- Week 104 –

Captain’s log, arbitrary star date: 1001.13.13

“The last few months have been hectic. Gran stepped up her training schedule with me, wanting to cram as much information into my brain as she could before she is once again sent out on assignment. I have also found out that she has put together a teaching plan for one of the top tutors in the Clan, one specially designed to keep me busy and engaged. Ha!

*Ahem*

“Mother and Father finally found a cultivation manual, one specifically aimed at developing one’s ‘magical talent’, that they pressed me to use. I gave it a bit of lip-service, not wanting to switch to an inferior cultivation technique. I’ll have to remember to pretend to advance closer to what that technique would allow for.

“Speaking of techniques and manuals. Avi and I made another two trips to the Heavenly Archive. The next trip involved getting to the 9th Section where we actually found five volumes made by Altaea. The first three had to do with cultivation, one for mental strength, one for cultivating, and the last for a body tempering technique.

“The fourth was a manual for the upkeep and repair of the Heavenly Archive should anything occur to it. The fifth was the best one, in my opinion.

“The fifth one, “Becoming One”, wasn’t a dual-cultivation technique like it sounded, but instead a way to convert psionic energy to “mana” and vice-versa.

“Yes, that was an amazing find! I couldn’t help but do a little jig- yes, my legs are still too small to do anything more complex- when I realized what it did… and could do. The possibilities are astounding, to say the least.

“The best part is that it’s something I can start practicing as soon as I reach Tier 1! I can also start the body tempering manuals soon too!

“The ‘Adamantium Body’ technique that Avi found is also quite interesting. From what Altaea had told me of her world, there was no ‘adamantium’ there, but instead ‘adamantine’. Adamantium is a word from my old world, and thus would help the manual stand out for me when I eventually got into the Heavenly Archive.

“I don’t know why she called it that, as the material she made the manual out of was way more eye-catching than the title, but it is what it is. That said, she also tailor-made the technique for me, or us. I can start that one at T1- er, Tier 1- and use it all the way up to the end of T7 where the next installment gets me further along.

“We suspect that there’s a 10th Section, but we haven’t been able to access it just yet. Not that we really need to, as what I’ve already got my hands on will do me for quite some time. Honestly, I don’t know how long it will take me to work my way up through the Tiers, but if it goes like most people, I’ll be cultivating for centuries…

“Anyway. Training-training-training. That’s my life.

“Also, my second birthday will be tomorrow, and the party is supposed to be quite something as it is also doubling as a farewell party for my parents... as well as Gran and Gramps. Yes, ‘Gramps’. He gets called that for continuing his beating sessions.

“Time for one last lesson from Gran. End of log.”

-

“… and this last stroke signifies the crystallization of what you know,” Gran finished by putting her brush down and levelling her stare at him.

“So, how much did you get from that?”

Joram wasn’t really sure what she was expecting to hear from a two-year-old, but gave it a shot.

“It’s pretty,” he said with a smile and saw Gran’s hand move towards her face before she controlled the action. Guess it wasn’t what she was aiming for.

“That it is,” she said. “You can go and play now if you’d like.”

Joram sensed a trap in there but shrugged, hopped off his little chair, and b-lined it for the door.

By the time he’d made it outside and adjusted to the bright glare of the sun, it was already too late.

Gramps was standing there, two sticks in hand.

“Time for one final lesson, boy,” he said in that tone that meant that he wouldn’t be able to get out of it for the life of him.

With how thoroughly his Gramps beat him in these sessions, and that it was the last one before he left on assignment, Joram supposed that he’d have to actually heal himself after this session.

Sure enough, no matter what he did, how he jumped around, rolled, flipped, or side-stepped, he was hit, and hit hard over the course of two hours. After the first hour, his parents had likely felt his frustration and had shown up to watch.

Gramps didn’t go any easier on him.

His parents didn’t intervene either. Probably because they knew he’d be able to heal up afterwards or something.

At any rate, he wasn’t happy as he sat in the garden, the cool winter air only slightly soothing his angry nerve endings. He could see his parents speaking with his grandparents but decided not to lip-read as it was likely a commentary on just how badly he’d been beaten.

