The master was gone and everyone knew it.

Mostly because Lady An wouldn’t let anyone forget it. Now, Hanying was all for letting a lady bemoan the loss of her paramour, but he could have done without the tingling at the back of his neck that occurred every time the woman came within five li of him.

And I shudder to imagine what those poor souls stuck on the training field are going though, he thought as he stepped through the surprisingly well-lit halls of the Master’s home.

The whole situation only made him all the more glad he’d not stayed with the militia, like so many of his friends had. He knew what he was and what he wasn’t. And he wasn’t a soldier. He was a miner. Like his father before him. And his daddy before him.

Fortunately for the security of his home, there were plenty of people ready and willing to take his place. The town had been seeing a steady stream of refugees in recent months. Sure, the numbers were less now than they’d been at the start of the ‘reckoning’, but people hadn’t stopped coming.

The only difference now was that those who showed up at the gates of the town weren’t the wide eyed and desperate souls that had come before. Those that came now had been surviving out in the wilderness for nearly a year.

They’d been toughened. Hardened by the experience.

Just the other day he’d seen a girl, one who couldn’t have been a day older than his own little girl. Her eyes had been dark. Skittish. Never resting in one place for long. Always flitting about in search of unseen threats. Nor had her hand ever left the hilt of the beast-bone knife at her side.

He shuddered to imagine his own daughter with eyes like that and not for the first time he thanked the Empress that both Lady An and Master Johansen saw fit to lend Jiangshi their aid on that first day.

Most of those survivors were destined for the militia. A militia that was more than happy to have them.

He snorted, shaking his head to rid them of such melancholy thoughts as he stepped into the ‘cargo lift’. The strange metal box was as discomforting as it ever was, that strange sense of vertigo overtaking him for a few seconds, before the doors opened once more and he found himself faced with an entirely different hallway from the one he’d just came from.

Such was the strange magic of the Overseer’s home.

And place of work, Hanying thought as he clambered up onto the strange horseless cart that awaited him there.

It had taken him a little while to get used to the ‘steering wheel’ and the ‘pedals’ that made the device go, but as he took off through the rough hewn halls of the mining area, he was glad for the carts existence. It would have taken him hours to reach his destination on foot.

Instead, it took a mere twenty minutes.

As he drove, he carefully heeded the instructions of the site’s guiding spirit, the disembodied voice instructing him where to go. That too had been strange at first, but these days he found he took comfort in the spirit’s calm disembodied voice. It was after all, his only companion in this dark underground kingdom, and had only ever been a helpful, if taciturn guide.

Soon enough he reached his destination and stepped off the cart, rubbing his hands together in preparation for the job to come.

On the face of it, it was a simple enough task. The metal beasts of his lord were awe inspiring when at work. Furthermore, they were tireless in their craft, seeking nothing more than to dig deep into the earth with their strange interlocking teeth, before spewing forth what precious materials they found… from their rear. Unfortunate imagery aside, one of them could do the work of Hanying ten times over.

Unfortunately, as loyal and steadfast as the beasts were, they were also idiots. Of the terminal variety. The poor things did not and could not think for themselves. If one encountered a problem it had not been given instruction on, it would quickly find itself either frozen in indecision or left whirring uselessly in the air.

Hence why Hanying had been assigned as their handler. It was his job to corral or correct any of the beasts that went awry.

Which the one he’d been directed to had. The idiot thing had encountered a void underground and thrown a great tantrum. While it was asleep now, likely having spent itself in its frustration, Hanying could see marks all across the entrance to the cave where the beast had whirred and thrashed around, its great teeth unable to gain purchase on the smooth walls of the limestone cavern it had bungled into.

“Come on you great metal lummox,” Hanying said with no small amount of exasperated affection as he gripped the bridle of the great metal wormlike beast – careful to avoid the great maw at the front. The last thing he wanted was for it to waken from its slumber and chow down on him, for he would easily disappear into the things cavernous maw.

It was slow, cumbersome work to move a creature easily as tall as himself, but his ox-kin ancestry gave strength to his arms. An inch at a time, he dragged it. Perhaps, if he had to move it further, he might have gotten the wheeled board from his cart and employed the tow-rope attached, but the beast only needed shifting until its teeth were pressed firmly against a nearby wall. One that his many years as a mining foreman told him was away from the cave system and comprised more of the hardstone that the creatures were more partial to.

That done, he wiped the sweat from his brow and moved to shift the digging beast’s boxy partner – though he had to swat it once or twice to get the flighty chirping thing to keep from probing at his clothes.

If the great worms were strange, then the mule sized square spiders that accompanied them were downright bizarre. Not least of all, because its body was quite literally square, and where the great worms went the boxy spiders followed, feeding on the wyrm’s… leavings as they did.

Chittering along on four short stubby legs, the chirping and whirring beast would use the two arms on its front to scoop up the ores left behind by its companion before shoving them into its great fiery maw that served as its mouth.

