Eyes followed Volithur as he filled a pte with breakfast foods. He didn’t get further than picking up his spoon before the Marshal was at his side. “I need to speak with you immediately, Ward Harridan.”

  Volithur resisted the urge to frown. “Can I bring my food with me?”

  The Marshal lowered his voice. “That depends on who you have been acquiring your resources from. It doesn’t matter how much favor the Lord General has shown you, extorting from the family will cause problems you are not prepared to face. Damage control must begin now.”

  “I received resources only from yourself and the Casteln.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Ward Harridan. I gave you an impossible goal of two months for your next level and you did it in less than two weeks. You are most certainly extorting resources. Come clean immediately.”

  Volithur leaned back from the intensity he saw in the Marshal’s eyes. “I gained an insight into how chaos can be transformed into cosmic energy.”

  The Marshal put his clenched fist very gently onto the table before Volithur and leaned in close. “I am not a fool, Ward Harridan. Your soul would bear the scars of cultivating chaos.”

  Feeling intensely uncomfortable with the attention, Volithur reached out towards chaos and drew it in. “See with your own eyes that I speak the truth, Master Marshal.”

  Several gulps of chaos transformed into the purest cosmic energy. All around, the quiet interest of the nobles transformed into urgent whispers. The Marshal straightened out of his imposing hover. “I see.”

  Volithur continued to pull in cosmic energy, distracted by a fact he was just realizing. The rate at which he could cultivate chaos had doubled from level three to level four. That matched the doubling of strength that could be expected with each level. He realized the Marshal still stared at him. “Uh, Master Marshal? Am I able to continue my breakfast? I don’t have long until training.”

  The Marshal gestured towards the pte. “Eat up, Ward Harridan. Your day will be busy. Not with training. We’ll need to visit the family council.”

  His appetite suddenly vanished. “Excuse me, Master Marshal?”

  “My pns need to change to take your new capabilities into account. You need fat, yeast, and salt instead of low quality elixirs and time in the cosmic chamber. Fortunately the council meets ter this morning to discuss tariff rates on perishable goods. Eat up, Ward Harridan. I’ll collect you at your room in a bit.”

  Volithur barely managed to choke down two pastries. The eyes of the family remained intent on him, which he felt as a subtle pressure. He fled back to his room and sat on the bed beside Khana, who stirred nguidly and fshed him a smile. “Is it time for some fun?”

  “Probably not,” Volithur said, flustered that he had just turned Khana down. There was a first time for everything, he supposed. “The Marshal knows I can cultivate chaos and he is taking me to a meeting of the family council. He was talking about fat and yeast and salt.”

  Khana sat up. “Oh. Wow, he must see a lot of potential in you.”

  “Are fat and yeast powerful resources?”

  “Not really,” Khana said. “They’re useless for cultivating. If you have high energy reserves then you can use fat and yeast and salt for rapid body enhancement. It is wasted if you don’t have the cosmic energy in your soul to invest. They usually only give it to people who are being sent off to the main household. For the rest of us, it steals energy we need for our cultivation. The Marshal must think you can handle it.”

  Volithur nodded, his unease fading by a hair. He had no doubts about his ability to gain cosmic energy. If they wanted to invest resources into him that were only useful for body enhancement, then he would use them to their full potential. Though he would rather have another gold psma elixir, such a gift would probably never come his way again.

  Though who knew what his life trajectory could become. Volithur began to run the calcutions. If his speed at chaos cultivation doubled at each level like general strength doubled, then that took a serious chunk out of the factorial increase in energy required to advance. If he assumed it took fourteen days to get to level four, then that should be… a little over a month to reach level five.

  The fourteen day estimation wasn’t terribly reliable. It was how fast Volithur thought he could have completed his advancement from the start of level three to level four while splitting his energies between combat training and cultivation.

  When he considered the ultimate goal of cultivators from Amarat, one he didn’t even dare voice aloud, it would take him about ninety years to reach level ten at that pace. Not that such a thing could actually happen. He would need to skip investing power into developing his body, mind, aura, and domain. At which point he would be like a level three cultivator with the energy reserves of a lord. That wouldn’t impress anyone, unless they were amazed by his utter stupidity.

  Whatever the timeline was, Volithur could not help but hope for his future prospects. He would never be dependent on cultivation resources like his peers. So long as he avoided death, nothing would prevent him from ascending to level ten. Or possibly even beyond. He’d heard that the emperor of a foreign nation on Tian had reached level eleven. There were myths of Xian who had ascended all the way to level twelve.

  Rising up from an unempowered outsider to lord would be quite an upgrade to his life. It would open every door in Xian society, freeing and empowering him. No more obsequious worship of his superiors. No more structuring his life around the momentary whims of someone with more power. He could give orders or not as he preferred, but no one would ever rule him again.

  All he needed was time. Which meant not dying in some stupid war fought for a lord’s ego. The greatest threat to him would be the enemies of the Lord General, the much-maligned Jinn. To minimize his risk of such a fate, he would need to ensure his body enhancement didn’t fall too far behind his level. Being hard to kill would be a critical trait for a member of a lord’s retinue.

  Volithur wasn’t even sure that path made sense for him any longer. With his true insight, he didn’t need the favor of a lord to grant him resources. He could grow strong on his own. He suspected that backing out of an invitation to join a retinue could cause him quite a few problems.

  By the time the Marshal came to collect Volithur, he was struggling to cultivate, pgued by power fantasies that felt dangerous to acknowledge even to himself. The two of them went directly into the meeting room and waited to be acknowledged. There was a spirited debate between two members of the council around expected tax revenues and undesirable impacts to the pace menu. No one else seemed to take the debate seriously. Indeed, there were many curious gnces cast in Volithur’s direction.

  When a vote was called by the Casteln, the tariff increase passed.

  “Onto the next item on our agenda. Master Marshal?”

  “Thank you, Master Casteln. As all of you are aware, I have been charged personally by the Lord General with the preparation of Ward Harridan.”

  “You’ve done very well,” Master Rowan said. “He is already level four.”

  “Thank you, Master Rowan,” the Marshal said, barely hiding his annoyance at the interruption. “Recently I learned that Ward Harridan has gained a true insight –”

  One of the women on the council affected a dramatic sniff. “He cims to have a true insight? Has Ward Harridan also been procimed by a Yazata? Honestly, Marshal, you need to be less gullible. While the ward no doubt has excellent potential to have been recognized by my esteemed ancestor, the thought that he has gained a true insight is preposterous. You ought to be embarrassed that you believed his cims.”

  The Marshal inclined his head. From Volithur’s vantage point, he saw the momentary sneer the gesture hid. “Apologies, Master Sharon. I have witnessed the insight in action. Ward Harridan, if you would grace the council with a demonstration?”

  Volithur obediently began to cultivate chaos.

  Master Sharon crossed her hefty arms. “I’m waiting for a show, Marshal.”

  “Please observe his cultivation, Master Sharon.”

  Startled whispers arose around the table. An old man leaned forward. “Marshal, where is he pulling the cosmic energy from? It’s obviously not body cultivation. His aura isn’t engaged so far as I can tell. Nor can I detect any drain on the mental band. Could it be domain based? I’ve always been told there isn’t sufficient energy for that on this world.”

  “He’s cultivating chaos without any repercussions, Master Evan,” the Marshal said.

  “Oh,” Master Evan said, his eyes brightening. “It’s a real shame we can’t put him to work powering the cosmic chamber.”