18 - Chapter 17 - Day 1753
Adya waited to see if her mother would continue with her questions, and when she seemed lost in her thoughts, withdrew parchment and ink from her spatial storage. She then proceeded to let Sai draw out the same formation again as her mother watched. As the process was automatic for her she was free to continue the conversation.
“So from what I was able to learn from the artificer and what I gleaned from his book that he let me look over I think I can create anywhere from 100 to 200 different formations,” said Adya, “But that will be limited by the availability of appropriate materials. My original thought was to use a tattoo of a formation on the bandits we caught, to make them compliant and incapable of betraying us, then use them to do some work for us.”
Guari was shocked out of her reverie by Adya’s completely ridiculous antics. Not only was Adya drawing out a formation on parchment, using basic ink, but she was also able to hold a conversation as she did. She was also claiming to have access to hundreds of formations after spending a very short amount of time with an artificer. Normally artificers would guard their secrets with jealousy. So how had her daughter learned so much so fast?
“Just how long did you spend with the artificer and how did you convince him to teach you?” asked Gauri as she watched the formation grow on the parchment.
“I was with him for about an hour, just watching him work.” replied Adya, “He didn’t actually teach me anything himself, but he did let me flick through his book on formation design. The rest I worked out by myself.”
That was even more absurd, to become an artificer even capable of producing simple formations required years of study. Even after that, it could take hours to create a formation and the success rate would still be abysmal. Yet, here was her daughter creating a formation without even apparently paying much attention, after spending only an hour watching another artificer and looking through a book.
While Gauri was lost in thought, Adya finished the formation and handed it to her mother. This one had only taken a few minutes. After the experience gained creating the first formation it was much easier for Adya to replicate the same design. If this held true for all designs, and there was no reason why it shouldn’t, then it would mean she could create formations at a rapid pace.
Gauri took the formation and again activated it. She just had to see the evidence that this was indeed a formation and not just a drawing of one. The formation activated and reacted just as the first one had. As it heated, she dropped it onto the plate and watched it burn to ash.
“I guess I can't ask for better proof than that.” replied Gauri. “So you can create formations and have a book of designs. You were serious about using a formation tattoo to enforce loyalty on the bandits? I have heard of such formations, but they tend to be very expensive in both mana and materials, not to forget massively complicated. How confident are you in being able to create such a formation on skin?”
“I will need a little practice, and some better materials,” replied Adya. “But I am confident that I will be able to create the requisite formations within a week to ten days at the outside.”
“Ok, I can see that there is a lot for me to adjust to.” replied Gauri. “Now that I have a better understanding of your skills, and they are impressive, let's return to my questions about what memories you have about your past lives.”
“Well the system told me that those lives were lived in other universes,” replied Adya. “It said that one universe would take around 700 years to integrate as the process had already started, the other was just starting and would take around 10,000 years. It forced me into this universe, out of all the universes the system controls due to the high level of energy.”
“Putting aside the massive implications of what you just told me.” replied Gauri, “That the system is growing, and controls multiple universes, do you even know what those in power would do to get such information?, leaving that aside, tell me about your lives.”
“Well, I have memories of two sets of twins that lived at the same time.” replied Adya. “In one life I was from a world that had no magic, and used artefacts to achieve the same things. I was a scientist in one life and a warrier in the other. I was around 40 years old in both those lives. I have access to a lot of my understanding of creating artefacts and how to fight and manage armies. In that life, both of us were on a new world that we were exploring, when we were attacked by monsters. Our last memory is the entire camp being destroyed by a massively powerful attack.”
Gauri was getting used to the level of ridiculousness that Adya was displaying, but even she had to pause at the amount of questions that such a short answer engendered.
“In my other lives, I was again a pair of twin sisters, who were cultivators,” continued Adya oblivious to her mothers introspection. “We had lived for around 5,000 years and were sect elders. Our experiments in an attempt to create a portal led to an accident that killed us both.”
“What is a portal?” blurted out Gauri. 5,000 years! Cultivation! Gauri could hardly believe what she was hearing. “Do you retain full memories of all your lives?”
“A portal is a way to open a door to a far off location. The idea is you would walk through a door but end up miles away.” replied Adya. “I have an excellent memory, and seem to have retained a lot of my memory from previous lives. I hesitate to say it's all my memories, as that would require me to spend the time to review my entire life and see if I notice any gaps.”
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“So you know how to cultivate?” asked Gauri in a whisper. The secrets to cultivation were some of the most zealously guarded secrets in the realm. If Adya had access, and that knowledge leaked, it would be impossible to keep her safe. Only if Adya could become strong enough, would she be able to protect herself, but the process of gaining that power would expose her secrets. The more she learned the more it scared her. If any of Adya’s abilities came to light, the family would not be able to protect her.
