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Sexy Sect Babes: Chapter Thirty Two
🕑 Added 2023-10-27 10:48:06 +0000 UTCAs assassination attempts went, it couldn’t have been better timed.
He wasn’t wearing his suit and he’d dismissed his guards less than a minute ago, as he wanted to speak to An alone.
So he was completely alone as he stepped out onto the fortress’s rooftop, and his assailant descended from above.
Soundlessly.
Honestly, if he weren’t mentally pinging her location with his implants, he’d never have guessed that she’d just landed directly behind him.
“Sorry Lin, I’ll have to call you back,” he spoke into his comm-bead.
“Wait Jack! You still need to speak to Hua-” the goat-kin started to say before he cut the feed.
Sending her a mental apology, he very deliberately refrained from turning to speak to the woman behind him.
“If your fingers brush even the hilt of that mace of yours, you’ll be dead before it leaves its holster,” he said simply.
A few moments passed.
“Huh,” Shui eventually grunted. “How’d you sense me? That ‘tool’ of yours?”
There was no missing the disdain in her voice.
“Something like that,” he admitted. “Still, I’m surprised you could be so quiet. I didn’t hear a thing.”
As he turned to regard the woman, he saw her sag. “Yeah, that fact has surprised a few other people in the past too. No one expects the big lumbering pig-kin to be sneaky.”
He nodded. “Or a deft hand at politics.”
The woman regarded him, not unlike a lion sizing up a gazelle. “Well, it can be useful to have people think you’re a dumb thug. Hell, most of the sects back home think they have me dancing in their palm.”
Jack glanced up at the grey skies overhead. “Is that how you rallied the sects together under your banner? Made them each think that you were their puppet?”
“Got it in one.” The general’s smile was all teeth. “Opposite of what you did really. Me, I’m a lion pretending to be a mouse. You’re the mouse pretending to be a lion.”
He could see that she was still thinking about trying something.
“I don’t know about that,” he muttered quietly. “Personally, I prefer to think of myself as a spider. The venomous kind. Small like a mouse, but a lot more deadly in the right circumstances.” He cocked his head. “On an unrelated topic, I’m pretty sure I promised I’d kill you if you ever raised a hand against me again.”
He watched a small bead of sweat form on the pig-kin’s brow.
“So Shui, as the spider to the lion, are you raising a hand against me?”
Seconds passed. Boring seconds in Jack’s mind.
He wasn’t here for this. He had far more important things in mind.
Eventually though, Shui shook her head, irritation writ plain across her face. “Do you have any idea how confusing you are? You are quite literally beyond my comprehension. A goddess claimed you weren’t a cultivator and you didn’t argue. But you… can do cultivator shit.”
He shrugged. “I could be a magister.”
“But you aren’t, are you?”
“No, I’m not.”
The woman sighed. “You know, it’d be a lot easier for you if you lied.”
He drummed his fingers idly against his thigh. “I’m tired of lying. And I’m strong enough that I no longer need the deception.”
“I want to argue that, but I can’t.” The pig-kin sagged, though her hand remained far from her weapon. “Whatever, I suppose it makes no difference. Mortal. Magister. Something else. Whatever you are, you managed to make two goddesses back down – while doing some other shit to the third. Shit I don’t even want to think about right now because that whole… notion pisses me off.”
Yeah, there were a lot of rumours flying around about the Empire’s divine ancestors and brands. To the point where the two Imperial divinities probably wouldn’t have said what they said if they were familiar with the notion of electronic video and live feeds.
And now he was the one who had to deal with that problem. It was going to be a major pain to keep those rumours from spreading beyond the province.
Problem for later, he repeated in his mind.
“Whatever,” the Pig-kin eventually muttered. “I don’t know what you are. I don’t care at this point. This? This was just to confirm something in my mind.”
Jack didn’t know if he believed that.
Ultimately it didn’t matter. Nothing had come of it.
And he still had a use for Shui.
“Good, because you’ll be heading back to the city to stress that point to any of your more rebellious friends while I fix a few more things up here,” he said.
It was amusing, just how surprised the woman looked. “Some might argue that would be a foolish move on your part. Not that I’m thinking of it, but you’d be setting me up perfectly to launch a coup.”
“It would be a short lived second attempt,” he pointed out. “Much shorter than the first. You know, the one where I destroyed an entire sect. And an entire contingent of elite Imperial cavalry. Simultaneously. To make a point.”
The pig-kin paled a bit at that reminder.
“Rest assured, I’d be worried if I didn’t have the means to murder you from halfway across the province with an errant thought. But I do. So you’ll either serve me by telling your peers why it would be a bad idea to cross me. Or you’ll cross me and then serve as an abject lesson to your peers in why it would be a bad idea to cross me because I’m not what you thought me to be.”
Lightning crackled from his right hand as the woman scratched at an invisible scar on her neck.
“Make no mistake,” he intoned. “My ability to crush you like a bug underfoot has not changed.”
The woman shuddered, before taking a half-step back. “Alright boss. You won’t get any trouble from me.”
