Chapter 286 - What's The Point Of Being Weirdly Powerful If You Aren't Being Powerfully Weird? (Patreon)

Aaaaand we're back! My brainfog has been weirdly prevalent with my final submissions, but with classes officially over and my anxiety spiking in a different way, here's hoping we get a few phatter chapter days out of me asap!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In total, there are seven sets of needles, each one suited to one avatar of Raika. 

This isn’t to say that there are only seven brains currently active- Raika has a few hundred up and running constantly, and none of the avatars are what they would call the “main” Raika- for now, at least, that privilege remains with their central body, a massive goliath of flesh and steel walking along the tops of the trees as they navigate the Overgrowth.

Each of the Raika-avatars has been chosen for a specific purpose, assigned a specific role;

Martial arts, and an exploration of technique. Just because their continued improvements to their body make it largely unnecessary to win fights, being more efficient about those fights is never a bad thing. Testing out new ways to hit without needing to shift, and to optimize the tools she can create, stands as an objective benefit.

Arrays, and a bit of Craft. The first “rank” of proficiency with the Craft, apprenticeship, is all about preparing for a Sacrifice, and learning the skills to compliment it- this, conveniently, often means using formations and stylized arrays to better understand the world. In terms of academic skill, Raika… isn’t very good at it. Never has been, even when pushed into it by necessity. Learning what arrays mean, how to subvert them, and even how to use them, is one of a few force multipliers that she hasn’t even touched.

Dao. For all her abilities with it, she didn’t create her own Dao, simply consumed that which she encountered. Now, in her defense, that works, but again, better to master what she currently has than just keep adding more. This part of Raika in particular intends to focus on the Dao of Blade and Gun, though not to the point that she ignores the others. A second part of Raika intends to focus on the deeper aspects- there are strange roots that seem almost like new growth, but which happen in the points where Flame and Lightning intermingle, and where Blade and Gun intersect. Deeper comprehension must be there.

The last two “divergent” pieces of Raika focus on more… conventional(?) pursuits. Even as she has assigned parts of herself to explore the esoteric and the arcane, so too has she created roles for herself in exploring the mundane. Again, academia isn’t her strong suit, and if there’s a way to modify her brain and make it so, she hasn’t found it yet, but it’s a skillset she lacks. One brain for chemistry- one for engineering.

She’s already using both, but poorly. Her lattices and internal frameworks are half-instinct, and she’s yet to really understand how her blood has changed, or what ways she can weaponize its ability to do so, never mind what other plants and ingredients she can grow. 

It’s a lot of work. A lot of work. Even divided by six, it’s enough material and enough directions that it might take months or years to reach a level of proficiency with her weakest aspects. 

This, of course, is why there’s seven sets of needles.

Li Shu steps back as the final one is inserted into the thing that is Raika- and is most assuredly not in any form one might recognize as humanoid.

She looks like a stone pillar more than anything. A tall cylinder of bone and Radiant metal, “enchanted” with properties of heat absorption and dispersal. She gave [Enacted Artistry Of Function] a request, and it delivered- the strange metal, so easy to confer and remove properties from, is perfectly designed as both heat sink and energy storage, while also venting out excess.

This is important, because the pillar lets out a lot of heat.

Turns out, when you put that much neural tissue into a contained space, it generates a lot of energy. 

The pillar is… different. Having pieces of herself with her full suite of powers forcefully locked away from them isn’t an experiment so much as a training method, a way to force herself to use and adapt to her weaknesses until they become strengths. The pillar, on the other hand, is very much experimental. She doesn’t know how to modify a brain to produce specific results, but when it comes to generating more and more and more neural tissue, she’s… probably the best there is, at least outside the third ring. What started as three brains set into a protective sphere were grown out, added to, over and over and over, until it became a pillar slightly over ten feet tall, a bit wider around than a broad-shouldered humanoid, and now doesn’t look much like a conventional brain on the inside at all. The neural matter runs in loops and threads, clustered like defined organ sets that blend into each other. She and Li Shu organized the architecture of it- they removed the cerebellums, the brain stems, any glands, as those aren’t necessary without a body and subconscious mechanisms to monitor, leaving behind only the parts “designed” for higher thought.

