《A System Inherited! [LitRPG, World Building, Female MC, Strong to OP, Xianxia like]》 1 - Prologue 1 - Prologue [4 entities detected] [Error¡­.Processing] [4 Linked physical entities detected] [6 Linked mental entities detected] [6 Linked souls entities detected] [Error¡­.All entities occupying single space / time] [Attempting forced separation] [Error¡­Separation process failed] [Attempting merging entities] [Merge requires forced relocation] [Located all physical / mental / soul entities] [Scanning all entities history, knowledge and karma records] [Attempting reconstitution] [Error¡­.Processing] [Universe CMG KZ5 ZAC FRO] [Error¡­.energy density insufficient] [Error¡­.universe not integrated] [Beginning integration of Universe CMG KZ5 ZAC FRO] [Time to integration 10,000 Sol Cycles] [Error¡­.Processing] [Universe GYT 2KW NRR 41F] [Error¡­.energy density insufficient] [Error¡­.universe integration is progress] [Time to integration 756 Sol Cycles] [Error¡­.Processing] [Universe TY1 OEZ WZC ECU] [Energy density sufficient] [Universe fully integrated {Rank 7 - A}]If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. [Error¡­.Processing] [Reconstitution unsuccessful] [Attempting reincarnation protocol] [Reincarnation successful in Universe TY1 OEZ WZC ECU] [Scanning new entity for anomalies] [Potential scion identified] [Protection protocol initiated¡­100 Sol Cycles] [Merging Akashic records] [Merge successful] [Potential scion protocol initiated] [Paragon standard enforced] [Simplified stats enforced due to Paragon status] [Initialising class assignment based on Akashic Records of entities] Entity status Name: Adya Gurg Body: 1 [x3125] [x1.0] [x1.0] Mind: 1 [x823,543] [x1.0] [x1.0] Soul: 1 [x823,543] [x1.0] [x1.0] Cultivation Stage: Rank 1 (Initiate) Stamina: 3,125 Stamina regeneration: 31 per minute Willpower: 823,543 Willpower regeneration: 8,235 per minute Mana: 823,543 Mana regeneration: 82,354 per minute ( dependent on sufficient ambient mana) Mana density: Rank 1 [x1] Essence: 0 Entity 1: Class Ranger (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru) - Hidden: Level 1 Active skills: None selected Passive skills: None Selected Entity 2: Class Scholar (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru) - Hidden: Level 1 Active skills: None selected Passive skills: None selected Entity 3: Class Warlord (Rarity Rank 9 - MahaGuru) - Hidden: Level 1 Active skills: None selected Passive skills: None selected Entity 4: Class Font of Knowledge (Rarity Rank 9 - MahaGuru) - Hidden: Level 1 Active skills: None selected Passive skills: None selected Entity 5: Class Merchant (Rarity Rank 7 - Grand Sage) - Hidden: Level 1 Active skills: None selected Passive skills: None selected Entity 6: Class Diplomat (Rarity Rank 7 - Grand Sage) - Hidden: Level 1 Active skills: None selected Passive skills: None selected Entity 7: Class Child (Rarity Rank 1 - Trainee) - Displayed: Level 0 Active skills: None Passive skills: None [Initialisation complete] [Reincarnation complete] 2 - Chapter 1 - Day 1 2 - Chapter 1 - Day 1 Adya felt her bottom being slapped and started to cry, taking her first breath in this new body. She felt something being wrapped around her and then the warmth of her mother as she was passed to her mother by the nurse. As she started to suckle, her mind was flooded with notifications. She tried to make sense of what was happening to her. Her infant eyes barely allowed her to see or make out anything. A jumble of conflicting memories assaulted her infant brain. The pain made her cry out incessantly. Her mother Gauri, tried to calm the crying newborn, but to no avail. The shock of the memories continuing to build, making baby Adya more and more distressed, the force and pain of the memories making her finally pass out. *** Adya / Anya - Universe CMG KZ5 ZAC FRO Adya''s life was defined by her role as a soldier and spy, her capabilities enhanced by a military AI. From a young age, she underwent intensive combat training, her innate skills augmented by the AI''s tactical acumen. Her first deployment as a soldier was a defining moment. In a flashback, a young Adya remembered navigating the chaos of battle with unnerving calmness, her decisions swift and lethal, turning the tide in her unit''s favour. Adya¡¯s transition to espionage marked a new chapter. One mission, in particular, stood out: infiltrating an enemy''s high command. Adya, blending seamlessly into her surroundings, gathered critical intelligence that led to a decisive victory. Her ability to manipulate and strategize, a testament to her military AI, became the cornerstone of numerous successful operations. Anya, on the other hand, was marked by her scientific brilliance. Her journey began alongside Adya as a soldier, but soon her path diverged towards scientific endeavours. A memory of being implanted with a general purpose AI. A vivid memory of her in a lab, her eyes alight with the thrill of discovery, as she designed new technology, working with her team to better understand and utilise the laws of her universe. Anya''s most significant contribution came during a critical mission where her innovation in energy shields saved countless lives on a besieged planet. The flashback details Anya, amidst a war-torn landscape, deploying her technology to create a protective dome, turning a near-certain defeat into a victory. Their memories converged again for the final colonisation mission. The sisters standing side by side, looking at the starry expanse, ready to embark on this new chapter. The initial success of the colonisation was a testament to their combined strengths ¨C Adya''s tactical prowess and Anya''s scientific genius. The encounter with sapient arachnids on the new planet brought unforeseen challenges. Memories capture the first meeting between the twins and the alien species, filled with tension and curiosity. As relations deteriorated, Adya and Anya found themselves increasingly entangled in the growing conflict.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Their final mission was their most daunting. Adya and Anya remember strategising together, preparing for the inevitable clash with the arachnids. The battle was fierce, showcasing Adya''s combat skills and Anya''s technological prowess. Despite their best efforts, they were overwhelmed. The scene of their demise, struck down by an unknown high-energy weapon. *** Adya / Anya - Universe GYT 2KW NRR 41F Adya and Anya were born in a small village, their arrival heralded by a rare celestial event, a sign of their destined greatness. From childhood, the twins exhibited an innate affinity for the energies of the world. Their parents, mere mortals, watched in awe as the girls effortlessly manipulated the elements around them. As they reached adolescence, their talents caught the attention of the prestigious Jade Dragon Sect. The sisters, inseparable as always, joined together, embarking on the arduous path of cultivation. Adya, analytical and focused, quickly excelled in understanding the complex intricacies of trade and resource management within the sect. Anya, charismatic and insightful, naturally gravitated towards diplomacy and foreign relations, bridging the sect with distant lands and cultures. The sisters spent millennia honing their skills, both in cultivation and martial prowess. Adya''s mind, like a polished mirror, reflected the deepest secrets of commerce and economic strategies, elevating her to the position of Elder in charge of trade. Anya''s eloquence and wisdom in navigating intricate diplomatic channels led her to become the Elder of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations. Together, they elevated their sect to unprecedented heights, dominating the kingdom''s socio-economic landscape. The sisters rose in power and most thought it only a matter of time before they would both ascend the rank of the true immortals. With time, the sisters'' ambitions grew. They envisioned a network of long-distance portals that would revolutionise trade and diplomacy, shrinking the vast distances of their world into mere steps. This pursuit became their shared obsession, each contributing their unique expertise to the project. After years of tireless research and experimentation, the fateful day arrived. Adya and Anya, activated the prototype portal, but something was amiss. The energies they harnessed spiralled out of control, unleashing a cataclysmic explosion. The last thing the sisters saw was the void as their body and consciousness were obliterated. *** Adya slowly regained consciousness. Her mind was reeling from the intermingled thoughts of all the lives she had just experienced. Thoughts of 4 different lives intertwined in her mind, leaving her unsure of what was real. She had just experienced 4 deaths. She also had forcefully remembered a cumulative 10,000 years of life experiences. A part of her couldn''t even start to comprehend living on such timescales, yet another part of her found it to be routine. A part of her found technology the norm and the idea of magic or energies absurd, the other part of her rebelled seeing technology as nothing more than children¡¯s toys. The dichotomy of the desperate universes left Adya with profound cognitive dissonance. As she was picked up by her mother and nursed, her mind went round and round with thoughts. She found comfort in her mothers arms, her mind distracted as she tried to process the enormity of having lived multiple lives and to have survived multiple deaths. Days passed as her thoughts churned. She had been reincarnated into a new body, but she had memories of 2 very different universes. Which one was she in now? Was it one of the ones she was from or was it another universe entirely? As her mind finally calmed, she noticed a small red exclamation point in the corner of her vision. A memory from one of her lives reminded her of the heads up display in the AIs and she mentally reached out towards it, hoping it would give her some answers. 3 - Chapter 2 - Day 7 3 - Chapter 2 - Day 7 Adya mentally called up the notification in her view and a series of messages started to cascade across her vision. Instinctively she asked for the messages to be sorted and summarised, a throwback to her military mindset in HUD management. [4 external physical, 6 external mental, 6 external soul entities merged into Adya Gurg] [Universe CMG KZ5 ZAC FRO inaccessible, integrating in 10,000 Sol Cycles] [Universe GYT 2KW NRR 41F inaccessible, integrating in 756 Sol Cycles] [Universe TY1 OEZ WZC ECU selected for reincarnation] [Warning self limit imposed to mind, body and soul] [Self Limit set to 1] [NOTE: Limit may be removed by showing appropriate level of control] [Error¡­.Body too weak to contain Mind and Soul] [Artificial limit engaged to avoid damage] [Mind limited to MAX for mean Class Rarity Limit] [Soul limited to MAX for mean for Class Rarity Limit + 1] [Warning scion protocol activated] [Warning protection protocol activated] [Status online] Adya looked at the messages in shock. With only a few lines, her whole understanding of the universe was shaken. At first Adya had thought the messages in the HUD were from her personal AI or equivalent, but the messages seemed to hint at a system that would control life and death across multiple universes. The immensity of it staggered her mind. Adya read the messages over and over. This system had access to at least 3 universes and if the numbering was anything to go by, then it could be billions if not trillions of universes. Another realisation to rock Adya, was that her ¡®original¡¯ universes were not accessible for significant amounts of time 10,000 years in the first instance and 756 years in the second. Barring a miracle, she would not live long enough to get access. Her family, her world, hell her whole universe was lost to her. Not just one, but both universes from her memories were lost to her. She really was starting anew in a new universe. The cultivator in her stirred, a memory floating to the top. True immortality was possible, if she could cultivate to the high enough rank whilst staying alive. However, this was a small solace, as even if she made it that far, everyone and everything she knew in her universes would be gone and changed during the hundreds or thousands of years it would take her to get there. No, there was no point in holding out hopes of returning to a past life, to hoping to reconnect with friends and family. Her cultivation life had already taught her these harsh lessons, in her nearly 5000 years of life cultivating she had lost countless friends and lovers. Only her sister had managed to stay by her side. Now, her sister, or should that be sisters¡¯ memories were part of her. The memories from 4 past lives, 2 pairs of intertwined memories were hard for her to parse. On top of that all the memories and information contained in her 2 AIs had also been merged into her, creating a vast amount of knowledge that created a chaotic jumble in her mind. The first thing she had to do to maintain her sanity would be to somehow segment and partition the knowledge. She didn''t want to lose it, but she couldn''t function like this. The merger had made her significantly stronger mentally, but the amount of knowledge from almost 10,000 years of life and 2 insanely powerful AIs was still too much to manage consciously. Adya tried to consciously push away the information and to partition her mind. She attempted to use her advanced knowledge of meditation to calm her thoughts and bring about control over her overwhelming memories. [Meditation skill learned] [Meditation skill is now level 1] The pop up on her weird new HUD almost threw her out of her focus, and only with difficulty did she persist. Slowly she managed to establish her focus and cleared her mind. Several hours passed. One small advantage of being a baby, no one tried to disturb her assuming she was asleep. With time she managed to order her thoughts. Finally, she could think clearly and follow a single train of thought. She needed a plan for her new life, new goals, new objectives, but first she needed knowledge. She needed to know details about this new universe. Then she could work out what she wanted. As she considered what she needed, her meditation faltered and a mass of knowledge intruded into her thoughts once more. She forcefully calmed her mind again, taking conscious control over her thought processes. She would need to keep meditationing to be able to think, she realised even a moment in lapse of concentration would leave her overwhelmed. First task she needed was to find a permanent solution to this memory issue.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. She decided to query her new HUD to see if it would tell her anymore about this new world. Entity status Name: Adya Gurg Body: 1 [x3125] [x1.0] [x1.0] Mind: 1 [x823,543] [x1.0] [x1.0] Soul: 1 [x823,543] [x1.0] [x1.0] Cultivation Stage: Rank 1 (Initiate) Stamina: 3,125 Stamina regeneration: 31 per minute Willpower: 823,543 Willpower regeneration: 8,235 per minute Mana: 823,543 Mana regeneration: 82,354 per minute ( dependent on sufficient ambient mana) Mana density: Rank 1 [x1] Essence: 0 Entity 1: Class Ranger (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 2: Class Scholar (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 3: Class Warlord (Rarity Rank 9 - MahaGuru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 4: Class Font of Knowledge (Rarity Rank 9 - MahaGuru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 5: Class Merchant (Rarity Rank 7 - Grand Sage) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 6: Class Diplomat (Rarity Rank 7 - Grand Sage) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 7: Class Child (Rarity Rank 1 - Trainee) - {Displayed}: Level 0 [Artificial limit engaged to avoid damage] Body: Limited to 1 Mind: Limited to 1 Soul: Limited to 1 General Skills Meditation: Level 1 Adya took a few minutes to calm and centre herself again. The status had shaken her. It seemed she had classes for all her old memories including her AIs. The system seemed to know everything about her past lives and had even taken into account her experience, the rarity of the other classes a nod to her extensive experience. Since the system seemed to be treating her AIs and non AIs the same way, it seemed the system thought the AIs were sentient and sapient. This was something she had started to suspect during her own interactions, however, seeing it stated in the status window solidified her suspicions. She also noted that her Body, Mind and Soul were artificially limited to 1. She assumed this had to do with her being a baby. One could only imagine the damage that would be done if she had her old strength when in this form. She decided to take a chance and see if the system could help her with the issue of memories. As much as she could maintain the meditation long term, she would not be able to do anything else if that''s all she could do. She didn''t want to effectively become a captive in her own mind. She looked again at her status, each of her forms was identified as a separate entity. She could only hope that the system was able to split out the memories and functions and that the integration was not one way. Adya decided to try the same format she had used when dealing with her old AIs. She needed somewhere to start. System query: is it possible to separate entities from the merger? [Warning separating entities will lead to the separate entities ceasing to exist. Remaining entity will need to be reconfigured. Do you wish to proceed?] Adya scrolled back to the system logs, and reread the merging message again. It seemed her 4 bodies, 6 minds and 6 souls had merged into this new baby body. Removing them would impact what was left. She didn''t want to take the risk of a significant part of her being lost. Did she really need to separate the entities entirely? The problem only seemed to be with her memories. So she tried again. System query: is it possible to partition memories from entities and provide an appropriate interface for memory and skill access? [Memory separation is possible. Separate memories will create separate personalities. Once personalities are created they may not be merged again without damage to all personalities. Do you wish to separate memories?] Adya didn''t want to have multiple personalities in her head, 7 would be too many, effectively leaving her with multiple personality disorder. It would also significantly limit her ability to utilise skills from across her memories coherently. She needed to minimise the number of personalities whilst still being able to function. The biggest issues seem to come from the two AIs. The amount of knowledge needed to be separated, the only question now was did she want one AI or 2 AIs. Looking at the classes again, it was obvious that Entity 3 was the Military AI and Entity 4 was the general AI. Could she live with 2 voices in her head? If she split them out she could have the full capabilities back depending on how the personalities developed. However, if they disagreed, she would struggle to function. She decided to ask the critical question regarding who would be in control. System query: will the separated personalities be able to control my body? What would be the order of control? Could I override the control? [All personalities will have the ability to control the body. A hierarchy can be set during creation, but may not be changed without merging personalities again. Warning merging personalities will lead to significant damage to all personalities.] So Adya could split the personalities and create a hierarchy, but it seemed it would be a one of process as the downsides of repeating the process seemed to be very high. System query: Please separate memories from Entity 3 into a new personality named Mai. Please separate memories from Entity 4 into a new personality named Sai. Please set the hierarchy as follows. Primary controller, Adya, can overwrite control of all other personalities. Conditional hierarchy during conflict secondary controller Mai, tertiary controller Sai. Conditional hierarchy outside conflict secondary controller Sai, tertiary controller Mai. Please validate this setup before proceeding. [ Personality split possible. Validating conditional hierarchy based on conflict status. Calculating time to implement.] [Warning significant change process requested. This change is irrevocable.] [Time to implement change 53 diurnal cycles.] [Warning all entities will be offline during change.] [Proceed with change?] Adya, took a deep breath, reviewing her request again, before confirming to ensure she hadn¡¯t made any mistakes. System query: please proceed with the change as requested. [Initiating changes. Taking all entities offline] 4 - Chapter 3 - Day 60 4 - Chapter 3 - Day 60 [Changes complete. Reinitialising] Adya awoke from unconsciousness and opened her eyes. The deluge of memories were no longer present. She took a deep breath, and she suddenly heard someone cry out close to her. ¡°Madam Gauri, Madam Gauri, please come quick. The young mistress has opened her eyes!¡± cried out a young girl dressed in a simple cotton dress. Gauri rushed into the room and took Adya into her arms, as she spoke to the servant. ¡°Sally, go and call the healer. Now. Tell him to hurry!¡± Gauri commanded Sally as she fretted over Adya. Sally ran out of the room, whilst shouting to the house ¡°young mistress is awake, young mistress is awake.¡± Gauri rocked Adya in her arms, whilst crying tears of happiness, softly cooing to Adya, telling her how much she loved Adya. Adya slowly realised what had happened. She had assumed that she would be asleep, but hadn''t considered what would happen to the baby whilst she was unconscious. Obviously, her mother, Gauri had panicked when her baby was unconscious for 53 days! Adya, was shocked that she hadn''t considered how things would be taken by her new family. She was so used to just dealing with things herself and being totally independent that she had totally forgotten that in this world she was just a baby. Adya burbled in her mothers lap whilst they waited for the healer to come. Now that Adya could actually think without being overwhelmed she took the time to look around and access her surroundings. Adya was in a brightly decorated room, with high ceilings. The construction seemed to be of white marble like stone. There was a thick rug on the floor. In the middle of the rug sat a large bright wooden crib. Next to it was a rocking chair. On one side of the room sat a large cupboard with a variety of toys. At the foot of the crib sat a large ornate chest. Adya took a long look at her mother. Gauri was around 6 feet in height, with a slender figure. She had long jet black hair that came down to her waist. Her eyes were piercing with dark irises, almost bordering on black. Her skin was almost glowing and wheatish in colour. Adya looked into her mothers eyes, cocking her head. It wasn¡¯t long before a harried looking man in white robes hurried into the room followed by Sally. ¡°Madam Gauri, you shouldn''t have picked up the child.¡± admonished the man. He gestured for Gauri to hand Adya over to him. Gauri didn¡¯t reply but reluctantly handed over Adya. Adya felt a wave of mana probe her, the probe continued covering her from top to toe. The man huffed out a sigh. ¡°Healer Simon, what is happening? Is Adya ok? How did she wake so suddenly?¡± Gauri questioned Simon relentlessly trying to work out what had happened. ¡°Madam Gauri, I can¡¯t find a single thing wrong with your daughter. It is as I said to you even when she was unconscious. Apart from not being able to wake her, she presents as normal and healthy.¡± replied Simon tersely. He was not happy with not being able to explain why the young mistress had been in that state. He also couldn''t explain how Adya continued to grow despite being unconscious and not having any fluids for almost 2 months. ¡°What good are you if you can''t even tell me what happened to my daughter? How can you promise me nothing else will happen to her?¡± questioned Gauri. ¡°All I can say is that we should keep an eye on her. I would like to examine her every week for at least a year to ensure there aren''t any side effects from whatever this was.¡± replied Simon, keeping his tone calm. Simon didn''t want to upset Gauri further. As Simon spoke to Gauri he carried on probing Adya with his mana sense. As the scan progressed Adya received a notification. [Scan Detection skill learned] [Scan Detection skill is now Level 1] Simon handed Adya back to Gauri saying ¡°I have completed the examination for today Madam Gauri. I will be back next week to examine her again.¡± Gauri took Adya from Simon. ¡°Sally, please pay Simon and show him out.¡± ¡°Yes madam.¡± replies Sally. She handed Simon a small sapphire crystaline stone. ¡°This way please Healer Simon.¡± she says, pointing the way out. As Simon looks at the stone in his hand, Adya stares at it trying to work out what it is. Another popup appears.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. [Analyse skill learned] [Analyse skill is now Level 1] [Analyse: Mana Stone, Mana Density Rank 1, Mana 100] Sally led Simon out while Gauri sat with Adya in her lap and started to feed Adya. Adya fed whilst her thoughts went to all the interesting things she had just learned. Adya took the opportunity to review new system messages in her HUD. [Memory separation successful.] [Personality Mai created.] [Personality Sai created.] [Race evolved from Human (D) to Scion of the Progenitors (S){Hidden}] [Race Traits unlocked] [Traits evolved] Adya looked at the status messages nonplussed. She had expected the memory separation and personality creation, but she had not expected a race evolution or race traits. Memories from her cultivation life came to the forefront likening the Race to Bloodline something that could be enhanced to bring about benefits. Adya decided to ask the system about her traits and personalities. System query: What happened to the new personalities Mai and Sai? How do I access them? [Personalities Mai and Sai have been created. Personalities are offline] System query: please bring the personalities online. [Personalities Mai and Sai are now online] Mai: Hello Adya and Sai. I am analysing and processing memories and programming. Time to completion 120 diurnal cycles. Sai: Hello Adya and Mai. I am processing data. Time to completion 300 diurnal cycles. [New traits unlocked] System query: Please list all traits and provide details if possible. [Trait 1: Universal Language Comprehension (Rank 4) evolved to Universal Language Guru (Rank 8)] [Universal Language Guru (Rank 8): Native fluency in all languages up to Rank 8, evolved from basic comprehension of all languages to Rank 4] [Trait 2: Dimensional Storage(Rank 1) evolves to Soul Storage (Rank 11)(MAX)] [Soul Storage (Rank 11)(MAX): Store items in your soul. Any items stored are maintained in cryo stasis. Items limited by Soul strength.] [Trait 3: Loot (Rank 4) evolves to Perfect Loot Perfect Essence (Rank 8)(MAX)] [ Perfect Loot Perfect Essence (Rank 8)(MAX): Automatically harvest kills. Gain the maximum amount of essence from all kills. Items harvested are automatically placed in Soul Storage] [Trait 4: Parallel Processing (Rank 8): Think is parallel. Allows for multitasking. Number of parallel processes are limited by Mind stat, minimum 4 parallel processes (Cores)] [Trait 5: Perfect Memory Processing (Rank 8): Eidetic memory, with the ability to analyse and identify patterns from memorised information. Processing time is impacted by the number of assigned parallel processors.] Adya, read through the traits in detail. memories from all her past lives provided context to the list. The sheer power and advantages of her traits was mind boggling. Whilst Adya didn''t know what the normal was for this world, it seemed like she had the best available power from both her technology inheritance and her cultivation inheritance. It also created more questions than it answered. Why had she gained a hidden race, and who were the progenitors. She remembered the warnings she had received when she had been born into this world. She looked them up again. [Warning scion protocol activated] [Warning protection protocol activated] Why were they warnings? Why did she need protection? Adya understood very well that nothing in the world was free. So to have received such powerful traits, she worried that the consequences would be just as momentous. Given that her new personalities were busy and she was still a baby with no access to information nor the ability to investigate or communicate, Adya thought about what she could do in the meantime to maximise her gains. Then she remembered the mana stone. She had access to Mana, could she create her own mana stones? Resources were always a help, and money could always make things easier, no matter her ultimate goals. So Adya decided to try and create her own mana stones. This was something she remembered from her cultivation world memories. Shaping mana into crystalline coins. It had been considered an immortal level skill but with rigorous training Adya remembered achieving the skill far earlier. The first step was to feel the mana entering her body and soul. Adya closed her eyes, pretending to fall asleep, on her mothers shoulder, as she entered a deep state of meditation. She started to feel the highly energetic mana entering her soul and body. She looked deep into herself looking for her mana core that she expected to find only to realise that as a new born she didn¡¯t have a mana core. That came as a total shock to her. In her memories it was impossible to manipulate mana without a core, how was she able to feel the mana if she had no core. As she spent time in meditation slowly examining her own body and soul, she came to a shocking realisation. All the mana was only held in her soul. Her body was only managing the mana bleeding in from her soul, but her body was totally incapable of managing mana. This left Adya in a quandary. She would need to create a core to properly harness her potential, but building a first core was not an easy or quick task. Adya still wanted to start to prioritise creating resources as early as possible. This would give her the best start possible. Could she manipulate the mana in her soul directly? Then another thought came to her. Her storage trait had been upgraded to Soul Storage. So perhaps she didn''t need to bring the mana out of her soul? Maybe she could manipulate the mana in her soul and create the stones directly in her soul storage. That would also alleviate the issue of trying to explain where the mana stones came from and actually storing them. Adya started to focus on soul, trying to partition a small portion of mana. She decided to start with just 1 unit of mana, as the smaller amount would make it easier to manipulate. Adya started on the task of trying to compress a single unit of mana in her soul. 5 - Chapter 4 - Day 97 5 - Chapter 4 - Day 97 Adya had finally done it. She had spent the last 37 days in and out of deep meditation trying to get her mana to react the way she wanted. It had been hard. She had no experience of manipulating mana directly within her soul. Hence she was delighted that she''d actually managed to compress one unit of mana and crystallise it. Just as she had predicted it appeared in her soul storage directly. Adya used [Analyse] on the newly created item. [Analyse: Mana Stone, Mana Density Rank 1, Mana 1] Adya stared at the popup. This was just a start for what she wanted to do. She smiled as she lay in her crib happy at having achieved something she hadn''t even managed in her previous long life. Now the hard work started, the proof of concept was a good start but she needed more. First she needed to get to at least 100 mana per crystal. Then she would try and use her parallel processing trait to try and automate the process. Lastly she wanted to see if she could use her regeneration to create the mana stones instead of her stored mana. If she could automate the process then she could potentially create unlimited wealth while doing other things. Who wouldn¡¯t want unlimited wealth. She was growing and getting stronger daily, but it would still be some time before she could get to the point where she could even start to learn about this new world in any meaningful way. Her new personalities were still processing vast amounts of knowledge and memories and were not available to her just yet. Adya had been ignoring her notifications during her meditations to not get distracted. She was sure the adults around her found her weird as she never really called them or cried. She had heard more than a few comments from Sally and her mother about how unusually quiet she was. This had led to Healer Simon visiting and examining her every 3 days since she had woken back up from her impromptu, forced nap. She decided to bring up her notifications before proceeding with the next step in her plans. [Meditation skill has increased from Level 1 to Level 5] [Scan Detection skill has increased from Level 1 to Level 5] [Soul Mana Manipulation skill learned] [Soul Mana Manipulation skill is now Level 1] [Soul Mana Manipulation skill has increased from Level 1 to Level 9] She had expected to learn mana manipulation but had not realised that the soul version was a different skill entirely. Of course with Healer Simon scanning her regularly her scan detection skill had also levelled. She was now aware of exactly what the Healer was looking at as he scanned. She decided to view her full status as well just to remind herself of where she stood. System query: display full status Entity status Name: Adya Gurg Body: 1 [x3125] [x1.0] [x1.0] Mind: 1 [x823,543] [x1.0] [x1.0] Soul: 1 [x823,543] [x1.0] [x1.0] Cultivation Stage: Rank 1 (Initiate) Stamina: 3,125 Stamina regeneration: 31 per minute Willpower: 823,543 Willpower regeneration: 8,235 per minute Mana: 823,543 Mana regeneration: 82,354 per minute ( dependent on sufficient ambient mana) Mana density: Rank 1 [x1] Essence: 0 Entity 1: Class Ranger (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 2: Class Scholar (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 3: Class Warlord (Rarity Rank 9 - MahaGuru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 4: Class Font of Knowledge (Rarity Rank 9 - MahaGuru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 5: Class Merchant (Rarity Rank 7 - Grand Sage) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 6: Class Diplomat (Rarity Rank 7 - Grand Sage) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 7: Class Child (Rarity Rank 1 - Trainee) - {Displayed}: Level 0 [Artificial limit engaged to avoid damage] Body: Limited to 2 Mind: Limited to 2 Soul: Limited to 2 General Skills Meditation: Level 5 Scan Detection: Level 5 Soul Mana Manipulation: Level 9 Personalities Mai: Assimilating data (83 Diurnal cycles) Sai: Assimilating data (263 Diurnal cycles) Traits Trait 1: Universal Language Guru (Rank 8)This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Trait 2: Soul Storage (Rank 11)(MAX) Trait 3: Perfect Loot Perfect Essence (Rank 8)(MAX) Trait 4: Parallel Processing (Rank 8) - Capacity 4 Cores Trait 5: Perfect Memory Processing (Rank 8) Adya had no idea what the actual impact of her classes was on her, nor did she understand the significance of hidden versus displayed class. She did notice that all her limited base stats had increased to 2. She put this down to her growing and physically getting stronger. Finally Adya looked over the various regeneration rates for her base stats. Her mana regeneration was at an insane level. In her cultivation life, even approaching the level of a true immortal she could not regenerate so much mana in a day let alone one minute. Her regeneration for willpower, whilst lower than mana, was still insane. Lastly it looked to her that she could heal from most injuries by herself in around 10 hours. At her regeneration rates she wouldn''t even have time to notice getting injured before she was back to full health. At present her regeneration was being wasted, as she didn¡¯t have any pools to use due to the artificial limit. She decided to see if the system would provide her with any further information on how to increase her pools. System query: how do I remove the artificial limiters on my resource pools. [Resource pools have been capped as part of the protection protocols and further limited due to physical limitations.] [To fully utilise resource pools, base attributes must reach 10.] [Warning: removing resource pool caps will remove partial protection.] [Warning: removing resource pool caps will enforce Scion protocols.] System query: what protection and what are Scion protocols [Insufficient authorisation for system query] Adya looked on in shock, this was the first time the system had refused to answer one of her questions. She didn¡¯t have any idea what protection was in place nor what the Scion protocols alluded to. She would have to add it to the list of things she would have to research when she could. Adya went back to her original plan. She needed to get strong enough to walk and reach a physical development to be able to speak to start to really research anything. Realistically she would have to wait another 3 months to start walking and another 9 months to start speaking. That would put her at a precocious level and get her recognised as a genius. Any earlier and she could find herself being accused of possession or bring a reincarnated demon. Whilst she wasn''t sure that she would definitely be accused, or if those superstitions existed in this world, it was always better to be careful. Having investigated what she could, Adya turned her focus back to creating mana stones. She started to defuse her pool mana into the air, emptying her body whilst meditating on her body and soul connection. Adya wanted to identify where the mana in her body was filling from and how the regeneration actually worked. She slowly examined every part of her physical body, moving on to the soul body whilst continuing to push out all mana from her body. As her focus persisted Adya noticed a minute trickle of a blue energy defusing from the soul connection points into her body. The blue energy felt heavier than it had on the cultivation world, but it was still in a gaseous state and prevaded her body like a fine mist. She focused out to view her whole metaphysical being, trying to seek her body and soul in its entirety whilst also tracking the mana diffusing into the air from her body and and the mana diffusing into her body from the soul. She watched the same amount of mana being pulled from somewhere into her soul, moving into her body and then being expelled out into the air. As she continued this practice, the scientist in her was fascinated by the process being visible without any instrumentation. She kept the focus and actively started to try and manipulate the mana not in her body or soul, but at the transition point between the 2. As she focused her mind on the task, Adya started to see a light green energy that she didn''t recognise appearing in her body, being consumed, and then being refilled from the same soul body connection points. Mana was entering her soul faster, but it was turning into a fine green mist at a much slower rate before diffusing into the body. The energy didnt feel like mana and didn''t react to mana manipulation. Adya, fascinated by something she had never experienced before, carried on watching, probing and trying to manipulate the green energy. She racked her memories and past experiences trying to understand what green energy could be. The scientist in her tried to measure the difference in diffusion speed from the mana. It was significantly slower, as she estimated the difference in the volume of the energy , it felt to her like the green energy was between 50 to 100 times slower than her mana. As she thought about the numbers, it clicked. The green energy regeneration rate compared to mana regeneration rate fit her willpower regeneration figures from her status. Adya was astounded. This phenomena created so many questions. If she could see both mana and will power energies entering the body, surely stamina followed a similar process? Adya started scanning her body and soul again, going even slower. Stamina regeneration was miniscule compared to mana and even will power, almost 300 times less than willpower and almost 3000 times less than mana. Adya would have to pay attention to the smallest of details. Adya focused on her blood circulation and oxygen transfusion and finally saw the smallest amounts of a very fine red energy diffusing into her body. The red was almost lost in the redness of the blood and internal organs. Adya once again followed the process backwards and noticed that mana was being converted from the soul/body gates into the red energy. Adya finally understood how she survived being unconscious for such a long time with no nutrition. The soul was converting from mana to stamina! This was not something achieved by mortals who needed to consume food to replenish stamina. It seemed she had already achieved a high level of body cultivation and could use mana as a substitute for stamina. Of course as a growing baby, it wouldn''t be good for her to ignore the nutrition and it would adversely impact the growth of her cells, but she wouldn''t feel tired and would be able to push herself much harder in training. The scientist in her posed an interesting question. If she could form mana stones, and she could re absorb mana from those stones, did that mean in theory she could create stamina and willpower stones? What would be the use of those resources to her. What other uses could she put those to? Adya marshalled her thoughts before she lost herself in ideal speculation. Now that she had identified where the energies were regenerating, she moved to the next step. Adya actively started the process of creating a mana stone, but instead of pulling mana from her soul or body, Adya tried to pull from the points where the mana was regenerating directly. Pulling from the pipe and not the pool as it were. As she pushed her control and kept a tight mental grip on the process she felt something inside her shift. A new mana stone was rapidly created in her soul storage. As the process completed, Adya relaxed. She [Analysed] the new stone. [Analyse: Mana Stone, Mana Density Rank 1, Mana 100] Adya had succeeded in creating a mana stone directly from her regeneration. Adya reviewed her actions and mentally logged the precious steps she had taken to achieve this wonder. In this instance she was directly channelling her mana from her regeneration instead of using her mana pool. The scientist part came to the fore and she wondered if she could create a willpower stone and a stamina stone. Adya focused on the same process she had used for creating the mana stone, but instead focused on the green energy and connection points. The amount of focus required was higher than with mana, with the green energy resisting her control then the crystallisation process. Finally after several hours of focus, Adya felt another shift within her. An emerald green crystal formed in her soul storage. After taking a few moments to calm herself from her intense focus, Adya [Analysed] the new stone. [Analyse: Willpower Stone, Willpower Density Rank 1, Willpower 100] Adya had succeeded with her second experiment, but she still had one more test to conduct. After meditating for some time to refresh herself, Adya started the process again, this time focusing on the elusive red energy. While the mana had come easily, the willpower more slowly, stamina turned out to be the most stubborn to corral. There was already so little of the energy regenerating and multiple times as she tried to force the energy to compress, it escaped her grasp. Each time, the energy became a little easier to control, corral and compress. After countless attempts, Adya felt the biggest shift inside her yet. A ruby red stone began to coalesce ever so slowly in her soul storage. Adya kept her mind and focus locked onto the process and finally the stone was fully completed. Adya wasted no time in using [Analyse] [Analyse: Stamina Stone, Stamina Density Rank 1, Stamina 100] Adya finally let herself relax. She had created 2 types of stones she had no knowledge of. It would take experimentation to ascertain what she could use the stones for. As she wondered if willpower and stamina stones were the norm in this world she noticed a set of notifications flashing in her HUD. Adya opened the notifications, her thoughts still on the potential uses for the new stones. As she focused on her notifications, she was left flabbergasted by the implications. [Regeneration Control skill learned] [Regeneration Control skill is now Level 1] [Regeneration Control skill has increased from Level 1 to Level 10] [New trait unlocked] [Trait 6: Gestalt Entity (Rank 8): Integration of mind, body and soul initiated. Started on the path to transcending mortality. Any physical damage is not permanent. Physical death is not final. ] [New achievements gained] [Achievement: Gestalt Mortal Prodigy - for unlocking the ability to directly manipulate the regeneration of all 3 core energies whilst still being mortal all stats effectiveness is increased by 100%] 6 - Chapter 5 - Day 102 6 - Chapter 5 - Day 102 Adya had spent the last few days refining the process for creating the 3 types of stone. Her speed had increased as she had minimised the steps and fine tuned her control. She had decided to stick with the base unit of 100 for the time being, though she had experimented with smaller and larger sizes. The larger the stone, the more focus that was required to hold the energy in place whilst the stones formed. Adya had also compared her stones to the stones Sally paid Healer Simon on his visits. The stones used by Sally, although all returning a reading of 100 rank 1 mana, looked slightly different. Some were slightly shorter or longer, thinner to fatter. It seemed likely that the stones were mined then cut down to the 100 mana size as opposed to being created how Adya was creating hers. In contrast, all the stones Adya created were perfectly uniform. Regardless of whether they were mana, stamina or will power, all were exactly the same size and shape. The colour of each stone was also perfectly uniform. The natural mana stones Adya had seen had a lot of variation in colour, and were also generally larger than her stones. If Adya had to make an educated guess, the natural stones carried impurities, whilst hers were perfectly pure. This would probably lead to some questions being raised when she came to exchange those stones in the future. The notification of the achievement was still something that she was mulling over. It seemed like while mana stones were common, stamina and willpower stones would not be common at all. Adya decided the next step would be for her to automate the creation of stones using her parallel processing trait and then attempt to figure out what the impact of her mana stones would have on those around her. First, she decided to start with the creation of mana stones. She had thought maybe she could automate all 3 stones, but the subtle differences in the processes were significant enough that for now it would be much easier to keep the processes separate. She could always refine and improve on the processes in the future. Adya started by creating a mental workflow for the mana stone creation process. The scientist in her reverted to using a pseudo programming language to attempt this process. Without direct guidance it was time to see how to leverage her trait. Adya created the steps to form the mana stone, then added limitations. She limited the process to only run when her pool was already full. She limited the process to use her regeneration directly and to stop if her pool required filling. This was if she was ever in a situation where she needed her full mana regeneration for something, she didn¡¯t want to find it hobbled. Effectively she wanted these processes to run in the background. Finally she specified the process should run non stop unless the process failed in which case the process should send her a notification. Once she was happy with the steps in the process, Adya pushed the instructions at the parallel processing trait. Adya couldn''t think of any other way to get the instructions to run.Stolen novel; please report. She felt the instructions convert to another language, but to her it still looked like the pseudo programming language to her. As the process started, she saw mana stones being created in her soul storage. Just then a series of notifications popped up in her HUD. [Custom passive skill created] [New achievements gained] [Warning: Achievement modified by Scion protocols] [{Custom} Mana Stone Creation (Automated) Skill learned] [{Custom} Mana Stone Creation (Automated) Skill is now Level MAX] [Achievement: Passive skill creator - for creating your own passive skill all class passive skills are converted to Parallel Processing Capacity.] [Trait 4: Parallel Processing (Rank 8) - Capacity 4 Cores increased to Capacity 39 Cores] Adya looked at the notifications in shock. It seemed to her the scion protocols punished her for her achievement. Effectively by showcasing the ability to create passive skills the system would make her create all her own. Adya didn''t understand what significance this would have in the future, but decided to move on for now as there wasn''t much she could do about it. Adya replicated the process she had used to create her custom skill for both willpower and stamina. She received a few more notifications replicating what she had seen for mana stones. [Custom passive skill created] [{Custom} Will Power Stone Creation (Automated) Skill learned] [{Custom} Will Power Stone Creation (Automated) Skill is now Level MAX] [{Custom} Stamina Stone Creation (Automated) Skill learned] [{Custom} Stamina Stone Creation (Automated) Skill is now Level MAX] Finally Adya relaxed and watched as the automated stone creations progressed. Adya estimated that she would be able to create approximately 400 Stamina Stones, 100,000 Will Power stones and almost 1,000,000 Mana stones every day. The conversion wasn''t perfect and some of each energy was used in the creation process. Adya slipped a few of the newly created mana stones into her crib. She wanted to see her mothers and Sally''s reaction to her stones. She needed to understand if she would be able to use her stones normally or not. Adya relaxed after days of focusing on her creation whilst she waited for her mother to visit. There were just too many things Adya just didn¡¯t know. Now that she was at least starting to accumulate resources she decided to stop her experimentation until she could at least learn the basics of this new world. In the meantime, Adya decided to start cultivating. Given that there wasn''t much else she could do until she could actually start to walk and talk without shocking everyone, it was almost time for enforced meditation. She knew starting cultivating in this world wouldn''t be easy, it never was. She would have to form a mana core in her physical body, a core in the soul and link the two together perfectly. Only after the core was formed could she even begin to start cultivation for real. The biggest problem for her was the sheer volume of mana in her soul. Adya would need to form a core that was at least ten times the capacity of her soul and condense down the mana. She hadn''t even had this much mana in her old life after thousands of years. Yet Adya was not daunted by the task, she would simply have to persevere until she succeeded. 7 - Chapter 6 - Day 380 7 - Chapter 6 - Day 380 Time passed for Adya as she worked on forming her core. The sheer amount of focus required to try and consolidate almost 9 million mana in both her physical body and soul simultaneously was beyond challenging. After almost 8 months of trying, she was approaching being able to manage close to 1 million mana. This was already beyond what her previous core had reached after 5 millennia of cultivation, so the fact that she had managed to reach this point after 8 months was a speed of cultivation bordering on the absurd. Adya had also started to be able to walk. She was also speaking a few words. Those around her were astounded by her speed of progress, while it felt glacially slow to Adya. Adya had taken to wandering around her house and now met her father and older brothers. Her older brother was 11 and already far too serious for his age. Her middle brother was 4 and at the stage of trying to annoy his siblings, pushing and shoving and hair pulling. She wasn''t allowed to wander unsupervised so she was still limited in being able to start to gather real knowledge, but she had learned a lot about her family in the intervening months. Her family were a reputable merchant family, whilst not nobility, their wealth was substantial, even compared to the minor nobles. Her family were considered on the border of the merchant and nobility. That gave them prestige, but also left them in a kind of no man''s land. They were considered too good for the merchants, but not good enough for the nobility. Her father had contracts with a lot of the noble houses and even with high nobility. He spent most of his time travelling between cities conducting trade deals. Her family purchased and transported goods across the empire. Her older brother was spending time at the royal academy, whilst the younger was tutored at home until he could enrol at the age of 6. Her family had picked up on some of the habits of the nobility due to both proximity and necessity. Hence the family had its own guard force, almost like a private army, to both protect the family and trade caravans. Once the Mai personality had come back online, Adya had taken to watching the guards train to give Mai additional information on this world''s military capabilities. She had also taken to wandering into the kitchen, the library and the gardens to see what else she could learn.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. One of the things she had noticed was there were 2 currency systems in use in this world. One was based on bronze, silver, gold and platinum coins. Each was a multiple of 100. So 100 bronze was 1 silver, 100 silvers 1 gold and 100 golds 1 platinum. The second currency was based on mana stones. All mana stones that she had noticed were based on 100 mana, but the ranks differed. She hadn''t managed to understand the conversion between different ranks of Mana stones yet, but it was on her todo list to figure out. What she had noticed was that the metals coins were used for anything mundane and mana stones for anything that contained or used mana. a rank 1 mana stone seemed to have similar value to 10 silver and a rank 2 mana stone seemed to be worth around 10 gold but again she was unsure of the exact conversions. One of the other things Adya had noticed was that whilst the general quality of food was good, it was also lacking in the areas that required specialist yeast. Given her family status she expected the family to have access to the best of food from across the empire. However she found the bread, cheese and alcohol that she had noticed in the kitchens weren''t that great compared to what she remembered from her memories. This was again something she would have to investigate to see if there was any potential in introducing such foods in this world at the right time. Finally as the Sai personality came online, she set it to compare and contrast everything she could identify around her to start building a comparison from her technological world to see if she could start to work out how this world differed from her past worlds. The first thing she had confirmed was that this was truly a different universe as the night sky was totally different from either of her previous worlds. There was not even a single point of commonality between the 3. The second was when she asked Sai to estimate the size of this world, it turned out that even with the best estimates this world was at least 100 times larger than the technological world she remembered. How that worked with gravity wasn''t something she had managed to test thoroughly yet, either magic was messing with gravity, or by being born on to this world she just didn''t notice the increase. Again parts of her were curious to start figuring out how the fundamentals of this world differed from what she remembered. Adya continued to work on her meditation and cultivation whilst continuing to assimilate as much knowledge about her family and her world as she could from her observations. After the shock of having lost all passive skill slots, Adya hadn''t attempted to create any more new skills until she understood this world better. She didn¡¯t think there was any point to rushing these things and potentially leaving herself significantly weakened in the short term. The custom skills were running in the background and Adya was amassing a substantial number of stones of all 3 types in her inventory as the time progressed. Adya couldn''t wait until she could get unrestricted access to the library to really start to learn about this world. 8 - Chapter 7 - Day 700 8 - Chapter 7 - Day 700 Adya had finally managed to convince her parents to give her unrestricted access to the library. She had been speaking and walking for over a year now, and she had increased her speech to that of a mature child. She had convinced her mother that she had managed to learn to read by herself in the last 6 months and that she would treat the books with respect and care. As was traditional she had been assigned two personal retainers who would have their loyalty only to her and would ideally serve her for the rest of her life. The first was a secretary called Phillipa. She was still young at 18, but had been trained from a young age to fulfil the role. Her responsibility was to manage anything and everything Adya needed. Sally was still around and had progressed from the nanny to her handmaiden. Secondly, she was assigned a master at arms named Dexter as the head of her personal guards. Dexter was in his mid 20s and extremely well trained having attended the royal military academy and served in royal guards before he was poached by the family. Both Philipa and Dexter had sworn oaths of fealty to Adya directly and not to her family even though they were employed by the family. Adya learned the reason for this was that in the past personal retainers had been bribed and used by jealous family members in internal family intrigue. Now the custom was for the main retainers to swear directly and for the general staff to be sworn to the house. Adya had learned due to the trade commitments her house, named Gurg, had more than 1000 retainers and almost 5000 guards. The family was substantially larger than most of the noble houses. Philipa followed the young Adya into the library not sure of exactly what to expect from such a young child. Whilst she had been groomed for the role, she wasn''t expecting to swear fealty to a 2 year old. Therefore she was very surprised by Adya''s instructions. ¡°Phillipa, we have many priorities in the upcoming months.¡± intoned Adya in a very serious tone. ¡°We need to cover the basics of history, geography, the current political climate, trade and trade policies to start with. We will then also look at the basics of mana control, spells and skills. Can you please start to collect what we already have in the library and see what topics we don''t have books to cover the basics in those topics. If we don''t have the books in the library they will need to be sourced.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Yes young mistress.¡± replied Phillipa as started to get the basic histories for Adya. Adya sat down at the table and dove into the books whilst Phillipa started collating the other books requested by Adya and started making a list of the subjects that were not covered by the extensive library in the level of detail Adya wanted. *** After spending the morning in the library much to the surprise of most of the household, none expecting a 2 year old to be able to focus for so long on reading. The afternoon found Adya and Dexter on the family training field. Adya started by doing some stretches and basic warmups with Dexter before approaching the master of arms for the family. The master of arms was a grizzled old veteran named Parth. He was in his 50s having retired from the royal army. ¡°Parth, I would like to be trained in the use of melee weapons and unarmed combat.¡± requested Adya whilst Dexter looked on in shock at the request from such a young child, and a girl at that. Parth was more reserved in his demeanour as he thought on the request from the young mistress. ¡°It is a very demanding thing that you ask and it will take years of hard work for you to master, are you sure this is something you want to dedicate yourself to? Will you be able to persevere?¡± he questioned Adya. Parth didn''t want to spend his time training someone who would give up as things got hard and they would get hard if she wanted to learn properly. ¡°Give me a chance to show you my resolve in this matter Parth.¡± replied Adya. ¡° We both know that actions speak louder than words.¡± Partha considered the serious child in front of him and decided to test her. Parth set Adya to start on basic footwork and movement drills to not only test her aptitude but her commitment and mindset. Normally such boring repetition was not something children were willing to endure. To his utter astonishment, not only did Adya take to the drills with gusto, she continued for 2 hours straight in her first session. Only when he allowed her to take a break did she stop, totally drenched in sweat. Parth just gave her an approving nod and told her she could join the training in the afternoons. So began a new phase in Adya¡¯s life. Mornings spent in the library trying to learn about her new world, afternoons training her body on the training fields and evenings spent in meditation and cultivation to try and form her core. In the last year her cultivation had been advancing significantly, having managed to control over 2.5 million mana simultaneously. It was still only 14% to where she needed to be, but her speed of improvement was also increasing. It was only a matter of time before she could start to make real plans. 9 - Chapter 8 - Day 1,750 9 - Chapter 8 - Day 1,750 For 3 years Adya had been training daily. Her progress and perseverance had astounded the whole house. Once the novelty had worn off, the family settled into a new normal. Parth had pushed Adya to her limits and trained her in unarmed combat, the glaive, spear and long warhammer. Given her small stature, Parth had wanted her to be able to reach her opponents and not be disadvantaged by her reach. Even though these weapons were not the weapons she used in her previous life, Adya¡¯s martial prowess was showing in her training. Adya had taken to the weapons and became adept. Her skills were competent, but what gave her the edge had been her focus, drive and unflinching aggression. At first Parth had been concerned that even though Adya had shown perseverance, she would shy away from physical pain and from hurting others, to really committing in a fight. He had been proven wrong from her first spar. Adya had not only not hesitated to attack, she had not backed off even when she had taken injuries. The thing that had shocked Parth the most had been the martial intent that Adya had shown, it was almost a tangible aura. Parth had not seen such intent even in the powerhouses he had served under in the army, and that was just in training. He shuddered to think what her true killing intent would be like. Partha had not discussed his thoughts with anyone else, not wanting to cause issues for the girl he now considered his protege. Adya had been happy with her progress in the physical training, though that was not the same for her academic and spiritual pursuits. Her mana training was continuing and her control was improving, but the doubling of her mana pool had delayed the formation of a core. She was almost there, she had managed to get her control to over 15 million mana, and she hoped that as she persevered she would be able to get her control to the almost 17 million mana required to actually start her cultivation journey. On the positive side her mana control had increased substantially from all her practice. Her soul mana manipulation skill had reached level 38, something she found out was considered Master level. She just hoped she wouldn''t accidentally get another achievement or something that would increase her mana pool before she could create her first core. The requirement for being able to hold and condense 10 times the mana pool came from the fact that at each level increase in mana density was not just a doubling of the previous level but a logarithmic increase. In essence, Level 2 meant 10 times the mana of level 1, and level 3 meant 10 times the mana of level 2 and so on. That only changed at reaching the divine level where level 11 was actually 1000 times level 10. All this meant that her absurdly large mana pool, whilst great for many things, like free money, was actually a massive handicap to progression. Her sheer volume of mana would also be dominant in fights against groups at her own level or maybe a level higher, but the higher density of mana would start to show its worth pretty quickly. Lastly was academic progress and this was the most anemic of the three areas she had dedicated herself to. Whilst the physically she was progressing well, and spiritually she was starting to get a handle on progression, albeit much more slowly than she would have liked, academically she felt like she was stuck in neutral. Her language and maths were up to her old standards, her skill had made language a breeze and all she needed to learn about maths had been the terminology and symbols used and map it to her old knowledge. Sai also helped to simplify and translate the mathematical notation to make it easier. Economics was also relatively simple. Even though this world was far larger, the average understanding of economic theory was rudimentary at best compared to her old worlds. Social sciences were not a well developed subject, based on what she had been able to note based on books and how businesses seemed to work. Banking was also quite basic. There were no stock markets, or investment portfolios. There were no promissory notes that were centrally produced. An IOU from one person to another couldn''t be cashed by a third person. Obviously there were certain differences too. For example the value of magic was hard to quantify and depended more on availability of skills than anything else. Mana stones as money was also an interesting issue as they were not only traded as money, but could also be used as cultivation resources, war resources and an energy source for formations and arrays. Still with Mana stones being a strategic resource the production and trading of large quantities were monitored, regulated and taxed. She wouldn''t just be able to cash in large amounts without being able to hide the source. If her skills ever came out, she would end up locked in a box producing mana stones for the rest of her life. That was not something she would ever allow to happen. This meant that while she could make small purchases and wouldn''t ever run out of money, she couldn''t start doing anything at scale until she solved that basic issue. Geography was another subject where her progress was stoked by the lack of resources. There were only crude maps available. They didn''t show real scale, they didn''t show elevation or provide exact roads or distances. What she wouldn''t give for a proper ordnance survey map of even just her city and surrounding areas! Again, it was something she vowed to rectify. The map showed a massive continent surrounded by oceans. The size, from what she understood, would have dwarfed Pangea several fold. The map was divided into kingdoms, apart from a desert in the centre. This desert was supposed to contain mana density so high that it would poison anyone without sufficient cultivation. All the kingdoms seemed to have an irregular wedge shape with the largest population centres closer to the oceans and dropping off as they approached the centre.. At least she learned she was in one of the 3 human kingdoms, the poorest, that was situated in the south portion of the map. The west was covered by the Dwarf and Troll kingdoms. Gnomes also seemed to have settled in the dwarf and troll kingdoms having no kingdom of their own. The east was covered by the beast alliance, a loose collection of city states that nevertheless functioned quite well as a kingdom collectively. The largest space was taken by the two elven nations. To the north west was the kingdom of the high elves, and the north east was kingdom the dark elves. They were generally considered the most powerful of all the nations and were not really antagonistic towards each other. There was the usual politics and jockeying for power and position on both sides but if anything truly threatened them, they would join together to wipe them out. Lastly, almost directly north was the kingdom of the dark creatures. They were ruled by a Vampire king and included all the races that were not welcome anywhere else. This included the werewolf packs, the fae and those of the other races practising forbidden magics and cultivation. Popular history stated that the last time the vampire king had tried to conquer the world, the elves had united and almost erased the kingdom from existence. The fact they remained was a testament to their remaining power.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. To the south east was a small kingdom ruled by dragons. They were generally peaceful and not really interested in the other powers. To the southwest was the kingdom of the demon kin. As far as Adya could tell, apart from looks the demons were not really any different to the other races on this planet. Lastly in the shallows around the continent were cities and outposts of the merpeople. Whether there was only one continent, or what was beyond the shallows was again unknown. Mana density increased the deeper the ocean, and correspondingly more and more powerful monsters claimed those as their hunting grounds. More than a few miles away from shore it was impossible for normal shipping to survive. This lack of knowledge, in a world where people could fly drove Adya a little crazy, maybe it was just the case that her kingdom and her family''s position did not allow them access to more detailed knowledge, but it would be something Adya would need to discover for herself. The history that was available was also highly curated. It seemed to be more propaganda than actual detailed histories of the kingdoms. It was more what you would teach in primary school to young children. The kingdoms hoarded knowledge and publishing was not really an industry. Add to that the distance between cities in the same kingdom, forget getting to other kingdoms. Trade was a slow, ponderous and expensive affair. Having to send caravans, with guards, and the required supplies to survive in the wilds with the caravan routes taking months or even years to make a full circuit. The attrition rates of caravans were also high, meaning the cost of imported goods was something only the wealthier citizens could enjoy. However, out of all the subjects that Adya had been interested in, the hardest to get knowledge about was magic. There seemed to be nothing available to spell and spell theory. Nothing available on potions and potion making and less than nothing available on rune crafting, formations and arrays. The potions part was strictly controlled by the alchemist guilds and you could only sell if you were a member. The rest of the topics were even worse, as the knowledge was not centralised but individually controlled by various guilds, sects and families. Perhaps some might have, what might for this planet, be considered a substantial volume of knowledge. However, you would literally have to sign your life away to get access to it, or steal it, or pay ludacris amounts of money to purchase the services. The worst part was that mind magic was a known danger in this world. The only protections being rune warding a location, or personal wearable arrays. You could buy the services of professionals who would come and install wards, or you could buy jewellery that would give you protection, but trying to learn how to protect yourself was almost impossible. Thankfully, at least on this part of the continent, soul magic was almost unheard of. One of the things Adya had wanted to achieve was to compare her runic, formation and array knowledge with this world to start to create her own versions by adapting her insane knowledge base. However, she hadn''t even been able to start that process. Whilst she personally was confident that she would be able to somewhat protect herself using vast amounts of willpower energy, that protection would not extend to her retainers. Still she had made some progress and Adya was not one to give up. If she needed to, she would create the entire field from scratch, though re-inventing that particular wheel would require a substantial commitment of time and resources. After taking stock of what she had managed to achieve, and what she still wanted to get done in the short term, Adya sought out her mother. She had not really left the family compound in the time since her birth. The city was dangerous, and the family had many enemies. Still remembering Adya¡¯s ¡°frail complexion¡± her mother had forbidden her from leaving the compound. It was in part to mitigate this restriction, that Adya had been allowed access to the variety of advanced books on subjects not ¡°fit for a child¡±. It had to be said that sexism and misogyny was a fact of life in this new world. Whilst cultivators were treated differently, for most girls were meant to manage the home and produce kids. More affluent families and nobles would educate the girls, but would still expect them to sit at home or manage charitable works or act as teachers and governesses. It was rare to hear of females from all species to hold high government office or run businesses. Obviously this was not something that was really acceptable to Adya. At least once she started on the path of cultivation, she would have some leeway and freedom from societal expectations. Adyas musing came to an end as she found her mother in parlour. It seemed like she had just finished entertaining. ¡°Good afternoon mother,¡± said Adya, ¡°How is your day progressing?¡± ¡°Good afternoon Adya.¡± replied Gauri looking over her daughter with a critical eye. ¡°Well enough. I just met with the scribes guild. How progress your studies?¡± ¡°Frustratingly slowly, as you well know mother.¡± answered Adya. ¡°I would like permission to visit the city. I think I am now old enough to visit. Gauri sighed, it was always the same refrain from her youngest child. Always pushing at the rules. ¡°What do you need to visit the city for? Surely you can just send for whatever it is that you want?¡± replied Gauri. ¡°It''s for the experience mother. You can''t expect me to spend my entire life in what is in the end beginning to feel like a very lavish prison. I want to see and experience the world I am in. Surely you can understand the curiosity mother?¡± responded an exasperated Adya. Gauri could see that Adya was not willing to be kept cooped up much longer. She couldn''t even punish Adya for not studying as the girl was over eager and dedicated herself to all her studies. Gauri sighed again. ¡°Fine, but you are to take your retainers and a contingent of guards,¡± said Gauri. ¡°If there is any trouble, make sure to keep your distance, or at least try to remove yourself from the situation.¡± ¡°Fine mother, but the guards will let me interact with the people and not just try to keep me cooped up in the carriage.¡± responded a now happier Adya. ¡°Agreed, make preparations, you may go tomorrow.¡± stated Gauri. A now much happier Adya left her mother to go and prepare for her first outing in this world. She had so much to prepare. The retailers and guards would need to be organised. She intended to stay out the whole day, so she would need to plan accordingly. Adya returned to her study to inform Phillipa, Sally and Dexter of their plans. She would also need to let Parth know that she needed a contingent of guards and that she would not be attending training the next day. Finally she needed to decide how she would dress and what she would take with her. She could keep most things in her inventory, but she had no storage item, nor could she use one. If she took things out of her inventory in public, that would reveal precious information about her. Something she would take great pains not to allow. Small things she could pretend to take out of a bag or pocket, but larger items were a non-starter. Adya called in her retainers to start planning for her very first trip! 10 - Chapter 9 - Day 1751 10 - Chapter 9 - Day 1751 Adya had spent the previous afternoon and evening preparing. Her retainers had been making sure everything was ready for a long day trip. The carriage was ready, Philip, Dexter and Sally waited for Adya. 10 mounted guards would be accompanying them to and from the city, however only 2 guards would be permitted into the city itself. This rule was instituted to stop armed militias following every noble and wealthy scion. It also stopped them from causing too much trouble as any one group could be stopped by a coalition of only 2 or 3 others. It was meant as a check on power. Sometimes it worked, but some families were too powerful to be checked. Adya had prepared a pouch with 100 of her mana stones, about 10 golds worth, she wanted to see the effect of converting the stones to silver and gold. Of course she could take out as much as she wanted from her storage, however she didn''t want to risk the ability leaking. It''s why she had a small mace under her dress next to her leg, even though she had her longer weapons in storage. There were no such things as storage bags or rings in this world, not that anyone had heard of anyway. When she had asked about it, people had laughed at the notion of it being possible. Her own family''s business would change completely if one person could carry everything on their finger! Adya mounted the carriage with Philip and Sally following behind her. Dexter mounted his own horse and they set off for the city. The city was around an hour from the estate, depending on traffic and road conditions she had been told. As the carriage settled at a good pace, Adya looked out on the road outside her estate for the first time. They were still technically on part of their own lands. The estate was surrounded by farms that provided food for both the estate and for trade. The farms were managed by hand by people employed for the task, with a few oxen used for the heavier work. It was so strange for her to see farming being done by mortals after her memories of both the technical and more magical farming methods. It was quaint in a way, but Adya thought the rudimentary mentors would reduce yields to 10 to 15%. Something else to think about in the future. After around 10 mins they passed beyond the last of the farms. The road, not much more than a compacted dirt track, ran through a lightly wooded area. This was the most dangerous part of the route, as bandits could use the trees for cover. Thankfully they didn''t have to deal with any bandits on the way out. The woods were cooler and the verdant canopy provided a kaleidoscope of picturesque views, only spoiled by the poor condition of the road. ¡°Phillipa, please make a note that we need to get this road fixed properly all the way to the city.¡± said Adya as she watched the scenery go by. After about 40 mins, they exited the woods and joined up with other trails that eventually led to a road. It was brick and stone, but uneven and not well maintained. The carriage joined the road and had to slow down to avoid damage. Adya really was not impressed. She had been expecting so much more from how the books described things. She just shook her head and continued to watch the scene out of the window. By now the road was quite busy, so they slowed even further. After another 20 minutes they finally reached the walls of the city. The walls were made of stone and around the height of a 2 story building. The walls were wide enough for 2 men to walk side by side. Adya could see patrols on the walls. The road led to an opening in the walls that had 3 gates set into it. There were two gates for carriages, one for commoners and one for the more affluent, and one gate for people on foot. Guards were checking who was going in and out. Adyas'' group joined the queue for the second gate. Soon they were up to the guard house. 2 guards in armour and carrying swords were checking the carriages and making notes. One of the guards spoke to Dexter briefly, looked into the carriage, then reminded Dexter about the 2 guard rule. Then they were inside the walls. The outer area near the walls was kept clear of rubbish and seemed to be in good repair. There was a barracks on this side, and her entourage with the horses went towards it. The 2 guards that were accompanying them stood on the back of the carriage and Dexter joined the girls inside the carriage. ¡°Where are we going first Ms Adya?¡± asked Dexter. ¡°Let¡¯s find a money changer. I want to exchange some mana stones and see the process.¡± replied Adya, "then we can go towards a market.¡± Dexter nodded at the instructions then instructed the driver. ¡°Are there any good book shops or places that sell magical items?¡± asked Adya. ¡°I think we can find a few things in Artificers Row.¡± replied Philippa having been to the city on errands previously. The traffic in the city was even worse, the carriage crawled along slowly. Once they reached the trading quarter, the driver parked behind a row of carriages and everyone got out. Adya stepped down into the street, and was not impressed. Though the road was stone, there was too much detritus accumulated on the roads. She was glad she had donned trousers under the dress, and the dress was cut short to keep the hem out of the street. Adya followed the group towards a paved square that was surrounded by shops. There were the typical mix of shops, from tailors, to household goods, groceries, a few others. On the corner, a largeish store had a sign advertising jewellery, precious metals and currency exchange. They had large armed guards outside. As the group approached the entrance one of the guards stepped up and informed them that armed guards were not permitted inside.