The next day, Tillia was fine.

What admirable mental fortitude, Joram thought as he munched on his breakfast while Tillia sat across from him, chattering away.

With how much he wanted to get his cultivation ironed out, not to mention the research needed to adapt just about every technique he’d need to use in the future, Joram would have normally skipped breakfast and continued with his important work. Tillia, however, didn’t see it that way.

It was maybe a fault of his, that he hadn’t shared that he knew [Sustenance], or that he had a magic item enchanted with the same. So it was that Tillia had interrupted his meditation and hauled him off to breakfast.

Well, not that she wasn’t a pleasant person to be around, far from it, but when he got to working on something, time tended to become… ephemeral? Transient? Like water slipping from between one’s fingers?

No matter the simile, he tended to forget about little things like sleep, eating, and other such things normal people paid attention to. Especially with a [Sustenance] effect going.

Well, at least he had a second mind going, working on re-pathing the way he’d have to circulate mana throughout his body. Now that his psionic reserves were much deeper, nevermind the crazy amount of mana he could now draw on, he could keep [Schism] running all day. So, he did.

One thing that kept his attention on the meal were the looks that Tillia would occasionally shoot his way. If he was reading it right, and he was half-decent at such things, she was still confused and conflicted about what she’d learned yesterday.

Well, that really didn’t count as a revelation, per se. What caught his interest was the occasional blush that coloured her cheeks when she’d get a particularly intent look on her face. So, of course, he’d take the time to look at her directly and give her a huge smile. The first few times caused the blush to explode, going as far as her collar bones. After that, she seemed to slowly get inoculated against those smiles, reducing the resulting blushes to the normal range of the spectrum.

Ah, can’t tease her too much, otherwise she’ll become completely immune, he thought as he nodded to himself, which elicited a confused eyebrow quirk from Tillia. He just shook his head, smiling.

As for news from the Clan and Brightside, well, there wasn’t much. So-and-so had their sixth child, the medicinal gardens were continuing to expand, and old Careth was finally able to order more adamantium after having somehow had it stolen by a… thief who’d left enough raw mana crystals to buy twice as much as had been stolen.

He nearly choked at that, then mentally revised how much he’d need to spend if he ever had to… acquire more in the same way.

Or, maybe, he could finally make a body for Avi so that she could go and buy some if she couldn’t find any out there in the world on her daily expeditions…

Yeah, I should work on that… he thought as he finished breakfast.

“Tillia?”

“Yes, Joram?”

He smiled as that same conversational template played out again for, what seemed, the thousandth time.

“I still need to work on my cultivation, so be sure that no one comes to bother me,” he said, causing Tillia to frown. “You can always send me a message through the Network, though. That said…”

‘I don’t actually need to eat, unless I want to that is,’ he sent, causing her eyes to nearly bug out.

‘What? How?’ She stammered, her thoughts translating to so much more as the intent behind the short questions was made clear.

‘Ah, one of the “powers” I know. I don’t know how to do it with mana just yet, but I’ll pass it along if I manage to figure it out,’ he sent, giving her a smile as he got up.

‘OK.’ Tillia blinked at him, for once at a loss for words. Well, that wasn’t strictly true, she’d been struck mute several times yesterday already.

Joram took that opening to hurry up to her and give her a big hug, burying his face into her mid-section as he leaned over to hug her sitting form.

Tillia reflexively hugged him back, then stiffened a bit, probably because she remembered that he wasn’t just a child. Either way, he’d gotten his hug, so he scampered off to his room where he turned to give Tillia one last wave.

Sure, the wave she responded with was a bit weak, but he was delighted to see a faint blush suffuse her cheeks again.

Mischief managed, he thought as he entered his room, a huge grin on his face.

* * * * *

Tillia was doing her best to keep the mortification from her face.

She couldn’t believe how much her mind kept circling back to that image of that handsome man leaning over her when she’d first woken up on the floor. Knowing that it had been Joram was what made it so bad, because she’d somewhat fallen for that stunning sight.

