Calculating Cultivation-Chapter 131: Opportunity Or Risk

“Any problems?” Yang Zi asked as Luo Lingtai entered the bridge of the vessel. Since that system was always running as we cycled between energy pumps, her job was to monitor the process to make sure there were no problems.

“There are none, just like the past 5,821 times you have asked,” she replied with some testiness in her voice. You could take a spit fire away from home, but you could not take the spit fire out of her personality.

“And I will keep asking. We can’t afford to have any kind of energy spikes or serious fluctuations,” Yang Zi replied. He had been a lot more stressed out lately. I had asked him about it, and it was because we hadn’t run into any problems so far. He was waiting for something to happen and constantly checking the scans of the Firmament.

“You should trust me enough by now to know that I don’t want to die horribly out here as well,” she replied.

“Then you need to check on the energy liquid processing system. Just like I watch for any signs we have been discovered,” Yang Zi replied.

“What does Yuan Zhou do? Sit there and get fat?” She had gotten over me being a senior cultivator very quickly. I was tempted to tell her off, but it her personality kept things lively. This job was incredibly boring, but I couldn’t just zone out and focus on other things. I had to remain alert and checking over things just like Yang Zi. If there was danger, then it was likely my sense of danger would trigger.

“Monitoring the Firmament and handling the risky situations outside the vessel. Unless you are capable of combat?” I asked.

“I am capable enough. Our liquid energy storage is down to a quarter,” Luo Lingtai stated. Clearly, she wanted to get back to Immortal Longwei. Or she could just be bored. I wasn’t thrilled to be sitting around watching displays of lines, charts, numbers, and other readings. I actually had to focus on them while I was sitting here just to be sure we weren’t heading into a trap.

Overlooking just one thing could easily be our downfall. I knew Yang Zi was also keeping a close eye on things, but we both needed to put in the work.

“When we run out, then we will head back. It isn’t worth heading back before then. And the storage tanks were designed with this in mind,” Yang Zi replied. I was glad he was on top of all the technical aspects.

“How much do you think we can expand, safely?” I asked him. That was the big question. With our percentages now cut down after the Xyon Front and Immortal Longwei took 30%, we needed to set up more energy pumps. That meant reinvesting. We could use the designs we already had. We just needed to purchase the materials that we couldn’t craft ourselves.

“Up to a hundred energy pumps. We are doing two circuits on the energy pumps we have, so we can basically double that,” he said, and I nodded at this. Reinvesting was key. While I wanted to work out all the math on how many units that was, that was premature. There were a lot of risks in this job and counting the units before they arrived would be a bad idea.

Luo Lingtai let out a huff and collapsed onto a chair to one side of the vessel’s bridge. “What? I am not just going to stand around. I know how to checking the sensor readings for things both of you probably don’t even know about,” she replied.

“Or make it easier to know where our energy pumps are,” Yang Zi countered without hesitating.

“The Xyon Front already knows all of that. You didn’t think you found all the tracking methods, did you?” she asked.

“And is this where the betrayal happens, when we return?” Yang Zi asked.

“No. But it is a warning not to get any ideas about crossing the Xyon Front. Consider it a polite reminder, regardless of what plans you come up with. It would cost more to replace you and increase our risk. But that can change if I can check on the surrounding super organizations. Monitoring this section of the Firmament is quite useful,” she replied. Yang Zi looked at me and I shrugged before replying.

“We knew what we were getting into when we signed up with the cartel. After keeping her at arm’s length for so long, her patience has run out,” I stated.

“Keep your traps and fail safes set up,” she calmly said with a smirk and then turned back to look at the displays she had pulled up.

“I don’t think she respects us anymore, Yang Zi,” I said in a joking tone.

“Clearly, Yuan Zhou. A truly uncaring subordinate,” he replied with mock sadness. If she wanted to mock us using the Xyon Front as a cudgel we would mock her right back regarding her circumstances. We might not know the details, but one wasn’t assigned to such a role unless they had screwed up elsewhere.

“While you two are joking, I am the only one doing actual work. Look, there is something in the Firmament, we just went by,” she replied.

“A refraction rock. They are everywhere. You can tell by how it blends in with the background energy. If you are experienced enough,” Yang Zi said in a haughty tone.

“Look at the directional spike in the spatial gradient. That is not a refraction rock, unless something is built on the surface,” she countered and Yang Zi took a moment before responding.

“It is rare, but it can happen. And if it isn’t a refraction rock and it is a structure in stealth, the risk is too high. The Disciples of Sight control that region of the Firmament. We start poking around there, they will notice. Their long-range detection methods are some of the best,” Yang Zi countered.

