Chapter 79 - Nature of Arcia

<---Chapter 78 - Martyr|Table of Contents|Chapter 80 - Roots--->

Kyle glanced at the vial of Absolute Euria, wondering on how to use it properly. He could use it on the landowners and force them to submit over time, slowly gaining control. There's no reason to rush it just yet. Any sudden shock would have the public turn against us.

He set the vial down on the top of the workbench, next to the Ancient Exosuit Spine that he had purchased from the auction last year.

MG404: [Item | Ancient Exosuit Spine | Lost technology created in the Galactic Era, unusable without thorough refurbishment. | Active Skill: Nerval Jack – Enables an exosuit pilot to wield a suit through a nerval distribution network. Requires an operational exosuit.]

While the rest of the Seven Snakes were hard at work, Kyle too had always been hard at work to improve his own skill set as well as his arsenal with his own personal workshop well furnished. After all, it was power from which all authority stemmed from - he had to ensure that he was always one step ahead of the game. The development of composite armour as well as armour layout made a potential exosuit construction more and more feasible.

Unfortunately, he had hit a conceptual roadblock in advancing his understanding of how arcia works and the nature of arctech language. He had hoped the ancient spine might work as expected , as he understood electricity very well. However, it was hard to do anything with the spine, especially given that he had none of the manipulators nor fabricators necessary to repair it, nor did he have the correct power source to energize it.

His attempts to scavenge samples and resources from the Oracle's lab in the Culdao Peaks also proved to be useless, the metal nanite virus having eaten away most of the functionality of anything left, degrading most components to individually useless base elements. He could attempt to cannibalize the components of the A.I. core, but doing so would severely compromise the benefits of the seed storage. For now, all he had was this spine to work off, albeit one that could not be activated.

Yet the spine offered a glimpse into his forgotten knowledge, allowing him to gleam a few concepts that had once been stored in his cranial implant. If he could utilize the learnings in the production of the arctech knight armour set, it should ensure that he had a healthy lead over his potential competitors.

The main conceptual working of the exosuit spine was to serve as the central connection bus to the rest of the exosuit armour. However, Kyle did not possess a nerval plug on his body to use it in anyway, nor could he install one himself. The procedure was far too complicated for any surgeon of this age to do so, the potential infection and corruption of the biological nervous system too dangerous.

However, the existence of arctech engravings gave a potential alternative to develop a prototype arctech spine built around the same idea. After all, the nervous control of the spine was a series of electrical impluses - all he had to do was to map them to an arctech impluse instead.

Kyle drew up a series of mock arctech engravings, etching them onto spare pieces of metal to see their effectiveness and outcome. Despite his considerable experience in copying and improving engravings, mapping the entire nervous movement of a human body was far beyond his limit. The key lacking factor in his understanding of how arcia worked was the lack of variability - it generally seemed that all engravings that he had made so far had a fixed output of sorts.

Only Penchant of Violence has some scaling involved with combat stats. Kyle could hardly see the engravings in his own body, much less study them. Instead he turned to another engraving which he knew had a form of variability - the arctech wagon's mechanical convertor. Since the speed of the wagon could be throttled, Kyle searched for clues for the missing piece necessary to allow for a variable input rather than a fixed consumption, yet to no avail.

On the far end of the workbench was a series of textbooks on arcia, augmented his collection from his original Treatise on Arcia by Theorin, which by itself was incomplete. The new textbooks were however, clearly also incomplete, with much of the effects of many arcia engravings being attributed to more esoteric causes rather than a scientific study. Through consistent reading over the last three months, Kyle was able to slowly piece together certain standard coherent rules behind the utilization of arcia.

MG404: [Title Obtained | Bookworm (Basic) | A crime lord must be, above all, literate enough to know the charges levied against him | +10 INT, +25% reading and comprehension speed for written text.]

However, each new arcia engraving challenged his prevailing set of derived rules, making him wonder if arcia was truly an exotic element that could not be understood until he had reached a higher level of technology. For now, he could make a few basic assumptions, the first of which was that the direction of arcia flow mattered significantly.

