“The pain is getting worse,” I mumbled as I sipped some more energy potion. I had been constantly taking them for the last 100 years or cycles as they called time around this place. I had accumulated 106,800 drops, divided equally between all 9 sub-divisions of cores, which meant 11,866.6 drops per core.
Each of my cores had quickly progressed through the stages of gas, liquid, and solid. Now they were putting out immense amounts of pressure on my cultivation system and body, while I was squeezed the other way from the energy potions. I needed to keep drinking them to get more drops, but the main in the center of my body was becoming much worse. Enough that it was distracting.
While my pain tolerance was high, this was enough, that it was a struggle to do techniques and keep up my robberies from war zones. Bones and I had already accumulated 2.4 million credits in total. Not counting the money spent on general supplies, everything was divided in half. I had spent a lot of my wealth on potions, while he was saving his credits up to replace his body.
“You need to get someone specialized to take a look.” That was not good. I had about 200,000 credits left of my share of 1.2 million. The rest had gone into energy potions.
“A faction specialist,” I said with a groan as pain laced through me.
“Yes. We have made inquiries, we just need to go sooner rather than later.” Thankfully Bones didn’t make an objection when we left the conflict area a bit sooner than planned. We would only get a couple hundred thousand credits from selling goods, but they had been adding up over the last century.
The hardest part was finding good targets and the longest part was waiting for an opportune moment to strike. While the Forever City was incredibly large, we couldn’t afford to get too greedy or just steal trash. Sometimes Bones would call off a heist due to the risk he perceived. I didn’t argue with him. While we were stealing pocket change from the factions, no one liked to be robbed.
I made my way to an open floor, and then paid a vehicle a couple thousand credits to take me to the first ring of the Forever City. I also changed my clothes. The TripleX faction had charged a fee for the information on an independent cultivation consultant. Normally their services were used by rich cultivators who wanted a second opinion for their child or a unique cultivation method. Or fixing mistakes by these rich scions.
When I got out of the vehicle, the sight was completely changed. The air was clear outside the tower, and the towers had symbols and decorations on the outside. It was like night and day to the other parts of the Forever City. “The first ring and core of the Forever City has always been quite nice. But also expensive. There are no stairs here. Well there are, but they are closed off. We will need to pay an attendant to transport us through the elevator shaft.”
I made my way over. “Floor 12,” I said to the attendant.
“Five hundred credits,” they calmly replied. I paid the fee without hesitation. This was just the first road block to visit a specialist. The faction that was protecting them, charged high visitations fees that would only be a minor annoyance to other cultivators in factions. It would also keep the riff raff out. I stepped on the platform with the attendant and I didn’t feel any force as it moved into the elevator shaft.
I could sense the forces acting on it, but I didn’t physically feel it as we transversed 781 levels in the span of a single breath. We reached floor 12 and I exited off the platform. There were several medical facilities lined up on this level of this tower.
While the TripleX faction didn’t control this tower, they were allied to the faction that did, along with being allied with several smaller but service-oriented factions. The idea being, to keep customers inside their alliance to generate as much profit as possible. Bones said it left them exposed, but they probably had a super stronger backer that was keeping quiet in order to have a wide ranging information network using other factions as proxies.
In the end it was all about who you knew. There was no internet that was searchable. The pad only gave major locations and local information that was updated. Over the years we had filled in swaths of the Forever City, but the total amount was probably less than 2%. The Forever City was just that big.
Another thing of the Forever City beyond my paygrade. The important thing was to visit a specialist. I entered a small shop labeled, Ten Thousands Paths One Destination. There was no attendant standing around which was not the norm for most places.
“Oh, a customer,” a middle aged man stepped out from a back room into the tiny lobby area. “Are you a customer?” they asked.
“Yes, honored senior. My name is Yuan and I require a consultation and discretion about my cultivation,” I said.
“I am Ming Jiei. Expert on unique cultivation methods. I will do a general assessment and then give the price for my advice. First thing, you will need to remove the observation absorbers so I can take a close look,” he said. I didn’t argue and put them away in my spatial rings. I saw a look of growing shock on his face.
“Who did this to you? And you are still alive? Three path cultivation. Four, no five, wait. Nine distinct core structures. I count 1,304 channels. Already over 100,000 drops. The pressure on your soul is immense. Force cultivation. A suction vortex. Body, soul, and mind base refinements,” Ming Jiei said as he pierced through my cultivation in seconds. This was why I needed all those observation absorbers.
“There has been an increasing amount of pain in my core area, or gut,” I said.
“I can see that. Well, a diagnosis will cost you 50,000 credits. That includes possible solutions,” Ming Jiei said.