“You still missed it,” she replied.

“I didn’t miss it. I chose not to care, since it was something we passed by, had no activity, and didn’t start following us. You can’t just start following a vessel from a dead stop. No matter how good your spatial drives are, turning them on and closing the distance will leave a sign. Getting excited about every little thing you find out here is what scavengers do. We are energy pirates, not scavengers,” Yang Zi countered.

“You can always report it back to the Xyon Front once we return. They can take the risk and get the reward,” I added on. Only the desperate or the crazy poked things floating through the clouds of dark gas. Yang Zi was one of the few who had survived such adventures, and I had heard his horror stories.

For every big score, there was an equally big disaster. Nothing played fair out here. One misstep and you would be dead or captured instantly. Super organizations loved to create bait for idiots who decided to poke around. A great way to scare others away while getting knowledge, vessels, and beings to use for a statement.

While Yang Zi knew all the tricks, stopping to check this out would be insanely stupid. As energy pirates, we were like bank robbers. While driving away from a bank robbery we decided to stop and mug some people on the side of the road. The pay was less, and the risk was much higher. Better to keep on going and not bite off more than we could handle.

“Why suggest such thing?” I finally asked since Luo Lingtai had not responded to my last statement.

“I felt the risk was low. I have heard stories about things of great value just drifting along,” she replied. Yang Zi let out a loud scoff at that statement.

“You only heard from the people who survived with the knowledge and scanning abilities of the Xyon Front backing them up. For us, we are energy pirates first and foremost. That means we don’t go checking every minor thing that comes up,” he countered.

While his tone was harsh, he was absolutely right. I had come to greatly trust Yang Zi’s judgement in these sort of decisions. You were either a bold scavenger or an old scavenger, not both. That was the nature of that lifestyle and why he didn’t want to do it anymore.

While I wanted to view Luo Lingtai as an emotional idiot, she was clearly saying things to get a reaction out of us and distract us. It wouldn’t work and it was annoying, but that was the cost of having her onboard. While there was a chance all of this wasn’t an act, I had observed her long enough, that I could tell she was a master of her emotions, and they hadn’t mastered her.

It was probably a cultural difference between the cultivators I had known, and the cultivators Luo Lingtai had known. Or just a way to pass the boredom of traveling about. While the spatial drive was insanely fast, the Firmament was infinite. I often spent my time thinking about these possibilities, instead of trying to create drama.

Silence settled over all of us as we sat in silence looking at the displays. The silence felt slightly awkward. Luo Lingtai had done quite a good job of creating emotional discord.

“Adjusting course,” Yang Zi stated.

“Why?” Luo Lingtai asked. The fact she didn’t realize showed her inexperience. Yang Zi had showed me all the things I should watch out for. There was a slight increase in the ambient energy on the path we were heading. That coupled with the super organizations’ declared borders, showed that we were headed towards a contested location.

While that area of the Firmament might not be contested recently, there would be a much higher degree of monitoring from both super organizations. It was better to avoid it completely.

“Look at the energy gradient, and the nearby super organizations’ declared borders,” Yang Xi answered with what I already knew. I had asked the same question in the past when a similar situation occurred. Yang Zi made a note of the location so that we would avoid it in the future. If he wasn’t here, then I would have made a note.

The map he had of the Firmament had tens of thousands of such annotations. It wasn’t just a note, there were tags attached to such notes to quickly plot a course. Trying to do it by hand would be impossible. This area of the Firmament was labeled as medium risk. It was unlikely either side would come after us if we passed through, but it was a conflict area.

Getting caught up in some kind of area of effect weapon was always a risk. Spatial mines had a high chance of being in the area as well. Thankfully mining entire borders was a good way to get people annoyed and chuck disposable vessels at you. They weren’t often used except by individuals like us and in high conflict areas of the Firmament.

Even if they were taken out, they would act as an early warning system for both sides. Again, it was unlikely due to the cost, which was why the area was only medium risk instead of high risk. Preferably we would travel on routes with no risk.

Things shifted over time and recordings of all the readings we took were saved. These readings would even be compared to readings taken when passing through the same area previously. Discrepancies would be highlighted. While the Firmament was always shifting, one could never be too careful with the threats that were out there.

The area where we had run into the monster before, was tagged as high risk. Just as we could learn, monsters out here could learn as well. They wouldn’t survive long if they didn’t have a lot of intelligence. Underestimating anything was a quick way to die.

“We need to make a detour,” Luo Lingtai finally said, breaking the silence that had taken over after the earlier course correction.

