The Spa Cavern, as he had taken to calling this place, had provided no answers as to its nature. All Chen Haoran knew was that it was very large and very easy to get lost in. The heavy steam from the heated spiritual pools obscured both his vision and his qi sense. It made traversing it much harder, not helped by the fact that so much of the ground was broken up by the numerous pools. Of which some, as Chen Haoran had unluckily found out, were quite literally too hot for him to handle.
The denizens of the Spa Cavern weren't making things any easier. The cave sloths were fine, they kept to themselves up on the cavern roof and were more focused on eating moss than bothering him. The crickets though were a menace. Their senses were better adapted to this place than his own and whenever they were in the area they seemed to unerringly home in on him. They were vicious things always bent on fighting and devouring whether that be him and the sloths or their fellow crickets. Once when they had thankfully ignored him he watched them target the sloths instead, leaping to the roof and grasping them with powerful legs and arms before dragging the screaming sloths down to be torn to pieces. He hated their raucous chirping the most. At least normal cricket sounds could be considered beautiful. These things on the other hand were hell-bent on being an assault on all five senses. The only saving grace was that they were all far weaker than him, he had yet to see one at the Fifth-Layer or higher.
He had a feeling that wouldn't last. Despite all this spiritual water around him he had yet to see a proper aquatic beast. He wasn't looking forward to when he did because for all that he complained about the cavern there was one thing that made all his troubles worth it.
Cultivation.
He wasn't sure if it was because of the pools themselves or if the natural qi here was inclined that way but this place was a haven for a water attribute spiritual root. Every pool he had found was infused with qi in some type of way. That qi-infused water then turned into qi-infused steam. That qi-infused steam was then easily absorbed and leeched of its water-aspected energy by Chen Haoran. This place was unlike anywhere he had cultivated before. Even if he could find a way out it would be a waste not to take advantage of it.
He really did need to find an exit though.
Chen Haoran yawned and pushed aside the boulder that sealed the entrance to his temporary home. He had carved out a little hole for himself in the cavern wall with a careful application of the Canyon Carving Sword. Fortunately, he had the foresight to stuff his storage bag with food and camping supplies in the event he had to bug out. Admittedly he had been preparing with Lan Fen's pocket space in mind but it served well enough here.
He stripped out of his sweaty clothes and jumped into a nearby pool. He felt its soothing energies ebb and flow through his body like an ocean tide. He had chosen to make his home here because the heat of the pools were perfectly in the Goldilocks zone. Hot enough to push him but not so hot that he couldn't handle it.
Chen Haoran breathed in deeply the qi-infused steam in the air and felt it sit heavy in his lungs. Cycling the Yellow Dragon River refinement he felt the steam dissipate into energy and soak into his meridians. The yellow dragon danced faster than it ever had before as if it had returned to its natural environment. It felt like he had little rivers flowing through his body being endlessly fed by a deep spring. The energy of the spiritual pool stole away the stress placed on his already enhanced meridians allowing him to cultivate for far longer than he could before. Chen Haoran watched the yellow dragon dance for what felt like hours before the exhaustion began to creep in. With the dancing came the expansion of his qi, he was seeing visible progress at a rate comparable to when he devoured greater cultivation supplements by the pound. It was a shame he didn't have anymore, he could scarcely imagine how fast he could cultivate in this place with the proper resources.
Slowly he came out of his meditative state, the yellow dragon sounding off a final satisfied roar. He opened his eyes and smiled at yet another successful cultivation session.
Then a sloth cannonballed from the ceiling into the pool.
Chen Haoran spat out water and directed an unamused glare at the swimming sloth. "You're doing this on purpose aren't you?"
The sloth burbled at him and happily paddled around the pool.
Perhaps because he had helped it before, perhaps because he was new and non-threatening, whatever the case this sloth had been consistently bothering him ever since. It would have been a nice, movie-worthy bonding of animal and man if the little beast didn't constantly swan dive into whatever pool he was currently occupying.
