Two months of travel, through ten cities, eight villages and eighteen towns.
“That’s the mid tier empire, Kalloway. My home.”
Outside, the city wall stretches high into the air, and as they get closer it's hard to see where they end.
“It’s huge. Why would anyone build such a giant wall?”
Inside the city are eight strange zones, in comparison the average city has one. These zones are the reason the place is becomes an empire, the endless source of materials that flow from it sustain the city’s wealth.
After travelling for two months, aside from chatting with Gou, Rak has been slowly practicing his Manipulator abilities, mainly the energy shield. He has reached the goal of five concurrent shields floating in the air. Even maneuvering all at once doesn’t cause a deficit in Rak’s energy reserves.
Before arriving at the city, Rak had looked at his map. Although Rak’s map already had a long path leading back to a mid tier empire as well, only the villages, cities and towns were ‘confirmed’ as real things and everything else could still be false. Rak’s path to Kalloway was entirely ‘confirmed’ and within a certain period of time, it can be sold as ‘authentic’ map data.
Along the way to Kalloway, Rak made sure to check the quality of day to day necessities. Everything from the socks people wore were subpar and anyone wearing better paid excessively for it. In short, people wear and use base grade items for some reason.
Taking everything into consideration Rak thought about setting up a crafting organization that would employ every type of crafter and then deal with either Merchants or Traders to sell the. According to his thoughts he could spread such an organization like wildfire across various towns and eventually break into the city markets.
According to Gou, to fight for a share in a cities market, one would need more than just quality products at cheap prices, one would need some form of protection. If Rak tried to push his tier one beer and other products his brewery produces, he’d be faced with wealthy people who wouldn’t mind directly dismantling Rak’s enterprise through any means.
Rak’s brewery is fortunately in a town at the outer rim of the Endless mountain range so large businesses do not have firm roots there, allowing him to carelessly expand as he did. The same attempt near a mid tier empire is already tantamount to suicide. Even in a small tier empire it wouldn’t go without some troubles.
Kalloway, the mid tier empire city is one of the closests empire class cities to the Endless mountain range, and is so mostly due to its large Strange zones which fuels its growth to this point. If the city officials employ some extravagant means, in the future they might become a large tier empire, making them an overlord.
For the most part, this trip has already satisfied Rak. He wanted to get a better understanding of the average towns and villages. Originally, he had the intention of breaking into cities as well but after talking to Gou he put it off. If he could find an untapped market with no existing competition, he might attempt it but until then it is on indefinite pause.
From what Gou said, the Endless mountain range border towns are filled with adventurers and hunters because the area is “lawless” as it doesn’t have Chaos theory government system in place. Gou mentioned in the future he expected the government system to expand into it, and he was planning on investing in it, if it did indeed expand.
Surprisingly Rak doesn’t have too much interest in exploring and adventuring, though the romance of it isn’t entirely lost on him, it’s not high on his interest list. Perhaps understanding various things about the world is more his cup of tea. Understanding is required to set up successful businesses after all.
Gou and Rak don’t talk much lately as they’ve spoken too much in these two months of travel, instead Gou settles Rak’s housing within the Falli family, Gou Jovel Falli being Gou’s full name, Falli being the family name.
“I’ll get an updated city map by tomorrow.”
Gou’s status in the family isn’t simple, but he’s still considered young and his responsibilities are limited. His father, mother, grandmother and grandfather from both sides are all still spritely people and command the Falli businesses.
Due to certain limitations they cannot reach tier three jobs, only a select few in the high tier empire cities have managed to bypass the limitations but they are still stuck at novice level of their respective tier three jobs.
As to why this is, It is an experience issue. Very few things in the vast empires allows them to practice their abilities to the point where they gain proficiency or even just simple experience. Without these two things, they cannot progress. To understand why, one has to understand how personal growth works within Chaos theory.
On the second day in Kalloway city, Rak and Gou are eating an extravagant meal alongside some of Gou’s family members, mostly cousins but his younger sister and oldest grandfather are here as well. His mother’s sister and his father’s sister as also here.
