After a very lengthy discussion about their relationship and how they worked together, Joram and Avi- who’d come out of his head to sit with him in bed, her holographic projection sitting there with him- sat in thought for a while.

Finally, Joram spoke up.

‘So, I’ve decided to work on a body for you so that you can be more autonomous.’

‘Don’t worry about it for now,’ Avi sent back. ‘This from is more convenient for helping you with what you need, and staying out of sight,’ she added with a smile.

‘OK, then. So, about that cultivation manual?’ He asked, much relieved to be past that supremely awkward topic.

‘Yes, I think that this one might be a suitable starting point for you,’ she sent as she summoned the manual from his storage area and “handed” it to him with four of her eight legs as her hologram couldn’t actually interact with the physical realm.

Joram’s fingers tingled slightly when he took the manual but ignored it when he read the tile: Encompass the Universe.

He quirked an eyebrow at Avi who merely shrugged with a “don’t aske me” look.

Shaking his head, he once again noticed the tingle in his fingers. ‘Is this special in some way?’

‘Well, the book seems to be non-magical, but I thought it best to just bring the original copy with me as it was in a very over-looked place in the Archive.’

‘It tingles,’ he sent, focussing more on the manual in his hands. It was about as thick as a magazine, with paper finer than what he was used to seeing in his new home, but gave off the impression that each page was much stronger than the pages of a magazine back in his original world.

He was about to [Delve] it to see what it was all about when he felt the door starting to slide open. With a thought, he stored the manual away again, grabbed Avi and stuffed her under his blanket, then started a yawn/stretch combination as the door opened fully to show his parents.

“You’re up!” His mother exclaimed and rushed to his side, sliding through the hologram of Avi on her way- that was weird to see-, and put a hand on his forehead to presumably check his temperature.

“Yup, just got up!” He replied as he felt Avi shift into him. That never got any less weird, no matter how many times she did it. He was also glad that he was the only one who could see Avi when she “projected” like that. How awkward would a conversation about a strange woman being in his room be?

After an exchange of pleasantries and worries, they continued.

“So, do you know what happened?” His father asked, taking a seat on a chair instead of his bed. He made the chair sized for Joram look ridiculous.

‘Well, I had a theory about expanding my ‘knowledge sea’ and it didn’t quite go according to plan,’ he sent, not wanting to risk any of this leaking out.

‘What happened?’ His mother coaxed him.

With a wry grin, he explained his theory about how he could expand his reservoir of psionic energy by incorporating the cultivation methods of this world with what he’d be taught. He also went into how useful it would be to have an expanded reservoir to work with even though his methods of using psionic energy were levels of magnitude more efficient than those of this world.

‘In short,’ his mother began. ‘You took the first step to becoming the most powerful practitioner of mental strength on the planet.’

Joram blinked at that, then grinned ruefully.

‘Well, yeah, if you put it like that,’ he sent back. ‘But I was really curious as to why practicing psionics here seems to be completely different from cultivating to be a Mage.’

His parents shared a look, then turned back to him. ‘Many people have gone down that road before, but none have been able to fully answer that question.” His mother finally said, a slight frown on her face.

‘It’s just so weird,’ he sent. ‘Tier 0 is all about preparing the body to house mana. Tier 1 is all about using that mana internally to prepare to use it externally. But from Tier 1, you condense the ephemeral into a kind of fog that you continue to condense as you rise in Tiers. But with psionics- mental strength, you go from first condensing a solid to then condensing a liquid. It’s just so… backwards!’ He sent, letting his frustration flow through the network to really convey how he was feeling about the seemingly contradictory cultivation methods.

His parents shared another look, causing him to think that they’d somehow developed their own type of network to silently communicate.

‘That was one reason I found it so hard to get on the path of mental strength, or as you put it, “psionics”,’ she sent, sending her own feelings on the matter, frustration being the predominant one. ‘That said, there is an innate talent for psionics that one can’t ignore, so there’s that.’

‘Well, there’s much to think about,’ he sent, then changed the subject. ‘I hope I didn’t freak-out Gran with passing out like that.’

Another glance was exchanged, this time causing his mother to blush slightly. ‘Well, yes and no,’ she sent. ‘She was confused as to the “why it happened” more than it happening at all.’

‘Yes, she wants to have more time with you, every day now, to help teach you before we’re all sent off on assignment,’ his father piped in. ‘You wouldn’t believe how annoying it’s been trying to keep her away these past two days.’

Blink-blink.

‘What?’

Another glance was exchanged. What’s up with that?

‘You’ve been unconscious for over two days now.’ His mother sent, not quite hiding the concern on her face.

‘Huh, I’d wondered why I was wearing my pajamas,’ he sent with a weak grin on his face.

He noticed the blank looks on their faces when he used a word they didn’t recognize, but nonetheless had its meaning conveyed through the network. Ah, so useful!

‘So, what’s your plan going forward with your training?’ His father asked, getting back on topic.

‘Well, I think that my theory has merit. It was just that I’d gotten… a bit distracted at the end and that’s what caused the issue. If I could go into seclusion for a while, I’m sure that I could get it going.’

‘Your grandmother won’t like that very much,’ his father interjected before his mother could say anything.

‘Yes, she’s quite interested in getting you going on the path of mental strength,’ his mother sent, physically nodding her head.

‘Well, I suppose that I could wait until she’s gone to do that.’

