Rose woke up early, knocking Junior out of the bed with a dull thud.

  He groaned, cradling his head in his hands.

  The two squabbled briefly. Thankfully, it was earlier in the morning, so neither had the energy for one of their usual screaming matches.

  “Where’s Grind?” Rose asked. “He came home yesterday, didn’t he?”

  “How should I know?” Junior grumbled. “Until recently, I’ve been asleep.”

  Rose ignored her brother, glancing around the apartment. Axel had moved Sern to a corner close to the door. The two of them slept like corpses, neither moving nor breathing.

  As Rose turned, she spotted a figure in the middle of the yard outside, meditating.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  She tied her black hair into a bun, made sure her white dress was all in order, and rushed out of the house.

  “GRIND!” Rose called. “Didn’t you get any sleep last night?!”

  “Eh?” I asked, opening one eye.

  Last night I hadn’t felt like sleeping, and there was a reasonably sized lot right by the apartment, filled with garbage. It was perfect.

  “I got all the sleep I needed,” I said.

  “Don’t give me that,” Rose groaned. “Your cheeks are sunken and there’s bags under your eyes. You didn’t eat anything poisonous, did you?”

  “No, no, nothing like that,” I sighed. “I’ve just been keeping busy.”

  She glanced around the lot. “With what?”

  “Practice.”

  I gestured toward one of the cans, before activating an internal command.

  Crush.

  The command system activated, and the can crushed upon itself.

  Rose frowned, noticing all the other crumpled pieces of garbage by our feet. “Why?”

  “We’ve got a busy day today,” I said. “For your sake, I can’t afford to fail.”

  If I got Union backing, they’d keep my party safe.

  Without them…what chance did I really have, taking care of four monsters in a city full of people far stronger than I am.

  There was a sharp pop as the can snapped back into shape.

  Sometimes, I used too much force, or the can was too worn, in which case the whole thing would fall apart.

  “It looks fine to me,” Rose said. “Grind, I already know you’re going to win.”

  “Thanks Rose.”

  “But even heroes need rest, don’t they?”

  “If they can afford it,” I sighed.

  Pierce.

  This command was a little tricky, since I had to concentrate my mental energy to a very small point, about the size of a gumball, and then shoot it through the can. But mental energy is more like a wave than a single point. If I wanted to sharpen my attack I needed to be closer or to use additional mental energy spiraling around the blast, honing its shape. Ideally, I’d use both.

  This was only step one. Second, I’d also use mental energy to reinforce the area around the can, mimicking an opponent resisting.

  While sharpening my focus was intuitive, splitting it in half, and then giving those halves two separate tasks took an excruciating amount of effort.

  But it was good for practice.

  Right now, I could only stall the mental energy, handling each part individually.

  I made a mock gun with my hands. “Pew.”

  The mental energy detonated, leaving behind a perfect circular hole through either end.

  “See?” Rose asked. “If you aimed that at a player you’d win instantly.”

  “No,” I said. “Players resist commands. The higher their rank, the exponentially more they resist commands. For instance, the union attendant from yesterday was Copper. A simple mental defense from her almost entirely countered my powers.”

  I dropped my head into my hands.

  “‘A party trick.’ I’m better off just using my shovel.”

  The mental energy thing in the second area felt like a quality of life improvement more than a combat feature. Here, even the weakest people had telekinesis on steroids.

  No wonder so many players lived here.

  I stretched my only arm, taking short, deep breaths. Whenever I ran out of mental energy, I closed my eyes and spent a moment in rest.

  “What else can you do?” Rose asked.

  As she spoke, I gathered mental power into my fist, aimed toward her.

  A breeze fluttered around her hair, blowing it into the style she liked to wear.

  Rose blinked. “Can you really control anything?”

  “If it's really close and nobody else is trying to, then yeah,” I said. “But I can’t mentally target myself. I don’t know if that’s a skill issue or an inherent limitation, but I mean I won’t be flying anytime soon.”

  “This seems like such a practical ability,” Rose said. “You don’t have to use it for combat.”

  “I do,” I sighed. “I don’t have much else I can use.”

  Rose suddenly knelt down next to me, placing a warm hand on my shoulder.

  “Hey, we’re going to be alright. Don’t stress so much, Sir.”

  She smiled. “I assume you’ll be skipping breakfast?”

  “That was the plan,” I admitted.

  “Fat chance. I’ll bring it outside.”

