“So two crippling wounds, forty-seven major injuries, fifty-six minor injuries, seventy-six resting and meditating from over exertion and one casualty.” Angel stated as she spoke to Uriel.

  “Who died?” Uriel asked, confused as it went against her records.

  “Bao Tang died from an injury to his pride, " Yang said as he looked at the slightly plump man with a white cloth over his face. The cloth moved up and down, so he was alive. Yang’s expression looked so serious that it rounded into sarcasm.

  “No deaths is a good thing. But why do you say he died from an injury to his pride.”

  “He was messing with me throughout the trip, practically bragging about his strength only to go down fighting one big monster. He didn’t win, he just went down like a lightweight.” Yang had his right arm in a sling and his left in a cast as he’d had a break and a few sprains all over his body, but was otherwise alright. He also hadn’t received any healing due to the injuries being minor and self-inflicted according to Angel.

  “Did Derdof beat it?”

  “He helped quite a bit, but I managed to finish it off.”

  “Maybe you should have come with us. The other three didn’t prove as effective as their statistics implied. Knue performed above expectations, Zara did her job well, and Casimar kept people from dying without being obvious with his meddling and maneuvering.”

  “Likely a bad matchup for various reasons. Tang couldn’t fight it alone, Merham was too slow while Ling wasn’t durable enough to fight it head on.”

  “Well that's kind of you. Regardless, in two days you’ll have to dive back in. This won’t be done until we eliminate all of the eggs and lurking beasts. The facility is larger than I assumed and an Atsiv tier cultivator with the empire will be here to confirm the kills and completion of this request.”

  “A-Atsiv? Who? Why?”

  “One of the Empress's handmaidens, they are all quite strong and usually dispatched in places where threats have been seen. To them the monsters we fought would have been a minor inconvenience. Although they wouldn’t have expected the threat to be this bad on contested lands.”

  “Why do they need to come?”

  “The rewards for killing a Monarch and multiple matrons are quite high. Without proof of slaying we won’t be rewarded. We will also need to negotiate facility rights. Since we’re in the Empire of Stone’s territory, albeit contested. The sect leaders will need to negotiate rights of ownership.”

  Yang sighed. “So is Sect Leader Pain on his way?”

  “Yes. He’ll arrive with the sect leader shortly.”

  “Shortly?”

  An explosion of sound shot through the village followed by a high-pitched tone and cacophonous trumpeting horn. Then various concussive noises, along with the sound of metal against the earth.

  Yang stumbled out of the room and his eyes widened. A purple-haired man sat atop a large metal beast longer than the largest of dragons. Both of his arms were up in the air and the hair on his face along with the little excess skin he had available.

  “Woooo!”

  A wild-haired boy with blond hair, a large brown cap, oversized leather gloves, and a worker's uniform appeared to be inside the monster's mouth. A circular device was in his hands and roads appeared in place right as the monster needed them.

  Quite a few cultivators and villagers got as far away from it as possible, allowing it to stop in the center of the village with a loud screech.

  The purple-haired man was propelled to the front of the train and in a series of flips, hops, and manners he slid down to the door right as the began to open.

  The small boy then stepped out of the beast's ear with the help of Fonta.

  Tang Bao approached the group with his hands held out to meet with the arrivals.

  “Sect Leader, Little boy, this Tang B– OWww!”

  “Little? Boy?” The diminutive person asked as they bent Bao’s arm backward enough to hurt but not break while locking him in place

  “Bao! Learn some manners, this lady is a member of the Empress's court! Which is an important position. I think. Royal conductor sounds better though.” Fonta hopped over a half-hearted kick to his shins only for a second kick to hit him in the stomach hard enough to knock him back a foot but not wind a cultivator at his level.

  “The royal conductor writes horrible music.”

  “So they say. Also she’s pretty good at fighting. Wait, why do I always lose to older people?” Fonta withdrew cloth and dusted the gunk off of himself.

  “Experience, and your cultivation isn’t high enough to match mine though I was moving at a speed you can match.”

  “Ah, my talent makes me predictable.”

  “More since I know you have a weapon master talent, it's easier to predict your moves. With some formal training you’ll know when to do what and why, instead of fighting like a beast who can use weapons really well. That's how most people are with weapon master talents, they know all these moves instinctively but use three or four consistently and in odd ways which can make them predictable to those who have seen it all before. There is a high mortality rate for those with talents like yours, they get cocky or become pieces in others plots and are killed or set up before reaching their potential. Those that do are very powerful however.”

