Blood and Qi: A Vampire Xianxia LitRPG

The crone’s speech sounded good, but it horrified John to his core. He once again thought karma was a flawed system, as the crone’s soul was much the same as all other Peerless at the Transcendent tier – mostly grey but having a good amount of white and dark swirls. How their souls weren’t as dark as Lilly’s mystified him.

John had seen and lived in all types of societies. Many were decent. Many were objectively horrible and awful places filled with misery and despair.

What made all the suffering and misery of the terrible societies bearable were the only people that truly mattered – family. Not acquaintances, not neighbors, not friends – family.

After slaving all day, going home to a good wife and kids, knowing that small piece of the world was yours and yours alone, and you were king there. A place you were needed, necessary, important, and loved. Real love.

The Peerless destroyed all of that.

But those were thoughts of the real John. His head had cleared enough where he could think straight. On Earth, before he boarded the Peerless ship, he stopped being the real John. He was John the perfect Peerless Kahaka. He was Kahaka Three-five. And Kahaka Three-five needed to be much more integrated into Peerless society.

To destroy a society from without, the external force had to be stronger. But the rotten and the corrupt had been destroying societies from within since time immemorial.

John would not forget Terra. All the weaklings and cripples that were slaughtered after being dubbed useless and defective, all the families that were ripped apart and destroyed, and he would be the instrument of their vengeance. Kahaka Three-five would be the rot that destroyed the Peerless from within.

After casting his own eyes down, bowing his head a little, John said, “You’re correct, Alii. In my own life I try to take on all the bad, all that’s dark and dangerous, myself, to keep those I care for from it. The Peerless are doing the same in a different way, with different and far nobler goals. Laudable goals I respect. I will do my part.”

With his orb-eye, John noticed the crone’s eyes boring into him, still filled with sadness. “We have other matters to discuss. Important matters. There are many ways we can benefit one another. I hope light will eventually dawn on marble-head. There’s far too much tragedy in the universe. I pray for comedy.

“You want to be fully kitted out again. Powerful gear. Advanced tech. We have all you could need, though that robe of yours is nothing to scoff at. Only two in our Empire have high-concepts, you and the Natural you wish to enslave with your petty jealousy and greed. She is wonderful. Near perfect. Not only is she the first Kahaka Alu to receive Alia training, but we believe she’ll be the first Alu to become Alii.

“What has evaded and vexed us Peerless for centuries was handed to you both as unearned gifts. Amber can’t give us what we need, though she tried. You have plenty of suitable aspects. What do you say, John? Are you willing to merge aspects, or try?”

An Alii using his name was starting to worry John. He was paying attention to what she said, but with his mind significantly cleared, a part of it was trying to puzzle something far more important out. And far more worrying.

“Can you read my mind,” asked John.

The crone’s expression didn’t budge. “No, I can’t. And to fully answer so my integrity isn’t questioned, no one within the Peerless Empire can read minds through manifestation of aspect. Not as you mean. Not like your Sublime Sunshine.

“Many of us Alii can read auras. Not [Auras] as in the [Perk]. The color of your emotions. We are empathetic by nature. Bred to be. It’s a requirement to care for the boys in our kauwas as we do. And Mele don’t listen in on everything everywhere. That would be far too expensive and resource intensive. And a poor use of Mele. Do you know what brainwaves are?”

John assumed Amber told them about Sunshine and cursed her. He answered, “No.” He could feel the blood and other fluids in the brain. There was nothing like waves. Just the normal push and pull of blood through the cardiovascular system.

“Terra also has tech that can interpret brainwaves,” said the crone. “Mele don’t listen in, but data is collected and reviewed. Some Kahaka are looked at more closely, such as you are.

“Lastly, our Meleua usually keep half an ear on his Alii and chime in occasionally. So, that fully answered your question. Please, answer mine.”

