Chapter 117: Conflict Resolution

Shadowboxing repair 21% complete.

Calvin formed the spinner hand into an almost paddle shape, tucking the thumb in and giving a gradual curve to the fingers. Once he had the fingers exactly where he wanted them, he started wiring them into shape with some soft iron wire extruded from the newcomer’s chains.

Speaking of the newcomers… Calvin glanced up at Ryan walked up to him, swaggering with one hand in his pocket, the other thrown possessively over the shoulder of the slender woman standing beside him. She had a scar around her throat, and she followed beside him, flinching every now and then whenever someone moved too suddenly.

His gaze radiated greed and hunger, along with the desire to take advantage of Calvin to advance his own comfort and security.

Something tells me I should hate this guy right off the bat.

“So,” Ryan said without preamble. “Folks tell me you’re in charge around here, kid.” He raised his chin in what was obviously some kind of power move.

Thank you, Intuition.

“Untrue,” Calvin said, checking that all five fingers were exactly where he wanted them and weren’t going to shift. “Loren runs the place. I’m just in charge of the escape attempt.”

“Well, that’s all that anyone really cares about, isn’t it? Getting out of here.”

“It’s pretty high on the priority list,” Calvin said, setting aside the disembodied hand to pay full attention to the annoying distraction. “What about it?”

“I wanna help you, Calvin, but I can’t exactly help if I don’t know what the plan is, can I?”

Calvin raised a brow.

“Not entirely true either. A fletcher doesn’t need to know who or what his arrows are killing. You can help by helping.”

Dara looked like she wanted to say something, before she frowned, her hand travelling reflexively back to her scarred throat.

Ryan took his arm off of her shoulder and scratched his head, Dara shying away from him. “Look, Calvin, I just don’t want to get left behind. I got kids up there. They need their dad, Calvin.

“You don’t look like you’ve got kids.” Calvin said.

“Well I do.” He stared at Calvin, his gaze cold and calculating even as he had a concerned look on his face.

Faced with Calvin’s placid stare, he decided to change tactics. The amiability fled from his face in a fraction of a second, turned cold in a fraction of a second.

“Look, Calvin. The rest of these schmucks were tossed down here before you did a number on Uleis, but I recognize your name. I recognize your face. And if I tell them who you are, what do you think will happen. You need to understand that I have leverage, and if you want to keep breathing, you better play along.”

This, my young pupil is what’s commonly referred to as a sociopath. They tend to think of behaviors as keys to get what they want. They’ll go through different behaviors like a man fumbling through a keyring, trying to find the one that matches until you give them what they want. Very animalistic.

I can see the difference.

Calvin would have lead with the blackmail.

“What would happen if you told everyone?” Calvin said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “Best case scenario for you, they’d gang up and try to kill me and I’d be forced to exterminate everyone except for you. Then I’d leave you to die down here. Because like it or not, you don’t have the keys to leave. I do.”

Ryan leaned forward, his thin face distorted with a snarl. “You think you can do that, you little puke? I’m a seventh Break Legend. I could snap you in half.” The mute woman cringed, shuffling away from the two of them.

Now it’s threats of physical harm. Next thing you know he’s going to pretend to fall in love with you.

Calvin broke into a laugh.

“What’s that?” Ryan asked, picking Calvin up by the collar.

“Oh, it’s just that you’re so stupid!” Calvin motioned to the rest of the village, who had begun to gather around the confrontation. “Everyone here is a seventh break Legend. Fucking everybody. This shit isn’t gonna slide.”

Calvin’s vision exploded with white as Ryan slapped him faster than he could see, snapping his head to the side so violently he thought it might have caused permanent damage.

Okay, I’m gonna kill him.

Come on, kid, dust off those conflict resolution skills.

Killing people is a way to resolve conflicts.

Yeah, and that’s exactly what Nadia wants…Don’t tell her I told you that.

Ew.. The idea of being the ideal man for Nadia was...somewhat repugnant.

“Now listen here, scrub. I heard you’ve got eight Body, and Where I’m from, dumbasses who can’t see the way things work get pummeled.”

Calvin blinked the stars out of his eyes, tasted blood between his teeth. He gave Ryan a wide grin.

“Gods, you’re so right.”

Shifting.

15/20 Bent remaining.

Calvin selected four spots around the cave and Ryan’s forehead. The front of the thug’s skull suddenly weighed several tons.

Ryan’s eyes bulged as his head tilted forward.

