Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 33-34 (Patreon)

I'm juggling a bit much at the moment, but I intend to start posting TWC chapters next week or the one after. Meanwhile, more SC3 as scheduled! This sequence is too long not to have a cliffhanger, sorry.

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Chapter 33: Ancient Ruins

Over the next week, the two of them met with Uncle Frank when they could, and just chatted or trained when he was too busy. The conversation didn't seem endless the way it had during the first couple days, but it was still great to be around family. Some of the ruins their uncle took them to were interesting, but they were all relatively close to nearby towns. Rick got the sense that the real work, and the most interesting finds, lay further into the jungle.

When it came time for him to participate in a Showdown event, he was surprised how much he resented it. He found himself feeling spite over tiny details: the arena was smaller, the crowds noisier, the events less tightly organized. But the truth was that he didn't care about any of those things, if they were even substantially different, he just hated losing time with family.

The events themselves went well, as usual trying less prestigious events to familiarize himself with new varieties of aura. H told him that Vietnam had a few truly formidable sects, but they tended toward the spiritual and few got involved with events like the Showdown. In any case, they didn't make an appearance and Rick was left feeling a bit like he'd wasted his time.

During his absence, however, Melissa seemed to have wheedled their uncle into letting them come along with him on a more exciting trip. It would take another few days, during which time he laid the groundwork, so Rick stayed at the hotel and focused on training. Melissa trained alongside him, performing a number of unusual experiments he wanted to ask her about later.

That seemed less interesting than finally being able to see their uncle's work, however. Rick actually spent a little while figuring out what to wear for the first time in months, since he needed to balance multiple factors. His defensive core would protect him from most things, but his clothes could still get caught on branches or torn up.

Eventually they headed out to meet Uncle Frank, though not at any of the usual locations, just a random street at the edge of the city. When they arrived, Rick finally understood: this time they were met with a vehicle. It flew in like a hovering beige brick, all unusual angles and metal frames. The seats themselves looked relatively normal, they were just surrounded by defensive structures.

"Ooh, is that a lucrim jeep?" Melissa headed forward as soon as it landed, examining it curiously. Rick was thinking of calling it a lucrim tank, but decided to keep that to himself.

"I do a lot of my work in this baby." Uncle Frank slapped the side of the car and then gestured for them to climb in. "This is a high end all terrain vehicle. It was top of the line when I bought it, and that was years ago, but I've kept it in good shape and kept tweaking."

"What makes it an all terrain vehicle?" Melissa hopped over the side to sit in the shotgun position, so Rick jumped into the back. "I mean, if they can all fly..."

"Mostly durability - it could plow through a jungle if necessary. I'm going to keep the barriers down, because the air conditioning doesn't work great, but it can close almost air-tight. I'm not saying that it could go underwater or into space, but falling into either wouldn't be an immediate disaster."

"Hmph! If you can't go into space, what's the point?"

The vehicle lifted into the air and they headed away from the city. They didn't follow any roads, so Rick expected to be in unoccupied territory almost immediately, but to his surprise there continued to be small villages beneath them. No one seemed to care about the lucrim vehicle floating overhead, so he just examined the landscape while the others talked.

"So far, this actually seems really calm." Melissa sat back in her seat, staring idly over the landscape. "Were you just lying about it being so dangerous to make us think you were cool, Uncle Frank? Because if you want us to think you're cool, just say you smoke marijuana."

Uncle Frank chuckled. "Oh, there are real risks. Usually not much worse than some of what you two have faced, but they do occur."

"Come on, I was joking, but I was serious. Uh... you know what I mean. What makes this job risky?"

"Several things." Their uncle was silent for a time, his hands on the wheel even though the lucrim vehicle continued without changing course. "First, there's a difference between jobs that are dangerous for the average person and jobs that are dangerous for a skilled professional. Many ancient sites have enough residual lucrim to serve as nests for lucrim-using animals, for example. They're a good reason that no one untrained should go out there, but they aren't really more of a threat than anything Rick would have encountered at his old job."

"The Peakless Wildlife Refuge is that dangerous?" Rick asked. His uncle smiled ruefully and shook his head.

"You've seen an aura bear. A creature that big that can generate aura? I'm not saying it's the most lethal animal or anything, but it's nothing to sneeze at."

"Ooh!" Melissa sat forward eagerly. "What is the most lethal animal?"

"In terms of total deaths per year, the hippopotamus. I know, you wouldn't expect it, but they're aggressive." Uncle Frank was silent for a while, almost as if he wouldn't continue, then abruptly did. "But in terms of killing people with Lucores, it's the South American emerald dragon. It actually isn't technically a dragon, but it looks similar. Anyway, it's fairly poisonous, but what makes it the most lethal is that it lives near cities and it doesn't flee humans."

