Chapter 5

I wasn’t sure how much later it was when I woke up again. This time was a significant improvement. A beautiful woman was looking down at me with a look of concern. An almost imperceptible soft white glow surrounded her.

You have successfully found a source of life energy. Passive absorption from this source equals 28 energy per day.

I grimaced. Those messages were going to get annoying quickly. Especially if I started absorbing energy from further and further away. I’d hate to get a message every time that someone walked past me. I’d have to figure out how to turn them off at some point. Or set a threshold where it wouldn’t notify me below a certain value.

The woman’s concerned look was replaced with a smile as she noticed that I was awake. I couldn’t help but let my eyes roam a bit as I pushed myself back up into a sitting position on the bed. Not enough that she would be offended but enough that I noticed that she had red hair, green eyes, and an amazing figure. She was easily a C cup with a waist that narrowed down slightly and then flared back out slightly at her hips. I was definitely attracted to the entire package. I had always had a thing for redheads.

“I’m glad to see that you are awake.” The woman said in clear relief.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“My name is Emma. I’m the niece of the head of clan Ashton.” Emma said in answer to my question.

“I feel a lot better than I expected.” I said reaching up to feel where the guard had tried to smash my head in. Surprisingly it didn’t hurt at all.

Emma nodded. “I’m a life mage. I’ve been in charge of your care since you arrived.”

“I think I misheard that. You said you are a light mage?” According to my memories I could maybe believe that she was a light mage. Light mages were rare. Life mages were on a completely different level. Even among the central clans they were highly valued. I had never heard of a life mage in the border clans.

Emma shook her head. “I know it’s rare but I am a life mage.”

I couldn’t help but feel shocked. Mage talent was already uncommon, perhaps one in a hundred people had the talent. Life mages made that number look common.

In this world there were eight types of mages. The four elemental mages were the most common. Those were fire, water, earth, and air mages. These made up most of the mages. Light and dark mages were the next two types and they were about a hundred times rarer than elemental mages. Life and death mages were the final two types. They were at least a hundred times rarer than light and dark mages.

That meant that Emma’s talent was one in a million. In addition it was an extremely useful talent. Life mages were able to quickly heal any physical injury. Other types of mages had some healing abilities but they either could only heal minor injuries or just speed up the healing of severe injuries. In a war of attrition between two clans of near equal strength having a life mage would often decide who won.

“How is it possible that there is a life mage in the border clans? If the central clans knew I’m sure they would do anything possible to capture you and get you to work for them.” I said.

Emma nodded. “My mother was the sister of the clan head. She was a talented mage and when she was younger she traveled the central regions. She met my father during those travels. When she realized she was pregnant she traveled back to clan Ashton. Surprisingly I had my father’s talent for life magic. Although it’s unfortunate I didn’t inherit my mother’s talent also. Ever since then the clan has kept my talent secret. Only the immediate family of the clan head and the elders know of my talent.”

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I nodded in understanding. Powerful mages and cultivators were similar to celebrities on Earth. A number of them had a tendency to sleep around. And child support didn’t exist in this society. So they didn’t have to worry about any consequences if they knocked up the women they slept with. At the same time many of the women were probably hoping to have children that inherited a powerful mage talent. So it was unlikely anyone was taking any precautions against pregnancy.

The surprising thing was that Emma’s mother had returned to the clan. She could have stayed in the central regions and lived in comfort as the mother of a life mage. Only someone that valued family would make that decision. Especially in a world like this. It was just a shame that I would never see mine again.

That reminded me of two things. First, I had a family in this world. Or at least the body I had taken over did. I’d need to figure out what had happened to them. Second was that Emma had kept on using the past tense when talking about her mother.

“What happened to your mother?” I asked Emma.

A look of pain crossed her face. “If you don’t want to talk about it that’s fine.” I said immediately.

Emma shook her head. “No. It’s been a few years. She died fighting during a beast surge when I was fourteen. It’s part of why I wish I had gained some other magical talent in addition to my life magic. If I had, maybe they would have let me near the front. Maybe I could have saved her.”

“Do they ever let any fourteen year old’s near the front during a beast surge?” I asked.

Emma shook her head. “Then I’d be amazed if they would have let you anywhere close no matter how talented you were. I’ll also bet your mother would have been the first one arguing against it if they did.” I said.

With a smile Emma nodded. “She was like that. She never wanted me to do anything dangerous.”

“A common trait of nearly all mother’s.” I said with a smile.

At that moment my stomach growled and I realized that I was practically starving. I had been unconscious for who knows how long. There was no way I had eaten anything substantial in quite some time. Maybe just some thin soup they spoon fed me. “Any possibility of getting a decent meal? I’m starving.”

“Of course. Is there anything else you need?” She asked.

I thought about the question. The only thing I could think of was getting more energy. I wasn’t about to ask Emma to drag in some sacrifices for me though. I could passively gain energy though and she was a decent source. Plus I’d love to spend more time with a beautiful woman like her.

“Your company for dinner?” I asked.

Emma blushed a bit and then nodded. “I’ll be back with dinner in about half an hour.” She said and then walked over to the door. When she opened it I immediately noticed that the hallway was practically filled with guards now. Apparently now that I was awake I was far more valuable and would be protected accordingly.

Once she closed the door I decided to start figuring out what to do with my energy. For a second I wasn’t sure. Then I remembered the tutorial system. It was odd that it hadn’t popped up with any messages yet though.

“What is my current quest?” I asked. Maybe I had missed a message after I passed out.

Create a universe

“How do I create a universe?” I asked.

In order to manually create a universe you need to concentrate on the dimensional originator in your chest. Then think about how much energy is stored inside the originator that you wish to use in order to create the universe. Angelos said this process would be difficult so she set things up so that you can create a universe automatically. Simply designate how much energy you wish to use. It’s suggested that you focus on growing your first universe before creating more universes.

Before I did that I had one quick question. “How much energy can the dimensional originator store at one time?” I asked.

The dimensional can store up to a million energy. It’s suggested that you designate energy to be devoted towards the expansion of a universe instead of being stored inside the dimensional originator. There is no limit on the amount of energy that can be used this way. The only limit will be that new universes can only be created from energy stored in the dimensional originator.

A million energy was a huge number. Then again I knew that cultivators could get far more powerful than the guard that had given me a few hundred energy. Would there be cultivators that would give me over a million energy if they died? If there were then it made sense to have that energy automatically funneled to a universe that was already created. Otherwise I was guessing it would be lost if the dimensional originator reached capacity. I’d worry about that later. First I had to create my first universe.