Bent World: Chapter 34 A Dog And Pony Show

Chapter 34

A Dog And Pony Show

A Profiling Ceremony looks a lot different from the side of the conductor. Almost like being behind the magician so you can see the sleight of hand and misdirection. Having been on the receiving side of the Profiling Ceremony, albeit at a distance, I still knew what to look for.

However, there is a glaring distinction between being a presenter and a recipient at one of these productions. That or, maybe my insights as a Pathfinder make the process all the easier to understand.

“This is a mana heart stone, these are embedded in the strongest of monsters that come through rifts to our word. By taking this and channeling our energy into the stone, we can create a return rift back to the monster’s home world, or plane, or whatever other word you want to describe where the monsters come from. Know that they are all different, and they all offer power beyond comprehension.” Auntie begins while holding up a glowing purple stone that is about the size of two curled fingers together.

“Why don’t we use these to harvest more crystals on the other side and then come back?” Sarina asks, her words lacking their normal cadence, implying that she was somehow forced to ask this very question. Which was good, as I was already in my Pathfinder gear, meaning that anyone listening in could discern that something might be off with me, if I started talking.

“Good question, so far we have only been able to find ways that these can open a pathway to the monster’s world. As for now, we have not been able to figure out a way to come back, without a Pathfinder. There have been teams that went through known rifts, Ms. Andry is an example of one such group. Fortunately, for her team, the invading hostile forces had made ways to open rifts rather easy, even going so far as to show us how to use the methods to get back.” Auntie began.

Suddenly, my understanding for why the invasion and massacre of my planet made sense. They weren’t going to strike, or come up with an excuse, until they knew they could get back whenever they wanted. Then after we showed them the methods, they were all too eager to act on the genocide of my planet and get back before they had to deal with the fallout of their actions. A perfect crime.

I still want revenge, or at the very least, I want to be able to go back home, once I know the time of the solar flares are over, but until then, I need to get stronger and learn the practices here. Especially now that I know that I can go back to any planet, that we have monster crystals from.

So far I had not seen any of these, mainly due to the fact that I was not part of the harvesting teams, as those were specialists that came in after a rift was closed and went about collecting all the vital components. Including meats and other ingredients that could be used to sustain a population.

The meats are apparently a delicacy that are only fed to those who have completed the Profiling Ceremony.

“Are there any other questions?” Auntie asks, her tone clearly leading as she stares at Sarina. For her part I can tell that even through the mask Sarina is flustered, by the way she scrunches up and seems to tighten her arms flat against her legs, causing them to hang down to about mid-thigh a sign that she is trying to sit still and focus. Then she relaxes as she apparently remembers her next question she is to ask.

“Oh, I have one,” Sarina begins.

Auntie just rolls her eyes and nods with a get on with it gesture.

“Why is it called a Profiling Ceremony?” Sarina asks.

At that Auntie perks up.

“Another great question, and the reason you might recall is rather simple. This will be the first time every female has their system full activated and can officially see their Profile.” Auntie answered.

“Oh, what’s a Profile? Assume I have never heard of this before.” Sarina began, and while her acting left much to be desired, I did appreciate this, as these were things as an alleged female Pathfinder that I should be well aware of. Thus my lacking or hesitation of knowledge in this could be seen as an issue.

“Another great question, the Profile is the system that every awakened higher being can see and use to note their strengths, weaknesses, and potential future combat potential.” Auntie continued.

Again, this was weird as I knew there was a lot of talking done by Auntie before each Profiling Ceremony to the group of students who were meant to partake in that year’s ceremony, but I never knew it was something this orchestrated. That or maybe they were doing this for me to be aware, either way it was interesting, despite being nearly comical from the delivery and clearly staged questions.

“Anyone else have any questions?” Auntie asked, her gaze scanning the crowd of fellow students. These were the kids from my class, but they didn’t seem to notice me, well they clearly noticed the Pathfinder. But whether they made the mental connection that I was the Pathfinder was impossible to tell. Though if they did, they didn’t show anything, making them much better actresses than Sarina.

