*Whew*

  Joram wiped the mix of sweat and ocean water from his brow as he looked down at the kraken. He idly wondered if his tastes would be different here, with a new body. When he was… human, the first time, he hadn’t liked eating seafood with shells or tentacles. The tentacles were just… wrong. The texture was just… wrong.

  Shellfish, though, weren’t really an issue beyond him not really liking the taste. Sure, he could eat them, but he hadn’t liked them.

  So, looking down at the titanic… squid, he wondered what it would be like if he roasted some of it. Bar-b-que, as it were. Then he started wondering which sauces would go best with it, especially since he’d never had the chance to bar-b-que squid before.

  But seeing as how Layla was dead-set on being able to sell as much of the kraken as she could, it wasn’t likely that he’d get much of a chance to experiment….

  Bah, screw it, he thought as he turned back to Layla as her in-depth explanation on the veritable crystal mine that was the kraken was wrapping up.

  “So, I’ll claim that small tentacle there,” he said, pointing to one of the shorter appendages. “No arguing. I killed it by myself, so I can decide what’s done with it,” he finished by putting on his serious face, which somehow managed to frighten the selkies into hurriedly backing off.

  “Fine,” Layla said, practically pouting while managing to still remain inexplicably dignified.

  “In the meantime,” Alicia said as she tapped the closest tentacle with her toe, sending it into his storage space in his Realm. “We still need to help the villagers here.”

  He looked around again then sighed. He hadn’t meant to frighten the selkies, far from it. That said, he could only go forward….

  Then he briefly considered using [Reality Revision] to turn back the clock, as it were. He could at least go back and not frown and scare them all…. But then summarily dismissed that idea. He wasn’t sure how… strange the effects of that Power would be here, especially if he used Psijic Power to activate the Power.

  Is that what happened to Altaea? Did she need to use [Reality Revision] for some reason and was flung far into the past?

  He shook his head, clearing away the thoughts that would drag him down into an endless spiral of rumination and speculation. Now wasn’t the time for that. Well, there really wasn’t an appropriate time to get mired in one’s own thoughts. Never mind when it would prevent him from helping a displaced people.

  He’d gotten the lowdown from Alicia when he’d gotten to shore, though the compressed version that could be shared through the Network. And seeing as how the selkies were effectively refugees who’d had to flee slavers, he wasn’t very comfortable leaving them alone.

  “So, here are my thoughts on that,” he said, looking at everyone present. “The Dean of the Grand Waeryn Academy has given the me the authority to act on behalf of the Academy,” he said, looking around at the selkies who’d mustered enough courage to slowly re-approach them.

  “That doesn’t mean that I’ll kick you off the island or anything like that,” he quickly explained as he saw their panicked reactions to his words. “On the contrary, I want to give you all a safe place to stay,” he said as he pulled out his second-best smile to reassure them all.

  “What does that mean?” Phioria asked as she critically studied him from head to toe.

  “Just what it sounds like,” he said with a shrug. “That can take the form of building up a settlement here for everyone,” he said, then paused as the selkies in the background started murmuring to one another.

  Which was honestly fair. That a random human wanted to help a bunch of strangers was, at best, an oddity, and at worst, highly suspicious. Given what they’d just been through, though, he fully understood why they’d all leant towards suspicion. Then the quieted down when Phioria gave them a stern look, which allowed him to continue.

  “Or we could resettle you closer to Stormhaven, or even get you a more secure place to stay,” he said as calmly as he could.

  It wasn’t easy, especially when every selkie present didn’t look older than their late teens, even Phioria. If they’d been an older crowd, then it would have been much easier for him. But effectively having a group his “age” being the ones he needed to convince, it was surprisingly difficult to deal with.

  ‘You’re likely subconsciously associating them as peers, rather than strangers,’ Alicia piped in with her words of wisdom, which he nodded to.

  “While you decide,” he continued, looking around at them all. “We’ll stay for another day or two. I’ve got a… Safe Haven that we’ll stay in, so you won’t have to worry about finding a place for us. That said, I’ll set up the entrance on the beach here so that I can keep an eye on the ocean,” he said, then retrieved the gate cube, showed it to them, then activated the portal, mentally setting the portal’s direction to the ocean.

  That got quite the reaction from the gathering, even from his companions who were present. He studiously ignored their questions as he instead explained the Safe Haven to them. It took a good half-hour, but they were eventually… content, though not satisfied, with his explanations. It would take a much longer block of time than he wanted to invest to completely satisfy their curiosity, though, so he put it off until after the bar-b-que. Which they, in turn, found fascinating.

