Remi stared at his open palm as steel webbing connected his fingers then retracted. Back and forth he flexed the mechanism along with the small claws that protruded from his new fingertips.

“Aye, that’ll do,” he announced. “The fins on me feet are a bit on the large side though, eh?”

“They’re variable. That’s the max length,” I advised, gesturing at the oversized flippers extending from Remi’s feet.

So far, I’d upgraded his hands and feet, installed back fins, and even done some cosmetic work on his head. With all of his aquatic augmentations active, I was reminded of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. It made me curious as to what Remi’s previous species had looked like.

With the updates completed, he got dressed, wrapping himself in layers of cloth to hide his Automata nature. He’d even taken to wrapping his face in a thick scarf and wearing a hood. He lacked the mana capacity or hardware to use [Cloak()] so it was just as well.

Priss declined any aquatic upgrades at first, but Lena convinced her that if the Princess was going in the water, then her maid would have to as well. So in the end, she got a plug-in armor system similar to what I had for myself. At least that way she wouldn’t be locked into Aquaman mode in the future. Remi was apparently cool with it.

I finished the last of the port installations on Priss and had her reboot to initialize the additions to her firmware to recognize them as the first rays of dawn started peeking through the windows.

“I have several ideas for equipment that you’ll be able to make use of, but none of it is built yet,” I warned her.

“It’s fine, Sir Prime. Whenever they are ready, you won’t need to make any modifications to me, correct?” she asked.

“Yup, that’s right. Should be plug-and-play,” I winked, dimming a single optic. “Each equipment item will have its own drivers that will integrate with the new software I installed in your systems.”

“I don’t understand any of that, Sir,” she admitted.

“Ah. well it’s quite simple you see,” I began.

“And I’m sure that Priss would just love to learn all about it, but you have to get going,” Lena reminded me.

“Yes! Yes I do. Another time then. Later ham sandwiches,” I called out as I packed up and headed out of the room.

“What’s a ham sandwich?” I heard Priss ask.

“No idea,” Lena answered as the door closed behind me.

I paused for a moment at the courtyard gate to make sure that my “Orcan” [Cloak()] was running and headed out. I crossed the common area to see students starting their day and running around doing chores. The Head Priest was found in a side garden, gently throwing water onto some plants with a tiny ladle.

“GrandMaster Yu Fan,” I said, greeting the old fish with a fist-in-palm bow.

He looked at me, confused for a moment, then handed me the ladle and the pot he’d been drawing water from. He then turned from me and started slowly walking along the plant beds. I followed after, watering the plants as we went.

We went through the entire garden with him walking like a turtle and me watering plants in his slow wake. When we completed the garden circuit he took the pot and ladle from me and set them on a nearby shelf. I was about to ask why he’d asked for me but he turned his back on me again and slowly headed for the main temple building. Again, I followed after him.

Each time that I’d try to speak up, he’d just stop and look at me. After a while I took the hint and just followed in silence. Eventually, he led me to a room loaded with books and scrolls. Unlike the library, everything in the room looked ancient. Everything was also a mess. Books piled up on the floor, whole shelves were actually empty, the large desk that should dominate the room was covered in a mountain of scrolls.

“Please, sit,” he said, gesturing vaguely.

I looked around but there wasn’t a surface left uncovered for seating so I just settled onto the floor. Master Yu Fan rummaged around in a pile of books but, apparently, couldn’t find what he was looking for. He then tried a shelf, followed by a stack near the window. Here, he came up empty as well. Carefully, he got down onto the floor and looked under his desk, making a small sound of discovery.

He retrieved the book he was looking for and flipped through it before handing it over to me. I took the book but wasn’t sure what it was or what he expected of me. Rather than offer any instruction, he just watched patiently. I couldn’t imagine that he’d hand me a book without the expectation that I’d look at it so I started examining it.

The book he’d handed me was the final book in the Sunlight Pearl series, Iridescent. Like before, my systems scanned the pages as I flipped through the book and translated it into program functions to be installed. I got to the end and handed the book back to the Head Priest.

Scan complete.

Error - Unable to fully synthesize source material

Physical motion programming complete

Remaining 20% is incompatible with this system and will be ignored

Incomplete Chongjibo zhi quan level 19 has been acquired

“Master Chao Lian tells me that after only briefly looking over the manuscripts you were able to master their contents. Have you now mastered this one as well?” the old master asked.

“Not quite, no. I can perform any of the physical moves that are included here... but the portions that talk about focusing my dao and moving it through my meridians elude me,” I admitted.

“Ah yes. Many a young practitioner has found a bottleneck when attempting to break through to the Twilight Realm,” he said knowingly. “Many give up their journey at that point. Will you be the same?”

“So this isn’t the last book? Can you tell me more about this Twilight Realm?” I asked.