“Will that include issues related to breaking through the bottleneck to the next stage?” I asked.
“That? I don’t even know where to start there. I need to think on that issue. But that is a separate issue with a separate price,” he said.
“Very well senior Ming Jiei,” I said and paid his fee. There was no point going to a top end specialist if you weren’t willing to pay out the credits for their advice.
“The problem is your physical body. It is not an adult’s body. But the pressure on it is not good either. That is the first problem. The best solution is to wait until you grow to an adult body and then continue cultivation,” Ming Jiei said.
“That would not leave me enough time to gather the drops of energy I need,” I replied and he tapped his clean shaven chin with his right hand as he continued to stare at me.
“The root of the first problem, is the impact on your body. Your soul is pushing against its physical constraints, and it will only get worse. Your physical body needs to get bigger. There is too much pressure and force being applied from multiple directions,” he explained.
“A channel system is not meant to take in energy from the body like you are doing. You are abusing energy potions. While cost effective, channels are meant to absorb energy from the outside, or at least yours are. If you wanted to go through direct absorption, then you need a pocket type structure instead of channels.”
“Pocket type structure?” I asked.
“Reinforced areas of your body to draw and transmit energy from your physical body into your core. Thankfully your cultivation is dense enough that you aren’t exploding. But you have about a century of accumulated stress. You have to stop all use of energy potions.”
“What about alternatives to waiting?” I asked.
“A chamber of some kind to absorb outside energy is the best bet. More expensive, but it is the best solution. More energy potions will only get worse, since your cores are pushing back on your channels. But your physical body is trying to push energy into your channels. That is why you are experiencing pain all over. If you keep using energy potions, your body will collapse in about four to seven decades. Which brings up the second major issue with your health and cultivation.”
“Soul instability. While your internal structure is incredibly strong. One of, if not the strongest internal structure I have seen, you have carved most of your soul out.”
“Isn’t a soul supposed to be carved out?” I asked.
“Yes, it is. One of the common problems I see, is soul instability from putting in too much. Your base refinements of the aspects of your cultivation had mitigated your death. But the remaining portions of your soul are experiencing stress cracks. There is just too much pressure, primarily from your cores.”
“They are solid, aren’t they?” I asked.
“You are going to try and ignite them? Increasing the pressure so much, that the solid energy collapses?” Ming Jiei asked me.
“Yes senior. That was the plan,” I replied.
“Your cores are sending minute vibrations out in your soul. The base material is developing very tiny stresses. With how far it appears you plan to go with your cultivation, this issue will quickly become unmanageable once your cores ignite. Instead of a solid core being compressed denser and denser, your cores will ignite, actively pushing back.”
“I was thinking I could use my Force cultivation to contain them better,” I replied.
“That would at best be a stop gap measure. For your second issue, it is complicated by the fact you have an energy vortex as part of your cultivation. There are three options. The first is strict regimen of medication designed to strengthen your soul. The cost would only be 1.5 million, but I have great belief in its effectiveness to stabilize your soul.” I nodded slowly at this. Expensive, but not terrible.
“The second option, would be modifications designed to absorb the vibrations output by your cores. They would always exist as a critical weakness, and while allowing you to get to the end of your current stage of cultivation, will create greater problems reaching the next. The cost is only about 100,000 credits.” That was not an option then, if they just made the bottleneck harder.
“The third option I have, is to pay for an external device. It would draw up the vibrations your cores are putting off. Only 10,000 credits, but it would need to be replaced every 50 to 100 cycles depending on the strength of your cores.” The cheapest option, but not really a solution. Bones was not giving advice since he was concealing himself from the cultivation specialist.
All this talk of pressure could also mean that Bones was part of the problem. “How would the medication work?” I asked.
“Soaking your body in soul strengthening potions for a cycle. They would seep into your body, and then your astral soul, preventing it from developing cracks. It isn’t a common procedure, and the expense is a big reason why most cultivators don’t go for something like that. It is permanent however.”
“And it won’t interfere with breaking through to the next stage?” I asked.
“No. In fact it would be useful. Hmm, there are several issues there as well. Two main issues there as well. But that is another 50,000 credits,” he said. It was robbery, but when you needed healing and advice, I couldn’t ask just anyone.
“Before that, let me make sure I understand senior Ming Jiei, the best options for my problems are to wait and use a chamber of some kind of absorb energy externally after I grow up, and to pay for expensive medication,” I replied.
