Teatime was hard.
It got exceptionally harder when one included others.
It got demonically torturous when his brain kept reminding him that his host was his fiancé.
Joram looked over at Xiora and managed to squeeze out his third-best smile as she seriously served him tea while they sat under the flower laden boughs of an impressively huge cherry-like tree.
He’d missed last week’s teatime due to finals. Make up dates hadn’t been possible until now due to… headaches.
Even after having lived with his new family for so many years, he’d been long used to making his own life choices without consulting with his family. That he’d accepted a fiancé without his mother’s, or his foremothers’ permission hadn’t gone well for him.
Not that they disapproved of Emily herself. No, it was the fact that he hadn’t even consulted them beforehand. Then the lectures of not taking Xixi into proper consideration had come.
He watched as Xixi then served Zanth some tea, then passed him some dainties and a napkin. He wondered how their relationship was going?
As much as he loved Xixi, he really felt that it wasn’t anything close to romantic. Nor did the think that it would become that way no matter how much time passed by. He’d spent his first years with her, had watched as she grew up… mostly.
The point was that she more felt like a sister to him or if he stretched it, almost like an adoptive daughter. It felt all levels of weird to think that, if he didn’t do anything, they’d wind up being married one day.
Hence Zanth’s presence today.
Joram was certain that they were spending much more time together than they had before the fall of the Clan. From everything he’d heard, Zanth still helped with Elodea and Seldanna even with the return of Xixi’s parents.
So, knowing how close they had become, the thought struck him that maybe they’d be a more suitable couple. They were the same age. They’d spent more time together that he and Xixi had over the years, let alone the trying times of this past year and how little time he’d spent with either of them.
As he observed them, he became sure that they’d make a great couple. Yes, Xixi seemed to wear the proverbial pants, bossing Zanth around as she pleased. But he was sure that Zanth would become a good match for her as his personality further developed and his confidence grew.
Though, given how slowly boys grew at this age, Xixi was almost ten centimetres taller than he was. Well, that was fine. He was sure that Zanth would get taller as they grew up.
He wondered how their own school life would go when they started attending the Academy. The Academy wasn’t only for university-aged people. They also had what he’d consider middle and high school programs… just not on their main campus, but in Stormhaven proper.
He really hoped that school didn’t have their own Goddess Ranking. Because if they did, he suspected that he might have to go have a good talk with some kids…
Though, given their unparalleled cultivation for their age, he was confident that they’d at least be able to hold their own. Especially if Xixi continued to be as.. direct as she’d been these past few years.
“… is great! It’s so much better than my old sword,” Zanth gushed as he once again patted the Viridian Iron Bamboo boken Joram had made for him.
Well, it wasn’t just a length of bamboo, but a restructured piece made to look like a traditional boken. He’d broken the bamboo down to its base fibres then rebuilt it so that it would have a bit of flexibility when Zanth struck something… or someone. No need for broken bones after all.
After adding a “merciful” enchantment to it he was reasonably sure that it was quite non-lethal, even for an eight-year-old who was already midway through Tier 1.
“You’re welcome,” Joram said, genuinely happy that he liked his gift. “I made it full-sized so it should keep up with your growth.”
“Thanks, Joram!” Zanth replied, once again touching the boken fondly.
“Well, someone will need to be there for Xixi when you guys start school next year,” he said, giving Zanth a wink.
Which completely flew over the poor boy’s head.
“I can deal with anyone!” Xixi proudly declared as she furiously circulated her mana to show how powerful she was.
He was still impressed that her cultivation was already higher than most people entering the Academy as “first years”. Not only that, but her psionic reserves, her pool of Mental Strength was already in the 2nd Tier. He could feel that she’d been practicing various powers, further increasing the control she had over her psionic might.
“Yes, and I’m sure that you’re more than enough to deal with anyone who’d want to bother you,” he said, nodding as seriously as he could manage. “But it’s always nice if someone wants to stand up for you, isn’t it?” He asked, giving her a significant look that made her jaw set in stubbornness.
“If you say so…” she pouted, then turned away.
The rest of teatime went reasonably well and, after more promises to keep visiting, he was once again in his workshop back in his Realm. Not that he minded being in the Prime, but he had more solitude in his Realm, especially since most of the residents had moved to New Brightside.
