II-107 The Grinding Camps (II)

I’m not sorry. It’s their fault for being weak. A stronger warrior would have chosen death or avoided being taken to my camps—ah, rehabilitation facilities

Better their pitiful beings be offered to serve as my sect’s glory than wasted on filth and degeneracy.

And also, the boorgese are not people. I have been assured of this, so questioning my humanity is unneeded and hurtful behavior, and I would firmly request that you stop.

-Wei An Wei’s response to why he is kidnapping Sinners in the Base

II-107

The Grinding Camps (II)

It took considerable effort on Wei’s part not to pour the remainder of his shards into his Harvest Core outright, but Bishop convinced him to wait. More than that, the Trespasser also theorized that some of the shards were already infused with the young master’s experiences and desires, allowing his already existing Skills to advance alongside their primary Concept because “spiritual connections or some bullshit.”

Another reason why it was important for Wei to temporarily refrain from spending all his shards was Agnesia: the girl was going to challenge for her Class Specialization Evolution soon, and a better Skill would do her some benefit.

A shame there was no easy way of feeding years of combat expertise directly into her mind. That would be more useful in Wei’s opinion.

There was also something else Wei had to worry about at this point: His Class level.

Class Level > Lv. 100

Name: Wei An Wei

Species: Cultivator/Trespasser

Class: Dominator (Pride/Wrath)

Eidolon Class Specialization Level > Lv. 100

Scion of the Celestial Flame (Next Specialization Evolution at Lv. 200)

Eidolon Form Evolution: [Celestial Fang]

 >Aspect Advancements Per Level: +22 Strength, +18 Speed, +14 Mind, +14 Awareness, +22 Constitution, +14 Will, +10 Free Points

Free Points: [0] PENDING ASPECT NAT ADVANCEMENT AS WELL

Aspects

Strength: 1406

Speed: 1350

Enlightenment: 948

Awareness: 1001

Constitution: 1007

Will: 1058

Warning: Please undergo Class Tier Evolution to continue your Class Progression

He was right on the edge of exceeding his Marquis designation, and now he had himself roadblocked from shooting over into Count. This bothered Wei as he was suffering slightly from success after killing two Dukes, but it was a good problem to have.

“You might be able to do some modifications with your scythe as well,” Bishop said, as Wei admitted his issues. “We might need to ask Sarah and the others about this though. Don’t do anything stupid to your Eidolon without supervision. You break that shit, it might not get fixed at all.”

“Yes,” Wei winced. Of course, this didn’t stop him from moving two hundred points into his Speed and forty into Awareness. There was always benefit to being faster, being more aware, and if this little meeting with the General went well, he might just be getting a lot more.

“Wei,” the General said, rising from behind his table. “Surprised to see you back so soon. If this is about the guns—”

“Do you have any prisoners that I can use.”

The pipe fell out of General MacArthur’s mouth as his jaw widened a bit more than usual. He cursed twice and then picked it up again. “‘Use’ how? Because I might not be the nicest person in the world, son, but I’m still not one of those degenerates from Lust. You better not be taking after your father after all we did together. That’ll be a real pity.”

“No, it’s not what you think,” Wei said, feeling compelled to defend his honor. “In fact, I am insulted that you think I would exploit prisoners in such a way. I am a Cultivator, not a dog.”

The General scowled begrudgingly. “Yeah. Good. But after the time I spent down here, all I can say is that you see all kinds of freaks and monsters. So, again, what do you want to do with them.”

Wei grinned. “Experimentation. I wish to create a camp.”

The pipe fell out of the General’s mouth again, this time it hit the edge and clattered onto the floor. Also different was how the General didn’t sink low to pick up it. Instead, he pulled off his sunglasses and just stared at Wei for a good few seconds. “A what?”

“A camp. Rafael offered me a recommendation, and I think there is great potential in which I might achieve with enough captured Sinners.”

Behind Wei most of his inner court coughed and looked away from the General. Bishop had his hand on his face, and William was laughing under his breath for some reason.

“Jesus, kid, are you sure you’re a Chinese fictional? Because this is starting to sound real Axis to me. A camp.”

“A facility, a laboratory, it doesn’t matter that much really. The main thing is a place to cage, observe, and experiment on prisoners.”

“It just gets worse,” Bishop muttered, face still covered by his hands. “With every other fucking word. It just gets worse.”

General MacArthur looked down at his table and took on a very uncharacteristic expression. “I… I won’t lie, Wei, this—I don’t think I’m comfortable with this. What kind of experiments are we talking here? And these Sinners—is this a race thing?”