All engravings that Kyle had worked on so far were not closed loops, instead a single starting point moving towards an end point, where it could be then linked to other engravings. Arranging the engravings in the correct order from start to finish was what gave it its properties. This was not entirely different from electricity, in which components had to be laid out in a coherent sequence in order to achieve the circuit's intended purpose.

However, the difference laid in what occurred when the flow of arcia was reversed or disrupted. Assuming that the arcia flow was similar to electricity, a reversal would result in a electrical short or an overheating of engravings with high resistance, like a diode.

Kyle held a copy of Riker's pipe in his hand, the first engraving that he had copied more than a thousand times at this point

MG404: [Item | Engraved Metal Pipe (Basic) | A pipe to bend the rules | Active Skill: Reinforcement – Increased force when hitting. MP Cost Per Activation: 2 MP. Duration: Thirty Seconds. Cooldown: Two minutes.]

As he powered it up with a swing, the engravings gleamed yellow as expected, the inefficiency of the engraving emitted as visible light. While he continued swinging, he activated his Subclass skill on it. Arcia Disruption!

Instead of the engraving emitting a bright yellow glow, little white droplets began to form rapidly on the surface of the pipe, slowly coating it in its entirety before one of the droplets burst, revealing a small little insect the size of a hair, lazily flying and leaving a corroded hole on the originally smooth metal finish.

One by one, the eggs began to burst, the ensuing rush of insects fluttering around mindlessly in a harmless swarm, many of them carelessly bumping into the walls and ceiling, while Kyle stood in the midst of them in confusion. He picked up what remained of the metal pipe, seeing the entire pipe now corroded as though it had been submerged in seawater for the last three centuries.

The insects began to die within seconds of leaving the pipes, their small carcassess dotting the floor with Kyle picking up a few of them, inspecting it. There was nothing too special about the insect, a simple body layout but with clear organs completely missing, such as eyes and a mouth. What the hell is going on?

Kyle shook his head, refusing to let his scientific self call it 'magic'. There was no magic in the Galactic Era, only rare exotics. He hunkered down, trying again with another copy of the engraved metal pipe, performing the same actions again. However, the skill did not activate.

Kyle pulled up his System interface again, checking the skill description of his subclass again.

MG404: [Skill | Arcia Disruption (Basic) | Upwards instead of downwards | Select one single engraving within five-meter radius to disrupt. Results may vary. Upgradable. Duration: Thirty Seconds. Cooldown: One day.]

On cooldown... I'll need a light-capturer to accurately flim the results of the skill. Does the flow reverse, or simply start from a different point? Kyle needed to understand this, as it was a potential issue with any subsequent exosuits that he tried to build. Human nerval impulses were always varying in strength, and if any part of the engraving were to be damaged, Kyle would rather not be covered in insect eggs during a critical battle.

With the skill on cooldown, Kyle tried to draft up a reverse of the metal pipe's engraving, quickly etching it onto a new pipe to try and replicate the result before.

MG404: [Item | Engraved Metal Pipe (Basic) | A pipe that bends. | Active Skill: Ensnaring - Captures the nearest target, which may be the owner. MP Cost Per Activation: 2 MP. Duration: Thirty Seconds. Cooldown: Two minutes.]

Huh? Kyle squinted at the interface message. He activated the new pipe, which immediately began to bend and twist itself, the thickness deteriorating as the pipe elongated itself like an ensnaring vine, wrapping around Kyle's wrist and snaking along his arm, culminating in the tip of the metal pipe splitting apart like a flower. The physical transformation ended as soon as began, the engraving along it clearly broken and deformed.

Kyle was beyond flabbergasted as he pried the thin metal pipe away from his arm, snapping it into pieces. It was an interesting engraving, but the effect was essentially useless as a weapon. Maybe as a trap. Apart from the potential applications, he was far more concerned about the issue that the results were completely different in every way, shape and form. It was not even remotely related, save for a 'physical transformation'.

They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. Yet here I am, getting different results. As he swept away the pieces into a nice little disposal bin, he contemplated the possibility that the results were different because the starting conditions were different. This means that my Arcia Disruption skill does not simply reverse - it's more of a random number generator at this point. Hopefully pseudo-random.