“Detour? Why?” Yang Zi asked. That was a very good question.

“I have information on a hidden cache of materials from a failed long-range expedition. Several actually, since the Xyon Front has collected such information for ages. We are going to pass fairly close, so we could make a detour and collect the materials. We would split it with half going to me,” she replied.

“That sounds awfully convenient, and why even leave materials just floating about? Wouldn’t the Xyon Front reclaim such things?” I asked.

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“It was a staging point for a secret war between two super organizations. One side paid for the supplies. We set it all up and let them know. But they never collected, the side eventually disappeared, and it has just been floating along. As for why it wasn’t picked up, it is a question of time and cost. Since the materials were paid for, it was written off. But I have a habit of looking through the historical archives. And we are close enough to pick up on its short-range resonance beacon.” The explanation sounded correct, but it was hard to be sure.

“How much in terms of units are we talking, and can we even fit the stuff?” Yang Xi asked. The Administrator’s financial system was too strong that everything began to be converted into units in terms of value. Even I had started to think like that.

“Half a billion units, probably less. A lot of large scale weapons and spatial mines. As for why the super organization never picked it up, they could have forgotten, or someone placed the order and then died. The Xyon Front never cared about that,” she explained.

“Then how do you know it is still there and not trapped?” I asked.

“Again, the short-range resonance beacon. It shows that the weapon cache is still there. While it might be emptied, it is unlikely. Traps are possible, but again unlikely. The super organization fell apart shortly after delivery, which is why I am hopeful it can be picked up,” Luo Lingtai said passionately. I ignored the enthused tone of her voice and paid attention to her actual words.

“And how much can we actually take?” Yang Zi asked.

“As much as possible. I have my own dreams and hopes as well. I am assigned here, but I am being paid very little for all this work. I doubt either of you wants to give me a share, and I can’t afford a stealth vessel. Anyone else with access to the information I was able to gain wouldn’t bother with such a small amount either,” Luo Lingtai explained.

It was an interesting idea and one that intrigued me. Once again, the problem was the level of risk. “Point out the general location,” Yang Zi told her and she brought it up on our displays. It didn’t have the exact location, but we could see the nearby super organizations and assess the risk.

“It is off any regular route, but a bit deep inside the Gartantol’s territory. Some sort of crystal being,” I said while looking over the information.

“The risk with them is low since they are isolationists and not heavily militaristic. If they haven’t discovered the weapons cache, we might be able to get close. A bit of risk though,” Yang Zi replied.

“I am not giving up anymore if you want the exact location. Half the recovered supplies are mine to sell,” Luo Lingtai replied.

“You will be entering first?” I asked.

“Yes. Unlike you, I am trained in trap detection,” she replied with a huff. “If I had my own vessel, I would have checked several of these locations long ago to make some units for my advancement. Since we are close, this will help me get started,” she replied.

Her motivation made sense. The fact she was acting selfishly made me trust her more rather than less, but she could be manipulating us on purpose by acting this way. Luo Lingtai had been around long enough to get a read on our personalities just like we had gotten a read on her.

“Why a dead drop, not a delivery?” I asked, since that was bothering me. This time it was Yang Zi who answered.

“Deniability and risk management. The Xyon Front wouldn’t want to do such a large-scale transaction at their base and they probably purchased in bulk from another super organization, just acting as the go between, clearing out anything left behind from their supplier. Rather than wasting time moving it about, it is better to do a dead drop. Like the energy pumps,” Yang Zi finished his explanation and Luo Lingtai nodded at this.

“Exactly. And tracking drift through the Firmament and locating it again is a massive headache. Half a billion units might seem like a lot to you bumpkins, but it is a small drop of wealth for the Xyon Front,” she replied haughtily.

“I can’t believe it is that small. We made a deal with Immortal Longwei at the same level,” I replied.

“Maybe not that small, but small enough that it isn’t worth getting worked up about. I won’t reveal the operations of the Xyon Front, but the deal Immortal Longwei made with you is the smallest type of deal we would even consider, and that is taking long term returns into account,” Luo Lingtai explained.

I didn’t have a good sense of scale. I thought we were entering the big leagues, but we had just enough capital to get a peek inside the door where the real high stakes transactions took place. With energy being the primary source of value and Chaos targeting high density sources of energy, it made me wonder how much wealth one could actually accumulate.

These kinds of back room deals and transactions were beyond me and beyond Yang Zi as well based on the thoughtful look on his face. To just casually forget about half a billion units worth of weapons seemed crazy to me. But for a cartel like the Xyon Front, it could very well be a rounding error in their budget, and it wasn’t even an error. The super organization had already paid for it, so there was no need to follow up.