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! The guards waited outside while the four others entered. The store guards did give them a look over, but decided not to stop them. A female attendant walked up to them, accessed all four then spoke to Dexter. ¡°How may we serve you today Sir.¡± ¡°I am accompanying my charge.¡± replied Dexter pointing at Adya. Seeing him point to a little girl, the attendant changed her focus. After noting the mark of a merchant family on the retainers, the girl asked Adya ¡°How may we help today Miss?¡± Adya looked up at the attendant, a little annoyed at being ignored at first. ¡°I need to exchange some mana stones for coins.¡± stated Adya. ¡°Can you facilitate?¡± The attendant, surprised at how Adya sounded, took a moment to collect herself. ¡°Of¡­Of Course Miss. How many stones were you looking to exchange today? Please be aware that we charge a small fee on transactions below 10 stones.¡± ¡°Not an issue. I am looking to exchange 100 stones today. I would like a mix of coin in exchange.¡± replied Adya. The attendant was truly shocked. This young girl had 100 mana stones! ¡°I think 8 gold, 195 silver and 500 copper would be a good mix of coinage,¡± said Adya, getting impatient at how the attendant was acting. The attendant visibly pulled herself together, and went off to a counter. She then explained the situation to the male attendant, whispering it to him. The mans¡¯ eyes rose in surprise. The man came out from behind the counter. ¡°Greetings Miss, I understand you have a significant number of stones to exchange. May I inspect a few to ensure they are genuine. It¡¯s not often we get such a number exchanged at once¡± ¡°Well that depends, can you actually complete the exchange. Do you have the coinage in stock?¡± demanded Adya. ¡°Of course, of course, this way please.¡± he led Adya to a seating area. Adya produced 2 stones from her pouch and handed them to Philipa to place on the counter. The man took a strange looking scale, similar to a digital scale from the modern world, from behind the counter and placed each stone on it one at a time. The result must have been satisfactory as his face split into a wide smile. ¡° You asked for 8 gold, 195 silver and 500 copper, correct?¡± asked the man. ¡°Yes, that is correct. Also what volume of stones can you exchange and at what frequency.¡± replied Adya. The man was taken aback by the question. The store would do maybe 10 to 20 stones in a day on a busy day. This girl was already exchanging more than he would do in half a month, and she was asking how much he could do and how often. Just who was she, where could she get so many stones. ¡°Just how many stones do you have access to?¡± he breathed out. ¡°I believe I asked you a question?¡± turning to Dexter she said, ¡°I thought you said this was the biggest money exchanger in this city?¡± The man was not happy at Adya talking down to him, but held his tongue. ¡°I can manage around 100 stones a week, however that would be to gold. Generally we don''t carry that much silver or copper.¡± replied the man. ¡°Please make arrangements for today''s transaction and I will think about the rest.¡± said Adya. While the man went off to make the arrangements, Adya sat there thinking. That was a disappointment. The shop could hardly exchange any stones for her. She would need to make arrangements to sell directly to a sect or magic guild. That would come with complications, like explaining where the stones came from and how they were all so uniform in size. This would require some thinking and planning. At least she could make arrangements for Phillipa to regularly exchange for 10 gold every week from this shop. By splitting the exchange between several shops she should be able to start to build up some liquid capital. Why couldn''t this be easier? As they waited for the exchange to happen, the female attendant offered some refreshments which they all refused. Finally the man came back with pouches. Adya asked Phillipa to check the coins, and once she was happy with the count, Adya handed over her pouch of mana stones. The man checked each stone on the scale and was only satisfied when they had all passed. ¡°What is your name?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Greg Miss.¡± replied the now very happy man. ¡°Can we speak in private Greg?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Sure.¡± he replied and led them to a small office in the back of the shop. ¡°Can you be discreet Greg? I am looking for someone to regularly exchange stones.¡± said a very serious Adya. ¡°However, I am looking for someone who can be discreet and keep their mouth shut. Is that you?¡± Greg gulped. He wanted the deal, but something about this little girl was scaring him. ¡°I can..I can keep quiet.¡± he said eventually. ¡°Dexter will come and see you, with my guards. He won''t be coming to your shop as I don''t want him to be noticed. She will meet you at the inn for a drink.¡± said Adya. ¡°The transaction will be for 10 gold once a week. If there are any issues, or if anyone finds out what we are doing, I will place the blame at your feet and expect you to make good. Is that acceptable to you?¡± Adya let out a little bit of killing intent at the man, and watched him go pale. ¡°Yes..yes, I can do that.¡± replied a shaken Greg. Just who the hell was this girl and what was that feeling just now. ¡°When can you make the first exchange?¡± asked Adya. ¡°In 2 days,¡± replied the man. Adya looked at Dexter. He also had questions about how the little Miss could get so many stones. He nodded at her unasked question. Adya stood and walked out. Now to see what was available in this city! 11 - Chapter 10 - Day 1751 continued 11 - Chapter 10 - Day 1751 continued Adya, with her entourage, wandered around the town. She wanted to get a good idea of what was available and the general technology level of the country. Yes she was in one of the provinces in one of the three human kingdoms, and yes this wasn¡¯t even the capital of the country, just the capital of the province. Yet the level of advancement was truly abysmal. There were no mana devices in widespread use. Yes a few places used some devices for lighting and a few other conveniences, but in general unless people could do things themselves, it was mostly like being in the dark ages. Adya could think of hundreds of things that would revolutionise life, it would only require her to come up with a way to convert mana to electricity. However the lack of any significant infrastructure would severely hamper her attempts at any form of mass production. As Adya wandered, she also thought about how few mana stones that the largest money exchange in the city dealt with. She would need thousands of shops to launder mana stones on the scale that she needed in order to convert to gold. Without that ability, it would kill her ability to develop fast. Everyone needed resources, but a resource you could not use was just worthless. She had considered herself rich, but the issue made the number of mana stones she had pointless. She really needed an understanding of the magical economy,. Without somewhere safe to transact in volume, and without having a way to get access to magical and cultivation knowledge in this world, she would need to slowly grind up, build out enough strength to protect her interests and challenge the status quo. Given her age and gender, it would be an uphill struggle. As she was lost in thought, she felt someone brush past her, trying to make off with her fake coin pouch. As the small hand brushed past her, she grabbed the hand, stopping it dead. She realised it was another child, about the same age as her. The girl apologised for bumping into her, and ran off, or rather Adya let her go. That was an avenue she had not considered. There would be a black market, and an underground. She needed to tap into that world to see what was really available. Adya, trailed by her entourage, spent the day going around the city. Adya was interested in everything, from the style and quality of food available to the kind of clothing, entertainment, industry and lastly technology. There were a few shops that sold mana artefacts. They required mana stones to run. The prices were very high, even though the finished quality of the devices left much to be desired. A mana lamp was 5 gold or 50 tier 1 mana stones, totally outside the price range of all but the most wealthy. Adya, obviously, bought one. She paid in mana stones, as her gold was at this point a very limited resource. Given her high quality clothing, and her entourage, she did not garner too much attention, not any more than a young girl carrying around that kind of money. She decided to take a chance and push her luck a little. ¡°Miss, are all these wonderful devices made here, or do you just sell them here,¡± asked Adya in a very childish voice. She wanted to use the perceived innocence and inquisitiveness of her age to see if she could get any details. ¡°Yes Miss, everything is made here.¡± answered the attendant. ¡°The owner is the best artificer in the city.¡± ¡°Can I see him please?¡± asked a very cute sounding Adya. Her own entourage looked at the nonplussed having never seen this side of her. ¡°He is very busy,¡± answered the attendant, ¡°But I will ask for you.¡± ¡°I am happy to pay for his time,¡± replied Adya, sounding like a little girl trying to sound grown up, not at all like her normal demeanour. ¡°Mother said that we should be fair in our dealings.¡± Eventually, a surly man came out from the back. He was in cultivator robes, and had a tidy beard. ¡°All right little miss, I was convinced to give you some time,¡± said the man. ¡°But make it quick, I have a lot of work to do.¡± ¡°May I see you work,¡± asked Adya, ¡°I have always been interested in how artefacts work. Pleaseee. I promise I won''t distract you.¡± The first attendant gave him a little nudge from behind. Adya had a feeling that the pair were more than just coworkers. ¡°Fine, but just you.¡° replied the man. ¡°I can''t have anyone stealing my secrets. Also it''s going to cost you.¡± Adya put 50 mana stones on the counter, the man nodded and ushered her to his workshop.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. He pulled up a bench for her to sit on. The bench had a thick book on it. The man sat down and started to work. To Adya the work looked straight forward enough. The man was using a kind of pen, with a mana stone attached to the top, like an etching tool. He picked up a square of metal, and started to engrave a detailed design. His hands moved with precision and speed. Adya had a feeling that he was using a skill. She watched him work. He was rotating through around half a dozen designs. Adya sat watching, not wanting to get kicked out for distracting him. She spent the time memorising the designs, and then trying to trigger her mana manipulation skill to accurately follow what he was doing. After a while she received a notification. Soul Mana Manipulation: Level 38 evolves to Mana Manipulation: Level 38 After receiving the skill, she could more easily follow what the man was doing. He was not only etching the design into the metal, but also laying down a thin line of mana, along the edge as he worked. He was also testing the mana flow as he worked on the design. After sometime, he took a break, looking up seeing Adya watching him intently, he was surprised by the fact she was still there and that she had not disturbed him even once. He sighed, and asked if she had any questions. ¡°Are those designs the formations cultivators mention?¡± asked Adya. ¡°I am assuming that you are also doing something I can''t see? Are you using a skill?¡± The man was surprised by the level of insight shown by the little girl, but didnt feel like it was much of a problem to answer a few general questions. ¡°Yes formations are a design to exclude mana, and a design to allow mana to follow in a particular format.¡± said the man, ¡°I am using my mana scribe skill to create the design. Then when you put a mana stone, the mana powers the formation.¡± ¡°Wouldn''t that make the formation burn out quickly?¡± asked Adya thoughtfully? ¡°Why would you think that?¡± asked the man, a little suspicious now. ¡°I made a mud castle, and put a canal around it,¡± replied Adya, ¡°but when I put water from a bucket into the canal, it was fine at first but as more and more water went into it, the whole thing washed away. I thought mana would do the same. Was I wrong?¡± The man chuckled, ¡°That''s actually the best explanation I have heard, and it''s from a little girl. You are right, but it''s more complicated than that. Mind if I use that explanation with my apprentices?¡± ¡°What do I get in return?¡±, asked a cheeky Adya. ¡°What do you want?¡± asked the man, obviously in a better mood for some reason. ¡°Can I look at your book?¡± asked Adya? ¡°You are a strange girl,¡± chuckled the man, ¡°Sure, but you won''t understand it, it''s not in common.¡± Adya shrugged and started to flip though the book, taking note of each page, just at a pace that no one would think she was reading. Unbeknownst to the man, not only could Adya read the language, probably better than the man, but she also memorised every page. Sai was very useful for capturing books. After a few minutes she was done. ¡°I think that is enough for one day, " said the man.¡±If you come back, I may let you watch again.¡± ¡°Just one question,¡± asked Adya, on her way out of the workshop. ¡°Will the design work on any material?¡± ¡°In theory, yes, you could even draw it on paper, but the moment you activated it, it would burn up.¡± He replied, ¡°Some materials have better mana capacity, they will last longer. Who would want to spend the time and mana to create a single use formation?¡± Adya thanked the man, and with her entourage left the shop. They spent the rest of the day wandering around with Adya purchasing a few items that took her fancy. She would wait till she was back home to go through the knowledge she had borrowed. In the afternoon, as she was getting tired, they started to make their way back home. She knew if she wanted more outings, she needed to keep her mother happy. Adya was so lost in thought, that she didn''t notice everyone making space for a teenager, followed by his own guards. She almost bumped into him, stopping at the last second. The boy was furious that she hadn''t gotten out of his way. ¡°How dare you get in my way.¡± he shouted. ¡°Don''t you know your place?¡± Adya just looked up at him with a cold stare. She had been about to apologise for almost bumping into him, but after his outburst, she wasn''t in the mood any more. ¡°And what is my place?¡± asked Adya, ¡°Also why are you howling like a banshee in public, did no one teach you any manners?¡± The boy was stunned by being called out, it never happened to him. He was especially shocked that it was by such a small girl. Adya, didn''t wait for him to answer, and just carried on to her carriage leaving a very annoyed and sputtering boy behind. * **Lord Willaby POV** As he walked down the street, all the commoners made space. He was thinking of where he would go to entertain himself today, when a little slip of a girl almost bumped into him. How dare a commoner not get out his way. He berated her, but not only was she not cowed, she actually berated him, then not only did she not wait for him to respond, she ignored him as she walked away. Just who was that girl, and how dare she treat him like that. He would find out, then he would put her in her place. He looked towards his valet, ¡°Find out who she is, and who her family are.¡± 12 - Chapter 11 - Day 1751 Continued 12 - Chapter 11 - Day 1751 Continued Adya returned to her carriage. It had been a somewhat productive day. She had identified routes forward, though the financial limitations were frustrating. She would need to look into the black market, and she would need to find out more about the end users of the mana stones. As they left the city behind, Adya fell into thought. Her mana manipulation skill had evolved, she had not realised that using the mana outside her soul would cause her to get a massive boost. She could now create and control mana in the palm of her hand. She wondered if it was the same for the other energies. She had not received skill relating to their use at all, even in the soul. Was that because she used her mana as a crutch to control the other energies? As she had nothing better to do, she tried to layer the energies in her hand. She started with only simple shapes, starting with a simple sphere. The mana sphere came naturally, then she tried to switch to will power, it took her a little while to force the will power out of her body to create a sphere, finally she started work on stamina. It was the energy she had the least of, and it took intense focus to get her to produce stamina in a tangible form outside her body. By this point they were outside the city and on the main road. She continued to toy with the 3 energies trying different shapes and her control and fluidity of control improved step by step. Finally just as they were entering the woods again, she received a system notification. Mana Manipulation: Level 38 evolves to Energy Manipulation: Level 38 Meditation: Level 11 evolves to Waking Meditation: Level 11 She didn''t realise that energy control exercise with her focus counted as waking meditation. She tried and found she could meditate while still somewhat aware of her surroundings. This would be very helpful, it would allow her to train herself to have the mindset while training. That should help her energy control to advance. She also hoped that the two upgrades would get her closer to forming her mana core letting her start on the path to cultivation. The first step, that should have been the easiest for her, was instead turning out to be the hardest, simply due to the volume of her mana. She felt that after the first step, it would actually become easier for her to step through the levels. As she was lost in thought, the carriage came to a stop. She was surprised as they were still in the woods. She heard sounds of others outside then she heard the typical bandit threats. Dexter got down from the carriage, and Adya decided to join him. It''s not like she felt any threat from anyone who wasn''t a cultivator. She hardly expected cultivators to even exist out here, let alone be having to turn bandit. Adya looked over the men, yes they were all men, and there were about two dozen, with a few remaining further back. Those at the front held a variety of weapons, and the ones at the back had bows. They were clearly no match for a dozen armed and armoured mounted soldiers. Adya couldn''t understand why they would be stupid enough to challenge the group. Even with skills and classes, though she didn''t expect them to really have any that were good, without good weapons and any armour they were at a significant disadvantage. ¡°Dexter, something is not right here.¡± said Adya quietly. ¡°Look for the real ambush, these fools have been sent to us to die, the real attacker will look to take advantage of the chaos to enact their plan.¡± ¡°I agree my lady, I will stay with you with 4 guards.¡± replied Dexter, ¡°Shall I order the rest to attack.¡± ¡°No Dexter, hold all the soldiers back.¡± replied Adya, ¡°We will need them. I will deal with the bandits.¡± ¡°What do you bandits want,¡± said Adya out loud. ¡°You know whoever hired you to attack us just asked you to die right? How much did they offer to pay you?¡± The bandit leader was shocked, not only by the fact that it was the little girl speaking and not all the grown ups, but that she had accurately predicted the situation within a minute of them stopping the carriage. He was starting to get a very bad feeling about the situation. Still he tried to put up a show in front of his men. His reputation would be over if he was cowed by a little girl, no matter how well spoken she was. ¡°Give us everything you have, and we will let you go.¡± blustered the bandit leader. Adya laughed, ¡°You really are that stupid,¡± she said, ¡°If I wanted you all dead, you would be dead. I don''t order people killed for being stupid, but if you keep this nonsense up, you will leave me little choice. Final chance, I want to know who sent you, how much you were offered, and why you would be stupid enough to accept.¡± As she delivered her threat, she sent a spike of killing intent towards all the bandits, her control was precise enough that her own people didn''t even feel anything. They did, however, notice the results. As Adya¡¯s threat was delivered, half the bandits fell down screaming in fear. Another half of those left standing pissed themselves from fear. Six of the people along with the leader were still standing, though no one managed to keep a hold of their weapons. Adya had not used anywhere near her full killing intent, had she done that no one would still be alive. Her 10,000 plus years of honing her intent was beyond what she expected most in this world to be able to contend with. She may have lost her cultivation and body conditioning, but killing intent was linked to the soul. She didn''t have a way to gauge how much stronger her soul was compared to her last lives, so she couldn''t gauge just how strong her killing intent had become. Mai noticed the use of killing intent as a weapon and made a note to ask Adya about it after the altercation was over. It would be an excellent addition to Mai¡¯s capabilities. The bandit leader was literally shaking where he stood. He had no idea who this girl was, but he knew with certainty that if they tried to escape, none of them would live. He had gotten greedy, he shouldn''t have accepted this job, it had sounded too dodgy. ¡°I was hired by a man in the city, he noticed you spending money and mana stones. He paid me to hold you up and take what remained of the mana stones from you.¡± said the badly shaken bandit leader. ¡°I was offered 1 gold, plus 10% of anything we could get from you.¡± ¡°Well is that enough to be worth all your lives?¡± asked Adya ¡°What was the rest of the plan?¡± ¡°That was it I swear,¡± replied the man ¡°He told me you only had two guards, and that it would be easy.¡± ¡°Truely disposable.¡± replied Adya. ¡°He didnt even trust you to tell you the whole plan, just sent you as a distraction, did he at least pay you before he sent you to die? The bandit leader shook his head. Adya thought about what to do with them, then remembered the list of formations she had memorised from the book at the mana artificers shop. She had an idea of how she could use these men.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Sai, she thought, get to work on understanding the formation to create oaths of loyalty linked to the system. Create it as a tattoo for now, we can look at enhancing it later. Sai: I will start processing. Estimated time to initial prototype 12 hours. ¡°So now you have two choices,¡± said Adya out loud. ¡°You can all be under arrest, taken back to our estate and I will decide your fates, but will let you live. Or you can challenge me, and will kill you where you stand. If you try to run, you will die.¡± The stark threat from such a young girl shocked everyone, including her own retainers. The effect on the bandits was even more pronounced. They were left gobsmacked, She literally had not left them a choice. As the bandit leader looked lost at the stark choice he had been left, Adya continued. ¡°In fact, i am getting both bored and annoyed by this, so anything other than acceptance of my generous offer will lead you to be executed. You two¡± said Adya pointing at two of her newest guards, ¡° go and collect their weapons, then secure their hands with rope. If anyone even twitches wrong, I will be able to execute them, so have no fear.¡± Realising they really had no choice, most of the bandits dropped their weapons and waited to be collected and bound. However, in every group there is the idiot who thinks he knows better. The designated idiot of this group pulled out a knife and attempted to either kill or take a guard hostage. His reasoning went unknown because as soon as he moved, Adya used a precise amount of killing intent to completely suppress him. The guard he had attempted to attack took off his head in one slice. Watching him collapse twitching then be decapitated destroyed any fight that might have been left in the rest of the group. The guards made quick work of binding the rest of the bandits and soon they were securely attached to each other in two columns. The ropes were then secured to the back of the carriage. Still the second attack had not materialised. Was Adya wrong about the second attack, was it only a test to see her response? No, they were out there watching, and Adya had no patience for dragging this out even longer. She would have to expose more of her abilities than she wanted, however was that really an issue here. The guards and her retainers were already oath bound not to reveal her secrets. She would just assign them as her personal guards going forward. The bandits would be dealt with via the formation soon enough, and she could keep them confined until then. She had no intention of leaving anyone else alive. She just had to risk that there wasn''t a cultivator versed in soul techniques out there targeting her, but there would be no reason for anyone to send such an asset after her. She had not displayed any such abilities before. The risk was minimal. ¡°I am going to do something to identify the remaining threat,¡± said Adya. ¡°Anyone revealing my technique to anyone, including to my own family will be killed. Dexter get ready to retrieve our pursuers at my command. Bring them back for questioning, but you don''t have to be gentle.¡± Adya released her divine sense for the first time in this life. Her soul was able to project the technique, it was just hell on her body. Thankfully she would have time to heal before returning home. The divine sense belloweed out and identified a group of 6 spaced out in a ring around their position. Not wanting to take any chances, Adya pushed her divine sense out to cover a much larger distance, but still found no one. She didnt feel like anyone strong enough to conceal themselves from her divine sense would just be skulking around. Anyone that strong would have been able to kill her whole group without breaking a sweat. Happy that it was only the six that were out there, Adya used the killing intent to forcefully suppress them. She then pointed to the six directions. The pressure on her body was growing from the use of a technique that her body was just not ready for. As six of her soldiers went out to get the six hidden watchers, the pressure started to have a visible effect. The pressure caused her to start bleeding from her eyes, nose and ears. Still Adya kept it up until she felt the six be bound, then as her soldiers started to drag them back, she finally let the technique drop. Her body started to recover, and she figured it would take around an hour to let her body recover. She took out a handkerchief and cleaned up the blood. The display of the technique, the toll on her body, and the way she simply withstood it left an indelible mark on all those present. Her retainers were aware that she was strong, but they were all left asking themselves if they would be able to work through what had to be excruciating pain through the force of sheer will power. This young lady was something else entirely. The soldiers dragged back the six bound captives. Adya ordered them stripped down to their small clothes. There were five men and one woman amongst the captives. By the time they returned to their senses, they were practically naked and bound hand and foot. They were still in shock at the viciousness of the attack they had endured, and they were still suffering from the aftereffects of the shock. As they looked around they saw the bandits that were supposed to be a distraction, tied behind the carriage. Only one was dead. They couldn''t understand how the guards had subdued all the bandits without any sound, and with no apparent effort. They saw their target, a small girl step forward. ¡°So you have two choices,¡± said Adya, ¡°Tell me everything, and I might let you live, but you won''t be free. Or be difficult and I will have my men remove limbs one by one till one of you talks then everyone dies. I am not in the mood to waste more of my time. I don''t want to hear any begging or pleading or pleas of innocence. I want only my answers.¡± ¡°Question one, who are you? Question two, who sent you? Question 3 what were your exact orders?¡± asked Adya. She directed a short killing intent burst at the captives to punctuate each question. One of the group, already trembling before, pissed himself, then answered. ¡° We are members of the shadows hand. We can''t tell you who hired us. We literally can''t.¡± he continued showing off a tattoo on his upper forearm. ¡°We were hired to wait until you were distracted by the attacking bandits, then sweep in and kidnap you. I think the idea was to ransom you back to your family.¡± Adya stepped up close and examined the tattoo in detail. Sai also joined in on the analysis. It seemed like he was telling the truth, the formation would kill them if broken or if they tried to betray the organisation. Not only did the tattoo force compliance, but also saved Sai some time by confirming that Adya¡¯s idea was possible. Adya used mana to scan the structure of the tattoo to get as much information as possible. When she was done, she realised her understanding was not even close to enough to start deciphering the whole structure yet. That left the problem of what to do with the group. She could let them live, they were of no use to her right now, and there was no point keeping them captive, or was there. If she took over their organisation, would they then have to answer to her? How long would it take for her to find the people, and take over the organisation. No that would be for the future, they would not be useful to her right now. The risk of her secrets leaking was too great if she let them live. She would kill them, now what was the best way. It would be best if the organisation thought they had died betraying them, so she sent tendrils of mana into each of the tattoos, and pulled on one strand. Slowly she snapped the tendril causing the tattoo to think it was being removed. The tattoos attacked the lifeforce of the six and slowly drained them till there was nothing left. Interestingly, the death was not designed to be painful, it just put them to sleep and then drained their life until they were dead in truth. There was so much to unpack there. Her retainers and the captured bandits watched her examine the one man, then watched them all pass out and die. They had no idea how she had done it. None of them noticed the broken fine line in the tattoo. ¡°Does anyone have a fire skill? I want these 6 and the idiot from earlier burned to ash. I dont want to leave any evidence behind.¡± asked Adya. Two of her guards put their hands up, still shaken up at the utter ruthlessness displayed by such a young girl. At a command from her the bodies were dragged away piled up and then burned to ash. It really was a pity, thought Adya, that seeing a skill in use didn''t let anyone identify the design of the spell, thought that would leave a massive weakness to be exploited, so she guessed it did make sense. Once they were ready, they made their way back to the estate. Now, thought Adya, just how am I going to explain this all to my mother. She wanted to keep the bandits for her own experiments, and also didn''t want to be limited to the estate once again. She decided to go with a simple, I caught these bandits, and decided to capture them as the right thing to do and pretend it was the guards who did all the capturing. Hopefully mother would believe the story. 13 - Chapter 12 - Day 1751 Continued 13 - Chapter 12 - Day 1751 Continued Adya¡¯s convoy edged into the estate compound. With two dozen bandits on foot, it took a lot longer to make it back from the woods. It was starting to get late and Adya worried that if she had been much later her mother would lock her up in the estate for the next five years. She pulled up to the barracks, and gave instructions for the bandits to be secured in the stockade. Whilst technically used to imprison recalcitrant guards, it could be used short term in the form of a prison, The first person to come and greet her was Parth, the house¡¯s master of arms. ¡°Greetings my lady,¡± quipped Parth, ¡°I would ask how your day was, but it seemed that your day was far more interesting than any of us expected.¡± ¡°Good evening Parth.¡± replied Adya, ¡°Lets go and see my mother, I would rather only relate the events once, rather than having to repeat myself ad nauseam. Dexter, please ensure that all our prisoners are secured, and the guards have been seen to, then join us as well. Phillipa please ensure my purchases are taken to my workspace. Sally, please draw a bath for me, it has been a long day and I don''t intend to be too long.¡± Everyone left to complete their assigned tasks, as Adya accompanied Parth towards Adya¡¯s mother¡¯s office. They knocked and were asked to enter. ¡°So I understand that you returned with a lot more people than you left with.¡± said Gauri, ¡°I do wonder how that came to be. I do hope you have not caused any trouble.¡± ¡°Well mother,¡± replied Adya, ¡°The day went well and the trip to the city passed without incident.¡± She neglected to mention the minor altercation as she was leaving, not considering it important. ¡°When we were almost home, these pesky bandits attempted to hold up my carriage. Obviously, that sort of behaviour could not be condoned so near our estate. So I asked the guards to secure and imprison the bandits, pending sentencing. I thought I would step up and behave how you would expect any member of the house to behave.¡± ¡°The guards secured the bandits?¡± asked Gauri.. ¡°You did not get into any physical altercations?¡± ¡°No mother, I stood next to Dexter the entire time.¡± replied Adya, keeping her face expressionless.¡±Even the one bandit who misbehaved was killed by one of the guards.¡± ¡°I see,¡± responded Gauri. ¡°And what do you intend to do with your prisoners, you know we can''t just keep them here indefinitely. You should have let the guards execute them on site.¡± ¡°I have some ideas, however that would require me to go back to the city.¡± replied Adya, ¡°Besides my choices were limited, the bandits knew they were outmatched and had picked the wrong target. However, had I not offered them mercy, in the ensuing fight, there was a likelihood of our guards being injured or killed. I may have also had to defend myself. Our group was outnumbered more than two to one. In such situations, it is entirely possible for unforeseen dangers to occur. I ensured the fastest resolution of the situation, whilst minimising risk. Is that not what you commanded me to do?¡± ¡°The young lady¡¯s assessment is correct my lady,¡± interjected Parth, ¡°as long as she did not participate and kept her distance this was probably the fastest way to resolve the situation. Though I have to say, I am surprised by both the ambush by the bandits, and that they choose to give up when challenged. It¡¯s more likely that they were sent by someone. I can get the answers out of them if you like.¡± Just at that time, there came a knock on the office door. Dexter entered, having completed his tasks. ¡°Perfect timing Dexter, can you confirm that the young lady was not involved in their physical altercation with the bandits.¡± asked Parth. Dexter looked to Adya for permission, and at a nod from her answered. ¡°Yes Sir, little miss took no physical actions during the altercation, apart from promising to spare the bandits if they surrendered, and promising to kill them all if they did not, or put up any resistance.¡± ¡°Also, no need to interrogate them again, ¡° interjected Adya, ¡°Dexter has already done so. They are an independent group that were hired by the Shadowed Hand to hold up the carriage as it was seen as an easy target. They were told that we only had two guards, and they were offered 1 gold and 10% of whatever they managed to liberate from the carriage.¡± Adya knew that if she did not provide some details, then both Parth and her mother would be suspicious and investigate further. Far better to divert their attention to the underground group, if only for part of the reason.¡± ¡°Parth, please ensure that you notify the city lord of the events,¡± said a visibly angry Gauri, ¡°then take our guards and show the Shadowed Hand the depth of our displeasure. They have really forgotten their station and grown far too bold. Also please inform the city lord that the bandits captured will be disposed of as we see fit as it happened on our land.¡± ¡°So just what is this idea of yours to deal with ?¡± Gauri asked Adya. ¡°Well, as I said I would need to go back to the city,¡± replied Adya, ¡°but I managed to meet an artificer and enchanter in the city. He even let me watch him work. He mentioned that there was a formation that could ensure loyalty. If that is something we can make permanent, via a tattoo or some such method, then we can lock them in as indentured servants.¡± ¡°You met the actual enchanter, not just speak to an assistant?¡± asked an incredulous Gauri. Enchanters tended to be stuck up as they were in high demand and did not usually give time to anyone, let alone let anyone watch.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°I can confirm that my lady.¡± replied Dexter, ¡°She spent almost 2 hours watching him work. He even answered some of her questions, and told her she can come back again. Looking like a child probably worked in her favour.¡± ¡°That alone is probably worth the trip to the city, when you go back, try to cultivate that relationship.¡± said Gauri looking thoughtful, ¡°Even if he doesn''t give us favourable rates, just being able to see him an ask for commissions directly would be a massive boon to the house.¡± ¡°Back to the main matter,¡± continued Gauri, ¡°what would you have these indentured servants do, if your plan works out?¡± ¡°Well mother, I noticed that the road from here to the main road is barely a dirt track.¡± replied Adya, ¡°I would like permission to construct a proper road. It would significantly help with our trade caravans. Also if we can obtain a method to ensure loyalty to our house, I am sure that would be worth a lot to our house?¡± ¡°There are too many suppositions in your plan,¡± replied Gauri, ¡° look into the details, and come back to me when you have something concrete.¡± With that Adya and Dexter left the office leaving Parth and Guari alone. ¡°So what do you think?¡± asked Gauri. ¡°I do believe that they were telling the truth,¡± replied Parth, ¡°I just can¡¯t understand how they managed to take all the bandits prisoner without a fight.¡± ¡°I am sure you will have further opportunities to find out.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°My daughter has never acted like normal children, and has always been much too mature for her age. This may just be another facet of the same behaviour. All we can do is keep an eye on her¡±. Adya returned to her suite. It had been a long day, and she wanted to take a long bath and use the time to think. Adya: so what did we get from the book, and from watching that man work? Sai: Well the book included a lot of formation designs. It described the structure and how the formations function. Interestingly our trait Universal Language Guru is actually treating the formation design as a language. Adya: I guess it could be compared to an ideographic programming language. That would mean we can read the instructions. Sai: That is what I am working on, I am reverse engineering the character set for formations. Then I need to conduct a comparison with programming languages in the database to work out what is missing. If a set of instructions are not used in any of the formations, then we will be able to infer what is missing from a standard language. Then I need to analyse how this formation langage compares to the formations, arrays and runes of knowledge from the old world in our memories. Adya: how long until that analyse and review are complete? Sai: I predict it will take another 10 hours to complete that analysis. Then I will need to create a new language based on our combined understanding and optimise it. I won''t have an estimate for the second part until the first part is complete. Mai: We had a skill upgrade today, the Soul Mana Manipulation skill evolved all the way to Energy Manipulation. We need to push the capabilities of the skill to see what we can do with it. We also need to discuss how our Killing Intent can be weaponized in a more discrete manner. Fine control is required, and I will need data to understand how to control it. Since Sai was taking time to finish processing the data, it would take until some point tomorrow before Adya could experiment with formations. She decided to spend the time in her bath practising her energy manipulation skill. She also wanted to understand why the mana pattern was visible to another person while crafting, but the same pattern was obfuscated during combat. Of course the reasoning made sense, if anyone could see the patterns behind spells, then it would become much easier to counter them. The same issue did not apply to crafting. However, the disparate treatment, if what on the surface, was the same process baffled Adya. The process was still using mana to form a pattern and achieve a result. So assuming that crafting was the natural state, that mana sense could detect and follow the intricate patterns would make sense. It would also make it easier to teach new patterns to pass on the knowledge. Why didn''t the same apply to spell patterns used in creating combat spells. Adya spent a long time thinking about the issue. She felt something was missing, and her understanding of the situation was incomplete. Finally after letting her mind wander, she came to the obvious answer. The patterns for skills were never visible. The pattern that allowed the enchanter to create formations, that pattern was also not visible, only what the enchanter created himself was visible. So the system had some way to obfuscate the patterns when spells and skills were evoked. If the system could do it, could Adya do the same manually? Sai: anything is theoretically possible, and while we understand that it''s possible, we currently don''t have a framework to start to analyse how. We will have to just hide the formations for now. We also can''t start to understand how formations and spells differ. Adya: We also need to understand the difference between spells and skills. We need a lot more data for that. Adya spent the rest of the night practising her Energy Manipulation by rotating between the different energies and using them to create more and more intricate shapes. As she stopped through more and more complex forms, Adya had an epiphany. Why was she limited to a single mana core to step into cultivation. Mana would give her spiritual cultivation, did that mean that if she managed to form a stamina core that would give her body cultivation. Would a will power core, and it should be theoretically possible as the energy was responding to the same manipulation as mana and stamina, give her soul cultivation or mind cultivation? That created even more questions. After core creation, the idea was to create a meridian network to allow the core to send energy to every part of the body. In the old world, people had created convoluted meridian networks that could cause all sorts of problems. Adya had long theorised that a simpler circulation system, copying the blood flow and treating the core as the heart, would be far more efficient. With the medical knowledge from the tech world, that should be imminently possible. However, would that idea scale to 3 distinct energy types? How to go about fitting three additional circulation networks in the body. More questions that would require experimentation. Would the networks have to be created simultaneously or could they be completed separately? She couldn''t even start that process until the cores were complete, and now she would have to create three cores if she wanted to pursue her more radical idea. Only one thing was certain, today had created a lot more questions and opportunities and Adya was going to gather every advantage that she could. 14 - Chapter 13 - Day 1752 14 - Chapter 13 - Day 1752 Adya had been taking her time to progress. She had asked for permission to visit the regional capital to start to get first hand experience. It seemed she had become careless and complacent. In a way, it was only to be expected. She had more than 10,100 years of memories. In all her remembered lives she had been an adult for a long time and held both personal and political power. She had not hesitated in wielding the power to advance her agenda. She had become so used to it, she had not allowed for the fact that she was a child again. Her family had become acclimated to her idiosyncrasies over the last five years, and they probably didn''t even notice how strange her behaviour was compared to an average five year old. However, going into a city with only retainers, ordering and even threatening people, flaunting a significant amount of wealth, standing up to and even ignoring a noble. All those actions would have stood out to anyone that was watching. Add to that the fact the bandits had been captured, and unless she planned to kill them, or even if she did, the rumours would leak. Oh, no one would be disloyal, or go out of their way to harm her or the family, but people were people, and someone would get drunk and brag, or a guard would want to show off for a girl and would brag. If she allowed the men to live, then their families would find out a version of the story and it would spread even faster. That was not even taking into account that when what passed for an elite unit of the shadowed hand didn''t return, it would be a massive red flag, and would have about the same impact as showing one to a bull. Whomever had tasked them to contract the bandits and sent them after her would know exactly who the target had been. Her family and their retainers were a known quantity, or at least could be with a little coin spent. They would know what the retainers were capable of. With the capture of the bandits, none having any injuries, the wipeout of the assassin team and the complete lack of injuries on the retainers, it would paint a pretty clear picture to anyone with half a brain. For anyone tactically minded, it would scream out her carefully kept secrets. She had forgotten the lessons hard won in her youth that carelessness kills and complacency kills. The two combined can bring down nations. She had to change her behaviour, and control her exposure. She would also need to undertake damage limitation. Again not something she was capable of as she was. Adya had been taking it easy, she had not fully pushed her capabilities. Sai and Mai were more imaginary friends rather than tactical weapons. Her cultivation, more of a theoretical exercise, an academic pursuit rather than survival necessity. She had not pushed the limits of her system, not wanting to be pushed to stats above 10 and losing whatever nebulous protection the scion protocols provided. She had not experimented to understand the limitation of passive skills, or even attempted to work out what an active skill would be. Finally, she had kept her supportive family fully in the dark. Part of that was an innate fear of rejection. A part of her thought they would not see her as a true part of the family, or worse they would denounce her as a demon and try to kill her. They were irrational thoughts, but then all fears are irrational. She had so many strengths that she could leverage, that she had ignored. She wanted to be fully independent, but she had forgotten that did not mean she had to be alone. Her outlook had to change, and she had to take calculated risks. She needed to make a prioritised list, just because she had already made mistakes, didn''t mean that she would run to make another, different set of mistakes. So what was on her todo list. She had to create her first core to start cultivation, and more likely she would need to condense all three cores simultaneously. She had to work with Sai to create her own language for formations, arrays and runes. She wanted to get to one overarching language model that she could add to as she learned more. She needed to come up with her version of the loyalty tattoo she had seen on the assassin squad, so that she could deal with the bandits. She didn''t want to lose the resources if she could avoid it. She needed to better understand the system and the limitations around passive and active skills. She also needed to understand the difference, if any, between spell and skills. She needed to work out what to tell her family, how much of the weirdness that was her life, and how to limit any damage. She wasn''t ready for her situation to become widely known. She needed to deal with the aggression from and the knowledge held by the shadowed hand, and anyone else they had contacted. And finally, she had to deal with any potential fallout from the idiot noble she had snubbed. The list was not insignificant. Anyone of those would be a significant task by themselves, each creating opportunities and risks. Adya: Sai lets conduct a SWOT analysis of each of the items on the todo list. Sai: task one, create a cultivation core. If only one core is created, we may lose the chance to create further cores in the worst case, and make it significantly harder in the best case by raising stats, thereby forcing up the initial core size. Creating the combined core would allow us to better defend ourselves, but will make us a target for more powerful cultivators. The level of risk is not known as the number and power of cultivators in the local region is not known. Sai: task two, is actually in progress. Version one should be ready for testing in hours. It would give the opportunity to create formations, arrays and runes. However, leveraging them would require either family support or another organisation to act as an intermediary. Sai: task three, requires a decision. Killing the bandits limits exposure, but would mean going back on our promise. That would damage our reputation with our own retainers. Keeping them alive and controlling them is possible with the completion of task two, but will leave us open to scrutiny without support. Sai: task four, is actually a nice to have and is primarily a research project. It has the potential to increase our power significantly, the negatives are totally unknown apart from potentially additional scrutiny. There are also potential synergies with task two. Sai: task five is again a decision on whether to reveal our secrets, and if so to what extent. There is a non zero chance that the disclosure could cause substantial risks, however the probability is statistically small.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Sai: task six, is both an opportunity and a risk. There is a significant probability that the family is already taking action against the shadowed hand. The risk is that their actions may reveal our secrets to the family. If we take direct action, we could still reveal additional capabilities to family agents. If we reveal enough secrets to the family, we could leverage that protection to act in concert with family agents to achieve additional benefits. Sai: task seven, there is a significant probability, based on displayed behaviour charitably characterised as young master syndrome, that the individual in question will seek to escalate the incident to save face in light of the perceived slight. There is a significant probability that it will cause issues for the family. Due to the family being unaware of the incident, it is highly probable that the family will be blindsided. Mai: task eight, we are not using the spiritual / divine sense abilities at all. It is a strong capability that would give us advanced warning of potential attackers. Adya: thank you both, that is indeed the current situation. The question becomes what actions we take, how long will the actions take to complete and what risk are we accepting. Adya spent time going through all the permutations of her tasks. In the end, there was only so much risk she was willing to bear in the current situation. She needed to tell her family about her situation, that would get her support to act more overtly, help her contain the risk of the shadowed hand, potentially flipping a liability into an asset, and allow her to more easily deal with the irate noble. It would also allow her to keep her word and convert the bandits to productive retainers. The issue was that it would leave her at risk, however small, of being betrayed. She also would need proof, apart from a child¡¯s word to convince her family. That could be solved by both starting cultivation and finalising the ability to create formations. Even though formations, arrays and runes were described as different things, they were in essence the same. They were a circuit that directed energy in a specified pattern to achieve a specified objective. The only differences between them was the medium used, the duration of the effect and the scale of deployment. Adya: integrate our knowledge of hardware design, specifically circuit design into the analysis of the formations. Sai: Analysis parameters increased, time to complete increased to 24 hours. Additional energy required to enhance processing, passive creation of mana stones and willpower stones suspended. Sai will be non responsive for the duration. So that meant Adya had a day to push herself and create her cores. She would need to hold and manipulate a minimum of 16.5M mana, 16.5M will power and 62.5K stamina simultaneously to create all three cores. She could risk one day to become a cultivator and provide definitive proof of her abilities to her family. She just hoped one day wasn''t enough for things to spiral. Adya called Philipa in to see her. ¡°Philipa, can you please take a message to my mother,¡± said Adya. ¡°I am going to be in seclusion from now until tomorrow midday. I need my mother to take lunch with me. She will also likely spend the rest of the day with me. I can¡¯t tell her why until tomorrow. Lastly, can you please relate the incident with the noble brat that we ran into on the way out of the city, so the family is not caught flatfooted. The incident with the bandits made us forget to mention it.¡± If Philipa was surprised by the instructions she didn''t show it, she just left to carry it out. ¡°Sally, please get me several jars of drinking water,¡± said Adya, ¡°Also draw me a full bath, cold water is fine. Once that is ready I need you to ensure no one disturbs me until I come out, not for any reason.¡± Sally acknowledged the order and rushed off to complete it. While Sally was making arrangements, Adya started to plan out her core placements. She experimented with coalescing all three cores, thankfully all three cores were ephemeral with just a spot that anchored the core in the physical plane. That made things much simpler. Adya decided on the standard placements for her cores. The abdomen for the mana core, the chest cavity for the stamina core and the skull for the will power core. There had never been any evidence that the location of the cores made any difference, but it was traditional. The issue would always be the meridians she would have to construct to circulate the energy from the cores. Once Sally had completed the arrangements and Philipa had confirmed that her messages had been delivered, to a very unhappy mother, Adya kicked everyone out of her suite and locked herself in. She disrobed, and sat next to the filled bathtub. When she succeeded in creating her cores, impurities would be expelled from her body, and she didn''t want to ruin her clothes or her room. The bathtub would probably have to be thrown out though. With the skill advancement, Adya felt that she would be able to create her perfect starting cores today, the only question was how painful it would be. Once she was situated, she dropped into deep meditation. Due to the low regen rate of her stamina, she would not be able to create the stamina core to the same size as the other two cores, but she still wanted to push it to the maximum size that she could manage. The energy was easiest to control. She started the process of core creation and started feeding energy into the core. She would take the full 24 hours and pump the entire stamina regen into the core. The process was actually simple, and Adya experimented with the process. She found that once the process was started Mai could take over the process and maintain it while the core filled. She would have to take over control when it was time to crystallise the core, but until then it was essentially automatic. She posited that the core would be around 0.5M points, or just under a thirtieth of the size of the other two cores well within her limit for energy manipulation. The will power core would take 1000 seconds to fill and the mana core would take 100 seconds to fill. She worked on increasing her energy control while the stamina core filled ever so slowly. With a regen of only 62 per minute it didn''t strain her at all. The core design, based on a buckminsterfullerene design, was the most efficient. In the old world, a hexagonal structure was used, but with her understanding of molecular science, she felt that the buckminsterfullerene design would be superior. As the hours went by, Adya pushed her energy control abilities to the limit, then slowly expanded those limits. It took her 23 hours to push the limit of the control past the minimum thresholds. She took a small break and checked in on the progress of the stamina core. It was already past the 0.5M mark and steadily climbing. Adya played around with both energies, and found that will power was much easier to control, as it required itself to coalesce. She thought about making the will power core bigger, but there was no real advantage at this stage. Besides if she was right, the tier 2 core would need to be substantially bigger due to her stats increasing. Just after 7 hours from starting the process for the stamina core, Adya started the process for the will power core, she held it as the core filled. At 16.5k per minute, it was substantially harder to hold in place. The difference between filling a balloon from a dripping tap, to filling the balloon with a hosepipe. Around 17 hours later the core was full. The stamina core was still filling. Holding both cores in place, Adya started the process of filling the mana core. If the stamina core was filled using a dripping tap, and the will power core with the garden hose, the mana core was like trying to fill a balloon with a fire hose. The strain increased rapidly, forcing her mind to its capacity. Thankfully she only needed to hold the pressure for 100 minutes. The 100 minutes passed excruciatingly slowly, with each second increasing the pressure on her mind and body. It was with great relief when she finally managed to get the core past the minimum point. She also stopped filling the stamina core, it had reached just a tad over 0.5M. Both the other cores were holding at just over 16.5M each. She stood, shook out her body and climbed into the bathtub. Everything was as ready as it was ever going to get in the current situation. Adya took a deep breath and braced herself for the pain to come. Then she forcibly compressed all three cores. It wasn''t just about squeezing them, she also had to hold on to the design she wanted the cores to be. She held the shape in her head, three cores, each the same size as the stones she normally produced, but holding literally millions of times more energy. She felt like she was ripping her body and soul apart. Had she not expensed the pain in her previous lives, she would not have been able to hold on. In her last life her cores had contained a small fraction of the power that they held now, but it was at least a familiar pain. Finally, after an hour of the worst pain she had endured in any life, the cores finally clicked into place. As Adya felt a rush of notifications hit her, she passed out in the bathtub. 15 - Chapter 14 - Day 1753 15 - Chapter 14 - Day 1753 Adya came to when her head slipped below the waterline in the tub. The smell was bad enough to wake her even before the issue of breathing became an issue. She scurried out of the bath tub, then used a washcloth and the jars of water to clean herself top to toe. As she had anticipated, her body had expelled impurities during her moving up to becoming a cultivator. Even though the tub had helped immensely, there were a lot less impurities expelled than she had anticipated. Something else she would have to look into. Adya would need a few hours for her new cultivation base to stabilise. She dressed in a simple slip, then went to her door and asked Sally to come in. She asked Sally to have the tub removed, with the instruction that it would probably have to be destroyed. She further instructed Sally to organise another tub, and this time to draw her a hot bath. Even though she wasn''t feeling grimey, she still wanted a good bath and a good scrub to get herself back to feeling properly human. It would take a while for her instructions to be carried out, so Adya decided to go over her notifications in the meantime. There were certainly a lot of notifications to go through. Cultivation Stage: Rank 1 (Initiate) advanced to Cultivation Stage: Rank 2 (F) Mana density: Rank 1 [x1] advanced to Mana density: Rank 2 [x1] Will Power density: Rank 1 [x1] advanced to Will Power density: Rank 2 [x1] Stamina density: Rank 1 [x1] advanced to Stamina density: Rank 2 [x1] Artificial limit disengaged Body: Limit removed Mind: Limit removed Soul: Limit removed Mana Core replaces current mana capacity Will Power Core replaces current will power capacity Stamina Core replaces current stamina capacity Waking Meditation: Level 11 to Level 19 Energy Manipulation: Level 38 to Level 49 {Custom} Mana Stone Creation (Automated): Level MAX will now create Tier 2 {Custom} Will Power Stone Creation (Automated): Level MAX now create Tier 2 {Custom} Stamina Stone Creation (Automated): Level MAX now create Tier 2 New achievement gained Warning achievement modified by Scion Protocol Achievement: Cultivation Prodigy - for unlocking cultivation and forming three cores on your first attempt and at below the age of 10, unique skill Core Shield granted. Core Shield (Unique): Level MAX - Cultivation cores shielded from all scans below the divine grade. Potential to upgrade to Core Filter (Unique). Protection protocol deactivated Warning - Scion Protocols are now in effect Adya certainly had a lot to go through. The cores had replaced her resource pools, that only made sense. The density of all her resources had gone up at a grade, while great in itself would mean even more scrutiny on her when it came time to sell mana stones. Her skills, meditation and energy manipulation had also ranked up, no surprises there. By pushing past the artificial limits set by the ever mysterious scion protocols, she guessed the system had now marked her as an adult, therefore it had removed her protections.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. She had also gained a new achievement, but again the normal rewards had been replaced by the unique skill Core Shield. Adya couldn''t really complain, as without knowing the original reward, it was impossible to judge whether it was an upgrade or a downgrade. The warning was the biggest concern, the scion protocols had been protecting her, from what the system only knew, and now at least part of the protection was no longer in effect. Still there was nothing she could really do about it yet. She could only hope she would chance upon opportunities to learn more about the system and how it related to her. Adya decided to check out her full status sheet to see how it had changed. Entity status Name: Adya Gurg Body: 500,000 [x2.0] [x1.0] Mind: 16,500,000 [x2.0] [x1.0] Soul: 16,500,000 [x2.0] [x1.0] Cultivation Stage: Rank 2 (F) Stamina: 1,000,000 Stamina regeneration: 10,000 per minute Willpower: 33,000,000 Willpower regeneration: 330,000 per minute Mana: 33,000,000 Mana regeneration: 3,300,000 per minute Mana density: Rank 2 [x1] Essence: 0 Entity 1: Class Ranger (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 2: Class Scholar (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 3: Class Warlord (Rarity Rank 9 - MahaGuru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 4: Class Font of Knowledge (Rarity Rank 9 - MahaGuru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 5: Class Merchant (Rarity Rank 7 - Grand Sage) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 6: Class Diplomat (Rarity Rank 7 - Grand Sage) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 7: Class Child (Rarity Rank 1 - Trainee) - {Displayed}: Level 0 General Skills Waking Meditation: Level 19 Scan Detection: Level 6 Energy Manipulation: Level 49 Regeneration Control: Level 10 Core Shield (Unique): Level MAX Passive Skills {Custom} Mana Stone Creation (Automated): Level MAX {Custom} Will Power Stone Creation (Automated): Level MAX {Custom} Stamina Stone Creation (Automated): Level MAX Personalities Mai: Online Sai: Online Traits Trait 1: Universal Language Guru (Rank 8) Trait 2: Soul Storage (Rank 11)(MAX) Trait 3: Perfect Loot Perfect Essence (Rank 8)(MAX) Trait 4: Parallel Processing (Rank 8) - Capacity 39 Cores Trait 5: Perfect Memory Processing (Rank 8) Trait 6: Gestalt Entity (Rank 8) Achievement: Passive skill creator - for creating your own passive skill all class passive skills are converted to Parallel Processing Capacity. Achievement: Gestalt Mortal Prodigy - for unlocking the ability to directly manipulate the regeneration of all 3 core energies whilst still being mortal all stats effectiveness is increased by 100% Achievement: Cultivation Prodigy - for unlocking cultivation and forming three cores on your first attempt and at below the age of 10, unique skill Core Shield granted. Her status was just ridiculous now, her stats probably made her untouchable by even most cultivators. That just made her more anxious, just from what did the system think that she needed to be protected. By this point her hot bath was ready, so she stepped into the bath and let Sally scrub her clean while she was lost in thought. She had taken the step to reduce her known risk profile and ended up increasing her unknown risk profile. The law of unintended consequences was in full effect. Still, it was done now, she would have to deal with what came next. While she bathed, she decided to see what Sai had come up with after the extensive analysis. Adya: Sai what is the result of our analysis into formations. Sai: Analysis is complete. There were over 200 formations scanned from this world, they were used as a starting point. The language skill gave us access to convert symbols to words and a starting definition. Adding to that knowledge of formations, arrays and runes from our previous memories created a core alphabet for formations that should work in this world. The alphabet was further enhanced using our understanding of both programming languages and hardware design principles to create a unique formation language. This should allow us to model formations and their effects to a high degree of accuracy. It should also make it easy for us to assimilate new knowledge obtained straight into the framework. Adya: We should come up with a name for this new language to make it easier to refer to. Sai: I will add it to our list of tasks. By this point Adya was scrubbed clean. She stepped out of the bath, dried herself and dressed. It was time for lunch with her mother. 16 - Chapter 15 - Day 1753 16 - Chapter 15 - Day 1753 There was just one thing she needed to do before making her way to her mother. She wanted to be able to prove her claims, and to do that she needed to do more than just tell a story. Adya retrieved a sheaf of parchment that she used for taking notes. She didn''t have long, but then she didn''t need to make this first experiment complicated. A simple light talisman should provide proof of concept of her abilities. Now what was the best way to approach this task? Adya was quite good at drawing freehand, but the formations¡¯ knowledge had been clear, the more exacting the design, the higher the quality of the finished formation. Adya knew that parchment was not the best material, at best the formation would last a single use, and even then not for long, but she didn''t have metal plates or an etching rod to be able to create something of a higher quality. That was something she would have to look into procuring, though she had ideas about that too. No for now, simple paper would be best, but she still wanted to create the highest quality she could. Adya: Sai are you able to use our limbs to directly draw out designs? Sai: Yes I am, though for best results we will need to create and train some form of telekinetic skill. At our age and our level of musculoskeletal development, even the best would leave a lot of room for improvement. Adya: Ok, let''s add another item to our ever growing todo list. Then let''s try to create a simple light formation. Letting Sai take over, Adya watched as the design was drawn onto the parchment, and at the same time, using the energy control skill, the corresponding mana design was etched also. Adya took her time, as it was the first even formation, and it took the better part of half an hour to create her first attempt. Adya took a deep breath then activated the formation. The formation activated, but Adya could immediately see the issues, and most were caused by the ink not being the right quality or the drawing not being accurate enough. The pen she used, while acceptable for normal writing, was like a crude stick compared to the accuracy required for formations. It was like trying to etch an electronic circuit using a leaking pen. Still the attempt had proven what she could do. It would do for her first demonstration. Adya collected the materials she would need, and placed them in her inventory. She had not been sure about revealing that particular ability, but if the initial conversation went well, revealing it would give her significantly more options. Adya steeled herself as she made her way to meet her mother. While the rational part of her knew that she needed to do this, the emotional part of her was still hesitant. The knowledge and memories of her past life could limit, but not fully ameliorate the effect of being in the body of a five year old, one that still had the need to feel a sense of belonging. Perhaps there was more than a little truth to the theory that posited that form was able to define function to a certain extent. Adya felt that her family in this life was an integral part of her, a core tenant of her identity, and she worried what revealing her past would mean. Certainly, there would be a shift in the dynamic that she enjoyed with her family, that was outside of her control. She only hoped that this would not lead her family to push her away. Even though she was confident in making her own way in this new world, she would rather do it with her family. As the weather was nice, Gauri had elected to take lunch in the central gardens. It was a private space, an acre of beautifully sculpted garden, set in the central courtyard. While the garden could be viewed from most parts of the main house, the trees and shrubbery lining the courtyard made it almost impossible to hear anything actually discussed within. It was a good compromise between privacy and security. A table had been set up , with two very comfortable chairs, for their luncheon. The table was covered with an ornate and colourful marquee to provide a modicum of shade. Gauri was already waiting for Adya, with a selection of items already set out for lunch. Adya noted that the items included a lot of her favourites. Adya walked up to the empty chair and climbed in. It was still not straightforward for Adya to use a normal chair due to her diminutive size. ¡°Good afternoon mother,¡± said Adya, ¡°Thank you for making the time.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not everyday my precocious little daughter has time for me.¡± replied Guari with a smirk. ¡°So when I was informed not only that the same daughter not only wanted to have lunch, but that I should clear my calendar for the rest of the day, I was not only intrigued, but happy to oblige. I am sure that we have things to discuss, but I am most curious as to the reason it will take all day.¡± ¡°I am not that bad mother,¡± replied Adya, ¡°You are even busier than I am most of the time, you can''t put all the blame on me.¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Adya took a little time to select her favourites from the table on to her plate. Once she was settled with a filled plate in front of her, she continued. ¡°What do you know about reincarnation, mother?¡± asked Adya. Gauri was a little surprised by the question, religion not an usual topic of interest to her daughter, but she decided to humour her to see where this was going. ¡°A most interesting question, and not one I expected from you,¡± said Gauri, ¡°Well, from my understanding, a soul at the end of one''s life, leaves the body, and moves through a cycle of cleansing and purification. At some point, the soul is sent back into the world, and born into a new body. There have been a few mentions in histories of re-incarnated individuals being identified where a magic item that had been soul bonded in a past life reacted to the new person. Though that''s usually by chance.¡± ¡°And are there any widely known instances of a reincarnated individual retaining memories of a past life?¡± asked Adya. ¡°No, it is posited, that the soul can not carry forward any memories¡± replied Gauri, ¡°The soul carries a mark of the karma of past lives, but no knowledge may be carried between lives.¡± ¡°Are there instances of a body being taken over by demonic or dark means?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Where even the soul may have been replaced.¡± Gauri was getting very concerned by the direction of the questions coming from her little girl. There were not topics that even most adults would dare venture into, let alone a child. ¡°Well, the churches and the healers can actually see the soul, even if they can''t interact with it.¡± replied a very troubled Gauri. ¡°There is no known method to take over a soul, a mind yes, a body yes, but they would both leave clear signs that could be detected during deep scans. The largest sign would be a soul trying to dispel the changes as it would recognise the foreign intrusion as an illness it needed to remove. While the soul may not be able to push out the influence, the external influence of the clash would be obvious to those who look at such things, or so I am led to believe. Now what has happened, why these questions?¡± Adya did not answer her mothers question asking for confirmation instead. ¡°Are you sure mother?¡± ¡°Yes, not even demons may cast out a soul or consume it.¡± replied Gauri, ¡°There are myths about such things happening, but no one takes it seriously. I should not be telling you this, but the reason its not possible is the system.¡± ¡°The System?¡± asked a confused Adya, ¡°Why is that?¡± Taking the question to mean that Adya didn''t know what the system was, Gauri answered. ¡°You are too young, but have always been more mature than your age. I shouldn¡¯t be telling you this yet, but we are all subject to a system. It will activate when you reach your age of majority at 13, and fully unlock when you turn 17. The reason what you are asking can''t happen, is that every soul is initiated into the system at birth. Some people have the ability to identify others, this ability provides them the responses based on the system. So if a soul was to be replaced, when the person was identified it would show the identity of the new soul, and not the one that was replaced.¡± ¡°But, how widespread is that ability, and how often are people actually checked?¡± asked Adya. She was not going to accept this without understanding the limitations that were in place. ¡°The ability is available to all members of the clergy ,as well as all healers.¡± replied Gauri, ¡°Every time you are checked for medical reasons, your identity is verified as a matter of course. As there are maldiction that can attempt to attack the soul, a full medical review will flag any changes to the soul, as well as if it had been replaced. Why is this topic of interest to you?¡± Adya was at least a little relieved, it seemed that only the system could directly mess with souls. And while it sounded like there were methods to take over a mind or body, it seemed that it was unheard of there being those who could manipulate or replace the soul. While not anywhere close to a guarantee that it was impossible, it certainly seemed to be very difficult or well hidden, or both. ¡°Have I been checked since my birth?¡± asked a contemplative Adya. ¡°You have been checked more than most.¡± replied Gauri with a chuckle. ¡°You won''t remember this, but when you were a baby, you underwent something unexplained. When you were born, your soul was very strong, but soon after being born you went into a sort of a coma. Do you understand what that is?¡± At Adya¡¯s nod,Gauri continued. ¡°You had me worried sick, it took a long time for you to come out of it, and it''s why you have the weekly medical checkups. The healer said your soul only fully settled once you woke back up.¡± What Gauri left unsaid was that was also the reason she gave Adya such latitude. Having almost lost her, she wanted to indulge her youngest child, and though the demands of her daughter tended to be strange for a young child, Gauri didn''t really have it in her heart to deny her. ¡°Are you going to tell me what this is all about now?¡± Adya ignored the question from her mother yet again, and asked another question. ¡°Have you heard of any enchantments, formations or abilities that allow for the storage of items?¡± she asked. ¡°Items that can then be retrieved at a later time?¡± Gauri burst out laughing. ¡°If such an ability or item was possible, it would completely change our business.¡± she replied. ¡°The reason we need to operate caravans, and that your father and brothers spend so long travelling, is that moving goods is hard work and requires lots of people, carts and horses.¡± ¡°So I am guessing that moving long distances instantly or through a portal is not possible either.¡± replied Adya. ¡°No¡± replied a chuckling Gauri. ¡°If it were, it would change our business forever, and make the world more dangerous. Now are you going to tell me what all this is about?¡± 17 - Chapter 16 - Day 1753 17 - Chapter 16 - Day 1753 Adya was sitting in front of mother, who was expecting an answer to her last question. Adya had been diverting away from providing answers by asking a series of questions that hinted towards her secrets without actually revealing any. She knew that she needed to let her mother, and potentially her wider family, into her secrets. She was just finding it hard to take that step into opening up, a part of her still wary of her response. She took a deep breath, steeled herself and jumped in head first. ¡°The reason I asked you all those questions mother, is because I can remember my past lives.¡± said Adya with trepidation. ¡°The reason I was in that coma after being born was due to my memories being too much for me to handle and it took that long for my brain to process it.¡± Gauri was stunned by the revelation, she had always known that her daughter was different. She was far to mature for her age, far too focused, far too driven. She had always attributed the behaviour to the coma, thinking that it had changed her. Now if she was to believe her daughter, not only was the coma a result of the strangeness in the first place, but that her daughter had her memories of her past lives. She could see that her daughter was very anxious about her reaction. She decided to probe further before reacting. She didn''t want to say or do anything that could potentially cause a rift between them. ¡°Ok, that is a lot to take in.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°Tell me about what you remember. Tell me about your earliest memories.¡± Adya wanted to let her mother in, but even now was struggling with how much she should let her mother know. She decided to just answer her questions for now, and decide how much additional detail she wanted to add as the conversation progressed. ¡°So, I have memories of four lives, but they are not four separate lives, but two sets of twins that lived and grew up together.¡± replied Adya. ¡°In both sets of memories I was in universes with no system.¡± ¡°What is a universe, and what do you mean no system?¡± asked a bewildered Gauri. ¡°A universe, how to explain.¡± mused Adya. ¡°So we are on a planet that revolves around our sun. All the lights you can see in the night sky are other suns. A sun and its planets together is a solar system. A collection of solar systems is a galaxy and a collection of galaxies form a universe. That is a very simple and inaccurate explanation, but an universe has trillions of star systems. In my memories the worlds and the universes I lived in had no system.¡± Adya decided to go further and tell her mother about her interactions with the system. ¡°In fact when I was born, the system told me that my memories are from two different universes and that neither had yet been integrated into the system. It then picked this universe for me to be born into, as it was the closest one that was suitable.¡± ¡°What do you mean the system told you?¡± asked Gauri, finding it harder and harder to maintain her calm countenance. ¡°Have you been receiving messages from the system?¡± ¡°My system has been active since I was born.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I had no idea, until I overheard people talking about it, that most people don¡¯t get access to the system until 13, and not full access until 17.¡± ¡°Do you have skills, classes?¡± asked a now visibly frantic Gauri. ¡°I have a child class and some general skills that I have been working on.¡± replied Adya. While she was willing to let her mother in, she didn¡¯t want to reveal all her secrets. Her mother¡¯s reaction already told her how unusual her situation was. ¡°What skills?