Turning his attention back to the exosuit spine, he wondered on how could he prevent his own engravings from being messed with like this. There was no doubt that there would be devices and contraptions out there that could reverse or mess with his attempted flow of arcia. He could already imagine his internal skill engravings causing insect eggs to be buried deep within his body.

Perhaps, the stronger the flow and the finer the control will prevent such incidents from happening. Kyle would have to implement this for any exosuit project in the future, especially if he intended it to be mass-produced, though there were just far too many obstacles now.

As he groaned in exasperation, his eyes landed back once again on the vial of Absolute Euria, a flicker of inspiration hitting him as he wondered if he could weaponize it against the Ardent Cretins, his largest obstacle to expansion right now. Maybe Kyle could attempt to drug Sebastian, though he doubt any of his members could get anywhere close.

Suddenly, his arctech radio buzzed, a panicked Niko hurriedly speaking: [Boss, it's real bad out here!]

"What's wrong? I already made it clear I was not to be disturbed unless it's important."

[It is important! There's a impromptu protest going on right now at Rose Lane!]

"Led by who?"

[I'm not too sure yet, but it seems to be a Crusaders Against Vices or something. They are claiming that the Seven Snakes brutally beheaded a eight-year old kid!]

"Did we? I don't recall ordering recruits to execute children yet."

[What are you even saying, sir? Of course not!]

"I'll be there shortly, ensure nothing gets out of hand."

Kyle rushed out of his personal workshop, entering the crowded Thresher Street, where workers were still clamouring at the glass windows, supposedly captivated by the erotica material displayed on the cabinets, as well as queuing up for light-thrower shows. He was about to ignore their antics when he noticed the mood was unusual, the workers' faces far more solemn and restrained than their usual jubilant selves.

He walked past, taking a peek only to see a handheld light-thrower show running on the store's display of two masked Seven Snakes recruits violently beheading a eight-year old, before chopping up his limbs and tossing them about the house. The throng of workers murmured among each other, locked in heavy discussion.

"It's good that damn Stanley finally died. He evicted me and my grandmother by jacking up the rent. If it were not for the Seven Snakes' housing project, I would still be homeless right now."

"Listen to yourself, you're condoning the brutal murder of a child! He did nothing wrong! Maybe Stanley got what was coming to him, but since when were the Seven Snakes the arbiter of whether a child should be killed or not? In my opinion, no children should be killed at all!"

"Even if they would grow up to be the same?"

"You don't know that for sure!"

"Fuck it! One less rich fucker to deal with! I'm with the Seven Snakes on this one!"

"Disgusting murderhobos! I can't believe I'm working with you!"

"You're the disgusting one, trying to forgive the crimes of the rich. Lick their boots even harder!"

"Speaking about yourself? You're the one sucking up to the Seven Snakes - aren't they rich too?"

Kyle quickly shoved past them to get to the front, the bickering workers instantly clearing a path for him when they recognized him, many immediately scattering, afraid of suffering any potential retribution.

Before he could enter the shop, a brave factory worker stood in front of him, defiant and outraged at the brutal beheading. "Who are you to kill our children? You think just because you're rich, you can slaughter anyone you want?"

Kyle stopped, glancing around and noticing the crowd slowly inching in, emboldened slightly by the accusation of the defiant worker. "Step away now, if you know whats good for you."

"I may not know what's good for myself, but I stand for the good of us all. We are not your pigs to kill anytime you please!"

A murmur of agreements washed through the crowd like a wave, Kyle seeing the intrusive thoughts already showing on their faces, their eyes glinting with intent. Intimidation Aura!

The ensuring arcia pressure blasted the crowd, the defiant worker's face paling as he began to shiver in his murky boots, his fingers fidgeting a bit on his pants as Kyle approached him.

"The Seven Snakes did not do this, and I will find justice, mark my words. Now return to your work, or else I will have to dock your entire day's wages. Is that clear?"

"Y-y-yes, sir!"

The crowd was dispersed as easily as they were gathered, the fear stemming from Kyle far too overpowering for them to keep any sense of moral superiority. Kyle stormed into the shop, about to blast the shopkeeper for playing such a defamatory light-thrower show when he noticed that the shop door was locked from the inside.

