Path to the Apocalypse

In a small, cramped room covered in maps and reports, the woman who had given Victoria the Potion of Awakening held a report in her hands, staring down at it with a dark expression. The paper crumpled in her hands as she clenched her fists. "All my plans… ruined!" She cursed through gritted teeth.

A low chuckle sounded out as another woman entered the room. "You're so cute when your precious little plans go awry~ Don't worry. My forces can break through any defense Farova can conjure up. If a single nation could cause us any problems, then this entire operation would be pointless."

"That isn't the point!" The first woman retorted petulantly, turning to face her. "This was supposed to be my contribution! I was supposed to pave the way into Farova, weakening their defenses so that we could simply roll over them like the insignificant speck they are! Now- now they're going to be more prepared than ever! We're going to waste time and resources on Farova!"

"Shhhhh, it's okay. I understand. It's frustrating when things go wrong, I know." The second woman cooed, pulling the first into an embrace and petting her hair. "Now tell me, what was supposed to happen?"

"The girl was supposed to die!" The first woman exclaimed in frustration. "The Marquis would be broken, the Duke would abandon him, and our forces could roll over the border and break through their patchwork defenses like paper! Even if she did survive, I guaranteed her entrance into the sect! She'd break off the engagement and the Duke would still break off any support to the Marquis. But then! Then the damn fool goes and disappears on everyone, causing the Lord Inspector to arrive and send for the Duke's men! The border will have twice the manpower to defend it now, right where Farova is best placed to withstand our invasion! This one, annoying bottleneck that could have been weakened to the point of insignificance, is now stronger than ever!"

"So we take a little more time. It's okay!" The second woman comforted her. "It might even be better! If we'd simply rolled over Farova, then the other kingdoms would be alarmed, and they'd harden their defenses. If it looks like we're struggling with Farova, then the other kingdoms will dismiss all this as something that isn't going to affect them, because if we struggle with Farova, then obviously we're no threat to them."

The first woman scowled. "So I was foolish for even attempting all this, is that it?"

The second woman shook her head. "Of course not! If you'd succeed in weakening them, then we could have simply dedicated less resources to the invasion and gotten the same effect, which would help us appear even weaker while preserving our forces. Now we'll have to show a bit more of our hand in order to take Farova. But it's merely an annoyance. It isn't something to be concerned about. Besides! Look at what your actions have accomplished! This Victoria girl is a marvel! Awakened for barely a month and a half, and she's already a dual core! And you've already guaranteed that talent is ours! No competition with Wisdom's Curse or those damn Champions of Battle!"

The first woman hesitated. "True, but… she's cultivating Spirit and Essence! She hasn't even touched Qi! I'd almost swear the little bitch is doing it just to spite-"

"You know that isn't how it works." The second woman snapped. "Runes aren't chosen, they chose. Besides, her cultivating Essence and Spirit isn't a problem, it's a gift! We specialize in teaching Qi skills! We can practically guarantee she'll Acquire a Qi Rune, which means we'll have yet another high level Cultivator to add to our ranks!"

"Yes, but one who despises us!" The first woman retorted. "She already dislikes us for forcing her to join our sect, and once she learns we're the ones behind Tamara… all that power will be turned on us!"

"She won't learn that until the late stages of our plan, at which point she will have spent years in our sect. Years I will use to Train her." The second woman grinned wickedly, her hands lightly trailing along the first woman's hips, causing a shiver to run through her body. "You know how effective my Training can be."

The first woman let out a small whimper as she curled into the second woman's arms. "But- if she does find out-"

"She won't know a thing until after she's firmly under my thumb." The second woman declared firmly. "The value of a potential tri-core is worth delaying our plans for the moment. We'll wait until she enters the sect, and then we'll act."

The first woman nodded weakly, unable to do anything other than agree to whatever this woman said as her hands roamed her body. "As long as I can have the Rogue Cultivator Ursa." She murmured. "He owes me a bear!"

*

After skipping dinner and staying up all night to cultivate, Victoria finally had enough Essence to experiment with. "Okay, so… layering." Victoria muttered to herself, drawing Essence from her core and moving it towards her arm. The moment the Essence left her body, it turned… thick. It was like a slightly more liquid rubber. She reached out to touch it, feeling the resistance of it, pushing her fingers through it to reach her skin, and finally smacking it. "Huh… it's like a non-Newtonian fluid." She then attempted the 'layering' she'd learned from her Bladework Rune, which actually involved splitting the Essence into different sections and letting it 'flow'. This time, when she tried to touch it, the Essence felt hard, more like rock, or shell. "Huh…" Victoria grunted. "Why layers?" She frowned. What was happening was that by keeping the Essence flowing, it would harden no matter how fast something hit it, because the flow naturally brought the necessary speed. But couldn't she just spin it? That'd be less taxing mentally. Not that she had much of an issue since her points and Spirit gave her mental capabilities a significant boost, but still, the flow her Bladework Rune gave her was complicated. It swirled up and around and side to side in a complex map. She was sure there was a good reason for it, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