That was mildly interesting, but nothing they couldn't get from a documentary. Before Melissa could ask more questions about animals, Rick spoke up. "If those are the dangers to untrained people, what's the real threat?"

Uncle Frank went silent again, then nodded, as if to himself. "When you two were younger I didn't talk about these things because I didn't want to scare you. But I suppose you're adults now. The real danger, as usual, is humans. The fact that the things we find are valuable means that there are people who might want to take them. Usually everything is peaceful enough, but not always."

"You mean there are lucrim pirates?" Melissa asked eagerly. That got a chuckle, but a weak one.

"Don't imagine them wearing eyepatches, but yes. Now, it's nothing too serious recently. Most of the time when a government is funding a job, there's just competition between researchers and freelancers like myself. But when sects hire people to search out obscure plants or ruins, those can fetch a high enough price that it draws less reputable types."

"But I assume we're not checking one of those today."

"Of course not. This one isn't actually a local government job, it's a point of interest for the Global Lucrim Authority. We already staked out the region and confirmed there was nothing dangerous, but the ruins are broken into many fragments that will require careful searching. You two can help with that, just don't touch anything."

Rick frowned at the mention of the GLA. "Why is it a point of interest for them? Is it a lucrim anomaly?"

"Not at all, but it's somewhat related. It's hard to explain." Uncle Frank was silent for a while, idly tapping his hands on the steering wheel. "Okay, think about it like this. Earth runs into lucrim as it moves through space. Sometimes there's a little bit more, sometimes a little bit less, but the differences are small, rounding errors. Usually."

"But not now?"

"For the past ten years or so, there's been a steady increase in lucrim... but even that is controversial. The thing is, there can be brief spikes, something to do with sun spots and solar wind. During that time, there have been more of those than usual. So some people think that there hasn't been any real increase, just a coincidental bunch of events raising the average. The numbers are arguable."

"Lies, darned lies, and statistics." Melissa nodded along, but with a puzzled expression. "What does that have to do with your job, though?"

"All that new lucrim is more intense, or maybe a little different from normal. It doesn't really matter for individuals or businesses, but the stuff is degrading lucrim and ether patterns in old ruins faster than normal. Suddenly a lot of groups that thought they had decades to find their old scrolls or finish an archaeological survey want it done ASAP. That means more work for me, but the field is also more crowded."

That was a much more indirect reason than Rick had expected, but he realized that he should have known. Everything in the modern world was increasingly interconnected, with cause and effect often separated by a dozen little systems. At least it seemed like the trip might be fun, and Uncle Frank relaxed once he talked about the interesting parts of his work.

As they spoke, they'd finally left civilized areas and begun flying over unoccupied jungle. When they finally stopped, Rick didn't see anything particularly unusual. As they circled, Uncle Frank pointed out that several strange hills were actually overgrown buildings. Eventually he found a place and stopped the vehicle just over the trees.

"You two jump down and I'll lock up," he said. "Just don't touch anything that looks built by human hands. There shouldn't be any dangerous plants or animals here, but we don't want to damage anything."

They nodded and then hopped over the edge, Rick jumping directly after Melissa in case there turned out to be any surprises. But they snapped through a few branches and landed on the dirt without any problems. The area seemed almost dead, actually, with the plants growing more sparsely and few animal sounds surrounding them.

Overhead, Uncle Frank jumped out as well, but not before initiating a process that left the lucrim vehicle covered in a shell of ether-enhanced armor. A way of preventing anyone from running off with it, presumably. Rick didn't know how expensive a vehicle like that was, but it had to be a pretty big part of their uncle's livelihood.

"Okay, kids, let's head this way. I thought I saw something good over there." Uncle Frank led them a short distance to one of the lumpy hills, showing them where to step and leaning aside from overhanging branches.

What they found appeared to be a shrine. It was overgrown by moss and small plants, and part of it had been broken down by a tree's roots, yet there was a strange beauty to it. The stone of the shrine had been carved extensively, the complex ridges and patterns clear even after age had eroded them. Rick and Melissa looked over it while Uncle Frank made a note on a small electronic device Rick didn't recognize. Some sort of special GPS, maybe.

"Okay, this one is good. Let's move southeast next." As he started away, Melissa stared after him in surprise.

"Wait, that's it? We don't... I don't know, extract it or investigate the inside?"

"This place is mostly important to historians and for scientific measurements." Their uncle cast her an amused smile as they began to move away. "Did you think that we'd be finding golden idols and ancient training manuals?"

"I mean, not really, but a girl can hope." As they trekked on, the trees parted to reveal an overgrown plaza and Melissa perked up. "Hey, that looks like some kind of ancient sect hideout! Any chance there will be something fun there?"