In theory.

Probably.

It’s a lot of guesswork and that one introductory manual from the Wall. 

This isn’t designed to be a new body, or a fresh human brain to add to the gestalt- the pillar, acupuncture needles locked into place to keep it from shapeshifting away or accessing powers it might not be able to control anymore, is an engine of thought. Something capable of calculating to higher degrees of accuracy, managing wider projects, coordinating more, faster, than ever before- and, as she adapts and learns, something which can highlight how the brain works, and give insight into how to create future modifications.

In fact, adding a few entirely new, uncloned brains into it at a later date is on the docket- give it something to do besides just plan and reflect, and help to design custom-grown neural tissue for different tasks.

Raika (the Pillar, the Avatars, and the whole of her) wonders at the fact that calling the Pillar “it” feels as-comfortable as calling it a “she”. It’s still Raika, either way, but… she hasn’t had many pieces or versions of herself that don’t automatically default to “she/her” when they/she thinks about them/herself. It’s… not as dissonant as she worried it might be. The Pillar doesn’t mind she/her pronouns, but… well, in reshaping so much of it, it seems that its also perfectly fine with being called “it”.

Raika (across a multitude of minds and shoulder-sets) shrugs. Fair enough. Of all the things she can change, that’s one of the least interesting, frankly.

Li Shu sighs, sweat standing out on her forehead as she sits back at last. “I… did not expect that would be easy, but I am surprised by how much Qi it took. I’m exhausted.”

“Really?” Raika asks, out of a few too many different bodies. “I didn’t expect it would drain you.”

Li Shu nods, wiping off her brow and sitting upright. “I had to imbue a lot of the idea of Healing into those needles, and I think it… it didn’t drain my Sacrifice of the concept, but it did strain it a bit. And it did cost Qi to do so. I suppose I didn’t know what to expect, but I didn’t think I’d end up with less than half my reserve.”

Raika frowns, one of her stepping over to Li Shu and sitting beside her. “Sorry about that. As always, this really wouldn’t have been possible without you. It means a lot that you’d help with this- even if I know how horny you get for weirdness.”

Li Shu blushes, smacking Raika on the arm. “Gods and Daemons, you still talk like you were raised in a brothel. Sometimes I just can’t imagine that you weren’t always living in some back-alley instead of in a sect- how did they ever stand you?”

“I can be prim and proper when I want to be! I just rarely ever do. And in my defense, they were desperate, and I was mostly decent at committing violence. Sometimes, that’s all a sect really needs to decide to keep a girl around.”

“Mmh. I’ve seen it happen, but somehow I still don’t believe it. How’s the…”

“Pillar’s doing fine,” Raika assures her. It pulses in agreement, a shiver of bioluminescence running between glowing metals and near-black flesh. “I’m… hmm. It’s hard to parse, honestly. Still me, but… man, it’s a weird me.”

Pillar sends back a pulse of light, and a sense of admonishment through their shared connection. 

“Yeah, I guess we are all a weird me.”

“And we’re sure she’s not going to… I don’t know, go insane? I know I get plenty stir-crazy in my own head, and considering what Pillar is…”

“I mean… it probably will? It’s me, and I’m pretty crazy. Going insane has helped me plenty in the past, and if it turns out that this setup only leads to delusion, we can correct for it later. Considering how inhuman the shape of that brain is, it would almost be disappointing if it didn’t start thinking in some super alien ways.

“...ok, yeah, fair enough. You’re ok with this, uh, Pillar?”

Pillar pulses with another flush of light, synchronized exactly to six other Raikas all shrugging. “It’ll work or it won’t,” all of her says at once.

