A purple mass appeared before Ethan, shaping into an orb sitting on a pedestal. The purple mass spread along the ground of the mountaintop, and as it reached the edge, it began building upward.
The purple, pulsating, flesh-like mass spread up, twisting and spiralling until it looked like it had completed the mountain peak.
The ground rumbled beneath Ethan as he began falling. It was a slow, gradual fall, though, as the ground dipped. More grew above him, forming a network of tunnels and chambers until he finally stopped.
Before him stood the orb, which had hardened into a purple crystal. Ethan felt profoundly connected to it and, through it, to the rest of the new construction.
“Hmm,” he rumbled. “That was surprising. A lair, huh? Alright. I can build stuff: traps and such. There’s an open area near the top where I can exit. It even looks like there’s space for a few buildings. Not bad. Okay, Ethan. Priorities. Biomass first, then experiment with the lair functions.”
He’d amassed a lot of biomass, but he could only afford a single new mutation or upgrade.
“Increasing prices every time,” Ethan grumbled. “And it doesn’t look like the old options improve with the price. Haah, anyway. Scale Spikes. Every scale gets a small spike, which means every touch will damage. Nah. That’s too– Isolationist. Or whatever. Subdermal Ballistic Layer. Huh, better protection against impacts? Pretty good, but not something I need. Oh! What’s this? Qi Leech Organ? It stores the Qi I drain through my tendrils? Let’s go with that one.”
Ethan made his choice and closed his eyes as his body changed. It lasted only a few seconds, and Ethan felt no different afterwards. He shook his head and went back to his biomass pool.
“Anyway,” he thought. “Let’s use the rest on levels.”
***
Laila stood on the compound's walls, looking out at the ruined city around them. Buildings had fallen, and rubble was strewn all over, creating an obstacle course one would have to cross to reach the wall. The survivors had made a single path through the rubble, leading to the gates, which were only now seeing reinforcements.
“Finally!” Laila sighed. “It’s been days, and only now do they realise they must protect themselves.”
Alissa jumped onto the wall next to her.
“Hey,” she said as she stood beside Laila. “We should be good for a while now. Apparently, some of the other fighters broke from the mind control before you took out Jason. They were trying to find a way to fight back.”
“Oh?” Laila raised an eyebrow. “And, still, it took days to get around to protect the gates?”
“Yeah,” Alissa sighed and shook her head. “They’re pretty shaken. It took a while to convince them to stick around, even. Had to-ehh-- I had to make some promises on Ethan’s behalf.”
“He’s not gonna like that,” Laila grimaced.
“I know,” Alissa closed her eyes. “Anyway, you can head out now. We’re set for a while, and I know you’ve been itching for some quiet time.”
“Thanks,” Laila met Alissa’s eyes. “You sure you can handle this on your own?”
“Heh, yeah,” Alissa smirked. “I don’t need to do anything. I’ve had the people set up an intermediary council of people to make the decisions, and all I have to do is advise them.”
“I see,” Laila nodded. “In that case, I’ll head out. Thanks again.”
“Don’t mention it,” Alissa waved her off. “Say hi to Ethan for me.”
“Sure,” Laila jumped off the wall and dashed off, Qi surging through her veins. She ran through the city, avoiding the monsters as she walked toward the outskirts. She stopped briefly and looked longingly at her old home but shook her head and kept running.
She ran until the mountain appeared above the horizon and froze, wide-eyed as she looked at the new peak.
“What the fuck happened?” she wondered. “Is that Ethan? Or, has something happened?”
She clenched her hands as she moved forward more carefully than before, but nothing jumped out at her. In fact, there were no living creatures anywhere near the mountain anymore.
When she reached the foot of the mountain, she looked up and saw veins of pulsating, purple mass reach from the peak, down along the mountain slope.
“That’s freaky,” she grumbled as she began her ascent.
***
Alissa sighed as she sat down in the new council chamber. It was an old office meeting room on the first floor of a building, and a varied group of people sat around her.
Mark, an earth-affinity fighter, sat next to her and acted as the de facto leader of the council. Jessica sat next to him. Alissa had never seen her fight and knew nothing about her affinity or talents, but she appeared calm and collected.
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On Alissa’s other hand sat Kim. She’s mostly ignored her affinity, as she’d focused all her attention on her swordsmanship. Whether she’d begin incorporating external Qi once she reached Essence Coalescence was uncertain.
The last member of the council was an older woman. Petra was a short, stocky woman who could glare most into obedience. She was cranky and difficult to deal with, but beneath the gruff exterior was a heart of gold. She’d broken from the mind control early but kept up appearances to find a way to help the others. Alissa and Laila had dealt with the leadership before she could.
“Alright,” Mark said and clapped his hands. “We’re all here, so let’s begin.”
“What’s there to talk about?” Kim groaned. “Our lives are in shambles; our previous leaders turned out to be tyrannical, mind-controlling bastards. We’re barely scraping by.”
“Yes,” Mark nodded and smiled. “That’s what we need to discuss. Our old leaders turned out to be less than ideal, even though they kept the area secured. We must find a way to do the same without stooping to the same level.”
“Sure,” Kim snorted. “Is that why you kept her around? You do realise she was one of Jason’s favoured pets, right?”
