I wake up in a wide expanse of big hills, feeling less shitty, but still pretty shitty.

-Is there still stew?-

I try to summon a pot, it comes, still piping hot. But it's a pot of stew that's still piping hot. Did I have some stored away or did the emperor --. No. If he'd turned all the cooking pits off the stew wouldn't still be hot. Did he take it off and bank it? Is this emperor stew?

It's not a Persephone stew. Her's were tasty and simple, but with ingredients I wouldn't think of. Mine were a hot mess of sweet and salty fish and veggies. Ooh! Should have thrown some dough in there. Dumplings! I'm kind of disgusted that Broadband Chicken is such a good cook. I'm gonna assume he's not a shitty person to everyone.

What was I doing? Wait. Void cultivation. Sitting and thinking about all the treasure with my bank open while in my bank. Then --. Fack! I need to go to the bank.

[Launch Successful]

[Successful Use: 3/100]

[Con. Qi -2]

[Qi -2]

[Karma -5]

[Current Condensed Qi: 1,796,930/23,855,580]

[Current Qi: 695,176/5,850,300]

[Current Karma: 95,422,323/107,275,977]

[Mortal Wallet: 7E,27K,180P,54R,179Da,155De,105k]

[Spirit Wallet: 0Dr,0Ph,0Th,1199Di,126Co,526St]

I hover higher and higher, nowhere near crossing into the void, but I don't have to get very high to see the expanse of my realm. I think it shrunk.

-No! My void penis!- I shriek over dramatically, sitting back and trying to see the areas that had been set up previously.

The swamp is... Diminished is being nice. There's a dirty puddle not too far in the distance. The bulk of my bank appears to be hills with a fair-sized lotus pond in the middle. I flop towards the pond, letting whatever counts for gravity, will or magnetism, drag me to a sad, painless flop against a massive lily pad. I go through the motions to swim, despite being on a soggy leaf, until I can tuck and roll off the side into the waters.

And into the void. I come out of a round pool surrounded by stone, wondering how I go from pond to moon pool surrounded by a broad walkway which is in turn circled by large pillars. The pillars, carved tops and bases, with rounded carvings along their edges -- floundering? flooding? -- glow faintly with prismatic light. My shit isn't separated anymore? Would be handy for storage if I just had to select an energy and it'd auto convert versus me having all of the different energies stored, and then converting. Probably not what's happening, though.

I stand on the edge of the viewing pool, looking down into the reflected starscape and wonder if I'll be sent back to the hills or if I have to go to the void --. Oh! Thinking about the hills changed the view to a pan over of the hills. Cool. I slip in, wind up in the shallows of the lotus lake, and wonder what happened to all my shit. I haven't been banking stuff, but my bank was producing shiz. There were farms and orchards and different production facilities.

With a shrug I wander off to find a semi-flattish area on a hill top. I check for harvestables, realizing that the plants were banked ready to harvest but won't be producing anymore when I see there's no shiver thorn available. 'Cause there's always shiver thorn available...

Focus! Hill. No, food! Food so I can make myself a house so I can sleep in a fookin' bed! That I made! My bed! Not someone else's!

I don't know what plants are rare or not so I opt to just grab the cooked foods. Three pots of stew and I'm ready to try. Here's to hoping bug me knows how to eat out of a pot! Pffft, who am I kidding? Bug me definitely knows more ways to eat things than awake me. Probably gets mad that I'm not cycling, consuming, and storing all the things. Am I a loot goblin?

The thought of loot, treasure, riches leads me back to the house that I want. A simple elegant house with wide spaces separated by walls that do little more than mark the outlines of the rooms. Screens and gauzy curtains, tables and comfy pillows. And the largest room will be the kitchen. Hells, the house will be a sleeping and eating area attached to the kitchen! I guess I want to make a kitchen...

When I shake myself to focus I'm face first in a tipped over stew jar, just munching as I literally stand in the stew. These jars really are big. I back out and I can see that the other jars are tipped, one broken, the other still intact, and I'm next to a structure.

Lacquered wood, paper screens, windows with shutters that swing in and up. Seating area when I first walk in, a room off to the side, looks like a bathroom, with privacy screens and a high upper window to let in more light. Further in there appears to be a wide alcove with a painted wall. Why's this wall solid and painted?

Approaching it I find out that it's a hallway that leads left and right to two separate rooms with low shelf beds with sleeping mats and thin sheets. There's no storage, but pffft. I back out, back to the main room, and check the last side of the house. Which looks like a warehouse with a four burner cook stove.

