Chapter 037

Joram mentally face-palmed.

‘Well, are you able to raise them above ground level and stabilize them? I’m working on a subroutine that would allow an already existing demi-plane to be converted to the new spherical model,’ he asked after pulling his thoughts back on track.

‘I could manage that, but it’ll take a couple of weeks or so.’

‘Thanks,’ he sent. ‘I’m still working on figuring out how powerful this new energy is, but I think that I’ll be able to get things working a bit sooner than that.’

‘Well, while you wait then, why don’t you do more work on augmenting [Schism]? We both know that more helpers will be ridiculously helpful,’ she sent, strong emotions flowing through with the thoughts. He wasn’t quite sure, but he suspected that there was much eagerness behind her excitement. Yes, they were similar, but still different emotions.

He knew that she was running [Schism] as well and wondered what else she was up to.

‘Well, I’ll get working on finishing up the projects you’ve shared with me first,’ he sent, suddenly eager to dive back into work. The more he thought of the myriad technologies that awaited his attention, the less he could sit still.

Which would have sucked if he’d not been in his mental office. His physical fidgeting probably would have had terrible consequences.

‘OK, but make sure to come out every now and then to see how everyone is doing, OK?’

He sent back his mental assurances before getting back to work.

“That’s no moon,” he mumbled to himself, not able to keep in his slightly maniacal giggles. That was probably the “base” she was referring to….

* * * * *

Avi felt a chill run down her spine, then cursed the weirdness of having a flesh and blood body.

It was so distracting!

She turned back to her latest project and smiled. If she could find the right concentrations of Space and Time Laws in which to bathe this sample in, she just might be able to achieve what T.L. Altaea had managed to accomplish.

Then, if Joram’s work on the new [Genesis] worked out, then they just might be able to get themselves to Earth.

Smile.

* * * * *

Sulia looked down at Joram as he lay, presumably sleeping, on his bed. She’d not heard, or felt, anything from him since before going into labour and wondered how he was doing.

She adjusted her daughter’s position after she detached from eating and covered herself while cradling her daughter in her other arm.

She was actually smaller than Joram had been, but when she thought about it, that didn’t really surprise her that much. He’d shared with them how he was able to use a strange ability called [Sustenance], so there had been abundant nutrients for both his growth and her continued well-being.

Which had completely thrown off how she thought of the last few months of pregnancy. On one hand, she wanted to punt Joram across the yard because of what he’d done. She’d gone into this pregnancy thinking that it would be the same as her last one. More the fool, she.

At any rate, she was glad that her daughter was in her arms, sleeping peacefully now that her bottomless pit-like stomach was temporarily filled. That was another eye-opener. Sure, Joram had suckled enough that they hadn’t been worried that he wasn’t eating enough, but she now realized that he had actually been a “light” eater.

Sulia shook her head, ridding herself of those concerns as she recalled Joram’s current plight.

After her grandmother and Joram himself had explained what had gone wrong, she was all at once proud of his pathing a new way in cultivation and wanting to face-palm. Leave it to Joram to do something no one else in recorded history had done.

Maybe it was unique to how Joram cultivated his Mental Strength- psionics-, but it did provide an interesting avenue to study. Also, some advantages from what she could see.

Sure, his Core seemed to be now located in his Knowledge Sea, or whatever he called it, but that also provided a measure of safety. No longer could someone break his cultivation by attacking him physically. It was a common thing to do to another cultivator one wished to humiliate, or for someone in authority to pass judgment on someone, to destroy a person’s cultivation. It would be something to study in the future, for sure.

She looked down at her daughter again and wondered if she would also be talented in Mental Strength. She wasn’t sure if Joram’s soul had influenced how his body had turned out, or if his body had already been primed to use Mental Strength. Yes, their family line had a stronger chance than most to develop that Talent, but it was still closer to one in a thousand chance that someone would develop the Talent.

Then she thought about Xixi, little Xiora, and frowned. No one had thought that she’d be talented in Mental Strength, but it seemed that she did have the potential to learn. As far as she knew, Xixi was more focused on her magical cultivation than training her Mental Strength, so maybe she’d need to speak with Aloralla and get caught up on the gossip, as it were.

* * * * *

1345.01.27

Joram opened his eyes. Well, he tried anyway. Why the try?

