Chapter 35: An Oath Over Liquor

After sleeping for most of a day, Rick didn't leave the house for over 24 hours. When he woke he discovered that Melissa had gotten her shifts changed so that she was free and had plans to order in food. First he took a long shower, because although his body didn't retain any of the mist or goop from the demon realm, he still felt like something from the experience coated him.

Then for an entire day they just sat around and talked. He was worried that Melissa might be angry with him, but she just seemed glad to have him back. There weren't even any tears after their first meeting, though she always stayed close and occasionally looked over at him as if to reassure herself that he was still there.

Melissa had gotten very high scores on her CLAT in most categories. She did allude to having trouble focusing on a few exams, leaving him to wonder if she might have done even better without his absence to distract her. Still, it was a solid qualification to start whatever career she wanted.

Eventually she asked him to tell her everything about his time away, more than the quick version he'd given on the ride back the previous night. They sat on opposite ends of the couch, just their feet touching, and she listened carefully. Putting it all into words made the experience even more surreal, yet she nodded acceptingly. When he finished, she eyed him for a while and then bit her lip.

"So, what dark secret are you hiding from me, hmm?" Her eyes narrowed at him. "Did you transform into a demon hybrid? Smuggle out a demonic seed inside your body? Shack up with a succubus?"

"No, but I banged all those frog things. Orgies every day."

"Eww." Melissa stuck out her tongue. "But really, I'm just surprised that you didn't get any kind of special demon powers. I figured that if they can hand out so much power with demonic bonds, they have to be a great source of it."

"It seems like the situation is pretty much reversed over there. So no, I didn't get very much out of the experience at all." Rick rubbed his eyes, trying not to feel too much disappointment about that. "The CSLA deal basically prevented the delay from hurting my job or my merit rankings, but otherwise I didn't get much out of it. A lot of money, I guess."

"Yeah, but you're just going to spend that on hookers and blow."

"Speaking of which, I guess I should try to ditch you soon. How did you convince Jimmy to change your shifts, anyway? He always gave me hell for that, even with a lot of forewarning."

Melissa gave him a private little grin. "He knows that he doesn't have any leverage over me. I can quit basically whenever I want, since I'm only killing time there until I figure out exactly what I want to do next. He's hired on a few more people, but they're not that reliable. So he has to deal with it."

"Has dealing with it involved getting off his ass and stopping reading magazines?"

"Did the demon realm freeze over while you were down there?"

Rick chuckled and lightly pushed against her leg. "Okay, enough playing around. You got a great CLAT score, so what are you going to do with it? Don't become a bum like I did - you want to use that momentum and go into something respectable."

"What if I want to become a bum, though? Working all day is awful." She swiveled around so her legs were up on the backrest of the couch and her head dangled off the side. "Truth be told, I'm not sure exactly what I want to do. But I do have my next step figured out, I think."

"Oh? Do tell." Rick moved around so he was lying upside down in the same way, though the position wasn't quite as comfortable for him.

"I don't want to invest a ton of time into a degree or certification I might not use, and joining a sect is even worse in terms of locking up your whole future. After the CLAT there were scouts there, passing out fliers and things... I don't know, I felt like they were a bit too desperate. But there actually was one thing that stuck out to me as a good opportunity."

She stretched upside down to fumble at something on the ground. It took a while and she muttered irritably, refusing to turn upright and make the task easy, before eventually she managed it and handed him a glossy sheet of paper. "This is for the Young Lucrim Artists of America program. Have you heard of it?"

"Yeah, a few times." Truthfully, it was more than that. The YLAA was an exclusive program that he thought of more as a joke than anything else - it was the kind of thing that he suspected Mike and other Birthrighters would have attended. They probably just used it as an excuse to travel and party, but he was impressed by how much of the paper was devoted to sober programs of lucrim development.

Still, a part of him resisted. Not that he believed the program would be bad for Melissa, it just felt wrong for her to attend something like that. Then again, why not? Wasn't her being able to take such opportunities that were usually only given to the wealthy a sign of their success?

He realized that Melissa was watching him with a hint of nervousness and hastened to smile at her. "I think getting in could be great for you. Not to rain on your parade immediately, but how good do you think your chances are of getting in?"

