Chương 111: Bankrupting the Sword Saint

It was amazing how much effort was required to do, essentially, nothing. Nan'en sighed, throwing another pebble into an endless chasm that split the ground apart, watching it fall. Usually, the nature of the Echo would've obliterated the tiny rock in barely a few minutes. For her, infusing it with enough Divinity to last a hundred years or so took less effort than a passing thought. In all that time, the rock would never hit the bottom of the pit. It was endless, after all.

The result of the latest disagreement between Zuul and Xin wasn't something that obeyed the laws of space. She threw another rock, sitting with her legs dangling off the edge of the cut. She liked watching them fall. It didn't matter how far away they were in their journey, she could see them anyway if she knew where to look. In the place with little meaning, in a pit that was made with the intent to obliterate everything into nothing – pebbles were falling, for no reason other than to fall. It was Art.

Should she throw enough of them, should she ponder enough about them – the Divinity would spark against itself, ignite like fire that used itself as a fuel, and the few meaningless pebbles would become… The Endless Path Downwards? A Weird Rain of Rocks? A Reflection of True Yang? Something self-sustainable. Truthfully, she didn't know what, nor particularly cared. She was just throwing rocks. Clearing her head.

Enjoying the little silence she could before–' Nan'en, dear, he wants to spawn Dreamless Vines everywhere. How do we–' She groaned, feeling the headache come back.

"What is his justification?" she asked out loud.

"Actually, wait. Is it in writing? Did he send it to Central Authority?"' No, he said–'"I don't give a damn about what he said!" she shouted, alone in the middle of nowhere.

"We block it unless it's in writing! Then we appeal!" Gods, could Zuul do anything besides swing a sword?! He had to know the process by this point!' He looked at me funny. How do I–'"Form 2-14-2, disrespectful address toward the Overseer," she said quietly.

"Add to that 2-14-6 so he has to answer before the court of peers." The fact that Xin's 'peers' could be counted by hand across the whole branch, and none of them would even bother with this nonsense would only add to the wasted time for everyone. A moment later a shiver passed through the air, the aftershocks of a distant magic reaching even her corner of the world. Was that Zuul, or–' He blew up the place with those pyramid things. Remind me, that's… Ah, I remember. 2-14-15. I thought they were neat.'

Nan'en sighed, and threw another pebble into the abyss. Truthfully, Dreamless Vines were a great monster to spawn during the Integration. They were ambush predators, designed to entrap their victims in a state of perpetual sleep. It was very hard, if not impossible, to react to, and almost harmless compared to some other options. They could be used to pacify entire planets without spilling even a drop of blood. Under the usual circumstances, she would've been all for them.

For a grade three world it was justifiably one of the most merciful options. They'd put the world to sleep, leaving only the grunt work of getting rid of Forbidden Paths, fledging Heretics, and other minor concerns practically without pointless casualties. But the point wasn't to do an Integration. It was to stall, and to deny Xin whatever it was that he sought. Whoever, if her suspicions were correct. So, if Xin wanted to spawn Dreamless Vines – they would do everything in their power to stop him.

Making his life miserable was just common sense, really. Even if that turned them into the most useless trio of Central Authority representatives since… probably all of the known history, really. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.' How are things going on your end?' the old fossil asked through their shared connection. She threw another pebble. Her aim was off. She clicked her tongue in frustration.

"No new leads," she admitted begrudgingly.

"We need eyes on the other side."' I'm working on it,'Saint said.' He is hard to persuade, you know.' She was throwing rocks into his latest persuasion attempt. Infuriatingly, just like they had stalled Xin, he had stalled them. The one with the power to send monsters–and anything else, really–to the other side was the High Authority. Xin wasn't cooperative, to put it mildly. The only edge they had was her Mantle.

While Saint was busy being a never-ending headache to their common enemy, she had her hands practically untied, free to investigate and actually do the job of finding their target. And just like he was the worst Overseer he could be to the High Authority, to her, it was an opportunity to act almost without oversight, barring the worst offenses. Oh, how smug she was, thinking how they had outplayed the soul-sucker. She had access to the stat sheets of the whole world, not to mention the ability to issue Quests.

