But… how could something from Earth be here? Is there a connec… there has to be a connection. The fact there are humans here… but… then… are they the source or are we? There’s no way… Tai chi isn’t that old. And if something happened within the last couple hundred years… wouldn’t there be … well… maybe a wormhole… random teleportation… alien abduction, like me? But…

Joe glanced back and blinked in surprise to find the elf… Telnia, right? … was back, sitting with the others but Joe ignored her and called out to Gwenvair.

“Hey, Gwenvair, how many humans are here? Just base only humans on this plane?”

Gwenvair glanced up at him then stood, nodding, “There are several million, maybe more?”

“On this plane?”

“Yes?” Gwenvair seemed a bit confused but nodded.

“And all the other planes here and everywhere?”

“In all the stars? There… I do not know how I could give any number… it would be… very large.”

Joe frowned, “Do you have an idea of how many? Can you give me any number? Nothing exact but, something?”

Gwenvair nodded, “I… maybe. But it is a very, very large number.”

Joe’s frown deepened, “I know. But … hmm… then how many planes are there?”

Gwenvair nodded, “Most cradles have forty or fifty planes. Some of the strongest and most powerful have even hundreds.”

Hundreds? Of moons? That… wait… “How many in this cradle?”

“Fifty two.”

Joe frowned, “All with life?”

She nodded, “Yes.”

“What is normal for a cradle?”

“I believe about eighty or so?”

Joe’s frown deepened. That… seems weird… really weird… but I’ll take it.

“Then each plane has millions? Five million?”

Gwenvair frowned at that, “Maybe?”

Two hundred fifty million humans per gas giant, and…

“How many solar systems have more than one gas gia… cradle?”

Gwenvair nodded, “Very few. But… there are probably thousands… tens… hundreds of thousands? I do not know.”

Joe’s eyebrow rose at that. Very few… and hundreds of thousands…

“How many stars are in the empire?”

“I do not know, but millions upon millions.”

“And each cradle has three hundred million base,” Joe concluded.

Gwenvair took it as a question and replied, “Our cradle is… small and weak. Most cradles have many times more.”

If we go for billions… or even just a billion per cradle… hmm… The Milky Way has something like a billion stars, right? Or… is it more… can’t remember… but I’ll go with that, so… a billion billions… that’s… three sets of three… twice… gives us six sets. That’s… Joe counted out the triples in his head really quick … that’s hitting quintillions! That’s… Let me… just… double check…

“So… millions of base in each cradle?”

“Yes.”

“So then… in all cradles… billions?” Joe asked cautiously.

“More.”

“Trillions?”

“I think… much more. Much, much more.”

“Quadrillions? Quintillions?”

“I… do not know those numbers, but…”

“They are bigger than Trillions. Much bigger… a thousand and a million times more than trillions.”

“I think… more.”

“Thank you, Gwenvair.” So… maybe I’m lowballing it… even with a quintillion…

“You are welcome, Joe.”

Joe turned away, his mind swirling. Right… so… definitely not us as a source… No way that there were millions of humans on every planet across multiple star systems and we seeded the galaxy. But that means… how far back!? When’d they get to Earth? And… why would they with this whole Absence thing…

Joe sighed, tabling the information because there was nothing he could do now and time was rather limited. He decided to continue the tai chi line of jobs to see what else he could find, changing his tai chi job to white belt tai chi. He cleared his mind and turned back to his task. It’s time to get back into this fight.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Joe turned to the man defending the line for him, “Thank you, sir. I’m ready to take over again.”

The man bowed, “Thank you, eccentric. I am grateful for your service.”

Joe smiled, “It is only to be expected. We are all here together. It is mutual safety.”

The man nodded but did not reply, simply backing away as Joe began shooting, his eyes already on the swarming monsters below. He’d started firing out mana point arrows a bit before lunch, and the break was enough to refill all of them back up to max. He decided that firing predominately mana point arrows made it a bit faster for him, and he began alternating firing mana point arrows and mana twister constructs. He stopped firing his mana point arrows after the mana points dropped to almost half mana. Doing so allowed them to refill to full while he used up most of his personal mana making the constructs. It wasn’t a perfect alternation. His mana points were able to completely refill, but his MP never refilled to full each time, dropping lower and lower each time he swapped back to his MP.

It wasn’t enough to really get him stuck as he could just drop his mana points lower to refill his MP and begin the cycle again, although this time the mana points were the ones that were now not quite refilling. But by alternating back and forth, he was able to extend his time.

The day passed on, and he grew numb to the situation. His arm never really burned or got tired, to which he could only thank his SP. He had a rather insane amount, which helped, but the main thing was that it recovered relatively quickly and never actually caused fatigue. It seemed the three resource pools actually protected his body from actually bearing the cost of using it. He’d already seen how it worked out with health and MP, but he was still flabbergasted that somehow the energy used to move his body wasn’t bringing about the typical exhaustion. In fact, he felt that if he wanted to move or run nonstop, as long as he had SP, he would never have any bodily fatigue. Exhaustion and fatigue didn’t hit until his SP was out, then it began using his natural resources.