“The first realm, the Sunlight Realm, focuses on strengthening the body and learning how to move properly. The next realm, the Twilight Realm, focuses on developing our dao and using it to enhance and build on what we’ve learned in the Sunlight Realm. The levels repeat within each realm. Master Chao Lian is a Purple Aragonite Twilight Realm practitioner while I am a Black Pearl Twilight Realm practitioner,” he explained.

“Does everyone have dao or is that something that only develops in practitioners? Do you get more dao as you gain levels?”

“One must already possess dao in order to become a practitioner. Everyone is born with a certain amount of dao, but not everyone can use it properly. As practitioners, we strengthen our dao, increasing the amount of dao we can harness within our bodies and through our meridians as we transcend the realms.”

“What, exactly, is dao?”

“I believe in your country you refer to it as mana?” he chuckled.

“Okay yes! I have mana! Wait. You said that practitioners strengthen and increase their dao... but doesn’t everyone have a limit on the amount of mana... err... dao that they are born with?”

“Ha ha, so many questions!” he laughed. “It is true that everyone has a certain amount of dao but when we develop our meridians and harness the power of our soul oceans, we are able to break through those limits.”

“People can manually increase their mana capacity? That’s amazing! Why doesn’t everyone do that then to get past the low limits they are born with?”

“The road of a cultivator is not an easy one. In fact, the road traveled can be very dangerous and has led many a practitioner to an early death in pursuit of their goals,” he warned.

“Back up a second. What’s the difference between a cultivator and a practitioner then?”

“All who study the path are practitioners. Only those who have transcended their limits can be called cultivators.”

Now we were getting somewhere.

“You said that you are a practitioner, and you’re the Head Priest and GrandMaster. Does that mean that it’s impossible?”

“To my shame, it is true. I have not transcended my mortal limits to become a cultivator. None in this temple have. Only those that pass the Crashing Heavens Trials are found worthy to embark on that path. Those that do not pass but manage to survive return here to nurture the next generation or refine their cultivation in hopes of trying again,” he said with a touch of sadness to his voice.

“If I could take this trial... and pass... could I increase the amount of dao in my body?” I asked, skirting around the questions I really wanted to ask.

He narrowed his eyes and looked hard at me for an uncomfortably long amount of time.

“It’s possible that you may possess the profound deity of mind and body constitution. It would explain how you are able to learn martial arts with such speed. It has aided you well in the Sunlight Realm, but it will make breaking through to the Twilight Realm more difficult. I fear that you will not be able to go any further on your road to cultivation, young one. Unfortunately, your soul aura is chaotic and murky. Your meridians may be clogged, preventing you from being able to comprehend your dao and move it efficiently,” he said, sagely.

“Oh, I’m pretty aware of my dao and move it about pretty well. It’s just that upper limit bit that’s giving me issues,” I said, attempting to dodge the subject.

With a speed I wouldn’t have guessed the old guy was capable of, he lunged for me and snatched my wrist. His eyes opened wide in surprise and he looked up at me.

“The Body Hardening Technique? Where did you learn this? Who is your master?” he demanded.

“It’s, uh, not exactly the Body Hardening Technique...” I faltered, looking away and slowly attempting to extract my hand.

He glared at my wrist with a burning intensity and I could feel tendrils of his mana pushing against my defenses. Suddenly, the old guy threw himself backward, crashing into a stack of books and half burying himself.

“Sweet Primus! Are you okay? What happened?” I asked, pushing books out of the way and offering a hand to pick the GrandMaster up.

He stared at my open hand in what could only be horror and carefully backed away from me until he could prostrate himself, pushing his forehead against the floor.

“It is beyond the capabilities of this wretched one to see the limits of your dao oh divine one, but I can tell that it is as vast as the ocean. Forgive my impertinence, Senior. Ask anything of me and it shall be done,” he groveled.

Crap. That didn’t exactly go as planned. I guess the old guy got a glimpse at my mana cap and freaked out.

“No, please, get up! Really, you’ve been very patient in answering my questions and dealing with my ignorance,” I tried.

“I wouldn’t dare, Senior! Senior was clearly testing this humble one’s knowledge. I am not deserving of your praise,” he said into the floor.

I highly doubted that I’d get anything more out of the guy now that he was like this.

“You’ve... done very well? Tell no one of my true identity,” I warned, backing for the door.

“As you command, Senior,” he again said into the floor.

I left his chambers and nearly ran through the temple on my way out. This whole thing was getting far more messy than I’d like. Couldn’t I just go back to building weird stuff that caught my interest?

“Prime! There you are! Where have you been?” Corporal Dash called out to me as I crossed the main courtyard.

“Huh? What’s up?” I asked, slowing down.

“Princess Relena’s been arrested!” she shouted.