‘We’ll also be gone, so we won’t be able to deflect questions about why you’re in seclusion at such a young age.’ His father sent, adding the voice of wisdom to the conversation.

‘Being a child is such a pain!’ He sent, letting his frustration flow, which elicited smiles from his parents.

‘Yes, it is. But you’ll figure it out,’ his mother sent, still smiling.

‘In the mean-time,’ his father butted in. ‘We should probably go out and have a meal with the family. They’ve been anxious to make sure that you’re well, and going to see them would help reassure them that you’re doing fine.’

His mother gave his father a Look but gave in as the logic of the argument was fairly sound.

Soon enough, Joram was changed and heading down to the dining hall where members of the clan took their meals if they didn’t just stay home to have a quieter meal.

Joram was dropped off at the “kids” table, smiling at Xixi and Zander as they waved at him, then waved to his other cousins.

Soon enough they were all eating, being served their portions by a servant… Or were these maids? They were responsible for doing almost all of the mundane day-to-day things that kept a large clan like their running. They cooked, cleaned, and ran errands. Most were from branch families- well, everyone in the town was related in one way or another, however distantly- and paid well for their work.

Some chose to live at the main house/compound, while others came and went from their own homes.

He shrugged and just kept the “maid” tag.

With a sigh, he dug into his food to show that he was “healthy and well”. Sure, it was tasty- great even- but he’d gotten used to pretty much just eating when it was time to breastfeed with aunt Aloralla.

Well, he got his reprieve when Gran came over to see how he was doing… and question him about what had happened.

“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug and a bland look.

“Do you remember what you were thinking about when it happened?” Gran prodded, not wanting to let it go.

“Nope,” he lied with a straight face, putting into practice the many hours he’d spent with Altaea working on his “poker face”.

“Well, that’s OK then,” she said. “We’ll have lots of time together to get things sorted out and get you on the right path.”

Joram’s eyebrow just about twitched, a habit from his old life, but stopped it with a supreme act of willpower.

“Right path”, my eye! He thought to himself as she smiled at his grandmother. Only a few months, only a few months… He practically turned it into a mantra.

On the outside, he only nodded, bowed, then went back to eating. That was much preferable to speaking with his Gran.

To be fair, she wasn’t all that bad, but he did have a strong independent streak- not to mention his introverted nature- and really didn’t like it when people demanded his attention. He much preferred to be the one initiating any social contact. There were, of course, exceptions to this but it was generally true.

He missed the look she gave him before leaving, but that was for the best.

“Jo,” Xixi said as she prodded him. “More?” She asked, pointing to a kind of bean salad that she really liked.

With a smile, he reached over and added another ladleful of salad to her plate, then added another one to his own.

The cooks were really good.

* * *

Tatia watched as Joram all but dismissed his grandmother in favour of eating, then smiled at the look she gave the boy.

Tatia really couldn’t blame him for wanting to eat instead of talk, as Sulia had told him that he’d only had some broth while unconscious.

But there was still a mystery there. Why had he suffered a backlash like that that had rendered him unconscious for two days? What had happened?

She hadn’t been able to get any answers, nor had Healer Reursa when he’d gone to examine Joram.

Sulia had just stayed home those two days, aside from visiting her third brother, tending to Joram. The only answer Tatia could get from her was that he’d suffered “some sort of backlash” when attending Bezia’s tutoring session.

Like she hadn’t gotten that from Bezia herself.

What was truly intriguing was the drawing she’d finally gotten Bezia to share with her. Tatia wasn’t someone gifted in mental strength like her daughter, but she’d been fascinated by what she’d gotten Bezia to explain.

Was it merely coincidence? Or was Joram some sort of savant when it came to mental strength?

She and Bezia had put their heads together to see if there was greater meaning in what was drawn on that paper and came to the conclusion that it might be the beginnings of a new cultivation method, if one were to make a few changes.

Did it make sense that a toddler could come up with this on his own? No, it certainly did not. Her vague, and not-so-vague, impressions that Joram wasn’t what he seemed had come out again, as had Bezia’s when they came to that conclusion. There was just no way a toddler could do that on his own.

Unless there was some hidden master teaching the child? Was it the same one that had protected and healed Sulia? But why?

All these thoughts, and many more, swirled around her head as she absently spoke with various people who stopped by her table to ask her various things, or to sign something that needed to get done today rather than tomorrow.

They had precious few months again before Bezia and Sulia were once again sent out on assignment. She could order Bezia to stay longer to teach Joram, but she worried that their lead would disappear if she didn’t send Bezia out sooner rather than later.

That one item would be the crowning achievement of her time as Matriarch… if they could get it. When that hidden realm opened once again the competition would be fierce for any artifact, martial art, or cultivation manual that anyone could find.

If they couldn’t get it, well, they’d have to keep an eye on auction houses if the person didn’t know what exactly they’d found. If not, they’d have to employ other methods, much to her distaste. But that item would shake the world if it was allowed to get out, so they needed to hide it away.

She looked at Joram again and this time wondered if he would be someone who’d shake the world. Was he just a boy who happened to doodle out something profound? Was he being taught by a hidden master in the ways of mental strength? Or was there something else there that they should consider, like him being a Reincarnator; someone who retained the memories of their past life?

Each one had its pros and cons, and she’d gone over each one more than once. The problem was that each one didn’t quite stand on its own, but that each put together made a more believable picture.

