《Ants In A Glass Case》
Prologue
Rain fell thick, heavy, and overbearing in its cold constant presence. It fell endlessly eroding soil, old streets, and even wearing away at buildings. Once tall buildings had been worn away by the constant downpour. The soil around their foundations withered until thier foundations showed themselves. Such an act seemed blasphemous like ripping away a woman''s cloths on a crowded street leaving her naked for all to see. Yet even those massive structures could barely be seen through the abundance of rain.
The constant beat of the rain was a cacophony of sound like the rattle of legions of desert naga. Only the occasional boom of thunder like god''s wrath broke the constant cloaking sound. For a scout like Lewis Noah the sound made his task easier. He was hired by the Farron company to scout out the great empty. He was a long way from his home Noah village.
His earpiece crackled to life. "Lewis what do you see?" Maxus Farron asked. Even soaked to the bone the earpiece functioned perfectly. That''s Farron engineering for you. He hurried to answer.
"Nothing just a lot of rain and as for my third eye nothing. Any qi I use is quickly stolen by the empty." He tripped over a root and fell in the mud. Mud covered his scarce armor and clumped against his skin. The heavy rain would rinse him off before long. Looking down he saw the ancient dead root of a life tree.
Lightning flashed down striking the remnants of an ancient bell. It sat in the ruins of a vast city one destroyed perhaps century before his birth. Claw marks slashed through ancient buildings carving through steel and rock like a hot knife through cheese. They had stopped three times digging deep rivets in the earth before reaching their prize.
"Commander is this really the remnant of Scale village? I thought civil war destroyed the village." Lewis continued following the path of destruction. So far it had been an easy job. Despite the lack of vital energy in the air this village was monster free. Maybe the monsters didn''t like the rain. To think if he had a few barrels, he could become a wealthy man in the capitol. He could buy better pills to further his cultivation, a home for his mother, and a dowry for his sister. His mother could stop whoring and his sister would never see the streets and marry a good man.
"Focus Lewis do you see any signs of monsters?" Maxus asked over the speaker.
"No nothings here this place is just an empty ruin." He said with certainty. They had promised him entry into their guild if he did this one job for them. It seemed the gods were finally smiling down on him.
A light cut through the rain shining its blinding light on him. Out of the mud rose bodies larger than humanly possible with twisted metal parts jutting out of them. One stepped into the light revealing a face half torn away revealing rusted metal and mechanical eyes. They glowed red even in the light.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
"I found something send everyone there are monsters here." There was no response. Not even static responded on the other end. He took off his earpiece to see it flashing red. What was going on? He threw it at the nearest monster. Clonk, the device hit its metal face then tumbled into the mud blinking its red light.
He turned to run only for powerful hand to grip his leg. Lewis tripped and fell in the mud. The creature that rose had the curves of a woman. Even covered mud it was beautiful with the largest breasts he had ever seen. They were big, round, and gravity defyingly firm. Spider like legs made of steel erupted from her back to latch onto him. He pushed all the qi he could into his feet and kicked against her worn mud-covered face. The thing of beauty cracked and peeled revealing cold metal. Her metallic hand tore through the skin of his leg as he pulled away.
Lewis ran towards the carrier heart pounding. He could feel his leg throb in pain as another flash of lightning revealed more faces of grotesque machines. They smiled pale white faces rotting away to reveal inhuman metal beneath. As he ran a few charged behind him at a sedate pace.
He realized why they moved so slowly. They were machines, he would tire long before they would. With another flash of lightning the ruined walls of Scale village shown. Tall machines well over 50ft in height looked down upon him. They were broken in places one missing an arm while the other had no legs. The third''s chest cavity was open to the elements sparking and hissing while rain entered its delicate machinery.
Once he passed the walls these sentinels wouldn''t matter. He would have done his duty to the guild and they would reward him. Just as he entered the hole in the wall, he heard boom and felt his chest explode with red gore. His armor was too light to protect him. It must have been the shock and adrenaline that made him jump and tumble in the mud. He tried to move his hand to his chest and stop the bleeding somehow.
The big breasted monster stood over him her ruined face set in a smirk. The weapon that must have ruined his chest held in her hand. She pulled out a skinning knife and pinched his cheek. He felt her pinch him but couldn''t move.
The monster moved quickly cutting into his young face. Even the tears were denied him by the rain. His body shook as his qi finally ran out and he couldn''t hold his body together any longer. Just as it did, she pulled his face free and placed it over her own ruined face. Silvery things swept out and then he was looking at a feminine version of himself. She was beautiful.
Then a sword slammed between her perfect breasts and the lights in her eyes winked out. The man who killed her could be no other than Johnson Farron head of the Farron guild. Formerly a house of this very village now a ruthless sect leader.
Johnson struck a heroic image wearing red and gold power armor with pauldrons thick enough to stop a dragon''s claw. He was tall in nearly eight feet monstrously huge and armed with a sword long and curved like a crescent moon. The sword was the color of moonlight and had thrust through high grade steel easily. There would be songs about this man''s swords but none for Lewis the scout.
Johnson tossed the remains of the monster from his blade before taking her weapon and letting out 5 more cracks of thunder. No light flashed; he couldn''t see what was happening now. Another flash of lightning revealed a pool of red beneath him. It spread only for the rain to turn it from crimson to pink.
As his eyes went dark all he could hear were the sounds of boots in the mud and the rain. Only now did he realize that his mother would die on the street. His sister would follow their mother and become a whore. Maybe some noble would take pity on her and she would become his mistress. That was the best she could hope for. In Noah village there was a boy named Lewis who dreamed of becoming a hero and saving his mother and sister from poverty. That boy was dead and gone his name nothing more than a statistic in the the Farron scout death data file.
The End And Beginning
Wind broke on the great wall of Scale village. Chimes rang on the upper floors of the various apartment complexes that housed the lone men who came to Scale for work. In Scale village it said that there is always something to do. Two millennia ago that was true. Since the advent of the android the people who moved here learned coding, engineering, and chemistry. Those who learned quickly found a master and apprenticed under them. Those who failed to learn were excommunicated from the village. Many formed guilds buying artificial wombs and becoming houses in Scale. They became the new bloods, but they never matched the great houses. He was not a member of the new bloods. His bloodline was ancient, and his houses history went back 5000 years since before the life trees were planted. His name was Johnson of House Farron.
Johnson sat on a park bench reading a copy of Coding For Dummies 3.0. Soon the great bell was going to toll ending the day. The copy was good it had plenty of good humor mixed in with ridicule. For a Farron at age 17 to read this book was embarrassing even so he needed it. It was almost as embarrassing as when his father hit him. As his father''s 309th son that was far more attention than a slacker deserved. He could code like any Farron he grew up coding and using his qi to send orders to the many family androids. His cultivation in his family''s cyber cultivation style was only stage 1 when it should be stage 5.
