Chapter 70: Chapter 68
I happily dug into the many dishes presented before me. How I really missed my homeland's cuisine, even if I enjoy variety about half the time.
Of course the sake was probably making it even better. I need to remember to grab a few bottles and bring them back to Sasaki.
And I suppose the company didn't hurt.
"Oh, here is an amusing one." My 'companion' had moved closer after we started talking. "Do you think he wants a sugar momma?" She read over her phone, some random comments about my adventures earlier.
I snorted, holding in the drink I took. "Well, did she include a picture?"
"Oh yes." She flipped it around revealing a very large woman in some very skimpy clothing. "Should I reply on your behalf? An opportunity like this does not come every day, one must seize chances like this."
"I could have sworn I killed that snake monster earlier today." I squinted my eyes at the picture before taking a look at Izzy as we both shared a laugh.
"I can see where you are confused." She nodded with a small smile on her face. "Perhaps we should ask for more pictures? I'm sure she has some more....flattering shots.... somewhere."
Frankly, how this all started was kind of a blur....I was pretty far into my drinks at this point.
I think we somehow started talking about what happened earlier in the city, then she recognized me and we somehow got to where we are now.
"Sure, as long as you filter everything before I see it." I offered.
"Oh no, I seemed to have closed the page, I guess we'll never know now." She said rather smoothly. "Alas, your dreams of waking up every night in her arms are now dashed."
"How convenient." I rolled my eyes.
"Quite." She held a small smile. "I'm curious what someone of your....origin, is doing here while this whole mess happened?"
My heritage wasn't exactly a secret anymore.
Well, that's a polite way of asking me why I was here I guess. "Eh, just got back to Japan after being away for a while. Thought I would pay respects to my mother and wanted to buy some things while I was up and about." I explained, not really feeling the need to hide anything. She didn't sound like she was accusing me of anything so I humored it.
And I believe my actions spoke much louder than my words. Probably the fact that any 'authorities' haven't been blatant about searching for me, even with all the crap going on for them.
"Mmm, a dutiful son then." She nodded in acceptance. "My children could learn a thing or too" She frowned.
"Children trouble?" I asked, she seemed like she wanted to just vent, and she listened to my ramblings for a while.
She let out a sigh, downing the remainder of her drink. "I have not seen my children in years." She shook her head, finishing off a glass of her own. "Just because we live longs lives doesn't mean I don't miss them....."
"Have you tried reaching out on your end?" I offered.
She pursed her lips, staring at the ceiling. "It would be.....unwise for me to pop in on them." She seemed rather melancholic. "They have rather high positions, and I don't want to cause them any more issues like I have in the past. Whether they would be happy to see me, I don't know, but I know for a fact that their subordinates and allies would be very much on edge with my appearance."
"Simply call them then?"
"I don't think they even use such things; they are a bit old fashioned." She admitted. "I only learned because I've been....." She cut herself off and sighed.
Ah, not too surprising, considering she wasn't human herself, though I had no idea what she was.
"A letter then, it doesn't even have to be anything important. Just say you miss them and haven't heard from then in a while."
She tilted her head at me. "And you think that will work?" She said quietly. "I was not the best mother in the past."
"Then start off small, ask them how they've been doing, maybe they just need someone to vent to or want to talk about some small stuff." I shrugged. "You'll never know if you don't at least make an effort." I pointed out. "Besides, what is the worse that could happen, they continue to not speak with you?"
"I see....I suppose you are correct." Her expression turned a little bit brighter, maybe even excited "I think....I will get started on that right away."
I was happy she looked a little better now. She kept me occupied from my own issues, so I'm glad I could return the favor. "Well, it was fun." I smiled. "It's always nice to find someone to drink with." I raised my last glass up and finished it off.
"Oh....of course. Yes, it was a pleasurable night." She returned the small smile. "Rarely do I find someone to speak to these days." She paused briefly, looking slightly unsure. "Would you like to exchange numbers? I find myself wishing for company sometimes." She seemed rather hesitant.
"That would be lovely." I genuinely replied, withdrawing a piece of paper and writing my new number on it.
She grabbed it and looked rather happy, I couldn't help but smile at her sincerity.
Huh, I guess I made a new friend....not like I have many of those.
Today was turning out to be not so bad, maybe I would go as far as to call it a good day.
***
I woke up and it was practically noon already, I groggily stood up, rubbing my head. It was throbbing slightly, I didn't have the biggest hangover, but It was definitely there.
I'm in...the house I was going to buy, did buy? I think I went over to that place and purchased it last night.
Yeah....that sounds about right.
I shook my head and rubbed my eyes.
"Ddraig, this is my house, right?"
[Yeah, you bought it yesterday.]
"Good, good." I nodded to myself. Would have been awkward otherwise.
Also, thankfully I had some furniture stored. I stared at the couch I just woke up on that was in the idlee of an empty room.
I blinked, looking at my phone, using it as a mirror as best as I could. "Hey Ddraig, did I get angry at the clerk at that store last night?"
[What do you mean?]
"Did I attack him, or was that a dream?"
[No you got annoyed at him for mentioning your 'father' and making you an 'esteemed client' or some other nonsense, but you didn't do anything else.]
"Oh okay." I let out a breath. I'm glad I'm not someone who does stuff like that. "Thanks Ddraig." I stretched my arms, having slept on them weirdly.
[No problem, it's fun to watch regardless.]
Hmm, I did drink a lot last night, more than I intended. I rarely ever get drunk, especially around people I didn't know too well.
"Hey Ddraig...do you know who Izzy is?" I questioned my companion.
[I have a few guesses, but it doesn't really matter. She didn't seem at all hostile.]
"Huh....i guess you're right." I smiled slightly.