“Matriarch,” someone said, jolting her out of her thoughts. “Are you sure that you want to expand the medicinal herb gardens? The expense it not something to take lightly.” One of the elders said from her side.

Thinking back to what had been said, she replied.

“Yes, I think that it would be of benefit a bit further down the line,” she said as she turned to look at the old man.

He hadn’t gotten very far as a Mage, only the end of the 4th Tier, but had instead proved more useful as an administrator throughout his long life.

“But to ask for things in the 3rd Tier, it will take a while to procure and cultivate,” Airden Aneath replied, not wanting to let go of the substantial number of crystals that it would take to set up a whole new set of medicinal gardens.

“I understand your hesitation in setting up such a large project, but I assure you that it will be well worth it.”

He gave her an appraising look, then said “Did you manage to snare an alchemist then?”

Tatia pointedly kept her gaze on Airden, not looking over to where Joram was eating with his friends.

“Something like that,” she said with a smile.

* * *

- Week 80 –

It had taken several days, but Joram had finally managed to get his parents to arrange for a day off, as it were.

The days that he’d had to spend with Gran were, frankly, boring. She had gone on and on about how to start a stable foundation for building mental strength, then expounded upon the need for guidance when one tried to establish said foundation.

That said, it had also helped in that she continued to provide various characters related to the foundation of one’s bastion, adding to his thoughts that they focussed on defense of their knowledge sea before establishing their foundation.

And so it was that he’d started getting the little clues he needed to expand upon his idea of creating that planet-like foundation to build up his power base.

With these clues he’d started slowly working on his image of the rings that surrounded his crystal, his bastion, and had managed to get a faint wisp of a ring to stabilize and remain there after he ended his nightly meditations.

Back to the present, he was sitting in his bed, the Encompass the Universe manual in his hands with a small candle burning on his nightstand to provide light.

The manual still caused his hands to tingle even though he couldn’t sense anything from it. Even his [Delve] had told him that it was a mundane item, though made from superior paper that he hadn’t yet found anywhere else. It was so good in fact, that he had memorized its complex structure so that he could produce some for himself when he needed to record something that didn’t wind up on a computer.

Then there was the “ink”. It wasn’t so much that the author had used ink, but that they’d somehow managed to alter the colour of the page itself. It was quite the way to record things if he had to say so himself. He appreciated not using ink as it tended to fade over time. Also, being left-handed skewed his views on writing anything, as ink smears had been a problem for him even in his old world.

No more distractions, brain!

So, he started to read.

Then stopped, blinked, rubbed his eyes, then looked again.

The writing had changed to English.

What in the world is going on here? He thought as he looked over the text, then at the cover. The cover remained unchanged, but the words inside were definitely English.

Was this some sort of advanced magic item? But what got him was that the manual appeared, in every way he could think to inspect it, as mundane.

This, this was a treasure he would more than happily exploit.

-

Joram yawned as he received a “wake-up call” from his mother through the network. He’d been studying that first chapter all night and was more thoroughly wrung out mentally than he’d been since he had first started training with Altaea.

He’d followed the instructions on how to help ones’ body absorb the “Qi” in the environment to speed along the Body Tempering phase. Well, that wasn’t quite right. Each Rank in Body Tempering focussed on a specific part of the body, and thus would normally require specific training for each part.

This manual had put forward that a better “foundation” would be had if one was able to circulate their Qi in a specific way, nourishing the entire body until one broke through to the Foundation Realm in one fell swoop.

What had taken so much thought and planning wasn’t in the doing. No. He had spent most of the night using [Psychic Reformation] to undo the progress he’d inadvertently made at his first birthday party. It had been… unpleasant.

After he’d “reverted” himself though, it felt like he’d gone blind and deaf. He hadn’t realized how acute his senses had become after the change, nevermind how much sturdier he’d become.

So, there he was, laying in bed wondering how he’d keep up with everyone today. According to the manual, one could expect to break through to the Foundation Realm with relative ease once they started practicing.

All that said, he felt like his limbs were lead. He briefly contemplated the pros and cons of re-equipping his stat-boosters, but gave up on it as it would likely make cultivating more difficult as he tried to compensate for the enchantments affecting him.

With that though in mind, he then began thinking about his ring of sustenance. It too affected his body, helping to provide it with the nutrients and hydration needed to function, as well as making sleep more efficient.

He was nearly certain that it wouldn’t affect his cultivation, but he wouldn’t know until he tried.

Ah, the problems of an outworlder, he thought as he hopped out of bed, then promptly fell on his face.

As he lay there rubbing his face, and cursing under his breath, he wondered if he would be OK just equipping the strength item. Sure, it might interfere with cultivation, but he could just “take it off” when he needed to start, right?

He shook his head, then rolled over so that he could get on his hands and knees, then work up from there.

It took another two tries before he was standing again, wobbling slightly, but he did it! Now, he wasn’t sure if he’s slacked off too much on his physical exercise after he’d entered the Body Tempering phase, but he did know how wobbly he felt and that wasn’t good.

Had he relied too much on his progress with Body Tempering and had thus done himself a disservice by not actively exercising his body?

Yup, seems legit, he thought to himself as he made his way over to the wardrobe to get his outfit for the day.

