29-Well, I'll be a Monkey's Sister!

1/2/5/4353 M.A.C - Great Western Rainforest- Noon

"You did this on purpose, didn't you? Was it revenge for eating all your sweet things my first day here?"

Emi was flopping around on the ground like a fish out of water. As it turns out she was either a natural at this, or her practice cycling Akashic energy had given her a headstart, but she had managed to gather her vital energy very efficiently. In truth, she had been a little bit too efficient. She had reached her meditative state once again, and after gathering for a bit over an hour, her legs had given out. The problem had been that she had sapped away all the vital energy from her limbs as fast as it was appearing. While that was fine for her other limbs, her leg muscles had been under constant strain as she had been standing up the whole time, and the lack of vital energy had stopped them from recovering properly, resulting in the current situation. Arctic and Majusculus were chuckling as they saw Emi wiggle on the floor and Majusculus used his hands to explain what had happened to her.

"Oh...Well, that makes sense. You said that keeping our energy from escaping would increase our stamina and natural healing, so if I kept emptying my legs before they could use any, it makes sense the opposite would happen."

"It is also a bit my fault, I didn't expect you to take to it this quickly. When you do this, you want to leave at least a bit behind in your extremities, and more importantly your head. It is not good to keep your head empty of vital energy for more than a couple of hours. You won't have to worry as much about it once your cluster has spread through your entire body, as you will be able to easily move your vital energy about at that point. For now, since Arctic also finished the first step, let's take a break and have lunch. If you stop gathering your Vital Energy for a little while and have some food, your legs should start to recover."

Majusculus took a key out from inside a drawer and made his way to a small locked cabinet. He unlocked it and retrieved a jar filled with small orange lumps that looked similar to sugared dates. He then gave one to both Arctic and Emi, but told them not to eat them straight away.

"Eat these after lunch and practice hard this afternoon. They don't really do that much at my stage, but these should let you produce between five and ten days worth of your natural vital energy production over the following six hours. I would normally make you wait at least, a day so you could practice a bit more. If you can't gather it fast enough it will leave your body on its own and just be wasted. In your case, Emi, it should be fine, but Arctic will need to try his best not to let too much go to waste this time around. I will give you both another to take with you on your journey. With these, you should easily be able to get to the first stage by the time you get out of the forest, as long as you don't get too lazy. Let what happened serve as a lesson though. Unlike Akashic energy, you don't have Abilities or the Network to help you. If you are not careful, you can cause yourself some serious harm. Don't try to do anything else with your vital energy until you have learned more, and even then I recommend being careful when you proceed with something new. Until then, just practice gathering. If you want to jump ahead a little bit, then you can experiment with moving the vital energy within your cluster, but nothing else for now."

"Gotcha. Actually, now that I have hands, why don't you let me prepare lunch as thanks? I can do at least this much."

---

"Not too bad, if I dare say so myself. Fairly simple, but I'm sure Meg would approve."

Emi had told Arctic and Majusculus that the first and main goal of her journey was to find her two friends who had also been brought to this world. Emi hadn't really been into cooking and had relied heavily on the convenient and cheap nature of Japanese fast food and convenience stores for most of her previous life. After they had moved in together, Megan had not approved and had made sure that Emi could at least cook some simple healthy dishes. The tribe having so many competent farmers and gatherers meant Emi had a lot of different herbs, vegetables, mushrooms, fruits, and nuts, but she had one major limitation. As it turned out, the tribe did not raise any cattle because they attracted large predators. That meant no eggs, no dairy, and that the only meat available came from wild game. She found that out when she learned that they would not have horses for their journey as the tribe normally pulled carts loaded with trade goods by hand, all the way to other settlements.

After spending half a decan in the village, she had learned more about their culture. As it turns out, their species was known as "Mimic Macaques", and this was not their only village. The Majusculus tribe was one of the few that maintained relations with the Empire; they served as a trading link for some of the other tribes deeper in the forest. Majusculus had told her that if she went far enough south, the forest would turn into a tropical jungle, but that even there some tribes had managed to flourish, although their culture was slightly different as they had been forced to assume a nocturnal lifestyle to survive. On the other hand, if she went west in the opposite direction from Ashrama, she would reach a deadly salty swamp that their species had not managed to survive in. If she went North instead, she would spend weeks traveling through the dense forest until she either reached a huge river or the ocean it flowed into. This information reassured Emi that going East into the Duchy of Ashrama, and the Empire proper, was not only the safest option but also the one most likely to help her with her goals.

"Not bad. I wasn't sure about it when you started crushing the walnuts, but I like the result."

Emi had used some vegetable oil, flour, and crushed walnuts to lightly coat thin slices of venison. She had then put a thin coating of vegetable oil inside what looked like a stone wok before sauteing some sliced mushrooms and diced onions inside of it. After a couple of minutes, she pushed the contents of the wok away from the center and started frying the coated venison slices in the space she had cleared up. While she'd waited for one side to cook, she'd picked a large cabbage and chopped it up into thin strips. After flipping the pieces of meat and waiting for them to cook evenly on the other side, she plated them and added the crunchy cabbage strips on top before squeezing a small citrus fruit onto them. She then placed the onion and mushroom medley next to the coated venison.

"What do you think Arctic?"

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Arctic had been opening up over the course of the week, but he was still getting used to people involving him in conversations. When the two of them were alone, he was very talkative, but as soon as other people were around, he would take a step back and observe. Emi decided it would be in his best interest if she were to try and involve him more in group conversations.

"It smells nice. Better than when I try. I'll tell you more after I have some."

Majusculus and Arctic started eating the dish they had been presented with and it appeared they were enjoying it by the speed at which they were eating it.

