Chapter 033

????.??.??

Eureka!, Joram exclaimed in his mind.

He’d just remembered what had happened to cause this whole mess, but was not at a loss for what to do about it.

He hadn’t gotten anywhere- yet!- with getting his body to be any less sensitive to outside stimulation, so he had no way to call out to Avi in his excitement. So, he opened his eyes and looked at one of the tiny cameras arrayed around his head.

The system turned on, the software now tracking his eye movements and blinking patterns.

“Avi!”

Avi nearly jumped out of her chair, barely managing to catch her “laptop” as it slid off her lap.

“….”

Ah, he’d already forgotten that he couldn’t hear her.

Then a line of text displayed itself in the air in front of him, causing him to smile ever-so-slightly. Even that much caused him pain, but he toughed it out as he looked at the holographic keyboard in front of him.

“I remember what happened now,” his simulated voice came out of a small speaker on the side of the bed. He wasn’t sure if he was happy or miffed that it was his youthful voice instead of his “inner” voice that people could hear over the Network, but at least it was something. “One of my Cores started to fall into my Knowledge Star…” he explained, taking her through the entire process of how he’d tried to fix the problem, and how it had ultimately ended.

“Huh,” Avi said, leaning back in her chair. “It’s not like the Becoming One manual, is it?”

“No, that is just converting one energy to another,” he said. “This created a whole new energy that I’m not sure how to deal with.”

“That would explain a few things,” Avi said, now typing away on her laptop, then pointed as the display as it showed a 3D graph of some sort of wave. “This is the new energy signature coming off you. I had to create a whole new set of sensors to detect it, but it was worth it. See how if differs from that of Mana and Psionic Power?” She said, pointing to the two new waves now on display.

Joram really wasn’t as well versed as she was, but he did see how the three differed, but ultimately resembled each other, especially in the overlap.

“Did Altaea leave any information on this before she left?”

Avi just shook her head.

“What about in the Archive? Have you looked to see if we missed anything there?” He asked hopefully.

“We’d have to see if there are any more layers to the Heavenly Archive that we haven’t discovered yet,” Avi said with a frown. “That said, I’m not sure I’ll be able to find anything else unless you’re with me, and with your condition, that’ll be difficult.”

“Ah, catch-22,” he said, barely stopping himself from shaking his head.

“Yeah, I could see if I can make some sort of inertial dampener to attach to your bed so that I can move you around without causing you any issues. But….”

“Yeah,” he agreed. It would be an undertaking on the level of getting the omni-tools working properly. And with only her working on the problem, it would take a while. “Do what you can. I’ll continue trying to sort out what’s going on.”

“Sounds good,” she said, not sounding like it was actually good. “Just. Be careful, OK?”

“As careful as always,” he said, closing his eyes again. Which, unfortunately, caused him to miss the look of extreme incredulity that blossomed on Avi’s face.

* * * * *

Avi had been having more than a few thoughts the past few days, not to mention the ones over the past few months. The most noteworthy among them were thoughts on how to use [Schism] together with her cloned bodies.

She was already an able [Fighter/Metacreationist], having chosen to go the path of a gestalt build like Joram, and she’d already incorporated the knowledge necessary to use the [Network], along with a few other [Vitalist] tricks. But for this, she needed a [Psychic]’s ability to work with the mind.

Yes, they’d had success with creating the augment necessary to have more than one mind added when using [Schism], but those extra minds were still tied to the original. Even when using psicrystals of their own.

Well, that wasn’t quite the problem she needed to work out. Yes, she could do the same trick with [Schism] and psicrystals that Joram could, but she wanted to go that one step further and create a clone that was directly tied to her mind. Like having a hive mind, but with her as the queen, as it were. That way, the brain of the clone would be able to not only handle the extra psychic load, but would also be able to have its own psionic reserve. One not shared between them, but their own pool.

The problem with the psicrystal solution was that each Mind had access to only one pool of psionic energy; the Prime’s.

