Past Life Hero, ch 45

Lance tapped his finger on the table. "I'll be real with you. I'm pretty frustrated."

"Okay," said Max, "so how about you talk first and I'll just listen while I eat." 

Lance seemed to consider that and nodded his head.  "I had some time to think about everything that happened and given the situation, I think that you did everything you could for me during…I’ve been thinking of it as, ‘the incident.’

“Also, I've been feeling kinda guilty about the fact that I introduced you to Wiley. It’s like, was I really that obviously the weakest link, the person to befriend first?  By the way, I've tracked down where he's staying and what classes he’s taking, but ever since news came out of what you did at the Mystic Spear Path Academy, he's been lying low. My guess is he has someone running him food since nobody's seen him in days."

Max nodded at this. Lance continued, "So naturally I thought about how if I felt guilty that Wiley befriended me first, maybe because I was a little naive or an easier mark, then I figured you probably felt guilty that your beef with Regal getting me caught up in it. I'm not gonna lie, I still have nightmares." Lance's mouth firmed and his eyes got a haunted look. "I never could have imagined that anything could hurt so bad."

He shook his head. "But you know what? It all made me realize something. Some people in the Quartet might think that the system allowing for dueling or even letting people get away with murder is because of lack of oversight. But I don’t think so.  Now I am on the side of the people who think it toughens us up.  It’s easy to forget sometimes that we are training for war.  Worse, actually.  Like, end of the world shit.

“After what I experienced in that alley, now the idea of fighting monsters isn't quite as scary anymore." He laughed hollowly. "Back on earth, there's this thing in movies and TV shows and stuff that humans can be the scariest monsters…but holy shit is it true. At least I think so now.

"So yeah, anyway, I've been doing a lot of thinking and I've decided that there's probably plenty of blame to go around. So it doesn't matter. Honestly, the part that still pisses me off is that I have not seen you basically since I experienced getting stabbed a few times in that alley. I'd like to imagine that you have your reasons, but I'd also like to hear them now." Lance steepled his fingers and stopped talking.

Max finished chewing his last bite and nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, that all sounded reasonable," he said. "But you still want to punch me?"

"Absolutely," said Lance without hesitation. "I know you were probably doing your own thing, but from my perspective, my new friend just got us dragged into literally feeling what it's like to get murdered by sharp objects and then disappeared and avoided me until now."

"Well, I wasn't avoiding you," said Max. "...not intentionally, anyway."

"Yeah, that's what I kept telling myself," said Lance. "...but it's still good to hear it." He ruefully shook his head. "I knew you were different when I first met you, but after all this stuff I've heard that you've supposedly done, like starting a terrorism campaign in the Mystic Spear Path Academy and actually killing a hundred students?"

"Well, it definitely wasn't a hundred," said Max.

"Just what the hell kind of life did you live before you came here!?" exclaimed Lance. Max laughed, but didn't answer. To avoid an awkward silence, Max took another bite of his food and waited for Lance to speak again.

The other man finally said, "Look, we haven't been friends that long and you probably don't owe me much based on that, but this is a weird situation that we're in and there aren't very many other people that I really relate to around here. Not only that, I've just had to wrap my mind around the fact that I was fucking murdered." His voice trailed off in a hiss. "I have never hated anybody as much as I hate those Mystic Spear assholes now. I don't like it. It feels like poison.

"But you know what? I can't let it go now because I feel like maybe it's important that I let that poison cook, you know? It's fucking with my head. I'm starting to understand some of my military veteran friends back in Canada and some of the stuff they used to say." Lance gave a crooked smile. "You know, not for the first time, I'm thinking I'm not really cut out for this sort of thing. And yet here I am. And I know that when we get back to Earth, I'm going to be responsible for saving other people. Responsible, me! Do you know that I can't find any alcohol anywhere in the Quartet?" Lance chuckled hollowly. "I suspect the powers that be know that if everyone could liquor up, they'd have half the students here turning to raging alcoholics."

Max continued to listen quietly.

