Lane Coin was not like her siblings. All of the Coin children had one of two details that made for potentially powerful future Cultivators, with the exception of Lane that is.

The first of two traits was a keen sense for money management, which Lane lacked. While the second was an incredible sense for people and their wants, which Lane also felt she lacked.

She lay on a bed made from literal condensed clouds, in a room so opulent that kings and queens of many realms would be made envious by a simple peek into her living quarters. To say her bedroom was anything less than a mansion, tucked into a series of even more decadent mansions, all stacked and weaved into one another seamlessly would be an insult to the architect that designed Coin Castle.

Lane couldn’t wrap her head around being more wealthy than the king and queens of her own realm, but for her that wouldn’t matter soon. She was about to go through her family’s version of a threshing of weakness. None of the Coin family beyond the age of majority as far as the family head was concerned, shouldn’t be able to be left in a foreign land and create a dynasty from thin air.

So to bring out their inner tycoon, the Coin family head determined that before the age of majority all of their scions could take one of two test.

The first option was to balance the books for the wealthiest family in the known realms single handedly. A task Lane outright refused to do knowing how many had been driven insane by the notably insurmountable vastness of their activities as a family unit.

While the second was a test given to the majority of the family. A test that required they live without access to the Coin wealth and resources. This test was commonplace in wealthy Cultivator circles, but was different in the Coin family perspective, as the members of this family lived in a mindset so far above being rich that aspects of poverty completely baffled them by puberty.

So Lane researched. With the use of the Sovereign System application this research was made absolutely casual in difficulty. She didn’t have to pore through tomes, and scrolls, or a pile of books, but simply type any request for information she needed, and a large magnitude of vital info would fill every inch of her wall screen.

A wall screen larger than city gates connected to some perimeter walls, that not only corresponded with Lane's each and every Eye movement as she looked around, but also analyzed her body language to gauge her interest and disinterest. These features alone caused more information she felt to be vital in her search to be pulled up, and anything she actively ignored to be pushed aside or dismissed from her screen completely.

“Pour businesses on the rise,” Lane said aloud using the audible search functions she had access to rather than the small rectangular flatscreen in her hands, pocketing the device as she rolled off her bed to pace as she read.

“New air conditioner construction company, no…., new refurbished air coupe racing company, no…., new alchemical vaccination company, no…, new up and coming clothing brand, Fresh Cartel…?”

Lane was unknown as a model, event host, and fashion icon, all of which would be necessary skills for her to develop to become an idol. So working for an up and coming clothing company would be an ideal match during her own threshing. With this in mind, she took a deep dive into the brand that had come from out of nowhere from what Lane could tell, figuring out as much as she could before moving to ingratiate herself with the group.

She was seen as a small influencer, spending most of her time reviewing items for the rich. With her small following of fans, Lane wasn’t recognizable each and every time she was seen in public as many famous Cultivators or celebrities were. In fact, she was known more as a political figure being a scion of the Coin family, than a celebrity of any kind.

Yet as she researched, the more excited for her threshing she became. The company that backed the brand she was interested in was more than new, it was still in its infancy and didn’t even have all of the required documentation to be operating at the capacity it was.

“Who in the sparks are you?”

An image of Arson came up, and Lane read all the details the application she used had on the boy.

“Sovereign Arson Omni, adopted son of the Jade of the Seventh realm layer, disowned heir to the LightLord & Archon legacies, what the sparks, thats it?”

Though nothing came up about Arson’s background, much was displayed about his recent efforts. His affiliations, and the growth of his yet to be named company the largest amount of information to be found.

This wasn’t the first scion Lane had ever been interested in working for, but it was the first scion that seemed to fit her needs.

“He’s not rich by far, but seems to have a lot of resources,” Lane thought aloud.

“I mean this food delivery service looks excellent, and is that…” Lane pulled up a video of the street fair brawl, and her eyes widened. Being a part of the influencer communities she was fully aware of the popular prizefighting arenas all throughout Maelstrom, and the young woman on screen beating down common street thugs outside of a training gym was one of her new favorites. The low ranked fighter sported the new clothing brand from head to toe and looked absolutely fantastic as she weaved through a group of opponents.

The more Lane looked the more she found. The group around Arson didn’t have a massive social media presence, but everything they did involve themselves with seemed to be catching on with the general public quickly. They were making waves, and Lane felt with her help, they could become an unstoppable storm of wealth, large enough to make her family proud for her to be a part of.