“For your sake, better hope that’s true.” He muttered. “Now get the fuck out of here.”
The Pig-kin practically sprinted away, though not before Jack’s sensors picked up a final muttered, “Empress above, why the fuck was that hot!?”
It was all he could do not to laugh, even as he shook his head.
Cultivators.
Sighing, he mentally calmed down his microbots – who were still practically begging to tear off after the pig-kin.
Honestly, they probably weren’t wrong to want to do so. He probably should have killed her for that little display. Unfortunately, he also needed her. Ignoring Yating who was too flighty to be reliable, Shui was literally his most powerful combatant.
Sure, she’d lost to Shi, but prior to that the fight had been even. And while An had beaten Shi, that was more a matter of planning and chance than objective power.
Shi took Shui off guard.
An took Shi off guard.
None of that changed the fact that nine times out of ten Shui would mop the floor with An.
Maybe seven out of ten, he supposed as he made his way up to the tower An was supposed to be sitting on.
Entering the belltower, he realized that she was actually on the roof of the structure. A roof that was not easily accessible to him without his suit and its accompanying thrusters.
“Alright,” he muttered.
…Still, he’d scaled plenty of walls in his time, and though it took him a minute or two, it wasn’t long before he was heaving himself onto the tiled rooftop.
“You struggled with that, didn’t you?”
The words were casual, and as he looked up, he saw her sitting there. She wasn’t looking at him, her gaze was off to the horizon, her black hair catching the breeze as he ears twitched occasionally in the wind.
An.
His first ally in this world. And the one he’d been lying to the longest.
“I did,” he admitted.
She inclined her head, glancing at him. “You’d not have allowed me to see that before. You’d have used your suit, or that… beast of yours.”
He felt his microbots stir at their name, but he quieted them with a mental whisper.
“Yep.”
“Is it a beast?” she asked. “Or just another tool. Like the crawlers – and I suppose everything else.”
He pondered the question earnestly for a moment. “It’s… actually complicated. I don’t really know at this point.”
“Hmmmm.” It was clear, she wasn’t really interested in the answer. Perhaps she’d just been thinking aloud?
He allowed the silence to stretch, let the woman process her thoughts as he settled quietly in place.
When she did speak again, there was an undercurrent of genuine anger in her voice, but it was controlled.
“You lied to me.”
“Aye, I did.”
She laughed mirthlessly. “I guess I know now why we never sparred. Or meditated. Or practiced any kind of technique. Honestly, I thought you were just a really hands off teacher. One of those old sages from the legends whose lessons only made sense in hindsight.”
Jack nodded. “If I didn’t lie, if I’d told you the truth on that first day, that I wasn’t a cultivator, you’d have tried to kill me. To take my suit from me.”
To her credit, An didn’t refute his point. “I suppose I would. A mortal with some manner of mystic tool? I wouldn’t even have thought twice.” She glanced down, regarding her calloused hands. “It’s funny. That seems wrong to me now. I’ve changed a lot since then.”
She glanced up at him, eyes flashing in the dimming light. “Do you know I nearly killed Xin Hi for the audacity of asking me to help find one of his missing hunters? A mere day before we met.”
Jack struggled to remember who she was talking about, before clarity struck.
“The headman of Jiangshi?”
Xin Hi had been the original headman of Jiangshi back when it was a village. He likely still was, in some capacity or another.
Truth be told, the running of Jiangshi proper had become more An’s business than his since he’d moved to Ten Huo.
“Just so,” the tiger-kin chuckled quietly. “Back then, I was a fairly naïve young woman who’d just ventured forth from her Sect to go join the war in the North. I was in search of wealth, glory and perhaps a man. I also had certain ideas on how a cultivator was supposed to act. Correct ideas, I realize now. Yet the thought of acting that way now is… abhorrent to me.”
She regarded him again.
“I suppose I have you to thank for that. As my ‘master’.” There was some irritation there, but it was also tinged with fondness. “You changed me. For the better. Whether you intended to or not.”
He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Speaking truthfully, it was definitely unintentional. I’d say you changed yourself.”
An turned her gaze back to the horizon, with a small smile. “Agree to disagree.”
A few more moments passed before she spoke again.
“I’m furious, you realize.”
Jack breathed. “I’d be surprised if you weren’t.”
“I’m also angry that I’m less angry than I should be. You deceived me. Took… certain privileges with me based on that deception.”
If he were a more foolish man, he might have argued that he hadn’t exactly been the aggressive party there. No, that was just deflecting the blame. He’d played his part.
If he’d been a better man, he’d have found some excuse to decline.
Though, honestly speaking, if he were a better man though, he’d probably also be dead. Murdered by An when they met for speaking the truth - or enslaved by any number of people that he’d met since.
“That wasn’t totally a lie. Apparently, my genes are still valuable.”
“Ren told me,” An said, tapping her ear, where he now realized an earpiece sat.
“Of course she did,” he murmured.
It was strange to think of the two of them sharing info. They’d been hardbitten rivals for a long time. Though he supposed that was now water under the bridge in the face of the Huang and Lin alliance.
