Street Cultivation Page 2

  The possibility of free serum was enough to get Rick back on his feet. Though the cans in the pack only held a cheap version, and even the best serum didn't truly add to anyone's lucrim, it still helped with recovery from training. He'd discovered that he could do without, but it definitely helped with the aches and pains.

  When he took a can, he quickly drank the entire thing and went for another. The power flowed through his aching body, both soothing his pains and stimulating the lucrim flowing within him.

  Meanwhile, Henry still had a smug look on his face, and eventually Jimmy got tired enough of it that he glared at him. "Alright, what is it? Not like you to be generous."

  "I can afford to be, because of this baby." Henry pulled up his left shirtsleeve, revealing not just muscular biceps but what appeared to be a tattoo of a crimson scarab. Though Henry had a couple other tattoos, this one was nothing of the sort. "I finally got approved for a demonic bond. I'm swimming in lucrim now."

  "Huh. Congrats." Jimmy took one of the cans and walked off with it, unimpressed. Henry turned to Rick and grinned.

  "Seriously, this thing is amazing."

  Rick nodded along, not wanting to ruin Henry's mood. "How'd you get it? I thought your ether score was getting you rejected before. Did yours improve?"

  "Nah, man. There's a new demon clan that wants to establish itself in Branton... or something like that, anyway. Point is, they don't just check ether score and reject you. They actually let me plead my case. I guess they liked what they saw, because they gave me one hell of a good bond."

  "How much?"

  "It maxes out at 5000 lucrim, but the maximum can go higher. But just the basic bond already bumped me up an entire tier. Seriously, man, you've gotta try them before they get all the people they need."

  Though Rick nodded in general agreement, he didn't seriously consider it. Truthfully, he didn't know very much about demonic bonds. Plenty of people got them, even some people who didn't care about fighting and just needed more lucrim to make ends meet. Usually they had minimum standards, but they were one of the only ways for someone like him to gain considerable power in a short time.

  Since the two already knew each other, Rick's app could bring up immediate data for Henry:

  [Name: Hendog69 (pseudonym)

  Ether Tier: 17th

  Ether Score: 176

  Lucrim Generation: 21,000

  - Demonic Bond: 5000

  Current Lucrim: (private data)]

  Just one demonic bond had taken Henry from around 16,000 up to 21,000 lucrim. In a matter of hours. It was enough to tempt him to do the same.

  But according to Uncle Frank, relying on demonic bonds always turned out badly in the end. Considering that his uncle was the only person in their family to make something of himself, Rick generally took his advice when it came to... well, anything. He was certainly a better role model than Rick's parents.

  "You look kind of messed up, man." Henry looked at him seriously. "Was Darin rough on you? I'm guessing you pissed him off somehow and he did his whole speech about kids these days?"

  "Yeah." Rick finished off his second can and shamelessly took a third. "My fault for not realizing his type. You must have a rough time with him."

  "Nah, you've just gotta know how to work him. But all that rags to riches stuff he says is definitely bullshit." Henry leaned back against the counter, looking out over the empty gym. "Nobody gets that strong on hard work alone. For people like us, pretty much our only chance of getting out of the lower tiers is something big. Getting a great Birthright Core, or getting picked by one of those independent mystics."

  "Or getting demonic bonds?"

  "Nah, that's just catching up." Henry frowned down at the scarab. "People with better ether scores just get handed bonds worth 10,000 lucrim or more. "

  "Still, congrats, man."

  "Not gonna lecture me?"

  "Hey, it's your life and your lucrima." Rick did his best to shrug and not judge - he had enough to worry about taking care of himself.

  "I'm hoping if I do well enough, they might offer me a second or third bond. But I gotta say, the rush of power is great. I'm on a hot streak, so I should donate a bunch to the independent mystics while my luck lasts."

