Chapter 0086
“Care to tell me what this is about oh glorious teacher?” Tempest asked as Cardis carried her like a sack of potatoes fleeing for their lives from a group of angry women.
The scary part was Cardis, the damn liar wasn’t the source of their ire, but her!
After they left the three stooges, dumb and dumber, they were accosted by another group of women. The attitude of the women was the same as the previous group. They all did their best to vie for Cardis’ affection.
Tempest had to admit, Cardis is a handsome man. He oozes pheromones like a flower blooming, attracting the bees and the birds.
When she was stalking the man, she thought it was his smooth flirting that attracted all the women to him. It turns out he doesn’t have to do anything and the women still throw themselves on him.
Having been the receipt of his charm, Tempest can understand the women’s desire, yet she still couldn’t understand how she attracted all the hate.
At first, Tempest thought they targeted her because she was with him. His current interest so to speak while they have the commonality of exs uniting them. However, after several repeat scenes of the first group Tempest doubted her assumption.
Hence her question over their current predicament.
Cardis played deaf, dumb and mute to her questions, but Tempest was determined. He relented when they found a safe to place to hide.
“It has to do with mages cultivating method.” Cardis proceed to explain in detail.
The spirits adore the potential children have within their bodies and go to great length to protect that potential. Such adoration resulted in most mages unable to single out and harm a child without suffering the consequences. Most mages. The consequences vary from spirits to spirits. It is up to the spirits to dole out the punishment to their mortal. Those loved by the spirits can take to chance, but most would not. Therefore, there is no child abuse, mental torture of a child or direct scheming against a child by mages. The more powerful the mage, the less inclined they are to harm a child.
The love of the spirits for a child doesn’t mean a mage can’t kill a child.
Mages can cast spells that affect a large area, thereby killing everyone in the area without suffering the consequences. They were not singling out a child or only focus an attack on just the child, but the group. They can be negligent in their attacks and accidently kill a child. They can land on a shabby house, causing it to collapse and killing a child. There are a lot of stupid accidents resulting in a child’s death which mages do not suffer the consequences for because it was not an attack focusing on one individual child.
The strange affection for children the spirits imposed on the mage protects children but also has unintended consequences - loli loving mages. That’s right. There are some mages who love little loli. They become weird when there is a cute little girl around. The males become lovestruck, and the women become mother hens!
Still.
“What does this have to do with everyone calling me an old hag and trying to kill me?” Tempest tried to glare menacingly but a ten-year old looking girl trying to act tough becomes adorable instead.
Cardis would have tried to charm the little girl into a better mood but thought better of it since he was the cause of her current suffering. There is no doubt the little girl would suffer again and again under his hands. It is all part of a mage’s training.
“Aside from loving little loli, some mages takes to looking very young in order to gain more affection from their spirits. There are thousands of old fossils with one foot in the grave looking like a ten-year-old child. They thought you were one of them.”
“Couldn’t they like sense my aura or something like that?”
“As a True Daughter of Storm, your aura is different from everyone else.” Cardis thought but didn’t say it out loud. The spirits have their secrets and wishes to keep it a secret. They are quite vengeful when one blurt out information they rather kept hidden. Instead he said, “Cultivators judge the powers of other cultivators through divine sense, the power of the soul or mental strength. Mages differ from the other three cultivating path in that there is no way to judge our power unless we display it. They know the power of the spells we cast, but there is no way to judge our actual power levels.”
“Okay, they are blind as a bat when it comes to mage cultivation, but why take the chance to come after me? I am really 13 years old.”
“That also goes along with mage cultivation. Pretending to be 13 is fine. Luring other cultivation into sex using a 13-year body is wrong. It’s ahh...”
“Child molestation is a no no, I got it. But I’m really am 13!”
“Yeah, but in their mind, you aren’t 13, but an old hag pretending to be 13 and trying to lure me into your clutches. If they kill you, they can gain favor with the spirits since you are tarnishing the image of an innocent child. There is no consequences if they are wrong since they are working in good faith.” Cardis tried to explain the mysterious working of a woman’s mind.
“It’s not good faith.”
“It is to them.”
“Fine, they are crazy. No point in arguing with crazy people. What can we do to avoid the situation again? I don’t want to be attacked because you flirted with women you shouldn’t have.”
“There is nothing wrong with looking. If a woman didn’t want a man to look at them, then they shouldn’t have dress provocatively.” Cardis complained.
“Next you’re going to say if a woman doesn’t want to be raped, she shouldn’t look as pretty as she did or dresses the way she did to attract a man’s attention and all that bullsh*t.”
Cardis looked affronted and immediately set his little student straight. “Where did you get such strange ideas? A woman dress up to attract a man’s attention, but it doesn’t give the man the right to violate the woman. A beautiful woman invites attention, compliments and present the opportunity to mate. She does not invite physical or mental violation. The man is uncouth if he presumes his actions are wanted after the woman rejections him. Looking is looking. Touching is touching. There is a difference!”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“I got it. Let’s get to the point - how do I avoid death from all your admirers?” Tempest change the subject because she did agree with Cardis, but didn’t want to delve into the issue because it was his philosophy that got her into this mess in the first place.