That said, he was making good progress with the Encompass the Universe manual and was sure that he’d break through any day now. That also said, he was still lacking the physical boosts that came with doing it step-by-step, rank by rank, so it was no wonder that Gramps seemed annoyed with his performance. Or lack thereof…

Well, tomorrow was his second birthday and the family seemed pretty excited about it. He’d heard talk of combining his and Xiora’s celebration but was glad that it was not combined as he really wanted Xiora to have her own celebration.

Heck, it would nearly be as extravagant as his as there was much talk of how amazing she was doing. Talent. Genius. Many more words denoting the same thing.

Honestly, he couldn’t blame them as Xiora was amazingly talented. If he’d not had his memories to go on, he was certain that he’d be just another average child in the clan. He was just glad that he could help Xiora, and Zander, along.

Joram laid back into the finely manicured lawn and stared up at the sky.

He wondered what the clan would have been like if he wasn’t born to it. Had Altaea had something to do with that thousand year wait for him to be reborn? Heck, he’d been downright highjacked and stuffed into another body. If everything had worked correctly, he’d have taken no longer than ten days to form his body again and continue his explorations… far from where he’d been killed of course.

So, what had Altaea seen to necessitate sending him here? Creating the clan and the Heavenly Archive? Was the ancestor of the clan even still alive?

From what he’d been able to glean, that ancestor had lived roughly twenty thousand years ago.

Yes, that was an even bigger mystery. He was reasonably certain that time flowed on a 1:1 ratio in his realm and in the “real” world. So how in all the multiverse had she been able to create another High Elan before they’d arrived?

So many questions, so little time. No use asking them over and over again when he didn’t have any new information to go on.

That said, he was already two!

In his old life, he’d found that time had passed by ridiculously fast; years passing like months for him. Here? Here it felt like he’d just been born!

He really needed to investigate the Heavenly Archive further as he had a strong hunch that there was more to that place than met the eye.

What did he base that hunch off of? Well, he’d literally written the book on Altaea and that she’d add in extra things for him to find was something that she’d totally do.

That said, if the timelines were correct, then she’d had at least twenty thousand years in which she could grow and change. A lot happened over the course of one’s life, nevermind twenty thousand years…

Yes, he’d investigate further in the hope that she’d left more than cultivation, crafting, and magic manuals behind for him to find. Not that he was complaining that she’d left him those amazing materials. No, he was just hoping for… more. Something more… personal.

Joram heaved a great sight as he stared up at the wispy winter clouds that liked to tear themselves to ribbons on their mountain’s peak.

He wasn’t very good at relationships, now or then. His biggest worry was that he’d come on too strong with Altaea, crafting that figurine of them embracing. He knew that the craftsmanship wasn’t anything to sneeze at, so he was pretty sure that she hadn’t been offended in that respect.

He had gone out on a limb, and the limb broke.

How did one approach a thousand year old who’d saved her universe with her friends before she could legally vote (in Canada)? Nevermind that she’d not only ruled a nation for most of those thousand years, but she’d also ascended to the divine before taking the throne.

Someone who was, quite frankly, lightyears out of his league.

Had she been offended that he’d even tried?

No, he didn’t think that that was the case. Unless he was completely clueless- and that was a very real possibility-, then he was sure that there’d been a least a few reciprocated feelings there. Then there was the fact that she’d taken the figurine with her. So, there was hope right there.

Then his mind turned in on itself again, trying to puzzle out how she had managed to travel back in time. His current theories revolved around finding a fissure and being sucked in, suffering an attack from on Old Monster, or having some sort of accident while cultivating some sort of space/time technique.

He really hoped that his schedule would open up after Gran left again as he really needed to get to work.

* * *

“Are you sure that he hasn’t suffered some sort of accident in his cultivation?” Xander asked again, scrutinizing his… strong willed daughter.

Sulia gave him a cool look, then stuck her tongue out at him before answering. “We thought so too,” she said, indicating Ivaryn who was standing to her right. “But we found no evidence to indicate that any sort of accident had occurred.”

He looked at Bezia and noted that she hadn’t taken her eyes off Joram the entire time. Well, she was watching him from the corner of her eye, and he could feel that she had extended her sensed to also observe the boy.

“How, then, do you explain his reduced physical abilities?” He pressed, sure that there was something there to be ferreted out as Sulia didn’t act like that with him unless she was hiding something.

“Maybe his heart just wasn’t in it?” She suggested with a shrug. “I mean, who actually likes being beaten black and blue like that?”