Not bad but I could really use either some mayonnaise or some miso. No eggs though and I only vaguely know how miso is made. Not like I saw any soybeans or have the time for the process. At least all the ingredients are fresh and I didn't mess up anywhere, so this turned out pretty nice. The venison is a bit strong, but the cabbage and that lime-looking fruit are helping. Other spices like pepper could have helped, but at least they had salt and flour.

"The mushrooms are okay but the meat is super tasty. I really like how crunchy it is with the nuts and cabbage on top."

The great thing about talking with sign language was that a mouthful of food was in no way an obstacle. Emi had been surprised by how quickly the tribe went through meals when she first noticed it. Since they did not need to stop eating to have a conversation, they naturally took fewer breaks from eating as they were able to keep talking unimpeded.

At least Arctic is pleased enough. Let's see how a three-hundred-year-old who has traveled this world reacts to my cooking.

Emi started staring at Majusculus intently until he seemed to catch on to what she wanted.

"Yes. Arctic is right. I like the crunchiness too."

Guess three-hundred-year-old people are just people huh? Way to destroy the image I had of immortals.

Because Emi looked let down by his comment, Majusculus decided to praise her some more.

"Yes, I would say this is quite flavorsome. You did very well."

Majusculus had no way of knowing it, but that had actually contributed more to the issue. She had expected Majusclus to say something like "You have some potential but this cannot match..." or something else along those lines. Maybe she had watched too much anime and her expectations were warped, but Emi felt that he had been a bit too easy to please.

"Thank you. I just did a version of a dish from my homeland with the ingredients I had at hand. Turned out quite different from usual, but I'm happy that you both like it."

"Let me give you some information while we eat. Once you leave the forest you should end up in a village under the jurisdiction of the Ashram of Inspiration. it is one of the five great Ashrams that govern the Duchy of Ashrama. Since I am technically a registered citizen of the Empire, and the leader of this village, we are currently under their jurisdiction right now. Since the other tribe members aren't citizens, and I don't personally produce anything, we aren't taxed, but we actually don't count as a settlement of the Empire. The way the Empire sees it, I am an old hermit who lives in the wilderness with his pets."

"Since you are a true spirit beast and were born in the Empire, you will also be granted citizenship if you request it personally. However, you will only be granted the same rights as a child at first. If you wish to enter a major settlement of the Empire, you will need to find a guarantor who will be legally responsible for you until you prove your capacity to follow the laws. The only requirement for quasi-spirit beasts and true spirit beasts to be recognized by the empire as more than simple beasts is to have the ability to request it. That can be done in writing, by voice, by telepathy, or by any other means as long as you can express you have the desire to do so, and the mental faculty to understand what that means. Even as a true spirit beast, you will require a guarantor for your first nine years living in settlements. The same nine years children of the Empire spend before being given the same right, only you start that countdown later in life. As a Blessed, that wouldn't normally be a problem, but here's the catch. You didn't really have much of a choice when it came to me, but I have kept the fact that you are a Blessed secret from all but Strong Armor Spear and Arctic. You could become a full-fledged citizen immediately if you disclosed that bit of information, but I recommend you keep your identity a secret and try to act as if you were a normal spirit beast."

"Not many would do you harm simply because you are a Blessed, but many would attempt to capture you and try to take advantage of your knowledge. It is a well-known fact that Blesseds have memories from a life spent in one of the waning worlds and tend to have knowledge new to this world. Some cannot resist the temptation. I will write a letter for you and give you a token. If you show them at the Ashrama of Inspiration, or one of their settlements, they should register you as a member of my family. The letter explains that I have taught you to some extent. As long as you don't mess up too much, it should help explain how you are already familiar with the way people behave. Spirit beasts who make contact with people for the first time don't usually have your knowledge of civilization."

"Leader. Both Emi and I finished eating a few minutes ago. Are you going to keep telling us stuff for a long time or can we go back to practicing?"

Majusculus put his hand on his face and sighed as Emi stifled a giggle.

"Patience is important Arctic. This information is necessary for Emi and you to travel safely. I will also have a letter and a token for you to register with. I also have one for Strong Armor Spear, but I need to finish it once he has decided on an official name. I'm going to put in "Emi" and "Arctic" for the two of you, is that fine?"

Oh right, I don't actually have to stick with "Emi" if I don't want to. I could register as "Chuck Norris"...

"Big sis gave me this name. I like it. No problem."

"I'll go with Emi as well, maybe it will help my friends find me."

"Oh and also, since you will be registering as members of my family, you will be given my family name."

Emi was curious because she didn't know Majusculus had a last name.

"What is it?"

"Majusculus."

"Oh Sorry, I thought I was calling you by your first name this whole time. So... what is your name?"

"Majusculus."

Emi blinked in confusion as Majusculus smiled at her.

"I am registered as "Majusculus Majusculus, leader of the Majusculus tribe"."

"You do realize ink isn't free? My hand is cramping at the thought of having to sign a large contract with that name. My homeland is pretty famous for having some names and titles that are quite a mouthful, to the point it was common for families to have a stamp made, but you are putting up a good fight. At least my name is only three letters, Emi Majusculus is a more reasonable length."

Emi tried to keep her tone light as she made a few jokes, but inside, her emotions were in turmoil. She'd enjoyed the younger monkeys calling her "Big Sister", but she had not expected how much being officially adopted into this family would mean to her.

Hold back the tears! It is Arctic's Last day before he leaves home, let's not make this about me.

"Anyhow, we can talk more over dinner so I'll let you both get back to practicing since Arctic seems motivated. If your legs are still recovering, the candied kumquat should help. I will go make myself useful around the village, you two stay in here and work hard over the next six hours."