Then Joram kept smiling at her, almost every time the thought ran through her head! She knew that he was a very powerful “psion”, what he called a practitioner of Mental Strength, so she kept wondering if he could somehow read her mind.

Thankfully, he soon stopped, allowing her to regain a measure of composure… Until he dropped a fireball that was.

She could hardly believe it. If he didn’t need to eat, then why was he bothering? What was the point?

She nearly hit her head on the table then. Of course, it was to keep up the ruse! She kept forgetting that he was a Reincarnator, then kept forgetting that it was a secret of the highest caliber… which was bad because she’d taken an Oath stating that she’d never reveal his secret and that her life was bound to his…

She very nearly fainted again, remembering her wording, as blood rushed to her head.

Why did I have to phrase it like that?!

Tillia was very glad that Joram had already retired, as she would have been unable to even look at him at that point. Never mind the fact that he’d likely tease her over it again…

Then there was the Matriarch. Who knew that she’d take so much perverse pleasure in tormenting a junior like that?! She was very tempted to report her to the Elders, but realized that she wouldn’t be able to share why she’d been tormented.

She sighed.

Then sighed again, then pulled out the Authority Token and ran a finger over the three stars carved into the sky.

Well, at least there are some perks to all this, she mused as she stood up, then made her way to the door leading to the rest of the Clan Home.

It was time to claim her newfound wealth!

* * * * *

Joram lay in bead, very glad that there was no one else around… except Avi.

Well, some things couldn’t be kept from everyone.

He’d just spent the entire day, and the better part of the evening, trying to map out new pathways, or “meridians”, as those guys in Zhizun Zhanshi liked to call them.

Well, more like “planning” new pathways, as mapping implied that there was already something there to discover. No, he would have to create new pathways if he didn’t want to be stuck as a “cripple”. Well, not that he’d be unable to cultivate to a certain extent, but he’d never be able to use his power.

It had been interesting, though, as he’d found that drawing mana into his body still caused it to gather where it had always gathered in the past. Once there, however, the mana would quickly flow to his Knowledge Star where the many “moons” would then absorb what came.

The thing that fascinated him was that the mana didn’t go directly to his Knowledge Star, but still went to his “centre”. There was nothing there when he wasn’t drawing in mana. Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate. There seemed to be a “void” of sorts, as though his body and spirit acknowledged that something was missing and was still trying to fill it.

That, right there, gave him a few thoughts.

If his body still wanted something there, could he fill it with something?

The question was: with what?

Any time that he tried to gather mana there, it automatically got whisked away. What had caused him to lay in bed, wishing that Avi wasn’t chuckling at his expense, was that he’d tried something… unwise.

While he’d been drawing in mana, he’d attempted to use his mind to keep the mana from flowing away. In short, he’d tried to create another mana-cloud. That hadn’t been so bad. What had been so bad, was what had happened when he’d tried to condense that mana cloud.

As he’d exerted pressure on the cloud, it had grown increasingly unstable, much more than when he’d initially tried it. To the point where it had exploded.

So, there he was, laying in bed as Avi took her time putting him back together. Well, that was a bit exaggerated. It was only putting his guts back into his body… and repairing his spine.

It had been… unpleasant.

He was glad that she’d been able to send healing his way through the Network, as that had saved his life. Yes, he was stabilized. Yes, he was watching as his spleen was being reconstructed, but at least he was alive to see it. That said, he’d rather have been unconscious for that part.

It wasn’t the sight of his insides being on the outside. Nope. It was the smell of the blood. Even back on Earth, he’d never really been bothered by the sight of gore. Watch a surgery on TV? Sure. Help his dad butcher a deer? No problem. Visit a slaughterhouse? OK. Smell the blood? Nope.

It seemed as though that particular trait of his hadn’t gone away. Yes, he’d had ridiculously acute senses back home, but they paled in comparison to what cultivation did to enhance what you already had.

All that said, it sucked.

Sure, the pain was rather inconvenient, but with much use of [Autohypnosis], well, he’d managed to ignore it. Such a great Skill Altaea had taught him. He’d have to remember to give her a huge kiss for that.

