“This is the qi from the condensing realm. I will give anyone permission to advance, and I will even help out if you can replicate this trick.”
There is a minuscule droplet of liquid qi swirling around my fingers now. I let them all have a good look at the concentrated power before breathing it back into my skin. I start walking my qi clone towards the centre Tree while saying my last lines.
“This is your formative period, if you do nothing but fight now, you can only fight later. This is a good time for you guys to go and explore some hobbies. The perfect time, actually.”
I walk back to the main clearing and look through the piles of materials. I shove some of the better base materials through Tree. I then guide it into my spatial ring by using my real body. I drop the clone off in my castle and focus back on the outside. I am keeping an eye out for any suspicious behaviour around our camp while crafting stuff. I am in need of some long-range reconnaissance, so that is keeping me busy most nights.
⁂
“WHY IS HE SO WEIRD?!” Angeta’s anguished cries reach up to the heavens. A splintering crash pierces through the forest as the other five disciples take a step back.
“HE JUST SAYS STUFF, AAARGH!” Another tree gets horribly abused. “AND WE ARE huff huff JUST supposed to figure it out ourselves?” She weakly kicks another tree, the fight having left her movements.
“And then he watches us fuck up, and only steps in moments before death. That’s how it felt like, at least…” Angeta’s short fur rises in waves as shivers run across her body.
Vox looks perplexed for a moment. “Did you really think you were dying?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t breathe and everything hurt.”
Vox just looks at her with pity. “How much did that hurt to you?”
“Worse than anything I ever felt.”
“You must not yet have felt very much then.” They all look at Vox’s back as he walks away. The beastwoman looks bewildered for a little, looking over at the other disciples. They all either ignore her or shrug their shoulders.
Selis is busily pressing down on a sphere of blue tinted qi. She frowns at the springy ball of power in her hands, lies it down on the ground and starts jumping on top of it. Tess is also messing with a sphere of qi, hers seems to be filled with fleeting shadows.
Selis kicks the ball away in frustration, it bounces off a tree and smacks Bord in the face. He grabs it and crushes it with his hands.
“You had trouble crushing that thing?”
She just glares at the fatty and stomps away. A big dark blue form struts after her, clucking softly. Bord looks back at the wisps of mist that slide through his fingers. He narrows his eyes at the strands but they don’t follow his mental commands. He looks around but finds himself in an empty clearing, so he also walks away.
A few moments later he is standing inside the library. He ignores all the books on cooking, math, sewing and geology. He does not stop until he is in front of the DIY section where he grabs a book. He has been reading this book for a while now, and he almost feels confident enough to look at page three. He sits there, reading and studying the symbols and drawings on the single page in front of him.
An hour later, he looks back up and stretches his hand in front of him. Slowly, small pillars of a murky light start appearing from his skin. These pillars reach his previous control limit with extremely slow speed, a few centimetres from his skin. The pillars start to release wisps of smoke, but despite this degradation, they continue to grow.
A long time later, the first pillars touch each other. Another long time later, his entire hand is covered with a triangular lattice of qi pillars. This triangular construction sticks up a dozen centimetres from his skin. They continue to release some qi, but the shape holds beyond the point where he would normally lose control. He nods his head, affirming what he has learned from the many hours studying the book.
“Triangles are the strongest.”
He puts the book - his teacher would call it “Baby’s first construction project” - back on the shelf and walks out with a big smile on his face.
⁂
I missed this wonderful ability to directly observe molecules. Creating stuff without my augur felt like performing brain surgery with a chainsaw. I can’t help but smile as I let my consciousness sink into the copper coils I am working on. I need long range reconnaissance capabilities, so I’m creating a drone.
I have all the materials I need now, the Tower generously giving me plenty of pure base metals. From lead to zinc, all materials that I could need have been provided. I even found a few bars of aluminium and a sealed glass globe of mercury. In addition to the stuff I… liberated from that Fellis noble douchebag, I’ve got enough to do some tinkering.
The copper I’m using is perfectly pure, not a single molecule of oxygen or other materials is present. It thus has an electrical conductivity of over one hundred percent, according to Earth’s science. I, therefore, think it’s a good thing that I stopped using those standards a while ago. I briefly ponder whether or not I should switch to silver, as that has better electrical conductivity. I then decide to continue working on the copper, I’d need to start over otherwise.
The thing I’m creating is a small aeroplane. It is really simple; a hollow steel body with holes and symbols. I’m using the copper to guide qi around the thing, sending it through embedded wires around the plane. Using purely electricity is not that useful if qi can be used, but I have not found a better signal carrier than a copper wire with some sort of charge running through it.
The control centre is a small qi crystal in the centre of the body. Wires run from there to the other controllable parts of the frame. Two wires run to tubes that act as wind turbines; the symbols I scratched inside these tubes can push air in both directions at variable speeds. Three wires go towards control flaps, while another goes to a camera in its nose.
