Calculating Cultivation - Chapter 66: Just A Minor Shockwave

“Thanks,” I said to the cloaked figure as they pushed over a crystal shard that would go into the map pad. They also put down a black metal card with two large white X’s and then a smaller one between the two.

“You paid for it,” the cloaked figure said while getting up, ending our transaction. It had cost 11,000 credits in the end. The first 1,000 credits was to pay the bar tender for directions to a reputable information broker. Then the next 10,000 credits was to pay for directions to an open faction.

“It smells like a trap or a scam. But this many layers of scamming would be complex,” Bones said. An open faction took all people into it and provided external backing. It just had very high fees and the core members were carefully screened. But it was a viable option that a faction could make work. Just a very suboptimal approach to running a faction in the Forever City.

“They could be missing connections to the continents, based entirely in the Forever City,” I suggested while putting in the shard into our map pad and letting Bones pull up the information we had just shelled out a lot of credits for.

“Perhaps. They are on the far side of the Forever City in the third ring. And TripleX, that isn’t a name. You want something like Flaming Fist, Black Dragon, not TripleX. The faction does exist there, based on previous map information, but we have a precise level and location to go to.”

“You never heard of them?” I asked.

“There are billions of factions in the Forever City. Impossible to keep track of them all. The saying goes, a quintillion immortals, a trillion towers, a billion factions, a million paths, a thousand defenders, and one Forever City. I know a lot, but most of my knowledge is how things work around this place.”

“Is that saying accurate?” I asked.

“You want to do a census? Go right ahead. Getting there will be best be done by vehicle. At your speed, it would take two cycles to cross that kind of distance. Make that three, since we would have to loop around the core,” he said.

“And we can’t go up or down, since you never do that,” I muttered quietly.

“It is lawless at either ends of the towers. Damage takes longer to repair. There is always a low level conflict at the fringes of the towers. Best to stay far away.” That was true, fighting was too big a risk. Well it was time to leave the Pit Stop of Hell and catch a ride over to the far side of the Forever City. One thing this place had was fast, but expensive transport. Cross city transport was where it got expensive. Flying out, was cheaper than flying in towards the center.

Something about traffic density, speed, priority lanes, and other factors. It wasn’t going to be a handful of credits, but around a hundred to get a ride.

“Shield array, left side!” Bones quickly told me. I didn’t hesitate and pulled out a handheld device that was good for a single use against an overwhelming attack. I pushed the button and spun to face the direction Bones had told me.

The Pit Stop of Hell was a large vehicle with one side acting as a patio bar. Turning to my left, put me facing the front of the vehicle and I could see some of the outside, past the vehicle itself. I noticed all the other patrons were looking around as well. “Run the opposite direction, keep the shield pointing the same way, no matter what. Run!”

Other patrons had started moving as well. I noted the vehicle running the bar had quickly closed up and was pulling out of the tower. “What is it?” I asked as I quickly crossed the open floor of the tower. Other cloaked beings were running. The faction workers looked confused, while the vehicles were all quickly leaving.

“A serious fight, not the previous kiddie-previous kiddie-previous kidde-“ Bones suddenly began to repeat himself. The shield flared once brightly and then burnt out. Everything tilted. There was a massive rush of wind and screams.

“Get up! GET UP!” Bones was yelling at me as I struggled back onto my feet. Dark red clouds were rushing through the tower. “Technique!” I quickly activated my techniques to shield my body and reorient to the ground. There was a massive pressure change, and I was sent flying through the air, like I had just been kicked. I spun and landed on my feet.

“Run, slight right, keep running.” I saw the few faction workers left screaming as the red gas deformed their flesh horrifically. “Don’t look. It could have a visual attack vector. Keep running.” Looking past the columns on the outside of the tower, I saw everything tilting. I couldn’t keep track of the forces acting on me, I just made sure I kept running and attached to the tower.

One moment there was a quarter of a tower left to run across to reach the edge, the next moment, a large chunk of gray tower just broke away. I saw material and people spilling out from the inside floors. It wasn’t easy to see past the red gas, and it wasn’t pretty.

“Keep running towards the edge and then along it towards the edge of the tower. Don’t stop no matter what or fall into one of the floors. It is only going to get worse.”

