Joram stood there, reprimanding himself repeatedly for being such an idiot. He’d let himself fall into the mindset, mentality, of the Mentalists of this world. A world where psionic knowledge was at such an elementary level that he was surprised they could do anything at all. They just used brute force to do what they needed to do, throwing power at it until whatever they were trying to do succeeded.
He sent a prayer to Altaea asking for her forgiveness for having forgotten what she’d taught him.
He then focussed his attention back on Grammy’s Knowledge Sea, taking in the slightly less damaged pieces. They seemed to be “firing” more frequently, the scenes they showed less chaotic. He then started looking through the myriad of fragments, trying to find edges that matched.
He knew that it was a bit of a ridiculous thing to do, as her broken Knowledge Sea wasn’t really a messed-up jigsaw puzzle to be put back together again. No, it was levels of magnitude more complex than just finding matching corners, as he was sure that the edges were missing fragments so small they had already dissipated.
He also had to “feel” the edges. Each one had a different… flavour that would need to be matched up to its corresponding flavour on another piece before he could try to do anything about it.
It took a long time before he found what he thought to be his first matching pieces. He sighed in relief. If this worked, then he really might be able to help Grammy.
Joram felt himself take a deep breath as he first decided to manifest [Psychic Chirurgery], then did so.
He reached out with the Power and took hold of the pieces he’d identified and brought them together. He observed as they seemed to fuse back together, his own psionic power filling in the minute gaps where the fragments had either degraded or lost somewhere along the way.
What happened next was a bit out of his expectations, but was wholly welcome.
Other small fragments began to be pulled to each other, fusing one by one to create larger fragments. Then the process slowed, and stopped entirely, leaving almost all the other pieces unaffected by the Power.
But it was progress.
He compared what he had observed to what M3 had while maintaining [Delve]. He wasn’t sure if he was seeing something because he wanted to, but he thought that there might now be something here. If he wasn’t wrong, then there were now a few spots where pieces of Grammy’s Knowledge Sea and her neurons now firing in sync. Well, sometimes fired in sync.
Joram withdrew his consciousness and let go of [Delve] and took a step back. He checked the time and found that a few hours had passed since he’d come here.
His mind swirled with indecision. He could spend the next few days before classes started restoring Grammy’s Knowledge Sea as best he could, or take it slow. He also needed to assimilate the next few ingots of adamantium so that he could progress the Adamantium Body Technique further now that he’d stepped into the 5th Tier. And the sooner he did that, the better the results would be.
He hmm’d and hawed for a minute before deciding to have M3 leave off working on [Genesis] and instead help Grammy. It might take longer for the new [Genesis] to be completed, but he was willing to take the setback for her.
With that decided, he had M3 refocus himself on Grammy through the Network. He could use [Psychic Chirurgery] over the Network, allowing Joram to physically be elsewhere while M3 worked.
With that done, he shifted back to the prime material plane, Dovaynia, and sat down in the Otaku-non. There wasn’t anyone else around, as most of the survivors still felt safer in the Realm, so he had the place to himself. So, he took the precaution of stripping down to his skivvies and placing it all in storage, not wanting to risk his clothing or AR glasses.
He then retrieved two ingots of adamantium from storage and held each one in a hand. It was such an amazing metal that he couldn't help but stare at it for a while. He mentally reviewed the next step in the technique and nodded to himself before activating the assimilation sequence, “clicking” the Yes button as it appeared.
Joram felt as his psionic matrix reached out and enveloped the ingots, then brought it into his being. He had his eyes open this time, so he was privy to the sight of the black sludge-like goop starting to seep out of his pores. Then his vision started to grow blurry, so he concentrated on seeing through his sphere of perception provided by [Touchsight].
He almost wished he hadn’t.
The black stuff, impurities being expunged from the body, was also coming out of his eyes this time. He could feel his body as its structure changed and shifted, and it felt… weird. A bit painful, but also a bit like that feeling of something crawling under your skin when you get the heebie-jeebies or experience something so mentally revulsive that your body reacts to it.
He also noticed that he grew again, gaining another two inches, his frame filling out a bit. Now that he truly looked like a bean pole, he decided that he’d need to spend time building his muscles up between classes, practical, and studying.
