Ming’nai was basically an enormous granary with walls. It served as the beating heart of agriculture logistics across Boles. Food from the famously fertile wetlands to the south was collected and shipped outward to the empire’s hundreds of city-states.

Can’t fight on an empty stomach, Calvin thought as they approached the city. When the massive walls came into view, Calvin’s question of how the Hapain clan could possibly be winning leapt to the foreground.

The city was semi-surrounded with flags that looked identical to the ones used by the riders at the bridge, but the odd thing was that they were flanked on either side by flags that Calvin was fairly sure he’d seen being raised above the empire troops on the bridge…

Except they weren’t fighting each other, just glaring menacingly while a division of what looked like heavy cavalry stamped nervously in the center, seemingly eager to charge.

“What, um…what’s going on here?” Calvin said aloud as they observed the armies facing each other with their thumbs up their asses.

“My brothers,” Tzen said, scowling. “Fifth brother,” he said, pointing at the flags on the left. “Seventh brother.” He pointed to the flags on the right. “Whoever starts battle with the Hapain clan will inevitably suffer more losses, and so neither of them are willing to be the first to attack, because the other brother will be eager to take advantage and end them both.”

“That sounds dumb.”

“Indeed, if you discount the past.”

“Huh?”

“According to the captain, while I’ve been gone, fifteenth brother, twenty-third brother, and eighth brother have all been killed shortly after engaging the Hapain clan. And it wasn’t the Hapain clan who ended them either.

“No wonder your family is losing,” Calvin snorted.

Tzen grumbled deep in the back of his throat, a bolesian expression of fuming.

“Indeed. The Hapain clan is playing them against each other masterfully. They couldn’t have asked for a better time to rebel.”

Calvin scanned the grounds. Maybe thirty thousand men stood outside the walls of the city, glaring at each other. It was a powder-keg.

“So….do you care if your brothers die?” Calvin asked.

Tzen shrugged. “Not really. I’ve only met them a handful of times in my life. My only concern would be the death of a brother leaving me the sole focus of a stronger opponent.”

Calvin surveyed the scene, the Hapain cavalry ready to tear the throat out of whoever stepped up first, and both brothers eager to take advantage of it.

“So normally, I would launch a few tons of dynamite into the middle of the Hapain army,” Calvin said with a shrug. But this isn’t my country, so you’re the boss. What do you want to do?”

“I can’t allow you to intervene that obviously,” Tzen said, squinting at the pregnant tension going on in front of them. He glanced back at the handful of Guar shared by his hundred mercenaries.

“If only we had more Guar, we could hit them hard enough to cause this house of cards to collapse.”

“I could make more Guar,” Calvin said with a shrug.

“How many?”

Let’s see, with two bulk upgrades, dupdomancy’s mass limit became cubic, so ninety one thousand pounds. A guar stallion is around thirteen hundred pounds, so about seventy guar per cast, rough estimate.

“Enough.” Calvin said simply.

Multi splitting

***

Calvin sat crosslegged in midair, watching the young prince’s gambit play out from the skies above Ming’nai.

Tzen took the flags from the Hapain clan and strapped them to the saddles of a handful of the hundreds of Guar Calvin had duplicated for him, then rode them in a massive herd straight into his fifth brother’s formation.

What happened next was, as Tzen predicted, a total shit show. The fifth brother’s troops charged in retaliation, despite their commanders yelling at them.

The Hapain, seeing an opportunity, charged forward, while the eighth brother’s troops watched the conflict bloom in front of them with delight, unwilling to lend a hand to their own side until they were weak enough to overcome easily.

A few moments later, Tzen’s hundred mercenaries charged out from the woods behind the eighth brother’s troops, took a few potshots at them, then retreated back into the woods.

Their commanders recognized it as a ruse, but the rank and file were charged to the brim with adrenalin and battle-lust. It only took a few of these attacks before discipline broke and the eighth brother’s troops threw themselves into the fight, sandwhiching the hapain clan from both sides.