"I'm not sure. It's not impossible." Melissa sighed and took the paper back from him, staring at the stock photograph martial artists across the top. "Most of the people who get in are elites, but they like to pretend it's a meritocracy, so they always make sure to let some poor people in. I'm not proud - I'll be a quota if it gets me a chance to learn so much."

"Most things in life are like that, so take what you can get. But what kind of requirements do they have these days? I always thought it was more of a college gap year thing, not for students coming out of high school."

"Yeah, they don't let in many students my age. But my CLAT score is above the average for the program. There's just one problem: according to the internet, they take the part about only letting in 'extraordinary' students very seriously. That doesn't just mean high grades and test scores, it means that I have to show them something exceptional."

Rick thought on that for a while. There was an obvious answer, but... "I take it you don't want to show them our 'moral support' technique?"

"No, I want that to be a secret between us, and it requires another person anyway. I need something special that I can do alone." Melissa shifted her head to look at him and he saw real uncertainty in her eyes. "I don't know any super secret legendary arts and I doubt I'm going to stumble across an artifact that teaches me them. Do you think I have a shot at this?"

"Of course you do, and I'm not just saying that." Rick finally levered himself up to sit normally and maintained a steady gaze to let her know he was serious. "You don't need something unique or legendary - those things are usually unique or legends for a reason. But you do need something exceptional, and that's definitely within your grasp."

"How, exactly?"

"For a start, I should probably take you to the public library. That's where I found my Bunyan's Step core design and it's served me well. What you want to do is find an old technique that's less common today but was polished over time, then put your own spin on it."

"That actually sounds possible." Melissa sat up and grinned at him. "I have quite a bit to work with, because I've been training as well as I could since then, just to get ready for something. Here, take a look at my portfolio."

She rapidly pulled it up and he examined the mostly familiar list:

[Name: Melissa Hunter

Ether Tier: 17th

Ether Score: 261

Lucrim Generation: 18,075

Current Lucrim: 2048]

[Melissa Hunter's Lucrima Portfolio

Foundation: 3600 (Lv II)

Steel Lucore: 5850 (Lv IV)

Combat Core: 4350 (Lv III)

Secondary Combat Core: 3900 (Lv I)

Lucore Mass: 375 (N/A)

Total Lucrim: 18,075]

"Wait a minute, how is your ether score so high already? Mine wasn't anywhere near that when I was your age!"

Melissa sniffed primly. "That's just what happens when you focus on your studies instead of doing drugs and crimes."

She joked, but he suspected that she was actually right. If ether score was a measure of how much corporations believed in a person's future, of course an upwardly mobile student with excellent test results would rise at a fast rate. Presuming Melissa could enter the YLAA program and then get a decent job, her score could easily outpace his even if her portfolio was still weaker.

"Okay, a few things stick out to me." He shifted to sit beside her and gesture at the screen. "Your foundation is like 20% of your portfolio, so it could be made more efficient. You also need to liquidate that Secondary Combat Core, plus it doesn't make any sense to also have a Lucore mass alongside it."

"I just... didn't feel like investing it. I kept working, but my motivation..." Melissa gave a weak shrug that hinted at pain, so Rick made sure to give her a smile.

"Well, it doesn't really hurt you in the long run. We can clean up all that, then it's just a question of how you want to really invest. It'd be a matter of converting your generic Combat Core into more specific ones, or investing all the extra into something special." In theory she could also try to improve her Steel Lucore so it gave a benefit beyond keeping her condition under control, but that could be risky and he didn't want to encourage the idea too much.

"I have one other special thing!" Melissa suddenly grinned and ran to the freezer. She opened it and grabbed something, revealing a small cubic box. "Everybody in the 95th percentile or above of the CLAT got this special pill. The internet said that it's decent and needs to stay frozen until eaten. I know it can't be over the top crazy amazing if they gave it to so many people, but I figure it will help, right?"

"It definitely can't hurt." Rick got up to look at it, though the pale blue pill meant nothing to him and the box didn't reveal much information. That was something to look up later. "But first, if we're going to do this, we need to buy booze."

"I knew it! Forward to alcohol and bad choices!"

~ ~ ~

Melissa insisted on biking part of the way to the liquor store, leaving him to run alongside her. Since she struggled with the lower gears and refused to shift even lower, it wasn't that difficult. He just kept pace, trying not to laugh at the intensely determined look on her face as she attempted to pedal. Every time they went down a hill, she grinned, the wind caught her hair, and Rick found himself smiling fondly.