Lance said, "You know what else kind of messed with my head? After you were doing your own thing, and I was just going to classes after I came back to life like nothing had happened, and then finding out that Mystic Spear dickheads had tried to kill you when you'd just woken up…Realizing that maybe that could have happened to me…But I didn't have anybody to talk to about it. And I thought about trying to make more friends, but ran into how freaking weird some of our classmates are and how they didn't even know what a freaking television is." He shook his head. "Like I said, I don't think I'm cut out for this stuff, but at the same time, I don't have a choice. For Christ's sake, I'm Canadian. I'm not a psycho American like you."

Max frowned. "Americans aren't psycho."

Lance raised an eyebrow.  “Dude, America is an anthill.  You guys have been involved in every major fight on Earth for like hundreds of years now. In the case of a world-ending, crazy monster threat, who is most likely to survive?  America, with the most powerful military in the world, where people practice killing stuff for fun and half of you have guns, or…New Zealand?”

Max rolled his eyes but privately admitted that Lance had a point.  However, he also knew that people were individuals.  People came in all shapes and sizes and personalities.  After an apocalypse event, when civilizations broke down, it could be a handful of powerful warriors more than anything else that held people together or made an area strong.  Add the potential of magic to the mix, and the most powerful countries on Earth could drastically change in the next few  years of history…if the Earth still even existed by that time.

He kept quiet.

Lance seemed to understand that Max wasn’t going to take the bait.  He sighed and said, "Okay, that's probably enough venting from me, but this whole thing has been one of the most challenging times of my life. And then on top of everything else, I'm worried about my girlfriend and my kid and my family and my friends and I know there's nothing I can do for them right now other than to get as strong as I can. But on top of not feeling like I'm getting strong enough fast enough, I also have to deal with all these…mindbenders associated with getting murdered by thugs with spears." Lance looked down at the table and stopped talking.

Max gathered his thoughts. He said, "Whether you think I'm at fault or not, I apologize for getting you pulled into all that stuff with Regal. I obviously didn't intend it. I should have known better than to go into that alley, probably even the central area of the Quartet in general."

"How could you have known that?" said Lance.

"I just should have known better. The central area can be a dangerous place for people who stand out and don’t have backing.  And that alley was suspicious."

"See, this is the kind of stuff I'm talking about," said Lance, "because I believe you. But at the same time, we're not that different in age, and we both come from Earth.  Same continent, in fact.  So it makes me wonder to myself, if I didn’t see any of this stuff–still don’t–how in the hell am I going to be of use to anybody when I get back to Earth?"

Max struggled thinking about how to respond. He definitely wasn't keen on talking about his past life, but he could understand Lance's concerns. Saying the wrong thing at this moment might damage the other man's spirit.  But he didn't quite  know how to encourage without sounding trite or giving away secrets he was unwilling to give.

Finally, Max said, "Everybody has a different role, Lance. They've been telling us since we got here that Summoners can be great supporters for a team. Just remember that if you're good support, you don't need to be on the front line but you can still make a huge difference. Experience will come.  The most important things right now for all of us are probably a desire to improve.  So instead of focusing on what you can't do, I think it's good to focus on what you can.  Then maybe try to turn the stuff you can’t do into the stuff you can."

"But I can't do anything right now," said Lance.  “I’m a Summoner without any spirits.”

"Yeah, well, maybe I can help with that," replied Max. He mentally asked Lavinia if he could teach Lance the method that she'd shown him for contacting spirits.

Lavinia's voice came back quickly. If he's doing that stuff, then it could be putting him in even more danger. Remember what happened to me?

Max mulled it over for a second and said, "How about this? Whether you think we're both at fault and I don't owe you anything or not, I still feel like I pulled you into something that I should have known better than to get into in the first place. And I'm sorry if that comes across as condescending to you, but I'm just being honest. If you don't want to take this as making that right, then just take it as a gift from one Earth native to another."

"Okay, maybe I can accept that. I'm listening."

Max nodded. "Alright, so there's maybe two ways I can help you. The first is teaching you how to fight, specifically my style of martial arts. I'm already going to be teaching some folks that I know from the Basic Group Combat class, and I think I can handle one more student."