  Fonta recalled getting yelled at for fighting someone two tiers higher than him and compared that to what he just learned, his face looking sheepish. “Ugh, why is it when a teacher tells you to learn a lesson it gets thrown in the back, but when a stranger says the same thing, it all clicks together?”

  “Compounding knowledge or something.”

  Fonta sighed as his back felt sore and he leaned on his umbrella like a cane.

  Yang arrived worse for wear, covered in bandages along with Casimar who held a small jade box.

  “Yang, how did you get injured?”

  “My second talent awakened and it breaks my body like yours.”

  “No no no. My secondary talent only hurt me because I was using it to force broken limbs to function and mangeled them up a bit. I combined both of my talents to do that.” Fonta said with a hunched back.

  “This would be the near death of the nascent sand clan cultivator.” Casimar added for context.

  The blond woman nodded before withdrawing a metal wrench. “Little Casi, you don’t seem hurt at all. Where were you when the brave students were fighting?”

  “Fighting a larger threat underground.”

  “Larger threat?”

  “Three Matrons, one Monarch as far as we are aware.” Uriel stated while standing at attention.

  “You can’t beat a Monarch, not unless you’re suppressing your cultivation.” The older woman looked at Casimar, then Yang, and scowled.

  “What is it?” Fonta asked.

  “The ambient mana in this area is lower than usual. It should refill in a week. Was there a demon or perhaps a demonic cultivator?”

  “Yes, though she works for me. No threat to the empire and wouldn’t double cross lightly.”

  “She’s also suffering from overexertion so won’t be able to answer your questions now.” Casimar added.

  The conductor pointed to the damaged houses with her wrench. “Then I guess we should get to work.”

  It took six hours to have the village looking better than it had before the eruption of monsters although the hole in the city that led to the facility was wide open. Casimar was capable of molding stone houses and foundations in moments while Fonta and the hand were hammering in nails to keep it together. The other able-bodied cultivators gathered and assisted in the building which is why they were able to finish by late afternoon.

  The sect leader went back to the train while the others rested for the night.

  The next few days consisted of going in and out of the underground facility, destroying eggs and fresh hatchings, and clearing debris, which led Yang, Zara, Casimar, and the Handmaiden into the depths of the pit.

  Meanwhile, Fonta was preoccupied with working on various skills and doing paperwork. Since he wasn’t fit enough for exploration and was told to master the pen by his fellow sect leader. There was no time to start diving at monsters or slacking off he had to study.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “The pen is a weapon. It battles bureaucracy.The pen is a weapon.” Fonta tensed as he dipped his fountain pen in ink and wrote a line stating that the threat was much higher than anticipated and the emperor of the continent would have to pay the sect if they wanted access to the facility and the monarch's crown. The price was negotiable, but based on what he was told, a half a billion Ducks wouldn’t be enough for a monster of what the people called Epic.

  “Fonta…”Someone muttered from outside his room.

  “Why does everything need a system? Demon mages have circles, cultivators have tiers, and monsters have ranks! But the ranks hardly matter as they change from country to country and can lack information. Waste, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Unique/named, Myth, and Lost! Do I really need to remember this!” Fonta stabbed a signature violently on the page as if he were murdering the paper itself.

  “Master Fonta.” The voice came in only to be ignored.

  “Problems paperwork, perilous portents, pyromaniacs, pencil-pushing. Penmenship practice, ugh!!!” Fonta tried to maintain focus and recalled back when he was carefree and murdering Vits for shinies.

  A hand hit Fonta’s shoulder and shook it.

  “Ahhh!” Tang screamed as a fountain pen went straight through the gap between his radius and Ulna. Pinning the limb to the wooden chair.

  “Oh! Tang! When did you get here?” Fonta was surprised as he recognized the scream.

  “You stabbed me!”

  “And I put a notice on the door. I'm doing paperwork enter at your own risk.”

  “I thought that was a joke.”

  “You broke my concentration. What bad news do you have?”

  “There is a pen in my arm!”

  “And I severed an artery, so if I take it out you’ll just get blood on my homework. And my... er the train. The owner wouldn’t like that very much.”

  “You’re an unapologetic ass.”

  “And you interrupted my work. It takes a while for me to get in the zone. Who spooks someone while they mention how their writing utensil is a weapon.”

  “Fair point. How did you stab it so that I don’t actually feel it there.”

  “Chi flow blocking. Or acupuncture. One of the paths of the Nirvanic Sage Sutra. I’ve been learning them from a book, then teaching them to Yang. Apparently it’s like croquetting, and special muscle training.”

  “Special muscles?”

  “Tongue, eyes, nose, ears, fingers, among other things. It’s a part of my special training. Though I doubt I’ll need to kill someone with my tongue. Actually…” Fonta thought about keeping a small blade tied inside his mouth as a hidden weapon.

