Beginner's Luck: 43

When Fluke awoke in the Liminal, Parche was standing next to a large pile of Lingots from the day slaughtering crabs on the beach.

"Our little dragonfly friend was busy yesterday! Unfortunately, I had to toss out one of every four that I counted. Rules are rules." The rabbit shrugged with a sheepish smile. He then hopped around to the other side of the pile and began kicking the tiny glowing crystals into a hole that was dug at the base of the spiraling tree. The tree began to groan and creak as it continued its growth upwards.

"I do have to warn you though: Your growth just might catch some unwanted attention." Parche stood and dusted himself off, before craning his neck upwards to the light in the sky.

"What kind of unwanted attention?" Fluke stood and began to circle the tree; admiring the growth and progress he had made.

"Rifts don't exist in a vacuum. A spike in power brings.... changes. Rising power inside rifts is much like your body when you get a fever. Too much too quickly can be detrimental... Just be prepared is all." Parche spoke with his paws steepled in front of his mouth, moving them away to speak after each moment of contemplation.

"The Outsiders will react you mean?" Fluke stopped pacing around the tree to watch his little companion's reaction.

"Yes... you can count on them to respond." Parche had bounced his head back and forth as he thought about his response. Fluke squinted his eyes at the rabbit, in a flimsy attempt to read his body language for extra clues. It was interesting that the rabbit was both a guide and at the same time seemed to be stonewalling the boy on getting any extra information.

"Anything else that you can tell me? Or is it a... "Rules thing"?" Fluke asked this question with some derision in his voice. The rabbit dropped both of his ears and looked embarrassed before answering with a nervous chuckle.

"Uh haha... Yes! You will find that until your body and mind have reached the second tier, your resonance will not move hardly at all. Unless you come into a huge amount of Lingotes, I would suggest dedicating some training to the other aspects listed in your mask."

Fluke nodded and once again looked up at the growing tree. The branches seemed to call to him, begging him to climb them. Driven by instinct, he made his way to the lowest branch and jumped to grab on. His hands felt weak, and he soon lost his grasp after dangling for but a few short seconds. Fluke took a moment to meditate and found himself surrounded again by an even field of resonant energy. Testing his resolve, he jumped and grabbed the branch again, and this time he felt he had sufficient grasp of the branch. But soon Fluke encountered an unforeseen barrier to his progress: every centimeter he lifted himself upwards felt as if gravity or his body weight increased exponentially! By the time he had the branch under his legs he was red in the face and exhausted. Not to be defeated by the simple task of climbing the tree, Fluke attempted to lift his arms up to the next branch. His arms felt as if they were weighed down by large invisible chains, every millimeter of progress meant an increase in difficulty.

Fluke loudly strained against the invisible challenge, flaring his resonant energy to assist him as much as possible. After what felt like a year of struggle, he finally let both of his arms collapse down to his sides. And just like with heavy chains, the path downward was exponentially easier. Letting his body go slack, he slid from the branch, landing in a sweat covered heap. Panting for air, he looked for the rabbit to explain what was going on. Parche hopped onto his chest from the opposite side that he was expecting, causing the boy to startle.

"I'll give you some advice kid: Growth requires effort. Effort requires dedication. Dedication requires sacrifice. Sacrifice requires pain. And most importantly- every centimeter gained through resistance; is worth a meter gained without resistance." Parche was so close to Fluke's face that the boy's eyes crossed slightly trying to focus on the small animal. Fluke nodded, and the rabbit hopped off of him. Pushing himself up to a seated position, then slowly back up to standing, Fluke spent the rest of the night trying to climb the tree, but just as he was about to reach the second branch- he was awoken back to the real world.

__________________________________________________

When Fluke became mentally awake, he put on his mask and checked his progress.

Mind: 1.36

Body: 1.36

Resonance: 2.19

Mask: 1.51

Current Enhancements:

The Green Gambler: All harvests, productions, rewards, boons, and yields are doubled when used successfully with a divine Talisman.

-Increased Productivity in Harvesting/Farming/Mining +10%

-Increased stamina and health recovery +5%

-Increased Quest rewards for 24 hours

-Increased resonance cultivation +5%

Usable Potential Energy Detected- Status: Unlocked

Use potential energy? Yes/No

Current Event: Mass Migration- Sudden changes to the environment have caused chaos in the migratory patterns of the local sea life. A new food source is now washing out to sea. Something from the depths comes to investigate.

11:51:33

It seemed that everything at this point in time was just another trial- even sleep. Despite having rested for eight hours, he felt exhausted from spending his mental energy in the Liminal all night. But he did notice that climbing one branch had moved his mind and body upwards ever so slightly. Then remembering his conversation with Jinx last night, Fluke suddenly sat up and decided that now before he flipped the coin was a good time to spend some of the potential energy that he accrued. Accessing the appropriate menu, he blinked several times to make sure he was reading the number correctly.

12000/12000

Green Gambler Wager? Yes/No

Use Potential Energy? Yes/No