“What is happening?” I didn’t bother to mumble as I ran.

“Shockwaves from a serious fight. I guess some people were losing the war or didn’t like what the other side had done. We just need to get out of here and on an intact tower before we are vaporized.” I raced along the edge of the break, and reached the portion of the level that was connected to the outside. I quickly crossed over.

I had to fight back an intense bout of nausea as the outside world was spinning around. Chunks of tower that I was on, along with the stuff from the floors was flying off into clouds of yellow and red gas. It had cleared up enough so I could see at a distance. I then caught sight of the damage and had a hard time processing it.

Multiple towers had been shattered, with debris flying everywhere. It was like a kid had punched through bunch of building blocks, creating a huge mess. Countless lives lost and equipment. “Keep running! Right half a turn. Get ready to jump and go straight when I tell you. Now!”

I leapt, flying through the air. I was spinning in weird directions and after a couple of seconds I slammed into the side of another tower. I clung to it as I got to my feet. Pieces of debris slammed into the area around me as I kept running. If this was the aftershocks of a serious fight, I didn’t want to see a serious fight.

“Around the side of this tower, and we should be clear of the worst of it.”

“Were you that strong?” I asked.

“Close enough. But the cultivators who did this are already fleeing or dead. That is why factions have proxy battles instead of getting involved themselves. Otherwise there would be nothing left,” Bones explained. I had known that, since he had told me before. But I only got it now. The sheer scale of destruction. I reached the corner of the tower I was on and went around. I then came to a stop and turned around to look back at the destruction. “Lay down and keep yourself attached to the tower.” Bones said. I quickly followed his instructions. There was a sudden displacement of air as all the gas was pushed away giving me a clear view of a massive square structure that had appeared around one of the broken towers. The outside was curved in a semi-circle, but the corners were sharp angles.

“A constructor golem.”

“Its massive, what is it doing?” I asked.

“Charging up and aligning with the tower it has surrounded. This is always fun to watch, but hard to see in person. They move quickly to fix severe damage in areas like this.” The massive golem began to slide down towards the broken part of the tower. Everything left behind was perfectly pristine and rebuilt from what I could tell. Thousands of broken levels replaced in under a minute.

“What about the debris?”

“It sucked it all up when it appeared. There won’t be anything inside the floors, and the faction that lost them will be quite unhappy. The party responsible will have to pay for all of it. The Heavenly Alliance has set rules about that kind of thing.” The constructor golem was so fast and then just disappeared after all the floors were replaced.

“How did it even appear and disappear around a tower?” I asked.

“It has special permissions to use the Astral Plane for transit inside the Forever City.Anything else doing that, is in for a very bad time. They are run by the Heavenly Alliance to keep the Forever City up and running. If you really screw up or mess with a constructor, then an administrator golem comes. If the fight lasted for more than a couple of attacks, then one would show up.”

All those people killed instantly without any warning. Just wiped out. “You sensed it?”

“I am quite sensitive to techniques. A good way to stay alive. But anyone fighting like that here, well they are desperate and dying.” It clicked then. This is where the powerful cultivators kept their manufacturing and nice things. They got upset if other people broke them and made a mess.

“At least the air is clear,” I said through my mask. “Couldn’t they do it all the time?”

“It is power intensive. The inner areas of the Forever City are kept clear. The core is the nice part, with the first ring being seen as middle class. The second ring is lower class. The remaining rings are considered trash areas used for production, buffer, and combat outlet. We should get moving to an open floor with vehicles for hire.”

I got up and began running along the outside of the tower. “The red gas?” I asked.

“Probably a cultivation type resource stored, manufactured, or processed in a nearby tower. Or it could be a wound remnants inflicted on a high level cultivator. Or a technique. The major issue was the shockwave, that was a decent punch.”

“A punch? I can’t imagine that kind of strength,” I muttered.

“It was a shockwave from the main attack. It had some interesting spatial, temporal, and vibrational properties. Well, just another day,” Bones said. It was not just another day. That kind of fight was immense, shattering towers from the shockwaves.

“But I didn’t see a clear trail of damage?” I asked.

