GxG 31
"Uwahhh, that was stressful." Kunou groaned as she flopped face first onto the hotel bed. Odin had set us up in a high-end place in the public area of Asgard after our little meeting concluded, which was a nice gesture.
The penthouse suite was aristocratic with lots of ostentatious decorations and furniture that probably have extremely specific names that I don't know like 'cellaret' or 'chiffonier', but the important bit was the two beds in one room.
While in Kyoto Hana actually had a fair bit of freedom between her classes and Yasaka setting her up with a tutor/chaperone for when I was working.
This isn't Kyoto, and I don't plan on letting her leave my sight as much as possible.
Solution?
Two beds in one hotel room. Hana gets some space and I don't have to worry about her either.
"I thought you were used to meeting gods?" I mumbled, face first in the bed right beside her.
"I met Amaterasu once when I was little and then her and Tsukuyomi for a few moments again during the Hero Faction raid. That is totally different than meeting another pantheon's chief god." She complained, scowling while thinking about those losers.
"At least you got some cool tails out of that mess." I patted her head, referencing her two tails that turned gold and silver to reflect the two blessings she got. Came with a nice boost to her senjutsu too, even after the initial power surge wore off.
Kunou leaned into my hand, clearly enjoying the contact. For all she liked to act mature and aloof at times, she still melted at the slightest hint of intimacy.
My adorable Kitsune. All mine.
"You're thinking something stupid. Stop that and start giving me better scritches."
"Maybe later. Can you do me a favor and get Hana ready for bed? I want to take a moment to plan our next few days." Kunou gave me a stink eye for stopping the pats while Hana perked up from tearing apart her suitcase from hearing her name.
"I need to brush my teeth!" My Little Flower chirped. In all honesty she probably didn't, but try explaining that to my mother.
"Do you have your pajamas ready?" Kunou was already moving over to help Hana sort through her clothes.
Maybe a spatially expanded bag was too much for a girl Hana's age to manage?
Nah its fine.
"I can't find anything." Hana beamed. It's always heartening to see my daughter be a little shithead sometimes, but I'll never say it out loud.
Kunou huffed before going over to help Hana, finally pushing her towards the bathroom. She shot me one last scowl for daring to stop pampering her, and I blew her a kiss.
My fox rolled her eyes and used her tail to shut the door behind her.
The nerve of that woman.
I still love her though. Having someone to help with Hana really takes some of the pressure off.
The meeting with Odin was stressful, even if it was productive. Hrist was returned, she's spending time with Rossweisse tonight before Rossweisse is set to tutor me for the rest of our time in the Nine Realms.
The Nine Realms are a cluster of subdimensions centered around Yggdrasil, the World Tree, and also the center of the Norse pantheon's seat of power.
While it might seem weird to have public hotels in a private subdimension, it makes sense if you think about it. No faction, no matter how much they wish, is an isolated island.
They trade, they have diplomacy, they have tourism to generate capital. All of those things require people to travel to and from each location. The Kyoto yokai realm got away with not really having much of a guest area in the subdimension, but that is because it is actually pretty small for a subdimension.
Compared to larger ones like the Nine Realms or the Underworld, it didn't make sense to section off an area when it was easy enough to conduct their business in the outside world. The Nine Realms is simply too large of an area and population to be economically viable like that, thus sections are set up for foreigners.
Those are things to ponder for later, my current issue is internal instead of external.
I may have been neglecting my motes. They have still been giving me eight hours of training a day each, but over the years that number has sort of become meaningless after all the synergies and my baseline growth.
Eight hours of anything at my current Ultimate-Class strength blows what I used to be capable of out of the water.
My issue is that I haven't really checked any of my older motes that weren't directly being used in the last few years, especially with my focus on Senjutsu and related techniques to heal Hrist and raise Hana.
I figure now that I remembered and have some time, it might be a good idea to at least check what my motes have been up to. Sure, they inherently let me know since they are training me constantly, but I have not taken a holistic inventory in years.
Starting from all the way to the beginning of my rebirth, Meditation. A full 18 years have made meditation a state I can easily slip into on a moments notice. Full awareness of my surroundings while simultaneously being selfless, a blatant paradox propped up by thousands of hours of conceptual training, Meditation is one of my most used skills when combined with Senjutsu intents.
My mental self-control given by Meditation is probably only matched by other Sages, and perhaps Buddhas and other ancient beings of a similar vein.
The trifecta of Body, Mind and Soul are still going strong. While Mind has been chugging in the background to handle my constantly enhancing Senses, it has devoted most of its training time to making my mind a fortress. Nothing that affects how I think, but good luck affecting my mind without divine level power.
