Outlaw Training/Pt 6. - Why Am I Him

Clover Kingdom / Diamond Border (Hidden Safehouse): October 6th, 1011.

It was a ugly day for the world. The underground chambers beneath outlaw city louder than usual with the sounds of training, gambling, drunken arguments and men trying to convince themselves that survival counted as progress, yet if you were to look closely beneath the lowest floor. To be more specific, inside of a wide hidden chamber full of cracked stone, broken weapon racks and enough lingering mana to make the air feel heavy. You could see a shirtless 11 year old boy standing in the middle of a glowing dice board with a black magenta grimorie floating open at his side, his body far more toned and dangerous than it had any right to be at his age, pink slitted eyes full of sharp calculation and the kind of ugly grin that only appeared whenever he was about to ruin someone's entire day.

The atmosphere ominous.

(David's POV)

[STATUS]

[Name: David Swallow]

[Race: Human]

[Gender: Male]

[Age: 11]

[Titles: [Useless Shit], [Devil of Clover Kingdom Border], [Master of Black Die Syndicate], [Mate of Nyx Nocturne], [Church Ruin Survivor], [Loaded Fate Bearer], [Luck Twister]

[Strength: 133.8]

[Agility: 121.4]

[Vitality: 88.7]

[Mana: 317.9]

[Magic: Dice]

[Mana Heart: Seed]

[Perk: Perfect Health]

[Skills: [Etiquette: Master], [Dancing: Advanced], [Pickaxemanship: Elementary], [Archery: Grandmaster], [Adaptability: Grandmaster], [Swordsmanship: Grandmaster], [Mana Skin: Grandmaster], [Mana Meditation: Grandmaster], [Acting: Master], [Mana Zone: Master], [Observation Haki: Intermediate], [Stealth: Advanced], [Body Conditioning: Grandmaster], [Pain Tolerance: Master], [Tactical Thinking: Master]

[Spells: [Dice Magic: Dice Shot: Grandmaster], [Dice Magic: Gambler's Fallacy: Grandmaster], [Dice Magic: Fate Reading: Grandmaster], [Dice Magic: Loaded Fate: Master], [Dice Magic: Critical Roll: Master], [Dice Magic: Weighted Roll: Advanced], [Dice Magic: Lucky Break: Intermediate], [Dice Creation Magic: Carriage of Probabilities: Master], [Dice Creation Magic: Swords of Possibilities: Master], [Dice Creation Magic: Board of Fate & Luck: Master], [Dice Creation Magic: World of Fortune: Advanced], [Dice Creation Magic: Fortune Step: Advanced], [Dice Creation Magic: The Joker: Intermediate]

[Storage: [Mana Crystal: 84], [Money: 96,731], [Mana Slime: 243], [Dead Body: 2,479], [Mana Wyvern: 55], [Mana Bomb: 1], [Route Ledger: 1], [Bounty Tokens: 6], [Locked First Dice: 1]

"Tch…the result. 5 months of secluded training and this is the result." I said, clicking my teeth with a sigh as my eyes scanned over the status screen.

"I wonder why it's not working. I should try again and if my hypothesis is correct then I might be able to obtain a mana heart and become stronger" I thought while dismissing my status screen and closing my eyes and concentrating my mana.

I slowly inhaled through my nose and exhaled out through my mouth as I stood in the middle of the glowing board with my eyes closed and my hands hanging at my sides and thought with a ugly look on my face "Calm. Compress. Rotate. Force it down. If mana can be made denser, circulated harder and fixed at one point repeatedly then it should eventually stop behaving like scattered energy and start behaving like a actual core"

The chamber went completely silent.

Only the sound of the board humming under my bare feet and the faint turning of my grimorie's pages being heard.

I started pulling more mana out from inside my body and through my veins. It Immediately felt like hot liquid glass moving through my insides and thought while keeping my breathing even "Good. This is the part where it usually starts feeling like my chest is being chewed from the inside"

My mana started circulating faster.

Then even faster. Then faster than that.

The glowing board beneath me brightened, the numbered panels spinning and shifting while the symbols that I had drawn into the stone with chalk and my own blood started lighting up one by one around the outer circle.