Once there, Joram took mental note of Minds 3-9’s various progress.
M3 and M4 were now exclusively on cultivation duty, with M3 working on integrating T3 Mana into the Psijic Star while M4 focussed on absorbing ambient mana, circulating it, and then on building his Cores. They also both shared the responsibility of building up his Knowledge/Psionic Star. Even though it had already reached the 6th Tier, he wanted to it be as strong as he could possibly get it. Well, not just strength, but also in capacity.
M5 and M6 were working away at figuring out what had initially sparked an interesting idea in him when he’d been taking his basic arrays course. He’d gotten the nagging feeling that there was so much… missing. If his hunch proved correct, then he was sure that he’d reach the proverbial sky in the Dao of Arrays. And, well, just about every other mana-dependent field.
If he was right, and the recurring fragments of patterns that he was seeing were actually there, and not a figment of his overactive imagination, well…. It meant that, much like in the various media he’d consumed, there was an underlying… language for mana. Or there was at least one language for mana.
His other thoughts on mana and its various grades were a bit… unorthodox to most. To him, Tier 1 Mana was the basic stuff of existence. It helped in just about every way imaginable, from strengthening the beings that absorbed it to giving them fantastic properties that would have otherwise been impossible.
Tier 2 Mana, now that was where people started looking at him funny. The Practitioners of Zhizun Zhanshi referred to it as Earth Qi, probably for good reason. He’d found that T2 Mana was very much tied to things material.
Using Tier 1 mana to make an artifact/magic item resulted in a decent enough item. But using Tier 2 Mana to create the same thing strengthened the end product beyond the expected jump in potency that a higher Tier of Mana account for. The resulting artifact was simply physically stronger and more durable.
Now, Tier 3 Mana seemed to be tied to things more ethereal in nature. Using the same example of creating an artifact, using Tier 3 mana made the enchantment more stable and potent than using either T1 or T2 mana would. Again, the results were beyond what he expected due to the potency of the Tier 3 Mana.
So, in short, Tier 1 mana was a good starting point, an all-rounder if you will. While Tier 2 Mana was synergized well with things tied to the physical realm and Tier 3 Mana synergized well with things incorporeal.
All that said, he suspected that each Tier of Mana had its own “language” that it spoke best. Which meant that, if he was correct, the current diagrams and “language” used for arrays and enchanting/artifact refining was a hodgepodge of each of the languages that each Tier of Mana spoke best, resulting in the inefficiency in their methods that was driving him up the wall.
If getting all things psionic translated so that he could use Psijic Energy instead of Psionic Power wasn’t such a priority for him, he’d have also devoted M7-9 to that project. As it was, even working with Avi, it was taking a long time. There was just so much to go through that it was taking ages.
Well maybe when he was able to get more Minds going, he’d be able to devote more of them to those two major issues.
For now, though, he was happy to note the M3 was making good progress in integrating T3 Mana into the Psijic Star.
Then another thought struck him, though this was felt like a thunder bolt.
What if he could make several different Psijic Stars? He’d need to keep his original one going, but if he could draw in some mana specifically to try to make another core with which he could integrate psionic power, then… would it be possible? Could that work?
He agonized over that for a while, then started running the numbers on how much of a drain adding another couple of Minds to the mix would add. Currently, he was still in the black running an additional eight minds. Adding an extra two would certainly put him in the red.
Given that he could run into an unexpected situation at any time, he was loath to have his psionic power pool at anything less than full. But if he could get a Psijic Star for each Tier of Mana, then it would be an overwhelming gain on par with having dozens of Cores.
Which, at this point, wasn’t playing a factor in his daily life. When he’d read through Encompass the Universe, he’d been taken by fantasies of being a supreme cultivator that could tear through any situation because his foundation was vastly superior to anyone else’s.
Now? Well, he was effectively a university student. Not too many life-or-death situations could be found in university life.
But when he made his way over to Zhizun Zhanshi, well, that’d likely change. So, having his many Cores, and making sure that he kept up with their development was incredibly important. Just stupidly expensive at the moment, and likely to get much worse when it came time to draw in Tier 4 Mana.
He sighed. Cultivation would get so much slower once Tier 4 Mana became a factor since T4 Crystals were a limited currency. Effectively cheating with money would stop being a thing.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Welp, can’t pay-to-win forever!