She was trying to get around this by having real bodies for each additional Mind for her own version of [Schism].

Was that entering a mire of ambiguous ethics? Surely. Did she really care right now? Nope.

Each one would be a part of her mind, connected at all times so that each would know exactly what was happening at all times with the others. Each being part of the whole, but somewhat autonomous. Somewhat being defined as being able to function in normal society if needed, or even combat, but limited in that they were still all One Being… psychically.

Heck, they’d all even be able to be connected to her own [Network] since each one would have a physical body and all. Well, that wasn’t really the limiting factor for a [Network], but it was one when you were working with [Schism] in the ways that she wanted to.

So it was that Avi was running several experiments in parallel as she typed away, inputting code into her own, unique, compiler.

Unique in that she was literally able to use it to test out powers that she wanted to make and or modify. She’d had lots of down time while Joram was unconscious, so she’d taken the months needed at that point to finally get it done. It would need a few tweaks here and there to make it usable for Joram, as he was his own unique entity, but she was sure that it would be very useful in the future.

That said, it was still ridiculously complicated. She was drawing heavily on what Altaea had left with her, which was basically everything she had known about psionics; every class, ability, feat, and skill she’d ever come across. In a sense, it was an insurance policy to make sure that is she died that all of her knowledge wouldn’t be lost.

It was still taking a long time. Altaea hadn’t ever looked into doing something like this, mainly because it had fallen under one of her divine abilities. The same abilities that she hadn’t left information about. Probably because of some sort of code the gods had. Like: don’t reveal the secrets of the Divine before they ascend!

Some rubbish like that.

Avi paused to rub her temples as a stress headache started to take hold.

She glanced over at Joram, noting the instrument panels and their readings that told her that he was meditating, not sleeping. She hadn’t realized just how scared she’d been this time around, fearful of being left alone for another thousand years.

Avi took another calming breath, manifesting [Natural Healing] to rid herself of the headache.

Yes, there were many things that she could do to keep herself busy during that time. Like keeping an eye on his family. Building more and more droids. Setting up a moon base or something. Maybe a teleport network. Cultivate the same way that Joram had, so that she could try and help him figure out how to get past this seemingly dead end in his cultivation.

Well, she’d been “cultivating” her psionic side, exactly how Joram had told her how he’d been doing so. That’s how she had enough psionic energy to keep a few of her own Minds constantly running with [Schism]. But she hadn’t yet started cultivating Mana. Yes, she had the manuals that Altaea had left behind, but she was a little scared of what might happen when she did start cultivating.

She wanted to be there for Joram, be his right hand as it were. For that she needed to at least be on a similar level as he was. But would she be able to handle sixty-four cores like he had? Did she want to follow exactly in his footsteps or blaze her own path?

She was seeing just how hard it was for Joram blazing his own path, having somewhat diverged from what Altaea had left for him. Well, that was an understatement.

If she followed in his footsteps, she would have to custom make her new body to allow for the mana channels’ new location, otherwise she’d wind up like Joram.

Or.

Since she’d yet to cultivate at all, could she somehow start her core beside her Knowledge Star? How would that even work?

So, she pulled Mind 3 off her task of inertial dampeners and set her to work on that particular issue. Because if she could get that figured out, then all she would have to do- maybe!- would be to somehow update Joram’s [Astral Seed] with some new information….

That could work….

* * * * *

Joram felt a slight chill run down his spine, causing him to nearly lose focus on his task.

He was getting better and better at avoiding those bits of strange energy in his body as he “looked” around.

He was also getting better at feeling the energy from a distance. Getting to know it better. Sure, those graphs were useful, in an academic sort of way for him. He was much better with the “hands-on” learning though. So, there he was “following” a mote of the stuff- from a safe distance- as it travelled from his head down through his body

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

He watched as it exited his head, then just kind of floated around, not being directed anywhere in particular. But then he saw bits of it break off and fuse into this bit of tissue or that bit over there. It was as random as he could imagine, until he noticed that it was mostly going into his bones. And by “mostly”, he meant just barely over half of what broke off.