The walls here are thicker, the room darker, and the walls are lined with pots, shelving units, and crates. The ceiling here is higher, the rafters empty, for now, but there's plenty of space for drying shiz. I want to check the crates, to get something started, but I don't want to burn my house down already. But I'm looking forward to getting some me geared flavors already.

I'm awake, don't know when I went down or for how long, and I need to get three emperors. Time to head out.

"Stand and I'll plant you in the earth!" White Silk unsheathes her sword, a quick flick of her wrist slinging it across the room as she twirls away, planting it in the ground for easy sheathing as she makes a sword seal with her left hand as she spins to face me.

-Oof!- I bounce off of her and nearly into the wall, scrabbling as I try to figure out where I was and why the furniture looks like it was moved around. Then I register what she said. -*Did you just say "step up and get sent to hell" or "step forward and I'll bury you"?*-

"You're back?" she blinks then casually straightens, gathering her sheathe and putting away her sword. "Did your owners find you."

-*Was there something in this spot? Where I am?*- What's my anchor look like? Tell me!

"The swirling spiral?" What swirling spiral? Apparently she has an epiphany, eyes and mouth opening wide and radiating morning person energy. "You've unlocked void cultivation? You have a void space?"

-*Let's go with that.*- Thanks for the excuse! She starts pacing energetically and I regret not taking a nap before I came back out. -*How long since we last met?*-

"I had you for three days and you were asleep the whole time!" she pouts, stomping her foot and slumping in a mini tantrum. "We never got to see if you could use the sky road!"

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I blink at her and the missed nap regret grows. Sky road? The flight path or another sky bridge? So I was only out for three days after all of this? No, she said she had me for three days. Grooming I try to get my thoughts in order before White Silk stomps over to me, pulling and tightening something around me.

-*Hey. Hey! Hey!*- I pull free and try to shake everything back into place. -*How long ago did I disappear?*-

"Ten, twelve days?" she continues to pout, looking up and away thoughtfully before shrugging. "It looks like your Sky Road Key is attuned and you have excellent Qi capacity. My capacity is only so so but I ride the Sky Road constantly to train it. Come! Let's see what your excellent capacity can do!"

The fuck is she talking about? She hefts me and starts carrying me downstairs and outside while I'm trying to figure out if someone mailed her the test results of my rough physical, if she read the information on my -- what did she call it? Sky Path Key? -- harness thingy, or if she can see my elemental affinity. Can she tell how much I can bank or is what she's talking about completely different?

Once outside she sets me down and starts walking away. Grateful for the break I go back to grooming. I can catch up later but I need to get my thoughts in order. I still haven't checked on my notifications and status changes, nevermind figuring out if the titles are special or just change the cloud banner to something else. She sucks her teeth when she notices that I'm not following her, retraces her steps, then picks me back up before continuing on her way. Okay~, not what I was going for.

-*I attuned my harness?*- Focus! Is this what caused me to drop or did it happen after I dropped? How accurate is it and how do I check it?

"Mm! When you cycle the harness takes some of the energy from your paths and uses that to reinforce itself and allow you to fly along the Sky Road!" I don't regret Ultravision, but I do not like being able to see how upbeat and chipper she is when I'm feeling like crap. "You can read the harness to find out who it belongs to. Try it!"

She tucks me in, holds her wrist up to me, soft underside up, and waits. For what? How am I supposed to read it? Is this one of those focus and it'll work or one of those visualize and it'll work? Or do I have to touch it? Is that why she was jerking me around earlier?

I don't want to accidentally slit her wrist reaching for it with my legs, so I opt to stare, visualize, and focus instead of just stare and focus.

[Qi Channel Successful]

[Qi -5]

[Current Condensed Qi: 1,796,930/23,855,580]

[Current Qi: 695,171/5,850,300]

[Current Karma: 95,422,323/107,275,977]

[Mortal Wallet: 7E,27K,180P,54R,179Da,155De,105k]

[Spirit Wallet: 0Dr,0Ph,0Th,1199Di,126Co,526St]

White Silk. Capacity: Low.

Oh. Channeling like I did in Miller's Cross what with the gems. Wait. Her capacity to low or channeling capacity is low?

-*Question: Do you have very little Qi or do you have a low capacity to channel Qi? Those are two separate things, aren't they?*- I want to spam Identify on shiz but I just woke up.

"Mm! My capacity is only so-so, but I have a hard time keeping a consistent and steady stream of Qi when I channel," she says, making small movements with her fingers in sword seals as she moves through some form with a few twists of her wrist while still holding me. Why do people like carrying me all of a sudden? "The Sky Road will pull it out in a steady stream, regardless of your control, but it helps if I can identify how to do it so I don't need an artifact or construct to help." She mounts the stairs in the small shop -- landing dock? -- she'd used when she'd first run off with me. "Let's give it a try! First we'll take the left hand route and go to another low traffic residential district, okay?"

