Heretical Fishing

Book 3: Chapter 72: Trust

I watched as Rocky took a deep drag, holding it in as he gazed down at Snips. Though not an expert on crab anatomy, I was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to have lungs. I shook my head at the smell; it was definitely tobacco. When he exhaled, a colossal cloud of smoke flew from his mouth. It billowed over the darkened field, lit from within as it surrounded the flaming form of the king.

Rocky’s arrival had temporarily hit the man’s reset button, but being surrounded by smoke snapped him out of it. His body flared, burning the smoke away. Despite having the appearance of a mindless elemental, incandescent fury spewed from his core, almost as repugnant as his sickly chi. He pulled his fist back again and gathered power, his connection to the source of corrupt chi growing stronger.

It took much less time to charge up this aircraft-carrier sized blast.

As the inferno raged forward, racing across the battlefield toward Rocky, I held my breath. He’d dismantled it once, but had it been a fluke? Was Rocky incapable of weathering multiple hits? The deviant crab scuttled forward, stepping into the space between his beloved Snips and the flames. Again, he sucked it in with ease, the lines covering his body going so bright that they illuminated the area when the fire was extinguished.

This time, it wasn’t only the sickly chi that he expelled from his core. Rocky sent a great gout of flame tearing over the battlefield. It contained the same power as the king’s, but the essence was condensed, making it burn significantly hotter. The attack flowed over the king and into the base of the mountain behind him, drilling a hole into the earth. When the last of the chi dispersed, all I could do was raise an eyebrow at the carnage.

A trench had formed in a straight line from Rocky and past the king, its base covered in what looked like molten slag. If the old version of the crab had wielded such power, I might have launched him into the sun for the wellbeing of every life on this planet. He wasn’t the same crab, though. The hint of human that had been within him as I flung him over the ocean was nowhere to be seen. Instead of paranoid and self-aggrandizing, he felt as stalwart and reliable as the rest of my animal pals. Whatever had happened to him, Rocky was truly a changed man.

Er, crab, I amended in my head.

See? the echoes within the network gloated, radiating vindication. Trust.

They grabbed my hand and urged me downward, but I told them to wait, pausing to consider.

On the surface, it seemed like the king had met his perfect match in Rocky, but that wasn’t necessarily the case. The deviant crab could absorb his strongest attacks, sure, but the king’s connection with the corrupted source grew by the minute. That underground tunnel was growing wider, ever more essence flowing through it. If I let the spirits lead me away, what if I was gone for too long? What if the king became a force too strong for even Rocky to handle?

The network reached out, and I already knew what it was going to say.

“He knows,” Maria said, letting out a small laugh and squeezing my hand. “Trust. He heard you the first time.”

The echoes seemed to narrow their collective eyes at her. Yes, they sent with a pout, Claws’s personality once more shining through. Trust.

I laughed, shaking my head as the king fired off another wall of flame. “Okay. Let’s go.”

I gave Maria’s hand a squeeze in parting, then allowed myself to be drawn below. I passed different layers of soil on my way down, slowly settling within one of the giant, chi-filled ropes that comprised the network. Though I could still see the battle in my mind’s eye, it was different. Before, it was like physically being there, my senses absorbing sights, smells, and even temperature. Now... It was like viewing the battle on a screen. I could still feel the aura radiating from the cores of every cultivator and spirit beast, but that was all.

Rocky absorbed another fire blast, his body filling with chi before expelling a torrent of flame at the king. The monarch’s attack had been stronger than before, but Rocky easily handled it, filling me with a sense of calm. Suddenly, the mesh I was within forced my vision onto itself. I didn’t understand... until I saw the tendrils of chi shooting up from below. There was one for each of my pals and Maria, the invisible vines slowly attaching to their cores.

All at once, their awareness was there beside me. Realization washed over them, the echoes’ memories rejoining with their own. Terror reigned in more than a few hearts when they first arrived, but it swiftly bled away. The strength of our bond soothed any lingering doubt, bringing us to a place of understanding.

In that serene mindset, something monolithic appeared in our midst. Despite never having felt it before, I immediately recognized it as an aspect of the network that we were within. It wasn’t quite a sapient bring, but... a shadow of one? The possibility of one? It continued forming, rising from so far down that it may as well have been the planet’s core. We had some big personalities among us, but compared to the mountain of potential still climbing, we were ants.