The process finished much sooner than expected, so he activated [Cleanse] to rid himself of the goop. Then he remembered his first test after he first started the Adamantium Body Technique and grinned.
He retrieved the dagger that Wentian had opened-up his forearm with and unsheathed it. He only hesitated for a moment before gently running it over his own forearm. Aside from shaving his arm a bit, a change from last time, it did nothing.
Taking a bit of courage from that, he pressed the blade against his skin. Aside from a slight depression, nothing happened. So, he pressed a bit harder, this time pulling the blade across his skin as he did so.
Still nothing.
That brought a smile to his face for more than one reason. He then stored the dagger away again, then retrieved another dagger. This one was what he’d call a +2 dagger without any other enchantments on it.
He repeated the test, much to the same results. He swapped daggers again, this time for a +3 version and tried again.
This time he drew a bit of blood as he pulled the dagger across his skin. He frowned at that, but was then fascinated as the skin quickly closed up as he watched. Sure, he’d expected it to happen since it was one of the benefits of this stage of progress, but to see it happen when he hadn’t manifested a power to heal himself was something else.
The manual described it as “accelerated healing”, what he’d equate to “fast healing” if he were playing a tabletop RPG with his buddies. Especially since Altaea had written the manual. He wasn’t going to experiment further by chopping off a finger or something, though, because the healing factor hadn’t been described as “regeneration” by Altaea. Meaning that it wouldn’t help him regrow a limb.
Yet.
He then took a bit of time to feel at the changes in him with his consciousness. The manual had described an increased affinity for the Laws of Lightning, Fire, and Metal, but he wasn’t at the point where he could feel those laws, so he’d have to wait on that.
It also mentioned that he’d become more resilient to spells cast by weaker mages. His brain translated that to “spell resistance”. He didn’t know how resistant he’d become, but he was sure that he’d eventually find out.
He could also feel that he’d become inherently stronger, his movements feeling much lighter than before. Again, he wasn’t sure how much had changed there, but he’d find out when he started his muscle training.
Ah, now for the annoying part, he groused, then slowly stood up. He was careful of not only his balance, but also of how he moved. With his strength increasing by an unknown amount and the length of his limbs changing, it made for a dangerous endeavour.
After only falling a few times, and only one faceplant, he felt relatively comfortable moving about. Heck, he even felt somewhat confident that he wouldn’t trip and fall on his face when out and about.
“Welp, may as well get to testing,” he muttered to himself, then shifted to one of his material storage warehouses.
He made his way down the aisles until he got to the blocks of lead. Each one was fifty kilograms so should give him a good idea of where his strength was at now.
Joram grabbed one of the ingots and hefted it, surprised at how light it felt. He then gave the ingot a squeeze and watched at it mashed like puddy between his fingers. He put it down again, thinking.
With how it light 50kgs felt to him, he’d need…. A crap tonne of lead. Maybe osmium? Bah, he didn’t have enough of that.
‘Hey, Avi?’
‘Yes, Joram?’
‘Have you messed around with artificial gravity yet?’
There was a slight pause before she answered, piquing his curiosity.
‘Some. Why?’
‘I’ve just finished the next phase of the Adamantium Body Technique…’ he then explained his thoughts on, and his desires to build up his muscle mass.
‘It shouldn’t take too long to make a training room for you,’ she said, amusement clear in her tone. ‘Maybe you should have named your team the ‘Z Fighters’, eh?’
He couldn’t begrudge her that shot seeing as how that’s exactly where he’d gotten the idea from.
‘Could you also keep an eye out or more osmium? I’ll need it for my resistance training.’
‘Oh? Well, it just do happens that I came across an interesting metal I’ve never heard of before,’ she said, then explained how she’d found it while prospecting, then had proceeded to refine, shape, and store it. She also told him that she’d asked Megami to experiment with it, and was still waiting to get a progress report from the smith.
‘Oh, well, that sounds like it might be a good material for resistance training,’ he sent, rubbing his chin in thought. ‘Yeah, could you have some equipment made up?’
Avi left the conversation after giving an affirmative, leaving Joram alone in his thoughts again.
