The rest of the afternoon was relatively uneventful.
The seven of them proceeded to the area where the request had indicated was the most likely to contain the herbs they needed. On the way, they ran into a few magical beasts that had been “hiding” from the commotion caused by his Astral Construct the night before.
The magical beasts had generally not wanted to deal with the seven of them, especially with three very noticeable Tier 5s amongst them. The one that had caused a fuss had been a badger-like beast that was moss green, shaggy as a 70s den, and grumpy as all hell.
That said, it gave up quickly after Wentian gave it a kick that sent it a hundred feet through the air, somehow managing to miss every tree during its involuntary flight. After it rolled to a stop, and got its bearings, it had evidently come to the conclusion that a strategic retreat was in order. After that, it had burrowed into the earth so quickly that it had appeared to just dive into it like water.
For their part, the three new additions to the team were varying shades of bored. Emily was practically chomping at the proverbial bit to fight something. Alyraele was more reserved, staying in the middle of the group with Sophia, calmly taking everything in.
Sophia was still distracted. It wasn’t hard to tell that she was still thinking about everything that had happened. That said, she was still in the game, as it were. She was the first to spot many herbs and plants that could fetch a decent price if they were brought back and sold.
Given her… mercantile ways, it was a bit hard for him to say no to gathering everything they ran across. But he still did, reminding them that they were still on a schedule. Though, he still made a few exceptions if the plant was exceptionally valuable or useful in alchemy.
Once they’d gathered what they needed, and stored it away properly, Joram started looking out for level appropriate challenges for everyone to test their coordination in combat.
All told, it wasn’t bad.
Alicia had taken them out on quests a fair number of times and had gone over team strategy with them. Since Alyraele and Sophia were pretty classic “caster types”, they stayed in the back while he and Wentian took the front while Bai Lian and Mo Yu took care of the sides. Emily turned out to be a good rover. She’d pop in at the front to make opportunistic attacks, while also drawing back when Alyraele and Sophia needed a bit more support.
That said, the encounters that Joram chose weren’t a challenge for the regular team. But Tier 4 magical beasts weren’t anything to scoff at for the tag-alongs. Even then, they were done before sunset and back in the once ruined clearing that contained the portal to the safe haven.
“Are you sure this is the right place?” Emily asked, looking around with a combination of doubt and wonder on her face.
He could understand her doubt. In the relatively short time they’d been away, the landscape had been transformed. Gone were the myriad corpses, craters, and burnt-out vegetation. Instead, they found themselves in a glade similar to the one they’d initially found the morning before.
Well, similar in that it was once again green. Instead of the long wild grass that had been there, he found a short, domesticated grass. Where the portal would be, he found a small stone square, roughly ten metres by ten metres. He wasn’t sure where the stone had come from, but it was a nice granite grey, polished smooth enough to not scrape a knee if someone tripped and fell on it, but not a mirror finish.
“Well, I guess Alicia cleaned up well,” he said with a grin as he walked to where the portal would be. “Let’s head in and have dinner.”
The group followed behind him, shaking their heads at just how ridiculous his statement was to their sensibilities.
Once inside, they all split off to get cleaned off, grab a bath, and get into some clean clothes. He couldn’t blame them, for he did the same thing before going to the living room and updating the request board and its accompanying map.
The evening passed well enough, the conversations revolving around the day’s questing and cleanup. It seemed as though the ones who’d stayed had been treated to Alicia’s efficiency. Since he and Alicia were still connected, she could use any of the Powers that he could, using his psionic power pool to manifest those powers.
She could also co-opt any of his still-active Powers if she wanted. Hence why the cleanup had gone so quickly. That said, the group thought that Alicia was in possession of several epic quality storage items due to her having sent all of the useful corpses into the storage area of the Realm.
Well, if the group proved to be as tightly knit as he hoped they were, then they’d eventually come to learn the truth. As it was, he was happy that Sophia had calmed down over the course of the day, relaxing more and more as they helped each other overcome the various challenges he’d set up for them.
Night came quickly, and soon everyone settled into their rooms for the night, leaving him alone in his room. He sighed in relief. Finally getting time to himself, where he hadn’t run away for one reason or another, was nice.
Then his mind tuned to the catatonic Belladonna in the room across the hall from him, and he frowned. There was a problem he could have done without. And thinking of that, his thoughts once again turned to Tillia and the taken children of the clan.
He still wasn’t sure how he’d find them all, but there were more than a few options that might lead to a solution. For example, if he could boost the power of [Hypercognition] or [Metafaculty] then he might get somewhere.
