Path to the Apocalypse

Semloh frowned as he walked the streets of the town, an anxious knot growing in his gut. Stretched out in front of him, all he saw were problems and no solutions. The Duke was missing, and he had absolutely zero leads on where to find him. Whoever had taken him had done so in a way that left no trace at all, which meant… Semloh's expression twisted. Whoever was behind all this was powerful. If it was the Tamarins, it meant they were putting their all into this invasion, and it was unlikely even the combination of the Duke's men and the Marquis's would be enough to stop them. It would at least give the rest of the nation enough time to prepare for war, which would hopefully be enough. If it wasn't the Tamarins… that was the more terrifying option. A powerful force acting for unknown reasons to cause havoc in the area… whatever their aims, it couldn't be good. He honestly, truly hoped Tamara was invading.

The problem was, he couldn't plan for the invasion, because the Marquis had stopped talking to him, and he didn't have enough evidence to prove the invasion was happening! Albert would simply brush him off whenever he attempted to talk to him, a cold look in his eye. Semloh knew what Duhallis had attempted to do was horrible, so he didn't blame Albert, but this was for the sake of the kingdom! If only he could find some evidence, something to force Albert to pay attention… Semloh let out a sigh, shaking his head. He was already doing all he could. He had his agents spread throughout the fief, searching for suspicious activity. Scouts had been sent to the border to search for evidence of Tamarin activity. He'd even taken out a task in the Hunters Guild, offering a reward for any leads on suspicious activity in the area! Not that it'd done any good. Semloh was beginning to suspect he was making more of this than it was… he needed to talk to Victoria again, to see if she really knew anything about a potential invasion, but Albert wouldn't allow anything like that. Not after what happened. Semloh rubbed his temple in frustration. Damn Duhallis! Why couldn't he have disappeared before he tried to rape the girl?!? All this would have been so much simpler then.

Semloh turned down an alley to cut between streets, as he usually did when taking this path, when just as he passed the sole door in the alleyway, it burst open, several threads of Spirit shooting out to wrap him up tightly, covering his mouth, and pulling him into a dark room! "Alright, copy, and… paste." A voice muttered as Semloh struggled against the restraints. He tried sending out a few Spirit threads of his own, but they were immediately cut. "You're good, go, quickly." The door opened quickly and Semloh's eyes widened as he saw a man who looked exactly like him step out, setting into his normal stride, picking up his journey as if he was Semloh himself.

Before Semloh could process what was happening any further, he was bundled up and carried down below, dragged through rough hewn tunnels, a few of which collapsed behind them closing off the path of retreat. He was then set in a chair in a small, dimly lit room, finally getting a look at his captors. "V-Victoria?!?" He cried in shock as his mouth was uncovered, the two Cultivators to either side moving their Spirit threads to focus on binding his arms and legs.

"Hello." Victoria waved with a tight smile. "Sorry about all this, but… you gotta do what you gotta do, right?" She sighed, shrugging helplessly.

Semloh struggled against the Spirit restraints again, but it was hopeless. "Why are you doing this?!? Who are these people!?!"

"These are disciples of the Hidden Blades, who are working with Tamara in a bid to go Empire." Victoria stated blandly, causing Semloh to freeze, his eyes widening. "Recently, I've managed to broker a deal in which the Hidden Blades will spare our people in exchange for a certain benefit, which I'm not going to get into. Which means… Well, we're working with the Hidden Blades now, so having you snooping around, potentially discovering things and alerting other sects, turning this entire area into a war zone… not good for us. Not good for anyone, really. Best to get things over with quickly, with minimal damage, rather than a prolonged, bloody war. So we're going to need you to stay here for a bit, and just chill, alright?" She paused. "Oh, and one last thing." She tried to force a cloud of points into Semloh, and… “Uh… could you relax a bit?” Victoria asked tentatively. Semloh was much harder to force her points into than the Duke. She honestly wasn't sure she could even do it!

Semloh just scowled at her. "This- this is treason!"

"It is." Victoria agreed. "But see, as a tri-core Cultivator, your king would kill me anyways, or force me to marry some random prince. Not feeling a whole lot of loyalty towards the man. As for the people… well, there isn't much I can do to save them. What I can do is save my people. The rest aren't my responsibility."

