Chapter 15: Riding the Wave

The first time Rick took the Formula T, he was more than a little anxious. It started with a flow of strength through his system, similar to philosopher's elixir. He quickly sat down and focused on the exercises he'd practiced, drawing the flood of new power into a single point.

But instead of gathering it within himself, which immediately made his aura recoil, he held one of the crystal spheres in his lap. He watched it at first, but found that was only distracting him. Instead he closed his eyes and turned all his new ability to focus toward a single objective. The first step in developing the Triune Golden Spheres was the most difficult, and if he failed, it would set back his development at least a day.

When he thought he was finished, he kept his eyes closed for a while, not wanting to see if his sense for it was right. But he was too restless to sit still, so he opened his eyes and looked down at the sphere.

A spark of gold gleamed in the center of the crystal. Rick breathed a sigh of relief and brought it closer to his face to examine. It felt a bit strange: though it was slightly linked to his lucrima soul, it felt separate, like the few times in his life when he'd had a Lucore extracted. But what mattered was that the heart of it was stable. Now he could layer more and more lucrim onto that spark until the technique was ready.

Curious how it would appear, he opened his portfolio and made sure it had registered the new Lucore. It appeared in a new block in his portfolio:

[Triune Golden Spheres: 250

- Defensive Sphere: 250

- Second Sphere: 0

- Third Sphere: 0]

Apparently the technique was already registered by the app, even down to knowing that the second and third spheres were missing. Rick smiled appreciatively and found himself tossing and catching the sphere before realizing that was reckless. He carefully set it down in the plush case next to the other two.

Maybe it was just the fact that he'd succeeded, but Rick found himself flush with energy. He headed into the main training room and tried to do his footwork, but he was too pumped for it. Instead he ended up shadow-boxing the air, using controlled Bunyan's Steps to flash around the chamber and fight imaginary opponents. Despite having tried to pour all his new strength into the Lucore, he still felt strong, overflowing with lucrim.

Rick ended up leaning against a wall, gasping for breath and laughing for no reason. He realized that he was letting it get ahead of him and summoned all the mental discipline he could to calm down. The rush from the Formula T was clearly a bit too much for him and he understood why it would be unwise for someone to drink it without preparation.

He wanted to try it again to see if he could master the effects, but controlled himself. Now that he had started taking it, he needed to follow the strict regimen of every eight hours or it could damage his growth. So Rick settled down and forced himself to go through all his other training.

As the days passed, Rick threw himself into training like never before. Once he got past the initial rush of Formula T, he found that it left him with a shocking capacity for concentration. When he attempted to rotate the rubber balls with aura while moving, they circled easily. He could juggle the resistance spheres too, their perturbations no longer seeming so disruptive. Doing both at once was still beyond him, but he continued mastering both components.

Every eight hours he got another rush of lucrim and sank all of it into the crystal sphere, eagerly watching the golden speck grow into a small sphere. The visible rate of growth slowed as it grew larger, but he could still see it expanding.

Its growth was almost shocking every time he checked his portfolio. He decided he would have to ask H if the numbers didn't tell the whole story, because some days the listed value of the sphere grew by nearly 1000 lucrim. Or perhaps that was just the result obtained from using top tier skills and supplements.

Rick became obsessed with that number, striving to reach 1000 lucrim in growth on a daily basis, then more. He looked back to calculate the average and then his new obsession became getting the overall average above 1000 as well. That proved more difficult, but he threw himself into it relentlessly, eagerly treating each dose of Formula T like it was a battle.

He maintained all his other disciplines, which seemed dull by comparison, but he managed to focus on them anyway due to his formula-induced crystal clear focus. The supplements tasted horrible, but he forced them down because he knew they were keeping the Formula T from overwhelming his system. Even philosopher's elixir was no longer the rush it had once been, but he drank what he had been given so that the growth of his other cores didn't slack. The slow progress was boring compared to the Triune Golden Spheres, but he needed everything he could get.

For days Rick didn't go outside, barely even looked outside. There was nothing but the desperate attempt to increase his average so that he would be ready for the fight. No, the incredible results were worth it for their own sake, because it was a rush like few training sessions before.

One day, he received a text from Melissa. It was followed by a drawing of him with a duck's head, clearly a reference to one of their old jokes. Rick laughed, but then he paused.

