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TFC Chapter 77: Winter
🕑 Added 2022-07-31 18:13:43 +0000 UTC“Don’t mind me~ I have some work to finish quickly,” passing the 2 people everything opposed, from their personality to their affiliation, Aven quickly settled down on a table with enough space free of food and drinks to put his laptop down.
“You should follow his example, not having any cultivation resource to produce or exotics to research shouldn’t stop you from being proactive and finding yourself something to do,” Eryka used the live picture under her eyes to judge the other fairy present.
“I’m too stupid,” he confidently countered with clear eyes and a clear mind.
“Sigh… You can find something called ‘Energy Cultivation Act’ on the network, you should take the lead and read it to prepare yourself for what will inevitably be asked of you, that’s the least you can do,” the Vow overseer tried to advise him.
“You’re too hot-blooded,” but Saum shook his head with the same confidence as he began criticizing her, “My job isn’t to start projects on my own initiative, same as yours isn’t to give advice. I of course read the list, and that didn’t change anything.”
“You should still…”
As the two opposed people, one human and one fairy, bickered on their job principles and tried to get their point across, Aven ignored them and simply treated it as mere background entertainment he had no power over.
‘Innovative and imaginative thinking, extremely wide simultaneous knowledge demand, familiar and controlled environment, absence of deadlines…’
His energy telekinesis typed at the speed of his thoughts as all the insights he had gathered on his creative instinct talent were put to eternal memories.
‘To think I never turned this talent on until now… How naive I was to think I ever accessed my subconscious potential until now.’
Admitting his faults without holding back, Aven really was shocked by his new random discovery. A few minutes later, he opened his status with the objective of opening the detailed description window of his creative instinct talent.
Aven Amias
Faction: Nation of Eland
Energy Grade: 3
Energy Cultivation: 3 171/10 000
Energy Identity: Tech
1st Energy Specialization: Undivided Infusion
Physical Talents: Fairy Body (Violet Grade), Basic Energy Furnace Cells, Basic Condensed Body, Basic Regenerating Body, Basic Inexhaustible Body, Basic Energy Immune Constitution, Basic Energy Life Constitution
Energy Talents: Fairy Energy Origin (Violet Grade), Pure Fairy Energy (Violet Grade), Fairy Affinity Resonance (Violet Grade), Advanced Tech Energy Affinity, Intermediate Energy Sense, Basic Natural Energy Growth, Basic Self Revolving Energy, Basic Seamless Energy, Basic Excitable Energy, Basic Equalizing Energy, Basic Energy Photosynthesis, Basic Compatible Energy, Sensitive Energy
Spiritual Talents: Inquisitive Spirit, Expert Knowledge Integration, Basic Tireless Spirit, Basic Armored Spirit, Basic Enhanced Awareness, Basic Spiritual Foundation
Universal Talents: Awakened Fairy Bloodline (Violet Grade), Creative Instinct, Essence Stabilizer
Creative Instinct: Inspiration hits you more often than others when you’re engaged in a craft demanding much from your imagination. Allows you to combine your conscious and subconscious insights and enter a full mind communion state when you’re extremely focused on a crafting task.
‘It… Changed?’
Doubting his memory of what this talent’s description he had seen “so long ago” should be, he opened his new-era innate ability notebook that took the form of a USB key he always kept in his electronics box and didn’t touch that often lately.
Plugging in the key, he did the right software manipulation for not only his laptop to not explode but also for all the data contained on it to not be wiped out before accessing the complete transcribed innate ability notebook he once physically used.
[Creative Instinct: Inspiration hits you more often than others when you’re engaged in a craft demanding much from your imagination. Allows you to sometimes combine your conscious and subconscious insights when you’re focused on a crafting task.]
“It did change…” Muttering the truth he couldn’t deny, he failed to process in a short time all the consequences from this single piece of data.
‘My innate ability isn’t all-knowing… Who would have thought…’
Ejecting the key and tucking it back into its special box, Aven was half in disbelief that he finally got proof of his innate ability non-omniscience, and half resigned as he had never hoped for it to be truly omniscient.