Well, it seemed as though having one’s eyes closed for about a month would result in a build-up of sleep that would glue them together.

Mental note: make sure to have a [Cleanse] run every day while working in the “office”.

So, he did just that.

Opening his eyes ever-so-slowly, Joram was well pleased. No shooting pain like having needles stabbed into his eyes. Good start, that.

He opened his eyes a bit more, but closed them again, having forgotten that he needed to let his eyes adjust to normal light after having them closed for so long.

Taking his time, Joram decided to check his connections to see if he’d missed anything important.

After a brief moment of panic at that thought, namely the thought of waiting messages and how his Network had gone down a few times before, he breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing it was still there. Sure, he’d checked in on his family briefly after his sister was born, but he’d been… well. He’d forgotten to check up on them in the past month or so.

With blushing cheeks, Joram mentally confirmed their health and well-being while opening his eyes just a bit more. Open a bit, close a bit. Rinse and repeat until his eyes acclimatized to the ambient light.

After a few minutes of doing that, his eyes were fully adjusted now. And still no pain!

He then took a slow, deep, breath and let it out just as slowly as he gauged how his nerves reacted to the movement.

A bit uncomfortable, but that was probably from not moving much in the past month. Good progress right there.

He looked down at himself, once again realizing how much he’d grown in the past couple of years. With a thought, his wardrobe opened up and the clothing hanging in it shifted this way and that so that he could get a better idea of whether or not he’d need to [Fabricate]-up a new set of clothing for himself. He was then glad that someone had taken the time to get him some new clothes made and delivered.

He then checked on where Tillia was, and frowned. From what he could tell, she was a few kilometres away from the main clan estates/compound/village/whatever-you-wanted-to-call-it. What was up with that?

Joram put hat out of his mind, instead focussing on moving his long-disused body.

As he thought about moving his finger, he wondered just how stiff he would be. Yes, he was being psionically sustained, which generally kept his body from deteriorating from lack of use, but he had to wonder. It had been quite a while since he’d been able to move without pain, so he was also a bit leery.

With a mental shrug, Joram moved his finger.

It moved.

No pain.

Joram heaved a sigh of relief, then another as that action hadn’t caused him any mind-shattering pain. Things were looking up!

He then went through his mental checklist, moving each part of his body, making sure that everything was hunky-dory. Yes, he’d even thought that thought. Sometimes one just needed to throw in one of the classics.

With a smile on his face, Joram slid out of bed and stood there for a moment, appreciating the sensations his body was feeding him. From how the floorboards felt under his feet to the air coming in from the window that gently traced over his skin.

Yup, skin. For some reason, his robe was missing. He looked around briefly, then shrugged. If clothing was missing, then he just had to get some on!

A few minutes later, and after much prodding at his body- it was still weird to see how much he’d grown!- he was dressed and ready to head out and see his little sister in person!

He stopped at the door and glanced down at his last height measurement there. That’s when it really hit home.

He’d been gone from home for so long. If he was gauging it right, he was now a good one hundred sixty-eight centimetres tall now… give or take. He quickly did the mental math and came up with about five feet, six inches tall or so. For his age, he was a giant! How many seven-year-olds were that tall? Then he looked at his scrawny limbs and sighed. He’d need to do a lot of muscle-work to look like anything other than a beanpole.

With a physical shake of his head, he stepped to his door and left his room.

- - - - -

“Yes, Grammy, I’m well enough to be up and about…”

“…”

“No, Grammy, I haven’t fixed my cultivation issue yet…”

“…”

“I do have an idea of how to mitigate it somewhat, but I think that I’ll need some expensive natural treasures…”

“…”

“Yes, I can provide some more healing artifacts…”

Joram heaved a mental sigh as he sat across from Grammy. He’d bene answering questions for a good hour now and was getting a bit tired of it. He’d just wanted to catch up a bit with what had transpired during his convalescence, but had instead been the one answering her burning questions.

“But, why adamantium?” Grammy asked, leaning forward, a keen look in her eye.

“Well, due to my particular… constitution, I’ve found that I can use it for body tempering,” Joram said, not quite wanting to, but found it hard to resist her questioning. He knew where this was going and wasn’t looking forward to getting there.

“So, when that sample disappeared from Careth’s forge, that was you?”

“Well, I did try to compensate him…”

He got the Look.