“What did you-“ His fingers were yanked  away from Calvin’s collar as he tried to support his own skull.

Calvin eased up on the weight just before it hit the ground so as not to kill the man, then he eased it back up, until the expression on Ryan’s face could be best described as ‘anguish’.

“Listen up, Ryan. I’m practicing my conflict resolution skills right now, so I’m going to need you to rate my performance after this is over. Do you think you can do that?”

Ryan gave a half-choked sob and said something disparaging about Calvin’s physical prowess. Again.

“Now, Ryan,” Calvin said with his most patient tone of voice, ignoring the man’s squealing. “Do you know what the pounds per square inch that it takes to sink through solid stone?”

“W-What?” the man asked, half sobbing.

“The front of your skull,” Calvin tapped on his head. “The thing that prevents your brain from getting squished. The front nine square inches are heavier now, as you might have noticed.”

Calvin crossed his lags and sat next to the bastard.

“So the question is, how many pounds per square inch before you start sinking into the stone itself?”

“Or maybe,” Calvin said thoughtfully, glancing up at the ceiling. “…Yeah, your forehead will probably just tear off. How many pounds before your forehead tears off?”

Calvin started slowly dialing up the weight.

“I’m sorry!” Ryan blubbered. “I won’t do it again! I was wrong!” the surrounding villagers started laughing.

“These are all things that I know, Ryan. Can I call you Ryan? Anyway, Ryan, what I asked you, Ryan, was how heavy do you think your skull has to be before it tears itself off?”

“Please don’t.” Ryan said quietly.

“Ryan. You’re not answering me, Ryan. You’re not engaging, Ryan. How much do you think it’ll take, Ryan?”

“I don’t know!” The thug screamed into the ground.

“just a guess, that’s all I’m asking, Ryan. Then we can be friends, Ryan. You’d like that, Ryan, wouldn’t you?”

“Two hundred pounds!”

“To go through stone?” Calvin asked with a slowly spreading smile. “That’s kind of a lowball, Ryan. Your head is already supporting more than that, so it’s gotta be a lot higher. I’m thinking somewhere in the thousands.

Calvin dialed it a bit higher, and heard a soft crack, as the man’s skull began to separate, followed by an anguished yelp. Ah, stress relief. He was actually starting to enjoy Ryan’s company.

Calvin glanced up and spotted Nadia watching with sick fascination while Kala watched with her arms crossed.

She shook her head, slowly, from side to side.

Oh, shit, I’m torturing someone, aren’t I?

Only a little.

Calvin dialed it back down to where the thug couldn’t move, but it wasn’t causing horrible pain.

“You’ve earned yourself a time out mister. I’ll let you think on your misbehavior until the spell runs out.” Calvin said for Kala’s benefit.

Calvin knelt beside the man’s ear and whispered. “And if you whisper a word to anyone about me, I’ll kill you in a way so graphically awful that they’re gonna tell stories about it for thousands of gods-damned years. Do you understand me?”

“Yes.” Ryan whimpered.

“Cool.”

Calvin stood back up, spat the blood out of his mouth and smiled sheepishly at the princesses. Dara was nowhere to be seen.

“Hi Kala, this guy was giving me trouble and…”

Kala raised her eyebrows.

“…Sorry?”

Kala wordlessly turned and left.

Damn. Calvin thought as a sliver of worry drove itself through his stomach. He didn’t like pissing off Kala. It usually meant he was on the wrong track. Nadia’s gaze brimming with lust was a similar warning indicator.

Calvin knelt down beside Ryan’s head again.

“Scale of one to ten,” Calvin whispered into the man’s ear. “How would you rate my conflict resolution skills today?”

“Two.” Ryan groaned, blood oozing out from under his forehead.

“Yeah,” Calvin said, glancing back up. “That’s what I thought, too. Damn.”

***

Gradual Split

14/20 Bent remaining.

Calvin began pumping duplicated refractor goo through the creature’s wired together palm. Damnation. What could I have done better there? The bastard wasn’t listening to words.

If I had to guess, it wasn’t what you did so much as how you did it. The thing that got under Kala’s skin was that you were enjoying yourself.

A small triangle of warped space emerged from the creature’s palm.

Hmmm. I guess I can see that being a problem.

Calvin ramped up the rate at which he was putting goop through the creature’s veins.

The triangle grew bigger, a squat blade, almost as wide as it was long.

