***Mature Content edited out***

‘Joram?’

Joram paused from standing up from his thinking rock.

‘Yes, Grammy?’

‘I wish to grow stronger. Please, make me a High Elan,’ she sent with such iron will that he nearly sat back down in shock.

Where is this coming from?

‘Yes, I can get Avi to help you right away,’ he sent after a moment of collecting his thoughts.

‘No, I will need you to do it,’ she sent with that same iron. ‘Firm up. You’ll be fine.’

Joram shiftedback to his Realm before shifting back to his house at the Academy to stand beside Grammy. He was a bit surprised to see her sitting at the piano, but was more surprised to see Bai Lian and Mo Yu sitting across from his parents and grandparents off to the side. From their expressions, he guessed that someone had laid down the law, as it were.

“Is everyone good?” He asked, still not feeling very confident, but his ingrained “peacekeeper” made him talk.

“Yes, we were just discussing the future,” Grammy said with a smile bright enough to eclipse the noon-day sun… which set off every alarm bell in his head.

“Glad everyone is good, then,” he said, taking in everyone’s expressions in an instant.

Gran and Gramps looked the most “normal”, their expressions placid, though their complexions seemed a bit wan. His parents looked almost as shocked as Bai Lian and Mo Yu, his mother’s mouth actually hanging open a fraction. Contrasting that, his father almost looked like he was about to burst into laughter.

Bai Lian and Mo Yu, though, had trouble looking at him directly, which made Asura’s last comment stand out in his mind.

“Well, that’s good then,” he said, coughing into his closed hand. “Then if everyone is good, we should probably end things here. If you’d like to stay over, I have a couple of guest rooms for everyone. If not, I can just send everyone back to sleep in their own beds.”

Much murmured thanks were given, pleasantries exchanged, and parting words spoken before both his parents and grandparents went back to the Realm for the night, stating that they had much work to do on the morrow with getting their estate ready for habitation.

After having sent the four back, Joram turned to Grammy.

‘OK, what’s going on?’ He asked, giving her a Look that bounced off her like so much water off a duck’s back.

‘Sometimes the children need a good talking to,’ she sent, not explaining anything at all. ‘Where shall the… change occur?’ She asked, changing the subject handily.

‘There’s a space above the old Library that I’ve arranged,’ he sent, giving up on getting anything else from his stubborn Matriarch. ‘Are you sure that you want me to do it? It’s… a lot.’

‘I wouldn’t have anyone else, Joram,’ she sent kindly as she took his hands in hers.

He looked deep into her eyes then, trying to glean anything he could. The last time he’d spoken with her about this, she’d been worried about gaining too much power and letting her vengeful heart take over. Through her link, he could sense fierce determination so strongly that he almost refused right then.

Refused because he didn’t know what was driving her.

‘This isn’t for vengeance, it is?’ He asked seriously, still looking her in the eye.

Grammy looked up at him and smiled a crooked smile.

‘Not the kind we spoke of before,’ she sent mysteriously. ‘I just want to be stronger for my family now.’

Joram nodded slowly to that, not quite sure what to make of it, but ultimately decided that he’d trust his Grammy.

‘So, I’m not sure if you’ve spoken to anyone about what becoming a High Elan entails, but…’ he sent, then explained how it worked, from the ground up, as it were. ‘There’s also the option of changing anything about yourself that you don’t like. Hair colour, skin tone, a mole that’s annoyed you all your life, that sort of thing. I can even make you taller or shorter, thicker or thinner,’ he finished, not really thinking that she’d choose to make any superficial changes, but offering anyway for the sake of transparency.

‘I always wanted to be a bit taller,’ she sent musingly. ‘Can you really do that? Make me taller, but keeping my proportions the same?’

Joram blinked at that, but nodded.

‘Good, we’ll go with that. I’ll like to be as tall as you, then.’

Again, he could only nod. She’d be gaining a good five inches, making her much taller than most women he’d ever met.

‘Then, let’s be off,’ he sent, then shifted them to his Realm before continuing on to the cultivation cave he’d set up some time back.

They appeared in front of the Otaku-non and Grammy gasped at the sight.

“What is this place?” She asked quietly as she looked around, eyes alight with interest.

