Death Cultivator by eden Hudson (knowledgeable books to read .txt) 📗

“Isn’t technology fun, guys?” Rali asked, oozing false enthusiasm.

“Bleed ’em,” Warcry said, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. “I’m not going to watch what I say just ’cause someone can hear me.”

“So, basically, while we’re here, there’s no privacy. That’s a little creepy.”

“Privacy’s always been an illusion, Hake,” Rali said. “You’re just notiticing it now because it’s been presented to you via something outside what you think you control.”

The bullet train dumped us off at a dingy underground station, then shot on down the tracks like it was ready to get out of there as soon as possible.

“Holy cow,” I breathed.

The walls and ceiling were made of bones. Elaborate patterns put together with curved ribs and studded with finger and toe bones and kneecaps. Miasma swirled through the place, collecting way up high like shower steam when you don’t turn on the bathroom fan.

With the crowd and the noise, the twins and Warcry didn’t realized that I had slowed way down, shuffling along with my mouth hanging open like a total goober while I took in the ossuary. I’d seen pictures of catacombs back on Earth, but standing there, looking at the geometric patterns built of human and humanoid remains, was incredible.

Miasma started sucking toward my pocket, and I realized Hungry Ghost had the right idea. I started gathering up Death Spirit, too. There was plenty of it there.

I was kind of reluctant to leave, but my friends weren’t waiting for me. I took one last look, then squeezed through the disembarking passengers and jogged up the stairs after them.

Outside, skyscrapers shot up into the night, interspersed with overpasses and skyways, hiding the black sun. People jam-packed the dark sidewalks, and neon blinked at us from every direction. Weird-looking mopeds, cars, and even something like rickshaws were deadlocked on the streets. Drivers laid on their horns and yelled at each other. It was a free-for-all.

Zipping around just above the crowd and the traffic were dragonflies as big as my hand. Their green and purple iridescent bodies looked completely out of place in all this city grunge.

“They’re metal,” Kest said. “If you look at them with Ki-sight, you can see the Spirit in their external circuitry. Probably sending a live feed to Technol enforcers.”

“Watch your valuables,” Warcry said, tucking his HUD in close to his chest. “Their little warning didn’t include stealing, so it’s fair game, isn’t it?”

He wasn’t the only one being cautious. Pretty much everybody who’d gotten off the train with us looked like they knew not to get careless in Jade City. I squeezed Hungry Ghost in my fist. I definitely couldn’t afford to lose it.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Rali grin and open his mouth, so I beat him to the punch.

“Rali’s about to say that the things he values can’t be stolen,” I said, pointing at him.

That got him and Kest laughing, but Warcry just shook his head.

“Wouldn’t count on it, big man.”

“The Wilderness Territorial’s held in the kokugikon, not far from the tourism district,” Kest said, searching her HUD for directions. “We should be able to find a hostel nearby.”

“That’s well class.” Warcry nodded. “We won’t have to walk far to our matches.”

“Let’s find a place to stay, then we can go register,” I said.

That was easier said than done, though. We tried all the sleazy hostels and motels that had halfway reasonable prices and looked like you’d probably get bedbugs or murdered there, but they were full. We climbed the money ladder a little to the stuff at the top edge of our price range, but according to one of the managers, most places in Jade City had been booked months in advance for the tournament week.

“You should’ve reserved a room last year,” she said in a condescending voice.

Warcry’s head and shoulders caught on fire. “I wasn’t planning to end up on Van Diemann this year for burning down trash motels with their mouthy managers inside.”

She kicked us out pretty fast after that.

It wasn’t long before we were totally out of options. All that was left was the big-time luxury places.

“If we pool our money, we might be able to afford a room at the Jade Renaissance,” Kest said, looking at her screen. “They’ve got a couple cancelations they’re re-booking, but it looks like they’re going fast.”

We transferred our credits to Kest, and she hurried up and booked a room before they were all gone.

“That’s it over there.” She nodded at a black monolithic skyscraper. “Go there first or to the kokugikon?”

“What day is this?” I asked. “Do we have two days or just one before the tournament?”

Kest and Warcry looked at me like I was crazy.

Rali just laughed. “The tournament’s tomorrow, Hake.”

I ran my hands through my hair, messing it up, then scraped them down my face. “Geez, all this running has me disoriented. Okay, so we need to go register.”

The kokugikon was a huge stadium only a couple minutes’ walk from our hotel, but as soon as we got within a block, the foot traffic slowed to a crawl. The streets had all been blocked off, and every square inch of sidewalk was full of tables and stalls overflowing with gadgets, weapons, and elixirs. I kept my head down whenever we passed a Distiller, just in case there were some of Muta’i’s eyes and ears hanging around.

Kest, on the other hand, was way too excited to be worried. She bounced from stall to stall like those dragonfly spies, touching gadgets and asking the artificers questions. It was pretty cool to see her excited about something considering how serious and collected she usually was.

When we finally made it to the kokugikon, she hesitated.

“I don’t think you’ll need us all,” she said, looking back toward the junkyard of builds. “Whatever information they need is in our Spirit rankings. I want to see about entering some builds. If not in the official bazaar, then at the fringes where the unlicensed sellers