He turned a yellowed page. There were tablets made of metal and plastic that contained thousands of books like these, but his father wanted him to learn a lesson. How the old man found a solid copy of this old joke book was beyond him. This was the same edition his father had their natal androids read to them only physical. He wondered how his natal gynoid Gloria was doing. He hadn''t seen the motherly droid since he was 8. "Doll play back my father''s words for me I need inspiration." Johnson said.
He heard the tone of his father''s voice along with some heavy breathing. "You used all your time to cultivate your pathways to stage 5!" Smack! "I can''t believe how stupid one of my seed turned out. You are a nation with fantastic roads between stick huts. What use is a find road with nothing to go to?" Smack! He heard a wet smacking sound and a slam against a wall. "That''s it I''m locking you out of everything every tablet and auto compiler. No android will answer to you until you can access their classes yourself. Get out of my sight tonight you will consume 10 high grade pills and reach the array stage, or I will excommunicate you from the clan." His father Ralph Farron said. To be fair maybe Johnson had overstepped at least doll was still with him.
Doll was a tall small breasted Gyno model android a gift from his father on his 12th birthday. Like all Gyno models she had shapely hips like a human woman, a slim stomach, and a face sculpted by an expert of house Merc. Her skin was a kind of TPE reparable thanks to billions of tiny machines in her body. Beneath her skin was a layer of artificial muscle that contracted and relaxed through qi. She was to be an assassination unit. She was a failure. Her frame was too small to house even the smallest ACU (Artificial Cultivation Unit). Without a proper fitted ACU, she was deemed a failure. She wouldn''t be able to reach the next village before her reserves ran out. There was research going into developing a qi theft unit, but stolen qi often wrecked a body''s pathways. The artificial pathways within an android couldn''t hold up. They weren''t like silicon skin their designs and placement were far too delicate. Mere nano machines couldn''t make such repairs without a compiler stage cultivator to guide them. That was the official story.
Unofficially the houses Saxon, Merc, and Dag, not to be confused from its father house Dagon which rules over Bright village to the north near Blackroot village, fear a revolt of their android slaves. Johnson knew the fear was ludicrous as every Farron man knew. The adroids were programmed to love and care for their human masters. They derived pleasure from following commands to the letter. Turning a page, he took the offered cup from Doll. She smiled at him happily as he took a sip of Sap. It was warm and fresh from the life tree.
Turning his eyes to the center of the village towering over the vast array of apartments, commercial buildings, and vast factories filled with tireless androids stood their life tree. The only source of moisture in the world. Well one of them. Every life tree was a source of moisture in the vast desert.
Some used distilleries to remove water from the sap and drink the pure water. Then often the remaining material was sent to a pill making factory. They say that the wealth of the golden capitol is so great they can bath in pure water. They don''t have a life tree. Instead they sit on an ancient underground lake. It is said the gods have blessed them and water rains from the heavens. Their walls remain unbroken by any number of would be great monster. Well that''s what they say.
It was time now he could sense it like he could before the bell rang in the mornings. He often woke up just before the ringing began. Johnson closed his book and sat it to the side to stand up and watch the bell.
Even from a park bench, he could see the great bell on one of the low hanging branches of the life tree. Its bronze color contrasted to the ash white bark of the great tree. The great sap pump continued to pull sap from the tree as everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at the bell.
"Even after 25 years hearing it the great bell still fills me with pride." A man said.
He was a dark-haired man with pale paper white skin. His hair was uneven, and he wore a nobleman''s robe from the north. On his robe was a badge signifying his 6th stage body cultivation level. The badge was silver and well-polished. This man was Caleb Saxon of house Saxon the 280th son of the house.
"It seems my father has given me another chance to prove myself." Johnson said.
"Ah, that''s what another chance at a father''s respect looks like. I''m glad to have lost mine a long time ago." Caleb said.
"Will you be here long? Perhaps after I don''t die from the pills tonight, we could go to a theater or one of the colosseums?" Johnson asked. He looked at Caleb in a way one looked at their child hero. Caleb had been the one to encourage him to continue his chosen path even if it would lead nowhere.
"I may well have the time if you survive. What was the punishment again? Your brother Phil blasted the punishment all over Recordkeeper. Ten pills dedicated to mental cultivation that can be deadly. What if you have a block? I don''t recall him giving you any black pills to clear any out." Caleb said.
"I will survive so enough about my failure. Tell me about the capitol is it everything they say it is. Does water fall from the sky? Did you meet any of the royal family?" One loud ring silenced all other sound followed by a crack and a crash.
Caleb''s eyes turned distant. "I met some royalty, but they weren''t what you would expect. They are part of the reason I''m here. But don''t tell anyone. I want to speak to my father. What do you think about marriage?"
"Its archaic foolishness we cast out when we obtained our freedom. Don''t let a member of the cult hear you speak about such things." Johnson said. What did the royal family have to do with marriage? Was his friend marrying into the ruling family in the capitol? Why? There are true immortals who would fight for the chance to join the ruling family. He clasped a hand on his friend''s shoulder. "No matter what foolishness you''re chasing after you can count on me." They were just words, but they did the trick. He saw a glimmer of hope in his friend''s eyes.
Gong! Crash!
Johnson watched the bronze bell free fall as the tower that once held it for 2000 years collapsed. Down the bell fell along with the droids in the tower. Fire quickly filled the tower the ancient wood making the perfect kindling. The image was shaking only for Johnson to realize he was the one shaking. He looked over at Caleb who looked on his expression impossible to read. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
Caleb shook him out of his stupor. "Get home John before the chaos starts. The tower is fully manned by androids. Something must be wrong with their programming." Caleb said. Johnson wanted to argue and defend his house''s experts but there was little time.
Johnson turned from the crowd and ran. There were many benefits to pathway cultivation one the quick transport of vital energy to be turned into qi. He used one of the only body techniques he knew Gallant Horse. It was as basic as basic as basic could be. He pumped qi into his ankles and used their springing properties to rush home at horse like speeds. As a cultivator not even to the first stage of body cultivating, this technique was expensive. To Johnson it was still expensive, but he recovered his qi as fast as he used it.
Doll kept up with his pace easily. She was a tireless machine with more martial techniques than any human. She remained under his control because he closed her system to him. He was the sole provider of her qi . His qi naturally fought any other''s who tried to alter her programming. Her battery could store 100 times as much qi as Johnson had and Johnson kept it topped off.
He rushed down the house path. A path dedicated to the village houses and forbidden to those not of a house. It was the ancient human''s equivalent to a freeway. Thanks to the house path he was able to return to the Farron compound quickly.
Johnson crossed the high gate and closed it behind him. Many of House Farron had already gathered in the grounds before the gate. Conversations were in motion and his father Ralph Farron lead his family in all matters.
He was a powerful man 4th stage body cultivation, 2nd grade pathway cultivation, and 10th grade mind cultivation. He would undoubtedly move on to the immortal stages and leave mere mortal mind cultivation behind. Though his mind would become immortal, but his body would continue to age. Even a stage 4 body cultivator eventually died of old age.
