He sensed the specter of death, hovering close.
He grimaced, took deep breaths, feeling the mana now infusing each of his cells inspiring his body into inhumanly fast healing, the ruptured artery in his abdomen already fusing shut. In an hour, maybe less, he would be fit to move and walk.
It was time he didn't have.
Season’s Mending successfully cast. Congratulations! You have defeated mercenaries, mech-warriors, multiple Highlords, and have thwarted a plot to butcher the Highblood clan in its entirety. Experience earned!
Congratulations! Hidden quest: Where is My Family? I successfully completed. Experience earned! Your long lost sister, Faith, is alive and serving as a Dauda assassin. Let's hope she wasn't infected by whatever hideous carrier vector your soon-to-be mother-in-law cooked up. Because it's not like you're getting out of marriage now, Valor. Good luck keeping your family free of an early grave!
Congratulations! You have leveled up!
Val paid the message no heed, gasping from the pain of using Season's Mending to boost his naturally rapid regeneration to phenomenal rates yet again, grimacing and bearing the cost of those magics without complaint, knowing Julia was suffering the same even now, and would have to endure it for hours still.
And in less than a minute the wound was gone, Christine gazing at him with amazement.
"Valor... can you do that for Elise?"
But he was already by their side, gently putting his hand on a trembling Elise, before slowly shaking his head. "She's suffering from exhaustion and blood loss, and has already sealed the wound. This would be a very rough mending. I don't know how advanced your technology is, but perhaps it would be better to preserve her hand in cold storage and use your hyper-advanced surgery techniques to reattach it. It is pretty damn powerful but there is a cost in pain, and I don't know if this spell regenerates limbs or not."
Christine held a shivering Elise close. "A fair point. And you're right. Considering what's happened, I dare not operate now, lest I introduce dangerous pathogens beyond what she's already been exposed to." Haunted eyes gazed into Val's own. "How bad is it?"
Val grimaced. "I think we might be in trouble. I don't know what the hell you did with the carrier vector you used to boost Dirk and the others, but you're showing symptoms within hours of exposure, not days."
Christine trembled but didn't deny it. "I had no choice, Valor. No choice at all."
Val scowled, but he could not deny how close Julia's family had come to death, not one but three plots to take them down brought to bear in a handful of days.
It was obvious she was desperate and needed all the help she could get.
"At least your friends are stable," Christine confirmed, quickly seeing to her daughter's comfort before checking on his friends and making them as comfortable as possible once Val carefully placed them back in their beds. "They show no adverse symptoms of the carrier agent. I was a fool to assume we'd have the same immunity Terrans did."
Val frowned, feeling an odd chill, his half-remembered dream clicking into place. "They were dying," he said, as much accusation as fact. "Weren't they?"
Christine swallowed, gazing at Val, speechless, and a brooding sense of doom grew into a sudden sense of peril.
His heart began to race. It was as if he could sense all the wondrous potential of this land that he somehow knew had been in the Highblood clan for centuries, the home of so much accumulated knowledge and happy memories, a massive, wondrous deck of cards about to come crashing down.
Serpents had struck where least expected.
A castle with no king to put it all to rights once more.
Val's eyes widened. "What the hell did you do, Christine?"
She paled. "Saints above, you sense it?"
Val grimaced. "What I sense is that something’s about to cycle out of control if we can't fix it, stat!"
Christine trembled, eyes filled with desperation bordering on despair. "For gods’ sakes, Val, our enemies destroyed all three of our generators!" She turned to the computer screen half hidden in an alcove flashing blue symbols. Unlike almost everything else, it was still running. "Yes, this is a command center node, tied only to me. Why do you think the force fields even came on at all?"
The room, smelling of antiseptic and death, rang with bitter laughter. "So many enemies at our flanks! I invested so much in those force fields, bragging to our guests that it could hold off an armada, hoping to earn their respect, their hesitation, to buy us time. And even if five enemies out of six will hold their blades, the damned Blackenthorps took it as an invitation to destroy our power grid, and now they're running on reserves alone!"
