The Wanderer's Rebirth: Other Paths

The evening passed relatively well. He only had to endure Myra’s “subtle” glares as they sat for dinner together. Myra on his left, Asami on his right.

If things had been entirely different, and under entirely different circumstances, he might have enjoyed sitting between two beautiful women. As it was, he was still having issues reconciling the great white nine-tailed fox and the bombshell beside him. Then there was Myra.

He really wasn’t sure how he felt about her. That Asami had spilled the beans about how she felt about him had mostly bounced off his thick head. It later sank in when Myra chose to sit beside him, shooting a myriad of looks his way while they ate.

Well, he made sure to only take a little bit of food and nurse it for all it was worth. Though, from the looks Celys was giving him, he suspected that she might suspect that something was off with him. He just hoped that she wasn’t imagining too strange of things.

“Thank you for the meal,” he said when it looked like everyone was pretty much done eating.

“I just hope it was satisfying for everyone,” Celys said, looking at everyone, but lingering a bit longer on him.

There was a general chorus of assurances that the meal was indeed well received. He, too, voiced his appreciation again before mentioning something that had bothered him since Asami had declared that she would follow him from then on.

“I’ll be retiring for the night, then,” he said, then looked pointedly at Asami. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy your room as much as I’m enjoying mine,” he said with a polite smile, then stood up, grabbed his crutches, and tried to escape.

“Mmm, no. I’ll need my Joram pillow,” she said, causing him to trip and fall flat on his face as the entire room went quiet.

“I’m sure you’ll be OK sleeping in your own room, oh venerable Asami Miki,” Myra said, looking as though someone had stabbed her.

Joram was already army crawling away when the final nail entered his coffin.

“No. I need my Joram pillow. I’ll sleep with him,” she said, nodding as though it was the most natural thing in the world to need to sleep on someone.

Why didn’t I choose to study Psychoportation instead of Psychokinesis? He thought miserably.

- - -

Joram regarded Asami as she laid sprawled on his bed and considered just creating a recliner in which to meditate the rest of the night away.

“Nope,” Asami said, shaking her finger at him. “I need my pillow.”

Then inspiration struck and, with great hope welling up in his chest, he asked his question.

“Can’t you just turn back into a fox to sleep?”

Asami looked at him as though he’d asked if the sky was blue.

“No, I can’t turn back into a fox again,” she said as though it was common knowledge.

Joram blinked at that, then held the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger.

“Is your change permanent?” he asked, greatly fearing it to be true.

“Yup,” Asami replied with such cheer that it pierced him through like a hot knife through butter.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuu~~~, she’s now a foxkin… he thought, squeezing the bridge of his nose a bit tighter.

“Yup.”

‘It looks like you’ll have your hands full for the foreseeable future,’ Avi said from his side, causing him to sigh at the inadvertent double entendre.

At least he hoped that it had been unintentional.

“Yes, he’ll need to take care of me and get me many tea biscuits!” Asami said, full of good humour and cheer.

Suppressing a great sigh, Joram racked his brain for a solution.

‘PJs,’ Avi said, making him want to kiss her!

“Yes!” he said, now knowing the Path forward!

“Here’re some ground rules if you want to use me as a pillow,” he said, getting Asami’s attention again. “First, you must wear pajamas. I’ll show you what they are, but they’re non-negotiable,” he finished in english, not knowing those words in Common yet. Even pajamas roughly translated to “sleep clothing”.

Asami fixed him with a glare, but stayed silent.

“Second, I only need to rest for a few hours each night, so ‘pillow time’ will be limited to that time window,” he said, getting an even fiercer glare that was bordering on a scowl. “Third, no breaking rules One and Two,” he finished, unable to think of anything better while being targeted by her remarkably effective glare.

“I will decide if I like the pajamas,” Asami replied, still glaring. “But you will not disturb my sleep.”

Taking the partial win, Joram then proceeded to Phase 2: measurements.

It was… hard. Faced with such bountiful and soft assets as Asami’s tails, it took much longer than he’d anticipated. But he managed, and once he thought he had what he needed, he used [Ectoplasmic Creation]. This time he focussed on creating incredibly soft, smooth, and thick silk garments. Then, something seemed to come loose in his head.

Suddenly, his mind was filled with everything that a person would ever need to know about weaving fabric. From materials to their attributes to thread count, it was all suddenly there like he’d always known it. And when [Ectoplasmic Creation] was released, a pair of snow-white silk pajamas appeared on the bed beside Asami. They were relatively simple in design, consisting of loose pants that had a drawstring to keep them up and a narrow dip in the back to accommodate her tails. The shirt, though, was basically just a woman’s tank-top make of the same thick snow-white silk.

Asami eyed them dubiously until he convinced her to at least try them on before judging.

With a shrug, Asami began divesting herself of her clothing, making Joram pull as hard as he could on [Quick Manifesting] as he created a changing screen to block out the sight.