This actually worried him a bit, as he was uncertain how fit he would be if he was never able to truly work out. That was one of the main reasons he began exhausting his SP in the morning to make sure he was actually exercising his body... healthily? Is it healthily? Or do I maintain my health and it just doesn’t actually let me boost it? Joe’s mind had begun wandering over the oddities of this world as he continued drawing and firing arrow after arrow. Monsters died, slaughtered, while the ones pointed out by the craftsman at his side were let through to die just at the feet of the line of guards, the crafters working hard and fast to butcher the beasts as they came in.

The day came to an end and Joe finally began to feel some fatigue. Joe laughed at that, however, as it was now the third day of straight fighting and only now was Joe feeling a bit tired. It wasn’t normal. Joe knew this, but was both too tired and too stressed to really care about the ramifications. The ruminations would come later, if needed. The existence of tai chi proved to be significantly more startling, driving his thoughts in circles more than incredible physique.

In any case, Joe turned back to find Telnia still sitting next to the other four, and Joe stifled the tinge of annoyance. Her staff stood around, waiting on her and the other four, which bothered Joe no small amount, although it seemed that she was actually sharing her resources with the others. Regardless, having others wait and serve in her stead wasn’t very impressive, at least to him. He hid a grimace and headed back to join the others to return home.

* * *

Telnia finally was able to overcome the awkwardness, joining the conversation with the other girls with more ease, but still very much the outsider as the two were polite, but aloof. This distance was frustrating, but understandable. It gave her time to gather her thoughts as well as information while she listened in on their conversation

When the others began to speak of the eccentrics actions yesterday, she could no longer stay silent, interjecting in surprise.

“He fought a Boss slime?!?”

Gwenvair looked up at her and smiled proudly, while the lesser… she is accepted by the eccentric! I cannot… while the acokzau giggled without reserve, nodding, “He dove into the slime and took its core. The fight was less than a bell… even half a bell! He killed it from inside by taking its core and eating it!”

Telnia scoffed, “He did not eat the core!”

Gwenvair sighed and rolled her eyes at her sister, “No. He did not eat it. He simply put it in his mouth. He explained that separating a core from a slime causes the slime core to lose its connection to the slime. It is no longer able to control it. Therefore, he used his mouth as a way to separate it. As soon as he did so, the body of the slime collapsed and he simply had to kill a Boss slime no bigger than his hand.”

Telnia listened to the story and found her thoughts roiling even as she struggled to understand, “He killed a Boss… alone!”

Gwenvair nodded, “For the most part. The guards below held the line, but … they are guards. They could do nothing.”

Kilniara interjected at the end, “He even saved a guard. The slime never had enough time to kill let alone eat the guard.”

Telnia let out a small explosive sigh, surprised, although she cared little to nothing about the guard. Only that the eccentric had killed so rapidly and alone. She fell silent for a bit but Kilniara turned to dig in the eccentric’s bag before turning to hand over something to her.

“Here. A Boss slime’s core!”

Telnia blinked, then really looked at what was being handed to her. Her calm evaporated, replaced by trembling hands, sweat, and a thumping heart even as her breathing became erratic.

“It’s… true! An earth Boss slime… with… some water influence?”

Gwenvair nodded, “It seemed as so. A mud Boss.”

Telnia held the Boss slime, its six cores intricately intertwined, with reverence, realizing that what she held before her represented more wealth than her entire clan. She looked back up eyes wide. The human boy that was speaking with the acokzau boy simply snorted and shook his head.

“That’s nothing. You should see…” the boy trailed off and said nothing, shaking his head, “Never mind.”

Telnia allowed the rude interruption, too shocked to realize that a lesser had interjected into a conversation of his betters. A few moments later, she realized what he’d said, and jerked towards him, insistent!

“What!? Tell me!”

The boy shook his head, grimacing, “Sorry. I can’t.”

He then turned away, returning to his conversation with the acokzau. She pressed him several more times, but he simply ignored her or waved her off. It took Telnia a moment to realize that the other two girls were watching her with some amusement, and she quickly recovered herself, returning her poise.

Her face tinged red, but the two girls politely ignored her shame and returned to their conversation, Telnia now simply listening in and her shock too much to really allow her meaningful conversation with the two. Gwenvair held out a hand, and it took her a bit to realize they were asking for the Boss core from her. She found herself almost surprisingly reluctant to hand it back, the thing so alluring. Her breathed shuddered as she breathed deeply then handed it back. She had to hide a gasp when the acokzau took it from Galgandar clanner and simply tossed it into the purse without concern. Telnia realized her concern was foolish. Cores were much stronger than they appeared, but still, the casual disregard was surprising.

Their conversation continued throughout the afternoon, and Telnia’s cool was quickly replaced by concern and finally outright worry. The more she learned of the eccentric, the more she feared she would fail. Simultaneously, she realized that she could not fail. The eccentric was a catch of a millennia… No… more!

Originally, she thought to only seduce him and discard him once done. Now, her thoughts began to seriously contemplate a more permanent arrangement, with him by her side. Or… even me by his? He already has… but… I could. Telnia stared at the other two women who were growing ever more as rivals. I can’t… take any chances…

* * *