Chapter 45 An Expensive Lesson

The Force was a fickle thing and how one connected to it varied greatly and depended on their own understanding and comprehension. Rayleigh's connection to the Force was as unique as his code, and how he could interact with it had rules that needed to be followed.

According to his comprehension, the best position was that of a teacher, but there was more to it than that. Teaching others would strengthen his connection to the Force, but there was a hidden trick that few would understand or grasp. It was the so-called, 'owe a favor.' The debt of a student to the teacher.

Why would Rayleigh accept such a thing as payment? Every Player was twelve or thirteen at this point. Even if they had the memories of adults, they had the personalities of children due to their brain chemistry, and the promise of a child was worthless.

The reason was simple. Rayleigh didn't want them to return the favor. He wanted them to remain in his debt. Every Player that 'took advantage' of him would find themselves in an awkward position in the future.

Rayleigh had yet to fully work around the limit of the Force's dislike of violence against others. He could bend the rules or break them if someone wounded him three times, but that was worthless in most situations. That was where this debt came in.

What if someone who owed him a favor turned against him? What if someone he was a teacher to betrayed him? What if someone he assisted freely tried to harm him? The Force had a great deal of patience, but there were some lines that should not be crossed.

If anyone he taught turned against him before repaying that favor, he could go all out against them from the start.

So this lesson would strengthen his connection to the Force by taking on the role of a teacher. It would allow him to go all out against those shameless enough to 'take advantage' of him in the future, and it would give him a lot of benefits from those who actually decided to repay the favor in kind.

One such favor he was looking for was information about the Pirate Power System. He suspected that a number of Pirates had already learned it, with the primary suspect being Dragon Chef. If he could learn how to use it from Dragon Chef, then he would not need to look for a teacher once he left for the Pirate world.

All three were excellent reasons, but honestly speaking, it was the first that was the most important. Even with his monstrous connection to the Force, meditating on his code was not enough. Action means more than words, and furthering his connection to the Force was not possible without doing, what was essentially, putting his money where his mouth was.

In his mind, the Teacher was the highest attainment a Force User could reach. So how could he reach the highest connection to the Force without actually teaching?

He would even suggest that some of the Players who had not awakened their Jedi Class do so by going to some random planet in the Jedi world and coming back. This would unlock their Jedi Class and allow him to use Impartation to convey his lessons through the Force as a Teacher would do to a Youngling or a Master would do for their Padawan.

He wouldn't skimp on the lessons either. Besides making him a poor teacher, that would also lower the debt they owed him. Unless it was repaid with something substantial, he would prefer it if no one was capable of fully repaying his lessons so it would become a debt they were unable to pay off for the rest of their lifetime.

Yes, he had become the American Education System. Putting their students in debt forever.

But on a more serious note, he also wanted to help them get stronger so he could learn their strengths. Rayleigh's Character build was simple on the surface, so he wasn't afraid of others countering it. What did concern him was the more ambitious and talented Players.

By teaching them from the basics, Rayleigh would learn the Talent level of every student, learn which Nen Category they belonged with, and get a feel for the direction of their Hatsu.

Every Player knew that eventually, they would be competing with one another. By gaining all of this information in advance, he would be head and shoulders over many of his competitors.

It was a win-win-win-win scenario. The only potential problem was that he fully expected the students to get rowdy and misbehave. It would get annoying for him since he was basically responsible for them as long as they were in the Hotel. But if they were jerks, at least he'd know now rather than in the future, so even that information was valuable.

[Swordsman: I'm on my way. Anyone there yet?]

[Book worm: I'm here. Why did you book our group under, Troublemaking Teens?]

[Dragon Chef: Because he knows not to ask for a miracle. And I'll be there in a half hour.]

[The Invisible Man: I'm here already. Can't you see me?]

[Lightning Lord: That wasn't funny the first time you said it. Stop spamming the chat with it.]

[Wonder Woman: I got here this morning.]

[Swordsman: Alright. Do whatever or order room service if you want. I rented a conference room we can all gather at once everyone has arrived.]

