Chapter 546 - A Bitter Price Paid

“Eric? Breakfast is ready!” Eric gasped. Finesse check made! You have successfully avoided smashing your new bed! For just a second he was c

“Eric? Breakfast is ready!”

Eric gasped.

Finesse check made! You have successfully avoided smashing your new bed!

For just a second he was confused, waking up in an unknown bedroom upon a soft feather-stuffed mattress, beholding a spacious bedroom that included bookcases, polished hardwood furniture, a fluffy throw rug, a writing desk with both quill, ink pot, and vellum, and what looked like an exotic typewriter with far too many keys.

He reflexively squinted before the streams of brilliant morning light catching his eyes from the sliding glass door leading to a spacious balcony with a beautiful view of the once more sedate-looking garden and the pear grove beyond.

He winced, only then recalling the magical, almost dreamlike summer ritual he had cast, inspired by the antics of a gifted pair of children.

Congratulations! You have successfully learned the greater ritual: Season’s Bounty! You may now cast this dryad ritual whenever you wish or desire an early harvest or otherwise feel like dancing with forest and field! – Note. Casting Season’s Bounty a second time before 1 normal growing season has passed will have detrimental effects on the quality of the produce and might temporarily deplete the soil. Caution advised!

Synergisms detected! You have a natural affinity with Spiritual Energy! When cast in an area saturated with Wood Qi, expect additional boons and benefits to harvested crops!

Mana Cost (Significant. 1000+ Mana, depending upon area affected.)

You enjoy multiple arcane enhancement perks! You have forged multiple territories and realms strongly aligned with Wood Qi, growth, and renewal!

Season’s Bounty has been quantized at Rank 5!

For long moments, Eric gazed out at the gently rustling trees, shaking his head in bemusement.

To think that after all his trials and tribulations, all his struggles back home, even having to pass up on joining an actual arcane academy that he had helped pull free of impossibility’s paradox, bringing life to a precious dream… before being denied all access.

Because of course he had been. Hindered and hampered along all paths that didn’t lead to his mother’s ascension. Or Malificent Bane’s extinction.

Only to embrace the most wondrous and deadly attack at his mother’s side. One based on Spiritual Energy alone, not a trace of Mana beside arguably the greatest of all sorceresses of ice and snow.

And here, on a world based on cultivation, mysticism, and mastering the endless potential of Spiritual Energy washing over and through him and filling up his hungry cells even now… he had learned the greatest arcane ritual of his life.

The only arcane ritual of his life.

A spell that had come to him so naturally, so comfortably, that a tiny corner of his mind couldn’t help but wonder at all the malevolent fate cards that had been flipped upon his tile to frustrate and choke off all attempts at expanding his arcane knowledge, all paths forward... save one.

“And none of that even matters now,” he thought with a sigh and a rueful shake of his head. “Because that’s not what I’m here for. As grateful as I am to have tapped into that wondrous, magical feeling… that’s not what I need.”

Because his Arcane Potential might be over 1500, but his Spiritual Energy if he was anywhere else save here on Titan Prime… would be a whopping 4.5.

He grimaced as the sound of a pair of girls’ nervous trills washed over him, already knowing that it would be best if he never took credit for what had happened and did his best to keep his head down and look for any opportunity he could find to move forward in realms of cultivation. Not magic.

But what he needed to do more than anything else at that moment was to be a friendly face and voice to a pair of girls still at odds with a language utterly alien to their own.

So he trilled a good morning and the assurance that he would be down momentarily, took care of necessary business in a beautifully appointed bathroom, freshened up, and headed down the hallway, the well-polished wood grain caressing his feet as he made his way downstairs, greeting a relieved looking Maja and a pouting Ella with a cheeky grin.

“Eric, you’re up! Good morning. How are you feeling?” Asked a warmly smiling Hanna.

“Where were you?” Maja simultaneously cried. “We were lonely and scared because we couldn’t understand anyone and then the father put you to bed himself. He looked surprised, for some reason. But he wouldn’t let us sleep in your room. He just jabbered at us with sad eyes and gave us cold water when we found the room he wanted us to stay in.”

Eric winced. “Sorry, Maja. I didn’t mean to let you down.”

Ella’s eyes locked intently upon his own. “Eric! How did you do that?”

Eric blinked. “Do what?”

This earned a scowl. “Grant Season’s Bounty to the entire grove! The parents were jabbering and pointing at all the fruit and vegetables and they now all tingle with odd energies.”

“That would be Wood Qi. Since were in a Spiritual Energy-rich world.”

Ella nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense. But you know you can only cast spells like that once a year, right? Too much…”

“Will deplete the soil and lesson the quality of the crops. Only good in times of emergency. I know.”

Ella gave him a look. “Still doesn’t explain how you managed to cast a ritual normally the province of elder druids doubling our yearly crops!”