Back to the present, Avi was just finishing up, closing the jagged and irregular wound on his lower abdomen. He took that as his cue, and activated an augmented [Cleanse] to clean up the mess in his room. He took a moment to appreciate the lovely sight of thousands upon thousands of tiny lights dividing into even more, tinier, lights.

It was over all too soon, and he was forced to finally look at Avi.

“So, what went wrong?” She asked, tapping a holographic foot.

‘Well…’ he went on to explain his thought process, then what led to the accident. ‘… and you saw then end result.’

Avi stood there for a moment, amusement warring with anger warring with incredulity on her face. Then it seemed that incredulity won out as she replied.

“What would make you think that that was anywhere near a good idea?”

Joram coughed into a hand, looking away. What he hadn’t told her was that it was more whim than anything else that had prompted him to try what he had.

‘Well, at least we learned something…’ he sent lamely, to which Avi face-palmed.

“I can only thank all the gods out there that you’ve gotten into the habit of using [Astral Seed] every day again,” she said, shaking her head, causing her sapphire-amethyst-ruby hair to cascade from side to side.

He allowed that wondrous sight to distract him, going along with the memories of his time spent with Altaea. It had probably been the best and worst time of his life.

Best: because, well, Altaea. She was fantastic, charming, and probably the smartest being he’d ever met. She was as personable as one could ever want, especially for a being as powerful as she was. The fact that she was drop-dead gorgeous also helped. Just a bit…

Worst: she was a training demon. Sure, she made sure that he was healed up, physically, psychologically, and emotionally. But that was also the problem. Yes, she would heal any damage to his body or psyche, but then it’d happen all over again.

Training was hell. Yes, he’d voluntarily gone into it. Yes, he’d quite literally asked for it. He’d even pushed himself to, and beyond, his limits. He’d worked his body to the breaking point more times than he could remember. If it weren’t for Altaea being able to use [Astral Seed] on him through her own Network, he’d have likely died-died several times.

That brought up a thought, though. How had she been able to make her own use of [Astral Seed] work properly? Was it because of her divine spark? Or was it that she was just so much more practiced than he was with everything psionic? Either way, he’d need to improve to find the answer to that rather important question.

Which meant that he needed to stop his reminiscence and get back to work!

‘So, how long do you figure before I can start cultivating again?’

“Oh, that’s not an issue. The issue is that you need to be much more careful with how you go about doing it,” she said, a small frown on her face. “Yes, I can pull your bacon out of the fire, but it would be better if you had a more… solid grasp of what it means to cultivate, and the general ‘rules’ surrounding it.”

He gave her a bland look. ‘… I’ll do more research.’

And thus began his deep dive into the accumulated works on cultivation collected by the Clear Knowledge Clan.

- - - - -

*1341.13.14*

Ah, how time flies, he thought as he was once again being prepared for his birthday celebration. He’d finally paid enough attention to the local calendar that he was now able to think, and use in his notes, the actual date. He preferred the “year-month-day” format, so that’s what he’d continue to use, especially after having used that format for his “Captain’s Logs”.

He did not, however, bother remembering the names of each month as most people were more than fine with referring to each month by their respective number. That made his life easier, however small it was.

He smiled at Tillia as she fussed over his new robes, adjusting them just so. He felt a little bad, as he’d intended on helping her find a better-suited cultivation method, but had instead been buried in his research. Yes, she’d made wonderful progress in her cultivation now that she had more resources and a better cultivation method provided by the clan. He was glad to see that she was about to break through to Tier 1 soon. She was probably holding back so that she could break through after his birthday celebration. She was considerate like that.

Not that he’d mind, but Tillia had wanted to help prepare everything. It was one of the “milestone” birthdays, after all.

He still hadn’t managed to find out where or when the tradition had started, nevermind the “why”, and that bugged him. All he could find was that it had started with the clan, with no hints as to where the idea had come from before its adoption by the ancestral founder of the clan.

“You’re looking quite dapper, if I do say so myself,” Tillia gushed as she finished with her adjusting.

