Achille Adephos II
Achille Adephos II - Outwards and Inwards
Achille Adephos. Exceptional talent in cultivating. Reached the 8th Heavenstage in 20 years. Was sent to Shen Kingdom to assist in repairing Blood Path Detection Arrays, King Shen offered his eldest daughters hand in marriage after this helped catch and kill a Blood Path Foundation Building cultivator in the Great Circle. Advise we do not allow - an Adephos is worth more than a mere Shen.
I can work with this.
I've decided to use the word 'Mechanikos', greek for Engineer to refer to Array related positions, to keep to the greek theme.
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Achille breathed deeply. In and out. In and out. The everpresent humming of a Qi-gathering array underneath him did not distract from his goal. Within Achille's body, Qi churned, flowing through the channels of his body, to every finger, every hair, every drop of blood. Small rumbles began to pour out of the adolescent's body as he stepped forward, breaking the barrier that stood between him and the Eighth realm of Qi Condensation. Achille grunted as the pain of a breakthrough seared through his body, every nerve lit on fire for a brief moment, a single euphoric moment when the floodgates broke and he connected to the heavens and earth.
A black fog began to steam out of his every pore, bubbling filth covering his skin. From within his body, impurities were expelled and rejected, his cultivation advancing to a higher stage.
Achille stood up, flexing his muscles slightly. At the age of twenty, he had already reached the eighth stage of Qi Condensation. Achille allowed himself to indulge in his pride for a moment before quashing it. He was still far away from reaching his goals, from attaining the unimaginable heights he oft imagined himself reaching.
Achille sighed, stretching his body. Small drops of black fluid flew off his powerful physique like a dog drying itself of water. Most would be disgusted to be covered in such concentrated filth, but not a cultivator. After experiencing disgust so many times, one would become numb to it.
Achille released a single burst of Qi from the sole of his heel, activating a small Shower Array. Water began to pour out of the roof, slamming against Achille tanned, bronze skin. The powerful stream scrubbed him raw, removing every last remaining drop of the impurities his body had expelled.
Achille tapped his foot once more, the Array turning off. Many would call such a display wasteful or lazy, to use a tool as powerful as an Array for one's own convenience, but those people did not understand innovation. To make one's life and the life of their people easier, was that not the highest honour one could achieve? Achille had been a lonely child, but his time in the legion had hammered patriotism into him, like a blacksmith refining raw ore into a tool of shining, glimmering bronze.
Achille watched in contentment as cleaning Arrat's automatically activated, both drying the room and filtering the impurities to the special department in charge of the destruction of hazardous waste. One couldn't simply leave such stuff lying around, after all.
The beautiful symphony of dozens of small arrays collaborating in such an effortless manner left a smile on Achille's lips even as he left his home in the Array-Engineer's barracks. Achille walked through the sandy housing complex in the direction of his family home.
"If it isn't our resident genius, Junior
Mechanikos Adephos! Just the man I was looking for," a familiar voice said.
Achille turned his head, bowing instinctively to the greeting of his superior officer.
"I offer my greetings to Senior Mechanikos Caius," Achille greeted, bowing his head.
As someone in Qi Condensation , Achille was a Junior Mechanikos, while Caius, who was in Foundation Establishment was a Senior Mechanikos and also Achille' direct superior.
"No need to be so formal, we're all friends here," Caius laughed boisterously before whistling. "Already you've reached the 8th Heaven stage? At only the age of twenty, very impressive. As expected from someone of the Prostrator's lineage. I think only that foreigner Nine Prince is outdoing you at this point. Maybe you'll be our next Elder!"
"Senior is flattering me," Achille said, bowing his head respectfully. "This junior is unworthy of your praise."
"No need to act so humble," Caius said, shaking his head. "Anyways, as for why I was looking for you, the Blood-Path Detection Array in the Shen Kingdom has begun to degrade. The elders have decided, in the name of our good relationship, to send a few Array-engineers to fix it. We'll be taking two Senior Mechanikos and five Junior Mechanikos. Of all the Junior Mechanikos, you're the best at spotting mistakes in Arrays, so I figured I'd bring you. This was you can finally get some real-life experience working on Grand-Arrays, rather than just reading dry theory. "
"Of course, sir," Achille said. "When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow at dawn. Normally I would wait a bit longer for the temperature to cool, but this year is sand storm season, so we want to get and out of Shen Kingdom before that starts. "
"Of course, Senior," Achille said. "I will be ready."
Senior Mechanikos Caius nodded his head and began to walk away. Achille trod along the sandy road, slowly speeding up until his Qi enchanted body was practically flying across the road. His bronze skin dripped with sweat, running down in streams across his skin.
Eventually, Achille arrived at his family lands. Achille's father was a member of the Adephos family, a relatively new family that had been created when Georgus Adephos, a highly talented member of the clan had married the daughter of Prostrator Vatatzez. They had had many children, who had many children and in just three generations the Adephos clan had turned from a no-name family to a powerful and influential part of the clan, consistently producing high-quality cultivators. Achille's father had been an exception to the rule, having little talent and a thin bloodline. Due to this, his branch of the family lived on a small house on the outskirts of the Adephos family lands, isolated from the clan.
