The Tower of Emnu

Aaron walked past the Demon’s cage and stopped in front of the Monk’s prison. The old man smiled and bowed his head slightly.

“As my old friend has told you, my specialty is karma and its bonds. But I am well versed in many techniques, especially those that are meditative or mental in their nature. If you truly can’t get over your new bodies changes and you need help, come back and I can help you. For now I believe you are satisfied with a different perspective.”

Aaron nodded, he did not really want the man’s help. Religion had always had that affect on him and the monk practically oozed religious wisdom. But that was probably just his prejudices speaking. For all he knew the Monk was not in the business of turning people into cultists that gave up part of their free will to do some religious ideologies bidding. It was quite possible all, that the man had nothing to do with religion at all. From what he had said he was closer to a therapist than a religious figure, but Aaron was still curious and so he asked.

“So are you a real Monk? A religious figure of some kind?”

“Yes and no. Religion is merely a societal construct that has no more bearing on a person’s karmic bonds than a political belief. In the end it is actions that determine a person’s karma, not what they believe. But belief can give you a strong sense of belonging and guidance and so I have created a few religions in my long life.”

“You….you created a few religions? How old are you?”

“Many millennia, young soul and my soul is far older than that. But you are not really interested in that. You want to know why I created them more than the how or what the religions were about.”

Aaron nodded and felt a bit uncanny in the man’s presence, it almost felt like he could read his mind. But he was very sure someone would have mentioned that kind of power to him already if that was the case.

“The first religion I made was to counteract another religion that practiced the ritual sacrifice of souls to their priests. The amount of karmic debt accumulated was titanic. Just killing the perpetrators was not enough. I had to ensure such practices vanished from history. Replacing the religion with another was the most efficient way.

Another one I have created in this very tower in an attempt to free us and to lessen the hatred against cultivators from the towers denizens. You might find some hidden enclaves of that religion in the upper regions of the tower. But in the end we failed and the cost of lives was considerable. But at least we were able to free many souls and that was the most important part to me. I have created other religions in my many lives, but it was always in an effort to restore balance, not to create imbalance.”

“You created a religion to escape the tower? How does that even work.”

The monk was quiet for a moment, giving Aaron time to digest the whole thing, before he answered Aaron’s question.

“Like with all things bigger than yourself. You start small, with just a spark and an idea given form. You shape and form a set of practices and beliefs around a central tenet and then you spread it and hope you did a good job.” The old man smiled gently. “A few hundred years ago I tried just that, but with what I believe good effect. It still was manipulation I will admit that, but in return they got wisdom distilled for millennia, meditative techniques that work for any human and that help not just their souls but their lives. It was not a one sided trade. Of course Emnu was none too pleased about a Religion not worshiping him. I really should have kept the Lord of the Tower as the central tenet of the religion, but I wanted to set the people free, not indoctrinate them even further. Alas the result was a horrific battle that tore a hole into the tower and allowed for the escape of a fair few Cultivators. But they did not get far sadly. Still they died free, their souls unbound and impossible to catch even for Emnu or Exterion. That was the purpose of it all. We saved more Souls that fateful day than you might believe. But in the end we also changed the tower for the worse.”

Aaron waited for an explanation, but the Monk stayed silent.

“Made worse how?”

“That little rebellion caused the 40th and to some extent the 30th floor to be uninhabitable. But you can ask me about the why and how once you have reached the 25th floor.” the monk said with another small smile.

“Fair enough I suppose, just know I am not a fan of religion. On Earth, my home planet, religion was one of the main things people murdered each other for. Not that I am one to talk, I have killed many, but mostly because I was paid for it. I just despise how people justified killing each other for a greater good and to me that was always hypocrisy.”

“I will not deny or sugar coat the things happened on your world, as I have no knowledge of it. Just remember it is not religion that kills, but the people who believe in it. Few religions are created to be violent. But there are always violent people who take up the mantle of religion and follow their nature anyway.”

“If you say so, but to me religion is just as much at fault.” Aaron said and flipped the Monk a manastone, before he walked away. He wasn’t sure when he had started disliking religion, but maybe it had been the things he had seen. He had killed more than one corrupt priest, hired by the very people they abused and they had not just been followers of one religion either. Aaron had dug into every single past of every single hit he had ever done and the things he had found around religious communities and priests were nauseating to him now, even more so than back then.

Aaron understood murder, but not abuse. He had no tolerance for that and even though he realized he had a very jaded view on the subject, his experience had proven him right a lot.

