Auspicious Elder
The Warlord - a six-armed abomination of a zombie, taller than a man, and only slightly pallid - stood over Dorian's shoulder, a crimson Visceral tendril connecting a hand to Dorian's spine, casually transmitting the aforementioned 'genes' and 'symbiotic biomass' as Dorian tinkered on a new Artificer's Face, shaving off and polishing bits of wood; a meager copy-shadow of the original. There was some discomfort in allowing a creature such as this direct access to manipulating his form, although the Warlord didn't seem compelled to magically quell Dorian's unease; a fortunate sign, implying an absence of interest in employing further manipulations.
If danger reared its head, a fast application of the Lost's hemokinetic redirection could abort the procedure in a flash. However, Dorian's read on the Warlord seemed accurate, and the zombie was an honorable actor, sincerely uninterested in betrayal. Even if not, it was not as if any implanted dangers would help the Undead, as Dorian was moving on soon. Indeed, the Street's song caressed Dorian's ears within only a couple of hours, as the Warlord finished the final steps of the work.
The art of Viscerality blossomed in Dorian's veins once the Warlord finished, a passionate warmth inchoate with potential, like an embryo swimming in a spawning pool, yet to form into a concrete being, although slowly twisting and writhing with the shadows of shapes.
The chant intensified over the minutes of sprinting, as Dorian arrived on the parking lot of his entry. The concrete seemed to shimmer opalescently under the sun's rays, displaying the spectral outline of cobblestones. The moment he set foot, the world melted away in a now-familiar manner.
On the Street once more.
Now that Dorian wasn't helplessly lightheaded from severe hemorrhaging and battle wounds, it only seemed wise to assess his surroundings.
Ahead and behind was an endless road, straight and solid, exactly as he'd remembered. The Street's cobblestones glistened with a multifaceted rainbow of colors on a base of pure pearl-white. An instinct, as if some sector of the brain were flashing with awareness, said it didn't matter which direction he chose. The Street went one way. It was surrounded on each side by a mistlike veneer, a scattered prism - not of locations, as he'd believed, but worlds, each distinct from Drethir in some remarkable way.
"Admiring the Street?" asked a voice.
He revolved sharply, hand already on rapier. His Viscerality enhanced reflex and motor instinct a minor yet distinctly noticeable amount, as speed bubbled to the forefront in response to Dorian's feeling of alarm and desire to protect himself; a useful aspect to cultivate permanently if he could.
Meanwhile, the voice's origin chuckled - an elderly man in a dark blue hanbok, sporting a magnificent white navel-length beard. His robe was encircled by a single loop of dark red cord around the waist, serving as a belt, and leading down almost to his feet where it concluded with a decorative fray.
"At ease, masked one," said the elder. "You didn't notice me, so if I wished you harm, I could've already struck."
"Your logic is sound," Dorian acceded. He lowered the uneasy hand, although remained ready to act, if this was secretly a ruse. "I am Dorian Croft, and you?"
"This one is merely the humble Shi Lei," answered the man, an easygoing smile gracing his features. "Formerly of the Shattering Conceit Sect, now merely a traveler of this Street, ever in pursuit of Moksha at its end."
That only raised more questions than it provided answers.
The elder spoke even as Dorian's mouth opened to ask one of them. "Come, young Croft. Walk with me for a time," Shi Lei invited warmly and fell into a casual step down the cobblestones, humming merrily along with their strain.
Albeit confused, Dorian chose to accompany Shi Lei.
"You must be new," said the elder - not a question or even a supposition but a statement masking hidden layers.
Given its frequent concealment, Dorian didn't often feel a need to school his expression. However, the elder's certainty was so iron-solid it spawned a familiar ache of concern. "Do you have a supernatural sense?"
"Oh yes," the man said, waving a hand dismissively, and emitted a chuckle he cut deliberately short. "Too many of them to count, young Croft. I can tell, for instance, that your heart is deeply troubled by sorrow and hatred, and that you've committed evil and treachery in the name of your ambition - which, purely based on deduction, is revenge."
Dorian's mouth set into a deep, contemplative frown. Curiously, he didn't sense even a speck of hostility, as if the old man didn't care at all. "And you don't find that concerning?"
"Oh, it's not for me to judge," Shi Lei answered with a shake of the head. "It'd be an act of Conceit to believe I should stop you, and I got rid of that long ago."
