Chapter 10 Training in Silence
Chapter 10 Training in Silence
Each Jedi Temple on Tython was built around a Tho Yor, but the Tho Yor that was once adjacent to Kaleth, the Temple of Knowledge, had vanished. To the Jedi, the Tho Yor were little more than tourist attractions. Jedi could not open or access them or gain any valuable or useful information from their study, so the missing Tho Yor of Kaleth remained uninvestigated.
To Rayleigh's surprise, when he approached the pyramid-shaped structure, a circular portal retracted to reveal an opening, inviting him inside. Rayleigh was hesitant, but the shaking of stone where the Terentatek had just been buried removed his hesitation, and he ran inside with the door closing behind him.
Within the structure was a golden room with a pedestal and platform. He tapped on the pedestal and a menu popped up. What was interesting was that the menu did not pop up on the pedestal but on the interface he used as a Player.
[You have Discovered an Easter Egg, the Tho Yor of Kaleth. As a Player, you may use the Tho Yors of Tython to teleport from one to another.]
A piece of Metaknowledge suddenly unsealed in Rayleigh's head, a memory of something Red said during Orientation. "Since you chose Tython, we made some changes there as well."
Rayleigh was pretty sure that if the Tho Yor had the function of Teleportation Pads, someone would have written it down, but the lack of such a history implied this was a bonus. Rayleigh pondered why they would do this for a while, but eventually, he came to an interesting conclusion.
Some of the details he learned during his Missions, especially the First Mission, were not classified as Metaknowledge. One piece of information he learned which stood out was that the Universe he was in was created by the Tavern, which included Tython. But normally, there is no way for anyone to really appreciate Tython. Rayleigh guessed that whoever made Tython added this so his work would be more accessible and appreciated.
Rayleigh gave a quiet moment of gratitude towards whoever made this planet. He really loved it and would be honored to meet whoever created it and included these features.
The menu above the pedestal showed all of the Temples and gave an option of which he could travel to.
[Akar Kesh - The Temple of Balance
Anil Kesh - The Temple of Science
Bodhi - The Temple of the Arts
Mahara Kesh - The Temple of Healing
XXX Kaleth - The Temple of Knowledge
Padawan Kesh - The Je'daii Academy
Stav Kesh - The Temple of Martial Arts
Qigong Kesh - The Temple of Force Skills
Vur Tepe - The Forge]
Rayleigh was already at Kaleth, but he could go to any of the others. The one which stood out the most, of course, was the Temple of Force Skills. He selected it, and the platform started glowing. Rayleigh took a step onto it, and the platform shined for a moment as the room whited out.
When his vision returned, he appeared to still be in the same golden room, but a quick observation revealed a few differences, showing he had in fact been teleported to another Tho Yor.
Rayleigh approached the entrance, which quietly opened for him, revealing another subterranean space. This was not surprising, Qigong Kesh was an underground Temple.
that
The moment the door opened, a wave of heat slammed that against him. Rayleigh used a Control Aspect of the Force to prevent himself from getting cooked by the heat, but when he stepped out the door, it was not the heat which had his attention. It was the silence.
The Temple of Force Skills was located on the Tythan continent of Thyr which had two main regions. One was a massive forest that grew trees, which sucked the water out of the air. The second region of the Thyr continent was the Silent Desert.
Heated air had the property of scattering sound, making it difficult to hear things at a distance in a desert, but the special property of the sand in the Silent Desert took that to the next level. Nothing could be heard. Sound was completely and utterly muted. Rayleigh could not even hear the sound of his own heart or that high-pitched ringing you sometimes hear when it gets very quiet.
The Tho Yor was half buried in the sand, and around it were massive spike-like pillars of rock that curved inward, making the area look like a giant's ribcage.
Further out from the natural structures were the stone walls of the Temple of Force Skills. From the outside, it appeared quite small, but that was because a majority of the Temple of Force Skills was underground, away from the muting property of the desert sands.
Rayleigh hopped out of the Tho Yor and felt himself sink lightly into the sand. It was disconcerting to move around in absolute silence, as it made the world feel less real. Not wanting to go crazy, or at least crazier, Rayleigh ran over to the Temple. The sand sank deeply with each step, eating much of the effort he put into moving. He'd figure out how to traverse the sand later.
