Bai Lian sat up with a great gasp, eyes darting here and here, her hand coming up to her chest, feeling at the remembered wound through her heart. Her gaze fell to her chest.

Nothing but smooth skin met her touch, her eyes unable to tell that there’d ever been a wound there. If not for the burnt away cloth on her chest she would have thought it a dream. Well, that and the fact that she was in a cell of some sort.

Her hand remained on her chest as she took in the two, incredibly gorgeous, people standing on the other side of what she took to be a barrier of some sort.

The woman had such odd hair that her eyes were first drawn to her. It started off as a deep sapphire blue, but then transitioned to an intense amethyst/violet in the middle before again transitioning, but this time to a deep, fiery ruby red. She wore it loose, letting it fall below her waist. Somehow, every strand of hair seemed to be in exactly the right place, even though it seemed that the woman had just thrown her hair back over her shoulders. Her eyes were even a spectacular emerald green, almost gem-like, but seeming to be as vibrant as summer leaves.

Feeling a little disturbed at the odd feeling in her chest as she gazed at the woman, Bai Lian shifted her eyes over to the man.

He must have been a body cultivator given his impressive stature and chiselled appearance. His hair was a more realistic colour, though still odd with it fading from a very dark brown to the same red as the woman’s hair at the tips.

His eyes were also that same green as the woman’s, but his regard was much colder than hers, but still elicited that strange feeling in her chest, causing her to once again feel very uncomfortable.

She looked down at herself again, but couldn’t help but compare her physique to theirs. She was by no means a slouch when it came to sparring, and had even been praised for her dedication to improving her martial arts. But she somehow felt… inferior to that man. As though he were the pinnacle to what every martial artist should strive for.

Which was absurd.

She felt heat rise up to her cheeks as both that thought and the realization that her chest was exposed to them came to her like a lightning bolt. She quickly reached down to grasp the blanket in her lap and fumbled with it for a few seconds before her hands responded like they should have.

They felt… clumsy. Slow to react. As though she were wearing heavy mittens or something. Then she frowned. She then began to circulate her Qi, then blanched.

“I’m Human Realm?”

* * * * *

Joram watched as she woke, looked around wide-eyed, studied them as her eyes managed to grow wider, panicked, exclaimed about being Human Realm, then fainted dead away. All in about thirteen seconds.

“Huh.”

“Didn’t expect that,” Avi commented, a slightly amused expression on her face.

Joram shifted back to his Aneath self as he looked at the prone woman, now once again uncovered. He reached over and deactivated the containment field before using a bit of [Telekinesis] to once again pull up the blanket.

Avi slapped the panel to reactivate the containment field, giving Joram an annoyed look.

“What if she was playing possum?”

“I’d have [Decerebrate]d her,” he said with a shrug.

Avi sighed, not having anything to say to that.

“So, what now? Proof of concept was successful.”

“There’s that…” he said, chewing is lower lip.

Avi patiently waited as Joram sorted his thoughts. She knew that he had a soft spot for women, however illogical that was. That’s why she’d chosen that corpse. It didn’t hurt that she’d been pretty in life.

Why?

Well, knowing Joram’s past, while on this world and before, she felt that he’d restrain his baser desires for revenge a bit more than with a man. He was still a bit chivalrous in the way he thought. Which wasn’t bad, endearing even, but it did tend to make him go easier on women than men. Which she kind of needed right now.

Looking at Joram, she guessed that he’d finally come to the conclusion that because the test was successful, they now had someone to keep prisoner. And question. Maybe get important answers from.

It also appeared that he really didn’t like those conclusions based on the growing frown on his face.

“We can get answers from her,” he finally said, now turning to Avi, looking up at her with his serious, teenaged, face.

Avi made sure to keep her expression neutral as she spoke.

“That occurred to me too,” she said, nodding slightly.

“That’s why you wanted to use one of these… people, wasn’t it?”

Avi just nodded as she watched his micro expressions. He’d still not gotten very good at hiding his thoughts from her. After another long pause, he continued.

“That’s why you chose a woman, right?” He asked, his expression now turning to that of weariness.

“You’re kind of soft, you know?”

