19. Jason PiCu

We arrived back at the ring, and Tyler caught up on payment and tips with Tariq, who updated my official level and added a note.

Jason uses his fists instead of a conventional weapon for bashing. This does not appear to limit the damage delivery. I did not reach the upper level of what he is capable of, and he actually seemed to get stronger as the evaluation moved along. I would suggest a full day of analysis on this mode before doing any training. A possible failure point could be rigid, dense surfaces like steel or stone. We only tested against a grade 7 training dummy. A heavy steel shield might be where his natural fists fail.

Once again, I completely agreed with his assessment. I’d love to do a full day of evaluation once the tournament was over and see if I had any obvious weaknesses.

“Dummy, reset. Piercing Evaluation. Level 30.”

Once again, the dummy assumed a neutral pose and offered his chest.

“Poke Poke Boom!” Annabeth called from the side. Then she giggled.

“The rules for the evaluation are simple,” Tariq said. “You need to attack the training dummy and successfully inflict a debilitating piercing wound. The dummy is the sole judge of the severity of the wound. From what your teacher has told me, your spikes shoot out of your fists when you punch. Is that correct?”

“Yes,” I replied simply.

He waited a brief moment to see if I was going to elaborate, but when I kept silent, he continued.

“We’ve already seen what you are capable of with bashing, so any damage you inflict with the punch itself won’t count. This is the piercing evaluation. Only the holes you make with your spikes will matter.”

He gave me a questioning look, so I quickly assured him I understood the rules. He hesitated again and kept looking at my hands. Then he seemed to come to some sort of decision.

“Before you begin, I would like to examine your weapons,” he said.

“Sure,” I replied and held out my hands.

He looked at them closely, and then started touching my hands and kneading them gently. His skin was callused from all the weapons he handled, and his hands were strong. His touch, however, was gentle. I found that as he caressed my hands, I started to get turned on.

“Do you touch all the boys like this?” I asked before my brain engaged. Then I realized what I’d said and flushed in embarrassment. This was not the time or place for a comment like that.

“I’ve found that training can take many forms,” Tariq replied seriously, but his eyes twinkled. “I’m sure we could arrange something that would make you very happy.”

“That’s okay,” I said quickly. “My boyfriend is standing right there.”

Tariq made a show of turning towards Tyler and giving him a slow, thoughtful scan from head to toe. I could have just died from embarrassment. I knew we had an open relationship, but still.

“I can train more than one at a time,” Tariq said as he turned back to me. “Actually, it’s a lot more fun that way. My rates are reasonable, I assure you. Especially for a student as pretty as yourself.”

I flushed even more. I’m sure I was a bright shade of pink at this point.

“Can I see your Spikes?” Tariq asked. It took me a moment to get my brain out of the gutter and realize he was talking about the evaluation again.

“They’re invisible,” I replied. “They only spring out when I’m punching.”

“I can’t feel them, though,” he said. “Surely they exist in your hand?”

“My Spikes are a spiritual creation,” I said, “so they exist in my aura until I need them. That’s why you can’t see or feel them. When I punch, they shoot out like a jackhammer and knock holes in whatever I’m attacking. As soon as they are done, they retract back into my spiritual side, ready to attack again.”

“That is fascinating,” Tariq said, still caressing my hands. “So your Spikes are always available and ready to go? You don’t have to summon them like a mage summons a sword?”

“They are always there. Ready to go,” I confirmed.

“That is a real advantage,” Tariq noted. “That means you can start attacking or defending right away, without losing focus at the start of a match. You aren’t using them for blocking, so their power is completely focused on breaking shields or dealing damage. The only disadvantage I can see is they don’t have a longer range like a sword or spear.

“You’ve certainly created an unusual weapon, and it is going to be fascinating to see it perform in real life. I wish you all the best in the piercing evaluation.”

“Thank you,” I replied as he released my hands and stepped back.

“Begin when you’re ready,” he said and motioned to the training dummy.

I was full of nervous, sexual energy, so I stepped up to the dummy and took a moment to breathe and center myself.

‘Spike, you’re up,’ I told my newest soul creation. ‘Just have fun and do the best you can. Don’t feel nervous and just know that however this turns out, I’m proud of you.’

I got back images of exploding rocks and ice shattering into a thousand pieces. Spike wasn’t nervous. Spike was excited!

‘Alright then,’ I laughed. ‘Let’s do this!’

