Force 内力

Force (内力, nèilì) is the power behind the internal arts in Nine Springs. It comes from the seed (种, zhǒng): medical nanites in the blood that store oxygen and energy and release them when the body calls for it. A seeded fighter can sprint, hold a breath for minutes, leap between floors and strike far harder than their muscles allow. Without the seed, you have no Force at all.

The seed

The seed is built on real designs for artificial red blood cells. On the surface it was a luxury for the rich, athletes and soldiers. Nine Springs was built with its own seed foundry, because people sealed underground for decades lose bone and muscle and breathe thin, stale air.

The seed does three things:

• Stores oxygen, far more than blood can carry.
• Repairs tissue and keeps bone and muscle strong.
• Takes orders from the neural port, the implant behind the ear that almost everyone has.

It does not copy itself. The foundry makes it, the body slowly wears it out, and it has to be topped up. Whoever holds the foundry holds everyone who is seeded.

From nanites to kung fu

Qi (气) means breath and air. In the Springs, Force is literally the oxygen and energy the seed stores, and the old wuxia words fit it well:

What the seed does	Wuxia name
Gathers in channels along the vessels and fascia	Meridians (经脉, jīngmài)
Stores oxygen and energy in the belly’s large vessels	Dantian (丹田, dāntián), your Force pool
Releases it on the port’s command	Techniques (招式, zhāoshì)

Traditional breathing and forms train the seed through the port. That is why the old masters’ teaching works.

Seeding and the ban

Getting the seed injected is called seeding (播种, bōzhǒng). Since the war between the floors, only the Balance Bureau may seed, by licence, and licences rarely go to commoners. The ban is strict near the top and barely enforced below, where the martial schools, the Mohists and back-alley doctors seed people anyway.

When the port loses control, the seed releases everything at once. This is qi deviation (走火入魔, zǒuhuǒ rùmó), and it can cripple the user. A deviation meter tracks the risk as you push your Force.

Two axes: Treasures and Traditions

Axis	What it decides	How you get it
Three Treasures (精气神): skills	How strong your moves are	Skill points when you level up
Four Traditions (道佛墨儒): sources of moves	Which moves you know	Learned in the world: teachers, manuals, practice, quests, kata chips. Never on the level-up screen

The Three Treasures are Essence (精, shown as Inner Physique: moves through the body), Energy (气, shown as Energy Manipulation: moves that project force) and Mind (神, shown as Psychological Power: moves that act on minds and ghosts).

Tradition	Style	Where to learn it
Taoist 道	Flow and balance	Xuanmen Abbey
Buddhist 佛	Body and stillness	The Vajra Court
Mohist 墨	Mechanism and force	The Mohist Workshop
Confucian 儒	Mind and presence	Minglun Academy

You prepare a limited set of moves when you sleep or meditate. You can mix traditions, but the seed is trained in partly conflicting ways, so a mixed set costs more Force and hits softer.

Qinggong

Qinggong (轻功, qīnggōng) spends Force on leaps, wall-runs and safe falls, which matters a great deal in a city built down a shaft. In combat it opens routes that others can’t take.

The seed has nothing to do with the White Bloom, the fungus that killed the world above.

This system is in development. Names and numbers are drafts and will change.