Joram blinked at that. He’d never heard her even use the word “dapper” before, and it threw him for a bit of a loop as his brain tried to latch onto the word that had been auto translated by [Tongue of the Sun and Moon]. Sure, his ability to speak any language was still in full effect, but when that skill provided the word for his audience it created a weird lip-sync issue. The very same one that had tipped his parents off to him being a Reincarnator.

Thus, he had done his utmost to learn every word that he could and practiced saying it until he could use the word fluently in conversation.

“Thanks, Tillia,” he said with a smile that caused her to blink then quickly look away.

Ah, still adjusting I see.

“Yes, well, you’ve gotten quite tall for your age, so you’re starting to look more and more refined,” she said, still not looking at him.

Joram looked down at himself, then over to Tillia. It was indeed true that he’d undergone a growth spurt this year, managing to hit 126cm. He was pretty sure it was because of his cultivation, his body trying to accommodate his increased mana capacity by hurrying along his physical growth. Between [Sustenance] and eating every now and then, he wasn’t worried about vitamin deficiencies or any such thing. He was more worried about sticking out.

Why? Well, he wanted to spend as much time researching how to deal with his unique cultivation situation rather than being dragged around the clan, paraded about as some sort of paragon of… some sort. He really didn’t know what would happen, nor did he want to find out. The more someone stuck out, the more likely they’d have… an eventful life. He wanted peace and quiet.

Sure, he’d eventually need to go out into the world to gain the experiences that he wouldn’t be able to get by staying home. He also wanted to explore. Given all the tales he’d read about in the histories, he was sure that there were many places where one could find… treasure!!

Yes, he wanted to go treasure hunting. That was a romance that just about everyone from any world had entertained at some point in their lives. And given how much that theme appeared in the various Wuxia, Xianxia, manga, manhua, and manhwa, well, there was probably a nugget of truth to it all.

“Hmmm, hope I don’t grow too fast,” he muttered to himself, which earned him a startled look from Tillia. So, he explained. “The more I stand out, the less time I’ll have to do what I need to.”

Tillia blinked at that, then smiled, a mischievous glint in her eyes. ‘Ah, but don’t you want to grow up faster so that you can marry me sooner?’

That caused a double-take.

‘Why, Tillia, my dear, I didn’t think that you’d be so eager for me to grow up,’ he sent back with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Tillia’s face figuratively burst into flames, her face and ears were so red. He was treated to the sight of her blush going all the way down to the top of her chest where her robes covered the rest.

She reached out and pulled him into a headlock and was about to begin a noogy when it occurred to her where she’d placed his head.

Joram idly wondered if Tillia would develop some sort of flaming body technique given just how red she managed to turn after that realization. The heat coming off her was also quite impressive.

And so Joram was summarily released as Tillia managed an impressive jump backwards, even managing what he’d classify as an 8/10 landing.

‘Aww, no fun today,’ he sent teasingly as he fixed his hair in the wardrobe’s full-length mirror.

He got a very strong impression through the Network that Tillia was tempted to toss him out the window, never mind that it wasn’t open, so he relented.

“Looks like it’s almost time,” he said as he glanced out the window. “Last one for the next while.” He said with a smile as he turned back to Tillia.

“Hmmm?” Tillia looked distracted, the confused.

“Last party for a while,” he explained as he walked up to her. “I’m OK with not having to be paraded in front of the clan all the time.”

“Makes sense,” she said as she nabbed the new circlet from its pillow, still looking distracted.

Hmmmm… he hmm’d, not quite sure what was going on with Tillia at the moment. One minute she seemed to want to throw him out a window, then the next she was all sorts of distracted.

Women are wondrous and mysterious creatures, he thought as he followed Tillia to the Great Hall.

He suspected that this party might be bigger than the last one, and not just because he was a bit older. The fact that his next party would be four years away was what caused him to suspect that they’d make the whole thing even more elaborate.

It wasn’t until he got closer to the Great Hall that he started to see more people about. Sure, they were all dressed to impress, but he also got the feeling that they were more… casual this time ‘round.

He couldn’t quite put his finger on why he felt that way, but it was there.