“Ha, yeah. I guess I am,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “I can force her into the Network, but I’ll leave the questioning to you.”

Avi nodded, expecting that. For as smart and creative as he could be, he was still very predictable… to her. “I’ll take care of it.”

Joram only nodded before focussing on the unconscious woman, dragging her into the Network, then shifted away.

- - - - -

He didn’t like it.

He could feel the woman’s consciousness in the Network. He would feel her swinging emotions. He could tell that she was terrified and confused. He was too, a little bit.

Avi had claimed that the woman had been in the Earth Realm when she’d encountered her. But from what Joram had felt, and from what the woman herself had said, she was now in the Human Realm, or Tier 3.

He wondered if that had anything to do with the limitations of this world, or something else. Was it a side effect of dying? Was his [True Resurrection] not powerful enough? Had her foundation somehow been damaged when she’d died? Or was it a combination of many factors, including ones he didn’t know about or even think of?

Joram got up and paced around his little workshop while Kinkade ignored him at one of the terminals.

He stopped in front of one of the prototypes for a replicator and inspected it. He really didn’t need to, but he wanted something else to think about for a while.

It looked like a very large 3D printer, though without the printing arms. It was made of both metal and a transparent material similar to transparent aluminum, though made using titanium instead. He was proud of what he called Tetra-2, even if the name wasn’t exactly inspired. It boasted the tactile strength of a titanium-gold alloy, while still being able to distort slightly and return to neutral instead of shattering like glass if something hit it hard enough.

It still weighed a lot though.

He shook his head, trying to get his thoughts focussed on the task at hand, but failed as they wandered over to things sci-fi.

Which brought him to the transporters that Altaea had left in the Archive. Maybe they would provide him with some inspiration.

He let that thought through to Kinkade, who nodded absently, before using [Planeshift] to head to the Archive.

Then he blinked as a sword stopped millimetres away from decapitating him.

Eyes wide, he looked up into a pair of green eyes above a black cloth covering the person’s lower face. One of the clan ninjas.

“Young master!” The person exclaimed, a man if the voice was anything to go by. “How did you get here? I thought the portal was destroyed!”

Joram looked around with his [Touchsense], taking in the hundreds of people in the area. They all looked half-starved and severely dehydrated. More than a few still sporting wounds they’d presumably taken during the raid.

‘Avi!’

‘Yes, Joram?’ Came the return thought laced with concern.

‘There are survivors in the Heavenly Archive!’

‘I think you’ll need another building made,’ she sent wryly, though not unkindly.

‘I’ll start bringing them over,’ he sent, turning his attention back to his surroundings.

He couldn’t help it, he hugged the ninja who in turn went a bit stiff before patting him on the back in the way that someone might if unexpectedly hugged by a very important person.

Joram caught himself before any water could leak out of his eyes and stepped back.

“Get everyone together, I’ll bring you someplace safe,” he said, still scanning through the faces of those present.

The ninja took him by the elbow and led him to an unused section by the transporter before speaking again.

“What’s the situation outside?”

Joram paused, not for a lump in his throat, but to try to find a way to break the news of the Clan’s destruction the best way he could.

It seemed as though this particular ninja was well-versed in Joram Expressions because he saw the man’s eyes tighten.

“Yes,” Joram said, keeping his head from dropping. “There aren’t many survivors, but I’ve got a safe place for everyone.”

The Clan Protector stared at him for a few seconds before nodding. “I’ll gather everyone together. Here? At the entrance?” He asked.

Joram thought about it as Kinkade made preparations in the Realm with Avi and Asura. He nodded.

“Get them into groups of twenty or so and I’ll transport them out,” he said, then pointed. “Over there by the entrance will work.”

As the man sped off, Joram saw another two ninjas approach the first. After a few words, they too sped off and began organizing people.

So, Joram made his way to the entrance of the Heavenly Archive and examined the enchantment for the portal that no longer had its twin in the Library. Knowing that he needed to help the people who could barely move, he had M3 create an [Astral Construct] to inhabit so that Joram could work on altering the portal stone so that it would instead lead to his Realm.

