Chapter 37: Sukarno’s

  “So both Ji-Ho and Ha-Rin are engineers, but they have different sub-classes because they specialize in different things. As ForgeFiend is her sub-class the system provided her with that big floating ring you see her using sometimes.”

  That made me frown as I leaned against the slowly collapsing stone front wall of the sibling’s workshop.

  “The system provided it for her? What did a drone come running over to offer her charity?” Diaochan’s laughter filled the air like a chime.

  “Not quite. Once the sub-class was selected she gained access to blueprints for it, and a temporary ability to track the materials she needed to craft it.”

  “And the ring is basically a portable forge and workshop right?” I asked, already knowing the answer from when I had seen Ha-Rin work on my spear and some weapons she was contracted to build for locals. Diaochan launched into further explanation about how with some effort Ha-Rin could turn off safety settings on her Forge Ring and use it aggressively, but without triggering defenses that were specifically on the lookout for weapons. What Ji-Ho was doing to his legs was also interesting, but the siblings finally made an appearance and I ordered Diaochan to tell me about it later.

  Getting around the slums in this city tier was a weird experience. The streets were so narrow and poorly maintained that cars even flying ones, were almost useless outside of the highways. Which explained why Fabio’s cruiser had been parked so far outside of the hunting grounds.

  So just like when I went on my morning runs the only traversing I saw people do was either on foot or on the howler bikes. I say on foot, but everyone made use of the class system and most classes had some sort of ability that could be used for getting around.

  This meant that for every person the three of us passed who was simply making their way down a footpath, there would be another leaping around, or swinging overheard, some even seemed to ignore gravity completely to float about like a flowerpetal atop a stream. Though I did notice no one seemed to possess true flight that they could direct with any kind of speed, like say a master of sky dao, an owner of a flying sword, or even O.S.C.T soldiers I had seen on my first day in Abeyance.

  It initially surprised me that the further into the mess of streets we traveled the higher the average level of the people I saw grew. After a moment of consideration I supposed it made perfect sense, the community where the sibling’s workshop called home was within the vertical and horizontal maze that made up this tier, but only by a slim margin. This meant it was within reach of the authorities and police forces that claimed to rule this city. For a regular person, or even the multitudes of elderly people who made their homes near the workshop this was a desirable trait. For the criminal underworld who divided the non-skytiers into territories ruled by clans this was not the case. They could afford to pay for or create their own luxuries deep within that maze of sunless streets, so the further from the reach of the law they could get the better.

  I have to admit such a consideration excited me a little, the deeper into these lawless lands we went, the more powerful the people who dwelled there became. How had they managed it though? I knew that the city system discouraged the killing of people by reducing the amount your soul expansion gauge filled to a negligible amount when you did kill someone. Either these tiny criminal empires had found a way around that, or they had access to far greater hunting grounds than the one I had already seen.

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  The fact that Ji-Ho and Ha-Rin could actually attend a meeting held by some of these clans had initially confused me, but in a very limited sense the pair of kimchi-munchers were actually a part of one of these criminal organizations. That was part of why the engineers had been so furious that someone from a clan not their own had attempted to extort them.

  We arrived at the location that had been shared to my HUD at [6:49] a little late, but judging from every meeting of warriors and such that I had ever attended I judged that it wouldn’t matter. Doubtless the first few hours or so would be spent drinking and trying to outdo each other with tales of bravery and acts of hospitality. Since these were criminals I was fairly confident there would be blood duels and other less official ways of settling grudges as well. Still, it wasn’t my fault we were late. I had been fully equipped and ready to go for hours longer than both siblings.

  The location of the meeting was a two-story building that was both long and wide enough to utterly dominate the street it sat on, red paper lanterns atop poles burned out the front of it, and its roof was made of what looked like grey wood that curved up from the center to vicious points at the edges.

  It was called [Sukarno’s] and if I’m being honest the architecture of the place was the last thing to catch my attention. You see there were what I now understood as holographic projections out the front of the building, each featuring a beautiful if malnourished woman gyrating in various states of undress.

  “It’s a strip club?” Asked Ha-Rin with obvious disdain.

  “It’s a clan meeting spot, what did you expect?” Replied her brother.

  The ForgeFiend offered a shrug.

  “I didn’t think Lyn would put up with this sort of thing, but I guess she and Paul don’t really get to decide where this happens.”

  “It doesn’t really matter.” insisted Ji-Ho. “ We are here to find out what's happening between the eight clans, and if we need to worry about new management, or changing territory. How distasteful we find the location doesn’t change anything.”

  I raised an eyebrow at that, before gesturing to one of the holograms as we approached the entrance.

  “Distasteful?” I asked in surprise. “ This is the sort of thing every meeting should have. Naked woman basically always improve everything, especially negotiations.”

  Ha-Rin made a slightly disgusted noise and pushed past me to make her way inside.

  “What's the problem?” I asked, still confused.

  “I’m sure they have naked boys too.” I called at the ForgeFiend’s back.

  It turned out I was right, the long squat building played host to several stages with naked dancing girls, naked dancing boys,or men and machines fighting each other while cheering onlookers gambled over the results. That was far from the only gambling or nudity for that matter, waitresses wearing nothing but drink trays moved between machines my HUD told me were for gambling. There were tables and booths with drinks and drugs flowing, though I could easily tell the different clans apart from the way they clustered together or wore matching colors, and it was all being lit by strobing lights and washed over with loud rhythmic beats.

  “See” I said clapping both siblings on their shoulders at once. “ This is great.”

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