She shook her head. "You might think me foolish to allow those engines of destruction through. But I didn't dare raise the force field until after those mechs had passed. Had I used the shields before then, they would have overloaded our backup power before I was able to reroute it through the grid. And despite all my efforts, shields that could normally stop the advance of dozens of battle-mechs, an entire army, have been rendered almost worthless!”
Desperate eyes gazed into Val's own. "Even after cutting that monster down, we're still doomed, Val. The force field will go down in minutes, and we'll be flooded by the combined forces of an entire city-state. Our house guard will soon be overwhelmed by thousands of Blackenthorp troops whose only goal is our complete and utter extermination!"
Val closed his eyes, feeling the shadows all around, visualizing in those moments a perfect 3-D image of the compound entire, sensing its secrets clearer than ever. "The casualties we suffered, the damage the lab suffered, that but scratches the surface, doesn't it, Christine?"
Christine blinked. "Most of my administrative staff is dead but yes, my brilliant, precious researchers..." She swallowed, forcing herself to say it. "Are even now trapped underground in the heart of the complex that comprises this manor. Val, you have to understand, I wanted you only to enjoy the sweet, not the bitter. This is something I never wanted you or Julia to see."
Val frowned, suddenly sensing that she was far, far darker than even he had suspected.
Save for those she loved, her ruthlessness knew no bounds.
Christine raised a trembling hand to stroke his jaw. "Your gifts... you were the one who put the rejuvenation facility back online in the southern hemisphere! The Dominion's been looking for whoever was responsible for days! Please, Val, please tell me you can get those generators back online. As long as the force field holds, it will buy us time to do what needs to be done to send the entire Blackenthorp regiment scurrying back the way they came!" Her face tightened with growing desperation. "Please, Val, tell me you can do something!"
Val knew he needed absolute focus. He tried his best not to think about the handful of people he loved so deeply who were going to die if he couldn't fix whatever the hell was going on. "Okay. We have one chance. I assume you're using negative pressure and an incinerator?"
Christine nodded. "That's right. Once the power's back on, no enemy will be able to penetrate the inner force field, and no pathogens will escape this lab." She frowned at the hole in the wall. "Though I'll have to keep the other lab door shut too, and keep the fan on maximum."
Val nodded, closing his eyes, resisting his body's desperate call for sleep, knowing how badly he ached for it whenever he approached level-up. The instant and complete healing it provided, the hours lost that he couldn't afford right now.
Val plunged his psyche into the manor in its entirety, tasting its exquisite network of power conduits, hardware, and software, his mind synergizing it all only by somehow becoming one with what was actually a highly sophisticated research facility. He breathed in and out, feeling almost as if the entire wondrous, damaged structure was breathing with him.
Yet the blown circuits, panels, and fried electromana converters were already beginning what would soon be an irreversible cascade of destruction. They were dying in ways no cyber-system ever would on Earth.
At least in p
art, the exquisitely intricate information processing system that was Christine's attempt to simulate an interconnected computer network only bypassed the limitations of this reality that made internet impossible by fusing organic neuro-networks to the hardware.
Christine's entire vast complex was alive. But not for long.
To his horror, he realized that he had joined his mind with an incredibly sophisticated multi-tiered laboratory beyond anything ever conceived on Earth, and that it was just minutes away from death. And there was nothing he could do.
Terrified, he realized he was somehow stuck, as well. As if he really were the spirit in the machine, trying desperately to resuscitate it, but somehow, it wasn't enough.
The connection needed more.
He had to truly be one with Christine's lab. Only by linking Highblood Province to his very soul would he have any hope of saving this dying facility and everyone trapped within.
Insight gained! The paths to power are manifold. And the Path of Kings is the most sacred of all! He who is one with the land controls the land. His gift, his sacrifice, can shape the destiny of territories, of entire nations!
