*1346.08.15*
“Ahhh~,” she sighed as she went to her first class of the semester.
“You’ll be fine,” Renna said from her side, once again dressed as an assistant instructor.
“You keep saying that, but aren’t you done with your classes? Aren’t you just here to tutor students?” She asked, giving her friend a mild glare.
“In a way, isn’t that harder than learning new materials?” Renna asked rhetorically. “Joram said something really interesting yesterday. ‘You don’t really know a subject until you can explain it simply to another person in a way that they can understand.’ I thought about it more after we separated for the night…” Renna said, trailing off at the end.
“… and?” She prompted, hoping to get the whole story before she needed to get to class.
“… and I decided to retake a few courses to deepen my understanding,” she finished, nodding to herself.
“Wait…. Does that mean that you’re coming to class with me?” She asked, not sure how she should feel about that.
“No, Emily, I will not,” Renna said, shaking her head. “I will, however, be retaking courses from the Master level and up to see if there is anything new that I can learn; new ways of looking at things. Joram hinted at more than a few things that aren’t as… efficient as he thought they should be. So, I’ve decided to deepen my knowledge!” Renna finished, her eyes practically blazing with fervor.
Once again, Emily was unsure of just how she should feel about the “Eternal Student” retaking courses. Renna was almost universally acknowledged as one of the top students in the Academy. She’d also gotten that nickname because, aside from the professors, instructors, and staff at the Academy, she had been there the longest amongst anyone else there. It was partly a title that was designed to mock her, but others also used it in a respectful way.
That someone so dedicated to learning was still there, and even helping out as an assistant instructor…. Well, many people respected that thirst for knowledge and the desire to share it with others. Which led to any class Renna assisted in having a much higher enrolment rate than other classes. It had gotten to the point where the professors and instructors had started to contend with one another to see who could get her as their assistant. They’d even gone so far as to offer her increased pay and signing bonuses.
To say that Renna was being paid to attend the Academy wasn’t a stretch. She was the only person Emily knew of that didn’t have to pay tuition, rent, or even pay for her books. About the only thing she used her money for was to eat out, buy research materials, and clothing.
Even though she was a princess, Emily still had to keep to a budget while she was there. Being the daughter of a concubine meant that her monthly stipend wasn’t nearly as much as that of her “direct line” siblings. So, that was why she was especially happy to have not only moved in with Alicia, but also ecstatic that she was able to go on missions with Joram and everyone else.
Well, she was also very happy to have been able to have met Joram. Her whimsical decision to follow Renna to her “interview” had been one of the best decisions of her life. Sure, she hadn’t ever thought that she’d find herself in the same position as her mother when it came to finding… love? She wasn’t sure about that yet, but she did know that she really like Joram. She also knew that he was someone that she could have seen herself with even without her parents practically gift-wrapping and presenting her to him.
“Emily?” Renna queried, gently poking her in the side, making her jump in surprise.
Smoothing out her tail with gentle strokes, Emily glared at her friend.
“What?”
“You’re going to be late,” Renna said, pointing at Emily’s classroom.
Without another word, or even looking back at her friend, Emily dashed into class just as the instructor called the class to order.
It wasn’t one of her favourite classed, but musical theory was important, in its own way. But after having met Joram, and having spent more time with him and everyone else, she’d come to a greater appreciation of music as a whole. The various instruments that Joram had at his place, not to mention the new ones like the “guitar” and “piano”, had kindled a deeper desire in her to learn more. To get better than she had been.
Sure, those desires might have come in response to her wanting to get closer with Joram. To get a connection with him outside of sparring. Yes, she really enjoyed their sparring sessions and just how far he could push her fighting skills while also teaching her at the same time. But knowing that sparring was just a small part of Joram’s life, even though he was exceptionally good at it, made her want… more. She wanted more for herself. She wanted to be more than just a “battle junky”, as others called her.
Emily also wanted to just… be better. Better than who she’d been just a few months ago. Better than what others thought of her as. Better than even her family thought she could be. Just… better. Perhaps… “more” was the better word for it. She wanted to be more than just a number on the Goddess Ranking. More than just a brawler. More than just the flirty persona she put out there to distract people from who she really was.
So, when it came time for everyone to practice on their chosen instruments, she retrieved the instrument that Joram had said would fit her well. He called it a “bass guitar”. It needed to “pair” with an “amp”, so she retrieved that too.