“Though for me to cash in on that value,” An continued. “You’d need to cease whatever prophylactic measures you have in place.”
He winced. “Figured that out, did you?”
“We’ve been together often enough that it’s noteworthy that none of us have gotten with child.”
He nodded. He could do that. Unlike certain other protections, he knew a few tricks to get around the DRM on his genes from his time as part of a gang that had no issue with bio-robbery.
Though they’d called themselves freedom fighters resisting corporate oppression. At the time, Jack hadn’t seen that much of a difference.
Now… he couldn’t help but think he might have seen things differently.
“I’d have thought you’d have some countermeasures of your own,” he murmured. “A war’s hardly the time for raising a kid.”
An stared at him for a few moments before looking away.
“Not a cultivator,” she muttered under her breath, before speaking to him. “It’s neverthe wrong time to secure one’s lineage.”
Well, if that was how she felt then that was that.
Though it begged the question…
“Would that be a factor for us going forward?”
Was she… going to stay?
“It might,” she muttered. “One day.”
Jack’s heart, which had been in the process of soaring, stalled.
“I don’t hate you,” she continued. “I’m angry and I’m hurt, but your reasons are not beyond understanding. At least to the me of today.”
Jack nodded slowly, trying to be adult about this. “So… what now?”
An gripped her glaive. “Now, I’m going on a journey.”
“A journey?” Of all the things he’d expected her to say, that hadn’t been one of them.
She nodded decisively. “The war here is over. The Empire is in retreat and the Instinctive Horde will not easily enter our lands again. Going forward, the ruling of this province will be more a battle of politics and logistics than steel and armies.”
She glanced at her weapon. “And that is not my battlefield. Not in truth. So, I’m… leaving, to see more of the world. I need to learn. To grow. I can’t just be the same wide eyed girl that you so easily tricked.”
Jack resisted the urge to point out that he’d fooled people much more worldly than her. Because he knew that wasn’t what this was about.
An’s whole worldview had been shaken by the truth of his origins.
She wanted to reform it. On her own terms.
And that meant getting away from him.
Unfortunately, there was nowhere for her to do that on this continent that wasn’t suicide.
So, she was leaving.
“I’ll be accompanying our prisoner across the ocean. To Elwin’s homeland. The elf described something called a manticore to me. I would very much like to slay one.”
He wanted to tell her no. To beg her to stay. To tell her he’d be… lost without her.
“I wish you luck.”
…Was what left his mouth instead.
The pang in his heart was almost worth the momentary look of naked incomprehension he received in return.
“You’re not going to stop me?”
He shrugged. “You say you need this. I’ve no right to stand in your way.”
Well, technically he could. She was an officer in the army of Ten Huo and he was technically her commander - but he was willing to ignore that.
“Besides, if you love something, let it go. If it loves you back, it will return to you in time.”
Absently, he realized it was the first time he’d ever said he loved her. And he did, he realized. She was quiet. Intent. Adaptable. Smart. Had a dry sense of humor. Honorable. Kind. Ferocious both in bed and in a fight.
She was pretty much his ideal woman.
…Which definitely made it even worse that he’d been lying to her. He didn’t regret doing so. Only the necessity of it.
“Is that a saying from that world of yours?”
Surprised, he nodded. “Aye.”
She laughed. “I thought so. It wasn’t something a cultivator would ever say. The essence of cultivation is inherently about seizing your future at any cost. It’s an inherently selfish discipline.”
He scoffed. He was hardly some paragon of charity. He was a greedy warlord who’d conquered this province through blood, fire and deception.
Why did no one seem to get that!?
Her hand slid over to grip his. “I don’t hate it. I’ve met a few male cultivators since we arrived in this province. Few impressed me.”
She cocked her head as she gazed into his eyes. “I find it strange that I never saw how different you were before. Really, you didn’t even try to hide it.”
He did. He definitely did.
The two stayed like that for a time, just enjoying each other’s company. Likely for the last time for a very long time.
It was only when the sun began to set that Jack spoke again.
“Do what you need to do An. I’ll still be here waiting for you when you return.”
He felt it a second later. A small peck on his cheek. Barely even a kiss really.
But his nerves burned with the phantom sensation of it, even as he looked over to see that An was gone.
She’ll probably make her way back to Ten Huo tonight, he thought.
She wasn’t the sort to hang around once she decided on something.
He remained there for another few minutes, as the sun set.
Then he stood up and slapped his cheeks.
“Alright, that’s enough moping.”
He turned, his gaze running over the many lights of Fortress Town Five.
“I’ve got an Empire to run.”