  “Legends tell of cultivation that shoots chi from their eyes. Looks that can kill and things like that.”

  “What do they call that?”

  “Aura? Killing intent? Eye beams?”

  Fonta crossed his eyes as he focused on recalling the dominating presence of the Vits when he was younger, the weakened aura of the leader of those ruins. Yang’s grandfather's secret technique used to anticipate his actions. He then thought about all the blood on his hands and the rage he felt towards the world that had taken so much of his older siblings away, the demons that took his sister, and the nascent cultivation that tried to kill his friend.

  A purple miasma flowed around Fonta’s eyes as he looked up at Tang who went from pained to pale as he suddenly lost consciousness while standing.

  “Was that it?” Fonta noticed the puddle of blood and decided to bring Tang to the healers. It was likely the blood loss that hit him, and he would need assistance. Fonta was doing his part as a sect leader and wasn't using the injury as an excuse to walk around.

  Yang scowled as he placed his hand on a panel for the hundredth time only for nothing to happen.

  “Looks like it needs a precursor to activate.” The handmaiden stated.

  “Do we know where one of those are?” Asked Casimar.

  “Is it a first or second gen authentication?” Zara asked.

  “I can’t tell, why?”

  “If its first and a second or third gen tries it will likely trigger defenses that can range from annoying to lethal.

  “The only first gen I know of holds a position of power and isn’t likely to come here just for this.” The handmaiden sighed.

  “Who?”

  “I’m not permitted to say anymore. Just an acquaintance of an acquaintance.”

  “Maybe Sect master Fonta knows of a precursor laying low in the sect. Do you think mistress Rei could be a first gen?” Casimar asked.

  “That would explain it. Fonta must be her bodyguard. His talent is strong but nothing out of the ordinary. Likely just a rare one.” The handmaiden shrugged.

  Zara’s face entered a contemplative frown as she recalled everything she knew. “There is a chance Fonta may have had contact with a first gen precursor, Rei is likely the second. It’s no secret to those present that I am a demon. I imagine we are more common on this world than I thought.”

  “Many demons serve in positions of power. Those who willingly live here peacefully are usually seen as rebels. Although the more rural you are the more xenophobic people tend to be. Especially when you prey on those lands.

  “Right, well, a legion of demons and demonic sects traveled to Fonta and Yang's hometown to capture a first gen precursor. My mother practiced divination magic and her core discovered a powerful dormant mana signature powerful enough magical energy to equal two or three precursors. Fonta claimed that girl they took was his sister.”

  “Wouldn’t that make him a precursor?”

  “Fonta was an orphan who was raised by other orphans. It's more likely that they found each other while young and assumed they were siblings.” Yang stated.

  “Well I never met the girl. Well this may also come as a surprise but I am a second gen. Get back, and I’ll test my abilities.” Zara placed a hand over the panel and it lit up revealing a room.

  The room lit up with white lights that seemed to hum with a quiet droning noise while revealing various creatures growing in cylindrical tanks that covered the walls by the hundreds with many more smashed open and destroyed. The monsters contained humanoids, beasts, and disturbing abominations that didn’t belong in any world. As the group looked about they found a small cylindrical device in the center resembling the tubes containing the monsters. Only inside the tube was a double helix that appeared to be enlarged.

  “That's a relic!” The handmaiden went to pick it up, only for Casimar to impose himself.

  “Now now. I know you weren't going to touch a relic that doesn’t belong to you. Since our people cleared this place out we also need to discuss the price of all the crowns which are powerful artifacts in their own right. This place held a king's ransom and there was no need to end this relationship early.”

  “That is true. There is a chance that I’ll disintegrate if I touch it since I wasn’t here to fight the boss monsters. That would complicate matters with the empire as they’d assume you killed me out of greed.” The handmaiden took a step back.

  Casimar looked at Zara with a deadpan expression. “You want me to pick it up after all that?”

  “Well you did kill it?”

  “How often do people disintegrate?”

  “It used to be uncommon. Unless you are a first gen, skipping precursor challenges all together, skipping rounds is considered taboo and the ruin will place traps there or make the final trial impossible.”

  Zara picked up the cylinder and screamed as it glowed red hot and turned white forcing her to drop it. Blood fell from her hand as a layer of skin and other tissue had been removed.

  The object floated back to the table it had been placed on. The clear liquid inside had turned red from the blood with splotches of skin floating about.

  Zara looked up and scowled. “Is that precursor script?”

  Backup Code added Half-Precursor Half-Demon, Magma Wyrm, Zareraz.