After a couple million cycles, even if there was only one deal like this every thousand cycles, it wasn’t outlandish to think that some were forgotten. It was hard to wrap my mind around an organization that operated on such timescales.

And even if someone at the Xyon Front knew, getting the weapons cache like Luo Lingtai pointed out required a stealth vessel. Why risk a half a billion or more vessels to retrieve such supplies? The risk versus reward just wasn’t worth it.

The picture I was building of the Xyon Front was an organization that facilitated high level transactions. Normally between super organizations, but they would work with anyone. Super organizations with excess production would want to sell their weapons and other goods, but they didn’t want things traced back to them. Hence a group like the Xyon Front was required.

Super organizations would never trust each other. But a known cartel with that had a super power boss, who didn’t take territory, that was an entirely different story. With guarantees to sell the weapons and other goods far away, it was a win for the super organization in question. They got extra energy, while using up production capacity that wouldn’t be put to use otherwise.

While super organizations would never sell basic goods like a rocking chair, they would sell highly technical goods that had their manufacturing and energy methods concealed. Spatial mines were a perfect example of something that was highly desirable, no one wanted to trade them, and required an insane amount of knowledge.

Sure, someone could make a spatial bomb, but an actual mine that couldn’t be detected and would take out vessels was an entirely different proposition. Also, there were different methods of stealth. If a super organization used method A, then their neighbors would look for method A. So, they could go to the Xyon Front and purchase other methods, B, C, D, and so on. While they would be spending a lot more energy to pay for these purchases, it would give them an edge if there was a conflict.

This tied into the lack of high-level conflict across the Firmament. Fighting did happen, but it was the exception not the rule, due to the sheer cost that would be racked up and the other super organizations that would take advantage. Unless two super organizations were on a collision path, it was rare for them to fight.

“I am not opposed to the idea,” I finally said. Yang Zi nodded slowly.

“We will have to take precautions and watch everything closely,” he replied. Luo Lingtai’s story held up under scrutiny, but there was a sizable amount of risk that was outside of her control.

We made our way directly to the abandoned weapon’s cache and then stopped a short distance away. We were all looking at the displays for anything out of the ordinary which would indicate we were being targeted by the nearby super organization or that it was a trap.

“There is something there, but it reads as a refraction rock,” Yang Zi said.

“You aren’t the only one to come up with that idea to hide things. We should move closer,” Luo Lingtai replied and Yang Zi shook his head.

“No. We wait for a bit to see if anything picked up on us and slowly drift over. It will only take a couple of days and give us time to observe the area for any changes,” he replied while she let out a sigh.

It was a boring five days of drifting, but I agreed with Yang Zi the entire time. If we were involved in any sort of combat, it would be near instant. That monster we had run into had been stymied by our active defenses, but most combat in the Firmament wasn’t like that. It was instant and without mercy.

That was why we had to be so cautious. Even powerful cultivators would have to be cautious while traveling outside their super organization’s territory. The saying that there was always a bigger fish was especially true regarding the Firmament. There was always someone or something more powerful out there.

And even if you won, it would still be a loss if you didn’t win quickly. Many beings would drag others down with them if they were targeted to death. That was why quick overwhelming strikes was the preferred method of small scale combat. In a larger conflict there were more variables in play. But for energy pirates like ourselves, we had to be exceedingly careful to the point it was excessive. Since it just took a single mistake for us to die.

It was incredibly stressful to always be on edge, at every moment of the day, all the time. As much as I didn’t like it, that was how things were. After five days of even more stressful waiting, Luo Lingtai and I left the vessel to make our way to the weapons cache.

I stayed behind her at a distance, watching as she carefully worked a control panel inside a tunnel from the surface of the refraction rock. There was a door next to her. After several minutes, it finally began to open. “All clear,” she uttered her first words since getting off the vessel. While she might seem a bit crazy, she took her safety seriously and wouldn’t make unnecessary noise.

There were too many crazy detection methods out there, it was better to avoid anything extreme while outside our vessel and that included talking. She went across the threshold, and I followed behind her into a large open area in the interior of the refraction rock filled with various crates. Light embedded into the walls had turned on illuminating the entire space.

“No traps and only a third of the supplies have been removed,” she said while looking everything over.

“The spatial mines?” I asked. Those were the most valuable items.

