Calculating Cultivation-Chapter 113: Clockwork Assistant

I looked at block structure, that was made up of a lot of smaller blocks all with incredibly tiny symbols compared to the other structures. The energy inside this one structure was immense. I walked around it several times and felt confident that it was some kind of central control.

I let out a sigh. “Is there a problem, Senior?” Junior Hai asked me.

“Just contemplating what to do here, there aren’t many good options,” I replied. Damaging anything could easily invite a hostile response, but I didn’t know any other way to get the attention of whomever was running this place. I didn’t have the basic knowledge to even begin working out how the symbols worked.

The problem was if I knew how a gas car worked, this would be an electric car. Same basic principles and functionality, but operated on completely different principles. I could see the formations transmitting information and monitoring other formations. But even after looking over all of it, no idea on how specific things worked.

I did see some relation to the nexus crystals. Or perhaps it was my imagination, seeing relationships that didn’t really exist. Time to try other things and slowly escalate.

“I am Cultivator Yuan Zhou from the Heavenly Alliance. I apologize for my intrusion, but I humbly ask to speak with a Senior or their representative,” I shouted out loudly. My words traveling through the massive glowing blue cavern.

If this place really stretched out the entire length of the Great World, then I was a bit frustrated for not having just dug down. That would have been a far simpler answer instead of wasting centuries of my life traveling all the way out here. It would have been boring, but at least there would have been no drama while I traveled.

There was a sudden flash of blue light. Standing where the flash of light had been, was a large cloaked figure, twice my height. They had five blue glowing orbs under their hood. They were also incredibly dense with energy at the level of an immortal and my danger sense was screaming. I had finally managed to get a reaction from the Great World.

I quickly bowed deeply. “Junior Yuan Zhou greets Senior,” I said, and the rest of the cultivators quickly bowed as well. The silence stretched out for several seconds. I then repeated the phrase in the language of the Heavenly Alliance. The figure shifted slightly at that.

“Greetings external cultivator,” they spoke in the language of the Great World. “State your purpose here.” Their voice was deep and rumbly. I had planned for this moment and knew what I needed to ask. The most important thing was to get Yang Heng. Once he was present, things would hopefully be smoothed out.

“Senior, my companion Immortal Yang Heng of the Heavenly Alliance and myself entered the Great World above by accident while searching for a way to return to the Firmament and the Heavenly Alliance. I would humbly request assistance in recovering Immortal Yang Heng from the edge of the Great World and contacting the Heavenly Alliance, or returning to the Firmament,” I declared. There was another long stretch of silence.

As the silence continued to stretch out, I grew more and more worried I had offended this Senior. Since they had not introduced themselves, I had no right to ask, which put me on the backfoot. I could only hope they weren’t enemies of the Heavenly Alliance.

“Immortal Yang Heng has already been returned once his presence was discovered in accordance with the Cultivation Deity Treaty. Your presence was mentioned but your minor cultivation made it so I was unable to detect your presence and deliver you to the Heavenly Alliance. While they expressed interest in your recovery, such things are outside the scope of the Cultivation Deity Treaty,” the Senior said.

My heart froze at this. Yang Heng managed to leave and return to the Heavenly Alliance, while I had been left behind! I didn’t know if I should be enraged or happy that he had survived. I was but an ant to these people, with no true organization backing me up. While the Heavenly Alliance would be interested in me, it was not enough to offend this person and their organization.

I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry, or even both. I could have just stayed with the shuttle, and everything would have been fine. All that traveling, hardship, and frustration could have been avoided.

“While it is incredibly forward of me, would you be able to help me Senior. I am interested in advancing my cultivation, or returning to the Firmament,” I said. Staying in the Mechanical Layer was a death sentence. There just wasn’t enough energy or resources. While I had been forced to come here by the TripleX faction, I would return regardless of the risk of chaos creatures coming after me.

There was another long pause before the cloaked figure answered. “Such a thing is beyond my authority.” That was not good. The fact that the being in front of me wasn’t the highest authority of this place meant headaches, and a lot of them.

All this work, all this effort, and it felt pointless. I wanted to collapse to my knees and cry. There was an overwhelming amount of despair that gripped me. I gathered my focus and made sure to respond so I didn’t offend this being.