‘It’s still close to omniscience nonetheless, the description merely changed to adapt to what I experienced, the previous one remains objectively true no matter how I read it.’
In the end, Aven stopped dwelling on whether his innate ability was all-knowing or nearly all-knowing and closed this surprise experimental segment to focus on his newly arrived communication manager.
Taking flight, he approached the main table where everyone had gathered while he was working and found his place next to Saum, who had brought a fairy-sized sofa to the table.
“Sorry for the wait everyone~” Intruding into the ongoing conversation without a care, he grabbed the whole attention of a certain blond-haired middle-aged woman as he landed and telekinetically brought a few snacks to him.
“Hello fairy Amias, I’m-” The moment she stood up and began to speak, a bag of chips crashed into her face, to her utter disbelief.
“I know who you are my dear Arthuria~” Aven looked at this very proactive woman marked by more than just age wearing a white and violet suit casually, as if it had been with her all her life, “You’re my new communication manager, and I’m your nominal boss. We’ll be friends soon enough, so take your time getting to know everyone.”
Not knowing what to do with the bag of chips she had just received, she ignored the knowing glances from the other people and sat back down.
“I’m not really feeling it right now, so here~” Munching on both a sweet chocolate snack and a salty potato snack at the same time, Aven opened his shop and looked at Drayce before claiming his long-overdue contract rewards.
Energy Growth Wonder Flower (Claim?)
Tireless Apple (Claim?)
Self Revolving Energy Mutation Elixir (Claim?)
With 3 swirls of light appearing around him, he ate another salty-sweet snack combo and didn’t say anything else.
“When will I get those?” Finally finding her words, Arthuria asked with the fiercest flames of ambition contained in her eyes Aven had seen in a long time.
“When I feel like it. Do your job like it’s not a job, and once both you and I are confident in our respective choices, you regarding your trade, and me regarding you, then you’ll step into the world of the supers,” he gave her what she wanted to know by exposing his thoughts on the subject.
“I saw Bhanas’s pictures,” Alain butted in on seeing an opportunity, but apart from bringing the subject to the table, he didn’t ask any questions.
“Good for you, you like them?” Deciding to not address the matter or explain anything to this centenarian super who clearly wasn’t as naive as Bhanas, Aven continued eating.
“Hum…” Grunting in reply, Alain didn’t insist and retracted.
This small exchange didn’t alert anyone, and the small welcome gathering eventually continued with Drayce accepting his contract rewards and Arthuria being involved as many times as humanly possible in any discussion topics.
From slightly professional ones, like how she felt about the global reach she would soon have, to ridiculous ones, like how she would go about dominating the world and cooking a cake, she was buried under dozens of questions.
Her sense of humor and her professionalism were tested alike, and Aven was even the one leading the charge on the ridiculous flank.
“Is that snow?” Out of nowhere, Eryka, who was taking a social break near the windows to an empty area designed to let some natural light in, asked loudly enough for everyone to hear.
“Ho~” The first to react was Aven, and not being one to hold back in his curiosity, he quickly arrived at the small window bay, confirmed it truly was snowing, opened a window, and flew outside.
It was dusk, and the transition from summer to winter was as sudden as ever.
The blue sky had taken on shades of orange and purple, and the faraway White had finally decided to stop providing enough warmth for the world to thrive.
“My first winter as a fairy~” Flying up and up and even more up, Aven reveled in the snowflakes hitting his body. This cold season which would only last 3 months at best symbolized much more for the world than any other time.
The end of school, the coming of a new year, the Vow Renewal ceremony… In terms of ceremonies and celebrations, the winter season was so charged with them that the entirety of Eland would gradually become a hive of social activity.
For Aven, from the age he had acquired his own modicum of independence from his parents, around high school, summer had become the season of travel and relaxation, and winter had become the season of parties.
“I feel so freaking motivated!” Feeling extraordinarily motivated by this first snow that meant the official arrival of winter, he flew in the light snow for a few more minutes before initiating his descent, telling himself it wouldn’t be too late to celebrate correctly once he returned to the Rainbow Mountain.