  He found that he was once more immensely grateful for Alicia and her ability to organize and get things done. He gladly left all that to her while he mentally retrieved a small portion of the kraken and began experimenting with various sauces, herbs, and spices.

  He paired the meat with dozens of combinations, then hundreds, before the young, and incredibly curious, selkie taste-testers were satisfied with the taste. For his part, he’d found something that he thought went well with the kraken meat, so he kept that recipe for later.

  By the time he was done with his culinary experimentations, it was getting close to evening. So, he used [True Creation] to make several tonnes of charcoal brickettes, and an absolute beast of a bar-b-que that was a good six metres long by a metre and a half wide. Once he’d loaded up the belly of the beast with charcoal, he lit it up and replaced all the grills and let it do its thing.

  It would take a while for the charcoal to get to the right state to start the grilling and roasting, so he instead turned his attention to retrieving stocks of various vegetables and such to go with the kraken meat. Using a bit of [Modify Matter, Greater], he created a large prep-area for the ingredients, turning the sand into sandstone and reinforced glass counters.

  At that point, his little observers were absolutely fascinated. To the point that they’d completely forgotten their previous caution and were just watching with open awe. So, he created a few benches for everyone with more sand. Thinking about it more, he used [True Creation] to create more raw materials, specifically focussing on what he’d need for tables and more comfortable seating.

  A couple of minutes later found almost a hundred tables spread across the wide beach, with enough chairs to fill the sides of each table. Then he silently reprimanded himself for not making a more enjoyable eating place, so he started using [True Creation] back to back until he had enough construction materials to build a lovely beachside restaurant.

  So, he had his young audience clear out and wait at the border of the beach while he got to work.

  He was done twenty minutes later, and the east side of the village now had an absolutely sprawling hall that bordered the beach. He’d modeled it after those lovely rustic beachside restaurants and bars in the Caribbean back on Earth. Not those fancy restaurants and bars. Nope.

  More the kind that had the feel of being built by someone’s great-grandparents. Rough-cut timbers for the supports, beams, and joists, while using bamboo for the low walls, chairs, and table legs. The tabletops were smooth and polished with beeswax, while the very long bar top was made with one ridiculously long piece of wood. Which, really, was easy when you could just make it yourself….

  The roof, though, wasn’t thatched but instead made of wooden tiles. Even the roll-down blinds were made with bamboo slats that could be hooked to the bottom of the “windows” to help keep out the wind and rain if you wanted to.

  He’d even gone so far as to make a rudimentary kitchen area, with space to fit the absurd bar-b-que he’d made.

  Nodding to himself, he got back to the serious work of attending to the coals.

  * * *

  Phioria could help but gape at Joram.

  Not only had he killed an adult kraken, but he’d then gone on to somehow befriend the little ones by having them taste-test for him. Then he just made things from sand and ether!!!

  She quickly circulated some Qi through her system to help calm her nerves for what felt like the hundredth time since meeting Joram and his strange companions.

  She still wasn’t convinced that he wasn’t another slaver, though. Sure, he was certainly unusual for a slaver… not that she’d met any beyond the raiders who’d attacked their village. But! She couldn’t yet bring herself to trust humans so easily.

  So, she’d set Thameda and Cherrod to organizing the other young adults into a watch. They’d need to keep an eye on the activities of these strangers to make sure that they didn’t do something nefarious. Who knew if they were just there to distract them while they silently made off with more of them?

  Yes, it would be a very roundabout way of getting more slaves, but it would make it easier for them to capture them all if they weren’t all fleeing for their lives. Yes, that made sense. Lure them into a sense of complacency and pick them off a few at a time until they were guaranteed to get them in one fell swoop.

  Thus resolved, Phioria continued to keep watch on the ringleader while oblivious to the drool that started to crawl down her chin as she smelled the cooking kraken.

  * * *

  Alicia sighed.

  She could understand that they were frightened and incredibly cautious of outsiders after what they’d been through. But. Phioria sure had an active imagination.

  Well, she really couldn’t blame the young woman. Slaughter and slavers tended to leave a mark on a person.

  That said, she’d need to take her time helping Phioria get over her trauma. Her, and every other selkie there. If she could convince Joram, then the selkies, to move to his Realm, it would be much easier. And safer for them.

  Well, now that she had her own Psijic Star, things would be much easier for her. Not that things were difficult before, but having that separate reserve of ridiculous power made things… easier. She’d been drawing on Joram’s psionic reserves for quite some time now to help with her various project, so being closer to being self-sufficient was quite a relief to her.

