We ate for another few minutes before Doremy leaned back and pushed her plate toward the center of the table. "That was great; I forgot how thick material food tastes," She said, slumping into her chair with her eyes closed.
"Alright," She said with a humph of effort as she shot back up and leaned her arms on the table as I set my knife and fork on the plate and, tapping my fingers on the table, cast Prestidigitation to clean my mouth, removing the few spots of food that I might have missed or otherwise got on my face.
"I suppose I'll start with a question, what is Dreaming?" She asked while leaning forward, her smile still in place as I tried to formulate a response.
"Dreaming is either what most mammals do when sleeping or something you want," I replied, somewhat hesitant because, despite my knowledge and understanding of dreams, I was still a complete amateur compared to Doremy.
"Close, it can be described as a far-off want, and everything, no matter how big or small, has dreams; I came into existence much like gods from the dreams of the first multicellular beings."
I furrowed my eyebrows as I thought over what she said. It was tenacity possible, but I didn't think that something as simple as cellular beings could even have dreams.
"How, to my understanding, such simple things should not be able to dream?" I asked to which her smug grin only grew, "It's quite simple; everything has a wish. For those beings, it was often simple things such as more food or to grow, but uncountable beings all having dreams can create a single sapient being no matter how stupid they are."
"That explains how you were born, and I suppose that there wasn't enough belief to create another, so you were the lone goddess?" I asked, and as she nodded, I continued my questioning.
"Alright, but if you were a goddess, how did you become whatever you are now?" What had already been said made sense even if I didn't really understand the underlying mechanics of it, but ascending from goddess to whatever Doremy is was a step I didn't understand.
"Well, for a long time, I was the only being, and so I decided to explore the nascent dream world. However, one day, after delving deep into the slowly filling dreamworld, I couldn't wake up." She said, her grin turning sad for a few moments as she seemed to regret that mistake.
"After that, I wandered the dreamworld for what must have been eons learning more about it than anybody else before arriving at its center," She counted her eyes looking over my shoulder, still caught in the past.
"It was there I saw my own dreams of returning to my body and learned that I was already past that. I had mantled dreams and ascended past anything that had ever existed or would exist for thousands of years."
"What is mantling something?" I inquired, tilting my head as Doremy turned her gaze back to me and explained. "Mantleing is my word for embodying something so closely that you can't be separated. However, only one person can mantle something at a time, which is why we don't have a Sun Ascendant."
"Correct me if I'm wrong," I said, holding up my hands as I started to verbally parse through what she had told me. "Upon being so powerful or indistinguishable from something, you will become an Ascendant, which would make you the Dream Ascendant,"
She nodded while applauding me, managing to figure out her explanation, "I'm a bit of a special case as my mantle allows me to lock away my older memories and interact with gods and other temporary beings. No matter how long you live, it's only the blink of an eye against infinity." She finished before standing up and floating a few inches above the ground.
"I'm going to explore Gensyoko, maybe poke Sumireko in the material world. Thank you for the food," Doremy said before turning and floating through the door and presumably towards the Path and Gensyoko proper.
Drumming on the table, I thought over the revelation Doremy had given me. There was a step past godhood, which was both terrible and fascinating; it would allow me to be truly immortal but would warp me over time and prevent me from dying so long as my aspect existed.
Which given the fact I would be shooting for fantasy and True Immortals existed meant I would always exist. That would be a heavy burden to bear no matter who held it, and it made sense my Doremy sealed her memories away so she could interact with other beings that had not existed since the Earth first developed life.
Shaking my head, I stood up and started collecting the plates. Using Prestidigitation to remove any detritus, I placed the plates back where they came from before checking my mental clock.
It was nearing three am, which was early for the sun to be rising, but I shrugged it off as summer approached, given that I had felt the temperature increase in the past few days.
This was much too early to go and have Yuuka teach me, which meant I needed to find something to while the time away. Striding to my new library, I decided to spend a few hours parsing through the pages as while I was given the knowledge, it would still take time to properly understand it, and I could do some edits while I read.
I felt the Grimoire pulse and grow as I pulled a few of the books on Formalcraft off the shelves and towards the small arrangement of the tables in the library. Sitting down, I retrieved my small blue book and started to copy down important rituals and make edits so they could function better in a world without Gaia.
A few hours passed as I converted the Formalcraft to proper rituals that could tap less into the connected network of Gaia and into the smaller leylines and ambient magic that coursed throughout Gensokyo
I then heard the sound of somebody opening my front door, which was strange as while I didn't have any active defenses, the Path was still out of the way.
