Progenitor System - Chapter 9 Dreams And Reality.

“You did a really stupid thing, boy.” A vial of red about the length of my pinky was forced against my lips and the liquid sloshed into my mouth before being removed and a hand replaced it, forcibly keeping my mouth shut and making me swallow the vile concoction of sweaty rags and crotch rot that had been forced into me.

I gagged on reflex and was then forced to swallow the nasty and my own vomit that swished around in my mouth. Oh, God. I shook my head a bit, he kept his hand firmly placed there and I swallowed fully. I glared at the old man in question and he just showed me another vial of the nasty. I swore I would shove that vial right up his piss hole for that crap.

The fact it was actually easing the pain wracking my body was a moot point. “That’s right, boy. Get ready for round two now, these are the cheap ones but they work just the same. Just taste like week old horse crap mixed with month old, old man semen. It’ll make you right as rain in a few hours though.”

He forced another vial to my lips and I clenched my teeth, refusing to let him force another glob of that shit into my mouth. I didn’t care if it would make me right as rain. There was no way in hell that was good for my body. “Oh no, don’t be like that you dumbass,” he muttered before locking his index finger and thumb behind my jaw, right at the joints, and forced my teeth apart to pour that vile substance into my mouth before quickly forcing my mouth shut and covering my nose this time. Bastard must have known I’d try to force it out of my nose, regardless of the potential burn and smell.

I swallowed it again with a force of will that would have normally made me proud of myself. At the moment I just wanted to murder this asshole. Stewart waited a few more seconds, ensuring I had swallowed it and then removed his hand while smiling. He patted my knee, my broken knee, and I winced in anticipation of the pain. It was there but muted beyond belief. I admitted the usefulness of the potion, but I swore I would never willingly swallow that swill again. I’d discover another method of healing me in the future.

“Well, you won,” he said, sitting on his heels while regarding me calmly. “You also embarrassed all of my people. Two of them were C-rank, our only other Beast User, and you pissed off Jessica. Bad day for you, bad couple of coming months as well.” I leaned up onto my elbows, taking the strain of my back a bit while he spoke.

“You also won yourself a War Beast. Something that, by rights, is not allowed for anyone below C-rank. Your Lupine already pushes the boundaries. Guild Law won’t allow you to use him, let alone trust you with him. What do you plan to do?”

I looked at the Guild Master in confusion. I was still getting over the nasty film that coated my tongue and kept the taste of that vile nasty in my mouth. I rubbed the roof of my mouth over and over trying to scrap it off so I could spit it out. It wasn’t working. Finally, I just asked him a question in turn. “Are we allowed home visits at times?”

He nodded his head, tilting it to the side. “All E-rank Adventurers are allowed a three day period away from training to return home and decide if they truly wish to remain in the Guild. This happens once after two months have gone by. Why?”

“I’ll take the big guy to the farm during that period. Until then just leave him here and allow me to work with him on my own time. It won’t affect my performance in this ‘training.’”

He glared at me when I hinted his version of training was pathetic. I shrugged, to me it was. Just a fact. I shook my head. A final attempt to rid myself of that nasty shit before carefully flexing my calf and thigh muscles. It still hurt, a sharp pain went through my body, but it was bearable and I thought I’d manage some weight on it if I was careful. The fact I was ravenous made me think the potion only accelerated the bodies natural healing and ate up your own resources to force that speed. I asked Stewart while slowly getting to my feet.

“Yes, for the cheap ones I tend to force on idiots at least. You’ll be eating like made for a bit, but it will help your body. The good stuff has magical properties of a higher order and doesn’t have any side effects like that.”

He paused a moment, looking at me again. This time he was without the levity. “Where did you learn to fight, boy? No one your age should be able to do any of what that group said you did. You sure as hell shouldn’t have been able to keep from screaming bloody murder when your entire leg got crushed against that building.”

I ignored him for a moment, he allowed it. I saw the big black brute of a Lupine as it lay down before Sab and was drinking a massive health potion. Thing was the size of an apple, the vial. For once I had a small amount of respect trickle in since he was using something that obviously tasted better than mine on his Creature. The fact the Lupine cried out in pain seconds later when he clenched his fist again and curse removed that tiny bit her had earned. At least he didn’t kill the creature though.