Coming back to the moment, Joram looked at Kinkade’s completed lightsaber and smiled. He checked the Crystal Mind taped to the hilt and found that Kinkade had indeed finished and had included the [Delve]’d schematic for it. Which, really, was a bit pointless seeing as how they were the same person, but he supposed that it would prove useful for anyone else wanting to make one.
He hefted the hilt and smiled as the feel of it in his hand. It’s case, or sleeve, looked to be made of woven metal with a magnetic clip/locking mechanism on the base of the hilt; likely so that he could attach another one to make a staff out of connected pair.
The emitter was, well, an emitter. The lens looked like a diamond to the naked eye. It was, in actuality, a Tetra-II crystal. Tetra-II was incomparably harder than a diamond and had a much higher, what he called, Disintegration Point; the point where a substance would be destroyed under an extreme condition. Be it with temperature, shearing, crushing, shattering, or fracturing, Tetra-II had the highest Disintegration Point that he’d measured so far.
That wasn’t to say that it was the strongest material around, no. But for now, it was the best material he had for the job.
The focussing crystal was yet another Tetra-II crystal, but his one tinted a deep indigo. He inspected the power source and smiled weakly. If this thing somehow went critical….
Did all Jedi go around with something that crazy? He wondered, shaking his head. If that was the case, then he’d very much prefer working on a Psijic battery of some sort.
He sighed again. Maybe he really should get a couple extra Minds going….
At length, he decided to just suck it up and get an additional two minds up and going. Decision made, he quickly “saved” his progress, dismissed the current [Schism], then remanifested it with an additional two minds.
M10 and M11 were then promptly assigned to work in parallel with M3 and M4 with cultivation. They’d research and experiment with collecting mana into his dantian, or rather, where it used to be. While doing that, they’d also experiment with solidifying that collected Tier 1 Mana into a new Core that they would then try to pull into his Knowledge Sea.
Given that his current cultivation method was a bit odd due to where his Cores were located, it wasn’t too different from what most people did. That said, the way that mana came into his body and circulated basically the same. The major difference being that instead of stopping in the dantian, it was instead sent up into his Knowledge Sea. So, really, he would just be adding an additional step before sending the mana up to his Knowledge Sea.
He sighed, glad that he wasn’t going to be actively working on that himse- with his Primary Mind. He had way too many things that he wanted to do, to the point where he was seriously considering cloning himself. Which would likely result in disaster, hence why he hadn’t tried yet. Yet.
Joram shrugged, then placed the modified lightsaber back on the workbench, though he did bring up Kinkade’s research and schematics for it in his mind. After a few minutes of contemplating the information, he filed it away again with a satisfied nod. If he was in a pinch, he could produce one easily enough….
Then he shrugged again. If he was in a situation where he needed a “sonic” lightsaber, he was sure that he would be screwed anyway. Really, it was just a hobby/vanity project. Something that he’d longed for, for most of his life. Now, it was effectively off the bucket list. Not that that would stop him from playing around with it in the future or anything.
He looked around again and wondered how long he could avoid the gals. If Avi got annoyed enough with him, she’d just bring Bai Lian and Mo Yu to the Realm. He wasn’t sure if she’d go so far as to bring Emily there, but he wouldn’t put it past her at this point.
Her approving Emily had thrown him off more than a little bit. He still wasn’t sure why she was OK with a polygamous relationship, as he was pretty sure that Altaea had been monogamous herself. Ultimately, though, it didn’t matter at the moment.
Joram took another look around, at a loss. He wanted to just dive into another project, but he knew that that would just be him running away from things again. He needed to get things sorted before the next half of the year started up and his time once again vanished.
He also really wanted to go questing to improve his ranking as he hadn’t been able to take that many quests. The ones N7 had participated in hadn’t added much to their ranking points since it had been the Untouchables that had accepted the quests.
Maybe they could take a bunch of non-priority quests and head out for a few weeks to build up their points. That way they’d get some good practice as a team, get some loot, and build up their points. Yeah, that was looking like it could work….
If he could build up the courage to have that sit-down with the four women responsible for his retreat. Well, that wasn’t fair. He’d agreed to all of it, so there was that. But he also sucked when it came to all that serious talk. Well, at least he was better than Kazuya. That guy couldn’t step up to save his life.