  That was definitely throwing his lucrim away, but Rick held his tongue. He didn't need advice from his uncle or anyone else to see that the independent mystics were running scams. Over the years he'd seen plenty of his friends donate thousands of lucrim and get excited over getting a few hundred back, when they would have been better off just focusing on their own development. Getting lucky and having a mystic choose you as a pupil could bring great power, sure, but everyone else was trying exactly the same thing.

  Since no new customers came in, they sat and talked about nothing for a while longer. Eventually it was the end of his shift, so Rick got up to head home. Due to the serum, his body actually felt fully recovered from Darin's beating. It was a nice change of pace to head home without any aches and pains.

  "Thanks for the serum, man." Rick nodded to his coworker, who just waved it off.

  "No problem. Headed back home?"

  "Yeah, I'll see if I can't get back before it gets too cold."

  "See ya later, then."

  But as Rick collected his things, the bell rang again and three young men pushed into the gym. The hair on the back of Rick's neck immediately stood up as their lucrima surged into the room. Henry felt it as well and stood up with his customer smile.

  "Evening, gents. Welcome to the House of the Cosmic Fist. We're happy to help if we can, but I don't know if we have any staff here who can keep up with you."

  "We're just curious." The man at the head of the group looked around the gym with undisguised disgust. "This is what the Cosmic Fist is, huh? Show us your best."

  "Well, since it's late, most of our staff aren't here..."

  Though Henry tried to reason with them, Rick had already decided that it was pointless. Even if he hadn't been able to feel their power, he could tell that the three weren't here for training. With clothes as nice as theirs, and one of them wearing an ether watch, they were coming to the slummier part of town to cause trouble and blow off steam.

  Unless he missed his guess, all three were Birthrighters. They'd had expensive training from a young age, of course, but that paled in comparison to the Birthright Cores burning within them. Incredible amounts of power, just handed to them by their parents. Lucrima training was probably just a hobby to them, a way to round out their resumes, or something to do before they took over their parents' companies.

  Not that it mattered. Each of the young men had a generation rate of at least 100,000, and they planned to use it. Rick set down his things and sighed, realizing that he wasn't going home uninjured after all.

  Chapter 2: Birthrighters

  The three Birthrighters swaggered into the center of the gym, clearly wanting a fight. Rick glanced toward his boss, but the older man simply sat back and pretended to be absorbed in the magazine he was reading. Unless the place got trashed, he didn't care. In fact, for a miserable little school like the House of the Cosmic Fist, any attention at all was good attention.

  "It's time for my usual sparring match," the leader of the group said, "but we found ourselves too far from home. Somebody will have to step up, or it will harm my development."

  A feeble reason to beat up someone, but when someone with a generation rate of over 100,000 lucrim spoke, logic tended not to matter so much. Beside him, Rick saw that Henry was moving forward, trying to do things the right way.

  "We might be able to find someone to spar with you, but since you aren't members, it will b-" The head Birthrighter punched Henry in the stomach, instantly folding him in half, then dropped him like trash.

  Though a real blow from someone with that much strength would have killed, even the light blow must have dealt terrible damage. Henry curled up around his stomach, gritting his teeth to avoid crying out in pain. His whimpering made the Birt
hrighters laugh and the leader tossed two pearl bars onto his body.

  "That should cover the fee, shouldn't it?"

  Rick did his best not to stare at the bars. They could hold far more lucrim than the cheap little marbles that most used to transfer lucrim, perhaps 1000 or more. Those two bars might be worth more than he was paid in a month. Part of him wanted to grab for them, but he knew that would just invite the Birthrighters to mock him. He might be poor, but he had his dignity.

  Across the room, Jimmy glanced up from the counter. "Yeah, that'll do it. You spar with him, Rick."

  One of the Birthrighters standing in back laughed. "Funny, that's almost like your nickna-" He hurriedly cut off as the leader glared at him. "Just saying."

  "It doesn't matter." The leader turned to Rick and gestured for him to step out onto the mat. "To you, I'm Mike. You'd know my family if I mentioned them, but there's no point. I paid good lucrim for the chance to kick someone's ass, so I hope you don't fold right away."