That word: 'Conceit.' The elder stressed it grandiosely as if its import was greater than Dorian was able to conceive. Curious.
"Conceit," he decided to press. "You removed Conceit from yourself?"
The man nodded. "As well as Anger, Greed, Jealousy, and Doubt. I am working on Ignorance next, but I fear it may take me a while."
"You should remove fear as well then," he quipped. "It seems easy enough."
"Hmm," the elder hummed, eyes squinting narrowly in rumination. "Unorthodox, but perhaps not without merit..."
...did he truly take that idea seriously? Dorian felt a strange sense of bafflement.
"Unfortunately, even if fear were a valid Fetter, I could not," Shi Lei eventually said with a shake of the head, "You see, once work on Severing a Fetter has begun, one must fully and thoroughly devote themselves to that. It's often impossible to shift focus to another one, and Ignorance is an especially tenacious one: why, we men are practically composed of Ignorance, as my master used to say. There are countless stories of arrogant young cultivators aiming to excise Ignorance as their second or third Fetter, after tasting confidence in their previous attempts. For them, the road to enlightenment often ends there - in bitter disappointment, I might add."
"If this... 'Severing,' can be taught, would you show me how to do it?"
"How driven." A cryptic smile accompanied the statement. "But I fear I have not Severed Views yet, Dorian Croft, and my personal opinion says it'd be something of a bad idea to teach you. You appear to pursue power with a single-mindedness that outstrips your wisdom. How am I to know you would not turn your power towards causing undue suffering? Your heart whispers to me and tells me that you've already consorted with evil and gambled with lives in the name of your ambition. Noble though it may be."
Undeterred, Dorian stated, "It's Conceited to believe your opinion is greater than mine."
"Ho. You are one amusing and impetuous brash youngster," said Shi Lei, smile morphing with amusement. "Counting on my absence of Anger to save you from a sound thrashing in response to your disrespect... how criminally underhanded. But I sense you have other questions as well, and our time isn't unlimited."
"It's not? Then why are we moving forward?" asked Dorian, puzzled by the old man's statement. "We could simply stop to talk."
"The Street moves," said Shi Lei - a sudden tone of certainty, a wisdom borne of the heavy weight of experience, a crushing sagacity of ages. "Always, young Croft. Even when your feet do not move, it does. Even when your mind does not move, it does. Its nature is that of travel. To stay too long in one place..."
For a moment, Shi Lei's face looked haunted, and through the incipient Visceral sense, Dorian felt a momentary flash of true fear, a horripilation breaking out across wrinkled skin, which was soon after suppressed into the serenity of the man's mental vastness.
"...well, let us not speak of such depressing topics," Shi Lei eventually concluded, not showing the same good cheer anymore, but neither displaying concern nor fear. He smiled at Dorian. "All you must know is that if you ever hear silence from the Stones, you should move swiftly and with your eyes and ears closed. Continue onward, blindly if you must, until you can hear the Street again even through your deafened ears... For what it's worth, it'll do its best to attempt to find you, when you are in that place."
For a second, there was silence between them, and Dorian could almost swear the Street's song warbled as well, as if on unsteady footing. As if it, too, reeled from the contents of their conversation. Whatever 'that place' was, it clearly wasn't any good.
"If the Street suddenly turns silent, keep stepping forward as fast as I can and shut my senses off as best as I can," Dorian summarized, strangely unnerved by the break in the elder cultivator's composure. "Understood."
"I hear we have a couple of hours, before your next stop," said Shi Lei.
"Hear?"
"As I've said, you must be new," answered the cultivator, taking the question in stride. "Yes. Eventually, you learn to understand the song. It takes no magic, only experience and time. The Way is long and hides curiosities. We - the more experienced and ancient - have something of a society here, often crossing paths time and time again."
"Experienced and 'ancient?'"
"The Way grants immortality as a byproduct of attunement," the old man said. "A minor boon; it only works while traveling. I am nearly two centuries old, although I could've potentially lived to such an age with only my cultivation. I know of some without such arts, who've lived much longer than this paltry collection of decades." He chuckled.
"I see..."
"Well, do you have any questions of me, young Croft?"
---
You can ask Shi Lei to explain three (3) more Topics before you reach your world.
