Chapter 10 - Life at House Trilleck part 1

When Jodye Trill woke up he was in his mother's courtyard, his head resting in her lap as she played the harp. The woman looked like a celestial maiden entertaining the heavenly court. Listening to this music, Jodye felt some strange strength entering his body. He activated his Mind's Eye to investigate and was shocked to see that the music seemed to contain soft origin qi that gently sunk into his veins and blood, slowly tempering his body and nurturing the tiny origin crystal in his abdomen. Once he awakened as a sage this crystal was supposed to become a pool of energy. His mother's music was improving his foundation.

The peaceful melody served to do the same for his soul. It took a total of two hours before Jodye even recalled what happened before this moment. The moment he did, Jodye abruptly sat up, alarming his mother and cutting the tune short.

"It's okay, little Joe. You are at home. No one can hurt you in my presence," Jodye's mother Isis comforted him in a soft and sweet voice. Jodye relaxed his tense body and looked around. He was indeed back home. However, when had he even lost consciousness?

"Come, my son. Now that you are awake it is time to resume your studies," Lady Isis stood up and grabbed Jodye's hand. She didn't try to carry him, as she had already learned this little twerp's temperament. He was unwilling to be coddled like that, which was opposite to most children who desired it too much, "We do not have a lot of time, and you will no longer be accompanying your father for the time being."

For the rest of the day, Jodye accompanied his mother, and she refused to mention the previous incident no matter how much Jodye asked. Even when he was on the verge of award-winning fake tears, all she told him was, "Charlotte is perfectly fine, I'm sure you will see her soon. As for House Shu, it no longer exists. A pity...a true pity. In two weeks, your father and I will be getting honored by the Pharaoh himself for exposing the corruption of House Shu. You do not need to worry over these things, you must focus on studying all you can before the fates summon you."

Two days passed just like that.

Today, Jodye was again with his mother, third mother, and older sister. The First Lady, Isis Trilleck, was very shocked when Jodye Trill was able to read and write fluently on his third day of lessons. Then again, Lady Isis was becoming increasingly numb to her son's abnormal talent and comprehension skills. When not studying, Jodye spent a lot of his time playing with his older sister, Kamila Trilleck, usually in her room at her mother's palace. During this time he hadn't seen his father or the honored wolf pack at all.

At this moment, however, Jodye Trill was sitting against the east wall of Kamila's room in a daze, while Kamila Trilleck told him stories about her dreams as usual.

"...but the big vicious three-headed dog didn't scare Milly in this dream on account of Milly being super strong, but not as strong as the little brother. Little brother was the strongest!" Kamila Trilleck chimed along in her little bell-like voice. She had grown closer in speaking style to his mother, as she had been received Isis Trilleck's personal disciple. Of course, Jodye wasn't sure what this even meant. He didn't see a difference between now and before, other than Kamila not being able to scare off his mother like she did her other teachers.

"Your dreams are...truly odd," Jodye Trill commented absentmindedly.

Subconsciously, there was something about Milly's dreams that made him feel highly suspicious. Though he couldn't quite put his finger on it, the more he learned about the uniqueness of this world the more suspicious he grew. Such things were likely not just coincidence.

Kamila sometimes dreamed about things that it seemed shouldn't even belong in this world, in Jodye's experience. Of course, this could be wrong. There was also this one particularly dreadful nightmare that had reoccurred a few times, though Jodye and their mothers were the only ones who knew as it involved the death of his father. To speak of such a thing was blasphemy and anyone would be punished if they dared. Alas, this was not where Jodye Trill's attention was currently centered.

Jodye Trill entirely couldn't focus his attention on his sister's dreams right now. His heart was racing. Due to his host awakening, the range of Jodye Trill's spiritual sense had shockingly increased to 10 meters! Had Jodye Trill told anyone about this he would understand just how rare it was! Unfortunately, he just hadn't. This was because he didn't know what a child should and should not possess.

He had learned from the previous incident that she shouldn't show off too much. There were already people wanting to kill him! What Jodye did know was that it now honestly felt like all five of his senses were combined when he activated his Mind's Eye.

This was the real spiritual sense. With Jodye's spiritual sense spread out, he was able to know everything going on within ten meters around himself. Once he reached the next level in spiritual force, he would be able to freely manipulate Mind's Eye. This was indirectly the reason for the acceleration of his heart. As he was experiencing the limits of this new skill, he accidentally 'saw' something thrilling.