His father stood an easy 6ft tall even dwarfed by a few of his brothers, uncles, and sons he looked like the man in charge. Everyone went to him; he didn''t go to them. Though he appeared to be in his early forties, Ralph Farron was over a century old. Ralph Farron was broad of shoulder and could send any unruly members of their house to their knees with a flare of qi. His eyes traveled over to Johnson and gave him a hard stare. They said everything and nothing. Johnson merely nodded and concluded he wouldn''t get anything from his father. If he was to find out anything it would be after the fact.
He made his way into their house and pulled out 10 high grade blue pills from his father''s pill case. They were made from the sap of the life tree and designed to force vast amounts of vital energy into the body for cultivation. Johnson would either come out of this brain dead or a great deal smarter. At least his thought partitioning would become far more effective. Or he would die.
Would his father notice if Johnson used some of the pills to increase his pathways? Could the old man really tell the difference between stage five and six? Advancement would help him with the rest of the pills.
The pills themselves weren''t meant to be consumed one after the other. These were raw pills made with a single shaving of their life tree''s heart wood. This was the type of pill noble women in the less civilized villages gave to their husband''s bastard children. It was a painful death given as a generous gift. Most thought that all blue pills were the same when it came to cultivation. Bigger pills with more vital energy were considered a good thing. Like the rare well in the desert to the south and between villages. Water was a good thing though many died from falling through the ground and drowned in those very wells.
These were the biggest pills Johnson had ever held in his hand. Each were as thick as a man''s thumb and would go down like a stone. There was lube in the meditation room just for large pills like these.
He yanked some and covered his first pill in the stuff. In his hand was a sticky mess that could blow his pathways and leave him crippled for the rest of his life.
On the other hand, they could shoot his mental cultivation from stage one program to stage five function. With such a leap he could put his knowledge of his family''s techniques to use. With his pathways he would become a spammer.
Doll closed the door to the meditation chamber and stood near the door on guard for any would be intruders. Her battery was fully charged giving her the strength of a 4th stage body cultivator while her databanks gave her the techniques of a seasoned assassin. Any would be interrupters would be dealt with. Johnson let out a sad chuckle.
His image greeted him in the mirror. This was his training room and he enjoyed a full body mirror. But the image in front of him was unrecognizable. The left side of his face was one large bruise from where his father hit him. His doppelganger reached up and pulled at the greyed edges of his sideburns. There were more marks on his youthful face than the bruise. He had fallen from favor and his brothers shunned and beat him for it. His ribs and thighs were bruised from where they encouraged him to do better.
He refused to use Doll to defend his person from family. Besides their personal battle droids would have ripped her to shreds. Despite her abilities she was still his doll not a true weapon of the family.
Before his father stripped him of access, Johnson had enjoyed a force of 12 battle droids each well over 8ft tall with their own ACU built in along with primary and secondary arms. Life in the Farron house was a luxury that he hadn''t truly appreciated. Much of his life he took for granted.
He enjoyed his protection units but they didn''t even come close to his enjoyment of the sex bots he kept in his room. Some nights he would enjoy them all night and sleep late in the evening. Father never had cause to suspect he had focused his attention on pathway cultivation. The family mind cultivation style or cyber cultivation as many called it was boring. The paths were planned out, he had learned them since leaving his natal vat.
Pathways were the circulatory system of qi. Body cultivation was the powerplant turning vital energy into qi, while mind cultivation directed everything. The three styles were interconnected and to be considered truly in the immortal realm, ascended, or etc. was to surpass stage 10 with all three. Each of the stages had different names dependent on where you were.
"Hey Doll, do you still have your vagina implant." Johnson asked.
"Indeed master, but I''m a failure as an assassin droid. I''m afraid I will be insufficient to kill Caleb Saxon to redeem your place in the family." Doll said in a solemn tone.
"Doll, I wasn''t talking about your vagina so you could use it to assassinate my oldest friend. If I''m to do this suicidal demand of my father I want a reward afterwards." Jonson said with a what swagger he had.
One thing great about the isolation room. A man can say what he needs to say without ridicule or losing face in front of his family. He planned on swallowing these 10 pills and leaving this room with his sanity intact.
"Oh, but I''m yours why would you need my vagina. Are you going to use it for something?" For a second, he thought Doll was fucking with him. He might act stiff when he''s in public but here alone in his meditation chamber. Johnson Farron did what Johnson Farron wanted.
He sat himself down on the ground and swallowed the sour lube covered pill. It made an indention in his throat as it went down. The second it hit his stomach he started breathing deeply and flaring his qi. The vital energy hit his stomach with the suddenness of an explosion. It was well over ten thousand times greater than a mere training pill. This was something customized and experimental.
Johnson stopped thinking and focused. He became like the freeway''s in ancient times. If the vital energy wanted to go somewhere then he would let it run itself ragged. He pulled the wave through his pathways feeling his body reach stage one by accident. The shear amount of vital energy was ridiculous if he was a single stage lower his pathways would rupture followed by organ failure.
As his body reached the 1st stage of body cultivation he began to sweat rapidly feeling the toxins and cells that lost information upon mitosis were driven out. What cells could be enhanced were while he moved the majority of vital energy towards his brain.
There was a reason no one used this path to reach higher stages. There was a good chance he would end up braindead by the end of this. If he had a shred of sanity left by the end, he would be lucky.
Before the energy could hit his brain, he turned the majority away and let only a little into his mind. That energy reached him, and his mind went fuzzy as he steered the flow of vital energy back for another round. All the while the pill continued to dissolve throwing out an overflowing stream of vital energy. His body ached as his muscles cramped and his pours stung. Johnson was sure if he opened his eyes, he would see brown sludge escaping his pours.
He kept them closed and focused on the energy. It was a burst dam an ancient thing that held water back when their world had plenty of the stuff. It was funny what the mind came up with to compare situations with. He remembered his natal droid reading that to him. Back when he was a few years old. She was the one who cared for him until he was ready to learn the ways of men. Well him and 10 of his brothers.
There was too much vital energy he needed to get rid of some or his pathways would fill up completely with the raw stuff before bursting. Never use the word stuff if you must fill in an object use a variable. Shit came to mind this vital energy was a dammed shit burst forth and he had to dump some, or the entire sewer system would explode. He poured it in his pathways reinforcing the damaged places and using up the energy as best he could. Another wave to his mind made him go fuzzy again and some of the flow left his control.
Just as every corner of his pathways filled to the brim the flow stopped and the pressure leveled. All the remaining vital energy was in his pathways. He stopped cycling and let out a breath. His mind was at the 2nd stage loop. The power to replicate a variable infinitely or until qi ran dry. At this stage if he knew a technique to throw a fireball, he could toss them until his qi ran dry. After using the technique one time. He wouldn''t have to remain in the same spot either. If he fed the phenomenon enough qi it would keep firing in the same place.
This was its decision-making time. The energy was contained and ready to go somewhere but no pressure. He was close to stage six with his pathways but far from stage 2 with body cultivation and further from stage 3 with cyber cultivation. His mine was starting to become less fuzzy.
