Blood and Qi: A Vampire Xianxia LitRPG

John wasn’t expecting Amber to be in Hubaba’s office. She sat in a large chair with her legs crossed and wore strange clothing. The sight of her made his heart flutter before it was infused with more darkness.

After giving Amber a terse nod, John shook the welcoming hand of Hubaba. The demon was smiling creepily and wearing heavy makeup.

John couldn’t keep from smiling either as he returned his friend’s warm greeting and good cheer.

Surprisingly, Amber rose from her seat and gave John a brief and companionly hug, a small peck on the cheek, and a sad smile.

All three took their seats. Hubaba, from behind the large desk that was too small for the giant demon, said, “It’s good to see you, John. Now, let’s see…”

Hubaba began to cast a manifestation. John was able to unravel it and prevent his own from being unbound. He made all the blood in Hubaba pull the demon out of his chair and onto the ground.

Hubaba got up laughing. “So, you’ve surpassed me in the two things I’m good at. In my defense, I’ve been far too busy running this school to practice at all. I’ve missed you. We’ve both missed you.”

Amber turned her head to look at John and said, “Yeah. It hasn’t been the same without you. I hope we…that we moved past what…all that was said last time we talked. Even though you said some real awful things about me, I…I still hope we can be friends.”

John just nodded. He didn’t want to come off as rude, but he assumed there was a reason Hubaba wanted to see him and why Amber was being nice to him. There’s an emergency, and it’s time to break the glass and let the monster out of the box.

More small talk was made. The sad little smile never left the face of Amber.

“The next invasion is supposed to start soon,” said Hubaba. “We’re hoping it’s closed in time for there to be another invasion after it, before the children and mothers are returned. Terra’s forces are still weak. The average terran is still Wood tier. Petar and the other leaders are only Bronze, though he and Amber and a few others are close to achieving Silver. We need more time to build up, and crystals.

“Oh, President Williams told me to pass along his heartfelt thanks for donating all your profit and share of crystals to the UN. He’s happy you haven’t killed all that many people during your travels and he hopes his speech cleared up the pedophile rumors. And he wanted me to bring you in on something important.

“I know you believe your warning regarding the Peerless has gone unheeded. It hasn’t. Not by me. I’ve been looking into them and warning all who would listen. Have you read their entry in the NCS?”

“I have,” replied John. “They’re a matriarchal society that has three castes – rulers, soldiers, and scientists. All the rulers are women. Tech 1. They control ten or so planets and want to rule this whole sector.”

“Not just Tech 1,” said Hubaba as the demon grabbed a laptop and moved it in front of him. “The NCS said they are rumored to be ‘skeevers,’ common slang used for a race artificially repressing their Tech level. They purposefully ignore a key technology required for Tech 2 to stay Tech 1. They’ll have many technologies considered to be Tech 2, maybe even some Tech 3.”

“What benefits does staying at Tech 1 give them,” asked John.

“Many. Keep in mind I don’t have the NCS so I have to be sent this information, but, as an example, Tech 2s invading Tech 1s is cost prohibitive. The powers in this sector are all Tech 1, so if their aim is conquest, they have no choice but to be skeevers. And if they did advance, they’d open themselves up to attack by Tech 2 civilizations from other sectors.

“But have you asked yourself why they’re interested in Terra? This planet is resource poor. You said agents of the Sector Council claimed the Peerless were invading on the same day the Tree of Life returned to Terra, so the Peerless paid the invasion cost and departed immediately. That was before anyone knew about the world seed, and what besides that would make traveling here worth it?”

“Slaves? To build their empire? A foothold into this area,” replied John.

“Yes and no,” said Hubaba, smiling creepily. “Four days ago, three Peerless ships arrived. The one carrying the matriarch landed. We know what they want. We have no choice but to give it to them.”

John calmed his heart. “We’re not even attempting to fight?”

Amber shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Hubaba smiled even more creepily and said, “They have at least three Transcended with them on the one ship that landed. They don’t have many troops, but the lowest among them is Platinum. Even if they were all Bronze, their tech would allow them to decimate our forces.

“We don’t know the grade of their race, but the NCS states it’s rumored to be decently high. They were the newest Tech 1 race in this sector before Terra was granted that status, and they’ve been adding neighbors into their empire since.

“The ones you dubbed the soldier caste we’ve been calling brutes. Despite the name, on average, they’re very intelligent. The ones you’ve dubbed scientists we’ve named brains, and they’re far more intelligent than the brutes.”

John massaged his temples. “I’m still willing to fight them. Try.”