[Metafaculty] would be the best option, as the had too little information regarding those who’d been taken to get much use out of [Hypercognition]. Maybe once he’d gotten a few of them rescued and… debriefed, then he could rely on [Hypercognition].
As for the problem at hand, and what made him think of Tillia again, was how he was going to remove the slavery seal from the Belladonna. He wasn’t very sure of his success yet. He would still need to do more reading on the subject, and possibly research in the form of live testing….
He really didn’t like that last part. But if he was to get a better handle on how to deal with slavery seals, then he’d need to be around slaves. Specifically, slaves that wouldn’t get him in trouble for examining them.
For now, he sat back and retrieved another volume and got reading.
* * *
The following few days were much like the first questing day. The second group consisted of Gabrielle and Faenwyn, as they were primarily melee types. The day after had Daleira and Jae-Eun, along with Aya. The last group had Kassandra and Renna.
He was impressed with how powerful Rena’s psionic ability was considering she was effectively a teenager still. She was just into the 5th Tier as a Mentalist, while also being in the 4th Tier as a Mage. In fact, both of her cultivations were very close to one another. He could feel that it wouldn’t be long before she stepped into the 5th Tier as a Mage.
Considering how much “younger” Kassandra was compared to Renna, she was also doing amazingly well. In fact, he was reasonably sure that the two of them would be considered “peerless geniuses” back in their homelands. Which made their interest in him all the more uncomfortable given how jealously such geniuses were nurtured and guarded.
Renna had casually mentioned that elves normally didn’t mingle with the other races, not because they were snobbish, but because it was difficult to watch friends age, grow old, and die in “such a short period of time”. Instead, they were more likely to befriend higher Tier cultivators since their lifespans were closer to their own, natural, lifespans. Of course, this came with a significant power imbalance, as the elf befriending the cultivator was usually a “mortal”, giving the other party immense power over them.
Which led to Renna mentioning that elven cultivators finding talented youths to nurture was, in fact, quite common amongst her people. That said, it was still almost staggeringly difficult to find someone with the innate talent to reach the 7th Tier, the Immortal Realm. So, most made do with a cultivator around Tier 5, as they were much easier to come across.
Which then led to Renna mentioning just how rare an existence he was; him being a Reincarnator notwithstanding. That he’d reached Tier 5 as a cultivator and Tier 6 as a Mentalist by “his age” meant that he’d be “pursued”. A lot. And not just by talent hunters.
The look in her eyes when she had told him all that had sent a bit of a chill up his spine. He couldn’t be sure, as she’d had much longer to study diplomacy, and thus how to control her body language, than he’d even been alive… in both lives. But the impression he got from her was that she was very much considering “staying” with him long-term. Which kind of aligned with what she’d been like during their talk. Which, really, wouldn’t be a terrible thing… if everyone got along well.
Not that they weren’t. Not at all. In fact, they were getting along so well that he was shocked. Under any other circumstances, he was sure that having so many young women “confessing” to him and staying in the same building on a trip, should have resulted in- at the very least- a cold war. He’d been more expecting outright hostilities, especially directed at him.
But what he got was over a dozen young-to-youngish women bonding. Chatting, studying together, comparing notes, and even doing each other’s hair at night. Alicia, Megami, Aya, and Jezira had even formed their own little clique when the others started their bonding time. He wasn’t sure why Alicia had joined them, but he had suspected that it was because Alicia wanted to make sure that the three other women didn’t feel left out or something.
As it was, the first week of their outing passed well enough. Sure, there was some flirting that even he managed to notice, especially when a few of the study group started suggesting that he make a mixed gender hot spring for them all. What had really thrown him off was that neither Aya nor Jezira had objected to the suggestion. Even Megami appeared unconcerned. Likely because they’d likely still just use the women only bath should he acquiesce to the requests.
The second week passed much like the rest of the first week, though with more of an emphasis on studying at night after they finished questing for the day. Though, he started to divide the study sessions into two larger parts. One for magical theory and practice, the other for psionic instruction.
Which meant that Gabrielle, Kassandra, Renna, and Faenwyn joined in on those sessions. Alicia didn’t bother, instead preferring to keep studying with the others.
For her part, Faenwyn wasn’t very enthusiastic about being pulled into the “Mental Strength” group. Nevertheless, Joram wanted to make sure that she was at least properly trained given that she had natural talent. It was rare enough to find someone with the talent, so he didn’t want her to waste it by ignoring it in preference of magical training.
Not only that, but being able to properly use psionic power, and being able to adequately recognize when it was being used, was invaluable. Especially for someone who was going into public works like she planned to do. Not only would it help her to better memorize and learn her course materials, but it would also give her the ability to effectively resist any mental intrusions or influences that she might come across.
