Chapter 33

  Royal Rumble

  Interlude 1

  A few minutes earlier, just after the transmission to King Sydonia, Jade hands the books, Introduction to Chemistry, Introduction to Biology, and Introduction to Nuclear Physics, Subatomic Particle Physics, And the Dangers of Radiation to Alura and Iluna, before heading off to face King Sydonia and his armies the instant Jade hears that the king is foolishly and arrogantly refusing to discuss terms of surrender despite being in an utterly untenable situation. After all, there's a giant mushroom cloud nearby as proof of how dangerous messing with Jade is and he's still being mindlessly belligerent.

  “Ladies. I know you have a score to settle with those oafs, and under any other circumstances, I'd happily bring you along to do just that. In this case? Neither of you has the right [Profession] nor the proper tools/skill set to deal with it. Alura's set for the 'silent kill' and attacking from ambush, while we're dealing with a large army on a mostly open plain. Iluna's set to deal with undead, other-world invaders, and super-natural enemies. These are ordinary humans, lots of them. You are both superb fighters, and I'm proud of you, but you'd be quickly overwhelmed. So I'm going to need you both to stay here and let me deal with this, personally, and alone.”-Jade

  “But...”-Alura and Jade

  “Oh. I'm not going in completely unprepared or without backup. Decibel, if things get too bad for me, you are to open fire and retaliate with extreme prejudice.”-Jade

  “Acknowledged, Master.”-Decibel

  Jade then creates two of the tanks the team fought earlier. “R3D3 and R4D4. Watch over and protect these women, with your very existence if need be.”

  “Beep-do-beep. Brriii-you!”

  System Message: Nascent language detected. Unusual Syntax. Analyzing.

  “Trust me. The best way you can help me right now is to learn all you can from those books and boost your skills. The last book, the one with 'Nuclear Physics' is to be read last. Well. I'm off.”-Jade.

  Jade then teleports into attack range on the Sydonian army, leaving the two women behind.

  “I... I don't know what to think about all that, never mind how I should react. I feel like a footnote in a history book, not a person, right now.”-Iluna

  “Oh. He cares about you. He really does. He's just... I've never seen him that pissed before. He wasn't going to brook any argument. He's going to war. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm feeling kinda sorry for King Sydonia right about now. He's going to get humbled, hard!”-Alura

  “On what basis are you making this claim, Alura? And don't just tell me it's because you have seniority over me!”-Iluna.

  “Oh bless your heart. Did you not notice how dark his face got? Or how biting his tone was? Or have you never noticed that he just tends to let us ramble on and on while he listens in silence, waiting until we're done, to say the bare minimum in response before he shuts up again? Oh. Wait. You probably haven't. You haven't been with us that long, have you?”-Alura

  “No. I have not.”-Iluna.

  “Well. Sorry about that. Let's just say he's not normally that... overbearing. Now whose book should we check out first?”-Alura

  “You don't take anything seriously, do you?!”-Iluna.

  “Girlfriend, I take everything seriously. I just don't like to fester in a constant funk. Life's too short fer that, ya know! Especially for beast-kin like myself.”-Alura

  “And what life experiences, pray tell, did you go through to arrive at such sage wisdom, oh honored elder?”-Iluna

  “Let's see. While you were busy having your spouse murdered, your unborn child spirited away, getting falsely accused and convicted of the crimes, and sentenced to being raped to death with a bunch of nasty diseases, I had the distinct 'pleasure' of having my entire village burned to the ground, my fiancé, with whom I was 'intimate' murdered, and because I survived, I was sold into mine slavery, wherein Jade found me as a helpless and badly beaten 10-year-old beast-kin.... OH!” Alura slaps her forehead. “I get it now! You haven't had closure yet! No wonder you're such a Grumpy Gus! I was quite grumpy myself at the time, even being rude to The System once or twice!”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  System Message: True.

  “Honestly.” Sighs Iluna dramatically. “I can't tell if you're a child or a grown woman at times.”

  “Neither can I! Even Beastkin don't normally get an adult body at the age of 10, even though we're lucky to make it to age 30! I can only presume the body Jade gave me has messed with my mind a bit!” Alura leans over and pats Iluna on the back. “But don't worry. I'll always be your friend, and I'm sure Jade's working on getting you the closure you need.”

  “Thanks. I needed that. 'Chemistry' is apparently similar to [Alchemy] according to what my dearly departed used to say, but 'Biology' is new to me, so maybe we should start there.”-Iluna.

  “Couldn't get the hang of it, huh?”-Alura.

