On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

Thirty-Four

Returning to my room and looking at my stored ether, which was piled haphazardly around my Territory Anchor, the Silo having overflowed a while ago, I decided on my course of action. The first thing was to drop the four Ether Spires I was allowed, in the park area that was Shaeula’s lair. Not only was the ether density higher there, and so would bring me more ether, I would be able to absorb the rich elemental essence of wind. That would require storage, so I would have to build an Elemental Silo as well. And now that I was dealing with larger quantities of ether, upgrading my Silo was also a must.

Of course, I cannot neglect the Barracks, Shaeula is eyeing me with a pleading gaze, and she has been really helpful… long term it’s necessary anyway.

Once I had spent pretty much all the ether we had I checked the building queue. It was split into two now, which definitely made things easier.

The first queue would build two Ether Spires, taking two Astral days, and then at a cost of twelve thousand five hundred ether it would upgrade my Barracks, over ten more Astral days. The second queue would build two more Ether Spires over two Astral days, and then an Elemental Silo and an upgrade to my Silo, taking four more Astral days. Once I had accumulated enough ether I would then drop an upgrade to the Elemental Silo into the queue, it then finishing one day earlier than the Barracks.

Easy come, easy go I guess… I felt sadness as my ether was consumed, but the infrastructure was essential, especially with the extra Ether Spires. Once the Barracks are done, I’ll upgrade the new Spires to Rank two as well. The quicker they can start generating me profit the better. Then I can think about Rank three now my Territory has been… holy crap!

The cost of upgrading an Ether Spire to Rank 3 was seventy-five thousand ether, and it would take fifty Astral days! Checking the Barracks I saw that it would take one hundred and twenty-five thousand and one hundred Astral days to reach Rank 3. Each of those is pretty much more than I’ve spent on everything else so far… It looked like when my Territory was upgraded the new levels of buildings cost way more than before…

I guess I’ll be sticking to Rank one and two Buildings for a while… though getting the Ether Spires to Rank three should be a priority, as I bet they generate a lot more ether and elemental essence… The only plus side was the Building I needed for my master plan, which had seemed ruinously expensive at fifty thousand ether for Rank 1, was now looking cheap in comparison.

Shaeula was still looking at me anxiously, so I ruffled her fur and grinned. “Relax. The upgrade is in the queue. The Ether Spires come first, but in a couple of days the Barracks upgrade will begin, and in ten more after that you can restore more of your kin.

After a moment she shook my hand off. “Hmph. I expected no-no less from you. I am pleased you appreciate the need for me to reclaim my kin-kin. Besides…” she continued. “If we are to defeat Grulgor and claim his Territory too-too, to say nothing of the elusive Raven Knight, then we will need-need stronger forces.”

“That‘s right, and to that end I have a plan as well.” I agreed. “But before that, we need to train. If we improve even a little it will increase our chances of staying alive and becoming victorious.”

“Of course-course. We should return to my lair and continue to work on the elemental wind-wind!” she declared, seeming eager to get back to her studies.

She’s such a good student. I wonder if my sis pays enough attention at school? Unlike Eri-chan she’s not exactly a model student, and her entrance exams are soon... Oh well, no use worrying, as it’s too late to change anything now anyway…

*********

“… I see-see.” Shaeula declared, amber eyes narrowed in concentration. “So that is what you mean-mean by compression. It certainly seems-seems powerful.”

I had used what little ether we had coming in to create some transient objects to aid in my explanations. A can of rocks, a can of water and a can of air, all with a sealed lid that could be pushed downwards, squeezing them. After some experimentation with this I had then recreated the classic experiment of the can with a flame inside that is crushed by air pressure, and shot several ball-bearings some distance with an air gun.

As the remnants of these creations faded back into the wider Boundary I nodded. “Air, if property compressed can hurl huge objects, rip apart steel and create huge explosions. Wind is just the movement of air, so most of your power will come from compression. If you can then add vibration as well then it can cut through most things, just like I did with the Jorogumo’s webs.”

“I shall master it, have no-no fear.” She said proudly, puffing out her chest. “I must experiment with this-this until I can compress my wind properly.”

“Yeah, and I have plenty to be getting on with, thanks to your advice. It will be interesting to see who masters their task first.” I teased, igniting her competitive spirit.

“It will-will clearly be me. I am a noble princess of the Fae, pure-pure-blooded royalty of the Seelie Court.” She declared. “While you have talent for sure-sure, you can not-not match my pedigree and experience.”

“Well then how about we make it interesting? The winner can make one request of the loser. Sound fun?”

“Hmph. The nerve-nerve of you! Prepare to kneel and kiss my feet-feet when I win!” she proclaimed.

“All right. Let’s both do our best.” I ignored her grumbled retort and began to draw in the elemental energies around me, stimulating my heart Chakra, trying to strengthen it and its generation of wind energies. I did this for a fair few hours, gently stimulating my Chakra. When I built up some energy I would use it to practice various attacks, as well as using it with my spear to come up with combat moves that mixed spear combat with wind energy.

Beside me Shaeula was also hard at work, her brows furrowed as she struggled to compress her wind correctly. Letting out a soft chuckle I turned back to my training, only to notice a change in the surroundings.

