Hector studied his gains. He had managed to achieve an improvement of point one in mind, point two in aura, and point one in domain.
Survey Results
Type: Xian
Level: 4
Body: 4
Mind: 3.0
Aura: 2.7
Domain: 2.5
Energy Reserves: 99%
Breaking into the threes in mind made him particurly happy. It admittedly was not the most important aspect of his build, but getting out of the twos looked so much better.
The past few weeks had been intense. Doing a dungeon run lit a fire under his ass. Something about going through multiple near death experiences in a row. And also the pride that came with sying some monsters. He doubted he would ever experience the equivalent of the ego boost saving Earth gave him, but delving let him contribute to the defense of the multiverse. He’d gone most of his life with no rger purpose than doing his job well and growing his bank account, then Evelyn plucked him from his mundane existence to do something that actually mattered. He liked how that felt. Solving problems and improving processes had always been his favorite part of working at a warehouse. It was the satisfaction of knowing he made things better. And now he was making the multiverse better in some small way.
In the time since the dungeon run he’d caught another movie. It was an artsy film Zelda heard about from some ritualist colleagues. Though the meandering non-plot didn’t really have anything to do with the future of humanity, there were random scenes incorporated where the main character’s life ran up against the harshness of the conflict. Her childhood friend died on a dungeon run and she attended his funeral. She supporter her suicidal Orisha roommate into overcoming crippling grief. The man of her dreams was a soldier in the coalition army – sadly, she knew that she was not grand enough to deserve such a hero and refused to waste his time by expressing her heartfelt admiration. The propaganda was just as obvious even when it was tangential to the plot.
By himself, Hector toured Orisha Town. Whatever he expected from the experience, he didn’t get. The residents of the area might be refugees from Aes, but they lived in the same den of skyscrapers as everyone else. The shops didn’t seem to offer different products than what was for sale near his capsule hotel.
The one notable exception was that many of the eateries offered authentic Aes cuisine. Which really didn’t mean much by itself. That was like advertising ‘authentic Earth cuisine’. There were a huge amount of cultures and traditions on Earth that couldn’t be represented by a single restaurant. So it was in the restaurants of Orisha Town. He ended up eating spicy palm nut broth with yam dough balls and a portion of oxtail. The food was good and exotic enough that he didn’t mind the wasted trip across the city too much.
He’d also purchased a repcement for the combat fatigues and a better solution to his light problem. His appreciation for Conrad’s suit led him to buy an illumination harness. The device sat across his shoulders and used a series of small lights to provide him with a three-hundred-and-sixty degree bubble of visibility. The shop in his hotel didn’t carry the device, but Hector found it in a nearby specialty store.
Otherwise his every moment went towards diligent training. With only a single week left before his next dungeon run, Hector was ready to rex before risking his life again. He’d made good gains, certainly, but he was wearing himself down. What he needed was a day where he did absolutely nothing.
To that end, Hector endeavored to stay in bed until lunch. When his eyes popped open at the usual predawn hour, he tried to drift back into restorative oblivion. That intention did not transte into action. Instead, he y there thinking about useful things he could be doing with his time.
He could watch episodes of the dungeon history show that so many people in his hotel talked about. That would be a form of entertainment that could further prepare him. Or he could attend the ongoing dungeon convention that was geared towards informing prospective delvers of what to expect. Though Conrad warned him that the ‘big shots’ there had done at most three or four dungeon runs, all as low risk as possible. They were posers – the real delvers got their fill of fame within the community, not from starry-eyed youths attending a convention.
As Hector’s stubborn mind brain-stormed ways around his self-imposed ban on training, he realized he would not be sleeping in. That had never been his style, anyway. So Hector left the hotel to get breakfast somewhere else. He found an Alfar restaurant that served fruit-based meals and decided to stand in its very long line. He reasoned that so many people couldn’t be wrong about the quality of the food.
By the time he reached the front of the line, he realized that they basically served Acai bowls. He emerged soon after with a biodegradable container full of a blended fruit and green mix with toppings of berries, coconut, and toasted oat. He ate as he wandered through his corner of the city.
Eventually bored, he returned to the hotel to use the weight room. He reasoned that was acceptable because lifting was more a hobby than training at this point. That sted two hours and then it was time for lunch. Hector rented computer time to look up Xian restaurants. There weren’t many in the city. Based on the reviews, most of the ones that did exist cooked food in the style of various Xian nations without using any ingredients from Tian. Though he found himself disappointed, that really didn’t matter at this point. His body had reached the peak of level four already and couldn’t contain any more cosmic energy.
So he caught a taxi to one of those restaurants and ate goat meat with a side of cinnamon-dusted rice. It was a common meal at the fifth household. Volithur had enjoyed it immensely, much to the bewilderment of Khana. A sudden stab of pain hit his heart.
Khana. That poor woman. What had her fate been? He knew it was between thirty and forty years since the activation of the Dream Engine. It was more than possible she yet lived. But… would she have the strength to endure a hard life?
And what of Baby Darius? He’d be middle-aged now. An innocent child castrated due to the Lord General’s casual cruelty. The procedure was survivable. The cruelty was meant for Volithur, whose line would not continue. Yet the one who had to live with the fallout was not the one who had sinned against the eminent Lord General.
Caught up in the grief, Hector didn’t even finish the meal. He returned back to the hotel and went to the rooftop to stare out at the city. Hector had been so caught up in losing the dreams and mourning the pain of Volithur that he hadn’t grieved Khana and Darius as separate entities. They might not be his wife and child, but he’d lived their every moment together as a family.
