[MA] 296. Reality was a Harsh Mistress (Patreon)

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[A/N: This is Tuesday's chapter. I underwent an episode of hyperfocus and couldn't write. As most of you know, I have ADD. When I hyperfocus on something, I can't focus on anything else, no matter how hard I try.

I wanted to release two chapters today, but both delayed chapters will have to wait until next week. Sorry.

Notice: There will be no chapters on this month's last week-ish (09/23 to 09/29)

Chapters this week: 1/3

Delayed chapters: 2

Next release: Tuesday]

"Captain, you're pushing him away," Zyn said through the mind-connecting bracer Abbav had given him. No one liked having their minds connected to another person, but the B- bracer was considered safe enough, even if it would only work in close proximity in this place. "From what you told me, that is the opposite of what the Colonel wanted."

"The boy is a dragon," Abbav replied.

The declaration was given as if the Captain was discussing the weather. Zyn wasn't fooled. He almost tripped in surprise and prepared to escape that place.

One didn't get between dragons and draggors when they met each other. The upcoming battle would be illegal, but dragons never cared about rules or collateral damage. Everyone in-between would get caught. It was an unspoken agreement that no military troop would be held accountable for escaping the incoming obliteration.

Abbav chuckled through the connection. "Not a true dragon. He has dragon genes. All humans from Earth do."

That only made things worse. Draggors could evolve their bloodline by consuming dragons, which ended with them becoming dragons themselves. Abbav couldn't reach A-rank until he evolved. Naturally, draggors and dragons killed each other on sight, though the former at least showed some restraint now and then.

"Could you wait until we return, Captain?" Zyn replied.

He would report the tragedy-to-be as soon as the system was back, and Abbav knew it. Likewise, Zyn knew he could do nothing to stop Abbav. The draggor would become a traitor for killing his troops and be hunted down forever, but Zyn understood it. He would likely do the same if he could. Reaching A-rank was too tempting.

As for warning Lieutenant Shen? The boy could only run, and it would only trigger Abbav's predatory instincts.

The Captain looked at Zyn from the corner of his eye. "I exaggerated in your Stress Discipline training. Your fear of me has become irrational and is clouding your judgment. First Lieutenant, the dragon genome isn't easily mixed with any other race. It is theoretically impossible for commoners to survive it. Yet, all Earth's humans have it, suggesting they had it before they became Guardians. Do you follow?"

Zyn suppressed a frown, trying to follow the threads.

Dragons were very protective of their genes. It allowed them to pull back from Void corruption no matter how close to a total transformation they were. They could pull back from the abyss as long as the shift hadn't started.

That made them significantly valuable, just like the other 11 mythical races who could do the same—that's what made them mythical. Neither of the 12 wanted that value to dilute. They hunted anyone who experimented on them. Even half-dragons like Abbav didn't have that specific gene.

That was one of the ugliest sides of the Alliance.

Then it dawned on the First Lieutenant. "Dragons don't let their hatchlings leave their sight."

Abbav smiled, his sharp teeth always promising pain, regardless of which emotion he meant to display. "Ah, it happens. People like me wouldn't exist if every single dragon was kept under the watch of the older ones. How else could my father seduce my stupid dragon mother? But if a lizard shows some promise?" He shook his head. "I found it suspicious that Colonel Tazuz didn't tell me more about the A-rank who got interested in our little corner of Reality. He knows. A dragon is coming to take control of us. It doesn't matter that we're a biped Army; we cannot refuse because of the Calamity."

Zyn swallowed. "What is your plan, then, Captain? Take it out on the boy?"

"Perhaps, but it's more than that. Haven't you noticed?"

"Notice what, Captain?"

Abbav shook his head disappointedly. "First Lieutenant, we'll have to sit and talk when we can. I must help you get over your fear. You're missing too many details. You can feel Lieutenant Shen, can't you? Or is your Law blocked?"

Abbav was right because the very thought of chatting about Zyn's fears already filled the Lieutenant with terror. He shuddered. He didn't want to deal with that; he just wanted to keep those memories and feelings compressed deep inside his body.

Abbav had been forbidden from training new troops for a good reason.

