The Wanderer's Rebirth: Other Paths

The metal was a bit different than he’d imagined it to be, though that wasn’t terribly surprising. When he’d “invented” it, he hadn’t exactly been a chemistry whiz. Looking at the various elements in the ingot, and its amazing structure, he was sure that it would prove to be incredibly useful and versatile in its applications.

Grinning, he then used [Summon: All] again consecutively until he had three more ingots laying in front of him. Two of them were as translucent as the finest crystal while the third was a bit whiter than the first ingot he’d summoned. Another round of [Delve] then provided him with the structures of the new ingots, Tetra-II through Tetra-IV.

Tetra-III was the white one, basically the same as Tetra-I except that it was considerably lighter. Tetra-II and IV, though, followed the same pattern. While completely translucent, Tetra-II was nearly as heavy as Tetra-I. Tetra-IV, however, was even lighter than Tetra-II, making it perfect for applications where weight was a concern. And given that it was actually lighter than standard glass, it would make perfect windows. Nearly unbreakable windows at that.

Now grinning wide enough to nearly split his face in half, Joram quickly used [True Creation] a few times to make several ingots of each type, unconsciously chuckling maniacally as he worked. He was so giddy that he didn’t notice people coming into his study until they nearly scared the non-existent crap out of him.

“What’s going on?” Asami asked, leaning on his shoulder to see what he was working on.

After taking a few moments to calm his heart, he looked over at the women who’d arrived.

“I, ah, just got a bit excited about some metals,” he said, totally embarrassed for not just missing them entering his study, but also for letting them see such a childish side of him.

“It’s fine,” Asami said, grinning. “It was incredibly cute to see,” she said as she turned her head just so that she could burry her face into the side of his neck, making him blush again.

Avi, though, looked incredibly interested in the ingots laying on his desk. He was a bit surprised to see the three gals as well, but let it go as he tried to ignore how Asami felt as she snuggled his neck as she slowly slipped into his lap.

“That’s…” Avi said, trailing off as she picked up the ingot of Tetra-IV. “How?” she asked, looking at him more seriously than she had in a very long time, making him gulp.

Even her serious mode is dangerously sexy…. He then grunted as he got a pinch from Asami, but chose to ignore it.

“I just remembered something from my high school days,” he said, then briefly explained where the idea for the metals had come from. “I was thinking that they’d make for good crafting materials,” he concluded as Avi continued staring at him for a bit before the three gals crowded around to inspect the ingots.

“Wouldn’t this make amazingly discreet weapons…?” Arise asked, practically drooling over the Tetra-IV as she fondled the crystal-like ingot.

“How’s its elasticity?” Qyress asked as she hefted the Tetra-I and Tetra-III in each of her hands.

“I’ll have to experiment a bit to see, but if it’s like how I remember, then the Tetra-III is better for things like weapons, as its spring, or elasticity, is much higher than the Tetra-I,” he said, thinking way back to when he’d first written down their properties.

Qyress’ eyes lit up at that, making him suspect that she was thinking about bows, given that she was an [Archer] and all. When Asami nodded at him, confirming that he’d guessed correctly. He also knew that she was probably missing using a bow, so he made a mental note to see if he could make her something like a compound bow or something.

“I have a feeling that any of the Tetras will take to enchanting very well,” Avi said as she continued to look him in the eyes, seemingly searching for something.

“Well, that would work out well,” he said, nodding. “I’ve been worrying about using palladium, er, electrum when making things for everyone since it’s such a sought-after metal,” he said, then explained his worries about thieves, getting a few eyerolls in the process.

“That’s a given,” Arise said, sounding as though he’d said the sky was blue. “Now these, they don’t look particularly valuable. Well, crystal is always valuable, but not quite as in-demand as electrum, so making something from that shouldn’t be too eye-catching,” she said, prodding the clear ingots as she spoke.

“The whiteness of the metal is rather fetching, though,” Fyrellia said, speaking up for the first time since she’d come into the room. “That said, they feel… conductive. Like they’d be good for channeling mana through,” she said thoughtfully.

“I was thinking of finally making some weapons for people with this stuff,” he said, motioning towards the ingots. “I very much want everyone to be safe while delving the dungeon,” he finished as he thought of the young girls and women that had been frequenting the dungeons he’d made.

“Can we make requests?” Asami asked, surprising him more than a bit, but he still nodded his approval. “I would like a staff, then,” she said, nodding to herself.

“Sure, let’s go over some designs tomorrow,” he said, then repeated himself as everyone but Avi started making requests.

After several minutes of making promises to craft them an astonishingly wide variety of items, they left his study after he’d stored away the ingots in his Inventory. Then they were in his- their, room and getting changed while he once again turned off [Touchsight]. He was getting better at not being affected by seeing them practically naked while using [Clear Mind], but he thought it was just polite to not “look”, as it were.

“It’s fine with us if you do, though,” Asami said, nodding as Avi blindsided him by nodding her agreement.