“That’s a terrible idea,” replied Hubaba. “If they’re attacked, they promised their retribution would be significant. The only option is to give them what they want. Though it hasn’t been made public, they already control this planet. They paid for an invasion and won just by showing up.

“A fourth ship is bringing a new matriarch of a minor house. Once she arrives, she will collect what she came for and depart. The matriarch of the major house is staying. She’ll lead the effort to incorporate terrans into the Peerless ideology and culture.”

“What ideology and culture is that,” asked John.

“The same as stated in the NCS. A strange type of eugenics and veneration of their first and only king, Akua, and the tenets he laid forth before his death. A lot of it is sensible and would appeal to you. They’re very focused on battle and strong warriors. They hope the Sublime will continue with the invasions. They want their new people strengthened. And Terra will be protected by the most powerful force in this sector.”

John looked at Amber. She still had the sad little smile on her face.

“Stretch hasn’t attacked them? And what is the second matriarch collecting,” asked John.

“Stretch tried to attack them. Thankfully, they’re as amazed with the world seed as everyone else so there’ll be no retribution for it. Stretch is fine and completely uninjured. He’ll be freed once it’s all worked out. Amber’s been helping with that.”

“And the second matriarch?”

Hubaba stopped smiling. “Their DNA isn’t too different from terran DNA. As for looks, there’re some key differences, but their females are very appealing to terran males. Their brutes and brains are too different from terrans to generally be appealing to our females. They’re quite taken by Amber. They have no desire whatsoever to use her for soul strengthening.”

“That didn’t answer my question,” said John.

“Us, John,” replied Amber. “People. Whoever they think is extraordinary or can, uh, teach them something. We…we’re going back to their planet to learn the proper ways to…live, I guess. But they…they’re only taking a little over five hundred of us. They’re more interested in any science or technology they don’t have, but they’ve collected a lot of, uh, martial artists and…stuff. It won’t be so bad. And we won’t be alone. I know I feel better knowing you’ll be there. That I’m going with someone I know. A friend.”

John grunted. “I agreed to nothing. This is like the nonsensical social contract I never signed or agreed to. I say we try. I say we at least try. If we don’t, it’s all been for nothing.”

“My friend, that will only hurt you and Terra,” said Hubaba. “You’ll still go, and they’ll destroy a major city of ours in retribution. No one likes this, but it is our reality. They have Exalteds with them. The NCS considers you the ruler of this planet, so even if you weren’t extraordinary, they’d need to hold you as a prisoner for one year anyway. If not, there’ll be war and you’ll have to die. This is the only peaceful way.”

“Please, John,” said Amber. “I don’t want this. I don’t want to leave Earth and travel to another planet. They’re real weird and I’m…I’m real scared. Remember when, uh, before you went to Yemen? What you were thinking about me? You didn’t say it out loud, but I could tell what you were thinking. I’m doing this…going there…to save people. I couldn’t live with myself if a big city was destroyed because I…I refused to go or…or whatever.

“I already hafta kill a guy every year and a half. I hate it so much. I don’t want to kill anyone. Even if they’re bad and deserve it. They had me kill a guy yesterday so I could last through the trip. I know you don’t care, but I really…have…the only thing making this okay for me is that you’re going too. I don’t wanna do this alone. Please.”

John hated that. Her great beauty ate at his resolve. He once again wished ascending to Copper didn’t return his desire. He clamped down on letting his heartstrings be pulled and reminded himself of Amber’s vile plan to betray him.

Amber added, “And you won’t hafta worry about Lilly if you go. If she hasn’t taken a new body, souls can’t leave planets. Even if someone dies in space, they get sucked towards a planet’s gravity. So…please, John. I can’t…”

“I’ll go,” interrupted John. He had no plan of going quietly or peacefully. He had lived too long. He was ready. He wished he could go back to the beginning and tell Munashi that he was correct and had the right idea.

And if a city was destroyed in retribution for John’s actions? Well, the people of his planet said he was a monster. He might as well do something to finally warrant the label. He owed them nothing more. He fought for them, bled for them, gave freely to them. In return, they gave him nothing but disdain and insults.

John waited in a new warehouse. One filled with cots and men. The women were kept separately. Only thirty or so women were going with the Peerless, due to having great beauty and the right genetics.

The women all wore the same outfit as Amber did in Hubaba’s office. Skintight pants with attached high-heeled boots. The top covered just the upper stomach and attached to the pants. A thin strap went over each shoulder and crossed in the back to connect to the bottoms, leaving the back mostly bare. The chest was the only thing covered by separate material as a black sash was wrapped around it.

