Chapter 414: Chapter 414 - Manic Mondays, Scattered Thoughts, The Source Is...
Light filtering down through the violet scattered atmosphere above landed on Elua as she stood at the center of what would become the main residence of her Qat’s estate. While the heiress recognized it would *also* be her own, it was simply more fun to think about building it if it was all for the person she loved. The fact that she was building rooms for the potential of inviting other people was...
’A necessary evil.’
She’d spent the previous week carefully resurveying and marking the ground with nice pieces of clear quartz that had been meticulously carved with the blueprint illusion, powering them with the ambient essence and some simple rituals that could be turned on and off at will - even without her being there.
For the surveying itself, the ancient cultivator was using a combination of her spiritual sense piercing as far through the rock as she could and Ogre strength to perform ’mini stomps’. The first to map for any essence flow changes deep beneath the surface after this period of the gateway being active in the distance and the second to test all areas that ’felt sturdiest’!
There was also Sevra’s Walk Astralism asked to be used for a specific purpose again, however, that was primarily to slip down the water pipe. Meticulously cataloging anything that the core sampling step may have missed before she actually activated the rituals.
Those too were now finished. High powered fluid pumps with governer and gate valve linked systems that would move many many thousands of gallons per minute from below until it was all filled and primed for much *less* use of explosive force. The ancient cultivator wanted to double check that all was perfect to reduce the risk of unexpected blowout.
"The foundation stones I plan will align with the natural essence convergence points here. Not just for stability, but it’s where I’ll channel the power for the building’s defensive systems and create what will essentially be subordinate locations for the power being produced by the distant essence condensers... once I can link and drain off what is gathering at the gate."
"I see. Intriguing. But I’m not sure what that has to do with what I asked."
As she lectured Madrigal, who had only posed a far simpler question at first, the girl was also multitasking. One of the few floating-truck constructs she completed - converted from the ferry she made when Sevra said she didn’t want it any longer - held many cut and stacked hunks of wood that the busy new Dame of the Exclave was making charcoal out of. She did build one simple immobile kiln at first, but it was time consuming to pay attention to for the others - or herself.
’So mobile form it is. Really, being able to control gases makes most any chemistry work kind of... easy? I did learn a lot of what almost any acid could do or be used for. And that did include what sort of produced gases were useful or dangerous and why.’
With her ability to seal and keep the oxygen level low almost innately, the charcoal was made with very little waste of the wood product itself. It would be good for making steel, eventually - there were a lot of ’production’ methods still needed for various logistical and material necessities over the remaining years she would stay.
The heiress was somewhat regretting not just going back to the world herself, commandeering the Realmshard, and returning to build only once she was able to fix what was wrong with it. She trusted that her Avatar did the smart things, getting it sealed away with the mirror’s unique spiritual composition much more appropriately than the brunette had done before. So she was not worried that new people would get stuck inside with them.
’That could get annoying quickly if more mouths to feed and give purposes showed up.’
"Oh. Right. What was it you asked again?"
Elua felt like her brain was scattered lately. Doing so many things all at once was not new, but even her silver dress was actually mud-stained from the morning’s work. She hadn’t bothered to run essence through the sigils that would repel the unclean substance from her clothing at all. Which was why the exiled noble was slightly concerned.
"I was asking about your recent sleep, but actually I can see now how that led to what you said. I did use the phrase ’will you have enough energy’."
"Less conjecture and more telling me what you want, please?"
"Right. I was asking if you were rested enough to perform all the tasks you had slated for today. I do not think you are and our assassin friend over there concurs. As cowardly as she is about confronting you about it."
The last time it was brought up, El did recall that she... snapped a little at her. Nothing physically violent, but it had been *rude* - and she had been forced to apologize for saying things she didn’t really mean. And she really, truly hadn’t meant them!
’If I’d meant to devastate her, I would have done something far more than call that cloak she wears a terrible fashion statement. Or that she snores like a goat alive inside of a lion, inside of a giant snake.’
Waving off the other scholar, her eyes swam to the side as she told part of the truth.
"Really, I’m fine. If I knew I was not, I would go rest. But I’ve done a lot worse than a week of twenty hour workdays. We’re good. I’m good."
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"No, no, you don’t understand - the load distribution has to account for both gravitational stress AND this location’s essence resonance frequency. If you can’t handle that calculation, then maybe I should have used the basalt chunks instead!"
Days later, Sevra approached the foundation site cautiously after being drawn by the sound of Elua’s voice echoing across the plateau. It was well past midnight and that meant she’d expected to find the heiress talking to the foreign noble once again.
Instead, she discovered the teenage cultivator crouched next to a large cornerstone that was covered in sigils, gesticulating emphatically at what looked to be that very piece of hopefully unresponsive granite.
"Oh, you are being deliberately obtuse! I explained the sigil pattern three times already!"
"Elua..."
Sevra called softly, not wanting to startle someone who could level the construction site with one of those concentrated air pressure bursting explosions. A technique whose physics mechanics had been explained to the scout, but still felt like ’sorcery’ and ’ancient cultivator tricks’.
"Who? Oh, Sevra. Perfect timing. Could you please explain to this little construct that is supposed to have all my knowledge on the subjects that essence conductivity channels are not *optional* in a foundational stone? It’s being very stubborn about accepting the modifications I want."
The scout studied the appearance of the ’younger’ cultivator with growing alarm. Her silver dress looked like it had been dunked in the water, but not washed. Completely mud-stained to the point she was surprised it was not torn anywhere.
Dark circles shadowed her excessively bright, glowing mint eyes that held a sort of manic gleam to them that suggested she hadn’t just worked twenty hours... but hadn’t actually slept in days. Her usually well kept brown hair was disheveled and streaked with that same cake of colloidally suspended dirt.
"...When did you last eat?"
"Eat? I... well, time is a bit fluid when you’re working like I have been. But I’m sure it wasn’t more than thirty hours ago. Besides, I’ve been mostly using essence lately and not physical energy. I’m very efficient."
Sevra frowned before turning her head. Her hand clutched at the clasp around her cloak, often just as dusty and unclean as what seemed to be happening to that beautiful, metallic dress. While the woman did find it a little strange at first, to wear a wedding outfit as personal armor, it had been growing on her.
"I’m worried about you."
Elua patted the granite affectionately as if it was the one who had expressed worry, before turning back to the distant scout. Her smile was slightly indifferent, but also her posture was clearly defensive.
"Is that right? Sorry for keeping you up with that."
"You’ve been awake for three days straight haven’t you?"
"More like... well, I did doze against that pillar for maybe an hour yesterday evening. Or was that the day before? Honestly, when you can meditate in place of sleep, circadian rhythms become somewhat arbitrary."
"That’s not how teenage bodies should work. I thought you were-"
"Ah, yes, about that..."
Finally, the girl’s expression shifted to something approaching embarrassment. She looked away and crouched down to the ground while poking new holes in it. Between everything else, she had been refining down those big wide explosive blasts into small, highly controlled air-cannon effects... and further still into what was now finger sized directed bullets that could pulverize stone at close distances.
’A distraction that won’t solve the problem. No one could help me get through it now but Qat...’
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A/N:Possibly important note in AT.