61. Tyranny It Is (Patreon)

Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter 

Breezes were already soft, but the one that started blowing around  Shen as he connected to the Concept of Zephyr reached the extreme of  gentleness. It barely touched skin, yet there was no denying it was pleasant. It enveloped and caressed him and enemies alike.

It improved his movements just slightly, which was enough for him to reach new heights of power.

Shen's feet barely touched the ground. He was lighter, yet he hadn't  thought of using that. He had been limiting his body too. How ironic  that to feel special, he had ignored all that made him truly so.

He was an E-rank, and that was singular enough for now. He would seek  more distinctiveness not by pursuing illusions of what could be. He  would do so by investing in what he was, by cultivating toward the peak  of the universe.

His toes sometimes contacted the ground for only a split second. Sometimes, his moves required him to stomp.

Being brutish at times was alright too.

The Concept of War told him there was a time and place for  everything—even though he wasn't filling his mind with War Qi anymore.

He was his Path; there was no need to use Qi to draw from what he was.

As Zephyr whispered its secrets to him, Shen used Boundless Qi in his  body and Sharpness in his spearhead. The former to move fast when  needed and counter attempts to lock him in place. The latter to quickly  destroy all obstacles. That was the proper use of qi: to physically  manifest Concepts. He himself was always affected by the Concepts, qi or  not.

Shen danced.

He was one with the Wind, and even when his movements were aggressive  and reached technical perfection, there was subtlety to them. It was  almost imperceptible, nothing but micro changes to a few muscles that  were too tense or too relaxed. Shen didn't even change what he knew of  the movements, only improved them in ways that weren't taught or  considered in the technique's manuals.

One could find subtlety in even in rigidness if they searched deep enough, and Zephyr did.

A sword tried to cut his side, a mace attempted to hit the other  side, a fireball came for his head, and lightning to his feet. Behind  him, a plated armor enemy. In front of him, a tower shield.

He was trapped, yet not.

Where there was a single opening, tiny as it might be, Zephyr found a way through.

Reversal of the Gallant Star.

A complex technique of the Gale Footwork meant for the skies. Shen  couldn't fly, but he felt light as a feather. He jumped and almost  glided toward the diagonal opening behind him. War gave him perfect  awareness of his situation. Combat better told him where the enemies'  attacks were weakest. Boundlessness refused to be restrained and  assisted the other Concepts.

Sharpness cut as he brought his spear down while escaping, bisecting the armored man from head to waist.

| Skill Level Up — Gale Footwork (D) — Level 4

As information rushed into his mind, Shen kept killing. Someone hit  his back for a few points of damage. He had expected it, planned for it,  wished for it. It made that someone surprised, and it caused them to  not move for a split second too long. He turned and beheaded them.

War had made him do that, but it felt wrong to sacrifice himself needlessly, or so Zephyr told him.

As some of the things he knew about the Gale Footwork were corrected  and he gained information on others, Shen flowed in between his enemies,  going deep into their lines. He swung his spear quickly left and right  as he advanced. He left death and despair in his wake.

| Skill Sync Complete — Gale Footwork (D) — Level 4

Shen's footsteps became even lighter. He understood Zephyr and the Gale Footwork even better. He improved his fighting style.

| Skill Tier Up — Gale Footwork — D → D+

New information flushed his mind as he did something he hadn't known  was possible: upgrade a Skill. Misconceptions were corrected, movements  were improved, new knowledge was given to him. Shen understood the  basics better, but that wasn't as overwhelmingly impressive as the new  things he learned. The difference between a D and a D+ Skill showed when  he had to be given a lot of new information to make up for the gap.

With both rank up and tier up, he realized his foes usually looked  elsewhere when he killed them. He realized they couldn't always follow  his movements. He too fast or too elusive—or both—for them.

The system concurred.

| Skill Name Change — Gale Footwork → Elusive Gale Footwork

Lightning came, one of the two elements used by humans that Shen  hadn't always been able to avoid—gravity being the other. He let go of  the Sharp Qi in his spearhead for now, then pushed qi into his skin...  and beyond.

Zephyr was Wind itself. It gave him a slight headache to push the qi  an inch away from him, but that was enough. Zephyr Qi and lightning met  each other, and his qi gently redirected the bolt. It hit the ground  harmlessly.

| Skill Sync Complete — Elusive Gale Footwork (D+) — Level 4

His Whispering Transformation technique peaked. It was about micro  corrections to dodge unexpected attacks. The Concept of Zephyr turned it  into something beyond Shen's wildest imaginations, pushing the  revisions to new heights and beyond.