  “No.”-Iluna.

  They crack open the book Introduction to Biology and start reading it together.

  However this book came into your hands, dear reader, we thank you for seeking to enlighten yourself by reading and trying to learn about Biology, the study of life itself.

  All life is composed of very complicated structures that are yet too small to see with the unaided eye known as “cells.” This is true from the smallest organisms, such as single-celled microbes like bacteria, fungi, and algae to the most complex multi-cellular being, like humans.

  There is heated debate as to whether viruses, broken strands of either DNA or RNA in a protein shell that reproduce by invading and hijacking the internal workings of cells, usually killing their hosts in the process, are technically alive or not, but we'll cover them later.

  All cells live by breaking down nutrients into energy so they can reproduce.

  Photosynthesis describes the method by which plant life, from the simplest algae to the oldest tree, produces oxygen, sugars, and other nutrients with sunlight.

  Most single-celled organisms get energy by consuming the environment around them, whether it's taking nutrients from the soil, consuming the waste of other creatures, or even eating other living things. The last is known as predation.

  Some living things actually cooperate in their survival strategies. This is known as symbiosis. A fine example are lichens. A network of fungi holds algae in place and provides them water with the algae providing nutrients in exchange.

  Symbiosis, however, is not always balanced. Sometimes one life-form lopsidedly exploits another. This is known as parasitism and is a primary mechanism of disease.

  (To Iluna) Your knowledge of healing magic has increased. Your proficiency at diagnosing diseases has improved by 30%.

  “30%?! And we haven't even finished reading the first paragraph yet! That's impressive!”-Iluna.

  Almost all diseases are brought about by the body fighting foreign invaders. Some are caused by nutritional deficiency, such as Scurvy affecting sailors who don't have ready access to fresh fruit, but the vast majority are the result of an infection, consumption of a toxin, a parasitic infestation, or an attack by a venomous creature, or, in the worst cases, even the body turning on itself.

  While technically not a disease, there is a condition known as “allergies” that are brought about when the body presumes a harmless substance, like flower pollen, is actually a threat and responds with overkill. We shall cover that in depth later as we're covering the immune system.

  (To Iluna) Your proficiency at diagnosing diseases has increased by 20% and the effectiveness of your disease curing magics has doubled.

  “My cure magic has doubled effectiveness?!! THAT'S INSANE!!”-Iluna

  Now that we've covered the most basic of basics, it's time to go into detail as to how the human(oid) body is put together.

  “Wait. That much improvement is the basics?!”-Iluna

  “This is Traveler knowledge we're talking about.”-Alura

  “Yeah, I get that, but...”-Iluna

  Let's start with the skeleton, the structure that holds everything together. Composed primarily of Calcium Carbonate, it is one of the hardest substances known to man and has been known to outlast the rest of the body. Here's an image of a pair of skeletons below, one from a male, one from a female.

  (Shows image of two human skeletons side by side, clearly labeled.)

  Females tend to be shorter, thinner, and have wider hips than males.

  The skeleton does more than simply provide support. It protects the internal organs from piercing, slashing, and some blunt-force trauma.

  (To Alura): Due to increasing your knowledge of anatomy, your assassination skills have increased. You have learned the [Crippling Strike] skill. By targeting the joints or weak parts of a creature's skeleton (internal or external), you can hinder its movements, cause paralysis, or death, and the effectiveness of normal attacks increases by 10%.

  “Wow. Even I'm getting benefits here! 10% effectiveness boost to normal attacks and a new skill?!”-Alura

  The inside of the bones contains marrow. This is where the body produces blood cells, both red and white.

  (To Iluna) You have gained the skill [Blood Recovery]. When treating a patient with blood loss, you can use MP to accelerate the production of replacement blood. WARNING: This process drains the patient's nutrient and stamina reserves. Use with caution.

  This brings us to the circulatory system. The arteries move blood from the heart to the organs, muscles, skin, bones, etc. carrying oxygen and nutrients, while the veins go from the body and carry carbon-dioxide and other waste products, except where the lungs are concerned where the arteries carry carbon-dioxide while the veins carry oxygen. The veins and arteries also carry the vast majority of the body's defenses against disease and other invaders, known as white blood cells, or more specifically antibodies. Again, we'll go over how the immune system works in detail later.

  (To Iluna) You have gained the skill [Staunch Bleeding]. You can use MP to stop any bleeding, internal or external, by closing off damaged blood vessels. WARNING: Closing off damaged blood vessels carelessly can cause irreparable damage. Use caution.