The world went black and white for a second revealing the room''s true nature. The room was a closed circuit. There was no accessing the networks on the outside in this room. Black spider webs of qi stretched from the door holding world out of the room.
Johnson looked over at Doll. She wanted to be an assassin badly. Well it was what she was meant to do. AI wanted to fulfill their programming it was in their nature. Humans didn''t have a set programming man of Scale especially didn''t anymore. We had ascended beyond our biology and cast down the shackles of human beings. But that was debate for another time. Preferably between a cult compiler chaplain and a Meccanite. That was always fun. His head was dizzy.
He forced the vital energy into his pathways. This was his life and he wasn''t living it for his father.
Chapter 2
Once upon a time Johnson had been below the notice of his father. Johnson had a choice to make. Should he follow the beaten path and focus all his attention on his mind or forge his own destiny with pathways. There were consequences for his actions. If his father ever found out he would be penalized for wasting family resources. As a man of house Farron, he could go his own way and leave the resources of the house behind. It wasn¡¯t greed that drove him down the unconquered path. He desired one thing guaranteed to all children in Scale village freedom. He would use his brother¡¯s progress with cyber cultivation and match it with his own pathway cultivation.
A pile of notebooks rested on a wooden desk in his workshop. Each were worn out from countless nights scribbling. Pages were color coated with expensive dyes. Books made of paper were expensive too expensive for any but a member of a clan. They were the only place to store his knowledge that couldn¡¯t be hacked.
¡°So, you store your sins in these.¡± Caleb Saxon said in a seemingly disinterested voice. ¡°Why hide them here out in the open instead of on one of your many hard drives? Surely a closed system is safe.¡± Caleb said.
¡°Mayhap I¡¯m vain, I see myself as one of the ancients scribbling the foundation of cyber cultivation. Though in those days there was no name for the ancient martial power.¡± Johnson provided. ¡°I heard you were leaving soon.¡± He saw Caleb as the ideal man of a house. His red hair was cut short and his face clean shaven. As a 3rd stage body cultivator of the Iron Monger style he was practically made of steel. There was hardly any fat on his friend¡¯s body despite his wealthy upbringing. He was lean and broad of shoulder. An Iron Monger body cultivator¡¯s strength was in their defensive powers.
¡°All it would take would be an overly curious servant droid. Then all your hiding would be in vain. That would surely end your delusions of matching your ancient ancestors. Have you begun creating forms for your pathway cultivation?¡± Did he want a demonstration?
Johnson moved opening his mouth wide and reaching out his hands to either side. The effects were swift. His qi swirled through his 2nd stage pathways pulling hard on the vital energy in the air. Soon every bit of vital energy in the workshop was drawn into Johnson¡¯s pathways and was immediately taken to be processed into qi. Suddenly the workshop was a place devoid of vital energy. A rarity said to only happen near powerful monsters.
For a moment Caleb looked around marveling at what Johnson had accomplished before a swift tap form him knocked Johnson¡¯s breath away. Johnson lost focus and vital energy swept into the area quickly filling the gap.
Johnson focused back on Caleb letting his pathways relax. Mimicking a powerful monster wasn¡¯t easy, he didn¡¯t know how they kept up the process passively.
¡°Don¡¯t do that in front of anyone but me. If your father saw that he would know you weren¡¯t cultivating your family¡¯s style. I still don¡¯t understand why you don¡¯t try both.¡± Johnson caught his breath and eased himself up off the ground.
¡°I¡¯m terrible at body cultivation and the mind arts are so easy, I can advance them at any time. Once I¡¯m 18 my father will let me go see the world. If I master pathway cultivation it will make the other two types much easier. Mayhap I will go out and learn multiple styles. Are you leaving soon?¡± Johnson asked his friend again.
¡°Don¡¯t get caught John even I get warry when you blank out a spot. We Saxon¡¯s are trained to notice areas of Null. There are occasionally monster infiltrators.¡± Then his friend pulled out a chair and sat down. ¡°As for my leaving I¡¯ll be gone by morning. I came to say goodbye. There is a chance I could die out there or meat a flesh and blood girl. Maybe I will shack up with a monster and become a shame to my house. I can already hear my father curse my birth.¡±
Johnson looked down at his collection of diaries. They were physical things worth a lot. Well they were to him. On his desk was a book he wrote instructing a beginner on the ways of pathway cultivation. It included all his failings, traps, and how he rose above his limits. It was the history of his effort and priceless. He picked it up and handed it to Caleb. ¡°Here take it maybe you¡¯ll learn something.¡±
¡°John I can¡¯t take this.¡± Caleb said and quickly read through some of the pages. ¡°It contains the secrets to your cultivation. It belongs to the Farron family.¡±
¡°I wrote it and your more of a brother to me than my actual brothers. Mayhap that is a product of my own secrets. Either way take it my friend either use it to start your own pathway cultivation or trade it in a time of need. Its yours.¡± Johnson said. Caleb scrambled out of his chair and bowed lowly.
¡°This is truly a splendid gift. I will cherish it on my travels.¡± Caleb said.
Johnson opened his eyes briefly seeing Doll watching the door as his pathways ached like he¡¯d never felt before. That¡¯s right he had given Caleb a gift before his friend left and even called him brother. It seemed the mental cultivation was already assisting his memory. Caleb was his dearest friend and that didn¡¯t change the fact his friend was making a terrible mistake.
Marriage into one of the royal houses. That never ends well for a Farron and he doubted the Saxons had better luck. This was a plot of some sort and his friend would pay for it. Before he could stick his nose in his friend¡¯s business, he needed to finish this.
Nine pills remained, and it was time to bring his pathways to the next level. To build a new grander road the former road had to be destroyed. A practice he had started since the 3rd stage. One could only shore up the cracks and fill potholes for so long. The dull ach from his pathways were about to get much worse.
His qi was moved by his mind. Cultivating his mind to the next level had boosted his mental partitioning by a magnitude. Before he couldn¡¯t divide his mental efforts in two without an ill effect. That was stage 1 at the lowest level. By reaching stage 2 he could partition 10 times as much. In a sense he could divide a problem into 10 parts and work those parts simultaneously. The most common use of the ability was passive techniques. He could direct a stream of thought to maintain his monstrous vital energy absorption. That would free up his actual conscious mind for 9 other passive techniques.
Right now, he needed to destroy his current pathways a little at a time and rebuild them better than before. All the while, he needed to keep a tight hold on his qi. One misstep and he could ruin any chance at cultivating further. Goodbye immortality.
He began by making a pipeline that carried vital energy away from his normal pathways. There was no reason to force his pathways to manipulate both qi and vital energy. In many pathway cultivation tomes, the meridians are set in stone they are a constant. Because they are constant, they can only be strengthened or repaired never remade. It wasn¡¯t until he was stuck with a massive blockage that he realized he could make new pathways. By cutting the flow of energy to a part of his meridians and guiding his qi through creating another path, he was able to remove blockages. Once a pathway was removed qi could be used to transfer the dead pathways to be processed into qi. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Vital energy wanted to follow the path of least resistance and the body wanted to turn vital energy into qi. Qi could be directed by the mind. Qi was not a danger to his pathways. He could direct it passively with of his streams of thought.
