Calculating Cultivation
Chapter 126: Putting In The Hours

“My brain hurts,” I muttered. I hadn’t studied so hard since I had started cultivating. There was a constant throbbing sensation behind my eyes as I looked over array symbols and formation design. I felt like my brain was going to explode out through my eyeballs. While it may have been a slight over exaggeration, this stuff was incredibly complicated.

I didn’t know if it was an age issue or a complexity issue, perhaps both. I had always been concerned about my mind and how cultivation worked precisely with my memories. That was my sense of self. If I didn’t get physical headaches studying anymore, I would appreciate it.

While I had learned about the Free Port on my arrival, I hadn’t had a headache like this. Perhaps it was from me staying up for a long time trying to figure everything out. Or perhaps there was something more insidious in the symbols that these Mind Lords used.

Orientation, direction of inscribing, and the tools used. These were some of the most annoying aspects that I had to decipher, but they weren’t the only ones. I set aside the book I had been looking at for reference and got up. After stretching, I made my way over to Yang Zi who was working on the technological side of things.

He looked up at my approach. “Taking a break?” he asked. He sounded just as tired as me. But he didn’t have the superhuman body from cultivation. He just had some implants in his body to keep him alive, but I could easily fold him in half.

“Yes. I can’t think anymore at the moment. I didn’t think my brain would ever hurt this much. I should be able to recreate the formations without too much trouble. Worked out the inscription equipment that was used. I would say that I have about 40% of the design worked out and know what it is doing. The rest, I will get back at it after a long rest,” I answered.

“Any traps found?” he asked. I had some guesses, but intricate energy interactions was something people would spend multiple lifetimes studying. That was cultivator lifetimes not mortals. Immortal cultivators who would live until they were killed. Unlike technology which was constrained by physics and the environment to a large extent, energy was a near endless field of study.

“Resonance is the most likely way they could be trapped. Using the same type of energy preferably with symbols to locate other portions. Best option would be to recycle some of the inscription plates and replace them with ones I made that are different, but still have the same functionality. But that is something I have only thought of, I still have to look at the feasibility of that option. What about you?” I asked.

“Most of the stuff we can purchase or manufacture. I am just working on connecting the two tanks and setting up various timers and safeguards. The trick will be to have the energy pump work for a period of time, then turn off. The liquid will then be moved from one tank to the other. Once it has been moved the energy pump will start up again.”

“Would that make it harder to detect or easier?” I asked.

“Depends on the detection method used. Intermittent is better in my opinion. Most beings will only check as they are passing through. Only super organizations will constantly scan their territory and we are avoiding those as much as possible,” Yang Zi answered. That made sense.

“I notice there is additional paneling?” I asked while looking over the energy pump he was working on. I was trying to understand what Yang Zi was doing. If we ever split for whatever reason or he died, then I needed to know what he had done so I could do it myself. It also gave me peace of mind.

“To disrupt scanners. We will set the energy pump into a rotation with the nearby environment, rather than have a constant source to detect, the paneling will make anything intermittent even more than usual. Also, a minor scanner, that if pinged will shut down the energy pump after a certain period of time. The trick isn’t to hide it. Hiding too well is too expensive. That is why depending on tricks to make it seem like another vessel passing through in stealth is the best option,” Yang Zi explained.

“Well, I am going to get some sleep and some food,” I tiredly said.

“How much longer do you need?” Yang Zi asked me. I winced at that question. While I would like to say a short period of time, it just wasn’t possible.

“Half a cycle would be best, but I know our reserve funds our running low. The docking fees at the Free Port aren’t cheap,” I replied.

“That long?” Yang Zi asked with some surprise. I shook my head at that question.

“The information I do have isn’t a clear guide like the technical manuals you can look up. The information helps, but there are a lot of hidden assumptions, design choices, and other portions of how it is all put togeather that I can only see the surface of.”

“Do we need to hire somebody?” Yang Zi asked with a bit of concern.

“Is there anyone we can hire, who is trustworthy and won’t bankrupt us?” I asked back. I already knew the answer, but I could tell he was tired as well since he was asking that kind of question.

“No. I had hoped that someone with experience would find it easier,” he replied.

