Macronomicon
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Chapter 209: After-Life
🕑 Added 2020-07-31 23:18:48 +0000 UTC*Authors note: This ones gonna piss some people off.*
Alright, thats enough. As nice as it would have been to get revenge, I cant risk failure here. Ill catch you later. The Harbinger muttered, drawing itself to its feet. With its good arm, it pulled out a small black metal handle with a little tube
Dodge! Elliots scream was loaded with urgency, shocking Calvin into action.
Calvinian summoning
Atom Ant
Heart of the swarm
1/47 Bent remaining.
Calvin burst into millions of wasps, scattering in every direction. Whatever the attack the object made, enough of the swarm should be able to survive to allow him to
The scene around Calvin flickered. He went from seeing everything from a million tiny eyes to being locked into two. The world around him was different, too. He was inside the office in his tower to all appearances, and Ella was in front of him, her arm outstretched.
The Genosian girl was smiling, but in her gaze, he could feel something was wrong.
What happened? Calvin asked, frowning.
You died, Im grinding the Chained Spirit Skill to earn Continuity so you stop asking me that question.
Im dead!? He hadnt even felt anything from the creatures attack. Is this an illusion? He scanned the room. Every detail was perfect, and his head didnt feel cloudy or anything hed come to associate with mind-magic.
Matter of fact, he felt better than he ever had before, practically brimming with energy. He felt like he could sprint a marathon, he felt like he could hold his breath indefinitely. He felt like his heart wasnt beating.
Huh.
If youre gona grind the skill, Then you should get
Bottled Bent by the thousands, yes, youve already arranged it. Should be in by tomorrow.
Well, if thats taken care of, maybe we can do something a little less urgent.
Well, how about
Sorry, but you dont last that long yet. Ella said with a quirked smile.
You dont-
Even know what you were about to say?
Eh, it-
Was worth a shot?
Godsdamnit! Stop finishing my -
Sandwiches. She said with a smile.
Youre loving this, arent you? Calvin muttered, squinting at her. Her dad finally got what he wanted, and all of Calvins territory in the bargain.
No, I am not. Ella said, her gaze radiating buried anguish.
Sure shed be upset if I were dead, but Ella was raised Genosian. They dont feel bad for their Chained spirits. They honor them as valued ancestors and pass them down from father to son for generations. Being one is something to be sought after by the mightiest warriors. She shouldnt be quite this upset. Disappointed that our relationship has taken a different turn, sure, but not entirely despondent.
Calvin scanned the room.
Wheres Kala?
Shes out. Got bored watching you ask the same questions over and over again, Ella said, glancing away from him. Even without feeling her gaze, he could feel her emotions through the tattoo on his back. He could tell Ella was misleading him. Her flaring emotions felt like hed picked at a fresh wound.
Youre lying.
I am, She said, wiping a tear away.
So where is she? Calvin asked, becoming increasingly disturbed by Ellas silence.
I dont know, Ella admitted, shaking her head. On the same day, those special tattoos you made for us stopped working, first yours, then Kalas.
Is she dead, then? Calvin thought, ice settling in his spine.
Recently though, Ella admitted, staring into the distance. Theres been short bursts of terror coming through the tattoo.
Short bursts? Calvin asked, mind racing. He had no idea what could obscure the marriage tattoos connection between the three of them. Hed tried, but the most he could do was muffle it.
Ive heard stories from the people who were there when she vanished. Elle said, her voice trembling. She was wounded and drawn into the earth beneath her before anyone had a chance to react. No one saw who did it, but I have an idea what might have allowed such a thing to happen.
What? Calvin asked, eyes narrowed.
The Stone-Diver tribe has an Ability they pass from father to son that allows them to swim through earth and stone. The description of the attack matches their tactics.
Youre telling me Genosians have Kala? Calvin asked, his anger rising.
Short bursts of terror
Are you telling me shes a Chained spirit!? Calvin asked, leaning forward. It that why I cant feel her tattoo!? She was killed, eaten, and is now being used like a godsdamned plaything by your fucking cousins!? Is that what youre trying to say!?
Ellas face crumpled, and she buried her face in her hand, shocking Calvin out of his rage.
This isnt the first time weve had this conversation, is it? Calvin asked.
Ella shook her head.
Calvin took a deep breath. Alright, lets calm down and talk about this slowly. Give me the highlights of everything weve talked about, and what our plans are.