[Captain Jack: Will there be rum?]

[Lord of Madness: What will you do if the rum is gone?]

[Pacifist: I'll be there in an hour. Only Madness, Gambler, and I were able to make it from the Jedi Players.]

[Gambler: Are there any good casinos in Yorknew? Asking for a friend.]

[Swordsman: How many Pirate Players are showing up?]

[Dragon Chef: Not that many, just some captains like Titan, Jack, and myself along with some loners who aren't on anyone else's crew like Wild King.]

[Lord of Madness: Did you think it was a trap?]

[Dragon Chef: Not from Swordsman, but my crew still has training to do and can't waste their time.]

[Swordsman: Want to have a Chef Showdown while waiting for everyone?]

[Dragon Chef: YES! Who will be the judges? We need three of them.]

[Book worm: I volunteer as tribute.]

[Pacifist: I'll judge.]

[Lightning Lord: I'm hungry, let me judge.]

[Wonder Woman: I wanna do it!]

[Dragon Chef: Too late WW. Book worm, Pacifist, and Lightning Lord will be the judges.]

[Swordsman: Hey judges, pick a theme. I'll buy the main ingredients.]

[Lightning Lord: Chicken.]

[Book worm: There must be chocolate.]

[Pacifist: I'm good with anything, but I'll be impressed if it is healthy.]

[Dragon Chef: Something healthy with chicken and chocolate huh?]

[Swordsman: I'll get two chickens, one for each of us. What kind of chocolate do you need Dragon?]

[Wonder Woman: Dammit! You're making me hungry!]

[Dragon Chef: 87% cacao.]

[Wonder Woman: Stop it already!]

[Lord of Madness: I can already smell it.] Rayleigh stopped to pick up some super dark chocolate for himself and Dragon Chef and some good chickens. The remainder of the ingredients could be acquired from the Hotel's Kitchen. It was a 5 Star Hotel after all in a major city filled with rich people. The pantry would not be lacking.

After picking up the main ingredients, Rayleigh returned to the Hotel via cab and spotted a lean, Asian teen with messy black hair and a button-up shirt left unbuttoned so that the physique beneath could be easily seen. There seemed to be at least one tattoo on his chest and on his arm. He stood near a bench with a wide smile once he saw Rayleigh.

Sitting on the bench next to him in the Hotel's reception area was a demure-looking Caucasian brunette girl with a bob-cut hairstyle and glasses who did not bother looking up from the book in her hands on Ray's arrival. Next to her was a teen that appeared to be of African descent and his eyes were on Rayleigh from the moment he entered.

Across from that pair was another Caucasian boy with sandy blonde hair. This one, Rayleigh could actually feel, meaning he had a strong connection with the Force, meaning he was a Player that was trained in the Jedi arts.

The Asian teen approached and slapped Rayleigh's shoulder before he practically shouted, "Good to meet you in person Swordsman!"

Rayleigh replied, "You too Dragon Chef." He tossed him a thawed chicken and a few bars of super dark chocolate. Dragon Chef caught them all and opened one of the bars before sniffing it and taking a small bite. "Good stuff. This'll work."

Rayleigh nodded and said, "To the kitchen." It took a few minutes and some payments to get permission to use the kitchen and ingredients, but it wasn't busy at the moment so they relented once enough Zennies were paid.

It took about two hours to finish cooking and unsurprisingly, Dragon Chef won, though both dishes were declared delicious. Dragon Chef just knew how to use dark chocolate better than Rayleigh did and Force Cooking couldn't help him close the gap of pure experience.

By the time the impromptu contest finished, everyone had arrived, so Rayleigh told them all to gather in the conference room to start the first lesson on the Hunter Power System.

Sixteen Players showed up in total.

Three from the Jedi Class, Lord of Madness, Pacifist, and Gambler.

Twelve from the Pirate Class, Dragon Chef, Lightning Lord, Justice, The Invisible Man, Glitter, Wonder Woman, Immortal Beauty, Captain Jack, Titan, Wild King, Crow, and Stoner.