Comments
Oreo-belt25
Sexy Sect Babes Chapter Eighty Nine Ten Hou was alive with energy. Prosperity and wonder nearly radiated from its market streets as citizens bobbed and weaved around exotic constructs while merchants peddled wares never seen before. And so Huang found herself walking down one such busy road, populated with an eclectic mix of classic wooden Imperial architecture and the new additions indicative of Johenson’s touch. Such as the veritable river of goods and products traveling on the moving “conveyor belt” tracks suspended just above the heads of the people below. Huang knew the machine, somehow both ugly and beautiful at the same time - just like all things Jack - was part of a larger network that transported goods and products tirelessly between the Johenson Fortress and the market or industrial centers of the city. The smiles on the faces of the mortals everywhere as they went about their business in the crowded city brought Huang, if not joy, then at least a sense of novelty and hope. Indeed, though it stung her to admit it, Jack was a far better magistrate than she ever was. Not that she was a bad magistrate, no, compared to her siblings she thought herself a fairly wise and pragmatic ruler. She always sought to balance the powers in the city and not neglect any groups, not even the mortals, for the sake of order and prosperity as a whole. And yet Jack was not just balancing the powers, he was dominating them and bringing untold wealth and flourishing to Ten Hou. He had introduced something called the Napoleonic code, handing out books and reading lessons freely to the masses! He had ‘invested’ as he called it, into a dozen mortal and cultivator businesses around the city, and crime was lower than she had ever seen in her lifetime. Conventional wisdom would label such largesse as wasteful and impractical. Once upon a time Huang wouldn’t have questioned such a conclusion, but time and experience had a way of changing minds. Oh, it had not been easy. Learning that Jack was mortal had shattered her entire world view. Or perhaps he had managed to shatter her world view long before even that. Maybe it was Lin’s influence, her time spent with the charming goat girl infecting her, but Huang couldn’t help but understand the optimism of the mortals around her. Though it would surely have been heresy in her past life, the walls in her mind maintaining the distinction between cultivator and mortal had been thoroughly eroded. Lin was as clever and eccentric as any cultivator noblewoman, the militia was as dedicated and eager as any Sect initiate, and Jack himself was as awe inspiring and formidable as any Sect Master. And so it was that Huang walked amongst the mortals with a smile on her face, an alien mindset and the two revolvers on her waist. Soon, she came upon her destination. Another telltale sign of the hand of Johenson, a mechants’ kiosk stood out slightly amongst the rest of the handcrafted wooden stalls. The contiguous lines and joints made out of fibreglass, plastic and aluminum - though painted brown so as to not draw undue attention - was clearly not just of a different quality, but of a different nature altogether from the surrounding buildings. Manning the stall was a tiger woman hawking their wares. “Canned goods! Jack Johenson brand canned goods! Fresh from the Hydroponics farm themselves!” Huang smirked as she inspected one of the cans. Painted with a paper label depicting a cartoonish and stylized drawing of Jack’s face, it was a symbol everyone in the Ten Hou province was very familiar with at this point. It was slapped on everything Jack made, from soap bars, to knives, to even the Sky blocks themselves. Hell, a subtle carving of the logo could be found on the butts of the rifle’s stocks if one knew where to look. Jack called it ‘building a brand image’, something apparently important from the world he came from. A world where everyone was mortal… and yet where people were far more varied and powerful than cultivators. At this point, Jack had told a few stories about the dimension he came from. Not alot, but enough to get a glimpse into such a reality. The things he spoke about were incredible and exotic, and Huang found herself wanting to experience it rather desperately. Which is perhaps why the transformation of Ten Hou under Jacks’ rule had affected her so much. She was seeing a new reality, a new way of living different from the Empire she had only known all her life, a better way even. Jack had created a system where he manufactured goods en masse, and then sold them to merchants who then distributed them to the population. The merchants would pay him a ‘franchising fee’ for the privilege and had to obey certain rules and limitations. The rules Jack set could be downright petty sometimes, but Jack’s goods had already developed a strong reputation for being affordable and high quality, no merchant would give up the opportunity to sell them as a franchisee was a highly coveted spot. The artisans and craftsmen bought his tools and materials, such as rubber, the people sought toiletries and sundries, the couriers enjoyed wagons equipped with “suspension” and all around the economy of the province was booming. And so, she addressed one such merchant she came to meet. “Mrs. Jiahao” The tiger kin startled as she turned to attention. “Magistrat- err… Huang? Lady?” The tiger kin addressed her with not fear nor particular respect, but with confusion more than anything else. She would not have tolerated that back when she was a cultivator. But then again back when she was a cultivator she would not have been strolling around the city streets running an errand. Sure, she could have sent any member of the militia to fetch this merchant, but experiencing the city as a citizen was novel and something she found she enjoyed. And so, Huang felt little more than amusement as the young woman tried to figure out how to treat the ex magistrate. “Our lord wants to meet with you and the other members of your guild. Please, go get them and then arrive at Johenson’s fortress post haste” “O- uh, ok! Ma’am!” And with that, merchant left her stall and ran off into the crowd. --------------------- In another part of the city, a darker part, laid a dockside tavern. Though the city as a