Semloh blinked, struggling to come to terms with all the new information he'd just been bombarded with. The Hidden Blades were going Empire? They were invading with Tamara? Victoria was a tri-core?!? They were- "Does- does Albert know of this?"

Victoria nodded. "Yeah. It was my idea, but… he knows it's our best chance for survival."

Semloh hung his head. "Then that's why he's been so distant. Not because of the Duke."

"Well, Dudipshit didn't help, but yeah, it's mostly the betrayal thing." Victoria sighed. "It wasn't an easy decision, it's just… the only one we have."

Semloh scoffed. "You don't seem too broken up about it."

"True…" Victoria paused, considering it for a moment, before shrugging. "But I'm a very practical person. If it's something you have to do, what's the use in beating yourself up over it? Does it suck? Absolutely, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong to do it, and if it isn't wrong, I'm not going to regret it."

Semloh shook his head. "Justify your actions however you like. You're still damning your own nation to destruction!"

"The nation is already damned." Victoria snorted. "The Hidden Blades have been preparing for this for years, if not decades. Even if the other sects respond immediately, the Hidden Blades are just going to roll over Farova, and probably cause more destruction in the process. As long as they're trying to hide, they aren't going to go too overboard. If they go all out, we're just screwed." Semloh just scoffed again, not responding anymore. Victoria frowned at him, before letting out a sigh. “Alright, well, agree with me or not, unless you want Tiff here to cut your core out, you're going to need to relax so I can drain it. And trust me, you really don't want that, because we will make sure you live and brain damage is a bitch.” Semloh continued to scowl at her, but the resistance Victoria felt did relax. It didn't go away, but it was enough that Victoria could actually force her way in and start draining his core.

Once she finished draining his cultivation, she signaled the other two to release him, all of them leaving and locking Semloh in the room. It was built to hold Cultivators up to the mid-levels of the Core Strengthening realm, so with his cultivation drained, there was no way he'd be getting out. "Well done!" Tiffany congratulated her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Well planned, well executed… you could have a promising future as an operations commander."

Victoria's expression twisted, shrugging out from under her arm. "This isn't a win, Tiffany, it's a necessary evil. The only saving grace is that this means we don't actually have to kill Semloh anymore. We can just keep him imprisoned until the invasion is over."

Tiffany rolled her eyes. "You still did a good job. You're going to go far in the Hidden Blades. Not that that wasn't already the case, simply due to your status as a tri-core, but being powerful and talented is always better than simply being powerful. One is a weapon, the other is a leader."

"And what does that make you?" Victoria asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"A tool, to be used and discarded when it is no longer useful." Tiffany shrugged.

Victoria blinked. "And you're okay with that?"

Tiffany snorted. "Do I have another choice? Without the sect, I have no place, no future. Their support is the only thing keeping me afloat, and they can do what they wish with me."

Victoria frowned. "That can't be true. You're a dual-core Cultivator. You could find a place anywhere."

Tiffany shook her head. "People don't just trust powerful Cultivators, particularly not ones with my skill set. They entertain them, they placate them, but they don't trust them. I may be able to get by traveling from place to place, doing odd jobs, a bit of hunting, whatever, but if I ever stayed anywhere too long, people would begin to get nervous and start trying to push me out. Imagine if the Horace person decided he wanted to settle down in the area permanently. Would that make you comfortable?"

Victoria paused, before frowning. No. No it wouldn't. She'd constantly question his motives, what he wanted, if he planned on taking over… it'd put her constantly on edge, and she'd just wish he would leave. "Okay… but couldn't you join a different sect?"

"The other major sects wouldn't be interested in me at all." Tiffany sighed. "I'm past my prime, with no chance of becoming a tri-core. They don't need another dual-core, particularly not one with skills they have no use for. As for the minor sects, it'd be the same as a kingdom. They would constantly question my motives, and keep me at arms length. No, the only place I belong is with the Hidden Blades."

Victoria's frown deepened. "That still seems wrong to me… yeah, it might be hard to gain people's trust, but if you put in the work, you should be able to get there eventually, right? I mean, right now Horace sticking around would make us nervous, and if he stuck to himself, never interacting with anyone, it'd just get worse, but if he actually tried to integrate with the community, making friends, letting us get to know him… well, if he is trustworthy, eventually we'd come around. It'd just take time and effort."

