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Wakey wakey!" Mark shocked awake, cats scattering fast, fur fuzzed out, Isoko mumbling small curses, because that voice was—" Nothing serious. It's just better when you're there, so wake up!" Timeweaver said, standing to the side of Isoko's room and sounding way too happy.

"Come on! No stopping for breakfast either. We got bagels and muffins for the eastern crowd and omelets and rice for the natives. Superhero uniforms required!" And then Timeweaver blinked away. Isoko grumbled, "So he's cheerful again."" He was sounding pretty bad at the end of it," Mark commented, as he got up. Isoko sat on her bed for a bit, just staring at the wall, and then she huffed, and said, "He scared the cats." Mark laughed.

Soon, Mark was back in black with hi-vis white lines, while Isoko chose to wear her platinum and white webweave with a sash on her waist. No paladin chestplate today. Both of them had gone through a few costume changes, but while Mark only ever wore black in some fashion or another, Isoko's had a bunch of choices to choose from. It'd all turn platinum when she went Full Platinum, though. As they walked to the courtyard, Mark asked her, "Did you sleep well?"

Isoko was tense for a small moment, worried about offending Mark, but then she ripped off a bandaid, saying, "I love you, I really do, but I need to sleep with my cats next to me, and not you. You're solid as adamantium when you sleep. I woke up a few times and decided to put myself to sleep again because I couldn't move you at all." Mark felt a weird mix of emotions, from a nice happiness, to a hurt sadness, because he liked holding on to Isoko as he slept. But, well…

this was just different people needing different things, right? So Mark said, "Okay. Sorry, I uh, trapped you?" Isoko looked relieved, and then she grabbed his hand and said, "It wasn't that bad, but… thank you." Mark felt weirdly better about whatever had just happened. They held hands and they walked out of the 'kid's wing' and toward the main courtyard, where the night lights were off and the early morning light had turned the world to soft blue.

For a moment, Mark marveled at how he hadn't seen this kind of morning in a while; it was always auroras on Daihoon. Earth was softer in a lot of ways, and Mark kinda liked it— Mark and Isoko stopped at the edge of the courtyard, both of them sensing the person flying down from the High House. Aeri Kanno set down into the courtyard, trying to contain a yawn, her long sleeves fluttering in the breeze, her white hair in a professional up-do with black chopsticks with little bells on them.

They weren't actually chopsticks. Isoko had talked to Mark about all of that once upon a time, about how 'you don't put utensils in your hair, haha!' but it was early and Mark forgot what they were actually called. It was Aeri's signature look, though, and in the movies, when people called the things in her hair 'chopsticks', it never seemed to bother her and she laughed about it in at least one instance Mark recalled, but then she had fed that offender into a vat of acid.

It had been in one of her big movies, years and years ago… Everything felt surreal for a moment. Mark was here, in New Tokyo, and this was Wandering Sage here, and they were going back to Crystal Tower in a few minutes. Nothing seemed real right now. Hopefully it would feel more real later. Aeri said, "Before we go, I'd like to wake everyone and have you give them all Healthy Bodys, please, Mark." Oh. Uh. Back to work, then. Yeah, this was real. Mark glanced at his inventory of Powers… ugh.

It was all so fucking disorganized. Mark said, "I think I have enough left. I kinda, uh, threw away some that didn't matter back there— Oh shit." A realization hit. Oh fuck. Mark half-lidded his eyes, going through his disorganized shelves of Powers, worrying. Did he still have the Big Powers he was saving for Wala— Oh thank the gods. He still had the Big Powers that he was saving for Walaria. Crisis averted! Wooo! Now how many Healthy Bodys did he have? Seemed like he had eno— Oh fuck. Oh… Wait? Uh.

Another realization hit Mark, and it was like seeing a sunrise. Mark focused. He came back to reality and asked Aeri, "I need orichalcum. A lot of kilos of it— Quark," Mark said, "Put in an order for orichalcum for David, please. As much as they can spare." Aeri didn't know what was going on, but she said, "Crystal Tower has reserves. If you require some, it will be there at Crystal Tower when we get there."" Belay that order, Quark," Mark said, "And put in a request for Crystal Tower, through Aleph One, please."

Mark was at 199 maximum Utilized in his soulhouse because the growth of his soulhouse was dependent on how much orichalcum he passively absorbed, which he did by putting an orb into his belly and letting it go until it was all part of his soulhouse. But since he had pulled Isoko's corpse into his soulhouse with a Union of Reality and Dream, he was pretty sure that he could directly absorb orichalcum and greatly expand his soulhouse, right now … theoretically.

Theoretically, he could also bring enchanted objects into his soulhouse, and then use them as part of his house, or save them for use later, bringing them back out of his soulhouse with another Union of Dream and Reality. Could he even make a Sword of Empire inside of his dream and then pull it out, and make it real? Holy shit. That would make crafting items super simple! There had to be a catch.