  "I'll do my best." Rick smiled politely and took his time getting into position, pretending that he needed to stretch.

  Meanwhile, he actually worked on his lucrima. Though he set aside his phone to prevent it being broken, he knew exactly what it would say about him:

  [Rick Hunter's Lucrima Portfolio

  Foundation: 7000 (Lv II)

  Offensive Lucore: 3000 (Lv II)

  Defensive Lucore: 5000 (Lv III)

  Total Lucrim: 15,000]

  Normally, his current available power would be divided between the different Lucores in proportion to the investments he'd made during training. That wouldn't work now, not against an opponent with over 100,000 lucrim at his disposal. There was nothing he could do to avoid spending almost half of his strength on the foundation that allowed him to fight, but he poured the remaining 53% into his defensive core.

  It might not be anything special to his opponents, but Rick was proud of his defense. The exact formation of the Lucore had been his sister's idea, actually, built to help him avoid serious internal injuries. Lots of people who worked at sparring gyms ended up broken by middle age, and he couldn't afford that. Fueled by all the strength he could muster, it offered Rick a defense much stronger than anyone would expect for someone like him.

  As Mike pulled off his jacket and let his lucrima aura blaze up around him, Rick wondered if it would be enough. He'd never sparred with anyone who had a generation rate in six digits before...

  "Come on, little man. Show me what you've got." Mike put up his fists and hopped back and forth a few times, inviting an attack.

  So Rick punched at his face. Even if the blow had landed, it had nothing more than physical force behind it, so it wouldn't have done any good. But as he'd expected, Mike didn't give him a chance, slapping his arm aside and then slamming a fist into his ribs.

  Even though the blow had been pulled, Rick felt pain rush through his entire left side. He wanted to lie down and groan, but forced himself to stay on his feet. The only way through was to endure it.

  Mike looked surprised that he hadn't fallen down, but only let it stop him for a second. He attacked again, a wild swiping blow that Rick barely managed to dodge. His opponent kept lashing out, each blow fueled with more power than Rick could generate in an entire day. And that was just a fraction of the power being put out by his Birthright Core. Seeing one up close, Rick was infuriated by how unfair it was.

  His fury made his focus waver and he lost his position. Mike closed on him, furious blows pushing him further and further back until his only choice was to take the next one. Instead of dodging until he failed, Rick chose a blow to endure, raised his arms in a cross before his chest, and let it strike him.

  Immediately he slammed into the opposite wall, his arms aching as if they'd broken. The wall was reinforced by ether enchantments for the sort of fights that took place here, yet the force of the blow shook it and made a few cracks expand.

  "You can take a punch, kid!" Mike grinned and slapped his fist into his palm a few times, even those gestures radiating out more force than Rick's actual attacks could. "But you're not gonna win unless you can hit me!"

  Obviously, Mike wanted to goad him into a reckless attack, then counter hard enough to drop him. Judging from the way his two friends were snickering, he had done this before. Rick knew he would be seriously injured if he didn't focus on defense, but he also couldn't make it through unless he let Mike get what he wanted somehow.

  So Rick moved back onto the mat, making a few weak attacks while working to defend against his opponent's brutal blows. What options did he have? Henry wasn't watching the fight, clutching where he had been struck. Jimmy had collected the money and likely wouldn't be any help - he might be able to stop these Birthrighters, probably even beat all three of them, but he wouldn't do a damn thing.

  Another blow crunched into his shoulder and Rick couldn't hold back his grunt at the pain. When his opponent laughed and began a series of weak jabs, he decided to just take them. These blows didn't have the strength to break his arms, so better to let his opponent enjoy landing a lot of blows.

  Each one of them sent pain shooting through his arms as he desperately tried to defend, but Rick wasn't paying attention to that. Instead he focused on the Defensive Lucore within him. Though it was failing to defend him from the overwhelming power, it was also growing.