“Senior, I would humbly request to speak with a higher authority,” I said. They had been nice so far, I could only hope this would continue.

“The request has been made. Gather togeather,” the being said and the other cultivators quickly came over to my side. “Do not resist the transfer.” I mentally tried to relax and there was a massive surge of energy around us and a flash of light.

We were inside a chamber with metal walls and floors. There was also a door. The cloaked figure was with us as well. “Come, you may rest in the waiting area,” the figure said. We were led out of the chamber and there were several plants, flowing water, and soft white light.

“You may rest in any of the side chambers. You may take food and water from the garden. Once the higher authority has notified me, I will collect you,” the cloaked being replied. I quickly bowed.

“Thank you, Senior,” I said as there was another flash of light and the cloaked figure disappeared.

We all began to explore the new area we had been teleported to as a group with a sense of optimism. I suspected that the cloaked figure was a golem or some kind of automation. A powerful one to be sure, but not a cultivator.

The energy level in the waiting area was as high as the Forever City and the Firmament, not the Mechanical Layer. I didn’t think we had teleported between layers. While it might be possible, it was far more likely the energy level was kept high in order to keep guests comfortable.

The entire place was designed as a short and squat cylinder. There was a garden in the center with fruits, vegetables, and nuts growing, along with a central waterfall coming down from the ceiling. Soft light from the ceiling which was three floors up, created a pleasant atmosphere.

There were two levels of this waiting area. An upper level which had rooms with high class automated features, like in the higher end areas of the Forever City. Each room had a large bed, bathroom, and other amenities which were powered by energy.

Then there was the bottom level which several shared rooms. There was a kitchen with processed food or one could use the food from the garden to make meals. Fresh animals were locked into stasis and could be removed in order to be cooked. There were meditation rooms, meeting rooms, game rooms, and even a library.

There were also golems moving around maintaining the entire waiting area. They didn’t speak and only moved about when a cultivator wasn’t nearby. There was also a closed door leading out of the enclosure. It opened when I approached it, but I didn’t exit the waiting area.

Doing so would be incredibly rude and could invite a hostile response, which I wanted to avoid. The three cultivators with me, considered the place a paradise. It was nice and comfortable, but it could just as easily be a prison.

After looking about the place, and getting cleaned up, I began going through the library. Thankfully it was written in the language of the Great World. There were a lot of history books, but it was near impossible to understand them without context.

In the 20,212th cycle of the Ascending Age, Cultivator Han of the Inspiring Faction engaged in battle with Cultivator Li of the Realist Faction. Their use of techniques in relation to the celestial alignment was inspired. Particularly how they aligned their techniques to precisely achieve maximum empowerment and counter each other. The results of the battle were not known for another 217 cycles.

When was this Ascending Age in relation to now? Where did this battle occur? What was celestial alignment? I figured the cycle measurement was the same one I learned about in the Forever City, which translated to a year.

All the books in the library were like this, assuming a lot of background information that I didn’t have. I didn’t have the background with this super-organization to understand what all this history meant. There were descriptions upon descriptions of battle after battle. The dates jumped about as well. In a completely different book on the other side of the library, I found out what happened to Cultivator Han.

In the 912,121st cycle of the Transition Age, Cultivator Han of the Inspiring Faction perished in battle against the relentless hordes of the Devourer, Type 3.

No clue what a Devourer, Type 3 actually was, just that there was a line in the tome about his death. The other mentions n the tome did not align with the cycle or age listed either. I had already saw references to over fifty different ages after a month looking through these texts.

There was a reason why trying to learn history about cultivator culture was not worth the time. There was just too much. The sheer weight of history was immense. The battles and deaths mentioned in single lines were probably epic struggles with important impacts on this super-organization, but there were just too many.

I left the library in frustration. I had probably read through a thousandth of the books there after a month, randomly selecting things. The fact that Cultivator Han of the Inspiring Faction was mentioned twice was something remarkable about how the books were organized and the information recorded. Whatever system was used to record the information in those books was something I couldn’t work out.

It was also surprising no pads or other kind of information interface were used. These were physical books. That was the one area where this waiting room was behind the Forever City. My juniors were more than happy to focus on their cultivation and recover after our journey through the Great Desert.

