*That night*

“Avi?” Joram asked, looking down at the training clothes she’d prepared for him.

“Yes, Joram?” Avi asked through the intercom.

“I realize that the idea of a training room where you can artificially increase the gravity isn’t new,” he said, lifting up the short-sleeved orange gi and holding it up to the camera. “But. Really?”

There was a significant pause before Avi’s voice finally came through on the speaker.

“Yes.”

Joram sighed then shifted his clothes away and put the orange gi on in the same way.

“OK, let’s start easy at two times,” he said, bracing himself with his feet just past shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent.

Unlike what you’d see in pop culture back on Earth, there wasn’t a visual cue or manifestation when the gravity in the room increased, there was just… weight.

Joram nearly fell on his ass when gravity went from standard right to times two. No gradual increase. Just… there, like flipping on the light switch.

He regained his footing pretty quickly, then tested out his movements. He first extended his arms outwards and moved them in little circles, then larger ones as he got used to the difference in how his body reacted to suddenly weighing twice as much.

Which, really, wasn’t that bad considering his Tier and body refining technique adding to his innate strength. And probably the draconic and phoenix bloodlines…. He knew for a fact that his planar side’s strength was much higher that a normal human’s….

“Avi?”

“Yes, Joram?” She asked, a little exasperated.

“Did Altaea leave any info on how she was able to fuse her forms?” He asked, now moving about at a fast walk.

“Hmm, maybe? She did say that you should be able to use the temporary version like she could in the beginning.”

Joram’s light jog came to a stop as he once again turned to the camera on the wall.

“Did she mention when I could access that ability?” He asked much more patiently than he felt.

“Yeah.”

*Twitch*

“I’m sorry,” Joram said, smiling for all he was worth. “Am I interrupting something important?”

“… yes.”

Is she going through some sort of teenage rebellious phase?!

“Then just shift the controls for the room to my omni-tool and go do whatever it is that’s so important,” he managed to say without growling.

A second later his omni-tool projected a small control panel overtop his left forearm, displaying the current gravity, a dial to adjust the gravity, and a menu button. At the same time the display popped up, he felt Avi leave the Realm.

“Welp, if Goku could do it alone, so can I,” he muttered to himself as he made his way over to the resistance training equipment at the side of the room.

* * * * *

“Did you see who he was with?” Gabrielle asked, leaning forward to put her elbows on the table.

“I recognized the Dean, but who was the other gentleman?” Daleira asked, then sipped from a fruity drink.

“That was the Heavenly Trove Bank’s President, Mr Thoranis,” Sophia said before taking a small bite out of a pain-aux-chocolat.

“Was the woman related to him? She bore a striking resemblance to him,” Alyraele asked, teacup in hand as she looked over to their hostess.

Alicia shrugged from her chair at the head of their booth. She’d invited the four of them into the empty Dawn Star… café? She wasn’t quite sure what she’d tag onto the end of the name or if she’d just leave it like that.

“I’m not entirely sure,” she said when they all just looked at her as though she was holding out on them. “I did hear him call her ‘Grammy’ a few times though.”

“Does he have deeper roots than we thought?” Alyraele asked rhetorically. “Well, that should be obvious given that he’s already a Tier 3 Mentalist at his age.”

There were few nods at that before Gabrielle spoke up.

“Alicia, do you think he’d be willing to tutor us? I’m already in the third year, but I’m only in the late 1st Tier as a Mentalist,” she asked, looking a bit low on self esteem.

Ah, girl, if only you knew, she thought, mirth welling up inside.

“Aren’t we supposed to be projecting a strong front?” Alicia asked in an attempt to get them away from the topic of Joram tutoring any one of them. “You know, showing those desperate men out there that we are more than just pretty faces to be mooned over.”

“Ali, dear,” Daleira said, instantly giving her a nickname that was uncomfortably close to her real name. “It’s one thing to ask him, or any man, to go questing with you, as I’ve heard you’ve already done. But it’s another issue entirely when it comes to schoolwork. Not taking advantage of the knowledge and guidance he could give you both would practically be a crime.”

Well, shit.

The other three young women agreed with Daleira, sealing her fate.