Retrieving his handgun in one hand and a hammer in the other, he smacked the handle of the door apart, the creaky door opening slowly with not a single soul in sight. He carefully moved through the shop, watching for any potential ambushes while he navigated the rows upon rows of recorded engravings in neatly arranged shelves, indecent drawings of scantily-clad girls and men plastered all over every available surface of the interior. Rows upon rows of erotica books were dropped to the floor in piles, smatters of blood staining their covers.

As he approached the cashier counter, the familiar stench of a decaying body hit his nose. Kyle did not let down his guard just yet, diligiently checking every corner before he finally knelt next to the shopkeeper's dismembered body. The cuts and wounds seemed to have been done by common kitchen tools, no signs of any arctech weapons or handgun shots either.

He turned off the light-thrower show at the display cabinet, before realizing that every other store around the area was also playing the same show on repeat, most of the factory workers that passed through Thresher Street having already seen in. "Keith, I need a squad to secure Thresher Street. All of the erotica shopkeepers have been killed. Call up all reserves now, prepare for a doubling of security."

[Understood, sir.]

Kyle headed over to Rose Lane, where a burgeoning protest was now in full swing, led by a enraged lady who stood ontop of an overturned wagon. "THIS OUTRAGE SHALL NO LONGER BE TOLERATED! If the enforcers do not want to enforce the rules of the Sanctum, then the people ourselves shall enforce it!"

Niko and the recruits had already formed a line, preventing the protestors from moving any further. "Shore up that gap, don't let them flank us from the alley! Block it up with the damn crates!" Niko roared, before hurriedly bowing to Kyle. "Sir, there's a light-thrower show that - "

"I know, I saw. Where was it flimed?"

"In the house over there. We have our men securing the place for now."

“Who did it?”

“We don’t know yet, but we’re trying to figure out who.”

Kyle nodded, flourishing his coat as he stepped into the now cordoned-off house. As soon as he entered through the doorway, his body was instantly assaulted by a foul stench, the unmistakable scent of copious amount of blood.

The narrow premises of the house was filled to the brim in gore, and it was hardly possible for Kyle to escape the puddles of blood when stepping in. He originally thought that it would be a simple incident, but what he saw made him think otherwise.

Just inside the living room is the body of a man, hung from the ceiling via two ropes. with his neck thoroughly ripped. His hands and legs had been mutilated thoroughly, the skin stripped off his flesh and left in pieces on the originally white marble floor, now instead soaked in dried dark blood. Brain matter and other tissue flesh was splashed across the once opulent dining room.

A Seven Snakes armband was left behind, resting on a pool of blood as Kyle gingerly picked it up, inspecting it for authencity. It's real. The armband was one that was issued to recruits when they had cleared a month's worth of basic training, something only either a recruit could get, or a Seven Snakes who was high up in the ranks. We have a mole.

Damian and Niko soon entered the house, their faces immediately recoiling from the strong stench of death. The violence was not new to Kyle – he had seen far worse in the Galactic Era, but this level of senseless violence had never been seen before in Raktor. Even Damian, who had been a long stay of the Seven Snakes, was clearly shaken by the obscene brutality of the murders.

"It can't be one of our recruits, they wouldn't dare to do this so blatantly." Damian murmured as he looked at the armband in Kyle's hands. "Unless..."

"Keep the theories till later. Any other clues right now on the scene?" Kyle asked.

"The entire house has been ransacked of all valuables - anything with so much as a gold lining has been stripped." Niko informed.

"Call up all the fences and dealers we know in the black market. I want eyes and ears on anything being sold in major batches, and information on their particulars."

"Understood, I'll talk to them." Damian nodded. "But still, what was the purpose of this? It doesn't make any sense. Are they simply trying to undermine our reputation?"

Kyle looked up to the mutilated Stanley, still hanging from the ceiling. "Someone wants to take us down from the inside. To destroy the trust the people had in us. As for the ultimate purpose... I may have an idea or two."

"But we didn't do it! Can't we just tell them that we did not kill Stanley?" Niko offered.