"Go on," he waved. "Shoo."
The sloth ignored him, lost in its own world.
"I don't even like sloths."
"So then he's like 'I came here on a whim' and he expects me to accept that?" Chen Haoran leaned back against the edge of the pool, an arm crossed over his eyes. The other hand ripped off a patch of glowing green moss growing around the pool and fed it to the waiting sloth. "He invades my privacy, acts like a prick, investigates everything I do, then wants me to wander off into the wilderness to some secret port and I'm supposed to follow him?" The sloth grunted and he fed it another patch of moss. "The worst part is he's helped me a lot too and I just don't know what he wants in exchange for that. Should I have really stuck around and waited till he dropped whatever favor he wanted on me?"
The sloth squealed.
"That's what I thought," Chen Haoran sighed. "Still, this is nice." He sank lower in the pool. Away from plots and politics, hidden dangers and overhanging threats. No Song Yuelin, no City Lord, no prince of the Empire. Here he didn't have to constantly worry about his fraud being exposed and getting a knife in the back for it. It would have been nice if he could have woken up in a place like this. Where no one knew who he was and he didn't have to pretend to understand what he didn't.
There was a soft skittering of carapace on rock. Chen Haoran didn't move as the monster cricket lunged at him. On his ears, two golden earrings set with orange-black tiger eyes shone with dark light. An invisible wave of qi spread out and the cricket froze. In his mind's eye he could picture what the cricket saw, a giant tiger sitting above Chen Haoran's head preparing to pounce. The tiger roared. The cricket sped off. The sloth splashed him for more moss.
"Needy little shit," Chen Haoran grunted. He ripped off more moss.
There was a sudden feeling of glass shattering. Chen Haroan shot up much to the disgruntlement of the disturbed sloth. He clutched his chest and looked around with wild eyes in search of where that feeling had come from. Eventually, his gaze roamed up to the burning words floating in the air.
Everlasting Hundred Blessings Charitable Prosperity
Lan Fen's name had disappeared. He probed the Gifting power with his mind in search of her slot. Instead, he found the metaphysical equivalent of empty space.
He sank back down into the pool with a sigh. Lan Fen must have finally turned in the annulment papers. Chen Haoran didn't know what he felt in his chest. On the one hand he was relieved that his guess had been accurate, the marriage was indeed the basis of their connection. He was also happy that breaking the connection hadn't led to any adverse effects on the Gifting power. On the other hand… "I'm crazy," he laughed and shook his head.
The sloth angrily squealed at him.
Chen Haoran laughed again. "Guess I'm divorced," he told his sloth friend. That did lead to the problem of him finding a new connection though. He had to choose carefully lest he ran into the same problems he did with Lan Fen.
The sloth squealed again. "I don't suppose you want to marry me?" he asked, forking over more moss to appease its anger. Idly he checked his connection with the beast.
Connection: Negative
He froze. He hadn't expected it to work on an animal. Could there be a chance he could actually form a connection with something not human? His mind raced. Why couldn't it work? It's not like the connection being negative meant it was permanent, he just had to create the right relationship for it to be positive. Lan Fen had been negative before their marriage after all.
Chen Haoran shot out of the water again much to the sloth's displeasure. He pointed his finger. "You will become my pet."
The sloth squealed at him and floated away.
"Come back!"
112
Plutus
Yesterday at 8:23 PM
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Darkarma
(Verified Theorycrafter)
Yesterday at 8:32 PM
!" Frillite said, massaging her temples. "You and your friends, who were tasked with saving the world, were summoning Heroes of ages past, which wasn't necromancy because you weren't raising them from the dead, but rather calling them from their personal heaven, where they had became Angels of Humanity upon death. That about right?" She let go of all decorum, as she rested her face on her palm, elbow planted on the table.
"More or less, yeah." Honestly, that was better than my overly complicated detailed infodump.
"Michael..." Frillite said with patience. "What in the hell was 'Goetia'?"