I punched the dummy, and he flew backward. I’d forgotten just how easy it was to knock him over at this level. The dummy stood up and presented his chest. It was caved in from the punch, but there were four clear holes pierced through it. Tariq went over and closely inspected the holes. He talked to the dummy for a moment before he seemed satisfied.

“Level 30 passed. Dummy, reset. Piercing level 40.”

Once again, I knocked him off his feet while Spike and the Knuckle Crew poked right through.

“Dummy, reset. Level 50.”

I felt more resistance this time, but only by a little.

“Level 60.”

Still good. I checked in with Spike. He was having a great time and more than ready to keep going.

“Level 70.”

I expected this was when the real difficulty would start. The dummy stayed on his feet from my single punch, but my Spikes didn”t have any problems. They were shooting through him like bullets.

“Level 80.”

This was where Annabeth had struggled. I punched hard to provide a good base for my Spikes, but they did just fine. The holes in the dummy were neat and clean, like a laser had bored four pencil-sized openings through it.

“Poke Poke Boom!” Annabeth called, and she seemed to be having the time of her life. That made me worried. Were the spores getting to her?

I needed to hurry.

“Level 90.”

For the first time, I felt some real resistance. The crowd was going wild, as this could be my third perfect score.

“Dummy, reset. Level 100.”

Tariq sounded ecstatic!

I decided to give it my best punch, without laying on the concept of PLACE. I let my battle energies flow outside myself—into the air and the ground.

‘Last test,’ I said to Spike. He vibrated in excitement. This is what he was made to do, and he was having a great time doing it.

I topped them up on magic and settled in front of the dummy.

Spike Punch!

The pushback from the Spikes stung, but once again, there were four perfect holes in the dummy. I felt a happy glow of satisfaction spread through me. I’d done it. My Spikes were awesome!

“Level 100 is a pass!” Tariq yelled, and everyone rushed the stage—including Annabeth, who almost missed me.

“You’re the best!” she exclaimed as she hugged me. Then she wouldn’t let go.

“I’m pretty sure the spores are getting to her,” Tyler said worriedly. He put his arm around her and tried to get her to hug him instead.

“Maybe we should skip the last test,” I suggested. Now I was feeling worried too.

“We’ll take care of Annabeth,” Sandy said. “You’re learning a lot about your new powers and what they can do. Just focus on you for now.”

“Are we still going to learn about Paths?” I asked. Sandy shook her head.

“This has taken a lot more time than I expected, and now that Annabeth is going through a healing phase, I think we should just go back to the room and see how the rest of the day pans out.”

“That sounds good,” I replied. “I’ll finish up here as fast as I can.”

“Don’t go too fast,” Tyler spoke up. “Make sure you learn all you can. You’re here and doing great, so don’t waste the opportunity.”

“Okay,” I agreed, and let him lead Annabeth away.

I tried to get out of any sort of receiving line, but the other trainers weren’t having it. So I just accepted their congratulations and advice and got through it. John stayed with me and helped move the line along.

They meant well, and if we hadn’t had the pressure of the tournament, this would have been a lot of fun. Finally, we were done. Tariq said his piece about how amazing all this was. He updated his notes, and we tapped Stamps.

I skimmed the notes, but they were basically the same as the last two modes—he hadn’t reached my limit on piercing, and he suggested a full day of testing.

“Are you ready to start the cutting evaluation?” Tariq asked.

“Give me a moment,” I said. I grabbed John’s hand, and we moved off to the side.

“I don’t actually have any blades yet,” I told him. “Cover me while I make them.”

“You got it,” John said and put his big arm around my shoulders. “You’ll be safe with me.”

I gave him a grateful smile and then dove into my Throne Room.

‘Penny. Eggy,’ I called. ‘I need you.’

‘I’m here,’ Penny said. This time she was back in her Athena battle outfit.

‘Present,’ Eggy said. He was dressed like a fantasy blacksmith, with a leather apron covered in mystic symbols and a forge hammer. His hair was long and tied back like a warrior, and he still had his trusty sword by his side.

He looked completely badass, except I was pretty sure he was only wearing a leather apron. He had bare feet, bare shoulders, and a nicely shaped, bare backside.

I’d first thought he was a fantasy blacksmith as in World of Warcraft. Now I was thinking he was a fantasy as in every gay boy’s wet dream. I’m pretty sure if he entered in the International Mr. Leather pageant like that he would be a top contender for sure.

I shook my head to clear out all the naughty thoughts and got down to business.