[ ] Nature of Street Attunement - Ask Shi Lei about the nature of the Street and its purpose. More than sharing simple anecdotes, ask if he knows where it originated from, and what sort of other 'powers' it may confer. Your innate traveler's instinct certainly didn't inform you that you'd cease aging while traveling.
[ ] Worlds He's Visited - Ask Shi Lei about what worlds he's seen. Aside from giving you a general idea of what to expect, you might eventually emerge somewhere he's been to, and then you'll be better prepared!
[ ] Magics He Knows - Even as a novice wayfarer, you seized Viscerality from your first world successfully before the timer ran out. This old cultivator surely conceals a better repertoire of tricks than what seems to be his land's native art?
[ ] Other Wayfarers - Apparently, you can encounter fellow travelers on the Street, a fact you weren't aware of until this fateful meeting. It'd only make sense to request advice on what to expect from others, and if he could explicate on some of the figures he'd mentioned. The other 'ancients.'
[ ] That Somber Place - That entire part of the conversation was really ominous. You have a bad feeling in your gut. Perhaps you should ask for more information?
[ ] Write-in
[ ] Convince Him to Teach You Cultivation (3 Topics, 10 Import) - Although Shi Lei's mostly made up his mind on the subject of initiating you, if you carefully steer the conversation and display a sincere regret of your actions, and explain your expedient circumstances, you may be able to sway him. This will take you much time and effort, and some of both will have to be spent on actually practicing the methods he'll attempt to teach you. Your compatibility is imperfect, and your soul isn't even ready yet.
With each Fetter Severed, a cultivator destroys a part of themselves and approaches a step closer to Nirvana as the impurities of the soul are resolved and it eclipses the body, exerting a greater effect on the cultivator's material form. It generally takes a multitude of years to Sever even a single Fetter - and that's assuming you picked one you already didn't hold onto strongly - but some individuals are 'advantaged' in certain ways, and you're confident that you could do better than the norm with a correctly designed mask.
Attributes from cultivation are not applied evenly. Here are (Average) Benchmarks:
Soul Preparation: Debatably superhuman parameters. Live to 90. 'Initiate' tier.
2 Fetters Severed: Punch holes in a boulder with bare hands, maintain pace with a train. Live to 120. 'Adept' tier.
4 Fetters Severed: Fully bulletproof, run along a thread of silk. Gain minor mental resistance. Live to 160. 'Elder' tier.
6 Fetters Severed: Tear steel apart like paper, keep pace with a jet. Gain moderate resistance to curses and debuffs. Live to 300. 'Grand Elder' tier.
8 Fetters Severed: Break a mountain over a few hours, withstand a nuke. Gain major resistance to esoteric effects. Live to 1500. 'Old Monster in Reserve' tier.
To Sever all one's Fetters is rare, and culminates in 'Nirvana.' Some elders choose to remain rather than ascend.
Furthermore, here is a list of Fetters. Each Severed Fetter comes with its own associated power - called an art. This art's nature is decided when a Fetter is successfully Severed, and generally its nature remains static, although its power may increase with practice. The arts of particular cultivators vary but the Fetters show trends:
*Sensual Lust - Mental protection or bodily protection against poison.
*Anger - Elemental invocations or an 'overclocking' of physical attributes.
*Conceit - Telepathy or supernal senses.
*Views - Clairvoyance or teleportation.
*Doubt - Emotional manipulation, rarely some parasitism-based powers.
*Attachment to Rituals/Habit - Invincibility, brief temporal recursion.
*Lust for Existence - Spirit bodies, incapability to die, or extreme longevity.
*Jealousy - Weirdly enough, arts here often revolve around plant life. Theories abound as to why.
*Greed - Enhanced intellect, incredible degrees of persuasiveness, or in one legendary case the ability to phase out of existence.
*Ignorance - Incredibly and endlessly varied; almost free or unique in choice and manifestation. The most difficult Fetter to Sever.
*Tactical Requirement: Dorian must actually leap through some mental hoops and come to genuinely regret his actions in aiding an Undead Warlord, even knowing it could genuinely lead to people being harmed in the long-term. Tactics advised. Shi Lei can read his insincerity too easily otherwise.
---
You can also ask Shi Lei any reasonable amount of unrelated questions but don't expect to receive exhaustive or detailed answers from him. The options above abstractly represent hours-long conversations, full of clarifications and answers to forthcoming queries. They'll contain data your character will be able to reference!
Import: 9.2