***later***
UNO! Calvin shouted, slapping the second-to-last card down, only to discover Elliot and Nadia had disappeared, and were now watching the moving picture box Elliot called the TeeVee.
How long was I out that time? Calvin asked.
Just over an hour, Elliot said.
Level four now, then. Hopefully Ella gets Continuity soon. Assuming I got eaten by Ella and not some rando.
The thought of his corpse getting eaten by anything at all gave Calvin the willies, but there wasnt much he could do about it at the moment. His blackouts had lasted longer and longer, in easily discernable increments. One minute, then eight minutes, then almost half an hour. All the times were consistent with the Chained Spirit skill being leveled.
****
Calvin burst into millions of wasps, scattering in every direction. Whatever the attack the object made, enough of the swarm should be able to survive to allow him to
The scene around Calvin flickered. He went from seeing everything from a million tiny eyes to being locked into two. The world around him was different, too. He was inside the office in his tower to all appearances, and Ella was in front of him, her arm outstretched.
The Genosian girl was smiling, but in her gaze, he could feel something was wrong.
***Kala***
A little bird told me you can see the future? A woman whispered in her ear. A hand grasped her shoulder and pulled her backwards.
Rather than collapsing to the ground, the stone beneath her acted like a liquid, swallowing her up in an instant. The last thing she saw before the stone flowed over her eyes was Hugar lunging toward her.
After that, everything went black.
-
Kala gasped, trying to sit up, but her body was embedded in the ground, with only her head exposed to air.
So Kala, tell me about the Siphons, a womans voice said from behind her.
Not a chance, Kala said, her heart slamming in her chest.
Always the same answer, the woman said with a chuckle. Its fine though, you dont have to say anything. A moment later, she felt a piercing pain on the side of her head. A moment later a rush of paralyzing euphoria made her jaw go slack as her identity was eroded, her thoughts becoming muddied.
***Carem, still in the body of his wife***
+1 Mind!
+1 Mind!
Starting to get less from this princess by the day, Carem thought to her- himself
Still, a hundred and sixty Mind would make the gods themselves tremble, I swear. Staying in this body is its own special kind of hell, though.
From what hed learned about the Siphons, he knew there was a special warehouse in Uleis that could raise him his sixth Break. All he needed to know now were the finer details about where exactly it was, and how to get in undetected.
I cant believe that fool thought hed killed me. He meant the Diocese, obviously. The dioceses death had been pretty believable, after all, so it was no surprise that Calvin thought hed been destroyed.
As it turned out, the Ilethan mind-magic technique of Leashing was quite potent, allowing him to access his copys mind and alter it at will. it was the basis of Mind-Slavery.
It took time and effort to create a Leash, along with a subdued victim. Hed gained the time after the city had rioted, giving him his Fifth Break, allowing him to gain more powerful Mind Magic from the System, rather than simply winging it. Hed controlled the weak-minded guards like puppets, forcing them to escort him all the way to the Diocese, where hed swiftly subdued them, setting them about the task of causing even more destruction.
Trade, hed kept for his own body, but at the last second, hed hesitated. He didnt know if hed truly cross over or if hed simply get to experience getting killed by his new acquisition.
So hed Leashed it.
The still-groggy copy had been unable to prevent Carem from forcing his will upon him and creating a Leash, allowing him total access to the mans mind at any time he wanted. In the former Diocese of Trades case, hed given the man a memory of snapping the originals neck and taking his place. The outcome that likely would have happened without interference.
During the fight between his puppet and the summoning Wizard, hed carefully observed from the sidelines while Calvin had utterly crushed his newfound Abilities with overwhelming force and years of battle experience.
Carem was just too new at using his abilities to present any kind of significant threat, so he had to disappear for a while, until his death was an accepted fact.
He was leaving to do just that when he heard Calvin accuse the dark-skinned girl of being able to see the future.
His obsession for absorbing unique experiences reared its head up again, and he couldnt resist taking the bait. After all, Calvin had been killed by the other adventurers, the inhuman creature of similar power had also been destroyed, and the rest of them looked tired.
Only the big woman was any threat to him, and she was halfway across the city.
He saw an opportunity, and he took it.
Can you stop thinking about Calvin? Carem said as he sorted through her experiences, Its making this awkward for the both of us.
He didnt get any answer but a wordless groan. Not that being trepanned made people particularly chatty.
>> Chained Spirit Has suffered Data Corruption!<<
Purging corrupted Data.
Restoring Backup from last uncorrupted Continuity timestamp
Backup Restored.