‘Eggy, I need to add a new mode to my repertoire,’ I said. ‘I can block, bash, and pierce. Now I need to be able to cut. The other modes are wonderful, but sometimes I’ll probably just need to hack something apart. I have an idea of something I want to make, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea, or if it’s even possible.’

‘I was a sword for a long time and fought many other swords,’ Eggy said seriously. ‘I’ve seen just about every type of cutting weapon there is. Let me know what you have in mind, and we’ll see how to make it work.’

‘Excellent,’ I said. ‘A while ago I saw an old Keanu Reeves movie called Johnny Mnemonic. There was a guy in there that fought with a wire that sliced people apart like they were deli meat. It worked because the wire was so thin there was almost no resistance as it moved through objects. It also was just a wire, so it didn’t need to drag an entire blade behind it. It didn’t try to force the two pieces apart, like a sword would. Instead, it just separated the object into two and let them fall apart on their own.’

Eggy was already shaking his head, but I wasn’t done yet.

‘I wasn’t thinking of a wire, however. I was thinking of pairing this idea with something like Wolverine’s claws. What if, instead of spikes, there was a super thin, foot-long blade that came out and cut whatever it passed through?’

I sent a mental thought of what I had in mind to both of them. Penny seemed to like the idea, but Eggy wasn’t impressed.

‘A lot of people think a sword cuts things,’ he said in a lecturing tone. ‘It doesn’t. It just smashes into an object along a fine line and breaks it apart. It’s actually a concentrated form of bashing, and because of that, the edge has to be strong. In real life, edges develop rolls. They burr, and they break.

‘In real life, there is such a thing as over-sharpening. The sharper the edge is, the more delicate it is. What you are talking about is an edge that is so sharp it would immediately fall apart in a battle situation.

‘Furthermore, there is a reason swords have that thick piece of metal in the middle. It’s providing strength along the direction of the force. If a sword wasn’t a couple inches wide, it would shatter the first time it was used.

‘You are talking about making an edged weapon that is so long, compared to its width, that it would break apart the first time it touched something. In fact, a puff of air might snap it to pieces. It would be like you were fighting with a tiny thread of spun sugar.’

Eggy shook his head sadly.

‘I’m sure this wire thing did great in the movie, but that’s all make believe. The movie makers don’t have to actually get it to work. You do.’

‘I hadn’t looked at cutting with a sword as smashing along a line,’ I said regretfully, ‘but that does make sense. I just thought something like this would take good advantage of how detailed I can get and how strong my soul creations are. I agree with what you’re saying, Eggy, but I still feel like this is the right idea, somehow.’

I summoned a model of what I was thinking of in the air. I made my fist, with one tiny nanoblade coming out of my main Spike. I could immediately see what Eggy was talking about. The blade was crazy thin. Any resistance at all would shatter it.

To drive the point home, Eggy created a model arm, and I swung my nanoblade at it. It caused a tiny cut before the blade snapped into multiple pieces.

‘I like this idea,’ Penny said. ‘I think you’re on the right path too. We just need to figure it out. Try making the blade more like a Katana—sharp on one side and thicker on the other.’

I tried that, and it worked slightly worse. The tiny blade had a bit more strength, but the thicker side caused more resistance as it tried to move through the arm, which totally defeated the idea of making a nanoblade. Once again, it made a tiny cut before snapping into two.

‘If swords are really focused bashers, it’s a shame we couldn’t tie this into your punching somehow,’ Penny said thoughtfully. ‘Your fists are so big, though. There is no way they are going to bash on such a tiny edge.’

‘It would be better if we could tie this into your piercing,’ Eggy noted. ‘You’ve already got the soul creations in place for that. Plus, it’s already ranked at 100, so we know it’s powerful.’

‘How would that even work?’ Penny asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Eggy shrugged, making his leather apron jump. ‘I was just taking the idea to its logical conclusion. But I don’t actually know how to do it.’

Hmmm. Eggy was onto something. I didn’t have the idea yet, but I could feel it.

‘Let’s try making the blade bigger,’ Penny suggested. ‘It won’t be a nanoblade, but we can probably still make it very sharp and tiny.’

I turned the model of my hand and nanoblade over to Eggy and Penny, and the two of them started making changes. It wasn’t long before they recreated a basic traditional sword. Without a solid shaft, the blade broke apart as soon as the swing made contact. Adding a shaft to the blade gave it more resistance as it moved through the arm, so it needed an even bigger shaft to hold the blade together while it was actually cutting.

