Hector decided to start his day off with a nice tourist activity and booked two spots on an air taxi. Rodrick didn’t hesitate to agree to the outing. Immediately after breakfast, they went to the roof of a building three blocks away to catch their ride. The taxi was an enclosed observation bubble largely composed of reinforced glass. To Hector it looked a bit like a see-through Christmas tree bulb. Once the twenty passengers were all on board, the pilot locked the door with a key and took his seat at the center of the space, where he was half-surrounded by computer monitors.
The vessel rose on its gravitonic engines and began to meander along the skyline, staying within a lane demarcated by a combination of blinking lights and arrow signs along the rooftops. From above, it became clear that the city was quite a bit larger than Hector expected – and he’d expected it to be quite large.
“Promise City is the location where the initial meeting between the Arahants and Jinn took place,” the Jinn pilot said, voice animated in the way of a tour operator who actually liked his job. “The signing of the historic peace treaty happened here. It’s a common misconception that the coalition accord happened at Promise. Due to concerns that the Xian might turn to violence, those meetings were held on the other side of the continent, at what is now Union City.
“Promise City hosts one of the six dungeons on the planet. Ours is the third oldest and the first to be built near a civilian population base. The North Dungeon is administered directly by the Jinn nation of Mercom and the South Dungeon is directly administered by the Arahant nation of Svarga. Promise and the other equatorial dungeons are administered by city governments with oversight provided by the System.
“To your left you can see the dome of our dungeon. It is a combination of high technology and potent ritual held together by life energy. The ring of greenery you see around the dome is parkland with an area of forty square kilometers. It is considered critical infrastructure and as such is not open to the public.”
Hector stared at the dome with fascination. An imposing wall separated the dungeon region from the rest of the city. He knew from his fellow residents at the capsule hotel that the only way into the dungeon area without being targeted by the perimeter defenses was through a special subway network. The dome’s sheer scale belonged to terrain features like mountains or great lakes. It seemed unreal that humans had built something so vast.
The tour continued, flying over various areas of Promise City. There was Orisha Town, a part of the city populated by refugees from Aes. Eighty percent of the refugees were Orisha, but fully one in five were Titans. Hector learned that Titans and Orisha were able to reproduce together, with the energy type of the children inheriting from the mother. No other such reproductive compatibility existed among the varieties of human. A Xian could only have children with another Xian. Jinn with Jinn. Arahant with Arahant. Only the inhabitants of Aes were able to intermingle their blood. Though the unempowered could procreate with any kind they wished.
Other notable areas included Industry District, Greenhouse Neighborhood, and Old Town. The Industry District hosted thousands of companies involved in manufacturing and construction. It also housed the power plant that supplied the entire city with electricity – the entire city other than the dungeon, that was. The Greenhouse Neighborhood was a series of multistory enclosed gardens using extraordinary means from multiple traditions to produce fresh fruits and vegetables for a quarter of a billion people. And Old Town had originally been a separate city that Promise grew around. It was notable because its architecture was of brick and mortar instead of glass and steel.
They ended the tour at the largest mall on the world of Union Central. The pilot mused that it might actually be the largest mall in any universe. Hector had no idea what wonders other human worlds might have to offer, but certainly he had never heard of a shopping complex larger than this one. It had an amusement park and several professional sports stadiums inside the building. There was a subway looping around the mall because it was too large to walk.
Hector played a virtual reality shooting game with Rodrick, rode in a pneumatic tube slide that went fast enough to make his cheeks jiggle, and watched a movie about a Titan man fighting for the reconquest of Aes. Other than the overtly propagandist elements, the movie was a pretty standard CGI-heavy action-adventure.
The cookie cutter plot had the flashbacks of a young kid being rushed off world by his Orisha aunt, begging to know where his parents were. They were tragically dying in heroic sacrifices, of course. The main character grew up being picked on by bullies until he finally received training by an elderly Arahant swordsman who saw his potential. The bullies were beaten. Then, crowned the new leader of the pack by virtue of his new skills, the main character led his former tormentors to sign up for the Reconquest. They had to learn how to be soldiers, survive their first monster encounters, and eventually be given their first real mission.