Eric sighed. “I know, Ella. I could tell you that I was struck by whimsy and inspiration… that that’s just how magic works for me, but mostly what I’m hoping is that we can pretend I never cast that spell at all.”

Ella’s only slightly floral-tinted features went through a gamut of emotions, from exasperated disbelief, to ire, to heartfelt concern. “Eric… what’s wrong?”

“I’m in a bit of a pickle,” he admitted at last. “Let’s just say I walked an exceedingly crooked path as a cultivator to get here… and if I can’t correct my mistakes or start over… if I can’t find a clean and taint-free means of boosting my Spiritual Energy and ascending through the ranks as the most boring and vanilla of orthodox cultivators… then I’m skirting a very fine line between power and death.”

Ella paled.

Maja burst into tears.

“Please don’t die! You’re our big brother! We need you!”

Eric sighed, very carefully scooping Maja up into his arms and soothing her. “It’s alright. I’ll be fine. So long as I’m careful. And right now the best path forward for me is preventing people from focusing on my magic or otherwise sticking out and deviating too wildly from their expectations. Especially since I need their help, desperately, and the more strangers like me deviate from the norm, the less likely people are to want to help them.”

Ella bit her lip, then sighed and bowed her head. “It’s alright, Eric. I’ll take responsibility for the ritual. Even if I can’t um… actually cast anything but the most basic of cantrips.”

“Eric, is everything alright?” Queried an increasingly worried-looking Hanna, John also looking concerned, as did Louise, when not devouring the sausage, bacon, and pancakes on her plate.

Eric forced a placating smile, gently putting Maja back down. “Everything’s fine. The girls were just worried, and hoping you wouldn’t blame them for whatever had happened in the garden.”

“Oh, not at all!” Hanna hastily assured. “What the girls did was beyond miraculous! We’re… we’re truly grateful for their bounty.”

Louise nodded animatedly. “We now have over a ton of Wood-Qi saturated fruit and produce! That’s going to be worth a fortune at the NanDushi auction hall… but of course we’ll be careful, so we don’t get too many eyes glancing our way.”

Eric nodded solemnly. “That’s good to hear. But please don’t be surprised if what happened was sort of a… one time thing? I’d think of it as new additions to your family being welcomed to the land.”

“We understand,” Hanna quickly assured. She and her husband looked oddly relieved, even if Louise’s expression was dangerously close to a pout. “The important thing is that the girls feel welcome. And you as well, Eric. Because this is your home… for as long as you three want it.”

Eric solemnly conveyed Hanna’s message, earning tears and smiles from both girls who quickly nodded, before happily digging into the vegetable stew Hanna solemnly gave them both, in addition to a rather tasty looking mixture of yogurt, fresh fruit, and honey.

“Which do you want for breakfast, Eric?” Louise asked between bites of sausage, tilting her head curiously.

“Swallow before you speak, dear,” her mother gently reproved.

Eric smirked, noting that she had replaced sapphire horn studs for rubies, today wearing a t-shirt that complimented her figure more than was good for Eric, who instead focused on the question.

“I’ll have what you’re having,” he pointedly declared, looking at her plate full of tasty meaty goodness.

This earned a snort. “Really? You’re not going to go for the fruit and yogurt option?”

“I mean, sure. I’ll gladly have that as well. The yogurt smoothies looks epic. After I try out that sausage and bacon... and are those buttermilk pancakes?”

“Of course they are, dear,” Hanna declared, a plate full of tasty goodness placed in front of Eric, in addition to a tall glace of iced pear juice and a yogurt fruit smoothy as well.

Eric couldn’t help but smile ear to ear.

But not literally.

He didn’t need to freak out his host family this early in their relationship.

“Tastes absolutely fantastic! Ella and Maja agree.”

Both girls trilled happily with Eric’s whistle. “See?”

Louise’s eyes sparkled like excited rubies. “Ooh that sounds so magical! Is that a mystic language your speaking? Could I use it to learn magic? Can you teach me?”

“Louise…” Her father’s look became a surprised blink when Eric slowly shook his head.

“I can try to teach you a few whistles for alarm, trade, and friend. Basic trade-speak, using ranges most humans can mimic… but that alone won’t teach you magic. Besides, you’re configuration is best suited for cultivation, like your mom.”

The table ground to dead silence, everyone staring at Eric.

“What?” He said between bites of fluffy, honey-laden deliciousness. He then winced. “See, this is what happens when you don’t have social perks in play.”

John gave him an oddly sympathetic smile. “Yeah, I remember what that was like. Suddenly 9 ranks of Charm and 7 of Negotiation didn’t mean squat. Now, why don’t you tell us what you meant by that last statement?”

Eric swallowed, took a sip of exquisitely tasty pear juice with just a hint of lime and sugarcane and nodded. “I noted it last night. In the game room downstairs.” He caught Louise’s anxious gaze. “Congratulations. You have a full set of seven meridian gates, and you have a trickle of spiritual energy flowing through them all.”

