Mana 6 Chapter 25 (Patreon)

“You have kept us waiting. Have you no respect?” Grouchy grumbled as I entered the elder’s pavilion.

“I just returned from a harrowing adventure to recover one of my wives and needed my rest,” I countered, squinting at the divider and not liking it one bit.

My domain expanded rapidly, grabbing the divider and pulling it aside. “There. Now we can have a direct conversation.”

“Insolent!” A skinny elder stood from where he’d been sitting.

But the elder from the West branch patted the air and calmed them all down. “There is valid reason for him to be upset. But do not let this child rile you.”

“How can you—” He was cut off by the elder with a stature like a mountain.

The mountainous elder narrowed his eyes on me. “Reports say you have fought Fengu, and yet here you are standing before us. And other reports state you survived a fight with Edmond.”

I nodded, bowing my head to these elders before me but refusing to bend my spine. “Edmond and I fought briefly. He defied the rules by using his full strength on this world.”

There were a few gasps among the elders, telling me that the rules were well known, and breaking them was uncommon.

“That fight was ended by someone of unimaginable power. Later, I intended to test myself against the Leon family elders. Fengu appeared, and I went into the void to exchange an attack there. I lost the exchange, but not overly so,” I spoke the truth slowly while letting my cultivation flow out around me.

“Something is wrong with your cultivation,” the mountainous elder pointed out.

I nodded. “At present, I need to understand it better. But my cultivation is both at the seventh rank, yet not. It is my sword intent that helps me bridge the gap to the seventh rank.”

“May we see your sword intent?” he asked.

Noting his respectful tone and how the rest of the elders were quiet while he spoke, I decided getting him on my side would likely work in my favor.

I drew a sword from my spatial ring and let sword intent flow through it, flicking off a slash of sword intent off the edge.

“You are well trained in the sword. That’s to be expected of someone who has spent much of their life fighting,” the elder of my branch spoke softly. “We would truly like you to stop fighting though. Here among the family, you can relax.”

I shook my head. “Edmond will come and try to strike me.”

The skinny elder from before snorted. “That brat will be like an egg thrown against a stone if he comes here. If anything, him coming here will help our family. At present, your ability to fight him evens the scales once again.”

I thought of my mother still hiding her cultivation. That meant that the Yunpi had a slight advantage at the moment.

“What of the Bishou, now that we know they are the castoffs of the Leon family and working directly for them?”

“Yes, an interesting piece of intel. But the Bishou will never receive the resources for a seventh rank immortal,” my elder said. “Their impact in the final fight is minimal.”

I frowned. They were treating me well, but they just wanted to hold the line and keep growing, as if one day, they would still rise above the Leon family.

But having seen the ruthlessness that the Leon family would employ to grow, I wasn’t sure that was the case. “The tainted mana crystals?”

“We have yet to see one.” The mountainous elder cut off the others before they could speak.

I nodded, glad that I’d kept one of them.

I pulled out a cart of them in the middle of the room. I used my domain to move it over to the elders. The cart was shifted around. They each snagged a mana crystal out of it, holding it up and peering at it.

“If you look closely, there is a thin, black vein in them. As far as I know, that is the sign of a tainted crystal.”

The elders were occupied as they created better light in the space to inspect the crystals.

Grouchy was frowning as he lowered the crystal he was studying. “There is a small, black vein, but we have no experience with this, nor do we have firsthand knowledge of the effect. Where does your information come from?”

I paused before speaking the truth. “The enslaved miners. They told tales of a former slave trying to use it to cultivate and his cultivation becoming unstable, ultimately leading to his death.”

Grouchy nodded, holding the crystal up with thought. “This could also be some fantastic resource for cultivation. The tales would have been created to stop the workers from attempting to use it.”

“How many of these do you have?” the mountainous elder asked.

I pulled every crystal I had collected from the Bishou and laid them out in a large stack. “These are all I have.”

The mountainous elder scooped them all into his own spatial ring. “I will find someone to test them.” His tone put a chill down my spine.

Somehow, I wasn’t sure the person would be a willing participant.

“What do you want of me?” I asked the elders.

They looked among themselves, quiet communication passing between them. It continued on until Grouchy started to look red in the face. Four of the seven elders raised their hands, appearing to vote on whatever had just been declared.

It was my elder that eventually spoke. “We think you should step up as a second elder of the West branch.”

There was a broad smile on her face. Given the dress of the others, it appeared that the West branch had been the only branch with a single elder.

I smiled, bowing deeper than before to show my respect. “I would be honored.”

“Good, then we need to prepare. And we look forward to your continued growth. There will be a ceremony in several days’ time for you to officially become an elder. However, for the time being, Terrance will be informed of your new pending status and pass it down among his guards.” She stared at me hard before she continued.