I looked at Saga, who was lying down not a foot from me, her massive head on her paws while she looked at me, a small whine coming through. I reached over and scratched her ears while smiling. “Good girl.”

“Dear Gods, you can smile!” came the sarcastic response from Stewart beside me. “Now answer me.” I sighed and faced him.

“No one, Guild Master. You could consider it a natural talent. You are free to ask my parents, they will vouch for no one having taught me a thing.”

He glared at me, hard. If I had actually been a ten-year-old kid I’d have wilted under that hard stare like a flower on a sun-parched day. Since I was not a ten-year-old kid I just stared back at him calmly. “I’ll do that, boy,” he said at last. “You will be with me when I do, later today. You’ll be fine for the rest of the days’ schedule. Nothing else will be as intensive. As for the War Beast. I’ll give you those two months, you are not to use him without supervision, however. If I catch wind that you have I will gut that Minotaur and throw you in the entrails. You’ve embarrassed this Guild enough. It’s your only warning. Get back to it.”

I believed his threat, his promise. At least I could see about studying that collar. I’d see if Derek qualified as supervision later. No need to push things further than I have. I hated being in this body. Continuing to scratch a much happier Saga’s ear I watched as Stewart went over to Sab and spoke with him. The old bastard wasn’t smiling anymore and those eyes when he looked at Saga had not lost that ‘hunger.’ They held rage when they looked at me though. I’d made a real enemy there. One that wasn’t afraid of me, one that was actually intelligent based on the fact he wasn’t fighting his own bargain. I’d have to prepare for the inevitable conflicts that came from this. It was still worth it though.

I eyed him back. I’d dealt with people like him before. He was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. He was finally denied something he wanted and lost something he ‘owned.’ It would get worse until he was removed from the situation. On Earth, it was normally as easy as either locking the person up or ensuring he left the state. I was under no illusions about the best method in this world. He’d have to die. I patted my free hand against my leg, gently, where the Swift Horror lay curled in my pocket and smiled at him, baring my teeth.

His glare grew worse before Stewart cut off my view and guided the man away from the field. Something for another day, like so many other things. I gave Saga another pat and sent her off toward the sulking Saddie and the decidedly depressed looking Derek. That should help the man out a bit.

That left me with the rest of this class. When I made my way toward the other children and the Instructors I noticed that the sneering idiots were looking at me, at least two of them were, with interested glances. Didn’t need that in my life. The other children pretty much avoided me by about five feet. That worked for me as well. The Instructors actually seemed to treat me with a bit of respect, aside from Jessica. She likely still held a grudge after what I did to her. She’d get over it, or not.

The one-eyed man, pretty sure I heard someone call him Claw, stood before the kids with a crystalline orb. It was different from the Message Crystals which had more color in them. This was completely see-through and reminded me of glass.

“This is a Magic Tester kids. What we are going to do, for those that have not had the test,” he flicked his gaze to a smug looking trio of boys before continuing, “is have you each touch the Orb one by one and it will change colors based on your affinity, should you have any. From there you will begin being trained in magic as well.”

I will admit that perked me up some. I’d been curious about magic as a whole. My parents had no money for this ‘test’ at the time however so I had no real idea if I was attuned to any of the elements.

One by one the children, minus the idiots, walked up and touched the orb. Some flashed brown, Earth Magic, some red for Fire, blue for Water, and green for Wind. One of the girls had the orb flash Red, Green, and Brown before a bright yellow went through. Apparently, she was someone who was greatly attuned to the elements, or Magic, of this world. She had Fire, Wind, Earth and the rarer Light attributes.

She earned the majority of the attention because she was; One, a Commoner and Two, an orphan. I had no doubt some high-to-do people would try to either control her or kill her in the near future when that got out. A boy had Water and Fire. They were the only two with multiple affinities that took the test. The rest were single affinities. Then it was my turn.

I actually felt nervous, reminded me of my first day at Boot Camp. I loved it. When I placed my hand on that Orb I imagined greatness, something amazing like Dark magic or the like. Sadly reality is harsh. The orb did not respond to my touch. It remained clear as it was before I touched it.

Claw glanced at the orb and my frowning face for a second before speaking, not unkindly. “Don’t worry about it, kid. Not everyone with affinities can become Magic Users either. I admitted to myself I was disappointed but shrugged my shoulders at him nonchalantly.