“Well, since Gabrielle will be coming with me, does anyone else want to come along?” She asked politely, not really expecting the third and fourth year students to be interested in meeting a first year.

“Isn’t he also studying arrays?”

“He is! I hear that he’s quite the keen student.”

“I just heard this afternoon that he aced all of his exams,” Sophia said with a grin.

“Plenty of people ace their exams,” Alyraele said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“But do they get a perfect score on every exam?” Sophia asked with a grin on her face and a glint in her eye.

Oh, shit.

“It’s settled,” Alyraele said, clapping her hands together twice. “Alicia, do you think that you can arrange a visit for us tomorrow? We could meet anywhere that’s convenient for him,” she asked, making it sound like it was a done deal.

Is that the noble coming out?

“I’ll see if he’s up before I head off to work in the morning,” she said cheerily to smiles of gratitude and murmured thanks. Gabrielle looked the most excited of them all, probably because she, too, was enrolled as a Trades student.

Hopefully he doesn’t spout something while talking with them that sends them all into an epiphany or something ridiculous like that, she thought as she remembered the last time he’d shared his knowledge.

“Just let us know the ‘when and the where’,” Sophia said, holding up her student card with a smile.

*1346.04.25*

‘Hey, what’re you up to today?’

Joram didn’t bother to open his eyes as he lay in bed, wondering why Avi was bothering him at such an ungodly hour.

‘I’ve got more training, cultivating, getting the family moved into the manor that the Clan apparently owns in a ritzy part of Stormhaven, and maybe get to figuring out how to combine my forms,’ he sent, grumpiness lacing the words.

‘Ah, don’t be like that,’ she sent, charming as could be. ‘The whole fusion thing is actually in the “C:\Gestalt\Forms\Unity\Resources\Bin” folder.”

Joram lifted his arm, brought his hand up, and started massaging his temples with his thumb and index finger.

‘How hard would that have been to tell me last night.’

‘I’m sorry, the girls just showed up out of nowhere and I needed to speak with them!’

‘Girls?’

‘Oh, right, I haven’t mentioned my project yet,’ she sent, clearly abashed. ‘As I mentioned, I wanted to get some of the women on the Goddess Ranking to join my team. It sort of changed directions a bit when…’ she proceed to explain Aya’s conclusions and Jae-Eun being forbidden from interacting with him anymore. Then she went on to explain her efforts in gathering allies/team members to fight against the tyranny of the Goddess Ranking, etc., etc., etc. …

‘So, let me get this straight. You’re trying to throw off the yoke of oversexualization of women by a bunch or horny teenagers by trying to prove that, even though you’re all drop-dead gorgeous, you all have functioning brains, and are all quite capable.’

‘Yes.’

‘And they see no problem with asking me, a man, to tutor them?’

‘… No…?’

‘Are you really trying to abolish the Goddess Ranking, or are you just looking to make some friends to hang out with because you’re lonely?’

There was a hot moment before she replied.

‘I admit, it was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision to try to abolish the Goddess Ranking. But! I still want to get my team to the point where they really will be Untouchables,’ she sent with great conviction… at the end.

‘That’s respectable,’ he said with a mental nod. ‘And it’s OK if you want to make friends and hang out with them. After a thousand years of gardening, you definitely deserve it.’

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

‘You forgot the part about waiting for you.’

‘… And the waiting.’

‘We’ll drop by at 0900!’

Joram shifted his hand out of the way and summoned his glasses, turned them on, then equipped them.

*0539*

Even though he’d been asleep for just over two hours, he was still bagged. He’d overdone it in the gravity room, opting to keep exercising and testing his limits for hours. Not only that, but he’d assigned Kinkade to work on his cultivation while he’d been at it, making the whole ordeal… less than pleasant.

But he’d gotten some, marginal, results. If he could figure out how to… smooth the process, change up how he circulated his psijic energy while engaged in a specific set of physical movements- not unlike a kata-, then he’d be able to kill two birds with one stone.

Joram checked the time again and determined that he still had a couple hours before he needed to head downstairs. So, after assigning M3 to keep an eye on the time for him, he withdrew into the Knowledge Sea.

It was, as he knew it would always be for him, quite the sight to see. His Cores had grown quite well and looked more and more like alien planets you’d see on a sci-fi show or a video game. Their surfaces now consisted of “rocky” portions divided by “watery” sections, all intermittently obscured by drifting “clouds” floating around the atmosphere.