At some point, equilibrium was achieved. The sword was still sharp, so it had the lowest cutting resistance possible, and a thicker middle section that held everything together. It was basically a refined version of Annabeth’s dagger. It was about twelve inches long, shaped like a long triangle, and used the same building blocks as my Spikes.

The model hand swung at the model arm and sheared right through it. It wasn’t effortless, but it got the job done. Penny and Eggy looked at me expectantly.

‘Thank you,’ I said sincerely. ‘This wasn’t where I was going, but it will do the job. And it will do it well.’

‘We kept it the same length as your Spikes,’ Eggy said. ‘That way your soul creations can both cut and pierce. Also, by keeping the length down, we didn’t have to build up the support as much. You can certainly make it longer if you’d like, but you’ll need to make the support section bigger.’

I nodded, thoughtfully. My idea was still brewing.

Then I had it.

‘Stabby-Stabby!’ I exclaimed. ‘Eggy, what you and Penny have put together is perfect if I needed to swing a sword. But what if I wanted to stab with it? How thin could you make it then?’

They looked at each other in confusion.

‘Well, it would require a lot less support,’ Eggy replied. ‘You aren’t swinging it, so the penetrating force is going along the length of the blade and into your fist. I’d like to point out that you already have a piercing weapon, though. Are you looking to create another one?’

‘Do you know what makes up a line?’ I asked triumphantly. They both shook their heads. ‘A series of dots. Stabby-Stabby!’

They looked at each other like I’d lost my mind. I didn’t care. Hopefully, this was going to work.

Eggy followed my directions and modified the blade so it was as thin as it could be and yet still pierce effectively. It wasn’t exactly a nanoblade, but it was close. We ended up with one sharpened cube on the edge, with alternating one and two cubes making up the body of the blade. That blade was thin!

‘This will certainly make a tiny incision,’ Eggy said, ‘but I fail to see how it”s going to cut an arm off.’

‘Shoot out the nanoblade,’ I said, gesturing at the model. ‘Then, as the blade is retracting, have a second nanoblade shooting out. When it retracts, have the first blade shoot out again.’

Eggy made the changes to the model hand, and both blades were soon shooting out so fast they looked like one weapon.

‘Now, cut the arm,’ I said dramatically. And that is exactly what happened.

As the model fist moved across the arm, the nanoblades made deep narrow cuts. The nanoblades moved in and out so fast, they acted like a reciprocating saw and cut right through the arm.

‘Stabby-Stabby!’ Penny did a little happy dance. ‘Now you’ve got your dots in a row.’ She gave me a sly smile.

‘Did you just pun me?’ I asked in surprise. She’d tried before, but the results had been less than stellar.

‘I think so,’ she said, suddenly all serious. ‘I exchanged ducks for dots. That counts as a pun, right?’

‘For sure!’ I said. ‘That was an excellent pun. Congratulations!’

‘Why, thank you,’ she said with a big smile and gave a happy twirl.

‘I agree this worked,’ Eggy interrupted us and got us back on task. ‘But is it better?’

‘There’s only one way to find out,’ I said. ‘Let”s test it and see.’

We made our testing arm denser and tried both methods again. Swinging the dagger blade still cut the arm, but it met with a lot more resistance, and I felt like the dagger was going to break. On the other hand, the Stabby-Stabby nanoblades still cut through the arm like butter. They were so thin, the added density didn’t bother them much.

We increased the arm density even more and tried again. This time, the dagger snapped, and I had to increase its support section before it would cut through the arm. Stabby-Stabby was still doing fine.

‘I think we have a winner,’ Eggy announced. ‘Poking a bunch of holes appears to work much better than swinging an edged weapon. Now, I have a few suggestions…’

He suggested several tweaks, and we tried them all. Some of them worked, and some didn’t. In the end, we found that rotating between three nanoblades worked better than two. We also made the edges slightly serrated, like a bread knife.

Basically, I ended up with a weapon that sawed rather than sliced, but I wasn’t complaining. I’d wanted something that cut, and now I had it.

‘Are we going to have a Eureka dance?’ Eggy asked. He’d been hesitant at first, but now he loved to play his maracas and dance down my imaginary streets naked. Actually, they both did.

‘Later,’ I laughed. ‘Right now, I have people waiting for me. We can do it up right tonight, though. Stabby-Stabby certainly deserves a eureka celebration. Let’s hope this works as well in real life as it does with our models.