Victoria frowned at the Essence barrier for a moment, before sighing and letting it return to her core. She'd need to experiment more with that later, but for now she had the next trick to try: attaching her Essence to her skin. Which… didn't really seem to do much until she tried cutting it. As soon as she did, the wound visibly began to close. Not at any insane rate, but over the course of the next few minutes, it went from a dark red line to a barely pink mark. "Eh, points are faster." Victoria muttered, which brought her to her next experiment of the day: attempting to do all this with points instead of Essence. Just as she did before, she sent her points towards her skin, but this time she knew what to do with them. Unlike Spirit, Essence was more… cohesive. Victoria didn't have the words to explain why, because while there definitely were principles to how it all worked, it didn't work in any way Victoria was familiar with. She knew that with matter, molecules were either more or less attracted to each other, based on their composition, and that was how viscosity was determined, but Spirit, Essence, and Points weren't made of particles. They simply were, and part of that could mean being more or less viscous. The question then became, could her points adjust their viscosity?

Victoria focused on her points in a way she never had before. So far, her points had been able to do anything she thought of, but this wasn't a matter of making the points do something, but of changing the nature of what the points were. Just how mutable were they? As she focused on them, attempting to gaze into the very nature of what they were, she began to feel something else, a strange draw from the points. She frowned, focusing on the sensation, until she felt a sudden shift. One moment she was a person focusing on points, and the next she was the points! They weren't just connected, they were one and the same! Her body slumped as she- or they? It? Whatever the points were drifted out of Victoria. It only had a vague awareness of its surroundings as it began to panic. All it could see was a world of red, the red denser in some areas and lighter in others. In particular, there were two incredibly dense pockets where it remembered Victoria's body being, the one above glowing brighter than the one below. In a panic, the points shot back towards the brightest spot, trying to reconnect with Victoria's body. As the points touched her body, they were suddenly sucked back in, and Victoria reopened her eyes with a panicked gasp. Her heart was pounding in her chest as her mouth went dry. What the fuck just happened?!? Why- why had she become the points?!? Why had they left her body!?!

"Victoria? Is everything okay?" Beatrice asked, her tone full of concern as she rushed to Victoria's side. She'd been cleaning after a session of meditating on her Rune, putting what she'd learned into practice, when she'd seen Victoria collapse, then sit back up with a gasp. Had- had something gone wrong with her cultivation?

"I'm fine. Everything's fine." Victoria assured her, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. While the experience had been jarring, it hadn't been painful or anything like that. It was simply confusing and disconcerting.

Beatrice frowned at her. "Victoria, you said we weren't supposed to hide things from each other…"

Victoria flushed. "I- I'm not! Nothing bad happened, I just- I kinda… merged with my points and had an out of body experience. I only freaked out a little bit because I didn't expect it. I'm fine, really."

Beatrice narrowed her eyes at her for a moment, before nodding slightly. "If you say so… just- let- let me know if you need anything, okay?"

Victoria smiled, shaking her head. "I will, don't worry." She snickered lightly, before pulling her in for a quick kiss. It felt good to have someone to care for her. As Beatrice went back to cleaning with a slight flush, Victoria refocused, frowning slightly. After her little… excursion, a few things had changed. First, that red world was still there, all around her. It suffused everything, the only difference between the air and the walls a slight difference in density. She could vaguely make out objects, but she had to concentrate. People on the other hand… Victoria glanced towards Beatrice. Most of her body was like everything else, but her head, specifically her brain, glowed. Sparks of red lightning played through her mind, moving in circuits before disappearing as a new thread was born. However, in her mind… there was nothing. She could see maids through the floor, with brains just like Beatrice's. Beatrice was normal. She- she was not. *What- what am I?!?* Victoria's breathing began to quicken as a quick existential crisis set in, before she shook her head, pushing it aside. No matter what, she was who she was, be it as Thomas, Victoria, or even as the points. Worrying about things she couldn't change wouldn't do anything.

Speaking of change, Victoria turned her attention to her points. The vision of the red world hadn't simply given her a view of her cores and the energy within, but it also gave her an insight into its nature. The cores didn't just glow, they glowed at a certain… Victoria wanted to call it a frequency, but that wasn't quite it. It wasn't like the energy was vibrating in waves, it was just… shifted. However, her points weren't. Her points were like the red world, with no shift, only concentrated. However, when she sent out her points to turn into a mist to analyze an object, the points shifted to match her Spirit! She then shifted her points in a different direction, and the points turned to sludge just like Essence, and summarily plopped to the floor. Victoria snorted, returning her points to their blank state and calling them back. No floating barriers for her. Though… if she plastered the points across a door or something…

Victoria paused as she felt a pull from somewhere beyond her new… point vision? She followed the pull and- a sweaty, well rounded butt gripped by large, rough hands filled her vision, accompanying the feeling of being inside someone, and a surge of euphoria. Victoria sputtered as she flinched away from the sight. “What- was that-!” Victoria gagged, shivering in horror at what she'd just experienced.