“No. Not unless a certain race provides more benefits during the harvesting process. Which they don’t. At least I think they don’t.”

The discomfort on the General’s face turned to slight horror. “John Bishop. Soldier… What have you been teaching this kid? Has he been going around—”

“No, this shit’s new,” Bishop sighed. “He’s… it’s for advancing his—fuck it. Wei, show the shards. Tell about what you can do with them.”

And Wei did. Slowly, the General shifted to another reaction: Greed. “Well, well… So you can break people apart and apply their little pieces to you, huh?”

“To anyone. Should you wish to advance your Aspects—”

The General nodded. “Well. That clears things up a bit. It also makes the request… better.”

Wei shrugged. “I don’t get why you are so burdened by this. Don’t you have prisoners and demons that you use as targets below?”

“Yes. But they’re demons or from a rival circle. And more importantly: they’re ours. Now that I know what you’re want to do…” The General reached out and picked up his pipe. “Maybe. Maybe an arrangement can be made. But I want something out of this too—”

“Are we talking business again, General?” Kalrus said, standing behind Wei and his gathered allies. The young master spun to greet the orc with a salute which earned him a chuckle. “Ah. Wei. Back again so soon. I must confess, I, too, have been eagerly awaiting our reunion—mainly to get another glance at what the Hound of the Withered Moon did to my work.”

“Soon. But first, I need to see your prisoners.”

Kalrus blinked. “The prisoners?”

“For experimentation,” Wei continued.

Instead of reacting like the General, Kalrus simply made an o-shape with his mouth and nodded. “Ah, of course. Come, then. Let us discuss terms in the pen. General, would you like to come with us?”

“No. That place gives me nightmares. Just message me what they want.” General MacArthur was actively staring off at his table, mumbling about how the “Second Big One was never going to end,” and compared Wei to a Nasi or something.

“What is a Nasi?” Wei said, asking Bishop.

“Someone you wouldn’t like very much. Think of them like the Inheritors, but even more specific. They, uh, tried to do an extermination on another group.”

“An extermination?” Wei frowned. “Against an enemy sect?”

“They weren’t—no, mostly against their own people. Kind of. Fucking… I’ll tell you about this shit later. Let’s go and start up our gulag right now.”

“What is a gulag.”

“That’s got something to do with the other leading man of the Eastern Front. It’s where you put political prisoners and dissidents.” Kalrus explained, but Wei grasped very little.

“Hm. Very well. I look forward to setting up my gulags soon. But I need to see if I can purchase some prisoners first and get used to this operation. There is no sense in running a prisoner experimentation facility poorly.”

“Quite,” Kalrus agreed.

“Fuck you, William,” Bishop growled under his breath.

“What? What are you saying fuck me for. Wei’s the one doing all this?”

“Yeah, well, your genes are the ones activating here. You’re the one that does this rat-bastard shit.”

William and Wei both laughed at that—though the latter was slightly more bitter.

“You don’t know my mother,” Wei said.

“You don’t know my wife,” William agreed.

***

“Food. Food, please. I need food.”

“Dying, starving, can’t sleep…”

“They took my eyes… they took my arms and legs…”

Pitiful moans came from all directions as Wei looked down. He was standing upon a walkway built over hundreds of rooms with translucent ceilings. He could see demons and Sinners trapped within every cell. Indeed, this place—this level within the Circle of Wrath’s forward operating base, deeper and more secluded than all the others—housed hundreds of prisoners.

Hundreds, at the very least.

They were all accessible by a cross-shaped walkway, but the air here was laced with some kind of poison. A nerve agent, as Kalrus called it, keeping the prisoners’ muscles paralyzed and their spirits frayed. Most were badly mutilated, wounded, deprived. But still, some were Marquises, most were Knights. Breaking them would give him something, at the very least.

They just might not be that useful for sparring…

Ah, well. Wei would work up to finding proper replacements soon. These would be used for a start.

“What is… why are they like this?” Wei said, gesturing vaguely at the assortment of prisoners.

“What do you mean, why are they like this?” Kalrus replied, raising an eyebrow. “You do not want healthy prisoners. Most of them are dedicated to my ballistic missile program. I don’t need jailbreakers or resistant batteries.”

Wei nodded, understanding. He remembered the ballistic missile program. “It was really quite a weapon,” he complimented.

Kalrus smiled. “I’m glad you liked it. Trust me, I am working on my next iteration now. I will design a seat and handhold just for you.”

That pleased Wei. He threw his head back and smiled. “I’m going to look forward to that.”