As for Kassandra and Renna, they were so close to breaking through to their next Tiers that he spent a bit more time tutoring, coaching, and instructing them than with Gabrielle who was still a bit away from breaking through to the 2nd Tier. That said, the four of them made wonderful progress that week, each of them getting much closer to breaking through to the next Tier, even Faenwyn.
That she was close to breaking through to the first Tier, well, it was something to behold. As she got closer, he could see how excited the tsundere noblewoman was. That she’d been indifferent and dismissive of her innate talent for psionics at the beginning only further accentuated her new enthusiasm.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
By the end of the second week, they’d gone through all the quests that he’d accepted for them, now leaving them with another full week of leisure time… if he wasn’t still so focussed on the Belladonna and how to deal with her slavery seal.
During the second week, he’d read through everything that the Library and Archive had on the subject. He’d learned more than he cared to when he’d dived into the subject. What he eventually determined was that he needed to get live subjects for experimentation. Which meant that he needed slaves.
He shuddered.
According to his research, if he visited the lower-end slave markets, they’d have lesser versions of the slavery seals that he could examine. From there, he’d need to go up the chain, as it were, buying more and more expensive slaves to examine as he got more and more practical knowledge.
He really wasn’t looking forward to that.
In the meantime, everyone was getting up for their first truly free day. Having spent the last two weeks questing and studying hard, everyone was looking forward to just relaxing.
“So, why don’t we head to Avilia and do some shopping?” Emily asked as they all sat around the breakfast table.
Her question got more than a few nods and words of agreement from everyone, except for the scholarship students.
After a bit more discussion, they decided to go anyway, Joram offering to foot the bill considering the shares he expected everyone to receive after he turned in the quests. They had, after all, all participated in the quests, and he didn’t feel right not giving any of them their fair share of the rewards.
“It’s settled then,” Alicia said with a smile. “We’ll get all packed up and leave within the hour.”
That got everyone moving. It wasn’t more than half an hour before everyone was outside and waiting in front of the portal leading back to the glade. He noticed that they’d all somehow managed to dress up as though they were preparing for a fancy dinner.
He looked down at himself and sighed.
‘I’ll be right back,’ he sent to Alicia as he headed back inside and changed into non-adventurer attire. When he came out again, he was dressed in a casual/formal “suit”. It was a dark charcoal grey, with thin pinstripes. It was one of those fitted cuts that followed his lines, with only two buttons on his jacket… that hung unbuttoned.
The shirt was pristine white, left unbuttoned at the neck, leaving the collar open enough to show a bit of the origin of his clavicles. His shoes were more designed along Earth fashion, being a black loafer-like design. The last thing to make up the outfit was the belt. It was black with an “N7” buckle.
He couldn’t help that one.
“He cleans up well,” Kassandra teased from where she stood at the portal, getting a few murmurs of agreement from the study group.
What made him a bit nervous was that Jezira nodded along with the rest of them… along with Aya. Could it be that she didn’t approve of his normal attire? Was it not good enough for a princess?
He filed those thoughts away for later examination and just smiled and nodded to them.
“Let’s head out,” he said, passing the group and stepping out of the portal and into the early morning of the glade.
He really liked how well Alicia had cleaned up and repaired/replanted the previously destroyed vegetation of the glade. The morning mists were just starting to dissipate, leaving the morning dew to sparkle in the dawn light. It was still cool out, which made him smile. Early morning cool air was one of his favourite things.
Once everyone was out of the safe haven, Joram retrieved the gate cube and closed the portal entirely. Once done, he turned and was about to summon the Soyokaze when he felt a chill run down his spine.
Joram felt a veritable wave of projectiles bearing down on not only him, but everyone in the group.
‘Incoming!’ He sent to the entire group as he quickly manifested [Force Screen A], forcibly adding the Network descriptor to the fully augmented Power, using Psijic Energy to do so. He was in such a rush that he didn’t have time to remove the auditory component of the Power, resulting in a loud snap-hiss sound to be repeated for each member of the study group that had a [Force Screen] appear for them.
It was just in time. Just as the [Force Screen]s appeared, they shimmered slightly as several waves of… darts impacted them, causing shouts of surprise, alarm, and pain as a few of the darts managed to find flesh.
Sophia and Faenwyn cried out as each took a dart, one to an arm, the other to the leg. Through his SoP- sphere of perception-, Joram saw the wounds immediately begin to turn black, leading him to believe that the darts were poisoned.
‘I’ll take care of them,’ Alicia sent along with an image of the two poisoned girls.