The entrance to the Temple of Force Skills had no doors. Perhaps there had been a wooden one a long time ago, but it had long since worn to dust and sand. The first inner chamber was barren of features as the inner walls and carvings had been smoothed over by the sand during the previous Force Storms. The ceiling had openings for light which may have had glass window panes a long time ago, but now they were just more ways for sand to get inside.
The inner chamber led to a long hallway deeper into the structure, and at the end, there was a stone wheel on a perfectly level surface.
Rayleigh unintentionally nodded at this. Any door with hinges or metal would have rusted away, but a stone wheel in front of an opening was a simple and effective door that proved its worth tens of thousands of years later.
Rayleigh cleared away the sand that had accumulated around the wheel and pressed it aside. Though heavy, it was not difficult to roll away, revealing the true entrance to the Temple of Force Skills. The stone door had done its duty and protected the contents from creatures and Force Storms.
The stolen green Lightsaber was once again used as a flashlight to illuminate the way as Rayleigh explored the depths of the Temple. Three hours later, he had mixed feelings.
He was unable to find a single Holocron. Holocrons contained a virtual teacher that would impart its skills and knowledge to the one who used it if the virtual teacher approved of the user. Part of his plan hinged on finding one. What he did find, however, were rows and rows of special rooms.
Each room was empty and, to the untrained eye, bare of anything remarkable. When he used Psychometry on their walls, though, each room contained detailed pictographs and texts on how to perform a specific skill. When this Temple was up and running, Journeyers seeking to learn a specific skill would do so in the room where the skill was engraved. Those learning the same skill would do so in the same room and assist each other. This meant that the memory imprint he obtained from each room using Psychometry contained countless experiences of learning the skill the room would teach.
Rayleigh also found a small spring in one of the rooms that still produced clean water. The only thing he lacked was food, but that was not a large problem for him.
After he finished exploring for a bit, Rayleigh exited the Temple and opened his Player Menu.
[Go to Tavern
Go mentally
Go physically
Not now.]
Rayleigh selected Go physically, and a white door appeared in front of him. This option was not available in confined spaces or when under observation. He had already discarded the tracker the Jedi gave him, so he was in no way monitored at the moment.
He stepped through the door and his body changed in appearance to a 21-year-old version of himself wearing Jedi robes as the Reincarnator's Tavern materialized around him.
Rayleigh walked up to the bar, where a skinny, mustachioed bartender wearing a clean-cut business suit asked, "Would you like a beer?"
"Actually, I'd like a meal."
"Oh? Certainly. What would you like?"
"I'd like a full rack of fall-off-the-bone ribs and a bowl of mac and cheese."
The bartender nodded, "That's seven Mission Points. Take a seat and it'll be right up."
A meal at the Tavern cost anywhere from a single Mission Point to ten Mission Points, depending on what you ordered, but you could order just about anything. Even the lowest of Missions awarded ten Mission Points so it was possible to have a simple meal every day at the Tavern while doing just the simplest, easiest Missions once a week.
Of course, this did not include extra servings of Beer or other beverages. The Beer the Tavern served had a mental healing aspect which kept the Players saner than they should have been, all things considered. It was the reason Players were allowed one free with each visit, to keep their mental states healthy.
Simple Missions worth ten Mission Points were things like, [Collect 20 of these herbs] or [Locate the Monster Settlement on the Map]
Harder Missions, the ones worth between 11 and 20 Points, usually required killing something. As far as difficulty goes, Rayleigh's Tutorial Mission was practically a 15 Point Mission from all the Goblins he ended up killing. Though even if you kill monsters, if you don't get a Kill Mission, the number of monsters you kill won't affect your Points.
Missions that awarded between 21 and 50 Mission Points always involved Monsters stronger than Goblins. Either killing or avoiding being killed by them.
Recently, Rayleigh had been doing 25~30 Point Missions that involved Hobgoblins and would occasionally do a higher value Mission if it looked like something he could do with Psychometry.
Mapping Missions were the easiest for him. For others, they had to learn everything about an area from scratch. For Rayleigh, he could just use Psychometry over and over to get a lay of the area. A good Mapping Mission could be worth between 30 and 50 Points, though they always included an element of risk. Because the area was unmapped, being the first one to map it meant high rewards, but it also meant the Tavern had no idea how dangerous the pocket dimension was before sending you. There were plenty of times he tried a Map Mission and ended up without memories of the Mission from dying within.