Initializing.
Repair Complete.
Continuity has lost 2 minutes and 43 seconds of unpackaged memory.
Carem hummed tunelessly as he held his hand out above the princess-shaped hole in the floor and summoned another one.
Chained Spirit
Green smoke roiled out of Carems good hand, sinking into the empty space in the solid stone, forming a skeleton, then wrapping it in flesh.
***Calvin***
Calvin blinked, and everything changed.
Suddenly he was in two places at once, experiencing both his office, and the black room with Nadia and Elliot simultaneously.
A second later, there was another him, standing in a slightly different place. both were linked to him and at the same time, they were him, they needed no direction whatsoever, each of them wrapped up in their own thoughts, which were so similar as to nearly be echoes of each other.
Is
Is
Is that
Is that-
Is that me?
Are-
Are-
Are we-
Are we-
Are we dead?
Kala!
Kala!
Kala! Ive
Kala! Ive
Kala! Ive got to
Kala! Ive got to
Calvin winced as the thoughts seemingly reverberated through his head, and he instinctively connected to the Calvins that were behind the curve and brought them up to speed with the others, making the thought-scape one cohesive harmony sung by dozens of Calvins as Ella downed another potion, her grey-purple skin damp with sweat.
The memories of dozens, hundreds of conversations with Ella hit him like a bull Guar, he remembered her gradually deteriorating condition, her desperate fervor, and Calvin realized that shed been practicing the skill for a solid month, and hadnt taken a break in days. Empty glass bottles, worth a gold coin apiece, were scattered haphazardly around the floor, and there was a suspicious flaky powder on the desk.
Grave dust.
It was the drug that Kala had shown him, the one that activated the brains fear and anxiety response, allowing a person to artificially raise their skills faster.
She must have shown it to Ella, too
Ella, Ella! Calvin said selecting the closest body and stepping forward, taking the open bottle of Bent out of the Genosians hands.
I wanted to get all of you back, Ella said, her eyes puffy and bloodshot from crying, pupils dilated and heart hammering from fear. I thought if I raised the Skill to the same level you had it to before I took Continuity, you would
She motioned halfheartedly at him.
You need to sleep. Calvin said. Youve got a lot of Endurance, but thats only going to slow down the damage to your body, not prevent it.
Ella shook her head, pushing herself to her feet, empty Bent bottles skittering out from underneath her.
No, Im so close to level thirty. I can take Continuity then. She said, trying to push him off with weakened arms.
You just did, Calvin said, frowning.
Ella blinked at him.
Now, you will go to sleep
Or we will put you to sleep. Every one of his dozen bodies spoke at once.
Okay, Ella nodded, glancing toward the box full of Bent potions. Maybe I can get a couple more-
Calvin was forced to drag Ella to bed and put a guard on her, wasting one of his valuable bodies.
The remaining eleven Calvins looked at each other, silently conversing with each other through their thoughts.
Alright, the three closest to the lab are responsible for figuring out a way to make our body permanent. The rest of us are going to find out who took Kala and fucking murder him. We all agreed?
The three closest to the lab had reservations.
Save a piece for us. They deeply wanted in on the murdering, but understood the need for someone to find a way out of their current predicament.
Oh, hes gonna be in pieces, alright Calvin thought, his bodys eyes narrowing.
Weve got eighteen days before this group expires. Lets make the most of it.
***Tzen chu, Imperial Prince***
Ever since that day in the capital of Juntai, Tzen had difficulty sleeping. He was finally free from the Harbingers influence, but only the hopelessness of the war for succession waited for him at home.
Perhaps it would be better to fake my death and retire to the country, Tzen thought before immediately chastising himself for having such weak-willed thoughts. Imperial princes did not give up. They faced reality and charged forward fearlessly.
Hey. Hey kid!
Not hearing anything. Tzen thought, turning in his bed, doing his absolute best to deny reality.
I need you to go to the nearest Siphon and file a F-U-B-A-R form. Theres some dubious shit going down on this planet, and the fleet need to catch wind of it before it bites us in the ass. Greshna is alive! Hes alive, I say!
Comments
Westeller
Damn, this is brutal. And great. Didn't see that coming at all.