As he’d risen through the Tiers, the mana gathered in his cores had gone through amazing changed. The Tier 1 mana had progressed from gaseous to mist to liquid and then finally to a solid. When he’d started to be able to feel, then eventually draw in Tier 2 mana, it had gone through the same process until he’d reached the peak of Tier 4, the Earth Realm.

Crossing over to the 5th Tier was a tricky… downright devilishly difficult process. The first step in doing so, which people called “half-step 5th”, was to take your Tier 1 mana and fuse it with your Tier 2 mana, forming a new’ish mana. It really wasn’t considered a separate type of mana, though. Just… more efficient to use.

With each Tier of mana a person was able to cultivate came an increased ability to sense the Elemental Laws of that Tier. Basic Laws came with Tier 1 mana, Advanced Laws came with Tier 2 mana, or Earth Qi, High Laws came with Tier 3 mana, or Heaven Qi, and finally Peak Laws came with Tier 4 mana, or Immortal Qi. Unless, of course, you had a natural affinity for one of those Laws which meant that you’d be able to cultivate that Law at any time during your cultivation.

Anyway, the second step was either easier or harder to accomplish as it involved first sensing Tier 3 mana and then drawing it in to cultivate. For reasons he couldn’t explain, nor could any of the many research papers written on the subject, Tier 3 mana didn’t like to stick around unless it was paired with the fused Tiers 1 and 2 mana.

So, even if you were able to sense and draw in Tier 3 mana before fusing the mana in your core, it would just dissipate like smoke in a strong wind.

Back to his Cores. What he was seeing was the results of his efforts. The clouds were the Tier 3 mana he was pulling in, while the rocks were the successfully fused Tiers 1 and 2 mana. The water, though was what happened to the rocks when the Core passed by his Psijic Star.

Somehow, as each Core passed close to the Psijic Star, the Star would pull out the Tier 1 mana from the Core to feed itself, leaving behind a liquid Tier 2 mana. Which he would then have to re-fuse with Tier 1 mana that he would draw into his Knowledge Sea. Rinse and repeat.

So, he had been trying to… feed the Psijic Star Tier 2 mana to see if he could stabilize his cultivation. If he was successful, then he was sure that the potency of his psijic energy would go to the next level… and also stabilize his cultivation so he wouldn’t have to worry about sliding back into the 4th Tier because his Psijic Star was too hungry….

Joram reached out his consciousness and drew some of the Tier 2 mana from the Core that had just passed by, and “held” it a bit closer to the Star, seeing what it would do. Its accretion discs seemed to have grown after he’d stepped into the 5th Tier, so he kept the Tier 2 mana a bit further away from them.

As the minutes flowed by, turning into tens of minutes, Joram thought he saw a reaction. For just a moment, he thought he saw the Tier 2 mana… vibrate. Excited, he shifted the mana slightly closer to the Star, looking for any further reaction. Sure enough, as another Core passed by the mana wobbled.

Joram sighed, but didn’t give up. He was sure that all it would take would be for him to find the appropriate placement of the mana to get things going. Right now, he’d decided to try on the “top” side of the Star, where the Psionic Accretion Disc was closer to him, while the Mana Accretion Disc was on the other side of it.

His logic had been a bit… simplistic when he’d made the choice. Probably because he’d been idly thinking of what to serve his guests. He’d tried to make an Accretion Disc Sandwich. Yes, it was more than a little bit silly in retrospect, but it had been worth a shot.

M3: It’s time.

With another sigh, Joram tossed the Tier 2 mana at a passing Core and watched at it merged into one of its oceans before leaving is Knowledge Sea and getting up.

A quick [Cleanse] and a change of clothes later, he was on his way downstairs when he bumped into Wentian exiting his room, brush in hand as he worked at his shoulder-length hair.

“Morn’n,” Joram said, still trying to properly wake up as Wentian looked over at him, looking a bit worse for wear. “Wait, when did you get back?”

“Mmhmm,” he grunted back, nodding as he followed along. “Yesterday afternoon. Went straight to the arena to help solidify things.”

“Rough training?” He asked as they got to the kitchen.