Half and hour later, he emerged from his room having put his parents on “mute” in his network after they’d asked if he needed help for the seventh time. He felt proud to have done it all on his own after all. Riding those feelings of accomplishment, he struck a “big boy” pose in his doorway and smiled.

“Are you OK Joram?” His father asked, a look of concern written on his face.

“Yes! I did it all by myself!” He stated proudly, then facepalmed.

His parents exchanged another Look.

‘I can’t wait to grow up!!’ He exclaimed over the network. ‘Child-brain makes things so hard!’

‘Yes, yes it does,’ his mother sent. ‘Would you like a hug?’

His head dropped, chin hitting his chest.

‘Yes.’

* * *

Avi casually watched through Joram’s eyes as he went through his day.

This must be like what watching reality TV must have been like, she mused as she took her time perusing the 7th Tier materials in the Heavenly Archive.

Things had been… awkward for a time after their conversation and the revelation of her self-awareness. He couldn’t quite figure out how to treat her for the first bit, then just fell back on more-or-less treating her as he always had: a friend.

He was a simple person that way. If the thought of someone as a person, he treated them like a person. And she’d been too “real” for him to think of her as anything but a person from the get-go.

Anyway, now that she’d found a good cultivation manual for him, she was now looking for a body tempering technique of some sort. They’d been nice enough to divide their sections by subject, so it hadn’t been an issue finding the section. No, it was the sheer volume of the body tempering techniques that filled the section that gave her pause.

From the many stories that Joram had collected on Earth, she had assumed that body tempering techniques would be just as rare on this planet as they were in those stories. Ha.

There was a whole section devoted to “Wood” body tempering techniques. If there was a tree, there was a technique to emulate that tree. There were thousands.

It was the same with mammals, insects, birds, and fishes. There were even some devoted to the various fungus out there.

*Shudder*

That said, she had narrowed down her search to the “ancient” beast section, namely dragons and phoenixes. Why? Well!

Every body tempering technique she’d come across needed the person to have access to the subject of the manual. Tiger physique? Get some tigers. Etcetera.

From what she’d read, the ones focussing on the ancient beasts were the best of the best.

Though, she did stop in the section that was devoted to minerals and such and had taken out the “Star Metal Body” manual as well as the “Adamantium Body” manual. The second was on a hunch, as it was also made like cultivation manual that she’d found.

That said, it had taken her a while to find the appropriate body tempering technique amongst all the dragon techniques listed.

What didn’t surprise her was that dragons seems to be just as horny here as they had been on Altaea’s home world as there was a dragon type for just about every species of animal on the planet.

Finding the same dragon type had taken her most of the day. But she wasn’t disappointed.

It seemed that it was the Heavenly Lightning Jade Dragon, one of the most rare dragon types out there, and in the top three, power-wise. It was legendary for its tough scales and sharp claws and its ability to disintegrate just about anything with its blasts of lightning.

Yes, a worthy dragon to emulate.

The phoenix had been, well, a phoenix. It was hard to find varying lineages of phoenixes as they tended to be more… discerning with whom they procreated with.

That said, the one that had fought the Heavenly Lightning Jade Dragon must have been one of the pure breeds as it was able to hold its own in a direct fight with the dragon. Another worthy beast to emulate.

Finally, she had picked the two metals due to their naming.

“Star Metal” wasn’t a unique name in and of itself, as many cultures referred to any mineral that fell from the sky as “star metal”. But it was the grade of the technique that caught her attention. It was a peak-grade technique, practically an 8th Tier, low-grade technique with how powerful it was.

8th Tier stuff was sparse. So, finding a peak-grade 7th Tier technique was like hitting the jackpot.

The only reason she’d decided to keep the Adamantium Body technique was because of the manual itself, as it was only graded as “low”. Much like the Encompass the Universe manual, this one had been sitting at the back of the shelf, only found because her [Touchsight] had found it laying back here.

Now, she was no fan of the “destiny” and “fate” theories out there, but finding two manuals in the Heavenly Archive that just so happened to be made of the same type of “paper”, that also happened to be much overlooked and even neglected, really made her think that someone had been behind her finds.

The problem was that she couldn’t find any clues. The Heavenly Archive cleaned everything up. No dust or detritus of any kind was able to exist within its walls. That also meant no fingerprints.

The clue was probably in the paper. Well, it was the “paper”.

From what she could see, this world didn’t have the technology or know-how to make such an advanced substance, even with their weird alchemy.

At one point when she’d been going through Joram’s things, when she was particularly bored one year, she’d come across the currency from his home country and found it fascinating. It was a kind of plastic known as a polymer. Now, these books that she’d found weren’t made of the same stuff, but close.

From what she could tell, it was a hybrid between that polymer, something else she couldn’t identify, and a type of bamboo from this world, Iron Bamboo. The exact kind that Joram had found and planted in their garden back on the mountain.

The fibres had been so thoroughly broken up that they made silk seem rough and crude. From there, the polymer seemed to be used as a sort of binding or filler agent. It was so seamlessly integrated that it appeared to be one whole substance, not a composite one.

Now, did that mean anything for certain? No, not really. But many small things seemed to be adding up to a much larger thing. And that “thing” was that Altaea had made these books.

She didn’t really know why Altaea would do such a thing, or how she knew what she did, but the pieces fit together. And now that she had that thought, she had many other thoughts that wouldn’t stay quiet.

