Chương 82: [Threatened By A Hamster]

The group had been walking for a few minutes, Murray Street behind them, when Shai glanced across at Leo.

"We have a meeting with the elders today," she said.

"We'll be out of town for a few hours. Should be back in time for the movie."

"We better be," Rika said, from somewhere behind them.

"Cool, lads day it is then," said Parmo, standing next to Rika. They walked on. Over the last day or so the lads had noticed more and more people out on the streets at odd hours, eyes glassy, clearly working through their UI. A few had already broken through. A man they passed had a finger in a window box, the plant above it pushing visibly upward, leaves uncurling as they watched.

"That's what we need more of," Torren said.

"People with magic like that, growing things. It's going to matter come harvest."

"Yeah," Luka said.

"Get a few more like him and it takes a massive amount of pressure off Terry." Further along a woman had a pot of soil on her step, hardening it, softening it, moving it in a slow steady turn without touching it.

"That could be useful for building or landscaping so we have more room to build," said Sam, thinking aloud. They were nearly at the junction when someone called over from a doorstep.

"Lads. You got a second?" He was sitting with another man who had his eyes closed, both hands turned palm up, something half-formed shimmering in the air above them. The first man stood as they stopped.

"Four days and I can't get the first unlock. I've read the codex, I know emotion plays a part. I've been trying to stay calm but the more I try the worse it gets."

"Sounds like you're trying to force calm to be the emotion. Honestly I get it, I've read what the codex says and it makes it seem like you need to be calm," Sam said.

"It's different for each person though."

"It's not about sticking to an emotion rigidly anyway," Leo said.

"When mine came I was just curious, I suppose. Excited about what I might be able to get working. No real pressure behind it, just genuinely interested to see what happened."

"And it's not the same for everyone," Sam added.

"Different starting point for each of us."

"Phil over there," Leo nodded toward Phil, "was competitive about it. Wanted to be the best, wanted to progress. That worked fine for him. And Luka," he glanced back, "what was it, you were just calm?" Luka shrugged.

"I knew what I wanted. Knew I was going to be the shield, knew how I wanted it to work. So it felt like it was only a matter of time. Calm, but not forced calm. That make sense?"

"So not zen, not stressed," Sam said to the man.

"Just whatever feels right. That might be thinking more about how you want it to work and realising the emotion is more curiosity or something completely different." The man looked between them.

"Yeah okay. I think I've been so focused on getting it to work exactly as the codex says. Thanks lads, I think that'll help."

"No worries, man," Leo said.

"What are you going for anyway?"

"Detection. Finding resources, ore, water table. Something useful for the build teams." A few of them looked at each other.

"That's a great idea," Luka said. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

"If it works for ore that's actually huge," Phil said.

"Try it when you're not trying," Sam said.

"You'll know when it's right." The man nodded. They left him to it and moved on.

"He'll get it today," Parmo said.

"Probably," Sam agreed. They reached the junction and the lads walked to their flat on the corner.

"See you all tonight. Don't you dare watch it without us, I'm serious if I find out you have I won't be happy." said Rika, with a glare. The lads laughed and went inside.

"Why does it feel like we just got threatened by a hamster or something?" asked Phil. The laughter continued as they walked up the stairs.

They were showered and changed within twenty minutes. All five sat around on the couches and armchair, a cup of tea in hand.

"Shai still reckons the 50 Shades thing was my fault," Phil said.

"Had a go at me at training in front of everyone."

"Was it not your fault?" Sam asked, grinning.

"It was Rika and Parmo. Rika for finding it in the first place and Parmo for being a pussy about explaining it. What did I actually do?"

"Don't give me that. You know you trying to pull that shit with the anime meant we didn't have the excuse,'it's got lots of sex in it, lets talk about something else'" Leo said.

"How does that have anything to do with this?"

"If we tried it they would have said nope, you were fine talking about it before so tell us."

"That's a bit of a stretch."

"It's really not though." said Sam. Phil looked at Parmo, who was sitting with his mug looking smug.

"You're loving this."

"I mean, I had to explain it. I'm happy one of you is getting it in the neck and not me," Parmo said.

"Jesus, whatever. On another note, what was Nessa shouting at Mars for? Both groups were right next to mine, hard to miss."

"He grinned at her and she bit his head off. It wasn't a normal smile, it was one of those 'I have something on you, grins'. She looked pissed when she noticed. I asked her if he was her ex." Luka laughed.

"You just asked her outright?"

"Yeah. She denied everything, Mars must have heard cos he laughed and then told her he'd keep their past out of training. She hit the roof. I think he knows a secret about her or something and was just winding her up."

"How's everyone finding training now, it's almost been a week since we started right?" Luka said.

"Did you nail something in training, Leo? I noticed Kai seemed to go easier on you."

"Yeah, he told me he knows I won't break under pressure, that I've more or less got the basics down and he's satisfied with my progress." Leo leaned back.

"That's a lot coming from Kai. We're moving onto dummies next session."

"Nice, man," Phil said.

"What changed, I couldn't really tell, just noticed he wasn't doing his Gunnery Sergeant Hartman impression today."

"No idea honestly, He was more chill and offered more instruction. He still pushed me hard but it felt more constructive. I guess if he's saying he knows I won't break then that might have been the reason for how he was before."

"Anyone notice things clicking faster than they should?" Luka asked.

"Yeah, one hundred percent," Sam said.

"We wouldn't be anywhere near this point without the UI. A week in and we're all moving like we've been at it for months. Makes you wonder what else it has in store for us."

"Not complaining though," Phil said.

"God no," Parmo agreed.

"I managed to get the stance, movement and swing to all line up smoothly today. Once I did it right that first time, it only took a few more tries for it to kind of cement and then that was it." Leo said.

"Anyone else notice that? Like you can struggle with something but once you nail it that first time, its so much easier after and then not long after it kind of locks in. That's what Kai was happy with. Up until today it was three separate parts I was thinking through. Today it just went."

"Same thing happened with the maul," Luka said.

"I'm on dummies next session as well actually. Torren told me this morning."

"Nice. My shots are landing close together consistently now," Parmo said.

"Rika made a whole thing of it. Again." Sam laughed, and turned his mug in his hands.

"It feels like, you know the behind the scenes stuff you get on the Star Wars DVDs, the choreography bits where they're slowly walking through the whole sequence before they film it properly. How it looks slow and complicated, then when they actually do it it's clean and fast."

"Yeah," Leo said.

"It's a bit like that. Except without a partner. I look at someone and I get this sense that if they moved I'd already know where to go, what to do in response. Whether that's actually true I've got no idea, I won't know til we're properly sparring. But that's how it feels."

"Like a mix between muscle memory and that thing where you kind of guess where and when a skill shot will come in league so you dodge and its the perfect time," Luka said.

"Kind of, yeah. Hard to explain." Phil nodded.

"My problem was the two blades doing different things at the same time. Getting the left to keep up without thinking about it separately."

"Same," Sam said.

"Neither of us are naturally ambidextrous. Might be why that was the specific thing that took longest."

"Yeah, I think I know what you mean about it clicking into place and then it just works though," Phil said.

"I've not really had to think about it today when it was the main problem last session."

"Yeah," Sam agreed.

"Same here."