“Oh, I have one more,” Sarina offered, again filling in the basic knowledge that my class already had from talking to their parents, or were too frightened by the situation to ask about directly.

Auntie just gave a raised eyebrow and pointed at Sarina again.

“Is there a way to share what our profile contains?” Sarina asked.

“Not exactly,” Auntie began while pulling out a clear crystal rod from her pocket. “This is an attunement rod. The same rod that we would use to open a rift, can be flipped and used to show the proficiency of a person holding the rod.”

With that Auntie took off her right handed glove, the one denoting her lowercase ‘w’ and gripped the rod. Instantly a rainbow of colors appeared. Bright yellow, then bright greens, and a bright but light blue color as well.

“These are my proficiencies. As you can see, my potential has been unlocked, and fortunately I was able to find a partner that I could fully unlock my true potential with. Had there been any discrepancies, the light would end, while a shadow in each noted color would appear, denoting my lost potential.”

Auntie stated as she pointed to the different notches that were in the rod.

“So not only did I manage to open my affinities, but through work and correct partner selection, I was able to unlock my full potential in each category.” Auntie stated, while staring at me for the last part.

I had a feeling that there was more in that stare than she was truly letting on. Clearly, she was trying to dumb this down so that it wasn’t too confusing for the children.

With that Brittica, one of my classmates, asked while raising her hand simultaneously. This was something that I knew made Auntie go crazy, but apparently decided to let it slide due to the gravity of this event, and the fact that this was the first student to ask a question, “Will this work for boys as well?”

Hearing the question, Auntie stared at the girl for a moment before a slightly knowing smile filled her face, “yes it will even work for a boy. Though in their case, you will just see the potential. So rather than seeing the bright lights, like you see in my own here, you will see a shadow noting which affinities and tiers in those affinities that they resonate with, but nothing beyond that.”

This was a lie, well mostly a lie.

My case was slightly different, even my team had their Profiles forcefully awakened already, but before I had too long to think about these differences, it was time to get things going.

“Well, if there are no other questions, what do you say to us beginning this, so you can begin the process of becoming true adults?”

“Yes,” the gaggle of girls all cried out excitedly.

“Okay, so this will be a bit dangerous, but we have the Pathfinder here, stay behind her at all times, and let her and her party take care of saturating the area with enough resonant energy.”

With that, Auntie began the process. First she flipped the rod she was handling upside down, then placed the noted monster crystal into the end of the rod. Then began channeling energy into the staff.

Tingle.

Almost instantly I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise as my body told me that something unnatural was about to happen. Feeling the tingle, I could feel my extra senses awaken and all but direct me to the source of the fluctuation.

I could feel the wrongness of what was happening. By Impulse I felt like rising up my right hand and tearing down the newly forming rift immediately. But I resisted, as I made sure to focus, my blades out as I was prepared for anything to try to come through the portal.

There was clearly a challenge being made, and in the portal’s opening, I felt how wrong this process was. We were opening the rift, which meant that logically we should be the ones to charge through the opening, gaining the advantages, but instead we just waited.

This was why the disparity of power was so great, as I was meant to be in that rift. Even now, I felt that if I used my left hand and focused on stolen rift powers, I could fortify the structure, ensuring a safe tunnel would be created and held in place.

Which might be why I also felt the pulse and thrum of the incoming monsters so clearly. Monsters that felt the call of the rift, the challenge being posed by us for daring to open such a distortion into their world. The monsters of the otherworld felt our call to arms and began charging forward, perhaps drawn by the unknown system.

That or what was even more frightening of an idea might be that the monsters had their own profiles awakened by charging through these portals, making us twice as tasty treats, knowing that they just gained the power of the system and were likely all being offered extra rewards for killing monsters they encounter on our end of the rift. This was a safety feature of the system, and one apparently made to cut down on War Maiden parties fighting other War Maiden parties. The fact that one could not gain power by slaying awakened people from their own realm.

Apparently, this was why the doppelgangers from Earth01 were at first avoided, thinking that nothing could be gained by killing them. Then once it was determined that they provided nearly double the amount of power as regular monsters, well our fate was sealed.