Closing and leaving both the blue book and the book on Chronomancy on the table, I walked out of my library and saw a familiar figure standing in my front room.
It was Marisa with a grin on her lips as she held her broom in her left hand and looked around the room. "Hey!" She said, waving as she spotted me leaving my library; I noticed as her eyes focused on the large room filled with books behind me.
"Hello, Marisa," I said while walking into the kitchen and gesturing for her to follow me. "Would you like a cup of tea, and do you mind telling me why you're here?" I asked while pulling out the supplies for tea from my cabinet.
"Sure, I'll take some tea," Marisa said, leaning her broom against the table as she sat down. "As for why I'm here, well, the sun came up early today, which means this is an Incident."
Humming as I set the tea down, I took a sip from my own cup and raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't explain why you are here?" I asked as she took a messy drink from her own, panting as the near-boiling tea burned her mouth.
"Just checking in on the newcomers ya know how it is; any time somebody new arrives, they always cause problems." She said, and now I could see how she was subtly tense under her dress, and her right hand was under the table.
"I didn't cause any of this. I'm just as baffled as you are. However, I do have a business to attend to, so do you mind leaving?" I asked as I stood up, and she finished off her tea, still wincing at its heat.
"Sorry, can't happen," Marisa said, standing up and retrieving her Mini-Hakkro from her apron. "Ya see, I like to think I'm a smart witch, and, strangely, ya have a strange glow around your place along with that massive tree,"
I rubbed my brow before brushing past the witch, still on guard to prevent myself from being hit in the back. She followed me outside, picking up her broom as we left my house.
As I stepped off the porch, I held up my hand and used Telekinesis to rip Marisa's broom from her grasp, and as she stumbled from the force, I opened a gap between her feet, causing her to plummet into the space between spaces.
Peering into the black depths, I focused and opened another gap that dumped her out in front of the village, causing the guards to point their guns at the gap before noticing Marisa falling out.
I closed the gaps before she could attempt to enter them and set her broom down on my porch. She could get her broom back from Myrko, but I didn't want to fight a human witch when I had training with Yuuka in a bit.
Picking the broom back up, I walked down the Path and emerged into the backyard of my chapel. I frowned as I could hear sounds of fighting happening from inside said building.
Propping Marisa's broom against the back wall, I entered to pandemonium. Mykro was flying in the air flinging magical projectiles against Reimu, who had nimbly avoided them and returned fire with thin needles that cracked stone and, as I watched, shattered one of the glass windows.
It seemed that Reimu believed that I was a part of this incident; however, she was not polite enough to enter my house and have a talk like Marisa. While the witch did want to start a fight, at least she waited until we were outside my home.
Summoning my parasol to my hand, I pointed it to a Reimu and, with a muttered word, cast Hold Person. She immediately froze and dropped like a stone toward the ground; however, before I could do anything to prevent her from hitting the ground, she seemed to fade away, leaving nothing behind.
"Reimu!" I shouted, "Let's have a talk, shall we? There is no need for a fight today!" I continued as said miko repaired with small strips of paper held in one hand with her strange weapon held in the other.
Mykro had stopped firing and floated down until she stood beside me as we looked up at the irate shrine maiden. I held both my hands up and let my parasol slide until it rested between my thumb and pointer away from Reimu and not a threat.
"Listen, let's sit down and have a chat instead of flinging around magic and breaking my chapel," I said, attempting to remain calm, but a smidge of irritation bubbled up as I saw the ruined windows and cracks that both Reimu and Mykro had left.
"All right, Father, I'll go grab chairs and tea!" Mykro shouted as she darted off the edges of her clothes flapping behind her as Reimu stared down in shock while I sighed deeply.
It seemed that Mykro was still poking at me, and now I knew that no matter what, Reimu and anybody else she talked to would think I had a daughter.
Slowly floating down, still on guard, Reimu spoke in a confused tone, "You have a daughter?" She asked as I grimaced before replying. "Yes, in the most technical sense, she is my creation but has taken to calling me Father,"
At this point, Mykro returned with three chairs, a table, and teapots, all held by vines that emerged from under her clothes. "I know that Father is going to see Mother today, which is why he is grumpy that you interrupted him,"
Reimu cast another look at me, clearly much more relaxed. I was cut off from responding as the Grimoire grew, and I could feel something being sucked out of my chest before everything went back to normal a split second later.
Coughing slightly, I glared at Mykro for suggesting I had a kid with Yuuka, as while it was somewhat correct, it was only in the most superficial manner.
