New System, Who Dis?

Tutorial Day 38

My eyes flickered open, closed again, then opened once more.

Why was my world a patina green?

What had I been doing just before this all happened? Hadn't I been submerged in the–

Wait–

Shouldn't I have drowned? That thought made me sit straight up, clearing my vision of the green patina and bringing my room into focus.

What I saw was relatively normal for my room within the Alchemy Academy. There was my double bed, my new very costly nightstand, closet, and somewhat clear space where all of my fused Plants currently rested beside my Pill Cauldron. My eyes lingered on the leaf pot that held 'only' soil. It of course held the Mana Apple core, that I kept hoping would sprout.

It's absorbing the water, I think?

Still my distraction didn't last long because I saw something black on the ceiling there. I followed the strange peppered black pattern all the way back to the Shower nook. There was a streak of burned black on the ceiling above me and up the walls of the Magical Shower. My eyes widened, seeing that whatever the black stain was, the Enchantment on the shower hadn't managed to entirely clean it.

Then the smell hit my nose. It was far worse than the acidic, burning, rotten egg smell I had experienced when I had used the Rejuvenation Pill. This was as if I was in a sewage treatment plant. Not just in a sewage treatment plant, but in the vat that allowed the feces to settle to the bottom, giving off methane gas and the smell of old, decaying shit.

Immediately, I dry heaved. I had nothing in my stomach, considering that I had slept after each Rejuvenation Pill and hadn't eaten since breakfast. The dry retching didn't let up. The smell was just too horrible, too all-consuming. My eyes even began to water.

My panic at my loss of control over my body created a desperate desire to stand up and get into that Magical Shower. My shaking hands reached out to my side and found what I knew should be a copper tub. What my fingers discovered was a distinctly different tactile sensation.

My watering eyes didn't give me a clear view of it, but I could tell that the copper—which never rusts—had oxidized to a degree that should have taken years. This was where the green patina color had come from.

My fingertips seemed to find layers upon layers of the oxidation as I increased my strength to them. The shaking in my hands only stopped thanks to the grip, but as I clenched through the filth and oxidation, something else entirely met my fingers deeper. Much of the oxidation fell back into the tub, bringing with it a wave of increased odor. I didn't bother seeing if my fingers had truly found glass beneath all the disgusting patina.

It was a chore to stand up, to say the least, but I finally managed to crawl out of the tub.

As I cleared the lip, the smell did get slightly better, letting me know that, to a degree, some of it had been contained in the tub itself. It wasn't gone, however, and as I made my crawling progress to the alcove of the Shower, I hoped that maybe, just maybe, the Enchantment was still functioning, however, the black stain it contained, might mean I'd overloaded it.

As soon as I crossed the threshold into the alcove, the Enchantment flashed. I had the distinct pleasure of watching the black, burned-looking stain vanish from the interior of the alcove. The mark on the ceiling remained, and unfortunately, a faint, lingering odor persisted. It wasn't strong enough to induce dry heaving, but it was enough to make the room slightly unbearable.

My gaze fell on the tub, which I suspected was the source of the remaining odor. Perhaps the stain on the ceiling also contributed to the smell. But having sat in that tub, with my eyes watering and the smell invading my body to the point of losing control, I knew the tub was the larger problem.

Just thinking about touching it caused me to shudder. Still, it was get it in here, or abandon my room all together.

As I dragged it, I considered what had happened. What had caused the issue? I couldn't quite figure it out. I had used Stat Breakthrough Liquid, exactly as instructed, by submerging myself in it. Many others in the Tutorial had done the same.

The only difference I could discern was that I had taken a Rejuvenation Pill. Multiple, in fact, but why had my body reacted so strongly after it and during? Hadn't Veronique claimed only eighty percent of the accumulated bodily impurities would be removed, and taking three was the 'limit' of compounding? Something was amiss.

I pulled up my Status.

Only after reading it twice did I peel my eyes off of the two Stats above ten, and notice the difference in a single word. Hatchling's Body? What on earth was the Skill Hatchling's Body?

My mind clung to it, recalling that the original Skill granted by the System was named Dragon's Body.

Had my Skill degraded once more?

The sight of the stain on the ceiling, coupled with the unfortunate whiff of the tub even as I breathed through my mouth, suggested that this was a real possibility. Had the planet deteriorated further, resulting in this runoff? That was something I could easily verify.

I delved into myself, entering the space that had been filled with red mist, and discovered a fully intact red planet. However, I also found red mist. My focus narrowed as I tried to discern how the planet could be both whole and yet leaking red mist. It was only upon closer inspection of the planet itself that I realized it was dotted with thousands of tiny holes, venting smoke through them.

The state of the planet forced me to reassess my earlier thoughts. The Skill was now referred to as Hatchling's Body, which could potentially mean a Hatchling Dragon. Had my Skill been upgraded?

If my memory served, it was D-Rank. Could it have ascended to C-Rank? Also, hadn't the message before mentioned a Hatchling in the downgrading path?

I stared at my open Status screen as I kept dragging the tub. There was another change I had missed. One that caused me to blink. There was a new star beside one of my Pools. There had been a star next to Soul since my arrival, and so I just assumed it meant something I didn't understand. I figured that I'd eventually ask someone if I didn't discover the meaning for myself.

However, what I had just done paired with the Dragon's Body Skill degradation and 'Upgrading Soul' message suddenly snapped together like neodymium magnet puzzle pieces. It almost felt like I could smell ozone, from the spark they made, over the horrific smell of the tub. My Soul and Qi were both upgraded? Not that I knew what one star meant and how that affected them, but the word upgrade was still huge. Getting the tub to the shower broke me out of my self reflection.