Zyn replied, "I can feel him, Captain."

"Does it feel like I'm punishing him? Or any other Earthen human? Or is it more like trying to gather data?"

Zyn had to force himself to check deeper than the "glances" he had been giving that battalion. He hadn't wanted Abbav to think he was messing with his plans.

So, he was surprised to find First Lieutenant Shen looked better than when they entered the Voided Subnode.

His soul had improved in there.

Abbav said, "Earth's humanity survived being rebuilt with dragon genes, Lieutenant. That would already make them special enough, but they also have a sort of subconscious hivemind ability. I wouldn't have noticed it if my father hadn't tried something similar on me when he created my specific draggor strain. He failed, but I read his research. Do you know the Alliance's greatest trick?"

"No, Captain."

"Society. The Alliance forces it on us. Strong people are forced to care for the weaker ones by their superiors. When they reach S-rank, they are so used to it that it is already a part of their Path. The few who don't care still force A-ranks to do their job for them because someone has to do it. Even most renegades care for someone. From an early age, we learn to look up to our great leaders—or desire to surpass them and do a better job. The call of prestige is hard to refuse. Below all the cutthroat politics is an ingrained desire for some form of cohesive collectivity. We mostly disagree on how much to spend on the weak or whether we should forbid an unethical cultural ritual. We never disagree on whether the Alliance should exist."

That made some sense. Zyn could see how many things bound all races together for that purpose. Supposedly. He didn't know if he wholly agreed with Abbav's conclusion, but the Captain was trying to make a point, so Zyn only nodded.

Abbav chuckled. "You don't believe is, but whoever crafted Earth's humans does. They are stronger when facing the Void together. Life in society can make or break them. They were built to thrive in the Alliance and oppose the Void."

"Is it the hivemind you mentioned, Captain?" Hivemind humanoids were rare.

"Yes and no. It's not precisely a hivemind; individuals from hiveminds are weak when detached from the hive. Humanity is as individualistic as any of us can be. But it's hivemind-like, without any disadvantage, except maybe that its advantages are limited to fighting the Void. I almost missed it because it is so sneakily hidden, but it works in nodes and the Void taint."

Zyn tensed. "Void taint?" The Alliance didn't seem to care about it, but whoever proved themselves to the military got the knowledge of what that truly meant. At a cost.

"Lieutenant Shen is Void-tainted. Void-tainted individuals are the triggering nodes of their race's hidden ability. If they recognize a Void threat, every human being threatened by the same circumstances will be strengthened. It's... marvelous. When I was distracting him with my domain, he was already resistant to it. He's good. When his friend sought him, the very way she asked for help sufficed for him to immediately fully internalize how dire the Void threat is. That triggered the hidden ability. Every Earth human in this Voided Subnode grew stronger."

"Is that why you ordered me not to let him share tricks to deal with the Stress Discipline training, Captain? To make sure the others grew stronger regardless of being told?"

"Yes. But you're asking the wrong question."

Abbav could be tiring sometimes. "Which question should I be asking, Captain?"

"We all know power can't be simply created. Even when it looks like Guardians are bending the energy conservation rules, the extra power comes from Reality itself. In fact, our inter-universe teleportation system is based on the invisible and unobservable Law-quantum entanglements used by Reality... Ah, you don't have clearance. Suffice it to say everything is fueled somehow. Where do you think humans' fuel comes from?"

Zyn followed the evident thread, though it made him uncomfortable. "The Void taint, Captain?"

"Yes. Void Energy is impossible to use constructively. Or at least, that's what the latest research I can get my hands on tells me. Yet, here we are. This hivemind-like ability uses the Void taint as a key to produce an impossible nonexistent Breach to pull Void Energy out of nowhere and strengthen Reality's beings. There seems to be a cap, and every individual subconsciously 'allocates' the boost they receive. The Lieutenant invested in his mind and became almost impervious to my little tricks."

The First Lieutenant was getting more uncomfortable by the second. "Void Breaches, Captain?"

"Yes. That kind of fear is likely one of the reasons this research is kept secret. If people knew about it, all humans would be being bred and desiccated in laboratories under very watchful eyes. But they are free and spread through the multiverse. The dragons allowed them to have dragon genes, and a dragon is coming to watch over their Void-tainted investment. Our lives are at risk just for knowing about it."

