Path to the Apocalypse

Victoria returned to her room with a thoughtful expression, considering her lesson with Horace. Besides the insistence on Qi, he had some good points. In particular, she'd never really developed her skill at controlling energy. She was always focused on finding something new to do, not perfecting what she could already do. She never really practiced controlling her Spirit threads, and while she knew she could use her Spirit mist to create illusions based on the objects she'd scanned, she'd never actually done so or practiced with it. Which meant she had no real idea how to actually use all these things she could do. She needed to find more practical uses for her skills…

Victoria paused, before turning and heading out instead, moving towards her father's training yard. Once she arrived, she studied the array of weapons lining the wall, her Spirit threads reaching out to snag various daggers while she picked up the sledgeblade. She moved to the center of the yard, closing her eyes and taking a breath as she considered her next step. Slowly, she began to swing the sledgeblade, her enhanced strength making it feel as light as a… well, not a feather, but like a regular sword at least. Though its weight still threatened to throw her off balance, the ease with which she could now swing it only made the problem worse since her swings had that much more force behind them. As she readjusted to the sledgeblade, the daggers she'd grabbed began to flow with her swings, the Spirit threads moving out of the way of her sledgeblade as it began to whip through the air, swinging the daggers after it. However, as she kept going, the daggers began to get… tangled, Victoria struggling to keep the Spirit threads out of the way of the sledgeblade while keeping the daggers under control. It was pushing her ability to multitask to the limit, and she wasn't quite pulling it off.

Victoria dropped the sledgeblade with a groan. "Maybe I should just focus on controlling the daggers first." She sighed. Trying to immediately integrate the daggers into her sledgeblade forms probably wasn't the best idea. She shifted to just getting the daggers under control, focusing on getting them to move in concert without getting tangled. Four daggers ended up still being a little much, so she dropped it down to three, then two before finally starting to make some progress. Despite how much faster her mind worked due to her cultivation and points, it was still difficult to focus on more than a single thing at once, and every time her attention shifted, the daggers began to go off course or even stop entirely, so she had to almost juggle them, getting one going, then the other, switching back and forth to keep them both on track or make minor adjustments.

She kept working on it for a few more minutes, before the daggers dropped and she let out a sigh. It was increasingly clear that while her power had been steadily increasing, her skill had not. She was going to need to make some adjustments to her training schedule.

*

"How do I purify my energy?" Victoria asked Maurice. She'd returned to her room and gone to cultivate, only to be reminded that she still needed to learn how to purify her energy for her Spirit core. Which she'd forgotten to ask Horace about. Cursing his bullheaded insistence on teaching her Qi skills, she'd gone to find Maurice, who was thankfully in his office.

Maurice looked up from his desk, blinking at the sudden question. "Purify your energy?" Victoria nodded. "Are you-" He began to ask, before cutting off as he remembered her system, his expression twisting slightly. She would be ready to start purifying her energy, wouldn't she? "Yes, well, it's a fairly simple process. Simply compress your energy as you cultivate, creating space for the new energy. The more you can compress your energy, the faster you can cultivate, at least, until you compress it faster than you bring it in. The pressure will naturally purify the energy in the process."

Victoria frowned. "How do I compress my energy?"

"There are a few methods, but the most common is to focus the pressure from the Runes in your Runescape on your core. The better you can focus the pressure, the better the results. Alternatively, you can push your energy out of your core while you cultivate, before attempting to pull it all back in, but if you fail to do so, any energy left outside the core will dissipate. It makes it easier to absorb energy, but you risk losing already purified energy if you fail, which in my opinion isn't worth the risk. Finally, you can attempt to compress the energy through sheer force of will and energy control, which is required to a certain extent with either of the other two methods as well, but is unnecessarily difficult on its own, in my opinion." Maurice explained. "Oh, additionally, there are certain formations and treasures that can help, but those are things only found in sects."

Victoria's frown deepened. "But… how am I supposed to focus the pressure from my Runescape?"

Maurice shrugged. "There isn't any trick to it, you just will the pressure to focus on your core. It's a matter of willpower, not skill."

