I opened my eyes, finding myself lying at my work desk in the dark, head resting on my arms. Oh, so it was a dream after all…ouch!
My thoughts were interrupted by a surge of aches and pains, especially in my shoulder and lower chest. Other places hurt too, but those were the worst agonies. I flicked on my desk light and then looked myself over, and I could see blood on my clothes. Panicked I pulled my t-shirt off to reveal a series of mottled bruises across my flesh, with a series of what looked like bloody bite marks across my shoulder, which were not deep but were tender to the touch. I also had several other cuts and arrays of bruises, overlaying a series of decade-old barely visible scars along my abdomen.
“Not a dream then…” I muttered to myself. “It really happened.” Checking the clock next to my work computer I saw it was only just past four in the morning. I guess time really does flow differently in the Boundary.
Despite the fact I had been unconscious I was feeling bone-weary, so I decided to see if I could sleep for a bit and then I would consider everything that had happened to me overnight under the light of day. As soon as I lay down on my futon I drifted off to sleep, my exhaustion dragging me down.
********
I awoke to light streaming in through the window, the sound of birdsong loud in my ears. Glancing over to the clock at my desk, the time was nearing half past ten. I stifled a yawn and dragged myself up, still feeling a few twinges of intense pain.
“First thing is first, time for a bath.”
Once I had sluiced off the sweat and blood and soaked my bruises I began to feel a little better. Drying myself off I sat down at my familiar desk and decided that the best way to clear my head was to take a crack at the outstanding work I had left. Once I had done that. I could consider my options carefully.
For the next few hours I toiled away on my computer, clearing problem after problem. By the time I was done it was nearly six in the evening. Still, I was all finished. Wait a minute, I thought I had a couple of days’ worth of work left, what with those new jobs that came in yesterday. How did I get it all finished, and so easily?
It seemed that I could think faster and more clearly, easily finding the solution to issues that would have taken some thought before. My hands were faster too, flying over the keyboard and manipulating the mouse with speed and precision. A thought came to mind, one that was impossible to deny.
This must be the result of status. I did gain several levels, boosting my physical statistics. If this carried over to the real… Material world as well, then every level is precious, making me better at everything!
In fact, the wounds on my body seemed much improved too, the bruises starting to fade and the cuts and gouges already having scabbed over. Lifting up my computer I tried hoisting it over my head, and found that, while I still got tired, I was definitely stronger and had more endurance than before.
The feeling of the heat inside me that I had felt before in the Boundary was barely there, the merest flicker, but I guessed that made sense, as I had ran dry of aether before I was returned here. I guess I will have to build up my supply again. But first, if I was going to make a decision on whether to continue the quest to be an Astral Emperor, I would need to gather all the facts. It was time for research!
********
Several hours later I was taking a swig of iced tea and was reviewing the data I had gathered from my internet searches. The keywords I used were Astral, Boundary, ether, aether, Silver Cord, node, and Astral Emperor. Not everything had any relevant hits, and nothing was an exact match, but there were enough similarities on some of the data to be interesting. The Astral was described as a world of dreams and imagination, which was quite similar. One would be connected to their physical body by a Silver Cord, which also seemed to match. However the idea that the Astral could affect anything in the real world was dismissed as a fantasy. Ordinarily I would agree, but I have proof that is not the case.
Ether, aether and nodes were terms that didn’t really have any useful matches, and neither did Astral Emperor, if you discounted some bad fanfiction and web novels of course. What I did find interesting though were quite a few sources regarding ways to do what was described as ‘Astral Projection’ which was to free the Astral body to roam the Astral at will. This seemed the best lead I had. If only Exposition-san could have explained the process more clearly…
I took another look at the various printouts I had made, the most relevant was a coloured diagram of what was called the seven Chakras of the body. Apparently one had to follow a process quite similar to what I had been doing in the Astral to raise the energy level of the Chakras to liberate the Astral body. It struck me as worth a try.
So that was the first part of my plan. The second was considering whether to actually return to the Boundary and my Territory. It was too soon to decide, but first I had to fully weigh up the rewards I had gained. Some testing was in order. I would need to establish whether today’s boosts to my physical and mental abilities were a fluke or not. It was time to work up a sweat!
