Chapter 64: Chaos Is A Tower?

Chapter 64: Chaos Is A Tower?

The tower shook again as the various forces fought each other. Thankfully no one came into the small room we were hiding in next to the main staircase. Clear, three down, five up, I repeated what Bones told me. I really wish I had my own cutter and illusion projector. This was a great opportunity in my mind to get stuff, but Rhiza wanted a wider margin of error.

She insisted on having ten floors in the direction we were moving and 5 floors in the other direction. Normally she would have waited until things quieted down, but with me around and knowing where people were in the tower, she was willing to take some small risks.

I want to move as well, but Rhiza is right. If we get caught in the conflict, it wont end well. It will be attack first, ask questions second. Anything less than five floors is risky. Hold on, forces below are moving up, and they appear to be sweeping the floors, Bones said.

Forces below us are moving up and sweeping the floors, I repeated.

Let me know when they get close, I will close us in, Rhiza said, and I nodded at that. Using a slab of tower material to block off the opening of the nook she had cut would block Bones ability to keep an eye on things, but it would be near impossible to detect.

I let her know when the forces came to this floor, and she released the slab of material from her spatial item while we were silent. I heard movement and shouting outside of our nook and remained quiet. There were explosions, more shouting, the tower shook a bit, and then back to silence. After waiting for ten minutes, Rhiza removed the slab.

Fighting six floors above us, nothing for at least ten floors down, but hard to tell, I replied.The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

Alright, we move then, downwards, she said. I let her take the lead as we left the nook. We quickly came across a corpse that hadnt been desecrated. Rhiza quickly got to work taking out the implants the person had. I swept the area for weapons and other stuff Bones picked up on. Rhiza and I had agreed to split everything we found.

Once Rhiza was done with the corpse, it was still incredibly fresh. I pulled out the coffin I had from Aoyin a long time ago and tossed it in there. While there would only be a small amount of cultivation remaining to extract, there were still some unlike other corpses. That meant they had value. The resulting blood crystals could be sold for far more than the corpses themselves. Everything of value had to be taken, and fresh corpses had value.

We moved through the floor, taking a staircase set up between floors to keep going down, finding the occasional corpse and lots more damage than when I had been scavenging here before.

Leaving the tower is important and soon. Eventually one faction will take it, or a battle line will be created. Then each side will check their portion of the tower and clear it out. They might strip everything out, but that is unlikely. The most valuable thing in the Forever City for factions is real estate.

That had been how Bones had explained the current conflict to me. Having more floors, meant more production and growth facilities, which could be used to fund more conflicts. Very rarely did factions fight to the bitter end. Normally a ceasefire was called after a certain point to stop losing resources and to digest gains.

This conflict we were in the middle of had progressed to this point since it would send ripple effects out through several linked factions. It was do or die for both competing factions, and there was even a chance faction members themselves might get involved.

If faction members join in the conflict, then it is about to spiral out of control. Normally it ends up with several towers heavily damaged as the core faction members fight themselves, instead of proxies. It will be win or die for both sides, Bones had explained.

That fact that both sides attacked from the outside of the tower instead of pushing up or down, shows the desperation is increasing. Doing that maneuver gains a slight advantage but also signals weakness. Not sure which faction created this chaos first, but it doesnt matter. The entire front will be a complete mess, and leaving the tower itself is dangerous. The best bet is to go very high or low, before attempting to cross to another tower, he explained.

We were descending, which was not the direction we wanted to go. The closer we got to floor 0, the more intense things would be. Those were the more lucrative floors, since there were more connections between towers, which were used to transverse the Forever City.

Another blast weapon, I said and picked one up and put it away. We were raking in the credits. Each corpse we came upon was worth about 20 to 100 credits depending on their gear and if it was intact.

The elites are fighting now, we need to keep moving, Rhiza said after she took out some implants and put them away. We went to the next floor.

Stop, I said as she went for another corpse. It has been moved, look at the blood, I pointed out to her, and she paused. I had spotted this not Bones.

A trap? she asked.

I cant spot anything, but there is a high chance. Clearly didnt drag themselves to this spot. Maybe a friend trying to get them to safety? But that seems unlikely, I replied.

Lets check. Move to the next room, she told me. Once we were out of the way, Rhiza pulled out a metal ball. She tossed it back the way we came. There was suddenly a loud explosion. Trapped. We will need to be careful.

Good catch. I completely missed that. Probably a physical trigger. Rare, but they do exist, Bones said. We continued more carefully, specifically around corpses. Several more were trapped. Rhiza had a small directional force bombs, the metal balls. They would blast things away when they detonated, could be reused, and highly durable. They didnt do much damage but were great for disturbing areas and setting off possible traps.

She had support gear as did I. Just that mine was less capable in this environment. Flash bangs werent that useful. If there was a fight, I would be completely outclassed. The destruction on the floors we passed through was clear evidence, that attempting to join any of these fights was a bad idea.

Another thing that was unfortunate was that there were no spatial items. While the fighters would waste too much time stripping their companions of cheap weapons and modifications, spatial items tended to be compact and easy to pick up. Even if there was only one survivor, they would pick up the spatial items left behind.

