Path to the Apocalypse

*Have you had any luck finding suspicious individuals in town?* Victoria asked Ursa. If she wanted to do what she'd planned, she needed to actually find the bitch who'd gotten Victoria killed. Unfortunately, it was the one thing she had no idea how to actually do. Gutting the system was easy. So easy, she'd already done it by simply deactivating every button but the one to Awaken. She figured her plan would work better when the Hidden Blades could see the options, but not actually be able to use them, giving them more motivation to actually gain points. Just knowing what the points could do would make them so much more attractive. She'd also made the rule to reserve seventy-five percent of all points gained, but neither Ursa or Beatrice had gained points since, so she didn't know if it worked.

*Unfortunately, no.* Ursa sent back in a frustrated grumble. *Your town simply has too much traffic, Hunters always coming and going as they please. It's like trying to find a needle in a constantly shifting haystack!*

Victoria frowned. *So there's no way to find her?*

*There is a minor chance I will happen to run into her as I walk around, but otherwise? No. The town is simply too large with too many people moving through it.* Ursa replied.

Victoria sighed in frustration. *Damn it!* If Ursa couldn't find his handler, then finding the woman who'd given her the Potion of Awakening wouldn't be any easier. Particularly since both of them were probably trying to hide, not just living in the town like normal Hunters. However, if she couldn't find at least one of them, then no matter what she wanted to do, she'd be helpless. Victoria paused. Maybe there was another way? The one was obviously watching her, or at least she had been. If she could do something to draw her attention… The best way to find a needle was a magnet after all. Or a fire.

The question was how. Obviously if she started mouthing off about the Hidden Blades trying to go Empire, she'd get their attention, but they'd probably just kill her at that point. Plus, if she wanted to actually work with them, giving away their plans probably wasn't the best idea. Maybe if she spread a rumor that she was looking to get in contact with the Champions of Battle? The Hidden Blades hated them, and vice-versa, so the woman might think she's trying to escape and come to threaten her again. The problem was, Victoria had no way of actually contacting anyone, and the woman probably knew that, so she might not take the rumor seriously.

Victoria paused. What if she spread the rumor that she was looking for the person who'd given her the Potion of Awakening? What if she actually just started looking, offering rewards for any leads? Though… the Marquis was probably already doing that. Still, the woman knew she knew who had given her the Potion of Awakening. If she started looking for her, it'd be clear that she was looking for her, and if she was paying attention… maybe she'd show up? It was better than any other idea she had.

Victoria nodded, turning her attention back to Ursa. *Start spreading the rumor that I'm looking for the person who gave me the Potion of Awakening.*

Ursa blinked. *Why?* Wouldn't she actually want to just look for the person? Why spread a rumor?

*Because I want the person who gave me the Potion of Awakening to know I'm looking for them.* Victoria replied. *I have something I want to talk to them about.*

*Ah, you know who gave you the Potion of Awakening. I see.* Ursa nodded in understanding. No wonder Victoria had been asking him about his progress. She had someone she wanted to find herself. *You think this rumor will actually draw their attention?*

Victoria shrugged. *I'm hoping. If not, then I have to rely on luck, and I'd really rather not. Particularly since I don't have the freedom to simply wander around town like some people do.*

Ursa snorted. *As if anyone could stop you if you really wanted to. Maurice already warned me of your proclivity to wander off. I've been warned to not take you anywhere in the wilderness, no matter how much you beg.*

Victoria paused. *Just the wilderness? Not town?*

*I asked the same thing, and Maurice replied that if you aren't safe with me in town, you aren't safe with anyone.* Ursa replied.

*That- is good to know.* Victoria muttered.

*

The rest of the day passed normally, with the sole exception that family dinner had replaced AJ with Semloh, which… Well, it wasn't exactly awkward, but it wasn't comfortable either, everyone keeping the conversation surface level and avoiding sensitive topics, like what happened with AJ and what Dude Duhallis had tried to do to Victoria. Victoria reminded herself that she really needed to talk things over with her mother and Calvin. They both kept giving her concerned glances throughout dinner, and she needed to assure them she was okay. She could probably talk to Calvin tonight, actually…

"Hey, you want to play some games?" Victoria asked Calvin as dinner finished. He nodded and they headed towards Victoria's room.

"So… the Duke-" Calvin began

"The Duke tried to do something, but he failed. You really don't need to worry about it." Victoria interrupted him.

"But-"

"But nothing! He failed, and he can't do anything to me any more, trust me." Victoria assured him. "I made sure of it."

Calvin gave her a weird look, before nodding. "Okay. Is that why you were acting so weird for a bit? All angry and…"

"Bitchy?" Victoria offered, grinning slightly. "It definitely didn't help. Though… there were other factors that made me get angrier than I really needed to… it's been a rough month."