As he looked back through his phone, he realized that he hadn't been texting Melissa as regularly as he once had. He'd never ignored her, but he hadn't sent articles or many texts of his own like usual. In part because he hadn't read any articles lately. Rick sat back and slowly came to the realization of just how much he had been neglecting.

The most obvious was that he didn't remember if he'd been eating enough. He'd forced down some tasteless nutrient bars, but it might have been most of a day since the last one. When he looked at his training, he noted that his restless shadow boxing was good for improving his high speed footwork, but he hadn't progressed as much retraining his base instincts.

Was the drawing just another joke, or was it hiding something else? Rick obsessively read back over Melissa's recent texts, feeling a sense of guilt.

Leaving aside training for part of an hour, Rick spent a while photoshopping his sister punching a duck. It was silly and useless and that was exactly the point. But the number of emoticons she sent back - a truly excessive number - made it feel worth it. More importantly, she texted back right away and they chatted about anything and everything, making sure to catch up.

Though their conversation was encouraging and they scheduled a video chat for later, Rick found himself restless once it was over. He resolved to master his next training cycle better, but when he started to get out another bottle of Formula T, he realized that it was too early. Over three hours too early.

Wincing, Rick set it back down and forced himself to the far opposite side of their suite. He'd been ecstatic over his progress, but now he understood why H had said he wasn't actually ready. Though he might be strong enough to make use of the Formula T, he was still too weak to drink it without consequences. If he wasn't careful, he could easily overdose like a power addict.

So as Rick continued working over the next several days, he forced himself to balance training with other mental activities. He made sure to reply to Melissa frequently, but also explored any curiosity that entered his mind. One day he spent almost an hour reading up on plasma ants, trying to figure out which tribe the old woman had referenced. It must have been a tribal secret, however, because he couldn't pin down anything specific.

In the hours when he couldn't train and didn't have anything to occupy him, Rick found himself growing paranoid. Melissa mattered more to him than anyone in the world, yet he'd almost neglected her. He thought that he was capable of handling the power, but what if he couldn't objectively evaluate himself?

It seemed like H definitely knew what he was doing: all his preparations had been effective and he'd warned Rick that he wasn't quite ready. But that didn't mean that Rick could necessarily handle it. Yet with his mentor gone, Rick wasn't sure who else to turn to.

That eventually brought him to Lisa. She'd replied to his email at some point, polite overall but not exactly inviting further conversation. It bothered him, and part of his mind said that it would be bad to contact her when he needed something. Then again, she was the only professional he knew...

After going back and forth for a while, he started writing an email. He almost deleted it, but saw that it was still hours until his next training session. So he cut out some of the stuff he thought was too personal and just told her the basics about the Formula T in formal terms. Most likely it would interest her, he hoped. Eventually he sent it and tried to forget about it.

Less than an hour later he got a response: "Can I see a sample?"

There was no real way to send her one, and Rick thought that might be violating H's trust. Still, he could definitely send her a picture, so he did so. Surprisingly quickly Lisa requested a video, so in the end, despite his nervousness, they set up a call. To make it clear that everything was strictly professional, Rick had both a bottle and a glass prepared.

"Hi, Rick." Lisa saw the liquid and her eyes narrowed. "Can you hold it closer? Swirl it around in the glass and let me see how it moves." She went on to ask him several questions about the taste, texture, and effects. When she was finally finished, she was silent for an uncomfortably long amount of time.

"Is everything okay?" Rick asked. Lisa gave an odd shrug.

"I don't know what it is, but that's ordinary for proprietary drugs. The questions were just trying to learn what I could about the basic properties. Have you been following the training regimen exactly? I know you need strength, but trying to rush..."

"I've been following every instruction exactly."

"That's good. The more potent the compound, the greater the risk of a negative reaction." Lisa sighed and smiled at him, the expression transforming her face. "I'm glad you're okay, Rick. I worried that being in the Showdown might be bad for you, since it... well, you don't need me to judge you."

"No, I understand." Rick rubbed his face roughly, then set the glass and bottle out of his sight. "I've been pretty obsessive over the last few days. I think the Formula T improves concentration, but it also gives me tunnel vision. Good for training, but it's left me feeling a little unbalanced."

"Rick... my concern might be unwelcome, but please listen. Be careful which events you participate in and don't take any serious risks. I don't have any Showdown clients, but some of them talk about the elite levels of competition. Those can be brutal on a person."

