The first thing I noticed was my material statistics. They had all gone up by another four, but that was the same as going from zero to one. It looked like Exposition-san was right about that being the biggest jump. Still, four percent of the maximum possible was still quite a jump to the average person, as my physical testing had proved. As expected, the intangible statistics had not improved either.

The second was that ‘First Node’ had changed to ‘Base Chakra’. I concentrated on this and a description followed.

Base Chakra- The first aether centre of the body, connected to the silver cord. This has only recently been opened and the efficiency is bad. Can be trained to generate aether. As the foundation of the chakra network, if this chakra node is underdeveloped the rest of the system will be unstable and suffer poor, irregular performance.

This was interesting. I wasn’t sure whether it really followed the chakra system I had researched online, or whether it had changed as that was the way I was thinking about it, but the extra information made me believe that there was definitely something deeper to be understood.

There was also the new skill Crude Aether Manipulation, which was as below.

Crude Aether Manipulation- A very basic grasp on using aether to affect the higher realms, with terrible efficiency and weak potency. Easily suppressed by other Territories or strong aether, and would not be effective in affecting the Material plane.

That was harsh! Of course my skills weren’t very good, I had only learned a day ago… still, I wondered if that applied both ways, and perhaps my Territory might be able to supress others? In any case, I couldn’t help but be excited as it was time to examine the information on my Territory, I had lost consciousness as it was being updated in the Boundary, so I didn’t manage to catch it.

Territory Rank - 1.

Territory Defence - Very Low. Your Territory will absorb aether slowly from any hostile entities who enter it, increasing in potency as they near the Territory Anchor. A low level aether barrier is generated around your Territory to defend it.

Your Territory will draw ether from the Astral, stockpiling it, though without suitable storage facilities this ether may be lost. Your Territory also generates a small amount of aether for you, which is transferred automatically through your silver cord/chakra network.

Due to your claim on this Territory in the Material world you suffer a low penalty to your Territory's abilities, and as you do not have total ownership you cannot synchronise it for greater bonuses. You are unable to affect the Material world with your current levels of ownership.

You can construct various structures to improve your Territory’s performance. You currently have zero facilities constructed.

That was a lot of useful information. It looked as if it would now be harder for anyone to take my Territory from me due to the barrier, and the gain in ether and aether would be welcome. The most interesting thing was the ability to affect the Material world. I guess that was another reason to have full ownership of the Territory in both worlds. Damn, why wasn’t I born a billionaire?

Oh well, this was still good. Still, despite the benefits I couldn’t neglect what I had to do here. Going to the fridge I pulled out my last bottle of tea and took a swig. I would need to restock my food and drink supplies and then see if I had any more work coming in. If I did I could do that quickly and then concentrate on training my chakra network.

It was then my phone rang, which was unusual, as most people just emailed me. Picking it up I saw the caller ID. Surprised, I opened up my phone. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

“Now don’t be like that Aki.” A melodic voice on the other end sounded, calling me by an annoying nickname. “You should be super happy a beautiful girl like me is calling you. Most of the guys here would sell a kidney to get to talk to me, not that they could afford me.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I agreed half-heartedly. I’d known her long enough to know it was best to just ignore her jokes. Ever since she’d joined our University several years after us, she’d been famous on campus for a few reasons, the first being her beauty, the second her eccentricity. “So, why are you calling, Shiro…?”

“That’s Shirohime to you, buster!” she groused adorably. “I hate it when you forget it.” Yep, eccentric and beautiful. With her long dazzling silver hair and flawless pale skin, she certainly does look white. But as for being a princess… no one on campus knew her real name, not even the lecturers it seemed, and she always insisted on being the ‘White Princess’. “Anyway, I just had to call you to see if you are all right? You want more work on my game? You know I can’t pay you? Is your work going so badly you are that free? I mean, of course I have more if you want it, but…”

I let her rattle on for a bit. The third reason she was famous was her intellect. She was a genius at maths, science and also coding, though her physical abilities were pathetic, making mine look good. She’d get tired typing out a couple of lines of code, which was the fourth reason for her fame. Still, her ideas were always awesome, and me and my friends had become close with her and helped her get set up with a game design she was working on. Hell, I still helped her, even now.

“Don’t worry about me. I just fancied helping you out, is that so wrong?” I replied when I could get a word in edgewise.

There was a long pause, and then she spoke. “I’m not going on a date with you or anything in exchange you know.”

“Do you think I’m that shallow?” I had to laugh. “Seriously, if you don’t have anything for me to do…”

“No, no, I do, I do!” she interrupted me rapidly. “I need some assets for the Village portion of the game, as well as plenty of code setting up for the various buildings and upgrades…”

After spending a good fifteen minutes listening to her she agreed to send over some work via email in a day or two. Ending the call, I put on my sunglasses, took up my wallet and exited into the bright morning sun.

My apartment building wasn’t huge, just a three story set of single rooms for mostly single men, although there were a couple of women living here too. It did have a few trees and such around, and there was a cheap vending machine just around the corner. Several other similar blocks were dotted around the area. It wasn’t too far to the nearest shop either, about a kilometre. There was also a park just under a kilometre away, as well as the graveyard, and up in the small hills overlooking the suburbs there was a small shrine by a river where local festivals were held. All told, it was a pretty nice area, and the rent wasn’t too bad. It was a shame it was right on the outskirts of Tokyo so any commute was a bit of a pain, but if it was closer I wouldn’t be able to afford it anyway…

I purchased some more bottles of iced tea, as well as my usual supply of cup ramen, noodles and other easy to cook foods, before strolling back towards my apartment. Hmm, perhaps I should call it my Territory now? The day was pleasant, and luckily my wounds had largely faded away, only a few scabbed cuts left, so I enjoyed the walk. It didn’t take me long to reach my apartment, as I was walking faster than I normally would, yet I felt no fatigue.