"Our equivalent of the Demon King." I said back.
"...Why do you keep downplaying your answer?" Frillite sat back with an inquisitive look, as she crossed her arms.
"Well," I rubbed the back of my head looking away for a moment, before sighing and facing her. "I guess it's because I don't want to seem like I'm bragging, or say something that would seem so outlandish that you'd think I'm lying or exaggerating." I said plainly as I shrugged. "Besides, it has no barring on the present. It's stuff that's already over and gone, so bringing it back up beyond what's needed to explain something, just feels..." I looked away. Again, it felt like bragging.
...No. It just felt tiring. Having to talk about the Grand Order. Having to revisit it.
There were some fun parts, yes, and I did like talking about those. But the Grand Order as a whole...it was nothing but a struggle of overwhelming odds, and making the best of horrible choices. Compromises. Throwing everything away for victory.
I wonder when did it start?
Was it when I discarded the death goddess's geas? I saved Siegfried in a manner of speaking, and everyone else, since we did have a means to beat Fafnir and Jeanne Alter. But in doing so, I lost her support. Victory was no longer inevitable, but something to work myself to death for.
No. It was in Okeanos.
Euryale's face came to my mind. Her bright smile flashing in my direction, twin tails waving in the wind as she fell toward the Ark, right before--
"Michael?" Frillite's voice snapped me back to the present.
"Huh?" I blinked a few times, and focused on the readhead Hero in front of me. "Sorry," I gave an apologetic smile. "My mind went away for a bit."
"It's fine." She said smiling back. "If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to." She had a thoughtful look on her face for a moment. "The Platinum Knights of the Empire and I have been fighting against the forces of the Evil God Rebeus for eight years now. It's been a duty that I took up, even before I was chosen as a Hero by the Goddess."
"Huh." I held my chin, then nodded. "So there is a threat beyond the Demon King. Is the Evil God part of his forces, is the Demon King a upon to him, or are the two unrelated?" I wondered.
"The Demon King is the Evil God's aspect that can manifest in the world, a mantle taken up by the strongest demon." Frillite said, pausing as she looked at me with a stoic look. "That's terrifying."
"Yeah, I guess I can see why." I nodded.
"No, not about what I said, but your reaction."
"Hmm?" I blinked at that.
"I just told you that there's an 'Evil God', that the Demon King is its connection to the world, and why as long as the Demon King exists, demons can invade and the Evil God can influence and act more within the world." Frillite said slowly. "And your reaction to that was 'oh, that makes sense. How should I start planning to deal with this?'. There wasn't an ounce of denial, hesitation, disbelief or fear in your eyes." Frillite said. "Michael, what did you go through? What was your Heroic Journey like?" She asked with concern.
Oh. I guess a normal person hearing about an Evil God would show worry.
"I trust you." I said reflexively and smiled, before I paused to think about what she said. I didn't miss her grateful smile in turn.
I stayed silence for a while, contemplating how much to say. Ultimately though, do I actually need to hide anything?
"It's..." I leaned forward, resting my arms on my knees, fingers clamps a bit. I looked down, lost in thought. "Goetia was a 'Demon God' to put it in simple terms." I said, and Frillite blinked before focusing on me with her full attention. "It was one of seven calamities meant to strike the Human Race of my old world, representing one of seven sins humanity are meant to overcome, if they are to grow. No, not the traditional seven sins." I said. "Me and the other Masters, we had to travel across seven different regions to stop his machinations that would have ended mankind for good, if left unstopped." I paused. "So the reason why I'm not surprised or shocked is because, well?" I shrugged. "I'm just used to this." I gave a small smile.
Frillite was quite for a while, as she sat back, causing me to imitate her.
"How long were you fighting against this Demon God?" She asked.
"For Chaldea? A year and a half." I said. Frillite blinked a few time and I saw her shocked face for the first time. "We didn't really have a chance for a break, or to rest, except when something forced us to. So for the most part, we went from one Singularity to the next."