“Alright then. Where are we planning on spreading all of you out to, then? And… how? Are you just going to walk?”

“We’ll be staying,” Engineering Raika says, leaning on Alchemy’s shoulder. They, in particular, look more like twins than sisters, the usual divergence between Raika’s avatars reduced to almost nothing between them. “It’ll be easier to link up to big mama-me while we’re here, and practically necessary if we’re going to experiment. Plus, it’ll be easier to keep from getting too distracted, hopefully.”

“Same here,” Array Raika says. “Easier to work together with you if I’m not being transported all over the place, and until we find some new texts, being able to summon up secure rooms to try stuff out in and generate as much Qi as I want is going to be invaluable.”

“I’ll be heading back west,” the Martial Raika says. “Maybe a bit north-west, if that’s the right direction. I figure I/we can pass closer towards that republic we keep hearing about, and it’ll be easier not to draw attention if we’re ‘just’ someone with martial arts and a strong constitution. Plus, I assume it’ll be easy to pick fights with a bunch of sect idiots up there. If that doesn’t work, I’ll be closer to the Wall than before, and I’m sure there’ll be plenty of things to fight there.”

“You sure you’ll be safe?” Li Shu asks.

She shrugs. “Almost certainly not, which will be the point. Either way, this me has a lot more regeneration and shifting than the others, remember? I’m pretty hard to kill nowadays, but even limited, it’s a huge advantage.”

All eyes in the room turn to the last two Raikas, both of which look at each other and shrug.

“I’m going to head straight west,” says the one with Blacksteel guns hanging off her hips, the shrug jostling a massive broadsword on her back-holster. “No better place I know of to learn Gun and Blade techniques, and I think we’ll do better if I have at least one set of eyes on the breach. Should take me a week or two to get there without a strider-form, but that’ll be an opportunity in and of itself. Plus, whether or not we decide to use this Pack situation, it’ll be best if we can get a ‘spawn-point’ closer to the Wall and the Empire proper.”

Her sibling-self, eyes and antlers crackling with lightning and flame, just raises her hands in a sort of surrender. “I… ah. I’ll head south. It’s probably going to suck, but if I can make it far out enough, that’s… well, that’s where the sun lands, right? I can’t really think of anyplace better to explore Plasma than close to the sun, and like we/I said, the more we spread out, the better. Chances are I’ll find a cave or something and meditate for a while, that’s what all the fancy stories do.”

Li Shu exhales, already exhausted trying to keep track. “I… can see why we’re doing this. I was still sort of hoping you’d all stay close, but I guess that’s sort of a moot point nowadays, right?”

Raika, all at once, smiles. “Yup! And speaking of which… want to see how we’re leaving?”

Li Shu raises a brow, a smile creeping past her exhaustion. “I would actually love that. You’re not usually that tight-lipped about things, so I’m surprised you kept this a secret as long as you have.”

“It’s only been a few days! I’m figuring it out still! But seriously, come on.”

All six of the avatars with legs turn, each of them tapping on the walls and floor or whispering to themselves / each other / herself as they go. Clothing and equipment forms, bits of ammunition, bedding and other camping supplies all spawning in from the walls and wrapping themselves around Raika’s many bodies. By the time they emerge into natural sunlight, each of the avatars is fully equipped, clothed, and ready to travel, staring out from a vast platform of alabaster bone out into the overgrowth.

The massive supertrees of the earlier sections of the overgrowth have become sparser, but the flora has only multiplied in that time. The hundred-foot vines that made a maze of the space around Singheart have been replaced by underbrush and lesser flora so densely packed that it’s actually easier to walk on the tree canopy than try to move through it. The plants are packed together so densely that walking through it is more akin to climbing, or swimming through debris-strewn waters, and the sheer amount of life between the canopies is choking in its vastness.

And atop Raika’s back, they can see out to the horizon once again.

