“What brings you here?” he asked, surprised to see the succubus chatting with a still-shy Ella.
“I’ve always liked alcohol, so I figured that I’d give learning how to make the stuff a go,” Fyrellia replied with a smile.
“Oh, well, that’s good,” he said, nodding. “How’s everything here, Ella? Do you need anything else?”
“Um, well, I could use some yeast. Different kinds would be good. You need different kinds to make different boozes,” she said, using more words in one go than he’d heard from her at any one time.
“Well, what kinds of alcohol are you planning to start with? I’ll get you that yeast first,” he said, smiling at the tiny dwarf.
“Ales and Beers first, I think,” she said quickly. “Then maybe I’ll try making some hard spirits,” she said, now looking excited about getting to work.
“Then I’ll get a variety of yeasts for you,” he said, then waved at them as he took off to get to work.
Well, to get to the dungeon site, anyways. Once there, he quickly used [Summon: All] to get a selection of yeasts, from ones used to make pale ales all the say to ones that could be used to make something like Guinness, using the needed Dust to make it all permanent.
Once that was done, he stored the sacks of yeast away in his Inventory and headed down into the soon-to-be dungeon.
It took him another couple of hours to get another three levels excavated and reinforced so that they wouldn’t collapse on his head. At that point, he decided to stop, mostly because another nineteen slots of his inventory had been taken up with stone, leaving him with only a few free slots left. Which reminded him about the [Genesis] ritual to make a “Stuff Space” for himself.
Which would be incredibly useful, as it would vastly expand what he could store away.
“So, what would I need to set up the ritual?” he asked Avi as he looked around the bottom layer of the almost dungeon.
‘Anything that would be able to make a decent inlay,’ she said, shrugging. ‘You could probably get away with using more palladium, though you’d have to use [True Creation] instead of [Summon: All], as it needs to be fully “real”,’ she said, now sounding like a professor lecturing in a hall.
“Gotcha,” he said, then proceeded to make twenty, twenty-kilo ingots of palladium. “Is this good?” he asked, wondering if he’d need to make more than that.
‘We should be fine with that for now. Now, let me help you with the layout,’ she said, then proceeded to… put up an overlay in what he saw.
It was… odd, to say the least. It was like having a HUD, or using those augmented reality glasses that were starting to come out before… everything. Anyways, it was much better, as he didn’t get any of that annoying shifting as the software tried to keep up with where the camera was facing. In fact, it was pretty awesome, as the overlay was also translucent enough that he could easily still see where he’d already filled-in the circle.
The massive circle. It was almost ten metres across, with a dizzyingly complex series of shapes, designs, and what looked like some sort of arcane writing. It was also very… geometric and oddly organic looking.
‘All right, now for the second layer,’ Avi said, smiling as he decided to make yet more palladium.
In fact, there wound up being nine layers to the ritual “circle” that made the whole thing stand almost two metres tall. Through the whole thing, he’d also placed Dust Crystals in various parts of each circle, almost completely draining his reserves in the process.
‘That should be good,’ Avi said, nodding at a job well done. ‘Now, just a bit of [Flight], and you’ll be ready,’ she said with a smile.
Nodding, he pulled up the Power and found that he was already familiar with it. Giving silent thanks to M2 and M3, he manifested the Power and navigated over the top of the crazy ritual circle and over to the centre of it where he lowered himself again until he was standing in the small circle reserved for him at the bottom.
‘You should probably sit,’ Avi said from above him. ‘It may take a while, but you also might lose your balance and fall over, which would be a bad thing.’
Nodding again, he sat down and tried to keep the butterflies in his stomach from becoming too agitated.
“What now?” he asked, wondering how things would proceed.
‘Just close your eyes, I’ll take care of activating the circle,’ she said with another smile that nearly caused him to swoon.
So, he closed his eyes. He also activated [Clear Mind] to centre himself just before he felt a surge of psionic power that kept building.
‘Now, manifest [Genesis, True] with all of its augmentation options,’ she said, sounding as though her voice was coming from inside his head this time.
More than a little surprised to learn that there was a [Genesis, True] Power, he pulled it up and found that he was also familiar with it and wondered just how far M2 and M3 had gotten in understanding the hundreds of Powers stored away in his head.
‘Hurry, now,’ Avi prompted him, sounding excited.
Swallowing a bit of saliva that had accumulated, he manifested [Genesis, True], selecting every augmentation option that he could. When he ran out of… capacity to spend more power points, M2 stepped in and helped out, surprising him. That that was an option was… crazy considering what he’d be able to do in the future with such knowledge.
He then refocussed on the task at hand as the Power called his attention back to it.
The options were… myriad, legion… many. He found that he could make a spherical demi-plane, one that would eventually produce a planet instead of a large, flat, plane. Happy to see that, he selected that option, then proceeded to select every climate he could to add to the “seed”.