Calvin adjusted the mix, paying close attention to the blade, which slowly warped and shifted as he modified the mixture. The blade slowly grew longer and thinner until Calvin was holding what was essentially a short-sword.

Excellent. Once Calvin was absolutely sure he couldn’t make the blade any longer, he wrote the mixture ratios down.

Abyssal Alchemy has reached level 5! 25% Correction.

+1 Intuition!

Please Choose an Ability or Mutation.

Abilities:

Blue Magic: Being effected by a Warped creature’s ability provides insight into the user’s understanding of how said ability works.

Chemistry: Abyssal Alchemy's Correction applies to non-Warped (I.E. nonmagical) chemistry as well.

Refining: 1 Bent to Convert any warped substance into a concentrated powder. Stores indefinitely and reconstitutes with water.

Abyssal Craft: Abyssal Alchemy’s Correction applies to objects primarily created with Warped creature parts.

Mutations:

Storage: Store 1 Warped organ in user’s Body for later use, +1 Per 5 levels of Endurance. Organs refill as normal while stored, but cannot be used.

^The beginning of a mutation tree

You’re Warped, Too: User’s Mutations may be (correction) more easily be distilled from the User’s own flesh and blood.

Performance enhancing drugs: Consume warped creature parts to temporarily augment your performance. Effect varies.

Eyes of the Abyss: Abyssal Alchemy Correction applies to identifying the alchemical uses of Warped creature’s organs. Living or dead.

A lot of mutations… Calvin thought, eyeing the different effects.

Speaking of mutations…

“I could have used Mesmerizing Eye to get out of that without pissing off Kala!” Calvin said, slapping his forehead.

It’s understandable you’d forget about them after you get so many abilities, but I don’t think mind control is going to improve your conflict resolution skills.

Bah, what do you know? You’re dead because you pissed everyone off.

You don’t know that…For sure.

Alright, eyes of the abyss are nice but I don’t want to stack eye mutations again. Storage is too low level to be very helpful. You’re Warped, too…

What are my Mutations?

Third eye, feel Intent, 6th,7th,8th sense. One of the guys, Lady Killer, Blade body, consume, heart of the swarm, The Bowser, And maybe a couple others.

That’s more than I thought.

They add up.

I’ll put that one on the list, take it later when the correction is more powerful. I don’t want to drain myself dry to infuse a piece of armor with Blade body.

Okay.

Calvin rapped his fingers on his knee. Nothing really stood out as exceptionally powerful on its own. Well, I didn’t really expect much from fifth level Abilities.

I choose refining. At least this way he could store his components indefinitely, even after Harvester expired.

Calvin’s mind drifted back to the Kala problem. Obviously, not talking to her ever again would be a problem, and apologizing right away is problematic too.

Just ask what I did wrong?

Might work.

There was a flutter of movement off to the side that caught Calvin’s eye.

Dara was standing there, the underfed mute shifting nervously from foot to foot, watching him curiously. Her gaze mostly carried fear, hesitance, and a thin core of determination.

“Can I help you?”

She shifted from foot to foot for a moment before handing him a note.

‘can you teach me something?’

Calvin frowned, reading the paper.

“What? Why?”

She frowned and took the note away from him and wrote on the back.

‘To defend myself.’

“Is it your Forming day?” Calvin asked. It was the day after the newcomers had arrived, after all.

She nodded.

Of all the things Calvin knew, most of them were useless or sworn to secrecy.

I guess dupdomancy isn’t off limits, but… There was something off in her gaze. Calvin couldn’t quite decipher it, but it gave him a bad feeling about the girl’s intentions.

“Go talk to Kala, the Gadveran girl about my age. She knows how to fight.” Calvin pointed across the village.

She frowned, but did what Calvin said.

Why’d you turn her away?

I think she was either working for Ryan to get a Skill out of me, or planning to harm him. I didn’t want any part in either of those things.

Wow, you’ve come a long way.

Enough of that, Calvin thought, securing the disembodied hand on his belt. Let’s focus on grinding out that last Skill.

Calvin mentally uncapped the Warp Tank and began casting Sense grafting in a manner as complex as he could manage, stretching his range and targeting people with high Stability to present a challenge. It didn’t take more than a couple castings before his skill began to tick up, aided by the raw Warp.

Sense-Grafting has reached level 16!

7/8 Warp Remaining.

Sense-Grafting has reached level 17!

6/8 Warp Remaining.

Sense-Grafting has reached level 18!

5/8 Warp Remaining.