Pincho69
Out of sll the Characters she was the only one I hoped was left alone. Then the rapist gets her
Jake
P.s if you do give th c******** ability I do not see any person coming back from that experience or being a worthwhile character again so please don't there are limits even with her mental defenses abilities
Jake
I understood your warning as soon as I read the sentence. That was nasty. Great writing in terms of pushing acceptable boundaries but damn you think up some dark stuff sometimes. I'm just happy forgetting happens and there's no co*****i*y ( to avoid spoilers) I got my fingers crossed for an epic ass whooping well deserved.
SunderGoldmane
I actually like carem, his skill set triggers this fear that my wonderful MC might actually lose or be permanently handicapped.
This plot twist feels like NTR. Pretty brave to put this in a harem story.
0xFFF1
Seer isn't omnipotent. It has levels that increase correction % and Abilities to choose from just like any other Skill. With how much effort she put in over months just to get through that fight, she's basically thrown her future-vision out of whack for a while. She couldn't foresee Carem sneak attacking her because she was at her limit just to pull all that off.
Ellija
Yeah this is awful it’s not compelling doesn’t make me hate the villain in a fun cant wait to see how he gets killed way it’s just tedious and boring to read. The thing that attracted me to your writing to begin with was the sense of progress a sense of a protagonist with a plot and the means and abilities to pursue it. I’m not saying I don’t want set backs or stumbles but having the every story devolve in this same way is hampering your writing for me. This might be the themes you want to write and if that’s the case I wish you the best of luck but it’s not the themes that I think most of us were attached to with your writing.
Scruffleupagas
Carem is super boring as a villian, as many have already pointed out, and I just can't buy Kala getting caught after you make this big deal about her foresight up to and including beings that transcend her connection to the system. It isn't like they don't know he is an issue to look out for. I'll be giving this a few more chapters before I drop, in hopes that it gets better again. I was really enjoying this story before you tried to shoehorn carem as a serious big bad
A disgruntled nondescript squirrel
Wow I wrote alot of comments today. Sorry stressful day guys I appologize if anything I said came off as a little heated I assure you it was all in good fun (Shamed weeb dogezas all around)
A disgruntled nondescript squirrel
no time skip yet. First Calvin has to get a new body, So thats your power reset. Second Carem isn't a big bady yet so he has to build his empire, theres your time skip reason right there. Third his wwoman just got murdered so theres another parrallel. Finally remember his monster clone brother in O S that was a shapeshifting creature. Well learner seems to have gotten her first break last chapter. she is now part of the system and her base powers are incredibly similar so......
A disgruntled nondescript squirrel
please the brainwashed slave trope is so done. I respectfully disagree. It is the modern equivalent of tying a maiden to train tracks. You almost always have either friendship or love knock them out of it, or they become a secret Cylon and work for the enemy or you have to kill them.
Kirvin
I feel like people are judging this overly harshly because of what happened in Outer Sphere. We're literally 2 chapters in to the downturn and the situation as a whole is completely different. Almost no timeskip (vs 800 years), no power reset (vs basically complete reset), no one in the main cast is gone (vs pretty much whole cast gone). Calvin is basically back already at full power. I do agree Carem feels like he has insane levels of plot armor though.
Deinos
Btw I find Carem interesting because of his theoretically unlimited potential and I actually don't mind him mind-fucking Kala, there could be potential for interesting drama. On the hand his upbringing and background setting is a bit bland plus all characters to beat so far had their spikes of spotlight and then were done with one way or another. I quite liked that because it never felt drawn out. Batman style circle story telling is boring because nothing ever changes, nothing has meaning and drawn out orgasms are only good for so long until the willy goes limp.
Deinos
I read a few of the other comments and I think I finally get why you said people would be upset, thought it was about religion before lol. Now that I thought about it I think many people have a good point, and in conclusion to that I decided for myself now. I will have pizza for breakfast not cereals, I feel daring today. On a side-note, Carem is like a weed so any death we see we can't take seriously unless he gets killed by something that connects all similar - which is why I don't mind him surviving since it's logical, although Magenta is tangentially the same as well - brainwaves/soulwaves/whatevs or somesuch, like that watergun. On the flip-side with another break or two he should be rather unbeatable unless you put in some real deus-ex machina. Which means it's a bit of a lose-lose because we can't take his deaths seriously and if you make his death too constructed like pulling another Kala or in turn make Calvin too overpowered as a conclusion to keep up, you'll diminish plausible opponents. He's already stronger than any other introduced character except Karen. Additionally Llortan is a kind of norm for the ceiling and he already got fudged up the arse - which was nice - but where do you go from there..