“Some towers were better prepared to defend from others. The person in the tower we were at was clearly away or slacking. That is another duty of running a tower. Protecting it from shockwaves from stupid cultivators fighting where they shouldn’t. If you ever get that strong, then the proper procedure is to go outside the rings of the Forever City, to the top or bottom, or just somewhere else. You don’t make a mess the construction golems have to deal with,” Bones said.

“I am guessing the Heavenly Alliance, doesn’t like cleaning up,” I replied.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“The construction golems are expensive. The stuff on all those floors is expensive. If it isn’t the fight that will kill you, it is the faction ending bill you will get saddled with. Another reason why factions are careful about who they let join. If we joined the TripleX faction and then did that, then they would also be on the hook,” Bones explained.

“That’s why you are skeptical. That makes sense,” I replied.

“It would be great if this TripleX faction is on the level. But the risk is just too much. Still, they might be open to trading with us. And vet members more thoroughly with a track record.”

It took some time to reach an open floor with vehicles available for transit. Most of the nearby ones were completely empty. There was a strong avoidance of combat areas in the aftermath, in case there was a reoccurrence. The biggest risk was being around when the constructor golem appeared, sucking up everything that wasn’t inside a tower.

While it was incredibly rare, sometimes factions got desperate and went out in a blaze of glory, rather than paying the bill the Heavenly Alliance hit them with. Bones had explained that such a bill was despair inducing. Even with immortality, death was seen as the better option, since it was crushing. If a cultivator couldn’t pay, the Heavenly Alliance would use their body as collateral.

Those that couldn’t escape, often preferred to fight to the death. It was sheer stupidity to have large scale fights in the Forever City, but sometimes a cultivator lost all control over something, which sucked a faction into the chaos and crushing debt.

Note to self, never start a fight in the Forever City when I am super powerful. This place was insane. But that would be the same view of any kind of lifeform living in a city that wasn’t meant for them. For the elite and powerful, this was probably a great place to hang out with lots of opportunities. For us weak people, it an urban nightmare upscaled massively.

Getting a vehicle over to the far end of the Forever City was a nice way to travel. Even if it was brutally expensive it was incredibly quick. Arriving at the tower indicated, we went down to floor 19,891. Exiting on that floor was a tastefully decorated reception area with the symbol for the TripleX faction behind the receptionist. There were actual plants in the lobby and the lighting wasn’t dim.

“Greetings, and welcome to the outside welcoming point for the faction TripleX,” the receptionist was a younger looking woman.

“Hello, I was told to come here if I wanted to speak to someone about selling high value goods,” I said.

“Yes, you are in the correct place. However, you don’t appear to be recognized customer we have done business with before. Is this correct?” the receptionist asked.

“I have not done business with your faction before, but I was given this,” I held up a black metal card I was given with the faction logo on it.

“That is a customer card, you have purchased. Please hand it over.” I handed it over and the receptionist did something behind the counter. I wished that I was taller, but most likely she was just putting it in some kind of device.

“This is a blank faction customer card. You will not need to purchase one from us. And are entitled to trade in the lowest asset class,” the receptionist handed it back to me.

“Anyone can use this?” I held up the card.

“No. Your parameters have been recorded since you arrived. And will be checked against future uses of the card. While we try to stop theft, unless you wish to register your full identity, no guarantee is made. But handing off your card to someone else will void it.” So not as secure as the base credit card handed out on arrival.

“What are the asset classes?” I asked.

“The level you trade with us. The TripleX faction is an open faction. This means, we accept trades and membership applications from anyone. You are not considered a member and have no backing, but are considered a customer. Your asset class determines how much effort we put into protecting you, if other groups ask about you and the price we charge,” a completely mercenary faction then.

“I am guessing your faction handles a lot of questionable goods?” I asked.

“Indeed. If you sell over ten million credits worth of goods to us, your estimated net worth will increase to the second level. If you sell over a billion credits worth of goods to us, your estimated net worth will increase to the third and highest level.”

“You sell items as well?” I asked.

“For a fee. All transactions, either buying or selling, come with our standard service fee of 40%.” I wanted to spew blood out at that percentage. That was highway robbery. No wonder why they set this place up. “That also comes with our security guarantee. You will not be bothered, ambushed, or questioned on the providence of anything you sell. You will always be allowed to leave peacefully, since we hope for repeat business.”