‘Which reminds me. Spike, do you have the idea? Are you good to go?’

I got back an image of a ninja wielding a sawzall, cutting through drywall and studs like he was on the home improvement channel. I couldn’t help but laugh. My soul creations were awesome!

I thanked Penny and Eggy for their help, and then jumped back to the real world. John had his arm around me, and Sandy, Annabeth, and Tyler had wandered over.

“How are you doing, Annabeth?” I asked.

“Just peachy!” she exclaimed, and then she laughed like she’d said the funniest thing. Annabeth was always cheerful, but now she seemed positively giddy. I guess the mushrooms were kicking in.

“Did you get what you needed?” John asked.

I nodded. “It’s different from what I was originally going for, but I think it will work. I’m calling it my Stabby-Stabby, and it’s more like I’ve created a saw than a sword.”

“I always love your names,” Tyler smiled. “And as long as your new weapon cuts, I don’t think the evaluation cares how you do it.”

“I got the idea from connecting a series of dots,” I told them as we started moving back towards Tariq and the testing area. The idea was simple, so it was easy to fill them in on the tweaks we’d made that worked.

“So basically you went and made a reciprocating saw out of butter knives,” Sandy said in admiration.

“Basically,” I agreed. “But that doesn’t sound very superhero-like. Stabby-Stabby sounds so much better than ‘It’s reciprocating saw time!’”

“You could say, ‘It’s butter time! Now feel the heat of my blades!’” Tyler said mischievously.

I snickered and shook my head.

“You could go for a southern feel,” John said with a bad southern drawl. “It’s time to sawzall y’all!”

I winced and shook my head again.

“That sounds like a Jeff Foxworthy comedy special,” I said. “I think I’ll just stick with calling it Stabby-Stabby for now.”

“Are you ready for your final evaluation?” Tariq interrupted our banter.

I nodded.

“What is your cutting weapon going to be?” he inquired. “Are you going to summon a short sword like Annabeth?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I’ve converted my spikes into nanoblades that should hopefully do a good job of cutting.”

“A nanoblade? You just made up a new weapon?” Tariq asked suspiciously.

I nodded.

“And I’m going to assume you haven’t tested it,” he confirmed.

I nodded again.

“If you hadn’t already blown away the other PiCuBB evaluations, I’d laugh you out of the Whet’s Edge,” Tariq said with a sigh. “Nobody, and I mean nobody, makes up a new weapon on the day of their evaluation and expects to do well. Creating a good weapon takes months—sometimes years—of hard work and dedication.”

He sighed again. “I was hoping you’d finish on a successful note. At least you have excellent bashing, piercing, and blocking abilities to fall back on. I guess there’s nothing to do but go on with the evaluation and see how it works out.

“Dummy, reset. Cutting evaluation. Level 30.”

The dummy settled into a firm neutral stance and extended his right arm.

“Jason, you’ve seen Annabeth do this, but let’s go over the rules again. You want to strike his arm and inflict as much damage in one strike as possible. You pass a level if you deliver enough damage to incapacitate the limb. Be aware that the dummy will keep his arm stiff, but it won’t be completely firm. You’ll need to provide the speed and focus to make your strike effective. Understand?”

“Yes,” I replied firmly.

“Then let”s begin,” he gestured at the dummy’s arm.

‘Spike, are you ready?’ I asked.

I got back a question—could the other Spikes in my hand join in as well? After all, in a battle, four cuts would do more damage than just one.

‘Sure! Why not?’ I replied. ‘Slice’ em and dice ‘em. Cleave ‘em and leave ‘em. Chop ‘em and drop ‘em!’

Okay, I wasn’t making much sense. But I was feeling a bit poetic. I was about to launch into a motivational speech when a much better ambassador did it for me.

Bermuda interjected himself into our conversation and sent the image of the perfect cat slap. It was lightning quick, claws out, and powered by pure reflex. One moment there was flawless skin, the next there were deep red lines. This was the aspect that the Spikes could draw from. This was the essence of Stabby-Stabby.

We all bowed to Bermuda for his master class on the cutting arts, and then I returned to real life. The dummy waited there impassively, arm extended. This was the moment of truth. The nanoblades were a good idea in theory, but would they work in real life?

There was only one way to find out.

I made a loose fist, extended my arm, and tried to cut through the dummy.

It worked.

But it was a mess.

The four sets of nanoblades weren’t in sync, and that caused a lot of vibrations. Instead of a nice clean line, I had ragged cuts and holes going everywhere. It looked like a mischief of rats had gone rabid and tried to chew their way through.

