he passed because they sensed his probing perception or if they were showing caution and waiting for him to pass.

Besides Spiritual perception, Trint pushed his body and noted a similar cost in Stamina but a marked increase in power. It wasn’t a straight one-to-one increase in cost for an increase in power.It did not cost as much Stamina to utilize this increased power. After some more experimentation, Trint tried to use the spiritual energy he absorbed.That part of him felt full, stuffed like he ate a Thanksgiving meal meant for the whole family, all by himself. To the point of feeling uncomfortable.Something in Trint approached this strange situation like a puzzle to solve.His intuition was telling him he needed to try something.He didn’t know what it was.Just that he needed it, it was a draw to him, like the need for water after a hot day.

As the landscape transitioned from city to forest and on to plains, Trint thought about this and decided it was a puzzle of Spirit.Only because the draw to him wasn’t mental but felt inside him. Intangible but not mental.His mind only told him he needed to unravel something here.His mind split focus between traveling and viewing his internal system of circuits connected to his core.

‘So, is this my core?’ Trint pondered. But Pneuma remained silent.

‘Ok, well, I don’t know what it is, but it does seem to be the center of these lines.Like a central repository for Spiritual power that probably distributes that power or energy to the rest of my Spirit system.’ Trint continued to think this through while he poked and prodded his internal structure with the equivalent of a spiritual finger.

‘Pneuma, help me find a cave or something I can safely sit and work on something in my Spirit.’ Trint pleaded.The need to do something only increased.Pneuma helped guide him toward a place he could rest and think.There was a cave entrance about two feet wide that, from the outside, looked like a rock crevice in a stone hill. It was scattered among other similar rocks around the area. Pneuma and Trint could use their Spirit senses to see that a more prominent space opened up past the first 10 feet of the crack.Trint wiggled his way in, and although it was dark, his Spirit sense allowed him plenty of detail to move through the crack and into the open space. There was a solid rock floor he found after he went through another 20 feet of the gap, forming a tunnel 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide.There was room to get by, but he had to squeeze in a few narrower spots.He finally found the tunnel opened up into a little hollow bowl shape.There was water at the bottom, forming a pool.Trint decided this would be ideal as he didn’t know if he could wait any longer.

‘Pneuma, can you give me some time to work through some things. I can’t help but think something is happening in my Spirit.’ Trint asked. ‘Have you been watching when I was poking around?’

‘Yes, Trint.’ Pneuma agreed. ‘I have seen your Spirit, and your system is not normal. I don’t know what to make of the organization of the channels. They don’t seem organic. They don’t flow like I’m used to seeing. Whatever happened upon arriving in i9, somehow, your Spirit was catalyzed and jumpstarted early. But I don’t know why everything inside you is different. I don’t know what it means. I will have to trust your instincts and let you figure it out.’

Pneuma continued, ‘If you think you can figure something out, I will watch and, if necessary, offer advice,’ Pneuma hoped Trint was right, and his intuition was not misguided.‘I was never told you would have such a unique internal system.I will trust your instincts here and hope you don’t cause any lasting damage. Take the time you need. Completely immersing yourself and focusing while in your Spirit is like a meditation with a focus.You don’t clear your mind like your world’s mediation and yoga. You command the focus and shape it to harness your Spirit.That is the beginning of mediation and cultivation.’

Pneuma wasn’t done sharing his lack of understanding, ‘How you can do that already, even this much, is beyond me. Those advanced enough or strong enough Spirit can stay cultivating for long periods. With enough focus, that time can also flow faster in your Spirit than the flow of time outside in the real world. I will look out for your body while you try whatever you are hoping to accomplish. I had wanted to wait for Spirit training till I could get you a trainer in i7, then you go and do this!’ Pneuma was not mad, but he had become flummoxed.