At that kind of percentage, you better offer services like that. “That is insane. 40% is not possible. Ask if there is a lower percentage.” Bones told me.

“Is it possible to negotiate that percentage?” I asked and the receptionist shook her head.

“Unfortunately, no. There are a lot of expenses with handling high value questionable goods. The majority of those funds are used to ensure your safety while you are here.”

“But you will sell my information?” I asked.

“We won’t seek buyers. But if a faction comes to us and pays ten million credits for your asset class of one, then we will inform them if you have purchased anything or show up. They are basically buying out your future earning potential.” Basically, if I offended someone really important, they could pay to have me crushed but TripleX would squeeze them.

So, a very low risk versus investment. If I had stolen more valuable goods, then that might have happened. But I had low value goods. “So how does this work? I speak to someone else, and show them what I have?” I asked.

“We have appraisal rooms. You can lay out everything you want to sell. Once you are done, ring the bell and an appraiser will arrive. They will price your goods based on the highest trading price for those goods in the last 30 cycles based on our up to date market scans.”

“The highest price, not the lowest?” I asked.

“We don’t haggle in any way. An appraiser’s time is valuable. Would you like a room?” she asked.

“Yes. We won’t be able to sell anywhere else. Instead of killing us and robbing us for everything. They are basically taking a very large fraction to squeeze us for more in the future. My guess is that person who sold us that card is a sales agent. Probably have several scattered about feeding into this one black market trader.”

“I would like that, thank you,” I said.

“No problem. Please go to third room on your right down that hall. The doorway will be green.” I went down the hall. The two rooms I passed had red outlines on their door. The doors past mine were not lit up. I went inside to a fairly large room. There was nothing inside of it at all.

“No danger,” I looked around. There was a bell next to the doorway. The empty room was well lit at least.

“Of course not. The scam of this place, is the ease of use. They clearly don’t want trash like corpses of mods brought in. But high value stolen goods. This place is big enough to fit quite a bit of equipment. Let’s start getting everything out.”

I began unloading my stolen goods and fixing up the drive systems. It took a bit of time, but there was clearly no time limit on this place, but I wasn’t going to sleep here. They probably wouldn’t make a fuss if I stayed here a couple of days and rested as well. But if I didn’t sell stuff off for their insane fee, then a fuss would be made.

Better to not ask and just rest after unloading and fixing everything. Once I had rest, I got up and rang the bell and stepped away from the doorway. An old man with a clean-shaven face and wrinkles entered. He had a martial robe on.

“I am Han of the TripleX faction. I will be your assessor for this sale. Do you have any questions, concerns, or comments?” he asked.

“No,” I replied and he nodded.

“Good, I will begin inspecting your goods. I will have to touch them, will that be a problem?”

“No,” I replied. He seemed quite bored and reciting lines from memory. He walked over to a crystal bar and picked it up.

“High density, but not purposefully manufactured that way. So slight loss. Highest public sale price, 523 credits each. All of similar quality, no major deviations.” He set it back down and then walked over to the drive systems and began looking them over more carefully.

“Drive systems with reinstalled standard spatial components. Brand new, not refurbished either. No tampering. Low level overall quality. Highest public sale, 15,811 credits each. Total value of all goods 272,967 credits. Final sale price after fee applied, 163,780 credits. Do you accept?”

It hurt to say it, but I wasn’t going to get a better deal without a lot more risks. “I accept,” I said, and Han nodded.

“Credit card and TripleX card,” I handed both of them over. “Your credits are applied to your credit card. Your TripleX card will record this sale and indicate your value as a customer for us.” Also, a way to track people when they show up with new goods, since people could hide themselves or change identities. But that wasn’t a concern for me.

He handed them both back to me. “Do you have any questions?” he asked me.

“No,” I replied. While I had questions, this man clearly didn’t want to answer them and was strong. Better to keep things moving along.

“Then you may leave, this room is now off limits,” he said, and I quickly left through the door. I returned to the lobby and went up to the receptionist.

“Does it cost anything to get a price on specific goods?” I asked.

“If you purchase the goods, then no. If you do not reserve a purchase order, then yes. It is 100 credits per price inquiry,” she replied.