This meant that when he absorbed vital energy through his stomach or lungs, he needed to transfer it to be cycled through his body. In a sense he needed to make a channel lock for his pathways. A trick he had mastered in his fourth stage. Though never had he redesigned his system completely. There was normally a remnant of the old system.
It took him a few hours to finish up the boring work of converting his old pathway system to the new one. This new system was built to take in vast amounts of vital energy and convert it at an efficient pace. As it was added a lock cut the flow of vital energy into manageable chunks to be converted to qi quickly.
When completed, he felt his pathways evolve from stage 5 to stage 6. The change was sudden. His pathways took to the new system and stabilized. The vital energy trapped in his pathways flowed through him as he cycled converting at an incredible rate. He had turned himself into a qi producing machine.
He stood up and looked himself over in the mirror again. His body looked terrible. Brown sludge smeared his skin and his body had become skinny. Most of the fat had burned away to feed his growing musculature. Still it wasn¡¯t enough to make him handsome like Caleb. He would need a lot more than a single stage of body cultivation to achieve such a feat.
¡°You look terrible.¡± Doll said.
¡°Thank you, I feel terrible.¡± Johnson said.
¡°Then you should fulfil your purpose while you can. Not everyone can execute their programming.¡± Doll said in a bitter tone. Johnson swallowed another pill and felt himself focus on his new pathways.
It didn¡¯t take long before he returned to cycling breathing deeply as his pathways took in the massive vital energy the pill provided. This time there was hardly any strain. He had rebuilt his pathways to handle large quantities of vital energy. Every time the pressure seemed to become too much the lock turned dumping out a new payload of vital energy for his body to change into qi. This new qi he fed to his mental cultivation.
Everyone had a different personification of their mental cultivation. Some saw it as hardware. Others as a massive brain that they make larger. For the Farron they saw it as a complicated program with a multitude of files and functions working together to form something greater than their parts. Johnson was no different. He adjusted his program using the ludicrous amount of qi provided by the pill. Months¡¯ worth of vital energy was converted into qi and used to rewrite his mental cultivation.
Not only did he have loops in his mental cultivation he added arrays. Now he could store data in multiple points using far more data. In an instant he created a simple system to allow him greater access to his body, pathways, and mind.
Qi Allocation System Initializing
3
2
1
Cstyle++: Mind stage 3 Array qi required next 50,000
NStyle: Body stage 1 body cleansing qi required next 5000
EStyle: Pathways Stage 6 Redundancy qi required next 2,000,000
Vital energy units 5000 of 5,000,000
Qi units 100,000 of 1,000,000
The system was simple for now. His brothers had their systems, his uncles had theirs, and his father had one of his own. The creation of a system was something he shouldn¡¯t have put off. A system allowed a cyber cultivator to keep track of their progress and advance much more quickly in all fields. Still certain steps in cultivation took years. Then there was the fact that if you didn¡¯t know how to use an array or loop to improve upon your cultivation it could kill you. Aneurisms were common among mental cultivators. Just as blood clots were common among meridian cultivators and cancer body cultivators.
Since he was on a roll, he called upon the vector class and used them as he rewrote the code in his mind. He used up 50,000 units of qi in his first attempt. Johnson wasn¡¯t the best with vectors. He quickly added pointers and references to ease up on the stream of consciousness cost. When it was all said and done, he had a horrible headache and nearly 1000 streams of consciousness. Though 90% of those were holding his system together.
He felt a warm hand wipe the blood off his face. ¡°Doll what¡¯s wrong?¡±
¡°You¡¯re bleeding, I don¡¯t think you will die but it isn¡¯t good.¡± He looked at her and felt his qi within her. It made her his more than anything.
¡°Thank you, I¡¯m a mess.¡± He nearly said mayhap. It was a word he tried to stop saying. Ever since he started reading old works of fantasy mayhap found its way into his everyday language. ¡°Perhaps, I should purchase a day at the cleaners just the two of us. I¡¯m sure you could use a touch up on oils.¡±
¡°If that is your wish then, I will go be cleaned with you.¡± She said neutrally. The rag smelled of petroleum jelly. An oil that most androids had to rub themselves with daily to take care of their skin.
Cstyle++: mind stage 4 1,000,000 to next
Qi units 12,000 of 1,000,000
It was the difference between 4 and 5. Accessing the fifth stage allowed a member of house Farron access to changing variables. Even constant ones like those that sealed him in here. With this single advancement he could finally reclaim all the technology lost to him. But he still had 8 pills. Did he grab the wrong ones? Where they meant to kill him instead of teaching him a hard lesson? Well he wasn¡¯t a cowardly like those of the Merc house. He would use them all or die trying.
He needed to create ten different functions for this last step and bind them together to complete stage 5. That was one reason why the jump from stage 4 to 5 was so expensive.
Johnson swallowed the next pill shortly after shutting himself off from his desires. The raw vital energy hit his system ever greater than before. It seemed the pills weren¡¯t equal not by a long shot. Still his pathways were remade for this type of pill. His channel locks worked dumping only as much vital energy as his qi could handle into this system. As his qi grew, he could take on more vital energy at a time. His pathways adapted quickly advancing slightly to stage 7 on their own. Though they were no more than a 100th the way there.
Qi units 550,000 of 1,000,000
VEU (Vital Energy Units) 0, of 5,000,000
Slowly he made five functions. He was meticulous in their creation ensuring that each would fit, and their variables would change in value as needed. He began adding a connection to his body. With enough effort he should be able to construct a qi shield to protect his body always. This new system would determine how much damage his qi shield could take. It would also determine a meaning for force.
¡°Doll this is about to get dangerous. Do you think you can get out of here if I die?¡± Johnson asked.
¡°What¡¯s the point? I will never be an assassin. My creators saw to that.¡± She replied bitterly. There was little competition to the Saxons. They saw no reason to further their hardware development. Another reason the hate the Saxons. They had no competition. Farron had 9 different competitors in Scale village alone. Freon, Oni, and Fenrir to name three. They were software and mental cultivators as well some where descendant houses of Farron while others were made of immigrants. To stay above those houses Farron had to be the best. His house couldn¡¯t afford to slack off or they would be left behind.
That¡¯s why his father couldn¡¯t stand slacking even from a 309th son. If you were a part of Farron then you earned your place. He took another pill feeling it process more swiftly than the others. It was only worth 300,000 qi units. He made 3 more functions and took another pill. This pill was worth 600,000 units and nearly wrecked him. He had to return to meditating.
His breathing picked up as he processed the strongest pill yet. With over half a million units of qi in his body he made the last two function. Then he began merging them with his main function. At this point an error could kill him. His head throbbed constantly from the former 3 stages he entered. His mind was supporting 1000 streams of consciousness an was about to hand 9000 more.