Xander grunted at that. It took a rare person indeed to train like a maniac and he was reasonably certain that Joram wasn’t one of those types.

“Anyway,” Bezia injected herself back into the conversation. “Have you reviewed the lesson plan that I prepared for him to follow while we’re away?” She asked, locking her viridian eyes onto her daughter. If it was one thing that Bezia took seriously, it was education.

Sulia and Ivaryn exchanged glances and Xander knew what was coming.

“We have, but we’ve found that the schedule it a little too…” Sulia started.

“Intense,” Ivaryn finished for her. “Joram won’t have any time to just be a child, and he needs that more than he needs to train for twelve hours per day.”

Yup, here it comes, Xander thought as he watched his wife.

Bezia’s complexion went from a smooth alabaster to quite the rose pink over the span of a few seconds as her brain went over what had been said, undoubtedly dozens of times in those few seconds.

“He’s the most talented child born into the clan in… Ever! We should nurture and educate him to the best of our abilities, and arrange for such when we’re not here!” Bezia started, but stopped when she felt Xander’s hand on her shoulder.

“I agree that he needs nurturing,” he began. “But I also know that if he doesn’t have normal social time with his peers, friends, and family, then I’m afraid that he’ll turn into a bookworm with no real-life experience behind all of his book learning.”

Yes, his wasn’t a popular opinion amongst the Clear Knowledge Clan but that was life. People needed more than just reading and study to become valuable members of society, nevermind being able to find a spouse…

Bezia’s reaction was expected, the “harumph” and all. Sulia’s, on the other hand, was more interesting to say the least.

Her face went from stubborn to smug to shocked (likely at his insistence that books weren’t the answer to everything) to a kind of confidence that he couldn’t quite place. The first two reactions were textbook Sulia, while the last one only pushed up his thoughts that she was hiding something. Likely the both of them.

Xander took a moment to glance over at the subject of their discussion and noticed that Joram was laying, spread-eagled, on the lawn staring up at the sky, a look of deep contemplation on his baby face.

Now, normally a child would be running around doing something outside while the “grown-ups” talked. Or maybe sat and pouted due to the many bruises and welts covering his small body. But no, Joram was staring off into the distance, a million miles away even though he was so battered.

Xander turned back to his arguing family, nodded to himself, and went with it.

“So, he’s a Reincarnator, isn’t he?”

The argument went on for another few heartbeats before his words registered to his wife and daughter. For his part, Ivaryn honed-in on him like a falcon diving for its dinner.

“Stop,” he said before any of the three could say anything. “Your mother isn’t the only one who’s read a book you know,” he said, dry as could be. “The many signs are there, and if you haven’t noticed yourselves yet, then I’d question your intelligence.”

Sulia flushed at that but stayed stubborn and turned her head away. Ivaryn on the other hand, nearly smiled.

“So, what are the details?” He asked, choosing to stare at his daughter as she could never withstand his prolonged stare.

* * * * *

‘Joram,’ his mother sent, sounding more serious than usual. ‘Your grandparents know.’

Joram blinked a few times, coming back to the here and now. He’d like to say that that wasn’t a surprise and all that, but that would be a lie.

It wasn’t a very large surprise though.

His parents had figured it out in not too long a timeframe, so his grandparents that were now spending much more time with him figuring it out wasn’t an “out-there” scenario.

That said, it would mean he couldn’t get away with nearly as much as he had been.

Not that he was bad or anything, but “playing” at being a kid was no longer in the books.

He was pretty sure that they’d wind up telling Grammy and that would also let out a whole can of worms. He really hoped that it would stop there, though, as otherwise he would likely turn back to his introverted ways and become a recluse to avoid all of the attention that would be coming his way.

‘How’s their reaction?’

‘Gran seems to be the more annoyed of the two; likely because Granpa was the one to reveal it all,’ she sent, using the terms for her parents she used when speaking with Joram. Even though she knew he was a Reincarnator she still tried to use honorifics instead of her parents’ names. Perhaps to make it a bit less weird between them.

‘Never underestimate the quieter one,’ Joram sent with a sagely mental nod.

‘We’ll be talking for a while, so maybe go find something to do while we “grown-ups” discuss everything,’ she sent that last part with some wry mirth in there.