The Hapain sounded a retreat as soon as they saw the eighth brother’s troops approaching, but they still lost a decent amount of their slower troops as the two forces crushed the smaller one between them.

Out of the dust-choked battlefield, Tzen rode back to the edge of the forest and reunited with his mercenaries, and Calvin flew down to meet with him.

The prince was mopping sweat off his face, as though he’d just run a marathon, His jacket clinging to his chest.

“Well, you got something started,” Calvin muttered, watching the Hapain clan beat a hasty retreat, both brother’s armies nipping at their heels.

Calvin half expected the two brother’s armies to immediately fall into a fight to the death as soon as the hapain clan was gone, but they didn’t, the two armies came to a halt, people technically on the same side staring at each other full of tension. They slowly backed away from each other.

“Both of them were hurt by this, and they don’t know exactly how much. Rather than potentially lose, they will avoid combat.” Tzen said, watching them.

“It’s not two factions fighting is it, it’s like twelve.” Calvin said, realization hitting him like a sledgehammer.

He’s not the most politically minded kid, you’ll have to forgive him. Elliot said, even though Tzen had no way of hearing.

Ooh, idea! If I use Blue Magic from Abyssal Alchemy combined with Shadow Boxing, then I can safely allow any creature I’ve met before attack me, then learn how it’s abilities work! If I recreate the fungus under the jungle, maybe I can figure out its version of teleportation.

And if I get the brain leech – NOPE.

Calvin slammed the door shut on that line of thinking. Karen had attacks that transcended reality. If anything else could phase through from imaginary to real, it would be the Brain leech.

But….What could be better for killing the Harbingers? Calvin was unsure on that one, but brain leeches were going straight to the back of the list. Option of last resort.

Calvin redirected his gaze to Tzen, who was, for some reason, giving him a lesson on the geneology of the Tzen clan, who were apparently descended from some guy on a floating island between the stars.

“And that’s why the subclans are split between the three brothers.” Tzen said, heaving a sigh as though he’d spilled a heavy burden from his shoulder.

“Ah…right.” Calvin said, glancing at the two armies, who were sending messengers toward them, riding along with their flags high.

“Should we be concerned about either of those two attacking you?” Calvin asked as the riders approached.

“Oh, always,” Tzen said, “But it’s unlikely right here and now. We represent an unknown element, and would surely weaken whoever attacked us.”

“Same three way standoff as before then?”

“Precisely.”

Calvin was tempted to tuck himself into a sleeping bag and tell him to wake him when the posturing was over and it was time to kill people, but he bit it back.

Besides, I can’t actually sleep.

“You there, kneel before the envoy of the prince!” the first rider said, echoed shortly by the second one.

“What, you gentlemen don’t recognize me?” Tzen asked, chest puffed out in a way that neared comical.

“Perhaps this will help,” Tzen pulled out a gold-encrusted Nem badge, presumably with his name and rank on it.

The two riders…Well, their reaction was a far cry from sudden deference. They sneered, glancing at each other and chuckling as though they’d heard a particularly good joke.

“The bastard prince returns.” The leftmost messenger said. “Your army is…somewhat lacking,” He glanced over Tzen’s troops. “You wouldn’t have happened to see another group, roughly a hundred men, flying the Hapain’s name, would you, prince?”

“They were much greater in number than a hundred before we drove them into you,” Tzen said, crossing his arms.

“Lies! I recognize that one’s face! He threw a javelin into my lieutenant’s arm!”

“Where’s the proof?” Tzen demanded haughtily. “Where’re the flags? If you attack me without reason, do not expect me to suffer it without retaliation.”

The man’s fingers tightened on the reigns for a moment before his expression went slack and he simply kicked his guar into a turn and went back to his army, the other messenger did the same.

“So what now, oh master of politics?” Calvin asked.

“I have to speak with the lord of the city and secure his aid. You…you can do whatever you want.”

Maybe I will.

Fearing a trick, the city of Ming’nai was slow to open their doors, but eventually Tzen was welcomed inside. The young prince marched straight to the castle of the lord of the city, eager to be the first person to bend the man’s ear and claim credit for rescuing his city from the clutches of the Hapain.