It struck him that this was likely the cause of his physical ailments.

His cultivation was effectively out of control because he didn’t have the necessary pathways to circulate this new energy, or even regular old mana.

Would this new energy even follow the pathways that mana used? He wondered as he continued to watch.

Then, as more motes of energy continued to descend from his head, he began formulating a plan. It felt weird to work on something with only one mind after having gotten used to using three at once for so long. But he got over it and got to work.

He and M3 had done a lot of work trying to create a new system, a new set of pathways so that he could get back to cultivating like a semi-normal person. They’d found limited success, but now that his life likely depended on his success, he was more focussed than ever.

That said, it was difficult to do as he was so used to using [Autohypnosis] to access memories that he was more than a bit stymied in his efforts. [Autohypnosis] was a psionic skill, which wasn’t usable at this time due to his situation. But! He still had good recall, so he wouldn’t completely have to start over again.

He didn’t know how much time passed as he worked on creating a mental image of what his pathways would look like. Then a bout of inspiration hit as he was idly watching the motes of energy float around in his body.

Well, not-so-idly as it turned out. He’d been collecting data on how many bits of energy when where, and how frequently. His skeletal system was the clear winner, then followed by cartilage, tendons, and sinew. From there, in descending order, were his circulatory system, muscles, organs, then everything else all the way down to his skin then hair.

He was surprised by the hair but shrugged it off fast enough. That really didn’t matter too much. Well, maybe for vanity….

Joram took a moment to finalize his findings, doing a few last checks on the sums, then opened his eyes a hair.

“Are you OK,” Avi immediately asked, leaning forward in her chair, hands moving her laptop to her side table this time.

Thus started his blinking session.

“I think that I’ve found something that might help…” he started, then began to explain his findings.

Avi listened, jaw slowly dropping. Oddly enough, a smile started forming at the same time, and when he finally finished sharing his findings, her smile was fit to crack her head in half.

“Three days,” she said, now shaking her head as a rueful smile replaced the other one. “Three days is all it took you to get what I was missing,” she said, then explained what she’d been working on.

Joram lay there silently for a while, admiring just how intelligent and resourceful Avi was. Here was a person who would solve any problem thrown at them, given enough time that is. That said, he’d been frustrated in his research on the subject for quite some time. It wasn’t exactly a perfect solution, as they’d need to go over many things, iron out issues, and do many tests. But it was a start.

“Well, lets put out heads together…. Wait,” he said, his brain finally catching up and processing what Avi had mentioned casually. “You’ve made a body?”

Avi smirked at him before saying, “Yes. Yes, I have.”

“Like, a full, physical body? Not a better [Holographic Projection]?”

*Nod-nod*

“That’ll,” he paused, swallowing a lump in his throat. “I’m sorry that I didn’t get to help with that.”

She levelled a Look at him, causing him to be confused.

“Yeah, and wind up looking like Altaea?” She asked, voice deceptively mild.

*Blink-blink*

“Yeah, I’ve had to make a few alterations to the design,” she said, motioning to her chest, then her face.

Now that he was really looking, her face had subtle changes to it. The lips a slightly different shade, her nose, cheeks, and jawline all slightly altered. Her hair, though, was still the same. He looked at her frame and noticed that she was a bit more slight than Altaea, probably from not having the same muscle mass as Altaea due to her not having been trained as a Paladin from youth.

Then he looked at her chest, specifically the breasts she had pointed out.

Yup, also changed, he thought, nodding mentally.

She’d reduced the size of her breasts to a more “normal” size, though still on par with the women of the Clear Knowledge Clan. Yes, the women of his clan were, on average, much bustier than the women back home, but they were also less busty than Altaea.

Thinking of that, and the Look he’d gotten, he wondered if Avi somehow blamed him for how Altaea looked. It was true that he’d somehow known about her, had even written stories of her many adventures. But he was very much uncertain if that had been some sort of connection they’d shared, or if his imagination had somehow contributed to the creation of her world, and thus Altaea.