Choosing not to comment, he manifested [Fission], then re-manifested his suite of Powers before getting into bed. He, both of him, were soon dog-piled. Joram found that Asami had correctly chosen his original self, along with Myra and Avi, while Joram 2, or J2, had Eris taking up the same spot on him that Asami usually took, leaving the three gals to vie for the other spots that they could get.

Harumi, though, took up residence above his head as she rested her head against the top of his.

‘So, how’d the talk with Lory go?’ Avi asked as everyone settled down for the night.

He took a moment to think about the question, especially since she was asking from a place of care and concern for him. Thinking about [Psychic Chirurgery], and how extreme that measure was, he found that… he wasn’t as opposed to the idea as he thought he’d be.

‘I think I might need your help,’ he sent knowing that Asami could hear them, but continued to explain his thoughts on the matter, and how he felt that it could help him move on.

‘That’s certainly an option,’ Avi replied a moment later as she reached over and up from where she lay beside him, her head on his arm, and tenderly cupped his cheek in her hand. ‘Just let me know when you’re ready.’

He nodded as he swallowed a lump in is throat while Asami snaked her arms around his torso and hugged him tight, likely having finally gotten a better picture of his past as he explained things to Avi.

Possibly sensing the mood, Myra snuggled closer as well, making him smile as she wrapped her legs around his left leg. Then he almost passed out when Avi did the same, causing Asami to start giggling and M12 to earn his keep by making sure [Clear Mind] didn’t shatter.

*Day 27*

After having gone through his now usual morning routine of escaping bed, changing, spending time in his study doing this or that, teaching cooking, and a bit of gardening, he was now looking around the dairy again before his planned visit to the distillery/brewery.

“So, what do you think of this one?” Collette asked shyly, presenting him with a ricotta-like cheese to sample.

After a few moments of chewing to get an idea of the texture and taste, he smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

“It’s pretty good,” he said, grinning. “If you need other supplies like salts or other cultures, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do to get them for you.”

Collette’s smile was like the noon-day sun it was so bright, making him wonder if she’d suffered from not being complimented for her good work in the past. Her twin, Charlotte, also smiled wide as she stood beside her sister. Aural and Danielle were also close, holding a small tray with samples of their own cheeses as well, and looking very hopeful.

It took him another half-hour to finish up in the dairy, though he was glad that he’d managed to brighten their day a bit by praising their work. Everyone deserved to be acknowledged for their hard work after all. Especially when it was work well-done.

Though, he wondered if he should get some goats to add to the variety of cheeses available for everyone. Dairy cheeses were good, and tended towards hard to medium cheeses, while sheep milk tended to produce much softer cheeses with a milder taste to them. But goat cheese could be soft or hard, but had a wonderfully sharp taste to it.

He filed that thought away as he entered the… he’d just call it the Boozery from now on, as it produced many different kinds of alcohol. Once inside, he saw Ella sitting at a table that was practically buried in stacks of paper.

“What’s up?” he asked as she looked up, confused. “That’s a lot of paperwork,” he said, motioning towards her heavily laden desk.

“Oh, they’re just notes,” she said, blinking at him. “I was trying to think of new things to make, but wasn’t sure what might work,” she explained.

“You’ve been working hard,” he said, giving her a smile and a nod that made her blink then look away. “Just let me know if you have any questions.”

“Well, I was wondering about making some wine with those odd fruits in the first greenhouse,” she said, then started going over her thoughts on making apple cider, as well as cherry, peach, and pomegranate wines.

They talked for a while about all of that, ending with him using [Summon: All]- using enough Dust to make the summons permanent- to get the appropriate yeasts for the wines and spirits that she was wanting to try making. Leaving an ecstatic Ella behind, he left feeling pretty good about the meeting. He was sure that she’d level quite a bit by continuing her experiments.

With all of his chores taken care of, he made his way back into the house, heading for one of his workshops. Even though he was much better with [Manipulate Matter], let alone being able to either make or summon what he needed, he hadn’t used them much in the past month or so. Even then, he decided to leave the spaces as they were as they’d prove useful for anyone wanting to pick up a trade.

He was about to get to work when he remembered the house token he’d made a few days ago and facepalmed. A quick [Teleport] later found him back at the experimentation site, looking down into the deep basement. After retrieving the token, he quickly used it to make the house appear and looked at the cage on the front porch.

The mouse-like creature was laying on its side in the cage, so he used [Telekinesis] to pick up the cage and bring it closer. A quick [Delve] later let him know that the creature was still alive, but fairly dehydrated and very, very hungry. So, he quickly made a bowl with some water in it for it, then deftly placed it in the cage.

While the mouse-like creature edged closer to the bowl, Joram stood up and made his way over to the house. It didn’t look any different from the last time he’d seen it, but he still used [Delve] to see if there were changes to it that the naked eye couldn’t detect.

Half an hour later, he was smiling again, happy to “see” that there hadn’t been any unexpected deterioration while the house was stored away. Aside from time seemingly passing at a normal rate inside, he was happy with the results. Which meant that he could now proceed to do the same for his normal house and the other buildings on his property….