“Anyway, that’s long in the past now,” he coughed. “Now, I just need some help getting more samples; the more the better.”

“I am having a hard time grasping your Tier,” Grammy said, a slight crease forming between her eyebrows as she stared at him. “What is your current cultivation at?”

“Uh, well, based on what each Tier represents, I’d guess that I’m late Fourth Tier or so,” he said with a shrug, but secretly hoping that what he’d just said wouldn’t be a problem.

Grammy stared at him for what felt like an hour, but was only three and a half minutes or so. Internal clocks, for the win!

Eventually, she spoke.

“How is that possible?”

Yup, complications now arising, he thought as he shifted in his chair.

“Well, ah…” he started, but faltered.

“Spit it out,” Grammy said, seeming to have sensed something.

“Well, I kind of made my way to the Archives…”

“Yes, I know. You’ve been going there with your parents since you were an infant.”

“Well, I kind of made my way into the Archive,” he said, emphasizing ‘the’ in the hopes that she’d catch on.

From the look on her face, and the temperature noticeably dropping in the room, he guessed that he was spot on.

“And how, pray tell, did you manage that?”

There was a sort of edge to her voice that told him that he was on very thin ice, and if he didn’t tread carefully, he’d drown.

“Well, we kind of noticed a few oddities about the clan…” he started, then went into what he and Avi had noticed about the clan’s bloodline and what he’d learnt in passing. “Long story short, I found that the Archive was created by Altaea and so we searched it more thoroughly in hopes of finding any clues that we could of her,” he finished, silently cursing this body’s sweat glands.

She stared at him for another six minutes, fifty-three seconds before responding.

“And so you thought that it would be OK to venture into the most secure, best kept secret, of the Clan and then remove its contents for your own use?”

Well, when you put it like that…

*Cough*

‘Joram,’ Grammy began through the Network’s telepathy. ‘I know that you have a profound connection with Altaea, whom I now solidly suspect was, or is, the founder of our Clan. But. I am disappointed that you felt the need to hide this from me.’

After a moment of profound guilt, he sent.

‘Well, to be fair, this was all done before the cat was out of the bag. Before I knew that I could implicitly trust everyone here.’

Another silence.

‘Joram? Is there anything else you’d like to share?’

He thought about that for a moment, not quite sure how she’d take the news of Avi working on a space station the size of a moon… Then he just shook his head, firming his resolve to once again trust someone.

‘Well, there are a few things I’d like to share…” he started.

He then went into details about his searching through the Heavenly Archive and how, when he came across the teleportation platforms, he knew of a surety that it had been Altaea who’d made the Heavenly Archive. Then how they’d found the manuals she’d left behind for him, and now that led to his accident with his cultivation.

From there, he went into how he’d messed up Encompass the Universe and how that led him to where he was now, with a whole new energy that he was trying to manage, then properly harness. He also let her know that he had the subsequent manuals for when he needed to break through to Tiers 8 and 9.

Next, he told her about the Adamantium Body Technique and how it worked. Then of the Neutron Star Body Technique (he was suddenly very glad that there was a sort of universal translator with the Network, as he was pretty sure that “Neutron Star” wasn’t covered in her/his new language) that would follow after he stepped into the peak of Tier 7, as that was what would allow him to step into Tier 8. Or, rather, he needed to start it before Tier 8, otherwise it wouldn’t quite work so well.

To wrap it up, he told her about his personal Realm and how it was part of his soul, a part of him. He told her of how he’d taken hundreds of samples of various flora as he wandered the mountains before getting killed that that Old Fart and how Avi had cultivated them in his absence, and had developed quite the vineyard and accompanying brewery/distillery/winery.

He confessed that he’d never really been one for alcohol in any form, as he didn’t like the taste, and was interrupted for the first time.

“You must bring me there,” Grammy said out loud, shocking him slightly.

“Um, yeah, I can take you there,” he said, still slightly taken aback by her intensity.

Is Grammy a closet boozer?

So it was that Joram took Grammy’s hand in his- with a sudden realization that he was now as tall as her, and that her hand felt tiny in his- standing in front of the villa Avi had constructed in his absence.

“The architecture is strange. Is it from your original home?” Asked Grammy as she studied the sprawling villa.