  Lucrima cores grew in strength either from individual training or from interacting with other lucrima. Faced with such staggering power, the core couldn't help but absorb some of the excess lucrim thrown against it, adapting to the new challenge. That was the real reason he'd been willing to stand up and get the crap beaten out of him: losing this fight might earn him more power than months of training.

  So he endured the barrage of punches and tried to ignore the signs that his body was failing. He let himself forget about his core as well, needing all his attention to avoid taking a devastating blow. Even if it didn't cripple him for life, he might not be able to afford the treatment for a serious internal injury.

  "It's over!" Mike let out a roar and charged at him, swinging in a wild haymaker with huge openings.

  Before Rick could stop himself, his training took over. He grabbed his opponent's arm as it passed, endured the burning of the other man's aura, and used his own momentum against him. The technique should have slammed his opponent to the floor.

  Yet as he tumbled, Mike let out a shout. His aura went from a glow surrounding his body to a raging fire, hitting the floor first and stopping his fall.

  For a moment, he floated in midair, staring at the floor and realizing that he would have crashed into it. But a moment later he recovered from his surprise and let out a growl, propelling himself upright on aura alone. He might be a clumsy fighter, but he was no novice.

  The next blow, fueled by anger, was going to be the worst one. Rick knew he couldn't dodge or his opponent would just get angrier. He needed to let it clip him and hope he could survive the impact, but-

  A leg slammed into the back of his knee and Rick fell. Too late he realized that one of Mike's friends had gotten behind him. Though he managed to catch himself by landing on his knee, his body ached too much to dodge, much less retaliate.

  "We paid you for a sparring match!" The last of the Birthrighters kicked him in the chest, flipping him heels over head. Rick hit the mat painfully and then the young man put a foot on his chest. "Where do you get off using tricks?"

  "He threw me fair and square." Mike stomped over to them, his aura fading slightly but his eyes hateful. "Step back. We might as well continue this little match."

  As soon as his friends retreated, Mike kicked him in the side. Rick couldn't hold back a cry of pain as he was flung across the room. Had one of his ribs cracked? His defensive core had been growing throughout the fight, but it couldn't keep up with this. His opponent lunged after him, raining down blows, and he felt his core beginning to give out entirely.

  Without it, blows like these would destroy him.
Defending effectively was impossible now, it was the most Rick could do to focus on his defenses and keep them intact. And hope he could recover from this... no, that was a distraction. All that mattered was lucrima defense.

  "That's your time." Abruptly Jimmy was standing beside them, holding out a fresh towel. It didn't seem like a man of his bulk could move quickly or quietly, but somehow he had crossed the room. "You won. Congrats."

  "Obviously I won." Mike glared at him, but after a tense pause, accepted the towel and began to wipe off the sweat. "You need better sparring staff, old man."

  "I work with what I got. Thanks for not breaking him."

  "Hmph. I was holding back too much for this to even be fun." Mike kicked at Rick again, exactly where his ribs were sorest, and Rick barely choked back another grunt of pain.

  He knew that the smart thing to do was stay down. Tried to tell himself that he was the winner in realistic terms, because he had increased his defensive strength and his opponent had gained nothing. Yet when Mike kicked him, he found himself grabbing the other man's leg and beginning to pull himself up.

  "Know when to stay down!" Mike punched him in the chest and Rick automatically reached up to grab at his wrist. He couldn't stop the blow, but he ended up striking the other man's watch. It was an expensive ether piece, radiating power out in all directions at the impact.

  The blow knocked Mike back a step. He looked infuriated, but when he moved up for another kick, Jimmy subtly moved into his path. "You've had your fun, kid."

  "He could have broken my watch! My father gave this to me!" Yet as Mike examined it, his face twisted into a sneer. "But no harm done. Apparently Rick here isn't even strong enough to damage a watch."

  "Yeah, I'll think about replacing him." Jimmy slowly herded the group toward the door. The three Birthrighters hadn't gotten exactly the fight they wanted, but as they looked back at Rick lying on the floor, they seemed satisfied to have shown him his place.