Joram merely sent a mental nod her way as he got up and moseyed in the direction of the Library. He was well-known enough to at least get in the door, and after that he could just wander at his leisure, not needing to worry about any wards that might block his way. Because, well, he would “just be reading” at a table. Then maybe “napping”.

Though, he was pretty sure that Grammy would send someone to get him so that they could begin preparations for tomorrow’s birthday celebration/sending off party for his immediate family.

Maybe he’d spend his time trying to get through that last bit of Tier 0? Yeah, that sounded good. That way he’d have a good surprise for his parents before they left.

- - - - -

It hadn’t taken him long to get into the Library, nor did anyone make a fuss about him being there. All good so far.

What one librarian had made a fuss over was that he had headed over to the stairwell down to the next Tier’s section and had promptly turned him about and sent him on his way.

Minor setback.

So, Joram make his way over to a quiet corner in the Cultivation section and quickly walked under a table.

Yes, he was still tiny. Even a bit short for his age, as he didn’t need to duck at all to stand under the large table.

Not that it really mattered, but he’d always had a thing in his previous life about how long it had taken him to hit that puberty growth spurt. But it had been noticeable when it happened.

Coming back to the present, he quickly checked his field of perception through his augmented [Touchsight] and was glad to find that he was the only one around. Who knew that most people wouldn’t be too interested in this section?

Lol

Then with a flicker of intent, he used [Planeshift] and found himself in the entryway of the Heavenly Archive. He smiled at the now familiar cloudy edges of the minor realm, enjoying the feeling of the place, then turned and headed to the teleport platforms.

A few minutes later, he was standing in the 9th section of the Heavenly Archive and was once again filled with awe.

It was smaller than the 8th section by a bit, but what it lacked in area it made up for in quality.

The stone here was of the same stuff that he’d collected so long ago, that while marble-like stone with the shifting blue inclusions. It gave the place the feeling of being in the clouds as one watched the blues shift in hue, then seem to waver ever-so-slightly to and fro, making it look like eddies in the clouds.

The tables and chairs were of simple white marble though and looked to be carved with great care. The scrollwork on the legs of that table over there was so fine that he was sure that it was paper thin in parts. He’d even [Delve]d a table and found that Altaea had also taken the time to “harden” everything in here to further decrease the possibility of accidental damage to any of the detailed work.

With a small shake of his head, he dismissed those thoughts as the distractions that they were. He was here to try to break through to Tier 1, the Foundation Stage, or Realm, as the cultivators liked to call it.

He looked about again, this time feeling out the area; looking for a spot that was just right, as it were.

After dismissing the area by the teleporter as being too likely to distract him- he was still quite the geek after all- he decided on the area directly across from it. It was more a cubby where someone could curl up with a book and have a good read, sporting an actual couch with padding!

He grinned. Altaea certainly knew him well.

Then his grin faded in the face of his memories and the reality in front of him. She had left. But she had also left this place for him to discover and use. What did it all mean?

After a few moments of having a bit of a pity party, he shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts and made his way over to the couch.

Wow, I wish I’d had one of these back home… he thought to himself as he experienced a couch superior to any couch that he’d ever sat upon. It wasn’t so soft that one would get engulfed in it and need to be rescued, nor was it one of those hard waiting-room couches meant to secretly make you want to leave after a short time experiencing them. No, this was bliss.

The cushions gave just enough under his slight weight, but were also soft to the touch. It almost felt like silk, if silk could also be slightly fuzzy to the touch. It was just so… soft!

Joram quickly shook his head again, reprimanding himself for once again becoming distracted.

‘I’m going to meditate, I’ll be back later this evening,’ he sent his parents then muted the connection so that he wouldn’t be disturbed, then closed his eyes.

He brought up the manual in his mind’s eye, going over it one more time before doubling down.

Pull in the Qi, circulate the Qi. Gotcha.

It was simple enough in principle, but much more difficult in practice… if he’d been a normal kid.

He’d spent years training with Altaea, and almost another year exploring on his own after that, exploring his new abilities and feeling how his soul and body had changed.

He he’d taken on those Outsider traits, becoming more like Altaea, he’d noticed that the many abilities that came with the new change in himself were mostly instinctual, but many also had needed his to concentrate on to activate. Each one drawing upon mana that his body had begun to generate. Which was indeed different from the psionic energy that he generated on a regular basis.