“Any restriction on you or your wives’ travel will be removed, but please proceed with caution. Your role in this family will be to match Edmond. From your story, he will be seeking to rise above you. Do not let that happen.”

I took her warning to heart and nodded to each of the elders before standing and leaving them to discuss arrangements amongst themselves. I had hoped that they would see me with more respect and give me more independence within the family, but I hadn’t imagined that they would make me an elder.

I wanted to head back to the courtyard to celebrate with my ladies and spend some time working with Phoebe, but instead, I walked through the family estate for my mother’s courtyard.

As I walked up, I found her just finishing packing.

She saw me, and a look of sheer relief was quickly replaced by a dark scowl. I cringed. My mother was upset with me.

“Young man.” She grabbed me by the ear and tugged me back into her courtyard.

“Ow. Oww. Mom.” I tried to get her to stop, but she was literally dragging me by my ear.

I might be a half-step into the seventh rank, but ears were still a sensitive part of the human body.

“Oh, now I’m your mother? You run off and put yourself in danger, but don’t have the decency to stop by and consult me? Or ask for my help?” Her voice seemed to be rising higher with every question she asked.

“But you are hiding your cultivation,” I reasoned with her.

She stopped and turned to face me. “I’m your mother. I would do anything to support you and keep you alive.”

“And I appreciate that, but I didn’t want to put you in danger. And I didn’t exactly have time to do much of anything before the family would have trapped me in this courtyard,” I tried again.

“That sounds more reasonable. You were always an independent one,” she sighed and relented.

I pulled back, rubbing my ear. “Sorry, mom.” I bowed deeper to her than I had the elders. She would always be my mother.

Lilly let out a soft snort. “So, what happened?”

I grabbed a chair and pulled it out for her and then grabbed a pot of tea to serve her like a filial child. “Well, I ended up working for the Leon family…”

My mother leaned forward with interest and asked me to start at the beginning, listening to my tale and nodding along and pulling out additional details.

When I finished, the tea was empty, and the pot was cold.

“My son has become an elder before me. I’m not sure if I should be ashamed or proud?” she mused.

“You could stop hiding,” I pointed out.

But my mother smiled and shrugged. “Sometimes it is nice to not be part of the equations that the elders make. I have always been a willful child that refuses to stay put.”

I felt like we were alike in those ways. “Then what will you do?”

“Continue my own path. Maybe I’ll be a grandmother for a while.” My mother looked far too young for those words. “I’d enjoy spoiling a few of them rotting and then handing them back to you as revenge for all the trouble you gave me when you were little.”

I rolled my eyes. “There isn’t much I haven’t seen yet with kids. But I’d welcome you in my courtyard anytime. And next time there is a problem, I will come to you for help. I’m hoping I won’t be racing off to new adventures any time soon.”

“Good, because those girls are going to want so many kids it won’t be funny.” She sighed and gave a rueful shake of her head. “The elders are giving incentives for them to bear more children with you. You have not only the Pixiu bloodline but dozens of others. The potential you bring to furthering the clan is immense.”

I knew that she was right, but the idea of staying put still made me a little antsy. I’d just have to take it a day at a time, and getting to know the Yunpi women would certainly help distract me.

“It was good talking to you again, mother, but I must return, or someone will come hunting for me.”

Her eyes crinkled at the edges as she waved, letting me head back to my family.

I knew the girls would be more than happy to continue our cultivation session, but I wanted to see how Phoebe was progressing on the enchantment.

A few steps out of my mother’s courtyard, I saw a guard watching me. I waved at him before I pulled myself into my own soul. To him, it would be like I had winked out of reality.

I appeared in my soul palace, laughing to myself and wishing I could see his face.

“Master,” Phoebe said without looking up from the project in front of her. “It is coming along nicely.”

That was an understatement.

Before her was a massive stone slab about the size of my courtyard, and on it were several layers of a runic language that made my head hurt when I tried to stare too closely at them.

“Phoebe this is… incredible.”

“It’s worth it. Now shoo. Go find Foo before Aurora gets more IOUs from her. They’ve been playing The Game.”

I rolled my eyes, not surprised that they were hustling the new girl.

I headed up to Aurora’s soul palace.

Walking in, I could hear the girls chattering away, arguing and laughing as they played The Game, a game that Aurora had made up based on our time together when I had been a child playing in the sandbox.

“Master!” Aurora shouted as she spotted me. She abandoned her turn as she fluttered straight to me, snuggling into my arms.

“This is your real body.” She frowned. “More trouble?”

“No, just teasing the guards at the family estate. Have you been bullying Foo?”

Aurora looked down at her feet, shifting them around. “No. I wouldn’t call it that.”

I turned my attention to Foo, who was sitting patiently at the sandbox, waiting for the game to resume. “Foo, have you won yet?”

Foo tilted her head. “Won? I have defended my house.” She pointed to her pieces that had been setup in a completely defensive position around her starting spot.