“Now, now,” Mark raised his hands placatingly as Alissa narrowed her eyes and glared at Kim. “There’s no need for that. She’s partially responsible for putting an end to the mind control, so let’s not forget that.”
“Whatever,” Kim rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “So, what’s the plan, bossman?”
“The plan,” Mark continued, " is to set up a rotation for guards along the wall and take stock of our resources. I’d like for us to be more liberal with those resources than the previous administration, for obvious reasons.”
“Right,” Jessica nodded. “Sounds good so far. But, then what?”
“Well,” Mark sighed and chewed his lip. “We need to figure out the situation around us, and the uhm- the ally Alissa mentioned. I would like to, eventually, send out scouts to make contact with other survivors, as well.”
“About that,” Alissa said. “There’s an army base nearby. I think there are some survivors there since one of the Invader Pillars appeared next to it, and we saw none of the Invaders from it. I think those Invaders focused on the base and were stopped there until my ally dealt with it.”
“Right,” Mark nodded. “Getting some military personnel could be beneficial. They would have a better mindset and training to handle defence.”
“Fuck no!” Kim sneered. “They’ll come marching in and demand obedience.”
“Not necessarily,” Mark argued. “This is a new world with new threats. If we can negotiate with them to give them an area of control, then I think they’ll go for it. We could put them in charge of defence and training of a standing army.”
“Sure, whatever,” Kim rolled her eyes and slumped. “Don’t come whining to me when I’m proven right.”
“So,” Mark looked at the other councillors. “Do we have an agreement? We’ll try to reach out to the military base if they’re still alive.”
The other councillors nodded.
“Then, here’s what we’re going to do,” Mark explained his plans. “Once we’ve got the defence of the compound sorted, we’ll send out some scouts to make contact. While that’s happening, we will take stock and give out resources to strengthen the group. I’d like to ensure it’s fair and equally distributed. Sound good?”
Everyone nodded again except Alissa.
“Uhh,” Alissa hesitated and grimaced. “I’ve got a different idea. Ensure everyone gets what they need, but find those with greater potential, and funnel resources to them to nurture powerhouses for the group.”
“No,” Mark shook his head, frowning. “That’ll create a divide between our people. Well, another divide. We already have the cultivator and mortal divide; no reason to create another one.”
“That’s a bad idea, Mark,” Alissa argued.
“Why is that?” Mark glared at her. Alissa saw raised eyebrows and tense shoulders all around the table. “The stronger we are as a group, the better off we’ll be.”
“Yeah,” Alissa nodded and leaned forward. “That’s true, but even so, having everyone be equal will slow the growth down. And a group's strength will only get us so far.”
“Oh, really?” Kim sneered at her. “What makes you say that?”
“Because,” Alissa sighed and chewed her lip. “I’ve seen it. A few months ago, I was sent along with a group to recruit some survivors. We got most of them to join due to the mind control, which I was unaware of, as I wasn’t part of the initial talks with the group. We failed to recruit one of the cultivators, and my group showed their colours. That’s the first point when I started doubting, in fact. They tried to beat the cultivator into submission and steal his resources, but he trounced them. He completely humiliated the entire group in seconds.”
“Oh,” Mark frowned. “Where is this cultivator now?”
“Not here,” Alissa said, shaking her head. “Anyway, we saw the same thing during the fights against the Invaders. Our collective could hold off parts of the invading force, but their powerhouses broke through easily and took a lot of effort to bring down.”
“Yeah, but we won!” Kim said. “We beat them.”
“The front with the demons was falling,” Alissa said, drawing frowns from the councillors. “Until a dragon showed up and crushed them.”
“Oh, right,” Mark said. “I heard about that.”
“Yeah,” Alissa said. “If we’d had a powerhouse of our own, or if Jason deigned to show up and fight, we might have been able to handle it on our own. Then, there’s my ally, who singlehandedly beat the Invaders and closed their Pillars. That would have taken many of our people to do if we could. Lots of people would have died doing something a single powerhouse might be able to do.”
“So,” Petra said, speaking for the first time during the meeting. “Ask your ally to protect us.”
“That’s not a good idea,” Alissa shook her head, grimacing. “He’s not especially keen on us, as he’s the one I spoke about before. The cultivator we failed to recruit. He might come around eventually, but there are extenuating circumstances. Even so, putting our faith in one person would be a bad idea. I’d recommend finding a few potential Elites and nurturing them properly. Allow our other cultivators to handle the daily protection and hunting and call the Elites in if necessary. Let them remain in cultivation, strengthening themselves until needed.”
“And,” Mark sighed. “How do we control them? I mean, how do we ensure these Elites don’t seize control of the collective? If they’re the strongest, then there’s little we could do to stop them if they decide they want to be in charge.”
“I know,” Alissa nodded. “But, I don’t know how to deal with that. It’s probably why Jason resorted to mind control in the first place.”
“We instil into them a sense of purpose,” Jessica said. “They’re important, significant and valued. Instil a desire to protect and aid while ensuring they are free from leadership distractions. We’ll handle the administration while they cultivate and protect us. In their heads, perhaps they’ll think they’re in charge, but we will actually make the decisions and lead the collective.”
She received reluctant nods from the rest, and the councillors began discussing the details. Alissa leaned back and sighed with a slight smile on her face.