This small reunion can be considered to be a welcome back party Gou but it can also be said a common thing for them to eat as a family, even though most of them are too busy to be staying on the Falli family grounds.
“Looks like Gou wasn’t exaggerating. The Falli family has the culture of wealthy aristocrats.”
Having experienced quite a few prestigious events and casual dinner affairs of the wealthy side of society Rak can easily see from people’s mannerism how their upbringing must have been.
“Only it is a bit casual.”
Gou is happily chatting about his ‘small’ venture outside by the Endless mountain range. He doesn’t mention his profits but cites quite a few cities and sometimes talks about local delicacies that are hard to come by. Some of which he brought as gifts while others he let out a sigh and explained they wouldn’t last a week on the road, making them an exclusive product from Strange zones within certain cities.
Most delicacies come from Strange zones and they often have the auxiliary function of permanently increasing some attribute of the consumer. The items that won’t last long are usually the easiest to attain while those that last long periods are either rare or weak in their enhancement of attributes.
There are exceptions of course, and those items are generally well regulated and can cause small scale wars. War of the political kind, not at all a physical war though some violent methods can be used.
“In the end wealth is wealth and family is family.”
Understanding greed Rak has seen many things cause rifts within a family, but from the looks of it Gou Jovel isn’t contending for family power and so he’s very well received. To the point where they can talk casually like this.
“I’ve already introduced you to my new friend Abstinence, but I didn’t tell you about his innovations. A truly interesting mind.”
Rak waved his hand and shook his head slightly as if to brush of any compliment or attention on him. Having the spotlight can be useful but Rak has no standing in Chaos theory to rely on currently, so he can only remain humble.
“Even more innovative than our great Trader?”
“Bah! Don’t make fun, Dill. I’m just messing around, not worrying about things.”
Rak had the attention of the crowd for only a moment before it shifted back to Gou who very happily chatted away.
Although Rak has the position of being Gou’s guest, his family saw Rak’s age and became dismissive, even to the point of labeling him things like a leech or someone lusting after a piece of the Falli family pie. After all, these things are all too common.
Rak’s bad impression of the family is exactly because of this attitude but if he knew their thoughts he’d probably feel the urge to spit on the ground and leave immediately. Arrogance in his bones wouldn’t allow people he considered ‘peers’ or something aching to it, to look down on him. He can dismiss any random person but this is different.
In the end the little gathering came to an end and Rak was left to his own devices. Gou and Rak have some friendship but it is shallow. Yes Gou admired some of Rak’s ideas but Gou has met quite a few ‘dreamers’ who saw big things but did nothing or only had small success.
To put it plainly, Gou used Rak to kill some time while travelling. It might be a bit difficult to understand Gou’s mindset as he gives off the impression of a very casual or friendly person. This indeed his personality, only his world views are morphed by his upbringing. A friendly noble and a friendly commoner are entirely different things.
“This city is just bigger.”
After slowly inspecting the detailed map Gou gave him, Rak compared it to other cities along the way. Even though Kalloway has multiple times the population, its size is only about twice as big as the biggest city he visited.
To accommodate this population, Kalloway has tunnels that defy common thinking. Even if Kalloway is twice the size of a large city, it takes half the time to travel twice the distance here. All this is due to Chaos theory’s governmental system that allows for the creation of these tunnels. Or in other words, due to this being Chaos theory’s world.
These tunnels are similar to the houses commissioned. The houses squeeze into the city but the space within these houses are multiplied, allowing an enormous population. But this issue cannot prevent the high amount of human traffic. Every popular street is filled to the brim with people. This is regulated to a degree but there is no manpower enough to regulate millions of people just walking on the streets.
If Kalloway doesn’t expand its city within a few years, this population will stop bringing in profits and become a drain on the economy. If any sort of large scale riots occur, no one will be able to stop it. Even wantonly killing civilians will be like trying to shoot stars out of the sky.
The issue Kalloway city faces are issues most cities face. Periodically, a mediocre event will occur and prices of things will increase, this causes a wave of instability. Sometimes things stabilize but they can also go awry, causing mass panic and riots.
