Author’s Corner: Late chapter is late. Sinuses, blech. Short chapter is also short, because this felt like the proper place to stop it.

The next day, I decided to do some more psychic control practice. I’d need to train pretty hard if I wanted to do things like making shields out of portals, or eventually make the Toy Prison. Or, I had planned on it, at least.

“No.” Celeste said mentally to me when I was about to start practicing.

“No what..?”

“No training your psychic ability for at least three days. You used way too many of those pills yesterday to go into the Toy Chest in such a short amount of time. If you continue to use your psychic power and consume any more, you could easily develop an addiction. I’m pretty sure that’s not something you want…”

“Ah…” She had a point. No matter how much I wanted to perfect my psychic power, it was not worth it to get addicted to pills. “Okay… so what am I doing today?”

“I dunno. Cultivate, practice your magic, talk with the crew. Whatever you want. Just no psychic shenanigans.” I could almost feel the mental shrug coming from the AI at that.

“Fine, fine.” I walked around the ship for a bit, looking for Yin. She had already been out of bed when I woke up in the morning, and I had been asleep by the time she got there last night. So, until now, I had not yet had the chance to find out what her psychic power was.

Walking through the ship, I greeted several of the crew members, debating over whether or not I should give them all psychic powers as well. On the bright side, it would be an extra level of power for them to train, but it would also bring with it the extra strain. Especially since they were elves, and thus were unable to bring out a psychic power’s full potential.

I wonder if it’s possible for me to change only my brain into that of a human’s, so that I can use my power better. That will be something to test once I am ready to begin practicing again. I nodded my head to that thought, before I found Yin. As expected, she was in the hydroponics garden, watching over Yang with a soft smile.

Sensing my approach, she looked over towards me. “Hello, John.”

“Hey. You took off today before we had a chance to talk.” I walked over to her, patting her shoulder lightly. Looking at Yang, I found that she was happily dancing and singing beneath one of the large trees in the room. There were also several rows of vegetables planted, and what looked like a sprinkler system above them. As Yang danced and sang beneath the tree, its leaves became visibly more lively, even swaying as if under a heavy breeze.

“You slept in… Didn’t want to disturb you.” Yin answered honestly, shifting her weight so that she could lean over against me.

“Yeah… sorry about that. Anyways! What kind of power did you end up getting?” I gave a small smile as I turned my head to face her.

“Promise not to laugh…?” The human-shaped stormbird looked at me with somewhat depressed eyes.

“Uhm… sure, I won’t laugh. What’s the worst it could be.” I probably shouldn’t have said that part, now that I thought about it. What if she ended up with a power that revolved around sex or something? I’m not sure I could keep my promise if that was the case.

“Okay…” She took a deep breath before saying a single word. “Telekinesis.”

“Eh?” That can’t be it, right? “You mean telekinesis is one of the main components of your power, right?”

None of the psychic powers I had heard about so far were purely one aspect. The closest would be Sharon’s, but even hers is a mix of telepathy and empathy, with a focus on language. However, Yin just shook her head. “No… pure telekinesis.”

Celeste? I called for the AI in my head, hoping for an explanation.

“Huh? Oh, about Yin, right? Yeah, it’s pretty weird, but it does happen. People that have a power with a 100% purity in one psychic aspect are known as ‘Focuses’. Their powers are typically far more powerful than others of the same type, because it is so purely focused. However, there are drawbacks too. For instance, with Yin. Since her power is pure telekinesis, and has not a trace of clairvoyance, her power range is limited to what she can reach by expanding her psychic energy.”

“Other telekinetic powers might let you control objects over a vast distance, so long as you either know, or can divine the location of the object. A teleporter focus might be able to blink around a battlefield effortlessly, rip people apart by removing half their body, or so on, but they can’t cross continents. See the difference?”

Yeah… extra power, less versatility. I nodded my head, then returned to simply smiling at Yin. “That’s nothing to be embarrassed over. If anything, it means you can use it to be even stronger than normal. Have you tried using it yet?”

Yin nodded her head slightly. “Tried… only works in this form.” She knitted her brows together in frustration. “In true form… nothing.”

So her stormbird form is totally incompatible with psychic powers, then? I guess it would make sense that her brain changes a bit when she shifts between forms. “That’s still fine. Even if you didn’t get a power at all, it would have been alright. To be honest, you’re probably the strongest of all of us when it comes to large area damage. Sharon is the best at mobilizing her companions to attack multiple targets. And Celeste is probably the strongest of us when it comes to single target damage.”

Hearing me talk like that, Yin looked up at me with a wry smile. “So what is John best at?”

