In the eight months since the discovery of the Sixth Reality, the Steadfast Heart Sect performed a massive number of experiments in an attempt to discover more of its properties. And as part of the first excursion to the new reality, Bull was made aware of these properties. He had also made sure to read Lu’s recounting in full, which was a bounty of information on how the reality affected a living subject.
So he knew that the moment he stepped out of this cave, his dantian would be overloaded and shatter. And while it was an option, he wasn’t willing to disperse his cultivation and start from scratch a second time. Not if there’s another way.
And there should be. The sect kept Salt’s influence contained using a closed space, and they seem to be using something similar here.
So, the answer’s pretty obvious; I put my dantian in a spacial purse. It won’t shatter, so I can just take it out later once I’m home. Lu had described his ‘ki circuit’ system to the researchers, and Bull was confident he wouldn’t be without spells for long. The loss of my physical strength’s going to be a lot harder to deal with… But I will deal with it. It’s not like sticking around and getting brain-fucked is an option.
So, he had a goal, a destination. What path would get him there?
The cave is empty; I don’t even see anything that could be causing the light. I have nothing to enchant, and no qi to enchant it with. Except… That wasn’t strictly true. There was one thing in the cave; him. I could disperse just a chunk of my cultivation, returning part of my dantian to free qi. Then, I weave a spacial enchantment into the meat of my chest, locking the rest into a closed space.
…Dear fucking Hell, this is a shitty plan. But he had a grin on his face as he thought it. I can’t believe all that enchanting theory I picked up during the armour testing is actually going to be useful for something.
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Fireblessed was on guard duty, and also reading a book, and also testing his telekinesis against his brothers. Well, not really.
Fireblessed was on guard duty. He was also being fed several different experiences from other psychics, because guard duty was monotonous, so he had asked to be fed something stimulating while he stood and stared at the black rippling void where a room used to be. He had been staring at it for very nearly a week straight.
He understood why he was the one doing this; with his Comprehension, he no longer required sleep, no longer lost focus or mental acuity. It was simply the most prudent use of him. Other guards would mean weak points, lapses of attention near the ends of their shifts, not to mention the changes in shift themselves.
But I would really prefer to be doing anything else. He wouldn’t say that he was bored, but he definitely wasn’t having fun. An hour passed as his brothers finished up their sparring session, and the fluorescent strip gradually changed to indicate evening.
[Tanglebud checking in. Anything of note?]
[No.] Absolutely nothing had happened today, the same as yesterday and the day before.
[Understood. As you were, brother.] As a parting gift, the man sent a bundle of memories for Fireblessed to unpack at his leisure.
[Brother.] The connection dwindled to nothing. More time passed, Gulf of Neath finished his book, and he was alone. Then morning came and some brothers began feeding him their remembered dreams. And all though the night into the morning, the rippling void never changed, and he never took his eyes off it.
He was brought food, and he ate. Breaker Beam decided to spend the day in the sparring hall, and he enjoyed it vicariously as the Warboss defeated a string of opponents.
Then, just before lunch, Grandmaster Two Worlds Gestalt contacted him.
[Any changes?]
[No, grandmaster.]
[Good. I’ll be coming by in a moment; stand to the side of the tunnel.]
For the first time in seven days, Fireblessed moved from where he was standing. [Understood, grandmaster.] He moved sideways, never taking his eyes off the void. Before a minute passed, there was a rush of air as something pushed through space in the centre of the tunnel – he didn’t turn to look, but he assumed it was the grandmaster.
[Master?]
“I’ll be visiting our friend for a while. Please, pay me no mind.” Though he was speaking audibly, the grandmaster couldn’t help but transmit his emotions. He was agitated.
[Of course, grandmaster.]
The man stepped into the void, and disappeared.
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Two Worlds stepped out of the void, appearing in a barren cave. The alien was sitting on the floor, both his legs and arms crossed. It looked unnatural; while it would take minimal effort to mimic the pose himself, it would pull his muscles in ways they weren’t meant to be pulled. But according to the man’s emotional state, he was in no discomfort.
“Hello, Bull. I see you are well.”
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The man heard him, but chose not to react. So far, Two Worlds wasn’t getting any unexpected feedback. Let’s shake things up a bit. “Unfortunately, it seems your friend will not be joining us.”
Mixed emotions; there was panic, relief, annoyance, and a slew of other, weaker feelings. He let them wash over him, picking through to see if anything stood out as false. Nothing I can detect. As for conscious thoughts, the man was doing an admirable job keeping his mind clear.
“Oh, no reaction? I assumed you would care about that.” Again, the man was choosing not to react outwardly. “You’re glad he’s not going to be stuck here with you, but afraid of the why. Am I close?”
Rage. I seem to be understanding his emotions correctly. Perhaps it’s a high level technique? Long was much stronger, older. Or maybe it was because this environment had no energy for him to absorb. Ah, but I haven’t actually tested things properly.
Carefully, he placed a leash on the man’s mind. It offered no resistance, not even the token amount of a sharpie or animal. “Stand up.”
The next moment he was standing. His eyes flew open in surprise; it seemed his body had moved without his conscious intent. “What was that?” Confusion, fear.
Two Worlds was relieved, some. “Interesting reaction. If I did that to a warrior of the Salt, they would think it was their own idea to stand up. Please, try to resist this time. Sit down.”
The man sat. His emotions intensified, radiating out like heat off a fully-stoked furnace. Was there any resistance at all? He was showing his fury on his face, now. “Fuck you.”
