Chapter 542

 

Arthur glared at the guards that had – finally – stopped arriving. He pulled the spear that had been stuck in the monster’s neck out, ripped sideways and bent down to check over the monster’s body. It took him a little bit, but he figured out what the enchantment was – the only thing that pulsed with Tower power – that he could acquire, stole the pouch from the creature’s side and got up.

He hurt. A lot. His preference would have been to find a nice place to relax, but a glowing portal had appeared to the side and rather than wait for it to shut and potentially trap him for a while, Arthur stumbled over. His left foot was crushed, the bones within grating against one another with each motion, the entire thing swelling and pushing against the bounds of the boot.

He would heal, eventually; but he was not looking forward to it. The glowing white light washed over him, and on the other side, he slumped into the chair that waited; staring at the shop owner with half-lidded eyes.

“So, did I do it?” Arthur growled.

“You certainly did, dear customer. Very well done.” A wide grin, flashing way too many teeth for Arthur’s taste was returned. “Now, you just have to choose…”

Three items were pushed forward. The first, another pouch. Arthur frowned, staring at the little fish logo on the front, designed a little abstract and similar to the Pisces one that was so common. The next, was a chain and pendant combination, a full choker like ensemble that was gaudy but expensive looking. The third was a simple ring, wooden and simple with small words carved on the inside.

“Differences?” Arthur asked, as he dedicated one portion of his mind to cultivating Tower energy.

“Only in two manners.” A finger rose, and Arthur could not help but note how large and sharp the nail was. “Whether it is locked to you or not and their size.”

“Locked? As in, no one else can use it? Can it be released?”

“Depends.” A finger pointed at the pouch. “Personalized and locked, but transferable. While locked, no one but you can access anything you store within. Smaller storage space though, the smallest because the enchantments that allows you to separate it from yourself need space.”

“Huh.” Arthur blinked, frowned. “How small exactly?”

“About the size of a small room. The usual organization functions within so that you can pull what is within with intent, or just dump everything,” the storekeeper answered. “Next up,” a finger pointing to the choker. “Personalized storage, larger, but non-transferable once you lock it into yourself. It’s about the size of a small apartment.”

“KL or PJ?”

“What?”

“Small apartment in a big city, or small apartment in a suburb?”

A ghost of a smile crossed the other’s motuh. “City.” Finger drifted on. “Finally, unlocked. Accessibly all, largest storage space. You can fit an entire house worth of goods in here. More than enough for most conventional uses.”

“Conventional uses?”

“Putting boulders in, storing enchantments, all of that.” He gestured outside. “Don’t try to store lightning, magma or anything that you wouldn’t necessarily put in a normal, watertight bag. It will relieve the weight, and shrink it to fit; but the actual enchantments are fragile. You cannot – I repeat – cannot try any of these ‘cheats’ that everyone seems to think it’s possible to do.”

“Not without destroying the ring,” Arthur finished for the other. “What happens when that happens?”

“If you’re lucky? It breaks and you lose everything inside. If you’re unlucky? The release of energies enough to shrink, contain and withhold materials from this dimension.”

“So big.”

“Very big.”

Arthur dismissed the choker from the start, mostly because he wanted something transferable. Also, the choker just was not his style. Pouch or ring – funnily enough, the ring being bigger was amusing. The pouch was useful in the immediate future, would lock things down but allow him to pass it on if he ever found something useful.”

On the other hand, the ring would let him store a lot more. A small room’s worth of goods was pretty decent, especially since it could stack and would cover most of his needs. A house though would cover the needs for a party in full – or allow him to transport a lot more stuff between floors or out of Towers.

Now, he just had to make a choice.

Arthur really was getting tired of making choices.

 

Chapter 543

 

Outside, Arthur stumbled and righted himself, before staring at the group of guards who were waiting for him. He could sense that each of them were at least Intermediate Class climbers, which was scary enough but he could also tell, from the way they glared at one another that he was barely on their radar. They were watching one another more than him.

“Place all enchanted items on the table,” a fussy Climber spoke, gesturing down to the metal table right in front of Arthur. “If there is not enough space, let us know and we will get a second table.”

“It’ll be enough,” Arthur said.