He couldn’t fit everything in just yet, but the… template, or seed, of the demi-plane would contain all of that information and use it as the planet, and demi-plane, expanded over time. Happy that he could include such variety, and other neat things like moons eventually, he finalized his selection and waited.
He wasn’t sure how to describe the experience. It was like getting whole other sense, almost like proprioception, but that awareness came with the knowledge that it wasn’t just his body that it included, but also the new demi-plane.
‘It’s called a Realm,’ Avi said, sounding distracted.
Well, with nothing to do but wait, he joined M4 in creating more Dust Crystals.
By the time Avi spoke again, they’d created just over thirty-four more Dust Crystals, making him smile.
‘And there you are,’ Avi said with a huge smile. ‘Now you’re almost like Altaea.’
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“Oh?” he said, now intensely curious. “What else is there to do?” he asked, now laser focussed on Avi.
‘Well, you’ll still need to shift into your planar form, then succeed in fusing both forms together,’ she said, shrugging as though it was easy to do.
“So how, pray tell, do I go about doing that?” he asked dryly, not having any idea about how to go about even the first part of that.
‘Just think about it,’ Avi said with another shrug before going on. ‘Before that, though, you should probably take all this down. It’d be a shame to just leave it all sitting around.’
He nodded, now distracted by what she’d revealed, but used [Modify Matter] again, this time to gather the palladium instead of laying it out in complex forms. He then stored away the twenty-kilo ingots and tasked M2 to figuring out how to access his planar form.
‘It’s gotten late. You should probably head back now,’ Avi said, once more distracting him.
“Right,” he said, then quickly retrieved the Dungeon Core before activating [Create Dungeon].
He didn’t bother adding any flora or fauna to it yet. He just added the bottom floor, the 6th level and left it at that for now. He could just play with that in bed later.
Then it was home time. Well, caravan, Celys, then home, in that order.
Well, that is until he started speaking with Celys.
“So, how much would you say is a good wage for everyone who’s been helping out?” he asked, curious to know what a proper wage looked like.
“Considering that they’re also eating for free, I’d say that twenty bronze per day is fair,” Celys replied almost instantly, making him think that she’d already priced things out beforehand.
“Well, I guess I’ll have to find another dungeon to raid,” he said with a chuckle, making Celys go blank-faced.
“I can’t even say that that would surprise me,” she said, shaking her head. “But if you do find another dungeon, please be careful. Dungeons out in the wild tend to be extremely dangerous, more so than the goblin Dungeon.”
“Really? Well, I’ll be careful,” he said, not telling her that there was now a dungeon just under two kilometers form where they stood. “So, how should I go about paying them? Should I just keep giving you the money, or should I try to set something up with the bank?”
“I’ll not be able to keep coming every day,” Celys said, frowning a bit. “I will, however, keep coming until the caravan has packed up and left. But I would suggest getting their information and taking it to the bank so that you can set up a payment schedule for anyone who decides to stay… in you employ,” she finished with a grin.
“Who knew that that awkward boy who couldn’t even speak Common would wind up becoming a pilar of the community,” she teased with a smile.
“Ah, well, uh…” he said, embarrassed enough to feel heat rise to his face. “I’m just doing what I want…” he said, trailing off as Celys began to chuckle.
“It’s fine,” she said, waving off his concern. “I’m just glad we found a good one. That said,” she started, then looked around to see if anyone else was around before continuing. “When’re you planning to marry Myra?”
Avi starting howling, laughing so hard that several of the Spirit Foxes bolted away in surprise.
“I, uh, what?” he asked, his mind blanker than a clean whiteboard.
“Well, you’ve been staying together for so long, let alone sleeping in the same bed,” Celys said, very obviously sniffing him. “Normally, we wouldn’t allow such a thing to go on for so long before getting the couple married. But considering everything that you’ve done, and everything that’s happened, and happening, we agreed to give you a bit more time to get settled,” she said, giving him that “Impatient Mother Look”.
“Uh, I’m not sure things have progressed that far yet…” he said, trailing off under Celys’ stare.
“You’re sleeping with her, and Asami Miki. How have they not gotten ‘that far’ yet?”
“Sleeping, yes. S-s-sex, no,” he said, beyond ashamed of his stuttering as Celys stared at him incredulously.
She continued to stare at him for another three minutes before he broke down, rambling.
“It started with Asami wanting to use me as a pillow,” he said, then reminded her of how they’d found them in the garden that morning over two months back. “After that, she kept wanting to use me as a pillow. Then, after a while, Myra decided to also use me as a pillow. Nothing more!” he finished, practically hyperventilating.
Celys stared at him as though he’d grown another head.
“Why in the name of the Great Protector haven’t you gone further yet? I can’t imagine a single person who’d be able to keep their hands off Myra, let alone Asami. Not that I’m happy you haven’t. But. How? Or better yet: why?” she asked, giving him a searching look.