It was, to my astonishment, almost within my grasp. This ancient thing’s power, older than I could even fathom, was on offer... If only I could satisfy whatever requirements it demanded.

Lacking the subtlety of the polite urging my friends’ echoes had used, the monolith forced my vision inward, my awareness sent spiraling down into my own consciousness. It was trying to show me something.

My life on Earth, I realized.

It zoomed by at mind-bending speed, sharing my experiences with those connected to me. When we’d been in the sky, I’d shared visions of my life as a CEO. Of my relationship with my parents and the turmoil it had wrought. This wasn’t just snippets; it was a recounting of everything.

With their emotions soothing me, I felt neither pain nor despair. I saw it with complete clarity. When the timeline reached my encounter with Truck-kun, we snapped back to the present. I expected a moment of rest, one that I could use to search for the truth I needed to find.

No such luck. We were immediately catapulted into different memories, the scenes flashing by like the saddest montage ever.

It started with the times I’d lied to myself about everything being okay, culminating in my accidental obliteration of a tree when Maria and I were camping. Next, it was my avoidance of Maria. Each time I’d pushed her away, terrified of the idea that I would ascend to the heavens and she would stay behind, choosing her life on Kallis over eternity with me. As expected, that chapter ended with my breakthrough atop the sands, where I’d finally admitted the truth to myself and blasted a crater in the shore.

When the next act arrived, I instinctively knew it was the last. Each flash was a time I’d rejected leadership, both within my mind and externally to Roger and Barry. When the visions came to an end, the moment seemed to drag, signifying that, unlike the other two acts, there wasn’t yet a conclusion. Again, before I could ponder overlong, we were skull dragged elsewhere.

Barry’s recent breakthrough. The first time I’d experienced it, I had been aware of his internal state and the doubt that wracked him. As I witnessed it again, this time from his point-of-view, it was like holding up a mirror to my own subconscious.

Back on Earth, my time leading my father’s empire had been an utter failure. When presented with the choice of doing right by a business or its employees, I chose the employees every time. And I didn’t regret it. Not one bit. There were consequences, of course. I’d been ousted from the corporations, my actions deemed ‘problematic’ by shareholders. It had sent me on a downward spiral, one that made me question... well, everything.

After arriving in Tropica, I’d told myself that I didn’t want to take up the mantle of leadership because I wanted to live an idyllic life, one where I could just spend every day fishing and exploring, surrounded by good company and a certain freckled cutie. It was the easiest kind of lie—one that wasn’t a lie at all. Of course I wanted those things for myself. I’d have to be mad to choose responsibility and meetings over fishing and sunshine.

But it wasn’t the full truth. It wasn’t what made anxiety harden in my core. How could it be?

The monolith vibrated softly, urging me on.

I was no longer just some random bloke. I didn’t need to sit and deliberate in an office on the fortieth floor, losing hair and sleep because I received backlash from the board. I was absolutely surrounded by capable people, all of which were the equivalent of superheros back on Earth. Unlike fictional characters, though, my friends were real. If I truly wanted, I could just sit on the beach and have any hard decisions brought to me, Maria’s hand in one hand and one of my animal pals under the other. By process of elimination, it wasn’t the fear of responsibility causing me doubt.

The monolith shook, steering me toward Barry’s breakthrough again.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Barry had been concerned about his ego, worried that he was a terrible leader because it was others’ opinions of him he derived his self-worth from. I was similar, yet entirely different. I was terrified that I would make the wrong decision, and those I loved would leave me. Just as the board of directors, some of whom I considered friends, turned their back on me.

It wasn’t just my close circle, either. I was also scared of the average person’s opinion. After the corporation ousted me, my public lambasting had been relentless. Overnight, I had gone from a respected business prodigy to just another nepo baby that tried to nose-dive their predecessor’s empire. The media had dragged me for months, making the derisive voices inescapable.

It was weird looking back on it, because I truly didn’t give a shit about the position anymore. Leaving ‘business’ behind had led me on a path of self-discovery, and I’d come out on the other side happier than I could have ever imagined. I thought I had conquered my past, not caring about the perceived betrayal and the public derision.