“Just a place I set up for the future generations of the Clan to cultivate in,” he said as he started up the stairs.

Grammy followed him, her head on a swivel as she tried to take everything in.

“What are these murals of?”

“Ah, just stuff from my youth. It seemed appropriate,” he said, not wanting to get into it for fear of Grammy laughing at him.

“Why are some hyper-realistic while others seem… juvenile?” She asked, pointing at one figure with what looked like a straw hat.

“Just they style they were initially presented in,” he said as he continued to walk, hoping that she’d just keep up.

Grammy seemed to get the hint, for she soon quickened her pace until she was walking beside him. Even though she looked like she wanted to ask questions without end, she kept silent all the way to the back of the meeting chamber where Joram activated a secret panel that caused a section of floor to open up, revealing a stone stairway. He then continued down as lights began illuminating his descent. After a short pause, she followed him down, the way closing behind her once she was about eight steps down.

He led her to where Avi had gone through her own ritual, though a different one, but the sky nether jade bed was gone.

“All right,” he said after taking a deep breath. “This part is a bit… messy. I’ll need you to disrobe and,” he paused again as Grammy immediately started shedding her clothing right then, but continued as he looked up at the ceiling. “Lay over there. I’ll start once I’ve got everything set up,” he said, motioning to a slightly raised section of floor.

Grammy smirked at him before heading over and laying on the raised portion of floor, arranging her hair behind her so that it wouldn’t get caught underneath her.

For his part, Joram summoned several Dust Crystals and placed them around the platform while keeping his eyes and attention on what he was doing.

“Joram,” Grammy said, sounding exasperated. “If you can’t even look at me, how are you going to do this?” She asked, her tone sliding to the firm end of the scale at the end.

“Good point,” he said, then retrieved a sheet and draped it over her, getting an indignant look in return. “I don’t actually have to look at you while doing this,” he said with a grin.

“Then how will you know if you got it right?!” Grammy asked, a bit of panic entering her voice.

“It’s all up here,” he said, tapping his forehead with his index finger. “I just needed you to disrobe to avoid ruining your clothing, especially if you’re going to be getting much taller.”

She levelled him with a Look then.

“They won’t fit after this anyway,” she said, her eyebrow beginning to twitch. “What’s the point?”

“Well, I also don’t want any potential contaminants to interfere with things either,” he said, then used [Cleanse] on the area. “It’s rather… thorough.”

It was then that things seemed to really sink in for Grammy. She took a deep, steadying breath before nodding. She looked over to what he was doing then, then almost rolled over in her excitement.

“Are those Dust Crystals?!” She demanded, eyes nearly popping out.

“Yes?”

“Is this really, OK?” She asked, turning her head to look at him directly. “Each one of those would sell for tens of Tier 4 Cards!”

Joram paused then, reconsidering. Not the procedure, but his thoughts of selling some Dust Crystals in the future to fund himself and the Clan. If they were indeed as precious as Grammy was saying, then selling them would likely attract unwanted attention.

Having misunderstood his pause, Grammy went on.

“I can’t let you spend so much on me when the Clan needs all it can to rebuild,” she said as she started to sit up, holding the sheet to her chest.

Then stopped when Joram’s hand landed on her forehead, stopping her in place as surely as if she’d run into a wall. A softer wall, mind you. He didn’t want to concuss Grammy after all.

“No, it’s fine,” he said, shaking his head. “I can make more, remember?”

Grammy just blinked up at him with her large, almond shaped eyes as he slowly lowered her back down.

“Sleep, now,” he said, channeling his best Lucien impression as he manifested [Sleep] on her, causing her to go under instantly.

It was time to get to work.

* * * * *

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1346.04.26

Avi was certainly impressed with Joram’s performance. He’d not only managed to firm up enough to return from his hurried escape, but had also successfully performed the ritual for Tatia.

She looked over at the clock and found that it was already, what she’d call, Friday morning; the fifth day of the week. There was only two days left in the break before the next term started and she wondered if she’d have enough time to break through to Tier 2 or not.

Given the… complications that could arise from pulling her newly forming cores into her Knowledge Sea like Joram had, she was hesitant. She not only had classes to attend, but also Starfall to run and the grand opening of her new Dawn Star Café to oversee. There was a lot.