“Bloody embers this is going to be fun…”

…

Jasmine was having one of the best days she could remember in a long time. She and the now three teams she’d hired could complete 10 million credit orders in a single shift, and had completed all the work given to them by Mr. Kim.

Jasmine and the rest now sat eating breakfast as they waited for Khalif’s bodyguards. The group was scheduled to drop off a few members of the delivery team assigned to grab more orders from the various clients Jasmine had recently obtained

After announcing a single day return on any laundry order big or small, the number of organizations, parties, cleaning companies and many more entities that wanted their services had flourished in a way that made Jasmine hopeful for the future.

The only thing that seemed off was Mr. Kim. Jasmine couldn’t think of a single reason why the Keeper’s assistant seemed to be annoyed with Jasmine as she requested more work from his assistant but an obvious agitation was felt. This was her only worry thus far that day. The issue small as they were getting jobs from other sources, but large as well due to the fact that their largest working affiliation thus far was Mr. Kim.

Jasmine pushed her worries aside and finished her breakfast. Since they didn’t have laundry to complete, she and her teams moved on to gather inventory from the dump for Fresh Cartel.

Once outside, the groups gathered around a large trash heap and began their work. Normally digging through trash would come with excessive amounts of dirt and grime, but with the runic formations that separated each section of the dump from one another, also came an entire runic system that cleaned and stripped bacteria and sludge from all living organisms that passed through each area.

So even though the job was sometimes incredibly messy, and often gut wrenchingly smelly, most who worked there didn’t mind, as with a few steps in a single direction, everything that clung to the laundry teams body was seemingly washed away. The runic system using the broken down materials to fuel various automated functions not only throughout the dump, but within Jade’s own home as well.

Jasmine thought these details to be minor coming from Almarine’s orphanage that sported similar capabilities all throughout the grounds, but for the rare few employees she had that weren’t orphans as well the simple cleaning mechanisms found inside the dump were magical.

Jasmine walked through one of the bacterial barriers with an armload of clothing, dropping the clothing onto the growing pile her teams gathered, jumping in alarm as Jade appeared next to her without warning or alarm. The Keeper speaking to Jasmine as a screaming streak of light blurred into the area.

“You all are going to be the death of him at this point…”

Jasmine frowned at the comment, confused at who would be the death of who. She had no idea what the woman was talking about and wasn’t given a chance to ask as an explosion of light pulled her attention away.

Jasmine’s gaze fell upon the rippling wave of dark hues distorting the visible light spectrum; power emanating outward as Troy was revealed within a dome of pressure formed from light itself.

Multi colored steam poured into the air off Troy’s neck and shoulders, swirling around the unconscious forms of Xani and Khalif. Troy’s eyes were wild, frantically searching for something, until the young woman looked in Jade’s direction.

“Jade, I can’t control it!” Troy dropped Xani and Khalif from her shoulders and Jasmine gasped when she saw the bloodied forms of her friends.

“Take them to the recovery room and place them in the pods beside Arson,” said Jade. Jasmine did not even realize she’d taken a step toward Troy and the others until Jade’s strong hand on her shoulder stopped her from pressing forward any further.

Jade vanished, and appeared beside Troy, the young woman’s entire body vibrating with power until Jade placed both her hands on Troy’s own shoulders with a smile and the pair vanished from sight.

Jasmine looked around at the stunned faces of her teams, everyone there frozen at what had just occurred. Not that any could truly tell what they’d seen, but Jasmine didn’t let the shock of the event stop her from helping her friends.

“You and you, come help me,” Jasmine said, pointing two of the largest members of her teams to come and help her take her friends to the recovery room. She felt bad for not remembering the names of her employees, but made note to make an additional effort to remember them all, even though the two young men who now helped her hadn’t seemed to mind Jasmine’s snappy commands.

They're not indentured servants Jazz, remembering a few names will go a long way in the end.

They quickly made it into the villa, and found the recovery room easily. The two young men placed her friends inside the pods at Jasmine’s direction, and she thanked them, learning their names before sending them off to return to work with orders for the rest of the groups still working outside.

