The Systemic Lands - Chapter 286

Chapter 286: Day 625 (2) – A Letter And A Threat

“It looks like a burnt diseased baby that is hybridized with a demon,” Clarissa said after I opened up the box and showed her the Astrologer. Doctor Katz came over and took a look. He frowned at the thing inside the box.

“Witchcraft and voodoo. Keep this alive to torture this thing?” he asked and looked at me. Why did he think I wanted to torture everything?

“No. I need to track where his main body is and if he…left any biological surprises behind,” I said as calmly as I could. Clarissa’s head snapped towards me.

“You think, he put a living tumor in you?” she asked.

“I asked and he said no. But I would like to check to be sure. Regardless, I want a way to find the main body and engage in a resonance based attack if possible, and use energy resonance to check my body” I explained.

“Nothing is ever easy. I was getting close to working out the type chart and now this, and no clue where to start on this resonance,” the good doctor complained.

“Well, you can handle two things. I have no doubt about that. In the event we need to leave suddenly, this thing must come with us or be destroyed completely. Not a single trace left. We can’t allow the Astrologer to fall into anyone else’s hands,” I said.

“I will make the preparations. The good doctor is already on the list,” Clarissa said.

“I am afraid to ask, but what list?” Doctor Katz asked.

“In the event of an invasion or attack by a high level individual, one of the critical people to evacuate from the city to a safe location,” Clarissa said.

“How big is this list?” the good doctor asked.

“Very small. You can’t bring anyone or tell anyone. But if there is an emergency, you need to be ready to leave instantly at any time,” Clarissa explained.

“And how likely is this?” he asked. I answered this question.

“A high chance unfortunately. We hope it won’t come to it, but we can’t afford to lose you, your research, or this thing. Our information regarding the Divine Empress does not paint a pleasant picture, but we will bow and scrape, if possible,” I explained.

“It must be serious then if you are willing to bow and scrape to someone Champion Michael.” He let out a long sigh and looked back at the Astrologer. “I will do what I can, but this is clearly not human, and I have no idea how it is still alive. No promises about it or figuring out energy resonance. I am a medical doctor, not a witch.”

“That is fine Doctor Katz, just do the best you can and make preparations in the event we need to evacuate. It will also need to be moved outside the city during the upgrade, since an effect similar is what caused it to lapse into this state to begin with,” I said. The monochrome wave had not reached this far.

It was odd since Purgatory was about the same distance to the shard as Truth. It would have been useful to plot out the effects of the shard before it was dealt with by the System. Perhaps the monochrome wave really was a wave and not an expanding circle. One more question to pile up.

The human transport container, that was not a coffin, was closed up and moved out of the conference room. “Time to find his will and testament, with me please,” I said to Clarissa, and she followed me out of the conference room to my rooms.

It didn’t take long to locate my chest with personal items. The golem crystals were there. I quickly pushed them to the side, but nothing. I then lifted up the chest and Clarissa checked underneath it. “A piece of paper attached to the bottom. One second,” she said as she began to reach for it.

“Stop!” I said and she didn’t move. I moved the chest over to a table and began emptying it. “Let’s not touch something that could easily be a trap of some kind.”

“Ah, I wasn’t thinking. Thank you,” Clarissa replied.

“The Astrologer has many techniques and can alter skills.” I explained about his word of power, Shatter.

“That accounts for one meta-point but not a skill or two,” Clarissa replied. I nodded at this and finished emptying the chest. I then moved it to an empty table and laid it on its side. I looked at the piece of paper stuck to the bottom of the chest.

“One moment,” she said and left the room. She soon came back with metal pliers and a guard. She had him carefully remove the piece of paper and set it on the table face up. Nothing happened and she had the guard leave. We both stood in front of the letter, and I carefully read it. The Astrologer had written incredibly tiny to pack as much as possible into the letter.

Champion Michael of Purgatory,

If you are reading this, then I am no more, and you didn’t betray me. I know you have your doubts. The fact this letter is secreted in your room will only increase your concerns. But in the end, I know I have not lied to you.

But I have also not revealed everything that I know and understand either. Let me lift the veil of your ignorance just a bit more. My main body is trapped at coordinates (5,-1) as you use them. Trapped near the top of the tower present in the zone.

You must climb the tower and free me. While you do not have a living tumor, I have left another present for you that only my main body can resolve now that I am no more. Using your calendar, you have until day 999 to rescue me or you will die.

You might be thinking of using my corpse or some technique to try and figure out the problem left behind in your body. To put it simply, it was inspired. If you manage to get a meta-point you might be able to save yourself. But since you have failed so far, I doubt you will succeed in earning one in time and I have set up things to stop you from earning one until my main body is freed.

I know you are probably cursing me right now, but I will tell you something else. If you come to rescue me, you won’t die. There is no plot to take your body or use you in some sort of sacrifice ritual. But I cannot free myself. What I did to survive the calamity has left me trapped and unable to move.

Now for more detailed instructions. I know you like everything laid out clearly, so let me not be obtuse and illuminate your mind. The towers are death traps. An endless stream of monsters and death awaits for anyone attempting to climb. I have no idea what is at the top, but my thoughts most likely mirror your own, a meta-point.

