Chapter 70: The Broker

Chapter 70: The Broker

I carefully moved up the outside of the tower. There were chunks missing. Larger chunks the further I got up. The spatial turbulence and the clouds of yellow death also increased as I went up the tower to where the broker resided. I checked my improved compass, confirming which level I was at.

Past floor 100,000 the inside of the tower quickly became a mess, and there were a lot more questionable characters. That was why I went outside to climb up instead. Experience I had picked up from Bones over the centuries.

Once I got past floor 150,000 I could see cracks in the gray material that made up the tower. I had to carefully navigate my way up as I continued to ascend towards my destination. At around floor 200,000 I ran into the first gaps. It wasnt just missing chunks, but much larger portions that were missing. I also sensed several strong presences that werent concealing themselves in the area as well.

My progress slowed to a crawl. I finally reached floor, 222,222 and the entire floor was intact. I found an open floor on 222,225 and made my way to the staircase. There was some minor trash scattered about and a couple of cloaked beings just resting in various areas on this floor. I reached the main staircase and descended three floors. No one stopped me or challenged me. I got off on floor 222,222 after confirming the location I had been given.

The entire floor was pitch black, the only light coming from the flickering illumination from the staircase. My eyes couldnt see through anything. I pulled out the coin I was given. I was told I could speak to the Broker with this and negotiate? I said out loud.

A token of my favor. No harm shall befall you, since you have arrived with such a thing. I swear this upon my existence. Close the door behind you. You are letting in a draft, the voice was like nails on a chalk board. Pressing down on my mind. I closed the door and was stuck in pitch dark.

Greetings senior, a friend gave me this token to come to you. I am looking to break through to the next stage of cultivation, but the biggest issue is that I need time to manage my break through and the sheer size, I said.

I see. An intriguing problem and I am the seller of solutions. For that is why I am called the Broker. Bringing some small semblance of order to the chaos of the Firmament. I felt my eyes begin to water from listening to this being.

I was offered a couple of solutions, but none of them were practical. What do you suggest senior? I asked.

I might be senior to you, but I require no respect. For I only work in the currency of deals. Your problem is not simple. But no one comes to me with simple problems. Now that would be amusing. It is the impossible you want. For your cultivation breaks the rules, the Broker said.

I am curious what you mean, but isnt the knowledge valuable? Will I have to trade for it? I asked.

Not at all. Consider it the sales pitch for the solution I will soon present and the cost of the solution. Based on your question, you clearly know nothing about cultivation tied to the Forever City. There are other cultivation societies out there, the Firmament is infinite after all. But what matters in your situation, is that your cultivation exceeds the boundaries put in place by the masters of this place, the Broker said.

I dont feel like there are boundaries. Or do you mean the cultivation system as a whole? I asked.

Indeed. All cultivation is merely a construct of lesser beings, trying to become greater beings. Some cultivation systems are narrow, but they struggle with compatibility beyond their creator. Other cultivation systems are too broad and cannot progress. You have gone outside the bounds of your cultivation system, the Broker said.

But there were others who walked this path and there were possible solutions to my cultivation issues, I said.

A road shared does not mean it wont diverge. You cannot cultivate the later stages of your cultivation system. Anyone who claims otherwise is ignorant and lacks true understanding of what cultivation is. Multiple paths cannot cultivate beyond the point where you now stand. Even if you survive a breakthrough, you will hit a dead end, the Broker said.

So, you know, but other people are wrong? I asked.

They have no idea how you will cultivate the later stages, do they? They might say things, offer advice. But they have no idea. Since there is no way forward. That was a severe mental blow, but I remained firm. I had made it this far and this being that I couldnt see was clearly going to try and sell me a solution.

And you have an answer? I asked.

Many answers. The easiest one is to submit before a higher power. They would lift you up. Or to get modifications to adjust your physical state. Or you could have your cultivation erased and start over. Or you could do countless other things. But that is not what you want. You want to advance on your own and retain the power you have cultivated, is that correct?

Yes. After all this work, I dont want to go backwards, I replied.

A cultivator answer and expected. A new system of cultivation will need to created. One that unifies all of that inside of you. That is what you must achieve during your breakthrough. Not three separate cultivations, but a single cultivation, a single path, the Broker said.

And how would that work, where would I start? I asked.

And now we come to the part of the conversation, where we shall make a deal with each other. I have in my possession, the Book of the First Dao. It was written by an ancient cultivator, describing his path. I suspect it would give you powerful insights on how to advance. I could allow you to read it. As for your breakthrough, once you are ready, I can arrange for a location and a temporal chamber of significant power as well. Three significant favors.

And this coin wont pay for them? I asked.

It could pay for one, but its value for visiting me is immense. For it guarantees you will safely leave. If you wish to use it on your final request, that can be arranged, the Broker said.

And how are you asking me to pay for the rest of what you are offering? I asked.

