"You. Wasted. TWELVE. POINTS?" Tess's voice came out in a hiss between her clenched teeth.
Luna cringed under the glare, then straightened her back with an effort. She worked as much steel into her tone as she could. "I need to be a better fighter, like you."
Tess was still incredulous. "But you had three entire levels - 15 points if you'd put it all into luck! Instead you did…" she focused again on Luna's sheet.
Luna Torres, Level: 11
Core Stats:
STR: 10
AGI: 11
END: 8
INT: 14
LUC: 20
CHA: 8
"... two points into strength and one into agility? WHY? Why would you waste those points like that?"
Luna's trepidation faded with a flush of memory. "Because I'm WEAK. Sure, my luck helps me, but look at what happened! It kept me alive but left Fara to be straight up cut in half!"
"Fara wasn't even real, honey. She was fine."
"It's true! I'm perfectly fine, mother!"
"I know that, but what if next time it's someone else? What if it's one of you? I can't fight, I'm not fast, I'm not tough - I just skip along and hope everything works out for me, and now that I'm super lucky it will! But it won't work out for the people around me."
Tess sighed, understanding. She wished Zavier was here to talk about potential paths and to come up with ideas on how to expand her powers to help others beyond just the girl. Tess knew there must be ways to force that, but she was at a loss.
"Hey Fara, how familiar are you with System paths and growth?"
"I have a passable understanding, but only as it relates to my growth. I'm not able to see your skills or their potential evolutions. Quite frankly, I'm still mystified at how you were able to forcibly change your skills to fit your needs." They had discussed the night at great length, even replaying it in segments that was better than any memory Tess had had before The System. None of it had provided any answers, and Fara was blind to the internal processes that had led Tess to ripping a skill apart and pulling out the parts she needed.
"I was afraid of that. Well, if you get any insights please let me know."
She felt the girl giggle in her mind. "Insights! I don't know that I've ever had an insight! I learn things, but they all fall within predictable patterns after the fact. Usually…" She didn't need to mention the 'usually,' they both knew she was referring to Tess's upgraded skills.
"Honey," Tess continued, "your skills can evolve. You know that I pushed mine past their limits and found ways to make them conform better to my needs. Cass did the same when he broke through the bottom of his speed pool. Yours is just different, but the same rules have to apply. The higher your levels and attributes, the more you'll be able to expand them. I wish your dad was here to explain them, he does a better job at this than I do."
"But he's not here!" Tess was rocked backwards by the vehemence in the girl's tone. "He's not and now we have to figure out how to get stronger without him! Maybe he could have helped me push past my limits and make my skills grow, but I don't have the darndest clue how to do that without him!"
It stung Tess to hear that. She was out of her depth and knew it, the knowledge making her feel less than. Luna was right.
"Do you have anything useful to add Fara?"
"Nope!"
Tess ran her hand across her face in frustration. "Okay, I don't know how all this works - I just know how it works for me. You want to get stronger? Fine, we can do that. There are going to be a lot of challenges coming up for us to push ourselves. I don't have a problem with you becoming a better fighter and increasing those stats, but you need to do it in a smart way. Your decision was based on emotion." She held up a hand, forestalling the objections she knew what was coming. "And YES, I know my choices were the same. But I dedicated myself to becoming a better fighter. That is not your path, and it shouldn't be. You made choices you're going to have to live with, and one of those is that you have an extreme advantage with how many points you get with your Luck at each level. You can't disregard that."
"Then what do I do?" Luna's voice was plaintive.
"Honestly, Honey, I don't know. All I can say is that you have to put yourself in such extreme circumstances that you're forced to push your skills further than you ever have before. And when you do, you have to make the conscious, deliberate decision to push even harder. You have to grab The System by the throat and demand that it give you what you need."
"That's… that's not me, mom."
"Uhm," Cass broke in hesitantly. "That's not really how it worked for me either, mom."
They both turned to look at him. He shrunk under the scrutiny but continued.
"I didn't force it - I don't even know if I could have. I'm not really a forcer. I just reached deep - deeper than I had before. I needed more speed, so I looked for it. I realized that there was more underneath the pool. I guess I kinda forced my way through the bottom, but it didn't feel like it was me demanding it. More like it was sitting there, waiting for me to gain enough levels to access it. To see if I could push my way past the bottom and grab it before I was ready it was willing to let me. I just didn't know I could do that until I had no other choice. So maybe I am a forcer? Maybe I can force my way through again - it DID feel like I broke the bottom. It still feels like the cracks are healing, and that it would be dangerous to try again before they are, but…" he struggled to come up with an analogy that could explain it. "I guess it's like if the car wasn't going fast enough. Mom, your way would be to get out and push the car even faster until the tires burned up. My way was like pushing the pedal to the floor and begging the car to give a little more. I don't know why it worked for me, but it did." He shrugged at that last.
Tess considered that for a long moment before replying. "For your dad it was more like diving deeper into the data, or so he said. He just kept learning and learning until it started making more sense to him. He kept saying it was like solving a puzzle, and every time he tried he got a little more understanding of it."