“And this list isn’t shared publicly?” I asked.

“Unless someone pays ten million credits based on your current asset class, then no. Do you have any inquiries you would like to make?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said and pulled out a list Bones had put togeather. It had items I had no clue what they were, but all of it was meant to get his body back.

“This is an extensive list and I count 72 distinct items listed. That will be 7,200 credits,” she said. I pulled out my credit card and she deducted that amount. Easy come, easy go, even if it was painful to see that much wealth go away to just get some answers.

“Please wait one moment while I make the inquiries. You may have a seat, this will only take a short amount of time,” she said. I took a seat.

“Hopefully they are cheap. But I suspect not,” Bones said.

“And you won’t need anything else?” I asked quietly, adjusting my mask to block out my speaking.

“No. Just a secluded area and a chunk of time. But that is easy enough to find once we have everything. I wasn’t hopeful, but if we can get everything from this place, even with a horrendous 40% markup it shouldn’t be that bad. I can get my body back, and you can be alone once more.”

“And my cultivation,” I replied.

“Even split. I still think your cultivation is going to cost way more. But that is just drinking energy potions. Those things are so universal it is insane. Whoever came up with the formula is making a mint,” Bones replied.

“But you think I need a specialist to make sure I don’t kill myself?” I asked.

“You will need something. This place seems focused on material goods, which suits my needs. I am putting my guess in at 1.2 million credits,” Bones said. Guessing at the final price the receptionist was going to come back with.

“Three million, including their markup. Some of those items you said were incredibly rare,” I replied.

“Some, but not that much. Unless prices have changed dramatically. They could have…hopefully not. There is no good way to recreate my body except with all those materials. It isn’t just the cost, but the harmonization with my Dao. As a body cultivator without a body, any new body will have to be compatible at the very least.”

That was the main requirement for Bones. Getting the right combination of stuff had taken him a long time to work out, and there was no good backup plan based on materials that he knew. Any other body restoration material combination would be much more expensive. While he wasn’t saying it, there would be a loss in power from his original strength.

He wasn’t happy about that, but he clearly hated not having a body more. Once he was up and moving again, then he could work out the issues in time. But the key step was actually getting a body. Nice thing about being immortal, you had a lot of time.

“Thank you for waiting, I have prepared a list of prices for each of the materials on this pad. They will be good for 30 cycles if you wish to purchase them,” I got up and faced the receptionist. She handed back the original list and the pad. “You may keep the pad.”

She returned to her desk, while my eyes scanned the list. I went to the very bottom. “FOUR POINT NINE MILLION! Robbery! Scammers!” That was 3.5 million credits without the factions markup. “Look at that, Refined Hyper Azure Blood, 180,000 credits. That should cost a tenth of the price.” The ranting by Bones continued for another couple of minutes.

“Done?” I asked him.

“Yes. This is a nightmare. Everything is more expensive than I thought it would be. But some of these prices, things have changed since my time,” Bones muttered. I still had no idea how long ago that was.

“Maybe inflation?” I asked.

“Perhaps. But most likely changing cultivation methods to those that are more cost efficient, thereby raising up the prices. Well let’s head to mid-tower and find a bazar. We can stock you up on high quality energy potions. Since it doesn’t look like I am going to get a new body any time soon. You will need increased strength and energy, if we are going to try and earn some more credits.”

I left the lobby back to the main staircase and started heading down. “We won’t run into problems?” I asked.

“We have credits for minor transit fees. While it will only be a small bit, increasing your strength will be important for surviving. We need to steal a lot more and take a lot more risks to raise this kind of amount. Also, you need to live long enough. This is going to take a while,” Bones muttered.

“It appears my cultivation is faster,” I replied in a cheeky tone.

“You say that, but getting to the next stage, is going to be a nightmare. You need a specialist and those aren’t cheap. Also the resources they are going to suggest, aren’t going to be cheap either. While your mentors might have thought you can cross the first bottleneck with some luck, there is a reason your cultivation method has never been done.”

“You just don’t know that reason,” I complained.

“Things are done a certain way for a reason. It is called the Forever City because if you stay here forever, you will eventually see anything possible. The fact I have never seen or heard of your kind of cultivation is a very bad sign.”