She took her time fiddling with the several “dials” on the amp that adjusted anything from the volume to resonance to “gain”, “bass”, “mids”, and “treb”. She hadn’t quite gotten the explanation of how it all worked, but she knew that she’d get it once she played with it for a time. Book learning was good and all that, but practical experience was where it was at for her.
Emily smiled as she activated her isolation array, just like everyone else in class. The instructor would be able to use the key for the arrays in class to listen in on their individual playing, which meant that no one student could disturb any of the others as they practiced. Which, really, was just what she needed because this was the first time that she’d really sat down with the bass guitar.
It was so different from the guzheng that she had difficulty adjusting to the new “play style”, but she was confident that she’d get it down. And impress Joram.
Not only that, but she could- reluctantly- admit to herself that she also wanted to impress Alicia, Mo Yu, and Bai Lian. That she was the 4th… wife? Anyway, that she was 4th in line meant that three others were ahead of her and that she’d need to cultivate her relationship with the others if she wanted to develop a good relationship with Joram and a harmonious home-life with everyone else. That, and she could also admit that the three of them impressed her greatly.
Alicia because she had the same level of talent as Joram, and was just plain stunning. Mo Yu and Bai Lian because, even though they were only a year or two older than her, they were already in the 5th Tier. Which, really, was just astounding. Back in the Eternal Snow Kingdom, they’d have been given priority no matter where they went. They’d practically have cultivation resources thrown at them because of their “genius”.
Emily smiled to herself. Not only was she in the company of terrifying geniuses, but they were also good people. Nice. Caring. Genuine.
At that moment, Emily determined that she’d give it her all. That she would become someone better than she’d been so that she could stand tall with her new… family.
Yeah, that sounds good. “Family”, she thought with another smile as she finally finished playing with the dials.
- - - - -
Several days later, Alyraele was still in shock.
The start of the new semester had proved a useful distraction for the first few hours, but hearing the gossip in class before her latest business class started up had thoroughly reminded her of the incident last week.
As a member of the “Study Group” involved in the incident, there was considerable gossip involving her too. Anything from her being Joram’s mistress to his fiancée to shady dealings between his unknown house/backers and even the Academy itself.
She knew that Joram had a connection with the Dean, and even the President of the Bank. She was also reasonably sure that he hadn’t used those connections to deal with the Arabanise Family, as she’d done more than a few discrete inquiries over the past few days.
From what she could find, Joram seemed to have a connection with Heaven’s Bounty Auction House. What that connection was, or how strong it was, she hadn’t been able to find out. The new business partnerships that had formed after House Arabanise had cut ties with them and House Erhice’s business partners had almost all reported that they’d come across the new opportunities when someone from Heaven’s Bounty had said something. Or even strongly hinted that it would be a good venture.
Thankfully the class started and the gossip ended, letting her once again put those annoying thoughts and speculations aside. Unfortunately, they returned in her musical theory and applications class.
Most of it, she was sure, had been prompted when they saw the “acoustic guitar” that Joram had gifted her. She was very pleased with the instrument, even though she preferred the “piano”. That said, pianos were incredibly inconvenient to transport, let alone take out in class. The silence arrays weren’t quite large enough to accommodate a “grand piano’s” size.
Alyraele idly strummed her guitar as she waited for class to start, adding to the background noise of the class. As she let her mind wander, she noticed that the mostly random idle playing of the class started to synchronize. Even her idle strumming had shifted to go along with the flow.
It took her another moment to realize that it was an odd adaptation to a song Joram called “November Rain”. He’d claimed that to do the song justice he’d need at least a piano and an “electric” guitar. He’d still played it for them, and even sang for them at Dawn Star- which had been a treat!
That said, she wasn’t quite sure what she thought of the current adaptation. Fortunately, she was saved from that line of thought when class started.
The rest of her day went a like that. Gossip. Distraction. Gossip. Distraction.
She was happy to get back to her small apartment and kick her shoes off. She was even happier to start studying and working on the assigned homework from the day. She wasn’t as happy to get a call from Sophia to continue discussing the various findings and speculations surrounding their families’ change of fortune.
Why can’t things just settle down again? She asked herself with a sigh.