The obvious concern was touching, though it brought up more tangled feelings within him. Rick settled for nodding. "I know. But my sponsor is completely clear about how he wants to earn money on me, and he's been fair so far."

"Who exactly is your sponsor?"

Though Rick explained what he knew about H, when he started talking about the unknown immortal who was his ultimate sponsor, Lisa began to frown again. He winced in anticipation of a lecture, but instead she simply shook her head. Her expression looked more sad than anything.

"It's good that you're going to find out more, Rick. Once you get a name, look him up, especially his history of past contestants in the Showdown. Make sure that your interests are actually aligned."

"What do you mean? They want me to be in peak condition for the competition."

"It's not that simple." Lisa hesitated awkwardly, but when he gestured for her to go on, she marshaled herself. "It's a common misunderstanding that being in peak physical condition means you're perfectly healthy, but the question is: peak condition for what? Their goal is to absolutely maximize your performance over the course of your athletic career. It's not to make sure you're comfortable in old age."

Rick frowned as he considered it. "You think they'd give me supplements that would harm me in the long term?"

"No, I'm not even talking about that. It's fundamental to the work. Some of my clients have wrecked lower backs and it's common for athletes to destroy their knees by the time they're 30 years old. Not because they trained wrong or had an accident, but because the techniques that use up your body are more powerful than those that hold back to preserve it."

"I guess I understand that, but... what about the immortals? Or the godweights and other world powers? I don't think they're limping around suffering from centuries of injuries."

"Because they have obscene amounts of money and have improved their bodies in a fundamental way." Lisa took a deep breath and tried to smile at him. "I'm not saying you need to quit, Rick. You're probably better able to endure it than most because of your defensive core. But that alone might not be enough... do you have any other supportive Lucores?"

Though he hesitated for a moment, Rick decided to tell her about the Dark Blood Kettle. To his surprise, Lisa was extremely interested in the topic. Apparently there were various differences between traditional and modern techniques, plus she knew much of the history of Native techniques and how they'd been adapted across the United States.

According to her, many modern techniques were clearly superior within a specific range, but lacked subtle minor advantages. His defensive core probably wouldn't keep him from getting sick or getting repetitive stress injuries, but the Dark Blood Kettle might. She emphasized repeatedly that it alone wouldn't keep him from ruining his body in competition, but she seemed relieved.

Talking with Lisa proved enjoyable, though he shouldn't have been surprised, considering how easily they'd spoken before. He didn't ask her about her dating life and there were occasional moments of awkwardness, but he realized how much he didn't want to lose her as a friend.

Beyond any direct help she offered, he was just glad to talk to someone with such broad interests. Unlike H, who was all business, or Raggest, who only cared about training, Lisa could speak intelligently on far more topics than he could. In a way he was surprised that she wanted to talk to him at all, but she seemed to enjoy the conversation as well.

But in the end Lisa glanced down to the corner of her screen and winced. "Rick... this has used more time than I really had. It's been fun, but I need to go."

"Sure, I understand." Abruptly he realized that he didn't want to let it end there. "Listen, I've been missing that specialized serum you created. Is there any way I could buy some?"

"Possibly. I've been improving it since we last talked about that and I actually have some sales, though it's all small batches. But do you even have an address I could send to?"

"Uh... no. But we're headed to China next and we should be there for a month, so I can send you an address then. About payment... I'm happy to pay the normal price, but would you want to see some of the Formula T? Could you learn something from analyzing it?"

Lisa stared for just a moment, then gave a bright smile. "Check to make sure you won't get in trouble, but... that would be really great, Rick. Normally I can't analyze top tier supplements without paying huge fees, so I've been struggling to improve in some ways."

"Great. My schedule might be unstable because of some stuff coming up, but I'll definitely get in touch as soon as I can."

Soon after, the call ended and Rick was left staring at the blank screen. It had been nice... yet he was still kicking himself for not pursuing Lisa when he had a chance. There was a chance that she'd break up with Trenton or whoever, but it would be shitty to think that way. No, he needed to be a good friend or he'd ruin it.

His gaze floated down to the date and time. There was still an hour until his next scheduled training session, but Rick got up and began focusing on his footwork. If he was pushing himself to the limit for this, he wanted to get every scrap of benefit he could.