The Phoenix [Cultivation, Reincarnation, Tower Climber]

"What happened?" asks Nadia, her expression serious.

"I was out on a Quest, and I got followed by a group of men with spears. They surrounded me and told me to sign this contract or die."

I pull out the contract from my pocket. I'm glad I managed to retrieve it. It's a bit crumpled from having spent weeks at the bottom of my travel sack, but it's still readable. Nadia snatches it from me and reads through it, frowning.

"This…" she says. "Since you have it and it's not signed, that means you managed to escape. Who was it? Can you describe them?"

"I don't remember that clearly," I say. "But the leader was a fresh 2 star. His foundation was still a bit unstable. The rest were Late or Peak 1 star. They all had spears made completely out of metal, head and shaft."

"I don't know anyone by that description," she says. "And based on this contract… I don't think this was done by our Shin family."

"What do you mean? Does it not say Shin family on the contract?"

"It does…" she says. "But it's too sloppy. Are you aware of the current situation in the Shin family?"

"Yes, I think so. With the two main factions and their differing philosophies and the possible extremists in the two factions. Do you need me to go into more detail?"

"No, that's enough. Since you are aware of the situation, let me ask you this: why does the contract simply say 'Shin family' without specifying either faction."

"Oh, that's a good point," I say, putting a hand to my chin.

"Right," she says, nodding. "I wouldn't put it past the more extreme members of my clan to try something like this, but they would at least specify in the contract which side they wanted you to support. And how you would support them. This contract here is incredibly unspecific. Not only does it not specify which side you'd take, but it also doesn't say how. Not that I would ever try this, but if I were doing this, I would at least specify some things that I wanted you to do. Attend public events, maintain a certain image, target members of the other faction, and so on. Y'know?"

"Yes, I see."

Looking at the contract again, she's right. This contract is terrible. It would force me to be loyal to the Shin family, and obey all the Shin family's commands, but with the family split as it is now, that's not helpful. It could easily be turned against whichever faction tried this because I would be obligated to obey commands from both sides. Or, if I was convinced that one side was the "real" Shin family, and the rest were deserters, I would be out of their control entirely. It's way too sloppy to be an official attempt from either faction.

"I think someone was trying to frame us," says Nadia.

"I agree," I say. "But I also disagree. I think it was just a plain assassination attempt on me, and putting the Shin family's name here was insurance."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. If they got an accurate profile on me, they would have known I would never accept a deal like that. They would have known I would reject it, and that they would then have tried to kill me. And with a 2 Star and 5 Late 1 Stars, they would likely assume success, making the whole recruitment charade pointless. However, on the off-chance that I managed to escape, I would only have seen the contract briefly, and seen the Shin family's name on it. When I returned, I would report it, and it would be assumed that it was simply a failed recruitment from some Shin family extremists. The real culprit would never be suspected. But of course, as I said, that's just insurance. The real goal was just to kill me."

"Hmmm, I see," said Nadia. "How did you escape? And with the contract in hand too?"

"I didn't. I killed them."

"You killed them?"

"Yes."

"...Where are the bodies? If you know where they are, we can probably trace this back to whoever sent them."

"Most of them are in the Outlands somewhere," I say with a shrug. "But Trinity has two of them. Though they're pretty gross and decomposed now."

"Can you tell her to bring them out."

"Yes, but she won't listen." I turn to Trinity. "Hey, show Nadia your bodies."

Trinity stares up at me blankly.

"Benny!" calls Nadia.

The monkey poofs into existence on her shoulder. Nadia doesn't say any more words, but a moment later, Benny is on the ground, chittering at Trinity. Trinity glances up at me and I nod, assuming she's looking for permission. A moment later, the leader's body is on the ground, and it reeks. I pull my robes up over my nose to block the scent, but Nadia kneels down and reaches her hand toward the man's decomposing shoulder. The man disappears and Trinity hisses at Nadia. Benny chitters something again, and after another nod from me, Trinity takes the body back out again.

As soon as Nadia's hand touches the body, the body starts healing rapidly, and after less than five seconds, it's back in perfect condition, aside from the fact that it's dead.

"Mraw!" said Trinity happily before taking a bite out of the freshly-restored leg flesh.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Hmm," says Nadia. "I do not recognize this man. He is definitely not a member of the Shin family. Though I haven't spoken to many of them, I know the faces of all the Shin family descendants and sponsorees on the Floor, and he is neither. Most likely a mercenary hired for this job. May I take this?"

She gestures toward the body, and after a moment of contemplation, I shake my head.

"Trinity earned that one. It would have been much harder to kill them if not for her."

"Hmmm," said Nadia. "You said she had another corpse, right?"

"She does, but she earned that one too."

"How about this," she says. "I'll take one of them– it doesn't matter which– and in exchange, I'll restore both of them, and I'll have Benny teach her how to preserve food in her voidspace."

"...Alright. Trinity, bring out the other one."

She doesn't understand, but after a quick translation from Benny, the other corpse disappears, and Nadia restores that as well before the smell can get too bad. Benny says something else, and Trinity jumps on top of the leader's corpse. Benny walks over to the other corpse and touches it, causing it to vanish. The leader's corpse vanishes a moment later, then Trinity walks over to Benny and they both vanish.