“The results are certainly interesting,” Tariq said as he inspected the damage. The arm was just dangling there—still attached by a few strands of dummy stuff the blades had missed. “That doesn’t look like any sort of cut I’ve seen before. You pass this level, but I’m not sure how well this is going to work when the dummy gets denser.”

“That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind either,” I admitted. “Can I stay at level 30 and have another try?”

Tariq seemed surprised at my request, but he nodded.

“Dummy, reset. Level 30 do-over,” he called.

This time I told Spike and the Knuckle Crew to coordinate and make sure they all went Stabby-Stabby at the same time. I also held my fist much tighter.

My movement before had been tentative and jerky. This time my cut was smoother—with more confidence.

That seemed to do the trick, as I easily cut the arm into four pieces.

“That was much better,” Tariq said, examining one of the cuts. “It actually looks like a sword stroke this time.”

He was right, but I still wasn’t happy. The cut was rough, as I was still feeling vibrations. It looked nothing like the wire cuts from Johnny Mnemonic.

“It’s still not right,” I told Tariq. “Let’s do it again.”

He reset the dummy while I communicated with Spike.

‘Let’s add another nanoblade to the rotation,’ I told him. ‘Hopefully, that will help with the vibrations. Also, let’s lean into the cutting aspect a bit more by making the serrated edge more pronounced. I can feel the blades bite into the arm, and that’s helping to stabilize the cut.’

We made the changes, and Spike offered a suggestion of his own—I needed to cut faster and put more of a load on the blades. My nanoblades were extending and retracting so quickly that each slice was barely doing any cutting, and that’s where some of the vibrations were coming from.

The dummy was set up, so I took a deep breath and tried again. This time I imagined my nanoblades were like lightsabers—they could cut through anything. There was no need to move slowly so they could connect the dots. My job was to move like Obi Wan and whack off its arm like I was in the Mos Eisley Cantina.

I sliced, and this time I got exactly what I wanted. I moved at full speed, and for a split second, I thought nothing had happened. Then the dummy’s arm just slid apart.

The cut was incredibly fine—and so smooth. It seemed like the four arm pieces had simply decided not to be together anymore. This was what I’d imagined! This was the way nanoblades should work.

Tariq examined the cuts for a long moment. He picked up each piece, examined it, and moved on to the next one.

“These are the finest cuts I’ve ever seen,” he finally said. “I can’t see any tissue distortion, and there are no signs of weapon drag. I also don’t see any evidence of magic burn. If I didn’t know better, I’d say these pieces had never been connected.”

Some of the other trainers wanted to see the pieces, so they got passed around. They generated a lot of interest, and many of the trainers echoed Tariq’s comments. It took a few minutes, but eventually the dummy got all his parts back.

“I didn’t have much faith in your weapon when we started, but now I’m excited to see how this turns out,” Tariq said. “Are you ready to move on to the next level now?”

“Yes, indeed,” I replied.

“Dummy, reset. Cutting evaluation. Level 40,” Tariq called.

I took a deep breath, fixed the image of Wolverine’s claws as lightsabers in my mind, and swiped again.

Once again, the arm stayed there, like I hadn’t done anything at all, before gravity took over and the arm fell apart. It was a beautiful thing to watch.

We both examined the pieces and the cuts to see they were just as smooth as before. So far, so good.

“Dummy, reset. Level 50.”

Deep breath. Slice!

Looking good.

“Dummy, reset. Level 60.”

I didn’t need a deep breath this time. I was getting the hang of my new weapons.

Slice!

Looking good.

“Dummy, reset. Level 70.”

Slice!

Now the dummy was denser, I could feel the bite of the saw kicking in. It wasn’t bad. It was just that it no longer felt like I was cutting through air.

“Dummy, reset. Level 80.”

The crowd was starting to get excited. I looked over at my crew and flashed them a smile. They’d kept quiet while I’d been figuring things out, but now I was paying attention, they started cheering me on.

Slice!

The cuts still looked smooth as soft butter. I also realized I couldn’t call it Stabby-Stabby anymore. It had been the foundation for the cuts, but it was the wrong image to work with. I wasn’t stabbing this arm apart—I was sawing it apart like I was using a lightsaber. Maybe I could call this my Saber-Saw? It had a nice ring to it. Plus, saber was a type of sword and this was the cutting mode of PiCuBB, so it all sort of fit together.

