Crow spent the next few days with his people recovering before they all decided on a plan. The fastest way to travel was by a river that flowed through the complex cave system. It had a few wild curves but overall flowed east.

“I need to hibernate for a time,” Nin claimed.

“You can do that in my SoulScape.”

“I want to enter, too,” Nadia said.

“Me too,” Song Lin joined in. “But… is it possible to send in alchemy equipment and ingredients?”

“That is easily done, and most of what you need is already in there. I also… uh, found a lot of books on alchemy you can read through.”

“Pfft, found?” Zoe laughed.

“Let me change the question. Who wants to go for a boat ride?” Crow asked.

“Otto stay.”

“I’m not much help in these caverns,” Song Xue said. “But I’ll stay if you need me.”

“Sounds like we’ll be floating down the river for at least a few weeks—probably months. So I’m guessing it’ll be boring most of the time since the caves are dark and it’s hard to see anything. If all of you want to go inside to relax and take a break from the journey, at least until we reach the ascent, then do it. Don’t worry about me, because I’m relieved to be back. Also, as long as we aren’t in the middle of a situation, you can leave my Soulscape anytime you want.”

“Inside,” Song Xue said.

Mara looked at the other women and saw that most were exhausted.

“Otto and one other will remain with Crow. We’ll take turns. I’ll go first,” Mara told them. The other wives nodded and agreed to that. “How many beds are in that cave home of yours?”

“Heh, enough. Actually, the witches were building up a small town last I checked. You might prefer that to the cave.”

“We aren’t building them. The Soul Butlers are,” Zoe explained. “However, the initial plaza we built in the shape of one of our ritual circles. We did that to help Crow when he needed it.”

“Oh?” Mara asked, curious. “What can that do?”

“The rituals could augment his Soul and abilities. It depends on the regents available, and we can also scry to help ferret out danger.”

“Song Lin, you have another job. Work with them and see how you can support their rituals and try to understand how they can help us.”

“Okay,” Song Lin nodded. She enjoyed researching herbs and other plants, and witches often used regents for their spells, so it would be an exciting research project. Especially now that Nadia fused alchemical knowledge into her cooking. It opened up many possibilities for mixing her knowledge in interesting ways.

“Regardless, all of you can build whatever you like inside. Not like you can hide from me, heh.”

“Idiot,” Mara said while slapping Crow on the back of the head.

“Acco? What about you?” Crow asked, already knowing what his wives had decided.

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“I’ll hitch a ride inside. I’m not back to my full strength yet and will need some time to regain the strength back in my arm. I think my Astrologer ability will allow me to warp in and out without bothering you. If that’s the case, I can move people in and out more efficiently than whatever you are doing.”

“Alright. Do I need to send you in first?”

“Yeah. Can I set up a location in the cave where no one will enter or put anything? I want to see if I can bind or mark it to find it across the void.”

“Sure. Better yet. Pick a mountain not being used and hollow out a part of it. I have some teleportation formations I’ve been studying, and we still have the Fairy Ring, so we might have other options in the future too. It’d be good to create an area specifically for that kind of thing.”

“Will do, but let’s see if my ability will work the way I think it does.”

Crow shrugged and sent Acco into his SoulScape. The other planets attached to the World Tree were inaccessible or inhabitable. He assumed that was temporary and hoped the other worlds would eventually evolve. The Soulverse concept was still new to him, so he wasn’t sure how that’d develop in the future.

Acco found himself in the plaza created by the witches. It was a large, round open area. The paved stones placed down were mostly dark gray, but there were rings of different colors and other designs. At a casual glance, it just looked like an artistic town plaza, but Acco knew it was anything but that.

Regardless, he focused on his Constellation, and in the darkness, he found it. This insignificant planet was near the dark star that represented Crow. Because the planet didn’t bear his mark anywhere, teleporting to it would be random. Focusing on the dark star, he activated his ability and felt the world warping around him, and he appeared near Crow.

It wasn’t all that taxing on his mana, but it left him feeling a little dizzy.

“You good?”

“Yeah, but the distance takes some getting used to,” Acco explained before walking over to Song Xue and putting a hand on her shoulder. “You might feel a little dizzy. Try not to move too much.”

Just like that, they disappeared. Acco and Song Xue appeared inside Crow’s SoulScape but were inside the nymph’s grove.

“How was it?” Acco asked, feeling the strain even more.

“Fine.”

“Not dizzy?”

Song Xue tilted her head and shook it. “Nope, I’m good.”

She didn’t wait around for him and headed directly for the cave home. It wasn’t her first time here, and she already had a room carved out for herself. She settled into it, brought out a few things Crow had given her as gifts, and placed them in her room.

An hour later, almost everyone had arrived. Song Lin was resting in Song Xue’s room. Both of them were hugging on her bed. They didn’t say much, but sisters didn’t have to talk to communicate.

Crow, Otto, Mara, and Nadia were the only ones sitting around the fire. Nadia wanted to go inside but pulled Crow aside first.

“I feel guilty leaving like this.”

Crow chuckled and cupped Nadia’s face. “You aren’t going anywhere. Talk to Lily; she’ll teach you how to communicate with me. You can watch what we are doing and talk to me anytime. You’ve been through a lot, and maybe what we did was rushing things a bit.”

“N-no, don’t say that. Even before I left with Kafe, we were friends, and I admired you. Your women were pure, and I never felt you would consider me. So I didn’t want to think about a future like that for myself. If you accepted me as a companion like Otto or Acco, that was fine. At least I was with people I could trust. I’d be safe.”

“Nadia, I didn’t overthink your request. Your wanting to enter the SoulScape is natural, and I know you’ve never had the heart for cultivating and climbing the tower. Please stop worrying so much. I’m not Kafe. I won’t abandon you.”

Nadia kissed Crow, taking the initiative, and he gave her a stupid grin.

“I’ll make your dinner,” Naida claimed. “So you don’t have to worry about food.”

“Oh, that’s a deal!” Crow nodded seriously.

“Otto agree. Deal.”

Mara laughed. “These two lunkheads only think with their stomachs.”

“Y-you heard me?” Nadia covered her face in embarrassment.

“Cave. Little noise. Big noise.” Otto explained.

“That oddly made sense,” Mara said.

“Otto smart. Big brain.”

“Pfft,” Nadia burst out laughing.

“See. You are one of us, so stop fretting, but don’t forget the food. You promised.” Crow chuckled and gave Nadia a big hug. “Ready?”

“Yes.”

Crow sent Nadia inside, and then there were three.

“You scored big with that one.” Mara shook her head. “I don’t know how you ended up winning her over, but I feel Song Lin was involved. You should have heard the things she plotted to make her your wife. Even I felt terrified for Nadia. Thankfully, you resolved that easily.”

“Otto agree. Lin happy. Everyone happy.”

“Oh? What about you?”

“Otto smart. Not cross Lin. Crow wife. Not Otto wife.”

“Hahaha,” Mara couldn’t stop laughing and Crow’s eye twitched.