Trudging up the long cavern path, we finally reach the main room. Heading down one of the many branching paths, we quickly arrive at another large room. In the center of the room is a table… made of webs.

Man, what can’t she make out of webs?

Standing at the table with a book, is Ai.

Beside her, Lin is pacing back and forth, demonstrating that she is the hyperactive person of the group. Looking up at us entering, Ai gets up and grabs Lin. With them both facing Gong directly and they give her a deep bow. Lin seems to have a proper one this time.

Though, I don’t have any room to speak on that.

Ai takes a breath. “Thank you for allowing us to stay in such a spacious place, at such a low cost.”

With a smile, Gong replies, “You’re welcome, I’m happy to have you two here with me.”

They then hand over a pile of coins, which is quickly grabbed by Gong. Oh! I totally forgot we were supposed to pay. As I fumble for the coins, Gong gives me a funny look.

“You don’t need to pay, you healed me…”

Ah, right. Well, better safe than sorry.

“Well, thank you for the thought.”

Gong then looks at Ai and Lin, who have not returned to the table. “So, I’m sure everyone here understands that we all are connected and it would be beneficial for us to work closely together. This meeting is to give us some focus areas, before we come up with a plan to earn money and improve our situation.”

A glance towards Ai leads her to speak. “My and Lin’s plan for the next few days is to come up with scenarios on how we can earn money with our different abilities and networks. James’ abilities open up a lot of avenues, I think we can all admit, were almost inaccessible prior to meeting him. This will take some dedicated planning, before we can use this safely, effectively, and secretly.”

Lin cuts in snarkily, “Cause we already know he can’t keep a secret to save his life.”

Hey, that’s only partially true!

Continuing without a pause or any denial by anyone, “I will also go over this with Lin, since she’s pretty good at reading people and situations. I will teach her more about what I know about navigating business, politics, and cultivator society. Not only that, but out of all of us, I believe she has a best idea of your personality and can help me plan around your quirks, for where we can implement strategies.”

Lin speaks up, saying, “We may have only known each other for a day or so, but I think I’ve really been able to get closer to you. Once again, thank you for all you’ve done. Even if you cause us a lot more stress.”

Totally didn’t need that last comment.

I can’t help but smile at her, though. She seems confident, strong, and crafty. When I first met her, she seemed to be desperate. Doing anything she could to help her and her sister survive.

If I think about it, I think she was always this way. I just couldn’t see it. Only after I got to know her a bit, it was easy to see her confident and crafty side.

Now, though?

I finally get to see her determined side, as someone who has a clear goal and the ability to reach it.

God…

It feels like I’ve known her much longer than I actually have. It’s only actually been a day or so. Maybe this is what people meant when they say that shared troubles bring people together.

Not only that though, but I think that while I was able to help them in that situation and heal Ai, I feel that these women would have been able to figure it out in time.

Ai’s condition was tough… but not something a cultivator couldn’t work up the funds to treat and eventually cure. Neither of them seems like the type of women to just give up, since it is clear that Ai had a backup plan and Lin was fighting every day to make money. Eventually, they would have caught a break or found what they needed to succeed. Just looking at their initial spirit roots shows that it would have only taken Lin getting picked up as a normal cultivator, to have access to better materials to help Ai. From there, Ai could then join her on the path to cultivation.

As I tune back into the conversation, Lin ends with “… and that’s what I’m planning on doing. I’m looking forward to us working together on this later, James” she says with a strangely nefarious smile.

Ah. I feel like I’ve missed something important.

As our eyes turn to back to Ai, she is looking between me and Lin, with squinted eyes and pursed lips.

After a beat, she says, “My suggestion to you, James, is to work on your abilities and figure out different ways you can use them. Since many of our strategies might leverage them in different ways, we need to know their limits and what’s possible.”

Gong and I exchange a look.

She gives a sigh, “I agree with Ai, actually. Ignore what I said earlier, about me being there for your… experiments. Just, please don’t break my home.”

“I understand… and for what it’s worth, sorry about earlier.” She waves it off. “Small price to pay for all you’ve done for me.” She holds her arm against her body, her head turned to the side.

With an awkward cough, Gong looks out at the group. “I will check out the local and surrounding area, to make sure we didn’t cause to many waves with this move. I’ll also be checking with some of my contacts, to see if there’s anything we can leverage… as a team.”

That last portion of her sentence, she gives a pretty big smile.

Huh. Looks like she’s really been wanting to work with Lin and Ai for a while now… maybe even just others in general. She’s clearly competent and apparently was one of the information brokers for the area.

However, no matter who you are… I guess you can get lonely. Maybe this helps with that a bit. “Are you listening?” Gong asks me. “What?! Oh. Yes, definitely!”

She squints her eyes at me. “Hmm… Okay then. Alright, I think we should all be good then. Let’s meet back up after a few days once we get things figured out. Sound good?”

Taking a breath and turning directly to me, she continues, with her cheeks the slightest bit flushed, “You can continue to use my room, especially since it seems comfortable for you. I’ll also work on making you a private space in one of the nearby rooms, over the next couple of days.”

Being a natural introvert, I am truly grateful that she is allowing me to use her solitary space. I also understand, as an introvert, what effect that giving up your space can do to you. “Thanks Gong, that would be much appreciated. Though I don’t mind moving into anot…”

“NO!… I mean no. It’s for the best that you have somewhere comfortable to sleep. I have plenty of places myself, so I’ll be fine.”

She seems to not be able to keep her eyes on mine, which is a bit suspicious. However, I have my hands full with concepting my powers in different ways… so honestly, I don’t want to mull on the connotations of this conversation. At least just yet.

With each of us having a plan in mind, we separate and head to the respective rooms to begin our planning.

As we head out of the room, I notice something that I’ve seen Gong do a few times by now. Rubbing her hands on her hips.

Specifically, the areas that were healed. It seems like an unconscious action, though every time she does it, she looks down at it… almost in surprise.

A strangely sad smile seems to float on her lips, as she does.

I don’t know what to think of it.

I have a job to do now, though. Hopefully, I’ll be able to make this work.

I want to explore my personal healing, scanning intuition, and fighting style. It’s time to see how I can do that.

Here’s to hoping I come up with something decent.

And the story continues…