He’d noticed how different they were and that he couldn’t substitute one energy for the other. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how, but that the two energies seemed to be incompatible with each other.

And the fact that Altaea had managed to create a cultivation technique that allowed for the conversion of one to the other was beyond spectacular.

All that said, he was used to energy circulating through his body. He wasn’t, however, used to circulating it in such an unusual way.

It wasn’t like the many Xianxia or Wuxia novels, manga, manhwa, and manhua that he’d read over the years where you took the energy and followed a convoluted route through the body to eventually end up where you started, usually your centre, core, or dantian, whatever the author called it.

This method was technically circulating the Qi, or Mana, through his body in a specific way, but that was about it.

The Encompass the Universe technique required him to pull in the ambient mana from his environment through his skin, and immediately begin to draw it into his muscles, sinews, bones, organs, etc. It was like being cooked by a microwave. The mana would penetrate him through, then he would direct it to the surface again, then back down to the centre of his being.

It was like taking a deep breath in, then exhaling. Except his whole body was the lung.

It wasn’t particularly comfortable, nor was it very uncomfortable. It was just odd.

The main thing that made this a difficult technique was that he needed to also keep a set of images in his head while he did this, guiding how the mana interacted with his body on its way in and out again, over and over again.

That said, it did seem to be working well. He could almost feel the bottleneck crumbling as he meditated here, enjoying the pleasant atmosphere.

Not that he was aware of what was going on around him, but he could feel the ambient mana here and it was rich, but calm and peaceful. It reminded him of the times where he’d gone for a walk in the woods growing up, feeling how peaceful everything was.

That thought nearly broke him out of his meditations right there. The feeling of the Heavenly Archive was that of home. Someplace safe and secure, yet familiar all at once…

… and as those thoughts settled into his head, relaxing him, he felt a sudden influx of mana coming into him.

He panicked for a brief moment before he remembered that the major sign that you were going to break through to the Foundation Realm was this very influx of mana that he was experiencing.

So, he doubled down, as it were, and kept a firm hold on the mental images of how the mana was to circulate and absorb into him.

It wasn’t as easy as all that though, as it soon felt like he was an overfull balloon about to pop. So, he then began to concentrate on the flow of mana now that was coming in all on its own.

He mentally peaked ahead to the Tier 1 chapter and began to use the methods there to circulate the excess mana that seemed about to burst out of him.

It wasn’t easy.

It felt like trying to catch a greased pig- not that he’d ever done that- the size of a sedan. Every time he though he had a hold of the situation, he’d get knocked off, as it were. But he’d be right back there, directing the flows every time he was knocked down.

And he was indeed “knocked down” many, many times.

The issue wasn’t so much needing to get back up as it was that every time he was “knocked down”, it caused a bit of backlash. A time or ten didn’t phase him too much, but once he was knocked down for the twentieth time or so, he was really starting to feel the damage to his body.

The various manuals and such referred to the damage to his body as damage to his meridians. Well, his veins were indeed taking the hits, as well as every other pathway in his body. It was getting so bad, in fact, that he was considering taking the minor his to his cultivation and stopping then and there when he felt tingles all over his body.

He didn’t dare open his eyes, or even send out a thought through his network as he was afraid of loosing his concentration and having one of those “cultivation mishaps”, but he did notice that his body was now healing from the damage the bucking mana was causing.

He grinned, both mentally and physically and doubled down.

Not in trying to wrestle the mana, but this time to corralling it where he needed it to go. The manual hadn’t been very specific on that particular detail, but he suspected that it was something that one had to experience and learn for oneself. One of those life lessons that you had to live through, not merely being told of it.

Whatever the reason, his new approach seemed to work wonders.

The Qi, or mana, was now swirling about like a misty storm in his core, or “dantian” as some called it. He could feel how much more energy his body seemed to have now.

It seemed that while he’d be wrestling with the Qi/mana that he’d missed the integration of Qi/mana into his being.

Huh.

That was more than a little disappointing. Everything that he’d read and heard from others had mentioned how wonderful it felt to finally break through to Tier 1, of how the rush of energy seemed to heal and invigorate the whole body…

He paused there.

He was sure that what he’d felt was healing being sent to him from Avi… But was it really just that? Could she have timed it perfectly to coincide with his breakthrough to the first tier?