You have unlocked Dominion Matrix! You may use this sheet to access information on each of your territories! Cost to soul-bond Lesser Domain is 1 territory point per uncontested, captured, surrendered, or abandoned region. Regions will naturally grow with time and tactics. Regions gained solely by coin or conquest without at least 1 territory point invested must be directly linked and enjoy no added bonuses. Destiny can be directed only in Soul-linked regions. Highblood Province is currently contested by Highblood Clan. To purchase contested Lesser Domain with Tier 5 advanced bio-engineering and research facility with virtues of (5) longevity and (5) genetic engineering breakthroughs and flaws of Deadly Plague (-2) and Risk of Imminent Destruction (-5) would cost 5+5+5-3-5 = 8 territory points.
Territory is not Fate-linked to any other potential Overlord. Purchase is possible! Do you wish to purchase contested Highblood Province? Fate will assure all opposing parties either submit to your will or perish within 24 hours.
Warning! You do not yet walk the Path of Kings, Val, and have no territory points reserved. Character points must be used instead for first purchase. You do not have 8 character points reserved!
Val's heart raced with panic and horror. So close to being able to save them all from oblivion. But he was a single character point short.
Or was he?
He fought to pull himself free of the desperate tightrope balancing Greater Dominion Catalyzation with an entirely new character screen, tied not to personal growth but to shaping the fate of entire territories. A ruler's screen. He pushed the thought away.
"Christine," he whispered, barely able to split his mind yet again. Save versus cataclysmic failure made! Good luck convincing a Highlord to let go of her most precious prize, Val!
Val winced, swallowing, knowing exactly what he needed to do.
"I'm going to trust you with a secret. I think it makes me vulnerable. But if you don't understand..."
Christine frowned. "Open your mind to me, Val. I need to understand what the hell you're getting at."
He stopped flinching from her gaze. She gasped and paled at what she saw.
"This is what it's like, the minds of our ancients?" She swallowed, trembling before Val.
Val grimaced. "Christine... I don't have 8 points. I can save this facility, but I can only hold on for a few more minutes as it stands! You have to give your territory to me. Sincerely. If you willingly surrender or give me the lands, I can purchase them for one point, and save us all."
Christine's golden eyes blazed. For a hot moment, Val thought she would actually cut him down.
"Mother! What are you doing? That's Val! He's trying to save us!" Elise screamed.
Christine shuddered, jerking her head, blinking back bitter tears. "It is fitting that my creation should be what surpasses me. Saving us. Saving me and my daughters from my own stupidity." Her laughter was bitter, her smile that of a woman rolling the dice with her entire fortune at stake, willing to fall on her dagger if the house should leave her nothing.
She forced herself to say it, and when her hand smacked his temple, he could feel a binding as tight as any Greater Oath grip her soul. "I, Christine Highblood, do grant full rights and Claimance to all Highblood territory and resources to one Valor Hunter. Mate of my daughter, creation of my lab!" She gripped his chin, her eyes blazing into his own. "Let this be your first step to the most glorious of conquests, Valor. I, the kingmaker, will one day put upon your head Jordia's crown!"
But Val wasted no time contemplating madness, her intent and sincerity all he needed to save them. Or so he hoped.
Congratulations! Clan Highblood's territory is no longer contested! Cost to purchase is now 1 point. You have purchased Highblood Province! Highblood Province is now Soul-linked to Overlord Valor Hunter.
You can now control the shape of destiny within your first territory! Highblood Province is a Level 3 Lesser Territory. Your new territory will automatically enjoy a +5% bonus to research, production, fertility, happiness, and luck per territory level! Congratulations! You have achieved Rank 1 in the Greater skill: Overlord. Your Rank 1 Overlord skill will give you an additional 10% bonus in 1 category of your choosing. You may use the power of Phoebe, mistress of Jordia, to bless your territory in one particular direction per month. Blessings can avert disaster, or give a short-term boost to the aforementioned spheres! Additionally, Phoebe has not forgotten your friends' warning to Phoebian Command, given just in time to save her western hemisphere from utter sterilization! Phoebe will grant you 1 greater blessing to be used when you need it most. Whether karma or sentient goddesses are in play, you have no doubt she will keep her word!