Cardis handed Tempest a puppet he pulled out from his space ring. “This.”
“What is this?”
“This is an immortal puppet made out of Earthen Gold combined with Immortal Liquid Silver and Sage Sand, crafted in the heart of Mount Sinvudel by the best craftsman in all the land, Jurge Amvitel. I got this pretty little thing when Jurge got drunk one night and wanted to challenge me to a fight. He wasn’t my match of course. I was already an immortal by then. The look on his face was quite hilarious when he found out. You should have seen it. His eye was tearing up like he wanted to cry, his cheeks were puffed up like a pouting brat deprived of his favorites sweets, and his lips was quivering like he was about to bawl his heart out. Sadly, he never challenges me again after that. I lost a very good source of income. It isn’t every day that a master craftsman comes to your door to deliver their latest creation with such enthusiasm.”
Tempest’s black eyes shined when she heard the word puppet. She imagined herself as a secret mastermind, controlling the puppet as her own personal assassin-slash-bodyguard, killing people left and right and beating all her bullies black and blue. The first person she’d start with would be dumber.
Tempest pulled Cardis’sleeves, “How do I use it?”
“Insert the will of your spirits into it. It will protect you as your spirits would.” As a True Daughter of Storm, garnering the infinite affection of the spirits, the immortal puppet is the best protector for Tempest right now.
“No blood needed?” Tempest asked. In all the books she read, blood is always needed as a medium to control a treasure, be it weapon or cheat space ring that can grow any plants needed. Her own space ring required her blood to bind it.
“Mages don’t have a divine sense or soul aura or mental powers to control their talisman, artifacts or treasure like the other cultivators do. In order not to lag behind the other domains and not to be laughed at, researchers came up with a way to insert the will of the spirits into our treasure to control. It means the treasure is under the control of our spirits to a large extent, but it can exert a greater power than a treasure used by the cultivators from the other three realms.”
“So, by inserting the will of the spirits in there and I can have a powerful bodyguard?” Tempest looked at Cardis like a child given a new toy, until Cardis realize she is a child given a new toy to play with.
“Yes.”
Send Mizu into the puppet. My current form is best to interact with you right now and the puppet can not handle Astrapi’s power.
“Got it Ventus.” Tempest waited for further explanation. When there was none forthcoming, she asked, “How do I insert the will of the spirits into the puppet?”
“Drip a drop of blood onto it.”
“Hey! I thought mages didn’t need to use blood to refine the treasure!” Tempest went to pummel Cardis with her smalls hands. Lying bastard is totally playing with her!
Cardis easily evade Tempest while saying, “I didn’t say that. I said mages have to insert the will of the spirits into the treasure to make it ours. I didn’t say we didn’t have to drip our blood onto it.”
Tempest stopped playing chase with the big baby and got down to business, pricking her fingers on a small needle she pulled from her space ring and then dripping it onto the puppet.
A gentle force moved through Tempest and slowly covered the puppet before converging in the chest, right where the heart would be. The spirits continued to move their powers through Tempest, slowly forming a brilliant aquamarine gem.
After ten minutes, Tempest dropped down in exhaustion but she was able to form the core of the puppet.
Squeak.
Squeak.
The rusted joints of the puppet begin to move on with the will of the spirits. The will of Mizu inside the puppet began to execute a set of complicated moves before standing still in front of Tempest.
“You are quite loved by the spirits for them to pour a large amount of power into the spirits.” Cardis comment in an offhanded manner. He didn’t envy his little student as other mages would. Too much love is as harmful as too little love.
“Yea, the spirits love me, unlike a certain teacher to give me a powerful but ugly puppet.” A woman in love sees the world through a rose tinted lenses. Tempest didn’t realize how ugly the puppet was until it started moving. She wasn’t a vain person. She didn’t care much about the aesthetic of the puppet as much as its functionality, until she realizes she goes to be around the puppet all day.
It’s easier to stare at something pretty compared to an ugly lump of metal.
“That’s easily fixed.” Cardis garbed the puppet in a set of dark blue mage robes and covered puppet’s face with a veil. “Now you can’t tell if it is ugly or not.”
“The eyes are ugly.”
“Use your power to form another core for the eyes, but this time makes the blue so dark it looks black.”
Tempest did just that then stepped back to inspect her work.
With everything covered, the puppet could pass for a cultivator.
“What are you going to call it?”
Tempest thought about calling it Mizu but change her mind. Somehow, the name didn’t fit. Although Mizu is controlling the puppet, the puppet isn’t Mizu in its entirety. Furthermore, the name has to reflect the owner. She is the owner of the puppet, not Mizu. Mizu might move the puppet but at her command.
On the other hand, the puppet will be a part of her, like family. Since it is like her family, then it might as well take her last name.
“Kataigida. It will be called Kataigida.”