I spent the next couple of hours doing sit-ups and press-ups, as well as squats and lifting weights (my computer again, as that was all I really had). The results were pretty good. I had definitely improved in terms of fitness and strength. In fact the gain seemed a lot more than a few percent. My lamentable fitness of before seemed decently average, able to do push-ups and sit-ups for quite a while, despite being barely able to do a few before today.
My sister would be so jealous if she knew. She has to do all that training to get good, and I only have to risk my life on… oh wait, maybe training is better!
The next thing to test would be my mental acuity, but the best way to do that would be to try and do more work and see if that was finished at the same rapid pace as today. That way I would get paid as well. Money was going to be a real issue moving forward if I was seriously considering improving my Territory.
Scrolling through my emails unfortunately I had no more work remaining. That was the curse of being a self-employed freelancer. Still, I knew someone who would give me extra work if I wanted, even if I wouldn’t get paid, so I fired off an email to her just as a backup. Putting that aside for now, there was one thing I could test left, and the one that to be honest I was most taken with. It was practically a superpower!
Removing a couple of dice from my desk drawer as well as a faded deck of playing cards, I began a lengthy process of recording data. The hours slipped past and before I knew it, it was one in the morning, the streets around me silent. My pen skittered across the page and tallied up the final numbers.
“On the dice I was scoring just under four percent higher on average than mathematically expected, and the same with the cards, high cards were drawn a higher percentage of the time than should be mathematically sound.” The dataset was a bit small, so it was hard to be statistically certain, but it seemed that a point in Fortune was a roughly two percent boost, although without gaining another point and running more tests it was impossible to say if it was a linear process. That was small but would certainly have an effect long-term as more events involving chance were affected. I could consider it similar to a house edge at a casino. Small, but skewing things in my favour over the long-term.
Another interesting fact was just how easily I had performed the calculations. I had always been good at maths, but the speed of my working out was far faster than I was used to. What with all the data taken together, it was hard to deny that I had definitely gained quite the boost to my attributes.
I stifled a yawn. I didn’t feel too exhausted, perhaps because this was exciting, but there was no point tiring myself out. The final test would be to try the methods for Astral Projection I had discovered online and see if that managed to raise my aether. I would try the ones that more closely matched what I had been doing and would take it from there.
Settling down in my chair I closed my eyes and began to imagine drawing energy through my Silver Cord into my Chakras, trying to feel the prickling heat of aether. I continued doing this for quite some time, having little success.
It was so easy doing it in the Boundary, I guess down here on the Material there isn’t much ether around to convert and draw in…
Still, I wasn’t ready to give up, and continued to try and draw in ether until sleep took me…
********
I woke up again to the warmth of the early morning sun creeping through my window. Looking at the clock I could see that it was getting on for seven in the morning. I hadn’t slept much but still felt reasonably refreshed. As I stretched I noticed the pain from my bruises had faded away to almost nothing. The benefits of having strengthened my physique, I imagine.
Today I’ll try a new method to accumulate aether, and also do as much work as possible to… my train of thought was interrupted by the warm prickling of aether within me, concentrated around my lower body. It wasn’t the roaring warmth of my time in the Boundary, but it was definitely noticeable.
I must have accumulated it overnight. My Cord must pull it in automatically. That was the logical conclusion. Still, what I felt was only a puddle compared to the lake of before. I would persist with the training methods until I found one that worked. Only when I had accumulated enough aether could I finally make the decision as to whether I should continue or not.
“Back to testing then!” I said out loud, slapping my cheeks to motivate myself. I quickly made myself a basic breakfast of cup ramen, the breakfast of the lonely single man, and began to concentrate on my wrist, trying to push the aether there to activate my status.
It was a strain, the aether not flowing smoothly as it did in the Boundary, rather feeling like trying to push syrup through a straw. I forced my concentration to a fine peak and continued to imagine the flow, concentrating so hard that I could almost feel it, and after what seemed like hours, but was probably no more than twenty or so minutes, I could feel a prickling warmth circulating to my wrist. As it reached there, a dim silver glow leaked out, and words scrolled across my vision.
It worked! I celebrated what was clear proof that this was actually happening, and I looked at my updated status with great interest.