Calvin snorted. "I honestly don't know how you're doing as well as you are. If I suddenly woke up one day with no memory of who I am, strange ideas about how the world should work, and faced with either getting powerful or marrying some jerk… I don't think I'd have done as well as you have."

"I think you would have done fine. Honestly, I was so busy for the first few weeks, I barely had time to think, let alone freak out. As long as you just keep focusing on the next thing you need to get done it's pretty easy to just ignore everything that could absolutely ruin your life. Do what you can, don't focus on what you can't." Victoria replied.

Calvin frowned. "Isn't that just like… delusional?"

Victoria shrugged. "Maybe? But don't you think it's better to be a bit delusional than to be miserable? If there's nothing you can do about a problem, why not ignore it?" Calvin grunted noncommittally, not arguing, but not completely agreeing either as he mulled the idea over. Victoria grinned as she watched him think, before freezing as they got close to her quarters, her expression hardening. "I'm sorry Calvin, but we're going to need to play later."

Calvin's eyes widened. "What? Why!?!"

"I just realized I have something else to deal with." Victoria sighed. "I promise, we'll play tomorrow, alright?"

Calvin grimaced, before letting out a sigh of his own. "Fine. I'll see you tomorrow." He grumbled, before turning and stalking off.

Victoria watched him go with a complicated expression, sorry she was canceling on him, but unable to do anything else. Because waiting in her room was a person with two very bright cores. "Your senses have improved." The woman replied, raising an eyebrow at Victoria as she entered the room, emerging from the shadows and crossing her arms.

"And you got here pretty quick." Victoria retorted. "I was thinking I'd have to wait at least a week."

The woman snorted. "Your friend is far from subtle. We've been watching him from the moment he began poking around in town."

Victoria tsked. "Figures. I probably shouldn't have expected a powerful Cultivator that suddenly appeared and gained the local lord's favor to just be ignored."

The woman let out a sharp laugh. "No, no you shouldn't have. Now, why did you want to see me? You've already missed the Summer exam if you're looking to enter the sect early. You'll need to wait until Fall."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Look, are you guys the ones trying to go Empire with Tamara?" Victoria asked. She probably could have been more surreptitious about it all, but why? It'd all boil down to asking her straight out either way.

The woman froze, her eyes widening, then suddenly she was across the room, pinning Victoria to the wall by her throat. "How did you learn about this?!?" She hissed in a threatening tone.

"I'll-" Victoria coughed. "I'll take that as a yes. Don't worry, I haven't told anyone. I don't plan on telling anyone either. I'd rather not see my home turn into the front lines of a sect war."

"How. Did. You. KNOW!?!" The woman asked again, pressing harder against Victoria's throat, causing her to choke a bit before she released enough to let her talk.

"The bear told me!" Victoria choked out.

The woman froze. "My Pookie told you?" She asked dumbly.

Victoria blinked. "Pookie?" She repeated, struggling to suppress a laugh, though she wasn't sure whether it was because she was incredulous that this was Ursa's handler, or the fact that she called a literal war bear Pookie. She let out an awkward cough as she mentally filed that information away, promising to tease Ursa later. "Uh, yeah. Your… Pookie and I talked for a bit, and apparently you all talk about 'the sect' a lot when you're taking care of the bears. Putting that together with the fact that you're here giving Potions of Awakening to young girls and threatening them into joining your sect, it seemed like the logical conclusion."

"And then you just let that bastard kill him!?!" The woman exclaimed angrily. "Even after you learned how sweet and caring he was?!?"

Victoria blinked. "Uh… no? I didn't let anyone kill him. But that gets into my next point. See, I get that Farova is screwed no matter what here. There's no scenario where they can avoid getting conquered, and if this turns into a sect war, it gets even worse for them. But I don't care about them. What I do care about is my family, and to a lesser extent our people. I want them all to be safe and our lands to remain ours, at least to the same extent they are now. In exchange, I'll let you guys use the system. Which may not mean anything to you at the moment, but the basics are that it will let you Awaken as many people as you like without worrying about resources or them dying or something." Victoria paused, considering whether what she was going to say next was all that wise, before deciding it was better than having the woman stay angry at her for no actual reason. "It also lets you do things like turn bears into people, and I'll let you connect those dots on your own."

The woman frowned for a moment, before her eyes widened in sudden realization. She backed away from Victoria, her hands flying to cover her mouth as tears began to pool in the corners of her eyes. "My- my Pookie is alive?!?" She asked in disbelief.

*I think I may have just screwed Ursa over…* Victoria thought to herself as she watched the woman get way too emotional over the fact that a bear she pretty much enslaved and forced to kill people was still alive. She remembered Ursa's scars and they didn't speak to a real caring experience. "Yeah… so, back to the whole 'killing everyone I know and love' issue. Is the system enough to convince you to not? Cause I really have nothing else to offer."