  Alicia grinned then, anticipating the Psijic version of [Schism]. She could practically taste how close it was to completion, which would veritably explode her R&D! Between having more Minds to help with things as well as increased reserves she’d have access to, well! The sky would no longer be the limit!

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  In fact, if she could finally make that breakthrough with capturing various grades of stars, she’d finally get the power sources she would need to really get things rolling.

  * * *

  Joram looked over at Alicia and started to worry a bit about what she was planning. That… manic smile couldn’t be a sign of anything but “interesting” things to come.

  Shaking his head, he turned back to Phioria. With how much sex he’d had over the past few days, it was getting much harder to not notice attractive women. Especially ones who could have been extras on Baywatch.

  “Really, it’s fine,” he said, getting back to trying to sooth the prickly selkie. “Either I cook it up and give it out to everyone, or I just leave it for the fishes,” he said, then pointedly ignored the indignant look Layla shot his way.

  Phioria, or Phee, as the younger ones called her, just gave him that same distrustful look she’d been giving him since they’d met. Well, there was a stretch where she’d looked at him like he was a three-headed fish after he’d hauled the kraken to the beach, but that didn’t really count.

  That, however, didn’t stop her from claiming a dozen kraken and veggie skewers before heading off to keep watching him from a corner of the eatery as she ate.

  Letting his thoughts wander back to other, less depressing topics, Joram continued barbequing the various kraken dishes. Given how much he needed to accomplish, he wondered if he should explore [Fission] a bit more.

  When he’d initially gone over that crazy-useful Power, he’d come to realize that things wouldn’t quite work the same way in this Universe. For one, he was now a Cultivator. When [Fission] was used, it created another body for him, effectively making two of the same person. It didn’t work the same way that [Schism] worked, where there was still the Prime Mind, as it were.

  No, both “Jorams” would effectively be the original Joram. If one died, the other lived, no matter if it was the “clone” or the original. The remaining Joram would become the “original”. Which meant that sending one of himself off on a suicide mission wasn’t as easy as sending a Shadow Clone off to do something.

  That said, a clone basically acted like a Shadow Clone in that their memories merged with the remaining clones after its demise.

  The major problem that he faced, though, was his cultivation. He had no idea how the bodies would distribute his Cores, nor did he know what would happen with his Psionic and Psijic Stars. He still only had one of each, which was normal, all things considered.

  But if he could finally make the breakthrough he needed to get more Psijic Stars, then things might take a turn for the exceptionally interesting. Like, being able to stay at the Academy while sending out another “Self” to explore Zhizun Zhanshi. Heck, even having another “Self” just wandering the unexplored regions of Waeryn to see what he could find would be entirely worth it, even if it meant that he’d need to leave the Academy sooner than he was comfortable with….

  Shaking his head, Joram re-tasked those thoughts to…. He stopped, though his hands kept the veritable beltline of barbequed kraken going. He quickly checked to see if Kinkade was doing anything particularly important, then nodded to himself as he saved the progress of the other Minds and ended [Schism].

  He then re-manifested [Schism]A, this time adding an additional five Minds to the queue. Once the first eleven Minds were working on what they’d been working on, namely cultivation, the Language of Mana, the Language of Psijic, translating all things Psionic to Psijic, and trying to get another Psijic Star going, he set M12-16 to working on two things. Namely: figuring out how to use [Fission] in this universe and then translating it to use Psijic Energy.

  It took him but a few moments to do, but with just how much of a… headrush it was, it felt much longer. In the realm of hours instead of mere moments.

  ‘You good?’ Avi asked, obvious concern felt when the message arrived.

  ‘Yeah, just getting a few more Minds up and going,’ he sent with a brief info packet on what he had planned, and what he hoped to accomplish with [Fission].

  ‘Whoa,’ Avi sent back with a great deal of… everything.

  He could feel just how excited she was to use [Fission] in the future. Then came the myriad of considerations surrounding just how useful it would be to have an actual clone out there. Without the risk of leaving behind a body that would raise too many questions if anyone ever examined it in detail, having a clone doing the same things as their current Minds were doing would be so much better, for so many reasons.

  Then she caught on to the multiplicative effect of having clones out there when it came to [Schism] and he could feel her mind explode with possibilities before locking up.

  A bit concerned, he turned to look over at Alicia and nearly laughed at her expression. Shaking his head, he got back to the sacred duties of a Grill Master.

  * * *

  Wentian idly wondered if anyone amongst the Selkies would wind up attaching themselves to Joram, adding to his ridiculously huge and high-spec harem. He then shook his head as he continued to enjoy the various kraken dishes that were being made and passed out.