“Yes, its design is based off a region of Earth, my original home, called the Mediterranean. They’re well known for…” he explained how Avi had likely chosen the theme of the villa, then a bit of how that region was well known for their wineries and relaxing lifestyles. Or had been in times past. He’d never actually visited the region in his past life and came to the conclusion that he really wanted to visit should they make their way back to Earth at some point.

During his little history/geography lesson, Avi showed up, dressing in what looked like a Jedi outfit, though sans lightsaber, and took over the tour.

After seeing the various features like indoor fountains, courtyards, and waterfalls, they made their way to the sub-levels where the brewing, distilling, and vinting occurred. Grammy soaked it up like a sponge.

“And you say that you use the various medicinal herbs, berries, grains, and fruits? Not just standard varieties of them?”

“Yes.”

Grammy waited for a few seconds, seemingly hoping that Avi would expound on that, but then gave up.

“Have you managed to keep their unique qualities throughout the process?”

“Yes.”

Joram could swear that Avi was doing it on purpose when he noticed a vein on Grammy’s head begin to throb.

Then Avi seemed to take pity on Grammy and continued on.

“Let’s head down another level where we can sample some of the products.”

Grammy seemed to forgive Avi a great deal then as her eyes lit up at the suggestion.

Several hours later, Joram was helping Grammy recline in a comfy chair. She’d been most impressed with Avi’s skill. Had praised her most eloquently the further into the samples she’d gotten into.

“Avi?”

“Yes, Joram?”

“I’m guessing by Grammy’s reactions to the various boozes she tried that you could probably sell them for quite a bit in the outside world, eh?”

Avi smirked at him. “Well, I’ve gone out from time to time while you were under the weather,” she said that last part with a slight frown, “and sampled what the country had to offer. And I must say, I’d rank my operations here at the top.”

“Really?” Joram asked, focussing in on Avi now that Grammy was settled and snoozing.

“Well, Altaea did teach you alchemy as well as the general skill for brewing. She was really good at it and taught you very well. Or, rather, I guess she added it to that Crystal Mind she gave you…”

Joram facepalmed, remembering the Crystal Mind Altaea had given him so long ago that he’d never used. In his defense, brewing had never been at the top of the list of things he wanted to get into. Sure, back on Earth he’d briefly thought about making his own alcohol as a hobby. One that would have seen it being given away to friends and family or something. But now he was even more curious.

He mentally went through his storage space, found the Crystal Mind, then brought it to his hand. He looked at the small, unassuming, crystal in his hand. Well, he guessed that it looked like a very clear diamond cut into what he would have called a thousand-sided-die about one centimetre across.

Hmm, well, maybe it wasn’t very “unassuming” after all. A diamond that size would go for millions back on Earth.

Avi gave him a look that told him that he needed to get on with it, so he did.

He “absorbed” it. Or as he preferred to call it: integrated.

Joram stood there for a minute going over the thousands upon thousands of “pages” of information that came with the Crystal Mind. It wasn’t like a dam bursting, flooding his mind with too much information. No, it was more like having a very well indexed document appear in his mind. One with which he could go to a section and read it over if he needed to. But at the same time, he intuitively felt that he knew everything contained in the Crystal Mind already.

It was much better organized than the Crystal Minds he’d made in the past.

“Ah, I see what you mean…” he said, trailing off again as he began to realize the ridiculous synergy between what he was going through and Alchemy. Heck, some of what was in there was definitely alchemy, just a different way of doing things.

“I think I need to go and practice alchemy now,” he said, wandering off.

“What should I do with ‘Grammy’?” Avi yelled after him.

‘Just put her in her bed or something,’ he sent back, not wanting to yell.

* * * * *

“Joram!”

*Kaboom!*

*Cough-cough*

“Ah, sorry,” Avi said from the door to his lab, a slightly rueful look on her face.

“What is it?” Joram asked, wiping his face off. He wasn’t pleased at all with the interruption, but was holding back his ire because he knew that Avi wouldn’t interrupt him when he was working unless it was something important.

“Gram and Gramps are back.”

“OK.”

“Grammy also got some more adamantium for you.”

“All right.”

“Your mom said that if you don’t show up soon, that she’d shine your backside.”

“On my way!”

- - - - -

1345.03.11

Gran just stared at him, mouth slightly agape. Gramps, however, seemed to take his height in stride, probably because he was still nearly a head taller than Joram.

“So, yeah, I grew a bit…” he said, raising his right harm to scratch at the back of his head in embarrassment.