whole was much nicer than it used to be, the sailor’s watering hole was still dreary and low brow, which severely irked the cultivators inside. Around the table of a private room, sat a small group of women conspiring in hushed tones. Two Sect Masters and a couple Sect elders, all powerful and wealthy women in their own right. And yet the danger they faced was great enough that they had to resort to skullduggery lest they get caught. They couldn’t hold this meeting at their Sect bases. Shun Ji didn’t know how, but she was sure Johenson had spies in every corner of their private domiciles. She was the Sect Master of the Bronze Feather but she still remembered clearly how a fellow Sect Master’s head exploded without warning the last time they tried to meet in private. It had taken alot of resources and favors to arrange this meeting, but with luck it would prove to be a turning point against the mortal who had taken over their city. Shun Ji couldn’t let that stand, and though these last months had thoroughly erased everything she thought she knew, she was nothing if not adaptable. To think! The divine ancestors were enslaved? That the Rooster would rebel?! Not to mention everything Jack Johenson’s existence implied. What else did she not know or understand? It was enough to make her question the longevity of the Empire itself. Which was part of why she was doing this. She never really held much loyalty to the Empire, she knew she was destined to rule and her elevation to Sect Master - after fighting and beating dozens of other cultivators - only reinforced that in her mind. If a mortal was able to become a warlord over a province, then so could she! And she didn’t care who had to die or what she had to do in order to achieve that. “What about the divine Rooster?” One of the other conspirators asked “Nobody’s seen her in weeks. Supposedly, she’s free to leave the Empire now. I doubt she’s still in this city” “Even without Yating, what do we do about Johenson?” “Ha! He said it himself, in one of those 'broadcasts', he’s mortal! Once we remove his pawns, he will be easy to deal with.” “And how do you plan to do that? Even if he hadn’t stolen our mortal forces out from under us, his militia has proven to be more formidable than even we expected.” “New tools… every. Fucking. Time. Everything we’ve tried to sabotage or cripple them, is always foiled by some new unforeseen trick he gives them.” “Your allies, have they made it?” With that, everyone turned to the woman in the room Shun had addressed, an instinctive cultivator. It went to show just how new and different the situation they found themselves in that they were willing to hear out the woman. It helped that they had little to fear from the woman herself. She was apparently a straggler from the great horde, barely equivalent to a Sect initiate, they could erase her from this world as easily as turning over a hand. But it was the contacts she had that made her useful. Shun Ji had learned much about the world outside the Empire since she turned away from the Imperial message. Accepting that the Empire was not the whole world was something most of Ten Hou’s cultivators have still not been able to do, even though the province was independent now. That level of brainwashing wasn’t something one could easily give up, which is what set Shun Ji apart from the rest. Philosophy, loyalty, culture, she didn’t care much at all for any of it. She wanted power. “They have already taken Liaocheng.” The tribeswoman spoke. “You lie! They could not have made it there that fast!” a Sect elder spoke. Liaocheng was the neighboring city to Ten Hou, sitting on the coast to the great Sea. Word had it that Liaocheng already long fell to the Instinctive hordes, erased from the map and forgotten by both the Imperials and Instinctives. With that said, these allies of the Instinctive weren’t supposed to be instinctive themselves. Supposedly they were a mercenary company from lands over the walls, they could not have made that journey that quickly. “They came by Sea” The instinctive answered. “Everyone knows traversing the Sea with any reliability is impossible. There are easier ways to commit suicide.” “Stupid Imperial. Not everyone is as limited as your isolationist state. Things are happening outside of your little peninsula. Recent Developments in the West have meant the Sea is no longer beyond our reach” That was bad… or was it good? Now that Shun Ji had thoroughly decided to make her own way without the Empire, whatever weakens it could be a good thing. Nevertheless, if the Sea can be traversed, that means the great wall is no longer the all powerful blockade it had been for thousands of years. Yet another thing that proved that times were changing and the Empire would be left behind. Assuming this woman spoke the truth of course, but after witnessing what Jack had brought, she understood just how game changing new tools or inventions could be. “They will use what remains of Lioachang as a base, whilst an envoy will be sailing down the river to Ten Hou lake.” “What could they possibly develop to find their way across a formless expanse of water?” “It’s called a sexton.” A hand slammed a object down onto the table, startling the participants. A woman who few had noticed had arrived behind them and if Shun Ji was understanding correctly, this woman was supposed to be human. “That combined with the ol’ lateen sails made sailing across the pond a breeze.” “You are the envoy?” Shun asked. “Aye, name’s Rodreiga, of the Overwhelming Fire merc company.” “I assume you got our letters?” “Yeah. This Jack Johenson sounds interesting… But it shouldn’t be a problem for my ladies, assuming you can open a few doors for us.” “Don't underestimate the Jiangshi militia. We’ve lost alot of good women from that.” “Yeah, yeah. I know. But I assure you, when it comes to destruction from afar, nobody can outblast the OF. And I admit to being curious about fighting alongside so called 'cultivators', if you can do as well in melee as you claim, then we’ll be able to overthrow that campesino in no time.” Indeed, Jack Johenson had proven just how effective novelty and ranged tactics were. So their plan was to embrace novelty and range of their own. These foreigners were supposed to excel at ranged