As it turned out, the bath was in the room directly opposite the wall he was currently sitting against. On the other side of the wall, a mere 20 feet away, completely naked, and present for reasons Jodye could only guess in his mind, was his father's second wife, Lylian Barong. Her mature and beautiful body was on full display as she washed with help from her maid's water magic.

Her creamy white skin appeared to be glittering and had a translucent luster to it. Her skin was satiny and smooth, like a young girl. Her towering chest was perky, with no sag what so ever, and there were a pair of bright red pearls dead center of each tower. Even a monk would lose his bearing when staring at the work of art reflected in Jodye Trill's mind.

Such a delicate and slim waist shouldn't be capable of appearing on a married woman who has had a child. Below that was a heart shape grassland that made Jodye Trill's head spin. He knew it was wrong. This woman was his second mother, the mother of his father's oldest child, his unknown elder brother, Horus Trilleck, "But damn, how could any man under the heavens not fall under the spell of such a magnificent creature."

"What did you say little Jojo?" asked Kamila curiously.

"Ah, nothing," replied Jodye mechanically.

"Okay, will Milly was just saying that last night, I dreamed about..."

Although it was true that his own mother was consistently in the nude, her bearing was more noble and graceful. Plus it was his mother, it was impossible for him to feel anything other than slightly queasy and epically appreciative when he saw her body. Lylian's body, however, was utterly a muse for Jodye Trill's lewd thoughts. It had to be said that in his previous life, Jodye was not a saint by any definition.

With great effort, he withdrew his spiritual sense after a few more minutes of peeping. On the other side of the wall, Lylian Barong casually glanced at the wall after that weak spiritual sense was withdrawn. There was a strange glint deep in her eyes before she turned her attention away.

After calming himself down, Jodye took his sister Kamila Trilleck and walked over to his favorite stream, which was separating Lylian's courtyard from his mother's.

"What are the third little brother and this second little miss going to play now, little third brother?" asked Kamila Trilleck with her little head cocked to the side like a puppy.

"We're going to sing, and throw rocks by the water. Then, we can lay in the grass. My ma says that I have to try and make my main soul all calm and tranquil, like a lake so I will be able to sense the platform of destiny." Jodye Trill was collecting rocks as he responded.

"Yay, okay!" Kamila Trilleck clapped her little hands with a radiant smile on her face, before giggling, "Milly likes to sing and play with third brother! Little Jo Jo, Milly wants to ask..."

"You want to know what the Destiny Platform is?" Jodye Trill looked at his sister and said, only to see her nodding vehemently with sparkling eyes. Jodye Trill laughed involuntarily, "This is a little... complex, so listen closely okay?"

Jodye Trill took his time and played with his older sister, as he tried to simplify the information for her to understand. After all, Kamila Trilleck was a rather smart child, and he didn't know how many days like this they had left.

The destiny platform existed within the void, as a small part of the nine-layered heavens. When those possessing Sage bodies have their host soul awakened, they will soon after temporarily align with the world's laws of fate!

This temporary synchronization forms a spiritual bridge between the laws of fate and the souls of man. At this moment, the one aligned will be able to sense the existence of the destiny platform and have their consciousness transported into the eighth layer of the sky to 'see' the platform. The Fate Essence in the platform of destiny will then condense into Artifacts of Fate, spiritual tools shaped by the potential of your main soul.

The amount of artifacts one sees depends on the level of their destiny. The most ever recorded is 10, but these things are hard to document. Everyone's experience is their own. To become a sage, one must use an artifact of fate to awaken their Combat Soul.

"But Jojo, what IS a combat soul? What do they DO?" asked Kamila Trilleck pouting like she couldn't understand.

"Well...think of a combat soul as like a superpower that's unique to you. It's destiny, and you can either fuse with your soul or summon your soul as a partner," Jodye Trill explained patiently. Unlike Jodye, Milly had already turned three. Jodye felt that her dreams were probably related to her 'awakening.' In his opinion, this was also why his mother accepted her as a personal disciple. It was best he tried to educate her a bit, as she was rather easily distracted.

The awakening of a combat soul can be done in two ways. The first option is to fuse. The artifact must be refined and absorbed to become an inseparable part of the soul of the one aligned, through a process called 'Fusion.' In this process, wherein the Combat Soul's soul flame merges with the artifact, as all of its essences are transferred to the main soul, transforming and becoming a part of it. The sealed consciousness of the combat soul turns into a Source Spirit, which could possess functions such as acting as a weapon spirit for Combat Gear or even increasing battle power.