"What's the second way?" asked Lance.

Max gestured for his friend to lean in closer and then said quietly, "I've been working on an experimental way to help find and create contracts with spirits more easily. If you promise to keep it a secret, maybe I can show you some of that later." Then he leaned back and watched as Lance's eyes grow distant, thinking. When he made eye contact with Max again, his gaze was resolute.

Lance said, "I will have to say no to the first part. At least for now.  The martial arts.”

“Why?”

“I don't think I'm ready. Like you just said yourself, you're going to be teaching people from the Basic Group Combat class but everybody in there has to already know how to fight, right? Well, I don't know how to fight yet and I don't want to hold anybody back. But more importantly..." Lance paused, seeming to search for the words. "I want to know that I got to that first level by myself. Maybe it's not..." His voice trailed off again. "Maybe it doesn't make sense. But like I said, I've been thinking about this stuff a lot lately and I really feel like some of the weird stuff in the Quartet is as much to change our outlook as to help us learn magic or fighting or whatever.

"Some people in the schools are like Regal, eh? From worlds that already have monster fighting and magic and all this crazy stuff. Some people might be like you, from a world that didn't, but they're just…built different. But I think there's a lot of people in this Quartet, maybe in every Quartet, who are just regular people that got lucky or desperate and killed a monster just like me. Part of me wants to take your offer and get power-leveled like in a video game and maybe I'll regret rejecting it later, but for right now, I think it's better if I learn on my own, at least up to a certain point.

"So," he paused yet again, struggling to find the words. "I guess what I'm saying is, I'm not saying no, but maybe let's take a rain check on that."

"Okay, fair enough," said Max.

"As for the second part, I think I will actually take you up on that." Lance nodded decisively. "A Summoner without contracted spirits is kind of like having a gun with no bullets. Maybe not the best analogy, but..." He trailed off.

Max said, "I understand.”

“Okay. Good.”

“I'll start thinking about when and where I can show you.  But we should probably stop talking about it in the open like this because while I'm sure it works, I'm not sure how kosher it is to some of the powers that be.”

Lance looked worried for a moment before nodding with an air of determination. “Got it,” he said. Then he sighed. “Okay, so with all that stuff out of the way, I want to hear in detail exactly what you've been up to since I died in that alley. Everything I've heard so far has been second hand. I want to hear it from the source.”

“I can definitely do that,” said Max. For the next twenty minutes, he told Lance everything he'd done, and the other man's expression grew more and more stunned.

When Max was done, Lance shook his head and said, 'You are insane. I am really glad that you aren't my enemy, Max.” Then he chuckled. “Right about now, maybe Regal is wishing he could say the same thing.”

Max shrugged noncommittally, “Who knows? Anyway that's what I've been up to, what about you?' Max wasn't in a hurry, so he took some time catching up with his friend, only pausing to use his tablet to send messages to Gantry Bliss. By the time he left the cafeteria, he left for his quarters to kill a little more time before heading out to meet Gantry.

At his dorm, after freshening up, Max paced around his magic utility room thinking about his conversation with Lance. Max had already been working to shed bad habits he'd acquired being a peaceful idiot on Earth, but he still had to remember he was not an island.  His decisions would affect other people, including people he cared about. That train of thought also led him to remember how woefully ignorant he was about being a summoner. He flicked open his third eye and scanned the room he was in, but didn't see anything special other than a distortion in one corner. He focused on the distortion and Lavinia came into focus. She smiled ruefully to him and her voice was audible as she said, “Took you long enough to finally spot me like that.  Now shut your third eye.”

Max followed his familiar's instruction and shut his third eye. Lavinia popped into his normal eyesight, and the ghost girl said, “Do you have a few minutes? I know you're about to be heading to your martial arts instruction thing that you scheduled today.”

“I think so.”

Lavinia pointed. "Well, how about another lesson? Maybe you go sit down because this is going to be a lot.”

Max didn't see a reason to argue, so he sat and asked, “Should I take notes with my tablet?”