For long seconds, the table stared at him. Louise’s expression shifted from wonder, to angry confusion. “That’s impossible,” she finally whispered. “The spirit doctor said I was broken… that there was no point in my learning any cultivation techniques and wasting the highland sects time!”

Eric furrowed his brow in confusion. “Sorry?”

Hanna, strangely enough, looked relieved. “It’s alright, dear. It’s better this way.”

Louise, however, wouldn’t be soothed. She gazed at her mom with fire in her eyes. “But mom, don’t you understand? If they’re willing to lie like that to my face, when even Eric can sense it after knowing me for less than a day… that means that the spirit doctor’s compromised, or the tests are utterly rigged!”

Eric’s lips pressed in growing concern, his appetite waning. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Hanna quickly assured, though the look she gave him left him feeling weighed and measured. “You finish your breakfast, Eric, then we’ll begin language lessons for the children.”

Eric forced a casual nod as she took her scowling daughter upstairs, whispering words Eric could tell were meant to reassure Louise. Telling her, of all things, that it was actually better this way.

Eric winced at John’s sigh.

“Okay… how badly did I fuck up?”

“Language,” John said absently. “Don’t worry about Louise, Eric. She’ll be fine. She’s just angry to find that the world isn’t as fair and idealistic as she had hoped.” His gaze grew distant. “But if this means that the sect has chosen to dismiss our family entirely… this really is for the best.”

Eric suppressed a wince, knowing better than to acknowledge that he had heard the latter part of John’s muttering, pretty sure it hadn’t been vocalized at all.

John rubbed his temple before sighing and gazing at the three still eating with a fatherly smile. “Anyway, the school holds cultivation tests at the start of every semester. It’s one of the few ways lowlanders and their offspring have of rising to the plateau highlands and joining a feeder academy. It’s not mandatory by any means. 90% of children have no meridian channels to open at all, and of them, the great majority lack anything like a proper configuration of nodes.”

Eric nodded. “Five or more, right? Or are things different here than in System-controlled space?”

John’s gaze sharpened, before he gave a slow nod. “You’re right, Eric. Children with limited potential are shown the very basics at one of the academies designed to accommodate them. It’s only those with complete meridian configurations of five or more that are granted access to the true cultivation academies, topside.”

Eric blinked, thoughts racing as he considered the full implications of that statement… and what else he had noted in the gaming room below.

“I think I understand.”

The table grew oddly still, Ella and Maja both pausing in their eating, noting the sudden tension in the air.

“Do you?”

Eric suppressed a wince, meeting John’s hooded gaze and nodding. “I do.”

“So you know.”

Eric took a deep breath, facing the man who was both hardened mercenary and devoted family man. “The entertainment center chamber is very low in Spiritual Energy. And it’s utterly still. So with my Qi Perception…”

John smirked, eyes twinkling with wry humor. “Do you have any idea how absurd such an ability sounds? How much effort and training it requires specialists to be able to sense the flow of Qi in any spirit beast, let alone a cultivator, just from a glance? Mostly, its master and disciple communing together. Yet with you…”

“Yup. It’s a System skill enhancement I got to select with minimal exposure to a pocket realm full of spiritual treasures.”

John chuckled. Eric smiled, and gestured for the Ella and Maja to relax and eat.

“I always heard that classers on newly ascending worlds sometimes enjoy the wildest twists of fortune. Almost to the point of…”

“Being Contenders?”

John shrugged. “Well, all I can say is that it’s a precious rare gift that will probably serve you in good steed here, Eric. I have no doubt of that.”

Eric held the man’s gaze. “But that doesn’t help Hanna or Louise.”

John’s smile hardened. “No. It doesn’t.”

“Because Louise is being denied any chance to train at any topside academy that would allow her to blossom into a true cultivator.”

John clenched his jaw… before dipping his head. “You’re right. She is.”

Eric held his gaze for long seconds, his heart pounding. “Because of what happened to her mother, right?”

John frowned off into the distance. “That’s a tale it’s best if she tell, Eric. If and when she’s ready.”

Eric winced, quickly dipping his head. “Agreed.”

John lifted his enhanced frame from the reinforced seat, giving Eric a friendly clap on the shoulder. “Enjoy your breakfast, Eric. I’ll check on Hanna.”

Eric forced a smile. “I really am, sir.”

John snorted. “Call me John, Eric. Let us know if you or your sisters need anything.” With those words and a farewell smile for the girls, he headed upstairs, no doubt to comfort his wife and daughter.

Eric sighed internally, sure he had fumbled the conversation half a done ways, but so famished that it was easy enough just to focus on the delicious repast before him.

“What happened?” A worried Maja asked between spoonfuls of her yogurt.

Eric sighed. “Hanna was hurt by cultivator a long time ago. The sects above are now making sure that Louise has absolutely no chance to be selected as a cultivator candidate. And her parents aren’t saying it aloud… but they think that’s for the best. My guess is that they’re afraid that if she joins one of the sects above, that ruthless cruel cultivators there will hurt her like they did Hanna.”