Zyn slowed down. Tried to. Abbav's domain kept the Lieutenant running at the same pace.

He gritted his teeth. "Why are you telling me this, Captain? I have nothing to do with it. I despise politics, but you're pulling me in. You're putting a mark on my life."

"First Lieutenant, do you remember when you told me I was being insensitive, and I shared Second Lieutenant Uya's woes with you?"

"What about it, Captain?"

"I want your opinion as a voice of conscience. What is the dragons' goal? Give Reality a weapon to fight the Void? Or do they intend to spread humanity throughout the multiverse and wait for these nonexistent Breaches—which do exist in some mysterious form—to destroy the Alliance? I'm too biased by my hatred of dragons to decide. If you think it's a scheme to destroy Reality as we know it, I'll kill Lieutenant Shen, escape this place, spread the word, and accept my fate when the dragons come for me."

Zyn didn't hide his frown this time.

That was way above his pay grade. But Abbav was right; Abbav shouldn't be the one to decide it. He was too biased not only because of his hatred but also because he had trouble with ethics and morals.

The First Lieutenant himself didn't feel he should decide it either. But he also understood that they had to decide now. He bet no C-rank could see through those things without the right equipment and adequate experience, despite what Abbav said about Zyn's fear. The A-rank going to La'sing would closely watch any B-rank who saw humans fight Void Spawn.

Captain Abbav only had this chance to kill Lieutenant Shen and reveal the dragon's ploy to the Alliance.

Zyn couldn't think of other people to ask for opinions. He wouldn't share it with his people, or it might put a target on them. The other Brigade Commander deployed in that subnode cared about rules more than her life. She would exterminate Earth's humanity because the experiment was illegal, and that was it.

But those were sapient living beings, and Zyn fought in the military to protect lives. Sometimes from other living beings, but...

"Do they know, Captain?" Zyn asked. "Is humanity aware of what they are? Of their power?" Innocent victims should be judged differently from greedy bastards.

"How would I know? I suspect not. They seem too clueless, exactly what I expect from a newly integrated race. But I would need to interrogate them to be sure."

Zyn nodded slowly. The Alliance allowed some races that were a threat to keep on living, but some things were strictly forbidden. Body-swapping techniques were against the fundamental tenets for a good reason; they threatened to give the Void a backdoor into Reality. If the Void exploited it, a Breach could appear directly in civilian regions instead of the front lines.

But the potential for good...

Zyn had lost people. What if the dragons wanted to share this ability with everyone but only needed to test it first? It was expected for them to try to prove their illegal research worked properly before revealing it.

But the potential for evil...

What if the dragons wanted to kill everyone? As one of the 12 mythical races, everyone knew about dragons. They were barely a part of the Alliance, with friends everywhere beyond. Those friendships weren't valuable in a fight but gave them a safe harbor to retreat to.

Zyn even recalled something about them having a beef against the Alliance's—

"Don't think about it," Abbav's voice sharply cut through Zyn's thoughts. "Not here, not now. No, I didn't read your mind. But thinking of a specific race creates ripples you can learn to read."

The Lieutenant had received thought-blocking training and made himself ignorant for now. The general idea was enough: the dragons might want the Alliance gone.

The potential gains were significant, but the risks were enormous. At the very least, the Alliance had to be notified. Their decision on the matter would have to wait until the Calamity was over, but at least Earth's humanity would be kept safely isolated.

More importantly, there would be no such potential threat in his brigade.

The answer seemed obvious, yet Zyn still hesitated. They were under his care. Killing them like this felt wrong.

"What else can you tell me about this strange ability, Captain? Anything at all?"

"Ah, yes. I almost forgot. Silly me. The ability also strengthens subnodes."

Zyn turned his head so fast to look at Abbav that he almost broke his neck. He stared sharply and furiously at the man. They had just spotted the first Void Spawn, but he ignored it.

Uya didn't hide her confusion but went to kill it. She knew what to do.

"You almost forgot to mention that, Captain?!" the Lieutenant demanded.