“Dummy, reset. Level 90.”

Slice!

I was definitely feeling resistance now, but my new Saber-Saws were holding up just fine.

“Dummy, reset. Level 100.”

The excitement of the crowd ratcheted up even more. I took a deep breath this time, as I was starting to feel excited myself.

Slice!

The dummy’s arm fell apart.

I’d done it! I’d reached level 100 on all modes: piercing, cutting, bashing and blocking.

John swooped in, picked me up, and hoisted me into the air. I pumped my fist in the air and celebrated like I’d scored the winning goal at an international soccer match.

I must admit, it was an awesome feeling. In high school, I’d never gotten into sports, and I doubt I would have been very good if I had. I’d always been a mental rather than a physical type of person.

I couldn’t say that anymore. Tea had transformed every part of me, and I’d survived several life and death situations by being physically much better than my opponents. Making the mental shift that I was physically capable was part of the reason for this whole evaluation.

Once everyone calmed down a bit, Tariq got to have his moment.

“When I got up this morning, I thought it was going to be a normal day. I thought I’d train a few mages, sell some stuff, and hopefully earn a few pearls. Instead, I evaluated not one, but two prodigies, both of whom exhibit the rare ability to rate highly across all four modes of PiCuBB. I don’t need to tell anyone here just how extraordinary that is.”

All the trainers chuckled. Tariq said more stuff like this—how lucky he was and how amazing we were—but I was looking at Annabeth and something seemed off.

“Don’t worry,” John whispered. “Sandy and Tyler are taking care of Annabeth. There’s been a bit of a development, but I’m sure it will work out.”

“What’s going on?” I whispered back, but John shook his head.

“Stay focused on learning all you can. She is in good hands.”

I glared at him, but John just smiled.

“Sandy’s glare is much worse than yours,” he said. “She can peel wallpaper with her look. Yours is like a gentle breeze in comparison. Now pay attention. We’ll be focused on Annabeth soon enough.”

I glared even harder, but it didn’t phase John in the slightest. He was right. Sandy had mastered The Look. If he could handle Sandy, then there wasn’t anything I could do to change his mind.

I sighed and focused back on Tariq and the trainers. Tariq had finished his speech, and some of the other trainers started asking questions. I answered a few of them as Tariq completed his notes and whatever else he needed to do for the evaluation.

Most of the crowd wandered off as we tapped Stamps, and John took care of payment and tipping. Tariq thanked us again—John thanked him—and we were getting ready to wrap it up when Tock flew off my shoulder and interrupted us.

“Jason, did you know that Tariq and the dummy are apparitions too?”

“Yes,” I replied. “Both of them look to be very advanced.”

“Having a trainer and evaluator notice you is a big deal,” Tock continued, giving a bow to Tariq who bowed back. “Might I suggest giving him the Ank Special?”

I think Tock was trying to be subtle by talking in code, but he already had our attention, so it wasn’t like Tariq didn’t know something was going on. He’d have been better to have just whispered his idea in my ear while he was on my shoulder. Regardless, it was probably a good idea to remain in Tariq’s good graces. I didn’t know how an “Official Evaluator” could help us in the future, but healing him would only take a few minutes, and we were headed back to the suite after this, anyway. I looked at John, and he seemed agreeable.

‘Can you handle another Connection?’ I asked my Mark of the Deep Earth.

It took a moment, but I got back a sleepy ‘yes.’

“Tariq, I seem to have a special relationship with apparitions,” I told him. “I can heal them if they are hurt, or give them a general tune-up if they aren’t. I first discovered this with Tock, but I also put this ability to good use in the last quest.”

“You’re a crafter too?” Tariq asked incredulously.

I shook my head. “No. I just received a unique gift that works with apparitions.”

Tariq turned to Tock, and they started talking in a language that sounded like birds chirping at each other. It was very fast and melodic, and I guess it conveyed a lot of information because it only seemed like a moment before Tariq turned back to me and agreed.

“After decades of work and perseverance, I”ve finally achieved class B. Unfortunately, I think this is the highest I can go. My foundation isn’t as solid as I need it to be, and getting to where I am now has taken an enormous amount of power. I don’t think I can handle any more, and in fact, I feel like I’m barely hanging on to my advancement. If I relax, I’ll slip back to a high C again. If there is anything you could do to solidify my class, I would be eternally grateful.”

“I don’t know about all that,” I said, “but I can heal you and see if that helps. Now, do you swear to open yourself to being healed? Will you allow me to see, touch, and modify your body to make it the best it can be? Do you fully accept my gifts and my magic, so long as they do you no harm?”

