Amdirlain’s PoV - Shiyan - Zhōngguó

  As Sadka rang a chime outside the compound of ‘The Silk Clouds’, Amdirlain considered its interior. Layers of wards with increasing complexity beneath its paved courtyards prompted her to investigate downwards. There, she found thousands of chambers and extra-dimensional spaces, preserved scrolls filling each chamber on topics ranging from crop yields to military reports—details of cover-ups that would have caused families to lose face—and extended family trees.

  Do they take care of genealogical enquiries?

  She continued scanning downwards until, in the deepest chambers, she found the remains of alien creatures in stasis fields alongside a battered text whose spine referred to nuclear physics. The latter’s energies were from another realm, and the wards contained elements for the immolation of the text.

  They collect pretty deep secrets. Is that book from the Jade Emperor’s original realm?

  A hatch in the door jerked open, and a woman’s dusky gaze glared at them. “Why are you here with sealed demons?”

  Sadka inclined his head politely and held up the seal from the cemetery post. “Someone ordered them to a cemetery with corrupted seals, and the town’s priests were conveniently deceased.”

  The woman’s gaze didn’t soften. “Very well, we will take them from you. Wait here. I’ll summon someone to handle them and collect the details.”

  The hatch clicked back into place.

  “Friendly bunch,” quipped Amdirlain.

  Sadka smiled ruefully. “Silken threads make clothing but can also kill. The sect ferrets out secrets and keeps the dangerous ones from those without reason to know. As they’ll still want to ask questions, you can return to Wudang. I’ll meet you tomorrow morning, and we can continue your lessons.”

  She nodded politely and vanished, returning to her usual elven form before she flew up the mountain. She skimmed the treetops and took in people’s locations within the palace. Sarah and Kadaklan were with Jiutian Xuannü and the maidens in her lab, feeding Ki into a complex array. Jinfeng was in the hot springs chatting with Klipyl, who floated half-submerged with her arms outstretched.

  Amdirlain landed beside the pool and stored her clothing before dropping in where she could easily talk to Jinfeng. “How’s the hunting been going?”

  Klipyl lazily waved at Jinfeng. “We killed a few big-arse demons, and she lost a hand.”

  “Tattle tail.” Jinfeng shifted nervously.

  “I won’t scold you,” reassured Amdirlain. “I’ve lost far more than a hand.”

  “What’s the worst injury you’ve taken and lived through?” asked Jinfeng curiously. “I mean In combat.”

  “Don’t start that comparison.” Amdirlain ducked under the water before Jinfeng protested. Upon rising, Amdirlain quickly swept the wet strands from her face. “I was in an unhealthy place concerning injuries I took for a long time.”

  Jinfeng studied Amdirlain’s face for a few heartbeats before she moved along. “How have your lessons gone?”

  “The lessons were fine, but we dealt with a cemetery where someone had corrupted the protections and notified some intelligent undead it was accessible.”

  Klipyl peered at Amdirlain. “Are you looking into it?”

  “We took the intelligent ones to a sect of investigators.”

  “A what?” Klipyl frowned.

  Amdirlain shared some details of The Silk Clouds with them.

  “They speak to people and gather information, primarily to store it away,” hummed Klipyl thoughtfully. “I’d prefer to bring happiness and beauty, or at least remove what’s endangering people.”

  “You removed an ugly and dangerous Demon.” Jinfeng stretched out a foot to tap Klipyl’s hand.

  Klipyl turned her head and poked out her tongue. “We removed them.”

  “Fine, we removed it,” said Jinfeng. “Are we going to be staying here much longer, Sifu?”

  “Not really. I might do a few tasks with Sadka, but I only need to practice with his technique now,” replied Amdirlain. “I’m going to soak here a bit.”

  Relaxing against the side of the pool, she began working on one of Sarah’s exercises.

  Jinfeng smiled knowingly. “What are you training while you sit with us?”

  Amdirlain blinked innocently, only for the pair to giggle.

  She let them continue before planting her hands on her hips, splashing water about as she did. “Fine, laugh it up.”

  “That doesn’t answer the question, Sifu.”

  “I’m using Metacreativity to create a protective membrane that absorbs solar energy over the palace tiles. I won’t leave it in place, but they give me an uneven surface to practise on.”

  Klipyl swam over to Amdirlain and planted a kiss on her forehead. “It’s okay, sis—you can be a training junkie, we’ll still love you.”

  “Thanks,” drawled Amdirlain.

  With a broad grin, Klipyl squeezed Amdirlain’s cheeks. “Who’s a grumpy girl?”

  A water column rose and dropped on Klipyl, who squealed playfully and dramatically bounced about in mock distress.

  “Get your boobs out of my face,” instructed Amdirlain lightly.