Soul has been similar. Simply reinforcing my existence, though it has been incorporating some of the things I saw and learned during my treatment of Hrist. The Evil Pieces may be foul, but damn if they weren't works of art.
Before I became a Sage I set Mind, Body and Soul to sync up to speed my training of the Three Paths, and it has had an interesting effect. The trifecta is now permanently linked in a synergistic way. Even if I lost all my motes, if my body grew stronger it would naturally boost my mind and soul along with it. The same goes for the other two, a stronger mind or soul would boost the other two.
An interesting thing is that I can tell if something happened, such as a sickness massively weakening my body, my mind and soul would also weaken. While this sounds like a downside, it is actually a massive upside since it is not a one to one weakening. In that example I wouldn't lose the same amount of mind and soul as body, only as much as my body couldn't support.
That means that I would never have to worry about some sort of deterioration due to my body being overloaded by my own mind or soul, or whichever of the trifecta that is weakened.
Body has been interesting though. A long time ago I set Body to prioritize the quality of my body over the raw strength, and I hypothesized a theoretical 'High Human' evolution that wasn't feasible due to a lack of supernatural power to prop such an evolution up.
I have since gained a frankly absurd amount of Ki, with a nearly impossible Ki quality to pair. Surprisingly the mote hasn't sped forwards with such an evolution, but now that I'm really feeling it out it has been slowly working in that direction. If before my Ki was acting as a multiplier to my body's functions, Body was slowly transitioning it to making Ki a core part of the equation instead.
This can be considered a half-step evolution, making me something almost spirit adjacent since I would truly rely on Ki to have my body function once the transition is finished, but I will be much stronger for it. To truly evolve, I need both a direction and a catalyst. Based on the feeling I get from Body, such a true evolution is still a distance away.
Maybe not too far though. I don't know if it's a coincidence, or simply an effect of me being in the Ultimate-Class, but I have noticed many of my skills showing signs of metamorphosis in one way or another.
Case in point? My Ki mote desperately trying to keep itself together. Sometime in the last few weeks my Ki has slowly started approaching some sort of critical point. The sheer volume and quality of Ki stored and flowing in my body has been cresting what is physically allowed by the laws of the world.
My Ki mote doesn't know if it wants to apply its mote-power to forcefully push me past the physical limit, since I have long known motes are touched by infinity, or to submit to the rules of the world and collapse into something more. A higher form of energy perhaps?
I need do some serious research before I make a decision, so I'm just setting that to push me past the world's limits for now.
Touki has gotten microscopic levels of control, even with the inherent instability the technique introduces. Combined with the ever-evolving Martial Arts and I don't think I would let any of the Hero Faction slip away if we fought again.
As a side effect of such potent Ki, Senjutsu, Lifeforce Manipulation, Lifeforce Sense, and Formations have been having a field day. Having my own Ki push the extremes of reality has given me so many ideas for spells, medicines, formations, and manipulation techniques, which in turn has given the respective motes inspiration to chew on.
Maybe when I go home again, I can spend some time being a mad scientist once again? Get Hana a cute doctors coat to help. Sadly, it's a coin toss if Kunou will lose her mind or just be numb. I'm dissatisfied in myself that I'm getting predictably unpredictable.
Sage has had an interesting change. When I first achieved Sagehood, even though I gained much by purifying natural energy, I could faintly tell I was losing something in the process. Not much, so little I could barely detect that something was changing at all, but I felt ever so slightly worse when did Sage stuff. About the same amount as you feel older as time passes. A negligible amount, a rounding error.
I wouldn't be surprised if the lack of active Sages around the globe is related to that exact phenomenon, but that's not an issue for me anymore.
Breathing, Consumption, and Excretion have done away that that issue post haste. If when I started Sagehood it was a delicate balance with the world to squeak out some benefits, now purifying natural energy is pure profit for me.
Well, maybe that's a bad way to describe it. 'Pure profit' feels like I'm stealing from nature, but I'm not. Relying on my obscene Ki as a furnace, my strengthened soul as a foundation, and the related motes as boosters, my cleansing speed has been shooting through the roof. I could easily do the entire yokai subdimension in a matter of weeks now, instead of the months that it took me.
I'm not quite sure, but when I do my normal cleansings now it almost feels like the natural energy is drifting towards me on its own, which is definitely a new thing.
So much to work on, so little time.
My various Language motes have started spawning motes of related languages that I didn't have yet, so that's nice. My Computer and Programming motes have been feeding ideas to Formations, but I can feel them reaching out to my Magic motes too, only to be rebuffed since I don't know enough about Magic to utilize those insights.