Pretty. The usual dark light that pervaded the Boundary, whether indoors or out, was now streaked with glowing ripples of rainbow colour, coming and going like raindrops sliding down a window. Faint flakes of white were falling, seemingly passing through the cave ceiling overhead. They shone brightly in the light, glittering like shards of multi-coloured jewels. Reaching out I tried to catch one, expecting it to be cold like snow, but it merely dissipated without a trace.

Beside me Shaeula piped up “I see-see. An Etheric tide is coming.”

“An Etheric tide? Is it dangerous?” I asked, concerned. Damn, that would be bad timing. We are just about to get our Territory in shape…

“Dangerous? Not-not directly I would say.” She answered after a moment’s thought. “You already know how time-time flows faster here in the Boundary, as opposed to your mortal realm, correct?”

I nodded in agreement. At this she continued, seemingly pleased I was listening to her so intently.

“Well then, you know that it is not-not so different, two or three times as fast-fast? Yet there are many-many tales of travellers entering the lands of the Fae, spending but a day or two there and emerging in a hundred years, or even-even before they entered?”

I had indeed thought about this before. It was a staple in tales, especially Western ones like from Britain.

“Well, quite often the responsibility for this-this lies in the Etheric tide. It washes in from the higher Astral and time-time quickens or slows depending on the tide. Most are calm, yet-yet rarely a great storm rages, and time itself quakes.”

“Do you think this one will be a storm?” I asked, concerned, and she shook her head.

“Unlikely I believe. More-more likely it will be a minor change. Still-still, there is no way to say for certain. We should keep-keep our guard up, for when the ether density increases, things best left-left alone from the deeps can stir. More monsters and creatures will-will no doubt appear. The lower Astral will touch the Boundary in many-many more places while the tide endures, and in some-some aberrant cases even the higher Astral may-may be felt, though lightly.”

Fascinating. Though I hope we don’t end up anywhere near the higher Astral. Knowledge is power, and Shaeula certainly had a fair stock of knowledge regarding the higher realms. “So, we need to be alert for rampaging monsters attacking our Territory, swimming in on the Etheric tides?”

“It is-is a possibility.” Shaeula agreed. Her amber eyes glowed as she peered into the glittering streaks of light snaking through the darkness. “We may also have-have to manage without you for longer as time quickens here. Time-time you spend in the Material may pass quicker here-here for now.”

I see. This was not necessarily a bad thing, as it would speed my construction and accumulation of more ether. However it would mean I wouldn’t be able to respond to problems in a timely manner. Damn, this is where I really need that Building…

“Well, just do the best you can. It’s a shame you can’t queue Buildings for me right now, but at least you can reinforce our weaselkin from the Barracks. If things look like they will get difficult I can always build some Defensive Emplacements next time I am here when we get more ether.”

“I will-will defend our Territory, have no fear.” She asserted. “But enough of this-this. We must continue our duel. I am close to grasping the compression, I am sure-sure!”

“All right.” I laughed. “We can keep going…”

*********

“All right, I think this is a good time to stop.” I said, sweat dripping from me and vanishing. The announcement of my first two Ether Spires having been constructed scrolled across my vision, meaning that I had been training for a solid day without rest. I wasn’t physically tired, but my mind definitely was exhausted, and my lunar and heart Chakra nodes prickled and burned uncomfortably.

“You could well-well be right.” Shaeula conceded, slumping down, exhausted. “It is hard-hard indeed to match your compression.”

“True.” I agreed, looking at the wall which was gouged with long narrow cuts. “But I find it hard to match your boundless wind energy. Of course, I am confident we can both succeed. Me first, of course.” I teased her.

“Are you that-that eager to make me submit to your demand?” She scowled. “Rest assured if you ask-ask for anything improper my father will have your head-head.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” I chuckled, causing her to cross her arms and scowl harder. “Anyway, at least you can practice while I am gone. But don’t forget to defend the Territory against any new threats that may arise.”

“I would not-not make such an error.” she stated coolly. “We will-will continue to gather ether. It will be-be easier during the tide. Those crystals, the Etherites you mentioned before, more are always found-found after every tide. The palace at the Seelie court has a treasury full-full of them. I had thought them just pretty baubles to look-look at, but if they have use…”

Well isn’t that something? The Seelie court interests me more and more… “I really need to get going now. Try not to miss me too much.”

Not hearing her retort I let my tired consciousness sink and woke up back in the Material plane.

The first thing I noticed was it was still dark. Glancing at my clock I saw that it was very early Wednesday morning. I had entered the Boundary late evening on Tuesday, and spent around thirty or so hours of objective time there. With the usual pace of time, that should have taken me through to Wednesday proper, a few hours from now. Was this the effect of the Etheric tide?

If so, that has interesting implications and applications. Should I take two days to return to the Astral, which wasn’t too taxing with my current Chakra network, then would six days or even more have passed for Shaeula? Assuming she can defend the Territory, which I can hope she will, assisted by what troops she has and my new stronger barrier, then my ether stocks should be starting to fill again…

Dragging myself out of bed I made a few quick calculations based on various guesses about the rate of time dilation. Interesting. This could work for me. Looking at the calendar on my phone, on which I had marked a few potential dates for various important activities, I made up my mind. It was time to start putting my expansion plan into motion!