Maja looked absolutely horrified by those words. “Then she shouldn’t go!”

“That’s their stance, but I don’t think Louise agrees,” Eric whistled. “Though I wouldn’t be surprised if seven meridian prodigies like Louise would probably catch the eyes of any number of cultivation academies topside, some probably quite honorable and good, not that I have any real idea at all… We know that Hanna’s family clearly has at least one serious enemy and they don’t want to risk their daughter’s life along such a perilous path.”

Ella nodded. “Makes sense. It’s far better to be safe and enjoy life’s gentle wonders, than to pursue perilous powers that could destroy the whole grove.”

Eric grinned at the analogy. “Certainly, we don’t have any complaints about our own beautiful garden.” He gently stroked their brows. “We now have a wonderful chance to savor a fresh start in the sweetest, most wonderful grove and home we could hope for. So it’s for us to do all we can to keep it secure and ourselves safe, and blend in as best we can.”

The girls nodded, sharing smiles with Eric.

“You’re going to teach me that Greater Bounty ritual, one day!” Ella insisted.

Eric winked. “One day. When you’re ready. How could I not? You two were my muse. My inspiration. I was really just the orchestral accompaniment to your duet. Now, who’s up for seconds? No one else? I guess all these perfectly done sausages are for me, then.”

Shortly thereafter, a pleasantly stuffed Eric found himself stepping outside with the girls, eager to glimpse the beautiful garden once again. Because even if he had fumbled the ball with John and Hanna, there was no reason not to give the girls some warm memories… and maybe teach them what words he could.

“Can you feel it, Eric? The magic, the wonder… its even richer than before!”

Eric blinked, slowly nodding his head as his lips curved into a bemused smile. “I think you’re right, Ella,” he said, stretching his arms wide and inhaling the cool inland breeze. “The air’s just as rich as before. I was afraid that with that ritual…”

“Your ritual,” Ella gently corrected.

Eric laughed “Our ritual… that the land would somehow be drained. But it’s not. It feels richer and more vibrant than before. More… connected, somehow.”

“More magical,” a giggling Maja declared as she darted for the nearest flower bed before bending down to sniff the brilliant carnations and fragrant tulips, radiating far more than simple pollen, if Eric’s Qi perception was anything to go by.

Eric blinked, feeling a sudden shiver of wonder as he realized just how right Maja was.

“Eric! I’m glad I found you so close to the house. How are the girls?”

Eric suppressed a flinch, relieved to hear no accusation or anger in Hanna’s voice. Just the same serenely graceful woman peering at him so intently with her violet gaze. He quickly nodded.

“We’re fine. Just admiring the garden while I try to teach them the words for corn, squash, and beans.”

Hanna beamed approvingly as Eric gestured to the collection of plants that his instincts told him were in perfect harmony with one another.

“That’s right. We call them sacred sisters, here. The corn stalks support the beans that enrich the land. Feeding the corn plenty of nitrates, as John would put it. The squash also benefits from the corn and beans while providing ground cover, so that no weeds crowd in on our corn harvest.”

Eric nodded, pretty sure it mirrored Native American farming techniques. Then he went still, eyebrows furrowing.

Hanna gave him a curious look when he bent down to examine the squash more closely. “Eric?”

Eric solemnly lifted several of the wide squash leaves to reveal treasures hidden within. Treasures which he intuitively knew to protect with the shade of his body, even as he revealed the silvery leaves hidden beneath.

Hanna clapped with approval. “Well done, Eric! I wasn’t expecting any of you to find Maidensong without considerable help and a number of lessons you might find boring, but would pay off when you finally found the very prize in your hands!”

Eric furrowed his brow. “Is this plant actually radiating Spiritual Energy? How?”

Hanna’s gaze grew intent. “You can sense that? Truly Eric? Are you sure you’ve never heard of Maidensong before today?”

“Never,” Eric solemnly assured. “But I could sense the Qi radiating off it like a spirit peach radiating Fire Qi.”

Eric blinked and the girls gasped, so quick did Hanna move, suddenly in front of Eric. Not that he had no idea that she was rushing to face him… but certain the 30 or 40 Quickness survivor she might think of him being would have been lurching back from a woman with more than 5 times his speed… moving as if she had teleported, never mind the gust of air suddenly in his face.

“This is very important, Eric..” She whispered very softly in his ear. “Mystical spirit peaches are something we do not talk about in public. Not ever. Not for any reason. Nothing good can come of it, I promise you. Understood?”

Eric winced and nodded. “Crystal clear.”

