Chapter 34: Public Park Training

The plan was to meet Lisa at one of Branton's public parks for their informal sparring sessions. Rick sat on the bench by their usual place, looking around and trying to remember the exact name. It was named after a famous duel between two grandmasters, he was pretty sure, but the name escaped him. Everybody usually just called it Eastpark, for the uninspired reason that it was the easternmost of them.

Dressed casually as he was, he looked like many of the other people in the park to exercise. Yet he didn't feel the same as the people he saw, even if many of those going past had generation rates of 40,000 or more. They might outclass him in lucrim generation, but he was starting to realize how that measurement was only of limited use. Since so few shielded their lucrima, he was able to get an impression of them.

A woman jogging along had an impressive 60,000, but over half of that was consumed by her inefficient foundation. At the other end of the park, a man smoking a cigarette had 50,000, but his cores were a wrecked mess. When a pleasant-looking couple walked past with a stroller, Rick was surprised to see that they had over 40,000 lucrim in demonic bonds.

They were all just trying to get by in their own way. It was remarkable how people with so much more strength and money than him could still be struggling, but apparently that was just how life was.

Still, it was a relief when Lisa appeared beside him. Not only was he glad to see her, the lucrima aura around her was much more pure and stable. Even if she wasn't a fighter by trade, he'd bet on her over most of the people they'd seen in the park, even those who were sparring.

"You ready?" Lisa hopped back and forth a bit. "I jogged over here, so I'm restless."

"Sure, we can start now."

They headed off the main path and away from the family areas to begin sparring. Everyone could use the public parks for training, and since it was a nice day, many were. Mostly not seriously, and there was a couple being unnecessarily flirtatious as they did their exercises.

Thankfully, Lisa dropped into a crouch and came at him seriously. He removed such thoughts from his mind and just focused on sparring, which helped clear his mind. Lisa had stopped lowering her generation rate artificially, since it wasn't needed for him to keep up anymore. That meant some of her blows hurt a lot, but he'd faced worse.

As they moved they actually tore up some of the grass, however. That was one of the things that could get people kicked out: the authorities didn't want people having huge brawls that destroyed half the park. The general assumption was that if you were that powerful, you could afford a proper training facility. Unfortunately, he and Lisa might be getting into an uncomfortable zone between those two.

When they finished, they dropped onto the grass to catch their breath. Lisa fell back and caught herself with her arms, staring skyward. Rick closed his eyes and took a moment to collect himself before speaking.

"That was pretty good. I know you're not interested in the combat side of things, but you're getting a lot better about counter-attacking. Not much hesitation and over-defending now."

"Thanks." Lisa shot him a smile. "To tell you the truth, I actually put a bit of effort into my combat core. I figure if I spar this often, I should get better at it."

"Hmm, how is your portfolio organized, then?"

"You know, I should just give you access to my profile. Kind of silly that I haven't done it already, given that you're my personal trainer and everything." Lisa tapped on her phone and transferred permissions over to him, so he brought up her profile.

[Name: LisLis (pseudonym)

Ether Tier: 13th

Ether Score: 626

Lucrim Generation: 59,500

- Demonic Bond: 6500

Current Lucrim: (private data)

[LisLis's Lucrima Portfolio

Foundation: 12,000 (Lv III)

Professional Massage Lucore: 31,800 (Lv VII)

Transportation Core: 5000 (Lv IV)

Legacy Core: 6200 (Lv III)

Combat Core: 4500 (Lv II)]

Though he kept a neutral expression, Rick found himself a bit intimidated. Lisa had over 30,000 lucrim invested in her occupation - she was definitely a professional, probably worth more than he was as a trainer. Even adding up all of his combat cores, he didn't have that much in his profession.

The presence of a demonic bond surprised him, but he decided that he couldn't hold it against her. He'd never gotten the slightest sense that she drew off one and she definitely wasn't dependent on it. Perhaps she just had it as a backup source of lucrim or for security. Uncle Frank said that some people viewed them that way, though he thought they were still an accident waiting to happen.