Her frustration was mounting - why couldn't she find a way to help her children?
"If I may?"
Tess gave a mental 'go ahead' and Fara continued.
"The System isn't a one-size-fits-all software. It's an AI so advanced that even I am hard pressed to understand even a fraction of its full capabilities. I don't believe you forced it - not like you imagine forcing something to be. You can't force The System to do anything. I think, instead, it is most likely that the algorithms it uses to assess what skill paths you need to reach your greatest potential can be taught to better know your desires. It learns as you grow. For most users, that means it simply lays out a path before them, one that leads to the most optimal outcome based on their previous actions. For some reason your family seems to defy the standard algorithmic logic and instead pushes into paths that are not the standard, predictable ones. As an outside entity observing your family it's evident that, through varied challenges and your personal dynamics, you convince The System to consider alternate or unique paths that challenge the traditional paradigm. This is further borne out by The System's initial announcement that some individuals may experience greater growth and power by pushing harder than those around them. It seems to be learning what humanity is capable of and, as such, is willing to provide a greater array of choices for those that require it."
There was a mental pause as Fara considered the implications of this. "It is my conclusion that each of you must convince The System to open other paths for you, or open available paths early. You can do this by acting within your own personality types, but also by pushing your individual weaknesses and shortcomings to their brinks. That may force The System to reconsider the options it has provided and provide alternate ones that are more optimal."
"Again, I cannot fully comprehend the majesty that is The System, but it seems there are no wrong decisions to it, only more or less optimal ones."
Tess felt like she was barely following the explanation. "So what does that mean?"
"It means that Luna has to put herself in situations where her weaknesses would prevent her from succeeding, then do whatever is needed to succeed anyway. But she has to do it her way, mother."
Tess cringed at being called mother, but let it go. She nodded in understanding.
"Fara has an idea and I think it's the right one." She didn't miss the look of distaste on Luna's face. "Baby," she touched Luna's hand gently. "We each grew beyond our limits by facing our weaknesses. When we were at our limits and weren't strong enough or smart enough or fast enough to do what needed to be done we faced it - straightforward and honestly, and decided to go further. We made decisions in the moment to not allow our weaknesses limit us."
She recalled their conversation about the fight with the Prime Guard Boss. "You said something weird happened when you were fighting the big guard boss. Describe it again."
Luna sighed and collected her thoughts. "I don't know, it was really weird, but basically I think I saw two futures. One where I died and one where I might live, if I acted quickly enough. I chose the one where I might live."
"Okay!" Excitement rang in Tess's voice. "So first, what happened just before that? What were you feeling? And second, how did you make the one you chose come to pass?"
Luna squirmed at having to relive that moment.
"Come on, Honey, this is important."
"I know, I know. For the first part, I guess if I had to describe it, I was angry. Like, REALLY angry. So angry that I couldn't think of anything but killing that thing."
"Anger is just a result of other emotions, Sweetie. Why were you angry?"
"I was angry because I thought it killed Fara."
The AI chirped in pleasure in Tess's head.
"I get that - it was terrible that you saw that - but WHY did it make you angry? Beyond the killing."
"It was… because…" Luna's hands waved in frustrated, jerky motions. "It was because… It was my fault! And I couldn't do anything about it! I didn't have any control! The freaking System made me trip to protect me and then someone died because of that! And I couldn't do anything about it! I wasn't given a choice!" Small sobs escaped her then.
"You felt helpless." Tess's voice was soft with compassion and understanding.
"I didn't FEEL helpless - I WAS helpless! The System was pulling the strings and it tossed me to the ground without caring who else got hurt!"
"And then what happened next?" Tess's voice was such a low hush that they barely heard it.
"I… I didn't want bad things to happen to people I loved and not have any say in it. I wanted to make the decision. I was tired of my Luck getting to decide when it worked and when it didn't. I was tired of it deciding if I was going to be stronger in a fight or clumsy. I was tired of just sitting back and hoping everything worked out. I… I just wanted to control my own destiny for a change."
"So you decided - no, demanded - that you get to choose the options in front of you. You demanded that the choice be yours and not The System's."
Luna's eyes went wide. "I think… I mean, that sounds right. It feels right. But how? How did that even happen? My power isn't seeing the future, it's getting lucky."
"Ahem again."
"You don't have to say 'again,' Fara."
"Understood! But, ahem."
Tess made sure Fara could feel her mental sigh of irritation. "You don't have to say 'ahem', I know you're here. Just say what you have to say."
"Oh! Okay then! What is luck exactly? How does The System know that one outcome is more optimal than another, and thus makes it a 'lucky' option versus any other option?"
"I don't know, Fara."
"Ask her!"
Tess sighed, then posed the question.
"I'm not really sure about that, mom. Lucky is just lucky."
They noticed Cass's expression of deep thought. He was so much his father's son and Tess could see the wheels turning in his head. His lips were moving as he mumbled to himself.