“Yeah,” Wentian replied as he started grabbing what he needed to prepare breakfast. “One of the seniors came by the arena and wanted to have a go at it.”

“Were they also in the 5th Tier?” He asked, more than a bit surprised at that. Sure, there were some higher Tier’d students in attendance, but they tended to be the minority.

“Nah, just late Earth Realm,” he said, chopping various veggies in a blur, sending them flying to land perfectly into a waiting bowl. “I wanted to refine my movements, so I suppressed my cultivation to the Earth Realm.”

“Did you at least see some improvement?”

“Yeah,” he said, now whisking some eggs together with some mixed herbs. “I should be good after a few more spars, though.”

“Good to hear,” he said, nodding. “Oh, and we should be having guests over in about an hour. Can you make some quick snacks and some tea?”

“Oh?” Wentian asked, now mixing the ingredients into the eggs.

“Yeah, Alicia’s new friends heard that we’re friends and want to get some tutoring in,” he said as he shook his head.

Wentian nodded again as he turned, activated the stove, and started pouring the egg mix into a waiting pan that had become instantly hot.

“Anyone important?”

“Not really?” Joram said, not considering the idols of a bunch of teenagers as particularly important.

Then he remembered that he still needed to pick up his books for the coming term.

Joram: Hey, can you pick up the textbooks for this semester?

Kinkade: You know, I’ve still got things I’m working on.

Joram: You never share anymore. Joram pouted at Kinkade.

Kinkade: Fair. I just don’t want to bother you while you’re busy.

Joram: So?

Kinkade: … I’m fine tuning the lightsabers….

Joram: I’ll take care of the textbooks. Keep up the good work!

Kinkade: You know that Altaea had not just left Avi with the tech from Star Wars, Star Trek, and Mass Effect, right?

Joram: I suspected as much….

Kinkade: There’s also stuff from Asgard and the Time Lords.

Joram’s brain locked up for a moment as the possibilities that sprang up from that statement overloaded the processes of his primary mind.

Kinkade: Yeah.

Joram: … Are you working on that sonic lightsaber that Altaea made…?

Kinkade: … Yyyyyyy-up.

Joram: I’ll stop bothering you then!

“You OK?” Wentian asked, giving him a funny look.

“Yup, doing great!” He wheezed out with a manic smile tugging at his lips.

“OK, then,” Wentian shrugged, flipped an omelette onto a waiting stack of them and started tidying up.

Joram blinked and checked the time.

*0852*

Guess that I was stunned a bit longer than I thought, he mused silently as the moved to the living room and sat on the bench at the piano, flipping the keyguard up as he sat.

He played around for a bit, getting a feel for the keys and their notes. It was one thing to know which key played what note, another to get used to playing them. According to Altaea, he was reasonably proficient with stringed instruments, and even though he counted the piano as a stringed instrument, it was fundamentally different to play.

He was just getting into a finger exercise when he heard a knock at the door. After paying attention to his perception field to see who it was, he opened the door with a bit of [Telekinesis] and called Avi- Alicia and her friends in.

* * * * *

Bai Lian stopped and turned to where Mo Yu was serving someone, also pausing to look up to find Bai Lian.

Something’s happening, her eyes seemed to say.

Bai Lian nodded to Mo Yu, letting her know that she understood, still unsure of the odd feeling she’d just gotten.

* * * * *

Joram blinked at Alicia’s friends as they approached him in a cluster, idly wondering if pretty women were naturally drawn together for some reason before remembering that they were potential members for Alicia’s team.

I may have managed to get hold of my raging hormones, but this’ll be torture, he thought as he took in the group.

Not wanting to be rude, he stood up and stepped away from the piano to greet them with a smile as they stopped just over a metre away.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” Joram said, motioning around him with slight movements of his hands.

“Good morning Joram,” Alicia said, bubbly as usual. “Let me introduce my friends,” she said, then proceeded to do just that.

The closest of the four young women was introduced first: Sophia Rearden. She stood a couple inches shorter than him, with light brown hair that fell to mid-back, hazel eyes, and a build that made him think of a dancer.

Next was Gabrielle Hayes. She was slightly shorter than Sophia, but had a more athletic build, the muscles in her arms showing respectable definition. Her auburn hair was tied up in a simple ponytail, leaving her nearly black eyes free of obstruction.