Sitting there, he began to cultivate chaos. The familiar flow helped him pce some psychological distance between the current moment and the images in his memory. Beautiful, mercurial, often zy, ever passionate Khana, with the quick smile and grandiose visions of a shared future. He loved that woman even still. Sweet young Darius, who wanted dad to py with him constantly. How had Volithur been so foolish? Thirty years had passed. He should be level nine by now, pulling his wife and child up into the world of prestige they deserved.
He pumped the cosmic energy into his soul faster, his efforts fueled by anger.
The Lord General had been present to save the greatest nation of Tian from doom because of a chain of events initiated by Volithur’s betrayal. Union Central’s dungeon System had been built on the sacrifice of a Yazata – who, for all Hector knew, might not have been able to make that sacrifice if Volithur wasn’t there to be thrown into the Dream Engine. Volithur had been no one special. At the same time, the ripples of his actions had influenced so much.
Personal tragedy in exchange for hope for the species. The trade had to be a worthwhile one. Volithur and Khana and Darius on the one hand. Billions upon billions of lives on the other.
Hector strained hard, pushed one final time. The resulting soul quake rocked him body and mind. Then the storm of energy within his central reserves drained away.
“Oh shit.”
This was not the right time. Not at all. What the hell had been thinking? To confirm his stupidity, he called upon the System to dispy his current statistics.
Survey Results
Type: Xian
Level: 5
Body: 4
Mind: 3.0
Aura: 2.7
Domain: 2.6
Energy Reserves: 01%
Yep. He’d done it, all right. Broken through to level five. On accident. Hector leaned back onto the paving stones to stare up at the sky. What did he do now?
There were only six days remaining until they needed to enter the dungeon. Should he tell Zelda and Rodrick to go without him? His jaw clenched. Absolutely not. So then he convinced them to dey their delve and offered to pay the daily penalty for staying at this hotel without meeting the requirement? He could afford it. Better to lose money than to lose people.
Or… how much energy could he recover in six days? Working hard, that time was enough for him to reach half capacity before his advancement. Now, the same amount of energy would only be a quarter of his capacity. Could he do a successful delve with half of what he used before? If they did a quick sprint, he thought it might be enough.
He wanted to immediately begin cultivation to correct his mistake, but his soul ached terribly following the increase in level. So he instead went to the spa and ordered the blood boiling elixir from the health bar. It went down smoother than he recalled, probably due to the addition of sugar he detected. Or maybe he was just less picky than Volithur. He had lived primarily on chicken and broccoli for weeks at a time without compint, after all.
The benefits from the false elixir were negligible. He regretted the twenty credits he spent on the thing. Booking some time on a computer, Hector identified the top specialty shop for Tian products in all of Promise City and booked an air taxi to get there fast.
Two hours ter – fast by Promise City commuting times – he stood inside a room with marble flooring, mahogany wall panels, crystal chandeliers, and bronze ceiling tiles. A Xian merchant with a level six soul sat in a leather chair, looking over paperwork. He’d gnced at Hector upon his arrival and muttered for him to wait a few minutes. That was twenty minutes past now.
“Excuse me, sir? Your posted hours are ending soon. Will you be able to help me before then?” Hector tried to keep his frustration from boiling over. This man had invested heavily in his body enhancement. He was close to the peak of level six and, in Hector’s estimation, not someone to upset.
“Are you worth my time, false Xian?”
“I would like to make purchases, sir.” Hector intentionally used the local style of honorific instead of mimicking the Amaratti form of address for a superior. It would be ‘master shopkeeper’ in this circumstance, he knew. If the Xian were as negative about dreamers as he had heard, then demonstrating casual familiarity with the culture would not win him any points.
The man set the paper down but did not stand. “What type of purchases?”
“Silver psma elixir if you have it.”
The man harrumphed. “Elixirs made from blood are forbidden export items. I follow to the letter all regutions set forth by the assembly of lords.”
“Do you carry steel bone elixir, then?”
“Of course not. Why would I carry such a niche item? Do you have any idea how profits are calcuted, false Xian? Things sitting on a shelf tie up money that could be better invested towards inventory that turns over.”
“Wine or uncut spirits? Do you have either of those?”
The man perked up. “I carry quite a bit of wine. All of it of bad vintage. All of it quite expensive to purchase here on Union Central.”
“How much?”
“Ten thousand for a bottle. Eighty thousand for a case of nine.”
“Two bottles, then.”
The man stood and walked towards a cabinet. He withdrew two poorly made bottles cking any bel. “It is atrocious on the tongue, but you will find it useful. Wine is the strongest cultivation aid that can legally be imported to Union Central. Uncut spirits or true elixirs must be had on Tian. Which isn’t an easy pce to visit, as I’m sure you’ve heard. Though possible in some rare circumstances.”
They completed the transaction using the System and Hector paused before walking away. “What is the rare circumstance that someone can visit Tian?”
The man’s smile became predatory. “There is a tournament of false Xian being held in just over a years’ time. Lords are sponsoring competitors who will be permitted to remain on Tian so long as they aren’t eliminated. Every victory will be rewarded with resources. The ultimate winner receives permission to migrate to Tian and become a citizen of Amarat.”
Hector’s initial reaction was disdain. He had chaos cultivation. What need did he have for resources? His current desperation was because he was on a strict time limit. But then he thought better of his pride. Why wouldn’t he seek resources when they were avaible? It would speed his path greatly. And though a tournament might sound risky, it surely couldn’t compare to delving.
“How do I get a sponsorship?”
“Authorized representatives recruit potential candidates. I happen to be one.” The man studied Hector a moment. “The first requirement is to be at level five, which you meet. The second requirement is to be a skilled combatant. I can evaluate you ter if you are interested.”