He got a System notification a moment later that he promptly ignored.

“Oooh, this fabric is amazing!” Asami said a few moments later, practically purring in pleasure. “You must make all of my clothing from this fabric!”

“Uh…. For now, stuff I make seems to last about a day and a half. You’ll still need normal clothing,” he explained with a shrug.

“Then you will make me new clothing every day!” Asami exclaimed, making her demand sound like the most reasonable thing on the planet.

“I’ll- ah, fine,” he said, not wanting to explain that he wasn’t a fashion designer by any stretch of the imagination.

“Good! Now, time for sleep!”

“Sure, just let me get changed,” he said, giving up as he pulled the screen over so that he could change.

A handful of seconds later, he’d dismissed his own clothing and created his own PJs. But not silk. Nice, traditional, cotton stuff. Cotton waffle bottom with a simple cotton t-shirt on top. Easy and comfy.

The next hardship he encountered was the sight of Asami running her hands all over her body, enjoying the feeling of her silk garments. A bit of [Autohypnosis] later, he stepped over to the bed and scooted her over so that he could lay down. After that, Asami quickly pounced, causing him to grunt in pain as she twisted this way and that to get comfortable on his chest.

After another round of [Autohypnosis], he was finally able to relax. It wasn’t easy. Not one bit. Having the perfect combination of soft and firm laying on him would have been torture if he didn’t have [Autohypnosis]. As it was… it was still torture.

So, he quickly wished her a good night before dropping deep into [Meditation]. He had things to learn, things to suss-out. He felt so close to getting [Restore Extremity] that he could practically taste it.

His first hour of study went to Psychometabolism in hopes that he’d make a breakthrough. There was just something about how psionic power interacted with his cells that he didn’t quite get. But after the hour passed, he still hadn’t managed to grasp it. Then came the study of the Discipline of Telepathy, as he was having a bit of a hard time understanding [Psychic Reformation] and its many complexities.

That, surprisingly, went easier than he thought it would. So much so that he suspected that he’d easily be able to use the first two levels’ worth of telepathy-based powers. Like [Mind Thrust], [Telempathic Projection], [Cloud Mind], [Detect Hostile Intent], and [Ego Whip], just to name a few! He could easily make use of any of those powers to make his life much easier than it currently was. [Cloud Mind] alone could save him from countless awkward social situations!

He was so thrilled with his progress that he decided to continue studying Telepathy for the next hour as well. Again, he felt that he’d made great strides in understanding the discipline’s nuances. If he kept making such strides, then [Barred Mind, Personal] might not be that far away from everyday use! If he could get that one going, then he wouldn’t have to worry about Asami reading his mind all the time!

Joram’s excitement nearly overflowed, almost breaking him out of his meditative state. He quickly calmed himself, then reluctantly turned back to Psychometabolism and started going over things again.

As he was nearing the end of his fourth hour of meditation, it finally clicked. Psionic races, psionic beings. Of how psionic energy not only sustained him, but maintained him. New cells were made through psionic power, new growth enabled by psionic power.

Then the psionic power flowed, taking the shape of [Restore Extremity] as it went. And down it went, through his body and into the stump of his leg. At first it felt as though someone had blown on his leg, then it began to tingle. After that it got weird.

He could feel his femur starting to grow, elongate, at the same time that his skin stretched out, pushing along with the muscles that were forming, keeping up with his femur. Then the femur completed, leading to the muscles anchoring themselves with tendon and sinew. Some continued on as his patella reformed, then set into place once his tibia and fibula came into being.

On and on it went, pushing outwards until he could wiggle his toes again, a great smile forming on his face as he felt his waffle pajamas rub against his skin. He moved his leg, then stopped dead.

Joram’s eyes shot open, turning downwards to see that his leg, his beautiful reformed, regrown leg had gone and pulled his pajama bottoms all the way down to his ankles because he’d made them to fit snugly over the end of his stump. Like a giant sock.

What was worse, Asami then shifted in her sleep, causing the fantastically soft and smooth silk to rub over him.

“Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum,” he quietly chanted a few times, once more drawing heavily on [Autohypnosis].

Thus calmed, he slowly, ever-so-slowly, crept his way out from under Asami, centimetre by excruciatingly slow and torturous centimetre. As he neared his goal, he manifested [Ectoplasmic Creation] to make himself a large and relatively firm body pillow that he gently slid underneath her as he slid out the last bit.

*Ding!*

The System notification caused his heart to stop. Then, as he forced his heart to beat again, he quickly muted System notifications for fear that they’d kill him before he was done.

Psychologically sweating, because he didn’t seem to be able to physically sweat, he very carefully reached down to the end of his bed and retrieved his pajama bottoms and… silently cursed before making a new pair. He then slid those on, but it was hard, harder than he thought it would be because his right leg didn’t respond the same way as he remembered.