The water was making John’s feet tingle and he wondered just what properties it held. “Are you asking me to merge two of my aspects in exchange for gear? Do I pick the gear? Will I only receive it if I’m successful? I don’t have any major aspects besides my high-concepts.”

The crone smiled. “Yes, we are. Yes, you’ll pick the gear. Four pieces. Gear or NCUs for the expansion slots you’ve opened. And yes, but how we measure success is collecting the specific data we need. You could fail while we succeed. Let me explain.

“You are unique in many ways. Most don’t have the essence to spare for spirit or emptiness. Sure, at Platinum, everyone takes a little time to create spirit to help refine their souls before ascension, but not much and not often. Even our Oli two-three-fives, no longer able to advance, need all their essence for battle and can’t spare much to experiment with emptiness. Us Alii and our Mele have many competing interests for our essence, regardless of tier or Tree.

“You have created a tremendous amount of a substance we know little about, and while at such low tiers. Have you ever wondered what your ‘battle-mind’ is? Why it seems to be improving? How it dilates time the same as your [Multi-Enhancement] buff?”

John was now completely certain the Peerless had some way of reading minds or stealing information from the NCS. The amount they knew of him, details he had never spoken of to anyone, was frightening. “Creating emptiness,” he answered.

“That’s what we believe. Your concepts are disparate and don’t fall within a theme. You have a very poor understanding of them. We still believe the changes this substance has made to you will allow you to merge aspects more easily. Your high affinities should be a big help too.

“We believe you’ll want to merge ‘protection’ and ‘change.’ ‘Battle’ is a special aspect we assume you won’t want to experiment with. I’d prefer ‘shadow’ since it’s average and will be less costly for us. We’ll provide aspect-enhancers to get whatever two aspects you choose to major. Those are very valuable. We’re willing to provide up to four if you’re willing to make the attempt.”

Aspect-enhancers were similar to the ability cultivators received at Diamond and Salt to increase an aspect from minor to average, or average to major. John had heard just one aspect-enhancer cost a fortune. And they were willing to provide him with four.

The crone smiled and said, “All attempts will give you experience. We need data observing you merge low-concepts, or a low and mid into a high. If you succeed but we fail to collect the data we need, we’ll require further attempts with different aspects. If you’re willing and want the gear, that is. Attempting to merge a peak-concept is well out of your league and wouldn’t help us anyways.”

The crone sighed and the smile left her face. “And have no worries. We expect you to fail today. No one is successful in their first attempt at merging concepts. This will be a process. We’re in no great rush. Our empire advances by both small and great steps over time.

“And I promised my sisters and daughters they’d have more time with you. And, regarding your credits, if you’re looking for experience? Well, I hate to toot my own horn, but it is Crazy Days,” said the crone as a new lecherous smile formed on her mouth.

John had started to think about aspects, concepts, and merging, but the last thing the crone said pulled him out of it. “They still make you sell yourself at your age?”

The crone laughed loudly. “Make me? Oh, Kahaka, you really don’t understand. My sister told you the truth – us Alii are very loving. We love to love. Our flowers never stop blossoming. We always crave stamen. Better, more advanced versions of Alii made it so I was no longer needed to quicken, but…let me explain some things, it will help you understand.

“When I lost birthing rights, my boys never left me. They refused buyouts. Kauwas were bigger back in my day, even new ones had about five hundred Oli. I only have seven boys now. But what boys do I have! We know each other well. Very well. We’re more like your terran marriages. My boys, well, they earn a lot of credits.

“The young champ at the bit for war. Me and my boys know war. Those of us born long before the dark times ended know war well. My boys like to take on the worst of it. Not for credits. Not anymore. Unlike Alii, Oli and Mele passion diminishes with age. I’m sure you know why my boys take on the worst of it still.

“My boys still make babies, but only out of a sense of duty. For pleasure, they still come to me. No one can get them to spray pollen like I can. There’s no substitute for experience, and I have that in spades. Best credits you’ll ever spend,” said the crone, ending with a wink.