The woman froze, before visibly getting herself back under control. "Ah, hm, yes, uh… if- if it actually is what you say it is…" She trailed off, frowning as she actually began to process what Victoria had told her about the system, something that could Awaken people without any risk, that could turn a bear into a person… if she was talking to a high level Cultivator, something like that might make sense. They all had unique abilities that defied common sense. But… this little girl? A little girl who'd only been Awakened for about a month and a half? Who showed a frightening amount of talent? The woman's eyes narrowed. "Who are you? When did you steal this girl's body?"

Victoria froze. How did she- her eyes narrowed. "Can high level Cultivators actually do that? Steal someone else's body? Either way, that isn't what's happening here. All I know is that I have no memory of this world from before I took the Potion of Awakening, but plenty of memories of another world, where cultivation wasn't even a thing. It's also true that when I woke up, I had the system which has been very helpful. I can confidently say I didn't purposefully steal this body, but it would explain a few things if it were true, wouldn't it? Still, now that whatever happened has happened, I am Victoria. I've been Victoria ever since I woke up from taking the Potion of Awakening."

The woman eyed her carefully for a moment, before grunting. "What do you mean when you say you would let us use the system?"

"I can give other people the system." Victoria shrugged. "The basic version will allow anyone to complete tasks and use points to Awaken. If things go well, I can upgrade it to allow access to more features, such as using points to increase your cultivation, or to help you comprehend skills. You could even use it to communicate, allowing you to coordinate over vast distances in an instant. It can also track anyone else with the system, so the next time you lose your bear, you don't lose your bear. Honestly, even I don't know what the limit on this thing is. I haven't exactly had it long, you know?"

The woman blinked. "And- and what is the cost of all this?"

"Uh… points? Or tasks, I suppose… you do tasks, get points, and then you get to spend them. Not everything costs points though… talking and tracking for example. That just happens." Victoria replied. "Oh, wait, do you mean what I want? Cause that's pretty much just the safety of my family and people. Plus, you know, don't piss me off, or I'll take it away."

The woman scowled. "And who controls these tasks?"

Victoria paused. "Me, in a sense? But in practice, tasks are generated based on personal desires and morality. Plus, you don't have to complete a task. You just don't get the points unless you do. Also, tasks don't give you points for doing something unless you actually want to do it. There's some metric which takes into account effort and desire, and if there's no desire, there's no points. So even if I give you a task, if it's something you'd never want to do, you wouldn't get anything for it, so why would you do it?"

"I see…" The woman muttered, before shaking her head. "This isn't a decision I can make. You'll need to speak with the Elder. Come with me." She moved to grab Victoria, pulling her towards the window. Spirit threads emerged from her head, wrapping around the two of them, before latching onto the walls of the castle, lifting them into the air. A thin mist of what Victoria assumed was Qi emerged next, covering them in shadow as the threads carried them out and over the walls and into the town.

For the first few moments, Victoria was too stunned to react. Not because of what the woman had done, but because she could see her do it! Until that moment, Victoria hadn't truly understood the advantage her red world vision had given her. The main threat of most Cultivator skills came from the fact that they couldn't be seen, not without a Spirit or Qi field. Essence Cultivators with invisible weapons, Spirit Cultivators with their invisible threads, Qi Cultivators cloaking skills… they all took advantage of the fact that most people couldn't actually see whatever energy the Cultivator was using! Even if they could, using their energy to do so would weaken them in some other area. However, with Victoria's new vision of the red world, all that became meaningless. She just saw energy. All around her, no matter what form it was in. Even if a Cultivator was using their Qi to cloak themselves, it wouldn't matter, because Victoria could just see the energy they were using! It was like constantly maintaining a Spirit or Qi field around herself, one that no one else knew she had, and didn't use any of her resources.

After that, her focus was drawn to what the woman was actually doing. The way she was using her Spirit. She was actually using it to lift the both of them, almost like flying! All she had to do was maintain a connection with something stable, and she could move them around as she liked! It made Victoria think about how she used her points to lift things… she didn't maintain a connection with anything… *Does this mean I can fly?* Victoria wondered to herself incredulously. She had to test that. Later though. If she suddenly started floating for no reason, the woman may have issues.

The woman took the both of them towards a small building near the edge of town, pulling them inside through a small open window, putting Victoria down as she retracted her energy. "Follow me." She commanded, waving for her to follow as she headed towards a hidden hatch in the floor. She led Victoria down a ladder and through a few twisting tunnels, until they arrived in a small room full of maps and reports.

"Ah, Tiffany, how did-" A new woman raised her head to greet the woman, Tiffany apparently, before freezing as she caught sight of Victoria. "You brought the girl here?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "You must have a good explanation for this." She added in a tone that suggested that if she didn't, there would be consequences.

