I slowly welded the metal plates onto my craft. It was very slow. The welding device was incredibly weak. The metal was a very high quality. The tool was used for emergency patch jobs or lesser quality material. Now I had to put the array plates to create a proper formation. That meant taking my time while the massive battle continued to rage around me. Shaking the citadel and sending out massive energy waves.
Sometimes there were lulls, like when the soldiers finally wiped out all the giant spiders. I had been worried that they might turn their attention towards me, but I guess I wasn’t considered important enough. I was a lone individual of some power. They were competing with other large groups. The small amount of metal I was using for my escape vessel was nothing compared to the overall size and material of the citadel itself.
The soldiers didn’t like down time. After wiping out the giant spiders they decided to begin attacking the drones. The battle was still going on through multiple levels of the citadel with all the explosions I was hearing and the massive light show occurring just past the horizon.
A constant stream of vessels was transporting more soldiers and equipment, before taking back off. I thought about trying to steal one, but those transport vessels had powerful self defense abilities. Drones tried to target them and they were quickly cut down through mass coordinated fire.
While the soldiers weren’t cultivators, they most likely had implants or specialty equipment to handle the waves of energy and the hostile environment as good as an immortal. External equipment would never be as good a personal improvement, at least that was my hope since I was a cultivator. Getting better equipment would not be simple.
The fact that someone like Ix pursued the path of cultivation showed that it was probably the best path to advance in power. Well, he did try to make a Gu to consume, but would that be considered external support, or some kind of biological equipment to enhance one’s strength? It was hard to say which category the Gu fell in without more information, which I wasn’t going to get. Despite seeing the Gu, I had only a surface level understanding how it was made and used. If I had tried to consume it, I would have probably exploded.
Even if Shen had managed to get the Gu, I don’t think he would have been able to properly handle the power. Even Ix was immobilized after consuming the unstable Gu. Shen would have been ripped apart by Ix and the Gu extracted from his corpse. Or Ix might have just eaten Shen and the Gu togeather. Like a meat bun, instead of just the meat, with Shen being the thin bun around the Gu.
There was massive surge of energy on the other side of the citadel and felt an immense amount of fear. The energy felt off as well, and I focused on resisting the effects, which I managed to. I let out a sigh of relief when the waves of energy dissipated, that whatever Chaos creature had emerged over there wasn’t close to me.
That was how dangerous Chaos was, even at a distance and not seeing it, I could have been affected if I closer. The soldiers in the distance were less active and struggling. Also, the war machine’s drone’s activity had decreased. They were probably more heavily affected that me. As long a Chaos stayed far away me I would have no complaints.
These super organizations needed to calm down a bit. Chaos was the perfect bucket of cold water on everyone. I kept focusing on my work, triple checking everything. Once I set off, it would be much more difficult to fix an active formation compared to one that wasn’t active. While I might be able to adjust the most array while it was active, a formation composed of multiple arrays would be too difficult. Just getting everything to work was not simple. One mistake and I would be turned into paste, immortal cultivation or not. While my strength gave me more leeway, traveling the Firmament was not simple for a reason.
Looking up, there was a huge blob of red liquid headed for the surface of the citadel where I was at. That would disrupt everything. My arrays were bad enough without taking extra damage from the red liquid. I loading everything up into the cylinder vessel, since my spatial storage was already packed. It was time to change locations.
I began to push the vessel above the surface of the citadel while looking for another location to continue my work. The massive blob drifted into the surface of the citadel, disrupting the soldier’s and war machine’s bases. I could only imagine the headaches they were experiencing. With no gravity, the soldiers would have to use some kind of technology to keep everything from floating off. They didn’t seem the type of super organization to use arrays and formations.
All that red liquid would collapse on the base, damaging equipment and getting everywhere. It would flood into the citadel as well from the breaches they had made on the surface, causing even more complications. While Ix had been defeated, the energy of the Gu Container was everywhere. It wasn’t heavily concentrated except in the red liquid. The dark gases had dispersed and the metal was built of a special material, not using the contaminated energy.
