I ended up taking three hours between the bath and a nap but man were they worth it? When I finished I found several interesting items waiting for me. Multiple attribute fruits and a glass of what I assumed was tea. It wasn't the same color as what I had with Desbera which made me think it was more for relaxation than energy. Which was exactly what I ordered.

I sat down and took care of the fruits first. The benefits they provided were meager but worth it. Every little bit helped after all. Between all the attributes fruits I have eaten, my Tao and all the other attribute boosting benefits my total attributes were over 1500 hundred. That was with the percentage boosts added in. Regardless it was hard to imagine that even the other members of the top ten could fight me.

The System's Herald was the only one that had a chance and he was probably insane. I grabbed the glass of tea and made my way into my cultivation chamber. I took a seat, stretched, and rolled my shoulders. The first step was to go through my usual ritual. Both the pearl and the egg needed my attention. From what little information I had on it, the egg should be ready to hatch in the next few months. Which would also mean another mouth to feed.

Once I was done with both of those I pulled out the box with incense sticks and placed them around my mat. The sticks were long, and thin and reminded me of the kind you would make shish kabobs with. They didn't emit a scent when ignited. Instead cloudy white vapors drifted up and the sound in the room faded. I immediately sat cross-legged and relaxed my mind.

My excitement threatened to overcome me as I focused on the Tao. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to focus on. The sensation when the system was pulling me from one place to the next. My thoughts drifted backward in time, starting with the most recent teleportations and slowly going back to the first. Those days felt like an eternity ago. As the incense filled the air around me my mind began to expand. It was slow at first almost like waking up from a dream.

Before long it felt like I had dipped a toe into a vast ocean. An ocean filled with boundless possibility. I surrendered myself to the current, to the great Tao, and let it bring me to where I wanted to go. Suddenly my perspective changed, the ocean was still boundless but it was somehow shrinking. As if the entirety of creation was being condensed into a space the size of a world. That world then shrunk to a continent and then the city. On and on it went until the majesty of creation had become a speck no larger than a fingernail.

I reached out a mental hand toward the speck. Hoping to understand just a little more, to grasp the limitless expanse in front of me. Before I could the world around me began to fade. I was being pulled from my place amongst the ocean. I fought against it but it was like resisting a tidal wave with my bare hands. I felt the Tao treasure's effect waning so I focused on what I had learned.

I sat there for what felt like a second and an hour before I opened my eyes. My chamber was a pale mockery of what it was. Nearly all the energy was gone, it was so bad that for a moment I thought I was back on pre-assimilation earth. That everything I had been through had been a dream. That fear was banished a second later when I felt the power in my body. The incense sticks were gone, burned to nothing which meant I had been here for longer than I thought.

Despite that, I found I didn't care. No to be more accurate what I stood to gain was worth much more. When my heart was calm I pulled up my status screen and then my Tao menu. When I saw my reward I couldn't help but laugh. The treasure may have been of low quality but it turned out to be enough.

**Strand of Compression**: **Constitution +10 Strength +10**

The attribute gains were the same as the others which was a nice data point. I wasn't sure what the Tao would do so I decided to take it slow. I held out my hand and tried to shape it into a ball. A ball of shimmering silver energy came into existence. It happened so fast that I nearly dropped it. I was expecting at least a little resistance but this was more like the energy wanted to obey. Like it was always mine to command. "Is that the benefit of my affinities?" I asked no one in particular.

It took me another second to realize what I held in my hand. Space. I was holding compressed space. I let the implications of that wash over me for a second. Did this mean I could control time like this too? What would that mean? I turned and launched the sphere through the back of the room. I wasn't sure what I expected to happen but it wasn't what did. The sphere just went through it. It wasn't so much that it forced its way through. It was more like the ball deleted the metal of the wall.

My heart rate picked up as I formed another sphere and shot it through the wall. It went right through. I could feel that I wasn't using the Tao to its full strength either. The amount of psychic energy I was using right now was minuscule. I calmed down and continued my testing. I pulled a pen out of my pocket and imbued it with the Tao. The pen shrunk to the size of a crayon in an instant. I chuckled and was about to drop it when I noticed something odd.