¡± asked Gauri. She was shocked that at the age of five Adya already had access to her system and skills. The Child class was normally unlocked at 13. Adya pondered how much of her skills to reveal. She had already decided that she would need to reveal her ability to create mana stones if she wanted help to convert them into a format that she could use. That would also necessitate her having to reveal her storage skill. ¡°I have meditation, mana manipulation and spatial storage.¡± replied Adya. She was not sure whether to reveal her ability to cultivate just yet. She was definitely not going to reveal her ability to create will power and stamina stones or her access to Sai and Mai. ¡°You..you already have access to Mana?¡± blurted out Gauri, the more she heard the more impossible it all sounded. ¡°And you have an actual skill called Meditation? What even is spatial storage?¡± ¡°Since you seem more concerned about my having access to the system and skills,¡± asked Adya, ¡°does that mean my memories of previous lives aren¡¯t as big a deal?¡± Adya wanted to understand what was driving her mothers reaction. Adya''s question left Gauri speechless; in her need to understand what Adya had already achieved, she had forgotten where this conversation had started. She took a deep breath and visibly calmed herself. Guari forced herself to ask questions in a more structured manner. She wished she had a parchment to take notes, but then it was probably better not to have notes that anyone could read. She looked at the anxious daughter, and realised that she would need to reassure her first, before she could get answers to her more pressing questions. She finally understood why Adya had asked her to make time for this conversation. Adya had accurately predicted some of Gauri¡¯s reaction.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Ok, I am sure your answers are going to take a while to get to the bottom of.¡± replied Gauri calmly. ¡°Let''s take each thread one at a time, and we can return to my other questions. If I am reading you correctly, then your concern is that I will think you are not my daughter?¡± ¡°Yes¡± answered a most anxious Adya. ¡°Put that worry from your mind,¡± replied Gauri. ¡°While remembering past lives is unheard of, reincarnation itself is not. The soul moves from life to life, you were born to me, and are my daughter. No matter what else, that will never change. That doesn¡¯t mean you should reveal the details to anyone else. It also means I have a lot of questions.¡± Adya¡¯s posture relaxed and the tension she had been holding onto bled out of her posture. ¡°Thank you mother,¡± she said, ¡°You don¡¯t know how much hearing that means to me. I am happy to answer all your questions, I just hope that the answers won''t change your view of me.¡± ¡°Nothing will change my view of you as my little girl.¡± replied Gauri, ¡°Now let¡¯s get to my questions. I have a lot of them. You have a formal meditation skill, and a mana manipulation skill already? What levels are they at? What can you do with that mana manipulation skill? What is a spatial storage skill?¡± Adya decided to turn the conversation into a show and tell. Evidence was always more convincing than simple works ever were. Adya pulled out a tier 1 mana stone and placed it on the table. She made sure to be very overt in her actions, showing her hand as empty then plucking out the stone, as if from thin air, then placing it on the table. She waited for her mother to pick up and examine the stone. ¡°Is that¡­is that a mana stone?¡± asked Gauri, ¡°Where did you get it from?¡± ¡°Well mother, you asked what spatial storage is.¡± replied Adya. ¡°It¡¯s a separate space I can access. Think of it like a room that only I can see, I can put items in and take them out. I retrieved the mana stone from there.¡± Gauri was once again left speechless. This power should not exist, she had never heard of anyone being able to store and retrieve items. If this skill could be replicated, it would have a massive impact on the world. That was wondrous enough, but where did Adya get her hands on a mana stone? Even the family only had access to a limited number of them to be used for paying healers and artificers. ¡°But where did the mana stone come from?¡± asked Gauri. ¡°Did you find it around the house?¡± Adya took a deep breath, this would definitely be a big deal based on how her mother had reacted so far. ¡°I can use my mana manipulation skill, in conjunction with my spatial storage to create mana stones.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I really wanted to keep that skill a secret, I don¡¯t want to get kidnapped to become a mana stone factory.¡± Gauri¡¯s reaction to that pronouncement was shock. It seemed her daughter was intent on destroying her worldview in a single conversation. Adya was not wrong, if anyone outside the family found out about her ability, she would end up being forced to produce mana stones for the rest of her life. It was a resource that was in demand and generally monopolised by the cultivation sects. ¡°How many can you produce?¡± asked Gauri in a hushed whisper. ¡°What level are your skills?¡± ¡°My meditation is at level 19 and my mana manipulation is at level 49.¡± answered Adya just as quietly. ¡°What do you mean your skills are at 19 and 49, how is that even possible?¡± replied a bewildered Gauri. ¡°Most people don¡¯t get their skill above 10 before they are in their 30s. How can your skill be so high?¡± Adya shrugged, ¡°I had nothing better to do. I was bored, I have been aware since I was born, so all I have done is practice non stop.¡± Gauri had to control her outburst yet again. Every answer to her questions only created a dozen more questions. She had truly underestimated her daughter and capabilities, though how she was supposed to have realised that her daughter could do things that hadn¡¯t even been conceived of in works of fiction, she had no idea. She took another calming breath. ¡°Ok, my daughter is a genius and has her system fully unlocked from birth.¡± said an exasperated Gauri, ¡°And she can create mana stones, and hide them away in a magic room. Oh yes, let''s not forget she has memories of her past lives. Have I missed any more absurd things?¡± ¡°Well¡­since you asked mother.¡± replied Adya, taking out the light formation she had created earlier. ¡°I just taught myself how to create basic formations after watching the artificer in town the other day. If you put a little mana into the design you can see for yourself.¡± Gauri picked up the parchment with trembling fingers. Formations required sturdy materials and special inks or etching tools. She had never seen a formation on parchment that was real. She shakily put a small trickle of mana into the design and watched it light up. The formation fully activated and produced more and more light. As it started to get hot, she dropped it onto a plate, and watched the formation get brighter and hotter, until the parchment caught fire and burned away to nothing. ¡°Sorry mother,¡± said Adya. ¡°It was my first attempt and my materials were lacking, so that was the best I could make. I just wanted to be able to prove what I could do, in case you didn''t believe me.¡± The things Adya was so casually revealing were so beyond Gauri¡¯s expectation and experience, that it was beyond ridiculous and outrageous. She didn''t have the words to express her shock and wonder. Neither had it really sunk in. Gauri started to try and work out the ramifications of the secrets that Adya was revealing. The secrets that really would have to be kept. Gauri wasn''t sure if she could even trust her husband and sons, forget the wider family. Even if no one was malicious, the secrets could lead to Adya being targeted for kidnapping and assassination. No one would want her to have access to such wealth and power. They would want to control her, or failing that ensure no one else could. On the other hand, if she could find a way to leverage her daughter''s skills, her family¡¯s fortunes would rise. And this wasn¡¯t even the end of the conversation, what other secrets would her daughter reveal? 18 - Chapter 17 - Day 1753 18 - Chapter 17 - Day 1753 Adya waited to see if her mother would continue with her questions, and when she seemed lost in her thoughts, withdrew parchment and ink from her spatial storage. She then proceeded to let Sai draw out the same formation again as her mother watched. As the process was automatic for her she was free to continue the conversation. ¡°So from what I was able to learn from the artificer and what I gleaned from his book that he let me look over I think I can create anywhere from 100 to 200 different formations,¡± said Adya, ¡°But that will be limited by the availability of appropriate materials. My original thought was to use a tattoo of a formation on the bandits we caught, to make them compliant and incapable of betraying us, then use them to do some work for us.¡± Guari was shocked out of her reverie by Adya¡¯s completely ridiculous antics. Not only was Adya drawing out a formation on parchment, using basic ink, but she was also able to hold a conversation as she did. She was also claiming to have access to hundreds of formations after spending a very short amount of time with an artificer. Normally artificers would guard their secrets with jealousy. So how had her daughter learned so much so fast? ¡°Just how long did you spend with the artificer and how did you convince him to teach you?¡± asked Gauri as she watched the formation grow on the parchment. ¡°I was with him for about an hour, just watching him work.¡± replied Adya, ¡°He didn¡¯t actually teach me anything himself, but he did let me flick through his book on formation design. The rest I worked out by myself.¡± That was even more absurd, to become an artificer even capable of producing simple formations required years of study. Even after that, it could take hours to create a formation and the success rate would still be abysmal. Yet, here was her daughter creating a formation without even apparently paying much attention, after spending only an hour watching another artificer and looking through a book. While Gauri was lost in thought, Adya finished the formation and handed it to her mother. This one had only taken a few minutes. After the experience gained creating the first formation it was much easier for Adya to replicate the same design. If this held true for all designs, and there was no reason why it shouldn¡¯t, then it would mean she could create formations at a rapid pace. Gauri took the formation and again activated it. She just had to see the evidence that this was indeed a formation and not just a drawing of one. The formation activated and reacted just as the first one had. As it heated, she dropped it onto the plate and watched it burn to ash. ¡°I guess I can''t ask for better proof than that.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°So you can create formations and have a book of designs. You were serious about using a formation tattoo to enforce loyalty on the bandits? I have heard of such formations, but they tend to be very expensive in both mana and materials, not to forget massively complicated. How confident are you in being able to create such a formation on skin?¡± ¡°I will need a little practice, and some better materials,¡± replied Adya. ¡°But I am confident that I will be able to create the requisite formations within a week to ten days at the outside.¡± ¡°Ok, I can see that there is a lot for me to adjust to.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°Now that I have a better understanding of your skills, and they are impressive, let''s return to my questions about what memories you have about your past lives.¡± ¡°Well the system told me that those lives were lived in other universes,¡± replied Adya. ¡°It said that one universe would take around 700 years to integrate as the process had already started, the other was just starting and would take around 10,000 years. It forced me into this universe, out of all the universes the system controls due to the high level of energy.¡± ¡°Putting aside the massive implications of what you just told me.¡± replied Gauri, ¡°That the system is growing, and controls multiple universes, do you even know what those in power would do to get such information?, leaving that aside, tell me about your lives.¡± ¡°Well, I have memories of two sets of twins that lived at the same time.¡± replied Adya. ¡°In one life I was from a world that had no magic, and used artefacts to achieve the same things. I was a scientist in one life and a warrior in the other. I was around 40 years old in both those lives. I have access to a lot of my understanding of creating artefacts and how to fight and manage armies. In that life, both of us were on a new world that we were exploring, when we were attacked by monsters. Our last memory is the entire camp being destroyed by a massively powerful attack.¡± Gauri was getting used to the level of ridiculousness that Adya was displaying, but even she had to pause at the amount of questions that such a short answer engendered. ¡°In my other lives, I was again a pair of twin sisters, who were cultivators,¡± continued Adya oblivious to her mothers introspection. ¡°We had lived for around 5,000 years and were sect elders. Our experiments in an attempt to create a portal led to an accident that killed us both.¡± ¡°What is a portal?¡± blurted out Gauri. 5,000 years! Cultivation! Gauri could hardly believe what she was hearing. ¡°Do you retain full memories of all your lives?¡± ¡°A portal is a way to open a door to a far off location. The idea is you would walk through a door but end up miles away.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I have an excellent memory, and seem to have retained a lot of my memory from previous lives. I hesitate to say it''s all my memories, as that would require me to spend the time to review my entire life and see if I notice any gaps.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°So you know how to cultivate?¡± asked Gauri in a whisper. The secrets to cultivation were some of the most zealously guarded secrets in the realm. If Adya had access, and that knowledge leaked, it would be impossible to keep her safe. Only if Adya could become strong enough, would she be able to protect herself, but the process of gaining that power would expose her secrets. The more she learned the more it scared her. If any of Adya¡¯s abilities came to light, the family would not be able to protect her. Adya pondered for a moment, she wasn''t sure if she wanted to reveal details about her ability to cultivate. She looked at her mother and saw her fear for her in her eyes. Adya knew her knowledge and skills would put her at significant risk, was it even worse than she anticipated? Adya just didn¡¯t have enough knowledge to properly ascertain the risks. ¡°What would be the implications of me having detailed knowledge on cultivation?¡± asked Adya, answering her mothers question with a question of her own. ¡°Having the knowledge itself is not the issue,¡± replied Gauri, ¡°But if that knowledge was to be revealed, the family would not be able to protect you. Even the royal family would not be able to protect you had you been born into that family.¡± ¡°Are the cultivation sects that powerful?¡± asked Adya ¡°Even the smallest of the sects could challenge the royal family when it comes to cultivation?¡± replied Gauri. ¡°How powerful are the sect leaders?¡± asked Adya. ¡°I need to understand what the combined might of the sects looks like. Do you have much information on that?¡± ¡°No one knows the details, not outside of cultivators.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°We just know that even the smallest sects could destroy the kingdom, and would destroy the kingdom, if they were not kept in check by the council of orthodox sects.¡± ¡°Does that mean there are demonic and unorthodox sects?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Who keeps them in check? Do you have any details about the power level you need to be able to call yourself a sect?¡± ¡°Honestly the most common knowledge is that there is a council, it keeps the cultivation and non cultivation worlds separate.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°At high levels, non cultivators can keep up with low level cultivators. However our understanding is that as the cultivator rises in rank, the gap from non cultivators grows and grows, to the point that by the third tier a cultivator is said to be 1000 times stronger than a non cultivator.¡± That made sense to Adya, if each rank of a cultivator went up by a factor of 10, then by the third tier the cultivators would have resource pools that were 1000 times that of a non cultivator. Add to that the range of techniques and skills, and the 1000 times stronger was probably an underestimate. Adya really needed to get information about cultivation in this world. Without it she would really struggle to quantify the level of risk. All she could do was to get stronger and take any opportunities to learn more as they presented themselves. ¡°So we just keep it a secret for now, mother.¡± replied Adya. ¡°No need to borrow trouble we don¡¯t need. No one will be expecting me to be a cultivator or be looking for any signs. Sometimes anonymity is the best defence.¡± ¡°Yes, we just need to keep it quiet.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°We will need to find a way to either explain away your cultivation or hide it before you start.¡± Adya didn¡¯t tell her mother about the fact she had already started, and that her core was shielded. She didn¡¯t want that information out there at all. No one should be able to recognise the signs of her rank up. She would be even more careful in the future. The mother and daughter spent the next few hours talking about Adya¡¯s past lives. While Gauri was surprised to learn about such strange worlds, nothing more troubling was revealed. As the detailed discussion on Adya¡¯s past lives came to a close, Gauri asked the question that had been eating away at her since the start. ¡°You have had the ability to tell me all of this for some time,¡± asked Gauri. ¡°Is there a reason you are choosing to let me in now? I can understand why you would want to keep the secrets you hold, they put you at considerable risk.¡± ¡°Well mother, there are several things I want to achieve.¡± replied Adya, ¡°also there are several risk factors that need to be addressed. Without telling you, I didn¡¯t think I could convince you to go along with my long term plans.¡± ¡°Let us discuss the risks first.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°We can look at longer term plans once we decide how to handle the risks.¡± Gauri was already prone to treating Adya as an adult, the revelations had only solidified that viewpoint for her. ¡°There are three items on the risk register.¡± replied Adya. ¡°First, the shadowed hand came after me, it wasn¡¯t just the bandits they sent, they sent an elite squad to kidnap me.¡± ¡°What happened, how did you get away?¡± asked a furious Gauri. She already had plans to teach that organisation a lesson they would not soon forget. ¡°We killed them all, and burned their bodies¡± replied Adya. ¡°We left no evidence behind. They all had loyalty formations tattooed on their bodies, so they will be missed and questions will be asked.¡± ¡°Ah, I wondered where you got the idea for that tattoo.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°They will need to be dealt with.¡± ¡°I have a better plan than just punishing them for their actions against our house.¡± replied Adya. ¡°If I can arrange a few things, we should remove their leadership or put them under our control. If we can''t take them over, they would be a good scapegoat for some of our other actions.¡± ¡°Let us go through the rest of the risks before we make plans.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°What is next on your list?¡± ¡°Well, there is that idiot noble I ran into leaving the city.¡± replied Adya. ¡°Not as much of an issue as the shadowed hand, but he could cause trouble if we don¡¯t deal with it. Lastly, I made contact with a money exchanger in the city. I have a deal with him to exchange 100 tier 1 mana stones every week for gold. However, since the shadowed hand came for me, I am not sure how far I can trust him.¡± ¡°100 mana stones a week!¡± replied Gauri, ¡°Just how many mana stones can you make?¡± In response Adya took out and dumped a small sack on the table. ¡°Well, there are 10,000 tier 1 mana stones in this sack.¡± replied Adya wryly watching her mothers expression closely. ¡°I won¡¯t even notice the fact that I just gave it away.¡± Seeing her mothers reaction, Adya felt the reveal had definitely been worth it. 19 - Chapter 18 - Day 1753 19 - Chapter 18 - Day 1753 Gauri had seen wealth before, the family was doing extremely well and had been growing the business for decades. The family was wealthier than a lot of the noble families. It was why they were treated so well in the kingdom. However, watching Adya casually throw out 10,000 tier 1 mana stones shook Gauri to the core. It wasn''t about wealth. This sack only represented 1000 Gold coins. There were plenty of families that could casually spend 1000 Gold and not notice. Granted they were few and far between, but it was definitely possible. It was the casualness of the gesture, and the throwaway comment, that she wouldn''t even notice the loss. A part of her really didn¡¯t want to know, and yet, she had to to find out. Just how many mana stones had Adya produced and stored away in the past 5 years. ¡°Just how, how many stones do you have?¡± asked Gauri in a hushed whisper. ¡°Let me ask you another question mother,¡± responded Adya, much more comfortable after her mothers reassurances ¡°What would be the combined wealth of our family if we converted everything into gold?¡± ¡°I am not sure exactly,¡± replied Gauri. ¡°I would say somewhere between 1Bn to 2Bn gold, maybe a little more depending on getting a good price for everything.¡± ¡°I am currently sitting on around 300M gold,¡± replied a smirking Adya in hushed tones. ¡°In addition, I can probably produce around 40M gold per day if I do nothing else.¡± Gauri was left sitting in stunned silence. How, just how was she supposed to move close to 3Bn mana stones. There was no way in hell that volume would go unnoticed. The only reason that the mana stones were so cheap, was that the price had been fixed a long time ago. The prices were strictly enforced. Generally mana stones were mined, and that volume would represent the production capacity of several high grade mines per year. The fixed price was the only reason mana stones had not jumped in price. Had that been the case they would easily be 100s times higher due to scarcity. The issue was, mana stones were not just a currency but a consumable resource. It could be used by mana users to refill mana reserves. It was used as a power source in formations and arrays. But mostly it was used by the cultivators who absorbed the mana stones to push their cultivation forward. Without a constant supply, large parts of the economy would grind to a halt. And her little girl could produce millions of them a day. She took out a few stones, and compared them to each other. They were all exactly the same. That would be another issue. Mined mana stones were of similar sizes, but not the exact same shape and size. There was always a small amount of variance. Anyone who got ahold of a number of her daughters mana stones, would easily realise that they were not mined, but created by a standard process. They would be the start of a lot of dangerous questions. While Gauri was lost in her thoughts, Adya attempted to create a tier 1 mana stone manually, and failed spectacularly. There seemed to be no way for her to dilute the density of her mana, at least not at this stage. So she was stuck producing tier 2 mana stones. Each one would be worth 1 Gold, but that was irrelevant. If she could not even exchange her tier 1 mana stones, what was she supposed to do with the tier 2 mana stones? Another secret that she would have to reveal to her mother. ¡°Mother, there is another little complication,¡± said Adya hesitantly, ¡°I have managed to tier up my mana, so now I can only create tier 2 mana stones. I currently have no way to produce tier 1 mana stones any more.¡± Adya created a few tier 2 mana stones and placed them in front of her mother. The tier 2 mana stones were noticeable darker than the tier 1 variants. The mana stones triggered a memory for Gauri, ¡°Did you leave a couple of mana stones in your crib when you were still a baby?¡± asked an even more incredulous Gauri. ¡°I had almost forgotten about that.¡± replied Adya. ¡°Yes, I remember you paying the healer with a mana stone, and I was trying to work out their value. Though, since there was no real response to your finding the mana stones, I didn¡¯t really learn anything.¡± ¡°So you were fully aware even at that young age?¡± asked Gauri. ¡°And you remember everything from that age too?¡± ¡°Yes mother, I have been aware since I was born.¡± replied Adya. ¡°My memory is excellent, so yes I do remember everything.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a pity that we can¡¯t convert the mana stones into something else,¡± mused Gauri, as she looked into the mana stone in her hand. ¡°The problem with mana stones is that they are difficult to store and difficult to handle. Most people much prefer gold coins, it really is a pity that we can¡¯t create mana coins instead of mana stones. But that is just a dream, no one has found a way to reshape the mana stones into anything else. The moment anyone tries to move the mana, it is released and the stone crumbles away. If the mana is not used, it is lost.¡± Gauri was not really talking to Adya, more talking out loud but it still gave Adya an idea, if she could make it work, it might change a lot of things. ¡°Mother, what would happen if I could design and create a machine that would take mana stones, and convert them to coins?¡± she asked. ¡°We could even look at adding details on the coins, much like gold coins.¡± ¡°If anyone created that, it would change mana based currency for everyone.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°Apparently artificers have been looking for ways to do that forever, don''t tell me you think you can create something no one else has ever done.¡± In response Adya held up her hand and created a mana coin manually. It had the same shape and size as a gold coin. It said tier 2 on one side and 100 mana on the other. She handed it to her astounded mother. ¡°The problem is not in creating the coins,¡± said Adya. ¡°Moreover, the issue is creating a machine that can do the same without me.¡± Stolen story; please report. ¡°If you could make the machine, not only would we be able to sell the machine to every single mana stone mine in the world, but we could also hide your stones in the newly created coins.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°Is it really possible?¡± Adya asked Sai the question. Sai took a few moments to analyse their understanding of formations and looked at their own skill. Sai: It should be possible to replicate our skill into a formation. We would have to ensure we understand each step, then convert it to the formation language. We would also need to find a way to power the device and to hide the details of the formation, so that no one else would be able to copy our work. It should, in theory, be simple, but simple does not mean easy. Adya: we were already looking at gaining a better understanding of how the system designs and manages skills and spells. So it won''t be adding anything new to our workload, just starting from a different application. Put together a detailed plan for how to proceed. ¡°In theory, it should be possible for me to create such a device mother.¡± replied Adya, ¡°But it will take me some time to ensure it works properly and practically. In the meantime, I still need to work on the loyalty tattoo first so we can put the bandits to work. I also need to convert my existing mana stones to gold so I can get materials.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that for the time being.¡± replied Gauri, ¡°I will provide you with the funds you need, I don¡¯t want any more of these mana stones out there.¡± She handed the sack of tier 1 mana stones and the tier 2 coin back to Adya. ¡°Put those away, we don¡¯t want any of them getting out, as it will lead back to us. Until we have a solution to hide the stones, they stay locked up.¡± ¡°It¡¯s so annoying mother,¡± replied Adya. ¡°having so much in the way of resources, but not being able to actually use any of it. Shall I cancel the deal to exchange 100 tier 1s a week too?¡± ¡°Let me have your contact looked into.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°We can decide after that.¡± ¡°What are we going to do about the shadowed hand and the noble brat.¡± asked Adya. ¡°Both could cause us many problems.¡± ¡°Let me worry about them for now.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°You spend time on the two projects we just talked about. And not a word of this conversation to anyone else.¡± After that they spent time just chatting, with Gauri inundating Adya with a lot of questions going into detail on both her history and skills. They stayed talking until well after dinner. It was a very tired Adya who returned back to her room that night. She crashed into bed without even changing and was soon fast asleep. The next morning, she woke late. Forming her cores, pushing the control to be able to create formations and then the long conversation with her mother had really tired her out. She had always wondered why emotional stress made someone more tired than mental stress or physical stress. Whatever the case, she felt much lighter after the conversation with her mother. Like a massive weight had been taken off her shoulders. She had not even realised how much she worried about the whole thing. She put her idle thoughts aside, she had a plan for what she needed to achieve. After preparing for the day and a luxurious breakfast, she sat down to start working on the loyalty tattoo. She did not want to create a slave brand, like the ones that had been used by the shadowed hand, but it was a good starting point. She drew that formation from memory, and then started to dissect the symbols to make sense of it. Some of the symbols made sense to her, as they were clearly described in the book that she had seen at the artificers workshop. Other symbols she had no idea about, or even a good place to start. It was like trying to learn a language without knowing the full alphabet. Her translation powers were actually useless too. While the skill allowed her to read what was written, and understand the words, the skill would not give her the missing parts of the alphabet. She spent countless hours iterating through designs, trying to fill in some of the missing gaps in her language model. Once she had achieved what she could in that regard, she started the task of incorporating her understanding of this world''s formation language into the unified and codified language she had created. By this point she had been at it for more than a week. After that came the testing, she would carefully draw out formations to test their effects. She started with the designs copied from the artificer, and then tried to replicate the exact same effect using her own language. Slowly but surely she was improving her self made model and her accuracy and success started to increase. It was another month before she could translate any of the formations between the two languages without flaws. Her language model had been systematically redesigned to work with the magical framework, yet to give her the flexibility of a true programming language. She could recreate the slave tattoo in her language, and had even tested a temporary version of the tattoo on herself. Her mother had continued to support her during this entire period, ensuring she had access to all the resources she needed. She also made sure Adya spent at least some time outside her room training, and just taking walks. She didn¡¯t want her young daughter to spend all her time hunched over a desk. Once Adya was confident that she understood the language, even though she still felt it was incomplete, she started work on her version of a loyalty tattoo. To start with she articulated the problems she was trying to solve. She needed the tattoo to enforce her orders on the recipient. If they went against the intent of her orders, then they should suffer some form of punishment. Their punishment should scale and be conditional. They should not be able to remove or block the formation from working. The formation should protect itself from external tampering. The formation should recognise external intrusion and attempts to bypass orders via magical means, such as mental compulsion, illusions or mind reading and react to break the effect. Of course, the level of effect would be dictated by the availability of mana. Once she had a crystalised problem statement, she started to write an algorithm to provide a solution. It took her another week to create an algorithm that she thought should work, and another few days to convert the algorithm into her formation language. If she didn''t have Sai helping to test scenarios and dry run through her pseudocode, it would have taken her substantially longer to reach the same stage. Once she was confident in her final design, she tested some temporary tattoos on herself. It had been almost 60 days since she first started the process and she finally felt ready to test with another person. The only one who could know what she was doing was her mother. Would her mother agree to be subjected to the tattoo, or would they need to find another less willing volunteer. She sent Phillipa to fetch her mother, so she could find out. 20 - Chapter 19 - Day 1811 20 - Chapter 19 - Day 1811 As Adya waited to hear back from her mother, she reviewed how she had spent the last two months. Most of that time had been spent on research. It reminded her of all the time locked in her lab working on her portal project. The times she had been forced out of her room due to her mothers instructions, Adya had let Sai and Mai help with the control. Ever since she had formed her cores, she had not really had the opportunity to put her new limitations to the test. Not only had the cores made her significantly more powerful, but they had also removed the artificial limiter that had been placed on her stats by the scion protocols. The problem was she didn¡¯t know the extent the stats would impact her true abilities, nor could she test them out in public without giving away too much information. Finally no one would let her, a girl barely over 5, go galavanting by herself. She needed a private place to test her abilities, and she needed to be accompanied by a team who would be able to keep her secrets no matter what. That was why the focus had been on the loyalty tattoo. If it was working as designed, then she could use the tattoo to guarantee loyalty. In her research she had designed not one, but two versions of the tattoo. The first was for the bandits or anyone else she captured in the future. It would make them incapable of betrayal or disobeying orders. That had a down side, that if the orders were badly worded, it could lead to disastrous consequences. The second version was more protection than compulsion. It would prevent the person from leaking anything considered sensitive by default. It would also protect the user from soul intrusion and mind intrusion. The temporary versions could be overcome by removing or marring the tattoos to damage their functionality, but the permanent version, that in her tests had generated a confirmation prompt message from the system, could not be revoked without consent of the both parties. She wanted to further test that functionality, once she was confident with the success of the temporary ones, with Sally, Phillipa and Dexter. They had already sworn their loyalty and fealty to her. She planned to openly explain what she was trying to achieve, and gain their cooperation for her testing. She hoped the message the system had provided had been accurate and that the permanent version of the tattoo could still be removed. That left the last thing that she wanted to accomplish, security through obscurity. Many groups used tattoos as an identifying mark, and to show where they belonged. She wanted to hide the formation design behind the house heraldry, perhaps create a version for her personal use, that would look like house markings to anyone, even when they looked at it in detail, yet would hide the formation in the background. The level of control required was beyond most humans, yet with the help of Sai, it was well within Adya¡¯s reach. A part of her lamented the fact she had to spend so long on something so basic. Her past self would have managed to complete this project in days, but when put in context it was still an impressive achievement. She had managed to merge programming and hardware design principles with the formations, array and runes knowledge of two worlds. Yes there were gaps, but every field of study left room for improvement, so that was not anything new. At least, she now had a comprehensive toolkit to further her research. She had not been paying much attention to events outside her research. The only thing that she was certain of was that her mother¡¯s agents had confirmed that the money exchanger had kept to his side of the deal. So her mother had allowed Dexter to complete the weekly exchanges so far changing 800 tier 1 mana stones for 80 gold. Both Dexter and Greg had become more comfortable with the exchange, though whether that was a good thing remained to be seen. Finally, her mother arrived in her room. ¡°Greetings mother, thank you Sally, if I need you I will call for you.¡± said Adya. ¡°What has been happening while I was busy, mother?¡± They waited for Sally to leave and close the door before speaking about potentially sensitive matters. ¡°Well, it''s good to hear that you have completed your first objective.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°As for outside, we have been monitoring the shadowed hand, but have not yet taken any action. Apparently their leadership is in turmoil over the disappearance of their most skilled team.¡± ¡°As for that fop, Lord Willaby,¡± continued her mother. ¡°He tried to get his father Baron Willaby to raise a furore over the insult to his person, but when his father realised the person he was complaining against was not just a 5 year old girl, but a member of house Gurg, he ended up punishing the boy instead. The idiot boy will not be able to get his family involved, but expect personal enmity with him. He will try to provoke you, to get an excuse to either challenge you to a duel, or to find a reason he can try to push for some form of sanction.¡± ¡°Understood mother,¡± replied Adya, ¡°Sometimes there is no separation between victory and defeat. How have my prisoners been behaving in my absence?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°The bandits have been extremely well behaved.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°Though they have been petitioning me to try to find out when they will know what their punishment is. They are understandably worried about being separated from their family. As you wanted them to start with working on the road, I have had them spend some time training, so if the tattoo works, we can put them to work very quickly.¡± ¡°Excellent mother,¡± replied Adya. ¡°That just leaves us to start the testing.¡± With that they both started work on testing the tattoo. Adya was using a water soluble paint to test out the solutions, with each iteration taking around an hour to draw perfectly. After the tattoo was in place, they ran through what tests they could before calling in Sally to continue testing. They were effectively using Sally as an outside agent, trying to get information out of Gauri. Adya would set strange rules on what was and was not allowed. Sally would then ask questions given to her by Adya, to see if Gauri was capable of answering them. After that, they moved forward with testing the effect of the ¡°permanent¡± version of the tattoo. Even though it was still drawn with water soluble ink, the system prompt still came up for Gauri. You are being marked by a loyalty protection formation by Adya Garg. As this is a soul mark, acceptance is required to proceed. The effects of acceptance are as follows. Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Gauri Gurg and Adya Gurg. Gauri Gurg may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Gauri Gurg will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru). Accept soul mark: Yes / No Gauri accepted the prompt and the mark was added to Gauri¡¯s status. Soul Mark - Adya Gurg Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Gauri Gurg and Adya Gurg. Gauri Gurg may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Gauri Gurg will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru). Request removal: Yes / No The system could not be fooled, so they were confident now that the mark was working. Once they were satisfied with the testing, Adya had Sally call Dexter, Philipa and Parth. While they waited for their retainers, Adya removed the tattoo from Gauri to see how the system would react. Removing the physical tattoo had no effect. Gauri¡¯s status continued to show the soul mark on her status as a permanent condition. ¡°If we can change this to work for the core family,¡± said Gauri, ¡°then it would be a brilliant way to protect all our retainers. We have to see how the identification feature works. There are so many possibilities with this.¡± Adya was just considering the same. If she could create a soul mark, could she create and grant a passive skill? Could she remotely update the skill using the system as a medium? This opened up so many possibilities that she was not ready to start discussing just yet. ¡°That is not as straightforward as you want mother.¡± replied Adya. ¡°It would still leave a lot of routes open to abuse. Who would be considered as part of the family? What would happen in the event of conflicting orders? What would happen if someone betrays the family? With what we have currently we can have a hierarchy relationship with only small tweaks. For example I can change it so you can place a mark on Parth, he can then place one on his commanders, they can place one on their officers and so on. Still we won''t know what would happen if one of the links in the chain is killed. I will need to do a lot more research, and some of it will require us to make distasteful decisions. I think this version should be limited to direct retainers only. Anyway let us try to remove the soul mark and see what happens.¡± Gauri had not even started to consider the issues that Adya had raised. How had she ever expected it to be so simple? Gauri brought up the prompt and requested removal of the soul mark. As soon as she did, Adya received a notification. Gauri Gurg is requesting the removal of her soul mark. Remove: Yes / No Adya responded in the affirmative and the notification disappeared. ¡°Is it gone from your status mother?¡± she asked Gauri. ¡°Yes, it is gone.¡± replied Gauri, ¡°I have never heard of anything like this before, where the system itself can be used like this.¡± Adya was wondering if there was a range limit, and whether this feature could be converted into a communication tool. There was also the question of if a single person could carry multiple soul marks with the same or with different rules. The scientist part of her was excited to discover all the limitations and possibilities this offered. She had so many ideas for the things she could implement that would give her house a massive advantage. While waiting for their retainers, Adya reviewed the message Gauri had seen, that she had read out for Adya, with her own status screen. It looked like the level of protection that was offered was the rarity average of her classes. Gauri had not questioned the protection level, but Adya still wanted to test that with her mother and Parth. She also wanted to test if both Gauri and Adya could provide marks to Parth at the same time, and the impact of any conflicting orders. Also Adya had only been testing the loyalty protection formation with her mother, the more benign version of the two she had developed. She would also need to test the loyalty enforcement formation that was designed for the bandits. She would have to force the bandit leader to conduct the testing with her, and to show her his full system screen, if that was possible. She hadn''t Gauri, as she didn¡¯t want to have to show her system screen. She still had too many secrets, and some of those could be extremely dangerous to her family. Still the first test was a smashing success, and was a good starting point for further exploration. 21 - Chapter 20 - Day 1811 21 - Chapter 20 - Day 1811 Not long after, Sally came back leading Parth, Dexter and Philippa. They were surprised to be led into Adya¡¯s suite, and even more surprised to find Gauri there as well. If Gauri wanted to meet Adya, normally Adya would go to Gauri. ¡°Thank you all for coming.¡± said Gauri. ¡°You are the most trusted retainers of our house, and more importantly you are the closest to Adya. I am sure you have all seen and heard things, and realised that Adya is a special child. If you are going to be around her, then you will need additional protection, both for yourselves and for Adya¡¯s sake.¡± ¡°We know Adya is special, driven and mature for her age.¡± replied Parth. ¡°But how does that put her in danger?¡± ¡°Well, here is the crux of the issue,¡± replied Gauri. ¡°To tell you more would reveal closely held house secrets. However Adya insists on what she calls informed consent. She also holds all four of you in high regard, so I will leave the explanations up to her.¡± ¡°Thanks mother,¡± replied Adya. ¡°I am not going to force our loyal retainers into anything without full knowledge.¡± she turned to her retainers and continued. ¡°I hope what I am about to reveal will not leave this room, whether you agree to my request or not.¡± All four responded with acceptance of her assertion. They were already oathbound retainers, three bound to Adya personally. ¡°Well, let¡¯s start with something simple,¡± said Adya. ¡°I can create formations. I have managed to create a loyalty protection formation. I have tested it extensively with my mother. Not only is the formation effective, but it can also be removed with consent. I want you to watch me apply it to my mother. The idea is to show you what it does, and for you all, to hopefully consent to my placing the formation on each of you.¡± ¡°You can do what!¡± Parth shouted. ¡°How is that even possible for a five year old child?¡± The other three looked just as incredulous, especially Philipa and Dexter who had watched her learn about formations just a few months back. ¡°I did tell you she was special,¡± smirked Gauri. ¡°If you agree to the formation, then I can tell you more.¡± replied Adya. ¡°It¡¯s not a matter of trust. To do otherwise, would be to put you under a significant amount of risk. I would not be comfortable with that. Why don''t you all take a seat?¡± They all looked at each other, all of them with similar expressions on their faces. None of them could understand how Adya was capable of creating formations, especially something as complicated as the one they were describing. Still, they took a seat. Adya sat at the desk with her mother next to her. Gauri placed her hand on the table. Adya started to draw out the formation under the control of Sai. She described what she was doing as she proceeded. ¡°I am using a water soluble paint to create the formation,¡± said Adya. ¡°That allows us to remove the physical mark once the formation has been completed.¡± Philipa had never heard anything as incredulous as that, and she said so. ¡°What are you talking about,¡± she exclaimed. ¡°Everyone knows that if the formation is broken, then it fails.¡± Parth and Dexter echoed her sentiment. ¡°It¡¯s how we fight formations, if they carry on working after they are broken, then there would be no way to breach a formation,¡± said Parth. ¡°It¡¯s how we have always been taught to fight.¡± exclaimed Dexter. ¡°You will see soon enough.¡± replied Adya tartily. ¡°I take it you won¡¯t object to a five year old drawing a picture on our hand with a water soluble paint right? Since you claim it¡¯s not possible to create a formation like that, you should have no reason not to let me play?¡± The fact that she could carry on drawing while she carried on talking to them in such a tone made them worry. But what could they even say? Either she was right and she was creating a formation, while in the middle of a conversation and at a speed that was unheard of, or she was a formations master, that was creating an unheard of formation. The fact Gauri was participating did not help push the option either way. It could be a serious endeavour, or a mother indulging her child. Now that Adya had some practice, it only took her around 20 minutes to complete the tattoo. As she did Gauri received the same notification. You are being marked by a loyalty protection formation by Adya Garg. As this is a soul mark, acceptance is required to proceed. The effects of acceptance are as follows. Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Gauri Gurg and Adya Gurg. Gauri Gurg may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Gauri Gurg will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru). Accept soul mark: Yes / No ¡°So,¡± said Gauri, showing off the formation. ¡°As Adya finished the formation I received a message from the system.¡± She then proceeded to read the entire message. As she waited for the questions, Gauri accepted the prompt. Then she read out the description from her status page. Soul Mark - Adya Gurg Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Gauri Gurg and Adya Gurg. Gauri Gurg may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Gauri Gurg will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru).This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Request removal: Yes / No ¡°I am sure you all have questions?¡± said Gauri. ¡°Or do you think mother is making it up?¡± asked Adya. The four looked amongst themselves, then silently elected Parth to ask their questions. ¡°Just how is this possible?¡± asked Parth. ¡°How can she create a formation that interacts with the system?¡± As he was asking the questions, Adya was wiping away the formation on Gauri¡¯s hand. ¡°Is it true that the formation is still there,¡± asked an even more incredulous Parth. ¡°Even after it has been wiped away?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you volunteer, Parth?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Mother has already told you that it can be removed, and we have tested that too. This is the second time I have placed the mark on my mother. We actually wanted you to be the first, as we wanted to see if it was possible for you to carry a mark from both of us. If you are willing, that is. We won¡¯t pressure you.¡± Parth looked worried, and sat in thought. While he was hesitant, Sally spoke for the first time. ¡°I trust you miss Adya.¡± said Sally, ¡°You have always been nice and kind to me. I am happy to volunteer.¡± ¡°Thank you for your trust Sally.¡± replied Adya, ¡°Please come and join me here.¡± Sally switched places with Gauri and Adya started drawing out the formation. With additional practice and Sai learning the intricacies of this particular design, Adya was getting more confident, the confidence translating into speed of execution. It took her around 12 minutes to complete the formation design on Sally¡¯s hand. ¡°Sally, if you are happy to, then please read out the message you have received from the system.¡± requested Adya. Sally opened up her message and began to read it out to the room. You are being marked by a loyalty protection formation by Adya Garg. As this is a soul mark, acceptance is required to proceed. The effects of acceptance are as follows. Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Sally retainer to house Gurg and Adya Gurg. Sally may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Sally will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru). Accept soul mark: Yes / No Once she finished reading out the message, the other three were looking at Adya with shock and awe. ¡°If you are happy to proceed, then accept the prompt,¡± said Adya. ¡°If you are not sure, then you can reject it.¡± ¡°I am happy to accept it.¡± replied Sally then accepted the prompt. ¡°Do you want me to read out what it says?¡± Adya looked at the three who had not yet received a mark, and at a nod from Parth, motioned to Sally to continue. Sally proceeded to read out the description in full. Soul Mark - Adya Gurg Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Sally retainer to house Gurg and Adya Gurg. Sally may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Sally will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru). Request removal: Yes / No ¡°Why don¡¯t you focus on the identification part.¡± said Adya, now curious. ¡°You and mother are both soul mark holders. I want to see how it feels for you to identify each other.¡± Sally and Gauri both looked at each other and then gasped in surprise. ¡°What happened?¡± asked Adya. The other three looked on in confusion as well, so it was clear that whatever it was only affected Sally and Gauri. ¡°I saw writing appear above Sally¡¯s head for a moment¡± said Gauri, ¡°Then it was gone. It was a system message. Did you see the same Sally?¡± ¡°What did it say?¡± asked Parth, now very curious. ¡°The message above Sally said ¡®Soul Marked - Adya Gurg¡¯.¡± replied Gauri Sally was nodding her head as Gauri spoke. ¡°It said ¡®Soul Marked - Adya Gurg¡¯ above my lady,¡± said Sally. It looked like it provided a basic identification to the holders of the same mark. Interestingly, with each result more options were presenting themselves to Adya¡¯s every curious mind. ¡°So, now that Sally has confirmed what mother said, are the three of you willing to proceed with the mark?¡± asked Adya as she wiped off the mark from Sally¡¯s hand. Phillipa was the next to volunteer herself. She took Sally¡¯s place next to Adya, and in 11 minutes had gone through the same process. They completed the same tests as with Sally, and she reported the same results. ¡°May I try and remove the mark Miss?¡± asked Philipa hesitantly. ¡°Of course.¡± replied Adya and then they proceeded to go through the process to remove the mark. Phillipa confirmed to the room that it had been successfully removed and Sally and Gauri no longer saw the system message above her head. ¡°I think that should prove our tests successful,¡± said Adya. ¡°Shall I place the mark again?¡± At a nod from Phillipa, Adya noticed something different. Philipa still had the formation drawn on her hand. It only took a touch of mana to the formation for Philipa to receive the notification once again. It seemed that the drawn formation was the inciting factor, and while it remained it was simple to re-initiate the process. It also meant that the existence of the tattoo actually didn¡¯t mean anything. More data points for Adya was always better. After Phillpa was done, Dexter stepped up. Adya only took 10 minutes to complete the formation and he accepted and then proceeded to carry out the same tests with the same results. ¡°Can we test the range limitation miss?¡± asked Dexter. ¡°Sure.¡± replied Adya. Dexter took off at a jog for the far side of the estate. About 20 minutes later, Adya received the request to remove the soul mark, and accepted the request. Another 20 minutes later a huffing Dexter returned back to the suite. ¡°I went as far as I could, and ran in a straight line towards the farms,¡± said Dexter. ¡°Almost made it halfway to the woods, and it still worked.¡± Adya looked at the tattoo, and noticed a few lines had been marred by sweat. She tried to insert mana, but it failed to do anything. That was good to know. She took her time to clean off the marred formation, and redrew it to initiate the mark again. Once she was done, she looked towards Parth. ¡°You are the last one left.¡± she asked. ¡°What do you think? Want to try it out?¡± 22 - Chapter 21 - Day 1811 22 - Chapter 21 - Day 1811 Parth had been watching Adya work for the past 2 hours or so. Her movements were precise and controlled. He watched as the other three went through the process, and announced identical results. He watched Philip and Dexter try different things and how Adya seemed to have no issue with any of it. How she asked if they wanted to progress, rather than command. Everything seemed to work exactly as Adya had said at the beginning. He had seen enough evidence by now to confirm that they were telling the truth about all of it. What had him hesitating was the fact he couldn''t explain the how. The what was in front of him, the why had been explained, with further explanations promised. The how, caused him to be hung up about the whole process. A five year old girl, who should not have had access to any knowledge about formations, should not be able to create something that he had not even heard about. If this was possible and it was as easy as Adya was showing it to be, then the army would have used it all the time. It would stop infiltration and betrayal. It would solve so many problems, yet he had never heard of anything like it. It was system backed for god¡¯s sake. How was that even possible! Now they were waiting for his answer. No one was pressuring him, they just sat patiently waiting for his response. He saw no judgement on either Adya or Gauri¡¯s face. What did he have to lose? It could apparently be easily removed. He took a deep breath, and then nodded his accent. Adya gestured for him to come and sit next to him, and he complied, presenting his arm. ¡°So we would like to conduct an additional test with you,¡± said Adya, ¡°If you are happy for me to?¡± ¡°What would you like to test?¡± asked Parth. ¡°I want to see if you can have two soul marks at the same time, and how the system deals with it.¡± replied Adya. ¡°As you are my mother''s retainer and my trainer, if possible I would like you to carry both marks. It is, as always, your choice.¡± Parth agreed to proceed. ¡°Since we are doing this, I will start with the one between you and mother,¡± said Adya. She started to draw the first formation on his arm. ¡°I am leaving space to draw both formations at the same time, to make it faster to run the experiments.¡± Adya had already worked out how to replace the person holding the soul mark in the formation. She used her own link with her mother to identify her as the mark holder. This would allow her to test multiple possibilities. Once the design was complete, Parth was offered the soul mark. Yet there were several differences. He read out the prompt. You are being marked by a loyalty protection formation by Gauri Gurg. As this is a soul mark, acceptance is required to proceed. The effects of acceptance are as follows. Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Parth retainer to house Gurg and Gauri Gurg. Parth may not breach the confidence of Gauri Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Parth will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 4 - Master). Accept soul mark: Yes / No The mark offer had come from her mother, yet the protection was a lot lower at the only rank 4. Adya was very sure that it was based on the rarity of the class of the person offering the soul mark. They asked Parth to accept. That¡¯s where the first change occurred. Instead of the prompt disappearing, a new prompt appeared for Parth. He read it out. Gauri Gurg is the subject of a soul mark from Adya Gurg. Please select one of the following options to proceed. 1, Reject the soul mark 2, Accept the soul mark as stated 3, Accept the soul mark as a tiered subordinate of Adya Gurg. The terms will change as follows. The effects of acceptance are as follows. Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Parth retainer to house Gurg and Gauri Gurg/Adya Gurg. Parth may not breach the confidence of Gauri Gurg or Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Parth will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru). ¡°Interesting,¡± mused Adya, ¡°That opens up a lot of possibilities. Please accept option 2 to start with Parth.¡± Parth accepted option 2 and received the appropriate status update. Adya had him remove the soul mark, then go through the process again and accept option 3. Parth followed the instructions. This time when he tried to remove the soul mark, both Gauri and Adya received a pop up. They spent a few minutes testing to learn it really was a tiered mark. If Adya accepted the request to remove the mark, it would be removed automatically. If Gauri accepted the request, then it would wait for Adya to approve the request too, but the message would update to show that Gauri had already accepted the request. There seemed to be no option to allow Gauri to approve the removal of the soul mark without approval in the tiered option.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. As they contained testing, they learned that the identify feature worked in the tiered feature. It only worked for Dexter, Phillipa and Sally when Parth had picked the tiered option. It provided additional information. It showed ¡®Soul Marked - Gauri Gurg | Adya Gurg¡¯. Clearly showing the hierarchy. That opened up so many options. Adya asked Parth if he was happy to carry on testing. The next test they wanted was to try with 2 separate soul marks. Adya drew the second formation on Parth¡¯s arm. He removed his existing soul marks and they started from scratch. When he accepted Adya¡¯s soul mark, the process was straightforward and didn¡¯t offer any other options. Then when tried to accept Gauri¡¯s mark after he already had Adya¡¯s mark he received another set of options. Gauri Gurg is the subject of a soul mark from Adya Gurg. Please select one of the following options to proceed. 1, Reject the soul mark 2, Accept the soul mark as a tiered subordinate of Adya Gurg. The terms will change as follows. The effects of acceptance are as follows. Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Parth retainer to house Gurg and Gauri Gurg/Adya Gurg. Parth may not breach the confidence of Gauri Gurg or Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Parth will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru). 3, Accept the soul mark as an equal of Adya Gurg. The terms will change as follows. The effects of acceptance are as follows. Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Parth retainer to house Gurg and Gauri Gurg/Adya Gurg. Parth may not breach the confidence of Gauri Gurg or Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Parth will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru). Rejecting the soul mark left Parth with Adya¡¯s soul mark unchanged. Accepting option 2 led to the same situation as when Parth had accepted Gauri¡¯s mark in tiered mode. Testing showed it was exactly the same. The third option, while worded the same, operated very differently. In the merged state, if Parth asked for it to be removed, whoever accepted the request, their mark would be removed, and the description would revert back to that of the single mark. So if Gauri accepted the removal, then Parth would be left with Adya¡¯s single soul mark. If Adya accepted the removal, then Parth would be left with Gauri¡¯s single soul mark, with the reduced level protection. The tiered option was not offered. As far as Adya could tell, option 3 was effectively the same as having two separate marks. The final set of tests they tried was for Gauri to remove Adya¡¯s soul mark from her, then try the options with Parth. When they tried that choice, no reference was made to any tiered options. It let either have a single mark, on adding the other, it offered the equal option or reject option. One thing was clear, there was no way to hold divided loyalties. A person could not hold separate soul marks. They would always merge if you have more than one, either on an equal basis, or a tiered basis. That gave Adya a lot more assurance. She wondered if she could tweak the formation to only provide the tiered option. Something else she would have to look at. Parth was left astounded by what he was learning. He wanted to implement the tiered version across all the retainers as a way of enforcing loyalty, but Adya stopped him. ¡°We can¡¯t do it.¡± said Adya, ¡°Apart from making our people feel like we don¡¯t trust them, we would have to reveal the fact we can do this. What would you do if someone says no, then walks out with that knowledge. No, it would be far too dangerous. The only reason I asked you four to do this, was because it would offer you protection. I can see you have realised how useful this ability is. What would kingdoms do to get their hands on this power?¡± ¡°This is why we told you knowing Adya¡¯s secrets are a danger to you,¡± said Gauri. ¡°With her soul mark, you get an insanely high level of protection.¡± They spent some more time in discussion and Parth decided to go with both soul marks in the equal configuration for now. Gauri also asked to have her soul mark restored, it would offer her protection too. It took another half an hour before everything was completed to everyone¡¯s satisfaction. ¡°So now can you tell us why you started to look into this in the first place.¡± asked Parth. ¡°I am guessing this is what you have been working on for the past two months?¡± ¡°Yes, I started to look into this after the attack by the bandits in the woods.¡± replied Adya. ¡°What we didn¡¯t tell you was that they got to see some of my abilities, and so we couldn''t just release them, nor did I want to kill them, if we have options. I did promise they could live if they surrendered.¡± ¡°So what is the plan?¡± asked Parth. ¡°Well there was one thing we left out of the report of the attack.¡± replied Adya. ¡°The bandits were there as a distraction.¡± ¡°You are telling me that more than 2 dozen armed men were just a distraction!¡± said an exasperated Parth. ¡°Yes, the shadowed hand sent their elite team to capture me.¡± replied Adya calmly. ¡°We killed them all, but they had a formation to enforce compliance tattooed on their bodies. That was where I got the idea from. I want to give the bandits the enforced version of the soul mark, the one that can¡¯t be removed.¡± ¡°The missing shadowed hand team that everyone has been talking about.¡± said Parth. ¡°You are telling me that you killed them all with no injuries and no evidence left behind and you took your time to examine them too, before disposing of them?¡± ¡°What else were we supposed to do,¡± asked Adya. ¡°Let them kidnap me? So what do you think of my plan?¡± ¡°Why were the shadowed hand after you in the first place?¡± asked Parth, ignoring her question. ¡°Well, that might have been because of the several hundred mana stones that I was spending in the city.¡± answered Adya cheekily. 23 - Chapter 22 - Day 1811 23 - Chapter 22 - Day 1811 Parth was left speechless by Adya¡¯s reply. It took him almost a minute to get control of himself. ¡°Just how many mana stones did you spend?¡± he asked belatedly. ¡°Around 300 or so.¡± replied Adya nonchalantly. ¡°Why is that a lot?¡± ¡°300!¡± exclaimed Parth, looking at Gauri ¡°Where did she get them? Letting a child wander about with hundreds of mana stones, what were you thinking my lady.¡± Adya and Gauri shared a glance, it was enough to agree that revealing that would be a step too far, even with the soul mark in place. ¡°Suffice it to say, it won¡¯t be happening again.¡± replied Gauri looking chastised, ¡°That still leaves the shadowed hand as an issue we need to address. I think Adya has an idea about that.¡± Parth moved his stern gaze from the mother to the daughter. As talented as Adya seemed to be, he was at a loss to explain why Gauri was deferring to Adya in almost every situation. ¡°Well,¡± said Adya, ¡°If the other version of my tattoo, or should we call it soul mark, works. Then I propose we capture the leaders of the shadowed hand, mark them, and then have them identify the rest of the leadership, Then rinse and repeat until we have the whole leadership under our control. I am sure I can come up with uses for them. Why waste resources?¡± ¡°How would we know if they have accepted the soul mark?¡± asked Parth. ¡°It does not show up in your status screen does it?¡± ¡°No, but we can use the identification feature.¡± replied Adya, then on a whim trying it for herself. ¡°It seems to work for me too, just shows me the type of soul mark instead of my name. We can test it with the bandits. If it works the way I think it will, then we will not even need to keep them locked up. We can just treat them as any other employees. In fact, that would be a better idea, we don¡¯t want rumours to spread.¡± ¡°Ok, in that case we don¡¯t want them coming here.¡± replied Parth. ¡°I will arrange for them to be taken to the interrogation room one by one. Can you sneak your ink in there without anyone noticing? We need to minimise the risk of exposure.¡± ¡°I am sure I can manage.¡± smirked Adya. ¡°Let¡¯s get started. I want to get this done today.¡± Parth went off to make the arrangements, taking Dexter to assist him. ¡°Phillipa, go with mother and make a list of critical retainers that would benefit from being soul marked by my mother.¡± said Adya. ¡°Sally, if you could get the place cleaned up please.¡± Once everyone had left Adya sat down to meditate and think through the myriad implications of her series of experiments. First the successes, the formations worked, and her understanding was sufficient for the system to take notice. She was still guessing at a few of the parameters in her design, but mostly she was comfortable with her understanding so far. The soul mark did not require power, as it was not a passive skill. She would have to find an opportunity to test the impact of someone trying mind or soul intrusion, not that it would be easy to setup. She had not heard of anyone with those skills, yet as the system mentioned it explicitly, then those skills must not only exist, but must be being utilised. If she could move from the soul mark, to creating a passive skill that she could grant, that would give her so much flexibility. There was also the fact that soul marks could be merged and in different configurations. She would have to work out how to do that in the formation design itself, giving her even more options. She really needed to spend time understanding the difference between a skill and spell, though she had her theories. The difference between passive and active skills was straight forward. Passive skills were running in the background, and active skills required direction to run. If her custom skills were anything to go by, and she felt they represented at least a basic understanding, then the passive skills were a set of instructions that would run based on the algorithm it was given. It would only deviate as much as the programming allowed. Case in point, her custom skills had been designed to stop running if she started to use her resource regeneration, so the effect was negligible. But the skills had not been designed to run on the tiered up energies and had subsequently required her to update the programming to function. That led her down another darker use. Could she provide a backdoor that could use up all of someone¡¯s resource pools and even lock up their regeneration, effectively crippling their spell and skill use? Did such a system exist already? She would have to ask Parth how they dealt with imprisoning mages. The main issue she foresaw was the requirement to get agreement before those formations took effect. Actually, was that statement actually true? She thought through the design of her loyalty protection formation, the only one she had actually tested. Her intent had been for it to be a voluntary formation. Had her intent impacted the design? Had the system read her intent and converted it to the appropriate functionality.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. She would need to test with the loyalty enforcement formation. That one, she had intended to force upon the bandits. If the formation was activated without consent, then that would provide further avenues of research. If it was true though, she would have to work out the mechanism by which her intent was added to the formation. When normal artificers made formations, they didn¡¯t seem to need to imbue intent to get the formation to function. Or maybe they did and did not even realise what they were doing. So many questions, so few answers. A part of her had the wild idea that she could push the limits of a passive skill, and create a custom skill that was in actuality a suite of applications. And with appropriate inputs, they could trigger specific actions. Even if the skills allowed no input, the number of things that Adya could think of would change the technology level of the world. That was all in the far future and she would have to work hard to make headway towards her goals. As she was musing about the things she might be able to achieve, Dexter returned to tell her that they were ready for her to begin. As she was just leaving her room, Phillipa also returned. Gauri had agreed on a list of direct retainers, who would be soul marked by Gauri. Of course they would have to remove Adya¡¯s soul mark on Gauri to stop the option from presenting itself to Gauri¡¯s retainers. It was bad enough that they would get to learn about Adya¡¯s skills. Dynamic system interactions were considered an extremely rare event, as shown by her own retainers¡¯ reactions when it happened. That was definitely a secret they would need to keep close to the vest. Adya decided to get her mothers retainers completed first, as they were fewer and it would go faster. Adya, followed by Philipa and Dexter, headed for Gauri¡¯s office. ¡°Mother, please remove my soul mark,¡± said Gauri as she entered. ¡±We don;t want to reveal that ability just yet. I need more time to experiment. If you want, I should be able to adapt the mark to provide the equal version of our joint mark directly as that would only require changing the mark holder parameter.¡± ¡°You can do that? Only changing one parameter she says! Let me think about it.,¡± replied Gauri, proceeding to do just that.¡±Phillipa, can you and Dexter invite the people on the list I approved to meet me here.¡± Dexter and Phillipa went off to collect the 5 people that Gauri had identified to be high risk enough to bring in on the secret. The list consisted of her hand maid, her secretary, the family¡¯s head of finance, the family''s head of logistics and the family''s head of intelligence. They all had direct access to the family and the family¡¯s closely guarded secrets. ¡°Do you want to go through them one by one, or in a group?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Let us get my hand maid and secretary done first.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°Then we can do the other three. They will also be easier to convince.¡± ¡°Which version are we giving them?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Decided yet?¡± ¡°My personal retainers should have the merged mark.¡± replied Gauri thoughtfully, ¡°That would allow them to help me with some of your secrets. I can decide on the other three afterwards.¡± As they finished speaking Phillipa returned with the two women. ¡°Dexter is retrieving the other three on the list, my lady.¡± said Phillipa. ¡°Thanks Phillipa, please wait outside and ask them to wait for me to finish in here before letting them in .¡± said Gauri, then turning to the other two she continued, ¡°please take a seat.¡± ¡°So, we need your consent to give you both formations to protect you.¡± started Gauri once Phillipa had left. ¡°We are being targeted by the shadowed hand, and we are just taking precautions. The formation will give you both protection against attempted soul or mind intrusion. Adya is here because she will be the one creating the formation. Her retainers have already been through the process. I hope you both trust me enough to consent.¡± Gauri¡¯s retainers had been with her for a long time, and both understood that there was a lot that was left unsaid. Yet they did trust her, she had been a good employer over the years, and if she felt this was a necessary step, then they were minded to accept her recommendation. THe only thing they found strange, was the fact it would be miss Adya who would be creating the formation. They both agreed and were directed to sit by the desk with their arm laying palm up. Adya had already mentally adjusted the design, and was ready to go. She wondered if she could do both formations simultaneously, using both hands. She covertly removed a second quill, and asked them both to sit to either side. She then asked Sai to start creating both formations simultaneously. Sai had no problem controlling both hands, more so as they were both actually forming the same motions. While Adya focussed and showed off another ridiculous talent, the other three were left speechless at the level of skill they were witnessing. The only thought running through Adya¡¯s mind was can I do the same with my feet? It wasn¡¯t long till she was done, a little over 10 minutes, as doing 2 simultaneously had slowed her down marginally. ¡°You will both receive a system prompt, please read it.¡± said Gauri. ¡°If you are happy, then please proceed to accept the mark.¡± They both nodded and accepted the combined mark. Adya was happy with another point of data that furthered her understanding. ¡°I am now going to ask the heads of logistics, finance and intelligence to join us.¡± said Gauri. ¡°I am going to ask them to do the same. If you could both stay to allow us to show you as an example.¡± ¡°And don¡¯t worry about the ink.¡± said Adya. ¡°Once we are done with them, we can wipe them that way. The formation will not need the ink to stay active.¡± The two looked more and more nonplussed the more they heard. Just how had little miss Adya become so skilled in formations? ¡°Phillpa,¡± called our Gauri. ¡°Can you ask everyone to come in now. We are ready for them.¡± Upon hearing Gauri calling out, Phillipa opened the door and led in the Heads of Finance, Intelligence and logistics. Dexter followed behind. It was a good thing that Gauri¡¯s office was large enough to accommodate everyone, otherwise nine people in the room would have been too much. 24 - Chapter 23 - Day 1811 24 - Chapter 23 - Day 1811 Gauri asked everyone to take a seat, then proceeded with a very similar speech as she had with her personal retainers, the only difference being she increased the emphasis on the threat posed by the shadowed hand. The head of intelligence, a shrewd middle aged man was the first to consent. Adya could almost see the wheels turning, no doubt planning how he could potentially leverage this new capability that had fallen into his lap. Adya smiled to herself while showing no sign of it on her face. She was confident she could handle him, especially once the soul mark was in place. The head of finance was a skinny man with pale features. He seemed a little hesitant, but was convinced by the protection that was promised. The evidence of four others who had gone through the process already, along with the fact the request came from the head of house was enough to get him to go along. With the two convinced, Adya asked them to sit on either side of the desk with their arms positioned for easy reach. Again, the three who had not seen Adya work were surprised that it was the little miss who was apparently going to be creating complex formations. The head of finance was very particular about where he wanted the tattoo placed. Rather than try and convince him that it was not required, Adya just agreed to his request. She set about creating the formations on both simultaneously again. Going with the hybrid variant as her mother had not asked her to go with the single one. Everyone, even those who had already watched Adya do this several times now, were left bedazzled by her skill and speed. With practice her speed was still improving, so it was not a surprise to her when she finished both in under 9 minutes. She sat back, as she watched her mother take them through the acceptance procedure and talk them through the benefits. It was the same explanation she herself had given, and her mother had repeated multiple times. Adya zoned out of the conversation and instead spent the time reviewing improvements. It took around half an hour for them to finish the discussions, a lot of that time being monopolised by the head of intelligence asking detailed questions, no doubt in the hope of levering this ability further. While these discussions were going on, the head of logistics, a rotund man seemed to be happy sitting back and just listening to everything. Adya, who still had a lot to get done today, spoke out, directly asking him if he was ready to proceed. The expression on his face when Adya asked him, clearly indicated that he wanted to refuse. The expression lasted only for a moment, and smoothed out. Given the conversation he had just overheard, and the reaction of his colleagues, he had been backed into a corner. He reluctantly agreed to Adya placing the formation on him. He came forward and positioned his hand and Adya started to work. It didn¡¯t take her long to complete the formation. She had kept her eyes on the man the entire time, and he was beginning to sweat. Dexter and the head of intelligence had noticed something was wrong and were also keeping an eye on him whilst the others carried on their discussions. As the formation completed, Adya received a strange prompt. From Gauri¡¯s reaction she had received something similar. From the man¡¯s reaction, he had not even received the prompt to accept the soul mark. The person you are trying to soul mark (loyalty protection formation) is bound by an existing loyalty formation. Options 1, Cancel your soul mark. 2, Break the existing formation while allowing failsafes to take effect. 