That left the red liquid which was going to make a huge mess. The blob was too big to easily deflect or create a safe area underneath it. I noted that the vessels for the soldiers had been stopped while they got submerged.
There was a massive shower of chunks of metal scrap as I found a new location from the blob of red liquid. Despite my efforts, my escape vessel was slightly damaged and several of the welds failed from the shock, setting me back.
As for my neighbors, there were two different bases with shields surrounding them. They were choosing not to fight on the surface. The war machine had another base, but it wasn’t deploying drones up here either. The waves of energy were picking up once more. Whatever the Chaos creature had been, it wasn’t enough to bring everything to a halt and sending everyone fleeing. The benefits of winning and the dangers of losing were still too great.
“Yaun Zhou?” I spotted a familiar face that looked much worse for wear. It was Josh the space wizard from the table people. He was missing his left arm, and his clothing was in tatters. I brought up my sword and gave him a look. “I don’t want to fight.”
“Then what do you want?” I asked.
“You are trying to get out of here? Me too,” he said. I gave him a look, since he was clearly on the brink of death.
“And what help can you give me?” I asked.
“Not much. I specialize in combat and area magic skills. Unfortunately, they weren’t enough for this disaster,” he replied. I continued to look at him, completely unimpressed. “Ug, why did you have to be a cultivator. I can’t team up with you on enchantments and my knowledge is useless for you.”
“Really? Why?” I asked out of curiosity. A small break wouldn’t impact my progress that much and if he was useful then I would take him with me.
“Different paths of advancing. There is some overlap of course, but the symbology we use, is imprinted in our energy to use our spells. Cultivators prefer basic manipulation, but I see you are working on enchanting circles,” he said.
“Arrays and a formation,” I replied.
“Ah. Well…” Josh clearly didn’t know what more to say. He looked absolutely miserable with missing an arm and the number of surface injuries. Gone was the self-assuredness he had from earlier as one of the table people. He was desperate, but this escape plan was designed for one.
“Can you do anything useful?” I asked.
“It would be a risk messing with your arrays and formation. It was rough. I just want to leave,” he pleaded with me.
“Fine, but don’t try anything,” I said. If we ran into people he was familiar with, that would help out later on. I didn’t need to eat any more or use demonic cultivation, so he wasn’t about to become emergency rations. While he had a low amount of use, I could chuck him at a threat if needed.
“Thank you, Yuan Zhou,” he said and took a took on the citadel’s surface not far from me. He was applying force to himself to stop from floating away.
“Well, you can keep an eye out. So, what happened after I left?” I asked. He could pay with information at the very least.
“Lots of debris and toxic rain. Everyone began to fight and panic. I escaped of course. But everything was being pushed into the red liquid. I held out until the last moment and found a vortex. It was touch and go, but I managed to get through red liquid and the barrier of metal after that. That was when things got worse,” he said with a sigh.
“The entire area around the citadel was a massive battlefield and completely chaotic. I lost my arm in that battle. I managed to survive, but it everything was being compressed towards this citadel. Just when I was about to die, the outer barriers broke, unfortunately there was too much debris. The gravity coming from the Citadel pushed back the massive cloud,” Josh explained.
“I thought I might make my mistake as I landed on the citadel. But that was when the replicator made its move. Then all the super organizations rushed in. Each of them have claimed a patch of the debris. There is no good angle to escape and it is too chaotic. I have been running about until I saw you. Thank you,” Josh said.
Everything he told me was within my expectations. There was nothing surprising. “You are welcome,” I replied politely. I was exhausted about this entire place and all the events occurring, so there was a bit of sympathy for Josh the space wizard. He couldn’t look more miserable if I beat him up.
He clearly didn’t have an immortal constitution. He was using items from what I could tell to keep living in such a hostile environment and they were struggling. Each breath had to be a struggle. My escape vessel could fit two people. It would be a bit tight, but it could do so. Instead of having room to move about, I would squeeze him in at the back.