Calvin sent Ella with the soldiers to help keep their boss out of trouble, and he took Learner with him out into the streets.

One of the guys

“Is this a date?” Learner asked as they walked, her arm slung through his. She had changed her skin color and facial features to perfectly blend into the local population.

“I’ve always thought dates are what you make of them,” Calvin said, peering into the abandoned alley. “We’re here to do some research, but there’s no reason we can’t have fun on the side.”

“F-fun?” She asked, blushing. “What…what kind of fun?”

“Well, this can be like a treasure hunt, exploration kind of thing,” Calvin said, peering into the next alley. “We could get something to eat halfway through, see some sights.”

He glanced up at the massive granaries that stores huge amounts of rice as if to demonstrate.

You just know somebody’s gonna light those on fire.

“You know, have fun,”

“Oh…that kind of fun.” Learner said, her voice tinged with disappointment.

Calvin’s newfound Intuition senses tingled. “Why, what were you expecting?”

“Nothing!” She said hastily, before her mouth opened again and a more neutral tone slipped out. “My brain imagined you – MMM!”

Calvin glanced over and saw Learner clapping her hand over her mouth, her expressive eyes horrified.

Okay. So that’s a thing. Calvin had to admit it was highly amusing watching Learner struggle with her ideal human brain, who was terrified of Calvin getting the wrong impression of her.

Calvin didn’t want her to be constantly afraid of giving him a bad impression, but he had no idea how to make her relax and have more self-esteem.

Why would a perfect human brain be lacking in self-esteem anyway? Life’s mysteries.

How am I supposed to reassure her? ‘It’s okay to fantasize about me’ sounds pretty skeevy, and anything more encouraging than that is just…weird. I should probably just keep my mouth shut. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.

If the System were still handing out Intuition, you’d get one right there, I think.

They walked through the streets, arm in arm, a rather attractive Bolesian couple deliberately pacing through some of the rougher parts of the city until misfortune found them.

“Give me your purse!” An emaciated bolesian man shouted, leaping sideways out of the alley to land on the balls of his feet, dirt shifting under him. He was wielding a knife in trembling hands, pointing it jitteringly between the two of them.

He couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred pounds.

Calvin’s ghost hands seized the starving man in place and began to search his pockets.

“Boom!” Calvin said, pulling out a clear vial of…something out of the man’s pockets. Presumably Unity. “First score in the treasure hunt goes to me!”

“Oh?” Learner asked, snatching the bottle out of his hand.

“Please, no! I need it!” the restrained would-be-mugger said, his eyes widening in desperation. “I need it to…Get out of here! I need it to escape, to not be Lin!”

“Hmm,” Learner popped the cork off, and the man’s protests redoubled. She took a whif of the substance and then closed it again.

“Interesting. It’s got the smell of neurotransmitters and just a touch of stabilized Warp…”

“Like the stuff that’s already acclimatized to your body after a Break?” Calvin asked.

“Yes, it smells like a Breaking child.” Learner said, handing it back. “I can only assume it was intended to facilitate some kind of subtle Mutation. I won’t risk damage to my brain, so we’ll divine the substance’s ingredients under more controlled circumstances. In the meantime, I can help find more.”

Learner’s shoulders and hips popped, her arms growing longer as she hunched over, her face swelling and nose growing wider and wider.

“I’m temporarily adding mass to the olfactory and the parts of the parietal that deal with scent.” She said, her voice shifting with her body.

Learner took a whiff of the air.

“This way.”

Calvin followed Learner down three streets and into a warehouse, where they discovered a rather well-appointed drug den. Colorful sheets and cushions covered the place.

There were dozens of citizens of Ming’nai sprawled out in various stages of completely gone. Some of them with their heads hanging loose on slack necks, others peacefully snoozing. None of them seemed to be likely to cause a problem…or have any useful information.

“Through here,” Learner said, pointing to one of the beaded curtains.