“I'd rather you just pay attention,” said Lavinia. “Not only that, I'd rather teach you as a friend than like a professor or something.” Max didn't answer and just listened attentively. Lavinia said, “Part of being a Summoner is knowing when and where to use your third eye. You need to start training your third eye to not only see better, as in see the unseen, but also to make it stronger so that you build stamina and protection.  Leaving it open all the time, even at a low level, is not only tiring, it would also probably drive you crazy.

“If you'd been leaving your third eye open, I would have said something before now," her voice trailed off and Max nodded. Lavinia continued, "This next part should be common sense but since I'm talking to you, I think it's important I say this. You should be really careful about opening your third eye when you're dealing with really powerful entities like really strong Challengers or even some spirits. The third eye is just a tool. Whether the Summoner can handle seeing really powerful beings depends on that summoner's mental strength and depth of will. But even then it's usually a bad idea." Max nodded and Lavinia continued her lesson.

A few minutes later, a comment she made in passing made Max's eyebrows stand up. "What did you just say?” he asked.

"I said that the mana units in the Quartet are basically just distilled mana."

"Yeah, give me a second to think about that," said Max. It wasn't anything he hadn't heard before, but he muttered and willed one of the mana units into his hand. Using the strength of his one-star mana body, he applied both physical and spiritual pressure to the orb all at once on precisely the opposite sides. With a sharp crack, the mana unit disintegrated in his hand and Max felt a burst of mana spread from the destruction. He opened his senses and greedily tried sucking as much of the mana into his body for refinement as he could.

"What did you just do?" asked Lavinia.

Max laughed in glee then stood and did a little dance.

"Are you on drugs?"

“I can’t be.  Lance said there wasn’t even any alcohol around.”

"Oh, there is definitely alcohol in the quartet," said Lavinia, "and drugs. You just need to know–"  She stopped speaking as Max started laughing.

Max's mirth tapered off and he gave the ghost girl a strange look. "I thought you never left your room. How the hell do you know about drugs and alcohol?"

"Oh, I have my ways," said Lavinia loftily.

Matt stared at his contracted spirit until he suddenly smiled and said, "That's right, you're a spirit now. You probably wandered around and found out about all this stuff after you were dead, didn't you?" Lavinia frowned and Max knew he'd hit the nail on the head. He started laughing again.

In a huff, the ghost girl said, "Are you going to tell me what you just did, or not?"

Max got himself under control and said, "Basically, I just verified what we all already know to be true. The mana units really do content mana and if you destroy them, the mana they contain is released. It's not a really efficient way to get the mana back that they were created with, I don't think. But, this Quartet has somewhat weak mana. And maybe by destroying mana units, I can figure out a way to increase the density of mana around me when I'm refining my mana body."

"And you think that'll work?"

"Yeah, I do."

"So you're going to need a lot more money, huh?" She frowned in sympathy.

"It looks that way," said Max. Now that the initial elation from his discovery had passed, his heart dropped when he realized how many things he needed money for now.

"Better get working.  One more to-do for you, huh?”

"Yeah," said Max. He grunted. "I think that it'll be a good idea to use up what I have right now before I can go out again though." He gestured at the note that he'd found in his sitting room when he'd just returned to his dorm.

The note was from the Headmaster of the Summoner Academy to informed him that he was not not to leave Academy grounds for three weeks due to his actions in the Quartet. This was a decision reached by Summoner Academy staff to help let tensions between schools in the Quartet relax. Max wasn't sure if the Headmaster had been behind or was in agreement with the order or not, but suspected he was. After all, Max wouldn't be much good to the Summoner Academy if he kept dying over and over again.

It was a little frustrating having a restriction like this placed on him, but Max decided obeying might actually be for the best, not least of which to get stronger before venturing out into the central area again.  But he could also give the leadership at Summoner Academy the illusion of control. After all, if Max followed their orders on this, maybe they'd assume that he would always be obedient.

If he rocked the boat again too soon, he was sure he'd get another golem following him around. And that would definitely be a hindrance to his later plans.

"Every time you get that expression, I can tell you're plotting something now," said Lavinia.

Max just responded with a nod.  Deep in thought, he left his dorm, heading for his first group combat class.