Of course, they discovered a massive monster swarm on their big mission. The main character realizes he has to lead the swarm away from the army’s camp. The best friend, formerly worst of the bullies, refused to let the main character go alone. So the main character knocked his friend out and gave a short speech about how he couldn’t let the people he cared about come to harm – he was like his parents in that way. The heroic self-sacrifice worked. The group of friends all swear that they won’t leave Aes until the last monster is slain. The movie ended with recordings of actual soldiers on Aes saluting the camera and asking the audience to consider joining the Reconquest. The final words on the screen were ‘Humanity Stands’.
Even though the propaganda was so viscerally obvious, Hector felt his blood stirred by the entire experience. He experienced an urge to rush out and kill some monsters. Fortunately, he didn’t have to sign up for a trip to Aes to satisfy that desire.
Hector and Rodrick ate at one of the many food courts at the mall, then took a ride on the subway to get closer to their capsule hotel. Then they took a ground taxi to get the rest of the way home. Rather than go straight to bed in his capsule, Hector opted to pamper himself first.
For only the second time ever, Hector entered the spa. Since he didn’t make an appointment in advance, he had to wait two hours for an available spot. To make good use of that time, he purchased a day pass. First, he relaxed in the steam room. His body enhancement let him stay in there for quite a while before he started to feel too warm. So he jumped in an ice bath for a bit. That proved far less enjoyable, but he made himself stay in for ten minutes.
Then it was time to relax in the hot tub. Hector checked the time on the System interface and decided to grab a drink at the health bar with some of the time remaining. He ordered both an Arahant rejuvenation potion and a Jinn medicine promising to boost mitochondrial function. The Jinn pill took some effort to swallow, but fortunately the rejuvenation potion was delicious.
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In just minutes, he was feeling exceedingly relaxed. There had been a question in his mind if substances without cosmic energy in them would have any effect on him. Now he knew that they most certainly did. He almost went to sleep in public before the masseuse collected him. It was a petite Alfar man who had disproportionately large hands.
The massage was equal parts strange and wonderful. There was an aromatherapy component that reminded Hector of tree sap and fresh cut grass. Small birds flapped about the room chirping at each other. The masseuse alternated between performing what Hector would consider normal tissue work and bizarre new age bullshit. He was brushed with leaves still on a tree branch. A lizard on a leash walked all over his back. There was some soft singing about the coming of dawn.
When Hector emerged from the spa, he felt quite wonderful. Due to everything he’d mixed together, it was hard to tease out what contribution any individual treatment made to his current state. He was tempted to credit the Jinn pill for everything. That was probably just his bias towards scientific products, though. The Arahant definitely were able to make things happen. He’d walked through a gate into another world and seen them burn a world to a cinder. Possibly the Alfar even contributed to his current sense of wellness.
Hector grabbed a bathroom to shower clean and then went to his capsule for some sleep. He would have expected to have trouble relaxing the day before a big battle, but Hector drifted away almost as soon as he closed the door to his capsule. He woke hours later with a mounting sense of excitement – much earlier than necessary.
There was no helping it. His mind was already racing. Hector left his bed behind, dressed in his combat fatigues, filled his canteens with water, loaded up all his gear, and went to breakfast at the cafeteria. The eating facilities of the hotel were open twenty-four hours a day, but the demand was extremely low at four in the morning.
He enjoyed a bowl of rice porridge topped with egg and smoked fish. It was the type of thing Volithur would eat when in the barracks of the fifth household. Though the cup of tea from Tian certainly did not match that aesthetic. The only Tian tea Volithur ever drank was garbage powder pretending to be an elixir. This cafeteria actually put two full tea leaves into a large cup with a sprinkle of sugar – leaves and sugar both sourced from the world of Tian.
His intention had been to load up with a large breakfast in case he had to wait a while for the next meal. The giddy excitement that suffused him was a little too close to nerves for him to feel comfortable stuffing his belly to capacity. Instead, he went to the lobby of the hotel and sat with his legs crossed on a couch. He did a small amount of cultivation to make sure he was at the very peak of his energy reserves.
