Aimless Ascension

"What about hip hop?"

I was about to answer, as it was something more of my liking, but the woman groaned loudly, coming before us.

"Enough about stuff that doesn't matter," she said. "Tell me more about your experience in this world so far." She specifically asked me. "Don't leave any details."

So I began expressing my traumatising experiences. All three of them listened with seriousness, but the man burst into laughter when I got to the ball-crushing ritual.

"Man, you probably landed the most awful summoning," he said. "But you probably deserved it for your taste."

"Only nine years old,old, listen to Imagine Dragons," I told him, "and think it's the finest since music was ever created."

"You take that back." The man came at me, glowering.

"Sod off."

The argument was about to take form, as the bloke seemed to like his stuff zealously. But the woman wasn't having any of it, though. She pushed the man, who was easily twice her size, out of the way, and told me. "Continue."

I raised an eyebrow at her strength and did as I was told, considering to earn some of their pity about my condition. Well, don't judge me. It was life and death for me. I wouldn't bat an eye even if I had to go even lower for survival.

Anyway, this woman seemed to be very interested in the inner workings of the men that summoned us to this realm. Well, it was unusual not to be, but her curiosity seemed to have run deep. More than any of us. For anything, I was delighted to get out of there.

"I can't say if you are fortunate or unfortunate," she said after I finished narrating my story to her. "In one side, they helped you adapt to this world, while on the other they discarded you after seeing nothing of their interest."

"They helped me?" I picked my brows. "Are you calling all the beating help, miss?"

"There was the ball-crushing too," 197 added with a snicker. "Can you still have kids, mate?

"Why don't you ask your mum," I replied.

To my delight, the woman cut off the man yet again. She seemed to be the boss of the two.

"They fed you potions, did they not?" The woman said. "Do you know how long it takes for a normal earthling to adapt to the gravity and the atmosphere of this world?"

"I don't know, maybe a couple of years?" I wasn't particularly knowledgeable about that science, nor did I have a prior experience like them to understand it. Two years was as well, I could guess.

"Six months tells if a person can endure it or not, but most people do take a year or more," the girl answered. "However, you have already achieved more than half of that adaption in just seven days. . . ."

The woman explained the things to me. So the beating really had some purpose behind it. Those men weren't just being sadistic. But they were some sadistic twats, I was certain of it.

Apparently, the constant getting beaten up and healing by those healing potions was one of the fastest ways to adapt to the gravity and atmosphere of this world.

She wasn't absolutely certain, but it seemed that the introduction of the healing potion into our system had a certain effect on the body. It changed the body for the best most of the time. It worked as a catalyst to raise the mineral bone density, although you would need good food along with it to make it work.

As I heard all that, it kind of made sense to me. Those people, even though they left me to my devices as I was nothing but insignificant, they were doing all this deliberately. They were pushing me past my limit from day one, as if to acquire something totally unexpected of me.

But why, though? Why help me adapt to this world quicker?

I hadn't even felt a grain of kindness from them. Or was I just too engrossed in my suffering to not see that?

"They definitely have ulterior motives behind all those actions," the girl said, sounding absolutely certain. "Though I don't think you need to be worried anymore. They discarded you after finding no redeeming qualities."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I snorted.

"I'm sorry," the girl chuckled, "but was that my purpose?"

"So they experimented on you and then discarded you," 197 said, as if it wasn't clear to all of us at all. "They did you dirty. With that broken arm, I don't see you surviving for much longer."

He had already seen my trolley, which barely had a dozen or so crystallised gems. They probably understood more about what would happen to me than I could.

"The only thing that can save you now is the pity of others," the girl said, "or a good healing potion."

"I'd be delighted to have any of them," I said with a grunt.

"Unfortunately, I found myself short on pity these days," the woman said in a sad tone. The same was true for most people, I could tell just from their looks.

The man looked hopeless as well. Both of them backed their trolley on their way out, going back to the way they came from. Probably for another round of mining in the hotter region.

But all that meant nothing to me. I bit my lips, and my jaw clenched. My fingers dug into my palms. I could see in their eyes how serious my case was.

"If not pity," I shouted at their backs, "how about a loan, then?"

They considered him for no longer than a blink of an eye and then shook their heads. They were completely sure he was a drowning boat.

"Sorry, Gale," she said. "I only gamble when I have a semblance of assurance."

"Then you're in luck," I said proudly. "I'm all about assurance. I can assure you, nobody can assure you more than I. Since all the beating and healing potions helped me adapt, I can easily earn back the stones, after my arm heals up, no?"

But all my confidence in pleading was to no avail. These people have seen enough; they know it when they see a hopeless case.

But I wasn't in the mood to be disappointed.

"If that fails, I can always pay with my body," I shouted.

The woman stopped on her track and turn to look at me with an incredulous look. She gazed at my figure from head to toe, considering.

I gave her reassurance with my most charming smile. She chuckled.

"You made your case," she said. "But I don't think you can handle a girl like me."

"Try me," I shouted back.

She laughed again and fished out a fist-sized gem out of her trolley. She tossed it back to my trolley with that thin smile. "You have earned that."

And then she left along with her companion, who kept on giving me strange glances.

I sighed.

"By the way, my dear disciple," Gale said, breaking out of his narration, "I can reassure you, your master hadn't sold his body for survival."

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