“Yeah, well,” Vendrian growled, “you keep that shit away from me next time. In fact, you keep it away from me forever.” His infant son, Justice, began to whimper and whine. Slowly, Vendrian bounced the boy up and down, a bottle in hand. Milk, Wei thought—but then again, milk wasn’t blue in color, was it? Young master wouldn’t need to ask him later. 

“So,” Wei said, “I would like to request an exchange. I want at least fifty of these prisoners for my own uses.”

“Right,” Kalrus said slowly. “That’s quite a substantial investment, and it might put my ballistic missile behind. What are you thinking? What’s the offer?”

“Instead of you using these pitiful, broken ones,” Wei replied, “I could potentially go out and capture a Count-tier adversary for you from any Circle of your choosing. How does that sound?”

Kalrus considered that for a moment. “Appealing, but unreliable. Counts are powerful. They’re very hard to cage. But I’ll tell you this: if you leave your gun with me for a while, let me examine it in detail, I will consider it alone.” The orc sneered slightly. “I know you’ve been keeping that piece away from me.”

“For times like these,” Wei said, grinning. Kalrus knew him far too well. “Can you blame me.”

“Only if you let me see the gun.”

Wei drew his new death-touched rifle. The orc scientist took it from Wei with such avaricious eyes that the young master half-suspected Kalrus might not give it back. Unfortunately for Kalrus, Wei could get his gun back through a corpse at any time. Something Kalrus should be reading about right that moment.

“Remarkable,” Kalrus muttered. “And the bullet—it fits perfectly well. Have you tested it?”

“Soon. Fifty prisoners?” Wei pressed.

“Sixty,” Kalrus replied, “so we don’t need to play any games.” He cocked his head slightly and hid a smile. “Some of these prisoners—they’re likely not going to make the week. Best that they be used now. Nature abhors waste, and technology waits for no one.”

“I’m glad we can come to an agreement,” Wei said. Kalrus held out a hand, and Wei stared at the orc’s open fingers. He remembered how people came to a final accord. Tentatively, he reached out and shook the orc’s hand, and finally, for once, everything felt like it was going on track.

“I think this is going to be the beginning of a very beautiful partnership,” Kalrus said.

“Likewise,” Wei replied. “I look forward to helping you in your endeavors. In fact, I am going to do everything I can to further your scientific and martial pursuits. You are a genius, Professor Kalrus.”

“And you are a warrior of singular focus and vision,” Kalrus offered back.

Off by the side, Vendrian let out a slight scoff. “Mourning—they started sucking each other off I’m taking my kid and leaving.”

“Brother!” Mourning chided. 

Wei took in his soon-to-be shard donors. “Master Bishop, if you please…” He gestured at the demons and prisoners.

Bishop just stared. “I have no idea what you want me to do.” 

“Just reach into their minds and making them a move from their cells. I will have them walk single file into the Unblossomed before we chain them to the walls; there is no chance for them to resist at all—it is most efficient.”

The Trespasser’s face fell. “I’d say we’re all going to hell, but I don’t think that’s much of a threat anymore.”

“Come, now, Master Bishop. These are Sinners and demons. Their entire purpose is death. Besides, let us not forget what you did with all those slaves as a distraction.”

Bishop closed his eyes. “Yeah. Point fucking taken. Listen, Wei, I’ll walk these guys out if you don’t keep reminding me what a piece of shit I am.”

“A most agreeable arrangement. Truly, this day gets better by the second.”

“Out of curiosity, what do you want to do with fifty of these prisoners?” Kalrus asked.

“Experimentations. I want to see how much they can offer me. And then…” Wei eyed Agnesia. “I will design a combat pipeline for my disciples. It’s time for some of my disciples to get blooded.”

“Ah, yes. A killing ritual to initiate someone. The soldiers do this sometimes. Actually, you might wish to get some of the soldiers to go with you. It won’t be hard to convince them considering how favored you are in their eyes. They’ll show you some of the drills they do—and it will save you the time when it comes to teaching your associates about firearms.”

“Yes… yes… good…” Wei said. “Things are coming together. Agnesia. Prepare yourself. We challenge the Tower of Possibility again soon. But first, we see you primed and focused. I will ensure that every prisoner is sacrificed to grant you the gains you need. No lives or expense will be spared.”

“Alright,” Agnesia said, flicking her tongue across her teeth. “Let’s see those bastards stop me now.”

“How did I even get here, man, you kids were so nice and soft a week ago fuck…” Bishop muttered.