He was leaning heavily towards the former explanation, as he was almost certain that he hadn’t the power to create entire universes while he’d been gaming with his friends back home.

Getting back to Avi, she was, overall, quite the sight. He was certain that if this world was anything like the many, many, storied he’d read that he’d need to beat people back as they instantly fell in lust at first sight of her, somehow thinking they had every right to claim her or something.

“You look good,” he blinked/said, managing a very, very, slight smile.

Avi nodded slowly, clearly not expecting that answer. Which confused him, but he mentally shrugged and dismissed the thought.

“Anyways, I can guide you through the process of pulling any accumulated mana from your centre to your Knowledge Star. You may need to have one of your Minds keep it there until you’re able to form a core of your own, though.”

“I’m still not sure I want to do that yet,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “With the data you’ve provided, I think that I can start on a model for how you can start circulating your mana, or even that new energy, but it’ll still take a while.”

“Well then, while you do that, I’ll continue to meditate. I think that I’m close to being able to get into my… core region? Near the Star? Hmmm,” he hmmm’d, thinking. “Maybe I’ll call it my Star System or something,” he finished, trailing off at the end.

Avi smirked again, “I’m sure we’ll find a good name for it.”

It was obvious that she wasn’t entirely enamoured with his naming sense.

“Back to work?”

“Back to work,” Avi confirmed with a nod as she retrieved her laptop.

He tried not to smile, but his face still twitched slightly. At least the pain was getting better.

He then withdrew his consciousness back into his body, starting at the mostly empty space where his core should have been. He wasn’t sure, but felt that the motes and wisps of energy in his body had managed to have a slightly higher density there. Yes, the energy continued to float around, but now that he’d gone over the data points with Avi, he was noticing the barest of a trend.

It might have bene his imagination, for he wasn’t immune to flights of fancy. But, if some of the energy was indeed gathering there, then would he be able to start cultivating “normally” again?

Joram put that thought aside for later, after much more data had been gathered. For now, well, it was time to try getting back to his Star and Cores to see what, exactly, it looked like now.

So it was that he directed his mind up towards his head, dodging motes of energy on the way. It got a bit harder as he approached due to the increasing density of the motes due to the narrower channel that was his neck. Fortunately, and unfortunately, he’d gotten a bit more used to brushing by those motes of energy and the pain it caused, so his consciousness wasn’t immediately ejected from his body due to the pain of the first few brushes.

Nope, that happened the seventh time.

He took a deep, shuddering breath as he gathered himself against the pain. He blinked an “I’m OK” to Avi before heading back in.

How is it that I’m having such trouble with this energy? Shouldn’t it be originating from me? He thought as he once again neared the final approach to his Knowledge Star. Am I just missing something?

So, instead of diving head-first into the thick of it again, he sat there and focussed on feeling the motes of energy; trying to actually understand them instead of merely avoiding them and taking notes on their dispersion patterns.

Psionic energy just felt natural to him, as that was the first kind of energy that he’d ever really felt before; the only kind that he’d used for several years. Mana, now that felt different. It felt like pure… possibility to him. A bit like the thrill of imagining a story, or the potential ready to burst forth when you lit a firecracker… or set off some high explosives. The potential energy of it. You knew that something spectacular was about to happen.

This energy, still had that feeling of limitless potential, but it was tempered with… intent? It was hard to describe. A bit like picking up a new book, not knowing what story you’d find between the covers, but knowing that it would be an adventure. But at the same time, every time he felt a vibe from those energy motes, it felt like it could be a whole other book, another story to explore. Like, it was all there and all he had to do was take hold of it to see what would unfold.

He couldn’t quite describe it, as it was something entirely new to him, but at the same time it almost seemed as though he’d known it his whole life. The intuition that came from a déjà vu. But the intent wrapped up in the limitless potential contained in that energy seemed as though it were a blank slate just begging for a Will to be impressed upon it….

Then he had a thought that struck him like a bolt of lightning.