The underside is a matte blue and the top is black. It looks like a triangle with half a metre sides. Two tubes are stuck to the wingtips, a sphere in its nose is a free rotating recording device. The crystal is the processor and data storage; it took a large portion of all the qi I collected so far to accomplish this. The power in that crystal is about half of what I currently control in both cores.
There is one thing I have not impressed onto my students, and that is the difference between realms. Let’s say a normal human has a total of one power. My students currently have a couple of dozen power at their fingertips and that is rising quickly. I currently control a few hundred, maybe I’m starting to push a thousand now.
Foundation realm cultivators have a million at least. Anything beyond that gets exponentially more powerful. All the qi I have gathered so far has less power than a foundation realm cultivator’s finger. The thing I really should be doing is scouring this planet for energy sources. The fear of being stuck in this place without a method of ascension because of a simple lack of available power is rather horrifying, so I don’t think about it.
Actually, fresh beginning foundation cultivators have a million. Cultivation power grows exponentially, so any half decent foundation cultivator has trillions of power. You use the power under your control to increase your power, so more power means more growth which means more power, etcetera.
The Tower puts out enough qi to form a low-grade qi spring. Normal cultivation sects don’t even bother with these low tier spiritual springs, their output barely worth the effort of securing them. I might seem overpowered on this planet, but it’s not overpowered if everyone is so ridiculously powerful.
I focus back on the plane. The shape is the most efficient I can get it, an elongated triangular teardrop. It must be able to cruise with high fuel efficiency and be able to speed away, so I made it reversible. A swept wing is better for speed; straight wings are better for efficiency. It flies with the pointy bit in front when speeding, and flips backwards when it needs to slow down to use the camera.
The entire thing is coded with a combinatio
n of actual code, symbols and intent. I have previously made things like these, so all I had to do was modify the blueprint for a much lower power level. I am also missing a lot of necessary materials for the more advanced and high performance versions, but I will take what I can get. I also had to strip out almost every feature, leaving it rather barebones for my tastes.
I seep my augur into the object, sensing it in its entirety. I can do this because it is hollow; a solid object of this size has too many molecules for me to currently scan at once. I check the internal structure and find a few faults that I immediately fix. I actually find a memory leak, one of the camera subroutines would have executed a couple millions of times per second in total darkness. That would have started sucking up power like mad. Let’s see for how long it would keep flying with that error.
It would cut its operational life down by a few hours over the span of a year. So it was hardly worth the effort. I mentally shrug my shoulders and look the entire thing over again.
My face now sports a frown. That fix messed up something in its navigation. I really thought that debugging would be easier if I myself am the compiler, but shit like this just always happens. I fix the error in its navigation and look it over again. Now the data storage has a few possible fail states? I just sigh and continue my work.
Chapter fifty
Diversion
On the road again! Things have calmed down after the double-failed-realm-advancement debacle, and I spend the rest of the night fixing error after error on my plane. I feel ashamed to say that I put the camera glitch back in. I avoided the entire issue by not caring about a sub-one percent efficiency loss. All that debug work last night, useless. Some things never change.
The small craft is now scouting to the north, looking out for the biggest and best mountains.
So now we are on the road again; we decided to let the entire gang ride with us. The mountains are up ahead and the number of villages has been getting sparse. Normal peasants don’t seem to know shit about slave collars, so we have not come across anyone calling Angeta out on the fact that she isn’t wearing one. That, or they don’t want to fuck with the well-armed group of shady merchants.
“Why are there so many peasants on the road anyway?”
They all mumble something about it becoming autumn, and that I should know this already.
“So every year around this time, the entire countryside becomes empty?”
Ket decides to have mercy on my ignorant self. “The majority of people live in the city anyway; only some foragers and hunters of rare game live outside of city walls.”
Vox also chimes in. “The beast month should come in a few weeks, so a lot of people are returning to the cities to sell their wares.”
Angeta tells me a different side of the story. “Pah, we beastkin fight the horde; we don’t cower behind walls.”
Ket’s reply is immediate. “How is that working out? I heard you lose a good portion of your fighting force every year.”
“Only the weak will fall; this allows us to grow stronger.”
“So the humans can do some easy slave raiding when winter starts? Why is your capital the only city with walls?”
Before this discussion can get out of hand, someone interrupts us.
“Hello, ladies and gentlemen!”
A rough voice sounds from the bushes. I was wondering when they would make their move, we are surrounded by over a dozen people hiding in the shrubs.
“Please leave all your valuable-” HURK
The bearded man covered in rags was just about to walk out of the foliage but gets cut off. Tess pounced on him and knocked him unconscious.
“Boss? Boss? Should we do it now?”
“Why is he silent?”
“Was this in the plan?”
“I told you, we should shoot first and ask quest-” BLERK
The most dangerous sounding fellow is now having his face pressed into the dirt by a big cat.
“Pfff, what a bother. I want to find out where their base is, be gentle.” I wave my hand around, commanding my loyal horde of disciples to act. Half a second later, all fifteen third-rate bandits are taking a nap.
“I said I wanted to find out where their base is; how can we do that when they are all unconscious?”