  A spark of mischief shone in Klipyl’s gaze. Deliberately stepping closer, she thrust her chest out. “What’s wrong with my tits?”

  “Nothing besides you being a brat.”

  Klipyl spun and dropped beside Amdirlain, using her shoulder as a pillow. “That’s good, sis.”

  Ori’s memories stirred a deep run of themes that shivered with grief over her family. Phoenix’s Symphony turned the emotional pain into a dark and captivating aria that resonated within Amdirlain’s thoughts. Letting the music wash around her, she relaxed on the ledge, only stirring when the jade maidens vanished from the palace. With the day’s lab work completed, Sarah and Jiutian Xuannü appeared and shed clothing on the hot spring’s edge.

  Jiutian Xuannü’s curtain of hair shifted into a tall braid that kept it contained. “Good evening, Am, Klipyl, and Jinfeng. How are you this evening?”

  As polite greetings were exchanged, Sarah slipped into the water beside Amdirlain. With a grin, she mirrored Klipyl, dropping her head to Amdirlain’s shoulder. “We’ve got you now.”

  “Why do I get to be the pillow?”

  “I called dibs too bad, not moving,” huffed Klipyl.

  Though Amdirlain rolled her eyes, she didn’t shift position, and Jiutian Xuannü slipped into the water on the opposite side of the pool.

  “During my discussion with Sarah, we covered various powers and stumbled upon one you and I have in common that you’re having trouble improving.” Jiutian Xuannü settled on the ledge with only the upper curve of her shoulders showing. “Though I know it by a different name, you call it Mana Font. It’s been giving you problems, correct?”

  ‘She’s a slippery conversationalist,’ offered Sara silently.

  Amdirlain nodded. “My attempts to increase it haven’t gotten far.”

  “You’ve tried keeping your Mana Pool empty and cycling Mana through your spiritual net, correct?”

  “Yes, with no noticeable effect.”

  “The problem is that the spiritual net and your pool are mechanisms to store, utilise, and refine Mana, not generate it. When you cycle Mana through your spiritual net, you add more to your Mana Pool as it’s picking up ambient Mana from your surroundings faster than your pool normally refills. However, if you restrict yourself from absorbing additional Mana, you neutralise the benefit of cycling.”

  “That matches my understanding, but I had hoped the activity would provoke a reaction from Mana Font.”

  Jiutian Xuannü relaxed and sunk further until only the upper curve of her shoulders was above the waterline. “When I pushed my version of Mana Font, I established a feedback loop between the pool, spiritual net, and essence. In your case, it would be Soul. In doing so, you’re effectively stirring up the headwaters to produce more. It has parallels to the approach for some Soul healing techniques.”

  “I’ve read a summary of one taught in the East Wind’s Court, and I’m hoping it meshes with my outlook.”

  “Good, this isn’t to be rushed. Once you learn an approach that feeds Ki into your Soul, apply it with your Mana a droplet at a time,” advised Jiutian Xuannü. “Unless you differ from me and others with similar powers, you’ll find the Power, and your Soul responds by generating more Mana.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “I appreciate the advice.”

  “You weren’t here when we spoke of it. Your eavesdropping would have saved me from having to repeat myself.” Jiutian Xuannü smiled, her dark eyes twinkling with amusement.

  Yeah, I’m not slipping anything past her.

  “I figured you could sense my awareness.”

  “How accurate is your perception?”

  “I can hear the shift of electrons and matter through multiple dimensional planes simultaneously.”

  Jiutian Xuannü smiled. “Then perhaps listening in is as natural as I felt it would be.”

  Yeah, she planned my lessons.

  “Do you mind reviewing some arcane theory you and Sarah discussed?” asked Amdirlain.

  “We can do that.”

  ? ? ? ? ? ?

  After Sarah headed off to Jiutian Xuannü’s lab the following morning, an official told her that talks with The Silk Clouds delayed Sadka. A flick cleaned up the remains of breakfast and their morning tea, and Amdirlain considered her options for the day. The students filing into a nearby training yard tempted her with physical training until something else came to mind.

  I hope doing this doesn’t have me scribbling ideas for weeks.

  She shifted the tea set to the sideboard and spread crystals and paper across the table. Eyeing them thoughtfully as she centred herself, she dropped a point in True Song Architecture. An external note hummed across her and, for the first time, she caught the method by which Gideon fed her details. Concepts and associated knowledge rushed through her awareness, her classes magnifying the sudden strengthening of connections between her Soul and spiritual net. She caught a version of the feedback loop that Jiutian Xuannü had mentioned, insights and details emerging from her Soul, compounding the effect.

  [True Song Architecture [G] (59->61)

  Note: You were sensible waiting until you had Songbird.]

  The last student hadn’t crossed the courtyard door threshold yet, making Amdirlain aware of how little time had passed.

  Do I risk more points?