With that done, Joram went about manifesting an augmented version of [Sustenance] as well as [Cleanse Body], a power that was designed to repair attribute damage like wasting muscle, on the people worst hit by dehydration and starvation, but mostly dehydration as starvation wasn’t quite an issue only a few days after their escape.

As he was working, he noticed Zanth running towards him, tears streaming down his face.

“I’m so glad your safe!” He exclaimed, latching onto Joram as he barely turned in time to prevent being bowled over onto his patient.

He returned the hug very carefully, consciously suppressing his strength so that he didn’t crush his cousin.

“Yeah, I was lucky,” he said as Zanth finally let him go.

“Is…” he stopped, cleared his throat, then continued as tears formed in his eyes. “Is there anyone else?”

Joram stopped, swallowed, then looked up to the ceiling. “Not many,” he said, not wanting to look his lifelong friend in the eyes.

It took another few minutes for Joram to convince Zanth to just wait until he brought them out, and especially while he tended to those that needed it.

The people who had any sort of cultivation were doing much better than the normal folk, as their bodies were able to- even marginally- sustain themselves better than those normal folk. And there were a lot of normal folk.

It seemed that the invaders had first targeted anyone with a cultivation base before anyone else. It made sense. Get rid of any possible threats before getting rid of the rest.

He recognized many people from Brightside. Over there was the nice lady who always gave him an extra little bit of meat when he ordered food from her stall. There was one of the tailors, a nice man in his middle years that didn’t smile much, but always had a kind word for you. And here he was, healing one of the kids that always looked like they wanted to talk, but had always been kept back by their father, probably wanting to avoid annoying the “young lord” or something silly.

And so Joram worked while the Clan Protectors ushered people into groups, Zanth following along like a lost puppy, and M3 in his [Astral Construct] shaped like a very small Joram as he worked on the portal.

Joram was soon done healing what he could without getting them the rest they needed to recover. [Sustenance] was great and provided the body the nutrients and hydration it needed to function optimally, but the psychological need to manually consume food and water also needed to be addressed for people not used to the Power.

So, he made his way over to the inactive portal and began his own studies on it, following another line of inquiry that M3 hadn’t gone down yet. Soon, he noticed Kinkade preparing a platform in the Realm exactly like the one in front of him, then smacked his forehead, causing Zanth to look at him funny.

“I just need another, identical, platform,” he explained unhelpfully to Zanth.

He then [Delve]d the platform, taking in every physical detail of it while M3 used [Analyze] to investigate the enchantment/array.

People began approaching in their groups, some exactly twenty strong, others less. He didn’t know exactly how many people there were, nor did he have enough mental processes left free to count, but he supposed that any group with less than twenty was fine. He’d originally thought that he’d need to personally transport everyone here, but the portal would wind up being easier in the long run.

Back to work.

* * * * *

Sulia appreciated Avi’s… candor.

She’d spent long enough being useless. Now it was time to work.

With Zaleria passed off to one of the older kids to watch after, she got to work organizing other survivors. She didn’t know how, but Joram had found more people hiding in the Heavenly Archive and was going to bring them here.

She hadn’t even realized that he knew that the Archive existed, let alone could access it. She had very mixed feelings about that, as it meant that he had once again been keeping secrets from them.

Now, she wasn’t ignorant of the fact that keeping it a secret from him might be considered hypocritical to some. But slowly teaching clan members until they were ready for larger, more important things, was important. Nevermind that only a select few were allowed to know of its existence. Security was of paramount importance after all.

“Get what blankets you can and follow me,” she told a group of men and women who were still looking a bit lost. She recognized Annalee in that group and smiled at her, glad to get a smile in return. Most people were still getting their bearings after first being brought here, then being told they’d soon move into a huge building that popped up over night.

Some looked surprised at her orders, but they responded to her practiced voice of authority, grabbing what they could out of the supply tent they were in.

Soon enough she had them following her and had others off fetching what cots and cushions they could find. She knew that Avi would have more made to replace them for the people who now found themselves bed-less, so she didn’t dwell on it.

As she approached the area where Avi said people would arrive, she noticed a man with red hair similar to Avi’s red… part… of her hair crouching over a large, circular, slab of dark green jade. His arm was extended, fingertips barely touching the jade, his eyes closed.

