Mask of Humanity

Kleos glanced at the Node in response to Nicolai’s question.

‘What can you do with it? Mmmm. If it were inside you, I’d classify it as an unfinalised Node, needing time and more Oma, fed gradually, to be finished. You won’t be able to put that inside of you, they need to be grown in place, and if you leave it be it’ll fall apart. However, it can still be of use. Since you won’t actually be making it a part of you, you can quickly finish the job and make it stable. From there you’ll be able to use it much like an Oma crystal. Draw upon it and it will break down without detonating, and you can regain some of the Oma you put into its creation.’

Nicolai raised an eyebrow. ‘I put a lot of Oma into its creation.’

‘It won’t be that much. Unlikely to be even half as much. A lot is lost in the process.’

Nicolai nodded, shrugged. ‘Better than nothing. How do I finish it, stabilise it?’

‘Use a bit of Oma and your Soul Sense to press down upon it from the outside, fill in any gaps you find with densified Oma. You’ll feel when it’s done.’

Nicolai did as Kleos had said, and found the task not too difficult. Though, he found that the Node was not as perfect as he’d thought. There were a few minor flaws, which he filled, and studied, taking note of where they were, working out why they had formed, what he had done wrong. ‘It would be best if there are no flaws, right?’

‘Naturally.’

With a click Nicolai felt through his Soul Sense, the Node stilled, changing. It dropped from the air and landed in his palm, its glow fading. It seemed somehow dead, now. ‘Done?’

‘Yes,’ said Kleos. ‘It’s outside of your body so the moment you forcefully finalised it, it died. It’s just a bigger Oma crystal, now.’

After peering at him for a moment, the head spoke again. ‘What now?’ it asked.

Nicolai was tired. He was drained. There couldn’t be more than three or four hours left in the night. But there was no chance that he would be stopping, not now he knew he could do it.

‘I do this for real,’ he said, and checked on how many Oma crystals remained in his bag. Not a lot; he had used many crystals making this practise Node. He would have liked to keep practising, in fact he would have liked to absolutely master the process, before building one for real. But that could not be, it was simply too expensive. He’d started with three full bags now had two full bags and one which was roughly a quarter full.

For now, he would have to settle for a less than perfect Node. On the up side, Kleos had assured him that once built, it was not overly difficult to destroy and rebuild Nodes, later down the line. His goal was to make the most possible use of what was available to him at this time, become as strong and capable as possible, and by doing so he would improve the odds that one day, in the future, he would have so many Oma crystals that destroying and rebuilding all of those in his body was a minor expenditure.

He put the almost empty bag on the desk, grasped one of the others, a full one, and moved it to his lap. His hand and the dead Node went inside, touching on all, ready to absorb.

‘I’m still injured where I tried to build it before. Will that matter?’

‘Not if you complete it. If you manage to build the Node successfully, it should heal the area around it during its creation.’

Kleos didn’t need to say what would happen if he failed. Nothing good in terms of his lung, and if he did survive Nicolai was far from sure how he might react to another failure. He knew that even though he shouldn’t be, he was subconsciously certain that he would succeed. If that certainty was proven wrong the dark would take it and burn it and rise up within him. This was a risk, he knew it, but he couldn’t stop. Wouldn’t stop. The Mask was saying something but the words were meaningless in the face of his drive to grow stronger. He closed his eyes, and began the process again, this time for real.

To begin with he drew on the dead Node. A wave of Oma poured out of it and back into him, gradually refilling his Node. In a short time it was full, and he immediately began the process, continuing to draw even as he sent Oma into his lung and began to form the newest strand.

The process was easy now, his mind taking to it with familiarity forged over hours of practise. Inside of his body the Oma moved smoothly, requiring less willpower, less effort from his Soul Sense. A realisation rang through him. Working within his Soul was easier than working outside. Nicolai’s face twitched into a smile as determination grew within him.

He was going to get this done.

The strand was formed and became a disk, settling into the same spot as before, where the spongy flesh of his lungs was still torn beneath a big scab.

The disk grew, and curved. The dead Node in the bag crumbled to nothing, sucked dry, and his hand moved to an Oma crystal.

Oma flowed ceaselessly through him, his mind fixed on controlling it, guiding it, forging it.

Some time later the disk was one half of a sphere, wrapped by a cloud of Oma that held it in shape. He’d learned from the flaws he’d observed on the final attempt, and with the ease of controlling Oma inside of him he was able to prevent similar flaws, to make the forming Node as perfect as he was able. The strand roved in endless circles, laid down even as it was formed from Oma he pressed into shape. Nicolai felt a deep and abiding satisfaction as he observed each new strand, each new brick in the wall, and knew they were as perfectly formed and placed as he was capable of.

Time passed.

The sphere curved towards its end, the hole was filled in. Nicolai felt a mental click resound this time not just through his consciousness and his Soul Sense but through his body, through the Node in his heart. He let out a gasp of pleasure, reminded of how he’d felt when he integrated the Seed, his whole body surging, his toes tingling and his hands clenching as his lips formed a grin in the dark.

Carefully, treating it like an egg-shell, Nicolai drew back from the Node and observed. The flesh around it squirmed, scab fading as the area rapidly healed. The Node was built, but he could sense how it wasn’t finished. This was only stage one.

There was an invisible connection, now, between his heart Node and his unfinished lung Node. A kind of constant push-and-pull, the two exchanging something endlessly, working together in a way that required no conscious effort on Nicolai’s part. A tiny stream of Oma emerged from his heart’s Node and wound its way through his blood and into the new Node, a connection that firmed, feeding it, again without his conscious effort. From the lung Node, tiny little filaments of Oma, or something like that, began to spread, digging into his lung, doing… something.