  That morning, I had purple eggs and green stalks that tasted something like garlic, asparagus, and chives.

  None of it tasted good by any means. All the same, breakfast was good that day.

  After more hours spent testing different ideas, I started repeating the same basic movements over and over again, honing my abilities.

  The most important of these was a simple push.

  I would concentrate onto a point the size of my fist, and then put as much mental power into it as I could manage.

  Break.

  Flakes of stone dropped from the cement brick.

  I repeated this simple technique about a hundred times, until I’d worn a small dot into one side.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Unfortunately, everything about the power was exponential. If I wanted to put more force behind it, I’d have to put much, much more energy into it.

  Finally, after more than thirteen hours of straight practice, I collapsed.

  [Mental-type Exhaustion XVII : (20:00)]

  Unlike physical movement, which required sleep to be removed, mental fatigue was something that could be easily refilled. But each time it was refilled, the refill took longer, until you’re too tired to collect yourself back together again.

  It also escalated much faster. I went from Exhaustion one to seventeen in a matter of thirty minutes. By the time training was over, I felt dizzy and my thinking had slown to a sickly crawl.

  I opened the door, plopping down on a chair.

  “Hi Grind,” Junior said, waving from next to Axel, where the two of them were playing checkers.

  “Hey Junior,” I said, smiling wide. “Having fun?”

  Junior nodded. “Axel’s a big cheater though.”

  “Axxxeell.”

  “You are too.” Junior paused. “Hey Grind, think you could teach me some of that magic stuff you were doing?”

  When he looked back at me, I was already asleep.

  Junior rolled his eyes.

  Someone tapped me on the nose, and my eyes snapped open.

  Rose had a plate of food held out toward me.

  “Eat up!”

  “...Thank you,” I said, with a nod. “What is this?”

  “Slime meatloaf,” she chirped.

  The amorphous blob of a congealed variegated substance undulated in my direction.

  “Huh.”

  “We’re basically out of food,” Rose grunted. “I’m working with what we’ve got.”

  I took the plate and fork. “Thank you. I’ll run to the grocery store after my exam.”

  She smiled, heading back to the kitchen. “Keep your strength up!”

  And then, Junior was at my side, beaming.

  I raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  I took a couple bites of food.

  “Hey, that’s not half bad,” I mumbled. “A little chewy, but not bad.”

  “Yeah, she went through a lot of effort to make it right,” Junior stated.

  He squinted. “You…can’t take a hint, can you?”

  “No, I’m aware,” I sighed. “Now’s not really the time, though. Hey, I’m going to the store soon,” I said. “You want anything?”

  Junior perked up. “You’ll get us anything?”

  “Within reason.”.

  “How about candy?” He giggled. “Something with a lot of polysaccharides.”

  “Sugar?”

  “Yeah.”

  I shook my head. “We’re going to have to stick to nutritional food. The union left us grocery money, but not a whole lot.”

  Junior pouted. “But I’ve never had candy.”

  He made his eyes big and wide.

  “Please?”

  “I’ll…see what I can find. Rose is in charge until I get back.”

  Junior groaned.

  “If you two get in a fight, keep it quiet,” I continued. “The neighbors have started complaining. Oh, and somebody should make sure Sern is up before I go.”

  One of the cupboards opened up, and a pale elf shuffled out with her bright yellow hair in angry snarls.

  She glanced at me, looked up at the clock, and shuffled out of view.

  “I’ll give you maybe ten minutes to get ready, Sern,” I sighed. “But then we have to go. I can’t afford to be late for this.”

  “Grind, you know you can take an exam in a month’s time, right?” Junior asked. “This one isn’t that serious. If it’s stressing you out, can’t you skip it, spend some time with us, and do it later?”

  I shook my head. “It’s not a risk I’m willing to take,”

  In all the lives I’ve lived, never once had I made it past two weeks. Waiting a couple months would be pushing my luck.

  “See you guys soon,” I said.

  Sern and I left the apartment a little while later, making our way through the city.

  There was a massive stadium, a mile high and with a footprint taking up multiple city blocks. That was not the stadium for the exam. That was for the yearly festivals, actually.

  The exam stadium was about the size of a large house. There was a metal disk implanted into the floor, filled with enchantments of a type I couldn’t recognize. Probably something to protect the participants.

  Above the ring, Masters gathered, watching.

  “What’s that doing here?” A man asked, glancing over his shoulder at Sern.