She finally gave in and got off the bike once they got closer. It was a worse part of town, too, so not the best place for light-hearted fun. Rick picked up the bike and converted it back into its chip before moving to walk alongside her. All the levity from earlier faded away and she looked over at him.

"There's actually another reason I wanted to go do this together, Rick."

"Oh? Other than containing your raging alcoholism."

"Yeah, other than that." Her lips twitched in a smile, but it disappeared a moment later. "You're doing a lot to help me, and I'm grateful for it. But I don't want this to just be about me. I want to be able to help you too. I want to... care about your growth and help you go further."

"Thanks, sis." The words felt weak, so he reached around to grab her shoulders and pull her into an awkward but tight hug. "I don't ever want you to feel like you need to stay here, but I guess if you're trying to join the YLAA you don't have that problem. So I'm glad to have you at my back."

They didn't say anything else, and they had to let go in order to walk properly, but Rick still felt the warmth between them.

It had been some time since he'd been to this liquor store and he was reminded of its location by the signs. First, there were a few power addicts sleeping on the sidewalk as they went. His eyes flickered over them quickly to be sure that there was no danger, but they seemed either exhausted or gorged with their recent purchases. He realized idly that most of them had generation rates of 15,000 lucrim or less - they'd be no threat to him and even Melissa could probably fight them off now.

In any case, no one stopped them as they entered the store. Behind the glass security case, the owner still sat on his ass, scratching himself. Rick hadn't seen Travis in quite a while and didn't relish it. It hadn't been so long ago that he'd been in this very store and begged the man in order to help save Melissa's life. So much had changed since then.

Fortunately, there wasn't anyone else in the store, so there was no reason to wait. Melissa marched up to the counter and smiled. "We want to see your philosopher's elixir, please!"

Travis squinted at her. "You old enough? If you wanted him to buy it for you, you fucked up coming in together."

"I am indeed of age!" Melissa had clearly been waiting for that, because she whipped out her ID card with ease. Travis leaned in to look at it and then sat back with a grunt.

"Fine, you can buy. If you're buying something serious you'll still need to run a test. I can't sell this stuff willy-nilly or I'll get fined."

"Just give us the complete list," Rick said. Travis passed a stained laminated card to them, then turned away as if eager to ignore them. Melissa took it and moved a short distance away, so the two of them huddled in the aisle near the counter.

"You know..." Melissa turned to him with a strange expression on her face. "I don't think I've ever made a decision like this for myself. In LE class I just got the blended cups they handed out. There was that one time you bought me the really high end stuff when I was sick. But otherwise... even our family didn't have it around that much, way back when."

"That's because it's an expensive way to recharge. You'd be better off drinking serum and waiting for your next paycheck."

"So what should we get? Like, do I need to drink something higher than my generation rate, or does it need to be higher proof than the last stuff I drank? Wait, is that right? Do you say 'proof' for philosopher's elixir?"

"Most people don't. As for your question, it really depends." Rick tapped the laminated sheet as he explained. "If you just want lucrim in a bottle, you could get any of these - it'd just be more expensive than getting lucrim out of the bank, so it's pointless unless you only have cash. If you want to improve, you need something that's higher than your generation rate, ideally much higher."

"So would the 25k stuff do me much good?"

"Probably not - I was drinking 100k when I wasn't that much stronger than you." He actually hadn't thought about it until then, but looking at the numbers, trying to improve his strength via philosopher's elixir would become incredibly expensive. The price on 250k elixir was no longer so massive by the standards of his new job, but everything above that required lucrim payments.

Melissa's lips twisted in a half-smile, half-frown as she looked over the list. "These higher ones actually require lucrim payments in addition to cash... isn't that almost pointless? How much lucrim do you need to spend to get more lucrim?"

"Unfortunately, it all comes down to that - you need money to earn money. Training can only get you so far, and probably nowhere at all if you don't have at least some lucrim coming in. But ideally you want a blend of training, philosopher's elixir, and other supplements."

"I guess that's why Lisa can have a job doing that sort of stuff. So hmm, what do I want to get?"

The mention of Lisa briefly left Rick somewhat less satisfied. Though she'd texted to check that he was safe, they hadn't actually met. She hadn't scheduled their next sparring session, either. Maybe it was just giving him space to recover, since he'd been through a lot, yet he couldn't help but feel like she was intentionally pulling back.

