Chapter 61: Supplies And Technique

Chapter 61: Supplies And Technique

A lot of food and water good. We can leave those four spatial rings alone. They are packed up well. Also eat and drink what you need now. Once we leave this room, well, you dont want to take in the toxic air.

Why is the air toxic? It would seem like a negative? I asked.

For who? You? You are too weak. Anyone else wont need to breathe or can filter it slightly. There are cheaper filter masks available, but yours will work long term. So, need to replace it.

But why have a toxic atmosphere? Cant someone in charge fix it? I asked.

It is a left over result of the ongoing battles between super-organizations. Either as an attack or a defensive measure. Regardless, it is above even my paygrade. We need to put all your rest and long term supplies into one spatial ring. The other can be for your weapons. While the last needs to be emptied. I got to work moving everything. Bones bones were moved into my long term storage ring.This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

The sword you have is trash, but it can injure other trash at least. We need to find something better for melee weapons. Your gun is better used as a threat, than fired. What Bones wasnt saying was that most of the bullets were trash.

I finished sorting out my supplies the way he wanted so I had a single empty spatial ring. You need the empty ring for what we find. Preferably we would have more, but you will run down your food and water. Now for the technique I came up with. I listened closely to the next part. I would prefer my skin not to melt off.

Force is a good concept, quite versatile. The concept is to create a layer around your body, pushing away the toxins in the air.

If it drops, will there be issues?

Depends on your exposure. It is hard to measure, but I wouldnt worry too much, since you dont appear to have any issues from short term exposure. Long term exposure, not good as I talked to you about. Also the effects compound and your body wont process these toxins.

Wait, so they remain? I asked with some worry and surprise.

Yes. They will remain and build up. It is bound energy, which means it isnt going to change unless something much more powerful makes it change. Which is never going to happen. This place has always had toxic yellow clouds as far as I can remember and has been talked about. Getting them out of your body is possible, but that costs credits. Credits we need to save up.

Got it. So, try and keep the technique up at all times, I replied.

Exactly. Now, you can feel force, right?

Yes, I have a sense of force. It is like I can sense force energy. But I didnt sense any on the vehicles, I replied while thinking it over.

Waste energy, which you probably saw in your trash dump is the byproduct of sub-par energy usage. If anything is leaking energy, you can tell it is damaged. Only the physical remains in the Forever City. Anything else is pulled into the towers to keep them running. We can talk about the technical aspects of the city later. Now we need to get the technique working. The hardest part is going to be not losing energy, Bones explained.

I am guessing I need to push out energy from my channels, and keep it in a layer around me? I asked.

Good guess. That is the basis of the technique, but keeping that energy as a layer around you and just pushing away the toxins will be difficult. You will need to divert a portion of your attention to constantly maintain the technique. After that Bones began walking me step my step on how to release a tiny bit of energy from my channels while still maintaining control.

The key trick was visualization. Most techniques are just about visualization and power. That is why most cultivators stick to flashy elemental techniques or weapon based techniques.

But isnt there something more? Like hand signs, or words? I asked.

Those are mnemonic devices to help a person focus and visualize properly. It helps, but for Force Skin Barrier, it needs to be a long term and passive technique. You need to be able to maintain it constantly.

I keep losing hold of my energy, I muttered as I focused on doing the technique again.

You are getting better. But I cant help you with this. We start mixing like that, well it wont be good for either of us. I will replace you, and get stuck with your body, Bones said. I paused my attempts at that.

You can replace me? At a whim? I asked with quite a bit of concern.

Which would be cutting off my future in every way possible for slightly more agency. Trust me, I dislike this situation, but our respective power differences are so much, I could have taken your body even if you objected when you showed up. Now focus on the technique, visualization, Bones said.

I kept repeating the technique, over and over again. I could feel the energy inside my channels dropping and then drawing on my core. This would set my cultivation behind. But better my cultivation was delayed than my skin melting off.

The energy easily flowed through the edges of my channels, not just the main portion. This was another benefit of perfect attunement. My complex meridian structure, allowed me to feel the energy to an incredibly fine degree, combined with their number, I quickly began to get my energy under control around my body and create a thin layer of protection.

It seems to be working, I finally said out loud. I had been testing Bones, but it appeared he couldnt read my mind, or was playing that ability close to his chest. I could only hope he couldnt. I had no other choice but to go along with him and trust him.

Good. You managed to stabilize the technique. Very little energy loss. Now you just need to work on making it more efficient and keeping it up all the time. Now we have to make a couple of decisions, Bones said.

What kind of decisions? I asked.