"I don't particularly care. I just want you to say what you know about the incident," Reimu said; however, her tone of voice betrayed that she was curious who this mother could be but was willing to push aside her curiosity to solve the current issue plaguing Gensyoko.
"I don't know. I'm a god of the moon, not the sun; to further that, I don't have anything that could affect when the sun rises and sets. I like to think I'm powerful, but pissing off the remaining sun gods is not a good idea," I said emphatically, trying to get my point across.
Rubbing the bridge of her nose Reimu seemed annoyed that she had traveled to my chapel and got into a fight with Mykro for nothing; while looking at my 'daughter,' I could tell that she enjoyed it. Overall it was a waste of time.
Frowning, Reimu rose to her feet, still giving me a suspire look, "I'll be taking my leave, but if you try anything-" "You'll exterminate me, I know," I interrupted what seemed to be her catchphrase at this, point.
Her glare only intensified, so I raised my hands in the air, "As I said before, I came here to enjoy myself, so causing problems is the last thing I want." Seeming to be satisfied that I hadn't caused any problems, Reimu stood up and floated out of the door, leaving her tea untouched.
As the door slammed shut behind the Miko, Mykro popped up and finished off her tea with an obnoxious slurp that had me wincing. "So, Father, can I go solve the Incident?" She asked, leaning on her staff with a guileless smile on her face that didn't fool me for a second.
"Sure, just don't die. It'll be a pain to resurrect you," I said nonchalantly, causing her eyes to widen before she giggled and flew out with the chapel doors slamming shut behind her.
With a flick of my wrist, I sighed as I cast Telekansis and moved the furniture back where Mykro had presumably grown it. I then grabbed Maria's broom and set it outside my front door for her to grab whenever she showed up again.
Doing a quick check on the time once again, I saw that it was nearing six am, which was still somewhat too early to be bargaining into somebodies house and demanding lessons, so I returned to my library and chronomancy notes.
More time passed; however, this time, I was interrupted not by a witch breaking in but by the soft pitter-patter of Komainu walking into the new library.
She looked around in awe as I carefully put down my books and turned to face her. "What can I do for you," I said softly, a smile on my face as she yawned and rubbed her eyes. "I haven't been seeing you recently," She complained while pouting in a manner that immediately made my heart clench.
It was true; I had been focused on what Gensokyo had to offer and spending very little time with my adoptive sister. However, I was unable to fix that today as I was both training with Yuuka and fighting Tenshi.
"Alright," I said, standing up and walking over to Komainu, "How about tomorrow we head into the Human Village and have a nice day? I have plenty of money, so feel free to go wild." I continued even as a small part of me winced at the idea of giving somebody free rein to spend my money, but I quashed that thought.
Her eyes brightened as she jumped, and her arms enveloped my waist. I was then promptly reminded that no matter how young-looking or inoffensive she was that she was a youkai, as her strength forced me to brace myself so I did not get knocked on my back.
"Really?" She asked, her eyes wide in hope as her arms tightened around my waist while I enveloped her in a hug and replied, "Of course, I don't lie."
"Alright, I'll tell my friends I can't come over tomorrow," She said, smiling and skipping off as I returned the wave. Standing up from my kneeling position, I groaned as I habitually rolled my shoulders.
I felt none of the pain that would typically plague me after bending down, which was still an amazing feeling after months of being freed from the issues of a mortal body.
I wasn't entirely on board with the transhuman idea, but one thing I did support was the quality of life changes. Dismissing the strange thoughts, I decided to check what that strange feeling was earlier and summoned the Grimoire to my side.
Flipping through the pages, I read the new power called Elemental Seeds; it stated clearly that every week I would get twelve seeds per affinity I had which wasn't well described.
I did see under the text five small indents that, when I reached inside, held a dozen tiny seeds similar to large sunflower seeds. As the Grimoire in my hand pulsed, I retrieved the sixty seeds and set them on my kitchen table.
Passing through the book, I saw that I had twelve seeds for each of my domains and an additional twelve for my attribute. That meant I had seeds of magic, fantasy, dream, the moon, and unholiness. I had no clue how any of these would be when grown, but I couldn't wait to test them out soon.
However, I had an appointment with Yuuka, so I carefully placed the seeds in one of my cabinets and strode out of my house after slinging my parasol over my shoulder.
Following the Path, I emerged in the backyard of my chapel and continued on my way, noticing that Marisa's broom was missing. My way continued as I floated in the air, flew towards Yuuka's garden, and past that into her dream realm.
I saw the ruler of this small realm striding out of her mansion gates as the gatekeeper, Elly, bowed and closed the overgrown steel gate behind her. Yuuka looked up to face me as I landed on the ground, my identical parasol slung over my shoulder.