“Victoria?” Beatrice asked hesitantly. “What-”

“You don't want to know.” Victoria cut her off with a shudder, still trying to scrub what she'd just experienced from her mind. “Just- no.”

Beatrice frowned. “Victoria…”

Victoria sighed. “Beatrice, I'm not hiding anything! I just don't think you need to know I just saw Ursa and Foratuna having sex!”

Beatrice immediately flushed. “Oh. But- how?”

Victoria shook her head. “I don't know. Something to do with the points. I'm just-” She shuddered again. “Still processing.”

Beatrice paused. “Maybe- maybe a distraction would help?”

“What do you-” Victoria cut off as Beatrice began to slip out of her dress. “Oh… yeah, that could work.”

*

After a brief, but thoroughly cleansing diversion, Victoria continued through her normal routine, slowly adjusting to her new vision, which allowed her to see all the energy within an about ten meter radius sphere around her, though if there were walls or other obstructions in the way, it did shorten her vision. She could still see through them, just not as far as she could if they weren't there, and she had no idea why. She also learned she could instinctively locate anyone who had the system now, which only included Beatrice, Ursa, and Foratuna at the moment, and she could see cores and judge their relative strength based on how bright they glowed.

There was a slight hitch as she began her daily tasks, when she was about to send her points out again to weaken herself, she froze as she remembered what had happened earlier. If she sent her points out and she ended up leaving her body again… Victoria hesitated, before letting out a frustrated groan and just doing it. She could do it before, why not now? She winced as the last point left, letting out a sigh of relief as she stayed in her body. Of course she could always return if she hadn't, but somehow it just felt wrong to leave her body like that. Or maybe it was just the fact that it reminded her that it wasn't really her body… Which actually hurt a little, because she was starting to like being Victoria. To love her family. To feel like she belonged. And the reminder that she probably didn't set an ache in her chest that she just couldn't shake.

Victoria grimaced as she refocused on her tasks, focusing on them to distract herself from the dark thoughts circling her mind. When that didn't help as much as she'd hoped, she began planning for the future as well. With her Essence core formed and the Assimilation of her Design Rune being only a matter of time, it wouldn't be long until she entered a sect. Unfortunately, if nothing changed, the sect she'd be forced to enter would be the Hidden Blades… Victoria couldn't be certain, but it seemed like a good bet that the sect that thought it was a good idea to give out Potions of Awakening to people it'd most likely kill on the off chance that it wouldn't would also be the sect that thought it was a good idea to go Empire. Being forced to join the sect that would most likely murder her entire family did not sound pleasant.

Unfortunately, she didn't see any other option. She didn't have any way to contact another sect without alerting the Hidden Blades. Not only that, she didn't have any proof that the Hidden Blades were the ones working with Tamara, so even if she did have a way to talk to any of the other sects, why would they believe her? If she could somehow gather some proof, hide it until the sect entrance exam, and present the proof without the Hidden Blades simply offing her the moment she opened her mouth, she might be able to save herself, but her family? They were screwed. They'd be the front line of any war, and unlike the other sects, the Hidden Blades were prepared. She was sure eventually the other sects would win, but it would take time, and in that time, her family, and probably the rest of Farova, as well as more than a few of the other small nations in the area, would take the brunt of Tamara and the Hidden Blades wrath.

Victoria's expression twisted as she faced the inevitable loss of everything she'd come to care about again. She might be able to save Beatrice, and Ursa could disappear on his own, but the rest? Her parents? Maurice? Calvin? What was she supposed to do for them? There was no way the Marquis would abandon his lands. He would remain and face the Tamarins with his people, the damn noble bastard. He might send Calvin and Melissa away, but to where? And what kind of life would they have after he inevitably fell to the Tamarins? They would lose everything and end up either dependent on the mercy of someone else or left with nothing and forced to fend for themselves. At least Melissa was a Cultivator as well, so she had something to use to support herself, but still, it wouldn't be pretty. And that was if everything went well! At the moment, all she could do was watch helplessly as the Tamarins rolled over her family, crushing their people, and moving on to the rest of Farova, before whatever the next step was in their plan to take over everything.