“Told you,” muttered one of the other Climbers, some South American fella who smirked at the others. “Pay up.”

“I actually know which one I intend to give.”

“Set it to the side, but all enchanted items need to be displayed.” The man was bored when he spoke, gesturing impatiently for Arthur to get it over.

“Can lah.” Arthur started unloading the various items he had from his backpack. He had not put any of it in his storage ring yet, just in case. He had considered taking the ring and locking it to him, just in case it became a problem; but really – if they were going to blatantly steal and break their rules for one storage item, he figured it would have been known already.

“So do you all just wait around here all day? Or is there a signal or something…?”

“Why do you care?” One of the others growled, the man wearing a beanie of all things.

“We work in shifts,” the woman who was seated by the side by a table filled with a chess set replied. “And it’s your move, Lumiere.”

“We should not be playing while doing our job!” Lumiere replied.

“He’s not going to try anything, will he?”

“Storage artifact. A good one too…,” muttered the thin and fussy man. He picked at the other items, and sighed as Arthur pushed the teapot over. “Of course you’ll give us the least useful item.”

“Of course.” Arthur gestured to the pile. “We good?”

“One last thing. State clearly that you have no other enchanted items acquired in the Tower, and you’re clear to go.”

Once Arthur did, they let him pick up his goods, and ask the question that had bugged him so far. “Am I the last one? How about the rest of my team?”

“You’re the last, yes. They’ve been sent back, you’ll fly out tomorrow.” The leader sniffed. “Return to your room, wait for your flight out.” A slight inclination of his head after a moment. “Also, good job. That’s one of the smartest gets.”

“Thanks,” Arthur said with a grin.

 

***

 

“Storage, boss?” Yao Jing said, surprised. “Why storage?”

“Because it’s the easiest way to keep all that we need.” Arthur grimaced. “We need more of it, not less. And aren’t you tired of carryin everything you need around?”

“Don’t need much.” Yao Jing reached out and patted the burlap rucksack that he used. The big bag was easy to stuff, but had no structure to it, though it had the advantage of being to carry about and discard.

“I went with storage too. But not that big,” Jan said, waving the bracelet that she had on her arm. It was quite a nice jade bracelet too, with vine carvings and leaves on it. “I can fit whatever a big cupboard could – which is enough for me.”

Arthur grunted. “Wanted something that could be used for more, and I could just pack. I was hoping for bigger…”

“Did you fill it with anything good? Something from inside the Tower then?” Casey asked.

Arthur noted that she had not talked about what she had gotten from the Tower at all, not even when the rest of the team had discussed theirs. It was just another way that showed the difference between them – while Casey was on their team, she was not part of the team. “No. I got it too late. I’ll have to do that later.”

“Ask Rick lah. He can get you some guns or explosives,” Jan said, excitedly.

“Or go to a factory. Get some molten glass,” Yao Jing said. “Point and release!”

“Can’t,” Arthur said. “Nothing like that. Also, not sure if storing things at pressure will work that way, anyway; but I’ve been warned not to try anything.”

“Why?” Uswah asked.

“The enchantments have limits. Push it too far and it just stops working.”

“Oh….”

Arthur smiled, then waved a hand. “Anyway, anything I need to know? You’ve all been waiting for a bit, after all.”

Casey grimaced. “Not as long. I took my time too, coming out.” A longer breath, then she exhaled. “But we should get back. Soon. We need to deal with the Clan. Things are… bad.”

“Bad?”

“Very bad.”

 

Chapter 544

 

“They started the attacks soon after you all left, a week in.” Mel explained to Arthur as they traveled in the car back from the airport. They had taken a commercial flight back, after being transported to Jakarta of course, mostly because it was faster. No real issue getting through customs, thanks to their arrangements with Manager Kong and the government, but announcing their early arrival had made them worried about being ambushed.

Which was the return trip was in a group of four cars, with him mixed in and in the second to last car. The lead vehicles – they were mostly in SUVs for the most part – were  split across the multiple lane highway that led from the large international airport to KL. The airport had been moved in the ‘90s, over two decades ago but was still quite a drive away from the heart of the city; which was why many used the train to access it.