I hesitated momentarily as I saw strange things I hadn't seen the last time I was here. Yuuka had sunflowers growing from her head, twining around her body, and emerging from her sleeves, and under her clothes were vines that leaked a strange milky sap that tingled to my divine senses.
Elly was also strange as her eyes peered at me with empty sockets filled with naught but the pink stuff that made up the dream stuff; the rest of her body looked like a small layer of skin pulled over a poorly made puppet, small sticks poking out included.
"Good morning," I said, giving a nod to both Yuuka and Elly; I received a nod from Yuuka and a polite bow from Elly. "I see you are on time," Yuuka said, walking past me, "Follow me," she continued.
I voiced my question as we walked towards the border between the dream realm and Yuuka's garden. "I noticed something different about you and Elly today. Is that new, or did I just not notice it before,"
Turning to face me, Yuuka's smile blossomed into something unnerving to behold; between her teeth, I could see lotus spinning as the strange sap started to drip onto the ground leaving behind nary a trace as the ground absorbed it, and miniature sunflowers sprouted up.
"I see you have opened your eyes, so few bother to see the world truly anymore," Yuuka complained with a heavy sigh, "Even that shrine maiden as altered as her bloodline is looked into our world with barely open eyes."
That sounded like a fascinating topic and something that Yukari had hinted at with her passive over Reimu's blood and my speculation on how intertwined she was with Gensokyo. However, before I could ask any questions, Yuuka spoke.
"Today, if we do well enough, I will explain what you see in me and the changes that the Hakurei bloodline has gone through if you do expectantly well,"
I nodded before voicing a new question, "What training will we be doing today?" To my question, Yuuka's smile grew while the lotus behind her teeth spun faster, and she replied with one word, "Perception,"
Immediately after, I felt vines slam into my back and envelop my bones. They started to twist as I attempted to struggle free; however, I lacked the proper leverage and was released to Yuuka shaking her head.
"I see we have a lot to work on," Was all she said before I was forced to dance and dodge around increasingly harder patterns. However, no matter how skilled I was or the tricks I used, Yuuka always managed to score a blow on me from my blindspots or force me to focus on too many things before I slipped up.
"Your issue is that you still think like a mortal! Open your gaze and see; you lack eyes!" She shouted as a flurry of spines coated in a shining liquid slammed into my back, and the venom seeped into my marrow, causing my bones to erupt into flame as the Flames of Agony worked to purge the venom.
Stumbling, I raised my parasol to knock aside her thrust as I returned fire with a Caladbolg that detonated and sent me stumbling back as Yuuka emerged from the dust cloud unharmed and conjuring more attacks.
"Cast aside your ocular sight; see with your soul like a true god!" She shouted as her parasol came swinging towards me like a sledgehammer causing me to sidestep it only to be blindsided by another Yuuka, piercing my ribs and flinging me to the ground.
Gasping in pain as my ribs broke again, I grinned painfully as I returned to my feet and summoned my parasol back to my side. Yuuka was content to wait and allow me to get my feet under me.
"You no longer need eyes, observe the world around you in all of its totality," the flower youkai said as she held her parasol over her shoulder, relaxed as if she was going for a stroll.
Focussing on her words, I took a deep breath as Yuuka swung her parasol up, and I saw plants twining and shooting toward me. I felt a brief pain, and, for a few moments, I saw around me as if I had eyes lining my head.
Easily sidestepping the vines even as they split and attempted to entangle me. However, I stumbled as a single thorny vine looped around my foot and probably caused me to get buried in plants wrapping around my bones.
"You were acceptable even if it did take you several hours," Yuuka said as, with a flick of her wrist, the vines sled back into the ground as if they weren't there.
Scrambling to my feet, I coughed up a lick of flame as the Flames of Agnoy finished their work, and the Grimoire grew. Following behind her, we returned to the sitting room where we had talked and had tea before.
Sitting down, I enjoyed the excellent mint tea that was the perfect mix of warm but not too hot as Yuuka started to speak. "You are competent in terms of firepower; however, your perception leaves a lot to be desired; that is why I wish for you to focus on keeping up a small amount of awareness at all times. It will hurt, but you are freeing your mind from the shackles of mortality, so pain is expected."
I turned that statement over in my head. It made sense as I had noticed things outside my vision quite a few times, but I chalked that up to not having eyes. From what Yuuka said, it sounds like that was true, but I needed to focus on keeping that type of sight up all the time.