“I have experience, but each super organization uses their own symbology which they have developed over countless ages. For technology, there isn’t that much difference in how things work. Until you start running into energy. Since the fundamental rules of physics don’t change much. At least at an atomic level, which makes things much more static the bigger you get,” I explained tiredly.

“You haven’t heard some of the really crazy stories. Beings where there physics are incompatible with ours. That is when stuff gets really crazy. Another time when we aren’t so busy I can share some stories. Can you run some tests to figure things out more quickly?” Yang Zi asked.

“That is what I have been doing, but I have to be careful. Trying to figure out how each symbol works in isolation and with others. There are a lot of variables. Replacing everything with self-made inscription plates would be best and testing them out. First, let me get some rest, then we can talk again if you want.”

“It is fine. I trust you are working the problem. Half a cycle is a long period of time to sit around,” Yang Zi said.

“Well, working in transit is dangerous from what you have said. And working on site is stupid. I am going to get some sleep to rest my mind and then we can speak after that,” I said and Yang Zi nodded. I made my way to my bedroom and passed out.

I woke up refreshed and had a decent breakfast of tasty paste from the on board ship food recycler. I didn’t want to know what it was recycling food from, but it tasted good and I had other concerns to worry about.

“Feeling better?” Yang Zi asked me as I showed up at the energy pump we were working on.

“Yes. Come up with anything?” I asked.

“We can stay half a cycle, and I can rework the technological side of the pumps during that time. Is there anything I can help with to speed up your side of things?” Yang Zi asked me. While I wouldn’t call him a trusted friend yet, he was a good teammate.

“Inscription tools. The higher the resolution the better. Also recycling the plates on this energy pump. I can use the others as reference while I adjust the formations. After that it is just a matter of testing if it will work and if trouble will show up at the energy pump,” I replied.

“What do you think about using one to test your redesign and dealing with anyone looking to make trouble for us? We would lose the energy pump, but you could take some more risks and see what works. Would that be useful?” Yang Zi asked and I carefully considered his proposal.

I thought carefully about the question. “Using one as a test and bait,” I muttered. I looked at the energy pump next to both of us. That was a lot of units that would be wasted, but Yang Zi clearly had a plan. It was nice that someone had a plan and would think things through other than me. It was exhausting having to deal with constant issues, one after another. “A test run is absolutely needed. As for how much it will help, I can’t say until I see the results.”

Half a cycle later, we left the Free Port. The changes to the energy pumps had been made and materials had been purchased. Both Yang Zi and I had used up most our units purchasing supplies and staying in the Free Port. If we didn’t’ return back successfully, it was better to not return at all.

I sat on the bridge as the displays showed us moving through the Firmament. I had tried to understand the distances involved, but they were stupidly large. Even with territory being valuable, super organizations liked to have a buffer between each other. That way as their main locations drifted through the Firmament the chances of a collision or fight breaking out were lower. The Free Port was one of the few exceptions, with small yet very defined boundaries around its location.

Adjusting the three dimensional display, I rotated it around over and over looking at how the blobs of color representing different super organizations intersected with each other. “How often do things drift?” I asked Yang Zi.

“Impossible to say really. Rapid shifts have occurred in the past. They aren’t common, but you are talking less than a tenth of a cycle and you wouldn’t even recognize the area you are in compared to before. Other times it takes billions of cycles for things to drift along. I personally think it involves tapping into energy or other accidents. You mentioned the Soaring Star Society and their Infinite Ring Complex. I can bet that area of the Firmament has undergone a major reshuffle,” Yang Zi replied.

I nodded at this explanation. It made sense, but it was hard to understand how everything moved about. I looked at the course we had plotted. “I wonder what it would look like if the Free Port did have a battle and the Administrator.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to see a battle between super organizations. While the Free Port might not truly count as one, its defenses are nothing to scoff at. Most of the time it is just minor skirmishes since real conflict would probably send the super organizations plummeting into Chaos,” Yang Zi said.

“Beings would take that risk?” I asked with some surprise.