The pen wasn't broken. Not only that but it worked fine which meant I could change thing's sizes while keeping them functional. I held back my excitement and conducted the most important test. If I could return the pen to its original size then this would be a game changer. I pushed the Tao toward the pen and tried to reverse the process. The results were mixed. I could do it but it wasn't easy. It also consumed twice as much psychic energy.

This meant it wouldn't be a great way of dealing with item storage but if my hunch was correct I should get better as my comprehension increased. Next, I tried to channel it through my mental energy and found it worked as expected. I could make the constructed items more condensed. The same amount of energy but smaller. It would make attacking easier but that was about it.

The first problem came when I tried to use it on my spells. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't imbue them. It was like the Tao refused to cooperate with them. It wasn't as big a problem as I initially thought though. Most of my spells didn't interact well with compression. Psychic blast probably would have just made the beam narrower and stronger which would have been nice but the others. I couldn't be sure. Would it make the convocation's range shorter? Would it make Aegis smaller? Or more dense?

I had no idea and wasn't able to test it, not yet anyway. Instead, I made a mental note to explore it more later and got to my feet. There wasn't anything more for me to do here. I needed to get out there and get shit done. I stepped into my room and went in search of the others. Since nothing was on fire I was pretty sure they managed without me.

The first person I found was Aaliyah and what I saw only made me more confused. She had an aura. Not just any aura but one that was comparable to mine toward the end of the tutorial. "What happened to you?" I asked while jogging up to her and the group of guards she was with.

"We dealt with a couple of small monster waves while you were gone."

I let out a low whistle as my eyes fell on the daggers at her hips. They came from the System. They were stronger than any weapon I had seen so far except maybe Romulus' spear. They also reminded me of staring at a night sky for some reason. "You dealt with two waves in a few hours? They must not have been too tough."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Few hours? You were out for three days. We encountered the first wave just before you locked yourself away. After that, we got a call from a few friends of yours. They were having a problem with giant crabs."

I only half listened to what she was saying. I had no clock or calendar so I couldn't confirm the date but since no one said anything I figured she wasn't lying. "Oh, right well good job? Which friend was it? Ajani and them?"

She nodded. "We also have received a few requests from the UWG. They want permission to bring more people into the city. Specifically, they want to 'Add to the defenses of the camp' We didn't want to agree while you were gone. Your council figured it would be best if very few people knew you weren't available."

"Makes sense though with your strength you should be enough of a deterrent by now. What level are you? Have you gotten your class?"

She flashed a smile and nodded. "Shadowblade, It's exactly what you would think. Kind of an assassin-style class."

"Interesting." I rubbed my chin as a dozen thoughts flowed through my mind. "When you get the rest of your skills let me know. I might want your help in dealing with a problem."

She nodded and gestured for me to follow. "While you were dealing with your issue the expansion has mostly finished. I am sure you noticed that the building has been emptied?" When I nodded she continued. "Do you have any ideas on who you want to live there with you?"

"Trey and you are welcome. The council members would also be welcome. If we have any important guests I would suggest letting them live on one of the floors while they are here. If I have a family they would naturally live there as well."

"I appreciate the offer but I have already taken one of the spare houses. Same thing for Trey. He said and I quote 'No way in Hell was he passing up the chance to have his own house'"

I laughed. "Fully understandable. In that case, if Azariah has already moved out that would leave the academy?"

"The academy has moved into the new downtown district. So that any students can use it whenever they need."

I rubbed my chin and stared up at the blue sky above us. "So it's just me? It's rather large for it to just be me. We should shift some of the lower rooms to be for emergency food and other supply storage. On the off chance this place gets attacked, people should be able to retreat inside."

"Now that is something we hadn't considered. It might be difficult to arrange but we should be able to do some drills." Aaliyah replied with a slightly surprised look on her face.

"We have to assume that I might not be here at all times. If an attack happens then you all will need to handle it. Worse come to worse you can settle in and buy random arrays until you win or die."

"Despite the last part of that, I appreciate the care. It looks like this whole king thing hasn't gone to your head."

I chuckled. "Well not yet but if I ever decide to appoint a horse to the council it might be time to pull a Brutus."

She stared at me blankly for a second before a barely noticeable smile tugged at the edge of her face. "Nothing will bring me greater pleasure."