Now that you are Soul-linked to Highblood Province, you have learned its first Dark Secret. Forbidden Techniques have been used to facilitate breakthrough technology in genetic engineering and rejuvenation technology! In fact, there are entire underground floors just chock-full of those Forbidden Techniques that could be used as pretext to seize Highblood Province from your rightful rule. Warning - To remove Forbidden Techniques would lower Highblood Province to a Tier 3 Research Facility with no more access to breakthrough technology, save advances already made! (Perhaps some things are better left in the dark?)
Do you wish to allow the use of Forbidden Techniques? Yes/No
You have chosen yes! Congratulations! Highblood Province will maintain Tier 5 research status with dual breakthrough potential each year. Warning: Must keep Dark Secret or risk censure and pretext for the genocide of your people. Perhaps it's time to interview your staff?
Additional discovery made! One of those Dark Secrets is your own! Meet Your Maker perk revealed! - Homunculus Am I - bonus is active! Far more than just helping your Dauda mother with fertility issues, Christine went to great lengths to successfully fuse Jordian and Terran chromosomes, going to what some might consider hideous extremes to achieve success! Avoid floor 13 at all costs, Val. That's destiny's tip to you! On the plus side, you and your siblings can conceive viable offspring with Terrans, Jordians, Dwarves, and all other sentient races, as your progenitor was nothing if not obsessive in her research. And by obsessive we mean insane! But you kind of knew that about Christine already, didn't you, Val? Congratulations! Double Fate-linked bonus! Since you are a child of this lab, your destiny is inextricably tied with this facility. All Overlord bonuses within this province are doubled. Averting disaster blessings are also doubled in intensity for you, child of disaster and oblivion both!
Information both terrible and wondrous blazed through Val's mind, but he knew only heartbeats had passed.
This massive laboratory complex, so much of it underground, the surface manor only for show, was still in utter jeopardy. And he knew exactly what to do.
You have chosen to embrace Phoebe's monthly blessing! Avert Disaster blessing accessed! But your situation is Extreme. Congratulations! Modified
Blessing is now in effect. All protective spells and effects will now either enjoy critical success or critical failure until disaster is averted.
Greater Dominion Catalyzation successfully cast. You have achieved critical success, allowing your spell Master-ritual magnitude of effect!
And slowly the manor and the entire hidden lab below it began to repair itself under Val's careful guidance. There was no way Val could have possibly understood the exquisitely complex structure of the facility, so he did the only thing he could do. Dive ever deeper into the matrix, until his soul was completely fused with the facility.
And he was dying, in a desperate race to effect massive repairs and stop Silbion-Elementium chain reactions from cascading into irrevocable destruction. Val struggled even as organic Cyborgian Hive-minds so like the one Christine's doctor had been terrified of becoming worked desperately to maintain various floors and experiments, their brains slowly dying of oxygen deprivation until power miraculously came back on as Val stretched his terrible gifts to the limit. Only then did those tormented brains know mercy as Val rejuvenated their neuro-networks and muted all pain receptors even as he swore them to eternal service, forging Greater Oaths with beings as much sentience as machine, and free of pain and horror for the first time in decades. Each and every Cyborgian Hive-mind went back to their myriad tasks only after silently screaming their devotion to their new master, more than willing to do whatever it took to embrace pain-free sentience in whatever form, desperate in their alien way never to offend the Overlord that now had absolute dominion over them.
It was then that he sensed the hostile malevolence all around. Hundreds, no, thousands of enemy forces waiting to pour past the dying force fields and butcher every defender in the compound. A fierce surge of will, like flexing a tortured, knotted muscle, and Val could feel one generator after another powering back online, first maintaining the emergency network, then powering the force fields to brilliant, crackling life once more, scores of enemy combatants flickering out of existence as they were incinerated by barriers once more crackling to life.
Oblivion's Peril Page 18