“Uh…” That was a very good question! “Versatility? I’ve kind of spread my powers out so much that I can switch between them whenever I want in a battle and find something to do in most situations.” That was kind of the best answer I could come up with. Considering that I was soon going to be spreading my powers out even more by adding another element so that I could do this quest for Malthan…

Though again, what kind of creature could I create that would be truly unique in all of time? No, that’s not it.. It doesn’t have to be unique, it just has to be something that hasn’t appeared yet in the past or the future. I could create more than one, and then they would begin to appear in the future. But the issue still remains of how to make it.

The very concept of this quest implies that time can be altered. However, given that NeoLife wasn’t constantly changing from the actions of the people in the past, time should only be changeable on this large of a scale by the interference of a greater power, like the gods. Malthan giving me this quest causes new monsters to appear in the future, which would never have existed otherwise.

But, have the monsters already appeared in the future? If someone logged into NeoLife now, and did the right research, would they be able to find the creatures I will create? Or will the timeline not change until I am done making it? Or, even still, are the Seeds linked to a fixed timeline, which won’t even be altered with the creation of this monster?

I feel like I got off track with my thoughts. Oh right! I was wondering what element I should train to make this new monster. Given the vastness of the galaxy and the whims of random people and nature, almost every combination of mana should already exist for monsters. If it is a mana type that can be easily found, then it can be easily gathered together naturally to create a monster. With that in mind, I need to choose an element that is so obscure, it could never naturally gather in a great enough density to serve as a component in making a monster.

Something obscure… yet easy enough to find that I won’t have to cross half the galaxy to locate. If possible, it should exist wherever I need it. But what exists everywhere? I can’t use light, because there are definitely monsters that are made from light mana. Same with void, even though it exists everywhere in space.

Then… wouldn’t that leave only one option? It’ll be a bit of a pain to train, and it might not even be possible. “No, it’s possible.” Nevermind, apparently Celeste believes it’s possible.

“John…?” Yin reached up and poked my cheek. I suddenly realized that I had spaced out and began thinking about my quest in the middle of our conversation. “You okay?”

I let out a dry chuckle, nodding my head. “I’m fine.” After that, I leaned down and gave her a peck on the forehead. “Just thinking about my divine quest.”

“The one to make a monster?”

“Yeah. Was thinking about how I’d go about it.”

“Oh?” She looked up at me in interest.

“All in due time.” I said, waving my hand mysteriously. Yes, that’s right, no spoilers-- Ow, don’t pinch my side like that! I saw Yin showing me an extremely cute upset face, while she was pinching my side with one hand. “Fine, fine I’ll tell.”

With that, she gave a satisfied nod, and released my flesh to once more lean against me, the offending arm wrapping lightly around my waist. “Good.”

“I want to start cultivating the Time Affinity. If I use that, I should be able to create some interesting creatures.”

“Time…? You can train in that?” Her voice held a mild tone of surprise, but it was not unexpected. If not for Celeste, I wouldn’t be sure myself that it was possible.

“Yeah. Not really sure how yet. But I should be able to do it. And even more, if I can cultivate the Time Affinity, it should be a pretty powerful weapon.” Though I myself wasn’t quite sure how the Time Affinity worked. I’d have to practice practice practice! I think we’re due for another training montage after we find the planet for our dungeon base.

Yin gave another nod at that. “Should focus on something…”

“Oh?” Was I going to hear a rare Yin speech?

“Yeah… specializing is good, too.” Okay, maybe not. Sorry, folks, but it was worth a shot!

“Yeah, I know. I would like to specialize in my shapeshifting, but I haven’t found enough interesting creatures to study for that. The only mage type creature I’ve encountered so far, has been you. And while I take immense pleasure in studying you every chance I get -- not the same kind of studying, but still -- I need to find others to work on.”

Yin let out a small giggle at that, tightening her hold of my waist slightly. “Well, you’ll get your chance, eventually.”

I nodded my head, and continued talking with her for a little bit, before an announcement came in over the ship’s comms. “Attention, all crew members. A potential candidate for our next stop has been located. The time to arrival is roughly one hour. Please make sure that you are properly prepared to exit subspace at that time.” Celeste’s voice sounded out throughout the ship, surprising me.

“We find a planet already?” I asked to nobody in particular. However, the comms actually responded. Though, they probably only responded for this one room.

“That’s right. According to long-range scanners, this planet shows potential for habitation. We won’t be able to accurately check its climate and monster situation until we get closer. Once we arrive, and verify the planet is suitable for our purposes, it should take up to a week to get the dungeons started.”

“Cool.” Okay, so I couldn’t exactly come up with a better reply than that at the time. “I guess we should get ready to see the place we’ll be staying for a while.” I said as I looked over to Yin, who nodded her head slightly.