“Yes. You are welcome to get a second opinion. There might be other options out there, but it is doubtful. As for the first issue, you can absorb energy externally without growing up. It would help mitigate the issues and allow you to absorb energy quicker, but it is not a requirement. The main thing is external absorption, not through potion consumption,” he explained.
“Any rush on needing the medication?” I asked.
“You need it before you take in more drops. So, solving the second problem first would be the best route. I give advice accumulated from my very long experience. If you want to ignore it, that is up to you, but your cultivation is a very big mess. While it has advantages, getting through the later stages will be a hassle,” Ming Jiei said. I hesitated for a moment before paying out another 50,000 credits for an explanation on the last two issues. At least the first two could be solved with credits.
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That was the only redeeming feature about the Forever City in my opinion. If you had the wealth, you could solve almost any problem you were faced with by just throwing money at it. It would be obscene amounts of money, but you could still throw money at the problem.
“The first issue is surviving your core detonations. You will release your mind shell cores and detonate your soul cores to compress your body core. Your cultivation structure is well built, but the problem comes from the moment afterwards once you need to stabilize your cultivation,” Ming Jiei explained.
“For the Nascent Soul path you need to reform your soul in the void created. For the Nascent Body path you need to create a singularity to draw in energy. And for the Nascent Mind path you need to actualize on the Dao itself. This is compounded by the number of cores.” I had been following the explanations so far.
“The problem comes from doing that all at once. Managing one core is incredibly hard, nine is impossible. And they must all happen at the same time. What is even worse is that the paths conflict in different ways. Body will disrupt Soul which will disrupt Mind which will disrupt Body. Body draws in energy, while the Soul is about stability. Soul will focus on the self while Mind is focused on the Dao. Mind is an expansive focus, while Body is a singular focus,” that did not sound good.
“I can’t say how one would harmonize such an event. Since you have paid my fee, I will look into this issue for a couple of cycles. But see no path forward. Then there is the second issue. Cultivation at the later stages. The fifth stage is about bringing your base level up as far as you can go, regardless of the path. But the sixth stage, varies wildly, you know of this?” Ming Jiei asked.
“Yes. With Soul you create pillars to a Dao to draw in energy from the Astral Plane, which is why it is called Pillar Establishment. Body you have Conduit Establishment, with conduits to feed into your body core to keep drawing in energy. And for Mind you have Astral Core Establishment to create focal points for harmonizing with the Dao,” I explained.
“And the difference between pillars and conduits?” Ming Jiei asked.
“I am not entirely sure senior,” I replied. That was a question I had for a while.
“They will conflict with each other. Each path of cultivation is about drawing in and processing energy in order to turn that to one’s Dao. Each method will impact your existence in different ways that will conflict with each other. While these differences will decrease as your stage of cultivation increases, at the start those differences will be immense.” That was definitely not good.
“This will greatly slow down your fifth and sixth stages of cultivation. As for solutions, this isn’t something that comes up. Multi-path cultivation is rarely done successfully, and only by the factions for a reason. This is another issue I will have to look into a solution to. Give me at least ten cycles and I will have made some inquiries. I can tell you now that it won’t be cheap. The only question is how much,” Ming Jiei explained.
“Thank you senior. I will look into arranging the funds for the medication before I return,” I replied, and he nodded.
“It is up to you. But if you return, you will have my advice on these two aspects of your cultivation going forward since you have paid me.” Like a certain Elder Healer Song, Ming Jiei’s business model was based on repeat business. He might have an idea for a solution, but clearly wanted me to come back and pay for a treatment for my soul. It wasn’t a scam, since he would heal me, but it was incredibly expensive.
Before leaving I put back on all my equipment. I left his office and paid for an elevator back up to the open floor and then a vehicle to head back to the conflict zone that was our next target. The vehicles where the passenger section was separated from the driving section were the best in my opinion as I got changed and put on my mask and cloak. “Well, that explains a lot,” Bones said.
“Your presence isn’t causing a problem?” I asked.
“No. I am layered on top of your cultivation. Getting pulled into it would be bad for both of us. I have to apologize. I thought the energy potions were an effective solution to your cores based on your cultivation,” Bones apologized.
“It is fine, I thought the same thing, after you explained it to me,” I replied It was also due to the lack of his knowledge about my cultivation, since I had taken things to such extremes.
“Well I have some good news. While the specialist might be knowledgeable about cultivation techniques, he isn’t knowledgeable about other methods. Let’s start on the immediate issues. You need slightly more than half a million drops worth of energy. An ultra-high specialized energy chamber, will require about five cycles for the amount you need, which would cost fifty million credits.” I felt my heart freeze at that amount.
“That is way too much,” I replied. I might have to stick with potions.