Book worm's main class was actually Hunter, but she started off in the MCU, so she has zero training and only came to get the awakening of her Primary Class out of the way.

Ray expected at least half of them to never pay him back, which worked for him. The more they owed him, the less the Force would care if he went all out on the day they fought.

Rayleigh introduced himself first, "I'm Swordsman. You can probably look up my name but I won't give it to you and I won't ask for yours. I've completed my training in the Jedi Power System and just need to focus on getting it stronger and I've just completed the basics for the Hunter Power System. I'm hoping that in exchange for some quality lessons, one of you might be willing to impart some knowledge of the Pirate Power system or share some skills or secrets you know of."

Lord of Madness was actually the quickest to respond, "Wait, how the fuck did you complete your Jedi training without a Master?"

Rayleigh answered, "Lots of Holocrons and eight years of training on a planet saturated in the Force."

That was not accurate of course. He had never found a single Holocron in all his time on Tython, but his use of Psychometry was as good as a Holocron so it didn't matter too much.

Lord of Madness nodded at that though, since he knew the value of a good Holocron. Every Sith Player would make sure to buy a Holocron on Character Creation because they could not expect a Jedi to teach them Dark Side techniques.

Rayleigh continued, "The first step of the Hunter Power System is awakening your aura. The entire Hunter Power system, called Nen, is based on the usage of aura, also known as lifeforce. There are two ways to awaken your aura. Manually, or with assistance. Manually means internally exploring your body to locate every aura node and opening them one by one which can take anywhere from a week to several months depending on your Nen Talent. Is there anyone who wants to awaken it manually? If not, I can assist you."

A tanned beauty with long black hair, Wonder Woman, asked skeptically, "What exactly does this assistance mean?"

Rayleigh answered, "I inject my aura into your body in a way that forces all of your aura nodes to open. Of course, if you don't trust me to do so, you can open your aura nodes manually."

Dragon Chef stated, "I'll go first."

Rayleigh shook his head, "Not just yet." He walked over to a duffle bag that was already in the corner of the room and dragged it to the center before opening it. Inside were dozens and dozens of rolls of white medical gauze.

He said, "In order to prevent your aura from escaping after your aura nodes have been opened, you need to learn Ten. This is the easiest way to learn it for those who don't meditate every day. Wrap your entire body in this gauze. Tight, but not tight enough to restrict movement. Keep it on until tomorrow. Walk around with it. Get completely familiar with the feeling of being wrapped up."

A dark-haired Caucasian teen, Stoner, asked aloud, "Are you retarded or something?"

Rayleigh ignored the insult and continued, "This means can be used by others without needing to explain the theory behind Ten. Do it or don't, but I won't be opening any aura nodes until tomorrow."

Most of the Players went along with it and soon, the room was filled with mummies. Even the Jedi went through with it even though they probably would not have any issues with Ten.

After everyone was wrapped up, Rayleigh began his lecture on the four major principles of Nen. Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu.

He explained each one in detail and provided multiple examples of imagery that could be used to sustain each one.

The first lesson was just the foundation for the basic principles, so he did not go over the advanced applications or answer any questions on different types of Hatsus. That would come later.

The next day, Rayleigh opened the aura nodes of every Player, one by one after they removed their wrappings. He could have used the chance to do something nasty or sneaky, but he had no intention of stooping so low. His goal was the top, and he would not reach it by sabotaging others.

As Rayleigh predicted, the Players who wrapped themselves in gauze for a day easily applied Ten as they only had to make their aura feel like the gauze that they still remembered the sensation of. Several of the more clever Players understood the value of this training. Though stupid looking, the gauze really did make the process of figuring out Ten a simple and natural matter.

Two of the five Players who refused to put on gauze, Wonder Woman and Crow, ended up nearly passing out from exhaustion as they had trouble forming their Ten, and most of the aura in their bodies left due to the opening of their aura nodes and a lack of Ten to prevent the rest from leaving.