But she also didn’t want to delay her progress any further. She’d already spent long enough preparing her psionic reserves for the breakthrough, even going so far as to assimilate a significant amount to sky nether jade to increase her natural regeneration of psionic power. She felt that she was ready.

She also felt… scared. For as much as she’d put on a confident air for Joram when speaking of her crazy plan of following in his footsteps, it still scared her. The probability of failure was higher than that of success, by a wide margin. Even with Joram being able to bring her back, the thought of actually dying wasn’t an easy one to overcome.

Avi sighed, leaning over and laying her face down on her desk, rolling onto her cheek so that she could see the petri dishes with the successfully grown samples in them.

If she assimilated that one, well… things might be a bit easier for her. Just a bit.

She’d not managed to isolate the part of its genetic code that made her not only grow a tail, but also made their race grow into a rampaging King Kong sized monkey when they saw a full moon. But she could also just amputate the tail which seemed to be the source of that problem.

But she’d also physically acquire the old saying: “What doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger”. Seriously, such a broken race.

Then she looked over at the next one. It contained the cells that would allow her to become a super woman. Fortunately, Altaea had already found and removed the genetic trait that gave the species that annoying weakness to random crystals from their home planet. It just left her heavily dependent on solar power. Which meant that she wouldn’t be able to spend as much time in the Realm as she would have liked.

Which meant setting up a lab on the Prime, which didn’t sit well with her. Especially after having experienced the destruction of an extermination squad.

The third and final sample was a bit more… reliable? It came from that race of Asgaardians Altaea had run into and then befriended, thus allowing her access to their great library. Which had been all sorts of awesome, all told.

That sample was a bit more reliable in that she wouldn’t have to amputate a tail or depend on the sun, but it also came with a bit of a grab bag of abilities. They were random. She wouldn’t mind getting something cool like lightning powers. But she could also just get those by assimilating a scale and some blood of the Heavenly Lightning Jade Dragon.

“Welp, if Joram can just bring me back…. Why not try all three?” She spoke as a manic smile formed on her face. “I’ve already got my [Astral Seed] and backup body made and ready to go, so that should be fine…”

… But would it make breaking through to the 2ndTier easier…?

“No time like the present to find out, eh?” She said, then sent a message to Asura to make sure that her responsibilities at the Academy were taken care of while she performed this first experiment.

Getting the OK, she reached out and lifted the lid of each dish, then spread her fingers out so that she could touch each of the sample simultaneously. With one final breath, she activated her assimilation routines and closed her eyes.

* * * * *

Joram’s head whipped around. He stared in the direction of Avi’s lab, concern painted on his face even as sweat rolled down it.

The ritual had been successful, if exceedingly stressful, so he’d gone to relieve some of that stress in the gravity room after having dropped Grammy off in her bed. But now, his stress had once again spiked as he felt Avi’s physical connection in the Network wink out.

He shifted to Avi’s last location in the Realm and just about started dry heaving at the sight of the mess. It would have done any hack and slash horror movie director proud. There was blood splashed everywhere, it’s origin obviously being a knocked over office chair at the desk over there. There was also lots of… chunks splattered about, not to mention the hair.

Joram took a moment, turning around to look at something not red and glistening so that he could gather this composure.

He then felt at his connection with Avi, the one that connected their souls and found that she was still there. He heaved a sigh of relief at that, and also that she was still a part of the Network. Which, upon reflection, was weird that she’d have two connections to it, but then he shrugged it off. That wasn’t nearly as important as finding out what exactly had happened here.

‘Avi?’

‘… Yes, Joram…?’

‘What. The. Fuck?’

That was when she explained her… experiment that involved assimilating three organic samples at the same time. He face-palmed.

‘That was a terrible idea,’ he sent, feeling a weird combination of wistfulness and guilt from Avi.

‘Yes, but: data!’

‘Do tell.’

‘Well, we now know for sure that assimilating three organic samples at the same time is a bad idea!’

‘… Anything else?’

‘… Nope,’ she sent, finally sounding a bit subdued. ‘I’ll just use the first sample as that should be good enough for now.’

‘Do you need me to resurrect you?’ He asked, shaking his head to rid himself of the thoughts of becoming like the man of steel himself. Then started reconsidering….