My Math and Science motes have been pushing the limits of modern academia for some time, so I set those to focus more on strengthening the fundamentals of all of their subjects. For instance, I know the exact properties of every hydrocarbon up to 20 carbon atoms big.
Seems useless for now, but I have a hunch that such a thorough understanding of the material world will help me in the future.
Art and Music took an interesting turn. Once they hit the limit for the artistic and musical formats I was interested in, instead of breaking past the limits they instead funneled into Formations and Senjutsu respectively. It turns out that the arts at their core are an expression of the intent of the artist, which mixes wonderfully with the mystical arts that rely on the casters ability to imprint their intent upon the lifeforce they wield.
Art and Formations is obvious, but Music surprised me. I had long noticed my Senjutsu had gotten smoother, but now that I'm doing a deep dive into myself it is fairly obvious that Music had been adding rhythm to my casting. The sound of life and the heartbeat of the world, and all that funky stuff.
If someone were to observe my situation, they may call me anything from oblivious to outright foolish for not instantly realizing such vital changes such as my Senjutsu altering or my Sage cleansing losing some sort of nebulous downside, but I have excuses!
My motes train the growth into me. The entire purpose of most training is to make whatever improvements they are pursuing subconscious, and in the case of the Sage detriment I only noticed it even existed due to my perfect memory combined with the difference felt before and after losing the still unnamed detriment.
Basically, normal people don't think about the micro adjustments they make while riding a bike, and I don't think about the micro adjustments my motes make, even when I really should.
Teaching has long been set to prioritize well being over raw growth, so Hana has been the happiest and healthiest little flower spirit, even if I haven't been min-maxxing her to her limits.
I've thought about this a lot, but I truly don't crave power. Might be a side effect of my motes giving me power for nothing, but I have no issue slowing down my growth for the sake of those around me.
If I had pushed Hana as hard as she could go, I don't think she would be the same bundle of joy that I love. I would still love her, but it would be different. Even more directly, if I had prioritized power growing up, I don't think my relationship with Kunou would have turned out the way it did.
Yasaka admitted she approached me personally because I was not power hungry, but I think she meant something deeper.
Speaking of deeper, Dual Cultivation has been getting plenty of use since it was made. Sadly, it is still limited to mixing Ki, and we haven't found a better combination than Yin and Yang Ki, but the mote has been working overtime to optimize the mixing process to grant the best results while also maximizing the pleasure.
Kunou has long been annoyed that my Ki grows faster than hers, even with the boosts Dual Cultivation gives her.
She gets less annoyed when the power boost is leaking out of her, on account of barely being conscious.
That just leaves Mana, Mana Control, Mana Sense and Merlinian Magic. The motes about to get the most use during my tutoring sessions. Sadly, compared to my explosive Ki growth, my mana has only increased a few times. While that sounds like a lot, I started with a truly pitiful amount.
It is only now approaching a usable quantity, but perhaps my definition may be skewed due to how my Ki grew over the years. Merlinian Magic has been chewing on the cantrips and teleportation spell I had found in the few Magic books Yasaka had on hand, but there hasn't been much progress.
I simply do not know the underlying rules of magic to make easy modifications. Formations and senjutsu could be brute forced with strong enough intent, but that wont fly with Magic.
Mana Control and Mana Sense have simply been repeating the exercises in the books to bring me to an above average amount of both, but the progress has been stalling somewhat.
All in all, my motes are looking pretty good, and I would say I'm rather excited to chew on a new subject. Hopefully Rossweisse is a good tutor.
Is there anything else I need to review? I don't thi-
Oof
"Daddy! Tell me a story." Demanded the rainbow missile that just slammed into my chest.
Opening my eyes just in time to see Kunou saunter out of the bathroom with an innocent look in her eyes.
"Sure, but Kunou doesn't get to listen."
Both girls gasped in perfect unison before looking at each other and giggling.
"Tell me about some Norse myths." Hana tried to distract me from Kunou clearly trying to sneak behind me.
"Hmm, how about the story of when the gods lost their favourite apples?" I pretended not to see Kunou, and instead focused on Hana who was already enthralled.
"Apples are almost flowers! Lets do that." Hana beamed, and that's when Kunou made her move.
Nine tails wrapped about Hana who instantly started wiggling.
"Ack! You were supposed to get daddy." Hana whined, hinting to some dastardly plans they made while getting ready for bed.
"He saw me coming, I had to improvise. For instance, now that's he's distracted, I can do this." Kunou stage-whispered to Hana before throwing an ice cube she conjured down the back of my shirt.
Hana decided this was peak comedy and started laughing so hard she cried.
Kids are weird sometimes.