AWOOO!

The howling cry of a rift wolf brought me back to the present. Hearing the cry, and seeing the faintly purple mist that was coming from around the rift, I was prepared for almost anything to come through. However, I was concerned that the first thing through was a cloaked wolf scout.

Seeing the monster get to the edge of the rift, look around only to be ignored by everyone I realized this was the first scout.

Signing quickly to Auntie, I indicated the danger.  She nodded, seeing my symbol for a cloaked monster, at which point I reached into my vest and pulled out a throwing dagger.

Then with a calm, I waited for the wolf to seem to be calm for a moment before quickly jumping down from the chest high rift, landing with a silent plop on the ground.

Thwick-thwick-swoosh!

That’s when I struck, throwing my blade with speed, precision, and Telekinesis. Even going so far as to Telekinetically hold the beast in place. The effect was quick and precise, as the monster that was sent ahead as the scout, dropped instantly as a blade struck into and through its massive temple, impaling its brain, causing the beast to drop immediately.

“AWWW” The cries of my fellow classmates called out in surprise, as to them it just seemed like I threw a blade at the air, only for a monster wolf to appear. The threat so quickly dispatched that their minds had yet to catch up to the fact of how dangerous this rift truly was.

Even now, I could see Auntie beginning to let go her pulse of energy.

Apparently, the minimum number of monsters needed is three, or at least that is the standard number that everyone accepts from medium monsters, which these wolves would count as. Despite clearly being enhanced by the powers of the rift, their bodies had grabbed hold of the energy, but had not managed to crystalize it, meaning that the energy would be dispersed. Normally this type of activity would be considered a waste, as we used one completed crystal from a larger monster, to produce this lesser rift, that we would not be able to recreate with the resources that came through. Particularly with how quickly we dispatched the monsters.

The way this was described to me was that these monsters were the equivalent of a large cup, when they came through the rift, their cup was filled. If they were able to come through and stay for long enough, or go through enough rifts, then the liquid in their cup would slowly condense until it was strong enough to form a core. Then they would be able to create rifts on their own and invade other planets whenever they wanted or needed resources.

By us killing the monsters so quickly, we took that recently full cup and poured it on the ground. Not doing much with one cup, but after three, you could water a plant, or in this case provide enough ambient energy for all students to awaken fully.

Then like clockwork a second and a third wolf began to appear together. They scanned the crowd, and all the other students looked on in shock, as these monsters were beyond what was expected.

I of course took the time to signal to Auntie that the last two had appeared but had not come out yet. Auntie again nodded, and I could see her preparing to forcefully close the rift from her end. It was a lot easier for her to close the rift from the creation point than it would be from anywhere else, and this was the way of all Profiling Ceremony conductors.

AWOO!

The deep rumbling cry of a monster wolf howled from deep behind the rift. This was the sign the two wolves needed, as they charged forward. A fact that Sarina and I were prepared for as she took the one on the left, impaling it in its front right shoulder. While I simply slashed at my opponent. Again, Telekinesis is the ultimate cheat in this case. Not only did I hold the beast perfectly still, but I managed to empower the strike of my blade, while exposing the weaker point of the wolf’s neck, just beyond it’s skull for me to strike at.

Thwack.

My blade didn’t stop moving until it hit the ground.

Floating red mist.

“Ahh!”

The strike was so fast that arterial blood began to spray wildly about. Fortunately, my mask covered me and protected me from most of this, but judging by the screams of the female students, they had no such protections. I could already imagine their ceremonial white garments turning red with the blood of a freshly killed enemy.

With the first two dead, and the second one being held by Sarina, I did my part by providing a swift horizontal strike at the beast’s legs.

Once again, my mind moved on autopilot from countless years of practice as I grabbed hold of all four legs and Telekinetically empowered my blow.

Slink.

No sooner had my blade sliced through its four legs then it began to fall to the ground.

Snarl!

Despite being instantly crippled, the beast still fought back against the spear that Sarina now used to pin the beast to the ground. With a quick movement, I Telekinetically held the beast’s mouth to the ground, before placing one foot on the beast’s struggling snout.