Like, really. Firm up already!
*Ahem*
Maybe he’d make it a goal to get back to Earth one day just so that he could catch up on the many series he’d been missing out on while on Dovaynia. Yeah, that sounded good. He just needed to figure out how to manipulate space/time and the boundaries between universes. Not too bad.
Damn, I really hope that there’s some good stuff from the Time Lords in there besides sonic tech, he fervently wished. If he could get a working time-and-relative-dimension-in-space up and running, then he might just stand a chance of getting back to Earth… and maybe finding Altaea. One day.
‘Hey, Avi?’
‘Yes, Joram?’
‘Thinking about sonic tech from the Time Lords, I was wondering if Altaea left anything about their other tech?’
‘Yeah, she did,’ Avi sent, sounding a bit curious as her sendings arrived. ‘The whole “bigger on the inside” stuff, their tech in general, as well as everything they knew about space/time. Heck, even everything about the energy of that vortex spewed and how it affected millions of different lifeforms.’
‘Anything actionable right now?’
‘Well, I could probably have Asura and Kinkade start gathering samples of coral that might be a suitable substitute for the one the Time Lords used,’ she sent with a mental nod.
‘That’d be good,’ he sent back with his own mental nod. ‘I was also wondering how useful a lightsaber would be here, on this world. Would a mindblade be more useful?’
‘Ah, well, that’s a good question. You’d have to practice with a mindblade, forming it, altering it, and all that. While a lightsaber would be an immensely powerful tool right off the hop. That said, you’d definitely need to learn the lightsaber arts Altaea left so that you don’t self-amputate in a fight.’
‘Yeah, that would suck,’ he agreed with a slight shudder. ‘Since Kinkade finished the lightsaber modifications, could I access the saber arts? For that matter, can I just have access to what I need at any time without asking you?’
He got a “lol” package from her before her words came.
‘I was wondering when you’d finally ask. Short answer: yes, but with provisions. Altaea set up the datapacks so that they’d become available as we progressed in our understanding. There were some caveats about emergencies, like when Sulia was dying just as you were reincarnated, but they don’t currently apply. That said, I already have the datapacks for the Soulknife and Jedi related stuff, so here you go,’ she said, granting him access to everything currently available to her- now them.
‘That said, I think that having the team finish translating the Soulknife datapack into its psijic-compatible form would be best,’ she sent, all business. ‘For something combat-related, having to rework formed habits later on isn’t a great idea. Maybe just wait before you start experimenting with it.’
‘Good call. I’ll get working with the various saber forms first then,’ he sent with much gratitude. ‘But, that’ll also have to wait. We all need to have a sit-down and iron things out.’
‘That we do,’ she sent cheerily. ‘When should I come over with Emily?’
‘Well, the two of them should be done their shifts soon,’ he mused. ‘I’m already done with teatime with Xixi and Zanth, so I can head over right away. We’ll also have to discuss what’s appropriate to share with Emily, and what not.’
‘True. Then I’ll sneak over with Emily in the next half-hour or so,’ she sent, reminding him of the picketing in front of his manor.
‘I wonder if I can get teleportation arrays up and running,’ he sent, thinking of how much easier it’d be to just teleport around campus and town without worrying about people finding out about his psionic version.
‘That would indeed help,’ Avi sent along with images of the picketers.
- - -
Joram heard the back door open and close before he started to pay attention to his field of perception. He relaxed again as he found that it was Alicia and Emily and not some B&E Picketers.
‘I’m in my office, but I’ll be right out,’ he sent to Alicia as he took note of where he was in the master’s course textbook on arrays and put it away.
He’d been hoping to find something that’d help with teleportation arrays, but was suspecting that he’d need to start studying the various Laws, specifically Space, before he’d make much headway with them.
Again, he could just do all of this with psionics, but he once again didn’t want to reveal too many of his abilities. Especially when he was still as weak as he was.
He pondered that last thought as he got up and made his way to the living room. By most standards, he was far beyond most people on the planet. Having a 5th Tier magical cultivation while also being in the 6th Tier as a Psion was incredibly rare to the point of nations trying to headhunt others’ people. If he wasn’t strong enough, then he’d basically be kidnapped and forced to work for them.