“I… don’t know,” he started, trying to figure out why he hadn’t taken the leap yet, as it were. “Probably because, before arriving… here, I’d just gotten out of a bad relationship, and… something else,” he said, not quite able to meet her eyes.
Celys looked at him for a moment before looking around again and sighing.
“Let’s take this elsewhere,” she said, then looked around. “Do you have an extra room that we could talk in?”
“Yeah,” he said, then motioned for her to follow him to the library before using [Ectoplasmic Creation] to make a pair of comfy chairs, Lazy-Guy recliners, for them to sit in.
Then after a surprisingly gentle prompting from Celys to share, he did.
Well, he didn’t go into everything, mostly because he didn’t want to dredge up all of those memories, and the pain that came with them. But he did share about his terrible marriage that led to divorce. Then he shared about losing his daughters in an accident. He stopped there to use [Clear Mind] to help him regain his composure. It had been hard, but also liberating to share.
“I see,” Celys said softly, giving him such a look of compassion that he had to turn his eyes away again. “Then, given that you haven’t had sex with anyone yet, I’ll make sure to convince Nalun to wait a bit longer.”
“Thanks,” he said dryly, reflexively going back to his normal conversation persona. “I really do like them. I’m just not sure that I’m ready to get married again. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Celys said, waving off his apology. “If you need, I believe that Lory- you met her when you brought everyone here- can provide some counselling, if you need it,” she said, leaning forward to pat him on the knee. “It’s OK to ask for help, you know,” she said, reminding him of the many people back on Earth who’d said the same thing to him over the years.
Smiling, he nodded, not trusting his suddenly tight throat.
After a few moments, he changed the subject to something a bit lighter.
“So, I’ve also been thinking about going exploring once everything here is a bit more settled,” he said, the paused when he saw Celys’ expression.
“I do hope that you won’t leave so many young women unattended,” she said, concern heavy in her tone.
“No, they wouldn’t be alone,” he said quickly. “If anything, I’d make sure that Myra, Asami, Shae’ra, and the three gals are here to keep everyone safe,” he said, then stopped again at her puzzled look.
“Three gals? You don’t mean those demons, do you?” she asked skeptically while giving him a weird look.
“Yes? They seem like nice girls…” he said, pausing yet again at her expression.
“How they ‘seem’ aside, I’ve been wondering something for a while now,” she said, shaking her head. “Why do you keep calling them ‘girls’? They’re all grown women.”
“Uh,” he said eloquently as he through about it. “I suppose it’s because they’re so much younger than me?” he said, not quite sure how to explain it.
“Really? How is that when you look to be younger than Myra?” Celys asked, reminding him that he didn’t look forty anymore.
“I’m, ah, not as young as I look?” he said, getting a sharp look from Celys in return. “I’m forty-two.”
Celys looked as though she didn’t believe a word of it, then seemed to change her mind.
“It’s said that some [Hero]s who arrive were older than they look, seemingly regaining their youth in the [Summon]’ing,” she said, eyeing him shrewdly.
“Still not a [Hero],” he said with a sigh. “If you’d like, I can change my appearance to look as old as I looked… before,” he said, inexplicably uncomfortable with that.
“I’d like to see that, yes,” Celys said, leaning back again.
Joram sat back and let out a slow sigh. He hadn’t thought about what he’d looked like for a while now, so it took him a little while to remember, then meditate on changing his body to match his mental image.
“… You don’t look like you’re forty-two,” Celys said a moment later.
He quickly created a hand mirror and took a look at himself, startling Celys in the process. He examined his face, looking at the very fine lines at the corner of his eyes, took in the silver that now took up most of his beard, though his mustache and goatee were still pretty much untouched by it. He saw the little bit of silver at his temples, just above his sideburns, and nodded.
“No, that’s how I looked before coming here,” he said, then dismissed the mirror.
“Even with the silver hair, you look like you’re in your early thirties,” she said, giving him another frown.
“Hah, I’ve heard that before,” he said, shaking his head. “It seems as though my family stays pretty young-looking compared to others. That said, this feels weird now, having spent so much time not looking like this,” he said, then concentrated on going back to appearing how Altaea had left him.
“That’s so weird,’ Celys said, shaking her head. “That wasn’t a spell, was it?”
“No, I can just control my physiology to a certain extent,” he said, feeling a bit shy about saying it.
“Huh,” she said, then shook her head again, causing her scarlet locks to dance.
“Say,” he said, then felt a bit embarrassed, not sure if he really should ask. “Um, have the animal-kin here… always looked like they do?” he finally asked, deciding to just go for it.
“What do you mean?” Celys asked curiously.
“I mean, well. Aside from your ears and tails, every animal-kin I’ve met has basically looked like a human,” he said, hoping that this wasn’t a taboo topic.
“Oh, that,” Celys said with a slight frown. “Well, that’s both a long and a short story,” she said, catching his curiosity.
“So…?”
Celys sighed, then started talking.