He shook his head slightly at the thought, not wanting to go too far down that path until he had time to speak with Avi about it. For now, he contented himself to “observe” the mana swirling about his core. Well, his core area. He hadn’t yet formed a proper core as that would be what determined what he’d reached Tier 2. All of Tier 1 was about accumulating mana in your centre in preparation for making your actual core.

Well, “core” as in: centre. The act of forming one’s core involved condensing the accumulated mana (in its gaseous state) into a liquid state at one’s centre.

From what he could gauge, he wasn’t just at Tier 1, level 1, but he seemed to be somewhere in the mid levels if the accumulation of mana in his centre was anything to go by.

Then the paused again, this time to mentally go over the details of the manual.

“By cultivating in this way, one is able to secure a broader foundation with which to build upon from then on.”

It went on to describe how Encompass the Universe allowed for the cultivator to have an absolutely monstrous amount of mana compared to others of the same realm, and that if one didn’t have ample resources when cultivating, then it might take several times longer to break through to the next realm as compared to others.

Why did I gloss over that little detail before? He asked himself as he physically face-palmed.

Well, at least for now he had access to a fair amount of resources. Avi had, after all, retrieved a staggering amount of wealth on her occasional foray out into the world.

But if pop culture was at all accurate in the quantity of resources he’d need to use while cultivating, he was sure that he’d be out treasure hunting in no time at all…

* * * * *

To say that Tatia was angry was an understatement.

Sulia had never seen her grandmother’s eyebrow twitch, nor had she ever seen that vein throbbing on her forehead.

They’d just finished explaining things to her grandmother; her parents and Ivaryn standing at her sides. This wasn’t quite going as well as she’d hoped.

They’d come in after dinner to fill her in on the Joram “situation” and had spent the better part of two hours explaining things and answering what questions they could. Or in her and Ivaryn’s case, willing to answer. They’d managed to keep out most of what Joram could do and had pretty much left it at Joram retaining his memories from his previous life.

Well, they’d also mentioned that Joram had dabbled in Alchemy and Smithing, but hadn’t gone too far with their explanations.

They’d been standing there for a while now, waiting for Tatia- The Matriarch- to say something.

At length, Matriarch Aneath stood up from her padded arm chair to stare at the four of them standing in the middle of the room, no seating having been offered.

Looking at Sulia, she spoke. “You’ve known for almost a year, yet you didn’t think that it would be important enough to tell me that our family had produced a Reincarnator?”

Sulia tried to speak, but found that her throat had gone a bit dry. After taking a moment to try and swallow some desperately produced saliva, she answered.

“Joram feared that we might take his being a Reincarnator negatively, and thus wished to remain anonymous.”

Tatia’s eyebrow twitched again.

“So,” she began. “You disregarded the clan’s safety in favour or keeping this Reincarnator’s secret?”

Sulia couldn’t respond to that, as she was right to condemn their actions.

“What if he has malign designs on our clan? What if he’s the reincarnation of an ancient enemy? What if he’s just the reincarnation of a despicable person that would sell out our clan for the greatest profit?”

Each question hammered at her conscience, nailing each point home. She’d been raised to keep the secrets of the clan, and what their mission was, the utmost secret. Yet allowing a Reincarnator to roam about without first vetting them was one of the largest mistakes one could make. Never mind that he was their son, the Clan came first.

“Where is he now?”

Sulia instinctively looked over to Ivaryn and felt his mental shake of the head. He didn’t know either.

“He said that he wanted to meditate,” she said quietly, seemingly withering under her grandmother’s glare as she failed to exactly answer the question.

She peeked at her mother from the corner of her eye and noticed that she, too, looked a bit ashamed.

I guess mother was caught up in the moment and was only thinking of the teaching and learning side of things, she thought to herself when motion caught her eye.

Tatia walked over to a small crystal bell, picked it up, and gave it precisely three rings then set it down again.

After a moment several people entered her room, all wearing tight fitting clothing in patchy patterns of black and dark greys, each one also having most of their face covered by a black cloth, only revealing their eyes.

“Find young Joram and bring him here,” Tatia commanded as she once again took her seat.

Sulia’s back was now drenched in sweat.

The clan Enforcers weren’t to be taken lightly.