“Thankfully you have me. Building such a chamber would cost a million credits, and then we fill it up with potions. All told, the price will be around 6 million more credits. Plus the 1.5 million credits for treatment, would bring the final cost of reaching the end of your cultivation stage to around 7.5 million.”
I had about 100,000 credits left, since I had already spent 1.1 million credits of my 1.2 million credits on energy potions and the consultation. Bones had his full 1.2 million credits in reserve for when he needed supplies to purchase the supplies for his body. The imbalance was rapidly growing between what each of us needed.
“High level factions have a trick they use to help individuals with the first bottleneck.” That meant Bones probably got the benefit of such a method. “A temporal compression chamber to stretch one moment into an eternity.”
“Can you make one, or could we rent one?” I asked.
“No and no. And a faction’s chamber wouldn’t work for your purposes, due to sheer power of your breakthrough, it will be massive. There won’t be a conventional way to bleed the effects off. There is a solution, but I am guessing that is why the specialist Ming Jiei didn’t mention it. It is a solution, but there are too many hurdles. He wants to present something he can implement and charge for.”
“He isn’t over charging?” I asked.
“Not much. I would guess only ten percent for the prices he listed as treatments. The kind of potions he is talking about usually is used to treat high level wounds for much stronger cultivators. That is why the price is high for you.” That made sense, but that still left the last issue.
“What about the issue of conflict between cultivation methods?” I asked.
“Hope he comes up with something. There are ways to work around such things, but your cultivation is too intertwined. Thankfully, we can count on pride working in our favor in this case. If he has no solution, it would look poorly on his abilities. For someone like that, he needs all the business he can get. Not having a solution is poor business,” Bones explained.
“We need a lot more credits,” I said heavily.
“The energy chamber can also be repurposed for my needs, or the other way around really. I need something much more durable to reconstitute my body. So, when I build it, you can have the first test run,” Bones said.
“Really? That would be amazing. That would lower my expenses by a million credits, putting me at a target of 6.5 million credits,” I worked out.
“It will be a good test run to work out any minor issues in containment. With you, it would just be some lost energy, which is a minor expense. With the ingredients I am using, including my bones, there is only one shot. I can’t afford anything to be leaking out,” Bones explained.
“That is a lot of credits we have left to steal, another 13 million,” I said since we were splitting credits earned evenly. We were earning at a good clip, but I hated stealing. I wanted a passive income, or a business. While I was running a criminal enterprise with two members, it was not a real business.
“Trust me. I would prefer credits to flow to us without complaint, but it is what it is. We don’t have the identity or backing to start a business of any kind. If you breakthrough, then you might be able to start something or negotiate with a faction to a degree. You won’t be able to steal anymore. You strength will not go unnoticed.”
“Can’t I just get better observation blockers?” I asked.
“Even with them, your astral soul is a single point. After you reach the next stage, it will no longer be a single point and have weight. While incredibly light, it will have weight, and can be detected. That is why we are able to get away with so much constantly. Even with high ranking cultivators looking for us, we blend in with the background. But if you have weight to your soul, well there is a chance to be noticed. Incredibly small chance, but a chance nonetheless, which makes stealing impractical,” Bones explained.
“So, I better stock up on credits while I can, is what you are saying. As for a temporal compression chamber, could we hire someone to make one?” I asked.
“Temporal techniques, from skills to crafting, are highly valued. The chamber my faction used was maintained by a cultivator from the Heavenly Alliance. You are talking about a handful of people with the skills to make such a thing. Then there is the issue of materials and power. But it has given me some ideas as to the breakthrough problem.”
“Other things that can alter my perception of time?” I asked.
“Exactly. But they each have their own risks and problems. The best option would be to break through in the Astral Plane itself. You would have unlimited time there, since your soul would be exposed.”
“I am sensing a big issue with this plan otherwise more people would do it. I am guessing it will be a beacon for anything that wants to eat me or consume me?” I asked.
“Yes. A beacon would be the perfect way to describe this. With your cultivation exposed like that, everything will come for you. No one would willingly protect you either from the threats out there. You could enter someplace important, and then break through. Then you would just have to escape from some incredibly pissed cultivators afterwards.”
“They wouldn’t be able to target me during my breakthrough?” I asked.
“Depends. It is just an idea, not even a good one. But I don’t see any other option, unless Ming Jiei has a massive breakthrough. It isn’t just slowing your perception, but the rate your cultivation collapses back togeather after detonating your cores. That’s why you can’t just drink a potion to slow your perception. You will only be able to act so fast. You need the entire process spread out as much as possible,” Bones explained, which clarified some confusion I was having.