"They should be out soon," says Nadia. "Once they're done, I'll look into whoever did this, and I'll let you know as soon as I have an answer."

"Sounds good."

"And you don't have to worry about doing any work on your end. You've already done plenty by killing the perpetrators, and since they decided to frame my family this is my business too. So don't feel obligated to help. This might get dangerous for you."

Well, I was going to let her handle all the work anyway, so cool.

"Alright," I say.

"While we wait, why don't you tell me about how your progress with Trinity is going? Even if you haven't formed that official connection, you seem to be a lot closer to her. You even defended her right to those corpses!"

"I guess…"

Have I gotten closer with her? I mean, I spend pretty much all day every day with her, so even for me it would be hard not to. Would I be sad if she died? Yes.

Dammit.

"How long do void beasts live?"

"Depends on their cultivation, but it's in line with humans," says Nadia with a smile. "You don't have to worry about her dying of old age before you do."

That's a relief.

"So, have you been able to feel the connection at all? In a more literal sense?"

"I have," I reply. "I think we're getting close. I can definitely feel it, and each time we cultivate it gets stronger."

"That's great!" says Nadia, clapping happily. "If it's already at that point, it could happen any day now. I wouldn't expect it to take more than a week! That means that there's a decent chance it happens on the Starter Quest though, so you won't be able to stop by. In that case, I'll give you a few quick lessons on how to use the voidspace at first and some more specific tips and tricks that should tide you over until you get back."

For the next half hour, she gives a mini-lecture on Trinity's voidspace and its ideal uses at this stage. From the sound of it, it will mostly be useful as a storage while we're still 1 star. It will be small and relatively uncontrolled, and Trinity will probably be using most of her focus within the voidspace to keep her snacks from decomposing. I will be able to enter, but I probably won't want to stay too long if I don't have to.

The lecture ends shortly after Trinity and Benny re-emerge from Benny's voidspace, and Trinity jumps back into my arms. Nadia gives Trinity a smile and some chin scritches before her face turns serious again as she looks at me.

"I'll send word to you when I find something," she says. "For now, don't worry about it. They won't make a move in the city. It's too risky. You should watch your back on the Starter Quest though."

"Got it," I say.

"And I guess while you're here, I should extend you a formal, real invitation to join the Shin family. I won't lie and say that we're not interested in recruiting you, nor will I try to convince you that I am neutral in our family's conflict, but I would do my best to keep you out of it. Verbal support is all I would ask of you. You seem to be more interested in combat than healing, in which case we are a much better choice than the Hatep family, and our resources are roughly the same."

"I'll think about it," I say. "But to be honest, after learning more about each of the factions in this Tower, I don't think I'll be joining anyone on this Floor. Maybe not ever. I'm too ignorant."

"Completely fair," she says, nodding. "There's no rush. I won't be there on the higher Floors, but you can take this."

She pulls a small silver badge from her pocket and hands it to me. It's inscribed with a symbol that looks like a mouth stitched shut. Probably representative of the Silent One. I can also sense some complex oum within, too finely laced for me to read properly.

"If you find any other Shin family members that have this symbol anywhere around them, show this token to them and tell them that I, Nadia Shin, have extended to you an offer of Full Support. Make sure you use my name and the words 'full support.' You'll be able to join without issue."

"Thank you," I say.

I don't really have any desire to get involved in this faction war at all, but I bet this token will probably turn out to be useful in some other way.

"Good luck with your Climb," says Nadia. "May you reach your goals."

"May you reach yours."

"When you head out, tell Yuri he can come back in."

"Okay."

"See you later!"

"See you."

Yuri is waiting just outside the door, and as soon as I exit, we make eye contact again. There's a bit of hostility in his glare, but he doesn't say or do anything other than nod. I nod back and turn to walk away.

Now, what else should I do today? I guess I could start stocking up rations for the Starter Quest, since I bet all the new Batches on the Floor will be doing the same, and the prices will go up. But then again, I can just make the others do that. Is there anything specific that I personally need to take care of?

Nah, not really. Guess it's back to the dorms to cultivate.

I am really curious who's trying to kill me though. Whoever it is, they have to have the backing of an Administrator, because otherwise they wouldn't have been able to get a contract that powerful, but I don't know who I would have offended so early. The Axians, maybe? But Handel didn't seem the type to hold a grudge like that. It could still be someone else from his family, I guess.

Maybe it's Organa? I don't know why she'd do it, but maybe she sensed that I didn't like her and had no intention of joining the Hateps, and decided to just get rid of me or something. Nah, that can't be right either. Oh well. I have Nadia looking into it, and she's no doubt wealthier and more well-connected than me. Unless she's behind it, and she's playing a very strange and convoluted game to cover her trail, she should find something. And if she is? Well, I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

As I walk back to Phoenix Hall, Trinity yawns and starts nodding off in my arms. I guess whatever she did with Benny was exhausting, because she was pretty energetic on the way over. I give her a few scratches and lean close to her ear.

"Sleep well," I say. "We're going to be cultivating together a lot soon. Let's see if we can't finish up that connection."