A rioting city is doomed. The Chaos theory system does not protect humans from themselves. If humans want to destroy the city, then humans are welcome to it. If humans want to imprison humans, they are welcome to it. In this way, cities can revert to towns very suddenly.
The largest difference is the Strange zones, a town with a strange zone is still miles ahead of a town without it. If Kalloway city descends into chaos, a few of its Strange zones might be snatched away by ambitious people, sometimes ‘enemy’ cities. As the saying goes. In a time of peace, fear your neighbour.
If it reverts to a town, it would cause a towering wave of refugees that would travel to nearby villages, towns and cities. This can be beneficial or detrimental to nearby areas, depending on their own situation. Because Chaos theory builds structures easily, a city could rise in a weeks time, drastically changing the landscape.
A town still needs a Strange zone and adequate land to form, but around Kallow, the nearest town is already very far away. Nearer to the Endless mountain range, things are more compact, even just taking a two or three days to travel to the nearest town.
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A strange zone can appear naturally and then be built around and eventually becoming a city. But most cities use Strange zone tokens delivered to them by the Chaos theory quest system. Town and city quests that takes months or even years can reward them. Affluent cities can also buy them if they appear on the market.
“This might not be good.”
After repeatedly confirming the time difference Rak’s thoughts began to wander. The time difference caused his income to increase. He already has eighty seven gold rotting away in his inventory.
At first he was happy about it but now his knowledge of Chaos theory has increased he realized something. After talking to his father, Abalon Devion, they came to the conclusion that Chaos theory's General Artificial Intelligence wants people to venture into the Endless mountain range.
There are a few clues as to why they came to this conclusion. The most obvious being the increasing amount of quests given that push people closer to the Endless mountain range and never away from it. Sources being people from the real world sharing it on the internet.
Another large clue is that everyone that has reported their position has reported themselves to be close to the Endless mountain range. No matter where they are, the mountain range looms over them. If chaos theory just wanted to split people up, why would it not put them in the larger empires? Why is everyone in some nothing village or town near to the Endless mountain range?
Third clue is the time dilation and its relationship with fatigue. This is the hardest to understand, people have to travel a decent distance into the Endless mountain range or towards humanities largest empires within Chaos theory to experience it. Rak already has done this, one of the few people to do so.
Fourth clue is that Chaos theory must have a purpose. It might be possible that Chaos theory purpose would be a rather insignificant one, but who would accept that? Instead amongst those that search for the purpose, that this purpose must be grand and perhaps even beyond their reach.
With some assumptions, the Devion family has begun planning for some time now, they intend to gamble that the Endless mountain range is the future goal. Abalon has ordered quite a few of the more ‘trusted’ members of the family to replicate Rak’s early business model. Not only brewery but other general crafting products that may come in use. Some losses are unavoidable but they can be seen as setting foundations.
After serious discussion, Abalon, as the head of the family, alongside his wife, has decided to err on the side of caution and build up funds for large scale expeditions into the Endless mountain range. The ultimate goal is to eventually find other family members and pool their resources under one flag. The Devion flag.
In addition to this, being a more experienced person, Abalon has begun mounting political ventures within various villages and towns. Ignoring cities as the system is difficult to enter. From his understanding, building camps or settlements requires help of the Chaos theory government system.
This last idea of Abalon is not bad, as it is indeed useful. But there are ways to create settlements without having any previous engagement as a government official. There are benefits to already understanding the system however, as such it is good to have a few fingers in this matter.
All this aside, Rak has had very little contact with Gou ever since he arrived in Kalloway, even to the point of sending some irrelevant employee giving Rak a detailed map of Kalloway. If it wasn’t for Rak’s understanding of ‘wealthy’ generation people he might have been distressed. In the end Rak was really just some interesting way to waste time for Gou.
“Even with up to a hundred gold capital, getting a footing in a city is hard.”