3, Break the existing formation and suppress all failsafes. Adya looked at Dexter. ¡°Hold him,¡± she commanded. Gauri was still looking at her own notification. Adya, ever curious, asked her mother to read out her prompt. Gauri proceeded to do so. The person you are trying to soul mark is bound by another loyalty formation. Soul mark attempt not successful. In the meantime, Dexter had restrained the man. Interesting, thought Adya, so those with formations can¡¯t even receive a prompt, and require someone with higher rarity classes to break the formation. The one who placed it must be at least at mothers level, if not higher. More things for her to test. The head of intelligence was demanding answers, but Adya knew that to be a futile pursuit. ¡°Stop,¡± said Adya in a commanding tone. ¡°It¡¯s pointless asking him. The existing formation will not let him reveal anything. Dexter, strip him and search for the formation. I need to see what I am working against.¡± Adya lied to the room, so as not to reveal her ability to break formation sight unseen. That was a powerful ability she could leverage. She would want her mother¡¯s input before revealing that ability to anyone. Dexter proceeded to roughly remove the man¡¯s garments one by one looking for the formation. He had been with Adya when they dealt with the assassins from the shadowed hand, and he had also seen the formations on the bodies.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Philipa, go and get Parth.¡± ordered Adya. ¡°Tell him to bring 6 of his best soldiers right now.¡± By now Dexter had found the tattoo, it had been placed on the man¡¯s inner thigh. In the normal course of events, given his size, not even his lover would have noticed it. Adya took the time to study it. The formation was more complex than the one used by the shadowed hand, but used similar principals. Adya did not gain much new knowledge from studying the formation. Just as she finished with the examination, Parth entered the room with Phillipa. Adya could hear voices outside the room and assumed he had brought the requested guards. ¡°Parth, our head of logistics is under the effect of a loyalty formation,¡± said Adya, getting straight to the point. ¡°I can deal with it, but there may be a risk. There are fail safes built in, that will both notify the person who controls the formation, if they are within range of the transmission, and will attempt to kill the man, by destroying the femoral artery, causing him to go into shock, and subsequently bleed out.¡± ¡°What is the range of the transmission?¡± asked Gauri, struggling a little with the strange word. while Parth took in the situation. ¡°Around 2 miles.¡± responded Adya, ¡°Could be a little more or a little less, depending on the abilities of the person. Parth, if it is the person who set the formation, they are strong, likely stronger than my mother. If they are just handlers, they will also have a mark.¡± ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± asked Parth. He knew he could not bulldoze his way through this situation. ¡°First do you trust the six guards you have brought with you?¡± asked Adya ¡°Yes I do, they have been with the family for years.¡± replied Parth ¡°Then we need to give them the loyalty formations and give them protection from whoever is targeting us.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I will give them one linked to you. You can ask them to accept the tiered version. Then you will have a support squad that we know is clean.¡± ¡°How does that help us find out who is doing this?¡± replied Parth. ¡°It doesn¡¯t¡± replied Adya. ¡°What it gives you is a team of guards who we know can protect mother. Once we start hunting, whoever is spying on us, may choose to attack.¡± ¡°Bring in the men, show them the formation,¡± continued Adya. ¡°Then we can work with our head of intelligence to route out all other spies. Be aware that doing so is going to make those very same people take notice when their agents fail to report in.¡± This was getting more and more complicated. Adya had been just trying to further her own agenda, who knew she was going to find a random spy ring in her own household no less. Gauri confirmed Adya¡¯s instructions. Since everyone else in the room was 100% trustworthy, Gauri asked the head of intelligence to work with Dexter. She also asked everyone else to leave her office, and go and arrange a suitable location where they could covertly check everyone else. There were only so many people who would fit in Gauri¡¯s office after all. Adya added that privacy should be provided for women in their arrangements. Parth took control of the head of logistics, then called in his six guards. Everyone else went off to follow instructions. Guari was internally seething. Just how long had that wretched man been spying on the family. To whom? What damage had it caused the family? She would get to the bottom of it. It galled her that she had only found this out by sheer chance. They would either need to expand their use of the formations to everyone, a logistical nightmare or look at alternative ways to vet people. While Gauri and Adya were lost in their own thoughts, Parth had shown his soldiers the evidence of the man¡¯s treachery. He also explained what he needed them to do, assuring them that he had already been through the process. All six agreed to proceed in short order. Adya asked them to come to the desk in pairs, surprising Parth, who had not seen Adya work on two formations simultaneously. Two men stepped forward and presented their arms. Parth and the other four guards held on to the head of logistics, his fate uncertain. The poor man had heard what was in store for him, he was hoping that the strange girl who seemed to be incharge of everything had a way for him to live. He had not been told of the failsafes, and a part of him still did not believe, but could he take that risk? His position had been exposed and he was at the mercy of others. Adya finished with the two guards in short order. It was easy for her to modify the soul mark holder to Parth. The guards accepted the tiered option as instructed. They were swiftly replaced by another two guards, and then the final pair. In less than 30 minutes, all the guards had been proven to be loyal. ¡°Right, you can wipe the tattoos now, it was only required for the first part,¡± said Adya. ¡°Now I am going to change the formation I am using on our traitor. Instead of the loyalty protection formation, I am going to use the loyalty enforcement formation on him. Any objections mother?¡± ¡°No, go right ahead.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°As long as you can make him answer my questions,¡± Adya went ahead and wiped away the first tattoo from the man. It had been marred in the process of strip searching him in any case. She then proceeded to draw out the loyalty enforcement formation. The process took longer, as it was the first time she was drawing it. She also felt something was missing as she drew out the formation, the pieces not quite fitting together. She racked her brain for solutions, trying out different scenarios and noticed that it required will power as well. That made sense, the protection formation must use the willpower of the subject, as it was giving them the choice. She would need to see if there was any drain on the will power pool or reduction in the regeneration rates. The enforcement version required the formation to provide the will power element, as it had to override the willpower of the subject. She would need to experiment to understand how much will power compared to the subject''s pool and regeneration it needed. Also the fact that formations required will power was a surprise. Was this the reason each formation had to be hand crafted? Was the intent imbued via will power? More questions that would require answers. With her adaptations complete, Adya finished her first loyalty enforcement formation. As soon as she marked the final stroke, she received a prompt. The person you are trying to soul mark (loyalty enforcement formation) is bound by an existing loyalty formation. Options 1, Override the existing formation, replacing it with your own. 2, Break the existing formation while allowing failsafes to take effect. 3, Break the existing formation and suppress all failsafes. 25 - Chapter 24 - Day 1811 25 - Chapter 24 - Day 1811 Adya looked at the options, they had changed once again. She kept the options to herself, revealing the level of control she had would be too dangerous, even with those carrying her soul mark. Her soul mark only offered protection up to Rarity Tier 8, which meant it was possible for those with a higher rarity to overrider her control. They could also potentially break the formation, the same way she was going to do here. In the end, absolute power was unassailable. Until she reached the divine grade, she could always be forced to capitulate. She reviewed the options one by one. She rejected option 2, as it would just lead to the death of the little traitor. That left options 1 and 3. She had originally been ready to go with option 3. It would remove the existing formation, suppress its failsafes and let her mark take control. What she didn''t understand was what it meant by replacing the formation with hers. Did that mean, the formation would remain, and look the same, but she would become the formation controller, effectively allowing her to pretend like nothing had happened, or would it do something drastically different. No, she couldn''t take that chance here. She needed answers, and an option she understood was superior to one that she did not. If she had more time, she would have spent it creating more experiments to understand the limitations better. However, now was not the time. She let out a weary sigh, and went with option 2. She made sure she was watching the formation when she did. Whereas the formation had been a solid tattoo before, after Adya selected the option, the tattoo seemed to come alive, and molten in appearance. Slowly it was absorbed into the skin and disappeared. Using the identify option showed the traitor was fully under her soul marks control. At least this proved that she could enforce a formation on others against their will. This was great news for both the bandits, who could now be suffered to live, and bad news for the shadowed hand, as she would be taking control of all their leaders one by one. Everyone in the room was looking at her, their eyes drawn to her due to her weary sigh. ¡°It is done,¡± said Adya to everyone and no one. ¡°The existing formation is gone, my mark is in place.¡± She looked at the traitor and instructed him. ¡°You answer my mother, Parth and head of intelligence¡¯s questions fully and honestly.¡± He visibly shuddered, and then his face turned to relief realising that he had survived. ¡°Yes miss, thank you for saving me miss. I will tell them everything, miss.¡± He fell to the floor kowtowing in gratitude. ¡°Ironically, after this, he will be the most loyal one ever.¡± Adya said to her mother. ¡°Give me your hand¡± she again instructed the man. She wiped away her tattoo, but the soul marl remained. ¡°Check your status, do you have an option to request removal of my soul mark? In fact read out the whole entry relating to my soul mark from your status.¡± ¡°Yes miss,¡± he rescinded meekly and proceeded to do exactly that. Soul Mark - Adya Gurg Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed. Kevin - Retainer of house Gurg may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Kevin may not take any actions or inactions that can be construed as betrayal by Adya Gurg. Kevin will suffer soul pain, if he does not follow all instructions faithfully. Kevin will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru). Adya was right that the soul mark could not be removed. She had a feeling that someone strong enough would be able to override her soul mark, but she could not confirm that at this stage. She also felt that if she offered the protection version, it would potentially allow the switch, then leading to an option to remove, but again this was just a guess based on their testing with the protection version, so she could be totally wrong. The expressions in the room turned grim after hearing the details of the soul mark. They all had the nice version of the soul mark, allowing them to consent and only stopping betrayal. This was effectively a soul mark that enslaved, with no obvious way for it to be removed. While they felt no sympathy for Kevin, it was still a horrendous fate.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Mother, Parth, are you ok with me using this version on the bandits,¡± asked Adya, ¡°Or any other traitors we identify?¡± The fact she would ask permission made the people in the room relax a little. This was a dangerous tool, but at least Adya was consulting on its use. A few of the soldiers, who were not particularly close to Adya and didn¡¯t know her personally, shuddered at the thought that had she wanted, she could have subjected them to the enslaving soul mark. Parth looked towards Gauri for guidance. While he did not particularly like the insidious soul mark, he would trust Gauri¡¯s decision realising he saw the world more in black and white, and not the subtle shades of grey. ¡°Yes, we are not powerful enough to start to ignore the tools available to us.¡± said Gauri, sounding weary. ¡°We must use what we have.¡± ¡°I will go and complete the marks on the bandits,¡± said Adya, ¡°As was my original plan, before the agenda was hijacked by our little traitor Kevin. I am leaving his interrogation and subsequent actions to you. Please bear in mind that since he is now under my power, I am responsible for him. Also he is no longer a traitor, regardless of what he has done up until now.¡± ¡°In fact,¡± said Adya, looking at Kevin. ¡°Why did you agree to go ahead with allowing me to place the formation on you. You had heard a lot of the details, had you refused, we would not have pushed the issue.¡± The head of intelligence looked crestfallen at the realisation that in his excitement to get more details, he had inadvertently caused a traitor to gain a great deal of damaging knowledge. He too wanted to know how his mistake had not been catastrophic. ¡°I had no choice, miss.¡± replied Kevin. ¡°I did not want to, but the formation meant I had to follow instructions. The order I was given by my handler was not to do anything that would arouse suspicion. Since I did not know for certain that I would be exposed, I had no choice but to comply.¡± ¡°So we were saved by a badly worded order.¡± mused Adya. ¡°Providence indeed. I leave the rest of this mess to you. Let me know when you need me. Make sure to capture any of these agents Kevin identifies, and don''t let them damage their formations. Otherwise they will die and their handlers will be notified. Let¡¯s go Dexter.¡± With that Adya collected her ink and quills and left Gauri¡¯s office and went off towards the barracks with Dexter in tow. ¡°Is it just me, or does Adya seem more and more scary everytime she speaks.¡± asked Parth Adya headed off towards the barracks where the bandit leader was waiting on her decision. It didn¡¯t take long for her to arrive and to be led into the interrogation suite, or more accurately the torture room, not that she intended to use it for that. The bandit leader had been left alone there for some hours at this point, not that he could escape. He bowed when Adya entered, knowing that she held his life in her hands. He also acknowledged that anyone else would have killed him and his entire crew in the woods and forgotten about them. It was only because she had kept her word that he was still alive. They had not been mistreated, and even fed reasonably well. If not concerned about his family, he would have been content to wait, and not push for a decision. ¡°So it has already been a long day,¡± started Adya. ¡°So I am going to be blunt. You know too many of my secrets. If I just let you go, even if you promise not to reveal anything, you could be forced to by others. You know as well as I that the shadowed hand will stop at nothing to find out what happened.¡± ¡°I know, miss,¡± he responded, sounding miserable. He was already having thoughts of being killed. ¡°Is there no other option, miss?¡± ¡°There is one other option, one that each of your crew is going to have to decide on themselves.¡± said Adya, ¡°I can put a formation on you, to force you to serve me. You will never be able to leave my service, except by dying. The positive to the situation is you would become a trusted retainer, as you would have no choice. Those who choose this option will be employed by the family.¡± ¡°So my only choice is between slavery and death?¡± he asked, sounding forlorn. ¡°I will not treat you like a slave, but yes you will be a slave if you choose that option.¡± responded Adya bluntly. She was in no mood to mince her words. This was the only choice she could offer him. She needed him to understand the gravity of his decision. ¡°Now you need to decide. Which will it be?¡± Surprisingly, it didn¡¯t take the bandit leader any time to decide. ¡°I will take life over death, miss. I choose slavery.¡± said he. Adya had him bare his arm and place it on the table. She then proceeded to place the enforcement formation on him. It took her less than 10 minutes this time. She did not receive any prompt, the formation just converted to a soul bond, a fact confirmed by the identification feature. Adya mentally berated herself, she had forgotten to check how much willpower it took to force the mark. ¡°Right, I have a lot to do. Dexter, bring them in two by two.¡± said Adya. ¡°I can''t keep thinking of you as the bandit leader, what is your name?¡± ¡°I am Jason, miss.¡± replied the ex bandit leader. ¡°Well Jason, you are going to help convince your crew to accept the same deal as you have.¡± replied Adya. ¡°In addition, I need you to get them to tell me their willpower reserve and regeneration figures from their status screens.¡± ¡°You mean wisdom, miss?¡± responded a confused Jason. ¡°There is no will power stat.¡± 26 - Chapter 25 - Day 1811 26 - Chapter 25 - Day 1811 Adya was confused by Jason¡¯s response. She knew that he was incapable of lying to her. She decided to use this opportunity to get to the bottom of this new mystery. ¡°Tell me what stats you have visible on your status,¡± she commanded Jason. ¡°Also what are the averages, and average stat gained per level.¡± Jason looked confused, but answered anyway. ¡°I have nine stats. Strength, Dexterity, Agility. Intelligence, Wisdom, Perception, Spirit, Intuition, and Verve.¡± He replied. ¡°When the system unlocks, the average is around 10 in each stat. Then the number of stats you gain per level will depend on the rarity of your class. A tier 1 class will give on average 10 stats per level, but it may be already preallocated. Every tier up roughly doubles the number of stats. Some classes may change that a bit, but not by a lot. So Tier 2 would be 20 stats per level, tier 3 would be 40 stats per level.¡± Adya thought through the information. With a tier 10 class that would be a monstrous 10240 stats per level, the equivalent of 1024 levels of tier 1 class. She thought her mother had had a tier 4 class, so she would be getting around 80 stats per level. Adya with her average tier 8 class would be 1280 stats per level. Surely the tier of the class could not be so broken. ¡°How does one increase the rarity of a class?¡± she asked. ¡°Apparently there is some way to get good starting classes, but we just heard rumours about that. After you get your first class, at levels 50, 100, 200, 400 and so on you get the opportunity to get a better class. It depends on your achievements, skills and a bunch of other stuff, so I have heard. But you only get the increased stats from when you improve your class. So if someone had a better class at level 0, then the weaker class holder can only catch up if they get a higher rarity class. That¡¯s all I know.¡± Of course the nobles would keep the knowledge locked up, thought Adya. Why let everyone get ahead. There always had to be those that choose to keep others down, either because they thought they had the right, or because they wanted to keep the benefits for themselves. Still, she had a starting point now. Adya did not believe that just the tier would produce so much difference, it must be the way power scaled that made the difference. The numbers could not be linear, that much was clear. No matter what if her increase in body had gone from 2 to 500,000, then she would have destroyed her house by running through it. She had not measured her weight before forming the core, still she did not feel like she was much heavier than she had been before. So, the only way for her to find out more was to run more controlled experiments. ¡°What resource pools do you have, and what is the regen like?¡± Adya asked Jason. ¡°We have mana and stamina. The regen is usually between 1/20th and 1/10th per minute of the size of the pool.¡± replied James. So they really didn¡¯t know about will power as a renewable pool. So why did she have access to it? Without that her soul mark would not have been possible. Was she using it even in the protection formation? Also why did she only have 3 stats instead of the usual 9. Did that mean that each stat for others was 3 times more effective in their stats. For example if someone had 1000 in each of the 3 body stats of strength, dexterity and agility, would that be equal to her having 1000 in body, or would she need 3000 in body to match the same stats. Also how were the stats calculated. Was it based on the physical size, or something else. Would a 7¡¯ tall man weighing 200kg be able to do the same with a 1000 strength stat as someone her size, at 4¡¯ and 25kgs. There were so many open questions, and she currently had no basis to even start to look for answers. Just from James¡¯s answers, though he was forced to answer all her questions by the soul mark, he had skillfully evaded providing any details about his actual stats. Was it that taboo to talk about peoples exact stats? Perhaps she should take a different tack, ask for level and tier of class, and then plot a range of best and worst case scenarios. ¡°James, what is your level and class tier?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Also, can you have more than one class?¡± James actually started laughing at Adya¡¯s question. ¡°More than one class,¡± he chortled, ¡°only if you have more than one soul. No idea how you would go about getting more souls.¡± It was clear from his answer that he found the question too silly to answer. It took him a few minutes to stop laughing, then he continued. ¡°I have a tier 3 class, upped from a tier 2, and just reached level 68.¡± So he had 1300 to 2000 stat range, if he fully loaded his wisdom stat, then the max would be around 1000 in her estimation. She asked Sai if there was a record of how much willpower was used in the creation of the formation. Sai had not been monitoring, but estimated the expenditure at around 200,000. The full regen for the 10 minutes had not been used, as will power stones were still being produced. So in the best case it was a 100 times the relevant stat, at worst it was 1000 times the relevant stat. ¡°When your crew comes in, I want to know their class tier, and level,¡± said Adya. ¡°On top of that I would like to know the exact stats they have in intelligence, wisdom and perception.¡± ¡°And if they don¡¯t want to tell you?¡± asked a suddenly fearful Jason. ¡°Will you not give them the option of the soul mark?¡± ¡°If they don''t want to tell me, then they can either give me the three added together to the nearest 100.¡± replied Adya. ¡°That is as far as I am willing to compromise.¡± James nodded in response. He could see Adya was being reasonable. In her position she could demand the answers and let his crew die for refusing. Others would have done exactly that. He was starting to respect this girl who had forced him to capitulate and then proceeded to imprison then enslave him. Dexter finally returned with 2 more of the bandits. ¡°Sorry miss, I was getting them all organised now that we have started, so that it will be faster going forward.¡± said Dexter without needing to be prompted. ¡°The rest will be queued up by the guards in 10 minute intervals.¡± ¡°Excellent work Dexter, ¡° replied Adya. ¡°Don¡¯t forget what I said James, I need the information on each one, just speak the information clearly, even if you think I am not listening.¡± With that began the first of, what would turn out to be many, soul marking sessions. Dexter took the position of explaining the choice to the captured bandits as they came in. After they accepted the only choice they had if they wanted to live, then James would ask for the stat information and Adya would proceed to draw the formations as fast as Sai could manage it. Once they confirmed that the soul mark was in place, they would be sent back to their cells and the next pair called in.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. At around 12 minutes a pair, with a few refusing the offer and choosing to die, they were done in just over two hours. The five who had decided they would rather die, were sent back to their cells under guard. After the intense session, Adya needed a break. James went to collect all the ex bandits who had decided to accept the soul marks, and they were moved to the barracks. They were no longer a threat, so Adya saw no need to keep them imprisoned. She would deal with them the next day. They had just gone from being in jail to some of the most trusted retainers on the estate. James asked permission to try and convince the five who had refused to see if he could change their mind in private. Adya was happy to let him try. She had no reason to waste assets if she could bring them under her control. More importantly she wanted to review the data she had gathered with Sai. As Adya walked around the estate, she worked with Sai to get an understanding of the numbers. Her worst case projections were borne out by the numbers. Where she had accurate figures from those who had chosen to divulge it, she gave greater credence, compared to where they had given her an average or rounded figure. She also worked to see if there was any correlation between her exact willpower usage and any stat or combination of stats. It was the kind of thing that would have taken hours without an AI to crunch the numbers, but thankfully Adya had Sai. The amount of will power the formation needed was easily calculated by multiplying the intelligence stat by the wisdom stat, then multiplying the total by 79 and adding 8000. The 8000 was easily explained as a setup cost as it was always consistent. The wisdom times intelligence was also straightforward as they were the actual stats. The 79 times multiplier was the open question. It basically meant that unless someone was on average a 100 times stronger, then they had no chance to enforce a soul mark in the manner she was doing. No wonder, even if someone discovered the method, that the soul marks were not in general use. Why would anyone that much stronger be sitting around creating formations on weaklings. Not only that, but even formation masters would need to do one at a time and would take a lot longer to create each one. It had definitely been a productive day. She really needed to work out how to gift passive skills to others. She needed to confirm whether she was special or if the willpower was a renewable resource for everyone. If she could let others use her passive for creating willpower stones, she could both see the impact on people of draining that pool and whether they actually had it. Something was definitely happening. The only thing she could put all the difference she was experiencing was down to the scion protocol. She had exited the protection protocol she had been granted 95 years too early. Still she still had partial protection, she hoped, from the scion protocol. Once she finished her analysis for the time being, she thought about the next time she wanted to focus on. She was going to use her soldiers to target and subjugate the shadowed hand, at least the local chapter. She would just go along for those operations, but would do no more than force the soul mark on captured leaders. Then, as the people came in, she would remove their crude formations and replace it with hers, taking full control of all members of the organisation. Her next research task had to be the mana coin creation machine. That would open up so many avenues of advancement for both her family and her. She couldn''t think of any other step that promised to deliver so much benefit. She also wanted to learn the skill telekinesis. Though how she would go about doing that was up in the air. The sheer utility of gaining that skill would be immense. As Sai and Mai would be able to use the skill to both create and fight directly. It would basically give her many more arms. She was currently only utilising a small fraction of the passive processes that she could have running simultaneously. She had not checked, but her parallel processing trait was dependent on her mind stat. She had four from the trait and a further thirty five had been added by the passives being converted across. Just how many more had been added by her mind stat jumping to 16.5M. Entity status Name: Adya Gurg Body: 500,000 [x2.0] [x1.0] Mind: 16,500,000 [x2.0] [x1.0] Soul: 16,500,000 [x2.0] [x1.0] Cultivation Stage: Rank 2 (F) Stamina: 1,000,000 Stamina regeneration: 10,000 per minute Willpower: 33,000,000 Willpower regeneration: 330,000 per minute Mana: 33,000,000 Mana regeneration: 3,300,000 per minute Mana density: Rank 2 [x1] Essence: 0 Entity 1: Class Ranger (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 2: Class Scholar (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 3: Class Warlord (Rarity Rank 9 - MahaGuru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 4: Class Font of Knowledge (Rarity Rank 9 - MahaGuru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 5: Class Merchant (Rarity Rank 7 - Grand Sage) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 6: Class Diplomat (Rarity Rank 7 - Grand Sage) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 7: Class Child (Rarity Rank 1 - Trainee) - {Displayed}: Level 0 General Skills Waking Meditation: Level 19 Scan Detection: Level 6 Energy Manipulation: Level 49 Regeneration Control: Level 10 Core Shield (Unique): Level MAX Passive Skills {Custom} Mana Stone Creation (Automated): Level MAX {Custom} Will Power Stone Creation (Automated): Level MAX {Custom} Stamina Stone Creation (Automated): Level MAX Personalities Mai: Online Sai: Online Traits Trait 1: Universal Language Guru (Rank 8) Trait 2: Soul Storage (Rank 11)(MAX) Trait 3: Perfect Loot Perfect Essence (Rank 8)(MAX) Trait 4: Parallel Processing (Rank 8) - Capacity 103 Cores Trait 5: Perfect Memory Processing (Rank 8) Trait 6: Gestalt Entity (Rank 8) Achievement: Passive skill creator - for creating your own passive skill all class passive skills are converted to Parallel Processing Capacity. Achievement: Gestalt Mortal Prodigy - for unlocking the ability to directly manipulate the regeneration of all 3 core energies whilst still being mortal all stats effectiveness is increased by 100% Achievement: Cultivation Prodigy - for unlocking cultivation and forming three cores on your first attempt and at below the age of 10, unique skill Core Shield granted. Upon checking her status page, the number had only jumped to 103. That seemed like it was a lot less impressive than a jump to 16.5 million stat points should be. The 16.5M had increased the capacity by 64. Again Sai took up the burden of running number sequences to work out what was going on. It took a while even for Sai to come up with a sequence that fit the numbers. So the sequence was complicated, for every multiple of 10, she received 9 additional cores. So from 1-9 gave her 9 cores, and so did 10-99. The sequence continued. 9 for 1-9, 9 for 10-99, 9 for 100-999, 9 for 1000-9999, 9 for 10000-99999, 9 for 100k-999k, 9 for 1m-9m, 1 for 10m. Apparently the core was added at the increase to the next full jump, so the core should increase at 20m stat points. She didn¡¯t have any way of understanding if this progression applied only to parallel processing cores, or if a similar system worked on the power curve as well. Though it could explain why the cultivators would become so powerful if that was the case. A first ranked cultivator could substantially increase their power over a non cultivator of a much higher level. So many questions, and Adya would do her best to find the answers. 27 - Chapter 26 - Day 1811 27 - Chapter 26 - Day 1811 Adya made her way back to her mother¡¯s office to see how things had progressed in her absence. She was happy that in the current situation they now had almost thirty retainers that she was confident in. She had a feeling that they would need them. The fact that someone had managed to get to Kevin meant that her family was being targeted. Hopefully Kevin had been able to provide some answers, but somehow Adya doubted it. She didn¡¯t feel their adversaries would be so stupid as to let their pawns have any knowledge that could compromise them. They would have worked through multiple intermediaries to ensure that they were protected from discovery. It would take the targeting of each of the links in the chain for them to be identified. The adversaries no doubt expected to learn of it long before all their middlemen were identified. Stopping the investigation would require nothing more than killing a few layers in the middle. That thought made her think back to the five bandits who had chosen to die rather than accept her soul mark. No, it couldn¡¯t be that simple. Could some of them be spies for other organisations? By this point she had arrived back at her mother¡¯s office. She knocked and entered. ¡°Before we get into anything else,¡± said Adya as she entered, ¡°Parth, can you take 2 guards, and strip search the remaining bandits. Most accepted my offer, but five refused. I was so focused on marking them, that I did not stop to think of the possibilities. It seems coincidental that we have multiple different groups targeting us at the same time. Best to check. Also please make arrangements to retrieve the family members of the former bandits. They don''t need to become retainers, but can settle in and find work as part of the farming village.¡± ¡°Yes Miss Adya,¡± replied Parth, then went off to carry out her orders. ¡°So mother, what have we learned?¡± asked Adya. ¡°We have identified the person who was the handler for Kevin.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°He is actually a minor functionary who works in the finance office. Are you up to creating more soul marks?¡± ¡°I will do this one more time tonight, mother,¡± replied Adya. ¡°Then even I need food and rest. Working at this pace will just lead us to make mistakes. Let''s capture this handler, you can get information out of him while I rest. Then we can start fresh tomorrow.¡± Gauri gave orders for the spy to be called to her office on some pretext. While they waited for the man to arrive, Adya spent time clearing her mind and entering meditation. She really wanted to start the experiments to understand how power scaling worked, but she needed to give her mind a rest. She was jolted out of her mediation by the door of the office opening. The spy entered, looked around and tried to make a run for it. He was seized by the guards entering behind him. Before he could take any other action the guard struck his head, knocking him out. ¡°Strip search him, ¡° ordered Gauri. ¡° We need to be sure.¡± The guards started to search him roughly and it didn¡¯t take long to find the formation. It had been placed in the same place, on the inner thigh. ¡°They really like using a position to maximise damage, don''t they.¡± replied Adya. ¡°Not having seen the full effect, I can still make a guess from the formation design. Not only is it designed to kill painfully by destroying the femoral artery, but even if someone manages to save them, the men are likely to have to learn to live without their manhoods. A most diabolical design.¡± ¡°Yes, I think that would be for the more senior members of their group.¡± mused Gauri. ¡°An explicit threat, that if you betray us and somehow manage to survive, you will no longer be a man. A most potent threat, I think most men would rather die.¡± as Gauri spoke she noticed the men in the room all nodding looking horrified at just the thought of the formation¡¯s functions. Adya proceeded to place the enforcement formation on the passed out man. With all her practice, she was down to around 8 minutes to place the formation now, and she was soon finished. The only minor amendment that she made was to use the merged soul originator mark, making him enslaved to both her and her mother. The same prompt appeared for her. The person you are trying to soul mark (loyalty enforcement formation) is bound by an existing loyalty formation. Options 1, Override the existing formation, replacing it with your own. 2, Break the existing formation while allowing failsafes to take effect. 3, Break the existing formation and suppress all failsafes. Interestingly her mother received a very different notification. The person you are trying to soul mark (loyalty enforcement formation) is bound by an existing loyalty formation. You are unable to override or break the existing formation. You are attempting to form a soul mark in conjunction with another person. Their choice will apply to your soul mark. Interestingly, her mother could nor force the soul mark, but whatever option she picked, would also apply, still giving her mother the same level of control. The system really was paying attention to the details. The other thing of note was the sheer amount of willpower that had been required to force the formation in place. This person was much stronger than Kevin. Again not wanting to take the risk without more information, Adya went with option 3. Again the formations changed from solid to liquid and melted into the body. The identification came across showing the soul mark was now in place.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. While Adya had been working, Parth had already returned and was waiting patiently for her to finish. ¡°Out of the five, four had formations on them.¡± replied Parth to the unasked question. ¡°Two were the same as Kevin and this one,¡± he said pointing to the man Adya had just finished with. ¡°Down to the location. The other 2 had, what looks to us to be different designs, one was placed on the chest over the heart and the last one was on the back, also over the heart.¡± ¡°What have you done with the four of them?¡± asked Adya. Now that she knew that the four had been under the control of the formations, the fifth seemed even more out of place. These are no loyal knights or house soldiers, for whom honour meant everything. Why would a bandit be willing to die? No, something was not right here. ¡°Did the fifth one have any scars, even though he did not have a formation?¡± ¡°The four have been bound and are under guard.¡± replied Parth. ¡°I am not sure we checked for anything that wasn¡¯t a formation.¡± ¡°Mother, come with me, I think you will want to see this.¡± said Adya. ¡°Parth lead us there, let us start with the fifth one, and make sure to restrain him as soon as we enter.¡± They all left, by now used to Adya¡¯s weird instructions. It did not take them long to arrive at the holding cells. Jason was already there trying to convince the man to change his mind. The two guards with them rushed into the cell to restrain the man. Adya had the guards strip the man, then proceeded to check the man from top to bottom. She did not find anything out of the ordinary. She then asked him to open his mouth, and checked inside, still nothing. She was almost certain that he was carrying a loyalty formation. She just couldn''t work out where it could be. She had two guesses, the first was that they had cut him open, placed the formation inside his body, then healed him up leaving no marks. Either that, or someone else could use soul marks. She really hoped it was the former. She ordered the guards to knock him out. Even restrained, he could try to marr her formation to try and stop her. She then quickly went to work scribing the formation on him. This was another case that required a substantial amount of willpower. Even though she had a massive pool, and massive amounts of regeneration, she was starting to feel fatigued. This was a feeling of mental strain unrelated to her resource pools. It was a feeling she knew well from having pushed herself beyond her limits countless times in the past. She would need rest and soon. The, by now familiar, prompt confirmed her suspicions. The person you are trying to soul mark (loyalty enforcement formation) is bound by an existing loyalty formation. Options 1, Override the existing formation, replacing it with your own. 2, Break the existing formation while allowing failsafes to take effect. 3, Break the existing formation and suppress all failsafes. Now she had options. Obviously without seeing the formation, there was no way for her to know what the fail safes were, so option 2 was out. She really wanted to take a look at this formation. Option 3 would remove the formation and she would have no idea what it was or who had created it. Nor for that matter would she know where it had been placed. She had another potential option to try and find the formation, that was to push her mana into his body and try to find it that way. The problem was that without knowing what the fail safes were, she could not guarantee she would not trigger some form of anti tampering protection by the simple act of searching. After spending some time considering the options, she decided to go with option 1. This bandit had been captured on a job for the shadowed hand, and would not really have had the opportunity to target her family specifically. She could take some risks with this one that she could not with the ones found within the house retainers. With some trepidation, she picked option 1. Instead of anything happening, she was presented with a brand new prompt. Override of existing formation attempted. Please select one of the following options. 1, Leave formation in place, making all its effects inert. 2, Leave formation in place, and replace the formation controller with Adya Gurg. In both cases the soul mark will still be created. The soul mark will take precedence over the formation in all situations. This was certainly an interesting situation. She now knew he had a formation somewhere that could not be found on a cursory examination, and she knew her soul mark would have control above the formation. It seemed the system liked its hierarchies. Since the others could not see the prompts and didn¡¯t know what she was pondering, she decided to share some details. ¡°So my guess was right.¡± she started. ¡°He has a formation somewhere. My guess is that he was cut open, the formation was drawn, or placed in him, then he was healed. That''s why we can¡¯t find it.¡± ¡°It also means,¡± Partha said through gritted teeth, ¡°That we can¡¯t know someone does not have one if we find no formations. What even made you look for one on him?¡± ¡°Well, I could not understand why a bandit would want to die.¡± Adya replied. ¡°It is not like he would be trying to uphold some sense of honour. Not unless he was working for someone else, or under compulsion.¡± While she was explaining, Adya decided to go for option 2. Even though that would change the formation slightly, it was still better for her to get an understanding of what the creators intended. As she had no idea how the formation would be made inert, she did not want to take the risk with this one. She could try that option on another one of the four bandits that were left. As she selected option 2, she felt a massive amount of mana and willpower leave her and enter the man¡¯s unconscious body. The energy streams entered the man at the base of his neck, where the outline of a tattoo shone for a moment before disappearing again. The amount of mana and willpower used was the same as had been required to create the formation in the first place. She also felt the soul mark snap into place. Somehow she had an awareness of the formation he carried. She had been right. The formation was placed under a layer of skin just at the base of his neck. It had not been drawn, but seemed to be made of a light metal, though without cutting him open, she had no way of knowing what metal. What she did have was full awareness of the formation design. Sai spent time reviewing the design and adding the newly discovered elements into their existing language model. ¡°This one is even worse.¡± sighed Adya. ¡°You can speak to him when he comes too, but I think he will struggle to come to terms with being free. The formation was designed to force his actions in certain situations. He had no way to accept my offer, the formation simply would not allow him to make that decision. If you people think my formation is bad, this one is much much worse.¡± Sai: should we incorporate the mental control elements that we have learned into our formation design? Adya: would it actually give us any additional control? Or just make our soul marked unable to think for themselves? Sai: the latter. Adya: Then not for now. We may have a need for it at some point, so iterate a formation design that incorporates it, but we will not be using it at present. Sai: understood. As controlling as Adya could be, even she would think twice about controlling a person''s thoughts. 28 - Chapter 27 - Day 1811 28 - Chapter 27 - Day 1811 To say that Jason was shocked to learn the members of his crew of bandits actually held allegiance to other groups would be a massive understatement. He had recruited all the people himself, and had been confident that they were loyal to him. He was starting to realise that he had been taken advantage of again and again, not even knowing who was pulling his strings in most cases. As he thought about it, he had been lucky that he had targeted little Miss Adya, as weird as that sounded even in his own head. She was scary and far too mature for such a small girl. Yet, the way she had treated them all, and kept her word, showed that she was actually reasonable and kind. She had even sent for all their families to be brought out of the city and settled in one of the family owned villages. Even if he had not accepted her soul mark, he would have sworn fealty to her. Now he would make the effort to ensure his former crew and all their families would see it the same way. For Adya, this day was turning into one that just didn''t seem to want to end. She knew the feeling stemmed from a combination of her physical age and significant mental fatigue. Just another hour, and she would have a quick dinner then sequester herself in her room to rest. Her mother and Parth would have to deal with the fall out without her for a few hours. ¡°Parth, I am leaving the interrogation of all the people we are ¡®liberating¡¯ to you,¡± said Adya. ¡°Mother, I am going to deal with the four others, then going for dinner.¡± By now Dexter and Phillpa had joined them. Phillipa went off to instruct the kitchen to make something hot for Adya. Dexter accompanied Adya as she went to the next prisoner. ¡°Dexter, two have the formations in the same locations,¡± said Adya, ¡°Get them identified so I can deal with them in one go. I have a feeling we are going to get more surprises from the other two.¡± Dexter went ahead to make the arrangements as Adya took her time with her short legs. She arrived a few minutes later to find all four of her prisoners passed out and stripped showing their formations clearly. Sai made sure to record the formations as part of her records. Adya wasted no time, she quickly scribed her formations on the two with the formations on their inner thighs, and received the standard prompt. In their case she decided to override the formations and then replace the formation controller with herself. This time Adya watched as the formation changed, it became liquid, dissolved into the body, then a new formation appeared. Ah she thought, the formation is still broken, but then uses my mana and willpower to reform with the changes in place. This gave her another clue as to the nature of willpower and its use in formations. With the soul mark in place, the two were swiftly moved from the cell by the guards. There was no reason to keep them in jail any longer. Next Adya decided to work on the one with the tattoo on his chest right on top of the heart. In the process of scribing the formation, she started to notice differences already. It took her twice as long and four times as much mana and will power as any of the previous attempts. She was already expecting problems, so wasn¡¯t overly surprised. She managed to complete the formation, but felt like she had been pushing a boulder up a hill to get there. She opened the prompt, already anticipating an issue, and her anticipation was rewarded. The person you are trying to soul mark (loyalty enforcement formation) is bound by an existing loyalty formation. The formation is ultimately controlled by a tier 10 entity. You are unable to override or break the existing formation. Damn, thought Adya, to run into someone with a tier 10 in their hierarchy. What were the odds? Her only consolation was that the prompt said ¡®ultimately controlled¡¯, she took that to mean that it was a tiered formation. No way this random bandit was important enough to report directly to a tier 10. The question was what to do about him. She was just contemplating killing him. That would be the safest option, when she noticed she had another prompt waiting. Scion protocol activated. Highest rarity class identified as tier 9. Scion protocol temporary boost applied. Scion protocol disabled tracking and reporting associated with formation. Options 1, Override the existing formation, replacing it with your own. 2, Break the existing formation while allowing failsafes to take effect. 3, Break the existing formation and suppress all failsafes. Well, she had been half right, the scion protocol did provide her with some protections, and it seemed some additional information in prompts. She remembered that her mother had received a similar prompt, but had not been told the tier of the formation controller. It was only a little more information, but a lot of times, it was the small edges that led to victory in tight contests. She decided to place her trust in the system and the scion protocol, it had done its job so far. She selected option one and received a now familiar prompt. Override of existing formation attempted. Please select one of the following options. 1, Leave formation in place, making all its effects inert.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. 2, Leave formation in place, and replace the formation controller with Adya Gurg. In both cases the soul mark will still be created. The soul mark will take precedence over the formation in all situations. She again picked option 2. This time even more massive amounts of mana and willpower drained out of her body. It took almost 15 minutes and a significant percentage of her resource pools before the process completed. She watched the formation on his chest for signs of change, and it started the same, with the formation becoming liquid, yet the absorption process just continued and continued. It was on when the new formation started to be put in place and the information was made available to her, did she realise how much she had underestimated the scale of the formation. Again it was made up of fine metallic wires, but the wires were spread across the entire skeletal framework of the man, with parts entering the main muscle groups. They even interacted with the nervous system. The amount of knowledge that entered Adya¡¯s mind threatened to overwhelm even Sai and Mai. They had to use all the available parallel processing cores, even shutting down the passive skills, to be able to keep up. Even then the information took a long time to record. They would need to spend time analysing it to get anywhere. Two things were clear though, one had she not kept the formation, the man would have been paralysed. The formation was not integral to the normal functioning of the man, and two, her previous formations knowledge was like seeing the crude drawings made by a child at play compared to the schematics of an interstellar warship. She still had one more man to do. She just wanted today to be over so she could get some rest and work through some of the revelations she had today. She just hoped that the next one wouldn¡¯t be as bad as the last one had been. ¡°When this one comes to.¡± she said to Dexter, who was looking at her with a worried frown on his face. ¡°Make him comfortable, but keep him isolated, until I can speak to him, no one else is allowed to see him. Not even my mother or Parth. Is that clear?¡± The tone of her voice was enough to put Dexter on edge. ¡°I will ensure your instructions are carried out personally,¡± he replied. Adya then stepped up the hopefully the last one for today. She knew there would be a lot more in the coming days. She forced herself to start, and found it to be much easier than her last. It was still taking a significant amount of willpower, just not nearly as bad. She was done, and looked at the prompt. She was expecting another surprise and she was not disappointed. The person you are trying to soul mark (loyalty enforcement formation) is bound by an existing loyalty formation. The formation is ultimately controlled by a tier 9 entity. The entity has the Realm Title Prince. Options 1, Override the existing formation, replacing it with your own. 2, Break the existing formation while allowing failsafes to take effect. 3, Break the existing formation and suppress all failsafes. ¡°Hey Dexter,¡± she asked in a weary tone, why could nothing be straightforward. ¡°What is a Realm Title?¡± At least she had learned a few more things. She could break up to rarity tier 9 formations, without using the scion protocols. ¡°A Realm Title is a system sanctioned Title,¡± replied Dexter, nonplused by the question. ¡°When you come of age and your system unlocks, everyone is given a role in society based on their abilities and achievements. You start out as a commoner, move on to an artisan if you are good at your job. Most people stop there, but if the system thinks you are worthy, it can promote you to a noble title. From the rumours that I have heard, they start from baron and go all the way up to King. I have heard people say that one of the reasons this country is so poor is that most of the nobles are appointed and are not system sanctioned, I don¡¯t know how true that is though.¡± Oh damn it, thought Adya. Complications upon complications. ¡°Dexter, please clear everyone apart from this man from the building,¡± said Adya. ¡°Take that one¡± she pointed to the last man, the one with the formation woven into his body, ¡°and put him under guard. Then return with Parth and my mother. No one else is to be allowed into the building under any circumstances. Use our soul marked people to make sure.¡± She picked option 1 and waited for the second prompt. Override of existing formation attempted. Please select one of the following options. 1, Leave formation in place, making all its effects inert. 2, Leave formation in place, and replace the formation controller with Adya Gurg. In both cases the soul mark will still be created. The soul mark will take precedence over the formation in all situations. She picked option 2 and watched the formation melt and reform after taking its due in mana and will power. Thankfully it was a fairly standard formation, though she did learn a few new things from it. Then she sat down to wait. She was just too tired to care. She knew what she was about to do was akin to throwing a grenade and running, she just hoped her mother was up to handling it. It did not take long for Dexter to carry out her instructions. She heard everyone else leaving the building, and then a harried Parth enter with her mother. Dexter followed behind. ¡°So, I am going to tell you something, then I am going straight to my room.¡± said a very tired Adya. ¡°You will need to make some decisions and manage until I come out. I don¡¯t know how long it will take, but at least don¡¯t expect me to come out of my room tomorrow for any reason.¡± ¡°Since you are placing so many qualifiers,¡± said a concerned Gauri, ¡°I am assuming this is going to be bad, worse than what we have already discovered.¡± ¡°You are right,¡± replied Adya. ¡°The only ray of hope is that he is one of the bandits and wasn¡¯t sent to us directly. It leaves execution and disposal on the table as an option.¡± ¡°Out with it already,¡± said a weary Parth. ¡°So, the one before this one, I have isolated.¡± said Adya. ¡°He needs to be kept isolated until I speak to him. My soul mark took effect, that is all you need to know about him for now. No, don¡¯t try and push for more, you are going to be busy enough with this one.¡± she said as she pointed towards the man on the floor. The more she hedged the more concerned the three of them became. ¡°So, yes I have taken over his formation and soul marked him.¡± started Adya. ¡°During that process, the system informed me that his formation was ultimately controlled by a tier 9 entity.¡± There was a sharp intake of breath at that revelation for many reasons, not least because Adya had managed to break a tier 9 rarity¡¯s hold over the formation. ¡°There is more,¡± said Parth wearily. ¡°Out with it.¡± ¡°It also told me that the entity held the Realm Title of Prince.¡± finished Adya. She didn¡¯t even wait for them to ask any questions, and headed straight for her suite. She would get herself dinner and crash. This day was over for her and she would let nothing change her plans. 29 - Chapter 28 - Day 1814 29 - Chapter 28 - Day 1814 Adya awoke feeling fully rested. The first thing she did was ask Mai how long she had been asleep for. Apparently she had been out for over two days. She had fallen asleep in the late evening, and waking up mid morning on the third day. She knew she had been tired, but hadn¡¯t realised just how much it had impacted her. Thankfully she had remembered to restart her passive skills and had not lost days of regeneration. Even though she currently had no way to leverage her wealth, she was loath to let that regeneration go to waste. Sai and Mai had not been idle while she slept. Even though they had still both needed some rest, just not as much as she had needed. She kept forgetting that while they had been artificial in her last life, in this one they were alive. They were no longer just a tool but an integral part of her. Sai and Mai had recovered two days ago, and had spent the remaining time working to analyse the huge volume of data that the full body formation had provided. They had barely touched the edges. Adya: So how long do you think it will take to fully assimilate the knowledge we gained. Sai: with both myself and Mai fully dedicated to the task, we anticipate it will take 9000 days approximately. Mai: We can¡¯t leave make ourself so vulnerable. I will need to be available for any tactical situation that may occur. Adya: Is that leveraging the full parallel processing capability we have? Sai: no, it will require testing, but do we want to tie down all our processing power for an uncertain duration? Adya: ok let¡¯s start with something else. I need you to create the formations. I assume we already have a formations library that I can just pull the completed formations from? Sai: yes it is available now. Adya: So if we create a skill that can scribe the formation for us, it will be faster and free you up to be unavailable temporarily. I think assimilating that knowledge will let us build our mana coin machine faster. They started work on creating the skill. It was their first attempt at creating an active skill that could be triggered as required. Adya studied her other skills to try and understand how best to structure the new skill. It would not be limited to just formations. Any design that was in Adya¡¯s mental library could be reproduced using ink and quill. The only addition to that was the ability to channel mana and willpower into the design and lay down the mana lines. It took a few hours and a lot of trial and error, first in her mental world, then with actual quill and parchment. Finally the system agreed that they had created a skill and gave them the long awaited notification. Custom active skill created New achievements gained Warning: Achievement modified by Scion protocols {Custom} Formation Scribe Skill learned {Custom} Formation Scribe Skill is now Level MAX Achievement: Active skill creator - for creating your own active skill all class active skills are converted to Parallel Processing Capacity. Trait 4: Parallel Processing (Rank 8) - Capacity 4 Cores increased to Capacity 138 Cores That was not entirely unexpected, Adya had a feeling that the scion protocol was forcing her down the path of creating and controlling her own skills manually. Adya checked her full status to see if anything else had changed. Entity status Name: Adya Gurg Title: NA Body: 500,000 [x2.0] [x1.0] Mind: 16,500,000 [x2.0] [x1.0] Soul: 16,500,000 [x2.0] [x1.0] Cultivation Stage: Rank 2 (F) Stamina: 1,000,000 Stamina regeneration: 10,000 per minute Stamina density: Rank 2 [x1] Willpower: 33,000,000 Willpower regeneration: 330,000 per minute Willpower density: Rank 2 [x1] Mana: 33,000,000 Mana regeneration: 3,300,000 per minute Mana density: Rank 2 [x1] Essence: 0 Entity 1: Class Ranger (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 2: Class Scholar (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 3: Class Warlord (Rarity Rank 9 - MahaGuru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 4:Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Class Font of Knowledge (Rarity Rank 9 - MahaGuru) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 5: Class Merchant (Rarity Rank 7 - Grand Sage) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 6: Class Diplomat (Rarity Rank 7 - Grand Sage) - {Hidden}: Level 1 Entity 7: Class Child (Rarity Rank 1 - Trainee) - {Displayed}: Level 0 General Skills Waking Meditation: Level 19 Scan Detection: Level 6 Energy Manipulation: Level 49 Regeneration Control: Level 10 Core Shield (Unique): Level MAX Active Skills {Custom} Formation Scribe: Level MAX Passive Skills {Custom} Mana Stone Creation (Automated): Level MAX {Custom} Will Power Stone Creation (Automated): Level MAX {Custom} Stamina Stone Creation (Automated): Level MAX Personalities Mai: Online Sai: Online Traits Trait 1: Universal Language Guru (Rank 8) Trait 2: Soul Storage (Rank 11)(MAX) Trait 3: Perfect Loot Perfect Essence (Rank 8)(MAX) Trait 4: Parallel Processing (Rank 8) - Capacity 138 Cores Trait 5: Perfect Memory Processing (Rank 8) Trait 6: Gestalt Entity (Rank 8) Achievement: Passive skill creator - for creating your own passive skill all class passive skills are converted to Parallel Processing Capacity. Achievement: Active skill creator - for creating your own active skill all class active skills are converted to Parallel Processing Capacity. Achievement: Gestalt Mortal Prodigy - for unlocking the ability to directly manipulate the regeneration of all 3 core energies whilst still being mortal all stats effectiveness is increased by 100% Achievement: Cultivation Prodigy - for unlocking cultivation and forming three cores on your first attempt and at below the age of 10, unique skill Core Shield granted. There were a few changes, but nothing massive. Looking at it she had a lot more to do, she needed to start looking at the next step as she would need to form her meridians, that would support all three energy types. That was going to be slow and painful. Or was it, if she could learn how to create real skills, she could create a custom skill to create her pathways from a 3d design. She did not look forward to the testing of that skill as necessary as it was going to be. Adya: We are using 3 of the processing slots. Leave me a few more for using the new skill and any emergencies. Can you run some experiments with 132 cores, and see what the time to complete the integration of the new knowledge looks like? I am hoping we can significantly reduce it from that 9000 days. Sai: the experiment will take 2 hours to provide some results. I will be offline during that period. Adya let Sai work, and got herself ready to leave her room. She was starving, but she had ignored that in favour of getting a head start. She asked Sally to bring her some food while she took a bath and dressed. By the time she was ready and had eaten what felt like her own body weight in food, Sai was done with her experiment. Sai: The results were tentative. I estimate between 67 and 70 days to complete the integration to a satisfactory level. Satisfactory level for Sai was perfection for anyone else, but in this case that suited Adya as well. She instructed Sai to start. With those tasks now in hand. She decided to leave her room and find out what had been going on in the estate for the past few days. Adya made her way towards her mother¡¯s office. She was joined by Phillipa and then Dexter in short order. It seemed like they were keeping an eye out for when she would leave her room. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± asked Dexter. ¡°You were not looking so great when you dropped the bomb and walked out.¡± ¡°I was well beyond my limit at that point.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I needed the rest, I woke up not to long ago, had a meal and am just out of my room.¡± ¡°You slept for almost three days?¡± replied Phillipa, ¡°That is not a good sign.¡± ¡°I know,¡± replied Adya. ¡°I know my limits now. I will be better able to pace myself.¡± As they finished speaking, they arrived at Gauri;s office. Adya knocked, then they all entered. Gauri was in a meeting with Parth and the head of Intelligence, Peter. ¡°Good timing,¡± said Gauri. ¡°I hope you are rested and in a better mood.¡± ¡°I was pushed beyond my limit.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I needed the rest, I will manage things better going forward. Now what has been happening in the past few days?¡± ¡°Well we have debriefed the people you left us,¡± replied Gauri. ¡°We have identified several other spies, but have chosen not to alert them. We need you to convert them to our side. We will do them one by one when you are ready. They are from multiple different organisations, a few are from the shadowed hand. It looks like we were their target all along. The rest are from various noble houses that also have business interests that compete with ours. It looks like they did not like the fact that a non-noble family was doing well.¡± ¡°That is good.¡± replied Adya. ¡°Normal industrial espionage and sabotage is straightforward enough to deal with. Peter, once our own house is clean, I take it that you will start to feed the others misinformation?¡± ¡°That is the plan Miss,¡± replied Peter. ¡°Did you have another suggestion?¡± ¡°No, that is a good start, but only a start.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I don¡¯t like people targeting me and mine. Use that information to identify and target handlers, not too fast, nice and slow. We are going to take over all their people. Depending on what we learn, will decide our future steps. Once we convert the handlers and spies, leave them in place.¡± ¡°So we can get all the intelligence from all the organisations.¡± said Peter, nodding along. ¡°While we control exactly what they learn about us.¡± ¡°Good, now you are catching on.¡± replied Adya. ¡°Our moves have to be very quiet, even if it takes longer. There will be a desire to go out and rush, but that will backfire on us.¡± ¡°Now, what happened to the last one I left you,¡± asked Adya. She knew that one was going to be a lot more complicated. ¡°Well that one is very different.¡± replied Gauri. ¡°Parth do you want to give us an update on him?¡± ¡°Well, he is a very accomplished spy.¡± replied Parth. ¡°Actually puts all our people to shame. Had you not caught him, we would have had no idea about him. Anyway to start from the beginning, the man works, or rather worked for the royal family of one of the human kingdoms. Even he doesn¡¯t know which one.¡± ¡°Ok, so what is he doing in this kingdom?¡± asked Adya. She understood the need to employ operational security by compartmenting information, but understanding was not the same as liking it. The fact that it limited the amount of information she could get from this spy was annoying. ¡°And since he does not know, could he actually be from this kingdom¡¯s royal family?¡± ¡°No, that part is certain.¡± replied Parth. ¡°This kingdom has only one system sanctioned noble and that is the king. So based on your system message, he was not from here. As to their motivation, he was ordered to infiltrate rogue organisations and sow seeds of discontentment. The ultimate objectives were never revealed.¡± ¡°So either it''s just a way to keep the country unstable in some political game we are unaware of.¡± mused Adya out loud. ¡°Or a prelude to invasion. My question is, does it impact our operations?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± replied Gauri, after some thought. ¡°We are not involved at that level, so our operations might get impacted by a war, but will probably be offset by the opportunities it will likely create.¡± ¡°Ok, let¡¯s fold him into our operations.¡± said Adya. ¡°No point wasting a talented asset. If there is nothing else, I have a man to talk to.¡± 30 - Chapter 29 - Day 1814 30 - Chapter 29 - Day 1814 With that Adya and Dexter left Gauri¡¯s office. The man Adya had wanted to be isolated had been kept in one of the smaller guest rooms, with a guard on his door. As Adya and Dexter entered, he bowed. He had not been told why he had been moved to this room, nor did he have any idea what had happened to him after he had been knocked out. He had no reason to check his system status, so had not done so and had therefore completely missed the change that had been reflected. ¡°You may sit. What is your name?¡± asked Adya. ¡°I am Jarel, my lady.¡± he replied. ¡°Why am I in this room? No one would give me any information.¡± ¡°I take it that you have not checked your system status.¡± mused Adya. ¡°I suggest you do so, then our conversation will progress more smoothly.¡± Jarel, rattled by the demeanour of the little girl in front of him still felt a compulsion to follow her command. It readily became apparent why that was. There was only one change, a new entry had appeared. Soul Mark - Adya Gurg Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed. Jarel - Retainer of house Gurg may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Jarel may not take any actions or inactions that can be construed as betrayal by Adya Gurg. Jarel will suffer soul pain, if he does not follow all instructions faithfully. Jarel will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru). He could not even fathom how this was possible. He had been told when he had accepted the surgery to place his formation that it would be impossible to detect. Further, if it somehow came to light due to an injury, even then no one below the level of a god would be able to remove it without killing him. There should have been no power that should have allowed him to be subjugated in this manner. Just who was this child, and he knew it had to be her, as it was her name that the system mentioned. He entertained the idea that somehow he was being fooled, but discarded the option immediately as impossible. The system could not be fooled, and then there had been that strange compulsion. Most people would have ignored it, but he was not most people. It felt more subtle than the compulsions that his formation had elicited, yet the flavour of it was the same. Adya watched as a series of expressions flickered across the man¡¯s face. Shock, bewilderment, incredulity and what might have been relief. The expression were gone so fast, that most people would not have even noticed them, yet Adya had been watching him intently. Once his face had returned to its placid expression, she spoke. ¡°What is done, cannot be undone,¡± said Adya. ¡±Had I known what you were, I would have killed you, rather than enslave you. In my defense I considered you an ordinary bandit. Now that both of us know, there is no reason to pretend, not that you can lie to me in any case.¡± ¡°No, my lady,¡± replied Jarel with a sombre tone. ¡°How much do you know?¡± ¡°Enough. I know that had I removed your formation,¡± she replied, ¡°It would have left you paralysed, with no hope of recovery. You need not worry, the formation is still in place and fully functional, albeit now under my control.¡± This simple statement shook Jarel to his core. How was she able to take control of the formation without cutting him open? How could she override the control of the people he worked for. ¡°So I know the what.¡± continued Adya. ¡°What I need from you is the who and the why.¡± Even though he knew he could not refuse her, he hesitated for a moment. That moment was enough to bring a sharp pain in the very core of his being. The pain vanished, as if a figment of his imagination the moment he started to answer. ¡°I belong to the intelligence organisation belonging directly to the council of sects.¡± said Jarel, wincing from the now phantom pain. Even the momentary jolt had left Jarel shaken. He had not believed that whatever process she had used on him had the ability to cause soul pain, but feeling was believing. He would have to accept that he was now under this girl¡¯s full control. ¡°Does your organisation have a name?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Furthermore, what were your orders?¡± She had noticed his wince of pain, and had summarised accurately that he had suffered soul pain caused by his delay in answering her questions.Stolen story; please report. ¡°No my lady.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°The council sends our agents across the non-cultivator world to ensure monitoring. These human kingdoms are the weakest, and thus fertile grounds for non-orthodox sects, and demonic sects to grow.¡± ¡°That is an answer,¡± replied Adya smiling, ¡°But not the answer. Interesting how you can get around the system requirements by telling almost the whole truth. I do wonder if the system can learn from its mistakes. ¡± As she finished speaking, a much stronger spike of pain lanced through him. ¡°I would not suggest trying that little tactic again.¡± continued Adya calmly, clearly unaffected by his situation.¡±Now do you want to try that again?¡± The pain vanished as he started to speak again, this time ensuring he did not obfuscate in any way. ¡°I was sent by one of the elders of the council to try and locate someone,¡± said Jarel. ¡°I have not given many details, but they were born around five years ago. They were said to be shielded by the system. I would find them by the incongruities around them. They would be more mature and powerful for their age.¡± ¡°And what were your orders, should you locate this person?¡± asked Adya in the same placid tone. ¡°I was to give them a sealed letter that only they would be able to open. Then lead them back to the elder who had sent me out.¡± ¡°Were there any other instructions that you were given?¡± asked Adya. ¡°That I was to tell no one about my assignment.¡± answered Jarel. ¡°If I found the child in question, then to keep them safe, and hidden, from all other sects, and especially the other council of sect elders.¡± ¡°Where is this letter now?¡± asked Adya. ¡°And how would you be able to protect this person when you were captured so easily?¡± ¡°The letter is secured in a hidden location.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°As to how I was captured. I joined the bandit group as a way to keep an ear out for anything out of the ordinary. The unorthodox sects and demonic sects are known for leveraging the seedy underworld for their nefarious purposes. When we came across you, and Jason surrendered, I went along to learn more about you and your house. I wanted to know why the shadowed hand had targeted a 5 year old girl.¡± ¡°Then I felt your killing intent, and I knew that you were not ordinary.¡± he continued. ¡°I came along to see what would happen. When you kept your promise, I was surprised and stayed instead of escaping. When you offered to enslave us in return for letting us live, I thought you were going to place a formation. I saw almost everyone else submit.¡± ¡°At first I thought that your formation would not be able to overpower my existing formation.¡± said Jarel, ¡°But something stopped me from accepting your offer. When I was searched, I knew that you were looking for it, but I thought you would not find it. When you came to my cell to have me searched again, I did not feel that you had come to kill me, just search me again. As I felt no threat, I did not act. I realise now, that I should have escaped when you wanted to have me searched personally.¡± ¡°And just how strong are you?¡± asked Adya. ¡°I take it you are a cultivator, and that your formation also acts to hide your core?¡± The more this girl spoke, the more wary Jarel became. She was too observant, too mature, too calm, too dangerous. His senses were screaming that she was far more dangerous than he realised. ¡°Do you know anything about cultivation? Or Cultivation levels?¡± responded Jarel. ¡°Yes, my formation hides my cultivation. It is the only way to get close to the rouge cultivators.¡± ¡°Ah, that explains the formation and its spread.¡± exclaimed Adya as answers clicked into place, she was speaking out loud but lost in her own discovery, making connections as she put the jigsaw puzzle together. ¡°It is not enough to hide your core as the Mana flowing through the meridians would be a dead give away. But there is no way for the formation to be added after your meridians were constructed? So how? That would mean the only way was that the formation was placed before you formed your core, then the formation grew? Or was it grown along with meridian creation? Must have been excruciatingly painful. Ah that explains your reaction to the soul pain. It must also mean that you were trained from birth, or a very early age for the role you hold? ¡± Adya: Can we get our revelations to Sai even though she is offline? It may reduce the amount of time it takes to understand the knowledge we gathered. Mai: I can see up to what point she had processed the files, I can then place a file in the sequence for her to pick up. I will monitor to ensure Sai has seen it. As Adya was lost in her own mind, the reaction from Jarel was sheer incomprehension. How, just how could she know any of what she had just said? Not only had she found and taken over his formation, she had also found the extension that covered his meridians. Had she taken control over all of it? He could not believe that was the case, it should be impossible for anyone else to do that. However, the bar for what was impossible had been demolished several times in the course of this conversation already. Had she done another impossible thing, then Jarel may not be able to use his own cultivation if she willed it. Adya spent some more time going through her conclusions. She was sure she was the girl that Jarel had been sent out in the world to locate. He believed he was telling the trust, but that provided no assurances as to this elder behind the request. It was easily possible that the elder had lied to his own agents. The fact that Jarel had mentioned system protection also meant that this elder knew a lot about her. And he knew that from the time she was born, or close enough as not to make any difference. This elder obviously knew a lot more than he had passed on. To be fair to this mysterious person, giving away details beyond what was required to potentially a large number of agents, even secured by formations, was just asking for the knowledge to leak. Yet she could not deny the attraction of seeking this person out to see if they could give her any answers. That would have to wait for now. Until she could adequately assess the risks of such a venture. For now she would use the resource in front of her. It was time for her to get answers about how cultivation worked in this world. 31 - Chapter 30 - Day 1814 31 - Chapter 30 - Day 1814 ¡°Before you tell me how strong you are,¡± said Adya. ¡°I need you to walk me through how cultivation works, and its stages. As they say, context is king.¡± ¡°As you wish my lady.¡± said Jarel a little nonplussed, he was not sure why she wanted him to go over the basics, when he felt she already knew a lot more than most. ¡±As I was told, things have changed, since the system came to this world. The process and steps used to be different before.¡± ¡°Why would they teach you about what came before?¡± interrupted Adya. ¡°And there are those who remember a time before the system?¡± ¡°There are those who will live for a million years or even longer if they become a system recognised god,¡± answered Jarel, ¡°I have heard rumours of a few that are still around from the time the system first arrived. No idea if that is just talk.¡± Knowing her luck, not only were they still around, but she would need to deal with them at some point, thought Adya bitterly. ¡°Ok we can discuss history at some other time. Tell me about how cultivation currently works.¡± she said. ¡°Well the way the system catalogues the stages, and the way that we were taught is different, so please bear with me my lady.¡± said Jarel. ¡°The system marks everyone with an active system as having a cultivation stage of initiate. Then as they step through the realms, it uses numbers and letters starting at Rank 2 F, going all the way to Rank 10 SSS. There are rumours that there is a Rank 11, but no one has ever confirmed its existence. While the system seems to quantify the results of cultivation, it does not aid it in any way. The only requirement for the status to update to the next rank is to increase the density of your mana by 1 rank. If you don¡¯t know what that is, it is when you compress your mana pool to 1/10th. The mana takes on a new form, and becomes much more potent. Though you do lose 90% of your mana pool. Then you have to grow your pool again, however much you can, before attempting to compress it again. If you grow your pool too much, then you may never be able to reach the next level.¡± That was certainly a lot of information to take in for Adya. She motioned for Jarel to continue. ¡°Now in the old days, people did not have natural access to mana, or Qi as they used to call it before the system,¡± said Jarel. ¡±So the people had to strengthen their bodies to withstand the caustic nature of it, then gather enough Qi before they could stabilise it. The process of stabilisation created natural meridians. Only then could then form a core.