Chapter 74: Faction Mates

Chapter 74: Faction Mates

New face, come sit, a middle-aged woman waved me over. The TripleX faction like others, had a gathering place for members of their faction. There was nothing else for me to do and I felt getting to understand the faction better would be useful.

What could be called a club slash bar existed that members could visit and relax at for no cost. The risk of betrayal was huge, which was why factions went out of their way for official members to reduce the chance of any resentment building.

The place was elegantly decorated like all the other faction spaces I had been in. High quality goods, with energy inside of them for durability. Extremely fine craftsmanship as well. This was only considered middle class in the Forever City, while it would have been the height of luxury back on the continent.

Along with the middle-aged woman who invited me over were two younger looking men. Thank you senior. I am Yuan Zhou, I said with a bow before sitting down at the chair she gestured at. Everyone had on observation blockers including me. Still, there was no doubt in my mind that they were stronger.

I am Song Mo, and this is Song Wen and Song Zhang. Not often we get a new face around here, she explained.

I recently joined under the authority of Vice Leader Qiang You, I replied and they all looked slightly surprised before schooling their expressions.

An external member, how rare. Well let me be the first to welcome you, Song Mo said.

Welcome, welcome. You must be quite capable if you have been invited. I cant recall the last person who was invited into our faction, Song Wen said with a smile. This was a huge difference in treatment than before. It was a bit surprising.

The last person was that Wan fellow. He never returned from his assigned mission, Song Zhang said.

Ah, him. He truly was forgettable. That was what, two hundred cycles ago? Song Wen asked.

Something like that. Now we have a fresh face once more. You are either incredibly strong, incredibly talented, or have some incredible connections, Song Zhang said.

It is talent. If he was strong he wouldnt use blockers or come here. And anyone with connections would join another faction, Song Mo said.

I would have to say it is talent and potential as the basis for why I was invited into the TripleX faction. I am quite grateful to Qiang You for allowing me to join. I am curious how things work, I replied.

We wait around until we are called on for a mission. Mostly information gathering which is our specialty. But we also do support. There are other groups that show up here as well. The faction doesnt control many towers, but we are rich. As long as you can pay, you can purchase guaranteed support from us, Song Mo explained.

Wouldnt factions hire internally? I asked.

Most of them do. But vat grown cultivators are absolutely useless in combat. You need experience and knowledge to survive. You figure out how to beat one, you can beat them all. Even with different models of cultivators used, diversity is a strength, Song Zhang explained. I nodded at this. It made sense. If everyone used fireball, then just bring anti-fireball techniques or equipment to an inter-faction battle.

But mostly we do information gathering at a high level. Scout out other forces, handle diplomacy, stuff like that, Song Wen added.

So, talent, huh. Any special skills? Song Mo asked. That was a tough question to answer. I couldnt say my talent was getting around the Forever City or my cultivation. The first one needed to be phrased better and the second would invite tricky questions and reveal how weak I truly was.

My scavenging and thieving skills gave me quite a lot of credibility with Vice Leader Qiang You, I said.

That is a rare path. Normally it is combat, or information gathering. But scavenging, that is fairly rare to meet anyone who goes far enough to get to a high enough level. And thieving, you stole something super valuable? Song Mo asked.

I was never caught. And I stole over ten million credits worth of goods, I replied curious as to their reactions to that amount. There were nods at that amount.

Now that is impressive. We earn about a million credits per mission. Get one every hundred cycles or so, Song Wen said in a slightly bragging tone. I nodded at this.

That does sound impressive, I replied. A servant then came over to ask what I would like to drink. I said water, while the others refilled their specialty drinks. The drinks were quickly brought out along with a selection of finger food. I noted there were slight traces of energy in all the creatures.

Welcome to the good life, Song Mo said to me with a smile.

It is always like this? I asked.

Yes. The faction takes half of anything we earn, so it is more than paid for, she replied. My heart seized up at that. Half?! That was robbery. How would I ever repay my debt since I would have to give half of it up. Then there were more cultivation resources, equipment, and everything else.

What about contributing in other ways? Like crafting? I asked.

For the specialty stuff, which is all handled out of faction. We have some allied crafting factions we work with. For the lesser stuff, that is what the servants are for. Why, were you thinking about earning money between jobs? Song Wen asked.

Yes. I was thinking about ways to supplement my income, I replied.

Take more missions, but the risks go up and your pay decreases. Also, there are only so many missions, Song Mo said.

Indeed, there is a limited amount to go around. Well, I am sure you will find something to do, Song Wen added.

What about starting a business? Who would I need to speak to about that? I asked.

A business? Maybe the faction quartermaster or their assistant, but their position is as high or higher than a tower master. Other tower masters handle specific duties inside the faction, but normally the faction focuses on a specific type of trade itself, Song Mo said. I nodded at this, frustrated but not surprised.

These were all things Bones had explained to me before, but I wanted to confirm. Businesses tended to fall under the purview of the faction itself or tower masters who had the wealth to invest. If I could run a business myself, that would be it. I would just be able to run it myself. There were too many other interests to consider otherwise.

Ha! Oh, that is a good joke, Song Wen said.

Youre serious, arent you? Song Zhang asked while staring at me.

I heard it was a good way to get credits, I said.

And die horribly. The things out there. Well, even the faction leader would be hesitant. You have to be from one of the mega-factions to even consider such a thing. And a lot of power to back yourself up. Sure, people go out there, but you never know what you will run into, Song Mo said and shook her head.