Everything was hooked up and he couldn¡¯t see any errors yet. If he had his tablet, Johnson could have compiled it and checked for errors. But as he was, he couldn¡¯t hope to check a thing. When this was over, he should visit the cult Compiler and pray.
Slowly his mind checked the program. If even a piece of it was out of place an effort would cause a massive aneurism and kill him. He continued breathing as it took 3 minutes for the code to finish.
SOC (Streams of Consciousness) 100 of 10,000
System requirement 75% SOC
Qi Barrier 4000 of 4000 10% SOC lv1 ¨C uses 1% of qi as a barrier. Once barrier is completed meditation is needed to restore it.
Skill Passive Cultivation +50 VEU/s 14% SOC lv1 ¨C Absorb a small amount of vital energy constantly.
Cstyle++: Mind stage 5 Function qi required next 10,000,000
NStyle: Body stage 1 body cleansing qi required next 5000
EStyle: Pathways Stage 6 Redundancy qi required next 200,000,000
Vital energy units 50 of 5,000,000
Qi units 400,000 of 1,000,000
It was a sloppy if functional system. He had no attributes like most of his family enjoyed and no way of stealing his enemy¡¯s qi upon their death. Nor did he have an AI built into his skills to slowly improve upon them with every use. For those AI he would have to journey down below to his family vaults and integrate the code with his own.
He altered the variables to access the isolation room¡¯s door. With a new password he opened the door and relaxed when fresh air greeted him. He turned a corner when a sex bot jumped him from behind. Johnson felt her soft tits against his worn skin and her hands tighten around his throat. Powerful hands closed around his neck sealing his windpipe. Johnson slammed his back against a wall and fought in vain to access the code of his attacker. He thrust his qi inside of her only for it to be forced out. Much like his father¡¯s had with doll.
He fell to a knee when Doll made her move. She pulled the head off the sex bot then reached in to crush the qi battery within. With no power source the sex bot¡¯s body dropped like a ton of bricks dragging Johnson with it to the ground. He lay there as oils oozed out of the rebellious android.
¡°I don¡¯t believe it Doll my family tried to have me killed.¡± Johnson said.
¡°Didn¡¯t they try with the pills already. This should be the next step.¡± Doll said in a matter of fact tone. The sky is a light green, the grass is a light yellow, and sap was sweet.
¡°My father would have just killed me himself. No this wasn¡¯t sanctioned. We need to find my father.¡±
¡°It looks like I may be able to assassinate someone after all.¡± Doll said in a voice filled with hope.
Chapter 3 The Tale Darkens
His world was shattered. AI can''t betray them; it goes against their programming. Johnson slammed his body against a wall feeling the cold stone on his back. Doll said something but he couldn''t hear her. Holding out his hands they were covered in a blood like red fluid. "Its to discourage idiots from harming our gynoids when they''re in the field." A solemn voice said over the intercom. He looked up to see a single red eye on him. One of the many cameras belonging to Leroy the house AI. Leroy was the eye of father and the house manager. He looked after all the house robots and ensured that they were repaired often.
"Hey Leroy, is there a message from father?" Johnson asked asked snapping out of his reverie. There was no time to be soft not now not here. He could spill his guts to Doll or Caleb when this mess was over.
"No, your father is far too busy deactivating and reprogramming the battle droids to worry about inner house affairs. That job has been left to me." Leroy said. The eye flashed in pride.
"When I tried to hack the gynoid earlier there was another qi within it keeping me out. It was," Johnson closed his eyes. He remembered the animalistic hunger and madness within the qi. A fingerprint of whoever the qi belonged to. "Not human. I don''t know what this creature is but the effect it has on the androids isn''t its intention."
He had to look at the clues to find out how this new enemy''s technique worked. There is always a point of infiltration. Doll wasn''t infected. But was that because of their isolation or because of their closed system. She didn''t absorb vital energy directly or qi for that matter. How was the qi not destroying the artificial pathways instead of altering programming? Think damn it.
"Leroy do you absorb vital energy or does father refill your battery?"
"Sir, I''ve been powered by what you could call a nuclear power cell for nearly 300 years. Those who function with qi can be accessed easily. The only way to control me is to access my terminal in your father''s office. Unfortunately, this also makes me incapable of taking control of the androids who gave into rampancy." That crushed what evidence he had supporting his theory. Now he had only Doll to go by. She had a powerful battery. One filled with his qi.
"Does that mean there''s a nuclear powerplant somewhere in the mansion!" The thought of a nuclear explosion tearing through the village leaving behind a glassed hole wouldn''t leave him.
"Sir, we''ve gone off topic. I contacted you because the reinforced door protecting the survivors in natal care won''t last long." Johnson''s eyes widened. It had slipped his mind. How could he have been so stupid? The future of their house was in danger. If they died, then a whole generation of Farron would vanish.
"What can I do? I have no battle programs and Doll is only one assassin droid." That wasn''t all his problems either. He wasn''t a combat specialist in the least.
"You are stage 5 in cyber cultivation, stage 1 in body cultivation, and stage 6 in pathway cultivation. I''m certain that you can quickly grow used to a mystic art of the energy type. Though you will always be an energy type after you acquire it. Your neutral typing will vanish." That was one of the problems with cultivation. You eventually had to pick a side if you wanted power. Energy was weak against Stone, Wind, and could be redirected with metal. While a pure or neutral was equally deadly against everything. His father was neutral and the strongest in his generation.
"Turn a corner and you will find your brother Samson dead, but his Auto Compiler is still logged in. You can gain the AI he was working on and with it a mystic technique." Johnson looked back at the broken sex bot. The gynoid was twitching with what power was left in her circuits. If she still had a battery, she would have reattached her head. The nanites within her would have slowly repaired the damage.
He took a step around the corner to his brother''s workshop. The fingerprint scanner on the door was red. Johnson placed his hand against it, but it read denied. Going back, he grabbed the sex bot and dragged her hand to the scanner. The light flashed green and the door opened.
Samson was in bed his cock out and a look of utter shock on his face. His body was bound to the bed and the purple handprints from a gynoid model sex bot were around his throat. Johnson pulled the covers over his brother''s body. Taking a pair of keys on the bed table he unlocked his brother''s arms and feet.
"How many more of brothers will I find like this?" Johnson asked. He picked up the compiler. It was a portable model but still powerful. The only part that came from the Saxon''s was the screen. The rest his brother had made himself. Using his qi, he connected himself to the open access of the compiler and downloaded the mystic technique Energy Beam.
With the download, he felt the AI join with his programming and adjust his code to house it better. Some lines were reworked while others were tossed aside in favor of better code. "Hello there, I''m designated quickQi you have copied me into your system are you perhaps my creator." quickQi the AI said. The message popped up in the corner of his eye was annoying but the freed of SOCs were a god send. He had nearly 2000 at his disposal now.
He felt qi dragged from his pathways without his permission and forced into his cells. Johnson froze as the process completed in moments. "I''m not your creator but you knew that didn''t you. He gave a copy of you to me for testing. We have a lot to do."