"Okay, I've decided!" Melissa slapped the sheet down on the counter and glanced over at Rick. "This is going to clean out all the money I've saved from the gym, but I want to buy this for myself!"

Travis stared at both of them with utter apathy. "Leave me out of your... whatever this is. Just tell me what you're buying."

In the end, Melissa purchased three bottles of 100k philosopher's elixir and Rick purchased a 250k. Last time, that had been too intense for him to consider. Now, the glow of the liquid no longer seemed so powerful compared to everything he'd been through. It would still have a real kick, and hopefully give him a boost, but he didn't plan to rely too heavily on it.

As they left, Rick glanced down at the sheet once more. The store actually didn't sell anything stronger than 600k philosopher's elixir, and there were gradations of increasingly small amounts near that limit. From his perspective that seemed senseless, but they wouldn't create elixir like that without a reason. The close levels suggested increasing difficulty as fighters got near a limit, perhaps the barriers that Emily had implied existed on a few occasions.

That made him realize the limits of just buying his way to strength. It could be done, quite obviously in the case of Birthrighters, but it wasn't done by buying drinks from liquor stores. The really high class fighters who looked down on him and sneered, what methods did they use? They couldn't all be drinking special potions and popping pills. He resolved to learn more when he could.

On the way back, Rick gave Melissa the best advice he could about when she'd get the most benefit from the philosopher's elixir. With three bottles, she could afford to waste a little as she got her feet under her and still have plenty to charge her up and do significant work on her cores.

When they got back inside and set their things down, Rick realized just how absurdly rich he was. He was holding his full generation rate of lucrim, which was already more than most people in his family ever had at once. On top of that, he was carrying expensive philosopher's elixir, he had a ton of money in the bank, and there was more coming in.

And yet that still wasn't enough. Pan Zhou had just seen the aura leech and looked at him like he was a beggar.

"I think it's time to get rid of something." Rick took a deep breath and turned to his sister before they sat down. "I've been carrying one of the aura leeches our shitty parents left us inside me for a long time. It doesn't drain a lot, and it would disappear eventually, but I'm tired of it."

"You mean you're not keeping it around for the sake of the memories?" Melissa spoke like she was joking, but her eyes were serious. She understood.

"It's time to be done with their legacy for good. We won't end up like them, not in terms of power and not in terms of growing to hate one another." Rick took a deep breath and focused on the leech. Just a little under 2000 in terms of generation rate, but the principal debt was much larger.

Not so large in comparison to the lucrim he had now. Rick focused and poured lucrim into the leech.

When at last it was fully sated, it stopped sucking - it was a completely legal entity, after all. He focused inwardly and forced it to emerge from his chest. The glowing leech twisted in the air for a moment, Melissa staring at it in fascinated disgust, then it curled on itself and disappeared. In a matter of minutes, the completion of the debt would be reported and Rick would finally be done.

The amazing thing was, given the huge bonus he'd received after returning, his savings had actually increased. Now that he had 62,000 lucrim in the bank, the fighter's deposit didn't seem so impossible anymore. He was also still in 10^th place, though he didn't consider that a good thing. None of that really mattered compared to his sister beside him.

"Congratulations, bro." Melissa gave him a broad smile. "Do you wish you'd done that earlier?"

He considered for a moment, then shook his head. "Nah. The drain was so small, it was smarter to invest in myself instead. But now that I'm doing better overall, I won't have that trying to hold me back. Besides, saying a bunch of stuff about how we're going to change would have been bullshit before. Now... now maybe we actually have the ability to change our path in life."

"Thank you for bearing the leeches for this long, Rick." His sister sighed and toyed with one of the bottles she'd purchased. "Honestly, I hadn't thought about them in a long time. They were really a burden for both of us, though. Just one more legacy from our family."

"No, not our family." Rick took his bottle off the counter and stared down at it. "From now on, the only families we have are the ones the two of us create."

Melissa smiled and looked like she was going to say something, but she turned away with moist eyes. Instead she popped the cork off her bottle and raised it toward him. "Cheers to that, I say. Bottoms up?"

Drinking an entire bottle like that would be a very bad idea, but Rick nodded as he understood what she meant. "Bottoms up."

They clinked their bottles together, then drank.