Chương 36: None of That Was Meant to Happen

The two vulpians stared down at Scarlet's body in disbelief.

"I knew her WIL must be high for her tier, but this…" He waved his hands about.

"Well, she needed the rest, regardless." He looked over to see his assistant and protégé just sort of standing there gormlessly.

"Go readjust the formations." He shoed him off. Tareth spoke as he moved.

"Was that what you intended to have happen? I admit, I have never undergone any of the STR conditioners or testers before. I can say that none of the examinations had looked like that?" The Historian waved him off with impatience. One clawed hand tapping staccato against his slim stone tablet, while the other shoed Tareth away. Tareth adjusted the final marker set into the stone floor, straightened, and turned.

"Why do you think the test malfunctioned."

"I don't know that it did. It appeared that the energies were having some trouble interacting with her body. A curious phenomenon." The Historian was pacing. His tail moving in sharp agitated flicks. Tareth watched him go for a while before he folded his arms.

"Master." The Historian stopped, then looked up as though just remembering there were other people present.

"Yes?" He asked.

"She passed out."

"Yes."

"What should we do now?"

"Tareth, my dear boy, we mark down the anomaly, then see if we can't replicate it, but on purpose."

"I thought we were doing Stat testing and boosting. Besides, I doubt she'd be a willing subject for this new testing."

"We're working on Stats first, of course. The rest can come later, when we've built up some trust." The Historian said. Face in his tablet, and completely unaware of the incredulous look the younger vulpian was giving him. I mean, just think of the unique information we could gain. Just what unique variables must exist on that newly integrated world to produce someone like that. There is no reason the technology should have reacted in that way." he lifted the tablet dramatically.

"That is a System created formation in a System created training room. The only reason it might need recalibration is if it's encountering something entirely new.

"Either this new world is going to be incredible, she is a complete anomaly, or both." The Historian stopped again. Then pointed at him.

"You know I'm never one to encourage gambling. However, I would consider putting even a greater credit on it being both."

"A greater? Truly." Tareth was taken aback. Even for one such as the Historian. A greater credit was no small sum.

"Truly." The Historian clarified.

"She has not crossed the first threshold," Tareth said.

"You said so yourself."

"I did. I could feel as much when I did that first scan. Imagine her potential for future development, if we can get even three or four stats to full saturation. Let alone the potential future development for her world.

"Even if she is the strangest member of her species, she still emerged from that species, on that world. The underlying developmental conditions capable of producing her exist."

"So, what does that mean for our stay in the tower?" Tareth asked. The Historian responded by giving him a look so disdainful the younger vulpian nearly flinched.

"I suppose we would be heading back to inform the colle-""Of course we are returning to the college. There is a newly integrated world, and it has yet to pass its seclusion period? While I must protect the young lady's information, nothing in our agreement prevents me from capitalising on general knowledge that will no doubt be among the greater Network sooner rather than later. Even then, the information I gain from her can be expanded upon without her direct input or reveal."

"You suspect there are more interconnected portal worlds on the human's planet?" Tareth said, snagging onto the first part of his Master's statement.

"I think the odds of that are much more likely than that she stumbled on the only one less than a month after Integration."

"Less than a month!" Tareth blurted, head whipping over to see the Historian nodding, a tad smugly as well.

"I see." he said, drawing the last word out somewhat.

"I suspect you are beginning to, yes." the Historian said, pointing dramatically toward the unconscious human.

"That is one very interesting individual." Tareth looked over. Scarlet was still out. He had expected the Historian to wake her immediately as their intent had never been to knock her out in the first place. Instead, his master had insisted on documenting everything first.

"She is injured," Tareth said.

"She is."

"Master."

"Oh, don't make that face. I told you about the strange energy, I can't just go poking at her with foreign mana trying to fix something, only for it to end up hurting her more," he said.

"We're lucky the mana document worked. Truly, considering the principles it works on and the way healing spells are formed. Well. Trying to cast a healing spell on her would be–" He cut himself off, his face going vacant for a moment before he looked toward Scarlet. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"…What if I." He approached the unconscious human, crouched, and held one clawed hand just above her sternum. Mana shimmered faintly between his fingers. Tareth felt it immediately. A controlled healing construct. Something so standard and basic he could recall it just by the feel of the ambient mana as the spell was being formed. Only right now…

"That is odd," Tareth said.

"Mm." The Historian adjusted something within the construct and immediately the resistance coming from the now-lying-more-comfortably Scarlet decreased. The Historian tweaked something else in the spell. The resistance weakened again. For a few minutes the Historian worked with his spell, and Tareth watched. Then, all in one go, the resistance seemed to vanish.