Adrian Gorgey
Besides the other stuff, I'd just say that having so many POVships feels a little messy, though I get that you're trying to cover multiple threads
Adrian Gorgey
Well, you predicted the fallout from this chapter pretty well lol
kyle stanton
sorry to say but I'm done. I loved it at the beginning but you seem to be going same root as "the outer sphere", which i also liked till you killed garth and started over and then gave up, so this is probly my last read. while I,m out good luck in the fuyure.future
A disgruntled nondescript squirrel
Also I want to state that I am not directing my comments in an a malicious way. I love the story it just seems like its going in a direction that is not at all like the rest of it and I shit on carem mostly cause he is an example of that. If you want him to be a big bad the best thing you can do is get rid of his plot armor, he could have escaped Calvin just by using the sink into the ground thing he did not need to be saved plus it would have made the whole kidnap of kala so much easier to accept. He has been eating the brains of dozens of different cultures by now so his int should be really high and why would he have even taken over the trade minister, he could have sat there taking the abuse for years while he slowly brainwashed the whole government and been steadily spoon fed minds from all over the world especially now that there is literally a train connecting all those kingdoms. That is practically heaven for a brain eating sociopath. Also if you are still reading this. NO ONE WANTS KALA TO BE MENTALLY TRAUMATIZED OR BRAINWASHED INTO SLAVE KALA SO DO NOT HAVE HIM TAKE CONTINUITY.
A disgruntled nondescript squirrel
I want space pirates who kidnap calvin cause they think hes a woman. Also craps that wear monocles that have strong political opinions about other 'lesser' crustaceans and want to enslave the world through placing everyone in debt, by way of a combination of their cult and ponzy schemes . The weird and wild and fun kind of villain.
Nyye
Think you might need to be careful with this. Not many people like Carem as a villain and for good reason, he is boring, gets saved by bullshit and doesn't have any good motivation. You seem to have ignored pretty much all criticism of him that I've seen, I might be wrong, but considering what you did to your other stories maybe don't do the same thing again. But it is you Patreon and your book so feel free to ignore me and do what you want, after all, I'm just some random guy on the internet but I'm also going to do what I want so ill probably stop giving you my money soon but hey that's just life.
Deinos
So That's how the after-life works. Must say, I like it! Much better than the boring Christian and Muslim versions.
Macronomicon
thanks for sticking around as long as you have.
DeeSharkman
Suggestion though, give Carem some motivation outside of survival. At the moment he's more of an extremely dangerous thorn in Calvin's side than he is an existential threat/true villain/antagonist
DeeSharkman
I actually enjoyed this chapter. Watching Calvin get out of this should be fun and while Carem's continued survival bugs the hell out of me, it does make sense given his powers, and that is the point so I'm really looking forward to him finally dying
Pastor Joubert
“Carem NTR, I am so mad REEeEEEEEeEeeEEEe!!!” lol, This is great.
Andrew
Thank you!
SirReality
I enjoyed this chapter for taking things in a new direction and having consequences for our main characters. Carem is going to be the worst kind of vermin to eliminate though - if he gets over his inability to coordinate, he could just secrete copies of himself all over that have been controlled to know they are the only one.
Prinny Knight
I'm gonna drop this story, hope you start work on the other one.
NeWorlDark
Correction, there have been 4 deus ex's to save him
NeWorlDark
Ok, so I feel the need to explain why Carem is a bad character and especially main villain. He's a nothing, despite the fact that he somehow has absorbed multiple people he himself is just a dark evil mcbadguy. This makes it hard to read when the story has to bend over backwards to keep him alive and continously give him boons. This makes the third deus ex that has been used to have him not only survive but kill and control a main character. If this was a tv show I would assume that carem is a shitty self insert some head writer put in.
Macronomicon
I just want people to be happy when he dies.
A disgruntled nondescript squirrel
sigh, why oh why can't you just let the brain eating abomination that has no redeeming qualities just die. Is he like your favorite creation that you thought would be awesome but no one likes so you keep powering him up?
0xFFF1
Bah! Despair porn? This is only gonna last a few chapters.
Gabriel
I find your stories interesting but they always seems to fall towards despair porn and I can't bring myself to slog through how terrible I find they are to read through when they turn into that. It happened with your last one and I dropped it and now this. I guess you're not an author for me, I hope you continue to enjoy your craft. :D
Macronomicon
we'll get to design our undead over the weekend. see you guys again then. The massive amount of POV's was just to kinda check in on how everyone was faring after the last chapter. I'm not gonna follow them super closely.