When he reached the next prison, one without light shields, he paused and took a second look. All of his internal thoughts were forgotten because in the cage sat an Alien. There was no other way to put it. The creature was 10 feet tall and had scales all over their body. Its stature was vaguely humanoid, but it had a long scaly tail that gently flicked from side to side like a dog’s tail. The creatures scales were in a deep emerald green, going to black at the edges, giving him a deep, dark look. The create looked like a giant lizard and when its eyes opened they were big, red and had vertical slits. The thing blinked at Aaron, its eyelids sliding to the side not up and down, reinforcing how alien the creature really was. With a lazy, graceful, almost cat like stretch the Lizard stood up. It actually had feet and hands that ended in sharp obsidian colored claws. Its giant snout reminded Aaron more of a dinosaur or an alligator than any little old lizard now that he got a closer look at it.

“Hello.” the lizard said, its voice deep and it had a strange accent Aaron could not place. He guessed that the lizard was most likely male and he actually wore clothes, a loincloth of some sort, but he was otherwise entirely naked.

Aaron cleared his throat and introduced himself.

“Hello, my name is Aaron, I am the new Aspirant…”

“I know who you are, Aaron, student of the great master, student of the Wind Bender, student of the Neverheart.” the Lizard said and it sounded vaguely formal like Aaron imagined the introduction at court to sound. The lizard bowed his massive head a few inches and kept his eyes on Aaron.

“My name is Krshfkchr’tdrak, The Devourer.” which ended up sounding like a bunch of hissing, clicking and teeth snapping in a row, not an actual name. “But you can call me Krish, that is the name most of the others use.”

“Nice to meet you Krish?” Aaron said, feeling a bit uncomfortable in the giant lizards presence.

The Lizardman nodded and reached out with one giant claw of a hand. “You have come to deliver manastones yes?”

“Right, right, here.” Aaron said and quickly and carefully placed a manastone in the waiting claw of Krish. Aaron hesitated and then asked.

“If it is not offensive to ask, what exactly are you, like what is your species called?”

The giant Lizard took the tiny manastone and popped it into his mouth like it was a candy. His mouth was filled to the brim with rows and rows of sharp, crisp white teeth. With a loud crunch Krish bit down on the manastone and crunched on it with gusto as he spoke.

“Its difficult to translate even for the bead of language, but we call ourselves the Children of the Sun. Although we have quite a few different names for both words that find no direct translation in your language.”

“I see…”

“I am a body Cultivator, as you would call it and categorize it in other worlds. But to us it is the pursuit of Perfection, not a simple way of Cultivation.” Krish’s eyes studied Aaron for a long moment before he gave him a broad toothy grin.

“I can feel you have some talent in this direction, but maybe it is just the hunger I detect. The gnawing, that has been my companion for so long, is your follower as well.”

Aaron suddenly felt a sort of kinship with the giant humanoid beast. Ever since he had learned the fiend-god art he had felt the emptiness in his stomach, the hunger that was a constant companion. That made him move, made him act. Krish’s eyes told him that he knew, knew of the days and nights where he ignored pain and impulses that wanted him to devour food of any kind for however long it took to sate his hunger.

“So your kind suffers from a similar hunger?” he asked.

“Oh no, there are quite a few of us who do not eat much at all. They live from the sun, but not me. My techniques are more violent in nature and I crave meat above anything else. Especially the flesh of my fallen enemies. So succulent, so full of Qi. They call me the Devourer because the technique I build my success on requires and rewards me to feast upon the flesh of my dead enemies. I assimilate their strength with every bite and in that way I am the Demon’s counterpart. Just that I do not care for their cultivation, nor their souls, I care only about the prowess of their bodies. Which in turn will become my prowess after feasting on them.” The Lizard flexed his body and his muscles rippled underneath his scales as he grinned.

“I am invulnerable to all but the greatest weapons or Qi arts. Nothing they have in this tower can hurt me.”

“Ye, ye, ye, old scales. But every novice wizard can trap you because you are so shit at even the most basic Qi techniques. I can’t hear ye prattling on about how great you are any longer, ya big sack of scales and bones.” A voice from a nearby prison cell said. It sounded remarkably Scottish to Aaron and he peered past Krish to see a small stout man with a magnificent brown beard frown up at Krish.

“Mortag, I merely state what is true, not even you can create a weapon to hurt me.”

“Yeah, not without some actually rare materials, but I can create a simple formation block that will trap ya for a hundred years in place, ya big oaf.”

Krish snorted, his nostrils flaring and it sounded more like a horse it was that loud.

“So don’t go around praising your amazing technique, you don’t have a good track record as a teacher.”

“Neither do you, dwarf.”

“Ey, scales, you repeat that slur again, I will shove my hammer so far up yer arse…”

“What? This is what the Earthers call you, yes?” Krish said with a smirk, showing off his big sharp teeth.