‘Take them all back to the Realm,’ he sent back as he dashed towards the closest spot to where another wave of darts was coming from.
Before the darts could arrive and cause more issues with his friends, Joram felt Alicia pulling them into his Realm, causing a sigh of relief to escape his lips. He really didn’t want to have to fight whoever these people were while having to worry about his friends being hurt or killed.
Just as his SoP reached the edge of the glade, and thus registered two of their assailants, the second wave of darts pinged off his [Force Screen]. He could tell that the attackers were shocked that their attacks were ineffective, but he perceived that they quickly recovered.
M3: [Inertial Armour A].
M4: [Biofeedback A].
M5: [Telekinetic Maneuver A].
M6: [Mindblade], glove form.
M10: [Dimension Hop A], first enemy.
Joram popped into existence right beside the first identified attacker, causing them to give a great start of surprise before his fist connected with their mask-covered face, sending them flying with the sound of breaking ceramics and bone.
M11: [Dimension Hop A], second enemy.
His position shifted about ten metres to his right, placing him beside yet another enemy, who was also sent flying with yet another punch. Both enemies had been too shocked to react, making for easy wins. He also noted that both enemies felt as though they were in the 5th Tier, about midway through. Which meant that this was not just a random encounter.
As he dashed to the next set of targets that were now reacting to his sudden counterattack, he pulled Kinkade over to retrieve and incapacitate those he’d just downed. He wanted answers, and it wouldn’t do to have any of the ambushers either die or escape.
The next targets were backing up with great leaps and bounds, agilely maneuvering through the underbrush as they drew their weapons to either defend themselves or attack him. Probably both, as weapons were usually used for such. Not that he cared overly much, as they’d only likely prove a minor delay in their fates.
M3: [Battlesense A], all augment options.
M4: [Dimension Hop A], third enemy.
Joram nodded as he arrived before the third one, this one defending herself with what looked like a Chinese longsword.
M5: [Delve A]. Checking their weapons when you deflect their attacks.
He didn’t have time no nod at that thought as he deflected her first attack with the back of his hand, getting the rough specs of the weapon. It seemed to be a Tier 3 artifact with a wounding ability that would cause any injuries inflicted by it to continue bleeding if magical intervention wasn’t used.
Joram brought up his left hand and flicked her forehead, shattering her mask and dropping her. As she crumpled into an unconscious heap, M4 brought him to the fourth assassin.
This one brought what looked like a shaolin spade to bear on him. He narrowly ducked a thrust meant to decapitate him before diving forward to shoulder tackle the woman. He heard her breath explode from her mouth as his shoulder connected with her stomach. He felt her grip on her weapon release as they flew through the air, so he snaked his arm around her waist, twisted, then flung her at the fifth assassin once his left foot connected with the ground.
The woman shot out like a giant cannonball, clipping the fifth assassin as they tried to dodge the human(?) projectile.
M5: [Dimension Hop A], fifth enemy.
Just as the fifth assassin was staggering, Joram appeared behind her and gave a rabbit punch to the back of her cervical spine. He winced at the sound of shattering bone, then quickly instructed Kinkade to stabilize her as M4 brought him to the sixth assassin.
This one had been closing in on him with three others, all holding various weapons as they closed the gap between them. He could feel that they were a mix of Peak Tier 5s and some Low Tier 6s. He then felt another group approaching, this one six strong. All were in the 6th Tier.
He really didn’t know who could afford to send that many assassins after him, or someone from the study group, but he was certain that they weren’t poor. Sending Tier 5 and Tier 6 cultivators after him was the equivalent of sending a kingdom’s elites after him. Those Tiers were prestigious enough to get someone the rank of general or great general in a kingdom. In a sect, they’d all be at least instructors, most likely elders.
Hiring so many 5th and 6th Tier cultivators, especially Belladonnas, would beggar any country.
So, just who in the hells is responsible for this? He asked himself as he slipped past the guard of the sixth attacker, giving her a punch to the sternum that shattered her ribs. He was impressed with her fortitude when she didn’t immediately drop, but managed to jump back in time to prevent her collapsing ribcage from piercing her lungs and heart. He was also glad at how fast she reacted, as he hadn’t wanted to kill her.
He was having a bit of a hard time adjusting his strength. The last Tier 6 enemy he’d faced was that dragon, and its scales had been significantly more durable than the bones of the Belladonna’s.
M4: [Dimension Hop A], seventh enemy.
Just as he arrived before her, she called out.
“Fifths, back away! Sixths, to me!” She yelled as her left leg flashed out at him.