For example, the cleaning array used here. It was almost identical to the [Cleanse] power that Altaea had taught Joram right at the start. It covered so many things that it seemed “godly” in what it could do.

From there, she began looking into the workings of the Heavenly Archive, and how it was made.

* * *

- Week 82 –

Joram was well pleased with his progress. He’d been able to keep up with Gran’s vigorous schedule, exercise, and cultivated well in the past couple of weeks.

It had been a bit lonely with Avi having spent most of her time in the Heavenly Archive doing “research”, but he’d filled those empty times with his own research.

Gran had been insistent in figuring out what had happened to him and had even shown him the doodle he’d made before his accident. She had, apparently, decided that it was a large nugget of profound… profoundness.

He didn’t know, but that was as close to it as he could get. That she gleaned something from his doodle was admirable but was confusing in its own right. From what he could decipher of his doodle, for he couldn’t really remember drawing it, it followed his thoughts on cultivating mental strength.

But the more he thought about it, the more it seemed as though the way they cultivated psionics was only half of what should be there. Like, there was a tactical nuke, but with no rocket or guidance system to make it any better than a nuclear power plant going critical. Lots of power, no real way to direct it efficiently.

Anyway, he’d done well enough with his efforts in merging the two paths, so he’d also taken the time to follow the Encompass the Universe manual at night and found that he was improving at a respectable pace. He’d not broken through any of the ranks in Body Tempering yet but felt as though he would break through them all at the same time, just like how the manual claimed would happen if done correctly.

It was an impressive piece of work, that was for sure. It was so easy to understand that it was almost like it had been written for him. There were even parts that described how to use the methods with other “special physiques”. Not that he had time to investigate them, but he would get there eventually.

Then Avi called just as he was getting up to stretch after a long session with Gran.

‘Joram? We need to talk.’ Avi sent, her tone serious.

He blinked at that, looked towards where Gran was cleaning up, then moseyed out of the room and onto the lawn to enjoy the summer sun. He found a good tree, something that looked like a cherry tree but still had its blossoms, and laid down under it with his hands behind his head.

‘What’s wrong?’ He asked, concern evident in his tone.

‘Come to the villa,’ she sent back, referring to a smaller house she’d made on the estates at some point.

After a quick check around, he closed his eyes and entered Avi’s body and saw that she’d already taken her holographic form and was sitting at a table stacked with books. Well, he said books, but they were all slim things much like the cultivation manual he was using.

‘What’s all that?’ He asked, waving a leg at the pile.

‘This,’ she motioned at the pile. ‘This is a bit of a story.’ She sent with a small frown.

‘I’m all ears,’ he sent back with a smile.

Avi nodded to herself before she continued. ‘Have you noticed how strange that manual is?’

‘In what way?’

‘Its composition for one,’ she sent back as she used telekinesis to move said manual closer to him.

‘I did. It’s got some crazy durability for being so thin,’ he sent with a full-body nod. He’d really have to make another construct that he could use when sending his consciousness here in the future.

‘Yes, it is. But that’s not all. Did you notice the polymer base used in the pages?’

‘The what now?’ He sent back, drawing a blank.

‘You never [Delve]d your money?’ She asked, somewhat taken aback at the thought of him not [Delve]ing everything in sight when he first learned the power.

‘No, didn’t think to,’ he sent. ‘Why would I need to know how to make more of that money?’

‘Touche,’ she sent back acknowledging the point. ‘Anyway, the point is this: it was made in part with the same kind of polymer used in your bank notes. Another component is the Iron Bamboo that you’d gathered at one point.’

Joram took a moment to calm his heart when he heard that. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, so he took another few seconds to go over what she’d said, then decided that that was indeed what she meant.

‘Altaea made these.’

‘I think so, yes.’ She sent, serious as could be. ‘Not only that, but if I am reading these correctly, she made them thousands of years ago. Possibly longer.’

That gave him pause.

How was that possible? He’d only been “dead” for a thousand years or so. Unless time moved slower in his realm?

No, that wasn’t it. He’d been to and from his realm often enough in the past twenty or so months that he was reasonably sure that time flowed the same inside as it did outside.

So, then what? Had the reason she’d disappeared something to do with this mystery? Had she gotten sucked into some sort of time portal that dropped her far into the past? Is that why their connection had broken? Sure, her network was powerful enough to be used throughout the known universe, but was it powerful enough to be used across time?

Likely not.

But if she had been thrown into the past, why hadn’t she found him again?

If he’d had a hand and a face, he would have facepalmed right then.

How would she know when to look for him? Or even the “where”. They’d been in some pretty distant mountains at the time and he wasn’t sure what everything had looked like back then, or if even those mountains had been mountains when/where she’d arrived.

Man, he hated time travel mysteries. If he’d been a madman in a blue box, then maybe he could have made some sense out of it, or even done something about it… but he wasn’t.

He was just himself.

‘So, ah, what else did you find,’ he finally asked, wrestling his brain back to the present.

Avi regarded him for a moment before answering.

‘I also think that the Heavenly Archive was made by her.’

That caused a cascading failure in his brain as he began imagining the many possibilities that went with that statement.

After a mental equivalent to a bucket of ice water being dumped on his head, Avi continued.

‘Yes, it is possible that the Clear Knowledge Clan are her descendants,’ she sent. ‘But unlikely.’

He metaphorically blinked at that.

‘Why do you say that?’