  Having heard the effect on her Soul, she listened closer to the spiralling chorus of liquid sound that waxed and waned from her Soul. She risked another point and took in the threads of past-life memories stirred up by the increase in Skill. Ignoring the resulting notification, she spent a third point. This time, she eased the energy flows, and the applications for what she gained flooded forward, smoothing the incorporation and sparking additional insights that her classes utilised to grow the skill further. Once things were settled, Amdirlain reviewed the third notification of the day.

  [True Song Architecture [G] (64->71)

  Note: You keep finding new ways to use things you’ve mastered.]

  Amdirlain pressed on, drawing up key insights from aeons of Ori’s lonely solo work. The impact of ten points in less than a minute caused burrs within the threads of understanding that rose. As she sought to untangle a clump of knotted concepts, her efforts to trace their interlinking dropped her into a memory.

  ? ? ? ? ? ?

  The odd pair of Gideon and Muse hovered in the space beside Orhêthurin. Though Gideon was unchanged in their faceted gemstone appearance, Muse shifted back and forth between a naked blue-eyed Fey formed of water and a dark-skinned elven maiden wearing only a rawhide loincloth around her hips.

  “Why did you two call me way out here?” Muse asked, shifting into a crossed-legged position.

  “Inspiration.”

  Gideon chimed with concern. “You don’t have it all worked out already?”

  “What worked out?” Muse’s fingers elongated, and she wrapped her hands entirely around Giden. “Explain the whole deal so I know what’s happening.”

  “The Material Plane is off balance with the outer planes,” stated Orhêthurin. “It’s approaching a tipping point where the outer planes will rupture the realm’s boundary. We need the energy from more souls reinforcing it, so I need to set up more sentient species able to handle souls.”

  Muse frowned and shoved Gideon as she let go. “Gideon needs to give me the details before they call me somewhere. Mother, set the dragons loose on the formithians regularly, and then you’ll have trillions of souls streaming to the outer planes.”

  “I’m not sacrificing anyone that way. We have time to correct things, but I will need more help as my calculations for the stability of the boundary were wrong. I’m setting up a Power that echoes my Primordial Will, so it’s the closest to the realm’s rules that anything will come. Then I’m going to provide it to a long-lived species. Unfortunately, the scope of the Power and then possessing it will probably mean that none will ever gain an evolution through achievements.”

  Muse’s expression twisted with a dissatisfied scowl. “Why?”

  “Achievements are based on difficulty, and anything that would provide the Tier 7 for someone with True Song is unlikely to be something a Mortal can survive.”

  “I could inspire villains to stir up dramatic trouble,” protested Muse.

  Gideon emitted a sour, skeptical chime.

  “Don’t be like that, I’m sure I could.”

  “This is to discuss a Power I’ll give to a long-lived species, not to argue.”

  Muse pouted and turned into a sullen dwarven female, a bushy beard nearly completely hiding her features.

  “I hope we can get them to help me with ongoing construction.”

  “And if they don’t want to help?” Gideon interjected, jumping into her first hesitation.

  “I have another plan we can discuss, but let’s review this first.”

  Orhêthurin held up a hand, and her musical notation for a single hydrogen atom appeared to hover ten centimetres above her palm. More notations appeared in a stream that spun inwards, forming a ball around that first note and running well beyond the Human periodic table. The stream changed to detail molecular compounds for the full spectrum of allowed matter in the realm, including many that would need magical or advanced technology to create the conditions for their formation.

  “The base material is all planar agnostic and the simplest part to catalogue. I’ll set everything in place and then discuss the Power.” Orhêthurin threw the sphere forward, and a flood of notations swarmed into place as it raced away.

  When the construction ended, they were looking at a sun-sized sphere. The essence of forces represented in songs shone in interlinking patterns throughout its depths with an intensity that drowned the illumination from Gideon’s facets.

  Muse crossed her arms and looked at Orhêthurin in disbelief. “That’s everything you’re allowing the Power to do?”

  “That’s to the upper limit the souls I’m planning to create could use.”

  “Time should not be in there. People will always cause trouble with time,” insisted Muse, and she rattled off warnings about other problematic areas.

  Darkened notes divided it into sections, but Gideon regarded the whole unhappily, and they projected concerned words. “Mother, you’re still giving them too much. While you’ve taken all those elements out could you please remove the planar components as well?”

  A casual exercise of Orhêthurin’s will finished removing the elements Muse had called out. “They’ll need access to gates between planes, and shifting the mass required between planes isn’t something the Mana formations allow.”

  Gideon chimed. “Why not restrict that until they gain a Prestige Class that shows their dedication?”

  “Better for them to have it so they can learn and grow with the inspiration of frustration,” disagreed Muse, her fingers sliding along the strings. “Sometimes accidents inspire the driven by sheer necessity to clean up or survive. Also, idiots not to be trusted will overreach and reveal themselves while still weak enough that their messes are easier to resolve.”