Not that that was a problem, far from it. He much preferred a more relaxed atmosphere when he was forced to attend gatherings of any sort. The more rules, the higher the expectation for etiquette, the more stressful it was and thus that much less enjoyable.

As Joram and Tillia approached, he took note of the many people making their way to the Great Hall, how they chatted as they progressed at a relaxed pace. Not that he was specifically looking, but he didn’t notice many obvious presents being carried by the attendees. He was a bit… socially reclusive, so he didn’t pay much attention to the various social conventions that weren’t covered in the daily lessons he’d taken.

Was the fourth birthday celebration not as important as the second? Meh, he really didn’t care unless it meant less social pressure on him during the shindig. On the other hand, would Tillia care? She really seemed to try her best to look out for his best interests, as she saw them. They didn’t always jive with what he thought they should be, but he knew such things were important to her, and possibly to save face for his family, so he usually just went along with everything she planned.

He briefly wondered if it was poor manners for him to show up after so many other people, but shrugged it off. If Tillia hadn’t said anything, it was likely that it didn’t really matter.

Then they were entering the hall, exchanging greetings with almost everyone they passed by. His social programming took over, kicking him into “Charming Mode”. Well, he called it that, but it was really just the social “program” that he used when he used to work in retail. Smile. Say a few friendly words. Maybe drop a low-key compliment. Make it look like you were entirely focussed on the person. Don’t keep staring them in the eye; people got weird when you did that.

All that done, it still took him longer than he would have liked to make his way through the crowd to where Grammy waited for him. He was impressed with how disciplined Grammy was with her use of the Network. She didn’t constantly ask him questions or chat all the time. He did notice, however, that she and Tillia had been speaking to each other more frequently over the Network. Yes, he could have “listened-in”, but that would have been rude. It wasn’t hard to allow people to chat with each other in their own… rooms.

Huh, I’m a Discord server… he thought wryly. There were more than a few differences, but it was overall very similar. Group chat? Yup. One-on-one chat? Yup. Send silly things to each other? Yup.

Well, he hadn’t let them know about that one yet as he wasn’t sure what kind of can of worms that would wind up being.

“Ah, the guest of honour,” Grammy said as they got within normal speaking distance of her. “Come, Joram, let me look at you.”

As confused as he was, he nevertheless went over to her and allowed her to fawn over him a bit. During the inspection, Joram noticed that Xixi was close by with her parents, as was Zanth with his. Selussa and Vulen were chatting with some other clan members, which allowed Zanth to sneak away to stand with Xixi while she waited patiently while her own parents were engaged in conversation.

Something about that caught his attention. Aloralla’s body language in particular. She was dressed in what he’d call a fall dress, something a bit heavier than a summer dress, but nothing as crazy as a Victorian gown. It looked to be made of a heavier sea-green cloth, leaving the tops of her shoulders bare, fitting well in the torso, but then flaring out at the waist to go down in flowing folds of cloth that went all the way to her ankles. All-in-all, quite flattering.

But that wasn’t what caught his attention. Aunt Aloralla would unconsciously touch her belly from time to time as she spoke. Joram took another look at her bosom and then nodded to himself. She’d stopped breastfeeding just under a year ago, causing her body to more or less return to its previous, pre-lactating, state. That said, she’d become bustier recently. Add that to the touching of her belly, and Joram was sure that Xixi would become a big sister this coming year.

That made him smile more than he thought it would. He was hoping to become a big brother one day, and the fact that it looked like Xixi would beat him to the Elder Sibling title made him grin. He wasn’t so competitive that he’d let a minor thing like that affect him in any negative way. On the contrary, he was excited for her. She’d discover the joys of being the eldest child… And some of the drawbacks. Either way, he knew that she’d dote on that child.

He probably would too, truth be told.

“Are you ready for this?” Grammy asked, bringing him back to the moment.

“The what?” He asked, no idea what she was on about.

She gave him a slightly vexed look, then explained. “Based on the talent you’ve shown, and been tested for, during your fourth-year celebration the clan will present various introductory cultivation techniques to you to get a sense of which is best suited to you.

“Which means that you’ll need to remove your aura shroud so that we can see which cultivation technique best resonates with you, showing which will provide you with optimal growth.”