The second option is to choose an artifact to serve as a medium between the Combat Soul and the Host Soul. This allows the Host Soul to enter into a symbiotic relationship with the Combat soul through a process known as 'Synchronization,' wherein the soul flame of the combat soul becomes a dependent of the host soul. The sealed consciousness slowly grows in strength with the Host soul but retains its independent thought.

The drawback of the first method is that your body composition and bloodline could be altered based on the soul essence absorbed, and this may corrupt your lifeblood. However, the advantage would be a much larger force genesis.

The drawback of the second method is that that the main soul would have minimal control over the abilities of the Combat Soul, but the advantage would be having a mighty helper once one made it to the latter stages of development, as well as lifeblood powers inherited from the soul's combat abilities.

The difference between the artifacts of fate could only be felt through the soul by communicating with the objects themselves. Though the artifacts had no consciousness, it was still possible to hear the mysterious voice of the fate laws. If the artifact you wanted didn't communicate with you, you would be taking a risk by pairing with it.

The artifacts of fate's default function are to absorb the same force energies as the soul's primary force genesis. When a Combat Soul awakens they gift their accumulated law affinity and any remnant power to the Main Soul in a tiny crystal of energy known as a force genesis which rests within newly formed origin pool. This is typically a sage's first encounter with force also known as qi. The Force Genesis is the Soul's understanding of force being produced by the body, and the gifted force geneses can serve as a link between Combat Souls and the Origin Pool.

"Little brother Jo Jo sure knows a lot of things," Kamila felt like her eyes were still spinning due to the overuse of her brainpower. She stumped her little foot and harrumphed, "This second little miss can never listen to the tutors for so long! They make Milly so mad with all those big words. Milly likes how first mother and little brother explain things."

"It's fine because I can read now. From now on, we'll teach ourselves," said Jodye Trill casually with a complacent smile, to which Kamila marveled.

"What kind of toys of fate will Jo Jo and Milly get?" asked Kamila Trilleck. Jodye Trill found it adorable that his sister utterly gave up on pronouncing the term artifact, but still had a basic understanding of what he had told her. She wasn't dumb, that was good. Jodye wouldn't waste his time if it proved to be too challenging to teach her...

However, little Jodye just shook his head in response, "I don't know. There are records of the various types or their functions, but there's no way to tell what type you get until you establish a link. The artifact reflects your soul, no two are identical."

"Milly wants to read too! Jo Jo teach Milly to please, please, please~~," said Kamila Trilleck as she stared at Jodye with watery eyes and tugged on his robes.

"All right, already, I will teach, I will teach." said Jodye Trill with a face of exasperation, "However, you must listen carefully to this young master, do you understand?

"Ah! Really!? Yes, yes, definitely, do not worry, this second little miss will listen for sure!" Kamila screams while hugging Jodye and jumping up and down. Suddenly, she seemed to notice that the Jodye Trill in front of her face was now the same height as her, and more cumbersome to lift as well.

"Wah, you grew so fast little third. Is little brother really a little sister?" asked Kamila, with an absolutely adorable smile, that definitely didn't look like she had just assaulted a decorated soldier's manhood.

Jodye Trill winced a little, as his expression was no longer childlike. Jodye Trill coughed twice, and recovered, before speaking, "What did you call me just now, Milly? I seem to have not heard you well."

"Baby sister! My mommy said girls grow big faster then boys, baby sister, it was so obvious to Milly," giggled Kamila as she threw her arms around Jodye's neck. Jodye who grimaced, was ignored by Milly, "See? Now Milly has taught you too, the little third sister. So now~~, you can teach Milly!"

"Not teaching." Jodye Trill then pushed his sister off of himself and ran away. Unfortunately, Kamila stuck to him like glue. Eventually, Jodye had no choice but to teach her how to read and write as a means to settle her down. He had come to notice lately, that although this big sister of his can be a bit ditzy, she was ultimately very diligent, and even very studious.

Kamila Trilleck had an inquisitive mind and always wanted to know more. Merely, she was easily flustered, and an even easier feat to accomplish was distracting her. Teaching Kamila was, in fact, not very difficult for Jodye. With the study habits and learning tricks from his old world, where behavioral psychology had many advancements, he was able to help Kamila focus. Jodye had the idea to get Kamila more interested in books, so that way he could just bring her to the library whenever that darn handle to the faucet that was her mouth was broken.