However, that didn’t stop the highways from being jammed, even late at night when the group had arrived. The cars were moving in a fast convoy, all of them all too aware that they were presenting a large and tempting target, if their enemies were foolish enough to try them.

A sharp gesture from Arthur had Mel continue, though he had read these reports on the way in. What he was listening for, as Casey sat beside him, was the things that the dry reports might have missed.

“Mostly, it was the kind of harassment you’d expect – beatings, threats. One of our students fought back, managed to hurt one of the groups and it… escalated. They put him in the hospital, and his friend’s from the class decided that wouldn’t stand. They found the gangsters who started the fight and started a fight in the restaurant – and one of our students died.”

“Stabbed in the heart, right?” Arthur said, coldly.

“Yes. We think it was nerves ah but…” Mel shrugged. “It also no matter. Your Tsifu tried to calm them all but too many newcomers. Next time the idiots tried to harass us at the transit station, the newbies fought back. Had a bunch of sticks and even a parang. Two in the hospital, satu morgue. The rest ran away, but the polis…”

“They weren’t happy,” Arthur said.

“We had to pull people back, cancel some of the classes. The media came in, harassed us,” Mel said, darkly. “Talked a lot of shit. All paid off, of course but… a bunch of people quit lah.”

“Because that kind of reputation and reality isn’t for everyone,” Arthur said. “I saw our rejections went up? Eric said something about a lot of unsuitable new people?”

“Ya lah.” Mel grimaced. “All kinds of people, thinking the wrong kind of thing, you know?”

Casey grimaced. “That’s not even the worse of it. We can sort those out, for the most part. Though we had to add extra background checks…”

“What’s the worst?” Arthur asked.

“The TG group started going after Clan families,” Casey said. “Specifically, they went after many of the ex-White Lotuses.”

Arthur frowned. “The women?”

“Yes. Family members, ex- or current husbands – or exes. Estranged children, old bosses, ‘friends’” she did the air quotes thing when she said that word, “and all that kind. You know the Lotuses…” Mel eyes narrowed, but Casey went on blithely, “they’re all vulnerable. Most went in because that was their best way out, and some of those coming out, well… they came out thinking they were stronger than they were.”

“And some are,” Mel hissed. “We’ve got counselors talking to them.”

“Yeah, but some crumbled,” Casey said.

“Only two!”

“And left and told them everything going on.”

Arthur held a hand up. “It doesn’t matter.” At the look Casey gave him, he shrugged. “It really doesn’t. There’s nothing they learnt from those outside that probably wouldn’t have leaked eventually. And we’re growing so fast, their information on the benefits is probably a little old anyway.”

Casey huffed but nodded. “It’s the ones not coming out that are more a problem anyway.”

“How are they a problem?” Now Arthur was confused.

“Their children and husbands and family – they’re throwing nonsense cases at us. Declaring us responsible for keeping them out.” Arthur frowned as Casey added. “Some of them, we’re not even sure belong to us but they’re declaring we’re responsible. It’s all getting thrown out, but they’re doing it in both Shariah and judicial courts, all across the country.”

“So that’s costing us money to defend.” At her nod, Arthur grimaced. “What can we do?”

“Kerajaan. We need the Menteri to put a ban on these kinds of lawsuits. Otherwise, they’ll keep paying people to sue us. We have counter-sued a few times, but those courts are slow and it’ll take years before those results come in and scare away the fools.” Casey grimaced. “Also, the people who are being used… some of them are too stupid to know better, too poor to care or are actually, genuinely, grief stricken. I don’t like…well…”

“You don’t like suing sad parents and loss children?” Arthur murmured.

“Yes. You shouldn’t either.”

“I’m not doing any-… Oh, I am, aren’t I?”

“As Clan Head, yes.”

“Right. Call to the Menteri immediately, then.” He made a firm nod gesture. It was stupid, and something like this should have – was, in fact – very clear case law. Clans and Guilds could not be held liable for individuals entering a Tower or what happened within. That the TG Group was trying to weaponize other people’s emotions though… That pissed Arthur right off. “What else?”

“More fights. Many of our students have stopped going out as much,” Mel said. “If they are seen by any of the gangs, they start a fight.”