Victoria blinked. The idea that she could just will the pressure to focus on her core seemed a little weird to her, but then again, she'd shown she could just will her Essence into iron, so why the fuck not? "Okay, thank you." She nodded to Maurice, turning to go, before remembering the other question she'd had. "Oh, yeah, I also wanted to ask, what's the benefit of having a larger energy capacity?"

Maurice gave her a look that suggested she was asking a very dumb question. "It- means you can have more energy…"

Victoria flushed. "I know that! What I mean is, if you want more energy, you can just keep cultivating, right? If cultivation is endless, then the stage or realm is more important than the amount, isn't it? If that's the case, then wouldn't it be better to have a smaller energy capacity? So you could progress faster?"

Maurice sat back in his chair, considering her question with a thoughtful expression. "Huh… I never thought of it that way. For most, a larger energy capacity means that when you hit your limit, you are stronger than someone with a smaller energy capacity at that point. Hence why your father is stronger than I am, despite both of us being at the peak of Core Strengthening. However, if you aren't limited, and can simply continue higher and higher…" Maurice pondered the question seriously for a few more moments, before shaking his head. "I'm afraid I couldn't say." He sighed. "My insights stop at the Circulatory realm, and even then they are theoretical, not practical, since I will be forever barred from that realm. Maybe Sir Freid could give you an answer? As a Unification realm Cultivator, he would have a better grasp on the subject than I would."

Victoria sighed. "Yeah, he probably would, but the jackass keeps trying to pressure me into learning Qi skills so I don't 'ruin my future'. Why can't he just mind his own business?"

Maurice chuckled. "Because those who think they know better don't take the refusal of their wisdom very well. I admit, it's a trap I fell into rather often myself, in my younger years. I spent a long time frustrated with everyone around me, wondering why they just didn't get it. It took time and not a few arguments and mistakes before I finally realized that my perspective was not the end all be all of reality, that others had different goals and priorities that my advice was useless for." Maurice paused. "Though in your case, I imagine the problem would resolve itself if you'd simply tell the boy you already have a Qi Rune. I believe it is highly unlikely that he'd inform the King or anyone else of the matter, particularly if you asked him to keep it a secret."

Victoria snorted. "I'm sure, but that isn't the point. He needs to learn to respect my decisions. I'm not going to let the overpowered goofball get used to the idea that he can push me around, because if he ever got serious about pushing me around, there's no way I could actually stop him. Better to set boundaries now."

Maurice cocked his head in consideration, before nodding in agreement. "A very good point. I sometimes forget that it isn't about the battle, it's about the war. A small concession at the start may not seem like that big a deal, but over time it could snowball and crush you."

"It's always the little things that get you." Victoria agreed with a sigh. It was something she'd picked up as Thomas, growing up. He was always weird, so he had a tendency to get picked on, and it always started as something little. A small comment, a bump in the hall, a minor joke at his expense, something that was easy to let slide. But the more you let slide, the less you stuck up for yourself, the more people took from you. Comments became scathing insults, bumps became shoves, jokes became cruel pranks, because once you let people get it in their head that they were allowed to treat you in a certain way, they would take full advantage. You needed to set boundaries before people got invested in the idea that you were a suitable punching bag. Sure, sometimes it made you look like a jerk, but it was better than dealing with abuse.

Victoria shook herself out of the small funk she'd fallen into as certain less than pleasant memories resurfaced. "Well, that's everything I wanted to ask. I'll see you at dinner." She bid Maurice goodbye as she left. It was time to see how well she could compress her energy.

"Oh, one last thing." Maurice called out, stopping her. "Once you enter Core Strengthening, be sure not to use your energy for at least an hour after you finish, so that it has time to purify. Otherwise, you'll risk the energy getting stuck outside your core, which… well, I already told you the dangers involved in that." Victoria paused, before nodding and continuing out the door. It was a good thing he'd mentioned that. Literally the first thing she did after cultivating was meditate on her Runes and explore new uses for her energy. That would have been bad.