This would be considered a cultivation paradise for them. While I was content to wait for a month, I wasn’t going to wait any longer. If I offended a senior cultivator, then they would get offended. But how long was I supposed to wait, one cycle, two cycles, a thousand cycles? Content to die in this waiting area?

I went to the exit doorway, which automatically opened at my approach. There were signs labeling the various doorways, and this one was bigger and labeled exit. I walked through and then through a short passageway illuminated by soft white recessed lighting. This entire place gave off a completely different vibe than the area maintaining the Great World.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Going through another doorway, I came to a larger circular passageway. The sign behind me labeled the area as a Waiting Chamber 001. Continuing onwards I came to Waiting Chamber 002. The doorway was on the outside edge of the circular passage I had entered. These people liked circles apparently. Even the passages were curved. A big departure from the more rigid design philosophy of the Heavenly Alliance.

I checked Waiting Chamber 002 and it was empty, but exactly the same as Waiting Chamber 001. Even the physical books in the library were the same and arranged in the same manner. That was something the golems that acted as caretakers for the place did.

Going counter clockwise, I came to Waiting Chamber 000. I went inside and there was no one there and it was the same. The next one was labeled Waiting Chamber 999. A bit of math and observation made me realize that this entire complex was one big waiting area.

It was a long walk, but I went around the entire place, checking three more Waiting Chambers randomly. They were all the same and well maintained. Coming back to my original spot there was a single doorway leading to the interior of the circular passageway across from Waiting Chamber 000. Reaching the door, it opened, and I went through. I went through the connective passageway.

The area at the center of this place had a large empty central shaft. There was a small stand directly in front of me with a panel. There were similar things in the Waiting Chambers that could control the temperature and the lighting. I went over and read over the display on the panel.

Guest Floor

-Call Transport

-Call Attendant

I debated on both options and selected the second option. While I could wander about some more, I had no idea how big this place was and if I would get into trouble. There was a soft chime and the panel highlighted my selected option.

There was a flash of light to the side and the cloaked figure with five glowing blue eyes appeared once again.

“Senior, I apologize for disturbing you, but how long until a higher authority can speak with me?” I asked. There was a long pause before what I suspected to be a very advanced golem answered.

“All higher authorities are currently engaged. You will be seen to once one is available,” the cloaked being replied.

“You were able to locate and return Yang Heng to the Heavenly Alliance. Was a higher authority required for this?” I asked and there was another long pause.

“I have the authority to handle such trivial matters. Cultivation and traveling to the Firmament are both matters that fall under the domain of a higher authority,” the being replied. The fact they weren’t upset by my lack of groveling by referring to them as Senior showed this was probably a golem or some other kind of automation. The long pauses were confirmation of that. When these things had to do a task, they could do a task quickly, but for answering complex questions they would need to sort things out through whatever hierarchy of formations they had.

“The hospitality is appreciated, but I do not wish to remain here indefinitely. Is there any cultivator from your super organization I could speak with?” I asked. Once again there was a long pause.

“The current Chief Administrator is available with no time blocked out on their schedule. I can arrange an immediate meeting,” the cloaked automation replied. How did a Chief Administrator not have enough authority? I had even more questions now.

“That would be appreciated,” I replied with a bow. It may be an automation, but I had no doubt it could crush me with a thought. Better to be polite rather than rude.

“Please step to the side,” it said and I quickly moved away from the panel. It tapped the button I had pressed and then tapped the other button to call an elevator. A platform materialized over the pit. I noted that this super organization did not believe in safety railings just like the Heavenly Alliance. I got on the elevator with the automation and it tapped another panel on the elevator. I couldn’t see what was on it, since the large cloaked being blocked my view.

The platform moved incredibly fast, but I didn’t feel anything. Various floors moved past at a speed of at least hundreds per second. After ten seconds we came to an abrupt stop. “Please follow me and do not stray,” the automation said, and I followed after it. I noted the design philosophy did not change. We left the elevator room, and I noted the there was a label for the floor, Administration Department.

If they had an entire level of whatever this place was, then they clearly were important. At least it felt like I was making progress to actually find a person. I followed the automation down a passageway and arrived in a massive hall. The room had stary banners lining the sides and several desks which were all empty. There was nothing on them. The office space stretched out in either direction, indicating another circle, one that probably went around the central elevator, similar to how the waiting rooms did. Except this was one large open space instead.