She vaguely felt mental energy coming off him, but was too weak in the field to understand any of what he was doing. It was probably important though, so she directed her conscripted workers to get things arranged in an orderly manner.

Soon enough over a hundred cots with blankets had been set up in neat rows of ten with wide enough spacing that you could walk the rows three abreast.

Next came the tables and chairs. They were of a very unusual design that allowed the metal legs to be folded up underneath them for easy storage, while the tops were of a material she’d never come across before. Which really didn’t matter as much as the very large pots of food arrived along with empty pots and heaps of ingredients for yet more meals.

Then the man stood, stepped back, and her eyes grew wide as people began to appear. Some looked no worse for wear, wrinkled clothing the only indication of their travails. Others looked like they were on death’s door.

People rushed forwards to help them clear the platform, taking people to where seemed the most appropriate for their individual needs.

Sulia recognized just about everyone that came through, most hailing from Brightside. There were so many people without cultivation that needed the most care. There were a few injuries, but it seemed as though they were at least stable.

Avi arrived with a bag of brown topazes that she tasked a few people with handing out. Sulia recognized them as the healing gems that Joram had made and shown to the family and her jaw dropped. She had no idea that he’d made so many, and was briefly furious that he hadn’t handed out more of them to the Clan members before she remembered the necessity of secrecy.

And it was good that they’d kept a lid on it, apparently. For if whoever had betrayed the clan had known about who’d produced those gems, then Joram might have also been taken away with Tillia.

Though, that also provoked thoughts of its own.

Before she could go down that rabbit hole, Xiora’s voice caught her attention.

She looked up in time to see Xixi tackle-hug both Joram and Lysanthir, tears streaming down her face as she alternated between babbling to Lysanthir and scolding Joram. The sight was so funny that she nearly laughed out loud before she remembered that Joram hadn’t only avoided visiting his great-grandmother, but Xixi as well. She resolved to give Joram another scolding for not firming up and seeing his fiancé.

* * * * *

Joram was exhausted.

He’d just spent not an inconsiderable amount of concentration and psionic energy recreating, and rewriting, the portal platform that had been used to get to and from the Heavenly Archive.

It hadn’t taken him long to realize that a small portal wasn’t as efficient as he would have liked, so he’d needed to adjust things so that it would instead just send whoever was standing on the platform to its twin. Once activated, of course.

Portals were a bit inefficient as they needed power to keep the portal open and working. Either way, it was done, and he needed a nap that wouldn’t likely come for a while.

He tried very hard to pay attention to what Xixi was saying, but found it difficult to concentrate on her voice. Zanth seemed more understanding of Joram’s exhaustion, having witnessed the entire process firsthand.

* * * * *

It took a bit of convincing and distraction, but Zanth managed to get Xixi off Joram and took a seat at one of the tables set up with a delicious spread of food. He was a bit disappointed that most of it was various forms of soups, stews, and breads, but any food at this point still called to him.

After what seemed like a never-ending flow of words from Xixi, he finally got in a word edgewise.

“Have you seen my parents?” He asked, his patience fraying at the edges. He’d wanted to ask Joram, but he had recognized just how important the work he’d been doing was. So, he’d held his tongue and waited.

It had been very hard.

Xixi’s eyes watered up as the question registered, then her head dropped, her chin resting on her chest.

Zanth’s own heart froze up as the fear he’d been keeping suppressed welled up inside.

“Let’s go over there,” he heard Aunt Sulia say from behind him, then felt a hand on his shoulder.

He stiffened up, not just from nearly pooping his pants in surprise, but because of how she’d said what she’d said.

Slowly, he got to his feet, Xixi holding his right hand while Aunt Sulia took his left hand and led them to a pretty garden with a tree full of orange blossoms.

The table wasn’t any design that he recognized, but something that he nevertheless found pretty. It looked like some of the wrought iron work he’d seen in Brightside, but had a flower/leaf/vine design that left tiny gaps in the surface of the round tabletop. It was help up by a single leg in the centre, supported by what looked like four feet coming out of the bottom of the leg that reminded him of four cat paws.

“…”

The chairs were of the same design, though he was happy to note that they had soft cushions on them, held in place by little ties that attached to the backs of the chairs.

