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Chapter 231: Demons and Demonic Arts
🕑 Added 2024-03-25 17:00:08 +0000 UTCOnce they got a safe distance away, Omilaena immediately went to talk to some locals without much explanation. Since it seemed to be important, Kai didn't object, but he was getting tired of being pulled around not understanding. While they waited, he glanced over to Zae Zin Nim.
"Do you know what that was about?"
"Not the politics, but the man..." She frowned and he thought he could see real anxiety behind her expression. "He was a demon. Not a user of demonic arts, the actual thing."
"I'm not sure what that really means. You have demons on Cloudspire too?"
"They're a rare species and they fight one another too much to ever form nations or anything more than small sects. I can't stress enough just how dangerous they are. All the demonic arts can be used to drain power from other people, but true demons can do it naturally. They might look human, but they're predators that prey on other intelligent races."
Kai glanced back toward the Commonwealth building despite himself. "Are you saying that he might have attacked us in the middle of Roseport?"
"Probably not, but you can never be sure." Zae Zin Nim gave a little shiver. "I might be protected by the fact that I'm still at the Nascent Foundation stage. Right now he can't drain as much power from me, but if I was at the Earth Soul stage I'd be a primary target."
"I can understand how anyone who drains power is dangerous," Kai said. And he definitely knew, with strong memories of Anaelina. "But isn't he the weakest Earth Soul we've seen? All the cultivators your father sent had at least 500 Power... unless your sect's cultivation is just stronger?"
"Demons are usually a bit weaker than you'd expect for their stage - the scary thing is just how fast they advance, since they steal cultivation. And unlike most, they aren't truly capped by an imperfect breakthrough because they can just keep draining."
Now he understood the immediate reaction, though he still wasn't sure why the appearance of one demon ruined Omilaena's plans. While they waited for her to finish her investigations, he thought back to Anaelina. Her name had a similar sound to Omilaena, especially compared to all the exotic languages he'd heard since coming to Rosemount. There might be a connection, even though they used different sorts of power.
"His soul said 'Crimson Demon'," Kai said. "Is that his inherent nature, or...?"
"No, that's a demonic art. A human or any other species can in theory learn them, if they're willing to pay the price, they just won't be able to learn as much." Zae Zin Nim cast him a somber glance. "You're thinking about Anaelina, aren't you? She had Silver Demon arts, which means she drains essence. I'm pretty sure Crimson Demons drain power through blood."
"How many dif-"
"Before you ask, I don't know all the different demonic arts. It's enough to know you shouldn't trust any of them. That was what you were going to ask, right?"
"Yeah, you got me there," Kai said with a grin. "I'll ask Omilaena."
"Of course you will." Zae Zin Nim rolled her eyes, but then shifted to a thoughtful look. "You might actually have less to fear. Back in Rayakan, Anaelina tried to drain you and failed, so you may be resistant. I still wouldn't suggest getting in their way, because they can just kill you with raw power."
"Believe me, I'm really not here to start any fights. Scary power or not, we don't actually know if they're our enemies or even doing anything wrong."
Zae Zin Nim shot him a glance as if this was an absurd thing to say, and he supposed it made sense from her perspective. Nothing would be scarier to a cultivator than someone who could steal their cultivation. But from his perspective, most cultivators seemed to live off the blood of others, at least metaphorically, and societies like Krysal were just as exploitative. He wasn't going to write off anyone just because of the power they had been born with.
Not that he was going to go back and hug the demon, though.
They only had to wait a while longer before Omilaena emerged from an embassy building and gestured for them to follow. Her expression was less worried now, more frustrated. Hopefully she'd gained the knowledge they needed to choose their next step.
"Here's the situation," she said as they walked down the street. "The easiest option would have been to head into the Commonwealth. There we could have found a way to hide Zae Zin Nim's cultivation completely, plus it's the ideal place for us to gain more power. Now that its leadership has changed, we're going to have to find another way."
"I mainly know the abilities of Rosemount," Zae Zin Nim said, "I don't pay attention to all your random wars. Which place is this?"
"This is partially for Kai's benefit, but what you need to understand about Rosemount is that nations rise and fall about as fast as minor sects on Cloudspire. There aren't many powers that endure for generations, especially if they relied on the strength of a single powerful leader."
"That's why I don't pay attention to your squabbling."
"But this is an exception. The Commonwealth of Traebor has existed for over a thousand years, longer than many of your sects." Omilaena gestured vaguely, as if she was thinking of summoning something but resisting. "Its secret is developing robust systems that conquerors want to take over instead of destroy. For example, they mint all the Crests, which are the most widespread currency on the continent. Leadership has changed hands multiple times, but the Commonwealth endures."
Finally Kai could put enough together to join the conversation. "I'm guessing that the demon we saw represented new leadership and the Commonwealth isn't so safe anymore?"
"That's right. Rumor is that a demon of incredible strength took over, and he's attracted some others. They aren't going to burn the country down, but people like us who have power they might want to drain can't travel there safely."
"But power can easily become a shield," Zae Zin Nim said. "If we gain enough strength, they wouldn't dare attack us."
"We might be able to fight the minions, but their leader?" Omilaena shook her head. "If he's as dangerous as others are reporting, he's equal to the Empress or the Windlord. That's well above our reach for now."
They were talking about the most powerful people on the continent, and potentially much of the world, but of course Omilaena said "for now" when discussing their strength. It made Kai smile, even though he knew they needed to stay practical. In the short term, their path to power wouldn't be through taking such insane risks.
"I don't know these figures you're referencing," he said. "I assume they're the great powers of Rosemount?"