“Good.” She forced a smile. “Forgive me, children, but NanDushi can be, in some ways, a very fearsome, very competitive place. Though you three will never have to worry about going without, or undue hardship, there are treasures which fill far too many people with the fire, the dream to attempt to rise far, far beyond their limited foundations. Mystical fruit, some far more potent than others, are a tool that can facilitate this change in some, and inspire a hunger bright enough to compel even highland cultivators to brave even the lowlands. At least for a time.”

Eric winced, translating for the girls. “Understood. We mention absolutely nothing about that particular fruit, lest someone think we do more that discuss legend and rumor. And I guess this is also why we are storing all the fruit that ripened all at once?”

Hanna nodded. “Indeed. The Spiritual Energy is far beyond what most lowland produce contains, even rice grown on the plateaus, and that’s saying something. But what makes it particularly risky is that it radiates something… otherly. Something that might benefit a Wood specialist, but could cause our family headaches and worse… far worse, should the wrong people hear about it. Which means we won’t be parting with it, not even at the special auction house Louise mentioned. Do you understand what I’m saying, Eric?”

Eric, no fool, of course understood the warning and plea beneath her gaze.

“I do,” he solemnly bowed his head. “And what you’re sensing is nature magic. Most closely aligned to Wood and Water Qi.”

Hanna’s eyes crinkled in a warm, motherly smile. “And you’re sensitive to the arcane arts as well as Spiritual Energy currents, aren’t you, Eric? All three of you have arcane gifts! Even more than my husband. Oh, what a wonderful talent you have, children! All four portal metropolises that encircle the grand continent we call home are always in desperate need of talented electromana engineers to regulate and calibrate all the arcanistry and technology so vital to commerce, trade, and all the entertainments so popular in the big cities. They work hand-in-hand with formation masters and talisman artists trained in the highlands, and are compensated quite handsomely, enjoying lives of status and privilege that few can match.”

Eric shared smiles with the girl’s awed looks as he sung Hanna’s words, and the excitement in her tone.

“So we could become esteemed professionals!” A wide-eyed Ella trilled, momentarily enamored by the thought of becoming the societal equivalent of a brilliantly plumaged bird admired by the duller sparrows and robins around her.

Eric winked. “Maybe we could, at that. But there is plenty for us to learn here and now in this wonderful garden. Is that not right, Aunt Hanna?”

Hanna smiled at the term of endearment. “Indeed, darlings, there is. If you’ll look here, this is a Copperwort plant. Its blossoms naturally retain moisture and help nurture our other plants. And for the truly sensitive among you, you might note that it has other properties as well.”

Eric frowned, taking in the rich green leaves and copper-hued blossoms as it wound about both corn stalk and bean, yet seemed to cause no harm to either, Hanna continuing to explain in her soft voice which Eric dutifully translated that it absorbed its nutrients from the air directly. Both moisture, particles and…

“It’s like Maidensong but different. It doesn’t just radiate Spiritual Energy, it actually directs the flow of Qi!” A wide-eyed Eric realized, earning a bemused nod from Hanna.

“It does. Very good, Eric. Both Wood and Water,” she confirmed.

Ella and Marta both smiled and trilled their admiration for their big brother, even as Marta sung at the plant until it began dancing along with her as she spun about in place, as restless as any young girl, earning both a laugh and eyes filled with genuine admiration from Hanna who didn’t hesitate to gently clasp Marta’s hand and dance about while her sister sung a haunting melody, several plants now dancing around them all.

Eric smiled, barely resisting the fae impulse to embrace the moment once more… somehow knowing that the entire garden would soon be joining them, and there’d be no way Hanna wouldn’t be suspicious, even if Eric knew better than to inspire another boon of produce when most of the plants were still drained.

But far less than they would be on Earth, an awed Eric realized, only now appreciating just how miraculous a boon the constant stream of Spiritual Energy crashing from the peaks of the grand world-sized plateau just fifty miles away truly was, flowing over absolutely everything and everyone and leaving him feeling more vibrant and alive than he had since he was forced to leave his earth.

Soon enough, Marta began to yawn a their dance came to an end, Hanna clapping with warm approval and sharing a look with Eric even as the pair of girls sat down and leaned against each other, the squash leaves holding them up like foam mattresses as they curled around each other and fell right to sleep.

Hanna gave a soft, rueful chuckle, gazing so fondly down at the children. “Adorable. Aren’t they, Eric?”

Eric nodded. “They truly are.”

Hanna sighed, shaking her head. “With a gift and mastery over plants that even ascended gardeners would envy. Even if their comprehension of Spiritual Energy is limited to the garden around them, and not themselves.”

Eric smirked. “Somehow I think they’re bloodlines contain a wee bit more than an ancient ancestral dryad or two.”

Hanna dipped her head. “Yet they’re now a part of my clan, my name their own. So none will dare to call them spirit beasts.”

Eric felt a chill with that declaration, tilting his head curiously. “Would anyone actually try to do anything like that to obviously sapient children?”

Hanna’s lips pressed in a hard line before softening in a bemused smile. She gave an innocent shrug, her eyes that of a worried mother. Not the cold-eyed warrior they had been, just a heartbeat before.