At least he had some combat ability, which would hopefully be useful. With how beat up he was, I wasn’t that sure how much combat ability he had left in him.
“Anything to help navigate the Firmament?” I asked him while I took a small break, before checking the welds and several that I had put in place.
“Unfortunately, no. My entire body is out of sorts after losing my arm. I can send some attacks out and shield, but beyond that don’t count on me for anything. Sorry I can’t do more. I didn’t think it would get this bad,” he muttered the last part. At least he could shield. That would be useful, since I couldn’t make an array for that function. I had been concerned about that aspect of the vessel. That was why I was going to put some extra layers of metal on the front, which was already quite thick.
But with Josh being able to shield that should help quite a bit. Maybe. He looked like he might die at any moment. He might have half a fight left in him, but that was it. I went back to checking all the welds and arrays, carefully thinking about everything I knew.
Once they were all active, it wouldn’t be simple to change or adjust anything. It wasn’t just about making something that worked. I needed to be able to control the direction of travel, come to a stop, and somehow pick up on our position relative to the information super organizations were broadcasting out into the Firmament. I make a wrong turn and run into the middle of the super organization, that would be like running off a cliff, just suicide with more steps.
Looking over at Josh he had passed out and I just shook my head at that. He clearly wasn’t made to handle this level of combat and warfare. I wasn’t either, but I was more durable than him and didn’t sit around like a table person. Still, he had survived where countless others had died. So, he had some talent for getting out of sticky situations.
Whatever reason for being a table person, I still looked down on him. He was much more passive towards his fate. I could kill him right now and he wouldn’t be able to resist. But that was just being cruel for no purpose. Even if he wasn’t able to get back to his super organization, I might be able to extract some value from him at a free port. I just needed to get that far.
A massive explosion occurred just above the horizon a great distance away from the Citadel. Everything lit up as a new star was temporarily birthed in the Firmament. It quickly went out after several seconds, but that fighting was still ongoing. Everything was too big for everyone to be everywhere at once.
Larger salvage equipment or pieces of technology would be targets for sure by the other super organizations and the war machine. The entire citadel shook and I just shook my head as I got back to carefully looking over the arrays I had made and tried to think how everything would function togeather.
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I had already found one conflict between the internal spatial stabilizer and the spatial compressor. That would have seen everything rip itself apart at the first bit of spatial compression. I also had to be aware how much energy everything took. There was no highly efficient energy use from ambient energy with a small attached reserve. I had to power everything myself, so I had to take into the energy cost as well.
This was going to be a rowboat, compared to my military cruiser from before. The difference was massive. I would make sure everything was the best I could make it before leaving. Or if the battle seemed to be ending, then I would escape. But until that point, I would rather spend time now working on making everything function than finding out later.
Josh finally woke up after a couple of days as I continued to look over the detection array. It wasn’t as robust as I would have liked. “Welcome back,” I said to Josh. He was looked a bit better.
“You didn’t kill me,” he said with a bit of surprise. “I was sure you were a demonic cultivator.” He wasn’t wrong. If this had been when we had first met, he would have been consumed to power my ascension to immortality.
“I used demonic cultivation to become strong enough to survive. That isn’t necessary anymore and it has side effects I would rather avoid,” I explained so he wasn’t constantly on edge and did something stupid.
“Oh. That is good to hear,” he said and got up. He came over to stand off to the side and look at my arrays. He just stood there looking while I looked over one as well. I slowly made a small indentation to adjust the scope of the array. I repeated that step several more times to balance everything out. I then looked at my changes while thinking about the array in the context of the larger formation.
Josh just shook his head and went back to sitting down off to the side. He clearly didn’t understand what I was working on, and I didn’t have the motivation or willpower to explain to him how arrays and formations worked. I needed to focus on getting everything working without dying horribly.
I kept slowly working and making small changes, only occasionally looking up when some major occurred, or pausing when there were waves of energy or the citadel shook.