"'Singularity'?" She blinked at the unknown term.
"The, um," tried to gesture uselessly with my hand, as if picking something from place to place. "Points, locations were Goetia's schemes were taking place. That's what we called them."
"I see." Frillite nodded, holding a finger to her cheek thoughtfully. "Hey Michael, what do you say we spar for a bit?" She asked with a smile.
I saw the gesture for what it was. A way to lighten up the mood, to move on and stop thinking on such a heavy topic.
"You're on." I said with a grin.
===
AN: Yes, I know, I know. It's a mini-chapter. "How dare you cockblock us of a fight scene!" I get it. I just can't focus right now, so I can't visualize what happens next or the fight choreography. And no matter how small the writing, it's progress.
I'll try to finish the spar in two chapters, then focus on Mars training, before the tragic pandemic that'll hits the vampires.
Saul sighed once again as camp started to argue amongst itself. At some point in his life, he wondered how he became the leader of the Aldecaldos branch in Night City. That said, he didn't dislike it. He was humbled when he was chosen as leader of the Aldecaldos, even though Cassidy or Carol could've taken charge.
Then again, Saul doubted they were willing to take leadership, especially with what they endured during the Unification Wars. From what he'd managed to glimpse off their stories when the both of them were in service to NUSA wasn't something he'd have his family do.
Despite that, the Aldecaldos he'd inherited was on the verge of collapse. One wrong move, then the Aldecaldos in NC would fall apart and be taken away by more nefarious nomad clans like Raffen or the Wraiths. And by God as his witness, he'd be damned before that could happen to his family.
That's why he broke the clan's tradition of smuggling and opted for establishing corporate connections. Which is currently not going well. True, Biotechnica is quite ruthless regarding with who they interact. How else Biotechnica survived the near-apocalyptic war that is the Fourth Corporate War intact?
Regardless, Saul is determined to do anything for his family, even if that means sucking up to some megacorp.
Although, it seems that his family had other opinions on their minds.
"Saul, as much as I respect you as a leader, what you're proposing is suicidal for our family. Not only are you planning to put our family under the heels of a fucking megacorp, but you're also betraying the traditions of the family!" Panam Palmer, the firecracker who's been giving Saul much headache recently, shouted as some of the family unconsciously nodded their heads in agreement.
Saul withheld a sigh as his eyes turned to Panam, whose eyes filled with anger.
Panam, for all her impulsiveness, was fit to be an Aldecaldos leader. She's quick on her feet, can handle herself on the roads, and can act decisively. If the clan wasn't in a precarious situation, he'd be inclined to make Panam a co-leader. Unfortunately for him, Panam tends to act with her feelings instead of thinking of the long-term effects of any actions she'd make.
And so, mentally preparing himself for a spat raging on the camp for a week, turned to her fully, "And what'd you have me do, Panam? Slink back to SoCal? Let ourselves be gouged upon by the Raffen; ready to pounce at us the moment we even show a hint of weakness? And what about the other Aldecaldos outside of NC, you think they'll welcome us back to the fold after we'd made a fool ourselves in NC? Especially when we've made such a mess of ourselves?"
"Yes, they would! Nomads are family, especially Aldecaldos!" Panam shouted, slamming her hands on the table.
"Then you're still ignorant, Panam! Everything I've done, every decision I've made, was done for the family! How long until you realize that having connections with even a single megacorp would save our family?!" Saul roared back, moving closer to Panam.
"At the expense of being under the heels of a corpo? Wasn't a nomad supposed to symbolize freedom? What good is nomad freedom when we're only going to be corpo-slave in the end anyway, especially when you're willing to throw away our traditions?!"
"Then what you would have me do, Panam?! Tell me, goddamnit it!"
Silence permeated the camp as Saul and Panam glared at each other, with the on-lookers weary of involving themselves between the two.
It wasn't until Scorpion coughed that Saul and Panam's glares turned to Scorpion, who wilted under their looks before taking a deep breath and straightening his back, "I... may have an answer to our woes."