After spending a few days familiarizing himself with the city, Rak discovered it seemed to be without any end. Currently he has settled in a hotel near a Strange zone called the Bazaar tower. This Strange zone is the least popular of all the zones, but it still sees more traffic in a day than a small town sees people in a year.
The main reason this Bazaar tower is less popular by a large margin is because it doesn’t have many local resources. Its redeeming feature is that on every ‘level’ there is a bazaar of Chaos theory controlled people that act as the merchants of the floor’s bazaar. Bazaar being a trading area, a collective of merchants.
The items bought from these merchants can be very exotic to the point of being unusable due to no one knowing what they are used for. It is possible to move items to the local city library and attempt to have Chaos theory library system analyze it. This requires people to invest in the item.
Investing in an item like this can backfire because the bazaar’s vendors may not restock it often, may rotate their inventory in long interval and only sell it at certain times a year or even specific time a day. And yet in spite of all this people still enter the Bazaar tower and fight to get to these vendors, their purpose to buy cheap goods and resell in the city.
No one has cleared the Bazaar and claimed the title of a champion and thus it’s still within Kalloway city government officials to manage it. Mainly charging for entrance, which amounts to a monstrous wealth and a small percentage of any coin generated in the city.
Bazaar tower’s lack in natural materials is made up for in coin dropping from each level’s challenges. Sometimes the enemies, ranging from animals, primordials and humanoids, drop coins or alternatively the Bazaar tower directly rewards people. The intention is to give people a chance to accumulate coin to purchase from the vendors.
The Bazaar tower is not too unique when it comes to Strange zones as many of them have various Chaos theory controlled people acting as vendors but the Bazaar can be classified as a vendor Strange zone. For comparison, the Mystic forest is classified as a herbalism or wild Strange zone. These are descriptive terms but they can deviate within the classification.
Rak slowly learned these things without entering the zones themselves. It’s okay to say that you want to go explore, but will you? It’s okay to say you want to go fight with supernatural abilities, but will you go fight? Rak is currently in this predicament.
In truth, a lot of people are and have experienced what Rak is feeling. He wants to go out bravely and adventure but every step forward is followed by two backwards. This is why he’s attracted to the Strange zones and why he on a whim went with Gou to this faraway place.
“Tomorrow I should go explore the Bazaar.”
Rak can choose an easier target than the Bazaar tower, as the Bazaar is a pure challenge Strange zone where conflict is entirely impossible to avoid. In places like the Mystic forest it is still possible to wander around without meeting dangers and if there are dangers it is still possible to escape. The bazaar is a live or die challenge at every stage, which is why it has the least progressed Strange zone in Kalloway.
Rak’s days in Kalloway are mostly spent on learning about various items people use. When Rak discovered the more expensive consumables that can temporarily or permanently strengthen a person that became his main focus.
“Even if I want to buy physique enhancing items I need to sign very restrictive contracts. It’s better to spend a bit and hire a team to take me to the Bazaar. I’m also interested in seeing these things for myself.”
In the end Rak wasn’t even going to bravely venture into the Strange zone but use his other strengths to conquer the challenge, coins. Bronze, silver and gold rule this world in the end. If you ever find a person with immense power that is unswayed by wealth, you’ll find a person not worth worrying about. Or so the saying goes.
The more Rak learns about the Chaos theory world the more it becomes apparent that personal strength is important. As it is strong people that can gather expensive items, the common people will attempt to become strong and they will take risks to do so. Becoming strong to become wealthy is a path many common people take.
Risks come in many forms but risking your life is the heaviest of risks especially when your healthy and lively status is tied to your family. A dead parent can’t support their kids. While Chaos theory doesn’t include permanent death the following debt can cripple a person's way of life.
Given that Rak has plans to enter the Strange zone he has arranged a meeting with people known as Strange zone mercenaries and in this case, Bazaar’s nine. They are unofficially ranked as three star mercenaries in the context of the Bazaar tower. This means they have a good reputation regarding the first three floors of the bazaar.
This particular group will not go beyond nine members but they do have a second auxiliary team with another nine members that are considered two star. They go in teams of nine to guide a single person through the bazaar levels. This can be considered a way to bypass Chaos theory system with the assistance of others.