“And the police are…”

“Not helping us. They’re either looking away or doing their job.” At his look, she raised a finger. “Which means everyone is getting thrown into jail. If our people are in jail…”

“I saw the notes. Some of them get beaten up inside there, before we can have them isolated,” Arthur said. Bad news, all around. He considered for a moment, nodded to himself. “Get Uswah and Leia to meet with the local cops around our place. Their boss and the Sargents. We bribe them, to take better care of our people. Let them know that if they do, they’ll get paid. Nothing that breaks the law, just do their jobs properly. Then we keep our people close, tell them to stay in.”

“How about those who have to travel?”

“Housing,” Arthur said, firmly. “We hire or get housing, local. If we have to, we buy some apartment buildings.”

“Ada duit tak?” Mel said, surprised.

“I have a few enchanted items, so does the main team. We can sell them, put up an auction and get them sorted.” He tapped his fingers, thinking. “In fact, the first batch from Bangladesh should be arriving soon, no? If we put that along with some crystals and other mats together, we can host an actual auction.”

“An auction?” Casey said, surprised. “But your deal with us…”

“Gets repaid in cash. ROI now. Nothing we have is that great, but it’s good money,” Arthur said, thinking fast. “You can bid publicly too, but get a backend discount. Same with the MacKenzie’s.”

“Why would we…”

“Because we need the money,” Arthur snapped. “We need to get the Clan on more stable footing, unless you want us to keep drawing on your funds. We have a lot of cores now, now that money is coming out; and we can sell contracts for more too. It’ll also give us legitimacy, which will help.”

“And a target.”

Arthur grinned, savagely. “Exactly. Now, what we’re going to do-”

Before he could finish that sentence, something made him twist to the side. He saw the end of the vehicle, rushing up their side moments before it hit them, the other SUV sideswiping theirs and sending it spinning.

 

Chapter 545

 

Arthur managed to keep his head from snapping too far sideways, as their car was put into a tailspin. It spun around and around, the screech of rubber tires on concrete and the impact of metal and plastic ringing through his ears. His tongue was clipped a little, surprised as he had been and about to speak, such that it smarted. Thankfully, not broken…

“What-?” Casey asked.

Their driver, some professional hired for the purpose managed to get their vehicle back in order, his foot coming off the brake long enough for them to readjust. However, his instinct at this point was the wrong one, as he tapped on the brake again intending to pull over.

“Don’t~!” Arthur snarled, before another impact. This one came from directly behind, throwing his hand forwards as the sound of a heavy crunch from behind echoed. His body was jerked to a stop as the seatbelts triggered and this time around, the airbags in front exploded. It caught the driver in the face, even as he slammed hard on the brake and also hit Jan who had been sat there.

Arthur cursed, as the sound of horns and mayhem echoed through the surroundings. More impacts echoing all about, as other vehicles were hit. Then, to his surprise, something he had not expected to hear – the noise of an explosion.

Heart lurching, he stopped worrying about others and tore the seatbelt off himself. The plastic housing around the metal buckle just gave way as he surged out of the vehicle, throwing the twisted door open to step out, even as Casey struggled with her own.

Outside, Arthur took in the surroundings, the kris he always carried drawn and hanging low. Not far away, two more vehicles were tangled up, his team clambering out from it now. Directly behind his own exited vehicle was the one that had smashed into them, a quartet of fgures clambering out, all of them carrying weapons. Long-barreled weapons.

Arthur stopped trying to take in the surroundings and moved, even as he sensed the flames behind him from the explosion. He hoped people were okay, that no one was injured badly but he had no time to check on them.

Foot leading the way, he contacted the door and slammed it back into the passenger that had stepped out, a rifle halfway raised. Bullets sparked off the ground, but before the man could take further action, Arthur stepped clear and plunged the kris into their neck. The cursed weapon swept through the human, killing them almost immediately – if the blood loss hadn’t anyway.

At the same time, a newly formed Energy Dart shot outwards, caught the matchette wielding woman in the chest and threw her back. She clutched her chest, ribs broken even as Arthur kept adding to the halo around him.