Her strider form has had some upgrades, not least of which is something like a sect’s pavilion outlined on her back. Walls, furniture, and even rudimentary arrays make the platform appear almost like a mundane building, if made almost exclusively out of bone and hardened biological materials, running a gamut of colors but primarily red, purple and white. The scenery wouldn’t look out of place with a bunch of students doing martial drills, or with vendors hawking their wares.

Until one walks to the edge, of course. Then one might see the dozen long, spike-tipped limbs that hold them over three hundred feet from the ground, high up enough that they sometimes confuse passing flying beasts. They might see the pulsing rhythm of a million heartbeats pumping hydraulic pistons and muscle fibers the size of buildings into walking. 

Or, rather than going to the edge, one might simply look to the middle of the pavilion to stare at what’s emerging from it.

“And… what is that?” Li Shu asks, her voice awed.

“That,” says the Raika with guns on her hips, “is what I’m lovingly calling my big squirter.”

The weapon, for it cannot be anything else, is the height of a three-story building, shaped like a long-barreled cannon made entirely of radiant metal and crackling with electricity along its housing. Arcs of lightning run up and down the construct, its rifling evident in the artistic way it’s been shaped, almost like a single snail-shell opened at one tip. Long, smooth, and gleaming in the afternoon sun, Raika’s big squirter stands proud against the horizon.

Li Shu smacks two Raikas in the back of the head as hard as she can, needing to jump to achieve the effect.

“Are you kidding me?!”

“What!?” they all / she protests. “It’s big, and it squirts out a load to an intended destination-”

“In a brothel! What is wrong with you!” 

In spite of her protests, Li Shu is grinning wide, desperately holding back a cackle of her own. “It’s ridiculous. I’m not calling that. It’s a launcher. Or a big cannon. I am not calling it that.”

“Suit yourself,” Gun!Raika says. “All the more fun for me.”

As if on cue, a part of the shell of the launcher retracts, revealing a chamber laden with what looks like some sort of velvety slime.

“I call dibs!” Martial!Raika says, dashing ahead of herself and hopping into the loading chamber.

“Not going to invite your cult to come see?”

Five remaining Raikas all grimace. “It’s… ugh. They’re busy. You helped me come up with the idea- having you here for it feels right. They can find out about it after the fact.”

“Oh? Embarrassed about the following of lesser cultivators that hang onto your every word and beg you for treats?”

“More like annoyed. They really just never stop, and if you try and talk to them they just stare at you like they’re terrified they’ll say the wrong thing. It’s exhausting.”

“I can only imagine how draining it must be to have such willing students…”

“Hey! At least ‘big squirter’ isn’t subtle! No digs at my sex life on my big inaugural shooting-myself-out-of-a-cannon day.”

Li Shu raises her hands in mock surrender, unable to hold back the grin as the strange godling she calls friend harrumphs.

But then there is a sound like a deep, echoing ‘clunk’ of connecting machinery or joint-lock, and the cannon turns. Pointing towards the northwest, towards more-or-less where they’ve been told the Republic of Morae’s territory “officially” starts, Li Shu shudders as she feels a truly considerable amount of Qi start to move through her friend.

Even with the array’s effects on her skin, there’s only so much that can be done to hide the amount of Qi moving through Raika’s body now. In a human-ish form, it’s still enough to subtly avoid prying eyes, but even then, she carries a weight that sort of bends Qi in towards her, almost like gravity. On the scale of the strider-platform, arming a cannon designed to fire something as far as possible, it’s a lot less subtle.

The lightning on the barrel crackles, and the whole strider shudders as she absorbs the force generated by the shot- and then, in a burst of combustion and propulsion, Raika is sent flying.

If Li Shu really squints, she can see a missile shaped like a seedpod, armored with fatty tissues, hyper-dense skin and bone plating, flying off towards the horizon, holding one of Raika’s avatars in it.

Five other faces smile in unison.

“Oh, this is fun.”