Shen flowed, and no one hit him again.

= - = - =

Alicia became a machine gun of fireballs. She quickly realized the  most significant issue in this fight would be her willpower. Although  the system showed no willpower attribute, it was a spendable resource of sorts.

So she didn't even try to match her will against others. As soon as  her fireballs hit anything that could fight back, like other spells or  souls, she willed her own spells to explode and disconnected her will  from them. Let good old fiery explosion do the damage while she cast more fireballs.

Back in her room, Alicia had a breakthrough in her training that let  her summon seven at once, send five at an enemy simultaneously, and of  those, made three homing projectiles. Here, it made her the strongest  mage around.

She was recognized for it.

People grouped around her, physical fighters and mages alike, to  protect her and help her kill others. Alone, she indeed couldn't kill an  elite, not in the way she was saving willpower. She noticed it was  restored more quickly in this fight, too, despite the system not  mentioning it, but her savings just barely let her break even. Together  with others, however, they could overwhelm their foes.

Their group was a few hundred large, all positioned around her. All  regulars had organized themselves in groups, and the elites now tested  themselves against whichever group they wanted.

Most elites hunted in packs too. Those were the most dangerous. Sometimes though, arrogant individuals came to them.

Like now.

A tank wearing thick-looking plate armor, holding an equally thick-looking shield and a sword, walked slowly to them.

Alicia summoned her seven fireballs. "Hold!" she yelled. It made many  people tense up as they realized a fight was upon them. She had to tell  them to hold, or they might waste willpower trying to attack the guy  that was way too far away.

Not everyone listened to her. Fire and arrow, ice and bolt, chunks of  rock, and even corrosive poison hit the armor to no effect. It shone  white every time it was hit. Magic, obviously.

When he was a hundred yards away, she yelled, "Hold!"

Fewer people listened to her, but the majority still did. They knew  better than to try to get the AP by luck. Elites were no joke.

Finally, the man was fifty yards away, and she yelled, "Attack!"

The rain of projectiles going toward the man was impressive. Even  more impressive was how they didn't hit each other in the air. They went  through each other without any battle of will, allowing about fifty  attacks a second to hit the elite.

The enemy raised his shield for the first time. It held against all spells. "Redirect!" Alicia yelled.

About ten other mages could redirect their spells midair. It was  theoretically just a matter of willpower, but she had found out her  preconceptions fought against her. She had expected the fireballs'  momentum to keep them moving forward. In truth, it was just her will  pushing them, but what she believed deep down also affected her will. A  simple exercise with a candle had helped her get rid of that notion.

She still could only control three fireballs to move at will out of  the five flying at her enemy. That was from lack of willpower, not  skill. Even that gave her a headache, but not enough to make the  nanobots snuff the spells out.

Fifteen projectiles, about three every second, went around the elite to hit him in the back. Dozens more hit his shield.

He stopped.

He turned.

Then all hell broke loose. The fighters on the front lines rushed at  the man. They ignored the projectiles that couldn't cause them any  damage and attacked. The arrogant elite swung his sword and caused  damage, but he could barely even see what he was swinging at. He hit a  few people but dealt only minor damage that was quickly healed.

Like a pack of hyenas, they struck him until he died.

They cheered, then the group returned to their starting position.  Most mages returned to the little exercise Alicia had taught them, so  dozens of flames started floating around.

Alicia sighed in relief. That had been easy, but the arrogant ones always were. It was the groups they had to worry about.

"What is that?" a guy next to her asked, and she looked where he was pointing at.

A group got in front of another. They talked. Then the second group  moved to follow the first. They traveled toward a third group.

It was too distant to recognize anyone.

A team of five elites decided to go for that big group. Alicia watched, interested—

"Sweet Jesus!" a girl yelled.

Alicia turned in her direction, then followed her eyes.

She saw a blur rushing against the group closest to theirs. They shot  projectiles at it, but they were too slow. The blur was already halfway  to them when the first spells hit where it had been instants ago. New  spells came, but the blur moved way too fast and smoothly. It dodged all  attacks and crushed the front line like a cannonball.

The blur stopped in the very middle of the group for a split second as his spear killed with terrifying efficiency.

Alicia recognized Shen, and her heart accelerated.

What followed was absolute carnage. Shen didn't just run fast but  also fought even faster than she remembered. It looked like he was  moving in fast-forward mode. His spear killed everyone, and no attack  could ever reach him.

The group under assault realized they were done for and started  running. Shen killed about a third of those going in the opposite  direction, then turned back to the ones coming to Alicia's group.