[BREAK]
"Since I'm going to be teaching you, I need to know where you're at. Cast something for me." The silver haired Valkyrie began.
I was currently in a conference room in the hotel I was staying at, getting my first Magic lessons before Rossweisse does her tour guide duties for us later.
Since she wanted me to cast, and I haven't fully debugged the teleportation spell, I'll do a modified cantrip. I pointed my finger and flexed my Mana, causing a small intricate circle to form in the air, causing a bunch of colorful sparks to fly out.
I was so focused on making sure I cast it properly I didn't notice my tutor get close to me.
"That's a nonstandard modification of the… spark cantrip?" Rossweisse started mumbling to herself while calculating something with her fingers.
"Yeah, it was one of the few cantrips in the books I had access to, along with a teleportation spell." I shrugged, but my tutor instantly perked up.
"A teleportation spell? Write it down for me." She pulled a piece of paper and a pen from somewhere and I started writing.
While I was drawing Rossweisse's face shifted from confusion to disgust to alarm and a small amount of fear.
"Please tell me you haven't casted this?" She nearly begged while snatching the paper to really look at it.
"No, some of the calculations felt iffy to me, but why are you reacting like that?" Surely this was an overreaction.
"This spell is a crime against Magic. It has no safeties, the targeting is in three different coordinate systems somehow, this part makes the spatial transfer skim across the Dimensional Gap without any of the normal protections, and whoever wrote this seemed like they were trying to cause a telefragging accident. Even if you miss a solid object, do you know what 70 liters of spontaneously added air does to a person? Even if you had the durability and regeneration to survive such a fuck up, it would be excruciating."
Rossweisse started her review semi-professionally, but by the end she was red faced and huffing at how much this spell offended her.
"Where did you get this?" She whipped her head to stare me down.
"A book called 'Higgen's Magic for Idiots'." I answered, but apparently it was the wrong answer as her eye started twitching.
"You mean the book famous for being written by a hack who was fudging nearly every cast with his sacred gear?" She had transitioned to some minor breathing exercises now. The girl was passionate about Magic, that's for sure.
"Uhhh… I couldn't confirm or deny that. It was the only thing I really had access to with any actual magic that I could cast. Everything else was minor theory or history."
Rossweisse clamped her hand on my shoulder, hard. This girl was strong, what the hell?
"I'm going to need you to forget that spell. It's evil. Honestly, it's impressive you got the cantrip to work at all." She said with full seriousness.
"Ok. I never saw it." I nodded quickly. My perfect memory makes that a lie, but she doesn't need to know. Rossweisse seemed satisfied and sat back down at her teaching notes.
"Now I have a rough idea where you are, including your Mana control and amount, I have some minor spells and theory for you to practice before our next lesson." She slid over a small booklet with a handful of pages.
I took the booklet.
"Thank you for your help, sorry about getting you so worked up about that spell." I hadn't realized it was such a hot button issue, but she just waved me off.
"It's not your fault. That guy is universally recognized as a loser, but I'm more passionate about Magic than most." She admitted sheepishly.
"So the lesson is over? That was short." I asked once I noticed the lull in the conversation.
"Not much I can do. You can clearly cast while simultaneously having a horrendous foundation. Easiest way to fix this is to let you go over the notes I just gave you and we can continue next time."
"Alright, thanks for your time then. You look like you want to say something though?" I asked and her entire demeanour changed from strict teacher to bubbly college girl.
"Thank you so much for bringing Hrist back. You have no idea how awful I felt having her go missing while I was subbing Valkyrie handling."
"Oh yeah, no problem. Reversing the stray devil process was an interesting project." I waved her off, but her eyes lit up.
"You have no idea impressive that is, do you? Mages have been trying for centuries to reverse with no luck." Her entire strict act had completely melted away at this point, making room for a bubbly Magic nut.
"It was like 70% research and 30% brute forcing it as a Sage." I downplayed. Once I got the process started it was deceptively simple to do really, it was just hard to start in the first place.
"How did you get around the security functions? Those have been stumping people for ages." Rossweisse asked.
"I didn't, not really. I focused removing the Evil Piece all at once. Effectively, I didn't trip anything because I removed the entire system instead of going through it or interacting with it."
"But to do that your control would need to be insane! How strong is your senjutsu? I don't have much talent in that area, so I don't really have a proper baseline." Rossweisse admitted.
"Yasaka said I was an inhuman freak, so about that much?" I uneasily replied but Rossweisse nodded as if she understood.
"Y'know, I was offended by that teleportation spell earlier but you aren't half bad. You may call me Rose."
"Ah, well, I go by Nathan either way. Glad to meet you though." Rose giggled at my little stumble.
Tsk, women.