John thought the part of the story relating to her warriors was almost heartwarming. The rest of it just reinforced his certainty of Peerless depravity. He could think of a few things worse than a society forcing an old crone to prostitute herself out to any takers – such as an old crone actually wanting to prostitute herself out to any takers.

And if she thinks I’m going to ever buy and use any of her kind, she knows me very little, thought John. While he was on the subject, he asked, “Is it possible to exchange credits for gear or crystals, Alii?”

The smile that grew on the crone’s face reminded him of Avatar’s own. “It’s never been done, but I don’t see a reason not to. Tell you what, come see me before you leave, and we’ll work something out. Now, concepts. ‘Change’ and ‘protection.’ Or, in reverse, ‘protection’ and ‘change.’ Do those words cause anything to resonate within you? ‘Shadow’ and either of those is also a possibility. As is ‘battle’ if you’re willing to experiment with it.”

John thought of a turtle changing from walking to pulling itself into its shell. He thought of changing out of and into a different set of armor. He asked, “What do those words make you think?”

As the crone started to answer, John strongly thought ‘Mind’s Eye,’ and entered his own. Before Avatar could speak, he asked, “What are brainwaves?”

“Want to see the [Knowledge Base] entry?”

“No, thank you. Please just tell me.”

Avatar sighed and said, “For most beta-types, brainwaves, or neural oscillation, are generally defined as the five major oscillating electrical voltages in the central nervous system creating repetitive patterns of neural activity.”

John grunted and said, “Wow, thanks. That’s a huge help.”

Avatar laughed. “Why are you asking?”

“I think the filthy Peerless animals are using my brainwaves to steal my secrets,” replied John, holding back from his desire to include that he would destroy the Peerless. Avatar tended to get sidetracked when he brought that up.

Avatar clucked her tongue. “I wish you’d just read the entry in the [Knowledge Base]. You know I can’t just offer information. Ask a question or start reading.”

“Are the Peerless using brainwaves to steal my secrets? No, scratch that, you can’t answer. Can secrets be stolen from brainwaves?”

Avatar put her glasses on and looked down her nose at John. “Stolen? No. Learned of? Possibly. Brainwaves can be interpreted by sufficiently powerful machines or software. Results vary in reliability and clarity depending on the Tech level of the machine or software interpreting and the quality of brainwave data collected.”

After thinking for a few moments, John asked, “So, it’s like reading my mind? I must protect my thoughts and think of nothing at all times.”

Avatar scoffed, glitched for a split second, and added, “Many of the NCU upgrades you’ve purchased utilize brainwaves, as does the only NCU you have in an expansion slot.”

John knew when he was being prodded. “Please let me see all the NCU upgrades that protect my thoughts. From brainwaves to manifestations. I want my mind impenetrable to outside forces.”

Avatar glitched for a moment before harrumphing. “You really enjoy making me skirt the rules. What a terribly phrased request. I know what you mean, but you really need to improve how you pose questions.”

Personality matrices had specific operational rules. Instead of explaining things, most avatars redirected users to [Knowledge Base] entries. Questions requiring a large amount of data to be sorted were called queries and were supposed to be phrased in a very specific way.

For a couple of years, Avatar had been trying to teach John the correct way she wanted him to go about things, and for a couple of years John had been trying to get Avatar to just go with how he did things. He was happy to be winning this battle, even if Avatar still complained a little.

When all was said and done John ended up purchasing the following NCU upgrades.

[Scuta Mater], 6% passive, shields the meninges (dura mater, arachnoid mater, pia mater) with nanites modifying rhythm and signal of external transmission.

[Encase], 5% passive, improve [Scuta Mater] by adding a manifestation protection component.

[Mater Support A], 4% passive, [Scuta Mater] also slightly improves ability to defend against scramblers and reduce the effect electromagnetic radiation can have on mental behavior when transmitting at common frequencies.

The upgrades didn’t provide perfect protection, but John now had some protection against his brainwaves and his mind being read by both tech and manifestations.