As I reached the stairs on the corner of my building I saw that out on the balcony was one of my neighbours, a dishevelled older man in a faded broad-brimmed hat, smoking a ratty cigarrete, Hashimoto-san. It was unusual to see him at this time in the morning, as he was usually at work. When he saw me he waved briefly, taking another long drag on his cigarette, puffing smoke out into space.

“Well good morning Oshiro-san, up and about already I see?”

I nodded politely. “And a good morning to you too Hashimoto-san. Indeed, no point in hanging around, I’m hoping to have a productive day. Speaking of, aren’t you working today?”

Hashimoto-san sighed, letting loose another stream of smoke. “Not today, I have the day off. I’m going to see my daughter. Not that my ex-wife wants me to. I don’t think my daughter really wants to see me either, but I did promise I’d try to be a good father to her.”

“I’m sure it isn’t as bad as all that, Hashimoto-san.” I tried to console him. “Girls of that age can be difficult. I know my sister can be. I am sure she is actually pretty happy you see you.”

“Oh I don’t know about that.” he sighed again, finishing off his cigarette and pulling another out of a case that was in his inside pocket. Lighting it with shaking hands he took another deep drag. “I don’t really understand her. She’s in high school, yet she dresses up all flashy-like, and she’s always bleaching her hair and getting fake tans. She looks like a delinquent. There weren’t girls like that in my day, I can assure you that! Why she can’t be a proper lady like her mother was I don’t know…”

“It’s just one of the fashions these days.” I ventured. “They change over time. In a few years she’ll be into a different look I’m sure.”

“You may be right.” Hashimoto-san said absently. “Sometimes I wish I had a son instead, maybe I’d understand him better. Oh, look at me rambling on, I’m keeping you from your work. I have to go get changed soon anyway. Thanks for your time.”

“No problem. A good day to you Hashimoto-san. Make the most of the visit with your daughter, family is important.” I nodded to him and walked up the stairs to my room, shutting the door behind me. The temperature was beginning to build already, so I flipped on the air conditioning unit. It was an old model and a bit loud, but I had no intentions of slaving away in the heat today.

The first thing I had to do was check my emails, so I switched on my computer. I had received a reply regarding the paid work I had done yesterday, a glowing bit of praise thanking me for getting the work done so speedily, and promising to bear me in mind when further work was needed. They also promised me swift payment, which would be nice. There were a couple of useless spam emails as well, but apart from that, nothing pressing.

“Oh well…” I said, stretching. “I guess I can spend a bit of time trying a few more methods to improve my chakras. A couple of hours won’t hurt.” I gathered the printouts I had made yesterday and studied them, before deciding on a couple of the most promising to try. Settling down into my chair I closed my eyes and began to run through the exercises…

For a couple of hours I continued to imagine various means of drawing in ether, with limited success. I could definitely feel the presence of aether, especially in the warmth within my lower body, but actually drawing in ether to convert was too hard. Still, I had only been trying for a few hours, so I refused to get downhearted. I had stopped when my email started pinging, so I decided to take a break to clear my head and see what I had received.

There was a reply from my sister, complaining that I never come home, which I promptly ignored for now, as we had already had this discussion a couple of days ago. I would reply later. The other was much more interesting, it was from an old colleague of mine, one who I had worked with back on that software project along with some other freelancers. It read…

Word up my man, long time no speak. How‘ve you been doing? It’s me, Hayato! Just hitting you all up regarding a tasty opportunity I’ve been able to grab hold of. I’ve been employed in the outsourcing department for an up-and-coming new game developer, and shortly there will be a ton of coding, graphic design, 3D modelling and bug finding work available, enough to last us all for a few months. If any of you guys are interested, hit me back as I’d rather give it to old friends I know can do the work than look for some newbies. That sweet yen could all be yours!

I had to smile. Hayato-san was the real mood-maker of our little group of freelancers, and the one that suggested most of our social events. He was on first name terms with everyone within a week, even the more standoffish Hina-chan. In any case, this was a good, well timed offer. I should be able to blitz through work with my new abilities, helping Hayato-san out and making myself money at the same time. I fired off a quick acceptance, asking for as much work as he had going. Once that was done I was pretty much finished until some more work came in, so I decided to get back to training. It’ll annoy Shiro a bit since I asked for it, but obviously her work is last priority…

“Sometimes I envy those with a steady job…” At least they had a regular wage. Still, it would be hard to train if I had to work all the time…

Relaxing in my chair, I began to carry out the exercises that felt the most promising before, trying to raise my aether levels by dragging in the surrounding ether.

********

The next few days carried on much the same, with me simply meditating to raise my aether levels. I wasn’t having much success, but at least every day I felt more and more aether inside me, probably generated by my Territory. I also received a couple of bits of work while waiting for the tasks from Hayato-san to come through, and finished them in record time. My bank balance was looking a bit healthier at least. I had also made a start on the work for Shiro, modelling several items and writing the supporting code.

On the fifth day the warmth within me had spread to most of my body, and this time when I tried my aether-building exercises I felt my consciousness start to come loose from my body. Concentrating on that feeling I focused my aether, and with a surge of heat everything went dark, my thoughts receding. Opening my eyes a moment later I found myself once again in the Boundary…