Ink was somewhat freaked out by the portal. Either he saw something in the aether that I didn’t, or he was worried I was taking him home to swap for the king. He hungged me tightly through the transition. It could be the portal Aether was Ink’s world.

  As we entered the Room of Choices, Mord was in his usual spot. His spiel started up on cue, so I could tell this would not be a learning session. I walked by and grabbed the knowledge door. Ink freaked again. I appeared in the training room.

  “New pants.”

  “It’s been a interesting few days.”

  “Cycle.”

  “Cycle what?”

  “It has been a cycle since we sparred. Now ready.”

  I was not, not after that sledgehammer of a knowledge bomb. That meant it had been two years since I woke up here, long past the legal definition of dead. Hell, long enough for the wife to date and remarry. We only dated for a year before we got hitched. That gave her a full six months of mourning. I just wish I could have let her know I was fine. No! I steeled myself; I had to focus on being here. If…If I found out hints of a way back home, I would pursue it then and only then. I had to focus on the here and now. Speaking of the now, a trill from Ink warned me of the fist now about to be here, where my face was.

  I was faster now. Even being stuck in my head and distracted, I reacted and adjusted. I did so almost by instinct. The Way of the Void that I learned so long ago crystallized in my head. Paired with my ability to ‘see’ everything around me and my own sight at once, allowed me to move.

  After the fifth dodged punch, I started to make it a game. I tried to see how close I could get Mord to miss me by. The record was quickly set as ‘close enough to visually inspect his thumb print and simultaneously admire the detail that his projection had a thumbprint. The admiration cost me a half step, and I had to make my first block. A simple foot-to-foot block halted Mord’s kick. He paused and took a few steps back.

  “Much better. Now, not fight like mortal.”

  I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment directed at me or a warning. His entire body glowed blue for a moment. Post-glow Mord was even more refined and chiseled than he was before. So, warning it was. He moved and struck way faster. I had to block or simply take the first dozen or so hits before I got back in my groove. The next two dozen or so were an even mix of dodges and blocks. The next dozen was ten and two. Then eleven and one. Finally, twenty-four full dodges. I was focusing on moving and dodging faster, I wasn’t even going to try to go on offense. I was channelling my inner Warhammer 40k. I wanted a great defense before I started building offense. The mere fact that I hadn’t been knocked out was pretty much a first for this room. Mord hopped back to his ready position.

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  “Much, much better. Can only increase difficulty one time per entry. When come back will be next level. You go now.” And in another first, he gave me a fist-in-palm salute and even a slight bow.

  “Out of curiosity, what level was that?” I returned the gesture and walked to the exit. As I grasped the handle, I heard him answer.

  “Only one aspect, but speed”

  Yeah, I had a lot to learn.

  The Vending Room of infinite window shopping greeted me once more, but at least this time, I had a shopping buddy. His increased mass did allow him to do one thing. Literally splooge himself onto the first vending machine’s front. I watched as the softball-sized glop, still tethered to my shoulder, started to spiderweb out to the sides of the machine. I let him search for cracks or purchase for a full minute before I pulled him back in.

  “Yeah, bud, this room isn’t much for us. We don’t have the coins.” He managed to pool in my hand in a still-purple copy of the coin we destroyed.

  “It might work, but I don’t have the right coins.”

  disappointed trill

  But we did have the coins. The shifty coins at least worked with one of the machines. My increase in heart rate must have clued Ink in. As he started making happy trills, I ran to the last machine. The rock spot was still empty, but others were still full. I decided it was worth a risk. I pulled one of the shady coins out of my inventory. Ink gave it a cursory once-over before receding into my palm. It was too difficult for him.

  “Don’t worry Ink, we are going to experiment with them. I will try to carve off a piece of one for you before I go the destruction route. He happy trilled. I think I inherited a completionist.

  Back to the machine. I placed the coin against the slot, and it slid in as usual. Unlike last time, none of the handles lit up green, just red. I was expecting that, though. I pushed the coin release and heard the shift coin hit the tray. I couldn’t see it, of course, but I could sense it. A subtle push of mana, and it popped back into my inventory. For giggles, I tried to grab one of the shelved items, but even though I could see the item with my eyes, my aura was blocked by the glass. I pulled out the coin and slotted it once more. I followed it up with four more, for a total of five. I got three more item handles to turn green. One was at coin three and the other two at five. I made sure to pay attention to the cost symbols to get an idea of how to read them as I dropped the coins. I would have liked to get above ten, but alas, I only had eight coins and a rock. That was enough to focus on for now.

  “Alright bud, time to get our steps in” I spoke as we portaled out. Ink still hugged me like a terrified child but I could feel his comfort building up. The now-familiar stale, dank smell of the cave greeted me. I did the stairs twice before lying back to nap. I wanted the actual workout.