Tiffany sneered. "People don't just 'come around'. They aren't persuaded by 'effort'. They either look down on you for being lesser, fear you for being stronger, or exploit you if you're useful. Pity, fear, and exploitation. That's all people have to offer."

Victoria frowned at her. "You can't believe that? What about families? Friends?"

Tiffany snorted. "Obligations forced on people by society. If you don't take care of your children, if you don't play nice with others, you're ostracized. People don't actually care, they're just doing what's expected of them."

Victoria shook her head. "That's a pretty bleak view of the world."

"The world is bleak. You just haven't realized it yet." Tiffany muttered.

*

Victoria studied her personal point total, before snorting and shaking her head. "I really need to start hunting." She'd gotten almost a thousand points from draining Semloh! If she started hunting and collecting cores from Rune Beasts, think of how many points she could get!

[Collect cores: 0%]

"Well, that works too." Victoria snorted, shaking her head. Not that she particularly needed more motivation. The question was how to actually use the points. With the points from Semloh's core she was now well past her point limit, so she needed to figure out whether it'd be smarter to raise her point limit or spend those points on increasing her cultivation? She could increase her cultivation just by meditating though… maybe it'd be better to spend her points on increasing her energy capacity? She glanced at her Essence max, which was at about twelve fifty, just like her Spirit had been before she raised it to fifteen hundred. She wanted to at least raise it to match, same with her Qi, but she wondered if she wanted to raise it even further… What were the benefits of a higher energy capacity? Obviously if she was going to stop at the peak of Core Strengthening, it'd make her stronger than any other mono-core, but as a tri-core, she'd continue advancing beyond her cores as she moved onto the Circulatory realm, then the Unification realm, and so on… a larger energy capacity just meant she had to work harder to fill it, right? Maybe she should talk to Obanonos about this… or maybe Horace? She did have an appointment with him soon, and he was in the Unification realm.

Still, that would only take so many points. She didn't want to spend all her life in the Energy Gathering realm, after all. Skills only took so many points, same with the heal button, and increasing her point limit had diminishing returns… Victoria frowned, before shrugging. Might as well just increase her cultivation then, right? At least there she wouldn't have to deal with diminishing returns. Her Spirit core was already pretty much maxed out, and her Essence had just reached the third stage… though that was before increasing the energy capacity, so… Victoria quickly spent the two hundred and fiftyish points to set her Essence capacity at fifteen hundred. Back to stage two, though it didn't really affect anything. Stages were kinda arbitrary, weren't they?

Now she should probably keep enough points around to max out her limit, which left her… about seven hundred points to work with. "Huh…" Victoria grunted. She hadn't quite processed just how many points she really had. When she was gathering them, they never felt like enough, since compared to any established Cultivator, she was still weak. Now that she was looking to spend them though… seven hundred points disappeared as she maxed out her Spirit core and dumped the rest into her Essence, getting it to about two thirds full. She was about to close the system, when she paused, frowning at her Spirit, noticing that the option to increase it was blanked out. Why- Victoria rolled her eyes as she realized the problem. The core was full! Obviously she couldn't put more into it! She needed to start on Core Strengthening now, which… Maurice had said something about using the pressure from her Rune to purify her energy, forcing out the impurities? Victoria sighed. Yet another question she'd need to ask Obanonos. Definitely not Horace. She didn't need him asking questions about why her Cultivation had suddenly shot up.

Victoria froze. Wait, shit, Maurice had said some people could sense other people's cultivation! If anyone was capable of it, it'd be the freaking Unification realm Cultivator! Shit, shit, shit! She'd fucked up! How the fuck was she supposed to explain her Essence cultivation practically doubling in just a few days! Victoria quickly connected to Beatrice through the system. *Beatrice, quick, ask Obanonos if there's any way for a Spirit/Essence Cultivator to conceal their cultivation!*

*Victoria, what- O- Okay!* Beatrice stammered back, confused but sensing urgency in Victoria's tone. *He- he says it's possible, but… you'd need to be in the Circulatory realm.*

"Fuck!" Victoria cursed out loud. She was screwed. She only had a few hours, and there was absolutely no way she could condense a Qi core, and learn a cloaking technique in that amount of time. Unless… Victoria concentrated on what she'd seen when she saw Tiffany and the others using the cloaking technique, focusing on the shift of the energy and the way it surrounded the cores as she took a deep breath and concentrated on her points, willing them to do the same! She should be able to do it, right? Her points had absorbed Qi before. She'd seen the energy's shift. She'd seen the technique! All she had to do was copy it! Her points flowed, shifting as they surrounded her cores, settling into place, copying the Hidden Blades technique exactly.