I gritted my teeth and said softly "Loaded fate."

My grimorie flipped open wider.

The locked first dice inside of my storage had been on 6 for five months and because of that the mana inside my body always carried that slight loaded heaviness now when I reached for attack spells. Not permanent enough to make me some god, but stable enough to abuse if I pushed it hard enough and stupidly enough.

Which I was.

Very much.

A black magenta 6 slowly formed above my head and sank into my chest like a burning brand.

*BOOOOM*

My whole body trembled.

Pain spread through my ribs, my spine, my shoulders and my stomach and I thought with a twitching eyebrow "Yep. There it is. This lovely feeling of my body trying to remind me that I'm still just a eleven year old with a freakish amount of bad decision making"

I didn't stop. I forced more mana inward.

Not outward like a spell.

Inward.

Down.

Deeper.

Compressing it into the center of my chest while picturing a sphere. A chamber. A second heart. A place where mana would stop being loose and start being mine in a more absolute way.

My grimorie's pages started turning faster.

The board beneath my feet let out a low hum.

Sweat rolled down my neck and back.

My breathing became rough.

I could feel mana building and building in my chest like a storm being shoved into a bottle too small to hold it.

"Come on. Compress already you useless shit." I whispered softly through gritted teeth.

The mana in my chest suddenly folded inward.

I felt it.

A center.

A point.

A pulse that wasn't my real heart.

My eyes shot open.

"Yes." I said with a sudden ugly grin.

Or so I thought.

*BOOOOOM*

I was launched backwards hard enough to slam into the cracked chamber wall.

*BAAAAM*

I coughed loudly and slid down it to the floor with blood running from the corner of my mouth and stared blankly at the ceiling while saying softly "Wonderful. Just fucking fat ass, great."

The glowing board beneath me flickered wildly and started disappearing into mana particles.

My grimorie floated down slightly and hovered over me like it was personally disappointed in how stupid I was.

*SPLAT*

I spat blood on the floor and thought with dead eyes "I was close. Very close. Which only makes this more irritating"

I slowly dragged myself up with one hand on the wall and one over my chest and felt my heartbeat racing far too hard.

Fast.

Heavy.

Alive.

Still only one heart.

I clicked my teeth loudly and pushed myself off the wall while wiping the blood from my mouth with the back of my hand and thought "So the theory works but my body isn't stable enough to hold the compression for more than a second. That means the problem isn't the method. It's the vessel"

I looked down at my chest.

Then at my arms.

Then at the status screen still floating in front of me and said calmly "Status."

[STATUS]

[Name: David Swallow]

[Race: Human]

[Gender: Male]

[Age: 11]

[Titles: [Useless Shit], [Devil of Clover Kingdom Border], [Master of Black Die Syndicate], [Mate of Nyx Nocturne], [Church Ruin Survivor], [Loaded Fate Bearer], [Luck Twister]

[Strength: 133.8]

[Agility: 121.4]

[Vitality: 88.7]

[Mana: 317.9]

[Magic: Dice]

[Mana Heart: Seed]

[Perk: Perfect Health]

[Storage: [Mana Crystal: 84], [Money: 96,731], [Mana Slime: 243], [Dead Body: 2,479], [Mana Wyvern: 55], [Mana Bomb: 1], [Route Ledger: 1], [Bounty Tokens: 6], [Locked First Dice: 1]

I stared at my vitality. Then at my mana.

Then back at the blood on the floor and thought with a pondering look on my face "Still too low. Or rather not too low but not high enough for what I'm trying to do. My body can take loaded fate, mana skin, zone, board control and high compression individually but trying to force all of that inward at once is basically me attempting to shove a second sun into a flesh chest that still technically belongs to a preteen"

I rubbed my smooth chin slowly and started pacing around the chamber with my grimorie floating beside me while thinking harder.

The problem with being smart was that my best ideas tended to also be my worst ones.

A mana heart. A second center.

A artificial core built through my own magic and body conditioning instead of waiting on age, destiny or whatever other bullshit this world expected from people before granting them greater power.

It should have worked.

No.

It did work.

For one second.

That one second was all the confirmation I needed.