Jasmine stared at her now three unconscious friends and sighed. She’d thought that a life helping a boy run his company would be more difficult due to the fact that a near toddler was in charge, but time was proving to Jasmine it was the young adults that brought a sense of unpredictability and chaos to their every day.

“Can we go a day without getting banged up guys, that would be nice…”

…

“Breathe child!”

Troy’s thoughts were sporadic. Her body was filled with far too much light based manas for her to even move properly, let alone have a string of coherent thoughts.

“What do I do, I can’t control it!” Troy couldn’t even hear herself yelling. One moment she was upright, and the next she’d run through a trash heap with enough force to send the entire mini mountain crumbling down as if it had imploded; trash raining outward in every direction.

She found herself staring into the sky above, trying not to move, but a single stray thought to look for Jade moved her entire being in the direction she turned her head. Another explosion of trash occurred, and Troy spasmed wildly as the power within her continued to build. Her cells began to separate and an unrivaled pain grew throughout her entire body, running bone deep as her veins grew with an illumination that threatened to destroy her from within.

“You must perform a momentum drop child, or you will die!”

Troy had no idea where Jade’s voice was coming from, or what she was telling Troy to do, but she continued struggling to catch her breath. It wasn’t until Jade spoke up again that Troy’s overwhelming fear for the end of her own life was forgotten long enough to let her seize control of her own faculties.

“What will my son do if he wakes up and you are gone,? His closest friend in this world lost to the overwhelming might of her own power... Do you believe he will be able to face the skies worth of mana running through his own veins, or will he doubt himself after losing you, someone he looks up to?”

Troy found herself being lifted by Jade as she trembled. The powerful woman gazed into her eyes and Troy shook, trying her best to let go of all the light she’d pulled into her body. The volatile power far too much for her current core to manage properly.

“Breathe, child. Let go of the power, this exhilaration you are feeling will kill you before it helps you accomplish anything. Return your mind to a place of peace... let your mind calm and return your being to a place of peace,” said Jade, wiping Troy’s face clear of her sweat drenched hair.

“I can’t control it,” Troy said through a clenched jaw, her teeth gritted in a pain unlike any other she’d ever felt before.

“This is not for you to control, child, let it go…”

Troy and Jade stared into one another’s eyes as panic tried to take control of the young Cultivator once more, but Jade shook her head, taking a deep breath in front of Troy in an attempt to show the young woman what must be done. Troy tried and pulses of light began to explode from her body.

It wasn’t enough, and Troy began to seize, the light mana ripping her apart internally.

“Arson will never forgive any if you die here, child. This is not your time and you know it, now breathe!”

Troy managed to nod slowly, her teeth beginning to chatter against the cold that overtook her as her soul began to separate from her living vessel; the pain intense enough to cause her mind to want to free itself from the world of the physical entirely.

She closed her eyes and Jade worried that she would soon pass, only for Troy to manage to take a deep breath. The shuttering gasp pushed out a tidal wave of light mana, and Troy started to choke. The mana leaving her body so concentrated that it took on a physical form as it left her, Troy literally choking on hardened light mana as she gasped for air.

“Keep breathing, child, there is more, and if you don’t get it all out it may leave permanent damage in your soul and core,” Jade said softly. Troy could feel the woman stroking the side of her face to comfort her as she focused, truly doing her best to listen to the woman and breathe out all the excess mana.

Like the pop that came from a return to a normal altitude, a gush of mana roared free of Troy’s pores, and the young woman passed out finally. Jade held her in her arms as Troy slept peacefully, speaking softly to the young woman as she looked around at the now cleared field. Trash of all shapes and sizes pushed back, leaving them in a clearing made by the expulsion of power that had boomed through the area once Troy had managed to drop the momentum from her overcharged cells.

“Looks like my son made a good choice in you…” Jade said standing, her own mind a jumbled mess at the thoughts running through it.

“But you and your friends are pulling so much power from Arson’s connection to you all that it is taking him longer to heal. At this point I don’t know what will happen first, you all die being connected to the power of a Fury, or he dies giving every bit of himself for you all to grow without limit,” Jade said to the sleeping young woman in her arms before she teleported into the recovery room of her villa. Jasmine jumped and screamed in absolute terror, and Jade couldn’t help but laugh at the young woman who’d stumble and knocked over the chair she sat in, holding her heart in alarm.

“By the maiden, this bloody place is going to be the death of me!”