  “Crystal for your thoughts?” Megami said from across their little table by the window.

  “Nothing important,” he said, once more pleased at having managed to successfully attract Megami’s attention, thus enabling him to spend more time with her. “So, any plans for your first year at the Academy?”

  He smiled as her eyes lit up before she enthusiastically shared which courses she was planning on taking. It was hard to concentrate on her words, though, as he became too absorbed in just listening to her voice, not to mention just basking in her radiant presence.

  I’ll have to see if Joram will be okay with me helping Megami navigate the Academy for a while… he mused, now mentally mapping out routes to the various faculty buildings around campus.

  * * *

  “Stop pouting and just enjoy your meal.”

  She looked over at her guardian and frowned a bit more.

  “I am not pouting,” she asserted with a light sniff.

  “If you were pouting any harder, your cheeks would be dipping into your food,” Aya said with a slight frown. “We both know that there are greater considerations at play.”

  She sighed then glanced over at where Joram was almost literally cooking up a storm.

  She’d been all for “claiming” Joram along with the… her friends. But Aya had had to go and pour a bucket of ice water over her head by reminding her of her duties as a princess of the Empire.

  “What about Kassandra, hmm?” she asked, feeling especially vexed that the succubus had been able to just do as she’d pleased.

  “Different politics,” Aya replied simply before taking another bite of the grilled kraken on a skewer.

  Jae-Eun harumphed, silently cursing her status as a princess for what felt like the thousandth time since she’d decided that Joram was the one for her. Then she looked back at Aya and wondered if she’d also be sharing Joram with her guardian.

  “He’s like a brother,” Aya said, shocking her into dropping her own skewer with just how well Aya had read her mind. “So, don’t worry about that. Instead, think of how to ‘sell’ Joram to his Majesty. For as much freedom as you’ve been given, you still have many obligations you need to pay attention to.”

  Jae-Eun frowned slightly at that reminder. For as much as her father doted on her, even though she was only the 3rd princess, he was also very demanding in his expectations for, and of, her.

  She’d told Joram the truth when she’d told him that she was more or less expected to become someone’s concubine to lessen her political power when she finally married. About the only thing that she could think of that would change that would be for something unfortunate- and likely deadly- to occur to both her elder brother and elder sister.

  That said, the one who she married would need to be… exceptional. Which, in Joram’s case, wasn’t an issue. But the other part might be. He’d need to be someone who could, and would, contribute to the Empire. And considering just how much of a prodigy Joram was with just about everything that he touched- crafting-wise, that is- she wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to bring him into… everything.

  “I don’t think that Joram will care, either way,” Aya said, once more seeming to read her mind, and once more reminder her of just how well Aya knew her. “I don’t think that there’s anyone in the Empire who could prevent Joram from leaving if he really wants to.”

  Jae-Eun nodded, understanding that very well. It was just that she didn’t want any… complications due to how forceful an emperor could get when he wanted something. Especially her father… let alone her mother.

  She had to pause and take a sip of water as a bit of kraken got stuck on its way down. It wasn’t a coincidence that that had happened when she’d thought of her mother.

  For as wonderful a woman and Empress that she was, she was still an Empress. She was also arguably more invested in her future than her father was. She was the reason why Aya was with her in the first place, after all.

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine if Joram throws them a tidbit before heading off again,” Aya said with a shrug. “And so long as he’s able to show up for the occasional function, party, or celebration, they’ll leave him well enough alone.”

  She nodded at that while keeping her reservations unspoken. She was sure that her parents would be happy that she’d found someone as accomplished as Joram, let alone someone so nice. But she more than expected her parents to “expect” she and Joram to stay for a time while the wedding was arranged, then stay longer after the wedding.

  Given how driven Joram was, she wasn’t sure if he’d agree to such a prolonged visit, which would certainly affect how her parents would perceive him. Even going to visit would take quite some time, though given how fast Joram’s flying vehicle could travel, she wondered how long it would actually take to return home.

  Thus bogged down with her many thoughts surrounding her some, her parents, and Joram, Jae-Eun continued eating the barbequed kraken without really tasting it. Aya, though, certainly did, and wholeheartedly approved of the delicacy.

  * * *

  Day passed into evening, then quickly passed into night. Joram stared up at the stars while laying on the beach- a beach on which he’d had to [Cleanse] several times already due to the millions of monster bits that had been washing to shore over the past half day. No need to attract carrion eaters, let alone leaving the charnel bits accumulate and begin to rot. That was just nasty.