“If they have nothing to lose, then yes. Just upscale an energy pump, make a large enough hole, and then BAM! A chunk of the Firmament will disappear into the Astral Plane or to Chaos. Mutually assured destruction. That is a big reason why super organizations take energy pumps very seriously. They can also be used as super weapons.” I slowly turned to look at Yang Zi at that statement. I hadn’t known this.

While it didn’t change anything. It also changed everything about my perspective about what we were doing. I thought we were just stealing some crumbs under the noses of various super organizations, but it appeared what we represented was an existential threat. I felt that we didn’t have enough stealth, spatial drive, defenses, or weapons.

We had gone from energy pirates to terrorists. “Everyone will want to kill us,” I replied softly.

“Make examples. Killing would be a kindness, trust me. Torture pods are no joke. But thanks to all the funds you had, we have this amazing vessel. The only reason I am willing to take this kind of risk, you know. Otherwise, we might as well just kill ourselves and avoid the eternal suffering if we are caught.”

“Your confidence gives me confidence,” I replied and Yang Zi chuckled at that.

“If it was possible to get ahead doing the safe thing, then I would do that. But just because the Administrator’s Free Port has lasted a very long time, doesn’t mean it will last forever. Eventually something will happen that will destroy it and everyone present. The real powers know how to escape or move from places like this before it happens.”

“You are saying all super organizations will eventually perish?” I asked.

“Yep. Some go out with a bigger bang than others. But even the most stable and well run super organization will eventually encounter something they can’t handle. Reminds me of the story of the Ya’Ga’Sorn. A bunch of tentacle beings, no solid bones. Their entire culture of their super organization was a marvel for something that wasn’t a hive mind.” I listened intently as Yang Zi continued to the story.

“Each Ya’Ga’Sorn lived a very long time even without energy. They only used energy for their weapons and defenses. Most beings don’t want to die which leads to stagnation, but the Ya’Ga’Sorn focused on careful eugenics to improve their species without large radical changes. Measured improvement over a long period of time, with no fault lines in their use of energy or technology.” I nodded at this. The Heavenly Alliance was clearly a super organization that had gone stagnant for the most part. The Soaring Star Society had made a mistake with their harvesting of energy.

“They even kept good relations with their neighbors. I mean actual good relations, not just you stay over there, we will stay over here type of relations since they exported quite a bit of energy since they tried to avoid the stuff as a society.”

“Would that even work? Doesn’t everything need energy?” I asked.

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“The Ya’Ga’Sorn were minimalists with the stuff. They used it but avoided the stuff on a personal level and were cautious. I have looked over their history myself, and I couldn’t find any major faults in their super organization. They manufactured so many defenses to protect their territory and were even willing to adjust their boarders as they moved through the Firmament. You couldn’t find a better super organization if you tried, and trust me I did spend a chunk of my life looking into this history.”

“So how did it all end in disaster?” I asked.

“It ended for their super organization, but not their people. A wave of replicators swept through that portion of the Firmament. The Ya’Ga’Sorn lasted a full cycle as their entire super organization was surrounded. But they were smart and knew such a day would come. Multiple groups escaped. Some attempted to fight their way out of the encirclement. Others went to the Mechanical Layer and others to the Astral Plane. Some eventually ended up settling in the Free Port.”

“They knew when to escape,” I replied.

“Exactly. There is always something more powerful out there, or Chaos will find a way to get you if you aren’t careful. Once a replicator swarm gets going, the only option is to run. But for those super organizations who have territory, they can’t run. Or they don’t want to. Losing everything they have built. That is why the Ya’Ga’Sorn were smart, since they saved their society,” Yang Zi replied.

“Like the folk of the Great Tree,” I added on, since the story had reminded me of my short trip with She Who Seeks Knowledge.

“Those halfwits? Unlike the Ya’Ga’Sorn, those folk of the Great Tree were too smart for their own good. Not much is known, but they no longer have the numbers to really maintain their existence long term. Like the Soaring Star Society you mentioned, it is only a matter of time until they all die off. My bet is they screwed themselves over in their hubris messing around with things they shouldn’t.”

“You mean Chaos and their Great Tree?” I asked.

“Exactly. Claiming something spans all the layers of reality is just asking to be erased from existence. That is why there are so few of them. Sure, they are geniuses and have almost no peers when it comes to manipulating energy, but they are stuck in the past and have egos bigger than the Free Port.”

