?

  With my permission, the Spirit-Diaochan shared my stat sheet with the siblings. As I understood it, that was the list of numbers and weird words that supposedly laid out my abilities. I wasn’t entirely sure, but I did know the pair of kimchi eaters went silent for a brief period before getting rather agitated.

  “These stats are insane. This guy is level one? How?” Said Ha-rin

  “He’s a paradox incursion,” said her brother slowly. I, of course, had no idea what that meant, but they were finally speaking about me with the appropriate amount of awe.

  “That's why he has a legendary class at level one.” Went on the bright-haired young man. “Our angry guest here can remember his entire life from before he was reborn here. Not only is his soul is like more intact, so it buffs him to a crazy degree.”

  “That is super unfair.”

  “Life is unfair,” I interjected. “ You heard my questions, where am I? Why did you bring me here? And what the fuck is a soul expansion? Answer me now.”

  The illusion of Diaochan was now only visible and audible to me, but she was still present. I saw her place her head in her hands as I spoke. Naturally, I ignored the reaction; not only was this a spirit. It was a spirit pretending to be a woman.

  “Your A.I can answer all of this,” replied the girl flatly. Her attitude should have irritated me more, but it honestly reminded me of the daughter Lady Yang had given me; My mighty Lingqi, the only one of my children that had truly carried my warrior’s blood.

  “I don’t care. I want to hear it from a person,” I snapped. Just because I had a soft spot for her behaviour didn’t mean I was going to tolerate disrespect. Especially not so soon after these two had come to understand that I stood above them in power.

  “Okay, okay. Be chill,” said the man, holding his hands out in what was supposed to be a disarming gesture. Given that I had recently seen his arm transform and deploy a lightning technique it didn’t have the effect he was going for.

  “You are in our workshop.” I didn’t think he was lying, but calling this collection of broken machinery a workshop seemed generous.

  “ We brought you here after you fell through the oversky and your A.I put out a distress call. I did some scans on your A.I processor which told me you weren’t hurt beyond a concussion and a little internal bleeding that would heal itself soon enough.”

  I narrowed my eyes at the pair.

  “Why?”

  “Why did we try to help you? It seemed like the right thing to do, plus people down here on the subtiers look out for each other.” I guess he could see the way my eyes glazed over as the man clarified.

  “The sub tiers are the lower levels of Abeyance City.”

  “And... this city is the afterlife?” I asked slowly.

  That seemed to stump the man for a second.

  “Alright, I’m going to assume that you haven’t been here very long, and that you have spoken to your A.I basically not at all. Does that sound accurate?”

  “Reasonably,” I confirmed.

  “This is one afterlife, there are others, and I've seen news reports that contact between them even happens sometimes. No, I don’t know how to get to another afterlife or which one your family went to. No, I don’t know what happens if you die here; no one knows that. And no, I don't know if there is anything beyond the city.”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  Talk about a frog in a well, this man didn’t seem to know much of anything at all.

  “So what can you tell me that is useful?” I grunted at him.

  He offered a disarming smile, which I am ashamed to admit worked a little.

  “ You will be hard pressed to find anyone or even any group that knows more about cybernetics than the two of us.”

  I was about to ask for clarification on what ‘cybernetics’ were when the spirit beat me to it. Displaying an explanation across my view.”

  “You two replace people’s body parts with stronger ones?” I asked incredulously.

  “Sure do.” Replied Ji-Ho.

  “Here?” I am no surgeon or scholar, but this place was covered in grime, grease and shattered metal. One would have to be mad to have such a procedure done by these two.

  “Don’t worry, it only looks like a shithole.” Said the girl who had begun tinkering with some device.

  “Oh, and Soul Expansion is what happens when you collect enough energy from outside sources to make your soul, and therefore yourself, stronger. Your A.I will pretty much make it happen automatically when you kill things.”

  I thought about all this for a moment before a grin forced its way across my face. The grin was soon followed by a laugh that built up in my stomach and slowly welled up beyond my control.

  If I understood all of this correctly in this afterlife, the spirit in my head would do the cultivating for me. No sitting in caves near natural wonders, no meditative bullshit or sleepless nights collecting the ambient energy around me. I’m sure there were still elixirs and things to be had, but all I really had to regain my former strength was what I did best. Win fights, and after I did, I would grow stronger automatically.

  Naturally, I had all the concerns anyone would who had just learned for certain they were in the afterlife. It's just that I absolutely was not going to show that kind of face to people who were strangers. I honestly wasn’t even willing to show that level of concern in front of the false Diaochan. Besides, what did this new existence really mean for me beyond an unfamiliar land to conquer?

  It had taken a lifetime, but I had become the undisputed strongest in my homeland. If I needed to devote a second lifetime to do so again here, I would. Especially since it sounded a lot easier to accomplish this time around.

  “Diaochan,” I said quietly. “ Earlier, you mentioned skills and spells that I would soon have access to. Are those like the lightning orb technique this boy used?”

  You might imagine I’d balk at calling this spirit, this ‘A.I.’ whatever that means, by the name of my beloved. The truth of the matter is, I didn’t really care. This was the form the spirit had chosen to take, so I called it by that name. Besides an illusion or not, there was no sight I’d rather have access to at any time than that of Diaochan….Alright, perhaps Diachan naked, but I could discuss that with the spirit when I was a bit more settled in this strange city of colored lights.

  “Yes, [Taser Orb] is an example of a skill, not a spell, as while it has external effects, it is actually conjured from the.”

  I raised a hand and cut her off.

  “How do I use these ‘skills’, which ones do I have access to, and how do I get more?”

  Across the room, Ha-Rin pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a little sigh.

  “You know your A.I isn’t in proximity mode anymore, you don’t have to say this stuff out loud.” The glare I turned on her in response could have melted steel and seared flesh. To her credit, the girl met my gaze with a fiery one of her own. It was almost enough to make one laugh. Like when a little puppy attempts to square up with you, there was just something endearing about it.

  With the wisdom ingrained into elder brothers everywhere through tens of thousands of lifetimes, Ji-Ho navigated the classic conundrum of ‘my younger sibling, whom I must protect, won’t stop trying to pick a fight with someone stronger than me.’

  “You know we have a little testing area out back for testing combat cybernetics. I’d be happy to show you so you can try out your skills and class if you’d like.”

  I considered the question for a moment. Diaochan had yet to explain how I could activate my own techniques and what sort of Qi manipulation it would require. Practicing alone in an area designed to withstand a little punishment might be just the thing.

  “Show me.”