warfare, combined with the cultivators they could supply, they could overthrow the stubborn male. “But, let no one claim I don’t do my due diligence. It will be a few weeks until my people will be set up in that old ruin, so why don’t you fill me in about our new enemy. After all, What is not seen with our eyes, can definitely still harm our heart…” -------- -Author’s note: After reading and rereading Sexy Sect Babes a dozen times over, I got impatient and so I’ve decided to write my fan fiction interpretation of what the start of Book four could be like. @Bluefishcake, if you’re reading this, please feel free to take inspiration from, or outright steal this chapter or rework it into whatever you want. I worked hard on it, and it would be a great honor to have this become canon or canon-adjacent.I tried really hard to create a first chapter that would tee up some interesting story lines and arcs, whilst still staying within the template of the series. Which I’ll elaborate on a bit here: Liaocheng was mentioned in chapter 4 by An before Ten Hou was introduced. So I thought it would be cool to make it the neighboring city. As well as that, the geography in this series has been a little inconsistent. There are supposedly more things to the West, but at the same time Ten Hou is mentioned to be a harbor city. So I thought hey, why not make Liaocheng an Ocean harbor, whilst connecting it Ten Hou via inland lakes. This also allows for an unpredicted enemy and a genuine threat. See, Jack has fortified the hell out of the surrounding mountains. But what if he’s neglected the water? The Empire has made the mistake of assuming they know their enemy, and Jack ahs exploited what the Empire neglected. So what if these new mercs exploit what Jack might’ve left neglected because he assumed he knew what enemies he would face. It also tees up some interesting new settings for battles. Now, the pattern of the series so far has been Jack meets a new enemy → Jack grows → Jack defeats enemy in a major scale confrontation. But since we’ve already seen him clash with sects, the horde and the imperials, I thought it would be cool to have him clash with a foreign force, while having the arc and plot surround “foreigners”. See, since the Empire has already been elaborated on, it would be cool if the arc going forward focused on elaborating on what’s outside of the Empire, while at the same time necessitating the collapse of cultural assumptions and Imperial Truths for the citizens. I.e; make the growth focus around a cultural battle between Jack’s ways and foreign ways in the cultural vacuum the Empire left.(What I tried to show with Huang and Shun Ji) If the citizens of Ten Hou’s way of life is completely changing, in what direction will it change now that they’re leaving the Empire’s influence? I’ve also found a trend in the story that the Nations of this world and their magic systems are vague mirrors of real world cultures. The elves are French/English. The Empire is Asian. So I made the mercenaries Spanish, i.e; Europe adjacent. So far Jack has been fighting melee focused, isolationists who haven’t developed tech and who are hidebound. So what happens when he clashes with 15th century ish magical Europe who are just starting their Imperial expansion? Just like how in real life Japan and China were isolationist until technology allowed Europe to come knocking on their door! Basically, the theme of the arc can be this: Jack has opened the gates for "New" in the Empire, but can he hold dominance at the top of said "New" Also, I’m kinda picturing Jack’s brand being similar to MANN Co from TF2 or Aperture from portal - ridiculous, manly, arrogant with a hint of capitalist dystopia. Since, ya'know, he literally comes from a Capitalist Dystopia.
Nick
Any rough eta on when ebooks will be available? Spouse is waiting to read Sect on an easier format. Thanks!
Groinfist
Kill one man and you are a murderer. Kill millions and you're a conqueror. Kill them all and you are a god.
Oreo-belt25
Planet Cracker (Because he metaphorically turned people's entire worldviews on their heads while literally cracking planets as a miner)
Blue Fishcake
Sure. Currently editing for books, but I’ll pump out something at some point.
Harrison F
Will we have a mini chapter epilogue?
Harrison F
Could go the modern anime title route: Like “The time a space mining corporation stranded me in an alternate dimension”
MarakEvans
@Maxx Canary's Web
MarakEvans
Between Worlds To Tunneled Dimensions Path of Metal? Way of the Metal Canary? Metal Canary Lost Lost in another world of Cultivators, but I'm the only one with Space Technology
Arkyrion
"One World's Trash"
Dankenobi1
Assuming we get 2 or so books of the next story I doubt BFC would go back to sect, most likely finish up writing space babes, so I'd say at the very least there's gonna be at least 3 books which is at least a year before I can see coming back to sect, (bear in mind this is me assuming, for all I now he may write one chapter of the next book then drop it)
Dankenobi1
He usually does on the official release, such as how sext space babes is officially called "worlds between" if I remember right
Maxx [REDACTED]
Needs work. titles can be derived from the name of a central character or a significant location within the story. using quotes or lines from the story in combination with that can be nice looking. But of course it’s your story you can call it whatever you want.
Blue Fishcake
Science and Sects? Swords and Science? Mining and Magic?
Maxx [REDACTED]
Im pretty confident that jack says something in an earlier chapter eluding to his gene mods extending his life span considerably. This basically answers your question
Maxx [REDACTED]
Bravo Blue! Amazing way to wrap it up! I liked this one more than Between Worlds for sure. Enjoy your vacation. And I hope your physical health is doing well. Or getting better at least. (Btw have you put any thought into giving this story a formal name that isn’t SSB? You’d be doing yourself an injustice if you didn’t)
charles Haddow
Blue, how much restraint did it take to not even give us a hint of a jackXrooster pancakes match?
bubba
Dont tempt fishcakes! With our luck it would be Jack's female supervisor that shows up trying to fine him for wasting company resources!