*

It turned out that the hardest part was actually making herself aware of the pressure. With the amount of points available to her, her Capacity was ridiculous, and the pressure from her Runes didn't really affect her anymore. Her Spirit and Essence gave her a boost as well, making her think Capacity was only something you really had to worry about when you were first starting out. Which was unfortunate, since that was the period you needed it most. The reason it was hard to Acquire all three Rune types was because you had to cultivate to increase your Capacity and Acquire more Runes, which made it more difficult to Acquire the other types of Runes. With enough Capacity, you could simply Acquire all the Runes you needed before you even began to cultivate… Victoria paused. She should tell Beatrice that and make sure she wasn't focusing on her Clean Rune.

Victoria put that aside for the moment as she turned her focus back towards her own cultivation, frowning slightly. The pressure was definitely still there, she just had to find it again. She examined her Runescape, seeing if she could feel the pressure by studying the source. It took a few moments, but eventually she began to feel the soft touch of the Runes emanating from within. The more she studied it, the more she became aware of its presence, flowing through every piece of her being, until she finally let out a breath. "Fucking finally." She grumbled, shaking her head. It was amazing how easy it was to adjust to things. It wasn't that long ago that this pressure felt crushing, like it was about to tear her apart at the seams, and now… meh? It just wasn't an issue anymore.

"Alright, let's do this." Victoria muttered to herself, getting back on track as she focused on the pressure, trying to focus it on her Spirit core. Slowly the pressure began to condense, concentrating on her Spirit core until the energy inside began to slowly compress to make room for more. Victoria focused more and more pressure on it until there was more than enough space for a few hours of cultivation, which was when she ran into her first problem. The moment she went to cultivate, her focus on the pressure lapsed and it began to disperse again, letting the energy expand again! She quickly shifted her focus back to the pressure, but that caused her to stop cultivating instead. Victoria's expression twisted as she struggled to find a balance between the two, before she finally broke down in frustration. "Fuck! I need a whole ass second brain for this shit!" She cursed, before suddenly freezing, her eyes widening as an idea wormed its way into her mind, one so audacious, yet so undeniably feasible that she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before. Why- didn't she- use her points- to make herself- a second body?!?

She glanced at her point total. She still had about a thousand points to work with. She opened the creation page, gulping slightly as she created a new entry: Victoria. And the cost? Just a bit under five hundred points. "Holy shit." She gasped, barely even believing this was actually possible. It could be. It had to be, but… if she was wrong, then she'd be wasting a fuckton of points. Was it worth it for the experiment? For the chance? Victoria hesitated for a moment, before her expression hardened and she nodded. Fuck yes it was! Victoria reached out, five hundred points flowing out of her and pooling on the bed, as Victoria made… herself. The points suddenly shifted, collapsing from possibility into reality as in an instant, a body formed. Victoria paused, frowning slightly as she didn't suddenly feel like she had another brain to use. Had it not worked?

She froze as the body suddenly gasped awake, looking around with a panicked expression. “What- Where- Who- Why-?!?” She stammered as she took everything in until she finally settled on Victoria and pointed an accusatory finger at her. “Who are you!?! And why do you look like me?!?”

Victoria blinked. “Uh… I am you? Do… you not remember?”

The copy frowned. “Remember what?!?”

“We- I was trying to make a second body to help with cultivation?” Victoria provided tentatively.

“You- you're a Cultivator!?!” The copy exclaimed, going pale.

Victoria frowned. “You don't even remember that? How-” Victoria cut off, her eyes widening. “You- are you… Victoria?!?” She asked incredulously.

“Y-yes?” The copy replied hesitantly. “Who else would I be?”

“You- right, obviously.” Victoria muttered. “Do- Do you remember being Victoria before you drank the Potion of Awakening? Or after?”

The copy froze. “The Po- No, I- I-” She began to shiver as she remembered, the memory of wild, chaotic energy tearing her body apart flashing through her mind, and then… “I- died.” She curled in on herself with a horrified expression.

Victoria grimaced. “Yeah, that- doesn't actually say much one way or the other. Again, before the potion or after?”

The copy blinked at her. “Be- Before?”

Victoria nodded slowly, pretty much expecting the answer at this point. “So… you're the original Victoria.”