I stopped pacing and my eyes widened slightly and thought with the left side of my lip curling up "No. The vessel isn't the only issue. The board"

I looked down at the cracked floor.

At the outer numbers.

At the six point structure I had been using to stabilize the compression.

Then I slowly started grinning.

Ugly.

Hungry.

"I've been using world of fortune wrong." I said softly to myself.

The chamber was completely silent.

I held my right hand out and a single black magenta dice appeared above it and started rotating slowly.

"World of fortune isn't just battlefield control. It's probability territory. Forced conditions. Biased movement. Weighted outcomes. Which means if I build the board smaller…much smaller…and place it not under me but inside the mana circulation itself…" I said with widening eyes as the realization started clicking harder and harder into place inside my head.

I slowly looked down at my chest.

Then started laughing underneath my breath.

Not because anything was funny.

Because this was such a stupid idea that it had a chance of working.

"Yes. That's disgusting. That's absolutely disgusting. A internal board. A six panel compression route. Every circulation forced through loaded probabilities until the mana stops resisting formation and starts obeying structure" I said with a ugly grin spreading wider across my face.

My heart started beating harder again.

Not from fear.

Excitement.

This was it.

Maybe not the completion.

But the next step.

I crouched down and grabbed a broken piece of chalk and started drawing again on the floor. Smaller this time. Tighter. More precise. Six interlocked rings instead of one giant circle. Arrows between them. A center point marked with a magenta X and six tiny dice faces drawn around it.

My grimorie floated lower as if watching me work and I thought with a twitching smile "If this works then I won't just be compressing mana. I'll be teaching it how to move through me in a fixed winning pattern"

I stood back up.

Looked at the new formation.

Then at the cracked wall I had been blasted into.

Then back at the formation.

My expression slowly flattened.

"Well. Before I do this and possibly blow my own chest open from the inside, I should probably account for failure." I said honestly with a sigh.

I opened my storage.

A mana crystal dropped into my hand.

Then another.

Three total.

I set them at the outer points of the circle and said calmly "If I start collapsing again I'll rupture these through gamblers fallacy and let the external mana flood reinforce the pattern. If that still doesn't work then I will most likely wake up later bandaged, irritated and being stared at by that annoying flat bitch."

I was completely silent for a moment and clicked my teeth while saying "Actually that's enough reason to not fail."

I rolled my shoulders again. Spat the last bit of blood from my mouth.

*Splat*

And stepped back into the center of the new circle.

The grimorie floated open. The pages turned on their own.

The mana lamps around the chamber flickered from the pressure starting to build again and I thought with a ugly looking smile on my face "One more attempt. If I fail again then I go up top, heal, revise the pattern, then try again until my body finally gives up and adapts out of sheer hatred"

I inhaled deeply.

Then exhaled slowly.

"Loaded fate." I said calmly.

The six formed again and sank into my chest.

This time I immediately followed it.

"World of fortune." I whispered softly.

The circle beneath my feet lit up.

But instead of expanding outward over the whole chamber, the light compressed inward. The six rings around the center rotated. My mana responded.

Good.

Very good.

It was following.

I closed my eyes and started forcing the circulation through the six inner routes one by one.

Panel 1.

Compression.

Panel 2.

Rotation.

Panel 3.

Pressure.

Panel 4.

Stabilization.

Panel 5.

Recirculation.

Panel 6.

Convergence.

The pain hit instantly.

My knees nearly buckled.

I felt like my chest had been hooked from the inside and was being twisted by a giant hand but I didn't stop.

No. I pushed harder.

Sweat poured down my whole body.

My teeth were clenched so hard my jaw hurt.

The glowing symbols moved under my skin.

I could feel it again.

That second pulse. That false heart.

But this time instead of collapsing Immediately, it lingered.

One second.

Two.

Three.

My eyes shot open.

"Yes." I said with a shaking voice.

The center point in my chest pulsed again.

My vision blurred.

The mana crystals around the circle cracked.

The floor trembled.

Blood ran from my nose.

I smiled wider.

Ugly.

Victorious.

Then all six internal routes suddenly overloaded at once.

*BOOOOOOOOM*

The whole chamber exploded with black magenta mana.