I do not allow beings to owe me favors. For they disappear and never return. I have long since learned the futility of collecting on unpaid debts. That is why the favors must be completed first. Here are three tasks, you may replace one with that coin you possess. I listened intently to what was being said, even if each and every word this being spoke was like a knife to the head.

The Black Lotus of Eternity. Guarded in one of the central gardens of the Forever City at its core. I desire one. The age does not matter. An energy filter. There is one built into the very foundation of cultivation continent protected by the cultivators managing them. It must be working, some minor damage is fine. The final thing you could get me, is a single cannister of gray fluidic matter. Such a thing can be found under the control of a replicating super-organization, which they will not easily part with and it cannot be stolen.

All of those things were utterly impossible. I had done fetch quests before, and I knew when it was utterly insane. The first item, The Black Lotus of Eternity was located in the core of the Forever City. That area was heavily guarded and watched.

While I might be able to maneuver through it with enough credits, I wasnt going to be able to steal a priceless flower and get away with it. While I had stolen from the outer towers before, that was like stealing from an industrial sector of a city with warehouses that were rarely patrolled.

Stealing from the core of the Forever City would be like breaking into an incredibly secure bank vault, with guards, cameras, and other forms of active surveillance. It just wasnt possible. There was even a chance that asking about such a thing, would lead to negative attention on myself. I made it in the Forever City by staying below the gaze of important people. This would be going up and poking them in the eye and hoping they dont crush me with a glance.

The second item while better, was equally as impossible but for different reasons. I had talked with Bones about the continents and my home. They had ambient energy from energy filters that drew up energy and dispersed it for general use. That was where motes of Qi came from, since they were clumps that were released.

It was tempting to ask one final question, why powerful beings like to hide in darkness, but that would be rude. Better not to risk offending the super powerful being hiding out on the edge of the Forever City. While it was tempting to think it was like the Wizard of Oz, a lot of bark and no bite, Bones had made it clear that was foolish.

Beings like the Broker only hid out here to slowly build up their strength while sheltering in the Forever City. The effort to get rid of them was not worthwhile, since other things would slink in from the Firmament. Better to keep the beings in place who didnt cause a fuss or a mess. There was no formal agreement, but that was the understanding that beings such as the Broker had with the Heavenly Alliance.

No one wanted to clean out the sewers when they would get dirty again. Only if there was a blockage or something else that required attention would these beings be dislodged. The more violent ones had succumbed to natural pressures and had been killed off. The real danger was that their strength could vary wildly as well their methods of combat.

Bones had explained that was the biggest danger. You never know what one of these beings might be able to do if they were put into a corner. That was probably why they hid in darkness. Some sort of technique to obscure their presence from anyone or anything that might be looking for them and to protect themselves from being observed. Not everyone could use the equipment that cultivators made for themselves.

I left the room, and went into the stairway, the door swinging shut behind me. I then realized that the lights had shown down from three floors above. Whatever was hiding in this tower was massive. I hadnt picked up a single clue and there was no large yellow cat-like eye staring at me this time.

Making my way up to the open floor, I wasnt bothered. The real question. Was what now? I had followed Bones directions for so long I felt lost. I needed to come up with a new system of cultivation, find a way to bridge that, and then breakthrough in a way that didnt draw lots of attention or kill me.

I felt a sense of danger from the side. I quickly pulled out my sword and pointed it in that direction at the cloaked figure and they froze. Dont, I said and slowly backed to the edge of the tower and went outside. They didnt pursue me outside the tower.

This entire place was a nightmare. I looked up. How far did the tower extend? At what level did it no longer exist? Bones said most towers stopped having any kind of existence around floor 300,000. There was just too much damage. But there was the occasional tower that went to level 500,000. Islands of existence is the spatial and atmospheric turbulence.

Well, I wouldnt be breaking through near this tower and pissing off the broker. I descended to around level 120,000 before I found a connection to a nearby tower. I went over the tunnel, which I thought was a bridge. Like using cycles instead of years. The Forever City populace had some weird quirks. I made my way further out into the ring before ascending a tower to see how far it went.

It was risky and stupid, but I was curious. I had been in the city for almost a millennia and had not done real sightseeing. I made it to level 281,281 before there was nothing beyond that level. Just swirling yellow clouds of gas. They were so thick I could not see the nearby towers either. I went back down and tried another tower. I got up to level 272,128 before there was nothing more.

I checked tower after tower, until the 37th tower kept going up and up. I crossed level 300,000. There was damage, but the tower still continued. It went up to level 421,121. I could barely cling to the side of the tower when I reached the final level. The wind shifted constantly and I felt like it was grinding down my clothes. Gravity shifted at a whim.

I made my way onto the ruined level and there was no one. Reaching the exposed staircase, it was flooded with yellow gas, and I felt a sense of danger coming from that direction. I backed away and picked a corner on top of the tower to sit, looking out at the swirling clouds above me.