“Let me guess, you asked one of them to partner up with you?” I said with a smile.

“Yes, I did. But no. They just want to travel around looking for their lost Great Tree and collecting knowledge. What good is that knowledge going to do once you are wiped out? Still, their vessels are the absolute best. But they still draw energy recklessly from what I know. One moment flying along, the next you have Chaos bursting out of your chest and the walls,” Yang Zi finished his rant. Clearly there were some hard feelings there.

But I could understand his frustration. While there was a lot of change in the Firmament, it was also very static at the same time due to its sheer size. Infinite, truly was infinite. I looked back at the display. We had already passed by several super organizations during our conversation. The spatial drives everyone used were not about distance, but about obstacles and available energy.

Still the maps were based on the declared boarders between super organizations since there were no other landmarks to work off of. The outside was just a morass of toxic gas for the most part. “Will your information be good for where we are going after all these cycles?” I asked Yang Zi.

“Entanglement beacons. Works off some complicated tech, but it is always good to have a stockpile on hand. Only communicates with one other system, no energy, no chance of interception supposedly. A lot of beings use them. That is how I know where we need to go to get to the territory we should be good to set up on. Unfortunately, we have someone attempting to follow us.”

I got up and looked at the displays Yang Zi was looking at. He pointed at a holographic display. “While we are on one of the major routes, I have adjusted our spatial drive a couple of times to check for this. In our wake, this portion is slightly level.” I had to squint to make it out on the display.

“Something is following us, closely?” I asked.

“Yes. They are locked in with our displacement. Thankfully they don’t realize the minute adjustments I have been making were meant to locate this exact thing. Probably the Mind Lords in a small stealth craft. Well, they would most likely have something better and harder to detect. It isn’t obvious, but it isn’t that hidden either. It could be someone else who wants to take advantage. Easier to steal from energy pumps after someone else sets them up, than do it all yourself.”

“We are stealing from super organizations and beings are trying to steal from us,” I said with a shake of my head. “How do we lose them?” I asked. There was no way we would have any chance in a fight.

“When we leave the route we are on. I will drop a spatial mine behind us. Normally that would be a serious crime and they are treated as weapons of war, but it doesn’t matter at this point.” I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath. The one thing one wanted in a teammate was competence. Every other trait was secondary.

Even if they had personality defects or didn’t explain that I would be a terrorist using weapons and technology that would enrage super organizations. None of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was that they knew what they are doing.

“You made it?” I asked.

“I had some free time in the half cycle we were at the Free Port. I suspected something like this would happen. There are other tricks I could use, but a spatial mine is the best option. Now we turn, and release.” Yang Zi hit a couple of buttons. I didn’t even feel the vessel shudder. A lot of the displays showed a big spike and then they leveled out. “Done, you can see the spatial wake is at the proper angle for this vessel. No one following us closely.”

“But there are probably others. How many more spatial mines do we have?” I asked.

“That’s it. I had to use up some things I had saved. The value of that spatial mine was about 10 million units. As much as one of the energy pumps.”

“We can adjust the payouts, since that was an investment on your end,” I replied. Personal investments that were matched were cancelled out. That meant 10 million units that were owed to me for my investment would be written off, since Yang Zi had invested into a spatial mine apparently while I was focused on other things.

While I only had his word, he wouldn’t bother lying about something like this. When we got back to the Free Port, the value of such things could be found out. It was also good for our teamwork to not make a fuss.

While I wanted to say that this was the first time in a long time that my life had not been under my control, that would be a lie. There were always higher powers out there that I had to take into account, mostly more powerful cultivators. More recently it was the Administrator. It was a matter of understanding the risks and while Yang Zi might have a bit of a wild side while traveling the Firmament, I had no complaints. I would prefer someone who was bold and knew what they were doing.

I made my way back to my chair and sat back down. “We won’t get into trouble for the spatial mine?” I asked.

“Of course we will, but it is just a matter if we offend anyone who isn’t after us. That was why I waited until we moved off the main route. Taking out another vessel by accident would lead to complications. Backtracking from the debris is very hard, but it is possible if you really want to invest in the energy. That will lead people back to the Free Port and a Coordinator would sell out my information. Better to just target the small stealth craft instead.”