“I do,” Tariq said gravely.

I transferred three Ents, and they got busy analyzing his system as I did the same. He was very similar to Papa Ank in that he had a stone core, skeleton, wires, and tubes. He didn’t have any obvious injuries that I could see, but his wiring and tube systems were a mess. It looked like the back of an entertainment center where the wires had just been added on top of each other. It was a snarled tangle of stuff with no easy way to see what wire went where.

It looked bad enough that I added two more Ents to help figure it out. They got finished and started spreading healing spores about the same time as I coaxed the sleepy Mark of the Deep Earth to Connect with Tariq’s stone. I added some of my own magic to spark the spores and voilà—the cleaning cycle started.

My Mark might have been sleepy, but he still did a bang-up job on Tariq’s stone. I’d been so distracted by the wiring, I hadn’t noticed the stone wasn’t in great shape either. It was a bit lumpy, but once my Mark was finished with it, it was a perfectly smooth sphere.

Tariq tried to be all stoic and cool like Otugh, but it wasn’t long before the experience overwhelmed him. He sounded a bit like the fake orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally, in that he started out moaning lightly and ended up on the ground shaking and crying out “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

The gay part of me wanted to grin and claim I was just that good, but I really knew it was my Mark that was overwhelming him with the vastness of its Connection. The Mark finished first, and the Grove finished soon after. I checked Tariq out as he lay there trying to pull himself back together. He now looked so clean he practically sparkled. His core stone was polished and glowing softly in my magic sight. Best of all, his wiring and pipes were now all neat and organized.

I thought Tariq would recover and get back on his feet. But instead, he knelt in front of me, extended his arms towards me, and began bowing so deeply his head touched the ground.

“Oh, no,” I said quickly and tried to pull him to his feet. “I don’t need any of that. I’d rather you didn’t make a scene.”

“You are transcendent,” he said reverently. “No wonder you are a prodigy. I had no idea I was in the presence of the eternal source.”

“I’m not any of that,” I told him as I got a better grip and dragged him to his feet. “I”ve just received an amazing gift from a cosmic power, and now I’m passing some of the gift on to you. Enjoy the gift and live your life to the fullest.”

“I will, O holy one,” he started to bow again. “I will sing your praises and cherish this moment forever.”

“Cherishing is fine,” I replied quickly, “but don’t tell anyone, or make a big deal about this. We are trying to stay low key, remember?”

He started to bow again, but then he straightened up and gave me a firm look. “Low key. Got it. You can count on me.” Then he leaned in and whispered, “What should I call you?”

“Jason,” I laughed. “Just call me Jason. I meant what I said. It’s the gift I received that did most of the work. That’s what you felt. I’m just a normal mage.”

Tariq didn’t look convinced, but he wasn’t going to contradict me, so I continued, “I’ve cut, pierced, and bashed the heck out of the dummy. It only seems right that he gets healed too.”

Tariq called the dummy over, and I did the same thing for him. His composition was different from Tariq in that he didn’t have a skeleton, wires, or pipes. He only had a core and his white rubber substance. His healing was different, as he melted down like a puddle of wax. It was only after he recovered that he grew back to human shape again. Although there wasn’t anything to organize, he still looked clean and fresh when I was done.

I received a warm, enthusiastic hug from the dummy, and then it was finally time to go. The other trainers had seen something very interesting go down, and they wanted to know more, but I wanted to find out what was going on with Annabeth, so I put them off as best I could.

John used his looming presence to keep us moving, and he frowned at one trainer who got a bit pushy. That was enough to make him back off, and we made it to the rest of our crew who was waiting well off to the side. I was ready to get some answers, but Tyler got in the first word.

“Before we switch gears, I want to solidify what you’ve learned here. My first question is—do you feel more confident in your abilities?”

He was speaking in his teaching tone of voice.

“For sure,” I nodded. “I now feel a lot more secure in what I’m capable of. I really didn’t know I could hit so hard or move so fast. You and Annabeth were right. I was fighting like I was still injured. Now I’m ready to take on this tournament at a whole new level.

“Plus, the idea of PiCuBB helped me develop my Spikes in a new direction. They were already powerful, but I think their cutting mode may be the most powerful of all.”

“I’m happy to hear that.” Tyler smiled warmly. “And you’re going to need all that newfound confidence because Annabeth can no longer see.”