Thinking about it a bit more, he wondered if he should work on a stasis effect for anything stored away like that. Given what Avi had said about his Realm, he could probably manage that. Though, he’d likely have to use one of the variations of [Genesis] that he knew to accomplish that without a time-based [Skill] to pair up with [Dimensional Manipulation]….

Then he recalled that there were a few Powers that dealt with aspects of time, like [Quintessence] and [Temporal Acceleration]. Which got him thinking of things like [Defy Gravity] and [Gravitational Well], and how gravity affected both time and space.

With those thoughts in mind, he instructed J2 to have his Minds start sussing out the connections between all of those Powers, and others related to time, while he absently stored away the house again before playing with [Spatial Manipulation] and trying to see, or feel… something. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for in there, as he didn’t know what a time ripple might look like, or how it would feel. So, he got to work.

* * *

Erys was…. She was having a much harder time approaching Joram to ask for his help than she’d thought she would.

Even shamelessly laying on him like Asami did was much easier than asking him for help! So, she’d been distracting herself for the past day, wandering around his admittedly impressive estate. The sheer size of the buildings was impressive for such a small race. Practically draconic in their relative scale.

Sniffing around, she made her way first to the mess hall and inspected what was going on there. She’d eaten there the day before, but wondered why more of the babies hadn’t been eating at the same time as she had. Still, today’s scents were different and oddly… sweet.

As she tried to inspect the baking, she was shooed away more than once, making her more than a little bit grumpy at the treatment. If she hadn’t promised Joram to be nice to everyone, she’d have certainly put the children in their place already.

“What’s this?” she asked, pointing at an open container of sand-like crystals.

“Oh, it’s a wonderful new thing that young Joram introduced to us,” the child said, making her frown in thought. “He called it ‘Honey Sugar’,” she finished by offering Erys a small spoonful of the stuff.

Looking at it dubiously, she slowly took the spoon and gave it another sniff. It certainly smelt sweet, and even had the scent of honey, so she extended her now short tongue and gave it a lick. Then smiled before inserting the whole spoon into her mouth.

“Good, right?” the child asked, smiling.

“Mmm,” she hummed as she enjoyed the sensation of the crystals melting on her tongue as the sweetness slowly spread through her mouth.

“Do you have an interest in baking?” the child asked as she turned to fully face Erys.

“Not the kind you’re thinking of,” she said, thinking about how she normally ‘baked’ her food with her fiery breath….

“Why don’t you stay for a bit, then?” the child asked kindly as she took her arm and gently pulled her to where the others were currently mixing things together or kneading various doughs.

“I should go…” Erys said, shaking her head, fearing that she wouldn’t leave if she stayed much longer.

“Well, do come back any time. It’s always nice to teach young girls how to capture a man with amazing baking,” the child said, making her wonder for a moment before she remembered that she now looked as young as the rest of the girls around Joram.

“Thanks,” she said, holding back a wince as she quickly left the mess hall.

Once outside, she looked around again and wondered what she would do next. As she thought, she wandered towards the greenhouses behind the main manor house. Looking inside the first one, she spied many babies walking around and working, supervised by the two elven children that she’d met the day before.

Not wanting to risk the possibility of them bringing up their candidacies as Joram’s future wives or concubines, she continued on. Then her nose caught a bitter scent, making her sneeze. Then she sniffed again, this time prepared for the scent. Then she smiled.

She quickly followed the trail to another building, this one a traditional building rather than the glass-sided greenhouses. Once inside, she looked around while testing the air, now very excited.

“Hello? Can I help you?” a baby dwarf asked, looking a bit uncertain as she fidgeted with a pen while sitting at her desk.

Erys nearly squealed in delight at seeing the adorable dwarf! She loved dwarves because they dealt with her two favourite things: precious minerals and alcohol!

“Hello…?”

“Ahem,” she cleared her throat, then took a moment to compose herself. “Yes. I was wondering if you have any of your product available for sale,” she said, now fully composed and dignified.

* * *

Ella looked at the pointy-eared woman who was drooling on her floor and suppressed a sigh. She wasn’t quite sure if she was another dark elf, mostly because she wasn’t quite as dark-skinned as Arise. The other reason was because of her slightly glowing red eyes, which made her think of the tales her mother told her of true demons….

“Ummm…. Umm, not right now, sorry. I only just s-started working here,” she said, trying her best to keep calm, just as her mother had once told her to do when faced with a demon.

“Ah, that’s a pity,” the woman sighed dejectedly. “Well, let me know when you’re ready to start selling! Or, better yet! Let me know if you need a taste-tester!” she finished as her eyes shone bright with excitement.

Ella paused for a second to wonder just who she was, but then shook off that thought. Her mother always told her that nothing good happened to anyone who associated with demons….

“Umm… I don’t know who you are,” she said, breaking under the woman’s intense look of expectation.

“Oh, well, Joram called me ‘Erys’, so that’ll do,” Erys said, flicking some hair back over her shoulder.

She blinked at Erys and wondered if the young master had picked up another slave, or maybe just another woman. He was, after all, always surrounded by tall beauties so it would make sense….

“Okay,” she said, nodding while hoping that Erys would at least be as nice as Fyrellia, or even Arise.