Point Zero by Aer-ki Jyr (christmas read aloud TXT) 📕

They no longer had to be content with what they’d accomplished, they could continue to push forward…forever, and that was the biggest relief for all of them. The important part of their lives wasn’t over, just the early levels, with the bigger and more important stuff being ahead, as it always should be.

That mindset change had brought them back to what they were in the beginning, only better for all the experience they had. So while they might be newbs in these bodies, the Cores inside them certainly were not, and that meant they weren’t going to stay newbs for very long, as long as Kian didn’t over press and get himself injured, as a few of the others had, though their healing rate was so high now they almost didn’t need a Regenerator for the smaller stuff, because the tissue would be fully repaired within a day or two as long as they ate enough foodstuffs.

Kian was slightly more patient than the others, though he was chomping at the bit as well, and while his body needed rest right now after the obstacle course run, his mind wasn’t so fatigued, so he took his dripping self over to one of the mech simulators and climbed into a control sphere, with the force fields raising his body up and letting him essentially stand in a body-covering cushion as his mind connected to the program. He was inside a cat-like mech known as a Puma, with the quadruped nature of it causing many mechwarriors issues, but Kian found it more normal now than he had before, and the others had noted similar comfort with other forms…especially Cora-005, who had gotten a brain-augment that allowed her to almost effortlessly adjust her mind to any mechanical body she linked with, similar to how Roger-009’s upgrade had him controlling Naval fleets with such an ease that he had leapt past Paul in the Naval rankings virtually overnight.

Kian really needed to work on his body, but he was still an Archon and wasn’t going to neglect any of the 5 disciplines…though the upper ranking system had just got blown out of the water, no aquatic pun intended, though the Furyans’ unaugmented swimming ability still sucked compared to other races, but was faster now than Humans thanks to their longer arms and legs.

Kian would hit the pool in a few hours after his mech training was over, then get some food and a quick nap before heading to the gym for sparring practice with the Golden Knights, some of which had been recalled to help with the trailblazers’ training since they were now of equal body size, though Vermaire hadn’t returned yet. He was still out poaching Hadarak minions wherever he could find a good fight along the Grand Border, and he had a lot to choose from.

The rest of Star Force would deal with that for the time being, and when the fleet got built up enough to finish this fight and claim this galaxy for the lightside, Kian was confident the trailblazers will have outgrown their newbness and be back stronger and sharper than before.

In fact, he expected them to get to that point well before the fleet did…

6

July 13, 154931

Solar System (Home One Kingdom)

Earth

Paul had been doing workouts like the rest, all of which were solo at this point. Wilson had demanded that before they began sparring or otherwise training with each other, but Paul also had a different set of training to work in, so he’d extended the normal 24 hour day to 27, which put him out of sync with the others, but at this point that didn’t matter. He didn’t need to eat with them, and they talked enough through the message boards sharing notes on their new bodies and brainstorming ways to deal with the challenges Wilson was throwing at them…which were getting harder each month now that the newbness had worn off, and Paul didn’t expect anything but headaches to come.

But Wilson knew Paul had a bigger priority, and he’d likewise adjusted his training to accommodate the longer day, which meant a bit less intensity so he could extend it on the same amount of sleep…which he was getting a solid 6 hours of each day. That had been unheard of before, but since he could turn down his metabolism on a whim he didn’t need to stay in constant hyper mode…but come a combat situation that would be very helpful to go back into, especially if that combat was to last days or weeks, and so far it didn’t seem like they were losing their efficiency with all the down time. The higher metabolism was just now an option they had, and as long as they kept it dusted off now and again there wasn’t any loss involved.

That didn’t mean they couldn’t train it to be better, and the others already were working on that, but Paul wasn’t. He has biding his time and energy, as it was necessary to relax in order to connect to the Saiolum. His grasp on it was so tentative he had to focus to know it was even there, but when he did it was as if he was transported into another dimension…except that it overlayed on this one, and was part of reality rather than something separate like the Essence realm.

Today was no different, and after an 8 mile run at a casual 38 miles per hour, Paul sat down in a meditation room that had sound dampening walls and a hatch that could only be opened from the inside, though there was a single light on the door to use as a doorbell that would illuminate when someone outside wanted their attention. If the light wasn’t interacted with in a few seconds it would elevate to an audible chime that would get progressively louder, which was intended not to shock a person