The Call of the Forces

by Yuri Ajin

  “Sounds incredible…” Lily muttered, discouraged.

  “I agree. The System provides a significant boost to stimulate the new world. But it’s not all that simple. Everything has a price, and so does this speed of development. These Spheres and other such items prevent you from ever reaching the Elementalist Stage. Simply put, this cultivation is false.”

  “I can believe in the unusual resources part, but everything else sounds like nonsense. Why should I believe you at all?” Elize said gloomily. “How do you even know these things?”

  “I can’t make you believe me, nor will I try to. As for the info, let’s just say that, at the beginning of my journey, I was lucky enough to meet someone who had visited many worlds,” Kai answered calmly. “I won’t tell you more than that.”

  The apprentices fell silent. Remembering what Kai was capable of, him meeting a traveler didn’t seem impossible. And although he wasn’t on par with them when it came to development speed, his strength was already exceptional for someone at his stage. He had already proved more than once that what at first glance seemed impossible, could actually be done.

  “So, back to the beginning of the conversation. We need information not only in order to find the Gates, but also to learn how to use them. And that’s where our problems start, which is why I need all of you to listen to me.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The direction of transfer can only be set by those who have surpassed the Elementalist Stage. In other cases, travel only moves forward, which means...”

  “That we can’t return to Saha...” Lily finished instead of him.

  “That’s right.” Kai nodded, frowning. “That’s why we need one of us to reach the required level or find someone who has reached it. Unfortunately, that can be done only in the worlds ahead of us. Therefore, I propose to unite. The path won’t be easy, but it’s better to walk it together than alone. I understand that what I just told you is a lot to take in, so I’m not gonna rush you too much. You give it a thought while I talk to these guys.” Kai nodded at Martin and Jim, who, although they were free of the ice, couldn’t move because of the Force of Attraction.

  Having said that, he disappeared along with the two, leaving his friends to think about everything.

  ***

  “Who are they?” asked one of the strongest people among the fugitives. “I’ve never seen such clothes.”

  “I’ve seen something similar in films about ancient China. But they didn’t look Asian to me,” Luke said. “Honestly, I still have goosebumps. There’s even an Exorcist among them! I was an idiot asking them if they belonged to the Union or the guilds! Such people are probably at the top of one of the Alliances!”

  “This worries me,” Stephen said. “I don’t know if we got lucky or not. What could such strong people possibly want from us?”

  “Mr. Stephen, for heaven’s sake, don’t be dramatic,” one of the fugitives said, taking a drag of his cigarette. “They’ve helped us. I believe that it’s our Lord who sent them here.”

  Stephen and Luke looked sideways at the man. They didn’t say anything, but they were thinking the same thing.

  “How does one keep their faith in such chaos?” Stephen asked and sighed.

  ***

  By the time the fugitives finished helping the wounded and prepared their vehicles, the young man returned.

  “Mister Kai...” Although he saw a young boy in front of him, Stephen figured that it wouldn’t hurt to address him with respect.

  “Just Kai. You don’t need to be so formal.”

  “Um... Okay. Then... Kai, as I understand it, you want us to help you with something? I have no idea how we can be useful to you, because—”

  “Don’t worry about it. What I need is information. I want to know everything that has happened since the System appeared, as well as the current situation in this world. Also, I’d like you to take us with you.”

  Stephen stared at him in surprise and confusion. He had expected much different questions and demands.

  “We’re going south to one of the bases of the Union. Are you heading there, too?” he asked, still processing the first part of Kai’s request. How was it that he didn’t know what had happened since the System appeared?

  “Something like that.” Kai nodded. “Also, what year and month are we in?”

  “What?” Stephen raised his eyebrows. “The year’s two thousand thirty-six. It’s September.”

  It’s been eighteen years... But I’ve lived in this body for only six... Which means that twelve years have passed between my death and rebirth.

  “What happened since the end of two thousand and eighteen?”

  Stephen looked at the vehicles and his people, and then back at Kai.

  “Unfortunately, we need to get going, so we’ll talk about that later. What about your friends and those two...?”

  “Don’t worry, my friends will be here soon... As for those two...” Kai smiled. “They won’t bother you ever again.”

  Stephen swallowed hard.

  “I see. You can join Luke and me on that red bus. I’ll tell you everything that’s happened on the way,” he said hastily and left. Curious as he was, he had no intention of asking Kai where he had been all this time.

  ***

  Trees flashed outside the window. Using the armrest for support, Kai leaned his head on his hand and thought about what Stephen had told him.

  In the year two thousand twenty, the world was struck by an epidemic that killed more than ten million people around the planet. This, as well as the subsequent financial crisis, made life very difficult. Crime and terrorism were on the rise, and military conflicts became even worse and more frequent.

  New technologies, especially military ones, were quick to develop all over the world. One of them turned out to be the cause of a conflict between the United States and China that claimed the lives of several million people in seven years.

  In the year two thousand thirty-two, the System appeared on Earth. On February twenty-ninth, at exactly three o’clock in the morning Greenwich Mean Time, a stream of prana touched the planet and the System connected with the souls of its inhabitants.