"Possibly." Uncle Frank made a note on his device and frowned. "We actually didn't think there would be any structures of this size, so this one might be valuable. Hmm... the stones appear to be damaged. They probably had inscriptions, but they're lost to time now. We can walk on them, but walk softly. I think there might be a basement underneath."

As they explored into the courtyard, Rick was surprised to see several large faces carved into the stone. The complex patterns of stonework looked similar to the small shrine they had found first, but there hadn't been any human features. These looked like normal humans wearing elaborate crowns, except perhaps for the eyes. He wasn't sure if there had been heavy damage to them or if there were strange patterns carved in the pupils.

Just when he was about to ask who had made them, Melissa spoke up. "Guys, there's a staircase going down over here!"

"Really?" Uncle Frank headed over toward her quickly. "Definitely don't go down. We should get a team for that."

"Ooh, why? Could there be traps?"

"Of course not. Even if they left anything like that, it would have degraded long ago - ancient people might have been able to create ether, but they were much worse at using it to enchant solid matter. Any residue would be of interest to lucrim archaeologists, not something we could notice."

"Aww... can you at least tell me that you've run into a trap at some point?"

"Actually, yes." Uncle Frank stopped with an odd smile on his face. "There was this tiny little Egyptian tomb, not related to any of their dynasties, and no one thought it would contain anything of great value. But the entrance had a pit trap that had been rebuilt several times, with almost perfectly preserved skeletons at the bottom. That's still the most valuable find I've ever seen personally."

"A pit trap!" Melissa thrust both fists over her head. "I'll take it!"

Though Rick listened to their conversation with a slight smile on his face, he was fairly distracted. Not just with looking at the ruins and trying not to step on anything, but automatically sensing the area around him. He hadn't intended to, but being in a natural environment triggered his old instincts searching for lucrim anomalies. There was nothing of the sort, though the average activity around the ruins was higher than normal.

And then there was the massive source of lucrim hovering overhead.

Rick looked up in time to see the slim vehicle slide down to the other side of the courtyard. It folded back into a small bar, similar to his bicycle, leaving a man wearing camouflage. And carrying a gun.

"Looks like this was a good tip after all." The man smiled and lowered the weapon to point at them. "It's mine now."

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Chapter 34: Lucrim Pirate

As everyone stared, Rick had a moment to examine the man threatening them. Though the camouflage had struck him first, the ragged belt and sandals suggested he wasn't military. Rick didn't know enough about guns to be sure about the one aimed at them, other than that it struck him as a bit old-fashioned... and heavy enough to fire lucrim bullets. Some sort of mercenary, then.

"Now, this can end easily." The mercenary gave them all an insincere smile revealing several broken teeth. "Lay down whatever weapons you're carrying, turn around, and walk away. If you never come back, I'll let you go."

"You two, get behind me." Uncle Frank stepped in front of them, one fist clenching at his side.

"Oh, you don't want to fight me, old man. Even if you can, do you think you're able to protect those dear children?"

"I think that you're working illegally. You couldn't be paid for this find if the authorities are notified, so you always intended to kill us. But you didn't try a sneak attack because you weren't confident in winning, so you took the coward's route."

Immediately the mercenary's smile disappeared. "It would have been easier for you to take a bullet in the back of the head. I'll kill them first."

"You can still walk away from this. I'll ignore the threat if y-" Uncle Frank's words were cut off by a hail of semi-automatic gunfire.

The bullets ricocheted off a hand of blue aura that manifested in front of their uncle. Rick remembered that hand picking them up when they were children and taking them on rides over the yard. This version was far larger, as tall as their uncle and packed with aura. Lucrim bullets could often penetrate aura defenses, but the hand showed no signs of damage.

An instant later, it swept out to strike their opponent, but he skipped to the side: a speed technique just like the Bunyan's Step. Though he fired again, Uncle Frank had automatically manifested another aura hand that deflected the bullets. The mercenary then shifted to firing at Rick instead, but the hand expanded to cover his new target.

While Uncle Frank was focused on that, the mercenary pulled something else from his belt. Rick saw it, but he was too deep in analysis to say something in time. Some sort of aura flared to activate the grenade, then it was flung toward them.

"Move!" Uncle Frank leapt to the side, grabbing Melissa as he went. Rick leapt in the opposite direction before the grenade hit.

There was no explosion, just an expanding blue fog. Yet Rick realized a moment later that all the plants within it were curling up and dying. Whatever it was, he had a feeling that aura wouldn't stop it. He didn't even want to risk his defensive core against a killer's weapon.

The mercenary moved to fire at Rick, and he was about to Bunyan's Step away when a blue hand manifested to defend him. Yet the mercenary seemed to have anticipated this, instead firing at Uncle Frank. This time, he kept up the burst of lucrim bullets, the muzzle of his gun glowing with aura. Uncle Frank staggered back a step and his barrier began to crack.

Rick realized that he had waited for too long, analyzing when he needed to act. He used a Bunyan's Step to leap at their attacker.