Any person that enters the Bazaar tower will automatically be fighting on the assumption that they are in a group of five, if they are alone they will have to make up for those four people. In general it is easier to fight as five but it is easier to ferry a person through levels with nine people, making the ninth person half as valuable in the respective floor’s challenge.
Initially Rak was planning on just experiencing the Strange zone but after learning that the minimum requirement was four to five people he opted for this mercenary group instead. Either way, the five gold price was almost like a drop in the bucket for Rak.
Being experienced in wantonly spending wealth, Rak had no issue with this at all. Spending when you have little is painful but a pleasure when you have a lot. This is how Rak has been acting.
“Did I make a mistake?”
Rak’s first impression of the three star mercenary group is poor. This person is not only a woman but she is a good twenty centimeters smaller than Rak. Her arms look as brittle as twigs and her shining skin appear to have never endured the harsh burning of the sun’s rays.
“You are Abstinence?”
“That’s right.”
Surprisingly Rak wasn’t the only one being scrutinized and underestimated. Cle. Cle Velio thoroughly looked Rak over. In her experience a person like Rak is a son of a wealthy family and can’t be trusted to do anything, in fact he should be guarded against. Who knows what these arrogant little second or whatever generation rich boys will decide to do while they fight hard battles?
“What is your Offensive job?”
In general Main jobs are referred to as offensive jobs because some people focus entirely on things like alchemy but have little offensive capabilities in that regard. Cle’s question is meant as an easy way for Rak to explain that his offensive capabilities are low, allowing her to advise him to just stay out of the way. She wouldn’t do this if she didn't have bad experiences in the past.
“I'm a Novice Manipulator.”
Hearing Rak’s response, Cle’s expression turned from pensive to a very straight forward frown, she is clearly not happy about this response. But this is not her first time managing these wealthy little boys who want to adventure.
“Oh? A Manipulator?”
“Just a novice.”
Rak is attempting to be humble as if to tell her to not depend on him, but Cle has taken Rak ́s rather calm demeanor for arrogance. It is true that Rak has mountains worth of arrogance but not in this particular aspect. Having never actually engaged in adequate combat, Rak is erring on the side of caution.
“I hope you can spar with one of my men before we enter the Bazaar. Just to get a feel for things.”
Cle has a sense of business and leadership, it is exactly due to her subtle way of dealing with people that she has managed to remain the leader of a three star mercenary group. Her strength is perhaps not the highest out all the other mercenary groups, but she can easily defeat her own people.
“Spar?”
Never in his life has Rak ‘sparred’ before. In fact just the words alone seem alien and it takes him some time to even put them in place.
“She wants me to fight someone? Why?”
From Rak’s perspective, he is paying these people to get him to the first, second and third floor of the Bazaar tower. His understanding is that he shouldn’t have to do anything and Cle asking him to fight with someone is out of his expectation.
“Just a friendly spar of course. Since you are a Manipulator, you should be alright with a basic energy shield. We’ll just do some simple exercises with that in mind.”
In the end Rak thoughts went from his original assumption that he wouldn’t have to do anything to him being a valued asset. If Cle heard Rak thought she’d feel light headed. Rak is thinking that yes, yes he is pretty good already. In fact, he was probably pretty good.
“With my five shields I can probably make things a lot easier. Hell, If the shields don’t have to move to much I can place ten shields up.”
With every thought, with every moment Rak’s ego was growing. This was exactly what Cle wanted to deter but she managed to instead incite it.
“No problem. Get a few of your guys to attack my shields.”
Having no idea what thoughts Rak had, Cle assumed that her guess was correct. This person was indeed too confident in his abilities, even requesting ‘a few of your guys to attack my shields’ as if a single person wasn’t enough to topple this inexperienced prince.
Rak had noticed Cle was acting a bit strange but couldn’t place the reason for it, in the end he could only go with the flow of things. Cle wasted no time in setting up the fight, being a three star mercenary group they already have their own training areas.