That was why being a fighter, if you survived was so profitable. But with the sheer number of corpses I had seen while scavenging, it was clear that surviving was much harder than it appeared. Bones was firmly against joining any kind of conflict, since they were meat grinders. The casualties were just numbers at the end of the day for the people running the faction. If I was strong enough to not be on the front lines, there were better options.

Forces coming up from below, a large group, I said after checking the main staircase in the center of the tower. They are breaking off into groups on the floors below us.

We need to hide, Rhiza said and she proceeded to cut out another tower section to make a nook which we hid inside.

I had asked Bones why towers didnt have labels or numbers, and he said there were things like that, but for people like us they didnt matter. Each tower was the same as the last. Knowing the ring and the level was enough. Combined with a pad that showed key areas, general layout, and could be updated, there was no need to label towers. It all depended on which faction was controlling which tower.

That brought up the question of manual transportation instead of using spatial items and vehicles. It was a cost issue on larger shipments and trade caravans. We werent strong enough or had the backing to use the faster methods of traveling the Forever City at the middle levels. But if you needed to move millions, upon millions, risking a vehicle could lead to large losses. Also trade caravans would only sell a portion of their goods to the various factions they passed by while purchasing goods to trade, making loops about the Forever City. It was an entirely different culture in the middle levels.

As for not moving stuff out, that was tried, but there was only so much room things could be moved and neither side expected they would lose. Also, the equipment and the set-ups on the floors we passed through had the least valuable stuff. Weapons production, food production, and other key resources would be produced in a factions core area.

Also, there was the sheer scale of it all. Sure, clearing a floor of a couple key components ahead of time was simple. But clearing out hundreds of floors worth of stuff in the event you might be attacked, was just not worthwhile or practical.

The value each floor produced in this tower was miniscule, but they added up over time. That was why it was worthwhile to leave so much stuff behind, but still fight over the space. The stuff could be replaced, but it was the floor space that mattered to the factions. Also leaving stuff behind, like the walls, meant that the faction who had knowledge of the layout would have an advantage, however slight. Also equipment could be booby trapped against any invading force.

Once the large group swept by, there were no more useful corpses or high value items. It had been a fast scavenger group from a faction. They probably were gaining control of this section of the tower and thought too much wealth was lying about. We continued downwards and reached the floor above a tunnel to another tower.

Time to make a run for it, Rhiza muttered as she got to work cutting through the side of the tower. There was no one nearby. Once she removed square section to the outside atmosphere, I was ready to move. I went out first.

All clear, I think. But there are things in the distance that I am concerned about.

Might be stuff at a distance, I said and quickly left. The narrow gray connector was easy to transverse across using my skills. Rhiza was much slower as her boots secured her, so she wasnt swept off. Still, she made decent time and we reached the next tower, which she began cutting a small hole into.

While I didnt like the idea of robbing factions, I liked scavenging less. We couldnt set up a legitimate business?

Again, without any kind of faction backing us, it would be expensive. I can fake having backing, but factions live and die by their reputation. Faking backing from an actual faction would lead to them disavowing us and we would be captured and killed quickly. Making up a faction has the same issue. While factions might compete, they hate when people scam them in any way. Our credentials would be checked.

This means we would have to purchase backing from a faction. There are factions that do this, but the prices arent cheap, and there is already a tremendous amount of competition in the crafting sector. People prefer crafting over fighting, lower risk, but also lower margins.

And your technical expertise cant get around that? Be high end? I asked.

At best it is low end. Basic field repairs are something I can do, with trash tier equipment. But anything more valuable requires specialized knowledge. Also, that kind of stuff is often reverse engineered or dismantled due to the risk. Reputation matters for anything above trash tier.

And the equipment I would need to rob factions is trash tier? I asked.

Yes. Again, you are so weak, it is fairly easy to sort out this issue. But getting the equipment to build the equipment is a huge hurdle. The only thing we can do is wait and save up.

What about checking out the edges of the Forever City? I asked. There was silence at that question.

It is an alternative. But the danger there is much greater and more varied. With the factions, I know how they operate, and their thought process. If we run into another super-organization, then there is no telling what might happen. While trafficking in those kinds of goods is something I know well, going into that kind of situation without strength is not a good idea.

Or I can sneak by and earn more? I asked.

Different detection methods. Cultivators sense the changes in the energy around them, being in tune with their Dao. But as you have seen eyes, there are other methods out there. Dispersed biological scanning is just one. There are countless others. Countering all of them is much more difficult than working around what cultivators do.

The other super-organizations dont take advantage? I asked Bones.

How to explain this. The Forever City which is run by the Heavenly Alliance, focuses on cultivation science and techniques. That is what I know. Countering cultivation scanning with cultivation equipment is far easier than countering other forms of scanning. The same is true in reverse. Cultivators have a range of scanning methods, but they fall into the same category of cultivation.

It is a mismatch in technology then, I worked out what Bones was trying to convey.