"How IS luck even determined? Why is one option luckier than another? For something to be the lucky outcome then something else has to be the unlucky outcome…"
His eyes shot wide and he responded at the same moment Fara exclaimed in Tess's head.
"Probabilities!"
"Probabilities!"
"Probabilities? What does that even mean?" Tess's brow was scrunched. "I mean, I know the word but what does that have to do with luck?"
"I think he's going to say it! My brother is so smart!"
Confidence filled Cass's voice and Tess's heart ached at how much he sounded like his father. "Okay, here's the thing - for there to be a lucky outcome there have to be a lot of less-lucky outcomes. Most of us don't have an option, since we're all living in the third dimension, but if we were higher-dimension beings we could see all the potential outcomes, since time would be something we could observe. The different timelines would look like roads on a map to us, each one branching out in a different direction. If we could observe all the timelines and see where they ended up, we could decide to choose the one that ended where we wanted to go and ignore the dead ends."
"Okay, Dad Junior, but what does that even mean?"
Cass was too in the moment to acknowledge Luna's jab. His words came out in an excited rush. "It means that getting 'lucky' just means you go down the path that's best for you! It means that, even though you may not realize it, you have the choice of which path to choose! I think The System has been choosing the best path for you, but when you felt the most out of control you saw the paths and chose the one you wanted! Luck isn't really luck, it's just choosing paths! People call it luck because they don't understand what's happening, but you do! You get to choose which path to step onto!"
"Mother! Tell him how smart he is!"
Tess whistled. "Wow, son. That is really, really smart. It feels absolutely correct."
"Tell him I said it! Tell him! Tell him! Tell him!"
Tess groaned in frustration, capitulating to end the ceaseless barrage. "Fara says she thinks you are very smart. She said you got it exactly right."
Fara preened in her head. "I didn't say that, but he did! Oh, I'm so proud of him!"
"Thank you, Fara." Cass's words were sincere.
A chirp sounded in her head. "He thanked me! He did! Tell him he's very welcome!"
"Fara says you're very welcome, Honey."
Luna sounded less enthusiastic. "Okay, but what does that mean for me? I'm trying to see these other paths you're talking about, but I don't see anything."
Cass shrugged. "Probably because there's no need to. I mean, there are a lot of paths open to us at all times, but you aren't stressed out enough to feel like you need to choose one. Your Luck probably isn't doing anything much right now."
"BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?"
"It means you have to get stressed out," Cass said. "You have to be in situations where Luck would make the difference, then you have to try hard to see all the options in front of you."
"It means you have to be in danger, Love." Tess's voice was heavy and her heart dropped, but this was the world they were in now. She recalled her earlier fights with Zavier and how right he was. She hated it, but she wasn't going to raise kittens.
She leaned forward, taking both of Luna's hands in hers. She met the girl's wide-eyed stare. "You have to put yourself in danger. Life and death sort of danger."
"But, what if it doesn't work? What if something kills me? What if no good options come up? What if whatever it is is just too strong and all the roads are dead ends?"
Tess squeezed the girl's hands tight, stopping the questions. She took a deep breath, pushing the mother inside of her back and letting the huntress step forward. "That might happen. You will need to be smart and make good decisions. You'll need to set yourself up for the best chance of success before every situation. I know I'm sounding like your dad right now, but you will need to plan and prepare well enough that there is ALWAYS a good option for you."
"But, most importantly, you have to push. Push harder than you've ever pushed in your life. You need to become so dangerous and so lucky that nothing will ever take your choices away from you again. You need to take control of your destiny at every. Single. Moment. Never, ever let anyone or anything take your control again."
"But that sounds so… cold. So heartless."
"Oh Honey," Tess pulled Luna in and rested her forehead against the girl's. "You have so much heart and I don't want you to lose that, but you also need to become a little ruthless. Heart is a good thing, but the bigger the heart, the bigger the target."
Tess's heart broke a little at the sadness in the girl's voice, but the huntress reminded her that it was necessary. Too much softness led to death.
"Okay, I think I can do that. But I still need to become a good fighter."
Tess leaned back against the couch, releasing Luna. "THAT, I can help with - but we need to find a balance. It sounds like your Luck gives you a very powerful advantage and you don't want to forsake that just to get better with a sword. At the same time, all the luck in the world won't help you if every option leads you to death because your opponent is just too strong. You can, and should, continue to put points into Strength and Agility, but it needs to be every other level."
Cass nodded, doing the quick math in his head. "If you get five points of luck with each level then you are still about 1.5 levels ahead of the rest of us with our three. Your Luck would continue to grow beyond what most people get, even with every other level."
Tess picked it up from there. "And if you want to stop when your other stats hit 20 that's good - for now anyway. With mine at level 20 I was able to dominate almost anything we ran across. That won't hold up as the creatures get stronger, but it'll keep you on par with them, and your Luck can do the rest of the heavy lifting."
Luna nodded, excitement peeking through the cracks of her nervousness. "That sounds good! So what weapon do I fight with?"
"Well that's up to you, Love. You're going to have to figure that part out on your own."