Victoria breathed out a sigh of relief. It worked! She'd done it! Her cultivation was concealed! Victoria froze. Wait, shit, her cultivation was concealed! If Horace saw that, he'd know she was either a Qi Cultivator or in the Circulatory realm! Either option was way worse than simply doubling her cultivation! *Ask Obanonos if the Qi technique used to conceal cultivation can be adjusted to only show part of it!* She quickly sent to Beatrice.

*He- he says that isn't how it works… if any part gets through it all gets through.* Beatrice sent back. *Victoria, what's going on? Are you in trouble?*

Victoria groaned in frustration. *Fuuuuck… no, shit, I'm just, god damn it, going to have to deal with some awkwardness.* Horace would be confused, but she didn't have to explain shit.

*Awkwardness?* Beatrice asked hesitantly.

*I got caught up and used my points to increase my cultivation, forgetting that I have a meeting with a damn Unification realm Cultivator in a few hours! He's definitely going to see that my cultivation has jumped and ask questions, which I'm absolutely not going to answer.* Victoria explained bitterly. *There's nothing I can do to fix it, so fuck it. Let the man be confused! I'm weird and he can suck it.*

*But- a Unification realm Cultivator!?!* Beatrice asked incredulously. *Victoria, if he wants anything… you can't! Just- just don't go to the meeting!*

*Oh yes, act suspiciously.* Victoria retorted, rolling her eyes. *The dude's a Unification realm Cultivator! Do you think he's just going to be like 'oh, I guess she's not showing up' and fuck off?!? No, dude's going to come and find me, still see my cultivation, and now suspect something is up because I'm trying to avoid him!*

*But something is up!* Beatrice countered.

*Yeah, but he doesn't have to know that! I'm just going to act like nothing's changed and if he asks questions, brush him off. Maybe give him some weird looks like he's crazy or something.* Victoria sighed. *Hopefully that'll throw him off enough for him to drop it. If not… Well, we're screwed, but what else is new?*

*

Horace waited nervously in the sitting room for Victoria. *This is not a date, this is not a date, this is not a date!* He repeated over and over again in his mind, hoping at some point it'd stick, and knowing it wouldn't. He was in trouble. If she showed any interest at all- if it even seemed like she might show interest- the girl was just too perfect, and if she was willing… rules be damned, he was going for it! Did that make him a bad person? Hmmm… yeah. Yeah it did. Fuck. "My next reincarnation is going to be a cockroach." Horace groaned, covering his face with his hands.

He wallowed in misery for a moment, before quickly composing himself and standing to his feet as he heard footsteps approach the door. A grin unavoidably pulled at his lips as Victoria entered the room. "Lady Victoria, it is a pleasure to be graced with your presence once again." Horace greeted her with a slight bow. Gods the woman was perfect. Even with the strange, form concealing garments she wore, her beauty was plain as day, in the slight crest of the cloth which promised the alluring figure underneath. That was simply the icing on top, however. The real perfection was in the way she looked at him, like she didn't care a single bit how far his Cultivation outstripped hers. And she truly didn't! She'd called him an idiot! To his face! Ah, he would have married her on the spot if he could. It was so rare to find someone completely unintimidated by his power. Unless, of course, they were of equal power, but women like that were rare.

Then there was the way she talked, the strange and interesting ideas she had, the intelligence behind her gaze… ugh, he was screwed. Maybe they could have a long engagement? Agree to be wed, but wait two or three years? He wouldn't mind, and she'd want to focus on cultivation anyway… she hadn't been Awakened very long, and there was still a chance she could Acquire a Qi Rune, if not a very large one.