* * * * *
Captain’s log, star date: 1346.13.21
It’s been… hectic. The past few months have seen me on more dates than all of my lives combined. Each and every one of the Study Group who’d confessed to me, or just plain showed interest in getting to know me better, insisted on spending more time with me… alone.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Avi, for her part, threw me under the bus, as it were. Due to the growing tensions amongst the Study Group, she suggested that I go on a “date” with each of them. Well, they seemed to have taken quite the liking to spending time with me, one-on-one. So, after that, I found that six of my evenings each week were then devoted to “date night”.
I can’t believe I managed to survive.
But, according to Avi, I seem to have “firmed up” after the many months of constant dating/getting to know each of them better. My social batteries seem to have expanded as I no longer get home and immediately crash.
I guess that’s a good thing?
Anyways….
Fall Term came and went. The courses weren’t anything to write home about and I once again got top marks in each of them. Even Winter Term was simple enough, though since they haven’t posted the marks yet, I don’t know exactly how I did…. But I very much suspect that I passed with flying colours.
Welp, Winter Break starts now. I’m not sure if I want to take the group out again on another field trip, seeing how the last one went and all….
That said, I’ve made great progress in figuring out the slavery seals on the Belladonnas. I’m confident that I can now remove them with little to no side effects for them. I just don’t know what’ll happen after that.
I’ve had each of the captured Belladonnas incapacitated like the first one I caught, meaning that I’ll need to wipe away the mental trauma from each of them due to being stuck in their own dreamworlds for the past several months. That’s not hard, given that the Minds have managed to translate all the way up to the eighth level Powers, and then some. Heck, they even prioritized the Healing Powers needed to take care of that, so I don’t have to worry about waiting for those Powers to be finished before finally getting on with things.
That said, I’m… hesitant. Sure, they were- probably- sent to kill me… but. Given that their probability of succeeding in their mission was- unbeknownst to them- slim to none… well. Avi constantly reminds me that I’m too soft. That I shouldn’t consider people who’ve tried to kill me as people, but pests to be exterminated.
But if I went along with that way of thinking, then I wouldn’t have the… friendship?, that I currently enjoy with the Trio. Sure, it’s still a bit weird for me to have Bai Lian and Mo Yu still interested in me romantically, even after all this time. Especially given the circumstances surrounding how we met. I’m still not sure if their interest in me is due to the Reverse Nightingale Syndrome or not. But they’re still insistent on staying by my side and even getting their “fair share” of dates.
Anyways, I digress.
As I said, I’m confident in removing the slavery seals from the Belladonnas without harming them. The problem in that they were likely indoctrinated during their training, and likely continued to be indoctrinated after that on a regular basis. Sure, slavery seals can force compliance, but they’re not very good for developing devotion to a cause. Hence why I suspect indoctrination of some sort.
Which leaves me with my current dilemma.
I’m not very comfortable changing someone’s mind without their informed consent. But in this case, would their opinions be considered unbiassed? Or, rather, would their decisions be in their best interests given their “brainwashed” state?
I know that the ethics of this world are significantly different from Earth, let alone where I grew up in Canada. Heck, I’ve let go of many of the norms and mores I grew up with on Earth over the past several years that I’ve been here. But some things are hard to let go. Like my very profound belief in the sanctity of the mind. I still have issues just reading the surface thoughts of an enemy, let alone anyone else.
But, once again, Avi has pointed out just how ridiculous that is. If I have a tool that can help me, and those close to me, then why not use it?
Well, that’s not just a can of worms, but a whole palette full of them….
That said, most of those cans originate from Earth, so there’s that. “The strong rule”, and “might makes right”, are very much the dogmas of this world. Sure, Waeryn is more geared towards academic supremacy than Zhizun Zhanshi, but that’s just another type of strength that’s respected here than over there. Ultimately, personal power very much determines what people are allowed to do, on either continent.
Sure, there’ll be some blowback if someone does something especially egregious, but unless that person makes it their life’s goal to continue doing such things, they’re very likely to “get away with it” if they’re strong enough.
So, even though it’s frowned upon here to mess with someone’s mind, it’s generally considered OK to “help” someone by forcefully subjecting someone to Healing of any kind if the people around that person deem it necessary. And removing any sort of brainwashing/conditioning/indoctrinations falls under that category.
Which just means that I need to “get over myself”, as Avi so eloquently put it last week. “With great power comes great responsibility,” and “Noblesse Obligé”, and all that. Not that Avi believes that second part as much as the first, but she still threw that at me because she knew that it would be as impactful as the first part.