¡± Adya translated that in her head as Body refinement, Qi gathering, Foundation stabilisation, then core formation. That was the way she had progressed in her previous life too. If the pattern held true, then after that would be the forming of the nascent soul. ¡°Now, after the system, a lot of things have changed.¡± continued Jarel. ¡°Mana was available to everyone, and was no longer caustic. The bodies of everyone had been tempered and refined. Also Qi, or Mana as it became known, no longer had to be gathered, and was regenerated in the body automatically.¡± ¡°So the first step is now to form a core. That is done by taking as much mana as a person can control and condense it into a core. At the same time, it has to be compressed enough to increase the density to tier 2.¡± said Jarel, now in full lecture mode, not that Adya minded. She idly noted that Dexter was hanging on to every word. ¡°Since the foundation no longer needs to be formed, the next step is to manually create the meridians. This is a lot harder than it used to be, as cultivators have to understand the designs and then implement them. This required condensing and using the mana to form it, and stabilise it as you go. Since tier 2 mana would just dissolve back into the pool, it requires tier 3 mana to form the meridians, with the core being upgraded last.¡± ¡°What are the actual steps called now?¡± asked Adya ¡°So you start as an initiate, then core formation, then meridian drawing, then mana stabilisation, then nascent soul creation, then comes soul enhancement,¡± he replied. ¡°I don¡¯t know the steps beyond that as I am working on creating my nascent soul.¡± So at least the first five steps matched with her knowledge, just changed around due to the system. Also the way they progressed was so different here, they actually reduced their core size during the compression, where she had gone the other way by increasing the core size 10 fold as well as compressing the mana. So her core strength should be considered abnormal. He was stage 5, she wondered how large his core capacity was. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind telling me,¡± she asked rather than ordered. ¡°I understand that you have mana at tier 5 density, but what is the total capacity as shown on your status?¡± ¡°I would rather tell you what is normal my lady, ¡° he responded sheepishly. ¡°Most people maintain a core size of 1M mana. They then slowly grow it to 10M, before compressing it for the next stage back to 1M.¡± So even though Adya was tier 2, her capacity was actually half way through tier 3 already. Once she had completed her meridians, she would be able to fight against an early tier 4, even without compressing her mana. She would need to think about how she wanted to progress. She was also happy to hear, due to system interference, the core was not fixed in size and could be grown over time, though she suspected this to be a slow and arduous process.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Talk to me about core creation and meridian drawing,¡± said Adya. ¡°How is that supposed to work exactly?¡± Adya was interested in how things were done in this world and she had a good example. If Jarel had been trained since he was a child, then he should have a wealth of knowledge, at least in the lower realms. Also, it would be good if Dexter showed an interest, then she would push him towards becoming a cultivator. One of the ways of protecting her family would be to become a cultivator clan, but that would also expose them to the political machinations of other clans and sects. ¡°So for core formation, I was taught visualisation exercises,¡± started Jarel, ¡°The idea is to visualise a core, the elders recommended a ball, as it is easier for most people. Some do use more complex shapes though. Then the idea is to hold that shape in your mind. Visualise the ball in the space your dantian should be, just below the navel, and then fill it with mana while compressing it all the time. You hold until the system gives you a notification of the change in mana density, at that point your core is formed.¡± Adya scoffed internally at such a crude method, yes in this world it would work, and could be improved on, but the strength of the core would always be mediocre at best. The initial structure would need to be added to the outside of the core, making it bigger by layering. Her method allowed her to form a massive core, but more importantly she could fill up the core and keep filling it, knowing the structure was strong enough to hold and compress the mana for her. Once she had completed the other requirements, she would be able to step into the next tier easily and she would not have to sacrifice her core size. In fact, if she wanted to make her core bigger, which she did, then instead of holding the core size steady, she could push mana into her core and let it expand, much like adding water into a balloon. Then she would need to give it some time to stabilise at the new size before doing it again. Her core would give her much greater flexibility in the future. She wanted to do the same with forming her meridians, giving her the option of expanding them in the future. ¡°And for meridian forming?¡± asked Adya. ¡°You have to learn a pattern for the meridians,¡± replied Jarel. ¡°That is part of the legacies, different meridian patterns allow for different techniques to be used. Once you have the pattern memorised, you draw a tendril of mana from the core, and push it out to create the meridians, compacting it with additional mana as you go. The pain is excruciating as you have to dig through your own body to form them.¡± Again Adya found the method to be crude, especially based on her plans. Of course digging through your own body would be painful. She would have to review her plans, but she was not going to form her meridians in such a crude manner. The reason patterns were needed was most people were unaware of the full scale of the circulatory system. They had to create a crude imitation of the blood vessels to facilitate energy circulation. Her plan was to start with the blood vessels, and use them as a guide wire to create the meridians, that would give her much finer control over energy than a typical cultivator, yet it would have some down sides if she copied her circulatory system fully. She would need points from where she could release energy into the world, that was how skills worked, but generally there were no points where the body allowed someone to bleed. She would also need to do this with all three of her energy types and connect to all three cores that were spaced in different parts of her body. Of course, she would have to learn just what she could do as she was in uncharted territory, especially in relation to the willpower core. ¡°What is the purpose of the mana stabilisation realm?¡± asked Adya ¡°The mana stabilisation realm is required to fully merge the body and the meridians,¡± said Jarel. ¡°It is also a chance to expand the meridians if they are found to be too narrow. Once that is done, then a circulation is started with the mana constantly moving through the meridians in a set pattern. Once the full network of meridians is able to maintain the mana circulation, then the stage is complete apart from increasing the density of the mana.¡± ¡°Enough questions about cultivation.¡± said Adya. ¡°Tell me what is the difference between a sect and a clan.¡± ¡°A clan is one family or cultivators and their retainers,¡± said Jarel. ¡°Technically the moment your retainers start cultivating, you are a sect formed around the clan. In practice a sect is considered to have a formal intake method for disciples. Formal teaching methods. Formal roles and organisations relating to cultivation and its associated pursuits like alchemy and formations.¡± ¡°What is the threshold to be recognised as a clan or a sect?¡± asked Adya ¡°Are they treated differently? ¡°No, for the most part the same rules apply to sects and clans, the difference is in how the core is formed. In a sect everyone starts out as an outer disciple, then an inner disciple, core disciple, then an outer elder, inner elder, core elder, head of a hall, and sect head.¡± said Jarel. ¡°While there is always going to be some corruption and nepotism, for the most part everyone in the sect is treated the same way and given access to the same level of resources.¡± ¡°In a clan the family is in control.¡± carried on Jarel. ¡°The family decides who gets what resources, and a low tiered cultivator who was part of the family would hold higher status than a higher tiered cultivator who was a retainer.¡± ¡°The council of sects treats both the same in most things, but does have to slap down clans more often due to them creating entitled scions,¡± said Jarel. ¡°The clans also tend to keep more to themselves and are overall weaker compared to the sects. The clans may have members who are individually stronger, but they don''t usually have a lot of people at that power level. The sects might be slightly weaker in absolute cultivation, but have many more elders at that level. They are also able to gather resources faster, and so the sects tend to dominate the cultivator world more.¡± ¡°How are the levels decided?¡± asked Adya ¡°To be recognised as a full clan or sect, you need to have at least one person who has formed a nascent soul.¡± replied Jarel. ¡±Someone like me could form a clan or sect, but it would be considered a nascent one. You would not be taken seriously by any of the major sects or clans. If you have any rare resources, you would most likely be taken over very aggressively. After that it''s straightforward. You need a tier 6 to be considered a small sect, a tier 7 to be considered a middle sect, a tier 8 to be considered a large sect, a tier 9 to be considered a peak sect. You need to have a tier 10 to take a seat on the council of sects.¡± 32 - Chapter 31 - Day 1814 32 - Chapter 31 - Day 1814 So there were multiple Tier 10s wandering around in the open. They had enough power and resources to train up and send out multiple tier 5s on a multi year mission. The kind of resources they were throwing around would probably be more than the entire kingdom was worth. This would require a great deal of thought and care. Even that scroll was a risk Adya could not just jump into. Though that did give her an idea for questions about mana stones. Before that, she would need to let her mother into a part of the secret. Thankfully Dexter was bound just to her. ¡°Dexter, Jarel.¡± said Adya. ¡°I am going to invite my mother to join us. We are going to tell her that you are here looking for demonic sects, and took an interest in me. That you have taken me on as an apprentice, not a formal disciple, just someone you will give pointers to from time to time. Mother does not currently have my soul mark, so she will not be able to check, so don¡¯t mention anything about soul marking you. Is that clear?¡± When they had both understood and agreed, Adya sent Dexter to fetch her mother. In the meantime she wondered if she could hide the soul mark from her other soul marked. There must be a way. She focused on the identity and the text popped up above Jarel¡¯s head. She focused on her wish to hide that notification. It drained a substantial amount of willpower, but she was rewarded with a system prompt. Soul Mark evolved Please select one of the following options. 1, Display to everyone 2, Display to others soul marked by Adya Gurg 3, Display only to Adya Gurg She was surprised by both the use of willpower and the options presented. The implications were huge. More interestingly, she received information on the formation changes to implement this option in all future formations. Out of curiosity she picked option 1. She received another prompt. Please enter the text that you wish the display to show This was followed by an empty text field with an accept option, where she could enter anything. She put the number 1 in the text and accepted the selection. A 1 showed up above Jarel¡¯s head without her even trying to use identify. She focused on changing the setting again, and the same prompt appeared. She quickly set it to option 3 for now. She would have time to look at it later. The biggest surprise for her was her ability to change formations, or soul marks, using willpower after they were already in place. She would need to test the ability to learn its limitations, but the fact that she could do it at all meant she was only just beginning to learn about her true capabilities. From one perspective, she was creating reality using only willpower. If that was actually the case, what else could she achieve? Also she had not even started to play with stamina as an energy source, she would need to learn just what it was capable of. Suddenly Adya remembered what she had meant to ask before her mind wandered down a tangent. ¡°Jarel, talk to me about mana stones,¡± said Adya. ¡°Where do they come from, what are the uses, and why is the price fixed?¡± ¡°Mana stones are crystallised mana.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°They are widely available in the lower tiers, becoming more and more difficult to get above tier 6. The availability varies wildly. They are said to be 100 mana, but are actually between 97 and 103 mana. The same is true at each rank. Most mana stones are mined. At the lower end the prices are fixed. This is to control the costs for the new cultivators and prevent hoarding. Tier 1 is 10 silver, tier 2 is 1 gold, tier 3 is 10 gold, tier 4 is 100 gold / 1 platinum. From tier 5 the prices start to increase. Tier 5 is 25 platinum, tier 6 is 800 platinum. Above that they are only auctioned off, but the prices jump massively. A tier 7 can sell starting from 20,000 platinum but will usually go for double that. A tier 8 at auction would start at more than 1M platinum. Tier 9s and 10s are all exchanged privately, and never available in the open market, so the price is not known but the guesses are in the billions of platinum for the tier 9s. Not even sure what a tier 10 would go for.¡± ¡°There are people with high enough mana control that they can create mana stones,¡± said Jarel. ¡°The problem is that mana becomes an issue at the higher tiers. So, you would not know this yet, but the regeneration is based on tier 1 mana. So at tier 1 you need 10 minutes to refill your core. At tier 2 that is 40 minutes, at tier 3 160 minutes and so on. At tier 10 you would need 5 years to fully replenish your core. At that level the mana stones are the only way to get mana fast. They are also necessary to push your tier forward. Most people don¡¯t have a good enough skill to create mana stones until they are tier 5. I can''t even do it. By that point spending a lot of time creating a mana stone and losing that mana is not worth the effort.¡± ¡°I guess, some people would do it to store mana for the future, but it still takes a lot of time.¡± mused Jarel. ¡°Just out of curiosity what skill do you need and at what level to create mana stones?¡± asked Adya. While she waited for an answer she checked, and her mana regeneration was not a tier 1 but at tier 2. She checked all her resource pools, and they were all the same. Why was she different? Even more questions! ¡°You need Mana Manipulation, that is hard to get, as generally you only get Internal Mana Manipulation. The internal skill lets you start to cultivate, but not control mana outside your body. You need to get internal mana manipulation to level 256 to get it to evolve to mana manipulation. Then you need to get mana manipulation to level 40 just to be able to attempt it. Even then, you would need more than an hour to form one crystal. All that effort is not worth it for most people.¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Even more questions to answer, she had started with the soul version of the skill and it had evolved into energy manipulation, but she had never lost levels, only gained them. There were a lot of discrepancies between her lived experience and what Jarel was telling her. If he were not soul marked, she would think that he was lying to her. ¡°As for uses of mana stones,¡± said Jarel. ¡°They are used to top up mana, in formations, as currency, for training, for tiering up at higher levels.¡± ¡°Would there be any interest in creating mana coins?¡± asked Adya. ¡°I have heard that some people were trying, but no one succeeded.¡± ¡°Yes, every few years someone will try to solve that issue,¡± said Jarel. ¡°There are 2 major problems, people can only create stones or coins at the same tier as themselves. That limits the market significantly. And that requires someone to sit there, absorb mana stones and make coins all day. It would get boring very fast. No one has come up with a way to have an artifact do that. If someone succeeds, then it would be amazing. Stones are a pain to store and use, the weird shapes not helping. Coins would be much easier to deal with and would hopefully be the exact same value. The variable sizes can play havoc with the more sensitive formations.¡± ¡°Is there such a thing as dimensional storage?¡± asked Adya, now in full interrogation mode.¡± ¡°You mean a personal storage space?¡± replied Jarel. ¡°Again people have attempted to create something similar, but no luck. There are said to be a few of the tier 10s, who have something like a personal dimension they can store things in. The ones that are known about are small and can only be used by the person who created it. It also uses a lot of mana.¡± It was good to have someone from the most powerful group in this world to answer her questions, she had a feeling she would come up with a lot more. As they were talking, Dexter finally returned with Gauri. ¡°So I hear we have a special guest,¡± said Gauri with a sardonic tone. ¡°What is so secret that even Parth was not to join us?¡± ¡°Mother let me introduce Jarel, he is a cultivator, and an agent working directly for the council of sects.¡± said Adya with a smirk on her face. As Adya spoke, the colour drained from Gauri¡¯s face. ¡°Welcome to our estate Cultivator Jarel¡± stammered Gauri. ¡°Please accept our apologies for the way our family has treated you. I hope you can forgive us.¡± ¡°No need, no need.¡± said Jarel, putting on an act for Gauri. ¡°I was, and am still undercover. It is the only way to hunt demonic cultivators. Adya here somehow recognised what I was. She has shown great promise. I have offered to take her as my apprentice.¡± ¡°Apprentice, Lord Cultivator?¡± stammered an ashen faced Gauri. ¡°You honour us. We are not worthy. We have nothing that would be of equal value.¡± ¡°Relax mother.¡± said Adya with a teasing tone. ¡°Jarel is not all that stuck up. He only acts like that. He is only a tier 5 cultivator.¡± ¡°T¡­Tier 5!¡± whispered Gauri, not appreciating Adya¡¯s joke. ¡°It really is fine, mother,¡± said Adya. ¡°He needs a place to stay out of sight while he continues his hunt. I told him he can stay here. In exchange he has agreed to give me and maybe a few others, if he thinks them suitable, a few pointers.¡± ¡°No one else should know about his situation,¡± continued Adya. ¡°He will need a reason that he is here. Some will recognise him as part of the bandits, and without my formation, that will cause some questions.¡± At her words Dexter looked up and tried to identify Jarel and received nothing. He directed a quizzical look at Adya, but said nothing. Gauri was deep in thought. This cultivator was very dangerous, but if Adya had managed to come to an arrangement, then he might well become a shield for the family. ¡°We use the story of the other one.¡± said Gauri, suddenly inspired. ¡°Lord Jarel is an agent of the king, here to infiltrate the criminal underworld. He was with the bandits to see who they worked for.¡± ¡°Yes, that would work as a good cover story.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°Thank you for your hospitality Gauri.¡± ¡°Mother, I will leave you to get to know our new guest,¡± said Adya. ¡°If that is alright with you. I have some errands to run. Dexter, will you please keep mother company?¡± ¡°Sure Adya,¡± said Gauri. ¡°You may go about your day.¡± Adya gave a look to Jarel, signaling him to be on his best behaviour then left to return to her rooms. She needed food and she needed time to digest the massive amount of new information that she had just absorbed. She returned to her room and sent Sally to the kitchens with an order for hot food. While she waited for the food she spent time reviewing all the information she had received. The biggest nugget that she had unearthed, that for most cultivators, their mana pool was rarely larger than 10M. The second biggest, was that if she actually made the mana coin artifact work, then she would have a way to launder her stones. She was finding more and more differences between her lived experience versus what others were describing to her. Her stats, her regeneration, access to a massive storage, memories of her past life, the list just went on and on. There were a few things that could be at the root of all these changes. The multiple souls, the scion protocol, her gestalt nature. Yet, she had no way to get real answers. Whatever steps she took, would invite danger from other sources. She was nowhere near strong enough to protect herself or her family. Then a sudden thought jumped to the front of her thoughts. When she had been born, she had been under the protection protocol. For this elder to know about her, they would have to be more powerful than the system, or they would have to have the system¡¯s permission. Both were scary thoughts, but one gave her a potential option to learn more. She would have to investigate and weigh the risks carefully before proceeding, but there was no route forward without risk. She would spend the rest of the day in meditation, and revisit this issue the next day with a clear perspective. 33 - Chapter 32 - Day 1815 33 - Chapter 32 - Day 1815 Adya awoke the next morning and proceeded to get ready for the day. The full night of sleep had done wonders for her state of mind. She would really have to remember that she possessed the body of a five year old. No matter what memories she had, the body had needs and limitations that needed to be respected. She had been considering the information that she had obtained during her questioning of Jarel. She knew conclusively that she was too weak to protect herself let alone her family. Jarel would be a good bulwark against local threats, but actually deploying him in the open would just bring threats from further afield. A bunch of tier 10s running around was no joke. She either needed protection, where she would end up under the control of whomever she chose. She would also make herself a public target of everyone else at the same level as her protector, and no doubt get drawn into whatever political machiavellian machinations were afoot. Or she needed to become too valuable to threaten, the problem with that was, if it was valuable only at the local level, it would actually make her a target, if it became valuable on the larger stage, then that would make her a massive target, but with zero protection. She would end up under someone¡¯s enforced protection In essence a slave in a box, however nice that box would be, it would still be a box. She could hide and wait until she was more powerful. She had no doubt in her abilities to gather significant strength, but it was still a long way to tier 10. Jarel had already confirmed that she was being hunted. However benevolent the motivations, that did not change the fact that a number of very powerful cultivators had been given instructions to locate and return her. While hiding may provide some respite in the short term, there was no chance that it could be maintained long term. She also had to add that fact, that the search for her had started when she was still protected by the system. Did the fact that her protection had now been removed mean that more people would be hunting her now? The idea of multiple tier 10s with unknowable agendas spreading their vast networks across the globe in a hunt for her did not sound appealing in the least. Soon, she would have no idea who was hunting her or why. Even if she could hide, her family could not. They could still be leveraged against her. There were her choices, hide, and maybe get a little more time, possibly at the cost of her family. Choose a protector and become beholden to them. Or become valuable, and be fought over. But were they all mutually exclusive choices? What if she could choose a combination of all three? Would that work? It just might if she played it right, and she was able to deliver. She would need a protector, that gave her assurance. Yet, the reason she was protected would have to be something other than who she was. If she designed and ran a facility that could convert mana stones to coins, a feat that had been attempted by many, but achieved by none. It would present a genuine reason to the world for her to be protected, but not enough of a reason for them to go to war over her. As long as everyone could access the facility and benefit equally, then they would have no reason to challenge the status quo, nor any reason to look at her more deeply. She could set up the facilities here, in the middle of nowhere, and ask her protector to send her protection. People she could potentially suborn to her own purposes. So she would keep her distance from her protector, while taking over their people, while presenting a simple economic reason for her protection to the world. Yes there were a lot of qualifiers in that plan. She would need to create a machine that no one else had managed to. She would need for that elder to be benign in their motivations towards her, and she would need the team she had to be strong enough to temporarily subdue whoever was sent to protect her. And to even begin in earnest, she needed Sai to complete the analysis. Maybe there were steps she could take that would allow her to improve her odds. She needed to speak to Jarel again. He could also help her deal with the shadowed hand. Adya did not rush; she took the time to prepare for the day, and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. She reassessed her plan from all the angles she could think of, even having Mai run simulations based on a range of conditions. The results were not encouraging. Based on her current understanding, the risk of her plan failing were high, the consequences bad. However, the consequences of doing nothing were decidedly worse. Sometimes one had to go with the lesser of two evils. She made her way to see Jarel. This time she went to see him alone. His door was no longer guarded. She knocked and entered, keeping up appearances. Jarel was finishing his own breakfast by the look of things. ¡°Greetings Jarel.¡± said Adya without preamble. ¡°I have more questions. Who gave you the assignment to look for the strange child that you mentioned?¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°The assignment was from the elder herself.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°Is that the usual process?¡± asked Adya. Good she was getting more information about this mysterious elder already. ¡°No, I am only a tier 5, normally Tier 10s would not even bother to learn our names.¡± mused Jarel. ¡°It was certainly an anomalous situation. I was so starstruck with the opportunity to meet a tier 10, I did not even question the oddity.¡± ¡°What was your impression of her reason in searching out this person,¡± asked Adya. ¡°I did not sense any obvious nefarious intent, though I have no doubt that she would have been able to keep it from me if she so chose.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°Tell me about the scroll that you were given to pass on to this person.¡± asked Adya. ¡°The scroll is a powerful artifact, I could tell that by holding it.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°I could not investigate it further as it has a locking formation on it. The elder mentioned that the right person would be able to unseal it, anyone else attempting to unseal it would be rendered unconscious.¡± ¡°If this elder, or another sent out a protection detail to defend against interference from other tier 10s, what would be the make up of such a force.¡± asked Adya. ¡°Most tier 10s will not act directly, the cost of doing so is immense for them. For the tier 9s and tier 8s it''s only a little better.¡± said Jarel after some thought. ¡°Usually tier 7s are the highest level of agents that are active, but the cost to send them for every minor issue is not justifiable. So usually, a tier 6 threat would be the first serious level of threat. To deal with a tier 6 team, usually two operatives working together, another tier 10, would send a team of peak tier 5s, with two tier 6s.¡± ¡°How would you rate your combat prowess against a random peak tier 5.¡± asked Adya. ¡°I would be able to restrain them temporarily, depending on their focus.¡± answered Jarel. ¡°How many tier 5s would it take to knock out a peak tier 6?¡± asked Adya. ¡°At least 5 combat oriented peak tier 5s would be needed.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°Is it possible to temporarily knock out tier 5s and tier 6s, maybe if they are taken by surprise?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Yes, but it would require careful planning in advance.¡± replied a now frowning Jarel. He did not like where this series of questions was leading. ¡°Do you know other agents who were sent to hunt for this same person?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Yes, quite a lot of them in fact.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°How long would it take you to report back to the elder, and to get an update on the status of the search? Specifically if anything had changed recently.¡± asked Adya. ¡°Around a week to ten days.¡± responded Jarel. ¡°Would you need to meet them in person?¡± asked Adya. ¡°No, it would be via a remote communication formation, but I would need to go to the closest sect to access it.¡± said Jarel. ¡°What is the risk that the communication formation can be spied upon?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Very low, no one around here is powerful or competent enough.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°Can I ask you a question?¡± ¡°Yes you can.¡± replied Adya. already anticipating the question he was going to ask. ¡°Are you the person I was sent to find?¡± he asked. ¡°I literally have no idea.¡± replied Adya, happy to be able to answer truthfully. She did not want to send Jarel out, or allow him to directly interact with the elder, her control was not good enough for that. Jarel signed in response. He could tell she was not telling him everything but she had not lied about not knowing if she was the person he had been sent to find. ¡°I need you to go and get an update on the current status of the search,¡± said Adya. ¡°You will do nothing to bring attention to yourself. Nor will you come across as suspicious in any way. After receiving your update, on the way back you are to locate and bring back another tier 5 agent, after you have made preparations to knock them out. You will bring them back to show me to them in private, then proceed to knock them out. You will not allow them to become suspicious. If you are not sure about their motivations, then you are to leave them behind and find another target. Are the intentions behind my orders clear?¡± ¡°Yes my lady,¡± replied Jarel through gritted teeth. He was not happy that he was being sent off to hunt his former team. ¡°I know that you don¡¯t like the idea of hunting your former colleagues,¡± said Adya calmly. ¡°I need you to assess my next words logically and not emotionally. Your colleagues are already enslaved by the very organisation that trained you. The only change in them coming to work for me, is a change in organisation. In fact, seen from another perspective, you are freeing them. I want you to internalise this argument and repeat it quietly within your mind, when you start to get emotional about your orders.¡± ¡°Yes my lady,¡± responded Jarel, knowing that this girl was showing him the extent to which his previous organisation had control over him. ¡°Then make arrangements, and be on your way,¡± said Adya. 34 - Chapter 33 - Day 1824 34 - Chapter 33 - Day 1824 Adya had returned to her old routine once she had sent Jarel off on his task. She had known that he had not been happy about being set to hunt his comrades, but Adya did not have much of a choice. She needed to reduce the number of people who were looking for her, and gain some measure of control. She also needed as much current information as she could get. Her need to push had removed the protection she seemed to have enjoyed from the system years too early. If she wanted to have any hope of retaining her freedom, she needed to know what those who would hunt her knew. If one tier 10 had a reason to find her, then it would be a reasonable assumption that others would also have a reason, even if it was simply to oppose the elder who had started looking for her at birth. She had not been idle, she had started to push through her training, employing more and more of her strength. She had wanted to see what an increase in the body stat to 500k would mean. She had already been sure that the body would not be 250,000 times stronger. If that was the power scaling, then the cultivators would be all but unstoppable. Yet she had managed to have her men knock out a tier 5 cultivator, albeit with him not resisting. Adya had noticed that there had been no mention of a stat for constitution or recovery. She wondered how that worked. So she had spent the last several days designing and running tests to get some answers. On the constitution front, she found that stamina as a stat was actually mislabeled in her opinion. The energy served multiple functions. First, it worked as stamina, as you began to tire, stamina from the pool would infuse your body and allow you to continue to push yourself physically. The limitation she had discovered came from three factors, at least for her. The first was the stamina pool and regeneration. If you pushed yourself beyond your limits and kept pushing, then the amount of stamina required would keep increasing. The increase was exponential. Your stamina would only kick in when you were already physically tired, then the stamina would soothe your body and start to let you push yourself. Once you emptied your pool, an easy thing for Adya to simulate by simply making stamina stones and stopping her regeneration from filling the pool. So the amount of stamina required started at 1% of the stamina pool. Then every 4 minutes, another place where the number 4 was important it seemed, the amount of stamina required to keep going would increase by 10%. So after 4 minutes it would need 1.1%. The problem was the escalation. If most people had a 10% regen rate, then they could keep pushing for around a 100 minutes before the regeneration rate was no longer sufficient and they would start to burn into their pool. At 124 minutes, the pool would be empty and the regeneration would do nothing at all. Adya had the ability to push herself further by using her stamina stones to replace the pool, yet the escalating nature would have burned through her reserves fast. The exponential nature of the progression meant in the end there could never be enough stamina to continue forever. Still 2 hours of the ability to push yourself, after you were already tired, was already a powerful boost. It also meant that training took on a new importance. The stamina drain started when you reached your limit. For those who were stronger, faster and had more endurance, that would mean the point at which they needed stamina would come later, giving the ability to outlast their opponents. Of course that maths worked for people who had stamina and their regeneration in the same tier. How it would work for a cultivator with a stamina, instead of a mana core remained to be seen. There was a second use for stamina, they would throw all the calculations out though. That was the use of stamina for recovery from injury. Stamina could be used, if properly directed and not wasted, to heal injuries. She was not sure if everyone else could use it as much as she could due to her gestalt nature, but at least normal, non critical wounds could be healed through using stamina. Thankfully this effect did not have an escalation factor. However, it was enough to seriously impact the endurance boost. It was not so much of an issue in the first 90 minutes or so. As during this time the stamina regeneration was greater than the boost required, depending on how much stamina was required to heal the wound of course., and so was not reducing the maximum stamina pool. Once over that 90 minute mark, any stamina required to heal would directly reduce the stamina available to boost the person.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. That was quite apart from the need to direct the stamina to a wound, and not wasting it in general. The upside was that she had found a use for the stamina stone she had been creating. They could be used as a combined recovery and healing potion. Though she did not want to let anyone know she could create those. Maybe, she would pretend she had crafted a new pill. It would be a useful item for their retainers to carry in cases of emergency. It was also why she disliked the word stamina to describe the resource. She would come up with a better name for it, even if she only used it herself. She had also spent a part of her time on considering how to create the machine to convert mana stones into mana coins. The physical machine would be easy enough. Drop stones in at one end, the stones pass through a formation, then coins drop at the other end. What she needed to do was to convert the stones to raw mana, extract a 100 mana exactly, then compress it into a coin with the shape, and design she wanted. As the stones were not exactly 100 mana, and the formation would need some power to run, the number of stones entering would not equal the number of coins created. She would also need to optimise the formation to minimise mana use, and mana loss. No point throwing money away. Also, no matter how useful her device would be, if the amount of mana it needed to convert was too high, then it would not be worth it to make the conversion. The utility would be lost due to the cost. That was when she had another brain wave, she needed the machine to be powered by ordinary people, and their mana pools. It would also be possible to create a version that could make mana stones fast for people from their own mana, though she would create that and make it expensive, or limit it in some other way to keep control over the market. She would also need to obfuscate her formations so that no one else would be able to copy what she was doing, she wanted to maintain her monopoly. Sure some people would come up with versions that worked, but she was confident that it would not be nearly as efficient as the ones she produced. It would be so much easier if she could work out how to give people passive skills. Though that would leave the issue of where the mana stones or coins would end up after being created. People did not have a convenient spatial storage as she did. She would need to test with her new retainers once Sai had come back on line. According to Sai¡¯s original estimates, it should be not much more than another 50 days or so, though Adya hoped that time had been reduced somewhat. She had also been called on to convert a few more spies to her side during this time. The family had taken her advice to heart, and were moving very slowly to ensure no one suspected a thing. Most of the spies would be sent back to their organisations as a double agent to further ensure no one noticed anything amiss. The head of intelligence was working with the converted royal spy to spread disinformation about the family, both for the sake of sending out disinformation and to use it to identify the actual people behind the spies. Though it was still early in the process, the route to identify their enemies seemed long. They had good guesses of course, but evidence was proving to be elusive to obtain. The spies reported to handlers, who reported to other handlers and so on. The more layers they peeled, the more then found still protecting the instigators. Still it was not all bad. The confidence from having complete confidence in the core retainers was liberating. It allowed for more daring plans to be devised, to be implemented only after they had targets for their plans. They would return the infiltration with the same, targeting senior retainers in the employ of their detractors. All Adya could do for now was plan and wait. She needed her pieces in place before she took the next steps. 35 - Chapter 34 - Day 1825 35 - Chapter 34 - Day 1825 Another day Passed. Adya was expecting Jarel back either today, if there had been no problems, or in another day or so, at the outside. She had continued on with her own experiments, in addition to her training, and ad hoc duties. She had just finished her training for the day, she was slowly becoming more acclimated to the massive increase in stats. She knew she was several times stronger than she had been before she had formed her core, but still had no accurate understanding of the new strength. The increase in her mind stats were more quantifiable. Mai and Sai had long ago benchmarked their processing capabilities using standard mathematical models. While the results could only provide results in the processing sphere, in terms of speed of processing, the speed of problem solving, number of instructions carried out per second etc, it was something that was easy to benchmark. There was also some data available to compare perception, but as Adya had not pushed her perception capabilities to the limit, the results were not as reliable. As Mai and Sai enjoyed the same boosts from stats as Adya did, it was a good basis to start from. Of course, the processing capabilities for the three could not be compared. Sai and Mai were single minds, while Adya had absorbed the full capabilities of the other five. That did not mean that Adya could process data faster than Sai or Mai. All three were designed for different purposes, and so a direct comparison would always be impossible. Sai had been designed from the ground up for scientific analysis, with a focus on processing large amounts of data efficiently and at speed. Mai had been likewise designed for combat in a ultra high tech military. While not necessarily able to fully utilise Mai¡¯s capabilities in this world, at least at present. Mai had been designed to track and report on war fronts that could encompass entire solar systems, keeping track of friends and foes numbering in the millions. Mai could also coordinate military operations at that scale, planning then executing complex engagements. This included the ability to control multiple desperate weapon systems in tandem, whilst monitoring the entire engagement, pass orders, and supporting her host in direct combat. The rest of the minds that had been merged into Adya all had a biological basis, and thus had started from the same approximate template. Though that was not all they were. The scientific focused mind of Anya, the warrior mind of Adya, were merged with the two cultivator sisters¡¯ minds. The separation of minds shortly after birth had been an interesting experience. While the system had facilitated the split, it had not defined what was split. That had been carried out intuitively by the newly integrated Adya. It had taken Adya a long time to realise what had actually been achieved. The personalities were not separate entities in the strictest sense. The issue at merger had been that while the biological brains could be merged without any real complications, the structures of Mai and Sai were so different, that the combined entity simply could not function. This had been exacerbated by the inherent gestalt nature that Adya had achieved. So after the personality split, then the subsequent merger of Adya¡¯s mind, body and soul had created an interesting situation. The memories, including all knowledge from all entities had been transferred to the soul, or rather merged with it. Adya, Sai and Mai were like personality programs running on the new hybrid gestalt hardware, with full access to the combined inherent knowledge, but, and this was the important part, still separated from it. This was the only way Adya could still function. What all this meant for Adya was that, Mai and Sai had access to the same ¡°gestalt hardware¡± as Adya had, and any improvements would be shared equally by all. This made it easier for her to benchmark using any of the personalities and be assured that the results were accurate. She would have to spend time benchmarking all her abilities going forward to have a full understanding of future improvements. Another task to add to her ever growing list. Adya had Mai run the full range of benchmark tests, then compare the results. They spent a little time rationalising their findings. At an effective mind stat of 33M, the benchmark results showed an improvement of 21,965 fold improvement. Adya already had the formula she had worked out for how the increase in the number of parallel processing cores had increased based on her stats. Figuring that was the basis for the calculations, Adya and Mai worked through their options for how that increase had been achieved based on the stats. The maths was complicated to say the least, but it seemed that each range doubled the effective gain from the previous range. Then multiplied it by the gain from that range and multiplied it by 4. That 4 kept coming up in the calculations, it must have some specific purpose. So as an example if her mind stat had been 9, then the calculation would have looked like this. Range 1-9 gave a 9 x 1 x 4 = 36 fold increase in speed from the base of 1. Applying the same to a stat of 99 gave 18 x 2 x 4 = 144 fold increase. At 33M stat the maths seemed to be 66 x 83.2 x 4 = 21,965 fold increase that was measured. It seemed that within each range, the improvements gained were a 10th for each level, so the multiple for 33m would be the same as for 30m or 39m, with the maximum for the range at 99m of 128. In simplified terms, each range of stats had 10 minor realms, with a power boost at the step into the new range. The power jumps between the ranges were also reducing, staring at a 4x improvement at the start and slowly reducing down at each threshold. It should even out at around 2 for the foreseeable future thought Adya.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. If she applied the same logic to her body stat, that would mean she would be around 7,744 times stronger than she had been with a 1 in the body stat. Since 10 was the average stat for a starting adult, she would be around 215 times stronger than an average adult. A nice increase, but by no means earth shattering. It was also becoming clear why cultivators were so much stronger, as their effective stats would be significantly impacted by tiering up. Adya still wanted to physically test her new capabilities to both validate the numbers, and to see the real world impact. It was one thing to say that someone was 200 times stronger, it was something else entirely to experience it. If she wanted to be able to effectively utilise her power, she would need to be intimately familiar with the limitations. As she was working through her plans for testing, she was brought out of reverie by a knock on her door. Sally opened the door after knocking. ¡°Miss Adya, Cultivator Jarel has returned with another cultivator, and seeks an audience with you.¡± ¡°Give me a few minutes, then show them both in.¡± replied Adya. She prepared herself for implementing the formation on this new cultivator. A few minutes later, Jarel entered with another man. ¡°Welcome Cultivator Jarel,¡± said Adya, keeping up pretences, ¡°Will you not introduce us? How may I help the both of you today?¡± ¡°This is Cultivator Thomas,¡± replied Jarel, patting him on the back as he introduced him.¡±He was also trained with me.¡± Whatever Jarel did, caused Thomas to collapse onto the floor in a heap. ¡°Please hurry, I am not sure how long my talisman will last against him¡± Adya wasted no time in rushing over and initiating her new skill Formation Scribe. She was prompted to select a formation from the library and she selected the loyalty enforcement formation. Then she was asked to select the number of cores to use, she selected 2 cores. Then she was asked to select the number of targets. She selected one. Lastly an illusion of the formation appeared to her, and she was prompted to place the formation in place. She placed the formation on the bare forearm of Thomas. Since normally Sai had controlled the initiation of the skill, this was the first time Adya had seen the process. She assumed that Sai had simply provided the inputs directly and skipped the prompts. The results of the skill were interesting. Adya¡¯s hand started to move on their own, both hands picking up a quill. The hands worked independently to complete the formation in around a minute. It would seem that the skill was significantly more efficient in terms of time compared to Sai, though that came at a reduction in the ability to customise the design. She wondered if Sai could achieve the same speeds. As she finished the same prompt she had seen before appeared before her. The person you are trying to soul mark (loyalty enforcement formation) is bound by an existing loyalty formation. The formation is ultimately controlled by a tier 10 entity. You are unable to override or break the existing formation. This was followed by another prompt. Adya was relieved when it appeared, she was not sure if the Scion protocol would activate a second time. Scion protocol activated. Highest rarity class identified as tier 9. Scion protocol temporary boost applied. Scion protocol disabled tracking and reporting associated with formation. Options 1, Override the existing formation, replacing it with your own. 2, Break the existing formation while allowing failsafes to take effect. 3, Break the existing formation and suppress all failsafes. Knowing what she did now, she knew that options two and three would lead to Thomas¡¯s death. Only option one would work. She selected it. The last prompt of the series appeared. Override of existing formation attempted. Please select one of the following options. 1, Leave formation in place, making all its effects inert. 2, Leave formation in place, and replace the formation controller with Adya Gurg. In both cases the soul mark will still be created. The soul mark will take precedence over the formation in all situations. She again picked option 2. Massive amounts of mana and willpower drained out of her body just as it had last time. It took almost 15 minutes and a significant percentage of her resource pools before the process completed. She waited for the formation to be overwritten. It would take a while like last time. She stood and returned to her seat. Jarel watched on as he saw the process for the first time. He had been knocked out when it had happened to him. The speed with which Adya created the formation, and sheer amount of mana she pushed into the formation to activate it astounded him. He had thought that she had used some sort of artifact to take over his formation. He could never have imagined that she was capable of doing so just with a quill and basic ink. It called into question his entire understanding of the field of formations. There was no way that Adya had come up with this on her own, he thought. He sat there with a look of incredulity on his face. Adya saw his expression and smiled. The look on Jarel¡¯s face was a copy of the expressions she had seen on all her retainer¡¯s faces the first time they had seen her complete the soul mark. ¡°No, I am not going to give you or anyone else the details of how the process works, or how I came to be able to do it.¡± said Adya, answering the unasked questions reflected on Jarel¡¯s face. Now why don¡¯t you give me a full rundown of what you have learned while Thomas recovers.¡± 36 - Chapter 35 - Day 1825 36 - Chapter 35 - Day 1825 Jarel gulped. He found Adya''s full attention to be disconcerting. It was strange how a 5 year old girl, with no cultivation and no access to the system could make a tier 5 cultivator feel uneasy. ¡°Of course Miss Adya,¡± said Jarel. ¡°I went straight to a local sect to use their communication formation. They were not happy to have someone from the council of sects show up, but were accommodating when pressed. I also secured the formation design for the communication formation.¡± He handed her a scroll. Adya took the scroll but did not open it straight away, not wanting to get distracted. ¡°Do go on.¡± said Adya. ¡°It was straight forward enough to contact the elder.¡± continued Jarel. ¡°I had to wait until she was available, that took another day. Then as you said I asked the elder for an update. I asked if you had been found, or if there was any further details that could help with the search if you had not yet been found.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t refer to me as the target of the search.¡± admonished Adya. ¡°Neither of us know if that is in fact the case. Just making a slip up in conversation of that nature could cause me immense problems. Precision in everything.¡± ¡°Sorry Miss Adya.¡± said a chastised Jarel. He had started to think of her as the target, though she was right and there was no proof, even though he harboured his suspicions. ¡°The elder was actually happy that I had been in touch. A lot has changed. According to the elder, something changed around two months back. The protection has changed. It no longer hides the target completely. Their existence had become widely known amongst all the tier 10s.¡± Adya knew that removing the protection protocol would make her vulnerable, she just did not realise how fast it would be. She would need to step up her plans to gain the support she needed. She also needed further information. If all those tier 10s know, then does that mean unaffiliated masters are going to come looking for me, thought Adya. ¡°What else did the elder tell you?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Does she have any idea what the intentions or the other tier 10s are?¡± ¡°She said it was more important than ever that the target is located.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°She said that the elders are split into 3 groups. The first group, like her, claim to want to help the target. She is pretending to work with them. The second group, want to take no risks and just want to kill the target. She is most opposed to this group. The third group wants to capture and imprison the target and then extract whatever benefits they can.¡± ¡°You said the first group claimed to want to help the target?¡± said Adya picking up on the choice of words. ¡±Why does she not believe their motivation?¡± ¡°I asked the same thing.¡± said Jarel, ¡°She said she can¡¯t tell me. When I pushed, she clarified, she is physically prevented by the system from being able to divulge the reason. She did say that all the other elders, and other tier 10s have sent out agents to hunt the target. Though she feels that no one else would have provided as much detail to their agents as she has. She said that it was imperative the target be found and that they contact her. She said she would not be able to protect the target if any of the other tier 10s agents reached them first. She asked me to leave all other missions and focus on just this hunt. Lastly she warned me against trusting any other agent, unless they carry her token. The final warning was that if the search did not return results soon, then some of the elders are planning to send out tier 7s, others are planning to demand that the kingdoms start using local resources to support the search. ¡± So this was now open season on her. If all the kingdoms were involved, then that would leave her nowhere to hide. The only saving grace was that they only had her rough age, and nothing else. She really had very little time left. She needed to implement her plans. ¡°How close do you think the agents of the other tier 10s are?¡± asked Adya. ¡°How long before they come looking here?¡± ¡°They are already here.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°Thomas was not sent by my elder. He tried to get information out of me about my search. I pretended to have a candidate and brought him to you.¡± ¡°So even though he is from the same organisation as you,¡± said Adya. ¡°He is in opposition to you, so you did not feel guilty about bringing him to me? No, that is not right, what did he do?¡± ¡°He planned to kill me after confirming that you were the target,¡± said Jarel. ¡°I think he was planning to kill you.¡± ¡°Well we can ask him once he comes back around,¡± said Adya. ¡°This does mean that there will be a larger target group for us to recruit from. Once Thomas is up and about, I am going to send you both out. I need you both to build up a group that will allow us to capture a tier 6. If the information about tier 7s was accurate, then we will need to capture and convert a team of tier 6s. How many do you think we will need?¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°To be safe we would need 5 peak tier 6s to be certain of taking down a tier 7.¡± said Jarel after some thought. ¡°To take down peak tier 6s, we would need at least 5 peak tier 5s. So at least 3 more peak tier 5s, before we start to target tier 6s.¡± ¡°Ok, and how long do you think it will take?¡± asked Adya. ¡°I assume I can send you and Thomas to secure a tier 5 each. Then send out all 4 of you again? I would rather have more than we need.¡± ¡°We can probably find another two in the next 4 to 5 days.¡± said Jarel, ¡°I would say the same again for the next four. So 10 days or so before we start to hunt for a tier 6. Once we have our first = tier 6, then things should speed up. So perhaps 20 to 30 days before you have a group of tier 6s capable of subduing a tier 7.¡± That timing worked for Adya too. Sai should have completed the data integration by then, and they should be well on their way to creating the mana coin machine. She would need to go back to the city. So she would need at least a tier 5 with her for protection. She also needed to find a way to get the telekinesis skill if at all possible. In fact, why could Jarel not help with that? ¡°Jarel, do you know how to obtain the telekinesis skill as a general skill?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Why would you want to waste a skill slot on such a skill,¡± asked Jarel. ¡°It is a really weak skill, and is only really useful for picking things up without touching them.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want it to use up a skill slot,¡± replied Adya. ¡°I want to gain a general skill for it.¡± ¡°So you do have access to your system then.¡± laughed Jarel. ¡°I had wondered.¡± ¡°I do, and you will mention it to no one.¡± replied Adya in a cold voice. ¡°Also you will not try to dig out any more of my secrets. Otherwise I will stop you from being able to speak in my presence at all. There will be no further warnings.¡± Jarel gulped, he had momentarily forgotten that she could control him completely. Since she had been genial with him and treated him more like an advisor, he had thought he could be clever and see if he could get her to slip up. He realised that he was playing a very dangerous game. ¡°As you command Miss Adya.¡± he said in a contrite tone. ¡°Now tell me about any methods you know to get a general skill for telekinesis.¡± ordered a still irate Adya. Truthfully she was just as annoyed at herself for falling for such a simple trick. It was a good reminder that the classics were considered such for a reason. She would need to be a lot more careful in the future. These were not her friends, nor were they retainers out of choice. She controlled them, she would always need to be careful of their agendas. Though not very likely, it was entirely possible that her control could be broken by someone powerful and skilled enough. At that point any of her secrets would be in the hands of that person. The reason she was not worried about the soul mark was that if anyone was to break her control, then they would need to know about it in the first place. If they knew already, then that at least could not be considered a secret, nor could her abilities with formations at that point. She would need to minimise what other secrets she let these co-opted agents know. ¡°Well,¡± said Jarel, ¡°the easiest way to get the skill is also the most wasteful, it is to use mana to try and control a physical object. As mana in its raw form resists interactions with physical objects, it becomes a way to dump large amounts of mana into the environment without converting it to a spell form, then using the raw mana to support and manipulate the physical item. There is supposed to be another more difficult way, but it requires extremely high wisdom, intelligence and perception. However it takes someone with very high levels to even attempt it. Even more tier 10s are not able to do it as their stats are not high enough. I don¡¯t know that method.¡± That was certainly interesting. So people who did not have a willpower pool, or perhaps after getting a high enough stat in the three mind stats, they did gain access to it but kept it secret? Either way, then if Adya used willpower instead of mana, but used the same method, she might be able to learn the general skill. Should she try with all three? Maybe she could learn an interesting variant. It would also give her more options in the future. She started with mana trying to manipulate her quill. She would just try to move it slightly to start. She started by injecting mana into the quill, the quill kept taking in more and more mana. As she kept injecting mana into the quill, it started to glow. At that moment she received a notification. Mana imbuement skill learned Mana imbuement is now level 1 Not the skill she wanted, but waste not want not. She was sure she could make use of the skill for something else. She pulled out the energy then tried with willpower. Again the quill just kept absorbing the willpower until it started to glow. She wondered why she had not attempted something so simple before. Soon she received a new notification. Willpower imbuement skill learned Willpower imbuement is now level 1 She repeated the experiment with stamina. It took her a lot longer to complete the imbuement with stamina due to the lower regeneration. She realised that regardless which form of energy she used the amount of energy required was exactly the same. Soon she received the third notification, followed by an unexpected notification. Stamina imbuement skill learned Stamina imbuement is now level 1 Mana imbuement, Willpower imbuement and Stamina imbuement skills merged into Energy imbuement Energy imbuement is now level 1 Energy imbuement and Energy Manipulation skills merged into Energy Control Energy Control is now level 50 Just how had she not attempted to push her skills earlier. It seemed like all she needed to do was use the skill in a different way to get new skills. She would have to think about what else she could do with energy. Now that she had received the skill she did not try for, it was time to get this telekinesis skill. 37 - Chapter 36 - Day 1825 37 - Chapter 36 - Day 1825 Adya took a look at Thomas¡¯s prone form. He was still passed out. Adya tried to think back, but she had not been aware of how long Jarel had taken to recover from his own formation change. Adya attributed it to that change, as no one had suffered an issue from being soul marked. Adya assumed that the extensive formations winding through the body would require some time to recover from. She planned to watch Thomas and any subsequent ones to understand the timeline for the change. It would not do to implement the change in the field, only to be caught unawares if someone else came upon the scene. She already knew that the visible mark would melt away before being reformed. So there was a window where the process was susceptible to being identified. That led her down an interesting path. She was supplying willpower and mana, along with the intent of what she wanted achieved. Somehow that was leading to the metal that permeated Thomas¡¯s body to melt away then reform based on the new design. Could she perhaps learn the secrets of how that process happened and design a formation to create physical items. For example, could she use steel, and a formation, with the requisite amounts of energy to convert it into a high quality sword? If the principles that were employed in changing the formations in her cultivator targets held true, and she could see no reason why they would not, then it should certainly be possible. The question was apart from the imparted design, mana and willpower, was there any other missing part to the puzzle. Also how was the intent used to hold and then imprint the design into the material. Another project for her to research. Adya had to stop herself from getting distracted, she really wanted to learn telekinesis. So she thought over what she had attempted before, and realised why she had ended up with the imbuement skill. She had injected the energy directly into the quill. Yet, that was not what she was meant to be trying. So she revisualised what she wanted to happen. She had been trying to put the energy into the quill. It was the equivalent of sticking a fork into a piece of meat then moving the piece of meat using the fork as leverage. That was not how hands worked. They came from another direction and created a platform for the items to rest on. Then the platform was manipulated. With the visualisation corrected, she moved forward with the attempt. She again started with mana. This time she did not just push mana into the quill, she instead tried to keep it separate from the quill, just created a bubble of mana that surrounded the quill. It used an insane amount to achieve the complete envelopment of the quill, with the majority wasted to the environment. If she could not improve the efficiency then this would be a technique that was only useful in an emergency. As she completed the envelopment, and continued sending out mana to maintain it, she started to try to move the entire ball of mana with her will. Slowly, ever so slowly the quill began to rise. It was wobbly, and lacked any form of control, but it was moving. She finally received a notification. Mana telekinesis skill learned Mana telekinesis is now level 1 She tried to use the new skill, it was not much better than her rudimentary control had been. She could see why the skill was so disdained. Still Adya was not discouraged. She soon started the experiment again, this time with stamina. She was purposefully leaving the willpower version till last. The stamina version took much longer. The energy, while the same to control, was much harder to use to maintain the bubble. It was like stamina was like a live eel and Adya was trying to catch it with oiled hands. It took a significant amount of focus for Adya to manage the feat. She had Mai checking, there was no willpower included in this attempt. Was intent yet another hidden resource pool? Finally as she managed to get the quill to move, she received the notification she had wanted to see. Stamina telekinesis skill learned Stamina telekinesis is now level 1 She took a few minutes to rest. She saw that Jarel was watching her attempts, yet started silent. ¡°Did you have something you wanted to add?¡± she asked him. ¡°How are you able to do that so easily?¡± asked Jarel, quickly adding, ¡°I am not trying to get anymore of your secrets, but it usually takes people a long time to even begin to understand how to do the exercise.¡± He did not want to face her wrath. ¡°I am good at visualisation.¡± she responded. She could not really blame him for asking, when she had effectively given him permission to do so. That did not mean that she would spill her secrets. She decided to respond with a believable answer. ¡°It is much easier for children. If these exercises were taught from a young age, I think you would find the results very different.¡± Adya went back to her attempts. She could also assume from Jarel¡¯s reactions that it was highly unusual to gain a skill from a single attempt. He could obviously not tell that she was cycling through different energies and had already received the skill.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. The willpower attempt was by far the easiest of the three. Willpower reacted to her instinctively. It took on the bubble shape, with hardly any wasted energy. In almost no time the quill was moving, and with far better control. She received the final notification. Willpower telekinesis skill learned Willpower telekinesis is now level 1 This was followed immediately by the merger notification. Mana telekinesis, Stamina telekinesis and Willpower telekinesis have merged into the skill True telekinesis True telekinesis is now level 1 Adya was surprised by the name change, she expected the system to either call it energy telekinesis, or just telekinesis. She tried using the skill, and was extremely surprised. The skill did not use one energy type, but seamlessly blended all three to achieve the effect. The willpower provided intent to the mana, while stamina seemed to make it easier for the mana to interact with the physical. Combined the energy usage was far more efficient. Even at level 1 the level of control True telekinesis gave Adya was astounding. This also gave her a better understanding of the material of the quill itself. She realised that the reason everyone struggled was that you needed all three energies to get to the real skill. As she continued to examine the quill with the new sense the skill enabled, she received another notification. Scan Detection, Regeneration Control, True telekinesis and Energy control have merged into the skill Environmental dominion Environmental dominion is now level 33 Adya was shocked by the notification. This one change had merged multiple skills. Adya spent a few minutes working through the potential reasons. She realised that they were all different forms of energy control skill. Scan detection was the ability to notice someone else¡¯s energy reaching you. Regeneration control was controlling energy within your own body. True telekinesis was the ability to surround another object and then use your energy to manipulate that object. Imbuement, the skill already merged into the energy control skill was the ability to insert your energy into another object. The original manipulation skill was the ability to detect and direct the base energies. Now that Adya had an idea of why the skills had merged, she thought about what was missing. The skill had dropped a lot of levels, so the scope had increased, but what was she missing? She had covered control internal and external, imbuement, and perception. As far as she could see there were two more types of energy control missing. She needed a way to pull energy from another object or person, and she needed to block the energy from another person or object. She tried to pull the three energies from the three types of stones in her storage. The energies responded but she received no response from the system. Maybe Jarel would be able to help her with her experiment. ¡°Jarel, do you have a skill that allows you to push mana into another person?¡± she asked. ¡°I do,¡± replied Jarel, wondering what she was trying to do now. He had seen her rapidly improve with the rudimentary telekinesis. He would dare not ask. He did not want to face her ire. ¡°Try and push your mana into me.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I am going to try and resist.¡± Jarel did not try to warn her off, just started the process of pushing his mana into her. His tier 5 mana should have made it easy for him to breach her protections, but he found it much harder. He had to actually focus to start getting any results. Meanwhile, Adya started with trying to resist the mana, creating a shield to block the attack. Trying with the just mana was futile, though it did create a small effect. It was when she tried with all three energies that she started to make progress. It took some experimenting with a variety of blends to work out the optimum shielding formula. It was still hard to completely block the mana as it was a much higher tier. Knowing that there was not much more she could achieve quickly, she switched from trying to block the mana to actively trying to draw it into her, while trying to take control of it. Again just mana was not enough. It took her trying different combinations of the three energies again to find a blend, with a much higher concentration of willpower, to start to seize control of the mana from Jarel. She finally asked Jarel to stop and looked at her notifications. Environmental dominion is now level 39 She guessed it made sense. She had only learned how to protect from mana, and not from stamina or willpower. There was a lot she still had to learn. Jarel was left gobsmacked, how could a child with no core put up any sort of defence against a tier 5s mana. Even if the technique had not lasted, the fact it had any effect at all was shocking. Then once the mana had entered her body, he had lost control of it. He did not even understand how one would go about trying to seize control of someone¡¯s mana like that. Adya had not brute forced it, but subtly took away the control. Had this happened in the middle of a fight, Jarel thought he would struggle to notice the effect. It would be stunningly effective in deceiving an enemy. How could he get her to teach him such a wondrous technique? Jarel and Adya were both lost in their own respective introspections trying to work out the next steps required to reach their goals. Adya had Mai start to use the new skill to test the range and accuracy of the control. She had Mai move a parchment to the other side of the room, then had Mai try to create a formation on the parchment. The next issue she faced was how to get feedback on what she was doing. Acting at a distance meant it was not convenient to see what she was doing, so errors crept into the formation design. She even tried the formation scribe skill, and still found the same issues, though it required some fine tuning to get the skill to run using the telekinesis skill in the first place. She would need to look at how to see at a distance and at strange angles, before she could make full use of this new skill. Nothing was ever easy. Just as Adya was thinking of solving the next problem, she noticed Thomas finally beginning to stir on the floor. She stopped her experiments and took on a relaxed look. It was time to learn why Thomas had been sent to find her. 38 - Chapter 37 - Day 1825 38 - Chapter 37 - Day 1825 Thomas slowly came to slumped on the floor. He was confused about how he ended up on the floor. The last thing he remembered was being introduced to the potential target of his search. Thomas slowly picked himself off the floor, and looked around groggily. Jarel and Adya were still sitting in their seats and looking towards him. He had a feeling they had just stopped a conversation. ¡°Are you alright, Thomas?¡± asked Jarel. ¡°I think you should check your system status to make sure everything is fine.¡± ¡°Yes, though after that, please do not attack anyone,¡± said Adya. ¡°That is an order.¡± Thomas felt a weird compulsion at Adya¡¯s words, but thought nothing of it. He picked himself off the floor and took the seat he seemed to have fallen out of. He took the time to compose himself, then decided to take Jarel¡¯s advice. He could think of no reason as to why he suddenly collapsed. He was still thinking through the potential causes that could have caused him to collapse, when he came across a new entry on this status. As he read through the entry, he realised that it was not something that happened, but something that was done to him. How had they circumvented the formation he had already been subjected to? From the look in his eyes, and the expression on his face, Adya surmised that Thomas had found the new entry. She double checked his identification to ensure there were no problems. ¡°So before you start to get angry or upset at the way that you have been treated,¡± said Adya. ¡°Tell me the orders you received.¡± Thomas tried to resist the compulsion to answer the question and found himself writhing in pain so intense it was beyond anything that he had ever experienced. ¡°Yes, refusing my orders will be a painful process,¡± said Adya. ¡°I would not suggest attempting to test the limits of the mark.¡± ¡°I was told to locate a child, approximately 5 years old, with abnormal abilities.¡± said Thomas, finding the pain vanishing, leaving only a memory behind. ¡°Then to test this child, using a talisman that I was provided for the purpose. If the test confirmed that the child was my target, I was to execute them, and everyone who knew thay existed within reason. Make it look like a bandit attack, and report back the completion of the task.¡± ¡°When were your orders issued and by whom? Also where were you based when you received the orders?¡± asked Adya. ¡°I received the orders a little over 2 months ago.¡± replied Thomas. ¡°It was personally given by one of the elders who lead the Council of Sects. I was already in the human kingdoms, and communicated remotely to receive updated orders.¡± Adya could sense where this was going, and gave Jarel a pointed look. ¡°What were your original orders that led you out here?¡± she asked. ¡°Another elder had apparently sent out her agents in search of something.¡± replied Thomas. ¡°Our orders were to identify her agents and shadow them. If they found what the elder was looking for, then we were to kill the agent and seize whatever it was that they had found.¡± ¡°And this is why you should not complain about what I have done to you.¡± replied Adya. ¡°You were already enslaved by the council. You were sent out to kill your own colleagues and potentially an innocent child and their family. What I have done is free you from that burden. You only have to follow my orders now, and not the convoluted orders of elders with morally questionable agendas. In case it was not clear before, I now have full control over you, that includes the formation that keeps you alive. You may not attack, and in fact must defend, me, my family, our retainers, and our interests in that order. Do you understand my orders?¡± ¡°Yes Miss Adya.¡± replied Thomas, not happy at the situation he found himself in, but helpless to do anything about it. The orders made it even more impossible for him to take any actions against his latest owner. ¡°Do you see Jarel,¡± continued Adya. ¡°You had already been marked for death. Had you not come to me in the manner that you did, you would likely already be dead. The circumstances are the only reason you still live. You should be more grateful and accepting of your new situation.¡± Thomas only just now realised that Jarel was in the same situation as himself. That just made things worse. They had not used a single time artifact to gain control over him, somehow this girl was able to do so at will. An assertion that was immediately validated by her next order. ¡°Time is growing short. I need both of you to ensure my secrets stay secret.¡± said Adya. ¡°To that end, I am not going to be testing myself to confirm if I am the target of your search. As long as no one knows for certain, no matter what their suspicions, you don¡¯t need to lie to state that you have not found the target. Neither of you will take any action, or by your inaction allow those targeting me to locate me. Is that clear to both of you?¡±Stolen story; please report. They both nodded in acquiescence. After that Adya continued.¡±As the hunt seems to be heating up, we need to secure more people as fast as possible.¡± said Adya. ¡°To that end I need you both to go and find a peak Tier 5 each and bring them back to me, so that they can undergo the same process that you have undergone. I expect you back as soon as it is safely possible. You will bring them to me alone, then proceed to incapacitate them to allow me to take over their control formations. Do you understand my orders? You are not to take any actions or inactions that would remain within the scope of my orders, but would intentionally or unintentionally invalidate their intent.¡± Thomas was reeling from the series of orders that this girl was giving him. He tried to think through ways that he might be able to warn others, or make them aware of the trap. However, the orders left no room to manoeuvre. The last instruction was the death knell in any plans that he was trying to formulate. Even if the wording of the orders left room for options, the fact that she had said that he could not go against the intent of the orders meant that he had no choice but to obey. A part of him noticed that this girl was more proficient in giving orders that could not be circumvented than even the elders. Just who was this dangerous girl that now controlled his life. ¡°Yes, I understand.¡± he responded through gritted teeth. Jarel was still in awe at Adya¡¯s ability to command. As this was not his first time going through this, he was more accepting of the situation. The fact he had been targeted by his own group, for doing as he had been ordered to, had shattered whatever loyalty he still held. He had not yet transferred that loyalty to Adya, not even started, however he had to admit, she was just trying to keep herself and her family safe. Listening to the orders that Thomas had been given, she had been right to be worried about the actions of the other elders. He idly wondered how many innocent lives and families had been destroyed by the more overzealous members of their former organisation. ¡°I understand,¡± responded Jarel. ¡°Since we don¡¯t actually have a lot of time.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I need you both to make the appropriate arrangements, and start the process of hunting the next group of tier 5s today. However, before you leave, show me the formations that you both have. The one designed to confirm the target¡¯s status and the suppression formation.