Luckily for them, the entire day's lesson was about the usages of Ten, how to strengthen it, and different means of visualization to try out. The lesson included details like the fact that allowing your aura to flow within and around the body without letting it escape strengthened natural defenses while promoting longevity and health. Both of the fallen Players were up and about by the end of the lesson.

After the second lesson was over, most of the Pirate Players intended to physically leave for the Tavern to travel to the Jedi Galaxy. If they did not plan on creating a group over there or learning from a Jedi, they could pop over just to unlock their Jedi Class and spend the day chatting with the Jedi Players in the Jedi Chat Room until they could return to the Hunter World via the Tavern tomorrow.

Rayleigh spent the remainder of the second day after the Pirates left sparring with Pacifist. The pair turned the power on their Lightsabers down and sparred for a few hours, getting a feel of the other's skills while sharpening their own.

Rayleigh's Lightsaber skills came from his Alchaka, something created from the old and new, while Pacifist used Form III to defend against everything Rayleigh threw at him. Or at least he did most of the time. Rayleigh was a lot faster than Pacifist, to the point the traditionally trained Padawan could not believe Rayleigh had never formed a Master-Apprentice Force Bond.

Unsurprisingly, Pacifist tired himself out completely before Rayleigh did, though it was still good exercise, and both had made a friend.

Pacifist asked, "I don't know anything about the Pirate Power System and I doubt I know anything you don't, so how can I repay you for these lessons?"

Rayleigh considered it for a moment before answering, "Eventually, I might return to the Jedi Galaxy, but I'm stranded on the Planet Tython. If you can arrange for me to get picked up and taken back to civilization, then any debt you owe me can be considered wiped clean."

Pacifist nodded, "Tython. Got it. I'll keep it in mind and get the coordinates."

Rayleigh told him it was on a hyperspace lane connected to Monasta, a planet in the inner core worlds that was opposite the galactic center of Coruscant, which Pacifist would remember for later.

Rayleigh smiled with satisfaction. That was already a good start. The Jedi Players would eventually be able to get their own spaceships, so having one pick him up would literally open new worlds for him. After all, if he truly wanted to master the Force, he needed to return eventually.

The other Players returned the following day, each with a vibrant presence in the Force, showing that they had unlocked their Jedi Class.

Rayleigh spent the next week on guided meditation tips which covered both the strengthening of Ten and strengthening the connection to the Force. After finishing the day's Nen lesson, he was asked to give a crash course in the Force.

Rayleigh summarized, "The Force is basically a High School filled to capacity. Within are many groups divided into cliques such as the jocks and bullies, the nerds and members of the Chess Club, the goth kids, the band geeks, the posers, the cheerleaders, etc. And of course, there are the teachers. How you connect to the Force will decide which group you connect to. The Jedi connect to the Nerds and Teachers. The Sith connect to the Goths, Bullies, and Emo kids. Connecting to a group causes that group to grant you its specialty, but the more you connect to a group, the more it affects you due to the nature of conformity. Basically, if you connect to the nerds, you become nerdy. If you connect to the bullies, you'll become a bully."

Lord of Madness added, "Unless you have the Immunity to Personality Change attribute."

Rayleigh pretended he knew what that was by continuing, "If you feel that will help, you're fine, but don't expect the Goths to give you full access to their mighty gothness unless you paint your nails black and start using black eyeliner."

Lord of Madness replied, "Ha! Do you think I wasn't aware of that? You can get around that using the greatest Power System from The Lord of the Mysteries; Acting! As long as I act the part, I can get the powers of the mighty goths by acting like a Goth without actually becoming Goth. After all, it's just an Act!"

Crow asked, "What the unholy fuck are you two smoking right now?" Stoner added, "And can I have some?"

This caused half the group to either laugh or roll their eyes. Stoner was named not because of his fondness for grass, but due to a Devil Fruit power he had which allowed him to manipulate stone, the aptly named, Stone Stone Fruit.

Justice asked, "What are the specialties of the Jedi and Sith? What do they each gain from connecting to the Force?"