*Horace. Horace!* Philmore hissing through their connection. *Look at her cultivation!*

Horace blinked. Her cultivation? What- his eyes widened slightly. Her Essence had practically doubled! And her Spirit core was giving off energy at the level of someone in the middle of the first stage of Core Strengthening, except… the purity was off, or more accurately, it wasn't. She clearly hadn't purified her energy at all yet… just how large was her Spirit capacity?!? And how had she doubled her Essence core practically overnight! To do that, she'd need… if- if she had a perfectly Assimilated Rune at the second tier and did nothing but cultivate for an entire day, it might be possible, but that itself was an impossibility! No one could comprehend a second tier Rune in less than two months! Particularly not with everything else she'd done!

"Yeah… good to see you too." Victoria returned Horace's greeting as she walked in, giving him a weird look. Had this dude ever heard of the concept 'trying too hard'? Seriously, even if she was interested she'd be put off by how strong he was coming on. She shook her head, taking a seat. She just had to get through this. "Where should we start? Otherworldly knowledge or foreign cultivation secrets?"

"V-Victoria, your- your cultivation!" Horace exclaimed.

Victoria froze. Well, guess they were just jumping right into it, huh? "My cultivation? What about it?" She asked, cocking her head, feigning innocence.

"It- it's grown! You have to have twice the Essence you did when I last saw you!" Horace replied.

Victoria frowned. "Are you sure? That doesn't seem like it should be possible…"

"It shouldn't be!" Horace agreed. "So how did you do it?!?"

"How did I do what?" Victoria asked, looking confused.

"How did you double your Essence!" Horace replied insistently, beginning to get frustrated. Why wouldn't she just answer his question?!?

"Why are you insisting that's what I did?" Victoria retorted, glaring at him.

"Because you did!" Horace exclaimed.

Victoria crossed her arms, scowling at him. "No."

Horace blinked. "No?"

"No." Victoria confirmed with a slight nod.

"You- you can't just say no!" Horace protested.

"I can absolutely just say no!" Victoria countered. "My life is mine and I can share it with whoever I like, and I don't want to share it with you! If you keep trying to force this, I'm just going to leave."

Horace felt his heart clench at her words. She- she didn't want to share her life with him? *Horace, focus!* Philmore insisted. *This isn't about your stupid crush, it's about potentially world changing techniques this girl is hiding from us!* Horace froze. Right! It wasn't about romance, it was about Victoria not trusting him! He just needed to convince her he was trustworthy and everything would be fine! *No, no, no! Grill her for information you stupid- gah!* Horace shoved Philmore away, locking him in his Runescape, before refocusing on Victoria. "I apologize. I- I can be a bit overeager when I see something I don't understand. The curse of curiosity if you will. I shall respect your secrets."

Victoria cocked her head. "What secrets?"

"The ones that- oh." Horace began, before realizing what Victoria was doing. "Y-yes, what secrets? Um… should- should we get started then? Tell me about this other world."

Victoria gave him a final weird look, before nodding. "Alright, so the first thing to know is that in that world, cultivation wasn't a thing. It didn't exist. Everyone was unawakened."

Horace blinked. "Then… how did they defend themselves for Rune Beasts?"

"Rune Beasts weren't a thing either. Energy wasn't a thing. No Spirit, no Qi, no Essence, no nothing. Just people and animals with muscles and brains." Victoria elaborated.

"Fascinating…" Horace muttered, trying to imagine what such a world might be like. "It sounds peaceful."

Victoria frowned. "Eh? No more than I've noticed around here… people were always trying to get more, more power, more resources, more whatever, and they were willing to fight for it. I suppose you didn't have to worry about a random Rune Beast or Cultivator jumping out to kill you, so in that way you could say it was more peaceful… but you could still get randomly attacked by a mountain lion or a guy with a [gun], so maybe not."

Horace frowned. "What's a 'gun'?"

"It's a weapon… a small projectile propelled by a minor explosion down a small tube at great speeds. I think it was faster than the speed of sound? And since force is mass times acceleration, it could do a lot of damage." Victoria explained, before pausing. "You know that one, right? The heavier something is, the faster it's going, the more damage it's going to do?"

Horace rolled his eyes. "I'm not a savage, Victoria. I know basic physics."

Victoria raised her hands. "Hey, I don't know what you know. We didn't really start exploring physics until we were out of the middle ages, so when I see castles and feudalism, I don't think 'wow, this place must have a firm grasp of the hard sciences'."