The stone was swept aside, clearly not to the spider’s taste.

That was not the strangest part of the spider though. That came next. For after no more than a few seconds, the spider would use its two rear arms to, much like a spider spinning a web, spew forth a square plate onto the floor.

A square plate that moved, it’s scaly skin constantly shifting in place so that any item placed upon it was quickly shifted off. The genius of the spider lay in how it placed these squares. Placed back to back, they formed long lines, sometimes going for miles, along which metal ores and stone would travel.

Like a great river.

It boggled the mind, and more than once had Hanying wondering where his lord hailed from, to command such strange otherworldly creatures? He also often wondered if the squares were part of the creature’s web, intend to transport prey to it, or were they somehow its young? Perhaps they were eggs? Strange flat square eggs.

He didn’t know, and his only erstwhile companion down in this strange underground world provided no answers.

…It was almost enough to drive a man to drink, to be stuck dealing with such strangeness day after day.

Still, the work wasn’t too hard and he was paid well for it to be done. And that was all that mattered really.

With that thought in mind, he clambered back onto his cart with a grin on his face, as the wyrm whirred once more to life, the idiot thing having realized food had had been placed in front of it once more. Though that grin quickly faded as Hanying realized he had left his earmuffs at home, and the shrieking sound of stone being fed on filled the enclosed space.

Well, at least the spider is happy, he thought, watching the thing’s arm twitch in anticipation of the feast to come.

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

Jack was sciencing cultivation.

Or at least, he was trying. Given that he was a man that used ‘science’ as a verb, it was not going terribly well.

“Are all of these things truly necessary?” Ren asked as she tugged awkwardly at one of the myriad sensors that were stuck to her. “Surely, the hands of a master would be able to sense any irregularities with far greater skill than these cold metal disks?”

He understood why she was uncomfortable, and it wasn’t because she was sitting in her underwear. Nor was it because she was covered in sensor dots. Nor was it the dozens of beeping and whirring machines strewn around the small room he’d set aside for this procedure. Nor was it the fact that said room hadn’t existed yesterday, or the castle it was contained in. Something that she still seemed mildly shocked by.

No, most of her discomfort seemed to be drawn from the fact that she’d somehow come to the conclusion that this was some kind of sex thing. Now, Jack knew he was partially to be blamed for that. He’d done more than a little staring after the blonde woman had disrobed.

Though, in his defense, it had been a good a few weeks since his last ‘tumble’ with An – he knew that because most of his bruises and scratches had healed – and the trader woman was supernaturaly beautiful.

So yes, he'd done a little staring. And while Ren had seemed quietly happy about that, jutting her chest out just a little, she also seemed to have come to the conclusion that it was the situation he’d found erotic, rather than her.

Something he couldn’t really blame her for either, given that he’d not exactly been showing much interest in her as a woman prior to this moment.

…Still, the fact that she was only mildly uncomfortable about all this oddness did bode well for his future plans, should things move in a more… intimate direction.

“You’d think so, but no.” He shook his head, answering her earlier question as he turned his attention away from Ren’s incredibly stunning body and back toward the far more important task of figuring out why he was still alive.

Because the Magistrate had been dead set on killing him.

Of course, the answer he was getting was the exact same answer he always got when he set his machinery to the task of figuring out ki.

And that answer was the the unknown energy was an unknown energy with unknown properties and that he should contact his nearest Company Supervisor.

That was it, and given that his nearest company supervisor was an entire dimension away, contacting them obviously wasn’t an option.

Not that I’d contact them even if I could, he thought as he irritably turned away from the nearest screen.

Defeated, he sighed, sitting back down into onto a stool.

“Still, you needn’t wear them any longer. They’ve done their job. You can take them off now, Ren.” He said. “Thanks for sitting still through that.”

The blonde woman cocked her head. “I, ah, that’s it?”

It was clear what she was hinting at, but Jack just wasn’t in the mood. Not when he’d only managed to catch a few hours sleep and his ‘solution’ to the Cultivator problem wasn’t quite ready yet.

“Yeah, you’re, uh, merchant’s soul is out of alignment with your warrior spirit.” He lied through his teeth. “You should read this and meditate on the knowledge contained with him.”

He handed her off one of the pseudo philosophical books he’d quickly printed off from his database.

Something called ‘The Prince’ by some old guy named Machiavelli. Given Jack knew of the word Machiavellian – one of his former supervisors had been fond of the word – he figured it might have some value to the woman.

Either way, it would probably be full of enough fluffy meaningless quotes that it would keep Ren from questioning his credentials. An had certainly seemed happy enough with her gift.

The dog-kin took the book gingerly, eyes darting between him and it. He had a feeling she wanted to say something, but after a few seconds she reeled the desire in.

Which was good, because he had no decent answers to give.