What if I’m being injured by it because of my fear, because I expect it to be dangerous…?

How had his favourite pirate described it? “A matter of perspective”…?

Could he change his perspective on this energy? Change what he expected of it when he came in contact with it?

* * * * *

Avi was once again startled by Joram’s loud, gasping breath, nearly dropping her laptop when she half-rose to check on him before sitting down again.

That was now the fifth time he’d done that since he’d given his last “I’m OK”. She wasn’t sure what he was doing, but whatever it was he must have been making progress as this episode came a whole sixteen minutes after the last one, which had been eleven minutes after the one before that. Meaning, he must be making progress on whatever he was working on.

She glanced out the window, noting the deepening colours of the sky as the day turned to late evening.

She hadn’t been working on Joram’s cultivation issues long, but she thought that perhaps the answer wasn’t as complicated as they’d both thought it was.

Sure, the mana gathered in his Cores really didn’t have a way to properly circulate through his body since it was stuck with his Knowledge Star. But, he also had all that energy in his body, some sort of hybrid between mana and psionic power, floating around his body. But, what if they were able to get a method down to collect all that energy and create a new Core in his center, dantian, or whatever people called it?

Could he collect that energy and then use it in his regular cultivation? Would it even work like mana that way? Did it really matter what kind of energy one used when cultivating? Probably.

But, heck, they were on a completely new path, as far as they knew anyway. Why not try something ridiculous like that? Didn’t cultivators use higher and higher grades of mana for their cultivation as they rose through the Tiers? Would this be all that different?

Then another thought occurred to her: would he go through all this again when he needed to rank-up? Would the Earth Qi/Tier 2 Mana cause another disruption? What about Heaven Qi/Tier 3 Mana? Would that be even more disastrous?

Avi brought her head down and her right hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose while closing her eyes tight.

Would she be able to handle the stress again? The stress of not knowing what was going on with Joram? Not knowing if he’d die the next time it happened. Yes, he still had his [Astral Seed], but for reasons unknown, it had taken a thousand years for him to be reborn. Would that same problem rear its ugly head again? Or would the [Astral Seed] fail entirely this time?

She still wasn’t sure if her inherent ability to use [True Resurrection] would even work here, nor was she willing to test it out on just anyone, especially if that person happened to be important to them. To Joram?

He’d already lost his daughters. He’d then lost Altaea. What would happen if he lost someone else close to him? He’d just started a whole new life, had finally started letting people in by sharing more about himself, about his past. He was normally a rather tight-lipped person about his personal life, his history. That he’d shared all that with them was not just a milestone, but a major breakthrough. Even if he didn’t know it himself.

And as old as she technically was, she was still effectively a child when it came to all things social. Yes, she was very good a bluffing her way through things, thanks to the many books she’d read and the many tv shows and movies she’d seen in Joram’s collection. But.

That was all just fiction. Sure, there were grains of truth in them. Like how people interacted and such. But she also realized that most of it had been idealized, constructed, false. People usually weren’t exactly like how people wrote them to be. Especially in movies and tv.

All that said, all those worries taken into account; she really didn’t want to be alone again for another thousand years if something happened to Joram. Neither did she want Joram to wake to a world a thousand years in the future, one without his newfound family.

She jumped again as Joram loudly gasped again. She checked the clock; found that twenty-three minutes had passed this time.

Whatever he’s doing, he’s getting better at it, she thought as she straightened her laptop and went back to working. She didn’t know what he was doing, but she’d be damned if she fell behind on her own projects.

* * * * *

“Have you found out where they’re hiding yet?”

“No,” another voice spoke, one that sounded like a young woman. “But we’re close. We’ve identified two of their agents.”

“Good,” the first voice replied. It sounded like an old man, but the tone was still full of vigour. “Be sure to not be found out. If we can find their stronghold, the riches they’ve amassed will tip the scales overwhelmingly in our favour.”

“Yes, my lord,” the second voice replied. “For the Sect!”

“For the Sect.”