You couldn't just pull dreams into reality like that, otherwise Mark would have heard of 'dreamcrafters', or something like that. Something had to give somewhere. Maybe it costs mana? … But on the other hand, Mark was the only one with a soulhouse on Earth (except for maybe Dominant and Wongod) so maybe 'dreamcrafting' was a real thing that he could do? Mark put it on the list of things to investigate.

Quark beeped, "Aleph One says that he has 3 tons or orichalcum available right now that he can authorize for your use, immediately. The message already went to David, and he will bring a shipment of 50 kilos in a few hours. Should I return a 'no thank you' to David?" Isoko was interested in whatever was happening, but she wasn't sure what was happening, exactly. Aeri was the same. Isoko asked, "What's going on?"

Mark said, "I think I figured out how to expand my soulhouse so I can put Eliot and Sally into a cohort slot, too…" Mark's mind buzzed with possibility. He added, "And maybe I can even figure out how to make a portal into my soulhouse so that they don't have to, uh… die, before I can get them back." Isoko shivered, and promptly changed the subject, saying, "There's a whole group for people who died and came back in Memphi. Lenny is part of it. I think I'm going to join it.

And that's all I want to talk about that anymore, right now, please and thank you." Mark moved on because Isoko wanted to move on. Mark told Aeri, "I got several Healthy Bodys left." Mark could sense at least 16 people on the property, though there could be more nearby. Wandering Castle was kinda huge.

"How many people need it?" Aeri said, "We have staff, and some of them might enjoy a Healthy Body, but they can wait. There are 6 members of Clan Wandering Sage, but with Isoko, we have 7. I would ask for 5 Healthy Bodys, one for each of our warriors." Aeri sent out tiny gusts of attention throughout the compound, to the High House and also to another building across the main courtyard. 2 people woke up. 3 were already awake. Soon, people rolled out of bed or walked out into the open.

"My daughter and Isoko's mother, Chimiko and Chimiko's husband, Hokichi. My second child, Ome, and her two children, Sofu and Shiki." Isoko was suddenly worried about something else. She said, "Please, grandmother, we can't delay overlong." Aeri said, "We can delay for a matter of minutes. The family hasn't been formally introduced, and we still won't be introduced this morning. That would take too long. But some minor introductions would be prudent, don't you think." Isoko did not think that way at all, but…

She acquiesced, turning formal and bowing a little toward her parents, Chimiko and Hokichi, as they landed on the courtyard next to Aeri. Chimiko looked exactly like Isoko, but smaller. There was no mistaking Isoko's father, either, for he was tall and stern, though a lot shorter than Mark. Mark felt strangely tall, at the moment. Hokichi looked exactly how Isoko looked when she was being formal. They all bowed at each other, and Mark followed along because it felt right.

Mark got the distinct feeling that whatever was happening here was formal as fuck, but jagged around the edges, like how people simply did not fit together sometimes. But on the surface, everything was super polite. Chimiko said, "Thank you for looking after our daughter." Hokichi said, "Thank you for looking after our daughter." And then Ome and her two children, Sofu and Shiki, came out onto the courtyard and they all bowed and said nothing at all.

Isoko felt a lot warmer around them, than she did her own parents, though the bowing was still formal. They talked about small things for a few minutes, about adventuring and accommodations and the like, but Mark would need to look back on Quark's recording of the event to remember what they actually said. This was quite terrifying for him in a way that he never expected to be terrified before. And then it was on to Skilling, and Mark absolutely did not look at their souls in any real detail at all.

Healthy Bodys went in, and that was it. Mark bowed. Isoko bowed. Aeri took off into the sky. Mark and Isoko followed. When they were several kilometers away, Aeri told Mark and Isoko, "I'll meet you at the entrance." And then she zoomed off—" What the heck was that back there, Isoko?" Mark asked, quietly but firmly. Isoko let loose with, "I don't want to talk about it right now. I love them. I do. They're family. I want them to love you, and I want you to love them. But it's difficult.

The trip home last Christmas had been difficult, too. I told you how my older sister Riku never came back from Tutorial? That was years ago, and if she had chosen to go to Daihoon then they would have caught her on the systems on that side of the Two Worlds. Like… You saw how 'cultivated wilds' it is over there. When I went to Tutorial and came back with Platinum Body and…" Isoko looked away, flying gently next to Mark. She said, "There's a reason I left home and went to Citadel Freyala.

I love them, I really do, but it was… I have a large family and only 6 of them 'matter'— and it's not right to say that because none of them think that way and Grandma certainly doesn't but they act that way and it was very, very tough. It's going to be tough, until it's not." Mark reached out and took her hand.