Exactly. I know the factions wont care about someone as weak as you, or scan at that level. The false readings would be too much and hard to work out from other beings in and around a tower. But more visual scanning, or spatial scanning are just two methods that would locate you very quickly. That is not counting other methods that I might have no knowledge of. Anyone at my strength that engages in stealth has to be very good, Bones explained.

And if we pull all this off, selling the stolen goods? I asked.

There will always be someone willing to buy. I am not saying it is easy, but there wouldnt be more risk than there is now, just a different kind, Bones answered.

Which brings us back to the issue of getting enough credits. We have about 500 at the moment, but we need thousands more. I guess once we have the tower cutter and illusion projector we can try without Rhiza, I said quietly.

Exactly. Also we can move outside easier than her. Dont get me wrong, she is a nice person, as nice as you get in the Forever City, but she is immortal. Unless she gets incredibly unlucky, she will eventually earn enough credits to pay to have her modifications removed and a cultivation pattern imparted onto her.

Its that easy? I felt cheated by how easy it seemed.

Dont sound so depressed. The cultivation methods sold are trash. Your cultivation is the kind of thing that would make a faction take note of and keep to themselves. With enough credits anything is possible, but she would need to save up a tremendous amount to pay for a cultivation method that has potential after reaching immortality. At best she would become a low level officer inside of a faction, with almost no prospect for greater power, Bones explained.

She couldnt leave like you did? I asked.

I left my faction for this reason. Once you reach immortality, advancement is incredibly difficult. The simple explanation is that, your foundation is immense. Stupidly immense. So immense that it will probably collapse horribly. But at the higher levels of cultivation, having a larger foundation is invaluable. That did make me feel better at least.

And you cant just pay to get ahead? I asked.

You can, but the price becomes too much. Far too much. And then there are other setbacks that occur, like losing all your flesh. Also, the greater the threats become and the competition. There are a limited number of resources to push forward. That is why venturing out into the wider Firmament was my plan to get stronger. I could sense the frustration coming from Bones, so I stopped asking. None of this information would really help me. I just wanted to know.

I had a real challenge. When I had been born, I had a silver spoon in my mouth and a loving family, helpful masters. That was easy mode. The Forever City was difficult mode. I had gotten lucky allying with Bones, but there was a clear limit to our cooperation. He would be getting his body before I attempted to break through the first bottleneck.

After that he would be off doing his own thing and I would be on my own. Factions werent bound by perception like the Imperial Sect had been either. Without backing here, no one would say anything if I was killed. That was why I kept pushing Bones to explain things to better understand how things worked in the middle class of this society, which was where most factions were.

The upper class was the Heavenly Alliance. While the rest of the beings in the Forever City was the lower class, struggling to rise up and not die. Backing was everything in the Forever City, for travel, survival, knowledge, and resources. Even if I got past the first bottleneck, I would still be incredibly weak, compared to the factions.

Bones had no idea what would happen if I survived, just that my base would be incredibly strong if I didnt die. He had no advice, since cultivation science wasnt a big part of his studies. He had a track of progression laid out for him by his parents. While he deviated later on, there was very little public information about the beginning stages.

Some factions offered advice to their foot soldiers, but it was expensive and Bones had warned me that their utility was questionable. Most factions had seven to fifteen templates they used exclusively, with another three to five reserved for elites of their faction. The goal was to create a strong base, which could reach the level Bones had without issue.

But a different method like mine, they wouldnt have information. While the efforts on the various continents could be considered research, it was either classified, or there was just too much. If I wanted answers, I would have to pay for a specialist, which would be incredibly expensive on its own. That was the kind of thing a faction leader would pay for, millions of credits.

Since creating a larger foundation was seen as creating a future competitor, it was very expensive to hire any kind of specialist to lay out things step by step and work out any issues. My cultivation while impressive, was just not cost effective or proven. All of this meant I had to get more credits, somehow.

That was the real bottleneck. Everything was done between factions and their proxies. Like massive icebergs crashing into each other, while the small boat that was me struggled to survive. The coffin would take a while to process the corpses, but there was no rush. It wasnt like any more corpses would turn up any time soon.

I pulled out some food and water from under my cloak. My supplies were still solid. I had decades worth of supplies as long as I rationed them. I also had enough credits that I could survive for quite a while and even return home if I wanted. But that would be the end of my cultivation journey. It was a mental balm to have a plan to leave if I ever needed to.

Bones would probably kill me, or do something, but once we were separated, that would be an option. Also, once we had enough credits, I could begin drinking potions regularly to draw in condensed energy into my cores. That was a long term plan, for now I needed to save up credits in order to earn more credits. Even if that was by theft. It would take a lot of theft, or something valuable enough to get a faction excited.

I knew Bones hadnt thought through the entire plan from start to finish. The first step was equipment, then the second step was finding a target. Hopefully, once I had my own tower cutter and illusion projector, I would be able to get a lot more credits.

Once I was done eating and drinking, I checked my pocket watch. Time was ticking steadily away. While things didnt feel urgent, I had a feeling it would be a major hassle to complete my cultivation before my life ran out.