Cstyle++: Mind stage 5 Function qi required next 10,000,000
NStyle: Body stage 1 body cleansing qi required next 5000
EStyle: Pathways Stage 6 Redundancy qi required next 200,000,000
Vital energy units 90,000 of 5,000,000
Qi units 400,000 of 1,000,000
SOC (Streams of Consciousness) 2000 of 10,000
System requirement 50% SOC
Qi Barrier 4000 of 4000 10% SOC lv1 ¨C uses 1% of qi as a barrier. Once barrier is completed meditation is needed to restore it.
Skill Passive Cultivation +50 VEU/s 10% SOC lv1 ¨C Absorb a small amount of vital energy constantly.
Skill Passive qi Saturation +10% qi storage 1%SOC lv1 ¨C Use the Polysaccharide of every cell to store a small amount of qi.
Skill Passive qi cell wall +50 Defense SOC 8% lv1 ¨C Create a primitive cell wall out of qi to protect cells from danger.
Skill passive qi enhance +10% to physical stats 10% SOC lv1 ¨C Enhance the mitochondria of cells with qi.
Skill Active: Energy Beam 15% SOC when active damage unknown lv1 ¨C A beam of concentrated qi transformed into a destructive energy.
His body felt alien to him. With all these new abilities, he hoped he would fuck things up. With the elevator shut down he made his way to the stairs. Doll continued behind him as his shadow while the red eye of Leroy continued to watch. The AI went into the background focusing on his job.
He made it to the bottom of the stair to see the body of another of his brothers. He had fallen with the charred metal slag of two battle droids. The fall hadn''t killed his brother. It was the bullet holes in his bodies from the droid''s primary arms. HIs brother was unrecognizable.
"I didn''t know him there are so many of us could you blame me for not knowing one of my brothers." He asked.
"His name was Brian. I didn''t know this master either but I''m sure he would be proud his sacrifice wasn''t in vain. You will save your younger brothers." Doll said. Johnson nodded and slowly opened the door.
Doll pulled one of the undamaged secondary arms from a battle droid. It was a grenade launcher of some model with four rounds left. "The grenades are still good." Doll said.
He opened the door without a sound while he tried to stay low to the ground. The door was old, but it had been oiled regularly by the servant droids. Nata droids were designed with acute hearing to better care for children and hear their cries.
Blood dripped on the floor from the ceiling and walls. Gore had repainted the room in a hideously macabre fashion. With blues, reds, and black the natal droids had repainted their domain in their madness. Skulls were stacked in neat piles while the gore had been spread to evenly cover the soft blue that the walls once had. Rib cages were lain broken and torn while organs were pulped tossed about on the floor. Leaving only a single undamaged child in the only spot free of gore. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Johnson''s eyes widened at the room. Bodies were torn apart. The skulls of children were smashed against walls and torn apart. In the center of the room was a single child quietly shaking. The boy might have been eight. Tears and snot covered his face as he shook silently surrounded by the broken bodies of his siblings. This was a trap.
His brother was right there but he couldn''t save him. He couldn''t save him and the children safe behind one of the panic room doors. These natal droids had retained a measure of intelligence. If it was one at a time, he might be able to kill them while Doll distracted them. Their best bet would be a fighting retreat but they''re faster than him.
His decision was stolen from when one of the natal droids turned a corner and charged them with a meat cleaver in hand. She moved with inhuman speed crossing the 13 meters between them in nearly an instant. Doll moved grabbing the hand with the cleaver and kicking out a leg. The natal droid looked at Doll in confusion.
Johnson moved out of his frozen shocked position and powered up energy beam between his palms. 1500 streams of consciousness went into transforming neutral qi into a volatile kind of energy. He stood over the creature and felt his qi drain as a beam of energy the size of a fist slammed into the natal droid''s chest. The technique punched through silicon flesh and metal frying important equipment within the natal droid''s chest.
He took a step back and felt his body convulse uncontrollably. That had been his first experience in battle. "Doll how did I do?"
"You froze don''t do that next time." Doll said easily. "I''m glad you unfroze."
A door opened leading deeper in the natal floor. It just opened by itself. "What are they planning Doll?" Johnson asked his own mind going blank while his body recovered from the technique.
He continued to shake. As she opened her mouth. "They mean to let us into a trap. There are no lights in that room and natal droids are equipped with night vision. A basic but effective plan." She picked up the cleaver and cocked a grenade in the chamber of her launcher. She pointed it at the doorway and fired. Boom!
Part of the wall exploded, and Doll cocked another grenade in the launcher. "Easy with the launcher we don''t want the house falling on our heads." Johnson yelled through his ringing ears. Holes in the wall helped illuminate the room as the natal droids rushed them. All Johnson could do was back peddle as a meat cleaver nearly cut through his throat. Doll was in the fight using her superior combat doctrines to maneuver the droids away from him.
It became a deadly dance as a hammer, meat cleaver, and a piano wire attempted to capture the agile Doll. Johnson could feel his qi slowly grow as he cycled through the tainted qi of the gynoid he killed. After that brush with death, he wanted to avenge himself.
If he rushed in, he knew he would get in the way and possibly die. So, he studied the fight. He grew used to the flow of battle between the combatants but saw one moving in to disrupt the flow and ambush Doll from behind. Johnson quickly charged up another energy beam feeling the crackling energy flow through his body. The shaking grew worse as he pushed his hands forward and fired the beam. Blue light filled the air as the beam cut through the air and smashed into the natal droid. Johnson held it for a few seconds as it ripped through the chest of the gynoid and the lights went out of her eyes.
Doll use the distraction of the energy beam and slashed through two of her adversaries'' throats spilling blue fluids all over the ground. Natal droids had no use for the expensive red dye fluids found in most gynoids. With the lack of fluids, the nanite chains within the gynoids couldn''t send and receive messages at their normal rate. Given time they could stop the flow of fluid and began making more. But as it was now their movements began to slow.
Doll leapt out of the way as Johnson charged up and unleashed another energy beam. He felt his legs shake as they grew ready to give out. His body began to sweat heavily like he was rejecting this technique at his core. He held the beam until both droids were dead to the world. Doll with only one opponent used the hammer and cleaver in tandem smashing and cleaving apart her last opponent.
Energy Beam lv2 active skill 14.5% SOC 2000qi per second damage 1.5 x qi used¨C Your body has begun to adapt to the energy intensive technique and more information has been gathered. quickQi report: This technique is dangerous to the user your body is adapting quickly but energy type techniques are dangerous unless trained. It is recommended that the user begins practicing qi to energy transformation exercises.
New skill passive: Energy Transformation 5% SOC -5% SOC cost for energy ¨C Your SOCs have grown better at transforming qi into energy. The more they practice the better they will get.
There is a reason why hardly anyone useed energy. Its volatile and dangerous. It can''t be used to enhance the body except through a few rare rituals. Those who know of those rituals aren''t likely to reveal them to an outsider from another clan. Then again it was one of the most destructive types out there. It was considered a true offensive type along with wind, fire, and destruction. The last one is just rumored to exist.