‘Yes, please,’ Avi sent, interrupting his musings. ‘I would rather save my back-up body for an actual emergency.’

Joram nodded at that, understanding her caution. So, a minute and an almost nosebleed later, Avi was back and clothed again, so he used [Cleanse] to clean everything up. The smell had started getting to him.

“So, what now?” He asked, leaning on the desk.

“I’ll use just one sample for now,” she said, looking towards an incubation chamber.

“So, saiyan, then?” He asked, knowing that it was the most likely of the three. For as ridiculously powerful as the other two were, the saiyan sample would allow for a less abrupt and attention-grabbing transition.

“That’s what I was thinking,” she said as she walked over and retrieved two petri dishes. “I’ll need to amputate the tail, though. No need to worry about going on a rampage twice a month,” she said with a weak smile.

“True,” he said as he accepted one of the petri dishes. “You think it’s a good idea for both of us to try?” He asked, raising his eyebrows.

“You’ve already assimilated other organic samples,” she said, shrugging, “and you seem to be fine. I don’t see why another would do anything. Especially since you’re not doing it all at once,” she finished with a wink.

“It won’t make me into a battle maniac, will it?” He asked, not quite sure if the saiyan route was for him. If anything, the Kryptonian route suited him better.

“Maybe?” She said with another shrug. “If anything, it might make you slightly more assertive if the dragon sample didn’t manage to make you more aggressive than before.”

Joram nodded as her explanation made sense. Sure, the draconic and phoenix bloodlines had made him much more… horny than he’d ever been. But he’d also managed to mostly get that under control… by keeping the jockstrap of holding on at all times…. He wasn’t proud of that.

“Well, why not?” He asked, raising the petri dish in his hand to do a “cheers” with Avi, who responded in kind.

“To getting stronger!” She said, then removed the lid.

He did the same, following her example of sticking a finger into the cloudy gel.

“On three. One. Two. Three,” she said.

They both activated their assimilation protocols at the same time.

He could feel the changes occurring in his body, not the least of which was his hair starting to stand on end. The biggest one was how weird it felt to have his coccyx start to lift, then elongate. He felt as the skin started to raise, then rapidly grow to accommodate the new vertebra forming and growing as hair spouted along its length.

Joram also watched as Avi’s hair grew a shade darker while it started to get… spikey. Soon enough he also spotted a tail waving behind her and laughed out loud.

“It’s got the same colour gradient as your hair!” He said, pointing at her tail.

Instead of following how the colour of the hair on her head grew, her tail had gone more… rainbow in theme. The hair coving it didn’t start off blue to transition to red at its tips. No. The hair at the base of her tail was all blue, then slowly transitioned to purple then to red at the tip of the tail.

Avi stuck her tongue out at him, so he gave her a light tap on the shoulder. It didn’t strike him as odd that he did that until Avi smacked him on the shoulder a bit harder, getting him a bit riled up.

“Oh, you wanna have a go at it?” He asked, a grin forming on his face.

“You’re on!” She said, the proceeded to tackle him.

He was surprised at just how strong she was now, though if he’d had the presence of mind to reflect on that thought, he’d have realized that they hadn’t actually tried sparring together before.

As it was, the wrestling match soon devolved into a more… flirtatious wrestling match, one trying to tickle the other. It devolved further when Joram’s shirt got torn, resulting in a petty tearing of Avi’s shirt.

*** Insert "Le Sexy Time"...***

- - - - -

Joram lay there on the floor panting with Avi’s head resting on he outstretched left arm.

***

“Hey,” he said dumbly, a stupid grin forming on his face.

“Hey, you,” she said with an equally stupid grin on hers. “So, that happened.”

“Yup,” he said, not quite sure what to make of it, or how he felt about it.

From the way Avi looked at him, her slightly raised bottom eyelids to her raised cheeks; the softer expression she had. Well, it didn’t look like regret to him.

“I think that we definitely became a bit more aggressive,” he said, not quite sure how to address things.

“It’s not a bad thing,” she said, her expression softening further. Which had the unfortunate result in his new tail swishing back and forth more than a bit.

He also noticed that her tail started to wag as well as she looked down at him, another smile spreading across her face.