Which seemed to snap Gran out of it, as she proceeded to snap at him.

“Stop that! Do you have fleas?”

Guess she defaults to “critical”, he thought as he dropped his arm back to his side.

“I’m told that you were unconscious for most of the time I was away. Please explain,” she said now taking a seat in the small parlour they all met in.

It wasn’t just Gran and Gramps. His parents were along for the visit, nominally so that Gran could see her latest grandchild, a granddaughter at that! Grammy was also present, sipping on a small glass of- what he assumed to be- wine. From the smell, he was pretty sure that Avi had gifted her at least one bottle of her stash.

And so, yet again, he explained what had happened, though he only gave the Coles Notes version, as he was pretty sure Grammy didn’t want him to fess up to Gran about going into the Heavenly Archive without permission.

He glossed a bit over Avi’s treatments, of how she had forcefully activated his assimilation protocol and how he was now part dragon, part phoenix and had the corresponding elemental immunities to each.

“So, what you’re saying is that to further improve in your Tiers, you’ll need astronomical sums of money and resources,” Gran concluded, causing Joram to just stare at her.

With all that, she’s thinking about money?

He saw the reactions of his parents through [Touchsight] and almost laughed out loud. They had surely taken something else from what he’d said.

“Yes, well, I do have the means to continue my advancement,” he said, clearing his throat.

Gran looked at him for a bit, then snapped her fingers. “You’re the source of the healing artifacts, aren’t you?”

Damn, she’s sharp.

His parents, though, weren’t distracted.

“So, you basically have access to many times more mana than a normal mage at your level?” His mother asked at the same time as his father asked.

“So, you’re a body cultivator too?”

They both looked at each other, then turned back to Joram.

“Um, yes to both?”

He saw Grammy smiling from her chair, safely on the opposite side of the table from him, sipping her wine. He was pretty sure that she was taking it easy now that she knew just how potent the stuff was.

Seriously, is Grammy an alcoholic?!

Hey, when you’re done, I think I’ve got the new augments to [Schism] ready to go, Kinkade piped in suddenly.

Joram sent along his thanks to Kinkade, well, himself, and turned back to his family.

“So,” he began. “Were you successful in your mission this time around?” He asked his grandparents in an effort to change the subject.

“You know that we can’t talk about that,” Gran chided him, still a bit distracted by his several revelations.

“Well, it was good to see you, but I need to get back to my studies. I was fairly certain that I was on the verge of a breakthrough in my Alchemy studies.”

That, once again, threw people for a loop. Well, except for Grammy, who just smiled.

It was considered a bit rude to leave before getting permission from his elders, but he was getting people’d-out. Too much interaction in too short a period of time.

Then another thought occurred to him as he made his way back to his apartments.

‘Grammy?’

‘Yes, Joram?’

‘Why is Tillia staying so far away now?’

‘Ah, that’s a discussion for later,’ she sent, calmness and assurance flowing through the link. ‘She is quite well, but needs to be in seclusion for her studies.’

‘OK, well, at least I can talk to her when needed,’ he sent back then dropped the line when he felt positive feedback from that statement.

He was pretty sure that he was on the cusps of a breakthrough in his Alchemy, about to break into the 5th Tier of concoctions and pills!

* * * * *

“I sensed something unusual from that young woman they recently moved to the neighbouring peak.”

“Well, out with it!”

*Cough*

“I’m not entirely sure, but even though I am only in the Mystic Realm and can’t quite feel the Laws associated with the Immortal Realm, I am fairly sure that I vaguely felt the Laws of Time and Chaos.”

There was a long pause before the first person spoke again.

“Are you sure?”

“As I said, I’m only in the Mystic Realm, but I am sensitive to the higher Laws. I would say that I am at least sixty percent sure.”

Another pause.

“Do you know what this means?”

“I have an inkling.”

“Send word back to the Sect. Not only have we verified the spies’ headquarters, but we may even be able to return with an even bigger prize...”

The first person waited with bated breath.

“Finally, another Seer. Make preparations. We need to secure that child at all costs. The stronghold of the spies is of secondary concern now.”

“For the Sect!” The first person said firmly, hand going to their chest in a sort of salute.

“Yes, for the Sect.” The one who seemed to be in charge replied, then turned again to the mountain where Tillia now resided.