He didn't hear the gunshot, just saw that the gun had turned on him as soon as he moved. It must have hit him straight in the chest.

Yet he wasn't dead.

Throwing aside thought, Rick slammed his fist into the mercenary's face. The man went down hard, but he was already raising his gun again. Rick kicked it out of his hands, sending it sailing into the jungle. He intended to kick down at his opponent, but the man flashed away in another swift movement, vanishing from the ruin.

Though Rick kept his eyes on the jungle, he backed up to check the others were okay. Only after he saw that Melissa had taken cover behind a shrine and Uncle Frank was back on his feet did he look down at his chest. His shirt had been torn, he was bleeding, and it felt like a huge area would bruise, but he'd survived a lucrim bullet. That had been without the Triune Golden Spheres, which he quickly activated to prepare for the next attack.

"The two of you can take care of yourselves." Uncle Frank only glanced at them briefly, but he looked a bit guilty. "If I hadn't spent so much time trying to defend you, that might have gone better."

"Are you okay, Rick?" Melissa asked quietly from her position. Rick nodded, but Uncle Frank hushed them both.

"There's no time to talk. Get ready. I don't know who that is, but he's suspiciously well-equipped. He won't give up, so we need to find and disable him before he ambushes us."

Before they could plan any further, a sphere sailed in from the jungle. When it hit there was no explosion, the sphere simply began to sprout legs. It rapidly curled into a scorpion with a presence like a demon, but Rick had never seen anything like it before. As the creature scuttled toward them, he felt a cold presence at his back.

"The enemy has numerous demonic contracts," Katenka whispered into his ear. "The manifestations can be destroyed with force, but he's using them as a distraction."

It was too late to share the warning, as the demonic scorpion was already advancing on them. Uncle Rick had tightened his hand, a blue palm moving down to smash it. But Rick looked past them and saw the mercenary in the trees, hurling another sphere.

Directly overhead. Even as the first scorpion was being crushed, the second was forming above them, rushing down at Uncle Frank's head.

Rick tackled it in midair, slamming the demon into one of the ancient walls. It stabbed at him with its tail, but he was surprised how slow it seemed. He caught the pincer in one hand and struck the creature's head with his elbow until the chitin shattered and the demon dissipated into aura.

As he looked up to defend himself from the mercenary, he found the man gripped in a blue fist. Either he hadn't found his gun or it had fallen, because he merely struggled with his bare hands. Uncle Frank needed a moment to restabilize his aura, but then stepped closer.

"We won't kill you, but-"

"That's right, you won't." The mercenary suddenly spoke... in a woman's voice. His body melted into a succubus, who gave them a cheerful wave before vanishing into demonic aura.

"Don't move." This time it was the mercenary's real voice, coming from behind them. Despite the warning, Rick whirled around to look.

The mercenary had his gun pointed directly at Melissa.

"You're right that I intended to kill you, but circumstances have changed." The mercenary gave them all an unpleasant smile, his finger tense on the trigger. "I still can't let you report this, but we migh-"

Melissa's eyes flared black and a dark field flickered into being between her and the mercenary. Rick wanted to yell at her not to take the risk, but she'd made the right choice: her manifested void had targeted the gun.

The mercenary pulled the trigger... too late to prevent the lucrim in his gun from being drained into the void. It began to drain his hand as well, forcing him to take a step back, eyes widening in shock.

Though Uncle Frank started to move, Rick was there first. He had intended to tackle the mercenary to the ground, but the man leapt away. Rick followed him instantly, colliding with his opponent just as they landed. The mercenary kicked at his legs, but the blow deflected harmlessly, giving Rick time to strike him in the chest.

The mercenary went skidding back across the ruins, tumbling once before hitting a low wall at the end. A blue hand tried to grasp him again, but he pushed himself off the ground, landing atop one of the shrines. Rick tensed as he saw that the mercenary was smiling.

"Well, it seems I've found something even more valuable..." He threw another grenade and Rick realized too late that this one wasn't lethal. Uncle Frank tried to intercept it, but the grenade went directly through the aura hand, then exploded in midair.

Not in a fiery explosion, but tearing open a hole into the demon realm. And not above them, but targeting Melissa. She had a moment to stare in shock before the force of the explosion pulled her in.

Then the portal closed, forming a locked pillar of aura. Rick didn't know what had happened, but he knew that Melissa was trapped on the other side. He saw Katenka appear out of the corner of his eyes, a grim expression on her face. Yet before she could say anything, the mercenary unhooked another pair of grenades and smiled.

"Was that a fully mature ether void? I've never actually seen one. But oh, I know someone who will pay for one."

Rick ignored him and struck the pillar of aura, hoping that he could force it back open. The aura simply ignored his blows, leaving him separated from his sister.