Adya pondered for a moment, she wasn't sure if she wanted to reveal details about her ability to cultivate. She looked at her mother and saw her fear for her in her eyes. Adya knew her knowledge and skills would put her at significant risk, was it even worse than she anticipated? Adya just didn’t have enough knowledge to properly ascertain the risks.
“What would be the implications of me having detailed knowledge on cultivation?” asked Adya, answering her mothers question with a question of her own.
“Having the knowledge itself is not the issue,” replied Gauri, “But if that knowledge was to be revealed, the family would not be able to protect you. Even the royal family would not be able to project you had you been born into that family.”
“Are the cultivation sects that powerful?” asked Adya
“Even the smallest of the sects could challenge the royal family when it comes to cultivation?” replied Gauri.
“How powerful are the sect leaders?” asked Adya. “I need to understand what the combined might of the sects looks like. Do you have much information on that?”
“No one knows the details, not outside of cultivators.” replied Gauri. “We just know that even the smallest sects could destroy the kingdom, and would destroy the kingdom, if they were not kept in check by the council of orthodox sects.”
“Does that mean there are demonic and unorthodox sects?” asked Adya. “Who keeps them in check? Do you have any details about the power level you need to be able to call yourself a sect?”
“Honestly the most common knowledge is that there is a council, it keeps the cultivation and non cultivation worlds separate.” replied Gauri. “At high levels, non cultivators can keep up with low level cultivators. However our understanding is that as the cultivator rises in rank, the gap from non cultivators grows and grows, to the point that by the third tier a cultivator is said to be 1000 times stronger than a non cultivator.”
That made sense to Adya, if each rank of a cultivator went up by a factor of 10, then by the third tier the cultivators would have resource pools that were 1000 times that of a non cultivator. Add to that the range of techniques and skills, and the 1000 times stronger was probably an underestimate.
Adya really needed to get information about cultivation in this world. Without it she would really struggle to quantify the level of risk. All she could do was to get stronger and take any opportunities to learn more as they presented themselves.
“So we just keep it a secret for now, mother.” replied Adya. “No need to borrow trouble we don’t need. No one will be expecting me to be a cultivator or be looking for any signs. Sometimes anonymity is the best defence.”
“Yes, we just need to keep it quiet.” replied Gauri. “We will need to find a way to either explain away your cultivation or hide it before you start.”
Adya didn’t tell her mother about the fact she had already started, and that her core was shielded. She didn’t want that information out there at all. No one should be able to recognise the signs of her rank up. She would be even more careful in the future.
The mother and daughter spent the next few hours talking about Adya’s past lives. While Gauri was surprised to learn about such strange worlds, nothing more troubling was revealed. As the detailed discussion on Adya’s past lives came to a close, Gauri asked the question that had been eating away at her since the start. “You have had the ability to tell me all of this for some time,” asked Gauri. “Is there a reason you are choosing to let me in now? I can understand why you would want to keep the secrets you hold, they put you at considerable risk.”
“Well mother, there are several things I want to achieve.” replied Adya, “also there are several risk factors that need to be addressed. Without telling you, I didn’t think I could convince you to go along with my long term plans.”
“Let us discuss the risks first.” replied Gauri. “We can look at longer term plans once we decide how to handle the risks.” Gauri was already prone to treating Adya as an adult, the revelations had only solidified that viewpoint for her.
“There are three items on the risk register.” replied Adya. “First, the shadowed hand came after me, it wasn’t just the bandits they sent, they sent an elite squad to kidnap me.”
“What happened, how did you get away?” asked a furious Gauri. She already had plans to teach that organisation a lesson they would not soon forget.
“We killed them all, and burned their bodies” replied Adya. “We left no evidence behind. They all had loyalty formations tattooed on their bodies, so they will be missed and questions will be asked.”
“Ah, I wondered where you got the idea for that tattoo.” replied Gauri. “They will need to be dealt with.”
“I have a better plan than just punishing them for their actions against our house.” replied Adya. “If I can arrange a few things, we should remove their leadership or put them under our control. If we can't take them over, they would be a good scapegoat for some of our other actions.”
“Let us go through the rest of the risks before we make plans.” replied Gauri. “What is next on your list?”
“Well, there is that idiot noble I ran into leaving the city.” replied Adya. “Not as much of an issue as the shadowed hand, but he could cause trouble if we don’t deal with it. Lastly, I made contact with a money exchanger in the city. I have a deal with him to exchange 100 tier 1 mana stones every week for gold. However, since the shadowed hand came for me, I am ont sure how far I can trust him.”
“100 mana stones a week!” replied Gauri, “Just how many mana stones can you make?”
In response Adya took out and dumped a small sack on the table. “Well, there are 10,000 tier 1 mana stones in this sack.” replied Adya wryly watching her mothers expression closely. “I won’t even notice the fact that I just gave it away.” Seeing her mothers reaction, Adya felt the reveal had definitely been worth it.