We made our way directly forward across the room and up a set of stairs that lined the outer edge of the large curved room. We reached a set of large doors which opened. A private office for whomever was running this place. Entering the office, I saw an old man sitting behind a large desk with a banner behind him. He had deep wrinkles, a long messy white beard and hair.

The old man seemed to have no energy and no cultivation, but I could sense an immense amount of danger from them. It was time to be as polite as possible.

“Chief Administrator, your current appointment has arrived,” the automation said. The old man cracked open a drooping eye and I could swear my soul trembled.

“A child. You have brought me a child,” the old man let out a sigh. “So, who are you, and how did you get here?” he asked. His voice was scratchy and sounded unused.

“Greetings Senior, I am Yuan Zhou from the Heavenly Alliance. I was traveling with Immortal Yang Heng and we accidently entered a place called the Great World at its edge. I traveled to the center and was able to access a complex with black cube structures. Your assistant, brought my companions and I to a waiting area and informed me Immortal Yang Heng had been rescued by the Heavenly Alliance. After inquiring about traveling back to the Firmament or getting help with my cultivation, your assistant told me I would need to wait for a higher authority. Since none showed up, I looked for clarification and was brought to you,” I quickly explained and then bowed.

“You can raise your head boy. I am close enough to death that I don’t care about that nonsense anymore,” he replied. I quickly straightened up. “I am Immortal Nianzu of the Soaring Star Society. You woke me from my nap just before I was going to die.”

“Apologies, honored Immortal,” I said and bowed my head. I didn’t know what else to say to those statements. I really hoped he didn’t die while I was speaking to him, since I was hoping for answers and help.

“The Heavenly Alliance, so full of decorum, standing, face, and other nonsense. Go to your tasks,” the Immortal said the last part to the cloaked golem and waved at it. The figure vanished in a flash of light. “Sit.” I quickly took a seat in front of his desk. “If they didn’t make a fuss about you, then you probably are not an official member of their sect?” I could hear the implied question. While it was tempting to lie, it would be discovered far too easily and have a high chance of making powerful people upset.

“I have not been formally inducted into the super organization honored Immortal,” I replied honestly.

“I would say that is a good thing, but they have always been rivals in cultivation. Well, tell me your story. For you to get this far from their Forever City and all the way here must be fairly interesting. Start at the beginning of your life and narrate everything for me,” the Immortal said and closed his eyes.

I began talking about my life growing up on the continent, my challenges with cultivation, my time in the Forever City, my travels with Yang Heng, and then finally my trip to the center of the Great World. It took a while, and the immortal did not interrupt. The fact he was willing to listen to me talk was a good sign.

Once I finished Immortal Nianzu let out a soft hum but kept his eyes closed. “An interesting story. Lots of coincidences, but that is the work of higher powers. The fact that you arrived here at this time is also such a coincidence. Fate, destiny. Powerful words, but who can truly say what they mean. Even the Soaring Star Society only lightly touched on such concepts. But as the idiots like to say, if it can happen, it will eventually happen across Reality somewhere, sometime.” He shifted in his chair slightly before continuing.

“What do you think this place is?” he asked me. I considered the question as quickly as possible.

“An experiment in cultivation senior. I suspect seeing and monitoring biological research as well as research into effective means of cultivation by using low levels of energy,” I replied. The old looking Immortal chuckled slowly. Why else build all of this?

“A good answer. I would probably guess the same thing child in your position. Ah, how far we have fallen,” he said with a heavy sigh. “This was once the proud home of the Soaring Star Society, commonly called the Infinite Ring Complex. A project of countless ages to do something that has never happened before. While I will not claim we were the greatest cultivation super organization that has existed, no one would think of the top spots without including us. At our peak, even the Heavenly Alliance were even forced bowed their overly inflated heads.”

There was silence after that. I didn’t know what to say. It was hard to imagine the top people of the Heavenly Alliance bending their heads by even a single degree. Should I ask more? The tone of voice at the end clearly indicated that something had happened to the Soaring Star Society and Immortal Nianzu was clearly unhappy about the entire situation. I would have liked more information, but I also didn’t want to anger someone who could crush me with a thought or a slight gesture of their little finger. Perhaps even a twitch of their eyelid would be enough to kill me instantly.