‘I did it,’ he said. He sucked in a heavy breath, let it out in a gasp, his grin growing. ‘I did it!’ He laughed.

‘Congratulations,’ said Kleos, and he heard the smile in its voice. ‘Make sure you don’t end things how you did last time, by pressuring it and filling in any flaws. That would be forcefully finalising it, but you want your Major Node to slowly do that for you. Now, you just leave it.’

‘That’s all?’

‘Make sure your heart’s Node has some Oma. It should gain enough passively, but keep an eye on it. It’s sending a steady supply to the new Node, right?’

‘That’s right.’

‘You want to make sure that isn’t interrupted. It will do the job of finishing the Node off, now, and make it into a Node in truth.’

‘In truth?’

‘Right now it will be unstable. Your heart’s Node will firm it up, make it solid. Once it’s done so, you can consider the new Node truly finished. It will begin to aid your heart’s Node; they’ll work together, collecting Aura from the air.’

‘Do I have to wait for it to be done, before I make a new Node?’

Kleos’ hummed thoughtfully. ‘Depends, actually. Typically people wait, just to be careful. But typically… they’re in less need of quick gains than you. You can build another one, but there’ll be a risk. The amount of Oma your heart’s Node sends out to finish off the new one should be roughly equal to the amount you can passively generate. If you create another Node, you’ll be putting a bit more strain on your heart’s Node.’

Kleos’ chewed at its lips, gazing at him as if unsure he understood. ‘You’ll be pushing it over capacity, if that makes sense. Now, if one happened to have plenty of Oma crystals handy and were sure they could keep their Node topped off, ensuring it doesn’t run dry… then they could theoretically build another.’

‘What would happen if it does run dry?’

‘There’s a reason we call them unstable Nodes. If your Major Node is unable to properly sustain the new one’s for more than a minute or two... they’ll go bang.’

Nicolai chewed at his lip. ‘How bad would that be?’

‘There’s a lot of Oma in the structure of a Node, a lot of energy. You got off lightly last time, with it detonating after you’d barely begun to build it. Not only is it finished now, but over time it will be infused with even more Oma. If it goes off inside you, it won’t be pretty. Lacking any means to quickly heal yourself, I suspect you’ll die. Maybe even with such means; I’m not sure one of those Rejuvenating Orbs would be up the to the task of fixing an exploded chest.’

Nicolai already knew he was going to risk it. Perhaps it wasn’t wise but he couldn’t deny himself. The thrill and joy of growing himself was immense, and he knew that already he was addicted. ‘So if I build another, and I run out of crystals, I’m dead.’

‘That’s right.’ He felt Kleos’ frown. ‘You’re going to do it, aren’t you?’

‘Yes.’ Obviously.

The head chuckled. ‘I won’t argue. You won’t be the first. There are two types of Cultivators. Those who take all they can, push themselves as hard and fast as possible, reach for power with all they have. And then there are those who don’t. Those who settle. You’ve always struck me as the first type.’

‘Which were you?’

‘I was just like you.’ The head chuckled again. ‘Addicting, isn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ Nicolai admitted. He paused, thinking. Much of the night was already gone. If he slept now, he would have perhaps three hours of rest. It was important to get good sleep, because otherwise his functionality would be lowered. Already, he was pushing things. And yet... ‘I should feel sleepy,’ he said. ‘But I don’t. In fact, ever since I integrated my Seed… I’ve felt different. Not just stronger and faster. More energetic, focused, less fatigued both mentally and physically.’

‘That’s normal. Cultivators are more advanced beings. Now that your flesh is Infused you have gained a host of benefits, reduced need for sleep amongst them.’

Nicolai smiled, pleased to confirm that. ‘How much sleep do you think I need, now?’

‘I don’t know.’ Kleos wiggled its eyebrows in a kind of shrug. ‘Every race needs more or less. Some don’t sleep at all, regardless of whether they Cultivate. It depends on your biology. But I’d guess your need for sleep has been cut in half, at a minimum.’

A human should have roughly eight hours of sleep a night. Did that mean he now needed only four? If that was the case, he ought to sleep now. But, he didn’t feel tired. Perhaps by half, it meant that he could go two days without sleeping, then sleep for eight hours?

Only one way to find out for sure, and he would much rather continue to improve himself than sleep.

They sat in silence for a time, listening to the music on the radio. He wasn’t sleepy but he did need some time to recover his mental energy. Nicolai tapped his Mark just to check, but no Challenge had been completed. Going off the Mark’s tendency to award him for completing “first time” activities, he suspected that once the Node was finalised, he’d get something, but apparently simply building an unfinished Node didn’t count. Next he checked something he was more interested in, his Cultivation menu.

User Interface 376 | User #53,217

- Cultivation

Total Nodes: 1 Major, 1 Minor

Available unconstructed Nodes: 0 Major, 4 Minor

- Nodes in progress;

Right Lung (Finalising: 1%)

Completed Nodes;

Heart (Flawless) (100/100)

There it is. A smile creased his lips. 1% of the way there. A long way to go, but just the sight of it there in the list pleased him, gave him the energy to push on.

He busied himself moving around, flexing his body, getting the blood moving. After ten minutes he resettled into the same position, Oma crystals in his hands. Now he turned his attention to his left lung.

He closed his eyes, and his focus shifted inwards.