“Probably not, Eric. Certainly not here in NanDushi or it’s suburbs. At worse, they would think her a first generation immigrant… and they would be absolutely correct. Few sapient spirit beasts choose to live in the lowlands, after all.”

“So you guys really have spirit beasts here. That’s isn’t just a cultivation novel thing.”

This earned a playful chuckle. “Of course, Eric. A fair number inhabit the stretch of woodlands between our town and the more focused farming communities further from the city.”

Eric blinked at this, before it clicked. This was where well-to-do families who could afford the price of a nice slice of land close to the city lived. Of course there might be exceptions, like farmer Long. But Eric was pretty sure that in addition to eccentric farmers that never sold their ancestral land, the local population would include plenty of families that could casually build grand woodland cabins and surround themselves with meditative or hobby gardens designed to harvest choice herbs for the kitchen or concentrate Spiritual Energy more than serious commercial crop production… and they would pay top price for the land. Because most people who lived this close to the beating heart of NanDushi was either independently wealthy, which Eric assumed most former Bronze-Tier mercenaries were, or someone with business in NanDushi who wasn’t dependent upon farming alone to make a living.

“Come, Eric. Let the girl’s rest. There’s something I want to show you.”

Eric turned to face Hanna, wincing internally at her knowing smile.

“I can tell that you have potential, Eric. Potential… and the weight of the world on your shoulders. So let me give you the gift of meditation. A path to finding peace with what’s come before, so that you may embrace happiness along whatever future path you choose to walk.”

Eric blinked at this before slowly dipping his head. “I’m all about learning new things. Especially if by meditation, we mean…”

She snorted. “By meditation I mean exactly that. Clearing your mind and allowing cleansing breaths to wick away the worry and stress poisoning your life… replacing it with that which is healthy, calm, and good. Now we’re going to take some slow, deep, diaphramic breaths. Feel the air fill your lungs as you spread your arms wide… then slowly, gently, exhale.

Bemused, Eric committed to following Hanna’s instructions. He wasn’t sure if it would do any good, but it certainly couldn’t hurt, and it was always possible that he didn’t actually know everything and that there might be benefits he was currently unaware of.

His casual dismissal of meditation and cleansing breaths, considering all the other unorthodox paths to power that he already dared, was kind of silly. He could at least give it it a shot.

So when Hanna began taking slow deep breaths of blossom-scented air as she assumed the lotus position before flowing into a series of dance-like poses... Eric began taking slow, deep breaths while mimicking her movements as best he could.

Even when a few breaths became a good handful of minutes.

Even when he sensed absolutely no benefit or change at all.

But did he feel a bit calmer? Maybe.

Did it hurt him in any way to echo his foster mother in something that clearly brought her solace?

Not at all.

So he resolved himself to continue his meditative breathing, realizing that, contrary to being bored, with the sun caressing his cheeks as a cool flower-scented breeze rustled his hair... that there were few places he’d rather be, as he savored the wonder and beauty of the rustling pear trees and the garden all around him.

It was some moments before Eric noticed the change.

To be fair, it had been an awfully intense handful of days, he was now on an entirely new world rich with a resource all but absent, everywhere else. And he hadn’t known to expect anything at all.

Nonetheless, he wasn’t blind to the transformation, subtle as it was. More the winding back of a clock, than anything overly dramatic. Fresh color coming to what he realized had been too sallow cheeks. A sense of weariness notable only for its absence, Hanna’s features now full of serene vigor. But what really caught his gaze was what he failed to sense the day before. What he could only register now, because of how brilliantly they shown in his mind’s eye as Hanna’s breathing changed from serene to focused and she began taking sharp, rapid cleansing breaths in the middle of a garden that sung with rich spiritual currents. Currents that left Eric’s scalp tingling with the glorious profusion of Spiritual Energy he had missed so sharply, so painfully, before he had arrived. His absurd resistances and Willpower had been all that had allowed him to endure his previous discomfort with snarky comments and bliss’s distraction.

Yet now… even more than when he first jumped through the gate into Titan Prime, he felt alive and restored in ways that brought tears to his eyes.

Qi Perception check made. You sense the currents of Spiritual Energy soothing your body and soul! Spiritual Energy has been temporarily boosted to 10!

He didn’t say a word. Didn’t need to. He merely did his best to match his foster mother’s… his mentor’s breathing. A part of him knew he should be watching the napping girls just in case, but Hanna’s gentle headshake made it clear she understood.

She was keeping an eye on the two children.

It was for Eric to keep his eyes on her. Up to him to understand not just the physical manifestation of cleansing breaths… but to sense the spiritual aspects as well.

To sense, in such sharp contrast to her still painfully stagnant meridians… the brilliantly fast flow of hair thin capillaries that were her peripheral channels.