"Master?" Tareth asked, but the Historian just shook his head. The spell finished its work on Scarlet, and the young woman began to stir. The Historian straightened up and took a few steps back.

"Ah," he said, and grinned foolishly into empty air for a moment.

"You've gained a level or something, Master?" Tareth asked, a half smile tugging at his own lips.

"Even better," he laughed.

"Synergistic skill combination!" He broke out into his cackling laughter once more, before clapping his hands once and beginning to pace again.

"Ah, Young Tareth. We must prepare, we must prepare. I knew the mana document would be worth it. Our young benefactor is already paying dividends." <-… -> Scarlet woke with the distinct impression that something had been done to her. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she did know that outside of those awful, glowing, scribbles on the floor, someone had done something to her. She kept her eyes closed as she assessed. Her body felt off. Everything ached, yes. But that was expected.

Nothing felt newly broken, which was good. Actually, nothing was broken, which was less good. Certainly, less reassuring. Why was nothing broken. What happened? Just how long had passed and what had they done to her. Her eyes opened and Scarlet sat upright fast enough that the room tilted unpleasantly for a second before stabilizing. The Historian, who had apparently resumed pacing glanced over at the movement and, without ceremony, tossed something at her. Scarlet caught the small crystal vial from reflex.

"Drink that please. It'll cure up the rest of it." The Historian gestured at, well, all of her. Scarlet looked down at the vial, then back at him.

"No." Tareth made a small noise that Scarlet could easily interpret as offence. Unlike the Historian's carefully guarded feelings the other guy was a wide-open book.

"What do you mean no? I said it would help."

"I mean no. I mean I do not trust you. How am I to know this isn't poison," Scarlet knew just how absurd that was. If the Historian wanted to smite her, he could do it with a particularly aggressive yawn, and they both knew it. Still. The example may have been murky, but the point was clear. She did not trust him, and she would not blindly do what he requested once again.

"Seriously, this again," this time the Historian was frustrated. He'd gone along with her little act and even agreed to her terms despite the ways they might inconvenience him. Now she was refusing to participate because of what?

"That was not a strength test, and if it was, it's the poorest one I've seen used." Of course, she was keeping that she knew they did something to her close to the vest for now. She'd see if they would confess that on their own. Instead, she decided to call out the incident as gross incompetence.

"I will not work with someone who would so immediately break trust so newly established. Or did you think I wouldn't know?"

"How dare you speak to the Historian like that," Tareth began. His master raised a hand and cut him off. He stared back at Scarlet for half a second, then his ears twitched with irritation. It was a fair point. He had lied. Her not immediately trusting him and drinking the mysterious liquid was probably reasonable. However, the WIL test was one he needed her not to be aware was happening for him to get the data he needed. At least, that's how it was supposed to work.

Of course, he might not have told her anyway, but it had nothing to do with malice or plans against her. He simply had never before seen a need to explain himself the subjects of a test. They just needed to follow orders. How was he supposed to know that she'd puff up like a spiky little blowfish over a tiny miscommunication. It wasn't as though he'd meant for her to pass out. And he was sure now that everything would be fine going forward.

"Oh," he said.

"You have yet to see the results and you're already objecting to my methodology?"

"I am objecting," Scarlet said evenly, "to you telling me one thing and then apparently doing another while it is my wellbeing on the line."

"That is somewhat unfair." Scarlet's fingers tightened around the vial.

"You told me we were testing Strength."

"And that statement was quite closely adjacent to what happened."

"So you admit to purposefully misleading me, yet you wonder why I don't just drink the contents of the mysterious vial. You lied."

"I omitted some detail."

"Those details being the parts that were true?" Scarlet's gaze sharpened.

"Are you trying to make me quit?" That seemed to alarm him.

"Quit?" he repeated.

"By the System, what would make you think that?" Scarlet kept her mouth shut. If she really had figured out their scheme, she'd rather they didn't know she knew. Or at least they didn't know how much she suspected. Perhaps they wanted to trap her in debt the whole time. The Historian himself had said that she was free to quit but that she'd owe him for costs. That was more than reasonable considering both were working towards the same outcome.

What if he never wanted her to make it through this 'training' in the first place? Well, if that was their plan, they'd be sorely disappointed. She might not be the first one to speak at a party, but she was always the last one to quit once she'd commit. With her mind made up she decided to ask some less comfortable questions. Things like 'if that wasn't a Strength test, what was it.' And 'how did you render me unconscious', or 'what did you do to me while I was out?' Seemed like good places to start.

Just as she went to speak, she saw a message. At that question she opened her interface. [Foreign psionic energy detected. Signature active.] [Primordial Psion protocol: Would you like to subsume?] [Yes | No] Scarlet slowly lifted her gaze to find the two vulpians were already watching her.