However, Achille was becoming something of a rising star in the clan, and slowly the Adephos family's interest in him was growing, as they started to invite his family to events and parties they had previously been excluded from. Achille's father had pragmatically accepted the olive branch. As much as he resented the Adephos family as a whole, having their support meant free resources that would allow his son to walk further along the path of cultivation. Achille himself had little interest in the complicated politics of the family. So long as he could cultivate and work on his arrays; he didn't particularly care whether or not the family as a whole cared about him.
Achille knocked on the door of his father's house. A few moments later the smiling face of his mother, Melinda Adephos greeted him.
"Achille!" she squealed, engulfing him in a hug. "You're finally back!"
"Yes, mother," Achille said, returning her hug.
Achille had been in seclusion for the past few months working on his cultivation and hadn't been able to see his family as a result.
"Your father will be happy to see you," Melinda Adephos said, releasing him from her grip.
"I'm sure he will be," Achille said wryly. "But I will be leaving on an assignment tomorrow and I need to retrieve a few things from my workshop."
Although Achille's office in the Array-Engineer barracks had a workshop, Achille preferred to work in his personal workshop and it contained most of his current projects.
Achille's mother nodded, widening the door and letting him in. Achille walked through the dimly lit house, opening the door to his workshop.
Atop a bench in his workshop was a stack of metal plates covered in intricate carvings. These were Array plates, and they were what Achille was here for. These specific plates, Achille's own invention, contained large amounts of concentrated Qi. When activated by Achille they would release a powerful explosion that even someone at the great circle Qi Condensation wouldn't be able to ignore.
Achille picked up the stack of leaf thin bronze plates, opening a satchel and storing them. He slid a few into pockets, under his thigh and other places just in case he lost access to his bag during a fight.
Achille settled into his workshop for the night. It was time to prepare.
-----
The next morning Achille jogged across the sandy roads dressed in his uniform, tasselled bronze armour with the Adephos clan symbols emblazoned on the shoulder, along with the mark of the Golden Devil Clan atop the breastplate.
Achille reached his destination. At the gate of the Array Engineer compound, were two massive sandworms, each as tall as an elephant and a dozen times as long. These were Turtledust sandworms, a common mount used in the organ meat desert. They required nearly no water and fully matured would reach the equivalent of an early Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Atop each sandworm sat a Senior
Mechanikos, including Caius and one other Achille did not recognize. Several of Achille's peers, Junior
Mechanikos sat atop the back of the sandworms. Of course, each of them was far older than Achille, whose talent outstripped any of his fellow Array-Engineers. Achille leaped onto the back of Caius's sandworm, a burst of Qi from his foot launching his into the air. Achille landed on the back of the huge sandworm, the soft worm-flesh rippling under him likey jelly. The sandworms skin was not slimy as one would accept, but hard and rugged, like tanned leather.
Achille ran his hand over the sandworm, stroking it's back.
"You're late," said Markus Atripho, one of Achille's peers, though his senior in age.
"Sorry. I was finishing my preparations," Achille said, tapping the large satchel thrown over his back.
"This is a routine mission. There's no need for prep-"
"Junior
Mechanikos Markus, what have I said about testing fate?" Caius interrupted, irritated. "Just because you said that I'm betting fifty gold Drachma on something going wrong."
"I'll take you up on that bet, Brother Caius," said the other Senior
Mechanikos.
"Fine then, Brother Kalleidus," Caius responded.
The two engineers whistled in unison, the still sandworms slithering into life. For such massive beasts, they moved so fast, seemingly swimming across the sandy dunes. Achille drew a notebook from his satchel. He began to scribble in it, pouring his raw ideas and notes into the notebook.
"Can you keep that down? I'm trying to meditate," Markus atri[hos said, angrily glaring at Achille.
Markus had been antagonistic to Achille for as long as they had been in the same unit, jealous of the younger boys' talent. Achille snorted, drawing out an ink brush. Achille quickly drew an intricate pattern atop the notebook, pouring a single spirit stone worth of Qi into it. A strange, almost unnatural silence engulfed Achille, the Array stopping the sound from escaping. Achille returned to his work, ignoring Markus.
After nearly a week of travel, Achille arrived in Shen Dou, the capital of Shen Kingdom. The entire city was seemingly carved out of a cliff face. A huge Array-stone sat atop a Spire in the center of the city. Achille could immediately tell it was broken. The Array-Spire should be connected through underground wires to dozens of similar spires from across the kingdom, which would allow the Shen Kingdom to detect the unique Qi of the Blood path whenever they went, allowing for early warning and tracking of their most dangerous enemy.
However, it seemed that someone had deliberately snipped the lines. This was not an accident. Something more was at play. Achille narrowed his eyes.
"Senior Caius, it seemed that this Array was deliberately sabotaged. Someone snipped the Array-Spires connection to the rest of the network. I suspect that a member of the Blood Path is planning something."
"Oh? And how do you know that?" Markus asked, sneering.
"Shut up Markus," Caius said instinctively, turning his head to Achille. "Are you sure about that, Junior Achille?"
"Yes, sir!" Achille said seriously. "I am absolutely confident in my assessment."
"Then we'll have to be very careful," Caius frowned. "Everyone on your guard!"
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@occipitallobe
I would like to ask for a bonus to fate roll for this one