"Try telling it to them." Damian motioned outside at the protestors shoving as hard as they could against the line of Seven Snakes recruits.

"MURDERERS! Your existence is a sin! Revenge for our fallen brother!" A lady screamed in the face of a recruit as she violently shoved him, the stone in her hand swinging wildly. The edge of the stone drew blood, a long gash striking his face.

Damian hurriedly rushed out, trying to prevent the recruits from retaliating, while Kyle pondered longer, trying to put the pieces together. He contemplated everything that had happened so far. First Wrent goes missing, then the enforcers pull out, then this.

While Kyle thought about the sequence of events, Niko received another call on his arctech radio, his face paling immediately. "Sir, it's getting really bad now. One of our arctech designers has just been found murdered in his house. His entire family was killed, including a one-year old daughter. The show is circulating now as well!"

Kyle stared at Niko blankly, a awkward moment of silence passing as Kyle ran every possible motive through his head. "Sir? What do we do?" Niko asked in a panicked tone, obviously not used to the social unrest that was now spreading like wildfire.

Instead of Kyle replying Niko, he instead called Adrian. "Update on the enforcers and Wrent."

[Neither of them is moving.]

"Any movement by the Ardent Cretins? The Wretches?"

[None, sir. In fact, just like the Red Lions, they all seem to be pulling back their members from the borders. Something's happening, but I still can't figure out the pattern.]

"Any observers spotted the perpetrators of the murders?"

[No sir, but we do have some light-capturer observation engravings that may offer a few hints.]

"Have them ready for me when I return to the shopping arcade." Kyle ended the call, turning sharply to Niko. "Get every recruit and associate that's in security to be out on the streets now. I want double protection on all designers, as well as the businesses of the Seven Snakes."

"Got it. But what do we do with the protestors?"

Outside on the street, Damian was contesting with the locals, some of whom he knew personally. "Angela, please, you have to believe us! We did not do it!" He pleaded with the leader of the protest.

"Whether you did it or not, it is clear that your existence is a stain on the security of our districts! How can our children even play in the streets with brutal murderers roaming freely! The Crusaders Against Vices will not tolerate the Seven Snakes any longer!"

"I don't want to hurt you, Angela. Please, stand down and we can talk this out properly."

"Neither do I. But as long as you are part of the Seven Snakes, you are the enemy! Repent now!"

Damian sighed, knowing he would be unable to convince her any longer. Two recruits had to restrained the injured recruit, preventing him from lashing out against the protestors. "Fucking cocksuckers! Why are you holding me back? You going to let this fucking dumb guys shit all over us Seven Snakes! Looks like it was a mistake joining this damn pussy gang when we have to bow down to idiots like them! I don't care if we did it or not, they better back the FUCK OFF!" The injured recruit roared, echoing many of the other recruits' sentiment who felt they had degraded into a powerless security force.

Before Damian could retort, a loud bang rang out through the street, the yelling protestors shocked by the sudden scare. Kyle held a smoking Oriental Bloom in his handgun, aiming it right at the protestors. "You have one minute." Kyle spoke with a firm tone.

Damian was startled, hurriedly running over to Kyle and whispering. "Boss, what are you doing? If you try to beat them up, it would only raise public resent! Everything we worked for will be undone!"

"Damian. This is not the time to question me." Kyle warned.

However, Damian was clearly distressed, continuing to whisper: "Yes, but this doesn't seem like the right way to do it!"

"I know exactly what I'm doing. And if you don't want to follow me... I have no use for an underboss who does not comply." Kyle did not need to finish the sentence, Damian getting the underlying implications of what would happen to him if he did not listen to Kyle. He immediately began to organize the recruits, preparing them alongside Niko, though his lingering doubts still swirl in his head as to what Kyle was intending to do.

Some of the protestors began to panic, only to be rallied by Angela once more. "Stay your ground! Even the Seven Snakes gang leader cannot attack his own people, not if he wants to face a revolt! We are stronger together!"

"Suit yourself. Damian, Niko, arrest everyone here. And for those who resist arrest... do what you have to."

<---Chapter 78 - Martyr|Table of Contents|Chapter 80 - Roots--->