John knew what the women wore because he saw them running in formation earlier that morning. The men could come and go from their warehouses, but the women were kept under guard and the house they stayed in was not to be approached.

John tried ignoring all the men in his warehouse to plan his attack, but the ones having some martial ability that interested the Peerless congregated together, and he liked most of them. One man, Naoki, knew a similar style of swordsmanship as Munashi and John greatly enjoyed sparring with him.

Neither Petar Kostov nor any of the other cultivation leaders of Earth were present. The Peerless didn’t need humans with a knack for cultivating quickly.

The other men filling the warehouses were not all scientists or engineers. The Peerless wanted all knowledge unique to Earth. They were bringing many people responsible for film and television production, automated manufacturing, inventory and distribution systems, psychology, propaganda, and government intelligence.

Of the Peerless, John had only seen the brute caste.

The brutes were massive – not quite as tall as demon Golds, but wider. Their arms were like tree-trunks, and long, almost touching the ground when they stood up straight. Their legs were also like tree-trunks but looked the right length to fit their massive torsos. Their mouths were cartoonishly wide, as were their massive jaws. Their noses were flat and dark and had extremely large and wide nostrils. Their eyes were small and beady and sharp.

The brutes always looked angry. They had thick brows that were always furrowed, and a large forehead that looked as thick as a bull’s skull. Their ears were small and pointed. If they had hair on their heads it was covered by their helmets.

They wore mechanical suits, but their suits were a mesh of organic and other materials and used like an extension of the body, called bioware, and looked more like armor than the mechanical suits of the demons called mini-mechs. There was something like a metal rucksack on the back of most brutes some of the men thought were jetpacks.

Skin tone varied little between each brute. Most were a shade of pale brown, some slightly darker, some slightly lighter. Some had skin with a metallic sheen, and it was thought that was a type of bioware, like their suits.

Many of the suits had different mixes of colors, but all had some sort of strange bird symbol on the right arm, and a crossed-swords symbol on the left arm. Many had shoulder-mounted turrets or weaponry attached to their arms. Every one of them had a type of rifle slung over their shoulder and a type of melee weapon hanging from their hip. All the weapons were at least slightly different and looked personalized.

Some brutes had a metallic eye, or an arm made out of machinery, things thought to be cyberware, pure machinery called cybernetic tech merged onto or into flesh.

The brutes never talked. They never walked or even moved without a purpose. The brutes guarding the women’s house just stood there, brows furrowed in anger, only their eyes moving. Some of them would have staring contests with John.

Most of the brutes John had seen were Platinum, but he saw many Diamonds and Salts too. Their souls were veiled well, but not in the usual way where the tier was attempted to be masked. There were supposed to be at least three Transcendents somewhere too.

The spaceship was not visible, but some of the men said it had been for half an hour or so the day before when crates were moved off it.

John had learned some more about the culture of the Peerless. Their women were few in numbers, and every woman ruled a house. The men, both brutes and brains, were rewarded in only two ways – sex or sex resulting in fatherhood. And the men were only rewarded for performing great and worthy deeds.

Peerless men didn’t have names and were called by their caste, tier, and rank, such as Brute Six-three for a mid-high Platinum. And there was some sort of title added if the man was a father or a father of multiple children.

Any Peerless failing to perform great and worthy deeds would never breed, and never pass his genetics on to a new generation.

All the Peerless swore to a matriarch and gave absolute loyalty to that woman.

The matriarchs were supposed to be extremely beautiful, but where human women had breasts, they had eight sacs across their chest, and those sacs were where their offspring gestated. They had long and pointed ears and dark noses.

The matriarchs could become pregnant by eight different men at once. And they could deliver a newborn from a sac and get pregnant in that same sac again within the same month.

Brute fathers made brute offspring and brain fathers made brain offspring.

Some of the men saw the matriarch pass by with Amber accompanying her. They said the matriarch wore the same outfit as the human women had to wear minus the black sash covering the chest.

The Peerless women had eight udders under their chest-sacs, two rows down the lower chest and upper belly, and those were kept covered. The chest-sacs of the matriarch were left exposed.

The men didn’t see the matriarch up close, but said she seemed very beautiful as she floated by in some sort of hovering chair, despite the strange chest.

A hubbub went up as a new spaceship started to descend. John hoped to see the matriarchs himself. Killing them both seemed the best way to strike a major blow to his new enemies and give Earth a fighting chance.