Rayleigh answered, "The Jedi connect to the Force using their comprehensions and gain knowledge and wisdom from the Force. In a fight, this grants things like precognition and you can even directly manipulate your body using information gained from the Force to autocorrect your forms and movements. The Sith connect to the Force using their emotions which grants power. The more emotion you feed into the Force, the more power it grants you. There are upsides and downsides to both, but more downsides when overusing either. The power granted by the Dark Side damages the body, forcing you to need more of it to maintain your strength. The knowledge granted by the Light Side cannot be used without prudence, or it will cause a great unbalance which will force a harsh correction."

Justice asked, "What do you mean by correction?"

Rayleigh considered an example before explaining, "If a Jedi saw the death of a person, they are taught not to intervene. Death must be accepted. So most Jedi ignore the content of Force Visions of the Future unless it affects them personally or affects a large group. So, taking this as an example. Let's say you see someone is going to die. You do everything you can to save them. But most likely, the actions you have taken will cause harm to others and may not even successfully prevent the death you saw. Worst case scenario, they die in a worse way later and everything you did to save them is now a crime on your head. That is what I mean by harsh correction."

Pacifist added, "Swordsman is correct. The Jedi do not necessarily see death as a bad thing, so they won't act in most cases to prevent death, only suffering."

Gambler shook his head, "Every lesson from the Jedi can't be taken at face value. They want everyone to be emotionless forever since strong emotions can lead to the Dark Side."

Lord of Madness shouted, "It's a fucking Cult! They brainwash everyone and those who don't drink enough of the cool-aid literally get exiled to fucking farm planets to live the rest of their lives shoveling shit!"

Dragon Chef asked, "What path do you take Swordsman?"

Rayleigh smiled, "My own. The Sith have a code that strengthens their connection to the Dark Side. The Jedi have a code that strengthens their connection to the Light Side. I don't use either code. I made up my own."

There was a moment of silence before Lord of Madness shouted, "That's a fucking great idea! Hell yeah! I'm gonna think of something badass!"

Pacifist and Gambler also looked very thoughtful. The idea of making up their own code had never occurred to them either. It was certainly food for thought.

Book worm asked, "Is there a way to connect to all the cliques at this metaphorical high school?"

Rayleigh shrugged before replying, "If you can think of a way to make friends with the bullies without alienating the nerds or vice versa, feel free to try. There are some Dark Side and Light Side skills that the other side can't use. Just like how some cliques are diametrically opposed to others, connecting to one aspect of the Force tends to alienate you from another aspect. You can connect to the teachers but that would alienate the bullies. If you connect to the cheerleaders, that would alienate the goths. And if you try to connect to the band geeks, the posers would want nothing to do with you. That kind of thing."

Of course, that was exactly what Rayleigh was trying to do himself. He was trying to get close to the whole of the Force at once so he could use all its power. If he succeeded, it would grant magnitudes more power than either the Light Side or Dark Side which really only connected to one aspect of the Force. The risk was that he had to be extremely careful until his connection was strong enough. It would be slow going, but it would be worth it.

Pacifist asked, "Which clique do you think is the best?"

Rayleigh answered, "The teachers, but everyone has problems."

Lord of Madness asked, "So you're in the Jedi camp?"

"Oh hell no," was the immediate reply.

Pacifist asked, "You did not grow up on Coruscant, so what problem do you have with the Jedi?"

Rayleigh replied, "They are willfully ignorant hypocrites."

Lord of Madness shouted, "YES!"

Pacifist rolled his eyes before ignoring the outburst and asking, "Please explain."

Everyone leaned in a bit to listen since it seemed like Rayleigh's understanding of the Force was pretty solid.

Rayleigh elaborated, "The Jedi acknowledge that death is natural and do not move to stop it, yet if ordered by another to stop it, they comply. The problem with the Jedi is that they should never have become the dogs of the Republic."

Justice added, "There is a similar problem in the Pirate World. The Marines are ordered around by pieces of trash that don't care for the law."