“Hmm. Is it reliant on realm? I admit, my ability to detect the difference is somewhat lacking; you are in the fifth of ten, yes?” The only response was a wave of emotion. Two Worlds' eyes widened. Anxiety? The man tried to stand. “Sit on your hands. Do not move until I command it.”
The man’s body obeyed. Still no resistance. He was learning a bit, but the source of Black Cloak Long’s defiance was still a mystery. “I suppose I’ll have to give you some qi, see if that changes things.” He eyed the man, who was nearly frothing at the mouth. “I will return shortly. Do not worry, I have no intention of leaving you in that state permanently.” He turned back to the exit, encircling his body in telekinesis to-
You dare turn your back on me? That is one insult too many.
Huh? His head started to turn, but before it could complete the motion something hit him in the back of the head.
“-!”
A moment of disorientation, and he realised he was on the ground. Fireblessed was looking down at him, his expression surprised – then he looked back up, at something behind him.
[ALARM! PRISONER BREACH!]
Two Worlds cloaked himself in kinetics, spitting blood. I bit my tongue. He rose up and turned, just as the alien sprang through the void. “Ha! I should have known you were faking!” No living thing could put up such lax resistance!
He raised his arm, and the man was pressed to the ceiling – but then something lurched, and pain burst on the side of his head as half his vision went dark. He spasmed, and the man slipped from his grasp as humours dripped down his face.
Even through the pain, he was elated. “How did you do it?” The man hit the ground and rolled, dodging a blast from Fireblessed and closing the distance in a heartbeat. His fist smashed into the guard’s jaw, and Two Worlds heard the snap as the bone fractured.
Then, in the time it took to blink, the man was on him. He was hit in the gut, and instinctively blasted everything away with a wave of power. Oh, that was a mistake. His power was tied to his newborn body, and he had just spent a good portion of his reserves. The man bounced off the wall, tumbling, and somehow managed to get his feet under him to hit the ground running. Two Worlds felt some sort of chaotic build up, another lurch, and he flung his body to the side to dodge another invisible blade.
“How?”
He came forward again, and this time the grandmaster was ready with a kinetic barrier. The man’s fists impacted it, then he tried to slide around – and hit the rest of the barrier, which was stretching to fill the entire tunnel.
Two Worlds smiled. “I admit, I am somewhat out of practice in physical combat.” I haven’t had to defend a body in some time. “Thank you for the reminder. I truly underestimated you. Now,” jelly slid across his skin as his smile widened. ”Tell me, how are you out here without suffering? How did you cast those blades without energy?” He pried at the man’s mind. It was rigid, filled with rage, but he could detect the barest echoes of memory caught in the emotion… “You… Put it away, somehow?” But the spell? Do they not need the crystal sphere like I thought they did? The first human, Lu, had been able to form some sort of jury-rigged spirituality, but according to the memories he had seen, he needed time to build up and perform techniques. Bull hadn’t been outside the barren cave for more than two seconds when the first blade had sunk into his eye.
The man snarled, and again there was that queer lurch – and suddenly, he was past the barrier, sprinting down the tunnel at high speed. “Fuck you!” Two Worlds immediately flung himself after his fleeing prisoner, but the man suddenly accelerated, hopping through space.
Two Worlds belatedly dropped his barrier, letting Fireblessed catch up as he slowed to a stop.
[Grandmaster! What should we do?]
“Keep chasing, I’ll cut him off.” I chose the longest tunnel on the floor for a reason.
Fireblessed ran off, pumping his legs with the aid of his kinetics, while Two Worlds gathered power to teleport. He winced; this was going to cost him almost everything he had.
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Bull’s soul was on fire. His spiritual sense was small, weak, but there was enough of it to push through the walls and detect rooms. As he ran, he kept building his circuit; his mental abilities had diminished as well, but he was someone who had formed a Path before his first century of life – he was more than capable of multitasking, even as a mortal. He could only cast weak first realm spells at the moment, but if he could keep fleeing for twenty seconds he could-
He hit another wall, breaking his nose on the shimmering barrier. “Fuck you!” He tried to go through it with the Stuttering Step, but the spell refused to complete. Ahead of him, a ways down the tunnel, the mind-reader stepped out of the darkness.
“Ah, it’s only a body length, then. But still, that’s a useful technique. And so cheap; my own teleportation is many times less efficient.”
“Fuck you!” He turned, only to see the second Mudworlder coming up behind him with his arms raised. He braced to dodge whatever spell was being cast, but instead a second barrier sprang up, trapping him.
“Thicker. As thick as mine, if you can.”
Fuck. Bull plunged his sense into the walls, but there were no open spaces for him to move into. Fuck!
And then more men – and things that weren’t men at all – started to filter in. He attacked the barrier of the one whose jaw he had broken, but they seemed to be able to reinforce it from a distance, and soon he was sandwiched between two walls.
He kept building the network of cells in his gut, even as they trapped him in a thick bubble of energy and started floating him back through the tunnel, towards the prison. Ha, that really was a shitty plan. But now that he had this place’s knock-off qi inside him, he would be able to keep advancing even inside the closed space. Assuming they don’t just kill me.
He eyed the mind-reader. His eye had stopped bleeding, but it was still closed. Lu topped out at third realm, but that’s because he didn’t know any fourth realm spells. Could I kill that guy with a well-placed Mountain’s Fist, or Lightning Palm?
He wasn’t sure, but his gut said he would get the chance to find out.