So, he started doing yoga. Sure, he wasn’t great at it, having only actually gone to a few sessions back on Earth and all. But he’d also observed a few times, and his memory was now almost perfect… when he concentrated on something, anyways.

After almost an hour of it, he found that his balance and coordination were back to where they had been.

Can’t diss yoga, he thought wryly as he stepped behind the screen and quickly changed into some “normal” clothing. Still made with [Ectoplasmic Creation], but more in line with what he’d been wearing before… all this. He was tempted to retrieve his shoes from his inventory, but made do with just creating some from ectoplasm.

Though, leather was out of the picture. Getting a great idea, he instead went with making a pair of Converse sneakers. Sure, it was a bit silly, but he’d loved the design growing up, but eventually his feet had become too wide to comfortably wear them as an adult. Now? Custom-made shoes!

Now happier than was probably warranted, he retrieved the box of tea stuff from his inventory. He quickly sorted through it, chose a small pack of tea biscuits, and then placed it on the nightstand. He then put everything back, swapping it for a pen. He then created a sheet of paper, and wrote Asami a note, folded it, then placed it with the tea biscuits where she was guaranteed to see it.

His obligations thus fulfilled, he silently crept out of the room, calling on every stealth skill he’d ever developed as a kid trying to sneak about the house undetected by his parents. Surprisingly, it came much easier than he thought it would, and soon he was outside and breathing the fresh night air. He turned to leave and saw a flash of reflected light.

Thinking he’d been caught, he quickly spotted the source and heaved a sigh of relief. It was only the purple vixen. Smiling, he waved for her to follow, then took off at a light jog. She easily followed at his side, giving his leg more than one curious look, even going so far as to try to sniff it a few times. Which was both awkward and dangerous for her poor nose. So, he’d stopped halfway to the wall to let her inspect him for a minute.

She still seemed a bit weirded out by his leg, but he ultimately didn’t quite care, so he set off again. It was a pleasant night, probably in the late teens, temperature-wise. Celsius. Still metric for him!

Once he arrived at the gates, the guards gave him a funny look as they took in his two legs and the purple vixen.

“What’s all this now?” the guard asked, obviously referring to the above-mentioned oddities.

“Just want to have a look around my property,” Joram said, pretending to not know what he was referring to.

“We can’t open the gate at night,” the guard said, shaking his head. “And no jumping over the wall like you did yesterday morning, either. The Chief would have our heads,” he finished, pinning him with an exceptionally sharp look.

“Got it. Can only go in and out during the day,” he said, then waved goodbye as the wandered off.

Once he was out of sight, he stopped and quietly grumbled to himself, which got him a curious look from the vixen. He absently reached over and rubbed her head as he thought things through.

He’d already put himself in hot water with the Chief, so he didn’t want to risk sliding further into her bad books. He’d also slipped out of the house without Asami, and was sure that even with the bribe left behind, she’d still be angry with him when she found him again.

He also felt… oddly clearheaded, as though he’d worked through several problems and had thus finally been able to relax. Not sure if it was because of his leg having been regenerated or not, he still thought that maybe some introspection might help inform him as to why. So, he started walking again, now heading back to the Manelle’s house, though his plan was to find a nice spot in the back yard.

Once there, he decided on the same spot that he’d met Asami on, then made himself a nice cushion and sat down. Once he was comfortable, he began meditating, and stopped again.

It was… odd. Normally when he activated the Skill, the world just kind of fell away, just leaving him with his thoughts. But now? He could still feel the air on his skin, hear the sounds around him. Curious as to what changed, he remembered the System notifications from earlier. So, he pulled up the condensed page and had a look.

Congratulations!

You’ve gained the following Skills:

- Sleight of Hand

- Stealth

Previous experience in Stealth detected.

Calculating…

Processing…

Congratulations! You’ve successfully upgraded your first Skill!

- Improved Stealth

- Benefits:

- Improved efficacy in taking advantage of your surroundings while attempting to hide.

- Improved movement speed while in Stealth.

You’ve leveled the following Skills:

- Concentration 9 -> 10

- Meditation 9 -> 10

- Pain Resistance 5 -> 6

- Quick Manifesting 6 -> 7

- Improved Stealth 1 -> 9

Potential for Skill evolution detected.

The following Skills will now be combined:

- Concentration + Meditation = *Clear Mind

- *Clear Mind 10 -> 12

You’ve gained the following attribute points:

- +1 Intellect

- +1 Spirit

Was it [Clear Mind]? Mostly likely. The gains to [Concentration] and [Meditation], although nice, weren’t terribly surprising given what he’d gone through with Asami earlier. But the increase to [Pain Resistance] was a bit confusing.

Though, he now knew why sneaking about had come so easily when leaving the house earlier. Having a Skill upgrade really seemed to have an immediate improvement while using it. [Sleight of Hand], though…. Had retrieving his pajama pants really been that dangerous?

Shaking his head, he activated his new meditation Skill, [Clear Mind] and began to delve his mind, in search of why he still felt so different.