  “Let’s say this is the upper version of True Song.” Over two-thirds of the illuminated notations winked out, and Ori hummed thoughtfully. “And I’ll use this as the base version of True Song, and its evolution will progress between those points. Gideon, you can decide what the evolution points of the Power and its related skills are.”

  “That’s still a lot to put in one set of hands. You’re making them very godlike,” cautioned Muse.

  “Two races then?” The dulled notations lit up again until Orhêthurin displayed the upper evolution version. Throughout the sphere, interwoven musical chords started to shift into a trio of colours. “I’ll go with red as common, blue as the deep octaves, and yellow as the upper octaves. Shades within those hues will represent required singing ranges.”

  “Better, but what determines their access to the singing ranges within their racial split and the common elements?”

  “Luck.”

  Sections of the spheres changed to match the nominated colours. “The ignition of stars requires the upper range, so they’re the Anar, and those handling the enduring notes will be the Lóm?.”

  “The common ground has some elements of Soul creation and manipulation.” Gideon’s facet sucked in light as permutations of possibilities raced within. “You could just come in behind them and set the sentient species in place.”

  Orhêthurin wrinkled her nose. “That would slow the boundary expansion and make this whole exercise pointless. I need a few billion years with a decent-sized workforce to reverse things and get ahead of the curve. They’ll need the capacity to implant knowledge into the species created further along the evolution path.”

  Muse tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Why? Most realms Gideon’s shown me stuck purely with evolution.”

  “I’ve limited time to get things settled,” explained Orhêthurin.

  “You’re creating a race of demigods that will lord over others, such as we saw elsewhere.”

  “They’ll be Mortal, and grabbing for this Power too swiftly and deeply will have repercussions.”

  An addition within the Power’s core drew an unsettled hiss from Gideon. “The Power’s use damages them, and health can be combined! But that’s like the blood magics of-“

  Muse became a rail-thin Fey, her eyeless visage locked on elements within the configuration of the Power. “Gideon, look at the linkages again. I can see her inspiration: the individual’s health doesn’t get fed into the Power. The energy will wear at the containing flesh as the Power redirects the realm’s energy. That is not blood magic and completely falls within the existing models. Divine energy channelled directly between Deity and Priest also wears at the Mortal.”

  “Fine, but I don’t like this, Mother,” grumbled Gideon. “All my scenario modelling says you’re giving too much capability to beings that haven’t proven worthy, and eventually, they’ll betray you. If celestials can become corrupted, so can mortals with the capabilities of gods.”

  Responses tickled at the back of Orhêthurin’s mind, but the screeching static of mostly obliterated memories sounded within the memory.

  “What I make, I can break,” stated Orhêthurin. “Or, more to the point, they can break. Let me show you what happens without the support of loyalty to my father.”

  Within the model, spiralling linkages shattered, and they crashed into each other, causing short circuits and feedback that crippled the efficiency of the Power.

  Gideon’s awareness washed over the configuration, taking in the changes. “Isn’t that broken version enough? It would allow them to populate species onto the planets you create.”

  “It’s enough to let them restore themselves if Father or I allow it. The following will happen if they’re accepted back to help.”

  Orhêthurin’s will struck it again; the reversal took far longer, as the model presented millennia of elapsed time in minutes. The more complex components of the Power she’d previously proposed remained lifeless, disloyalty having neutered its highest evolution potential.

  “From that point, I’ll need to handle the remaining repairs.”

  “If you give it back.” Gideon pulsed with discontent.

  “Why wouldn’t you? They would be a different generation, potentially not even knowing what they did,” Muse huffed. “Seems like punishing the innocent.”

  “They’ll be able to recover memories from past lives.”

  The pair paused as Orhêthurin dropped that surprise.

  Muse turned into a giant frog, eyes bulging from her head. “What? You’ve only given that to dragons.”

  “Oh, I plan to have the memory recovery closer to what Shindraithra possesses.”

  “No!” blurted Gideon.

  ? ? ? ? ? ?

  The memory's encapsulation wavered as the argument and volume of information involved caused her attention to shudder and crackle; Amdirlain grasped for details on the realm's boundary from the Power's schematics. She’d only seized a tiny fraction before the memory ruptured, and shards lanced out from her Soul, leaving Amdirlain blood-drenched. The structure glimpsed in the memory thrummed inside her, and a notification clarified how much the fraction she’d comprehended had affected the Skill.

  [True Song Architecture [G] (71->124)

  Note: I would have preferred them to prove me wrong.]

  She set a safety net from the beginning and never intended to restore the whole Power if there was a betrayal.

  I’m going to need time to investigate that memory, and see if I can recover more details.