Then Alyraele Erhice was introduced as her hand came up to tuck an errant lock of her long, sea-green hair behind her ear as her golden eyes locked onto his. He’d have describe her as a swimmer, but wondered how well she’d really do with curves like that.

Lastly, Daleira Dexamene was introduced. She stood tallest of the four, almost an inch taller than even Alyraele. Her rich mahogany hair looked like the result of stylists recreating a windblown look that just so happened to fall perfectly in place, giving her a bit of a wild and sexy look. He was impressed by how vibrant her green eyes were. They looked closer to fresh spring leaves than anything else. Heck, his own emerald-green eyes seemed lacking in comparison.

There was a… charisma about her that tugged at his memory. He shook it off though, as he didn’t want them to think that he was staring at the beautiful woman who could have been a pinup model. In fact, he could see why each of them had made it into the Goddess ranking; they were all, frankly, gorgeous.

They’re fellow students, just here to learn. Nothing more. They’re fellow students. My seniors.

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he said, giving them his second-best smile, which seemed to go over well given their murmured responses that mirrored what he’d said.

“So,” Alicia piped in, drawing their attention to her. “Gabrielle is also a Trades student and was hoping that she could get some pointers on progressing her Mental Strength,” she said, motioning to the toned woman. “Even though they’re third years and up, the others were wondering if they could discuss arrays with you.”

“As a way to thank you for helping guide Gabrielle,” Sophia added with a polite cough, her closed hand covering her mouth.

Joram noticed the sparkle in Alicia’s eyes after hearing the comment and suppressed a smile.

“It would be my honour to share my insights with my seniors, and to receive any guidance you might give,” he said, pulling the lines from both what Altaea had taught him and the many martial arts themed media he’d consumed over the decades.

He took a quick look around, then proceeded to shift the furniture around so that it would be easier to speak with them all. Two couches were pulled over to flank the coffee table and two comfy chairs were placed at the head and foot of the table.

“Please, sit,” he said once everything was in place.

He started by taking the seat at the head of the table, which just meant that it was the spot furthest from the kitchen… and closest to the piano. Alicia took the chair at the foot of the table while Daleira and Alyraele sat to this left, leaving the other two to sit on his right.

He suspected that seating arrangements were important in this culture as well, but he couldn’t discern what guided their seating arrangement. Had they chosen their places based on where Joram was, or where Alicia had seated herself?

Ultimately, he didn’t care, so he dismissed that thought too. Gabrielle, he was sure, had deliberately taken the spot closest to him on the right, probably to make it easier to speak with him if she truly was there to get pointers from him.

From the looks he was getting, his impression was that the rest of them were more there to… evaluate him? Perhaps to see just who he was. There was definitely an air of… assessment to their body language, as though they were expecting something.

Again, he shrugged those thoughts off because he really didn’t care. Well, mostly. Growing up, he’d been a bit of a social chameleon, always doing just enough to give a good impression to those he met, but keeping a low profile when attention turned away from him.

Which meant that, even decades later, the urge to leave a good impression with people he’d just met was once again poking its head up.

Then Wentian came in carrying a long serving tray with three tea pots, cups and saucers, spoons, and honey on it. When he saw who the company was, his eyes widened slightly before quickly slipping the tray onto the table and making a dignified retreat.

After everyone served themselves some tea, he got started.

“Tell me Gabrielle, what method do you use to cultivate your Mental Strength,” he asked, teacup and saucer in hand.

Gabrielle looked over at the others before shrugging and retrieving a small, well-loved book from her storage ring and offering it to Joram.

He blinked, then set his tea down and accepted the book with a nod.

“It’s called The Way of the Artificer,” she said a bit self-consciously. “It’s a common technique used by aspiring artificers.”

Joram nodded to that, flipped the book open and read through it in a few seconds, then took a few more to internalize what he’d read.

“May I?” He asked holding out his hand for Gabrielle to take.

Joram supressed another smile at their reactions. Gabrielle blushed and seemed more than a little nervous and embarrassed, while her other three companions had varying degrees of scandalized painted on their faces. Alicia just kept smiling between sips of tea.