“So? They call you a dinosaur, a species which has gone extinct on their planet, not sure what the worse slur is.” Mortag countered with his hands on his hips.

“My kind would have never gone extinct…” Krish started, but Aaron cleared his throat and the giant lizard fell silent.

“I don’t plan calling you both either of those words if they offend you. Nice to meet you Krish, but I have some business with Mortag.”

Krish nodded his big head and sat down with a smirk.

“Should you ever be interested in learning how to feast upon the strength of your enemies or how to cultivate your body, call upon me. But if you do, bring me something to eat, meat preferably, still slightly raw and bloody.” The giant lizard licked his lips. “I don’t care what meat it is.” he added, but Aaron had got the gist of the ‘Child of the Sun’ and was simply not interested. The great masters comment about how one of his predecessors had not been able to overcome the allure of Krish’s technique still rang in his ears and he was many things, but a cannibal was not one of them. He walked past Krish’s prison and stopped in front of Mortag’s prison, which looked quite a bit different than the empty and deserted prison cells he was used to seeing.

In the center of the Prison was a forge, a giant dimly lit forge that glowed with red light. How Aaron had missed it before was a mystery to him, but he suspected it was because the light screens around the small mans prison were heavy and obstructed the view by quite a lot. Besides the forge there were other metal machines and contraptions in there that Aaron had no Name for. Besides an anvil, next to which the stout man stood.

“Before ya ask. No I am not a dwarf. My people live on a giant planet with very high gravity and this is how we adapted over the millennia. I have nothing to do with your silly folklore, even though yes, I am an artificer and master of weapons. Most of my kind are not crazy about arms or Artificery though and no we don’t value gems or gold more than anyone else either. Got it, lad?”

“Got it.” Aaron said, trying to hide a smile. This really seemed to be a sore spot for the man. Mortag looked at him suspiciously.

“The girl who came before you, Kyoko, pestered me for hours because she did not get it. So I hope you won’t repeat her mistakes.”

“I will try not to. The great master asked me to turn 7 of these beast cores into memory cores, whatever those are.” Aaron said and showed the man the small pouch with the glittering beast cores.

“Aye, I heard. But it is the polite thing to do to ask. It’s not like the great master can’t whisper in ya ear if he wants to. Sound and things like that are his domain after all. Place the bag in the container to your right and I’ll see what I can do.”

Aaron walked over to a metal box that looked more or less exactly like the one in Illyria’s cell. He placed the pouch and a manastone into the box and closed it. Then he pushed it inwards and Mortag opened the box on his end and nodded to Aaron as he studied Aaron’s haul.

“Hmmm, some medium grades, mostly low grades. No particularly rare variants. Should be fine if I take the low grades.” he said as he studied each core one after another with a monocle that really gave him even more of a dwarven engineer vibe. He looked up at Aaron as if he was waiting for something, but Aaron just raised his eyebrows.

Mortag sighed and selected 7 cores, before he closed the pouch, took the manastone and closed the box again.

“You really not gonna say anything? Kyoko always would have something witty to say when I use my monocle or quote some darned book at me talking about dwarves.” he paused for a moment and sighed again.

“It annoyed the hell out of me, but I kind of miss it now.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know any more about what happened to her than what you all can guess. All I have seen is 2 floors of the tower so far and not that much of either floors to be honest.”

“That’s alright laddie. I don’t think you will find much more than a tombstone if you find her. She would have come back by now if she was still alive. Foolish girl, always choosing her techniques for how well they fit with her “image” not how well they actually fit her. She tried to be a Kunoichi or whatever. All stealth and hidden weapons. Could just not reconcile what any of our techniques actually mean, what they represent.” Mortag paused, sighed again and then walked over to his anvil where he placed the beast cores in a neat row.

“I am rambling, apologies. You did not know her and I am well aware my feelings on the matter should be a thing of the past. But unlike most of the others I live my life in the moment and not in the future or the past. So what if I let myself feel things even though its likely Kyoko would never reach the top of the tower? I can’t just ignore people. That’s not how I work.” Mortag used a strange contraption that looked more like a casting mold for metal and squeezed each of the cores in there for a moment, before he removed them from the contraption again. The cores came out perfectly round like marbles.

“I don’t think you are wrong to feel things, I can’t help it and feel things too, although that is part of the problem that makes me uncomfortable.” Aaron said with a shrug as he studied Mortag at work.

“Will this take long?”

“To make ‘em memory cores? Nah, I’ll be done in a jiffy. Simple stuff really. You reform them like I am doing right now so their internal structure is aligned. Then you carve the basic Array on the outside of the core. Which then will hold Qi.”

