Slumrat Rising

Truth snagged the Major’s cap and wallet on the way out the door. The cap went on his head, the wallet into the sack with the rest of the loot. He rushed down the hall. If he saw a policeman or internal security type, they got a needle to the head courtesy of Major Tsu’s needler and Graeme’s arrow.

Graeme's arrow punched through skulls and cinder block walls with equal ease. Truth’s Level Four Cultivation made overpenetration a serious problem. Which was fine. Overkill was kind of the point. He raced around until he found the comms room- altars with their code tables laid out, and a frantic cop reporting that they were under attack by someone. Truth put the needler to the back of cop’s head, and coughed.

“Sorry to interrupt, but don’t worry, I’m here to help you. You want to give them more answers, right? Nod your head.”

The cop nodded, sweat running down his face. There were screams coming from all over the building. Over penetration was terrifying that way. All of a sudden, your concrete wall wasn’t protecting you any more. Death could come at any time, from any direction.

“Tell them that I have taken you captive.” Truth waited. “Tell them that I will speak through you.” He waited again, as the message was relayed.

“They, they want-”

“No. They will listen. Hear now the words of the King. Major Tsu was the first, his name picked out of a hat by laughing soldiers. On the other slips of paper are generals, ministers, merchants and others who think they are important or powerful. And there are the names of their parents, their children, their pets. Their hidden bastards and lovers. And we are going to pick a new name out of the hat whenever we want.”

The cop looked ill, repeating what Truth said. His face had lost all color, the blue veins over his temples looked like they were going green.

“Some days we will pick a lot of names, other days, just one. But every day, you will lose people. Every day you will hurt. Not because we expect you to surrender, or even apologize. It is far, far too late for that. We just want you to know what is coming. The King of the World will descend on the Great White Mountain once more, and all heaven and earth will give their obedience.”

“All the people of the world will be ranked and ordered in their proper places. All cared for, all given proper lives. Except for the people of the dead nation of Onis. You dared bare your fangs at the ritual site. You dared try to dirty the purification. You dared raise your heads before the servants of the King. Your families, your descendants, will never raise their heads again. You will be below even the slaves. Forever. And there is nothing you can do to stop the King’s rise.”

The cop looked like he was about to faint. He finished repeating the words, and waited.

“Thank you for your service. As a reward, you will be spared the sight of what your nation will become.” Truth knew his words would be picked up by the altar. As would the sound of the needler ripping through the cop. He felt ill doing it. Killing the Major was, somehow, fine. This felt ugly. Well. Ugly was kind of the point, so he would have to suck it up and deal.

Job done. He raced out of the station, ignoring the armory. A lone wolf terrorist might need to liberate equipment. The PMC never would. On the horizon, he could see a blizzard of flying clouds coming in, as well as summoned spell beasts of various sizes. Nothing he needed to stick around for. Truth got running.

It would be another night sleeping on the forest floor. But that was fine. He could deal. He was playing a fool, not an idiot. Onis had a reputation for both thoroughness and not giving the vaguest damn about the comfort or convenience of its citizens. They would search every scrap of the city, digging three meters deep if necessary, to try and catch his trace.

He smiled grimly. Truth’s body was now refined to a degree he wouldn’t have imagined was possible on this planet. Seamless, as the System called it. Any diviners trying to sniff him out would be very disappointed.

He found a spot about twenty kilometers from the city. Near a stream, with a ridge of earth between him and the wind. It wasn’t luxurious, but it would more than do.

Truth started sorting through the loot. There was a little currency from the Major’s wallet, though not as much as he had hoped. It seemed he would be stuck shoplifting for the foreseeable future. As for the rest… he had no idea what any of it was. Very important looking ledgers, memoranda, reports… office stuff.

System, little help?

>

Truth nodded and started doing just that.

>

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Oh? I don’t think there are any problems. Better than ever, really.

>

Start with basic ideas and build up?

>

Sure. And the deck was stacked in such a way that I was definitely going to pick the Meditations.

>

Wait, what?

>

Truth felt his face twitching. It made sense. It made complete sense. He had been chalking it up to the Meditations making him “more real” than everything around him.

>

Oh God. Alright, so what’s this got to do with whatever changes you have been seeing with my body cultivation?

>

There was a pause. Then a longer pause. Truth looked up from flipping through the reports to stare blankly at a tree.

You… doing okay there? I know the Snake that Eats Its Own Tail did something to you too.

thing. The body cultivation, the spells, the blessings, your understanding of the universe and how you, yourself work, your understanding of reality- all of it. Imploding and condensing into a singular, perfect whole. Self sustaining. Not needing anything from outside itself but able to accept things from outside itself, on its own terms.>>

Truth tried to process that. He could understand what the system was talking about. Everything worked together. Everything reinforced each other.

Body cultivation is more or less normal on other planets, right?

>

So let's assume that this is the “normal” or “right” way to cultivate. Level one- body cultivation. Build the foundation for everything else. Level Two through Nine, you are stacking spells. You only get eight plus the body cultivation, so you better pick good ones with lots of utility. Because your spells are going to define you, literally, when you break through the barrier at Level Nine.

Truth started nodding, feeling like things were coming together.

It’s why modern magic is so easy to pick up, and so limited by comparison. There is no need to be complex. The user isn’t breaking through the barrier. It’s why the old fashioned spells all seem to have personalities too- they really are an expression of their creator’s personality. Someone broke that barrier and passed down a bit of their understanding of how the cosmos worked to achieve a certain effect.

>

The better you understand your spells, the better you understand the universe and the principals that make it up, the better you understand yourself and how you think and feel about things, the more perfect a system you have after you break through the barrier. The stronger your universe is, I guess. Maybe you can’t even break through until you reach a certain level of understanding.

>

It’s why I came so far, so fast with Incisive. I literally had a revelation of Botis. I could see how he existed. “Self Contained” would be a pretty good term for him.

>

Truth was stumped by that one for a long time.

That night passed uncomfortably, but quickly enough. Truth packed up his few belongings and started jogging off down the road again. The looted data listed some confidential informants, cooperating business people, and hidden police stations. Nothing major on a national scale, regional stuff. He would see how many he could hit in a reasonably short period. Paranoia should carry him the rest of the way.

He wasn’t strong enough to crack the mountain fortress. But the last-ditch, desperate efforts of the frankly enormous army of Onis, determined to save their skins and those of their descendants? He liked their chances. At the very least, they would force Starbrite to reveal more of their hidden cards.

He tisked reprovingly as he jogged along. This was more being a terrorist than a fool. Provoking the overreaction. On the other hand, maybe the greatest sign of a fool was making a fool of others. Besides, he was still planning on charging into the dark tower alone. He had a princess to save.

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