Passing through the window no one closed, he noted that everyone had simply gathered back at the table and were cleaning everything up slowly.
“It’s over? You don't want to be welcomed more?” Asking Arthuria of all the people here this question, he made himself as pitiful as he could.
“Hu… This welcome gathering has been going on for 2 hours already… So it’s high time for it to end?” Still not fully accustomed but not alien either to this weird new boss of hers, the woman stood her ground without being too firm.
“2 hours?” Aven’s smile froze on his face as he heard the amount of time this welcome ceremony had lasted.
“Yes, it’s been 2 hou-” She tried to confirm politely, but was directly cut off.
“Let’s go then! It’s time for you to do your job! Come with me to my secret world domination room! Or better! Find my secret world domination room by yourself, I’ll be waiting for you there!” Broadcasting his plan which changed in the middle of him explaining it, Aven simply left, taking a few snacks with him.
“Well…” Looking at the 3 people and 1 fairy who heard and saw all that just happened, she only identified a bit of normality in the recently arrived Vow overseer Eryka who was shaking her head in slight exasperation.
Ultimately, she had no choice but to help finish cleaning the tables before leaving by herself.
…
“Ah~ My favorite new employee is finally here~” Turning his head to look at the newly arrived Arthuria with a big smile, Aven momentarily stopped adding more parameters to a nightmarishly zoomed-in modelization of a box.
“Your social disregard is a bit too high, it doesn’t suit someone as young as you. 21 years old, right?” With only herself and her new employer present in the room, Arthuria seemed to have transformed into the person her resume had made her out to be.
“When you know you have the potential to change the world, you stop caring about hiding your true self. Not that I cared much before that. So my age doesn’t matter to me anymore. That’s how it goes and I fully accepted it,” not minding the transformation, he shared his point of view on this thorny subject that was his personality.
Narrowing her eyes, the new communication manager stopped filtering her own words and stated her thoughts clearly and honestly, “Fully accepted what? That the world belongs to you? That social norms formed over centuries are mere jokes to you?”
Slightly stunned by this plethora of provoking questions, Aven’s smile grew slightly before he answered this fierce new employee of his that was making her initial stand, “In traditional psychology, the best terms to describe my current mindset would be narcissistic entitlement and supreme hubris. They’re not really good objectively, but-”
“But can you tell someone arrogant he is arrogant because he thinks he has the weight of the world on his shoulders?” Arthuria finished his sentence for him, “My initial thoughts when I received your contract were that we had a totally different outlook on life. Can you guess why?”
“If you want a guess, ask Drayce. As for me, I would just confidently say that you’re just someone who never got what she wanted but still succeeded in everything but her main goal. I would even say it’s half a miracle that you didn’t join the Canopy,” nearly taunting her, Aven showed his own deft repartee.
Becoming silent, the woman marked by age, as could be seen from her slight wrinkles, whose eyes shone with wisdom and conviction, simply looked at this fairy more than 2 times younger than her impassively.
“So~” Not a fan of silence, Aven directly smoothly followed with his usual flash subject change, “Take a seat, because you’re not getting out of this room without telling me exactly what I would have done myself if I was in your position. And know that I have the list just there, safely stored on the network~”
…
The addition of Arthuria Hezekiah Walstrand to Aven’s quasi-world domination plan took a grand total of 8 hours, from the moment they first met at the resting area, to her finally leaving the designing area, her head full of interrogations at the… Absurdly wide audience target of her new boss.
Her concerns didn’t matter one bit to the person who had caused them in the first place though, and the moment she left, he resumed unleashing his passion on the relatively world-changing cultivation resources universalization project.
Hours passed, and unfortunately, despite all his goodwill, he didn’t succeed in returning to the marvelous creative instinct state before his cycle’s dusk slowly arrived.
“Well, at least I’ll be able to start the production of a first experimental version while working on the nanoforge unit design… Guess that’s good enough for a single cycle…” Admiring his own work full of cutting-edge and even some experimental technologies, he shrugged and began putting everything in standby mode.