“Round two,” she said.

He could only nod at the wonderful idea before he was once again lost in Avi’s embrace.

* * * * *

Kinkade looked over at Asura in their auction box, brows raised.

They were at another one of the Heaven’s Bounty Auction Houses to sell. This time, though, she’d chosen the one located in the capital of the Avilium Kingdom, Avilia. They’d been surprised to find that Miss Layla had transferred there after receiving a promotion for signing them and securing the selling of their healing gems. What’s more, even Aenwyn was there, having been brought there by Miss Layla.

All that aside, as soon as Kinkade realized what was happening with Prime, he’d locked down the Network hard.

Asura was also staring at him with wide eyes.

‘About time,’ he sent, getting a smile in return.

‘I was wondering how long it would take,’ she sent back. ‘It only took them assimilating a freaking saiyan sample to finally get past their weirdness.’

‘True that,’ he sent, then accepted a cup of tea from Aenwyn with a smile and a word of thanks.

The young woman smiled back then proceeded to serve Asura with another smile that was just as warm for her as it had been for him.

‘That’s some respectable professionalism.’

‘That it is,’ Asura sent back with amusement. ‘How weird and awkward do you think they’ll be with each other after this?’

‘On a scale of one to ten?’ He asked, then continued when she nodded. ‘Eleven? But that really depends on just how much they’re affected by the change. If this is just a result from the initial rush, as it were, then things will be as awkward as a teenaged tv drama.’

He paused a moment to listen to Asura’s laughter over the Network before continuing.

‘If it isn’t that, then…. Well, I imagine that with Prime’s existing heritages and the new one, we’ll see a much more confident Joram in the future.’

‘Is this going to turn into a harem story?’ Asura asked curiously.

‘Given the culture of polygamy here and our very strong sex drive? Entirely possible. But we also need to take into account that Prime is ridiculously shy when it comes to women. It might happen in the future, as his relationships grow with other women. But for now? I probably wouldn’t worry about it too much.’

Asura nodded at that, a small smile on her face.

‘How weird would it be if we were to get organic bodies for ourselves?’ She asked, her smile turning into a grin.

‘I have no fucking idea,’ he sent back with a grin of his own. ‘But I’m sure that it would be many levels of funny to mess with them.’

“And now for the final item you’ve all been waiting for,” the auctioneer announced after the last item finally sold. “This is a unique find, likely dating back to before the Great Cataclysm,” he announced, waving a hand first at the small display case containing a small pink topaz, then up at a projected image of it that shone on the wall behind him.

“Our specialists have found that this unique item was created by a peak-tier Mentalist that hasn’t been seen since the Great Cataclysm. They theorize that this gem might have even been made by the Mythic, Tier 9, Destroyer herself!”

Kinkade was more than a bit taken aback by the combined reaction of the audience. Almost everyone began talking at once, some going so far as shouting their shock or disbelief at what the auctioneer had said.

“The reason we think this,” he said loudly, quieting the theatre. “Is because of how the stored spell is structured. The complexity and outright artistry in the embedded enchantment isn’t something found outside of the few relics known to have been created by Her.

“The second reason we think that it was made by Her is the spell itself. Although it is a one-time use item, it is a life-saving item that far outstrips any of the lesser gems that have been sold over the past few years.”

The audience began speaking loudly again but this time in varying degrees of excitement. The brown topazes had sold very well over the years, and especially this year when he and Asura had brought more that they’d “found” to sell at their auction houses.

“I’m told that this will also activate when its wearer enters a critical state, going so far as to not only heal fatal wounds, but to regrow lost limbs or destroyed organs over the span of a quarter hour or so.”

Once again, the audience went wild. It took the auctioneer several more minutes to calm them before he could continue.

“Now, the bidding will be a bit special this time,” he said, making a few people groan. “At the request of the seller, and in consideration of those who wish to purchase such a miraculous life-saving treasure; we’ll not only accept Tier 4 Crystal bids, but also items appraised to be in that realm. Anything from Artifact and Alchemical recipes to rare natural treasures will be accepted. Now, the bidding will commence at one hundred Low-Grade, Tier 4 Crystals and will increase by no less than ten per bid.

“Let us begin!”