“How long until you are done?” I looked at Josh, who was clearly bored, but looking a bit better.
“I would rather take my time. Once we leave, it won’t be easy to make any changes. Also, I need to constantly check anything for conflicts and refine things. It could mean the difference between a decade or a century flying through the Firmament,” I said. Josh paled at this.
“That long?” he asked.
“Well, the nearby free port was wiped out by chaos, which means we have to find another one in another region of the Firmament. This entire region has been messed up by the Gu Container,” I explained. While it would be nice to stop somewhere nearby, the Xyon Front had most likely moved everything with recent events and was hunkered down. It was also risky asking them for more help with the debt owed and their member lost.
While I wasn’t directly responsible for Luo Lingtai’s death, the Xyon Front might not see it that way. Even if they knew I wasn’t at fault, they had enough power to pin her death on me and I couldn’t say anything against them.
“A shame. This was supposed to be a simple trade and diplomatic mission to our sister organization,” Josh said quietly. He was cast adrift like I had been when I had been tossed into the Mechanical Layer, out of the Heavenly Alliance, charting my own path.
“That is life. Think of it as an opportunity. It won’t be easy, but you are clearly capable for having survived so long,” I gave him the best pep talk I could. I knew it wasn’t very good, but anything more would have rung false.
While I had never lost an arm, I had experienced my share of setbacks. In fact I felt like I had a solid argument for this Gu Container being more miserable for me than for Josh. But unlike him I wasn’t a table person. Sitting around, waiting for death, was foolish in the extreme.
One had to seize the future, to seize their destiny. That was why I was working on an escape craft rather than trying something else. Looking at the vessels in the distance moving to the citadel, moving in more troops and supplies, I had thought about hitching a ride. But I wasn’t confident in my stealth ability. Something I would have to work on in the future. Being able to sneak would be quite useful. Something to focus on in the future.
“My family is probably worried about me,” Josh said.
“You have a family?” I asked.
“A big one. All wizards. It is in our blood,” he said. I still had no idea how the path he was on gained strength.
“Cultivation is much more solitary journey. I hope to return home, but that is far away and no one is left,” I replied and turned away from the current array.
“Done?” Josh asked.
“Getting too distracted at the moment,” I said while staring at him.
“Ah, sorry,” he replied.
“It is fine. I need a break. My brain feels like it is going to melt. The array symbols are all starting to blur togeather.” There was a giant beam of energy shooting out of the citadel in the distance. I just gave it a glance, but I didn’t care that much anymore. I didn’t even bother turning to look at the explosion in the distance.
“How close to being done are you?” Josh as I took a seat near him. Closing my eyes which were beginning to hurt, such pain shouldn’t even be possible. I was just that tired and exhausted. Even my body, empowered by my immense cultivation, was wearing out.
“I have been done for a while. Just tweaking things and triple checking. After a short rest we should probably leave,” I replied tiredly.
“Really? How are you going to power everything?” Josh asked.
“My personal energy. It isn’t the best solution, but I don’t see any other way. Unless we seize a vessel and try to reverse whatever they have on it,” I said.
“If the other super organizations do half the stuff mine did, then there is no chance of stealing anything successfully,” Josh said, confirming what I already knew. Super organizations wouldn’t leave easy opportunities lying around. If a vessel was crashed right next to me, then I might figure out something, but in the middle of a massive war zone, antagonizing any specific side was a bad idea.
There weren’t many individuals I feared, but I still could be mobbed. Super organizations loved their cannon fodder from what I had seen. I wouldn’t be surprised if billions hadn’t already been killed, since the transports kept moving in troops and supplies unless there was a major incident. Most vessels had lighting on the outside, since they were official vessels of a super organization.
It was like tiny countless stars moving about. It would have been pretty, but with the current situation it was a reminder of the immense power that super organizations wielded. I was still so small, so weak, so far from the true heights of power.
“Yuan Zhou!” Josh said, and I opened my eyes. A vessel was coming in our direction.
