Of all the women in the Sanctuary, there was really only one that could be considered intimidating, and that was Mother Mercy. She was a woman who looked to be in her late fifties with an athletic build and a face that was stoic. She wore a hearing aid, which was unusual for a former hunter, who usually required keen senses. She had been a healer on the frontlines, fighting on the beast planets long after her service had come to an end; the faction she had been involved were very active. Unlike many healers, Mother Mercy had actively enjoyed the combat element and utilised spirit weapons freely, for more than just defensive purposes.
Although she technically taught the other Madonnas to fight with the staff, as she had done, this was really just to offer them some protection, but none of them were real fighters. This is why, from time to time, she would pay one of the local gangs to send someone to her for sparring practice.
At first, the others had laughed, sending over some of their larger men to deal with her, but when they had come back battered and bruised, they realised that the woman was a real hunter and therefore someone they should respect.
It was one of these sessions that was currently taking place in the study room of the Sanctuary.
"Pathetic," she said, wiping the blood from her quarterstaff.
The young man could not believe it. He was a muscular specimen in his early twenties, but the spirit essence of Mother Mercy had been much higher than anything he had encountered previously. Hitting her strange quarterstaff with his club was like hitting lead with bamboo, and so, predictably, his club had broken. It was a scavenger-tier spirit weapon, so his shock had been great. Although he had been hoping for a prey-tier weapon one day, such things were not easily obtained by a new member of a no-name faction from the slums. After all, they were only cleared for taking on level 1 gates themselves, so couldn't acquire the spirit cores directly. Trade was technically possible for anything up to the predator-tier, but the price jumps were exponential.
"Wait," he thought. "To destroy my own weapon, did that mean her weapon was prey-tier? Maybe even higher?" When his leader had asked him to spar with an older woman and warned him not to use his ability under any circumstances, he had thought he was being mocked.
As soon as his club broke though, he had frozen, and Mother Mercy had capitalised and struck him in the stomach, causing him to keel over, then straight to the back of the head. The whole fight had lasted less than a minute.
"Take this," she said, handing him the staff.
He stared at it for a moment, confused.
She raised her fists. "Again!" she cried.
*
For Rose's lesson that day, she was studying an intricate diagram of the muscles of the forearm on a cheap organiplastic tablet. One lesser-known aspect of their technique was that they would often visualise the wounds being healed in order to guide the healing essence down the correct pathways. While it was possible to do so without, doing so would be quite wasteful, like using a general anaesthetic instead of a targeted injection.
She flexed her fingers one by one, reciting the related muscle name: "Pronator teres, flexor carpi radialis, palmaris longus, flexor carpi ulnaris." She thought the names were hard, as always, but having something to associate with the shape was often useful as a mental trigger for recalling it. Though responsible for flexing different digits, she thought that their shapes were quite similar after all; simply remembering the general shape and where the muscles met the tendons should be sufficient to guide the essence, or at least better than nothing. She put the tablet down for a moment, considering.
Mother Mercy looked up from the book she had been reading. "Is something wrong?" she asked.
"How does she do that?" she thought to herself. Realising she had not replied, she quickly added: "Erm, I guess, I had a question."
"Go on," she said.
"Lenny and Harry will be leaving soon," Rose started.
"Yes."
"It's just, I know I am able to stay here, but I am wondering if that's for the best."
"You're worried about losing your friends?" Mother Mercy asked, her tone unchanged.
"No, we will likely part ways. I was thinking that hunting some spirit beasts would be a good way to boost my spirit essence and to help many of our people. Healing abilities are always useful on the front line, and there would be few other opportunities that would allow me to practice my powers as much."
Mother Mercy didn't say anything. Had she heard? Or was she just thinking?
"You're upset by the suggestion?" Rose asked.
"No," she replied, a rare smile cracking her lips. "Actually, I think it's a good idea. Not only will it develop your essence, but if you survive, it will strengthen our order."
Rose thought about the choice of words. Order, faction, gang, they were all somewhat similar. Why had she always been so adamant to never become a faction?
"Besides," she continued. "Being able to think for yourself is a rare and precious quality."
This time it was Rose's turn to smile. In truth, Mother Mercy had never said anything so nice to her, not as far as she could remember, and so it made the rare praise even more precious.
"Stand up," she said suddenly.
Rose, surprised by the sudden change in tone, paused for a moment.
"Up girl, don't dawdle!" She threw a staff towards her.
Rose stood up, catching the staff. It had been thrown to her, rather than at her, but the staff was still heavy and she had had to react quickly to avoid being struck.
"If you are to represent us, you must become stronger. Much stronger. Your training proper begins today. Don't disappoint me."
*
Lenny sat in a corner on his own in the backroom. "System," he asked. "Why does it hurt to apply stat points from levelling up, but not to absorb spirit essence?"
"I suppose it might be easier to consider it this way: absorbing spirit essence is a part of your ability, while your other enhancements are part of the system itself."
"So, I am only able to level up because of the system?"
"Yes."
"Why do I have a system?" Lenny asked. He had wanted to ask sooner but feared he would not like the answer.
"That information will be revealed to you eventually, or at least, you will have an opportunity to ask all of your questions. The system only has limited information about itself, but some data is locked until various conditions are met."
There was a question that had been weighing on Lenny's mind recently, and he decided it was as good a time as any to ask: "Are you an AI?" He paused. "And if so, why are you helping me?"
"Your questions will all be answered, when conditions are met."
The answer was what he had expected, but he pressed on: "What conditions?"
"The first condition is that you must grow significantly stronger. Without it, you will not be able to survive encounters on the beast planets. You are a long way off being safe out there."
"Okay, fine. What about the second condition?"
"The second and final condition is that you must meet when the time comes."
"Meet who?" he asked.
"The creator of the system."
Lenny thought for a while, wondering if he should ask something else, but figured that the system was unlikely to give him much more information. The conditions had hinted at something though. Was the creator of the system on the beast planets? Or would he just meet them there?
Just then, Rose came through the door. Her face was bruised.
"Rose? Are you okay?" Lenny.
She smiled in response. "Never better."
"But, your face…?"
She rubbed her hand momentarily over her cheek, and the bruise was gone.
"You're getting better at that," he added.
She continued to smile, then went and sat in the centre of the room, pulling out a slice of bread and nutrient paste.