He looked down at himself, taking in the changes. It wasn’t too pronounced, but it was all but guaranteed that people who’d seen him before would notice his “growth spurt”. He sighed, not looking forward to the inevitable questions that would come.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
After getting dressed and checking the hour, Joram determined that he still had some free time. With nothing else to do that begged his attention, he started comparing notes with M4.
Joram was impressed with the progress and the direction it was taking. If all things worked out, then a demiplane created with the new [Genesis] would be orders of magnitude easier to manipulate, with several times more options than before. If he was being honest with himself, it was more than a little daunting to see just how customizable the created demiplane would be.
If he wasn’t mistaken, which was ridiculous because M4 was him, then one of the features included was the ability to manifest the power again while inside the demiplane to expand it. Well, that was already a feature. But his expansion would allow for a second… land mass to be created and set to grow.
Effectively, he’d be able to create “moons” for his initial “planet”, giving each of them their own… attributes.
No wonder it was taking so long for the new power to be completed. The sheer complexity of it was staggering.
Joram decided then that as soon as M3 was done restoring Grammy to the best of their ability, he would get back to [Genesis] to help M4.
In the meantime, maybe he’d work a bit on some alchemy. If he could get proficient enough, then maybe he could work on a Meridian Reforming Pill for Grammy.
* * * * *
After setting a crew of droids to start construction on Joram’s new workout room, Avi turned back to her work.
She was back in her lab, specifically her bioengineering lab, working on one of the sets of gene sequences Altaea had left in one of her databases.
Avi wasn’t exactly sure why Altaea had left so many genetic profiles for her and Joram, but she suspected that it had something to do with Joram’s request to become like her. If Avi wasn’t wrong, then Altaea hadn’t just stopped at transforming Joram into a High Elan and training him in the ways of psionics.
No, she’d also provided what she could from each of the unique universes she’d found herself in after she’d been… shattered into lesser versions of herself. Some of what she’d provided, well, the vast majority of it, was information related to tech and how to safely replicate it. How to build an FTL engine, a hyperdrive, advanced metallurgy, circuitry, programming, energy theory and application. Enough to rebuild more than a handful of civilizations from scratch.
As mentioned before, she’d also left genetic information, how to manipulate it, how each and every variable interacted and changed other variables, and how to grow them.
That was how Avi had been able to grow the body she’d transferred into. And that was how she was now growing individual stem cells in a fabricator/incubator.
She still wasn’t sure if she really wanted to go this route.
Altaea had, both according to the memories she’d left for Avi as well as Joram’s stories, come across several exceptional species. Or, rather, her other selves had. Each one had then assimilated the traits of those species and had gained… a lot.
This was why she hadn’t been sure about starting to cultivate the Adamantium Body Technique. She was reasonably sure that it would make it harder to assimilate the stem cells to gain the traits that she wanted.
But, then again, Joram hadn’t seemed to have any issues assimilating the Heavenly Lightning Jade Dragon’s- and the phoenix’s- samples….
She sighed, then reviewed the growth data, frowning. It wasn’t quite there yet, but she was confident that she was close. Avi then saved the results before purging the samples, incinerating them with a blast of plasma before starting over again.
She’d soon need to delegate this work to Asura when she wasn’t out earning crystals for them. Expenses were already high, especially with Joram’s need for more adamantium in the future as well as the extra materials they’d need for practical labs at the Academy. And their cultivation resources. And the Trio’s cultivation resources. And the cost of funding the reconstruction efforts of the Clan and Brightside.
Avi sighed.
Maybe she’d have Joram make an enchanted blade that Kinkade and Asura could bring to auction. If the Trio were correct, then it might even fetch more than one of the healing topazes did.
* * * * *
Compared to when she’d first woken up in her new body, she now felt as though she was filled with mana. Well, Tier 1 Mana to be precise. She estimated that she was very close to the peak of Tier 1, just a step away from condensing the mana in her body into a core.
She’d been circulating the mana in her body according to the Encompass the Universe Technique that Avi had passed to her from her son, Joram. She still couldn’t believe that such a technique existed, let alone that she’d be able to cultivate it.