Victoria let out a frustrated sigh. "If only we were on their side." They'd still end up being the grunts in this stupid war, but at least they'd have support. No one would give two shits about defending Farova, but Tamara and the Hidden Blades needed all the support they could get. Victoria suddenly paused. Could they be on their side? If she found that woman who'd given her the Potion of Awakening… if it was the Hidden Blades, then she might be able to negotiate a deal, right? Make them agree to protect her family and let them keep their lands, and in exchange they could simply march right into Farova. Victoria didn't give two shits about Farova either, not when she had to hide her cultivation or be killed by them for being too talented. The Marquis may have some issue with that, but when forced to choose between the well-being of his people and loyalty to his nation, Victoria was almost certain he'd choose his people. If it wasn't the Hidden Blades… Well, then she'd just have alerted a sect about the fact that one of the others was going Empire, and after that it wasn't her problem any more. She'd let them investigate, and then whatever happens happens. It'd almost definitely be better than anything she could do.

The question was, would the Hidden Blades actually be interested? Or would they just kill her? It wasn't like Farova was much of a hurdle. Maurice had made it very clear that they were one of the weakest nations. They didn't have any notable resources, they hadn't developed any great technology (though Victoria had some ideas on that), they weren't part of any major trade network, and even dual-core Cultivators were rare, let alone tri-cores. The only thing they really had going for them were large tracts of land for farming, but they didn't really have the population to take advantage of it, or the strength of arms to retake it from the Rune Beasts. If they were just dealing with Tamara, which was in a similar situation, maybe her offer would mean something, but the Hidden Blades wouldn't give two shits about Farova. Then again, if they were just dealing with Tamara, she wouldn't need to make the offer.

Victoria let out a frustrated sigh. "I need more leverage." How could she make the Hidden Blades more interested? What did they care about? Victoria paused. Well, obviously they wanted more Cultivators. That's sort of how she got into this situation, isn't it? Quite literally, actually. Without the Hidden Blades, Victoria, or Thomas she supposed, would have probably ended up in some other poor dead schmuck. Or just dead… the specifics of how she actually became Victoria were still fairly fuzzy. However, the point was, Victoria could absolutely make Cultivators. She'd already proven she could spread the system like wildfire in her last world, and she didn't imagine it'd be much harder in this one. She'd also proven the system could make people Awaken just yesterday with Beatrice. What burgeoning Empire wouldn't be excited about the ability to Awaken literally anyone without endangering their lives? Without worrying about the resources needed to make a potion? Or the skill required to actually make the potion? Victoria paused at that last point, the Hidden Blades push to go Empire suddenly making sense. They were Qi Cultivators! They specialized in Qi skills, like alchemy! With the Potion of Awakening, plus their skill in alchemy, they could afford to waste them on things like Awakening bears. That is, if the sect behind Tamara actually was the Hidden Blades… It did make more and more sense the more she thought about it though.

Victoria frowned as she considered the wisdom of actually sharing the system with the Hidden Blades. If she did, then it essentially guaranteed their victory, no matter which side they were on. There were simply too many advantages to it. Even if the Hidden Blades weren't the ones planning on going Empire, after getting their hands on the system, they might just go for it anyway. Did she really want that? Victoria scowled. No, not really. Not yet anyway. She did have to admit that most of her dislike for the sect came from her interactions with a single member, which didn't necessarily represent the nature of the entire sect. Maybe she'd just met a bad egg? It was certainly possible, though the state of Tamara and Ursa's stories didn't make her all that optimistic either… but what other options did she have? Even if she spread the system to the Marquis's troops, it'd take years before any of them were any sort of threat to a sect, and according to the conversations Ursa had overheard back when he was still a War Bear, they only had a few months, max. Probably less.

So, if she had to do it, she had to be smart about it. She'd need to gut the thing down to barely anything. No skill page, no heal, no spending points to increase cultivation, no nothing. Just tasks and a button to Awaken, and that's it. If they wanted anything more, they'd need to make it worth her while. Honestly, if she was being honest, she'd really rather avoid giving the system to any of them… maybe she could use her points to Awaken someone, without using the system? Victoria paused. It should be possible, right? Though… that might not be enough for the Hidden Blades. They already had the Potion of Awakening after all. Yes, her method was safer, but if she was the only one who could do it, it had limited usefulness. Additionally, it'd still cost her points every time she did it, so they'd need to constantly feed her cores to keep her going. If she was just giving out the system, they could do their own tasks and spend their own points, which would be better for everyone involved.

Victoria paused as she suddenly remembered her reserve plan, which she'd completely forgotten about after everything with the woman from the Hidden Blades, Ursa, and Duke Duhallis. If she gave the Hidden Blades the system and gave them enough motivation to give the system to all their people, making them gain more and more points, building up that reserve… then at any point she could basically overthrow whatever they built, couldn't she? The moment she released that reserve and the whole sect would erupt as the lower ranks jumped in power! Given what she'd seen so far, she couldn't imagine the rank and file of the Hidden Blades were very satisfied with their treatment, so the moment they had the power, they'd riot, overturning whatever plans the Hidden Blades may have had! Now she just needed to figure out if she could actually do that…