Jason completely forgets his original goal of figuring out the sixth step for Energy and continues to wool gather over concepts and how they fit into NeoRealm and the System. Though the only advancement this provides him is 0.001 percent to his Civilization concepts and Jason admits to himself, that was likely related to his first thoughts about Lily and not any day dreaming on his part.

Lily is happy, though. She really hasn’t been spending as much time with Jason as she would like and having a day with the two just sitting around, him petting her, is wonderful.

Dinner eventually comes through and interrupts their time together. Not that Lily has anything against Rosha. It is just that she has pledged to Jason. An idea she isn’t too sure about the meaning of, but there it is. Though Jason does make an effort to come out of his room early, there are things to talk about after all and so he hands Lily off to Rosha. Gregor is baking in the kitchen tonight and so a perfect chance to talk to him.

There isn’t much in the kitchen as most of the normal cooking is done out in the living room. Mostly serving as a place to store ingredients and prep food there is a small oven which Gregor is currently watching over. Not because the thing he is baking needs constant watching. Rather, since they bake so rarely, the magic oven they decided to buy requires a constant trickle of magic to run. A bit tedious but cleaner than an oven that burns wood and way cheaper than a magic oven that doesn’t need constant input.

Gregor looks up from the book he is reading, “So you have something to ask about that needs a little privacy?”

Jason laughs, “Maybe, maybe not. One of those, better to ask before I spill the beans, kind of things. So, seeing as the both of you are decently leveled and Peter is constantly exploring you’ve probably dealt with things related to immortals.”

Gregor groans, “So what mess have you gotten yourself into?”

Jason shakes his head, “No mess yet. Just some things that touch the topic. Well okay, I guess I might have received training for a skill from one but that was through the System connecting us and I don’t know their name. Though that is only a guess because of a title I just got. Anyway, the actual question relates to concepts and mainly does everyone have a conceptual panel for their power of choice? Both me and my rabbit do but that could just be me.”

Gregor takes a look into the oven as he hums. “That is a question. And like most life related questions the answer is it depends. Or more specifically, I don’t have a good grasp on what that panel even represents and suspect the System is preventing me from knowing more. Though the fact I can even guess at System intervention is a warning in and of itself.”

“As for everyone having the panel? All it represents is what you understand about the world. The panel doesn’t mean anything except as a way to track progress. So technically everyone could have such a panel, but they won’t. The System only has it show up once you have a percent of a percent of understanding and of course you have to ask for it. The System doesn’t feel in any way obligated to tell you about it unless you’ve had a legit epiphany that forces the panel out.”

Jason nods, “So it isn’t too odd to have the panel then. That’s good to know. Though it does just create some more questions about how my advancement transferred over to NeoRealm.”

Gregor shakes his head and laughs. “You misunderstand, though I don’t blame you. The fact you have it is completely and totally unheard of. Your level is too low and you’re a traveller. Both of those by themselves would remove any chance of you having anything to do with conceptuals.”

“Of course a big thing about conceptual things is that each instance is unique so I guess there aren’t any rules technically. Still, being a traveller should really lock it all away just because you aren’t connected enough to the world. And I suspect that if I try to go too much deeper into this, I won’t be remembering it. Do you have any other questions?”

Jason takes a moment to think, but comes up with nothing new to ask. “Everything stems off of that so not particularly. Wait, just realized, not a question but the book on Basic Core Refinement isn’t actually complete. The Energy section is missing a couple steps. It was easy enough to find by comparing it to the Mana and Qi sections as they are supposed to have the same number of steps.”

Gregor nods, “No more questions than? Fair enough, I’m about done with baking dinner so you can go out and I’ll be right behind you.”

Jason shakes his head, ‘Well I guess the System is keeping things under wraps.’ “Actually, I do have one more thing now that I think about it. People can get caught at bottlenecks, do they all just end up with starred stats if they stay there long enough?”

Gregor laughs, “Good question! The answer is a little tricky because the System obfuscates it. After all, you can’t really keep track of what part of your stats are actually a part of your base stats. But yeah, the general consensus is that things get a whole lot harder once you cap out, which is why most people only bother with starring pets and such.”

Jason shrugs, “I’m sure the fact I have a surprise for you won’t surprise you so much. Anyway, my stats page does show the difference between the various elements going into my stats. Same with when I look at Lily’s page. I honestly don’t even remember when or how I got it to do that. Though I suspect it has to do with my choice to focus on purity.”

Gregor sighs, “Fun. So dinner is ready, and this isn’t exactly a secret. Let’s go out and share the shock with my husband.”