Apparently, I was wrong. It had left a web of trauma, one that my subconscious was trying to protect me from experiencing again. I imagined a black bubble of self-doubt in my mind, anchors extending from its body and locking it in place.

The monolith shuddered, my surroundings seeming to move with it. I was close now. I was almost there.

Trust, the network sent as a feeling, its gigantic body incapable of speech. TRUST!

With that final word, realization bloomed like a wildflower.

I needed to trust my friends. I needed to believe in the family I had formed. Pulses of affection came along the ropes that connected us, telling me that their love wasn’t conditional. They weren’t empty reassurances. Far from it. They were warm, glowing truths, each a declaration that shone brighter than the midday sun.

More, the network demanded.

I needed to believe in my instincts. I needed to have confidence in the decisions I made as a leader, because no matter what, my friends—my family—had my back.

They all sent affirmation, agreeing.

And public sentiment? It could get fracked. As with Barry, the opinions of others might hurt. No one wants to be a public punching bag. But who cared? I’d prefer to be liked—I was only human, after all—but as long as I had my circle around me, others’ opinions of me were an afterthought.

Now that I realized what had been plaguing me, it seemed so obvious that I wanted to laugh. A sense of inevitability set in, the monolithic presence leaning in and oozing anticipation.

I opened my eyes in the real world, clearing my throat. I took a deep breath, prepared myself for what was about to occur, and spoke the words.

“I need to trust myself and those I love.”

I intended for only Maria and me to hear it. Instead, the network below seemed to scream the words, throwing them over every bit of land it stretched beneath. The ground shook, and this time, it wasn’t metaphorical. Still connected to the network, I felt the shift. Starting right in the center where the monolith had stood, a single mote of light appeared. One became ten, and ten became a hundred, the spread exponential as each branching section became illuminated. A moment later, the light left its confines. It radiated up through the earth and breached the surface.

Radiating brilliant beams of white from our bodies, Maria and I looked at each other, twin smiles crossing our faces as we realized the extent of the network’s power. Though we both shone with light, mine was twice as bright as hers.

“Wow,” she said, squinting at me. “I knew our futures were bright, but damn.”

I barked a laugh as she covered her mouth and let out an intoxicating giggle. “Are you ready?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Come on,” I said, extending my hand.

She laced her fingers with mine, and hand in hand, we flexed our will and moved to the battlefield in a silent flash of light, the network’s vast power transporting us. It wasn’t anything like Borks’s ability. There was no portal to step through—no expenditure of chi to facilitate the transfer of our bodies. We simply appeared.

Hovering ten meters above the ground, we shone like incandescent stars. As fast as we had come, our animal pals joined us in the sky, every spirit beast except Rocky floating up to stand in midair. Each of them, and also the ground, shone with the same light as Maria. We turned to face the east, wanting to see the transformation we could sense coming.

“Hey, uh, Fischer?” someone called from below.

“What’s up, Barry?” I replied, glancing down.

“Uh, yeah, I was just curious—it was you that yelled about trusting yourself and those you love earlier, right? And what’s up with the whole—”

“Why are you glowing like Apollo’s shiny sphincter?” Deklan demanded, cutting him off.

“Oh, that? Long story.”

“Fischer...” an inhuman voice growled. I spun, finding the king blazing with heat and rage. Both his arms were held behind him, gathering power in what was likely going to be some kind of double-punch move.

“Oh. My bad.” I pinched two fingers together, raising a solid wall of the network’s light across the tunnel that channeled corruption into him. “I forgot you were there, mate. Give us a moment, yeah?”

He fell to his knees, his fire dwindling as his source of power vanished.

The change was almost here, the network’s chi condensing beneath Tropica at an increased rate. I focused on the defenders below and raised a single hand. As I did so, pillars of light lifted each of them to the same height as us. I brought Rocky over to stand by Snips, and the deviant crab gave me a thankful nod.

With my other hand, I grasped toward Tropica and pulled it toward us. The reservists that had retreated came flying on wisps of chi, and I deposited them atop the light next to the other defenders, smiling at their wonderment. With one more flick of my wrist, I collected the two alchemists. They’d retreated far away into the forest from the king’s chi, but despite Francis’s constant suggestion of fleeing Tropica for good, Solomon had remained.