"Okay." Isoko changed the subject, "Do you wanna go to Crystal Tower right now, or do you want to organize your list of Powers?"" Ah… yeah. That's gonna be part of the day's events, I imagine? Let's set down…" Mark looked around— Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings." Follow me!" Isoko said, dragging Mark along. Mark let himself be dragged.

Isoko took them to the top of a pagoda on a small hill in a forest in the city, right to the upper level, saying, "This is one of the family's shrines we upkeep in the city. I got to land here and look at the city from the top for the first time on Christmas before we left for the settlement, like 16 months ago. When I was a kid I had to… to sneak up here." She looked away, past the horizon.

"No one will bother us up here." Mark looked at Isoko for a moment longer, knowing that she was having some deep emotions she wanted to process and that she needed a minute or ten, too. She liked this tower, but it, just like the 'Wandering Clan Compound', inspired a lot of emotions. Mark thought the tower was nice. It was all wood and neat to look at, especially as the sun began to rise in the East and New Tokyo glinted to the south, Crystal Tower looming large.

But here, it was all natural and quiet, and the birds tweeted in the trees. Peaceful. Isoko stood at the railing, looking out, mind far away. Mark sat down and turned inward. The first thing Mark noticed about his soulhouse was that Isoko's bed was the same as before, but the curtains were up and the bed was empty. Mark would look at that more, later, but for now he went to his Skiller room and began combing through the Powers he had ripped out, and that he had left scattered on the floor. The big Powers were fine.

Annihilating Light, Soul Kill, Instant Hit, and more, were all in the bottom, important shelves where he had put them. What he had decimated to make room for Isoko, however, were a lot of the random things he had grabbed from the blockade, and some of the Restricted Powers that weren't worth keeping with the big ones. Mark already noticed that he was missing Eye Creation and Cancer Control, which was kind of a loss, and also not a loss at all. He got to sorting.

Eye Creation and Cancer Control were still gone —they hadn't fallen onto the floor and gotten lost somewhere; they were really gone— along with a bunch of Body Powers that Mark was probably never going to give to anyone anyway. His Animate Ghost and Animate Undead were gone, and that was annoying. He could have used those to figure out more about Necromancer, which he was pretty sure he was never going to unslot, since it offered a lot of protection from one of the deadliest mana types out there.

Mark finished sorting. It looked really, really good.

Good Great Restricted Specialized Body Brawny (x3), Healthy Body (x3), Strong Body (x6), Superstrength, True Brawny (x7), Lightspeed, Speedster (x7) Chimeric Body, Diamond Body*, Light Body*, Slime Body, Vampiric Body, Wraith Body* Breeder (x2), Shaper Fire Shaper (x3), Plant Shaper, Stone Shaper (x2), Water Shaper (x3), Wind Shaper (x4) Chlorokinesis, Force Shaper, Light Shaper, Sky Shaper, Telekinesis (x8), Terrakinesis, Void Shaper Psychokinesis* Mind Shipwright (x5), Smart (x3) Battlemind (x6), Logistician (x2), Tactician, Technopath (x2) Dazzle, Enslave, Mesmerize, Zealotry Natural Sailor (x13), Beautiful Existence, Commander (x2), Dragonslayer (x6), Dreaming*, Fast, Flight, Leader (x4), True Aim, Visionary, Weird Killer, Lovely Scent*, Pain* Meaty Arcane Create Horror (x9), Create Undead (x3), Bolt (x4), Fly, Instant Hit, Mage (x2), Possession (x2) Black Flame, Death Beacon, Death Bolt*, Drain Existence, Ghost Soul, Life From Death, Sense Swap*, Soul Kill, Transient Soul* Impregnate (x3) Arch Battle Manipulation, Vector Manipulation, Annihilating Light**, Bone Manipulation*, Importance Manipulation*, Misfortune Manipulation* Sex Manipulation* Mark had gained a whole lot of low level soldiering Powers, some commander Powers, and some high quality Shaper, Mind/techy stuff, necromantic stuff, and, perhaps the biggest haul of all: medium-high level speedster Powers.

The eponymous Speedster was just a x10 Speed boost and a 1. 5x Strength, so it wasn't a True Speedster's x35 modifier, like David had, but it was still Speedster, and Mark had 7 of them.' Enslave' under Mind was concerning as fuck. That one absolutely went under Restricted. Mark wasn't too sure about the Natural Power, Killer. He put it under Restricted, just because. The Natural Power, Dragonslayer, was an interesting one. Why did Okuana have so many of those to spare in the blockade?

Did they expect dragons to come to New Tokyo's rescue… Hmm? Maybe they did? Mark would need to ask someone about that. … Oh, actually, that was really important to ask about, wasn't it? But, anyway... Mark assumed that the tree-based Empire was, of course, where people such as Dragonslayers would naturally arise, but this was the first time Mark had seen it as an actual Power. What did it do, exactly? Did it only work against dragons? Or did kaiju count as dragons, too?