  But not all survived this process. According to rough estimates, almost seventy percent of people turned into Demonids, becoming a resource for the development of the rest. Earth was plunged into chaos.

  People who didn’t turn barely managed to survive until they began killing the monsters. Realizing that these beasts gave loot, thanks to which many began to cultivate in order to survive, they began to hunt for sport, too. The apocalypse that the System had brought with itself lasted for about three years, and then everything became more or less calm.

  People focused on development. They liked to feel strong, so they worked on becoming more and more powerful, which the System kindly encouraged, granting them gifts for their efforts in the form of Elemental Spheres, techniques, or knowledge about monsters, other people, and the world around them. Needless to say, humans being humans, began to fight amongst themselves.

  That was how various groups began to appear. Although the old world collapsed, some parts of it survived. Most of the US army, unlike the government, was able to adapt to the changes. It was they who created the Union, which allowed millions of people to survive.

  Kai and the group were now heading to one of these “safe zones.” Elize seemed to be the only one struggling to accept all of this. She wanted nothing more than to kill Jiang Dao. The moment Kai and the rest decided to get in the way instead of help her, she’d leave and find a way home on her own if she needed to.

  As they learned, they were currently located in Montreal — once one of the largest cities in Canada, it was now the kingdom of this “lord” everyone kept talking about. The nearest city of the Union was Boston. And as soon as the convoy of buses and trucks approached the first checkpoint, Kai almost jumped out of his seat.

  Ahead of them were many armed soldiers and a tank. What
surprised Kai even more was the fact that the weapons had a rank.

  [Battle Tank M2 S Abrams]

  Rank: Gold

  Quality: Low

  Features: ???

  [M4 S Assault Rifle]

  Rank: Silver

  Quality: Peak

  Features:???

  Chapter 4

  SUPPRESSIVE FORCE

  Kai was surprised for a reason. System weapons were stronger, sharper, full of energy of their own, and had other useful features. So to see that modern weapons worked on a similar principle was curious to say the least. First of all, creating such a weapon was technically challenging. Forging a good blade wasn’t easy, but building a machine gun from scratch was even more difficult. In order to make any System item, the materials needed to contain energy. But since prana had appeared only four years ago, these materials shouldn’t yet be saturated with it. There simply couldn’t be enough of it for the mass production of System weapons.

  Second, different types of weapons required different symbolic techniques. On Saha, the craft of creating high-rank artifacts had been in development for thousands of years, thanks to which it had reached its current level. However, even Saha’s masters had learned to make Royal-rank items no more than two centuries ago, even though techniques of a similar rank had existed on the Plateau for tens of centuries.

  Kai had no explanation for how this was possible, but he assumed that science had something to do with it. It was probably thanks to it that people had learned how to create complex weapons of higher ranks in less than five years, which was bad news as an assault rifle could pose a threat even to a Mind Stage cultivator. A defensive Silver-rank technique could help, but due to the bullet’s speed, not everyone would manage to react to it in time.

  All of this spoke of Earth’s military power, even in the absence of the opportunity to cultivate. But now that prana had appeared on the planet, everything changed. Machine guns, which previously posed a threat only to the cultivators of the first two stages, could now take the life of those at the Source Creation level. A more serious weapon could probably harm a weaker Exorcist.

  Since the military had a Gold-rank tank, it meant that there were those who had mastered all the Forces that belonged to the Hearing Stage of at least one Path.

  While Kai was thinking about all this, the bus stopped. They were in no hurry to let the fugitives into the city, so Luke, Stephen, and a few other people came forward to explain the situation. Kai and the rest stayed inside, observing them.

  Stephen and Luke talked to the soldiers for a long time, but the latter just shrugged and shook their heads. After a while, they started talking in higher tones, after which the angry Luke took several sudden steps forward. Guns were immediately pointed in his direction, which made him calm down instantly.

  Kai sighed.

  “Looks like we’ll have to intervene again,” he mumbled to himself and got off the bus.

  “All of you, step back immediately, or we’ll start shooting!” shouted the officer, holding Luke at gunpoint.

  Aware that a single shot could end his life, Luke, and several other people retreated. His defensive technique would break under the fire of a Silver-rank rifle.

  “What’s going on here?”

  Luke flinched. The soldiers were now pointing their assault rifles at Kai, who suddenly appeared very close.

  Is he a commoner? they wondered, unable to feel his aura. Usually, those who couldn’t cultivate tried to hide from those who could.

  “You too, step back, quickly!”

  Kai calmly looked around, noticing many new details on the soldiers and their weapons.

  That’s odd... These weapons and uniforms didn’t exist in my time. Are they new or upgraded versions of something I hadn’t seen before?

  “Mist— Kai,” Stephen said, also surprised by his sudden appearance. “We can’t go further because there’s some important event going on in Boston. They’ve been given an order not to let us through...”

  “Did you not hear me, you idiot?!” an officer yelled and took a step toward Kai, making it clear that he was ready to fire. “I said, step back!”