Tiffany gulped. "Yes, Elder. The- she already knows of our plans… and she has an offer for us."

The Elder turned her raised eyebrow towards Victoria. "An offer, you say? What could someone like you offer our sect?"

Victoria gulped, tearing her attention from whatever the energy was doing inside the Elder to meet her gaze. "Uh… the system. Basically, it's a tool that will help you do whatever it is you want to do, better. Just complete some simple tasks, and use the points you gain to do things like increase your cultivation, help you comprehend Runes, stuff like that. Oh, and the important point, anyone with the system can Awaken without worrying about dying. All they need to do is spend ten points, which you can gain pretty easily." Victoria paused. "Also, you can change all your War Bears cultivation to manual if that's something you're interested in. Or change some people's cultivation to automatic?" Victoria paused. "Actually, I wonder if you could do a mix of the two… heh, semi-automatic." Victoria then smacked herself in the head. "Shit! I forgot the most important point! You can use points to get rid of your need to sleep or eat or pretty much any other physical need you might have. Which, I'd imagine, would be very useful for any army. I don't know much about war, but I do know that the main issue is usually logistics. Making sure everyone is fed, healthy, and well equipped. My system takes care of two of the three pretty easily." She hesitated as she remembered something else. "Actually, it could be three of the three… my system can make items based on whatever I've scanned, for ten points per [kilogra-] er, a little over two pounds… two and a quarterish? Seriously, why do you guys have pounds, but not kilograms? Though I guess I should at least be thankful I'm not working with gills and stone or some other bullshit. Shit, if I had to adjust to some completely foreign weight system, I think I'd stab someone. Doing all those stupid conversions just to get things in a context I can actually compre-"

"Is this relevant to the matter at hand?" The Elder asked, her skeptical look deepening as she stared at this strange little girl making some rather outlandish claims.

Victoria blinked. "No, not really I suppose… it doesn't really matter what unit you use, the stuff is always going to cost the same. You might as well just use points as a unit."

"Mhmm. And do you have any proof of your claims?" The Elder asked, giving Tiffany a distasteful glance. Why would she bring this delusional girl to her? Talking of things that were clearly impossible! Making matter from nothing! Ridiculous! Victoria paused, before shrugging and pointing at the table in front of the Elder, making a point worth of iron. A perfectly round ball of iron formed as the Elder's eyes widened in disbelief, slowly beginning to roll towards the edge before the Elder snatched it up, examining it closely, a cloud of some sort of mix of Spirit and Qi emerging from her and covering it. "This- this is pure iron!"

Victoria frowned. "Yeah? Is that important? I mean, I made it out of points. Obviously it isn't going to have any impurities."

The Elder blinked. "That- hm, yes. Good point." She coughed, pocketing the sphere. She paused for a moment, quickly reprocessing everything Victoria had told her from the perspective that it was actually true, not the mad ravings of a desperate little girl. As she had said, just removing the need for complicated supply lines to keep their soldiers fed would make this system a vital part of their future plans! All the people and resources they'd dedicated to keeping their growing army hidden and well fed… this system could free them all! The forces they could bring to bear would practically double! The Elder calmed herself down, narrowing her eyes at Victoria. "And what, may I ask, would you be asking from us in exchange for this… system."

"Well, for starters, safety for my family and our people. I'd honestly settle for just my family, but my father would never agree to something that selfish. He could be convinced to betray Farova for his people, particularly since Farova is doomed either way, but just for the family? That'd be a harder sell." Victoria explained. "Anyway, that'll get you one feature. I was going to make it Awakening, but… well, now that I think about it, the heal button would probably be more attractive to you all. That's the one that lets you remove your need to sleep or eat. It also keeps you healthy, healing any injuries or diseases, though that will cost more points depending on how serious the condition is. After that… Well, we can talk about unlocking more features and what I want for that later. I've only been around for about a month and a half so far, and I don't have all that good a grasp on what I actually need yet. A few ideas on what I want though. Such as some info on what the fuck is happening with your cultivation." Her attention returned to the complicated mess that was strung all through the Elder's body, energy flowing between her cores like some sort of circulatory system. "But then again, that probably comes with being part of the sect, so I'll hold off on that."

The Elder let out a chuckle tinged with a slight hint of frustration. "A smart one. You'll be fun to work with."

Victoria blinked. "So… is that a yes?"

The Elder gave her a tight smile. "Your system would increase our chances of success to the point that we would have to work to fail, simply by sparing a small piece of land in an insignificant country. How could I say no to that?"

Victoria let out a small sigh of relief. "Ah, good. Now all I have to do is convince my father to go along with it… that won't be hard at all."