“Shield me!” I shouted. Trying to escape with my escape craft would be a death sentence. There was only one option. Holding up my sword, I settled into a stance. The vessel was headed directly towards us, since they had oriented their front to attack us directly from above. The optimal angle of attack in order to have maximum coverage on all escape routes.
There was no need to give an explanation for the attack. This was a war zone. I guess we had worn out our welcome with one the nearby groups. A beam attack lanced downwards. Josh shielded us and the escape craft, but he was clearly struggling. His energy levels were rapidly depleting, but I needed to get this perfect.
The beam attack stopped. It was time for me to act as the vessel hovered above us. “One Swing To Separate Heaven And Earth!” I shouted and focused my energy into the swing. I hadn’t been using my energy for any purpose recently and put my back into this attack. The vessel tried to dodge, but it was too slow compared to my attack. I was a cultivator, I was an immortal, I had survived this long. Some vessel was not about to take me out after everything I had been through.
The vessel split. Multiple explosions in the interior went off. For a single brief moment I was incredibly proud of myself. The vessels momentum hadn’t been stopped. I looked at Josh who had collapsed on his knees. The amount of metal and debris falling towards us was too much. I was confident in surviving, but the main issue was my escape craft. I could only hope it survived the impact of the debris.
I grabbed Josh and tossed him over my shoulder. I swung my blade and stepped forward. Josh hadn’t been ripped apart. That would have been a bad death. I tossed him to the side and turned around. I got to see the vessel impact where we had just been. I swung my blade deflecting several pieces of shrapnel that flew in our direction.
Just as I was about to let out a sigh of relief, about the high chance of the escape vessel surviving due to the metal being from the citadel and incredibly strong. There was a massive explosion. I swung my blade again to split the force of the blast heading towards me. Where the vessel had impacted there were dark blue flames, with everything melting and deforming.
“They had a self-destruct,” Josh said. I just stared blankly at the pile of debris. If I knew which super organization the vessel that had impacted my escape craft belonged to, I would have sworn vengeance on them and all their descendants for at least three generations. I would wipe them out to the last child. No one would be spared.
I didn’t mind the attack, but they just had to go and collide with my escape craft and self-destruct. My mind had blurred, so I wasn’t that sure how much time I had put into it. But saying at least a month, wouldn’t be a lie. My grip on sword tightened as I trembled with pure rage.
“Fine! I am Immortal Yuan Zhou, if you want a fight. Bring it! All of you!” I shouted out loud and swung my sword, pointing at each of the nearby encampments. I then looked upwards and didn’t see any other vessels approaching.
“Do you know where it came from?” I turned to look at Josh.
“From that direction,” he said pointing towards an encampment in the distance that was shielded. Well if they wanted to mess around, then they were about to find out. I was absolutely completely done with this Gu Container and its remains. Either I got a way out, or everyone was getting my sword shoved into their chests.
It was foolish to attack an entire encampment, but I was done. I was going to take what I wanted with force. Trying to play it safe wasn’t working. “You can come or stay, your choice,” I told Josh as I lifted off the surface of the citadel.
“That last attack did me in,” he said in a tired voice. That was fine. He had done enough, shielding me from that initial attack. I flew just above the surface of the citadel, rapidly picking up speed. The encampment was quite a distance away, but that just gave me time to build up momentum. I adjusted my grip on my blade and brought it back as I closed the distance to the encampment.
I felt a sense of danger, and juked to the side. A beam attack came from behind the glowing shield, impacting the citadel’s surface behind in an explosion. I juked again as another beam attack came for me. I kept dodging attacks as I rapidly closed the distance.
Now! I focused and swung my blade. A slash shot outwards, striking the metal of the citadel’s surface at the base of the shield. The metal deformed as a curved passage under the shield was made. I flew through the passage I had just made.
“Emergency quest, kill the intruder, what intruder?” a furred bear looking creature asked. I didn’t say anything as I casually decapitated the creature. It’s head went flying in a shower of red blood.