One hand on the big sedan’s roof was all he needed to lever himself upwards as he leapt over the vehicle, throwing his foot into the other on the side. That got him on the other side where another Energy Dart helped injure and lay low his opponent, even as he noted more idiots piling out of a van not far away.

Idiots with machine guns…

Arthur cursed, throwing himself down to the ground and scrambling for cover as the vehicles at the back of the pileup were sprayed down. Friend or foe, it seemed matter little to those in the van, as bullets struck and tore through thin metal cladding. Arthur heard cries of pain and surprise, and then just as quickly as it started it was over.

Having learnt his lesson in the Tower, Arthur popped his head up, noted how many of the gangsters were slapping at their guns, or in a few cases, trying to reload them. Slowly, clumsily, and he was not about to give them time to organize. Hopefully they did not have that many bullets, but the mixed-race group – Indians and Austronesian individuals for the most part – were at least smart enough to start spreading out.

Arthur released the five Energy Darts he had formed, one after the other to strike at his opponents. Four of them hit, one missed as the man threw himself to the ground. The back car saw another of the Clan members struggle out, clutching a broken arm as he kicked – literally – the shit out of the people who had attacked them.

Finally, given a moment, Arthur turned to where the explosion come from, only to see a vehicle burning. His eyes widened, fear racing through him as shadows reached out and tore the doors off the vehicle and a man, huge and burnt, staggered out, still aflame.

Before he could react, Jan was sprinting across the distance. Her hand flashed forwards, the flame that had been blowing suddenly pushed forward. Towards a group that Arthur had not even spotted, a giant blowtorch turned on the group fueled by the gasoline in the vehicle itself.

“Wah…!” Arthur said, surprised.

Then, he tore his attention away. Casey was rushing by him, though Lam Kor had managed to exit the back vehicle, coming out of the door and was amidst the van group too. Arthur nodded to himself, then dropped low, creeping across cover as he stretched his senses out.

Best not to make himself a target, not when they had a tendency to use snipers. So long as they did not get a good bead on him or have more high explosives in play though, this ambush was done. The only question was, why they felt the need to escalate to this level.

 

Chapter 546

 

Arthur stared at the battleground that had become of the highway, the slow crawl of traffic on the other side. It was not as bad as it could have been – automatic traffic diversion patterns for e-taxis and linked vehicles meant that many were headed for the old Federal Highway and were skipping the mess here. More than that, there were just fewer drivers on the road – no one could afford to travel that often, not unless one were one of the lucky few at least.

A good thing, since it had taken nearly a half-hour for the first of the police to arrive, a couple of bike policemen coming screaming in only to stop and stare at the mess. Not long after, the rest of the scrambled police team and special squads started arriving – from both ends of the highway. Even a helicopter had briefly made its presence known before everything was cordoned off and interviews and interrogations had begun.

Eight vehicles smashed or torn apart, others abandoned by the side of the road – either because they had disgorged their passengers or their drivers had left – or were currently being attended to by the surviving Climbers who were mobile.

There were a few Climbers – unaffiliated – standing watch from the direction of the airport, though they stayed far away from the group gathered in the center of the mess. Gathered there were the Durians, many nursing injuries and either actively healing or waiting for the passives to contain the wounds that they had picked up.

Jan sat beside Yao Jing, offering him sips from her drink as she stroked his head, ignoring the wounds and the burnt flesh that crisped and fell off. It kept drying and flaking off, as the flesh beneath visibly writhed as the big man worked the active technique. Tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes, mixing with the clear fluids and blood from his wounds, but beyond the occasional grunt, he managed to bear the pain.

“That looks painful…” Casey muttered, standing beside Arthur.

“It very much would be,” Arthur said. “Steel Skin kept all his limbs intact when they exploded the vehicle – luckily, it hit the side and front – but that meant…” He blinked, frowned.

“You loss one.”

“Yeah.” And didn’t even know their name. One of the newer Climbers, recruited inside the Tower without him and managing to get out fast too. It was a D something… Darren? Dave? Daniel? No, something less obviously western.  “Any news when we’re going to be allowed to go?”

“They’re still interviewing some of our people,” Casey said, gesturing to where Leia and Mel were in the midst of a conversation on one side and another two were being interrogated on the other. “Chances are, they’re going to want to take you back too.”