“Life is rarely fair or kind, Instructor. I will make do with my Creatures and martial skills.” He looked at me for a long moment, shock evident in his gaze as I stepped back and crossed my arms over my chest. I heard one of the trio snicker something along the lines of “Pathetic.” The one I had scared shitless hissed at him to be silent.

A few of the other children seemed disappointed as a whole. Not surprising, all children wanted a show. The girl with multiple affinities walked over to me, speaking in a soft voice, a few of the other kids following her like sheep. “Hi, I’m Amy. You’re Crispin, right?”

I glanced at her and then promptly ignored the kid. I had no interest in them. I was mentally older than they were for one. The only other reason is I didn’t want to deal with the idiocy that might ensure because what amounted to a miracle child wanted to get close to me and be friends. I wanted no part of this kid’s doomed future.

A few of the kids introduced themselves after hers, ignoring my silence and body language. It allowed me to remember that kids tended to ignore, not see, or otherwise push forward regardless of that fact. The little girl moved in a little closer, hesitantly. She was a foot from me now. “Um, your Lupine is really pretty. What’s its name?”

Ah, using the Creature as a conversation starter. Smart. Useless, but smart. I took a step from her, ignoring her again and looked at the Instructors, waiting for them to finish whatever the hell they were talking about. Thankfully, most of the kids took the hint and left, throwing me disdainful eyes. I rolled mine at the scene, friends were for the weak.

The one who didn’t take the hint was the little girl that was likely going to end up gang-raped when she came into power and exhausted it escaping some fat noble. “You…don’t talk much, do you?”

I regarded her, lifting an eyebrow. She blushed a bit after realizing she had just stated the obvious. I was saved from further complicated and awkward social interactions, or their attempts when the Instructors finally took hold of the class again.

“Alright kiddies! Here’s the deal. Because our personal little monster there ruined our weapons selection we’ve decided to change things up a bit. Everyone pick the weapon they like most, and we will start doing some mock drills against wooden dummies to see if you have potential. Save some time. You, Crispin, you’re coming with me for a moment.”

I eyed Claw. This felt…lazy, but I nodded and followed after him. The other Instructors began guiding the kids toward the dummies on the other end of the field. Claw led me closer to the stables, a bit further away, before turning toward me with a glare.

“You’re a cocky little shit, but you have skill.” I regarded him in return, curious as to why he called me cocky. Was it cocky to simply be better? He continued through my mental musings. “You’ve proven yourself adept with all the basic shit so now I’ll make it simple. What aren’t you adept in?”

That got me thinking, I cupped my chin in contemplation. I’d taken the hobbies up on Earth, weapons and the like because I grew bored when not actively doing something or at work. I’d trained in damn near every known weapon and martial art back there. There were several I simply never could get the feel for, not for lack of trying, but because they hadn’t suited me. I ruled those out. “Alright, what’s your favorite weapon then?”

Apparently, he was impatient. “Sickle Scythe,” I stated matter of factly. I had always enjoyed the use of a Scythe. It had range and due to the blades, angle and curve allowed it to be somewhat difficult to deal with.

“I see, that’s a fucking weird choice. Can you even use the things?” I nodded, not entirely sure why he’d call it weird. I honestly figured it would be common, apparently not. “You not talking is going to get annoying, kid.”

“Understood.” he sighed at my response and let it go.

“Alright, I’ll make it easy. I will provide you with the training version of that weapon. It will take a few days to have it crafted. In return, you will help us get the basics pounded into those kids. Think of it as personal skill training, or personnel. You’re a kid and way too uptight. If you can’t open up to some degree and make friends then you won’t make it as an Adventurer. We thrive in teams.”

I lifted a brow at him. “I am a Beast User. They are my ‘team.’ Other people would only slow me down.”

“You actually believe that too, don’t you?” He asked. I nodded my head in answer. “Oh, you are in for a rude awakening in the coming weeks. You’ve gotten all of us on your bad side and you’re keeping the kids at arm’s length. Learn to work together with them. If you can’t then I will personally remove you from this Guild.”

I closed my eyes and sighed, loudly. What the hell was with this shit? Threats, promises of threats. It was tedious. “Then you will remove me, or try too. By the time that comes around, I imagine things will have changed.” I admit I let my anger at the crap get the better of me there. I admitted it because he suddenly grinned at me in malicious glee. Fuck me and my mouth.
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