“Array?”

“Ah, another word for a Formation. Arrays are usually found on items, Artifacts alike, but its also called an Array when multiple Artifacts work together in a formation. There is a slightly different methodology behind Arrays compared to any standard Formation, but you can look at it as a variant of a Formation.”

“Got it, so...what does a Memory core do?”

“They store information you put in there, mental information. Originally they were meant to store Memories, but soon people found out that if the memory you store is a Cultivation Technique or martial art of some such the recording itself can be used to train. Basically when you use an Inscribed Memory Core you can watch someones memory of doing a technique over and over. It will feel like dreaming to be someone else. But I’ll show you some tricks so you can play the recording with open eyes and actually practice the technique while watching the recording. Its very useful.”

“That does sound incredibly useful to spot any mistakes I make.”

“Aye one of the best uses of your time is to learn and practice the basics. Cultivation technique, movement technique, Combat Style and Qi attacks, although for the latter you are still too new for.” The bearded man smiled and took out what looked like a scalpel out of the big leather apron’s pouch he was wearing. Aaron did not even see much of the man’s clothes as his beard and apron concealed him entirely. He started to carve into the cores with quick, sure cuts and after 30 seconds he moved on to the next core. They looked like they had been carved by a machine, every line perfectly even and deep. The cores looked like little artistic marbles from the distance.

“Most people make the mistake to go for the flashy stuff, the showy techniques. But that is rarely the right decision. Fundamentals. Basics. You have to build a foundation first and you are not even in the Foundation realm. You have to learn to crawl first before you walk or even run.”

“Hmmm, I suppose so. So you are a crafter of some sort, a smith?”

“An Artificer. I create Artifacts.”

“I have no idea what that word means for a Cultivator.” Aaron laughed and sat down outside of the prison. He felt much more comfortable with this man than the lizard Krish and the Monk still gave him the creeps deep down.

“Well, an artifact can be anything really. There are many different types, but they are all changed with Qi through one method or another. Some hammer it into metal, other carve it into wood. I knew a very talented Artificer that sang to seashells. Most beautiful Arrays you have ever seen on such small items.” Mortag shook his head in wistful reminiscence.

“But when we talk about artifacts they are usually to save your life in a defensive Artifact, or to make it easier to kill things with an offensive Artifact of some sort. Weapons mostly.”

“What is the difference between a sword and lets say an artifact sword then?”

“Well for one the artifact sword would be far more resilient even if made from the same material. But it entirely depends on what the Artifact does. Anything you can do with Qi you can do with an Artifact, so from ranged Qi attacks, to body enhancement or turning the blade sharp enough to cut stone, it is all easily doable.”

Aaron’s eyes widened a bit and he imagined himself with one of those artifacts, a blade that could cut stone sounded incredibly useful. If armor was no obstacle many of the warriors he had avoided so far would be easy marks for him. But especially enticing were ranged attacks. A magical cultivator gun? Yes please.

“Can I ask...”

“No. I won’t make you an Artifact sword.”

“A ranged attack would make my life so much easier, you have no idea how much more powerful it would make me.” Aaron began, trying to convince the stout man, but Mortag shook his head and cut him off almost instantly.

“No, I have learned my lesson and giving you an Artifact would be a mistake.”

“Why?!” Aaron said a bit more forcefully than he had intended. A gun was all he wanted in this new world. It did not even have to be powerful damn it!

“Because Artifacts are a crutch, laddie. Listen, you know what happened to my last student right?”

“The great master said he was killed for his weapon, but in the end it was sealed or something.”

“Correct, Hiksek was a tower born who sneaked in here around 20 years ago. They had legends in his family from way back when their Ancestor was saved by a Cultivator. And so Hiksek wanted to become a cultivator more than anything, going even so far as to reject a Spirit. I chose him as my student because he had talent, a lot of talent with weapons especially and axes in particular. Natural swing, the right balance and body structure, he was made to wield an axe and he took to my techniques like a fish to water. But I was afraid for him, I did not want him to go out there into the tower without the means to defend himself and so I created an Artifact axe with the materials he smuggled in here.” Mortag paused and shook his head as he set down the 5th beast core he had inscribed. Each one looked exactly the same except for the color to Aaron, which was an impressive feat of craftsmanship.