Sulia reread the first chapter of the manual that was now etched into her mind, taking the time to go over Joram’s annotations that provided his insights on each part. She was certain that she’d followed all of the steps correctly to prepare herself to condense her soon to be cores.
The problem was her psionic growth. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to make as many cores as Joram claimed to have done. She recalled how hard it had been for her to form her first core as a youth. It had taken her three days and even then, people said that it had been relatively fast.
How much longer, then, would two take to form? Four? Eight? She had no idea.
Sulia got up slowly as she shifted Zaleria into a more comfortable carrying position then made her way to the nursery. After putting her to bed, Sulia activated the “baby monitor” Avi had provided and made her way next door.
Annalee opened the door after a few moments, then smiled as she accepted the monitoring device.
“I’d like to check on grandmother. Would you mind?”
“Take your time, dear,” she said kindly, then gave her a light hug. “That’s what family is for.”
Sulia gave a light squeeze in return before heading down the hall to the “elevator”. After a short wait, she went in.
It was a short walk after leaving the building to the medical centre where the matriarch was being cared for.
Joram had told her that his original world had been one ruled by technology because they had no magic. She imagined that it looked much like this place, full of artificial lights, doors that opened without a trace of mana, curiously designed devices that had amazingly detailed displays. All of it was so alien to her sensibilities.
Yet, there were things that seemed to have parallels in her world; just done differently.
She came out of her thoughts as she opened the door to her grandmother’s room, then stopped dead as her eyes fell upon her grandmother’s face. Her whole face.
Sulia hurried over to her side, her hands going to Tatia’s face, touching her oh-so gently to be sure that what she’d seen wasn’t an illusion.
Her fingers met with warm skin, smooth to the touch like that of an infant. She looked at her new eye and ear, noting that the hair hadn’t regrown on the side of her head yet, giving her a lopsided appearance.
Then something else caught her eye, making them both go wide in shock. She reached down and felt at Tatia’s restored arms, now bandage free, as was her chest. She slid the covers down slightly and, sure enough, there was the swell of a new breast there.
Her head turned to follow her eyes, her hands following a fraction of a second later as she felt her grandmother’s legs, marvelling at their restoration. She even pulled the covers up and bit so that she could see her toes. Perfect toes met her gaze, not a single imperfection marred her feet.
Sulia’s legs gave out, dropping her to the floor as she let out a heaving sob of relief that turned into a full-on crying session mixed with the occasional giggle.
Had Joram made progress in his cultivation again? She knew that he had the miraculous ability to heal with his psionic abilities, but this was more than she thought possible. Or had he advanced in his alchemy? Had he refined a medicinal pill that could do this?
Sulia shook her head as she wiped her face off, then stood up. Her Tier wasn’t high enough for her to get more than a vague sense at someone’s cultivation level, but she tried anyway.
She placed her hands on Tatia’s abdomen, just below her navel and opened herself up to the feeling of mana in her. As she concentrated, she began moving her hands up to try to sense any mana flow, going up to her heart. She then slid her hands down, having one hand stay on one leg while the other went down the other leg.
Sulia’s excitement finally left her as she admitted that she couldn’t feel any mana circulating in her grandmother. On the contrary, it felt like every energy channel in her body was still destroyed, even in her new legs.
She reached out and pulled a chair over to sit on, and then did so, deep in thought as she regarded her grandmother’s unconscious form. It was then that she realized that almost all of the “life support” machines had been turned off, the connections removed from her.
Whatever had been done to her grandmother, it had at least improved her condition to the point where she no longer needed the machines to live.
‘Joram?’ She sent, not quite sure what she’d ask. Not quite sure what she wanted.
It took a moment before a reply came, which probably meant that he was busy. She was tempted to just lie and say that she’d just wanted to talk, but then firmed up her resolve.
‘Yes, mum?’
‘Did you… heal great grandmother?’ She asked, taking a deep breath to help her calm her nerves.
‘Yes,’ he sent, sounding rueful and not just a little bit guilty. ‘I should have done that a long time ago, I’m sorry.’
Sulia shook her head, not quite sure what to say to that. If her son, an eight year-old had said that he’d forgotten to do something important that only he could do, she’d have given him a bit of a scolding, but ultimately understood that he was only eight years old.