Peripherals so drastically different from his recollection of the hundred or so channels a System Cultivator might eventually claim, each one being a level.

So utterly different from the sight of Hanna’s massive dragon gates trapped with stagnant Qi... and the countless dozens of tiny hair thin capillaries that were the tiniest fraction of that whole. Yet somehow, by some wondrous miracle of diligence and practice, those capillaries still managed to move Qi throughout her entire body.

Eric could see it. How those life-giving threads of Qi nurtured and revitalized Hanna’s heart, liver, lungs and brain. Her skin, hair, and muscles as well. Restoring and sustaining her, like blood vessels in truth.

He gazed into her eyes. Her body, her soul. This woman who had opened her heart and hearth to three orphaned children now opened the gates of her spiritual self as well.

Freely showing a trust that Eric sensed very, very few cultivators would ever dare show another, unless they were very blessed or lucky.

Eric was beyond humbled. And he refused to insult her by not doing his utmost to understand and appreciate the wondrous opportunity before him. Doing his utmost to sense the peripheral flow of Spiritual Energy flowing like currents through countless hair-thin channels… while simultaneously reaching into his own body and psyche and soul, somehow all three at once, choking back a scream that was just a calm breath as a part of his mind shifted in directions utterly alien to the three dimensions he understood so well. Alien even to the directions an ascended Phoenix could fly… sensing in that perilous heartbeat countless empty and surprisingly untainted peripheral threads branching off in infinite directions from his own corrupted spiritual body. Microscopic peripheral filaments surrounding massive meridian channels so filled with caustic plaque that it was all he could do not to scream in dismay.

Blackened corrosion thicker than imperial dreadnought plating.

More foul than the blackened steel of his father’s corroded moon.

Filling every last iota of his once pristine dozen meridians. Meridians that, in this odd spiritual dimension, stretched vast and what seemed endless miles of what had once been Golden potential… only now did he understand the horrible cost he had ultimately paid.

And still, despite the silent screams of dismay in his heart, he understood that he had absolutely no right to complain.

No right at all.

He, who had achieved the rank of Ascended Dreadlord. One who had raised and commanded over three million Bronze-Tier revenants, unifying multiple class feats and unorthodox skills to forge a hoard of charging hellions that could literally send an ascending Gold crashing back down to hell.

A feat that had nearly destroyed the planet he had been trying so desperately to save.

A feat recognized by the empress herself.

And this was the price he had paid.

Never even understanding the cost… for his sifu had shown him another path.

The Path of Predation and Evolution. A path echoing that of spirit beasts.

No matter how unorthodox his arts, he could always grow stronger. Always ascend further. Because with Bunbun’s insights, he now understood that it was his race that he was constantly evolving. Infusing ever more Spiritual Energy not within his Meridians… not with any chance of ever forming a core… no.

His eyes filled with relieved tears when he took a look at that which was in perfect health and rich with pristine potential. Even if nearly bereft of that which would otherwise be flooding it, were it not for his sire’s… his claimed sire’s curse.

His highly evolved lymphatic system, now utterly Qi compatible, was the key component of his racial evolution. A physical mirror of both his circulatory system and his meridian configuration. Or at least, the compressed meridian version he was used to glimpsing in System-dominated regions. Only here and now, with an entire element of his soul seeming to gain added dimensionality, such that it no longer seemed to overlap his circulatory system, did he realize that his personal Qi flow had nothing to do with his utterly clogged meridians at all.

“So that was how I channeled all my Fire fists and Phoenix Strikes,” he whispered to himself, blinking back the bittersweet sting in his eyes, choosing only to appreciate just how much he had grown. How far he had come. Even if he was doomed never to ascend as any pristine cultivator. And when had Evelyn ever claimed otherwise?

She hadn’t. She hadn’t handed him any golden letter of acceptance into some prestigious cultivation academy. Instead, she had gifted him with the boon of his sister’s safety, which was all he really cared about, and of course, the location of precious spirit fruit deep in the heavenly plateau above. Spirit fruit he could devour and implant within each of his Dantians, savoring the boons of pristine fruit… just like any clever spirit beast might.

And that was fine.

It was all he could ask for.

He had actually evolved into a creature who could ascend along multiple paths, including his evolving race, embracing even a cultivator’s paradigm of Qi-based attacks… while still commanding massive armies of the dead.

It was enough. It was everything. A miraculous forging that had saved New York and all those he loved.

He had no right to ask for anything more.

Yet even so…

The part of him that yearned with desperate hope still reached out to feel the exquisitely intricate flow of Hanna’s peripheral meridians… and was left dizzy with wonder and dismay, unable to infuse even a single thread of his own.

Yet he still couldn’t help but smile with bittersweet solace.

For as hopeless as he feared his path had become… his highly evolved lymph nodes tingled with freshly claimed Spiritual Energy, now channeling it through his physical body just fine.

Even if it was the farthest thing from his Dantians.

Even if he could never form a core.