"I see, so you are saying I can see all around me without needing eyes?" I asked to confirm my suspicion, and when she nodded as she was taking a sip from me, I mentally marked down to attempt to keep up that extrasensory sight going forward.
"I do have a question now that you have finished holding me; that you for that, by the way," I said as we both continued to drink the tea before Yuuka rolled her wrist in a go-ahead motion.
"What are all those vines, sunflowers, and lotus I see now? You aren't acting any different, so I surmise it is something with me, but I want to know what I'm seeing," I asked while setting down my fine china cup patterned with various flowers as I leaned forward.
"What is the difference between old and young youkai?" Yuuka asked while she also set her tea down; however, unlike me, she was completely relaxed with lidded eyes as her pupils bore into me.
"Age and power?" I replied, even knowing that was a poor response, but I couldn't think of any significant difference; most likely, it would be that the younger they were, the less time they had to gather fear and faith, leading to less power, but I was unsure.
"To put it simply, biology," the flower youkai explained before continued seeing my confusion. "The older youkai, such as myself, Yukari, and Suikia, are comprised almost entirely of faith, and if faith were to dry up, we would almost certainly die. On the other hand, younger youkai, such as," At that, she trailed off and drummed her fingers on the table as if trying to come up with a suitable example before snapping her fingers and counting.
"Such as Wriggle, that young bug who comes around my garden. She lacks almost all of the buglike attributes such a youkai should have; she has no chitin, mandibles, or even a stinger. Her only trait is an antenna which can be mostly supported by biology, with any small issues being smoothed over with a tiny amount of faith."
"If she were to travel to the outside world, she would only need a family or two to believe in her, and she would be able to survive. Now it would be uncomfortable, and she would be greatly weakened while youkai such as myself would have to resort to other methods due to us requiring such a vast amount of fear. This is not even counting the shift from fear to belief that Gensokyo has been pushing in recent times,"
"Fascinating," I breathed out as my hands twitched for something to write down what Yuuka was saying. She was saying that most youkai nowadays were formed mostly from biology and could likely be affected like a human could, even if faith did make them more reslant.
This was supported by my test creation of a sunflower youkai, it was almost entirely made from faith, and only my knowledge that it existed in my field ensured it existed. At the same time, youkai, like Mystia and Wriggle, both seemed like people with a few extra bits.
"Now I do not doubt that the other elder youkai have plans; I know that Yukari has a method to sustain herself when she leaves, and when Gensoyko falls, I have the plan to ensure I do not starve," Yuuka stated as if no matter what happened she would be untouched and to be honest I kinda believed her.
Mykro had survived a nuclear war and what sounded like being hit head which was something I was not confident about surviving. In addition, she would have likely gone to heal and be just fine if her version of Yukari hadn't interfered, which only supported Yuuka's belief in her survival.
"I do believe that you have a fight with Tenshi and a Baku to talk to," Yuuka suddenly said, snapping me out of my contemplation as I looked up at her in shock.
Giggling, Yuuka stood up and explained, "She came earlier and shared a few things as a thank you for assistance and a promise to meet in the physical world for tea in the future."
"Fair enough," I said, standing up and grabbing my parasol, quickly swinging it over my shoulder as Yuuka showed me out. Giving a wave goodbye, I kicked off and left the dream world that Yuuka ruled over.
Then as the Grimoire grew, I flew towards Reimu's shrine, I didn't know precisely where Tenshi would be, but last time, that was where she was. In the worst case, I could ask around. Still, I did need to be quick as I doubted Reimu would be in a hospital mood, given the fact that the sun was high in the sky and casting an unnatural heat on the land that caused me to blink rapidly as I felt a faint burning behind my eyes even as I landed outside of her shrine.
Powers Gained
Elemental Seeds
An elemental seed is the condensed essence of an element, and they're almost exclusively produced by Druids or Mages capable of creating enchantments replicating their methods. They have various uses, such as powering enchantments or magical items, and are required in the process of giving an object an elemental ability. Druids also use them to introduce new elements into their Grove, and need them to cultivate their affinities past the 25% point. As such, each of them is fairly valuable, with the price skyrocketing once you go beyond the basic seven elements and to incredibly rare ones such as Time.
They are also pretty time intensive to make, requiring about an hour of work for each, even for people relatively skilled in their creation. But now, you won't ever have to worry about that, as you'll get a dozen Seeds for each of your affinities delivered either to your warehouse or another place you designate, every week. Their quality depends on the level of your affinities: from 5% to 25% you'll get low-grade ones, from 25% to 50% medium-grade ones, from 50% to 75% high-grade ones, and finally, from 75% up to 100% you'll get top-grade seeds.