The initial stages of cultivation are chaotic, fast-paced, and overwhelming. All of those things are detrimental, and only later, after some years of experience, will they learn that the Truths are nearly impossible to see in that type of frantic lifestyle. An epiphany more often occurs when one takes a moment to stop and bask in the sunlight.

~Taliesin, God of Rhapsody

An indeterminate amount of time passed before Crow opened his eyes. There was some part of his mind that remained conscious, but he wasn’t aware of it until the pressure disappeared. He knew it wasn’t a fluke but something they did to ensure he wasn’t left defenseless after their departure.

Lily was sitting on the stool the leprechaun left behind and even had a small pipe in her hand. The small trail of smoke rising from the bowl let him know she wasn’t pretending but actually smoking. When she saw him, the pipe disappeared, and she looked around as if nothing had happened. The blush creeping up her cheeks wasn’t missed by Crow’s sharp sight.

“Doofus,” Crow chuckled. “If you want to smoke, I won’t stop you, but you better be careful—wait... what is that ring?”

In her excitement, Lily waved her middle finger enthusiastically in his face as she flew over. When she pointed at the ring, she mimicked lightning and an explosion but exaggerated it to be seven times larger.

“That augments your lightning?” Although Crow was impressed, he still thought the token granting him luck—if true—was more powerful. That was until she mimed shoving lightning into a bottle while pointing at the ring. “You… can store lightning?”

Lily nodded and held up her hands with the fingers of each about ten centimeters apart. The ring glowed and a thick bolt of lightning arced between the fingers. Lily’s purple hair lit up until it was glowing and almost lavender.

This little fae is becoming a terrifying existence. Crow’s mind drifted back to the times she’d shocked him with her little bit of power and wondered how ridiculous one of those shocks would be now. Shuddering, he took a step back involuntarily, but Lily saw it, and an evil grin spread across her face.

“Y-you are not allowed to use that on me!” Crow commanded and watched her warily as she approached. Lightning was even coursing through the transparent wings on her back.

“Heh! Are you afraid?”

“How…?”

“I can use this artifact. It’s a Lightning Reservoir. They are super rare and can be created for any element. I don’t have to use my internal lightning to speak, and I can fill it from your Soulverse.”

Crow was happy for her but also sad.

“What’s wrong?” Lily could sense his odd mood since she was linked to him.

“I’m going to miss your mime show. I loved watching you explain things like a silent theater—it was cute. I’m excited for you, but… I don’t know.”

Lily stared at Crow for several seconds before pointing to her heart and hovering in front of his face. Her little fingers touched his lips, gently caressing him. Crow smiled at her before a surge of power sent him flying. All his hair stood on end with the occasional arc hopping between the strands. Unable to move, Crow’s body convulsed as electricity locked up his muscles. Distantly, he could hear Lily giggling endlessly.

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“Y-you f-fail,” Crow said when he could talk again.

“I tricked you. I didn’t fail!” Lily shook her head.

“You failed to become my wife,” Crow said and shambled toward the door.

“Hey! You can’t say that, even if you are joking,” Lily shouted and realized she might have gone too far. Thinking about how she just disabled him, he really might be mad.

The moment he entered the hall, he activated his Ghostly Aura and disappeared. Hiding, he watched as Lily flew out of the room and went past him before stopping and coming back.

“You can’t hide from me. Say you didn’t mean it, jerk!” Lily kicked his shoulder but didn’t use any lightning this time.

“What if I meant it?” Crow said. He dropped the aura, knowing it was useless against this fae. Unless he could completely hide his energy signature, there was no way he could hide from her. In spite of this, they remained bonded, so she could sense him just as he was able to sense her.

“I know you didn’t, or our bond would have… I’m sorry, okay? I was wrong. Please take it back,” Lily said, close to tears.

Crow caught her in his palm and licked her. Saliva made her hair stick up wildly. “I didn’t mean it. But you can’t use that on me again. That really hurt.”

“So you will still marry me?”

“Idiot. You are already my wife. The physical stuff is nothing compared to our bond.”

“You mean it?”

“I do. Now, c’mon, we are wasting too much time here. I want sunlight or at least fresh air.”

“Crow… I love you, and you aren’t allowed to abandon me.”

He undid part of his shirt and moved her toward his chest.

“Wh-what are you doing!? Pervert!” Lily struggled in his hand but didn’t use her lightning.

“Relax, I want to show you something. Put your ear against my chest.”

Thump. Thump. Thump-thump. Crow’s heart was beating wildly; the proximity and skinship strengthened her empathetic bond. She closed her eyes and nuzzled against his warm chest. As she wiggled against him, his heart beat even faster.

“You understand now?”

“Mmm, I’m going to nap. Just close your shirt up,” Lily said sleepily, and Crow couldn’t help but chuckle. Leaving her in his shirt was strange, but she used some form of static electricity to remain stuck to him, so he did as she asked. He still left a way for her to get out in case something happened but ignored her silliness.

Checking the other door from the warehouse that Lily felt was safe, he knocked aside more bones, but this time he found other debris. There wasn’t anything of value. Crow started tossing bones into the moon of his original Soulscape planet out of a morbid desire.

He wasn’t sure why he did that but felt a bone moon fit the current place with all the Soul Butlers roaming around. The Fireheart Oak Nymphs were still as wild as ever, but all the residents seemed to reach an interesting equilibrium. Even Lily was some kind of queen among everyone, and the Soul Butlers even built her a shrine. It was hard to say if that was the butlers’ doing, Lily’s order, or the nymph’s playfulness.

While at it, Crow tossed the other debris into the trash pit he installed in one of the mountains. Ever since he’d created the place, he never really paid much attention to it. The trash pit existed to decompose random garbage and infuse his world with a multitude of mana. Because of that, he never noticed that a lot of what he tossed in was getting devoured. Buried under rotting corpses, a round, yellowish-white object emanates a sickly pale light.

If he had noticed, he’d have seen the same glow mimicked by the bone moon. The light came from a Snowmoon Serpent’s beast core which he placed at the center of the moon when he acquired it.

Regardless, he kept moving forward and cleaning up everything as he went. It was a strange hobby of his, but seeing the hall and rooms without debris made it feel like the place was ageless. Besides, by the time he was done, his moon had its entire surface covered with bones.

A few hours later, he found some stairs going up to another floor, and when he arrived, he saw sunlight coming in from holes in the wall near the ceiling. Crow didn’t want to call them windows because they looked like long, narrow vents. Through them, all he could see were sheer stone cliffs, which probably meant the chances of a human discovering them accidentally were low. All he cared about was they provided indirect sunlight and fresh air.

More importantly, it meant that he was now aboveground.