Lurkemancer
Okay, time for the speculation debats... What the others know about Jack's lifespan is that it's unknown. He's an extradimensional human who has explicitly shown to a few of them that he can turn you from a crippled husk into a spry and healthy lad. Top that off with how the world's original humans could have a lifespan that could have been far longer than ours as well, which might lead to assumptions about Jack. Also, Yating does seem to value his relationship with Jack. That alone is a great reason to not burn the bridges with him. But to go further on that topic, Yating might be able to steamroll Jack in the moment, but how long would Jack just stay vulnerable for him to do with as he pleases? Jack, to Yating is a complete, extradimensional enigma. He can barely comprehend that Jack is alive with all his senses. So how much more can he speculate? Simply, burning that bridge is just not a worthy risk for Yating to take. On top of that, Yating doesn't know how the whole dispelling works. In fact, the only person who might properly know is BFC. And even he might not have fully committed to how it works behind the scenes. Hell, he might have kept it deliberately vague to keep speculators speculating so that later on he could commit to one that he likes the most. It's possible that Jack simply thinking that magic is BS while thinking about the seal would have been enough to dispel it, but the only thing he discovered through his research is that the current ritual he used there stopped magic things from being magic. Or he could be aware that he can dispel magic more easily, but is simply keeping that as his final Ace, should he get the misfortune of every divinity trying to tear him to pieces. Or keeping it a secret for more plausible deniability. Alternatively, it could just be nanomachines, sonny. So in regards to that, no. Yating can (like you) speculate that it's Jack's blood. But he can't exactly conclude that in full confidence. And that's assuming that Yating was coherent during that part and not in his own little world of "ouch".
Found&Lost
I remember a chapter saying that his lifespan would be about 200 years. So he's likely got a century and a half left. Additionally, while he's outed as a non-divinity, non-cultivator, he's clearly not a normal mortal. So he's likely to fall into a pseudo mortal category for most.
mhaj58
I know that there should be an epilogue for the other goddesses, the empress, Huang, and whoever knows Jack from his old life. Surely someone is missing him.
MarakEvans
Precisely why Yating was bound by the agreement to never set foot in the Empire's borders. Doesn't stop the others from getting curious as to why only the Laughing Rooster gets to officially pass on joining the front.
MarakEvans
Genemod lifespan
Wayan tunggal
Scammed smh :(
Baron Von Mott
I still find it hilarious that Jack isn't putting two and two togther about why nobody has issues with him being a "warlord". He may be running a dictatorship here, but with all the tech he's introducing, and his more meritocractic style of governance, life under him must still be a hundred times better than the Empire's traditional lineage-based feudalism. As others have said, this is a bittersweet moment, but a good place to leave the story for now. And though I know it'll probably be months at least before Blue returns to this project, I'll be waiting eagerly for more through every second!
Folly Industries
If we come back to this in the future, I'd love to see at least some vignettes from An's perspective. Between her and the bullkin, I think there's a lot of interesting interactions there. With the philosophical effects of Jack on a world-built different. Plus whatever in back they have on the feudal European locals and their magical bullshit
Andrew
Thank you!
Skonnchy
Yaro :'(
Harrison F
1 MoAR :P
Lurkemancer
Not only is the whole thing with Huang too spicy to just not add, I think Gao's operation would also be something worth taking care of before things end for at least 18 months, if not 36.
Orion Dye
Firstly, it doesnt matter how long Jack will actually live. Non of the cultivators know anything about him beyond “he’s a mortal” which means in their eyes he’s only going to live another 30-40 years at best. So their treatment of him and plans should reflect that apparent fact, not the unknown reality . Secondly what does it matter if Yating does piss jack off? What is jack going to do about it? Yating could literally show up on the middle of the night with a dagger and cut jack, take some of his blood, and fuck off for 10 years only to show up and do it all over again. Jack has nothing that can stop Yating so why shouldn’t yating do it? Guilt? Compared to 1000s of years of slavery, what exactly is a little guilt worth? Nothing. As for how Jaco did it exactly? Yating doesn’t need to be an expert, he knows or should know if he was halfway competent that jacks blood is what broke his seal. So why wouldn’t jacks blood do the same to another seal? Thats all yating needs to know.
Lurkemancer
First, it's not known how long exactly Jack has to live. We're talking about future tech with casual access to rejuvenation technologies, so it's also entirely possible that he has a much longer lifespan than what a modern person would consider normal. EDIT - Second, Jack's ability is likely beyond Yating's understanding. He's a quite literal anti-magic entity. Yating, someone whose entire life revolves around the idea of being magical, might not be able to grasp how exactly it works. Meaning that just splattering Jack's dried up blood might not work and Yating would likely not want to risk pissing Jack off. That and Yating might also want to not make an ass of himself with the whole slavery through power thing. Not after his own esposed (and realized) values.