Where we are going to go. We have three choices that I can think of after thinking about what to do and assessing the current situation. The first option is to try and find the one being I know that owes me a favor. It would be a long shot and require looking. They might be dead or have moved with how much time has passed.

With how big the Forever City is, that isnt possible I am guessing. There is no directory? I asked.

There are communicators if you are rich and powerful enough. My friend isnt and we certainly arent. Communications within the Firmament are risky. The longer the range, the riskier they are. Too easy to intercept and trace, Bones said.

Wouldnt people communicate in code then? I asked.

There are ways like that, but even then, it is risky. Regardless, we would have to physically look ourselves, which would take a couple decades. Any option, we are looking at decades maybe centuries of investment in terms of time. I had explained my understanding of time. He had responded that my year was considered a cycle. I had thought it meant a day before Bones had explained some thing to me.

Rooms were cheap in the Forever City. There was a lot of space in the middle rings. Since people didnt eat or sleep, there was little need to rest. People constantly worked or managed whatever their job was. Just taking any kind of credit from a person was seen as a key aspect of survival. That lizard being was designed to wait long periods of time, just managing this place.

They had agency and could make decisions. They werent golems, which were much more dangerous, but limited in terms of what they could deal with. Living beings with implanted modifications, were much freer in a sense, but also designed to fill up the Forever City with people who would maintain a tower and not do anything else. It almost reminded me of non-player characters in video games.

That was where huge swaths of conflict came into play. As various factions used their resources to vie for control of the towers and whatever meagre income, they would draw in. Vast portions of each tower were devoted to producing resources and the communities that cared for them.

The far between factions meant that production was streamlined in various ways. Plants grown in the dim light of the interior of the towers to produce raw materials in carefully made hydroponic bays. These plants, which were renewable resources, fed the vast industries in other levels, for weapons, clothing, equipment, and other resources.

Even a bit of optimization was squeezed out. These free markets were used to process waste goods and handle aberrations wanting to get stronger, since there was no trash. Also, if a conflict area shifted closer, the free markets in the area would see a resurgence. That was why no one was giving up their spots even if it was fairly quiet at the moment. It was just a matter of time, until things cycled around again, and business picked up.

There were biological modifications to help pass the time for these beings. They would speed up their perception of time, reach the point of a cycle a second for the more advanced models. Most used what income they earned to buy better resting modifications, rather than try and get save up. Since the beings standing around were not the ones willing to go out and fight.

If the lizard left, then another one would be dispatched to replace it. It wasnt slavery, but it was the next best thing. Bones explained that using actual beings, meant that they were cheap, but they had free will. Enslaving all of them led to less optimal outcomes of rebellions. Hence, the beings working, could quit any time, but few would do that.

It was cheaper to just produce beings from vats, imprint their brain and energy with enough knowledge, put in modifications, and then assign them jobs than it was making golems. These created beings would cost about 100 credits with only 10 credits being spent on non-recoverable costs.

I was still having a hard time understanding how big the Forever City was. The arrival terminal I showed up in was just one of hundreds scattered about. There were more continents that were used as resource generators than one could imagine. The concept of infinite was immense. What was more impressive was that the Heavenly Alliance had set things up to run on their own. This place was the apex, or end result of cultivation culture. While I was in what would be considered the outer slums, it was still considered better than the continents. And all this was just one infinitesimal piece of the Firmament.

Some dont. And go and do other things. Factions are good at using their resources. And if a couple of really troublesome creations are killed, well their materials will be repurposed. I shook my head at that.

What about the constructors and other things maintaining the Forever City?

They move through the various areas, but the towers are incredibly hard to damage for anyone not an immortal. Even then the damage tends to be minimal. If we do run into one, dont say or do anything to it and it will ignore you. The maintainers of the Forever City are incredibly dangerous, but they dont act unless provoked. We dont have to worry about them.

What about luring a monster into one to escape it? I asked.

Dont. The golems are incredibly advanced. They will know what you did, and you will be killed. The first step is to climb up the interior staircase. We need to get to level 50,000.

Isnt the conflict closer to level 0? I asked.

Yes, but the lower levels will be much more heavily watched. While gravity isnt necessarily one direction outside, it tends to go down more than average due to the towers, Bones explained as I climbed up the overly large stairs. I had my sword out. I had thought the stairs of the Cloudy Moon Sect were bad, this was far worse. Stay to your left. Hidden threat to the right, Bones said. I looked in that direction and made the faint outline of something standing on one side of the staircase. I brought my sword up to point at the camouflaged thing and it didnt react as I passed it.

Why not kill things like that? I asked.

We could, but you never know how strong they are. I can spot them, but you are wearing an observation blocker, so are they. If you can spot a lurker they will leave you alone, since they figure you are probably stronger. If you miss them, they will ambush you.