"There's no time to give you an entire lecture on continental politics. We need to decide our next strategy." Omilaena glanced down at Zae Zin Nim, as if to make it clear that the conversation was going to be mainly in between them. "We're weeks ahead of the sect cultivators, so how nervous are you feeling? We need to think long term, but how long term?"
"That depends." Zae Zin Nim seemed to be considering the matter carefully. "I do need a way to hide my presence, but I don't want to run away forever. I also need enough strength to go back and confront my father. Is the Commonwealth the best place for us to take those steps?"
"I don't know the entire continent, but it's the best one I know. Of course, I also have goals I'd really like to reach there, so I have my own interests. It's a question of opportunity cost. For example, we could travel to the Flaeren Dominion and acquire artifacts that could hide you completely. But that would require all our time and resources for a long while, so it would mean giving up on options back on this side of the continent."
Zae Zin Nim sighed but didn't say anything while Omilaena still glanced back toward the Commonwealth building occasionally. He wondered just what she wanted there and whether or not she would be honest if he asked. Despite how far they'd walked, it didn't seem like they'd made any progress on their central problem.
"Are there any foundational steps we can take?" he asked. "I mean things we can do to improve our position no matter which path we choose. That would give us time to gather more information, then we can make our decision with more power behind us."
"I need more qi," Zae Zin Nim said reluctantly, "assuming we can find pure qi here. I don't want to break through to Earth Soul while they might notice, but I do need to reach that stage regardless of how I hide my presence."
"There are a lot of resources I couldn't use before I left for Deadwaste, so I can stay busy." Omilaena shrugged but then grinned at him. "You're actually the one with the most obvious step to take. Right now, you reinforce your body and amplify your other abilities with mana and qi. If you want to fight here, you need to get used to chakra."
"Then isn't that our answer?" Kai glanced between the two women and then cracked his knuckles. "We're on a new continent, but our goal hasn't changed. Time to get to work."
Comments
AnythingAtAll
I think it was spelled out pretty clearly. They fight each other so often that they can't form larger groups like other races can. That's exactly how modern humans subsumed the neanderthals.
Chrismatic
Could be interesting to explain why demons haven't taken control before, or if they have why they failed. Logical conclusion for me is if they are so strong, they woulda taken control way before now.
Cognosticon
Man, I really hope Rosemount can live up to these expectations. You'll see a fair amount more of it, but only go deep into a few places. Only so much time in a novel.
AnythingAtAll
God, I really am going to love Rosemount. That part about the Commonwealth's robust systems is a brilliant bit of worldbuilding. I genuinely haven't seen that as an explanation to the longevity of a fictional institution before, but it makes perfect sense given what kind of place Rosemount apparently is. Which, speaking of, the part about nations rising and falling rapidly is another brilliant bit of worldbuilding. Progression fantasy always has to face a specific dilemma eventually and explain why people who have become incredibly powerful don't just take over entire nations if even armies can't defeat them, and how that actually affects the world. I'm almost always disappointed, even in series I've enjoyed a lot. Rosemount has such an elegant solution. Powerful people do indeed take over or found nations, but, and this is the part I really love, those nations are actually more vulnerable than usual. The setting acknowledges that yes, powerful people strong enough to take over or found nations do just that, but the problem with any structure that rests on the strength of just one powerful person, a la dictatorships and monarchies, is that there's a single point of failure. Power can be defeated by power, which naturally leads to the rapid rise and fall of nations as one leader is replaced by the next. Best of all, there's an explanation for why those armies that can't usually defeat them still aren't obsolete! They may be weaker, but they're not a single point of failure. If they can somehow best that one great power, they're a much more stable foundation since even the one that leads them has to answer to an entire army, which is harder to completely control. God, I've been absolutely loving the worldbuilding in Rosemount. And it's only been two chapters since they arrived here! There's so much to learn already. We're probably spending at least two books here, aren't we? Since we spent two on Deadwaste. I know I keep saying this, but I would genuinely not mind spending more time than that. It sounds like there's so much to explore, two books might not be enough lol. Okay, going back to progression lol, there was immediately one question that popped into my head about demons. What's the drawback? Being able to drain the strength of others into themselves sounds very powerful, but the story has been absolutely consistent about drawbacks and tradeoffs to everything. Even Kai's incredibly versatile powers need to be fueled by constantly searching for monsters and throwing himself into more danger than the usual safer training methods of Classes, cultivation, and I suspect chakra as well. Is it the conditions needed to drain the strength? It certainly isn't the limit since Zae Zin Nim said "they can just keep draining." Is it the compatibility of the kind of powers they drain? We certainly saw that dilemma with Anaelina. Is it something else entirely? I'm very curious about the limitations. I still find it funny that they stumbled upon a conflict involving someone equal to one of the great powers of Rosemount on their first day of arriving there. No way the party is going to become the strongest people in Rosemount in one book, so I'm repeating my prediction here that they'll be equal to the elite fighters serving the great powers in this book. For Kai, that's probably Tormundon. Not sure about ZZN and Omilaena. I considered Anaelina for the latter, but Omilaena seems beyond her already. For now, I'll say she'll be fighting ZZN in the final battle for this book. Maybe Omilaena fights that demon they came across in the Commonwealth? I'm very excited to see how Kai and ZZN start using chakra. We already know it runs on more abstract concepts like intent and emotions, but what does that look like in practice? I can see ZZN being able to synergize her future chakra powers with her qi-mana fused abilities, but I don't know how to picture it working with Kai. I'm sure it will, it's just that the extent I can imagine for it is his Physique. Soul Level, which is his other human parameter, clearly operates under a different mechanism. Omilaena will just Omilaena. She says as much lol. Thanks for the chapter!