You might think to climb another tower. If you do, then you will die. The wonderful thing about what I have done to you is that I have put in safeguards with complicated triggers. Imagine a biological bomb, that I have tweaked over time to perfection. There is no red wire or blue wire, but a rainbow of wires. Only my original will know the way to defuse it.

The truth cuts deeper than any sword and this is the truth I impart unto you. When you ascend to the 49th level, you will find me immobilized. You must drain the surrounding energy and immediately expel it through Absorption. Do not try to empower yourself with energy from the air. It is a trap and will lead to you being cursed. Being cursed is a bad thing, which I am sure you will need constant reminders about.

Once the energy around my body has been removed, I will awake. You will tell my main body right away and feel free to repeat it, ‘Your plan worked and your empowered will has made a deal to bring me here. I will cut you free, but first I must be healed, alpha, two, potato, seven.’ Consider this my kindness and a parting gift. My main body will know this message is from me and will defuse the biological bomb, and then you can free him. He might offer you a reward even. I know I would.

The tower itself can be climbed, but it will be incredibly hard and slow. Once you commit you cannot leave. The tower is a one way trip. It has been the tomb of many an adventuring team in my day. It is the same for all towers. It is my hope we can clasp hands in true friendship without deceit or lies once my main body is freed. I am sorry for what I was forced to do. Having a large reserve of energy is critical to defend yourself and defeat what comes at you. I do not know if the tower resets or changes, so I will let you go into it with your own preparations. But there will be level 5 monsters.

That brings me to my final warning and piece of advice. I know Clarissa has been making plans to hide in the wilderness with supply caches hidden in buried carts. It is a good plan, but ultimately a losing one. Do not doubt the Divine Empress’s ruthlessness and determination. To compare her to Palpatine from Star Wars or Hitler from Earth would be a kindness to the Divine Empress.

To truly hide, you must construct an energy leveler. It is one of the few pieces of energy technology that was developed before the calamity and a counter to the Divine Empress’s diviners. If you activate them she will know that war preparations have begun and act swiftly. For while they will conceal the area where they are, their activation cannot be hidden.

To construct an energy leveler, you need to push the surrounding energy towards the Ethereal axis, making it impossible to get reliable readings from a distance. Take an astrolabe, three free spinning metal rings of progressively smaller sizes that can spin freely and are connected to each other at two points. Each ring should be separately enchanted with counter glass-reflection type. Into the center of the astrolabe a single nature-poison crafting crystal of the same level should be placed or suspended. The outer ring should be about three feet or one meter across, with all the rings as close together as possible. This will leave a large space in the center of the astrolabe, that is fine.

The levels should match for the three rings and the crafting crystal at the center. Do not attempt different combinations of enchantments or crafting crystals. They will explode. To activate the device, simply touch all three rings. It will remain active indefinitely. What is occurring is what is known as energetic dissonance by counter glass-reflection. The energy reflects back into the enchanted material. The material will be held together by their circular nature. This reaction will persist once activated.

The crafting crystal of poison-nature type at the center will slightly destabilize. The energy will then resonate across the rings, keeping the device active without input while outputting a constant low level nature-poison energy type. It will create a field about a quarter of a zone wide at level 1 and a full zone wide at level 3, for a level 2 zone. But like ripples in a pond, the effects will carry far, but will fail to fully conceal you if you are outside their effective range. The range is shorter in level 3 zones and level 4 zones will conceal you naturally. The effects ripple outwards and cannot be triangulated once active, but their activation will be noticed.

The devices should be buried off set from your supply caches with carts. The more hidden around the better. While there are no long term effects I know of, the technology was quite new when it was developed and it uses poison-nature type, which does not speak well to long term health. Short exposure is not a problem of ten days or less.

Multiple energy levelers will disrupt the Divine Empress’s ability to perceive into our area of the Systemic Lands with her diviners, but it will also break the Treaty of West and East. So only use it if you must when she makes her move against you.

Finally, I have one last gift to aid you. If you confront the Divine Empress, you can trigger the living tumor by saying the word ‘tech-deck’ if she has not fully removed it at the time. Enunciate clearly and loudly. It is keyed to activate through verbal resonance and disable her for as long as possible, which won’t be long at all.

Once used, she will most likely retreat and quickly be able to deal with the living tumor within a day. It will scare her, but it will not provide a critical opening or weakness to exploit. If it had I would have used it to kill her long ago. It should only be used if you see her. Do not hesitate, her speed and willingness to kill are unmatched under the Heavens and Void. Consider this another kindness and a method for survival.

There is a letter detailing that you are my representative while I make a tower climb. That should hopefully panic her and entice her to enter a tower, putting her out of play for a long period of time. At worst if the Envoy shows up, hopefully you can distract him with it as he conveys the information back to her. You can find it hidden inside a cut out portion of your bed frame.

Safe travels to your destination and beyond.

The Last Words Of The Empowered Will Of the Astrologer

Ruler of the East

Sword of the Stars

First Seat on the Council of United City States

Dammit! The Astrologer was both incredibly helpful and a complete and utter bastard.