Very rarely was there a brief lull, letting me see a bit further in the oppressive haze. It was a good place to think and try and sort out what I would be doing. There was no tranquil waterfall to sit under and meditate, I just had the top of a tower while being buffeted by the hellish environmental conditions. The only thing this place was missing was acid rain to be complete.

What now? I asked out loud, but there was no response. I missed Bones. Her company had allowed me to focus. Now I needed to figure out a completely new system of cultivation, to walk a new path and then breakthrough to that path.

Cultivation was about the soul. I closed my eyes and could feel every inch of it. My cultivation was extensive enough that the triangular lattice in the interior and the hexagon pattern on the edge were portions I was intimately familiar with. The channels, the meridians, the gates, and the cores. But beyond that there were the space in-between. The solid portions of my soul.

What would the end result look like. To know what to do I needed to know what kind of ending I would reach. I tried to think, really think on everything I knew about cultivation and myself. That was the moment, I had an epiphany.

My soul would be in the shape of my physical body. They would overlap, one empowering the other in an endless cycle. Two halves of one whole, ying and yang. I would draw energy in through my soul and filter it into physical body and the rest of my soul.

That way there would be nothing complicated in the later stages. As my understanding increased, so would my strength. Eventually I would step gradually into immortality. There would be minor complications, of that I had no doubt. But conceptually it was a sound idea.

Unfortunately, my enlightenment only went so far. I had no idea how to get that end result with my current cultivation. I needed to figure out a way to use my breakthrough to undergo a fundamental transformation. This wasnt something I could consult with someone else about. While before I might have been slightly charting my own path, there was still a dirt track to follow. This would be blazing an entirely new trail.

The Broker had been right, and their guidance was sound. A truly outside perspective had been needed to see the problem that I was faced with. Now if only getting there was so simple. I would need to put some serious thought into this issue of changing the end result of moving to the next stage of cultivation.

The bottleneck, wasnt a bottleneck. Well, it was since many people failed. But it was also a qualitative transformation of ones cultivation. The same with the second bottleneck. The difficulty came from creating a stable threshold for one to continue advancing.

As I continued to sit on top of the tower, keeping myself stuck there as spatial eddies tried to pull me off, I slowly began to think how I needed to transform my cultivation. It was tempting to want to get something out to write on, but I wanted to keep the lingering feeling I had from my split second of enlightenment as long as possible.

My thoughts were as free as the toxic yellow gas that whooshed past me. A waterfall somewhere serene would have been nicer, but for some reason this place in the Forever City felt strangely appropriate. I couldnt explain why, perhaps I was going crazy, but it was probably the techniques I was using.

My outer body would be a barrier, like the technique I constantly used so I wasnt melted and ripped apart. A barrier to separate me from the world. To separate my soul from everything else. To define me, to define my soul.

The channels would not survive in any form inside my body once I broke through. But my cores would become repositories of energy and places to filter it, back into my body. I had no idea how that would work on a technical level, but that was what made the most sense.

The rest of my cultivation, would be the anchor tying my soul to my physical body. To link both halves in harmony. Even as I worked this out, I realized it would require a lot more thought. Also I needed to work out the exact method before hand that I would make the transition. I wouldnt need a long period of time. Since there wouldnt be multiple cores.

There would be a single unified cultivation system within me that would be built as I broke through. It would be complicated though, so maybe the problem wasnt solved. Regardless, I had a way forward. I just had to reinvent cultivation in a way that was unknown in the Forever City. Did my mentors and masters realize the path they had set me on? I didnt think so, but I was not upset about the position I was now in.

I had chosen the path of defiance, and now I was defying the standard cultivation path that the Forever City and all its tributaries used. I would need to spend a lot of time thinking on this. I also wanted to wait for a second reason. While being in a childs body had its advantages, it felt off. I was an adult, now some creepy child.

Being in tune with myself was important. To bring everything into harmony. It was time to write my third thesis. The first one had been using Artificial Intelligence for traffic patterns. The second one had been my initial cultivation plan. Now it was time for a third one. The future cultivation plan and how to make that leap from where I was currently onto that new path.

At least I had the credits to get a place to stay and nothing on the earlier stages of cultivation were confidential. It was just a matter of paying for access with the right person. It was time to make my way back to the TripleX faction and pay for everything they had on the first bottleneck and the later stages of cultivation to inform my decisions.

While enlightenment was a great starting point, proper research and a methodical approach was far superior in the long run. Using past data to inform future choices was the proper way to solve any problem. Still, I wouldnt say no to the inspiration I had already received.

I slowly got up and moved to the edge of the tower and began to descend. If these towers werent connected at the top or the bottom, and the tunnels were incredibly small, what kept them in place? Another mystery and one Bones would have just told me to not worry about it, since thinking on the issue would just give me a headache.

I smiled as I made my descent. It was good to have a direction to advance once more.