I placed them next to Barry, who gave the two men an appreciative nod, then looked at the ground, peering past his ridiculously muscular chest. “So, Fischer, what are we doing up—”

“Look at Tropica, mate.” I replied, cutting him off. “It’s about to happen.”

As if my words were the permission it was waiting for, the world transformed. Tropica’s buildings morphed into light, shifting around to make room for the energy approaching from the southwest. As tendrils of incandescence, the buildings of New Tropica flowed into the village. Everything twisted this way and that, seeking the correct configuration. I worried about the prisoners for a moment, those that had been confined back in New Tropica, but I felt them before me, being transported safely to the new village.

When the buildings had decided on their places in the world, they grew. Some gained new floors. Others acquired basements, new rooms, and even balconies, the powerful network somehow knowing what each construction needed. It was all over in a matter of moments. Happy with its work, the network’s light solidified once more, locking each building into place.

As the glow receded and I caught sight of Tropica’s new layout, I let out a soft whistle. “Hot damn. Now that’s a village worthy of a fantasy world.”

It wasn’t just the functionality of the buildings that had been improved. Each was a unique piece of art, possessing little flares and flourishes that distinguished them from the others. A decorative beam here, an elaborate cornice there—so much had changed that I wondered how many months it would have taken to do it ourselves. Though the additions were prevalent, they were neither gaudy nor overbearing. The touches were delicate, somehow making the entire village seem like a cohesive piece.

I could have looked at it for hours; the world had other plans.

In an instant, the light flowed back underground, depositing us back on the packed earth and taking part of my awareness further beneath it. I dissociated from my body, watching the network as it drew uncountable strands of chi into the center of its mass. The ball condensed in stages, each taking only a fraction of a second. Then, just when I thought it could get no smaller, the underground star exploded.

The resulting blast was anything but destructive. The power rushing past me made a sense of joy and contentment flood every part of my awareness. I smiled at everyone around me. It was the purest of chi, a concentrated version of the world’s. And it was spreading.

It didn’t stop at the edge of the network’s outer reaches, not even slowing a little in its expansion. In my mind’s eye, I tried to comprehend the scope of it, tried to imagine just how far it would reach. Sensing my attempt, the network jumped in, dragging my awareness away to soar over the land. So high that I could see the planet’s curve, I was reminded of the time I saw Lemon’s memories and was shown leagues of cultivator-made destruction.

The landscape below me had been transformed since then. Hints of the millennia-old scars remained on the planet’s surface, but they had been reclaimed by nature. Craters became valleys, upturned bedrock became mountains, and long gouges became riverbeds. Everywhere I could see, life had won. And the bubble of condensed chi still expanding from the network seemed to bolster it.

Leaves looked greener, water looked bluer, and the very land hummed in satisfaction. Chi had returned to this little part of the world, and might just return to all of it, given time. I glanced down, seeing my friends, their posture unbelieving as they felt how the world was supposed to feel. How it had felt thousands of years ago before the gods fled. I beamed down at them, my contentment overwhelming.

Before returning to my body, I sought the thing I’d felt underground, the guiding force that had helped build the network. There was nothing, not even a whisper remaining of that monolithic presence.

Shrugging, I opened my eyes—only to be met with an absolute wall of text.

You have successfully taken part in a crafting ritual!

Quest complete: Group Project.

Objective: You have discovered the importance of crafting as a group! Complete 4 crafting rituals within the territory of Tropica.

Progress: 4/4

Reward: Upgrade Tropica Village from Tier 2 to Tier 1.

Tropica has evolved!

Domain has evolved!

Effect: 40% Suppression, 40% Bolstering, 40% Growth, 500% Range.

Evolution: All effects doubled.

Warning! Foreign Domain detected.

...

Foreign Domain has been destroyed.

New Quest: In Defense of Tropica Village.

Objective: Tropica Village has become a Tier 1 Village. The evolution brings many benefits, which others will yearn for. Defend Tropica against 10 external threats.

Progress: 0/10.

Reward: Variable.

New Quest: Hidden Knowledge

Objective: Because of the combined efforts of Tropica Village, chi has returned to part of the world. Discover 3 long-forgotten secrets.

Progress: 0/3.

Reward: A History of the Kallis Wars, Seventh Edition.