I was launched upward, slammed into the broken chandelier somebody had dragged underground months ago and crashed back onto the glowing board in a shower of dust, stone and shattered metal.

*BAAAAM*

I laid there on my back for a long moment completely silent.

The chamber hummed.

My ears rang.

My chest hurt.

Everything hurt.

I slowly lifted one trembling hand and pressed it over the center of my chest.

Then froze.

There it was.

Faint.

Small.

Unstable as all hell.

But there.

A second pulse.

Weak.

Imperfect.

Hungry.

My eyes widened.

I started laughing.

Loudly.

Madly.

Alone in the underground chamber like a insane little bastard who had just broken something in the rules of the world and enjoyed it.

"Hahaha…hahaha…you filthy beautiful piece of shit. It worked. It's ugly. It's tiny an unstable but it actually worked." I said breathlessly to my own body while still laughing.

I slowly sat up, my whole body trembling and immediately summoned my status screen with wide crazed eyes.

[DING!]

[STATUS]

[Name: David Swallow]

[Race: Human]

[Gender: Male]

[Age: 11]

[Titles: [Useless Shit], [Devil of Clover Kingdom Border], [Master of Black Die Syndicate], [Mate of Nyx Nocturne], [Church Ruin Survivor], [Loaded Fate Bearer], [Luck Twister], [Mana Heart Seed Bearer]

[Strength: 134.2]

[Agility: 121.9]

[Vitality: 89.1]

[Mana: 329.8]

[Magic: Dice]

[Mana Heart: Seed]

[Perk: Perfect Health]

[Storage: [Mana Crystal: 84], [Money: 96,731], [Mana Slime: 243], [Dead Body: 2,479], [Mana Wyvern: 55], [Mana Bomb: 1], [Route Ledger: 1], [Bounty Tokens: 6], [Locked First Dice: 1]

I stared at the new title.

Then at the new skill.

Then at the slight rise in mana.

And let out a slow breath through my nose while thinking with a ugly look in my eyes "So this isn't a completed mana heart. It's a seed. Good. Fine. I can work with that. Seed means growth. Growth means progress. Progress means one day I can shove this old undead saint killing problem straight into ariella's fat chest with interest"

I slowly got to my feet.

My legs shaky.

My body aching.

Blood still running from my nose.

And my grin very wide.

For five whole months I had sharpened spells.

Strengthened my body.

Built resources.

Studied routes.

Grown my syndicate.

But now.

Now I had done something that actually mattered.

Something mine.

Not inherited.

Not given.

Built.

I looked down at the destroyed chamber and thought with a satisfied sigh "Benjamin is going to be pissed"

The thought made me chuckle.

Then my chest pulsed again.

Not painfully.

Just enough to remind me that it was there.

I put my hand over it and smiled.

Ugly.

Possessive.

"I see you. Good. Stay there and grow. Because the next time I fight a monster, I want to bite harder and be even more perverted to hold my own and not fold like some pussy." I said softly to myself.

The mana lamps overhead flickered again.

My grimorie floated shut at my side.

And standing alone in the ruined chamber with a half born mana heart seed beating inside my chest and enough terrible ideas for the future to count as a religion, I finally felt the next wall in front of me.

Good. Walls existed to be broken.

I started walking toward the stairs with blood still on my face and the world's worst grin on my mouth while thinking only one thing "I need more mana crystals, a stronger body, and a way to stabilize the seed before I accidentally die from my own brilliance"

I clicked my teeth and said with a sigh "And I need to hide this from that annoying bitch before she says something unbearable."

(Nyx's POV)

"ACHOO…" Said nyx sneezing loudly.

The chamber was absolutely silent.

Nyx stood still.

Not because she wanted to.

Because the bastard in front of her had told her not to move, and something about the way he said it made her listen just long enough to regret it.

Jarred took a slow sip from his bottle.

Then another.

Then looked her up and down with a expression that slowly turned into disappointment.

Nyx's eyebrow twitched.

"…What." Asked nyx flatly.

Jarred let out a long sigh through his nose and said like he had just been personally disrespected by her existence "You fight like a pretty knife somebody never bothered to sharpen properly."

Nyx stared at him.

The chamber went quiet.

"…I'm going to kill you." Said nyx calmly with a scary look in her eyes.