“He called it Mirtash, after that ancestor of his and went out to conquer the tower. But I am a master artificer and Mirtash was a grand design of an axe. Powerful Qi attacks, sharp enough to cut through steel. It even had a weapon spirit of its own, a rare thing even for a masterwork. But that was the problem lad. Hiksek climbed the tower too quickly. He did not learn enough of the techniques I tried to teach him because every enemy he encountered died to Mirtash and his combined prowess. He climbed too fast, too high and one day he did not come back. Mirtash killed him indirectly, because it was too easy. Because he did not have to learn anything to climb higher. Its the techniques, the mastery and combination of them that will protect you, no matter how many artifacts you wield.”

“But I would only ever use it in emergencies. When I can’t handle a group coming after me is exactly when I should use an artifact, right?”

“Nah, you would just start seeing anything as too difficult without an artifact. They are crutches. You don’t need them and they will hinder your growth. You know that I learned to fight without artifacts at all? I became a weapon master before I ever wielded or created an artifact. Only once you are already powerful, once you already have the foundation to build upon, then you should use the Artifact as a force multiplier. But you won’t need it by then, it will just be a convenient option. It won’t cripple you if you can’t use your artifact and that is what gets people killed.”

“But If I don’t have any proper offensive options I will die anyway. You think they will stop hunting me? Stop trying to kill me? It has been weeks and they are still at it, still adamant about finding and murdering me. I need something to survive.” Aaron said with a hint of desperation in his voice.

“If I had not found the tunnel and the elevator down here I would have died within a few days. Its luck that I am here and I don’t want it to be luck ever again.”

“I understand laddie and I am sure the great master and Sylus and Mei will try their best to get you ready to survive just about anything. I won’t jeopardize their hard work by giving you a crutch.”

“Okay, no offensive Artifact then.” Aaron said with clenched teeth. “What about a defensive artifact, something that could save my life. Something that can break spells?”

Mortag hesitated and studied Aaron with a deep frown.

“So you can climb the tower quicker eh?”

“No, because the people from higher up in the tower are already here to kill me. There is a group from Ambition hunting me. I can’t do anything about that but react and try to solve it accordingly.”

The stout man placed the last beast core on the anvil and studied them for a long moment with creased brows before he sighed.

“A magic breaker huh? That does make sense, considering you walked in here trapped by a spell for children.”

“Yes and the technique that will teach me how to break spells is the third triplet of the heavenly kata and I am just learning the second hopefully. It will take months for me to get there. If I go back out there and my luck finally runs out I will just die. Its not a crutch if it only keeps me alive against an opponent I should not even face yet, but have to face anyways!”

Mortag frowned and let the scalpel like blade run through his fingers like other people would play with a coin. After what seemed like an eternity he finally nodded with a sigh.

“Alright, I’ll do it. You got any metal for me to work with?”

Aaron blinked and thought about it before he unsheathed one of his backup daggers. He had 3 in total, but only two hands, making one of them entirely useless. And he really only used the enchanted one anymore if he was honest to himself. He chose the one he had not been using at all and held it up to Mortag.

“Will this do?”

“Aye, that will do nicely, put it into the box. I will use this mid rank beast core to form the core and I think I’ll make you a ring. Easy to carry, easy to use and unobtrusive.”

“A ring?” Aaron asked and had to think of his mothers wedding ring first, but then he remembered that Kyoko had quoted him books about dwarves before. He did not know many books about dwarves honestly, so the Hobbit was probably the maximum extent of what he had any hint of knowledge of. It was probably a good idea to be in the man’s good graces so he asked:

“Like a ring of power?” probing a bit and Mortag flinched before he frowned up at Aaron.

“No, no no no, I am not doing this again. Don’t you dare quote that book to me.”

Aaron smirked and held up his hands, which stopped Mortags tirade. The man shook his fist at Aaron and then hesitated for a long moment, before he smiled.

It felt unexpectedly good to see the morose Dwarf smile. Aaron had not expected that. Being polite, interested and saying what someone wants to hear were the things he had learned in his old life. It was the best way to blend in after all. But whenever he had practiced this sort of manipulation he had always felt nothing but a bit of satisfaction of having tricked his targets. Now he felt genuinely happy to have made the morose dwarf smile.

Aaron paused and thought about this feeling, thought about if it was a good thing or a bad thing, if it would help or hinder him. He decided it was okay to feel that way, because he still knew it was a manipulation. He should probably feel guilty about it but he did not. Making the lives of these prisoners easier was a good thing for him, especially if they could help him in the long run. It feeling good was a good thing he decided.

Mortag took the dagger out of the box and another beast core, before he placed the rest of the beast cores, 2 mid grade ones back into the box along with the perfectly even memory cores he had just created.

“Take these back now yeah? The others will know what to do with them and I’ll need some time to make a magic breaker for you. So go on.”

“Thank you so much, Mortag.”

“Yeah, yeah, fuck off.” he said good natured as he started to heat up his furnace.