I almost returned to examining the possibilities of 'one star' Qi and Soul, but shook my head, there wouldn't be answers about the stars regardless of what I did. I couldn't click on them for example. Plus, there was still a nagging problem that the state of my room represented.

All that might explain the changes on my Status Screen. However, it didn't account for the tub or the stains that had been inside the alcove and on the ceiling of my room.

What had transpired during my breakthrough? Had it been more successful than usual? Or had it failed? It was nearly impossible to tell. I would need to venture out and perform my Gathering tasks, perhaps even some Cooking and Mining. Actually, Mining would be the most beneficial since I could really use a Spent Mana Crystal.

Once the tub was fully inside the alcove and finished getting the full magical cleaning treatment, most of the smell was gone. In fact, I couldn't tell if the lingering odor was just a memory or if it still faintly permeated my room. I looked at the copper tub, expecting to find it restored to its brass-like appearance. Instead of the reddish-brown hue of copper, however, it remained green. In fact, it was almost a perfect shade of jade green.

Blinking, I knocked on the Tub. It didn't even sound like metal under my fist. It did sound like glass or ceramic, like my finger's proprioception had indicated earlier, when it dug through the oxidization and filth. I was partially sure that was what Jade sounded like if you knocked on it. I hadn't knocked on Portal Jade or even regular jade before, so I couldn't be certain.

I made my way back out of the shower alcove, dragging the Tub with me, and then sat down on my bed. Should I ask somebody about this? Here in the Tutorial, there wasn't really an easy solution for asking questions. Like if I had found a group that wasn't London's and had gained their trust. Perhaps I could ask them.

Veronique? Yeah, no.

The only person I could think of to ask was Claude. However, would this fall under one of those pieces of information that he wouldn't be able to share?

Also, with only eleven thousand Tutorial Points left, I wasn't sure that I'd be able to afford this room and Claude's Room and Board charges at the same time. I looked around, my gaze falling on my Plants again, then I panned back to the Magical Shower. I sighed deeply. The Plants I could take with me, but at Claude's Dojo there wasn't a shower, magical or otherwise. There was a washbasin…

I wanted to curse when my mind reached the obvious conclusion. It was probably time for me to move out of the Alchemy Academy. But it wasn't like I couldn't come back, right?

Another question that I didn't have an answer for…

* * *

Claude looked me over, his brown eyes seeming confused, even as his eyebrows lowered and the look became suspicious. Eventually, he said, "You're shitting me. You had that many impurities in your body when you took the Stat Breakthrough Pills?"

I shook my head. "No, I submerged myself in the Stat Breakthrough Liquid. You're not listening."

"No, I'm listening," Claude responded. "I'm just confused. Stat Breakthrough Liquid would only need to remove impurities if they were holding you back from breaking through. But any Potion or Pill has some toxicity to it, which will add to your impurities. So, using any Breakthrough Pill or Liquid should be a last resort. Since if it removed impurities to force a Breakthrough, it would have just put them back."

It was my turn to narrow my eyes. "And you didn't think to mention that?" I asked.

Claude raised an eyebrow. "You never thought to ask?"

"Yeah," I responded. I thought that was a pretty fair assessment. I probably should have asked him specifically about the Breakthrough Liquid or Pills. However, it had been a bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision once I'd found out that the Rejuvenation Pills removed four fifth of impurities. Still, I had that much left after taking four of them?

That doesn't sound right…

"I'm pretty sure that my Qi and Soul upgraded though–" Claude scoffed, and shook his head, cutting me off.

"I've never heard of anyone getting unique Pools of energy in all my time enslaved to the System," Claude explained, sounding pretty confident that the stars didn't mean what the System kind of told me they did.

Hadn't it?

"Look, do you know what happened or not?" I asked once I calmed down a little from his interruption and attitude.

Claude shook his head. "It sounds to me like your Skill went through an upgrade, which is truly beneficial. It might have been the combination of the Rejuvenation Pill and the Stat Breakthrough Liquid."

I spun my finger, asking if there was anything more. Claude shrugged. "Well, you're not going to want to hear what I have to say, but using the method you did will probably affect your potential down the road. It may even be what the stars on your Pools mean. They could be capped there now…" He said it in such a way that I was sure I was supposed to feel disappointed or hurt by the information, but considering that I didn't think that was what the stars meant, and had just made it so all my Stats could increase again, I still felt very good.

This was a step in the right direction. I was becoming a Hunter, and not an F-Ranked one—an E-Rank one at minimum. Maybe even higher than that with my Skill levels.

However, what he said did bring a question to mind. Frowning, I asked, "So how am I supposed to break through my Stats if the Breakthrough Liquid and Pills aren't the answer?"

Claude blinked. "Well, the Stats go up based on understanding and hard work. Also, they can be linked to Skill level, so if your Skill Evolves, so will your Stats."

I shook my head. "No, that can't be right. My Mining Skill is definitely E-Rank, but my Strength Stat was stuck at Peak F."

Claude scratched his chin. "And your Mining Skill was increasing your Strength?" he asked. I nodded. He continued to scratch his chin even as he looked at the ground. Eventually, he said, "That could be the reason for all the filth and impurities. Maybe you truly were bottlenecked at F-Rank Stats. I'll need to think on this. There's always changes in the System, and while I know more now about your System than I did before, I still don't have all the answers."