‘Because if they only pass on the position of matriarch to their eldest daughter, and they interbreed if they’re at least second cousins, then there should be at least some of Altaea’s DNA in them still.’

‘… and there isn’t?’ He asked, timid as could be.

‘Not that I’ve found, no.’ She sent with a shake of the head. ‘But I did find evidence that there was a High Elan somewhere down their family tree.’

‘The purple hair!’ They both sent at the same time, causing him to laugh a bit.

‘So, does that mean that she set up the clan some time in the distant past?’ He asked, a bit of hope surging up in his chest.

‘It would appear that, at the very least, the High Elan did so. But I think that she took a more active role here.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘Well, I examined the wards on the demiplane that the Heavenly Archive occupies and found something interesting,’ she sent, then paused for dramatic effect.

‘I believe that the wards are attuned to your soul.’

He imagined himself blinking a few times at that revelation.

‘What makes you say that?’

‘Again, I examined the wards quite thoroughly, but this time focussed on the keys that allowed entry into the Archive. I found that the one that I had copied from your mother had a familiar note to it. Upon further investigation, I found that it emulated a particular section of your soul: the part where our souls are linked.’

If he’d been in his body he would have fallen over, nevermind that he was currently laying on the grass.

The implications were staggering.

Had Altaea used part of her soul to make Avi? How would that even work? She was a gestalt being, one whose spirit and body were one. Had she pulled a Sun Wukong and added a strand of hair to complete her work on Avi? If so, then did that mean that he could use that same part of her to search for Altaea in the future?

Was she their…?

‘Are you, our daughter?’ He finally managed to get the thought sent, not sure how he felt about that. It was just too big.

‘In a spiritual sense, yes,’ she sent, then added. ‘That is, if everything that I’ve found and surmised is correct.’

His thoughts wandered this way and that for a time, eventually coming to a stop on his favourite Sci-Fi author and wondered if old Orson would laugh at him for having a child of the mind.

‘So,’ she began. ‘That leads us to the many volumes I found in the Heavenly Archive that matched the construction methods used in making Encompass the Universe. They range from anything between cultivation techniques to body tempering art, from alchemy to refining just about everything one could imagine. Each and every one was placed somewhere that would easily be overlooked by anyone visiting the Archive.

‘That said, they were easily found by me because of the modified [Touchsight] that we both use. So, one could infer that someone with the knowledge of that power had placed them deliberately so that only someone using that power could easily notice them.’

Joram looked up at her, tilting his whole body for added effect.

‘Are you saying that Altaea deliberately made all these manuals for me, then stored them here in such a way that I would be likely to find them?’

‘Maybe,’ she sent, sounding a bit uncertain for the first time during the conversation so far. ‘I do know that she made those volumes and the Heavenly Archive itself. I do know that she is the only one in this realm, besides you, who could create another High Elan.’

That was a lot right there.

Everything had aligned so perfectly that it almost seemed ridiculous. Ha! It was ridiculous! Who could even plan something like that out? Nevermind knowing that he would one day make his way to the very same secret archive that she’d created!

Had she planned for him to be here one day? Had she somehow found out about his death and arranged for him to be reborn into this family?

Who could do that?

Then he remembered something very important about Altaea Seraphina Potentia: she was a goddess.

During the time that he’d been “gone”, had she found out about it somehow? Was that how she was able to arrange for all this?

If so, then why hadn’t she just used [True Resurrection] on him and brought him back? Did she not want to have to babysit him any longer? Had she “moved on”, as it were?

Or was it that she couldn’t? Was there some sort of realm restriction that prevented her from resurrecting him? If so, was that why his [Astral Seed] hadn’t worked as intended?

‘Joram!’

‘What?!’ He sent back, startled enough to shout.

‘I haven’t searched the entirety of the Heavenly Archive yet, but I feel that there might be more in the 8th and 9th Tier rooms.’

‘OK?’

‘I can’t get into those with the runestone key alone. I think I need someone either of the lineage or you to get in there.’

‘But I’m not allowed in that part of the Library,’ he sent back, not quite getting it.

‘No, but you can just [Planeshift] there with me and we can try,’ she explained patiently.

‘Ah, right, that makes sense,’ he mumbled. ‘How about tonight then?’

‘Sounds good.’

‘I’ll, ah, head back. I need to take my nap to be at my best tonight,’ he sent, already distracted.

He barely registered Avi nodding before he slipped back into his physical body. He noticed that someone had set up an umbrella to help shield him from the sun and had lit an incense stick to ward away any biting insects.

Well, since it’s so comfy already, I may as well nap here, he reasoned as he once again closed his eyes, but this time concentrated on sleep.

-

He didn’t sleep so well, plagued by legions of thoughts that laid siege to his mind as he tried to find that calm needed for sleep.

Each thought came like a world-shaking event, tossing him about until the next one came. His mental state had been so perturbed that he couldn’t even appreciate the beautiful day that brought with it the sounds of crickets, cicadas, a gentle breeze, and beautiful fluffy clouds.

No, by the time someone came to wake him, he’d determined that he’d find and smash every single cricket and cicada on their section of mountain. No more would they disturb his rest!

But he took deep breaths, then many more, and eventually calmed himself enough to appreciate playing with Xixi and Zander. He even took extra comfort in nursing a bit from Aloralla, especially since she wasn’t part of the clan.