At least with cultivators you know what to expect and can assess danger. But out there, poking around different bubbles, you are just asking for the wrong kind of attention. Anything worth taking will always be claimed by something stronger, Song Zhang said.

So, no trading with other cultivation societies or super-organizations? I asked.

That is the kind of stuff the Heavenly Alliance handles. Not low-level people like us. Sure, there is the very rare job that might lead outside the Forever City, but they arent worth doing. Too much risk, compared to whatever reward is being handed out, Song Mo explained.

There went another idea up in flames on how to make money. Post scarcity societies sucked for capitalism. I had known this before, but it was incredibly aggravating at the moment. The opportunities for any kind of advancement were just non-existent. And all these high-level cultivators did not want any kind of entertainment. They were aesthetic monks, lusting after more power. Sure it appeared that the portions of the tower were luxuriously decorated, but at a certain point it was just a matter of personal preference.

When one had millions of credits of wealth they could move around at a whim and were immortal, they would see to their comfort first. But even the drinks and food I was enjoying, only cost bits, fractions of a credit as their raw value. They werent even valuable enough for a faction to consider charging for them.

Even if the faction spent ten credits a day on a member for a hundred years, or cycles, it was only 365,000 credits. That amount would be easily earned back from just one of their missions. The economy didnt have a need for physical goods, it was a service economy. With the primary service of any value being violence.

It was weird to look at such an advanced society, seeing them come so far, and be so utterly barren of societal advancement.

There has to be other opportunities around here, I said.

If you find any, let us know, Song Mo added.

Better than sitting around and just chatting most of the time, Song Wen said.

What about training combat skills or techniques? I asked.

We do that, but there is only so good you can get just practicing. What we do works. It is all about slow and steady, building up those credits, Song Zhang answered.

I then realized that all of these members were immortals. It should have been obvious before, but they were so far above me. It was just that the faction didnt have a low enough rank for a member like me. If they knew my actual strength, they would be truly shocked. I was the lowest of the low in terms of ability and power.

With the observation blockers on place on all of us, there was no way to tell how strong we all were. That was the same reason beings were hesitant to start fights. Strength was normally assumed by ones position. Since I was a faction member, they assumed that while I was weak based on my statements, I was on a similar level to them.

But the truth was, all three of them were far above me. That difference was hard to process. They were content to take the safe jobs, since time was not a valuable resource for them. There was no rush to get stronger. The safer they were, the longer they would live, which would naturally allow them to earn more credits and increase their strength however immortals increased their strength.

That is frustrating. I was hoping to start a business of some kind, I said.

When you run a tower, then you can. But getting a tower, now that is incredibly hard. And this faction doesnt do that, since it invites trouble. Normally we are nestled in with other dispersed factions or allied with a larger faction where our towers are located, Song Zhang answered.

I nodded at this. They were being surprisingly helpful, but it made sense. If karma impacted me, they were probably trying to place me in their debt. As for Qiang You, him helping me in any way massively tilted the scales in his favor. The sad part was that all of these cultivators would be confused since I was unbound to karma. I was too weak. And I probably would never be bound. It all depended on the path I took once I reached immortality, which was a very far distance away.

Looking around I saw a few other small groups chatting and a couple individuals sitting by themselves as well. Seems like there are a lot of members, I said.

Well this faction is more concentrated than most. But we also need members to defend in case of an attack. You cant leave yourself defenseless, you know? Song Wen said.

Just surprised at how many members there are. Like a thousand per tower? I asked.

I would say that is about right. But the numbers arent made public for security reasons. And everyone has their own little groups they prefer. We just like to greet the new people like yourself, Song Mo said, clearly implying that after this I wouldnt be welcomed. Clearly, they were trying to get some kind of karma advantage on people who showed up, like a hazing ritual.

That is understandable. Thank you for sharing so much, I replied, knowing that their plan had backfired. Even the nice people were looking out for themselves. At least I had a much better idea of how the TripleX faction actually worked now and the organizational structure. This tended to be much more unique for every faction along with their primary revenue source was.

Looking around again, I noticed some members playing board games, others reading stuff on pads, and it was a pretty calm atmosphere. The kind you would find at an elite social club. I felt like I was an imposter and didnt belong here. While everyone had observation blockers, they were all immortals. It was incredibly stressful and made me feel weird in a way that I hadnt felt in a long time.

While I was part of this club, I didnt feel like part of it. While I continued to listen and chat with the three Song cultivators who had invited me to sit down, I realized I was entertainment for them as well. There was rarely anything knew and I could see them looking at me and my reactions. They probably had spoken with their counterparts, countless times.

Are there any social tournaments like for games? I asked once there was a lull in the conversation.

There are events hosted by the Heavenly Alliance that you can look up. They cost a lot of credits to join and the competition is tough. The Dimensional Go competition is legendary, Song Zhang answered. I soon learned that Go was apparently too simple and easy, so a three dimensional version of that game was the most popular past time for competitive individuals.

If you hadnt played a million games and studied for at least ten thousand cycles, or years, it wasnt even worth attempting to compete. It would just be a crushing humiliation. The grand masters played games that lasted around five to ten cycles. With some moves involving weeks of contemplation.

There were other games out there and competitions, but one needed credits and a lot of time to invest. The immortals who pursued these hobbies were incredibly competitive. And even the most hopeless of individuals would get better with endless time to practice. It was impossible for me to find any traction in that area of the Forever City. Another aspect of the culture Bones had failed to mention.

It was a minor detail, but an important one. There was a middle class out there. I just needed to find the right item to appeal to cultivators and a method of distribution. But the market was there. I would need to put a lot more thought into any kind of business idea I came up with.