I look at my overly enthusiastic students. Tess has appeared again, a blunt black stick formed of her qi still in her hands. Bord used a single finger to knock a good part of them unconscious. Angeta, Ket and Selis didn’t even lift a finger. I give them a glare while stepping off my big blue bear. Vox used his speed to knock the last few out.
“Interrogation is an art form. Making an enemy think that he or she needs to tell you the information you want is the ideal interrogation. Information given under torture or duress should not be trusted.”
I walk through the underbrush to the single bandit leader. I whistle a single tone and Lola comes hopping towards me. I whisper in her ears and she jumps into a nearby tree. I crack my knuckles; let’s see if I still got it.
I grab the unconscious man by his rags and lift him up. I give him a gentle slap while covering myself in qi.
‘YOU KNOW ME I AM YOUR BUDDY, BUDDY. OLD FRIENDS, LOTS OF TRUST, LET’S GO HAVE A BEER LATER.’
I start shouting the moment he opens his eyes.
“WE GOT TO GO, I SAW A DRAGON, WE GOT TO TELL THE REST.”
He is barely awake when I shout the word dragon. That was a mistake because he pales, pisses himself and his eyes start rolling up into his head. Lola falls down from the tree she was hiding in and delivers a kick to his skull with surgical precision. I look back and wave my students away a bit.
“You can watch but hide yourselves.”
So a dragon is too much of a threat. I slap him again.
“WE GOT TO GO, I SAW A PATROL GROUP COMING THIS WAY!”
His eyes shoot open. He looks around in a daze for half a second and I wait for my words to sink in. He then sees me, and I see warmth and recognition blossom in his face. As if he finally got to meet a good friend again.
“B-buddy, no worries. We paid the kingdom, so no worries man.”
I frown and signal Lola. She kicks him unconscious again.
“Hmmmh, what will scare a lowlife… but not too much.?”
I rub my chin as I think. A dragon was too much, but the army’s patrols have too little threat. I start slapping him again in order to try my third option.
“WE GOT TO GO, I SAW A SMALL BEAST HORDE COMING, WHERE’S THE REST?”
He wakes again, and this time I see the correct amount of fear in his eyes. He stands up by himself while I support him. I ignore his stench by shutting down my olfactory nerves; his breath is worse than his body odour.
“B-buddy, no worries, we got a good cave to hide in. How much time do we got?”
Ah, progress! I reply in a hurried tone.
“Just a little time, we must go. The rest of the group got eaten already, I only managed to save you.”
His eyes open wide in terror. “This way, follow me, buddy!”
I ignore the giggling coming from behind me as I follow my temporary guide. He blunders through the forest, running his legs and lungs ragged. I spot him following some obscure symbols carved in the tree trunks. I take note and analyse, it seems to be a primitive guide marker system. I scan the rest of the woods and notice several paths, marked, running through these woody foothills.
There are even some dead ends with deadly traps; normal people trying to unravel these signs would end up being killed there unless they knew what to look out for. My new best friend, however, guides me expertly through this maze of misinformation. He is totally red-faced and gasping for breath by the time I see a cave come into view. I give the signal again, and to my delight, Lola kicks him unconscious. I catch her and scratch her head. Good rabbit! I didn’t even hear her following me through the trees.
The cave is unremarkable. The stones covering the area in front of it hiding any tracks. I spread my spirit
ual sense through it and shudder at the deplorable living conditions. Just because you’re a bandit isn’t an excuse for poor hygiene. I feel a lot of rodents enjoying the mess scattered everywhere, nibbling on scraps of food and dirty clothing alike.
I think about going in but decide against it. I can feel some figures moving around in there, but I don’t feel like going into that dark and dank cave myself. I sit down and send a thin wave of qi through the tunnels. I don’t find any stereotypical captured damsels or children, just a bunch of adults laying around. They all seem to be here of their own accord; how should I handle this?
“How should I handle this?” I turn to my students who have silently been following me. “I don’t sense any captured people, just some guys lazing around or counting coins.”
Ket is the first to step forward. “My part of the dungeon loot is almost gone; I want to find some more merchandise.” He is actually rubbing his palms together while saying this. The evil smirk on his face completes the picture of a corrupt merchant. Now he only needs to grow fat to finish the image.
Bord and Angeta also follow the group inside but halt in front of the entrance while grabbing at their noses. The other four disciples make grimaces but press on anyway. I follow them with my qi sense and sense them knocking out everyone they come across while robbing them blind. Tess pulls a large spear from her ring as she picks up more stuff. Selis makes room in her own ring by pulling a massive claymore from it. Her knees bend at the weight, but she starts to walk with thumping footsteps to balance herself. She is adapting to the unladylike style of fighting and movement she requested rather well.
I feel them descend further into the caves. I start to hear crashing noises by the time every bandit is unconscious. Thick doors bar entry to some of the rooms, but a few applications of force later and these obstacles are slain. Vox and Ket come back out, carrying heavy boxes. They dump a pile of stuff from their rings and rush back inside.
The DAO of Magic Page 40