Within half an hour Rak, Cle and a third person have gathered in a room the size of an olympic pool. Again Rak was amazed by how building have this enormous size inside them. The only thing Rak found odd was Cle only had a single person come over to fight him.
“How is this going to work?”
Rak’s opponent is a woman nicknamed Featherfall. The meaning is that she is fast and lithe like a feather in the wind. Her name is Heilia Wir and is actually Cle’s blood relative only very far removed. If these two hadn’t grown up together they could be almost considered strangers rather than relatives.
“This is my sister, Featherfall. She will be testing your shields.”
“Nice to meet you Featherfall.”
Unlike Cle, Featherfall is not as apt with people and is interested in putting another newbie in his place. Hence she only smiled lightly and nodded.
“Featherfall will attack three of your passive shields.”
“Okay.”
“She will also attack from random directions so you’ll need to keep a fourth or fifth shield near you to defend.”
“Oh.”
Rak’s mind was spinning fast, in truth he is very excited about this fight. After practicing mindlessly for more than two months Rak felt like he was finally tasting the fruit of his labour. With this in mind it is easy to understand why Rak expression is a mix of excitement and seriousness.
None of Rak’s expression get passed Cle but this still within her realm of expectations. If she knew Rak had never actually experienced combat with his Manipulator abilities her liver might rip open in anger.
“Will these be alright?”
Rak’s shields whirred into action, their shape circular and slightly caved in rather than caved out. In terms of physical prevention this shape is detrimental but if the attacks are filled with energy it can at times reflect a portion of an attack. This chance is almost entirely based on luck, something that Chaos theory calculates and randomizes.
Rak did not choose this caved in shield shape it is just the shape Rak slowly settled into by coincidence, it is not impossible or difficult to alter it back to the more pyramid or outward bugle that the shield naturally forms.
“Those are fine.”
For the first time Featherfall spoke, her voice soft, fitting with her appearance. Even a bit smaller than Cle.
“Then I’m ready.”
Two other shields appear around Rak slowly rotate slowly, each on the opposite side, one guarding Rak’s left the other his right.
“He isn’t half bad, but this is only enough for the first floor.”
No matter how Cle looked at it, five shields are the bare minimum of a qualified novice Manipulator, she herself isn’t one but she has three in her group. Two of which specialize especially in group defence while the third excels in mid range offensive combat. And then there is Featherfall.
Featherfall is not just a simple Manipulator but she has an affinity for wind and has advanced to a Gust Manipulator. One of tier one Manipulator variations. This ‘affinity’ is actually very shallow and can only be said that the person has some ideas or feelings for it, rather than an innate connecting with the wind element. This is why almost anyone can randomly take up a tier one job with some sort of affinity and be said to have affinity for the respective thing.
“Careful!”
WIth a rather mischievous but brilliant smile Featherfall shouted and she began moving. Her steps were in a type of asynchronous rhythm while her hands appeared to be in perfect harmony. Rak noticed none of these things and only focused on incoming attacks, only superficially watching Featherfall.
While Rak has no combat experience outside of some very rudimentary swinging of a weapon, he does understand from his readings that attacks can manifest in a radius around the user. Featherfall radius might be a small one meter or extreme like ten meters. An attack appearing ten meters away from the user can be terrifying to say the least.
Rak’s thinking is exactly on point, Featherfall wind based Manipulator abilities form about two meters around here. Her attacks being that of wind they can remain nearly invisible and hard to notice with eyes alone. Her attacks can form in her hands and swirl in a large arc, appearing for any direction.
The combat room is very controlled so the random wind shooting in this and that direction is easily caught. Featherfall does not depend on the element of surprise but that of distraction. Her attacks began hitting Rak ́s three shields, just barely above his expenditure limit.
Going above Rak’s expenditure limit means Rak’s regeneration is in a deficit, if she just continues her bombardment she’ll force Rak into a state where he’ll run out of energy and become useless. Cle and Featherfall are not trying to win a war of attrition however, as such Rak has more to worry about than just sustaining his three passive shields.
“This isn’t good.”