Leaving the Rainbow IRC behind, he dived into the Elandia-lighted night sky and felt the snow impact not only his body but also his 4 boxes as he traveled towards his home.
The summit area of the Rainbow Mountain appeared like a mesmerizing peak that would attract any being’s attention by virtue of its mystical appearance defying logic.
A green forest radiating warmth despite snow having already made its way to the high branches was the scenery welcoming Aven when he arrived.
‘I still have some time…’
Still not being shrouded by all-powerful sleepiness, he let his instinct guide him on what path to take to have his mandatory fairy relaxation time and began heading… Higher. That’s where his instinct had decided to guide him.
When he reached the one and only flat top that was mythically said to have been cut off by whatever legendary fairy for whatever reason, he saw a large gathering of fairies spectating a smaller gathering of fairies who were actively working on something.
Despite not knowing what was going on, he didn’t do his usual loud force inquiring and enthusiasm explosion move, instead, he simply decided on waiting for the chatty and lively spectating fairies to answer his every question.
“I thought they would never do it this year.”
“Why don’t they just keep it even when winter is over? I think using it in summer would be cool too.”
“They don’t seem to be going for a massive one…”
“Size doesn’t matter, just the hotness!”
Slowly but surely, Aven gathered what he was seeing, a gigantic hole in the ground, lots of smooth rock slabs, and plenty of installations having to do with heating water, with the inhibited comments of the fairy to get what was going on without having to ask even a single question.
‘An artificial hot spring at the top of the highest mountain on Green… Who’s the genius who first got this crazily good idea…’
Amazed by this concept who seemed to embody all the wonders of the winter season simultaneously, he joined the crowd of spectators for a few minutes before asking himself if he was better off spectating or helping.
‘Maybe… This time I’ll just remain there…’
Neither advancing through the crowd nor backing up to go somewhere else, he simply remained where he was and continued observing the lively worksite, a stage occupied by none other than 8 distinct fairies, a few of them Aven had seen if not discussed with before.
Realistically, with only a bit over 2 000 fairies currently in existence, it statistically really wasn’t hard to meet up with any fairy he knew the name of if he really wanted to. And that included the small dozens of grade 5 fairies, literally the most powerful beings on the 5 nations' side.
Landing on one of the high branches of a tree that was thriving at 10 kilometers above the sea level occupied by only one other fairy, a compromise was instantly formed and none spoke up as they both silently spectated what was happening below them.
‘What a mystifying scene… Is that what the ancient fairy society looked like?’
Lost in thoughts, he was entranced by the resonance between his passive spectator mindset, the magical atmosphere, the giant trees with greener than green foliage, and the falling snow…
The hot spring construction site also participated in slowly hypnotizing him, as it wasn’t chaotic, it was orderly, and each of the 8 fairies occupying the area had their own duty.
One was charged with digging, creating large rough cavities, two refined the rough into a proper flat and modern design with entries and exits for water, another two were compressing the dirt and sealing the refined area designs…
Like a finely tuned machine, different cavities were extracted, arranged, solidified, and the last 3 fairies had their work all laid up in front of them from there.
They added stone slabs everywhere, both inside and outside the cavities to form primitive-looking paths that harmonized beautifully with the forest, and put up small stone lamps every few human-sized steps along them while installing insulated electrical wires to power them up…
Seeing all this happen over a mere few minutes, Aven realized he had been too hasty in his judgment.
‘So the goal isn’t to build the most amazing hot spring ever…’
Calmly reckoning that his perfectionist self had misled him into trying to shape what was a traditional and symbolical event into something it hadn’t been meant to be, it ultimately just added to his contemplative moment, making him dive deeper into the instant.
This instant wasn’t anything profound or unfamiliar, it was just the fairy-reenactment of him sitting late in the night in front of his computer, watching a relaxing movie or TV series without saying or doing anything, free of worries due to his growing exhaustion that kept him from using his brain.
The background city noise of Serenis had simply been replaced by a bunch of anarchic fairies who couldn’t help themselves giving their opinion on anything and everything.
Overall… It was just a good cycle-end activity.