Conrad appeared half an hour before their meet-up time. Dressed in his full gear, Hector almost didn’t recognize the man. His Jinn armor was tactical black alloy over top of a mesh of fabric. Hexagonal metallic scales did a passable job of covering areas where solid plates would be too restrictive. Machete and pistol were mounted to his hips. A technological rifle hung from one shoulder. A bandoleer held grenades. Lights dotted the surface of the chest plate. The helm covered everything but the face, which would be covered when the mask and goggles hanging around his neck were clipped into place.
In contrast, Hector looked terribly under-dressed. “Wow, Conrad. You’re the belle of the ball.”
“I assume that’s a compliment.”
“You’re the prettiest girl at a dance.”
“I see.” Conrad looked down at his armor. “The Mercom combat corps goes for a utilitarian aesthetic, but every kid back home dressed up like this for costume day at least once. Oh, yeah. Costume day is a tradition on Terra where people play dress up. It might sound like an unusual holiday, but I promise you it’s a lot of fun.”
“We have a similar holiday where I’m from. Kids go around asking for candy while dressed up.”
“Why do they need to ask for candy? Are treats rare on your world?”
Hector frowned. He didn’t know if there was some strange cultural mismatch or if he failed in his explanation Halloween. “That’s not important right now. We’ve got a dungeon to delve.”
“Quite right. The building next door has a subway line going directly to dungeon door A3. If you haven’t already, set your status in the System to delving.”
Hector found the status icon through the interface and the two of them walked to the building next door. At ground level, it was a medical clinic specializing in cosmetic procedures. An elevator just inside took them down ten floors to a spartan train station where a handful of other people waited. There was only a single bench and it was currently occupied by an absolutely massive man.
Conrad bobbed his head at the seated man. “Good day, Titan.”
“What are you supposed to be? A Jinn marine?”
“Cyborg special operator, actually.” Conrad turned his attention from the grumpy Titan to a trio of Arahants wearing swords. He offered a terse smile and seemed to dismiss them.
The trio held Hector’s interest a bit longer. They all carried swords, but each was of a different style. During his teen years, Hector had gone through a phase where he was utterly fascinated with swords, and some of that still lingered. The nearest man had a curving single-edged blade with a long hilt that evoked comparisons to a katana. The one next to him, who was squinting at Conrad with some hostility, had a long straight double-edged blade that looked like a claymore. The final man had an exceptionally thin blade that looked like it could only be suitable for thrusting attacks – it certainly didn’t look like it would effectively cut along its edge.
“Keep them eyes to yourself, Xian savage,” the claymore guy commanded.
Conrad shifted his body just enough that his assorted weaponry clanked. That was it. He didn’t say a word, didn’t change his expression. It backed claymore guy down, though. Hector was starting to grow tired of the constant dislike directed his way due to the energy type of his soul. He’d never been a bigot towards any category of person back on Earth, but as a middle-aged white guy with an upper middle class lifestyle, he’d never been on the receiving end of it either. Prejudice was a thing for other people and he occupied his attentions with running a warehouse and getting strong. He really, truly did not like being instantly assumed to be a garbage person.
The elevator opened to admit four more people. This time it was a group of Jinn wearing the same brand of combat fatigues as Hector and carrying laser rifles. Judging by the pity that came into Conrad’s eyes, they were likely dead men walking. Hector certainly saw them that way. The power of a Jinn couldn’t be directly forced on the world. It was a subtle thing. Pair it with the right technology and they became top tier. These guys did not have the right tech.
A few days back, Hector asked why Conrad carried a plasma rifle and not a laser rifle. The answer had been most illuminating. A plasma rifle relied on cartridges to fire its beam of super-heated ionized gas at targets. A laser required a powerful energy source to create its beam. Both weapons could deal a lot of damage, but one used tiny cartridges the size of bullets whereas the other used bulky batteries the size of a toaster oven just to do fifty shots. In comparison, Conrad carried eight hundred rounds of ammunition between his pulse rifle and incendiary pistol.
The train arrived before anyone spoke again.
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