But her son was a Reincarnator. Someone who’d even kept their entire personality and memories when being reborn. Someone who should remember important things.
‘Mom?’ Joram sent, sounding timid. Sounding as though he was afraid of what she’d say.
Was that genuine? Or was that something he’d learned to do?
Sulia brought her hands up and slapped her face hard on both sides.
‘Thank you for healing her,’ she sent warmly. Because, after all other thoughts, considerations, and everything else, he was still her son.
‘You’re welcome, mom,’ he sent back with such relief and warmth in his tone that every instinct in her body screamed that she needed to hold her son right now!
‘Remember to come home and visit when you have the time. Little Xixi already misses you greatly, not to mention your own little sister,’ she sent warmly as she thought of the little ones.
‘I will, I promise,’ he sent. She then felt the connection “drop”; the conversation ended.
Then she wondered if she could build up her Knowledge Sea enough, get fine enough control over her psionic energy: would she be able to heal others like Joram could?
As that thought floated through her mind, a sudden resolve gripped her. It was so strong that she felt her Knowledge Sea tremble in response to it, becoming more firm, more solid.
‘Avi?’
‘Yes, Sulia?’
‘How can I learn how to heal others like Joram?’
‘Ah, the path of the [Vitalist]…’ Avi sent her, meaning loaded into the words. ‘I’ll send Asura to you. You have much to learn.’
* * * * *
Joram put away his alchemy tools, now so completely out of the zone that it was almost pointless to continue.
Joram: Kinkade? I’ll need you to fill in for me at the Academy for a couple of days. You know, make sure the Trio don’t get into any trouble, buy groceries, supplies, textbooks, and pickup my uniforms. You know, standard stuff.
Kinkade: No worries, you’ve got the hard part to take care of.
Joram nodded at that, not looking forward to the emotional strain that was to come.
“Welp, no time like the present,” he said, then shifted over to the Clan’s mausoleum.
He hadn’t been there for the many funerals that had taken place after the survivors had settled in enough to start worrying about that sort of thing.
He could feel the effects of the structure-wide enchantment place on the building as he stepped inside: [Gentle Repose]. For Altaea, it had been a spell most often used by adventurers. Sometimes someone in your party died, or several people. You’d want to bring them back for proper funeral rites to be observed without the unpleasant effects of time passing for your deceased comrade.
Hence, [Gentle Repose]. A spell made to preserve the dead, keeping any form of decay from taking hold of the body, effectively putting it in [Stasis].
It must have taken a lot of Dust Crystals to enchant the mausoleum, given its thousands-strong storage capacity.
It really didn’t matter, though. He still had access to the few condensers Altaea had left behind for him.
He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts, instead going over to a touchscreen set into the wall to his left. He quickly typed in his search, took note of the location, and shifted there.
This section was set aside specifically for the Aneath line, his family. He turned to look at the plate set into the wall that had his father’s name on it and just about fled.
How much did he want to see his father again? More than most could imagine.
But he was scared. Those old fears, insecurities, and irrational thoughts resurfaced as he stood there, looking at the metal plate for dozens of minutes.
At length, he sighed, then took a deep breath. There was no point going over those old thoughts and fears again when he’d already overcome them the first time. He could do this. He would do this.
With a thought, he shifted into his planar form, suddenly several inches taller and much broader. An errant thought brought out his wings. He extended them, watching the crystal-like light moving. Then he laughed at himself as he dismissed them again and opened up the wall with [Modify Matter], creating a slab that he removed and placed on the floor, leaning against the wall.
There lay his father, now dressed in something nice for his eternal rest.
Well, not-so eternal now, he thought as he stretched out his hand and grasped the sliding metal table he rested up and pulled.
The table came out, much like what you’d see on TV when someone pulled a body out of one of those fridges in the morgue. Though, fortunately, his father was in much better condition than they were. Sure, he was pale from having died, but he didn’t look like a zombie or anything.
Joram shook his head again to clear his thoughts as he once again realized that he was back in the habit of shaking his head like that.
With that bit of levity boosting his mood, he reached inside himself and activated [True Resurrection] as he concentrated on his father, while still more than a bit scared of what his mother was going to say.