  Kai turned back to the man. The glare of the violet eyes made him flinch. His body suddenly felt heavy, and his heart seemed to have stopped for a moment. In his panic, the man lost the ability to think rationally and pulled the trigger. There was a roar of automatic fire.

  But that was just the beginning.

  Seeing that their commander had attacked the stranger, the rest of the soldiers also opened fire, drowning the surrounding area in the noise of violent gunfire that lasted less than ten seconds. Once the guns were empty, there was a deathly silence.

  Kai stood in the middle of a bullet-ridden road, cleaning the dust off his shirt without so much as a scratch on him. The bullets lay scattered on the ground in front of him, having been unable to pierce through the barrier that flashed scarlet. This was the Seven Swords Technique that Kai had learned under Jiang Yui’s mentorship. By using it, he created seven extremely powerful ghostly swords that he could control with his mind. Each of the blades was the manifestation of one of the Forces of Sword.

  This technique was created by the founders of the Seven Blades Clan, who took part in creating one of the seven elements that would serve as the technique’s basis. This made the technique universal, which was why Kai applied it. He used the power of the Sword of Speed and the Sword of Strength, imbuing the rest of the scarlet blades with it.

  Hmmm… I think I might’ve overdone it a little… It’s their own fault, though... Soldiers should have stronger nerves than this, he thought. But the guns aren’t bad. The bullets could easily pierce peak-quality, Silver-rank armor.

  The silence didn’t last long, as another shot suddenly broke it. It wasn’t particularly loud, but it made Kai turn his head anyway.

  A bullet, which this time came from somewhere above, froze in front of his face. It was covered with frost.

  A sniper? Looks like it. Who here could have not only a Silver-rank rifle but bullets, too?

  “Sir, I order you not to move!” said an amplified voice. “We will not hesitate to deploy the tank!”

  Kai had sensed the guests already, but he was still surprised. The trio that appeared looked futuristic. For a second, he thought that he had found himself in some apocalyptic movie with people wearing power armor.

  [Combat Exoskeleton MX-3]

  Rank: Gold

  Quality: Low

  Features: ???

  Along with the tank, three futuristic-looking rifles were also aimed at him.

  “Major...” the officer who first opened fire muttered.

  “Lieutenant, I’ll talk to you later,” one of the three exoskeletons replied, and then turned to Kai. “Sir, introduce yourself immediately! State your name, guild, and business.”

  “How about you introduce yourself first? Why should I follow your orders?” Kai chuckled, not at all afraid of the threat.

  “Boy, you don’t seem to understand the situation you’ve found yourself in. You may be unusually strong, but the three of us are at the same level as you. Also, we are armed. And don’t forget that you’re causing trouble on our territory. Don’t you think you should show some respect?”

  Kai smiled and disappeared, leaving the bewildered soldiers to look around in search of him.

  “It seems to me,” a voice said behind them, forcing them to turn around and come face to face with two Royal-rank swords, “that you’re the ones who are confused. You’re nowhere near my level. Although your toys are entertaining, they’re useless against me. It’s your people who attacked me. Also, where did you get the idea that I’m alone?” Kai nodded to the side, pointing to his group that just got off the bus.

  Seeing four more people at the Source Creation level, as well as an Exorcist, the soldiers froze, lowering their weapons.

  “But I’ll humor you and answer your questions.” Kai smiled again. “My name’s Kai. I come from a
nother world, and I’m very interested in a lot of things. First, I need information about Earth, more specifically — about a huge dark tower that appeared together with the System. And second, I’m looking for a Diamond Evans. You may have heard of him...”

  Kai put away his blades and hid his aura again, making it clear that he wasn’t an enemy. He had finally met some important people in this dilapidated world, who should know much more than ordinary settlers like Luke and Stephen.

  And since he was stronger than them, he was going to take advantage of it.

  Chapter 5

  INTERRUPTED DEPARTURE

  The group was on its way to the city again, back on the same bus they had taken to Boston.

  After the little “incident” at the checkpoint, the soldiers retreated. Major Joseph Williams ordered the outpost to be opened, giving the fugitives access to the city, and invited Kai and his group to the HQ. For this, he temporarily requisitioned one of the buses, which was now carrying the travelers, as well as his group. He and his men had already removed the exoskeletons, which were extremely energy-consumptive, and moved them to the Rings. The locals hadn’t yet learned how to fully combine prana with modern technology, which was why they had to use good old electricity. Fortunately, the current technologies made it possible to create powerful batteries, which made things a little bit easier.

  Sitting in the front seats, right behind the driver, who was one of the outpost soldiers, Joseph thought about what had happened.

  Good thing that I was near the outpost at that moment and was able to intervene in time. I doubt that anyone would’ve been able to do much against this guy... But still, damn it! They opened fire on such strong people! I get it, I get it, the guy’s really scary, it’s impossible to immediately see his level and strength, but still! Could they really be from another world or are they just lunatics? Strange things have been happening here, but this shit sounds like it’s from some fantasy novel... Though, this would explain his strength... His moves are unlike anything that I’ve seen and learned so far. Even the strongest members of the Union wouldn’t be a match for him. He even has Royal-rank items. Hell, I’ve got so many questions and not nearly enough answers...