The moment Rayleigh took a chair, a barmaiden came out from the kitchen area with a tray containing a plate of steaming, barbeque sauce-covered ribs, a bowl of golden mac and cheese, and a glass of beer.
A number of Players looked over to see who was spending Points on food. Some were jealous while others looked with disdain. Points were not so easy to waste for these Players.
Once a Player completed some Missions and got some Mission Points, they could access the Point Store. The Point Store granted Players another chance to purchase an Easy Mastery they didn't grab at Character Creation, but they were not cheap.
For example, if Rayleigh wanted to purchase Easy Mastery for Form I: Shii-Cho, it would cost 500 Mission Points. After three years of Missions, Rayleigh had earned 2564 Mission Points.
As an Easy Mastery granted knowledge of how to perform the action and allowed a Player to Master the action eight times faster than normal, the quicker a Player got an Easy Mastery, the stronger they would become.
Besides Easy Masteries, the Tavern also allowed Players to designate certain items they obtained and turn them into Inventory Projections. When a Player went from one world to another, they could not take anything with them. They could only access their Inventory. If they paid enough Mission Points, they could convert something they obtained during Gameplay into an Inventory Item and take it along.
Popular items to convert included a Wizard's Wand, a Jedi's Lightsaber, and some electronics. There were some Jedi Players who wanted to accumulate enough points to convert a Spaceship into an inventory item. The quoted price the Tavern gave was 100,000 Mission Points. That sounded like a lot, but there was no limit to the difficulty of Missions. There were 100 Point Missions, 500 Point Missions, and 1000 Point Missions. If a Player got strong enough to do the latter, they could save enough Mission Points in just two years. They were only nine at the moment. Who could tell how powerful they would be when they were twenty or thirty?
A man of Chinese origin wearing a pirate outfit sat across from Rayleigh's seat and stated, "That there's a meal fit for a King. You gonna share?"
Rayleigh considered it for a moment before pulling off two ribs and handing them over.
"Haha! Thank you kindly."
Rayleigh replied, "Just make sure you treat me when you have the chance."
"Of course, of course!"
This man was Dragon_Chef, one of the new friends Rayleigh made in the Tavern. Though Tavern food was delicious, it was always better to save your Points and eat where you were instead. Rayleigh and Dragon_Chef bonded over cooking exchanges. Dragon_Chef's Character build was based off Sanji and Toriko. Though since his Metaknowledge was sealed during Gameplay, he ended up more like Toriko. What was interesting was that everyone knew that Dragon_Chef had obtained the Fish Fish Fruit Model: Azure Dragon. That was when he changed his name in the Chat Room.
Rayleigh didn't know if Dragon_Chef was a 20 Talent Player or if he got the Devil Fruit with a Devil Fruit Trial Pass. The Pass was similar to a Mission. Once every three months, a Player with the Devil Fruit Trial Pass could pick a Fruit not taken by someone else and take a Trial associated with it. If they failed, they would have no memories of the Trial to use to 'study' for it.
Dragon_Chef usually stayed in the Pirate Chat, but he'd pop into the General Chat to discuss food with Rayleigh and anyone else every once in a while.
While Rayleigh was discussing Grandmaster Yoda's Hobby, Dragon_Chef asked, "You think the Force can be used to cook? Make sure to figure it out and teach me later. When I open my restaurant in the MCU Hong Kong, you can become my sous-chef."
Before dying and becoming a Player, Dragon_Chef was Chinese and chose to be Chinese again. Not surprising, as Rayleigh had been American and would start in the United States when he eventually went to the MCU. There were Players from Mexico, South America, Japan, Africa, Asian, and Europe too. But there were still more Players from the United States than from any one of those other countries. They were pretty spread out, so they would not raise too many eyebrows too quickly. At least not until the shite really hits the fan.
Rayleigh answered, "No thank you. I won't make food for anyone I don't consider a friend."
Dragon_Chef nodded, "I can respect that. You still gotta come to my restaurant Swordsman."
"As long as you don't get arrested by then, I'm sure I'll manage."
Dragon_Chef laughed at that. Though he wanted to open a restaurant, he was also aiming to form a gang and take over some territory in China. His restaurant would be his headquarters. Many of the Players considered the MCU to be a Playground for them, and some had some very interesting ideas.
Some of the Wizard Players were going to take over the Central American Drug Cartel. Some of the African Players planned to take over Wakanda. A number of them didn't really have a plan and would just freelance while others planned to form a Players Guild and take over the planet by fighting against AIM, the Hand, HYDRA, SHIELD, and every Alien and Inhuman they came across.