She watched the ones he had allowed to escape and understood why: the  nearest group in that direction was too far away. He had come from  there and crushed the regulars there already. Here, he would have more  people to kill.

She considered giving up rather than fighting her friend, as she had  decided initially, but laughed at herself. She couldn't stop Shen even  if she did her best. Instead of giving up or commanding her group to  their deaths, she told them to do the smart thing.

"Run!" she yelled. "Run for your lives! Run and don't stop!"

"Hold!" A male voice boomed, filling the entire place. Shen had  stopped his pursuit and yelled at them. "Enjoy it while you can, Alicia."

It was worded in a way that seemed a threat, but she could hear the smile in his voice. He was enjoying it and wanted her to enjoy it too.

She smiled back. "I will," she yelled and waved.

He nodded and rushed at them, yet not really. He made an arc and skipped them to get to the group on the other side.

Everyone turned to look at her, and she found her smile dying at once.

The way they were looking at her was definitely uncomfortable.

= - = - =

Bob ended up joining a group of three that deeply impressed him.

Evelyn was a mage that controlled gravity. Sandra was a damn  war tank that couldn't be stopped. Elam seemed to disappear in plain  sight and always found a way to people's backs.

His arrows, by comparison, felt hollow. He focused on striking enemy spells rather than dealing damage.

Bob wouldn't deny he felt good about the praises he received though.

"Impressive," Evelyn said beside him. "How are your arrows so precise? Magic?"

Bob nodded. "I put a sliver of mana into each arrow so I can control  where they go. It's tricky. If I try to control it too much, I interfere  with the thing's speed. Small nudges only."

They kept quiet for a while as Elam and Sandra mowed through the  regulars. Evelyn only used her spells to make the enemies slower, but it  made a big difference.

There were no more spells coming their way, so he switched to  attacking the regulars. When his arrows weren't intercepted or  deflected, they always hit. Yet, they couldn't kill in a single strike,  so they didn't matter in this battle. His opponents healed too fast. He  was only distracting them.

"We're creating a group of true elites," Evelyn said. "People with  standards. Hollywood warned us too much about what would happen to Earth  if everyone gained superpowers for me to do nothing about it."

Bob stopped shooting a little to look at her. Her blue eyes were  striking, and he would be lying if he said he wasn't lost in them for a  moment.

But in the end, he shook his head. "I'm no superhero, lady. I just  want to help my people survive this place, then I can hopefully get a  well-paying job and live comfortably."

"What if offered it to you then? A job?"

He hadn't expected that. Then again, he wasn't a master of diplomacy, as he had repeatedly told his people. "What job?"

She pointed to the opposite side of the "circle" where they stood. An  elite was killing regulars there. "That guy is Feng Shen. I want you to  check if he's one of the good guys."

"Good guys?" Bob snorted.

She looked a little annoyed by that. "Ethical, up to standard, morally acceptable, honorable."

"I know a Feng Shen," Bob revealed. "Martial arts robe and spear?"  She nodded. "He saved my ass in the first floor's final boss, then  ignored my warning about the Void when we met in a revive cabin. No idea  what happened after, but there were a lot of Void Spawn in the area."

She frowned. "Revive cabin? He died in the second stage?"

He shrugged. "I wasn't there, but I guess?"

"That's impossible," she said, and Bob noticed she was talking more  to herself than him. "He couldn't be so strong without the reward for  passing the stage without dying."

"You mean the stats?" He had been networking as the system suggested, and he knew whoever hadn't died in the second stage got all their stats set at F+ for free. "As I told ya, I saw him fight the first  stage's final boss. He could totally get the points to buy the stats himself."

Evelyn's frown deepened as she listened to him. He thought that was  the most she could frown, but somehow she surpassed herself when Feng  Shen ignored a group after decimating another.

"We're done!" Sandra said happily as she approached. Elam, the always taciturn dude, came silently.

"Let's go," Evelyn said, turning in the direction of the group Feng Shen had ignored. "I need to know what happened."

"Not even asking for opinions?" Sandra said. Her face was hidden by  the closed helmet, but there was an unmistakable smile in her voice.  "Tyranny it is then."

"All hail the Former Queen of the Hill," Elam poked as he followed them.

Maybe not always taciturn, Bob corrected himself.

He considered his options. He hadn't found any other of his people  with the elites and was doing well enough with those three. Also, that talk  about ethical elites was silly, but he would be lying if he said he  wasn't curious to see where it would go.

He shrugged and followed.

Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter