Birthday

"Happy first birthday!" Arete woke him up with a wide smile and an upbeat tone of voice!

'Shut the hell up' he was tired, birthday or not that took priority. Atreyu attempted to fall back into slumber but to no avail. She just wouldn't let him sleep.

A year had quickly passed, yet he still couldn't see her as his true mother. It just didn't feel right. Especially when he had a previous three decades of memories.

He had quickly picked up on the fact that Arete didn't know what a "Warlord" was. Not what the Arena, or Sequences were. That alone showed that it was information not very tangible to the public. At least to what he presumed, she also could happen to not be up with the times or something. Although he doubted that.

His fire ball was in progress and would be due any week or day now. His rate of learning and adapting to new circuits was quickly rising as he could now get ahold the silver circuits easier and far faster. He was almost ready.

'The main problem I'm faced with at this point is that considering I got good genetics I'm probably going to be forced into the "ascender industry" as he called it'

Atreyu wasn't aware of what the "Ascender Industry" was, but if he had to guess, looking at how there were ranks to it he'd assume it was similar to an adventurers system, A-F.

'The problem is, I'm not well versed in combat' surprise surprise! He didn't know how to kill people! He had never taken any sort of martial art or learned a weapon. Unlike this new planet, such things weren't exactly needed on modern earth.

Luckily, he had realized such a concept a few months ago. The problem was, he needed a proficient weapon. And to find such a thing he needed to know his own bodies proportions and conditions. He also had preferences of course, and would like to establish a weapon that he had talent in. But fortunately for him, he had luck on his side as graphs on his estimated proportions where provided at his appointment.

He was estimated to be 5'10 with strength that was about 1.2x that of the average person for his height, stronger than most in his bloodline, but far under the average ascender. Most had at least 1.5x, a large disadvantage on his part.

So his requirement were a relatively long-range weapon that was also light. And considering guns were a thing in this world, he had the option. Despite ever wielding one he would pick up on it far easier than a blade. The problem was that this was a super-human world, he wasn't sure how far a gun could get him in a world where you dodge faster than the fastest bullet.

'So I want to go melee, but longer reach while it is light...' of course, the weapon could be 1.2x heavier than that of average, but in a world where the people he would most likely be fighting were 1.5x-4x normal strength, he wasn't available to so many options.

'I could use no weapons at all? No, I'd prefer to have a weapon on hand' the other thing to consider was that there were most likely different weapons here. Shoot, he couldn't tell but he'd have to guess the guns here were slightly different as well.

'They're probably staying to similar blueprints though' there was a reason blades were so popularized. They were deadly. Because no matter what world you were in, sharpness cuts. And cuts hurt.

'I wonder if theres different weapon materials here' if so, he still had more hope to drive off. But until than, he was leaning towards a katana of sorts. Some variation here and there.

'Doesnt Rukami have two katanas? Maybe I can get him to teach me, oh! this could actually work out!'

He was also confident that the average person's strength was higher here than that on earth. The bloodlines made that probability rise.

'Hmm... I'll see if that works, I should start to read about the weapons of this world' he had a long, long road ahead of him. And he wasn't sure whether he was comfortable with killing another. 'I guess only at the moment I can decide that'

He was confident that moment would come eventually, the question was when? Five, ten, fifteen years? Either way, he had time to prepare. 'I may have to change my mindset to live comfortably here' he narrowed his eyes.

Morphing your own way of thinking with your current thoughts wasn't an easy thing to do, sure, he has done it before, but each time it got harder. He knew the steps, at least for him, but executing it was a totally different subject in itself. There were also requirements to even start the process in the first place. And it wasn't an instant process, no. It was a morpheme that would take years.

First of all, you had to have an open mind, an incredibly open mind. Something that very few in the world possessed. You need to be open to the most twisted of ideas, and understand the reason behind them. but you don't need to agree. how you do that is up to you.

Sadly for him in such instances, the human mind wasn't a simple thing. It was quite incredible how sophisticated you could wander into it. And the process was more of an unconscious thing. Not exactly a subject you can pull off through conscious measures.

Atreyu closed his eyes and tracked what he had on his plate. 'Change my mindset, find an ideal weapon, get a large as possible Aurora pool in four years, figure out was the arena, sequences, and warlords are, and create a formation' damn! He had only been here a year!

His mind rant had lasted longer than Atreyu had anticipated. And he had already eaten, now back in his favorite place, the tiny library.

'Hm, i'll try to get comfortable enough with my circuits to make the fireball, hopefully by today' it was an understatement to say he was close.

Atreyu focussed on the ethereal bloodstream that inherited his body. The hundreds of thousands of circuits in his body. It was truly amazing, like an entirely new world! He passed his conscious passed a variant of colors. Finally stopping at a row of silver circuits, in a zig-zag shape near the edge of his palm.

He started to use them, getting warmed up as if it was an exercise. The thing about the circuits was that if you stopped using them, you'd forget how to well, use them. This forced him to keep up a constant pace and didn't let him get rusty.

His routine started by controlling his circuits with a basic exercise he liked to call "enslave the aurora" the concept was simple, yet a very effectively active warm up. You pick one designated circuit in your body, and two separate circuits directly connected to it by their channels, and command the two outer circuits to send the aurora to the center circuit. The center circuit then intakes only the aurora from those channels and sends them to the opposite circuit that sent them. Rinse and repeat.

After doing his for each circuit he was to use. He practiced resetting his aurora and sending it through effectively. Trying to minimize the amount of aurora that escapes. And since this formation only required 7 circuits, it didn't have much aurora to work with. So he couldn't let much if any escape. And only after all this...

'I think I'm ready' finally, he was semi-confident in his abilities, he had been for a while but was to intimidated to attempt it. Once he truly started casting spells, his pool would truly start to accelerate. But he couldn't do it here, not in his precious library surrounded by wood. He just needed to wait for the designated moment. When he wasn't surrounded by wood, not people. And he only knew one place in the hub that wasn't wood. In the medical area, the problem was getting along in such a place. Where he'd be especially easy to spot, and also where he doesn't know the layout to escape.

'Maybe I'm overthinking it, well, I'll find a way somehow. Maybe I can just ask to go the bathroom there by myself' and it was only then that he realized, he has never spoken to anyone besides himself. How hadn't he noticed?

'What the fuck... Well might as well try now'