  “Yes, does anyone know what it says?” Uriel asked.

  Zara shrugged. “Half bloods don’t gain the ability according to my father.”

  “I didn’t know precursors could reproduce with humans.” Yang said.

  “You do know that we all evolved from the same core species right? Same with the elf, and dwarf clans when a family attunes to certain mana or chi elements over generations they alter the nature of their form. Demons are naturally more malleable due to being born on a world with much more mana than ours. So the changes are more pronounced over there.” Uriel explained.

  “Wait. So demons are compatible with humans? Are succubi real?” Casimar seemed a little too interested in that particular subject.

  “There are demons that have practiced enchantment magic to the degree that they can be seen in a certain way, but they don’t enter our dreams or suck out your souls.” Zara stated.

  “Unless they are demonic cultivators that are using parts from those specific demons.” Uriel added.

  “Humans are the worst. Yada yada. Anyways, why is there a fetus in that tube now.”

  Zara looked in a previously empty tube and saw where a small alien creature had appeared and begun to grow slowly. A timer appeared on the side, 6000 hours until completion.

  Backup Code added Human, Hilda, cultivator, clearance level, Vista.

  “Hmmm. Seems safe.” The handmaiden picked it up and noticed the same thing happened to her, only the wound on her hands healed after she put it down. She waited as another tube filled. Her eyes glowed golden as she looked over the creature. 2000 hours until completion.

  “All its meridians are clear, all 15 of them, I wonder.” The handmaiden approached the side panel and scowled as she pressed buttons. Then eventually made it switch languages.”There we go. Wait, I can alter height and initial weight, but that will increase the time it takes to get them. Automatically set to collect my soul if I die then reincarnate me into this body. Curious if I can even clear it.

  When the handmaiden finished the time had gone up to 4000 hours. “Perfect. This will come in handy. The empire would pay a ransom for this artifact. It is known as Samsara or Samuels Supreme Artificial Reincarnation Apparatus.”

  “Samuel the Unbreakable? The precursor with purple blades of light that fought his way through legions of dark cultivators and kept coming back after death?” Yang asked.

  “The very same. I guess that explains why he couldn’t die. This must have been one of his labs.”

  “I don’t know. Fonta seems like the type of person who would need immortality. With all the recklessness in his blood.” Yang stated.

  Fonta sat on the bed of the train car with a foil bag full of something called potato chips and an orange drink that seemed disturbingly close to his name. He was an image of a sloth at that very moment as he lounged lazily in front of the handmaid Hilda.

  “So you want something from me?” Fonta asked with a lazy tone before popping a chip in his mouth and beginning to chew.

  “Yes. We found something that could be a great source of power for the empire. A legendary precursor facility.”

  “I see. Can you afford to pay me for everything at once or will you need to take out a loan or pay me in increments?"

  “Increments?”

  “Lets say the price is 3 billion ducks, instead of you can pay it to me now, or you can pay me back 75 million ducks a month, based on your empires rate of expansion you could afford to spend this much creating a semi immortal army and the artifacts to take over the rest of this quadrant faster. Based on the amount of money your mines produce and your government mints the empress herself should earn at least 2 billion in ducks a year after expenditures. The emperor makes maybe a billion a year. You can pay it off now or send me 75 million a month for 40 months which you should be able to easily afford or you can pay it off early.”

  “Three billion?” The handmaiden raised an eyebrow.

  “For my sect. It’s not all going to just me. I need to pay the participants for their work, then obtain resources since you are taking our prize to the empire instead of our sect.”

  “Three billion is beyond what I can negotiate.”

  “Fine two billion and the train.”

  “The train is a national treasure. It’s priceless.”

  “The same as a life then. If you won’t give me the train then I’ll say 800 million but I will keep the facility and monarch crown.” Fonta crossed his arms.

  “You pe…I can't negotiate on behalf of the empire.”

  “Fine, my final offer is 1 billion and the train, for the relics below, the Matron’s Crowns and the facility but we keep the monarch’s crown. That deal should be enough and if we must meet with the leaders of this empire then I’ll ask Rei to handle it. Now then I have paperwork involving refugees my fellow sect members found then more homework.” Fonta scowled at the pile of expense reports and receipts he needed to comb through. Quite a bit of contribution points had been used and he would need to balance what they spent on resources, what was used, and the amount of work done. He’d need an item that could measure the amount of kills his people got when on an expedition.

  “I’ll let the Empress know of this immediately.” Hilda went to the front of the train leaving Fonta alone with his thoughts. As an exhausted Tang lay unconscious on a cot in front of him.