Avatar didn’t think [Mater Support A] was a great choice, but when John saw that his behavior could be manipulated without him even knowing, it was an upgrade he had to have.

With those purchases, John’s [NCU Energy Cost] shot up to 79%, an amount that would completely cripple the advancement of anyone else. But with his unfortunately named Legendary Mastery level meditation technique, [Leech Feckless Retreat Technique], he was able to gather energy far faster than other cultivators.

John’s significant discount to [NCU Energy Cost] earned through the many [Achievements] he had acquired, the cost of 79% was reduced by 68.6%, leaving the effective [NCU Energy Cost] at under 25%. That meant the NCS took about a quarter of all the energy he gathered, an amount that would still be crippling to most cultivators.

A small percent of gathered energy was stored as an energy credit John could use for temporary NCS [Buffs]. He had it set to apply all credit towards opening NCU expansion slots though.

Once that was settled, John put some thought into how to proceed. There was no way he was going to help the Peerless merge a high-concept and pass the old and famous bottleneck they were stuck at.

While John was being punished inside the mind of Sunshine, they had worked out good ways he could merge concepts, so he already had a plan for every one of his. He wanted to gain more experience and master the concepts he currently possessed before merging anything.

But John wanted those free aspect-enhancers. And Kahaka Three-five would want to help the Peerless. And Kahaka Three-five would. Just not effectively. He hoped all the acting related [Skills] he possessed were up to snuff as he exited his Mind’s Eye.

The crone was giving her answer to the question John asked prior to entering his Mind’s Eye. “…only resonates within your chest, and only for you. My thoughts would just cloud the issue and confuse your own. Look within yourself and…”

The crone stopped mid-sentence to stare angrily at John. “You fool. You silly fool. You must stop seeing us as your enemy.” She began rubbing her temples with her hand.

John assumed his brainwave shielding was working and the crone either noticed or was informed of it. Since she reacted so dramatically to him wanting to protect his own thoughts, he assumed it had a negative effect on what data they wanted to collect or their ability to collect it.

Wishing he didn’t feel a little pity for the Alii as she was a kind old woman, John reminded himself she was evil. She had even exiled her own son for being immune, or too immune, to the charms of Alii.

“I just wanted to protect my thoughts,” replied John. “A man’s thoughts are his own. They belong to him and no one else has the right to them. I didn’t mean to offend you or cause you distress.”

The crone removed her hand from her temples. “Absolutely wrong. The Aikapu is clear on this. No Peerless can keep secrets from his Alii and kauwa. Individuals have secrets. We are all one, united. We are Peerless. But, as Kahaka, you belong to no kauwa, so the Aikapu doesn’t apply. And, no, we won’t threaten you. As Kahaka, you have rights and are protected by the Aikapu, though that section is…well, we’ll just say it’s proving inadequate.

“We know you hate us and wish us harm. We’ve always known. We don’t care. You’ll come to see our views are correct and how ridiculously futile your current mindset is. Since we’re in phase 1 now, if you attack us, the price of retribution will be the lives of a thousand defectives on Terra, an unnecessary loss of life. You cannot harm us. You’ll never be able to harm us. Though ascension does improve it in some ways, intelligence is largely static. Any Alii or Oli can run circles around you.

“You haven’t interacted much with our Mele. It’s frightening. How intelligent they are. All the many worlds I’ve visited, all the terrible manifestations I’ve seen wreak devastation, all the wonders I’ve witnessed essence produce, I’ve seen nothing as impressive, as astonishing, as frightening as a Mele’s mind. They see everything.

“And speaking of Mele, my Meleua just informed me he’s made the necessary adjustments. You can keep the rest of your thoughts, but we’ll have your mind for this. You’ve already agreed. Come, follow, the quicker we get this done, the quicker we can return, and my sisters and daughters can have their fun. And don’t forget – if your credits call out for a great experience with the greatly experienced, I’m your woman.”