In any case, he realized that he was spending too long staring at her portfolio and she was watching nervously, so he glanced up and smiled. "Not bad. I see it classifies your main core as Level VII - I don't have anything ranked that high."

"Thanks, I've put a lot of effort into it." Lisa shook her head and then dropped back onto the grass with her hands behind her head. "I've been there for a while, though. It seems like it will take a lot of work to break into Level VIII."

"This general 'Combat Core' is probably fine for your purposes. I... actually don't know what this 'Legacy Core' is, though."

Lisa glanced up at him in surprise. "Really? Your parents didn't always bug you to be investing more in your Legacy Core? Mine never shut up about it. Not only is it one of the best ways to leave a Birthright Core to your descendants, it can really improve your health when you get older. I try to put some into it every month, but... well, you know how life goes."

His parents had not exactly been the type to invest money for the future, but Rick held his tongue about all that. When he reached out toward Lisa's portfolio in real life, instead of via the app, he thought he had a sense for it. The Legacy Core was actually similar to Graham's Stake, in that it slowly gathered strength over time. He could definitely see the benefits, though he was a bit irritated that things he'd never heard of were common clichés to people of higher classes.

"Plus, having one improves your ether score," Lisa went on. "It's one of those things people bug you about, but it really does make a difference. I couldn't have gotten my current apartment without a 600+ ether score."

"Actually, I was going to ask you about that, too. Yours is really high... I don't suppose there's any trick to it?"

After looking at him for a while, Lisa closed her eyes with an odd expression. "I'm not sure what to tell you, Rick. If you asked my parents and their friends, they practically believe that ether score is just how good of a person you are. They always told me you just need to be responsible and you'll get a good one. But you're one of the most responsible people I know and that hasn't worked out for you."

She'd put effort into not insulting him, but it still stung a bit. Rick forced himself to focus on her words instead of the gap between them. "My parents never talked about that kind of thing. I... don't think the companies that calculate the score really care about certain kinds of responsibility."

"Yeah, it seems that way."

They had fully recovered by then, so they both got back up. In the time they had been working, the park had cleared out a bit. As they headed back to the sidewalk, Rick found himself wincing and holding his stomach. Just a cramp, or an aftereffect from the pills?

"Are you okay?" Lisa moved up to him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"It's some medicine I'm taking for training. Really does a number on me."

"Oh, I've seen similar things before. I have clients that are just horrible to their bodies, then expect me to come in and make things better like I'm a mystical healer or an actual doctor." Instead of removing her hand from his shoulder, Lisa stayed touching him. He felt warmth spreading from her as she activated her primary lucrim core and he didn't resist. "Hmm, you have a lot of tension and you've been hard on your lucrima. I trust you to know your limits, but... keep an eye on it, or you'll injure yourself."

Rick sighed. "It's about the same as you and your Legacy Core. I always intend to do the right thing, but life keeps interrupting."

Lisa took her hand off his shoulder but stayed close, giving him a smile. "You know, you've been fulfilling your side of the bargain, but I haven't really given you much in return. Literally just one massage for Melissa. Are you sure you don't want one yourself? It'd probably do you some good."

"I..." Part of him wanted to because she was offering a valuable service. Another part wanted to find out how her hands would feel kneading his muscles. But the part that won out was the one who thought it would end up really awkward. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm under too much stress right now. Maybe once I get through some issues I'll have time to relax."

"Personally, I think you could use a massage more while you're under stress, but suit yourself." They started walking again, but as they went, Lisa looked over at him in concern. "I'm not a doctor, so take this with a grain of salt, but I didn't like how your lucrima felt. Be careful with all the stuff you're doing, okay? People can permanently injure themselves with aggressive over-training."

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." Rick smiled at her, grateful that she cared, even if it didn't matter.

This was like everything else. The best of intentions didn't really matter when life got in the way.