Jarred raised his hand lazily and pointed at her shoulder without even looking at it "Too much tension there. You flare before you move. Anyone with eyes sees it coming."

Nyx froze. Just for a second.

Jarred's finger shifted slightly.

"Your hips lag behind your upper body. You overcommit your claws. You don't guard your blind side because you trust your speed too much." He continued casually, like he was listing groceries.

Nyx's tail stilled.

Her eyes narrowed.

Jarred finally looked at her directly and said "Your breathing is uneven. Your stance is reactive, not controlled. And your instincts are good…but you don't know why they're good, so you can't fix them when they're bad."

The silence stretched. Nyx slowly smiled.

Sharp.

Dangerous.

"Oh…so you woke up today and decided to die drunk." She said softly.

Jarred grinned. Wide. Unbothered.

"I woke up today and realized nobody here taught you how to actually fight." Said jarred with a shrug.

That hit.

Not hard.

But enough.

Nyx clicked her teeth and rolled her shoulders "I fight just fine. I was killing people before I met you."

Jarred snorted.

"Yeah. And you'll keep killing trash. Then you'll run into someone who knows what they're doing and they'll fold you like laundry again." Said jarred bluntly.

Nyx's ears twitched.

A memory flashed.

A hand around her throat.

A column breaking behind her.

Her smile faded.

Just slightly.

Jarred saw it.

Of course he did.

"Good. That means you remember what losing feels like." Said jarred said while setting the bottle down on a crate with a dull thunk.

The chamber felt heavier.

Nyx crossed her arms and said with a annoyed look on her face "So what. You're going to lecture me into becoming better."

Jarred stepped forward and said calmly "No. I'm going to show you why you're bad."

Nyx's grin came back instantly.

There it was.

"Finally. Something fun." She said.

Jarred lifted one finger and sajd "Don't blink."

Nyx's eyes narrowed.

He didn't move.

Not at first.

Suddenly.

He was in front of her.

No build up.

No warning.

Just there.

Nyx's body reacted instantly, claws snapping up toward his throat.

^THK*

Her wrist stopped mid-air.

Jarred's fingers lightly pressed against it.

Not gripping.

Not forcing.

Just…there.

Nyx's eyes widened and said with a agape mouth "What…"

His other hand tapped her ribs.

Light.

Precise.

"Dead." Said jarred calmly.

Nyx froze.

Her breath caught.

Jarred stepped back like nothing had happened and picked his bottle back up.

Nyx slowly lowered her arm.

Her heart was beating faster.

Not from fear.

From irritation.

"…You didn't even use magic." She said.

Jarred shrugged and said "Didn't need to."

Nyx's tail lashed once.

Hard.

"Again." She said plain and simply.

Jarred smiled.

That same stupid, confident, irritating smile.

"Good. Now you're listening." He said.

Nyx moved first this time.

Faster.

Sharper.

Her claws cut through the air toward his face.

He shifted.

Barely.

Her attack missed by inches.

His foot tapped behind her ankle.

Her balance broke.

*THUD*

She hit the ground.

Hard.

The chamber echoed.

Nyx laid there for a second.

Then growled.

Jarred looked down at her and said casually "Your problem isn't speed. It's that you think speed is enough."

Nyx pushed herself up slowly.

Dust on her skin.

Blood faintly on her lip.

Her grin returned.

But it was different now.

Less playful.

More focused.

"Again." She said.

Jarred nodded once.

They moved.

Faster this time.

Nyx adjusted her stance.

Lower.

More controlled.

Her claws came in from a different angles

Jarred blocked. But this time.

*SCRATCH*

A shallow cut appeared on his sleeve.

He looked at it.

Then at her.

"There it is." Said jarred with a smile.

Nyx's eyes gleamed and said "Shut up and keep teaching."

Jarred laughed.

Picked up his bottle.

And stepped back into position.

Above them, the underground city roared on like nothing had changed.

But in that cracked chamber, between insults, bruises and a very drunk teacher who refused to die, Nyx nocturne finally started learning how to fight like something that wouldn't get caught twice.

And for once.

She wasn't joking.

THE END…

Chapter 18 - Outlaw Training/Pt 6.