“Go up and stab it quickly, to get a first kill bonus!” Auntie yelled out from behind the already shrinking portal.

By now a fourth wolf had managed to crawl on its belly out the last bit of the open portal. Seeing it, I pulled out another throwing knife and slung it, impaling the falling beast with a seemingly perfect strike.

Thud.

The girls of my class were all so focused on coming forward and stabbing the profusely bleeding wolf once with a sharpened stick, that they failed to notice the threat still posed by the closing rift.

Fortunately, that is what overwatch was for. Even the fellow mothers had not responded to the final threat. Then like that the ordeal was over. I was so focused on the closing portal that I failed to see how quickly and efficiently every girl in class had provided one quick blood drawing jab to the quivering monster.

By now the portal was almost closed. This was at the quarter power stage, a stage where the portal could be opened again if needed, but it would be taxing on Auntie. Not that this truly mattered, as this is what she signed up for when she took over this responsibility from the previous Profiling Ceremony specialist.

“Has everyone stabbed the beast and drawn blood?” Auntie asked.

Not speaking, all the girls nodded. Some seemed shocked, as they still looked at the massive beast that was still twisting under my foot and Sarina’s spear.

With that Auntie gave me the head nod to kill the beast.

Slink.

A quick strike down at the beast’s exposed neck ended the miserable beast’s life, causing it to stop struggling after a few seconds.

There was a pause, as I could see in my periphery the way all the girl’s eyes seemed to glow brightly for a moment. A true sign that the system had been awakened within them, and that they were able to see the all vaunted system for the first time.

“Now everyone who can see their profile, please raise your left hand.” Auntie cried out.

Like that, all the girls from the class raised up their left hands signifying that this had been a complete success.

“Very good, Pathfinder, if you would,” Auntie continued by calling me out and then gesturing to the portal.

With that I simply nodded moved a step closer, until I could feel the thrum and otherworldly power of the rift beckoning to me and filling me with the thrum of power. Then I raised my right hand, and pulled the remaining power of the rift away and into me.

“WHOA!” All the girls in the class cried out, but that was far away as my senses could only focus on one thing at this point.

Shiver.

With the new course of power, I felt alive with energy, as an involuntary smile filled my lips. This was intoxicating, and made the entire production seem worthwhile, at least from my perspective.

“All right, now come up and see what your potential holds for you,” Auntie declared.

With that she turned over the rod and held it out for each girl to come up and display their potentials. As expected each color shown was a darker shade of the various colors, signifying that their potential had not been fully unlocked yet. If they tried, it was said that they could all increase their potential by one tier from this point.

“Tier II talent in Wind, Fire, and Water, congratulations,” Auntie called out letting the nearby family member know of her outcome.

Gasp.

Apparently, the guardian was not prepared for such a high reading as they looked flustered at first, before going over and hugging their daughter. “Our family finally has a prodigy.”

But the accolades were not done there.

“Tier three shadow, tier two fire, tier two wind,” Auntie called out for Brittica, marking her as having an exceptional potential and bright future.

“Tier three water and wind, and tier two healing” Auntie called out for the normally quiet Chymilla. At that there was a pause as she had three powers all at the exceptional rating.

And like that, it became apparent that everyone’s minimum was Tier Two for all powers, with only Brittica and Chymilla having Tier three powers unlocked to begin with. I could already see Auntie’s gaze fixing on Chymilla, I could all but guess why as healers were rare. So seeing one that was Tier two to begin with, that was even more intriguing to her.

“What about the Pathfinder? What have they unlocked?” Brittica asked the question I had been dreading.

“Well you see, the Pathfinder is slightly different than the rest of us, care to show them?” Auntie asked.

Taking a deep breath, I realized this would have to happen at some point.

That’s when I proceeded to remove my right glove, showing the upper case and now glowing ‘P’ on the back of my hand. Then with a resigned reluctance, I reached over to grab the rod, and that’s when it happened.

GASPS!

Even the mothers and caretakers all gasped at what they saw.