While he might not seem like the kind of person who cared about politeness, almost no one would appreciate another person being rude to them. That was why I remained silent to allow the Immortal to collect his thoughts. Thankfully I only had to wait a few minutes.

“You will find no help with your cultivation here. The path the Soaring Star Society once took has been closed off for all eternity. As for returning to the Firmament, that path has been closed off as well,” Immortal Nianzu said. I felt my heart clench at that. What was I going to do?

“I can sense your despair and frustration. If I could help, I would. A last act of an old man, watching over a graveyard of dreams and foolishness. Ask your question child. Give me some amusement with your foolishness before my demise,” he said. If he gave me permission, then I would ask questions.

“What happened here, Immortal Nianzu?” I asked. I felt that was the most important thing to understand before I could ask other questions or for help.

“Chaos child. Chaos and hubris. What is the most important resource for any cultivator?” he asked me. That was an easy answer.

“Energy, Immortal,” I replied.

“A succinct answer. You can just call me Nianzu. I am no true immortal anymore. And where does energy come from?” I took a moment to think through that answer before replying.

“Energy comes from the lowest layer of reality, Chaos, then moves upwards through the Astral Plane, then the Firmament, the Mechanical Layer, and finally the Material decreasing in potency and power,” I answered.

“A beginner’s answer, but ultimately correct. Chaos. A simple word for something infinitely complex. Energy is the result of paradox. The original paradox some would say. It has no cause, no source, but creates effects. If you were a super organization, how would you gather energy?” he asked.

“Most remain in the Firmament, only daring to risk the Astral Plane to get resources. Drawing energy from that location. My soul is connected to the Astral Plane as well as other cultivators of the Heavenly Alliance. As for other super organizations, I would suspect they would use a similar method or plunder others. But the Soaring Star Society did things differently, I am guessing,” I answered. He clearly was testing me with these questions. I needed to give answers Immortal Nianzu was willing to accept and liked in order not to offend him. No matter what he said, he could still crush me at any moment for any reason.

“A good answer. Chaos is far worse than any other layer but has unlimited energy. Even the Astral Plane carries great risks. That is why super organizations don’t risk such locations lightly. The deepest one can build an actual civilization is the Firmament. While powerful beings can exist in the Astral Plane, they are often solitary individuals,” Cultivator Nianzu explained. I knew this information already, but I would listen closely since he was willing to explain to me.

“The Soaring Star Society was always a powerhouse in defense, not attacking. Our cultivation, our techniques, and our mindset was one of defense. The problem is that gathering energy in the Firmament requires offense, powerful offense. We could hold our own but not expand easily. A super organization needs to set up collectors to harvest energy. Your continent is such an example, it also contained a collector. Those motes are the residue of such a device that collects and compacts energy for the usage of your superiors.” I nodded at this. I had known about this, but I hadn’t realized the motes were a byproduct of such a process.

“The factions under the Heavenly Alliance, are just garbage collectors. You collected their garbage and they collected the garbage of the Heavenly Alliance. All to produce hyper compressed energy,” Cultivator Nianzu said with a chuckle.

“Instead of cultivation, it should be called garbage collection. The Soaring Star Society had a different mindset of utilizing everything we have in order to advance our cultivation. Focusing on ourselves, and eschewing the rest of Reality. Focusing on micro-cultivation instead of macro-cultivation. Our warriors were unkillable cockroaches. Even the most esoteric techniques could find no purchase upon us.” There was a wistful tone to his recollection.

“But like all cultivators we desired more power, more quickly. There were also population issues. As our population increased, the share of energy decreased. Our strength was our teamwork and understanding. A society of intellect and reasoning. We thought ourselves clever,” he said. I had a sense of where this was going but chose not to interrupt.

“What do you think we did?” Cultivator Nianzu asked me.

“You began doing something with Chaos,” I said. It was the only reasonable explanation, something completely unreasonable, which had wiped out a super organization and left all of this, with only Cultivator Nianzu here.

“A mediocre answer. We wanted to draw up energy. We were already drawing up energy from the Astral Plane like every other super organization, but we desired to tap into unlimited energy. With that our ascent and power would be unstoppable. Perhaps even breaking the bounds of Reality itself. With enough energy, theoretically anything impossible can be made possible. Hubris and foolishness, but we voted as a group after the project was extensively reviewed.”