Calvin followed the eldritch creature through the jam-packed den, being careful not to step on anyone in particular.

On the other side of the beaded curtain, the cushion-covered warehouse shifted back into a proper warehouse, where three Bolesian men in armor stood around while a half-dozen emaciated women carefully filled clear vials with the colorless substance from larger jugs with spigots.

Calvin cleared his throat, gathering their attention.

“Are you folks the Hapain clan or simply the local criminal element?” Calvin asked, hands in his pockets. “This is for posterity, so please answer honestly.”

Subduing three Veterans wasn’t particularly challenging, so the ‘fight’, if you could call it that, was over in a matter of seconds.

Calvin didn’t kill any of them as a courtesy to Learner’s gentle nature.

Don’t want her getting a taste for it.

Yeppers.

Like so many other things, cruelty could be learned.

As it turned out, the three men and six women simply worked for the local criminal element. ‘Work’ was a generous term in regards to the women. According to the thugs, their boss had purchased a large shipment of Unity for an astronomical sum several months ago, and had been desperately trying to offload the drug since. The rank and file didn’t really know who their boss had purchased it from or how it had arrived, they only had orders to sell it and make their boss’s money back. A task they were well on the way to completing.

“So we talk to the boss guy, see where he got Unity. Calvin said, nodding. “Fair enough,” Calvin looked at one of the pinned veterans. “Who’s your boss?”

The man spit on Calvin’s shoe. “Fuck you, I’ve got more loyalty than that. Do your worst.”

Hmm… we’ve got a conundrum on our hands. I really wanna torture this guy, but Learner is standing right there. Hmm…

“It’s okay,” Learner said, pulling her dress up over her shoulders, revealing her bare body in all its sculpted perfection. “I’ve got ways of getting the information we need.” She folded her clothes and sashayed over to the restrained thug.

“Hah, a whore isn’t –“

“Once I absorb his brain I’m fairly confident I’ll be able to read his memories,” Learner said, drawing a finger down from her clavicle, between her breasts and down to her stomach.

Her chest unzipped, revealing a gaping mouth that ran the entirety of her body. It drooled onto the man’s cheek as she loomed over him, about to bite his entire head off.

“Shen’kun! In the business district! Big green building with the apothecary symbol on it! You can’t miss it!” The man shouted, his voice shrill.

“You sure?” Calvin asked, playing along with the deception. “Because it might be easier to just –“

“I’m sure, I’m sure!” the man howled.

“As simple as that,” Learner said, levering herself away from the man, her torso snapping back together seamlessly. A moment later, a shudder ran through her body and Learner yelped, covering her generous nudity with both hands.

“Oh my gods, that was embarrassing, Mom you can’t just – It’s my-“ She glanced at Calvin and tried to cover her face in shame.

Calvin had one of his ghost hands hand the girl her dress.

“Thanks,” Learner muttered, still hiding in her hands. “I know you didn’t want to get blood on the dress, but I didn’t want to give everyone a free show!” She muttered into her palm, Calvin’s hearing barely enough to pick it up.

“Really?” She peeked up at Calvin from between her fingers. “Well, even so, I’m still mad at you. You should have asked me first…Of course I would’ve said no!”

“You wanna go behind a screen or something?” Calvin asked

Learner stood and squared her shoulders, taking a fortifying breath. “No, it’s fine,” She said, tugging the dress back on, her lips moving silently. “I know, why do you think I’m so-“ Learner pressed her lips together when she caught Calvin staring.

“Anyway, that’s three huge points for me,” Learner said, putting her hands on her hips victoriously with a nervous grin. “Looks like I’m winning the treasure hunt.”

“Let’s wait until the end,” Calvin said, holding the beaded curtain to the den open for her.

Learner nodded in gratitude as she ducked through followed by Calvin.

The girl came to a halt directly in front of him, forcing Calvin to stop just inside the den.

Every single man and woman who had been enjoying Unity was gone. Not a single one of the drug-addled people remained in the den. It was completely empty.

“Huh,” Calvin grunted. “That’s interesting.”