How simple, how elegant the plan was – finding the right sheet among billions would be child's play for her. Issue a Quest to them, something like 'breathe air for five seconds', give a reward that would teleport them out. Simple. Easy. But that– That fucking – Paranoid. Good-for-nothing. Unnecessarily antagonistic. Hateful to everything it perceived as something above it. Shroud. Wouldn't have been that much of a problem if she wasn't trying to pierce it from a world away.

Okay, fine, their guy was hidden, she'd just find someone nearby. Right? Right. Nope. Anyone, and she meant anyone who had their Fate tied to the damn annoyance in some way made her sight muddled to some degree. The Skill–because it could be nothing but a Skill–was insidious. It wasn't enough for it to simply hide its user – it was outright severing Fates of anyone it touched, turning the future into an unpredictable mess. Sure, no problem to her – she'd figure out where they were by the process of elimination.

Look for the blank spots. More than fifty million people were a blind spot to her, to some degree or another. In the span of about a day their probable Heritor managed to rub metaphysical shoulders with half the damn continent. That what she'd narrowed it down to. A continent. She threw another pebble, feeling the beginning of a Skill Emergence taking place down in the abyss. Dozens of little rocks were starting to become something more. It wasn't about what they were, but what they represented. And who threw them.

Frustrated Brooding at the Edge of Nothing was starting to take shape. She destroyed it immediately with a huff. She wasn't brooding. Maybe just a little. It was annoying, to be stuck like this. She almost missed the moment when the shroud lifted. Her hand froze mid-swing while her sight tore through tens of thousands of stats sheets in a fraction of a second. She found him. Dennis Smith. Level sixteen. The information, both visible and hidden, filled her mind.

She had read the logs before even opening them, just parsing the knowledge from her future self. Her eyes widened.

"Impossible," she whispered, completely dumbfounded. It was already messed with by the previous administrator, not once, but twice. Somehow, they've managed to edit the log to show entries dating back to before the start of the Integration. And that wasn't even the craziest thing. The logs about the failed Soul revaluation processes just didn't make any sense, especially once she tried to understand what was the problem.

The shroud was a High Path, as she suspected, and the Unique Skill with the level of– Was he aiming for Sovereignty, or what? The more she looked, the more stumped she became. The moment of shock was enough for the shroud to come back. The sheet slipped from her fingers, again forever elusive and always just outside her reach. Law almighty, she didn't even think to issue a Quest.' Hey, Nan, I think he's summoning the Hunters. What form is–'"Fuck!"

, she stood up frantically, trying to come up with some sort of plan.

"Xin can't have him! He's not a Heritor, the boy is a damn Usurper!"' What?!' With their communication happening at the speed of thought the Saint's silence felt like eternity.' I'm killing the Hunters.'

"No!" she shouted.

"He's a Heretic, Xin has the right to send them without oversight! You'll be going against the Law!"' Then what the heck do we do?!'

"I need to think!"' Think faster! He's doing the ritual!' Nan'en paced along the edge of the chasm. With the shroud back in place, trying to summon the boy through a Quest was not an option – she couldn't target him. Sending anyone to the other side was likewise not an option – with barrier in place and travel between worlds forbidden by Xin, they simply didn't have anyone except for the few natives she picked up here and there.

Most of them wouldn't be a match for the Hunters, even if she could theoretically skirt the Law a bit and spawn them as a Quest reward for some unfortunate sod. Xin's plan finally seemed clear enough, even if some things didn't add up. Or were outright impossible in the first place. He wanted the boy alive. He would give him enough Acknowledgement to bring him to the third Skill Selection, and at that point the Usurpation would take place. Denying Xin what he wanted was just common sense.

"We kill him," he whispered.

"The Soul would reincarnate, but without the shroud I'll find it first."' How? Last time I checked we didn't have anyone on the ground. And, not to hurry you… It doesn't really take that long to do an inversion ritual. They're going to be on the other side any moment now.'

"He is in the vicinity of quite a few relatively powerful humans." The plan could work. Should work.

"It's a shame, but we can't risk it. Good thing that you're rich."' What do you mean good thing I'm–' She was already fiddling with the System. On one hand, the fact that their target was a Heretic was a huge disadvantage, allowing Xin to send his Hunters while skipping the usual bureaucracy needed for such a thing. On the other, he wasn't the only one who had his hands untied when it came to such matters. New Global Quest: Kill Dennis Smith. Immense rewards for both participation and completion.