  She ducked around my side, locking eyes on the man.

  “He won’t bother you,” I said.

  She looked up at me, frowned, and pulled her hair over her face.

  The referee—a white haired man with muscles larger than most dogs—stood up straight, tapping a screen behind him, filled with information.

  “Our exam will be simple,” he stated. “I will choose any two people I wish, and they will fight each other. Victory is chosen by halving the health of your opponent, or landing three hits.”

  He scanned the crowd.

  “If a master is impressed by your performance, they will sponsor your studies into becoming a full member of the union, including but not limited to enrollment in the academy, and dungeon licensing. Watch for your names. If you don’t pay attention you will be disqualified.”

  He cleared his throat. “ROUND ONE! Grind vs Madam Lady Death Blitzer!"

  My opponent—an Iron rank woman seven feet tall with skull tattoos and a monster bone nose ring—calmly rose to her feet and stepped into the ring.

  I took a deep breath in, then out.

  I got this.

  “Fight!”

  …

  “I’m home!” I choked out, knocking on the door with my shoe. At first, there wasn’t any sort of a response, but after a few more knocks, Rose cracked it open.

  “Grind—?” Her eyes widened. “You look dreadful.”

  “I got lost in the market,” I admitted. “Also, it’s actually kinda hard to carry groceries with just one hand.”

  Rose’s demeanor melted a little as she took the bags of groceries from my hand. “You’ve been crying haven't you?”

  “A little,” I sighed. “I’m fine now.”

  “Come into the kitchen. I’ll stick your wounds.”

  As she led me and Sern inside, I started explaining.

  “I fought an iron rank in the exam,” I stated. “It was pretty one sided.”

  “No kidding,” Rose said, checking my ribs and suppressing a shudder.

  “Most of the blood’s already dried by now,” I said. “I didn’t take too much damage, since we weren’t allowed to use weapons.”

  I looked down at my tattered clothes. “You know, I think I might’ve broken a leg or something. It makes this weird clicking noise whenever I move.”

  Rose stared. “And you went and bought groceries?”

  “Well Sern helped me, which was nice of her.”

  Sern huffed.

  “People kept giving me the weirdest looks, if you can believe it,” I chuckled.

  “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Rose shouted. “You’re hurt, Grind! Take care of yourself!”

  “I’ll heal it off tomorrow,” I said.

  She threw her hands in the air. “UGH! We’ll…we’ll have to continue this later. If you keep your visitor waiting any longer he’ll get cranky.”

  I frowned. “Who’d be over here? Dexten?”

  Rose rolled her eyes. “I’ll give you a hint. He’s quite a sociable fellow. Decent cook. Can hold a conversation. Rather witty, actually, though he might actually be insane.” Rose frowned. “It is odd that he’s wearing a suit in this kind of weather. I know it’s colder indoors but, geez—”

  “Dexten.”

  He’s the only person crazy enough to wander into the second area just to find a friend. But how would he find me?

  “It’s someone I don’t recognize,” Rose said. “That description doesn't ring any bells? He had a white and red suit. Should I send him away?”

  I pushed past Rose, ignoring spasms of pain all across my body as I sprinted into the other room.

  My heart stopped.

  There, a man sat on the couch with his legs crossed.

  Sern had also recognized him, and she kept her distance, circling around to Axel, who was asleep, lying sprawled out on the bed.

  “What’s going on?” I hissed. “We had a deal, didn’t we?!”

  The man had a white and red suit, with a darkened complexion. He had a nose and eyes and a mouth, but they were all a little too sharp, and couldn’t quite fit in with the rest of his face.

  He smiled, and winked one eye.

  If I hadn’t seen him before, I wouldn’t have realized what he was. But I recognized the eerie sharpness for his teeth, and the abnormal glint of crystal in each of his eyes.

  This was not a man sitting before me.

  The Core grinned wider.

  “You oughta be more careful with your wording, kiddo.”

  This marks the end of season 2 of book 2!

  Normally I’d take a break for a day but my story’s struggling a bit right now, so I’m just not gonna risk it.

  // {Notice} //

  Hi! Hope you enjoyed a fantasy story. But as much fun as a fantasy is, there’s things in the real world beyond what writing can fix. That’s where you come in.

  Want to fight human trafficking? Whether you’ve got money or time there are two organizations I wholly recommend.

  Race Day — Thirty

  Donate - Venture