Yeah, I’ve heard many arguments about how ridiculous noblesse obligé is and all that. But a lifetime of being taught to be selfless, and helping others who I could help, is a bit hard to let go, especially when it’s part of one’s nature.
So, I’ve come to the conclusion that that I will indeed help those women- as every Belladonna that I captured is indeed a woman- by removing their… conditions.
I know that I made the resolution to buy and use slaves to practice these techniques on, but… it was hard. I did wind up buying almost four dozen slaves of varying races. But. I only studied their slave seals. That’s it. As for what I did with them afterwards, well… Grammy is a bit annoyed with me.
On another note, the department store has been quite the success!
Sophia and Daleira have been working there part-time and have been such amazing employees that I’m sure that a great deal of the success the department store is enjoying is due to their efforts. Miss Layla was true to her word and sent a few people to help out, and they’ve also done quite well.
I’m not sure where she got them from, but I am reasonably sure that they must have been long-time veterans of Heaven’s Bounty. For one, the women are all stunning, on the level of the Goddess Ranking, while the men could have been on the Hero Ranking. Not only that, but they were more than happy to suggest being live models for the viridian silk products. Which was both an amazing success and caused more than a few issues with customers wanting to grope- “feel the product” that the models were wearing.
Anyway.
Both Mom and Grammy finally caught up with Avi in their cultivation efforts, so during the Fall Break, I supervised their core formations. I would like to say that I was surprised when they told me that they were all practicing Encompass the Universe, but that would be a lie. Their drive and determination to get stronger is very strong.
So, I modified [Metaconcert] a bit to allow for everyone to draw strength from me at the same time. That, combined with the utility of the Network, and each of them were successful in not only forming multiple cores, but also pulling off my stunt in drawing their cores into their Knowledge Seas.
Mom and Grammy both succeeded in forming thirty-two cores each, while Avi matched me with sixty-four cores. It took another day or so to stabilize their new “solar systems”, but it was more than worth the effort. After passing along my personal cultivation method, they’ve more or less been in secluded cultivation, leaving most of the work of keeping the Clan going to my Dad. Who is also annoyed with me….
That said, I’ve continued to revive several Clan members every few days. As hard as it was to do the first several times with my close family, it’s gotten easier over time. I’m not sure if it is due to repetition or due to me not knowing them as well. Probably both, if I’m being honest with myself. That said, my “divine” reserves that let me use [True Resurrection] seem to have been expanding quite considerably.
Now, I’m truly not sure if that’s because of my growing cultivation, or due to my using [True Resurrection] as frequently as I have been. Either way, I’m glad for it. Given my initial reserves, it would have taken decades to revive the Clan, even working at it every day.
Related to that, Xixi and Zanth are doing much better. I’m sure that having their parents back has helped tremendously with that. But, their parents still have their own issues to work through. Like Selussa losing Nozomi shortly after she was born. Selussa shared with me what she did with the topaz she’d been given, and I could have kissed her.
Not that I did, as that would have been beyond weird, not to mention highly inappropriate. No, but her action will allow for me to find Nozomi much easier than the rest of those who’ve been taken. Which leads to the next thing I’ve been working on.
The ring I’d given Tillia contained a… primitive form of the pseudo psicrystal. I can’t connect someone to the Network with it, but it does allow for me to find the person. If that person isn’t shielded from any form of divination that is. What I’ve been working on, is a way to circumvent the wards Tillia seems to be under. Well, that, or the ring was taken from her and thrown into a shielded vault or something.
Either way, finding the ring should, at the very least, give me a clue to her whereabouts. Not that I’m anywhere near strong enough to raid a Sect right now. No, that’ll still take time. Even though I can survive an attack that I’m reasonably sure would seriously cripple a Tier 7 Mage, if it didn’t outright kill said mage, I’m also certain that I would suffer many such attacks when attacking a long-established Sect.
Even though Tier 7 Mages, or Immortals, are rare, I’m sure that there are more than a few in Sects as old as the ones over there. Which means more studying and a lot more cultivating and training. Even with M3 and M4 working on my cores and stars, things aren’t going as fast as I would like. M10 and M11 are still helping by trying to make new Psijic Stars, but their success has been limited.
So far, with both of them working on the project in tandem, they can only get a… proto-Psijic Star formed. Without them both focussing on keeping the Star stable, it destabilizes within a few seconds and vanishes. I’m sure that I’m missing something, but what that might be, I’m not sure. There’s been nothing like the Psijic Star in the past, so there’s predictably nothing to study to help me with the problem.