The draggor didn't even have the decency of looking ashamed. He shrugged. "I said I'm biased. He's not a true dragon, but my every instinct insists otherwise now that I smelled the gene. You don't understand how deep my hatred is. This subnode didn't even get that much stronger. It's only slowing the decay by about a tenth of a percen— Oh, nevermind that. Lieutenant Shen just saw the first Void Spawn. The Subnode decay rate slowed by ten percent. I changed my mind; we should keep him. We should think of a way to put a Void-tainted human on every subnode. Or maybe more than one human? Does their number matter? Does the ability work in the node itself? I could bring all humanity into a Void-tainting trip myself. Few would survive, but it would be worth it. Or maybe talent is also relevant? He might also be getting the extra power from Reality itself because he's a first-class talent. I almost forgot about it, too."

Zyn couldn't even... "You..."

"I'm angry and jealous, First Lieutenant. The boy isn't even two Standard years old. He started cultivating four Standard months ago."

Zyn had to do the math himself without the system's automatic translation. Abbav's four Standard months were about a sixth of a Standard year. One Standard year was twelve Earth years. That meant Lieutenant Shen had cultivated for less than two of his years and wasn't even twenty-four.

That was way more information than Zyn had had about the boy. That rate of improvement was absurd.

And pitiful.

A first-class talent... From first-class upwards, there were no more divisions between talents. There was no tool to grade them as better or worse than each other. Shen's growth was so fast Zyn had only heard about something similar twice before, but none had ever reached B-rank. He had never known about a first-class talent who did; that was not what they had been born to do.

Reality was a harsh mistress already, and it was worse to those it wanted something from. The gift of talent wasn't easy to repay, and Reality charged with interest.

Anyway, if the ability was dependent on talent instead of the Void taint, it wouldn't be illegal. Zyn couldn't condemn one of his trainees to death on that. On top of that, if the ability could be spread, it would make talents much more important than they currently were.

Whatever research was going on with Earth's humanity changed everything.

A subnode's decay rate wasn't that important after a subnode was already Breached. The more it decayed, the more Breaches appeared, and "resetting" it required closing all Breaches. Even so, whichever A-rank came to do that once a B-rank Void Spawn appeared could deal with a million Breaches as quickly as one.

But before that? Before the very first Breach occurred? A subnode's decay could take anything from a few thousand to millions of years.

Expanding that time by ten percent was incalculably huge.

The revelation shocked Zyn so much that he didn't find in himself the strength to address Abbav with respect or fear. "You would let your anger and jealousy destroy a potentially multiverse-changing ability that can save countless lives?!" he shouted through the connection.

"Evidently," Abbav replied, still unashamed. "I already recognized my bias, First Lieutenant. And you'll do well to remember we're not friends. You're my subordinate. I'll not allow another such outburst as this."

Zyn kept silent as they reached a large group of Void Spawn and just kept running. Uya dealt with them again, but it defeated the Expeditory Training's purpose. Zyn had to lead his troops, but Abbav's domain still held him. The man was waiting for this conversation to conclude.

The First Lieutenant's sense of ethics compelled him to risk his life by demanding one answer: "Captain, was this some twisted scheme, or did you truly only ask for help?"

"My father was a white dark fae," the draggor replied.

Well, that explained a lot. White dark faes... The kindest way to describe such paradoxical beings was as crazy psychopaths. They were accepted to a certain point because they were excellent researchers, but most races killed them on sight—if they had the strength for it.

"Well?" Abbav pushed. "Should I kill the boy?"

Zyn suppressed a sigh. "No, Captain. But you should stop poking. The A-rank dragon will get upset at you for what you already did, but I'm sure you can make it worse if you look too deep."

"You have a point. I do tend to get carried away. Tell Staff Lieutenant Uya to rescind the order about punishing those trying to use Stress Discipline training against each other. Let him bring order to his battalion. I'm sure the mother hen coming to check on the chick will like to know how he performs under pressure. And do start commanding your brigade; we're about to get surrounded."

'And whose fault is that?!' Zyn screamed in his mind.

The Lieutenant felt the domain release him and immediately started giving orders.

He would take his frustration on the Void Spawn.

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