His whole outlook on the clan and everything related to it had shifted. No more were they kind strangers to him, a new home that he’d been born into. Now, now it was a place created by Altaea for him. To house him, to nurture him, then to be left behind in his search of her.

It felt… hollow.

The rest of the day more or less passed in a daze for him, causing not a few people to wonder if he’d come down with something.

Even his mother, the kind and sweet soul that she was, couldn’t get him out of his funk no matter what she did. They eventually left him alone, so he went to his room to “meditate”.

It must have been after midnight by the time Avi contacted him by popping out of his head and landing on his face.

So startled was he that he nearly shrieked like, well, a little child. It hurt swallowing it back, to the point that he thought he’d actually damaged his throat somehow.

‘Let’s go, Scaredy-Pants,’ she sent.

They both transferred to his realm the next instant, causing a bit of vertigo due to this being his first experience crossing a dimensional boundary in this life.

After a moment of composing himself, he took a deep breath, appreciating the unique environment. He hadn’t noticed every time he’d visited in the past, but now he could feel how different his realm was from what he was used to. The ambient mana seemed to be much higher here, richer.

He didn’t have long to appreciate his realm with all of his senses before Avi [Planeshift]ed them to the entrance of the Heavenly Archive, the Library side.

He panicked for a moment before he realized that they were alone, no one in their vicinity.

‘You could have given me a bit of warning,’ he groused, a frown on his face.

‘You’re fine,’ she replied in a distracted tone. ‘Now to test if my theory is correct,’ she sent and dramatically motioned him forwards with a spindly leg and a sweeping wing. With one last grump, he stepped towards the indicated section of wall, appearing no different from any other part of said wall.

He took another moment, this time to mentally prepare himself in case Avi was actually wrong, then reached his hand out and touched the wall.

Nothing happened.

He looked over to Avi, who’d repositioned herself to his shoulder, and raised an eyebrow. He was about to speak his mind when he felt the wall suddenly disappear and nearly fell over in surprise.

He whipped his head around and was greeted by the sight of a rather large portal shimmering in the dim light.

‘Let’s go,’ Avi sent, her smugness overwhelming their connection for a moment.

Joram just shook his head and stepped through the portal and out the other side.

The vertigo seemed to be less pronounced this time, only taking him a few heartbeats to get over it. He hoped that he was getting used to it and that it would soon become unnoticeable with more crossings.

He opened his eyes again and beheld beauty.

The Heavenly Archive was enormous yet had such delicate detail that he couldn’t help but marvel. The columns on the outside of the structure were decorated with what looked like vines, the detail so fine that if someone had pained them, he’d believe that they were alive.

The whole structure was over forty metres tall and about fifty metres wide. He wasn’t sure how long it was, but he couldn’t see the other end of it. Not that that was any indication as his eyesight still hadn’t gotten to where it had been before his “reset”.

Aside from that, well, it was quite the sight for someone of limited visual capabilities. His [Touchsight] on the other hand, well, that picked up lots in a fifty-metre radius. Stacks upon stacks of books interspersed with bookshelves almost as large. It was quite the sight.

“Well, you were right, Avi,” he said with a sigh. He didn’t quite know what to think. On the one hand this was a type of legacy that she’d left for him, while on the other hand it was a mystery as to the how. How had she set all this up in a time before they’d arrived in this realm.

“Of course I was,” she replied smugly.

Joram shot her a look that said that she was getting a little too cheeky. In return, she merely set up her projection to walk with him while she flew off ahead.

Great, I have a thousand-year-old grade-schooler… he thought to himself as he made his way further into the Heavenly Archive.

He didn’t stay bothered for long as his wonder at the architecture and sheer grandeur of the building overwhelmed his annoyance. He hurried along though as he realized that they wouldn’t’ have too long to spend there.

But now that he’d been there, he could return by himself at any time. That thought alone made him happier than he thought it would. He could return to a super-secret library and peruse the shelves whenever he wanted, nevermind that it had been left for him by Altaea.

Well, he assumed that it had been, anyways. Heck, she might have set this whole place up long before she knew when in time she was, or if he was still even alive. Either way, he’d investigate as thoroughly as he could to discover any answers that might remain for him to find.

With that thought in mind he lengthened his, admittedly short, stride and hurried on to the back where Avi had mentioned that the teleport pad waited.

He still couldn’t believe how many books, volumes, tomes, manuscripts, and scrolls where hidden away here. He would need several lifetimes to get through this section alone but smiled when he remembered that he would indeed have that time once he cultivated only a few Tiers up, nevermind if he reached Tier 7 where you naturally became immortal.

Well, immortal as in un-ageing, you could still be killed after all.

Soon he arrived at the back where the teleporters were located and stopped dead.

If he’d had any doubts as to whether-or-not Altaea had indeed made this place they were immediately dispelled.

Before him lay the teleportation platform. An almost perfect replica from his favourite space exploring show set in the 23rd Century. He’d never gotten the episodes downloaded, but he’d let Altaea read his memories as he did his best to recall each and every episode he’d seen. And he’d seen every episode, but long enough ago that some had become hazy. But not the transporter pad.

Altaea had recreated the whole thing using crystal of varying colour, from the black of the lines separating each pad to the milky colour of the pads themselves. She’d even done the centre in what appeared to be sapphire, top and bottom.

He took yet another moment, this time to just stare and appreciate the sight. If this wasn’t a message for him, nothing was.