Oh~. This is a spot near people's houses for real. A quick snack bar when people don't want to go home, not a full blown restaurant or eatery. I wonder if this is someone's house they're renting out as a resting stop.

I shake my head, look up and focus on my harness while trying to cycle. The straps make my body tingle, golden streaks become more solid when I look up, and I get whisked along the path where she'd crashed into me. Which is the right path, not the left. How was I supposed to choose?

[Barrier Successful]

[Successful Use: 3/100]

[Qi -10]

[Karma -5]

[Current Condensed Qi: 1,796,930/23,855,579]

[Current Qi: 695,161/5,850,300]

[Current Karma: 95,422,318/107,275,977]

[Mortal Wallet: 7E,27K,180P,54R,179Da,155De,105k]

[Spirit Wallet: 0Dr,0Ph,0Th,1199Di,126Co,526St]

Someone screams. Pretty sure she wasn't flying with a bubble, but her flight was also slower than a horse's gallop. The short bit of scooting I did with her lasted a few minutes. This lasted barely seconds. At most two. Apparently moving on the Sky Path moves you at Qi channeling speeds or at your fastest movement speed.

I look up to see if I can visually follow the path to see if she's coming, not even thinking about hopping back on, when someone wraps their arms around my middle and hoists me up. Again. Why are people doing this?

-*What do you want?*- I don't know if I wandered into a party or not, but there was a scream earlier but I only hear cheers. Am I going to kick some drunkard ass?

"It can talk!" whoever is holding me shouts like they're not holding me, bouncing and turning to face a cheering crowd.

-*Don't yell into my ears.*- I'm not gonna "please" some common decency! I get a quick apology but they don't put me down. -*Put me down!*-

"No, way!" The one holding me, a man with close cut hair, a twisted headband, dark yellow vest, and baggy sand colored shorts bounces me around and I'm worried he's going to trip in his thong sandals. "We want to meet the master who raised such a powerful spirit beast!"

She'd kick your ass for handling her merchandise, I think to myself and somehow don't grumble out loud. I sigh and try to kick free, get annoyed when this prompts a wave of laughter, then spitball someone in the face when they pat my stomach.

[Silk Spray (Tier 3) Successful]

[Successful Use: 2/100]

[Con. Qi -20]

[Karma -200]

[Current Condensed Qi: 1,796,910/23,855,529]

[Current Qi: 711,124/5,850,300]

[Current Karma: 95,422,118/107,275,977]

[Mortal Wallet: 7E,27K,180P,54R,179Da,155De,105k]

[Spirit Wallet: 0Dr,0Ph,0Th,1199Di,126Co,526St]

Wait, did I get another Qi infusion? No, wait. Did my con. Qi -- I'm gonna assume that's condensed 'cause I haven't gotten an indication, that I noticed, to think otherwise. Before now. -- dissolve into regular Qi? What my numbers do? Or did I fuck up or gain reputation? Shit. Did I eat the Sky Road?

I twist to look at the road, trying to double check that it's still there, and the man, yellow clouds framing Muddy Waters, drops me with a shout. Ow, but not, and why? Oh! Spray! I spot White Silk coming in, still in the distance, and I'm not the only one. I use the distraction to latch onto white clouds Quail's Irridescent Feathers, -- what a name! -- and get my silk back.

By the time White Silk lands, the "eager greeters" are frowning at me from the room and around the one-story shack, Muddy Waters is standing with his fists clenched, and I've been blocking the landing pad grooming myself and trying to work up the will to see if I could jump onto the road without knocking White Silk off. Or would I splat her like a bug and my barrier is the windshield? Crunch her would be more accurate, I suppose, what with all of the tiny bones...

"What's going on?" she barks, sword not drawn but she looks ready to throw down or chew someone out.

-*Something happened when I rode the Road and these people got excited. My master isn't here but they're gonna think you're her. Good luck!*- I pause my grooming to wave my forelegs at her in a silent cheer before going back to cleaning my obnoxiously fluffy self. -*Do I need to be sheared? I'm not used to my silk being this thick. When'd this happen?*-

Would explain why people keep picking me up and refusing to put me down. Even my body silk is quality. Either it cleans easily or my combing is very efficient because I'm pulling out a lot of random shiz and I have no idea where these items came from. Apparently someone, at some point, lost a bracelet in my silk. Weird how it doesn't tangle but it grabs. Something else to look into, I guess.