Sense-Grafting has reached level 19!

4/8 Warp Remaining.

Sense-Grafting has reached level 20!

Sense Grafting Level 20: Sight, hearing, touch, pain, smell, Taste, Balance, Identity. On target, 400ft range, 100 minutes.

+1 Intuition

3/8 Warp Remaining.

Please choose an Ability or mutation.

Please choose an ability or Mutation.

Omniscient Grafting: The User can now graft senses without losing their own, as well as create and process multiple inputs simultaneously.

Synesthesia: Bundle two or more senses together. Taste colors, see smells, etc. Extremely debilitating condition, but allows the user to process a particular input using more areas of the brain, allowing a more comprehensive understanding of the medium.

^For example, seeing and hearing music, allowing you to make music that looks and sounds good, with a depth that normal people will be amazed by.

A mile in their shoes: User copies any number of senses from a target onto themselves, allowing them to experience what the target is experiencing.

^Really, really good for sex, kid. I highly recommend.

Desensitize: reduce chosen sense from mild weakening to complete deprivation.

^Also good for sex, if you know how to use it, amiright?

Mutations:

Gaze into the Abyss: See from the perspective of any creature observing the User. May cause headaches without Omniscient Grafting

^unlocked by Third Eye and Feel Intent

Compensation: Sacrifice a sense at will to boost another drastically. Reversable.

Calvin studied the list for a moment.

I choose synesthesia.

Calvin’s brain tingled as the technique established itself.

Calvin opened up the warp tank, and picked up a rock.

So what are you planning on –

Viscosity shift

Strength shit

Sense grafting.

5/20 Bent remaining.

Calvin matched the rock’s physical traits to his own, while simultaneously pouring every sense he could into the rock, including the new Identity sense that had unlocked at level 20.

Calvin became a rock.

Combining the unique effects of Shifting and Sense Grafting, you have created a Hybrid Skill, Trait Doctoring! Congratulations!

Reallocating Strength and Viscosity Shifting  to Trait Doctoring…

Trait Doctoring: A Forbidden Skill created by The King in Exile shortly before his death at the hands of Pasha The Watchman, Trait doctoring allows increasingly complex physical and non-physical characteristics to be transferred between objects.

Trait doctoring level 1: Strength, Viscosity, Sense of Self, 1 pound, 1 minute.

This guy again. Who the fuck is this guy? Calvin? Caaalvin? Oops. Well, he’ll be fine in an hour and a half.

Calvin The Rock didn’t have much to say on the subject.

***Ryan***

Gods, This disgusting meat is doing a number on my stomach, Ryan thought as his stomach cramped again. When he saw Dara coming, he straightened, taking his hand off his gut. Couldn’t let her think he was weak.

“What did you get?” He asked, aching for a chance to use one of the bastard’s Skills against him.

The muted whore shook her head and made the sign for ‘nothing’.

Her eyes widened as he began wrapping his fist with cloth, but wisely chose not to try to run. He’d hurt her worse if she ran.

“You’re.” He punctuated his words with a punch rendered silent by the cloth on his knuckles. “Lying!”

Suddenly there was a crushing pressure on his balls, and Ryan just barely managed to suppress a wail of pain as he doubled over.

“Here I thought Calvin was overreacting,” A woman whispered in his ear with a Gadveran accent.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryan spotted the slender girl he’d marked earlier as a juicy conquest, along with the exotic Ilethan wench, who watched with a smirk.

“Told you. I know his type.” The Ilethan bitch said.

“Looks like I owe Calvin an apology, because I’m going to enjoy this.” The Gadveran bitch said.

Ryan flailed outward with his elbow, which was caught in the girl’s palm before a vicious strike went for his stomach.

Slow and weak, Ryan thought with a smirk as he blocked it.

Then the girl’s fists blurred and somehow went past his guard, slamming into his stomach.

Still weak.

Ryan’s strength and endurance was in the mid thirties, now. He was a Legend, and a little girl wasn’t going to be able to-

The other bitch stepped to his side and punched him in the side of the head.

He swung wildly at her, but the first one punched him on the other side of his head, disorienting him.

This might not go well for me.

“I understand,” He said, holding his hands up. “I’m sorr-“ they didn’t stop to listen to his words. They kept punching and kicking him until he was a bleeding mess on the floor.

The pale bitch kept kicking him in the stomach and balls even after he went down.

Gods, it feels like they knocked something loose in there.

Macronomicon