That was the best-case scenario. Worst-case, they’d make him a slave.
He’d been disgusted to learn that this world not only had enchanted slave collars, but also slavery techniques that were even harder to deal with than a physical collar. Those techniques were just… vile. He’d studied up on the most popular ones in case he ran across them, but ultimately hadn’t gotten very far with them due to his lack of general education.
Well, he’d be able to rectify that soon enough. He was reasonably sure that with the knowledge base the masters’ texts provided, he’d be able to understand those techniques. Which got another shudder from him.
He was tempted to go to the mainland and visit the slave auction house so that he could study the slavery techniques in-person. If he did that, though, he was sure that he’d wind up spending a fortune on slaves just so that he could free them from their fates. But he didn’t have enough money to do that. Nor did he think that he’d be able to refrain from [Decerebrate]’ing the slavers.
“Thanks for coming back over so soon,” he said as he took his customary seat near the grand piano.
Emily smiled at him from her spot on the couch to his right.
“It was a good opportunity to get my things moved into Alicia’s place,” she said with her usual smile, then a frown. “But I’m sorry that all those pests are making trouble outside your house.”
“Yeah, I’m sure they’ll go away eventually,” he said with more confidence than he felt.
The three of them continued to chat, passing the time until Bai Lian and Mo Yu returned home looking slightly annoyed.
“Is everything all right?” Joram asked as they came into the living room.
“There should be laws about annoying people making themselves more annoying by chanting ridiculous and annoying things outside of someone’s house,” Bai Lian grumped, glaring out the window at the crowd gathered out front.
“Well, at least the privacy arrays work well,” he replied, making a mental note to ask the Dean about the best way to get rid of the pests.
“So, Joram,” Alicia said, getting everyone’s attention. “What would you like to speak to us about?”
Ah, no more distractions… damn it.
“Well, in consideration of recent developments,” he said, gesturing for Bai Lian and Mo Yu to sit to his left. “I feel that it’s time we discuss exactly what’s happened, what is happening, and both what we want to happen and what might happen in the future,” he said, then proceeded to lay out exactly what was happening.
Specifically, in the realm of his… “relationship” status.
For everyone’s benefit, he went over his relationship with Avi, revealing to Emily who she really was. Which went surprisingly well, all told. Apparently, it wasn’t too uncommon for someone to disguise themselves, taking on an alter ego to get something done. That came a bit close to his true nature, but he decided not to share that just yet.
He then went over Bai Lian’s and Mo Yu’s Oath to him, getting raised brows from Emily. Again, she was accepting of their Oath, claiming that such words were relatively common for marriage vows. Which turned their cheeks a lovely rose colour.
Next was Emily. He explained the conversation he’d had with her mother, Sasha, and her family’s decision to leaver her in his “care”. He also explained his engagement to her, with Emily’s help.
All told, the four young women reaffirmed their desire to be with him. Not just with, but as romantic partners. He’d hoped that at least Bai Lian and Mo Yu had cooled down a bit or had had more time to reflect on their feelings for him. Well, they’d indeed reflected more on their feelings and had decided that they were firmly on Team Joram, as it were.
He shuddered at the reference.
With that part out of the way, they went on to discuss what they thought of the study group’s members and their… advances on him.
He was again shocked that not only Avi seemed to not care, but also Bai Lian and Mo Yu. For their part, they claimed that something so insignificant as other women attaching themselves to him wouldn’t shake their commitment and feelings for him. Emily, however, just claimed that so long as she had a position as a wife that she would be OK with it.
That said, they also reiterated that he would need to continue treating them, at least, the same as he had, but hoped that he’d get more… intimate with them as they grew more familiar with each other.
After everything was said and done, he couldn’t help but wonder at the values of this world. Yes, it wasn’t Earth. Yes, significant changes in cultures and morals in general were to be expected. But it was still a culture shock for him.
His personal morals were changing, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. At the same time, having so many people wanting to be with him for being… him, felt more than a little bit wonderful. So, he decided that he would tone down his “act” more, to be a bit more himself around people from now on. Not that he was faking his kindness, but his extroverted-ness. If he could do that, and the study group still wanted to hang around, then it would take an emotional load off his shoulders. It would make things more natural. It would make him happier.
With that talk out of the way, and his decision made, the next thing to talk about was their summer plans.