Chapter 729: Staying vs. Going.
After a night of feasting and well wishes, the branch clan had decided that it was time for them to make the long journey back to Stone Claw City.
With this goal in mind, the branch clan immediately went to work packing and preparing for the trip, not exactly sleeping during the process.
It was during this hectic state of movement that Zhen Liu was found laying in his suite’s bed while staring at the ceiling. His bags were already packed, due to not bringing much in the first place. That and because he used the zakos to help put everything away.
While his body wasn’t moving, his mind was hosting a tribunal with Logos and Pathos. He could technically have done all this while moving about, maybe he could’ve also made it at least look like he was meditating, but he found it easier to communicate with them while he was laying down like this.
At least that’s what he told himself, when he realized how lazy it made him look to outsiders.
‘My first option is to tell the family that I have decided to stick around Roaring Tide for a bit in order to train under Matriarch Zhen Xun Tia. Studying abroad as it were, probably throw in a line about how my “master” thought it’d be good for my development to learn from a whole bunch of different teachers.’
=That…is actually a pretty good idea, milord. Gives you a strong alibi, strong reason to stay and it’s a chance to try and experience not just what your family’s culture is like but how it is in the rest of the kingdom and the empire beyond that. Hell, I’m fairly certain Princess Jinju Ren would even be more than happy in giving you a tour of the Empire, herself.=
‘…but that would also mean I’d have to stay under the same roof as Matriarch Zhen Xun Tian and she is terrifyingly perceptive woman. I can already predict myself getting caught and having to explain where I was going and why while under duress.’
‘Yes, but that aforementioned fiancée is incredibly…blunt, to say the least. There is a very high possibility that she just says the honest truth and rats me out to the matriarch, that or she makes me actually do the fake date plans for real.’
=To be fair, if you did get caught, it would be for a less terrible crime than an honor killing. Granted, it would be a crime of omission. Which…probably wouldn’t end with you having less bones than a jellyfish…probably.=
A little after Zhen Liu had finish setting up Zhen Jun Yao to expose himself like a moron while Zhen Li reaped the obvious benefits while redirecting a good chunk of animosity towards him, Zhen Liu had one of the kaijin check up on Elder Zhen Tinh, the guy who almost got him and his cousins killed by a cursed hammer.
The best way he could describe the man’s state after Zhen Xun Tian’s “loving” visit was…bad.
Just…bad.
[I’m going to be honest, milord, I did now know legs could bend that way.]
‘They normally don’t, Nepherage. They normally don’t.’
[Oh.]
Either way, Zhen Liu was fairly certain that angering his great grandaunt would probably end in pain, and possible death, so he didn’t want to risk accidentally ticking her off.
That and he didn’t want to be held responsible for any deaths that would occur if this hypothetical entrance to the Abyssal Lands existed and was shared back with the main branch clan.
‘Option two was to figure out a way to set up a portal or something of that nature that connects from here to back home. I mean, y’all help me set up this key that connects me back to the library from literally anywhere from around the world. There has to be something in the library to connect two continents together, right?’
In Zhen Liu’s mind, this was probably the best option of the two.
It would allow him to keep Stone Claw City as his hub of operations and depending on how it was set up, it could even act as yet another emergency escape if his [Key to Nowhere] suddenly stopped working.
Unfortunately, he heard the one sound coming from Logos and Pathos that he dreaded more than them making weird, out-of-pocket observations.
<=Er...=>
The sound of them being hesitant.
‘Ok, what’s the problem?’
‘But…’
=Their requirements are either incredibly expensive or require the usage of skill and abilities that not even the kaijin can use due to their current physiologies and rankings.=
‘Godsdammit.’
Once again, Zhen Liu was confronted by the fact that despite the two library spirits seeming to know basically everything, even they were forced to deal with the issue that plagued every organization, person and animal in existence: resource allocation.
‘Alright….dare I ask what kind of requirements am I expecting here?’
=That is an incredibly broad question with multiple answers, milord. Try to condense that to specific categories.=
‘Let’s start with the arts since that will probably have the less…expensive requirements…I hope.’
‘Wait. [Chaos] can’t be used to substitute in for anima?’
=Surprisingly, no.=
‘Huh…’
‘Of course.’
As far as Zhen Liu knew, [Chaos] could essentially do and be everything, so the fact that it couldn’t mimic something like anima was…weird to him to say the least. On top of that, the explanation that Logos and Pathos provided him in regards to why this was the case, didn’t exactly put him at ease.
=We’re not entirely sure why that’s the case either. As far as we can tell, it’s matter of substance.=
‘Substance?’
=Aether is basically everywhere and can come in a variety of forms, kind of like that “qi” stuff mentioned in your memories. Anima, for whatever reason, can only be found inside the minds of humans or those with human blood. If you humans weren’t so…genetically flexible…then there would be a very high possibility that anima cultivation would be a human exclusive trait.=
‘Interesting…’
‘What the fuck?’
‘Alright…what about the aether treasures?’
Now that Zhen Liu had access to not only a really powerful cursed hammer that was explicitly designed to help in the creation of tools and treasures, but [Ghost Flame] as well, he was fairly certain that he could at least go through the effort of trying to gather everything and make the damn thing himself.
He made the [Key to Nowhere] in what was essentially an abandoned quarry while two ghosts in his head gave him instructions, he could do it again.
Evidently, he was about to be sorely disappointed again.
=Well…depending on what blueprint we use, you could probably make a couple dozen single use teleportation treasures…=
‘Warp deformity?’
‘Ignoring that statement, but I understand what you mean. What about the higher tiered stuff?’
=Well, a bunch of these materials are either extinct or heavily guarded and I don’t think you want to try and break into the treasury of a man we have labelled as the “Blood Drinking Emperor of Skull Molestation.=
‘You…you’re fucking with me on that name, right?’
‘Okay…’
‘What the fuck?’
At this point in time, Zhen Liu was exhausted just being informed that most of the methods he wanted to do involving long distance transport were either prohibitively expensive or stupid difficult to establish in the first place.
As such, he deemed it necessary to get out of his room, go downstairs and find something to either drink or bang his head against.
He was hoping for the former.
‘Wait…isn’t this the part where something gets thrown at me that causes my entire planning process to go sideways?,’ Zhen Liu mildly thought as he made his way down to the lobby.
Hopefully, nothing would happen.
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[Is it just me, or am I sensing an aura of haughtiness, naughtiness and dragonic royalty all at once?]