Not that wild, since he clearly knew how to manage risks and not create more trouble than was needed. I let out a sigh of relief. This entire operation was incredibly stressful. While I wanted to believe everything would work out, it just took one mistake and it would be all over.

Unlike other kinds of conflicts, this was at a level where there would be no wiggle room once we had been caught. My personal ability to fight was a joke for beating up weak mortals, not against actual powerhouses out there.

I rubbed my forehead while looking back over the displays. Several hours went by in silence while I was reviewing everything I knew about the vessel. We had yet to give it a name and Yang Zi had said it was bad luck.

Things with names are more easily tracked. It a minor in terms of energy, but since we need to be in stealth as much as possible, giving a name to the vessel was considered a bad idea. If had purchased more upgrades that might change, but until then there would be no name. I had looked this information up as well while at the Free Port and names weren’t given for vessels. Not even registration numbers. The Administrator kept a database somewhere, but most beings didn’t name the vessels they traveled on.

It would have been nice to name the vessel something else, other than ‘our vessel’ but we couldn’t afford any mistakes. Even small ones that don’t seem that important, couldn’t be overlooked.

“I am going to rest. We should be fine for now, you know what to look for?” Yang Zi asked me, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Yes. If anything changes, let you know when you wake up, the course is laid out,” I replied, and he nodded while standing up. I was in charge now of monitoring everything. I got up and made my way to the main chair Yang Zi had been sitting in and began looking over his displays and notes.

He had a very specific layout and had set things up to track trends, variances, and everything else about our travel with hard numbers. While I shouldn’t need to intervene, someone had to be sitting in this chair at all times unless we were at the Free Port.

Constant minor alerts came up and I reviewed them before putting them to the side. I thought there were too many, since they were almost all false alerts, but Yang Zi insisted that this was the best set up and to trust my intuition. While he had a massive amount of experience to draw on, he told me that a cultivator’s danger sense was a good replacement.

I focused on my breathing while I spent five seconds on each alert, before closing them out. My danger sense didn’t twitch in the slightest. Another reason for the constant barrage was to keep whomever was sitting in this chair focused.

It was too easy to zone out and let one’s mind wander and miss a critical piece of information that would reveal someone or something following us. Or some other kind of threat. Trying to go through a back log of alerts wasn’t viable either, unless we had more people on the bridge.

If there had been another individual who was experienced in formations, then Yang Zi would have probably brought them on board as well even with the cut in pay we would both receive. Having a couple more people to monitor everything was helpful. On the flip side it also increased the risk of detection.

I poked the bracelet around my forearm which was blocking my energy signature from leaking out in the slightest. But it just wasn’t about leaking energy, there were countless tracking methods and other abilities for those who used energy. Reducing variables, reducing everything we didn’t need was the most important thing we could do.

A denser cloud of gas caused us to divert from our planned route slightly. A small wave of energy coming a distant location, origin unknown. It passed around the vessel seamlessly, but there was some minor disturbance due to the spatial drive. Possible long range detection, but no follow up energy waves. We passed several large planetoids and a vortex of some kind, messing up the gas in the Firmament and creating clear pockets. Nothing visually observed while the vessel remained in the gas.

Minor impacts across the hull from debris, but no damage and easily deflected. Most likely not a detection mechanism. One after another I had to look at these alerts as they came up. Eventually Yang Zi came out to replace me while drinking a mug of hot liquid.

“Have fun on your first shift?” he asked me.

“Stressful,” I replied and rubbed my eyes. “I didn’t see anything that was beyond a minor alert. No follow ups to any of the alerts either. Most of it was just from the result of us passing through,” I replied. Yang Zi had brought up a map and there were symbols showcasing the type of alerts and where we ran across them.

“The energy wave was definitely a scanning system for the super organization in control of that territory. Pretty common. They track the changes from one wave to the next and highlight any discrepancies. We will be marked as passing through and that is it,” Yang Zi replied.

“No pursuit?” I asked.