“Why me?” Arthur grumbled.

“You did kill the most,” Casey pointed out.

“That wasn’t…”

“I know.” Casey tilted her head to the side. “You’ve changed, though.”

“I have?”

“You were dangerous, but in the last year… you’ve grown colder. Maybe it’s the Yin Body, maybe it’s the pressure or attempts on yourl ife, but you didn’t hesitate.” She grimaced. “At least you didn’t explode them.”

“Too many friends around,” Arthur said, eyes narrowing. “But I think I need a stealth technique or two. Probably something that darkens the surroundings.”

Casey turned, poked at his arm where he had been nicked. The dried blood flaked off, coming away easily as she continued. “You don’t know your people, not really. You’re strong – I almost feel like you could have taken the entire group on by yourself.”

“They had guns.”

“Almost,” Casey said. “You’re going for an Intermediate tower too. And are planning bait to draw your opponents out. You even…” She looked around, searching and couldn’t find Uswah. The woman had disappeared at some point rather than talk with the police. “well, maybe we can discuss that later. You’ve grown more like my family.”

“I’m just doing what I have to,” Arthur said, defensively.

“Good. That’s good. I just…” She hesitated, looked at Arthur, exhaled. “I thought I could keep up with you. In the Towers, outside. Maybe out here, I can be of use. But you don’t seem to care about the risks. You almost seem to enjoy climbing them. Doing the quests. Learning new techniques, growing stronger…”

“Why wouldn’t I be happy growing stronger?” Arthur said, confused.

“It’s not growing stronger, it’s the rate you’re going. You don’t stop,” she gestured. “You complain about not dating, when you have a moment; but you barely pay attention to your socials. Or meeting others. It’s like a performance you’re doing, or old habits that you forgot why you did them.”

“Pretty sure I know why I like women…” Arthur said.

“But you like climbing more. You care more about the Clan and its growth than your social life.”

“What’s your point?” Arthur snapped, tired of being questioned. He knew he was sacrificing things, his time, his youth, his efforts. He didn’t mind, too much, especially because he felt less the need with his Yin Body running, but still…

“I can’t do the same as you.” Casey sighed. “I have responsibilities. My family has me on dinners. Lunches. Trying to find me a match…” She sighed. “I have to do paperwork, watch over the business. Make sure we get the most out of the Clan.” She tilted her head to the side, looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. “You know they suggested we…”

“I bet,” he said dryly. “You never tried.”

“I convinced them it wouldn’t work because of your Yin Body.” Arthur rolled his eyes, and she grinned before continuing. “But I can’t keep trying to climb with you. When you go into the Intermediate Tower, I won’t be with you.”

“I get that,” Arthur said. “I never…”

“But I don’t – I can’t – have you abandon us. Forget that we helped you.”

“I would never!”

“Really?” She looked to where Yao Jing and Jan were, then around them. “Because you’ve changed already.”

“That’s the human condition.”

“And Climber too.”

Arthur exhaled, closed his eyes, then opened them. His voice dropped, grew colder. “You are right, you’ve risked a lot. But I’m no fool, I’m no venture capital fund running around stealing from the future. You gave us a start, made sure we could grow. That’ll always be remembered.” A slight pause, then he added. “Your importance might diminish, but it will not be forgotten.”

“You know, if my family heard you say that…” Casey muttered, head bowed.

“It could lead to problems, yes.” He raised a hand, stared at it. “But we’re at a weird point now. I’m about to join an Intermediate Tower. Once I’m there, what I need from you all will drop. The Clan will need help, always; but me?” A shrug. “And once I emerge, the people coming for people, for us will increase. So…”

“I thought it’d be slower, you know. That we could control you more… grow with you.”

“I figured,” Arthur chuckled. “Funnily enough, I don’t think I thought of it much myself.”

Before she could reply to that, one of the Inspectors started walking over and Arthur straightened. Time to answer more questions and hopefully, finally, get his people out of here. Thankfully, thanks to their constitution, those that survived the initial attack were well on their way to healing.

It was just the dead that weren’t going to be leaving here.