  So, as he gazed up at the majestic celestial display, he occasionally used a shaped [Cleanse] as he continued to think things over.

  It had been quite some time since he’d just laid down and stared up at the night sky. Something that he then determined to remedy. It was just so… relaxing. Then he idly wondered what the view would be like if he was in orbit, facing away from the planet and star of the system he was in. Surely, that would be something to behold.

  Which got him thinking about his Affinities and how they might be able to help, or at least make it easier to just float in orbit…. Though, [Adapt Body] would certainly account for pretty much anything he’d have to worry about in orbit….

  Mentally shaking his head, he turned his thoughts back to- what felt like- the myriad issues he still needed to address.

  Tillia, the taken clan members, as well as those from Brightside who’d been taken. His cultivation. The Languages of Mana and Psijic. Altaea. Heck, even if he wanted to go home, let alone if that was possible. Though, with his affinity for the Law of Space, he wondered if that would be enough to get to another Universe.

  So, I’ve got affinities for Air, Earth, Fire, Lightning, Metal, Jade, Wood, Space, Might, Life, Mind, and Creation. Space, Mind, and Creation from being trained by Altaea… probably. Even the basic elements… except water, which is weird.

  Anyways, I certainly got Fire, Lightning, Jade, and Life from absorbing the Heavenly Lightning Jade Dragon’s and Phoenix’s samples. Air, Earth, Metal, Wood, and Might, though, are a bit of a mystery. Well, maybe the Saiyan sample is responsible for Might.

  Anyways…. Sigh.

  If the Adamantium Body Technique is really just the first part of two techniques that Altaea had made for me, I wonder what the other body tempering technique is like? Though, “Neutron Star Technique” is certainly a…. an intimidating name. Like, just what can I expect from it?

  Well, it’ll certainly be something, given that I can’t use it until I pass into the 7th Tier, the Immortal Realm, as it were. I can’t wait to see what the 7th floor looks like!

  Grinning, Joram lost himself a bit in his imagination before pulling himself back on topic. He wasn’t exactly sure if he’d be able to finish his second year at the Academy. Mostly due to a sense of… malaise he was feeling. Which meant that he needed to hurry. Hurry with his learning, hurry with his cultivation. Hurry with… everything, it felt like.

  Knowing that Avi/Alicia had arranged for a guard rotation overnight, Joram slipped into his Mind Space and looked down at his workstation. Various windows were open, each showing progress reports scrolling as quickly as he could read each new line. So, he took a few moments to “synchronize” with his fifteen extra Minds, learning everything they’d been up to, as well as their progress.

  He grinned, then entered his little “Solar System”.

  Once there, he looked things over again before focussing on his centre, or “dantian”. Once there, he observed how M10 and M11 were pulling mana into that mostly void space and attempting to condense it into a new Core. It was actually going quite well, until M11 brought some Psionic Power into the mix and tried to fuse the two energies, resulting in both being blown apart to quickly dissipate back into his body.

  Then, on a whim, he manifested [Fission] using only Psionic Power to do so, but concentrated on his 63rd Core while he did so.

  Joram registered the formation of his… clone, but also smiled when his 63rd Core seemed to… shift over to his clone. He also noticed the connection between him and his clone, much like a connection through his Network, but also very similar to a [Metaconcert]. He could feel his Psionic Star basically partition itself to provide… Joram 2, or J2, exactly half of his Psionic energy.

  Delving further, he communicated with J2, finding that it was… odd, but natural in how they communicated. He also found that his 63rd Core was now inside of J2, making him smile.

  Joram then extended his senses to take in J2 as he sat beside him on the beach and found that J2 basically felt like a standard Cultivator or Practitioner. Albeit an incredibly strong one, as just one of his Cores was, as he’d found out, considered top-Tier when it came to Cores.

  Delving yet further, he found that they did indeed share the same physiology, which meant that J2 was a perfect clone of him. Well, without the additional Cores, Psionic Star, or Psijic Star. But it was at least something. Heck, it was… pretty damn awesome, if he was being honest with himself.

  Grinning, Joram retreated from his Mind Space and opened his eyes as he turned his head to regard J2.

  “Think you can shift to being our High Elan self?”

  J2 grinned, then shifted into being a High Elan, proving to them both that they were indeed the same being, sharing everything that the original could do.

  Well, except for Psijic Energy, anyways. But that would come.

  Discord, you can chat about stuff there! I'll be on there most of the time I'm laid-up, though I might not be very quick/prompt with responses for obvious reasons ^_^;;;