Chapter One Hundred and Seventeen - Monday Morning Blues

  I got home, took off my shoes, then crashed back into bed and took a nap with Mister Couchtop hopping onto my back with his stupid needle-point feet to join in.

  That led to me waking up at half-past three-thirty in the morning.

  I rolled out of bed, padded over to my laptop, and then checked the news for the next couple of hours. There were whispers about what Synthcorp had done, and the company was obviously pulling out all the stops to do some pre-damage control. Some people caught on to that and there was a quick stock sale going on, but it wasn't anything too bad.

  The incident in the foodcourt was on a few sites. For whatever reason, the civilians hadn't been pushed back as far, so there was good footage out. People were speculating, but it wasn't even a viral thing, just... another weird event going on in Fortress ENE. Normal Sunday afternoon stuff, basically.

  I leaned back into my crusty old gamer chair, then did the reasonable thing and set a new Save. Probably should have done it an hour ago, but whatever. I wasn't going to repeat the day all over again.

  I continued to waste time online until the sun was about to rise, then I did some floor exercise to make up for missing the gym yesterday. Had to build those muscles somehow, right? Then a quick shower before... well, I was ready an hour before I had to leave.

  God, having my own transportation was nice.

  I spent that hour practicing on the guitar. I was still nowhere near good, but I was... maybe getting there? I really had to take some time off and like, hire a coach for a week and do nothing but practice. That'd get me up to spec.

  Anyway, after a bit of callous-building--which I wasn't sure was working, except that my fingers did hurt a little, so maybe?--I packed my stuff away then headed out, giving Mister Couchtop one last smooch on the head before leaving.

  I rode through the morning traffic on the way to work, weaving around some cars and maybe speeding through a few oranges because fuck it, consequences were for people that couldn't reload the morning. That meant arriving in time, which was nice, because Eldur wasn't the sort to appreciate tardiness except from Terry, who probably had a doctor's note for it.

  "Heya boss," I said as I stepped out of the elevator onto 'our' floor of the building.

  Eldur looked up from a tablet and nodded to me. "Morning. Today's a training day. We have group work in the morning and individual work in the afternoon."

  "Alright. Should I get changed into gym clothes, then?"

  "That'd be for the best," he replied.

  "Cool. Uh, actually, I was wondering..." I started.

  He sighed a little. "You're going to ask for something?"

  "Yeah? I mean, yes, sir. I was wondering if I could take part of the afternoon off?"

  He stared. "Really?"

  "Just the latter half," I said. "I have to go do the test for my driver's permit."

  "You... drove here, no? I think I recall someone mentioning you owning a bike."

  "Mhm, yeah," I said.

  "And you don't have a permit?"

  "Well, if you give me the afternoon off, I will have one," I replied.

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know, being a D-ranker lets you get away with some things, but you still need your permits and to pay your taxes and act like an adult."

  "Is that a no?" I asked.

  It was a yes, as it turned out, but the morning exercises sucked a lot, and I had the distinct impression that Eldur was picking on me. Fortunately, it was mostly group work. We paired off with Squad E4, the newest E-ranker squad.

  That was a little strange, since I knew some of those people. Squad E4 had been mine, and while I couldn't say that the members were friends, exactly, they weren't strangers either. It was bizarre seeing them all looking a bit younger than in my memory, and seeing how... bad they were.

  The exercises we were drilling were basic combat routines. Quickly forming up to repel an attack, then attacking in turn. We had large, foam-covered shields and these spears with blunted rubber tips. Later on, we did some training with these airsoft guns and then some basic CQC.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  It was interesting. Eldur and the Squad E4 leader had us training a few different things, in different groups.

  One thing that I realized pretty quickly was that I was... better?

  No, not better but like, stronger than I had been before, and faster.

  I could recall this kind of training back when I was an E-ranker, and it had been kind of fun and very tiring. Now I could fight for a few rounds and not be entirely exhausted by the end. It was easier to tell that I'd gotten stronger by the contrast.

  After one of our first exercises, where one member of a team was 'kidnapped' and dragged off by the opposite team and they had to push through each member in turn to recapture their lost member, I was... fine?

  Like, I was a bit winded, sure, but fighting off two E-rankers with a foam sword felt relatively easy, even if I could be overwhelmed and tapped out.

  The E-rankers? They'd finish an exercise and look done for. Covered in sweat and ready to suck down water and slump over while I was only just sweating a little and breathing a bit harder.

  Damn... D-rank was no joke. I supposed I'd forgotten what it was like to fight a D-ranker as an E-ranker. It wasn't night and day, but it was night and... dawn?

  The really weird thing was that I didn't feel like I was faster or stronger, I was just... me.

  The morning training ended, then there was lunch from a bistro next door which cost a fortune, and then the afternoon, which was more training, but more self-directed this time.

  I did get to spend a solid half-hour with Dharti, going over the Nature spells that I knew. Soothe Minor Pain, Restore Stamina Nutrition, and Grasping Growth, one after the other. After each one, she'd give me a few pointers. Feel more like this and less like that. Push magic faster here, and slower there.

  I didn't have Nutrition down well, yet, and Grasping Growth was far from something I could cast reflexively, but I was progressing, and I think Dharti was impressed by my speed so far.

  To her, I supposed it probably was pretty fast. A couple of weeks to learn four spells was speedy, but when she told me to take some time to consolidate what I'd learned so far, I... decided to listen. For now.

  I had to pace myself, and I still hadn't mastered any of the spells I did know. Besides, I had to practice my Dark spells some more on the side.

  I left work an hour and a bit early, rode out just a few blocks over to the local DMV, and then used the Ranker line to cut ahead of all the normal folk and took a number from there.

  It felt a bit weird to be sitting on one side, with nicer couches and free coffee, while some hundred-odd people were stuck in the rest of the room, cramped up like sardines.

  My turn came up quickly, especially since I was the only Ranker in my section, and from there, I got to sit in front of an old-ass PC and do a digital test.

  Stop on red. Don't go over the limit. The weird yellow signs were... probably yield? Whatever, I didn't need perfect results to pass, and pass I did.

  From that, I got myself a nice provisional license. I was allowed to drive anything below 250cc between the hours of something and something else. I was barely following the law as it was.

  Still, I rode back towards home with a freshly printed permit. A stop by the groceries on the way, and a quick nip into the pharmacy for some essentials too.

  Then it was back home where I set a new Save, tossed off my shoes, and flopped down in front of the laptop. Since I had the evening off, I could loop a few times, order out... yeah, that was reasonable, but I wasn't going to spend a week on this one evening.

  This past weekend was painfully long already, I wanted things to move along.

  A few loops with the guitar, maybe some French to catch up, and then some more practice with magic? If the last two portals I'd hit had been worth anything, then... yeah, that was a lot of progress, and it might translate into some amount of magical aptitude, or something, right?

  A few hours passed, a few loops, and then I gave up and just went to bed.

  I'd improve over time, not over one night.

  ***