Not that such a thing would be simple. Once they left the Tavern, the existence of those groups would not be remembered, so they would have to take the passive position of waiting for those groups to come to them. Rayleigh almost felt bad for Nick Fury. If the man wasn't bald by the time they arrived, he would be shortly afterward.
Rayleigh finished his meal and ordered another Beer for himself and Dragon_Chef. The man was an actual Chef in his past life and Rayleigh hoped to learn a thing or two to help his situation.
The man also had some words of wisdom from his current life. "When testing new herbs, always check the roots. Shallow-root plants are more dangerous than deep-rooted ones. You already know the trick about rubbing it on your skin first before tasting it, but you also gotta check what's growing nearby. Safe plants have a variety of things growing near them, while dangerous ones grow by themselves."
Rayleigh wanted to learn to cook using local vegetation, but since he was the only one on the continent, he had no one to teach him and would have to figure it all out from scratch. Thankfully, he already knew how to remove poison from himself and had some practice doing so from a few earlier and more unfortunate attempts at guessing what was safe and not safe to eat on Tython.
Dragon_Chef was already at the Tavern before Rayleigh was, so he had to leave before Rayleigh did, and without anyone he felt like talking to there, Rayleigh returned to Tython soon after.
Instead of going back inside, Rayleigh explored the exterior of the Temple and the area around it for a while. He did eventually find what he was looking for. A wild, overgrown herb garden filled with small pepper-like plants, among others. The soil had been exchanged over the endless seasons since the last time this land was tilled, so his Psychometry was useless when he touched the ground. He tried looking for some gardening equipment. The memories held within would tell him what could be harvested and what couldn't be. But the storehouse near the overgrown field was empty.
Rayleigh picked up a few items from the herb garden to test and returned to the inner Temple.
Not all the rooms in the inner temple behind the stone door were empty. One such room had an assortment of ten-thousand-year-old robes. Rayleigh tried one on and was surprised that it didn't crumble to pieces and still had some strength within. It was also, by far, the itchiest thing Rayleigh had ever worn, .
Against his better judgment, Rayleigh kept the itchy robes on. There was a reason for this. It also tied into the reason for his insane exercises.
From memory, there were only two types of Protagonists. Battle Junkies Protagonists and Iron Will Protagonists. The former were lucky, as you could not choose to become a battle junkie. You either were or were not. This was why he didn't mind being one. The latter, however, was not something you could be born to. Iron Will Protagonists are the ones who endure unimaginable suffering prior to their rise, which pressures their will and resolve, making it stronger than the hardest steel. That will, is what drives them higher than their opposition.
Rayleigh was already a Battle Junkie. He didn't need someone to force him to run head-first into a dangerous fight for experience. He sharpened and improved himself against difficult opponents and squeezed out his potential against deadly foes. But he didn't want to miss an opportunity. He wanted an iron will as well. How to get one? The only way was to endure suffering. The more he endured, the stronger his will would become.
The problem now that he had left the Jedi was that no one could make him suffer but himself. So he had to get creative.
Rayleigh found some worn and broken journals written by the ancient Je'daii. His Psychometry revealed their content, which included daily activities for the Journeyers. They gave him ideas.
Rayleigh discovered a weathered metal pole and two stone buckets in a storeroom described in the journal.The buckets could be slotted to each end of the pole and balanced on the shoulders.
Rayleigh discarded his shoes and left the Temple with the buckets and headed south. According to the map he saw, there was an oasis, and Journeyers were often tasked with carrying water from the Oasis back to the Temple using these buckets.
Although there was a spring inside the Temple, the exercise of carrying the water taught many valuable lessons and included an element of danger. And that was back then. It is certainly much more dangerous now.
According to the journals Rayleigh read through, there were three creatures to watch out for in the Silent Desert.
The first and most dangerous was the Pendle. It was a massive lizard-bat with a wingspan of three meters wide. Because of the sound muting properties of the Desert, the only way to notice the Pendle was to see its shadow, but they usually hunted at night, so Rayleigh was mostly fine in the daytime.
The next was the Mankle. It was a lizard-wolf the size of a rhino and had numerous spikes on its back. Thankfully, it was a solo hunter, so you could scare one away or kill it if you were skilled enough.