They just stand there? I asked.

Many are content to wait until something moves nearby. Just like the other people doing tasks. A fair few just want to either get lucky or wait until their tower is attacked and then move. The lives of such beings are pitiful. But there is nothing they can do.

They cant band togeather? I asked.

Bands are cleared out regularly, as a threat to the tower. Bulk goods are moved up and down stairs and the lurkers shift or know the lesser used portions of the tower. Just countless beings doing the same things over and over, with the ones that mentally break becoming lurkers.

Why not use golems, wouldnt they pay for themselves over time? I asked.

Upkeep and initial cost. The only thing worse than the air is the goop that is used as the occasional food source. The water and food you have would be considered luxuries for the majority of beings.

And they grow it on various floors, I said after reaching the next floor and looking at the double doors leading off the staircase landing.

Yes. Again, being weak is a benefit. Unless you go into a restricted area, no one will care. We have already been scanned twice while climbing up the staircase. If you were stronger, then we would have to deal with the faction if they dispatched anyone to intercept us.

From the top of society to the bottom, I muttered.

That is just how it is, and how it always will be in the Forever City.

Wont it be destroyed one day? I asked.

Perhaps. But that would take a super-organization. The conflicts beyond the rings are not something you can handle. The eighth ring is basically lawless. There you would have gangs of lurkers, and very little infrastructure that isnt heavily fortified.

Why the staircase? There is an elevator? I asked.

Common design. And the elevator costs credits to call a platform or a lot of personal power to risk moving in the central shaft. The platforms would turn you to paste without time to dodge them. It would also draw attention we dont want. A group coming down, stand to the side and lower your sword, Bones quickly said. I quickly moved to the side and lowered my sword.

Eight humans in gray clothes and masks, came down the stairs, each carrying a large pallet over their heads. Their eyes briefly flickered over to me, but they didnt stop moving. A transport team. If we could ambush one, it would be worth a lot, the impossible part is getting away, Bones said in my mind regretfully. They people soon passed, and we continued upwards.

They werent wearing cloaks like the others, I pointed out.

That is a cultural thing in the Forever City. Wearing a cloak with an observation blocking device indicates you are someone of note. Not having either means you are a worker of a faction and are protected. Anyone who doesnt cover their face or body, you should consider too dangerous to fight. Even if they are weak, the people who are in charge would be very upset if they were injured, Bones explained.

And they are content to do that forever? Just carrying supplies back and forth? I asked.

Yes. They are created that way. Most tasks they do are repetitive, so they just zone out as their body goes through the motions. The implants help in that regard. To mindlessly keep existing, eating goop, and doing what they are ordered.

And if I talked to them?

I would recommend you dont. It will be like that lizard being talked to at the rest area, but riskier, since any delay in their duties will draw attention. At least if the faction running this tower knows what they are doing.

Since any delay indicates the possibility of a theft, I replied.

Or tampering. Sabotage is quite common. We couldnt do anything in the rest area, so it isnt watched, unless the being running it is injured or dies.

Then why leave the staircase open? I asked.

Some factions dont. Those are the closed towers. But with the free market, this tower is considered open. If they close the staircase, then traders wont be able to pass through. If they make travel too restrictive, then the free market will dry up, Bones explained. This Forever City was giving me a headache as I continued to climb.

I dont see anyone passing through, I replied.

They often move in groups for safety. While they might not trust each other, groups of scavengers will stick togeather against outside threats.I dont know too much about the sub-culture.

You went out into the Firmament. But what did you do before? I asked.

I used to be a scion. Or a descendant of an immortal in one of the factions. Immortality came quickly and I had tutors. After that I was a commander in ongoing conflicts. Once I got strong enough, I began venturing out into the Firmament.

Your own faction betrayed you? I asked.

Yes. My parents were killed in a conflict. And I was betrayed. So, I cant go back, and almost all the contacts I had were lost. Now I am stuck as a pile of bones.

So, revenge if you get your body back? I asked.

There was no love lost between my parents and me. They didnt like my escapades into the wider Firmament and preferred my siblings. But revenge on the one who poisoned me, absolutely. I am strong enough to get offers or easily make my own way. But first I have to fix the lack of a body.

Which costs half a million credits, I said.

And the fact you need more, should let you know how insane your cultivation is. Only the richest of scions with the most loving and powerful of parents would dare have your three path cultivation. Regardless, we will figure it out, Bones gave me encouragement as I kept climbing. I was really beginning to dislike stairs. But running up the outside of the tower I was in was a large risk. Better to be a bit slower and safer.