We went over a few more things I missed but nothing really important before I decided it was time to go. I wanted to check in with a few more people before I went back out into the wilds. My next stop was Azariah and it was the shortest. She had no new information nor did she have anything worth buying. I replaced my healing pills and then left her to her own devices.

The next stop was the academy where I found Trey lying on his back. He was stuck inside what looked like a gravity array. "You hanging in their bud?" I asked before deactivating the array.

Trey let out a groan before slowly standing up. "Oww. The array is supposed to help me improve my Strength and Constitution attributes."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that. You weren't doing much moving so Agility was out. Are you sure it's working?"

"Well, not really. I do feel stronger but not supernaturally so. It's hard to know but I would guess I am around the level of a professional athlete now."

"Good and what about energy control and meditation? I've heard there are some titles out there for you. If you manage to gain something before getting the System."

He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck for several seconds before letting out an exaggerated sigh. "When you meditate what is it like?"

"Hmm? It's sort of like building a pyramid with a bunch of blocks. Each step is small on its own but slowly it turns into something special. Unless you can get a treasure. That feels more like being dropped into one of those air machines with the money. You just grab for what feels right and hold on to it."

"For real? I would describe it more like a snowball but whatever. I feel like I am making progress. Would you be able to show me what it looks like? I've been imagining a video game power up but Desbera has no idea what that means."

"Sure, also is she the only teacher here? She can't possibly be teaching everyone."

"Uh kind of. Each of the classes is controlled by a machine that sort of just teaches you through instruction. It's kind of like learning from an A. I or watching a video."

I nodded and held my palm up between us. I slowly formed the Strand of Compression. The ball of silver energy looked a bit like gossamer silk as it appeared. Strangely enough, I couldn't form a perfect sphere no matter how hard I tried.

"So it is kind of like a superpower." He asked. His gaze never left the ball.

"Yeah though it's more likely that you will notice the change in your aura first. It will feel like whatever Strand or Strands you get. Before you ask no I can't share that with you. It might kill you."

"Yeah, yeah whatever. When are you going to let me go out with you? I know the monsters you fight have to be a lot stronger than the stuff around here." His eyes were filled with childish excitement that reminded me that he was just a teenager. A knot formed in my stomach as I considered whether this was moral or not. I was going to train him to start fighting monsters and then pump him with superpowers. Powers that were steroids when you thought about it.

Of course, the new world was very dangerous so it wasn't an obvious situation. I-"Hello?"

I was pulled out of my thoughts and found him staring at me. I shook my head and gestured to the gravity array. "You aren't strong enough and likely won't be for a while. Once you get the System and get some combats under your belt I will take you out for a few hunts. After that how fast you level will be up to you."

He grinned. "Do you have anything that could help me? I read about pills that could increase you to level 20 all at once." The eagerness in his eyes made it clear that it wasn't something that he had just read about.

"No, you need to work for it yourself. I am arranging some things for you but you still need to prove that you deserve them. If you manage to earn the credits for those pills then you are free to get them. You are not to use my name, reputation, or anything like that to make it easier."

Just like that, the excitement faded from his eyes. It was a bit amusing how quickly his mood switched but there wasn't much to be done. I wanted to help but if he didn't do any of it himself would it be worth it? Would he be strong enough to accomplish anything? He was already getting more than just about anyone on Earth got for free. I decided to leave him to his training as Desbera entered and gestured for me to approach.

"I don't mean to interrupt Young Master but I had heard you had returned and I wanted to speak with you. Please allow me to say congratulations. From the feel of your display there, I assume you found success."

"I did. I formed another strand. I was just about to head out and test it out."

"Great, great I have a small request to make if you are open?" She waited a moment but when I made no move to stop her she continued. "If you or your people can bring us some alchemical ingredients we would greatly appreciate it. Outside of the most basic things I could bring our stock is virtually zero. I have reached out to the merchant but saving money would be very helpful."

I chuckled before nodding my head. "I will see what I can do. I have managed to bring in a few carcasses that you are welcome to look at. If there is a dispute between the Academy and Azariah please let either me or the council know. I imagine you two will be able to share but it's better to be safe than sorry."

She beamed at me before nodding her agreement. We went over a few more things before I decided it was time for me to go. As much as I enjoyed being home there was something about exploring the great unknown that called to me. After a slightly rushed goodbye, I stepped through the portal and back onto the second continent.