He felt his heart lighten as he strode forward, climbed the stairs to the platform, and stood front and centre. He looked off into the distance, hands at his sides and held that pose for a good ten seconds before turning to Avi.

“Beam me up, Scottie,” he said in his best Shatner, which was slightly ruined by his infantile voice.

Nevertheless, he’d managed to just knock something off his bucket list.

“What?” Avi asked, having her hologram quirk an eyebrow.

Ah, how he missed those shows.

“Can this take me directly to the 8th section, or do I have to stop at the 7th first?” He asked, ignoring her inquiry.

“We need to stop at the 7th Tier section and make our way to the other end of the hall where the platform for the 8th Tier section is located,” she explained, eyebrow still raised.

“So, how do we acti-“ Joram cut off as Avi activated the teleporter.

“-vate… Huh,” he said as he looked around at the somewhat smaller area.

It was still awesome, but much less populated with written media. Also, still clean as could be.

His long experience with many dungeon-delving games wasn’t jiving with reality.

*Shrug*

So, he hopped off the platform and started down the aisle, taking note of the books, etcetera, that sparsely populated the units made for them.

It didn’t take long to get to the next platform, this one exactly the same as the first. He didn’t know why Altaea had done so, but he was sure that she had had her reasons.

He looked about again, this time trying to spot Avi. She was very good at sneaking about, even with his [Touchsight] going. With another shrug, he dragged a chair over to the activation console, climbed up, and had a peek.

He’d almost expected it to be labeled in English but found that it was in the local language instead.

*Pout*

He didn’t know why, but that bothered him more than he could explain.

After a few minutes of studying it, he got the gist of it and tapped the 8th Tier button and the delayed teleport button, then made his way over to stand on the platform.

As he was counting down, Avi flew into sight, then into his forehead, almost causing him to fall over in that jerk-knee reaction one has at something flying at one’s head.

‘I need to catch a lift!’ Avi sent just before the teleporter activated, sending him to the 8th Tier section.

“A little warning would be nice,” he grumbled, double checking hit pajama robes.

‘Well, you didn’t wait for me to get there, so I had to rush,’ she explained patiently, very much like one would do for a toddler.

He just about ground his teeth at her tone. It didn’t take that long to follow along through the teleporter.

He took another deep breath and looked around at the new section they found themselves in.

It was slightly smaller than the 7th section but still just as clean, still with the same style. But with markedly fewer books and such.

As he was headed to the first bookshelf (as there were too few volumes and such to use actual stacks) Avi popped out of his head.

‘I’ll look over at this section,’ she said as she flew over to the set of bookshelves across the aisle from him.

“Have fun,” Joram murmured as he concentrated on his senses, trying to find any other volumes like the ones Avi had already found.

The Tier 8 section was devoted to what the cultivators called the Emperor/Empress Realm. He wasn’t sure, but he’d heard that there were very few of them on the entire planet, nevermind their Waeryn Continent.

Then the Tier 9 section would be for the “Mystic Realm” section, and as far as he knew there weren’t any living Mystic Realm practitioners around. One heard stories, or read them, of how Mystic Realm practitioners were basically the overlords of the entire planet, they were so strong.

Well, he’d get to that section soon enough.

It took him and Avi both a good two hours to thoroughly scour the 8th Section, netting them another three volumes. One was a continuation of the Encompass the Universe manual, another was for cultivating mental strength, while the last one- and the thickest of the bunch- covered pill and artifact refining as well as advanced theories on various spells and arrays.

Joram didn’t dare look at them in more detail as that might risk damaging his cultivation base, or even his psionic foundation. High-level methods like these were, quite simply, a death sentence to anyone unwise enough to delve into their mysteries before they were ready, especially the ones that were continuations of another volume.

“We should probably head back soon,” Joram said as he stored the last of the manuals away in his storage space.

‘You know,’ Avi said with a quirked holographic eyebrow. ‘I wasn’t able to store things away like that while in here.’

“Just another argument that Altaea made this place with me in mind,” he said with a sad smile. “Good to know. Maybe I should try to enter my realm from here too.” He finished with a nod and an extended hand towards Avi.

Her image smiled as her crystalline body lazily flew over to land on his head.

“I’m pretty sure that you can ‘enter’ from anywhere, not just my head,” he said in a flat voice, eyes looking up to where he could see her legs dangling over his brow.

‘Yes, but not as fun,’ she replied with genuine mirth.

Joram just shook his head, not wanting to say anything else. If this was one of the ways that she could entertain herself, then who was he to argue? Well, he was the owner of his body and all that, but aside from the minor mental discomfort of seeing a crystal spider with wings flying towards your head, or climbing up your body, or jumping up, well… OK, so it was awkward as Eff. But he just viewed it as another psychological issue to root out and be done with.

If one didn’t have a calm heart, how would one be able to improve oneself?

Ah, more damn philosophy, he thought as he shifted to his realm, then back to his bed.

A quick check around the room revealed no waiting surprises, so he slipped back under his covers and settled down to meditate. He really needed to complete Tier 0 soon and get started on his path to find Altaea. And work on his knowledge star (as he was now going to call it, as “sea” just didn’t fit the image for him). And learn more about alchemy here. And artifact refining. And puppet making and refining.

Well, he had a lot to work on.

At least I won’t be bored, he thought tiredly. Maybe he should take a small break once he finished with Tier 0?