“So, a place would be like the arrival station for the cylinder ships?” I asked, since they traveled through the Astral Plane from what Bones had told me.
“Precisely one of those locations. But you breakthrough in such a location, then you will piss off a lot of very powerful people. Getting away will not be simple or easy. There is a reason no one does it, even if it is one of the best solutions to this problem. There are things out there, that scare even me.”
So basically, not a good option. “You can’t section off a portion of the Astral Plane, like build a fortress?”
“Physical things attract attention and aren’t a real barrier. There is no real barrier to many of the threats out there. Many of them operate on completely different principles than either of us understand. Traveling through the Astral Plane has immense dangers. It is the layer between the Firmament upon which we stand, and Chaos.”
“And Chaos is bad?”
“In the sense of living. But it is more the environment. Good example are temporal effects. You have a cause and an effect. Even if something loops backwards, there is a cause and effect. But the further you go, you can eventually skip the cause. And when you have things that can manipulate such an outcome, it is very dangerous. Beyond dangerous.”
That didn’t make much sense. But my understanding of reality was clearly lacking. “Like being attacked and taking damage, but there is not attack?” I asked.
“Yes. Those kinds of things can enter the Astral Plane. There are memetic hazards which you experienced before.” Not thinking about those numbers. “And countless other threats. The further they move away from the layer of Chaos, the harder it becomes for them to do certain things and leaves them weak. That is why most of them don’t show up and kill everyone and everything. Hmmm, let me give you the example I was given when traveling.”
I listened closely. Bones didn’t often share stories of his adventures or background. He only liked to provide explanations of things that were immediate concerns. “There is something that propagates backwards through time through physic emanations formed by knowledge of this things existence.”
“Isn’t it dangerous to talk about then?” I asked worriedly.
“I don’t know its name and it stays unnamed. Just that once one being knows of it, it comes into existence, propagating backwards in time sending out physic emanations to propagate itself to other people backwards and forwards.”
“And how would that even work with time travel? Like going backwards, wouldn’t it change things, or are there multiple realities?” I ask.
“No multiple realities. But you are missing the point. There is only one singular point in time. But if this thing can possess you and propagate to you, then it will do so throughout your entire existence, killing you. But that is the level of threat that will come at you in the Astral Plane, or any other cultivator. Things that make no sense based on logic and progression.”
“So I can suddenly, just die, based on a mistake of my future self?” I asked.
“Temporal mechanics is complicated. The answer is both yes and no, depending on where you are. Right now, causality holds within the Forever City. But if you risk that, then you and a lot of people you know could be wiped out. Each situation is unique, when you break causality, or something else does.”
“Note to self, never go into the Astral Plane ever again,” I muttered.
“Many people don’t. The last time you went, you were weak and easily ignored. A breakthrough of your magnitude would be a disaster of epic proportions. You need to be aware of the dangers that can occur. Even if they make absolutely no sense, and are not easily explained.”
“This is all I can think about now. It is hurting my head.”
“That is why I didn’t bring this kind of thing up before. It is best to ignore rationality and put it all in one box that you won’t touch, until you reach that point. The threats on that level are the kind that would threaten the Forever City.”
“I have a million more questions,” I muttered.
“I don’t have answers unfortunately. I gave you the same warning and explanation I was given. Until you get much stronger, stronger than even me, dealing with things that break the foundations of reality is a very bad idea. Avoiding the Astral Plane and going lower, is a very good idea.”
“I will remember that. But couldn’t one go to a place like that, and get super powerful without having to do anything?” I asked and Bones began to laugh.
“I asked the same question. Is it possible yes. Will you get the outcome you want. No. Firmament topology is an incredibly advanced topic. It’s like the energy potions. Could you keep drinking them and somehow survive and become more powerful. Yes. But you will probably die horribly.”
“The only shortcut is credits. Well if you come up with any more ideas, let me know please?” I asked Bones.
“I will. But your situation does not have a simple resolution. If you do survive to immortality, then I shudder to think of how immense your foundation will be. And how many credits are spent in pursuit of that goal. I might even shed a tear at the immense cost you will incur.”
Well at least I had a path forward in the immediate future. Get lots and lots of credits. There was less of a time crunch with how well I had been doing. I wouldn’t slow down and had no plans to. But the main concern was surviving entering the next stage.
My cultivation was already incredibly complex, now there were just countless issues that were the result of that complexity that needed to be addressed. Before, I just needed to get some basic supplies and help, but now I was entering untrod ground. The fact that there was no readily available solution in the Forever City, with its massive size and length of existence was incredibly scary.