His muscles tingled with freshly claimed Spiritual Energy and he knew damn well that he had no right to feel anything but relief and joy.

And he knew his eyes weren’t deceiving him when he sensed the years fade from Hanna’s face, as an exquisitely beautiful and strong-looking thirty five year old blossomed into someone a decade younger at the end of their half hour session as Hanna took a final invigorating breath and ended her cultivation with a truly serene smile.

“Thank you for joining me for morning meditation, Eric,” Hanna said.

Eric’s heart was pounding. He didn’t even know why. “Thank you for allowing me to meditate with you.”

Hanna flashed an impish smile. “So, what do you think of my breathing technique?”

“Revolutionary!” He forced himself to ask the question. “Do you think, maybe… I might learn to do the same?”

Hanna frowned thoughtfully, her fingers brushing against his brow.

Whatever flicker of hope he had let blossom instantly died with the wave of horrified regret crossing her features.

Because he had left himself deliberately open to her. Not his killing aura, hopefully never that. But, in the way he sensed only Cultivator’s could, he had deliberately revealed a portion of himself in a way that made him so vulnerable… and the pained look in her eyes had cut him deep indeed.

Her look of awful pity became the warmest of smiles so fast they both could pretend that she hadn’t blanched at all. “You survived quite the ordeal, didn’t you, Eric?”

Eric dipped his head. “You could say that, yes.”

“And look at you now. So strong. So filled with vitality. You should be proud of yourself, Eric. I hope you know that.”

Eric couldn’t quite suppress his bitter smirk. “That bad, huh?”

Hanna flashed a sympathetic smile, thankfully free of bullshit. “I’m afraid so, kid.”

Eric leaned back, rubbing his temple. “Fuck. So my only path forward really is high end spirit fruit.”

This earned a snort. “I won’t even tell you how many promising young aspirants I once knew who got themselves killed, daring that which even their masters feared to obtain. The more prudent disciples chose instead to grow fresh stock from the seeds of those treasures already claimed. Cuttings grown so calm and docile that devouring those treasures assured only the most mild of benefits. Certainly a worthy treat on its own merit… yet nowhere near potent or perilous enough to defy one’s fate.”

Eric closed his eyes and sighed. “So, what do I do now?”

Of course it was a rhetorical question. He was venting frustration. He knew exactly what he was going to do, and with the attributes he actually had, he suspected his odds of success were far higher than aspirants with only double digits in their stats.

Yet Hanna answered still. “You’ll do exactly what we did today. Sit in the garden and feel the Spiritual Energy flow through you. Feel it tickle against your peripheral meridians, far more sensitive to external currents than our dragon gates, and far less likely to be tainted and permanently destroyed by corrupted techniques, vindictive foes, or the crooked paths life sometimes forces us to walk. You will learn to draw the Spiritual Energy in, breathing in good health, and you will practice exhaling worry, doubt… and at least traces of waste Qi.”

Eric stiffened before meeting Hanna’s enigmatic smile. Forcing himself to say it. “Can you teach me how to cleanse and infuse my peripheral channels?”

“Why, Eric! I make no claims of teaching you anything, darling boy.” She winked. “I’m merely teaching you how to meditate. How to breathe. And I expect you to learn to mirror my efforts perfectly. And should you convince yourself that mirroring my cycling will actually allow you to clear peripheral channels that might help rejuvenate our bodies but have almost no direct impact upon our major gateways and will do absolutely nothing to help us ascend to the Energy Gathering stage or ever learn the art of core formation… you’re free to believe whatever you so wish.”

Eric swallowed, ignoring the roaring in his ears as he bowed to a bemused Hanna. “I very much look forward to our next meditation session. I can’t think of a better way to ease troubled thoughts or inhale a bit of serenity to hopefully last me through the day.”

“That’s the spirit!” Hanna’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “Now come help me put the girls to bed. Then I think John would like to have a word with you… no, don’t wince, silly. He just wants a chance to get to know you better. Maybe find out if you share any of his interests.”

Eric nodded, gently gathering Ella and Maja up, still sleeping upon the bed of squash leaves that were happy enough to let Eric claim them, roots gently slipping free of soil as Eric held up the bed of foliage. “I’m not quite sure where their rooms are?”

Hanna gazed at Eric for a long moment. “I see you’re carrying the girls quite comfortably.”

“I certainly hope so.”

“Still sleeping in their bed of squash leaves.”

“Yup.”

“That you’re carrying without breaking the stems… without a single leaf bending out of shape.”

“Of course. What would the point be, if I just let them slip off the leaves?”

Hanna held his innocent gaze for another second before snorting and turning around. “What point indeed. Come, my secretive faerie prince. Let’s get your charges to bed.”

Eric’s cheeks blazed. “When I told Louise that…”

“You were teasing. I know.” She turned around and winked. Not a very innocent wink, but Eric let it go.

Because really, what was there to say?