The whole idea that dragons and kaiju were different was rooted in a lot of mythology and facts, with kaiju arising from the world as terrible things that happened sometimes while dragons were the result of the union of mage and demon. So in that way 'kaiju' and 'dragon' were different. But Mark was pretty sure that kaiju were the result of the union of un-thinking monster and demon, so were dragons and kaiju kinda the same? … Probably not. But were they the same when it came to the Power, Dragonslayer?

This was a Natural Power, which meant it operated under the ideas of the person who had it, and those ideas were informed by both the user, and the influences of the world upon the user, through popular media and whatever the user personally thought. So maybe Dragonslayer worked on kaiju just fine? Whatever the case... It was those 7 True Brawnys and 8 Telekinesises that really got Mark thinking, big time, about making true heroes.

Kandon Valen, Aurora Valen's brother and kaiju killer, only had True Brawny and Telekinesis. That combination was all it took to make an adequate kaiju killer. In addition to that, Mark had a whole bunch of Battleminds and otherwise that would make the TB/TK combo even better. … And a Natural Fast? And Superstrength?! Mark could build an entire top rank superhero team out of this haul. Several teams!

He didn't have Dynamo or anything that would give a team real staying power, like how Union allowed a team to never stop fighting, but Citadel Freyala had lots of Union users and they would need some real dedicated powerhouses, right? Especially being inside Okuana's borders, right on the other side of the Veil. So Mark could make a whole superhero team for Citadel Freyala and they could survive there..." Holy fuck," Mark said, as the enormity of his haul from the blockade really hit him.

Isoko jolted out of her thoughts, turning toward him, asking, "You're excited?" Mark rapidly explained the bare necessities of what he had organized in his soul, and then he added, "And I'm pretty sure that the Natural Power, Visionary, is a big, big prognostication thing, and the Arch Power of Battle Manipulation is fucking Battle Manipulation." Mark excitedly said, "I have no idea what that can do! But it's big! And Vector Manipulation? The hell kinda busted ass shit is that?

You and I have a 'vectorsense', so can Vector Manipulation manipulate that, like..." Mark went quiet. Like how Psychokinesis worked, or more to the point: how the eldritch could manipulate a vector and make themselves unseen/unknown/unfelt. Ohhh. How the fuck did Mark even get Vector Manipulation if such a person could make Mark ignore them— The Clean House Ritual. Of course.

Maybe there was some major spy or operative hidden in the blockade and Mark had steamrolled him because he didn't think Mark could even see him, so the guy never bothered to really hide? Who knew! Mark added, "Quark, send off the list to Walaria!" Isoko's mind was abuzz with thoughts as her vector went wide and deep— She came back fast, saying, "Kandon needs support— Dawncoast needs support, Mark. Don't give everything to New Tokyo. But please give them a lot."" Of course!"

Mark easily said—" Walaria is calling, sir." Isoko nodded, stepping back, giving space. Mark answered, "Morning, Walaria!"" Quick updates: I've decided to support New Tokyo in their request for Jessie Stills to come by and see what he could do. I doubt he can do much since half a day has already passed. If it happens, it will happen within the hour and he will be escorted by Cade Waterson and a few others, some of whom I require you to Skill with some of the new Skills you have acquired. I will send a list.

I am particularly interested in Light Shaper, Light Body, and Annihilating Light, but you must not do that anywhere near anyone else. Visionary is important, as well as Battle Manipulation." You cannot give those to New Tokyo." We need that combination here in Alu a tha, or in Dawncoast." I would rather you return immediately, but ensuring New Tokyo becomes a staunch ally instead of a rival world power is important.

So, you must remain there and do good works like you did yesterday, but, I pray, less necessarily violent, though I assume you will do what you need to do, either way." Walaria's voice turned nicer, almost less formal, as she said, "It was a miracle yesterday, made possible by you and by Timeweaver. Recruit him, if you can. If you cannot, then we will use him from afar." She asked, "Is there anything you need?"" I want to support Citadel Freyala against retaliation from Okuana.

I could make a few world class superhero teams with this haul." Walaria solidly said, "It's in the works. I'll move it to a higher priority." Walaria ended the call. Isoko was worried and hopeful, as she asked, "Is Jessie actually coming?"" I'll talk to people and see how that's going to work out and then be there for him, but it'll be a big deal to let him out of Aluatha custody so he won't actually be outside of Aluatha's custody at all.

I'm absolutely sure that Timeweaver will be under orders to recruit him for New Tokyo." Isoko nodded a little, not saying anything. And then it was onward, to Crystal Tower.