Doll glared at the blue fluid that covered her body. Her expression was alien and unreadable. The dress itself was battered and torn from a few near hits from the natal droids. "Let''s get moving we have children to rescue." He looked over to Leroy''s eyes and saw the damaged speaker. That''s why Leroy wasn''t warning them about ambushes. With no qi the house AI couldn''t link up with him or send him messages. He felt it was for the best.
There was only one more room between them and the children. If this was a dungeon the next room would contain the boss. Johnson chuckled at that. He really needed to get out of here and meditate this day away.
The next doors they saw were covered in body parts stabbed into the door. Some of the wooden frame had children''s teeth in them. They had been dragged through here bound and tried to hold on to the frame with their teeth. It hadn''t mattered. Besides a few splattered bodies the children were dragged through here.
He turned the knob and came upon a blood splattered room. Several natal droids were stitched together with the bodies of the children with them. The children were still alive crying as blue fluids mixed with their blood traveling through multiple systems. Somehow the children hadn''t died of shock or rejection.
One of the natal droids was in the center with all the others attached to it. Between her breasts was a child his body sunk into her and covered in tumorous growths. Her arms were stitching machines of some make he didn''t recognize. When she saw him, she laughed? He recognized her as Gloria his own natal droid.
"Johnson you made it here, I had expected your father. Have you come to such on my breasts?" She pushed her naked swollen breasts up causing the child between them to scream in agony. Blood leaked from them instead of the artificial milk they used to. "Ah I remember when you suckled from me like many before you. I read you stories and filled you with hope. But you became a disappointment like many others. Only pain breeds strength." She slammed her hand against the child, and he squealed before going silent. "That''s better. Such sniveling is unbecoming of house Farron."
"You are rampant. I''m going to put you down Gloria." Johnson choked out. This natal droid had indeed read him stories at night, and it was her breasts he suckled from. Before he was weaned and taken to the upper levels to become a man he was here. If a man of Farron had a mother, it was their Natal droid.
"Your eyes have changed. They hold the strength that a Farron should have. Maybe I will give that look to the children in that room. If they don''t dishonor themselves with weakness." The child between her breast sunk into the cancerous growth and screamed as a grinding sound carried through the room. Gloria gripped her breast as gore squeezed from her nipples and she moaned. "Yesss this is what strength feels like. You have no idea what its like to become a part of me. But you will soon." Boom!
Doll shot a grenade from the launcher and it exploded in the center of mass of all the natal droids. A hole opened in their flesh and Johnson knew this was his chance he thrust his hands forward and unleashed his energy beam. The blue beam tore into the monster but then the monster tore away from the beam and charged against one of the nearby walls. It tore through it as another two children screamed and that horrible grinding noise echoed out.
"We have to chase it down and finish the job." Johnson said and doll nodded. She had only two grenades left, and she would have to make them count.
"There were no more children left for it to absorb, so we should be able to wear it down. Don''t get close to it." Doll said as she charged after it with her grenade launcher at the ready. Johnson followed her determined to end it.
They went to the next room to see monstrous metal spider legs burst from the monster''s body. The natal droids moaned in ecstasy while the children attached to the monster screamed. Johnson realized what it was doing. It was racing towards the stairs. It was going to climb them up and attack his brothers. His fully-grown brothers and absorb them. With their cultivation added to its own it would grow ever stronger. The mutated flesh around its body was beginning to form a spider''s exoskeleton. It looked metallic. The natal droids within it began to crawl out connected by worm like bodies. One launched itself at Johnson arms outstretched and mouth opening obscenely wide. He could see its throat, down its esophagus, and the meat grinder within.
Doll pushed him out of the way pushed her launcher forward. Before she could pull the trigger the natal droid bit down severing Doll''s arm. They heard the gun and doll''s arm enter the meat grinder. Only for that gynoid to be ejected from the main body before the grenade went off. They were all thrown back. Doll was losing a lot of fluids applying pressure to her stump to keep from losing all her fluids.
There was no choice now. Johnson knew he had to either buck up and end this or die. He had plenty of power and that metallic exoskeleton was missing a chunk inside it. An energy beam charged up and fired from between his hands. Johnson doubled it hitting the inside of the monster. It was about to move when Doll took her arm off her stump and threw the last grenade with such force that it went off when it hit the ceiling. Rubble fell from the ceiling on top of the monster.
Johnson approached Gloria as she struggled. When he approached, she grabbed ahold of her chest and opened it up revealing a vagina like entrance. From the urethra a green jet of liquid shot out. He dodged barely and it melted the nearby floor evaporating in seconds. Three inches of stone was gone with the acid.
"Jump in me and be reborn as something stronger. You know you are weak and unwelcome among your family. That mark on your face is proof of it. Let me be a mother to you like you''ve always wanted." Gloria pleaded.
"I became a man a long time ago Mother Gloria. Men don''t need their mothers. That''s why we are men. For my brothers my real family die." She shrieked and leapt at him to force him inside her. The rubble stopped her from getting too far. He showed her his palm and blue energy crackled as he prepared to finish it. From his hand a beam blue like the tail of a comet shot forth impacting her beautiful face.
Though the blue beam he watched her face melt away revealing a metal face plate, her eyes turned red before cracking and shattering, and then the metal melted away. So complete was the destruction of her head only a stump oozing a purple mix of blue fluids and blood remained. Still the monster struggled. Nanites moved slowly extending from the stump searching for the dearly departed head.
With the head gone the neck made a perfect tunnel to the monster''s inner workings. If he left it alone surely it would regenerate in some way. He pushed the last of his qi from the forefront of his reserves and unleashed an energy beam through the tunnel leading deeper in the monster.
There he remained standing tall like a heroic statue; his knees bent to counter the force of his own attack. Blood fell from his lips, his ears, and slowly from his eyes. As a stage 5 cyber cultivator his control over his qi had been stretched to their absolute limits. Energy was a volatile transformation and it didn''t play well with the body.
From the spider like shell in the rubble a stream of blue light began to erupt. His energy had finally ripped through the monster and built up pressure. It wanted release and there was none where he drove the energy into the stump tunnel. Something had to give.
An explosion knocked him off his feet. The monster burst apart like a over filled balloon. Most of its inner workings were fried. Johnson let himself collapse to his knees and looked at his hands. They were blackened. 2nd and 3rd degree burns littered his fingers from stray bolts of energy. It would be weeks before he could summon another energy beam.
Slowly, he stood back to his feet and walked over to Doll. Every step was a struggle, he was qi starved and the light was fading fast.
His body was shaking, he was out of qi, and making more was too slow. Ripping off a piece of his shirt, he tied it tightly around Doll''s stump. Bleary eyed, he saw it on her face. She was thankful. Many of her functions weren''t working. "Is it dead?" Johnson nodded. "Good." He fell to her side on the cold comforting ground and greeted the darkness like a friend.