Book worm stated, "Reminds me of Fullmetal Alchemist with the relationship between the Alchemists and the Military. Alchemists would make good teachers, but are the dogs of the military and the evil Führer."

Pacifist countered, "But it was the Republic that passed the law which required the Jedi to enforce peace."

Rayleigh argued, "They should have refused and allowed the Republic to create their own armed forces."

Dragon Chef asked with surprise, "Wait, that Galaxy doesn't have armed forces?"

Lord of Madness quickly answered, "Nope. Planets in the Republic are allowed a small force to defend themselves from things like pirates and gangsters, but there is no unified interplanetary defense force."

Pacifist added helpfully, "They don't need one. The Jedi are sent to large conflicts to assist with negotiations."

The silence in the room was broken by the hearty laughter of Lightning Lord, Dragon Chef, and Titan. They were all experienced and understood what kind of shit show could happen in such an environment.

Lightning Lord added, "Sounds like the making of a great party. Hope I get an invite when it starts."

Lord of Madness nodded, "I already figured out a few means to get some private ships of my own. If you got the crew and I've got the ship, we can discuss a partnership."

The African Player consented, "We'll talk later."

After a week of lessons, everyone had a basic Ten and could use Zetsu, so it was time to start practicing Ren. Rayleigh went through numerous theories and applications of Ren helping everyone figure out an image that would best assist with helping them store their aura in their cells so it could be released later to power and sustain their Ren. It took a few days for everyone to get that right and another few days for it to become decently strong.

Next, they were taught Gyō, the ability to concentrate their aura into a single body part. Once everyone succeeded at least partially, they moved on to the Hatsu lessons.

"Hatsu is basically an attribute your aura possesses that can be strengthened. If this was a pokemon game, it could be considered your elemental type. At the moment, the innate attribute of your aura for most of you is incredibly weak, too weak to use. You're basically typeless. So the next step of training is to strengthen the attribute of your aura. Once the attribute is strong enough, you can use it to directly create a superpower, or use it in conjunction with the specific usages of the other three major principles to create a superpower. Remember, every aspect of Nen is derived from the four major principles."

Rayleigh then explained the Water test, but brought everyone one by one to another room to use it, so no one else but him would see their Hatsu type. He wasn't surprised when Dragon Chef, Titan, and Wonder Woman were all Enhancers. There wasn't a single specialist, but Rayleigh figured those who wanted the Specialist Hatsu probably had Hunter as their primary class anyways.

After everyone did the water test, he brought them all back and explained the six possible Attributes and their connection to each other.

Rayleigh even gave examples, "What do you think Kuwabara and Yusuke from YuYu Hakusho would be?"

"A transmutation type and an emission type?" This was an obvious answer since Yusuke had his Spirit Gun and Kuwabara transformed his spirit energy into a spirit sword.

But Rayleigh corrected, "Nope, they were both enhancement types. Yusuke was an enhancer with emitter leanings while Kuwabara was an enhancer with transmuter leanings. Their flashy attacks were great, but their true power was their ability to enhance their own strength just from willing themselves to be stronger and their incredible self-recovery capabilities. Only the Enhancement type has self-recovery abilities like that."

Immortal Beauty asked, "Would Kurama have been a manipulator then?"

"Yes, a manipulator with emitter leanings. He projected his aura and used it to control plants that were outside his body."

Dragon Chef started laughing, "Then wouldn't Toriko be an enhancer too? He can also transmute his aura into forks and knives and emit his aura by shooting those forks and knives."

Rayleigh nodded, "Toriko is actually a perfect example of the bell curve of Hatsus. In order to master your own category, you should also put some development into the side categories as well, though you can't do anything with specialist, so that can be ignored."

Rayleigh continued, "So, let's try to list off every power you can think of and we'll determine which category it would be in and how it would be trained."

Everyone's eyes shined at this. Their child's heart was on full display. He was literally teaching them how to create their own superpower. No child in their right mind would not want to participate in such a conversation.

This included Rayleigh as well of course. It was time to use these guys to develop his second Hatsu.

*Author's Note*

Reviews and stones give me power.