The area under the shield had numerous structures and its own gravity field. The furred creatures had armor and weapons. They weren’t cultivators, seeming to depend on items and possibly implants for their power. It mattered not. They would all die.
I moved forward without hesitation and swung again, killing two of the furred creatures as they turned to face me. Their chests and armor being slashed apart. Cannon fodder and utter trash. While they might have powerful weapons, they were no match for an immortal cultivator in close combat. It was time to begin harvesting lives for the frustration they had delivered to me.
A cultivator traded in death. For the frustration they traded me, I would trade them death in return. One swing, one death, sometimes two. Their hand held weapons only tickled against my body. They tried to bring heavier weapons to take me out, but those were dodged and destroyed. They couldn’t keep up in close range.
As I was killing the furred creatures, a vessel arrived, unloading a much tougher batch of these creatures. Some even had melee weapons, but they were all completely outclassed. The vessel tried to fire at me while hovering under the shield but over the base.
A sword slash partially bisected the vessel. Whatever it was using to keep itself afloat was destroyed. The local gravity field pulled the vessel on the base, where it exploded. Some kind of self-destruct to stop it from being captured. A shame, but I had furred creatures to kill.
None of them pleaded for mercy or tried to open a dialogue. They only tried to kill me. It was impressive, but I didn’t mind. In fact, that only made the burden on my heart lighter. While I might have been enraged before, I wasn’t going to track down their super organization and wipe them all out. I was going to wipe out this base and take anything useful for myself.
“For experience!” several furred creatures rushed at me with swords. Their slashes were weak, their body’s slow. I took the opportunity to work on honing my swordsmanship. It wasn’t enough to kill these creatures. I was going to do it elegantly.
I deflected a sword slash back into another and stepped forward. There was a bit more danger, but dancing on the edge would hone me even more. If I needed to become a harbinger of death to leave this place, then I would build a bridge of corpses.
A blade came at me from behind. I didn’t look and deflected the blade with enough force, to send it flying into the chest of another furred creature’s neck. It let out a gurgle of despair and confusion before collapsing to the ground. While I might have been outclassed by Ix and the other beings might have matched me in the Gu Container, since only beings of a certain power level could survive, I was an immortal cultivator.
My speed, perception, power, were immense. My body was infused with energy and had become far stronger than before. With my mind as part of my soul, my thoughts were faster than ever. My body only consumed miniscule energy to propel itself forward and fight. Removing the foreign energy that tainted my cultivation would allow me to reach new heights.
Spinning around, I delivered a kick to the chest of a furred creature that had been bringing up a gun to aim at me. Its chest armor and chest caved in. The creature went flying into another furred creature, shattering their bodies and knocking several more over who had been trying to set up firing positions on me. While spinning I angled my sword to deflect a projectile attack to the side, blowing off the foot of a furred creature.
I might not like fighting, but I had gotten quite good. Also, when you are moving and perceiving the world around you several times faster it was much easier to kill the creatures. My understanding of force was very well suited to this mass butchery.
Another vessel came under the shield. Probably more troops and supplies. I stabbed out, puncturing a key area of the vessel, sending it hurtling to the ground like the previous one. There was another massive explosion as two beam turrets that were being turned around to target me under the shield exploded as well.
After several hours, I looked around and nothing was left alive. There were no more furred creatures among the living. Their base was a flaming wreck. The shield was flickering and looked like it might fall. I didn’t find any kind of command center or leadership. I didn’t know how these being functioned, probably some kind of implant.
While it might seem foolish not to seize a vessel, that was how one might get killed through suicide. It was never a good idea to trust the beliefs and values of another super organization. That was why trust was so difficult. There were a lot of crazies out there who were willing to sacrifice themselves to kill something more powerful to help their super organization.
They could learn better in their next lives whatever that was. You don’t piss off an immortal cultivator who just wants to leave. Well, the shield would be useful and some of the floating beam turrets had survived. Time to see what I could salvage and repurpose. Hopefully I would find something that could help me leave this place.