He wasn’t being figurative there. Her left leg had actually started to glow a bright yellow as it approached him. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling from it, but decided that it wasn’t the time to analyze things. He deflected the kick with his right palm as he sidestepped to avoid another thrown dart. He wasn’t sure if they’d pierce his defenses, nor did he want to chance being poisoned in the middle of a fight. Sure, his defenses were sufficient to fight another mutated flood dragon, as Jezira had called it, but he didn’t want to risk it.
The seventh assassin proved to be more adept at hand-to-hand combat than the others had. Not only that, but the other seven Tier 6 cultivators that joined the fight made things more complicated than he liked, especially given that the Tier 5s were supporting them with thrown darts and the occasional spell when an opening presented itself to them.
But all that was just getting his blood going.
He felt as his battle aura started to leak out, then saw in his SoP the jade green fire/lightning as it grew in strength and intensity. Not only that, but he could see the smile on his face was growing with each passing second.
* * * * *
She couldn’t believe how wrong their source had been. In just a few seconds, the target had somehow managed to protect his entire group and sent them away somewhere she couldn’t feel. Then he’d taken out five of them before she could intercept him.
What worried her as they fought was just how strong the boy was. She’d been given the information package on Joram Aneath and had been shocked. The boy was reported to be around the 4th Tier as a mentalist at his age, something almost unheard of for someone his age. Not only that, but he was a body refiner. She hadn’t been present for his duel with that princess on his team, but the information package had covered that too.
So, given that the organization had sent a Tier 6 agent after him had felt like overkill to her. The Belladonnas prided themselves on using the right person for each job, efficiently completing each assignment. But when Imressa had failed to report back, they’d gotten wary.
That was when the higher-ups had decided that the target was too unpredictable to risk sending individual agents after, so they’d assigned a full squad the task of bringing him down. Eight Tier 6s and twelve Tier 5s had been sent this time. Something that would normally be done only for the most difficult targets, like a king or emperor. Perhaps even the leader of a sect or clan. She’d felt that it was overkill, but had complied.
Now…. Now, she understood just how ill-prepared they were.
She’d been assigned as the leader of the squad because she was one of the rare dual cultivators in their region. Not only was she a Tier 6 Mage, but she was also a Peak Tier 6 Mentalist. It had taken her over two centuries to get to her level of power, meticulously nurtured and brought up by the organization as their trump card.
The fact that the child she was currently fighting could resist her mental field of paralysis, as well as keep up with her physical attacks, was mind boggling. Not only that, but even with the support of her sisters, she was being put on the back foot as they fought.
When she noticed the smile growing on the child’s face, she felt a chill run down her spine.
When the first flickering of the battle aura she’d read about came into being, she paled further. If he was already such a handful before his battle aura manifested, she knew that she’d soon be overwhelmed once it fully manifested.
“Moonfall Formation!” She cried out, causing her sisters to briefly pause in shock.
She couldn’t blame them. The Moonfall Formation was one of the strongest attacks that the Belladonnas had. It required, at minimum, five Tier 6 Mages to initiate. With seven of them to initiate the formation, and another seven Tier 5s to support them, the attack would be devastating.
“Hurry!” She yelled as Joram Aneath began speeding up as his aura’s intensity increased, causing sweat to start rolling down her back. “[Leaf on the Wind],” she said, activating her trump card.
She didn’t know why Joram Aneath snorted in laughter then, but didn’t care. With the increase in speed that the technique provided her, she was finally able to start counterattacking.
But what infuriated her the most was that smile of his. Not only had it not vanished when she started pressing him, but it had somehow grown. As she felt the power of the Moonfall Formation build, so too did Joram Aneath’s aura.
In fact, it was now so powerful that his clothes had burnt away, revealing a black body suit underneath that did little to hide his impressive physique. Not only that, but she found that her own clothing was starting to vaporize whenever one of his attacks came too close, her innate resistances not able to protect her clothing.
Soon, her clothing was so burnt away that she had more skin showing than clothing. Even her blade was showing scorch marks, its Tier 5 construction not able to handle the fight. Just as most of the rest of her clothing finally went up in smoke, she smiled.
From above, she felt a massive burst of mana as a huge meteorite came into existence. She could feel the heat of the magical construct as it quickly bore down on them. She wasn’t sure if she would survive, but was reasonably sure that Joram Aneath would not.
When she once again focussed on Joram Aneath, her heart dropped. The smile on his face had, somehow, gotten even larger. Not only that, but she could see his battle aura spike in intensity as she felt a wave of such powerful Mental Strength wash over her that she felt her consciousness begin to fade.
Just what kind of a monster did they send us to? She thought just before everything went black.