That said, I’ve reached T5R9 already, while my Psionic side has reached T6R10. I feel that I should be able to break through to the 7th Tier at any time, but I’m not sure if it’s wise to let my two cultivation bases be so far apart. Sure, there’s plenty of writing on the subject, but my unique situation isn’t covered. I’m not sure if having my two foundations being more than 1 Tier apart will cause issues for my Psijic Star, so I’ll wait until I break through to the 6th Tier as a Mage first.
Which, really, shouldn’t be too far in the future, especially if I can iron out the translation for [Schism]. With the many modifications and improvements that I made to that Power, it’s proving to be even harder than the level 8 Powers were, and are, to translate. But! When that happens, I wonder just how many Minds I can have up and running, helping with… everything!
*Ahem*
Anywho…
To sum things up.
The Study Group feels even closer than ever, very likely due to us getting to know each other better. Avi, Mom, and Grammy are doing quite well with their cultivation efforts, though getting the adamantium and resources needed to help them all along is cutting into the profits from the Department Store, but that was kind of the point of the store to begin with. That said, I’m hoping that Avi’s extraplanetary mining efforts provide some good materials, especially more adamantium.
I’ll be starting with the Belladonnas tomorrow, and we’ll see how that goes….
Oh! The Realm is doing amazingly well! The growth of the new [Genesis], [Genesis, Greater] as I’m calling it, is both amazing ridiculous! In just this half year, the Realm has grown to a diameter of just over 7,900km! That’s bigger than Mars, and two-thirds that of Earth! And there’s still another half-year of growth before it slows down! Which means that in just one use of [Genesis, Greater], I can make a planet about 14,324km in diameter! That’s insane!
*Whew!*
Back on topic! Another neat feature of the Realm- which I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned- is that it pulls in the same kinds of mana from the Astral Plain that I’ve been able to cultivate so far. What I’ve come to discover, is that it also pulls in any mana with the affinity for any of the Laws that I have an affinity for. From what we can tell, Avi and I, the extra attuned mana coming in is affecting the local flora. Some are being nourished very well, while other plants that didn’t have an affinity to a particular Law before are now showing signs of gaining an affinity.
Now, that would normally be kind of awesome, but I need much of those unattributed plants to keep practicing my Alchemy, so it’s causing a bit of a problem right now. We’re working on some isolation arrays to keep the various plants from gaining unwanted affinities, but it’s slow going.
Ah, well. Such is life.
At least the store is doing well, and we’ll be able to buy new plants and seeds which we can use to resupply the gardens. Well, we’ll probably go with a type of greenhouse given the number of wards we’ll need to use to keep various Laws away from the new plants.
Ah, so much to do, so little time…. Well, I very much look forward to [Schism] being fully translated soon. That way things can progress much better, and faster, than they’ve been.
Oh, right! Damn, I’m getting forgetful.
M5 and M6 have been working on what I call the Language of Mana. They’ve been doing quite well. From what I’ve learned from reading as many of the available sources on arrays, artifact refining, and all that, the people of this world have only uncovered about 13% of the Language of Mana over the millennia. Not only that, but I am reasonably sure that their inefficiencies when using mana for… anything, stems from that.
Now, I can see why their mistakes were made, and continue to be proliferated and accepted. The little information they have on the Language of Mana all points to the way that they’re currently doing things. How do I know that?
I’ve managed to suss-out a bit more, maybe a half of a percent more than they have. But that seems to have been enough to make a breakthrough in the language’s syntax. Well, I also went at it with the issue of efficiency in mind, so that might have helped.
Anyway, after that breakthrough, things have been going much smoother than before. But, frustratingly, I’ve had to keep my insights to myself for fear of not being able to leave the Academy ever again. Not that the Dean would do anything, but if word got out, I’d likely be hunted down and enslaved.
I wonder if Altaea knew any of this? There are still areas of the Heavenly Archive that I can’t access yet, so there’s a very real possibility that she left more things behind for me. Or maybe for the Clan. Who knows?
Given that, I wonder if anything will open up for me when I reach Tier 6 as a Mage? Maybe something will open when I reach Tier 7 in Psionics? Again, who knows?
Kinkade: *Ahem*
Crap.
End of log.