“Chasing every vessel through the Firmament uses up a lot of resources. That is why the really serious super organizations put clear warnings at the border of their territory and torture pods to broadcast the screams of trespassers. But that isn’t common, and we are going to stay away from such super organizations. Our route is still good. No major adjustments need to be made.”

“The vessel practically flies itself,” I replied.

“That is rumored to occur. Ghost vessels flying about on their own until they run into a threat they can’t handle and are lost. Well you can rest up if you want.” I nodded and made my way to get some food, which was some tasty reconstituted paste. The drink wasn’t much better, but had a sweet flavor to it. I knew I was eventually going to get sick of such stuff, but it could be worse. Once I was done eating, I took a nap.

That was how the days went as we continued to travel through the Firmament. Our speed was constrained due to the spatial drive and the energy we spent so we could stay in stealth. Making a scene traveling through an area was the equivalent of saying you aren’t afraid of a fight. Some super organizations would take that as a challenge.

We could go faster if we needed to, but that was for emergencies only, when we had already been discovered. Since most beings traveling the Firmament were immortal, everyone respected the speed limits for the most part.

“What about running into another vessel?” I asked one day since that had come to mind.

“It is possible, but unlikely with how spatial drives work by expanding and compressing space. It just makes it impossible to collide unless it is on purpose. But vessel combat is all about who is faster, who gets off the first attack, and who survives the first attack. They rarely last over a second,” Yang Zi replied.

“That short?” I asked with a bit of surprise.

“One massive strike to disable the enemy vessel and then picking it clean from a distance. While cultivators and other beings might like to think they can’t take a barrage of attacks, it is risky. That is why most vessels have an escape craft if things go badly. Let the victor take their prize while they escape.”

“But under a second. How would that even work?” I asked.

“Disable the spatial drive. That’s all you really need to do. Once that happens, your vessel will be completely helpless. You can drag them somewhere else to finish them off or finish them off right there. But defenses and weapons counter stealth, which is why we have very little of both.” I nodded at this, since it had been a design choice we had agreed on beforehand.

“But for the vessels that are detected, won’t everyone stay away?” I asked.

“Exactly. But there is a lot of variance in technology, equipment. Especially the further we get from the Free Port. The other ones out there aren’t as good. Even then, there is still a range since super organizations prefer to be self-sufficient. If we do run into a fight, we are going to go around. Trying to third party things, never ends well from my experience.”

“Really? What happened?” I asked. Yang Zi’s stories were always interesting.

“They are often traps to lure in idiots. Even then a lot of vessels aren’t designed for human body types. There is a reason why the doorways are narrow on the vessel and force us to duck. Any larger being that gets on board won’t be able to move freely through the bulkheads. Atmosphere, controls, everything would be confusing. And even after all that, it just isn’t worth the risk.”

I nodded slowly at this. “Only super organizations would be able to reverse engineer everything and gain knowledge,” I replied.

“Exactly. Also, most beings are explorers outside their super organization’s territory. Sure, there are some traders, but they move in massive convoys for safety and protection while visiting super organizations. There are actual pirates looking to take vessels, but they are quickly killed off.”

“What about sponsored pirates, privateers?” I asked.

“Killed off quickly as well, otherwise it will be a battle between super organizations. Don’t let the territorial claims fool you. If a super organization is annoyed enough, they will strike out at another one and make concessions as needed in order to attack back. The troublemakers are quickly weeded out. That is why most super organizations maintain a fairly low profile and don’t make trouble.”

“They are worried about being attacked?” I asked. I wanted to understand these dynamics better. I had some idea, but it would be interesting to hear Yang Zi’s take of the situation.

“There is always a bigger fish. And even for the big fish, once they are wounded, they will be swarmed if any kind of weakness is sensed. That is why most super organizations are defensive in nature. Being offensive and taking too much territory leads to too many complications. Again, there are exceptions, but in areas of the Firmament where things are calm, this is the standard outcome for super organizations.”

The short answer was that everything was a mess, and it was chaos with a lower-case letter ‘c’. The trick was to just avoid the trouble that was out there for as long as possible. I would deal with one problem at a time. First set up the energy pumps. Then use those energy pumps to reach immortality. After that, I could take my time to figure things out.