¡± They both presented the formations by placing them on the table in between them. Adya was careful not to touch either formation. Her prudence was rewarded as she analysed each of the formations and realised that they could both be primed to activate based on touch. The identification formation would require further study, but the suppression formation was straight forward enough to understand. ¡°Do you know if the formations require special parchment or ink?¡± asked a distracted Adya. ¡°The ink is a high mana version, that is made from special ingredients,¡± replied Thomas, who had a more thorough understanding of talisman design. ¡°The parchment is not anything special, though the thicker it is, the longer the talisman will last.¡± ¡°Interesting, you may take the talisman¡¯s back now.¡± replied Adya. ¡°You have your instructions. Unless you need anything else, I would suggest you be about your tasks. Remember, never refer to me as the target, even by accident.¡± With that order, the two felt compelled to start their assigned job. They both stood and with a small nod, they were on their way. Adya sat contemplating what she had learned. She tried to see if anything had truly changed from her perspective. Apart from speeding up the timeline, nothing else had really changed. She was still being targeted. They still had a limited amount of detail about her, nothing really apart from her age. She had never known the number of people hunting for her, so it did not really make any difference if the number had increased. Finally the nature of the threat had not changed either. They all either wanted her under their control or dead and erased from existence. The sooner she could build out a strong team under her control, the safer she would be. Originally she had intended to stop at 8 tier 5s, and 4 tier 6s. Now, since some of these elders had the audacity to order her death, she was just going to keep capturing stronger and stronger agents, building out her strength. She knew that would paint a target on her back, but she would try to mitigate some of that risk by providing false information back to the elders. Perhaps making it look like they had lost a large number of agents to opposition action. Every one she converted, would increase her own strength while reducing the threat arrayed against her. She needed Sai back. That would accelerate her work into this mana coin machine. She also needed to increase her personal power. She would need to start to work on creating her meridians sooner rather than later. She needed to come up with a design that would give her the maximum benefit. Adya decided that was enough rumination for one day. She went off to find her mother and Parth. She needed to see what was happening in the wider family. Though she had been supporting the efforts to convert spies whenever they were caught, she had not been keeping a close look at the details. She needed to bring herself up to speed. If for nothing else, than to ensure that no unknown situation or threat could blindside her at the worst possible moment. As in any situation, Murphy¡¯s law, the one that stated the worst possible thing will happen at the most inopportune moment, delivered more often than not. And thought she could not prevent the law from acting against her, she could take precautions to minimise any such impact. That always started with gathering information. As she mused, she found herself in front of the doors to her mother¡¯s office. She knocked and entered to find her mother and Parth in the middle of a tense discussion. ¡°Greetings mother.¡± she interrupted, ¡°just what is going on?¡± ¡°Ah good that you have come, Adya.¡± replied her mother. ¡°We have a problem, your father¡¯s caravan has been attacked on the way back to the city. While we don¡¯t have the full details, having already seized all the goods and wealth the caravan was carrying, we think the attackers are holding our family for ransom.¡± Murphy¡¯s law had struck yet again. 39 - Chapter 38 - Day 1825 39 - Chapter 38 - Day 1825 ¡°All right.¡± said Adya. She was not going to compound the issue by rushing in. This situation could easily be a trap for her. ¡°What do we know for certain, and what are the assumptions?¡± ¡°We know that the trade caravan is late.¡± replied Parth. ¡°We have received reports from others about a potential attack. We have sent out our own people to validate the reports.¡± ¡°So actually we don¡¯t know anything yet.¡± replied Adya, ¡°Apart from the fact that they are running late. I am assuming they will send out someone to tell us about the hostage situation and demand a ransom?¡± ¡°If that is what has happened, then yes.¡± replied Parth, ¡°If it¡¯s something else we may not find out until it¡¯s too late.¡± ¡°Ok, how many days for us to find out more?¡± asked Adya. This was all sounding fishy to her. ¡°Even at their best speed,¡± replied Parth. ¡°We will not hear anything back for a week to 10 days, maybe even longer.¡± ¡°So this is not something that can be resolved fast.¡± replied Adya. ¡°Can you send some people to see if Jarel and Thomas are still here. They were with me just before I came here, and they were going to pack provisions for their trip.¡± Parth tasked multiple guards with finding the two cultivators, who immediately went off to search. This situation made Adya keenly aware of the absence of what she considered basic technology. There was no easy way to communicate, even at a local level. Forget about instantaneous communications over longer ranges. Her todo list was increasing, and if she could create devices or artefacts to cover the gaps, she would bring about unprecedented change. It would also increase the risk she would be under. It all came back to securing backing in the short term, and gaining enough power in the long term. As Adya was lost in the musings, one of the guards rushed back to report that Jarel and Thomas would meet her in her suite in a few minutes. ¡°Let me go and see if I can get some help,¡± said Adya. ¡°Parth, please give me the up to date report on the caravan situation.¡± She took the report and returned back to her own suite. ¡°So the situation is this.¡± said Adya, once she was back in her living room and had secured the door. ¡°There is reason to believe that my family¡¯s main caravan has been attacked, and it¡¯s possible that they are being held hostage. I need information, here is the full report.¡± She handed the report to Jarel. He quickly read over it, then handed it to Thomas. ¡°We can get into the area within a day to see what is going on. What would you like us to do once we find these bandits.¡± ¡°That will depend on the makeup of the group that was stupid enough to target us.¡± replied Adya. ¡°If they are all non cultivators, then simply kill them all while ensuring that nothing happens to my family or our retainers. If they are cultivators, then that will depend on their numbers and composition. In that case, one of you should stay to keep an eye on the group, and the other return for further orders. If we can turn our enemies into assets, then I will not be disappointed. However, we will not take any action that will jeopardise my family or retainers.¡± ¡°That is clear enough.¡± asked Jarel. ¡°What about our existing mission?¡± ¡°If you can do both, then do so.¡± replied Adya. ¡°If not, prioritise finding out about what happened to my family. We can go back to the mission straight after this issue is dealt with. How long till I can get a report?¡± ¡°If we leave now, then one of us can return with news by the day after tomorrow.¡± replied Thomas. ¡°If you are ready, then be on your way.¡± replied Adya. ¡°And be careful, this smells like a trap to me. Everything points towards it. Prioritise getting information back to me, rather than getting into a fight. Now if you are packed, you should be on your way.¡± With that they both left, leaving Adya to go back to her training. There was not much more she could do without information. She decided not to tell the rest of the family that she had tasked the 2 cultivators to go after her father. It should have been impossible to target her family without insider help. The question was, whether the support was external or internal. It seemed like their family really had been targeted and thoroughly infiltrated. She had Parth accelerate the timeline to have thoroughly vetted the rest of the staff and all spies identified. This did leave her more work in terms of soul marking the guilty, then having to spend some of the time to interview her new adherents. The two days passed quickly with no additional information reaching the family.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. On the morning of the third day, Jarel returned accompanied by a female cultivator. He repeated the setup he had with Thomas. The three were soon seated in Adya¡¯s private parlour. Once seated with refreshments, Adya distracted the new cultivator. ¡°So Cultivator,¡± she asked in a deferential tone. ¡°What brings you so far? How may house Gurg help?¡± As the woman went to answer, Jarel leaned forward, making it look like he was going to take some refreshments, and swiftly attached a talisman to her back. This caused her to collapse, though it was obvious that the talisman was not as effective as it had been against Thomas. Adya wasted no time in using her skill to apply the formation to the woman. She did not feel comfortable until the usual prompt came up. The person you are trying to soul mark (loyalty enforcement formation) is bound by an existing loyalty formation. The formation is ultimately controlled by a tier 10 entity. You are unable to override or break the existing formation. This was followed by the next prompt. Scion protocol activated. Highest rarity class identified as tier 9. Scion protocol temporary boost applied. Scion protocol disabled tracking and reporting associated with formation. Options 1, Override the existing formation, replacing it with your own. 2, Break the existing formation while allowing failsafes to take effect. 3, Break the existing formation and suppress all failsafes. She selected option 1. The last prompt of the series appeared. Override of existing formation attempted. Please select one of the following options. 1, Leave formation in place, making all its effects inert. 2, Leave formation in place, and replace the formation controller with Adya Gurg. In both cases the soul mark will still be created. The soul mark will take precedence over the formation in all situations. She again picked option 2. Massive amounts of mana and willpower drained out of her body just as it had last few times, except it took a lot longer this time. It took over an hour and emptying her resource pools before the process completed. Just from that she could guess that this woman was at least a tier 6. As they waited for the woman to completely go through the process, Adya asked Jarel for a report. ¡°The cultivator is a tier 6 called Eveline.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°I know that she was also looking for you. Though I have not managed to work out which group she is working for.¡± ¡°What of my family and the caravan?¡± asked Adya. ¡°She was hidden in another bandit group, though one that is much bigger and better funded.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°I am not sure of the details, but we do believe that this is the group that captured your caravan. Thomas is still looking to learn more about the current status.¡± Since Jarel was unable to provide any more information, then Adya returned to her practice while waiting for Eveline to return to consciousness. Adya was happy with her progress and the speed with which she could now mark even a tier 6. If they were able to catch them unawares, it may be easier to build out her team. Still Adya was not in the mood to take any risks with her future. Without adequate strength behind her, a tier 6 would be able to kill her entire family and take her prisoner with ease. Still with a tier 6 of her own, it would give her some protection. It took a while before Evelin started to stir. She was quick to get back to her feet, and look around her for the threat that had knocked her out. ¡°Calm down and take a seat Evelin.¡± ordered Adya. ¡°You are not to attack anyone without my express permission. Now what were your orders and how long has it been since you were sent on your current assignment.¡± Evelin was astounded when she was forced to comply with the absurd orders of a child. She tried to resist, and even question what had happened to her, but that just left to suffer from debilitating soul pain. The pain ramped up and up until Evelin started to answer the questions, and then the pain vanished as if it had never existed. Even as she answered, she could not work out how she had ended up in this situation. ¡°I was tasked with finding a child, and securing them,¡± replied Evelin through gritted teeth. ¡°I received my orders around 2 months ago on my regular check in with the council. How are you doing this to me?¡± ¡°Are you aware of the formation that council gave you?¡± asked Adya. ¡°I am, what does the augmentation have to do with this?¡± asked Evelin even more bewildered. ¡°And how do you even know about that?¡± ¡°Interesting, they never told you the true purpose of the formation.¡± mused Adya. ¡°What do you mean by securing the child?¡± ¡°I was told to bring them under council control by any means necessary.¡± replied Eveline. ¡°Who exactly are you, and what true purpose?¡± She was getting more and more confused in this conversation. ¡°Well the formation is actually capable of taking control over and compelling your actions.¡± replied Adya. ¡°Since I have now taken control over it, you are now my indentured retainer. Don¡¯t worry I am not as cruel as your former masters. I suggest you take a look at your status screen before we continue.¡± ¡°You also may not plan to betray me, or my family.¡± continued Adya. ¡°Nor may you take any action or inaction to cause us harm.¡± Evelin was left stunned. As a tier 6 she was usually the strongest in any setting. How had she managed to get herself captured, and how did this girl control her. She had a hard time believing anything she was being told. It made no sense. She had been told that the formation was to augment her abilities and would be required for her to progress. She had felt the boost that it gave her. As she was going through the options, she decided to look at her status. There was no point in being subject to that pain again for such an innocuous request. As she looked at her status screen, her face paled. Not only was there a new entry there, but it was unlike anything that she had ever seen before. Just who was this girl and how had she managed to mark her. What did this mean for her future? 40 - Chapter 39 - Day 1827 40 - Chapter 39 - Day 1827 ¡°Now tell me what the bandit group you infiltrated is doing, and why they captured my family.¡± asked Adya. ¡°They were paid to target your family.¡± replied Evelin. ¡°I was not close enough to the leadership to find out the full details. To be honest I was not even paying that much attention to their actions, as I have been busy with my latest assignment.¡± ¡°So someone wanted the caravan captured.¡± mused Adya. ¡°So what were the bandit¡¯s intentions after the capture? Is my family in danger?¡± ¡°The bandits were paid to target the goods on the caravan.¡± replied Evelin. ¡°There were no instructions on what to do with anyone who survived the raid. The bandits decided to capture everyone and hold them for ransom. I do not believe that they intend to let anyone go even if the ransom is paid.¡± Adya ran her hand over her face in frustration. It was always something or someone who thought they could target her family and get away with it. Yet her situation stopped her from taking action against the actual perpetrators. ¡°How many cultivators do the bandits have, and how strong?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Also what was Thomas¡¯s intention while you two returned?¡± ¡°Thomas was going to see if he could free your family quietly.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°If he could not, then he would wait for our return.¡± ¡°They are mostly mortals. They have 5 cultivators in total, three are tier one, 1 is tier 2, and the strongest has just entered tier 4.¡± replied Evelin. ¡°At tier 4, that has to make them one of the strongest bandit groups in the human kingdoms right?¡± asked Adya. That seemed outrageously strong for a random group to her. ¡°Yes, this is the biggest bandit group in the whole of the human kingdoms.¡± replied Evelin. ¡°It was why a tier 6 was assigned to keep an eye on them. They have over 500 members in their little group.¡± ¡°Damn it, that is a problem.¡± replied Adya. ¡°How long would it take you both to return? And how long if you had to bring me along?¡± ¡°By ourselves, we could return in under a day.¡± replied Evelin. ¡°With you, it would depend. If you wanted to travel in comfort, it would take a minimum of 6 days. If one of us carried you on our back, we could make it in one day, just it would be a most uncomfortable journey.¡± ¡°Plus it would make you a target.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°If any of the other agents see one of us carrying a child, they would assume that they were the target, and potentially attack us.¡± ¡°Why would they attack us?¡± asked a confused Evelin. ¡°They would just report back that the target had been found.¡± ¡°No,¡± replied Adya. ¡°We have already confirmed that there are multiple contradictory orders given by the various elders. One group has ordered the execution of your target, along with everyone else who even knows of their existence including other agents.¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be right!¡± exclaimed Evelin. ¡°Why would we be ordered to kill our own?¡± ¡°Well you are no longer part of that group.¡± replied Adya. ¡°However, that is the order that Thomas was given. Had I not subverted him, then he would have tried to kill Jarel. Anyway, I need to deal with this mess. Since I can¡¯t go, that leaves very few options.¡± ¡°What are you thinking?¡± asked Jarel. ¡°Let us keep it simple.¡± replied Adya. ¡°Infiltrate the location of my family and the prisoners. One of you stays to guard them from retaliation. The other two wipe out the whole gang. If you can take the leaders prisoner for questioning then do so, but no one escapes. After that recover what is left of the accrued wealth, remount the caravan and bring them back safely.¡± Evelin was shaken by the level of brutality in the orders Adya had just given them. She had never expected a child to be so ruthless. ¡°I want you to remove all evidence when you are done.¡± continued Adya. ¡°Leave only ashes behind. If everything has gone well, then Evelin reports back to me, leaving Jarel and Thomas to escort the caravan back. I want this done before the ransom demand even reaches my family. Lastly, don¡¯t forget your standing orders. I need you to bring me more agents that are out hunting for the target child. Whoever you bring needs to be kept in the dark. You need to bring them in private, and be able to subdue them for at least 6 minutes after you are in front of me, without putting me in any danger. Do you have any questions? Do you need supplies?¡± ¡°No, I am ready to leave,¡± responded Jarel. ¡°Are¡­are you the target of our search?¡± asked Evelin hesitantly. ¡°I have no idea, Evelin.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I have not checked so that I can not confirm one way or the other. That way you don¡¯t have to lie to anyone. You can honestly say that you have suspicions, but have not confirmed one way or the other.¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°If there is nothing else.¡± continued Adya. ¡°I need you to leave as soon as possible. How soon will you be able to report back?¡± ¡°In the best case,¡± replied Evelin. ¡°There will be 2 days of travel to get there and return, and if Thomas has everything ready for infiltration, then 1 or 2 days for the actual attack. So the earliest would be 3 days, but more likely 4 to 5 days from now.¡± ¡°All right, then be on your way.¡± replied Adya. With that both Evelin and Jarel left Adya alone to contemplate the situation. She needed to tell her mother and Parth, but did not want them to change their behaviour and alert their enemies. She decided that she would not tell them yet and take unnecessary risks. Any actions that Parth could take in that time frame would serve only to obfuscate her actions. It would also have no bearing on the final results. Things were progressing too fast, and the only stability she could find would be to openly change her family to a sect or clan under the protection of an elder. She could not even start to take extreme action against her family''s non cultivator enemies in the meantime. Anything that she did would raise warning flags. Those flags would increase scrutiny on her whole family, potentially sending more agents to her door. Without a sufficient force to protect her, she could only use obscurity as her shield. It was only her extensive training that allowed her to maintain her equanimity in the face of such pressure. With that Adya returned to her practice and thoughts. She still had 57 days until Sai would be done and she could start work in earnest on her next project. In that time, she planned to level up the skill Environmental Dominion as much as she could, along with sketching a design for the mana coin artifact. The days passed, as her mother and Parth became more worried while awaiting news. Adya kept herself fully immersed in her training and research. She was confident that she would receive news soon. It was on the afternoon of the 4th day from when she had sent off her cultivators that Evelin finally returned. She was not alone. She came in carrying an unconscious man who was securely bound hand and foot. Evelin managed to bring him to Adya without her guards noticing anything. ¡°Report.¡± said Adya. Evelin placed her prisoner on the floor and started to report. ¡°The bandits have been wiped out.¡± started Evelin. ¡°Your immediate family are safe, however there were losses amongst your family retainers. I do not have an accurate count. They should be on their way back by now.¡± As Evelin reported, Adya used her telekinesis to create her formation on the passed out man. ¡°When do you anticipate them making it back here?¡± asked Adya ¡°Barring any delays or accidents, they should return back home in 6 days from today.¡± replied Evenlin. ¡°Who is your prisoner?¡± asked Adya. Now that she was satisfied that her family were safe, she moved on to other matters. ¡°I have no idea apart from the fact that he is a strong cultivator,¡± replied Evelin. ¡°He tried to ambush me on my way here.¡± As they talked, Adya completed and activated her formation to take control of the man. By the same prompts she saw, she was sure he was another agent. She just didn¡¯t know what his orders were or which faction he worked for. ¡°He is another one of your colleagues.¡± replied Adya. ¡°Or at least he has the same augmentations that you do. And I can tell that he is also Tier 6.¡± ¡°So you weren¡¯t lying to me.¡± replied Evelin. ¡°I thought you were trying to deceive me. It would have been easy enough to order Thomas to lie to me.¡± ¡°I have no reason to lie to you.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I can get you to do anything that I want. I don¡¯t like to treat people as slaves, but sometimes you have to use the tools at hand to defend yourself.¡± ¡°I will wait to hear what he has to say,¡± replied a contemplative Evelin. ¡°I have no issue with that.¡± replied Adya. ¡°Why don¡¯t you wait with him until he awakens. Keep him here until I return. Do not allow him to cause a disturbance.¡± With that Adya left to go find her mother and Parth. She went towards her mother¡¯s office and asked the guards who was in. She was told her mother was alone. She asked one of the guards to fetch Parth. Then she knocked and entered. ¡°Mother,¡± said Adya. ¡°I have good news. Our family is on the way back home.¡± ¡°How.¡± replied Gauri, her expression showing her reluctance to accept the news. ¡°I asked our cultivator friends for a favour.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I have just been told that they have been freed and are on their way back. We will have to wait six more days to get the details directly. I do know that the direct family is safe. We did lose retainers, both in the original attack and in camp.¡± ¡°What did you have to promise in return for that favour?¡± asked Gauri, now petrified. Cultivators did not do favours for free, and something on this scale had to have been expensive. ¡°We can¡¯t tell the family about our involvement with the cultivators.¡± replied Adya. ¡°We need to keep my secrets just between us, and keep them away from all cultivator business at least for now. I am not permitted to reveal anymore at this stage. When I can tell you more, I will.¡± As they were talking, Parth knocked on the door of the office and entered. ¡°You called for me?¡± he asked, looking between Adya and Gauri. ¡°Adya has good news,¡± replied Gauri. ¡°I have good news and bad news.¡± replied Adya. ¡°The main news is that the family is safe, and along with most of our retainers are on their way back to us. It is estimated that it will take them 6 more days to make it back to us, barring any accidents or incidents.¡± ¡°That¡¯s wonderful news.¡± replied Parth. ¡°How did you find out so fast?¡± ¡°I am not able to tell you the details.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I know you will be able to make accurate guesses, but I need you not to do that. You have more important things to look into anyway.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± asked Parth. He was pretty sure she had managed to get the cultivators to help her. No one else could get news back to her so fast. Just how many secrets did this girl have? ¡°Well apart from confirming that we had lost a number of retainers,¡± said Adya. ¡°My contact also told me that the bandits were paid, a lot, to specifically target our caravan, with a focus on the goods, not the people.¡± Both Gauri and Parth were alarmed by that news. Who had the gall to target the family so openly? 41 - Chapter 40 - Day 1833 41 - Chapter 40 - Day 1833 It had been six days since the news that Adya¡¯s family and caravan were safe and on their way back. Parth had sent out one of his experienced units to meet the caravan and escort them back safely. If everything went well, they would be returning at some point today. Things with her new cultivators had also been progressing well. After the cultivator who had attacked Evelin awoke, Adya had ordered him to answer all of Evelin¡¯s questions then left them to it. While she could guess what had been said, Adya was unaware of the full details. What she did see was the complete change in attitude from Evelin. She had gone from a woman forced into serving Adya to a woman who was devoted to her, even more so than Jarel had been. The benefit of the soul mark was that she could not be lied to. What that meant in practical terms was that it was easy for her to verify motivation and intent with some judicious questioning. Whatever Evelin had learned from Jarel, Thomas and the last cultivator, named Jory, had turned Evelin¡¯s loyalties completely against her former employers. In the past several days, Evenlin and Jory had been out hunting for other tier 6 cultivators. In that time, they had already managed to capture and turn another 2 tier 6 cultivators. Adya had been extremely worried about the speed with which the agents were being found and captured, but after interrogating the newly converted agents, Evelin had presented her theory on the reasons this was the case. As it turned out, there were not three but 4 factions amongst the elders of the council of sects. The first was still the elder by herself, who had sent Jarel and others to find and help her. This was the smallest group. The second group had sent out assassins after her and were considered the biggest threat against her. This was the group that had ordered the killing of even other agents. They were also the ones Evelin was targeting for capture. The third group was the ones that sent out the least powerful agents, a case of quantity over quality. Their orders were to capture the target, most like Adya herself, and bring her back for the elders to benefit from. They did not have orders to kill, but some were bloodthirsty enough to not need the orders. The last group was sent out by the elders who still remembered their duty. This group was sent out to carry on their normal jobs and ignore the rest of the hunt and in fighting. Due to the eclectic group that Adya had fortuitously managed to turn to her cause, she had access to the reporting structure of all four groups. Her group was also able to identify as any of the four groups, while also being able to recognise the factions that were present in the human kingdoms. Adya had made the executive decision not to target anyone from the fourth group. She had also prioritised the capture of everyone from the second group. With 4 tier 6s already under her command, and the said team continuing to scour the local kingdoms of all her hunters, Adya felt that she was well on her way to containing the problem for the time being. She needed time to put her wider plans into action. The ability to feedback bad search results to the awaiting elders would give her a bubble of protection at least for some time. Adya had also made sure to report back the actions of the second group of elders to the other three groups, putting more pressure on them to reign in their agents. She hoped that would limit, if not stop the deaths amongst the agents. As much as her focus had been her reaction to being hunted, she acknowledged that the agents served a higher function in keeping unorthodox and demonic cultivators in check. If she were to allow this hunt to go on for too long, it would damage the agents to the point that they would no longer be an effective force. That would have dire consequences for the commoners across the whole of the continent. Adya had spent her days in continuing her training, both her skills and physical training, and in her experimentation. She was also keeping her more outrageous behaviour under control. Once her family returned, Adya would need to present a more normal facade until she could implement her plans. For that she needed to keep growing her cultivator army and needed Sai back. As per the original estimations, Sai needed another 40 days to complete the assimilation. In the meantime, Mai had added the additional data captured from the newly converted, as well as new understanding gained from implementing their own formations to the files Sai was processing. Until the process was complete, there was no way to tell how long it would actually take. Dexter had continued to go out and convert the small number of tier 1 mana stones for Adya each week, as well as keep an eye on the contacts. Parth and Peter continued to work together to identify and suborn the spies operating within the family. By their estimates, they had already identified them all, with most having been converted. They were now working on following those links out to convert the controllers, with the idea of taking over all the spy networks in their entirety. The spy who had worked for the foreign royals had become an excellent asset and was fully supporting those efforts. In short, things were going well, and that was putting Adya on edge. She did not trust the universe to not throw in another curveball. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! It was just after lunch that riders arrived with the news that the caravan was only a couple of hours away. The estate rushed to get ready for its arrival. Though used to being on the road, the attack and subsequent captivity would surely have had a massive impact on everyone involved. The healers were ready to provide whatever support they could. The scribes were ready to tally the losses, and record the damages. In the early afternoon the clearly weary caravan pulled into the estate in a long bedraggled column. The retainers rushed out to take over the duties of caring for the animals and dealing with the carriages, as those who had been on the road were led away to be checked over. Baths had been prepared for everyone, as well as hot food and clean clothes. It would only be after everyone had been thoroughly checked that they would meet to hear the details of what had happened. Jarel, not nearly as weary as the mortals, refreshed himself and then presented himself to Adya. Thomas was busy keeping any eye on the captured cultivator bandits. ¡°Welcome back,¡± said Adya. ¡°I know you have had a slow ride back. I need a full report from the time you left me until now.¡± ¡°Well, Evelin and I left to recover your family.¡± started Jarel. ¡°When we found the bandit camp again, Thomas had already scouted them out. They had nearly 600 men in camp, and your retainers were well secured. Apart from your family, they were being treated very badly. You are just lucky you had no female retainers as part of the caravan.¡± ¡°It took us a day to get in and secure the prisoners in one place.¡± continued Jarel. ¡°I was left to guard them, while Evelin and Thomas started the slaughter of the whole camp. It took several day to kill all the bandits, and capture the tier 2 and tier 4 cultivators.¡± ¡°I assume some made a run for it?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Did any get away?¡± ¡°No, we were through.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°Not one of them got away, we killed them all. We made sure to loot everything of value in the camp, before we burned what was left down to ashes. We packed everything up, and sent Evelin to report back to you. The next day we started the slow journey back.¡± ¡°Where you asked any questions by members of the caravan?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Also any trouble on the way back?¡± ¡°Yes, we were asked a lot of questions,¡± replied Jarel. ¡°We told them we were from the council dealing with rogue cultivators. Once they realised who we were, the questioning stopped. It was a good thing you asked us to accompany the caravan, as there were 3 other attacks on the way back.¡± ¡°Any survivors or prisoners?¡± asked Adya. This level of sustained attack against her family made no sense. ¡°No, my lady,¡± replied Jarel. ¡°With just the two of us we did not want to risk the safety of the caravan. We left no one alive, and only ashes behind us.¡± ¡°What is the total number of enemies killed?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Also when are you bringing me the prisoners.¡± ¡°While we didn¡¯t keep an exact count, we guess we killed around 1000 people total.¡± replied Jarel. ¡°I do not know if there were any scouts or members of the groups who were doing something else, but everyone who came across us as hostile is dead. The prisoners, we are just getting them ready. They are in no state to come before you.¡± ¡°Excellent work,¡± replied Adya. ¡°Go and get some rest. You deserve it. We can discuss the rest later.¡± Adya watched Jarel leave her parlour. Even as a cultivator, he looked tired. She would let him rest a day before sending him back out to hunt her hunters. That left her concerned about who thought they would be able to challenge her family so openly. As much as she did not want additional attention, this was getting too brazen to ignore. If others took this as a sign of weakness, then the attacks would only increase. Adya would need to task some of her cultivators to investigate the reason behind so many attacks. There was no way that it was random or a coincidence. Having given her family enough time to refresh themselves, Adya went off to find her wayward family. She found them all in the private dining room, just about to sit down for a hot meal. Adya ran over and hugged her dad, then her brothers. While they were trying to put up a good facade, Adya could see the weariness and loss of confidence on all their faces. ¡°I am glad you are all safe,¡± said Adya. ¡°I was so worried.¡± ¡°Hear that, even little Adya was worried.¡± joked Anik, the eldest brother, hiding his real emotions. ¡°We thought you wouldn¡¯t even notice, what with your head buried in your books.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± said Arth, sounding weary. ¡°How did you manage to even find us. I didn¡¯t know that you even knew where this dining room was.¡± Adya rolled her eyes at her brothers¡¯ antics. ¡°I always knew where it was.¡± replied Adya. ¡°I just didn¡¯t want to catch stupid by coming in here. I guess I will just have to risk it this once.¡± ¡°Adya, don¡¯t tease your brothers.¡± replied Gauri in a faux strict voice, the relief of having her family back evident on her face. ¡°Mother, even I don¡¯t get into as much trouble as these two.¡± replied Adya sweetly. ¡°I think you should ground them until they know not to get kidnapped on a simple trip.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t our fault.¡± shouted both brothers in unison. ¡°See that Father, your sons think it was all your fault.¡± said Adya with mock seriousness. ¡°Mother, I think you should ground my father too.¡± Adya¡¯s father grabbed her and started to tickle her in response. ¡°All my fault is it,¡± he griped. ¡°Ground me will you. Let¡¯s see how you do that when you are being tickled.¡± Adya started to shriek with laughter as she was attacked mercilessly by her father and brothers. No one wanted to discuss serious matters in front of a young Adya. So they spent the time playing around, laughing and joking, while their mother looked on in fond exasperation. 42 - Chapter 41 - Day 1871 42 - Chapter 41 - Day 1871 It had been more than five weeks since Adya¡¯s family had returned safely. Adya had spent that time in her training and experimenting along with playing with her father and brothers. There seemed to have been an unspoken decision to put any more caravans on hold until they got to the bottom of who all the groups targeting them were. On the positive side, with the largest bandit group operating in the three human kingdoms wiped out, and no one, outside her family, having any real idea by whom, bandit activity had substantially decreased. Without proper information sources, it was hard to tell if that was because that one group had been responsible for so much of the bandit activity, or that the other groups were laying low after hearing about the group being wiped out. Still it was good for ordinary people and other merchants. Lastly, the family had, to coin an apt term in this instance, made out like bandits. When the camp had been claimed, along with all the valuables therein, her family had not only recovered much of the lost loot from their own caravan, but also gotten their hands on all the other loot that the bandits had accumulated for some time. The incident with the bandits had effectively increased the value of returns almost ten fold. This also ameliorated the loss from not sending out another caravan immediately. Adya did not particularly care about the wealth issue, as by now her personal reserves were not that far off from the entire net worth of the family, and that was not even taking into account her value as an artificer. Apart from the times Parth and Peter asked her to convert another converted spy, Adya had been focused on improving her telekinesis. She had leveraged the spare parallel processing to truly push the skill to its limits. She had not only looked at the artificing angle, but also at how the skill could enhance her fighting prowess and movement abilities. The training was reflected in the significant growth of her Environmental Dominion skill. The skill had reached level 63, and as she had gained skill levels and insight into wielding her new abilities, she had also gained much more control over the three energies. The improvements had been made at both ends of the spectrum. Her finesse had substantially improved, and so had her ability to control large volumes of energy. Her next direction of training was to mix the two, and attempt fine control of massive volumes of all three energies, to apply them in all possible combinations. Her training had not just been limited to that skill, and she had also made substantial gains in Waking Meditation, with the skill reaching level 32. She had achieved this by training her energy control as she meditated, effectively pushing the training of both skills. She felt she was close to another evolution in the skill and was eager to see what the system thought. She was trying to get to the point where she could meditate constantly regardless of what else she was doing. She had a feeling if she could achieve that mindset, it would offer her a massive boost in power. Her cultivator army had also not been sitting idle during this time. Her group had grown substantially and now boasted 8 tier 6s, and almost 50 tier 5s. Adya was not even bothering to keep track of the tier 4s and below. She had given blanket instructions to capture and bring to her for conversion any cultivator found to be hunting her or involved in bandit activity. This order had led to a few more bandit groups effectively ceasing to exist. Except, this time they were not wiped out, but captured and converted, adding to Adya¡¯s growing numbers of retainers. Speaking of bandit cultivators, the questioning of those captured during the rescue of her family had yielded very little in actionable intelligence. The ones behind the attack had been extremely cautious in hiding their identities, by using multiple cut outs. Adya had sent Evelin to track down and capture the cutouts, but as news of the demise of the bandit group had spread, the cut outs had started to disappear or turn up dead. This had led them to conclude that whoever their enemies were, they were extremely paranoid and careful. That investigation was effectively stalled until they unearthed new leads. Evelin felt certain that they had effectively scoured all cultivators who were hunting her in the three kingdoms at this point, as in the last few weeks it had become harder and harder for them to find any more. Unfortunately a few had been killed when they became suspicious and chose to fight, rather than be taken alive. The advantage of the conversion process was that they could now find out what was happening in all the factions from the Council of Sects, while not raising any alarm about the state of play in the search for this mysterious child. Adya had still not confirmed her status using any of the talismans that the cultivators had carried. She had, however, made sure to take a note of the formations and add it to the analysis Sai was carrying out. She had also added any other changes in formations knowledge gained from the different formations she had encountered while converting the cultivators. She had originally thought that they would all have the same network implanted through their bodies, but had quickly been proven wrong. Each formation network was unique, though they could be categorised in groups. Some were optimised for stealth, some for speed, some for dexterity, some for strength. Others had some combination of optimisations. Adya could not tell if that was on purpose, or it had adapted to the way the individuals had developed, or was linked to their use of mana or stamina. She had also learned that, while all cultivators in this world formed only one core, their core was not always a mana one. About a quarter of her cultivators had stamina cores, and were considered body cultivators. Instead of enhancing their mana, and magic skills, they choose to empower their bodies. They were not considered any weaker to those with mana cores, and their progression was not impacted. Of course, there was a massive difference in strengths and weaknesses between the two. And while those with stamina cores either took substantially longer to maximise their cores, or lived with smaller cores, their stamina delivered substantially better results due to not having to be lost to the environment. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Given the differences identified, and additional volume of data generated, Adya expected Sai to take even longer to complete the processing. She hoped it would not be too much longer. She was ready to move forward with her plans as soon as Sai was done. She was confident her team would be able to comfortably subdue even a tier 7 cultivator at this point. Adya had a team keeping an eye on the estate, from a distance, to ensure someone couldn¡¯t attack unnoticed. The rest of the cultivators were out gathering intel, providing misinformation or just hunting for any other cultivators to join their growing numbers. Adya was just in the middle of an energy finesse control practice exercise, when Sai came online. Sai: I have completed the full analysis of all formation data, and updated the unified language to reflect the updated understanding. Adya: Does that include all the additional information that we have managed to gain since you started your analysis. Sai: The additional data helped reduce processing time by filling in substantial gaps in knowledge. Without those files the analysis would have taken substantially longer and returned subpar results. Adya: Give me an overview on how this impacts our capabilities. Sai: We have the ability to create far more complex formations, arrays, talismans and runes. The vocabulary has increased by several orders of magnitude. In addition, we are no longer limited to only using mana. Stamina substitutions are now possible, but the results will be uncertain without additional data or testing. Adya: What about willpower? Sai: I have extrapolated the impact of using willpower, however we will need to design and run several hundred tests of increasing complexity to even begin to understand its impact. We should create a subroutine to design and document the tests required. Once we have a list, the subroutine can use the results of the tests, as we carry them out, to refine the list of further tests. It is not something I see being available to us in the short term. Adya: OK, let us create a subroutine and assign it as a passive using one core for now. We really need to focus on the creation of a formation for the automatic creation of mana coins. I am hoping the increase in levels of energy control will allow us to understand the process at a level of detail that will allow us to recreate the process. Sai: Do you want to start with that first, and leave the subroutine for me to do when you are sleeping? Adya: Ok, let us do that. We have everything else in place and just need to be able to create this formation to progress with our plan. With that Adya¡¯s plans changed. She started to experiment with the creation of mana coins. She left her passive running creating mana stones in the background and used her massive cores for the testing. She did not need to use a lot of mana in any case. 100 mana at a time was compressed into a flat round coin. Adya started with a blank coin, designs and security markers could be added once she understood the process for the simplified coin. Adya purposefully slowed down the process as much as possible, with both Sai and Mai watching all energy fluctuations in detail. Adya also had her passive skills fully utilise the regeneration, ensuring the cores did not refill at all. This provided a control point for the experiments. With each coin created, the process recorded and then the coin scanned with environmental dominion skill, Adya started to get a better understanding of the details behind the process. As Adya started to understand the details, she would make slight adjustments to the process and test again. The process of creating, understanding, changing, and then iterating through the steps again became Adya¡¯s sole focus. As she refined her ability to create coins, removing and simplifying some steps and merging other steps, her understanding of the process grew. As her understanding reached an apex, at least in the creation of the simple discs, she started to speed up the process again, still iterating with the help of Sai. To get a better understanding, Adya, Sai and Mai started to use all the parallel processing capabilities to iterate through 135 versions simultaneously. The results of each process were fed into subsequent processes, creating exponential improvements. Sai: Our improvements are so far beyond the crude passive skills we created so long ago. We will want to recreate all of those skills. The efficiency gains would be massive. Adya: Can we have one process create multiple coins of the same energy, or single coins of multiple energies simultaneously? Sai: I will add testing to that effect in our iterations. They found that it was indeed possible for a single process to create multiple coins of a single type at the same time. It was only limited by the energy throughput and level of energy control. At Adya¡¯s level they could create 630 coins per process at the same time. Sai: It seems like it''s the energy control level multiplied by 10. Sai¡¯s assumption was proven correct with the skill leveled to 64 and their maximum increased to 640. That just drove them to push through the testing even faster. It was not until they had created 1M mana coins, hours later that the real discovery was made. They finally had an answer to the question of why no one else had managed to solve the coin creation issue. To create 1,000,000 tier blank mana coins had cost 100,000,000 mana, but it also cost 1 willpower and 1 stamina. No wonder no one else had managed to automate the process. Now they would need to test the limits of this process and ascertain what processes impacted the amounts of willpower and stamina used. 43 - Chapter 42 - Day 2122 43 - Chapter 42 - Day 2122 It had been almost two months of constant testing for Adya. She had even started to ignore a lot of her other training to solely focus on her task. There had been a part of her, a childish part, that just wanted her to focus on gaining personal strength. In her old life she had been at the level of these elders who were chasing her, if only she could regain that power. She had even started to indulge it by planning out a path to increase her cultivation. She would not need to rely on anyone or anything else if she was strong enough. Those day dreams had come crashing down when both Sai and Mai had castigated her for her foolishness. Her own mind had interceded and reminded her of the realities on the ground. She had taken several thousand years to reach those heights in her previous life. It was also her desire for personal power that had placed her in danger in the first place. Had she not formed her cores, the protection protocols would still have been in force. She had not realised just how much the system had been protecting her until she lost her shield. She had also not realised, or rather failed to take into account, how the powerful of this world would view her. At best she was a natural treasure that they wanted to control, to put to use for their own ends. At worst, she was a danger to the existing power structures, even if she took no action herself. The fact that others would seek to contain and use her would make her dangerous enough to destroy. Adya had taken similar actions multiple times in her past lives. She had rarely been bothered by concerns over the loss of self determination suffered by the treasure. This was not a concern when it was just a natural item, but even in cases where the item in question had been sapient or worse sentient, she had still taken the action that aligned best with her own interests. She could not expect different behaviour from those who ruled this world. You did not seek and achieve the true heights of power through altruism. All that did was to allow others to surpass you, leaving you vulnerable to their dictates. So she had accepted that even with all her knowledge and experience there was no way to gain sufficient power in the short term to make any meaningful difference. Her growing cultivator army now numbered fifteen tier 6s, over a hundred tier 5s, and an assortment of other tiers. Having all but wiped out or taken over all the bandit gangs in three kingdoms had given her a powerful standing army. She could successfully defend against most attacks at this point. However, that was only true for threats up to the tier 7 range. At tier 8 and beyond, she was still highly vulnerable. The system was a possibility in terms of gaining levels and powers, but that had also been denied her, leaving her locked in the child class. She had asked her mother, and there was no known way to remove the restriction until the system considered her an adult. She had a feeling that she could shave some time off the normal system unlock cycle by advancing her cultivation, but that would still take years to achieve. That left her with her original plan. Worse now that most of the other elders were actively hunting her, it only left one elder as a viable choice. The one that had known of her even before the protection protocol had dropped. Though she had no way to confirm her hypothesis, Adya thought that it meant that the particular elder truly did not mean her harm. However, that was no guarantee that the elder would let Adya dictate her actions. Locking her up to keep her safe until she was old enough may still be considered benign by the system. Also openly approaching the elder would reveal her primary secret to everyone. It would be like writing a massive announcement in the sky right above her family estate. It would move the battle from overt to covert with her family becoming pawns in the game to bring her under an elders control. So she needed the elder to give her protection, and justify it to the others, in such a way that it would obfuscate her actual value. They could continue their search on this vast continent, or wider a field, leaving Adya the time to gain personal power in relative peace. She also needed a way to launder the vast amounts of wealth she could create. If she could not leverage one of main strengths, it would make getting stronger significantly harder. This was why she had started the push for the mana coin artifact. It would allow her the ability to obfuscate the reason for her importance to the other elders. It would allow her to launder her own mana coins, giving her access to immense wealth. Ultimately it would give her the freedom to pursue true power. With her mind firmly set on her path forward, Adya had returned in earnest to her testing. She had also been ignoring her family¡¯s demands on her time, with the only exception for when she needed to put formations on anyone. Her mother had been checking up on her a lot more regularly and forcing her to take breaks to at least eat and bathe. Left to her own devices, Adya knew that she would have largely ignored both concerns. Thankfully, her dedication had paid off in spades. She had managed to refine an amazing simple formation for the creation of mana coins. She had not stopped there, she had come up with a formation that would work with each energy type. It had not been strictly necessary, but the branch research had not added more than a few days, and the potential pay off was huge. She had also understood the full intricacies of how the energies interacted. She had already known, from the understanding gained when she had created the passive skills, that the three energies were converted from a more primordial energy that was generated in the soul plane. The energy was converted at the soul body connection points and absorbed by the body for its own use. The more the body could store, the faster the connection point was able to convert the energies. It seemed to be a natural limit designed to stop damage to the connection itself.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. As part of the latest rounds of testing, Adya had tried to forcibly increase regeneration rates, and had to stop immediately from the resultant damage. Thankfully the damage had fully healed, but that was a route she would not be exploring any time soon. Once the formations for the coin creations had been optimised, she had started work on the parts that would make the coins usable as currency. She had taken inspiration from the coins minted on old earth before the expansion of digital currencies. The first thing she did was to change the shape from a flat round coin to a flat dodecahedron coin. The twelve sided coin was close enough to the round coin to maintain the aesthetics, but would fix several issues that occurred with the use of round coins, like the ability of the round ones to roll away. On one side of the coin, she had created a standard template that would display the value, the energy, the tier and the year of creation. This was to make the value clear to all. On the sides of the coin, she had added the ability to record the serial number of the artifact that minted the coins in the first place. It would also add a serial number denoting the number of the coin itself. Or course, she would be able to falsify it, but no one else would. Lastly, on the final side, she had left with the option of personalising the design to the country or organisation that would use her artifacts. The idea was to allow for a small metallic disk with the engraved design to be slotted into a space on the final artefact. This had necessitated the creation of more formations to work in conjunction with the main formations. Once she had the full range of formations in place, she had started work on creating obfuscation formations for her artifact. She did not want it to be separate from the main formation, as that would allow anyone with the ability to copy her design. To obfuscate the actual important parts of her design, she went with multiple angles. First she created the actual combined formations that would do the work in her new combined language. The design was updated to make it impossible to read. This had led to her first major shock, and a glimpse into her future. She had received multiple prompts from the system. Attempt to obfuscate newly created language from system skills detected. Scion protocol is in effect. System standard protocols suspended. New language will be subject to full obfuscation and will be unrecognisable to all system skills. Please name the new language. The fact that the system would make it impossible to directly translate her formations was a massive boon. She would have to test whether the system applied the obfuscation to all uses of her personal language, or only to the obfuscated variant. It also meant that it was potentially possible to learn her language the old fashioned way. Though that would be next to impossible for anyone in this world. Adya had used an ideographic language with symbols that had no relation to any known language. Nor did she have any intention of leaving a key behind to make it easier for people. If anyone wanted to learn her language, they would need to brute force all the permutations through trial and error. With the obfuscation adding even more ideographic symbols, ones with no meaning or rather no meaning to the formation, the sheer number of permutations that would need to be tested were in the quintillions. That would allow her to create her primary formations with some assurance. Though Adya knew that would not be enough. She planned to build a replaceable core for the artifact, the actual formation would be on the inside of the core. The outside would have a formation in the local language that would work for an individual, but not for another artifact. This external formation would look like it was wearing down over time, requiring it to be replaced. The reason for the replaceable core was multifold. One, it would give Adya a reason to sell cores for the artifacts as replacement parts. She could not realistically expect everyone to ship all their mana stones to her for conversion, so she would need to let them get access to her machines. Two, She needed a way to cut off their supplies if they tried to target her. Most importantly was the third reason. She needed to provide the stamina and willpower that would let the artifact function. That would not be a resource that she wanted to become public knowledge. With a replaceable core, she could hide everything inside, with yet another formation designed to destroy the core in the event of any tampering. The visible degradation on the externally visible formation would give her a good excuse for the return of the cores. She would also ensure accurate records were kept of who had which core, and new cores would only be provided in exchange for a spent one. Her version of intellectual rights protection and recycling in one. She did wonder if she could embed a tracking formation into the designs too, but that would be an additional feature that she would look into later. Adya had, with the help of Sai and Mai, created a workable design. A part of which she had put to paper. The core design would never ever be written down. With the design work completed, the next task was to actually build the device. She would need the help of an artificer for that part. It was time for another visit to the city. 44 - Chapter 43 - Day 2123 44 - Chapter 43 - Day 2123 After a good night¡¯s rest, Adya needed to prepare for her trip to the city to ensure she did not cause a problem this time. She would have Evenlin accompany her. She sent Sally with a message, asking Evelin to join her. While she waited she reviewed the design for her artifact one last time. She wanted to ensure there were no mistakes. She also wanted to confirm her results from the extensive testing. The testing had confirmed that for every 1,000,000 mana coins that the formation would create, it would also use 1000 mana stones of the same tier as well as 5 willpower stones and 5 stamina stones. Or in other terms for every 100 million mana processed into coins, the total cost was 100,000 mana, 500 willpower and 500 stamina of the same tier. This was important to know, as the size of the willpower and stamina stones that was fitted into the core would determine the amount of mana that could be processed by the artifact. Then there was the additional cost of adding a self destruct mechanism that would act if anyone tried to scan, open, or in any way seek to tamper with the core. She had only theorised the mechanism for that, and in her estimates it would take another 5,000 mana to completely disintegrate the core, leaving nothing behind that could be traced. This was using the knowledge gained from the tier 10 formations that were in the agents, refined and improved to an unprecedented degree. The last thing she needed to decide was the cost. She still needed to work out the pricing for the machine, the replaceable cores and where the mana cost would be applied. The simplest solution was to allow the mana stones being converted to cover the cost and let the users know that there would be a 0.01% cost in mana to run the device. This would also reduce the amount of scrutiny. An artifact was supposed to cost mana to run, it would be too noticeable if the artefact worked for ¡®free¡¯. So she would need to charge for the artefact, the core that included the formation, the destruction formation, and two custom sized stones that would be the real driving force behind the artifact. The idea was to come up with a pricing matrix that would allow her to create cores of different capacities. She also planned to create machines with multiple cores down the line to cater to those who needed high throughput on the creation of coins. The designs would be the same as buying multiple artefacts, but in one significantly larger device. She needed the artificer in the city to help her create her first device, as well as the parts for the core. She would then use her skills to etch the formations as required. She could just create the stones she needed herself. Why bother creating a machine that would give away her secrets to anyone who found it. She knew what she needed, and she double checked her designs one more time to ensure nothing had been missed. There was a knock on her door, and Evelin entered. Sally followed behind, carrying Adya¡¯s breakfast. Thankfully she had become a lot more relaxed and slightly informal during her time working for Adya. ¡°Good Morning Miss Adya,¡± said Evelin. ¡°What can I do for you?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you take a seat?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Have you had breakfast yet?¡± ¡°No, I was just going to get some,¡± replied Evelin. ¡°When Sally told me that you wanted to see me.¡± ¡°Sally, please get another plate for Evelin,¡± said Adya. ¡°We have a lot to discuss, and it would be better over breakfast.¡± Evelin took a seat as Sally went off to fetch another portion of breakfast for Evelin. ¡°How are things progressing?¡± asked Adya. ¡°I know that I have left you to manage things as I have been too busy with my research.¡± ¡°We are progressing well,¡± replied Evelin. ¡°I am certain we have taken full control of all agents and major bandit groups in the three kingdoms. As per your instructions, we have not ventured outside that region. We are providing false reports back to the various factions, though I am not sure how long that will hold up. At first glance we are all continuing the search, and we have used the unavoidable deaths as good cover. However, based on the competing orders, the lack of further violence will stand out.¡± ¡°I am aware that our ruse will only bear scrutiny for so long,¡± replied Adya. ¡°I have plans to help alleviate the threat. How do you feel about working for me, and how do you feel about your old organisation, now that you can see what they are doing.¡± A look of rage crossed Evelin¡¯s face for a moment, before she recovered and returned to her placid facade. ¡°I really hate the council for what it did to us.¡± she said, her voice still quivering with the suppressed anger. ¡°Not only did they send us out to hunt a child, but they also sent us to kill our own. We were always taught that we were all that stood between civilisation and anarchy, and yet the moment they have an inkling of a situation that could benefit the council all morality was abandoned. Had you not interceded, a lot more of my comrades would be dead now, a lot at my hands. Not only have you saved a lot of us, but you have revealed so many truths to us about our own nature.¡±The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Yes, you took control over us against our will,¡± continued Evelin. ¡°At the start all I could think about was getting away and back to the council, but now, after seeing and hearing about how we are controlled. Seeing the council¡¯s self-serving actions. I realise that you did not have a choice in your actions. I am sure you could have found a way to kill us all, but you choose to keep us around. Not only that, but you have treated us fairly for the most part. I honestly believe your word that the only choice was to take over our formations or kill us. We have seen what happens when other agents try to go against their orders without you there to intercede. My loyalty is to you.¡± ¡°What about your colleagues?¡± replied Adya. Using truth as a weapon was an old tactic, but it was effective for a reason. ¡°I know that not everyone has accepted the situation with as much equanimity as you have.¡± ¡°I am confident that you have the wholehearted support of all the tier 6s,¡± replied Evelin. ¡°There are now 15 of us, and we have all realised what the orders would have forced us to do. Out of the tier 5s, I would say most accept that being alive is better than being dead. Interestingly, it is those tier 5s that were already aware they were enslaved, who are having the hardest time accepting the change of control to you.¡± ¡°Actually, that makes sense,¡± responded Adya. ¡°They were already fighting to gain freedom, even if it was only subconsciously. For those who are only just realising that they were enslaved, the way I have treated them has made them feel free, so they would naturally feel gratitude towards me.¡± ¡°I had not thought about it like that,¡± mused Evelin, her tone turning suspicious. ¡°Is that the reason you give us so much perceived freedom?¡± ¡°Honestly, there is more than one reason,¡± replied Adya calmly. ¡°You should understand that if I wanted to treat you like slaves no one could stop me. The same way I ordered you to think about things and find the truth, I could have ordered you to believe me and only me. I don¡¯t think you realise the level of control your augmentation affords me. Frankly, I don¡¯t like slaves, I would rather have loyal employees. However, given that there are methods to suborn loyalty, with or without consent, it has led me to use distasteful methods. It is as much for your safety as mine. No one can suborn you and make you turn against me.¡± Evelin thought about Adya¡¯s assertions and she was not lying. She had no reason to lie to any of them. She could do what she wanted, order them to do anything, and they would have no choice. Yet she went out of her way to give them at least the illusion of choice. In their circumstances, that was much better than they had any right to expect. ¡°So what did you want to talk to me about this morning?¡± asked Evelin, changing the subject. Sally had brought her breakfast while they spoke, and they were both enjoying the meal. ¡°So I need you to escort me into town, and help me negotiate with the only artificer in town,¡± replied Adya. ¡°I also wanted to let you in on a secret, and my long term plan to keep control over my future.¡± Evelin was intrigued at the prospect of learning any of Adya¡¯s secrets. She sat forward, her body language screaming an intense interest in finding out more. ¡°So, there is one group, or rather one elder at the council who did not send out any agents to kill or capture anyone,¡± continued Adya. ¡°She is the one who sent out Jarel. He was sent out in secret years ago. It seems she became aware of the target before anyone else. I have reason to believe that motives may be more altruistic. My plan is to get protection under her auspices. However, that would make me a political target for every other elder by revealing me to everyone. It will also give her a reason to imprison me, and my family for my own good.¡± ¡°I can see how that would go,¡± replied Evelin. ¡°You would end up a slave in all but name, at the whims of whoever could leverage the right.¡± ¡°Yes, I am not keen to become a pawn on someone else¡¯s board,¡± replied Adya. ¡°Though some form of deal is inevitable. I will have to provide some sort of benefit to keep my freedom.¡± ¡°The problem is what the benefit looks like,¡± mused Evelin. ¡°If you are too valuable, you will be fought over anyway, if you are not valuable enough, then the protection would look out of place, making you stand out.¡± ¡°Yes, that is the problem I have been working on addressing,¡± replied Adya, pleased that Evelin was able to see the potential problems, without having them explained. ¡°My solution is two fold. I want to set up my own sect, including all the agents that now fall under my house should be enough to grant us mid level sect status. That would protect us from any interference by the mortals. It would stop the elders from being able to pressure the mortal governments and using them to target us. As a clan, we would have a lot of freedom, unless the council could prove that we were not an orthodox sect.¡± ¡°Yes, that would give your family a lot of protection,¡± said Evelin. ¡°But, it would leave you with the same problem. The elders of the council will still come after you. They will still need a believable reason as to why one elder would protect you. They would want access to the benefit, and it would have to be substantial enough to leave you alone, and not suspect you of being their target.¡± ¡°Those were my thoughts exactly,¡± said Adya. ¡°This is the reason why we are going to see the artificer this morning. It is imperative that we bring him under the control of our house. You see I have worked out a way to give all cultivators a benefit that they would love, and that would take the focus of the elders off their search for their target, at least for a while.¡± ¡°And what exactly is this minor miracle that you are intending to produce,¡± asked Evelin. ¡°I think I have found a way to create an artifact that will allow for the automated creation of mana coins,¡± answered a smirking Adya. ¡°The trip to town is to create the first prototype.¡± Evelin was left flabbergasted. 45 - Chapter 44 - Day 2123 45 - Chapter 44 - Day 2123 Adya left her family estate for her second visit to the city. This time she was accompanied by Evelin, Dexter and Philipa. A quartet of tier 5 cultivators shadowed her carriage from a distance. They had not brought any other guards. The only other person with them was the driver and he would stay with the carriage upon entering the city. As everyone in the carriage was a trusted retainer, Adya decided to use the time to question Evelin to get a better understanding of how her plans would work in practice. ¡°So Evelin,¡± asked Adya, ¡°what exactly is the process for setting up a new sect.¡± ¡°I see, that makes sense,¡± mused Evelin. ¡°Creating a sect would force the council to deal with your family officially, granting you additional protection. It could work. At the least it will buy you time. The process for setting up a sect, or in your case a clan, is reasonably straightforward.¡± ¡°I should have known you would be able to see my intentions,¡± replied Adya. ¡°So what are these processes and what challenges will I face?¡± ¡°Well, you need to declare your intent to form a sect, and describe the structure,¡± replied Evelin. ¡°Then you send it off to the administrative offices of the council of sects.¡± ¡°Ok, that seems straightforward enough,¡± replied Adya. ¡°Then the council will send out an agent to validate that you meet the qualifications,¡± continued Evelin. ¡°They will check that you have access to cultivation methods and actually have cultivators, either as part of the family or as retainers. Once that is confirmed, then the council will certify your family as a clan with the appropriate sect status.¡± ¡°Damn,¡± replied Adya. ¡°I knew there had to be a catch. It really was too good to be true.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the issue?¡± asked Evelin. ¡°What happens when the agent from the council turns up and finds my retainers are all agents of the council?¡± asked Adya. ¡°It will not only confirm to those in the know that I have a way of breaking the council''s hold on its agents, but also likely out me as a potential target. I would be lucky to survive the month.¡± ¡°You can just convert the agent they send,¡± replied Evelin. ¡°That way they will only report what we want them to.¡± ¡°No Evelin, I can¡¯t,¡± replied Adya. ¡°Well, I obviously can, but I won¡¯t. It¡¯s one thing to target those that are hunting me, but I will not target those that are just doing their jobs. I am not a fan of slavery. I have been left with little choice in my actions so far, but that does not mean it is something that I will do on a whim.¡± ¡°And where do you draw the line?¡± asked Evelin. ¡°Also, don¡¯t forget that the agents are slaves already.¡± As the back and forth continued, Dexter and Phillpa looked on, wide eyed. They had not been brought in on the secrets, and were shocked to learn that Adya was not only able to control the mortals but cultivators too. ¡°Yes, but I did not enslave them,¡± responded Adya. ¡°The council must take responsibility for its own sins. I can¡¯t free them as that would reveal my secret. I am not even sure if I could truly free them. And I won¡¯t take them over as a matter of convenience. I am happy to target those that are targeting my family, or me and any bandits. That is where I draw the line.¡± Adya left unsaid that she had plans to experiment with changing the soul mark from enforcement to protection to provide a degree of freedom. She just did not understand what that would do to the augmentation formation that was woven through the bodies of the agents. Evelin was surprised by Adya¡¯s stance on the matter. In a world where might made right, a world where it was possible to gather one¡¯s secrets against their will by using skills, intimidation or torture, Adya¡¯s views seemed to be childishly naive. Of course Adya¡¯s actions so far had shown her to be ruthless and pragmatic. Maybe this was just a test, or maybe there was more to Adya than she had seen in her actions forced by circumstances. She would have to wait and see. They continued to talk until they approached the city. Once again they entered via the noble entrance. This time there were no additional guards to leave at the guard house. The cultivators shadowing them would make their own way inside. They started to make their way towards the artificer¡¯s quarters. ¡°So what do you plan to do?¡± asked Evelin, picking up their original conversation. ¡°I think timing will be everything,¡± replied Adya. ¡°I will send my request directly to the Elder, with my offer, and ask them to assign some agents as permanent retainers. If she agrees, then I can pretend that the agents are just seconded to my house until we are strong enough. She would need to send protection in any case, so it should not stand out at that point.¡± ¡°All of this is dependent on the elder agreeing to protect you and go along with your plan,¡± replied Evelin. ¡°If she wants to force the issue, that would leave you vulnerable.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°No different from now,¡± responded Adya. ¡°If pushed into a corner, then I can push back hard. Hopefully the elder will not want to push me that far, though I expect her to try to test my resolve. We will see how much I am forced to reveal.¡± As they had talked the carriage had wound its way through the city and arrived at their destination. The four disembarked from the carriage and made their way into the shop. The same attendant that had served Adya last time came up to greet them. ¡°Greetings Miss,¡± she said. ¡°It is good to see you again. Don¡¯t tell me, but you want to see the artificer again?¡± ¡°I do,¡± responded Adya. ¡°Also please excuse my rudeness, but I was most remiss in not asking your name last time, or that of the artificer.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it Miss,¡± replied the attendant. ¡°I am Maya and the artificer is Rory. Let me check with him if he is ok for you to go back there.¡± ¡°Thank you Maya,¡± responded Adya, then spent time perusing the items in the shop while she waited for her to return. Maya was back just a few minutes later, and gave Adya permission to go into the workshop. Adya left her retinue and entered the back. ¡°Greeting Rory,¡± said Adya. ¡°Thank you for letting me back here again.¡± ¡°So you enjoyed yourself so much last time that you just had to return to watch me again?¡± asked Rory. ¡°Or did you want something different this time?¡± ¡°Well you really helped me out last time,¡± replied Adya. ¡°I need your help again, though I would suggest you allow one of my retainers to join me this time.¡± ¡°Do you need an adult to help you with your request?¡± teased Rory. ¡°Not really,¡± replied Adya. ¡°Though you may not believe my request is genuine without checking the credentials of an adult.¡± ¡°Oh really,¡± repleud Rory. ¡°You know I have nobility coming in here all the time begging for my time, and you think one of your retainers will be enough to get me to agree to your request? One that you have not even made yet?¡± ¡°How about a friendly wager,¡± replied Adya. ¡°I will give you 100 tier 1 mana stones to allow my retainer back here, and bet you a further 200 tier 1 mana stones that you will want to jump at my request.¡± ¡°Put the mana stones on the counter first,¡± replied Rory. ¡°And you will have a bet.¡± Adya placed three pouches on the counter and waited for Rory to check them. Once he nodded, she went back out to bring Evelin back with her. ¡°Greetings Rory, I am Evelin,¡± said Evenlin once they were back in the workshop. ¡°My mistress has a request to make of you, and I would like for you to take it seriously.¡± ¡°And why should I do that?¡± asked Rory. ¡°And who is your mistress?¡± At a nod from Adya, Evelin continued. ¡°You have already met my mistress, Miss Adya. As for the reason you should do that, it is because I am a tier 6 cultivator and report directly to the council of sects. Also, I hope you will be discreet. I will be most unhappy if details of this meeting were to be shared outside the three of us.¡± Rory was shocked at the assertion. If true, then just who was this girl who had a tier 6 following her around and taking orders from such a young girl. This was all just too fantastical to believe. ¡°Do you have any identification?¡± asked Rory. He was feeling anxious, but was doing his best to hide it. He was struggling to believe that the situation was anything but a prank, but if it was real, he was challenging a high tier cultivator. Yet his scepticism won out. ¡°Anyone can come in here and claim anything, without proof it means nothing.¡± Evelin produced her council tag from her pouch and showed it to Rory. It was an artefact, and could be validated by pushing a little mana into the sect symbol. Rory extended his hand and tested the tag. He was shocked that it was genuine and identified Evelin as a tier 6 agent. ¡°My most sincere apologies for not believing you. How may I serve the council?¡± Rory was mortified that he had challenged Evelin. Those in the know were well aware that the agents of the council had as much power as mortal kings, and could requisition anything they needed to pursue their orders. ¡°As I said,¡± replied Evelin. ¡°I am just here as a retainer. My mistress is the one who has the request.¡± Rory turned to look at Adya with new eyes. It was like he was seeing her for the first time. ¡°All right, you won our little bet,¡± he replied, still not able to take her seriously. ¡°What is this request of yours?¡± ¡°Oh you can keep the mana stones. The request is in three parts,¡± replied Adya. ¡°I need you to create the pieces of an artefact. However, before I can let you see the designs, I will need to sell me your business and let me place a loyalty protection formation on you. I can¡¯t have our secrets leaked, and working with me will put you at potential risk.¡± Rory looked on with incredulity as the little girl made outrageous demands of him. How would a girl be able to buy him out, and how would she be able to place a loyalty protection formation on him. It was an extremely complex formation that would take a master time to draw, especially on skin. ¡°So do we have a deal?