Saul grunted as Panam backed away from Saul, with the rest of the camp sighing in relief. "Well, spit it out, Scorpion." Saul rumbled as Scorpion looked to where Panam was before nodding to himself.
"Well, firstly, have you kept up with the latest news from Night City?" Saul shakes his head, causing Scorpion to continue, "Then, do you know of Builders Incorporated?" Once again, Saul shook his head in response, although Panam seemed to have an idea: judging from Panam's widening eyes.
"You mean the one providing cheap, organic foods in Night City? That corpo?" Saul's eyes widened at Panam's answer, the same as the rest of the camp now listening to the conversation.
"Yeah, that. Man, let me tell you, the feeling of actually eating an authentic steak brought tears to my eyes, man. Even Mitch ugly cried when we were eating during our visit there." Mitch sputtered at Scorpion's world while the rest of the camp was stunned silent.
"...and how much did you pay?" Saul slowly asked Scorpion, whose face grinned even further.
"Oh, it was twenty eddies. It's like paying two Burrito XXL Rosado, but instead of eating kibbles, you can feel the taste of an actual cow." Scorpion's words seemed to cause Saul's mind to stop in disbelief as he was left gaping, with the rest of the camp following suit.
'Twenty eddies?! How in God's name is that corpo able to sell that cheap?!' Saul internally shouted as he was still attempting to process the words sprouted out by Scorpion.
"Okay, but how could this corporation help us, Scorpion?" Cassidy asked as Saul internally thanked Cassidy for rebooting his mind before focusing back on Scorpion.
"Well, apparently, if what the words on the street were saying is true, then they're looking to expand outside Night City and are currently looking to set up trade lands along the 101 while attempting to dodge the rather exuberant trade barriers between NorCal and SoCal. Going by what I said, they're either going to haggle with either NorCal or SoCal for entry or -"
"Hire a Nomad for logistics..." Saul uttered, his mind already running through the implications of what Scorpion had said.
If what Scorpion said was true, then the Aldecaldos within Night City might be saved. While Nomads were nothing compared to the shipping lines that megacorps employ under their belt, nomads were more accessible as an alternative. After all, Nomads were responsible for most of the transportation within the ravaged Great Plains, Mountain West, Northwest, Southwest, and West Coast.
And Nomads know more about the lands better than those corpos living in their gilded megatowers.
In any case, Scorpion's words seemed to invigorate the camp: with many muttering about the golden opportunity that fell on their lap.
All except for Panam.
"Scorpion, you don't believe their words. For all we knew, this could all be a big ploy to deceive the people." Panam uttered, causing some within the camp to grumble.
But before Saul could utter a rebuttal, Mitch spoke up, "No, Panam. It's not a ploy. Everything of what they're doing is legit. Besides, the CEO was a renowned Solo in NC and was even responsible for decimating most of the gangs in Night City. All by his lonesome at that."
"Then, it's decided then. For those who want to ditch Biotechnica, raise your arms." Saul nodded as everyone raised their arms, "For those who want to form a partnership with Builders Incorporated, let your arms down." While some lowered their hands, almost everyone agreed, even though Panam's arm was stuck on whether it should go down or not.
"With a decision made, we should start planning. Panam, you'll act as our liaison for Builders Incorporated, and don't worry, you'll have Cassidy and Carol to accompany you there," Panam's mouth thinned as she muttered unpleasant words, with Cassidy and Carol nodding at Saul's words.
"Everyone else, prepare camp and wait for further news. Dismissed." With everyone leaving except Cassidy, a lull of silence enveloped the tent before Saul felt an arm clasp on his shoulder.
Cassidy nodded his head in understanding before leaving Saul alone in the tent.
Inhaling a deep breath in preparation for informing his Biotechinca contacts that the deal he was supposed to agree to was null and void, Saul only had one thing on his mind:
'Scorpion will need to dig more latrines after this.'
8
HarpoonX