Horace cocked his eyebrow when Victoria said 'we'. Did she identify as coming from this other world? Not that he would blame her… if he woke up one day with a head full of knowledge from one world, and none of another, he'd probably feel like he belonged in the one he knew as well. He then frowned as she continued. "This region is hardly representative of the rest of the world. So much progress was lost when the Callowan Empire collapsed because everyone was so busy fighting over it they forgot to actually preserve it! And anything that was preserved has been hoarded by your sects, leaving the vast majority of you to wallow in ignorance! There has been an astounding lack of progress here, because you're all too backwards to get your heads out of your asses and actually work together!" Horace complained.

Victoria's eyebrows rose in a mix of surprise and appreciation, lightly clapping as he finished. "Well said." She commented as Horace flushed in embarrassment. He hadn't meant to get so passionate… "Then tell me, how advanced is the rest of the world? Do you have guns?"

Horace hesitated, before shaking his head. "No, I can't recall anything like what you described…"

"Hmmm… you may not need them, what with all the Cultivators, so I guess that makes sense." Victoria muttered. "How about [engines]? They make things move using steam or fuel?" Horace frowned before shaking his head again. "Huh… What else could you have?" Victoria muttered, frowning.

"I- we recently developed a way to mass produce books?" Horace offered hesitantly.

"Ah, the printing press. That's a good one." Victoria nodded. "I think the next step is the assembly line… don't quote me on that one though."

"Next step?" Horace asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The next step in industrial advancements." Victoria explained. "Basically, technology sort of… builds on itself. The printing press is huge because it allows people to share knowledge more easily, making it something common rather than something held by a few dedicated scholars. Books will become something anyone can collect. Then the assembly line brings in the concept of specialization, everyone getting really good at one part of a task, then working together to do it better and faster than they could apart, which makes goods more common and easier to get. Then comes automation, which- yeah, this is where engines come in. You make tools that run by themselves, specialized in performing one aspect of a task, doing it faster than any person could. You then make a series of these [machines], so now things are getting made and you don't even need a lot of people to do it! There are some problems with it, because as jobs are replaced by machines, people don't know what to do with their lives anymore, but since the machines make life cheaper, more jobs become available, so it's kind of a trade off. Like, it got to the point where someone could make a living just by taking [pictures] of themselves as they traveled. You can't do that if everyone has to be on an assembly line, hand making everything." Victoria paused. "If you think about it, the printing press is one of the first steps into automation… you set up a tool so that you don't need to hand write everything, just put it in and stamp. Am I mixing up my timelines here?"

Horace sat back in his chair, struggling to process everything Victoria had just explained, the future she painted. It sounded good, but he had a hard time visualizing how it would actually work. How could you divide the making of a sword or potion into disparate steps? Maybe you could have someone prepare the materials while you focused on the actual work, but it was a complex, interconnected process to make either one! Dividing it up would ruin the final product! Wouldn't it? Horace glanced at Victoria. "Do- do you think you could create these things?" He asked tentatively.

Victoria paused, before shrugging. "Probably? The ideas are actually pretty simple, it's just a problem of getting people interested and on board. Well, up to a point… I have a vague idea how engines work, and machines can be pretty complicated… but I can at least get people started in that direction. Probably."

Horace hesitated. "If- if you were willing to come to Avinter… I can assure you, we would welcome your ideas immeasurably more than anyone in this region. No one here cares about advancement! All they care about is strength! If you come to Avinter, you'll be appreciated for your mind, not looked down upon for simply being a dual-core!"

Victoria cocked an eyebrow at him. "Is that so?" She wasn't a dual-core, but still, it might be nice to live somewhere that wasn't so power focused… She sighed, shaking her head. "I can't abandon my family." If she left, she'd be leaving her family to the Hidden Blades, and they would not be happy. They may not touch her family, for fear of losing the part of the system she'd already given them, but they wouldn't make their lives easy.

"Your family could come too!" Horace insisted.

Victoria snorted. "My father would never abandon his people like that, and I couldn't force him to. No, my place is here, at least for now."

"But-" Horace began again.

"Drop it." Victoria stopped him with a firm look. "I'm not interested in being persuaded when I know what I have to do. Now, what else do you want to know about the other world?"