Joram nearly blanked there for a minute as his mind went into overdrive. Depending on who was doing the testing, they may find out more than either he or Grammy would find acceptable. That said, would they be strictly testing his aptitude for cultivation, or would they also test his body?

That last thought was discarded, as the clan focussed on cultivating mana over cultivating the body. Well, both could arguably be said to cultivate the body, as mana did cause many changes to occur within the body as one progressed through the Tiers. If he could describe the difference, it would be that cultivating mana had the side effect of strengthening the body so that it could contain such a powerful force. While cultivating the body was specifically focussed on strengthening the body and had very little effect on one’s cultivation.

That said, the stronger one made one’s body during each Tier through cultivating the body, the stronger the incidental strengthening one experienced while cultivating mana.

To put it into hypothetical numbers, one could say that the body was strengthened by ten percent for each tier they advanced. This was a cumulative number. Now, if you managed to cultivate your body between each Tier, by say fifty percent, then when you advanced to the next Tier in your cultivation, then your gains would be much higher than someone who didn’t cultivate their body. Meaning, that your physical strength would quickly surpass that of your peers.

Well, fifty percent was an exaggerated number he used to highlight the point. Nevertheless, if one cultivated their body from the beginning, then their advantage in a physical confrontation would be very clear.

“This is just for cultivation, not for body tempering?”

“That is indeed what we focus on,” Grammy replied slowly. He could see the gears spinning in her head, so he tried to derail any potentially uncomfortable trains of thought.

“Oh, good. I don’t know if I’d be able to concentrate on more than one area of cultivation,” he said, sighing in apparent relief.

Grammy gave him a Look, but seemed to accept his answer. Just as she was about to say something else, one of the Elders of the clan spoke up.

“Thank you all for taking time out of your lives to come celebrate with us…”

Joram’s brain started tuning out the Elder… Fescia, he thought? He was pretty sure that she oversaw education in the clan. Huh, maybe he should pay more attention to her…

That got his mind back in panic mode. His brain continued to, preverbally, spin in the mud though. He was brought back to reality by Grammy giving him a subtle nudge, allowing him to see Elder Fescia standing in front of him, hand held out.

He gave her a weak smile, slid the ring off his finger, then handed it to her.

*Sniff*

He blinked.

Did she just sniff at him? Or was that just a slightly faster intake of breath through her nose? Had he insulted her by zoning out there? He knew that his grades were high, but he wasn’t certain if Granny had included Elder Fescia when she’d made his lesson plans. Was she angry about that? Had Granny stepped on her toes and now Elder Fescia was going to take it out on him?

She said some more words that his brain didn’t really process due to his anxiety, but he could still read body language, and something as obvious as her handing him a jade scroll.

It was like those ancient Chinese scrolls that used slips of bamboo bound together to make a scroll/book. Except these long strips were made of a pale blue jade the colour of a clear sky in winter.

He took the scroll, filtered through what he’d been asked to do, which happened to be… just holding it, for two minutes. So, he did just that.

Scroll after scroll was handed to him, each faintly glowing with one kind of magic or another. As they continued, people started to look increasingly… confused. Murmurs rose here and there, quiet enough that you couldn’t quite hear what was said, but still loud enough to know that people were talking.

After the twenty-third scroll was taken away from him, he started to see… disappointment on Elder Fescia’s face. After the thirty-fifth scroll was taken back, he could feel the worry coming off Grammy. Then it clicked.

Each scroll was meant to resonate with the person holding it should their physique be especially compatible with the technique contained in the scroll. The magic was probably tuned to search a person’s core. The very same core that was now a gaping void in him.

Elder Fescia took one last scroll and handed it to him as though she were handing him his last meal.

Joram reached out and took it, his little hand barely going halfway around the scroll. He held it, counting down the minutes, then the seconds.

4… 3… 2… 1… Done, he thought as he lifted the scroll for Elder Fescia to take, the scroll remaining unresponsive to his touch.

He noticed Grammy giving Elder Fescia a Look, which was returned in kind.

Well, crap.