“Zanth.”

He looked up at Aunt Sulia and just about went back to studying the furniture when he saw her expression. It was the expression adults used when they needed to break some bad news to children.

“Yes, Auntie?” He replied, trying very hard to be brave as he looked into her eyes.

“I’m sorry. Your family didn’t make it,” she said, her hands clasped around his left hand.

He’d been expecting something like that, but it still felt like a huge gong went off in his head, causing his vision to blur.

* * * * *

Joram was regretting adding Zanth back into the Network so soon. The raw emotions coming off Zanth in waves was… hard to deal with.

He looked up into the sky, admiring the sunset colours through the glass ceiling of the atrium. It was a nice and quiet spot where he could relax after the mess he’d found himself in.

He was glad that so many people had made it into the Heavenly Archive, he really was. But the emotional strain that came with helping the survivors was hard. As much as he’d changed since coming to this world, then being remade, then being reborn, he was still an introvert by nature.

So many emotionally charged events happening one after the other was more than hard for him. Quite frankly, he sucked at this sort of thing. His first instinct was to lock himself away and bury himself in a project or something.

He really didn’t know what to say to Zanth to comfort him. Nor how he could help Xixi. Sure, he could just use [Psychic Chirurgery] on them, either accelerating their psychological healing process or outright erasing the damage.

But that wasn’t a proper solution. Nor would he even consider something like that unless it was the last option in a dire situation.

No, he’d let his mother do what she did best: love her family.

He still felt cowardly though, because she was also hurting from her own recent losses.

*Sigh*

Joram: Hey, Kinkade.

Kinkade: Yeah?

Joram: I’ll need you to step in for me for a while.

Kinkade: You know, I’m still you.

M3: We’re all still the same person.

Joram: Yeah, true. *Pause* I’m going to head off into seclusion to try and get my cultivation properly ironed out. M3, please keep working on [Schism]. [Genesis] is a secondary priority.

M3: Gotcha, Boss!!

*Face-palm*

Am I really that bad?

Kinkade & M3: Yes!

Joram: Be sure to get a setting made for my likeness in your psicrystal Kinkade.

Kinkade: No worries. Just concentrate on getting us fixed up.

Joram nodded to himself, then opened a line to Avi.

‘I’m heading off into seclusion to try and break through to Tier 5. Try not to blow anything up.’

‘Are you keeping [Schism] going?’

‘Yeah, can’t leave everyone high and dry now, can I?’

‘Heh, true. I’ll make sure to keep Kinkade up to speed on what’s happening. Good luck.’

Joram sent his thanks as he [Planeshift]ed over to the Heavenly Archive.

He looked down at the altered pedestal and sighed. He’d need to find it an appropriate power source at some point. As is, he didn’t worry about it. He needed to be in seclusion as he worked on his cultivation, so having the portal stone, now a planeshifting stone, unpowered suited him just fine.

Looking around, he saw that the Archive was already erasing the traces of its recent guests. The dirt was already gone, and even scraps of cloth and other debris were slowly disintegrating.

He then made his way over to the transporter pad, activating the control panel as he went by.

Soon, he found himself in the 9th section of the Archive, the furthest they’d gotten to. It was a cozy place, with only a couple dozen bookshelves and a few places to sit on comfy couches, in plush recliners, or even on meditation mats. He looked down at the activation console and sighed.

The 10th area was still locked to him.

Well, seeing as how the different areas in the Archive represented the Tiers of cultivation, he supposed that the 10th area might be a bit dangerous for him. Maybe once he reached Tier 9 he’d be able to gain access. For now, he shrugged, putting it out of his mind. Then focussed on the door on the far side of the room.

This was the first area that had a separate door attached to it. Or, rather, the first obvious one. He wasn’t going to put it past Altaea to have created many hidden doors and passages throughout the Heavenly Archive. It was something he’d do, after all.

After making his way over, he placed a hand on the panel on the door where the handle should have been.

Nothing happened.

Was it keyed to something like an actual key? Or maybe his cultivation level?

He shrugged, letting the issue slip from his mind. He really didn’t need distractions while he cultivated.

Sitting down in one of the recliners, he looked around one last time before closing his eyes.