“All gone and some of the weapons. Disappointing but not surprising. Most of what is left are just useful materials for repairing large weapons. Kind of valuable,” she replied. That was truly unfortunate. The spatial mines would have been incredibly useful if we needed to make an escape or throw someone off who was pursing us.

“How much do you think everything is worth in units?” I asked.

“Resale? Probably 200 million at best. Direct, up to 350 million but we are unlikely to find a buyer. Let’s start moving everything,” she replied.

“We need to check the crates,” I countered.

“The seals are in place. They haven’t been opened,” she replied.

“Can these seals be replicated?” I asked and she frowned at the question behind her mask.

“Technically yes, but no one would do that unless they are setting up a trap. Once we load everything up, we can take our time looking the crates over or just sell them as is. I am not picking up on any resonance beacons except the one from the Xyon Front,” she explained while checking a handheld device.

I was not assured that things were safe. “Time is also critical. While we are unlikely to be spotted, your vessel will leave traces or a patrol might show up and find us by comparing past readings. Don’t underestimate the Xyon Front’s seals. It would take a lot of headache to replicate one,” she replied.

“Fine, let’s get this over with,” I replied, and we began moving things over to our vessel into the empty portion of our cargo hold. Crate after crate was moved over. We could fit everything easily enough thankfully.

Once we had everything loaded up, we immediately departed back onto our regular course to stop by the energy pumps. I got the fun task of checking every single crate to see if any of them triggered my sense of danger as well as scanning them to do a proper inventory. We needed to make sure that everything we picked up as being in the crates was actually inside of them and there weren’t small missing pieces or sabotage done to the various weapons.

Since we would be on the hook for the resale. It was a tidy sum, most likely netting me and Yang Zi around 50 million units each after fees and other expenses. That would stabilize our operating budget and give us some breathing room.

It was still a long way to go from my goal of 10 billion units, which was the bare minimum. Half a percent to that goal. Still we had managed to retrieve everything without being discovered. In my mind that raised the value of Luo Lingtai by quite a bit.

While I didn’t like her personality, or her willingness to take risks, she hadn’t gone out of bounds so far. Luo Lingtai was trouble, but as long as she brought value to our team I was more willing to tolerate her. I also knew that Yang Zi had less of an objection to her presence after our first successful retrieval.

With targeted information, it was incredibly easy to pick up the abandoned cache. The problem was that one successful retrieval did not mean the next one would be successful as well. Each retrieval was a truly independent event with its own risks. If they were clustered close togeather then I would feel better about going after another one.

But right now I felt like we had dodged certain death by not running into any trouble while retrieving the weapon’s cache.

“Look at this spike, it is huge,” Yang Zi pointed out as we were turning towards the Free Port. The energy spike along with the wave of gas indicated something big had happened.

“Could it be the Free Port?” I asked and Yang Zi was silent. We were going to sell the goods we had picked up and arrange to visit the Xyon Front. Their base moved about, which meant Luo Lingtai needed to get an update on its location each time we returned. It was one of their security precautions we had to adhere to.

“Maybe an attack. The Administrator is not to be underestimated. The level of defenses on the Free Port are insane. And even if there is some wide spread area weapon, it can supposedly teleport away.”

“Something that insanely big?” I asked in surprise.

“It is just a rumor, but I believe it,” Yang Zi said as Luo Lingtai entered the bridge.

“Believe what?” she asked and Yang Zi caught her up.

“It is probably some sort of battle in that direction. Even if someone did attack the Free Port, they won’t succeed,” she said confidently.

“The Xyon Front, thinking about making a move?” I asked.

“Everyone wants the Free Port and to take control of the Administrator. I have seen plans and notes about the calculator, but it isn’t stupid. Trying to take control or do anything will create a huge backlash. The defenses it has in place are excessive,” she replied.

“And a teleporter?” Yang Zi asked.

“Rumored, but not confirmed. It can’t drop into the Astral Plane, since there is way too much energy present. That is just asking for Chaos to have a snack. That means a spatial displacement across the Firmament. If the receiving end was already set up, it could be doable. Just the energy cost would be excessive. Quintillions of units worth of energy at the very least,” she said. That was the unit of measurement above a trillion.

“Well we will be there shortly. So, if the place is a wreck, we might find some useful things,” I said.

“If it is a wreck, there will be a battle as everyone scrambles to pick it apart. We aren’t equipped for that level of conflict,” Yang Zi replied.

“The Xyon Front would be there as well. But it is doubtful the Free Port has fallen. Probably just some idiot thinking they could take the Administrator or broke its rules,” Luo Lingtai replied. That made a lot more sense than the Free Port being attacked or some other weird scenario.

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