Chapter 23 - Steel Meridian
Cultivation manuals described meridian breakthroughs with phrases like “opening rivers within the body.”
Mason decided cultivation manuals were written by people who hated honesty.
It felt like rebar being pushed through his nerves.
Six new qi channels opened at once.
Scrap Qi rushed through his shoulders, spine, hips, and legs.
Silas Crowe’s earth technique collapsed the floor.
Mason fell knee-deep into shattered concrete.
Then his new meridians locked into place.
[REALM ADVANCEMENT]
STEEL MERIDIAN — FIRST VEIN
STRENGTH +7
ENDURANCE +7
CONTROL +5
PERCEPTION +3
SCRAP QI: 80/80
TRAIT SLOTS: 12
[NEW PASSIVE: LOAD PATH]
Automatically distribute external force through connected structural surfaces.
Crowe closed his fist.
The concrete around Mason crushed inward.
Load Path activated.
Pressure traveled through Mason’s legs into the floor, through broken rebar, across the foundation, into River Furnace’s massive supports.
The structure absorbed the force.
Mason remained standing.
Crowe’s eyebrows rose.
“Interesting.”
Mason groaned.
“Rich cultivators keep saying that right before ruining my week.”
Crowe attacked again.
A spear of concrete erupted from the floor.
Tessa cut it apart with a silver arc from her welding torch, which Mason had learned was not technically a welding torch anymore.
She landed beside him.
“You’re welcome.”
“Still billing me?”
“Premium rate.”
Ward activated the furnace.
Golden chains of Reclaimer script rose from the floor and wrapped around Crowe’s legs.
The old man shouted, “Mason! His authority is linked to ownership documents!”
“What does that mean?”
“He can command ground his organization legally controls!”
Mason stared.
“Cultivation has property law?”
“Everything terrible eventually develops paperwork!”
That made sense.
Crowe shattered the golden chains.
Mason opened his interface over the foundry.
[LAND CLAIM]
OWNER OF RECORD: ASHEN CROWN URBAN RENEWAL LLC
BENEFICIAL CONTROL: FOUNDRY COUNCIL
[RECLAIMER DISPUTE AVAILABLE]
Mason smiled.
He had repaired the furnace.
Claimed the workshop.
Restored five local anchors.
The Council had intentionally abandoned multiple properties for tax purposes before reacquiring them through shell companies.
The system loved technicalities almost as much as Logan did.
[DISPUTE GROUNDS: INTENTIONAL ABANDONMENT / FRAUDULENT CLAIM / HOSTILE EXTRACTION]
Mason selected all three.
Crowe’s earth technique flickered.
“What did you do?”
“Filed a complaint.”
The man stared.
“With whom?”
Mason looked at the system.
“Apparently reality.”
The ground beneath Crowe stopped obeying him.
For three seconds.
That was enough.
Tessa struck his ribs with a silver qi blade.
Ward activated a furnace pulse.
Mason swung Argument Ender directly into the Council chairman’s defensive earth armor.
STRUCTURAL DISAGREEMENT.
The armor remembered being loose gravel.
It collapsed.
Crowe flew backward through the wall he had entered.
Outside, Council cultivators rushed toward him.
He stood.
Blood touched the corner of his mouth.
Mason had not beaten him.
Not even close.
But he had made him bleed.
Crowe looked through the hole in the wall.
His expression held no anger now.
Only calculation.
“The district is yours for tonight.”
Mason frowned.
“For tonight?”
Crowe smiled.
“You believe this was a harvest.”
Ward’s face changed.
Crowe continued.
“It was an audit.”
Then every Council vehicle withdrew.
The hostile formation shut down.
The district went quiet.
Mason looked at Ward.
“What was he auditing?”
Ward stared at the glowing furnace.
“You.”
---
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