Oni Daddy
Bittersweet
Dankenobi1
no point assuming we dont know if there is or isn't a reason yet, for all we know he might have to be alive or something
Dankenobi1
my thoughts too, although who says his implants dont extend his life span a little, maybe hes likely to live to 150 or something of the like we just dont know at this point
Orion Dye
Not to mention why is the laughing god bothering to get jacks permission to do what s/he wants. If all s/he needs is jacks blood, then s/he can just take some and go find one of his/her cohorts. Jack would not be able to stop him/her.
Orion Dye
The chapters have good feel. But there are a few logistical problems. Firstly, i have no problem with how each character reacted regarding the truth with the exception to conceiving children. Jack is a mortal, not a divinity. Which means he will live a mortal lifespan, 30-40 more years at most. So exactly how long is the magister able to wait to bring him back to her country? Is he even going to be alive when the cat-girl returns? Traveling is a slow process when the technology is so antiquated, she likely wont return for at least a decade or more and thats just to get to the magister homeland. To travel the world, she wont return in his lifetime. Not to mention a mortal with fancy tools is now a whole lot easier to kill, so his life could end a lot sooner than that. If those people want their anti-cultivator bloodline, they need to get to baby making like now. So ya i find the lack of these considerations in the past two chapters kinda immersion breaking.
Eastman
I am so sad I won’t be getting any more of this for the foreseeable future I think anti depressant might be needed lol
Torphin
Ah, yes. These last two chapters have touched upon one of the profound truths of life. Namely... that dogs make for better companions than cats! On one side, you have Ren. Flawlessly negotiating a contract between empires while already considering what ability her and Jack's kids might have. On the other side, you have An--leaving Jack at his most emotionally vulnerable to go on a journey of "introspection" and "growth". Feh. Truly, a difference greater than heaven and earth!
MarakEvans
Or change "A mere day before we met" To "Mere days before we met"
Dankenobi1
as good of a conclusion this is to the story i cant help but feel sad that its gonna be a while till we get any more, at least in terms of grand narrative, regardless im still very much looking forward to it
gtuttle00
Well I'm sure there's Mayne enough left to get us to 35 and end it either way this has been interesting ti see how little and much his lies have an impact in his daily and personal lives
MarakEvans
Continuity Edit: Or An was considering killing the ox mayor 6 days into the corrupted wildlife bullshit. You know, then making a run for it. Edit2: Or Mayor Xin made a poorly timed suggestion to search for a hunter that went missing 6 days after An searched for the first time.
Arkyrion
I thought An was hired by Jiangshi a week before meeting Jack, not a day.
Indexo's Vault
Nuuuuuu! This can’t be the end!! There’s sill people that need to get their licks in on Jack! (And I still didn’t get my kiss scene for Jack and Yating!! Lmao)
MarakEvans
Me thinks same
MarakEvans
Sexy Spy Babes Sexy Super Babes Sexy Sniper Babes Sexy Speeder Babes Sexy Secret Babes?(Traps and Crossdressing Tomboys?) Sexy Sea Babes Err I think Steampunk might be enough for now.
Blue Fishcake
I was actually thinking about a mini-chapter regarding that. I was already pushing things to get this double chapter out though :D
SmallTownBo
Is this the epilogue? Its a great ending to the book if it is, but usually you name your epilogues. Plus, I want to see the talk between Lin, Huang, and Jack. How will Huang take it, especially knowing Lin knew? Will that make her more excited, as it shows that she might still have room to gain power, even as a mortal? Great chapters Blue, hope you're feeling better!
MarakEvans
Hoping for a mini chapter but this is good too.
MarakEvans
Roulette
MarakEvans
No... Uhg... Yaro : (
Reverb
Good ending, but I feel that Yating, Lin and Huang should have had some screentime. Also this is the second time s catgirl LI has ditched the MC in Blue's stories.
Phlojem
I'm guessing this was the epilogue. Sad to see this series end, for now anyway. But I'm excited for whatever comes next in Sexy Steampunk Babes and how you'll have basically every powerful character other than the MC be a strong, powerful woman
John
no femboy sex? wtf
MarakEvans
Noooooo! This can't be it! Huang needs to give our Boi a good slap! And Lin... is...? Holding her back??? Lin is playing a flight sim.
Arkyrion
Glorious.
Sullivan Imbert
a beautiful story, well I suppose that the end of this book, a little sting in the heart .... I will wait impatiently for the next book now it's time to enjoy a new universe I guess. can't wait to see what sexy stempunk babes will give
Ben Maxwell
The greatest stories are the ones that leave you sitting there afterwards, thinking and lost in your own imagination. An amazing chapter as always.
sir_drop_kick
Damn that ending hurt but it's a good hurt
kaalveiten
Awwwwww. That was a good scene.
Third Ailing Primate
Sheeeeeeeesh double whammy
MarakEvans
Woot
Wayan tunggal
Speed