The strangest of the dangerous creatures was the Silik Lizard. It had six legs and was as tall as a man if it stood on its hind legs. It was covered in thin and sharp spikes and had a narrow, jagged-toothed jaw. The Silik Lizard did not eat meat or drink water. It had a silicone-based hide and could absorb enough energy to sustain itself through contact with the sand. When it needed additional sustenance, it would kill and drink the spinal fluid of other animals. Its silicone spines were always charged with a high amount of static electricity, and if one was seen moving around at night, sparks could be seen flashing from its spines. When it was about to attack, it would let out a scream, but like everything in the Silent Desert, it was completely muted.
There were other creatures, such as the bird-like shire or mouse-like foppy, but none were considered dangerous.
Walking barefoot through the desert requires a focused use of Temperature Resistance. Temperature Resistance was a part of Tutaminis, a subclass of Control. Tutaminis itself was the art of controlling energy within the body. And that was just one part of the training.
In a region where the sound was nonexistent, the other senses were more important and had to be taken note of. Many creatures, such as Silik Lizards and Mankles, were buried under a thin layer of sand to avoid being seen, and detected by nearby prey using their sense of touch through the sand. This meant that to avoid their attention, you had to walk while disturbing the sand as little as possible.
It reminded Rayleigh of Dune, though thankfully the Silent Desert didn't have sandworms. He might have been a battle junkie, but a battle implies a chance of winning. Going against a sandworm was like going against a tornado or tsunami. There was no victory, only survival.
Rayleigh was getting better at sneaking around. In his first Mission, he could barely move around a Goblin without being spotted but now he could get within a few meters of a Hobgoblin camp without being seen or heard. Still, slightly higher-level ugly outer dimensional horrors were not the same as creatures that evolved in the same location for hundreds of thousands of years.
Less than a quarter of the way to the Oasis, Rayleigh spotted a Mankle charging at him from the side. In response, Rayleigh pulled out a Lightsaber, but not his own.
There was a very good reason Rayleigh basically stole Dyanameez's Lightsaber. He intended to use Psychometry on it.
The Mankle launched itself, jaw open. Rayleigh used Psychometry on the Lightsaber in hand and sliced off one of the Mankle's legs while avoiding the bite. Luckily for the Mankle, it had five more. Rayleigh subconsciously wondered how many things on this planet developed an extra set of limbs in response to the Jedi chopping them off all the time.
From the raising of the Mankle's jaw, Rayleigh figured it was roaring or screaming or something, but he only saw the muted opening and closing of the mouth.
Probably due to Rayleigh's size, the Mankle decided he was not enough of a threat to run away from and tried to attack Rayleigh's leg to cripple him. A Form IV jump, twirl, and Lightsaber slash saw the Mankle missing another limb.
The Mankle then decided to run away. Funnily enough, the Mankle grabbed one of its severed legs in its mouth before leaving. It seemed like it would have a meal after all.
Rayleigh was quite full, so had no interest in the other leg. Even if he did, he wouldn't carry it to the Oasis. He decided to leave it there, and if he saw it on the way back, he'd grab it too.
The way to the Oasis saw him attacked by another Mankle and even a Silik Lizard. Rayleigh did not kill any of them, though. He wasn't hungry, so unless he was specifically looking for something to eat, there was no point in killing something if it could be avoided. Silik Lizards were inedible anyways. Silicone Based Lifeforms could not be digested in a carbon-based diet and vice versa. That was probably why the Silik Lizard didn't eat the meat of what it killed.
The Oasis was still there and had a few shires perched around the water, filling up the water sacks which naturally grew on their backs and necks.
Rayleigh was already thirsty from the trek and didn't mind parching his own throat before filling up the buckets and marching his way back to the Temple. He had to return before night or he'd be attacked by Pendles. He didn't mind fighting them eventually, but only when he was hungry.
On the way back he had to worry about slipping in the sand, being ambushed, and taking so long that most of the water evaporated from the stone bucket. It was a good exercise in many ways. The journal he read from did claim one of the Force Skill Rooms had a skill that would allow Rayleigh to walk over the sand without disturbing it, which was his first destination once he returned. After that, he'd meditate and practice his Lightsaber Forms using Master Dyanameez's Lightsaber. Using Psychometry on the Lightsaber should allow him to successfully download and incorporate the saved images he had of the concepts of her Lightsaber Forms into his own style.
It was a long road ahead, but he had time.