24 24. Grinding XP (1/2)

Flora arrived slightly cooked, medium raw, at Tricky Beach. 'I might have overdone the heat in the jacuzzi.”

After reaching a friendly reputation with the zone, Aidan could automatically connect to the local network. Now, Flora didn't need to visit the earthling information center to acquire and hand in the daily quest.

Quest: Grinding XP

Description: Grind or slide the rails, ropes, and edges of Tricky City. Bonus: Grind the XP Rails.

Rewards: Reputation with Tricky City.

Penalty: None.

In one of the back roads, she found a low, several meters long rail. After accelerating, she jumped on it and activated Slide. First, she needed to use her arms for balance, but after a few meters, she found the sweet spot and gracefully finished the rail.

'Again!'

Her balancing improved.

'Again!'

This time she jumped off the rail.

'Again!'

In the middle of the rail, she switched the leading foot from left to right with a little hop. Unfortunately, she couldn't equilibrate and had to leave the bar.

'Once more with feeling!'

Now, she finished even with changing the foot.

While her mana regenerated, she looked for a different rail. A few meters down the road was an empty fountain with an elevated border. Grinding in circles proved to be a challenge, but after a few tries, Flora mastered it. Which was a miracle, because mentally, she was busy trying to remember her physics lectures if there was a formula to calculate the optimal lean.

'The wonder of the human mind! The intuition knows what the ratio can't calculate!'

While sliding around the fountain, Flora played with the lean and the positioning of her feet. Chugging mana potions like Freibier and holding Refresh on cooldown, she completed round after round. Eventually, she ground the edge backward.

'It would be amazing to perform a macaco as finishing-move.'

She concentrated and bent her knees.

'Now! Okay, not now.'

A few meters later: 'Now!'

A few meters later: 'Anytime, now!'

A few meters later: 'After I pass the little dancing waterspout!'

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As the waterspout passed by: 'Now!'

She couldn't commit to it, and the spell fizzled out.

After taking a deep breath, drinking a potion, and revolving her mana, she activated the automatic-mode for free-running.

Next, she gathered speed, jumped on the edge, and activated Slide.

”Auto-mode, make me slide backward!” Her feet changed position without her doing.

”Disturbing, but I take it! And now, auto-mode, macaco off the fountain!” Her right hand reached down, and her legs kicked above her head. She even landed smoothly.

The next attempt consisted of her giving mental commands to the auto-mode. After that, she tried it without giving instructions, just by initiating the movement, which resulted in a back handspring. That trick was more advanced than a macaco but not what she wanted to accomplish. For ending the test series with success, she repeated the trial with mental commands.

Then, she changed to half-auto-mode. The fear still hampered the execution of the moves, but after experiencing it a few times in auto-mode, the voice in her head that had screamed 'Impossible! You'll break every bone!' softened.

Flora put her hand back and kicked. Immediately, she knew that she had the wrong angle, but without her influence, her body corrected itself in the air. Shakingly, she landed on the ground. 'Again!'

The next try, she performed better, the following worse. But it didn't matter how crooked she executed the moves. The important thing was learning that no hospital stay was the consequence.

Congratulations! Your rating in Free-Running rose to 'C'!

Flora took the message as a hint to change to manual mode. On the first few passes, she felt no difference until she messed up the switch from forward-grind to backslide because her thoughts were already at the macaco. She tumbled into the fountain and hit her head on a grinning, roller-skating gargoyle.

You are defeated!

Immediately after getting teleported to the losers' corner, she did a macaco and added a backflip for good measure. That earned her a rebuke from the stall-owner. ”No tricking in the corner, Lady!”

”Sure, sir.” After scanning the menu for the most fitting snag, she decided.”One 'Losers break fast', please.”

Beans, bacon, baked eggs, bread, and sausages filled the plate. Flora called it the '4BS of the commonwealth'. Even the bun was as commonwealth as it gets: It was so soft that you couldn't hurt a dandelion with it.

Fortunately, Flora packed her 'Welcome to the Metaworld' toaster. Its form was unadorned. Flora had painted the sides blue with dissolving stat-tables and the confusing currencies flowing against each other.

After toasting the floppiness out of it, she enjoyed her breakfast.

”Look! That granny wears the same gay skin like you!”

”Shut up! She can hear you!”

Flora turned to the table with the gang of young boys and girls and flashed them a thumbs up.

”Even better: I designed the skin! Just treat it like the socks your granny never knitted for you.”

A few of the children laughed, but the guy, a blondie with a pony-tail, Morty Moerder, looked insecure, and his green-haired freckled buddy beside him, PsySam DaPest spotted a mean smirk.

”So tell us, how far can you get your own skin up the rainbow.” PsySam challenged her.

”Want to bet?” Flora countered with a smirk of her own.

Betting and gambling with minors are forbidden.

”Sure!”

”I don't bet with ankle-biters. I show you for free that I'm perfectly capable of exploiting my creations to the max.”

'But I bet with you, dear System. Are you up to it?'

Quest: Tricking the Rainbow

Description: Reach red on the Rainbow Intensity Meter in front of the teenagers on the first try.

Reward: + 1 Free-Running

Penalty: - 1 Modeling and Design

'Fair enough.' Flora accepted.

The 'Cornered'-debuff already had disappeared, so Flora crossed the orange, transparent barrier, but stayed in sight of the teenies.

Then, she formed in quick succession rolls, alternating regular and backward rolls. Of course, she restricted the mechanism of the skin to raise intensity if someone just did one maneuver to excess. But rotating two tricks worked fine. 'You should let people have some fun finding exploits.'

The skin continuously changed its colors from violet to blue and from blue to cyan. Flora felt dizzy, and her stamina was rapidly sinking. Between rolls, she cast a quick Refresh. 'Halfway, done. Just a few more.'