“My thanks, master.” She bowed. “I shall study hard to glean what wisdom I may from this profound text.”

Jack smiled. “I’m sure you will.”

The blonde took the dismissal for what it was, rapidly re-robing before gingerly stepping out of the room, casting the occasional backwards glance toward him as she did.

It was almost enough to make him feel bad for getting her hopes it like he did.

Well, she’s not the only one suffering here, he thought.

Damn his weak fleshy body!

He stood up to turn off the myriad different sensory devices he’d built for this little test, only to pause as he realized he was still getting an ‘unknown energy signature’ reading.

Had Ren accidentally left a sensor dot on her?

No, they’re all here, he thought as he counted the dots on the nearby tray. So where’s…

Picking up a larger device, he ran it over himself, only for the signal to remain unmoved. Whatever it was, it wasn’t coming from him. Which was mildly disappointing but not too surprising.

Waving the thing around like a metal detector, he grinned as the sensor reading got stronger when turned in a certain direction.

Soon enough, he found what was causing the signal – and while it was significantly weaker than Ren’s, it was still there.

His coat. The reading was coming from his coat.

Bring me my coat, he commanded the microbots that had formed an impromptu coat rack when he’d come in.

Instantly, the machines did as he commanded, and in moments Jack had his sensors pressed to the Spirit Beast fur.

Sure enough, the reading was strongest there – and matched with the ‘unknown’ signature he’d been picking up.

Well, I suppose that answers that, he thought as he swept the coat around his shoulders once more.

A little underwhelming he supposed, but not too surprising. Honestly he should have thought of it sooner. The coat was made from a spirit beast, so of course it was still carrying a little residual energy with it.

He’d have to thank An and Ren. By trying to improve his wardrobe and make him fit in, they’d unwittingly saved his life.

Smiling at his luck, he commanded his microbots to disassemble the machines, store the parts and rejoin him when they were done. Then he stepped out of the room, whistling a jaunty tune as he went.

Behind him, the glittering black mass of machines set about their task with what an uninformed man might have otherwise described as enthusiasm.

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

Jack was digging, which was not an unusual state of affairs for him, but it was his first time breaking ground in a new location. His current objective was to find nearby ore deposits as well as set up a new production facility under his new compound.

It would inevitably be a smaller and simpler system than he had in Jiangshi, but it would massively reduce his need to import things.

He was also humming happily as he worked. Despite the heat. Despite the noise. Despite the grime that stuck to every inch of his bare skin. He was glad to be working on something simple. Something he understood.

Adjusting his mask and rebreather, he sighed in satisfaction as he looked at the massive tunneler churning through dirt and rock in front of him, setting up supports as the truck sized mass of industrial power trundled onward.

Part of him was half tempted to build an underground train line all the way back to Jiangshi, but even he ultimately knew it wasn’t feasible. At least, not in anything close to a reasonable timeframe. And especially not when this tunneler would be needed elsewhere.

Perhaps once he had easy access to the materials to build another, rather than being forced to dig into his inventory storage stockpile, he’d consider it.

Not now though, he thought as he scratched at his bare chest, smearing the grime there.

He’d definitely be needing a shower after this. Perhaps he might even-

His thoughts cut off as he got an incoming message. Looking down at his tablet, he scowled, before wiping away the muck stuck to it so he could actually see the screen. The incoming call was from Lin. Sighing, he tapped the accept button. As he did, a mental command had all the machinery around him come to a halt, leaving only the sound of settling dust and dripping water in his underground kingdom.

“What?”

“Really? What?” Lin deadpanned.

He rolled his eyes. “Hello Lin. It’s great to hear from you. Now what do you want?”

The goat woman stared at him for a second before finally getting down to why she’d called. “You know how you said you wanted Ren to deny all invitations from the local sects for meetings?”

He did. He’d wanted to get set up first. And to his surprise, Ren had been in favor of the move. Apparently a period of seclusion would only build his mystique. So long as he didn’t let it drag overly long.

“Well, she’s at the gate right now receiving a messenger from a woman you really can’t afford to ignore?”

A shiver went down his spine. “The magistrate?”

Lin actually coughed in surprise.

“No!” Then she paused. “Though she’s not too far down from her.”

Jack wracked his brain for who that could be – and he’d been briefed extensively on the major players in the city by Ren on their arrival.

“…Sect Leader Shui? Of the Iron Hoof Clan?”

Lin nodded in satisfaction, clearly happy that he’d remembered.

“That’s right.”

“And the Magistrate’s biggest rival for control of the city?”

Lin’s smile only grew wider. “Just so.”

“…Joy.”

“Exactly.”

Jack looked down at himself. “I don’t suppose I can politely turn her down?”

“What do you think?”

…That would be a no then.

Well, it seemed he was about to be introduced to the second most powerful woman in Ten Huo. A move that would see him inevitably sucked deeper and deeper into the twisted web of schemes and powerplays that made up the city.