Well, no need to be suspicious, it was merely chance we met and sorta became friends. If it's something important, I'm sure she'll tell me if we get closer. It was always nice to have more friends.
"Now, if I remember correctly......" I sent my gaze into my ring, looking for a very specific item—"aha" I quickly grabbed a thermos out and uncapped it, steam filling the air. "Glad I kept this with me." I muttered, pouring myself some coffee I kept.
"Well then, what's on the agenda today?" I casually sipped my hot beverage, peeking out the window and admiring the view. I had a fair little property right here in the city. The house was a more western style, two stories and a half dozen bedrooms. I guess you could even call it a mansion by some standards, cost quite a bit too.
Housing prices here are ridiculous.
"You know, this is an odd feeling, Ddraig."
[What?]
"Not having anything to do, no pressing matters to take care of." I looked up at the false sky, the fake clouds and sun that fall and rise like the outside. "Even when I was in Skyrim, there were always something I was working towards...in the Land of Shadows, I never felt like I stopped 'training' even when I was relaxing. Here, right at this moment, I have nothing I have to do."
[This is what you wanted, right?]
"Yeah." I admitted. "I'm not complaining, I suppose I'm just.....realizing how much I've been working since my memories appeared. Honestly, I feel off, almost guilty that I'm not doing something." I let out a small chuckle.
[Well, what do you want to do?.]
"I haven't asked myself that question in awhile." I smiled again, taking another sip. "I think, I want to play around with the house, set up some bounded fields, and maybe get started on the 'phasing' I've been thinking about."
The 'phasing' I didn't know what to call it right now, but it wasn't a bad name. To have my house existing at multiple spots in different worlds.
Finishing off my drink, I walked outside getting a better look at the property line. I summoned Gae Bolg into my hand, giving it a twirl as I held it over my shoulder and walked to corner by a tree.
I held the shaft of the spear up to my eye, using it as a reference point and measure some distance.
"I think I have an idea." I muttered, stabbing the spear into the ground then counting my paces as I walked to the other end of the property. I held my hands up, closing one eye trying to picture certain things in my head.
I took out Mirage and stabbed it into the ground right where I was, then went to another corner and did the same thing again with Dawnbreaker then the last corner with Ascalon.
Walking to my porch, I sat down on my steps and took out my notebook and a pen as I began some preliminary calculations.
"A square then?" I muttered, drawing a quick sketch of the area with he four points plotted. I tapped my pen against my chin. "No, the power would be too unevenly distributed, there needs to be a centralized location while the four areas act as anchors."
Curious, the Kaleidoscope doesn't like to be spread out....the dimensional energies tend to dissipate rather quickly if they aren't being 'forced' into very specific places with a firm hand, so using the basis of square to create this matrix of bounded fields will be undesirable.
"OH." I suddenly had inspiration. "Equilateral Triangles." I snapped my fingers. "Four points that make a square, but we add a fifth right at the center. Then using that we make four triangles, using the four outer points as the bases." I began scribbling some more notes and calculations. "Now we have four triangles, but there is a more direct link if they're all powered by the centralized point instead of being spread out in a large square."
I looked around the yard, fences on either side and nodded to myself. This place already has a concept of boundaries, and I can hijack that to reinforce my own bounded fields to better stabilize the anchor points.
"What do you think, Ddraig?"
[You're asking me? You know I don't really know how magic works, especially something as complicated as what you're doing.]
"Give yourself some credit, you seem to follow my trains of thought usually."
He grumbled for a moment before speaking [So we have four points, A, B, C, D that correspond to where your weapons are. If I'm understanding this correctly, instead of just connecting them all in a square to create this 'bounded field' you are opting to instead create four triangles by adding a fifth spot at the center – E. So we would have something like E-A-B linked together, the same with the other points. While the final shape will still be a square, it is actually compromised of triangles.]
"That's correct so far." I nodded at his words.
[So if I'm understanding correctly, that would mean the overall power of the bounded field would rise at least another level because the magical energy would bounce around two less points before running back to the 'source' before once again being pushed out. The current would be firmer, and the waste would be overall much less. Not to mention, it would take overall less magical energy to achieve similar results than if you went with just a square.]
I couldn't help but smile. "Nailed it all." I just needed to get started on the major calculations. Really, the main hurdle would be the huge supply of magical energy required, which isn't a problem to someone like me.
[Well, there is one issue.]
I paused briefly, a small grimace on my face. "Yeah...."
[What will you use to sustain and power such a strong bounded field?]
I sighed thinking about it. Mirage could do it, easily. As could my Staff of Magnus, but I didn't want to separate from either of those for long periods of time again. Yeah, producing that much magical energy is easy, sustaining it is a whole different matter. Usually one can just anchor a bounded field to the 'world' and maybe absorb ambient mana or some other approach, but here....i'm playing with dimensions and my needs are much greater.
"Well, questions for later." I pushed those thoughts to the side for now. "At the moment, I just need to figure out the theory and outline for everything.....then I'll head to new York and test a couple of them out. In the interim I can just use the staff as a temporary solution."
As annoying as finding 'another' powerful object would be.....I couldn't help but smile. I was having fun figuring out this piece of magic, and I was excited to get it going.
***
Mc is making friends! I'm sure this will have no negative consequences whatsoever. MC also plays with magic and relaxes. A nice little vacation for him, and absolutely nothing could interrupt his quiet time.
On a side note for all you Genshin Impact fans, guess who just rolled Shenhe, Her spear, and Mona within 20 wishes. Yup, i give you all permission to be jealous. Time to build a Chongyun freeze comp, wishing I had Ayaka.
Anyways, if you want to read 5 chapters ahead or support me, visit my pat.reon.com/Astoryforone
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