¡± asked Adya cheekily, seeing the look on Rory¡¯s face. ¡°Do you have any idea how much my business is worth?¡± replied Rory. ¡°Just because you have some mana stones, does not mean you can afford to buy me out!¡± ¡°Name a fair price,¡± responded Adya simply. ¡°My business is worth at least 250 platinum,¡± smirked Rory. ¡°That is 250,000 tier 1 mana stones. Your allowance of a few hundred won¡¯t even be a start.¡± ¡°Does that mean you are agreeing to the deal if I can pay you 250,000 tier 1 mana stones today?¡± asked Adya. ¡°It also means you are agreeing to the loyalty protection formation. Once you have agreed, I will not allow you to go back on your word. Providing proof will require you to learn some of my secrets. Once you learn my secrets, there is no way out. This is your final chance to choose.¡± Rory looked between the serious Adya and stoic Evelin. Was this for real? He had just quoted an insanely high price for his business, not expecting anything to come of it. If the deal went through, could he be in trouble with the council for price gouging? He really didn¡¯t know what to think. 46 - Chapter 45 - Day 2123 46 - Chapter 45 - Day 2123 Rory had spent several minutes deep in thought. He really didn¡¯t know what to do or believe. If he went ahead with the purchase, at the ridiculous price he had quoted and the council looked into him, then he could end up neck deep in trouble. Still, little Adya had not seemed worried about the price. Though where she would get that kind of volume of mana stones remained to be seen. Then there was the issue of actually moving that much mana stones. There was no way she was carrying that kind of volume around. That made sense, she would make the deal and then need to go away to get the actual mana stones. It would also explain the cultivator guarding her. If anyone knew, then they would make a juicy target, as would he, if he accepted the deal. Just how would he deal with that kind of volume of mana stones himself? This was getting very complicated indeed. Adya was happy to wait patiently. She was also considering the issues of moving that volume of mana stones, and not just the logistical issues. That was going to be annoying enough as it was. Each mana stone was around five grams, that was irrelevant of tier. So a tier 1 mana stone and a tier 2 mana stone was the same size and weight. The only difference from a physical perspective was the slightly darker colour denoting the higher tier. She had no idea why that was the case. It was another thing that she had added to her list of things to investigate. Maybe the elder would have answers for her. That meant that 250,000 tier 1 mana stones would have a total weight of 1,250Kg. Adya had not bothered to look into the details of how logistics was managed in this world, even though her family was in this very business. She had been too busy in her own studies to look into that facet of the family business. In theory her carriage pulled by a team of horses would be able to pull anywhere between five and ten times their weight. Of course that was dependent on the condition of the horses. The amount of cargo would be reduced by the weight of the people on the carriage, the weight of the carriage itself, the strength of the carriage, and specifically the load bearing axles and wheels and other considerations like the conditions of the roads. It may be easier to just borrow the platinum from her family in the short term. That actually led Adya to a larger concern. How would she get paid for her artifacts? Also how would she secure and move the mana coins that she would create. The logistics would make it even easier to track the source of her coins and the raw mana stones once she started to convert her stockpiles. She would need to look into what passed for a banking industry in this world and how secure it was. Also, she would not be able to sell her mana stones, or pass off her converted mana coins in the numbers she had. She could not believe she had missed such a critical weakness as logistics in her plans. That would also impact her ability to dispatch her artefacts far and wide. As she waited for Rory to answer she spoke with Sai about changing her priorities yet again. She would still contact the elder, and finish this machine. Yet the ability to use her absurd wealth to further her goals still eluded her. Sai: Yes we were too distracted by creating the product. The artefact can be marketed and sold by the Elder, or her organisation for us. Yet due to the logistical challenges in this world, the ability to move large volumes of mana stones, especially covertly, would be nigh impossible for us. Adya: Yes, though I think I have a better solution, if we can implement it. It just adds to our work load. Sai: You are thinking about creating a formation to compress the mana stones and create higher tier mana coins. The volume would reduce, and the profitability could be higher depending on the amount of mana, stamina and willpower it would require to make it work. We would need to create the formation and then test it for up to higher tiers. Mai: This would actually increase the risk on us. The volume of mana coins we would need to move would be lower, substantially lower, if we can get to very high tiers. Yet that solution would leave us dependent on the Elder to sell our coins. It would be even harder to explain the existence of what would be considered a tactical resource. Sai: Let me start work on a compression formation and creating the test cases in any case. We can work through the implications later. We need the artifact to ensure we can start the plan in any case. This could be another device we can bring to market, for a substantially higher cost. As Adya debated the new issue that this conversation had brought to light, Rory had finally reached a decision. ¡°Miss Adya,¡± he started, aiming to be polite just in case. ¡°I am happy to accept a reasonable offer, yet I think I may have overestimated the value of my business. It is more likely to be in the region of 75 to 125 platinum. I am happy to let you purchase the business for a small premium.¡± ¡°You misunderstood my offer Rory,¡± replied Adya. ¡°I need you to stay and carry on running the business. I will buy your business and become a silent partner for the most part. I will also become a customer, one whose work would need to take priority. Lastly everything would need to be completely confidential. That would be the reason for the loyalty protection formation. Lastly, in terms of payment I think we would need to pay you in Platinum. The logistics of moving that many mana stones, and then for you to trade them, would not be practical.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°So what about the price,¡± asked Rory. ¡°What are you offering for this arrangement and how long would I be working for you?¡± ¡°I am happy to pay you a fair valuation,¡± replied Adya. ¡°On paper, I would own the whole business. You will be able to retain 15% of the profit and 85% would come to me. In effect, you would become my business partner, as the business grows, so would your profit margin. In light of your valuation, and the profit share that I am offering, I think 85 platinum would be a reasonable price. What do you think?¡± ¡°Given that I get to carry on running the business and profiting from it,¡± replied Rory, ¡°that is not an unreasonable offer. How about a slight adjustment, the percentage changes to 75% to you and 25% to me. Also increase the monetary offer to 100 platinum. Round numbers are so much better don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Typical business man,¡± responded Adya, smirking. ¡°Always pushing for more. As you say, round numbers are better. So how about this as the final deal, I own 100% of the business and pay you 100 platinum, and offer you a 10% profit share. Or I can pay you 80 platinum and offer you 20% profit share.¡± Rory thought about the deal on offer. It was essentially a now versus later issue. The more money he took upfront the lower the percentage. The less he took upfront, the higher the percentage. The question was did he think the business would increase enough to make the lower payout worthwhile? If Adya could secure enough new business then the higher percentage would definitely be worthwhile. If all he got was the occasional new commission, then taking the larger payout now would be the better option. ¡°Can you tell me anything more?¡± asked Rory. ¡°Not without the formation in place,¡± replied Adya. ¡°It is as much for your protection as for mine. You could of course agree to the deal and finalise the percentage later. Though that would require you to trust me to negotiate in good faith after the fact.¡± That was an option Rory had not even considered. It would leave him in a very weak position and would require him to trust this enigmatic girl to be fair. Rory was feeling very conflicted. In truth he was more an artisan and not a businessman. It was why he usually hid out in his workshop leaving the attendants to manage the shop. He could negotiate, as it was a basic skill that everyone needed, yet it was not something he enjoyed. He was in two minds about which way to proceed. This girl also seemed to be inordinately well versed in the skill, keeping silent and letting him make the decision. Paradoxically, by not applying pressure and leaving the decision on him, she actually increased the pressure on him. Whatever he choose, he would have no one to blame but himself. He did think about simply refusing the deal out right, but just having contact with someone on the council would increase his reputation massively. That thought made the decision for him. ¡°I will take the deal,¡± said Rory. ¡°I will agree to the 80 platinum for a 20% profit share.¡± ¡°Done,¡± responded Adya. ¡°Do you have someone who can draw up the contracts for the sale and profit share?¡± ¡°I have someone who I use to draw up agreements for my larger clients,¡± replied Rory. ¡°I would have thought you would want to use your own people.¡± ¡°I am happy for your contact to draw the agreement so that you are more comfortable with the details,¡± said Adya. ¡°Let us get started. Why don¡¯t you make arrangements for the two agreements and I will arrange the payment. Then we can move forward with the formation while we wait for the both to arrive.¡± Rory was still a little hesitant to proceed without the paperwork in place, but it seemed like the little miss was in a hurry. ¡°What do you think, Cultivator?¡± he asked Evelin. ¡°I can tell you that she sticks to her agreements,¡± replied an amused Evelin. ¡°But as her retainer, I would have to tell you that in any case. If you want to wait until the agreement is signed, then do that. Miss Adya is looking for a long term partner, and waiting for a few hours would not unduly impact her. She just gets very focused on her goals and doesn¡¯t always think about how others will perceive that.¡± As they talked, Adya went back to the front of the shop to speak to Dexter. Still she did not want to advertise her deal in front of everyone, so she decided to write a note. ¡°Maya,¡± asked Adya. ¡°May I borrow some parchment and quill?¡± Maya nodded her agreement and handed her the items. Adya wrote a quick note to her mother, explaining what she was doing and that she needed 80 platinum coins. She had just over 500 gold, or around 5 platinum, in her storage from her weekly exchanges of the 100 mana stones with Greg. Yet, she wanted to keep that in reserve for now. ¡°Dexter,¡± said Adya once she was done with the note. ¡°Please take this to my mother, and return as soon as you are able. You can read the note to understand the task.¡± ¡°Yes Miss Adya,¡± replied Dexter. ¡°Is it alright to leave you here alone?¡± ¡°Evelin and Phillipa are with me,¡± responded Adya. ¡°I will be perfectly safe. I will stay in the shop until you return.¡± ¡°I will take a horse and not the carriage,¡± said Dexter after reading the note. ¡°I should be back faster that way.¡± Dexter then left to gather funds from the estate. He also decided to come back with additional soldiers. He did not want to carry around that kind of wealth without some protection. Adya made her way back to Rory¡¯s workshop wondering what he had decided. At least things were moving in the right direction. 47 - Chapter 46 - Day 2123 47 - Chapter 46 - Day 2123 Rory had sent Maya with instructions for the contracts. He hoped that she would return soon. It was a straightforward enough request and should not require the scribe to create anything too complicated. He also knew he could trust the scribe, having worked with him for years. That left Rory to contemplate whether he wanted to wait for the agreement to be signed and his payment, or if he was going to trust his new boss. He still could not decide which way to go. He knew that if he wanted to have a good working relationship, then he would need to trust her. Yet he had known for so little time, and apart from knowing she had some relationship to the council, the reason he had agreed to the deal in the first place, he knew almost nothing about her. The cultivator Evelin had given him some general information and assurance, yet was prohibited from revealing any of her secrets. This had both been reassuring and frightening for Rory. What kind of child could impose such restrictions on such a powerful cultivator. Yet it seemed like she had managed it anyway. The more he learned, the more he realised that this deal would be the making of him, or the breaking of him. There was just too much that did not fit into his existing world view. He went over the questions in his mind, finally settling on trust. He had already agreed to the deal. He had been warned that once he made the commitment there would be no backing out. That was the one point that the cultivator had been sure to emphasise. At this point he was already part of whatever this was. Waiting a little would not ultimately change anything. Still he wanted to see what this formation was and how a young girl was capable of drawing it. Maybe he could learn something new. Adya was also thinking about the same formation that she was going to use. She could order him not to look at the formation, but that would sow mistrust with her newest retainer from the start. Yet she was not ready to reveal her own language. Adya: Can we use the normal formation language of this world for the seal? Sai: Yes, I am already working on converting it. It will not be as efficient as our language, but should be more than usable for some cases. Adya: Can we also look at optimising the formations that he is already using and perhaps providing him with a few more to improve his work output. Sai: I can create a skill to work through his formations to optimise them, but we would need to watch him work for longer to understand his mentors to optimise for him. We need to see him work on at least one of his more complicated designs. It would also not be as good for others. Essentially we would need to tailor the list of formations for every artificer we would bring on board. Adya: So let us create a skill that can take as an input the working style of an artificer and then optimise the formations for them. We can start with the local language, then look at expanding it when we are more secure. Sai: I will set some of the cores to work on this task in the background. It should be done shortly. I can always look at refining the process as we learn more. I have a passable version of loyalty protection formation in the local language. I predict it will be 5 times the amount of resources, but it should provide the same results. Adya: Excellent, let us see what Rory has decided. The advantage of having the conversation in her own mind was the speed. The whole thing was done by the time she walked from the front of the shop to the workshop in the back. ¡°So now that we have started the process to finalise the deal,¡± said Adya. ¡°Are you ready to proceed, or do you still want to wait?¡± ¡°I think I am ready to proceed,¡± said Rory. ¡°At this point I am essentially working for you.¡± ¡°If you are sure,¡± said Adya. ¡°Please bear your forearm.¡± ¡°I would rather not place the formation there,¡± said Rory. ¡°Can I have it some place else?¡± ¡°You need not worry,¡± said Adya. ¡°The formation is just the trigger. We can wipe away the ink afterwards.¡± ¡°How would that work?¡± asked Rory. He was confused. He had never heard of a formation persisting after being removed. If possible that would completely change everything that he knew about formations. ¡°That is one of my core secrets,¡± said Adya. ¡°Even what I have already revealed is enough to put everyone in danger. I am sure you can understand the implications. Arm please.¡± Rory rolled up his sleeve and presented his arm on the work table. Adya stood on a chair for easier access. She was not ready to reveal her telekinetic abilities either. She would only reveal as few of her secrets as she could get away with.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Adya let Sai take control of her arm and used a simple quill and ink to start drawing the revised formation. Rory watched on as his young boss moved with a level of control and precision that had eluded him his entire working life. That would have been bad enough, yet the speed and fluidity of her movements made him feel like a fraud. If this was the level of skill achieved by a child, just what had he been doing with his life. Evenlin saw the emotions cross Rory¡¯s face and decided to help him out. It would not do for Adya¡¯s newest retainer to develop an inferiority complex so profound. ¡°I would not take Miss Adya¡¯s skill as a basis for comparison,¡± said she. ¡°I have never seen any other master below tier 8 with an ability that even comes close.¡± Rory glanced up at the comment. ¡°Truly?¡± he asked in awe. ¡°Then how is the young Miss so proficient?¡± ¡°There are some questions that you do not want answered,¡± replied Evelin. ¡°Some waters run too deep and some curiosity is best left unsated.¡± Rory realised he was asking about secrets that could be profoundly dangerous. He had not survived for as long as had by making impulsive and brash decisions. This was one such time. He forcefully relinquished his curiosity and lost himself in the formation Adya was drawing. He hoped he could at least gain some inspiration from watching her work. So he was surprised when she finished in short order. A formation of that complexity would have taken him several hours, yet the one on his arm was complete in just half an hour. As he was lost thinking about the implications, he was surprised yet again by a prompt from the system. You are being marked by a loyalty protection formation by Adya Gurg. As this is a soul mark, acceptance is required to proceed. The effects of acceptance are as follows. Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Rory retainer to house Gurg and Adya Gurg. Rory may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Rory will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru). Accept soul mark: Yes / No After reading the prompt he was left shocked. Had this girl managed to use the formation to trigger a system function. He had heard theories that this may have been possible, yet he had never heard of it being done. Just what had he gotten himself involved in? Yet it was far too late to back out now. He knew if he even tried at this point they would not let him live. This secret was far too dangerous to let him walk away with. He also realised why Adya had said that this was for his protection. Unless the real old monsters came looking in person, then he would be immune to most methods that could be used to force his compliance. He took a deep breath and accepted the prompt. The prompt disappeared and the soul mark appeared on his status page. At least it seemed that he had the option to request its removal. ¡°Now I understand why you were not concerned about the placement,¡± said Rory wryly. ¡°Can you tell me what is going on now?¡± He picked up a clean rag and wiped away the ink from his arm. Then he checked his status again, seeing that nothing had changed. Deep waters indeed. ¡°I still can only tell you what you need to know,¡± responded Adya. ¡°As you can see my protection only extends so far. What I can do is help you improve. While we wait for the contract and payment, why don¡¯t you show me your work. Ideally the most complex formation that you currently have a commission for.¡± ¡°All right,¡± replied Rory nonplussed. ¡°It will take a couple of hours. The formation is not large, but extremely detailed.¡± ¡°That would be perfect,¡± said Adya. ¡°Eveline, make sure our new retainer has adequate protection going forward.¡± With that Rory started work and Adya watched him work using all her skills to capture every movement. Evelin went out to arrange the protection. She would task a group of tier 5s to work at the shop in rotation to ensure that Rory was kept safe. Time passed as Rory worked. Maya was the first to return yet knew better than to distract Rory while he was working. Dexter returned some time later, with three other guards. He too was asked to wait. The retainers all made small talk while they waited for their bosses to become free. Adya: What do you think, is this enough for us to create an optimisation program? Sai: It is, his movements are consistent and his mana control is understood. I predict I can improve his efficiency several fold if we optimise the formation design and mana movement. The speed improvements would take time as Rory will need to become used to the new formations. We may even lose some efficiency at the start due to the changes. Adya: So do you want to see the results before creating the optimisation skill? Sai: Yes, let us wait until we see how theory comes out in practice. I can optimise his entire book now if I use all the available cores. Adya: Ok. Let''s go with that plan. While Sai worked on optimising the formations, Adya went out to see Maya. ¡°Maya,¡± said Adya. ¡°Can you get a new blank book that is as close as possible to the one Rory already has please?¡± ¡°Yes, but it will be expensive,¡± replied Maya. ¡°That is not an issue, can you please get it now?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Phillipa please go with her and get a few more for us. You can charge the cost to the estate if you don¡¯t have enough to pay for it now.¡± Maya and Phillipa left to complete their task after Maya had handed the agreements over to Adya. Maya had read the agreements, so was aware of the changes that were taking place. This was why she had accepted the instructions from Adya. She still did not understand why Rory had agreed to the deal, but she would question him in private. ¡°I take it there were no issues with my request?¡± Adya asked Dexter. ¡°None, Miss,¡± he replied. ¡°Do you want me to bring it through?¡± ¡°Sure, come with me and leave it by the work table,¡± said Adya. ¡°Try not to disturb Rory.¡± With that Adya and Dexter returned to the workshop. It was time to finalise the paperwork then get Rory started on creating her artifact. While there was a lot to do, things were finally moving in the right direction. 48 - Chapter 47 - Day 2123 48 - Chapter 47 - Day 2123 It took some time for Rory to finish the formation he was working on. Adya sat there watching him work as Sai worked on optimising all the formations in his book in the local language. Dexter, Maya and Evelin had left them to it after leaving the bag of coins and the agreement on the table. Once Rory was finished he looked around to see the items on the table, and Adya waiting for him. Adya had already spent a few minutes reviewing the terms in the agreement to ensure that it reflected the terms agreed. ¡°So are you ready to finalise this deal?¡± asked Adya. ¡°I have been for a while,¡± said Rory. He picked up and reviewed the agreement, taking a lot longer than Adya had. ¡°This looks fine to me,¡± They signed the agreement with Adya taking one copy, then Adya pointed to the bag of coins. ¡°That is the agreed amount,¡± said she. ¡°Feel free to check it.¡± Rory could not help himself, spending a few minutes counting out the total. Once he had checked to his heart¡¯s content, he looked up sheepishly and gave Adya a nod. ¡°Now that all of the formalities are out of the way,¡± said Adya. ¡°I can let you in on what I need you to work on.¡± She handed him her redacted designs for the mana coin artefact. ¡°What is this?¡± asked Rory. ¡°Not something that you want to know about,¡± replied Adya. ¡°Once we are in a stronger position, I will be able to tell you more. For now I need you to create the parts as drawn. I need them as close to exact as you can make it.¡± Rory studied the designs and looked at the measurements. To him it looked like a box with a cylindrical core. One end was open to allow something to enter, the other end deposited the finished items in a bag or box. The design was not complicated, he was struggling to understand why this required him to work on it. ¡°This seems simple enough,¡± he asked tentatively. ¡°Why would you need my skills for it? Any smith would be able to make it.¡± ¡°This is just a prototype to prove the design works,¡± replied Adya. ¡°The final version will have parts I will need you to do. Also I need you to use materials that can shield and resist mana. The higher the grade of the material the better. Also the core needs to be easily replaceable.¡± She was hoping that the same materials that would shield mana from detection would have the same effect of stamina and more importantly willpower. If not, she would also need to add a shielding formation that would increase the mana cost. Rory could not understand why the artefact was designed in such a weird way, but it was not for him to worry about that for the time being. He looked through the designs again, trying to to understand what work he would have to do. The designs were thorough, but were in a strange format that he was not used to. So it took him a little while to work out what was what. Once he started to understand the designs, he was surprised by how thorough it was. ¡°If I am understanding this right,¡± he said. ¡°I should be able to get something for you in a few days. I have enough of the materials on hand, so that won¡¯t be an issue.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± replied Adya. ¡°I will be leaving someone to keep an eye on you and the place. They are a tier 5 cultivator. You can ask Evelin for the details. Let me know as soon as you are done.¡± ¡°I will send word,¡± said Rory. With that they were done. Adya with her retainers left the shop to return to the estate. The process had started but Adya had a lot of work to do. She wanted to reward Rory with an optimised formation codex. Sai should be done with that by today. She would only need to transcribe the book in one of the blanks. The more important task was the realisation that even with this artifact working one of her biggest issues would not be addressed. There was no way to move billions of mana stones or coins without raising massive red flags all over the continent. It would also make her caravans a massive target. That left her using her spatial storage to move the stones. That was also a no go, as she did not want to have to reveal that ability. No one else had access to such an ability. She had asked and none of the cultivators she had captured had any storage items or skills. She would be hunted even more if that skill became public knowledge. She had Sia looking at options to compress the mana. That could be another artifact she could target. Again it was something that had not been done to date. Adya understood why. If the mana coin machine required willpower, then no artifact would be able to work in the automated manner without it. Though stamina was available, only someone who had the energy to waste like she did, and had Sai to help, would be able to work out what was happening. It made her abilities unique. That actually made her situation worse. Anyone who realised that she was able to crystallise a unique form of energy would want to cage her just for that. Her abilities were more of a threat to her than anything else. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Adya: We will need to democratise the use of willpower. It is too dangerous for us to be the only ones to create it. Sai: Yes we need to research a way to get others to provide willpower. Even if they do not have a pool that is listed on the system, they still have to have the energy. Others can create mana coins, just not a machine for it. Mai: The system obfuscated the new formation language for us. Is it possible that for some reason the system is hiding the existence of the willpower pool? That the only reason we have access is because of this scion protocol? Adya: Perhaps the system uses willpower in some fashion? We don¡¯t have enough knowledge to even start to guess. We keep pushing back our research, but once we have the mana coin machine working, we can really start to take a look at that. We also need to look at tiering up. Ideally I want to be able to create and offer passive skills to our retainers. Mai: Why don¡¯t we split the definition of the retainers to make it easier to categorise them. The ones that join on a voluntary basis are the retainers. The ones we have co opted are more accurately a form of deathsworn. Adya: Do you think we can free them? Sai: It is not that straight forward. The ones that have no formation running through their bodies, it should be possible to either release or convert their soul mark. We can test that on the ex bandits, if we trust them enough. The cultivator agents are a different issue. The augmentation formation that they have running through their system, it will not be so easy to release. In theory we could give them control of it rather than someone else, but it will require extensive research. Mai: There is also the risk factor. If we release them, then they could go on their way. If they are caught, and interrogated, one of them eventually will be. They would not only reveal our ability to free them, but also to subvert the control in the first place. The elders who control that system for the council of sects would stop at nothing to make sure we are dead. They will not be able to accept such a risk to their control. Adya: And that is the problem. Until I get strong enough I can¡¯t release them. I can only give them a modicum of freedom. Mai: Even the illusion of freedom will work. That will actually go a long way to increasing their loyalty to us. As Adya had been lost in her conversation with Sai and Mai she had not even realised that they had made it back to the estate. She decided to go see her mother before starting her research again. Adya made her way to her mother¡¯s office, knocked and entered. Gauri was behind her desk lost in a stack of reports. ¡°Greetings mother,¡± said Adya. ¡°What has you so distracted?¡± ¡°Ah, Adya, how are you doing?¡± asked Gauri. ¡°Not going to lock yourself away in your room I hope?¡± ¡°I have too much to do, mother,¡± replied Adya. ¡°So that is inevitable. I should let you know my plans are progressing. I will update you on the status and next steps soon.¡± ¡°That is good to hear,¡± replied Gauri. ¡°The bandit camp that was looted by the cultivators for us, netted us a substantial amount of wealth. However, the risk has stopped us from sending out caravans. We are currently spending but not earning, that is not sustainable.¡± ¡°Ah, I should have told you,¡± said Adya a little meekly. ¡°There are no bandits, or rogue cultivators left in the three kingdoms. Also we have a massive army of what I am now calling deathsworn. They are being trained and outfitted, funded by the wealth we have captured independently. So it should be much safer to let caravans go out again.¡± ¡°When did this all happen?¡± asked Gauri. She was left flabbergasted by the news. She had heard news that things were quiet and had attributed that to the cultivator attack. She had not realised that her daughter had caused the whole of the three kingdoms to be so thoroughly pacified. ¡°I was lost in my research,¡± said Adya. ¡°After what happened to our family, I made a deal with the cultivators to deal with the issue permanently. It also helped them to ensure there were no demonic cultivators behind the scenes. So it was a mutually beneficial arrangement.¡± While there was still a risk to her family from the council agents hunting her, she could mitigate that risk by sending some of her own to shadow any caravan in order to protect it. ¡°That will make a lot of difference,¡± repleud Gauri. ¡°It will also allow us to actually sell a lot of items we have collected.¡± ¡°Before you sell any items,¡± said Adya. ¡°Can I get a list of everything that we have in inventory? I may have uses for some of those materials.¡± ¡°Sure I will get a list sent to you,¡± said Gauri. ¡°If there is nothing else,¡± replied Adya. ¡°Then I will take my leave. I still have a lot to get done to make sure my plan works out. I will be in my suite.¡± With that Adya left to return to her rooms. Sally asked her if she had eaten, and only then did Adya realise that she had spent the whole day without eating or drinking. She was becoming very bad at taking care of herself. So as Adya went to wash and change, Sally went to arrange a meal for her. Adya took her time in the bath, letting herself relax for a little while. After her bath, she took the time to relish the meal Sally had procured for her. Only after she was refreshed and sated did she start to think about her tasks again. It was time to get back to progressing her plans. 49 - Chapter 48 - Day 2149 49 - Chapter 48 - Day 2149 Several weeks had passed and Adya had not heard back from Rory regarding her project. She had spent the time working on her own projects and she was making some progress. The first thing that she had done was transcribe the updated formations into a blank book to create an updated codex for Rory. Sai had created it in the style of a formal printed book as opposed to a hand written one with notes added. It was easier to work with. Based on his style of work Sai estimated that once Rory was comfortable with the designs, he would be able to produce the same formations anywhere between six and fifteen times faster. Even at the lower end, the productivity increase would be massive. Next she had started to work on a way to compress the mana to create higher tier stones and coins from her own mana. She found it was relatively simple to create a tier 3 or tier 4 stone from her tier 2 regeneration. When she was doing it herself, or using her passive it cost her 1% of the mana to convert to the next tier up. So tier 2 to tier 3 was 1%, and tier 2 to tier 4 was 2%. She could push to tier 5 manually, but for some reason her passive would not work right when pushed to tier 5. The cost was still the same, so for her to manually create the tier 5 mana stones from her tier 2 regeneration cost her 3% of the mana converted However when she tried the same thing using a formation, the costs were vastly different. Each tier increase cost the increased tier as a percentage. Further the costs compounded to an insane degree. So tier 1 to tier 2 was 2%, then tier 2 to tier 3 was 3% and so on. For a tier 1 mana stones to be converted to tier 10 would have a cost of 54%. Further running the formation still cost both stamina and willpower, though without extensive testing it was not possible to work out the actual cost. Sai theorised that the cost would also scale, but given the cost was so low compared to the amount of mana, it would only become obvious when tested at the millions or billions level. Sai had designed the formation to work on any tier mana. Adya had the idea to create an artifact with no core, that could convert a person''s own mana from their tier to any tier that they wanted. They would be able to supply the mana as in injection themselves, or use mana stones of any tier. Holding the device in would be required, and she would use formations to draw the required stamina and willpower directly from the user to pay the costs. This device, though more powerful, would be a niche item. In effect it would take away the need for a person to take time to condense the appropriate coin. In all other respects, the device would work the same. It would also use the simplified formation as it did not need to work with a willpower and stamina core, meaning that she would not need to risk her langage being discovered. In fact, it would make it easier for her to hide what she was doing. There would be massive implications to her releasing the second artefact, and she would need to discuss those with the elder before letting anyone know that it was even possible. The main reason that the lower tier mana stones were left alone and the price was fixed, was that it was not really very useful to the higher tier cultivators. They could use the lower tier stones, but would need millions or billions to be of any use at the higher tiers. Her ability to skip that and create tier 10 mana stones from tier 1 stones, even at such a ruinously high price would make the low tier stones a strategic resource in conjunction with her artefact. At that point the kid gloves would come off and wars would be fought over control of the low tier mana stone mines. And while Adya was using her regeneration to create her own stones, the ones in the world were a finite resource. They did self renew, but even then ultimately they could only produce so many in a certain time frame. This invention of hers would upend the understood market for cultivation resources. She kept doing things that would cause her no end of trouble if it were to be discovered. In the short term she would be better off pushing her own skills higher enough to be able to convert her mana stones into tier 9 mana stones, then auction them off to create wealth. She could also create and supply her own cultivators with their own mana stones and stamina potions. That was also another discovery that she had made by accident. She had been messing about and tried to dissolve her stones in powder format into water. At first the stones had vaporised releasing the energy in the air. She had tried various things just to see if she could make it work. She had found the answer by accident. She had started swirling the water creating a mini tornado in the glass, and then crushed the stone in the middle of the tornado. That had led to the energy being sucked into the water. At first some of the energy was lost, but once she had it working it only took a small amount of experimentation to perfect the technique to the point all the energy was retained. She had then left the rest of the optimisation to Sai in her spatial storage. Sai had discovered that to create potions, she would only need to use 10 ml of water per 100 units of energy. This seemed to be tier independent. So a tier 1 mana potion would contain 100 tier 1 mana and would dissolve in 10 ml of water, the same was true for tier 3, tier 4 and tier 5 versions. It also worked exactly the same for stamina and willpower.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. When she tried to identify the potions for stamina and mana the results were straightforward. For example the tier 2 mana potion was identified as Tier 2 Mana potion - 100 mana. So the system was providing enough detail to accurately identify the concoction. The problem was the willpower potions. They refused to be identified, with the skill returning nothing at all. It gave more credence to the theory that the system was actively hiding the willpower energy from anyone who did not discover it themselves. That was a problem she was not willing to spend time on, suffice it to say, she had uses for the potion even if the system did not want to identify it. Her research and push to play with higher tier energies had also gained her many new levels in her skill Environmental Dominion. With the skill having reached level 77, she was making good progress. Still she felt she would need to increase her skills significantly if she wanted to be able to condense mana at tiers above tier 5. The last thing she had spent time looking at was what she would need to do to reach tier 3. There were essentially two steps that would need to be taken to get her there. She would need to create tier 3 energy meridians that were able to supply energy to all parts of her body and then she would need to link them to the three cores that she had already condensed. This would take her to the peak of tier 2. Then she would need to simultaneously condense the energies in her cores to tier 3, and her newly created meridians to tier 4. While it was theoretically possible to leave them at tier 3, that would leave the possibility of her own skills causing her meridians to break if she pushed too much power down them. It was always better to have a pipe that was stronger than the thing it had to carry. Since the meridians were in effect another circulatory system, Sai and Adya did not feel the need to reinvent the wheel. In fact the medical knowledge from the tech world had been an inspiration almost akin to heavenly enlightenment. The reason most cultivators struggled to be versatile was the meridians they had to create. If the design for the meridians went against the design of the body, then it would lead to blockages that would need to be broken down. This was exceptionally painful and led to the risk of incurring significant damage to the body. Using the existing circulatory system as a basis, Sai had come up with a braid that would twist the three separate energy meridians around the existing capillaries, veins and arteries, using them as a guide. This would give her the ability to direct energy to anywhere in her body with ease, but came with one significant downside. The total length of the existing circulatory system was an astounding twenty thousand kilometers, or twelve thousand miles. That was not something she was going to be able to create overnight. Sai had run some experiments, and the results showed that a passive skill would be able to start and maintain the creation of the meridians at a prodigious rate of 1 meter per second per energy. Yet even at that pace it would take almost two years to just finish the meridian network. The other issue that they had identified was that only one process could be running to create the meridians at one time. The second process would start to cause corruption in the created meridians. There seemed to be some interference between the same process running multiple times. Still that would give her time to increase her energy control to take the final step to move to tier 3. The only time she had breaks she had taken during this time had been to create her formations on a few more captured agents and spies from other houses. She had also asked Evelin to create a structured army made up of the captured mortals and to formalise their training. After telling her mother about them, there seemed little point in hiding them. All this progress made her happy, yet she was still irritated that Rory had not come back to her yet. She checked and it was still relatively early in the day. She asked Sally to get Dexter, Phillipa and Evelin ready for another trip into the city. Everyone was ready in short order and they left. Adya making sure to take the new codex with her. She also had her design for the energy compression artefact. If Rory had made good progress, then she would ask him to start on the second design. She also needed to find a way to create the artefact herself. This delay had made her realise, that while she may use his business to hide her abilities, she still needed a way to create artefacts herself end to end. She would need to learn the processes and then build a workshop for herself. Sai: Why would you do that? Why do we need to limit ourself to such rudimentary techniques? We need the raw material and we need to understand the processes, then I can work on creating a skill that can mimic a matter printer. Adya: How long would that even take? Also what would be the energy requirements? Sai: I would need to experiment to work it out, but we can use the mana scribe skill for almost no cost. That can be the basis of the skill. We would just need to fine tune it to control materials at a minute scale. Then we could effectively print the artefacts in our storage. We could even embed the formations inside the material to further obfuscate the designs. Adya: What do we need to start the research and how much time would we need to get to a working prototype? Sai: That is the thing, as we already have a starting point, we just need the raw materials and time. The rest is refinement. 50 - Chapter 49 - Day 2149 50 - Chapter 49 - Day 2149 The group made their way back to Rory¡¯s shop. Adya had spent that time planning out how to proceed with Sai. They had a good idea on how to create the artifacts in full themselves. They would still need Rory to be the face of the creation, as Adya did not want to be subject to additional scrutiny right now. It would be years before she could start to reveal her true talents and abilities. It was not just from the hostile elders that she wanted to keep her abilities hidden, but also from those close to her. A secret only remained so while no one else knew it. Once even one additional person learned the secret, then that secret could be leaked. She had already revealed far more to her mother than she really should have, but it was unavoidable. She would not be giving away more of her secrets to anyone else. She would only reveal what she absolutely had to. Time passed quickly during her planning and ruminations. They soon arrived back in the city. By now a rotating guard of her cultivators were present in the shop to ensure no problems occurred. The cultivator on watch nodded to her as she entered with her entourage but gave no other sign that they were acquainted. Maya rushed up to meet Adya. By now she was fully aware of the details of the deal that Rory had made with Adya. She was also aware that Adya did not want that fact advertised. ¡°Welcome Miss Adya,¡± said Maya. ¡°Are you here to see Rory again, or just browsing?¡± ¡°I just need a quick word with Rory,¡± said Adya. ¡°If he is available.¡± ¡°Let me just check for you,¡± said Maya and rushed off to inform Rory. She was soon back to lead Adya to the workshop. ¡°Greetings Rory,¡± said Adya. ¡°How are things progressing?¡± ¡°Miss Adya,¡± replied Rory. ¡°I am sorry I have not been in touch. The basic device was easy to create, but we have run into a problem with one particular specification.¡± ¡°Let me guess,¡± said Adya. ¡°The shielding is not adequate?¡± It was the only issue she could think of that would be an issue. It was also not one that could be easily replaced with a formation. If the device ran out of mana her secrets would be easily revealed. ¡°Exactly so,¡± said Rory. ¡°I have been trying a selection of different metals and alloys. None of them are creating shielding good enough to meet the specifications in your design.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t seem disheartened,¡± noted Adya. ¡°So I am thinking you have a solution?¡± ¡°I do, but it will be very expensive,¡± replied Rory. ¡°It would also be very hard to work with.¡± ¡°What is this solution, and why would it be so hard to work with?¡± asked Adya. ¡°The only real solution is void iron or void steel,¡± replied Rory. ¡°We could look at getting void mithril or void adamantium, but that would bankrupt us. The problem is that void metals are almost impossible to etch formations onto. That¡¯s why they are so good at shielding mana from detection.¡± ¡°So that should be straight forward,¡± said Adya. ¡°Why don¡¯t you layer the void steel with normal steel. We can etch on both sides of the steel, and the void steel can be the core. Or am I missing something? It should also reduce the amount of void steel we would need.¡± ¡°No,¡± said Rory. ¡°That is a solution, the problem is that it takes time to create a properly layered void metal sheet to work from. That is why I have not managed to provide you with an adequate test artifact.¡± ¡°How long do you expect it to take?¡± asked Adya. ¡°It will take another week to have enough material ready,¡± replied Rory. ¡°Then it will take another few days to create the artifact and test it. So around ten days or so.¡± ¡°As long as I can have something soon,¡± replied Adya. ¡°We will also need to create a lot more of the material. If my design works, and I have every confidence that it will, then we will need to be able to create a lot more artifacts quickly. What do we need to create the layered void metal in bulk?¡± ¡°I am not a smith,¡± replied Rory. ¡°That is another reason that the process is taking so long. We would need to procure a lot more of the void steel, which will tie up our funds. Then we would need our own smithy to produce the material in quantity. Are you sure we are going to need so much of it?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± replied Adya. ¡°We will need to buy out a smithy. Although I would rather have you and my mother finalise that deal. Even one smithy may not be enough. You will also need to work in a standardised way to make it much easier to create artifacts. Lastly we will need more cores than artifacts so that they can be replaced as needed.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°I will start work on that after I have created the first artifact,¡± said Rory. ¡°I will also make sure to secure a smithy for our work. The longest part will be the void steel. There is not a lot of demand for it in the city, so we will need to order it in bulk and have it transported here.¡± ¡°I will mention that to my mother as well,¡± replied Adya. ¡°We are known for our trade caravans, I am sure we can ensure that we can get a good supply of void steel. Make sure to secure enough steel as well. I do not want there to be an issue with supplies when we ramp up production.¡± ¡°I will make sure that we will not have any issues,¡± said Rory. ¡°Do you have any idea on the numbers of orders that we are expecting, or the time frames for fulfillment?¡± ¡°Not yet,¡± replied Adya. ¡°Once you see the device then you will realise why all the preparations will still not be enough. Now apart from that, I also have a present for you.¡± Adya handed over the new codex to Rory. ¡°Oh, you didn¡¯t have to do that,¡± said Rory, taking the massive book. As he opened the book and saw the designs inside, he was left speechless. ¡°Where did you get this?¡± he asked in awe. ¡°I have never seen such a codex.¡± ¡°It is a little thank you for letting me look at your codex,¡± said Adya. ¡°It is also a way to save you time, and therefore increase our profit margins. Every formation that you have in your codex is also in the new codex. The new designs have been optimised specifically for you. You should be able to create them in a fraction of the time it took with your original designs.¡± ¡°How, how did you do this?¡± asked Rory. He opened up both books and started to compare the formations realising that Adya was not boasting. The new codex really contained the optimised versions of all his designs. Normally no one would share their formation designs with another. It was their hard work, their intellectual property. Only masters would share the basics with their disciples and then expect them to create their own codex as they learned. Rory had done the same thing, creating his codex over years. He knew his limits very well, and looking at the designs that Adya¡¯s version contained, he knew it was well beyond his ability to create. ¡°Does it really matter?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Why don¡¯t you try out one of your standard formations and see how it feels.¡± Rory picked up a blank plate for a standard mana lamp and started to draw the new formation. It was one of the most popular items, and something he spent a lot of time on. Normally it would take him a good hour to create a perfect formation. The new design, even on his first attempt, only took him around fifteen minutes. He also realised that the formation was not only optimised, but it had been optimised for this engraving style. This was something only true masters could achieve, and that after a lot of trial and error. Once he memorised the design, he would be able to create the formation even faster. Adya had not been joking about the improvements in speed. ¡°This¡­this will increase my work output massively,¡± said Rory. ¡°I have no idea what it cost you to have this created, or how you managed it, but I will cherish it.¡± ¡°I am glad you like it,¡± said Adya. ¡°Do remember to provide feedback on how much improvement those designs provide you. Also if you notice any issues with any of them. The idea is to free up time for my projects without impacting the profitability from other customers or reducing the number of items created for sale.¡± ¡°If all the designs show the same level of improvement,¡± said Rory, ¡°then that will not be an issue.¡± ¡°Good, if there is nothing else,¡± said Adya. ¡°Then the last item on my list is some materials. I need some to experiment with. Do you have spares? I know that the void lined metal will not be available to me yet, but the rest?¡± ¡°I will have some packed up for you,¡± said Rory. ¡°I have enough blanks in stock to be able to give you sufficient stock to play with.¡± Rory made arrangements with Maya to provide what Adya needed. He also promised to send Gauri the details of the smithy or smithies once he had agreed a deal with them for purchase. He would finalise the raw material requirement at the same time. With that Adya was done with her tasks. Once Phillipa had taken the package from Maya, they started the return journey back to the estate. Sai: It is a pity that we have to wait for a sample of the void steel. If it really is a material that can effectively block all energies, we need to experiment with it to see what we can do with it. Adya: That can wait, it¡¯s not like we want to delay our primary goal at this point. I had an idea while we were in the shop. Could be create a formation that, using raw materials, could create a set artifact by itself? Sai: You mean convert the raw material to a liquid or powder format, then use it to effectively print the artifact? Adya: I think that view is limited. That is how the old fashioned matter printers worked. I am more thinking along the lines of having a nanotech factory equivalent. I am not sure if it would work, but even at a macro level, if we could do something like that it would revolutionise the creation of everything. Mai: It would also give us a massive advantage tactically. If we were to have designs of everything that we use, then just carrying raw materials would allow us to create anything wherever we need it. Even if organics would be too complicated, that would still leave us able to monopolise the creation of many standard items. It does not even need to be at the artifact level. If we scale up for mundane materials, then we could even print a military base. Adya: Something like that would give us a massive advantage. Sai: It is great in theory, but the physics is very different here. We would need to practically create the processes from scratch. There would need to be a lot of trial and error. It would take a lot of my time. Where do we want to prioritise this? Adya: Yes that is the issue. Let us start the process to upgrade to tier 2 first. We also need to see if we can create and disseminate passive skills to our retainers. We can come back to this idea once we have more time and have secured our family. 51 - Chapter 50 - Day 2160 51 - Chapter 50 - Day 2160 More than 10 days had passed since Adya¡¯s meeting with Rory. She had spent that time on her research priorities. It was surprising what could be achieved in ten days when they were hyper focused. The first major change was that Adya with the help of Sai had started on the road to tier 2. It was not a pleasant process. The passive skill that had been temporarily created and was running using one of the cores was designed to make the process as painless as possible, but even then there was only so much that could be done when the process necessitated creating multiple new circulatory systems in the body. The actual process of creating the tier 3 system was relatively straightforward, if slow. The problem was the physical anchor that was required. By necessity the anchor was on the existing veins, arteries and capillaries. Part of the process was to turn off the pain receptors, then draw the new energy conduits, compress them into place, then turn on the pain receptors. This cycle was continuous as it slowly moved forward. The issue came from when the pain receptors were turned off and then on. The changes caused acute pain, and though Adya could adapt pretty fast, it was like someone was poking her with hot needles constantly with the location changing. It had reminded Adya of her lives when she had suffered through drawing her meridians for the first time. It was a truism that the brain was designed to forget certain kinds of pain. She remembered hating it the first time around too. Now she would have to suffer this for over two years as the meridians suffused her being. She just hoped that she would not have to go through this again. Still the process was underway, it would get her to the peak of tier 1 without her having to spend the entire time in meditation. That left her free to improve her energy control. She would need to substantially increase her capabilities in that area if she wanted to continue to grow her capacity. Once that process had been successfully automated, and initiated. Adya and Sai had turned their attention over to the next challenge. How to create artifacts directly. The first step of the process was actually very simple. The Formation Scribe skill allowed Adya to etch any material with the formations. That included anything that would be considered a quill/ink combination. She had tried it with an etching iron, a version of acid, with various types of ink, even with mana, stamina and willpower directly. They all worked, and with some refinement for the slight difference between processes, the quality all reached the same level. However that was only the first part of the process, though to others it would be the more challenging aspect. Adya had also worked on various shaped plates that proved the skill was versatile enough to work on any two or three dimensional shape. Sai had posited that there should be a version that would allow her to move into other dimensions, but again that idea had been shelved for the time being. The next step was to create the actual shape of the items. Adya found that using her Environmental Dominion she could make certain changes intuitively. She could use her control over the energies to cut and join different pieces of the same material to create a shape. So she could put together multiple steel plates to create a box for example. This quickly started to change as she pushed her skill¡¯s abilities to the limit. Using simple pressure she could increase the malleability of the materials to the point she could then reshape them. Different materials reacted differently to the different energies, and that required a lot of testing to work out a baseline for the different materials that Rory had provided. The only saving grace was that Adya was able to recycle the materials, another use case that trained her skill. This combination of processes had allowed her to iterate through thousands of examples. Where her processes failed was when she tried to integrate multiple different materials. The issue was that in the normal course of events the materials would require either special adhesives or processes to complete the process, and Adya had neither to hand. If she forced two different materials then she ended up creating an alloy. Though Sai had details of how to create alloys and layers plating, her manual manipulation was still rudimentary at best. The limitations also seemed to be counter intuitive. The training had given her skill gains with the Environmental Dominion skill reaching level 86. Still pushing the skill was getting harder and harder and Adya felt that another evolution would be required to gain the finer level of control she needed. Each level also took increasing amounts of trial and error, and more practice. To get down to the molecular level or atomic level would require a complete rethink of her current approach. Still she could create shapes from single materials, and that still gave her the flexibility to try a few versions of her artifacts. Without a void metal in place, the core was not shielded, but it did allow her to test her ideas with physical attempts. She found a few issues that were not obvious in the design that stood out in the physical recreation. If nothing else, it gave her the ability to rapidly prototype any future artifact designs. It would also allow her to rapidly create formation plates.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. For most people that would already be substantial progress for only ten days, but Adya was not most people. She had also started work on testing the differences between formations and passive skills that she had created. She realised that in essence the only difference was one of language. The skills worked on what could be considered system language. The formations, arrays, runes and other variations all had their own language. The design effectively converted intent into a particular language. She also realised why she was able to create soul marks. Her refined formations had a lot of gaps in the language. Sai had effectively created her own character set, based on the design principles to fill in those gaps. Then Sai had proceeded to create her own combined language, as confirmed by the system itself. However, what they had not realised was the system was also able to interpret intent directly. This had led the system to convert some of the instruction sets, like the desire to split the functionality from the formation, and the desire to obfuscate and hide the formation into system language and therefore create a system effect. Obviously without understanding the full language set, this process would be somewhat accidental. Still it was a starting point for further research. Adya and Sai would need a lot of data on the system language itself with the only question being where to start to gather that. Her own passive skills were a good starting point. As Adya was thinking through her next steps, there was a knock on her door. Sally entered to inform her that a delivery from Rory had finally arrived. It was too large for her to carry, and so had been placed in an empty room for her. Adya postponed her plans and moved to the room to see the artifact. The main part was one large unit on legs. There was an input side that could be filled with mana stones, the other side had a chute for the mana coins to come out. The middle section had a hinged door that could be opened to access the core. There were also a half dozen spare cores placed on a table on the side. The first thing Adya did was to test how easy it was to remove and replace the cores. Rory had added a lock to the design to prevent the removal if required. Given it was the most important part of the entire device, that was an addition that Adya was happy to see. Once she had checked the basics, she opened and checked the cores themselves. She took the first core, filled it with mana stones, stamina stones and willpower stones. She sealed the core and tested to see if she could detect anything in the core. Thankfully the layered shielding seemed to work as intended. The next thing she wanted to test was the anti tampering part of her design. She took one of the cores and created the formation that would destroy the inside if opened without her permission. She had iterated this design and thought she had managed to create one that would actually use the system to validate that permissions. Since she intended to set the permissions to only her, it was an easy intent to set. The instruction was as simple as it could be. Initiate this formation if the core is opened by anyone who is not her. She could have tried to have the system destroy the insides for her too, but she was not confident in her ability to control that process. She was also not sure if her instructions could be overwritten by someone with a higher tier. So for redundancy she added another formation to work without system input. To save time in this iteration she only created the security formation. Once completed, she placed some energy stones to replicate the final set up. Then she called Sally to open the core. The formation was not designed to hurt anyone, only destroy the inside of the core leaving no evidence behind. Thankfully the formation worked exactly as advertised. Though there was one issue. Though nothing survived, not even the security formation itself, what was left was some powdered steel and compressed energy. The void steel layer had stopped the energy from dissipating. That would allow someone to infer her intent, but there should be no way to stop the destruction. It also should not give them much more than the fact she had mana and stamina in the core. It was more than she wanted to reveal, but there would be no simple solution to her issue. The void steel was required to prevent energy leaks and protect her designs from scans. The same now left a little evidence behind to point people in a potential direction. Still nothing was perfect. She hoped that the cores would require replacements and thus make their expensive investment worthless would temper some people¡¯s desire to learn her secrets. Lastly, she created the full formation on both the outside and the inside of the core to test the final version of her design. It took her some time to create the full core. She also had to create the right sized stamina and willpower stones to power the device. Once she was satisfied with it, she inserted the core into the artifact and started her tests. Sai also noticed another issue, the addition of the void steel was really messing with original plans. The formation on the outside no longer had mana running through it. This meant that the formation would not degrade on a schedule. Adya once again had to reiterate the design. In any case the mana for the process was coming from the external mana stones, so minor design changes were enough to fix that issue. She also realised that there were a few issues of usability. The first was that there was no on or off switch. If mana stones were added the formation would just start. After thinking through the issue, Adya decided to modify the artifact with a simple solution. She would add a lever opened door that would stop the mana stones from reaching the core. This would stop the artifact from activating. Without a design plate the artifact would only use the default design. The test was not successful and no mana coins were created. Her updated core design was stopping her device from interacting with the mana stones. She would need to redesign the entire artifact from scratch. 52 - Chapter 51 - Day 2172 52 - Chapter 51 - Day 2172 The inclusion of void metals had thrown all of Adya and Sai¡¯s planning for a loop. It was astounding how they, with all their experience, had missed such a design flaw. It had forced them to look through their assumptions and redesign the device. It would actually need moving parts. The idea was that you would pack in the mana stones and lock the device. The formations would convert all the mana stones to a liquid state, then create the mana coins. The need to lock the device and additional shielding could be explained by minimising the mana loss, not that there would have been any with her formations, but not everyone could create formations of that quality. The design effectively included an airlock, if the core was not in the right housing and received the right access permissions, permissions that would rely on the system for authentication, then the failsafe would destroy the core. The design would need to be machined in such a way so as to make it almost impossible to tell where the seams in the core were. They would also need a lot more void material and additional formations to make the new design work. Adya had decided that she would create all the formations herself. That would speed up the process immensely. She would also need to get Rory to procure a significantly larger supply of void steel. She sent Dexter with the designs and additional instructions. There was no need for her to visit herself. She had also been working on her energy control and had managed to get herself up to tier 6 stones. The cost profile still held true as it had for the previous tiers. If she used a passive skill to create the tier 6 stone of any energy, the cost was a flat 1% per tier. So tier 5 to tier 6 still only cost the 1%. However when she tried to get her formation to do the same, and now she could get her formation to that level, the cost for the same conversion was 6%. It looked like her internal processes would save her a staggering 45% or energy as compared to her best formation. Adya and Sai could not understand what was causing such a massive discrepancy. The instructions were identical for both processes. They had tested multiple permutations, including using external energy sources, and yet still could not identify any reason for the loss. Was it possible that the system was taxing the formation? Was there some other fundamental difference between formations and skills? More questions that would require research to answer. Adya went back to her practice and research. Her meridian formation was progressing at pace thanks to the custom skill. Apart from the pain there had been no other issues. Her Environmental Dominion skill had hit level 100, then refused to improve or evolve. She did not know how to push it forward. Even the incremental increases in the amounts of energy she could hold simultaneously was not enough to push the skill forward. This complete lack of information on what was normal for the system frustrated her, but no one was willing to provide her any answers. For the time being she was stuck with trial and error. Dexter returned a few hours later to confirm that Rory would have her new device prototype ready in two days. He had anticipated her needs and placed a significant order of materials. Lastly he had been in touch with Gauri and managed to purchase two large smithies to create more materials for their projects. Adya went back to her passive skill research. She had multiple goals in mind, and she wanted to achieve them all with a single passive skill. First she wanted to compress her ability to create energy stones into one skill. Currently she was using up three of her slots for the same task. The inefficiency was not an issue yet, but still rankled her sensibilities. The end goal for her was to be able to ¡®gift¡¯ a passive skill to her retainers. Though she had not managed to get details about the system from anyone, from observations and random snippets of conversations, Adya had pieced together the difference between skills and spells. To her understanding, a spell was a single action, something along the lines of shape mana in a particular shape. A single instruction. A skill on the other hand, was effectively an app. It would allow her to do a variety of things, as was the case with her Environmental Dominion skill. She did not need to activate all the functionality of the skill at the same time. She could set conditions, and provide inputs, and the spell would produce a result based on those initial conditions. She had realised that she had vastly underestimated the level of complexity that a single skill could support. She wanted to push the limits. She also wanted to solve a number of other problems that she had been thinking over for some time. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. First was an issue that Mai had raised. One of the biggest issues in transportation was the need to carry water. It increased the burden immensely. She wanted to create a passive skill that would allow anyone to be permanently hydrated. This was more complex than simply creating water. That was easy enough to do. She could create around 2 milliliters of water per second and drop it into the stomach. That would be such a simple solution. Yet that would create some other issues. The reason people did not just conjure water to drink was due to not understanding the nature of water. They just thought conjured water could not be consumed. The real issue was that conjured water was pure distilled water. Drinking enough of it would lead to the person dying as they slowly lost the electrolytes in their bodies. So she would need to create a version of water that had the right impurities, the minerals that would allow the water to be drinkable. Even that was not enough, she wanted to push the skill to its limits. So she wanted to create a skill that would monitor the mineral levels in the body in real time, and then adjust the mineral content to ensure the body maintained the right levels. She had used the way her military combat suit would monitor her vitals and relay information back to her HUD as the inspiration for this. The second application she wanted to create was the ability to communicate with anyone who had the skill over long distances. Even if it was just the ability to send short messages. Currently the only way to communicate at range was to use expensive talismans that were extremely limited, or large scale formations that were even more expensive to run and maintain. The third application she wanted to create was in two parts. She wanted to see if she could get a passive skill to deposit something directly in her inventory. If that worked, then she wanted to provide the energy stone creation ability, disguised as a training passive, to her retainers and allow them to create energy stones for her while simultaneously increasing their energy control. She had a lot more ideas, but that was the basic functionality that she wanted to achieve, and then condense all of those functions into one passive skill that she could grant her retainers. It would make the trade caravans much more secure. If she could add the ability to update the passive remotely, then she could add further features as she perfected them. It would also let her use her retainers'' wasted energy generation capacity to create money from nothing. Her goals were lofty, but it was good to have targets. She also had her mother to test her iterations with. As Gauri already knew about her ability to create mana stones and about her storage power, she could help in testing those capabilities. She would start with a simple passive, just to test if the theory was even possible. There were so many things she could add if she thought of a passive skill as potential hardware. Adya was so lost in her research that she did not even realise that three days had passed. She was jolted out of her focused state by Sally notifying her that the new device had been delivered. Adya stopped her research and proceeded to the same room as last time. The device was significantly larger and heavier than the last iteration. Adya wasted no time in taking the parts apart and testing that they worked in the way she wanted. The mechanical parts worked well enough. Adya tried to inject any energy into the device when it was in its closed state and found that she could not. The same was true when she tried to sense any energies after placing stones in the device. She was satisfied with the results of her testing so far. Adya moved on to the next step. The artifact now had a lot more formations than before. She found it ironic that the security parts of the formation represented more than 99% of all the work. The actual formation that would create the coins was miniscule in comparison. She started to engrave the multiple formations into all the components. There were several that were required, and it was good that she was able to work on them all simultaneously. Still it took her the better part of two hours to complete her work. Then began the extensive testing. She still had the list of tests from her previous attempt, with additional scenarios added. The testing took her late into the night. Finally she was satisfied that the artifact was working as intended and secure. Sai reevaluated the timelines for other projects based on their experiences of creating this first artifact. The main part of the plan was in place. Adya used the learnings from this project to redesign the artifact that would allow for the compression of mana tiers. She checked the time by the time she was done. It was very late. She still had several things that she needed to do. She would send Dexter off with the new designs as well as ask about the cost of materials and amount of labour required for both artifacts from Rory. She would also need to ask her mother about the shipping costs for the devices from her mother. Along with a cost representing her work and additions she would be able to come up with the cost of creating each artifact. Only then could she proceed with contacting the elder and progressing the next step of her plan. If everything went well the next day, she should be able to send Jarel to contact the elder in the next few days. Then she would see how well her plans survived in the real world. 53 - Chapter 52 - Day 2173 53 - Chapter 52 - Day 2173 Adya was excited she had finished off her projects and would be able to finalise them shortly, this should lead to her being able to get the support of an Elder, and with their support, gain that most important of resources, time. She needed the time to become stronger, and get to the point where she could defend herself. Not that she had any illusion that she would have a lot of time, no matter what. Once she was officially identified, even under the protection of an elder, and with her real value obfuscated, she would still be a target for the schemes and machinations of the others. It would also not stop those that wanted her dead. If they managed to assassinate her, then no matter the power of the other elders, there would not be much that anyone could do about it. While she was alive, the one Elder who had known about her from the beginning would probably go out of her way to defend Adya. However, she was under no illusion that would remain the case if she was dead. Once she was no longer on the board, no one would expend political or actual capital to go after the culprits. No in the end, she would need to hide in the short term, and become powerful enough to defend herself in the long term. She had a fleeting thought that there could be entities more powerful than tier 10s. If they existed, and had access to this material plane, would they also target her? Would the system allow her to face obstacles at that level? The problem was that her own actions had caused the removal of the systems protection, and she had no idea what the scion protocols allowed. Adya had already tried to get answers out of the system, but it had stayed silent. If she was to go based on her own experience of how the most powerful clans treated their scions, not the mediocre clans that damaged their offspring''s potential by giving them everything they asked for, but the ones that made their young earn their opportunities. Then the system would stop her from dying, but that would be it. It would force her to face those several levels higher than herself and expect her to find a way. That was the best case scenario. The worst case was that the system was leaving her to sink and swim on her own, and had removed all protections once she had breached the power requirements by starting to cultivate. She felt the reality was somewhere between those two points. The system was definitely not going to coddle her. Adya pulled herself away from her musings, and decided to go and visit her mother. She decided that after that she would return to the city. ¡°Sally, please let Dexter, Philippa and Evelin know that I will be going to the city shortly,¡± said Adya as she left her room. ¡°Also please send my breakfast to my mother¡¯s office.¡± With that she made her way over. She was surprised to see that the guards in front of her mother¡¯s office had increased. Further, they were all people she had soul marked. No one tried to stop Adya, and she knocked and entered. ¡°Greetings mother,¡± said Adya. ¡°What is going on?¡± Adya had not told her mother about the contingent of cultivators who were guarding the estate. It was something she would only mention once they were ready to actually take the final step and become a sect. ¡°Thanks to your formations,¡± said Gauri, ¡°We have managed to root out all the spies in the estate. It seems like we were being targeted by every influential and powerful family in the three kingdoms. I think it is only the fact that we are human that allowed us to not become the targets of those from other kingdoms.¡± ¡°So what have your investigations revealed?¡± asked Adya. She had inkling of the amount of trouble her family¡¯s ascension had caused, but had been too distracted to get a full overview from Evelin. Apparently the cultivators had stopped or redirected several direct attacks. After the failed ransoming of her family, those behind it had taken to becoming significantly more aggressive. She would have to let her mother in on the details of those attacks soon. ¡°We rose too fast,¡± said Gauri. ¡°Our success created far more envy than even I had anticipated. If that was not bad enough, we also stepped on a lot of toes. On the surface, it looked like our new routes were not impacting any existing trade caravans. Even though we did not take away work from any of those established families, they were worried we would expand further and challenge them for their traditional routes.¡± ¡°I am guessing it was more than that,¡± said Adya. ¡°Let me guess, they have an unofficial group. And since our family is not part of it, they came together to try and break us?¡± ¡°Yes, that is what we learned once we managed to capture all the spies,¡± said Gauri. ¡°Even though we have dealt with the immediate threats, we are going to be facing escalating issues going forward.¡± ¡°How much time do we have,¡± asked Adya. ¡°Before the issues become unmanageable?¡± ¡°I am guessing here, ¡° said Gauri. ¡°But somewhere between six months and eighteen months. We will still be facing issues in that time, but that will only impact the profit margin.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°In that case, carry on as you are.¡± said Adya. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you the details just yet, but all your enemies will not be an issue in that time frame.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± asked Gauri. ¡°Yes,¡± said Adya. She was not able to reveal the details, but once they became a recognised sect, of any level, the mortals would not be able to challenge them in any business sphere. Based on her understanding, there were very few sects, and most only had passing arrangements with the other merchant organisations. ¡°And don¡¯t worry so much, the estate is protected.¡± ¡°By your bandits turned into an army?¡± asked Gauri. ¡°Are they ready?¡± ¡°They are being trained,¡± said Adya. ¡°We are going to have a fully trained, fully equipped army soon enough.¡± ¡°How are the family finances?¡± asked Adya. ¡°We need to move to procure substantial quantities of both steel and void steel. We will also need to secure regular ongoing supplies. The cost of both are about to increase substantially in the short term.¡° ¡°Is this to do with your plan?¡± asked Gauri ¡°Yes,¡± said Adya. ¡°I also need to understand how we work out the cost of sending trade caravans to other countries. We will need to ship directly to most of the capitals, and major cities in the near future.¡± ¡°That will be expensive,¡± said Gauri. ¡°Still we can offset some of that cost with sending full caravans to take advantage of locally available items. As for our family''s finances, we are stable for now. The wealth and items procured when your people freed our family will make up for all your expenditure. Still we will need regular income to offset the investments soon.¡± They spent some time discussing the costs. Afterwards Adya left for the city. Gauri sat back thinking through her conversation with Adya. It was clear whatever she had in mind it would be a massive step change for the family. Just the idea that her little girl could deal with most of their competitors in that short time was unbelievable. Yet Adya had already shown her more unbelievable things, so she would trust her daughter. The only question was when she would bring the wider family into Adya¡¯s secrets. Some of the more traditional members would balk at being dictated to by a child. She would have to wait and see. Adya was also lost in her thoughts. She was going through her plans multiple times. She was getting close to achieving her short term goals. According to Murphy''s law, now would be the time for things to go wrong. ¡°Evelin,¡± asked Adya all of a sudden, ¡°What would it take to subdue a tier 8 level threat? Is it something we could do?¡± Evelin spent some time in thought. ¡°It is possible,¡± said Evelin. ¡°But it will cost us. If we can use a talisman to subdue them then it won¡¯t be so bad. If we had to fight them, then we would lose a lot of people. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°I have a feeling that we are going to be facing a tier 8 threat shortly,¡± said Adya. ¡°This is the worst possible moment for things to go wrong, so they invariably will. Please plan accordingly.¡± ¡°We are going to have to call in a lot of my people,¡± said Evelin. ¡°It will leave us blind to the wider events.¡± ¡°Use anyone you need apart from Jarel,¡± said Adya. ¡°I need him for a special task. Also, it won¡¯t be for long. It is between now and when we get authorised as a Sect.¡± ¡°That will reduce our exposure,¡± said Evelin. ¡°Still, we will miss things. We simply don¡¯t have the numbers.¡± ¡°Once we are done with this step,¡± said Adya. ¡°Then we can start our version of recruitment again, but targeting those hunting in other countries. You can start to make plans for that too. I am sure it will take time to gather the resources.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± said Evelin. ¡°We will need to keep our captives subdued and return back to you each time. That will significantly increase the difficulty of the missions. Let me think about how to create effective units for this kind of missions from our existing agents.¡± As they were talking they had arrived at Rory¡¯s shop. Since everyone was aware who Adya was by now, she did not have to wait on anyone and directly entered the workshop. ¡°Greetings Rory,¡± said Adya. ¡°How are things?¡± ¡°Things are amazing,¡± said Rory. ¡°I have no idea where you got the new codex, but it has increased my speed so much.¡± ¡°I am glad to hear that you are happy with your decision to work with me,¡± said Adya. ¡°What has been your average improvement across the various formations?¡± ¡°I am seeing anything between ten times faster and fifteen times faster,¡± said Rory. ¡°And I am not done improving!¡± ¡°That is good,¡± said Adya. It was within the range she had been expecting, still any further improvements would be a bonus. ¡±So my main reason for coming today is to tell you that the last design worked well. Also I need you to create a blank prototype for me for another design. Lastly, I need your help to work out the cost of each type of artifact. I need to be able to price the final items.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± said Rory. ¡°And I am happy to help. But pricing has nothing to do with costs when it comes to artifacts. Pricing is based on supply and demand. Artifacts are always in demand. The general profit margins are between 90% and 99% of the sale price.¡± Adya supposed that would make sense. Artifacts were a limited resource, so they would be priced to keep them exclusive. That also meant that if she started to mass produce the items, then she would most likely crash the local price. It would make sense for her to send more artifacts out with her family caravans. Adya handed over the new artifact designs, then spent some time working out the exact costs of creating both devices. She still wanted to know her bottom line. It turned out that not including the time cost Rory and Adya herself put in, the rest of the cost were around 5 to 10 gold range. Adding Rory¡¯s time would take it to 25 gold. Rory¡¯s suggestion was to sell starting at 10 platinum or more. 54 - Chapter 53 - Day 2179 54 - Chapter 53 - Day 2179 Adya had left orders for two additional devices with Rory as well as the mana compression artifact and multiple additional cores. Thankfully Rory had already been in the process of stockpiling the void steel and had already produced sufficient composite sheets for production of several devices. He had been sending the devices across as he had created them. That had left Adya to complete the formations, and exhaustively test them to ensure they worked as intended. She was reasonably certain that no one should be able to work out how to replicate the process of creating an artifact. They would however get the formation that would allow them to manually create mana coins. She had ensured that the fake formation on the surface of the core worked, and that it would appear to wear out at a consistent rate. The last thing she had tested had been various designs for the head side of the coin. She had created and used a variety of plates, and had been happy with the fidelity. The smallest designs were copied across even though the sizes would be miniscule. Once that had been completed, she had tested the mana compression artefact. This one worked well on the first attempt. The difference was that instead of a core, the device would pull the required stamina and willpower from the user via intricately designed formations on the handles. This artifact was not for creating a large number of coins. It was for creating a small number of high value coins. The mana could be provided via external mana stones of any tier. The artifact could hold up to 12,000 mana or 120 mana stones equivalent before it would need to compress the mana. This would allow for the compression of 2 tiers. Adya had designed this on purpose. Had she gone for any bigger, then the size of the artifact would go from a personal device to an industrial device. Of course that part could be ignored, and the mana provided directly from the user too. The formations created an energy siphon that pulled all three energies from their users and powered the process. The formation was actually created in the local language, with some artistic flourishes. The formation spoke of taking mana and stamina. The artistic flourishes took the willpower and would be perfectly hidden. As long as someone copied her design exactly it would work, but they would not know why. The system¡¯s obfuscation of her language would leave people at a loss, or at least she hoped that it would. The last thing was the design. She did not want everyone to know the difference, so the same design plate system was in place. It would effectively make people think that the mana coins had been created in the first artifact. If no plate was used, then the design on both sides would be the same and show the value and tier of the coin. She did not want to make people targets. The second artifact would be a carefully controlled item. Once Adya was happy that all her testing had been thoroughly conducted, she decided the next step was to test with her cultivators. She had stopped her tests at tier 8 mana coins, those would be expensive enough. She did not want to push to tier 9 or tier 10 just yet, though she could with just 120 tier 8 coins. She called for Evelin and Jarel. Jarel would be the one who would contact the elder, and Evelin would need to know what was about to happen in any case. That made them both the best test subjects. Both would be asked to use their own Mana. She would also let them keep the resulting mana coins. It should be easy enough for them to spend 11,000 to 12,000 mana and create a coin two tiers higher than their current mana density. The reason for the testing was to ensure that normal cultivators could use the device and not notice anything strange. The pull of stamina and willpower should be minor enough not to cause any problems. While Adya was still testing edge cases, there was a knock on the door. The door was opened by Sally and at a wave from Adya, Evelin and Jarel entered. ¡°Thank you both for coming,¡± said Adya. ¡°Please take a seat. I have called you for a few reasons. I wanted to let you in on my plan to deal with this witch hunt and to confirm if I am the person who is being targeted.¡± ¡°Are you sure that is wise?¡± asked Evelin. ¡°We have contained the search in the three kingdoms and are able to vet any other agents entering the area. You could wait.¡± ¡°I could,¡± said Adya. ¡°The problem with that strategy is that it could go wrong very fast. If tier 7s or tier 8s are tasked to come after the person, or if there is a push to test every child of the right age by mortal authorities, it would put us in a reactive situation. I would rather control the information release so we can limit the damage.¡± ¡°So who are you going to trust with the secret,¡± said Jarel. ¡°I take it my elder is your choice?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± said Adya. ¡°Only your elder has known about this person since the beginning. I have reason to believe that makes them somewhat trustworthy. The elders who learned about this person later are likely to have more malicious motivations.¡± ¡°And I take it you won¡¯t share that reason with us,¡± said Evelin with a frown on her face. She did not like being kept in the dark. It made it very hard to keep Adya safe.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Not at this time,¡± said Adya. ¡°The more you know, the more danger you will be in. There is even the possibility that beings above tier 10 would be interested in the search.¡± That shocked both Evelin and Jarel. Just what was Adya involved in that the ascended would take an interest in mortal affairs. ¡°Now to that end,¡± said Adya. ¡°Jarel, do you have the scroll that you were given, or do you need to retrieve it?¡± ¡°I would need to get it,¡± said Jarel. ¡°It is close by, but not in the estate. I did not want it to be tracked or recognised by accident. Are you sure you want me to bring it here?¡± ¡°Make sure to check with our teams to ensure that there are no other cultivators in the region,¡± said Evelin. ¡°Also increase the security for the whole estate.¡± ¡°How long would it take you to return?¡± asked Adya. ¡°It will take me less than an hour at my best speed,¡± said Jarel. ¡°That already factors in Evelin¡¯s instructions. Do you want me to leave now?¡± ¡°Before we take that step,¡± said Adya. ¡°I need your help to test some artifacts. I also need to let you into my plans. This is the final opportunity for me to change my mind, and I want to make sure that everything is ready before we take the next step.¡± ¡°Everyone is back,¡± said Evelin. ¡°I just had them resting. I am confident we can deal with at least one tier 8, possibly two. We are as ready as we can be.¡± ¡°So I have been working on two artifacts with Rory,¡± said Adya. ¡°The first artifact allows for the automated creation of mana coins from mana stones. It will work with up to tier 5 mana stones at the present time.¡± The limitation had been set by the quality of stamina and willpower stones Adya could create and socket in to her replaceable cores, though she was not even going to tell her subordinates that little secret. ¡°Are you serious,¡± said Evelin, struggling to control her voice, while Jarel looked on in shock. ¡°You managed to get something working that no other formation master has managed to achieve. I thought you wanted less scrutiny not more?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the thing,¡± said Adya with a wry smile on her face. ¡°It is not about more scrutiny, but the right sort of scrutiny. If an elder takes an interest in a mortal family, gives them agents for protection and raises them to the status of a clan, everyone will pay attention. It would be like sending everyone a missive that here is the person you are searching for. From the moment Jarel reports, we would be targeted, and unlikely to survive the attention. But what would happen if the same thing happened along with the announcement of an artifact to do what no one else has done before?¡± ¡°It would look like a formation genius has arisen,¡± said Evelin, now nodding slowly. ¡°It would be unlikely that a small child, no matter how dangerous or blessed, would be able to create such a thing. So while it would be a big deal, it would be something that would actually get less scrutiny during the search for the child.¡± ¡°But only if they are all given the opportunity to benefit from the advancement,¡± said Jarel. ¡°If they are locked out, then it would be the same situation. You intend to give away the designs?¡± ¡°No,¡± said Adya. ¡°That would again create a focus on us. It is too valuable a thing to give away. However, nothing is stopping me from selling it. Making it look like a business family is protecting their big break will also reduce the amount of interest in us. As long as everyone can place orders. I already have Rory working on multiple devices.¡± ¡°Can we see the artifacts?¡± said Jarel, sounding more like an excited child than a grown cultivator. ¡°Yes, but I am not done telling you my plans yet,¡± said Adya with a cheeky twinkle of her eyes. ¡°You know what, since you are so eager, you can wait to hear the rest. Let us go and test the mana coin machine first.¡± With that Adya led them to the other room that she had been using as her workshop. Three large artifacts stood side by side. There was also a table that held several cores. In the corner of the room was a sack full of tier 1 mana stones. ¡°So I am planning to sell the artifact for 25 platinum,¡± said Adya. ¡°The replacement cores would be priced at 15 platinum each. Each core would allow for a certain amount of coins to be created before the formations burn out. They can then be easily replaced.¡± Adya then showed them how to open the machine and fit a core. She showed them how to operate the machine. Then she pointed her eager cultivators to the sack of mana stones and let them play. They spent some time playing with the artifacts and seeing the coins being created. The fact that you had to pour in the coins, lock the device, then wait for it to finish, before opening the other end to take out the coins was a novel experience for them both. Adya had added a simple switch with a red and green light to make it easy to know when the process was complete. She had also warned them that attempting to open the machine while the light was red would cause the core and all the mana in the device to be destroyed. Evelin and Jarel were behaving like little children with a new toy. They tried everything out, and with Adya¡¯s permission, even wasted a few hundred mana stones on testing the destruction process. Adya also had them attempt to scan the device during use, as well as the cores themselves. Neither were able to work out how it functioned. While it was not concrete proof against higher tier cultivators, it was still a significant milestone. Finally they were done with playing and suitably impressed. ¡°If you like that,¡± said Adya. ¡°I am not even sure how you are going to react to my other artifact.¡± ¡°What does that one do,¡± asked a curious Evelin. ¡°It allows you to compress mana and create a coin two tiers higher than the tier of mana you feed it,¡± replied Adya. 55 - Chapter 54 - Day 2179 55 - Chapter 54 - Day 2179 Evelin and Jarel were left speechless. Just the idea that there was an artifact that could create mana coins of a higher tier was astounding for them both. ¡°Does¡­does it really work?¡± asked Evelin. ¡°Can we try it?¡± ¡°Does it only work with our mana?¡± asked Jarel. ¡°Or can we feed it mana stones too?¡± Evelin looked sharply from Jarel, at his question, to Adya, waiting for her answer. If this could be done with mana stones, then the artifact was something else entirely. ¡°Since I have two devices, why don¡¯t you both test it for me?¡± said a smiling Adya. ¡°Then we can talk about anything else. Please make a note of how much mana the device pulls from you. I want to confirm the usage costs.¡± Adya pointed out the devices, then talked them through how to use them. The artifacts were very simple to activate. There were two handles covered in formations. The user had to hold the handles. The artifact would start to draw out the energies it required to function. A cultivator could just will the energies to stop, so it was not a way to drain them. Instead they had to give permission for their energies to leave their control. The device had a colour formation, reminiscent of a progress bar. The bar started out red, then turned to amber at the halfway point, only turning green when filled. The bar would also show the status if mana stones or coins were added instead. Finally there was a setting to allow for the creation of a mana stone or coin. This was a simple selector switch. Adya had included this feature to give the users the option to allow them to hide the existence of her artifact. The more Adya explained, the more Evelin was shocked at the thoroughness of Adya¡¯s planning. This artifact alone had the ability to upend prices for mana stones. One of the most fundamental limitations was the availability of high tier mana stones. Coupled with the slower recharge for higher level cultivators, it severely limited both war and industrial development. If this artifact made it possible to create tier 8 mana stones on mass, it would become a strategic resource. It seemed like Jarel also understood the implications of this artifact. It would be enough to cause wars. ¡°What¡­what are the limitations?¡± asked Jarel. ¡°Can you create any tier mana stones?¡± ¡°So, the first limitation is that I can¡¯t automate the process as I can for the creation of the mana coins of the same tier,¡± said Adya. Of course she could do that, but it was not something she was willing to reveal. That would make her position untenable. ¡°Second limitation is the energy cost.¡± ¡°You mean mana cost right?¡± Asked Evelin. ¡°No, I mean energy cost,¡± said Adya. She was happy to reveal this, as everyone would realise it when they used her artifact in any case. ¡°So the reason no one else seems to have managed to make this work before is because it costs not just mana, but also stamina. This is why I want you to keep an eye on your energy usage. I need to see if my results are correct.¡± Of course she had no plans to let anyone know about willpower as an energy pool. They should all attribute any fatigue to using stamina. They both started to channel energy into the artifacts. They would both need to pay the full costs of the process. Based on Adya¡¯s calculations that would be 10,000 tier 5 mana for the actual coin, 1,300 tier 5 mana as the cost for going from tier 5 to tier 7. It should also cost around 200 stamina and 200 willpower based on a 1% for each energy. Adya was hoping that they were both able to keep an accurate understanding of energy usage. For Evelin the costs would be in tier 6 energies and would cost an additional 200 tier 6 mana. The amounts of energy should be well within the range for both cultivators, as long as they had tiered up all three energy types. This was the biggest question. If the energies tiered up separately for people, then her artifact would not work for them, or would cost a lot more energy. Well actually that was not true, the cost of actual energy would be the same, you would just have to pay the equivalent amount if you had a lower tier. That also led to the interesting question that if they used the artifact to create lower tier stones, then the resulting energy usage should also be lower. Adya prepared pouches of tier 1 mana stones to test the theory. It should only cost 105 tier 1 mana stones to create a tier 3 mana stone or coin. At tier 5 or tier 6, the cost in stamina and willpower should hardly be noticeable. Jarel and Evelin focussed on their artifacts, letting the devices pull the energies directly. The amounts were not significant enough to fatigue them, but the drain was still noticeable. It did not take them very long to supply the total energy required. Evelin finished faster than Jarel. Adya put that down to her having better energy control and a higher throughput. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! The artifacts took several seconds to condense the mana stones, dropping them from the spout. ¡°So how much energy did you both use?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Try and be as precise as possible please.¡± ¡°I used 11,300 mana and around 200 stamina,¡± said Jarel. ¡°Though I feed more tired than when I normal use such a small amount of stamina.¡± ¡°I used 11,500 mana and just over 200 stamina,¡± said Evelin. ¡°Why did it cost more for me?¡± ¡°So that corroborates my results,¡± said Adya. ¡°So the reason it costs you more mana is that for each tier you want to reach it costs you that tier as a percentage of mana for the process. So since you went from tier 6 to tier 8, it cost you two percent more in mana. The percentage of stamina is the same, just at the appropriate tier. Now why don¡¯t you both try to create a tier 3 mana stone using these tier 1 mana stones. Let me know how it feels and if you notice the use of stamina.¡± Evelin and Jarel proceeded to put in the mana stones into the devices and watched the progress bar reach amber but not green. As they held onto the handles, a small amount of energy was pulled out turning the progress bar green. The devices then created the tier 3 mana stones. ¡°So what do you both think?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Are you telling us that you can use tier 1 mana stones and carry on compressing, as long as you pay the energy cost?¡± asked Evelin. ¡°Yes,¡± replied Adya. ¡°And before you ask, in theory this artifact can create up to a tier 10 mana stone. Again as long as the price is paid.¡± ¡°And what would be the total cost of converting tier 1 mana stones into a tier 10 mana stone?¡± asked Jarel. The fact that it was even possible would upend the market. ¡°It would cost 1.54Bn tier 1 mana stones,¡± said Adya. ¡°Along with 900 tier 10 stamina.¡± Evelin was shocked that it was even possible, but her thoughts halted at the last requirement. ¡°That would make it much harder to accomplish.¡± said she. ¡°No one has that much stamina in their pool.¡± ¡°Yes it would be hard,¡± said Adya. ¡°It would cost you 9m stamina at tier 6, and a lot of time Evelin. Though don¡¯t forget, the artifact can be charged slowly, and it will hold the energies. Also this design would only let you go up two tiers at a time. This would mean you could spread out the energy expenditure.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s really possible?¡± asked Jarel. If tier 10 mana stones could be created at a whim, then the entire balance of the council of sects would change. If this was something that Adya could create at this stage and with limited resources, it was no wonder that the elders wanted her dead or under their control. He could also understand why Adya was going to such lengths to protect herself and her secrets. ¡°This is insanity,¡± said Evelin, voicing Jarel¡¯e thoughts. ¡°This is going to make you the biggest target for everyone. They will want to steal your secrets. We need a much bigger force to protect you. We are going to have tier 7s, 8s and even 9s coming for you in person. Hell, even the elders may move for this kind of advantage.¡± ¡°And so this will protect my true value,¡± said Adya. ¡°This is why I have pushed ahead with these two ideas. It will give the elder we choose reason to be overbearing in our protection. That along with the newly confirmed status of a mid-sized sect, will mean no one else will carry on looking into us.¡± ¡°So while everyone thinks they know the reason you are under the elder¡¯s protection,¡± said Evelin. ¡°The real reason is obfuscated. And as long as the elder allows everyone reasonable access to the artifacts, it will give them little reason to target you.¡± ¡°She has been even more clever,¡± said Jarel. ¡°It will mean all the factions would want to keep each other in check. If they can¡¯t control her, they would not want anyone else controlling her either. It is an insidious plan. The only one who will carry on targeting her would be the ones who want her dead.¡± ¡°And as long as you all do your jobs well,¡± said Adya. ¡°That will only boost our ranks. Feel free to keep the mana stones you both made. Consider it a token of my gratitude.¡± ¡°So what do you want to do now,¡± said Jarel. ¡°Should I go and fetch the message scroll?¡± ¡°Yes please Jarel,¡± said Adya. ¡°Evelin, call in everyone and ramp up protection. This is the worst time for things to go wrong. So this is inevitably the time we are going to end up facing some crisis or the other. It¡¯s a pity I still need to hide for now. Otherwise I could have created a protection formation to surround the entire estate.¡± ¡°Until you are recognised as a clan or a sect,¡± said Evelin. ¡°All that will do is paint a massive sign saying, here I am, come and get me.¡± ¡°I know that,¡± said Adya. ¡°It is the only reason I have not done it. Even if I was to start the process, it would likely leak. The process is just too distinctive.¡± With that Eveline and Jarel left to start their tasks. Though Adya had not yet sent Jarel to contact the elder, this was already the point of no return. The pulling in of all the agents in the area would be noticeable. At the least it would create additional reasons to look. Now she just needed to deal with the agent sent to access her family. She needed to create cultivation methods and finally tell her mother what was about to happen. 56 - Chapter 55 - Day 2180 56 - Chapter 55 - Day 2180 Adya: We need to create cultivation manuals, but they can¡¯t be too impressive. Sai: Yes, there are several catalogued manuals. We can choose a few general purpose ones that will work for our army. That way they will be useful and it will look like we are using them. Mai: Don¡¯t forget, they will need to look old. We will need to age the manuals. If they look new that will raise questions about who is producing them. We need them to look like family heirlooms that have been discovered. The three spent some time planning on which cultivation manuals to choose from. In the end they decided that it made sense to have a set of manuals that went from basic up to advanced, that could be used by the outer, inner, and core disciples. The advantage would be that the cultivation manuals could be switched up as people advance with no issues. The disadvantage was that these would be middle of the road cultivation manuals, not really advanced enough to be coveted. Adya had already purchased multiple empty books, and so spent some time creating the manuals. They were designed to look like working copies that had been corrected as someone went through the arduous process of creating their own methods. Adya went so far as to use different scripts, allowing for changes in language over time, different inks and writing styles to give the impression of something that had been created across generations. She would need to get supplies from the kitchen to age them. It would take time for them to look aged, then dry out so that no one would suspect that the manuals were recently created. She decided to ask Sally to get the items for her. It would be too suspicious if she went down to the kitchen herself. Once she had given Sally the instructions, she went through her plan once more. She would contact the elder that had sent Jarel. The elder was the only one who had known about her before she lost her protection. That meant that they were not against her. The fact the other elders had only learned about her after her protection dropped meant that they did not want to protect her. There was no way she could trust them. She would have to see what the Elder wanted from her. She would then present the idea of the mana coin artifact as a way to hide her importance. She would use Rory as a front for the formations. He would be protected by the fact he had a loyalty formation that would prevent him from revealing his secrets. Sai: No it won¡¯t. He has a soul mark. He will need to have a visible formation that he can show as an excuse. Adya: Yes I had missed that. I will need to go and do that today. Then she would use Jarel as a house retainer to apply for Sect/Clan status. They would send an investigator to confirm that her house had access to cultivation manuals, funds and had cultivators to confirm the status. She would need her mother to be the face of that. It would look very strange if a young girl was creating a sect. She would create the mana compression artifacts, and the elder could use it as a way to empower their allies and weaken their enemies. She still needed a way to launder her supply of mana stones/coins. One of her biggest strengths was curbed due to her not being able to publicly leverage her real wealth. That should allow her to hide in plain sight for some time and give her time to increase her cultivation and more importantly build real strength. She also wanted to have time to further her research. There was so much she could do, but she needed time and privacy for that. Mai: This is the ideal path. No plan survives contact with the enemy. This is going to go wrong. It¡¯s just a case of working out how badly and what we can do to mitigate the damage. Adya: I know. Things are going too well. This status is unlikely to continue.The fact we can create soul marks, and take over other¡¯s formations have made things too easy for me. The heavens do not like it when cultivators do not struggle for their success. Whatever advantages the system is providing, the heavens will challenge. Adya had spent a long time cultivating in her previous lives and had seen the path taken by many friends, disciples and even enemies. The only constant had been the wrath of the heavens. That world may not have had a system directing cultivation. However, Adya refused to believe that anything could suppress the heavens. It was more likely that the system either worked with or was subordinated to the true heavens. She found it hard to fathom anything that could subjugate the will of creation itself. And if she was wrong, the implications were even more terrifying. While she was lost in her musings, Sally returned with the supplies from the kitchen. Adya continued with her musing and review of her plans and contingencies while she worked on aging the three manuals she had created. She wanted to show her mother the finished product. It would be hard for Gauri to lie to the investigator. So it was better for her to believe what they needed the investigator to accept. Adya was able to use her environmental dominion skill to heat the manuals, after applying colours to the pages to make it look like they had aged in a dry environment over a long time period. It also gave her skills a workout, but it was not enough to push the skill over level 100. She had a feeling that 100 was the max level for any skill and that the skill would need to evolve to continue its growth.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Adya: Once our current tasks are done, we need to make sure we plan training to see if we can push the skills forward. Sai: It is likely that we will need to find novel uses for the skills to force it to evolve. Either that or learn another skill that can potentially merge with it. It took Adya most of the day to get the manuals in the right condition. She was starting to get concerned that Jarel had not returned yet. He had said that it should not take him very long to retrieve the scroll. Adya really needed a way to track and communicate at a distance. This lack of information was frustrating to her. She sent Sally to get Evelin, telling her to come and see her urgently. Evelin arrived very quickly. ¡°Evelin,¡± said Adya without preamble. ¡°Jarel is missing, he was supposed to be back by now. Do you know what is going on?¡± ¡°He had taken instructions for some of the others,¡± said Evelin. ¡°I am trying to get all of our assets back before you take the next step. Still he should have been back by now.¡± ¡°Do you know where he was headed?¡± asked Adya. ¡°He gave me a general direction,¡± said Evelin. ¡°Not an exact location. I will need to send out a team to look for him.¡± ¡°Please do that,¡± said Adya. ¡°I also need to go to the city. There has been an oversight in my plans.¡± ¡°That is risky now that we are moving forward,¡± said Evelin. ¡°Not much we can do,¡± said Adya. ¡°We will need to minimise the risk and proceed anyway.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± said Evelin. ¡°Give me an hour, and I will make the arrangements. Let me send out a team to look for Jarel.¡± Adya checked on the manuals once again, checking every part of every page of all three, and was satisfied with the way they looked. It would be difficult for anyone to realise that they were just penned. She collected them and left for her mother¡¯s office. On the way she let Sally know that when Evelin came looking for her, to send her to Gauri¡¯s office. She knocked and entered. By now the guards were used to little Adya randomly coming and going from the office. ¡°Greetings mother,¡± said Adya. ¡°I hope you are not too busy.¡± ¡°Well, not really,¡± said Gauri. ¡°I was informed by the cultivators that we are to lock down for the time being, due to an unspecified risk. So I am just catching up on some paperwork.¡± ¡°Sorry about that,¡± said Adya. She had just left Evelin to manage the details. ¡°I came here to tell you that my plans are moving forward. I also will need to inform you about what to expect.¡± ¡°What do you have to be sorry about?¡± asked Gauri. ¡°And you are ready to tell me your plans, finally I get to see what you have been plotting.¡± Adya handed the three manuals to Gauri. ¡°Take a look,¡± said she. Gauri¡¯s face drained of colour as she flipped through the manuals. She recognised what they were, and more importantly their value, especially as a set. ¡°Where¡­how¡­did you get these?¡± she asked in a breathless whisper. ¡°They are our legacy,¡± said Adya with a smirk on her face. ¡°We found them by accident. We are going to use them as the foundation to apply for sect status for the house of Gurg.¡± ¡°We are going to be a cultivation clan?¡± asked Gauri in shock. ¡°Is this because of your master?¡± ¡°We will apply on our own,¡± said Adya. ¡°We will have retainers to support us until the family can take up the burden. Sorry, but your workload is going to increase immensely.¡± ¡°This will also stop a lot of our enemies,¡± said Gauri, thinking through the implications if Adya¡¯s plans worked out. ¡°It will stop our current enemies,¡± replied Adya. ¡°It will make us much more powerful enemies. Things will get worse before they get better.¡± ¡°Who is representing the house?¡± asked Gauri. ¡°Your master? A retainer?¡± ¡°No mother,¡± said Adya. ¡°I plan for it to be you. We will be a matriarchal clan. It can¡¯t be me for obvious reasons, not for several years at least. You have a lot of reading to do.¡± ¡°This is not the entirety of your plan,¡± said Gauri. ¡°You are still not telling me all of it.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t mother,¡± said Adya. ¡°They will send out at least a tier 7 cultivator, maybe even a tier 8, to investigate our claims. You will need to liaise with them extensively. You are not able to control your physiological and neurological responses to fool the senses of someone that powerful. It¡¯s better if you don¡¯t know. I will tell you when I can.¡± Adya spent some time guiding Gauri through the cultivation manuals. Just as they were finishing up, there was a knock on the door and Evelin entered. ¡°I am ready,¡± said Adya. ¡°Mother, I am going to visit Rory.¡± With that she left for the city with Evelin, Dexter and a coterie of guards. She was sure Evelin had arranged for a team of cultivators to shadow them as well. Once they were well on their way Adya asked Evelin about Jarel. ¡°We have sent out multiple teams to search for him,¡± said Evelin. ¡°He should have been back by midday at the latest. It is concerning that we have not heard anything. I have sent people who can travel the fastest. We should have reports by the time we come back.¡± ¡°I have a bad feeling about this,¡± said Adya. ¡°I am going to ask Rory to come back to the estate with us. Check if we need to protect any of his staff.¡± ¡°If we do, then we will bring them back to the estate too,¡± said Evelin. ¡°That way I can add his protective detail to the rest. It would be easier for us to protect everyone together.¡± ¡°Do you have designs for the formations the council uses to communicate?¡± asked Adya. ¡°I just realised that most people are going to other sects to use their formations to report back. If I know what we need, we should work on creating our own. It would also make it much easier for us to get news.¡± ¡°I think one of the cultivators has access to the formations,¡± said Evelin. ¡°It would be better to wait until the sect has officially been formed. Otherwise the investigator may not be happy.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t start the work,¡± said Adya. ¡°But I can start to plan it out. That will speed up the process immensely.¡± 57 - Chapter 56 - Day 2180 57 - Chapter 56 - Day 2180 They all disembarked outside Rory¡¯s shop and entered. Evelin had made it clear to Adya that it would be best to keep the visit as short as possible. Any extended time away from the estate increased the risk to Adya significantly. Adya wasted no time, and made her way to Rory¡¯s workshop. She found him working on a commission. Even though stopping him would cause this piece to be wasted, she felt she had no choice. ¡°Rory,¡± said Adya. ¡°I need you to stop. We need to have a serious conversation.¡± The distraction led to Rory cursing as the formation he had been working on failed. ¡°Could you not have waited?¡± asked an angry Rory. ¡°I spent hours on that, and now all that effort is wasted. I will need to start from scratch.¡± ¡°Sorry Rory,¡± said Adya. ¡°However, we don¡¯t have the time. One of my retainers is missing. You may be targeted. I need you to come with me. If there is anyone close to you, then they need to come with us too.¡± ¡°What about the shop? The commissions?¡± asked Rory. ¡°I can¡¯t just shut the shop.¡± ¡°Can you trust your staff to keep the shop open?¡± asked Adya. ¡°We can leave them to run things, and you can carry on working back at the estate.¡± ¡°I guess I can,¡± said Rory. ¡°Give me some time to get things organised.¡± ¡°No time for that,¡± said Adya. ¡°Take your current work and one of your staff. You can give them instructions in the carriage and then they can bring things back and forth.¡± Rory looked nonplussed for a minute, then grabbed his formations books, and the piece he had been working on. He asked Maya to join him in the carriage and asked one of his other attendants to tie a horse to the carriage for Maya to use. He also gave them quick instructions on keeping the shop open and running. Evelin left one of her people to watch over the shop and report any issues. Without Rory present, there was only a limited amount of damage anyone could do. The worst would be damage to the shop and the staff had been instructed to not engage in any altercations. Within ten minutes, they were all back in the carriage, joined by Rory and Maya, and on their way back to the estate. Rory spent the first part of the carriage ride giving Maya detailed instructions on what he wanted her to do. Once he was satisfied with his plans, they stopped the carriage to let Maya off. She took the horse and returned back to the city while they continued back towards the estate. ¡°So,¡± said Rory. ¡°I reckon you better tell me what is going on. The way we left it was like all the bandits in the three kingdoms were after us.¡± ¡°There are many things to discuss,¡± said Adya. ¡°Is it safe for us to speak on the carriage Evelin?¡± ¡°It should be,¡± replied Evelin. ¡°Just don¡¯t risk anything too sensitive.¡± ¡°So there are a couple of things,¡± said Adya to Rory. ¡°I have managed to create an artifact that will be most sought after. I need you to pretend that you came up with it. I don¡¯t want to reveal my expertise. The second issue is that I need to tattoo a formation on you, so that you can show anyone that comes looking to steal the secrets of the said artifact that you are unable to reveal the details. It is for your own protection.¡± ¡°What sort of artifact?¡± asked Rory. ¡°I can show you when we get back to the estate,¡± said Adya. She was not surprised that it was his first question. ¡°The first thing we will do when we are back is your tattoo. We have no idea when we will need to be able to prove it.¡± Even Adya was not confident in successfully creating the formation in a moving carriage. The rest of the journey passed in relative silence. Upon their return Adya took Rory to her temporary workshop and tattooed the dummy formation on his upper arm. It would stay hidden unless Rory needed to show it to anyone. She then proceeded to tell him about the coin creation device. Rory was suitably shocked. Adya left him to play with the device. She also left a house retainer with him to take care of any of his needs. Evelin and Adya returned back to her suite. ¡°So what is the size of our cultivation forces now?¡± asked Adya once they were back behind closed doors.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°We now have a total of twenty two tier 6s, including me, one hundred and fifty six tier 5s, and a few others at lower tiers,¡± said Evelin. ¡°Most are now situated around the estate to provide protection.¡± ¡°How many are likely to be recognised if the council sends a tier 7 or tier 8 our way?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Most if not all will be recognised on sight,¡± said Evelin. ¡°However, we are not making it so easy. We have used the terrain to our advantage and most of our people are hidden and are using various means to avoid detection.¡± ¡°So unless we get very unlucky,¡± said Adya. ¡°Then we should not be discovered. However, we should prepare for the worst case. We also can¡¯t have a fight breaking out too close to the estate, it would put all the non-cultivators in danger.¡± ¡°That is true,¡± said Evelin. ¡°Let me review my plans and also see if there is anything back on the search for Jarel.¡± ¡°Also please send me the details on that communication formation,¡± said Adya. Once Evelin left, Adya communicated her frustration to Sai and Mai. Adya: We really need to come up with a way for us to manage long range communications. This situation makes it hard to manage resources effectively. It also takes too long to learn anything. Mai: Yes our operational effectiveness is severely hampered by the limits in communications as well as real time intelligence gathering. Sai: The ideal solution to both is launching our own communication satellite network. However there are too many issues and gaps in our knowledge for that to be practical in any realist timeframes. Adya: Is the system not effectively tracking everything and everyone already? Sai: From the way it allocates skills and experience, and the way it can send direct messages, then yes it would seem to have a direct connection to every sapient creature in the universe. Adya: Would it not make more sense for us to try and piggy back our communications on the back of that existing connection. Sai: That would give us the comms ability, but not the real time intelligence capability. Mai: We still need real time intelligence, even if it takes longer to implement. Using the system could also leave our comms vulnerable to attack by others. We don¡¯t know if you are the only one who can manipulate some system functionality. It may work as a stop gap, and for civilian use, but would not be suitable for secure military comms. Sai: It is not so straightforward. We need to understand the size of the planet we are on, and the gravity. We would need to test to see if the universal constants we used in applied mechanics from the old universe still apply here. Then we would need to design and build all the modules for a functioning satellite system from scratch using formations. We would need to create either massive mana batteries or a self charging system. We would need to test whether it would work in geostationary orbit. We would need to build tens of thousands of these devices. Then we would need to work out a launch mechanism. Lastly we would need to build a secure communications artifact to interact with the satellites and a control hub to monitor and maintain the fleet. Adya: And given that the technical and material basis is completely different in this world, we would need to create a lot of the technical theory from scratch. Mai: Lastly we have no idea what sorts of threats exist both in the upper atmosphere and space. So again we would need extensive testing to ensure our satellites would work. Adya: This would be a massive undertaking and require mountains of resources. Do you have any idea how long it would take to create a workable plan? Sai: I don¡¯t have enough knowledge to even start the analysis at this stage. We need access to significantly more advanced knowledge. Otherwise, we need to start creating the technology from first principles. That would take decades if not centuries even for me. It would also require us to travel to gather knowledge and materials. Adya: Not to mention that it would just make us a target for yet another reason if we were to actually build it without being powerful enough to protect it. It''s the ultimate catch 22. Anything we do to gather resources and become stronger would make us targets, and therefore we can only do so after we are strong enough to protect it in the first place. But if we were to be strong enough, then we wouldn¡¯t need to build it in the first place. Mai: That is not true and is reductive thinking. Once we have enough personal power to protect our work, we can use the advancements to empower our sect and increase the tactical and strategic effectiveness of the whole group. Sai: We probably need to work on both paths as it will get us where we need to be faster. Also there is no ¡®strong enough¡¯. There will always be someone or something stronger, not unless we reach the peak of power. Adya: I think that is what we will have if we become the inheritors of the system. Getting there is the challenge, especially since we don¡¯t know what we have to do to get there. Adya returned to her training and experiments. However the nagging feeling that something was wrong wouldn¡¯t leave her. As the day progressed without any news of Jarel, the feeling only grew. The only change in the day came when one of the cultivators delivered the details of the long distance communication formations to Adya. She wasted no time in scanning the requirements and runes into the database Sai had created. Sai initiated a passive parallel process to analyse the details and to improve their understanding. It was the largest and most complex formation they had come across to date. It would take several days to start to get results. Even then some of it would most likely require testing in the real world. It seemed like the formation knowledge they had already gathered was a very small part of the whole picture. Adya returned to her experiments and the interminable waiting. 58 - Chapter 57 - Day 2182 58 - Chapter 57 - Day 2182 Another two days had passed and Jarel had yet to be located. Given that he was under Adya¡¯s loyalty formation, he had either been captured or killed. The problem was in determining which. If he had been captured, and if it was by someone related to the council, then there was a significant risk of her ability to take control of people being leaked. The council would assume that they could give him instruction, and when he failed to respond, it would be obvious that he was no longer under their control. If that was what had happened, it would leave Adya even more exposed. Not to mention that Jarel was the only point of contact with the mysterious elder who could potentially protect her. Adya had known her controlling side would cause her problems, she had just not expected it to happen so fast. Given the limitations in communications, and the need to protect the estate from this unknown threat, Evelin and her team were struggling to find out what had happened. The longer it took, the less chance there was of finding out what had happened or to rescue Jarel if he had been captured. The lack of information, and the inability for Adya to act herself left her feeling distracted and helpless. This was the first time that she truly felt like she was not in control. She had been excited and confident in her plans, she had not even considered that she may not be the one who was targeted. She asked Evelin to send out more tier 5s to help widen the search, still it would take time for news to filter back to them. If not for Sai or Mai, she would not have managed to get anything done at all. Everything had hinged on Jarel to contact the elder and progress things, but now she was stuck. None of the other agents she had converted worked for that one elder, and so trying to reach out would not work. Additionally, given the uncertainty, Adya was not in a position to be travelling to communicate directly. If any of the other elders found out, then she would be trapped. She did make some progress on the communication formation, though it would be more accurate to say that Sai managed to integrate more theory into the overarching language she had created. To distract herself Adya tried to discuss the mechanics with Sai and Mai. Adya: So have you worked out a theory on how this formation works? Sai: I would need to do extensive testing to confirm my suppositions, but in theory the way it works is rather rudimentary. There is a master formation, at the council I am guessing, or more likely multiple master formations at the council. The rest of the formations act as a relay with the messages being encoded in mana and sent in the general direction of a node which is closer to the council. The message hops across the network, and same works in reverse. Adya: So anytime you want to add a new node, you would need to update the address map? Sai: That is actually the most complex part and what most of these runes are dedicated to. There is no storage or memory. The formation has to be kept constantly active, and that is why it is so expensive to run. The formation queries the network and updates and holds the map in short term memory. It also sends out identification pings regularly to keep the map updated. Mai: Are the locations, the pings, or the messages encrypted? Sai: No, if we built our own, we could basically listen in to the whole network. We could even pretend to be part of the network and hijack the whole network, though that would be noticed. Adya: I am guessing either they are confident that no one has the knowledge to be able to do any of that, or they just don¡¯t understand that it¡¯s possible. Sai: Our understanding of network principles is much more mature compared to this. However, if you were to compare the network to the earliest recorded networks that were created, then this would be about the level of security that would have existed. Mai: So someone created something that worked, and everyone copied it without understanding how it worked. Either that or the person who created it left it open so that they could listen in. Adya: If that was the case why not secure it and then leave a backdoor. Why leave it open to everyone. Sai: I think the issue is cost. Because it costs so much to run, adding any form of security on top would increase the cost significantly, so they may have gone for the simplest solution they could get to work. Adya: So could you make it more efficient? Could we create something that we could use, either as a passive skill or an artefact? Sai: We would need to recreate the whole thing from scratch. And we would need to create the infrastructure to support it. I am not sure, again without extensive testing, if it would be easier to adapt this, or if we would be better served by creating a communications network based on electromagnetic radiation. Mai: Or we need to work out how the system is able to communicate with everyone and piggy back on that. It seems like this is a workaround when we should be using the system.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Sai: We don¡¯t even know where to start with that. The system is not using mana. When we have received messages, or when others have, there has been no fluctuations in any of the three energies that we are aware of. Adya: Could the system be using radio waves or any of the other forms of communication technology that we had in our old universes. Sai: Again without creating the appropriate tools and extensive testing there is no way for us to know. We need a lot more data. Adya: So we may be stuck using this archaic form of communication while we wait to work out how to really make it work. While Adya was lost in her musings about the communications issues, there was a knock on the door. ¡°We have found him,¡± said Evelin. ¡°He will be here by this evening.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± asked Adya. ¡°He was attacked,¡± said Evelin. ¡°He is still unconscious. Hence the slower travel speed. We don¡¯t know who attacked him or how he survived.¡± ¡°What do we know?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Will he recover?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know yet, he will need to be assessed once he is back here,¡± said Evelin. ¡°The other groups seem to have started to group together,¡± she continued, disgust evident on her face. ¡°The attacks are becoming more brutal. If this is not resolved soon, it may break out into open war between the groups.¡± ¡°Has there been any further news from the various elders?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Also why are we only just finding out?¡± ¡°Things changed around five days ago,¡± said Evelin. ¡°We missed things as we had recalled everyone back to the estate for protection. The other groups of elders have ordered their own teams to group up and take out any other groups still searching.¡± ¡°They must have learned that they are close to losing control of the situation,¡± mused Adya. ¡°The same way they knew to look in the first place. So they are escalating, trying to stop anyone else from finding the target first.¡± ¡°This is going to disrupt the council''s ability to enforce its rules for the foreseeable future,¡± said Evelin. ¡°It¡¯s so shortsighted.¡± ¡°Unless they are going to engage their tier 7s or tier 8s,¡± said Adya. That would cover the shortfall while more tier 4s reach tier 5. With the agents under their control, it would just mean setting back the cultivation of the agents.¡± ¡°That will just put off the problem until later,¡± said Evelin. ¡°It¡¯s idiotic!¡± ¡°If they can gain faster ways of gaining power,¡± said Adya. ¡°Then it will still be counted as a win in their books. They treat everyone as a resource anyway.¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± said Evenlin. ¡°Let me go and recall everyone else. Hopefully we will have more information.¡± ¡°Tell everyone to be careful,¡± said Adya. ¡°If they have already escalated so much, I am guessing they have sent out tier 7s already.¡± ¡°That would be a major escalation,¡± said Evelin. ¡°It would threaten to split the council itself.¡± ¡°You have seen my mana concentration device,¡± said Adya. ¡°If they are thinking of gains on that level, they could be thinking that they could take direct control of the council. We don¡¯t know how much knowledge they have access to. Let us hope the team makes it back safely with Jarel, and that he has managed to get the item he was sent to retrieve, or at least that it has not been lost to us. We are seriously lacking knowledge right now.¡± Evelin went off to see what she could do to boost security and recall teams. Adya went back to alternating between brooding and musing. The hours dragged by. Finally Evelin returned. ¡°He is back,¡± said she. ¡°He is in a bad state. We don¡¯t have any high level healers, so we have given him what health potions we could.¡± ¡°How much total health does he have?¡± asked Adya. ¡°We would need tier 6 health potions or better,¡± said Evelin. ¡°Ideally tier 8 health potions to maximise chances of recovery. Those are not easy to come by.¡± That left Adya in a quandary. She could create tier 8 stamina potions that could in theory work in place of a tier 8 health potion. It would mean revealing yet another ability to Evelin. She would also need to do some testing as she had only tested on herself. ¡°Is it only a health potion that would work?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Would a stamina potion have the same effect? What¡¯s the difference? ¡°Stamina potions cost thousands of platinum,¡± said Evelin. ¡°They would work even better, but no one has one. They are almost impossible to get a hold of. A tier 8 one hasn¡¯t come up for auction in a long time. The people who can create them, trade them for favours. A stamina potion works immediately, a health potion works over time.¡± It seemed like it was about the release of energy. Adya had Sai work on creating a tier 8 stamina potion. ¡°Go and clear the room,¡± said Adya. ¡°I am going to see if I can raid the family heirloom.¡± She decided to make it look like it was something the family already had. It would feed into the story about having found an inheritance of an old and powerful cultivator. Evelin went off to do as told, a complex expression on her face. Adya went off towards the family vault to not raise suspicion. Thankfully Sai had already created some tier 7 and tier 8 stamina stones as part of her experiments and managed to synthesise a simple tier 8 stamina potion in short order. Adya placed the potion inside her robe and rushed off to where Jarel was being cared for. ¡°Are you sure this will work,¡± said Adya, handing over the potion to Evelin. ¡°If we waste it, then I will be in serious trouble. As it is, people will not be happy about me taking it.¡± Evelin inspected the vial and was shocked by what she found. ¡°How¡­how do you have this?¡± she asked. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that¡­yet,¡± said Adya. ¡°Will it work?¡± Evelin turned to the unconscious Jarel and administered the potion, massaging his throat to have him swallow. ¡°Now we wait,¡± she said. They hoped that Jarel would be able to recover and provide them with much needed answers on what exactly had happened out there. 59 - Chapter 58 - Day 2185 59 - Chapter 58 - Day 2185 It was another three days before news reached Adya that Jarel had woken up. He was reportedly confused and not responding to instructions. Evelin had sent for Adya while she kept an eye on Jarel, just in case he turned violent. Adya rushed to the infirmary, situated in one of the barracks, as soon as she received the message. She hoped Jarel would have recovered enough to provide some answers. A part of her felt guilty for being more concerned about the information than Jarel, but she was experienced enough to put her emotions aside and focus on what was necessary. She was about as safe as it was possible to be. Evelin had recalled all her cultivators and positioned them to guard all approaches to the estate. In addition to that all cultivators had been provided life sensing talismans, an expensive endeavour. The talismans, though temporary, would allow instant notification to reach the estate if any of the cultivators were to be killed. Sai had analysed the runes used in their formation and realised that she could create something similar, but it would require the requisite materials. Adya had been informed that the reason her formations were seen as anomalous was that she could create them without materials. Even Rory needed to use the appropriate materials, either qi infused metals, inks, or beast parts to create his artifacts. It was also the reason all those items had a defined life span. When the qi in the material was used up, or burned out, the item would fail. The only reason she had not needed any materials was the direct interference of the system. This was also the reason there was no mark left to link the formation with the actions. She wondered what the link to the system meant for her future creations. It also raised questions about the artifacts she had designed. Even more questions for her to investigate when she was free of the current crisis. The list was turning into an endless hydra. She arrived at the infirmary to find Jarel thrashing about. ¡°Calm down Jarel,¡± she instructed. She hoped her control would be enough to have an effect. The results were mixed. His body was forced to obey her command, yet his eyes still showed signs of psychosis. She wondered what level of control she had over the body. She thought about ordering the body to produce specific chemicals, but realised that the instruction would likely have no effect as it required the recipient to understand her instructions. This had been the case when she had tested giving instructions in a language the recipient did not know. It also meant that the instruction could be ignored if the person could not hear it. Adya could not think of any direct intervention that would have an effect. She ordered the others to carry Jarel out to the gardens. He had spent some time wandering in the gardens, and she hoped the environment would help calm him. Now that he was not thrashing about, he was not a danger to anyone. To ensure that remained the case, she ordered Jarel not to fight against being moved. She followed behind, frustrated at her inability to do anything to improve the situation. She could think of multiple interventions from her past lives that would have been effective, yet she was unable to replicate any of them. She needed to get stronger and create advanced technology to return her full suite of capabilities. As they reached the garden, Jarel was set down on the grass. Adya looked into his eyes to see if it was having any effect. She ordered Jarel to take in the scenery and to try and relax his mind. She started to see the effects of psychosis lessen by the reaction of his pupils. It was not an immediate change, but his condition seemed to be improving. Adya took a seat on the grass across from Jarel, continuing to keep an eye on him while also musing about the lack of tools and advanced medication. Just as she was starting to see tangible improvements in Jarel, another one of the cultivators came running. ¡°We have lost two tier 5s and a tier 6 in the last ten minutes,¡± he shouted. ¡°We are under attack.¡± Evelin took charge and started to issue instructions. ¡°It may be a feint,¡± said Adya. ¡°I am calling everyone back to the estate,¡± said Evelin. ¡°It may cause more damage, but we need our strength in one place, otherwise we risk being defeated in detail.¡± Evelin sent people to collect her family and retainers in the main house, and also had Adya and Jarel moving in the same direction. By the time they reached the main house, the sounds of fighting could be heard all over the estate. Evelin went off to take charge, leaving a squad of tier 6s to guard the house.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Adya looked towards Jarel to see if he was continuing to improve. He seemed to be improving slowly, at this rate the fight would be over before he recovered. It seemed there was a significant limitation to healing for most people. While Jarel did not seem to have any physical injuries, it was clear that the mental injuries were taking significantly longer. It was also not clear to her how extensive his original injuries had been when he had been found. She should have asked, and would have to remember to do so in the future. She had been so lost in her own world that it had not even occurred to her at the time. The sounds of fighting grew louder and more concentrated. They could now see the effect of qi techniques from the house, with explosions all too common. Again Adya cursed her helplessness. Just as Adya worried that the fighting would reach them, the fighting ended with all sounds dying down. Evelin returned shortly after that, her left side covered in blood. ¡°We were hit by several squads of agents,¡± she reported. ¡° We had to kill several as it was just not possible to subdue them all.¡± ¡°Does that mean we do have some prisoners?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Also do we have numbers for losses and injuries on our side?¡± ¡°Not yet,¡± said Evelin, taking Adya aside and speaking so only she could hear. ¡°That is being collated. We do have a few with severe injuries. Do you think it would be possible to get more stamina potions? Without them we will lose even more people.¡± ¡°They are a limited resource,¡± said Adya, whispering back. ¡°Yet I am willing to use them for the worst cases. I also have found a cache of tier 5 and a smaller number of tier 6 stamina potions. Tell me how many of each you need and I will get them.¡± Sai had spent the past days stocking up on several hundred potions of various grades, though tier 8 potion supplies were still limited. At her grade, even with massive regeneration, it was just not possible to create them in substantial numbers. Evelin asked for a selection of the tier 5s and tier 6s as well as three tier 8s for the critically injured. Adya went in the direction of the treasury to retrieve them. The keeping of her substantial secrets necessitated some theater. Evelin went to organise the wounded and gather reports. Adya returned with the potions and hurried towards the infirmary to administer them. She had also made sure to retrieve her ink and brushes so that she could change the loyalty of any of the survivors. She was accompanied by half the tier 6 squad that had been left to guard the civilians. They had almost made it to the barracks, when one of her protectors cried out in pain. Adya¡¯s past life training kicked in and she did not even try to look at what had happened, just broke into a sprint towards her destination. She could hear the sounds of a fight behind her, it seemed to be intense. Mai: It looks like they are fighting just one person. Based on the way they are struggling, the individual they are fighting is at least tier 7. Adya made it to the barracks, not that it would provide much protection against a tier 7 if they could not stop them. ¡°Evelin,¡± she cried out. ¡°Tier 7.¡± Evelin rushed out to join the fight, while calling for all tier 6s to join her. Adya wasted no time and went to administer the stamina potions to as many of her agents as she could. It was clear that the threat was ongoing and she needed as many of them back in fighting condition as possible. As she was in the middle of administering the potion to the third person, the roof and part of the wall collapsed. Adya barely managed to move, all thanks to Mai, avoiding injury herself. She rushed to see if the person was still alive. The agent, a woman, was in bad shape and barely hanging on. Adya wasted no time and poured a tier 8 stamina potion in her mouth while ordering her to swallow. She then went back to start digging the other agents out of the rubble. Thankfully most of the barracks were still standing and only a few of the agents had been caught under the collapse. At tier 5 and tier 6, even though it would hurt, it was unlikely to be life threatening. Again by luck or providence, Adya had managed to reach the three most severely injured before the attack. Had she been any slower, it was likely that one or more of them would have died. Adya worked, with some of the agents with minor injuries also helping. The sounds of fighting were prominent in the background, with the sounds of more buildings collapsing in the exchange. Once they had managed to recover everyone and Adya had administered the potions, they decided to see what was going on outside. They needed to assess if they needed to move, or if it was safe to remain. As they looked out, they could see a large part of the barracks were destroyed and several soldiers and guards lay dead in the rubble. ¡°Anyone fit enough to see if they can find any survivors?¡± asked Adya. ¡°I have tier 3 stamina potions that would be able to save them from anything but the most extreme situations. But only if we can get it to them.¡± ¡°The fight seems to be contained on one side,¡± said one of the agents. ¡°It seems they are fighting a tier 7. Thankfully there seems to be one assailant.¡± ¡°We should be able to start collecting the survivors,¡± said another agent. ¡°But please stay hidden. It would be easy for the tier 7 to target you at range.¡± Adya stayed out of sight and handed out potions as the agents with her went out to see who they could save. They even managed to drag back one of the tier 6s injured in the fight allowing Adya to save them. Even with a lot of her agents fighting, their opponent did not seem to be going down. Was this really the power of a tier 7, or was this person a tier 8? As Adya did what she could, again she cursed her own weakness. She felt no need to curse her enemies, power was the only virtue. She hoped her agents would be able to end the threat and still be in a condition to fight. She did not think she was out of danger yet. 60 - Chapter 59 - Day 2185 60 - Chapter 59 - Day 2185 As the fight continued, it was becoming obvious that her team would win. Their opponent, while incredibly strong and resilient, could not counter the attrition caused by numbers on her side. The only question was how long would it take, and what it would cost both in terms of injuries and losses on her side and destruction of property. Adya and those by her side, including injured agents, and surviving guards did their best to extricate anyone out of the fight. They also supplied mana potions to her fighters allowing them to continue for a while longer. Adya had sent people to go around the fight and check in on the main house. She had also asked people to check that the cultivators they had taken prisoner previously were still subdued. It would not do to have them make a bid for freedom or attack her people from behind. The reports she received back painted a picture of stability on the edge of a cliff. Everything was in hand for the time being, but her people had been pushed hard. Most of the survivors had some form of injury with a significant minority being severely injured. The worst thing was they still did not know who their attackers were, or what their motivation or objectives were. The lack of information was grating. Adya wanted to push ahead to see what she could find out. There were multiple sources of information she could attempt. She had sent people to see if Jarel was recovering, or at least conscious enough to provide a report. She could go and try to convert the captured cultivators. The problem with either of those choices was that she would have to move. She worried that if she left the anonymity of the broken barracks, she would at best not be available to keep those fighting alive, or at worst make herself an open target distracting her fighters. Even with her decades of experience in combat situations, she struggled to work out the best course of action. This was not due to any emotional response or freezing up. It was solely down to a complete lack of understanding on the extent of power scaling and resilience in this world''s higher tier cultivators. Without understanding what it would take to subdue her opponents, or understanding the level of injuries her team would be able to survive, she was forced to be more cautious in her actions than she might otherwise have been. So she was stuck waiting, as large swathes of the area were destroyed in the intense fight she was witnessing. Finally they managed to knock out the opposing cultivator, and Adya rushed to try and turn him to her cause. Since no one knew how long he would be unconscious, she had to work fast. Using every advantage she could think of she placed the loyalty enforcement formation on the knocked out man. The person you are trying to soul mark (loyalty enforcement formation) is bound by an existing loyalty formation. The formation is ultimately controlled by a tier 10 entity. You are unable to override or break the existing formation. This was followed by another prompt. Scion protocol activated. Highest rarity class identified as tier 9. Scion protocol temporary boost applied. Scion protocol disabled tracking and reporting associated with formation. The person you are trying to mark is a tier 8. The difference between your cultivation realms is too high. You are unable to override or break the existing formation. That notification answered some questions, and created a lot of others. Most importantly this person was a threat. They could not let him live. ¡°Kill him now,¡± said Adya. Her command jolted her agents back to full alertness. Evelin was the first to move, followed by the others. Even unconsciously, he was not easy to kill. Finally they managed to behead him, confirming death. ¡°He was a tier 8,¡± said Adya. ¡°I could not control him. We had no choice.¡± ¡°What the hell is a tier 8 doing out here,¡± exclaimed Evelin. ¡°No wonder it took us so long to put him down.¡± ¡°I hope we can get some answers,¡± said Adya. ¡°Let me catch my breath,¡± said Evelin. ¡°I will organise a report on our losses, and damage.¡± ¡°We need to maintain security,¡± said Adya. ¡°There is no guarantee that this was the only tier 8 in the area.¡± Adya also passed out stamina potions to help her people recover faster. It would not get them back into fighting shape immediately, but would significantly cut down the recovery time. Sai: I think the reason they are not recovering as fast as we do is because willpower is not being replenished fast enough. Without that the stamina boost is passively working on healing as opposed to actively targeting the worst areas. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Mai: We also do not have an infinite source of stamina. This one fight has used up a significant portion of what we have accrued. Even if we use up all our reserves of stamina, we would have been able to produce around sixty tier 8 stamina potions. We have already used up almost 20. Add to that the numbers of tier 5 and tier 6 stamina potions that we have been using and our supplies are running dangerously low. Adya: I know, but if we don¡¯t keep them alive, then we will end up dead or captured. At that point our resources won¡¯t help us anyway. Sai: We still need to use our resources appropriately. We will only supply tier 8 potions to those who won¡¯t survive without it. What we have already spent is gone. No point dwelling on it at this point. As Adya was debating the logistics and strategic allocation of critical resources, Evelin had returned with updates. ¡°It seems that Jarel will recover in the next few hours,¡± she started. ¡°We have managed to capture twelve tier 6s and fifty nine tier 5s. We have no one else who is in danger, but we have several of our teams who are in critical but stable condition. We are moving them to another barracks.¡± ¡°How many did we lose?¡± asked Adya, her tone weary. ¡°We lost thirteen tier 6s, forty one tier 5s, and all the lower tier cultivators,¡± said Evelin. ¡°We also have several who will not be combat effective for the foreseeable future.¡± So they had actually increased their strength long term, looking at it purely from a military strength perspective. Though that did nothing to ebb the emotional response at losing so many of her people. Though she may have taken over their formatons without their consent, and they may have been killed following their original orders anyway, Adya still felt their loss keenly. The logic of the situation was not enough to alleviate the emotional response. It actually made her anger blaze. These elders cared nothing for the lives of others, only their own machinations. She was struggling to see the difference between orthodox and unorthodox cultivators at this point. Adya started to make her way to the captured agents to start to convert them. With fifty four of them to convert it would take her hours, so the sooner she started the sooner she would be done. It may also allow them to learn what was happening. As Adya lost herself in her tasks, time flew by. She left the interrogation of the converted agents to Evelin and her team. Just as she left the clean up, and recovering of their dead to her guards. Large parts of the estate were utterly destroyed. She was also not in the mood to face her mother and to try and provide an explanation. By the time she was finished with the formations it was early evening. She had started with the Tier 6s, as they would be more likely to have latest information as well as to bolster their beleaguered forces. Evelin was waiting for her. ¡°So we have figured out what is happening,¡± said Evelin. ¡°The elders who were split between kill and capture orders have joined forces and have ordered extreme measures. They have ordered their agents to form larger teams and eliminate all others.¡± ¡°So they are all looking to kill me now?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Also what about the faction that were staying on the sidelines?¡± ¡°No one is on the sidelines anymore,¡± said Evelin. ¡°Something has happened, we don¡¯t know what, but it has caused most of the leaders to split into two factions. Kill or capture. Where the elders were operating mostly independently before, we now have two camps that are for intents and purposes at war.¡± ¡°So we have a council civil war,¡± mused Adya. ¡°What about the elder we were hoping would support us. Would a single elder even be able to provide us with any protection in the current climate?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± said Jarel, walking into the room. ¡°I am sorry it took time for me to recover.¡± ¡°I am glad to see you are all right,¡± said Adya. ¡°Just what happened?¡± ¡°So I hid the scroll,¡± said Jarel. ¡°The best place I found was a little nook used to service the communication formations we use to contact the council. No one can get into it, unless you know the details and no one would usually even think of looking there. Since I could go in to report on the situation, I could hide my actions.¡± ¡°I had just reported in to the elder,¡± he continued. ¡°I had learned that tier 7 and tier 8 assets had been sent out to expand the search. I had also learned that mortal forces have been instructed to start a house to house search to find their target. They are only waiting for identification talismans to be produced then distributed before they start the search.¡± ¡°Will that still happen, given that the council is in the middle of a civil war?¡± asked Adya. ¡°Yes,¡± said Evelin. ¡°Both sides are pushing for the target to be identified. They are happy to fight over this child later.¡± ¡°How long before the search will be unstoppable?¡± asked Adya. She was running scenarios through her head, trying to work out what viable options she had, if any. Most options meant abandoning her family. ¡°What makes you think this elder can protect us?¡± ¡°How were you injured?¡± asked Evelin. ¡°As I was leaving the communications formation,¡± said Jarel. ¡°I was seen by a team of other agents. I can only assume they received their orders to escalate at that point. The first I learned of the issue was when they started to chase me. I was attacked, and trying to find a way to evade, when we were all attacked by another group. In the confusion I managed to slip away and find a hiding place, but passed out from my injuries. The reason I think the elder can still protect us, and the reason I think the original plan can still work is also the reason for the escalation.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Adya and Evelin together. Jarel was making no sense. They wondered if he truly had recovered. ¡°So, a few days ago,¡± continued Jarel. ¡°The other elders tried to force my elder to pick a side. Neither allowing her to stay on the sidelines. When she ignored them, they tried to attack her directly.¡± ¡°Is she safe?¡± blurted out Adya. All she could see was her plans going down the drain. He handed over a sealed scroll to Adya. ¡°Yes,¡± said Jarel. ¡°She spoke to me after the events. She said her goals have not changed. During her fight to defend herself from their unwarranted aggression, she managed to tier up to tier 11. She is now the most powerful being in this world.¡± chapter delay Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can. Apologies my mother had to be rushed into hospital, so I have not had the time to write today. I will keep you informed and will try and drop chapters as I can.