I scowled at Aurora who just grinned and fluttered away. But I was ready to help Foo win this one.

Taking up my pieces, I set them right behind Foo. “Since my body and soul are your home, you should defend me, right?”

She stared at my pieces and nodded slowly. “That makes sense.”

“You can’t just defend him,” Aurora protested as I gained a firm ally in The Game.

The turns moved swiftly as Foo intermingled each of her pieces into my own, keeping my pieces well protected.

Aurora and Mei stopped fighting among themselves and moved with what remained of Quinn’s army to surround us. But Foo held fast, operating entirely defensively as we worked to grind their forces to dust as they came at us.

“Don’t you want to betray Master? If you do, I’ll let you pick the IOU that you get from him,” Aurora tried to tempt Foo.

But Foo shook her head, making her hair dance. “I attack these pieces because they are approaching Master and my home.” She shifted her pieces.

It didn’t slip my attention that she had picked up ‘Master’.

“What about if I gave you three IOUs for Mei?” Aurora waved several papers before Foo, who only looked confused.

“Master is my home. Nothing is more important than defending him,” Foo said resolutely with a slight frown that made her even more adorable.

I picked up Foo and placed her in my lap. “Foo is the best defender.” I rubbed her little fuzzy ears.

They twitched at first, but then she relaxed in my lap and leaned against me. “You can’t do that. I’m supposed to be alert to defend you.”

“It is a game, Foo. You can relax and continue to defend me. Right now, it isn’t your turn, so you don’t need to be alert.” I stopped touching her ears and wrapped my arms around her, wondering if she craved physical touch.

Based on how she relaxed into my arms, I determined that she did.

My other mana beasts looked on enviously, but it wasn’t more than that. They knew Foo was the new girl and needed some help to relax and fit into the family.

After a few turns, Foo finally rested her weight against my chest.

We continued to play, and I realized what a great ally I had. Foo was an absolutely ardent defender. She never once took a deal despite how much they tried to tempt her away.

It was endearing in its own way that she was so resolute in her role.

“So, how is the enchantment going? Any progress?” Quinn reset the sandbox with new terrain and placed her pieces down.

“Yeah! Babies!” Mei perked up.

Foo stiffened in my arms. “Babies?” It was the first thing besides defending me that she had shown interest in.

“Yes, is that okay?” I asked her.

“The only thing more important than defending the home is protecting and rearing the children within.” She nodded to herself excitedly.

I held her close as I spoke. “The enchantment Phoebe is working on will allow you all to have bodies. We hope that it will give you the ability to bear children if you want them.”

Foo’s eyes went wide as she stared back at me. “Can I have children? In your home?”

It was interesting that the caveat was that they were raised in my home. It would take some time to understand her background and the lens she used when she looked at the world.

She was likely hundreds of years old. And I wasn’t sure how much choice she’d been given when she was alive. But now she was plenty old enough to make her own decisions.

“If that’s what you truly want, Foo. You’ll have a body and be able to explore the world.”

Smiling, she seemed pleased with the idea, tilting her head to think.

Then she nodded, looking back at me with a smile. “I would like to defend my home. The Guardian Lions defend the home they are raised in for life. I lived and died defending my prior home. Now that you have brought me back to life, I will defend your home.”

Aurora winked behind her and mouthed, ‘I know what her kink is going to be.’

I shushed her with my eyes. It was so not the time. “Okay, let’s play another game, Foo. Did Aurora tell you what these IOUs are for?”

“Sexual favors,” she replied, setting up her own pieces, but then she turned and looked at me, seeming to process the broader implications. “If you lose first and I am the last one standing, does that mean a chance at children?”

“If we can figure out this enchantment, then yes. Any position or style you like.” I couldn’t believe I was encouraging her to betray me, but it was a chance for her to learn to be more than only a guardian. She could make decisions towards her own life.

“Understood.” She set up her pieces much like before and promised to protect me.

There was a point in the game where she got the opportunity, and I could see that she was almost physically pained at the idea of betraying me.

Making her decision, she moved her pieces, once again defending my pieces with a vigor that left her dying first in the game. She managed to do massive damage to the other mana beasts’ pieces, though.

“I could not betray you, Master. Even in the game, my instincts are so strong.”

I laughed, pulling her back into my lap and enjoying her frustrated face.

Leaning down, I whispered in her ear, “That’s okay. You lost, so if I win…” I trailed off, giving her the idea.

Her eyes perked right up, and she started cheering me on and trying to entice the others to work with me.

Ultimately, it felt like Quinn let me win so that I would get an IOU from Foo. Foo had very quickly written it out and presented it to me, batting her lashes just a little bit when I took it.

The others were behind her, all choosing different motions to make of how they thought the IOU would be used.

I chuckled at their antics. My mana beasts were going to be the death of me.